Zuleikha

Noam Chomsky is one of the worlda€s most respected linguists, yet his radical political ideas, while attracting legions of followers across the globe, have made him a prophet without honour in his own land. In this selection of interviews, he lays bare the realities of contemporary geopolitics with exceptional clarity and power, including the main goals of US foreign policy, the new global economy, the roots of racism and the coming ecological catastrophe.

With a growing reputation as a visual artist, indie-rock star Devendra Banhart moves as effortlessly between genres as he does between musical instruments. In fact, Banhart trained as a visual artist before making a name in the music world. He draws daily and creates the illustrations for his albums and this book reveals that his visual creations are as sophisticated as his music, and worthy of attention. Banhart draws inspiration from artists such as Henry Darger, Paul Klee and Cy Twombly, but his work clearly reflects a 21st century aesthetic that is at once self-effacing and sharp-witted. Featuring a cross-section of his best work from the last decade, this collection is presented as a kind of ideas book, including Banhart's own commentary and musings as well as photographs and other ephemera, an essay by renowned art dealer Jeffrey Deitch and an interview with curator Diego Cortez. The result is a multi-dimensional portrait of a talented artist and an exciting glimpse into his creative process.

'Design Behind Desire' is a beautifully conceived book about wanting, longing, yearning, generating and fulfilling of a highly sexual and erotic nature and, as an entity within itself, becomes an object of desire as each sensuously laden page is turned. It both demonstrates and embodies desire by exploring the most beautiful objects of and for desire where integrity, beauty, sexuality and sensuality are at the heart of the creations. Many of the striking objects that are depicted are quite dark, bondage inspired, some surreal, others delicate, there are voluptuous pieces and there are one or two eccentric but never the less brilliant creations. 'Design Behind Desire' also demonstrates how many items and genres from the world of fetish wear and bondage are inspiring and provoking fashion and design in a tangible way. How there is a tactility and truth to materials, which shifts the sexy to profoundly sexual and where desire as both a concept and motivational force becomes more powerful where there is duality or contradictory forces at play.

In 1882, Jean-Martin Charcot was the premiere physician in Paris, having just established a neurology clinic at the infamous Salpetriere Hospital, a place that was called a `grand asylum of human misery`. Assessing the dismal conditions, he quickly upgraded the facilities, and in doing so, revolutionized the treatment of mental illness.

With an Introduction and Notes by David Ellis, University of Kent at Canterbury*. With Illustrations by R.Seymour, R.W. Buss and Hablot K. Browne (Phiz). The Pickwick Papers is Dickens' first novel and widely regarded as one of the major classics of comic writing in English. Originally serialised in monthly instalments, it quickly became a huge popular success with sales reaching 40,000 by the final part. In the century and a half since its first appearance, the characters of Mr Pickwick, Sam Weller and the whole of the Pickwickian crew have entered the consciousness of all who love English literature in general, and the works of Dickens in particular.