Other books that might interest you

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  Da Vinci's Ghost - Genius...

  Toby Lester

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  Everybody knows the picture: a man, meticulously rendered by Leonardo da Vinci, standing with arms and legs outstretched in a circle and a square. Deployed today to celebrate subjects as various as the grandeur of art, the beauty of the human form, and the universality of the human spirit, the drawing turns up just about everywhere: in books, on coffee cups, on corporate logos, even on spacecraft. It has, in short, become the world's most famous cultural icon—and yet almost nobody knows about the epic intellectual journeys that led to its creation. In this modest drawing that would one day paper the world, da Vinci attempted nothing less than to calibrate the harmonies of the universe and understand the central role man played in the cosmos.Journalist and storyteller Toby Lester brings Vitruvian Man to life, resurrecting the ghost of an unknown Leonardo. Populated by a colorful cast of characters, including Brunelleschi of the famous Dome, Da Vinci's Ghost opens up a surprising window onto the artist and philosopher himself and the tumultuous intellectual and cultural transformations he bridged. With sparkling prose, Lester captures the brief but momentous time in the history of western thought when the Middle Ages gave way to the Renaissance, art and science and philosophy converged as one, and all seemed to hold out the promise that a single human mind, if properly harnessed, could grasp the nature of everything.

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  Crime Classics - The Alsop...

  Morton S. Fine, David Freidkin

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  Crime is the dark side of civilisation.  The under belly of human failing and greed. 
  Within societies, down through the ages, it has appropriated its rules and taken what it wants by foul and unfair means. 
  ‘Crime Classics’ examines all manner of crimes and murders from the past.  It carefully recreates the complete crime through thorough and pains-taking research. The cases range from the assassinations of Lincoln and Julius Caesar to the more obscure, such as Bathsheba Spooner, who killed her husband Joshua in 1778 and became the first woman tried and executed in America. 
  Your host each week, is Mr. Thomas Hyland — ‘connoisseur of crime, student of violence, and teller of murders’ and played by Lou Merrill.

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  Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire

  Maurice Hinson, Wesley Roberts

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  Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire continues to be the go-to source for piano performers, teachers, and students. Newly updated and expanded with more than 250 new composers, this incomparable resource expertly guides readers to solo piano literature and provides answers to common questions: What did a given composer write? What interesting work have I never heard of? How difficult is it? What are its special musical features? How can I reach the publisher? New to the fourth edition are enhanced indexes identifying black composers, women composers, and compositions for piano with live or recorded electronics; a thorough listing of anthologies and collections organized by time period and nationality, now including collections from Africa and Slovakia; and expanded entries to account for new material, works, and resources that have become available since the third edition, including websites and electronic resources. The "newest Hinson" will be an indispensible guide for many years to come.

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  How To Play Violin

  HowExpert, Somer Taylor

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  This guide seeks to take the reader on a journey. Starting with the history of the violin, it moves on to offer various lessons and techniques to help those new to the violin learn to play the instrument. It also seeks to teach something new to those already seasoned in violin playing. 
  The violin is an instrument with a very long history. The first known string instrument using a bow was called the ravanastron and was created in India thousands of years ago. More recently, the violin was an instrument born of the fiddle, rebab and the lira da braccio. Once considered a lowly instrument, the violin started to gain status when, among other things, it was used in operas by famous Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi. The violin is certainly one of the more well-known instruments used in “Classical” music. It has a familiar shape, like that of the cello and viola, except it is smaller. Its flat, pear-shaped wooden body is minimally decorated with purfling and perforated with F-holes. Great skill and dedication went into perfecting the instrument. Some of the greatest violin makers included Antonio Stradivarius as well as members of the Guarneri family, especially del Gesu. It was during the time in which these and other luthiers were creating violins in Italy that violin-making reached its zenith. In fact, today, many luthiers still use the patterns created by some of these craftsmen to make their instruments. 
  Skill and dedication is required to not only create violins but also to play the instrument. Starting with beginning lessons using simple songs from the Müller-Rusch violin method book, “How to Play Violin” progresses to the more challenging exercises like the Rode Caprices. The book has not only musical exercises and examples, but also pieces and excerpts by Bach, Schubert, and Beethoven, among others. 
  HowExpert publishes quick 'how to' guides on all topics from A to Z by everyday experts.

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  Rogues' Gallery - The Rise (and...

  Philip Hook

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  This “expert and elegantly written” book reveals how dealers have been a major force in art history from the Renaissance to the avant garde (The Guardian, UK). Philip Hook’s riveting narrative takes us from the early days of art dealing in Antwerp, where paintings were sold by weight, to the unassailable hauteur of contemporary galleries in New York, London, Paris, and beyond. Along the way, we meet a surprisingly wide-ranging cast of characters—from tailors, spies, and the occasional anarchist to scholars, aristocrats, and connoisseurs, some compelled by greed, some by their own vision of art—and some by the art of the deal. Among them are Joseph Duveen, who almost single-handedly brought the Old Masters to America; Paul Durand-Ruel, the Impressionists’ champion; Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, high priest of Cubism; Leo Castelli, dealer-midwife to Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art; and Peter Wilson, the charismatic Sotheby’s chairman who made a theater of the auction room. Full of unforgettable anecdotes and astute insight, Rogue’s Gallery offers “a front-row seat and a backstage pass to this arcane and obsessively secretive profession” (Hannah Rothschild, Mail on Sunday, UK). “Bristles with colorful characters and dysfunctional dynasties. . . . Hook weaves history with racy twists, opening the door to a secretive world. No rogue emerges unscathed.” —The Wall Street Journal

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  How To Read Musical Notation -...

  HowExpert

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  If you want to learn how to read music notes, then get How to Read Musical Notation. 
  Want to learn how to read music notes? Want to compose your own music? Want to learn more musical symbols? If your answer is "Yes", then grab your copy of this guide! The How to Read Musical Notation guide is easy to follow and uses simple terminologies.  
  In this audiobook, we will help you understand each common and basic musical symbol you will encounter in reading and writing music! 
  After listening to this audiobook, you can:Impress someone by writing a song for them.Read music notes quickly. Relate musically with other musicians. Amaze your friends with you newfound knowledge and skills. Play them a song that will make their jaw drop!Read and play music easily.Play any music anytime and anywhere! Jam with other musicians and discuss the music's structure and measure.Play any songs you like without the help of inaccurate tabs! Play and speak like a professional musician!Enhance you listening skills! Play any note by reading notations or just by listening to the song you want to play.Enjoy composing your own song and music.You can even start your own musical career professionally!  
  With musical notations, it will be easy for you to succeed at music schools. 
  HowExpert publishes quick 'how to' guides on all topics from A to Z by everyday experts.

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