Other books that might interest you

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  The Great American Transit...

  Nicholas Dagen Bloom

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  A potent re-examination of America’s history of public disinvestment in mass transit. 
    
  Many a scholar and policy analyst has lamented American dependence on cars and the corresponding lack of federal investment in public transportation throughout the latter decades of the twentieth century. But as Nicholas Dagen Bloom shows in The Great American Transit Disaster, our transit networks are so bad for a very simple reason: we wanted it this way. 
    
  Focusing on Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, and San Francisco, Bloom provides overwhelming evidence that transit disinvestment was a choice rather than destiny. He pinpoints three major factors that led to the decline of public transit in the United States: municipal austerity policies that denied most transit agencies the funding to sustain high-quality service; the encouragement of auto-centric planning; and white flight from dense city centers to far-flung suburbs. As Bloom makes clear, these local public policy decisions were not the product of a nefarious auto industry or any other grand conspiracy—all were widely supported by voters, who effectively shut out options for transit-friendly futures. With this book, Bloom seeks not only to dispel our accepted transit myths but hopefully to lay new tracks for today’s conversations about public transportation funding.

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  Shed Style - Decorating cabins...

  Selina Lake

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  In Shed Style, Selina Lake reveals how even the smallest garden can be home to an outdoor retreat.
  From the traditional gardener's potting shed to a writer's cabin to an artist's studio, Selina explores sheds, cabins, huts, greenhouses, pods and all manner of garden structures, providing ample inspiration for anyone dreaming of their own garden hideaway. She reveals how any existing shed, cabin or outbuilding can become a versatile work or social space rather than just somewhere to store the lawnmower. If you are short of space indoors, as so many of us are nowadays, a garden office, creative space, 'she shed' or work pod can provide a perfect solution. A greenhouse or potting shed will appeal to keen gardeners, while a cosy shepherd's hut, perhaps with a bijou wood-burning stove, can work as guest accommodation. In Shed Style, Selina reveals how to create the shed of your dreams, presenting hundreds of fresh ideas for decorating and styling both the interior and exterior as well as suggestions for lighting, fabrics, furniture and other accessories. Shed Style is perfect for anyone who wants to make the most of their outdoor space.

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  Vincent Van Gogh and artworks

  Vincent van Gogh

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  Vincent van Gogh’s life and work are so intertwined that it is hardly possible to observe one without thinking of the other. Van Gogh has indeed become the incarnation of the suffering, misunderstood martyr of modern art, the emblem of the artist as an outsider. An article, published in 1890, gave details about van Gogh’s illness. The author of the article saw the painter as “a terrible and demented genius, often sublime, sometimes grotesque, always at the brink of the pathological.” Very little is known about Vincent’s childhood. At the age of eleven he had to leave “the human nest”, as he called it himself, for various boarding schools. The first portrait shows us van Gogh as an earnest nineteen year old. At that time he had already been at work for three years in The Hague and, later, in London in the gallery Goupil & Co. In 1874 his love for Ursula Loyer ended in disaster and a year later he was transferred to Paris, against his will. After a particularly heated argument during Christmas holidays in 1881, his father, a pastor, ordered Vincent to leave. With this final break, he abandoned his family name and signed his canvases simply “Vincent”. He left for Paris and never returned to Holland. In Paris he came to know Paul Gauguin, whose paintings he greatly admired. The self-portrait was the main subject of Vincent’s work from 1886c88. In February 1888 Vincent left Paris for Arles and tried to persuade Gauguin to join him. The months of waiting for Gauguin were the most productive time in van Gogh’s life. He wanted to show his friend as many pictures as possible and decorate the Yellow House. But Gauguin did not share his views on art and finally returned to Paris. On 7 January, 1889, fourteen days after his famous self-mutilation, Vincent left the hospital where he was convalescing. Although he hoped to recover from and to forget his madness, but he actually came back twice more in the same year. During his last stay in hospital, Vincent painted landscapes in which he recreated the world of his childhood. It is said that Vincent van Gogh shot himself in the side in a field but decided to return to the inn and went to bed. The landlord informed Dr Gachet and his brother Theo, who described the last moments of his life which ended on 29 July, 1890: “I wanted to die. While I was sitting next to him promising that we would try to heal him. [...], he answered, ‘La tristesse durera toujours (The sadness will last forever).’”

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  The Women Who Make Our Novels

  Grant M. Overton

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  ”This book, the rather unpremeditated production of several months’ work, is by a man who is not a novelist and who is therefore entirely unfitted to write about women who are novelists.” The author is a literary reporter and from that perspective he offers a short biographical sketch “of all the living American women novelists whose writing, by the customary standards, is artistically fine . . . [or] whose writing has attained a wide popularity.” This book was published in 1918. (Summary taken from the Introduction by MaryAnn)

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  Delete

  Josh Blue

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  In his latest one-hour special, Delete, Josh Blue reveals that he is just as twisted on the inside, as he is on the outside.  Shot in his hometown of Denver, this hilariously thought provoking performance provides a glimpse into his day-to-day life.

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  101 Amazing Facts about Australia

  Jack Goldstein

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  How much do you know about Australia? Whether you have lived there all your life or have simply thought about visiting one day, you’ll be fascinated to learn all about the land where Christmas means baking-hot sun and a barbecue on the beach!  
  In this fascinating audiobook, narrator Charles King takes us on a journey ‘Down Under’, revealing over 100 amazing facts about Australia, from interesting information about the country’s history, landmarks and wildlife to its best known citizens and much more.

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