![]() ![]() ![]() Machiavelli claimed that the most valuable gift he could offer Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici, the grandson of Lorenzo ‘il Magnifico’ (1449–1492), the famous de facto ruler of Florence, was his “understanding of the deeds of great men”, which he had earned through “a long acquaintance with contemporary affairs and a continuous study of the ancient world”. ![]() ![]() These debates, and his experiences as second chancellor, formed the basis of The Prince, as Machiavelli acknowledged in the dedication. After dinner, he wrote, he liked to retire to his study and “converse” with ancient philosophers and thinkers before making notes of their conversations. On 10 December 1513, Machiavelli described his new routine in a letter to Francesco Vettori. The treatise by Sun Tzu influenced crucially on a whole military art of the East. In 1512 the Medici, supported by Spanish troops, overthrew Soderini and took back Florence, shortly after which Machiavelli was accused of conspiracy, tortured and imprisoned, before being exiled in spring 1513 to his farm in Sant’Andrea in Percussina, outside the city. The Art of War, literally The Laws of War (military methods) by Master Sun is the most famous ancient Chinese treatise, dedicated to a military strategy and policy, written by Sun Tzu. The initial replacement government, the ‘theocracy’ of the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola, ended with Savonarola’s execution in 1498, before Piero Soderini was elected gonfaloniere (leader) for life in 1502. Machiavelli’s political career had come about after the Medici were expelled from Florence in 1494. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Peter Trubowitz ( is Professor of International Relations and Director of the Phelan US Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Associate Fellow at Chatham House. Tomila Lankina ( is Professor of International Relations in LSE’s Department of International Relations whose research focuses on comparative democracy and authoritarianism, mass protests and historical patterns of human capital and democratic reproduction in Russia and other states. She also served as the Dean of the School of Language Studies at the Foreign Service Institute. Marie Yovanovitch is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a non-Resident Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University. In this wide-ranging conversation, Marie Yovanovitch, former US ambassador to Ukraine, discusses her best-selling memoir, Russia’s war on Ukraine, and what the West needs to do next with Tomila Lankina and Peter Trubowitz. ![]() ![]() This revolutionary model for collaborative software development is being embraced and studied by many of the biggest players in the high-tech industry, from Sun Microsystems to IBM to Intel. According to the August Forrester Report, 56 percent of IT managers interviewed at Global 2,500 companies are already using some type of open source software in their infrastructure and another 6 percent will install it in the next two years. ![]() Open source provides the competitive advantage in the Internet Age. According to Bob Young, „This is Eric Raymond's great contribution to the success of the open source revolution, to the adoption of Linux-based operating systems, and to the success… ( tovább) Its conclusions will be studied, debated, and implemented for years to come. Already, billions of dollars have been made and lost based on the ideas in this book. ![]() The Cathedral & the Bazaar is a must for anyone who cares about the future of the computer industry or the dynamics of the information economy. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Sara was rescued but has spent the majority of her life a virtual prisoner because one of the kidnappers escaped and continues to stalk her. At the age of six Sara and her twin sister were kidnaped and held for ransom. They form a friendship, but a romance for Sara – especially with a famous man – is out of the question. ![]() The uproar he inadvertently causes results in her agreement to meet him for dinner. He wants a date with her in the worst way and persists in dogging her until he gets one. ![]() During this time he is awed by the control she exerts over her obvious fear and is intrigued by her.Īfter their first tumultuous meeting Adam can’t get Sara out of his mind. Adam realizes something isn’t quite right and attempts to keep her calm until the power returns. ![]() It’s not because she fears him, but because she begins to have flashbacks of her painful past. Sara Walsh’s fears begin to get the best of her when she is trapped inside a stalled elevator with handsome, ex-professional football player Adam Black. Danger In The Shadows is my first inspirational read, and while I would have preferred a higher level of sensual tension, the plot immediately grabbed my attention and the well-drawn characters held it. ![]() ![]() It was like the city that Lot left, and it would dissolve if it ever began looking backward over its own shoulder. New York kept going forward precisely because it didn’t give a good goddamn about what it had left behind. As if it were the only place that ever existed and the only one that ever would. He had seen a T-shirt once that said: NEW YORK FUCKIN’ CITY. Most of it takes place on one day in New York in August 1974 when Phillipe Petit (unnamed in the book) makes his tightrope walk across the World Trade Center towers, a walk that was called the artistic crime of the 20 th century. No, the city couldn’t care less about where it stood. It had no need to believe in itself as a London, or an Athens, or even a signifier of the New World, like a Sydney, or a Los Angeles. The city lived in a sort of everyday present. ![]() Strange things occurred precisely because there was no necessary regard for the past. It happened, and re-happened, because it was a city uninterested in history. ![]() It assailed you with an image, or a day, or a crime, or a terror, or a beauty so difficult to wrap your mind around that you had to shake your head in disbelief. Every now and then the city shook its soul out. “One of those out-of-the-ordinary days that made sense of the slew of ordinary days. ![]() ![]() ![]() Discussing the central environmental component of the book can diminish the effect of its suspenseful opening pages. Reviews of Kingsolver's seventh novel, "Flight Behavior," set in East Tennessee, should come with a spoiler alert. Her description of efforts to teach the young heirloom turkeys, products of generations of artificially inseminated birds, how to have old-fashioned sex is as LOL funny as any YouTube video. For an entire year, Kingsolver and her husband and children ate only locally grown or family-raised food. ![]() ![]() ![]() One of her nonfiction books, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" (2007), chronicles an experiment on the family farm in southwest Virginia, about 25 miles from Bristol. My favorite of her novels, "A Prodigal Summer" (2000), weaves together chestnut trees, coyotes and goats in Appalachia with a whole array of charmingly eccentric human characters in various stages of love. In several of her books, the mountains of Virginia and Tennessee provide settings that work well with the author's lyrical style and environmental message. Readers who are building a "green" library need to devote a shelf to Barbara Kingsolver. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() One day, she picked up her old Bible, dusted it off, and began to read. Still searching for purpose, adventure and true love, she spent her late twenties and early thirties doing all the things the world told her would make her happy, and after years, her children suffered, her second marriage suffered, and she was still miserable. She hated her job and her marriage was falling apart. Although she had done everything the world expected, she was still miserable. But despite the beauty around her, she always felt an ache in her soul-a longing for something more.Īfter college, she married and moved to California where she had two children and settled into a job at a local computer company. (MARYLU) TYNDALL grew up on the beaches of South Florida loving the sea and the warm tropics. It Happens Every Spring by Chapman & Palmer.Sanjaya Malakar.and God's First Children. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And I can’t imagine the discomfort a BIPOC person would feel reading An Unkindness of Ghosts. It was incredibly depressing to think that this far into the future the treatment of black people hasn’t changed. While stomach churning, what I otherwise might have brushed off as hyperbole in how the guards and upper classes aboard Matilda view and treat the black and brown people in the lower decks, now doesn’t seem far-fetched in the slightest. Reading this book during the movement sparked by the death of George Floyd, has illuminated to me just how much the book reflects how black people are treated, here and now. This month we are seeing protesting to change a racist police system (and institutionalized racism) and An Unkindness of Ghosts has an outright rebellion against the racist society aboard the Matilda spaceship. Earlier this year, the CBR Book Club had chosen Station Eleven and then we found ourselves in a pandemic. However, current events have given an added layer of pertinence. The themes of gender identity and the LGBTQ+ spectrum were always going to be relevant for Pride month and An Unkindness of Ghosts was thoughtfully chosen for this book club. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Here are five of the most valuable and thought-provoking tips we gleaned from the book. Allen worked and researched for 20 years before writing his guide and there are some solid strategies found in the book.Īllen says, “Anxiety is caused by a lack of control, organization, preparation and action.” At Simply Placed, helping you get organized is our business and we know just how stressful it can be when you’ve got clutter in your home, office or both, and/or you don’t feel like you have time to focus on what’s really important to you. The premise of the book is that you can get more organized and productive while being relaxed and enjoying your life. Today we’ll take a look at one of the great ones – David Allen’s Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. ![]() There are thousands of organization books out there some better than others. ![]() ![]() ![]() Next, the “beast” tells the “beauty” her own story: “The Tale of the Skin.” This story is based on the fairy tale “Donkeyskin.” The chemistry in this story was convincing and made for a highly engaging performance to start the show. I was surprised by this twist, even though I could see the witch’s hair under the beast mask, so perhaps it was meant to be obvious. Rose and the beast get to live out their happily ever after together. Unlike the original story, however, the beast ended up being a woman in a mask, played by senior Gillian Brown. The play opened with “The Tale of the Rose,” which is based on the story of “Beauty and the Beast.” The Man, played by junior Ian Smith, sacrifices his daughter, played by senior Taegan Snyder, to a beast. ![]() The play, based on the book by Emma Donoghue, contains five tales – four old and one new. On Thursday, March 2, Whitman’s Department of Theatre and Dance debuted their production of “Kissing the Witch,” a cycle of short stories based on classic fairy tales. ![]() |
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