Featuring David Sedaris's unique blend of hilarity and heart,this new illustrated collection of animal-themed tales is an utterdelight. Though the characters may not be human, the situations inthese stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity ofeveryday life. In "The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck," three strangerscommiserate about animal bureaucracy while waiting in a complaintline. In "Hello Kitty," a cynical feline struggles to sit throughhis prison-mandated AA meetings. In "The Squirrel and theChipmunk," a pair of star-crossed lovers is separated by prejudicedfamily members. With original illustrations by Ian Falconer, author of thebestselling Olivia series of children's books, thesestories are David Sedaris at his most observant, poignant, andsurprising.
Building on the crucial insight that jokes use many of thesame mechanisms he had already discovered in dreams, Freuddeveloped one of the richest and most comprehensive theories ofhumor that has ever been produced. Jokes, he argues, provideimmense pleasure by allowing us to express many of our deepestsexual, aggressive and cynical thoughts and feelings which wouldotherwise remain repressed. In elaborating this central thesis, hebrings together a dazzling set of puns, anecdotes, snappyone-liners, spoonerisms and beloved stories of Jewish beggars andmarriage-brokers. Many remain highly amusing, while others throw avivid light on the lost world of early twentieth-centuryVienna.
This book is an investigation of the methodological andepistemological foundations of macroeconomic theory, based on anexamination of the theories of Keynes and Lucas. It is divided intotwo parts. In the first Professor Vercelli discusses themethodological issues which lie behind the conflict among differentschools of thought in macroeconomics (equilibrium anddisequilibrium, risk and uncertainty, rationality and causality).These issues are central to the current debate not only in manybranches of economics, but also in other scientific disciplines.The traditional point of view of science based on equilibrium,stability and determinism has been increasingly challenged by a newpoint of view in which disequilibrium, instability and uncertaintyplay a crucial role. This, the author argues, is bound to putmacroeconomics in a new, more promising position. In the secondpart of the book the author compares the two main alternativeresearch programmes in macroeconomics: that outlined by Keynes inhis 'General Theory', an
How do we see the world around us? "The Penguin on Design"series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings onart, design and the media have changed our vision forever. SusanSontag's groundbreaking critique of photography asks forcefulquestions about the moral and aesthetic issues surrounding this artform. Photographs are everywhere. They have the power to shock,idealize or seduce, they create a sense of nostalgia and act as amemorial, and they can be used as evidence against us or toidentify us. In six incisive essays, Sontag examines the ways inwhich we use these omnipresent images to manufacture a sense ofreality and authority in our lives.
