Charles Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution, described the evolutionary origin of flowering plants, which appear to have risen abruptly during the late Cretaceous Period, as an "abo
*WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2015*A Book of the Decade, 2010-2020 (Independent)JAMAICA, 1976Seven gunmen storm Bob Marley's house, machine guns blazing. The reggae superstar survives, but the gunme
This book looks back at the simpler versions of mental life in apes, Neanderthals, and our ancestors, back before our burst of creativity started 50,000 years ago. When you can't think about the futur
French superstar philosopher Luc Ferry encapsulates an enlightening treatise of pop-philosophy in a lively narrative of Western thought?explaining how the history of philosophy can teach us how to liv
In On Saving Face, Michael Keevak traces the Western reception of the Chinese concept of “face” during the past two hundred years, arguing that it has always been linked to nineteenth-century colonialism. “Lose face” and “save face” have become so normalized in modern European languages that most users do not even realize that they are of Chinese origin. “Face” is an extremely complex and varied notion in all East Asian cultures. It involves proper behavior and the avoidance of conflict, encompassing every aspect of one’s place in society as well as one’s relationships with other people. One can “give face,” “get face,” “fight for face,” “tear up face,” and a host of other expressions. But when it began to become known to the Western trading community in China beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, it was distorted and reduced to two phrases only, “lose face” and “save face,” both of which were used to suggest distinctly Western ideas of humiliation, embarrassment, honor, a
