The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance – Edmund de Waal

An" Economist" Book of the Year Costa Book Award Winner for Biography Galaxy National Book Award Winner (New Writer of the Year Award)Edmund de Waal is a world-famous ceramicist. Having spent thirty years making beautiful pots--which are then sold, collected, and handed on--he has a particular sense of the secret lives of objects. When he inherited a collection of 264 tiny Japanese wood and ivory carvings, called netsuke, he wanted to know who had touched and held them, and how the collection had managed to survive. And so begins this extraordinarily moving memoir and detective story as de Waal discovers both the story of the netsuke and of his family, the Ephrussis, over five generations. A nineteenth-century banking dynasty in Paris and Vienna, the Ephrussis were as rich and respected as the Rothchilds. Yet by the end of the World War II, when the netsuke were hidden from the Nazis in Vienna, this collection of very small carvings was all that remained of their vast empire.

The Ascent of Money – Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson follows the money to tell the human story behind the evolution of finance, from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia to the latest upheavals on what he calls Planet Finance. Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah, readies, the wherewithal: Call it what you like, it matters. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it's the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it's the chains of labor. But in "The Ascent of Money," Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What's more, he reveals financial history as the essential backstory behind all history. Through Ferguson's expert lens familiar historical landmarks appear in a new and sharper financial focus. Suddenly, the civilization of the Renaissance looks very different: a boom in the market for art and architecture made possible when Italian bankers adopted Arabic mathematics. The rise of the Dutch republic is reinterpreted as the triumph of the world's first modern bond market over insolvent Habsburg absolutism. And the origins of the French Revolution are traced back to a stock market bubble caused by a convicted Scot murderer. With the clarity and verve for which he is known, Ferguson elucidates key financial institutions and concepts by showing where they came from. What is money? What do banks do? What's the difference between a stock and a bond? Why buy insurance or real estate? And what exactly does a hedge fund do? This is history for the present. Ferguson travels to post-Katrina New Orleans to ask why the free market can?t provide adequate protection against catastrophe. He delves into the origins of the subprime mortgage crisis. Perhaps most important, "The Ascent of Money" documents how a new financial revolution is propelling the world's biggest countries, India and China, from poverty to wealth in the space of a single generation?an economic transformation unprecedented in human history. Yet the central lesson of the financial history is that sooner or later every bubble bursts?sooner or later the bearish sellers outnumber the bullish buyers, sooner or later greed flips into fear. And that's why, whether you?re scraping by or rolling in it, there's never been a better time to understand the ascent of money.

War in Human Civilization – Azar Gat

Why do people go to war? Is it rooted in human nature or is it a late cultural invention? How does war relate to the other fundamental developments in the history of human civilization? And what of war today - is it a declining phenomenon or simply changing its shape? In this truly global study of war and civilization, Azar Gat sets out to find definitive answers to these questions in an attempt to unravel the 'riddle of war' throughout human history, from the early hunter-gatherers right through to the unconventional terrorism of the twenty-first century. In the process, the book generates an astonishing wealth of original and fascinating insights on all major aspects of humankind's remarkable journey through the ages, engaging a wide range of disciplines, from anthropology and evolutionary psychology to sociology and political science. Written with remarkable verve and clarity and wholly free from jargon, it will be of interest to anyone who has ever pondered the puzzle of war.

Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut--part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by "Blade Runner," and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed. It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them. For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig. And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle. Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to" win." But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready? 

A Vida Obscena de Anton Blau – Maria Cecília Gomes dos Reis

Com ironia, romance mistura ficção e antropologia filosófica

O núcleo dramático do romance reside na possível articulação com as muitas narrativas nas quais se enreda

"A Vida Obscena de Anton Blau" é o segundo romance de Maria Cecília Gomes dos Reis, professora de filosofia na Universidade Federal do ABC e tradutora do clássico "De Anima", de Aristóteles.

O currículo não é estranho ao misto de ficção e antropologia filosófica irônica que caracteriza essa prosa híbrida e desafiadora, ainda em busca de sua melhor composição.

Em termos de enredo, pode-se resumir assim a história de Anton Blau: ele é filho de mãe solteira e pobre que o entrega para ser criado por uma ex-prostituta. Esta se casa com um antigo cliente e cedo enviúva, herdando do marido uma pequena fortuna.

Quando o menino completa 12 anos, morre-lhe a mãe adotiva, passando a sua tutela e posses para uma irmã do marido, mulher de rígida formação calvinista, depois conversa ao catolicismo e, enfim, à masturbação.

E conquanto Anton tenha grandes potencialidades físicas e intelectuais, a combinação de inércia e talento para acusar os defeitos do mundo arrastam-no a uma existência anódina, dissipada com amores fugazes de rapazes.

Sem dinheiro, aplica-se então a um cruel processo de interdição da antiga tutora, de quem suga as economias, até a morte dela, num asilo.

Incapaz de tomar as rédeas da própria vida, Anton ainda guarda o ressentimento de ser deixado por um jovem amante que sonha se tornar escritor. Só e sem perspectiva, se vê reduzido a "um anão sentado no ombro do antigo gigante de si mesmo".

OUTRAS NARRATIVAS

Não pense o leitor que, ao contar esse enredo simples e inexorável, estraguei a surpresa de ler o livro. Não reside nele o núcleo dramático do romance, mas na sua possível articulação com as narrativas nas quais se enreda.

Algumas são especializadas, como aulas de filosofia ou de história, ainda que comicamente recriadas. A questão da vida como representação, a revelação dos versos do Corão a Maomé ou os dilemas do cristianismo aparecem como fiapos de sentido mais aludidos que realizados.

Ainda irrompem episódios que glosam as imprecações do célebre jogral Marcabru, ou atribuem a narração, entre outras enunciações provisórias, ao amigo invisível de uma menina de quatro anos ou ao namorado inexistente de uma moça inteligente, fisicamente sem graça.

Comparece também a autora cinquentona do livro que está sendo dado ao leitor, e que tem menos uma história a contar do que uma voz a afirmar seu lugar próprio, como presença irredutível. Por isso mesmo, o livro emprega o tempo presente.

Em face dessa presença, a obscenidade da vida de Anton Blau parece estar menos no que ele faz ou deixa de fazer do que na tibieza da sua autocrítica. Como o Bernardo Soares do "Livro do Desassossego", aludido várias vezes no romance, os seus motivos para reformar o mundo defeituoso evidenciam a impotência de reformar a si mesmo.

O livro só não é melhor do que já é porque o seu constante deslizamento nem sempre encontra o nervo, a tensão das narrativas e citações, o que abstratiza as histórias particulares sem impedir que se tornem passageiras as formulações conceituais.

ALCIR PÉCORA é professor de teoria literária da Unicamp e autor de "Máquina de Gêneros" (Edusp).

A History of Murphy's Law – Nick T. Spark

Murphy was not a myth. Who knew? -- Marc Abrahams, Editor Annals of Improbable Research

A hilarious work of non-fiction, A History of Murphy's Law probes the mystery surrounding the origins of one of the world's most well known statements of philosophy: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. While writing an article for an aviation history magazine, author Nick T. Spark learns that a man named Murphy worked at Edwards Air Force Base in the 1940s, and that the Law was coined after a rocket sled experiment went awry. But is this really what happened, and if so what are the circumstances surround the Law's discovery? And if Murphy really did exist, who was he and what became of him? Spark's attempts to pin down the mysterious origins of the Law and to answer these questions are amusing and revelatory, and surprisingly controversial. With a real-life cast including famed car crash researcher Dr. John Paul Stapp, test pilot Chuck Yeager, and an engineer named Ed Murphy, A History of Murphy's Law is an uncommon delight. Read it, and find out why everything you ever thought you knew about Murphy's Law -- is wrong. 

Originally published in serial form in the storied magazine Annals of Improbable Research, A History of Murphy's Law led to the awarding of a special Ig Nobel Prize to the originators of the aphorism. This book version contains a greatly expanded exploration of all things Murphy, numerous photographs, a new foreword by AIR editor Marc Abrahams and an after word by Nick T. Spark.

Veneno nas Veias: Memórias de Lucrécia Bórgia – M. G. Scarsbrook

Ela se tornou uma lenda por sua beleza, sua sexualidade e seus crimes, nos quais utilizava fulminantes poções venenosas. Mas quem foi, de fato, Lucrécia, a filha do Papa Alexandre VI, o patriarca da corrupta e violenta família Bórgia, que na modernidade já rendeu romances, filmes e minisséries de TV?
Neste romance histórico eletrizante, a própria Lucrécia Bórgia narra sua história, revelando a vida, costumes, crimes e intrigas na Europa do século XV, período em que a Igreja Católica estava corrompida e os papas mandavam nos reis.
Personagens fascinantes, como o próprio Nicolau Maquiavel, autor do clássico “O Príncipe”, circulam no meio de reis, príncipes, cortesãs, cardeais, artistas, num painel rico e extraordinário muito parecido com os dias atuais, quando governantes corruptos e poderosos também usam todos os meios para garantir seu poder, riqueza e privilégios.