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Off the Record 6 Books Set

Off the Record 6 Books Set

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  • Author: Peter J. Bowler, Joan Duncan Oliver, Paul Schlicke, D. M. Thomas, Dr Neil Cox,
  • Pages: Each book 160+
  • Year: 2010
  • Book Code: Paperback
  • Availability: In Stock
  • Publisher: Watkins Publishing

  • ₹4,695.00

This is one unique set consisitng the first 6 books of the series. The amazing titles are:

1) Darwin

2) Shakespeare

3) Freud

4) Dickens

5) Picasso

6) Buddha

About Darwin: 

Darwin is one of the most controversial scientists of all time. His 1859 book On the Origin of Species, written after a 5-year evidence-gathering voyage on HMS Beagle, with a famous stopover in the Galapagos, persuaded scientists that they had to take seriously the claim that all living things have evolved by natural causes from previously existing types. Moreover, he proposed the mechanism of natural selection, in which populations change according to trial and error. The theory renders the Genesis story of creation, and indeed the whole idea of a wise and benevolent Designer, questionable. There seems to be little room here for the immortal soul or transcendent moral values. Whilst materialists and atheists welcome this liberation from the shackles of ancient superstition, some religious believers accuse Darwin of teaching us to behave like animals and thereby undermining the moral foundations of society. We are still living with - and arguing about - the consequences of Darwin's commitment to the truths uncovered by investigative science. This book ranges widely over his background, his travels, his discoveries, his lectures and teachings, and his personal life.

About Shakespeare:

Shakespeare is the archetypal literary magus, wise and prolific, his imagined realm extending vastly to encompass history, love, emotions, all the vices and virtues, town life in pubs and courts, the countryside, sea voyages, battles, supernatural beings such as fairies and witches - and much else besides. The human heart was his workshop. Shakespeare's legacy represents more than the story of a life and its age: it has dominated artistic and cultural endeavour in every generation that has followed him. This book offers a dazzling kaleidoscope of Shakespeare's inner and outer worlds - a brilliant set of imagined answers to gently probing questions, on such topics as his schooldays, his experiences of the theatre, his life in Stratford and London, his sonnets, his rivalry with other playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson, his love life, his sources of inspiration, and his attitudes to money and publication.

About Freud: 

Throughout history, people have searched for explanations to make sense of their lives. First there was magic and religion, then there was science; and somewhere in between was Freud. Freud's whole edifice was a masterwork of explanation, with sex at its core. He studied his own, often depressed, mind as well as those of his patients, accounting for our actions and troubled thoughts with revolutionary theories such as infant sexuality, sublimation and the Oedipus complex. He believed that if something was not as visible in a patient's personality as it should have been, that was because it was too painful and had to be repressed. His theories shocked, troubled and intrigued people, and ensured Freud a central role in psychology. His work was as much poetry as science: his theories created stories that people could believe in, and these stories had real therapeutic value. He saw psychoanalysis as ministering to the soul (Psyche), our whole essence, not just our mind. Fascinated by archaeology, he was an archaeologist of the unconscious, whom we ignore at our peril. In these pages a great novelist meets a great adventurer of the mind ...and the encounter gives us privileged access into one of the most original and unflinching intellects of the modern age.

About Dickens:

Dickens' first novel, Pickwick Papers, written when he was only 24, was a publishing sensation. Then the serialized parts of The Old Curiosity Shop attracted sales of over 100,000 copies a week. Huge crowds gathered to glimpse him when he toured the USA. When he died there was public mourning, and his admirers felt they had lost a personal friend. Dickens created young characters who led exemplary lives in the face of suffering - Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield. His career serves as a model of the Victorian self-help ideal, which elevated hard work as the way to lift the individual from raw beginnings to graceful sophistication, comfort and enlightenment. But what was Dickens really like? This book imagines his private and public lives in a series of enlightening and engaging conversations - on topics such as the novel, actors, the fair sex, literary inspiration, illustrations, journalism, publishing, copyright, religion, America, social change - and, of course, Christmas.
About Picasso:
The dialogues in this book take place during the last decade of Pablo Picasso's life in his last home, at Mougins in the south of France. As well as reported conversations, they are based on the artist's published statements and a small number of reliable interviews. Married twice, but having also had many other relationships, Picasso left a trail of emotional destruction in his wake. Marie-Therese Walter, his lover of the 1920s and 1930s, committed suicide in 1977. His last wife, Jacqueline Roque, did the same in 1986. One of Picasso's three legitimate grandchildren, Pablito, died after drinking bleach in reaction to being excluded from the artist's home on his death. These stories hint at Picasso's enormous personal magnetism. But whatever we may think of him as a person, he was the most renowned artist of the 20th century and one of the most prolific and important innovators in the history of modern art. His work continues to be controversial, with some critics regarding large swathes of his output as whimsical daubs, others seeing him as the most important visual artist of our epoch. This book not only brings to life a man of unusual intelligence and exceptional creativity but also encourages the reader to look afresh at Picasso's art.

About Buddha:
We know him as the Buddha, the 'Awakened One', one of the world's greatest spiritual leaders. He wasn't a god but an ordinary mortal - born Siddhartha Gautama 2,500 years ago in northern India. His humanity speaks to us today. He suffered as we do, then by his own efforts found the key to liberation from the bonds of desire, hatred and ignorance. As Westerners living in relative prosperity, we can identify with this man who had it all - love, success, money, talent, privilege - but set it aside to search for something deeper and more enduring. How did he do it? What did he learn? If the Buddha were here now, how might he explain the truths he uncovered? Covering topics such as Suffering, Impermanence, Non-Self, Karma, Desire, Mindfulness, Compassion, Love and Reincarnation, this book offers wonderful insights into the Buddha's philosophy for living but also into his humanity and his character - all based faithfully on the Buddhist scriptures.

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Tags: Darwin, Shakespeare, Freud, Dickens, Picasso, Buddha... off the Record, Watkins Publishing, Peter J. Bowler, Joan Duncan Oliver, Paul Schlicke, D. M. Thomas, Dr Neil Cox,