New books to hit the spot


TOUCHDOWN is a weekly selection of outstanding new titles: books either anticipated or surprising, just out of the carton! Follow the links for more information, to purchase these books or to have them put aside for you.

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16 May 2014

 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/788532-Landfall227VitalSigns-9781877578465
Landfall 227: Vital Signs edited by David Eggleton   $30.00
Are there signs of life in our cultural body? A dose of doctors (including Murray Edmond, Bernadette Hall, James Norcliffe, Tracey Slaughter, Gregory O'Brien, Chad Taylor, Mark Braunias and Peter Black) apply their literary and artistic stethoscopes. 


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/775927-EveryDayisfortheThief-9780571307920

Every Day is for the Thief by Teju Cole    $29.99
"The past, if there is such a thing, is mostly empty space, great expanses of nothing, in which significant persons and events float. Nigeria was like that for me: mostly forgotten, except for those few things that I remembered with outsize intensity."
" As readers of Cole’s novel Open City will expect, this novel is beautifully written, compelling, concise and with a degree of romantic abandon." - Independent
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/773830-ThingsIDontWanttoKnow-9780241146569
 Things I Don't Want to Know by Deborah Levy   $15.00
 "In her powerful rejoinder to Orwell's Why I Write, Deborah Levy responds to his proposed motives for writing - 'sheer egoism', 'aesthetic enthusiasm', 'historical impulse' and 'political purpose' - with illuminating moments of autobiography. A vivid, striking account of a writer's life, which feminises and personalises Orwell's blunt assertions." - Spectator
"An up-to-date version of A Room of One's Own. I suspect it will be quoted for many years to come." - Irish Examiner
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/783140-TheLifeofRebeccaJones-9780857387127
 The Life of Rebecca Jones by Angharad Price   $25.00
"Price's book achieves a rare feat indeed. A lovingly crafted account of Welsh-speaking rural life on the brink of dissolution or at least transformation, it serves both as a touching, tender document and as a thoroughly artful exercise in storytelling – one that, in methods and motifs, can claim a place on the shelf beside Berger, Sebald and Ondaatje. This beautiful book, with the many meanings of blindness and insight at its heart, traces a path not only between the visible and invisible worlds but between memory and imagination, past and present – and fact and fiction." - Independent
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/760949-TheOddOneOut-9781848773516
 The Odd One Out: A spotting book by Britt Teckentrup   $29.99
Which bird has caught the worm? Where is the poorly monkey? And can you spot the shy little shrimp? Each spread matches an amusing riddle with a complex patterned artwork, within which the answer lies. Delightful!
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778735-TheWaytotheZoo-9781406348408
 The Way to the Zoo by John Burningham   $29.99
A wonderful new book from John Burningham!! One evening Sylvie notices a door in her bedroom wall that wasn't there before... 
Burningham's books affirm children's inner lives and are a delight to read. This one will soon be a favourite.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778350-HowtoMakeaHumanBeingABodyofEvidence-9780007447794
 How to Make a Human Being: A body of evidence by Christopher Potter   $45.00
Human beings know how to make machines. But what kind of machine is a human being? And could we ever make one? In order to answer these questions, other questions get in the way: What is it like to be a human being? What is it like to be some other kind of animal? What is reality? What is consciousness? Is there a God? What is love? Why live? The questions proliferate. But all these questions can be viewed as facets of a single question: What is science?
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/788523-Cloudboy-9781877578809
Cloudboy by Siobhan Harvey   $25.00
A deep-mulling, richly sensitive suite of poems on a mother's adjustments to the needs of an autistic child. 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782755-TheHenWhoDreamedSheCouldFly-9781780745343

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang   $29.99
 "An adroit allegory about life..in the vein of classics like Charlotte's Web and Jonathan Livingston Seagull...A subtle morality tale that will appeal to readers of all ages." - Kirkus Review
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/766421-ThePeoplesPlatformandOtherDigitalDelusions-9780007525591
 The People's Platform: taking back power and culture in the digital age by Astra Taylor    $35.00
"The scariest book I've read in a while is also the most exhilarating: there is no better, stronger picture of our bleak new technological landscape and the peppy delusions and deceptions of its profiteers than The People's Platform. But knowledge is power, and Taylor gives us a picture so clear it empowers us to find a way forward through the debris. Read it and revolt." - Rebecca Solnit


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/798976-MakeYourOwnRobotsMobileKit-9781908862983
Make Your Own Robot Mobile   $17.00
Because you want to! 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/793900-IntheLightofWhatWeKnow-9781447252054
 In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman
"This formidable novel unpacks friendship, betrayal, unknowability - and includes an astute take on Englishness, on class, on mathematical theory, human rights, and whether people can trust their own perception of the world." - Observer
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/760951-TheWorldofMamokointheYear3000-9781848775091
 The World of Mamoko in the Year 3000 by Aleksandra Machowiak and Richard Mizielinski   $39.99
Use your eyes to uncover the cosmos of characters packed into every page! There are stories hidden everywhere.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786453-CallitDog-9780857899477
 Call it Dog by Marli Roode   $25.00
A London-based journalist returns to South Africa and tries to determine the extent of her father's involvement in the murder of a man abducted by security forces decades earlier.
"Disquieting and compelling, announcing an astute and unusually gifted observer." - Guardian


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782753-TheGypsyGoddess-9781782391784
 The Gypsy Goddess by Meena Kandasamy   $29.99
A “novel about the impossibility of writing a novel about a real-life massacre.” In 1968 in Kilvenmani village, in the Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu, South India, 44 landless Dalit agricultural labourers, including women and children, were locked in a hut by a group of landowners and burnt alive. Fiercely political, multi-faceted and well written.
The author wants to speak to you
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782760-HistoryoftheRain-9781408852033
History of the Rain by Niall Williams   $35.00
"A rambling, soft-hearted Irish family saga, stuffed with eccentricity, literature, anecdotes, mythology, humour and heartbreak." - Kirkus
rambling, soft-hearted Irish family saga stuffed with eccentricity, literature, anecdotes, mythology, humour and heartbreak - See more at: http://bloomsbury.com/uk/history-of-the-rain-9781408852026/#sthash.w22TFZjv.dpuf
“A rambling, soft-hearted Irish family saga stuffed with eccentricity, literature, anecdotes, mythology, humour and heartbreak - See more at: http://bloomsbury.com/uk/history-of-the-rain-9781408852026/#sthash.w22TFZjv.dpuf
“A rambling, soft-hearted Irish family saga stuffed with eccentricity, literature, anecdotes, mythology, humour and heartbreak - See more at: http://bloomsbury.com/uk/history-of-the-rain-9781408852026/#sthash.w22TFZjv.dpuf
rambling, soft-hearted Irish family saga stuffed with eccentricity, literature, anecdotes, mythology, humour and heartbreak - See more at: http://bloomsbury.com/uk/history-of-the-rain-9781408852026/#sthash.w22TFZjv.dpuf
“A rambling, soft-hearted Irish family saga stuffed with eccentricity, literature, anecdotes, mythology, humour and heartbreak - See more at: http://bloomsbury.com/uk/history-of-the-rain-9781408852026/#sthash.w22TFZjv.dpuf
“A rambling, soft-hearted Irish family saga stuffed with eccentricity, literature, anecdotes, mythology, humour and heartbreak - See more at: http://bloomsbury.com/uk/history-of-the-rain-9781408852026/#sthash.w22TFZjv.dpuf
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782759-AHistoryofLondonin100Places-9781780744131
 A History of London in 100 Places by David Long   $29.99
A wonderful introduction to a vast subject.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/783132-FrankTheTrueStorythatInspiredtheMovie-9781447271376
Frank by Jon Ronson   $25.00
In the late 1980s Jon Ronson was the keyboard player in the Frank Sidebottom Oh Blimey Big Band. Frank wore a big fake head. Nobody outside his inner circle knew his true identity. This became the subject of feverish speculation during his zenith years. Together, they rode relatively high. Then it all went wrong...
This book tells the true story behind the just-released film (co-written by Ronson). 

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782732-CitiesAreGoodforYouTheGeniusoftheMetropolis-9781408843482
 Cities Are Good For You: The genius of the metropolis by Leo Hollis   $25.00
Are cities good for us (and just what does that mean)? Hollis does his best to answer the first question in the affirmative (without going too deeply into the second). 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786443-WeareHere-9781409136026
We Are Here by Michael Marshall   $29.99
There are people out there in the shadows, watching, wanting to be with you. And they'll do whatever it takes to make that happen...
 "An intelligent and profoundly unsettling novel." - Guardian
" On one hand this is an absorbing thriller, on the other it provokes us to mistrust our perceptions of reality, to doubt the facts of our familiar surroundings... Engrossing and uncanny." - Daily Mail
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/779275-OneLastThingBeforeIGo-9781409128793
 One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper   $29.99
A middle-aged man discovers he has a heart condition that means he may drop dead at any minute. He makes a list of things to do. Can he be a better person, and, more importantly, a better father now that his daughter needs his support?
"Genuinely very funny, as well as engaging and rather moving." - Daily Mail
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/712031-GhostBride-9781471401411
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo   $19.99
Seventeen-year-old Li Lan lives in 1890s Malaya with her quietly-ruined father, who returns one evening with a proposition: the fabulously wealthy Lim family want Li Lan to marry their son. The only problem is, he's dead. A ghost story based on the historic custom of spirit marriage.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/787622-NoPlacetoHideEdwardSnowdentheNSAandtheSurveillanceState-9780241146705
 No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the Surveillance State by Glenn Greenwald   $37.00
In June 2013, reporter and political commentator Glenn Greenwald published a series of reports in the Guardian which revealed shocking the extent to which the National Security Agency had been gathering information about US citizens and intercepting communication worldwide. The reports were based on documents leaked by former NSA employee Edward Snowden. This book tells the story of those revelations, and contains new information.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/781295-StarryRiveroftheSky-9780316125970
 Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin   $19.99
A mysterious woman with the gift of storytelling transforms the lives of the residents of a Chinese village. From the author of the Newbery Honor medal-winning Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/781268-Glow-9781444765526
 Glow by Ned Beauman   $38.00
A conspiracy with global repercussions converges on one small flat above a dentist's office in Camberwell.
"Glow does not glow – it dazzles." - Independent
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/777862-TrialsofPassionCrimesintheNameofLoveandMadness-9780349004815
 Trials of Passion: Crimes in the Name of Love and Madness by Lisa Appignanesi   $39.99
Should erotic obsession be grounds for getting away with murder? Appignanesi scrutinises historical cases and the lines we draw between sanity and madness.
"Enthrallingly narrated, Appignanesi’s book compels with its gruesome subject matter and delights with a wealth of bizarre detail." - Telegraph

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/780559-ThinkLikeAFreak-9781846147890
 Think Like a Freak by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner   $37.00
Think more effectively by thinking inside-out, upside-down and back-to-front. From the authors of Freakonomics.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/300245-MI6TheHistoryoftheSecretIntelligenceService1909-1949-9780747591832
 MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service, 1909-1949 by Keith Jeffery   $55.00
An unprecedented study, essential reading for anyone interested in the history of espionage, the two world wars, modern British government and the conduct of international relations in the first half of the twentieth century.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/720234-VivianVersustheApocalypse-9781471402173
 Vivian Versus the Apocalypse by Katie Coyle   $19.99
A chilling vision of a contemporary USA where the sinister Church of America is causing havoc and destroying lives. 16-year-old Vivian is awaiting the fated 'Rapture', but when her parents mysteriously disappear she embarks on a perilous journey to find them.
Winner of the Guardian/Hot Key Young Writer's Prize.

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/781340-TheWoebegoneTwinsTalesFromSchwartzgarten2-9781408314562
The Woebegone Twins by Christopher William Hill   $19.99
Lots of fun and nastiness, following the fun and nasty Osbert the Avenger.  
"This book is full of disaster after disaster, but you just want to keep reading to see where all the disasters will lead. If you've read Osbert it is a good book to read next. If you haven't, it would still be good." - Cosmo (11)


9 May 2014

 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/773401-TheGiraffesNeck-9781408843796
The Giraffe's Neck by Judith Schalansky   $39.99
An aging biology teacher in an East German backwater with a strict devotion to evolutionary theory has her cultural habitat altered by the fall of the Berlin Wall. Will she and East Germany adapt and change or become anachronisms and face extinction?
From the author of the wonderful Atlas of Remote Islands.
Watch this.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/770408-AltaiANovel-9781781681671
Altai by Wu Ming   $25.00
Venice rubs up against the Ottomans in the 16th century: a side-swipe at political hegemonies in the guise of historical fiction, written by a collective of self-styled cultural terrorists.
"Wu Ming's books sizzle with a kind of lefty jazz: they're linguistically and culturally hip, historically astute, with a heart worn challengingly on the sleeve." - Guardian


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/787716-TheFamilies-9780864739193
 The Families by Vincent O'Sullivan   $35.00
"O’Sullivan’s stories exhibit a shrewd understanding that pierces to the heart of what it means to be human. O’Sullivan can mock, satirise and laugh, but he also finds dignity in unexpected places. He is interested in the art of living, and in the borderland where truth and lies meet, both in life and in fiction itself." - The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782744-FeedingFrenzyTheNewPoliticsofFood-9781781250358
 Feeding Frenzy: The new politics of food by Paul McMahon   $29.99
Accessibly traces the history of the global food system and reveals the underlying causes of recent food shortages and price spikes.
Watch the author introduce his ideas here.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782793-Orfeo-9781782391623
 Orfeo by Richard Powers    $37.00
A seventy-year-old avant-garde composer goes on the run when an accident in his DIY genetics lab leads to a bioterrorism alert.
"Formidably intelligent and ecstatically noisy." - Guardian

"The best novel about classical music that I've read since Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus. There are passages that make you want to rush to your stereo, or download, particular pieces to listen to as you read." - Jonathan Gibbs, Independent
"The most intellectually stimulating novelist at work in the English language today." - Daily Telegraph 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/789453-TheBannerofthePassingClouds-9781847087430
 Banner of the Passing Clouds by Anthea Nicholson     $25.00
Born on the day of Stalin's death, Iosif Dzhugashvili learns he is (literally) inhabited by the former Soviet leader... 
"Psychologically astute, and intense with insight." - Kapka Kassabova, Guardian
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/787642-LifeDrawing-9781925106022
 Life Drawing by Robin Black   $35.00
"A beautifully written meditation on the delicate balance of intimacy and isolation within a long marriage.” - Alice Sebold
 "Might be the nearest thing to a perfect novel that I have ever read.” The Bookseller
"Unsettling and compelling. At once quiet and memorable. Black is a writer of great wisdom." - Claire Messud, Guardian

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/787709-EmptyBonesandOtherStories-9780864739186
 Empty Bones, And other stories by Breton Dukes   $35.00
A novella and five stories packed with tension, dysfunction and unease; an indictment of New Zealand masculinity. 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778768-DollBones-9780552568111
Doll Bones by Holly Black    $19.99
A chilling tale about ghosts, growing up and the power of stories, by the author of 'The Spiderwick Chronicles'.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/788653-MaterialInnovation-Architecture-9780500291283
 Material Innovation: Architecture by Andrew H. Dent   $55.00
"Every idea has a material solution". This book showcases buildings that demonstrate an innovative use of a particular material.
https://pageblackmore.circlesoft.net/products/734125-WelcometoMamoko-9781848775558
Welcome to Mamoko by Aleksandra Machowiak and Richard Mizielinski   $40.00
Use your eyes! An absolutely absorbing kaleidoscope of stories tangled into a giant picture book, from the creators of H.O.U.S.E. and D.E.S.I.G.N.
Back in stock!
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/771686-GoodKingsBadKings-9781780743851
 Good Kings, Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum   $25.00
"A ferociously honest, funny, completely unstoppable trip through an institutionally corrupt home for disabled teenagers." - Barbara Kingsolver
"Not only shines a light on a segment of society often ignored, in art as well as life, but also is a really great read." - Washington Post
Winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/775045-HowAnimalsGrieve-9780226155203
 How Animals Grieve by Barbara J. King   $36.00
"A touching and provocative exploration of the latest research on animal minds and animal emotions." - Washington Post
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782740-TheDisinheritedAStoryofFamilyLoveandBetrayal-9781408824825
 The Disinherited: A story of family, love and betrayal by Robert Sackville-West   $49.99
A fascinating history of the illegitimate children of an aristocratic family (the Sackvilles).

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/764879-TheVirtuesoftheTableHowtoEatandThink-9781847087140
 Virtues of the Table: How to eat and think by Julian Baggini   $35.00
How we eat, farm and shop for food is not only a matter of taste. Our choices regarding what we eat involve every essential aspect of human nature.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/780975-FlavoursoftheMiddleEast-Spicedandaromaticrecipesfromtheancientlands-9781849754927
 Flavours of the Middle East: Spiced and aromatic recipes from the ancient lands by Ghillie Basan   $39.99
The flavours of the middle east are steeped in the history of ancient empires and dynasties, wars and diverse religions, and the east-west trade routes, all of which have had a lasting influence on the culinary cultures of this vast and turbulent region.

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/788284-DisappearingAct-9780732295752
 Disappearing Act  by James Moloney   $19.99
Matt Cooper is twelve, and spends quite a bit of his time honing his magic skills and tricks. He doesn't realise that his great-grandfather was a professional magician whose career came to a disastrous end when a trick he performed backfired spectacularly. But the magical nub of the mystery lies still further back in the past...
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/775046-TheAppianWayGhostRoadQueenofRoads-9780226142999
 The Appian Way: Ghost Road, Queen of Roads by Robert A. Kaster   $29.99
"Layer upon layer, Italy's storied past unfolds in Kaster's captivating journey along the venerable Queen of Roads. I cannot imagine a more perfect guide to such a rich trove of ancient and modern memories. Illuminating, erudite, entertaining, and evocative." - Adrienne Mayor


http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/779941-OperationPaperclipTheCIAsSecretProgramtoBringNaziScientiststoAmerica-9780316277440
Operation Paperclip: The secret intelligence program that brought Nazi scientists to America by Annie Jacobsen   $35.00
Explores the uncomfortable continuity between Nazi and Yankee concerns. 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/786462-SeventeenContradictionsandtheEndofCapitalism-9781781251607
Seventeen Contradictions, And the End of Capitalism by David Harvey   $39.99
One of the world's leading Marxist thinkers explores the hidden workings of capital and reveals the forces that will lead inexorably to the demise of our system.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/777360-TheLastBoatHome-9780091954291
 The Last Boat Home by Dea Brovig   $35.00
An explosive, dark and tender portrayal of life in an isolated fishing village on the Norwegian coast. "The evocation of place is wonderful; the writing fresh, the storytelling assured. Dea Brovig vividly conjures up this Norwegian community and its terrible secrets and repressions." - Jill Dawson
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/779258-CityofLiesLoveSexDeathandtheSearchforTruthinTehran-9780297871316
 City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death and the Search for Truth in Tehran by Ramita Navai   $39.99
"What a fascinating book. The author tells the story of life in Tehran through the eyes of different individuals who have survived or tried to survive in Iran. An eye-opening read, and highly recommended." - Peter
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/795109-AsiasCauldronTheSouthChinaSeaandtheEndofaStablePacific-9780812999068
 Asia's Cauldron: The South Chine Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific by Robert D. Kaplan   $39.99
"Stands out for its clarity and good sense from the great mass of Western writing on what Chinese politicians have taken to calling their 'peaceful development'. If you are doing business in China, traveling in Southeast Asia or just obsessing about geopolitics, you will want to read it." - New York Times
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782757-HereIam-TheStoryofTimHetheringtonWarPhotographer-9781611855685
 Here I Am: The Story of Tim Hetherington, War Photographer by Alan Huffman   $29.99
Interesting biography of the photojournalist who risked his life (ultimately fatally) in Liberia and Libya to show us the lives of those devastated by conflict.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/726541-PlatosRevengePoliticsintheAgeofEcology-9780262525282
Plato's Revenge: Politics in the age of ecology by William Ophuls   $36.00
Ophuls warns that we are headed for a postindustrial future that, however technologically sophisticated, will resemble the preindustrial past in many important respects. He makes an urgent recommendation for a way of life that is materially and institutionally simple but culturally and spiritually rich.
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782784-MyBiggestLie-9781782110378
 My Biggest Lie by Luke Brown   $35.00
What happens when a great stack of lies begins to topple?
"It's rare to find writing so lucid and honest at once, and in a book where pages turn themselves. I grabbed this for its mad adventure, but came away with a gift for the heart. This is the way fiction needs to go." - D.B.C. Pierre
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/778766-DearLeader-9781846044205
 Dear Leader by Jang Jin-Sung   $35.00
A rare and extraordinary glimpse into the reality of life in North Korea, by a member of the government's inner circle. The author was Kim Jong-il's senior propagandist, and provides insight into the unseen workings of power.

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/782717-CrackingYolksPigTalesTheLidoffLifeintheKitchenwith110StunningRecipes-9780857832238
 Cracking Yolks and Pig Tales: The lid off life in the kitchen, with 110 stunning recipes by Glynn Purnell    $49.99
Classy recipes with affordable ingredients and accessible methods, strikingly illustrated throughout. You'll never look at a cucumber in the same way again. 
http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/790013-MyBoyfriendBarfedinMyHandbagandOtherThingsYouCantAskMartha-9780142196939
 My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag... And other things you can't ask Martha by Jolie Kerr   $26.00
Even the most nightmarish cleaning conundrums can be solved with a smile, the right supplies, and a little music
"Wise and funny. . . . The Lorrie Moore of cleaning tutorials." - New York Times

http://www.pageandblackmore.co.nz/products/773422-ZizeksJokesDidYouHeartheOneAboutHegelandNegation-9780262026710
 Zizek's Jokes by Slavoj Zizek   $39.99
“A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes."—Ludwig Wittgenstein
An irreverent romp with "the Elvis of cultural theory".
Have you heard this one? A guy was sent from East Germany to work in Siberia. He knew his mail would be read by censors, so he told his friends: “Let’s establish a code. If a letter you get from me is written in blue ink, it is true what I say. If it is written in red ink, it is false.” After a month, his friends get the first letter. Everything is in blue. It says, this letter: “Everything is wonderful here. Stores are full of good food. Movie theatres show good films from the west. Apartments are large and luxurious. The only thing you cannot buy is red ink.”