finæ-library

Malaikat dan Iblis - Dan Brown (e-book B)

2010-05-17T11:41:00.000+07:00

(terjemahan Bahasa Indonesia)

Angels and Demons (Malaikat dan Iblis) adalah novel misteri best-seller karya novelis Amerika Serikat Dan Brown yang diterbitkan pada tahun 2000. Novel ini memperkenalkan tokoh Robert Langdon, yang juga kemudian menjadi tokoh utama pada novel Dan Brown yang lebih dikenal, The Da Vinci Code. Buku ini juga menggunakan gaya penulisan dan cerita yang sangat mirip dengan The Da Vinci Code, misalnya adanya teori konspirasi organisasi rahasia, alur waktu satu hari, dan Gereja Katolik Roma. Novel ini bercerita tentang konflik antara organisasi kuno, Illuminati, dengan Gereja Katolik Roma.Novel ini juga membahas kontroversi "Antimateri", Yang disebut- sebut sebagai energi alternatif masa depan, tetapi dapat menimbulkan efek negatif, yaitu menjadi senjata pemusnah massal. >>> DOWNLOAD Malaikat dan Iblis

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (e-book B)

2010-05-17T11:37:00.000+07:00

(terjemahan Bahasa Indonesia)

The Da Vinci Code adalah sebuah novel karangan Dan Brown seorang penulis Amerika dan diterbitkan pada 2003 oleh Doubleday Fiction. Buku ini adalah salah satu buku terlaris di dunia dengan 36 juta eksemplar (hingga Agustus 2005) dan telah diterjemahkan ke dalam 44 bahasa, termasuk Indonesia.

Menggabungkan gaya detektif, thriller dan teori konspirasi, novel ini telah membantu mempopulerkan perhatian terhadap sebuah teori-teori tentang legenda Piala Suci (Holy Grail) dan peran Maria Magdalena dalam sejarah Kristen - teori-teori yang oleh Kristen dipertimbangkan sebagai ajaran sesat dan telah dikritik sebagai sejarah yang tidak akurat. Buku ini adalah bagian kedua dari trilogi yang dimulai Dan Brown dengan novel Malaikat dan Iblis (Angels and Demons) pada tahun 2000, di mana diperkenalkan karakter Robert Langdon. Pada November 2004, Random House menerbitkan "Edisi Spesial Ilustrasi", dengan 160 ilustrasi yang berselingan dengan teks.

Buku ini dibuka dengan pengakuan Dan Brown bahwa "Semua deskripsi karya seni, arsitektur, dokumen, dan ritus rahasia dalam novel ini adalah akurat," walaupun klaim ini diperdebatkan oleh para sarjana akademisi dalam diskusi-diskusi buku. >>> DOWNLOAD The Da Vinci Code

Kisah 47 Ronin - John Allyn (e-book A)

2010-05-17T11:26:00.001+07:00

(terjemahan Bahasa Indonesia)

Kisah Empat Puluh Tujuh Ronin (Aka rashi1, ronin dari Aka) adalah peristiwa pembalasan dendam 47 ronin dari Aka di bawah pimpinan Oishi Kuranosuke Yoshitaka yang membalas dendam atas kematian majikan bemama Asano Takumi no Kami dengan cara menyerbu pejabat tinggi kaisar, Kira Kazuke, dan membunuhnya.

Peristiwa pembunuhan Kira Kazuke dikenal sebagai Genroku Aka jiken (Peristiwa Aka era Genroku) karena terjadi tanggal 14 bulan 12 tahun ke-IS era Genroku atau 30 Januari 1703.
Di kota Aka yang merupakan tempat asal 47 ronin, kisah ini dikenal sebagai Akogishi (Perwira setia dari Aka).

Di Jepang sebelum Perang Dunia II, kisah ini umum dikenal sebagai Akagishi dan di jadikan teladan kesetiaan samurai terhadap majikannya. Seusai Perang Dunia II, kisah ini lebih dikenal sebagai Aka rashi (ronin dari Aka) atau Shijushichishi (47 samurai) berkat kepopuleran novel karya Osaragi Jira yang ke¬ mudian diangkat menjadi drama televisi.>>> DOWNLOAD Kisah 47 Ronin

Kimya Sang Putri Rumi - Muriel Maufroy (e-book M)

2010-03-06T01:16:00.003+07:00

(terjemahan bahasa Indonesia)

Dialah Kirnya, putri angkat Rumi.Terlahir sebagai anak petani di pedalaman Anatolia, sejak kecil dia merasakan sebuah kerinduan misterius kepada Vang Gaib. Kirnya menyaksikan dari dekat proses perubahan ayah angkatnya. Dari seorang ulama terhormat di Konya, dia menjadi perindu Tuhan, bersyair dan menari merayakan cinta Ilahi. Semua itu karena perjumpaannya dengan seorang sufi pengembara, Syams dari Tabriz.

Hidup Kirnya semakin berliku setelah dia menjadi istri Syams. Kirnya harus menghadapi permusuhan murid-murid Rumi dan penduduk Konya yang menganggap Syams meracuni pikiran Rumi. Bagaimana Kirnya menghadapinya? Apakah Syams juga mengubah diri Kirnya, sebagaimana Rumi? Dan apakah Kirnya menemukan apa yang selama ini dia rindukan? Melalui sudut pandang Kirnya, kita juga akan melihat Rumi bukan hanya sebagai orang suci, tetapi juga sebagai seorang ayah dan suami,yang mengalami kegundahan yang amat manusiawi. (http://vodozom.wordpress.com) >>> DOWNLOAD Kirnya Sang Putri Rumi

To Kill A Mocking Bird - Harper Lee (e-book L)

2010-03-06T01:11:00.004+07:00

(terjemahan bahasa Indonesia)

NOVEL TERLARIS SEPANJANG MASA VERSI THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS
To Kill a Mocking Bird adalah novel terbesar dan satu-satunya yang ditulis Harper Lee. Berkat kisah indah tersebut yang memenangi penghargaan Pulitzer Award 1961, dia dianugerahi Presidential Medal of Freedom 2007, the Highest Civilian Honor USA.

Kehidupan Scout dan Jem Finch berubah total saat ayah mereka menjadi pembela seorang kulit hitam. Ketika Atticus membela seorang yang dianggap sampah masyarakat, kecaman pun datang dari seluruh penjuru kota. Di tengah terpaan masalah yang menimpa keluarganya, si kecil Scout belajar bahwa kehidupan tidak melulu hitam dan putih. Dikisahkan dari sudut pandang gadis delapan tahun warga Maycomb, Alabama, novel ini akan menunjukkan bahwa sebuah prasangka sering kali membutakan manusia. Dan sebuah keadilan hanya dapat dilahirkan dari rasa cinta yang tak membedakan apa pun latar belakang seseorang. Harper Lee telah berhasil menyuguhkan sebuah novel menawan yang amat berkesan dan tak lekang oleh zaman.>>> DOWNLOAD To Kill a Mockingbird

Carry Me Down - M.J. Hyland (e-book H)

2010-03-06T01:05:00.002+07:00

(dalam terjemahan bahasa Indonesia)

John Egan memiliki talenta yang tidak lazim: ia tahu kalau orang berbohong. John berharap suatu hari talentanya ini akan membuatnya tenar dan menjadi jaminan bahwa namanya kelak tercantum dalam Guiness Book of World Records. Tapi sebelum hari itu tiba, ia mesti menghadapi suasana keluarganya yang tidak menyenangkan–keluarga yang ia cintai, namun rapuh. Tapi apa hendak dikata, dalam waktu singkat obsesi John untuk mengungkapkan kebenaran berubah menjadi hambatan kepribadian yang keras lagi menakutkan.

“Sebuah kisah memikat yang diungkapkan sedemikian baik hingga mengubah cara pandang Anda… benar-benar menghibur.”
–Publishers Weekly>>> DOWNLOAD Carry Me Down

The Future of Theory - Jean-Michel Rabate (e-book R)

2010-02-22T10:08:00.002+07:00

In this controversial manifesto, Jean-Michel Rabate addresses current anxieties about the future of literary and cultural theory and proposes that it still has a crucial role to play.
"As with other books in this publisher's series, the intent is to engage the general educated public in a discussion of meaningful concepts, and Rabate succeeds excellently. For all public and academic collections." Library Journal
"This clearly written, well-documented study will serve graduate students, faculty and researchers." Choice. >>> DOWNLOAD THE FUTURE OF THEORY

The Name of the Rose: Kejahatan Bisa Muncul dari Kesalehan - Umberto Eco (e-book E)

2010-02-22T09:53:00.004+07:00

(terjemahan bahasa Indonesia)

Anwar Holid Review:

Orang kerap berpendapat berlebihan dan memberi citra berat pada The Name of the Rose. Gara-gara penulisnya seorang profesor doktor sastra, filsuf, ahli semiotika, dan pakar Abad Pertengahan, The Name of the Rose sering dianggap serius dan sulit. Akibatnya ia sering ditilik bukan semata-mata sebagai novel pada umumnya, melainkan disertai embel-embel yang berpotensi menakutkan calon pembaca lain. Disebut-sebut novel ini bernuansa filsafat, penuh konsep semiotika, dan menggugat keimanan, sampai-sampai membuat sebagian orang ragu untuk mulai membacanya. Back cover novel ini pun bilang begitu: "Novel Umberto Eco yang kental bernuansa misteri ini tidak hanya menyuguhkan cerita pembunuhan biasa. Dengan sangat cerdas, Eco menghadirkan kehidupan biara yang puritan lengkap dengan tradisi pemikiran gereja Abad Pertengahan". >>> DOWNLOAD The Name of The Rose

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (e-book N)

2010-02-22T09:44:00.004+07:00

(terjemahan bahasa Indonesia)

Lolita adalah novel indah yang abadi. Sempat dilarang beredar di Amerika Serikat, novel ini hingga kini terus diperbincangkan orang dan menjadi buku laris di berbagai negara. Lolita bahkan dianggap sebagai salah satu novel terbaik sepanjang masa oleh sejumlah kritisi sastra. Sedemikian populernya kisah ini hingga sempat dua kali difilmkan. Lolita berkisah tentang pengakuan seorang profesor setengah baya bernama Humbert Humbert yang terobsesi seorang gadis remaja, Dolores Haze—sang Lolita. Untuk bisa berdekatan dengan Dolores, Humbert menikahi ibu gadis itu. Setelah sang ibu tewas dalam sebuah kecelakaan, Humbert membawa anak tirinya berkelana mengelilingi Amerika Serikat, menikmati cinta terlarang dengan segala manis getirnya.Kisah ini bernuansa muram, tetapi tak kehilangan sentuhan humor. Ia menjadi indah antara lain karena kepiawaian Vladimir Nabokov dalam melukiskan nuansa psikologis tokoh-tokohnya , terutama sosok Lolita yang kenes dan misterius, serta Humbert yang berkepribadian rumit. Di atas segalanya, novel kontroversial ini adalah kisah luar biasa tentang kekuatan cinta dalam hidup manusia.>>> DOWNLOAD LOLITA

Kumpulan Cerpen Kompas 2007

2010-02-19T10:58:00.000+07:00

Ayu menyebut, ada hal-hal yang menjadi usang dan tidak boleng diulang sebagai ciptaan, termasuk dalam menulis cerpen. Sementara Sapardi menghubungkan antara sifat koran yang semakin terbatas ruangnya dengan kemampuan cerpenis menyusun cerpen koran yang meyakinkan. Dua dasar pemikiran itu pula yang antara lain mendasari pemilihan cerpen di dalam antologi Cerpen Kompas Pilihan 2007 ini.

>>> DOWNLOAD Kumpulan Cerpen Kompas 2007

Kumpulan Cerpen Kompas 2006

2010-02-19T10:32:00.001+07:00

Berbeda dari tahun-tahun sebelumnya, kali ini buku kumpulan cerpen Kompas memakai judul Cerpen Kompas Pilihan sementara biasanya menggunakan judul Cerpen Pilihan Kompas. Bila sebelumnya cerpen-cerpen yang akan diterbitkan menjadi buku itu dipilih sejumlah anggota Redaksi Kompas, maka kali ini proses pemilihan sepenuhnya diserahkan kepada pihak luar. Untuk kali ini Redaksi Kompas memilih Prof Dr Bambang Sugiharto, guru besar filsafat yang mengajar di Universitas Parahyangan dan Institut Teknologi Bandung, dan Nirwan Dewanto, penulis berbagai genre sastra, untuk memilih dari cerpen-cerpen yang terbit di Kompas pada tahun 2005 dan 2006. >>> DOWNLOAD Kumpulan Cerpen Kompas 2006

KAMUS BESAR BAHASA INDONESIA (2008) - PUSAT BAHASA

2010-02-16T14:57:00.000+07:00

Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia yang dikenal dengan sebutan KBBI terbit pertama 28 Oktober 1988 saat Pembukaan Kongres V Bahasa Indonesia. Sejak itu kamus tersebut telah menjadi sumber rujukan yang dipercaya baik di kalangan pengguna di dalam maupun di luar negeri. Setiap ada permasalahan tentang kata, KBBI selalu dianggap sebagai jalan keluar penyelesaiannya. Selain muatan isi, KBBI memang disusun tidak sekadar sebagai sumber rujukan, tetapi menjadi sumber penggalian ilmu pengetahuan, teknologi, dan seni, serta peradaban Indonesia. Oleh karena itu, rujukan tersebut kemudian semakin mengakar di dalam kehidupan berbahasa Indonesia walaupun upaya penyempurnaan isi tidak selamanya mengimbangi perkembangan kosakata bahasa Indonesia. >>> DOWNLOAD KAMUS BESAR BAHASA INDONESIA

SNOW Dibalik keheningan Salju - Orhan Pamuk (e-book P)

2010-02-14T17:54:00.003+07:00

(terjemahan bahasa Indonesia)

Salju mulai turun ketika seorang wartawan dan penyair bernama Ka tiba di Kars, sebuah kota kecil di perbatasan Turki. Diawali keinginannya untuk menyelidiki kasus bunuh diri yang semakin mewabah di kalangan wanita muda kotaitu, juga hasraqt untuk menemukan cinta masa lalunya, tanpa sadar Ka terseret di dalam gejolak kemelut Kars. Konflik antargerakan Islam, pertikaian antar agama dan sekularisme, serta aparat penguasa yang bertindak sewenang-wenang hanyalah segelintir persoalan di tengah gunung es masalah di kota yang terisolasi selama berkecamuknya badai salju yang ganas itu. Snow adalah sebuah kisah tentang kesulitan yang dihadapi oleh sebuah bangsa yang terbelah antara tradisi, agama, dan modernisasi. Di tangan Pamuk, seluruh permasalahan itu tersaji menjadi sebuah kisah thriller politik yang mencekam dan meninggalkan kesan mendalam.>>> DOWNLOAD SNOW

Serial Pendekar Sakti - Kho Ping Hoo

2010-02-14T17:39:00.000+07:00

Asmaraman Sukowati Kho Ping Hoo (Kho Ping Ho) adalah penulis cersil (cerita silat) yang sangat populer di Indonesia. Peranakan Cina ini lahir di Sragen, tanggal 17 Agustus 1926. Beliau meninggal pada tanggal 22 Juli 1994 karena serangan jantung. Selama 30 tahun, ia telah menulis sedikitnya 120 karya. Bila tiap jilid dibaca 25 orang. Maka, tiap edisinya kira-kira dibaca oleh 1,6 juta orang. Meski menulis cerita-cerita silat Cina, penulis yang produktif ini tidak bisa membaca dan menulis dalam bahasa Mandarin. Ia banyak mendapat inspirasi dari film-film silat Hongkong dan Taiwan. Kontribusinya bagi sastra Indonesia, khususnya Cina Melayu, tidak dapat diabaikan. Karya Kho Ping Hoo, terutama cersilnya, mempunyai arti penting di hati para pembaca di Indonesia, terutama keturunan Cina yang di besarkan di rezim Soeharto. Waktu itu pengajaran bahasa Cina, baik Mandarin atau dialek lain, dilarang oleh negara. Dalam suasana itu, karya Kho Ping Hoo menjadi sumber yang langka dalam "pendidikan" kebudayaan, sejarah, agama bahkan moral bangsa Cina. >>> DOWNLOAD SERIAL PENDEKAR SAKTI

Supernova PETIR - Dee

2010-02-14T17:32:00.000+07:00

Tak ada cara untuk menggambarkannya dengan tepat. Tapi coba bayangkan ada sepuluh ribu ikan piranha yang menyergapmu langsung. Kau tak mungkin berpikir. Tak mungin mengucapkan kalimat perpisahan apalagi membacakan wasiat. Lupakan untuk berpisah dengan manis dan mesra seperti di film-film. Listrik membunuhmu dengan sensasi. Begitu dashyatnya. engkau hanya mampu terkulai lemas. Engkau mati tergoda.>>> DOWNLOAD Supernova-Petir

Sejarah Ilmu Psikologi (A Primer of Freudian Psychology) - Calvin S. Hall

2010-02-14T17:18:00.000+07:00

Meskipun Sigmund Freud lahir di Freiburg, Moravia, dan meninggal di London, Inggris, dia adalah warga negara Wina, dimana dia menghabiskan hampir 80 tahun hidupnya. Jika Nazi tidak mencaplok Austria di tahun 1937, yang memaksa Freud mencari tempat perlindungan di Inggris, seluruh hidupnya, kecuali tiga tahun pertamanya, akanlah dihabiskan di ibukota Austria itu. Hidup Freud yang panjang, dari 1856 sampai 1939, merentang di satu periode paling kreatif dalam sejarah ilmu pengetahuan. Di tahun ketika Freud yang berusia tiga tahun dibawa keluarganya ke Wina, dia menyaksikan diterbitkannya buku Origin of Species karangan Charles Darwin. Buku ini ditakdirkan merevolusi konsepsi tentang manusia. Sebelum Darwin, manusia telah dipisahkan dari kerajaan binatang semata-mata karena dia memiliki jiwa. Doktrin evolusioner membuat manusia sebagai satu bagian dari alam, seekor binatang diantara binatang yang lain. Diterimanya pandangan radikal ini berarti studi atas manusia haruslah kelanjutan dari garis-garis naturalistik. Manusia menjadi objek dari studi ilmiah yang tak berbeda, kecuali dalam kompleksitasnya, dengan bentuk-bentuk kehidupan lain.>>> DOWNLOAD Sejarah Ilmu Psikologi

Seeing - José Saramago (e-book S)

2010-02-09T18:08:00.002+07:00

The story begins with those ordinary citizens, who not so long ago regained their sight and their tranquil day-to-day lives, doing something that seems quite unconnected with vision or lack of it. It is voting day, and 83% of them, after not going to the polls at all in the morning, go in the late afternoon and cast a blank ballot. We see the dismay of bureaucrats, the excitement of journalists, the hysteria of the government, and the mild non-response of the citizens, who, when asked how they voted, refuse to say, reminding the questioner that the question is illegal. The satire is at first quite funny, and I thought it was going to be a light, Voltairean tale.>>> DOWNLOAD Seeing

Blindness - José Saramago (e-book S)

2010-02-09T18:01:00.001+07:00

There are no names of characters here. Only “the girl with the dark sunglasses,” or “the doctor”, or “the boy with the squint.” There are no quotation marks delineating conversations here. Only a random, stream-of-consciousness kind of dialogue as one voice interacts with another. What there is is blindness. Unexpected blindness which comes upon its victims in the form of a milky white sea instead of total blackness. >>> DOWNLOAD Blindness

History of My Life, Books 1 & 2 - Giacomo Casanova (e-book C)

2010-02-09T17:52:00.001+07:00

"Now at last we can enjoy the wonderful History of My Life... as if we were reading an entirely new book... Few more extraordinary men have ever lived; an no memoirist gives us a more vivid impression of the social background of his period." -- Peter Quennell The last two volumes of Casanova's account of his extraordinary life include the story of his imprisonment in Buen Retiro, his trip to Madrid and his affair with Do?a Ignacia, his journey to Barcelona and his detention in the Tower, his encounter with Lord Baltimore, and his serious illness in Aix-en-Provence when he is taken care of by a mysterious woman who turns out to the servant of one of his first loves, Henriette.>>> DOWNLOAD History of My Life

Cat and Mouse - Günter Grass (e-book G)

2010-02-09T17:38:00.000+07:00

Cat and Mouse, published in Germany in 1961 as Katz und Maus, is a novella by Günter Grass, the second book of the Danzig Trilogy. It is about Joachim Mahlke, an alienated only child without a father. The narrator Pilenz "alone could be termed his friend, if it were possible to be friends with Mahlke" (p. 78); much of Pilenz's narration addresses Mahlke directly by means of second-person narration. The story is set in Danzig (Gdańsk) around the time of the Second World War and Nazi rule. >>>DOWNLOAD Cat and Mouse

Bekisar Merah - Ahmad Tohari (e-book T)

2010-02-09T17:31:00.001+07:00

Bekisar merupakan sejenis ayam, hasil persilangan antara ayam hutan dengan ayam piaraan. Keberadaannya cukup langka dan memiliki banyak keistimewaan. Sejumlah hobiis ayam dan unggas menghargainya demikian tinggi. Jauh lebih tinggi dari harga masing-masing induknya. Tetapi novel ini tidak berbicara tentang bekisar dalam artian sesungguhnya. Novel ini justru berkisah tentang kehidupan Karangsoga, kampung pembuat gula kelapa; di mana para lelaki memanjat kelapa untuk memperoleh nira yang dikumpulkan dalam pongkor bambu; sementara para perempuan menunggu dirumah sembari bersiap memasak nira dalam tungku panas hingga menjadi gula. >>> DOWNLOAD BEKISAR MERAH

Trilogi Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk - Ahmad Tohari (e-book T)

2010-02-09T17:25:00.001+07:00

Buku ini adalah tentang cinta sejati antara seorang laki-laki seorang wanita (penari). Tapi tidak seperti Roman lain yang kebanyakan cenderung melodrama, buku ini telah berhasil mengangkat masalah-masalah sosial dari sebuah kelompok etnis tertentu di Indonesia yang membuat roman dari dua kekasih, entah bagaimana, adalah rumit. Penulis buku ini adalah salah satu penulis yang dikenal karena keunggulan dalam menulis deskripsi alam yang indah, dengan cara yang menyentuh jiwa kita. Dan itu, membuat ceritanya indah dan sangat kuat. Buku ini telah menjadi subjek penelitian tesis di Jepang, atau di tempat lain dan telah diterjemahkan ke beberapa bahasa, termasuk Inggris dan Jerman. >>> DOWNLOAD Trilogi Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk

Kubah - Ahmad Tohari (e-book T)

2010-02-09T17:16:00.001+07:00

Tidak mudah bagi seorang lelaki untuk mendapatkan kembali tempatnya di masyarakat setelah 12 tahun tinggal dalam pengasingan di Pulau B. Apalagi hati masyarakat memamng pernah dilukainya. Karman, lelaki itu, juga telah kehilangan orang-orang yang dulu selalu hadir dalam jiwanya. Istrinya telah menikah dengan lelaki lain, anaknya ada yang meninggal, dan yang tersisa tak lagi begitu mengenalnya. Karman memikul dosa sejarah yang amat berat dan dia hampir tak sanggup menanggungnya. Namun di tengah kehidupan yang hampir tertutup baginya, Karman masih bisa menemukan seberkas sinar kasih sayang. Dia dipercayai oleh Pak Haji, orang terkemuka di desanya yang pernah dikhianatinya karena dia sendiri berpaling dari Tuhan, untuk membangun kubah mesjid di desa itu. Karman merasakan menemukan dirinya kembali, menemukan martabat hidupnya.>>> DOWNLOAD KUBAH

Ayat-ayat Cinta - Habiburrahman El Shirazy (e-book S)

2010-02-09T17:08:00.000+07:00

Ayat Ayat Cinta merupakan novel berbahasa Indonesia karangan Habiburrahman El Shirazy yang diterbitkan pertama kali pada tahun 2004 melalui penerbit Basmala dan Republika. Novel ini berisikan 418 halaman dan sukses menjadi salah satu novel fiksi terlaris di Indonesia yang dicetak sampai dengan 160 ribu eksemplar hanya dalam jangka waktu tiga tahun. Ayat Ayat Cinta juga merupakan pelopor karya sastra islami yang sedang dalam masa kebangkitannya dewasa ini.>>> DOWNLOAD Ayat-Ayat Cinta

Domba-domba yang Membisu - Thomas Harris (e-book H)

2010-02-09T16:20:00.004+07:00

(terjemahan bahasa Indonesia)

Seorang diri Starling menyusuri koridor remang-remang itu. Ia tidak menoleh ke sel-sel di kedua sisi. Suara langkahnya berkesan keras baginya. Kecuali itu hanya ada suara mendengkur dari satu atau dua sel, serta tawa terkekeh-terkekeh dari sel lain.... Dr. Lecter mengenakan seragam putih rumah sakit jiwa di selnya yang berwarna sama. Kecuali rambut, mata, dan mulutnya yang merah, segala sesuatu di sel itu berwarna putih. Wajahnya sudah begitu lama tidak terkena sinar matahari, sehingga seakan-akan menyatu dengan warna putih yang mengelilinginya; sepintas lalu timbul kesan wajahnya melayang di atas kerah bajunya. Lecter duduk di meja di balik jaring nilon yang menghalanginya dari terali.>>> DOWNLOAD The Silence of The Lambs

The Tale of Despereaux - Kate DiCamillo (e-book D)

2010-02-06T13:25:00.000+07:00

The Tale of Despereaux, also known as The Tale of Desperaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread is a 2003 Newbery Medal winning children's fantasy book written by Kate DiCamillo. It tells the story of a mouse, named Despereaux, on a quest to rescue a beautiful human princess. The book was adapted into an animated film in 2008. The novel is divided into four books and a coda. Each book tells the story from the perspective of a different character.The Tale of Despereaux is divided into four separate sections called "books". Book the first tells Despereaux's orgins, book the second on Roscuro, and book the third about Miggery Sow. The first three books are set years apart all concluding up until the fourth book. >>> DOWNLOAD The Tale of Despereau

Sukarno Penyambung Lidah Rakyat - Cindy Adams (e-book A)

2010-02-06T13:18:00.001+07:00

CARA yang paling mudah untuk melukiskan tentang diri Sukarno ialah dengan menamakannya seorang yang maha‐pencinta. Ia mencintai negerinya, ia mencintai rakyatnya, ia mencintai wanita, ia mencintai seni dan melebihi daripada segala‐galanya ia cinta kepada dirinya sendiri. Sukarno adalah seorang manusia perasaan. Seorang pengagum. Ia menarik napas panjang apabila menyaksikan pemandangan yang indah. Jiwanya bergetar memandangi matahari terbenam di Indonesia. Ia menangis dikala menyanyikan lagu spirituil orang negro. Orang mengatakan bahwa Presiden Republik Indonesia terlalu banyak memiliki darah seorang seniman.>>> DOWNLOAD SUKARNO PENYAMBUNG LIDAH RAKYAT

The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown (e-book B)

2010-02-05T11:07:00.001+07:00

(English Version)

The story focuses on Freemasonry, and takes place over a period of 12 hours in Washington, D.C. Robert Langdon is summoned to give a lecture in National Statuary Hall at the United States Capitol, with the invitation apparently from his mentor, a 33rd degree Mason named Peter Solomon, who is the head of the Smithsonian Institution. However, when Langdon arrives at the Capitol, instead of an audience for his lecture, he finds the severed right hand of Peter Solomon tattooed into a symbolic Hand of the Mysteries, and pointing straight upwards to the fresco The Apotheosis of Washington on the inside of the Capitol dome. Solomon has been kidnapped by the villain Mal'akh, who demands that Langdon unlock the Ancient Mysteries in return for Solomon's life.This leads to a game of cat and mouse throughout the museums and architecture of Washington. >>> DOWNLOAD The Lost Symbol

Interrogating Cultural Studies: Theory, Politics and Practice - Paul Bowman (e-book B)

2010-02-04T12:52:00.002+07:00

This book presents an original and innovative new approach to the field of cultural studies in the form of a series of dynamically executed interviews with some of the world’s leading and some of the most challenging emergent cultural theorists, from both sides of the Atlantic and beyond: Professor Mieke Bal, Professor Catherine Belsey, Professor Steven Connor, Professor Simon Critchley, Professor Thomas Docherty, Dr Jeremy Gilbert, Professor Sue Golding, Professor Lynette Hunter, Dr Martin McQuillan, Professor John Mowitt, Professor Christopher Norris, Professor Griselda Pollock, Professor Adrian Rifkin, Professor Jeremy Valentine, Professor Julian Wolfreys, and Professor Slavoj Zizek are all included here. The book is framed by lively and informative introductions, which introduce the work of these thinkers, and which also introduce the reader to the crucial importance of the issues that the interviews address.The result is an entertaining and hugely useful introduction to the key ideas in the field, the strengths and problematic weaknesses of cultural studies as a discipline, allowing the reader to chart its development, and to identify emerging trends. This book is ideal for students of cultural studies and the interdisciplinary arts and humanities, and will be of great interest to teachers and researchers working within a very wide range of areas of cultural studies.>>> DOWNLOAD Interrogating Cultural Studies - Theory, Politics and Practice

The Art of Taking a Walk: Flanerie, Literature, and Film in Weimar Culture - Anke Gleber (e-book G)

2010-02-04T12:45:00.001+07:00

Anke Gleber examines one of the most intriguing and characteristic figures of European urban modernity: the observing city stroller, or flaneur. In an age transformed by industrialism, the flaneur drifted through city streets, inspired and repelled by the surrounding scenes of splendor and squalor. Gleber examines this often elusive figure in the particular contexts of Weimar Germany and the intellectual sphere of Walter Benjamin, with whom the concept of flanerie is often associated. She sketches the European influences that produced the German flaneur and establishes the figure as a pervasive presence in Weimar culture, as well as a profound influence on modern perceptions of public space. The book begins by exploring the theory of literary flanerie and the technological changes--street lighting, public transportation, and the emergence of film--that gave a new status to the activities of seeing and walking in the modern city. Gleber then assesses the place of flanerie in works by Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer, and other representatives of Weimar literature, arts, and theory. She draws particular attention to the works of Franz Hessel, a Berlin flaneur who argued that flanerie is a "reading" of the city that perceives passersby, streets, and fleeting impressions as the transitory signs of modernity. Gleber also examines connections between flanerie and Weimar film, and discusses female flanerie as a means of asserting female subjectivity in the public realm The book is a deeply original and searching reassessment of the complex intersections among modernity, vision, and public space.

>>> DOWNLOAD The Art of Taking a Walk - Flanerie, Literature, and Film in Weimar Culture

The Oxford Thesaurus: An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms

2010-02-04T11:06:00.001+07:00

First published in 1991, the very successful first edition of The Oxford Thesaurus has now sold over 126,000 copies. This new edition (NB new format), which for the first time includes antonyms in the main A-Z text, along with many additional new synonyms, broadens the book's appeal still further. The Oxford Thesaurus remains the most useful A-Z thesaurus available today, with more practical guidance for the user than any other competing title. Around 350,000 synonyms and antonyms, covering general English as well as thousands of regional and idiomatic words and expressions, are listed in A-Z form for ease of reference. Generous and detailed labelling shows how to use synonyms, and example sentences throughout make it even easier to select the correct synonym. The most useful synonyms (ie those that are closest in meaning to the headword) are listed first - a more helpful arrangement than a simple alphabetical listing under the headword. If the word for which you seek an alternative is not to be found as a headword, you can simply turn to the synonym index which lists 265,000 synonyms and shows you under which headword each synonym is located. In addition, all synonyms which also have their own headword entry (at which further related words may be found) are indicated by a simple cross-reference symbol. On the first edition: 'handier than Roget both in being alphabetical and in offering example-sentences. The mot juste in just a mo.' Prof. Sir Randolph Quirk, The Observer. >>> DOWNLOAD The Oxford Thesaurus_ An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms

The Oxford Dictionary of New Words - Elizabeth Knowles and Julia Elliott--ed. (e-book K)

2010-02-04T10:33:00.002+07:00

Amazon.com Review
The image of the linguist as a stodgy old stick-in-the-mud, circling misplaced commas and mumbling in dead tongues, is just not true--at least not entirely. Any linguist worth her salt knows that languages change and keeps up with those changes. To make that task easier, the folks at Oxford University Press have put out a dictionary of more than 2,500 new words and phrases that have been popularized since the late 1980s. Editors Elizabeth Knowles and Julia Elliott provide definitions, usage notes, and etymologies for jelly shoes, road rage, and hot-desking, not to mention tree-hugger, feminazi, McJob, get a life, and not! The English language is alive and kicking, and Oxford has its finger on the semantic pulse.>>> DOWNLOAD The Oxford Dictionary of New Words

Tahun yang Tak Pernah Berakhir: Memahami Pengalaman Korban 65 - John Roosa, Ayu Ratih, Hilmar Farid--ed. (e-book R)

2010-02-02T09:49:00.001+07:00

Buku ini menjadi semacam dokumentasi ingatan sosial korban yang selama ini tercerai di dalam kegelapan kebohongan. Kebanyakan korban ingin menentang ingatan sosial yang menganggap mereka sebagai setan dan pengkhianat. Mereka ingin mengungkapkan cerita bahwa mereka adalah orang baik, bermartabat, patriotik yang kemudian dikorbankan. Buku ini tidak lantas ingin menampilkan mereka sebagai malaikat, karena merekapun tidak ingin terlihat seperti itu. Mereka ditampilkan sebagai manusia, yang tidak lebih baik atau lebih buruk daripada manusia yang lain, yang tidak pantas diperlakukan seperti apa yang mereka alami. Prinsip para penyusun dan penulis buku ini sederhana saja: tak seorangpun, terlepas dari latar belakang dan masa lalunya, boleh diculik, disiksa, diperkosa, dipaksa bekerja tanpa upah, ditembak mati, dan dikubur dalam kuburan massal atau ditahan tanpa pengadilan atas alasan apapun. Esai-esai sejarah lisan tentang pengalaman korban 65 yang terangkum dalam buku “Tahun yang Tak Berakhir: Memahami Pengalaman Korban 65, Esai-esai Sejarah Lisan” yang diterbitkan pada 2004 oleh Institut Sejarah Sosial Indonesia bersama Lembaga Studi dan Advokasi Masyarakat (ELSAM) dan Tim Relawan untuk Kemanusiaan (TRK) >>> DOWNLOAD TAHUN YANG TAK PERNAH BERAKHIR

Dalih Pembunuhan Massal: Gerakan 30 September dan Kudeta Suharto - John Roosa (e-book R)

2010-02-02T08:49:00.001+07:00

Buku ini merupakan karya objektif beasiswa historis. Versi Inggris aslinya telah menerima pujian yang tinggi di seluruh dunia dan termasuk dalam kurikulum pengajaran di Indonesia dan negara-negara Asia lainnya, Australia, Amerika Utara dan Eropa. Ketika kita memahaminya, pelarangan buku ini didasarkan pada hukum yang sudah ketinggalan zaman. Indonesia telah mencapai kemajuan besar dalam demokrasi selama dekade terakhir, dan serangan terhadap kebebasan akademik mewakili satu set kembali untuk masyarakat Indonesia dalam perjuangannya untuk masa depan yang bebas dan makmur. Artikel-artikel yang disajikan dalam konferensi memberikan gambaran dari sebuah Indonesia yang sejak awal dimaksudkan untuk mengembangkan identitas nasional yang akan mengakomodasi perbedaan pendapat dan menghargai menjunjung tinggi kebebasan akademis pengalaman sejak masa awal kemerdekaan. Kami berharap bahwa pihak berwenang yang relevan akan mempertimbangkan kembali larangan ini secepat mungkin. >>> DOWNLOAD DALIH PEMBUNUHAN MASSAL DAN KUDETA SOEHARTO

Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology - Stephen Wilson (e-book W)

2010-01-29T15:04:00.001+07:00

A new breed of contemporary artist engages science and technology—not just to adopt the vocabulary and gizmos, but to explore and comment on the content, agendas, and possibilities. Indeed, proposes Stephen Wilson, the role of the artist is not only to interpret and to spread scientific knowledge, but to be an active partner in determining the direction of research. Years ago, C. P. Snow wrote about the "two cultures" of science and the humanities; these developments may finally help to change the outlook of those who view science and technology as separate from the general culture. In this rich compendium, Wilson offers the first comprehensive survey of international artists who incorporate concepts and research from mathematics, the physical sciences, biology, kinetics, telecommunications, and experimental digital systems such as artificial intelligence and ubiquitous computing. In addition to visual documentation and statements by the artists, Wilson examines relevant art-theoretical writings and explores emerging scientific and technological research likely to be culturally significant in the future. He also provides lists of resources including organizations, publications, conferences, museums, research centers, and Web sites. >>> DOWNLOAD Information Arts - Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology

Art Without Borders: A Philosophical Exploration of Art and Humanity - Ben-Ami Scharfstein (e-book S)

2010-01-29T14:21:00.000+07:00

Art Without Borders is an extraordinary exploration of a profound and personal meditation on the human hunger for art and a dazzling synthesis of the whole range of inquiry into its significance. Esteemed thinker Ben-Ami Scharfstein’s encyclopedic erudition is here brought to bear on the full breadth of the world of art. He draws on neuroscience and psychology to understand the way we both perceive and conceive of art, including its resistance to verbal exposition. Through examples of work by Indian, Chinese, European, African, and Australian artists, Art Without Borders probes the distinction between accepting a tradition and defying it through innovation, which leads to a consideration of the notion of artistic genius. Continuing in this comparative vein, Scharfstein examines the mutual influence of European and non-European artists. Then, through a comprehensive evaluation of the world’s major art cultures, he shows how all of these individual traditions are gradually, but haltingly, conjoining into a single current of universal art. Finally, he concludes by looking at the ways empathy and intuition can allow members of one culture to appreciate the art of another. >>> DOWNLOAD ART WITHOUT BORDERS, A PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLORATION OF ART AND HUMANITY

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess (e-book B)

2010-01-28T10:21:00.000+07:00

Once, a long time ago, Your Humble Narrator viddied a real like horrorshow film called A Clockwork Orange. this choodessny film is based on a book written by a remarkable chelloveck named Anthony Burgess.. The entire book is written in this strange dialect and it speaks to the talent of the author to not only come up with this fictional dialect, but also write an entire book in such a manner. >>> DOWNLOAD A Clockwork Orange

Flaubert's Parrot - Julian Barnes (e-book B)

2010-01-28T09:50:00.001+07:00

Julian Barnes has written an immensely witty, erudite novel, in a tongue-in-cheek style, concerning his obsession with one of the greatest French novelists, Gustave Flaubert, whose most famous book was "Emma Bovery." As Barnes indicates however, it was "A Sentimental Education" that Flaubert considered his magnum opus. The `structure' of Barnes' novel, which is certainly an exaggeration for such a free-wheeling style, centers around the true identity of the stuffed parrot that Flaubert supposedly had on his desk when he wrote "A Simple Heart." For reasons that did not seem to be particularly necessary, Barnes tells the story from the point of view of a widowed, retired doctor, Geoffrey Braithwaite, who is depicted to be 20 or so years older than Barnes, and who, among other aspects of his life, participated in the Normandy invasion. Barnes even structures one chapter as a school examination paper, in which the "student," (i.e., the reader) is supposed to answer questions on Flaubert's life and works. >>> DOWNLOAD Flaubert's Parrot

Deconstructions and Pragmatism - Jaqcues Derrida (e-book D)

2010-01-28T09:38:00.000+07:00

A collection of essays by Chantal Mouffe, Richard Rorty, Jacques Derrida Ernest Laclau and Simon Critchley. This is an excellent book for several reasons, primarily because it examines the relationship that deconstructivist and pragmatist theories have on the foundations of rationalist democracy, a topic was fascinated. In many aspects, both Derrida and Rorty's work undermine the dominant rationalist approach that underlies most academic and political infrastructures. >>> DOWNLOAD Deconstructions and Pragmatism

Site-Specific Art - Performance, Place and Documentation - Nick Kaye (e-book K)

2010-01-27T21:27:00.001+07:00

Site-Specific Art charts the development of an experimental art form in an experimental way. Nick Kaye traces the fascinating historical antecedents of today's installation and performance art, while also assembling a unique documentation of contemporary practice around the world. The book is divided into individual analyses of the themes of space, materials, site, and frames. These are interspersed by specially commissioned documentary artwork from some of the world's foremost practitioners and artists working today. This interweaving of critique and creativity has never been achieved on this scale before. Site-Specific Art investigates the relationship of architectural theory to an understanding of contemporary site related art and performance, and rigorously questions how such works can be documented. The artistic processes involved are demonstrated through entirely new primary articles from: Meredith Monk Station House Opera Brith Gof Forced Entertainment This volume is an astonishing contribution to debates around experimental cross-arts practice. >>> DOWNLOAD Site-Specific Art - Performance, Place and Documentation

Philosophy and Conceptual Art - Goldie, Peter. Schellekens, Elisabeth (e-book P)

2010-01-27T19:33:00.000+07:00

The fourteen prominent analytic philosophers writing here engage with the cluster of philosophical questions raised by conceptual art. They address four broad questions: What kind of art is conceptual art? What follows from the fact that conceptual art does not aim to have aesthetic value? What knowledge or understanding can we gain from conceptual art? How ought we to appreciate conceptual art? Conceptual art, broadly understood by the contributors as beginning with Marcel Duchamp's ready-mades and as continuing beyond the 1970s to include some of today's contemporary art, is grounded in the notion that the artist's 'idea' is central to art, and, contrary to tradition, that the material work is by no means essential to the art as such.To use the words of the conceptual artist Sol LeWitt, "In conceptual art the idea of the concept is the most important aspect of the work...and the execution is a perfunctory affair". Given this so-called "dematerialization" of the art object, the emphasis on cognitive value, and the frequent appeal to philosophy by many conceptual artists, there are many questions that are raised by conceptual art that should be of interest to analytic philosophers. Why, then, has so little work been done in this area?This volume is most probably the first collection of papers by analytic Anglo-American philosophers tackling these concerns head-on. >>> DOWNLOAD Philosophy and Conceptual Art

Issues in Curating Contemporary Art - Judith Rugg and Michèle Sedgwick--ed. (e-book R)

2010-01-27T19:24:00.001+07:00

Issues in Curating Contemporary Art and Performance proposes that the concept of curating is a complex field of enquiry. By drawing together artists, curators, architects and cultural theorists, it proposes new approaches to curating and ways of developing critical enquiry about this increasingly expanding field. Focusing on pertinent issues in curating contemporary art and performance, the book’s four parts examine forms of thinking in contemporary curating: curating and the interdisciplinary; as intervention and contestation; as a form of reconsideration of conventional museum spaces and as a problematic in ‘emerging’ practices. Beginning with a contextual ‘map’ of recent thinking on curating which examines some of the issues that have emerged in curatorial discourse over the last ten years, the volume then investigates curating as a research process and a form of collaboration in considering contemporary photography and video. The relationships between writing and curating, reception and encounter are proposed as part of a way of thinking as a critical spatial practice, and cross-disciplinary issues are considered in curating science/art exhibitions. Historical and contemporary perspectives examine issues of gender and marginalization and diversity; and the particular issues relating to curating and practices such as animation, site-specific dance and computer-based work are discussed. >>> DOWNLOAD Issues in Curating Contemporary Art

Contemporary Art, A Very Short Introduction - Julian Stallabrass (e-book S)

2010-01-27T19:12:00.000+07:00

Contemporary art has never been so popular - but what is 'contemporary' about contemporary art? What is its role today, and who is controlling its future? Bloody toy soldiers, gilded shopping carts, and embroidered tents. Contemporary art is supposed to be a realm of freedom where artists shock, break taboos, flout generally received ideas, and switch between confronting viewers with works of great emotional profundity and jaw-dropping triviality. But away from shock tactics in the gallery, there are many unanswered questions. Who is really running the art world? What effect has America's growing political and cultural dominance had on art? Julian Stallabrass takes us inside the international art world to answer these and other controversial questions, and to argue that behind contemporary art's variety and apparent unpredictability lies a grim uniformity. Its mysteries are all too easily explained, its depths much shallower than they seem. Contemporary art seeks to bamboozle its viewers while being the willing slave of business and government. This book is your antidote and will change the way you see contemporary art. >>> DOWNLOAD Contemporary Art, A Very Short Introduction

Art and Social Change, Contemporary Art in Asia and the Pacific - Caroline Turner--ed (e-book T)

2010-01-27T16:04:00.000+07:00

Dr Caroline Turner was Deputy Director of the Humanities Research Centre from 2000-2006. Prior to taking up this appointment in January 2000 she spent 20 years as a senior art museum professional. As Deputy Director of the Queensland Art Gallery she organised and curated over 60 international exhibitions, including Matisse with works from 50 collections worldwide, which toured Australia in 1995 and had audiences of over 300,000. In the mid-1980s Turner also began working in the area of contemporary Asian and Pacific art, organising the first exhibition of contemporary Japanese art for an Australian museum in 1989. Her latest book of essays Art and Social Change: Contemporary Art of Asia and the Pacific, Pandanus Press 2005 is the most up to date survey of the dramatic developments in Asian and Pacific contemporary art in the last decade. She is currently heading a research project on an ARC Discovery grant entitled “The Limits of Tolerance” which explores the links between art and human rights and is also working on several projects related to museums and museology. >>> DOWNLOAD ART AND SOCIAL CHANGE, Contemporary Art in Asia and the Pacific

Key Writers on Art: The Twentieth Century - Chris Murray--ed (e-book M)

2010-01-27T16:01:00.000+07:00

A valuable and comprehensive guide to modern responses to art, "Key Writers on Art: The Twentieth Century" features more than forty essays on major 20th century writers and thinkers written by an international panel of expert contributors. Introducing readers to the key approaches and analytical tools of contemporary art study and debate, each entry includes a critical essay, a short biography, and a bibliography listing both primary and secondary texts. Featured in this unique book are such important figures as Theodor Adorno, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Sigmund Freudand Jacques Lacan. >>> DOWNLOAD Key Writers on Art - The20TH CENTURY

Warped Space: Art, Architecture, And Anxiety In Modern Culture - Anthony Vidler (e-book V)

2010-01-27T15:53:00.000+07:00

Named one of The Art Book's Best Books of the Decade (March 2003). Beginning with agoraphobia and claustrophobia in the late nineteenth century, followed by shell shock and panic fear after World War I, phobias and anxiety came to be seen as the mental condition of modern life. They became incorporated into the media and arts, in particular the spatial arts of architecture, urbanism, and film. This "spatial warping" is now being reshaped by digitalization and virtual reality. Anthony Vidler is concerned with two forms of warped space. The first, a psychological space, is the repository of neuroses and phobias. This space is not empty but full of disturbing forms, including those of architecture and the city. The second kind of warping is produced when artists break the boundaries of genre to depict space in new ways. Vidler traces the emergence of a psychological idea of space from Pascal and Freud to the identification of agoraphobia and claustrophobia in the nineteenth century to twentieth-century theories of spatial alienation and estrangement in the writings of Georg Simmel, Siegfried Kracauer, and Walter Benjamin. Focusing on current conditions of displacement and placelessness, he examines ways in which contemporary artists and architects have produced new forms of spatial warping. The discussion ranges from theorists such as Jacques Lacan and Gilles Deleuze to artists such as Vito Acconci, Mike Kelley, Martha Rosler, and Rachel Whiteread. Finally, Vidler looks at the architectural experiments of Frank Gehry, Coop Himmelblau, Daniel Libeskind, Greg Lynn, Morphosis, and Eric Owen Moss in the light of new digital techniques that, while relying on traditional perspective, haveradically transformed the composition, production, and experience--perhaps even the subject itself--of architecture. >>> DOWNLOAD Warped Space: Art, Architecture, And Anxiety In Modern Culture

The Tilted Arc Controversy, d a n g e r o u s p r e c e d e n t - Harriet F. Senie (e-book S)

2010-01-27T15:21:00.001+07:00

A comprehensive look at a controversy that continues to fuel debates about the role of public art in America. Since its installation art and subsequent removal from New York City's Federal Plaza, noted sculptor Richard Serra's Tilted Arc has been a touchstone for debates over the role of public art. Installed in 1981, the 10-foot-high, 120-foot-long curved wall of Cor-Ten self-rusting steel instantly became a magnet for criticism. Art critics in the New York Times and the Village Voice labeled it the city's worst public sculpture, and many denounced it as an example of the elitism associated with art and as an obstacle to the use and enjoyment of the plaza. Harriet F. Senie explores the history of Tilted Arc, including its 1979 commission and the heated public hearings that eventually led to its removal in 1989 (it was dismantled and is currently stored in a government warehouse in Maryland). Analyzing the archive of popular opinion, Senie shows how the sculpture was caught in an avalanche of shifting local and national discussions about public funding for the arts. She examines the tactics of those opposed to the sculpture and the media's superficial and sensational coverage of the controversy, reframing the dialogue in terms of public art, public space, and public policy instead of the question of whether the removal of Tilted Arc was poetic justice or a dangerous precedent. Senie provides an enlightening history and analysis of a controversy that will continue to inform our discussions about public art for years to come. Harriet F. Senie is director of museum studies and professor of art history at the City University of New York's City College and professor of art history at CUNY's Graduate Center. >>> DOWNLOAD The Tilted Arc Controversy, d a n g e r o u s p r e c e d e n t

A Companion to Contemporary Art since 1945 - Amelia Jones--ed (e-book J)

2010-01-27T14:53:00.000+07:00

A Companion to Contemporary Art is a major survey covering the major works and movements, the most important theoretical developments, and the historical, social, political, and aesthetic issues in contemporary art since 1945, primarily in the Euro-American context. Collects 27 original essays by expert scholars describing the current state of scholarship in art history and visual studies, and pointing to future directions in the field. Contains dual chronological and thematic coverage of the major themes in the art of our time: politics, culture wars, public space, diaspora, the artist, identity politics, the body, and visual culture. Offers synthetic analysis, as well as new approaches to, debates central to the visual arts since 1945 such as those addressing formalism, the avant-garde, the role of the artist, technology and art, and the society of the spectacle. >>> DOWNLOAD A Companion to Contemporary Art since 1945

From Margin to Center The Spaces of Installation Art - Julie H Reiss (e-book R)

2010-01-27T14:46:00.000+07:00

Unlike traditional art works, installation art has no autonomous existence. It is usually created at the exhibition site, and its essence is spectator participation. Installation art originated as a radical art form presented only at alternative art spaces; its assimilation into mainstream museums and galleries is a relatively recent phenomenon. The move of installation art from the margin to the center of the art world has had far-reaching effects on the works created and on museum practice. This is the first book-length study of installation art. Julie Reiss concentrates on some of the central figures in its emergence, including artists, critics, and curators. Her primary focus is installations created in New York City--which has a particularly rich history of installation art--beginning in the late 1950s. She takes us from Allan Kaprow’s 1950s’ environments to examples from minimalism, performance art, and process art to establish installation art’s autonomy as well as its relationship to other movements. Recent years have seen a surge of interest in the effects of exhibition space, curatorial practice, and institutional context on the spectator. The history of installation art--of all art forms, one of the most defiant of formalist tenets--sheds considerable light on the issues raised by this shift of critical focus from isolated art works to art experienced in a particular context.>>> DOWNLOAD From margin to Center - The Spaces of Installation Art

Multi-Media, Video – Installation – Performance - Nick Kaye

2010-01-27T14:40:00.000+07:00

Chair in Performance Studies, University of Exeter. He was previously Chair in Drama at the University of Manchester . His research focuses on the history of post-war experimental performance, with emphasis on the relationship between theatre and the development of ideas and practices through distinct but related disciplines, including sculpture, architectural theory, conceptual and performance art, aspects of experimental music, installation, video art and video installation. A key theme of his research is relationships between critical practice and the documentation of live events. >>> DOWNLOAD MultiMedia, Video, Installation, Perfomance

Art, Space, and the City - Malcolm Miles (e-book M)

2010-01-27T14:10:00.000+07:00

Because public art suffers from falling between the realms of art and urban planning, it has been neglected in debates both on contemporary art and the future of cities. Art, Space and the City focuses on two roles for art: as decoration within revisioned urban design and as a social process of criticism. Malcolm Miles applies a range of critical perspectives which have emerged from art criticism, urban design, urban sociology, geography and critical theory--to examine the practice of art for urban public spaces, and asks the artworld how it might contribute to the urban future. Drawing on a wealth of images and examples, including New York, Seattle, London and Tokyo, the author questions the effectiveness of public art in achieving more convivial urban environments, while retaining the idea that imagining the urban future is as much part of a democratic society as using public space. Exploring the diversity of the roles of professionals and users in the construction of the city, the gendering of space and the ways in which space and citizen are represented, Miles explains how these issues are as relevant to architecture, urban design and planning as they are to public art. After three decades of public art as an often marginalized area within the practice of art, this is the only book to take stock of what it has become and what the future holds for it in the urban setting. >>> DOWNLOAD ART, SPACE AND THE CITY

Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life - Allan Kaprow (e-book K)

2010-01-27T13:59:00.000+07:00

Allan Kaprow's "happenings" and "environments" were the precursors to contemporary performance art, and his essays are some of the most thoughtful, provocative, and influential of his generation. His sustained inquiry into the paradoxical relationship of art to life and into the nature of meaning itself is brought into focus in this newly expanded collection of his most significant writings. A new preface and two new additional essays published in the 1990s bring this valuable collection up to date. >>> DOWNLOAD Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life

The Future of the Image - Jacques Ranciere (e-book R)

2010-01-27T11:19:00.001+07:00

The leading theorist of the art world today – the adjective Rancièrian is already in use – returns with his bestselling manifesto on the relationship between art and politics, newly available in paperback. Ranciere’s political engagement with artistic production has made him the theorist that art critics and artists turn to; according to an article in Tate Etc, “we’re now in the middle of a phase dominated by Jacques Rancière’s political reflections on aesthetics”. In The Future of the Image Rancière covers a range of art movements and thinkers, ranging from Godard and Bresson to Foucault, Barthes, Adorno, Lyotard and Deleuze, as he develops a fascinating new concept of the image in contemporary art and film. The book has been described as “A series of gratifyingly knotty and close discussions of nineteenth and twentieth century literature, film and painting” (Guardian) and as ‘vertiginously precise’ (Les Cahiers du Cinéma). According to Slavoj Zizek, “Rancière’s writings offer one of the few conceptualizations of how we are to continue to resist”. >>> DOWNLOAD THE FUTURE OF THE IMAGE

The Collected Stories of Saul Bellow - Saul Bellow (e-book B)

2010-01-25T14:35:00.001+07:00

Nobel Prize-winner Saul Bellow has deservedly been celebrated as one of America's greatest living writers. For more than sixty years he has stretched our minds, our imaginations, and our hearts with his exhilarating perceptions of life. Now collected for the first time in one volume and chosen by the author himself are favorites such as "What Kind of Day Did You Have?," "Leaving the Yellow House," and a previously uncollected piece, "By the St. Lawrence." With his larger-than-life characters, irony, wisdom, and unique humor, Bellow presents a sharp, rich, and funny world that is infinitely surprising. This is a volume to treasure for longtime Bellow fans, and an excellent introduction for new readers. >>> DOWNLOAD The Collected Stories of Saul Bellow

The Complete Short Stories - J G Ballard (e-book B)

2010-01-25T14:26:00.000+07:00

"Short stories are the loose change in the treasury of fiction, easily ignored beside the wealth of novels available, an over-valued currency that often turns out to be counterfeit. At its best, in Borges, Ray Bradbury and Edgar Allan Poe, the short story is coined from precious metal, a glint of gold that will glow forever in the deep purse of your imagination"

The author of some 18 novels over 90 short stories and innumerable essays and articles, J(ames) G(raham Ballard is perhaps the greatest living British writer. This 1,200 page collection contains 99.9% of his published short fiction in one volume. Unlike, say, Margaret Atwood, Ballard has never felt the need to deny that some of his best work is SF. On the contrary, Ballard once insisted that SF is the “only true literature of the 20th century.” Not that Ballard’s SF is the tiresome rockets and rayguns variety – a wearisome SF sub-genre that Ballard helped to obliterate. On the contrary, many of his stories that do involve rockets are set in abandoned and sand-swamped space centres, where decaying Saturn rockets and launch gantries form a rusting monument to human entropy. Ballard was a great fan of the surrealists, and their influence can be seen in such stories as the fantastically titled Why I want To Fuck Ronald Reagan. When this piece first appeared in the so-called condensed novel The Atrocity Exhibition (U.S. title Love and Napalm: Export USA), its title alone led to the first edition of Atrocity being pulped by the publisher. In fact, the story was a laugh-aloud funny and yet highly disturbing satire on focus groups and research-obsessed laboratory scientists. It also predicated the Great Communicator’s rise to the White House. >>> DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES

Maryamah Karpov - Andrea Hirata (e-book H)

2010-01-25T14:07:00.000+07:00

Maryamah Karpov adalah novel keempat karya Andrea Hirata yang diterbitkan oleh Bentang Pustaka pada November 2008. Maryamah Karpov merupakan buku terakhir dari Tetralogi Laskar Pelangi dan terdiri dari 2 buku , bagian pertamanya dengan sub judul : Mimpi-Mimpi Lintang. Di buku ini rencananya Andrea akan mengisahkan tentang Arai, Lintang, A Ling, dan beberapa pertanyaan yang belum sempat terjawab di 3 buku terdahulu. Keberanian dan keteguhan hati telah membawa Ikal pada banyak tempat dan peristiwa. Dengan sepenuh hati, Ikal rela berlayar mengunjungi pulau "Batuan" atau lebih dikenal sebagai pulau tempat para lanun berkumpul dan bersembunyi dari polisi. Ikal bersusah payah ke pulau itu hanya untuk bertemu A Ling, ia tidak peduli akan nyawanya. Keberaniannya ditantang ketika tanda-tanda keberadaan A Ling tampak. Dia tetap mencari, meski tanda-tanda itu masih samar. Dapatkah keduanya bertemu kembali? Novel ini menceritakan semua hal tentang Laskar Pelangi, A Ling, Arai, Lintang, dan beberapa tokoh dalam cerita sebelumnya. >>> DOWNLOAD MARYAMAH KARPOV

Poet-chief - The Native American Poetics of Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda - James Nolan (e-book N)

2010-01-25T11:59:00.001+07:00

A long-overdue comparative study of the American voice in hemispheric poetry, Poet-Chief brings cross-cultural and interdisciplinary considerations to the work of Whitman and Neruda. Nolan proposes American Indian poetics as the model for the poets' own poetics. Whitman and Neruda wrote from an Americanist perspective. Both developed an oral, tribal poetics and assumed shamanic voices and personae in their major works, Leaves of Grass and Canto General. In addition they each presented the initiatory journey of a shaman in "The Sleepers" and "Alturas de Macchu Picchu." Despite the historical, cultural, and individual distinctions between their works, they both celebrate a tribal community and assume the functions of what Whitman calls the "poet-chief." These points of intersection between the poetics of Whitman, Neruda, and the American Indian clarify the nature of that broader voice identified as the native in American poetry. This fresh reading of two major American poets helps to break through the partitions that separate the native, English, and Spanish poetic responses to the American hemisphere.>>> DOWNLOAD Poet-chief - The Native American Poetics of Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda

The Captain's Verses - Pablo Neruda (e-book N)

2010-01-25T11:53:00.001+07:00

Pablo Neruda, the 1971 Nobel laureate and now Chilean ambassador to France, is best known for his leftist poetry. But he also writes of love -- the theme of this collection issued anonymously in 1963 and now in English for the first time. Walsh's translations (with the Spanish en face) are simple and direct, faithful to the Nerudean original.>>> DOWNLOAD THE CAPTAIN'S VERSES

Biography: A Brief History - Nigel Hamilton (e-book H)

2010-01-25T11:38:00.002+07:00

Award-winning biographer and teacher Nigel Hamilton addresses these questions in an incisive and vivid narrative that will appeal to students of human nature and self-representation across the arts and sciences. Tracing the remarkable and often ignored historical evolution of biography from the ancient world to the present, this brief and fascinating tour of the genre conveys the passionate quest to capture the lives of individuals and the many difficulties it has entailed through the centuries. From the Epic of Gilgamesh to American Splendor, from cuneiform to the Internet, from commemoration to deconstruction, from fiction to fact--by way of famous biographical artists such as Plutarch, Saint Augustine, Sir Walter Raleigh, Samuel Johnson, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Lord Byron, Sigmund Freud, Lytton Strachey, Abel Gance, Virginia Woolf, Leni Riefenstahl, Orson Welles, Julian Barnes, Ted Hughes, Frank McCourt, and many others--Nigel Hamilton's Biography: A Brief History will change the way you think about biography and real lives. >>> DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY

2666 - Roberto Bolano (e-book B)

2010-01-24T16:30:00.003+07:00

Amazon.com Review:
Amazon Best of the Month, November 2008: It was one thing to read Roberto Bolaño's novel The Savage Detectives last year and have your mind thrilled and expanded by a sexy, meandering masterpiece born whole into the English language. It was still another to read it and know, from the advance reports of Spanish readers, that Bolaño's true masterpiece was still to come. And here it is: 2666, the 898-page novel he sprinted to finish before his early death in 2003, again showing Bolaño's mesmerizing ability to spin out tale after tale that balance on the edge between happy-go-lucky hilarity and creeping dread. But where the motion of The Savage Detectives is outward, expanding in wider and wider orbit to collect everything about our lonely world, 2666, while every bit as omnivorous, ratchets relentlessly toward a dark center: the hundreds of mostly unsolved murders of women in the desert borderlands of maquiladoras and la migra in northern Mexico. He takes his time getting there--he tells three often charming book-length tales before arriving at the murders--but when he does, in a brutal and quietly strange landscape where neither David Lynch nor Cormac McCarthy's Anton Chigurh would feel out of place, he writes with a horror that is both haunting and deeply humane. --Tom Nissley >>> DOWNLOAD 2666

Walter Benjamin (Critical Lives) - Esther Leslie (e-book B)

2010-01-24T15:57:00.002+07:00

Walter Benjamin left many remnants. There are the books published in his lifetime: four monographs, one edited collection of letters and his translations of Proust, Balzac and Baudelaire. There are the many essays and reviews written for various newspapers, magazines and journals from 1910 until 1940. Benjamin broadcast almost 90 radio shows – of which no recordings have yet been found (his voice is lost to us) – but transcripts remain. In addition to this public output, there is a mass of more intimate materials. Benjamin was a prolific letter-writer, cramming his pages with details of his life, his circumstances and his thoughts, if only because, in the many years of exile and dislocation, day-to-day exchange of information with acquaintances was impossible. The conceptualization of trauma plays an important part in that struggle. >>> DOWNLOAD WALTER BENJAMIN (CRITICAL LIVES)

Trauma and Media: Theories, Histories, and Images - Allen Meek (e-book M)

2010-01-24T15:42:00.002+07:00

Trauma and Media argues that theoretical and cultural discourses of trauma and witnessing, which have achieved such prominence in recent research in the humanities, have often tended to reinforce rather than interrogate the assumption that certain events are inherently traumatic for large collectives, such as nations or specifi c ethnic groups. Recent trauma theory wants to bear witness to authentic forms of testimony that directly transmit experience outside the codes and conventions of mainstream media. Against this transmission model, this book argues for an understanding of historical trauma as an open-ended, experimental approach to engaging with the violent and catastrophic legacies of the past. I understand historical trauma not only in terms of bearing witness to specifi c events and experiences, but also as an ongoing struggle over representations of the past. The conceptualization of trauma plays an important part in that struggle.>>> DOWNLOAD TRAUMA AND MEDIA

The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility and other Writings on Media - Walter Benjamin

2010-01-23T12:28:00.005+07:00

The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility and other Writings on Media reflects Benjamin's most salient thoughts on media and on culture in general in their most realized form, still maintaining an edge under the skin of everyone who reads it. The visual arts morph into literature and theory and then back to images, gestures and thought, Here the editors have situated this essay as the cornerstone of a vast collection of writings that demonstrates what was revolutionary about Benjamin's explorations on media. He was so prescient and he was alive only until 1940. We are now talking about 2008 and his work is not just timely, but powerful, important, clairvoyant, and necessary. This is the second and most daring version of the 'Work of Art' essay which tracks Benjamin's observations on the production and reception of art; on film, radio, and photography; on the telephone, on children's books, on Charlie Chaplin and so much more. He was not a critic for the 20th century, he was a theoretician for all time. This volume will probably become a text for some classes, but it is an introduction, a force that must be dealt with by anyone interested in culture, in the media, in the arts, to debates on the digital age. He could explore implications of these themes and be so prescient about what we are experiencing today.>>> DOWNLOAD The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility and other Writings on Media

Cybercities - M. Christine Boyer (e-book B)

2010-01-23T12:05:00.001+07:00

Noted urban historian M. Christine Boyer turns to the new frontier - cybercities - in this important and compelling new book. Boyer argues that the computer is to contemporary society what the machine was to modernism, and that this new metaphor profoundly affects the way we think, imagine, and ultimately grasp reality. But there is, she believes, an inherent danger here: that as cyberspace pulls us into its electronic grasp, we withdraw from the world. Transferred, plugged in, and down-loaded, reality becomes increasingly immaterial. Frozen to one side of our terminal's screen, Boyer concludes, we risk becoming incapable of action in a real city plagued by crime, hatred, disease, unemployment, and under-education. >>> DOWNLOAD CYBERCITIES

Illuminations - Walter Benjamin (e-book B)

2010-01-23T11:27:00.002+07:00

Walter Benjamin was one of the most original cultural critics of the twentieth century. Illuminations includes his views on Kafka, with whom he felt a close personal affinity; his studies on Baudelaire and Proust; and his essays on Leskov and on Brecht's Epic Theater. Also included are his penetrating study "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," an enlightening discussion of translation as a literary mode, and Benjamin's theses on the philosophy of history. Hannah Arendt selected the essays for this volume and introduces them with a classic essay about Benjamin's life in dark times. Also included is a new preface by Leon Wieseltier that explores Benjamin's continued relevance for our times. Studies in contemporary art and culture by one of the most original, critical, and analytical minds of this century. >>> DOWNLOAD ILLUMINATIONS

The White Castle - Orhan Pamuk (e-book P)

2010-01-23T10:50:00.005+07:00

(dalam terjemahan bahasa Indonesia)

Cerita ini (dalam terjemahan bahasa Indonesia) berkisah tentang kehidupan seorang asal Venesia yang konon menjalani kehidupan sebagai seorang budak di Istanbul, Turki, pada sekitar abad ke-17. Si budak memiliki pengetahuan yang luas sehingga tuannya dengan segala cara berusaha menggali semua pengetahuan dan sekaligus menguras semua pengalaman hidup si budak. Tuan dan budak harus mengarang banyak cerita ajaib dan menafsirkan mimpi para sultan, termasuk merancang sebuah senjata pamungkas yang hebat. Ketika senjata aneh yang dianggap pembawa sial itu gagal menaklukkan Istana Putih, kehidupan mereka pun terancam, terutama si budak kafir itu. Pertukaran jati diri di antara keduanya, yang terjadi di sepanjang kisah diungkapkan dengan cara yang unik dan membuat pembaca bertanya-tanya apakah menjalani kehidupan orang lain memang bisa membuat kita bahagia..>>> DOWNLOAD THE WHITE CASTLE

Negara Kelima - Es Ito (e-book I)

2010-01-23T10:44:00.002+07:00

Dikisahkan, bahwa dataran nusantara sebenarnya merupakan potongan dari negara Atlantis yang pernah diungkapkan oleh Plato. Terdapat sekelompok pemuda yang ingin membangkitkan kembali kebesaran dan kemegahan Atlantis di bumi nusantara. Dalam cerita ini juga disinggung mengenai sejarah Iskandar Zulkarnaian, tokoh yang sangat familiar bagi para penikmat sejarah agama. >>> DOWNLOAD NEGARA KELIMA

Sang Alkemis - Paulo Coelho (e-book C)

2010-01-23T10:39:00.006+07:00

(terjemahan bahasa Indonesia)

Mengapa kita harus mendengarkan suara hati kita? tanya si anak, ketika mereka mendirikan tenda pada hari itu.Sebab, di mana hatimu berada, di situlah hartamu berada.Demikian selintas percakapan antara sang Alkemis dan Santiago, anak gembala yang mengikuti suara hatinya dan berkelana mengejar mimpinya. Perjalanan tersebut membawanya ke Tangier serta padang gurun Mesir, dan di sanalah dia bertemu sang alkemis yang menuntunnya menuju harta karunnya, serta mengajarinya tentang Jiwa Dunia, cinta, kesabaran, dan kegigihan. Perjalanan itu pulalah yang membawanya menemukan cinta sejatinya: Fatima, gadis gurun yang setia menanti kepulangannya. Sang Alkemis (dalam terjemahan bahasa Indonesia) telah menjadi salah satu buku yang paling banyak dibaca di dunia. Kisah sederhana yang indah dan menjadi sumber inspirasi bagi banyak orang. >>> DOWNLOAD SANG ALKEMIS

THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE (2008) - Orhan Pamuk (e-book P)

2010-01-23T10:24:00.003+07:00

IT WAS the happiest moment of my life, though I didn’t know it. Had I known, had I cherished this gift, would everything have turned out differently? Yes, if I had recognized this instant of perfect happiness, I would have held it fast and never let it slip away. It took a few seconds, perhaps, for that luminous state to enfold me, suffusing me with the deepest peace, but it seemed to last hours, even years. In that moment, on the afternoon of Monday, May 26, 1975, at about a quarter to three, just as we felt ourselves to be beyond sin and guilt so too did the world seem to have been released from gravity and time. Kissing Füsun’s shoulder, already moist from the heat of our lovemaking, I gently entered her from behind, and as I softly bit her ear, her earring must have come free and, for all we knew, hovered in midair before falling of its own accord. Our bliss was so profound that we went on kissing, heedless of the fall of the earring, whose shape I had not even noticed >>> DOWNLOAD THE MUSEUM OF INNOCENCE

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini (e-book H)

2010-01-23T10:11:00.007+07:00

(terjemahan bahasa Indonesia)

Novel ini (dalam terjemahan bahasa Indonesia) mengambil setting di Afganistan antara tahun 1964 hingga tahun 2003. Tokoh utamanya adalah dua orang perempuan bernama Mariam dan Laila. Keduanya berasal dari latar belakang yang berbeda, usia yang berbeda, dan memiliki sifat yang bertolak belakang. Namun sebuah peristiwa akhirnya mempertemukan mereka dan membuat keduanya harus menjalani berbagai kepedihan hidup ditengah situasi perang yang memporak porandakan kota dimana mereka tinggal. Dikisahkan Mariam, seorang harami (anak haram) hasil hubungan gelap Jalil dan Nana, antara majikan dan pembantunya. Kemudian Nana disingkirkan oleh keluarga Jalil dan tinggal di sebuah desa terpencil bersama Mariam. Sedangkan Jalil hidup bersama ketiga istri sahnya di Herat. Walaupun Jalil tak pernah mengakui Mariam sebagai anaknya secara sah, namun seminggu sekali Jalil tetap mengunjunginya.>>> DOWNLOAD A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

Gajah Mada - Langit Kresna Hariadi (e-book H)

2010-01-21T22:19:00.004+07:00

Dikisahkan pada jaman ini Gajah Mada masih seorang bekel, sebuah pangkat ketentaraan di bawah senopati. Dengan pangkat tersebut Gajahmada menduduki jabatan pimpinan bayangkara, sebuah pasukan khusus yang melindungi istana, raja dan keluarganya.

Seluk beluk kelicikan Ra Kuti di novel ini mengingatkan saya akan tokoh Ramapati dan kelicikan Rawedeng dalam memberontak, bermuka dua beserta segala kelicikannya. Dengan menghasut beberapa temenggung dan beberapa panglima kesatrian Ra Kuti menggulingkan Jayanegara, namun atas kecerdikan Gajah Mada dan bantuan Patih Arya Tadah sang raja dan keluarganya berhasil diselamatkan oleh Gajah Mada dan bayangkaranya, dan terpaksa diungsikan dari istana, istana Bale Manguntur di Mojokerto.

Isi novel kemudian mengisahkan kepiawaian Gajah Mada dalam memimpin bayangkaranya, meloloskan dan mengungsikan Prabu Jayanegara, mendeskripsikan hancurnya tatanan pemerintahan dan masyarakat, mengisahkan dendam kebencian Ra Kuti kepada Gajah Mada dan Jayanegera, serta intrik bayangkara disusupi pengkhianatan yang cukup merepotkan Gajah Mada.>>> DOWNLOAD GAJAH MADA

Namaku Merah Karmizi - Orhan Pamuk (e-book P)

2010-01-21T22:08:00.006+07:00

(terjemahan bahasa Indonesia)

Novel “My Name Is Red” (edisi terjemahan bahasa Indonesia) karya Orhan Pamuk mengangkat kegelisahan yang sama di Turki. Turki sebagai sebuah entitas budaya berada dipersimpangan antara budaya barat dan timur. Novel yang dibuka dengan misteri terbunuhnya seseorang di dasar sumur mulai mengajak pembaca menikmati tamasya budaya dan pergulatan yang terjadi antara dua kutub budaya itu. Tradisi seni lukis Turki kuno mengajarkan untuk tidak mencoba masuk wilayah ego seniman dengan mencantumkan nama diri dan membuat gambar manusia secara perspektif proporsional. Sementara tradisi barat mengajarkan sebaliknya.>>> DOWNLOAD NAMAKU MERAH KARMIZI

Edensor - Andrea Hirata (e-book H)

2010-01-21T21:57:00.001+07:00

Aku ingin ke tempat-tempat yang jauh, menjumpai beragam bahasa dan orang-orang asing. Aku ingin berkelana, menemukan arahku dengan membaca bintang gemintang. Aku ingin mengarungi padang dan gurun-gurun, ingin melepuh terbakar matahari, limbung dihantam angin, dan menciut dicengkeram dingin. Aku ingin kehidupan yang menggetarkan, penuh dengan penaklukan. Aku ingin hidup! Ingin merasakan sari pati hidup!”

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Demikian, petikan dari novel terbaru Andrea Hirata yang berjudul Edensor, buku ketiga dari rangkaian empat novel yang dinamakan Tetralogi Laskar Pelangi (Laskar Pelangi, Sang Pemimpi, Edensor, dan Maryamah Karpov). .

Berbeda dengan setting cerita Laskar Pelangi dan Sang Pemimpi, Edensor mengambil setting di luar negeri saat tokoh-tokoh utamanya, Ikal dan Arai mendapat beasiswa untuk sekolah di Inggris dan Perancis. Dalam novel Edensor, Andrea semakin mapan dengan ciri khasnya, mengelola kisah ironi menjadi parodi dan menertawakan kesedihan dengan berbalut pandangan-pandangan yang penuh intelejensia tentang culture shock ketika kedua tokoh utama tersebut (yang berasal dari pedalaman Melayu di Pulau Belitong) tiba-tiba berada di Paris. Seperti novel-novel Andrea sebelumnya Edensor memiliki kekuatan filosofis yang menebarkan semangat dan inspirasi bagi pembacanya. >>> DOWNLOAD EDENSOR

Sang Pemimpi - Andrea Hirata (e-book H)

2010-01-21T21:44:00.002+07:00

Sang Pemimpi adalah novel kedua dalam tetralogi Laskar Pelangi karya Andrea Hirata yang diterbitkan oleh Bentang Pustaka pada Juli 2006. Dalam novel ini Andrea mengeksplorasi hubungan persahabatan dan persaudaraan antara Ikal dan Arai.
Dalam Sang Pemimpi, Andrea bercerita tentang kehidupan ketika masa-masa SMA. Tiga tokoh utamanya adalah Ikal, Arai dan Jimbron. Ikal- alter egonAndrea Hirata, sedangkan Arai adalah saudara jauh yang yatim piatu yang disebut simpai keramat karena anggota keluarga terakhir yang masih hidup dan akhirnya menjadi saudara angkat dan Jimbron adalah seorang yatim piatu yang terobsesi dengan kuda dan gagap bila sedang antusias terhadap sesuatu atau ketika gugup. Ketiganya dalam kisah persahabatan yang terjalin dari kecil sampai mereka bersekolah di SMA Negeri Manggar, SMA pertama yang berdiri di Belitung bagian timur. Bersekolah di pagi hari dan bekerja sebagai kuli di pelabuhan ikan pada dini hari, dari ketagihan mereka menonton film panas di bioskop dan akhirnya ketahuan guru mengaji mereka , kisah cinta Arai dan Jimbron, perpisahan Jimbron dengan ikal dan Arai yang akan meneruskan kuliah di Jakarta yang akhirnya membuat mereka berdua terpisah tetapi tetap akan bertemu di Perancis. Hidup mandiri terpisah dari orang tua dengan latar belakang kondisi ekonomi yang sangat terbatas namun punya cita-cita besar , sebuah cita-cita yang bila dilihat dari latar belakang kehidupan mereka, hanyalah sebuah mimpi.>>> DOWNLOAD SANG PEMIMPI

Laskar Pelangi - Andrea Hirata (e-book H)

2010-01-21T21:32:00.003+07:00

Laskar Pelangi adalah novel pertama karya Andrea Hirata yang diterbitkan oleh Bentang Pustaka pada tahun 2005. Novel ini bercerita tentang kehidupan 10 anak dari keluarga miskin yang bersekolah (SD dan SMP) di sebuah sekolah Muhammadiyah di pulau Belitong yang penuh dengan keterbatasan. Mereka adalah:

   1. Ikal
   2. Lintang; Lintang Samudra Basara bin Syahbani Maulana Basara
   3. Sahara; N.A. Sahara Aulia Fadillah binti K.A. Muslim Ramdhani Fadillah
   4. Mahar; Mahar Ahlan bin Jumadi Ahlan bin Zubair bin Awam
   5. A Kiong (Chau Chin Kiong); Muhammad Jundullah Gufron Nur Zaman
   6. Syahdan; Syahdan Noor Aziz bin Syahari Noor Aziz
   7. Kucai; Mukharam Kucai Khairani
   8. Borek aka Samson
   9. Trapani; Trapani Ihsan Jamari bin Zainuddin Ilham Jamari
10. Harun; Harun Ardhli Ramadhan bin Syamsul Hazana Ramadhan

Mereka bersekolah dan belajar pada kelas yang sama dari kelas 1 SD sampai kelas 3 SMP, dan menyebut diri mereka sebagai Laskar Pelangi. Pada bagian-bagian akhir cerita, anggota Laskar Pelangi bertambah satu anak perempuan yang bernama Flo, seorang murid pindahan. Keterbatasan yang ada bukan membuat mereka putus asa, tetapi malah membuat mereka terpacu untuk dapat melakukan sesuatu yang lebih baik.>>> DOWNLOAD LASKAR PELANGI

Mudskipper

2008-10-08T17:18:00.000+07:00

East Indian Mudskipper

The East Indian mudskipper, Periophthalmus chrysospilos, can leave the water for extended periods-up to several days-because of its limblike pectoral fins, used for walking, and its air-breathing ability. Often found feeding on the mudflats of mangrove swamps in Indonesia, it is known to climb trees and uses its muscular tail to "skip" or flip itself along the shore. It has retractable eyes on top of its head. Females guard their eggs, which they lay in mud. Mudskippers feed on small insects and crustaceans. Adults of this species reach 15 centimeters (6 inches) in length.

Mudskipper, common name for occasionally terrestrial fishes found in the mangrove swamps and estuaries along the tropical coasts of the Indian and Pacific oceans. The mudskipper lives along wet beaches and shorelines, where it may remain out of the water for several days. It has a small body, only 15 cm (6 in) long, and large fins and can move on land with considerable speed by using its pectoral fins. It can also flip itself forward with its tail a meter at a time. The protuberant eyes on top of its head can be elevated or retracted. The fish preys on insects and crustaceans. The eggs, usually laid deep in the mud, are guarded by the female.

The fish can propel itself over land by moving its pectoral fins. Mudskippers can remain out of water for several days by breathing air trapped in highly vascularized cavities in the mouth and gill chambers. They use this special ability to feed on the rich supply of crustaceans present in the mud of mangrove swamps and estuaries. Mudskippers inhabit the tropical coastal regions in the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Scientific classification: Mudskippers belong to the family Gobiidae in the order Perciformes. They are classified in the genus Periophthalmus.

(c) m. e 2007-2008

Maple Tree

2008-10-06T16:38:00.000+07:00

Sugar Maple

The sugar maple tree, Acer saccharum, is one of a number of maple species commonly planted for its shade and autumn colors. Growing to a height of 25 m (80 ft), the sugar maple is distinguished by medium-green leaves with silver undersides. With the onset of autumn, the deeply lobed leaves turn a bright yellow.

Maple Tree

Maple, common name for a small family of trees, widespread in the temperate areas of the northern hemisphere, and for its representative genus. The family, which contains 2 genera and about 113 species, is recognized by its opposite leaves and small, radially symmetrical flowers in loose clusters. The flowers often lack petals. The ovary (female flower part) consists of two fused carpels (egg-bearing structures), which mature into two winged fruits. Maples are widely grown as ornamentals and street trees for their foliage and autumn colors. The species most commonly grown are medium to large deciduous trees with lobed “maple-shaped” leaves, such as the one depicted on the Canadian flag.

Commonly planted species are red maple, sugar maple, black maple, and Norway maple. All these are natives of North America and Europe. Many of the Asian species differ radically from their western relatives. Some are small trees or bushes, some are evergreen, and some have entire (unlobed) leaves. The box elder, a maple native to much of the United States, has compound leaves with three to five leaflets. In addition to their ornamental importance, maples are a source of good timber, especially sycamore maple, and of sugar or syrup, especially sugar maple. The other genus of the family contains two species that are found in China.

Scientific classification: Maples make up the family Aceraceae. The representative genus is Acer. The red maple is classified as Acer rubrum, the sugar maple as Acer saccharum, and the black maple as Acer nigrum (sometimes Acer saccharum nigrum). The Norway maple is classified as Acer platanoides, the box elder as Acer negundo, and the sycarmore maple as Acer pseudoplatanus. The other genus in the family is Dipteronia.

History of Astronomy I

2008-10-06T14:22:00.000+07:00

Astronomy

People have looked up at objects in the sky with fascination since ancient times. That fascination gave birth to the science of astronomy. (REUTERS)

History of Astronomy, history of the science that studies all the celestial bodies in the universe. Astronomy includes the study of planets and their satellites, comets and meteors, stars and interstellar matter, star systems known as galaxies, and clusters of galaxies. The field of astronomy has developed from simple observations about the movement of the Sun and Moon into sophisticated theories about the nature of the universe. See also Cosmology.

OVERVIEW

Advances in astronomy over the centuries have depended to a great extent on developments in technology. Initially, ancient peoples could only view the sky with their eyes. With careful attention to the changing positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, they were able to develop calendars and ultimately predictions of rare events, including eclipses. Instruments that allowed the measurement of the precise positions of celestial objects were the first major technological development, and those measurements formed the basis of models of the solar system.

The invention of the telescope in the early 1600s completely changed scientists’ ideas about the structure of the solar system and led to the discovery of new planets around our own sun. The telescope was also key to the measurement of distances to nearby stars and thereby provided the first clues to just how vast the universe is. The invention of the spectroscope combined with photography led to the discovery that the stars are made of the same elements found here on Earth.

Astronomy is different from most other sciences in that, apart from the planets we have visited by spacecraft, researchers cannot do experiments in the laboratory with the objects that they want to study. Instead, astronomers must learn about these distant objects by relying entirely on the visible light and other forms of energy—electromagnetic radiation—that are given off by them. The great breakthroughs of the 20th century were the development of spacecraft that allowed scientists to observe the universe from outside the distorting effects of Earth’s atmosphere, and the development of new sensors sensitive to forms of energy our eyes cannot detect. Examples are X rays , gamma rays, infrared or heat energy, and radio waves. These new windows on the universe have greatly expanded astronomical knowledge.

UNIVERSE I

2008-09-18T21:58:00.000+07:00

Universe

Look up at the sky on a clear, starry night. What you see is part of the universe. You could never see all of the universe. No one even knows whether the universe has an edge or if it goes on forever. The universe contains all matter and energy. The universe holds all space and time. You are a part of the universe. The universe includes everything there is.

WHAT MAKES UP THE UNIVERSE?

Earth and all the planets in our solar system make up just a tiny part of the universe. Billions of other stars like our Sun all form a group called the Milky Way Galaxy. With telescopes we can see billions of other galaxies. Galaxies are in turn clumped together in enormous groups called clusters and superclusters. There are at least 100 billion—that’s 100,000,000,000—galaxies in the universe. The universe is a big place!

The universe holds many strange things, such as exploding stars. It holds great clouds of gas and dust where new stars form. It also holds black holes. Black holes have a pulling force called gravity. Gravity is the force that holds you to the ground and makes things fall when you drop them. Black holes suck in all the matter around them. The gravity of black holes is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.

Astronomers think there is even more matter in the universe than we can see. The matter we see makes up gas, dust, galaxies, stars, and planets. Astronomers think there is a type of invisible matter that they call dark matter. They think there may be a lot more of this mysterious dark matter in the universe than there is regular matter that we can see.

Astronomers also think the universe holds a strange substance that they call dark energy. They don’t know much about dark energy except that it seems to make the universe expand.

WHEN DID THE UNIVERSE BEGIN?

Many astronomers think the universe began about 14 billion years ago. They think it suddenly exploded into being. They call this beginning the big bang. All space and time began with the big bang. With a special telescope, astronomers can see radiation left over from the big bang. They call this cosmic background radiation.

The big bang theory says that the universe was hotter than you can even imagine at the moment it began. The universe started to fly outward, or expand. As it expanded, it started to cool. Tiny particles that would make up matter started to form. All of this happened in just a few minutes.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE BIG BANG?

When the universe was about 1 million years old, it had cooled to about 5900° Fahrenheit (3300° Celsius). This temperature was still scorching, but it was cool enough that tiny bits of matter called atoms started to form. All the objects around you—the computer, the floor, the air—are made of atoms. The hot atoms gave off rays of light. The universe was like a huge, hot fireball.

Over millions of years, the force of gravity pulled gas and dust together. Stars and galaxies formed from clumps of gas and dust. The stars began to shine. Our Sun and our solar system formed about 4.6 billions years ago.

Rays of light travel across the universe. Even though light travels extremely quickly, it takes light millions or billions of years to travel from galaxies far away. When astronomers see light from the most distant galaxies they know the light is “old.” They know they are seeing the galaxies as they were billions of years ago.

WILL THE UNIVERSE END?

Astronomers want to know what will happen to the universe. They think it is still expanding. In fact, the universe seems to be expanding faster and faster as time goes on. Many astronomers think the universe will go on expanding forever. If it keeps on expanding, everything in the universe will eventually grow cold. Billions of years in the future even the stars will stop shining. (to be continued...)