Conference of the Books

Conference of the Books
Author: Khaled Abou El Fadl
Publisher: Rlpg/Galleys
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2001
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Abou El Fadl (Islamic law, UCLA School of Law) wrote the 62 brief essays here over the course of five years. Through a combination of musings and critical reflections on classical Muslim authors, he both traces Muslim intellectual history and also confronts questions of ethics, faith, law, politics, culture, and modern identity. He ranges over many facets of Islam in the contemporary world, exploring censorship, political oppression, terrorism, the veil and the treatment of women, marriage, parental rights, the dynamics between law and morality, the character of the prophet Muhammad, and other topics. About half the essays first appeared in The minaret magazine. c. Book News Inc.

Searching for Beauty

Searching for Beauty
Author: Cherie Burns
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2011-09-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1429988002

A fascinating portrait of the Standard Oil heiress and legendary American trendsetter Millicent Rogers. “A page-turning tale of a society rebel.” —Meryl Gordon, author of Mrs. Astor Regrets Nobody knew how to live the high life like Standard Oil heiress Millicent Rogers. Born into luxury, she lived in a whirl of beautiful homes, European vacations, exquisite clothing, and handsome men. In Searching for Beauty, Cherie Burns chronicles Rogers’s glittering life from her days as a young girl afflicted with rheumatic fever to her moment as a glittering debutante, through her years as an American aristocrat abroad, and ending with her final days as one of the legendary chatelaines of Taos, New Mexico. A rebellious icon of the age, she eloped with a penniless baron; danced tangos in European nightclubs; divorced, remarried, and romanced, among other, the writer Roald Dahl, Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, and Hollywood icon Clark Gable. Her romantic conquests, though, paled in comparison to her triumph in the world of fashion where her unerring sense of style and her ability to mix the high with the low brought her to the attention of the fashionistas of the day. She became the muse to legendary American designer Charles James, appeared in Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and popularized Southwestern style by adopting turquoise jewelry, squaw skirts, and short-waist jackets as her signature look. With Searching for Beauty, Millicent Rogers enters the pantheon of great American women who, like Diana Vreeland and Babe Paley, put their distinctive stamp on American style. “A glittering tale of . . . one of the most glamorous women of the twentieth century. Anyone who is interested in the annals of high society will be fascinated with this book. . . . An intimate and deeply personal view of Millicent Rogers, her family and her unending search for love and beauty.” —Adam Lewis, author of The Great Lady Decorators, Billy Baldwin, Albert Hadley,and Van Day Truex

The Search for the Beautiful Woman

The Search for the Beautiful Woman
Author: Cho Kyo
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2012-10-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1442218959

While a slender body is a prerequisite for beauty today, plump women were considered ideal in Tang Dynasty China and Heian-period Japan. Starting around the Southern Song period in China, bound feet symbolized the attractiveness of women. But in Japan, shaved eyebrows and blackened teeth long were markers of loveliness. For centuries, Japanese culture was profoundly shaped by China, but in complex ways that are only now becoming apparent. In this first full comparative history of the subject, Cho Kyo explores changing standards of feminine beauty in China and Japan over the past two millennia. Drawing on a rich array of literary and artistic sources gathered over a decade of research, he considers which Chinese representations were rejected or accepted and transformed in Japan. He then traces the introduction of Western aesthetics into Japan starting in the Meiji era, leading to slowly developing but radical changes in representations of beauty. Through fiction, poetry, art, advertisements, and photographs, the author vividly demonstrates how criteria of beauty differ greatly by era and culture and how aesthetic sense changed in the course of extended cultural transformations that were influenced by both China and the West.

Feynman's Rainbow

Feynman's Rainbow
Author: Leonard Mlodinow
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2011-11-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0307946495

Some of the brightest minds in science have passed through the halls of the California Institute of Technology. In the early 1980s, Leonard Mlodinow joined their ranks to begin a postdoctoral fellowship. Afraid he was not smart enough to be there, despite his groundbreaking Ph.D. thesis, he took his insecurities to Richard Feynman, Caltech’s intimidating resident genius and iconoclast. So began a pivotal year in a young man’s life. Though a series of fascinating exchanges, Mlodinow and Feynman delve into the nature of science, creativity, love mathematics, happiness, God, art, pleasures and ambition, producing a moving portrait of a friendship and an affecting account of Feynman’s final creative years.

Fearful Symmetry

Fearful Symmetry
Author: A. Zee
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2015-10-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1400874505

An engaging exploration of beauty in physics, with a foreword by Nobel Prize–winning physicist Roger Penrose The concept of symmetry has widespread manifestations and many diverse applications—from architecture to mathematics to science. Yet, as twentieth-century physics has revealed, symmetry has a special, central role in nature, one that is occasionally and enigmatically violated. Fearful Symmetry brings the incredible discoveries of the juxtaposition of symmetry and asymmetry in contemporary physics within everyone's grasp. A. Zee, a distinguished physicist and skillful expositor, tells the exciting story of how contemporary theoretical physicists are following Einstein in their search for the beauty and simplicity of Nature. Animated by a sense of reverence and whimsy, Fearful Symmetry describes the majestic sweep and accomplishments of twentieth-century physics—one of the greatest chapters in the intellectual history of humankind.

Slow Beauty

Slow Beauty
Author: Shel Pink
Publisher: Running Press Adult
Total Pages: 415
Release: 2017-11-14
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 0762462574

SpaRitual founder Shel Pink's Slow Beauty is all about carving a few moments out of each day to practice the kind of mindful self-care and wellness that makes us glow. Slow Beauty works because it's a lifestyle, not a quick fix. It provides inspiration, support, and tools for working from within toward looking and feeling healthier and more joyful than ever. In this book you'll find: Ideas on beauty with substance from around the world; Rituals such as finding and designing your own sanctuary, breathing exercises, meditation, and deepening relationships (and inner strength) through women's gatherings; Recipes for teas, soups, juices, smoothies, scrubs, body oils, and even how to create your own mantra; How to incorporate these practices into daily life in the best way for you. Filled with inspirational images and a message that's sustainable for a lifetime, Slow Beauty will harness the power within every woman to physically, mentally, and spiritually nourish their bodies from the inside out.

The Search for Beauty in Islam

The Search for Beauty in Islam
Author: Khaled Abou El Fadl
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2006
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780742550940

Khaled Abou El Fadl is a classically-trained Islamic jurist, an American lawyer and law professor, and one of the most important Islamic thinkers today. In this updated and expanded edition of The Search for Beauty in Islam, Abou El Fadl offers eye-opening and enlightening insights into the contemporary realities of the current state of Islam and the West. Through a "conference of the books," an imagined conference of Muslim intellects from centuries past, Abou El Fadl examines the ugliness that has come to plague Muslim realities and attempts to reclaim what he maintains is a core moral value in Islam-the value of beauty. Does Islamic law allow, or even call for, the gruesome acts of ugliness that have become so commonly associated with Islam today? Has Islam become a religion devoid of beauty, compassion and love? Based on actual cases, this book tackles different issues and problems in each chapter through a post-9/11 lens, discussing such topics as marriage, divorce, parental rights, the position of women, the veil, sexual abuse, wife-beating, terrorism, bigotry, morality, law, and the role of tradition. Abou El Fadl argues that the rekindling of the forgotten value of beauty is essential for Muslims today to take back what has been lost to the fundamentalist forces that have denigrated their religion.

Fast Beauty

Fast Beauty
Author: Rona Berg
Publisher: Workman Publishing
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2005-01-01
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9780761134725

A comprehensive, richly illustrated compilation of quick and easy beauty tips from the author of Beauty features step-by-step directions, professional techniques and advice, insider tips, makeovers, and brand and product comparisons in a handbook that features onethousand effective solutions to a variety of beauty problems. Original.

The Search for Beauty in Islam

The Search for Beauty in Islam
Author: Khaled Abou El Fadl
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2006
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0742550931

Khaled Abou El Fadl is a classically-trained Islamic jurist, an American lawyer and law professor, and one of the most important Islamic thinkers today. In this updated and expanded edition of The Search for Beauty in Islam, Abou El Fadl offers eye-opening and enlightening insights into the contemporary realities of the current state of Islam and the West. Through a 'conference of the books, ' an imagined conference of Muslim intellects from centuries past, Abou El Fadl examines the ugliness that has come to plague Muslim realities and attempts to reclaim what he maintains is a core moral value in Islam-the value of beauty. Does Islamic law allow, or even call for, the gruesome acts of ugliness that have become so commonly associated with Islam today? Has Islam become a religion devoid of beauty, compassion and love? Based on actual cases, this book tackles different issues and problems in each chapter through a post-9/11 lens, discussing such topics as marriage, divorce, parental rights, the position of women, the veil, sexual abuse, wife-beating, terrorism, bigotry, morality, law, and the role of tradition. Abou El Fadl argues that the rekindling of the forgotten value of beauty is essential for Muslims today to take back what has been lost to the fundamentalist forces that have denigrated their religion

In The Search For Beauty: Unravelling Non-euclidean Geometry

In The Search For Beauty: Unravelling Non-euclidean Geometry
Author: Voldemar Smilga
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2018-11-22
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9813274379

This is a popular book that chronicles the historical attempts to prove the fifth postulate of Euclid on parallel lines that led eventually to the creation of non-Euclidean geometry. To absorb the mathematical content of the book, the reader should be familiar with the foundations of Euclidean geometry at the high school level. But besides the mathematics, the book is also devoted to stories about the people, brilliant mathematicians starting from Pythagoras and Euclid and terminating with Gauss, Lobachevsky and Klein. For two thousand years, mathematicians tried to prove the fifth postulate (whose formulation seemed to them too complicated to be a real postulate and not a theorem, hence the title In the Search for Beauty). But in the 19th century, they realized that such proof was impossible, and this led to a revolution in mathematics and then in physics. The two final chapters are devoted to Einstein and his general relativity which revealed to us that the geometry of the world we live in is not Euclidean.Also included is an historical essay on Omar Khayyam, who was not only a poet, but also a brilliant astronomer and mathematician.