October 31, 2013

Philip Kitcher on Luchino Visconti's Morte a Venizia

This week our featured book is Deaths in Venice: The Cases of Gustav von Aschenbach by Philip Kitcher. Today, we have a couple brief excerpts from Deaths in Venice, in which Kitcher discusses Luchino Visconti’s film version of Mann’s novella,...

October 31, 2013

Tributes to the Life and Work of Arthur Danto

Earlier this week we had a short post on the death of Arthur Danto, the influential philosopher and art critic. Not surprisingly, a variety of tributes to and assessments of Danto has poured forth. The following are just a few...

October 30, 2013

Philip Kitcher on Benjamin Britten's Opera

This week our featured book is Deaths in Venice: The Cases of Gustav von Aschenbach by Philip Kitcher. Today, we have a brief excerpt from Deaths in Venice, in which Kitcher discusses the opera, Death in Venice, by Benjamin Britten,...

October 30, 2013

Steven Cohen on the Lessons of Superstorm of Sandy

“In the long run, the key lessons from Superstorm Sandy are that we must face the reality of climate change and adapt to it.”—Steven Cohen In an essay for The Huffington Post , Steven Cohen, author of Sustainability Management: Lessons...

October 29, 2013

Philip Kitcher on Thomas Mann and Gustav von Aschenbach

This week our featured book is Deaths in Venice: The Cases of Gustav von Aschenbach by Philip Kitcher. Today we have an excerpt from “Discipline,” the first chapter of Deaths in Venice, in which Philip Kitcher looks at the works...

October 29, 2013

New Book Tuesday: The Great Plains, Daoist Philosophy, the Underside of Bangladeshi Film, and More New Titles!

This Place, These People: Life and Shadow on the Great Plains David Stark, Photographs by Nancy Warner An Introduction to Daoist Philosophies Steve Coutinho Cut-Pieces: Celluloid Obscenity and Popular Cinema in Bangladesh Lotte Hoek Cinematic Appeals: The Experience of New...

October 28, 2013

Arthur Danto, 1924-2013

We were saddened to learn of the death of Arthur Danto this past weekend. Danto was the Johnsonian professor emeritus of philosophy at Columbia University and one of the leading art critics of the past fifty years. (Incidentally, Danto’s death...

October 25, 2013

University Press Roundup

Welcome to our weekly roundup of the best posts from the blogs of academic publishers! As always, if you particularly enjoy something or think that we missed an important post, please let us know in the comments. The 2013 gubernatorial...

October 25, 2013

Watson on Jeopardy! And IBM's Decision to Put Him There

Of course one of the most prominent examples of congitive computing is Watson’s famous victory on Jeopardy!. Below is a video produced by Engadget that documents Watson’s appearance with Ken Jennings, Alex Trebek, et al. And below that is an...

October 24, 2013

South Asian Studies Titles on Sale!

From Bollywood and Buddhism to Bonded Labor and the Bomb, we are offering a wide range of titles in South Asian religion, politics, and culture during our special sale. Use the coupon code SASIA and save 30% on dozens of...

October 24, 2013

Steve Hamm on Smart Machines and the Era of Cognitive Computing

Yesterday we heard from John E. Kelly III in a lengthy conversation about his experience as a researcher at IBM and his take on the history of computing as well as his vision of its future. Today we hear from...

October 23, 2013

Sera Young, author of Craving Earth, wins 2013 Margaret Mead Award

Columbia University Press is pleased to announce that Sera Young, a research scientist in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University, is the recipient of the prestigious Margaret Mead award for her book, Craving Earth: Understanding Pica–the Urge to...