Great Art

Time and time again, great thinkers like Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger have credited their success to mental models: simple representations of how the world works that can be applied in a wide array of contexts. Mastering a small number of these concepts enables you to rapidly grasp new information, identify patterns others don’t, and better anticipate outcomes. The Great Mental Models introduces the most powerful models that anyone can use right away to improve decision making and productivity. In this volume, Shane Parrish introduces the universal concepts that underpin better thinking

The capacity to question is our greatest and yet least understood human asset. It’s why we’ve lasted as long as we have. In truth, we’d be dead without our ability to question. This is not how we typically think about questions. In fact, we don’t usually think about them at all – which is the problem. While it’s often said we are a storytelling species, the deeper and more enabling truth is that we are a questioning species. Questions give life to our curiosity. They fuel our personal growth. We problem solve and innovate through them.

Ancient images can feel distant—formal, silent, as if speaking an unknown language. And yet, they were designed to communicate with absolute clarity. Why is the pharaoh always larger? Why do figures appear flat, shown in strict profile? Why do certain symbols repeat with such insistence? Why do temples, tombs, and palaces take the shapes they do? These aren't accidents. They're choices—visual strategies born from what these cultures valued most: power, order, memory, the divine.

The extraordinary story of the theft of priceless Chinese antiques around the world and the connection to crimes spanning more than two centuries—with present-day implications.

The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters by Logan Marshall is a compelling early chronicle of the Titanic tragedy, published shortly after the event in 1912. Marshall, writing under a pseudonym, compiled survivor testimonies, press reports, and official statements to create a vivid narrative that resonated with a public eager for information.

The piano is the most popular solo concert instrument in Western music. One of the key reasons is the fact that it has inspired many of the greatest masterpieces in the concert repertoire. To study these masterworks and to understand their genius and lasting appeal is to know one of the greatest accomplishments of Western culture, works that give great pleasure even as they deepen your insight into the meaning of music.

Throughout His life, the Savior showed an unlimited capacity for compassion as He blessed, lifted, and healed people wherever He went. His focus was to love and serve everyone around Him, then and now. Both through His treatment of others and through the loving gifts that He has provided us to guide us back to Him, Christ continually demonstrates compassion for each of God’s children and invites us to do the same.

Alexander the Great endures as one of the most admired and emulated leaders in world history. In our time, his example of unprecedented and unparalleled success has inspired leaders of business and government, from media mogul Ted Turner (who keeps a bronze bust of Alexander in his office) to...

Mixed martial arts competitors wrestle, jab, and kick their ways to the top. The best fighters never pull any punches. Listen here for the biggest names in MMA.

Use this guide to storytelling as a sturdy foundation to change how you use stories. You can build solid stories to support your goals in business and life. The provided examples are from some of the world's greatest speakers, storytellers, with advice from leading experts. From best-selling authors to generation-changing motivational speakers, this audiobook covers all the fundamentals of outstanding storytelling. It will help you deliver stories to audiences that will leave them personally affected and motivated.

The History of Gangster Rap is a deep dive into one of the most fascinating subgenres of any music category to date. Sixteen detailed chapters, organized chronologically, examine the evolution of gangster rap, its main players, and the culture that created this revolutionary music. From still-swirling conspiracy theories about the murders of Biggie and Tupac to the release of the 2015 film Straight Outta Compton, the era of gangster rap is one that fascinates music junkies and remains at the forefront of pop culture.

The 16th century changed the world like almost no other era. New continents were discovered, science challenged centuries-old beliefs, and the Reformation shook Europe to its core. This audiobook tells the fascinating life stories of 19 extraordinary figures—from Leonardo da Vinci and Martin Luther to Nicolaus Copernicus and Elizabeth I, Michelangelo and Peter Paul Rubens to Paracelsus and Vasco da Gama, and on to Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan.

Power, Splendor, and Genius – Great Figures of the Baroque Era

Magnificent palaces, groundbreaking discoveries, great art, and powerful rulers—the Baroque was an era of contrasts. In this audiobook, you will encounter 19 extraordinary figures from the worlds of politics, music, art, science, philosophy, and literature who shaped their times and changed the world.

Celebrated Spanish philosopher Jose Carlos Ruis brings the wisdom of great philosophers to life in this entertaining guide to sharpening our minds. The witty and empowering international bestseller from celebrated Spanish philosopher Jose Carlos Ruis: how the timeless wisdom of our Great...

Most art history books just go over dates and major style changes, without letting the artists speak for themselves. In For Artists by Artists, you will learn directly from the top 40 of some of the most famous artists in the world. You will see how they thought about art, nature, truth, beauty, work, other artists, and God. You will journey through the last 750 years of art history in chronological order, seeing the evolution of how painters taught and thought over time.

From the Renaissance master Andrea del Sarto who faked a Raphael masterpiece at the request of his Medici patrons, to the Vermeer counterfeiter Han van Meegeren who duped the avaricious Hermann Goering, to the frustrated British artist Eric Hebborn, who began forging to expose the ignorance of experts, art forgers have challenged "legitimate" art in their own time, breaching accepted practices and upsetting the status quo.

Roy Peter Clark, one of America's most influential writing teachers, offers writing lessons we can draw from 25 great texts. Where do writers learn their best moves? They use a technique that Roy Peter Clark calls X-ray reading, a form of reading that lets you penetrate beyond the surface of a...

From the grand old man of comedy, George Burns, to the up-to-the minute observations of today's everyman, Dave Barry, these great humorists share one thing in common: their very individual, often raucously funny perceptions of the world around them.

Maisie Dobbs investigates the mysterious death of a controversial artist—and World War I veteran—in the fourth entry in the bestselling series London, 1931. The night before an exhibition of his artwork opens at a famed Mayfair gallery, the controversial artist Nick Bassington-Hope falls to...

America’s most trusted and best-known film critic Roger Ebert presents one hundred brilliant essays on some of the best movies ever made. Roger Ebert, the famed film writer and critic, wrote biweekly essays for a feature called "The Great Movies," in which he offered a fresh and fervent...