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Philosophy & Critical Theory Books in this online selection represent only a sliver of what we offer in the store. If you've got a particular book in mind and want to check on its availability, call us at 415-362-8193.

1 2 3 4 >>>     sort list by title | author Nan Dòmi An Initiate's Journey into Haitian Vodou Mimerose Beaubrun Just released! The first and only insider's account of Vodou's private, mystical, interior practice, a compelling story of initiation and transformation. Unfathomable City A New Orleans Atlas Rebecca Solnit, Rebecca Snedeker Like the bestselling Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, this book is a brilliant reinvention of the traditional atlas, one that provides a vivid, complex look at the multi-faceted nature of New Orleans, a city replete with contradictions. More than twenty essays assemble a chorus of vibrant voices, including geographers, scholars of sugar and... Why Does the World Exist? An Existential Detective Story Jim Holt In this astonishing and profound work, an irreverent sleuth traces the riddle of existence from the ancient world to modern times. Whether framed philosophically as "Why is there a world rather than nothing at all?" or more colloquially as... A Little History of Philosophy Nigel Warburton Philosophy begins with questions about the nature of reality and how we should live. These were the concerns of Socrates, who spent his days in the ancient Athenian marketplace asking awkward questions, disconcerting the people he met by showing them... Phantoms on the Bookshelves Jacques Bonnet The enthralling memoir on the art of living with books Phantoms on the Bookshelves considers how our personal libraries reveal our true natures: far more than merely crowded shelves, they are living labyrinths of our innermost feelings. Maphead Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks Ken Jennings It comes as no surprise that, as a kid, Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings slept with a bulky Hammond world atlas by his pillow every night. Maphead recounts his lifelong love affair with geography and explores why maps have always been so fascinating to... A Wicked Company The Forgotten Radicalism of the European Enlightenment Philipp Blom The flourishing of radical philosophy in Baron Thierry Holbach's Paris salon from the 1750s to the 1770s stands as a seminal event in Western history. Holbach's house was an international epicenter of revolutionary ideas and intellectual daring... Friends, Followers and the Future How Social Media are Changing Politics, Threatening Big Brands, and Killing Traditional Media Rory O'Connor Award-winning journalist Rory O'Connor explores how social media is transforming not only politics, media, and business, but every aspect of how we live. The Grey Album On the Blackness of Blackness Kevin Young Taking its title from Danger Mouse's pioneering mashup of Jay-Z's The Black Album and the Beatles' The White Album, Kevin Young’s encyclopedic book combines essay, cultural criticism, and lyrical chorus to illustrate the African American tradition of... You Are Not a Gadget A Manifesto Jaron Lanier A programmer, musician, and father of virtual reality technology, Jaron Lanier was a pioneer in digital media, and among the first to predict the revolutionary changes it would bring to our commerce and culture. Now, with the... Madness The Invention of an Idea Michel Foucault Compelling and highly influential, Michel Foucault's Madness is an indispensable work for readers who wish to understand the intellectual evolution of one of the most important social theorists of the twentieth century. Written in 1954 and revised... A Lover's Discourse Fragments Roland Barthes A Lover’s Discourse, at its 1978 publication, was revolutionary: Roland Barthes made unprecedented use of the tools of structuralism to explore the whimsical phenomenon of love. Rich with references ranging from Goethe’s Werther to Winnicott, from... Empire of Illusion The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle Chris Hedges Pulitzer prize–winner Chris Hedges charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate society that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion. Chris Hedges argues that we now live in two societies: One, the minority, functions in a print-based... Virtual Words Language on the Edge of Science and Technology Jonathon Keats The technological realm provides an unusually active laboratory not only for new ideas and products but also for the remarkable linguistic innovations that accompany and describe them. How else would words like qubit (a unit of quantum information)... 1 2 3 4 >>>