Gift Certificates How to Order

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 The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry) Siva Vaidhyanathan Vaidhyanathan offers a tempered critique of the ubiquity of the company that is increasingly becoming the lens through which the internet is viewed globally and, true to the title, points out why this monopoly of web use matters now and what the... The Story of Stuff The Impact of Overconsumption on the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-And How We Can Make It Better Annie Leonard Americans have way too much Stuff , and way too much of it is toxic. That’s the message Annie Leonard has been spreading ever since her college days, and most recently in her short Internet film The Story of Stuff, which has been viewed by over 12... 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... Infinite City A San Francisco Atlas Rebecca Solnit What makes a place? Infinite City, Rebecca Solnit's brilliant reinvention of the traditional atlas, searches out the answer by examining the many layers of meaning in one place, the San Francisco Bay Area. Aided by artists, writers, cartographers, and... 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)... First As Tragedy, Then As Farce Slavoj Žižek From the tragedy of 9/11 to the farce of the financial meltdown—but underlying both is the irrationality of global capitalism. In this bravura analysis of the current global crisis—following on from his bestselling Welcome to the Desert of the... Pocket Pantheon Figures of Postwar Philosophy Alain Badiou In this pint-sized collection of essays, Alain Badiou takes the reader through a keen yet poignant journey through the pantheon of late twentieth-century philosophy. Through the course of the collection – each essay homage to a figure that helped to... Anti-Oedipus Capitalism and Schizophrenia Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari An "introduction to the nonfascist life" (Michel Foucault, from the Preface) When it first appeared in France, Anti-Oedipus was hailed as a masterpiece by some and "a work of heretical madness" by others. In it, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari set... A Little History of the World E. H. Gombrich In 1935, with a doctorate in art history and no prospect of a job, the 26-year-old Ernst Gombrich was invited by a publishing acquaintance to attempt a history of the world for younger readers. Amazingly, he completed the task in an intense six weeks... Being and Time Martin Heidegger "What is the meaning of being?" This is the central question of Martin Heidegger's profoundly important work, in which the great philosopher seeks to explain the basic problems of existence. A central influence on later philosophy, literature, art... Violence Big Ideas/Small Books Slavoj Žižek Philosopher, cultural critic, and agent provocateur Slavoj Žižek constructs a fascinating new framework to look at the forces of violence in our world. Using history, philosophy, books, movies, Lacanian psychiatry, and jokes, Slavoj Žižek examines... The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media Walter Benjamin Benjamin’s famous “Work of Art” essay sets out his boldest thoughts—on media and on culture in general—in their most realized form, while retaining an edge that gets under the skin of everyone who reads it. In this essay the visual arts of the... The Gift Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World Lewis Hyde By now a modern classic, The Gift is a brilliantly orchestrated defense of the value of creativity and of its importance in a culture increasingly governed by money and overrun with commodities. Widely available again after twenty-five years, this... <<< 1 2 3 4 >>>