Bøger af John Higgs

John Higgs is back with another surprising, eclectic book, this time looking to the future to make sense of who we are and where we're going

In the early '90s, the KLF were the biggest selling singles band in the world--until they destroyed their records, erased themselves from music history, and literally set fire to one million pounds.In this fascinating music biography, popular British writer and cultural historian John Higgs digs into the story behind the end of one of the most popular--and yet obscure--bands of the late twentieth century. The band themselves, when asked in interviews, were never able to truly explain their behavior, but looked haunted every time it came up. With his characteristically creative mind, Higgs leads readers on a journey to understand "a story that no one knows they are in--least of all the main characters."Ranging through music history and chaos theory, to Carl Jung and Doctor Who, this brilliant pop biography has been named one of the top ten music books of the year by The Guardian, The Independent, and MOJO magazine. Perfect for music fans and mystery fans alike, The KLF is an engrossing and entertaining read.

"A deep-dive into the unique connections between the two titans of the British cultural psyche--the Beatles and the Bond films--and what they tell us about class, sexuality, and our aspirations over sixty dramatic years"--

"In Stranger Than We Can Imagine, John Higgs argues that before 1900, history seemed to make sense. We can understand innovations like electricity, agriculture and democracy. The twentieth century, in contrast, gave us relativity, cubism, quantum mechanics, the id, existentialism, Stalin, psychedelics, chaos mathematics, climate change and postmodernism. In order to understand such a disorienting barrage of unfamiliar and knotty ideas, Higgs shows us, we need to shift the framework of our interpretation and view these concepts within the context of a new kind of historical narrative. Instead of looking at it as another step forward in a stable path, we need to look at the twentieth century as a chaotic seismic shift, upending all linear narratives. Higgs invites us along as he journeys across a century "about which we know too much" in order to grant us a new perspective on it. He brings a refreshingly non-academic, eclectic and infectiously energetic approach to his subjects as well as a unique ability to explain how complex ideas connect and intersect-whether he's discussing Einstein's theories of relativity, the Beat poets' interest in Eastern thought or the bright spots and pitfalls of the American Dream"--

A wild and unexpected journey through culture, science, philosophy and religion to better understand the mercurial genius of William Blake.Poet, artist, and visionary, William Blake is an archetypal misunderstood genius. His life passed without recognition and he worked without reward, often mocked, dismissed and misinterpreted. Yet from his ignoble end in a paupers grave, Blake now occupies a unique position as an artist who unites and attracts people from all corners of societya rare inclusive symbol of human identity. Blake famously experienced visions, and it is these that shaped his attitude to politics, sex, religion, society, and art. Thanks to the work of neuroscientists and psychologists, we are now in a better position to understand what was happening inside that remarkable mind and gain a deeper appreciation of his brilliance. His timeless work, we will find, has never been more relevant. In William Blake vs the World we return to a world of riots, revolutions, and radicals; discuss movements from the Levellers of the sixteenth century to the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s; and explore the latest discoveries in neurobiology, quantum physics, and comparative religion. Taking the reader on a wild adventure into unfamiliar territory, John Higgs places the bewildering eccentricities of a most singular artist into fascinating context. And although the journey begins with us trying to understand him, we will ultimately discover that it is Blake who helps us to understand ourselves.

'If a thing loves, it is infinite' William BlakeA short, impassioned argument for why the visionary artist William Blake is important in the twenty-first century

A journey along one of Britain's oldest roads, from Dover to Anglesey, in search of the hidden history that makes us who we are today.

An alternative exploration of history's most challenging century, from the author of THE KLF, 'a thing of endlessly fascinating, utterly demented genius' GUARDIAN