Diane Ackerman

Cuando Alemania invadió Polonia, Jan y Antonina Zabinski, guardianes del zoo de Varsovia, horrorizados ante el nazismo, consiguieron ayudar a más de trescientas personas a huir. Sin embargo, el relato de su hazaña se perdio en la voragine de la historia. Ironicamente, las jaulas vacias del zoo sirvieron para ocultar a decenas de personas condenadas a una muerte segura. Otras lograron esconderse agazapadas en los escondrijos de la casa. Basandose en el diario de Antonina y otras fuentes historicas, con una prosa exuberante y una sensibilidad exquisita, Ackerman explora el papel que desempeña la naturaleza tanto en lo que se refiere a la bondad como a la violencia, y nos revela la fascinante y perturbadora obsesion que yacia en el corazon del nazismo: venerar y al mismo tiempo violar las leyes de la naturaleza, por un lado, y el control del planeta, por otro.

Si Colette hubiera estudiado ciencia con Olives Sacks, podría haber escrito un libro como éste. Audaz y desinhibido –la autora usa su propio cuerpo como campo de pruebas-, y erudito a la vez –Diane A

Tras el sonado éxito de Una historia natural de los sentidos, Diane Ackerman ha usado su personalísimo talento para explorar el mayor de los talentos: el escurridizo, eterno y siempre interesante asunto del amor. El resultado es cien por cien Ackerman: una esplendida, seria, cientifica, poetica y juguetona vista panoramica de las muchas formas y caras del amor. Ackerman bebe de gran variedad de fuentes, tanto clasicas como de su experiencia inmediata. Explora e ilumina las raices historicas, culturales, religiosas y biologicas del amor. Propone una nueva lectura de Freud (trazando el mapa de las areas belicas del amor), Stendhal (el amor como fantasia) y Proust (el erotismo de la espera) y extrae lecciones de distintos amantes a lo largo de la historia. A continuacion, fija su atencion en lo fisico: la quimica, la biologia y la neurofisiologia asociadas con el amor en el cerebro, la mente y el cuerpo. Discute la evolucion del rostro, el abrazo, analizado a la vez como caricia y como quimica, y las costumbres del matrimonio. Y siempre nos asombra. Su toque distintivo, al que se suman sus aventuras y exploraciones personales, enriquece nuestro conocimiento sobre mujeres y caballos, hombres y sirenas, sexo y volar, y sobre otras materias igualmente atractivas. El libro empieza: el amor es el gran intangible. A partir de esta afirmacion Diane Ackerman se dispone a hacerlo mas tangible, rastreable, respirable y..., en resumen, lo amamos.

Tras el sonado éxito de Una historia natural de los sentidos, D. Ackerman ha usado su personalísimo talento para explorar el mayor de los talentos: el escurridizo, eterno y siempre interesante asunto del amor. Ackerman bebe de gran variedad de fuentes, tanto clasicas como de su experiencia inmediata. Explora e ilumina las raices historicas, culturales, religiosas y biologicas del amor. A continuacion, fija su atencion en lo fisico: la quimica, la biologia y la neurofisiologia asociadas con el amor en el cerebro, la mente y el cuerpo. Su toque distintivo, al que se suman sus aventuras y exploraciones personales, enriquece nuestro conocimiento sobre mujeres y caballos, hombres y sirenas, sexo y volar, y sobre otras materias igualmente atractivas.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Zookeepers Wife, an ambitious and enlightening work that combines an artists eye with a scientists erudition to illuminate, as never before, the magic and mysteries of the human mind. Long treasured by literary readers for her uncommon ability to bridge the gap between art and science, celebrated scholar-artist Diane Ackerman returns with the book she was born to write. Her dazzling new work, An Alchemy of Mind, offers an unprecedented exploration and celebration of the mental fantasia in which we spend our daysand does for the human mind what the bestselling A Natural History of the Senses did for the physical senses. Bringing a valuable female perspective to the topic, Diane Ackerman discusses the science of the brain as only she can: with gorgeous, immediate language and imagery that paint an unusually lucid and vibrant picture for the reader. And in addition to explaining memory, thought, emotion, dreams, and language acquisition, she reports on the latest discoveries in neuroscience and addresses controversial subjects like the effects of trauma and male versus female brains. In prose that is not simply accessible but also beautiful and electric, Ackerman distills the hard, objective truths of science in order to yield vivid, heavily anecdotal explanations about a range of existential questions regarding consciousness, human thought, memory, and the nature of identity.

La maravillosa alquimia del cerebro desarrolla a través de un apasionante y entretenido recorrido guiado por una incertidumbre: cómo el cerebro se transforma en la mente.

In war-torn Warsaw, a zookeeper and his wife refuse to surrender... Now a major motion picture starring Jessica Chastain and Daniel Bruhl, Diane Ackermans The Zookeepers Wife is based on a remarkable true story of bravery and sanctuary during World War II. Perfect for fans of Lion and Hidden Figures.I cant imagine a better story or storyteller. The Zookeepers Wife will touch every nerve you have -Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything is IlluminatedWhen Germany invades Poland, Luftwaffe bombers devastate Warsaw and the citys zoo along with it. With most of their animals killed, or stolen away to Berlin, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski begin smuggling Jews into the empty cages.As the war escalates Jan becomes increasingly involved in the anti-Nazi resistance. Ammunition is buried in the elephant enclosure and explosives stored in the animal hospital. Plans are prepared for what will become the Warsaw uprising. Through the ever-present fear of discovery, Antonina must keep her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and animal inhabitants - otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes - as Europe crumbles around them.Written with the narrative drive and emotional punch of a novel, The Zookeepers Wife is a remarkable true story. It shows us the human and personal impact of war - of life in the Warsaw Ghetto, of fighting in the anti-Nazi resistance. But more than anything it is a story of decency and sacrifice triumphing over terror and oppression. What readers are saying about The Zookeepers Wife: Beautifully and sensitively written - a must readAn adventure that inspiresBoth horrifying and endearing on a scale Ive not experienced in yearsA story that will haunt you foreverHaunting, life affirming, sad, and inspiring

Jan et Antonina Zabinski dirigent le zoo de Varsovie quand éclate la Seconde Guerre mondiale. La Pologne est envahie et bientôt règne la barbarie.Les animaux ont été tués sous les bombardements, envo

Our relationship with nature has changed . . . radically, irreversibly, but by no means all for the bad. Our new epoch is laced with invention. Our mistakes are legion, but our talent is immeasurable.In The Human Age award-winning nature writer Diane Ackerman confronts the fact that the human race is now the single dominant force of change on the planet. Humans have subdued 75 per cent of the land surface, concocted a wizardry of industrial and medical marvels, strung lights all across the darkness. We now collect the DNA of vanishing species in a frozen ark, equip orang-utans with iPads, create wearable technologies and synthetic species that might one day outsmart us. Ackerman takes us on an exciting journey to understand this bewildering new reality, introducing us to many of the people and ideas now creating - perhaps saving - the future.The Human Age is a surprising, optimistic engagement with the dramatic transformations that have shaped, and continue to alter, our world, our relationship with nature and our prospects for the future. Diane Ackerman is one of our most lyrical, insightful and compelling writers on the natural world and The Human Age is a landmark book.

The national bestselling author of A Natural History of the Senses tackles the realm of creativity, by exploring one of the most essential aspects of our characters: the ability to play. "Deep play" is that more intensified form of play that puts us in a rapturous mood and awakens the most creative, sentient, and joyful aspects of our inner selves. As Diane Ackerman ranges over a panoply of artistic, spiritual, and athletic activities, from spiritual rapture through extreme sports, we gain a greater sense of what it means to be "in the moment" and totally, transcendentally human. Keenly perceived and written with poetic exuberance, Deep Play enlightens us by revealing the manifold ways we can enhance our lives.

A vivid and groundbreaking tour of the senses, full of cutting-edge science and thrilling anecdotes, that reveals how they shape our lives and the way we experience the world around usby the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Natural History of the SensesA Feast in Every Sense is Diane Ackermans luscious and tender journey into the mystery of our modern sensory lives, a grand tour that captures the heady feelings of being alive. She introduces us to receptors that create the creamy sensation of a perfectly ripe avocado, sound waves that allow us to identify hot versus cold water by sound alone, skin sensors that lower pain and change brain chemistry at a lovers touch.The sensory universe colors every morsel of human existence. Why does sitting in a hard chair make you a harder bargainer? Why does Tylenol decrease empathy? Why does sipping a bitter drink invite harsher moral judgments? How does the time of day you receive a flu vaccine or an organ transplant affect its success? Is airplane food really that dull, or do our cravings and sense of taste warp at altitude? What sensory rebels have lived at the frontiers of perception? So many mysteries, good and bad, can only be understood through our senses.Ackerman also uses new scientific discoveries, like our host of Secret Sensesever-vigilant scoutsto explain lifes intricacies and understand how the worlds endless stimuli combine with our inner lives to form our deepest thoughts, feelings, hardships and joys.Blending history, science, personal experience, and a poets eye, A Feast in Every Sense is both an ambrosial display of how we process the beauty around us and a call to rediscover what it means to be fully embodied and alive in a world brimming with wonders.

In a rare blend of scientific fact and poetic truth, the acclaimed author of A Natural History of the Senses explores the activities of whales, penguins, bats, and crocodilians, plunging headlong into nature and coming up with highly entertaining treasures.

An astonishing book by the prize-winning, bestselling author of A Natural History of the Senses thatreveals her parallel lives as an observer of the wildlife in her garden and as a telephone crisis counselor. "(Ackerman) brings a luminous and illuminating combination of sensuality, science, and speculation to whatever she considers." San Francisco Examiner

In A Natural History of the Senses Diane Ackerman revealed herself as a naturalist who writes with the sensuous immediately of a great poet. Now Jaguar of Sweet Laughter presents the work of a poet with the precise and wondering eye of a gifted naturalist.Ackermanss Olympian vision records and transforms landscapes from Amazonia to Antarctica, while her imaginative empathy penetrates the otherness of hummingbirds, deer, and trilobites. But even as they draw readers into the wild heart of nature, Ackermans poems are indelible reminders of what it is to be a human beingthe "jaguar of sweet laughter" that, according to Mayan mythology, astonished the world because it was the first animal to speak.

Diane Ackermans poems reveal her intense response to the several worlds of nature, science, and society. Her lyricism fuses wit and sobriety, meditation and activism, and she confronts us with figures both real and fantastic.As always, her strong connection with the natural world, the realms of language and literature, myth and imagination, combines with her deep understanding of the sciences to offer her readers a singular American voice. This is not a voice crying in the wilderness, but one that gives forth songs of joy and wonder.Organized into seven sections, including "Timed Talk,""By Atoms Moved," and "Tender Mercies,"I Praise My Destroyer is less an assorted collection than an organically coherent whole, one that reveals Ackermans true calling as a twentieth-century metaphysical poet of the highest order.

Diane Ackermans lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in. The New York Times

The bestselling author of A Natural History of the Senses now explores the allure of adultery, the appeal of aphrodisiacs, and the cult of the kiss. Enchantingly written and stunningly informed, this "audaciously brilliant romp through the world of romantic love" (Washington Post Book World) is the next best thing to love itself.

The renowned author of A Natural History of the Senses takes readers in search of the "rarest of the rare, " species likely to disappear before most of us have ever seen them. From Brazil to the Pacific to Japan, Ackerman shares her concern at the animals plight, rejoices at the chance to experience them, and cheers those who work to save these fantastic creatures.