Early Greek Vase Painting

This book completes John Boardman's study of Greek vase painting in the World of Art. The author demonstrates that all the components of Greek art that were to culminate in the Classical styles of the fifth century can be traced in the development of vase painting in early Greece, from the eleventh to the sixth centuries B.C. The vases are the most prolific source for this study, as well as being invaluable documents of society, religion, trade, and colonization. The works discussed here display the Greek painter's craft at its most mathematical, its most colorful, and in its most directly narrative mode.  

Five Minds for the Future (Audiobook, MP3)

 We live in a time of changes that include accelerating globalization, mounting quantities of information, the growing hegemony of science and technology, and the clash of civilizations. Those changes call for new ways of learning and thinking in school, business, and the professions. In this audiobook, psychologist Howard Gardner defines the cognitive abilities that will command a premium in the years ahead.
 

An Object of Beauty: A Novel (Audiobook, MP3) 2010

This thoroughly engaging primer on the art world is unusual on a number of levels. Although the lead characters are unlikable, the novel is hard to put down, offers an enlightening explication of how the market for art is created, and includes photos and absorbing detail on many of the artworks under discussion. The narrator, Daniel Franks, is an arts journalist who relates the story of avaricious, amoral Lacey Yeager, who is willing to do almost anything to move ahead in the art world. After landing an entry-level job at Sotheby’s, where her stint cataloging dusty works in the basement helps develop her eye for good art, Lacey moves on to working in a gallery

Echo (Alex Benedict) (Audiobook, mp3) 2010

Fans of antiquities dealer Alex Benedict will find their expectations fully met by his fifth outing (after 2008's The Devil's Eye). Benedict innocently arranges the purchase of a curious but not obviously significant stone tablet with an unreadable inscription. When the slab proves inexplicably difficult to collect, Benedict and his partner, Chase Kolpath, investigate its connections to explorer Sunset Tuttle's abrupt abandonment of his quest to find another intelligent race. Death hounds Benedict and Chase as they inch closer to an old shame someone will kill to protect. McDevitt's characters may live 9,600 years in the future, but their values are entirely 21st century,  

Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die

MACHINE OF DEATH tells thirty-four different stories about people who know how they will die. Prepare to have your tears jerked, your spine tingled, your funny bone tickled, your mind blown, your pulse quickened, or your heart warmed. Or better yet, simply prepare to be surprised. Because even when people do have perfect knowledge of the future, there's no telling exactly how things will turn out.