Vintage

Absolutely On Music: Conversations With Seiji Ozawa

A Rare Glimpse into the Minds of Two Masters

Haruki Murakami, the internationally renowned author, harbors a deep and abiding passion for music. Before he embarked on his literary career, he owned and ran a jazz club in Tokyo, and the profound influence of music permeates every aspect of his beloved novels. In "Absolutely On Music," Murakami realizes a personal dream by engaging in intimate conversations with his close friend, the legendary conductor Seiji Ozawa, about their shared love for music.

A Journey Through the World of Music

This captivating dialogue transcends the typical interview format, unfolding as a rich and engaging exchange between two titans of their respective fields. From the soaring heights of classical composers like Brahms and Beethoven to the innovative brilliance of Leonard Bernstein and Glenn Gould, Murakami and Ozawa delve deep into the essence of music, sharing their insights and personal reflections. They discuss everything from the thrill of collecting rare vinyl records to the unique challenges of creating pop-up orchestras, offering a unique perspective on the evolving landscape of music.

A Must-Read for Music Lovers and Beyond

"Absolutely On Music" is more than just a conversation about music. It's a testament to the power of shared passions, a window into the creative minds of two remarkable individuals, and a celebration of the enduring beauty and transformative power of music. Whether you're a seasoned music aficionado or simply curious about the art form, this book is sure to resonate with your soul. Prepare to be captivated by the insightful dialogue and the deep appreciation for music that shines through on every page.

<p>The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads: Opens at Nightfall. Closes at Dawn. As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, all over the tents small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears. Le Cirque des Reves. The Circus of Dreams. Now the circus is open. Now you may enter.

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<p>Out Of Office - Unlocking The Power And Potential Of Hybrid Work</p>

<p>“This book will challenge you to rethink what it takes to make remote work work—not just for companies, but for people.” —Adam Grant, 1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife</p>

<p>The future isn’t about where we will work, but how. For years we have struggled to balance work and life, with most of us feeling overwhelmed and burned out because our relationship to work is broken.</p>

<p>This “isn't just a book about remote work. It's a book that helps us imagine a future where our lives—at the office and home—are happier, more productive, and genuinely meaningful” (Charles Duhigg, best-selling author of The Power of Habit).</p>

<p>Out of Office is a book for every office worker – from employees to managers – currently facing the decision about whether, and how, to return to the office. The past two years have shown us that there may be a new path forward, one that doesn’t involve hellish daily commutes and the demands of jam-packed work schedules that no longer make sense. But how can we realize that future in a way that benefits workers and companies alike?</p>

<p>Based on groundbreaking reporting and interviews with workers and managers around the world, Out of Office illuminates the key values and questions that should be driving this conversation: trust, fairness, flexibility, inclusive workplaces, equity, and work-life balance. Above all, they argue that companies need to listen to their employees – and that this will promote, rather than impede, productivity and profitability. As a society, we have talked for decades about flexible work arrangements; this book makes clear that we are at an inflection point where this is actually possible for many employees and their companies. Out of Office is about so much more than zoom meetings and hybrid schedules: it aims to reshape our entire relationship to the office.</p>

<p>The Passenger</p>

<p>NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • The first of a two-volume masterpiece, The Passenger series, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Road • The story of a salvage diver, haunted by loss, afraid of the watery deep, pursued for a conspiracy beyond his understanding, and longing for a death he cannot reconcile with God.</p>

<p>A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR</p>

<p>“Blends the rowdy humor of some of McCarthy’s early novels with the parched tone of his more apocalyptic later work.” —The New York Times</p>

<p>Stella Maris, the second volume in The Passenger series, is available now.</p>

<p>1980, PASS CHRISTIAN, MISSISSIPPI: It is three in the morning when Bobby Western zips the jacket of his wet suit and plunges from the Coast Guard tender into darkness. His dive light illuminates the sunken jet, nine bodies still buckled in their seats, hair floating, eyes devoid of speculation. Missing from the crash site are the pilot’s flight bag, the plane’s black box, and the tenth passenger. But how? A collateral witness to machinations that can only bring him harm, Western is shadowed in body and spirit—by men with badges; by the ghost of his father, inventor of the bomb that melted glass and flesh in Hiroshima; and by his sister, the love and ruin of his soul.</p>

<p>Traversing the American South, from the garrulous barrooms of New Orleans to an abandoned oil rig off the Florida coast, The Passenger is a breathtaking novel of morality and science, the legacy of sin, and the madness that is human consciousness.</p>

<p>When he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost twenty years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire - to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past. 'Evocative, entertaining, sexy and funny; but then Murakami is one of the best writers around' Time Out 'Such is the exquisite, gossamer construction of Murakami's writing that everything he chooses to describe trembles with symbolic possibility' Guardian 'This book is undeniably hip, full of student uprisings, free love, booze and 1960s pop, it's also genuinely emotionally engaging, and describes the highs of adolescence as well as the lows' Independent on Sunday 'Catches the absorption and giddy rush of adolescent love... It is also, for all the tragic momentum and the apparently kamikaze consciousness of many of its characters, often funny and quirkily observed' Times Literary Supplement 'A heart-stoppingly moving story... Murakami is, without a doubt, one of the world's finest novelists' Glasgow Herald

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<p>You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing And Why It Matters</p>

<p>'BRILLIANT' Chris Evans,&nbsp;Virgin Radio Breakfast Show</p>

<p>When was the last time you listened to someone, or someone&nbsp;really&nbsp;listened to you?</p>

<p>This life-changing book will transform your conversations forever.</p>

<p>At work, we're taught to lead the conversation.</p>

<p>On social media, we shape our personal narratives.</p>

<p>At parties, we talk over one another. So do our politicians.</p>

<p>We're not listening.</p>

<p>And no one is listening to us.</p>

<p>Now more than ever, we need to listen to those around us.&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;contributor Kate Murphy draws on countless conversations she has had with everyone from priests to CIA interrogators, focus group moderators to bartenders, her great-great aunt to her friend's toddler, to show how only by listening well can we truly connect with others.</p>

<p>Listening has the potential to transform our relationships and our working lives, improve our self-knowledge, and increase our creativity and happiness. While it may take some effort, it's a skill that can be learnt and perfected.</p>

<p>When all we crave is to understand and be understood,&nbsp;You're Not Listening&nbsp;shows us how.</p>

<p>* With a new afterword by the author *</p>

<p>'This book couldn't be more&nbsp;timely. Inspiringly profound...smart and playful'&nbsp;Observer</p>

<p>'I'll be adopting Murphy's advice'&nbsp;Sunday Times, Style</p>

<p>Rebooting AI - Building Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust</p>

<p>Two leaders in the field offer a compelling analysis of the current state of the art and reveal the steps we must take to achieve a robust artificial intelligence that can make our lives better.</p>

<p>“Finally, a book that tells us what AI is, what AI is not, and what AI could become if only we are ambitious and creative enough.” —Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and author ofDeep Thinking</p>

<p>Despite the hype surrounding AI, creating an intelligence that rivals or exceeds human levels is far more complicated than we have been led to believe. Professors Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis have spent their careers at the forefront of AI research and have witnessed some of the greatest milestones in the field, but they argue that a computer beating a human in Jeopardy! does not signal that we are on the doorstep of fully autonomous cars or superintelligent machines. The achievements in the field thus far have occurred in closed systems with fixed sets of rules, and these approaches are too narrow to achieve genuine intelligence.</p>

<p>The real world, in contrast, is wildly complex and open-ended. How can we bridge this gap? What will the consequences be when we do? Taking inspiration from the human mind, Marcus and Davis explain what we need to advance AI to the next level, and suggest that if we are wise along the way, we won't need to worry about a future of machine overlords. If we focus on endowing machines with common sense and deep understanding, rather than simply focusing on statistical analysis and gatherine ever larger collections of data, we will be able to create an AI we can trust—in our homes, our cars, and our doctors' offices. Rebooting AI provides a lucid, clear-eyed assessment of the current science and offers an inspiring vision of how a new generation of AI can make our lives better.</p>

<p>Crying In H Mart: A Memoir</p>

<p>1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American—“in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself” (NPR). • CELEBRATING OVER ONE YEAR ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST</p>

<p>In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.</p>

<p>As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band--and meeting the man who would become her husband--her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother's diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.</p>

<p>Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner's voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, and complete with family photos, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.</p>

<p>Rich People Problems</p>

<p>NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER</p>

<p>Kevin Kwan, bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians (a major motion picture starring Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh and Gemma Chan) and China Rich Girlfriend, is back with an uproarious new novel of a family riven by fortune, an ex-wife driven psychotic with jealousy, a battle royal fought through couture gown sabotage, and the heir to one of Asia's greatest fortunes locked out of his inheritance.</p>

<p>When Nicholas Young hears that his grandmother, Su Yi, is on her deathbed, he rushes to be by her bedside—but he's not alone. The entire Shang-Young clan has convened from all corners of the globe to stake claim on their matriarch’s massive fortune. With each family member vying to inherit Tyersall Park—a trophy estate on 64 prime acres in the heart of Singapore—Nicholas’s childhood home turns into a hotbed of speculation and sabotage. As her relatives fight over heirlooms, Astrid Leong is at the center of her own storm, desperately in love with her old sweetheart Charlie Wu, but tormented by her ex-husband—a man hell bent on destroying Astrid’s reputation and relationship. Meanwhile Kitty Pong, married to China’s second richest man, billionaire Jack Bing, still feels second best next to her new step-daughter, famous fashionista Colette Bing. A sweeping novel that takes us from the elegantly appointed mansions of Manila to the secluded private islands in the Sulu Sea, from a kidnapping at Hong Kong’s most elite private school to a surprise marriage proposal at an Indian palace, caught on camera by the telephoto lenses of paparazzi, Kevin Kwan's hilarious, gloriously wicked new novel reveals the long-buried secrets of Asia's most privileged families and their rich people problems.</p>

<p>My Policeman: Now A Major Film Starring Harry Styles</p>

<p>**NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING HARRY STYLES**</p>

<p>This love is all-consuming</p>

<p>It is in 1950s' Brighton that Marion first catches sight of the handsome and enigmatic Tom. He teaches her to swim in the shadow of the pier and Marion is smitten - determined her love will be enough for them both.</p>

<p>A few years later in Brighton Museum Patrick meets Tom. Patrick is besotted with Tom and opens his eyes to a glamorous, sophisticated new world.</p>

<p>Tom is their policeman, and in this age it is safer for him to marry Marion. The two lovers must share him, until one of them breaks and three lives are destroyed.</p>

<p>'A sensitive, sweeping novel' VOGUE</p>

<p>'Tense, romantic, smart...I loved it. Devoured it!' RUSSELL T. DAVIES</p>

<p>'A powerful story of forbidden love, regret, and living as your true self' VANITY FAIR</p>

<p>'A moving story of longing and frustration' OBSERVER</p>

<p>This wildly propulsive novel by the acclaimed author of A Wild Sheep Chase focuses on a man searching for a former lover who vanished mysteriously from a seedy hotel. But each new clue to Kiki's whereabouts leads him deeper into a labryrinth of physical violence and metaphysical dread. "A world-class writer".--Washington Post Book World

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<p>Set in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Havana, Hemingway's magnificent fable is the tale of an old man, a young boy and a giant fish. This story of heroic endeavour won Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature. It stands as a unique and timeless vision of the beauty and grief of man's challenge to the elements.

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<p>Japan's most widely-read and controversial writer, author of A Wild Sheep Chase, hurtles into the consciousness of the West with this narrative about a split-brained data processor, a deranged scientist, his shockingly undemure granddaughter, and various thugs, librarians, and subterranean monsters--not to mention Bob Dylan and Lauren Bacall.

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<p>Designing Your New Work Life</p>

<p>We will spend up to 120,000 hours at work in our lifetimes.</p>

<p>But how do we best use those hours? And how do we adapt to today's working world?</p>

<p>'Life has questions. They have answers' New York Times

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<p>From the 1 New York Times bestselling authors of Designing Your Life</p>

<p>With this innovative and deeply empowering book, all of us can find answers to these challenging questions. It offers a fresh understanding of the politics and psychology of work and, by sharing the 'design thinking' principles that have been fuelling the growth of Silicon Valley, helps us to build a working life that is rewarding and meaningful.</p>

<p>Designing Your New Work Life features updated creative tools to:</p>

<p>Redesign your current job

Optimise your hybrid work and workspace

Up your communication game

Adapt to any disruption

Launch your next career chapter</p>

<p>Winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965, Richard Feynman was one of the world's greatest theoretical physicists, but he was also a man who fell, often jumped, into adventure. An artist, safecracker, practical joker and storyteller, Feynman's life was a series of combustible combinations made possible by his unique mixture of high intelligence, unquenchable curiosity and eternal scepticism. Over a period of years, Feynman's conversations with his friend Ralph Leighton were first taped and then set down as they appear here, little changed from their spoken form, giving a wise, funny, passionate and totally honest self-portrait of one of the greatest men of our age.</p>

<p>21 Lessons for the 21st Century</p>

<p>**THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER**</p>

<p>The future is here. Learn to live in it.</p>

<p>In twenty-one bite-sized lessons, Yuval Noah Harari explores what it means to be human in an age of bewilderment.</p>

<p>How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children?</p>

<p>Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today’s most urgent issues. The golden thread running through his exhilarating new book is the challenge of maintaining our collective and individual focus in the face of constant and disorienting change. Are we still capable of understanding the world we have created?</p>

<p>‘Fascinating…&nbsp;compelling…&nbsp;[Harari] has teed up a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the 21st century’ Bill Gates,&nbsp;New York Times</p>

<p>‘Truly mind-expanding… Ultra-topical’&nbsp;Guardian</p>

<p>‘21 Lessons&nbsp;is, simply put, a crucial book’ Adam Kay</p>