This book is a philosophical examination of the main stages in our journey from hominid to human. It deals with the nature and origin of language, the self, self-consciousness, and the religious ideal of a return to Eden. It approaches these topics through a philosophical anthropology derived from the later writings of Wittgenstein. The result is an account of our place in nature consistent with both a hard-headed empiricism and a this-worldy but religiously significant mysticism.

The most up-to-date techniques for shooting in RAW format, using the newest features of the latest software

Many serious amateur photographers have trouble getting that "wow" shot from their digital cameras. And they're discovering that working in RAW (the digital equivalent of a film negative) takes their photographs to the next level, giving them the control they need to get the highest image quality possible. The problem is, while most photographers know how to shoot RAW, they might not understand how to best deal with "RAW captures" to achieve the ultimate goal: producing the best images.
In "Camera RAW 101," digital photography and software expert Jon Canfield explains everything you need to know to make the most of RAW captures using the newest versions of Photoshop, Elements, and Lightroom. You'll find out how to get the most detail from your RAW files-whether it's correcting shadows and highlights, fixing white balance, or getting rid of noise. You'll learn how to convert RAW images using both basic and advanced techniques, as well as how to download and organize the images, and put the finishing touches on them after conversion.
Packed with beautiful images, solid instruction, and working examples-including screen grabs and before-and-after contrasts that show each step-this is a must-have for any serious amateur photographer who wants to take better, more creative photographs.

For centuries, the transmission of power in feudal European society depended on a code of fidelity, of political allegiance, and truth to one's word. The word as bond extended to include not only the pledge of allegiance between subject and king, but the troth-plight between lovers, the vow of friendship, and the judicial oath. Society was ultimately based upon a gentleman's or gentlewoman's word that was itself underwritten by the Word of God.J. Douglas Canfield argues that English literature of the feudal epoch placed this master trope of word as bond at the center of conflict. The trope does not passively reflect social reality; rather, it helps to define, to constitute the society and its values. Both society and literature were preoccupied by the contest between fidelity on the one hand and its antithesis, betrayal (with the political and sexual anarchy that it threatened) on the other. In literature, the conflict was usually resolved through supernatural aid, the intervention of the Logos, which guaranteed the validity of the word.Canfield analyzes over 25 representative works, focusing on Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Dryden, in the five dominant modes of aristocratic literature-romance, comedy, lyric, tragedy, and satire. In each chapter, he offers three examples, one from the Middle Ages, one from the Renaissance, and one from the Restoration.Canfield's study proceeds synchronically, attempting to show that the trope is always under stress. The language of heroic romance coexists with the language of subversive comedy and absurdist satire. In an Afterword, he suggests why the trope disappears--not from the discourse, where it remains to this day, but from the center of conflict in English literature after 1688.