Reading English Books Together

Even if art leaves you cold and you have little or no interest in fashion, you must have heard of Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of abstract art. He saw art as pursuit of truth and believed that 'to approach truth as closely as possible' an artist should abstract everything and thus arrive at the fundamental quality of objects. To apply this idea in practice Mondrian developed a new style of abstract painting, which he termed Neo-Plasticism. It is characterized by the use of horizontal and vertical lines (no diagonals) and primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) and black and white. The painter thought that clearly defined colours and perfectly straight lines, which formed colour blocks, were enough to convey spiritual harmony and order; anything else was apparently superfluous and only distracted the viewer from the truth.“ Piet Mondrian  Composition No. II  1920 Mondrian's quest for what is real was prompted by Modern Theosophy, a spiritual movement founded by Rus

'Pride and Prejudice', 'Sense and Sensibility', 'Emma' - you must have heard about these novels and have probably read at least one of them. How much do you know about the author - Jane Austen? Below are some truly interesting facts about this 18th century English writer. Enjoy! Jane Austen's famous characters - Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet On the 16th of December in 1775 Jane Austen, the 19th century novelist, was born in the Hampshire village of Steventon . Though Jane Austen led the quiet life of an unmarried clergyman’s daughter and wrote only five complete novels, her name has not been consigned to the dustbin of history. On the contrary, today, in the age of the Internet and mobile phones, digital television and supersonic aircraft, Jane Austen is enjoying a huge and enthusiastic following and there have been numerous TV adaptations, films, books and events devoted to her in the past thirty years. Jane Austen's house in Steve

For most of us happiness is the overriding aim in life but there is one formidable obstacle to achieving it – few of us have a clear CONCEPTION of what happiness is. For Socrates, a famous Greek philosopher, there was an inextricable link between a person’s well-being and knowledge.  You can become truly happy once you have rationally examined every aspect of your life and made sense of the world you live in. Socrates is supposed to have said: ‘The unexamined life is not worth living’. Rational examination of your life is all about CONCEPTS. For example, you have chosen the career of a judge in the hope of promoting justice. Whether your decisions as a judge will make you happy or not will hinge on how clearly you have formulated the CONCEPT of justice. However, the answer to the question ‘What is justice?’ may elude you. What method did Socrates suggest for defining CONCEPTS ? Socrates’s mother was a midwife – she helped women to give birth to babies. Socrates compared

  'He was rock 'n' roll before there was rock 'n' roll' - otherwise how else can you explain that even now in the remotest corner of the world should anyone hear  'Strangers in the night exchanging glances ....' they are bound to say: 'Oh, that's Sinatra....' because very few people can still compare to Frank. 'Frank is just like you. Just like me. Only BIGGER.' The power of his voice, unmistakable male charisma, energy, strength of conviction, lust for life - all these signature qualities of his make Frank Sinatra stand out and pass any test of time that is to come... Having taken no vocal or music lessons and possessing a voice range that was by no means exceptional, Sinatra managed to achieve unprecedented popularity which can be compared only to the tremendous success enjoyed by Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Michael Jackson.What helped him, the only son of Italian immigrants, become a cultural and music icon? First of

When Gustav Klimt’s ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’ was first shown to the general public in 1907, it must have IMPRESSED the viewers. The moment you see the portrait your eyes are riveted on the face of a strikingly beautiful young woman with a mysterious half smile playing on her lips. Yet, the gold background heavy with fabrics and decorative elements seems to have asserted dominance over her thus making her look detached and fragile. Gustav Klimt ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’ Our perception of any painting is INFLUENCED by its life: conception, execution and any twists of fate it has undergone since the artist first displayed it. ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’ also known as Austria’s Mona Lisa has an interesting history. To begin with, the author of the portrait, Gustav Klimt (1962-1918) was Austria’s most notable and fashionable avant-garde artist painting mostly women and enjoying the reputation of a Casanova.  GUSTAV KLIMT There is controversy as to w

Our world seems to be biased in favour of extroverts, those active, sociable people radiating confidence and energy. At work they easily take on leadership roles and actively engage in a host of activities. In their free time extroverts are brilliant conversationalists, the life and soul of any party and tireless generators of exciting ideas about where to go and what to do. We tend to admire extroverts and seek their friendship. What idioms and phrases do we use to describe extraverts? They are LIVE WIRES, which means they are lively and full of energy. They  have A BUBBLY PERSONALITY, which means they are always happy, friendly and eager to do things. They  WEAR THEIR HEART ON THEIR SLEEVE, which means they act the way they feel. Our world seems to be biased in favour of extroverts, those active, sociable people radiating confidence and energy. At work they easily take on leadership roles and actively engage in a host of activities.   In their free

When someone brings up the topic of entrepreneurship, the conversation veers towards Steve Jobs with his ambition to make technology user-friendly and accessible to anyone or to Harland Sanders, the founder of KFC, who made chicken a favourite choice for those eager to have a snack. Yet, few people remember the name of the creator of such beautiful things as you can see in the pictures below. The pictures show the products of the company Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, commonly known as Wedgwood.  Here are 5 amazing facts about its founder - Josiah Wedgwood. FACT 1  He transformed the way pottery was produced in Britain and was one of the first entrepreneurs to benefit from mass industrial production. FACT 2  He relied on science and once carried out 411 scientific experiments to discover a way to produce a perfect ceramic surface for his products. FACT 3  The bone china his company produced was so successfully competing with the original products from China