Gary Cox is a British philosopher and biographer, known for his insightful works on Jean-Paul Sartre, existentialism, and broader philosophical topics. His writing delves into fundamental questions of human existence, freedom, and ethics. Cox critically examines the challenges of finding meaning in contemporary life. He offers a clear and analytical approach to complex philosophical ideas.
Exploring Sartre's maxim 'Hell is other people!', Gary Cox delves into existential themes surrounding the human condition and the self. He examines how our understanding of selfhood influences interpersonal dynamics, shedding light on the complexities of relationships and the inherent struggles they entail. Through this analysis, Cox offers a profound reflection on the interplay between individuality and social interaction.
The narrative follows Karen Blacksnake, a Navajo woman who escapes from the mob's sex slave industry after five harrowing years, killing her captor in the process. Now a fugitive pursued by both the FBI and the mob, she teams up with Raxi Malcom, an eight-year-old homeless girl, and her sister Zeebee. Together, they navigate a perilous journey to find safety while evading their relentless pursuers, highlighting themes of resilience, survival, and the bond formed in crisis.
"The Girls of the White Platypus Totem" tells the story of Tildey Starling and Carmella Blacksnake as they are swept up into a spiritual adventure in the super-remote Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. The two climate activist friends are called upon by the Pope to investigate strange pictographs of a white platypus that begin popping up in Western Australia and the Northern Territories, sending Aborigines into an uproar and heralding a new cycle for planet earth. The novel was inspired by Peter Weir's 1977 Movie, The Last Wave. Following the first book in the series, "Glass Towers and Goats", Tildey and Carmella find themselves swept up into an investigation of mysterious unrest among traditional Aborigines in the remote Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. Pursued by predatory academics in league with the army, the two flee across the ocean with the Pope's pilot in the papal jet. Then they travel by Land Rover and horseback to a remote convent, St. Mechtilde's of the Desert, to launch an investigation of strange spiritual happenings originating from the mysterious, cave infested, limestone plateau. Meanwhile, their pursuers have not given up.
"Beyond the Reach of Words" explores the teenage years and early adulthood of composer and musician Johann Sebastian Bach, told from the point of view of Bach's friend Edmund. Bach was renowned, especially in his youth, for his improvisational abilities on the organ. Like modern-day music fans, the boys follow an early 18th century music group on its way to Lübeck, Germany. There, they find the great musician Dietrich Buxtehude, who is searching for a successor for his position as chief organist at St. Mary's Cathedral.Buxtehude believes his successor must marry his own daughter, 34-year-old Anna Margareta. While Bach possesses the musical prowess and talent for the role, he is already engaged to his cousin Maria Barbara.Though much has been written about the famous musician, very little is known about his personal life. This book is an imaginative exploration into Bach's formative years, including his time at the Luneburg Latin School and his first posts in orchestras in Weimar and Arnstadt.
A demented genius, Tildey Starling, fifteen, expelled for unknown reasons from the exclusive, ultra modern, Compton Prodigy College in downtown Chicago, moves at the behest of her therapist, Dr. Hornbloom, to the tiny town of Moab Utah to try being a normal girl. Here she meets Carmella Blacksnake, a Navajo, also fifteen, who grew up in a hogan near Navajo Mountain without electricity or running water. They become unlikely friends, and with the discovery of a psychotic horse, begin a bold journey unto the unknown.
Exploring the concept of goodness, this book delves into the nature of being a good person and the complexities of moral action. It raises critical questions about the right actions to take, whether they involve rationality, happiness, moderation, or respect for freedom. The author examines how these elements might combine and vary based on different situations, inviting readers to reflect on their own moral beliefs and practices.
This book offers a new theory of state growth, based on the creation of credible and prudent state budgets.
Jean-Paul Sartre is an undisputed giant of twentieth-century philosophy. His intellectual writings popularising existentialism combined with his creative and artistic flair have made him a legend of French thought. His tumultuous personal life - so inextricably bound up with his philosophical thinking - is a fascinating tale of love and lust, drug abuse, high profile fallings-out and political and cultural rebellion. This substantial and meticulously researched biography is accessible, fast-paced, often amusing and at times deeply moving. Existentialism and Excess covers all the main events of Sartre's remarkable seventy-five-year life from his early years as a precocious brat devouring his grandfather's library, through his time as a brilliant student in Paris, his wilderness years as a provincial teacher-writer experimenting with mescaline, his World War II adventures as a POW and member of the resistance, his post-war politicisation, his immense amphetamine fueled feats of writing productivity, his harem of women, his many travels and his final decline into blindness and old age
"What is God? Does He exist? Can we know? The God Confusion is a down-to-earth guide for anyone interested in these questions. It does not evangelize for God and religion, or for atheism, secularism and science. Instead, it explores in a witty yet balanced way the idea of God and the standard arguments for his existence. Cox shows why all these arguments are logically incapable of moving beyond speculation to any kind of proof. Why the only credible philosophical position is agnosticism."--Cover
Gary Cox guides us through 42 of the most misunderstood, misquoted, provocative and significant quotes in the history of philosophy providing a witty and compelling commentary along the way. This entertaining and illuminating collection of quotes doesn't merely list who said what and when, it explores who each philosopher is and what he or she really meant when they said what they said. Viewing each quote as a philosophical thesis in itself, Cox probes the writings of everyone from Douglas Adams to A.J. Ayer and Thomas Aquinas to Karl Marx. This is a philosophical journey through history, culture and writing to bring us to a deeper understanding of why we think the way we do. As Douglas Adams points out, if there is no final answer to the question, 'What is the meaning of life?', '42' is as good or bad an answer as any other. Here Cox shows that 42 quotes might be even better!