Akira Tatehata

* A beautifully published book on the visual artist Casper Faassens, whose work uniquely combines photography, painting and craquelure* The first monograph on the artist* Author and literary critic Onno Blom provides the accompanying texts"With his technique, Casper refers to the theme 'Vanitas' that was often used in 17th-century painting: symbols that represent the transience of earthly existence. This places Casper in a long line of painters who have passed on inspiration from one generation to the next." --Meta Knol, director Museum De LakenhalBeauty is central to the artworks of Dutch visual artist Casper Faassen. He has developed a unique visual language through the combination of photography, paint, and the application of craquelure to his canvases. He builds them up from multiple transparent layers, creating a distance between subject and viewer, highlighting the contrast between beauty and apparent decay. This first overview of his photographic work includes his Asia series, dancers from the Dutch National Ballet series, cityscapes, and still lifes in the style of Morandi.

Insect pests remain one of the main constraints to food and fiber production worldwide despite farmers deploying a range of techniques to protect their crops. Modern pest control is guided by the principles of integrated pest management (IPM) with pest resistant germplasm being an important part of the foundation. Since 1996, when the first genetically modified (GM) insect-resistant maize variety was commercialized in the USA, the area planted to insect-resistant GM varieties has grown dramatically, representing the fastest adoption rate of any agricultural technology in human history. The goal of our book is to provide an overview on the role insect-resistant GM plants play in different crop systems worldwide. We hope that the book will contribute to a more rational debate about the role GM crops can play in IPM for food and fiber production.

"Sibusiso Mbhele And His Fish Helicopter" is a cinematic look at the life and work of a visionary South African outsider artist who sparked the jealousy, wrath, and ultimate rejection of his own community with his wondrous creations of scrap metal flying machines. Based on his eponymous film, originally screened in 2000 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Koto Bolofo's first monograph documents a young, talented South African sculptor forced to flee his rural home--a full-sized, hand-built metal facsimile of a helicopter--which stood as an oddity against a background of traditional thatched huts in his African village. Self-taught, Mbhele earned his living creating scrap metal sculptures of planes, cars, and bicycles from wire, car wrecks, oil tin drums, and other recycled materials. After making the headlines in the local newspapers, Mbhele's neighbors, jealous of his recognition and success, destroyed his creations and his beloved helicopter home. They had him jailed, and though he was later released, the tension and threat of further trouble was enough to make Mbhele take flight from his precious helicopter haven and head for the security of the city and the unknown.

I can confirm that should you ever find yourself on stage playing the bass guitar with tree left hands, it is usually the one in the middle that is the real one. The other two are probably phantoms. Playing the Bass with Three Left Hands tells the story of one of the most influential, revered and ultimately demented British bands of the 1980s, Spacemen 3. In classic rock n roll style they split up on the brink of their major breakthrough. As the decade turned sour and acid house hit the news, Rugby's finest imploded spectacularly, with Jason Pierce (aka Jason Spaceman) and Pete Kember (aka Sonic Boom) going their separate ways. Here, Will Carruthers tells the whole sorry story and the segue into Spirtualised in one of the funniest and most memorable memoirs committed to the page.