"From the director of the famed MIT Media Laboratory comes an exhilarating behind the-scenes exploration of the research center where our nation's foremost scientists are creating the innovative new technologies that will transform our future"--

"Kitchen Confidential" meets "Heat" in the first behind-the-scenes portrait of the world's best restaurant and the aspiring chefs who toil to make it so exceptional. Elected best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine an unprecedented five times, El Bulli is the laboratory of Ferran Adria, the maverick creator of molecular gastronomy. Behind each of the thirty or more courses that make up a meal at El Bulli is a small army of young cooks who do the work of executing Adria's vision in exchange for nothing more than the chance to learn at his hands. Granted unprecedented access to this guild system, Lisa Abend follows the thirty-five stagiaries of the 2009 season as they struggle to master the grueling hours, cutting-edge techniques, and interpersonal tensions that come with working at the most revered restaurant on earth.

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" might conjure up images of Mickey Mouse from the Disney film Fantasia, or of Harry Potter. As this anthology reveals, however, "sorcerer's apprentice" tales--in which a young person rebels against, or complies with, an authority who holds the keys to magical powers--have been told through the centuries, in many languages and cultures, from classical times to today. This unique and beautifully illustrated book brings together more than fifty sorcerer's apprentice stories by a plethora of writers, including Ovid, Sir Walter Scott, and the Brothers Grimm. From Goethe's "The Pupil in Magic" to A.K. Ramanujan's "The Guru and His Disciple," this expansive collection presents variations of a classic passed down through countries and eras. Readers enter worlds where household objects are brought to life and shape-shifting occurs from human to animal and back again. We meet two types of apprentice: "The Humiliated Apprentice," a foolish bumbler who wields magic ineffectively and promotes obedience to authority; and "The Rebellious Apprentice" who, through ambition and transformative skills, promotes empowerment and self-awareness. In an extensive introduction, esteemed fairy-tale scholar Jack Zipes discusses the significance and meaning of the apprentice stories, the contradictions in popular retellings, and the importance of magic as a tool of resistance against figures who abuse their authority.

"Ward and Weiden have produced that rare book that is both a meticulous piece of scholarship and a good read. The authors have . . . sifted through a varied and voluminous amount of archival material, winnowing out the chaff and leaving the excellent wheat for our consumption. They marry this extensive archival research with original survey data, using both to great effect." --Law and Politics Book Review"Helps illuminate the inner workings of an institution that is still largely shrouded in mystery." --The Wall Street Journal Online"The main quibble . . . with contemporary law clerks is that they wield too much influence over their justices' opinion-writing. Artemus and Weiden broaden this concern to the clerks' influence on the thinking of the justices about how to decide cases." --Slate.comProvides excellent insight into the inner workings of the Supreme Court, how it selects cases for review, what pressures are brought to bear on the justices, and how the final opinions are produced. Recommended for all academic libraries. --Library JournalArtemus Ward and David L. Weiden argue that the clerks have more power than they used to have, and probably more power than they should. --Washington PostThe book contains a wealth of historical information. . . . A reader can learn a lot from this pioneering study. --Cleveland Plain DealerMeticulous in scholarship. . . . Sorcerers' Apprentices presents convincing statistical evidence that the aggregate time that law clerks spend on certiorari memos has fallen considerably because of the reduction in the number of memos written by each clerk. --Judge Richard A. Posner in The New RepublicBased on judicial working papers and extensive interviews, the authors have compiled the most complete picture to dat

20th-century European Fascism is conventionally described by both historians and political scientists as a fierce assault on liberal politics, culture and economics. Departing from such typical analysis, this book highlights the long overlooked critical affinities between liberal tradition and fascism. Far from being the antithesis of liberalism, fascism, both in its ideology and its practice, was substantially, if dialectically, indebted to liberalism, particularly to its economic variant. Fascism ought to be seen centrally as an effort to unknot the longue durée tangle of the liberal order, as it finally collided, head on, with mass democracy. This brilliantly provocative thesis is sustained through innovative and incisive readings of seminal political thinkers, from Locke and Burke, to Proudhon, Bagehot, Sorel and Schmitt.

Sorcerer’s Apprentice opens with Amy Wallace’s first meeting with Carlos Castaneda, the infamous anthropologist-turned-shaman, whose books described meetings with Yaqui Indian spiritual teacher don Juan. Castaneda’s rise was meteoric in the late 1960s as he wrote massive bestsellers, inspired many to experiment with psychedelics, and was dubbed “the Godfather of the New Age.” The possibility that Castaneda’s experiences may have been fabricated did little to compromise his legend.As the daughter of best-selling novelist Irving Wallace, Amy was rarely shy around famous people. When her father insisted she meet Castaneda, she at first demurred. Little did she know that a delightful first meeting would begin a 20-year friendship, followed by her descent into the dramatic and deeply troubled affair chronicled in this book. Sorcerer’s Apprentice unblinkingly reveals the inner workings of the “Cult of Carlos,” run by a charismatic authoritarian in his sixties who controlled his young female followers through emotional abuse, mind games, bizarre rituals, dubious teachings, and sexual excess. Wallace’s story is both specific and universal, a captivating cautionary tale about the dangers of giving up one’s power to a tyrant–and about surviving assaults on body and spirit.

Sylvia, the new apprentice to the great magician Tottibo, steals one of his spells to complete an impossible task and accidentally creates chaos.