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Art & Culture

Culture and art is many things and at Tales you find a wide selection of art and culture books. If you enjoy a trip to the museum or an evening at the theatre this is the place for you. If you are more into architecture or a well written song, fear not you also find books about that. Lastly design and fashion is also part of our art and culture selection, so what are you waiting for? Set your inner creativity free and get inspired by some of the world’s best artists, musicians, designers or architects.
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  • Save 20%
    by Alan Sepinwall & Matt Zoller Seitz
    £11.99 - 18.99

  • Save 29%
    by teNeues
    £31.99

    Because asphalt is not enough-experience the Harley-Davidson lifestyle close up, which will also take you on the beach, the ice, or on steep walls, An informative book about the motorcycle brand that is also a plea for freedom (not just) on two wheels. An opulent photo book: a road movie you can browse through in Cinemascope format

  • Save 29%
    by Gareth Kershaw
    £31.99

    Pattern Cutting for Menswear is a comprehensive guide to cutting patterns, from basic skills to advanced techniques. With over twenty complete patterns, including new jacket and trouser styles, this revised edition features additional sections on the leg stride relationship in the development of certain trouser styles, fabric properties and their effect on cut and drape, fitting techniques for structured jackets, and the latest information on pattern CAD-based technologies. The step-by-step approach, complete with scaled diagrams and technical flats, fashion illustrations and photographs of toiles, enables you to cut patterns with confidence.

  • Save 28%
     
    £27.99

    Celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of the original Back to the Future film with this in-depth and updated look at the iconic movie trilogy and the wider world of the franchise.

  • Save 23%
    by Jimmy Page
    £34.49

  • Save 20%
    by American Society of Botanical Artists
    £25.49

    The ultimate how-to guide to the essential botanical art techniques from the people who know it best, the American Society of Botanical Artists.

  • Save 20%
    by Alexandra Palmer
    £23.99

    In 1947 Christian Dior rocked the fashion world with his "New Look" which dominated post war fashion and firmly secured the name of his house in the minds of the public and the fashion industry. This book examines the seminal years of Christian Dior, 1947-1957, from an international perspective.

  • Save 24%
    by Udo Kultermann, Yayoi Kusama & Laura Hoptman
    £37.99

    A comprehensive overview of the visionary work of the Japanese artist.

  • Save 22%
    - Long Hard Road Out of Hell
    by Marilyn Manson
    £13.99

  • Save 25%
    - Sew Your Own Capsule Wardrobe
    by Laura Huhta
    £19.49

    Stylish Scandinavian dressmaking projects for contemporary makers

  • Save 10%
    - The Hundred Literary Heroes Who Changed His Life
    by John O'Connell
    £8.99

  • - Technology and the End of the Future
    by James Bridle
    £9.49

    ';New Dark Ageis among the most unsettling and illuminating books I've read about the Internet, which is to say that it is among the most unsettling and illuminating books I've read about contemporary life.'New YorkerAs the world around us increases in technological complexity, our understanding of it diminishes. Underlying this trend is a single idea: the belief that our existence is understandable through computation, and more data is enough to help us build a better world. In reality, we are lost in a sea of information, increasingly divided by fundamentalism, simplistic narratives, conspiracy theories, and post-factual politics. Meanwhile, those in power use our lack of understanding to further their own interests. Despite the apparent accessibility of information, we're living in a new Dark Age. From rogue financial systems to shopping algorithms, from artificial intelligence to state secrecy, we no longer understand how our world is governed or presented to us. The media is filled with unverifiable speculation, much of it generated by anonymous software, while companies dominate their employees through surveillance and the threat of automation. In his brilliant new work, leading artist and writer James Bridle surveys the history of art, technology, and information systems, and reveals the dark clouds that gather over our dreams of the digital sublime.

  • by Mike Senior
    £45.49 - 137.49

  • Save 10%
    - The No.1 Sunday Times Bestselling Autobiography
    by Sarah Millican
    £8.99

    Sarah Millican's autobiography will make you laugh, feel normal and probably sniff your leggings.

  • by Nancy Rooks
    £16.49 - 24.49

  • Save 23%
    - A Foundation Course for Graphic Designers Working in Print, Moving Image and Digital Media
    by David Dabner, Sandra Stewart, Eric Zempol & et al.
    £15.49

    The sixth edition of the market-leading, practical book for both students and small businesses.

  • Save 14%
    - The Autobiography
    by John Cleese
    £9.49

    Tells the story of how a tall, shy youth from Weston-super-Mare went on to become a self-confessed legend. In this book, the author describes his nerve-racking first public appearance, at St Peter's Preparatory School at the age of eight; his endlessly peripatetic home life with parents; and his first experiences in the world of work as a teacher.

  • Save 21%
    by David Gibson
    £13.49

    Whether dark, edgy or humorous, street photography shows us that daily life can be a little surreal but also gently poignant. Photo sharing on Flickr and Facebook has rejuvenated the genre, and its spirit has been reborn. This book is about the possibilities of street photography, and how it can be approached in a tangible way.

  • Save 14%
    - Tales of Music and the Brain
    by Oliver Sacks
    £9.49

    From the bestselling author of Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

  • Save 30%
    by David Austin
    £17.49

    This delightful pocket sized title, coming from one of the UK's foremost experts on roses, will be an indispensable guide to rose-lovers everywhere.

  • Save 30%
    - Import, Tidy, Transform, Visualize, and Model Data
    by Hadley Wickham & Garrett Grolemund
    £44.49

    Learn how to use R to turn raw data into insight, knowledge, and understanding. This book introduces you to R, RStudio, and the tidyverse, a collection of R packages designed to work together to make data science fast, fluent, and fun. Suitable for readers with no previous programming experience, R for Data Science is designed to get you doing data science as quickly as possible.Authors Hadley Wickham and Garrett Grolemund guide you through the steps of importing, wrangling, exploring, and modeling your data and communicating the results. Youll get a complete, big-picture understanding of the data science cycle, along with basic tools you need to manage the details. Each section of the book is paired with exercises to help you practice what youve learned along the way.Youll learn how to:Wrangletransform your datasets into a form convenient for analysisProgramlearn powerful R tools for solving data problems with greater clarity and easeExploreexamine your data, generate hypotheses, and quickly test themModelprovide a low-dimensional summary that captures true "e;signals"e; in your datasetCommunicatelearn R Markdown for integrating prose, code, and results

  • Save 15%
    by Alexa Chung
    £10.99

    Alexa Chung's IT: the Top Ten Bestseller from the international fashion muse and Vogue contributing editorNow a Penguin paperback, this one-off collection of Alexa Chung's writing, doodles and photographs combines stories of early style inspirations such as her grandpa and the Spice Girls with discussion of figures of obsession like Jane Birkin and Annie Hall, reflecting on heartbreak, how to get dressed in the morning, the challenges of taking a good selfie, and more. Interspersed with pages from Alexa's notebooks and many a photo of a good night out, It is now perfectly sized for any bag - handbag or otherwise. Witty, charming and with a refreshingly down-to-earth attitude, It is a must-have for anyone who loves fashion, worries about growing up, or loves just about everything Alexa Chung. 'If you love Alexa Chung, buy it. If you are interested in fashion and style, buy it. If you're after a book full of pretty pictures and inspo, buy it' - Cosmopolitan Alexa Chung is a model and contributing editor to British Vogue. The recipient of numerous style awards, Alexa has won the prestigious British Style Award (voted for by the public) three years in a row. She currently lives in New York City.

  • Save 27%
    - The History of the Music in the 1000 Best Albums
    by Brian Morton & Richard Cook
    £21.99

    The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings is firmly established as the world's leading guide to recorded jazz, a mine of fascinating information and a source of insightful - often wittily trenchant - criticism. This is something rather different: Brian Morton (who taught American history at UEA) has picked out the 1000 best recordings that all jazz fans should have and shows how they tell the history of the music and with it the history of the twentieth century. He has completely revised his and Richard Cook's entries and reassessed each artist's entry for this book. The result is an endlessly browsable companion that will prove required reading for aficionados and jazz novices alike.'It's the kind of book that you'll yank off the shelf to look up a quick fact and still be reading two hours later' Fortune'Part jazz history, part jazz Karma Sutra with Cook and Morton as the knowledgeable, urbane, wise and witty guides ... This is one of the great books of recorded jazz; the other guides don't come close' Irish Times

  • Save 15%
    by Vincent van Gogh
    £10.99

    A new selection of Vincent Van Gough's letters, based on an entirely new translation, revealing his religious struggles, his fascination with the French Revolution, his search for love and his involvement in humanitarian causes.

  • Save 20%
    - A Memoir
    by Michael J. Fox
    £11.99

    In September 1998, Michael J. Fox stunned the world by announcing that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease - in fact, he had been secretly fighting it for seven years. In this candid book, with his trademark ironic sensibility and sense of the absurd, he tells his life story - from his childhood in western Canada to his meteoric rise in film and television and, most importantly, the years in which - with the unswerving support of his wife, family and friends - he has dealt with his illness. He talks about what Parkinson's has given him: the chance to appreciate a wonderful life and career, and the opportunity to help search for a cure and spread public awareness of the disease. He feels as if he is a very lucky man indeed.

  • Save 20%
    - Postpunk 1978-1984
    by Simon Reynolds
    £11.99

    'A fantastic tribute to an amazingly creative musical period . . . An instant pop classic, worthy of a place on your shelves beside the handful of music books that really matter.' John McTernan, Scotland on Sunday Punk revitalized rock in the mid-seventies, but the movement soon degenerated into self-parody. Rip It Up and Start Again is the first book-length celebration of what happened next: post-punk bands who dedicated themselves to fulfilling punk's unfinished musical revolution. 1978 - 1984 rivals the sixties for the sheer amount of fabulous music created, the spirit of adventure and possibility that infused it, and the way the sounds felt inextricably connected to the political and social turbulence of the day. Simon Reynolds, acclaimed author of Energy Flash, recreates a time of tremendous urgency and idealism in pop music. Packed with anecdote and insight, populated by charismatic and maverick characters, Rip It Up and Start Again stands as one of the most inspired and inspiring books on popular music ever written. 'I had never expected there to be a book on this subject; had I done so, I would never have dared to hope it could be as good as this.' Nicholas Lezard, Guardian Book of the Week 'This remarkable and perfectly timed cultural history is required reading.' Q Magazine

  • Save 20%
    by Felix Kramer
    £11.99 - 41.99

    Dieser Band dokumentiert die erste, von Peter Lindbergh selbst kuratierte Werkschau, die er kurz vor seinem Tod fertigstellte. Über 150 Aufnahmen bieten neue, ganz unerwartete Einblicke in das Werk des legendären Fotografen. Ergänzt durch ein ausführliches Gespräch über die Entstehung sowie eine Hommage von Wim Wenders an Peter Lindbergh.

  • Save 24%
    by Jonathan Kirby
    £18.99

    Dig into the 750 album covers that made rock history. Fact sheets, insider interviews, and lists from leading collectors take you on a musical memory tour. Covering everyone from Elvis to Bowie to The Sex Pistols, this complete volume includes bonus info on 250 records that became turning points for a band, an artist, or a genre.

  • Save 20%
    - Light, shape, color, perspective, depth, composition & anatomy
     
    £23.99

    A fully revised and updated edition of this back-to-basics title, packed with the fundamental concepts, conventions and theory needed when creating art.

Culture
What defines culture you might ask? The answer is culture is what defines you. It is what makes us humans human and differentiate us from all other species on the planet. Art and culture is what we share with others, whether it is so called high culture or pop culture. High culture is typically associated with the ‘finer’, classical art forms such as opera, classical music, visual art, ballet and plays. Works that often have a certain age and artistic acknowledgement begin it, but fine culture is also sometimes seen as “high-brow” and not something everyone can understand and that’s sad, because culture and cultural books are for everyone no matter the kind. On the other end of the spectrum we have pop culture that typically is associated with more modern, popular and mainstream forms of culture. It can be pop music, cartoons or big blockbuster movies. We have cultural books from each side of the spectrum, but the best thing is that a change between the two concepts is coming and people are more open about mixing high culture and pop culture, because they are not that different at all. The most important thing about culture is that it connects us and is part of who we are. It can create communities and friendships, but also let us reflect upon ourselves. You can get wiser on that topic in some of our selection’s culture books. 

Art
In our selection you find some of the finest art books featuring some of the greatest artists in history and now. Art is a very important part of our culture. In art you have the possibility of getting engrossed in a wonderful painting, a provocative sculpture, a brilliant play or a beautiful ballet. 
In art you can get lost in the most wonderful stories and themes and identify yourself with someone who doesn’t necessarily look and act like you. By experiencing that you improve your ability of empathy. At the same time you can learn about yourself through art and art books especially when it comes to feelings that can be difficult to describe. In art the themes and problematics are universal and that’s why we feel recognized when experiencing a play, listening to a symphony, studying a great painting or reading a good art book. The art books are best enjoyed in a relaxed setting giving the art room to speak. 
Another beautiful thing about art is that it needs interpretation. When a person meets a well painted painting, a classical sculpture, or a provocative installation it makes us reflect about what it means, and what the art will tell us about society, life or yourself. Everyone can get something different out of a good artwork, because it speaks directly to you and functions as a dialog, where you will have to finish the sentence with your interpretation taking our own life and experiences into the artwork.
We also have a lot of artist books. One of the most talented and popular artists right now are the world famous Dane Vilhelm Hammershøi. Hammershøi has a very significant way of painting giving voice to the melankolic side of the world and of us humans. The painter is famous for his artworks of especially white doors in his apartment in Copenhagen. In the paintings Hammershøi plays with light and shadow in a brilliant way giving room to both sides, which also could be seen as a reflection of life that contains both. The motive also makes the art watcher wonder what is on the other side of the doors or corridors making them compose a continuation of the painting. You can read about Hammershøi in an European context in the artist book Hammershoi and Europe

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