In this compelling collection of first-person stories, adults who have made outstanding achievements in adult literacy were paired with writers to tell of their transition to reading. These are people who have had the courage to overcome the barrier of words to break into a broader sense of themselves, to feel more empowered in the world. Courageous, too, is the very sharing of these stories, in which private moments are opened wide with the hope that others will take the same steps. Whether confronting undiagnosed dyslexia, a Canadian Tire store manager to ensure Christmas for a child, written tests for the military, certification exams, or jumping from an airplane, these people are heroes.

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"A tribute to courage."

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<SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-FAMILY: TheSans; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TheSans; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">

<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TheSans; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">A love of experimentation and discipline, curiosity and routine, hubris and self-reflection are the basis and driving force of the creative spirit. Creative design entails more than just a brilliant idea or hard work—it is a continual process of searching, finding, and inventing, employing interdisciplinary thought and focused action.<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN>

<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TheSans; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">This book assembles excerpts from literary classics that deal in different ways with the process of developing an idea. Contemporary authors from the fields of art, music, and psychology put these themes into the context of their own disciplines and experience. Designs, actions, and architectural concepts from a decade of teaching by architect Hilde Léon, professor at the Leibniz University in Hannover, are the results of risk and reflection—all that promised by the title, “Controlled Megalomania.”</SPAN>

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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 10.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: TheSans; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Language: German<o:p></o:p></SPAN>

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Die Gärten Europas sind immer mehr gewesen als nur schöne Orte zum Verweilen und Spazierengehen. Sie sind komplexe Schöpfungen, Gesamtkunstwerke, die allen Sinnen schmeicheln, um ihre Botschaft zu verkünden. Sie geben, davon erzählt Hans von Trotha ebenso kenntnisreich wie unterhaltsam, viel von der Zeit preis, in der sie entstanden sind.

Nirgends wird das Verhältnis des Menschen zur Natur, zur eigenen Sinnlichkeit, zu seiner Umgebung und zu sich selbst so deutlich wie in den Gärten, die als Medium stets auf der Höhe der ästhetischen Moden, aber auch der technischen Errungenschaften, der gesellschaftlichen Konventionen und nicht zuletzt der philosophischen Debatten waren. Buchstäblich auf einer Art Spaziergang durch die Jahrhunderte führt dieses Buch in die Gärten und damit in die geistigen und sinnlichen Welten des Mittelalters, der Renaissance, des Barock, der Aufklärung und der Romantik.

Selten ist so nachvollziehbar und sinnfällig erzählt worden, wie Menschen in vergangenen Zeiten gedacht und empfunden haben.