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Atsitsa Bay
Life Choices
In Bed with Madness The Greek Inheritance The Future of the Past The Judaeo-Christian culture of faith followed by the capitalist culture of profit stifled the earlier Greek culture of joy. Can a return to the roots of the West’s philosophical tradition give an answer to the problems of our day? This is the subject of Yannis Andricopoulos’ trilogy published in both the UK and the USA by Imprint Academic in March 2008. Yannis Andricopoulos, Ph.D., formerly London correspondent of Athenian dailies and editor of i-to-i magazine, is author of several books on Greek and European twentieth century history. He is also co-founder of Skyros, the holistic holidays company. 'Amazing' (5-star review on Amazon) ‘Breathtaking’ Just finished ‘The Greek Inheritance’. This is basically a breath-taking whistle-stop intellectual and cultural history of the Western world, where to adapt Pythagoras, not ‘Man’ but Ancient Greece is the measure of all things. Certainly whetted my appetite for Greekness. Rodger Kibble on Skyros Facebook |
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In Bed with Madness
Trying to Make Sense in a World that Doesn’t
Globalism endowed us with McDonald’s, ‘the world’s local bank’ and English football teams without English players. It has also given us an irrepressible desire for more as enough is never good enough – the blanket is always too short. Meanwhile, our personal world as much as our social and political realities seem to have blithely surrendered to the madness of a civilization which views anything from corporate greed and global warming to military adventures and religious fundamentalism as normal as a door banging in the wind. The destructive capabilities of our age, Yannis Andricopoulos holds, have run too far ahead of our wisdom. However, the process is not irreversible if our thinking can postpone its retirement. In Bed with Madness is ‘a well-argued, powerful and profound indictment of contemporary culture’, stylishly and humorously written – a reviewer said he would have bought it just for its wit!
The Greek Inheritance
Ancient Greek Wisdom for the Digital Era
The culture of ancient Greece, a culture of joy, was replaced by the Judaeo-Christian culture of faith and then by the capitalist culture of profit. Yet, it is the only culture worth fighting for if we want a world run by humans rather than theocracies, nanotechnologies or private equity funds. Yannis Andricopoulos views the Greek culture as the front line of the battle against individualism, materialism, authoritarianism and religious extremism. In a world turned into the corporations’ playground, this is also the battle for human values, civic virtues and an ethical society. The Greek Inheritance traces the conflict between the Greek values and those of the repressive, religious or capitalist order throughout the millenniums. The book is challenging and well-written with a light, humorous touch.
The Future of the Past
From the Culture of Profit to the Culture of Joy
Universalism in its old forms has, just like door-to-door milkmen, gone for good. But the search for some universally accepted ethical standards cannot be abandoned – values are not colourless as the wind and odourless as thoughts. Looking into our world from the classical Greek point of view, Yannis Andricopoulos wonders whether we cannot place Justice again at the heart of our morality, look forward to the happiness of the individual rather than the upgrading of his or her consumer fantasies, and endeavour to create, not more wealth, but a just and honourable world. The Future of the Past, noted for its elegance and humour, is written in ‘a lively, challenging style guaranteeing to stimulate debate on the most pressing issues of our time’.
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Give Yourself and a Friend a Present You can purchase Yannis’ Trilogy through any of the following suppliers http://www.imprint.co.uk http://www.shop.com 'Tangible, compelling, driven and heartfelt writing at its best'
Leonardo Online (Leonardo Online is the web site of Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology) by Kathryn Adams If you’re constantly thinking the world we live in has gone completely arse up… take heart, you are not alone. Yannis Andricopoulos, author of In Bed With Madness: Trying to Make Sense in a World that Doesn’t, validates this sentiment and encapsulates all that is heinous and nonsensical with modern society in one powerfully charged little volume. Tackling the big issues such as religious fundamentalism, global warming, warfare, rampant consumerism, and the role science and technology are playing in the collapse of our planet and the human spirit, Andricopoulos also comments on the inane; breast enlargements, McDonalds, advertising, virtual sex, ski holidays in Dubai and takes us on a philosophical snorkel through the polluted waters of contemporary culture. And it is murky. Andricopoulos, who thinks of our world as being “…as fragmented as a broken mirror, as perverse as fighting for a place in the hell- express, as bland as a portion of Kentucky Fried Chicken,” has a Ph.D. in Diplomatic History, worked as a journalist in London and is the co-founder of Skyros, “…the holistic, community-based holiday centre on the island of Skyros.” His inspiration for writing this book, the first in a series of three, has been, he says, “…both his involvement with the truculent world of politics and the graceful, personal world of Skyros” which is evident in his writing style. Through a maelstrom of hard-hitting truths about humanity’s dysfunction, the profiteering of politics and our lust for progress, Andricopoulos manages to pepper his text with humour and provide his readers with a glimmer of hope by the final chapter, even though “change…” he says, “…requires nothing less than the shifting of the tectonic plates of our culture…” This is tangible, compelling, driven and heartfelt writing at its best and the message is clear …humans have lost all connection to their environment, each other and themselves and through their constant, frenzied and soulless quest for more of everything, have lost a grip on reality. We live in a mad, mad, mad world, the author laments, where “…‘normal’…is living with extreme poverty, violence or environmental degradation…’abnormal’… is… the refusal to kill fellow human beings.” Man, through technological advancement and the spoils of capitalism, has been saddled with too much power, which the author notes, “…he is bound to misuse and abuse with catastrophic consequences. Combining the power of a giant with the wisdom of a simpleton can only turn life into a lived-in nightmare.” A profusion of quotes by artists, poets, philosophers, novelists, historians and various theorists to support the author’s claims are included to stimulate debate and entertain, from Plato to Quentin Tarantino. Andricopoulos shares the insights of Nietzsche, Kafka, George Orwell, Joseph Conrad and Flaubert, to name just a few, and it is difficult to find a topic that hasn’t been touched upon - sex, human cloning, nuclear waste, George W Bush, fast-food chains, war and morality. It is also difficult not to feel pulverised after being confronted with such powerful realities, for as we are told, “…humankind cannot bear very much reality.” |
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