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Peter Clothier

Goodreads Author

Born

The United Kingdom

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http://www.peterclothier.com/

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Arts & Photography, Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality

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October 2008

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https://www.goodreads.com/peteratlarge

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Peter Clothier is an internationally-known writer who specializes in writing about art and artists. He believes in avoiding the jargon that obscures much current writing about art, and in writing simply, clearly, in language that the lay person can readily understand. He seeks to achieve a harmony of mind, heart, and body in his work, and looks for this quality in the artists he writes about. A reformed academic, now fifteen years in recovery, he has returned in recent years to teaching, in mostly non-traditional ways: in workshops, continuing groups, and individual coaching and mentoring for artists and writers.

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Average rating: 4.11 · 87 ratings · 34 reviews · 37 distinct works

	Persist: In Praise of the Creative Spirit in a World Gone Mad with Commerce 4.35 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	David Hockney (Modern Masters Series, Vol. 17) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 18 ratings — published 1995 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Slow Looking: The Art of Looking At Art 3.69 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2012	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Pilgrim's Staff 4.25 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2014 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mind Work 4.71 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dear Harry: Letters to My Father 4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	While I Am Not Afraid: Secrets of a Man's Heart 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1997 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Chiaroscuro 2.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1985 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dirty-down 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1987 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Real Bush Diaries: Second Term, First Year really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2006	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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I'm posting today about "Bipolar Bear," a memoir by my fr...

I'm posting today about "Bipolar Bear," a memoir by my friend Carl Davis--a man whom many of you know from his presence as an artist and architect in Los Angeles. As you'll see, it is not an easy read, but one that I found insightful and rewarding. Because his story is so very personal and revealing, I sought and received his blessing before making my thoughts public:

BIPOLAR BARE, by Carlton Davis Read more of this blog post »

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Published on August 05, 2022 10:00

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The SIMPOL Solution: Saving Global Problems Could Be Easier Than We Think

by John Bunzl

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Peter Clothier said: " THE SIMPOL SOLUTION: Solving Global Problems Could Be Easier Than We Think, by John Bunkl and Nick Duffell, Peter Owen Publishers.

Are you tired of the political blame game, hearing those on the left blaming those on the right, and those on the right THE SIMPOL SOLUTION: Solving Global Problems Could Be Easier Than We Think, by John Bunkl and Nick Duffell, Peter Owen Publishers.

Are you tired of the political blame game, hearing those on the left blaming those on the right, and those on the right blaming those on the left? Of feeling impotent, because money rules the world? Are you fed up with the governmental paralysis that results from staked-out, bought-and-paid-for positions and the inability to hear what others have to say? Sick of partisan rectitude and hot-air rhetoric and sound bites? Scared at the prospect of a planet scarred—or rendered uninhabitable—by global warming? A society rotting from within from the effects of social injustice and wealth inequality? You could do worse than read The Simpol Solution: Solving Global Problems Could Be Easier Than We Think by John Bunkl and Nick Duffell.

The root problem in today’s dysfunctional world, in Bunkl and Duffell’s analysis is what they call “Destructive Global Competition” (DGC) and what we need to address it involves nothing more—nor less!—than a radical change in the way we think. Call it a paradigm shift. In this globalized world, the authors affirm, we are stuck, as individuals, corporations and nations in the grip of a competitive modus operandi that sets person against person, corporation against corporation, nation against nation in a competitive vicious circle that has come to threaten our very survival as a species. In this, the left is as complicit as the right. Even a cursory glance at the political paralysis that plagues our own country and the multiple intractable problems that infect our globe is enough to suggest that they are right. Almost everyone can agree that the “system” is not working. In a globalized world, our human consciousness must evolve—the authors suggest, is already evolving—from individual- and nation-centric thinking to “worldcentric” thinking if we are to survive.

How do we change our collective mind? We have first to examine and step away from the old thought habits, to which we cling tenaciously because of their very familiarity. To help us work through the sense of loss that is involved, Bunkl and Duffell—who sensibly insist on the role of psychology in addressing these global socio-economic issues—walk us through the five steps of grieving described by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross: denial, anger, bargaining, grieving, acceptance, taking the time that is necessary to shuck the old in order to embrace the new.

Along the way, the authors examine the blame game that simply makes our current situation worse. Useless to blame corporate greed, as many of us on the left are fond of doing: the corporation is by its very nature required be competitive, even at times ruthlessly so, if it wishes to survive against the ruthlessness of others. Even the well-intentioned, civic-minded corporation is not able to survive at a financial loss. Useless, too, to blame the politicians, who are stuck in the same competitive mode and who need to “win” over others if they are to succeed. Once elected, the policies they enact, in our current system of “sovereign” nation-states, must put the interests of their nation over other nations, “since the global free movement of capital and corporations forces governments to do whatever is necessary to maintain the effectiveness of their respective national economies.”

If global competition is as destructive to our individual and collective well-being as the authors say, what’s the alternative? Here’s where the “Simpol solution” comes in. Simpol, I discovered to my surprise, has been around for more than fifteen years. Founded in 2000 by this book’s co-author and British businessman John Bunkl, it is now a growing international organization that seeks, in short, to save us from ourselves. SIMPOL is shorthand for “the simultanenous policy” campaign, inviting citizens in the U.S., and citizens around the world, to use our votes in a powerful new way to solve global problems like global warming, financial market regulation, environmental destruction, war, and social injustice.” To solve these problems, Simpol insists, “governments must act together. If all governments act together, simultaneously, everyone wins. But while they fail to cooperate, it’s the markets that continue to run politics—not we, the people.”

Global cooperation? Just look at the impotence of the United Nations, you say. To which the authors say: case in point, the United Nations is, precisely, a gaggle of competing “sovereign states,” dominated by a Security Council whose members, in competition with each other and each with veto power, guarantee its failure. But global harmony, you say, is a utopian dream. Impractical. Never happen. Not so, the authors claim. Not only do they argue, persuasively, that global catastrophe is the only eventual alternative to cooperation, they describe, at the end of the book, a series of practical steps that can lead to their goal.

The SIMPOL Solution is an ambitious, persuasively-argued, thorough and, indeed a passionately-written plea for a new world order. If, as I say, you are tired of the old hostilities and the old clichés; if you are tired of feeling exploited and impotent as a voter; if you long for real change in the way the world conducts its business and have despaired of finding a way to make that happen—this book is for you. ...more "

Apr 13, 2017 07:54AM · see review

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Peter Clothier rated a book it was amazing The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I just finished reading "The Wager" by David Grann, author of the "Killers of the Flower Moon" which I also loved. Grann is skilled at that you-were-there style of writing that immerses you in the tales he has to tell. In the case of "The Wager", it' ...more
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Peter Clothier rated a book it was amazing Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I have just finished reading Gillian Flynn's "Dark Places." It's a devastating book, not one for the faint-hearted. Set in the impoverished, neglected farmland of the American midwest, it opens with the memory of the brutal murder of a mother and two ...more
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Peter Clothier rated a book it was amazing Art Can Kill by Cooke, Bryan,	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
If you want to have some fun poking around in the underbelly, and sometimes the dirty linen of the art world you could do no better than Bryan Cooke’s book, “Art Can Kill: Crooks, Clowns & Connoisseurs”. Winner of LA’s 2022 Best Art Services Business ...more
Feb 20, 2023 05:19PM · like · see review
Peter Clothier rated a book it was amazing The Sentence is Death (Hawthorne & Horowitz #2) by Anthony Horowitz (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Anthony Horowitz is the kind of writer who drives me up the wall. He’s unbelievably prolific, with seemingly dozens of novels to his credit, in addition to numerous children’s books and television dramas like Foyle’s War and Misomer Murders. Damn! Ho ...more
Feb 15, 2023 04:46PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Clothier rated a book really liked it A Line to Kill (Hawthorne & Horowitz #3) by Anthony Horowitz (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I enjoyed reading this conventional mystery with a twist by Anthony Horowitz. I have enjoyed much of his work, including the great television drama “Foyle’s War.” “A Line to Kill” plays with two conventions: the well-loved, polite British mystery gen ...more
Jul 25, 2022 08:57AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Clothier rated a book it was amazing Divining Chaos: The Autobiography of an Idea by Aviva Rahmani	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
If you have been living in the Southern California area for a while, you’ll surely remember the Big Rock. It was a media frenzy in its day. News cameras greedily recorded every hiccup in the perilous journey of this massive, 430-ton granite boulder ...more
Jul 15, 2022 11:20AM · 2 likes · like · see review
Peter Clothier rated a book it was ok Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is one of those books I wanted to like more than I did. Evison is at his best in his evocation of the wild mountain landscapes of the North Cascades in Washington State. The winter winds will chill your bones, you sink into the muddy surface of ...more
Jul 01, 2022 05:55PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Clothier rated a book it was amazing Harlem Shuffle (Ray Carney, #1) by Colson Whitehead (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I guess I’m just about as white as you can get. I still recall the trepidation I felt in anticipation of my first visit to Harlem, back in the late 1970s, on an art research project. It’s a good thing I had not read Colson Whitehead’s “Harlem Shuffle ...more
Jun 27, 2022 07:41AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Clothier rated a book did not like it The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I picked up a copy of “The Anomaly” by Hervé le Tellier at our local bookshop on the basis of rave reviews and touted best-seller status (“more than a million copies sold world-wide”!) I should have known better. It turned out to be what’s known in t ...more
Mar 16, 2022 08:02AM · 3 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Clothier rated a book it was amazing The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I have always been a great fan of tales of mystery and suspense, and this is one that especially intrigued me because its milieu is one that I have long been familiar with: Bletchley Park. I have a personal connection with this incredibly hush-hush, ...more
Jan 27, 2022 08:32AM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Rose Code by Kate Quinn <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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“It's perfectly possible to enjoy a good, civilized, person-to-person conversation with a picture on a museum wall. Talk to it, listen carefully, and it will more than likely talk back to you.”
― Peter Clothier, Slow Looking: The Art of Looking At Art

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