Most Popular Books by Michael Bird

The evaluation of agile software development methodology was a potentially viable study as it is related to the organizational and individual processes involved in the development of information technology in organizations. This methodology emphasizes the need to keep code simple, test frequently, and deliver in a series of small, working packages or iterations. While there was previous research about the definition of agile development and some details of the specific agile methodologies, there did not appear to be any empirical research that addressed the opinions of project managers utilizing these current approaches in software development. The arguments for or against agile software development make sense when taken within the context regarding the benefit of speed, adaptability, and quality of the agile approach but there was no certainty that these three benefits were actually achieved when applied by software development project managers. This research dealt with the opinions, thoughts, and actual experiences of software project managers working with application software projects that used one of the agile development methodologies. Its purpose was to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of utilizing agile methodologies to ensure rapid deployment in a changing business environment. To gain some perspective of this growing aspect of application development, the researcher asked the software group within the Project Management Institute (PMI) to complete a survey that included both structured and open-ended items. Closed-ended questions were included to help keep some sense of statistical control over the data.

Studio Voices explores the multi-layered experiences of modern and contemporary British artists in their own words, drawing on the author's original research in the Artists' Lives audio archive at the British Library. Michael Bird's fascinating oral history of the lives and working practices of artists over the last century, extracted from the huge and growing archive of artists' interviews recorded since 1990, allows us to eavesdrop on artists' life-story conversations, which range through creative practice and professional achievements, childhood memories, family life, relationships, and unexpected, incidental epiphanies of self-awareness. The Artists' Lives project was established in 1990 as part of National Life Stories, the UK's national oral history archive, which is based at the British Library.

Embark on a chilling journey through nightmarish tales that will captivate the ghoulish modern reader. Encounter landlords with sinister requests, ethereal housemates, and a glass-encased jungle built by an eccentric father. These gothic stories blur the lines between dreams and reality, weaving a tapestry of macabre encounters and festering secrets. MEDIA REVIEWS 'These macabre tales feature oppressive, labyrinthine dreams, and even more unsettling realities. This is a damp, festering collection full of death and decay - rotten petals, decomposing carcases, creeping fungi - with a really interesting theme of living situations or, as one story puts it, "unhomely homes". The characters in these stories are all experiencing their own forms of haunting, and must question the boundaries between the real and the imagined. I thought 'Rot' and 'The City Where One Finds the Lost' were excellently visceral, and I enjoyed the anti-capitalist undertones that ran throughout the collection.' - Alyssa Lloyd, Small Press Book Club 'Modern Gothic is a tour de force of short horror fiction. Sometimes gruesome and always uncomfortable this collection will disquiet any reader, its perfect for fans of the weird.' - Brooke Smith, Bookseller at House of Books and Friends

Jenny is a young country girl who lead a rebellious life until she lost her mother from Cancer and had a daughter of her own. After finding a new love with her boyfriend Brody, she finds her past stills follows her. When Brody goes to prison for accidently killing his son he tries to proves his innocents with Jenny standing by his side. It's when Brody starts to write Jenny letters from prison she finds herself dealing with his ex girlfriend and the alcoholic father of her daughter. Between helping her dad with the farm and trying to make a life for herself by going back to school, Jenny has mix emotions about Brody. Especial when her dad hires an old high school crush of hers to help with the farm. She also starts to finds comfort in Brody's friend when he starts coming around to be there for Jenny when Brody can't. By the 13th letter from Brody she makes her decision on which path to take. Based off of true events.

George Fullard: Sculpture and Survival is the first book for almost 20 years on the life and work of this highly individual British artist, whose achievement and influence are now winning belated recognition. Fullard's sudden death at the age of 50 in 1973 cut short a career that had already moved through several very distinct phases. A virtuoso modeller in clay, he was championed by John Berger in the 1950s as Britain's best young realist sculptor but swiftly moved on to experimenting with large-scale assemblages in which he explored dream, memory and his preoccupation with the sculptural 'phantom'. Fullard's landmark exhibition at the Marlborough Gallery in 1964, featuring his War Series, established him as an artist of disquieting poetic intensity at a time when many British sculptors were committed to an abstract, formalist idiom. This book is both a compelling biography, charting Fullard's short and turbulent life, and an in-depth appreciation of his work, beautifully illustrated with new photography. Michael Bird's research into Fullard's private papers, sketchbooks and other archival sources, and new interviews with people who knew him, inform a timely reappraisal of one of the most distinctive and surprising British artists of the later 20th century.

Un muestrario de las 100 ideas más influyentes que han dado forma al mundo del arte, desde el arte paleolítico, a través del mundo antiguo, la Edad Media y el Renacimiento, hasta los tiempos recientes. Cada entrada constituye un arco cronológico en sí misma y cada idea tiene su propio fundamento distintivo en el arte. Un resumen de la historia del arte como palabra y como concepto: artistas, medios, técnicas, texturas, sensaciones y procesos que han cambiado radicalmente la forma de producir obras artísticas. ¿Qué significa cambiar el arte? El arte implica un proceso de transformación en el cual el cambio siempre se halla presente de forma abstracta y como parte intrínseca de su naturaleza, tanto si se considera en términos físicos como intelectuales y espirituales. Tan pronto una idea modifica el arte, éste la reformula, lo que permite que se reconozca a sí misma. Este libro presenta una selección de esas ideas, como, por ejemplo, el que los escultores griegos cambiaran la forma de representar el desnudo debido a la influencia de ciertas actitudes intelectuales hacia el cuerpo humano. Profusamente ilustrada con obras de arte históricas y llena de fascinantes ejemplos contemporáneos, esta guía incluye, entre otras ideas, los petroglifos y el arte rupestre, la pintura mural, la propaganda, los iconos, hacer libros, el mosaico, los retablos, la perspectiva, el claroscuro, el bodegón, el paisaje, las academias, el medievalismo, el arte abstracto, el arte documental, el cuerpo como medio, museos, internet y lo efímero. Contenido Introducción 6 100 ideas que cambiaron el arte 8 Glosario 208 Autor Michael Bird es escritor, historiador de arte y locutor. Es autor de varios libros y ha publicado numerosos ensayos y artículos sobre el arte moderno y contemporáneo. En la actualidad es profesor en el University College Falmouth.

A child can draw and colour in, make sculptures from material found on the beach, play snakes and ladders or learn a few words of Cornish with this activity book. Simple, informative writing with line drawings cover all aspects of life in Cornwall - its art and artists, its language and history, its landscape and life on the sea. Aimed at children aged five to eleven, whether on holiday or living locally, the book provides plenty to do on a long car journey or a rainy day.

Wereldberoemde kunstenaars als Ben Nicholson en Barbara Hepworth maakten van de pittoreske kustplaats St. Ives in Cornwall een wervelend internationaal kunstcentrum. De vele kunstenaars die zich er voor korte of langere tijd vestigden, lieten zich vooral inspireren door het eeuwenoude landschap, de zee en de verbondenheid tussen de plaatselijke bevolking en haar omgeving. Ver van de grote kunstcentra en actuele ontwikkelingen, vonden ze een persoonlijke stijl op de maat van licht, land en ruimte.0Met de tentoonstelling Living the Landscape Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson en de kunstenaars van St. Ives, 1939-1975 besteedt Museum Belvédère als eerste museum in Nederland aandacht aan een bijzonder hoofdstuk uit de geschiedenis van de moderne kunst in Groot-Brittannië.00Exhibition: Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen, The Netherlands (28.05.-25.09.2022).