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Page 1 of 10 - 231 results
Capture: Unraveling the Mystery of Mental Suffering
Kessler, David A.
(Hardcover)
Why do we think, feel, and act in ways we wished we did not? For decades, New York Times bestselling author Dr. David A Kessler has studied this question with regard to tobacco, food, and drugs. Over the course of these investigations, he identified one underlying mechanism common to a broad range of human suffering. This phenomenon - capture - is the process by which our attention is hijacked and our brains commandeered by forces outside our control.In Capture, Dr. Kessler considers some of the most profound questions we face as human beings: What are the origins of mental afflictions, from everyday unhappiness to addiction and depression—and how are they connected? Where does healing and transcendence fit into this realm of emotional experience?Analyzing an array of insights from psychology, medicine, neuroscience, literature, philosophy, and theology, Dr. Kessler deconstructs centuries of thinking, examining the central role of capture in mental illness and questioning traditional labels that have obscured our understanding of it. With a new basis for understanding the phenomenon of capture, he explores the concept through the emotionally resonant stories of both well-known and un-known people caught in its throes.The closer we can come to fully comprehending the nature of capture, Dr. Kessler argues, the better the chance to alleviate its deleterious effects and successfully change our thoughts and behavior Ultimately, Capture offers insight into how we form thoughts and emotions, manage trauma, and heal. For the first time, we can begin to understand the underpinnings of not only mental illness, but also our everyday worries and anxieties. Capture is an intimate and critical exploration of the most enduring human mystery of all: the mind.
At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for God with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land
Halevi, Yossi Klein
(Paperback)
While religion has fueled the often violent conflict plaguing the Holy Land, Yossi Klein Halevi wondered whether it could be a source of unity as well. To find the answer, this religious Israeli Jew began a two-year exploration to discover a common language with his Christian and Muslim neighbors. He followed their holiday cycles, befriended Christian monastics and Islamic mystics, and joined them in prayer in monasteries and mosques in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden traces that remarkable spiritual journey. Halevi candidly reveals how he fought to reconcile his own fears and anger as a Jew to relate to Christians and Muslims as fellow spiritual seekers. He chronicles the difficulty of overcoming multiple obstacles—theological, political, historical, and psychological—that separate believers of the three monotheistic faiths. And he introduces a diverse range of people attempting to reconcile the dichotomous heart of this sacred place—a struggle central to Israel, but which resonates for us all.
Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion
Bloom, Paul
(Hardcover)
We often think of our capacity to experience the suffering of others as the ultimate source of goodness. Many of our wisest policy-makers, activists, scientists, and philosophers agree that the only problem with empathy is that we don’t have enough of it.Nothing could be further from the truth, argues Yale researcher Paul Bloom. In AGAINST EMPATHY, Bloom reveals empathy to be one of the leading motivators of inequality and immorality in society. Far from helping us to improve the lives of others, empathy is a capricious and irrational emotion that appeals to our narrow prejudices. It muddles our judgment and, ironically, often leads to cruelty. We are at our best when we are smart enough not to rely on it, but to draw instead upon a more distanced compassion.Basing his argument on groundbreaking scientific findings, Bloom makes the case that some of the worst decisions made by individuals and nations - who to give money to, when to go to war, how to respond to climate change, and who to imprison—are too often motivated by honest, yet misplaced, emotions. With precision and wit, he demonstrates how empathy distorts our judgment in every aspect of our lives, from philanthropy and charity to the justice system; from medical care and education to parenting and marriage. Without empathy, Bloom insists, our decisions would be clearer, fairer, and - yes - ultimately more moral.Brilliantly argued, urgent and humane, AGAINST EMPATHY shows us that, when it comes to both major policy decisions and the choices we make in our everyday lives, limiting our impulse toward empathy is often the most compassionate choice we can make.
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
Hoffer, Eric
(Softcover)
A stevedore on the San Francisco docks in the 1940s, Eric Hoffer wrote philosophical treatises in his spare time while living in the railroad yards. The True Believer - the first and most famous of his books - was made into a bestseller when President Eisenhower cited it during one of the earliest television press conferences. Completely relevant and essential for understanding the world today, The True Believer is a visionary, highly provocative look into the mind of the fanatic and a penetrating study of how an individual becomes one.
Caravans and Wedding Bands
Petulengro, Eva
(Paperback)
For Romany Eva Petulengro, marrying outside her culture was a big step to take. And now she had to adapt to living with a gorger - and her husband had to adapt to living with her! In this charming sequel to The Girl in the Painted Caravan, she describes their first eventful years of married life in Brighton, and the birth of their four children. She also reveals how she became famous as a clairvoyant, the advice her clients needed, and the attack from an enraged wife who assumed her husband's meetings with Eva meant he was having an affair. In the Swinging Sixties, a sheltered Romany girl could easily find herself out of her depth, and Eva's innocence led her into some strange situations, including a narrow escape from a notorious duchess. She also weaves in the story of her wider family, from her brother Nathan's romance and the adventures of her charming brother Eddie to her aunts and cousins in Blackpool. Funny and heartwarming, Caravans and Wedding Bands is a poignant reminder of a time when life was changing irrevocably for the Romany, and yet their spirit remained the same.
Mothers Who Can't Love: A Healing Guide for Daughters
Forward, Susan
(Paperback)
Over the course of thirty-five years as a therapist, Susan Forward has worked with a large number of women struggling to escape the emotional damage inflicted by the women who raised them. Subjected to years of criticism, competition, role reversal, smothering control, emotional neglect, and other forms of abuse, women raised by mothers who can't love are plagued by anxiety, depression, relationship problems, lack of confidence, and difficulties with trust. But as Forward explains, it is possible to heal the mother wound and find help and validation. Filled with compelling case histories, Mothers Who Can't Love looks at the devastating impact unloving mothers have on their daughters and provides effective techniques to help them overcome the pain of their childhoods, reclaim their confidence and self-respect, and break the cycle of emotional destructiveness for future generations.
Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine
Tweedy, Damon
(Paperback)
One doctor's passionate and profound memoir of his experience grappling with race, bias, and the unique health problems of black AmericansWhen Damon Tweedy begins medical school, he envisions a bright future where his segregated, working-class background will become largely irrelevant. Instead, he finds that he has joined a new world where race is front and center. The recipient of a scholarship designed to increase black student enrollment, Tweedy soon meets a professor who bluntly questions whether he belongs in medical school, a moment that crystallizes the challenges he will face throughout his career. Making matters worse, in lecture after lecture the common refrain for numerous diseases resounds, “More common in blacks than in whites.”Black Man in a White Coat examines the complex ways in which both black doctors and patients must navigate the difficult and often contradictory terrain of race and medicine. As Tweedy transforms from student to practicing physician, he discovers how often race influences his encounters with patients. Through their stories, he illustrates the complex social, cultural, and economic factors at the root of many health problems in the black community. These issues take on greater meaning when Tweedy is himself diagnosed with a chronic disease far more common among black people. In this powerful, moving, and deeply empathic book, Tweedy explores the challenges confronting black doctors, and the disproportionate health burdens faced by black patients, ultimately seeking a way forward to better treatment and more compassionate care.
Far Out Man: Tales of Life in the Counterculture
Utne, Eric
(Hardcover)
The founder of Utne Reader chronicles his adventures on the frontlines of American culture - from the Vietnam era to the age of Trump - as a spiritual seeker,antiwar activist, and minor media celebrity.
The Triple Package: What Really Determines Success
Chua, Amy
(Paperback)
Why do Jews win so many Nobel Prizes and Pulitzer Prizes?Why are Mormons running the business and finance sectors?Why do the children of even impoverished and poorly educated Chinese immigrants excel so remarkably at school?It may be taboo to say it, but some cultural groups starkly outperform others. The bestselling husband and wife team Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and Jed Rubenfeld, author of The Interpretation of Murder, reveal the three essential components of success - its hidden spurs, inner dynamics and its potentially damaging costs - showing how, ultimately, when properly understood and harnessed, the Triple Package can put anyone on their chosen path to success.
Factory Girls: Voices from the Heart of Modern China
Chang, Leslie T.
(Paperback)
Every year in China, millions of migrant workers leave their rural villages to find jobs in the cities. These people are the driving force behind China's economic boom: they work very hard for little money to make the trainers, computers, mobile phones, designer handbags and toys that we buy.Through the lives of two young women, Chang vividly portrays a world where you can lose your boyfriend and your fiends with the loss of a mobile phone; where lying about your age, your education, and your work experience is often a requisite for getting ahead; where a few computer or English lessons can catapult you into a completely different social class. This is a powerful and humane portrait of the forces which are shaping China.
Triumph of the City
Glaeser, Edward
(Paperback)
Cities enable the collaboration that makes humanity shine most brightly.This provocative statement is at the heart of economist Edward Glaeser's impassioned examination of urban life.In it, he takes us from Mumbai to New York, to Rio to Detroit, to Shanghai and dozens of points in-between to argue that cities bring out the best in us, asking - and answering - some crucial questions: what can a great city like New York learn from a middling one? Which cities must shrink or die? What's wrong with London? What's right with Lagos? And much, much more.
Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives
Wiseman, Richard
(Paperback)
Ever wondered why bad musicians always win the Eurovision Song Contest, or how incompetent politicians get elected?You need some Quirkology in your life.While other scientists beaver away on obvious problems, Richard Wiseman has been busy uncovering the secret ingredients of charisma, exploring how our personalities are shaped by when we are born and examining why people usually miss the obvious signs of their partner's infidelity. Using scientific methods to investigate offbeat topics that interest the general public as well as the scientific community, Quirkology brings a new understanding to the backwaters of the human mind and takes us to places where mainstream scientists fear to tread. Comparable to Freakonomics, but British, far more populist, and a lot funnier.Findings include:• How does your surname influence your life?• What does the way you walk reveal about your personality?• Why should women have men write their personal ads?• What is the funniest joke in the world?
Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America
Fallows, Deborah
(Hardcover)
***NATIONAL BEST SELLER***A vivid, surprising portrait of the civic and economic reinvention taking place in America, town by town and generally out of view of the national media. A realistically positive and provocative view of the country between its coasts. For the last five years, James and Deborah Fallows have been traveling across America in a single-engine prop airplane. Visiting dozens of towns, they have met hundreds of civic leaders, workers, immigrants, educators, environmentalists, artists, public servants, librarians, business people, city planners, students, and entrepreneurs to take the pulse and understand the prospects of places that usually draw notice only after a disaster or during a political campaign. The America they saw is acutely conscious of its problems—from economic dislocation to the opioid scourge—but itis also crafting solutions, with a practical-minded determination at dramatic odds with the bitter paralysis of national politics. At times of dysfunction on a national level, reform possibilities have often arisen from the local level. The Fallowses describe America in the middle of one of these creative waves. Their view of the country is as complex and contradictory as America itself, but it also reflects the energy, the generosity and compassion, the dreams, and the determination of many who are in the midst of making things better. Our Towns is the story of their journey—and an account of a country busy remaking itself.
Underwater: How Our American Dream of Homeownership Became a Nightmare
Dezember, Ryan
(Hardcover)
His assignment was to write about a real-estate frenzy lighting up the Redneck Riviera. So Ryan Dezember settled in and bought a home nearby himself. Then the market crashed, and he became one of the millions of Americans who suddenly owed more on their homes than they were worth. A flood of foreclosures made it impossible to sell. It didn't help that his quaint neighborhood fell into disrepair and drug-induced despair. He had no choice but to become a reluctant and wildly unprofitable landlord to move on. Meanwhile, his reporting showed how the speculative mania that caused the crash opened the U.S. housing market to a much larger breed of investors.In this deeply personal story, Dezember shows how decisions on Wall Street and in Washington played out on his street in a corner of the Sunbelt that was convulsed by the foreclosure crisis. Readers will witness the housing market collapse from Dezember’s perch as a newspaper reporter. First he’s in the boom-to-bust South where a hot-air balloonist named Bob Shallow becomes one of the world’s top selling real-estate agents arranging condo flips, developers flop in spectacular fashion and the law catches up with a beach-town mayor on the take. Later he’s in New York, among financiers like Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman who are building rental empires out of foreclosures, staking claim to the bastion of middle-class wealth: the single-family home. Through it all, Dezember is an underwater homeowner caught up in the mess.A cautionary tale of Wall Street's push to turn homes into assets, Underwater is a powerful, incisive story that chronicles the crash and its aftermath from a fresh perspective—the forgotten, middle-class homeowner.
Good Chemistry: The Science of Connection, from Soul to Psychedelics
Holland, Julie
(Hardcover)
A psychiatrist and psychedelic researcher explores the science of connection—why we need it, how we’ve lost it, and how we might find it again.We are suffering from an epidemic of disconnection that antidepressants and social media can’t fix. This state of isolation puts us in “fight or flight mode,” deranging sleep, metabolism and libido. What’s worse, we’re paranoid of others. This kill-or-be-killed framework is not a way to live. But, when we feel safe and loved, we can rest, digest, and repair. We can heal. And it is only in this state of belonging that we can open up to connection with others.In this powerful book, Holland helps us to understand the science of connection as revealed in human experiences from the spiritual to the psychedelic. The key is oxytocin—a neurotransmitter and hormone produced in our bodies that allows us to trust and bond. It fosters attachment between mothers and infants, romantic partners, friends, and even with our pets. There are many ways to reach this state of mental and physical wellbeing that modern medicine has overlooked. The implications for our happiness and health are profound. We can find oneness in meditation, in community, or in awe at the beauty around us. Another option: psychedelic medicines that can catalyze a connection with the self, with nature, or the cosmos. Good Chemistry points us on the right path to forging true and deeper attachments with our own souls, to one another, and even to our planet, helping us heal ourselves and our world.
Outsiders
Becker, Howard S.
(Paperback)
Howard Becker's Outsiders broke new ground in the early 1960s, arguing that social deviance is a more common phenomenon than perceived and the conventional wisdom that social deviants are pathological in incorrect. Becker's seminal study remains the most piercing exploration about unconventional individuals and their position in "normal" society.
The Like Switch
Schafer, Jack
(Paperback)
From a former FBI Special Agent specializing in behavior analysis and recruiting spies comes a handbook filled with his proven strategies on how to instantly read people and influence how they perceive you, so you can easily turn on the like switch. The Like Switch is packed with all the tools you need for turning strangers into friends, whether you are on a sales call, a first date, or a job interview. As a Special Agent for the FBI's National Security Division's Behavioral Analysis Program, Dr. Jack Schafer developed dynamic and breakthrough strategies for profiling terrorists and detecting deception. Now, Dr. Schafer has evolved his proven-on-the-battlefield tactics for the day-to-day, but no less critical battle of getting people to like you. In The Like Switch, he presents these techniques for how you can influence, attract, and win people over. Learn how to think and react like your favorite TV investigators from Criminal Minds or CSI as Dr. Schafer shows you how to improve your LQ (Likeability Quotient), "spot the lie" both in person and online, master nonverbal cues that influence how people perceive you, and turn up or turn down the intensity of a relationship. Dr. Schafer cracks the code on making great first impressions, building lasting relationships, and understanding others' behavior to learn what they really think about you. With tips and techniques that hold the key to taking control of your communications, interactions, and relationships, The Like Switch shows you how to read others and get people to like you for a moment or a lifetime.
Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life
Aries, Philippe
(Paperback)
The theme of this extraordinary book is the evolution of the modern conception of family life and the modern image; of the nature of children. Aries traces the evolution of the concept of childhood from the end of the Middle Ages, when the child was regarded as a small adult, to the present child-centered society, by means of diaries, paintings, games, and school curricula.Ironically, he finds that individualism, far from triumphing in our time, has been held in check by the family, and that the increasing power of the tightly-knit family circle has flourished at the expense of the rich-textured communal society of earlier times. Translated from the French by Robert Baldick.
On Women Turning 50
Rountree, Cathleen
(Softcover)
On Women Turning Fifty honors the new face of aging with powerful, positive images of fiftysomething women who share stories of mid-life discovery. Accompanied by beautiful photographs, these candid and engaging interviews reveal women whose challenges, conflicts, and triumphs are reshaping our attitudes toward work, relationships, and personal growth. From Gloria Steinem, Isabel Allende, Ellen Burstyn, and Mary Ellen Mark to single-parent school teacher Deanne Burke and breast cancer survivor Barbara Eddy, the diverse voices in On Women Turning fifty offer exhilarating models of confidence, courage, and celebration. SC, 214 pages.
Heart Berries
Mailhot, Terese Marie
(Paperback)
Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in British Columbia. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Bipolar II, Terese Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father--an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist--who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.Mailhot "trusts the reader to understand that memory isn't exact, but melded to imagination, pain and what we can bring ourselves to accept." Her unique and at times unsettling voice graphically illustrates her mental state. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story and, in so doing, reestablishes her connection to her family, to her people and to her place in the world.
Structures of Social Life: The Four Elementary Forms of Human Relations
Fiske, Alan Page
(Paperback)
This is an analysis of human behavior and organization in terms of four basic models. The first model is 'communal sharing,' where the boundaries of individual selves are less distinct and where people are concerned about group membership and common identity. Another is 'authority ranking,' where individuals are alerted to differences in others' positions, ranks, and control of resources. A third is 'equity matching,' where there is equality in the contributions of individuals to activities and in the rewards that they receive from these activities. And the final model is 'market pricing,' where relationships are mediated by values determined by a market system and where individuals are rational in their calculations of value.
Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live)
Rodsky, Eve
(Hardcover)
A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK"A hands-on, real talk guide for navigating the hot-button issues that so many families struggle with."--Reese Witherspoon Tired, stressed, and in need of more help from your partner? Imagine running your household (and life!) in a new way...It started with the Sh*t I Do List. Tired of being the "shefault" parent responsible for all aspects of her busy household, Eve Rodsky counted up all the unpaid, invisible work she was doing for her family -- and then sent that list to her husband, asking for things to change. His response was... underwhelming. Rodsky realized that simply identifying the issue of unequal labor on the home front wasn't enough: She needed a solution to this universal problem. Her sanity, identity, career, and marriage depended on it. The result is Fair Play: a time- and anxiety-saving system that offers couples a completely new way to divvy up chores and responsibilities. Rodsky interviewed more than five hundred men and women from all walks of life to figure out what the invisible work in a family actually entails and how to get it all done efficiently. With four easy-to-follow rules, 100 household tasks, and a figurative card game you play with your partner, Fair Play helps you prioritize what's important to your family and who should take the lead on every chore from laundry to homework to dinner. "Winning" this game means rebalancing your home life, reigniting your relationship with your significant other, and reclaiming your Unicorn Space -- as in, the time to develop the skills and passions that keep you interested and interesting. Stop drowning in to-dos and lose some of that invisible workload that's pulling you down. Are you ready to try Fair Play? Let's deal you in.
Insurrections of the Mind
Foer, Franklin
(Paperback)
Founded by Herbert Croly and Walter Lippmann in 1914 to give voice to the growing progressive movement, The New Republic has charted--and shaped--the state of American liberalism, publishing many of the twentieth century's most important thinkers. Insurrections of the Mind is an intellectual biography of this great American political tradition. In more than fifty essays, organized chronologically by decade, a stunning collection of writers explores the pivotal issues of modern America. Weighing in on the New Deal; America's role in war; the rise and fall of communism; religion, race, and civil rights; the economy, terrorism, technology; and the women's movement and gay rights, the essays in this outstanding volume speak to The New Republic's breathtaking ambition and reach. Introducing each article, editor Franklin Foer provides colorful biographical sketches and amusing anecdotes from the magazine's history. Bold and brilliant, Insurrections of the Mind is a celebration of a cultural, political, and intellectual institution that has stood the test of time. Contributors include: Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, Vladimir Nabokov, George Orwell, Graham Greene, Philip Roth, Pauline Kael, Michael Lewis, Zadie Smith, and Margaret Talbot
Globalography: Our Interconnected World Revealed in 50 Maps
Fitch, Chris
(Hardcover)
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