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Supersurvivors: the surprising link between suffering and success
By David B. Feldman, Lee Daniel Kravetz. 2014
Psychologist Feldman and journalist Kravetz profile individuals who suffered various tragedies and went on to achieve phenomenal success. Includes the…
story of Alan Lock, who lost his sight to macular degeneration at the age of twenty-three but later succeeded in rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. 2014
Around the world in 80 books
By David Damrosch. 2021
A transporting and illuminating voyage around the globe, through classic and modern literary works that are in conversation with one…
another and with the world around them *Featured in the Chicago Tribune' s Great 2021 Fall Book Preview* Inspired by Jules Verne&’s hero Phileas Fogg, David Damrosch, chair of Harvard University&’s department of comparative literature and founder of Harvard&’s Institute for World Literature, set out to counter a pandemic&’s restrictions on travel by exploring eighty exceptional books from around the globe. Following a literary itinerary from London to Venice, Tehran and points beyond, and via authors from Woolf and Dante to Nobel Prize–winners Orhan Pamuk, Wole Soyinka, Mo Yan, and Olga Tokarczuk, he explores how these works have shaped our idea of the world, and the ways in which the world bleeds into literature. To chart the expansive landscape of world literature today, Damrosch explores how writers live in two very different worlds: the world of their personal experience and the world of books that have enabled great writers to give shape and meaning to their lives. In his literary cartography, Damrosch includes compelling contemporary works as well as perennial classics, hard-bitten crime fiction as well as haunting works of fantasy, and the formative tales that introduce us as children to the world we&’re entering. Taken together, these eighty titles offer us fresh perspective on enduring problems, from the social consequences of epidemics to the rising inequality that Thomas More designed Utopia to combat, as well as the patriarchal structures within and against which many of these books&’ heroines have to struggle—from the work of Murasaki Shikibu a millennium ago to Margaret Atwood today. Around the World in 80 Books is a global invitation to look beyond ourselves and our surroundings, and to see our world and its literature in new ways
Warmth: Coming of age at the end of our world
By Daniel Sherrell. 2021
&“ [ Warmth ] is lyrical and erudite, engaging with science, activism, and philosophy . . . [Sherrell] captures the…
complicated correspondence between hope and doubt, faith and despair—the pendulum of emotional states that defines our attitude toward the future. &” — The New Yorker &“Beautifully rendered and bracingly honest.&” —Jenny Odell, author of How to Do Nothing From a millennial climate activist, an exploration of how young people live in the shadow of catastrophe Warmth is a new kind of book about climate change: not what it is or how we solve it, but how it feels to imagine a future—and a family—under its weight. In a fiercely personal account written from inside the climate movement, Sherrell lays bare how the crisis is transforming our relationships to time, to hope, and to each other. At once a memoir, a love letter, and an electric work of criticism, Warmth goes to the heart of the defining question of our time: how do we go on in a world that may not?
Entitled: How male privilege hurts women
By Kate Manne. 2020
An urgent exploration of men&’s entitlement and how it serves to police and punish women, from the acclaimed author of…
Down Girl &“Kate Manne is a thrilling and provocative feminist thinker. Her work is indispensable.&”—Rebecca Traister NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ATLANTIC In this bold and stylish critique, Cornell philosopher Kate Manne offers a radical new framework for understanding misogyny. Ranging widely across the culture, from Harvey Weinstein and the Brett Kavanaugh hearings to &“Cat Person&” and the political misfortunes of Elizabeth Warren, Manne&’s book shows how privileged men&’s sense of entitlement—to sex, yes, but more insidiously to admiration, care, bodily autonomy, knowledge, and power—is a pervasive social problem with often devastating consequences. In clear, lucid prose, Manne argues that male entitlement can explain a wide array of phenomena, from mansplaining and the undertreatment of women&’s pain to mass shootings by incels and the seemingly intractable notion that women are &“unelectable.&” Moreover, Manne implicates each of us in toxic masculinity: It&’s not just a product of a few bad actors; it&’s something we all perpetuate, conditioned as we are by the social and cultural mores of our time. The only way to combat it, she says, is to expose the flaws in our default modes of thought while enabling women to take up space, say their piece, and muster resistance to the entitled attitudes of the men around them. With wit and intellectual fierceness, Manne sheds new light on gender and power and offers a vision of a world in which women are just as entitled as men to our collective care and concern
How to be perfect: The correct answer to every moral question
By Michael Schur. 2022
From the creator of The Good Place and the cocreator of Parks and Recreation , a hilarious, thought-provoking guide to…
living an ethical life, drawing on 2,500 years of deep thinking from around the world. Read by the author, this one-of-a-kind audio production features guest appearances by members of the cast of The Good Place . Most people think of themselves as "good", but it's not always easy to determine what's "good" or "bad"—especially in a world filled with complicated choices and pitfalls and booby traps and bad advice. Fortunately, many smart philosophers have been pondering this conundrum for millennia and they have guidance for us. With bright wit and deep insight, How to Be Perfect explains concepts like deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism, ubuntu, and more, so we can sound cool at parties and become better people. Schur starts off with easy ethical questions like "Should I punch my friend in the face for no reason?" (No.) and works his way up to the most complex moral issues we all face. Such as: Can I still enjoy great art if it was created by terrible people? How much money should I give to charity? Why bother being good at all when there are no consequences for being bad? And much more. By the time the book is done, we'll know exactly how to act in every conceivable situation, so as to produce a verifiably maximal amount of moral good. We will be perfect, and all our friends will be jealous. Okay, not quite. Instead, we'll gain fresh, funny, inspiring wisdom on the toughest issues we face every day. How to Be Perfect is narrated by Michael Schur, Kristen Bell, D'Arcy Carden, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Manny Jacinto, Marc Evan Jackson, Jameela Jamil, and Todd May!
Where things touch: A meditation on beauty
By Bahar Orang. 2021
Part lyric essay, part prose poetry, Where Things Touch grapples with the manifold meanings and possibilities of beauty. Drawing on…
her experiences as a physician-in-training, Orang considers clinical encounters and how they relate to the concept and very idea of beauty. Such considerations lead her to questions about intimacy, queerness, home, memory, love, and other aspects of human existence. Throughout, beauty is ultimately imagined as something inextricably tied to care: the care of lovers, of patients, of art and literature, and the various non-human worlds that surround us. Eloquent and meditative in its approach, beauty, here, beyond base expectations of frivolity and superficiality, is conceived of as a thing to recover. Where Things Touch is an exploration of an essential human pleasure, a necessary freedom by which to challenge what we know of ourselves and the world we inhabit
Hemingway's boat: everything he loved in life, and lost, 1934-1961
By Paul Hendrickson. 2011
Explores the last twenty-seven years of the life of writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) and describes the solace that he found…
aboard his fishing boat Pilar, which he obtained in 1934. Discusses both Hemingway's literary career and his family, including his cross-dressing youngest son Gregory. Some strong language. 2011
The book in the Renaissance
By Andrew Pettegree. 2010
Chronicles the first one hundred fifty years of the printed word. Details the origins and evolution of print, culminating in…
Gutenberg's innovation and its momentous consequences for humankind. Examines the religious, economic, and cultural concerns that influenced the production of books. 2010
The moral landscape: how science can determine human values
By Sam Harris. 2010
Neuroscientist and the author of The End of Faith (DB 62053) posits that science can help answer questions of morality.…
Suggests that the right human values are those that promote well-being. Discusses moral truth, good and evil, religion, and the future of happiness. 2010
Anne Frank: the book, the life, the afterlife
By Francine Prose. 2009
Analyzes The Diary of a Young Girl (DB 57022) as a literary work, a Holocaust narrative, and a cultural artifact.…
Examines the evidence that Anne rewrote her memoir to increase its appeal. Discusses the published book's use in classroom instruction and its adaptation for stage and film. 2009
Role models
By John Waters. 2010
Baltimore director of cult films Pink Flamingos and Hairspray pens essays about the people he admires, including singers Johnny Mathis…
and Little Richard, writer Tennessee Williams, former Charles Manson groupie Leslie Van Houten, gay pornographers, and bar owners. Strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2010
The Grimm legacy (Grimm Legacy Ser.)
By Polly Shulman. 2010
Elizabeth gets an after-school job as a page at the New York Circulating Material Repository, which houses magical objects from…
the Grimm brothers' fairy tales. When items disappear Elizabeth and the other pages are drawn into frightening adventures involving mythical creatures and stolen goods. For grades 6-9. 2010
Why Orwell matters
By Christopher Hitchens. 2002
Essayist explores the life and work of George Orwell (1903-1950), best known as the author of 1984 and Animal Farm.…
Discusses Orwell's political beliefs and the ways they were shaped by the times in which he lived. Challenges Orwell's critics and argues that his ideas remain relevant. 2002
The forest unseen: a year's watch in nature
By David George Haskell. 2012
Biology professor recounts what he learned when--guided by the metaphor of the mandala, the contemplation of a small part of…
something to understand the whole--he studied a one-meter circle of old-growth Tennessee woodlands for a year. Details the changing seasons' effects on the forest's plants and animals. 2012
The Sookie Stackhouse companion (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood)
By Charlaine Harris. 2011
Features the novella Small-Town Wedding, in which Sookie and her boss Sam, a shape-shifter, attend nuptials in Sam's Texas hometown.…
Includes trivia and fan questions, recipes, and a guide to Sookie's world of vampires, werewolves, and fairies. 2011
Beauty is a verb: the new poetry of disability
By Sheila Black, Jennifer Bartlett, Michael Northen. 2011
Anthology shows disability through the lenses of poetry and essays. Features works of early and mid-twentieth-century poets, such as Josephine…
Miles and Larry Eigner, as well as from participants in the later "disability/crip poetics" movement, including John Lee Clark and Daniel Simpson. Offers critical commentary. 2011
Relire le relié (Essais)
By Michel Serres. 2019
Une variation qui prend pour point de départ les deux origines possibles du mot religion : relire et relier. Elle…
conclut des décennies de réflexion sur la synthèse et la reconstruction, dans une époque qui divise, décompose et détruit. Le philosophe analyse les textes sacrés et propose de considérer les problèmes contemporains à l'aune du religieux, qui relie les hommes entre eux.
The swerve: how the world became modern
By Stephen Greenblatt. 2011
Harvard humanities professor, author of Will in the World (DB 59294), reconstructs the life of Poggio Bracciolini, a Renaissance book…
hunter who rediscovered the lost poem On the Nature of Things (DB 37721) by Lucretius. Emphasizes the importance of Bracciolini's find and its impact on Western culture. Nat 'l Bk Award, Pulitzer. Bestseller. 2011
Author retraces the travels of English adventurer Sir John Mandeville, who left for the Holy Land in 1322 and returned…
in 1356 with tales of countries throughout Asia that he claimed to have visited. Discusses the influence Mandeville had on explorers and writers in his day. 1996
Rin Tin Tin: the life and the legend
By Susan Orlean. 2011
Relates the 1918 discovery of an abandoned German shepherd puppy on a French World War I battlefield by American soldier…
Lee Duncan. Describes Rin Tin Tin and his descendants' acting roles from early silent movies to the 1950s television show. Some strong language. Bestseller. 2011