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The empathy exams: essays
By Leslie Jamison. 2014
A collection of essays explores empathy, using topics ranging from street violence and incarceration to reality television and literary sentimentality…
to ask questions about people's understanding of and relationships with others. Winner of the Gray Wolf Press Nonfiction Prize. 2014. The empathy exams -- Devil's bait -- La frontera -- Morphology of the hit -- Pain tours (I) : La plata perdida ; Sublime, revised ; Indigenous to the hood -- The immortal horizon -- In defense of saccharin(e) -- Fog count -- Pain tours (II) : Ex-votos ; Servicio supercompleto ; The broken heart of James Agee -- Lost boys -- Grand unified theory of female pain -- Judge's afterword / A conversation with Leslie Jamison. Uniform title: Essays.The devil and the disappearing sea: a true story about the Aral Sea catastrophe
By Robert W Ferguson. 2003
The Aral Sea, once the fourth-largest inland body of water, has lost over half its surface area and 80 percent…
of its volume since 1960, due to poorly planned irrigation systems. In January 2000, Canadian Rob Ferguson went to Uzbekistan to work on an environmental project to save the Aral Sea. After a year of dealing with corrupt officials, not only had the project gone nowhere, but Ferguson was under suspicion of murder. Some strong language. 2003.The clouded leopard: travels to landscapes of spirit and desire
By Wade Davis. 1998
Davis examines the link between the diversity of our biological landscape and cultural diversity. He argues that the more we…
destroy the biological landscapes of the Earth, the more we cause diverse cultures to assimilate with the more mainstream cultures. Davis uses his travels around the world to illustrate his argument and shares stories of his time spent with a variety of peoples throughout the world. c1998.The dog's last walk: (and other pieces)
By Howard Jacobson. 2017
Week after week, for eighteen years, the Booker Prize-winning novelist Howard Jacobson wrote a weekly column for the Independent, reflecting…
in inimitable style on the sacred and the profane in turn, the frivolous and the serious, the deeply personal and the most universal. As the much-loved newspaper ceases printing, this second collection of Jacobson's columns offers a selection of the witty and thunderous best. 2017. Uniform title: Independent (London, England)The corpses of the future
By Lynn Crosbie. 2017
A sustained, confessional new collection of poems that tells the story of Crosbie's father’s battle with frontotemporal dementia and blindness,…
following a stroke. The poems chronologically recount the poet’s conversations and time with her father, and capture his still-astonishing means of communicating. The book’s title is his sardonic remark. Crosbie considers dementia to be a symbolic language and as such, similar to poetry. The author’s attempts to understand her father’s distress, pain, fear, and brave love are assisted by her understanding of the “negative capability” required of readers of poetry. 2017.The elephant and my Jewish problem: selected stories and journals, 1957-1987
By Hugh Nissenson. 1988
Short stories and journal entries which describe the Jewish experience from the turn of the century to the aftermath of…
the Holocaust and the beginning of the state of Israel. 1988.The hill of Kronos
By Peter Levi. 1981
Greece as seen through the eyes of a sensitive traveller - English classicist, archaeologist, and former Jesuit priest, whose poetic…
observations about the land and its people are interspersed with personal narrative. c1981.The happy isles of Oceania: paddling the Pacific
By Paul Theroux. 1992
Renowned travel writer Theroux embarks on an exotic exploration of the Pacific Islands. From New Zealand to Hawaii, with stops…
in New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa and others, he explores the lush landscapes, encounters unique wildlife, and lives among the fascinating peoples who have made Oceania their home. c1992.The heart of the world: a journey to Tibet's lost paradise
By Ian Baker. 2004
Recounts an extraordinary journey into one of the most inaccessible places on earth, and a pilgrimage to the heart of…
Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan prophecies proclaim that the greatest of beyul, or mystical sanctuaries, lies at the eastern edge of the Himalayas, veiled by a colossal waterfall in the forbidding Tsangpo gorge. After years of investigation, world-class climber and Buddhist scholar Ian Baker and his National Geographic-sponsored team made worldwide news by finding a magnificent 108-foot-high waterfall-the legendary grail of both Western explorers and Tibetan pilgrims. 2004.The gospel according to Clarence Thomas: a libretto
By Ashis Gupta. 2007
Crafted as a long poem, a libretto for stage presentations, this book is less about Clarence Thomas than it is…
about the devastating reign of the Bush administration. The central idea of the book is: ‘War is an Evil product of Evil/Hypocritical Minds’. The ‘Chorus of the Homeless’ occupies a central role in the poem, performing a function much like the Chorus in Greek Tragedies, providing a reasonably objective commentary. In a sense, the central story is a tragedy too – George Bush is a tragic figure. And, towards the end, he is conceived as a tragic hero, a Samson-like figure who pulls down the temple over his head to crush the Philistines. 2007.The great railway bazaar
By Paul Theroux. 1983
The green labyrinth: a journey to the Amazon
By Sylvia Fraser. 2003
Sylvia Fraser recounts her journey to Peru to learn about shamans and ancient practices. The centre of her journey revolves…
around learning about ayahuasca, a plant medicine that is said to transport a person from this plane of reality into another one. 2003.The gypsy in me: from Germany to Romania in search of youth, truth and Dad
By Ted Simon. 1997
The author recounts his 1500 mile journey, much of it on foot, through Eastern Germany, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania,…
making personal connections with people in the turbulent region, and learning more about himself and his parents who had escaped from there years before. 1997.The Greek for love: a memoir of Corfu
By James Chatto. 2005
They arrived as tourists in Corfu, Wendy from Canada and James from England. They enjoyed the sun, an idyllic beach,…
olives, fresh apricots and marinated lamb, and long evenings of storytelling at the local taverna. But what captivated James and Wendy was the way the islanders embraced them, and how their deep connection to Corfu and its people sustained them through tragedy just as it had carried them into love. Some strong language. 2005.The Gurkhas
By Byron Farwell. 1984
Gurkhas are soldiers from Nepal who serve in the British and Indian armies. Recruiting practices, military training, religion, and home…
and family are analyzed to obtain insight into the nature of Gurkha character. 1984.The Dunsmuirs: alone at the edge
By Rod Langley. 1991
Robbie Dunsmuir, exiled from Scotland, becomes an indentured labourer in the Nanaimo coalfields. He ruthlessly climbs his way to the…
top when he discovers a coal deposit on Vancouver Island. Some strong language. Followed by "The Dunsmuirs : a promise kept". c1991.The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
By Helene Hanff. 1973
The dig tree: the extraordinary story of the ill-fated Burke and Wills 1860 expedition
By Sarah Murgatroyd. 2003
In 1860, an eccentric Irish police officer named Robert O'Hara Burke set out to Melbourne at the head of the…
most ambitious expedition of his age. Up until this point Australia had remained a truly dark continent, but times were changing. On 20 August Burke and his team of eighteen men made a confident start - journeying north towards the Gulf of Carpentaria. Accompanied by William Wills, a shy English scientist, he was prepared to risk everything to cross the continent. Meanwhile, John McDouall Stuart, a dour Scotsman with a fondness for the bottle, was already trekking north from Adelaide. The race was on. 2003.The colossus of New York: a city in thirteen parts
By Colson Whitehead. 2003
The circus at the edge of the earth: travels with the Great Wallenda Circus
By Charles Wilkins. 1998
The author travelled over three-thousand kilometres in Canada in order to get the inside story on life with a travelling…
circus. He vividly describes the seductive freedoms and horrific risks of traditional circus life. He also shares the lives of the circus performers and their motivations for becoming a member of a travelling troupe. 1998.