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Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape
By Bill McKibben. 1998
"[McKibben is] a marvelous writer who has thought deeply about the environment, loves this part of the country, and knows…
how to be a first-class traveling companion."—Entertainment WeeklyIn Wandering Home, one of his most personal books, Bill McKibben invites readers to join him on a hike from his current home in Vermont to his former home in the Adirondacks. Here he reveals that the motivation for his impassioned environmental activism is not high-minded or abstract, but as tangible as the lakes and forests he explored in his twenties, the same woods where he lives with his family today.Over the course of his journey McKibben meets with old friends and kindred spirits, including activists, writers, organic farmers, a vintner, a beekeeper, and environmental studies students, all in touch with nature and committed to its preservation. For McKibben, there is no better place than these woods to work out a balance between the wild and the cultivated, the individual and the global community, and to discover the answers to the challenges facing our planet today.The Intelligent Conversationalist: 31 Cheat Sheets That Will Show You How to Talk to Anyone About Anything, Anytime
By Imogen Lloyd Webber. 2016
Have you ever been at a cocktail party when all of a sudden you feel like an outsider in the…
conversation because you have absolutely no idea what the person is talking about? You're standing around with a glass of wine and someone starts talking about how the stock market did that day leading to the career highs of Ben Bernanke and the best way to short a stock. You stand there completely silent because you know nothing about the stock market, let alone the history of economics. You're being pushed to the outside edge of the pack and there's no way to reach gracefully for your iPhone and Google. Fear not: Imogen Lloyd Webber is on a mission to make everyone as conversationally nimble as she has learned to be as a cable news pundit. Her solution: get a few cheat sheets and study up. Remember cheat sheets, those slips of paper filled with facts? As Imogen might say "Google is good, but a cheat sheet is forever..." In eight cheat sheets, Imogen takes you through the facts that come up in most conversations: the English language, math/economics, religion, history, politics, geography, biology and culture. From the history of money to who signed The Magna Carta, Imogen shows you how to get back in a conversation, win any argument and most importantly, how to pivot out of a tough conversational bind. Imogen Lloyd Webber's The Intelligent Conversationalist will help you talk with anyone about anything anytime.The Thin You Within You: Winning the Weight Game with Self-Esteem
By Abraham J. Twerski. 1985
Diets don't work. The pounds may slide off, but for too many dieters, once the food scales and calorie counters…
have been put away, the weight returns. Dr. Abraham Twerski, a specialist in addictive behavior, shows that it is not lack of willpower that leads to overeating but an absence of self-esteem. To develop healthy eating habits, a person must first develop a strong sense of self.With his characteristic upbeat style, Dr. Twerski explains: -The seemingly illogical compulsion of overeating and its connection to low self-esteem-The origins and evolutions of low self-esteem and how to identify common problems of a negative self-image-How to rely on yourself, instead of food, in times of stress, anger, and fear-How to deal with friends and family members who may contribute to and unhealthy self-image and eating habits -How to find the courage to change the life-long habits and where to get outside help in the form of therapy and support groupsWith Dr. Twerski's straightforward and honest approach, losing weight is redefined as gaining a sense of self and banishing diets forever.Images of Desire: A Return To Natural Sensuality (Images Ser. #1)
By Jaqueline Lapa Sussman. 2001
We all have secret images within us--as unique as our fingertips--which can transform us into the carefree sexual beings we…
were born to be. We can uncover those primary images in our own minds because natural sensuality can be self-taught. Images of Desire can unlock what you need to know to find the natural, primal, sensual you . . . and elicit the same sensuality from the person you love.Today, many people's images of sexuality have been shaped by television, magazines, fashion, and advertising, and so no longer arise naturally from their core selves. Eidetic images--the natural images encoded in the brain--have been buried under those imposed layers of false imagery.When used correctly, eidetic images can heal and enhance one's natural sensual abilities, allowing the true sensual self to flourish free of the images imposed on us by society. Images of Desire can reveal the sexual potential we have buried and free us to experience our most genuine emotions--joy, sensual pleasure, love, and passion.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.Have you ever wondered...Why am I so eaily discouraged?Why do I procrasinate?Why do I stare at myself in the mirror?Why…
do I keep people waiting?Why do I eat when I am not hungry?Why do I secretly hope other people will fail?Why do I feel alone even when I'm around other people?Why am I constantly misplacing my keys and other things?Why do I enjoy hearing the secrets and confessions of others?Why will I do a favor for someone I don't even like?Why am I so superstitious?Why do I have trouble asking for help?If any of these behavior, habit, and thoughts are keeping you from having the life you want, then you need to know that help has finally arrived in David J. Lieberman's Instant Analysis.I You We Them, Vol. 1: Walking into the World of the Desk Killer (I You We Them)
By Dan Gretton. 2019
A Washington Post notable nonfiction book of 2020"I You We Them is a uniquely gripping journey around the landscapes of…
mass murder." --Philippe Sands, author of East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes against HumanityA Spectator (UK) Best Book of 2019A landmark historical investigation into crimes against humanity and the nature of evilVast and revelatory, Dan Gretton’s I You We Them is an unprecedented study of the perpetrators of crimes against humanity: the “desk killers” who ordered and directed some of the worst atrocities of the modern era. From Albert Speer’s complicity in Nazi barbarism to Royal Dutch Shell’s role in the murders of the Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and the rest of the Ogoni Nine, Gretton probes the depths of the figure “who, by giving orders, uses paper or a phone or a computer to kill, instead of a gun.”Over the past twenty years, Gretton has interviewed survivors and perpetrators, and pored over archives and thousands of pages of testimony. His insight into the psychology of the desk killer is contextualized by the journey he took to penetrate it. Woven into the narrative are his contemplative interludes—perspectives gleaned during walks in the woods, reminiscences about a lost love, and considerations of timeless moral conundrums. The result is a genre-bending work steeped as much in personal reflection as it is in literature and historical and psychological illumination.A synthesis of history, reportage, and memoir, I You We Them is the first volume of a groundbreaking journal of discovery that bears witness to and reckons with the largest and most pressing questions before humanity.Telling Our Way to the Sea: A Voyage of Discovery in the Sea of Cortez
By Aaron Hirsh. 2013
A luminous and revelatory journey into the science of life and the depths of the human experienceBy turns epic and…
intimate, Telling Our Way to the Sea is both a staggering revelation of unraveling ecosystems and a profound meditation on our changing relationships with nature—and with one another.When the biologists Aaron Hirsh and Veronica Volny, along with their friend Graham Burnett, a historian of science, lead twelve college students to a remote fishing village on the Sea of Cortez, they come upon a bay of dazzling beauty and richness. But as the group pursues various threads of investigation—ecological and evolutionary studies of the sea, the desert, and their various species of animals and plants; the stories of local villagers; the journals of conquistadors and explorers—they recognize that the bay, spectacular and pristine though it seems, is but a ghost of what it once was. Life in the Sea of Cortez, they realize, has been reshaped by complex human ideas and decisions—the laws and economics of fishing, property, and water; the dreams of developers and the fantasies of tourists seeking the wild; even efforts to retrieve species from the brink of extinction—all of which have caused dramatic upheavals in the ecosystem. It is a painful realization, but the students discover a way forward. After weathering a hurricane and encountering a rare whale in its wake, they come to see that the bay's best chance of recovery may in fact reside in our own human stories, which can weave a compelling memory of the place. Glimpsing the intricate and ever-shifting web of human connections with the Sea of Cortez, the students comprehend anew their own place in the natural world—suspended between past and future, teetering between abundance and loss. The redemption in their difficult realization is that as they find their places in a profoundly altered environment, they also recognize their roles in the path ahead, and ultimately come to see one another, and themselves, in a new light.In Telling Our Way to the Sea, Hirsh's voice resounds with compassionate humanity, capturing the complex beauty of both the marine world he explores and the people he explores it with. Vibrantly alive with sensitivity and nuance, Telling Our Way to the Sea transcends its genre to become literature.Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year
By Demi Lovato. 2013
Demi Lovato wakes up each morning and affirms her commitment to herself—to her health, her happiness, her being. Those commitments…
are the bedrock of her recovery and her work helping other young people dealing with the issues she lives with every single day. Demi is a platinum-selling recording artist whose latest album—DEMI—is already a smash hit. She's about to embark on her second season as a judge on X-Factor, and just launched The Lovato Treatment Scholarship Program. And she is an outspoken advocate for young people everywhere. Demi is also a young woman finding her way in the world. She has dealt deftly with her struggles in the face of public scrutiny, and she has always relied, not just on friends and family, but daily affirmations of her self-worth and value. Affirmations that steady her days and strengthen her resolve. Those affirmations have grown into STAYING STRONG, a powerful 365-day collection of Demi's most powerful, honest, and hopeful insights. Each day will provide the readers with a quote, a personal reflection and a goal. These are Demi's words. Words she lives by and shares with the people she loves and total strangers alike. They are a powerful testament to a young woman standing up and fighting back.Character: The History of a Cultural Obsession
By Marjorie Garber. 2020
What is “character”?Since at least Aristotle’s time, philosophers, theologians, moralists, artists, and scientists have pondered the enigma of human character.…
In its oldest usage, “character” derives from a word for engraving or stamping, yet over time, it has come to mean a moral idea, a type, a literary persona, and a physical or physiological manifestation observable in works of art and scientific experiments. It is an essential term in drama and the focus of self-help books. In Character: The History of a Cultural Obsession, Marjorie Garber points out that character seems more relevant than ever today, omnipresent in discussions of politics, ethics, gender, morality, and the psyche. References to character flaws, character issues, and character assassination and allegations of “bad” and “good” character are inescapable in the media and in contemporary political debates. What connection does “character” in this moral or ethical sense have with the concept of a character in a novel or a play? Do our notions about fictional characters catalyze our ideas about moral character? Can character be “formed” or taught in schools, in scouting, in the home? From Plutarch to John Stuart Mill, from Shakespeare to Darwin, from Theophrastus to Freud, from nineteenth-century phrenology to twenty-first-century brain scans, the search for the sources and components of human character still preoccupies us. Today, with the meaning and the value of this term in question, no issue is more important, and no topic more vital, surprising, and fascinating. With her distinctive verve, humor, and vast erudition, Marjorie Garber explores the stakes of these conflations, confusions, and heritages, from ancient Greece to the present day.If you ever feel: cluttered, scattered, distracted, unfocused, disorganized, preoccupied, overwhelmed, out of control, out of your mind... you can…
change your life! ConZentrate shows you how to master the art of paying attention, in thirty-five clear, practical, simple ways. Whether it's how to focus on a tedious task when the office is buzzing around you, or how to stop procrastinating, or how to keep your home from being a place of overwhelming clutter-- or ever how to tackle the challenges of A.D.D.-- Sam Horn's user-friendly book will inspire you to learn how to conzentrate, and discover the key to peak performance.The Power of Slow: 101 Ways to Save Time in Our 24/7 World
By Christine Louise Hohlbaum. 2009
Overwhelmed by electronic gadgets? Buried under an avalanche of e-mails? Juggling too many tasks and responsibilities? Desperately in need of…
a deep breath and a time-out? For all of us who answer yes to any of these questions, help is on the way. Getting to the heart of our hassled and over-scheduled existence, Christine Louise Hohlbaum cheerfully investigates 101 ways to increase our quality of life and productivity by reevaluating how we perceive and use time. Everyone has their own personal bank account of time, and while we cannot control time itself, we can manage the activities with which we fill the time we have available to us. The Power of Slow gives readers practical, concise directions to change the relationship they have with time and debunks the myths of multitasking, speed, and urgency as the only ways to efficiency.Tips include:· When working on a project on your computer, close all the windows, with the exception of the one you need to do your job.· Learn to say no in a polite and constructive way to favors, invitations, and requests.· Manage your own expectations, as well as those of others, by clearly stating what is possible in the time frame given.· Declare gadget-free zones (both geographical and temporal) to really enjoy your leisure time.· Know when your plate is full.· Make commitments to difficult tasks in five-minute increments and gradually increase the increments.· Save your most favorite or the easiest tasks for last to avoid procrastination.The Power of Slow will help readers identify areas in need of improvement and show them how to become more efficient and less frazzled at work and at home---and live a better, more balanced life.A Common Fate: Endangered Salmon and the People of the Pacific Northwest
By Joseph Cone. 1995
Though life on earth is the history of dynamic interactions between living things and their surroundings, certain powerful groups would…
have us believe that nature exists only for our convenience. One consequence of such thinking is the apparent fate of the Pacific salmon--a key resource and preeminent symbol of America's wildlife--which is today threatened with extinction. Drawing on abundant data from natural science, Pacific coast culture, and a long association with key individuals on all sides of the issue, Joseph Cone's A Common Fate employs a clear narrative voice to tell the human and natural history of an environmental crisis in its final chapter.As inevitable as the November rains, countless millions of wild salmon returned from the ocean to spawn in the streams of their birth. In the wake of an orgy of dam building and habitat destruction, the salmon's majestic abundance has been reduced to a fleeting shadow. Neglect is the word the author uses to describe more recent losses, "by exactly the ones--state and federal fish managers--who should have acted."To signal a new awareness that action is needed, scientists charged with restocking the Columbia River Basin are receiving significant support, while ordinary citizens are beginning to recognize the relationship between cheap power and the absences of chinook, coho, sockeye, and other species from the coasts of Oregon and Washington and from Idaho's Snake River. As desperate as the salmon's future appears, the book is not an elegy for a lost resource. Instead, it bears witness to hope. In addition to concrete plans for the wild salmon's renewal, the reader will hear a growing chorus of informed individuals of differing values and beliefs who recognize that our fate is inextricably bound to the salmon's; for many it is a new understanding.Being a Beast: Adventures Across the Species Divide
By Charles Foster. 2016
A passionate naturalist explores what it’s really like to be an animal—by living like themHow can we ever be sure…
that we really know the other? To test the limits of our ability to inhabit lives that are not our own, Charles Foster set out to know the ultimate other: the non-humans, the beasts. And to do that, he tried to be like them, choosing a badger, an otter, a fox, a deer, and a swift. He lived alongside badgers for weeks, sleeping in a sett in a Welsh hillside and eating earthworms, learning to sense the landscape through his nose rather than his eyes. He caught fish in his teeth while swimming like an otter; rooted through London garbage cans as an urban fox; was hunted by bloodhounds as a red deer, nearly dying in the snow. And he followed the swifts on their migration route over the Strait of Gibraltar, discovering himself to be strangely connected to the birds. A lyrical, intimate, and completely radical look at the life of animals—human and other—Being a Beast mingles neuroscience and psychology, nature writing and memoir to cross the boundaries separating the species. It is an extraordinary journey full of thrills and surprises, humor and joy. And, ultimately, it is an inquiry into the human experience in our world, carried out by exploring the full range of the life around us.A snappy book of simple conversational swaps that reveals how to talk so everyone will listen Words matter. They can…
inform, soothe, sting, reverberate, and leave scars. And the wrong words can turn off—literally—the listener, transforming what should be an exchange of information, feelings, and ideas into dead air time. So many of our dialogues with others are like scripts—we say the same things, ask the same questions, react in the same ways, and get the same (predictably bad) responses. Our verbal interactions with others often illustrate that famous definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different response. With quick-take visuals and a smart sense of how human beings really talk to each other, What to Say to Get Your Way can turn dead air time into something productive. It's a simple, effective toolbox that will train anyone to say what they mean effectively and powerfully.Ultimate Memory Magic: The Transformative Program for Sharper Memory, Mental Clarity, and Greater Focus . . . at Any Age!
By Jim Karol, Michael Ross. 2019
Improve your memory, sharpen your mind, and change your life—at any age! As we age, our memories become unreliable; we…
misplace things and forget details. In Ultimate Memory Magic, memory expert Jim Karol shows that these side effects of aging are not inevitable. His memory-boosting system, called “Cogmental Intelligence,” goes beyond preserving mental acuity and actually enhances memory and mental function through lifestyle changes and mental exercises. Concentration, alertness, and focus can all be strengthened—by anyone, at any age. Karol’s cutting-edge program will show readers how to: - Sharpen their thinking and regain their mental edge - Live healthier, mentally and physically - Clear away negativity and stress - Become more creative and innovative A former steel worker who suffered from ill health, Karol used this method to transform his own life. Now he is physically healthy and renowned for his unparalleled memory. His incredible feats of memory and mentalism have been featured on The Tonight Show, The Ellen Show, Today, and more. Karol has used his Cogmental Intelligence method with clients from professional athletes to business leaders and speaks at venues around the world, from MIT to the Pentagon. With a foreword from bestselling author and physician Daniel G. Amen, Ultimate Memory Magic will allow readers of any age to hone their minds, strengthen their memories, and transform their lives.Silences So Deep: Music, Solitude, Alaska
By John Luther Adams. 2020
"[An] illuminating memoir." —Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, The New York TimesThe story of a composer's life in the Alaskan wilderness and…
a meditation on making art in a landscape acutely threatened by climate changeIn the summer of 1975, the composer John Luther Adams, then a twenty-two-year-old graduate of CalArts, boarded a flight to Alaska. So began a journey into the mountains, forests, and tundra of the far north—and across distinctive mental and aural terrain—that would last for the next forty years. Silences So Deep is Adams’s account of these formative decades—and of what it’s like to live alone in the frozen woods, composing music by day and spending one’s evenings with a raucous crew of poets, philosophers, and fishermen. From adolescent loves—Edgard Varèse and Frank Zappa—to mature preoccupations with the natural world that inform such works as The Wind in High Places, Adams details the influences that have allowed him to emerge as one of the most celebrated and recognizable composers of our time. Silences So Deep is also a memoir of solitude enriched by friendships with the likes of the conductor Gordon Wright and the poet John Haines, both of whom had a singular impact on Adams’s life. Whether describing the travails of environmental activism in the midst of an oil boom or midwinter conversations in a communal sauna, Adams writes with a voice both playful and meditative, one that evokes the particular beauty of the Alaskan landscape and the people who call it home.Ultimately, this book is also the story of Adams’s difficult decision to leave a rapidly warming Alaska and to strike out for new topographies and sources of inspiration. In its attentiveness to the challenges of life in the wilderness, to the demands of making art in an age of climate crisis, and to the pleasures of intellectual fellowship, Silences So Deep is a singularly rich account of a creative life.A leading Harvard psychiatrist reveals how our emotional lives are profoundly shaped by the seasons, and how to recognize our…
own seasonal patterns and milestonesIn two decades of psychiatry practice, John R. Sharp has worked with many people who experienced the same emotional distresses at specific times of the year—a young woman who became depressed before Thanksgiving, a middle-aged man who felt anxious about making his summer travel plans, people who made uncharacteristically extreme decisions as spring approached.In The Emotional Calendar, Sharp reveals how environmental, psychological, and cultural forces profoundly affect the way we feel, and how the enduring effects of personal anniversaries can influence our moods and behavior year after year. Sharp also illustrates a wide range of individual responses to cultural phenomena: some people feel anxious at the start of a new school year or are undone by the prospect of tax season while others are buoyed by the start of a sports season.Sharp shows us how to recognize the milestones on our own emotional calendars, providing guidance for how to break stifling patterns and remedy destructive moods. This empathetic and deeply resonant book will help readers reach an emotional balance for the years ahead.This book addresses the most suggestive themes of transhumanism and critical posthumanism by placing them in dialogue with classic problems…
of metaphysics, and with some great thinkers of the past (Bruno, Spinoza, and above all Leibniz). The main purpose of this comparison is to invite transhumanists and critical posthumanists to consider a highly complex problematic tradition rooted in the history of philosophy. This study also makes use of examples drawn from the history of mythology, angelology, and mysticism. At the same time, the book promotes dialogue between scholars of classical metaphysics and philosophy of religion, and the potential metaphysical/spiritual theories developed independently by transhumanist and posthumanist thinkers within an anti-dualist and naturalistic philosophical framework. The goal is to ‘enhance’ contemporary transhumanism and posthumanism by promoting the need to safeguard intelligence as a principle, without falling into the trap of a violent and egotistic metaphysics.Caring Economics: Conversations on Altruism and Compassion, Between Scientists, Economists, and the Dalai Lama
By Tania Singer and Matthieu Ricard. 2015
A COLLECTION OF INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED SCIENTISTS AND ECONOMISTS IN DIALOGUE WITH HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA, ADDRESSING THE NEED FOR…
A MORE ALTRUISTIC ECONOMYCan the hyperambitious, bottom-line-driven practices of the global economy incorporate compassion into the pursuit of wealth? Or is economics driven solely by materialism and self-interest? In Caring Economics, experts consider these questions alongside the Dalai Lama in a wide-ranging, scientific-based discussion on economics and altruism. Begun in 1987, the Mind and Life Institute arose out of a series of conferences held with the Dalai Lama and a range of scientists that sought to form a connection between the empiricism of contemporary scientific inquiry and the contemplative, compassion-based practices of Buddhism. Caring Economics is based on a conference held by the Mind and Life Institute in Zurich in which experts from all over the world gathered to discuss the possibility of having a global economy focused on compassion and altruism. Each chapter consists of a presentation by an expert in the field, followed by a discussion with the Dalai Lama in which he offers his response and his own unique insights on the subject. In this provocative and inspiring book, learn how wealth doesn't need to be selfish, how in fact, empathy and compassion may be the path to a healthier world economy.Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How to Think Deeply Again
By Johann Hari. 2022
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Our ability to pay attention is collapsing. From the author of Chasing the Scream and…
Lost Connections comes a groundbreaking examination of why this is happening—and how to get our attention back.&“The book the world needs in order to win the war on distraction.&”—Adam Grant, author of Think Again &“Read this book to save your mind.&”—Susan Cain, author of Quiet WINNER OF THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Post, Mashable, MindfulIn the United States, teenagers can focus on one task for only sixty-five seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes. Like so many of us, Johann Hari was finding that constantly switching from device to device and tab to tab was a diminishing and depressing way to live. He tried all sorts of self-help solutions—even abandoning his phone for three months—but nothing seemed to work. So Hari went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention—and he discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong. We think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough willpower over our devices. The truth is even more disturbing: our focus has been stolen by powerful external forces that have left us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for profit. Hari found that there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, from the decline of mind-wandering to rising pollution, all of which have robbed some of our attention. In Stolen Focus, he introduces readers to Silicon Valley dissidents who learned to hack human attention, and veterinarians who diagnose dogs with ADHD. He explores a favela in Rio de Janeiro where everyone lost their attention in a particularly surreal way, and an office in New Zealand that discovered a remarkable technique to restore workers&’ productivity. Crucially, Hari learned how we can reclaim our focus—as individuals, and as a society—if we are determined to fight for it. Stolen Focus will transform the debate about attention and finally show us how to get it back.