If you're not having fun, you're not fully living. Catherine Price, the author of How to Break Up with Your Phone, makes the case that fun is critical to our well-being and shows us how to have more of it.
Journalist and screen/life balance expert Catherine Price argues that our always-on, tech-addicted lifestyles have made us obsess over intangible concepts such as happiness, while obscuring the fact that real happiness lies in the everyday experience of fun. True Fun—which Price defines as the magical confluence of playfulness, connection, and flow—will give us the fulfillment we so desperately seek.
Using True Fun as your compass, you will be happier and healthier, more productive, less resentful, and less stressed. You'll have more energy, find community, and a sense of purpose.
Weaving together scientific research with personal experience, Price reveals the surprising mental, physical, and cognitive benefits of fun, and offers a practical, personalized plan for achieving better screen/life balance and attracting more True Fun into our daily lives—without feeling overwhelmed.
The Power of Fun is groundbreaking, eye-opening, and packed with useful advice. It won't just change the way you think about fun; it will bring you back to life.
Sinopticon: A Celebration of Chinese Science Fiction is a groundbreaking anthology that brings together thirteen extraordinary tales of speculative fiction from China, translated into English for the very first time. Curated and translated by the critically acclaimed writer and essayist Xueting Christine Ni, this collection offers a diverse and captivating array of stories that will take readers on a journey through the imaginative landscapes of Chinese science fiction.
From the celebrated Jiang Bo's 'Starship: Library' to Regina Kanyu Wang's 'The Tide of Moon City', and Anna Wu's 'Meisje met de Parel', readers are presented with a tapestry of narratives that span a variety of themes and perspectives. The writers featured in this anthology include award winners, bestsellers, screenwriters, playwrights, philosophers, university lecturers, and computer programmers, showcasing the breadth and depth of Chinese SF.
Sinopticon invites readers to explore the transformational and often visionary world of Chinese speculative fiction, making it an essential read for all fans of the genre.
At dusk on a November evening in 2020, a woman slips out of her garden gate and turns up the hill. Kate is in the middle of a two-week quarantine period, but she just can't take it anymore - the closeness of the air in her small house, the confinement. And anyway, the moor will be deserted at this time. Nobody need ever know.
But Kate's neighbour, Alice, sees her leaving and Matt, Kate's son, soon realizes she's missing. And Kate, who planned only a quick solitary walk - a breath of open air - falls and badly injures herself. What began as a furtive walk has turned into a mountain rescue operation.
Unbearably suspenseful, witty and wise, The Fell asks probing questions about the place the world has become since March 2020, and the place it was before. Sarah Moss's novel is a story about compassion and kindness and what we must do to survive, and it will move you to tears.
You cannot fix a problem you do not know you have. So begins Emmanuel Acho in his essential guide to the truths Americans need to know to address the systemic racism that has recently electrified protests in all fifty states. There is a fix, Acho says. But in order to access it, we’re going to have to have some uncomfortable conversations.
In Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man, Acho takes on all the questions, large and small, insensitive and taboo, many white Americans are afraid to ask—yet which all Americans need the answers to, now more than ever. With the same open-hearted generosity that has made his video series a phenomenon, Acho explains the vital core of such fraught concepts as white privilege, cultural appropriation, and “reverse racism.”
In his own words, he provides a space of compassion and understanding in a discussion that can lack both. He asks only for the reader’s curiosity—but along the way, he will galvanize all of us to join the antiracist fight.
Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple is all about easy-to-follow, gluten-free recipes for enticing breads, cakes, pies, tarts, biscuits, and cookies. It even includes a special holiday baking chapter.
Aran Goyoaga shares her gluten-free all-purpose baking mix so you can whip up a batch to keep in your pantry. An added bonus is that each recipe offers dairy-free substitutions and some are naturally vegan as well.
With inventive, well-tested recipes and Aran’s clear guidance (plus 145 of her stunning photos), gluten-free baking is happily unfussy, producing irresistibly good results every time.
Recipes include:
• One-Bowl Apple, Yogurt, and Maple Cake
• Double Melting Chocolate Cookies
• Honeyed Apple Pie
• Buttery Shortbread
• Lemon Meringue Tartlets
• Baguettes, brioche, and boules
• Crispy Potato, Leek, and Kale Focaccia Pie
• Pumpkin and Pine Nut Tart
• And so many more tempting recipes!
A Land With a People is a collection of personal stories, history, poetry, and art that elevates rarely heard Palestinian and Jewish voices and visions. Eloquently framed with a foreword by the dynamic Palestinian legal scholar and activist, Noura Erakat, this book began as a storytelling project of Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City and subsequently transformed into a theater project performed throughout the New York City area.
Stories touch hearts, open minds, and transform our understanding of the “other”―as well as our comprehension of own roles and responsibilities. A Land With a People emerges from this reckoning, bringing us the narratives of secular, Muslim, Christian, and queer Palestinians who endure the particular brand of settler colonialism known as Zionism. It relays the transformational journeys of Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, queer, and Palestinian Jews who have come to reject the received Zionist narrative.
Unflinching in their confrontation of the power dynamics that underlie their transformation process, these writers find the courage to face what has happened to historic Palestine, and to their own families as a result. Contextualized by a detailed historical introduction and timeline charting 150 years of Palestinian and Jewish resistance to Zionism, this collection will stir emotions, provoke fresh thinking, and point to a more hopeful, loving future―one in which Palestine/Israel is seen for what it is in its entirety, as well as for what it can be.
Acclaimed, award-winning author N.K. Jemisin (The Fifth Season, The City We Became) makes her comic book debut with bestselling artist Jamal Campbell (Naomi) as they thrust you into a stunning sci-fi murder mystery on the other side of the universe!
For the past six months, newly chosen Green Lantern Sojourner “Jo” Mullein has been protecting the City Enduring, a massive metropolis of 20 billion people. The city has maintained peace for over 500 years by stripping its citizens of their ability to feel. As a result, violent crime is virtually unheard of, and murder is nonexistent.
But that’s all about to change in this new graphic novel that puts a unique spin on the legacy of the Green Lanterns! Far Sector collects Far Sector #1-12.
Bound together by a single ancient text, these tales interweave to form a tapestry of solace and resilience and a celebration of storytelling itself. Like its predecessor All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr’s new novel is a tale of hope and of profound human connection.
Constantinople, 1453:
An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love.
Idaho, 2020:
An impoverished, idealistic kid seeks revenge on a world that’s crumbling around him. Can he go through with it when a gentle old man stands between him and his plans?
Unknown, Sometime in the Future:
With her tiny community in peril, Konstance is the last hope for the human race. To find a way forward, she must look to the oldest stories of all for guidance.
A budding dark sorceress determined not to use her formidable powers uncovers yet more secrets about the workings of her world in the stunning sequel to A Deadly Education, the start of Naomi Novik's groundbreaking crossover series. At the Scholomance, El, Orion, and the other students are faced with their final year—and the looming specter of graduation, a deadly ritual that leaves few students alive in its wake. El is determined that her chosen group will survive, but it is a prospect that is looking harder by the day as the savagery of the school ramps up. Until El realizes that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules.
With keen insight and mordant humor, Novik reminds us that sometimes it is not enough to rewrite the rules—sometimes, you need to toss out the entire rulebook.
It's the following Thursday.
Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.
As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn't that be a bonus?
But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn't bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can The Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?
In this wickedly funny cultural critique, the author of the critically acclaimed memoir and Hulu series Shrill exposes misogyny in the #MeToo era.
This is a witch hunt. We're witches, and we're hunting you.
From the moment powerful men started falling to the #MeToo movement, the lamentations began: this is feminism gone too far, this is injustice, this is a witch hunt. In The Witches Are Coming, firebrand author Lindy West turns that refrain on its head. You think this is a witch hunt? Fine. You've got one.
In a laugh-out-loud, incisive cultural critique, West extolls the world-changing magic of truth, urging readers to reckon with dark lies in the heart of the American mythos, and unpacking the complicated, and sometimes tragic, politics of not being a white man in the twenty-first century. She tracks the misogyny and propaganda hidden (or not so hidden) in the media she and her peers devoured growing up, a buffet of distortions, delusions, prejudice, and outright bullsh*t that has allowed white male mediocrity to maintain a death grip on American culture and politics.
West writes, “We were just a hair’s breadth from electing America’s first female president to succeed America’s first black president. We weren’t done, but we were doing it. And then, true to form—like the Balrog’s whip catching Gandalf by his little gray bootie, like the husband in a Lifetime movie hissing, ‘If I can’t have you, no one can’—white American voters shoved an incompetent, racist con man into the White House.”
We cannot understand how we got here—how the land of the free became Trump's America—without examining the chasm between who we are and who we think we are, without fact-checking the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and each other. The truth can transform us; there is witchcraft in it. Lindy West turns on the light.
By the end of this book, you will understand what is valuable, how to measure value, and how to optimize the flow of value—from idea to your customer. As legacy organizations transition to newer, end-to-end agile operating models, the Project Management Office (PMO) needs to redesign its mission and operation to be more in line with these modern ways of working. This requires being more customer-focused and value-adding, and less tied to antiquated processes and mindsets.
Visionary leaders are transitioning into enablers of this change, maximizing value through the entire organization. Middle management, including program and project managers (PMs), are racing to maximize their professional relevancy in this new world.
This book defines the role of the agile value management office (VMO), using case studies and a clear road map to help PMs visualize and implement a new path where middle management and the VMO are valued leaders in the age of business agility.
Horror master Junji Ito explores a new frontier with a grand cosmic horror tale in which a mysterious woman has her way with the world! Did she wander in? Or was she drawn in…? A woman walks alone at the foot of Mount Sengoku. A man appears, saying he's been waiting for her, and invites her to a nearby village. Surprisingly, the village is covered in hairlike volcanic glass fibers, and all of it shines a bright gold.
That night, as the villagers gaze up at the starry sky, countless unidentified flying objects come raining down on them—the opening act for the terror about to occur.
Can we change the minds of science deniers? Encounters with flat earthers, anti-vaxxers, coronavirus truthers, and others who defy reason are the focus of this work. In a world where many citizens reject scientific expertise in favor of ideology and conspiracy theories, Lee McIntyre's book, How to Talk to a Science Denier, offers a poignant exploration into the culture of science denialism.
McIntyre, drawing on his own experiences, such as attending a Flat Earth convention, along with academic research, seeks to understand the common themes of science denialism. These themes are evident in misinformation campaigns that have persisted over decades, ranging from tobacco companies denying the link between smoking and lung cancer to the current day anti-vaxxer movement.
In his quest to communicate the truth and values of science, McIntyre shares personal anecdotes, such as engaging discussions with coal miners and a scientist friend about genetically modified organisms. He presents tools and techniques for effective communication, emphasizing the importance of calm, respectful conversations and face-to-face engagement with science deniers.
Through this book, McIntyre not only shares insights into the psychology of denial but also provides a hopeful message: it is possible to make a difference by standing up against science denial, which can have life-or-death consequences.
The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks. Nobody needs telling there isn't enough time. We're obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we're deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and "life hacks" to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon.
Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on "getting everything done," Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we've come to think about time aren't inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we've made as individuals and as a society--and that we could do things differently.
Capturing the same charm and whimsy she brought to Seattle Walk Report, Instagram darling Susanna Ryan takes things a step further, revealing the forgotten history behind the people, places, and things that shaped Seattle.
Cartoonist and creator of Seattle Walk Report, Susanna Ryan strolls on with a quirky new illustrated guide celebrating Seattle's historical treasures and outdoor wonders.
In Secret Seattle, Ryan explores the weird and wonderful hidden history behind some of the city's most overlooked places, architecture, and infrastructure, from coal chutes in Capitol Hill, to the last remainder of Seattle's original Chinatown in Pioneer Square, to the best places in town to find century-old sidewalks.
Discover pocket parks, beautiful boulevards, and great public gardens while learning offbeat facts that will make you see the Emerald City in a whole new way.
Perfect for both the local history buff who never leaves a favorite armchair to a walking enthusiast looking for offbeat and off-the-beaten-path scavenger hunts.
On social media, we shape our personal narratives. At parties, we talk over one another. So do our politicians. We're not listening. And no one is listening to us. Despite living in a world where technology allows constant digital communication and opportunities to connect, it seems no one is really listening or even knows how. And it's making us lonelier, more isolated, and less tolerant than ever before.
A listener by trade, New York Times contributor Kate Murphy wanted to know how we got here. In this always illuminating and often humorous deep dive, Murphy explains why we're not listening, what it's doing to us, and how we can reverse the trend. She makes accessible the psychology, neuroscience, and sociology of listening while also introducing us to some of the best listeners out there (including a CIA agent, focus group moderator, bartender, radio producer, and top furniture salesman).
Equal parts cultural observation, scientific exploration, and rousing call to action that's full of practical advice, You're Not Listening is to listening what Susan Cain's Quiet was to introversion. It's time to stop talking and start listening.
Tomie Kawakami is a femme fatale with long black hair and a beauty mark just under her left eye. She can seduce nearly any man, and drive them to murder as well, even though the victim is often Tomie herself. While one lover seeks to keep her for himself, another grows terrified of the immortal succubus. But soon they realize that no matter how many times they kill her, the world will never be free of Tomie.
Tomie is a chilling horror saga that combines the macabre with the seductive and the grotesque. Junji Ito, the master of horror manga, weaves a tale that will haunt readers long after they turn the last page.
Discover an empowering new way of understanding your multifaceted mind—and healing the many parts that make you who you are.
Is there some part of yourself that you wish would go away? Most of us would say yes, whether we call it addiction, the inner critic, “monkey mind,” neurosis, sinfulness, bad habits, or some other disparaging name. Yet what if there were a different way to approach these aspects of yourself that leads to true healing instead of constant inner struggle?
With No Bad Parts, Dr. Richard Schwartz teaches a revolutionary paradigm of understanding and relating with ourselves—a method that brings us into inner harmony, enhances self-compassion, and opens the doors to spiritual awakening.
Dr. Schwartz is the creator of Internal Family Systems (IFS), a paradigm-changing model of consciousness that has been transforming psychology for decades. Here, you’ll learn why IFS has been so effective in areas such as trauma recovery, addiction therapy, depression, and more. IFS overturns the idea that we have one “true” identity and recognizes that having multiple parts is not a pathology, but a normal and healthy function of the human mind.
Dr. Schwartz shares insights and practices to help you recognize your own “inner family” of parts, understand how each part seeks to help and protect you even when it seems problematic, engage in inner dialogue to restore balance and self-love—and deepen your awareness of the higher Self that holds and encompasses every facet of your diverse consciousness.
From the author of The Witch Boy trilogy comes a graphic novel about family, romance, and first love. Fifteen-year-old Morgan has a secret: She can't wait to escape the perfect little island where she lives. She's desperate to finish high school and escape her sad divorced mom, her volatile little brother, and worst of all, her great group of friends—who don't understand Morgan at all. Because really, Morgan's biggest secret is that she has a lot of secrets, including the one about wanting to kiss another girl.
Then one night, Morgan is saved from drowning by a mysterious girl named Keltie. The two become friends and suddenly life on the island doesn't seem so stifling anymore. But Keltie has some secrets of her own. And as the girls start to fall in love, everything they're each trying to hide will find its way to the surface...whether Morgan is ready or not.
What to Expect When You’re Not Expected to Expect Anything Anymore Did you see the title and flame-filled cover of this book, and did your weary, sweaty, confused, and exasperated soul scream, That one! That is the book for me!!? If so, I’d first like to extend my deepest sympathies, an ice pack, and some of these very helpful edibles. If it’s three in the morning as you’re reading this, as it may well be, you likely want those more than a book. But since I can’t really give you the other stuff, I can at least offer you this book.
Perimenopause and menopause experiences are as unique as all of us who move through them. While there’s no one-size-fits-all, Heather Corinna tells you what can happen and what you can do to take care of yourself, all the while busting myths and offering real self-care tips—the kind that won’t break the bank or your soul—and running the gamut from hot flashes to hormone therapy.
With big-tent, practical, clear information and support, and inclusive of so many who have long been left out of the discussion—people with disabilities; queer, transgender, nonbinary, and other gender-diverse people; BIPOC; working class and other folks—What Fresh Hell Is This? is the cooling pillow and empathetic best friend to help you through the fire.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant, the enthralling story of a young Puritan woman who marries the wrong man and soon finds herself caught up in the violence and hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials.
Boston, 1662. Mary Deerfield is twenty-four years old. Her skin is porcelain, her eyes delft blue, and in England she might have had many suitors. But here in the New World, amid this community of saints, Mary is the second wife of Thomas Deerfield, a man as cruel as he is powerful. When Thomas, prone to drunken rage, drives a three-tined fork into the back of Mary's hand, she resolves that she must divorce him to save her life. But in a world where every neighbor is watching for signs of the devil, a woman like Mary--a woman who harbors secret desires and finds it difficult to tolerate the brazen hypocrisy of so many men in the colony--soon finds herself the object of suspicion and rumor.
When tainted objects are discovered buried in Mary's garden, when a boy she has treated with herbs and simples dies, and when their servant girl runs screaming in fright from her home, Mary must fight to not only escape her marriage, but also the gallows. A twisting, tightly plotted thriller from one of our greatest storytellers, Hour of the Witch is a timely and terrifying novel of socially sanctioned brutality and the original American witch hunt.
Crying in H Mart is an exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance. Michelle Zauner, known as the indie rock sensation Japanese Breakfast, proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up as one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; and of a painful adolescence.
Zauner shares treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band—and meeting the man who would become her husband—her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.
It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her. Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.
Outsmart Your Enemies. Outrun the Galaxy.
Tina never worries about being 'ordinary'—she doesn't have to, since she's known practically forever that she's not just Tina Mains, average teenager and beloved daughter. She's also the keeper of an interplanetary rescue beacon, and one day soon, it's going to activate, and then her dreams of saving all the worlds and adventuring among the stars will finally be possible. Tina's legacy, after all, is intergalactic—she is the hidden clone of a famed alien hero, left on Earth disguised as a human to give the universe another chance to defeat a terrible evil.
But when the beacon activates, it turns out that Tina's destiny isn't quite what she expected. Things are far more dangerous than she ever assumed. Luckily, Tina is surrounded by a crew she can trust, and her best friend Rachel, and she is still determined to save all the worlds. But first she'll have to save herself.
A vengeful family hides an army deserter for eight years after the end of World War II, cocooning him in a false reality where the war never ended. A pair of girls look alike, but they’re not twins. And a boy's nightmare threatens to spill out into the real world...
This hauntingly strange story collection showcases a dozen of Junji Ito's earliest works from when he burst onto the horror scene, sowing fresh seeds of terror.
A Place Like Mississippi takes readers on a fascinating journey through the evocative landscapes that have inspired generations of writers. W. Ralph Eubanks, an award-winning author and native of Mississippi, offers a compelling literary tour of the state.
From the muddy Delta to the rolling Hill Country, down to the Gulf Coast, Mississippi has been both a backdrop and a central character in some of the most compelling prose and poetry of modern literature. This journey touches on the settings that informed hundreds of iconic works.
Immerse yourself in these spaces and discover that Mississippi is not just a state, but a state of mind. As Faulkner is said to have observed, "To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi."
End the struggle, speak up for what you need, and experience the freedom of being truly yourself.
Healthy boundaries. We all know we should have them – in order to achieve work/life balance, cope with toxic people, and enjoy rewarding relationships with partners, friends, and family. But what do “healthy boundaries” really mean – and how can we successfully express our needs, say “no,” and be assertive without offending others?
Licensed counselor, sought-after relationship expert, and one of the most influential therapists on Instagram, Nedra Glover Tawwab demystifies this complex topic for today’s world. In a relatable and inclusive tone, Set Boundaries, Find Peace presents simple-yet-powerful ways to establish healthy boundaries in all aspects of life. Rooted in the latest research and best practices used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), these techniques help us identify and express our needs clearly and without apology – and unravel a root problem behind codependency, power struggles, anxiety, depression, burnout, and more.
Ellie is tired of being fat-shamed and does something about it in this poignant debut novel-in-verse.
Ever since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she's been bullied about her weight. To cope, she tries to live by the Fat Girl Rules—like "no making waves," "avoid eating in public," and "don't move so fast that your body jiggles."
She's found her safe space—her swimming pool—where she feels weightless in a fat-obsessed world. In the water, she can stretch herself out like a starfish and take up all the room she wants. It’s also where she can get away from her pushy mom, who thinks criticizing Ellie’s weight will motivate her to diet.
Fortunately, Ellie has allies in her dad, her therapist, and her new neighbor, Catalina, who loves Ellie for who she is. With this support buoying her, Ellie might finally be able to cast aside the Fat Girl Rules and starfish in real life—by unapologetically being her own fabulous self.
The Arsonists' City delivers all the pleasures of a good old-fashioned saga. In Alyan's hands, one family's tale becomes the story of not just a nation--Lebanon and Syria--but also the United States. It's a rich family story that gives a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home.
The Nasr family is spread across the globe--Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. With a Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children, they have all lived a life of migration. Yet, they've always had their ancestral home in Beirut--a constant touchstone--and the complicated, messy family love that binds them. However, following his father's recent death, Idris, the new patriarch, has decided to sell. This decision brings the family to Beirut, where they unite against Idris in a fight to save the house. They all have secrets--lost loves, bitter jealousies, abandoned passions, deep-set shame--that distance has helped smother. But in a city smoldering with the legacy of war, an ongoing flow of refugees, religious tension, and political protest, these secrets ignite, imperiling the fragile ties that hold the family together.
In a novel teeming with wisdom, warmth, and remarkable human insight, award-winning author Hala Alyan shows us that fiction often provides the best filter for the real world around us.
A Desolation Called Peace is the thrilling sequel to Arkady Martine's genre-reinventing debut, A Memory Called Empire. As an alien armada looms on the edges of Teixcalaanli space, the empire is on the brink of a potential catastrophe. Unable to communicate or destroy the mysterious invaders, Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is quickly running out of options.
In an urgent bid for diplomacy, a diplomatic envoy has been dispatched. Now, Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still recovering from political turmoil within the empire—must embark on a daunting mission to establish communication with the hostile entity. Their efforts could dictate the survival of Teixcalaan, either saving the empire from destruction or paving the way for its relentless expansion. But success may also lead to an outcome far more unexpected.
From the best-selling author of Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day, a stunning new novel—his first since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature—about the wondrous, mysterious nature of the human heart.
Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?
In its award citation in 2017, the Nobel committee described Ishiguro's books as "novels of great emotional force" and said he has "uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world".
Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction, delves into humanity's transformative impact on the environment. Kolbert presents a critical question: After causing extensive damage, can we now alter nature to save it?
Living in the Anthropocene, an era defined by significant human influence on our planet, Kolbert explores the new world we are shaping. She introduces us to scientists working to save the world's rarest fish in the Mojave, engineers in Iceland transforming carbon emissions into stone, Australian researchers developing heat-resistant coral, and physicists considering the use of tiny diamonds to cool the earth by reflecting sunlight.
With human civilization being a millennia-long defiance of nature, Kolbert examines whether our latest interventions, which once imperiled Earth, could now be its only salvation. Under a White Sky offers an original and multifaceted look at the environmental challenges we must confront, characterized by inspiration, terror, and a touch of dark humor.
Think Again by Adam Grant is a compelling exploration into the power of rethinking our beliefs and embracing the unknown.
Through a blend of research and storytelling, Grant illustrates how we can develop the intellectual and emotional muscle needed to stay curious enough to effect change in the world. He delves into the art of rethinking: learning to question our opinions and open other people's minds. This, he posits, can position us for excellence at work and wisdom in life.
The book showcases how an international debate champion wins arguments and a Black musician persuades white supremacists to abandon hate. It offers insights on how a vaccine whisperer convinces concerned parents to immunize their children, and even how Yankees fans might be coaxed to root for the Red Sox. Grant reveals that we don't have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel. Think Again is an invitation to let go of outdated views and value mental flexibility over foolish consistency.
With bold ideas backed by rigorous evidence, Think Again not only teaches us the importance of rethinking but also provides practical guidance on how to cultivate this critical skill.
From The New York Times cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends reveals the untold story of the cyberweapons market—the most secretive, invisible, government-backed market on earth—and a terrifying first look at a new kind of global warfare.
Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, dismantle the safety controls at a chemical plant, alter an election, and shut down the electric grid (just ask Ukraine).
For decades, under cover of classification levels and non-disclosure agreements, the United States government became the world's dominant hoarder of zero days. U.S. government agents paid top dollar—first thousands, and later millions of dollars—to hackers willing to sell their lock-picking code and their silence. Then the United States lost control of its hoard and the market. Now those zero days are in the hands of hostile nations and mercenaries who do not care if your vote goes missing, your clean water is contaminated, or our nuclear plants melt down.
Filled with spies, hackers, arms dealers, and a few unsung heroes, written like a thriller and a reference, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is an astonishing feat of journalism. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, Nicole Perlroth lifts the curtain on a market in shadow, revealing the urgent threat faced by us all if we cannot bring the global cyber arms race to heel.
Bestselling author, peak performance expert and Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective, Steven Kotler decodes the secrets of those elite performers—athletes, artists, scientists, CEOs and more—who have changed our definition of the possible, teaching us how we too can stretch far beyond our capabilities, making impossible dreams much more attainable for all of us.
What does it take to accomplish the impossible? What does it take to shatter our limitations, exceed our expectations, and turn our biggest dreams into our most recent achievements? We are capable of so much more than we know—that’s the message at the core of The Art of Impossible. Building upon cutting-edge neuroscience and over twenty years of research, author Steven Kotler lays out a blueprint for extreme performance improvement and offers a playbook to make it happen.
You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey is a hilarious yet poignant collection of anecdotes written by Amber Ruffin, a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers, and her sister Lacey Lamar. This book dives into the absurd and often shocking everyday experiences of racism that Lacey encounters.
Amber Ruffin lives in New York, where she is no one's First Black Friend, and everyone is, as she puts it, "stark raving normal." However, her sister Lacey remains in their home state of Nebraska, where her experiences are anything but normal. From encounters in racist donut shops to strangers putting their whole hand in her hair, Lacey's stories are both hilariously ridiculous and painfully real.
Lacey is often mistaken for various people, from a prostitute to Harriet Tubman, showcasing the bizarre and often offensive assumptions people make. She is the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, petite, and Black, which apparently makes people think, "I can say whatever I want to this woman."
Through their laugh-out-loud sisterly banter, Amber and Lacey share these entertainingly horrifying stories. Whether painfully relatable or shockingly eye-opening, this book tackles modern-day racism with the perfect balance of levity and gravity.