Books with category 📚 Non-Fiction
Displaying books 481-528 of 1669 in total

Great at Work

Great at Work: The Hidden Habits of Top Performers, by Morten T. Hansen, is an authoritative and practical guide to individual performance, offering insights from a groundbreaking study on why some people outperform others in the workplace.

The book presents the "Seven Work Smarter Practices" that anyone can apply to maximize their time and efficiency. Through inspiring stories from the study's participants, readers will encounter a variety of individuals who have achieved remarkable success through these practices, such as a high school principal who turned around a failing institution, a rural Indian farmer improving life for women in his village, and a sushi chef earning three Michelin stars with simple yet effective preparation techniques.

Hansen's work also explores historical examples, like Alfred Hitchcock's filming of Psycho and the 1911 race to the South Pole, to illustrate the timeless application of these productivity practices. The book is filled with questions, insights, mini-quizzes, and tips to help readers identify their work strengths and weaknesses, and to develop a personalized strategy for enhanced work performance.

Comprehensive and accessible, Great at Work is designed to help readers work smarter, not harder, backed by a solid foundation of statistical analysis.

The Culture Code

2018

by Daniel Coyle

The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle delves into the inner workings of the world's most successful organizations, such as the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team Six, IDEO, and the San Antonio Spurs. Coyle reveals the essential skills that foster group cohesion and cooperation, showing how a diverse group of people can function as though they have a single mind.

Through real-world examples that include companies like Zappos and the Upright Citizens Brigade, as well as a gang of jewel thieves, the book provides strategies that promote learning, collaboration, trust, and positive change. Coyle shares stories of failure to highlight what to avoid, addresses common pitfalls, and offers guidance on repairing a damaged culture.

By integrating cutting-edge science with insights from top-notch leaders and actionable advice, The Culture Code serves as a guide for creating an environment ripe for innovation, problem-solving, and exceeding expectations. This book is a powerful tool for anyone looking to understand the principles of cultural chemistry that can transform individuals into high-performing teams capable of remarkable achievements.

The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall: A Fairytale of Grimm Art

2018

by Ki Longfellow

Twenty three years ago, Vivian Stanshall tragically died in a fire, trapped in a north London flat. Drunk, he slept through his own death. Vivian was the ineffable, unflappable, elegant, and irreverently funny frontman and songwriter for the Bonzo Dog Dada Band, a group of art students who created a band unlike any other. They are still adored by thousands long after their short time in the sun was knocked on the head by Vivian himself.


"We were art students. We were Dada. We were making fun of the worst excesses of rock 'n roll. One day I looked around to discover we'd become what we were parodying," he once reflected.


Written by his wife of 18 years, herself an artist, this is a behind-the-scenes, beneath-the-sheets, under-the-bed tale of an actual genius—few who admired him would disagree. In many ways, this is Vivian through his own private words gleaned from his personal journals.


The book is also full of up-close and revealing portraits of legends: Keith Moon, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Stephen Fry, Michael Palin, John Peel, Joe Cocker, and so many more. But even more than all that, it’s an ART BOOK: crammed full of Vivian’s paintings, sketches, unpublished family photos, letters, and poems.


Vivian Stanshall was the last of the true Bohemians. This is also a tale of Dada, a mad, sad, glad voyage through life on a grand scale made by one of England’s greatest treasures: the genius who was Vivian Stanshall.

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson's answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research.

Humorous, surprising, and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street.

What does the nervous system of the lowly lobster have to tell us about standing up straight (with our shoulders back) and about success in life? Why did ancient Egyptians worship the capacity to pay careful attention as the highest of gods? What dreadful paths do people tread when they become resentful, arrogant, and vengeful?

Dr. Peterson journeys broadly, discussing discipline, freedom, adventure, and responsibility, distilling the world's wisdom into 12 practical and profound rules for life. 12 Rules for Life shatters the modern commonplaces of science, faith, and human nature, while transforming and ennobling the mind and spirit of its readers.

So You Want to Talk About Race

2018

by Ijeoma Oluo

In this breakout book, Ijeoma Oluo explores the complex reality of today's racial landscape--from white privilege and police brutality to systemic discrimination and the Black Lives Matter movement--offering straightforward clarity that readers need to contribute to the dismantling of the racial divide.

In So You Want to Talk About Race, Editor at Large of The Establishment Ijeoma Oluo offers a contemporary, accessible take on the racial landscape in America, addressing head-on such issues as privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "N" word. Perfectly positioned to bridge the gap between people of color and white Americans struggling with race complexities, Oluo answers the questions readers don't dare ask, and explains the concepts that continue to elude everyday Americans.

Oluo is an exceptional writer with a rare ability to be straightforward, funny, and effective in her coverage of sensitive, hyper-charged issues in America. Her messages are passionate but finely tuned, and crystalize ideas that would otherwise be vague by empowering them with aha-moment clarity. Her writing brings to mind voices like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxane Gay, and Jessica Valenti in Full Frontal Feminism, and a young Gloria Naylor, particularly in Naylor's seminal essay The Meaning of a Word.

The Vagina Monologues

2018

by Eve Ensler

I decided to talk to women about their vaginas, to do vagina interviews, which became vagina monologues. At first, women were reluctant to talk. They were a little shy. But once they got going, you couldn't stop them. Women secretly love to talk about their vaginas. They get very excited, mainly because no one's ever asked them before.

So begins Eve Ensler's hilarious, eye-opening tour into the last frontier, the forbidden zone at the heart of every woman. Adapted from the award-winning one-woman show that's rocked audiences around the world, this groundbreaking book gives voice to a chorus of lusty, outrageous, poignant, and thoroughly human stories, transforming the question mark hovering over the female anatomy into a permanent victory sign. With laughter and compassion, Ensler transports her audiences to a world we've never dared to know, guaranteeing that no one who reads The Vagina Monologues will ever look at a woman's body the same way again.

Liberation Day: Our Nation Empowered by the Constitution

2017

by Eric Martin

Liberation Day - it's a title suited to a story of a nation at war and a people held captive. In this case, the invader is not some foreign enemy. It is the government at war with the nation it governs. And the Liberation Day this book speaks of is the day we take our nation back – back from a federal government that has long defied the constitutional restraints that guarantee our freedom.

In Liberation Day, Eric Martin shows us how our Constitution can and must be used to make us and the states in which we live prosperous, powerful, and free as they were meant to be. Martin lays out a rationally innovative plan that radically downsizes or completely dissolves more than 250 federal entities that wield power both unconscionable and unconstitutional.

With its unconstitutional burdens rightfully jettisoned, our federal government will align at last with the Founding Law that makes us and our states truly free. The framers of the Constitution understood only too well that government is by its nature a beast, of use if properly restrained, but oppressive and even lethal if allowed out of bounds. By reapplying to government the well-wrought chains of our Constitution, we will liberate ourselves.

Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve

The best-selling book on the topic—now in 15 languages. This practical guide to understanding the cranial nerves as the key to our psychological and physical well-being builds on Stephen Porges’s Polyvagal Theory—one of the most important recent developments in human neurobiology.


Drawing on more than thirty years of experience as a craniosacral therapist and Rolfer, Stanley Rosenberg explores the crucial role that the vagus nerve plays in determining our psychological and emotional states and explains that a myriad of common psychological and physical symptoms—from anxiety and depression to migraines and back pain—indicates a lack of proper functioning in the vagus nerve.


Through a series of easy self-help exercises, the book illustrates the simple ways we can regulate the vagus nerve in order to initiate deep relaxation, improve sleep, and recover from injury and trauma.


Additionally, by exploring the link between a well-regulated vagus nerve and social functioning, Rosenberg’s findings and methods offer new hope that by improving social behavior, it is possible to alleviate some of the symptoms at the core of many cases of autism spectrum disorders.


Useful for psychotherapists, doctors, bodyworkers, and caregivers, as well as anyone who experiences the symptoms of chronic stress and depression, this book shows how we can optimize autonomic functioning in ourselves and others, and bring the body into the state of safety that activates its innate capacity to heal.

The Truth-Seeker’s Handbook: A Science-Based Guide

2017

by Gleb Tsipursky

How do you know whether something is true? How do you convince others to believe the facts? Research shows that the human mind is prone to making thinking errors - predictable mistakes that cause us to believe comfortable lies over inconvenient truths.

These errors leave us vulnerable to making decisions based on false beliefs, leading to disastrous consequences for our personal lives, relationships, careers, civic and political engagement, and for our society as a whole.

Fortunately, cognitive and behavioral scientists have uncovered many useful strategies for overcoming our mental flaws. This book presents a variety of research-based tools for ensuring that our beliefs are aligned with reality. With examples from daily life and an engaging style, the book will provide you with the skills to avoid thinking errors and help others to do so, preventing disasters and facilitating success for yourself, those you care about, and our society.

Becoming an Ally to the Gender-Expansive Child

2017

by Anna Bianchi

How can parents and care-givers best support their gender expansive children? Drawing on the author's own experience with her grandchild, this book encourages adults to redefine their understanding of gender in order to understand and support their child more fully.

When Anna Bianchi's grandchild asked, "Nanny, you do know I'm a girl, don't you?", Anna recognized this as a pivotal, and daunting, moment in their relationship. She knew that to answer her grandchild, who had been assigned male at birth, her own attitudes, assumptions and beliefs about gender would need to be examined.

With reassuring honesty and openness, Anna draws deeply on four areas: her own experience, current research, interviews with children and their families, and a discussion of power, both in society and between children and adults. She shows how the inner journey of the adult inevitably impacts on the outer journey of the child and, given the significance of this, offers a step-by-step guide to becoming an ally to the gender-expansive child.

For anyone eager to understand their child's gender experience, or to learn how best to accept, support and protect them, this book will provide knowledge, reassurance and the confidence to do so.

Explosive Growth: A Few Things I Learned While Growing To 100 Million Users - And Losing $78 Million

2017

by Cliff Lerner

Explosive Growth offers a compelling and inspiring narrative that provides entrepreneurs with a rare behind-the-scenes look into the creation of the first online dating app that grew to 100 million users. The book combines lively and often hilarious storytelling with genius growth tactics, numerous case studies, and a step-by-step playbook to help your startup grow massively.

Due to its raw storytelling style, practical lessons, compelling content, and fast-paced read, Explosive Growth transcends the narrow entrepreneurial audience to appeal to readers and business students eager to learn about startup life and entrepreneurship. It reveals the highest highs and lowest lows of running a startup.

Cliff Lerner's online dating startup, Snap Interactive, was at the brink of running out of money when he bet the company's fortunes on a then-unknown platform called Facebook. The app began to acquire 100,000 new users daily for free, and soon after, the stock price skyrocketed 2,000 percent, setting off a chain of extraordinary events filled with sudden success and painful lessons.

You will learn how to:

  • IGNITE EXPLOSIVE GROWTH by creating a remarkable product
  • Identify the ONLY 3 METRICS THAT MATTER
  • Explore valuable VIRAL GROWTH strategies to grow rapidly
  • Execute the GENIUS MEDIA HACKS that helped us acquire 100 million users
  • Create a thriving culture of PASSIONATE EMPLOYEES and CONSTANT INNOVATION

The Ego and Its Own

2017

by Max Stirner

The Ego and Its Own is an 1844 work by Max Stirner. It presents a radically nominalist and individualist critique of Christianity, nationalism, and traditional morality, as well as humanism, utilitarianism, liberalism, and much of the then-burgeoning socialist movement. Stirner advocates for an amoral (though not inherently immoral or antisocial) egoism.

Ego emphasizes owness as self-description, moving past fixed conceptions of the Self and Other through the recognition of power relations and self-discovery of the mind.

Johann Kaspar Schmidt (1806-1856), also known as Max Stirner, was a German philosopher who is often considered one of the pioneers in anarchism, nihilism, existentialism, and postmodernism. His ideas challenge the enslavement of the mind by religion and nationalism, advocating for individual freedom and autonomy.

The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures

2017

by Aaron Mahnke

A fascinating, beautifully illustrated guide to the monsters that are part of our collective psyche, this book features stories from the Lore podcast—now a streaming television series. It includes tales such as "They Made a Tonic," "Passed Notes," and "Unboxed," as well as rare material.

Monsters live in shadows—deep in the forest, late in the night, in the dark recesses of our minds. Spoken of in stories and superstitions, they are relics of an unenlightened age, old wives' tales passed down through generations. Yet, no matter how wary and jaded we have become, both as individuals and as a society, a part of us remains vulnerable to them: werewolves and wendigos, poltergeists and vampires, angry elves and vengeful spirits.

In this volume, Aaron Mahnke serves as a guide on a fascinating journey through the history of these terrifying creatures, exploring not only the legends but also what they tell us about ourselves. He takes us to places like the desolate Pine Barrens of New Jersey, home of the notorious winged, red-eyed Jersey Devil, and delves into harrowing accounts of cannibalism. He also visits the dimly lit rooms where séances take place, and the European villages where gremlins make mischief.

Whether these beasts and bogeymen are real or just a reflection of our primal fears, we know that not every mystery has been explained and that the unknown still holds the power to strike fear deep in our hearts and souls. As Mahnke reminds us, sometimes the truth is even scarier than the lore.

Brain Rules for Aging Well: 10 Principles for Staying Vital, Happy, and Sharp

2017

by John Medina

Brain Rules for Aging Well, by the renowned developmental molecular biologist Dr. John Medina, unveils a captivating exploration into the science of the aging brain. With a plethora of discoveries, science is literally changing our minds about the optimal care and feeding of the brain.

Your Aging Brain is organized into four enlightening sections, each addressing familiar challenges with surprising solutions:

  • Social Brain: Dive into topics like relationships, happiness, and gullibility to see how our emotions evolve with age.
  • Thinking Brain: Understand the changes in working memory and executive function over time.
  • Body and Brain: Discover how specific exercises, diets, and sleep patterns can decelerate the aging process.
  • Future Brain: Connect all the insights into a comprehensive plan for maintaining brain health.

Sprinkled with practical advice, such as the benefits of dancing and the brain science behind each intervention, this book offers a roadmap for anyone concerned about aging or the well-being of their loved ones. Whether you're experiencing the effects of aging or supporting someone who is, Your Aging Brain is an indispensable guide.

The Sun and Her Flowers

2017

by Rupi Kaur

From Rupi Kaur, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of milk and honey, comes her long-awaited second collection of poetry. A vibrant and transcendent journey about growth and healing. Ancestry and honoring one’s roots. Expatriation and rising up to find a home within yourself.

Divided into five chapters and illustrated by Kaur, the sun and her flowers is a journey of wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming. A celebration of love in all its forms.

this is the recipe of life
said my mother
as she held me in her arms as i wept
think of those flowers you plant
in the garden each year
they will teach you
that people too
must wilt
fall
root
rise
in order to bloom

It's OK That You're Not OK

2017

by Megan Devine

When a painful loss or life-shattering event upends your world, here is the first thing to know: there is nothing wrong with grief. “Grief is simply love in its most wild and painful form,” says Megan Devine. “It is a natural and sane response to loss.” So, why does our culture treat grief like a disease to be cured as quickly as possible?

In It’s OK That You’re Not OK, Megan Devine offers a profound new approach to both the experience of grief and the way we try to help others who have endured tragedy. Having experienced grief from both sides—as both a therapist and as a woman who witnessed the accidental drowning of her beloved partner—Megan writes with deep insight about the unspoken truths of loss, love, and healing. She debunks the culturally prescribed goal of returning to a normal, “happy” life, replacing it with a far healthier middle path, one that invites us to build a life alongside grief rather than seeking to overcome it.

In this compelling and heartful book, you’ll learn:

  • Why well-meaning advice, therapy, and spiritual wisdom so often end up making it harder for people in grief
  • How challenging the myths of grief—doing away with stages, timetables, and unrealistic ideals about how grief should unfold—allows us to accept grief as a mystery to be honored instead of a problem to solve
  • Practical guidance for managing stress, improving sleep, and decreasing anxiety without trying to “fix” your pain
  • How to help the people you love—with essays to teach us the best skills, checklists, and suggestions for supporting and comforting others through the grieving process

Many people who have suffered a loss feel judged, dismissed, and misunderstood by a culture that wants to “solve” grief. Megan writes, “Grief no more needs a solution than love needs a solution.” Through stories, research, life tips, and creative and mindfulness-based practices, she offers a unique guide through an experience we all must face—in our personal lives, in the lives of those we love, and in the wider world.

It’s OK That You’re Not OK is a book for grieving people, those who love them, and all those seeking to love themselves—and each other—better.

Why We Sleep

2017

by Matthew Walker

Why We Sleep is a groundbreaking exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker charts the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs and, with his decades of research and clinical practice, provides actionable steps towards getting a better night's sleep.

Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood, and energy levels; regulate hormones; prevent cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes; slow the effects of aging; and increase longevity. He also delves into the importance of dreaming, how caffeine and alcohol affect sleep, and why our sleep patterns change across a lifetime.

The book is a revolutionary exploration of the vital importance of sleep, transforming our appreciation of the extraordinary phenomenon that safeguards our existence.

The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke

The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke offers a breathtaking collection of poems by the renowned German poet, Rainer Maria Rilke. This bilingual edition features the original German text alongside its English translation, allowing readers to immerse themselves in Rilke's lyrical world.

Rilke's poetry is celebrated for its romantic transformation and spiritual quest, capturing the essence of the twentieth century's most compelling poet. His works resonate with an ecstatic identification with the world, offering readers an endless fascination.

Stephen Mitchell's translations are noted for their lyric intensity and fluency, capturing the complexity of Rilke's thoughts with remarkable accuracy and originality. This edition stands as a testament to the delicate balance of fidelity and innovation, making it a must-read for poetry enthusiasts.

Originally published by Random House in 1982, this Vintage edition continues to inspire and captivate readers with its timeless beauty.

Principles: Life and Work

2017

by Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he’s developed, refined, and used over the past forty years to create unique results in both life and business—and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.

In 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Forty years later, Bridgewater has made more money for its clients than any other hedge fund in history and grown into the fifth most important private company in the United States, according to Fortune magazine. Dalio himself has been named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Along the way, Dalio discovered a set of unique principles that have led to Bridgewater’s exceptionally effective culture, which he describes as “an idea meritocracy that strives to achieve meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical transparency.” It is these principles, and not anything special about Dalio—who grew up an ordinary kid in a middle-class Long Island neighborhood—that he believes are the reason behind his success.

In Principles, Dalio shares what he’s learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book’s hundreds of practical lessons, which are built around his cornerstones of “radical truth” and “radical transparency,” include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams.

He also describes the innovative tools the firm uses to bring an idea meritocracy to life, such as creating “baseball cards” for all employees that distill their strengths and weaknesses, and employing computerized decision-making systems to make believability-weighted decisions.

While the book brims with novel ideas for organizations and institutions, Principles also offers a clear, straightforward approach to decision-making that Dalio believes anyone can apply, no matter what they’re seeking to achieve.

Braving the Wilderness

2017

by Brené Brown

In Braving the Wilderness, Brown redefines what it means to truly belong in an age of increased polarization. With her trademark mix of research, storytelling, and honesty, Brown will again change the cultural conversation while mapping a clear path to true belonging.

Brown argues that we're experiencing a spiritual crisis of disconnection, and introduces four practices of true belonging that challenge everything we believe about ourselves and each other. She writes, "True belonging requires us to believe in and belong to ourselves so fully that we can find sacredness both in being a part of something and in standing alone when necessary. But in a culture that's rife with perfectionism and pleasing, and with the erosion of civility, it's easy to stay quiet, hide in our ideological bunkers, or fit in rather than show up as our true selves and brave the wilderness of uncertainty and criticism. But true belonging is not something we negotiate or accomplish with others; it's a daily practice that demands integrity and authenticity. It's a personal commitment that we carry in our hearts." 

Brown offers us the clarity and courage we need to find our way back to ourselves and to each other. And that path cuts right through the wilderness. 

The Four Tendencies

2017

by Gretchen Rubin

Are you an Upholder, a Questioner, an Obliger, or a Rebel? From the author of Better Than Before and The Happiness Project comes a groundbreaking analysis of personality type that will immediately improve every area of your life.

Gretchen Rubin realized that by asking the seemingly dry question "How do I respond to expectations?" we gain explosive self-knowledge. She discovered that based on their answer, people fit into Four Tendencies:

  • Upholders meet outer and inner expectations readily.
  • Questioners meet inner expectations, but meet outer expectations only if they make sense.
  • Obligers (the largest Tendency) meet outer expectations, but struggle to meet inner expectations.
  • Rebels resist all expectations, outer and inner alike.

Our Tendency shapes every aspect of our behavior, so using this framework allows us to make better decisions, meet deadlines, suffer less stress, and engage more effectively. It's far easier to succeed when you know what works for you. With sharp insight, compelling research, and hilarious examples, The Four Tendencies will help you get happier, healthier, more productive, and more creative.

What Happened

In the past, for reasons I try to explain, I’ve often felt I had to be careful in public, like I was up on a wire without a net. Now I’m letting my guard down. —Hillary Rodham Clinton, from the introduction of What Happened

For the first time, Hillary Rodham Clinton reveals what she was thinking and feeling during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections in history. Now free from the constraints of running, Hillary takes you inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, exhilarating highs and infuriating lows, stranger-than-fiction twists, Russian interference, and an opponent who broke all the rules. This is her most personal memoir yet.

In these pages, she describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking and devastating loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself back up afterward. With humor and candor, she tells readers what it took to get back on her feet—the rituals, relationships, and reading that got her through, and what the experience has taught her about life.

She speaks about the challenges of being a strong woman in the public eye, the criticism over her voice, age, and appearance, and the double standard confronting women in politics. She lays out how the 2016 election was marked by an unprecedented assault on our democracy by a foreign adversary. By analyzing the evidence and connecting the dots, Hillary shows just how dangerous the forces are that shaped the outcome, and why Americans need to understand them to protect our values and our democracy in the future.

The election of 2016 was unprecedented and historic. What Happened is the story of that campaign and its aftermath—both a deeply intimate account and a cautionary tale for the nation.

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels

2017

by Jason Schreier

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, by Jason Schreier, takes readers on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development. It explores the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and corporate obstacles involved in bringing any game to completion. The book documents the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves that are part of the development process.

From RPG studio Bioware's challenge to overcome technical nightmares to build Dragon Age: Inquisition, to indie developer Eric Barone's efforts to turn Stardew Valley into a multi-million-dollar franchise, and Bungie's creation of the Destiny universe, Schreier immerses readers in the hellfire of the development process. Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable.

Second Treatise of Government

2017

by John Locke

The Second Treatise of Government is one of the most important political treatises ever written and one of the most far-reaching in its influence. In this profound work, John Locke explores the principles of limited, conditional government, the concept of private property, and the right of revolution. These ideas have resonated through time, providing a foundation for modern political thought.

In his provocative introduction to this edition, the eminent political theorist C. B. Macpherson examines Locke's arguments and suggests reasons for their enduring appeal. The text remains a cornerstone in understanding the development of political liberalism and continues to influence contemporary discussions on governance and individual rights.

My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Mending of Our Bodies and Hearts

2017

by Resmaa Menakem

The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, enduring the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society.


In this groundbreaking work, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of body-centered psychology. He argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans—our police.


My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.


This book paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy—how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system. It offers a step-by-step solution—a healing process—in addition to incisive social commentary.


Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, is a therapist with decades of experience currently in private practice in Minneapolis, MN, specializing in trauma, body-centered psychotherapy, and violence prevention. He has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil as an expert on conflict and violence. Menakem has studied with bestselling authors Dr. David Schnarch (Passionate Marriage) and Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score). He also trained at Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute.

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

2017

by Thomas Piketty

What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories. In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and inequality.Piketty shows that modern economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have allowed us to avoid inequalities on the apocalyptic scale predicted by Karl Marx. But we have not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality as much as we thought in the optimistic decades following World War II. The main driver of inequality—the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth—today threatens to generate extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values. But economic trends are not acts of God. Political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, Piketty says, and may do so again.A work of extraordinary ambition, originality, and rigor, Capital in the Twenty-First Century reorients our understanding of economic history and confronts us with sobering lessons for today.

Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To

2017

by Dean Burnett

Idiot Brain is a delightful exploration of our mysterious, mischievous, and entirely fallible gray matter. Join neuroscientist Dean Burnett as he takes you on a grand tour around modern cognitive science and psychology.

The brain is an absolute marvel: the seat of our consciousness, the pinnacle of evolutionary progress, and the engine of human experience. But it’s also messy, fallible, and about 50,000 years out of date. We cling to superstitions, remember faces but not names, miss things sitting right in front of us, and lie awake at night while our brains replay our greatest fears on an endless loop.

In Idiot Brain, Dean Burnett celebrates blind spots, blackouts, insomnia, and all the other downright laughable things our minds do to us, while also exposing the many mistakes we've made in our quest to understand how our brains actually work. This expertly researched and entertainingly written book is for everyone who has wondered why their brain appears to be sabotaging their life, and what on earth it is really up to.

You'll Grow Out of It

2017

by Jessi Klein

You'll Grow Out of It hilariously and candidly explores the journey of the twenty-first-century woman.

As both a tomboy and a late bloomer, comedian Jessi Klein grew up feeling more like an outsider than a participant in the rites of modern femininity.

In You'll Grow Out of It, Klein offers—through an incisive collection of real-life stories—a relentlessly funny yet poignant take on a variety of topics she has experienced along her strange journey to womanhood and beyond. These include her transformation from a Pippi Longstocking-esque tomboy to an "are-you-a-lesbian-or-what" tom man, attempting to find watchable porn, and identifying the difference between being called "ma'am" and "miss" ("Miss" sounds like you weigh ninety-nine pounds).

Raw, relatable, and consistently hilarious, You'll Grow Out of It is a one-of-a-kind book by a singular and irresistible comic voice.

The Kingdom of God Is Within You

Banned in Russia, Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You was deemed a threat to church and state. This work is the culmination of a lifetime's thought, espousing a commitment to Jesus's message of turning the other cheek. In a bold and original manner, Tolstoy shows his readers clearly why they must reject violence of any sort—even that sanctioned by the state or the church—and urges them to look within themselves to find the answers to questions of morality.

In 1894, one of the first English translations of this book found its way into the hands of a young Gandhi. Inspired by its message of nonresistance to evil, the Mahatma declared it a source of independent thinking, profound morality, and truthfulness.

Much of this work's emotional and moral appeal lies in its emphasis on fair treatment of the poor and working class. Its view of Christianity, not as a mystic religion but as a workable philosophy originating from the words of a remarkable teacher, extends its appeal to secular and religious readers alike.

The Drowned and the Saved

2017

by Primo Levi

The Drowned and the Saved is a profound exploration by Primo Levi as he attempts to understand the rationale behind the atrocities of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Bergen-Belsen. Levi dismisses the stereotyped images of brutal Nazi torturers and helpless victims, drawing extensively on his own experiences to delve into the minds and motives of oppressors and oppressed alike.

He describes the difficulty and shame of remembering, the limited forms of collaboration between inmates and SS goalers, the exploitation of useless violence, and the plight of the intellectual. Levi writes about the issue of power, mercy, and guilt, and their effects on the lives of the ordinary people who suffered so incomprehendingly.

Through his writing, Levi warns and reminds us that the unimaginable can happen again, urging us to learn from the past to make sense of the senseless.

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body

2017

by Roxane Gay

From the New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist: a searingly honest memoir of food, weight, self-image, and learning how to feed your hunger while taking care of yourself.

“I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. . . . I was trapped in my body, one that I barely recognized or understood, but at least I was safe.”

In her phenomenally popular essays and long-running Tumblr blog, Roxane Gay has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and body, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. As a woman who describes her own body as “wildly undisciplined,” Roxane understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care.

In Hunger, she explores her past—including the devastating act of violence that acted as a turning point in her young life—and brings readers along on her journey to understand and ultimately save herself.

With the bracing candor, vulnerability, and power that have made her one of the most admired writers of her generation, Roxane explores what it means to learn to take care of yourself: how to feed your hungers for delicious and satisfying food, a smaller and safer body, and a body that can love and be loved—in a time when the bigger you are, the smaller your world becomes.

Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War

2017

by Mary Roach

Best-selling author Mary Roach explores the science of keeping human beings intact, awake, sane, uninfected, and uninfested in the bizarre and extreme circumstances of war. Grunt tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries—panic, exhaustion, heat, and noise—and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them.


Mary Roach dodges hostile fire with the U.S. Marine Corps Paintball Team as part of a study on hearing loss and survivability in combat. She visits the fashion design studio of U.S. Army Natick Labs and learns why a zipper is a problem for a sniper. She visits a repurposed movie studio where amputee actors help prepare Marine Corps medics for the shock and gore of combat wounds.


At Camp Lemmonier, Djibouti, in east Africa, we learn how diarrhea can be a threat to national security. Roach samples caffeinated meat, sniffs an archival sample of a World War II stink bomb, and stays up all night with the crew tending the missiles on the nuclear submarine USS Tennessee. She answers questions not found in any other book on the military: Why is DARPA interested in ducks? How is a wedding gown like a bomb suit? Why are shrimp more dangerous to sailors than sharks?


Take a tour of duty with Roach, and you’ll never see our nation’s defenders in the same way again.

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate

2017

by Al Franken

From Senator Al Franken - #1 bestselling author and beloved SNL alum - comes the story of an award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians tend not to do that.

This is a book about an unlikely campaign that had an even more improbable ending: the closest outcome in history and an unprecedented eight-month recount saga, which is pretty funny in retrospect.

It's a book about what happens when the nation's foremost progressive satirist gets a chance to serve in the United States Senate and, defying the low expectations of the pundit class, actually turns out to be good at it.

It's a book about our deeply polarized, frequently depressing, occasionally inspiring political culture, written from inside the belly of the beast.

In this candid personal memoir, the honorable gentleman from Minnesota takes his army of loyal fans along with him from Saturday Night Live to the campaign trail, inside the halls of Congress, and behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic and/or hilarious moments of his new career in politics.

Has Al Franken become a true Giant of the Senate? Franken asks readers to decide for themselves.

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.

2017

by Samantha Irby

Sometimes you just have to laugh, even when life is a dumpster fire. With We Are Never Meeting in Real Life., "bitches gotta eat" blogger and comedian Samantha Irby turns the serio-comic essay into an art form.

Whether talking about how her difficult childhood has led to a problem in making "adult" budgets, explaining why she should be the new Bachelorette—she's "35-ish, but could easily pass for 60-something"—detailing a disastrous pilgrimage-slash-romantic-vacation to Nashville to scatter her estranged father's ashes, sharing awkward sexual encounters, or dispensing advice on how to navigate friendships with former drinking buddies who are now suburban moms—hang in there for the Costco loot—she's as deft at poking fun at the ghosts of her past self as she is at capturing powerful emotional truths.

Everybody Lies

Insightful, surprising, and with ground-breaking revelations about our society, Everybody Lies exposes the secrets embedded in our internet searches, with a foreword by bestselling author Steven Pinker. While people often lie to friends, lovers, doctors, pollsters—and to themselves—in Internet searches, they confess their truths, revealing secrets about sexless marriages, mental health problems, and even racist views.

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, an economist and former Google data scientist, presents what might be the most important dataset ever collected. This unprecedented database of secrets offers astonishing insights into humankind. For example, anxiety does not increase after a terrorist attack, crime levels drop when a violent film is released, and racist searches are no higher in Republican areas than in Democrat ones.

Stephens-Davidowitz reveals information that can be used to change our culture and addresses the questions we're afraid to ask that might be essential to our well-being—both emotional and physical. Everybody Lies is insightful, funny, and always surprising, exposing the biases and secrets deeply embedded within us, at a time when things are harder to predict than ever.

Leaders Eat Last

2017

by Simon Sinek

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't explores the concept of leadership and the critical role it plays in the success of an organization. Simon Sinek delves into the idea that exceptional leaders create an environment of trust and cooperation, often at the expense of their own comfort and survival, for the benefit of those in their care.

Based on real-world experiences and true stories from various domains, including the military and business sectors, Sinek introduces the Circle of Safety—a principle that fosters stable, adaptive, and confident teams where individuals feel a sense of belonging. This book not only provides insights into leadership but also uncovers the biological underpinnings of why some teams excel while others struggle.

With an expanded focus on leading millennials, Sinek's narrative is further enriched by his observations on how the greatest leaders in history have always prioritized the well-being of their people, creating a culture where everyone works together to achieve remarkable outcomes.

The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy: Healing the Social Brain

2017

by Louis Cozolino

An update to the classic text that links neuroscience and human behavior in the context of therapy. This groundbreaking book explores the recent revolution in psychotherapy that has brought an understanding of the social nature of people’s brains to a therapeutic context.

Louis Cozolino is a master at synthesizing neuroscientific information and demonstrating how it applies to psychotherapy practice. New material on altruism, executive function, trauma, and change round out this essential book.

The Wellness Project

2017

by Phoebe Lapine

For those battling autoimmune disease or thyroid conditions—or just seeking healthy life balance—the voice behind the popular blog Feed Me Phoebe shares her yearlong investigation of what truly made her well.

After she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in her early twenties, Phoebe Lapine felt overwhelmed by her doctor’s strict protocols and confused when they directly conflicted with information on the bestseller list. After experiencing mixed results and a life of deprivation that seemed unsustainable at best, she adopted 12 of her own wellness directives—including eliminating sugar, switching to all-natural beauty products, and getting in touch with her spiritual side—to find out which lifestyle changes truly impacted her health for the better.

The Wellness Project is the insightful and hilarious result of that year of exploration—part memoir and part health and wellness primer (complete with 20 healthy recipes). It’s a must-read not just for those suffering from autoimmune disease, but for anyone looking for simple ways to improve their health without sacrificing life’s pleasures.

Paralysis: Beating the Odds

After a life-altering medical fiasco, Addison spends the next few years fighting to get her old life back and beat the original diagnosis of left-side hemiplegia. Through this journey, she discovers the most significant hindrances as well as the most helpful tips and tricks along the way.

In this book, you will find out what she did to recover from her stroke at age sixteen when she was told she would never walk on her own again.

Like the Flowing River

2017

by Paulo Coelho

Like the Flowing River is a breathtaking collection of reflections from one of the world's best-loved storytellers, Paulo Coelho. In this riveting collection of thoughts and stories, Coelho offers his personal reflections on a wide range of subjects from archery and music to elegance, traveling, and the nature of good and evil.

An old woman explains to her grandson how a mere pencil can show him the path to happiness. Instructions on how to climb a mountain reveal the secret to making your dreams a reality. The story of Ghengis Khan and the Falcon teaches about the folly of anger and the art of friendship. A pianist performs as an example of fulfilling your destiny. The author learns three important lessons when he goes to the rescue of a man in the street. Paulo shows us how life has lessons for us in the greatest, smallest, and most unusual of experiences.

Like the Flowing River includes jewel-like fables, packed with meaning and retold in Coelho's inimitable style. Sharing his thoughts on spirituality, life, and ethics, Paulo touches you with his philosophy and invites you to go on an exciting journey of your own.

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.

But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.

While you wait for your morning coffee to brew, for the bus, the train, or a plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.

Ten Myths About Israel

2017

by Ilan Pappé

The myths and reality behind the state of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the most eloquent writer on Palestinian history (New Statesman).

In this groundbreaking book, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the Occupation, the outspoken and radical Israeli historian Ilan Pappé examines the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel.

The “ten myths” that Pappé explores—repeated endlessly in the media, enforced by the military, accepted without question by the world’s governments—reinforce the regional status quo. He explores the claim that Palestine was an empty land at the time of the Balfour Declaration, as well as the formation of Zionism and its role in the early decades of nation building. He asks whether the Palestinians voluntarily left their homeland in 1948, and whether June 1967 was a war of “no choice.”

Turning to the myths surrounding the failures of the Camp David Accords and the official reasons for the attacks on Gaza, Pappé explains why the two-state solution is no longer viable.

Mind Over Meds: Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better—and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own

2017

by Andrew Weil

Too many Americans are taking too many drugs—and it's costing us our health, happiness, and lives.

Prescription drug use in America has increased tenfold in the past 50 years, and over-the-counter drug use has risen just as dramatically. In addition to the dozens of medications we take to treat serious illnesses, we take drugs to help us sleep, to keep us awake, to keep our noses from running, our backs from aching, and our minds from racing. Name a symptom, there's a pill to suppress it.

Modern drugs can be miraculously life-saving, and many illnesses demand their use. But what happens when our reliance on powerful pharmaceuticals blinds us to their risks? Painful side effects and dependency are common, and adverse drug reactions are America's fourth leading cause of death.

In Mind Over Meds, bestselling author Dr. Andrew Weil alerts readers to the problem of overmedication, and outlines when medicine is necessary, and when it is not. Dr. Weil examines how we came to be so drastically overmedicated, presents science that proves drugs aren't always the best option, and provides reliable integrative medicine approaches to treating common ailments like high blood pressure, allergies, depression, and even the common cold. With case histories, healthy alternative treatments, and input from other leading physicians, Mind Over Meds is the go-to resource for anyone who is sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Killers of the Flower Moon

2017

by David Grann

Killers of the Flower Moon delves into the haunting true-life murder mystery of one of the most monstrous crimes in American history. In the 1920s, members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma were the wealthiest people per capita in the world, thanks to oil discovered beneath their land. They lived opulently with chauffeured automobiles, mansions, and European-educated children. However, a sinister series of events unfolded as they began to be systematically murdered.

The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, was a prime target, with relatives being shot and poisoned. As the body count grew, the newly formed FBI stepped in, with the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, assigning former Texas Ranger Tom White to the case. White assembled an undercover team, including a Native American agent, to work with the Osage and uncover a chilling conspiracy.

Author David Grann presents a masterful work of literary journalism that captures the urgency of the mystery. Killers of the Flower Moon is not only a riveting account but also a searing indictment of the era's racial injustice.

Hourglass

2017

by Dani Shapiro

Hourglass is an inquiry into how marriage is transformed by time--abraded, strengthened, shaped in miraculous and sometimes terrifying ways by accident and experience. With courage and relentless honesty, Dani Shapiro opens the door to her house, her marriage, and her heart, and invites us to witness her own marital reckoning--a reckoning in which she confronts both the life she dreamed of and the life she made, and struggles to reconcile the girl she was with the woman she has become.

Drawing on literature, poetry, philosophy, and theology, Shapiro writes gloriously of the joys and challenges of matrimonial life, in a luminous narrative that unfurls with urgent immediacy and sharp intelligence. Artful, intensely emotional work from one of our finest writers.

Landfill Dogs book

Landfill Dogs, as featured on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer (2013) and CNN (2015), shines a light on some of the most overlooked dogs from a county shelter in Raleigh, NC. Through this touching photography project, more than 160 dogs have found homes or been sent to rescue.

This book tells the story of who the Landfill Dogs are, featuring a compilation of their portraits at Landfill Park and individual adoption stories. It's a must-have for any animal advocate!

Note: All proceeds go directly toward helping shelter animals.

Botanical Shakespeare: An Illustrated Compendium of All the Flowers, Fruits, Herbs, Trees, Seeds, and Grasses Cited by the World's Greatest Playwright

Botanical Shakespeare is a captivating and beautifully illustrated compendium of the flowers, fruits, herbs, trees, seeds, and grasses cited in the works of the world’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare. This unique book is accompanied by their companion quotes from all of his plays and poems.

With a foreword by Dame Helen Mirren, this striking compilation brings together the knowledge and skill of Shakespeare historian Gerit Quealy and respected Japanese artist Sumie Hasegawa Collins. It is the first and only book that examines every plant appearing in the works of Shakespeare.

At the heart of the book are "portraits" of over 170 flowers, fruits, grains, grasses, trees, herbs, seeds, and vegetables mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and poems. Each is beautifully illustrated, providing a "face" to the name, alongside the specific text in which it appears and the character(s) who utter the lines.

This visual compendium includes a dictionary describing each plant, such as Eglantine, a wild rose cherished for its singular scent, and explains the difference between apples and apple-john. It features indices listing the botanical by play/poem, by character, and genus for easy reference, making it ideal for gardeners and literature enthusiasts alike.

This breathtaking collection offers unique depth and insight into Shakespeare and his timeless work through the unusual perspective of the plants themselves.

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