en-US Sun, 13 Apr 2025 18:33:57 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 17290807 The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable design is possible. The rules are simple: make things visible, exploit natural relationships that couple function and control, and make intelligent use of constraints. The goal: guide the user effortlessly to the right action on the right control at the right time.

In this entertaining and insightful analysis, cognitive scientist Don Norman hails excellence of design as the most important key to regaining the competitive edge in influencing consumer behavior. Now fully expanded and updated, with a new introduction by the author, The Design of Everyday Things is a powerful primer on how—and why—some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.
]]> 368 Donald A. Norman 0465050654 Matt 0 currently-reading 4.19 1988
author: Donald A. Norman
name: Matt
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/13
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 9361589
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.]]> 506 Erin Morgenstern Matt 0 currently-reading 4.00 2011
author: Erin Morgenstern
name: Matt
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 205445214
Mental toughness is a skill that you must build through consistent execution...

One that will lose its strength if it isn't constantly put into practice.

But what does it actually take to be mentally tough?

The Book on Mental Toughness will show you.

In this book ... I combine the mindset, tools, and lessons you need to not only cultivate mental toughness and exercise it in your daily life...

But to also constantly improve upon and maintain a high level of mental toughness so you can build the best possible life for yourself and those around you.

Look ... life is hard for all of us.

To become someone who can survive and thrive no matter what challenges present themselves...

You must become mentally tough.

This book is your ultimate resource for developing and harnessing the power of mental toughness in your life.]]> Andy Frisella Matt 4 4.70
author: Andy Frisella
name: Matt
average rating: 4.70
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
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]]> 34928122
Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.]]> 305 Andy Weir 0553448129 Matt 4 3.66 2017
author: Andy Weir
name: Matt
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/15
date added: 2025/03/15
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]]> 6342995 288 Bill Walsh 1591842662 Matt 3 4.19 2009
author: Bill Walsh
name: Matt
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
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]]> 31423133

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. Taking inspiration from the university's slogan, "What starts here changes the world," he shared the ten principles he learned during Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges not only in his training and long Naval career, but also throughout his life; and he explained how anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves-and the world-for the better.

Admiral McRaven's original speech went viral with over 10 million views. Building on the core tenets laid out in his speech, McRaven now recounts tales from his own life and from those of people he encountered during his military service who dealt with hardship and made tough decisions with determination, compassion, honor, and courage. Told with great humility and optimism, this timeless book provides simple wisdom, practical advice, and words of encouragement that will inspire readers to achieve more, even in life's darkest moments.]]> 2 William H. McRaven Matt 3 3.99 2017
author: William H. McRaven
name: Matt
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
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]]> 42356916 Hal Elrod, keynote speaker and author of the bestselling book The Miracle Morning, shares his "miracle equation," the secret to unlocking happiness, success, and your full potential.

You Are Only Two Decisions Away from Everything You Want

If you are a regular in the personal development world, you might have heard that anything is possible. Yet "possible" isn't enough to get you out of bed in the morning fueled with the internal clarity and drive to tackle your biggest dreams. After the success of his book, The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod realized that more was needed. That there was a timeless, proven formula which the world's most successful people have used for centuries, but it has been overlooked. He used it to become one of the top salespeople in the history of his former company and thrive against seemingly insurmountable odds, from overcoming life-threatening health challenges to near financial collapse. The Miracle Equation is that formula, and it consists of only two decisions that guarantee astonishing levels of success and fulfillment: Unwavering Faith and Extraordinary Effort.

By establishing and maintaining unwavering faith that you can achieve anything you desire, and then putting forth extraordinary effort until you do, your success is inevitable. Using the same strategy as the world's top achievers, you'll create results beyond what you believe to be possible. You'll learn how to replace fear with faith and let go of your negative emotions, accessing your full potential and channeling your energy into attaining positive outcomes. With the Miracle Equation 30-Day Challenge to guide your way, you'll create a step-by-step plan to actualize your miracles and become the person you need to be in order to succeed.]]> 256 Hal Elrod 1984823701 Matt 4 4.13 2017
author: Hal Elrod
name: Matt
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
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]]> 54493401
Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?]]> 476 Andy Weir 0593135202 Matt 4 4.49 2021
author: Andy Weir
name: Matt
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
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]]> 84525 America's most sought-after executive coach shows how to climb the last few rungs of the ladder The corporate world is filled with executives, men and women who have worked hard for years to reach the upper levels of management. They're intelligent, skilled, and even charismatic. But only a handful of them will ever reach the pinnacle--and as executive coach Marshall Goldsmith shows in this book, subtle nuances make all the difference. These are small "transactional flaws" performed by one person against another (as simple as not saying thank you enough), which lead to negative perceptions that can hold any executive back. Using Goldsmith's straightforward, jargon-free advice, it's amazingly easy behavior to change. Executives who hire Goldsmith for one-on-one coaching pay $250,000 for the privilege. With this book, his help is available for 1/10,000th of the price.]]> 256 Marshall Goldsmith 1781251568 Matt 5 3.94 2006
author: Marshall Goldsmith
name: Matt
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
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]]> 78428 400 Joe Dominguez 0140286780 Matt 3 3.99 1992
author: Joe Dominguez
name: Matt
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
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]]> 29496453 Two great spiritual masters share their own hard-won wisdom about living with joy even in the face of adversity.
��
The occasion was a big birthday. And it inspired two close friends to get together in Dharamsala for a talk about something very important to them. The friends were His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The subject was joy. Both winners of the Nobel Prize, both great spiritual masters and moral leaders of our time, they are also known for being among the most infectiously happy people on the planet.

From the beginning the book was envisioned as a three-layer birthday cake: their own stories and teachings about joy, the most recent findings in the science of deep happiness, and the daily practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. Both the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu have been tested by great personal and national adversity, and here they share their personal stories of struggle and renewal. Now that they are both in their eighties, they especially want to spread the core message that to have joy yourself, you must bring joy to others.

Most of all, during that landmark week in Dharamsala, they demonstrated by their own exuberance, compassion, and humor how joy can be transformed from a fleeting emotion into an enduring way of life.]]> 354 Dalai Lama XIV 0399185046 Matt 5 4.37 2016
author: Dalai Lama XIV
name: Matt
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2016
rating: 5
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]]> 31823677
From the

“For the last two years, I’ve interviewed more than 200 world-class performers for my podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show. The guests range from super celebs (Jamie Foxx, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc.) and athletes (icons of powerlifting, gymnastics, surfing, etc.) to legendary Special Operations commanders and black-market biochemists. For most of my guests, it’s the first time they’ve agreed to a two-to-three-hour interview. This unusual depth has helped make The Tim Ferriss Show the first business/interview podcast to pass 100 million downloads.

“This book contains the distilled tools, tactics, and ‘inside baseball�� you won’t find anywhere else. It also includes new tips from past guests, and life lessons from new ‘guests�� you haven’t met.

“What makes the show different is a relentless focus on actionable details. This is reflected in the questions. For What do these people do in the first sixty minutes of each morning? What do their workout routines look like, and why? What books have they gifted most to other people? What are the biggest wastes of time for novices in their field? What supplements do they take on a daily basis?

“I don’t view myself as an interviewer. I view myself as an experimenter. If I can’t test something and replicate results in the messy reality of everyday life, I’m not interested.

“Everything within these pages has been vetted, explored, and applied to my own life in some fashion. I’ve used dozens of the tactics and philosophies in high-stakes negotiations, high-risk environments, or large business dealings. The lessons have made me millions of dollars and saved me years of wasted effort and frustration.

“I created this book, my ultimate notebook of high-leverage tools, for myself. It’s changed my life, and I hope the same for you.”]]> 827 Timothy Ferriss Matt 0 currently-reading 4.08 2016
author: Timothy Ferriss
name: Matt
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> 58636930 From Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews, the deeply personal story of his lifelong obsession with strength--and how, after looking for it in all the wrong places, he finally found it

Terry Crews spent decades cultivating his bodybuilder physique and bravado. On the outside, he seemed invincible: he escaped his abusive father, went pro in the NFL, and broke into the glamorous world of Hollywood. But his fixation with appearing outwardly tough eventually turned into an exhausting performance in which repressing his emotions let them get the better of him--leading him into addiction and threatening the most important relationships in his life.

Now Crews is sharing the raw, never-before-told story of his quest to find the true meaning of toughness. In Tough, he examines arenas of life where he desperately sought control--masculinity, shame, sex, experiences with racism, and relationships--and recounts the setbacks and victories he faced while uprooting deeply ingrained toxic masculinity and finally confronting his insecurities, painful memories, and limiting beliefs. The result is not only the gripping story of a man's struggle against himself and how he finally got his mind right, but a bold indictment of the cultural norms and taboos that ask men to be outwardly tough while leaving them inwardly weak.

With Tough, Crews's journey of transformation offers a model for anyone who considers themselves a "tough guy" but feels unfulfilled; anyone struggling with procrastination or self-sabotage; and anyone ready to achieve true, lasting self-mastery.]]> 288 Terry Crews 0593329805 Matt 4 4.27 2022
author: Terry Crews
name: Matt
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
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]]> 318431
Since his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela has been at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world. As president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, he was instrumental in moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He is revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality.

The foster son of a Thembu chief, Mandela was raised in the traditional, tribal culture of his ancestors, but at an early age learned the modern, inescapable reality of what came to be called apartheid, one of the most powerful and effective systems of oppression ever conceived. In classically elegant and engrossing prose, he tells of his early years as an impoverished student and law clerk in a Jewish firm in Johannesburg, of his slow political awakening, and of his pivotal role in the rebirth of a stagnant ANC and the formation of its Youth League in the 1950s.

He describes the struggle to reconcile his political activity with his devotion to his family, the anguished breakup of his first marriage, and the painful separations from his children. He brings vividly to life the escalating political warfare in the fifties between the ANC and the government, culminating in his dramatic escapades as an underground leader and the notorious Rivonia Trial of 1964, at which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Herecounts the surprisingly eventful twenty-seven years in prison and the complex, delicate negotiations that led both to his freedom and to the beginning of the end of apartheid. Finally he provides the ultimate inside account.]]> 656 Nelson Mandela 0316548189 Matt 4 4.34 1994
author: Nelson Mandela
name: Matt
average rating: 4.34
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/08
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]]> 45314437 A USA Today and LA Times Bestseller!“A force to be reckoned with. Funny, creative, and full of courage and charming sass.��What It Takes will give��you the tools you need to create your own success story.”�� —Sarah Kauss,��founder and CEO of S’well �� “An��inspiring��story for anyone who wants to change their career, play by their own rules, and build a successful business in the process.”�� —Rebecca Minkoff, founder and creative director �� Founder of global baby brand aden + anais Raegan Moya-Jones doesn’t hold back on what it really takes to build a $100 million business from her kitchen table. �� Raegan Moya-Jones never thought of herself as an entrepreneur. She was full-time corporate cog in her thirties, with a family to help support. Sick of her micromanaging boss, she quietly started a company in the wee hours of the morning while her daughters were asleep—and once that side business, aden + anais, hit the $1 million mark in revenue, she quit to work on it full-time, which now generates over $100 million a year in revenue.�� �� In this riveting, vulnerable story, What It Takes��is Moya-Jones�� tell-all and brutally honest advice to entrepreneurs—especially women—about how to succeed despite all odds. It doesn’t take an MBA to be your own boss. If Moya-Jones, an outspoken Aussie and college drop-out, could build a business from the ground up, anyone can. Moya-Jones digs into topics most entrepreneurs shy away from, even the prickliest of things like mother guilt, butting heads with investors (or co-founders), and what to��really��do when you’re running out of money. There’s no magic formula to build a business, which also mean you don’t have to look or act a certain way to be successful. This empowering story from one of today’s most fascinating founders will show the hopeful entrepreneur or career changer that she doesn't have to know it all. This story is about staying true to who you are, trusting your gut, and harnessing your unique talent. Do you have what it takes to jump in?]]> 272 Raegan Moya-Jones 0735214654 Matt 4 4.14 2019
author: Raegan Moya-Jones
name: Matt
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
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]]> 52079141
The word "entrepreneur" is today's favorite buzzword, and any aspiring business owner has likely encountered an overwhelming number of so-called "easy paths to success."��

The truth is that building a real, profitable, sustainable business requires thousands of hours of commitment, grit, and hard work. It's no wonder why more than half of new businesses close within six years of opening, and fewer than 5 percent will ever earn more than $1 million annually. 12 Months to $1 Million condenses the startup phase into one fast-paced year that has helped hundreds of new entrepreneurs hit the million-dollar level by using an exclusive and foolproof formula.��

By cutting out the noise and providing a clear and proven plan, this roadmap helps even brand-new entrepreneurs make decisions quickly, get their product up for sale, and launch it to a crowd that is ready and waiting to buy.��

This one-year plan will guide you through the three stages to your first $1

������•��The Grind (Months 0-4): This step-by-step plan will help you identify a winning product idea, target customers that are guaranteed to buy, secure funding, and take your first sale within your first four months.��
������•��The Growth (Months 5 - 8): Once you're in business, you will discover how to use cheap and effective advertising strategies to get your product to at least 25 sales per day, so you can prove you have a profitable business.��
������•��The Gold (Months 9-12): It's time to establish series of products available for sale, until you are averaging at least 100 sales per day, getting you closer to the million-dollar mark every single day.

Through his training sessions at Capitalism.com, Ryan Daniel Moran has helped new and experienced entrepreneurs launch scalable and sustainable online businesses. He's seen more than 100 entrepreneurs cross the seven-figure barrier, many of whom go on to sell their businesses.��

If your goal is to be a full-time entrepreneur, get ready for one chaotic, stressful, and rewarding year. If you have the guts to complete it, you will be the proud owner of a million-dollar business and be in a position to call your own shots for life.]]> 240 Ryan Daniel Moran 1948836955 Matt 4 4.19
author: Ryan Daniel Moran
name: Matt
average rating: 4.19
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/27
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]]> 2615
Focusing on "disruptive technology" -- the Honda Super Cub, Intel's 8088 processor, or the hydraulic excavator, for example -- Christensen shows why most companies miss "the next great wave." Whether in electronics or retailing, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know when to abandon traditional business practices. Using the lessons of successes and failures from leading companies, "The Innovator's Dilemma" presents a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation.]]> 320 Clayton M. Christensen 0060521996 Matt 3 4.03 1997
author: Clayton M. Christensen
name: Matt
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
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]]> 28389960 Chris Widener 1504622936 Matt 3 3.70
author: Chris Widener
name: Matt
average rating: 3.70
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
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]]> 53642699 250 Brianna Wiest Matt 3 4.08 2020
author: Brianna Wiest
name: Matt
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
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]]> 41721428 New York Times Best SellerOver 5 million copies soldFor David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare -- poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him "The Fittest (Real) Man in America."In Can't Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this The 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential.]]> 366 David Goggins 1544512260 Matt 5 4.30 2018
author: David Goggins
name: Matt
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
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]]> 63079845 This is not a self-help book. It's a wake-up call!

Can't Hurt Me, David Goggins' smash hit memoir, demonstrated how much untapped ability we all have but was merely an introduction to the power of the mind. In Never Finished, Goggins takes you inside his Mental Lab, where he developed the philosophy, psychology, and strategies that enabled him to learn that what he thought was his limit was only his beginning and that the quest for greatness is unending.

The stories and lessons in this raw, revealing, unflinching memoir offer the reader a blueprint they can use to climb from the bottom of the barrel into a whole new stratosphere that once seemed unattainable. Whether you feel off-course in life, are looking to maximize your potential or drain your soul to break through your so-called glass ceiling, this is the only book you will ever need.]]> 312 David Goggins 154453406X Matt 5 4.42 2022
author: David Goggins
name: Matt
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2024/12/23
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]]> 30227731
Twenty years ago, author Brendon Burchard became obsessed with answering three

1. Why do some individuals and teams succeed�� more quickly ��than others and�� sustain ��that success over the long term?
2. Of those who pull it off, why are some�� miserable ��and others consistently�� happy ��on their journey?
3. What motivates people to reach for higher levels of success in the first place, and what practices help them improve the most

After extensive original research and a decade as the world’s leading high performance coach, Burchard found the answers. It turns out that just six deliberate habits give you the edge. Anyone can practice these habits and, when they do, extraordinary things happen in their lives, relationships, and careers.

Which habits can help you achieve long-term success and vibrant well-being no matter your age, career, strengths, or personality? To become a high performer, you must�� seek clarity, generate energy, raise necessity, increase productivity, develop influence, ��and�� demonstrate courage . The art and science of how to do all this is what this book is about.

Whether you want to get more done, lead others better, develop skill faster, or dramatically increase your sense of joy and confidence, the habits in this book will help you achieve it faster. Each of the six habits is illustrated by powerful vignettes, cutting-edge science, thought-provoking exercises, and real-world daily practices you can implement right now.

If you’ve ever wanted a science-backed, heart-centered plan to living a better quality of life, it’s in your hands. Best of all, you can measure your progress. A link to a free professional assessment is included in the book.]]> 393 Brendon Burchard 1401952852 Matt 4 4.11
author: Brendon Burchard
name: Matt
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 4
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]]> 36197731 The Skills award-winning broadcaster Mishal Husain inspires, champions and encourages women to make their ambitions a reality by focusing on practical skills that make a difference.

Gathering together advice for women of all ages, whether they are new graduates, working mothers or simply seeking a career change, The Skills explains:

How to present yourself to maximum effect, in person and online

How to prepare for quick wins, big moments and plan for long-term goals

How to gain confidence and authority

How to navigate the ups and downs of a long working life and build resilience

Drawing on Mishal's own experience, interviews with experts and with inspirational figures from Martha Lane Fox to Malala Yousafzai, The Skills will guide women in honing the abilities they need to thrive in whatever field they choose.]]> 256 Mishal Husain 0008220638 Matt 3 3.50
author: Mishal Husain
name: Matt
average rating: 3.50
book published:
rating: 3
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]]> 61771675
But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters�� unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?]]> 416 Ann Napolitano Matt 4 4.14 2023
author: Ann Napolitano
name: Matt
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
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]]> 61918819
The title “Bullfrog�� is given to the Navy SEAL who has served the longest on active duty. Admiral McRaven was honored to receive this honor in 2011 when he took charge of the United States Special Operations Command. When McRaven retired in 2014, he had 37 years as a Navy SEAL under his belt, leading men and women at every level of the special operations community. In the ensuing four years, he served as Chancellor to the entire University of Texas System, with its 230,000 students and 100,000 faculty and health care workers.

During those four decades, Admiral McRaven dealt with every conceivable leadership challenge, from commanding combat operations—including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of Captain Phillips, and the raid for Osama bin Laden.��

THE WISDOM OF THE BULLFROG draws on these and countless other experiences from Admiral McRaven’s incredible life, including crisis situations, management debates, organizational transitions, and ethical dilemmas, to provide readers with the most important leadership lessons he has learned over the course of his forty years of service.��Each chapter provides a�� Make Your Bed -like��parable, rich with insights like those featured in his bestselling memoir, Sea Stories , about the specific leadership traits required to be at the top of your game,������ THE WISDOM OF THE BULLFROG is Admiral McRaven’s clear-eyed treatise on the leadership qualities that separate the good from the truly great.]]> 224 William H. McRaven 1538707942 Matt 4 4.37
author: William H. McRaven
name: Matt
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
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]]> 35167685 A New York Times bestseller—the outrageous exploits of one of this century's greatest scientific minds and a legendary American original.

Richard Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, thrived on outrageous adventures. Here he recounts in his inimitable voice his experience trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and Bohr and ideas on gambling with Nick the Greek; cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply held nuclear secrets; accompanying a ballet on his bongo drums; painting a naked female toreador. In short, here is Feynman's life in all its eccentric—a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah.]]> 400 Richard P. Feynman 0393355624 Matt 4 4.26 1985
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: Matt
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1985
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
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]]> 16158542
It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. The emotional heart of the tale lies with Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world. Drawing on the boys�� own journals and vivid memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, Brown has created an unforgettable portrait of an era, a celebration of a remarkable achievement, and a chronicle of one extraordinary young man’s personal quest.]]> 404 Daniel James Brown 067002581X Matt 4 4.37 2013
author: Daniel James Brown
name: Matt
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/29
date added: 2024/10/29
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]]> 65211701 Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast.

Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.]]> 245 Martha Wells 1250826977 Matt 4 4.19 2023
author: Martha Wells
name: Matt
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/16
date added: 2024/10/16
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]]> 647492
Ordinary Men is the true story of Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police, which was responsible for mass shootings as well as round-ups of Jewish people for deportation to Nazi death camps in Poland in 1942. Browning argues that most of the men of RPB 101 were not fanatical��Nazis but, rather, ordinary middle-aged, working-class men who committed these atrocities out of a mixture of motives, including the group dynamics of conformity, deference to authority, role adaptation, and the altering of moral norms to justify their actions. Very quickly three groups emerged within the battalion: a core of eager killers, a plurality who carried out their duties reliably but without initiative, and a small minority who evaded participation in the acts of killing without diminishing the murderous efficiency of the battalion whatsoever.

While this book discusses a specific Reserve Unit during WWII, the general argument Browning makes is that most people succumb to the pressures of a group setting and commit actions they would never do of their own volition. ��

Ordinary Men is a powerful, chilling, and important work, with themes and arguments that continue to resonate today. ��]]> 271 Christopher R. Browning 0060995068 Matt 3 4.10 1992
author: Christopher R. Browning
name: Matt
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/02
date added: 2024/10/02
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]]> 22551809
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST

With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column and his previous bestsellers, David Brooks has consistently illuminated our daily lives in surprising and original ways. In The Social Animal, he explored the neuroscience of human connection and how we can flourish together. Now, in The Road to Character, he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives.

Looking to some of the world’s greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders, Brooks explores how, through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations, they have built a strong inner character. Labor activist Frances Perkins understood the need to suppress parts of herself so that she could be an instrument in a larger cause. Dwight Eisenhower organized his life not around impulsive self-expression but considered self-restraint. Dorothy Day, a devout Catholic convert and champion of the poor, learned as a young woman the vocabulary of simplicity and surrender. Civil rights pioneers A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin learned reticence and the logic of self-discipline, the need to distrust oneself even while waging a noble crusade.

Blending psychology, politics, spirituality, and confessional, The Road to Character provides an opportunity for us to rethink our priorities, and strive to build rich inner lives marked by humility and moral depth.

“Joy,�� David Brooks writes, “is a byproduct experienced by people who are aiming for something else. But it comes.”]]> 320 David Brooks 081299325X Matt 0 currently-reading 3.62 2015
author: David Brooks
name: Matt
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 76715522 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Aelin Galathynius has vowed to save her people �� but at a tremendous cost. Locked within an iron coffin by the Queen of the Fae, Aelin must draw upon her fiery will as she endures months of torture. The knowledge that yielding to Maeve will doom those she loves keeps her from breaking, but her resolve is unraveling with each passing day��

With Aelin captured, friends and allies are scattered to different fates. Some bonds will grow even deeper, while others will be severed forever. As destinies weave together at last, all must fight if Erilea is to have any hope of salvation.

Years in the making, Sarah J. Maas's New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series draws to an explosive conclusion as Aelin fights to save herself―and the promise of a better world.]]> 984 Sarah J. Maas 1639731067 Matt 5 4.74 2018
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Matt
average rating: 4.74
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/24
date added: 2024/09/24
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]]> 76714487 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Chaol Westfall and Nesryn Faliq have arrived in the shining city of Antica to forge an alliance with the Khagan of the Southern Continent, whose vast armies are Erilea's last hope. But they have also come to Antica for another purpose: to seek healing at the famed Torre Cesme for the wounds Chaol received in Rifthold.

After enduring unspeakable horrors as a child, Yrene Towers has no desire to help the young lord from Adarlan, let alone heal him. Yet she has sworn an oath to assist those in need—and will honor it. But Lord Westfall carries shadows from his own past, and Yrene soon comes to realize they could engulf them both.

In this sweeping parallel novel to the New York Times bestselling Empire of Storms, Chaol, Nesryn, and Yrene will have to draw on every scrap of their resilience if they wish to save their friends. But while they become entangled in the political webs of the khaganate, deep in the shadows of mighty mountains where warriors soar on legendary ruks, long-awaited answers slumber. Answers that might offer their world a chance at survival—or doom them all . . .]]> 663 Sarah J. Maas 1639731040 Matt 5 4.26 2017
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Matt
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2017
rating: 5
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]]> 76713323 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

The long path to the throne has only just begun for Aelin Galathynius as war looms on the horizon. Loyalties have been broken and bought, friends have been lost and gained, and those who possess magic find themselves at odds with those who don't.

With her heart sworn to the warrior-prince by her side, and her fealty pledged to the people she is determined to save, Aelin will delve into the depths of her power to protect those she loves. But as monsters emerge from the horrors of the past, and dark forces become poised to claim her world, the only chance for salvation will lie in a desperate quest that may mark the end of everything Aelin holds dear.

In this breathtaking fifth installment of the New York Times bestselling Throne of Glass series, Aelin will have to choose what—and who—to sacrifice if she's to keep the world of Erilea from breaking apart.]]> 693 Sarah J. Maas 1639731024 Matt 5 4.66 2016
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Matt
average rating: 4.66
book published: 2016
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/09/24
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]]> 58687126
This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. This is the path I took to finding my purpose but also my voice in a world that didn’t always see me.

As I wrote Finding Me, my eyes were open to the truth of how our stories are often not given close examination. We are forced to reinvent them to fit into a crazy, competitive, judgmental world. So I wrote this for anyone running through life untethered, desperate and clawing their way through murky memories, trying to get to some form of self-love. For anyone who needs reminding that a life worth living can only be born from radical honesty and the courage to shed facades and be . . . you.

Finding Me is a deep reflection, a promise, and a love letter of sorts to self. My hope is that my story will inspire you to light up your own life with creative expression and rediscover who you were before the world put a label on you.]]> 304 Viola Davis 0063037327 Matt 5 4.54 2022
author: Viola Davis
name: Matt
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/05
date added: 2024/08/05
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]]> 20518872 472 Liu Cixin Matt 4 4.08 2006
author: Liu Cixin
name: Matt
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/05
date added: 2024/08/05
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]]> 76707900 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past��

She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die for her. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen’s triumphant return.

The fourth volume in the New York Times bestselling series continues Celaena’s epic journey and builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.]]> 648 Sarah J. Maas 1639731008 Matt 5 4.64 2015
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Matt
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2024/08/05
date added: 2024/08/05
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]]> 61884965 This summer, meet your neighbors.

The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other.

On the night of the annual Summer block party, there has been a murder.

But, who did it and why takes readers back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold—discovering that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing—and no one—is ever as it seems.]]> 384 Jamie Day 1250283191 Matt 3 3.59 2023
author: Jamie Day
name: Matt
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/03
date added: 2024/07/03
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]]> 76706470 576 Sarah J. Maas Matt 5 4.44 2014
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Matt
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/03
date added: 2024/07/03
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]]> 231562
New Year’s Day, 1990. The Berlin Wall is coming down. The world is changing. And in a North Carolina “hot-sheets�� motel, a two-star general is found dead. His briefcase is missing. Nobody knows what was in it. Within minutes Jack Reacher has his orders: Control the situation. But this situation can’t be controlled. Within hours the general’s wife is murdered hundreds of miles away. Then the dominoes really start to fall.

Two Special Forces soldiers—the toughest of the tough—are taken down, one at a time. Top military commanders are moved from place to place in a bizarre game of chess. And somewhere inside the vast worldwide fortress that is the U.S. Army, Jack Reacher—an ordinarily untouchable investigator for the 110th Special Unit—is being set up as a fall guy with the worst enemies a man can have.

But Reacher won’t quit. He’s fighting a new kind of war. And he’s taking a young female lieutenant with him on a deadly hunt that leads them from the ragged edges of a rural army post to the winding streets of Paris to a confrontation with an enemy he didn’t know he had. With his French-born mother dying—and divulging to her son one last, stunning secret—Reacher is forced to question everything he once believed…about his family, his career, his loyalties—and himself. Because this soldier’s son is on his way into the darkness, where he finds a tangled drama of desperate desires and violent death—and a conspiracy more chilling, ingenious, and treacherous than anyone could have guessed.]]> 496 Lee Child 0440241014 Matt 4 4.14 2004
author: Lee Child
name: Matt
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/21
date added: 2024/06/21
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]]> 38395059
In this large, comprehensive, revelatory biography, Jane De Hart explores the central experiences that crucially shaped Ginsburg’s passion for justice, her advocacy for gender equality, her meticulous her desire to make We the People more united and our union more perfect. At the heart of her story and abiding beliefs—her Jewish background. Tikkun olam , the Hebrew injunction to “repair the world,�� with its profound meaning for a young girl who grew up during the Holocaust and World War II. We see the influence of her mother, Celia Amster Bader, whose intellect inspired her daughter’s feminism, insisting that Ruth become independent, as she witnessed her mother coping with terminal cervical cancer (Celia died the day before Ruth, at seventeen, graduated from high school).
�� �� ��From Ruth’s days as a baton twirler at Brooklyn’s James Madison High School, to Cornell University, Harvard and Columbia Law Schools (first in her class), to being a law professor at Rutgers University (one of the few women in the field and fighting pay discrimination), hiding her second pregnancy so as not to risk losing her job; founding the Women's Rights Law Reporter , writing the brief for the first case that persuaded the Supreme Court to strike down a sex-discriminatory state law, then at Columbia (the law school’s first tenured female professor); becoming the director of the women’s rights project of the ACLU, persuading the Supreme Court in a series of decisions to ban laws that denied women full citizenship status with men.
�� �� ��Her years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, deciding cases the way she played golf, as she, left-handed, played with right-handed clubs—aiming left, swinging right, hitting down the middle. Her years on the Supreme Court . . .��
�� �� ��A pioneering life and legal career whose profound mark on American jurisprudence, on American society, on our American character and spirit, will reverberate deep into the twenty-first century and beyond.]]> 752 Jane Sherron De Hart 1400040485 Matt 5 4.23 2018
author: Jane Sherron De Hart
name: Matt
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/11
date added: 2024/06/11
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]]> 126062562
When Celaena's scheming master, Arobynn Hamel, dispatches her on missions that take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, she finds herself acting independently of his wishes—and questioning her own allegiance. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies alike, and discovers that she feels far more for Sam than just friendship. But by defying Arobynn’s orders, Celaena risks unimaginable punishment, and with Sam by her side, he is in danger, too. They will have to risk it all if they hope to escape Arobynn’s clutches—and if they fail, they’ll lose not just a chance at freedom, but their lives . . .

A prequel to Throne of Glass, this collection of five novellas offers readers a deeper look into the history of this cunning assassin and her enthralling—and deadly—world.

Included in this volume:
The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
The Assassin and the Healer
The Assassin and the Desert
The Assassin and the Underworld
The Assassin and the Empire]]> 451 Sarah J. Maas 1619632217 Matt 5 4.16 2014
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Matt
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2014
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/06/11
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]]> 4069 Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living.]]> 165 Viktor E. Frankl 080701429X Matt 4 4.39 1946
author: Viktor E. Frankl
name: Matt
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1946
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/05
date added: 2024/06/05
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]]> 455941
The ultimate loner.

An elite ex-military cop who left the service years ago, he's moved from place to place...without family...without possessions...without commitments.

And without fear. Which is good, because trouble--big, violent, complicated trouble--finds Reacher wherever he goes. And when trouble finds him, Reacher does not quit, not once...not ever.

But some unfinished business has now found Reacher. And Reacher is a man who hates unfinished business.

Ten years ago, a key investigation went sour and someone got away with murder. Now a chance encounter brings it all back. Now Reacher sees his one last shot. Some would call it vengeance. Some would call it redemption. Reacher would call it...justice.]]> 496 Lee Child 0440241006 Matt 5 4.09 2003
author: Lee Child
name: Matt
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/05
date added: 2024/06/05
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]]> 21745
Skilled, cautious, and anonymous, Jack Reacher is perfect for the job: to assassinate the vice president of the United States. Theoretically, of course. A female Secret Service agent wants Reacher to find the holes in her system, and fast - because a covert group already has the vice president in their sights. They've planned well. There's just one thing they didn't plan on: Reacher.]]> 14 Lee Child 1590860624 Matt 5 4.15 2002
author: Lee Child
name: Matt
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/30
date added: 2024/04/30
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]]> 455930
He never expected it to be somebody like Carmen. She’s alone, driving a Cadillac. She’s beautiful, young and rich. She has a little girl who is being watched by unseen observers. And a husband who is in jail. Who will beat her senseless when he comes out. If he doesn’t kill her first.

Reacher is no stranger to trouble. And at Carmen’s remote ranch in Echo County there is plenty of it: lies and prejudice, hatred and murder. Reacher can never resist a lady in distress. Her family is hostile. The cops can’t be trusted. The lawyers won’t help. If Reacher can’t set things straight, who can?]]> 432 Lee Child 0515133310 Matt 4 3.98 2001
author: Lee Child
name: Matt
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/11
date added: 2024/04/11
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]]> 57841644 Why do some people break through and make an impact while others get stuck going through the motions?

In every organization there are Impact Players--those indispensable colleagues who can be counted on in critical situations and who consistently receive high-profile assignments and new opportunities. Whether they are on center stage or behind the scenes, managers know who these top players are, understand their worth, and want more of them on their team. While their impact is obvious, it's not always clear what actually makes these professionals different from their peers.

In Impact Players, New York Times bestselling author and researcher Liz Wiseman reveals the secrets of these stellar professionals who play the game at a higher level. Drawing on insights from leaders at top companies, Wiseman explains what the most influential players are doing differently, how small and seemingly insignificant differences in how we think and act can make an enormous impact, and why--with a little coaching--this mindset is available to everyone who wants to contribute at their highest level.

Based on a study of 170 top contributors, Wiseman identifies the mindsets that prevent otherwise smart, capable people from contributing to their full potential and the five practices that differentiate Impact

While others do their job, Impact Players figure out the real job to be done. While others wait for direction, Impact Players step up and lead.While others escalate problems, Impact Players move things across the finish line.While others attempt to minimize change, Impact Players are learning and adapting to change. While others add to the load, the Impact Players make heavy demands feel lighter.Wiseman makes clear that these practices--and the right mindset--can help any employee contribute at their fullest and shows leaders how they can raise the level of play for everyone on the team. Impact Players is your playbook for the new workplace.]]> 304 Liz Wiseman 0063063336 Matt 5 3.99
author: Liz Wiseman
name: Matt
average rating: 3.99
book published:
rating: 5
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]]> 455925 512 Lee Child 0515130974 Matt 4 4.09 2000
author: Lee Child
name: Matt
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/30
date added: 2024/03/30
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]]> 76705490 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

"A line that should never be crossed is about to be breached.

It puts this entire castle in jeopardy—and the life of your friend."

From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie... and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.]]> 420 Sarah J. Maas 1639730966 Matt 5 4.34 2013
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Matt
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/03/02
date added: 2024/03/02
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]]> 220970 432 Lee Child 0515128635 Matt 4 4.08 1999
author: Lee Child
name: Matt
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/29
date added: 2024/02/29
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]]> 76703559 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king's champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.]]> 406 Sarah J. Maas 163973094X Matt 5 4.18 2012
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Matt
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2012
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/20
date added: 2024/02/20
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]]> 38561954 351 Shane Bauer 0735223580 Matt 5 4.23 2018
author: Shane Bauer
name: Matt
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/19
date added: 2024/02/19
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]]> 59616977
Now, this eye-opening and accessible guide shows how you can easily create your own personal system for knowledge management, otherwise known as a Second Brain. As a trusted and organized digital repository of your most valued ideas, notes, and creative work synced across all your devices and platforms, a Second Brain gives you the confidence to tackle your most important projects and ambitious goals.

Discover the full potential of your ideas and translate what you know into more powerful, more meaningful improvements in your work and life by Building a Second Brain.]]> 272 Tiago Forte 1982167386 Matt 3 3.98 2022
author: Tiago Forte
name: Matt
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/06
date added: 2024/02/06
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]]> 37976541 The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of a multibillion-dollar startup, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end in the face of pressure and threats from the CEO and her lawyers.

In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup "unicorn" promised to revolutionize the medical industry with a machine that would make blood tests significantly faster and easier. Backed by investors such as Larry Ellison and Tim Draper, Theranos sold shares in a fundraising round that valued the company at $9 billion, putting Holmes's worth at an estimated $4.7 billion. There was just one problem: The technology didn't work.

For years, Holmes had been misleading investors, FDA officials, and her own employees. When Carreyrou, working at The Wall Street Journal, got a tip from a former Theranos employee and started asking questions, both Carreyrou and the Journal were threatened with lawsuits. Undaunted, the newspaper ran the first of dozens of Theranos articles in late 2015. By early 2017, the company's value was zero and Holmes faced potential legal action from the government and her investors. Here is the riveting story of the biggest corporate fraud since Enron, a disturbing cautionary tale set amid the bold promises and gold-rush frenzy of Silicon Valley.]]> 339 John Carreyrou Matt 5 4.38 2018
author: John Carreyrou
name: Matt
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/06
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]]> 25614898 When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,�� as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life�� into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.]]> 229 Paul Kalanithi 081298840X Matt 0 to-read 4.37 2016
author: Paul Kalanithi
name: Matt
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> 32191706 de facto segregation—that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate agencies. Rather, The Color of Law incontrovertibly makes clear that it was de jure segregation—the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments—that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day.

Through extraordinary revelations and extensive research that Ta-Nehisi Coates has lauded as "brilliant" (The Atlantic), Rothstein comes to chronicle nothing less than an untold story that begins in the 1920s, showing how this process of de jure segregation began with explicit racial zoning, as millions of African Americans moved in a great historical migration from the south to the north.

As Jane Jacobs established in her classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, it was the deeply flawed urban planning of the 1950s that created many of the impoverished neighborhoods we know. Now, Rothstein expands our understanding of this history, showing how government policies led to the creation of officially segregated public housing and the demolition of previously integrated neighborhoods. While urban areas rapidly deteriorated, the great American suburbanization of the post–World War II years was spurred on by federal subsidies for builders on the condition that no homes be sold to African Americans. Finally, Rothstein shows how police and prosecutors brutally upheld these standards by supporting violent resistance to black families in white neighborhoods.

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited future discrimination but did nothing to reverse residential patterns that had become deeply embedded. Yet recent outbursts of violence in cities like Baltimore, Ferguson, and Minneapolis show us precisely how the legacy of these earlier eras contributes to persistent racial unrest. “The American landscape will never look the same to readers of this important book�� (Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund), as Rothstein’s invaluable examination shows that only by relearning this history can we finally pave the way for the nation to remedy its unconstitutional past.]]> 368 Richard Rothstein 1631492853 Matt 5 4.44 2017
author: Richard Rothstein
name: Matt
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/22
date added: 2024/01/22
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]]> 40230101 The Mamba Mentality takes us inside the mind of one of the most intelligent, analytical, and creative basketball players ever.

For the first time, and in his own words, Bryant reveals his famously detailed approach and the steps he took to prepare mentally and physically to not just succeed at the game, but to excel. Readers will learn how Bryant studied an opponent, how he channeled his passion for the game, how he played through injuries. They’ll also get fascinating granular detail as he breaks down specific plays and match-ups from throughout his career.

Bryant’s detailed accounts are paired with stunning photographs by the Hall of Fame photographer Andrew D. Bernstein. Bernstein, long the Lakers and NBA official photographer, captured Bryant’s very first NBA photo in 1996 and his last in 2016—and hundreds of thousands in between, the record of a unique, twenty-year relationship between one athlete and one photographer.]]> 208 Kobe Bryant 0374201234 Matt 4 4.28
author: Kobe Bryant
name: Matt
average rating: 4.28
book published:
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/01/19
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]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Matt 5 4.12 2022
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Matt
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/19
date added: 2024/01/19
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]]> 220969 Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

In a Chicago suburb, a dentist is met in his office parking lot by three men and ordered into the trunk of his Lexus. On a downtown sidewalk, Jack Reacher and an unknown woman are abducted in broad daylight by two men - practiced and confident - who stop them at gunpoint and hustle them into the same sedan. Then Reacher and the woman are switched into a second vehicle and hauled away, leaving the dentist bound and gagged inside his car with the woman's abandoned possessions, two gallons of gasoline. . . and a burning match. The FBI is desperate to rescue the woman, a Special Agent from the Chicago office, because the FBI always - always - takes care of its own, and because this woman is not just another agent. Reacher and the woman join forces, against seemingly hopeless odds, to outwit their captors and escape. But the FBI thinks Jack is one of the kidnappers - and when they close in, the Bureau snipers will be shooting to kill.]]> 567 Lee Child 0515142247 Matt 3 4.04 1998
author: Lee Child
name: Matt
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/10
date added: 2024/01/10
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]]> 113934 Written in a fast-paced thriller style, The Goal is the gripping novel which is transforming management thinking throughout the Western world.

Alex Rogo is a harried plant manager working ever more desperately to try and improve performance. His factory is rapidly heading for disaster. So is his marriage. He has ninety days to save his plant—or it will be closed by corporate HQ, with hundreds of job losses. It takes a chance meeting with a colleague from student days—Jonah—to help him break out of conventional ways of thinking to see what needs to be done.

The story of Alex's fight to save his plant is more than compulsive reading. It contains a serious message for all managers in industry and explains the ideas which underline the Theory of Constraints (TOC) developed by Eli Goldratt.]]> 384 Eliyahu M. Goldratt 0884271781 Matt 4 4.06 1984
author: Eliyahu M. Goldratt
name: Matt
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1984
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/03
date added: 2024/01/03
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]]> 78129 474 Lee Child 0515141429 Matt 4 4.08 1997
author: Lee Child
name: Matt
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/30
date added: 2024/01/03
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]]> 11437988 The first and only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers of WWII-includes the actual Navajo Code and rare photos. Although more than 400 Navajos served in the military during World War II as top-secret code talkers, even those fighting shoulder to shoulder with them were not told of their covert function. And, after the war, the Navajos were forbidden to speak of their service until 1968, when the code was finally declassified. Of the original twenty-nine Navajo code talkers, only two are still alive. Chester Nez is one of them.

In this memoir, the eighty-nine-year-old Nez chronicles both his war years and his life growing up on the Checkerboard Area of the Navajo Reservation-the hard life that gave him the strength, both physical and mental, to become a Marine. His story puts a living face on the legendary men who developed what is still the only unbroken code in modern warfare.]]> 310 Chester Nez 0425244237 Matt 4 4.21 2011
author: Chester Nez
name: Matt
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2023/12/16
date added: 2023/12/16
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]]> 7108725 Why do you do what you do?

Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?

People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. It was their natural ability to start with why that enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things.

In studying the leaders who've had the greatest influence in the world, Simon Sinek discovered that they all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way—and it's the complete opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be lead, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit—those are always results. WHY does your organization exist? WHY does it do the things it does? WHY do customers really buy from one company or another? WHY are people loyal to some leaders, but not others?

Starting with WHY works in big business and small business, in the nonprofit world and in politics. Those who start with WHY never manipulate, they inspire. And the people who follow them don't do so because they have to; they follow because they want to.

Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to lead and inspire. This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others or who wants to find someone to inspire them.]]> 256 Simon Sinek 1591842808 Matt 4 4.10 2009
author: Simon Sinek
name: Matt
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/28
date added: 2023/11/28
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]]> 13642929 The first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now, with a candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting Justice, she recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.

Here is the story of a precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would die when she was nine) and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the refuge a little girl took from the turmoil at home with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that the precocious Sonia recognized she must ultimately depend on herself. ��She would learn to give herself the insulin shots she needed to survive and soon imagined a path to a different life. With only television characters for her professional role models, and little understanding of what was involved, she determined to become a lawyer, a dream that would sustain her on an unlikely course, from valedictorian of her high school class to the highest honors at Princeton, Yale Law School, the New York County District Attorney’s office, private practice, and appointment to the Federal District Court before the age of forty. Along the way we see how she was shaped by her invaluable mentors, a failed marriage, and the modern version of extended family she has created from cherished friends and their children. Through her still-astonished eyes, America’s infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book, destined to become a classic of self-invention and self-discovery.

]]> 302 Sonia Sotomayor 0307594882 Matt 4 4.06 2013
author: Sonia Sotomayor
name: Matt
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/19
date added: 2023/10/19
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]]> 58456216 In Victorian England a witch and a detective are on the hunt for a serial killer in an enthralling novel of magic and murder.

After a nearly fatal blow to the skull, traumatized private detective Ian Cameron is found dazed and confused on a muddy riverbank in Victorian London. Among his effects: a bloodstained business card bearing the name of a master wizard and a curious pocket watch that doesn’t seem to tell time. To retrieve his lost memories, Ian demands answers from Edwina and Mary Blackwood, sister witches with a murky past. But as their secret is slowly unveiled, a dangerous mystery emerges on the darkened streets of London.

To help piece together Ian’s lost time, he and Edwina embark on a journey that will take them from the river foreshore to an East End music hall, and on to a safe house for witches in need of sanctuary from angry mortals. The clues they find suggest a link between a series of gruesome murders, a missing person’s case, and a dreadful suspicion that threatens to tear apart the bonds of sisterhood. As the investigation deepens, could Ian and Edwina be the next to die?]]> 267 Luanne G. Smith 1542033926 Matt 4 4.06 2022
author: Luanne G. Smith
name: Matt
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/19
date added: 2023/10/19
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]]> 22967544
On December 11th, 1978, a daring armed robbery rocked Kennedy Airport, resulting in the largest unrecovered cash haul in world history, totaling six million dollars. The perpetrators were never apprehended and thirteen people connected to the crime were murdered in homicides that, like the crime itself, remain unsolved to this day. The burglary has fascinated the public for years, dominating headlines around the globe due to the story’s unending ravel of mysteries that baffled the authorities.One of the organizers of the sensational burglary, Henry Hill, who passed away in 2012, in collaboration with Daniel Simone, has penned an unprecedented “tell-all�� about the robbery with never-before-unveiled details, particulars only known to an insider.]]> 384 Henry Hill 1493008498 Matt 3 3.66 2015
author: Henry Hill
name: Matt
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at: 2023/09/19
date added: 2023/09/19
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]]> 45012574 178 Andres Pira Matt 4 4.11 2019
author: Andres Pira
name: Matt
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/23
date added: 2023/08/23
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]]> 34066798 The mega-bestseller with more than 2 million readers—Now a Paramount+ with Showtime series starring Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov

From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and Rules of Civility, a beautifully transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.]]> 462 Amor Towles Matt 5 4.28 2016
author: Amor Towles
name: Matt
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/23
date added: 2023/08/23
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]]> 16121 ����������������Born the son of a flamboyant, bigamous snake-oil salesman and a pious, straitlaced mother, Rockefeller rose from rustic origins to become the world's richest man by creating America's most powerful and feared monopoly, Standard Oil. Branded "the Octopus" by legions of muckrakers, the trust refined and marketed nearly 90 percent of the oil produced in America.
����������������Rockefeller was likely the most controversial businessman in our nation's history. Critics charged that his empire was built on unscrupulous tactics: grand-scale collusion with the railroads, predatory pricing, industrial espionage, and wholesale bribery of political officials. The titan spent more than thirty years dodging investigations until Teddy Roosevelt and his trustbusters embarked on a marathon crusade to bring Standard Oil to bay.
����������������While providing abundant new evidence of Rockefeller's misdeeds, Chernow discards the stereotype of the cold-blooded monster to sketch an unforgettably human portrait of a quirky, eccentric original. A devout Baptist and temperance advocate, Rockefeller gave money more generously--his chosen philanthropies included the Rockefeller Foundation, the University of Chicago, and what is today Rockefeller University--than anyone before him. Titan presents a finely nuanced portrait of a fascinating, complex man, synthesizing his public and private lives and disclosing numerous family scandals, tragedies, and misfortunes that have never before come to light.
����������������John D. Rockefeller's story captures a pivotal moment in American history, documenting the dramatic post-Civil War shift from small business to the rise of giant corporations that irrevocably transformed the nation. With cameos by Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, Jay Gould, William Vanderbilt, Ida Tarbell, Andrew Carnegie, Carl Jung, J. Pierpont Morgan, William James, Henry Clay Frick, Mark Twain, and Will Rogers, Titan turns Rockefeller's life into a vivid tapestry of American society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is Ron Chernow's signal triumph that he narrates this monumental saga with all the sweep, drama, and insight that this giant subject deserves.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 832 Ron Chernow 1400077303 Matt 4 4.15 1998
author: Ron Chernow
name: Matt
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1998
rating: 4
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date added: 2023/08/23
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]]> 54814676
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of 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, 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 pancreatic 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, lyrical and honest, Michelle 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.]]> 243 Michelle Zauner 0525657746 Matt 3 4.25 2021
author: Michelle Zauner
name: Matt
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/22
date added: 2023/06/22
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]]> 51704136 Everything I Never Told You, a riveting novel that traces the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned--from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren--an enigmatic artist and single mother--who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town--and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.

Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood--and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.

Named a Best Book of the Year by: People, The Washington Post, Bustle, Esquire, Southern Living, The Daily Beast, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Audible, ŷ������, Library Reads, Book of the Month, Paste, Kirkus Reviews, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and many more...

Perfect for book clubs! Visit celesteng.com for discussion guides and more. ]]> 368 Celeste Ng 0143135163 Matt 3 4.06 2017
author: Celeste Ng
name: Matt
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2021/08/06
date added: 2023/05/17
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]]> 11468377 Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. The impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning the next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions.

Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Thinking, Fast and Slow will transform the way you think about thinking.]]> 499 Daniel Kahneman 0374275637 Matt 3 4.17 2011
author: Daniel Kahneman
name: Matt
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2023/05/05
date added: 2023/05/05
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]]> 53205854 No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall.

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?)

Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!

Again!]]> 168 Martha Wells 1250765374 Matt 4 4.25 2021
author: Martha Wells
name: Matt
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/05
date added: 2023/05/05
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]]> 52381770
It worries about the fragile human crew who've grown to trust it, but only where no one can see.

It tells itself that they're only a professional obligation, but when they're captured and an old friend from the past requires urgent assistance, Murderbot must choose between inertia and drastic action.

Drastic action it is, then.

]]> 350 Martha Wells 1250229863 Matt 4 4.44 2020
author: Martha Wells
name: Matt
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/01
date added: 2023/05/01
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]]> 35519109
Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah—its former owner (protector? friend?)—submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit.

But who’s going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue?

And what will become of it when it’s caught?]]> 163 Martha Wells Matt 5 4.38 2018
author: Martha Wells
name: Matt
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/01
date added: 2023/05/01
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]]> 35519101
And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good.

]]> 158 Martha Wells 1250191785 Matt 5 4.21 2018
author: Martha Wells
name: Matt
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/05/01
date added: 2023/05/01
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]]> 36223860 alternate cover for ISBN 9781250186928

It has a dark past �� one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A�� stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks.]]> 158 Martha Wells Matt 5 4.23 2018
author: Martha Wells
name: Matt
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/31
date added: 2023/03/31
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]]> 54287728 224 Tim Timberlake 0785238921 Matt 3 4.06
author: Tim Timberlake
name: Matt
average rating: 4.06
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2023/03/29
date added: 2023/03/29
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]]> 17910051 A provocative and revelatory new biography of the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden, by one of America’s top college basketball writers

No college basketball coach has ever dominated the sport like John Wooden. His UCLA teams reached unprecedented heights in the 1960s and ��70s capped by a run of ten NCAA championships in twelve seasons and an eighty-eight-game winning streak, records that stand to this day. Wooden also became a renowned motivational speaker and writer, revered for his “Pyramid of Success.��

Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports has written the definitive biography of Wooden, an unflinching portrait that draws on archival research and more than two hundred interviews with players, opponents, coaches, and even Wooden himself. Davis shows how hard Wooden strove for success, from his All-American playing days at Purdue through his early years as a high school and college coach to the glory days at UCLA, only to discover that reaching new heights brought new burdens and frustrations. Davis also reveals how at the pinnacle of his career Wooden found himself on questionable ground with alumni, referees, assistants, and even some of his players. His was a life not only of lessons taught, but also of lessons learned.

Woven into the story as well are the players who powered Wooden’s championship teams �� Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Walt Hazzard, and others �� many of whom speak frankly about their coach. The portrait that emerges from Davis’s remarkable biography is of a man in full, whose life story still resonates today.



]]> 608 Seth Davis 0805092803 Matt 4 4.27 2014
author: Seth Davis
name: Matt
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/29
date added: 2023/03/29
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]]> 59314709 The Reese's Book Club hardcover edition can be found here.

For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the story of two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise--an incisive and glittering blend of fashion, crime, and friendship from the author of Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners.

Money can't buy happiness... but it can buy a decent fake.

Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home--she's built the perfect life. But beneath this façade, Ava's world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn't been used in years, and her toddler's tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point.

Enter Winnie Fang, Ava's enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China, who abruptly dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Now, twenty years later, Winnie is looking to reconnect with her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange. The secret to her success? Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport to help manage her business--someone who'd never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes once again, Ava is left to face the consequences.

Swift, surprising, and sharply comic, Counterfeit is a stylish and feminist caper with a strong point of view and an axe to grind. Peering behind the curtain of the upscale designer storefronts and the Chinese factories where luxury goods are produced, Kirstin Chen interrogates the myth of the model minority through two unforgettable women determined to demand more from life.]]> 288 Kirstin Chen Matt 2 3.43 2022
author: Kirstin Chen
name: Matt
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2023/03/29
date added: 2023/03/29
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]]> 32758901 "As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."

In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid--a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.�� Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.]]> 144 Martha Wells Matt 5 4.11 2017
author: Martha Wells
name: Matt
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/29
date added: 2023/03/29
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]]> 52656911
The bride �� The plus one �� The best man �� The wedding planner �� The bridesmaid �� The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?]]> 319 Lucy Foley Matt 3 3.82 2020
author: Lucy Foley
name: Matt
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/03/18
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]]> 52838315 From the Academy Award®–winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges - how to get relative with the inevitable - you can enjoy a state of success I call “catching greenlights.��

So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.

Hopefully, it’s medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot’s license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.

It’s a love letter. To life.

It’s also a guide to catching more greenlights - and to realizing that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.

Good luck.]]> 289 Matthew McConaughey 0593139135 Matt 5 4.21 2020
author: Matthew McConaughey
name: Matt
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/24
date added: 2023/01/04
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]]> 40230634
Without prompting, they ask some of the largest questions about time, mortality, happiness and the meaning of it all. Yet too often this inborn curiosity is not developed and, with age, the questions fall away.

This is a book designed to harness children's spontaneous philosophical instinct and to develop it through introductions to some of the most vibrant and essential philosophical ideas of history. The book takes us to meet leading figures of philosophy from around the world and from all eras - and shows us how their ideas continue to matter.

The book functions as an ideal introduction to philosophy, as well as a charming way to open up conversations between adults and children about the biggest questions we all face.]]> 156 The School of Life 1999747143 Matt 0 to-read 4.32
author: The School of Life
name: Matt
average rating: 4.32
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rating: 0
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]]> 25666050 A fascinating exploration of how insights from computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision-making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind

All our lives are constrained by limited space and time, limits that give rise to a particular set of problems. What should we do, or leave undone, in a day or a lifetime? How much messiness should we accept? What balance of new activities and familiar favorites is the most fulfilling? These may seem like uniquely human quandaries, but they are not: computers, too, face the same constraints, so computer scientists have been grappling with their version of such issues for decades. And the solutions they've found have much to teach us.

In a dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, acclaimed author Brian Christian and cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths show how the algorithms used by computers can also untangle very human questions. They explain how to have better hunches and when to leave things to chance, how to deal with overwhelming choices and how best to connect with others. From finding a spouse to finding a parking spot, from organizing one's inbox to understanding the workings of memory, Algorithms to Live By transforms the wisdom of computer science into strategies for human living.]]> 368 Brian Christian 1627790365 Matt 3 4.12 2016
author: Brian Christian
name: Matt
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2022/12/16
date added: 2022/12/16
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]]> 81227
Infidel shows the coming of age of this distinguished political superstar and champion of free speech as well as the development of her beliefs, iron will, and extraordinary determination to fight injustice. Raised in a strict Muslim family, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries ruled largely by despots. She escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Under constant threat, demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from family and clan, she refuses to be silenced.

Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali’s story tells how a bright little girl evolves out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no other book could be more timely or more significant.]]> 353 Ayaan Hirsi Ali 0743289684 Matt 4 4.17 2006
author: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
name: Matt
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/26
date added: 2022/10/26
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]]> 18668059 “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.�� �� Marcus Aurelius

We are stuck, stymied, frustrated. But it needn’t be this way. There is a formula for success that’s been followed by the icons of history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs—a formula that let them turn obstacles into opportunities. Faced with impossible situations, they found the astounding triumphs we all seek.

These men and women were not exceptionally brilliant, lucky, or gifted. Their success came from timeless philosophical principles laid down by a Roman emperor who struggled to articulate a method for excellence in any and all situations.

This book reveals that formula for the first time—and shows us how we can turn our own adversity into advantage.]]> 201 Ryan Holiday 1591846358 Matt 0 4.13 2014
author: Ryan Holiday
name: Matt
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2022/10/26
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]]> 23463183 From the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning history The Dead Hand comes the riveting story of a spy who cracked open the Soviet military research establishment and a��penetrating portrait of the CIA’s Moscow station, an outpost of daring espionage in the last years of the Cold War

While driving out of the American embassy in Moscow on the evening of February 16, 1978, the chief of the CIA’s Moscow station heard a knock on his car window. A man on the curb handed him an envelope whose contents stunned U.S. intelligence: details of top-secret Soviet research and developments in military technology that were totally unknown to the United States. In the years that followed, the man, Adolf Tolkachev, an engineer in a Soviet military design bureau, used his high-level access to hand over tens of thousands of pages of technical secrets. His revelations allowed America to reshape its weapons systems to defeat Soviet radar on the ground and in the air, giving the United States near total superiority in the skies over Europe.

One of the most valuable spies to work for the United States in the four decades of global confrontation with the Soviet Union, Tolkachev took enormous personal risks—but so did the Americans. The CIA had long struggled to recruit and run agents in Moscow, and Tolkachev was a singular breakthrough. Using spy cameras and secret codes as well as face-to-face meetings in parks and on street corners, Tolkachev and his handlers succeeded for years in eluding the feared KGB in its own backyard, until the day came when a shocking betrayal put them all at risk.

Drawing on previously secret documents obtained from the CIA and on interviews with participants, David Hoffman has created an unprecedented and poignant portrait of Tolkachev, a man motivated by the depredations of the Soviet state to master the craft of spying against his own country. Stirring, unpredictable, and at times unbearably tense, The Billion Dollar Spy is a brilliant feat of reporting that unfolds like an espionage thriller.]]> 336 David E. Hoffman 0385537603 Matt 5 4.19 2015
author: David E. Hoffman
name: Matt
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/01
date added: 2022/08/01
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]]> 55196813
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life's complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly's orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what's happening, Molly's unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it's too late?

A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.]]> 304 Nita Prose 0593356152 Matt 3 3.71 2022
author: Nita Prose
name: Matt
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/03/08
date added: 2022/03/08
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]]> 40121378 Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.

Learn how to:
-��Make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
-��Overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
- Design your environment to make success easier;
- Get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.

Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.]]> 319 James Clear Matt 5 4.34 2018
author: James Clear
name: Matt
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/31
date added: 2022/01/31
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]]> 58375739
“It's the best memoir I've ever read.�� —Oprah Winfrey

“Will Smith isn't holding back in his bravely inspiring new memoir . . . An ultimately heartwarming read, Will provides a humane glimpse of the man behind the actor, producer and musician, as he bares all his insecurities and trauma.�� —USA Today

Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.

Will Smith’s transformation from a West Philadelphia kid to one of the biggest rap stars of his era, and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, is an epic tale—but it’s only half the story.

Will Smith thought, with good reason, that he had won at life: not only was his own success unparalleled, his whole family was at the pinnacle of the entertainment world. Only they didn't see it that way: they felt more like star performers in his circus, a seven-days-a-week job they hadn't signed up for. It turned out Will Smith's education wasn't nearly over.

This memoir is the product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind. Written with the help of Mark Manson, author of the multi-million-copy bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Will is the story of how one person mastered his own emotions, written in a way that can help everyone else do the same. Few of us will know the pressure of performing on the world's biggest stages for the highest of stakes, but we can all understand that the fuel that works for one stage of our journey might have to be changed if we want to make it all the way home. The combination of genuine wisdom of universal value and a life story that is preposterously entertaining, even astonishing, puts Will the book, like its author, in a category by itself.]]> 418 Will Smith 1984877925 Matt 5 4.24 2021
author: Will Smith
name: Matt
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2021
rating: 5
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]]> 53152636
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 320 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0525620788 Matt 4 3.66 2020
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Matt
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/01/31
date added: 2022/01/31
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]]> 60029657
Let's not sugarcoat it—real estate is a cut-throat industry. Nearly 87-percent of new agents succumb to failure within the first five years. What if instead of failing, you could join the 7-figure club instead?

In this comprehensive guide, you will discover:

What you need to know about passing exams and getting licensed

The insider strategy for launching and nurturing your career from Day 1

Common and avoidable mistakes made in the first year

The surprising traits shared by successful agents

The real reasons clients choose certain agents over others

Proven pricing strategies and marketing tactics

Easy insights you can implement NOW to boost your real estate career

The #1 key to success in real estate
And much more!

In his first resource for the masses, award-winning real estate expert John Graff guides readers through the challenges and opportunities new agents face. Graff used these same insights to quickly evolve from brand new agent to founder and CEO. Graff is now the owner of one of the country's fastest-growing privately held companies.

Real Insights is your guide to avoiding common mistakes so you can be part of the 13-percent of agents who thrive.]]> 204 John Graff Matt 0 to-read 3.67
author: John Graff
name: Matt
average rating: 3.67
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]]> 58502664 A leading voice for social justice reveals how he stopped arguing with white people who deny the ongoing legacy of racism--and offers a proven path forward for Black people and people of color based on the history of nonviolent struggle.

When the rallying cry Black Lives Matter was heard across the world in 2013, Andre Henry was one of the millions for whom the movement caused a political awakening--and a rupture in some of his closest relationships with white people. As he began using his artistic gifts to share his experiences and perspective, Henry was grieved to discover that many white Americans--people he called friends and family--were more interested in debating whether racism existed, or whether Henry was being polite enough in the way he used his voice.

In this personal and thought-provoking book, Henry explores how the historic divides between Black people and non-Black people are expressed through our most mundane interactions, and why this struggle won't be resolved through civil discourse, diversity hires, interracial relationships, or education. What we need is a revolution, one that moves beyond symbolic progress to disrupt systems of racial violence and inequality in tangible, creative ways.

Sharing stories from his own path to activism--from studying at seminary to becoming a student of nonviolent social change; from working as a praise leader to singing about social justice--and connecting those experiences to lessons from successful nonviolent struggles in America and around the world, he calls Black people and people of color to divest from whiteness and its false promises, trust what their lived experiences tell them, and practice hope as a discipline as they work for lasting change.]]> 288 Andre Henry 0593239881 Matt 0 to-read 4.40
author: Andre Henry
name: Matt
average rating: 4.40
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rating: 0
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]]> 57035252 175 Danièle Cybulskie 078921413X Matt 0 to-read 3.90 2021
author: Danièle Cybulskie
name: Matt
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/10
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]]> 55276620
We all think we know the South. Even those who have never lived there can rattle off a list of signifiers: the Civil War, Gone with the Wind, the Ku Klux Klan, plantations, football, Jim Crow, slavery. But the idiosyncrasies, dispositions, and habits of the region are stranger and more complex than much of the country tends to acknowledge. In South to America, Imani Perry shows that the meaning of American is inextricably linked with the South, and that our understanding of its history and culture is the key to understanding the nation as a whole.

This is the story of a Black woman and native Alabaman returning to the region she has always called home and considering it with fresh eyes. Her journey is full of detours, deep dives, and surprising encounters with places and people. She renders Southerners from all walks of life with sensitivity and honesty, sharing her thoughts about a troubling history and the ritual humiliations and joys that characterize so much of Southern life.

Weaving together stories of immigrant communities, contemporary artists, exploitative opportunists, enslaved peoples, unsung heroes, her own ancestors, and her lived experiences, Imani Perry crafts a tapestry unlike any other. With uncommon insight and breathtaking clarity, South to America offers an assertion that if we want to build a more humane future for the United States, we must center our concern below the Mason-Dixon Line.]]> 410 Imani Perry 0062977407 Matt 0 to-read 3.96 2022
author: Imani Perry
name: Matt
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> 58108346 In this newest installment of the acclaimed New York Times bestselling series, Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge is faced with his most perplexing case yet: a murder with no body, and a killer who can only be a ghost.

Spring, 1921. Scotland Yard sends Inspector Ian Rutledge to the sea-battered village of Walmer on the coast of Essex, where amongst the salt flats and a military airfield lies Benton Abbey, a grand manor with a storied past. The lady of the house may prove his most bewildering witness yet. She claims she saw a violent murder—but there is no body, no blood. She also insists she recognized the killer: Captain Nelson. Only it could not have been Nelson because he died during the war.

Everyone in the village believes that Lady Benton’s losses have turned her mind—she is, after all, a grieving widow and mother—but the woman Rutledge interviews is rational and self-possessed. And then there is Captain Nelson: what really happened to him in the war? The more Rutledge delves into this baffling case, the more suspicious tragedies he uncovers. The Abbey and the airfield hold their secrets tightly. Until Rutledge arrives, and a new trail of death follows…]]> 336 Charles Todd 0062905597 Matt 0 to-read 4.04 2022
author: Charles Todd
name: Matt
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/10
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]]> 58725665 Level up your reading life with 25 unique literary challenges, and reward yourself with 25 bookish surprises!

This delightful collection of 25 reading challenges and rewards inspires bookworms to live their best reading life. Each pocket inside this portfolio challenges readers to a literary challenge. Once the reader completes a challenge, they can open the pocket to claim their bookish prize.��

Use these challenges to finally tackle your to-be-read pile, check out the books on Bookstagram and Booktok you’ve been dying to read, or discover new and hidden treasures.

The perfect gift for book lovers of all ages, genres, and abilities, The Ultimate Reading Challenge encourages bibliophiles to:

Read personally

Re-read a book you loved as a child.

Ask a family member what book has made a lasting impression on them.����

��

Read compassionately��

Read a book that features an indigenous person.

Read a book about a person with a disability.

��

Read broadly

Visit your local bookstore and ask a bookseller to recommend a book.

Read in a place you’ve never read before.

��

Engage creatively

Make a snack or meal described in a book you’ve read.

Write a letter to someone who has influenced your reading life.

��

Prizes include:

A laser-engraved wooden bookmark

Bookish greeting cards

Coffee cup sleeve

Book darts

A mini notebook

And much more!

��]]> 1 Weldon Owen 1681888238 Matt 0 to-read 4.11 2022
author: Weldon Owen
name: Matt
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> 50833559 What was it like? Living in that house.

Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.

Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.

In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?]]> 389 Riley Sager 1524745170 Matt 0 4.05 2020
author: Riley Sager
name: Matt
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2021/12/21
date added: 2021/12/21
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]]> 51854625 A murder on the high seas. A detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist.

It's 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Traveling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent.

But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered.

And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel.

Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes?

With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent can solve a mystery that connects every passenger onboard. A mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.

The breathtaking new novel from Stuart Turton, author of the The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, winner of the Costa Best First Novel Award.]]> 463 Stuart Turton Matt 4 3.82 2020
author: Stuart Turton
name: Matt
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/28
date added: 2021/09/28
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]]> 40409102 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B01HW6Z3FG

This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them.

This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.

This is how children change…and then change the world.

This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.

When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.

Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.

This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.]]> 338 Laurie Frankel Matt 5 4.26 2017
author: Laurie Frankel
name: Matt
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/28
date added: 2021/09/28
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]]>