J.B.'s bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 27 Feb 2025 14:33:27 -0800 60 J.B.'s bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Know to Make Love Work]]> 48735
Women have changed in the last twenty-five years–they have become powerful, independent, self-confident, and happy. Yet many men remain irresponsible and emotionally detached. They don’t know how to respond to frustrated partners who just want their mates to show up and grow up.

Enter the good In this revolutionary book, Real shows women how to master the new rules of twenty-first-century marriage by offering them a set of effective tools with which they can create the truly intimate relationship that they desire and deserve. He identifies five non-starters to avoid and shares practical strategies for bringing honesty, passion, and joy back to even the most difficult relationship. Using his experience helping thousands of couples shift from despair to profound emotional closeness, Real guides you through the process of relationship repair with exercises that you can do alone or with your partner. With this program you’ll discover how to

- identify and articulate your wants and needs
- listen well and respond generously
- set limits, and stand up for yourself
- embrace and appreciate what you have
- know when to seek outside help

The New Rules of Marriage will introduce you to a radically new kind of relationship, one based on the idea that every woman has the power to transform her marriage, while men, given the right support, have it in them to rise to the occasion.

We have never wanted so much from our relationships as we do today. More than any other generation, we yearn for our mates to be lifelong friends and lovers. The New Rules of Marriage shows us how to fulfill this courageous and uncompromising new vision.]]> 320 Terrence Real 1400064015 J.B. 4 4.10 2007 The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Know to Make Love Work
author: Terrence Real
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Cataclysm (Star Wars: The High Republic)]]> 61213099 After the thrilling events of The High Republic: Convergence, the Jedi race to confront the Path of the Open Hand and end the Forever War.

After five years of conflict, the planets Eiram and E'ronoh are on the cusp of real peace. But when news breaks of a disaster at the treaty signing on Jedha, violence reignites on the beleaguered worlds. Together, the royal heirs of both planets—Phan-tu Zenn and Xiri A'lbaran—working alongside the Jedi, have uncovered evidence that the conflict is being orchestrated by outside forces, and all signs point to the mysterious Path of the Open Hand, whom the Jedi also suspect of causing the disaster on Jedha.

With time—and answers—in short supply, the Jedi must divide their focus between helping quell the renewed violence on Eiram and E'ronoh and investigating the Path. Among them is Gella Nattai, who turns to the one person she believes can unravel the mystery but the last person she wants to trust: Axel Greylark. The chancellor's son, imprisoned for his crimes, has always sought to unburden himself of the weight of his family name. Will he reconcile with the Jedi and aid in their quest for justice and peace, or embrace the Path's promise of true freedom?

As all roads lead to Dalna, Gella and her allies prepare to take on a foe unlike any they've ever faced. And it will take all of their trust in the Force, and in one another, to survive.]]> 394 Lydia Kang 0593500350 J.B. 4 4.15 2023 Cataclysm (Star Wars: The High Republic)
author: Lydia Kang
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 4
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date added: 2025/02/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Franz Kafka- The Complete Short Stories]]> 26761186 432 Franz Kafka 8176060895 J.B. 0 4.23 1911 Franz Kafka- The Complete Short Stories
author: Franz Kafka
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1911
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: short-fiction, my-library, to-read
review:

]]> David Bowie: Starman 10491528
Paul Trynka illuminates Bowie's seemingly contradictory life and his many reinventions as an artist, offering over 300 new interviews with everyone from classmates to managers to lovers. He reveals Bowie's broad influence on the entertainment world, from movie star to modern-day icon, trend-setter to musical innovator. This book will define Bowie for years to come.]]> 544 Paul Trynka 0316032255 J.B. 4
This was a great book published in 2011, before Bowie‘s final two albums, and before he died.

This book is an exhaustive and interesting study of an artist in constant flux and turmoil, and then consistent motion forward. And while David Bowie made some truly stupid mistakes early on in his artistic career, he always erred on the side of genius with his art.

This book ends in the lull between David Bowie‘s heart attack and his final comeback. This book was written when he was still alive, and concludes with reverence for his work and a deep sorrow that Bowie had stopped publishing musical art. But little did the world know at the time the artist’s greatest magic trick was yet to be pulled off when he turned his death into art by making two records about knowing you’re going to die any day and still finding beauty and light in life.

David Bowie made all kinds of music. He invented new ways to make commercial art. David Jones made more than art; as David Bowie, he made magic happen by living more of his life than he deserved or was allowed by common standards.]]> 3.75 2011 David Bowie: Starman
author: Paul Trynka
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
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Today I finished reading the book Starman by Paul Trinka.

This was a great book published in 2011, before Bowie‘s final two albums, and before he died.

This book is an exhaustive and interesting study of an artist in constant flux and turmoil, and then consistent motion forward. And while David Bowie made some truly stupid mistakes early on in his artistic career, he always erred on the side of genius with his art.

This book ends in the lull between David Bowie‘s heart attack and his final comeback. This book was written when he was still alive, and concludes with reverence for his work and a deep sorrow that Bowie had stopped publishing musical art. But little did the world know at the time the artist’s greatest magic trick was yet to be pulled off when he turned his death into art by making two records about knowing you’re going to die any day and still finding beauty and light in life.

David Bowie made all kinds of music. He invented new ways to make commercial art. David Jones made more than art; as David Bowie, he made magic happen by living more of his life than he deserved or was allowed by common standards.
]]> <![CDATA[The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.]]> 207611509
In the spring of 1980, an unexpected group of musical eccentrics came together to play their very first performance at a college party in Athens, Georgia. Within a few short years, they had taken over the world - with smash records like Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster and Green. Raw, outrageous, and expressive, R. E. M. 's distinctive musical flair was unmatched, and a string of mega-successes solidified them as generational spokesmen. In the tumultuous transition between the wide-open 80s and the anxiety of the early 90s, R. E. M. challenged the corporate and social order, chasing a vision and cultivating a magnetic, transgressive sound.

In this rich, intimate biography, critically acclaimed author Peter Ames Carlin looks beyond the sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll to open a window into the fascinating lives of four college friends - Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry - who stuck together at any cost, until the end. Deeply descriptive and remarkably poetic, steeped in 80s and 90s nostalgia, The Name of This Band is R. E. M. paints a cultural history of the commercial peak and near-total collapse of a great music era, and the story of the generation that came of age at the apotheosis of rock.]]> 464 Peter Ames Carlin 0385546947 J.B. 0 currently-reading 3.99 The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.
author: Peter Ames Carlin
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.99
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/02
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]]> <![CDATA[No One Belongs Here More Than You]]> 1561322
No One Belongs Here More Than You is a stunning debut, the work of a writer with a spectacularly original and compelling voice.]]> 205 Miranda July 0743299418 J.B. 0 currently-reading 3.62 2007 No One Belongs Here More Than You
author: Miranda July
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941]]> 23756 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, this day-by-day, eyewitness account of the momentous events leading up to World War II in Europe is now available in a new paperback edition.

CBS radio broadcaster William L. Shirer was virtually unknown in 1940 when he decided there might be a book in the diary he had kept in Europe during the 1930s—specifically those sections dealing with the collapse of the European democracies and the rise of Nazi Germany.

Berlin Diary first appeared in 1941, and the timing was perfect. The energy, the passion, the electricity in it were palpable. The book was an instant success, and it became the frame of reference against which thoughtful Americans judged the rush of events in Europe. It exactly matched journalist to the right reporter at the right place at the right time. It stood, and still stands, as so few books have ever done—a pure act of journalistic witness.]]> 627 William L. Shirer 0801870569 J.B. 0 history, currently-reading 4.29 Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941
author: William L. Shirer
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: history, currently-reading
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]]> Carson the Magnificent 216580349
In 2002, Bill Zehme landed one of the most coveted assignments for a magazine writer: an interview with Johnny Carson—the only one he’d granted since retiring from hosting The Tonight Show a decade earlier. Zehme was tapped for the Esquire feature story thanks to his years of legendary celebrity profiles, and the resulting piece portrayed Carson as more human being than showbiz legend. Shortly after Carson’s death in 2005 and urged on by many of those closest to Carson, Zehme signed a contract to do an expansive biography. He toiled on the book for nearly a decade—interviewing dozens of Carson’s colleagues and friends and filling up a storage locker with his voluminous research—before a cancer diagnosis and ongoing treatments halted his progress. When he died in 2023 his obituaries mentioned the Carson book, with New York Times comedy critic Jason Zinoman calling it “one of the great unfinished biographies.�

Yet the hundreds of pages Zehme managed to complete are astounding both for the caliber of their writing and how they illuminate one of the most inscrutable figures in entertainment history: A man who brought so much joy and laughter to so many millions but was himself exceedingly shy and private. Zehme traces Carson’s rise from a magic-obsessed Nebraska boy to a Navy ensign in World War II to a burgeoning radio and TV personality to, eventually, host of The Tonight Show—which he transformed, along with the entirety of American popular culture, over the next three decades. Without Carson, there would be no late-night television as we know it. On a much more intimate level, Zehme also captures the turmoil and anguish that accompanied the success: four marriages, troubles with alcohol, and the devastating loss of a child.

In one passage, Zehme notes that when asked by an interviewer in the mid-80s for the secret to his success, Carson replied simply, “Be yourself and tell the truth.� Completed with help from journalist and Zehme’s former research assistant Mike Thomas, Carson the Magnificent offers just that: an honest assessment of who Johnny Carson really was.]]> 1 Bill Zehme 1797183737 J.B. 0 currently-reading 3.10 Carson the Magnificent
author: Bill Zehme
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.10
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/29
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]]> <![CDATA[The Music Obsessive's Guide to Life: Volume 1]]> 15997470 954 Joel Freimark J.B. 0 currently-reading 4.50 2012 The Music Obsessive's Guide to Life: Volume 1
author: Joel Freimark
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/29
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]]> The Last Decade of Cinema 180076971 338 Scott Ryan 1949024717 J.B. 5 4.26 The Last Decade of Cinema
author: Scott Ryan
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/01/29
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]]> <![CDATA[A Complete Unknown : The Screenplay]]> 222623731 154 anthony erickson J.B. 5 4.67 A Complete Unknown : The Screenplay
author: anthony erickson
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/01/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Fodor's Essential Scotland (Travel Guide)]]> 38911558
Scotland offers astonishing its iconic lochs and mountains, as well as lively cities such as Edinburgh and Glasgow, have strong allure. St. Andrews is a pilgrimage for golfers; castles dot the country; and whisky distilleries are gaining popularity. Scotland's customs and products--from tartans to tweeds--are known worldwide, but there's nothing like experiencing them firsthand.

This travel guide
· Dozens of maps
· Hundreds of hotel and restaurant recommendations, with Fodor's Choice designating our top picks
·Multiple itineraries to explore the top attractions and what’s off the beaten path
· Major sights such as The Calanais Standing Stones, Tobermory, Isle of Skye, Glencoe, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, and Kelvingrove
· Coverage of Edinburgh and the Lothians; Glasgow; The Borders and the Southwest; Fife and Angus; The Central Highlands; Aberdeen and the Northeast; Argyll and the Isles; Inverness and Around the Great Glen; The Northern Highlands and the Western Isles; Orkney and Shetland Islands]]> 473 1640970134 J.B. 0 reference, my-library 4.11 Fodor's Essential Scotland (Travel Guide)
author: Fodor's Travel Publications Inc.
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: reference, my-library
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]]> <![CDATA[Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History]]> 13590879
He’s also a fascinating character—moody, dangerous, brilliant. His story is phenomenal, including tempestous relationships with movie stars, heroin addictions, police busts, and more; connections with other jazz greats like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane, Gil Evans, John McLaughlin, and many others; and later fusion ventures that outraged the worlds of jazz and rock.

Written by an all-star team, including Sonny Rollins, Bill Cosby, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Clark Terry, Lenny White, Greg Tate, Ashley Kahn, Robin D. G. Kelley, Francis Davis, George Wein, Vincent Bessières, Gerald Early, Nate Chinen, Nalini Jones, Dave Liebman, Garth Cartwright, and more.]]> 224 Sonny Rollins 0760342628 J.B. 5 4.14 2012 Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History
author: Sonny Rollins
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/11/12
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]]> <![CDATA[The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values]]> 55105645
Systems cull résumés until, years later, we discover that they have inherent gender biases. Algorithms decide bail and parole—and appear to assess Black and White defendants differently. We can no longer assume that our mortgage application, or even our medical tests, will be seen by human eyes. And as autonomous vehicles share our streets, we are increasingly putting our lives in their hands.

The mathematical and computational models driving these changes range in complexity from something that can fit on a spreadsheet to a complex system that might credibly be called “artificial intelligence.� They are steadily replacing both human judgment and explicitly programmed software.

In best-selling author Brian Christian’s riveting account, we meet the alignment problem’s “first-responders,� and learn their ambitious plan to solve it before our hands are completely off the wheel. In a masterful blend of history and on-the ground reporting, Christian traces the explosive growth in the field of machine learning and surveys its current, sprawling frontier. Readers encounter a discipline finding its legs amid exhilarating and sometimes terrifying progress. Whether they—and we—succeed or fail in solving the alignment problem will be a defining human story.

The Alignment Problem offers an unflinching reckoning with humanity’s biases and blind spots, our own unstated assumptions and often contradictory goals. A dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, it takes a hard look not only at our technology but at our culture—and finds a story by turns harrowing and hopeful.]]> 496 Brian Christian 039363583X J.B. 0 currently-reading 4.49 2020 The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values
author: Brian Christian
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/29
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> The Road - Screenplay 22214293 107 Joe Penhall 1306739454 J.B. 0 4.31 2006 The Road - Screenplay
author: Joe Penhall
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/11
shelves: screenplay, my-library, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Self-Publishing for Profit: How to Get Your Book Out of Your Head and Into the Stores]]> 24806448
Statistics show that 81% of people have a story they want to write, but very few actually do it. For most, this is because they either don’t know how to enter the publishing process, or they feel their writing isn’t good enough. Self-Publishing for Profit was designed to help you overcome both of these fears by giving you detailed publishing guidance, while simultaneously helping you become a better writer.

Produced by veteran independent author and self-publisher Chris Kennedy, Self-Publishing for Profit details the plan he used to sell almost 40,000 copies of his books in his first year, after starting with nothing but a story. Not only will readers learn how to produce ebooks, but also print books, audio books, and more!

Self-Publishing for Profit is the first book that gives authors all of the tips required for success. It not only shows how to design business and marketing plans that will help them be successful in the short term, but also how to improve their writing skills for long term success. It does so without requiring large outlays of cash, giving new authors a two-pronged strategy for success that anyone can follow.

It’s time to get your book into the stores!]]> 166 Chris Kennedy 194293601X J.B. 0 to-read 4.46 2015 Self-Publishing for Profit: How to Get Your Book Out of Your Head and Into the Stores
author: Chris Kennedy
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> I Was a Revolutionary 23213851 I Was a Revolutionary capture the roil of history through the eyes of an unforgettable cast of characters: the visionaries and dreamers, the radical farmers and socialist journalists, the quack doctors and protesters who haunt the past and present landscape of the American heartland.

In these stories, each set in the author's home state of Kansas, Andrew Malan Milward traces how we live amid the inconvenient ghosts of history. "The Burning of Lawrence" vibrates with the raw terror of a town pillaged by pro-Confederate raiders. "O Death" recalls the harrowing, desperate journey of the exodusters—African-American migrants who came to Kansas to escape oppression in the South. And, in the collection's haunting title piece, a professor of Kansas history surveys his decades-long slide from radicalism to complacency, a shift that parallels the landscape around him.

Using his own home state as a prism through which to view both a nation's history and our own universal battles as individuals, Milward has created a fresh and complex new palimpsest of the American experience.]]> 247 Andrew Malan Milward 0062377337 J.B. 0 to-read 4.00 2015 I Was a Revolutionary
author: Andrew Malan Milward
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[House of Cards (Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three, #2)]]> 25066755 128 Robin Furth 0785192816 J.B. 0 4.19 House of Cards (Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three, #2)
author: Robin Furth
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.19
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: graphic-novel, my-library, to-read
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]]> The Sun Also Rises 3876 The Sun Also Rises (Fiesta) is one of Ernest Hemingway's masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway's most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.]]> 189 Ernest Hemingway J.B. 4 3.81 1926 The Sun Also Rises
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1926
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/29
date added: 2024/05/29
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]]> Origin (Robert Langdon, #5) 32307358 This an alternate cover for B01LY7FD0D

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend a major announcement--the unveiling of a discovery that "will change the face of science forever." The evening's host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch, who was one of Langdon's first students at Harvard two decades earlier, is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough . . . one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence.

As the event begins, Langdon and several hundred guests find themselves captivated by an utterly original presentation, which Langdon realizes will be far more controversial than he ever imagined. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch's precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Reeling and facing an imminent threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao. With him is Ambra Vidal, the elegant museum director who worked with Kirsch to stage the provocative event. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch's secret.

Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and Vidal must evade a tormented enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain's Royal Palace itself . . . and who will stop at nothing to silence Edmond Kirsch. On a trail marked by modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon and Vidal uncover clues that ultimately bring them face-to-face with Kirsch's shocking discovery . . . and the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us. Origin is stunningly inventive--Dan Brown's most brilliant and entertaining novel to date]]> 482 Dan Brown J.B. 3 novel-fiction 3.87 Origin (Robert Langdon, #5)
author: Dan Brown
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 3
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date added: 2024/04/24
shelves: novel-fiction
review:

]]> One Day 8489510
It’s 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day—July 15th—of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself.
--penguinrandomhouse]]> 435 David Nicholls 0307739309 J.B. 5 3.87 2009 One Day
author: David Nicholls
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/24
date added: 2024/04/24
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]]> The Great Gatsby 4671 The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family and from his lifelong publisher.

This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author’s own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0743273567 J.B. 5 novel-fiction, my-library 3.93 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves: novel-fiction, my-library
review:

]]> <![CDATA[3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool]]> 174156154
The myth of the 60s depends on the 1950s being the before times of conformity, segregation, straightness—The Lonely Crowd and The Organization Man. This all carries some truth, but it does nothing to explain how, in 1959, the great indigenous art form, jazz, reached the height of its power and popularity, led there by a number of Black geniuses so iconic they go by one name—Monk, Mingus, Rollins, Coltrane, and above all, Miles. 1959 saw Miles, Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the other members of Miles’s sextet come together to record what is widely considered the greatest jazz album of all time, and certainly the Kind of Blue .


3 Shades of Blue is James Kaplan’s magnificent account of the paths of the three giants Miles, Coltrane and Evans to the mountaintop of 1959 and their path on from there. It’s a book about music, and business, and race, and heroin, and the towns that gave jazz its home, from New York and LA to Philadelphia, Chicago and Kansas City. It’s an astonishing meditation on creativity and the strange hothouses that can produce its full flowering. It’s a book about the great forebears of this golden age, particularly Charlie Parker, and the people, like Ornette Coleman, who would take the music down strange new paths. And it’s about why this period has never been replicated, why the world of jazz most people visit is a museum to it.


But above all this is a book about three very different men—their struggles, their choices, their tragedies, their greatness. Bill Evans had a gruesome downward spiral, John Coltrane took the mystic’s path into a space far away from mainstream concerns. Miles had three or four sea changes in him before the end. The tapestry of their lives is, in Kaplan’s hands, an American Odyssey, with no direction home. It is also a masterpiece, a book about jazz that is as big as America.]]> 496 James Kaplan 0525561005 J.B. 5 4.34 2024 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool
author: James Kaplan
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/14
date added: 2024/04/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Writings of Kierkegaard: Fear and Trembling; Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing; The Sickness Unto Death]]> 35163159 585 Søren Kierkegaard J.B. 0 to-read 3.71 2008 The Writings of Kierkegaard: Fear and Trembling; Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing; The Sickness Unto Death
author: Søren Kierkegaard
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever]]> 65650231
You asked whether Siskel & Ebert had given it “two thumbs up.�

On a cold Saturday afternoon in 1975, two men (who had known each other for eight years before they’d ever exchanged a word) met for lunch in a Chicago pub. Gene Siskel was the film critic for the Chicago Tribune . Roger Ebert had recently won the Pulitzer Prize—the first ever awarded to a film critic—for his work at the Chicago Sun-Times. To say they despised each other was an understatement.

When they reluctantly agreed to collaborate on a new movie review show with PBS, there was at least as much sparring off-camera as on. No decision—from which films to cover to who would read the lead review to how to pronounce foreign titles—was made without conflict, but their often-antagonistic partnership (which later transformed into genuine friendship) made for great television. In the years that followed, their signature “Two thumbs up!� would become the most trusted critical brand in Hollywood.

In Opposable Thumbs , award-winning editor and film critic Matt Singer eavesdrops on their iconic balcony set, detailing their rise from making a few hundred dollars a week on local Chicago PBS to securing multimillion-dollar contracts for a syndicated series (a move that convinced a young local host named Oprah Winfrey to do the same). Their partnership was cut short when Gene Siskel passed away in February of 1999 after a battle with brain cancer that he’d kept secret from everyone outside his immediate family—including Roger Ebert, who never got to say goodbye to his longtime partner. But their influence on in the way we talk about (and think about) movies continues to this day.]]> 352 Matt Singer 0593540158 J.B. 5 4.03 2023 Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever
author: Matt Singer
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/04/08
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]]> The Sound and the Fury 10975 366 William Faulkner J.B. 4 novel-fiction, my-library 3.86 1929 The Sound and the Fury
author: William Faulkner
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1929
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/08
date added: 2024/04/08
shelves: novel-fiction, my-library
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]> 11549952 The Sign of the Four
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (12 stories)
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes]]> 764 Arthur Conan Doyle J.B. 4 4.55 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
author: Arthur Conan Doyle
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.55
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/24
date added: 2024/03/24
shelves:
review:

]]> Until August 199928404
Sitting alone beside the languorous blue waters of the lagoon, Ana Magdalena Bach contemplates the men at the hotel bar. She has been happily married for twenty-seven years and has no reason to escape the life she has made with her husband and children. And yet, every August, she travels by ferry here to the island where her mother is buried, and for one night takes a new lover.
Across sultry Caribbean evenings full of salsa and boleros, lotharios and conmen, Ana journeys further each year into the hinterland of her desire and the fear hidden in her heart.
Constantly surprising, joyously sensual, Until August is a profound meditation on freedom, regret, self-transformation, and the mysteries of love—an unexpected gift from one of the greatest writers the world has ever known.]]> 144 Gabriel García Márquez 0593801997 J.B. 4 3.52 2024 Until August
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/21
date added: 2024/03/21
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]]> Kolyma Stories 38813815 I - Kolyma Tales
II - The Left Bank
III - The spade artist

Life in a Russian gulag, based on the author's own years in the Gulag, chronicled in an epic masterpiece.

Kolyma Stories is a masterpiece of twentieth-century literature, composed of short fictional tales based on Russian writer Varlam Shalamov's fifteen years in the Gulag. This NYRB Classics edition (and an accompanying second volume forthcoming in 2019) is the first complete English translation of Shalamov's stories, based on the definitive edition of his collected works, published in Russia in 2013.

Shalamov spent six years as a slave in the gold mines of Kolyma, a far northeast region of the USSR and one of the coldest and most inhospitable places on Earth, before finding a less intolerable life as a paramedic in the prison camps. He began writing his account of life in Kolyma after Stalin's death in 1953 and continued until his own physical and mental decline in the late 1970s.

In Kolyma Stories, the line between autobiography and fiction is indistinct: Everything in these stories was experienced or witnessed by Shalamov. His work records the real names of prisoners and their oppressors; he himself appears simply as "I" or "Shalamov," or at times under a pseudonym, such as Andreyev or Krist. These collected stories form the biography of a rare survivor, a historical record of the Gulag, and, because the stories have more than documentary value, a literary work of creative power and conviction. This new complete translation of Kolyma Stories will fill a significant gap in the English-language library of Russian literature.]]> 1660 Varlam Shalamov 1681372150 J.B. 0 4.54 1978 Kolyma Stories
author: Varlam Shalamov
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.54
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/10
shelves: short-fiction, my-library, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mississippi: Bob Dylan's midlife masterpiece (The Songs Of Bob Dylan)]]> 55533937 84 Jochen Markhorst J.B. 0 to-read 3.92 Mississippi: Bob Dylan's midlife masterpiece (The Songs Of Bob Dylan)
author: Jochen Markhorst
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Armor of Light (Kingsbridge, #4)]]> 81067992 The long-awaited sequel to A Column of Fire, The Armor of Light, heralds a new dawn for Kingsbridge, England, where progress clashes with tradition, class struggles push into every part of society, and war in Europe engulfs the entire continent and beyond.

The Spinning Jenny was invented in 1770, and with that, a new era of manufacturing and industry changed lives everywhere within a generation. A world filled with unrest wrestles for control over this new world order: A mother’s husband is killed in a work accident due to negligence; a young woman fights to fund her school for impoverished children; a well-intentioned young man unexpectedly inherits a failing business; one man ruthlessly protects his wealth no matter the cost, all the while war cries are heard from France, as Napoleon sets forth a violent master plan to become emperor of the world. As institutions are challenged and toppled in unprecedented fashion, ripples of change ricochet through our characters� lives as they are left to reckon with the future and a world they must rebuild from the ashes of war.

Over thirty years ago, Ken Follett published his most popular novel, The Pillars of the Earth. Now, with this electrifying addition to the Kingsbridge series we are plunged into the battlefield between compassion and greed, love and hate, progress and tradition. It is through each character that we are given a new perspective to the seismic shifts that shook the world in nineteenth-century Europe.]]> 737 Ken Follett 0525954996 J.B. 4 4.10 2023 The Armor of Light (Kingsbridge, #4)
author: Ken Follett
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/10/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, #1)]]> 7315573
This is an epic of love, hatred, war and revolution. This is a huge novel that follows five families through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for votes for women.
It is 1911. The Coronation Day of King George V. The Williams, a Welsh coal-mining family is linked by romance and enmity to the Fitzherberts, aristocratic coal-mine owners. Lady Maud Fitzherbert falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London. Their destiny is entangled with that of an ambitious young aide to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and to two orphaned Russian brothers, whose plans to emigrate to America fall foul of war, conscription and revolution. In a plot of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity, "Fall Of Giants" moves seamlessly from Washington to St Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty.]]> 985 Ken Follett 0525951652 J.B. 0 4.31 2010 Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, #1)
author: Ken Follett
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/16
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential]]> 59660671 “One of my favorite books of the year. It completely reshaped how I think about information and how and why I take notes.� —Daniel Pink, bestselling author of Drive

A revolutionary approach to enhancing productivity, creating flow, and vastly increasing your ability to capture, remember, and benefit from the unprecedented amount of information all around us.

For the first time in history, we have instantaneous access to the world’s knowledge. There has never been a better time to learn, to contribute, and to improve ourselves. Yet, rather than feeling empowered, we are often left feeling overwhelmed by this constant influx of information. The very knowledge that was supposed to set us free has instead led to the paralyzing stress of believing we’ll never know or remember enough.

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.]]> 269 Tiago Forte 1982167408 J.B. 5 4.30 2022 Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential
author: Tiago Forte
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/22
date added: 2023/09/22
shelves:
review:

]]> Fairy Tale 60177373 Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.

Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.� And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.

A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.]]> 607 Stephen King 1668002175 J.B. 4 novel-fiction 4.05 2022 Fairy Tale
author: Stephen King
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/22
date added: 2023/09/22
shelves: novel-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Where the Dead Walk: History & Hauntings of Greenwood Cemetery (Haunted Decatur)]]> 2183323 Book by Taylor, Troy 160 Troy Taylor 189252323X J.B. 0 history, my-library, to-read 4.33 2002 Where the Dead Walk: History & Hauntings of Greenwood Cemetery (Haunted Decatur)
author: Troy Taylor
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/12
shelves: history, my-library, to-read
review:

]]> Suttree 61953392 482 Cormac McCarthy J.B. 5 4.23 1979 Suttree
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1979
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/08
date added: 2023/09/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fire & Blood (A Targaryen History, #1)]]> 39943621
Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire and Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.

What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why did it become so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What is the origin of Daenerys’s three dragon eggs? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring more than eighty all-new black-and-white illustrations by artist Doug Wheatley. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice & Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed.

With all the scope and grandeur of Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fire and Blood is the ultimate game of thrones, giving readers a whole new appreciation for the dynamic, often bloody, and always fascinating history of Westeros.]]> 706 George R.R. Martin 152479628X J.B. 0 to-read 4.03 2018 Fire & Blood (A Targaryen History, #1)
author: George R.R. Martin
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Child of God 8889452

From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 210 Cormac McCarthy 0307762483 J.B. 4 novel-fiction, my-library 3.95 1973 Child of God
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1973
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/06
date added: 2023/08/11
shelves: novel-fiction, my-library
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)]]> 50881608 The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known . . . of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect—a man divided in his soul . . . of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame . . . and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state and brother against brother.

A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, this is Ken Follett’s historical masterpiece.

For the miniseries tie-in edition with the same ASIN go to this Alternate Cover Edition]]> 1008 Ken Follett J.B. 0 novel-fiction, my-library 4.51 1989 The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)
author: Ken Follett
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.51
book published: 1989
rating: 0
read at: 2023/08/05
date added: 2023/08/08
shelves: novel-fiction, my-library
review:

]]> Outer Dark 10716601 From thebestselling author of The Passenger and thePulitzer Prize–winning novel The Road � A novel at once fabular and starkly evocative, set is an unspecified place in Appalachia, sometime around the turn of the century. A woman bears her brother's child, a boy; he leaves the baby in the woods and tells her he died of natural causes. Discovering her brother's lie, she sets forth alone to find her son. Both brother and sister wander separately through a countryside being scourged by three terrifying and elusive strangers, headlong toward an eerie, apocalyptic resolution.Look for Cormac McCarthy's latest bestselling novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris.]]> 257 Cormac McCarthy J.B. 5 novel-fiction, my-library 3.98 1968 Outer Dark
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1968
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/05
date added: 2023/08/05
shelves: novel-fiction, my-library
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mad Girl's Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted]]> 19300688 513 Andrew Wilson J.B. 0 to-read 4.43 2013 Mad Girl's Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted
author: Andrew Wilson
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Orchard Keeper (Vintage International)]]> 9426314 258 Cormac McCarthy J.B. 5 my-library, novel-fiction 3.70 1965 The Orchard Keeper (Vintage International)
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1965
rating: 5
read at: 2023/07/27
date added: 2023/07/27
shelves: my-library, novel-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rolling Stone Tom Petty: The Ultimate Guide to His Music & Legend]]> 54266901
Please note that this product is an authorized edition published by Time Inc. and sold by Amazon. This edition is printed using a high quality matte interior paper and printed on demand for immediate fulfillment.]]> 98 The Editors of Rolling Stone J.B. 0 4.47 Rolling Stone Tom Petty: The Ultimate Guide to His Music & Legend
author: The Editors of Rolling Stone
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.47
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/24
shelves: art, biography-memoir, my-library, to-read
review:

]]> Eddie and the Cruisers 26120347 244 P.F. Kluge J.B. 0 to-read 3.91 1980 Eddie and the Cruisers
author: P.F. Kluge
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay]]> 33136620

ISBN-13:: 9781338109061 Publisher:: Scholastic, Inc. Publication date:: 11/19/2016 Pages:: 224 Sales rank:: 43 Product dimensions:: 5.25(w) x 7.50(h) x (d) Age Range:: 9 - 12 Years ]]> 293 J.K. Rowling 9123522437 J.B. 0 short-fiction, my-library 4.24 2016 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
author: J.K. Rowling
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/24
shelves: short-fiction, my-library
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Rest And Repair Diet: Heal Your Gut, Improve Your Physical and Mental Health, and Lose Weight]]> 43558578 The Rest and Repair Diet is a simple step-by-step diet for both vegetarians and meat eaters. It is designed to improve the state of your gut health, with weight loss as a side-benefit.

You start the diet by detoxifying your body for 1 week, using herbal preparations and making a few easy changes in your lifestyle. After the detox, you then begin the 3-week Rest and Repair portion of the diet. This diet is not a fast. Ideally, it should be a feast that improves your microbiome and digestion. Realistically, you should at least feel satisfied after each meal. When you finish with the Rest and Repair phase, you begin your Self Discovery Lifestyle Program. This is an valuable part of your road to health, involving the reintroducing of specific foods that you eliminated in your 3-week diet. You will also keep a Food and Lifestyle Journal so that it will be crystal clear how changes in food and lifestyle affect your body and mind.

The Rest and Repair Diet is an important first step towards lifelong health, integrating modern medicine with the ancient knowledge of Ayurveda. By taking responsibility for your own health and using the Rest and Repair Diet and Lifestyle recommendations, you will have begun your journey to a more resilient, healthier, happier state of mind and body.

]]> 233 Robert Keith Wallace 0999055844 J.B. 4 4.62 The Rest And Repair Diet: Heal Your Gut, Improve Your Physical and Mental Health, and Lose Weight
author: Robert Keith Wallace
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.62
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/02/14
date added: 2023/02/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[David Lynch: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series)]]> 6622992 The Grandmother or the break-out surrealist feature Eraserhead, the hit TV series Twin Peaks or his Oscar-nominated The Elephant Man or Blue Velvet or his most recent experimental tours de force, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire, he stresses the power of image and sound to communicate his vision.David Lynch: Interviews is the first survey of conversations with the director covering the broad spectrum of his artistic activities throughout his career, including filmmaking, painting, music production, and furniture design. It documents the evolution of Lynch's role in discussing his movies, from his self-described -pre-verbal stage- in the early years to his increasingly elaborate, though persistently elusive, articulations. It also registers the intense international interest in Lynch's work, with interviews from French and Spanish sources translated here for the first time.]]> 274 Richard A. Barney 1604732377 J.B. 0 art, my-library, to-read 4.01 2009 David Lynch: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series)
author: Richard A. Barney
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/20
shelves: art, my-library, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Stella Maris (The Passenger #2)]]> 60581095 The best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Road returns with the second of a two-volume masterpiece: Stella Maris is an intimate portrait of grief and longing, as a young woman in a psychiatric facility seeks to understand her own existence.

1972, BLACK RIVER FALLS, WISCONSIN: Alicia Western, twenty years old, with forty thousand dollars in a plastic bag, admits herself to the hospital. A doctoral candidate in mathematics at the University of Chicago, Alicia has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and she does not want to talk about her brother, Bobby. Instead, she contemplates the nature of madness, the human insistence on one common experience of the world; she recalls a childhood where, by the age of seven, her own grandmother feared for her; she surveys the intersection of physics and philosophy; and she introduces her cohorts, her chimeras, the hallucinations that only she can see. All the while, she grieves for Bobby, not quite dead, not quite hers. Told entirely through the transcripts of Alicia’s psychiatric sessions, Stella Maris is a searching, rigorous, intellectually challenging coda to The Passenger, a philosophical inquiry that questions our notions of God, truth, and existence.]]> 190 Cormac McCarthy 0593535235 J.B. 4 3.98 2022 Stella Maris (The Passenger #2)
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/28
date added: 2022/12/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Passenger (The Passenger #1)]]> 60581087
Traversing the American South, from the garrulous barrooms of New Orleans to an abandoned oil rig off the Florida coast, The Passenger is a breathtaking novel of morality and science, the legacy of sin, and the madness that is human consciousness.]]> 385 Cormac McCarthy 0593535227 J.B. 5 3.58 2022 The Passenger (The Passenger #1)
author: Cormac McCarthy
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/12
date added: 2022/12/12
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Ominous Whoosh: A Wandering Mind Returns to Twin Peaks]]> 62243899
In Ominous A Wandering Mind Returns to Twin Peaks John Thorne dives deep into The Return , closely examining each episode and offering in-depth theories about the show’s most perplexing Who is “telling� the story we see? What is Laura Palmer’s new role in the Twin Peaks universe? How do Audrey and Diane fit into this complex new tale? Drawing on a study of David Lynch’s past work and Lynch’s observations about Hindu theology, Thorne offers compelling answers to these and other questions.

Aspiring to persuade, certain to provoke, Ominous Whoosh resonates with insight and imagination.

“John Thorne has been the definitive voice on Twin Peaks for over two decades, and now he brings his signature insight and thoughtfulness to David Lynch’s masterwork, Twin The Return , shedding light on its darkest corners and diving into its many mysteries. This book will deepen every Twin Peaks fan’s understanding. If I’m ever lost in those dark woods, I want John Thorne to come looking for me.� � Jeff Lemire, creator of Sweet Tooth

“In the popular fanzine Wrapped in Plastic , John Thorne and Craig Miller explored every possible aspect and angle of the original Twin Peaks . In his latest book, John Thorne returns to Twin Peaks , exploring the 18-part continuation of the series. Undoubtedly, Thorne is one of the most prominent and convincing Twin Peaks scholars out there, and his new book is full of insight and valuable analyses, applying Hindu theology, a strong understanding of film history, and an unmatched knowledge of David Lynch and the Twin Peaks universe. This is, arguably, the best companion to Twin Peaks that you will ever read.� � Andreas Halskov, author of TV Twin Peaks and Modern Television Drama (2015) and Beyond TV Production in the Multiplatform Era (2021)

“John Thorne, the greatest of Twin Peaks detectives, has produced the ultimate investigation into pop culture’s most daunting and alluring mystery. His interpretive readings illuminate and entertain with their ideas and inventiveness, but even better, his theorizing, suffused with respect for the material and others who are passionate about it, teaches us the art of intelligent, gracious fandom.� � Jeff Jensen, writer, HBO’s Watchmen and Better A Kate Warne Adventure]]> 364 John Thorne 0997108142 J.B. 5 art, twin-peaks, david-lynch
Twin Peaks The Return is one of the most challenging works of art this century so far and we can all use a kind, patient, and insightful guide. John has been that for many years and his craft and kindness bleed through every page.

Buy this book, read it, and then write about it in your diary.]]> 4.42 Ominous Whoosh: A Wandering Mind Returns to Twin Peaks
author: John Thorne
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.42
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/16
date added: 2022/09/16
shelves: art, twin-peaks, david-lynch
review:
If you appreciate the power of art to change lives, then you should read John Thorne's master class on Twin Peaks The Return. John doesn't tell you what to think; he shows you how to watch closely and make up your own mind. John is one of the great watchers and thinkers of cinema in our modern age.

Twin Peaks The Return is one of the most challenging works of art this century so far and we can all use a kind, patient, and insightful guide. John has been that for many years and his craft and kindness bleed through every page.

Buy this book, read it, and then write about it in your diary.
]]> The Revolution from Within 6970634 311 J. Krishnamurti 1935387057 J.B. 0 4.64 1998 The Revolution from Within
author: J. Krishnamurti
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.64
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/16
shelves: philosophy, my-library, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War]]> 58989871 An exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war

ANew York Times Book Review Editors� Choice

In The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell weaves together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard to examine one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.

Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists, the “Bomber Mafia,� asked: What if precision bombing could cripple the enemy and make war far less lethal?

In contrast, the bombing of Tokyo on the deadliest night of the war was the brainchild of General Curtis LeMay, whose brutal pragmatism and scorched-earth tactics in Japan cost thousands of civilian lives, but may have spared even more by averting a planned US invasion. In The Bomber Mafia, Gladwell asks, “Was it worth it?�

Things might have gone differently had LeMay’s predecessor, General Haywood Hansell, remained in charge. Hansell believed in precision bombing, but when he and Curtis LeMay squared off for a leadership handover in the jungles of Guam, LeMay emerged victorious, leading to the darkest night of World War II. The Bomber Mafia is a riveting tale of persistence, innovation, and the incalculable wages of war.]]> 256 Malcolm Gladwell 0316296813 J.B. 0 to-read 4.01 2021 The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Nora Ephron: A Biography 54578733
Nora A Biography is the first comprehensive portrait of the Manhattan-born girlwho forged a path of her own, earning accolades and adoration from critics and fans alike. Author Kristin Marguerite Doidge explores the tremendous successes and disappointing failures Ephron sustained in her career as a popular essayist turned screenwriter turned film director. She redefined the modern rom-com genre with bestselling books such as Heartburn and hit movies including When Harry Met Sally , Sleepless in Seattle , and Julie & Julia . Doidge also examines the private life Ephron tried to keep in balance with her insatiable ambition.

Based on rare archival research and numerous interviews with some of Ephron's closest friends,collaborators, and award-winning colleagues including actors Tom Hanks and Caroline Aaron, comedian Martin Short, composer George Fenton, and lifelong friends from Wellesley to New York to Hollywood—as well as interviews Ephron herself gave throughout her career—award-winning journalist and cultural critic Doidge has written a captivating story of the life of a creative writer whose passion for the perfect one-liner and ferocious drive to succeed revolutionized journalism, comedy, and film.

The first in-depth biography to explore the complex themes that ran through Ephron's work and to examine why so many of them still grab our attention today.]]> 288 Kristin Marguerite Doidge 1641603755 J.B. 0 to-read 3.62 Nora Ephron: A Biography
author: Kristin Marguerite Doidge
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.62
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> City on Fire (Danny Ryan, #1) 57558287 New York Times Bestseller!

From the #1 internationally bestselling author of the Cartel Trilogy (The Power of the Dog, The Cartel, and The Border), The Force, and Broken comes the first novel in an epic new trilogy.

“Superb. City on Fire is exhilarating.� � Stephen King

"Epic, ambitious, majestic, City on Fire is The Godfather for our generation.� � Adrian McKinty, New York Times bestselling author of The Chain

Two criminal empires together control all of New England.

Until a beautiful woman comes between the Irish and the Italians, launching a war that will see them kill each other, destroy an alliance, and set a city on fire.

Danny Ryan yearns for a more “legit� life and a place in the sun. But as the bloody conflict stacks body on body and brother turns against brother, Danny has to rise above himself. To save the friends he loves like family and the family he has sworn to protect, he becomes a leader, a ruthless strategist, and a master of a treacherous game in which the winners live and the losers die.

From the gritty streets of Providence to the glittering screens of Hollywood to the golden casinos of Las Vegas, two rival crime families ignite a war that will leave only one standing. The winner will forge a dynasty.

Exploring the classic themes of loyalty, betrayal, and honor, City on Fire is a contemporary masterpiece in the tradition of The Godfather, Casino, and Goodfellas—a thrilling saga from Don Winslow, “America’s greatest living crime writer� (Jon Land, Providence Journal).]]> 384 Don Winslow 0062851195 J.B. 4 novel-fiction
Danny Ryan is someone you root for and his only flaw is that he hates his mother. That flaw may kill him one day because she is the only one truly on his side. Danny is a prisoner with almost no escape from this thug life he's been sentenced to live. Many people die in this story, but almost all of them die as some kind of soldier in an unnecessary war.

Book one of Don Winslow's final trilogy as an active writer will keep you turning pages until it's over.]]> 4.02 2021 City on Fire (Danny Ryan, #1)
author: Don Winslow
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/03
date added: 2022/05/03
shelves: novel-fiction
review:
This is a novel filled with the things that tough guys think but rarely say out loud. Much of what they don't say exposes their deepest fears to the reader, who gets an omniscient but limited point of view about what is happening across the complex landscape of this mafia war between Italians and Irish in the mid-1980s in Providence, Rhode Island.

Danny Ryan is someone you root for and his only flaw is that he hates his mother. That flaw may kill him one day because she is the only one truly on his side. Danny is a prisoner with almost no escape from this thug life he's been sentenced to live. Many people die in this story, but almost all of them die as some kind of soldier in an unnecessary war.

Book one of Don Winslow's final trilogy as an active writer will keep you turning pages until it's over.
]]> <![CDATA[Star Wars: The High Republic (2021-2022) #1]]> 55921125 26 Cavan Scott J.B. 4 4.10 2021 Star Wars: The High Republic (2021-2022) #1
author: Cavan Scott
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/03/06
date added: 2022/03/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Surviving in a Ruthless World: Bob Dylan's voyage to Infidels]]> 55510934 275 Terry Gans J.B. 5 3.68 Surviving in a Ruthless World: Bob Dylan's voyage to Infidels
author: Terry Gans
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.68
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/28
date added: 2021/12/28
shelves:
review:
This book was excellent for all true Dylan fanatics. I learned a great deal about a snapshot in time of one of the great mid-career albums and what the work is like to produce great art in the modern age. If there was a book of this quality for every Bob Dylan album, I’d read every one of them.
]]> <![CDATA[Ey Up! An American Engages With This Is England]]> 59726361 238 J.B. Minton J.B. 5 5.00 Ey Up! An American Engages With This Is England
author: J.B. Minton
name: J.B.
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/12/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[NFT APE: My Journey into NFTs, Crypto, and the Future]]> 59582342 156 Adam McBride J.B. 4
I learned enough to know that I need to learn more. One day I am going to publish a new book and associated properties to that book as an NFT. I've set myself a goal. Thanks for the inspiration, Adam! ]]> 3.94 NFT APE: My Journey into NFTs, Crypto, and the Future
author: Adam McBride
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.94
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/03
date added: 2021/12/03
shelves:
review:
I had very little knowledge about NFTs going into reading this book, but as a writer, and as a business expert who detests waste in any system, I got what I needed from it, which is an understanding of the spirit behind this movement towards Non-Fungible Tokens representing distributed ownership with smart contracts built on the blockchain. Adam's passion for this technology is the best kind of evangelism for helping new learners find their footing. His stories were relevant and compelling.

I learned enough to know that I need to learn more. One day I am going to publish a new book and associated properties to that book as an NFT. I've set myself a goal. Thanks for the inspiration, Adam!
]]> <![CDATA[Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest]]> 42389 Foreword
"We wanted those wings"; Camp Toccoa, 7-12/42
"Stand up & hook up"; Benning, Mackall, Bragg, Shanks, 12/42-9/43
"Duties of the latrine orderly"; Aldbourne, 9/43-3/44
"Look out, Hitler! Here we come!"; Slapton Sands, Uppottery, 4/1-6/5/44
"Follow me"; Normandy, 6/6/44
"Move out!"; Carentan, 6/7-7/12/44
Healing wounds & scrubbed missions; Aldbourne, 7/13-9/16/44
"Hell's highway"; Holland, 9/17-10/1/44
Island; Holland, 10/2-11/25/44
Resting, recovering & refitting: Mourmelon-le-Grand, 11/26-12/18/44
"They got us surrounded-the poor bastards"; Bastogne, 12/19-31/44
Breaking point; Bastogne, 1/1-13/45
Attack; Noville, 1/14-17/45
Patrol: Haguenau, 1/18-2/23/45
"Best feeling in the world": Mourmelon, 2/25-4/2/45
Getting to know the enemy: Germany, 4/2-30/45
Drinking Hitler's champagne; Berchtesgaden, 5/1-8/45
Soldier's dream life; Austria, 5/8-7/31/45
Postwar careers; 1945-91
Acknowledgments & Sources
Index]]> 432 Stephen E. Ambrose 0743464117 J.B. 5 history 4.43 1992 Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
author: Stephen E. Ambrose
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.43
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/02
date added: 2021/12/02
shelves: history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon]]> 59545874
Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon is part memoir, part investigation, and unlike any creative portrait you’ve ever heard before. Recorded over a series of 30 hours of conversation between Simon, Gladwell, and Gladwell’s oldest friend and co-writer, journalist and Broken Record podcast co-host Bruce Headlam, the conversation flows from Simon’s music, to his childhood in Queens, NY, to his frequent collaborators including Art Garfunkel and the nature of creativity itself. Gladwell and Headlam traveled from the mountains of Hawaii to Simon’s own backyard studio to record an artist they’ve idolized since childhood.

Woven throughout the audiobook is distinctive commentary about Simon’s songwriting alongside archival audio footage and never-before-heard live studio versions and original recordings of beloved hits including “The Boxer", “The Sound of Silence", and “Graceland�. Between conversations, Gladwell deploys his signature blend of historical research and social science in an attempt to understand how a boy from 1940s Queens conjured near-perfect songs over an incredible 65-year career. Along the way, he gathers reflections on Simon’s particular genius from the likes of Sting, Herbie Hancock, Renee Fleming, Jeff Tweedy, Aaron Lindsey, and Roseanne Cash.

The result is an intimate audio biography of one of America’s most popular songwriters. Brimming with music and conversation, Miracle and Wonder is a window into Simon’s legendary career, what it means to be alive as an artist, and how to create work that endures.]]> 5 Malcolm Gladwell J.B. 4 art, biography-memoir 4.56 Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/24
date added: 2021/11/24
shelves: art, biography-memoir
review:
This book is what you get when you mix a podcast with an unplugged performance, orchestrated by a master of interview and analysis. This book yields is a deep understanding of both the human and the artist who has made all that incredible music for so many years. I will definitely listen to this book again, and I recommend the audio version so you hear the songs and the emotion in Paul Simon's voice. This was time very well spent!
]]> <![CDATA[Dylan at 80: It used to go like that, and now it goes like this]]> 58156037 260 Gary Browning 1788360451 J.B. 5 art 4.29 Dylan at 80: It used to go like that, and now it goes like this
author: Gary Browning
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/06
date added: 2021/11/24
shelves: art
review:
I adored this book. There are so many different subjects and points of view, that it's like looking through a prism of art criticism that is all founded in a deep appreciation for Bob Dylan's art. If you're a Dylan fan, you need this book on your shelf. If you're curious why people are so nuts about this 80 year old man still putting out the best music of his life at whatever time he's alive, then this book belongs on your shelf, too.
]]> <![CDATA[How To Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond]]> 18883443 —Molly Haskell, critic

Praise for the previous editions:

"Anyone who writes about film, or who is interested in film seriously, just has to have it."
� Richard Roud, Director of the New York Film Festival

“The book’s biggest virtue, aside from its range, is its ability to explain complicated technical or ideological points without taking any previous knowledge for granted. A neophyte could come away with an equal understanding of sophisticated ideas…and an expert would not be bored.�
� Janet Maslin, The New York Times Book Review

"This book is a compliment to the reader... Monaco's spirit is gracious; he has a gift for making accumulations of detail relevant and uncluttered. His manner is modest and undidactic, and he is painstakingly scrupulous."
� Film Comment


When it was first published in 1977, HOW TO READ A FILM established itself as a genuine classic in film studies and has been considered by many to be the source on film and media.

Monaco’s original book looked at film from many vantage points, exploring the medium as both art and craft, sensibility and science, tradition and technology. It examined film's close relation to other narrative media such as the novel, painting, photography, television, and even music. Monaco discussed those elements necessary to understand how films convey meaning and, more importantly, how we can best discern all that a film is attempting to communicate.

Now, in this new, fourth edition, James Monaco brings his work fully up to date and into the twenty-first century as he explores the new and still-evolving digital context of film, multimedia, virtual reality, cyberspace, and how they all relate to film. This completely revised and expanded edition also features a new preface, several new sections, nearly five hundred illustrative film stills, and more than sixty diagrams.

New sections in HOW TO READ A FILM include:

� Digital Tipping Points: why digital is untrustworthy; how technology has radically changed the art; and what filmmakers and viewers can do to preserve quality and the truth of the image.

� Movies in the Oughts: Beyond Cinema: Metafiction, Metareality, and the growth of the virtual world; Gross-out humor and Post-modern narrative.

� The Mediasphere: How recent profound changes in the architecture of communications have changed the way we live and consume media. How to restore the balance between the virtual world of art and the real, natural world.

� The Virtual World: describes our contemporary culture where everyone is connected, not to each other but to each other’s images, and why the ring-tone market rivals the feature film business.

� Reading about Film and Media: A Select Library: Two-Hundred-Fifty Books About Film and Media You Should Read.

As Monaco writes, “The way we process text, images, and sounds today is radically different from what it was thirty years ago. And the union of media, which the invention of movies foreshadowed more than a hundred years ago, is now a reality…The medium is reinventing itself: now, if you can think it, you can film it.�
________________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Monaco is a writer, publisher, and producer.]]> 736 James Monaco J.B. 0 to-read 3.71 1977 How To Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond
author: James Monaco
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Shaky Town 58016237 Shaky Town, Lou Mathews has written a timeless novel of working-class Los Angeles. A former mechanic and street racer, he tells his story in cool and panoramic style, weaving together the tragedies and glories of one of L.A.’s eastside neighborhoods. From a teenage girl caught in the middle of a gang war to a priest who has lost his faith and hit bottom, the characters in Shaky Town live on a dangerous faultline but remain unshakable in their connections to one another.

Like Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, Katherine Ann Porter’s Ship of Fools, Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place, and Pat Barker’s Union Street, Shaky Town is the story of complicated, conflicted, and disparate characters bound together by place.]]> 240 Lou Mathews 1735303801 J.B. 3 4.15 Shaky Town
author: Lou Mathews
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.15
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2021/10/21
date added: 2021/10/21
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Point of Vanishing: A Memoir of Two Years in Solitude]]> 26080231 Into the WildmeetsWalden—a lyrical memoir for nature lovers and for anyone who has wondered what it would be like to disconnect from our hyper-connected culture and seek more meaningful connections After losing vision in one eye and becoming estranged from his family and friends, a young man spent two years searching for identity in self-imposed solitude in the backwoods of northern Vermont, where he embarked on a project of stripping away facades and all social ties--and learned to face himself. On a clear May afternoon at the end of his junior year at Harvard, Howard Axelrod played a pick-up game of basketball. In a skirmish for a loose ball, a boy’s finger hooked behind Axelrod’s eyeball and left him permanently blinded in his right eye. A week later, he returned to the same dorm room, but to a different world. A world where nothing looked solid, where the distance between how people saw him and how he saw had widened into a gulf. Desperate for a sense of orientation he could trust, he retreated to a jerry-rigged house in the Vermont woods, where he lived without a computer or television, and largely without human contact, for two years. He needed to find a more lasting sense of meaning away from society’s pressures and rush. Named one of the best books of the year bySlate, Chicago Tribune, Entropy Magazine, and named one of the top 10 memoirs byLibrary Journal]]> 221 Howard Axelrod 0807075477 J.B. 0 to-read 3.88 2015 The Point of Vanishing: A Memoir of Two Years in Solitude
author: Howard Axelrod
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> Dark Matter 45697427 Alternative cover editions for this ASIN can be found here and here

Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.

It starts with a man in a mask kidnapping him at gunpoint, for reasons Jason can’t begin to fathom—what would anyone want with an ordinary physics professor?—and grows even more terrifying from there, as Jason’s abductor injects him with some unknown drug and watches while he loses consciousness.

When Jason awakes, he’s in a lab, strapped to a gurney—and a man he’s never seen before is cheerily telling him “welcome back!�

Jason soon learns that in this world he’s woken up to, his house is not his house. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born.

And someone is hunting him.]]> 343 Blake Crouch J.B. 0 to-read 4.23 2016 Dark Matter
author: Blake Crouch
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Steelheart (The Reckoners, #1)]]> 43633995 If someone destroyed your city?
If everything you ever loved was taken from you?
David Charleston will go to any lengths to stop Steelheart. But to exact revenge in Steelheart’s world, David will need the Reckoners—a shadowy group of rebels bent on maintaining justice.
And it turns out that the Reckoners might just need David too.]]> 388 Brandon Sanderson J.B. 0 to-read 4.27 2013 Steelheart (The Reckoners, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment]]> 34805848
Robert Wright famously explained in The Moral Animal how evolution shaped the human brain. The mind is designed to often delude us, he argued, about ourselves and about the world. And it is designed to make happiness hard to sustain.

But if we know our minds are rigged for anxiety, depression, anger, and greed, what do we do? Wright locates the answer in Buddhism, which figured out thousands of years ago what scientists are only discovering now. Buddhism holds that human suffering is a result of not seeing the world clearly—and proposes that seeing the world more clearly, through meditation, will make us better, happier people.

In Why Buddhism is True, Wright leads readers on a journey through psychology, philosophy, and a great many silent retreats to show how and why meditation can serve as the foundation for a spiritual life in a secular age. At once excitingly ambitious and wittily accessible, this is the first book to combine evolutionary psychology with cutting-edge neuroscience to defend the radical claims at the heart of Buddhist philosophy. With bracing honesty and fierce wisdom, it will persuade you not just that Buddhism is true—which is to say, a way out of our delusion—but that it can ultimately save us from ourselves, as individuals and as a species.]]> 332 Robert Wright J.B. 0 to-read 4.17 2017 Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
author: Robert Wright
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes]]> 48665091 In every one of our genomes we each carry the history of our species—births, deaths, disease, war, famine, migration, and a lot of sex. But those stories have always been locked away—until now, with the invention of genomics, a tool that lets scientists decode our DNA. The implications for our identity are enormous. As acclaimed science writer Adam Rutherford shows, before genomics, we never really knew much about ourselves at all. And so he rewrites all of human history—from 100,000 years ago to the present, and on topics as wide-ranging as Neanderthals and murder, redheads and race, dead kings and plague, evolution and epigenetics—using genetics to shatter deeply held beliefs about our heritage, and to replace them with new answers to some of the biggest questions of all: Who we are, and how we came to be.
]]> 420 Adam Rutherford J.B. 0 to-read 4.08 2016 A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes
author: Adam Rutherford
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire]]> 35673878 The definitive oral history of the iconic and beloved TV show The Wire, as told by the actors, writers, directors, and others involved in its creation

Since its final episode aired in 2008, HBO's acclaimed crime drama The Wire has only become more popular and influential. The issues it tackled, from the failures of the drug war and criminal justice system to systemic bias in law enforcement and other social institutions, have become more urgent and central to the national conversation. The show's actors, such as Idris Elba, Dominic West, and Michael B. Jordan, have gone on to become major stars. Its creators and writers, including David Simon and Richard Price, have developed dedicated cult followings of their own. Universities use the show to teach everything from film theory to criminal justice to sociology. Politicians and activists reference it when discussing policy. When critics compile lists of the Greatest TV Shows of All Time, The Wire routinely takes the top spot. It is arguably one of the great works of art America has produced in the 20th century.
But while there has been a great deal of critical analysis of the show and its themes, until now there has never been a definitive, behind-the-scenes take on how it came to be made. With unparalleled access to all the key actors and writers involved in its creation, Jonathan Abrams tells the astonishing, compelling, and complete account of The Wire, from its inception and creation through its end and powerful legacy.]]> 352 Jonathan Abrams 045149816X J.B. 0 to-read 4.37 2018 All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire
author: Jonathan Abrams
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power (Dispatch Books)]]> 35024283
Alfred W. McCoy's 2009 book Policing America's Empire won the Kahin Prize from the Association for Asian Studies.]]> 611 Alfred W. McCoy 1608467740 J.B. 0 to-read 4.18 2017 In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of US Global Power (Dispatch Books)
author: Alfred W. McCoy
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Improvise for Real: The Complete Method for All Instruments]]> 19195837
These abilities don't come from memorizing other people's "licks" or studying music theory on paper. What you need is a deeper understanding of music that enables you to connect your ear with your instrument. In other words, what you really need is a creative daily practice that lets you understand music from the inside out, and truly create your own music.

Improvise for Real will take you into this beautiful world of sounds and show you how music and harmony really work. You'll learn to understand the sounds in the music all around you. And you'll learn to express your own musical ideas exactly as you hear them in your mind.

How is Improvise for Real different from other approaches?A better understanding of harmony. The biggest problem that beginning improvisers have with expressing themselves creatively is that they are trying to apply licks and scales to isolated chords, but this isn't how music works at all. When you listen to your favorite songs, what you hear is a lovely interplay of notes and chords on a single musical landscape. With Improvise for Real you will learn to see this musical landscape and weave your own melodies effortlessly through the chords.Creativity right from the start. In every other art form (painting, poetry, etc.) students get to experience the creative process as a natural part of their learning. It's only in music that this creative process remains shrouded in mystery. Improvise for Real is changing all of that. We believe that your own creative exploration of the sounds is essential. With Improvise for Real you will be improvising and expressing your own musical ideas right from the very first day.Connection to the ear. Improvise for Real will show you how to connect your ear, your imagination and your instrument. For each new harmonic situation that you learn, you'll explore the sounds creatively and you'll learn to HEAR these sounds in the music all around you. The result is a deep personal understanding of harmony that allows you to recognize melodies and chord progressions by ear and to play the sounds you imagine.Music as a journey. We believe that musical improvisation is the most beautiful art form in the world, and we want to help you enjoy this amazing art form for the rest of your life. What we teach is a journey through the entire world of modern harmony. But it's also a journey of your own personal growth as an artist. And so every step of the way, you'll be discovering your OWN musical voice and growing in your ability to tell powerful musical stories on your instrument.]]> 242 David Reed 0984686320 J.B. 0 to-read 4.22 2011 Improvise for Real: The Complete Method for All Instruments
author: David Reed
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Absent Superpower: The Shale Revolution and a World Without America]]> 34079522 492 Peter Zeihan 0998505218 J.B. 0 to-read 4.46 2017 The Absent Superpower: The Shale Revolution and a World Without America
author: Peter Zeihan
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Stalking the Wild Pendulum: On the Mechanics of Consciousness]]> 19402175 210 Itzhak Bentov 1620550881 J.B. 0 to-read 4.50 1977 Stalking the Wild Pendulum: On the Mechanics of Consciousness
author: Itzhak Bentov
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Understanding Cormac McCarthy (Understanding Contemporary American Literature)]]> 19406423 A roadmap to the dark and mythic topography of McCarthy's fiction

Named by Harold Bloom as one of the most significant American novelists of our time, Cormac McCarthy has been honored with the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award for All the Pretty Horses, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Pulitzer Prize for The Road, and the coveted MacArthur Fellowship. Steven Frye offers a comprehensive treatment of McCarthy's fiction to date, dealing with the author's aesthetic and thematic concerns, his philosophical and religious influences, and his participation in Western literary traditions.

Frye provides extensive readings of each novel, charting the trajectory of McCarthy's development as a writer who invigorates literary culture both past and present through a blend of participation, influence, and aesthetic transformation. Understanding Cormac McCarthy explores the early works of the Tennessee period in the context of the "romance" genre, the southern gothic and grotesque, as well as the carnivalesque. A chapter is devoted to Blood Meridian, a novel that marks McCarthy's transition to the West and his full recognition as a major force in American letters. In the final two chapters, Frye explores McCarthy's Border Trilogy and his later works� specifically No Country for Old Men and The Road—addressing the manner in which McCarthy's preoccupation with violence and human depravity exists alongside a perpetual search for meaning, purpose, and value.

Frye provides scholars, students, and general readers alike with a clearly argued foundational examination of McCarthy's novels in their historical and literary contexts as an ideal roadmap illuminating the author's work as it charts the dark and mythic topography of the American frontier.]]> 213 Steven Frye J.B. 0 to-read 4.29 2009 Understanding Cormac McCarthy (Understanding Contemporary American Literature)
author: Steven Frye
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Subversives: The FBI's War on Student Radicals, and Reagan's Rise to Power]]> 18878477 1092 Seth Rosenfeld J.B. 0 to-read 4.37 2012 Subversives: The FBI's War on Student Radicals, and Reagan's Rise to Power
author: Seth Rosenfeld
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence]]> 36484703 "What does AI mean for your business? Read this book to find out." -- Hal Varian, Chief Economist, Google

Artificial intelligence does the seemingly impossible, magically bringing machines to life--driving cars, trading stocks, and teaching children. But facing the sea change that AI will bring can be paralyzing. How should companies set strategies, governments design policies, and people plan their lives for a world so different from what we know? In the face of such uncertainty, many analysts either cower in fear or predict an impossibly sunny future.

But in Prediction Machines, three eminent economists recast the rise of AI as a drop in the cost of prediction. With this single, masterful stroke, they lift the curtain on the AI-is-magic hype and show how basic tools from economics provide clarity about the AI revolution and a basis for action by CEOs, managers, policy makers, investors, and entrepreneurs.

When AI is framed as cheap prediction, its extraordinary potential becomes

Prediction is at the heart of making decisions under uncertainty. Our businesses and personal lives are riddled with such decisions.Prediction tools increase productivity--operating machines, handling documents, communicating with customers.Uncertainty constrains strategy. Better prediction creates opportunities for new business structures and strategies to compete.

Penetrating, fun, and always insightful and practical, Prediction Machines follows its inescapable logic to explain how to navigate the changes on the horizon. The impact of AI will be profound, but the economic framework for understanding it is surprisingly simple.]]> 328 Ajay Agrawal 1633695689 J.B. 0 to-read 3.87 Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence
author: Ajay Agrawal
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.87
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/27
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]]> <![CDATA[The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger - Second Edition with a new chapter by the author]]> 30111234 531 Marc Levinson J.B. 0 to-read 4.10 2006 The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger - Second Edition with a new chapter by the author
author: Marc Levinson
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Origins of Cool in Postwar America]]> 35160757 An “entertaining� study of the enduring concept of coolness, and the mix of cultures and historical events that shaped it (The New York Times).Cool. It was a new word and a new way to be, and in a single generation, it became the supreme compliment of American culture. The Origins of Cool in Postwar America uncovers the hidden history of this concept and its new set of codes that came to define a global attitude and style. As Joel Dinerstein reveals, cool began as a stylish defiance of racism, a challenge to suppressed sexuality, a philosophy of individual rebellion, and a youthful search for social change.Through portraits of iconic figures, he illuminates the cultural connections and artistic innovations among Lester Young, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Jack Kerouac, Albert Camus, Marlon Brando, James Dean, and others. We eavesdrop on conversations among Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Miles Davis, and on a forgotten debate between Lorraine Hansberry and Norman Mailer over the “white Negro� and black cool. We come to understand how the cool worlds of Beat writers and Method actors emerged from the intersections of film noir, jazz, and existentialism. Out of this mix, Dinerstein sketches nuanced definitions of cool that unite concepts from African-American and Euro-American the stylish stoicism of the ethical rebel loner; the relaxed intensity of the improvising jazz musician; the effortless physical grace of the Method actor. To be cool is not to be hip and to be hot is definitely not to be cool.“Eminently readable. Much more than just a history of cool, this book is a studied examination of the very real, often problematic social issues that popular culture responds to.� —Publishers Weekly (starred review)“The kind of book that makes learning enjoyable.� —The Wall Street Journal“Superb.� —Times Higher Education]]> 549 Joel Dinerstein J.B. 0 to-read 4.00 2017 The Origins of Cool in Postwar America
author: Joel Dinerstein
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2017
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]]> <![CDATA[Masscult and Midcult: Essays Against the American Grain (New York Review Books Classics)]]> 19272137 321 Dwight Macdonald 1590174682 J.B. 0 to-read 3.94 1962 Masscult and Midcult: Essays Against the American Grain (New York Review Books Classics)
author: Dwight Macdonald
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1962
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories]]> 28805391 The candid, hilarious, shocking, occasionally horrifying, and surprisingly moving New York Times bestselling autobiography of punk legends NOFX, their own story in their own words The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories is the first tell-all autobiography from one of the world's most influential and controversial punk bands. Alongside hilarious anecdotes about pranks and drunkenness and teenage failures-featuring the trademark NOFX sense of humor-the book also shares the ugliness and horror the band members experienced on the road to becoming DIY millionaires. Fans and non-fans alike will be shocked by stories of murder, suicide, addiction, counterfeiting, riots, bondage, terminal illness, the Yakuza, and pee...lots and lots of pee. Told by each of the band members (and two former members), NOFX looks back at more than thirty years of comedy, tragedy, and completely inexplicable success.]]> 362 NOFX J.B. 0 to-read 4.56 2016 NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories
author: NOFX
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society]]> 41161144 "A dazzlingly erudite synthesis of history, philosophy, anthropology, genetics, sociology, economics, epidemiology, statistics, and more" (Frank Bruni, The New York Times), Blueprint shows why evolution has placed us on a humane path -- and how we are united by our common humanity.For too long, scientists have focused on the dark side of our biological our capacity for aggression, cruelty, prejudice, and self-interest. But natural selection has given us a suite of beneficial social features, including our capacity for love, friendship, cooperation, and learning. Beneath all of our inventions -- our tools, farms, machines, cities, nations -- we carry with us innate proclivities to make a good society.In Blueprint, Nicholas A. Christakis introduces the compelling idea that our genes affect not only our bodies and behaviors, but also the ways in which we make societies, ones that are surprisingly similar worldwide.With many vivid examples -- including diverse historical and contemporary cultures, communities formed in the wake of shipwrecks, commune dwellers seeking utopia, online groups thrown together by design or involving artificially intelligent bots, and even the tender and complex social arrangements of elephants and dolphins that so resemble our own -- Christakis shows that, despite a human history replete with violence, we cannot escape our social blueprint for goodness.In a world of increasing political and economic polarization, it's tempting to ignore the positive role of our evolutionary past. But by exploring the ancient roots of goodness in civilization, Blueprint shows that our genes have shaped societies for our welfare and that, in a feedback loop stretching back many thousands of years, societies are still shaping our genes today.]]> 441 Nicholas A. Christakis 0316230057 J.B. 0 to-read 3.96 2019 Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
author: Nicholas A. Christakis
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Start Your Own Cannabis Business: Your Step-By-Step Guide to the Marijuana Industry (Startup)]]> 39675582 Everything You Need to Start and Run a Successful Cannabis Business

From retailers to growers, producers, and suppliers, there's a seemingly never-ending list of startup opportunities in this emerging market. In Start Your Own Cannabis Business, cannabis, biotech, and entrepreneurship reporter Javier Hasse introduces forward-thinking entrepreneurs lie you to the industry and shares hard-earned tips and success stories from pioneers and visionaries in the marijuana industry.

Take a closer look at the world of weed and what it holds for you and your future as a cannabis entrepreneur. You'll learn how Put together a solid business plan with tips from cannabis lawyers Estimate startup costs with the help of cannabis-experienced CPAs Assemble a team of employees with insight from legal cannabis recruiting and dispensary training agencies Protect your assets in case something goes wrong with your business Familiarize yourself with the tax and legal regulations of the industry Understand what's legal and what's not in the U.S. in cannabis Grow your cannabis business into a multistate company]]> 236 Javier Hasse 1613083912 J.B. 0 to-read 4.00 2018 Start Your Own Cannabis Business: Your Step-By-Step Guide to the Marijuana Industry (Startup)
author: Javier Hasse
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition of Edification and Awakening by Anti-Climacus]]> 20644326 208 Søren Kierkegaard J.B. 0 to-read 4.14 1849 The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition of Edification and Awakening by Anti-Climacus
author: Søren Kierkegaard
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1849
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The End of Forgetting: Growing Up with Social Media]]> 51297151 183 Kate Eichhorn 0674239350 J.B. 0 to-read 3.67 The End of Forgetting: Growing Up with Social Media
author: Kate Eichhorn
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Without a Prayer: The Death of Lucas Leonard and How One Church Became a Cult]]> 46042384

Nine members of Lucas� church would eventually find themselves facing murder-related charges. But how did they get to that point? And what made Lucas confess? The full story has never been told—until now.


Emmy-nominated journalist Susan Ashline delves deep into the Leonard family history, the darkness within the Word of Life Christian Church, and what led Lucas, his family, and his community to that fateful night.]]> 392 Susan Ashline 1643131869 J.B. 0 to-read 3.93 2019 Without a Prayer: The Death of Lucas Leonard and How One Church Became a Cult
author: Susan Ashline
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Terrence Malick: Rehearsing the Unexpected]]> 28436328 432 Daniele Villa J.B. 0 to-read 4.33 2014 Terrence Malick: Rehearsing the Unexpected
author: Daniele Villa
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Business For Authors. How To Be An Author Entrepreneur]]> 23119812
But I’m not here to talk about creativity or the craft of writing in this book. My aim is to take the result of your creativity into the realm of actually paying the bills.
˃˃˃ To take you from being an author to running a business as an author.

I was a business consultant for 13 years before I gave up my job in September 2011 to become a full-time author-entrepreneur. I worked for large corporates and small businesses, implementing financial systems across Europe and Asia Pacific.

I’ve also started a number of my own businesses �" a scuba dive charter boat in New Zealand, a customized travel website, a property investment portfolio in Australia as well as my freelance consultancy. I’ve failed a lot and learned many lessons in my entrepreneurial life and I share them all in this book.

In the last six years of being an author, through tempestuous changes in the publishing world, I've learned the business side of being a writer and I now earn a good living as an author-entrepreneur. I’m an author because it's my passion and my joy ”� but also because it's a viable business in this age of global and digital opportunity.

˃˃˃ In the book, you will learn:

** Part 1: From Author To Entrepreneur

The arc of the author’s journey, definition of an author-entrepreneur, deciding on your definition of success. Plus/ should you start a company?

** Part 2: Products and Services

How you can turn one manuscript into multiple streams of income by exploiting all the different rights, various business models for authors and how to evaluate them, information on contracts, copyright and piracy. Plus/ putting together a production plan.

** Part 3: Employees, Suppliers and Contractors

The team you need to run your business. Your role as author and what you’re committing to, as well as co-writing. Editors, agents and publishers, translators, book designers and formatters, audiobook narrators, book-keeping and accounting, virtual assistants. Plus/ how to manage your team.

** Part 4: Customers

In-depth questions to help you understand who your customers are and what they want, as well as customer service options for authors.

** Part 5: Sales and Distribution

How to sell through distributors and your options, plus all the information you need to sell direct. ISBNs and publishing imprints �" do you need them? Plus/ your options for pricing.

** Part 6: Marketing

Key overarching marketing concepts. Book-based marketing including cover, back copy and sales pages on the distributors. Author-based marketing around building your platform, and customer-based marketing around your niche audience and targeted media.

** Part 7: Financials

Changing your mindset about money, and assessing where you are now vs where you want to be. Revenues of the author business and how to increase that revenue. Costs of the author business and funding your startup. Banking, PayPal, accounting, reporting, tax and estate planning.

** Part 8: Strategy and Planning

Developing your strategy and business plan. Managing your time and developing professional habits. The long term view and the process for becoming a full-time author. Plus/ looking after yourself.

** Part 9: Next Steps

Questions from the book to help you work out everything to do with your business, plus encouragement for your next steps.

** Appendices, Workbook and Bonus Downloads including a workbook and business plan template.]]> 266 Joanna Penn J.B. 0 to-read 4.43 2014 Business For Authors. How To Be An Author Entrepreneur
author: Joanna Penn
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right]]> 46126162
In her new preface, Jane Mayer discusses the results of the most recent election and Donald Trump’s victory, and how, despite much discussion to the contrary, this was a huge victory for the billionaires who have been pouring money in the American political system.

Why is America living in an age of profound and widening economic inequality? Why have even modest attempts to address climate change been defeated again and again? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? In a riveting and indelible feat of reporting, Jane Mayer illuminates the history of an elite cadre of plutocrats—headed by the Kochs, the Scaifes, the Olins, and the Bradleys—who have bankrolled a systematic plan to fundamentally alter the American political system. Mayer traces a byzantine trail of billions of dollars spent by the network, revealing a staggering conglomeration of think tanks, academic institutions, media groups, courthouses, and government allies that have fallen under their sphere of influence. Drawing from hundreds of exclusive interviews, as well as extensive scrutiny of public records, private papers, and court proceedings, Mayer provides vivid portraits of the secretive figures behind the new American oligarchy and a searing look at the carefully concealed agendas steering the nation. Dark Money is an essential book for anyone who cares about the future of American democracy.
--penguinrandomhouse.com]]> 464 Jane Mayer 0385535600 J.B. 0 to-read 4.37 2016 Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
author: Jane Mayer
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2016
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]]> <![CDATA[Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career]]> 44770129
Learn a new talent, stay relevant, reinvent yourself, and adapt to whatever the workplace throws your way. Ultralearning offers nine principles to master hard skills quickly. This is the essential guide to future-proof your career and maximize your competitive advantage through self-education.

In these tumultuous times of economic and technological change, staying ahead depends on continual self-education—a lifelong mastery of fresh ideas, subjects, and skills. If you want to accomplish more and stand apart from everyone else, you need to become an ultralearner.

The challenge of learning new skills is that you think you already know how best to learn, as you did as a student, so you rerun old routines and old ways of solving problems. To counter that, Ultralearning offers powerful strategies to break you out of those mental ruts and introduces new training methods to help you push through to higher levels of retention.

Scott H. Young incorporates the latest research about the most effective learning methods and the stories of other ultralearners like himself—among them Benjamin Franklin, chess grandmaster Judit Polgár, and Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman, as well as a host of others, such as little-known modern polymath Nigel Richards, who won the French World Scrabble Championship—without knowing French.

Young documents the methods he and others have used to acquire knowledge and shows that, far from being an obscure skill limited to aggressive autodidacts, ultralearning is a powerful tool anyone can use to improve their career, studies, and life.

Ultralearning explores this fascinating subculture, shares a proven framework for a successful ultralearning project, and offers insights into how you can organize and exe - cute a plan to learn anything deeply and quickly, without teachers or budget-busting tuition costs.

Whether the goal is to be fluent in a language (or ten languages), earn the equivalent of a college degree in a fraction of the time, or master multiple tools to build a product or business from the ground up, the principles in Ultralearning will guide you to success.]]> 305 Scott H. Young J.B. 0 to-read 3.94 2019 Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career
author: Scott H. Young
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships (The Dr. Sue Johnson Collection Book 2)]]> 19417000 The bestselling author of Hold Me Tight presents a revolutionary new understanding of why and how we love, based on cutting-edge research.Every day, we hear of relationships failing and questions of whether humans are meant to be monogamous. Love Sense presents new scientific evidence that tells us that humans are meant to mate for life. Dr. Johnson explains that romantic love is an attachment bond, just like that between mother and child, and shows us how to develop our "love sense" -- our ability to develop long-lasting relationships.Love is not the least bit illogical or random, but actually an ordered and wise recipe for survival. Love Sense covers the three stages of a relationship and how to best weather them; the intelligence of emotions and the logic of love; the physical and psychological benefits of secure love; and much more. Based on groundbreaking research, Love Sense will change the way we think about love.]]> 353 Sue Johnson J.B. 0 to-read 4.27 2013 Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships (The Dr. Sue Johnson Collection Book 2)
author: Sue Johnson
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2013
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]]> <![CDATA[The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why]]> 53562370
Today, nine out of ten Americans live in places at significant risk of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorism, or other disasters. Tomorrow, some of us will have to make split-second choices to save ourselves and our families. How will we react? What will it feel like? Will we be heroes or victims? Will our upbringing, our gender, our personality–anything we’ve ever learned, thought, or dreamed of–ultimately matter?

Amanda Ripley, an award-winning journalist for Time magazine who has covered some of the most devastating disasters of our age, set out to discover what lies beyond fear and speculation. In this magnificent work of investigative journalism, Ripley retraces the human response to some of history’s epic disasters, from the explosion of the Mont Blanc munitions ship in 1917–one of the biggest explosions before the invention of the atomic bomb–to a plane crash in England in 1985 that mystified investigators for years, to the journeys of the 15,000 people who found their way out of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Then, to understand the science behind the stories, Ripley turns to leading brain scientists, trauma psychologists, and other disaster experts, formal and informal, from a Holocaust survivor who studies heroism to a master gunfighter who learned to overcome the effects of extreme fear.

Finally, Ripley steps into the dark corners of her own imagination, having her brain examined by military researchers and experiencing through realistic simulations what it might be like to survive a plane crash into the ocean or to escape a raging fire.

Ripley comes back with precious wisdom about the surprising humanity of crowds, the elegance of the brain’s fear circuits, and the stunning inadequacy of many of our evolutionary responses. Most unexpectedly, she discovers the brain’s ability to do much, much better, with just a little help.

The Unthinkable escorts us into the bleakest regions of our nightmares, flicks on a flashlight, and takes a steady look around. Then it leads us home, smarter and stronger than we were before.]]> 290 Amanda Ripley J.B. 0 to-read 4.38 2008 The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why
author: Amanda Ripley
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2008
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]]> <![CDATA[The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power]]> 8149548
Behind the scenes at every National Prayer Breakfast since 1953 has been the Family, an elite network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful. Their goal is "Jesus plus nothing." Their method is backroom diplomacy. The Family is the startling story of how their faith—part free-market fundamentalism, part imperial ambition—has come to be interwoven with the affairs of nations around the world.]]> 468 Jeff Sharlet 006180181X J.B. 0 to-read 3.82 2008 The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
author: Jeff Sharlet
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2008
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]]> <![CDATA[Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation]]> 48926013 A scholar of American Christianity presents a seventy-five-year history of evangelicalism that identifies the forces that have turned Donald Trump into a hero of the Religious Right.

How did a libertine who lacks even the most basic knowledge of the Christian faith win 81 percent of the white evangelical vote in 2016? And why have white evangelicals become a presidential reprobate’s staunchest supporters? These are among the questions acclaimed historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez asks in Jesus and John Wayne, which delves beyond facile headlines to explain how white evangelicals have brought us to our fractured political moment. Challenging the commonly held assumption that the “moral majority� backed Donald Trump for purely pragmatic reasons, Du Mez reveals that Donald Trump in fact represents the fulfillment, rather than the betrayal, of white evangelicals� most deeply held values.

Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping account of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, showing how American evangelicals have worked for decades to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism or in the words of one modern chaplain, with “a spiritual badass.� As Du Mez explains, the key to understanding this transformation is to recognize the role of culture in modern American evangelicalism. Many of today’s evangelicals may not be theologically astute, but they know their VeggieTales, they’ve read John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart, and they learned about purity before they learned about sex—and they have a silver ring to prove it. Evangelical books, films, music, clothing, and merchandise shape the beliefs of millions. And evangelical popular culture is teeming with muscular heroes—mythical warriors and rugged soldiers, men like Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, Mel Gibson, and the Duck Dynasty clan, who assert white masculine power in defense of “Christian America.� Chief among these evangelical legends is John Wayne, an icon of a lost time when men were uncowed by political correctness, unafraid to tell it like it was, and did what needed to be done.

Trump, in other words, is hardly the first flashy celebrity to capture evangelicals� hearts and minds, nor is he the first strongman to promise evangelicals protection and power. Indeed, the values and viewpoints at the heart of white evangelicalism today—patriarchy, authoritarian rule, aggressive foreign policy, fear of Islam, ambivalence toward #MeToo, and opposition to Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community—are likely to persist long after Trump leaves office.

A much-needed reexamination, Jesus and John Wayne explains why evangelicals have rallied behind the least-Christian president in American history and how they have transformed their faith in the process, with enduring consequences for all of us.]]> 365 Kristin Kobes Du Mez 1631495747 J.B. 0 to-read 4.38 2020 Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
author: Kristin Kobes Du Mez
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2020
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]]> <![CDATA[These Truths: A History of the United States]]> 39340860
These Truths tells this uniquely American story, beginning in 1492, asking whether the course of events over more than five centuries has proven the nation’s truths, or belied them. To answer that question, Lepore traces the intertwined histories of American politics, law, journalism, and technology, from the colonial town meeting to the nineteenth-century party machine, from talk radio to twenty-first-century Internet polls, from Magna Carta to the Patriot Act, from the printing press to Facebook News.

Along the way, Lepore’s sovereign chronicle is filled with arresting sketches of both well-known and lesser-known Americans, from a parade of presidents and a rogues� gallery of political mischief makers to the intrepid leaders of protest movements, including Frederick Douglass, the famed abolitionist orator; William Jennings Bryan, the three-time presidential candidate and ultimately tragic populist; Pauli Murray, the visionary civil rights strategist; and Phyllis Schlafly, the uncredited architect of modern conservatism.


Americans are descended from slaves and slave owners, from conquerors and the conquered, from immigrants and from people who have fought to end immigration. "A nation born in contradiction will fight forever over the meaning of its history," Lepore writes, but engaging in that struggle by studying the past is part of the work of citizenship. "The past is an inheritance, a gift and a burden," These Truths observes. "It can’t be shirked. There’s nothing for it but to get to know it."]]> 955 Jill Lepore 0393635252 J.B. 0 to-read 4.46 2018 These Truths: A History of the United States
author: Jill Lepore
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2018
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]]> <![CDATA[Creative Fight, The: Create Your Best Work and Live the Life You Imagine]]> 26809801
Features the friendly, approachable voice of Chris Orwig, whose photography, teaching, and speaking have inspired countless aspiring amateurs and professionals alike Includes exercises in every chapter to help you put the concepts you learned into practice Offers an elegant design filled with the author’s original photographs captured to visually support the ideas discussed in the book For resources and inspiration, check out the book's companion site, thecreativefight.com.]]> 289 Chris Orwig J.B. 0 to-read 4.13 2015 Creative Fight, The: Create Your Best Work and Live the Life You Imagine
author: Chris Orwig
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting]]> 40389794 490 Robert McKee J.B. 0 to-read 4.38 1997 Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
author: Robert McKee
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1997
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]]> Uncanny Valley 46136224 The prescient, page-turning account of a journey in Silicon a defining memoir of our digital age

In her mid-twenties, at the height of tech industry idealism, Anna Wiener—stuck, broke, and looking for meaning in her work, like any good millennial—left a job in book publishing for the promise of the new digital economy. She moved from New York to San Francisco, where she landed at a big-data startup in the heart of the Silicon Valley a world of surreal extravagance, dubious success, and fresh-faced entrepreneurs hell-bent on domination, glory, and, of course, progress.

Anna arrived during a massive cultural shift, as the tech industry rapidly transformed into a locus of wealth and power rivaling Wall Street. But amid the company ski vacations and in-office speakeasies, boyish camaraderie and ride-or-die corporate fealty, a new Silicon Valley began to one in far over its head, one that enriched itself at the expense of the idyllic future it claimed to be building.

Part coming-of-age-story, part portrait of an already bygone era, Anna Wiener’s memoir, Uncanny Valley, is a rare first-person glimpse into high-flying, reckless startup culture at a time of unchecked ambition, unregulated surveillance, wild fortune, and accelerating political power. With wit, candor, and heart, Anna deftly charts the tech industry’s shift from self-appointed world savior to democracy-endangering liability, alongside a personal narrative of aspiration, ambivalence, and disillusionment.]]> 290 Anna Wiener 0374719764 J.B. 0 to-read 3.74 2020 Uncanny Valley
author: Anna Wiener
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
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]]> Moonlighting: An Oral History 55161500 288 Scott Ryan 1949024261 J.B. 5 to-read 4.07 Moonlighting: An Oral History
author: Scott Ryan
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/09/09
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]]> Billy Summers 56852407
How about everything...]]> 517 Stephen King 1982173610 J.B. 4 novel-fiction 4.11 2021 Billy Summers
author: Stephen King
name: J.B.
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/09
date added: 2021/09/09
shelves: novel-fiction
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]]> Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 55922484
RICK DALTON � Once he had his own TV series, but now Rick’s a washed-up villain-of-the week drowning his sorrows in whiskey sours. Will a phone call from Rome save his fate or seal it?

CLIFF BOOTH � Rick’s stunt double, and the most infamous man on any movie set because he’s the only one there who might have gotten away with murder. . . .

SHARON TATE � She left Texas to chase a movie-star dream, and found it. Sharon’s salad days are now spent on Cielo Drive, high in the Hollywood Hills.

CHARLES MANSON � The ex-con’s got a bunch of zonked-out hippies thinking he’s their spiritual leader, but he’d trade it all to be a rock ‘n� roll star.

HOLLYWOOD 1969 � YOU SHOULDA BEEN THERE]]> 400 Quentin Tarantino 0063112523 J.B. 4 3.86 2021 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
author: Quentin Tarantino
name: J.B.
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/08/08
date added: 2021/08/08
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]]>