Alexa's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 01 May 2025 19:32:02 -0700 60 Alexa's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity]]> 212987932 How Silicon Valley’s heartless, baseless, and foolish obsessions—with escaping death, emergent AI tyrants, and limitless growth—pervert public discourse and distract us from real social problemsĚý

Tech billionaires have decided that they should determine our futures for us. According to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and more, the only good future for humanity is one powered by trillions of humans living in space, functionally immortal, served by superintelligent AIs.ĚýĚý
Ěý
In More Everything Forever, science writer Adam Becker investigates these wildly implausible and often profoundly immoral visions of tomorrow—and shows why, in reality, there is no good evidence that they will, or should, come to pass. Nevertheless, these obsessions fuel fears that overwhelm reason—for example, that a rogue AI will exterminate humanity—at the expense of essential work on solving crucial problems like climate change. What’s more, these futuristic visions cloak a hunger for power under dreams of space colonies and digital immortality. The giants of Silicon Valley claim that their ideas are based on science, but the reality is they come from a jumbled mix of shallow futurism and racist pseudoscience. Ěý
Ěý
More Everything Forever exposes the powerful and sinister ideas that dominate Silicon Valley, challenging us to see how foolish, and dangerous, these visions of the future are.Ěý]]> 290 Adam Becker 1541619609 Alexa 0 to-read 4.15 2025 More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity
author: Adam Becker
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/05/01
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]]> <![CDATA[An American Utopia: Dual Power and the Universal Army]]> 27039054 Controversial manifesto by acclaimed cultural theorist debated by leading writers

Fredric Jameson’s pathbreaking essay “An American Utopia� radically questions standard leftist notions of what constitutes an emancipated society. Advocated here are—among other things—universal conscription, the full acknowledgment of envy and resentment as a fundamental challenge to any communist society, and the acceptance that the division between work and leisure cannot be overcome. To create a new world, we must first change the way we envision the world. Jameson’s text is ideally placed to trigger a debate on the alternatives to global capitalism. In addition to Jameson’s essay, the volume includes responses from philosophers and political and cultural analysts, as well as an epilogue from Jameson himself.

Many will be appalled at what they will encounter in these pages—there will be blood! But perhaps one has to spill such (ideological) blood to give the Left a chance.]]> 336 Fredric Jameson 1784784524 Alexa 0 to-read 3.61 2016 An American Utopia: Dual Power and the Universal Army
author: Fredric Jameson
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Red State Christians: A Journey into White Christian Nationalism and the Wreckage It Leaves Behind]]> 60143384 319 Angela Denker 1506482503 Alexa 0 to-read 4.04 Red State Christians: A Journey into White Christian Nationalism and the Wreckage It Leaves Behind
author: Angela Denker
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.04
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]]> <![CDATA[The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road]]> 214151516 From Vanity Fair and The New York Times contributor comes a beautifully written, deeply felt memoir recounting the solo, cross-country journey she made along the Ten across the American a mission to uncover both what harrowing violence may or may not have happened to her late mother, but also, to look within and discover who she herself is—where her mother ends and she begins.

In her trusted loaded-up minivan “Minnie,� E.A. Hanks follows the same route as a long-ago road trip with her mother in an attempt to better understand the complicated woman who gave her life. Along the way, as she follows her mother’s diaries and her own recollections of the route, she begins to uncover secrets—some unexpectedly wonderful, and others darker and more violent than she ever imagined—that bring more questions than answers.

From the quiet expanses of White Sands National Park to the bustling streets of New Orleans, and the Texas-Mexico border to the swamps of the Florida panhandle, she interacts with the amazing breadth and diversity of the people that call these places home. Reckoning with the past, the present, her memories, and herself, Hanks brings us along a beautiful voyage towards understanding how the stories we tell about the places we’re from ultimately become the stories we tell about the people we are.]]> 352 E.A. Hanks 1982131292 Alexa 0 to-read 3.69 2025 The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road
author: E.A. Hanks
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2025
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]]> Dear Wendy 138383409 Dear Wendy's Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual students at Wellesley College, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in this dual POV Young Adult contemporary debut from Ann Zhao.

Sophie Chi is in her first year at Wellesley College (despite her parents� wishes that she attend a “real� university, rather than a liberal arts school) and has long accepted her aromantic and asexual identities. Despite knowing she’ll never fall in love, she enjoys running an Instagram account that offers relationship advice to students at Wellesley. No one except her roommate knows that she’s behind the incredibly popular "Dear Wendy" account.

When Joanna “Jo� Ephron—also a first-year student at Wellesley—created their “Sincerely Wanda� account, it wasn't at all meant to be serious or take off like it does—not like Dear Wendy’s. But now they might have a rivalry of sorts with Dear Wendy? Oops . As if Jo’s not busy enough having existential crises over gender, the fact that she’ll never truly be loved or be enough, or her few friends finding The One and forgetting her!

While tensions are rising online, Sophie and Jo are getting closer in real life, bonding over their shared aroace identities. As their friendship develops and they work together to start a campus organization for other a-spec students, can their growing bond survive if they learn just who’s behind the Wendy and Wanda accounts?

Exploring a-spec identities, college life, and more, this platonic comedy is ultimately a love story about two people who are not—and will not—be in love!]]> 363 Ann Zhao Alexa 5
The whole instagram identity thing was a bit off for me. Sophie took some of the things too seriously; and other times, I thought she or Jo had typed something hurtful because neither of them knew who the other was. When it inevitably came out, I thought the resolution was good but the reaction was a bit strong from both sides. I put it down to them both being college freshmen and living away from home for the first time.

I really identified with Jo’s anxiety about living alone forever and being forgotten by all their friends. And I also identified with Sophie’s feelings of being okay with being alone forever.

I think I really needed this book 20+ years ago, when I was a teenager or in my early 20s. I’m glad that it exists for those who are that young now.

Content warning

Graphic
Acephobia/Arophobia, Misogyny, parents not accepting/understanding aro/ace.

Moderate
Bullying, Biphobia, Lesbophobia

Minor
Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Racism]]> 3.83 2024 Dear Wendy
author: Ann Zhao
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
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My aro/ace group read this and I thought it was really cute.

The whole instagram identity thing was a bit off for me. Sophie took some of the things too seriously; and other times, I thought she or Jo had typed something hurtful because neither of them knew who the other was. When it inevitably came out, I thought the resolution was good but the reaction was a bit strong from both sides. I put it down to them both being college freshmen and living away from home for the first time.

I really identified with Jo’s anxiety about living alone forever and being forgotten by all their friends. And I also identified with Sophie’s feelings of being okay with being alone forever.

I think I really needed this book 20+ years ago, when I was a teenager or in my early 20s. I’m glad that it exists for those who are that young now.

Content warning

Graphic
Acephobia/Arophobia, Misogyny, parents not accepting/understanding aro/ace.

Moderate
Bullying, Biphobia, Lesbophobia

Minor
Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Racism
]]> <![CDATA[This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman]]> 51927994 An intimate and rousing memoir by progressive trailblazer Ilhan Omar—the first African refugee, the first Somali-American, and one of the first Muslim women, elected to Congress.

Ilhan Omar was only eight years old when war broke out in Somalia. The youngest of seven children, her mother had died while Ilhan was still a little girl. She was being raised by her father and grandfather when armed gunmen attacked their compound and the family decided to flee Mogadishu. They ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya, where Ilhan says she came to understand the deep meaning of hunger and death. Four years later, after a painstaking vetting process, her family achieved refugee status and arrived in Arlington, Virginia.

Aged twelve, penniless, speaking only Somali and having missed out on years of schooling, Ilhan rolled up her sleeves, determined to find her American dream. Faced with the many challenges of being an immigrant and a refugee, she questioned stereotypes and built bridges with her classmates and in her community. In under two decades she became a grassroots organizer, graduated from college and was elected to congress with a record-breaking turnout by the people of Minnesota—ready to keep pushing boundaries and restore moral clarity in Washington D.C.

A beacon of positivity in dark times, Congresswoman Omar has weathered many political storms and yet maintained her signature grace, wit and love of country—all the while speaking up for her beliefs. Similarly, in chronicling her remarkable personal journey, Ilhan is both lyrical and unsentimental, and her irrepressible spirit, patriotism, friendship and faith are visible on every page. As a result,ĚýThis is What America Looks LikeĚýis both the inspiring coming of age story of a refugee and a multidimensional tale of the hopes and aspirations, disappointments and failures, successes, sacrifices and surprises, of a devoted public servant with unshakable faith in the promise of America.Ěý]]> 288 Ilhan Omar 0062954237 Alexa 0 to-read 4.26 2020 This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman
author: Ilhan Omar
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> The Black Trans Prayer Book 53351612 231 J Mase III 1678197610 Alexa 0 to-read 4.50 2020 The Black Trans Prayer Book
author: J Mase III
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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]]> <![CDATA[After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe but Not Abortion]]> 215363225 How hard-working individuals have kept abortion afloat in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s destruction, and the continued help needed if we want to sustain it

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, many feared it meant the end of abortion access in the United States. Yet the courageous work of people on the ground has allowed abortion to survive post-Dobbs in ways that no one predicted.

In After Dobbs, law expert David Cohen and sociologist Carole Joffe interview 24 people across all different fields in abortion and in different state political environments to uncover how the abortion providing community and its allies prepared for, and then responded to this momentous event. Taking place across three intervals throughout 2022—pre-Dobbs in early 2022, right after Dobbs, and then six months later—these interviews showcase how nimble thinking on the part of providers, growth and new delivery models of abortion pills, and the never-ending work of those who help with abortion travel and funding have ensured most people who want them are still getting abortions, even without Roe.

But, as much as this is cause for celebration, the work required to make abortion possible is difficult and costly—in time, money, and emotion. There may soon come a time when the overturning of Roe means a much more severe decline in the number of people able to obtain the abortions they seek. But because of the work of the people in this book and those like them, even though Roe is dead, abortion is not . . . yet.]]> 248 David S. Cohen 0807017663 Alexa 0 to-read 4.83 After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe but Not Abortion
author: David S. Cohen
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.83
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]]> <![CDATA[99% Perspiration: A New Working History of the American Way of Life]]> 211025450 An enlightening and entertaining interrogation of the myth of American self-reliance and the idea of hard work as destiny "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." This phrase, arguably Thomas Edison's most famous quote, has been drilled into the minds of generations of Americans. A fairly straightforward appraisal of the fact that innovation, discovery, and ingenuity are the result of drive and grit above all, it has also come to represent a much darker that the byproduct of hard work is always success. Those who come out on top are there because they earned it, and everyone else needs to buckle down, glove up, and, maybe one day, they'll get there too. As the wealth gap widens, unemployment soars, and Americans become increasingly dissatisfied with labor conditions, Adam Chandler raises the What happens when perspiration isn't enough? To answer it, he crisscrosses the country interviewing farmworkers, hedge fund managers, tech billionaires, and gas station employees, to reveal just how untenable relying on "perspiration" as a strategy has truly become. He also delves into America's past to reveal how our government, education system, and culture at large have woven the idea of meritocracy deep into the fabric of American society and how some of history's most famous so-called bootstrappers really built their wealth. From George Washington to Bill Gates, 99% Perspiration unpacks the misguided obsession with hard work that has come to define both the American dream and plight, offering insight into how we got here andĚýhope for where we may go.]]> 304 Adam Chandler 0593700570 Alexa 0 to-read 3.95 99% Perspiration: A New Working History of the American Way of Life
author: Adam Chandler
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.95
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date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Another World Is Possible: Lessons for America from Around the Globe]]> 206348383 A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book
Featured in The New York Times Book Review and NPR

Real-world solutions to America’s thorniest social problems—from housing to retirement to drug addiction—based on original reporting from around the world

A new generation of Americans has declared that another world is possible. And yet, the stubborn problems of inequality, climate change, and declining health seem as intractable as ever. Where might different answers lie?

Intrepid journalist Natasha Hakimi Zapata has traveled around the world, from Costa Rica to New Zealand, and Estonia to Singapore, uncovering how different countries solve the problems that plague the United States. Through in-depth reporting, including interviews with senior government officials, activists, industry professionals, and the ordinary people affected by their policies, Another World Is Possible examines innovative programs that address public health, social services, climate change, housing, education, addiction, and more.


In each instance Zapata provides a clear-eyed assessment of the history, challenges, cost-effectiveness, and real-world impact of these programs. The result is a compelling, frame-shifting account of how we might live differently and create a safer, healthier, more sustainable future.

A work of keen analysis as well as enormous heart and optimism, Another World Is Possible is destined to crack the mold of current debates, and to refresh our sense of what might be possible tomorrow.]]> 420 Natasha Hakimi Zapata 162097889X Alexa 0 to-read 4.17 2025 Another World Is Possible: Lessons for America from Around the Globe
author: Natasha Hakimi Zapata
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children's Health]]> 213243929 A pediatrician and infectious disease specialist warns of the resurgence of measles, the antivaccine movement, and how we can prepare for the next pandemic

Every single child diagnosed with measles represents a system failure—an inexcusable unforced error. The technology to prevent essentially 100 percent of measles cases has been in our hands since before the moon landing. But this serious airborne disease, once seemingly defeated, is resurgent around the globe. Why, at a time when biomedical science is so advanced, do parents turn away from vaccination, endangering their own children and the health of the wider population?
ĚýĚýĚýĚýUsing a combination of patient narrative, historical analysis, and scientific research, Dr. Adam Ratner, pediatrician and infectious disease specialist, argues that the reawakening of measles and the subsequent coronavirus pandemic are bellwethers of forgotten knowledge—indicators of decaying trust in science and an underfunded public health infrastructure. Our collective amnesia is starkly revealed in the growth of the antivaccine movement and the missteps in our responses to the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, leading to preventable tragedies in both cases.
ĚýĚýĚýĚýTrust in medicine and public health is at a nadir. Declining vaccine confidence threatens a global reemergence of other vaccine-preventable diseases in the coming years. Ratner details how solving these problems requires the use of literal and figurative “booster shotsâ€� to gather new knowledge and retain the crucial lessons of the past. Learning—and remembering—these lessons is our best hope for preparing for the next pandemic. With attention and care and the tools we already have, we can make the world much safer for children tomorrow than it is today.]]> 288 Adam Ratner 0593330862 Alexa 0 to-read 4.39 2025 Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children's Health
author: Adam Ratner
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Cast Out: Queer Lives in Theater (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)]]> 239016 Cast Out is a collection of memoirs and interviews by twenty-two leading performers, playwrights, technicians, producers, critics, educators, and passionate spectators. The book offers a backstage pass to the personal and creative lives of some of the most important and influential theater artists of the past fifty years.]]> 248 Robin Bernstein 0472069330 Alexa 0 to-read 4.56 2006 Cast Out: Queer Lives in Theater (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)
author: Robin Bernstein
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Freeman's Challenge: The Murder That Shook America's Original Prison for Profit]]> 200652217
In the early nineteenth century, as slavery gradually ended in the North, a village in New York State invented a new form of the profit-driven prison. Uniting incarceration and capitalism, the village of Auburn built a prison that enclosed industrial factories. There, “slaves of the state� were leased to private companies. The prisoners earned no wages, yet they manufactured furniture, animal harnesses, carpets, and combs, which consumers bought throughout the North. Then one young man challenged the system.

In Freeman’s Challenge , Robin Bernstein tells the story of an Afro-Native teenager named William Freeman who was convicted of a horse theft he insisted he did not commit and sentenced to five years of hard labor in Auburn’s prison. Incensed at being forced to work without pay, Freeman demanded wages. His challenge triggered first against him, then by him. Freeman committed a murder that terrified and bewildered white America. And white America struck back—with aftereffects that reverberate into our lives today in the persistent myth of inherent Black criminality. William Freeman’s unforgettable story reveals how the North invented prison for profit half a century before the Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery “except as a punishment for crime”—and how Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and other African Americans invented strategies of resilience and resistance in a city dominated by a citadel of unfreedom.

Through one Black man, his family, and his city, Bernstein tells an explosive, moving story about the entangled origins of prison for profit and anti-Black racism.
Ěý]]> 288 Robin Bernstein 022674423X Alexa 0 to-read 4.41 Freeman's Challenge: The Murder That Shook America's Original Prison for Profit
author: Robin Bernstein
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.41
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]]> <![CDATA[The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs]]> 62805835 Care Work with The Future Is Disabled. Piepzna-Samarasinha writes about the last two years of surviving COVID-19 as a disabled femme of color in an ableist world that isn’t interested in protecting disabled folks. They also discuss mutual aid and disabled joy in the face of isolation and discrimination.

The pandemic has been incredibly difficult for disabled people who have been asked to “take one for the team� by wider society. Piepzna-Samarasinha writes encouragement to disabled folks, relishing in our community’s creativity in our fight for survival. They also mourn those lost in the pandemic and the care crisis so many of us still face.]]> 316 1551528924 Alexa 0 currently-reading 4.32 2022 The Future Is Disabled: Prophecies, Love Notes and Mourning Songs
author: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Pushback: The 2,500-Year Fight to Thwart Women by Restricting Abortion]]> 215750298 The long history of how restricting access to abortion has been used to curtail women’s advancement

Attitudes about abortion cycle between long periods of widespread tolerance, to repression, and back again. What accounts for these pendulum swings? From ancient Greece to the modern West, historian of medicine Mary Fissell argues, abortion repression springs up in response to men’s anxieties about women’s increasing independence.

In Pushback, Fissell shows that, across centuries and continents, abortion has always been commonplace, and persecuting women for ending pregnancies has been about controlling their behavior. As Protestantism de-emphasized celibacy, new abortion restrictions policed unmarried women’s sex lives. Nineteenth-century men unsettled by first-wave feminism hoped to establish medicine as a male profession, and so advocated for abortion bans to undercut women’s new roles as physicians. Fissell presents this history through the hidden stories of women committed to reproductive holy women of the early Catholic Church whose ability to end pregnancies was considered miraculous, midwives accused of witchcraft or criminal conspiracy, and everyday women whose pregnancies threatened their livelihoods—and their lives.

Pushback is essential reading for understanding the complex history of abortion and making sense of recent crackdowns on reproductive rights.]]> 288 Mary Fissell 1541604075 Alexa 0 to-read 4.55 Pushback: The 2,500-Year Fight to Thwart Women by Restricting Abortion
author: Mary Fissell
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.55
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date added: 2025/03/18
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]]> Man's Search for Meaning 17204679 188 Viktor E. Frankl Alexa 0 currently-reading 4.47 1946 Man's Search for Meaning
author: Viktor E. Frankl
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.47
book published: 1946
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/16
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]]> Parable of the Talents 123811874 Originally published in 1998, this shockingly prescient novel's timely message of hope and resistance in the face of fanaticism is more relevant than ever.

In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction of her home and family, and realized her vision of a peaceful community in northern California based on her newly founded faith, Earthseed. The fledgling community provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president who vows to "make America great again." In an increasingly divided and dangerous nation, Lauren's subversive colony--a minority religious faction led by a young black woman--becomes a target for President Jarret's reign of terror and oppression.

Years later, Asha Vere reads the journals of a mother she never knew, Lauren Olamina. As she searches for answers about her own past, she also struggles to reconcile with the legacy of a mother caught between her duty to her chosen family and her calling to lead humankind into a better future.


]]> 434 Octavia E. Butler 1538765500 Alexa 0 currently-reading 4.48 1998 Parable of the Talents
author: Octavia E. Butler
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.48
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/10
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]]> <![CDATA[I'm So Effing Tired: A Proven Plan to Beat Burnout, Boost Your Energy, and Reclaim Your Life]]> 56605128
EXHAUSTION DOESN’T HAVE TO BE YOUR NEW NORMAL

Does it feel like your life is too busy, your days are too short, and you're feeling overworked, overstressed, and overtired? Chances are you’ve asked your doctor for help, only to be told that it’s because of your age, or your workload, or, worse, that it’s just “normal.�

If so, you’re not alone. Women of all ages are suffering from an epidemic of fatigue and burnout. But exhaustion doesn’t have to be your new normal. Inspired by her personal wellness journey, integrative medical doctor Amy Shah has created this program so that you can regain your energy and reclaim your life.

The key is tapping into the powerful energy the complex relationship between your gut, your immune system, and your hormones. Drawing on the latest science and her work helping thousands of clients, Dr. Shah explains how to transform your life by

What You Increase your vegetable intake and sip Dr. Shah’s hormone-balance tea recipe to tamp down inflammation and heal your gut, without giving up your wine and chocolate!When You Changing when you eat and practicing intermittent fasting—the right way—will help you feel energized all day long.How you manage Simple, stress-busting exercises and herbs like Ashwagandha and Amla berry help calm the Adrenal system and ease anxiety.In just two weeks, you’ll feel your energy surge. In three months, you’ll feel like a whole new person. It’s time to regain the energy you’ve lost, so you can get back to the life you want to live.]]> 335 Amy Shah 0358446406 Alexa 0 currently-reading 3.64 2021 I'm So Effing Tired: A Proven Plan to Beat Burnout, Boost Your Energy, and Reclaim Your Life
author: Amy Shah
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Disposable: America's Contempt for the Underclass]]> 214151713 In a compelling blend of personal narrative and in-depth reporting, New York magazine senior writer Sarah Jones exposes the harsh reality of America’s racial and income inequality and the devastating impact of the pandemic on our nation’s most vulnerable people.

In the tradition of Matthew Desmond’s Evicted and Andrea Elliot’s Invisible Child, Disposable is a poignant exploration of America’s underclass, left vulnerable by systemic racism and capitalism. Here, Sarah Jones delves into the lives of the essential workers, seniors, and people with disabilities who were disproportionately affected by COVID-19—not due to their age or profession, but because of the systemic inequality and poverty that left them exposed.

The pandemic served as a stark revelation of the true state of America, a country where the dream of prosperity is a distant mirage for millions. Jones argues that the pandemic didn’t create these dynamics, but rather revealed the existing social mobility issues and wealth gap that have long plagued the nation. Behind the staggering death toll are stories of lives lost, injustices suffered, and institutions that failed to protect their people.

Jones brings these stories to the forefront, transforming the abstract concept of the pandemic into a deeply personal and political phenomenon. She argues that America has abandoned a sacrificial underclass of millions but insists that another future is possible. By addressing the pervasive issues of racial justice and public policy, Jones calls for a future where no one is seen as disposable again.]]> 304 Sarah Jones 1982197420 Alexa 0 to-read 3.56 2025 Disposable: America's Contempt for the Underclass
author: Sarah Jones
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/08
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]]> <![CDATA[Bland Fanatics: Liberals, the West, and the Afterlives of Empire]]> 51540911 A wide-ranging, controversial collection of critical essays on the political mania plaguing the West by one of the most important public intellectuals of our time.

Decades of violence and chaos have produced a political and intellectual hysteria ranging from imperial atavism to paranoia about an Islamic threat to Western civilization that has affected even the most liberal of American and British writers.

In Bland Fanatics, Pankaj Mishra examines this hysteria and its fantasists, taking on its arguments and the atmosphere in which it has festered and become influential. In essays that grapple with colonialism, human rights, and the doubling down of liberalism against a background of faltering economies and weakening Anglo-American hegemony, Mishra confronts writers from Jordan Peterson to Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Featuring a newly written introduction, these essays provide a vantage point from which to look seriously at the current crisis.]]> 218 Pankaj Mishra 0374293317 Alexa 0 to-read 3.86 2020 Bland Fanatics: Liberals, the West, and the Afterlives of Empire
author: Pankaj Mishra
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/01
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]]> <![CDATA[Age of Anger: A History of the Present]]> 30989285 A New York Times Notable Book of 2017 � Named a Best Book of the Year by Slate and NPR � Longlisted for the Orwell PrizeOne of our most important public intellectuals reveals the hidden history of our current global crisisHow can we explain the origins of the great wave of paranoid hatreds that seem inescapable in our close-knit world—from American shooters and ISIS to Donald Trump, from a rise in vengeful nationalism across the world to racism and misogyny on social media? In Age of Anger, Pankaj Mishra answers our bewilderment by casting his gaze back to the eighteenth century before leading us to the present.He shows that as the world became modern, those who were unable to enjoy its promises—of freedom, stability, and prosperity—were increasingly susceptible to demagogues. The many who came late to this new world—or were left, or pushed, behind—reacted in horrifyingly similar with intense hatred of invented enemies, attempts to re-create an imaginary golden age, and self-empowerment through spectacular violence. It was from among the ranks of the disaffected that the militants of the nineteenth century arose—angry young men who became cultural nationalists in Germany, messianic revolutionaries in Russia, bellicose chauvinists in Italy, and anarchist terrorists internationally.Today, just as then, the wide embrace of mass politics and technology and the pursuit of wealth and individualism have cast many more billions adrift in a demoralized world, uprooted from tradition but still far from modernity—with the same terrible results.Making startling connections and comparisons, Age of Anger is a book of immense urgency and profound argument. It is a history of our present predicament unlike any other.]]> 416 Pankaj Mishra 0374715823 Alexa 0 to-read 3.63 2017 Age of Anger: A History of the Present
author: Pankaj Mishra
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/01
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]]> <![CDATA[The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine]]> 214229783 An InstantĚýNew York TimesĚýBestsellerĚý

A chilling analysis of how Western indecision and apathy made possible the return of brutal Russian expansionism with catastrophic consequences � “A must-read for anyone who wants to understand what went wrong and how it can be fixed� (Serhii Plokhy, Harvard University)

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, six US presidential administrations of both parties pursued policies for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia that emboldened Russia, playing into its imperialist, centuries-long mythos of regional hegemony. The military aggression and full-scale invasion. It was all too foreseeable.
Ěý
In The Folly of Realism, leading national security expert and bestselling author Alexander Vindman argues that America’s mistakes in Eastern Europe result from policymakers� fixation on immediate, short-term problem-solving and misplaced hopes and fears. He proposes a new long-term, values-based approach that insists on the fundamentals of liberal democracy and a rules-based world order.
Ěý
Enlivened by firsthand accounts and behind-the-scenes interviews with leading Washington and international policymakers and culminating in the shocking brutality of Putin’s invasions of Ukraine, the book exposes the follies of western foreign policymaking, sources of the dangerous return of Russian imperialism, and proscribes how it can be contained.


Ěý]]> 254 Alexander S. Vindman Alexa 0 to-read 4.18 The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine
author: Alexander S. Vindman
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.18
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]]> <![CDATA[Mental Health Matters: Breaking The Silence, Ignitting Hope, and Redefining Wellness]]> 220296625 Cheryl "Salt" James of the iconic rap duo Salt-N-Pepa lends her voice in a powerful foreword and chapter addressing the realities of mental health struggles.

Featuring 22 co-authors, the book shares raw, deeply personal accounts from individuals and families navigating the challenges of mental illness. These authentic stories reveal the courage, pain, and resilience of those affected, offering hope and a wealth of practical strategies for healing.

More than a collection of stories, Mental Health Matters fosters a sense of community. encourages open dialogue, and advocates for urgent mental health reform. It's time to break the silence, ignite hope, and redefine wellness for a future where no one suffers alone.]]> Cheryl "Salt" James Alexa 0 to-read 5.00 Mental Health Matters: Breaking The Silence, Ignitting Hope, and Redefining Wellness
author: Cheryl "Salt" James
name: Alexa
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]]> <![CDATA[Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America]]> 4837181
A journalist-adventurer, Benjamin packed his bags and embarked on a 26,909-mile journey throughout the heart of white America, to some of the fastest-growing and whitest locales in our nation. Benjamin calls these enclaves "Whitopias." In this groundbreaking book, he shares what he learned as a black man in Whitopia.

Benjamin's journey to unlock the mysteries of Whitopia took him from a 3-day white separatist retreat with links to Aryan Nations in North Idaho to exurban mega-churches down South, and many points in between. A compelling raconteur, bon vivant, and scholar, Benjamin reveals what Whitopias are like and explores the urgent social and political implications of this startling phenomenon.

Benjamin's groundbreaking study is one of few to have illuminated in advance the social and political forces propelling the rise of Donald Trump. After all, Trump carried 94% of America's Whitopian counties. And he won a median 67% of the vote in Whitopia compared to 46% of the vote nationwide.

Leaving behind speculation or sensationalism, Benjamin explores the future of whiteness and race in an increasingly multicultural nation.

"A thoroughly engaging and eye-opening look at an urgent social issue.� -- BOOKLIST (starred review).

]]> 368 Rich Benjamin 1401322689 Alexa 0 to-read 3.64 2009 Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America
author: Rich Benjamin
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Talk to Me: Lessons from a Family Forged by History]]> 213243969 A piercingly powerful memoir, a grandson’s account of the coup that ended his grandfather's presidency of Haiti, the secrecy that shrouded that wound within his family, and his urgent efforts to know his mother despite the past.

Rich Benjamin’s mother, Danielle Fignolé, grew up the eldest in a large family living a comfortable life in Port-au-Prince. Her mother was a schoolteacher, her father a populist hero—a labor leader and politician. The first true champion of the black masses, he eventually became the country’s president in 1957. But two weeks after his inauguration, that life was shattered. Soldiers took Danielle’s parents at gunpoint and put them on a plane to New York, a coup hatched by the Eisenhower administration. Danielle and her siblings were kidnapped, and ultimately smuggled out of the country.

Growing up, Rich knew little of this. No one in his family spoke of it. He didn’t know why his mother struggled with emotional connection, why she was so erratic, so quick to anger. And she, in turn, knew so little about him, about the emotional pain he moved through as a child, the physical agony from his blood disease, while coming to terms with his sexuality at the dawn of the AIDS crisis. For all that they could talk about—books, learning, world events—the deepest parts of themselves remained a mystery to one another, a silence that, the older Rich got, the less he could bear.

It would take Rich years to piece together the turmoil that carried forward from his grandfather, to his mother, to him, and then to bring that story to light. In Talk to Me, he doesn’t just paint the portrait of his family, but a bold, pugnacious portrait of America—of the human cost of the country’s hostilities abroad, the experience of migrants on these shores, and how the indelible ties of family endure through triumph and loss, from generation to generation.]]> 320 Rich Benjamin 0593317394 Alexa 0 to-read 4.16 2025 Talk to Me: Lessons from a Family Forged by History
author: Rich Benjamin
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.16
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]]> <![CDATA[Cultural history of the Virgin virgin (2011) ISBN: 4861823307 [Japanese Import]]]> 44108881 0 Hanne Blank 4861823307 Alexa 0 to-read 0.0 Cultural history of the Virgin virgin (2011) ISBN: 4861823307 [Japanese Import]
author: Hanne Blank
name: Alexa
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]]> Best Transgender Erotica 292947 224 Hanne Blank 1885865406 Alexa 0 to-read 3.74 2002 Best Transgender Erotica
author: Hanne Blank
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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]]> Fat (Object Lessons) 48842137
Public enemy. Crucial macronutrient. Health risk. Punchline. Moneymaker. Epidemic. Sexual fetish. Moral failing. Necessary bodily organ. Conveyor of flavor. Freak-show spectacle. Never mind the stereotype, fat is never sedentary: its definitions, identities, and meanings are manifold and in constant motion.

Demonized in medicine and public policy, adored by chefs and nutritional faddists (and let's face it, most of us who eat), simultaneously desired and abhorred when it comes to sex, and continually courted by a multi-billion-dollar fitness and weight-loss industry, for so many people “fat� is ironically nothing more than an insult or a state of despair.

In Hanne Blank's Fat we find fat as state, as possession, as metaphor, as symptom, as object of desire, intellectual and carnal. Here, “feeling fat� and literal fat merge, blurring the boundaries and infusing one another with richer, fattier meanings.

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.]]> 144 Hanne Blank 1501333283 Alexa 0 to-read 4.06 2020 Fat (Object Lessons)
author: Hanne Blank
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2020
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]]> <![CDATA[The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts]]> 13573382
Hanne Blank—a fellow plus-size girl who’s been there and has the worn-out sports bras to show for it—will help you discover activity that works for you no matter what your size or current fitness level. Whether you choose to do yoga, pump iron, walk your dog, play Wii Fit, hire a personal trainer, or just run errands by bicycle, Hanne will provide specifically tailored advice
•� Finding movement that feels great, physically and emotionally
•� Choosing a gym
•� Facing the trail, pool, park, or locker room
•� Overcoming fear and shame
•� Sourcing plus-size workout gear
•� Getting the nutrition you need and avoiding common injuries
•� Fighting fat prejudice and uninvited comments

Featuring incendiary acts like “Flail proudly,� and “Claim the right to be unattractive (just like anybody else),�

Hanne serves up years of hard-won fitness advice with humor and self-acceptance. With motivating lists like �30 Things to Love About Exercise (None of Which Have Anything to Do with Your Weight, Your Size, or What You Look Like),� this call to action will get you up and moving in no time!]]> 224 Hanne Blank 1607742861 Alexa 0 to-read 3.82 2012 The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts
author: Hanne Blank
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2012
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]]> <![CDATA[Straight: The Surprisingly Short History Of Heterosexuality]]> 12053371 Straight tells the eye-opening story of a complex and often contradictory man-made creation that turns out to be anything but straight or narrow.]]> 228 Hanne Blank 0807044431 Alexa 0 to-read 3.79 2012 Straight: The Surprisingly Short History Of Heterosexuality
author: Hanne Blank
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2012
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]]> Virgin: The Untouched History 225909 Virgin, Hanne Blank brings us a revolutionary, rich and entertaining survey of an astonishing untouched history.
Ěý
From the simple task of determining what constitutes its loss to why it matters to us in the first place, Blank gets to the heart of why we even care about it in the first place. She tackles the reality of what we do and don't know about virginity and provides a sweeping tour of virgins in history--from virgin martyrs to Queen Elizabeth to billboards in downtown Baltimore telling young women it's not a "dirty word." Virgin proves, as well, how utterly contemporary the topic is--the butt of innumerable jokes, center of spiritual mysteries, locus of teenage angst, popular genre for pornography and nucleus around which the world's most powerful government has created an unprecedented abstinence policy. In this fascinating work, Hanne Blank shows for the first time why this is, and why everything we think we know about virginity is wrong.]]> 290 Hanne Blank 1596910100 Alexa 0 to-read 3.93 2007 Virgin: The Untouched History
author: Hanne Blank
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2007
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]]> <![CDATA[This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us]]> 58214330 In her stunning debut, the creator of Black Liturgies weaves stories from three generations of her family alongside contemplative reflections to discover the "necessary rituals" that connect us with our belonging, dignity, and liberation.

"From the womb, we must repeat with regularity that to love ourselves is to survive. I believe that is what my father wanted for me and knew I would so desperately need: a tool for survival, the truth of my dignity named like a mercy new each morning."

So writes Cole Arthur Riley in her unforgettable book of stories and reflections on discovering the sacred in her skin. In these deeply transporting pages, Arthur Riley reflects on the stories of her grandmother and father, and how they revealed to her an embodied, dignity-affirming spirituality, not only in what they believed but in the act of living itself. Writing memorably of her own childhood and coming to self, Arthur Riley boldly explores some of the most urgent questions of life and faith: How can spirituality not silence the body, but instead allow it to come alive? How do we honor, lament, and heal from the stories we inherit? How can we find peace in a world overtaken with dislocation, noise, and unrest? In this indelible work of contemplative storytelling, Arthur Riley invites us to descend into our own stories, examine our capacity to rest, wonder, joy, rage, and repair, and find that our humanity is not an enemy to faith but evidence of it.

At once a compelling spiritual meditation, a powerful intergenerational account, and a tender coming-of-age narrative, This Here Flesh speaks potently to anyone who suspects that our stories might have something to say to us.]]> 203 Cole Arthur Riley 0593239776 Alexa 0 to-read 4.61 2022 This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us
author: Cole Arthur Riley
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.61
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]]> <![CDATA[Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human]]> 134117313
For years, Cole Arthur RileyĚýwas desperate for a spirituality she could trust. Amid ongoing national racial violence, the isolation of the pandemic, and a surge of anti-Black rhetoric in many Christian spaces, she began dreaming of a more human, more liberating expression of faith.ĚýShe went on to create Black Liturgies, a digital project that connects spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black memory, and the Black body.

In this book, she brings together new prayers, letters, poems, meditation questions,Ěýbreath practices, scriptures, and the writings of Black literaryĚýancestors to offer forty-three liturgies that can be practiced individually or as a community. Inviting readers to reflect on their shared experiences of wonder, rest, rage, and repair, and creating rituals for holidays like Lent and Juneteenth, Arthur Riley writes with a poet’s touch and a sensitivity that has made her one of the most important spiritual voices at work today.

For anyone healing from communities that were more violent than loving; for anyone who has escaped the trauma of white Christian nationalism, religious homophobia, or transphobia; for anyone asking what it means to be human in a world of both beauty and terror, Black Liturgies is a work of healing and empowerment, and a vision for what might be.]]> 336 Cole Arthur Riley 0593593642 Alexa 0 to-read 4.72 Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human
author: Cole Arthur Riley
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.72
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]]> <![CDATA[Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning]]> 214490421 A bold, urgent appeal from the acclaimed columnist and political commentator, addressing one of the most important issues of our time

In Peter Beinart’s view, one story has long dominated Jewish communal that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the nuance of sacred Jewish tradition and history, and also warps our understanding of modern history. After Gaza, where Jewish texts, history and language have been deployed to justify mass slaughter and starvation, he argues, Jews must tell a new story. After this war, whose horror will echo for generations, they must do nothing less than offer a new answer to the What does it mean to be a Jew?

Beinart imagines an alternate story that would draw on other nations� efforts at moral reconstruction and a different reading of Jewish history. A story in which Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, and in which Jewish and Palestinian safety is not mutually exclusive but intertwined. One in which we inhabit a world that recognizes the infinite value of all human life, beginning in the Gaza Strip.

Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza is a provocative and fearless argument that will expand and inform one of the defining conversations of our time. It is a book that only Peter Beinart could a passionate yet measured work that brings together his personal experience, his commanding grasp of history, his keen understanding of political and moral nuance, and a clear vision for the future.]]> 192 Peter Beinart 0593803892 Alexa 0 to-read 4.46 2025 Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning
author: Peter Beinart
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.46
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]]> After The Revolution 59645604
Our three protagonists include Manny, a fixer that shuttles journalists in and out of war zones and provides footage for outside news agencies. Sasha is a teenage woman that joins the Heavenly Kingdom before she discovers the ugly truths behind their movement. Finally, we have Roland: A US Army vet kitted out with cyberware (including blood that heals major trauma wounds and a brain that can handle enough LSD to kill an elephant), tormented by broken memories, and 12,000 career kills under his belt. In the not-so-distant world Evans conjures we find advanced technology, a gender expansive culture, and a roving Burning Man-like city fueled by hedonistic excess.

This powerful debut novel from Robert Evans is based on his investigative reporting from international conflict zones and on increasingly polarized domestic struggles. It is a vision of our very possible future.]]> 380 Robert Evans 1849354626 Alexa 0 to-read 4.29 2022 After The Revolution
author: Robert Evans
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.29
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date added: 2025/02/15
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]]> <![CDATA[A Brief History of Vice: How Bad Behavior Built Civilization]]> 27833783 From an editor at the popular humor site Cracked.com and one of the writers of the bestsellingĚýYou Might Be a ZombieĚýandĚýThe De-Textbook, a rollicking look at vice throughout history, complete with instructions for re-creating debauchery at home.

Part history lesson, part how-to guide,ĚýA Brief History of ViceĚýincludes interviews with experts and original experimentation to bring readers a history of some of humanity's most prominent vices, along with explanations for how each of them helped humans rise to the top of the food chain. Evans connects the dots between coffee and its Islamic origins, the drug ephedra and Mormons, music and Stonehenge, and much more. Chapters also include step-by-step guides for re-creating prehistoric debauchery in your modern life based on Evans's firsthand fieldwork. Readers won't just learn about the beer that destroyed South America's first empire; they'll learn how to make it.]]> 260 Robert Evans 0147517605 Alexa 0 to-read 3.89 2016 A Brief History of Vice: How Bad Behavior Built Civilization
author: Robert Evans
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful]]> 214325852 David Enrich, theĚýNew York TimesĚýBusiness Investigations Editor and the #1 bestselling author ofĚýDark Towers, produces his most consequential and far-reaching investigation an in-depth exposĂ© of the broad campaign—orchestrated by elite Americans—to overturn sixty years of Supreme Court precedent, weaponize our speech laws, and silence dissent.

It seemed like a throwaway line in a forgettable In 2019, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas raised the prospect of challenging the legendary Warren Court decisionĚýNew York TimesĚýv. Sullivan. Though hardly a household name, SullivanĚýis one of the most consequential free speech decisions, ever. Fundamental to the creation of the modern media as we know it,ĚýitĚýhas enabled journalists and writers all over the country—from top national publications to revered local newspapers to independent bloggers—to pursue the truth aggressively and hold the wealthy, powerful, and corrupt to account.

Thomas’s words were a warning—the public awakening of an idea that had been fomenting on the conservative fringe for years. With that opinion, Thomas took mainstream the ongoing, secret efforts of right-wing politicians, activist lawyers, and moneyed elites who had been seeking to overturnĚýSullivanĚýin order to muzzle the media and their critics. From the Florida statehouse to small town New Hampshire to Donald Trump himself, this movement consists of powerful individuals who believe they should be above scrutiny—and are using threats, subterfuge, and legal warfare to get their way.

In this masterwork of investigative reporting, David Enrich,ĚýNew York TimesĚýBusiness Investigations Editor, traces the roots and reach of this new threat to our modern democracy. Laying bare the stakes of losing our most sacrosanct rights, Murder the Truth is a story about power—the way it’s used by those who have it, and the lengths they will go to avoid it being questioned.Ěý


]]> 592 David Enrich 0063433036 Alexa 0 to-read 4.41 2025 Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful
author: David Enrich
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2025
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]]> <![CDATA[One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance]]> 30039046
This special book also includes original artwork in full-color from some of today's most exciting African American illustrators, who have created pieces of art based on Nikki's original poems. Featuring art by: Cozbi Cabrera, R. Gregory Christie, Pat Cummings, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Ebony Glenn, Nikki Grimes, E. B. Lewis, Frank Morrison, Christopher Myers, Brian Pinkney, Sean Qualls, James Ransome, Javaka Steptoe, Shadra Strickland, and Elizabeth Zunon.

A foreword, an introduction to the history of the Harlem Renaissance, author's note, poet biographies, and index makes this not only a book to cherish, but a wonderful resource and reference as well.

Awards for Planet Middle School:
2014 Garden State Teen Book Awards list
Nominated for the 2012 NCAAP Image Award - Outstanding Literary Work for Youth/Teens
CCBC Choices 2012
2012 Best Children's Books of the Year, Bank Street
Nominated for the 2012-13Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards Program]]> 128 Nikki Grimes 1619635542 Alexa 0 to-read 4.31 2017 One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance
author: Nikki Grimes
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2017
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]]> <![CDATA[Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl]]> 59028577 The second novel about a preacher's daughter in small-town Texas and her journey toward loving herself and her body.

Monique is a preacher's daughter who detests the impossible rules of her religion. Everyone expects her to wait until marriage, so she has no one to turn to when she discovers that she physically can't have sex.

After two years of trying and failing, her boyfriend breaks up with her. To win him back, Monique teams up with straight-laced church girl Sasha--who is surprisingly knowledgeable about Monique's condition--as well as Reggie, the misunderstood bad boy who always makes a ruckus at church, and together they embark upon a top-secret search for the cure.

While on their quest, Monique discovers the value of a true friend and the wonders of a love that accepts her for who she is. Despite everyone's opinions about her virtue, she learns to live for herself.]]> 368 Joya Goffney 0063024845 Alexa 0 to-read 4.25 2022 Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl
author: Joya Goffney
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2022
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]]> I’m Glad My Mom Died 59366244
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,� eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?� She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died , Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly , she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!�), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.]]> 304 Jennette McCurdy 1982185821 Alexa 0 to-read 4.42 2022 I’m Glad My Mom Died
author: Jennette McCurdy
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2022
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Build a Democracy (Elements in Race, Ethnicity, and Politics)]]> 221183083 82 Christina M. Greer 1009015680 Alexa 0 to-read 4.00 How to Build a Democracy (Elements in Race, Ethnicity, and Politics)
author: Christina M. Greer
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.00
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]]> <![CDATA[Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream]]> 17841782 224 Christina M. Greer 0199989303 Alexa 0 to-read 4.00 2013 Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream
author: Christina M. Greer
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[This Is How You Lose the Time War]]> 43352954 Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.

Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.]]> 209 Amal El-Mohtar Alexa 0 to-read 3.86 2019 This Is How You Lose the Time War
author: Amal El-Mohtar
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/14
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]]> <![CDATA[This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something--Anything--Like Your Life Depends On It]]> 58936417 Why We Can't Sleep meets Furiously Happy in this hilarious, heartfelt memoir about one woman's midlife obsession with Benedict Cumberbatch, and the liberating power of reclaiming our passions as we age, whatever they may be.

Tabitha Carvan was a new mother, at home with two young children, when she fell for the actor Benedict Cumberbatch. You know the guy: strange name, alien face, made Sherlock so sexy that it became one of the most streamed shows in the world? The force of her fixation took everyone--especially Carvan herself--by surprise. But what she slowly realized was that her preoccupation was not about Benedict Cumberbatch at all, as dashing as he might be. It was about finally feeling passionate about something, anything, again at a point in her life when she had lost touch with her own identity and sense of self.

In This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch, Carvan explores what happens to women's desires after we leave adolescence...and why the space in our lives for pure, unadulterated joy is squeezed ever smaller as we age. She shines a light onto the hidden corners of fandom, from the passion of the online communities to the profound real-world connections forged between Cumberbatch devotees. But more importantly, she asks: what happens if we simply decide to follow our interests like we used to--unabashedly, audaciously, shamelessly? After all, Carvan realizes, there's true, untapped power in finding your "thing" (even if that thing happens to be a British-born Marvel superhero) and loving it like your life depends on it.
]]> 256 Tabitha Carvan 0593421914 Alexa 0 to-read 3.80 2022 This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something--Anything--Like Your Life Depends On It
author: Tabitha Carvan
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[This is Not a Border: Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature]]> 31451164
Celebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, Annexe is a collection of essays, poems, and sketches from some of the world's most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and hope in the most desperate of situations.

Contributing authors include J. M. Coetzee, China Mieville, Alice Walker, Geoff Dyer, Claire Messud, Henning Mankell, Michael Ondaatje, Kamila Shamsie, Michael Palin, Deborah Moggach, Mohammed Hanif, Richard Ford, Gillian Slovo, Adam Foulds, Susan Abulhawa, Ahdaf Soueif, Jeremy Harding, Brigid Keenan, Rachel Holmes, Suad Amiry, Gary Younge, Jamal Mahjoub, Molly Crabapple, Najwan Darwish, Nathalie Handal, Omar Robert Hamilton, Pankaj Mishra, Raja Shehadeh, Selma Dabbagh, William Sutcliffe, Atef Abu Saif, Yasmin El-Rifae, Sabrina Mahfouz, Alaa Abd El Fattah, Mercedes Kemp, Ru Freeman.

"]]> 352 Ahdaf Soueif 1632868849 Alexa 0 to-read 4.50 2017 This is Not a Border: Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature
author: Ahdaf Soueif
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2017
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]]> <![CDATA[An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World]]> 307276
Pankaj Mishra describes his restless journeys into India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, among Islamists and the emerging Hindu middle class, exploring the myths and places of the Buddha's life. He discusses Western explorers' "discovery" of Buddhism in the nineteenth century. He also considers the impact of Buddhist ideas on such modern politicians as Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

As he reflects on his travels and on his own past, Mishra ultimately reaches an enlightenment of his own by discovering the living meaning of the Buddha's teaching, in this "unusually discerning, beautifully written, and deeply affecting reflection on Buddhism" ( Booklist ).]]> 422 Pankaj Mishra 0312425090 Alexa 0 to-read 3.96 2004 An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World
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]]> <![CDATA[The World After Gaza: A Short History]]> 217453544 From one of our foremost public intellectuals, an essential reckoning with the war in Gaza that reframes our understanding of the ongoing conflict, its historical roots, and the fractured global response

The postwar global order was in many ways shaped in response to the Holocaust. That eventĚýbecame the benchmark for atrocity, and, in the Western imagination, the paradigmatic genocide. Its memory orients so much of our thinking, and crucially, forms the basic justification for Israel’s right first to establish itself and then to defend itself. But in many parts of the world, ravaged by other conflicts and experiences of mass slaughter, the Holocaust’s singularity is not always taken for granted, even when its hideous atrocity is. Outside of the West, Pankaj Mishra argues, the dominant story of the twentieth century is that of decolonization.Ěý

The World After Gaza takes the current war, and the polarized reaction to it, as the starting point for a broad reevaluation of two competing narratives of the last the Global North’s triumphant account of victory over totalitarianism and the spread of liberal capitalism, and the Global South’s hopeful vision of racial equality and freedom from colonial rule. At a moment when the world’s balance of power is shifting, and the Global North no longer commands ultimate authority, it is critically important that we understand how and why the two halves of the world are failing to talk to each other.Ěý

As old touchstones and landmarks crumble, only a new history with a sharply different emphasis can reorient us to the world and worldviews now emerging into the light. In this concise, powerful, and pointed treatise, Mishra reckons with the fundamental questions posed by our present crisis � about whether some lives matter more than others, how identity is constructed, and what the role of the nation-state ought to be. The World After Gaza is an indispensable moral guide to our past, present, and future.]]> 300 Pankaj Mishra Alexa 0 to-read 4.06 2025 The World After Gaza: A Short History
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]]> Showoff: A Cam Girl Romance 211183692 One little webcam can open a whole world of steamy possibilities.

Melina Miller needs a job, and there’s only one thing she’s ever wanted to a cam girl. Maybe it’s the effect of growing up in a sex-positive commune, but performing—sexually—on the internet for tips sounds like heaven. But on the very day she decides to make her dream a reality, she meets Roarke—a sexy-as-hell bartender who doesn’t love the idea of having a girlfriend who shows her body to other men.

Roarke and Melina agree to be just friends—and Roarke even offers up the extra room in his cabin for her camming. As things heat up for Melina on-screen, she starts messaging privately with one of her fans. Ethan is stationed overseas, and Melina doesn’t see the harm in helping him fulfill his fantasies—even as her off-screen relationship with Roarke starts to become � more than friendly.

And then there’s Jessica, Melina’s cam girl mentor. Jessica makes Melina feel things she’s never before felt for a woman. Melina’s certain she can keep her involvements with Roarke, Ethan, and Jessica separate, but she’s not prepared for what happens when real life mixes with fantasy life.]]> 261 Valerie Clarkson Alexa 0 to-read 0.0 Showoff: A Cam Girl Romance
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]]> <![CDATA[The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics]]> 53688502 NATIONAL BESTSELLER: USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and San Francisco Chronicle bestseller

The award-winning producer of The Rachel Maddow Show exposes the Republican Party as a gang of impostors who have abandoned their duty to govern, gravely endangering America

For decades, American voters innocently assumed the two major political parties were equally mature and responsible governing entities, ideological differences aside. That belief is due for an overhaul: in recent years, the Republican Party has undergone an astonishing metamorphosis, one so baffling and complete that few have fully reckoned with the reality and its consequences.

Republicans, simply put, have quit governing. As MSNBC's Steve Benen charts in his groundbreaking new book, the contemporary GOP has become a "post-policy party." Republicans are effectively impostors, presenting themselves as officials who are ready to take seriously the substance of problem solving, but whose sole focus is the pursuit and maintenance of power. Astonishingly, they are winning–at the cost of pushing the political system to the breaking point.

Despite having billed itself as the "party of ideas," the Republican Party has walked away from the hard but necessary work of policymaking. It is disdainful of expertise and hostile toward evidence and arithmetic. It is tethered to few, if any, meaningful policy preferences. It does not know, and does not care, about how competing proposals should be crafted, scrutinized, or implemented. This policy nihilism dominated the party's posture throughout Barack Obama's presidency, which in turn opened the door to Donald Trump -- who would cement the GOP's post-policy status in ways that were difficult to even imagine a few years earlier.

The implications of this approach to governance are all-encompassing. Voters routinely elect Republicans such as Mitch McConnell and Mike Pence to powerful offices, expecting GOP policymakers to have the technocratic wherewithal to identify problems, weigh alternative solutions, forge coalitions, accept compromises, and apply some level of governmental competence, if not expertise. The party has consistently proven those hopes misguided.

The result is an untenable political model that's undermining the American policymaking process and failing to serve the public's interests. The vital challenge facing the civil polity is coming to terms with the party's collapse as a governing entity and considering what the party can do to find its policymaking footing anew.

The Impostors serves as a devastating indictment of the GOP's breakdown, identifying the culprits, the crisis, and its effects, while challenging Republicans with an imperative question: Are they ready to change direction? As Benen writes, "A great deal is riding on their answer."]]> 400 Steve Benen 0063026503 Alexa 0 to-read 4.36 2020 The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics
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]]> <![CDATA[Boston in the Golden Age of Spiritualism: SĂ©ances, Mediums & Immortality]]> 30374119 The story of the nineteenth-century craze for communicating with the dead, with historical photos included. Ěý Wealthy John Wetherbee sought business advice through supernatural means. Psychic Fannie Conant attributed her restored health to spirit intervention. Grieving theater manager Isaac B.ĚýRich wanted to contact his deceased wife. While the individual motives for belief varied, spiritualism flourished in Boston from the first rumblings of the Civil War until the early twentieth century. Ěý Numerous clairvoyants claimed to bring messages from beyond the grave at seances and public meetings. While many earnestly believed in the movement, there were those who took advantage of naive Bostonians. Determined to expose charlatans, world-renowned magician Harry Houdini declared the famous medium and Bostonian Mina “Margeryâ€� Crandon a fake. This fascinating book explores the complex history of Boston’s spiritualist movement.]]> 129 Dee Morris 1625851197 Alexa 0 to-read 3.75 2014 Boston in the Golden Age of Spiritualism: SĂ©ances, Mediums & Immortality
author: Dee Morris
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average rating: 3.75
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]]> Grievers (Grievers, #1) 58505022
Grievers is the story of a city so plagued by grief that it can no longer function. Dune’s mother is patient zero of a mysterious illness that stops people in their tracks—in mid-sentence, mid-action, mid-life—casting them into a nonresponsive state from which no one recovers. Dune must navigate poverty and the loss of her mother as Detroit’s hospitals, morgues, and graveyards begin to overflow. As the quarantined city slowly empties of life, she investigates what caused the plague, and what might end it. In anguish, she follows in the footsteps of her late researcher father, who has a physical model of Detroit’s history and losses set up in their basement. She dusts the model off and begins tracking the sick and dying, discovering patterns, finding comrades in curiosity, conspiracies for the fertile ground of the city, and the unexpected magic that emerges when the debt of grief is cleared.]]> 204 Adrienne Maree Brown 1849354529 Alexa 0 to-read 4.03 2021 Grievers (Grievers, #1)
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average rating: 4.03
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]]> <![CDATA[The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World]]> 208840291 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.

As indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love.

Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth—its abundance of sweet, juicy berries—to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution insures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”]]> 112 Robin Wall Kimmerer 1668072246 Alexa 0 to-read 4.38 2024 The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
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]]> <![CDATA[Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America]]> 216520753 New York Times best-selling author brings his trademark legal acumen and passionate snark to offer a brilliant takedown of ten incredibly bad pieces of legislation that are causing way too much misery to millions.

“If it were up to me, I’d treat every law passed before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as presumptively unconstitutional. The government of this country was illegitimate when it ruled over people who had no ability to choose the rules.�

—from the introduction to Bad Law

In Bad Law, the New York Times best-selling author of Allow Me to A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution brings his trademark legal acumen and passionate snark to a brilliant takedown of ten of what he considers the most egregiously awful laws on the books today. These are pieces of legislation that are making life worse rather than better for Americans, and that, he argues with trenchant wit and biting humor, should be repealed completely.

On topics ranging from abortion and immigration to voting rights and religious freedom, we have chosen rules to live by that do not reflect the will of most of the people. With respect to our decision to make a law that effectively grants immunity to gun manufacturers, for example, Mystal writes, “We live in the most violent, wealthy country on earth not in spite of the law; we live in a first-person-shooter video game because of the law.�

But, as the man Samantha Bee calls “irrepressible and righteously indignant� and Matt Levine of Bloomberg Opinion calls “the funniest lawyer in America,� points out, these laws do not come to us from on high; we write them, and we can and should unwrite them. In a marvelous and original takedown spanning all the hot-button topics in the country today, one of our most brilliant legal thinkers points the way to a saner tomorrow.]]> 256 Elie Mystal 162097858X Alexa 0 to-read 4.51 Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America
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]]> <![CDATA[Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution]]> 58822691
In fact, Mystal argues, Republicans are wrong about the law almost all of the time, and now, instead of talking about this on cable news, Mystal explains why in his first book.

Allow Me to Retort is an easily digestible argument primer, offered so that people can tell the Republicans in their own lives why they are wrong. Mystal brings his trademark humor, snark, and legal expertise to topics as crucial to our politics as gerrymandering and voter suppression, and explains why legal concepts such as the right to privacy and substantive due process are constantly under attack from the very worst judges conservatives can pack onto the courts.

You don't need to be a legal scholar to grasp how stop-and-frisk is an unconstitutional policy of racial discrimination. You just need to read Mystal's book to understand that the Fourteenth Amendment once made the white supremacist policies adopted by the modern Republican Party illegal—and it can do so again if we let it.]]> 270 Elie Mystal 1620976811 Alexa 0 to-read 4.55 2022 Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution
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]]> When a Pagan Prays 21930553 207 Brown Nimue 1782796339 Alexa 0 to-read 4.49 2014 When a Pagan Prays
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]]> <![CDATA[Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy (Politics and Culture)]]> 222796693 Why the crisis of Christianity has become a crisis for democracy
Ěý
What happens to American democracy if Christianity is no longer able, or no longer willing, to perform the functions on which our constitutional order depends? In this provocative book, the award-winning journalist Jonathan Rauch—a lifelong atheist—reckons candidly with both the shortcomings of secularism and the corrosion of Christianity.
Ěý
Thin Christianity, as Rauch calls the mainline church, has been unable to inspire and retain believers. Worse, a Church of Fear has distorted white evangelicalism in ways that violate the tenets of both Jesus and James Madison. What to do? For answers, Rauch looks to a new generation of religious thinkers, as well as to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has placed the Constitution at the heart of its spiritual teachings.
Ěý
In this timely critique Rauch addresses secular Americans who think Christianity can be abandoned, and Christian Americans who blame secular culture for their grievances. The two must work together, he argues, to confront our present crisis. He calls on Christians to recommit to the teachings of their faith that align with Madison, not MAGA, and to understand that liberal democracy, far from being oppressive, is uniquely protective of religious freedom. At the same time, he calls on secular liberals to understand that healthy religious institutions are crucial to the survival of the liberal state.]]> 160 Jonathan Rauch 0300281544 Alexa 0 to-read 4.20 Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy (Politics and Culture)
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]]> <![CDATA[Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America]]> 754738
Gay marriage, he shows, is a "win-win-win" for strengthening the bonds that tie us together and for remaining true to our national heritage of fairness and humaneness toward all.]]> 224 Jonathan Rauch 0805078150 Alexa 0 to-read 4.07 2004 Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America
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]]> <![CDATA[The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth]]> 54616040 Arming Americans to defend the truth from today's war on facts

Disinformation. Trolling. Conspiracies. Social media pile-ons. Campus intolerance. On the surface, these recent additions to our daily vocabulary appear to have little in common. But together, they are driving an epistemic crisis: a multi-front challenge to America's ability to distinguish fact from fiction and elevate truth above falsehood.

In 2016 Russian trolls and bots nearly drowned the truth in a flood of fake news and conspiracy theories, and Donald Trump and his troll armies continued to do the same. Social media companies struggled to keep up with a flood of falsehoods, and too often didn't even seem to try. Experts and some public officials began wondering if society was losing its grip on truth itself. Meanwhile, another new phenomenon appeared: "cancel culture." At the push of a button, those armed with a cellphone could gang up by the thousands on anyone who ran afoul of their sanctimony.

In this pathbreaking book, Jonathan Rauch reaches back to the parallel eighteenth-century developments of liberal democracy and science to explain what he calls the "Constitution of Knowledge"--our social system for turning disagreement into truth.

By explicating the Constitution of Knowledge and probing the war on reality, Rauch arms defenders of truth with a clearer understanding of what they must protect, why they must do--and how they can do it. His book is a sweeping and readable description of how every American can help defend objective truth and free inquiry from threats as far away as Russia and as close as the cellphone.]]> 318 Jonathan Rauch 0815738862 Alexa 0 to-read 4.22 2021 The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth
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]]> <![CDATA[How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle (Principles)]]> 210084984 Do big government debts and fast rates of adding to them threaten our collective well-being? In this groundbreaking analysis, Ray Dalio, one of the greatest investors of our time and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Principles, shares the reasons behind his fears for the US debt markets, answering some of the most important market and economic questions we now Are there limits to debt growth? Can a big, important reserve currency country like the US really go broke? Is there such a thing as a “Big Debt Cycle� that can tell us when to worry about debt and what to do about it?

For decades, politicians, policymakers, and investors have debated these questions, but the Big Debt Cycle that helps answer them is not talked about or well understood. With the US debt issue coming to a head, Dalio’s How Countries Go Broke provides the first-ever detailed analysis of the Big Debt Cycle, explaining its implications and offering a surprisingly straightforward solution to getting debt problems like the ones the US faces under control.

Dalio has built his career as a leading global macro investor by studying the patterns of history to develop unconventional perspectives on what’s happening in markets and economies today. It was this approach that led him, in the years leading up to the 2008 Great Financial Crisis, to study the Great Depression and other past big debt crises and use what he learned to navigate the turbulent markets successfully. By looking closely at thirty-five cases over the past 100 years when governments have gone broke and studying the mechanics behind them, Dalio has developed a first-of-its-kind template for what to watch for and what to do when the threat is significant as his measures show that it now is. He has discussed this template with treasury secretaries and central bankers from around the world and is now sharing it with the public to help bring urgent attention to the big risks the US and a number of other countries face—and to explain how to avoid the worst-case scenario.]]> 400 Ray Dalio 1501124064 Alexa 0 to-read 4.40 How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle (Principles)
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]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Neurotic's Notebook]]> 441612 191 Mignon McLaughlin 0890094047 Alexa 0 to-read 4.25 1981 The Complete Neurotic's Notebook
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]]> <![CDATA[Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause]]> 216351864
At thirty-six, Naomi Watts had just completed filming King Kong and was trying to start a family when she was told that she was on the brink of menopause. It is estimated that seventy-five million women in the United States are currently dealing with menopause symptoms (dry itchy skin, raging hormones, night sweats), and yet the very word “menopause� continues to be associated with stigma and confusion. With so little information, many women feel unprepared, ashamed, and deeply alone when the time comes.

This is the book Naomi Watts wishes she had when she first started experiencing symptoms. Like sitting down over coffee and having an intimate chat with your girlfriend, Dare I Say It blends funny and poignant stories from Naomi and her friends with advice from doctors, hormone experts, and nutritionists to take the secrecy and shame out of menopause and aging. Answering questions such as: What’s hormone therapy and should I be on it? Will I ever sleep again? Will I get myself back? What happened to my libido? Do I need eighteen serums for my aging skin? Whose body is this anyway? Who am I now? Naomi Watts shares the most up-to-date research on how to manage menopause symptoms and tackle the physical and emotional challenges we encounter as we age.

Irreverent, bold, and reassuring, Dare I Say It is the companion every woman needs to embrace the best version of herself as she moves into what can be the most powerful and satisfying period of her life.]]> 256 Naomi Watts 059372903X Alexa 0 to-read 3.97 2025 Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause
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]]> <![CDATA[The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource]]> 217869789 An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller

From the New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC and podcast host, a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society

“An ambitious analysis of how the trivial amusements offered by online life have degraded not only our selves but also our politics.� �New York Times

“Brilliant book� Reading it has made me change the way I work and think.”—Rachel Maddow

We all feel it—the distraction, the loss of focus, the addictive focus on the wrong things for too long. We bump into the zombies on their phones in the street, and sometimes they’re us. We stare in pity at the four people at the table in the restaurant, all on their phones, and then we feel the buzz in our pocket. Something has changed for most of human history, the boundary between public and private has been clear, at least in theory. Now, as Chris Hayes writes, “With the help of a few tech firms, we basically tore it down in about a decade.� Hayes argues that we are in the midst of an epoch-defining transition whose only parallel is what happened to labor in the nineteenth attention has become a commodified resource extracted from us, and from which we are increasingly alienated. The Sirens� Call is the big-picture vision we urgently need to offer clarity and guidance.

Because there is a breaking point. Sirens are designed to compel us, and now they are going off in our bedrooms and kitchens at all hours of the day and night, doing the bidding of vast empires, the most valuable companies in history, built on harvesting human attention. As Hayes writes, “Now our deepest neurological structures, human evolutionary inheritances, and social impulses are in a habitat designed to prey upon, to cultivate, distort, or destroy that which most fundamentally makes us human.� The Sirens� Call is the book that snaps everything into a single holistic framework so that we can wrest back control of our lives, our politics, and our future.]]> 336 Christopher L. Hayes 0593653114 Alexa 0 to-read 4.04 2025 The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource
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]]> <![CDATA[The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth]]> 54233271
This book moves the conversation about biblical womanhood beyond Greek grammar and into the realm of church history--ancient, medieval, and modern--to show that this belief is not divinely ordained but a product of human civilization that continues to creep into the church. Barr's historical insights provide context for contemporary teachings about women's roles in the church and help move the conversation forward.

Interweaving her story as a Baptist pastor's wife, Barr sheds light on the #ChurchToo movement and abuse scandals in Southern Baptist circles and the broader evangelical world, helping readers understand why biblical womanhood is more about human power structures than the message of Christ.]]> 245 Beth Allison Barr 1587434709 Alexa 0 to-read 4.38 2021 The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth
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]]> <![CDATA[Jane Austen, the Secret Radical]]> 32441705 A brilliant, illuminating reassessment of the life and work of Jane Austen that makes clear how Austen has been misread for the past two centuries and that shows us how she intended her books to be read, revealing, as well, how subversive and daring--how truly radical--a writer she was.

In this fascinating, revelatory work, Helena Kelly--dazzling Jane Austen authority--looks past the grand houses, the pretty young women, past the demure drawing room dramas and witty commentary on the narrow social worlds of her time that became the hallmark of Austen's work to bring to light the serious, ambitious, deeply subversive nature of this beloved writer. Kelly illuminates the radical subjects--slavery, poverty, feminism, the Church, evolution, among them--considered treasonous at the time, that Austen deftly explored in the six novels that have come to embody an age. The author reveals just how in the novels we find the real Jane Austen: a clever, clear-sighted woman "of information," fully aware of what was going on in the world and sure about what she thought of it. We see a writer who understood that the novel--until then seen as mindless "trash"--could be a great art form and who, perhaps more than any other writer up to that time, imbued it with its particular greatness.]]> 336 Helena Kelly 1524732109 Alexa 0 to-read 3.82 2016 Jane Austen, the Secret Radical
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average rating: 3.82
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]]> Engaging Mr. Darcy 40115537
After a standoff in the pizza parlor, Elsie Bennet has decided Fitzwilliam “I-Throw-Fitz� Darcy is the worst customer she’s ever encountered. Also the best looking, but that’s beside the point. She’s horrified to discover Will is not just passing through her small town, he’s her new neighbor.

Will Darcy has all the money and time he could ask for, and yet life never seems to meet his expectations. When his best friend, Charlie, starts dating Jane Bennet, Will becomes their unhappy third-wheel. The solution? Bring along Jane’s sister, Elsie, a girl who challenges him, makes him laugh, plagues his thoughts, and unfortunately, hates his guts.

Will might control a lot of things, but he won’t control her. Elsie’s already been warned away by her new friend, Jeff Wickham, who found out the hard way that Will is not someone to be crossed. Things would be so much simpler if she was attracted to Jeff. But she’s not. She’s attracted to Will, and the tug-o-war between her mind and her heart is going to drive her mad.

A modern day take on Pride and Prejudice with all the characters you know and love.]]> 189 Rachel John Alexa 0 to-read 3.64 2018 Engaging Mr. Darcy
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name: Alexa
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2018
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]]> I Hated You First 58320212
Lauren� I date guys nothing like Clay on purpose. I will not let my old crush on him get the best of me. It’s going on the list of things I’ve outgrown and will deny ever having, like the Justin Bieber poster I used to keep on the back of my door. It doesn’t matter that I’ve caught Clay looking at me like he’s a jewel thief and I’m a precious gem encased in glass. He’d never choose me over my brother, or his job, or his enjoyment in teasing me. Avoiding Clay is easy, until the day I realize my dad’s asked for Clay’s help in checking up on my dates. No stinking way.]]> 205 Rachel John Alexa 0 to-read 3.51 I Hated You First
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]]> <![CDATA[Hearts: Pansexual Poetry Collection]]> 37553167 27 Lisa Reynolds Alexa 0 to-read 5.00 Hearts: Pansexual Poetry Collection
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]]> Fleishman Is in Trouble 41880602
But Toby's new life � liver specialist by day, kids every other weekend, rabid somewhat anonymous sex at night � is interrupted when his ex-wife suddenly disappears. Either on a vision quest or a nervous breakdown, Toby doesn't know � she won't answer his texts or calls.

Is Toby's ex just angry, like always? Is she punishing him, yet again, for not being the bread winner she was? As he desperately searches for her while juggling his job and parenting their two unraveling children, Toby is forced to reckon with the real reasons his marriage fell apart, and to ask if the story he has been telling himself all this time is true.]]> 373 Taffy Brodesser-Akner 0525510877 Alexa 0 to-read 3.61 2019 Fleishman Is in Trouble
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average rating: 3.61
book published: 2019
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]]> Long Island Compromise 55777544 “Were we gangsters? No. But did we know how to start a fire?�

In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalized, and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife and kids less than a week later, only slightly the worse, and the family moves on with their lives, resuming their prized places in the saga of the American dream, comforted in the realization that though their money may have been what endangered them, it is also what assured them their safety.

But now, nearly forty years later, it’s clear that perhaps nobody ever got over anything, after all. Carl has spent the ensuing years secretly seeking closure to the matter of his kidnapping, while his wife, Ruth, has spent her potential protecting her husband’s emotional health. Their three grown children aren’t doing much better: Nathan’s chronic fear won’t allow him to advance at his law firm; Beamer, a Hollywood screenwriter, will consume anything—substance, foodstuff, women—in order to numb his own perpetual terror; and Jenny has spent her life so bent on proving that she’s not a product of her family’s pathology that she has come to define it. As they hover at the delicate precipice of a different kind of survival, they learn that the family fortune has dwindled to just about nothing, and they must face desperate questions about how much their wealth has played a part in both their lives� successes and failures.

Long Island Compromise spans the entirety of one family’s history, winding through decades and generations, all the way to the outrageous present, and confronting the mainstays of American Jewish life: tradition, the pursuit of success, the terror of history, fear of the future, old wives� tales, evil eyes, ambition, achievement, boredom, dybbuks, inheritance, pyramid schemes, right-wing capitalists, beta-blockers, psychics, and the mostly unspoken love and shared experience that unite a family forever.]]> 464 Taffy Brodesser-Akner 0593133498 Alexa 0 to-read 3.72 2024 Long Island Compromise
author: Taffy Brodesser-Akner
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> Magic Beach 160623 32 Alison Lester 1741144884 Alexa 0 to-read 4.26 1990 Magic Beach
author: Alison Lester
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families]]> 123163983 Groundbreaking in its depictions of joy and community, Authentic Selves celebrates trans and nonbinary people and their families in stunning photographs and their own words. Foreword by transgender activist Jazz Jennings and her mom and fellow activist, Jeanette Jennings.




So often trans and nonbinary people’s stories are told only through the lens of their struggles and challenges, including their political battles for legal rights, but trans and nonbinary people live rich and fulfilling lives full of joy and community too. Authentic Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families is a sweeping compilation of life stories and portraits of trans and nonbinary people, as well as their partners, parents, children, siblings, and chosen family members.

The compelling stories in Authentic Selves provide a glimpse into the real lives, both the challenges and the triumphs, of these remarkable people and their families—people like Senator Sarah McBride, disability justice advocate Parker Glick, drag entertainer TAYLOR ALXNDR, September 11th first responder Jozeppi Angelo Morelli, model Lana Patel, youth activist Elliott Bertrand, and so many others—all of whom are working to create a more just, diverse, and compassionate world.

Developed in collaboration with PFLAG National and Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund.]]> 399 Jazz Jennings 1558968970 Alexa 0 currently-reading 4.31 2023 Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families
author: Jazz Jennings
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Politics as Public Art: The Aesthetics of Political Organizing and Social Movements (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)]]> 123473522 Politics as Public Art presents a keystone collection that pursues new frameworks for a critical understanding of the relationship between public art and protest movements through the utilization of socially engaged and choreopolitical approaches.

This anthology draws from a unique combination of interdisciplinary scholarship and activism where it integrates geographically rich perspectives from political and grassroots community contexts spanning the United States, Europe, Australia, and Southeastern Africa. The volume questions, and reimagines, not only how public art practice can be integral to politics, including forms of surveillance and control of bodily movement. It also probes into how political participation itself can be construed as a form of public artmaking for radical social change and just worlds. This collection advocates for scholar-activist inquiry into how socially engaged public art practices can pave the way for thinking through--and working toward--championing more inclusive futures and, as such, choreographing greater intersectional justice.

This book provides a wide appeal to audiences across humanities and social science scholarship, arts practice, and activism seeking conceptual and empirically informed tools for moving from public art and choreopolitical theory into modes of critical reflection and action.]]> 0 Martin Zebracki 1000827860 Alexa 0 to-read 0.0 Politics as Public Art: The Aesthetics of Political Organizing and Social Movements (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)
author: Martin Zebracki
name: Alexa
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (King Legacy Book 2)]]> 19699968 257 Martin Luther King Jr. 080700068X Alexa 0 currently-reading 4.62 1966 Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (King Legacy Book 2)
author: Martin Luther King Jr.
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.62
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Minority Report and Other Stories]]> 534004 Viewed by many as the greatest science fiction writer on any planet, Philip K. Dick has written some of the most intriguing, original and thought-provoking fiction of our time. This collection includes stories that will make you laugh, cringe...and stop and think.

The Minority Report: a special unit that employs those with the power of precognition to prevent crimes proves itself less than reliable...
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale: an everyguy's yearning for more exciting "memories" places him in a danger he never could have imagined (basis of the feature film Total Recall)...
Paycheck: a mechanic who has no memory of the previous two years of his life finds that a bag of seemingly worthless and unrelated objects can actually unlock the secret of his recent past � and insure that he has a future...
Second Variety: the UN's technological advances to win a global war veer out of control, threatening to destroy all of humankind (basis of the movie Screamers)...
The Eyes Have It: a whimsical, laugh-out-loud play on the words of the title.

]]> 6 Philip K. Dick 0060095261 Alexa 4 fiction, high-school-books
I also liked "Minority Report" and "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" but I found it interesting how different they were from their movie versions. "Paycheck" was good until the ending. ]]> 3.94 1987 Minority Report and Other Stories
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1987
rating: 4
read at: 2013/01/06
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves: fiction, high-school-books
review:
"The Eyes Have It" (final short story) was my absolute favorite. I hooted out loud.

I also liked "Minority Report" and "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" but I found it interesting how different they were from their movie versions. "Paycheck" was good until the ending.
]]> <![CDATA[The Bible for Skeptics: A Conversation for Thinking People]]> 29080689 317 Beverly J. Van Kampen Alexa 0 to-read 0.0 The Bible for Skeptics: A Conversation for Thinking People
author: Beverly J. Van Kampen
name: Alexa
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire]]> 204593465 The politics of grief, in an era marked by loss, show us how we can find our humanity once more. Ěý Our era is one of significant and substantial loss, yet we barely have time to acknowledge it. The losses range from the personal grief of a single COVID death to the planetary disaster wrought by climate change, in an age of unraveling hopes and expectations, of dreams curtailed, of aspirations desiccated. Ěý This is capitalism’s death phase. It has become clear that the cost of wealth creation for a few is enormous destruction for others, for the marginalized and the vulnerable but increasingly for all of us.ĚýĚýAt the same time we are denied the means of mourning those futures that are being so brutally curtailed.Ěý Ěý At such a moment, taking theĚýtime to grieve is a political act. Sarah Jaffe shows how the act of public memorialization has become a radical statement, a vibrant response to loss and a path to imagining a better world. When we are able to grieve well the ones we have lost, the causes they fought for or the examples they bequeathed us, we are better prepared to fight for a transformed future.Ěý Ěý]]> 400 Sarah Jaffe 1541703499 Alexa 0 to-read 4.16 From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire
author: Sarah Jaffe
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[How to End Christian Nationalism]]> 203893176 244 Amanda Tyler 1506498280 Alexa 0 to-read 4.39 How to End Christian Nationalism
author: Amanda Tyler
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.39
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Time Smart: How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life]]> 52701375
Four out of five adults report feeling they are time-poor: They have too much to do and not enough time to do it. And the consequences are severe. The time-poor experience less joy each day. They laugh less. They are less healthy, less productive, and more likely to divorce. In one study of 2.5 million Americans, time stress produced a stronger negative effect on happiness than unemployment.

How can we escape the time traps that make us feel this way and keep us from living our best lives?

Time Smart is your playbook for taking back the time you lose to mindless tasks and unfulfilling chores. Author and Harvard Business School professor Ashley Whillans will give you proven strategies for improving your "time affluence." Sometimes you can find time lost to thoughtless activity--like mindlessly checking your phone. Sometimes you can find time by buying your way out of time-consuming, unrewarding tasks--for instance, by paying for a ride to work.

The techniques Whillans provides will free up seconds, minutes, and hours that, over the long term, become weeks of freed up time you can reinvest in positive, healthy activities.

Time Smart doesn't stop at telling you what to do. It also shows you how to do it, helping you achieve the mind-set shift that will make these activities part of your everyday regimen.

At every step, Time Smart provides assessments, checklists, and activities you can use right away. Before you've finished reading chapter 1, you'll be accounting for your time and thinking about ways to change.

Whillans knows what works. A leading voice in time and happiness research, she's worked with groups as diverse as large consulting firms, couples, the US military, and women with limited means managing vegetable stands in Kenya. The strategies she presents are proven through research and brought to life by the stories of people making the shift--or trying to make the shift--in order to create happier, more fulfilling lives.]]> 179 Ashley Whillans 1633698351 Alexa 0 to-read 3.60 Time Smart: How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life
author: Ashley Whillans
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.60
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Debt Resisters' Operations Manual]]> 22487978 300 Strike Debt 160486916X Alexa 0 to-read 1.00 2012 The Debt Resisters' Operations Manual
author: Strike Debt
name: Alexa
average rating: 1.00
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea]]> 150248633
Solidarity is often invoked, but it is rarely analyzed and poorly understood. Here, two leading activists and thinkers survey the past, present, and future of the concept across borders of nation, identity, and class to how can we build solidarity in an era of staggering inequality, polarization, violence, and ecological catastrophe? Offering a lively and lucid history of the idea—from Ancient Rome through the first European and American socialists and labor organizers, to twenty-first century social movements like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter—Hunt-Hendrix and Taylor trace the philosophical debates and political struggles that have shaped the modern world.
Looking forward, they argue that a clear understanding of how solidarity is built and sustained, and an awareness of how it has been suppressed, is essential to warding off the many crises of our right-wing backlash, irreversible climate damage, widespread alienation, loneliness, and despair. Hunt-Hendrix and Taylor insist that solidarity is both a principle and a practice, one that must be cultivated and institutionalized, so that care for the common good becomes the central aim of politics and social life.]]> 432 Leah Hunt-Hendrix 0593701240 Alexa 0 to-read 4.25 2023 Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea
author: Leah Hunt-Hendrix
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Can't Pay, Won't Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition]]> 54223418 0 Collective Debt 1642593826 Alexa 0 to-read 4.25 2020 Can't Pay, Won't Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition
author: Collective Debt
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions]]> 57933551
Curious and searching, these historically informed and hopeful essays are as engaging as they are challenging and as urgent as they are timeless. Taylor 's unique philosophical style has a political edge that speaks directly to the growing conviction that a radical transformation of our economy and society is required.]]> 200 Astra Taylor 1642594547 Alexa 0 to-read 4.07 Remake the World: Essays, Reflections, Rebellions
author: Astra Taylor
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age]]> 13168201 From a cutting-edge cultural commentator, a bold and brilliant challenge to cherished notions of the Internet as the great leveler of our age

The Internet has been hailed as an unprecedented democratizing force, a place where all can be heard and everyone can participate equally. But how true is this claim? In a seminal dismantling of techno-utopian visions, The People's Platform argues that for all that we "tweet" and "like" and "share," the Internet in fact reflects and amplifies real-world inequities at least as much as it ameliorates them. Online, just as off-line, attention and influence largely accrue to those who already have plenty of both.

What we have seen so far, Astra Taylor says, has been not a revolution but a rearrangement. Although Silicon Valley tycoons have eclipsed Hollywood moguls, a handful of giants like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook remain the gatekeepers. And the worst habits of the old media model--the pressure to seek easy celebrity, to be quick and sensational above all--have proliferated online, where "aggregating" the work of others is the surest way to attract eyeballs and ad revenue. When culture is "free," creative work has diminishing value, and advertising fuels the system. The new order looks suspiciously like the old one.

We can do better, Taylor insists. The online world does offer a unique opportunity, but a democratic culture that supports diverse voices and work of lasting value will not spring up from technology alone. If we want the Internet to truly be a people's platform, we will have to make it so.]]> 288 Astra Taylor 0805093567 Alexa 0 to-read 4.07 2012 The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age
author: Astra Taylor
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone]]> 38122407 What is democracy really? What do we mean when we use the term? And can it ever truly exist? Astra Taylor, hailed as a "New Civil Rights Leader" (LA Times), provides surprising answers.

There is no shortage of democracy, at least in name, and yet it is in crisis everywhere we look. From a cabal of thieving plutocrats in the White House to rising inequality and xenophobia worldwide, it is clear that democracy--specifically the principle of government by and for the people--is not living up to its promise.

In Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone, Astra Taylor shows that real democracy--fully inclusive and completely egalitarian--has in fact never existed. In a tone that is both philosophical and anecdotal, weaving together history, theory, the stories of individuals, and conversations with such leading thinkers as Cornel West, Danielle Allen, and Wendy Brown, Taylor invites us to reexamine the term. Is democracy a means or an end, a process or a set of desired outcomes? What if the those outcomes, whatever they may be--peace, prosperity, equality, liberty, an engaged citizenry--can be achieved by non-democratic means? Or if an election leads to a terrible outcome? If democracy means rule by the people, what does it mean to rule and who counts as the people?

The inherent paradoxes are too often unnamed and unrecognized. By teasing them out, Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone offers a better understanding of what is possible, what we want, and why democracy is so hard to realize.]]> 368 Astra Taylor 125017984X Alexa 0 to-read 4.20 2019 Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone
author: Astra Taylor
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart]]> 126240590 352 Astra Taylor 1487011938 Alexa 0 to-read 4.21 2023 The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart
author: Astra Taylor
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers]]> 195790746
Immigration is one of the most controversial topics in the United States and everywhere else. Pundits, politicians, and the public usually depict immigrants as either villains or victims. The villain narrative is that immigrants pose a threat—to our economy because they steal our jobs; our way of life because they change our culture; and to our safety and laws because of their criminality. The victim argument tells us that immigrants are needy outsiders—the poor, huddled masses whom we must help at our own cost if necessary. But the data clearly debunks both narratives. From jobs, investment, and innovation to cultural vitality and national security, more immigration has an overwhelmingly positive impact on everything that makes a society successful.

In The Truth About Immigration, Wharton professor Zeke Hernandez draws from nearly 20 years of research to answer all the big questions about immigration. He combines moving personal stories with rigorous research to offer an accessible, apolitical, and evidence-based look at how newcomers affect our local communities and our nation. You'll learn about the overlooked impact of immigrants on investment and job creation; realize how much we take for granted the novel technologies, products, and businesses newcomers create; get the facts straight about perennial concerns like jobs, crime, and undocumented immigrants; and gain new perspectives on misunderstood issues such as the border, taxes, and assimilation.

Most books making a case for immigration tell you that immigration is good for immigrants. This book is all about how newcomers benefit you, your community, and your country. Skeptics fear that newcomers compete economically with locals because of their similarities and fail to socially assimilate because of their differences. You'll see that it's exactly the opposite: newcomers bring enduring economic benefits because of their differences and contribute positively to society because of their similarities. Destined to become the go-to book on one of the most important issues of our time, this book turns fear into hope by proving a simple truth: immigrants are essential for economically prosperous and socially vibrant nations.]]> 320 Zeke Hernandez 125028824X Alexa 0 to-read 4.44 2024 The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers
author: Zeke Hernandez
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Immigration and Apocalypse: How the Book of Revelation Shaped American Immigration]]> 210129451 Tracing the metaphor of America as the Book of Revelation’s New Jerusalem, Yii-Jan Lin shows how apocalyptic narratives have been used to exclude unwanted immigrants
Ěý
America appeared on the European horizon at a moment of apocalyptic expectation and ambition. Explorers and colonizers imagined the land to be paradise, the New Jerusalem of the Bible’s Book of Revelation. This groundbreaking volume explores the conceptualization of America as the New Jerusalem from the time of Columbus to the Puritan colonists, through U.S. expansion, and from the eras of Reagan to Trump.
Ěý
While the metaphor of the New Jerusalem has been useful in portraying a shining, God-blessed refuge with open gates, it has also been used to exclude, attack, and criminalize unwanted peoples. Yii-Jan Lin shows how newspapers, political speeches, sermons, cartoons, and novels throughout American history have used the language of Revelation to define immigrants as God’s enemies who must be shut out of the gates. This book exposes Revelation’s apocalyptic logic at work in the history of Chinese exclusion, the association of the unwanted with disease, the contradictions of citizenship laws, and the justification for building a U.S.-Mexico wall like the wall around the New Jerusalem.
Ěý
This book is a fascinating analysis of the religious, biblical, and apocalyptic in American immigration history and a damning narrative that weaves together American religious history, immigration and ethnic studies, and the use of biblical texts and imagery.]]> 296 Yii-Jan Lin 0300253184 Alexa 0 to-read 4.00 Immigration and Apocalypse: How the Book of Revelation Shaped American Immigration
author: Yii-Jan Lin
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Crisis of Connection: Roots, Consequences, and Solutions]]> 36747844
Since the beginning of the 21st century, people have become increasingly disconnected from themselves, each other, and the world around them. A “crisis of connection� stemming from growing alienation, social isolation, and fragmentation characterizes modern society. The signs of this crisis of connection are everywhere, from decreasing levels of empathy and trust, to burgeoning cases of suicide, depression and loneliness. The astronomical rise in inequality around the world has contributed to the critical nature of this moment.

To delve into the heart of the crisis, leading researchers and practitioners draw from the science of human connection to tell a five-part story about its roots, consequences, and solutions. In doing so, they reveal how we, in modern society, have been captive to a false story about who we are as human. This false narrative that takes individualism as a universal truth, has contributed to many of the problems that we currently face. The new story now emerging from across the human sciences underscores our social and emotional capacities and needs. The science also reveals the ways in which the privileging of the self over relationships and of individual success over the common good as well as the perpetuation of dehumanizing stereotypes have led to a crisis of connection that is now widespread. Finally, the practitioners in the volume present concrete solutions that show ways we can create a more just and humane world.

In a time of social distancing and enforced isolation, it is more important than ever to find ways to bridge the gaps among individuals and communities. The Crisis of Connection illuminates concrete pathways to enhancing our awareness of our common humanity, and offers important steps to coming together in unity, even across distances.]]> 544 Niobe Way 1479819298 Alexa 0 to-read 4.67 The Crisis of Connection: Roots, Consequences, and Solutions
author: Niobe Way
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World]]> 40195495
Start by making your bed.

Maintaining routine and structure is more important than ever in the age of home working, flexi-time and the general chaos of life.

In Make Your Bed, Admiral William H. McRaven shares 10 life lessons he learned during his Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges not only in his long Naval career, but also throughout his life.

He will teach you how to . . .
· Master the essential daily habits for staying grounded
· Learn how to keep your mind calm and ready for the day ahead
· Find solace and companionship in the people around you
· Cope with setbacks and keep moving forward
· Stray beyond your comfort zone and take risks

Written with great humility and optimism, this timeless book provides simple and universal wisdom, practical advice, and words of encouragement that will inspire every reader.]]> 125 William H. McRaven Alexa 0 currently-reading 4.35 2017 Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World
author: William H. McRaven
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice]]> 40624136 Dirty River, was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and the Publishing Triangle's Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction. She is also a long-time member of the disability justice movement, which advocates for the rights of the disabled. In her latest book of essays, Leah writes passionately and personally about disability justice, on subject such as the creation of care webs, collective access, and radically accessible spaces. She also imparts her own survivor skills and wisdom based on her years of activist work, empowering the disabled--in particular, those in queer and/or BIPOC communities--and granting them the necessary tools by which they can imagine a future where no one is left behind.

Presently, disability justice and emotional/care work are buzzwords on many people's lips, and the disabled and sick are discovering new ways to build power within themselves and each other; at the same time, those powers remain at risk in this fragile political climate in which we find ourselves. Powerful and passionate, Care Work is a crucial and necessary call to arms.]]> 266 1551527391 Alexa 0 currently-reading 4.44 2018 Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice
author: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/07
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Deviant Hollers: Queering Appalachian Ecologies for a Sustainable Future (Appalachian Futures: Black, Native, and Queer Voices)]]> 144053532 246 Zane McNeill 0813199336 Alexa 0 to-read 0.0 Deviant Hollers: Queering Appalachian Ecologies for a Sustainable Future (Appalachian Futures: Black, Native, and Queer Voices)
author: Zane McNeill
name: Alexa
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/07
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Perks of Being a Wallflower]]> 49379178
The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky, Perks follows observant “wallflower� Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

A #1 New York Times best seller for more than a year, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2000) and Best Book for Reluctant Readers (2000), and with millions of copies in print, this novel for teen readers (or “wallflowers� of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life.]]> 237 Stephen Chbosky Alexa 5 4.37 1999 The Perks of Being a Wallflower
author: Stephen Chbosky
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/20
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires]]> 61867765
Five mysterious billionaires summoned theorist Douglas Rushkoff to a desert resort for a private talk. The topic? How to survive the “Event�: the societal catastrophe they know is coming. Rushkoff came to understand that these men were under the influence of The Mindset, a Silicon Valley–style certainty that they and their cohort can break the laws of physics, economics, and morality to escape a disaster of their own making—as long as they have enough money and the right technology.

In Survival of the Richest, Rushkoff traces the origins of The Mindset in science and technology through its current expression in missions to Mars, island bunkers, AI futurism, and the metaverse. In a dozen urgent, electrifying chapters, he confronts tech utopianism, the datafication of all human interaction, and the exploitation of that data by corporations. Through fascinating characters—master programmers who want to remake the world from scratch as if redesigning a video game and bankers who return from Burning Man convinced that incentivized capitalism is the solution to environmental disasters—Rushkoff explains why those with the most power to change our current trajectory have no interest in doing so. And he shows how recent forms of anti-mainstream rebellion—QAnon, for example, or meme stocks—reinforce the same destructive order.

This mind-blowing work of social analysis shows us how to transcend the landscape The Mindset created—a world alive with algorithms and intelligences actively rewarding our most selfish tendencies—and rediscover community, mutual aid, and human interdependency. In a thundering conclusion, Survival of the Richest argues that the only way to survive the coming catastrophe is to ensure it doesn’t happen in the first place.]]> 225 Douglas Rushkoff 0393881075 Alexa 0 currently-reading 4.00 2022 Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires
author: Douglas Rushkoff
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Ten Low (Ten Low #1) 56360354 Firefly meets Dune in a breakneck race to escape across an alien moon thriving with aliens and criminals.

Ten Low is an ex-army medic, one of many convicts eking out a living at the universe's edge. She's desperate to escape her memories of the interstellar war, and the crimes she committed, but trouble seems to follow wherever she goes. One night, attempting to atone for her sins, she pulls a teenage girl - the sole survivor - from the wreck of a spaceship. But Gabriella Ortiz is no ordinary girl. The result of a military genetics programme, she is a decorated Army General, from the opposing side of the war to Ten. Worse, Ten realises the crash was an assassination attempt, and that someone wants the Ortiz dead...

The pair bury their hatreds and strike an uneasy deal to smuggle the General off-world. Their road won't be easy: they must cross the moon's lawless wastes, facing military hit squads, bandits and the one-eyed leader of an all-female road gang, in a frantic race to get the General to safety. But something else waits in the darkness at the universe's edge. Something that threatens to reveal Ten's worst nightmare: the truth of who she really is and what she is running from.]]> 277 Stark Holborn Alexa 4
Graphic descriptions of violence, death, medical trauma, alcohol, drug abuse/use, war (no rape), nonconsensual medical testing

Moderate descriptions of child abuse and child death

I was looking for something else when I found this book described as a queer friendly cross between “Firefly� and “Dune �. I haven’t read/seen Dune, but I can see the firefly inspiration. It is definitely a sci-fi western, with a broken down spaceship.

The book took a while to build. I think I was about 60% through when I found it really interesting. And then there were a lot of war battles, which I thought were boring, but might have been more interesting on screen.

Ten “Doc� Low comes across a ruins spaceship and its two passengers, a soldier and a girl. As a medic, she feels duty-bound to do what she can to save both, which involves taking the girl with her. She is conflicted about saving the girl and traveling with her, but she has reasons.
]]> 4.09 2021 Ten Low (Ten Low #1)
author: Stark Holborn
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/11
date added: 2024/10/12
shelves:
review:
Content warnings

Graphic descriptions of violence, death, medical trauma, alcohol, drug abuse/use, war (no rape), nonconsensual medical testing

Moderate descriptions of child abuse and child death

I was looking for something else when I found this book described as a queer friendly cross between “Firefly� and “Dune �. I haven’t read/seen Dune, but I can see the firefly inspiration. It is definitely a sci-fi western, with a broken down spaceship.

The book took a while to build. I think I was about 60% through when I found it really interesting. And then there were a lot of war battles, which I thought were boring, but might have been more interesting on screen.

Ten “Doc� Low comes across a ruins spaceship and its two passengers, a soldier and a girl. As a medic, she feels duty-bound to do what she can to save both, which involves taking the girl with her. She is conflicted about saving the girl and traveling with her, but she has reasons.

]]> <![CDATA[Woman, Eating: A Literary Vampire Novel]]> 59626881 240 Claire Kohda 0063140896 Alexa 0 to-read 3.47 2022 Woman, Eating: A Literary Vampire Novel
author: Claire Kohda
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital]]> 13529059 The inspiration for the NBC drama New Amsterdam and in the spirit of Oliver Sacks, this intensely involving memoir from a former medical director of a major NYC hospital looks poignantly at patients' lives and reveals the author's own battle with cancer.

Dr. Manheimer describes the plights of twelve very different patients--from dignitaries at the nearby UN, to supermax prisoners at Riker's Island, to illegal immigrants, and Wall Street tycoons.


Manheimer was not only the medical director of the country's oldest public hospital for over 13 years, but he was also a patient. As the book unfolds, the narrator is diagnosed with cancer, and he is forced to wrestle with the end of his own life even as he struggles to save the lives of others.]]> 355 Eric Manheimer 1455503886 Alexa 0 to-read 3.57 2012 Twelve Patients: Life and Death at Bellevue Hospital
author: Eric Manheimer
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue]]> 50623864
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.]]> 448 Victoria E. Schwab 0765387565 Alexa 0 to-read 4.16 2020 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
author: Victoria E. Schwab
name: Alexa
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Tiger's Watch (Ashes of Gold, #1)]]> 28489382
Tashi spies on Xian’s every move. In front of his men, Xian seems dangerous, even sadistic, but Tashi discovers a more vulnerable side of the enemy commander—a side that draws them to Xian.

When their spying unveils that everything they’ve been taught is a lie, Tashi faces an impossible choice: save their country or the boy they’re growing to love. Though Tashi grapples with their decision, their volatile bonded tiger doesn't question her allegiances. Katala slaughters Xian’s soldiers, leading the enemy to hunt her. But an inhabitor’s bond to their animal is for life—if Katala dies, so will Tashi.]]> 180 Julia Ember 1635334861 Alexa 0 to-read 3.55 2017 The Tiger's Watch (Ashes of Gold, #1)
author: Julia Ember
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Thank You for Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America]]> 46258513
The problem, Erin Geiger Smith contends, is a lack of understanding about our electoral system and a need to make voting more accessible. Thank You for Voting is her eye-opening look at the voting process, starting with the Framers� perspective, through the Equal Protection amendment and the Voting Rights Act, to the present and simple actions individuals can take to increase civic participation in local, state, and national elections.

Geiger Smith expands our knowledge about our democracy—including women’s long fight to win the vote, attempts to suppress newly enfranchised voters' impact, state prohibitions against felons voting, charges of voter fraud and voter suppression, and other vital issues. In a conversational tone, she explains topics that can confuse even the most informed polling, news literacy, gerrymandering and the Electoral College. She also explores how age, race, and socioeconomic factors influence turnout.

Ultimately, Thank You for Voting offers hope. Geiger Smith challenges corporations to promote voting, and offers examples of how companies like Patagonia and Walmart have taken up the task in a non-partisan way. And she reveals how get-out-the-vote movements—such as television star Yara Shahidi’s voting organization, Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote campaign, and on-the-ground young activists—innovatively use technology and grassroots techniques to energize first-time voters.Ěý]]> 256 Erin Geiger Smith 0062934848 Alexa 5
Merged review:

A really good book about the importance of voting and the ways it fails the citizens and how we can improve it.]]> 3.76 2020 Thank You for Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America
author: Erin Geiger Smith
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2020/10/30
date added: 2024/09/28
shelves: high-school-books, mpaa, my-favorite-books, nonfiction
review:
A really good book about the importance of voting and the ways it fails the citizens and how we can improve it.

Merged review:

A really good book about the importance of voting and the ways it fails the citizens and how we can improve it.
]]> <![CDATA[Addressing Ableism: Philosophical Questions via Disability Studies]]> 39697357 277 Jennifer Scuro 1498540759 Alexa 0 to-read 3.00 Addressing Ableism: Philosophical Questions via Disability Studies
author: Jennifer Scuro
name: Alexa
average rating: 3.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>