Download or read book The Elephant in the Brain written by Kevin Simler and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human beings are primates, and primates are political animals. Our brains, therefore, are designed not just to hunt and gather, but also to help us get ahead socially, often via deception and self-deception. But while we may be self-interested schemers, we benefit by pretending otherwise. The less we know about our own ugly motives, the better - and thus we don't like to talk or even think about the extent of our selfishness. This is the elephant in the brain. Such an introspective taboo makes it hard for us to think clearly about our nature and the explanations for our behavior. The aim of this book, then, is to confront our hidden motives directly - to track down the darker, unexamined corners of our psyches and blast them with floodlights. Then, once everything is clearly visible, we can work to better understand ourselves: Why do we laugh? Why are artists sexy? Why do we brag about travel? Why do we prefer to speak rather than listen? Our unconscious motives drive more than just our private behavior; they also infect our venerated social institutions such as Art, School, Charity, Medicine, Politics, and Religion. In fact, these institutions are in many ways designed to accommodate our hidden motives, to serve covert agendas alongside their official ones. The existence of big hidden motives can upend the usual political debates, leading one to question the legitimacy of these social institutions, and of standard policies designed to favor or discourage them. You won't see yourself - or the world - the same after confronting the elephant in the brain.
Download or read book Elephant Memories written by Cynthia Moss and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-08-06 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A style so conversational…that I felt like a privileged visitor riding beside her in her rickety Land-Rover as she showed me around the park." —The New York Times Book Review Cynthia Moss spent many years living in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park and studying the elephants there, and her long-term research has revealed much of what we now know about these complex and intelligent animals. In this book, she shares a more up-close and personal perspective, chronicling the lives of the elephant families led by matriarchs Teresia, Slit Ear, Torn Ear, Tania, and Tuskless, including a rare look at calves and their development. This edition is also updated with a new afterword, catching up on the families, covering current conservation issues, and “celebrating a species from which we could learn some moral as well as zoological lessons” (Chicago Tribune). “One is soon swept away by this ‘Babar’ for adults. By the end, one even begins to feel an aversion for people. One wants to curse human civilization and cry out, ‘Now God stand up for the elephants!’”—The New York Times “Moss speaks to the general reader, with charm as well as scientific authority…[An] elegantly written and ingeniously structured account.”—TheWall Street Journal “Any reader interested in animals will be captivated.”—Publishers Weekly
Download or read book The Elephants in My Backyard written by Rajiv Surendra and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-11-08 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rajiv Surendra was filming Mean Girls, playing the beloved rapping mathlete Kevin Gnapoor, when a cameraman insisted he read Yann Martel's Life of Pi. So begins his "lovely and human" (Jenny Lawson, author of Furiously Happy) tale of obsessively pursuing a dream, overcoming failure, and finding meaning in life. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I found myself standing dangerously close to the edge of a cliff. Far below me was an incredible abyss with no end in sight. I could turn back and safely return to where I had come from, or I could throw caution to the wind, lift my arms up into the air . . . and jump.” —From The Elephants in My Backyard What happens when you spend ten years obsessively pursuing a dream, and then, in the blink of an eye, you learn that you have failed, that the dream will not come true? In 2003, Rajiv Surendra was filming Mean Girls, playing the beloved rapping mathlete Kevin Gnapoor, when a cameraman insisted he read Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. Mesmerized by all the similarities between Pi and himself—both are five-foot-five with coffee-colored complexions, both share a South Indian culture, both lived by a zoo—when Rajiv learns that Life of Pi will be made into a major motion picture he is convinced that playing the title role is his destiny. In a great leap of faith Rajiv embarks on a quest to embody the sixteen-year-old Tamil schoolboy. He quits university and buys a one-way ticket from Toronto to South India. He visits the sacred stone temples of Pondicherry, he travels to the frigid waters off the coast of rural Maine, and explores the cobbled streets of Munich. He befriends Yann Martel, a priest, a castaway, an eccentric old woman, and a pack of Tamil schoolboys. He learns how to swim, to spin wool, to keep bees, and to look a tiger in the eye. All the while he is really learning how to dream big, to fail, to survive, to love, and to become who he truly is. Rajiv Surendra captures the uncertainty, heartache, and joy of finding ones place in the world with sly humor and refreshing honesty. The Elephants in My Backyard is not a journey of goals and victories, but a story of process and determination. It is a spellbinding and profound book for anyone who has ever failed at something and had to find a new path through life.
Download or read book The Elephant Whisperer written by ANTHONY. LAWRENCE and published by . This book was released on 2017-07-13 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of 'rogue' elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse. But he was the herd's last chance of survival - dangerous and unpredictable, they would be killed if Anthony wouldn't take them in. As Anthony risked his life to create a bond with the troubled elephants and persuade them to stay on his reserve, he came to realize what a special family they were, from the wise matriarch Nana, who guided the herd, to her warrior sister Frankie, always ready to see off any threat, and their children who fought so hard to survive. With unforgettable characters and exotic wildlife, this is an enthralling book that will appeal to animal lovers and adventurous souls everywhere.
Download or read book Burmese Days written by George Orwell and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2022-09-28 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Burmese Days is George Orwell's first novel, originally published in 1934. Set in British Burma during the waning days of the British empire, when Burma was ruled from Delhi as part of British India, the novel serves as a portrait of the dark side of the British Raj. At the center of the novel is John Flory, trapped within a bigger system that is undermining the better side of human nature. The novel deals with indigenous corruption and imperial bigotry in a society where natives peoples were viewed as interesting, but ultimately inferior. Includes a bibliography and brief bio of the author.
Download or read book The Elephant s Dilemma written by Jon Bostock and published by Lioncrest Publishing. This book was released on 2020-07-04 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You know the moments of inspiration that come out of nowhere? Maybe it's an idea for a product that will change people's lives, or a way to solve a conflict. No matter the epiphany, this surge of excitement is often as fleeting as the good ideas we abandon too quickly. But what if we took a chance? What if we used our momentum to see our ideas through? Our ancestors used their ideas for change. They took big risks to improve the lives of future generations, doing whatever it took with few alternatives. Now it's our turn to take the risks and change the world, but we're comfortable and complacent-even when we shouldn't be. In The Elephant's Dilemma, Jon Bostock shares how he took a chance with his fascinating story of business success. He shows how we're chained to our current reality, and what can happen when we break free and reimagine our future. His book is an urgent battle cry asking us to step forward, live a more fulfilled life, and leave a legacy for future generations.
Download or read book Elephant Company written by Vicki Croke and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "At the onset of World War II, [Billy] Williams formed Elephant Company and was instrumental in defeating the Japanese in Burma and saving refugees, including on his own 'Hannibal Trek, ' [becoming] a media sensation during the war, telling reporters that the elephants did more for him than he was ever able to do for them"--
Download or read book Elephant Rescue written by Louisa Leaman and published by B.E.S. Publishing. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thoroughly moving books in the Born Free series tell the stories of wild animals around the world that have been saved from a lifetime of cruelty and suffering. The Born Free Foundation's mission is to protect many different species in their natural habitats, working with local communities to make sure that people and wildlife can live together peacefully. In Elephant Rescue, children will meet Nina and Pinky, two elephants that survived terrible misfortunes and were trapped in captivity...until the Born Free Foundation stepped in to save them. Parents will be intrigued by these books as they recall Born Free, the movie that inspired a generation. In it, they learned the story of Elsa, an orphaned lion cub that was brought up by Joy and George Adamson (portrayed by Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna in the movie and the founders of the Born Free Foundation) and released back into the wild. Children will be inspired as they read how the Born Free Foundation comes to the rescue, saving suffering animals and giving them their well-deserved happy endings. Both parents and children will find the stories in these books wonderful conversation starters about life, compassion, taking a stand for what you believe in, and making the world a better place.
Download or read book When Elephants Weep written by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and published by Delta. This book was released on 2009-10-21 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This national bestseller exploring the complex emotional lives of animals was hailed as "a masterpiece" by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and as "marvelous" by Jane Goodall. The popularity of When Elephants Weep has swept the nation, as author Jeffrey Masson appeared on Dateline NBC, Good Morning America, and was profiled in People for his ground-breaking and fascinating study. Not since Darwin's The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals has a book so thoroughly and effectively explored the full range of emotions that exist throughout the animal kingdom. From dancing squirrels to bashful gorillas to spiteful killer whales, Masson and coauthor Susan McCarthy bring forth fascinating anecdotes and illuminating insights that offer powerful proof of the existence of animal emotion. Chapters on love, joy, anger, fear, shame, compassion, and loneliness are framed by a provocative re-evaluation of how we treat animals, from hunting and eating them to scientific experimentation. Forming a complete and compelling picture of the inner lives of animals, When Elephants Weep assures that we will never look at animals in the same way again.
Download or read book An Elephant in My Kitchen written by Françoise Malby-Anthony and published by Thomas Dunne Books. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER "Malby-Anthony offers a book of great inspiration and wide appeal to nature-loving readers." —Publishers Weekly A heart-warming sequel to the international bestseller The Elephant Whisperer, by Lawrence Anthony's wife Françoise Malby-Anthony. A chic Parisienne, Françoise never expected to find herself living on a South African game reserve. But then she fell in love with conservationist Lawrence Anthony and everything changed. After Lawrence’s death, Françoise faced the daunting responsibility of running Thula Thula without him. Poachers attacked their rhinos, their security team wouldn’t take orders from a woman and the authorities were threatening to cull their beloved elephant family. On top of that, the herd’s feisty new matriarch Frankie didn’t like her. In this heart-warming and moving book, Françoise describes how she fought to protect the herd and to make her dream of building a wildlife rescue center a reality. She found herself caring for a lost baby elephant who turned up at her house, and offering refuge to traumatized orphaned rhinos, and a hippo called Charlie who was scared of water. As she learned to trust herself, she discovered she’d had Frankie wrong all along. Filled with extraordinary animals and the humans who dedicate their lives to saving them, An Elephant in My Kitchen is a captivating and gripping read.
Download or read book The Elephant in the Room written by Tommy Tomlinson and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-01-14 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019 A “warm and funny and honest…genuinely unputdownable” (Curtis Sittenfeld) memoir chronicling what it’s like to live in today’s world as a fat man, from acclaimed journalist Tommy Tomlinson, who, as he neared the age of fifty, weighed 460 pounds and decided he had to change his life. When he was almost fifty years old, Tommy Tomlinson weighed an astonishing—and dangerous—460 pounds, at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, unable to climb a flight of stairs without having to catch his breath, or travel on an airplane without buying two seats. Raised in a family that loved food, he had been aware of the problem for years, seeing doctors and trying diets from the time he was a preteen. But nothing worked, and every time he tried to make a change, it didn’t go the way he planned—in fact, he wasn’t sure that he really wanted to change. In The Elephant in the Room, Tomlinson chronicles his lifelong battle with weight in a voice that combines the urgency of Roxane Gay’s Hunger with the intimacy of Rick Bragg’s All Over but the Shoutin’. He also hits the road to meet other members of the plus-sized tribe in an attempt to understand how, as a nation, we got to this point. From buying a Fitbit and setting exercise goals to contemplating the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, America’s “capital of food porn,” and modifying his own diet, Tomlinson brings us along on a candid and sometimes brutal look at the everyday experience of being constantly aware of your size. Over the course of the book, he confronts these issues head-on and chronicles the practical steps he has to take to lose weight by the end. “What could have been a wallow in memoir self-pity is raised to art by Tomlinson’s wit and prose” (Rolling Stone). Affecting and searingly honest, The Elephant in the Room is an “inspirational” (The New York Times) memoir that will resonate with anyone who has grappled with addiction, shame, or self-consciousness. “Add this to your reading list ASAP” (Charlotte Magazine).
Download or read book An African Love Story written by Daphne Sheldrick and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2013-03-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daphne Sheldrick's best-selling love story of romance, life and elephants, An African Love Story: Love, Life and Elephants is an incredible story from Africa's greatest living conservationist. A typical day for Daphne involves rescuing baby elephants from poachers; finding homes for orphan elephants, all the while campaigning the ever-present threat of poaching for the ivory trade. An African Love Story is the incredible memoir of her life. It tells two stories - one is the extraordinary love story which blossomed when Daphne fell head over heels with Tsavo Game Park and its famous warden, David Sheldrick. The second is the love story of how Daphne and David, who devoted their lives to saving elephant orphans, at first losing every infant under the age of two until Daphne at last managed to devise the first-ever milk formula which would keep them alive. 'Compulsively readable', Mail on Sunday 'An enchanting memoir', Telegraph Daphne Sheldrick has spent her entire life in Kenya. For over 25 years, she and her husband, David, the famous founder of the the giant Tsavo National Park, raised and rehabilitated back into the wild orphans of misfortune from many different wild species. These included elephants, rhinos, buffaloes, zebra, eland, kudu, impala, warthogs and many other smaller animals. In 2006 she was made Dame Commander of the British Empire by the Queen.
Download or read book David Yarrow Photography written by David Yarrow and published by Rizzoli Publications. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The must-have photography monograph of the year, this lavish oversized volume celebrates David Yarrow's unparalleled wildlife imagery. For more than two decades, legendary British photographer David Yarrow has been putting himself in harm's way to capture immersive and evocative photography of the world's most revered and endangered species. With his images heightening awareness of those species and also raising huge sums for charity and conservation, he is one of the most relevant photographers in the world today. Featuring Yarrow's 150 most iconic photographs, this book offers a truly unmatched view of some of the world's most compelling animals. The collection of stunning images, paired with Yarrow's first-person contextual narrative, offers insight into a man who will not accept second best in his relentless pursuit of excellence. David Yarrow Photography offers a balanced retrospective of his spectacular work in the wild and his staged storytelling work, which has earned him wide acclaim in the fine-art market. Yarrow rarely just takes pictures--he almost always makes them. This approach sets him apart from others in the field. Yarrow's work will awaken our collective conscience, and--true to form--he plans to donate all the royalties from this book to conservation
Download or read book The Shadow Elephant written by Nadine Robert and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gentle story about sadness showing that sometimes all you need to feel better is the openness of someone who accepts you as you are.
Download or read book Elephant in the Sky written by Heather A. Clark and published by ReadHowYouWant. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on a true story, the tale of a nine-year-old with mental illness, and a mother who strives to find balance between her work and family.
Download or read book Ella the Pink Elephant written by Doris Rueger and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2012-05-04 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once upon a time, Ella, a baby elephant born in a zoo, was so cute that she was dressed in crowns, earrings, tutus, colorful shawls and fancy slippers. She got lots of attention! When she outgrew her baby costumes she was elegantly dressed for weddings and was still the center of attention. But what happened to Ella when she grew old and wanted to retire from the limelight? When she was no longer loved for her looks, did she find the meaning of true happiness? Follow Ella through her life from birth to old age!
Download or read book Life written by and published by . This book was released on 1921 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
