Download or read book Mediocre written by Ijeoma Oluo and published by Seal Press. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the smash hit #1 New York Times bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race, an "illuminating" (New York Times Book Review) history of white male identity in America What happens to a country that tells generations of white men that they deserve power? What happens when their identity is defined by status over women and people of color? Through the last 150 years of American history, Ijeoma Oluo exposes the devastating consequences of white male supremacy. She then envisions a new white male identity, one free from racism and sexism. Now with a new preface addressing the harrowing 2021 Capitol attack, Mediocre confronts our founding myths, in hopes that we will write better stories for future generations.
Download or read book Monsieur Mediocre written by John von Sothen and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A hilarious, candid account of what life in France is actually like, from a writer for Vanity Fair and GQ Americans love to love Paris. We buy books about how the French parent, why French women don't get fat, and how to be Parisian wherever you are. While our work hours increase every year, we think longingly of the six weeks of vacation the French enjoy, imagining them at the seaside in stripes with plates of fruits de mer. John von Sothen fell in love with Paris through the stories his mother told of her year spent there as a student. And then, after falling for and marrying a French waitress he met in New York, von Sothen moved to Paris. But fifteen years in, he's finally ready to admit his mother's Paris is mostly a fantasy. In this hilarious and delightful collection of essays, von Sothen walks us through real life in Paris--not only myth-busting our Parisian daydreams but also revealing the inimitable and too often invisible pleasures of family life abroad. Relentlessly funny and full of incisive observations, Monsieur Mediocre is ultimately a love letter to France--to its absurdities, its history, its ideals--but it's a very French love letter: frank, smoky, unsentimental. It is a clear-eyed ode to a beautiful, complex, contradictory country from someone who both eagerly and grudgingly calls it home.
Download or read book Mediocracy written by Alain Deneault and published by Between the Lines. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There was no Reichstag fire. No storming of the Bastille. No mutiny on the Aurora. Instead, the mediocre have seized power without firing a single shot. They rose to power on the tide of an economy where workers produce assembly-line meals without knowing how to cook at home, give customers instructions over the phone that they themselves don’t understand, or sell books and newspapers that they never read. Canadian intellectual juggernaut Alain Deneault has taken on all kinds of evildoers: mining companies, tax-dodgers, and corporate criminals. Now he takes on the most menacing threat of all: the mediocre.
Download or read book Good Enough written by Daniel S. Milo and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-18 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this spirited and irreverent critique of Darwin’s long hold over our imagination, a distinguished philosopher of science makes the case that, in culture as well as nature, not only the fittest survive: the world is full of the “good enough” that persist too. Why is the genome of a salamander forty times larger than that of a human? Why does the avocado tree produce a million flowers and only a hundred fruits? Why, in short, is there so much waste in nature? In this lively and wide-ranging meditation on the curious accidents and unexpected detours on the path of life, Daniel Milo argues that we ask these questions because we’ve embraced a faulty conception of how evolution—and human society—really works. Good Enough offers a vigorous critique of the quasi-monopoly that Darwin’s concept of natural selection has on our idea of the natural world. Darwinism excels in accounting for the evolution of traits, but it does not explain their excess in size and number. Many traits far exceed the optimal configuration to do the job, and yet the maintenance of this extra baggage does not prevent species from thriving for millions of years. Milo aims to give the messy side of nature its due—to stand up for the wasteful and inefficient organisms that nevertheless survive and multiply. But he does not stop at the border between evolutionary theory and its social consequences. He argues provocatively that the theory of evolution through natural selection has acquired the trappings of an ethical system. Optimization, competitiveness, and innovation have become the watchwords of Western societies, yet their role in human lives—as in the rest of nature—is dangerously overrated. Imperfection is not just good enough: it may at times be essential to survival.
Download or read book It s Great to Suck at Something written by Karen Rinaldi and published by Atria Books. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover how the freedom of sucking at something can help you build resilience, embrace imperfection, and find joy in the pursuit rather than the goal. What if the secret to resilience and joy is the one thing we’ve been taught to avoid? When was the last time you tried something new? Something that won’t make you more productive, make you more money, or check anything off your to-do list? Something you’re really, really bad at, but that brought you joy? Odds are, not recently. As a sh*tty surfer and all-around-imperfect human Karen Rinaldi explains in this eye-opening book, we live in a time of aspirational psychoses. We humblebrag about how hard we work and we prioritize productivity over play. Even kids don’t play for the sake of playing anymore: they’re building blocks to build the ideal college application. But we’re all being had. We’re told to be the best or nothing at all. We’re trapped in an epic and farcical quest for perfection. We judge others on stuff we can’t even begin to master, and it’s all making us more anxious and depressed than ever. Worse, we’re not improving on what really matters. This book provides the antidote. (It’s Great to) Suck at Something reveals that the key to a richer, more fulfilling life is finding something to suck at. Drawing on her personal experience sucking at surfing (a sport she’s dedicated nearly two decades of her life to doing without ever coming close to getting good at it) along with philosophy, literature, and the latest science, Rinaldi explores sucking as a lost art we must reclaim for our health and our sanity and helps us find the way to our own riotous suck-ability. She draws from sources as diverse as Anthony Bourdain and surfing luminary Jaimal Yogis, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Jean-Paul Sartre, among many others, and explains the marvelous things that happen to our mammalian brains when we try something new, all to discover what she’s learned firsthand: it is great to suck at something. Sucking at something rewires our brain in positive ways, helps us cultivate grit, and inspires us to find joy in the process, without obsessing about the destination. Ultimately, it gives you freedom: the freedom to suck without caring is revelatory. Coupling honest, hilarious storytelling with unexpected insights, (It’s Great to) Suck at Something is an invitation to embrace our shortcomings as the very best of who we are and to open ourselves up to adventure, where we may not find what we thought we were looking for, but something way more important.
Download or read book Embracing Your Inner Mediocrity written by Vince Stone and published by Sterling Media Warehouse. This book was released on 2009-04 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this hilarious satire of the prosperity and excellence industry, Stone examines how mediocrity affects all aspects of life. He offers a simple solution for those trying to overachieve.
Download or read book No More Mediocre Me written by John E. Michel and published by Morgan James Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you were to account for your life at this moment—are you living up to your own potential? Does your present state of affairs give you reason to be disappointed or discouraged? Is your job unsatisfying...your relationships far from what they could be...your spiritual life a mere shadow of what it once was? If you answered “yes” to one or more of these questions, then there is a very good chance you--like scores of other Americans--have been lulled into accepting a life that is simply "good enough." This is what I term a Mediocre Me Mindset--a confining way of thinking about your role in the world that convinces you to settle for the perceived safety of the status quo rather than push outside your comfort zone to try and make tomorrow a little better than you found it today. In Mediocre Me, you will find a simple, yet profoundly powerful approach to rethinking the way you view your role in the world. It’s a proven means of breaking free from the grasp of mediocrity so you can lead a life of true purpose, meaning, and significance. And perhaps the best part of all...it’s not a new idea! The concepts in Mediocre Me are actually anchored in an over two thousand year old legend. One that reminds us we are at our individual and collective best not when we are standing still, unwitting prisoners of the status quo, but rather, when we are unafraid to reject apathy and embrace action by leading the positive change we want to see occur in our surroundings. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “America is another name for opportunity.” At a time in our nation’s history when we seem more divided than united, more fearful than hopeful, there can be no more fence-sitting. It’s time to begin writing a different, more empowering personal leadership story of your own. One that will energize you to do what you can, when you can, where you can, to be a force for good in your part of the world when doing so is needed now more than ever.
Download or read book So You Want to Talk About Race written by Ijeoma Oluo and published by Seal Press. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Ijeoma Oluo offers a revelatory examination of race in America Protests against racial injustice and white supremacy have galvanized millions around the world. The stakes for transformative conversations about race could not be higher. Still, the task ahead seems daunting, and it’s hard to know where to start. How do you tell your boss her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law hang up on you when you had questions about police reform? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend? In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race, and about how racism infects every aspect of American life. "Simply put: Ijeoma Oluo is a necessary voice and intellectual for these times, and any time, truth be told." ―Phoebe Robinson, New York Times bestselling author of You Can't Touch My Hair
Download or read book Trapped in Mediocrity written by Katherine Baird and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2012-08-09 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our students aren’t learning, we’re falling behind other countries, and many of our college graduates are even functionally illiterate. We offer our kids a weak and poorly thought out curriculum; too many teachers do not make good use of classroom time and follow lesson plans that are superficial and repetitive; almost all state governments define “proficiency” at low levels of competency; and because kids with very uneven skills populate a classroom, teachers spend considerable time on review before introducing new material. This dismal picture is tempered by the fact that the hard work and dedication of countless teachers and administrators means that many students get an excellent education. But it doesn’t temper it much. As a group, even our top students are not as strong as are those in a large majority of other rich countries. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Katherine Baird, an economist, starts by clearly spelling out how our educational system is trapped in mediocrity. Yet, she doesn’t just expose where we are. She identifies the steps to get out of the trap. We need to (1) dramatically reform our education’s governance structure, (2) establish high expectations for all students, (3) provide adequate support to meet those expectations, and (4) introduce strong incentives for students to work hard in school so they do their part in meeting higher standards. Clearly, it isn’t as simple as it sounds, but Baird carefully examines each factor that has led to the current state in education and then spells out how a combination of policies will weaken the forces that keep our schools mediocre and instead make them ones worth copying
Download or read book Notes of a Mediocre Man written by Bipin Aurora and published by Guernica Editions Incorporated. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two brothers come to school and do nothing but tell stories. A young woman works at the Indian Consulate in a major American city. A man goes to a singles dance. An unnamed narrator offers his "notes" on modern-day America. An old Jewish man in a nursing home tells the tale of his daughter. A retired man in India tries to collect his pension. A woman tells the story of her husband's death in partition India. A man goes from interview to interview, hoping for employment. Some stories are fable-like, others more realistic. However, all stories deal, in one way or another, with small, "mediocre" people -- people trying to fit into a world of bigness, applause, success.
Download or read book Confessions of a Mediocre Widow written by Catherine Tidd and published by Sourcebooks. This book was released on 2014-01-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I spent my 11th wedding anniversary planning my husband's funeral. If I could just figure out how to make that rhyme, it would be the beginning of a great country song." Confessions of a Mediocre Widow is a roller coaster look at one widow's journey through the odyssey of grief and the many missteps, crying jags, fights, hilarity, pedicures, and lying required to get through it. Catherine Tidd shares the story of what it was to honor her husband, to get her three kids (all under 6) through the day (with perhaps more sugar and television than might have been necessary), and come to terms with his loss, in a way that's real, rough, and honest.
Download or read book Mediocre But Arrogant written by Abhijit Bhaduri and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2012-02-24 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A quirky read about a confused MBA waylaid by love and life Three years of college, and Abbey has no answer to the question 'what next?'. Luckily for him, fate, that chancy thing, lands him in an MBA course at a topnotch B-School, the Management Institute of Jamshedpur. At MIJ, Abbey finds his life turned upside down - what with professors like Haathi and Chatto, friends like Rascal Rusty and Pappu, and gorgeous girls like Ayesha and Keya. Will the two years at MIJ bag Abbey a job? Will this be where he finds love? Mediocre But Arrogant is the story of being young in India. It is about the roller coaster that is hostel life, bad grades, chai at the dhaba and, not least, being in love. Read on to know why MBA spells 'mediocre but arrogant'. 'Loaded with humour and narrated at a cracking pace'- The Week 'The authenticity of the dialogues, friends, incidents, phattas, attitudes are the book's heart'- Deccan Herald
Download or read book Moving Past Mediocre written by Nick Matiash and published by . This book was released on 2019-05-24 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You wanted to be an astronaut, a doctor, or even the President of the United States. When you were a kid your mind ran wild with imagination, daydreaming about all that you would accomplish and how amazing life would be. But at some point, the large life that you felt destined to live simply shrunk. It's been minimized by experiences that have left you jaded, limitations that you've perceived, and people around you telling you to, "be realistic." The sky that you once thought to be the limit has been replaced by a painfully claustrophobic ceiling. There's more life to be lived, and there's a part of you that knows it. Whether it be in life, love, health or business...you feel like you're missing something. Like you overslept on the day they were handing out all the rules to success and fulfillment and missed your chance to grab a copy. You feel trapped by a life that you didn't sign up for, and crave the wide open space of possibility and potential that a younger you once knew. This book is the guide that will open your world back up and allow you to truly live life on your terms. In these pages you will find: - The unseen patterns of your mind that have caused you to run in place for years. - The foolproof methods to bring those patterns into the light and have your way with them. - A way to navigate your life with awareness once you've uncovered the obstacles that previously stood in your way. You weren't given a pulse and a heartbeat to waste on a life that you merely exist in. You are here to smile big, laugh loud, and love hard. You are here to make a lot of money with your natural set of gifts. You are here to create something that you are left in awe of. This book is the pathway to all of that. This book is the key that will unlock your mind to what's possible. This book is for people who accidentally stumbled into a mediocre life-and are ready to move past it. "I was sort of anti-coaching because I thought it was a little fluffy, but I'd been following Nick for awhile and felt called to give him a shot. Long story short: my business has doubled TWICE in the last 6 months. He's legit!" -Dave "In working with Nick I've become more present with my daughters, coming home from work less stressed and not worried about doing everything under the sun, and frankly, my wife loves who I've become. Working with Nick has been absolutely life changing." -Keegan
Download or read book Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders written by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2019-02-19 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Look around your office. Turn on the TV. Incompetent leadership is everywhere, and there's no denying that most of these leaders are men. In this timely and provocative book, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic asks two powerful questions: Why is it so easy for incompetent men to become leaders? And why is it so hard for competent people--especially competent women--to advance? Marshaling decades of rigorous research, Chamorro-Premuzic points out that although men make up a majority of leaders, they underperform when compared with female leaders. In fact, most organizations equate leadership potential with a handful of destructive personality traits, like overconfidence and narcissism. In other words, these traits may help someone get selected for a leadership role, but they backfire once the person has the job. When competent women--and men who don't fit the stereotype--are unfairly overlooked, we all suffer the consequences. The result is a deeply flawed system that rewards arrogance rather than humility, and loudness rather than wisdom. There is a better way. With clarity and verve, Chamorro-Premuzic shows us what it really takes to lead and how new systems and processes can help us put the right people in charge.
Download or read book The Shoe on the Roof written by Will Ferguson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-10-17 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Rosanoff was used by his father, an esteemed psychiatrist, as a test subject when he was a boy, being watched by researchers behind one-way glass for his entire childhood. Now a gifted med student, Thomas is the researcher, and his subjects are three homeless men, all of whom claim to be messiahs. But when Thomas's father intervenes in the experiment, events spin out of control and Thomas must confront the voices he hears in the labyrinth of his own mind.
Download or read book Cook This Book written by Molly Baz and published by Clarkson Potter. This book was released on 2021-04-20 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A thoroughly modern guide to becoming a better, faster, more creative cook, featuring fun, flavorful recipes anyone can make. ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, Food52, Taste of Home “Surprising no one, Molly has written a book as smart, stylish, and entertaining as she is.”—Carla Lalli Music, author of Where Cooking Begins If you seek out, celebrate, and obsess over good food but lack the skills and confidence necessary to make it at home, you’ve just won a ticket to a life filled with supreme deliciousness. Cook This Book is a new kind of foundational cookbook from Molly Baz, who’s here to teach you absolutely everything she knows and equip you with the tools to become a better, more efficient cook. Molly breaks the essentials of cooking down to clear and uncomplicated recipes that deliver big flavor with little effort and a side of education, including dishes like Pastrami Roast Chicken with Schmaltzy Onions and Dill, Chorizo and Chickpea Carbonara, and of course, her signature Cae Sal. But this is not your average cookbook. More than a collection of recipes, Cook This Book teaches you the invaluable superpower of improvisation though visually compelling lessons on such topics as the importance of salt and how to balance flavor, giving you all the tools necessary to make food taste great every time. Throughout, you’ll encounter dozens of QR codes, accessed through the camera app on your smartphone, that link to short technique-driven videos hosted by Molly to help illuminate some of the trickier skills. As Molly says, “Cooking is really fun, I swear. You simply need to set yourself up for success to truly enjoy it.” Cook This Book will help you do just that, inspiring a new generation to find joy in the kitchen and take pride in putting a home-cooked meal on the table, all with the unbridled fun and spirit that only Molly could inspire.
Download or read book I Want My Epidural Back written by Karen Alpert and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now that I’m a mom, I know the most painful part isn’t getting something giant through your hooha. It’s having a real live child. If you are the kind of mom who shapes your kiddo’s organic quinoa into reproductions of the Mona Lisa, do not read this book. If you stayed up past midnight to create posters for your PTO presidential campaign, do not read this book. If you look down your nose at parents who have Domino’s pizza on speed dial, do not read this book. But if you are the kind of parent who accidentally goes ballistic on your rugrats every morning because they won’t put their shoes on and then you feel super guilty about it all day so you take them to McDonald’s for a special treat but really it’s because you opened up your freezer and panicked because you forgot to buy more frozen pizzas, then absolutely read this book. I Want My Epidural Back is a celebration of mediocre parents and how awesome they are and how their kids love them just as much as children with perfect parents. Karen Alpert’s honest but hilarious observations, stories, quips and pictures will have you nodding your head and peeing in your pants. Or on the toilet if you’re smart and read it there.
