Download or read book How to Do Nothing written by Jenny Odell and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2020-12-29 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ** A New York Times Bestseller ** NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: Time • The New Yorker • NPR • GQ • Elle • Vulture • Fortune • Boing Boing • The Irish Times • The New York Public Library • The Brooklyn Public Library "A complex, smart and ambitious book that at first reads like a self-help manual, then blossoms into a wide-ranging political manifesto."—Jonah Engel Bromwich, The New York Times Book Review One of President Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of 2019" Porchlight's Personal Development & Human Behavior Book of the Year In a world where addictive technology is designed to buy and sell our attention, and our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity, it can seem impossible to escape. But in this inspiring field guide to dropping out of the attention economy, artist and critic Jenny Odell shows us how we can still win back our lives. Odell sees our attention as the most precious—and overdrawn—resource we have. And we must actively and continuously choose how we use it. We might not spend it on things that capitalism has deemed important … but once we can start paying a new kind of attention, she writes, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humankind’s role in the environment, and arrive at more meaningful understandings of happiness and progress. Far from the simple anti-technology screed, or the back-to-nature meditation we read so often, How to do Nothing is an action plan for thinking outside of capitalist narratives of efficiency and techno-determinism. Provocative, timely, and utterly persuasive, this book will change how you see your place in our world.

Download or read book The Book of Longings written by Sue Monk Kidd and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An extraordinary novel . . . a triumph of insight and storytelling.” —Associated Press “A true masterpiece.” —Glennon Doyle, author of Untamed An extraordinary story set in the first century about a woman who finds her voice and her destiny, from the celebrated number one New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Invention of Wings In her mesmerizing fourth work of fiction, Sue Monk Kidd takes an audacious approach to history and brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything. Their marriage evolves with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, and their mother, Mary. Ana's pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to Rome's occupation of Israel, partially led by her brother, Judas. She is sustained by her fearless aunt Yaltha, who harbors a compelling secret. When Ana commits a brazen act that puts her in peril, she flees to Alexandria, where startling revelations and greater dangers unfold, and she finds refuge in unexpected surroundings. Ana determines her fate during a stunning convergence of events considered among the most impactful in human history. Grounded in meticulous research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus's life that focuses on his humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring, unforgettable account of one woman's bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place and culture devised to silence her. It is a triumph of storytelling both timely and timeless, from a masterful writer at the height of her powers.

Download or read book What Shamu Taught Me About Life Love and Marriage written by Amy Sutherland and published by Random House. This book was released on 2008-02-12 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While observing exotic animal trainers for her acclaimed book Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched, journalist Amy Sutherland had an epiphany: What if she used these training techniques with the human animals in her own life–namely her dear husband, Scott? In this lively and perceptive book, Sutherland tells how she took the trainers’ lessons home. The next time her forgetful husband stomped through the house in search of his mislaid car keys, she asked herself, “What would a dolphin trainer do?” The answer was: nothing. Trainers reward the behavior they want and, just as important, ignore the behavior they don’t. Rather than appease her mate’s rising temper by joining in the search, or fuel his temper by nagging him to keep better track of his things in the first place, Sutherland kept her mouth shut and her eyes on the dishes she was washing. In short order, Scott found his keys and regained his cool. “I felt like I should throw him a mackerel,” she writes. In time, as she put more training principles into action, she noticed that she became more optimistic and less judgmental, and their twelve-year marriage was better than ever. What started as a goofy experiment had such good results that Sutherland began using the training techniques with all the people in her life, including her mother, her friends, her students, even the clerk at the post office. In the end, the biggest lesson she learned is that the only animal you can truly change is yourself. Full of fun facts, fascinating insights, hilarious anecdotes, and practical tips, What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage describes Sutherland’s Alice-in-Wonderland experience of stumbling into a world where cheetahs walk nicely on leashes and elephants paint with watercolors, and of leaving a new, improved Homo sapiens.

Download or read book Sophie s World written by Jostein Gaarder and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2007-03-20 with total page 599 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.

Download or read book A Birding on a Bronco written by Florence A. Merriam and published by Blurb. This book was released on 2019-04-26 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A-Birding on a Bronco is a classic bird watching/nature text by Florence A. Merriam that details the authors birding adventures through the State of California on horseback. This charming nature volume includes the following excerpt: "CLIMB the mountain back of the house and you can see the Pacific," the ranchman told me with a gleam in his eye; and later, when I had done that, from the top of a peak at the foot of the valley he pointed out the distant blue mountains of Mexico. Then he gave me his daughter's saddle horse to use as long as I was his guest, that I might explore the valley and study its birds to the best advantage. Before coming to California, I had known only the birds of New York and Massachusetts, and so was filled with eager enthusiasm at thought of spending the migration and nesting season in a new bird world. I had no gun, but was armed with opera-glass and note-book, and had Ridgway's Manual to turn to in all my perplexities. Every morning, right after breakfast, my horse was brought to the door and I set out to make the rounds of the valley. I rode till dinner time, getting acquainted with the migrants as they came from the south, and calling at the more distant nests on the way. After dinner I would take my camp-stool and stroll, through the oaks at the head of the valley, for a quiet study of the nearer nests. Then once more my horse would be brought up for me to take a run before sunset; and at night I would identify my new birds and write up the notes of the day. What more could observer crave? The world was mine. I never spent a happier spring. The freedom and novelty of ranch life and the exhilaration of days spent in the saddle gave added zest to the delights of a new fauna. In my small valley circuit of a mile and a half, I made the acquaintance of about seventy-five birds, and without resort to the gun was able to name fifty-six of them.

Download or read book 101 Ways to Help Birds written by Laura Erickson and published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. This book was released on 2006 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers advice on over 100 ways to help protect birds and their habitats, and explains how a pro-active approach to wildlife conservation can make a difference.

Download or read book The Happiness Tree written by Shane Eric Mathias and published by Balboa Press. This book was released on 2015-12-03 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Happiness Tree - Take this journey with me and learn what happiness really is. How you can create and sustain it using the resources already inside of you, regardless of your circumstances or age. So many of us learn by making mistakes, sometimes repeatedly, and that is a costly game. Following the Happiness Tree model, youll develop Self Mastery, the only true path to a successful life. Your own evolution will then guide you toward the realization of empowering goals in weeks, rather than years. By strengthening and balancing the four main limbs of your Happiness Tree, (Love, Health, Freedom and Purpose), youll be lead toward healthy choices, meaningful opportunities and fulfilling relationships. This is not a workbook, rather, the scientifically based strategies described inside are presented in an engaging, thoroughly digestible style that will enlighten, entertain and inspire you. You can possess the vision and confidence to grow your own bright future. Claim your very own Happiness Tree today and lets begin! SAMPLE OF TOPICS Defining Sustainable Happiness Understanding the Self Attaining Optimal Health Relating to Others Connecting to Nature Finding your Purpose

Download or read book Annihilation written by Jeff VanderMeer and published by FSG Originals. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM ALEX GARLAND, STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN AND OSCAR ISAAC The Southern Reach Trilogy begins with Annihilation, the Nebula Award-winning novel that "reads as if Verne or Wellsian adventurers exploring a mysterious island had warped through into a Kafkaesque nightmare world" (Kim Stanley Robinson). Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition. The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself. They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it's the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

Download or read book Unbroken written by Laura Hillenbrand and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2014-07-29 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. Appearing in paperback for the first time—with twenty arresting new photos and an extensive Q&A with the author—Unbroken is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit, brought vividly to life by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand. Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] one-in-a-billion story . . . designed to wrench from self-respecting critics all the blurby adjectives we normally try to avoid: It is amazing, unforgettable, gripping, harrowing, chilling, and inspiring.”—New York “Staggering . . . mesmerizing . . . Hillenbrand’s writing is so ferociously cinematic, the events she describes so incredible, you don’t dare take your eyes off the page.”—People “A meticulous, soaring and beautifully written account of an extraordinary life.”—The Washington Post “Ambitious and powerful . . . a startling narrative and an inspirational book.”—The New York Times Book Review “Magnificent . . . incredible . . . [Hillenbrand] has crafted another masterful blend of sports, history and overcoming terrific odds; this is biography taken to the nth degree, a chronicle of a remarkable life lived through extraordinary times.”—The Dallas Morning News “An astonishing testament to the superhuman power of tenacity.”—Entertainment Weekly “A tale of triumph and redemption . . . astonishingly detailed.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “[A] masterfully told true story . . . nothing less than a marvel.”—Washingtonian “[Hillenbrand tells this] story with cool elegance but at a thrilling sprinter’s pace.”—Time “Hillenbrand [is] one of our best writers of narrative history. You don’t have to be a sports fan or a war-history buff to devour this book—you just have to love great storytelling.”—Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Download or read book Good Night written by Michael Breus and published by Dutton Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sleep consultant draws on cutting-edge information to present an accessible reference to sleeping well, citing the role of sleep deprivation in such health concerns as poor eating, aging, and growth and outlining a twenty-eight-night program for addressing short-term sleep problems.

Download or read book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy Second Edition written by James Paul Gee and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cognitive Development in a Digital Age James Paul Gee begins his classic book with "I want to talk about video games–yes, even violent video games–and say some positive things about them." With this simple but explosive statement, one of America's most well-respected educators looks seriously at the good that can come from playing video games. This revised edition expands beyond mere gaming, introducing readers to fresh perspectives based on games like World of Warcraft and Half-Life 2. It delves deeper into cognitive development, discussing how video games can shape our understanding of the world. An undisputed must-read for those interested in the intersection of education, technology, and pop culture, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy challenges traditional norms, examines the educational potential of video games, and opens up a discussion on the far-reaching impacts of this ubiquitous aspect of modern life.

Download or read book The Circle written by Dave Eggers and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-10-08 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A bestselling dystopian novel that tackles surveillance, privacy and the frightening intrusions of technology in our lives—a “compulsively readable parable for the 21st century” (Vanity Fair). When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

Download or read book The Right Kind of Pride written by Christopher Cudworth and published by . This book was released on 2014-07-31 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After 20 years of marriage author Christopher Cudworth and his wife Linda faced a future changed by her onset of ovarian cancer at age 46. Early in their survivorship journey a former coach reached out to Chris with advice both practical and inspiration. "Your whole life has been a preparation for this." Meanwhile the women at the preschool where Linda worked rallied to support the family by forming The Girls Club, whose primary rule was simple. "We're here to help. Tell us everything that's going on." Through eight years of cancer survivorship the couple learned much about the value of character, caregiving and community. The Right Kind of Pride is a chronicle of that journey and how family, friends and faith made miracles happen along the way. The Prologue describes how the couple responded to news of cancer and formed both a practical and philosophical strategy to deal with the life-changing news. The book also features the blogs Chris and Linda distributed through an online caregiving website to a caregiving support group of more than 70 people. Each entry was written in real time and covers the real emotions of cancer survivorship from fear to faith, hope to humor. Through it all the couple strove to be a blessing to others as they were blessed, with testimony to the power of faith but also the attentuation required to make smart choices in health care situations and deal with the fact that life, and medicine itself, are not always perfect. These key philosophies emanated from the saying the couple adopted (or co-opted) as their own. "Normally the phrase 'It Is What It Is" means resignation," the author notes. "But to us it helped put cancer in its place. Linda did not choose the attitude of victimhood because our gratitude for all the help we received erased that worldview." Instead the couple enjoyed long periods of remission during 8 years of cancer survivorship while busy working, raising two children through high school and college and making time for gardening, fitness and immersion in the joys of life. The book also chronicles some of the sudden and disturbing challenges the couple faced as Chris met resistance from employers on caregiving and health insurance coverage. Yet time after time the attitude of faith and trust resolved these issues. The Right Kind of Pride focuses on the fact that humility and the willingness to show weakness and vulnerability are important facets of cancer survivorship. They present an honest take on the human condition while showing the will to do what's necessary to find peace, health and acceptance through all phases of cancer survivorship. The book carries the reader through the hope that led to miracles and the resolution of hospice and grief. The author shares his Goofball's Guide to Grief, documenting the seemingly random thoughts that come with loss and change. As author of a book titled The Genesis Fix: A Repair Manual for Faith in the Modern Age, Christopher Cudworth uses that background to relate the tangible relationship (and balance) between belief in God and the very real world of science, medicine and politics that affects us all. The Right Kind of Pride is about making sense of cancer survivorship.

Download or read book The Bird Watching Answer Book written by Laura Erickson and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2009-11-04 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn the how’s and why’s of bird behavior, from flirtatious mating practices and gorgeous birdsong to flying south for the winter. In this lively reference book, Laura Erickson addresses hundreds of real-life questions sent in to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the world’s foremost authority on birds. With expert advice on bird watching techniques and equipment, feeding and housing birds, protecting habitats, and much more, Erickson guides you through the intricacies of the avian world with a contagious passion for our feathered friends.

Download or read book The Mermaid Chair written by Sue Monk Kidd and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-03-07 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A transcendent tale of a woman's self-discovery—the New York Times–bestselling second work of fiction by the author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Book of Longings Inside the church of a Benedictine monastery on Egret Island, just off the coast of South Carolina, resides a beautiful and mysterious chair ornately carved with mermaids and dedicated to a saint who, legend claims, was a mermaid before her conversion. When Jessie Sullivan is summoned home to the island to cope with her eccentric mother’s seemingly inexplicable behavior, she is living a conventional life with her husband, Hugh, a life “molded to the smallest space possible.” Jessie loves Hugh, but once on the island, she finds herself drawn to Brother Thomas, a monk about to take his final vows. Amid a rich community of unforgettable island women and the exotic beauty of marshlands, tidal creeks, and majestic egrets, Jessie grapples with the tension of desire and the struggle to deny it, with a freedom that feels overwhelmingly right, and with the immutable force of home and marriage. Is the power of the mermaid chair only a myth? Or will it alter the course of Jessie’s life? What happens will unlock the roots of her mother’s tormented past, but most of all, it will allow Jessie to discover selfhood and a place of belonging as she explores the thin line between the spiritual and the erotic.

Download or read book Oedipus the King written by Sophocles and published by Andesite Press. This book was released on 2015-08-09 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Download or read book Moral Revolution written by Kris Vallotton and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2012-12-04 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sex. Purity. Virginity. Love. Moral Revolution seeks to inspire a culture of love, honor and respect with people who walk in purity, passion and power. This intimate and honest book addresses the root causes of purity issues rather than merely communicating to the masses to "abstain from having sex." It will call you to a higher standard of living, imparting value for your heart and encouraging you to walk in all God has created you to be. Many who have given in to the power of peer pressure and the lure of distorted cultural values will find hope and courage to start over again. Moral Revolution is written for radical and passionate people who dream of being catalysts to a different kind of sexual revolution--one that transforms the way the world views sexuality, defines the unborn and embraces the family. Join the Moral Revolution!