Social Science

The Addiction Spectrum

5,500.00

Drug overdose is now the leading cause of death for Americans under fifty. Even as opiate addiction skyrockets, more people than ever before are hooked on alcohol, sedatives, cigarettes, and even screens. The face and prevalence of addiction has changed and evolved, but our solutions to addiction are stuck in the past.

We’ve been treating addiction as a black or white issue, a disease you either suffer from or will never suffer from. The problem with this model is that it doesn’t account for the incredible forces working against all of us, pushing all of us toward addiction: stress, undernourishment, sleep-deprivation, vitamin D deficiency, and isolation, not to mention a flawed medical system and corrupt pharmaceutical companies doling out prescriptions at every turn.

The truth: Addiction is a disease that, like many others, exists on a spectrum. We are more vulnerable to becoming addicted to substances at certain points in our lives and based on the evidence provided in The Addiction Spectrum, most effective at kicking addiction when we take a holistic approach. With the help of the 13-point plan and individual protocols detailed in this book, you have the power to change your destiny. No one understands this more than Dr. Paul Thomas, who recovered from alcohol addiction early in his career and founded one of the most effective rehabilitation centers for teens and young adults in his hometown of Portland, OR. Named one of the top family doctors and one of the top pediatricians in the country, Dr. Paul is also board-certified in both integrative medicine and addiction medicine. This unique combination of specialties is intentional: Dr. Paul has devoted his entire life and career to saving lives.

Using the best conventional medicine alongside the new science of alternative health, Dr. Paul has treated thousands of patients with the life-saving solutions provided in The Addiction Spectrum. Addiction is a compendium of often devastating circumstances that have gone unchecked by society for far too long. This book is a positive light and guide to overcoming not only addiction but the challenges and obstacles that affect us all.

Off Balance

5,500.00

The research upon which this book is based shows overwhelmingly that people want satisfaction much more than they want balance. And yet, one of the dominant topics in the area of personal and professional development for the past twenty years has been work-life balance.

Off Balance is more than just a book. It presents a system that Matthew Kelly uses with his Fortune 500 clients, his team, and himself to drive increasing levels of satisfaction both personally and professionally. He introduces us to the three philosophies of our age that are dragging us down. He teaches us how to cultivate energy so that we have plenty left for our passions when we are finished fulfilling our responsibilities. And finally, in five clear steps, he shows us how to use his Personal and Professional Satisfaction System to establish our priorities and honor them even when we feel pulled in a hundred different directions.

The beautiful thing about satisfaction is that you know when you have it, and you know when you don’t. Do you have it? Short, insightful, and life-changing, Off Balance gives us all the tools we need to go to sleep every night knowing who we are, what matters most, and that our lives make sense.

My Name is Charles Saatchi and I Am An Artoholic

5,500.00

Q: Do you care what people think?

A: Everyone cares what people think, but luckily I seem to care less than most.

Charles Saatchi is one of the moving forces of the modern age. Founder of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and the most influential art collector of our time, he has vigorously shaped the contemporary art scene. His exhibitions, notably 1997’s Sensation exhibition of the so-called Young British Artists—Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, and Chris Ofili, among others—at the Royal Academy of Art, London, and at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, sparked an explosion of controversy. Though he famously refuses to be interviewed, in this book he provides frank, genuine responses to questions from journalists and critics as well as members of the public.

David & Goliath

5,000.00

Three thousand years ago on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David’s victory was improbable and miraculous. He shouldn’t have won.

Or should he have?

In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwellchallenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school, or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks.

Gladwell begins with the real story of what happened between the giant and the shepherd boy those many years ago. From there, David and Goliath examines Northern Ireland’s Troubles, the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, murder and the high costs of revenge, and the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms—all to demonstrate how much of what is beautiful and important in the world arises from what looks like suffering and adversity.

In the tradition of Gladwell’s previous bestsellers—The Tipping PointBlinkOutliers and What the Dog SawDavid and Goliath draws upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling to reshape the way we think of the world around us.

Writing Character

5,000.00

Focus on a single aspect of the craft of writing with help from the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. Writing Character begins with an essay by author and educator Constance Hale, who offer pointers for observing and capturing human complexity. The rest of the book consists of prompts and space to think, providing opportunities for you to develop your own characters. Among other ideas, you’ll be asked to create:

-a sketch of a famous person you admire
-a portrait of someone based on the items on his desk
-a positive take on someone you loathe
-a description of your mother’s emotions as they are expressed by her eyes
-a scene involving a group of people, focusing exclusively on how they use their hands

Take to a café, on vacation, or on your morning commute and practice your creative writing a little bit at a time.

Writing Dialogue

5,000.00

Focus on a single aspect of the craft of writing with help from the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. Writing Dialogue begins a foreword by author and educator Shanthi Sekaran, who offers pointers for creating believable speech in your fiction. The rest of the book consists of prompts and space to think, providing opportunities to explore how dialogue can bring your characters and plotlines to life.

Among other ideas, you’ll be asked to write speech for:
a pent-up confession of love
a family’s reaction when dinner is ruined
a job interview in which the interviewee has all the power
a first date that is going well (and then not so well)
a toast at dinner party, honoring someone who has wronged you

Take to a café, on vacation, or on your morning commute and practice your creative writing a little bit at a time.

Maybe One

5,000.00

The earth is becoming dangerously overcrowded, and if more families chose to have only one child, it would make a crucial difference toward ensuring a healthy future for ourselves and our planet for generations to come.

But the environment alone may not persuade most people to consider having just one child, as 80% of Americans have siblings. Powerful stereotypes about only children—that they’re spoiled, selfish, or maladjusted in some way—still persist. McKibben, the proud father of an only child himself, debunks these myths, citing research about the many emotional and intellectual strengths only children possess, including higher test scores, higher levels of achievement in school, and greater development of positive personality traits like maturity and self-control.

At once a powerful personal argument and an accessible exploration of what overpopulation could mean to human life and environmental sustainability, Maybe One is a provocative yet well-reasoned opening to what has become important and lasting debate.

Coders

5,000.00

Facebook’s algorithms shaping the news. Self-driving cars roaming the streets. Revolution on Twitter and romance on Tinder. We live in a world constructed of code–and coders are the ones who built it for us. Programmers shape our everyday behavior: When they make something easy to do, we do more of it. When they make it hard or impossible, we do less of it. From acclaimed tech writer Clive Thompson comes a brilliant anthropological reckoning with the most powerful tribe in the world today, computer programmers, in a book that interrogates who they are, how they think, what qualifies as greatness in their world, and what should give us pause.

In pop culture and media, the people who create the code that rules our world are regularly portrayed in hackneyed, simplified terms, as ciphers in hoodies. Thompson goes far deeper, taking us close to some of the great programmers of our time, including the creators of Facebook’s News Feed, Instagram, Google’s cutting-edge AI, and more. Speaking to everyone from revered “10X” elites to neophytes, back-end engineers and front-end designers, Thompson explores the distinctive psychology of this vocation–which combines a love of logic, an obsession with efficiency, the joy of puzzle-solving, and a superhuman tolerance for mind-bending frustration.

Along the way, Coders ponders the morality and politics of code, including its implications for civic life and the economy and the major controversies of our era. In accessible, erudite prose, Thompson unpacks the surprising history of the field, beginning with the first coders — brilliant and pioneering women, who, despite crafting some of the earliest personal computers and programming languages, were later written out of history. At the same time, the book deftly illustrates how programming has become a marvelous new art form–a source of delight and creativity, not merely danger. To get as close to his subject as possible, Thompson picks up the thread of his own long-abandoned coding skills as he reckons, in his signature, highly personal style, with what superb programming looks like.

To understand the world today, we need to understand code and its consequences. With Coders, Thompson gives a definitive look into the heart of the machine.

Arts Of Being Yoruba

5,000.00

Adélékè Adéeko documents Yorùbá patterns of behavior and articulates a philosophy of how to be Yorùbá in this innovative study. As he focuses on historical writings, Ifá divination practices, the use of proverbs in contemporary speech, photography, gendered ideas of dressing well, and the formalities of ceremony and speech at celebratory occasions

The Secret Life Of Genes

5,000.00

An illustrated introduction to genetics.

The Secret Life of Genes is the story of genetic science and how it makes each of us unique. It spans the discovery of the gene and the all-encompassing role it plays in biology: from controlling the inner workings of cells and the development of embryos, through patterns of inheritance, to the evolution of new forms of life. From there developed the vast and boundless field of genetic science and research.

Readers will get a sneak peek into the Human Genome Project, the international scientific research project with the goal of determining the sequence of nucleotide base pairs that make up human DNA. From this, scientists identified and mapped all of the genes of the human genome from both a physical and a functional standpoint, and opened a Pandora’s box of secrets: the hidden workings of the human genome; how gene switching, junk DNA, and genetic mutation might be affecting our everyday lives; and why patents are soaring for genetic inventions.

The Secret Life of Genes is written in accessible language and organized for easy comprehension. It opens with the basics and the key theories, goes on to describe DNA sequencing and what we can do with it. It then looks at the history of the world’s DNA and gives readers an exciting glimpse of the future of the field.

Five Stars

5,000.00

Ideas don’t sell themselves. As the forces of globalization, automation, and artificial intelligence combine to disrupt every field, having a good idea isn’t good enough. Mastering the ancient art of persuasion is the key to standing out, getting ahead, and achieving greatness in the modern world. Communication is no longer a “soft” skill―it is the human edge that will make you unstoppable, irresistible, and irreplaceable―earning you that perfect rating, that fifth star.

In Five Stars, Carmine Gallo, bestselling author of Talk Like TED, breaks down how to apply Aristotle’s formula of persuasion to inspire contemporary audiences. As the nature of work changes, and technology carries things across the globe in a moment, communication skills become more valuable―not less. Gallo interviews neuroscientists, economists, historians, billionaires, and business leaders of companies like Google, Nike, and Airbnb to show first-hand how they use their words to captivate your imagination and ignite your dreams.

In the knowledge age―the information economy―you are only as valuable as your ideas. Five Stars is a book to help you bridge the gap between mediocrity and exceptionality, and gain your competitive edge in the age of automation.

In Five Stars, you will also learn:

-The one skill billionaire Warren Buffett says will raise your value by 50 percent.
-Why your job might fall into a category where 75 percent or more of your income relies on your ability to sell your idea.
-How Airbnb’s founders follow a classic 3-part formula shared by successful Hollywood movies.
-Why you should speak in third-grade language to persuade adult listeners.
-The one brain hack Steve Jobs, Leonardo da Vinci, and Picasso used to unlock their best ideas.

When the Fog Lifts

5,000.00

In her first book, When the Fog Lifts, author Seme Eroh invites you on her journey from a life filled with chaos and confusion to a life of freedom and endless possibilities. Never shying away from the hard truths about what it takes to grow, Seme is transparent and vulnerable, which is freeing and a breath of fresh air. Her story will compel you to take an honest look at your own life and will inspire you to make the changes needed to find real and lasting freedom. You will find yourself reaching for this book of wisdom and recovery time and time again!

Bizarre World

5,000.00

Every culture handles life differently. From the “blackening of the bride” in Scotland and the custom of not looking babies in the eyes in Kenya, to enlisting geese as part of the police squad in China and the tradition of children eating bread with chocolate sprinkles for breakfast in Amsterdam, there are so many unique behaviors all across the world.

In Bizarre World, journey across the globe to understand how various cultures approach everything from grief, beauty standards, food, parenting, death, stress management, happiness, and more. Many customs may seem perfectly sane, while others, not so much. Some are just downright strange, funny, or weird.

There’s so much to discover about the people around us and the beliefs they hold. Let Bizarre World be your armchair guide to a different way of life with quick facts and “did you knows?” that will leave you saying, “huh, that’s strange.”

Conceivability

5,000.00

On paper, conception may seem like a simple biological process, yet this is often hardly the case. While many would like to have children, the road toward conceiving and maintaining a pregnancy can be unexpectedly rocky and winding.

Lawyer Elizabeth Katkin never imagined her quest for children would ultimately involve seven miscarriages, eight fresh IVF cycles, two frozen IVF attempts, five natural pregnancies, four IVF pregnancies, ten doctors, six countries, two potential surrogates, nine years, and roughly $200,000. Despite her three Ivy League degrees and wealth of resources, Katkin found she was woefully undereducated when it came to understanding and confronting her own difficulties having children. After being told by four doctors she should give up, but without an explanation as to what exactly was going wrong with her body, Katkin decided to look for answers herself. The global investigation that followed revealed that approaches to the fertility process taken in many foreign countries are vastly different than those in the US and UK.

In Conceivability, Elizabeth Katkin, now a mother of two, exposes eye-opening information about the medical, financial, legal, scientific, emotional, and ethical issues at stake. “A well-researched, informative, and positive account of a very long journey to motherhood” (Kirkus Reviews), Conceivability sheds light on the often murky and baffling world of conception science. Her book is an invaluable and inspiring text that will be a boon to others navigating the deep and “choppy waters” of fertility treatment (Publishers Weekly), and her chronicle of one of the most difficult, painful, rewarding, and loving journeys a woman can take is as informative as it is poignant.

Old School Love: And Why It Works

5,000.00

RUN DMC.’s iconic rapper Joseph “Reverend Run” Simmons and his wife, Justine, share their secrets to lasting love and the guiding principles that have kept them together for more than twenty years. Written with Amy Ferris.

This is a book about love.
The kind of love that will keep you warm at night—that will keep you feeling safe and sound.
The kind of love that will get you through some dark times; get you through some hard and yes, some tough times.
The kind of love that will make you laugh, that will make you smile, that will make you nod knowingly.
The kind of love that is nurtured and watered and grows—from a seedling to a flower.
The kind of love that is desperately needed in the world right now, shared and sprinkled everywhere.

Old School Love is a book to help you find the kind of soul-filling love you desire, written by a couple who has built a strong and joyful relationship amid the pressures, pitfalls, and temptations of the entertainment industry. Rev Run and his wife, Justine, have been blessed with a devoted partnership that has inspired others. In this homage to classic courtship, Rev and Justine reveal the secrets to their marriage’s longevity and happiness.

Each chapter of Old School Love offers stories, anecdotes, and memories of Rev and Justine’s marriage, their family, their experiences, their passion, and their deep faith and belief in God. Some will make you laugh, some will make you think, and some will make you cry. Yet all will make you wiser—more beautiful for the wear—and encourage you to be a kinder, more generous, and better human. Their reflections are bookended by a verse or line from scripture, a saying, or a favorite quote and a sampling of personal wisdom.

Over two decades strong, Rev and Justine’s partnership is an inspiration. With Old School Love they are spreading their message of positivity, and creating a legacy for all of us to embrace and share. Powerful and life-changing, this little gem of a book is about magic, and miracles, and yes, the irrefutable power of love.

Old School Love includes 8 pages of photos from Rev and Justine’s personal collection.

The Compass of Pleasure

5,000.00

As he did in his award-winning book The Accidental Mind, David J. Linden—highly regarded neuroscientist, professor, and writer—weaves empirical science with entertaining anecdotes to explain how the gamut of behaviors that give us a buzz actually operates. The Compass of Pleasure makes clear why drugs like nicotine and heroin are addictive while LSD is not, how fast food restaurants ensure that diners will eat more, why some people cannot resist the appeal of a new sexual encounter, and much more. Provocative and illuminating, this is a radically new and thorough look at the desires that define us.

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