Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: A Renowned Neurologist Explains the Mystery and Drama of Brain Disease


Allan H. Ropper - 2014
    What is it like to try to heal the body when the mind is under attack? In this book, Dr. Allan Ropper and Brian Burrell take the reader behind the scenes at Harvard Medical School's neurology unit to show how a seasoned diagnostician faces down bizarre, life-altering afflictions. Like Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Ropper inhabits a world where absurdities abound:• A figure skater whose body has become a ticking time-bomb • A salesman who drives around and around a traffic rotary, unable to get off • A college quarterback who can't stop calling the same play • A child molester who, after falling on the ice, is left with a brain that is very much dead inside a body that is very much alive • A mother of two young girls, diagnosed with ALS, who has to decide whether a life locked inside her own head is worth livingHow does one begin to treat such cases, to counsel people whose lives may be changed forever? How does one train the next generation of clinicians to deal with the moral and medical aspects of brain disease? Dr. Ropper and his colleague answer these questions by taking the reader into a rarified world where lives and minds hang in the balance.

Lighter Shades of Grey


Cassandra Parkin - 2012
    Why, specifically?”“I like to build things.”As of the time of writing, more than ten million copies of E L James’ “Fifty Shades of Grey” have been sold worldwide. Whether you find this notion inspiring or terrifying, there’s no escaping the fact that, as literary events go, “Fifty Shades of Grey” is at least...significant. And books that are...significant...deserve to be subjected to thorough critical and textual analysis. By taking it apart into teeny tiny small pieces and put those pieces under a spiteful and mean-spirited microscope, we may all just learn something about the elusive nature of the bestseller,“Lighter Shades of Grey” is a chapter-by-chapter dissection of “Fifty Shades of Grey”, cataloguing unusual leaps of logic, surprising deductions, exciting exchanges of dialogue, recurrent motifs and stand-out moments, that will allow you to better appreciate / enjoyably ruin for others the “Fifty Shades” experience. It also provides definitive answers to questions such as “How often does Ana say ’oh my’?”, “How often do people’s mouths fall open in surprise?” and “Is Christian Grey a diagnosable psychopath?”Building on the viral hit blog-entry, “Fifty Things That Annoy Me About Fifty Shades Of Grey”, “Lighter Shades of Grey” is the perfect snarky companion to this year’s most inexplicable blockbuster. (Approximately 31,000 words; 30 pictures)

The Puzzler's Dilemma: From the Lighthouse of Alexandria to Monty Hall, a Fresh Look at Classic Conundrums of Logic, Mathematics, and Life


Derrick Niederman - 2012
    Among the old chestnuts he cracks wide open are the following classics: Knights and knaves The monk and the mountain The dominoes and the chessboard The unexpected hanging The Tower of HanoiUsing real-world analogies, infectious humor, and a fresh approach, this deceptively simple volume will challenge, amuse, enlighten, and surprise even the most experienced puzzle solver.

Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics


Jim Al-Khalili - 2012
    A fun and fascinating look at great scientific paradoxes.   Throughout history, scientists have come up with theories and ideas that just don't seem to make sense.  These we call paradoxes.  The paradoxes Al-Khalili offers are drawn chiefly from physics and astronomy and represent those that have stumped some of the finest minds.  For example, how can a cat be both dead and alive at the same time?  Why will Achilles never beat a tortoise in a race, no matter how fast he runs?  And how can a person be ten years older than his twin?   With elegant explanations that bring the reader inside the mind of those who've developed them, Al-Khalili helps us to see that, in fact, paradoxes can be solved if seen from the right angle.  Just as surely as Al-Khalili narrates the enduring fascination of these classic paradoxes, he reveals their underlying logic.  In doing so, he brings to life a select group of the most exciting concepts in human knowledge.  Paradox is mind-expanding fun.

How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking


Jordan Ellenberg - 2014
    In How Not to Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg shows us how terribly limiting this view is: Math isn’t confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life, but rather touches everything we do—the whole world is shot through with it.Math allows us to see the hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of our world. It’s a science of not being wrong, hammered out by centuries of hard work and argument. Armed with the tools of mathematics, we can see through to the true meaning of information we take for granted: How early should you get to the airport? What does “public opinion” really represent? Why do tall parents have shorter children? Who really won Florida in 2000? And how likely are you, really, to develop cancer?How Not to Be Wrong presents the surprising revelations behind all of these questions and many more, using the mathematician’s method of analyzing life and exposing the hard-won insights of the academic community to the layman—minus the jargon. Ellenberg chases mathematical threads through a vast range of time and space, from the everyday to the cosmic, encountering, among other things, baseball, Reaganomics, daring lottery schemes, Voltaire, the replicability crisis in psychology, Italian Renaissance painting, artificial languages, the development of non-Euclidean geometry, the coming obesity apocalypse, Antonin Scalia’s views on crime and punishment, the psychology of slime molds, what Facebook can and can’t figure out about you, and the existence of God.Ellenberg pulls from history as well as from the latest theoretical developments to provide those not trained in math with the knowledge they need. Math, as Ellenberg says, is “an atomic-powered prosthesis that you attach to your common sense, vastly multiplying its reach and strength.” With the tools of mathematics in hand, you can understand the world in a deeper, more meaningful way. How Not to Be Wrong will show you how.

Unlocking Japanese


Cure Dolly - 2016
    A ground-breaking book that sets out to demonstrate that Japanese is “simple, logical and beautiful” and that most of the apparently “arbitrary rules” that you “just have to learn” can be reduced to simple, easily intuitive patterns if you just understand how the language really works.

Dangerous Personalities: An FBI Profiler Shows You How to Identify and Protect Yourself from Harmful People


Joe Navarro - 2014
    So often the reporters say that "there were some signs, but nobody acted." the scary part about these tragedies is that less than 1% of criminals are incarcerated for their crimes, meaning that for every headline, there are millions of dangerous situations in which average people find themselves. On top of that, how can ordinary people identify threats from those who may not hurt them physically but can devastate their lives on a daily basis—the crazy coworkers, out-of control family members, or relentless neighbors?In Dangerous Personalities, former FBI profiler Joe Navarro shows readers how to identify the four most common "dangerous personalities" and analyze how much of a threat each one can be: the Narcissist, the Predator, the Paranoid, and the Unstable Personality. Along the way, readers learn how to protect themselves both immediately and long-term—as well as how to recover from the trauma of being close to such a destructive force.

Period. It's About Bloody Time


Emma Barnett - 2019
    Period. is an agenda-setting manifesto to remove the stigma and myths continuing to surround the female body. Bold and unapologetic, Emma Barnett is on a crusade to ignite conversation among women--and men--everywhere.

For the Record: 28:50 - A journey toward self-discovery and the Cannonball Run Record


Ed Bolian - 2017
    Ed Bolian’s memoir recounts his path from a conversation in high school with Cannonball Run founder, Brock Yates to setting the fastest time ever for driving from New York to Los Angeles. The journey explores goal setting, criminal psychology, and spirituality in the pursuit of finding your true purpose and using what makes you unique to achieve something extraordinary.

Searching for Ganesha: Collecting Images of the Sweet-Loving, Elephant-Headed Hindu Deity Everybody Admires


Paul Spencer Sochaczewski - 2021
    In this innovative book, Paul Spencer Sochaczewski explores why he collects Ganesha images, examines the psychology of collecting, and recounts personal adventures in his 40-year quest for just one more (but it’s gotta be special) Ganesha statue. He provides enough iconography to give the reader a grounding in Ganesha’s obstacle-removing prowess, but this is neither an academic nor a religious tome. Museum-quality photographs of some 80 statues, carvings, and amulets from his 150-piece collection illustrate how Hindu public relations experts retrofitted Ganesha into the Mahabharata, under what circumstances benevolent Ganesha can be an aggressive crusader, why he loves sweets, what inspiration Hindu branding experts took from nature, and why his “vehicle” is a humble mouse. Why does Sochaczewski appreciate (but not worship) the god? “Ganesha isn’t a stern, don’t-touch-my-hair super-god, and therefore artists can flex their creative muscles when portraying him,” he says. “And simply because he’s cool.”

Elementary Differential Equations


Earl D. Rainville - 1962
    Each chapter includes many illustrative examples to assist the reader. The book emphasizes methods for finding solutions to differential equations. It provides many abundant exercises, applications, and solved examples with careful attention given to readability. Elementary Differential Equations includes a thorough treatment of power series techniques. In addition, the book presents a classical treatment of several physical problems to show how Fourier series become involved in the solution of those problems. The eighth edition of Elementary Differential Equations has been revised to include a new supplement in many chapters that provides suggestions and exercises for using a computer to assist in the understanding of the material in the chapter. It also now provides an introduction to the phase plane and to different types of phase portraits. A valuable reference book for readers interested in exploring the technological and other applications of differential equations.

Strategic Mindset : A 7-Day Plan to Identify What Matters and Create a Strategy that Works (Productivity Series Book 4)


Thibaut Meurisse - 2021
    

Still Life in Milford: Poems


Thomas Lynch - 1998
    "[Thomas Lynch's] poems . . . are as stark and graceful as geese lifting off backwater. The poems trace from the rural midwest to London and County Clare, a quiet elegy of loss and testament. But then Lynch is by trade a mortician, and by craft a bard."—Amazon.com "[Lynch] evinces a steady wisdom drawn from years of passionate attention to daily experience."—Seattle Weekly

Happiness Power: How to Unleash Your Power and Live a More Joyful Life


Robert Gill Jr. - 2021
    It might just be that what you have is actually not what you need to feel fulfilled.And you’re not the only one going through this.Despite having one of the highest standards of living in the world, the level of happiness among Americans is at its lowest. In fact, it has been declining for the past 20 years.Social media, reliance on drugs, and the endless pursuit of wealth are just some of the reasons for this phenomenon. We are constantly bombarded with messages and images of how life should look like, and we try to reach this aspirational goal through any means necessary.We can chase it through traveling, buying expensive things, achieving career success, or even getting married and starting a family. But why do you still feel unsatisfied, even after you have all this?What is it that makes us truly happy?Plenty of scientific research has been done to find the answer to this question. There is also a lot of advice from self-help books and motivational speakers on being happy.Thankfully, you don’t have to go through all the studies and TED talks online to find the key to happiness.In The Happiness Power: How to Unleash Your Power and Live a Joyful Life, you will discover:- Why your present circumstances don’t have to determine your level of happiness, and how you can take your well-being into your own hands- The #1 factor that helps us live longer, healthier, and happier lives, according to a decades-long Harvard study on adult life- How to have a more positive mindset through this daily habit that Oprah Winfrey believes has rewarded her a million times over- How you can combat loneliness with these friendly suggestions on how to build and strengthen your social circle- The secret to happiness that the Japanese have known and practiced for centuries, contributing to their high levels of satisfaction and long life spans- Effortless mindfulness tricks to apply throughout the day that will help you get through stressful days and pessimistic emotions- The simple generous act that has the same positive effects as food and sex, offering satisfaction not only to you, but also to your recipientAnd much more.Although happiness is not the be-all and end-all of life, it sure doesn’t hurt to go through life being happy rather than dissatisfied and lonely.Our lives weren’t meant to be lived in constant pursuit of an abstract vision of happiness. Chasing after happiness will only make it so much harder to obtain.It is when you are focused on genuinely living a life of truth, purpose, and meaning, that happiness will come to you.Find out what it takes to live a life that’s true to your values and your innermost needs.

From 0 to Infinity in 26 Centuries: The Extraordinary Story of Maths


Chris Waring - 2012
    Book by Waring, Chris