Friends, Voters, Countrymen


Boris Johnson - 2001
    A lively, idiosyncratic, witty look at what is at the heart of our political process by a man who has crossed over from observer to activist, to become one of our newest members of parliament.

The Reckoning: Searching for Meaning with the Father of the Sandy Hook Killer


Andrew Solomon - 2014
    Read it—it’s moving, brave and just profoundly human and sad....There aren’t any answers. And that’s what makes this all so impossible, and Solomon’s journalism so essential” (Salon.com). “Both parents loved Adam. Neither parent imagined or wanted their child’s horrific end. This is why what Peter Lanza did by sharing his story with Andrew Solomon is so important. Lanza’s story fills important gaps in our understanding of how a beloved child became a killer—and reminds us as a society that we have an obligation to help families and children before they find themselves on irreversible paths of violence” (Time).

The Betty Body: A Geeky Goddess' Guide to Intuitive Eating, Balanced Hormones, and Transformative Sex


Stephanie Estima - 2021
    Stephanie Estima provides a step-by-step guide to caring for your feminine body, teaching you:How to go from treating your period as an archenemy to celebrating its arrival every monthThe different types of orgasms you should be having and why they're so important for female healthHow to eat in a way that honors your menstrual cycle, through menopause and beyondHow morning routines are sexist, and how you can structure one that honors your unique biologyHow to build beautiful, lean muscle based on your menstrual cycle, even in menopauseWhy fats and carbohydrates are not evil, and how to use them strategically to your metabolic advantageWhether you want to lose weight, balance your hormones, or just stop hating your period, The Betty Body is your blueprint for your best feminine health.

Trash: An Innocent Girl. A Shocking Story of Squalor and Neglect.


Britney Fuller - 2014
    I am an only child, and she is a single parent. My mother is a trash hoarder. Ever since I can remember the house was always messy and stunk. At around age 9ish I noticed that something was wrong. I started throwing bags of trash away every day, just to have my mom freak out when she got home. We didn’t eat at home anymore because the fridge was disgusting, and she used the sink as a trash can, so it got clogged. We always ate out, we never had a home-cooked meal, and I’ve never had a family dinner at a dinner table. I had a stool in the corner of the living room. That is what I sat on, and that alone. I kept that corner as clean as I could. Made sure there was foot space, and that there wasn’t dust on the walls. That was my corner, my space. It never seemed to matter though, eventually that spot would get overrun with trash too...’Trash is Britney Fuller's shocking account of growing up in the house of a hoarder.

The Invisible Girl: The True Story of an Unheard Voice


Torey L. Hayden - 2021
    She’s been moved from home to home, and her social workers have difficulty dealing with her habit of running away. After experiencing violence, neglect and sexual abuse from people she should have been able to trust, Eloise has developed complex behavioural needs. She struggles to separate fact from fiction, leading to confusion for the social workers trying to help her.After Torey learns of Eloise's background she hopes that some gentle care and attention can help Eloise gain some sense of security in her life. Can Torey and the other social workers provide the loving attention that has so far been missing in Eloise's life, or will she run away from them too?

Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar


Natasha Tracy - 2016
    Lost Marbles straddles the line between self-help and memoir detailing real-life experiences that drive tips that work when life includes a mental illness. Improve your life or the life of a person you love with informative and experienced new takes on: Thinking like a person with bipolar or depression What the elevated mood of bipolar disorder feels like Medication issues, including detailed information on choosing (or not choosing) a specific medication The realities of suicide and suicide attempts How to live better with a serious mental illness How dealing with mental illness encourages a form of wisdom Called a book that will "certainly save lives," whether you have a mental illness or you love someone who does, Lost Marbles will help you fathom the seemingly-impossible world of bipolar or depressive disorder and arm you with the tools to improve quality of life.

The Woman Who Thought too Much


Joanne Limburg - 2010
    As a small child, she would chew her hair all day and lie awake at night wondering if heaven had a ceiling; a few years later, when she should have been doing her homework, she was pacing her bedroom, agonizing about the unfairness of life as a woman, and the shortness of her legs. By the time she was an adult, obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors had come to dominate her life. She knew that something was wrong with her, but it would take many years before she understood what that something was. This memoir follows Limburg’s quest to understand her OCD and to manage her symptoms, taking the reader on a journey through consulting rooms, libraries, and websites as she learns about rumination, scrupulosity, avoidance, thought-action fusion, fixed-action patterns, anal fixations, schemas, basal ganglia, tics, and synapses. Meanwhile, she does her best to come to terms with an illness which turns out to be common and even—sometimes—treatable. This vividly honest memoir is a sometimes shocking, often humorous revelation of what it is like to live with so debilitating a condition. It is also an exploration of the inner world of a poet and an intense evocation of the persistence and courage of the human spirit in the face of mental illness.

Surviving Schizophrenia: A Memoir


Louise Gillett - 2011
    I am an apparently normal happily married mother of four, living the humdrum existence of an ordinary housewife. And I have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, something that I have always felt a deep sense of shame and embarrassment about, and kept hidden for many years. I have agonised for many years over whether to make my story public – I have written this book, re-written it, changed the names, changed them back again, written it again under a pseudonym, tried to change it into a novel... Finally, last year on a writing holiday at the wonderful Arvon Centre in Totleigh Barton, Devon, matters became clear. This is my story, and I am ready to stand by it. It is a true story and any value that it has for others lies in that fact. I have, however, changed the names of a very few people within the text to protect them from any repercussions of my tale.

Moondog, The Viking of 6th Avenue: The Authorized Biography


Robert Scotto - 2007
    His unique, melodic compositions were released on the Prestige jazz label. In the late 1960s the Viking-garbed Moondog was a pop music sensation on Columbia Records. Moondog is the noted inspiration for the contemporary freak folk movement led by Devendra Banhart.Moondog's compositional style influenced his former roommate, Philip Glass, whose Preface and performances of Moondog works appear in the book. Moondog's work transcends labels and redefines the distinction between popular and high culture. A CD compilation with a variety of Moondog's compositions is bound into the book.The CD tracklisting is as follows:1: Caribea (1:32)Performer/Composer: Moondog2: To a Sea Horse (1:43)Performer/Composer: Moondog3: Trees Against the Sky (.51)Performer/Composer: Moondog4: Oo Debut (1:09)Performer/Composer: Moondog5: Autumn (2:07)Performer/Composer: Moondog6: Moondog Monologue (8:24)Performer/Composer: Moondog7: Moondog’s Theme (1:53)Performer/Composer: Moondog8: Trimbas in Quarters (1:47)Performer/Composer: Moondog9: I Came Into This World Alone (1:19)Performers: Moondog, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Jon GibsonComposer: Moondog10: Be a Hobo (1:22)Performers: Moondog, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Jon GibsonComposer: Moondog11: Why Spend the Dark Night With You (1:40)Performers: Moondog, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Jon GibsonComposer: Moondog12: All is Loneliness (1:38)Performers: Moondog, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Jon GibsonComposer: Moondog13: Organ Rounds (2:04)Performer/Composer: Moondog14: Canon in F Major, Book I (.43)Performer: Paul JordanComposer: Moondog15: Canon in B Flat Major, Book III (1:36)Performer: Paul JordanComposer: Moondog16: Canon in B Flat Major, Book I (.43)Performer: Paul JordanComposer: Moondog17: Canon in B Flat Major, Book II (.28)Performer: Paul JordanComposer: Moondog18: Canon in G Sharp Minor, Book I (.44)Performer: Paul JordanComposer: Moondog19: Canon in C Sharp Minor, Book II (1:32)Performer: Paul JordanComposer: Moondog20: 5/4 Snakebite Rattle (3:41)Performer: Stefan LakatosComposer: Moondog21: Trimbas and Woodblock in 5/2 (1:26)Performer: Stefan LakatosComposer: Moondog22: When I Am Deep in Sleep (2:17)Performer: Stefan LakatosComposer: Moondog23: Rabbit Hop (2:25)Performer/Composer: Moondog24: Dog Trot (2:25)Performer/Composer: Moondog25: Bird’s Lament (2:00)Performer/Composer: Moondog26: Viking 1 (2:55)Performer/Composer: Moondog27: Heimdall Fanfare (3:06)Performer/Composer: Moondog28: Intro and Overtone Continuum (2:22)Performer/Composer: Moondog

How to Build an Android: The True Story of Philip K. Dick's Robotic Resurrection


David F. Dufty - 2012
    DickIn late January 2006, a young robotocist on the way to Google headquarters lost an overnight bag on a flight somewhere between Dallas and Las Vegas. In it was a fully functional head of the android replica of Philip K. Dick, cult science-fiction writer and counterculture guru. It has never been recovered.In a story that echoes some of the most paranoid fantasies of a Dick novel, readers get a fascinating inside look at the scientists and technology that made this amazing android possible. The author, who was a fellow researcher at the University of Memphis Institute of Intelligent Systems while the android was being built, introduces readers to the cutting-edge technology in robotics, artificial intelligence, and sculpture that came together in this remarkable machine and captured the imagination of scientists, artists, and science-fiction fans alike. And there are great stories about Dick himself his inspired yet deeply pessimistic worldview, his bizarre lifestyle, and his enduring creative legacy. In the tradition of popular science classics like "Packing for Mars" and "The Disappearing Spoon," "How to Build an Android" is entertaining and informative popular science at its best."

The Back Building


Julie Dewey - 2014
    Through the Mueller family we take a deep look at what it means to be mentally ill in the year 1915 and in the present day.By the time she reached fifteen years old, Iona had failed to become a “proper young lady” which profoundly concerned her parents. Her one and only friend, Hetty, the family maid, warned her not to disobey them but Iona couldn’t help herself. Iona’s quirk of counting steps may have been overlooked but when her mother and father learned of her exploits in the woods near her home in Ithaca, New York, she was taken to the town doctor. The doctor took one look at her self-cut short, mangled hair, learned of her bizarre behavior, and declared her insane.At Willard Asylum on Seneca Lake there were plenty of activities to occupy her, including the job she procured working in the barn. Besides, she knew she was not anything like the crazy patients that banged their heads against the cinder walls until they bled or ran naked through the hallways. She was disobedient, that was true, and she would change. If only her parents would accept her correspondence and allow her to return home.Iona’s new roommate, Cat, made every night a fight for survival. When Iona was caught trying to run away she was sent to the second ward, where her fate was sealed. Subject to tranquilizers and hydrotherapy, ice baths and physical beatings, Iona had only one thing on her mind. She had to stay away from the back building. Once you were placed there you were never seen again.Iona met James at the institution’s barn. His kindness made the deprivation more bearable. He recognized that the violet hollows beneath her eyes, the bruises on her arms, and her apparent unraveling were the effect of the second ward. A plan was put into place, one that would remove Iona from harm’s way permanently.In present day, it is Jenna, a young relative of Iona’s, who is plagued with mental illness. Jenna’s odd behaviors, bizarre language, and confusion disrupt her once perfectly normal life. Jenna’s family members trace their roots back to Iona in hopes of understanding their predisposition to mental illness. The journey leads them to an amazing discovery of the suitcases left behind by hundreds of patients at the Willard Asylum.

Self Help: Life Lessons from the Bizarre Wrestling Career of Al Snow


Al Snow - 2019
    A man whose reputation within the wrestling industry was excellent but whose career was going nowhere. Channeling his frustration into the gimmick for which he would become best known, Al began talking to (and through) a mannequin head. With Extreme Championship Wrestling, Al reinvented himself as an unhinged neurotic and became one of the hottest acts in the most cutting-edge promotion in America when wrestling's popularity was at its peak. This led to a journey back to the industry's main stage, World Wrestling Entertainment, during the wildly popular Attitude Era, and in the central role as a trainer and father figure on the MTV reality show, Tough Enough.Now, after 35 years in the industry, Al Snow tells the stories of the unbelievable yet true events that formed his career, from his in-ring recollections to out-of-ring escapades, including drunken midnight journeys with a vanfull of little people, overuse of Tasers at autograph signings, and continual attempts on his life by assorted members of the animal kingdom. Self Help is Al Snow at his best, delivering what everybody wants and needs.

Yé-Yé Girls of '60s French Pop


Jean-Emmanuel Deluxe - 2013
    This book may well be the Bible of Yé-Yé .”—Boyd Rice

Adele


Sean Smith - 2016
    In a cynical age, she is a phenomenon.In Adele, bestselling biographer Sean Smith talks to those close to her as he follows her astonishing journey to fame that began on the gritty streets of Tottenham. Through compelling new research and interviews, he reveals that there is far more to Adele than the superstar we all think we know.He uncovers the story of her complex family relationships; the ill-starred love affair between her mother and father; her devastation at the untimely death of her grandfather; and her seemingly unpromising future in a gang-ravaged area of South London.She found salvation at the BRIT School before a series of unhappy love affairs provided the inspiration for her record-breaking albums. He describes how she conquered America and how it all could have been ended by a dramatic vocal injury. Instead, she has made an amazing comeback and found personal happiness in a new relationship and becoming a mum.Intimate and revealing, Adele is the uplifting story of the woman with the most glorious voice in the world.

The Ministry of Thin


Emma Woolf - 2013
    We're obsessed with weight, we dislike our bodies, we worry about the food we eat, we feel guilty, we diet… Too many of us are locked into a war with our own bodies which we'll never win, and which will never make us happy. The Ministry of Thin takes a controversial, unflinching look at how the modern obsession with weight loss, youth, beauty and perfection got out of control. Emma Woolf, author of An Apple a Day, explores how we might all be able to stop hating and start liking our own bodies again. And she dares to ask: if losing weight is the answer, what is the question?