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The Antisocial Network: The True Story of a Ragtag of Amateur Investors, Gamers, and Internet Trolls Who Brought Wall Street to Its Knees
Ben Mezrich - 2021
Told with deep access, from multiple intersecting angles, it examines the culmination of a populist movement that began with the intersection of social media and the growth of simplified, democratizing financial portals -- represented by the biggest upstart in the business, RobinHood, and its millions of mostly millennial devotees.The unlikely focus of the battle: GameStop, a flailing brick and mortar dinosaur catering to teenagers and outsiders, that had somehow outlived forbearers like Blockbuster Video and Petsmart as the world rapidly moved online. The story comes to a head in a wild battle between Melvin Capital, a 13-billion-dollar hedge fund, one of the most respected and staid funds on the Street, and a disparate group of amateur day traders, video game nuts, and internet trolls on a subreddit calling itself WallStreetBets. At first, the subreddit was a joke -- a meme-filled, freewheeling place to share shoot-the-moon investment tips, laugh about big losses, and diamond hand emojis. Until some members noticed an opportunity -- and rode a rocket ship to tens of millions of dollars in earnings overnight.With insider sources and testimonies from inside WallStreetBets, GameStop, the architects of Robinhood, Melvin Capital, and more, New York Times bestselling author Ben Mezrich brings to life one of the most striking, can't-make-this-up moments in financial history.
The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church
Gregory A. Boyd - 2006
It is called to look like a corporate Jesus, dying on the cross for those who crucified him, not a religious version of Caesar. It is called to manifest the kingdom of the cross in contrast to the kingdom of the sword. Whenever the church has succeeded in gaining what most American evangelicals are now trying to get – political power – it has been disastrous both for the church and the culture. Whenever the church picks up the sword, it lays down the cross. The present activity of the religious right is destroying the heart and soul of the evangelical church and destroying its unique witness to the world. The church is to have a political voice, but we are to have it the way Jesus had it: by manifesting an alternative to the political, “power over,” way of doing life. We are to transform the world by being willing to suffer for others – exercising “power under,” not by getting our way in society – exercising “power over.”
The Strange Case of the Rickety Cossack: and Other Cautionary Tales from Human Evolution
Ian Tattersall - 2015
Drawing partly on his own career—from young scientist in awe of his elders to crotchety elder statesman—Tattersall offers an idiosyncratic look at the competitive world of paleoanthropology, beginning with Charles Darwin 150 years ago, and continuing through the Leakey dynasty in Africa, and concluding with the latest astonishing findings in the Caucasus.The book's title refers to the 1856 discovery of a clearly very old skull cap in Germany's Neander Valley. The possessor had a brain as large as a modern human, but a heavy low braincase with a prominent brow ridge. Scientists tried hard to explain away the inconvenient possibility that this was not actually our direct relative. One extreme interpretation suggested that the preserved leg bones were curved by both rickets, and by a life on horseback. The pain of the unfortunate individual's affliction had caused him to chronically furrow his brow in agony, leading to the excessive development of bone above the eye sockets.The subsequent history of human evolutionary studies is full of similarly fanciful interpretations. With tact and humor, Tattersall concludes that we are not the perfected products of natural processes, but instead the result of substantial doses of random happenstance.
Heaven and Hell
Emanuel Swedenborg - 1758
A Swedish Enlightenment scientist of extraordinary accomplishment, Swedenborg underwent a spiritual crisis that led to an unparalleled series of paranormal experiences. He spent his last twenty-seven years in almost daily experience of heaven and hell, recording his observations and conversations, many of which are reported in Heaven and Hell. This sustained and detailed description of the nonphysical realms has left its impression on the minds of many great thinkers, including Goethe, Blake, Coleridge, Emerson, Borges, and Milosz.This deluxe edition contains an introduction by religious historian Bernhard Lang setting the volume in the context of its time.The New Century Edition of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg is a modern-language, scholarly translation of Swedenborg’s theological works. The series’ easy-to-read style retains the dignity, variety, clarity, and gender-inclusive language of Swedenborg’s original Latin, bringing his thought to life. Introductions and annotations by eminent, international scholars place Swedenborg’s writings in their historical context and illuminate obscure references within the text, enabling readers to understand and trace Swedenborg’s influence as never before.
Outbreak!: 50 Tales of Epidemics that Terrorized the World
Beth Skwarecki - 2016
Outbreak! catalogs fifty of those incidents in gruesome detail, including:The Sweating Sickness that killed 15,000, including Henry VIII's older brotherSyphilis, the "French Disease," which spread throughout Europe in the late fifteenth centuryThe romantic disease: tuberculosis, featured in La Boheme, La Traviata, and Les MiserablesThe worldwide outbreak of influenza in 1918, which killed 3 percent of the populationThe mysterious appearance of HIV in the 1980sThe devastating spread of Ebola in West Africa in 2014From ancient outbreaks of smallpox and plague to modern epidemics such as SARS and Ebola, the stories capture the mystery and devastation brought on by these diseases. It's a sickeningly fun read that confirms the true definition of going viral.
Sleeping with David Baddiel
Geoff Jein - 2020
The secret? Harnessing the incredible power of sleep.Over six episodes, a world expert on sleep will act as a guru to an insomniac comedian, transforming their nocturnal habits and showing how you can do the same. In our hectic modern lives, sleep can often feel like a luxury - studies have found that 52% of Britons struggle to sleep, while around 70 million Americans suffer from a chronic sleep disorder. However, our sleep guru and their celebrity apprentice will reveal that everything we thought we knew about sleep was wrong, and teach us how to capitalize on one of the most often neglected resources for transforming our lives.Over the course of a journey to improve the star’s sleep quality, they will demystify the science behind how and why we sleep so that we can use it to make concrete improvements to our health, wellbeing, and productivity.A TBI Media production for Audible Originals.This is an Audible Original Podcast. Free for members. You can download all 6 episodes to your Library now.©2020 Audible, Ltd. (P)2020 Audible, Ltd.
Wine to Water: A Bartender's Quest to Bring Clean Water to the World
Doc Hendley - 2012
In 2004, Hendley-a small- town bartender- launched a series of wine-tasting events to raise funds for clean-water projects and to bring awareness to the world's freshwater crisis. He planned to donate the proceeds through traditional channels, but instead found himself traveling to one of the world's most dangerous hot spots: Darfur, Sudan.There, Doc witnessed a government-sponsored genocide where the number-one weapon wasn't bullets-it was water. The Janjaweed terrorists had figured out that shooting up a bladder containing 10,000 liters of water, or dumping rotting corpses into a primary water source is remarkably efficient for the purposes of mass extermination. With limited funds, Doc realized that he couldn't build new wells costing $10,000 a pop, but he could hire local workers to restore a damaged well for a mere $50 each. He'd found his mission. Today, Doc and Wine to Water continue to help stricken peoples repair and maintain water- containment systems in places like Darfur, Cambodia, Uganda, and Haiti.Doc is a regular, rough-and-tumble guy who loves booze, music, and his Harley- but he also wanted to help. Wine to Water is a gripping story about braving tribal warfare and natural disasters and encountering fascinating characters in far-flung regions of the world. It is also an authoritative account of a global crisis and an inspirational tale that proves how ordinary people can improve the world.
Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music
Greg Kot - 2009
Now, more people are listening to more music from a greater variety of sources than at any time in history. And big corporations such as Viacom, Clear Channel, and Sony are no longer the sole gatekeepers and distributors, their monopoly busted by a revolution -- an uprising led by bands and fans networking on the Internet. "Ripped" tells the story of how the laptop generation created a new grassroots music industry, with the fans and bands rather than the corporations in charge. In this new world, bands aren't just musicmakers but self-contained multimedia businesses; and fans aren't just consumers but distributors and even collaborators.As the Web popularized bands and albums that previously would have been relegated to obscurity, innovative artists -- from Prince to Death Cab for Cutie -- started coming up with, and stumbling into, alternative ways of getting their music out to fans. Live music took on an even more significant role. TV shows and commercials emerged as great places to hear new tunes. Sample-based composition and mash-ups leapfrogged ahead of the industry's, and the law's, ability to keep up with them. Then, in 2007, Radiohead released an album exclusively on the Internet and allowed customers to name their own price, including $0.00. Radiohead's "it's up to you" marketing coup seized on a concept the old music industry had forgotten: the customer is always right.National radio host and critically acclaimed music journalist Greg Kot masterfully chronicles this story of how we went from $17.99 to $0.00 in less than a decade. It's a fascinating tale of backward thinking, forward thinking, and the power of music.
Doctor, Doctor: Incredible True Tales From A GP's Surgery
Rosemary Leonard - 2012
Do you require fire, police or ambulance?' asked the female switchboard operator with brisk professionalism. I thought fast. 'I actually need all three,' I answered .It's not every day that a home visit turns out to be an eco-protestor with appendicitis stuck up a tree. But as Dr Rosemary shares in this book, it's all part of a day's work for a south London GP. From an octogenarian nymphomaniac to a teenager in labour with a baby she didn't know about, when Dr Rosemary opens her surgery door she doesn't know who's going to walk in...
Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know: And Many Others You Will Find Interesting
Ronald Bailey - 2020
Simpler: The Future of Government
Cass R. Sunstein - 2013
Sunstein, bestselling author and President Obama’s “Regulatory Czar,” helped to oversee a revolution in better government. He explains how and why—and what comes next.The future of government arrived four years ago. Government became simpler, it became smarter, and Cass Sunstein was at the center of it all. Drawing on state-of-the-art work in behavioral psychology and economics, Sunstein, as administrator of the powerful White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), quietly helped save the nation billions of dollars while preventing thousands of deaths and countless illnesses and accidents. All this was accomplished in part through the extraordinary power of nudges—low-cost, seemingly modest policies that preserve freedom of choice. In combination with smart, disciplined cost-benefit analysis, nudges are simplifying government and making it far more effective.Twenty-first century insights now inform simplified mortgage and student loan applications, the labeling of food and energy-efficient cars, financial reform, and health care reform. New principles—democratizing data, presenting individuals and businesses with the most salient information, ensuring that the better outcome is the automatic outcome—are transforming government. Countless regulations are being streamlined or eliminated. Transparent review of which rules are working, and which aren’t, is becoming the norm. Citing numerous examples from his years in the first term of the Obama Administration, and projecting forward into a data-driven future, Simpler provides a new understanding of how government can work.
Reality Unveiled
Ziad Masri - 2017
Far from offering simple platitudes and general principles, Reality Unveiled immerses you into this surprising world of ancient and modern knowledge, and presents you with all the incredible evidence to support it.With a new profound understanding of existence, and answers to your long-held innermost questions, it gently goes on to show you how to tap into this inspiring wisdom in your practical everyday life, giving you the power to make a lasting transformation like never before, and to have the joy, peace, and true fulfillment you’ve always searched for.The book does something new and different in the spirituality genre, bringing scientific and empirical evidence to it in a way that reads like a gripping novel or documentary, while not losing the elements that touch one's soul.
Seeing Voices
Oliver Sacks - 1989
Seeing Voices is, as Studs Terkel has written, "an exquisite, as well as revelatory, work."
The Never-Ending Days of Being Dead: Dispatches from the Frontline of Science
Marcus Chown - 2007
Chown fearlessly addresses the big questions on the nature of the universe, the nature of reality, and the place of life in the universe. Ultimately, he says, science is about the down-to-earth things that matter to all of us. Where did the universe come from? Where did we come from? What the hell are we doing here?
Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic
Peter H.R. Green - 2006
Unfortunately, 97 percent remain undiagnosed and untreated. They continue to suffer from gastrointestinal complaints, fatigue, headaches, joint pain, anemia, and itchy skin conditions -- to name just a few of the symptoms. These people consult numerous doctors, who prescribe drugs and diets that may alleviate some symptoms, but rarely work for long.If you are one of these people, the real answer to your medical problems may lie in this book.Celiac disease is a hereditary condition that damages the lining of the small intestine so that it cannot properly absorb the food that you eat. Without essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrition, the entire body begins to suffer. Because of its autoimmune nature it also sets off reactions that reverberate throughout all the organs of the body. This is a disease that you do not outgrow -- it often returns years later with more significant symptoms.The true medical impact of celiac disease is just beginning to emerge. This is the first authoritative guide on how the condition is properly diagnosed, treated, and managed. It examines the latest research into its many manifestations, with chapters devoted to each complication and to related diseases. These include infertility, other autoimmune conditions (for example, type 1 diabetes and thyroid disease), peripheral neuropathy, liver disease, and even cancer. It also devotes an entire section to coping with the psychological aspects of a chronic illness and the gluten-free diet.This "inside-out" examination and explanation of the disease is a must-read for both patients and the medical community.