Book picks similar to
Doctor Strange and Philosophy: The Other Book of Forbidden Knowledge by Mark D. White


philosophy
nonfiction
reality-itself-is-vexing-enough
self-help-motivational

Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers


Sady Doyle - 2019
    Men from Aristotle to Freud have insisted that women are freakish creatures, capable of immense destruction. Maybe they are. And maybe that’s a good thing.... Sady Doyle, hailed as “smart, funny and fearless” by the Boston Globe, takes readers on a tour of the female dark side, from the biblical Lilith to Dracula’s Lucy Westenra, from the T-Rex in Jurassic Park to the teen witches of The Craft. She illuminates the women who have shaped our nightmares: Serial killer Ed Gein’s “domineering” mother Augusta; exorcism casualty Anneliese Michel, starving herself to death to quell her demons; author Mary Shelley, dreaming her dead child back to life. These monsters embody patriarchal fear of women, and illustrate the violence with which men enforce traditionally feminine roles. They also speak to the primal threat of a woman who takes back her power. In a dark and dangerous world, Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers asks women to look to monsters for the ferocity we all need to survive. “Some people take a scalpel to the heart of media culture; Sady Doyle brings a bone saw, a melon baller, and a machete.”—Andi Zeisler, author of We Were Feminists Once

Popular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence


Bill James - 2011
     Celebrated writer and contrarian Bill James has voraciously read true crime throughout his life and has been interested in writing a book on the topic for decades. Now, with Popular Crime, James takes readers on an epic journey from Lizzie Borden to the Lindbergh baby, from the Black Dahlia to O. J. Simpson, explaining how crimes have been committed, investigated, prosecuted and written about, and how that has profoundly influenced our culture over the last few centuries— even if we haven’t always taken notice. Exploring such phenomena as serial murder, the fluctuation of crime rates, the value of evidence, radicalism and crime, prison reform and the hidden ways in which crimes have shaped, or reflected, our society, James chronicles murder and misdeeds from the 1600s to the present day. James pays particular attention to crimes that were sensations during their time but have faded into obscurity, as well as still-famous cases, some that have never been solved, including the Lindbergh kidnapping, the Boston Strangler and JonBenet Ramsey. Satisfyingly sprawling and tremendously entertaining, Popular Crime is a professed amateur’s powerful examination of the incredible impact crime stories have on our society, culture and history.

The Ministry of Truth: The Biography of George Orwell's 1984


Dorian Lynskey - 2019
    Lynskey delves into how Orwell's harrowing Spanish Civil War experiences shaped his concern with political disinformation by exposing him to the deceptiveness of people he'd once regarded as allies against fascism: the Soviets and their Western apologists.

Ron Howard: From Mayberry to the Moon...and Beyond


Beverly Gray - 2003
    Although many show biz kids founder as they approach adulthood, Ron Howard had the advantage of brains, common sense, and two down-to-earth parents who kept him from having an inflated view of his own accomplishments. He also had a longstanding goal: to trade the glare of the spotlight for a quieter but equally creative life behind the camera. This biography tracks his career from 1960, when he debuted as six-year-old Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show through 2002, when he accepted his Academy Award

Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty


Nancy L. Etcoff - 1999
    Etcoff, a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and a practicing psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, skewers the enduring myth that the pursuit of beauty is a learned behavior.Etcoff puts forth that beauty is neither a cultural construction, an invention of the fashion industry, nor a backlash against feminism, but instead is in our biology. It's an essential and ineradicable part of human nature that is revered and ferociously pursued in nearly every civilizatoin--and for good reason. Those features to which we are most attracted are often signals of fertility and fecundity. When seen in the context of a Darwinian struggle for survival, our sometimes extreme attempts to attain beauty--both to become beautiful ourselves and to acquire an attractive partner--become understandable. Moreover, if we come to understand how the desire for beauty is innate, then we can begin to work in our interests, and not soley for the interests of our genetic tendencies.

Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture


Daniel Radosh - 2008
    Written with a perfect blend of curiosity and respect, Rapture Ready! is an insightful, enlightening, and weird journey through Christian pop culture--with it pulpy novels, music, creationism museums, and more--by talented New Yorker writer Radosh.

Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan and the 1960s; Chimes of Freedom, revised and expanded


Mike Marqusee - 2003
    In Wicked Messenger, acclaimed cultural-political commentator Mike Marqusee advances the new thesis that Dylan did not drop politics from his songs but changed the manner of his critique to address the changing political and cultural climate and, more importantly, his own evolving aesthetic. Wicked Messenger is also a riveting political history of the United States in the 1960s. Tracing the development of the decade’s political and cultural dissent movements, Marqusee shows how their twists and turns were anticipated in the poetic aesthetic—anarchic, unaccountable, contradictory, punk— of Dylan's mid-sixties albums, as well as in his recent artistic ventures in Chronicles, Vol. I and Masked and Anonymous.Dylan’s anguished, self-obsessed, prickly artistic evolution, Marqusee asserts, was a deeply creative response to a deeply disturbing situation. "He can no longer tell the story straight," Marqusee concludes, "because any story told straight is a false one."

The Metaphysical Club


Louis Menand - 2001
    Its members included Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr, founder of modern jurisprudence; William James, the father of modern American psychology; and Charles Sanders Peirce, logician, scientist and the founder of semiotics. The club was probably in existence for about nine months. No records were kept. The one thing we know that came out of it was an idea - an idea about ideas. This book is the story of that idea. Holmes, James and Peirce all believed that ideas are not things out there waiting to be discovered but are tools people invent - like knives and forks and microchips - to make their way in the world. They thought that ideas are produced not by individuals, but by groups of individuals - that ideas are social. They do not develop according to some inner logic of their own but are entirely dependent - like germs - on their human carriers and environment. They also thought that the survival of any idea depends not on its immutability but on its adaptability.

Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now—Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything


David Sirota - 2011
    Fights over taxes. Racial resentments. A Lakers-Celtics championship. The Karate Kid topping the box-office charts. Bon Jovi touring the country. These words could describe our current moment—or the vaunted iconography of three decades past.In this wide-ranging and wickedly entertaining book, New York Times bestselling journalist David Sirota takes readers on a rollicking DeLorean ride back in time to reveal how so many of our present-day conflicts are rooted in the larger-than-life pop culture of the 1980s—from the “Greed is good” ethos of Gordon Gekko (and Bernie Madoff) to the “Make my day” foreign policy of Ronald Reagan (and George W. Bush) to the “transcendence” of Cliff Huxtable (and Barack Obama).Today’s mindless militarism and hypernarcissism, Sirota argues, first became the norm when an ’80s generation weaned on Rambo one-liners and “Just Do It” exhortations embraced a new religion—with comic books, cartoons, sneaker commercials, videogames, and even children’s toys serving as the key instruments of cultural indoctrination. Meanwhile, in productions such as Back to the Future, Family Ties, and The Big Chill, a campaign was launched to reimagine the 1950s as America’s lost golden age and vilify the 1960s as the source of all our troubles. That 1980s revisionism, Sirota shows, still rages today, with Barack Obama cast as the 60s hippie being assailed by Alex P. Keaton–esque Republicans who long for a return to Eisenhower-era conservatism. “The past is never dead,” William Faulkner wrote. “It’s not even past.” The 1980s—even more so. With the native dexterity only a child of the Atari Age could possess, David Sirota twists and turns this multicolored Rubik’s Cube of a decade, exposing it as a warning for our own troubled present—and possible future.

Stoicism: Introduction to The Stoic Way of Life (Stoicism Series Book 1)


Ryan James - 2017
    Too often we find that we aren’t able to control our lives, control the events that go on, or even control the people and how they act. But with Stoicism, we learn that we can control some things, such as our emotions and our reactions, and this can help to lead us to happiness.In this guidebook we are going to learn the basics of using Stoicism in your daily life and how this ancient philosophy is going to work to make you feel happier. Some of the things that we will talk about include: What is Stoicism Recognizing the things that are under your control How to conform to your own reality Understanding how your emotions work The importance of freedom of will. Learning how to be calm when there is adversity around Learning how to make the best of all situations How to use stoicism in order to make your life better How to use the process of neuroplasticity to change around your mind and how you react to things. How to use affirmations to help with stoicism Simple ideas to implement some of the stoic philosophy into your daily life. When you are ready to find the true happiness that belongs to you and bring some of the Stoic ideas into your life, make sure to read through this guidebook and learn just how great it can be to live the Stoic way of life. Grab your copy and start living the stoic life today.

The 1619 Project: A Critique


Phillip W. Magness - 2020
    Comprising an entire magazine feature and a sizable advertising budget, the newspaper’s initiative conveyed a serious attempt to engage the public in an intellectual exchange about the history of slavery in the United States and its lingering harms to our social fabric. It also seemed to avoid the superficiality of many public history initiatives, which all too often reduce over 400 complex years of slavery’s history and legacy to sweeping generalizations. Instead, the Times promised detailed thematic explorations of topics ranging from the first slave ship’s arrival in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619 to the politics of race in the present day.At the same time, however, certain 1619 Project essayists infused this worthy line of inquiry with a heavy stream of ideological advocacy. Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones announced this political intention openly, pairing progressive activism with the initiative’s stated educational purposes.In assembling these essays, I make no claim of resolving what continues to be a vibrant and ongoing discussion. Neither should my work be viewed as the final arbiter of historical accuracy, though I do evaluate a number of factual and interpretive claims made by the project’s authors. Rather, the aim is to provide an accessible resource for readers wishing to navigate the scholarly disputes, offering my own interpretive take on claims pertaining to areas of history in which I have worked." -- Phil Magness

NAVY SEAL: Self Discipline: How to Become the Toughest Warrior: Self Confidence, Self Awareness, Self Control, Mental Toughness


Jason Lopez - 2016
    These are the men, and one day soon the women, who stand out from their peers as being part of one of the most elite military groups in the world. They have proven that they have what it takes but the question is, do you? Walk with us through the training regimen of the most feared and respected military force in the world as we take you through initial training to graduation day. Along the way you’ll learn some lessons about integrity, perseverance, and honor. You don’t have to be a SEAL to take these lessons and apply them to your daily life. You just need the right motivation and we’re here to give it to you. Here’s just a few thing you’ll learn about: • The Navy SEAL Fitness regimen • How to train your mind for everyday battle • Being aware of what’s happening around you • How the tough keep mentally strong Do you think you have what it takes to be a Navy SEAL? You might not be boot camp ready but when you’re done with Navy SEAL Self-Discipline you’ll be ready to take on life! What are you waiting for? Grab your copy today and start on the path to a new, more confident you! DOWNLOAD NOW! Scroll up to Buy with One-Click!

Unofficial Series List - J.R. Ward - In Order: The Black Dagger Brotherhood, The Fallen Angels, and Jessica Bird books


This Fangirl - 2015
    The list includes books written as Jessica Bird and clears up the books re-released with new titles. Most of this information is available on the author's website, jrward.com. If, like me, you'd like to have the list on your kindle where you can pop it open just like your other kindle books instead of logging on to your laptop or PC, you will find this list handy. Hopefully you have the Kindle Unlimited subscription and can download it for free. If not, you'll have to decide if the convenience is worth a buck. This is a title list only. In reading order. No portions of the books mentioned have been reproduced here. No copyright infringement is intended. Just to avoid any misunderstandings about copyright, according to the United States Copyright Office, “Copyright law does not protect names, titles, or short phrases or expressions.” (copyright.gov, circular 34). I hope you find this made-for-kindle list helpful in deciding which of Ms. Ward's books to purchase and enjoy next.

Golf My Own Damn Way: A Real Guy's Guide to Chopping Ten Strokes Off Your Score


John Daly - 2007
    Looking for a sure cure to bunkerphobia? It's here. A one-hour golf lesson that's 100 percent guaranteed to make you a better golfer? Ditto. Want to know why you should occasionally leave your big dog in your trunk, how to watch your weight, and what golf and sex have in common? You came to the right book.And while he's busy explaining all these and many other things, Daly also tells you why you should keep your head out of the game, let your belly lead your hands, listen to your right foot, check your ball position—and buy a hybrid (the club, not the car).Following in the spike prints of his 2006 bestselling autobiography, My Life In and Out of the Rough, Golf My Own Damn Way is an off-the-wall and intensely personal yet imminently practical and accessible tip sheet on how to cut ten strokes off your score—now.Two things are certain: you've never seen a golf instructional book quite like this one, and you'll never need another one.Fairways and greens, Pard!

In Search of Greener Grass


Graham Field - 2012
    Written with a dry, cynical and opinionated wit, this book offers advice on preparation for motorbike travels. It's part guidebook - Graham describes routes worth travelling and what to expect from them - and part life story, full of anecdotes and knowledge generated by a quarter of a century of travelling. Graham's narrative is full of insightful observations, occasional wisdom and sporadic alcohol fuelled inspiration, a little rebellious and somewhat defiant. The book offers insecurities and enlightenment, banter and bollocks from inside the helmet of someone who did know better, then forgot again. All the way to Mongolia and then a bit further, discovering truths, wondering if they're right then reassessing it all. Graham rides into the unknown, before moving on again, deciding that contentment must be around the next corner, occasionally finding it and then missing it.