Available as Audible or Apple podcast in 6 partsDeclared “a must-listen for every parent" by The Washington Post, the full series is available now .

    Uses the disciplines of psychology, anthropology, sociology and psychiatry to explain what makes people act the way they do.

    Truly Mars and Venus celebrates the wisdom of the number one international bestseller Men Are from Mars, Women Are From Venus.With passages drawn from John Gray's groundbreaking classic on relationships, this beautiful book is illustrated with humorous cartoons and charming artwork by Barbara State.The perfect gift for a loved one or for yourself, Truly Mars and Venus delivers John Gray's rich and inspiring advice for creating and sustaining healthy and loving relationships.

    But when you absolutely must rely on another person, you have to be able to assess them objectively. Red Flags shares simple strategies anyone can use to spot deceptive, or downright dangerous people, who use ingratiation and social convention to draw in and lull victims.Readers will learn how even the most skeptical of us use rose-colored lenses on those around us, in three sections: -Blinded by Desire-from the alluring lenses of attraction and positive attention to the blindness of marital "bliss" and the distorted lens of delusion -Overlooking Red Flags in a Professional Setting-how reassuring proximity and the false security of credibility and similarity can lead to costly mistakes -Be Afraid of What You Can't See-the ultimate cost of wearing emotional blinders around the truly disturbed/criminal, from sexual predation to domestic abuse, stalking and cyberstalkingReaders will learn how to: -Avoid selective attention -Observe people over time (bad guys rely on first impressions) -Ask questions: most people's favorite topic is themselves -Cybersleuth to verify information and track down inconsistenciesYou need this book if you: -Want to know if a potential boyfriend is trustworthy -Are interviewing or hiring new employees -Are selecting anyone to take care of your children -Are lending money or property -Have partners in business

    Invariably led by gurus, or spiritual leaders, the fruit of these cults are mass suicides in the South American jungle or the self-immolation of hundreds in besieged fortresses.

    Clarissa Pinkola Estes, this spoken-word masterpiece guides you through the dark labyrinths of the psyche in search of "la chispa" the ember that is the elemental source of all creative work. Dr. Estes teaches about the hidden aspects of creativity, including the negative complexes that prey upon creative energy. The Creative Fire includes many special insights for people who create for a living: artists, writers, teachers, and others who must depend on their creative instincts every day."

    It can cause organisational collapse, financial meltdown and technical disaster. And there are countless, more everyday examples of organisations accepting the dubious, the absurd and the downright idiotic, from unsustainable management fads to the cult of leadership or an over-reliance on brand and image. And yet a dose of stupidity can be useful and produce good, short-term results: it can nurture harmony, encourage people to get on with the job and drive success. This is the stupidity paradox.The Stupidity Paradox tackles head-on the pros and cons of functional stupidity. You'll discover what makes a workplace mindless, why being stupid might be a good thing in the short term but a disaster in the longer term, and how to make your workplace a little less stupid by challenging thoughtless conformity. It shows how harmony and action in the workplace can be balanced with a culture of questioning and challenge.The book is a wake-up call for smart organisations and smarter people. It encourages us to use our intelligence fully for the sake of personal satisfaction, organisational success and the flourishing of society as a whole.

    gross domestic product by 2020. In Drugs for Life, Joseph Dumit considers how our burgeoning consumption of medicine and cost of healthcare not only came to be, but also came to be taken for granted. For several years, Dumit attended pharmaceutical industry conferences; spoke with marketers, researchers, doctors, and patients; and surveyed the industry's literature regarding strategies to expand markets for prescription drugs. He concluded that underlying the continual growth in medications, disease categories, costs, and insecurity is a relatively new perception of ourselves as inherently ill and in need of chronic treatment. This perception is based on clinical trials that we have largely outsourced to pharmaceutical companies. Those companies in turn see clinical trials as investments and measure the value of those investments by the size of the market and profits that they will create. They only ask questions for which the answer is more medicine. Drugs for Life challenges our understanding of health, risks, facts, and clinical trials, the very concepts used by pharmaceutical companies to grow markets to the point where almost no one can imagine a life without prescription drugs.

    a moving, deep series of insights into the suicide's world... " --Kirkus ReviewsJean Amery (Auschwitz survivor and author of At the Mind's Limits) thought of On Suicide as a continuation of the kind of reflections on mortality he had laid down in On Aging. But here he probes further and more deeply into the meaning of death and into the human capacity for suicide or voluntary death.

    To which she responds, "No, thanks. We’re going to take care of the wine ourselves." The dead silence at the end of the phone is her first clue that something is amiss. A CEO attempts to put an end to complaints from employees about the demeaning behavior of certain managers by berating the managers before the staff — thus reinforcing the very behavior he’s trying to correct. We often criticize such incidents with remarks like "How dumb!" or "What was he thinking?" But psychologist Madeleine L. Van Hecke argues that much of what we label stupidity can better be explained as blind spots. Just as the blind spot in the driver’s side mirror can swallow up a passing car, patterns in the way we think can likewise become blind spots, sifting out information and observations that to other people seem obvious. Drawing on research in creativity, cognitive psychology, critical thinking, child development, education, and philosophy, Dr. Van Hecke shows how our assets as thinkers create the very blind spots that become our worst liabilities. She devotes a chapter to each of ten mental blind spots that afflict even the smartest people: not stopping to think, jumping to conclusions, my-side bias, getting trapped by categories, and much more. At the end of each chapter she offers tactics for overcoming that specific blind spot, so we can become more creative and competent thinkers.Full of funny, poignant stories about human foibles, Blind Spots offers many insights for improving our social and political lives while giving us fresh slants into the minds of people who are poles apart from ourselves.

    . . Lowndes helps readers focus on what's important and gives them a good chuckle along the way.--Publishers WeeklyMaking friends can be intimidating for anyone, especially if you are naturally shy. This can be an obstacle not only in social interactions but in romantic and work relationships as well. Now there is hope from communications expert Leil Lowndes's How to Be a People Magnet. The bestselling author of How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You, Lowndes reveals specific and proven techniques for attracting friends and lovers and keeping them for life. She uncovers the secrets of attracting friends for fun and romance as well as networking to strengthen business contacts and relationships. Her advice is effective, yet easy for anyone--shy or bold--to implement.

    That book ended by describing the existence of a "remission society," whose members all live with some form of illness or disability. The Wounded Storyteller is their collective portrait.Ill people are more than victims of disease or patients of medicine; they are wounded storytellers. People tell stories to make sense of their suffering; when they turn their diseases into stories, they find healing.Drawing on the work of authors such as Oliver Sacks, Anatole Broyard, Norman Cousins, and Audre Lorde, as well as from people he met during the years he spent among different illness groups, Frank recounts a stirring collection of illness stories, ranging from the well-known—Gilda Radner's battle with ovarian cancer—to the private testimonials of people with cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, and disabilties. Their stories are more than accounts of personal suffering: they abound with moral choices and point to a social ethic.Frank identifies three basic narratives of illness in restitution, chaos, and quest. Restitution narratives anticipate getting well again and give prominence to the technology of cure. In chaos narratives, illness seems to stretch on forever, with no respite or redeeming insights. Quest narratives are about finding that insight as illness is transformed into a means for the ill person to become someone new.

    An inside-the-dugout account, based on interviews with the key players among the Angels, Astros, Mets and Red Sox, of a remarkable season and arguably the most spectacular comeback in the history of the sport.

    Responds to current issues, debates, and new social movements. Reviews sociological theory from a truly contemporary perspective. Covers both classical and contemporary theories. Combines social analysis and moral advocacy, and demonstrates how social theory can contribute to the making of a better world. Challenges social scientists to renew their commitment to viewing social knowledge as playing an important moral and political role in public life. Revised new edition organizes contents more appealingly for students, and includes an insightful new chapter on social theory today and short biographies on major social thinkers.