Book picks similar to
Family: Socialization and Interaction Process by Talcott Parsons


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How to Quit Porn


Brett McKay - 2015
    By understanding the neurological and psychological effects of porn, you’ll be in a better position to confidently tackle and overcome your attraction and dependence on it.This book does not include hokey language, overly pat solutions, grandiose promises, or useless finger wagging. Instead, it's packed with accessible, easy to understand information and a practical, research-backed action plan, that, rather that magically "curing" you of your habit, will simply help you become the kind of guy who doesn’t need to look at porn anymore. If that's the guy you want to become, what are you waiting for? Pick up your copy of How to Quit Porn today.

Outside Shot: Big Dreams, Hard Times, and One County's Quest for Basketball Greatness


Keith O'Brien - 2013
    For years, the boys and their legendary coach gave fans in central Kentucky, deep in the heart of basketball country, just what they wanted: state titles, national rankings, and countless trips to Kentucky's one-of-a-kind state tournament, where winning and losing can change a young man's life.But in 2009, with the economy sputtering, anger rising, and Scott County mired in a two-year drought, fans had begun to lose faith in the boys. They weren't the heroes of Scott County anymore; they were "mini-athlete gods," haunted by dreams, burdened by expectations, and desperate to escape through the only means they knew: basketball.In Outside Shot, Keith O'Brien takes us on an epic journey, from the bluegrass hills and broken homes of rural America, to inner-city Lexington, to Kentucky's most hallowed hall: Rupp Arena, where high school tournament games are known to draw twenty-thousand people, and where, for the players and their fans, it feels like anything is possible.The narrative follows four of the team's top seniors and their coach as they struggle to redeem themselves in the face of impossible odds: once-loyal fans now turned against them, parents who demand athletic greatness, and scouts who weigh their every move. It delves deep inside the lives of the boys, their families, and their community---divided along lines of race, politics, religion, and sports. And it chronicles not only the high-stakes world of Kentucky basketball, but the battle for the soul of small-town America.A story of inspiration and poignancy, filled with moments of drama on and off the court, Outside Shot shows that if it's hard to win basketball games, it can be even harder to win at life itself.

The Internet Galaxy: Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society


Manuel Castells - 2001
    We are at ground zero of the new network society. In this book, its major commentator reveals the Internet's huge capacity to liberate, but also its ability to marginalize and exclude those who do not have access to it. Castells provides no glib solutions, but asks us all to take responsibility for the future of this new information age.The Internet is becoming the essential communication and information medium in our society, and stands alongside electricity and the printing press as one of the greatest innovations of all time. The Internet Galaxy offers an illuminating look at how this new technology will influence business, the economy, and our daily lives.

Conversations with Edward Said


Tariq Ali - 2005
    In these conversations with Tariq Ali, recorded in Edward Said's Riverside Drive apartment in New York in June 1994, about a decade before he finally lost his battle with cancer, Said brings his considerable intellect and deep personal engagement to bear on some of the most troubling and volatile issues of our time as he ranges back over his own dislocated existence, his initiation into politics, his involvement with the Palestine cause, his approach to the study of culture and his pervasive love of literature and music. Intimate, personal, thought-provoking and absorbing, these conversations capture Said as political activist, cultural historian, professor of literature and music aficionado -- and confirm his position as one of the most passionate and thoughtful intellections of our time.

The Starved Rock Murders


Steve Stout - 1982
    Book

Fascism and Democracy


George Orwell - 2020
    this prospect frightens me much more than bombs'On the 70th anniversary of George Orwell's death, a new collection of his brilliant essays written during the Second World WarFascism and Democracy collects five brilliant examples of Orwell's writing during the darkest days of World War Two. Grappling with the principles of democracy and the potential of reform, the meaning of literature and free speech in times of violence, and the sustainability of objective truth, Orwell offers a compelling portrayal of a nation where norms and ideals can no longer be taken for granted. Like the best of Orwell's writing, these essays also serve as timeless reminders of the fragility of freedom.

Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud


Herbert Marcuse - 1953
    In this classic work, Herbert Marcuse takes as his starting point Freud's statement that civilization is based on the permanent subjugation of the human instincts, his reconstruction of the prehistory of mankind - to an interpretation of the basic trends of western civilization, stressing the philosophical and sociological implications.

The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human


Jonathan Gottschall - 2012
    We spin fantasies. We devour novels, films, and plays. Even sporting events and criminal trials unfold as narratives. Yet the world of story has long remained an undiscovered and unmapped country. It’s easy to say that humans are “wired” for story, but why?In this delightful and original book, Jonathan Gottschall offers the first unified theory of storytelling. He argues that stories help us navigate life’s complex social problems—just as flight simulators prepare pilots for difficult situations. Storytelling has evolved, like other behaviors, to ensure our survival.Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology, Gottschall tells us what it means to be a storytelling animal. Did you know that the more absorbed you are in a story, the more it changes your behavior? That all children act out the same kinds of stories, whether they grow up in a slum or a suburb? That people who read more fiction are more empathetic?Of course, our story instinct has a darker side. It makes us vulnerable to conspiracy theories, advertisements, and narratives about ourselves that are more “truthy” than true. National myths can also be terribly dangerous: Hitler’s ambitions were partly fueled by a story.But as Gottschall shows in this remarkable book, stories can also change the world for the better. Most successful stories are moral—they teach us how to live, whether explicitly or implicitly, and bind us together around common values. We know we are master shapers of story. The Storytelling Animal finally reveals how stories shape us.

The Death Of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters


Thomas M. Nichols - 2017
    While this has had the positive effect of equalizing access to knowledge, it also has lowered the bar on what depth of knowledge is required to consider oneself an "expert." A cult of anti-expertise sentiment has coincided with anti-intellectualism, resulting in massively viral yet poorly informed debates ranging from the anti-vaccination movement to attacks on GMOs. This surge in intellectual egalitarianism has altered the landscape of debates-all voices are equal, and "fact" is a subjective term. Browsing WebMD puts one on equal footing with doctors, and Wikipedia allows all to be foreign policy experts, scientists, and more. As Tom Nichols shows in The Death of Expertise, there are a number of reasons why this has occurred-ranging from easy access to Internet search engines to a customer satisfaction model within higher education. The product of these interrelated trends, Nichols argues, is a pervasive distrust of expertise among the public coinciding with an unfounded belief among non-experts that their opinions should have equal standing with those of the experts. The experts are not always right, of course, and Nichols discusses expert failure. The crucial point is that bad decisions by experts can and have been effectively challenged by other well-informed experts. The issue now is that the democratization of information dissemination has created an army of ill-informed citizens who denounce expertise.When challenged, non-experts resort to the false argument that the experts are often wrong. Though it may be true, but the solution is not to jettison expertise as an ideal; it is to improve our expertise. Nichols is certainly not opposed to information democratization, but rather the enlightenment people believe they achieve after superficial internet research. He shows in vivid detail the ways in which this impulse is coursing through our culture and body politic, but the larger goal is to explain the benefits that expertise and rigorous learning regimes bestow upon all societies.

Cocaine Papers


Sigmund Freud - 1884
    & if you are froward, you shall see who is stronger, a gentle little girl who doesn't eat enough or a big wild man who has cocaine in his body. In my last severe depression I took coca again & a small dose lifted me to the heights." This lurid encomium to cocaine wasn't penned by an immature drug addict. It was written by Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis, to his fiancee Martha Bernays. He frequently got kicks from cocaine. But as is clear from his newly compiled Cocaine Papers, his interest in the drug was scientific, not sensual. He sought for a miracle drug to benefit patients & make his reputation. He thought he'd found it in cocaine. Freud's study of cocaine has been shrouded in myths, half-truths & speculation. Cocaine Papers sets the facts straight. Annotated by his daughter Anna, it presents the complete authoritative versions of his own writings on the drug, including several pieces never before published, along with the work of other early experimenters. He's revealed as not only a driven &, ultimately, tragic seeker for a panacea, but also as one of the pioneers of psychopharmacology, the science of using drugs to treat mental illness. In 1884, before beginning studies leading to the development of psychoanalysis, Freud was 28, a fledgling physician with a fiancee but without funds to wed. He'd been searching for a way to establish himself & gain the respect of colleagues. A paper by German physician Theodor Aschenbrandt seemed to provide the way. Conquistadores had noted the stimulant effect of coca leaves on Andean Indians. Aschenbrandt tried the drug on Bavarian soldiers & reported that it suppressed their hunger while increasing mental powers & capacity to endure strain. Aschenbrandt's paper triggered Freud's studies. He obtained samples & tried it. It gave him an emotional lift, producing what he described as "normal euphoria." After that he used cocaine frequently with the same results. He coolly summarized his experiences in his notes: "You perceive an increase of self-control, possess more vitality & capacity for work. This result is enjoyed without any of the unpleasant aftermaths which accompany exhilaration thru alcoholic means." Freud continued to study cocaine's effects on himself & patients. He found it not only useful in overcoming depression but effective against some purely physiological complaints. He used it to treat stomach disorders & persistent coughing. He didn't administer it indiscriminately. Tho he initially believed it wasn't habit-forming, he found its effects on patients too unpredictable to justify widespread use. Tho he & some American physicians reported initial successes in treating morphine addicts, fellow physician Adolf Albrecht Erlenmeyer warned that cocaine was itself addictive, the "3rd scourge of mankind"—after morphine & alcohol. Freud realized Erlenmeyer was correct. His friend & patient, Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow, became the 1st morphine addict in Europe to be cured by cocaine. He was also one of the 1st to become dependent on it. This development dampened Freud's interest & helped turn his attention to the psychological theories that eventually won him fame. Freud's studies are considered basic to psychopharmacology. But they didn't lead to the discovery of its most effective clinical use. He abandoned his interest in cocaine just after he suggested that a colleague, Karl "Coca" Roller, experiment with its use in easing the pain of eye surgery. It was Koller & not Freud who invented local anesthesia.--Time (edited)

As a Man Thinketh and From Poverty to Power


James Allen - 2011
    Loosely based in its principles around the Biblical proverb "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," As a Man Thinketh asserts the powerful idea that belief is central to bringing about positive events in one's life. From Poverty to Power, Allen's first book, relies on a similar philosophy but addresses themes of adversity and suffering more directly and offers his simple wisdom as a means of overcoming difficulty. Allen's writings are powerful and relevant today as they were over a century ago, and this collection brings their solace and inspiration to modern listeners.

The Making and Breaking of Affectional Bonds


John Bowlby - 1990
    Informed by wide clinical experience, and written with the author's well-known humanity and lucidity, the lectures provide an invaluable introduction to John Bowlby's thought and work, as well as much practical guidance of use both to parents and to members of the mental health professions.

Bill Bryson Box Set: Three Vols. A Walk In The Woods, Notes From A Big Country, Notes From A Small Island


Bill Bryson
    A box set consisting of three Bill Bryson books, 'Notes from a Small Island', 'Notes from a Big Country' and 'A Walk in the Woods'.

Attaining Your Desires


Geneviève Behrend - 2008
    Attaining Your Desires is a simple guide to using the Law of Attraction in your everyday life. Chapters include How to Get What You Want, How to Overcome Adverse Condition, Strengthening Your Will, and making Your Subjective Mind Work for You. Long out of print, this landmark book is now once again available in its original, intended form. PS. For maximal benefit, this book should be read together with Dr Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking, and Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich

Have Yourself a Minimalist Christmas: Slow Down, Save Money & Enjoy a More Intentional Holiday


Meg Nordmann - 2020