Ask a Manager by
From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York's work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations--featuring all-new advice! There's a reason Alison Green has been called "the Dear Abby of the work world." Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don't know what to say. Thankfully, Green does--and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You'll learn what to say when * coworkers push their work on you--then take credit for it * you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit "reply all" * you're being micromanaged--or not being managed at all * you catch a colleague in a lie * your boss seems unhappy with your work * your cubemate's loud speakerphone is making you homicidal * you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager "A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green's] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work."--Booklist (starred review) "The author's friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers' lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience."--Library Journal (starred review) "I am a huge fan of Alison Green's Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces--and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor."--Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide "Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way."--Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together
Barefoot Doctor by
A profound, poignant story of a village healer and her community, from one of the world's great contemporary novelists "A complex and illuminating portrait of a group of healers in China . . . [that] offers profound insights about what it means to pursue and live a fulfilling life."--Publishers Weekly "A barefoot doctor herself, [Can Xue] has a unique and powerful way of transporting readers to new worlds where reality and magic are intertwined, and she uses her own experiences to make this novel feel more personal."--Emily Park, Booklist In rural Yun Village, herbalist Mrs. Yi lives with her husband in a cottage at the foot of Niulan Mountain, where she gathers herbs to treat the ailments of the villagers by day and studies medicine by night. Sickness and herbs are lovers, she tells her patients, rejoicing when they recover, comforting them when they do not. All the while, she hopes to find a worthy successor to take up her mantle. As curious younger villagers observe Mrs. Yi and begin imitating her work--planting gardens and studying the art of healing--they soon discover that the line dividing life from death is porous, and the mountain is more mysterious than they ever knew. Drawing on her experiences as a barefoot doctor in her youth, Can Xue returns with a transporting novel that alights in the in-between spaces: between the living and the dead, healer and sick, nature and us.
Big Bangs and Black Holes by
Go back in time with Nobel Prize winner Michel Mayor to understand the secrets of the universe! Go back in time with Nobel Prize-winner Michel Mayor to understand the secrets of the universe and meet the great names in physics, from Newton to Einstein and many more. This graphic novel guide to the universe explains the universe's most complex ideas in a way anyone can understand. It's a book full of adventure--as well as some of the most important concepts humankind has ever studied. On the program: gravitational waves, the theory of relativity, black holes...and more!
Bottoms up and the Devil Laughs by
A wild, humane, and hilarious meditation on post-privacy America--from the acclaimed author of Thrown "At 25, [Reality] Winner--yoga teacher, beloved sister, AR-15 owner--was sentenced to five years in prison for leaking classified documents about a Russian election attack. Howley deftly analyzes the brutal, surreal conditions that underlie this drama and the way that they implicate all of us." --Glamour Who are you? You are data about data. You are a map of connections--a culmination of everything you have ever posted, searched, emailed, liked, and followed. In this groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction, Kerry Howley investigates the curious implications of living in the age of the indelible. Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs tells the true story of intelligence specialist Reality Winner, a lone young woman who stuffs a state secret under her skirt and trusts the wrong people to help. After printing five pages of dangerous information she was never supposed to see, Winner finds herself at the mercy of forces more invasive than she could have possibly imagined. Following Winner's unlikely journey from rural Texas to a federal courtroom, Howley maps a hidden world, drawing in John Walker Lindh, Lady Gaga, Edward Snowden, a rescue dog named Outlaw Babyface Nelson, and a mother who will do whatever it takes to get her daughter out of jail. Howley's subjects face a challenge new to history: they are imprisoned by their past selves, trapped for as long as the Internet endures. A soap opera set in the deep state, Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs is a free fall into a world where everything is recorded and nothing is sacred, from a singular writer unafraid to ask essential questions about the strangeness of modern life.
Burn Rate by
In this "gripping" (TechCrunch), "eye-opening" (Gayle King, Oprah Daily) memoir of mental illness and entrepreneurship, the co-founder of the menswear startup Bonobos opens up about the struggle with bipolar disorder that nearly cost him everything. "Arrestingly candid . . . the most powerful book I've read on manic depression since An Unquiet Mind."-Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of WorkLife ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022-Forbes At twenty-eight, fresh from Stanford's MBA program and steeped in the move-fast-and-break-things ethos of Silicon Valley, Andy Dunn was on top of the world. He was building a new kind of startup-a digitally native, direct-to-consumer brand-out of his Manhattan apartment. Bonobos was a new-school approach to selling an old-school product- men's pants. Against all odds, business was booming. Hustling to scale the fledgling venture, Dunn raised tens of millions of dollars while boundaries between work and life evaporated. As he struggled to keep the startup afloat, Dunn was haunted by a ghost- a diagnosis of bipolar disorder he received after a frightening manic episode in college, one that had punctured the idyllic veneer of his midwestern upbringing. He had understood his diagnosis as an unspeakable shame that-according to the taciturn codes of his fraternity, the business world, and even his family-should be locked away. As Dunn's business began to take off, however, some of the very traits that powered his success as a founder-relentless drive, confidence bordering on hubris, and ambition verging on delusion-were now threatening to undo him. A collision course was set in motion, and it would culminate in a night of mayhem-one poised to unravel all that he had built. Burn Rate is an unconventional entrepreneurial memoir, a parable for the twenty-first-century economy, and a revelatory look at the prevalence of mental illness in the startup community. With intimate prose, Andy Dunn fearlessly shines a light on the dark side of success and challenges us all to take part in the deepening conversation around creativity, performance, and disorder.
Chlorine by
In the vein of The Pisces and The Vegetarian, Chlorine is a debut novel that blurs the line between a literary coming-of-age narrative and a dark unsettling horror tale, told from an adult perspective on the trials and tribulations of growing up in a society that puts pressure on young women and their bodies... a powerful, relevant novel of immigration, sapphic longing, and fierce, defiant becoming. Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach is her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school. Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life. But these are human concerns. These are the concerns of those confined to land, those with legs. Ren grew up on stories of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers. Creatures that called sailors to their doom. That dragged them down and drowned them. That feasted on their flesh. The creature that she's always longed to become: the mermaid. Ren aches to be in the water. She dreams of the scent of chlorine, the feel of it on her skin. And she will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free. No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill.
Deep As the Sky, Red As the Sea by
A Good Morning America Buzz Pick For readers of Outlawed, Piranesi, and The Night Tiger, a dazzling historical novel about a legendary Chinese pirate queen, her fight to save her fleet from the forces allied against them, and the dangerous price of power. As Recommended By The TODAY Show * Washington Post * Goodreads * LitHub * Real Simple * Time * Popsugar * HuffPost * Los Angeles Times * Ms. Magazine * Book Riot * Elle.com * The Rumpus * Tor.com * Polygon * Debutiful * Electric Lit * Shondaland * When Shek Yeung sees a Portuguese sailor slay her husband, a feared pirate, she knows she must act swiftly or die. Instead of mourning, Shek Yeung launches a new plan: immediately marrying her husband's second-in-command, and agreeing to bear him a son and heir, in order to retain power over her half of the fleet. But as Shek Yeung vies for control over the army she knows she was born to lead, larger threats loom. The Chinese Emperor has charged a brutal, crafty nobleman with ridding the South China Seas of pirates, and the Europeans--tired of losing ships, men, and money to Shek Yeung's alliance--have new plans for the area. Even worse, Shek Yeung's cutthroat retributions create problems all their own. As Shek Yeung navigates new motherhood and the crises of leadership, she must decide how long she is willing to fight, and at what price, or risk losing her fleet, her new family, and even her life. A book of salt and grit, blood and sweat, Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is an unmissable portrait of a woman who leads with the courage and ruthlessness of our darkest and most beloved heroes.
Femina by
THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER *A "Next Big Idea Book Club" Must Read* A groundbreaking reappraisal of medieval femininity, revealing why women have been written out of history and why it matters The Middle Ages are seen as a bloodthirsty time of Vikings, saints and kings; a patriarchal society that oppressed and excluded women. But when we dig a little deeper into the truth, we can see that the "Dark" Ages were anything but. Oxford and BBC historian Janina Ramirez has uncovered countless influential women's names struck out of historical records, with the word FEMINA annotated beside them. As gatekeepers of the past ordered books to be burned, artworks to be destroyed, and new versions of myths, legends and historical documents to be produced, our view of history has been manipulated. Only now, through a careful examination of the artifacts, writings and possessions they left behind, are the influential and multifaceted lives of women emerging. Femina goes beyond the official records to uncover the true impact of women, such as: Jadwiga, the only female king in Europe Margery Kempe, who exploited her image and story to ensure her notoriety Loftus Princess, whose existence gives us clues about the beginnings of Christianity in England In Femina, Ramirez invites us to see the medieval world with fresh eyes and discover why these remarkable women were removed from our collective memories.
Fragile Cargo by
The gripping true story of the bold and determined museum curators who saved the priceless treasures of China's Forbidden City in the years leading up to World War II and beyond. Spring 1933: The silent courtyards and palaces of Peking's Forbidden City, for centuries the home of Chinese emperors, are tense with fear and expectation. Japan's aircrafts drone overhead, its troops and tanks are only hours away. All-out war between China and Japan is coming, and the curators of the Forbidden City are faced with an impossible question: how will they protect the vast imperial art collections in their charge? A difficult and monumental decision is made: to safeguard the treasures, they will need to be evacuated. The magnificent collections contain a million pieces of art--objects that carry China's deepest and most ancient memories. Among them are irreplaceable artefacts: exquisite paintings on silk, vanishingly rare Ming porcelain, and the extraordinary Stone Drums of Qin, which are adorned with 2,500-year-old inscriptions of crucial cultural significance. For sixteen terrifying years, under the quiet leadership of museum director Ma Heng, the curators would go on to transport the imperial art collections thousands of miles across China--up rivers of white water, across mountain ranges, and through burning cities. In their search for safety the curators and their fragile, invaluable cargo journeyed through the maelstrom of violence, chaos, and starvation that was China's Second World War. Told for the first time in English and playing out across a vast historical canvas, this is the exhilarating story of a small group of men and women who, when faced with war's onslaught on civilization, chose to resist. Fragile Cargo reminds us of the enduring power of beauty in a world beset by conflict and violence.
Geek Girls by
An inside account of gender and racial discrimination in the high-tech industry Why is being a computer "geek" still perceived to be a masculine occupation? Why do men continue to greatly outnumber women in the high-technology industry? Since 2014, a growing number of employment discrimination lawsuits has called attention to a persistent pattern of gender discrimination in the tech world. Much has been written about the industry's failure to adequately address gender and racial inequalities, yet rarely have we gotten an intimate look inside these companies. In Geek Girls, France Winddance Twine provides the first book by a sociologist that "lifts the Silicon veil" to provide firsthand accounts of inequality and opportunity in the tech ecosystem. This work draws on close to a hundred interviews with male and female technology workers of diverse racial, ethnic, and educational backgrounds who are currently employed at tech firms such as Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter, and at various start-ups in the San Francisco Bay area. Geek Girls captures what it is like to work as a technically skilled woman in Silicon Valley. With a sharp eye for detail and compelling testimonials from industry insiders, Twine shows how the technology industry remains rigged against women, and especially Black, Latinx, and Native American women from working class backgrounds. From recruitment and hiring practices that give priority to those with family, friends, and classmates employed in the industry, to social and educational segregation, to academic prestige hierarchies, Twine reveals how women are blocked from entering this industry. Women who do not belong to the dominant ethnic groups in the industry are denied employment opportunities, and even actively pushed out, despite their technical skills and qualifications. While the technology firms strongly embrace the rhetoric of diversity and oppose discrimination in the workplace, Twine argues that closed social networks and routine hiring practices described by employees reinforce the status quo and reproduce inequality. The myth of meritocracy and gender stereotypes operate in tandem to produce a culture where the use of race-, color-, and power-evasive language makes it difficult for individuals to name the micro-aggressions and forms of discrimination that they experience. Twine offers concrete insights into how the technology industry can address ongoing racial and gender disparities, create more transparency and empower women from underrepresented groups, who continued to be denied opportunities.
Generative Deep Learning by
Generative modeling is one of the hottest topics in AI. It's now possible to teach a machine to excel at human endeavors such as painting, writing, and composing music. With this practical book, machine-learning engineers and data scientists will discover how to re-create some of the most impressive examples of generative deep learning models, such as variational autoencoders,generative adversarial networks (GANs), encoder-decoder models, and world models. Author David Foster demonstrates the inner workings of each technique, starting with the basics of deep learning before advancing to some of the most cutting-edge algorithms in the field. Through tips and tricks, you'll understand how to make your models learn more efficiently and become more creative. Discover how variational autoencoders can change facial expressions in photos Build practical GAN examples from scratch, including CycleGAN for style transfer and MuseGAN for music generation Create recurrent generative models for text generation and learn how to improve the models using attention Understand how generative models can help agents to accomplish tasks within a reinforcement learning setting Explore the architecture of the Transformer (BERT, GPT-2) and image generation models such as ProGAN and StyleGAN
Gossamer Years by
"A self-portrait devastating in its honesty...written passionately and without a thought to how readers might judge her actions."--Donald Keene Gossamer Years is a remarkably frank diary written by an unnamed noblewoman in Tenth-century Japan--the same period as Murasaki Shikibu's celebrated Tale of Genji. In her diary, the author describes her tempestuous and unhappy marriage and growing indignation at the many rival wives and mistresses taken by her husband, as was commonplace at the time. Too impetuous to play the role of a subsidiary wife, the author protests the marriage system in one of Japanese literature's earliest portrayals of the difficulties faced by women in a male-dominated society. Skillfully translated by Edward Seidensticker, a preeminent scholar of Japanese literature, this book represents an extraordinary flowering of realistic expression in ancient Japan and an attempt, unique for its age, to treat the human condition with frankness and honesty. A new introduction by Japanese literary scholar Dennis Washburn provides valuable insights into the author's world and examines the book's lasting importance. With dozens of beautiful images illustrating court life in the Heian period, Gossamer Years is a timeless and intimate glimpse into married life and social mores in traditional Japan.
How Big Things Get Done by
"Why do big projects go wrong so often, and are there any lessons you can use when renovating your kitchen? Bent Flyvbjerg is the 'megaproject' expert and Dan Gardner brings the storytelling skills to How Big Things Get Done, with examples ranging from a Jimi Hendrix studio to the Sydney Opera House."--Financial Times (Best Books of 2023 So Far) "Entertaining . . . There are lessons here for managers of all stripes."--The Economist Nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant, new reality. Think of how the Empire State Building went from a sketch to the jewel of New York's skyline in twenty-one months, or how Apple's iPod went from a project with a single employee to a product launch in eleven months. These are wonderful stories. But most of the time big visions turn into nightmares. Remember Boston's "Big Dig"? Almost every sizeable city in the world has such a fiasco in its backyard. In fact, no less than 92% of megaprojects come in over budget or over schedule, or both. The cost of California's high-speed rail project soared from $33 billion to $100 billon--and won't even go where promised. More modest endeavors, whether launching a small business, organizing a conference, or just finishing a work project on time, also commonly fail. Why? Understanding what distinguishes the triumphs from the failures has been the life's work of Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg, dubbed "the world's leading megaproject expert." In How Big Things Get Done, he identifies the errors in judgment and decision-making that lead projects, both big and small, to fail, and the research-based principles that will make you succeed with yours. For example: * Understand your odds. If you don't know them, you won't win. * Plan slow, act fast. Getting to the action quick feels right. But it's wrong. * Think right to left. Start with your goal, then identify the steps to get there. * Find your Lego. Big is best built from small. * Be a team maker. You won't succeed without an "us." * Master the unknown unknowns. Most think they can't, so they fail. Flyvbjerg shows how you can. * Know that your biggest risk is you. Full of vivid examples ranging from the building of the Sydney Opera House, to the making of the latest Pixar blockbusters, to a home renovation in Brooklyn gone awry, How Big Things Get Done reveals how to get any ambitious project done--on time and on budget.
Humanly Possible by
The instant New York Times bestseller! "A book of big and bold ideas, Humanly Possible is humane in approach and, more important, readable and worth reading. . . Bakewell is wide-ranging, witty and compassionate." -Wall Street Journal "Sweeping... linking philosophical reflections with vibrant anecdotes." -- The New York Times The bestselling author of How to Live and At the Existentialist Café explores seven hundred years of writers, thinkers, scientists, and artists, all trying to understand what it means to be truly human Humanism is an expansive tradition of thought that places shared humanity, cultural vibrancy, and moral responsibility at the center of our lives. The humanistic worldview--as clear-eyed and enlightening as it is kaleidoscopic and richly ambiguous--has inspired people for centuries to make their choices by principles of freethinking, intellectual inquiry, fellow feeling, and optimism. In this sweeping new history, Sarah Bakewell, herself a lifelong humanist, illuminates the very personal, individual, and, well, human matter of humanism and takes readers on a grand intellectual adventure. Voyaging from the literary enthusiasts of the fourteenth century to the secular campaigners of our own time, from Erasmus to Esperanto, from anatomists to agnostics, from Christine de Pizan to Bertrand Russell, and from Voltaire to Zora Neale Hurston, Bakewell brings together extraordinary humanists across history. She explores their immense variety: some sought to promote scientific and rationalist ideas, others put more emphasis on moral living, and still others were concerned with the cultural and literary studies known as "the humanities." Humanly Possible asks not only what brings all these aspects of humanism together but why it has such enduring power, despite opposition from fanatics, mystics, and tyrants. A singular examination of this vital tradition as well as a dazzling contribution to its literature, this is an intoxicating, joyful celebration of the human spirit from one of our most beloved writers. And at a moment when we are all too conscious of the world's divisions, Humanly Possible--brimming with ideas, experiments in living, and respect for the deepest ethical values--serves as a recentering, a call to care for one another, and a reminder that we are all, together, only human.
Knowing What We Know by
"A delightful compendium of the kind of facts you immediately want to share with anyone you encounter . . . . Simon Winchester has firmly earned his place in history . . . as a promulgator of knowledge of every variety, perhaps the last of the famous explorers who crisscrossed the now-vanished British Empire and reported what they found to an astonished world." -- New York Times From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes--this is award winning writer Simon Winchester's brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds. With the advent of the internet, any topic we want to know about is instantly available with the touch of a smartphone button. With so much knowledge at our fingertips, what is there left for our brains to do? At a time when we seem to be stripping all value from the idea of knowing things--no need for math, no need for map-reading, no need for memorization--are we risking our ability to think? As we empty our minds, will we one day be incapable of thoughtfulness? Addressing these questions, Simon Winchester explores how humans have attained, stored, and disseminated knowledge. Examining such disciplines as education, journalism, encyclopedia creation, museum curation, photography, and broadcasting, he looks at a whole range of knowledge diffusion--from the cuneiform writings of Babylon to the machine-made genius of artificial intelligence, by way of Gutenberg, Google, and Wikipedia to the huge Victorian assemblage of the Mundanaeum, the collection of everything ever known, currently stored in a damp basement in northern Belgium. Studded with strange and fascinating details, Knowing What We Know is a deep dive into learning and the human mind. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom? Does Rene Descartes's Cogito, ergo sum--"I think therefore I am," the foundation for human knowledge widely accepted since the Enlightenment--still hold? And what will the world be like if no one in it is wise?
Kokoro by
Kokoro, meaning 'heart', is a tantalising novel about the friendship between a young man and an enigmatic elder whom he calls Sensei. Set in the early twentieth century, when the death of the emperor Meiji gave way to a new era in Japanese politicial and cultural life, the novel enacts the transition from one generation to the next in the dynamic between Sensei, who is haunted by mysterious events in his past, and the unnamed young man, one of the new generation's elite who will inherit the coming era.
Lady Tan's Circle of Women by
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The latest historical novel from New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, inspired by the true story of a woman physician from 15th-century China--perfect for fans of See's classic Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and The Island of Sea Women. According to Confucius, "an educated woman is a worthless woman," but Tan Yunxian--born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness--is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations--looking, listening, touching, and asking--something a man can never do with a female patient. From a young age, Yunxian learns about women's illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose--despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it--and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other's joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom. But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife--embroider bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights. How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan's Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.
Mid-Century Modern Furniture by
The ultimate collector's resource, including hundreds of pieces by both well- and lesser-known designers from around the world. From armchairs and chaises longues to cabinets and nightstands, the period between the late 1930s and early 1970s was one of the most productive, inventive and exciting eras for objects and furniture in the home. Post-war optimism combined with new manufacturing methods and material techniques to create an explosion of new design and objects of desire. The appetite for mid-century modern remains as strong as ever, both for classic designs - many still in production since they were launched - and for rare, hard-to- find or out-of-production pieces from lesser-known designers. While numerous books surveying mid-century modern style have appeared over the years, no publication has been specifically conceived for the increasing collector's market in mid-century modern design, focusing on each piece of furniture as an object of formal invention, manufacturing intelligence and material innovation. This definitive book profiles hundreds of pieces in a substantial format perfect for reference in design libraries, studios and the homes of private collectors - or as an object of design in its own right. Each item of furniture is presented in detail, illustrated in colour and profiled via in-depth descriptive texts by Dominic Bradbury. The book's substantial reference section includes essays on materials (eg, plywood) and designer profiles. Work by a host of influential talents is profiled throughout, alongside lesser-known pieces by Piet Hein, Bruno Mathsson, Lina Bo Bardi and Alexander Girard.
Miss Major Speaks by
The future of Black, queer, and trans liberation explored by a legendary transgender elder and activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy is a veteran of the infamous Stonewall Riots, a former sex worker, and a transgender elder and activist who has survived Bellevue psychiatric hospital, Attica Prison, the HIV/AIDS crisis and a world that white supremacy has built. She has shared tips with other sex workers in the nascent drag ball scene of the late 1960s, and helped found one of America's first needle exchange clinics from the back of her van. Miss Major Speaks is both document of her brilliant life-told with intimacy, warmth and an undeniable levity-and a roadmap for the challenges black, brown, queer and trans youth will face on the path to liberation today. Her incredible story of a life lived and a world survived becomes a conduit for larger questions about the riddle of collective liberation. For a younger generation, she warns about the traps of 'representation,' the politics of 'self-care,' and the frequent dead-ends of non-profit organizing; for all of us, she is a strike against those who would erase these histories of struggle. Miss Major offers something that cannot be found elsewhere: an affirmation that our vision for freedom can and must be more expansive than those on offer by mainstream institutions.
Nudge by
*Once again a New York Times bestseller! First the original edition, and now the new Final Edition* An essential new edition―revised and updated from cover to cover―of one of the most important books of the last two decades, by Nobel Prize winner Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein More than 2 million copies sold Since the original publication of Nudge more than a decade ago, the title has entered the vocabulary of businesspeople, policy makers, engaged citizens, and consumers everywhere. The book has given rise to more than 400 "nudge units" in governments around the world and countless groups of behavioral scientists in every part of the economy. It has taught us how to use thoughtful "choice architecture"--a concept the authors invented--to help us make better decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society. Now, the authors have rewritten the book from cover to cover, making use of their experiences in and out of government over the past dozen years as well as an explosion of new research in numerous academic disciplines. To commit themselves to never undertaking this daunting task again, they are calling this the "final edition." It offers a wealth of new insights, for both its avowed fans and newcomers to the field, about a wide variety of issues that we face in our daily lives--COVID-19, health, personal finance, retirement savings, credit card debt, home mortgages, medical care, organ donation, climate change, and "sludge" (paperwork and other nuisances we don't want, and that keep us from getting what we do want)--all while honoring one of the cardinal rules of nudging: make it fun!
Quietly Hostile by
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A hilarious new essay collection from Samantha Irby "engages readers with her characteristic combination of laugh-out-loud moments, heartfelt passages and plenty of awkward experiences.... Quietly Hostile will delight established fans and newcomers alike (Parade). "Brilliant and one of the funniest people I've ever read." --Roxane Gay * "The king of sparkling misanthropy and tender, loving dread." --Jia Tolentino Samantha Irby's career has taken her to new heights. She dodges calls from Hollywood and flop sweats on the red carpet at premieres (well, one premiere). But nothing is ever as it seems online, where she can crop out all the ugly parts. Irby got a lot of weird emails about Carrie Bradshaw, and not only is there diarrhea to avoid, but now--anaphylactic shock. She is turned away from restaurants for being inappropriately dressed and looks for the best ways to cope, i.e., reveling in the offerings of QVC and adopting a deranged pandemic dog. Quietly Hostile makes light as Irby takes us on another outrageously funny tour of all the gory details that make up the true portrait of a life behind the screenshotted depression memes. Relatable, poignant, and uproarious, once again, Irby is the tonic we all need to get by. A BEST BOOK from Vogue, Esquire, PopSugar, Glamour, The Skimm, and more
Resisting AI by
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere, yet it causes damage to society in ways that can't be fixed. Instead of helping to address our current crises, AI causes divisions that limit people's life chances, and even suggests fascistic solutions to social problems. This book provides an analysis of AI's deep learning technology and its political effects and traces the ways that it resonates with contemporary political and social currents, from global austerity to the rise of the far right.Dan McQuillan calls for us to resist AI as we know it and restructure it by prioritising the common good over algorithmic optimisation. He sets out an anti-fascist approach to AI that replaces exclusions with caring, proposes people's councils as a way to restructure AI through mutual aid and outlines new mechanisms that would adapt to changing times by supporting collective freedom.Academically rigorous, yet accessible to a socially engaged readership, this unique book will be of interest to all who wish to challenge the social logic of AI by reasserting the importance of the common good.
Rest + Calm by
The nurturing, practical guide to finding rest and calm - even when it feels impossible 'The ideal gift to yourself - or for anyone who needs to feel less stressed.' - Viv Groskop 'A gem of a book' - Bo Forbes Here's a radical idea: You deserve rest. Packed with advice, exercises and support from one of the UK's leading restorative yoga teachers, Rest + Calm is your gentle, wise guide to making space and time to come back home to yourself. Do you find it hard to give yourself permission to pause? This book will show you how - whether you only have time for three breaths or a five minute rescue posture, or can practise for half an hour. You'll reap the rewards in sounder sleep, happier relationships, better boundaries and improved resilience. The first part of the book, REST, offers simple, profound, nourishing restorative yoga poses and sequences. The second part, CALM, gives practical tips and techniques for intentional living day-to-day, and emotional rescue for when it feels like you have no time. From the most restorative savasana you've ever experienced, to the benefits of a Switch-Off Sunday, there is something here for even the busiest and most stressed amongst us, and for all levels of yoga ability. Think of this book as your 'rest toolkit', to dip into whenever you need it. Rest + Calm is designed to be the comforting friend - and the supportive hug - we all need.
Ring by
The Inspiration for the New Major Motion Picture RINGS A mysterious videotape warns that the viewer will die in one week unless a certain, unspecified act is performed. Exactly one week after watching the tape, four teenagers die one after another of heart failure. Asakawa, a hardworking journalist, is intrigued by his niece's inexplicable death. His investigation leads him from a metropolitan tokyo teeming with modern society's fears to a rural Japan--a mountain resort, a volcanic island, and a countryside clinic--haunted by the past. His attempt to solve the tape's mystery before it's too late--for everyone--assumes an increasingly deadly urgency. Ring is a chillingly told horror story, a masterfully suspenseful mystery, and post-modern trip. The success of Koji Suzuki's novel the Ring has lead to manga, television and film adaptations in Japan, Korea, and the U.S.
Smart Brevity by
Brevity is confidence. Length is fear. This is the guiding principle of Smart Brevity, a communication formula built by Axios journalists to prioritize essential news and information, explain its impact and deliver it in a concise and visual format. Now, the co-founders of Axios have created an essential guide for communicating effectively and efficiently using Smart Brevity--think Strunk and White's Elements of Style for the digital age. In SMART BREVITY: The Power of Saying More with Less, Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz teach readers how to say more with less in virtually any format. They also share communications lessons learned from their decades of experience in media, business and communications.
Spiral by
Dr. Ando who has yet to recover from his son's death at sea, conducts an autopsy on an old friend who has died under unusual circumstances. The corpse, that of cynical philosophy professor Ryuji Takayama, has something to tell him. And Ryuji isn't the only one who chooses to make a reappearance in this story. You don't know what the RING is yet. The terms of the curse of the videotape undergo a jaw-dropping reconfiguration in this novel, the horror master's stunning reinvention of his own bestselling tale. Spiral is written as a stand-alone work; for Rinbg fans, its' a sequel that redefines the word.
Taiko by
In the tempestuous closing decades of the sixteenth century, the Empire of Japan writhes in chaos as the shogunate crumbles and rival warlords battle for supremacy. Warrior monks in their armed citadels block the road to the capital; castles are destroyed, villages plundered, fields put to the torch. Amid this devastation, three men dream of uniting the nation. At one extreme is the charismatic but brutal Nobunaga, whose ruthless ambition crushes all before him. At the opposite pole is the cold, deliberate Ieyasu, wise in counsel, brave in battle, mature beyond his years. But the keystone of this triumvirate is the most memorable of all, Hideyoshi, who rises from the menial post of sandal bearer to become Taiko--absolute ruler of Japan in the Emperor's name. When Nobunaga emerges from obscurity by destroying an army ten times the size of his own, he allies himself with Ieyasu, whose province is weak, but whose canniness and loyalty make him invaluable. Yet it is the scrawny, monkey-faced Hideyoshi--brash, impulsive, and utterly fearless--who becomes the unlikely savior of this ravaged land. Born the son of a farmer, he takes on the world with nothing but his bare hands and his wits, turning doubters into loyal servants, rivals into faithful friends, and enemies into allies. In all this he uses a piercing insight into human nature that unlocks castle gates, opens men's minds, and captures women's hearts. For Hideyoshi's passions are not limited to war and intrigue-his faithful wife, Nene, holds his love dear, even when she must share it; the chaste Oyu, sister of Hideyoshi's chief strategist, falls prey to his desires; and the seductive Chacha, whom he rescues from the fiery destruction of her father's castle, tempts his weakness. As recounted by Eiji Yoshikawa, author of the international best-seller Musashi, Taiko tells many stories- of the fury of Nobunaga and the fatal arrogance of the black-toothed Yoshimoto; of the pathetic downfall of the House of Takeda; how the scorned Mitsuhide betrayed his master; how once impregnable ramparts fell as their defenders died gloriously. Most of all, though, Taiko is the story of how one man transformed a nation through the force of his will and the depth of his humanity. Filled with scenes of pageantry and violence, acts of treachery and self-sacrifice, tenderness and savagery, Taiko combines the panoramic spectacle of a Kurosawa epic with a vivid evocation of feudal Japan.
The Artist in the Counterculture by
How California's counterculture of the 1960s to 1980s profoundly shaped--and was shaped by--West Coast artists The 1960s exert a special fascination in modern art. But most accounts miss the defining impact of the period's youth culture, largely incubated in California, on artists who came of age in that decade. As their prime exemplar, Bruce Conner, reminisced, "I did everything that everybody did in 1967 in the Haight-Ashbury. . . . I would take peyote and walk out in the streets." And he vividly channeled those experiences into his art, while making his mark on every facet of the psychedelic movement--from the mountains of Mexico with Timothy Leary to the rock ballrooms of San Francisco to the gilded excesses of the New Hollywood. In The Artist in the Counterculture, Thomas Crow tells the story of California art from the 1960s to the 1980s--some of the strongest being made anywhere at the time--and why it cannot be understood apart from the new possibilities of thinking and feeling unleashed by the rebels of the counterculture. Crow reevaluates Conner and other key figures--from Catholic activist Corita Kent to Black Panther Emory Douglas to ecological witness Bonnie Ora Sherk--as part of a generational cohort galvanized by resistance to war, racial oppression, and environmental degradation. Younger practitioners of performance and installation carried the mindset of rebellion into the 1970s and 1980s, as previously excluded artists of color moved to the forefront in Los Angeles. Mike Kelley, their contemporary, remained unwaveringly true to the late countercultural flowering he had witnessed at the dawn of his career. The result is a major new account of the counterculture's enduring influence on modern art.
The Associated Press Stylebook by
Master the style guidelines of news writing, editing, and common usage with this indispensable guide perfect for students and professional writers everywhere. The style of The Associated Press is the gold standard for news writing. With the AP Stylebook in hand, you can learn how to write and edit with the clarity and professionalism for which their writers and editors are famous. The AP Stylebook will help you master the AP's rules on grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation, word and numeral usage, and when to use "more than" instead of "over." To make navigating these specialty chapters even easier, the Stylebook includes a comprehensive index. Fully revised and updated to keep pace with world events, common usage, and AP procedures, the AP Stylebook is the one reference that all writers, editors and students cannot afford to be without. This edition contains more than 300 new and revised entries, including: - A new chapter on inclusive storytelling: its importance and how to achieve it. - Detailed guidance on writing about people with disabilities and disabled people. - Many updates on immigration, the coronavirus, gender and race-related coverage, including the capitalization of Black and expanded use of singular they. - A revised chapter on religion, with guidance on when Catholic rather than Roman Catholic should be used on first reference. - A thoroughly updated chapter on using social media for reporting.
The Big Myth by
"A carefully researched work of intellectual history, and an urgently needed political analysis." --Jane Mayer "[A] scorching indictment of free market fundamentalism ... and how we can change, before it's too late."-Esquire, Best Books of Winter 2023 The bestselling authors of Merchants of Doubt offer a profound, startling history of one of America's most tenacious--and destructive--false ideas: the myth of the "free market." In their bestselling book Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway revealed the origins of climate change denial. Now, they unfold the truth about another disastrous dogma: the "magic of the marketplace." In the early 20th century, business elites, trade associations, wealthy powerbrokers, and media allies set out to build a new American orthodoxy: down with "big government" and up with unfettered markets. With startling archival evidence, Oreskes and Conway document campaigns to rewrite textbooks, combat unions, and defend child labor. They detail the ploys that turned hardline economists Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Friedman into household names; recount the libertarian roots of the Little House on the Prairie books; and tune into the General Electric-sponsored TV show that beamed free-market doctrine to millions and launched Ronald Reagan's political career. By the 1970s, this propaganda was succeeding. Free market ideology would define the next half-century across Republican and Democratic administrations, giving us a housing crisis, the opioid scourge, climate destruction, and a baleful response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Only by understanding this history can we imagine a future where markets will serve, not stifle, democracy.
The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy by
A new and unique framework for understanding the history of the foreign policy of the United States.The United States is now nearly 250 years old. It arose from humble beginnings, as a strip of mostly agrarian and sparsely populated English colonies on the northeastern edge of the New World, far removed from the centers of power in Europe. Today, it is the world's most powerful country, with itslargest economy and most powerful military. How did America achieve this status?In The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy, Michael Mandelbaum offers a new framework for understanding the evolution of the foreign policy of the United States. He divides that evolution into four distinct periods, with each defined by the consistent increase in American power relative to othercountries. His history of the four periods features engaging accounts of the major events and important personalities in the foreign policy of each era. Throughout, Mandelbaum highlights fundamental continuities in the goals of American foreign policy and in the way that policy was adopted andimplemented. He portrays the United States, in its ascent, first as a weak power, from 1765 to 1865, then as a great power between 1865 and 1945, next as a superpower in the years 1945 to 1990, and finally as the world's sole hyperpower, from 1990 to 2015. He also presents three features ofAmerican foreign policy that are found in every era: first, the goal of disseminating the political ideas Americans have embraced from the first; second, the use of economic instruments in pursuit of the country's foreign policy goals; and third, a process for formulating policy and implementingdecisions shaped by considerable popular influence. American foreign policy, as he puts it, has been unusually ideological, unusually economic, and unusually democratic.A sweeping and elegantly written history, The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy will reshape our understanding of how the United States became the most powerful nation the world has ever seen.
The Impossible City by
A boldly rendered-and deeply intimate-account of Hong Kong today, from a resilient young woman whose stories explore what it means to survive in a city teeming with broken promises. " A pulsing debut . . . about what it means to find your place in a city as it vanishes before your eyes."-The New York Times Book Review ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR- The Washington Post Hong Kong is known as a place of extremes- a former colony of the United Kingdom that now exists at the margins of an ascendant China; a city rocked by mass protests, where residents rally-often in vain-against threats to their fundamental freedoms. But it is also misunderstood, and often romanticized. Drawing from her own experience reporting on the politics and culture of her hometown, as well as interviews with musicians, protesters, and writers who have watched their home transform, Karen Cheung gives us a rare insider's view of this remarkable city at a pivotal moment-for Hong Kong and, ultimately, for herself. Born just before the handover to China in 1997, Cheung grew up questioning what version of Hong Kong she belonged to. Not quite at ease within the middle-class, cosmopolitan identity available to her at her English-speaking international school, she also resisted the conservative values of her deeply traditional, often dysfunctional family. Through vivid and character-rich stories, Cheung braids a dual narrative of her own coming of age alongside that of her generation. With heartbreaking candor, she recounts her yearslong struggle to find reliable mental health care in a city reeling from the traumatic aftermath of recent protests. Cheung also captures moments of miraculous triumph, documenting Hong Kong's vibrant counterculture and taking us deep into its indie music and creative scenes. Inevitably, she brings us to the protests, where her understanding of what it means to belong to Hong Kong finally crystallized. An exhilarating blend of memoir and reportage, The Impossible City charts the parallel journeys of both a young woman and a city as they navigate the various, sometimes contradictory paths of coming into one's own. LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL
The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * From the legendary actor and best-selling author: a novel about the making of a star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film...and the humble comic books that inspired it. Funny, touching, and wonderfully thought-provoking, while also capturing the changes in America and American culture since World War II. "Wild, ambitious and exceptionally enjoyable." --Matt Haig, best-selling author The Midnight Library, The Humans and Reasons to Stay Alive Part One of this story takes place in 1947. A troubled soldier, returning from the war, meets his talented five-year-old nephew, leaves an indelible impression, and then disappears for twenty-three years. Cut to 1970: The nephew, now drawing underground comic books in Oakland, California, reconnects with his uncle and, remembering the comic book he saw when he was five, draws a new version with his uncle as a World War II fighting hero. Cut to the present day: A commercially successful director discovers the 1970 comic book and decides to turn it into a contemporary superhero movie. Cue the cast: We meet the film's extremely difficult male star, his wonderful leading lady, the eccentric writer/director, the producer, the gofer production assistant, and everyone else on both sides of the camera. Bonus material: Interspersed throughout are three comic books that are featured in the story--all created by Tom Hanks himself--including the comic book that becomes the official tie-in to this novel's "major motion picture masterpiece."
The Pillow Book by
A new translation of the idiosyncratic diary of a C10 court lady in Heian Japan. Along with the TALE OF GENJI, this is one of the major Japanese Classics.
The Seven Ways of Ayurveda by
A guide to the Ayurvedic personality types, or doshas, with psychology-based advice on cultivating balance, from the author of The Ayurvedic Self-Care Handbook At the core of Ayurveda is an understanding that we are all made of the same materials--the five elements of ether (space), air, fire, water, and earth--and how you look, think, and feel can be traced back to your unique proportion of these elements at any given time. This is your dosha, the true essence of who you are. Knowing your dosha is the key to deeper self-knowledge, easier relationships, and a happier future. In The Seven Ways of Ayurveda, you'll discover which type fits you best. Vata: creator, multitasker, artist Pitta: perfectionist, challenger, leader Kapha: peacemaker, nurturer, lover Vata-Pitta: performer, innovator, first responder Pitta-Kapha: guardian, moralist, observer Vata-Kapha: dreamer, supporter, conversationalist Tri-Dosha: proficient in all trades, well-rounded Then, you'll identify your innate strengths (and their "shadow sides"); whether you're out of balance (and what to do); how your unique type approaches work, love, travel, and more; and how to forge true, mutual understanding with friends and loved ones whose doshas may differ. When you know yourself better, you can take better care of yourself--and others, too.
The Shadow Docket by
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* An acclaimed legal scholar's "essential" (Linda Greenhouse) exposé of the Supreme Court's increasing use of unsigned, unexplained orders to change the law--all behind closed doors The Supreme Court has always had the authority to issue emergency rulings in exceptional circumstances. But since 2017, the Court has dramatically expanded its use of the behind-the-scenes "shadow docket," regularly making decisions that affect millions of Americans without public hearings and without explanation, through cryptic late-night rulings that leave lawyers--and citizens--scrambling. The Court's conservative majority has used the shadow docket to green-light restrictive voting laws and bans on abortion, and to curtail immigration and COVID vaccine mandates. But Americans of all political stripes should be worried about what the shadow docket portends for the rule of law, argues Supreme Court expert Stephen Vladeck. In this rigorous yet accessible book, he issues an urgent call to bring the Court back into the light.
The Supermajority by
An incisive analysis of how the Supreme Court's new conservative supermajority is overturning decades of law and leading the country in a dangerous political direction. In The Supermajority, Michael Waldman explores the tumultuous 2021-2022 Supreme Court term. He draws deeply on history to examine other times the Court veered from the popular will, provoking controversy and backlash. And he analyzes the most important new rulings and their implications for the law and for American society. Waldman asks: What can we do when the Supreme Court challenges the country? Over three days in June 2022, the conservative supermajority overturned the constitutional right to abortion, possibly opening the door to reconsider other major privacy rights, as Justice Clarence Thomas urged. The Court sharply limited the authority of the EPA, reducing the prospects for combatting climate change. It radically loosened curbs on guns amid an epidemic of mass shootings. It fully embraced legal theories such as "originalism" that will affect thousands of cases throughout the country. These major decisions--and the next wave to come--will have enormous ramifications for every American. It was the most turbulent term in memory--with the leak of the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, the first Black woman justice sworn in, and the justices turning on each other in public, Waldman previews the 2022-2023 term and how the brewing fights over the Supreme Court and its role that already have begun to reshape politics. The Supermajority is a revelatory examination of the Supreme Court at a time when its dysfunction--and the demand for reform--are at the center of public debate.
The Tragic Mind by
A moving meditation on recent geopolitical crises, viewed through the lens of ancient and modern tragedy "Spare, elegant and poignant. . . . If there is a single contemporary book that should be pressed into the hands of those who decide issues of war and peace, this is it."--John Gray, New Statesman "It is tragic that Robert D. Kaplan's luminous The Tragic Mind is so urgently needed."--George F. Will Some books emerge from a lifetime of hard-won knowledge. Robert D. Kaplan has learned, from a career spent reporting on wars, revolutions, and international politics in Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia, that the essence of geopolitics is tragedy. In The Tragic Mind, he employs the works of ancient Greek dramatists, Shakespeare, German philosophers, and the modern classics to explore the central subjects of international politics: order, disorder, rebellion, ambition, loyalty to family and state, violence, and the mistakes of power. The great dilemmas of international politics, he argues, are not posed by good versus evil--a clear and easy choice--but by contests of good versus good, where the choices are often searing, incompatible, and fraught with consequences. A deeply learned and deeply felt meditation on the importance of lived experience in conducting international relations, this is a book for everyone who wants a profound understanding of the tragic politics of our time.
The Undertow by
An unmatched guide to the religious dimensions of American politics, Jeff Sharlet journeys into corners of our national psyche where others fear to tread. The Undertow is both inquiry and meditation, an attempt to understand how, over the last decade, reaction has morphed into delusion, social division into distrust, distrust into paranoia, and hatred into fantasies--sometimes realities--of violence. Across the country, men "of God" glorify materialism, a gluttony of the soul, while citing Scripture and preparing for civil war--a firestorm they long for as an absolution and exaltation. Lies, greed, and glorification of war boom through microphones at hipster megachurches that once upon a time might have preached peace and understanding. Political rallies are as aflame with need and giddy expectation as religious revivals. At a conference for incels, lonely single men come together to rage against women. On the Far Right, everything is heightened--love into adulation, fear into vengeance, anger into white-hot rage. Here, in the undertow, our forty-fifth president, a vessel of conspiratorial fears and fantasies, continues to rise to sainthood, and the insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt, killed on January 6 at the Capitol, is beatified as a martyr of white womanhood. Framing this dangerous vision, Sharlet remembers and celebrates the courage of those who sing a different song of community, and of an America long dreamt of and yet to be fully born, dedicated to justice and freedom for all. Exploring a geography of grief and uncertainty in the midst of plague and rising fascism, The Undertow is a necessary reckoning with our precarious present that brings to light a decade of American failures as well as a vision for American possibility.
The Woman in the Purple Skirt by
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR · Marie Claire "A taut and compelling depiction of loneliness and obsession." --Paula Hawkins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Girl on the Train "[It] will keep you firmly in its grip." --Oyinkan Braithwaite, bestselling author of My Sister, the Serial Killer "The love child of Eugene Ionesco and Patricia Highsmith." --Kelly Link, bestselling author of Get in Trouble A bestselling, prizewinning novel by one of Japan's most acclaimed young writers, for fans of Convenience Store Woman, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, and the movies Parasite and Rear Window I think what I'm trying to say is that I've been wanting to become friends with the Woman in the Purple Skirt for a very long time... Almost every afternoon, the Woman in the Purple Skirt sits on the same park bench, where she eats a cream bun while the local children make a game of trying to get her attention. Unbeknownst to her, she is being watched--by the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan, who is always perched just out of sight, monitoring which buses she takes, what she eats, whom she speaks to. From a distance, the Woman in the Purple Skirt looks like a schoolgirl, but there are age spots on her face, and her hair is dry and stiff. She is single, she lives in a small apartment, and she is short on money--just like the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan, who lures her to a job as a housekeeper at a hotel, where she too is a housekeeper. Soon, the Woman in the Purple Skirt is having an affair with the boss and all eyes are on her. But no one knows or cares about the Woman in the Yellow Cardigan. That's the difference between her and the Woman in the Purple Skirt. Studiously deadpan and chillingly voyeuristic, and with the off-kilter appeal of the novels of Ottessa Moshfegh, The Woman in the Purple Skirt explores envy, loneliness, power dynamics, and the vulnerability of unmarried women in a taut, suspenseful narrative about the sometimes desperate desire to be seen.
Thinning Blood by
Leah Myers may be the last member of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe in her family line, due to her tribe's strict blood quantum laws. In this unflinching and intimate memoir, Myers, determined to leave a record of her family history, excavates the stories of four generations of women. Beginning with her great-grandmother, the last full-blooded Native member in their lineage, she connects each woman with her totem to construct her family's totem pole: protective Bear, defiant Salmon, compassionate Hummingbird, and perched on top, Raven. As she pieces together their stories, Myers weaves in tribal folktales, the history of the Native genocide, and the larger story of how, as she puts it, her "culture is being bleached out," offering sharp vignettes of her own life between White and Native worlds. Crisp and powerful,Thinning Blood is a bold reclamation of one woman's identity that raises urgent questions about heritage, family, and what it means to belong.
Tokyo Ueno Station (National Book Award Winner) by
WINNER OF THE 2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN TRANSLATED LITERATURE A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A surreal, devastating story of a homeless ghost who haunts one of Tokyo's busiest train stations. Kazu is dead. Born in Fukushima in 1933, the same year as the Japanese Emperor, his life is tied by a series of coincidences to the Imperial family and has been shaped at every turn by modern Japanese history. But his life story is also marked by bad luck, and now, in death, he is unable to rest, doomed to haunt the park near Ueno Station in Tokyo. Kazu's life in the city began and ended in that park; he arrived there to work as a laborer in the preparations for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and ended his days living in the vast homeless village in the park, traumatized by the destruction of the 2011 tsunami and shattered by the announcement of the 2020 Olympics. Through Kazu's eyes, we see daily life in Tokyo buzz around him and learn the intimate details of his personal story, how loss and society's inequalities and constrictions spiraled towards this ghostly fate, with moments of beauty and grace just out of reach. A powerful masterwork from one of Japan's most brilliant outsider writers, Tokyo Ueno Station is a book for our times and a look into a marginalized existence in a shiny global megapolis.
True West by
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE . A revelatory biography of the world-famous playwright and actor Sam Shepard, whose work was matched by his equally dramatic life, including collaborations with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan as well as tumultuous relationships with Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, and Jessica Lange "What True West achieves in its finest pages is placing the artist in his time. . . . I was filled with excitement, envy and reverence for the New York City that embraced the young Shepard in the 1960s and early '70s."-Ethan Hawke, The Washington Post True West- Sam Shepard's Life, Work, and Times is the story of an American icon, a lasting portrait of Sam Shepard as he really was, revealed by those who knew him best. This sweeping biography charts Shepard's long and complicated journey from a small town in Southern California to become an internationally known playwright and movie star. The only son of an alcoholic father, Shepard crafted a public persona as an authentic American archetype- the loner, the cowboy, the drifter, the stranger in a strange land. Despite his great critical and financial success, he seemed, like so many of his characters, to remain perpetually dispossessed. Much like Robert Greenfield's biographies of Jerry Garcia and Timothy Leary, this book delves deeply into Shepard's life as well as the ways in which his work illuminates it. True West takes readers through the world of downtown theater in Lower Manhattan in the early sixties; the jazz scene at New York's Village Gate; fringe theater in London in the seventies; Bob Dylan's legendary Rolling Thunder tour; the making of classic films like Zabriskie Point, Days of Heaven, and The Right Stuff; and Broadway productions of Buried Child, True West, and Fool for Love. For this definitive biography, Greenfield interviewed dozens of people who knew Shepard well, many of whom had never before spoken on the record about him. While exploring his relationships with Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Jessica Lange across the long arc of his brilliant career, Greenfield makes the case for Shepard as not just a great American writer but a unique figure who first brought the sensibility of rock 'n' roll to theater.
Yoga for the Inflexible Male by
Practical, down-to-earth advice on yoga for men, weekend warriors, aging athletes, and anyone else who could benefit from a bit more flexibility. "An excellent introduction . . . fun and humorous . . . This book will help make yoga less intimidating, and it's a great way to inspire the men you care about."-Namaste Nourished Thirty-six million Americans practice yoga for its touted benefits- serenity, flexibility, strength, endurance, and reduced stress. Would you like to join them? If so, this simple guide is for you. Yoga for the Inflexible Malefeatures three yoga practices, each about an hour long and containing around fifteen poses, with most poses having a Good, Not-So-Bad, or Ugly variation so that almost anyone can participate (no XY chromosome, prior experience, or athletic ability necessary). There are breathing tips and easy-to-follow drawings for every pose, and the book is full of genuine yoga wisdom and jokes to make the yoga part go down easy. There are special sequences geared for practitioners of specific sports, such as running, cycling, and golf, and suggestions for props that can be found in any house-so no extra gear to buy. This book is perfect if you are looking to attain the wellness benefits of yoga in the comfort of your home and without judgement. Bonus- This edition includes access to a free restorative practice PDF. See "Yoga Matt's Final Roll-up" inside!