Benjamin's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 18 Nov 2024 18:52:11 -0800 60 Benjamin's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg When Breath Becomes Air 25899336
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naïve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.]]> 208 Paul Kalanithi 0812988418 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.41 2016 When Breath Becomes Air
author: Paul Kalanithi
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/18
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]]> First Lie Wins 164444179 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593492918.

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .]]> 340 Ashley Elston Benjamin 5 holy crap. 3.97 2024 First Lie Wins
author: Ashley Elston
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 5
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holy crap.
]]> Hello Beautiful 61771675
But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters� unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?]]> 416 Ann Napolitano Benjamin 4 fic, emotional 4.14 2023 Hello Beautiful
author: Ann Napolitano
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/28
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves: fic, emotional
review:

]]> Yellowface 62047984
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]> 319 R.F. Kuang 000853277X Benjamin 2 3.69 2023 Yellowface
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2024/01/01
date added: 2024/11/08
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Me when I read about a white author stealing from her Asian ‘best friend� author and thinking she’s doing good work
]]> <![CDATA[Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?]]> 6452731
Affirmative action, same-sex marriage, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, national service, the moral limits of markets―Sandel relates the big questions of political philosophy to the most vexing issues of the day, and shows how a surer grasp of philosophy can help us make sense of politics, morality, and our own convictions as well.

Justice is lively, thought-provoking, and wise―an essential new addition to the small shelf of books that speak convincingly to the hard questions of our civic life.]]> 308 Michael J. Sandel 0374180652 Benjamin 0 currently-reading 4.30 2007 Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
author: Michael J. Sandel
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/10/08
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[They Both Die at the End (Death-Cast, #1)]]> 33385229
Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

Adam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable day.]]> 389 Adam Silvera 0062457799 Benjamin 0 to-read 3.76 2017 They Both Die at the End (Death-Cast, #1)
author: Adam Silvera
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/07/31
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]]> Death Wind (Orca Soundings) 588325
Also available in Spanish.]]> 128 William Bell 1551432153 Benjamin 1 Low vocab fast track book 3.56 2002 Death Wind (Orca Soundings)
author: William Bell
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2002
rating: 1
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date added: 2023/05/26
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Low vocab fast track book
]]> <![CDATA[Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease―and How to Fight It]]> 49207255 A scientist reveals the groundbreaking evidence linking many major diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease, to a common root cause—insulin resistance—and shares an easy, effective plan to reverse and prevent it. We are sick. Around the world, we struggle with diseases that were once considered rare. Cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, and diabetes affect millions each year; many people are also struggling with hypertension, weight gain, fatty liver, dementia, low testosterone, menstrual irregularities and infertility, and more. We treat the symptoms, not realizing that all of these diseases and disorders have something in common. Each of them is caused or made worse by a condition known as insulin resistance. And you might have it. Odds are you do—over half of all adults in the United States are insulin resistant, with most other countries either worse or not far behind. In Why We Get Sick, internationally renowned scientist and pathophysiology professor Benjamin Bikmanexplores why insulin resistance has become so prevalent and why it matters. Unless we recognize it and take steps to reverse the trend, major chronic diseases will be even more widespread. But reversing insulin resistance is possible, and Bikman offers an evidence-based plan to stop and prevent it, with helpful food lists, meal suggestions, easy exercise principles, and more. Full of surprising research and practical advice, Why We Get Sick will help you to take control of your health.]]> 280 Benjamin Bikman 1950665178 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.11 2020 Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease―and How to Fight It
author: Benjamin Bikman
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/04/20
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]]> The Fifth Vital 53340622 308 Mike Majlak Benjamin 0 to-read 4.30 The Fifth Vital
author: Mike Majlak
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/26
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]]> Firekeeper’s Daughter 52346471
After Daunis witnesses a shocking murder that thrusts her into a criminal investigation, she agrees to go undercover. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home. How far will she go to protect her community if it means tearing apart the only world she’s ever known?]]> 496 Angeline Boulley Benjamin 0 currently-reading 4.32 2021 Firekeeper’s Daughter
author: Angeline Boulley
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/10
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> Jews Don't Count 52710961 Jews Don’t Count is a book for people on the right side of history. People fighting the good fight against homophobia, disablism, transphobia and, particularly, racism. People, possibly, like you.

It is the comedian and writer David Baddiel’s contention that one type of racism has been left out of this fight. In his unique combination of reasoning, polemic, personal experience and jokes, Baddiel argues that those who think of themselves as on the right side of history have often ignored the history of anti-Semitism. He outlines why and how, in a time of intensely heightened awareness of minorities, Jews don’t count as a real minority.]]> 144 David Baddiel 0008399476 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.17 2021 Jews Don't Count
author: David Baddiel
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/10
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]]> The Warsaw Orphan 55004514
Using Sara's credentials to smuggle children out of the ghetto brings Elzbieta face-to-face with the reality of the war behind its walls, and to the plight of the Gorka family, who must make the impossible decision to give up their newborn daughter or watch her starve. For Roman Gorka, this final injustice stirs him to rebellion with a zeal not even his newfound love for Elzbieta can suppress. But his recklessness brings unwanted attention to Sara's cause, unwittingly putting Elzbieta and her family in harm's way until one violent act threatens to destroy their chance at freedom forever.

From Nazi occupation to the threat of a communist regime, The Warsaw Orphan is the unforgettable story of Elzbieta and Roman's perilous attempt to reclaim the love and life they once knew.]]> 416 Kelly Rimmer 1525895990 Benjamin 5 4.34 2021 The Warsaw Orphan
author: Kelly Rimmer
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/08
date added: 2023/02/08
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I read this book on and off but it was great. The historical fiction aspect about the book really demonstrates how cruel the Holocaust was. The character development was
]]> <![CDATA[The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)]]> 20518872 472 Liu Cixin Benjamin 0 to-read 4.08 2006 The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)
author: Liu Cixin
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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]]> 400 Kilometres 505614 400 Kilometres is the third play in Drew Hayden Taylor’s hilarious and heart-wrenching identity-politics trilogy. Janice Wirth, a thirty-something urban professional, having discovered her roots as the Ojibway orphan Grace Wabung in Someday, and having visited her birth family on the Otter Lake Reserve in Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth, is pregnant, and must now come to grips with the question of her “true identity.� Her adoptive parents have just retired, and are about to sell their house to embark on a quest for their own identity by “returning� to England. Meanwhile, the Native father of her child-to-be is attempting to convince Janice/Grace that their new generation’s future lies with their “own people� at Otter Lake.

Which path for the future is Janice/Grace to choose, for herself, her families and her child, having spent a lifetime caught between the questions of “what I am� and “who I am�?

Cast of 3 women and 2 men.]]> 128 Drew Hayden Taylor 0889225176 Benjamin 0 to-read 3.74 2005 400 Kilometres
author: Drew Hayden Taylor
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> Keeper'n Me 590560
Having skirted the urban underbelly once too often by age 20, he finds himself thrown in jail. While there, he gets a surprise letter from his long-forgotten native family.

The sudden communication from his past spurs him to return to the reserve following his release from jail. Deciding to stay awhile, his life is changed completely as he comes to discover his sense of place, and of self. While on the reserve, Garnet is initiated into the ways of the Ojibway--both ancient and modern--by Keeper, a friend of his grandfather, and last fount of history about his people's ways.

By turns funny, poignant and mystical, Keeper'n Me reflects a positive view of Native life and philosophy--as well as casting fresh light on the redemptive power of one's community and traditions.]]> 224 Richard Wagamese 0385254520 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.01 1994 Keeper'n Me
author: Richard Wagamese
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/18
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]]> The Great Gatsby 4671 The only edition of the beloved classic that is authorized by Fitzgerald’s family and from his lifelong publisher.

This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author’s own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.]]> 180 F. Scott Fitzgerald 0743273567 Benjamin 0 to-read 3.93 1925 The Great Gatsby
author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1925
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/01/15
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)]]> 28187 Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here

Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse - Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena - Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.]]> 377 Rick Riordan 0786838655 Benjamin 5 4.31 2005 The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)
author: Rick Riordan
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2005
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid]]> 24113 777 Douglas R. Hofstadter 0465026567 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.29 1979 Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
author: Douglas R. Hofstadter
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1979
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/06/18
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]]> The Third Person 58772772
As the story unfolds, we discover clues to Emma’s troubled past and how and why these other two people may have come into existence. As Toby juggles treating three separate people, each with their own unique personalities and memories, he begins to wonder if Emma is merely acting out to get attention, or if she actually has Dissociative Identity Disorder. Is she just a troubled woman in need of help? And is “the third person� in her brain protecting her, or derailing her chances of ever finding peace?

The Third Person is a riveting memoir from newcomer Emma Grove. Drawn in thick, emotive lines, with the refined style of a comics vet, Grove has created a singular, gripping depiction of the intersection of identities and trauma. The Third Person is a testament to the importance of having the space to heal and live authentically.]]> 920 Emma Grove 1770466150 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.14 2022 The Third Person
author: Emma Grove
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/06/04
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]]> The Connoisseur 711065
With superb delivery and subtle clarity, Connell allows us to see and feel Muhlbach’s emerging mania, with its impending tension and sudden exhilaration. He illustrates how a new fixation alters our lens on life and shapes our actions.]]> 208 Evan S. Connell 1593760620 Benjamin 0 to-read 3.65 1974 The Connoisseur
author: Evan S. Connell
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1974
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/05/21
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]]> The Invention of Hugo Cabret 56594782 Orphan. Clock Keeper, and Thief...

HUGO lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But then his world suddenly interlocks—like the gears of the clocks he keeps—thanks to an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy in the train station, Hugo's undercover life and his most precious secret are put in jeopardy. A cryptic drawing in a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo's dead father form the backbone of this intricate, tender, and spell- binding mystery.

With 284 pages of original drawings, and combining elements of a picture book, graphic novel, and film, Brian Selznick breaks open the novel form to create an entirely new reading experience. Here is a stunning, cinematic tour de force from a boldly innovative storyteller, artist. and bookmaker.

Brian Selznick is the illustrator of various celebrated picture books and novels, among them the Caldecott Honor Book The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins and the New York Times Best Illustrated Walt Whitman: Words for America, both written by Barbara Kerley, as well s the Silbert Honor winner When Marian Sang by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Selznick has worked as bookseller, a set designer, and a puppeteer. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and San Diego, California.]]> 533 Brian Selznick 0439813786 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.39 2007 The Invention of Hugo Cabret
author: Brian Selznick
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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]]> Girl with a Pearl Earring 76847 History and fiction merge seamlessly in Tracy Chevalier's luminous novel about artistic vision and sensual awakening. Through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Griet, the world of 1660s Holland comes dazzlingly alive in this richly imagined portrait of the young woman who inspired one of Vermeer's most celebrated paintings.

]]> 233 Tracy Chevalier 0452282152 Benjamin 0 to-read 3.74 1999 Girl with a Pearl Earring
author: Tracy Chevalier
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/05/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Vinyl Cafe Unplugged (Vinyl Cafe, #3)]]> 13384 The Vinyl Café Unplugged is the third book in Stuart McLean's Vinyl Café series, and like the one before it, Home from the Vinyl Café, it won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. This collection contains 14 delightful stories, many first broadcast on CBC Radio, about an idiosyncratic family of four in Toronto. Dave and Morley, the parents, and Sam and Stephanie, the children, lead a life of endless minor mishaps and misunderstandings.

In "Odd Jobs," Dave, who owns a record store called the Vinyl Café, wants to install an outlet in his kitchen at home. Friends from the neighbourhood come over one by one to help until, by the end of the day, they have broken a window, chipped a sink, and left 15 large holes in the kitchen wall without managing to install an outlet. In "The Razor's Edge," Dave leaves for the airport at 6:15 a.m. for a 7 o'clock flight. Arriving, he enters the wrong line and then gets lost. Reaching the gate with 45 seconds to spare, he finds it deserted and soon discovers he's two hours early. When an airline staffer arrives and remarks on how early he is, he says, "I always try to be. I've never understood those people who wait until the last moment." Whether they're trying to toilet train their cat, Galway, or figure out why the air conditioning cools every room except the one they sleep in, Dave and Morley and the kids keep their endless good humour and let us in on their secret lives. --Mark Frutkin

Arthur --
Galway --
The fly --
Christmas Presents --
Harrison Ford's Toes --
Dorothy --
The last kind word blues --
The bare truth --
Susan is serious --
Odd jobs --
the razor's edge --
Morley's christmas pageant --
Figs --
Love never ends

]]> 272 Stuart McLean 0140299149 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.28 2000 Vinyl Cafe Unplugged (Vinyl Cafe, #3)
author: Stuart McLean
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/05/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)]]> 9969571 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

IN THE YEAR 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.

But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.]]> 480 Ernest Cline 030788743X Benjamin 4 4.21 2011 Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)
author: Ernest Cline
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2011
rating: 4
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]]> The Giver (The Giver, #1) 3636 208 Lois Lowry 0385732554 Benjamin 4 4.12 1993 The Giver (The Giver, #1)
author: Lois Lowry
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/05/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)]]> 6148028 Sparks are igniting.
Flames are spreading.
And the Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol—a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before . . . and surprising readers at every turn.]]> 391 Suzanne Collins 0439023491 Benjamin 5 4.34 2009 Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2009
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)]]> 7260188 My name is Katniss Everdeen.
Why am I not dead?
I should be dead.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans—except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay—no matter what the personal cost.]]> 390 Suzanne Collins 0439023513 Benjamin 4 4.10 2010 Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2010
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)]]> 2767052
Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.]]> 374 Suzanne Collins Benjamin 5 4.34 2008 The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2008
rating: 5
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]]> <![CDATA[The Only Study Guide You'll Ever Need: Simple tips, tricks and techniques to help you ace your studies and pass your exams!]]> 58211955 What happens next is a panic-induced mayhem of highlighting everything in the textbook (without even questioning if it's actually helpful). But I'm here to help you change this!

In The Only Study Guide You'll Ever Need, I'll cover a range of different topics including:

· How to get started and pick up that pen
· Learning techniques that actually work (hello, science of memory!)
· The dos and don'ts of timetabling
· And combatting fear of failure, perfectionism, exam stress and so much more!

As a fellow student now at university, I definitely don't have a PhD in Exam Etiquette but this is the book younger me needed. All I wanted was one place that had a variety of tried-and-tested methods with reassurance from someone who had recently been through the education system. The Only Study Guide You'll Ever Need is just that, and I have collected the best techniques and tools I wish I'd known earlier to help you get through your studies and smash your exams!

Jade x]]> 302 Jade Bowler 1788704207 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.15 2021 The Only Study Guide You'll Ever Need: Simple tips, tricks and techniques to help you ace your studies and pass your exams!
author: Jade Bowler
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> Upstream: Selected Essays 29358559 Upstream finds beloved poet Mary Oliver reflecting on her astonishment and admiration for the natural world and the craft of writing.

As she contemplates the pleasure of artistic labor, finding solace and safety within the woods, and the joyful and rhythmic beating of wings, Oliver intimately shares with her readers her quiet discoveries, boundless curiosity, and exuberance for the grandeur of our world.

This radiant collection of her work, with some pieces published here for the first time, reaffirms Oliver as a passionate and prolific observer whose thoughtful meditations on spiders, writing a poem, blue fin tuna, and Ralph Waldo Emerson inspire us all to discover wonder and awe in life's smallest corners.]]> 178 Mary Oliver 1594206708 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.17 2016 Upstream: Selected Essays
author: Mary Oliver
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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review:

]]> The Count of Monte Cristo 7126 The epic tale of wrongful imprisonment, adventure and revenge, in its definitive translation

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to use the treasure to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas� epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s.

Translated with an Introduction by Robin Buss

An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here]]> 1276 Alexandre Dumas 0140449264 Benjamin 0 currently-reading, fic 4.29 1846 The Count of Monte Cristo
author: Alexandre Dumas
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1846
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/02/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty]]> 43868109 The highly anticipated portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, by the prize-winning, bestselling author of Say Nothing.

The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions: Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations to the arts and sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing OxyContin, a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis.

Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.]]> 535 Patrick Radden Keefe 0385545681 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.54 2021 Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
author: Patrick Radden Keefe
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.54
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/02/11
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]]> Memoirs of a Geisha 929
In "Memoirs of a Geisha," we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction - at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful - and completely unforgettable.]]> 503 Arthur Golden 1400096898 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.31 1997 Memoirs of a Geisha
author: Arthur Golden
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa]]> 6184317
In Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa today and unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth. In fact, poverty levels continue to escalate and growth rates have steadily declined—and millions continue to suffer. Provocatively drawing a sharp contrast between African countries that have rejected the aid route and prospered and others that have become aid-dependent and seen poverty increase, Moyo illuminates the way in which overreliance on aid has trapped developing nations in a vicious circle of aid dependency, corruption, market distortion, and further poverty, leaving them with nothing but the “need� for more aid. Debunking the current model of international aid promoted by both Hollywood celebrities and policy makers, Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing development of the world’s poorest countries that guarantees economic growth and a significant decline in poverty—without reliance on foreign aid or aid-related assistance.

Dead Aid is an unsettling yet optimistic work, a powerful challenge to the assumptions and arguments that support a profoundly misguided development policy in Africa. And it is a clarion call to a new, more hopeful vision of how to address the desperate poverty that plagues millions.]]> 188 Dambisa Moyo 0374139563 Benjamin 0 to-read 3.69 2009 Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa
author: Dambisa Moyo
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/23
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review:

]]> Jane Eyre 10210 Alternate editions can be found here and here.

A gothic masterpiece of tempestuous passions and dark secrets, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre is edited with an introduction and notes by Stevie Davis in Penguin Classics.

Charlotte Brontë tells the story of orphaned Jane Eyre, who grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, enduring loneliness and cruelty. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she finds employment as a governess to the young ward of Byronic, brooding Mr Rochester. As her feelings for Rochester develop, Jane gradually uncovers Thornfield Hall's terrible secret, forcing her to make a choice. Should she stay with Rochester and live with the consequences, or follow her convictions - even if it means leaving the man she loves? A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre dazzled readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.]]> 532 Charlotte Brontë 0142437204 Benjamin 0 currently-reading, fic 4.14 1847 Jane Eyre
author: Charlotte Brontë
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1847
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)]]> 32075671 An alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062498533 can be found here.

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl's struggle for justice.]]> 454 Angie Thomas 0062498533 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.46 2017 The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)
author: Angie Thomas
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/07
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)]]> 40916679
Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.]]> 433 Holly Jackson 1405293187 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.30 2019 A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)
author: Holly Jackson
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> Circe 35959740
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.]]> 393 Madeline Miller 0316556343 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.22 2018 Circe
author: Madeline Miller
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/01/04
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]]> 1984 40961427 Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmarish vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell's prescience of modern life—the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language—and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written.]]> 298 George Orwell Benjamin 4 fic, dystopian, political 4.24 1949 1984
author: George Orwell
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1949
rating: 4
read at: 2021/12/29
date added: 2021/12/31
shelves: fic, dystopian, political
review:
A bullet in the head to end the rebellion. You see, the bullet was actually a clever metaphor: the bullet represented the brainwashing of INGSOC, and how it had finally reached Wiston. What I like about 1984 is its honesty and how upfront it is. Through the first page, the audience already feels the depressive setting. There are many parts of the book that made me feel disgusted and helpless, which was Orwell's exact intention. The novel demonstrates how totalitarian governments, brainwashing, and endless wars will ruin the world. 1984 is a warning about what has happened in the past (Hitler)- all of its labor camps, tortures, and the spark of hope for a rebellion that falls at last. Like many other reviews, I think the characters are rather bland and much of Winston's social life feels missing. However, the book in general represents a classical dystopian novel.
]]> <![CDATA[Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones]]> 40121378 Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.

Learn how to:
-Make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
-Overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
- Design your environment to make success easier;
- Get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.

Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.]]> 319 James Clear Benjamin 5 4.34 2018 Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
author: James Clear
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/19
date added: 2021/12/31
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]]> <![CDATA[The Outside Circle: A Graphic Novel]]> 23130299
Pete, a young Aboriginal man wrapped up in gang violence, lives with his younger brother, Joey, and his mother who is a heroin addict. One night, Pete and his mother’s boyfriend, Dennis, get into a big fight, which sends Dennis to the morgue and Pete to jail. Initially, Pete keeps up ties to his crew, until a jail brawl forces him to realize the negative influence he has become on Joey, which encourages him to begin a process of rehabilitation that includes traditional Aboriginal healing circles and ceremonies.

Powerful, courageous, and deeply moving, The Outside Circle is drawn from the author’s twenty years of work and research on healing and reconciliation of gang-affiliated or incarcerated Aboriginal men.]]> 128 Patti Laboucane-Benson 1770899375 Benjamin 5 4.23 2015 The Outside Circle: A Graphic Novel
author: Patti Laboucane-Benson
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/03
date added: 2021/12/03
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review:
The Outside Circle is an eye-opening graphic novel that describes the lives of First Nations people and how they may suffer through their lives because of history. The main character starts off being a gangster who is violent and angry, until he goes to jail, enters a healing center, and truly finds himself. Near the end, Pete finally finds his spirit and starts walking towards the right path of life. I absolutely loved the ending (Pete being the storyteller who leads others in the Warrior Program).
]]> Malibu Rising 55404546 Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.

Malibu: August, 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva.

The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud—because it is long past time to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.

Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.

And Kit has a couple secrets of her own—including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.

By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come bubbling to the surface.

Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them... and what they will leave behind.]]> 369 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798657 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.02 2021 Malibu Rising
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/10/14
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]]> Renegades (Renegades, #1) 28421168 Secret Identities. Extraordinary Powers. She wants vengeance. He wants justice.

The Renegades are a syndicate of prodigies � humans with extraordinary abilities � who emerged from the ruins of a crumbled society and established peace and order where chaos reigned. As champions of justice, they remain a symbol of hope and courage to everyone... except the villains they once overthrew.

Nova has a reason to hate the Renegades, and she is on a mission for vengeance. As she gets closer to her target, she meets Adrian, a Renegade boy who believes in justice � and in Nova. But Nova's allegiance is to a villain who has the power to end them both.]]> 552 Marissa Meyer 1250044669 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.12 2017 Renegades (Renegades, #1)
author: Marissa Meyer
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/10/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)]]> 7896527 Meet Celaena Sardothien.

Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand, Celaena, an assassin, is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the king, but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she is released from prison to serve as the king’s champion.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it’s there to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival, and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.]]> 406 Sarah J. Maas Benjamin 0 to-read 4.19 2012 Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)
author: Sarah J. Maas
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/10/14
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]]> Daisy Jones & The Six 40597810 Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n� roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.]]> 368 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1524798622 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.20 2019 Daisy Jones & The Six
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/10/14
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]]> <![CDATA[We Hunt the Flame (Sands of Arawiya, #1)]]> 36492488 People lived because she killed. People died because he lived.

Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the sultan. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways. Both Zafira and Nasir are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya--but neither wants to be.

War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the sultan on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds--and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.]]> 472 Hafsah Faizal 0374311544 Benjamin 0 to-read 3.87 2019 We Hunt the Flame (Sands of Arawiya, #1)
author: Hafsah Faizal
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/10/14
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]]> Legend (Legend, #1) 9275658
From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Alternate Cover edition for ISBN 9780399256752
]]> 305 Marie Lu Benjamin 0 to-read 4.16 2011 Legend (Legend, #1)
author: Marie Lu
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/10/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Apollo Murders (Apollo Murders, #1)]]> 57007683 An exceptional debut thriller and “exciting journey� into the dark heart of the Cold War and the space race fromNew York Timesbestselling author and astronaut Chris Hadfield (Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary).

1973: a final, top-secret mission to the Moon. Three astronauts in a tiny spaceship, a quarter million miles from home. A quarter million miles from help.

NASA is about to launch Apollo 18. While the mission has been billed as a scientific one, flight controller Kazimieras "Kaz" Zemeckis knows there is a darker objective. Intelligence has discovered a secret Soviet space station spying on America, and Apollo 18 may be the only chance to stop it.

But even as Kaz races to keep the NASA crew one step ahead of their Russian rivals, a deadly accident reveals that not everyone involved is quite who they were thought to be. With political stakes stretched to the breaking point, the White House and the Kremlin can only watch as their astronauts collide on the lunar surface, far beyond the reach of law or rescue.

Full of the fascinating technical detail that fans ofThe Martianloved, and reminiscent of the thrilling claustrophobia, twists, and tension ofThe Hunt for Red October,The Apollo Murdersis a high-stakes thriller unlike any other. Chris Hadfield captures the fierce G-forces of launch, the frozen loneliness of space, and the fear of holding on to the outside of a spacecraft orbiting the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour as only someone who has experienced all of these things in real life can.

Strap in and count down for the ride of a lifetime.]]> 480 Chris Hadfield 0316264539 Benjamin 0 to-read 3.86 2021 The Apollo Murders (Apollo Murders, #1)
author: Chris Hadfield
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/10/01
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]]> Cosmos 55030
The book also explores spacecraft missions of discovery of the nearby planets, the research in the Library of ancient Alexandria, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, the origin of life, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies and the origins of matter, suns and worlds.

Sagan retraces the fifteen billion years of cos-mic evolution that have transformed matter into life and consciousness, enabling the Cosmos to wonder about itself. He considers the latest findings on life elsewhere and how we might communicate with the beings of other worlds.

Cosmos is the story of our long journey of discovery and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science, including Democritus, Hypatia, Kepler, Newton, Huy-gens, Champollion, Lowell and Humason. Sagan looks at our planet from an extra-terrestrial vantage point and sees a blue jewel-like world, inhabited by a lifeform that is just beginning to discover its own unity and to ven-ture into the vast ocean of space.]]> 384 Carl Sagan 0375508325 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.39 1980 Cosmos
author: Carl Sagan
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1980
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own]]> 45754985
We have been here before: For James Baldwin, these after times came in the wake of the civil rights movement, when a similar attempt to compel a national confrontation with the truth was answered with the murders of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. In these years, spanning from the publication of The Fire Next Time in 1963 to that of No Name in the Street in 1972, Baldwin transformed into a more overtly political writer, a change that came at great professional and personal cost. But from that journey, Baldwin emerged with a sense of renewed purpose about the necessity of pushing forward in the face of disillusionment and despair.

In the story of Baldwin's crucible, Glaude suggests, we can find hope and guidance through our own after times, this Trumpian era of shattered promises and white retrenchment. Mixing biography--drawn partially from newly uncovered interviews--with history, memoir, and trenchant analysis of our current moment, Begin Again is Glaude's endeavor, following Baldwin, to bear witness to the difficult truth of race in America today. It is at once a searing exploration that lays bare the tangled web of race, trauma, and memory, and a powerful interrogation of what we all must ask of ourselves in order to call forth a new America.]]> 272 Eddie S. Glaude Jr. 0525575324 Benjamin 0 currently-reading 4.38 2020 Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own
author: Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/14
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst]]> 31170723 Why do we do the things we do?

More than a decade in the making, this game-changing book is Robert Sapolsky's genre-shattering attempt to answer that question as fully as perhaps only he could, looking at it from every angle. Sapolsky's storytelling concept is delightful but it also has a powerful intrinsic logic: he starts by looking at the factors that bear on a person's reaction in the precise moment a behavior occurs, and then hops back in time from there, in stages, ultimately ending up at the deep history of our species and its evolutionary legacy.

And so the first category of explanation is the neurobiological one. A behavior occurs—whether an example of humans at our best, worst, or somewhere in between. What went on in a person's brain a second before the behavior happened? Then Sapolsky pulls out to a slightly larger field of vision, a little earlier in time: What sight, sound, or smell caused the nervous system to produce that behavior? And then, what hormones acted hours to days earlier to change how responsive that individual is to the stimuli that triggered the nervous system? By now he has increased our field of vision so that we are thinking about neurobiology and the sensory world of our environment and endocrinology in trying to explain what happened.

Sapolsky keeps going: How was that behavior influenced by structural changes in the nervous system over the preceding months, by that person's adolescence, childhood, fetal life, and then back to his or her genetic makeup? Finally, he expands the view to encompass factors larger than one individual. How did culture shape that individual's group, what ecological factors millennia old formed that culture? And on and on, back to evolutionary factors millions of years old.

The result is one of the most dazzling tours d'horizon of the science of human behavior ever attempted, a majestic synthesis that harvests cutting-edge research across a range of disciplines to provide a subtle and nuanced perspective on why we ultimately do the things we do ... for good and for ill. Sapolsky builds on this understanding to wrestle with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, Behave is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right.]]> 790 Robert M. Sapolsky 1594205078 Benjamin 0 currently-reading 4.39 2017 Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
author: Robert M. Sapolsky
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/14
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]]> A Thousand Splendid Suns 128029
With the passing of time comes Taliban rule over Afghanistan, the streets of Kabul loud with the sound of gunfire and bombs, life a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear, the women's endurance tested beyond their worst imaginings. Yet love can move people to act in unexpected ways, lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism. In the end it is love that triumphs over death and destruction.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a portrait of a wounded country and a story of family and friendship, of an unforgiving time, an unlikely bond, and an indestructible love.]]> 372 Khaled Hosseini 1594489505 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.44 2007 A Thousand Splendid Suns
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Should All Be Feminists 22738563 We Should All Be Feminists, a personal, eloquently-argued essay—adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name—by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.

With humor and levity, here Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century—one rooted in inclusion and awareness. She shines a light not only on blatant discrimination, but also the more insidious, institutional behaviors that marginalize women around the world, in order to help readers of all walks of life better understand the often masked realities of sexual politics. Throughout, she draws extensively on her own experiences—in the U.S., in her native Nigeria, and abroad—offering an artfully nuanced explanation of why the gender divide is harmful for women and men, alike.

Argued in the same observant, witty and clever prose that has made Adichie a bestselling novelist, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman today—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.]]> 52 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Benjamin 4 non-fic 4.42 2012 We Should All Be Feminists
author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/09
date added: 2021/09/09
shelves: non-fic
review:

]]> Bear Bottom (FunJungle, #7) 55710858 Teddy Fitzroy returns as FunJungle’s resident sleuth to solve the disappearances of endangered bison and an irreplaceable necklace.

Teddy Fitzroy, his family, and some other FunJungle employees have been invited to visit a bison ranch just outside Yellowstone National Park that FunJungle’s owner, J.J. McCracken, is considering purchasing. But as usual, trouble isn’t far behind.

The ranch’s endangered bison have been mysteriously disappearing. Then a massive local grizzly bear named Sasquatch breaks into the house, causing chaos. In the aftermath, Kandace McCracken discovers that her exceptionally expensive sapphire necklace has vanished.

Was it stolen? Or did Sasquatch eat it? (And if so, can it be recovered?) And what’s been happening to the bison?

With over a dozen suspects, it’s up to Teddy to detangle this hairy situation, before his family or friends—or any more expensive objects—become dinner.]]> 312 Stuart Gibbs 1534479465 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.15 2021 Bear Bottom (FunJungle, #7)
author: Stuart Gibbs
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way]]> 43822761 In this extraordinary and inspiring debut memoir, Jesse Thistle, once a high school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar, chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is.

If I can just make it to the next minute...then I might have a chance to live; I might have a chance to be something more than just a struggling crackhead.

From the Ashes is a remarkable memoir about hope and resilience, and a revelatory look into the life of a Métis-Cree man who refused to give up.

Abandoned by his parents as a toddler, Jesse Thistle briefly found himself in the foster-care system with his two brothers, cut off from all they had known. Eventually the children landed in the home of their paternal grandparents, whose tough-love attitudes quickly resulted in conflicts. Throughout it all, the ghost of Jesse’s drug-addicted father haunted the halls of the house and the memories of every family member. Struggling with all that had happened, Jesse succumbed to a self-destructive cycle of drug and alcohol addiction and petty crime, spending more than a decade on and off the streets, often homeless. Finally, he realized he would die unless he turned his life around.

In this heart-warming and heart-wrenching memoir, Jesse Thistle writes honestly and fearlessly about his painful past, the abuse he endured, and how he uncovered the truth about his parents. Through sheer perseverance and education—and newfound love—he found his way back into the circle of his Indigenous culture and family.

An eloquent exploration of the impact of prejudice and racism, From the Ashes is, in the end, about how love and support can help us find happiness despite the odds.]]> 368 Jesse Thistle 1982101210 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.49 2019 From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way
author: Jesse Thistle
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)]]> 48829708 move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope...]]> 880 Christopher Paolini 1250762847 Benjamin 0 to-read 3.77 2020 To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fractalverse, #1)
author: Christopher Paolini
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup]]> 37976541 ومع ذيوعصيت "(ثيرانوس)، بدأت بعض الوقائع بالتكشف عن عدم جهوزية، بل عدم صلاحية، الأجهزة المنتجة، رغم أن إليزابيث قد فتحت قنوات تسويقية كبيرة مع كبيريات الشركات الدوائية (نوفارتيس)، وسلسلة المتاجر الصيدلانية الكبرى (وولغرينز)، ومتاجر الأغذية متعددة الفروع (سيفواي)، ومع تسرب أخبار تؤكد أن الأجهزة مزودة ببرنامج يظهر نتائج عشوائية لعينات الدم، الأمر الذي قد يودي بحيوات أناس كثيرين، وعلى الرغم من أن مجلس إدارة الشركة قد استقطب مجموعة من السياسيين والعسكريين المخضرمين في أعلى هرم السياسة الأمريكية، مثل جورج شولتز وهنري كيسنجر وروبرت مردوخ وجيمس ماتيس، وحتى أوباما، الذي استقبلها في مكتبه البيضاوي- على الرغم من ذلك، وفي حقل مليء بالتهديدات والألغام، بدأت رحلة الصحافي الكبير جون كاريرو في وول ستريت جورنال، إثر معلومة وصلته في ٢٠١٥، في تحري أسرار (ثيرانوس)، من أفواه الشرفاء الذين قدموا استقالاتهم من الشركة، وعلى رأسهم تيلر شولتز، حفيد جورج شولتز، والحصول على الوثائق والأدلة التي تثبت تورط الشركة في أسوأ عملية غش طالت المرضى قبل المستثمرين ومالكي الأسهم في ثيرانوس.
يفضح هذا الكتاب الذي استغرق إنجازه ثلاث سنوات ونصف السنة، رؤوس الفساد في قلب المؤسسة السلطوية الأميركية منجهة، ويشير إلى الظمائر النبيلة التي قدمت الأدلة الدامغة على تورط ثيرانوس من جهة أخرى، الأمر الذي قاد إليزابيث هولمز، السايكوباثية بحسب تعبير كاريرو، مع أزلامها، إلى قاعات المحاكم، لتنتهي أسطورة شركتها التي بلغ رأس مالها تسعة مليارات دولار.]]> 339 John Carreyrou Benjamin 0 to-read 4.38 2018 Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
author: John Carreyrou
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/23
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]]> Becoming 38746485
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.]]> 426 Michelle Obama 1524763136 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.42 2018 Becoming
author: Michelle Obama
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/23
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]]> Come Home, Indio 53854748
In this powerful graphic novel memoir by comics creator Jim Terry, the author shares the personal journey of discovering his spiritual home as a Native American. From a childhood in suburbia, disconnected from his identity as an Indigenous person, through an urban adulthood marked by a struggle with alcoholism and the death of his parents, to his life-altering experience at Standing Rock, we are privileged to travel this path with the author as he begins to find a new sense of self as a Native and as an American­­.]]> 234 Jim Terry 1951491041 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.24 2020 Come Home, Indio
author: Jim Terry
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood]]> 29780253
Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents� indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.]]> 289 Trevor Noah 0385689225 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.48 2016 Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
author: Trevor Noah
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents]]> 51152447 The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

“As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.�

In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson explores eight pillars that underlie caste systems across civilizations, including divine will, bloodlines, stigma, and more. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. She documents how the Nazis studied the racial systems in America to plan their out-cast of the Jews; she discusses why the cruel logic of caste requires that there be a bottom rung for those in the middle to measure themselves against; she writes about the surprising health costs of caste, in depression and life expectancy, and the effects of this hierarchy on our culture and politics. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.]]> 544 Isabel Wilkerson 0593230256 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.52 2020 Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
author: Isabel Wilkerson
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You]]> 52220686 Stamped from the Beginning for ages 12 and up.

A timely, crucial, and empowering exploration of racism--and antiracism--in America.

This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now.
A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
A book about race.

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This is a remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning, winner of a National Book Award. It reveals the history of racist ideas in America and inspires hope for an antiracist future.

Stamped takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited.

Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative, Jason Reynolds shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas--and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.]]> 294 Jason Reynolds 0316453692 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.46 2020 Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
author: Jason Reynolds
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/17
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]]> <![CDATA[Summary & Study Guide A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson]]> 19455323 82 BookRags Benjamin 0 to-read 4.12 2012 Summary & Study Guide A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
author: BookRags
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2012
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (Theodore Boone, #1)]]> 7824997 A perfect murder
A faceless witness
A lone courtroom champion knows the whole truth . . . and he’s only thirteen years old
Meet Theodore Boone

In the small city of Strattenburg, there are many lawyers, and though he’s only thirteen years old, Theo Boone thinks he’s one of them. Theo knows every judge, policeman, court clerk—and a lot about the law. He dreams of being a great trial lawyer, of a life in the courtroom.

But Theo finds himself in court much sooner than expected. Because he knows so much—maybe too much—he is suddenly dragged into the middle of a sensational murder trial. A cold-blooded killer is about to go free, and only Theo knows the truth.

The stakes are high, but Theo won’t stop until justice is served.

Brimming with the intrigue and suspense that made John Grisham a #1 international bestseller and the undisputed master of the legal thriller, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer will keep readers guessing and pages turning.]]> 263 John Grisham 0142428698 Benjamin 5 3.76 2010 Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer (Theodore Boone, #1)
author: John Grisham
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2010
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/08/16
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]]> <![CDATA[We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom]]> 40642377 Drawing on personal stories, research, and historical events, an esteemed educator offers a vision of educational justice inspired by the rebellious spirit and methods of abolitionists.

Drawing on her life's work of teaching and researching in urban schools, Bettina Love persuasively argues that educators must teach students about racial violence, oppression, and how to make sustainable change in their communities through radical civic initiatives and movements. She argues that the US educational system is maintained by and profits from the suffering of children of color. Instead of trying to repair a flawed system, educational reformers offer survival tactics in the forms of test-taking skills, acronyms, grit labs, and character education, which Love calls the educational survival complex.

To dismantle the educational survival complex and to achieve educational freedom--not merely reform--teachers, parents, and community leaders must approach education with the imagination, determination, boldness, and urgency of an abolitionist. Following in the tradition of activists like Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, and Fannie Lou Hamer, We Want to Do More Than Survive introduces an alternative to traditional modes of educational reform and expands our ideas of civic engagement and intersectional justice.]]> 200 Bettina L. Love 0807069159 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.53 2019 We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom
author: Bettina L. Love
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/16
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]]> Matilda 39988 “The Trunchbull� is no match for Matilda!

Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she's knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she's a super-nerd and the teacher's pet. But everything is not perfect in Matilda's world...

For starters she has two of the most idiotic, self-centered parents who ever lived. Then there's the large, busty nightmare of a school principal, Miss ("The") Trunchbull, a former hammer-throwing champion who flings children at will, and is approximately as sympathetic as a bulldozer. Fortunately for Matilda, she has the inner resources to deal with such annoyances: astonishing intelligence, saintly patience, and an innate predilection for revenge.

Roald Dahl was a spy, ace fighter-pilot, chocolate historian, and medical inventor. He was also the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, and many more brilliant stories. He remains the World's No. 1 Storyteller.]]> 240 Roald Dahl 043512398X Benjamin 5 4.33 1988 Matilda
author: Roald Dahl
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1988
rating: 5
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]]> Boy21 11138172
Russ has just moved to the neighborhood. A former teen basketball phenom from a privileged home, his life has been turned upside down by tragedy. Cut off from everyone he knows, he now answers only to the name Boy21—his former jersey number—and has an unusual obsession with outer space.

As their final year of high school brings these two boys together, “Boy21� may turn out to be the answer they both need.]]> 250 Matthew Quick 0316127973 Benjamin 4 3.98 2012 Boy21
author: Matthew Quick
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2012
rating: 4
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date added: 2021/08/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Psych 101: Psychology Facts, Basics, Statistics, Tests, and More! (Adams 101 Series)]]> 14618921
Too often, textbooks turn the noteworthy theories, principles, and experiments of psychology into tedious discourse that even Freud would want to repress. Psych 101 cuts out the boring details and statistics, and instead, gives you a lesson in psychology that keeps you engaged - and your synapses firing.

From personality quizzes and the Rorschach Blot Test to B.F. Skinner and the stages of development, this primer for human behavior is packed with hundreds of entertaining psychology basics and quizzes you can't get anywhere else.

So whether you're looking to unravel the intricacies of the mind, or just want to find out what makes your friends tick, Psych 101 has all the answers - even the ones you didn't know you were looking for.]]> 288 Paul Kleinman 1440543909 Benjamin 3 3.96 2012 Psych 101: Psychology Facts, Basics, Statistics, Tests, and More! (Adams 101 Series)
author: Paul Kleinman
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2012
rating: 3
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date added: 2021/08/16
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]]> The Little Prince 157993
Few stories are as widely read and as universally cherished by children and adults alike as The Little Prince, presented here in a stunning new translation with carefully restored artwork. The definitive edition of a worldwide classic, it will capture the hearts of readers of all ages.]]> 96 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 0152023984 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.32 1943 The Little Prince
author: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1943
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds]]> 41721428 New York Times Best SellerOver 5 million copies soldFor David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare -- poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events, inspiring Outside magazine to name him "The Fittest (Real) Man in America."In Can't Hurt Me, he shares his astonishing life story and reveals that most of us tap into only 40% of our capabilities. Goggins calls this The 40% Rule, and his story illuminates a path that anyone can follow to push past pain, demolish fear, and reach their full potential.]]> 366 David Goggins 1544512260 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.30 2018 Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
author: David Goggins
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography]]> 24907025 568 Walter Isaacson 034914043X Benjamin 0 to-read 4.50 2011 Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography
author: Walter Isaacson
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Outliers: The Story of Success]]> 3228917 Learn what sets high achievers apart � from Bill Gates to the Beatles � in this #1 bestseller from "a singular talent" (New York Times Book Review).

In this stunning book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"—the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band.

Brilliant and entertaining, Outliers is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.]]> 309 Malcolm Gladwell 0316017922 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.19 2008 Outliers: The Story of Success
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Emotional Sensitivity and Intensity]]> 35397752 Do people sometimes describe you as emotionally intense or oversensitive?
Do your emotions soar high and plunge so quickly that you feel you can't keep up?

This book is for you. Learn how to cope with intense feelings, and discover how to use your sensitivity, empathy and intelligence to live a meaningful and fulfilling life.
Emotional Sensitivity and Intensity will give you in-depth information about this trait, as well as practical exercises and strategies to help with your daily struggles.

It will help you come to new ways of thinking about your past, thrive in your current life, and create exciting possibilities for the future. Written in a friendly and compassionate tone, the chapters will answer questions raised by many emotionally intense

Is there something wrong with me?
How does this trait explain my life experiences so far?
What can I do right now to better my life and to fulfil my potential?

You will learn
- Understand what it means to live with emotional sensitivity and intense feelings
- Debunk the myths and stereotypes about this trait
- Let go of old emotional baggage and limiting mindsets
- Develop real resilience and find peace within life's ups and downs
- Navigate challenging social and family situations
- Build healthy and fulfilling intimate relationships
- Find your unique calling and liberate your creative potential]]> 256 Imi Lo 1473656036 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.26 Emotional Sensitivity and Intensity
author: Imi Lo
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)]]> 27362503
Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up � she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating� rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan � her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.]]> 386 Colleen Hoover 1668021048 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.11 2016 It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)
author: Colleen Hoover
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)]]> 51901147
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.]]> 541 Suzanne Collins Benjamin 3 3.99 2020 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, #0)
author: Suzanne Collins
name: Benjamin
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2021/08/15
date added: 2021/08/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Blown by the Wind (Costa Leona Series #4)]]> 35968616 Jonaxx Benjamin 0 to-read 4.45 Blown by the Wind (Costa Leona Series #4)
author: Jonaxx
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.45
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike]]> 27220736
In 1962, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and created a company with a simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost athletic shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his lime green Plymouth Valiant, Knight grossed $8,000 his first year. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In an age of startups, Nike is the ne plus ultra of all startups, and the swoosh has become a revolutionary, globe-spanning icon, one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable symbols in the world today.

But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always remained a mystery. Now, for the first time, in a memoir that is candid, humble, gutsy, and wry, he tells his story, beginning with his crossroads moment. At 24, after backpacking around the world, he decided to take the unconventional path, to start his own business—a business that would be dynamic, different.

Knight details the many risks and daunting setbacks that stood between him and his dream—along with his early triumphs. Above all, he recalls the formative relationships with his first partners and employees, a ragtag group of misfits and seekers who became a tight-knit band of brothers. Together, harnessing the transcendent power of a shared mission, and a deep belief in the spirit of sport, they built a brand that changed everything.]]> 400 Phil Knight 1501135910 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.45 2016 Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
author: Phil Knight
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> The Kite Runner 77203 371 Khaled Hosseini 159463193X Benjamin 0 to-read 4.34 2003 The Kite Runner
author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2003
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/08/15
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]]> <![CDATA[Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX]]> 53402132 "This is as important a book on space as has ever been written and it's a riveting page-turner, too." —Homer Hickam, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Rocket Boys

The dramatic inside story of the historic flights that launched SpaceX—and Elon Musk—from a shaky startup into the world's leading-edge rocket company.

SpaceX has enjoyed a miraculous decade. Less than 20 years after its founding, it boasts the largest constellation of commercial satellites in orbit, has pioneered reusable rockets, and in 2020 became the first private company to launch human beings into orbit. Half a century after the space race it is private companies, led by SpaceX, standing alongside NASA pushing forward into the cosmos, and laying the foundation for our exploration of other worlds.

But before it became one of the most powerful players in the aerospace industry, SpaceX was a fledgling startup, scrambling to develop a single workable rocket before the money ran dry. The engineering challenge was immense; numerous other private companies had failed similar attempts. And even if SpaceX succeeded, they would then have to compete for government contracts with titans such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who had tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. SpaceX had fewer than 200 employees and the relative pittance of $100 million in the bank.

In Liftoff, Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company’s first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. We travel from company headquarters in El Segundo, to the isolated Texas ranchland where they performed engine tests, to Kwajalein, the tiny atoll in the Pacific where SpaceX launched the Falcon 1. Berger has reported on SpaceX for more than a decade, enjoying unparalleled journalistic access to the company’s inner workings. Liftoff is the culmination of these efforts, drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book, with his daring vision for the future of space.

Filled with never-before-told stories of SpaceX’s turbulent beginning, Liftoff is a saga of cosmic proportions.]]> 288 Eric Berger 0062979973 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.43 2021 Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX
author: Eric Berger
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2021
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]]> <![CDATA[Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead]]> 13588356 Researcher and thought leader Dr. Brené Brown offers a powerful new vision that encourages us to dare greatly: to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.� —Theodore Roosevelt

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable, or to dare greatly. Whether the arena is a new relationship, an important meeting, our creative process, or a difficult family conversation, we must find the courage to walk into vulnerability and engage with our whole hearts.

In Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability. Based on twelve years of research, she argues that vulnerability is not weakness, but rather our clearest path to courage, engagement, and meaningful connection. The book that Dr. Brown’s many fans have been waiting for, Daring Greatly will spark a new spirit of truth—and trust—in our organizations, families, schools, and communities.]]> 287 Brené Brown 1592407331 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.29 2012 Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
author: Brené Brown
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2012
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]]> <![CDATA[The Perks of Being a Wallflower]]> 22628 offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see
what it looks like from the dance floor.

This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being A WALLFLOWER

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that the perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.

Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

(back cover)]]> 213 Stephen Chbosky Benjamin 4 4.24 1999 The Perks of Being a Wallflower
author: Stephen Chbosky
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1999
rating: 4
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date added: 2021/08/04
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]]> The Fault in Our Stars 11870085
Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.]]> 313 John Green Benjamin 0 to-read 4.13 2012 The Fault in Our Stars
author: John Green
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
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]]> Pride and Prejudice 1885 Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780679783268]]> 279 Jane Austen 1441341706 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.28 1813 Pride and Prejudice
author: Jane Austen
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1813
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]]> <![CDATA[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari Benjamin 0 to-read 4.33 2011 Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End]]> 20696006 In Being Mortal, author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending

Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering.

Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified.]]> 282 Atul Gawande 0805095152 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.47 2014 Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
author: Atul Gawande
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2014
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]]> Educated 35133922
Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent.

Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty and of the grief that comes with severing the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes and the will to change it.]]> 352 Tara Westover 0399590501 Benjamin 0 to-read 4.46 2018 Educated
author: Tara Westover
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2018
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]]> <![CDATA[Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days]]> 25814544
The startups that Google Ventures invest in face big questions every day: Where’s the most important place to focus your effort, and how do you start? What will your ideas look like in real life? How many meetings and discussions does it take before you can be sure you have the right solution to a problem? Business owners and investors want their companies and the people who lead them to be equipped to answer these questions—and quickly. And now there’s a sure-fire way to solve their problems and test solutions: the sprint.

While working at Google, designer Jake Knapp created a unique problem-solving method that he coined a “design sprint”—a five-day process to help companies answer crucial questions. His ‘sprints� were used on everything from Google Search to Chrome to Google X. When he moved to Google Ventures, he joined Braden Kowitz and John Zeratsky, both designers and partners there who worked on products like YouTube and Gmail. Together Knapp, Zeratsky, and Kowitz have run over 100 sprints with their portfolio companies. They’ve seen firsthand how sprints can overcome challenges in all kinds of companies: healthcare, fitness, finance, retailers, and more.

A practical guide to answering business questions, Sprint is a book for groups of any size, from small startups to Fortune 100s, from teachers to non-profits. It’s for anyone with a big opportunity, problem, or idea who needs to get answers today.]]> 274 Jake Knapp Benjamin 0 to-read 4.18 2016 Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
author: Jake Knapp
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard]]> 6570502 Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives?

The primary obstacle is a conflict that's built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the critically acclaimed bestseller Made to Stick. Psychologists have discovered that our minds are ruled by two different systems - the rational mind and the emotional mind - that compete for control. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort - but if it is overcome, change can come quickly.

In Switch, the Heaths show how everyday people - employees and managers, parents and nurses - have united both minds and, as a result, achieved dramatic results:

- The lowly medical interns who managed to defeat an entrenched, decades-old medical practice that was endangering patients (see page 242)
- The home-organizing guru who developed a simple technique for overcoming the dread of housekeeping (see page 130)
- The manager who transformed a lackadaisical customer-support team into service zealots by removing a standard tool of customer service (see page 199)

In a compelling, story-driven narrative, the Heaths bring together decades of counterintuitive research in psychology, sociology, and other fields to shed new light on how we can effect transformative change. Switch shows that successful changes follow a pattern, a pattern you can use to make the changes that matter to you, whether your interest is in changing the world or changing your waistline.]]> 305 Chip Heath 0385528752 Benjamin 5 4.02 2010 Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
author: Chip Heath
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2010
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/07/31
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]]> <![CDATA[Labyrinttitaistelu (Percy Jacson, #4)]]> 24442736
Percy ystävineen saa tehtäväkseen etsiä muinaisen Daidaloksen rakennuttamasta, hirviöitä vilisevästä labyrintistä Adrianen langan. Vain sen avulla maanalaisissa sokkeloissa voi kulkea eksymättä ja joutumatta hirviöiden saaliiksi. Aikaa ei ole hukattavana � lanka on löydettävä ennen kuin titaanien valtiaan Kronoksen liittolaiset pääsevät siirtelemään sen avulla maanalaisia armeijoitaan.]]> 261 Rick Riordan 9511257862 Benjamin 5 4.38 2008 Labyrinttitaistelu (Percy Jacson, #4)
author: Rick Riordan
name: Benjamin
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2008
rating: 5
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date added: 2021/07/31
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]]>