Pranav's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 14 Jun 2025 23:36:30 -0700 60 Pranav's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The End of the Affair 39216230 Graham Greene¡¯s masterful novel of love and betrayal in World War II London is ¡°undeniably a major work of art¡± (The New Yorker). ? Maurice Bendrix, a writer in Clapham during the Blitz, develops an acquaintance with Sarah Miles, the bored, beautiful wife of a dull civil servant named Henry. Maurice claims it¡¯s to divine a character for his novel-in-progress. That¡¯s the first deception. What he really wants is Sarah, and what Sarah needs is a man with passion. So begins a series of reckless trysts doomed by Maurice¡¯s increasing romantic demands and Sarah¡¯s tortured sense of guilt. Then, after Maurice miraculously survives a bombing, Sarah ends the affair¡ªquickly, absolutely, and without explanation. It¡¯s only when Maurice crosses paths with Sarah¡¯s husband that he discovers the fallout of their duplicity¡ªand it¡¯s more unexpected than Maurice, Henry, or Sarah herself could have imagined. ? Adapted for film in both 1956 and 1999, Greene¡¯s novel of all that inspires love¡ªand all that poisons it¡ªis ¡°singularly moving and beautiful¡± (Evelyn Waugh).]]> 224 Graham Greene Pranav 0 3.73 1951 The End of the Affair
author: Graham Greene
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1951
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]]> A Grief Observed 26077627
Written in longhand in notebooks that Lewis found in his home, A Grief Observed probes the "mad midnight moments" of Lewis's mourning and loss, moments in which he questioned what he had previously believed about life and death, marriage, and even God. Indecision and self-pity assailed Lewis. "We are under the harrow and can't escape," he writes. "I know that the thing I want is exactly the thing I can never get. The old life, the jokes, the drinks, the arguments, the lovemaking, the tiny, heartbreaking commonplace." Writing A Grief Observed as "a defense against total collapse, a safety valve," he came to recognize that "bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love."

Lewis writes his statement of faith with precision, humor, and grace. Yet neither is Lewis reluctant to confess his continuing doubts and his awareness of his own human frailty. This is precisely the quality which suggests that A Grief Observed may become "among the great devotional books of our age."]]> 76 C.S. Lewis Pranav 0 to-read 4.31 1961 A Grief Observed
author: C.S. Lewis
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1961
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]]> <![CDATA[Religion and Nothingness (Nanzan Studies in Religion and Culture) (Volume 1)]]> 331332
The challenge that the thought of Keiji Nishitani presents to the West, as a modern version of an Eastern speculative tradition that is every bit as old and as variegated as our own, is one that brings into unity the principle of reality and the principle of salvation. In the process, one traditional Western idea after another comes under the dichotomy of faith and reason, of being and substance, the personal and transcendent notions of God, the exaggerated role given to the knowing ego, and even the Judeo-Christian view of history itself.

Religion and Nothingness represents the major work of one of Japan's most powerful and committed philosophical minds.]]> 317 Keiji Nishitani 0520049462 Pranav 0 to-read 4.25 1961 Religion and Nothingness (Nanzan Studies in Religion and Culture) (Volume 1)
author: Keiji Nishitani
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1961
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Chosen (Reuven Malther, #1)]]> 187181 304 Chaim Potok 0449213447 Pranav 0 to-read 4.06 1966 The Chosen (Reuven Malther, #1)
author: Chaim Potok
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1966
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]]> The Tale of Genji 7042 1182 Murasaki Shikibu 014243714X Pranav 0 to-read 3.72 1000 The Tale of Genji
author: Murasaki Shikibu
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1000
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]]> Vanity Fair 5797 867 William Makepeace Thackeray 0141439831 Pranav 0 to-read 3.80 1847 Vanity Fair
author: William Makepeace Thackeray
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.80
book published: 1847
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Boyfriend Material (London Calling, #1)]]> 50225678 425 Alexis Hall 1728206146 Pranav 0 to-read 3.98 2020 Boyfriend Material (London Calling, #1)
author: Alexis Hall
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2020
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]]> <![CDATA[The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August]]> 35066358 417 Claire North Pranav 0 to-read 4.03 2014 The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
author: Claire North
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2014
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]]> Less (Arthur Less, #1) 39927096 You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years now engaged to someone else. You can¡¯t say yes--it would all be too awkward--and you can¡¯t say no--it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of half-baked literary invitations you¡¯ve received from around the world.

QUESTION: How do you arrange to skip town?

ANSWER: You accept them all.

If you are Arthur Less.

Thus begins an around-the-world-in-eighty-days fantasia that will take Arthur Less to Mexico, Italy, Germany, Morocco, India and Japan and put thousands of miles between him and the problems he refuses to face. What could possibly go wrong?

Well: Arthur will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Sahara sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and arrive in Japan too late for the cherry blossoms. In between: science fiction fans, crazed academics, emergency rooms, starlets, doctors, exes and, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to see. Somewhere in there: he will turn fifty. The second phase of life, as he thinks of it, falling behind him like the second phase of a rocket. There will be his first love. And there will be his last.

A love story, a satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart, by an author The New York Times has hailed as ¡°inspired, lyrical,¡± ¡°elegiac,¡± ¡°ingenious,¡± as well as ¡°too sappy by half,¡± Less shows a writer at the peak of his talents raising the curtain on our shared human comedy.]]> 273 Andrew Sean Greer Pranav 0 to-read 3.61 2017 Less (Arthur Less, #1)
author: Andrew Sean Greer
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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]]> The Seven Storey Mountain 175078
The Seven Storey Mountain tells of the growing restlessness of a brilliant and passionate young man, who at the age of twenty-six, takes vows in one of the most demanding Catholic orders¡ªthe Trappist monks. At the Abbey of Gethsemani, "the four walls of my new freedom," Thomas Merton struggles to withdraw from the world, but only after he has fully immersed himself in it. At the abbey, he wrote this extraordinary testament, a unique spiritual autobiography that has been recognized as one of the most influential religious works of our time. Translated into more than twenty languages, it has touched millions of lives.
?]]> 467 Thomas Merton 0156010860 Pranav 0 to-read 4.05 1948 The Seven Storey Mountain
author: Thomas Merton
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1948
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen]]> 10876733
I'm Your Man is the definitive account of that extraordinary life. Starting in Montreal, Cohen's birthplace, acclaimed music journalist Sylvie Simmons follows his trail, via London and the Greek island of Hydra, to New York in the sixties, where Cohen launched his career in music. From there she traces the arc of his prodigious achievements to his remarkable retreat in the mid-nineties and his reemergence for a sold-out world tour almost fifteen years later. Whether navigating Cohen's journeys through the backstreets of Mumbai or his countless hotel rooms along the way, Simmons explores with equal focus every complex, contradictory strand of Cohen's life and presents a deeply insightful portrait of the vision, spirit, depth, and talent of an artist and a man who continues to move people like no one else.]]> 576 Sylvie Simmons 0061994987 Pranav 0 to-read 4.17 2011 I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen
author: Sylvie Simmons
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2011
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]]> The Favorite Game 90591 248 Leonard Cohen 1400033624 Pranav 0 to-read 3.89 1963 The Favorite Game
author: Leonard Cohen
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1963
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control]]> 1449354 Fourteen hundred years later, a decadent French aristocrat turned that tradition on its head when he wrote that "the freest of people are they who are most friendly to murder." Like St. Augustine, the Marquis de Sade would agree that freedom was a function of morals. Unlike St. Augustine, Sade proposed a revolution in sexual morals to accompany the political revolution then taking place in France. Libido Dominandi - the term is taken from Book I of Augustine's City of God - is the definitive history of that sexual revolution, from 1773 to the present.

Unlike the standard version of the sexual revolution, Libido Dominandi shows how sexual liberation was from its inception a form of control. Those who wished to liberate man from the moral order needed to impose social controls as soon as they succeeded because liberated libido led inevitably to anarchy. Aldous Huxley wrote in his preface to the 1946 edition of Brave New World that "as political and economic freedom diminishes, sexual freedom tends compensatingly to increase." This book is about the converse of that statement. It explains how the rhetoric of sexual freedom was used to engineer a system of covert political and social control. Over the course of the two-hundred-year span covered by this book, the development of technologies of communication, reproduction, and psychic control - including psychotherapy, behaviorism, advertising, sensitivity training, pornography, and plain old blackmail - allowed the Enlightenment and its heirs to turn Augustine's insight on its head and create masters out of men's vices. Libido Dominandi is the story of how that happened.

]]> 668 E. Michael Jones 1587314657 Pranav 0 to-read 4.30 1999 Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control
author: E. Michael Jones
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1999
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]]> <![CDATA[Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji]]> 40506778 336 Manu S. Pillai 9386228734 Pranav 0 to-read 3.92 2018 Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji
author: Manu S. Pillai
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2018
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]]> <![CDATA[The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History]]> 52509565 From a Maratha prince who parodied caste to a Muslim deity in a Hindu temple; from a courtesan who became a warrior princess to another who sang for the gramophone; from a woman with no breasts to a goddess with three; and from an Englishman who venerated sacred Sanskrit to imperious Victoria Maharani¡ªthe essays in this collection open a window into India¡¯s past, and to a world of such astonishing richness that it is surprising how much of it has been forgotten or expunged.

To dip into these essays is to be absorbed in India¡¯s story and reflect on the experiences of men and women whose lives were full of drama and action. We discover the advent of the railways, just as we learn about the history of Indian football; we hear of the hated Lord Curzon¡¯s love of India¡¯s monuments, even as we unravel the story of the photographer who was Jaipur¡¯s maharajah. In the hands of a consummate historian and storyteller, these men and women speak also of the concerns and perspectives of the present, showing us what was, and what might have been.

An exhilarating journey with the author of The Ivory Throne and Rebel Sultans, The Courtesan, the Mahatma & the Italian Brahmin is a retelling of history no reader will want to miss.

]]> 398 Manu S. Pillai Pranav 0 to-read 3.94 2018 The Courtesan, the Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History
author: Manu S. Pillai
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2018
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]]> <![CDATA[Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity]]> 217482349 **A Financial Times What to Read in 2025 pick**

'A brave and magnificent book, and a vital as elegant as it is witty, as erudite as it is wise, and as stylish as it is scholarly. Manu Pillai is fast becoming one of India's most accomplished and impressively wide-ranging historians' William Dalrymple

When European missionaries arrived in India in the sixteenth century, they entered a world both fascinating and bewildering. Hinduism, as they saw it, was a pagan a worship of devils and monsters by a people who burned women alive, performed outlandish rites and fed children to crocodiles. But it quickly became clear that Hindu ¡®idolatry¡¯ was far more layered and complex than European stereotypes allowed, surprisingly even sharing certain impulses with Christianity.

Nonetheless, missionaries became a threatening force as European power grew in India. Western ways of thinking gained further ascendancy during the British while interest in Hindu thought influenced Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire in Europe, Orientalism and colonial rule pressed Hindus to reimagine their religion. In fact, in resisting foreign authority, they often adopted the missionaries¡¯ own tools and strategies. It is this encounter, Manu S. Pillai argues, that has given Hinduism its present shape, also contributing to the birth of an aggressive Hindu nationalism.

Gods, Guns and Missionaries surveys these remarkable dynamics with an arresting cast of characters ¨C maharajahs, poets, gun-wielding revolutionaries, politicians, polemicists, philosophers and clergymen. Lucid, ambitious, and provocative, it is at once a political history, an examination of the mutual impact of Hindu culture and Christianity upon each other, and a study of the forces that have prepared the ground for politics in India today. Turning away from simplistic ideas on religious evolution and European imperialism, the past as it appears here is more complicated ¨C and infinitely richer ¨C than previous narratives allow.]]> 859 Manu S. Pillai 0141993502 Pranav 0 to-read 4.01 Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity
author: Manu S. Pillai
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.01
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]]> <![CDATA[City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi]]> 124430 City of Djinns peels back the layers of Delhi's centuries-old history, revealing an extraordinary array of characters along the way¡ªfrom eunuchs to descendants of great Moguls. With refreshingly open-minded curiosity, William Dalrymple explores the seven "dead" cities of Delhi as well as the eighth city¡ªtoday's Delhi. Underlying his quest is the legend of the djinns, fire-formed spirits that are said to assure the city's Phoenix-like regeneration no matter how many times it is destroyed. Entertaining, fascinating, and informative, City of Djinns is an irresistible blend of research and adventure.]]> 350 William Dalrymple 0142001007 Pranav 0 to-read 4.12 1993 City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi
author: William Dalrymple
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1993
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]]> <![CDATA[White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India]]> 124432 White Mughals is the romantic and ultimately tragic tale of a passionate love affair that crossed and transcended all the cultural, religious and political boundaries of its time. James Achilles Kirkpatrick was the British Resident at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad when in 1798 he glimpsed Kahir un-Nissa¡ª'Most excellent among Women'¡ªthe great-niece of the Nizam's Prime Minister and a descendant of the Prophet. Kirkpatrick had gone out to India as an ambitious soldier in the army of the East India Company, eager to make his name in the conquest and subjection of the subcontinent. Instead, he fell in love with Khair and overcame many obstacles to marry her¡ªnot least of which was the fact that she was locked away in purdah and engaged to a local nobleman. Eventually, while remaining Resident, Kirkpatrick converted to Islam, and according to Indian sources even became a double-agent working for the Hyderabadis against the East India Company.

It is a remarkable story, involving secret assignations, court intrigue, harem politics, religious and family disputes. But such things were not unknown; from the early sixteenth century, when the Inquisition banned the Portuguese in Goa from wearing the dhoti, to the eve of the Indian mutiny, the 'white Mughals' who wore local dress and adopted Indian ways were a source of embarrassments to successive colonial administrations. William Dalrymple unearths such colourful figures as 'Hindoo Stuart', who travelled with his own team of Brahmins to maintain his temple of idols, and who spent many years trying to persuade the memsahibs of Calcutta to adopt the sari; and Sir David Ochterlony, Kirkpatrick's counterpart in Delhi, who took all thirteen of his wives out for evening promenades, each on the back of their own elephant.

In White Mughals, William Dalrymple discovers a world almost entirely unexplored by history, and places at its centre a compelling tale of love, seduction and betrayal. It possesses all the sweep and resonance of a great nineteenth-century novel, set against a background of shifting alliances and the manoeuvring of the great powers, the mercantile ambitions of the British and the imperial dreams of Napoleon. White Mughals, the product of five years' writing and research, triumphantly confirms Dalrymple's reputation as one of the finest writers at work today.]]> 580 William Dalrymple 014200412X Pranav 0 to-read 3.95 2002 White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India
author: William Dalrymple
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2002
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]]> <![CDATA[Bravehearts of Bharat: Vignettes from Indian History]]> 61982884 Never Succumbed to the Challenges of Invaders

But Lost and Forgotten in the Annals of History

This is the Story of these Bravehearts,
who Fought to Protect their Rights, Faith and Freedom

History has always been the handmaiden of the victor. 'Until the lions have their own storytellers,' said Chinua Achebe, 'the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter!' Exploring the lives, times and works of long-forgotten and mostly neglected fifteen unsung heroes and heroines of our past, this book brings to light the contribution of the warriors who not only donned an armour and burst into the battlefield but also kept the flame of hope alive under adverse circumstances.

Narrating the tales of valour and success that India, as a nation and civilization, bore witness to in its long and tumultuous past, the book opens a window to the stories of select men and women who valiantly fought against invaders for their rights, faith and freedom.

From Rajarshi Bhagyachandra Jai Singh of Manipur, Lalitaditya Muktapida of Kashmir, Chand Bibi of Ahmednagar, Lachit Barphukan of Assam, Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh to Rani Abbakka Chowta of Ullal, Martanda Varma of Travancore, Rani Rudrama Devi of Warangal, Rani Naiki Devi of Gujarat and Banda Singh Bahadur, among others, are some of the 'bravehearts' who fought to uphold the tradition and culture of their land.

Pacy and unputdownable, Bravehearts of Bharat chronicles the stories of courage, determination and victory, which largely remained untold and therefore unknown for a long time.]]> 332 Vikram Sampath 0670094684 Pranav 0 to-read 4.50 Bravehearts of Bharat: Vignettes from Indian History
author: Vikram Sampath
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.50
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]]> The Last Queen 58782889 WINNER of the 2022 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WORKING WOMEN AWARD for BEST FICTION OF THE YEAR!

LONGLISTED for 2022 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD!

She rose from commoner to become the last reigning queen of India's Sikh Empire. In this dazzling novel, based on true-life events, bestselling author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni presents the unforgettable story of Jindan, who transformed herself from daughter of the royal kennel keeper to powerful monarch.

Sharp-eyed, stubborn, and passionate, Jindan was known for her beauty. When she caught the eye of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, she was elevated to royalty, becoming his youngest and last queen--and his favorite. And when her son, barely six years old, unexpectedly inherited the throne, Jindan assumed the regency. She transformed herself from pampered wife to warrior ruler, determined to protect her people and her son's birthright from the encroaching British Empire.

Defying tradition, she stepped out of the zenana, cast aside the veil, and conducted state business in public, inspiring her subjects in two wars. Her power and influence were so formidable that the British, fearing an uprising, robbed the rebel queen of everything she had, but nothing crushed her indomitable will.

An exquisite love story of a king and a commoner, a cautionary tale about loyalty and betrayal, a powerful parable of the indestructible bond between mother and child, and an inspiration for our times, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's novel brings alive one of the most fearless women of the nineteenth century, one whose story cries out to be told.]]> 384 Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni 0063161877 Pranav 0 to-read 4.08 2021 The Last Queen
author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
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]]> <![CDATA[Core Transformation: Reaching the Wellspring Within]]> 369813 252 Connirae Andreas 0911226338 Pranav 0 to-read 4.16 1993 Core Transformation: Reaching the Wellspring Within
author: Connirae Andreas
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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]]> The Golden Bough 408862 The Golden Bough" describes our ancestors' primitive methods of worship, sex practices, strange rituals and festivals. Disproving the popular thought that primitive life was simple, this monumental survey shows that savage man was enmeshed in a tangle of magic, taboos, and superstitions. Revealed here is the evolution of man from savagery to civilization, from the modification of his weird and often bloodthirsty customs to the entry of lasting moral, ethical, and spiritual values.]]> 880 James George Frazer 0684826305 Pranav 0 to-read 4.01 1890 The Golden Bough
author: James George Frazer
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1890
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]]> Don't Look Now 2871390 Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn she transformed the small dramas of everyday life¡ªlove, grief, jealousy¡ªinto the stuff of nightmares. Less known, though no less powerful, are her short stories, in which she gave free rein to her imagination in narratives of unflagging suspense.

Patrick McGrath's revelatory new selection of du Maurier's stories shows her at her most chilling and most psychologically astute: a dead child reappears in the alleyways of Venice; routine eye surgery reveals the beast within to a meek housewife; nature revolts against man's abuse by turning a benign species into an annihilating force; a dalliance with a beautiful stranger offers something more dangerous than a broken heart. McGrath draws on the whole of du Maurier's long career and includes surprising discoveries together with famous stories like "The Birds". Don't Look Now is a perfect introduction to a peerless storyteller.]]> 346 Daphne du Maurier 1590172884 Pranav 0 to-read 4.05 2007 Don't Look Now
author: Daphne du Maurier
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Kippenberger: The Artist and His Families]]> 13499791 564 Susanne Kippenberger 0982964218 Pranav 0 to-read 4.40 2007 Kippenberger: The Artist and His Families
author: Susanne Kippenberger
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/21
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]]> Alfred the Great 118001 The Pale Horseman)

Alfred was England's first king, and his rule spanned troubled times. As his shores sat under constant threat from Viking marauders, his life was similarly imperiled by conspiracies in his own court. He was an extraordinary character - a soldier, scholar, and statesman like no other in English history - and out of adversity he forged a new kind of nation. Justin Pollard's enthralling account strips back centuries of myth to reveal the individual behind the legend. He offers a radical new interpretation of what inspired Alfred to create England and how it how it has colored the nation's history to the present day.]]> 350 Justin Pollard 0719566665 Pranav 0 to-read 4.20 2005 Alfred the Great
author: Justin Pollard
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[S?ren Kierkegaard: A Biography]]> 24973

Garff portrays Kierkegaard not as the all-controlling impresario behind some of the most important works of modern philosophy and religious thought--books credited with founding existentialism and prefiguring postmodernism--but rather as a man whose writings came to control him. Kierkegaard saw himself as a vessel for his writings, a tool in the hand of God, and eventually as a martyr singled out to call for the end of "Christendom." Garff explores the events and relationships that formed Kierkegaard, including his guilt-ridden relationship with his father, his rivalry with his brother, and his famously tortured relationship with his fianc¨¦e Regine Olsen. He recreates the squalor and splendor of Golden Age Copenhagen and the intellectual milieu in which Kierkegaard found himself increasingly embattled and mercilessly caricatured.


Acclaimed as a major cultural event on its publication in Denmark in 2000, this book, here presented in an exceptionally crisp and elegant translation, will be the definitive account of Kierkegaard's life for years to come.]]> 896 Joakim Garff 069109165X Pranav 0 to-read 4.09 2000 S?ren Kierkegaard: A Biography
author: Joakim Garff
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature]]> 27486 The Mating Mind marks the arrival of a prescient and provocative new science writer. Psychologist Geoffrey Miller offers the most convincing-and radical-explanation for how and why the human mind evolved.

Consciousness, morality, creativity, language, and art: these are the traits that make us human. Scientists have traditionally explained these qualities as merely a side effect of surplus brain size, but Miller argues that they were sexual attractors, not side effects. He bases his argument on Darwin's theory of sexual selection, which until now has played second fiddle to Darwin's theory of natural selection, and draws on ideas and research from a wide range of fields, including psychology, economics, history, and pop culture. Witty, powerfully argued, and continually thought-provoking, The Mating Mind is a landmark in our understanding of our own species.]]> 528 Geoffrey Miller 038549517X Pranav 0 to-read 4.10 2000 The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature
author: Geoffrey Miller
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2000
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]]> <![CDATA[The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife]]> 47849
The Middle Passage presents us with an opportunity to reexamine our lives and to ask: "Who am I apart from my history and the roles I have played?" It is an occasion for redefining and reorienting the personality, a necessary rite of passage between the extended adolescence of the first adulthood and our inevitable appointment with old age and mortality.

The Middle Passage addresses the following issues:
How did we acquire our original sense of self? What are the changes that herald the Middle Passage? How does one revision the sense of self? What is the relationship between Jung's concept of individuation and our commitment to others? What attitudes and behavior support individuation and help us move from misery to meaning?

This book shows how we may travel the Middle Passage consciously, thereby rendering our lives more meaningful and the second half of life immeasurably richer.

--back cover]]> 127 James Hollis 0919123600 Pranav 5 4.45 1993 The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife
author: James Hollis
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.45
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/20
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]]> <![CDATA[Eros/Power: Love in the Spirit of Inquiry]]> 27801242 233 Hilary Bradbury Pranav 4 4.30 Eros/Power: Love in the Spirit of Inquiry
author: Hilary Bradbury
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths]]> 10051438 A landmark publishing event of one of Japan's most famous cartoonists

Shigeru Mizuki is the preeminent figure of Gekiga manga and one of the most famous working cartoonists in Japan today¨Ca true living legend. Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths is his first book to be translated into English and is a semiautobiographical account of the desperate final weeks of a Japanese infantry unit at the end of WorldWar II. The soldiers are told that they must go into battle and die for the honor of their country, with certain execution facing them if they return alive. Mizuki was a soldier himself (he was severely injured and lost an arm) and uses his experiences to convey the devastating consequences and moral depravity of the war.

Mizuki's list of accolades and achievements is long and detailed. In Japan, the life of Mizuki and his wife has been made into an extremely popular television drama that airs daily. Mizuki is the recipient of many awards, including the Best AlbumAward for his book NonNonBa (to be published in 2012 by D+Q) and the Heritage Essential Award for Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths at the Angoul¨ºme International Comics Festival, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Special Award, the Kyokujitsu Sho Decoration, the Shiju Hosho Decoration, and the KodanshaManga Award.His hometown of Sakaiminato honored him with Shigeru Mizuki Road¡ªa street decorated with bronze statues of his Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro characters¡ªand the Shigeru Mizuki International Cultural Center.]]> 372 Shigeru Mizuki 1770460411 Pranav 0 to-read 4.03 1991 Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths
author: Shigeru Mizuki
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1991
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art]]> 9386 Free Play is directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity. Filled with unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecdotes, and original metaphors, it reveals how inspiration arises within us, how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed or obscured by certain unavoidable facts of life, and how finally it can be liberated - how we can be liberated - to speak or sing, write or paint, dance or play, with our own authentic voice.

The whole enterprise of improvisation in life and art, of recovering free play and awakening creativity, is about being true to ourselves and our visions. It brings us into direct, active contact with boundless creative energies that we may not even know we had.

]]> 256 Stephen Nachmanovitch 0874776317 Pranav 0 to-read 4.19 1990 Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art
author: Stephen Nachmanovitch
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1990
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]]> I and Thou 551866 An alternate cover for this isbn can be found here.

Martin Buber's I and Thou has long been acclaimed as a classic. Many prominent writers have acknowledged its influence on their work; students of intellectual history consider it a landmark; and the generation born after World War II considers Buber one of its prophets. Buber's main proposition is that we may address existence in two ways: (1) that of the "I" toward an "It," toward an object that is separate in itself, which we either use or experience; (2) that of the "I" toward "Thou," in which we move into existence in a relationship without bounds. One of the major themes of the book is that human life finds its meaningfulness in relationships. All of our relationships, Buber contends, bring us ultimately into relationship with God, who is the Eternal Thou.

The need for a new English translation had been felt for many years. The old version was marred by many inaccuracies and misunderstandings, and its recurrent use of the archaic "thou" was seriously misleading. Professor Walter Kaufmann, a distinguished writer and philosopher in his own right who was close to Buber, retranslated the work at the request of Buber's family. He added a wealth of informative footnotes to clarify obscurities and bring the reader closer to the original and wrote an extensive prologue that opened up new perspectives on the book and on Buber's thought. This volume provided a new basis for all subsequent discussions of Buber.]]> 185 Martin Buber 0684717255 Pranav 0 to-read 4.08 1923 I and Thou
author: Martin Buber
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1923
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[From the Core: A New Masculine Paradigm for Leading with Love, Living Your Truth, and Healing the World]]> 58772692
Men today face a crisis of identity. While we can see how the old paradigm of patriarchal dominance needs to go, is the solution really to deconstruct the very idea of masculinity out of existence? No¨Dthat¡¯s not the answer. As John Wineland writes, ¡°We need a generation of conscious men who can provide guidance and direction in their communities, just as we need to support and encourage women to do the same.¡± With From the Core, Wineland sets out a clear roadmap for men who want to live, love, and lead from the most profound places within them.

The techniques in From the Core will help you adapt to a changing world while staying in touch with your masculine essence. If you¡¯re willing to spend at least 30 minutes a day in practice, you can transform your entire approach to love, success, and relationships. Here you¡¯ll learn how

? Get strong¨Dgo beyond building your muscles to strengthening your nervous system, awareness, and ability to conduct energy
? Become masterful in the art of sexual and energetic polarity
? Align with the Sacred Feminine¨Doperate in harmony and trust with the feminine forces within you and in others
? Take responsibility for the life you¡¯ve created, the legacy of manhood, and your personal role in healing our damaged world
? Prioritize depth over comfort¨Dbecoming highly attuned to the truth of your heart and the power of your intention
? Use the Eleven Precepts of Conscious Warriorhood as your life¡¯s compass

¡°Despite all of the flak men have received,¡± writes Wineland, ¡°I see brothers every day who are hungrier than ever to step into their lives more powerfully, nobly honor and protect their feminine partners, and be a source of healing and liberation in their communities.¡± From the Core is an inspirational guide and a call to action for men who are ready to embody conscious awareness, unflinching accountability, and true leadership.]]> 224 John Wineland 1683649109 Pranav 0 to-read 4.35 From the Core: A New Masculine Paradigm for Leading with Love, Living Your Truth, and Healing the World
author: John Wineland
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.35
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date added: 2025/02/28
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]]> Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna 1513343 1062 Ramakrishna 0911206019 Pranav 0 to-read 4.61 1902 Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
author: Ramakrishna
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.61
book published: 1902
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/26
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]]> Dhind (????) 16179242
¡°???? ?????? ????? ?????. ????? ??????, ?? ????????? ?????. ??? ???????? ???????? ????? ??? ???.¡± ??? ?????? ??? ????????, ??? ?? ???? ????? ????? ????. ??? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ???? ???????. ¡°???? ???? ???. ??? ??????, ?? ????????? ?????.¡±
?????? ???? ???????, ¡°?????, ???? ???? ????????? ?? ?? !¡±
¡°?????, ???? ??? ????????? ? ??, ??? ???? ???.¡±
¡°????????? ?? ????? ??????? ???? ??? ?¡±
¡°???, ??? ????? ?? ??? ?¡±
¡°???? ???? ????? ??????? ?¡±
¡°???, ?????? ???????? ??? ??. ????????? ????? ???? ?????? !¡±
?? ???? ???? ???? ??? ???????? ???????, ¡°????????? ?????? ?? ?? ???? ?? ???? ????? ?¡±
¡°????? ! ???? ??? ???? ???? ???? ??? ?¡±
¡°???? ??????? ?? ?? ???????? ??? ??? ????? ?¡±
¡°???????? ??? ????? ! ??? ????? ???? ?¡±
¡°?? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ?¡±
¡°?? ???????? ??? ?????? ? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ???? !¡±
??? ??? ???? ????? ??? ???? ????? ??? ???? ??? ?????.]]> 130 Shankar Patil 8177668080 Pranav 0 to-read 4.33 1995 Dhind (????)
author: Shankar Patil
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/20
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]]> Highways to a War 842712 ?
Ray Barton travels to war-ravaged Southeast Asia to search for his missing friend Michael Langford, a brilliant, risk-taking combat photographer who was stolen into Khmer Rouge Cambodia on a mysterious mission and disappeared. The search illuminates Langford¡¯s heroism, his fierce loyalties, and the personal highways he has traveled to war. Langford¡¯s empathy for the brave but poorly commanded Cambodian troops and his love for a young Cambodian woman have led him in the end to put down the camera and take up the gun in a foreign struggle he had made his own.
?
Koch richly evokes Indochina¡ªfrom the deceptively tranquil rice paddies of South Vietnam to the corrupt, doomed pink-and-white city of Phnom Penh. Highways to a War is a story of intense relationships forged in a dangerous and hallucinatory land that continues to haunt the American soul.
?
¡°An absorbing, deeply moving . . . tale of love and heroism. . . . The evocation of the Cambodian landscape . . . is truly haunting.¡±¡ª Kirkus Reviews
?
¡° Highways to a War ranks among the best of the . . . literature that has come out of the agony of the wars in Southeast Asia.¡±¡ª The Orlando Sentinel]]> 496 Christopher J. Koch 0140247572 Pranav 0 to-read 4.32 1995 Highways to a War
author: Christopher J. Koch
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Concubine (Blaze Historicals #2)]]> 5830585 1) Exemplify purity.
2) Pass all demanding tests.
3) Gracefully withstand petty backstabbing.
4) Be chaste. Very chaste.

Check to all! Chen Ji Yue is on her way to empress superstardom in nineteenth-century China. She only has to vanquish 300 rivals to bring her family great honor. Oh, and she may not find the deliciously sexy Sun Bo Tao--the emperor's best friend--at all delicious. Or sexy.

Damn. Ji Yue is in big trouble.

Because Bo Tao is definitely very sexy....

And Ji Yue is about to discover that chastity is overrated....]]> 224 Jade Lee 0373794533 Pranav 0 to-read 3.59 2009 The Concubine (Blaze Historicals #2)
author: Jade Lee
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Under the Sugar Sun (Sugar Sun, #1)]]> 27227742 A schoolmarm, a sugar baron, and a soldier¡­

It is 1902 and Georgina Potter has followed her fianc¨¦ to the Philippines, the most remote outpost of America¡¯s fledgling empire. But Georgina has a purpose in mind beyond marriage: her real mission is to find her brother Ben, who has disappeared into the abyss of the Philippine-American War.

To navigate the Islands¡¯ troubled waters, Georgina enlists the aid of local sugar baron Javier Altarejos. But nothing is as it seems, and the price of Javier¡¯s help may be more than Georgina can bear.

Note: This book was revised for content in June 2018, so if you purchased a Kindle copy previously, please be sure to update the file.

Another note: Content warnings for all the Sugar Sun series books can be found at ]]> 434 Jennifer Hallock Pranav 0 to-read 3.85 Under the Sugar Sun (Sugar Sun, #1)
author: Jennifer Hallock
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.85
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]]> The Samurai's Garden 51113 ]]> 211 Gail Tsukiyama 0312144075 Pranav 0 to-read 4.15 1995 The Samurai's Garden
author: Gail Tsukiyama
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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]]> Dream Story 157409 Like his Viennese contemporary Sigmund Freud, the doctor and dramatist Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931) was a bold pioneer in exploring the dark tangled roots of human sexuality.

Arthur Schnitzler is probably most famous for La Ronde, a play too scandalous to publish or perform in his own lifetime but whose daisy-chain of couplings inspired both Max Ophuls's classic film and David Hare's modernized version, The Blue Room, which played to sell-out audiences in the West End and on Broadway. Dream Story is an equally erotic work, in which a married couple are first traumatized and then achieve a new depth of understanding by confessing to each other their sexual fantasies, dream-like adventures and might-have-beens . . .

Taking us on a guided tour of Vienna's seedy caf¨¦s, red-light district, decadent villas, hospitals and morgue, Schnitzler brilliantly uncovers the violence and depravity lurking beneath the surface of civilized society.

Dream Story is the inspiration for Eyes Wide Shut, co-written by Stanley Kubrick and Frederic Raphael.]]> 117 Arthur Schnitzler 0141182245 Pranav 4 3.86 1926 Dream Story
author: Arthur Schnitzler
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1926
rating: 4
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]]> The Nickel Boys 42270835 Author of The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in 1960s Florida.

Elwood Curtis has taken the words of Dr Martin Luther King to heart: he is as good as anyone. Abandoned by his parents, brought up by his loving, strict and clear-sighted grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But given the time and the place, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives at The Nickel Academy, which claims to provide 'physical, intellectual and moral training' which will equip its inmates to become 'honorable and honest men'.

In reality, the Nickel Academy is a chamber of horrors, where physical, emotional and sexual abuse is rife, where corrupt officials and tradesmen do a brisk trade in supplies intended for the school, and where any boy who resists is likely to disappear 'out back'. Stunned to find himself in this vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold on to Dr King's ringing assertion, 'Throw us in jail, and we will still love you.' But Elwood's fellow inmate and new friend Turner thinks Elwood is naive and worse; the world is crooked, and the only way to survive is to emulate the cruelty and cynicism of their oppressors.

The tension between Elwood's idealism and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision which will have decades-long repercussions.

Based on the history of a real reform school in Florida that operated for one hundred and eleven years and warped and destroyed the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative by a great American novelist whose work is essential to understanding the current reality of the United States.]]> 213 Colson Whitehead Pranav 0 to-read 4.25 2019 The Nickel Boys
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.25
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]]> <![CDATA[Power: Why Some People Have it and Others Don't]]> 8562119 288 Jeffrey Pfeffer 0061789089 Pranav 0 to-read 3.85 2010 Power: Why Some People Have it and Others Don't
author: Jeffrey Pfeffer
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2010
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]]> The Agony of Eros 34848070 An argument that love requires the courage to accept self-negation for the sake of discovering the Other.

Byung-Chul Han is one of the most widely read philosophers in Europe today, a member of the new generation of German thinkers that includes Markus Gabriel and Armen Avanessian. In The Agony of Eros, a bestseller in Germany, Han considers the threat to love and desire in today's society. For Han, love requires the courage to accept self-negation for the sake of discovering the Other. In a world of fetishized individualism and technologically mediated social interaction, it is the Other that is eradicated, not the self. In today's increasingly narcissistic society, we have come to look for love and desire within the ¡°inferno of the same.¡±

Han offers a survey of the threats to Eros, drawing on a wide range of sources¡ªLars von Trier's film Melancholia, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Fifty Shades of Grey, Michel Foucault (providing a scathing critique of Foucault's valorization of power), Martin Buber, Hegel, Baudrillard, Flaubert, Barthes, Plato, and others. Han considers the ¡°pornographication¡± of society, and shows how pornography profanes eros; addresses capitalism's leveling of essential differences; and discusses the politics of eros in today's ¡°burnout society.¡± To be dead to love, Han argues, is to be dead to thought itself.

Concise in its expression but unsparing in its insight, The Agony of Eros is an important and provocative entry in Han's ongoing analysis of contemporary society.

This remarkable essay, an intellectual experience of the first order, affords one of the best ways to gain full awareness of and join in one of the most pressing struggles of the day: the defense, that is to say¡ªas Rimbaud desired it¡ªthe ¡°reinvention¡± of love.¡ªfrom the foreword by Alain Badiou]]> 76 Byung-Chul Han Pranav 0 to-read 3.99 2017 The Agony of Eros
author: Byung-Chul Han
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2017
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]]> <![CDATA[The Disappearance of Rituals: A Topology of the Present]]> 51650768
Avoiding saccharine nostalgia for the rituals of the past, Han provides a genealogy of their disappearance as a means of diagnosing the pathologies of the present. He juxtaposes a community without communication ¡ª where the intensity of togetherness in silent recognition provides structure and meaning ¡ª to today's communication without community, which does away with collective feelings and leaves individuals exposed to exploitation and manipulation by neoliberal psycho-politics. The community that is invoked everywhere today is an atrophied and commoditized community that lacks the symbolic power to bind people together. For Han, it is only the mutual praxis of recognition borne by the ritualistic sharing of the symbolic between members of a community which creates the footholds of objectivity allowing us to make sense of time.

This new book by one of the most creative cultural theorists writing today will be of interest to a wide readership.]]> 186 Byung-Chul Han 1509542752 Pranav 0 to-read 4.05 2019 The Disappearance of Rituals: A Topology of the Present
author: Byung-Chul Han
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2019
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mysterion: Rumi and the Secret of Becoming Fully Human]]> 121116711
The 13th-century poet and mystic Rumi has become one of the most popular spiritual voices of our time¡ªknown and loved by people of many faiths and worldviews for his rich metaphors, images, poems, and stories. The Mysterion deepens our appreciation of his teachings by illuminating both the practical psychological dimension behind them, as well as the universal spiritual truths they offer about what it means to be human.

In this philosophical survey, Kabir Helminski, one of the foremost translators and writers of Sufi texts, gives us a contemporary lens through which to view and understand the ¡°Mysterion,¡± the unifying concept that bridges the human and the divine¡ªand that connects the individual soul with spiritual Reality. This book is centered on that core, unifying concept of the the essence and intrinsic meaning of being human.

Rumi, says Helminski, would suggest that in our human existence we might accomplish many marvels, but they will amount to little if we neglect cultivating the divine potential within us. Like a mirror, he says, we can reflect a spectrum of divine qualities depending on how polished and clean our mirror is. Likewise, our mirrors can become distorted and corroded by egoism and negativity. Our practical work, says Helminski (and Rumi), is to remove distortions from our souls and align ourselves with this higher order reality and divine agency, through humility, reverence, surrender, and love.]]> 264 Kabir Helminski 1645471446 Pranav 4 4.35 The Mysterion: Rumi and the Secret of Becoming Fully Human
author: Kabir Helminski
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.35
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]]> Augustus 89231 Augustus is a sweeping narrative that brings vividly to life a compelling cast of historical figures through their letters, dispatches, and memoirs.

A mere eighteen years of age when his uncle, Julius Caesar, is murdered, Octavius Caesar prematurely inherits rule of the Roman Republic. Surrounded by men who are jockeying for power¨CCicero, Brutus, Cassius, and Mark Antony¨Cyoung Octavius must work against the powerful Roman political machinations to claim his destiny as first Roman emperor. Sprung from meticulous research and the pen of a true poet, Augustus tells the story of one man¡¯s dream to liberate a corrupt Rome from the fancy of the capriciously crooked and the wildly wealthy.]]> 336 John Williams 1400076730 Pranav 5 4.23 1972 Augustus
author: John Williams
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1972
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/04
date added: 2024/12/20
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]]> My Wicked, Wicked Ways 24942 438 Errol Flynn 1845130499 Pranav 3 4.03 1959 My Wicked, Wicked Ways
author: Errol Flynn
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1959
rating: 3
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]]> <![CDATA[Near Enemies of the Truth: Avoid the Pitfalls of the Spiritual Life and Become Radically Free]]> 123314354 Tantric philosopher and Oxford scholar Christopher Wallis calls out the seemingly helpful spiritual teachings dominating our current culture and demonstrates how these near truths stand in the way of a more radically free and meaningful life¨Dand ultimately, a deeper spiritual awakening.?

Have you ever been told, ¡°You create your own reality¡±? Have you been encouraged to ¡°be your best self¡± or ¡°follow your bliss¡±? Nowadays these slogans are everywhere, but what if they¡¯re doing more harm than good? After over thirty years as a scholar-practitioner of meditation and Tantric philosophy, acclaimed author Christopher Wallis (also known as Hareesh) explores the most widespread distortions of spiritual teachings present in our world today. Rooted in the Asian wisdom traditions, Wallis¡¯s book uncovers why these oft-heard platitudes are ¡°near enemies¡± to the truth, often detour us off the spiritual path, and can even cause unnecessary suffering.

In asking us to question what we¡¯ve accepted as ¡°truth,¡± Wallis reveals how teachings like ¡°become the best version of yourself¡± may have helped us at one stage in our journey but can ultimately lead us away from self-acceptance and compassion and cause us to prioritize an imagined ideal over true intimacy with reality. Understanding the near enemies is vital for any spiritual seeker who is ready to create a deeper, more fulfilling practice and will help you:

- Distinguish between truth and belief
- Communicate more authentically with loved ones
- Set healthier boundaries
- Be in greater harmony with reality
- Practice radical self-acceptance

Near Enemies of the Truth offers itself as a guide to the pitfalls of the spiritual life. However, it doesn¡¯t focus on the negative. In each chapter, after pointing out how a spiritual teaching can be construed in a non-beneficial way, Wallis focuses on the deeper truth and ancient wisdom underlying that teaching, which is often obscured by its popular bumper-sticker version. Each chapter contains a supportive insight for your spiritual process and/or for your everyday life, including guided meditations and reflections.?

Written in a gentle and encouraging tone, this book offers a wealth of insight and guidance for anyone who finds themselves struggling, reaching a spiritual plateau, or simply seeking a more meaningful way forward. This timely companion will help you think differently and see through the smokescreens to what is true.?]]> 280 Christopher D. Wallis 1637560370 Pranav 5 4.54 Near Enemies of the Truth: Avoid the Pitfalls of the Spiritual Life and Become Radically Free
author: Christopher D. Wallis
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.54
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]]> <![CDATA[The Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness]]> 75890 230 Jeffrey Gitomer 1885167601 Pranav 2 diy-marketing 3.92 2004 The Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness
author: Jeffrey Gitomer
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2004
rating: 2
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date added: 2024/12/16
shelves: diy-marketing
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]]> <![CDATA[The History of Magic: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present]]> 54156982
It has been with us for millennia - from the curses and charms of ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish magic, to the shamanistic traditions of Eurasia, indigenous America and Africa, and even quantum physics today. Even today seventy-five per cent of the Western world holds some belief in magic, whether snapping wishbones, buying lottery tickets or giving names to inanimate objects.

Drawing on his decades of research, with incredible breadth and authority, Professor Chris Gosden provides a timely history of human thought and the role it has played in shaping civilization, and how we might use magic to rethink our understanding of the world.]]> 492 Chris Gosden Pranav 0 to-read 3.56 2020 The History of Magic: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present
author: Chris Gosden
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2020
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]]> The Penguin Book of Pirates 150246180
A Penguin Classic

Behind the eye patches and the peg legs and the skull and crossbones of the Jolly Roger flag are deeper truths about pirates that are just as fascinating. The no-man¡¯s-land of piracy is rife with paradox and plot twists, like how astoundingly egalitarian multi-ethnic and multilingual crews became enmeshed in historical horrors like the slave trade, how an Englishman once converted to Islam before terrorizing the North African coast, and how women disguised themselves as men to raid the Caribbean.

Spanning three centuries and eight thousand nautical miles, and compiled by a direct descendant of a sailor who waged war with pirates in the early nineteenth century, The Penguin Book of Pirates features trial transcripts, journalism, ship logs, and more, capturing the grit and patois of real maritime marauders like the infamous Blackbeard; the pirates who inspired Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean , Stede Bonnet in HBO Max¡¯s Our Flag Means Death , and the Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride ;?and lesser-known but no less formidable women pirates.?By turns brutal, harrowing, and inspiring, these accounts of the ¡°radically free¡± sailors who were citizens more of the oceangoing world than of any nation remind us of the glories and dangers of the open seas and the seductive appeal of communities forged in resistance.]]> 400 Katherine Howe 0143137514 Pranav 0 to-read 3.39 2024 The Penguin Book of Pirates
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name: Pranav
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2024
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]]> <![CDATA[One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder]]> 45031831
When Brian Doyle passed away at the age of sixty after a bout with brain cancer, he left behind a cult-like following of devoted readers who regard his writing as one of the best-kept secrets of the twenty-first century. Doyle writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the sanctity of everyday things, and about love and connection in all their spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon.

At a moment when the world can sometimes feel darker than ever, Doyle's writing, which constantly evokes the humor and even bliss that life affords, is a balm. His essays manage to find, again and again, exquisite beauty in the quotidian, whether it's the awe of a child the first time she hears a river, or a husband's whiskers that a grieving widow misses seeing in her sink every morning. Through Doyle's eyes, nothing is dull.

David James Duncan sums up Doyle's sensibilities best in his introduction to the "Brian Doyle lived the pleasure of bearing daily witness to quiet glories hidden in people, places and creatures of little or no size, renown, or commercial value, and he brought inimitably playful or soaring or aching or heartfelt language to his tellings." A life's work, One Long River of Song invites readers to experience joy and wonder in ordinary moments that become, under Doyle's rapturous and exuberant gaze, extraordinary.]]> 250 Brian Doyle 0316492892 Pranav 0 to-read 4.63 2019 One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder
author: Brian Doyle
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.63
book published: 2019
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]]> Character Analysis 339384 576 Wilhelm Reich 0374509808 Pranav 0 to-read 4.08 1933 Character Analysis
author: Wilhelm Reich
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1933
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Function of the Orgasm (Discovery of the Orgone #1)]]> 339389
The subject of "sexuality" is basic to this work, and Reich shows clearly its importance for human life and its relevance in understanding the social problems of our time.]]> 400 Wilhelm Reich 0374502048 Pranav 0 to-read 4.02 1942 The Function of the Orgasm (Discovery of the Orgone #1)
author: Wilhelm Reich
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1942
rating: 0
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review:

]]> My Name Is Asher Lev 11507 This is a previously-published edition of ISBN 9781400031047.

Asher Lev is a Ladover Hasid who keeps kosher, prays three times a day, and believes in the Ribbono Shel Olom, the Master of the Universe. Asher Lev is an artist who is compulsively driven to render the world he sees and feels, even when it leads him to blasphemy. In this stirring and often visionary novel, Chaim Potok traces Asher¡¯s passage between these two identities, the one consecrated to God, the other subject only to the imagination.

Asher Lev grows up in a cloistered Hasidic community in postwar Brooklyn, a world suffused by ritual and revolving around a charismatic Rebbe. But in time, his gift threatens to estrange him from that world and the parents he adores. As it follows his struggle, My Name Is Asher Lev becomes a luminous portrait of the artist, by turns heartbreaking and exultant, a modern classic.]]> 369 Chaim Potok Pranav 0 to-read 4.23 1972 My Name Is Asher Lev
author: Chaim Potok
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1972
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]]> <![CDATA[Mrs. Bridge (Mrs and Mr Bridge, #1)]]> 129972 Alternate-cover edition for ISBN 0865470561 / 9780865470569 can be found here

The wife of a successful lawyer in 1930s Kansas City, India Bridge, tries to cope with her dissatisfaction with an easy, though empty, life.

Before Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique there was Mrs. Bridge, an inspired novel set in the years around World War II that testified to the sapping ennui of an unexamined suburban life. India Bridge, the title character, has three children and a meticulous workaholic husband. She defends her dainty, untouched guest towels from son Douglas, who has the gall to dry his hands on one, and earnestly attempts to control her daughters with pronouncements such as "Now see here, young lady ... in the morning one doesn't wear earrings that dangle." Though her life is increasingly filled with leisure and plenty, she can't shuffle off vague feelings of dissatisfaction, confusion, and futility. Evan S. Connell, who also wrote the twinned novel Mr. Bridge, builds a world with tiny brushstrokes and short, telling vignettes.]]> 246 Evan S. Connell 0865470561 Pranav 0 to-read 4.05 1959 Mrs. Bridge (Mrs and Mr Bridge, #1)
author: Evan S. Connell
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1959
rating: 0
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]]> Mansfield Park 45032 488 Jane Austen Pranav 4 3.86 1814 Mansfield Park
author: Jane Austen
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1814
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/11/27
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]]> Re-Visioning Psychology 324172 304 James Hillman 0060905638 Pranav 0 to-read 4.29 1975 Re-Visioning Psychology
author: James Hillman
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1975
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Revolt Against the Modern World]]> 179404 In what many consider to be his masterwork, Evola contrasts the characteristics of the modern world with those of traditional societies, from politics and institutions to views on life and death.

"No idea is as absurd as the idea of progress, which together with its corollary notion of the superiority of modern civilization, has created its own 'positive' alibis by falsifying history, by insinuating harmful myths in people's minds, and by proclaiming itself sovereign at the crossroads of the plebeian ideology from which it originated. In order to understand both the spirit of Tradition and its antithesis, modern civilization, it is necessary to begin with the fundamental doctrine of the two natures. According to this doctrine there is a physical order of things and a metaphysical one; there is a mortal nature and an immortal one; there is the superior realm of 'being' and the inferior realm of 'becoming.' Generally speaking, there is a visible and tangible dimension and, prior to and beyond it, an invisible and intangible dimension that is the support, the source, and the true life of the former." ¡ªFrom Chapter One.

With unflinching gaze and uncompromising intensity Julius Evola analyzes the spiritual and cultural malaise at the heart of Western civilization and all that passes for progress in the modern world. As a gadfly, Evola spares no one and nothing in his survey of what we have lost and where we are headed. At turns prophetic and provocative, Revolt against the Modern World outlines a profound metaphysics of history and demonstrates how and why we have lost contact with the transcendent dimension of being. The revolt advocated by Evola does not resemble the familiar protests of either liberals or conservatives. His criticisms are not limited to exposing the mindless nature of consumerism, the march of progress, the rise of technocracy, or the dominance of unalloyed individualism, although these and other subjects come under his scrutiny. Rather, he attempts to trace in space and time the remote causes and processes that have exercised corrosive influence on what he considers to be the higher values, ideals, beliefs, and codes of conduct¡ªthe world of Tradition¡ªthat are at the foundation of Western civilization and described in the myths and sacred literature of the Indo-Europeans. Agreeing with the Hindu philosophers that history is the movement of huge cycles and that we are now in the Kali Yuga, the age of dissolution and decadence, Evola finds revolt to be the only logical response for those who oppose the materialism and ritualized meaninglessness of life in the twentieth century. Through a sweeping study of the structures, myths, beliefs, and spiritual traditions of the major Western civilizations, the author compares the characteristics of the modern world with those of traditional societies. The domains explored include politics, law, the rise and fall of empires, the history of the Church, the doctrine of the two natures, life and death, social institutions and the caste system, the limits of racial theories, capitalism and communism, relations between the sexes, and the meaning of warriorhood. At every turn Evola challenges the reader's most cherished assumptions about fundamental aspects of modern life.]]> 375 Julius Evola 089281506X Pranav 0 to-read 3.99 1934 Revolt Against the Modern World
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name: Pranav
average rating: 3.99
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]]> <![CDATA[Eros and the Mysteries of Love: The Metaphysics of Sex]]> 208056 336 Julius Evola 0892813156 Pranav 0 to-read 4.15 1958 Eros and the Mysteries of Love: The Metaphysics of Sex
author: Julius Evola
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1958
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]]> <![CDATA[How to Keep House While Drowning]]> 60139504 How to Keep House While Drowning will introduce you to six life-changing principles that will revolutionize the way you approach home care¡ªwithout endless to-do lists. Presented in 31 daily thoughts, this compassionate guide will help you begin to get free of the shame and anxiety you feel over home care.

Inside you will learn:
¡¤ How to shift your perspective of care tasks from moral to functional;
¡¤ How to stop negative self-talk and shame around care tasks;
¡¤ How to give yourself permission to rest, even when things aren¡¯t finished;
¡¤ How to motivate yourself to care for your space.]]> 151 KC Davis LPC 166800285X Pranav 0 to-read 4.21 2022 How to Keep House While Drowning
author: KC Davis LPC
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[How to ADHD: An Insider's Guide to Working with Your Brain (Not Against It)]]> 125227576
Forget ¡°try harder.¡± When your brain works differently, you need to try different .
?
Diagnosed with ADHD at age twelve, Jessica struggled with a brain that she didn¡¯t understand. She lost things constantly, couldn¡¯t finish projects, and felt like she was putting more effort in than everyone around her while falling further and further behind. At thirty-two years old¡ªbroke, divorced, and living with her mom¡ªJessica decided to look more deeply into her ADHD challenges. She reached out to experts, devoured articles, and shared her discoveries on YouTube.
?
In How to ADHD , Jessica reveals the tools that have changed her life while offering an unflinching look at the realities of living with ADHD. The key to navigating a world not built for the neurodivergent brain, she discovered, isn¡¯t to fix or fight against its natural tendencies but to understand and work with them. She explains how ADHD affects everyday life, covering executive function impairments, rejection sensitivity, difficulties with attention regulation, and more. You¡¯ll also find ADHD-specific strategies for adapting your environment, routines, and systems,
?
? Boost the signal and decrease the noise . Facilitate focus by putting your goals where you can see them and fighting distractions with distractions.
? Have less stuff to manage. Learn why you have trouble planning and prioritizing, and why doing more starts with doing less.
? Build your ¡°time wisdom.¡± Work backward when you plan, and track how long it actually takes you to do something.
? Learn about your emotions. Understand how naming your emotions and letting yourself experience them can make them easier to regulate.
?
With quotes from Jessica¡¯s online community, chapter summaries, and reading shortcuts designed for the neurodivergent reader, How to ADHD will help you recognize your strengths and challenges, tackle ¡°bad brain days,¡± and be kinder to yourself in the process.]]> 464 Jessica McCabe 0593578945 Pranav 0 to-read 4.43 2024 How to ADHD: An Insider's Guide to Working with Your Brain (Not Against It)
author: Jessica McCabe
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (3 Volumes)]]> 38212108 Box Set | Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3]

A landmark event: the complete Hebrew Bible in the award-winning translation that delivers the stunning literary power of the original.

A masterpiece of deep learning and fine sensibility, Robert Alter¡¯s translation of the Hebrew Bible, now complete, reanimates one of the formative works of our culture. Capturing its brilliantly compact poetry and finely wrought, purposeful prose, Alter renews the Old Testament as a source of literary power and spiritual inspiration. From the family frictions of Genesis and King David¡¯s flawed humanity to the serene wisdom of Psalms and Job¡¯s incendiary questioning of God¡¯s ways, these magnificent works of world literature resonate with a startling immediacy. Featuring Alter¡¯s generous commentary, which quietly alerts readers to the literary and historical dimensions of the text, this is the definitive edition of the Hebrew Bible.]]> 3132 Robert Alter 0393292495 Pranav 0 to-read 4.74 2018 The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (3 Volumes)
author: Robert Alter
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average rating: 4.74
book published: 2018
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]]> <![CDATA[The Literary Guide to the Bible]]> 398086
General introduction / Robert Alter and Frank Kermode

The Old Testament:
Introduction / Robert Alter ;
Genesis / J.P. Fokkelman ;
Exodus / J.P. Fokkelman ;
Leviticus / David Damrosch ;
Numbers / James S. Ackerman ;
Deuteronomy / Robert Polzin ;
Joshua and Judges / David M. Gunn ;
1 and 2 Samuel / Joel Rosenberg ;
1 and 2 Kings / George Savran ;
Isaiah / Luis Alonso Sch?kel ;
Jeremiah and Ezekiel / Joel Rosenberg ;
The twelve prophets / Herbert Marks ;
Jonah / James S. Ackerman ;
Psalms / Robert Alter ;
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes / James G. Williams ;
Job / Moshe Greenberg ;
The song of songs / Francis Landy ;
Ruth / Jack M. Sasson ;
Lamentations / Francis Landy ;
Esther / Jack M. Sasson ;
Daniel / Shemaryahu Talmon ;
Ezra and Nehemiah / Shemaryahu Talmon ;
1 and 2 Chronicles / Shemaryahu Talmon

The New Testament:
Introduction / Frank Kermode ;
Matthew / Frank Kermode ;
Mark / John Drury ;
Luke / John Drury ;
John / Frank Kermode ;
Acts / James M. Robinson ;
The Pauline epistles / Michael Goulder ;
The epistle to the Hebrews and the catholic epistles / Gabriel Josipovici ; Revelation / Bernard McGinn

General Essays:
The Hebrew Bible and Canaanite literature / John C. Greenfield
The New Testament and Greco-Roman writing / Helen Elsom ;
Fishing for men on the edge if the wilderness / Edmund Leach ;
The canon / Frank Kermode ;
The characteristics of ancient Hebrew poetry / Robert Alter ;
Midrash and allegory / Gerald L. Bruns ;
English translations of the Bible / Gerald Hammond]]> 688 Robert Alter 0674875311 Pranav 0 to-read 3.92 1987 The Literary Guide to the Bible
author: Robert Alter
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1987
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]]> <![CDATA[Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution]]> 527523 948 Simon Schama 0679726101 Pranav 0 to-read 4.02 1989 Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
author: Simon Schama
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1989
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]]> Essayism 33301083 Anatomy of Melancholy. The essay may not even be written, but instead a photo essay, film essay, radio essay or some hybrid of these and the literary archetype. It may belong to a self-conscious genre and have been written by an essayist who self-declares as such; or it might be conjured from a milieu where the labels 'essay' and 'essayist' would make no sense at all. The essay, in short, is a varied and various artefact. Its occasion might be scholarly - there are academic essays, though they tend to be essays to the extent that they wish to stop being academic - or it may be journalistic, institutional or 'creative'. The essay can be tethered to a specific (perhaps polemical) context or written with an ambition to timeless or universal import. Whatever its motivation or avowed theme, the essay possesses a style and a voice. Generic, structural and contextual definitions will vary, but the essay is at least recognizable by its having a certain texture - the essay alters or interferes to some degree with the language of non-fiction. Essayism is a personal, critical and polemical book about the genre, its history and its contemporary possibilities, itself an example of what it describes: an essay that is curious and digressive and at the same time held together]]> 138 Brian Dillon 1910695416 Pranav 0 to-read 4.18 2017 Essayism
author: Brian Dillon
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2017
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]]> My Life and Loves 560318 362 Frank Harris 1573927740 Pranav 0 to-read 3.51 1908 My Life and Loves
author: Frank Harris
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1908
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]]> <![CDATA[Renaissance People: Lives that Shaped the Modern Age]]> 12764043 Each section in this volume marks a chronological stage in Europe¡¯s rebirth, tying the period¡¯s intellectual currents to its political and social concerns and setting the context for the individual biographies.

?]]> 336 Robert C. Davis 1606060783 Pranav 0 to-read 3.96 2011 Renaissance People: Lives that Shaped the Modern Age
author: Robert C. Davis
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2011
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]]> <![CDATA[Tantra: enlightenment to revolution]]> 53118655

This book examines the philosophies, core beliefs, and artistic expressions of Tantra, and its impact on religious, cultural, and political landscapes across the globe. In tracing the history of the movement, author Imma Ramos reveals Tantra¡¯s origins and continued relevance in India, as well as its redefinition as it was adopted by Western popular culture during the 1960s.


Tantra: enlightenment to revolution accompanies a major exhibition at the British Museum, and is illustrated extensively with masterpieces of sculpture, painting, print, and ritual objects from India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, dating as far back as the eighth century CE.]]> 288 Imma Ramos 0500480621 Pranav 0 to-read 4.70 Tantra: enlightenment to revolution
author: Imma Ramos
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.70
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]]> Bel-Ami 780581 416 Guy de Maupassant 0140443150 Pranav 0 to-read 3.85 1885 Bel-Ami
author: Guy de Maupassant
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1885
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/10
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]]> The Use of the Self 937068 The Use of the Self is the foremost text on Alexander¡¯s revolutionary technique.]]> 128 Frederick Matthias Alexander 0752843915 Pranav 0 to-read 3.95 1985 The Use of the Self
author: Frederick Matthias Alexander
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Pleasure: A Creative Approach To Life]]> 504085 240 Alexander Lowen 0974373729 Pranav 0 to-read 4.32 Pleasure: A Creative Approach To Life
author: Alexander Lowen
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.32
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]]> Men Without Women 33652490 Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.

Across seven tales, Haruki Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. Here are vanishing cats and smoky bars, lonely hearts and mysterious women, baseball and the Beatles, woven together to tell stories that speak to us all.

Marked by the same wry humor that has defined his entire body of work, in this collection Murakami has crafted another contemporary classic.]]> 242 Haruki Murakami 0385689454 Pranav 4 3.74 2014 Men Without Women
author: Haruki Murakami
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2014
rating: 4
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]]> The Glass Bead Game 16634 The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature.

Set in the twenty-third century, The Glass Bead Game is the story of Joseph Knecht, who has been raised in Castalia, the remote place his society has provided for the intellectual elite to grow and flourish. Since childhood, Knecht has been consumed with mastering the Glass Bead Game, which requires a synthesis of aesthetics and philosophy, which he achieves in adulthood, becoming a Magister Ludi (Master of the Game).]]> 558 Hermann Hesse 0312278497 Pranav 0 to-read 4.12 1943 The Glass Bead Game
author: Hermann Hesse
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1943
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]]> <![CDATA[Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works (Lean (O'Reilly))]]> 20942050
What we need is a systematic process for quickly vetting product ideas and raising our odds of success. That¡¯s the promise of Running Lean.

In this inspiring book, Ash Maurya takes you through an exacting strategy for achieving a "product/market fit" for your fledgling venture, based on his own experience in building a wide array of products from high-tech to no-tech. Throughout, he builds on the ideas and concepts of several innovative methodologies, including the Lean Startup, Customer Development, and bootstrapping.

Running Lean is an ideal tool for business managers, CEOs, small business owners, developers and programmers, and anyone who¡¯s interested in starting a business project.

Find a problem worth solving, then define a solutionEngage your customers throughout the development cycleContinually test your product with smaller, faster iterationsBuild a feature, measure customer response, and verify/refute the ideaKnow when to "pivot" by changing your plan¡¯s courseMaximize your efforts for speed, learning, and focusLearn the ideal time to raise your "big round" of fundingGet on track with The Lean SeriesPresented by Eric Ries¡ªbestselling author of The Lean How Today¡¯s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses¡ªThe Lean Series gives you solid footing in a proven methodology that will help your business succeed.]]> 240 Ash Maurya 144932715X Pranav 0 to-read 4.43 2012 Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works (Lean (O'Reilly))
author: Ash Maurya
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2012
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date added: 2024/09/20
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]]> <![CDATA[The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]> 19400
The work covers the history of the Roman Empire, Europe, and the Catholic Church from 98 to 1590 and discusses the decline of the Roman Empire in the East and West. Because of its relative objectivity and heavy use of primary sources, unusual at the time, its methodology became a model for later historians. This led to Gibbon being called the first "modern historian of ancient Rome"

This version includes working footnotes unobtrusively placed at the back of the book with active links for easy navigation, maps from the original book, modern maps, and links to audiobook of all volumes.
]]> 1312 Edward Gibbon Pranav 0 to-read 3.97 1776 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
author: Edward Gibbon
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1776
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]]> <![CDATA[The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore]]> 8109709 578 Benjamin Hale 0446571571 Pranav 0 to-read 3.58 2011 The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore
author: Benjamin Hale
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2011
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]]> Eros the Bittersweet 150255
Originally published in 1989.]]> 190 Anne Carson 1564781887 Pranav 0 to-read 4.48 1986 Eros the Bittersweet
author: Anne Carson
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.48
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Drunkard (Hong Kong Literature)]]> 53281616 The Drunkard is one of the first full-length stream-of-consciousness novels written in Chinese. It has been called the Hong Kong Novel, and was first published in 1962 as a serial in a Hong Kong evening paper. As the unnamed Narrator, a writer at odds with a philistine world, sinks to his drunken nadir, his plight can be seen to represent that of a whole intelligentsia, a whole culture, degraded by the brutal forces of history: the Second Sino-Japanese War and the rampant capitalism of post-war Hong Kong.

The often surrealistic description of the Narrator's inexorable descent through the seedy bars and night-clubs of Hong Kong, of his numerous encounters with dance-girls and his ever more desperate bouts of drinking, is counterpointed by a series of wide-ranging literary essays, analysing the Chinese classical tradition, the popular culture of China and the West, and the modernist movement in Western and Chinese literature.

The ambiance of Hong Kong in the early 1960s is graphically evoked in this powerful and poignant novel, which takes the reader to the very heart of Hong Kong. Hong Kong director Freddie Wong made a fine film version of the novel in 2004.]]> 351 Liu Yichang 9882371868 Pranav 0 to-read 4.22 1962 The Drunkard (Hong Kong Literature)
author: Liu Yichang
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1962
rating: 0
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]]> Snow Country 14028 Snow Country is widely considered to be the writer's masterpiece, a powerful tale of wasted love set amid the desolate beauty of western Japan.

At an isolated mountain hot spring, with snow blanketing every surface, Shimamura, a wealthy dilettante meets Komako, a lowly geisha. She gives herself to him fully and without remorse, despite knowing that their passion cannot last and that the affair can have only one outcome. In chronicling the course of this doomed romance, Kawabata has created a story for the ages, a stunning novel dense in implication and exalting in its sadness.]]> 175 Yasunari Kawabata 0679761047 Pranav 0 to-read 3.63 1948 Snow Country
author: Yasunari Kawabata
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1948
rating: 0
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]]> ¶Ôµ¹/ÁõÒÔÛ˾­µä±õ²Ô³Ù±ð°ù²õ±ð³¦³Ù¾±´Ç²Ô 48575261 ¡°¶Ôµ¹¡±Ö¸Ò»ÕýÒ»¸ºË«Á¬ÓÊƱ£¬½èÓôËÐÎʽ£¬×÷ÕßÓÚ1972Äê´´×÷Á˳¤ÆªÐ¡Ëµ¡¶¶Ôµ¹¡·£¬ºóÓÖŨËõΪ¶Ìƪ£¬±¾ÊéΪ³¤¡¢¶ÌƪºÏ¼¯¡£
2000Ä꣬ÁõÒÔÛË×ŵġ¶¶Ôµ¹¡·Òý·¢Ïã¸Ûµ¼ÑÝÍõ¼ÒÎÀÅÄÉãµçÓ°¡¶»¨ÑùÄ껪¡·¡£"±Õ±Õ> 270 Liu Yichang 7020135404 Pranav 0 to-read 3.87 1972 ¶Ôµ¹/ÁõÒÔÛ˾­µä±õ²Ô³Ù±ð°ù²õ±ð³¦³Ù¾±´Ç²Ô
author: Liu Yichang
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1972
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/07
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]]> Heartbreak Tango 71759 224 Manuel Puig 0140189971 Pranav 0 to-read 3.85 1969 Heartbreak Tango
author: Manuel Puig
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1969
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art]]> 287495
Since its discovery, cave art has provoked great curiosity about why it appeared when and where it did, how it was made, and what it meant to the communities that created it. David Lewis-Williams proposes that the explanation for this lies in the evolution of the human mind. Cro-Magnons, unlike the Neanderthals, possessed a more advanced neurological makeup that enabled them to experience shamanistic trances and vivid mental imagery. It became important for people to "fix," or paint, these images on cave walls, which they perceived as the membrane between their world and the spirit world from which the visions came. Over time, new social distinctions developed as individuals exploited their hallucinations for personal advancement, and the first truly modern society emerged.

Illuminating glimpses into the ancient mind are skillfully interwoven here with the still-evolving story of modern-day cave discoveries and research. The Mind in the Cave is a superb piece of detective work, casting light on the darkest mysteries of our earliest ancestors while strengthening our wonder at their aesthetic achievements.]]> 320 James David Lewis-Williams 0500284652 Pranav 0 to-read 4.13 2002 The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art
author: James David Lewis-Williams
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2002
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]]> Leonardo's Notebooks 24096 An all-new, jewel-like, reader-friendly format gives new life to this relaunch of an international best-seller.



Leonardo da Vinci¡ªartist, inventor, and prototypical Renaissance man¡ªis a perennial source of fascination because of his astonishing intellect and boundless curiosity about the natural and man-made world. During his life he created numerous works of art and kept voluminous notebooks that detailed his artistic and intellectual pursuits.



The collection of writings and art in this magnificent book are drawn from his notebooks. The book organizes his wide range of interests into subjects such as human figures, light and shade, perspective and visual perception, anatomy, botany and landscape, geography, the physical sciences and astronomy, architecture, sculpture, and inventions. Nearly every piece of writing throughout the book is keyed to the piece of artwork it describes.



The writing and art is selected by art historian H. Anna Suh, who provides fascinating commentary and insight into the material, making Leonardo's Notebooks an exquisite single-volume compendium celebrating his enduring genius.]]> 352 Leonardo da Vinci 1579124577 Pranav 0 to-read 4.00 1519 Leonardo's Notebooks
author: Leonardo da Vinci
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1519
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]]> Crowds and Power 79917
Breathtaking in its range and erudition, it explores Shiite festivals and the English Civil war, the finger exercises of monkeys and the effects of inflation in Weimar Germany. In this study of the interplay of crowds, Canetti offers one of the most profound and startling portraits of the human condition.]]> 495 Elias Canetti 0374518203 Pranav 0 to-read 4.13 1960 Crowds and Power
author: Elias Canetti
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1960
rating: 0
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos]]> 150252
This clear-eyed, brutal, moving, darkly funny book tells a single story in an immediate, accessible voice¨C29 ¡°tangos¡± of narrative verse that take us vividly through erotic, painful, and heartbreaking scenes from a long-time marriage that falls apart. Only award-winning poet Anne Carson could create a work that takes on the oldest of lyrical subjects¨Clove¨Cand make it this powerful, this fresh, this devastating.]]> 160 Anne Carson 0375707573 Pranav 0 to-read 4.22 2001 The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos
author: Anne Carson
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2001
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive]]> 8884400
Named for computer pioneer Alan Turing, the Tur?ing Test convenes a panel of judges who pose questions¡ªranging anywhere from celebrity gossip to moral conundrums¡ªto hidden contestants in an attempt to discern which is human and which is a computer. The machine that most often fools the panel wins the Most Human Computer Award. But there is also a prize, bizarre and intriguing, for the Most Human Human.

In 2008, the top AI program came short of passing the Turing Test by just one astonishing vote. In 2009, Brian Christian was chosen to participate, and he set out to make sure Homo sapiens would prevail.

The author¡¯s quest to be deemed more human than a com?puter opens a window onto our own nature. Interweaving modern phenomena like customer service ¡°chatbots¡± and men using programmed dialogue to pick up women in bars with insights from fields as diverse as chess, psychiatry, and the law, Brian Christian examines the philosophical, bio?logical, and moral issues raised by the Turing Test.

One central definition of human has been ¡°a being that could reason.¡± If computers can reason, what does that mean for the special place we reserve for humanity?]]> 303 Brian Christian 0385533063 Pranav 0 to-read 3.94 2011 The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive
author: Brian Christian
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[My Lady Jane (The Lady Janies, #1)]]> 22840421
In My Lady Jane, coauthors Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows have created a one-of-a-kind YA fantasy in the tradition of The Princess Bride, featuring a reluctant king, an even more reluctant queen, a noble steed, and only a passing resemblance to actual history¡ªbecause sometimes history needs a little help.

At sixteen, Lady Jane Grey is about to be married off to a stranger and caught up in a conspiracy to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But those trifling problems aren¡¯t for Jane to worry about. Jane gets to be Queen of England.

Like that could go wrong.]]> 474 Cynthia Hand 0062391798 Pranav 0 to-read 4.00 2016 My Lady Jane (The Lady Janies, #1)
author: Cynthia Hand
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not]]> 596322 191 John Vorhaus 1879505215 Pranav 0 to-read 3.96 1994 The Comic Toolbox: How to Be Funny Even If You're Not
author: John Vorhaus
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences]]> 9967766
Topics include:
Principles from psychology are found throughout the book, along with dozens of examples showing how these techniques have been applied with great success. In addition, each section includes interviews with influential web and interaction designers.]]> 223 Stephen P. Anderson 0321725522 Pranav 0 to-read 4.08 2011 Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences
author: Stephen P. Anderson
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses]]> 3396933 520 Jesse Schell 0123694965 Pranav 0 to-read 4.37 2008 The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
author: Jesse Schell
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/07/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Housekeeper and the Professor]]> 3181564
She is an astute young Housekeeper, with a ten-year-old son, who is hired to care for him.

And every morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them. Though he cannot hold memories for long (his brain is like a tape that begins to erase itself every eighty minutes), the Professor¡¯s mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. And the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her young son. The Professor is capable of discovering connections between the simplest of quantities--like the Housekeeper¡¯s shoe size--and the universe at large, drawing their lives ever closer and more profoundly together, even as his memory slips away.

The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.]]> 180 Y¨­ko Ogawa 0312427808 Pranav 0 to-read 4.04 2003 The Housekeeper and the Professor
author: Y¨­ko Ogawa
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Stoner 166997
John Williams¡¯s luminous and deeply moving novel is a work of quiet perfection. William Stoner emerges from it not only as an archetypal American, but as an unlikely existential hero, standing, like a figure in a painting by Edward Hopper, in stark relief against an unforgiving world.]]> 292 John Williams 1590171993 Pranav 0 to-read 4.36 1965 Stoner
author: John Williams
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1965
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Case for India 4410574 176 Will Durant Pranav 0 to-read 4.30 1930 The Case for India
author: Will Durant
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1930
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> American Panda 35297380
With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can't bring herself to tell them the truth--that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.

But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?]]> 311 Gloria Chao 1481499106 Pranav 0 to-read 3.77 2018 American Panda
author: Gloria Chao
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Book Thief 19063 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

(Note: this title was not published as YA fiction)]]> 592 Markus Zusak Pranav 0 favorite-fiction 4.38 2005 The Book Thief
author: Markus Zusak
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/27
shelves: favorite-fiction
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Journey of Soul Initiation: A Field Guide for Visionaries, Evolutionaries, and Revolutionaries]]> 55162140 520 Bill Plotkin 1608687015 Pranav 0 to-read 4.38 2021 The Journey of Soul Initiation: A Field Guide for Visionaries, Evolutionaries, and Revolutionaries
author: Bill Plotkin
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death]]> 40983487 "I Am I Am I Am is a gripping and glorious investigation of death that leaves the reader feeling breathless, grateful, and fully alive. Maggie O'Farrell is a miracle in every sense. I will never forget this book."
--Ann Patchett

An extraordinary memoir--told entirely in near-death experiences--from one of Britain's best-selling novelists, for fans of Wild, When Breath Becomes Air, and The Year of Magical Thinking.

We are never closer to life than when we brush up against the possibility of death.

I Am, I Am, I Am is Maggie O'Farrell's astonishing memoir of the near-death experiences that have punctuated and defined her life. The childhood illness that left her bedridden for a year, which she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. An encounter with a disturbed man on a remote path. And, most terrifying of all, an ongoing, daily struggle to protect her daughter--for whom this book was written--from a condition that leaves her unimaginably vulnerable to life's myriad dangers.
Seventeen discrete encounters with Maggie at different ages, in different locations, reveal a whole life in a series of tense, visceral snapshots. In taut prose that vibrates with electricity and restrained emotion, O'Farrell captures the perils running just beneath the surface, and illuminates the preciousness, beauty, and mysteries of life itself.]]> 288 Maggie O'Farrell 0525436057 Pranav 0 to-read 3.95 2017 I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death
author: Maggie O'Farrell
name: Pranav
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/06/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you]]> 52283963
The Mom Test is a quick, practical guide that will save you time, money, and heartbreak.



They say you shouldn't ask your mom whether your business is a good idea, because she loves you and will lie to you. This is technically true, but it misses the point. You shouldn't ask anyone if your business is a good idea. It's a bad question and everyone will lie to you at least a little . As a matter of fact, it's not their responsibility to tell you the truth. It's your responsibility to find it and it's worth doing right .



Talking to customers is one of the foundational skills of both Customer Development and Lean Startup. We all know we're supposed to do it, but nobody seems willing to admit that it's easy to screw up and hard to do right. This book is going to show you how customer conversations go wrong and how you can do better.

]]> 138 Rob Fitzpatrick Pranav 5 4.36 2013 The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you
author: Rob Fitzpatrick
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2013
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/06/20
shelves:
review:

]]> The Alabaster Girl 20456269 "Sit back and relax... I will sing you the song of women.
What women? you ask.
All women, I answer.
Even me? you ask.
Especially you, I answer.
And what will you sing to me? you ask.
Ah, my love, I will sing to you of hidden truths
Yes, hidden truths and secret secrets..."

On a nameless train somewhere between here and nowhere, a woman and a man sit facing each other. She is a journalist there to interview him. He is the world¡¯s greatest seducer.

Thus begins ¡°The Alabaster Girl,¡± the new novel by Zan Perrion. We get to join the two on this train ride, a fly on the wall, as the seducer recounts his life, philosophy and startling insights, interspersed with excerpts from his new book: ¡°The Alabaster Girl.¡± The book within the book...]]> 414 Zan Perrion 0992016606 Pranav 5 4.49 2013 The Alabaster Girl
author: Zan Perrion
name: Pranav
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/06/20
shelves: 2021-sculpting, 2022-sculpting, up-next, 20-for-20s, non-fiction-canon
review:

]]>