Idleprimate's bookshelf: all en-US Mon, 05 May 2025 01:03:08 -0700 60 Idleprimate's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Death in Venice and Other Tales]]> 53064 384 Thomas Mann 0141181737 Idleprimate 3 3.92 1998 Death in Venice and Other Tales
author: Thomas Mann
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves:
review:

]]> Willie & Joe: Back Home 8096592
Willie Joe: Back Home brilliantly chronicles the struggles and disillusionments of these early postwar years and, in doing so, tells Bill Mauldin’s own extraordinary story of his journey home to a wife he barely knew and a son he had only seen in pictures. The drawings capture the texture and feel, the warp and woof, of this confusing time: the ubiquitous hats and cigarettes, the domestic rubs, the rising fear of another war, and new conflicts over Civil Rights, civil liberties, and free speech. This second volume of Fantagraphics� series reprinting Mauldin’s greatest work identifies and restores the dozens of cartoons censored by Mauldin’s syndicate for their attacks on racial segregation and McCarthy-style “witch hunts.� Mauldin pleaded with his syndicate to let him out of his contract so that he could return to the simple quiet life so desired by Willie Joe. The syndicate refused, so Mauldin did battle, as always, through pen and ink.]]> 288 Bill Mauldin 1606993518 Idleprimate 4 comics-graphic-novels 4.27 2011 Willie & Joe: Back Home
author: Bill Mauldin
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2012/01/09
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: comics-graphic-novels
review:

]]> Elektra: Assassin 1130203
COLLECTING: ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN 1-8]]> 268 Frank Miller 1904159893 Idleprimate 4 comics-graphic-novels 3.90 Elektra: Assassin
author: Frank Miller
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.90
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 1986/01/01
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: comics-graphic-novels
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Third Chimpanzee for Young People: On the Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (For Young People Series)]]> 18167020
With fascinating facts and his unparalleled readability, Diamond intended his book to improve the world that today’s young people will inherit. Triangle Square’s The Third Chimpanzee for Young People is a book for future generation and the future they’ll help build.Ěý


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 352 Jared Diamond 1609805224 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.96 1991 The Third Chimpanzee for Young People: On the Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (For Young People Series)
author: Jared Diamond
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The House at Pooh Corner (Winnie-the-Pooh, #2)]]> 776407 180 A.A. Milne 0525444440 Idleprimate 5 childrens 4.37 1928 The House at Pooh Corner (Winnie-the-Pooh, #2)
author: A.A. Milne
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1928
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: childrens
review:

]]> Blindsight (Firefall, #1) 48484 Two months since the stars fell...

Two months since sixty-five thousand alien objects clenched around the Earth like a luminous fist, screaming to the heavens as the atmosphere burned them to ash. Two months since that moment of brief, bright surveillance by agents unknown.

Two months of silence while a world holds its breath.

Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune’s orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever’s out there isn’t talking to us. It’s talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route.

So who do you send to force introductions on an intelligence with motives unknown, maybe unknowable? Who do you send to meet the alien when the alien doesn’t want to meet?

You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees X-rays and tastes ultrasound, so compromised by grafts and splices he no longer feels his own flesh. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won’t be needed, and a fainter hope she’ll do any good if she is needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called “vampire,� recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist � an informational topologist with half his mind gone � as an interface between here and there, a conduit through which the Dead Center might hope to understand the Bleeding Edge.

You send them all to the edge of interstellar space, praying you can trust such freaks and retrofits with the fate of a world. You fear they may be more alien than the thing they’ve been sent to find.

But you’d give anything for that to be true, if you only knew what was waiting for them…]]> 384 Peter Watts 0765312182 Idleprimate 0 4.01 2006 Blindsight (Firefall, #1)
author: Peter Watts
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at: 2010/07/01
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: sci-fi, eco-thriller, canadian-authors
review:

]]> <![CDATA[206 Bones (Temperance Brennan, #12)]]> 5957702 The #1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the Fox television hit, Bones, returns with a spectacular new Tempe Brennan novel.

There are 206 bones in the human body. Forensic anthropologists know them intimately, can read in them stories of brief or long lives and use them to reconstruct every kind of violent end. 206 Bones opens with Tempe regaining consciousness and discovering that she is in some kind of very small, very dark, very cold enclosed space. She is bound, hands to feet. Who wants Tempe dead, or at least out of the way, and why? Tempe begins slowly to reconstruct...

Tempe and Lieutenant Ryan had accompanied the recently discovered remains of a missing heiress from Montreal to the Chicago morgue. Suddenly, Tempe was accused of mishandling the autopsy -- and the case. Someone made an incriminating phone call. Within hours, the one man with information about the call was dead. Back in Montreal, the corpse of a second elderly woman was found in the woods, and then a third.

Seamlessly weaving between Tempe's present-tense terror as she's held captive and her memory of the cases of these murdered women, Reichs conveys the incredible devastation that would occur if a forensic colleague sabotaged work in the lab. The chemistry between Tempe and Ryan intensifies as this complex, riveting tale unfolds. Reichs is writing at the top of her game.]]> 308 Kathy Reichs 0743294394 Idleprimate 3 crime-mystery 3.94 2009 206 Bones (Temperance Brennan, #12)
author: Kathy Reichs
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2011/11/01
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: crime-mystery
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Short Stories]]> 143465
]]> 144 Leo Tolstoy Idleprimate 4 3.95 2014 The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Short Stories
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> Endgame, Vol. 2: Resistance 60975 496 Derrick Jensen 1583227245 Idleprimate 4 4.16 Endgame, Vol. 2: Resistance
author: Derrick Jensen
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2007/01/01
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: activism, ecology, economics, energy, non-fiction, philosophy-of-civilization, politics
review:

]]> An Object of Beauty 7907803 292 Steve Martin 0446573647 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.77 2010 An Object of Beauty
author: Steve Martin
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ways of Seeing 2784 John Berger’s Classic Text on Art

Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and the most influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the (London) Sunday Times a critic commented: "This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings . . . he will almost certainly change the way you look at pictures." By now he has.

"Berger has the ability to cut right through the mystification of the professional art critics . . . He is a liberator of images: and once we have allowed the paintings to work on us directly, we are in a much better position to make a meaningful evaluation" —Peter Fuller, Arts Review

"The influence of the series and the book . . . was enormous . . . It opened up for general attention to areas of cultural study that are now commonplace" —Geoff Dyer in Ways of Telling.]]> 176 John Berger 0140135154 Idleprimate 5 3.93 1972 Ways of Seeing
author: John Berger
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1972
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/03/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich]]> 17125 The only English translation authorized by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

First published in the Soviet journal Novy Mir in 1962, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich stands as a classic of contemporary literature. The story of labor-camp inmate Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, it graphically describes his struggle to maintain his dignity in the face of communist oppression. An unforgettable portrait of the entire world of Stalin's forced work camps, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is one of the most extraordinary literary documents to have emerged from the Soviet Union and confirms Solzhenitsyn's stature as "a literary genius whose talent matches that of Dosotevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy"--Harrison Salisbury

This unexpurgated 1991 translation by H. T. Willetts is the only authorized edition available, and fully captures the power and beauty of the original Russian.]]> 182 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Idleprimate 4 russian-lit 3.98 1962 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
author: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1962
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves: russian-lit
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Watership Down Film Picture Book]]> 12151 250 Richard Adams 0020160607 Idleprimate 5 4.36 The Watership Down Film Picture Book
author: Richard Adams
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.36
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 1979/10/01
date added: 2024/03/04
shelves: animation, the-books-that-drove-me
review:

]]> Lady Chatterley's Lover 49583709
With her soft brown hair, lithe figure and big, wondering eyes, Constance Chatterley is possessed of a certain vitality. Yet she is deeply unhappy; married to an invalid, she is almost as inwardly paralyzed as her husband Clifford is paralyzed below the waist. It is not until she finds refuge in the arms of Mellors the game-keeper, a solitary man of a class apart, that she feels regenerated. Together they move from an outer world of chaos towards an inner world of fulfillment.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700Ěýtitles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theĚýseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-dateĚýtranslations by award-winning translators.]]> 400 D.H. Lawrence 014303961X Idleprimate 1 3.48 1928 Lady Chatterley's Lover
author: D.H. Lawrence
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.48
book published: 1928
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2023/10/18
shelves:
review:

]]> Oblomov 254308 586 Ivan Goncharov 1933480092 Idleprimate 3 4.09 1859 Oblomov
author: Ivan Goncharov
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1859
rating: 3
read at: 1992/01/01
date added: 2023/07/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fifty Degrees Below (Science in the Capital, #2)]]> 41121 603 Kim Stanley Robinson 0553585819 Idleprimate 4 sci-fi, eco-thriller 3.71 2005 Fifty Degrees Below (Science in the Capital, #2)
author: Kim Stanley Robinson
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2010/01/01
date added: 2023/07/30
shelves: sci-fi, eco-thriller
review:

]]> Savages (Savages #2) 8008928
When they refuse to back down, the cartel escalates its threat, kidnapping Ophelia, the boys' playmate and confidante. O's abduction sets off a dizzying array of ingenious negotiations and gripping plot twists that will captivate readers eager to learn the costs of freedom and the price of one amazing high.]]> 302 Don Winslow 1439183368 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.84 2010 Savages (Savages #2)
author: Don Winslow
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910 (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century, #1)]]> 6086315 83 Alan Moore 1603090002 Idleprimate 0 3.42 2011 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1910 (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century, #1)
author: Alan Moore
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/25
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1969]]> 10474309
Volume two takes place almost 60 years after the events of Century 1910, in the psychedelic haze of Swinging London in 1969 - a place where Tadukic Acid Diethylamide 26 is the drug of choice and where different underworlds are starting to overlap dangerously to an accompaniment of sit-ins and sitars.]]> 80 Alan Moore 0861661621 Idleprimate 3 3.37 2011 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 1969
author: Alan Moore
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.37
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2014/05/23
date added: 2023/07/25
shelves:
review:

]]> Boy Robot 28954095 Seventeen-year-old Isaak discovers the truth about his origin and the underground forces that must come together to fight against a secret government organization formed to eradicate those like him in this high-octane science fiction debut.

There once was a boy who was made, not created.

In a single night, Isaak’s life changed forever.

His adoptive parents were killed, a mysterious girl saved him from a team of soldiers, and he learned of his own dark and destructive origin.

An origin he doesn’t want to believe, but one he cannot deny.

Isaak is a Robot: a government-made synthetic human, produced as a weapon and now hunted, marked for termination.

He and the Robots can only find asylum with the Underground—a secret network of Robots and humans working together to ensure a coexistent future.

To be protected by the Underground, Isaak will have to make it there first. But with a deadly military force tasked to find him at any cost, his odds are less than favorable.

Now Isaak must decide whether to hold on to his humanity and face possible death…or to embrace his true nature in order to survive, at the risk of becoming the weapon he was made to be.

In his debut, recording artist Simon Curtis has written a fast-paced, high-stakes novel that explores humanity, the ultimate power of empathy, and the greatest battle of all: love vs. fear.]]> 432 Simon Curtis 1481459295 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.62 2016 Boy Robot
author: Simon Curtis
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk & Robot, #2)]]> 40864030
They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.

Becky Chambers's new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?

They're going to need to ask it a lot.]]> 152 Becky Chambers Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.40 2022 A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk & Robot, #2)
author: Becky Chambers
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1)]]> 55077657 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250236210.

Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend.

Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They will need to ask it a lot. Chambers' series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?]]> 147 Becky Chambers Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.25 2021 A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1)
author: Becky Chambers
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Why We're Polarized 52098718
Why We’re Polarized reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, it offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Donald Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture.]]> 336 Ezra Klein 147670032X Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.19 2020 Why We're Polarized
author: Ezra Klein
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs du mal)]]> 56769529 The Flowers of Evil is a gritty, often perverse, exploration of the underbelly of urban modernity.

Acclaimed translator and poet Aaron Poochigian tackles this revolutionary text, one of the most challenging to translate in all of modern poetry, with an ear exquisitely attuned to Baudelaire’s lyrical innovations and an intuitive feel for the work’s dark and brooding mood. Poochigian’s version captures the incantatory, almost magical, effect of the original—reanimating for today’s reader Baudelaire’s “unfailing vision� that “trumpeted the space and light of the future� (Patti Smith).

An introduction by Dana Gioia offers a probing reassessment of the supreme artistry of Baudelaire’s masterpiece, and an afterword by Daniel Handler explores its continued relevance and appeal. This deluxe, dual-language edition allows readers to commune with the original poems and their electric, revelatory translations.]]> 400 Charles Baudelaire 1631498592 Idleprimate 0 4.02 1857 The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs du mal)
author: Charles Baudelaire
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1857
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Christopher Robin Gives Pooh a Party]]> 2093478 26 A.A. Milne 0525447148 Idleprimate 4 4.03 1988 Christopher Robin Gives Pooh a Party
author: A.A. Milne
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2022/04/26
shelves:
review:

]]> The Ministry for the Future 50998056
From legendary science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson comes a vision of climate change unlike any ever imagined.

Told entirely through fictional eye-witness accounts, The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, the story of how climate change will affect us all over the decades to come.

Its setting is not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us—and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.

It is a novel both immediate and impactful, desperate and hopeful in equal measure, and it is one of the most powerful and original books on climate change ever written.]]> 563 Kim Stanley Robinson 0316300136 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.84 2020 The Ministry for the Future
author: Kim Stanley Robinson
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/11/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Anna Karenin 226379 With Anna Karenin, the psychological novel of the nineteenth century reached its peak.

Acclaimed by many as the world's greatest novel, Anna Karenin provides a vast panorama of contemporary life in Russia and of humanity in general. In it Tolstoy uses his intense imaginative insight to create some of the most memorable characters in literature. Anna is a sophisticated woman who abandons her empty existence as the wife of Karenin and turns to Count Vronsky to fulfil her passionate nature - with tragic consequences. Levin is a reflection of Tolstoy himself, often expressing the author's own views and convictions.

Throughout, Tolstoy points no moral, merely inviting us not to judge but to watch. As Rosemary Edmonds comments, 'He leaves the shifting patterns of the kaleidoscope to bring home the meaning of the brooding words following the title, "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay."'

Anna Karenin was published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger. Tolstoy clashed with editor Mikhail Katkov over political issues that arose in the final installment (Tolstoy's unpopular views of volunteers going to Serbia); therefore, the novel's first complete appearance was in book form in 1878.]]> 853 Leo Tolstoy Idleprimate 5 4.18 1878 Anna Karenin
author: Leo Tolstoy
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1878
rating: 5
read at: 1992/01/01
date added: 2020/10/22
shelves: the-books-that-drove-me, russian-lit
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Wayfarers (Sun & Moon Classics)]]> 137192 The Road Leads On in 1933.
The events in Wayfarers take place between 1864 and the 1870s. The entire trilogy describes the conflict between a traditional subsistence economy and a modern commercial and industrial society, as it emerged in Norway in the second half of the 1800s and the early 1900s. August is the main character that ties the three novels together.]]> 460 Knut Hamsun 1557132119 Idleprimate 4 4.21 1927 Wayfarers (Sun & Moon Classics)
author: Knut Hamsun
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1927
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/09/14
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work!]]> 9520859


Douglas Coupland, whose iconic novel Generation X was a “McLuhanesque� account of our culture in fictional form, has written a compact biography of the cultural critic that interprets the life and work of his subject from inside. A fellow Canadian, a master of creative sociology, a writer who supplied a defining term, Coupland is the ideal chronicler of the uncanny prophet whose vision of the global village—now known as the Internet—has come to pass in the 21st century.]]> 216 Douglas Coupland 1935633163 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.92 2010 Marshall McLuhan: You Know Nothing of My Work!
author: Douglas Coupland
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Age of Earthquakes: A Guide to the Extreme Present]]> 23359966 A highly provocative, mindbending, beautifully designed, and visionary look at the landscape of our rapidly evolving digital era.

50 years after Marshall McLuhan's ground breaking book on the influence of technology on culture inĚýThe Medium is the Message, Basar, Coupland and Obrist extend the analysis to today, touring the world that’s redefined by the Internet, decoding and explaining what they call the 'extreme present'.
Ěý
THE AGE OF EARTHQUAKES is a quick-fire paperback, harnessing the images, language and perceptions of our unfurling digital lives. The authors offer five characteristics of the Extreme Present (see below); invent a glossary of new words to describe how we are truly feeling today; and â€mindsourceâ€� images and illustrations from over 30 contemporary artists. Wayne Daly’s striking graphic designĚý importsĚý theĚý surreal,Ěý juxtaposed,Ěý mashedĚý mannerismsĚý of screen to page. It’s like a culturally prescient, all-knowing email to the reader: possibly the best email they will ever read.
Ěý
Welcome to THE AGE OF EARTHQUAKES, a paper portrait of Now, where the Internet hasn’t just changed the structure of our brains these past few years, it’s also changing the structure of the planet. This is a new history of the world that fits perfectly in your back pocket.Ěý

30+Ěý artistsĚý contributions: WithĚý contributionsĚý fromĚý Farah Al Qasimi, Ed Atkins, Alessandro Bavo, Gabriele Basilico, Josh Bitelli, James Bridle, Cao Fei, Alex Mackin Dolan, Thomas Dozol, Constant Dullaart, Cecile B Evans, Rami Farook, Hans-Peter Feldmann, GCC, K-Hole, Liam Gillick, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Eloise Hawser, Camille Henrot, Hu Fang, K-Hole, Koo Jeong-A, Katja Novitskova, Lara Ogel, Trevor Paglen, Yuri Patterson, Jon Rafman, Bunny Rogers, Bogosi Sekhukhuni, Taryn Simon, Hito Steyerl, Michael Stipe, Rosemarie Trockel, Amalia Ulman, David Weir, Trevor Yeung.]]> 257 Douglas Coupland 0399173862 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.86 2015 The Age of Earthquakes: A Guide to the Extreme Present
author: Douglas Coupland
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything]]> 18249358
Alongside his celebrated status as author of 13 bestselling novels, including his seminal debut Generation Tales for an Accelerated Culture, Coupland output has taken on the commitment of a true multidisciplinarian, graduating in 1985 from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver before furthering his aesthetic studies at the Hokkaido College of Art and Design in Japan as well as the Sapporo Instituto Europeo di Design, Milan. After concentrating on his literary works for the entire 1990s, Coupland returned to his dormant artistic practice at the turn of the century, exhibiting his work in many solo and collective exhibitions internationally. During the last decade and a half, he has also diversified further, emboldening his body of work within non-fiction, film and television, as well as foraying into fashion design.

Leading from a multidisciplinary background, it would be expected that his work would follow the diverse and multi-media trajectory that it does, focusing on an equally broad spread of personal themes from a fascination with the corruptive desirability of popular culture to the intrigue of military imagery, resulting from Coupland’s childhood in such a family unit at the height of the Cold War. Intended as the definitive document of Coupland’s artistic career, the book will include reproductions of all the major series� within his work alongside his most recent output and images of the installations within the exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.]]> 296 Hans Ulrich Obrist 1908966521 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.34 2014 Douglas Coupland: everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything
author: Hans Ulrich Obrist
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage]]> 169247


In this revised and updated edition reflecting the latest information on the world supply of oil, Kenneth Deffeyes uses Hubbert's methods to find that world oil production will peak in this decade--and there isn't anything we can do to stop it. While long-term solutions exist in the form of conservation and alternative energy sources, they probably cannot--and almost certainly will not--be enacted in time to evade a short-term catastrophe.]]> 224 Kenneth S. Deffeyes 0691116253 Idleprimate 4 3.69 Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage
author: Kenneth S. Deffeyes
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.69
book published:
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/07/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Blood of the Earth: An essay on Magic and Peak Oil]]> 13629300 178 John Michael Greer 0956720382 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.29 2012 The Blood of the Earth: An essay on Magic and Peak Oil
author: John Michael Greer
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Talking about the Elephant: An Anthology of Neopagan Perspectives on Cultural Appropriation]]> 6063463 252 Lupa 190571324X Idleprimate 1 3.50 2008 Talking about the Elephant: An Anthology of Neopagan Perspectives on Cultural Appropriation
author: Lupa
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2008
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2020/07/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Sharks in the Time of Saviors 51113688
When seven-year-old Noa Flores falls overboard on a cruise ship, a shiver of sharks quickly converge on the helpless boy. His mother, without thinking, jumps into the Pacific to save her son and bears witness to what can only be described as a miracle - Noa being gingerly delivered to safety in the jaws of a shark.

Years later, the effects of this incident still ripple through the community and nest deep within the members of the Flores family. The parents, Malia and Augie, attempt to leverage Noa's status, and uproot themselves from their poverty-stricken life; Dean, the oldest son, struggles with the attention Noa receives, and places it upon himself to be the one to lift his family to higher means; Kaui, the youngest child, is often forgotten about, and she finds herself lost between being the brilliant student her family sees and expressing her true passions; and then there's Noa - the prodigal child, tenaciously trying to uncover the full extent of his powers while dealing with a persistent sense of duty to his family and his home.

Equal parts magic and harsh reality, this fresh family epic tackles the belief that one person, one master plan, can mend a family, a community, and brings to light the brutal, yet beautiful realization that no is going to save you. A work of bold storytelling awash with stunning physical detail and a profound command of language, Sharks in the Time of Saviours examines what it means to be both of a place, and a stranger in it.]]> 384 Kawai Strong Washburn 0771094450 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.67 2020 Sharks in the Time of Saviors
author: Kawai Strong Washburn
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Bone Clocks 20819685
For Holly has caught the attention of a cabal of dangerous mystics—and their enemies. But her lost weekend is merely the prelude to a shocking disappearance that leaves her family irrevocably scarred. This unsolved mystery will echo through every decade of Holly’s life, affecting all the people Holly loves—even the ones who are not yet born.

A Cambridge scholarship boy grooming himself for wealth and influence, a conflicted father who feels alive only while reporting from occupied Iraq, a middle-aged writer mourning his exile from the bestseller list—all have a part to play in this surreal, invisible war on the margins of our world. From the medieval Swiss Alps to the nineteenth-century Australian bush, from a hotel in Shanghai to a Manhattan townhouse in the near future, their stories come together in moments of everyday grace and extraordinary wonder.]]> 624 David Mitchell 1400065674 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.82 2014 The Bone Clocks
author: David Mitchell
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You Can Only Yell at Me for One Thing at a Time: Rules for Couples]]> 44581501 Never go to bed angry. Play hard to get. Sexual favors in exchange for cleaning up the cat vomit is a good and fair trade.

Okay, not that last one. It’s one of the tips in You Can Only Yell at Me for One Thing at a Time: Rules for Couples by the authors of Why Don’t You Write My Eulogy Now So I Can Correct It: A Mother’s Suggestions. This guide will make you laugh, remind you why your relationship is better than everyone else’s, and solve all your problems.]]> 142 Patricia Marx 1250225132 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.52 2020 You Can Only Yell at Me for One Thing at a Time: Rules for Couples
author: Patricia Marx
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/03/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sharks in the Time of Saviors 45892255
Nainoa's family, struggling amidst the collapse of the sugarcane industry, hails his rescue as a sign of favor from ancient Hawaiian gods - a belief that appears validated after he exhibits puzzling new abilities. But as time passes, this supposed divine favor begins to drive the family apart: Nainoa, working now as a paramedic on the streets of Portland, struggles to fathom the full measure of his expanding abilities; further north in Washington, his older brother Dean hurtles into the world of elite college athletics, obsessed with wealth and fame; while in California, risk-obsessed younger sister Kaui navigates an unforgiving academic workload in an attempt to forge her independence from the family's legacy.

When supernatural events revisit the Flores family in Hawaii - with tragic consequences - they are all forced to reckon with the bonds of family, the meaning of heritage, and the cost of survival.

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020. Named one of the Best Books of 2020 by the New York Times (#30), the Guardian, the Boston Globe, Oprah Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, BBC Culture, Good Housekeeping, LitHub, Spectrum Culture, Third Place Books, and Powell's Books.]]> 376 Kawai Strong Washburn 0374272085 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.82 2020 Sharks in the Time of Saviors
author: Kawai Strong Washburn
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/02/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction]]> 39999461 From a renowned behavioral neuroscientist and recovered drug addict, an authoritative and accessible guide to understanding drug addiction: clearly explained brain science and vivid personal stories reveal how addiction happens, show why specific drugs--from opioids to alcohol to coke and more--are so hard to kick, and illuminate the path to recovery for addicts, loved ones, caregivers, and crafters of public policy.

Addiction is epidemic and catastrophic. With more than one in every five people over the age of fourteen addicted, drug abuse has been called the most formidable health problem worldwide. If we are not victims ourselves, we all know someone struggling with the merciless compulsion to alter their experience by changing how their brain functions.

Drawing on years of research--as well as personal experience as a recovered addict--researcher and professor Judy Grisel has reached a fundamental conclusion: for the addict, there will never be enough drugs. The brain's capacity to learn and adapt is seemingly infinite, allowing it to counteract any regular disruption, including that caused by drugs. What begins as a normal state punctuated by periods of being high transforms over time into a state of desperate craving that is only temporarily subdued by a fix, explaining why addicts are unable to live either with or without their drug. One by one, Grisel shows how different drugs act on the brain, the kind of experiential effects they generate, and the specific reasons why each is so hard to kick.

Grisel's insights lead to a better understanding of the brain's critical contributions to addictive behavior, and will help inform a more rational, coherent, and compassionate response to the epidemic in our homes and communities.]]> 243 Judith Grisel 0385542844 Idleprimate 4 to-read 4.12 2019 Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction
author: Judith Grisel
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2020/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio]]> 205582 432 Philippe Bourgois 0521017114 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.20 1995 In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio
author: Philippe Bourgois
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers, #3)]]> 32802595
Tessa chose to stay home when her brother Ashby left for the stars, but has to question that decision when her position in the Fleet is threatened.

Kip, a reluctant young apprentice, itches for change but doesn't know where to find it.

Sawyer, a lost and lonely newcomer, is just looking for a place to belong.

When a disaster rocks this already fragile community, those Exodans who still call the Fleet their home can no longer avoid the inescapable question:

What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination?]]> 359 Becky Chambers 1473647606 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.10 2018 Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers, #3)
author: Becky Chambers
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Motherless Brooklyn 328854 Motherless Brooklyn is a brilliantly original homage to the classic detective novel by one of the most acclaimed writers of his generation.]]> 311 Jonathan Lethem 0345803396 Idleprimate 0 3.86 1999 Motherless Brooklyn
author: Jonathan Lethem
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at: 2020/01/31
date added: 2020/01/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Taking Sides - Men, Women and the Shifting Social Agenda [Paperback] by...]]> 2674022 Enid Blyton 0091830583 Idleprimate 0 to-read 5.00 Taking Sides - Men, Women and the Shifting Social Agenda [Paperback] by...
author: Enid Blyton
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Men on Strike: Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream - and Why It Matters]]> 15985426 should men participate in a system that seems to be increasingly stacked against them?

As Men on Strike demonstrates, men aren’t dropping out because they are stuck in arrested development. They are instead acting rationally in response to the lack of incentives society offers them to be responsible fathers, husbands and providers. In addition, men are going on strike, either consciously or unconsciously, because they do not want to be injured by the myriad of laws, attitudes and hostility against them for the crime of happening to be male in the twenty-first century. Men are starting to fight back against the backlash. Men on Strike explains their battle cry.]]> 248 Helen Smith 1594036756 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.71 2013 Men on Strike: Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream - and Why It Matters
author: Helen Smith
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Men Too: Unspoken Truths About Male Sexual Abuse]]> 49074595
Men Unspoken Truths About Male Sexual Abuse is for male survivors and their supporters. It is an educational, heart-wrenching look at 13 male sexual abuse victims experience, written from the perspective of a retired police officer and registered psychologist.

Using their narrative accounts Dr. Palfy

Conversations about male sexual abuse need to increase. Men Too highlights the complex and unique barriers boys and men face during and after abuse. Help put them on the road to recovery.]]> 200 Dr Kelli Palfy 1999292510 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.68 Men Too: Unspoken Truths About Male Sexual Abuse
author: Dr Kelli Palfy
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.68
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> #MenToo 43227377
This respected social commentator is renowned for tackling unmentionable topics. A former clinical psychologist and one of Australia’s first sex therapist, she first became well-known for breaking down taboos about talking about sex.

Now it is men’s lives we aren’t allowed to speak about � the very real problems confronting men and boys in our male-bashing society. #MenToo breaks the silence about what it means to be a man in Australia today.

For decades Bettina has been telling it how it is. She writes about sex-starved husbands, the politics of cleavage, fathers losing contact with children after divorce, false domestic violence allegations, men’s soaring suicide rates, the scary grip of feminism.

Bettina sees #MeToo as simply the latest salvo in a long crusade by feminists to crush male sexuality. She finds most women are appalled by unproven allegations are being used to destroy men's careers and fed up with trivial issues being blown up as sexism. Read her powerful arguments about why feminism has gone off the rails � tilting laws, practises and regulations to unfairly advantage women at the expense of men.

This year she faced hostile protesters on university campuses as she spoke out against the fake rape crisis, the myth that our universities are unsafe for young women. Her campus tour prompted a government inquiry seeking to support campus free speech.

#MenToo � collected wisdom from decades of Bettina’s passionate advocacy for men and boys]]> 384 Bettina Arndt 1925642658 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.08 #MenToo
author: Bettina Arndt
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.08
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/01/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Body: A Guide for Occupants]]> 43582376 A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson achieved the seemingly impossible by making the science of our world both understandable and entertaining to millions of people around the globe.

Now he turns his attention inwards to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories, The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological make up.

A wonderful successor to A Short History of Nearly Everything, this book will have you marvelling at the form you occupy, and celebrating the genius of your existence, time and time again.]]> 450 Bill Bryson 0385539304 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.30 2019 The Body: A Guide for Occupants
author: Bill Bryson
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/11/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction]]> 35958896 “[Astounding]Ěýis a major work of popular culture scholarship that science fiction fans will devour.”Ěý—Ě�Publishers Weekly

"Alec Nevala-Lee has brilliantly recreated the era. . . . A remarkable work of literary history." � Robert Silverberg

"Science fiction has been awaiting this history/biography for more than half a century. . . . Here it is. This is the most important historical and critical work my field has ever seen. Alec Nevala-Lee’s superb scholarship and insight have made the seemingly impossible a radiant and irreplaceable gift."—Barry N. Malzberg, author of Beyond Apollo

Astounding is the landmark account of the extraordinary partnership between four controversial writers—John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard—who set off a revolution in science fiction and forever changed our world.Ěý

This remarkable cultural narrative centers on the figure of John W. Campbell, Jr., whom Asimov called “the most powerful force in science fiction ever.â€� Campbell, who has never been the subject of a biography until now, was both a visionary author—he wrote the story that was later filmed as The Thing—and the editor of the groundbreaking magazine best known as Astounding Science Fiction, in which he discovered countless legendary writers and published classic works ranging from the I, Robot series to Dune. Over a period of more than thirty years, from the rise of the pulps to the debut of Star Trek, he dominated the genre, and his three closest collaborators reached unimaginable heights. Asimov became the most prolific author in American history; Heinlein emerged as the leading science fiction writer of his generation with the novels Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land; and Hubbard achieved lasting fame—and infamy—as the founder of the Church of Scientology.Ěý

Drawing on unexplored archives, thousands of unpublished letters, and dozens of interviews, Alec Nevala-Lee offers a riveting portrait of this circle of authors, their work, and their tumultuous private lives. With unprecedented scope, drama, and detail, Astounding describes how fan culture was born in the depths of the Great Depression; follows these four friends and rivals through World War II and the dawn of the atomic era; and honors such exceptional women as Doña Campbell and Leslyn Heinlein, whose pivotal roles in the history of the genre have gone largely unacknowledged. For the first time, it reveals the startling extent of Campbell’s influence on the ideas that evolved into Scientology, which prompted Asimov to observe: “I knew Campbell and I knew Hubbard, and no movement can have two Messiahs.� It looks unsparingly at the tragic final act that estranged the others from Campbell, bringing the golden age of science fiction to a close, and it illuminates how their complicated legacy continues to shape the imaginations of millions and our vision of the future itself.]]> 544 Alec Nevala-Lee 0062571966 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.20 2018 Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction
author: Alec Nevala-Lee
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/10/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Manhood Impossible: Men's Struggles to Control and Transform Their Bodies and Work]]> 36411496 292 Scott Melzer 0813584892 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.92 Manhood Impossible: Men's Struggles to Control and Transform Their Bodies and Work
author: Scott Melzer
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Why Honor Matters 36204380 A controversial call to put honor at the center of morality
To the modern mind, the idea of honor is outdated, sexist, and barbaric. It evokes Hamilton and Burr and pistols at dawn, not visions of a well-organized society. But for philosopher Tamler Sommers, a sense of honor is essential to living moral lives. In Why Honor Matters, Sommers argues that our collective rejection of honor has come at great cost. Reliant only on Enlightenment liberalism, the United States has become the home of the cowardly, the shameless, the selfish, and the alienated. Properly channeled, honor encourages virtues like courage, integrity, and solidarity, and gives a sense of living for something larger than oneself. Sommers shows how honor can help us address some of society's most challenging problems, including education, policing, and mass incarceration. Counterintuitive and provocative, Why Honor Matters makes a convincing case for honor as a cornerstone of our modern society.
]]> 272 Tamler Sommers 0465098878 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.96 Why Honor Matters
author: Tamler Sommers
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.96
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds (Mit Press)]]> 31850787 Frankenstein has endured in the popular imagination for two hundred years. Begun as a ghost story by an intellectually and socially precocious eighteen-year-old author during a cold and rainy summer on the shores of Lake Geneva, the dramatic tale of Victor Frankenstein and his stitched-together creature can been read as the ultimate parable of scientific hubris. Victor, "the modern Prometheus," tried to do what he perhaps should have left to Nature: create life. Although the novel is most often discussed in literary-historical terms -- as a seminal example of romanticism or as a groundbreaking early work of science fiction -- Mary Shelley was keenly aware of contemporary scientific developments and incorporated them into her story. In our era of synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and climate engineering, this edition of Frankenstein will resonate forcefully for readers with a background or interest in science and engineering, and anyone intrigued by the fundamental questions of creativity and responsibility.

This edition of Frankenstein pairs the original 1818 version of the manuscript -- meticulously line-edited and amended by Charles E. Robinson, one of the world's preeminent authorities on the text -- with annotations and essays by leading scholars exploring the social and ethical aspects of scientific creativity raised by this remarkable story. The result is a unique and accessible edition of one of the most thought-provoking and influential novels ever written.

Essays byElizabeth Bear, Cory Doctorow, Heather E. Douglas, Josephine Johnston, Kate MacCord, Jane Maienschein, Anne K. Mellor, Alfred Nordman]]> 320 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 0262533286 Idleprimate 0 4.11 1818 Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds (Mit Press)
author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1818
rating: 0
read at: 2019/06/01
date added: 2019/06/01
shelves:
review:

]]> Dare to Lead 40109367 In her #1 NYT bestsellers, Brené Brown taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead.

Leadership is not about titles, status and power over people. Leaders are people who hold themselves accountable for recognising the potential in people and ideas, and developing that potential. This is a book for everyone who is ready to choose courage over comfort, make a difference and lead.

When we dare to lead, we don't pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don't see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it and work to align authority and accountability. We don't avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into the vulnerability that’s necessary to do good work.

But daring leadership in a culture that's defined by scarcity, fear and uncertainty requires building courage skills, which are uniquely human. The irony is that we're choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the same time we're scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines can't do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection and courage to start.

Brené Brown spent the past two decades researching the emotions that give meaning to our lives. Over the past seven years, she found that leaders in organisations ranging from small entrepreneurial start-ups and family-owned businesses to non-profits, civic organisations and Fortune 50 companies, are asking the same questions:

How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders? And, how do you embed the value of courage in your culture?

Dare to Lead answers these questions and gives us actionable strategies and real examples from her new research-based, courage-building programme.

BrenĂ© writes, â€One of the most important findings of my career is that courage can be taught, developed and measured. Courage is a collection of four skill sets supported by twenty-eight behaviours. All it requires is a commitment to doing bold work, having tough conversations and showing up with our whole hearts. Easy? No. Choosing courage over comfort is not easy. Worth it? Always. We want to be brave with our lives and work. It's why we're here.’]]> 332 BrenĂ© Brown 147356252X Idleprimate 0 on-hold-unfinished 4.17 2018 Dare to Lead
author: Brené Brown
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/06/01
shelves: on-hold-unfinished
review:

]]> The Gifts of Imperfection 7015403 New York Times best seller, Dr. Brené Brown, a research professor and thought leader on vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame, shares ten guideposts on the power of Wholehearted living—a way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness.]]> 137 Brené Brown 159285849X Idleprimate 0 on-hold-unfinished 4.25 2010 The Gifts of Imperfection
author: Brené Brown
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/31
shelves: on-hold-unfinished
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution]]> 23317538
It is the rise from falling that Brown takes as her subject in Rising Strong. As a grounded theory researcher, Brown has listened as a range of people—from leaders in Fortune 500 companies and the military to artists, couples in long-term relationships, teachers, and parents—shared their stories of being brave, falling, and getting back up. She asked herself, What do these people with strong and loving relationships, leaders nurturing creativity, artists pushing innovation, and clergy walking with people through faith and mystery have in common? The answer was clear: They recognize the power of emotion and they’re not afraid to lean in to discomfort.

Walking into our stories of hurt can feel dangerous. But the process of regaining our footing in the midst of struggle is where our courage is tested and our values are forged. Our stories of struggle can be big ones, like the loss of a job or the end of a relationship, or smaller ones, like a conflict with a friend or colleague. Regardless of magnitude or circumstance, the rising strong process is the same: We reckon with our emotions and get curious about what we’re feeling; we rumble with our stories until we get to a place of truth; and we live this process, every day, until it becomes a practice and creates nothing short of a revolution in our lives. Rising strong after a fall is how we cultivate wholeheartedness. It’s the process, Brown writes, that teaches us the most about who we are.]]> 336 Brené Brown 0812995821 Idleprimate 0 on-hold-unfinished 4.25 2015 Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution
author: Brené Brown
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/31
shelves: on-hold-unfinished
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Dreaming Vol. 1: Pathways and Emanations]]> 43097789 One of four books expanding Neil Gaiman's acclaimed Sandman Universe. There is a place where gods are born and stories are spun. Today its walls lie slashed and bleeding. Twenty-three years after he was anointed as its master, the lord of dreams has inexplicably abandoned his domain.

Lord Daniel's absence triggers a series of crimes and calamities that consume the lives of those already tangled in his fate. Until he is found, his realm's residents must protect its broken borders alone. But the most senior storytellers are tormented by invasive secrets, the warden Lucien is doubting his own mind, and beyond the gates, something horrific awaits with tooth and talon. Only Dora, the monstrous, finds opportunity in madness, stealing dreams for the highest bidder. But she has no idea how deep the danger lies. Meanwhile, in Daniel's gallery, something new is growing...

Written by fan-favorite author Si Spurrier (Motherlands, Suicide Squad) with breathtaking art by standout artist Bilquis Evely (Batman, Wonder Woman). The first book in The Sandman Universe kicks off with fireworks as The Dreaming literally tears itself apart!

The Sandman Universe is a new series of books curated by Neil Gaiman for DC Vertigo. Conjuring epic storytelling and immersing readers into the evolving world of the Dreaming, The Sandman Universe begins anew with four new ongoing series, existing in a shared universe, building upon Gaiman's New York Times best-selling series that lyrically weaved together stories of dreams and magic.

Collects The Dreaming #1-6 and Sandman Universe Special #1]]> 199 Simon Spurrier 1401291171 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.83 2019 The Dreaming Vol. 1: Pathways and Emanations
author: Simon Spurrier
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Tentacle 40133379 132 Rita Indiana 1911508342 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.38 2015 Tentacle
author: Rita Indiana
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Pick-Up 20353 He Holed Up With a Helpless Lush

Prowling the grimy streets of San Francisco low-life, Helen is a beautiful, sensuous drunk - and a pathetically easy pick-up. Harry just wants to help, but before long he and Helen are both adrift in a sea of alcohol - until Harry conceives the ultimate crime...]]> 191 Charles Willeford 1596542241 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.01 1955 Pick-Up
author: Charles Willeford
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/05/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Unsung Horrors 34815753 448 Eric McNaughton Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.50 Unsung Horrors
author: Eric McNaughton
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.50
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/03/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mimi And Toutou Go Forth 1901897 318 Giles Foden 0718145550 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.77 2004 Mimi And Toutou Go Forth
author: Giles Foden
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[On Cussing: Bad Words and Creative Cursing]]> 40611198 64 Katherine Dunn 1947793268 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.79 2019 On Cussing: Bad Words and Creative Cursing
author: Katherine Dunn
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/02/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Permafrost 40048442 A 2019 Locus Award finalist
A USA Today Bestseller

Fix the past. Save the present. Stop the future. Master of science fiction Alastair Reynolds unfolds a time-traveling climate fiction adventure in Permafrost.

2080: at a remote site on the edge of the Arctic Circle, a group of scientists, engineers and physicians gather to gamble humanity’s future on one last-ditch experiment. Their to make a tiny alteration to the past, averting a global catastrophe while at the same time leaving recorded history intact. To make the experiment work, they just need one last an ageing schoolteacher whose late mother was the foremost expert on the mathematics of paradox.

2028: a young woman goes into surgery for routine brain surgery. In the days following her operation, she begins to hear another voice in her head... an unwanted presence which seems to have a will, and a purpose, all of its own � one that will disrupt her life entirely. The only choice left to her is a simple one.

Does she resist ... or become a collaborator?

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 133 Alastair Reynolds 1250303559 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.88 2019 Permafrost
author: Alastair Reynolds
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/02/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The New Annotated Frankenstein (The Annotated Books)]]> 32703815 the very nature of knowledge," writes best-selling author Leslie S. Klinger in his foreword to The New Annotated Frankenstein. Despite its undeniable status as one of the most influential works of fiction ever written, Mary Shelley’s novel is often reductively dismissed as the wellspring for tacky monster films or as a cautionary tale about experimental science gone haywire. Now, two centuries after the first publication of Frankenstein, Klinger revives Shelley’s gothic masterpiece by reproducing her original text with the most lavishly illustrated and comprehensively annotated edition to date.

Featuring over 200 illustrations and nearly 1,000 annotations, this sumptuous volume recaptures Shelley’s early nineteenth-century world with historical precision and imaginative breadth, tracing the social and political roots of the author’s revolutionary brand of Romanticism. Braiding together decades of scholarship with his own keen insights, Klinger recounts Frankenstein’s indelible contributions to the realms of science fiction, feminist theory, and modern intellectual history—not to mention film history and popular culture. The result of Klinger’s exhaustive research is a multifaceted portrait of one of Western literature’s most divinely gifted prodigies, a young novelist who defied her era’s restrictions on female ambitions by independently supporting herself and her children as a writer and editor.

Born in a world of men in the midst of a political and an emerging industrial revolution, Shelley crafted a horror story that, beyond its incisive commentary on her own milieu, is widely recognized as the first work of science fiction. The daughter of a pioneering feminist and an Enlightenment philosopher, Shelley lived and wrote at the center of British Romanticism, the “exuberant, young movement� that rebelled against tradition and reason and "with a rebellious scream gave birth to a world of gods and monsters" (del Toro).

Following his best-selling The New Annotated H. P. Lovecraft and The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Klinger not only considers Shelley’s original 1818 text but, for the first time in any annotated volume, traces the effects of her significant revisions in the 1823 and 1831 editions. With an afterword by renowned literary scholar Anne K. Mellor, The New Annotated Frankenstein celebrates the prescient genius and undying legacy of the world’s "first truly modern myth."


The New Annotated Frankenstein includes:

Nearly 1,000 notes that provide information and historical context on every aspect of Frankenstein and of Mary Shelley’s life
Over 200 illustrations, including original artwork from the 1831 edition and dozens of photographs of real-world locations that appear in the novel
Extensive listings of films and theatrical adaptations
An introduction by Guillermo del Toro and an afterword by Anne K. Mellor
Ěý]]> 404 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 087140950X Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.32 1818 The New Annotated Frankenstein (The Annotated Books)
author: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1818
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Countersexual Manifesto (Critical Life Studies)]]> 40265194 Countersexual Manifesto is an outrageous yet rigorous work of trans theory, a performative literary text, and an insistent call to action. Seeking to overthrow all constraints on what can be done with and to the body, Paul B. Preciado offers a provocative challenge to even the most radical claims about gender, sexuality, and desire.

Preciado lays out mock constitutional principles for a countersexual revolution that will recognize genitalia as technological objects and offers step-by-step illustrated instructions for dismantling the heterocentric social contract. He calls theorists such as Derrida, Foucault, Butler, and Haraway to task for not going nearly far enough in their attempts to deconstruct the naturalization of normative identities and behaviors. Preciado's claim that the dildo precedes the penis--that artifice, not nature, comes first in the history of sexuality--forms the basis of his demand for new practices of sexual emancipation. He calls for a world of sexual plasticity and fabrication, of bio-printers and "dildonics," and he invokes countersexuality's roots in the history of sex toys, pornography, and drag in order to rupture the supposedly biological foundations of the heterocentric regime. His claims are extreme, but supported through meticulous readings of philosophy and theory, as well as popular culture. The Manifesto is now available in English translation for its twentieth anniversary, with a new introduction by Preciado. Countersexual Manifesto will disrupt feminism and queer theory and scandalize us all with its hyperbolic but deadly serious defiance of everything we've been told about sex.]]> 240 Paul B. Preciado 0231175639 Idleprimate 1 4.13 2000 Countersexual Manifesto (Critical Life Studies)
author: Paul B. Preciado
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2000
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2019/02/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Comics Will Break Your Heart 34506913

In her endearing debut novel, cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks pens a sensitive and funny Romeo and Juliet tale about modern romance, geek royalty, and what it takes to heal the long-festering scars of the past (Spoiler Alert: love).]]> 340 Faith Erin Hicks 1626723648 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.49 2019 Comics Will Break Your Heart
author: Faith Erin Hicks
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions]]> 13277571
Contains a foreword by James Cameron, an afterword by Tom Cruise, and contributions from other luminaries, including Neil Gaiman and John Landis, among others.]]> 263 Guillermo del Toro 0062082841 Idleprimate 0
It is definitley a must have for Del Toro fans and fans of genre film/stories in general.]]> 4.53 2013 Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions
author: Guillermo del Toro
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2018/04/23
date added: 2019/01/27
shelves:
review:
This book is a sensory overload of delight in images, phrases, thoughts, and evocative moments. Del Toro and his work is infectious with enthusiasm and joy and an unusually articulate ability to deconstruct aspects of story-telling and meaning in our monsters and macabre.

It is definitley a must have for Del Toro fans and fans of genre film/stories in general.
]]> The Geek Feminist Revolution 26114477 A powerful collection of essays on feminism, geek culture, and a writer’s journey, from one of the most important new voices in genre.

The Geek Feminist Revolution is a collection of essays by double Hugo Award-winning essayist and science fiction and fantasy novelist Kameron Hurley.

The book collects dozens of Hurley’s essays on feminism, geek culture, and her experiences and insights as a genre writer, including “We Have Always Fought,� which won the 2014 Hugo for Best Related Work. The Geek Feminist Revolution also features several entirely new essays written specifically for this volume.

Unapologetically outspoken, Hurley has contributed essays to The Atlantic, Locus, Tor.com, and elsewhere on the rise of women in genre, her passion for science fiction and fantasy, and the diversification of publishing.]]> 272 Kameron Hurley 0765386232 Idleprimate 1
Part of the problem is today's ethos of publishing anything if people will eat it up--born of the internet and its lack of gatekeepers. So if some batshit person wants to rant and rave, and there are a bunch of other batshit people who are happy to get riled up, then a thing is published--the problem is it is accepted as having some meaning, of having relevant observations about social conditions, and is unquestioned, unchallenged, and to do so would be to invite the dissembling evasive shaming tactics so common to the feminism movement. The truth is her claims aren't worth addressing, she is like a child that you let wear out her own tantrum.]]> 3.80 2016 The Geek Feminist Revolution
author: Kameron Hurley
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2016
rating: 1
read at: 2018/08/27
date added: 2019/01/27
shelves:
review:
This book was the worst kind of over-privileged and entitled whining and tantrums. The level of narcissism and toxicity was repellant--it was hard to keep reading such empty crazed noise. I was very disappointed as I had heard good things about her work. This is just another in a long line of works that will one day be looked back at as part of a fanatical era where all lucidity and reason had gone out the window and been replaced by shrill hysteria and unaccountability.

Part of the problem is today's ethos of publishing anything if people will eat it up--born of the internet and its lack of gatekeepers. So if some batshit person wants to rant and rave, and there are a bunch of other batshit people who are happy to get riled up, then a thing is published--the problem is it is accepted as having some meaning, of having relevant observations about social conditions, and is unquestioned, unchallenged, and to do so would be to invite the dissembling evasive shaming tactics so common to the feminism movement. The truth is her claims aren't worth addressing, she is like a child that you let wear out her own tantrum.
]]> <![CDATA[8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery: Take-Charge Strategies to Empower Your Healing (8 Keys to Mental Health)]]> 6497524
This is not another book promoting a new method or type of treatment; rather, it is a necessary adjunct to self-help and professional recovery programs. After reading this book, readers will be able to recognize their own individual needs and evaluate whether those needs are being met. They will have the tools necessary to put themselves in the drivers seat, navigating their own safe road to recovery.]]> 192 Babette Rothschild 0393706052 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.23 2009 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery: Take-Charge Strategies to Empower Your Healing (8 Keys to Mental Health)
author: Babette Rothschild
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos]]> 30257963 What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson's answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research.

Humorous, surprising, and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awaits those who criticize too easily, and why you should always pet a cat when you meet one on the street.

What does the nervous system of the lowly lobster have to tell us about standing up straight (with our shoulders back) and about success in life? Why did ancient Egyptians worship the capacity to pay careful attention as the highest of gods? What dreadful paths do people tread when they become resentful, arrogant, and vengeful? Dr. Peterson journeys broadly, discussing discipline, freedom, adventure, and responsibility, distilling the world's wisdom into 12 practical and profound rules for life. 12 Rules for Life shatters the modern commonplaces of science, faith, and human nature while transforming and ennobling the mind and spirit of its listeners.]]> 409 Jordan B. Peterson 0345816021 Idleprimate 3 3.90 2018 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
author: Jordan B. Peterson
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2018/07/11
date added: 2019/01/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Search For The Real Self: Unmasking The Personality Disorders Of Our Age]]> 865949 256 James F. Masterson 0029202922 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.09 1988 The Search For The Real Self: Unmasking The Personality Disorders Of Our Age
author: James F. Masterson
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1988
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters: Inside His Films, Notebooks, and Collections]]> 28688177
In 2016, a new exhibit on the work of visionary director Guillermo del Toro will begin at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), before moving on to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and the Minneapolis Museum of Art (MIA). This book will be the perfect accompaniment to the exhibition, which focuses on del Toro’s creative process, including the well-defined themes that he obsessively returns to in all his films, the journals in which he logs his ideas, and the vast and inspiring collection of art and pop culture ephemera that he has amassed at his private “man cave,� Bleak House. Filled with imagery from the exhibit, including favorite pieces of art that del Toro has chosen for the exhibit, and pertinent journal pages, the book will further delve further into the director’s world through exclusive in-depth interviews and commentary from notable figures in the art world. Forming a perfect companion to the exhibition, this book will deliver an engrossing look into the mind of one of the great creative visionaries of our time.]]> 151 Jim Shedden 1608878600 Idleprimate 5 4.33 2016 Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters: Inside His Films, Notebooks, and Collections
author: Jim Shedden
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2018/12/02
date added: 2019/01/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest]]> 32714239 Ěý
Tufekci speaks from direct experience, combining on-the-ground interviews with insightful analysis. She describes how the internet helped the Zapatista uprisings in Mexico, the necessity of remote Twitter users to organize medical supplies during Arab Spring, the refusal to use bullhorns in the Occupy Movement that started in New York, and the empowering effect of tear gas in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. These details from life inside social movements complete a moving investigation of authority, technology, and culture—and offer essential insights into the future of governance.
From New York Times opinion columnist Zeynep Tufekci, an firsthand account and incisive analysis of the role of social media in modern protest

“[Tufekci’s] personal experience in the squares and streets, melded with her scholarly insights on technology and communication platforms, makes [this] such an unusual and illuminating work.”—Carlos Lozada, Washington Post

�Twitter and Tear Gas is packed with evidence on how social media has changed social movements, based on rigorous research and placed in historical context.”—Hannah Kuchler, Financial Times

]]> 326 Zeynep Tufekci 0300215126 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.08 2017 Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest
author: Zeynep Tufekci
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Pocket Guide to Action: 116 Meditations on the Art of Doing]]> 35062823 143 Kyle Eschenroeder 0989190374 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.25 The Pocket Guide to Action: 116 Meditations on the Art of Doing
author: Kyle Eschenroeder
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film]]> 293192 260 Carol J. Clover 0691006202 Idleprimate 1 4.03 1992 Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
author: Carol J. Clover
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1992
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2019/01/16
shelves:
review:
predictable paranoid narcissistic feminist discourse with its obsessive monoview of the world in a victim oppressor dichotomy. sucks the life and richness out of the genre with its flat one-dimensional obsessions. I wonder if we will ever get past this era of women who see everything as revolving around themselves, where no subject or issue exists unless it has been made to be about the alleged plight of women. It was stale, tired and toxic thirty years ago, it is the same now.
]]> Rendezvous in Black 45338 211 Cornell Woolrich 0812971450 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.96 1948 Rendezvous in Black
author: Cornell Woolrich
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1948
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Good Dog, Bad Dog (A Sam Russo Mystery, #2)]]> 16704675
Sam Russo's first case brought him two good things: Jane, a yodeling dog, and Mrs. Willingford, a rich and sassy dame. Now back home in his crummy Staten Island room, all he wants is to relax, read books, and go to the movies. Fat chance. One knock on the door and he and Jane are careening down Broadway, in and out of one hit show after another, in hot pursuit of a giant killer]]> 258 Ki Longfellow 1937819043 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.07 2013 Good Dog, Bad Dog (A Sam Russo Mystery, #2)
author: Ki Longfellow
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shadow Roll (A Sam Russo Mystery, #1)]]> 15039105 240 Ki Longfellow 1937819000 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.05 2013 Shadow Roll (A Sam Russo Mystery, #1)
author: Ki Longfellow
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Shoot the Piano Player 42589
Shoot the Piano Player is a bittersweet and nerve-racking exploration of different kinds of loyalty: the kind a man owes his family, no matter how bad that family is; the kind a man owes a woman; and, ultimately, the loyalty he owes himself. The result is a moody thriller that, like the best hard-boiled fiction, carries a moral depth charge.]]> 158 David Goodis 0679732543 Idleprimate 0 4.03 1956 Shoot the Piano Player
author: David Goodis
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1956
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[American Tabloid (Underworld USA #1)]]> 36064
Where the CIA, the Mob, J. Edgar Hoover, Howard Hughes, Jimmy Hoffa, Cuban political exiles, and various loose cannons conspire in a covert anarchy...

Where the right drugs, the right amount of cash, the right murder, buys a moment of a man's loyalty...

Where three renegade law-enforcement officers—a former L.A. cop and two FBI agents—are shaping events with the virulence of their greed and hatred, riding full-blast shotgun into history....

James Ellroy's trademark nothing-spared rendering of reality, blistering language, and relentless narrative pace are here in electrifying abundance, put to work in a novel as shocking and daring as anything he's written: a secret history that zeroes in on a time still shrouded in secrets and blows it wide open.

Chosen by Time magazine as one of the ten best books of the year.

"Hard-bitten ... ingenious ... Ellroy segues into political intrigue without missing a beat." �The New York Times

"Vastly entertaining." �Los Angeles Times

"One hellishly exciting ride." �Detroit Free Press

"A supremely controlled work of art." �The New York Times Book Review]]> 592 James Ellroy 037572737X Idleprimate 0 4.21 1995 American Tabloid (Underworld USA #1)
author: James Ellroy
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/06
shelves:
review:

]]> In Cold Blood 168642
As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.]]> 343 Truman Capote 0679745580 Idleprimate 0 4.08 1966 In Cold Blood
author: Truman Capote
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[L.A. Confidential (L.A. Quartet, #3)]]> 57727 496 James Ellroy Idleprimate 0 4.21 1990 L.A. Confidential (L.A. Quartet, #3)
author: James Ellroy
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Dark Matter 27833670 A mindbending, relentlessly surprising thriller from the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy.

Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.

"Are you happy with your life?"

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man Jason's never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend."

In this world he's woken up to, Jason's life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that's the dream?

And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could've imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human--a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we'll go to claim the lives we dream of.]]> 342 Blake Crouch 1101904224 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.13 2016 Dark Matter
author: Blake Crouch
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Descent of Man 30118099
What would happen if we rethought the old, macho, outdated version of manhood, and embraced a different idea of what makes a man? Apart from giving up the coronary-inducing stress of always being 'right' and the vast new wardrobe options, the real benefit might be that a newly fitted masculinity will allow men to have better relationships - and that's happiness, right?

Grayson Perry admits he's not immune from the stereotypes himself - as the psychoanalysts say, 'if you spot it, you've got it' - and his thoughts on everything from power to physical appearance, from emotions to a brand new Manifesto for Men, are shot through with honesty, tenderness and the belief that, for everyone to benefit, upgrading masculinity has to be something men decide to do themselves. They have nothing to lose but their hang-ups.]]> 151 Grayson Perry 0241236274 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.01 2016 The Descent of Man
author: Grayson Perry
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Monarchy of Fear: A Philosopher Looks at Our Political Crisis]]> 35297299
For decades Martha C. Nussbaum has been an acclaimed scholar and humanist, earning dozens of honors for her books and essays. In The Monarchy of Fear she turns her attention to the current political crisis that has polarized American since the 2016 election.

Although today’s atmosphere is marked by partisanship, divisive rhetoric, and the inability of two halves of the country to communicate with one another, Nussbaum focuses on what so many pollsters and pundits have overlooked. She sees a simple truth at the heart of the the political is always emotional. Globalization has produced feelings of powerlessness in millions of people in the West. That sense of powerlessness bubbles into resentment and blame. Blame of immigrants. Blame of Muslims. Blame of other races. Blame of cultural elites. While this politics of blame is exemplified by the election of Donald Trump and the vote for Brexit, Nussbaum argues it can be found on all sides of the political spectrum, left or right.

Drawing on a mix of historical and contemporary examples, from classical Athens to the musical Hamilton , The Monarchy of Fear untangles this web of feelings and provides a roadmap of where to go next.]]> 272 Martha C. Nussbaum 1501172492 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.47 The Monarchy of Fear: A Philosopher Looks at Our Political Crisis
author: Martha C. Nussbaum
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.47
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities]]> 7650765 Historically, the humanities have been central to education because they have rightly been seen as essential for creating competent democratic citizens. But recently, Nussbaum argues, thinking about the aims of education has gone disturbingly awry both in the United States and abroad. Anxiously focused on national economic growth, we increasingly treat education as though its primary goal were to teach students to be economically productive rather than to think critically and become knowledgeable and empathetic citizens. This shortsighted focus on profitable skills has eroded our ability to criticize authority, reduced our sympathy with the marginalized and different, and damaged our competence to deal with complex global problems. And the loss of these basic capacities jeopardizes the health of democracies and the hope of a decent world.

In response to this dire situation, Nussbaum argues that we must resist efforts to reduce education to a tool of the gross national product. Rather, we must work to reconnect education to the humanities in order to give students the capacity to be true democratic citizens of their countries and the world.

Drawing on the stories of troubling--and hopeful--educational developments from around the world, Nussbaum offers a manifesto that should be a rallying cry for anyone who cares about the deepest purposes of education.

]]> 158 Martha C. Nussbaum 0691140642 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.59 2010 Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
author: Martha C. Nussbaum
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions]]> 226711 766 Martha C. Nussbaum 0521531829 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.12 2001 Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions
author: Martha C. Nussbaum
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice]]> 17804353 480 Martha C. Nussbaum 0674724658 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.77 2013 Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice
author: Martha C. Nussbaum
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy]]> 250887 592 Martha C. Nussbaum 0521794722 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.23 1986 The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy
author: Martha C. Nussbaum
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1986
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/01/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Inverted World 2376115
The secret directorate that governs the city makes sure that its inhabitants know nothing of this. Raised in common in crèches, nurtured on synthetic food, prevented above all from venturing outside the closed circuit of the city, they are carefully sheltered from the dire necessities that have come to define human existence. And yet the city is in crisis. The people are growing restive, the population is dwindling, and the rulers know that, for all their efforts, slowly but surely the city is slipping ever farther behind the optimum.

Helward Mann is a member of the city’s elite. Better than anyone, he knows how tenuous is the city’s continued existence. But the world—he is about to discover—is infinitely stranger than the strange world he believes he knows so well.]]> 322 Christopher Priest 1590172698 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.00 1974 Inverted World
author: Christopher Priest
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1974
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Trapped in the Mirror: Adult Children of Narcissists in Their Struggle for Self]]> 3062338 271 Elan Golomb 0688094716 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.87 1992 Trapped in the Mirror: Adult Children of Narcissists in Their Struggle for Self
author: Elan Golomb
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Unmasking Narcissism: A Guide to Understanding the Narcissist in Your Life]]> 28204380 Unmasking Narcissism will help you set healthy boundaries and make sense of this complex and often painful issue. In this groundbreaking guide from clinical psychologist Mark Ettensohn, PsyD., you will gain insight into narcissistic behaviors, symptoms, and relationship dynamics. Dr. Ettensohn provides exercises designed to help you clarify your own values and goals for the relationship, whether that means immediate separation or long-term relationship management. Anyone whose life has been touched by narcissism will find this book helpful - whether you are coming to terms with a loved one's diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality disorder (NPD), or working to move forward after leaving a narcissistic relationship.

Unmasking Narcissism provides strategies and coping styles that will guide you toward a deeper understanding of both the narcissist and yourself, with:


Easy-to-read sections aligned with the DSM-5 criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Explanations of both grandiose (overt) and vulnerable (covert) narcissism. Healing tools and techniques, including how to defuse arguments instead of fuel them, mindfulness meditation, and exploring vulnerability. Real-world stories of people coping with narcissists. Throughout, Unmasking Narcissism offers a fully realized, yet compassionate portrait of narcissism that will help you on your path to healing without compromising your own mental health and wellness.]]> 186 Mark Ettensohn 1623156424 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.99 2016 Unmasking Narcissism: A Guide to Understanding the Narcissist in Your Life
author: Mark Ettensohn
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Handle a Narcissist: Understanding and Dealing with a Range of Narcissistic Personalities (Narcissism and Emotional Abuse Toolkit: How to handle ... and heal from emotional abuse Book 1)]]> 35111199
Most of us show some degree of self-enhancing tendencies, but as we move up the narcissistic scale towards extreme narcissism, behaviors and characteristics start to harm not only the individual but people around them.

Whether the narcissistic person in your life is your partner, family member, friend or coworker, this book will help you to understand what you need to do to regain control of your boundaries, and guide the relationship in whichever direction is best for yourself and others.

Narcissists can make our lives hellish, but by understanding them and then following a few simple steps we can take back control of our boundaries and empower ourselves when dealing with these unavoidable personalities!

Here Is A Preview of What You’ll Learn�

Learn how to identify and differentiate between healthy and extreme narcissism, and determine how the narcissist in your life ranks for both

Discover how narcissism can be considered a dependence on narcissistic supply, mirroring a dependence on alcohol or other drugs

Find out what the narcissist wants from you

Discover practical research-based methods to making life easier with the narcissist

Read about other people's experiences with narcissists, and what they subsequently learnt

Download your copy today!

Take the first step towards freedom and peace of mind today and download this book for a limited time price of only $2.99!

Download your copy of "How to Handle a Narcissist" to learn real, valuable and helpful tips to influence a narcissist and start seeing things improve in a matter of days.

Check Out What Others Are Saying�

"This book was really easy to read and avoided the blame, shame and label rhetoric that you see when you read about narcissists. I found it really useful to see the narcissist in my life as more of a person and why they were being so difficult. Then I could handle them from a much calmer place. Really helpful" - S. Goldberg

"I bought this to help me decide what to do about my narcissistic mother. I'm going to give the techniques a try and see if we can have something of a relationship, really hoping they work" - M. Winston

]]> 111 Theresa Jackson Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.85 How to Handle a Narcissist: Understanding and Dealing with a Range of Narcissistic Personalities (Narcissism and Emotional Abuse Toolkit: How to handle ... and heal from emotional abuse Book 1)
author: Theresa Jackson
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.85
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha]]> 173666 For many of us, feelings of deficiency are right around the corner. It doesn’t take much--just hearing of someone else’s accomplishments, being criticized, getting into an argument, making a mistake at work--to make us feel that we are not okay. Beginning to understand how our lives have become ensnared in this trance of unworthiness is our first step toward reconnecting with who we really are and what it means to live fully.
--from Radical Acceptance

Radical Acceptance

“Believing that something is wrong with us is a deep and tenacious suffering,� says Tara Brach at the start of this illuminating book. This suffering emerges in crippling self-judgments and conflicts in our relationships, in addictions and perfectionism, in loneliness and overwork--all the forces that keep our lives constricted and unfulfilled. Radical Acceptance offers a path to freedom, including the day-to-day practical guidance developed over Dr. Brach’s twenty years of work with therapy clients and Buddhist students.

Writing with great warmth and clarity, Tara Brach brings her teachings alive through personal stories and case histories, fresh interpretations of Buddhist tales, and guided meditations. Step by step, she leads us to trust our innate goodness, showing how we can develop the balance of clear-sightedness and compassion that is the essence of Radical Acceptance. Radical Acceptance does not mean self-indulgence or passivity. Instead it empowers genuine change: healing fear and shame and helping to build loving, authentic relationships. When we stop being at war with ourselves, we are free to live fully every precious moment of our lives.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 333 Tara Brach Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.15 2000 Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha
author: Tara Brach
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[POWER: Surviving and Thriving After Narcissistic Abuse: A Collection of Essays on Malignant Narcissism and Recovery from Emotional Abuse]]> 34384807 348 Shahida Arabi 1945796324 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.43 2017 POWER: Surviving and Thriving After Narcissistic Abuse: A Collection of Essays on Malignant Narcissism and Recovery from Emotional Abuse
author: Shahida Arabi
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers, #3)]]> 36220698
Hundreds of years ago, the last humans on Earth boarded the Exodus Fleet in search of a new home among the stars. After centuries spent wandering empty space, their descendants were eventually accepted by the well-established species that govern the Milky Way.

But that was long ago. Today, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, the birthplace of many, yet a place few outsiders have ever visited. While the Exodans take great pride in their original community and traditions, their culture has been influenced by others beyond their bulkheads. As many Exodans leave for alien cities or terrestrial colonies, those who remain are left to ponder their own lives and futures: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination? Why remain in space when there are habitable worlds available to live? What is the price of sustaining their carefully balanced way of life—and is it worth saving at all?

A young apprentice, a lifelong spacer with young children, a planet-raised traveler, an alien academic, a caretaker for the dead, and an Archivist whose mission is to ensure no one’s story is forgotten, wrestle with these profound universal questions. The answers may seem small on the galactic scale, but to these individuals, it could mean everything.]]> 358 Becky Chambers 0062699229 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.16 2018 Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers, #3)
author: Becky Chambers
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Compassionate Revolution: Radical Politics and Buddhism]]> 2428332
After exploring in Free to be Human the ways the mass media distorts our understanding of many personal, ethical and spiritual issues to make us willing to accept the irrational values of corporate consumerism, political writer David Edwards is back with another powerful read.

In The Compassionate Revolution, David builds on his argument, showing how our capitalist system is dependent on the promotion of the three Buddhist Poisons of Greed, Hatred and greed for profit at any cost in terms of human suffering; hatred of foreign obstacles to profit; ignorance of the cosy link between Western corporations and Third World dictators, helping to protect Western profits.

Western activists need to recognise the truly revolutionary potential of the Buddhist conviction that compassion is the basis of all happiness. The antidote to exploitative social systems is rational awareness rooted in unconditional kindness and compassion for all. By marrying the political arguments of activists like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn with the compassionate awareness of Buddhist writers such as Aryasura, Geshe Gyeltsen and Stephen Batchelor, David shows how we can instigate a compassionate revolution in which the only enemies and casualties are greed, hatred and ignorance.]]> 256 David Edwards 1870098706 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.04 1998 The Compassionate Revolution: Radical Politics and Buddhism
author: David Edwards
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> I Am Legend 2446100 I Am Legend, though, was a trailblazing and later much imitated story that reinvented the vampire myth as SF. Without losing the horror, it presents vampirism as a disease whose secrets can be unlocked by scientific tools. The hero Robert Neville, perhaps the last uninfected man on Earth, finds himself in a paranoid nightmare. By night, the bloodthirsty undead of small-town America besiege his barricaded house: their repeated cry "Come out, Neville!" is a famous SF catchphrase. By day, when they hide in shadow and become comatose, Neville gets out his wooden stakes for an orgy of slaughter. He also discovers pseudoscientific explanations, some rather strained, for vampires' fear of light, vulnerability to stakes though not bullets, loathing of garlic, and so on. What gives the story its uneasy power is the gradual perspective shift which shows that by fighting monsters Neville is himself becoming monstrous--not a vampire but something to terrify vampires and haunt their dreams as a dreadful legend from the bad old days. I Am Legend was altered out of recognition when filmed as The Omega Man (1971), starring Charlton Heston. Avoid the movie; read the book. --David Langford]]> 317 Richard Matheson 0812523008 Idleprimate 5 4.10 1954 I Am Legend
author: Richard Matheson
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1954
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2018/12/05
shelves:
review:

]]> What We All Long For 153093
What We All Long For follows the overlapping stories of a close circle of second-generation twenty-somethings living in downtown Toronto. There’s Tuyen, a lesbian avant-garde artist and the daughter of Vietnamese parents who’ve never recovered from losing one of their children in the crush to board a boat out of Vietnam in the 1970s. Tuyen defines herself in opposition to just about everything her family believes in and strives for. She’s in love with her best friend Carla, a biracial bicycle courier, who’s still reeling from the loss of her mother to suicide eighteen years earlier and who must now deal with her brother Jamal’s latest acts of delinquency. Oku is a jazz-loving poet who, unbeknownst to his Jamaican-born parents, has dropped out of university. He is in constant conflict with his narrow-minded and verbally abusive father and tormented by his unrequited love for Jackie, a gorgeous black woman who runs a hip clothing shop on Queen Street West and dates only white men. Like each of her friends, Jackie feels alienated from her parents, former hipsters from Nova Scotia who never made it out of subsidized housing after their lives became entangled with desire and disappointment.

The four characters try to make a life for themselves in the city, supporting one another through their family struggles.

There’s a fifth main character, Quy, the child who Tuyen’s parents lost in Vietnam. In his first-person narrative, Quy describes how he survived in various refugee camps, then in the Thai underworld. After years of being hardened, he has finally made his way to Toronto and will soon be reunited with his family � whether to love them or hurt them, it’s not clear. His story builds to a breathless crescendo in an ending that will both shock and satisfy readers.

What We All Long For is a gripping and, at times, heart-rending story about identity, longing and loss in a cosmopolitan city. No other writer has presented such a powerful and richly textured portrait of present-day Toronto.

But What We All Long For is not only about a particular city. It’s about the universal experience of being human. As Walcott puts it, “Brand makes us see ourselves differently and anew. She translates our desires and experiences into a language, an art that allows us to voice that which we live, but could not utter or bring to voice until she did so for us.”]]> 318 Dionne Brand 067697693X Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.36 2005 What We All Long For
author: Dionne Brand
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Company Town 20447745
Meanwhile, a series of interconnected murders threatens the city’s stability � serial killer? Or something much, much worse...?]]> 285 Madeline Ashby 0857665367 Idleprimate 0 to-read 3.46 2016 Company Town
author: Madeline Ashby
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/11/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Critical Path 190038
Critical Path is Fuller's master work--the summing up of a lifetime's thought and concern--as urgent and relevant as it was upon its first publication in 1981. Critical Path details how humanity found itself in its current situation--at the limits of the planet's natural resources and facing political, economic, environmental, and ethical crises.

The crowning achievement of an extraordinary career, Critical Path offers the reader the excitement of understanding the essential dilemmas of our time and how responsible citizens can rise to meet this ultimate challenge to our future.]]> 471 R. Buckminster Fuller 0312174918 Idleprimate 0 to-read 4.22 1981 Critical Path
author: R. Buckminster Fuller
name: Idleprimate
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/11/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>