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Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self
by Manoush Zomorodi"Bored and Brilliant shows the fascinating side of boredom. Manoush Zomorodi investigates cutting-edge research as well as compelling (and often funny) real-life examples to demonstrate that boredom is actually a crucial tool for making our lives happier, more productive, and more creative. What’s more, the book is crammed with practical exercises for anyone who wants to reclaim the power of spacing out – deleting the Two Dots app, for instance, or having a photo-free day, or taking a 'fakecation'." —Gretchen Rubin, author of #1 NYT Bestseller The Happiness Project"Bored and Brilliant is full of easy steps to make each day more effective and every life more intentional. Manoush’s mix of personal stories, neuroscience, and data will convince you that boredom is actually a gift." —Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and Smarter, Faster, BetterIt’s time to move “doing nothing” to the top of your to-do list.In 2015 Manoush Zomorodi, host of WNYC’s popular podcast and radio show Note to Self, led tens of thousands of listeners through an experiment to help them unplug from their devices, get bored, jump-start their creativity, and change their lives. Bored and Brilliant builds on that experiment to show us how to rethink our gadget use to live better and smarter in this new digital ecosystem. Manoush explains the connection between boredom and original thinking, exploring how we can harness boredom’s hidden benefits to become our most productive and creative selves without totally abandoning our gadgets in the process. Grounding the book in the neuroscience and cognitive psychology of “mind wandering” what our brains do when we're doing nothing at all—Manoush includes practical steps you can take to ease the nonstop busyness and enhance your ability to dream, wonder, and gain clarity in your work and life. The outcome is mind-blowing. Unplug and read on.
Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid: Changing Feelings about Technology, from the Telegraph to Twitter
by Luke FernandezFacebook makes us lonely. Selfies breed narcissism. On Twitter, hostility reigns. Pundits and psychologists warn that digital technologies substantially alter our emotional states. But Luke Fernandez and Susan Matt show that technology doesn’t just affect how we feel from moment to moment—it changes profoundly the underlying emotions themselves.
Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid: Changing Feelings about Technology, from the Telegraph to Twitter
by Susan J. Matt Luke FernandezFacebook makes us lonely. Selfies breed narcissism. On Twitter, hostility reigns. Pundits and psychologists warn that digital technologies substantially alter our emotional states. But Luke Fernandez and Susan Matt show that technology doesn’t just affect how we feel from moment to moment—it changes profoundly the underlying emotions themselves.
Boredom Studies Reader: Frameworks and Perspectives
by Michael Gardiner Julian Jason HaladynBoredom Studies is an increasingly rich and vital area of contemporary research that examines the experience of boredom as an importan – even quintessential – condition of modern life. This anthology of newly commissioned essays focuses on the historical and theoretical potential of this modern condition, connecting boredom studies with parallel discourses such as affect theory and highlighting possible avenues of future research. Spanning sociology, history, art, philosophy and cultural studies, the book considers boredom as a mass response to the atrophy of experience characteristic of a highly mechanised and urbanised social life.
Boredom and Academic Work (Routledge Advances in Sociology)
by Mariusz FinkielszteinIntroducing the notion of boredom into the academic context, Boredom and Academic Work proposes a fresh sociological perspective on boredom and academic work alike. It invites a reader to reflect on the essence of boredom and the nature of academic work from the sociological perspective. It constitutes methodological and conceptual guidance for all those interested in their own emotions both at work and outside. It also provides an original, interactional and essential definition of boredom and a novel standpoint for observing academic work, both in its systemic and practical level, and shows how the academic system influences its subjects' well-being, motivation, emotions, and practices. Covering various approaches from the qualitative methodology, linguistics, sociology of work, emotions, and higher education, and telling a story of research and teaching university staff, the book will be of interest to researchers in a broad range of areas and the general academic public as well.
Boreout: Wie man Langeweile und Einsamkeit vermeidet (essentials)
by Dietmar GoldammerImmer mehr Menschen leiden unter Boreout. Betroffen sind besonders Ältere und diejenigen, die sich während ihres Berufslebens nicht um die Organisation ihres Ruhestandes gekümmert haben. Die Langeweile führt zu Ängsten, Abhängigkeiten sowie Depressionen, und im Mittelpunkt steht die Vermeidung von Einsamkeit. Was sind die Ursachen, was kann man dagegen tun, mit welcher Strategie kann man die Umsetzung erreichen, und wer kann dabei helfen? Der Autor Dietmar Goldammer zeigt schon im Ruhestand befindlichen Personen, mit welcher Strategie man vorgehen sollte. Aber auch jüngere Menschen können sich Tipps holen, wie sie sich proaktiv auf die Phase des Berufsendes vorbereiten sollten.
Born Digital
by John Palfrey Urs GasserThe first generation of "Digital Natives”--children who were born into and raised in the digital world--are coming of age, and soon our world will be reshaped in their image. Our economy, our politics, our culture, and even the shape of our family life will be forever transformed. But who are these Digital Natives? And what is the world they’re creating going to look like? In Born Digital, leading Internet and technology experts John Palfrey and Urs Gasser offer a sociological portrait of these young people, who can seem, even to those merely a generation older, both extraordinarily sophisticated and strangely narrow. Exploring a broad range of issues, from the highly philosophical to the purely practical, Born Digital will be essential reading for parents, teachers, and the myriad of confused adults who want to understand the digital present--and shape the digital future.
Born Fi' Dead: A Journey Through The Jamaican Posse Underworld
by Laurie GunstOf the ethnic gangs that rule America’s inner cities, none has had the impact of the Jamaican posses. Spawned in the ghettos of Kingston as mercenary street-fighters for the island’s politicians, the posses began migrating to the United States in the early 1980s, just in time to catch and ride the crack wave as it engulfed the country. Feared and honored for being “harder than the rest,” they would lay claim to their new American territory with outlaw bravura, and the raw dancehall music born of their world would define “gangsta” culture for a generation of angry sufferers in Jamaica, American, and England. Laurie Gunst spent a decade moving with the possemen, and Born Fi’ Dead is her unique account of this netherworld, the first to bring to life Jamaica’s international gangs.
Born Liars: Why We Can't Live Without Deceit
by Ian LeslieLying is an intrinsic part of our social fabric, but it is also a deeply problematic and misunderstood aspect of what makes us human. Ian Leslie takes us on a fascinating journey that makes us question not only our own relationship to the truth, but also virtually every daily encounter we have. On the way he dissects the history of the lie detector, how parents affect their children’s attitude to lying (and vice versa), Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the philosophical ambiguity of telling the truth, Bill Clinton’s presentational prowess, Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth, and why we should be wary of anyone with more than 150 Facebook friends. Born Liars is thought-provoking, anecdotally driven narrative nonfiction at its best. Ian Leslie’s intoxicating blend of anthropology, biology, cultural history, philosophy, and popular psychology belies a serious central message: that humans have evolved and thrived in large part because of their ability to deceive.
Born Out of Struggle: Critical Race Theory, School Creation, and the Politics of Interruption (SUNY series, Praxis: Theory in Action)
by David Omotoso StovallRooted in the initial struggle of community members who staged a successful hunger strike to secure a high school in their Chicago neighborhood, David Omotoso Stovall's Born Out of Struggle focuses on his first-hand participation in the process to help design the school. Offering important lessons about how to remain accountable to communities while designing a curriculum with a social justice agenda, Stovall explores the use of critical race theory to encourage its practitioners to spend less time with abstract theories and engage more with communities that make a concerted effort to change their conditions. Stovall provides concrete examples of how to navigate the constraints of working with centralized bureaucracies in education and apply them to real-world situations.
Born in Bondage: Growing Up Enslaved in the Antebellum South
by Marie Jenkins SchwartzEach time a child was born in bondage, the system of slavery began anew. Although raised by their parents or by surrogates in the slave community, children were ultimately subject to the rule of their owners. Following the life cycle of a child from birth through youth to young adulthood, Marie Jenkins Schwartz explores the daunting world of slave children, a world governed by the dual authority of parent and owner, each with conflicting agendas. Despite the constant threats of separation and the necessity of submission to the slaveowner, slave families managed to pass on essential lessons about enduring bondage with human dignity. Schwartz counters the commonly held vision of the paternalistic slaveholder who determines the life and welfare of his passive chattel, showing instead how slaves struggled to give their children a sense of self and belonging that denied the owner complete control. Born in Bondage gives us an unsurpassed look at what it meant to grow up as a slave in the antebellum South. Schwartz recreates the experiences of these bound but resilient young people as they learned to negotiate between acts of submission and selfhood, between the worlds of commodity and community.
Born in the Country: A History of Rural America (1st edition)
by David B. DanbomA synthetic history of rural America that integrates the new social history with the old and new political and economic history. Focusing on farm people rather than residents of small towns, treats agriculture, rural culture and society, and agrarian policy as an inseparable web. Begins with rural Europe and pre-Columbian America; traces the fortunes of farming through the colonial and early republican periods, the Civil War and industrialization, prosperity and depression, and the New Deal; and describes the current revolution in production and rural life. Paper edition (unseen), $14.95. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Born in the Country: A History of Rural America (2nd edition)
by David B. DanbomFrom pre-Columbian times to the enormous changes of the twentieth century, Born in the Country masterfully integrates agricultural, technological, and economic themes with new questions social historians have raised about the American experience.
Born in the Country: A History of Rural America (Revisiting Rural America)
by David B. DanbomThe definitive history of life in rural America.Throughout most of its history, America has been a rural nation, largely made up of farmers. David B. Danbom's Born in the Country was the first—and still is the only—general history of rural America. Ranging from pre-Columbian times to the enormous changes of the twentieth century, the book masterfully integrates agricultural, technological, and economic themes with new questions about the American experience.Danbom employs the stories of particular farm families to illustrate the experiences of rural people. This substantially revised and updated third edition • expands and deepens its coverage of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries• focuses on the changes in agriculture and rural life in the progressive and New Deal eras as well as the massive shifts that have taken place since 1945• adds new information about African American and Native American agricultural experiences• discusses the decline of agriculture as a productive enterprise and its impact on farm families and communities• explores rural culture, gender issues, agriculture, and the environment• traces the relationship among farmers, agribusiness, and consumersIn a new and provocative concluding chapter, Danbom reflects on increasing consumer disenchantment with and resistance to modern agriculture as well as the transformation of rural America into a place where farmers are a shrinking minority. Ultimately, he asks whether a distinctive style of rural life exists any longer.
Born in the Country: A History of Rural America (Revisiting Rural America)
by David B. DanbomUpdated edition: “A balanced economic, social, political, and technological history of rural America . . . A splendid book, rich with detail.” —Agricultural History ReviewThrough most of its history, America has been a rural nation, largely made up of farmers. David B. Danbom’s Born in the Country was the first—and is still the only—general history of rural America. Ranging from pre-Columbian times to the enormous changes of the twentieth century, the book masterfully integrates agricultural, technological, and economic themes with new questions about the American experience. Danbom employs the stories of particular farm families to illustrate the experiences of rural people. This substantially revised and updated third edition:• expands and deepens its coverage of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries• focuses on the changes in agriculture and rural life in the progressive and New Deal eras as well as the massive shifts that have taken place since 1945• adds new information about African American and Native American agricultural experiences• discusses the decline of agriculture as a productive enterprise and its impact on farm families and communities• explores rural culture, gender issues, agriculture, and the environment• traces the relationship among farmers, agribusiness, and consumersIn a new and provocative concluding chapter, Danbom reflects on increasing consumer disenchantment with and resistance to modern agriculture as well as the transformation of rural America into a place where farmers are a shrinking minority. Ultimately, he asks whether a distinctive style of rural life exists any longer in the United States.“A delightful story tracing the social history of U.S. farmers. The book details the attitudes and social life of farm people?how they looked at themselves and how the rest of society saw them.” —Forum
Born to Fail?: Social Mobility: A Working Class View
by Sonia BlandfordSonia Blandford, CEO of award-winning charity Achievement for All, writes brilliantly and honestly about the facing up to the realities of the white working class and how to address social mobility from the inside. No-one in the UK is better placed than Sonia to write about the struggles of white working class pupils in our schools. She grew up on the Allied Estate in Hounslow and was the first member of her family to pursue education beyond the age of 14 and was also the first to attend university. Sonia lost her mother when she took an accidental overdose, when she couldn't read the doctor's prescription. This tragic failing served as one of the inspirations for her to set up the award-winning Achievement for All organisation, who work with thousands of schools to help close the attainment gap. Born to Fail? tackles head-on issues such as why education often doesn't matter to the working class; how education has failed to deliver for them; the importance of self-belief, action and confidence; and how the Early Years is the crucial time to build success from the start.
Born to Fail?: Social Mobility: A Working Class View
by Sonia BlandfordSonia Blandford, CEO of award-winning charity Achievement for All, writes brilliantly and honestly about the facing up to the realities of the white working class and how to address social mobility from the inside. No-one in the UK is better placed than Sonia to write about the struggles of white working class pupils in our schools. She grew up on the Allied Estate in Hounslow and was the first member of her family to pursue education beyond the age of 14 and was also the first to attend university. Sonia lost her mother when she took an accidental overdose, when she couldn't read the doctor's prescription. This tragic failing served as one of the inspirations for her to set up the award-winning Achievement for All organisation, who work with thousands of schools to help close the attainment gap. Born to Fail? tackles head-on issues such as why education often doesn't matter to the working class; how education has failed to deliver for them; the importance of self-belief, action and confidence; and how the Early Years is the crucial time to build success from the start.
Born to Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite
by Sam Friedman Aaron ReevesA uniquely data-rich analysis of the British elite from the Victorian era to today: who gets in, how they get there, what they like and look like, where they go to school, and what politics they perpetuate.Think of the British elite and familiar caricatures spring to mind. But are today’s power brokers a conservative chumocracy, born to privilege and anointed at Eton and Oxford? Or is a new progressive elite emerging with different values and political instincts?Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman combed through a trove of data in search of an answer, scrutinizing the profiles, interests, and careers of over 125,000 members of the British elite from the late 1890s to today. At the heart of this meticulously researched study is the historical database of Who’s Who, but Reeves and Friedman also mined genealogical records, examined probate data, and interviewed over 200 leading figures from a wide range of backgrounds and professions to uncover who runs Britain, how they think, and what they want.What they found is that there is less movement at the top than we think. Yes, there has been some progress on including women and Black and Asian Brits, but those born into the top 1 percent are just as likely to get into the elite today as they were 125 years ago. What has changed is how elites present themselves. Today’s elite pedal hard to convince us they are perfectly ordinary.Why should we care? Because the elites we have affect the politics we get. While scholars have long proposed that the family you are born into, and the schools you attend, leave a mark on the exercise of power, the empirical evidence has been thin—until now.
Born to Shop London: The Ultimate Guide for People Who Love to Shop
by Suzy GershmanFor over twenty years, Suzy Gershman has been leading savvy shoppers to the world's best finds. Now Born to Shop London is easier to use and packed with more up-to-date listings than ever before.
Born to be Mild: Adventures for the Anxious
by Rob Temple'If you're looking to ease yourself back into normality after lockdown, Born to be Mild should be top of your reading list' Mail OnlineA funny, life-affirming memoir from the creator of social media empire Very British Problems, about how to start again when everything's gone wrong.By the time Rob Temple hit his thirties, he had become so afraid of the world that he couldn't leave the house. Depressed and anxious, he found himself drifting deeper into solitude.So Rob decided to make a plan - to embark on fifty 'mild' adventures, to be a little less Pooh Bear and a little more Bear Grylls. On a gentle journey that takes him beekeeping, bowling, and to a service station just off the M25, Rob starts to settle on a better balance - and soon discovers the joys of a life well lived.In this raw and honest memoir, Rob shares his year of gentle adventure and the lessons learnt along the way. Quiet and comforting, with a generous helping of British humour, Born to be Mild is a guide to living life unencumbered by mental illness, and a reminder to slow down and embrace your mild side.
Born to be Mild: Adventures for the Anxious
by Rob Temple'Temple is a humourist in the classic British mode ... he has a genuine comic gift' Daily Mail'A refreshingly unpolished memoir' - S Magazine'If you're looking to ease yourself back into normality after lockdown, Born to be Mild should be top of your reading list' - Mail Online'A handful of years ago, I moved with my wife to a house on a quiet street in a quiet town and lay quietly in a room for a long time.I used to love an adventure, but when I hit my thirties I started to become afraid of the world, until I was too frightened to even go outside at all . . . it was just me, my phone and my social media feeds. Doesn't sound too healthy, does it? It wasn't.'Rob Temple runs the social-media empire Very British Problems from the comfort of his own sofa, but what happens when the four walls of your living room become your world?Everything goes wrong.In this hilarious and life-affirming memoir, Rob sets out to reinvent himself as an intrepid traveller, a bee-keeper and yogi, all to become a little less Bear (Pooh) and a little more Bear (Grylls). Along the way there are good days and bad days, but with each failed adventure and small triumph, Rob discovers how the mild-mannered and anxious can still enjoy their own share of (gentle) adventure from time to time.
Boss of Black Brooklyn: The Life and Times of Bertram L. Baker
by Ron HowellBoss of Black Brooklyn presents a riveting and untold story about the struggles and achievements of the first black person to hold public office in Brooklyn. Bertram L. Baker immigrated to the United States from the Caribbean island of Nevis in 1915. Three decades later, he was elected to the New York state legislature, representing the Bedford Stuyvesant section. A pioneer and a giant, Baker has a story that is finally revealed in intimate and honest detail by his grandson Ron Howell.Boss of Black Brooklyn begins with the tale of one man’s rise to prominence in a fascinating era of black American history, a time when thousands of West Indian families began leaving their native islands in the Caribbean and settling in New York City. In 1948, Bert Baker was elected to the New York state assembly, representing the growing central Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant. Baker loved telling his fellow legislators that only one other Nevisian had ever served in the state assembly. That was Alexander Hamilton, the founding father. Making his own mark on modern history, Baker pushed through one of the nation’s first bills outlawing discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. Also, for thirty years, from 1936 to 1966, he led the all-black American Tennis Association, as its executive secretary. In that capacity he successfully negotiated with white tennis administrators, getting them to accept Althea Gibson into their competitions. Gibson then made history as the first black champion of professional tennis. Yet, after all of Baker’s wonderful achievements, little has been written to document his role in black history.Baker represents a remarkable turning point in the evolution of modern New York City. In the 1940s, when he won his seat in the New York state assembly, blacks made up only 4 percent of the population of Brooklyn. Today they make up a third of the population, and there are scores of black elected officials. Yet Brooklyn, often called the capital of the Black Diaspora, is a capital under siege. Developers and realtors seeking to gentrify the borough are all but conspiring to push blacks out of the city. A very important and long-overdue book, Boss of Black Brooklyn not only explores black politics and black organizations but also penetrates Baker’s inner life and reveals themes that resonate today: black fatherhood, relations between black men and black women, faithfulness to place and ancestry. Bertram L. Baker’s story has receded into the shadows of time, but Boss of Black Brooklyn recaptures it and inspires us to learn from it.
Both Puerto Rican and American (Hispanic Americans: Major Minority)
by Thomas ArkhamAbraham Rodriquez speaks for many Puerto Ricans when he writes, "Of course I'm Puerto Rican. I am also American. I'm both." Puerto Rican Americans have created a rich culture that spans two places and two identities. Many travel back and forth between the island of Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland. Discover what it means to be a Puerto Rican American. Learn more about the history, art, and culture of Puerto Rico. Read the stories of important Puerto Rican Americans who have made the United States stronger.
Botox Nation: Changing the Face of America (Intersections #4)
by Dana BerkowitzOne of NPR's Best Books of 2017The first in-depth social investigation into the development and rising popularity of Botox The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery estimates there are about two-and-a-half million Botox procedures performed annually, and that number continues to increase. The procedure is used as a preventive measure against aging and a means by which bodies, particularly women’s, can be transformed and “improved” through the appearance of youth. But why is Botox so popular, and why is aging such a terrifying concept? Botox Nation draws from engaging, in-depth interviews with Botox users and providers as well as Dana Berkowitz’s own experiences receiving the injections. The interviews reveal the personal motivations for using Botox and help unpack how anti-aging practices are conceived by, and resonate with, everyday people. Berkowitz is particularly interested in how Botox is now being targeted to younger women; since Botox is a procedure that must be continually administered to work, the strategic choice to market to younger women, Berkowitz argues, aims to create lifetime consumers.Berkowitz also analyzes magazine articles, advertisements, and even medical documents to consider how narratives of aging are depicted. She employs a critical feminist lens to consider the construction of feminine bodies and selves, and explores the impact of cosmetic medical interventions aimed at maintaining the desired appearance of youth, the culture of preventative medicine, the application of medical procedures to seemingly healthy bodies, and the growth and technological advancement to the anti-aging industry. A captivating and critical story, Botox Nation examines how norms about bodies, gender, and aging are constructed and reproduced on both cultural and individual levels.
Bottleneck: Moving, Building, and Belonging in an African City
by Caroline MellyIn Bottleneck, anthropologist Caroline Melly uses the problem of traffic bottlenecks to launch a wide-ranging study of mobility in contemporary urban Senegal—a concept that she argues is central to both citizens' and the state's visions of a successful future. Melly opens with an account of the generation of urban men who came of age on the heels of the era of structural adjustment, a diverse cohort with great dreams of building, moving, and belonging, but frustratingly few opportunities to do so. From there, she moves to a close study of taxi drivers and state workers, and shows how bottlenecks—physical and institutional—affect both. The third section of the book covers a seemingly stalled state effort to solve housing problems by building large numbers of concrete houses, while the fourth takes up the thousands of migrants who attempt, sometimes with tragic results, to cross the Mediterranean on rickety boats in search of new opportunities. The resulting book offers a remarkable portrait of contemporary Senegal and a means of theorizing mobility and its impossibilities far beyond the African continent.