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The Life and Times of Mexico
by Earl ShorrisA San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year. "A work of scope and profound insight into the divided soul of Mexico." —History Today The Life and Times of Mexico is a grand narrative driven by 3,000 years of history: the Indian world, the Spanish invasion, Independence, the 1910 Revolution, the tragic lives of workers in assembly plants along the border, and the experiences of millions of Mexicans who live in the United States. Mexico is seen here as if it were a person, but in the Aztec way; the mind, the heart, the winds of life; and on every page there are portraits and stories: artists, shamans, teachers, a young Maya political leader; the rich few and the many poor. Earl Shorris is ingenious at finding ways to tell this story: prostitutes in the Plaza Loreto launch the discussion of economics; we are taken inside two crucial elections as Mexico struggles toward democracy; we watch the creation of a popular "telenovela" and meet the country's greatest living intellectual. The result is a work of magnificent scope and profound insight into the divided soul of Mexico.
Life B: Overcoming Double Depression
by Bethanne PatrickA bracing and fresh look at a lifelong struggle with depression and mental illnessPlagued by depression her entire life, it wasn&’t until her early fifties that writer and book critic Bethanne Patrick, advocating for her own care, received a medical diagnosis that would set her on the path to wellness and stability.Recognizing the intergenerational effects of trauma and mental health struggles, Patrick unearths the stories of her past in order to forge a better future for herself and her two daughters, dismantling the stigmas surrounding mental health challenges that can plague families into silence and resignation. Life B is an intimate portrait we haven&’t yet seen—of a lifelong struggle with depression, of midlife diagnosis and newly found strength. Most important, it&’s a life-affirming blueprint of how to accept and transcend the limitations of mental illness.
Life Before Death (Routledge Library Editions: Aging)
by Ann Cartwright Lisbeth Hockey John L. AndersonSince death is an experience which will inevitably be common to us all, we are often surprisingly uninterested in what services are provided for those people, often the elderly and infirm, who are at risk or who are on the point of death. Originally published in 1973, this study describes the last twelve months in the lives of 785 adults. Based mainly on the reports of close relatives, it is concerned with the needs of the dying and the care they receive. This includes the more emotional aspects such as ‘awareness’ of dying and the effects of the death on relatives. The book looks at the part played by hospitals, general practitioners, local authority health and welfare services, and by relatives, friends and neighbours. The views of those who provide these services are also considered. The picture that emerges shows up the gaps in the care that was given to people in the final year of their lives at the time.
Life Events: A Novel
by Karolina WaclawiakOne of Buzzfeed's 29 Books We Couldn't Put Down This Year“Every page of this novel is a point of no return; once you’ve read Karolina Waclawiak's Life Events, you will never see life, death, grief, and healing the same way.”—Saeed Jones, author of How We Fight for Our LivesA woman at a crossroads learns the only way to reclaim her life is to help others dieKarolina Waclawiak’s breakout novel, Life Events, follows Evelyn, who, at thirty-seven, is on the verge of divorce and anxiously dreading the death of everyone she loves. She combats her existential crisis by avoiding her husband and aimlessly driving along the freeways of California looking for an escape—one that eventually comes when she discovers a collective of “exit guides.” Evelyn enrolls in their training course, where she learns to provide companionship and a final exit for terminally ill patients seeking a conscious departure.She meets Daphne, a dying woman still full of life; Lawrence, an aging porn king; and Daniel, who seems too young to die and whom Evelyn falls for, despite knowing better, not to mention the exit guide code. Each client opens something new in Evelyn, allowing her a chance to access her own grief and confront the self-destructive ways she suppresses her pain. When Evelyn travels through the Southwest to an afterlife convention to further her death education, she must finally face her complicated relationship with her alcoholic father and reconcile her life choices.Sensitively observed and darkly funny, Life Events is a moving, enlivening story of the human condition: the doldrums of loneliness, the consuming regret of past mistakes, and the thrill, finally, of finding meaning—and love—where you least expect it.
A Life Impossible: Living with ALS: Finding Peace and Wisdom Within a Fragile Existence
by Steve Gleason Jeff DuncanFrom NFL player Steve Gleason, a powerful, inspiring memoir of love, heartbreak, resilience, family, and remarkable triumph in the face of ALSIn 2011, three years after leaving the NFL, Steve Gleason was diagnosed with ALS, a terminal disease that takes away the ability to move, talk, and breathe. Doctors gave him three years to live. He was thirty-three years old. As Steve says, he is now ten years past his expiration date.His memoir is the chronicle of a remarkable life, one filled with optimism and joy, despite the trauma and pain and despair he has experienced. Writing using eye-tracking technology, Gleason covers his pre-ALS life through the highs and lows of his NFL career with the New Orleans Saints, where he made one of the most memorable plays in Saints history, leading to a victory in the first post-Katrina home game, uplifting the city, making him a hero, and reflected in a nine-foot bronze statue outside the Superdome. Then came his heartbreaking diagnosis. Gleason lost all muscle function, he now uses Stephen Hawking-like technology to communicate, and breathes with the help of a ventilator. This book captures Gleason and his wife Michel&’s unmatched resilience as they reinvent their lives, refuse to succumb to despair, and face his disease realistically and existentially.This unsparing portrait argues that a person's true strength does not reside solely in one&’s body but also in the ability to face unfathomable adversity and still be able to love and treasure life.
Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World
by Gretchen RubinNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Happiness Project discovers a surprising path to a life of more energy, creativity, luck, and love: by tuning in to the five senses. &“Life in Five Senses invites us into the seismic shift toward a life grounded in sensation, vitality, and innate intelligence.&”—GLENNON DOYLE, author of Untamed &“An inspiring and practical guide to living in the moment.&”—SUSAN CAIN, author of Bittersweet and QuietFor more than a decade, Gretchen Rubin had been studying happiness and human nature. Then, one day, a visit to her eye doctor made her realize that she&’d been overlooking a key element of happiness: her five senses. She&’d spent so much time stuck in her head that she&’d allowed the vital sensations of life to slip away, unnoticed. This epiphany lifted her from a state of foggy preoccupation into a world invigorated by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching.In this journey of self-experimentation, Rubin explores the mysteries and joys of the five senses as a path to a happier, more mindful life. Drawing on cutting-edge science, philosophy, literature, and her own efforts to practice what she learns, she investigates the profound power of tuning in to the physical world.From the simple pleasures of appreciating the magic of ketchup and adding favorite songs to a playlist, to more adventurous efforts like creating a daily ritual of visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and attending a flavor university, Rubin shows us how to experience each day with depth, delight, and connection. In the rush of daily life, she finds, our five senses offer us immediate, sustainable ways to cheer up, calm down, and engage the world around us—as well as ways to glimpse the soul and touch the transcendent.Life in Five Senses is an absorbing, layered story of discovery filled with profound insights and practical suggestions about how to heighten our senses and use our powers of perception to live fuller, richer lives—and, ultimately, how to move through the world with more vitality and love.
Life Is Funny Until It's Not: A Comic's Story of Love, Loss, and Lunacy
by Chonda PierceOne of America&’s funniest women opens up in this real and raw memoir, encouraging readers to face life&’s trials with unshakeable faith and joy.A stand-up comedian beloved for her combination of feisty wit and Southern charm, Pierce knows all too well that life is funny—until it&’s not. But she also knows that it will become funny again. She&’s held on to that hope—and that promise—through tragedy and triumph.And now she&’s finally ready to tell her full story.In Life Is Funny until It&’s Not, Pierce recounts a preacher&’s daughter&’s childhood filled with heartbreak, including abuse, her parents&’ divorce, and the sudden deaths of her two sisters in the span of two years. Even after she achieved success in her comedy tours, trials and tragedy dogged her through marriage, motherhood, and widowhood. But God was there with her through every sorrow and every joy.This story of unshakeable hope and faith will inspire readers to turn to God and trust his faithfulness.Chonda Pierce has a white-knuckle faith—the kind you almost dare to have taken from you. And she wants her readers to share her unapologetic courage to hope—as well as a few laughs along the way.
Life Is Not a Reality Show: Keeping It Real with the Housewife Who Does It All
by Kyle RichardsIn Life Is Not a Reality Show, breakout star of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Kyle Richards reveals everything she’s learned about succeeding without getting stuck up, with insights into everything from keeping a marriage fresh while juggling four kids (with not a nanny in sight) to finding the best beauty steals and home-decorating inspirations.Pop culture fanatics and fans of hip, no-nonsense women’s books from Kelly Cutrone, Bethenny Frankel, and Brandi Glanville will find all they’re looking for and more in Richards’s Life Is Not a Reality Show.
Life Is Not an Accident: A Memoir of Reinvention
by Jay WilliamsNew York Times BestsellerThis big-hearted memoir by the most promising professional basketball player of his generation details his rise to NBA stardom, the terrible accident that ended his career and plunged him into a life-altering depression, and how he ultimately found his way out of the darkness.Ten years ago, Jay Williams was at the beginning of a brilliant professional basketball career. The Chicago Bulls’ top draft pick—and the second pick of the entire draft—he had the great Michael Jordan’s locker. Then he ran his high-performance motorcycle head-on into a light pole, severely damaging himself and ending his career.In this intense, hard-hitting, and deeply profound memoir, Williams talks about the accident that transformed him. Sometimes, the memories are so fresh, he feels like he’ll never escape the past. Most days, he finds a quiet peace as a commentator on ESPN and as an entrepreneur who can only look back in astonishment at his younger self—a kid who had it all, thought he was invincible, and lost everything . . . only to gain new wisdom.Williams also shares behind the scenes details of life as an All-American. He tells it straight about the scandalous recruiting process and his decision to return to Duke and Coach K—a man who taught him about accountability—to finish his education. He also speaks out about corruption—among coaches, administrators, players, and alumni—and about his time in the NBA, introducing us to a dark underworld culture in the pros: the gambling, drugs, and sex in every city, with players on every team.
The Life of Henrietta Anne: Daughter of Charles I
by Melanie CleggThis biography of the seventeenth-century English princess tells a sweeping tale of war and exile, marriage and scandal, and a triumphant reversal of fortune. Henrietta Anne Stuart, youngest child of Charles I and Henrietta Maria, was born in June 1644 in the besieged city of Exeter at the very height of the English Civil War. The hostilities had separated her parents, and her mother was on the run from Parliamentary forces when she gave birth with only a few attendants on hand. Within a few days she was on her way to the coast for a moonlit escape to her native France, leaving her infant daughter in the hands of trusted supporters. A few years later, Henrietta Anne would herself be whisked, disguised as a boy, out of the country and reunited with her mother in France, where she stayed for the rest of her life. But Henrietta&’s fortunes dramatically changed for the better when her brother, Charles II, was restored to the throne in 1660. After being snubbed by her cousin Louis XIV, she would eventually marry his younger brother Philippe, Duc d&’Orlans, and quickly become one of the luminaries of the French court—though there was a dark side to her rise to power and popularity when she became embroiled in love affairs with her brother-in-law Louis and her husband&’s former lover, the dashing Comte de Guiche, giving rise to several scandals and rumors about the true parentage of her three children. However, Henrietta Anne was much more than just a mere court butterfly. She also possessed considerable intelligence, wit, and political acumen, which led to her being entrusted in 1670 with the delicate negotiations for a secret treaty between her brother Charles II and cousin Louis XIV—which ensured England&’s support of France in their war against the Dutch. This is the story of her remarkable life.
A Life of Lies and Spies: Tales of a CIA Covert Ops Polygraph Interrogator
by Alan B. TrabueAlan Trabue chose a bizarre, dangerous way to make a living. In A Life of Lies and Spies, Trabue exposes the often perilous world of polygraphing foreign spies in support of CIA espionage programs. He recounts his incredible, true-life globe-trotting adventures, from his induction in the CIA in 1971 to directing the CIA's world-wide covert ops polygraph program.A Life of Lies and Spies brings readers into the high-stakes world of covert operations and the quest to uncover deceit, featuring a high-speed car chase, blown clandestine meetings, surreptitious room searches, tear-gassing by riot police, and confrontations with machine gun-armed soldiers. Liberally sprinkled with side anecdotes—such as debriefing an agent though a torturous swarm of mosquitoes in a jungle shack—Trabue's story highlights both the humor and the intrinsic danger of conducting CIA covert activities.Writing from a unique perspective framed by his uncommon longevity and broad experience, for which he was awarded the Career Intelligence Medal, Trabue's memoir unveils the CIA's use of polygraph and interrogation to validate recruited spies' bona fides and information obtained through their acts of espionage.The Central Intelligence Agency has not approved, endorsed or authorized this book or the use of the CIA seal, name or initials.
A Life of One's Own (Routledge Classics)
by Marion Milner'This is what I really want. I want to discover ways to discriminate the important things in human life. I want to find ways of getting past this blind fumbling with existence.' - Marion Milner, from A Life of One’s Own.How often do we really ask ourselves, 'What will make me happy? What do I really want from life?' In A Life of One’s Own Marion Milner, a renowned British psychoanalyst, artist and autobiographer, takes us on an extraordinary and compelling seven-year inward journey to discover what it is that makes her happy.On its first publication, W. H. Auden found the book 'as exciting as a detective story' and, as Milner searches out clues, the reader quickly becomes involved in the chase. Using her own personal diaries, she analyses moments of everyday life that can bring surprising joy, such as walking, listening to music, and drawing. She also records, in a disarmingly clear and insightful manner, the struggle between the urge to order and control one’s thoughts and standing back to let them wander where they may.A pioneering account of lived experience that also anticipates the contemporary phenomenon of mindfulness, A Life of One’s Own is a great adventure in thinking and living whose insights remain as fresh today as they were on the book’s first publication in the 1930s.This Routledge Classics edition includes a revised Introduction by Rachel Bowlby.
Life Sentences: Writings from Inside an American Prison
by The Elsinore-Bennu Think Tank for Restorative JusticeA collection of poetry and prose by six incarcerated men. Featuring an introduction by Amber Epps and an afterword by novelist John Edgar Wideman. The six authors of Life Sentences―Fly, Faruq, Khalifa, Malakki, Oscar, and Shawn―met at the State Correctional Institution in Pittsburgh and came together in 2013 to form the Elsinore Bennu Think Tank for Restorative Justice. The men met weekly for years, along with other writers, activists, and political leaders who bonded over the creation of this book, a hybrid of prison memoir, philosophy, history, policy document, and manifesto. Centered around the principles of restorative justice, which aims to heal communities broken by criminal and state violence through collective action, Life Sentences is more than a literary collection. It is a how to guide for those who are trapped inside any community. It's also a letter of invitation, asking readers to join with the incarcerated and their families so we can all continue to fly over walls, form loving connections with each other, and teach one another to be free. An urgent collection that sheds light on the criminal justice system, written by those most directly involved in it.
Life \ Vida (Spanish edition): Mi historia a través de la historia
by Pope FrancisPor primera vez, el papa Francisco cuenta la historia de su vida, revisitada a través de los acontecimientos que han marcado a la humanidad en los últimos ochenta años, desde el estallido de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en 1939, cuando el futuro era un niño, hasta nuestros días. Vida es un viaje extraordinario por la historia del mundo a través de la mirada de un hombre excepcional. Con observaciones agudas y reflexiones profundas, el papa Francisco nos transporta a los sucesos más significativos de los últimos tiempos, desde el Holocausto hasta la caída del Muro de Berlín, pasando por el golpe de Videla en la Argentina y el Mundial de 1968, cuando Maradona marcó el famoso gol de la «mano de Dios». Desde su mirada única, el pontífice comparte en estas páginas sus recuerdos y reflexiones del Holocausto, las bombas atómicas de Hiroshima y Nagasaki, el ataque a las Torres Gemelas en 2001, la recesión económica de 2008, la pandemia, la renuncia de Benedicto XVI y el cónclave que lo eligió. El «papa callejero» abre su baúl de los recuerdos y, con la franqueza que lo caracteriza, nos transmite mensajes importantes sobre las principales crisis que nos confrontan hoy en día, entre otras, la desigualdad social, la crisis climática, la guerra, la carrera armamentística, la discriminación y las luchas en favor de la vida. «No hay que olvidar la lección más importante: podemos releer la historia de nuestra vida para hacer memoria y poder transmitir algo a quien nos escucha. Pero, para aprender a vivir, todos tenemos que aprender a amar». —Papa Francisco----For the first time, Pope Francis tells the story of his life as he looks back on the momentous world events that have changed history—from his earliest years during the outbreak of World War II in 1939 to the turmoil of today. An extraordinary personal and historical journey, Life is the story of a man and a world in dramatic change. Pope Francis recalls his life through memories and observations of the most significant occurrences of the past eight decades, from the Holocaust to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Videla’s coup in Argentina to the moon landing in 1969, and even the 1986 World Cup in which Maradona scored the unforgettable “hand of God” goal.Here are the frank assessments and intimate insights of a pastor reflecting on the Nazi extermination of the Jews, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the 2001 terrorist attack on America and the collapse of the Twin Towers, the great economic recession of 2008, the Covid-19 pandemic, the retirement of Pope Benedict XVI, and the subsequent conclave that elected him Pontiff. The “pope callejero” recounts these world-changing moments with the candor and compassion that distinguishes him, and offers important messages on major crises confronting us now, including social inequalities, climate change, international war, atomic weapons, racial discrimination, and the battles over social and cultural issues.
A Life Worth Living: The 9 Essentials
by Barrie Sanford GreiffInspirational and heartwarming, A Life Worth Living provides a insightful guide to living life meaningfully and well. In a time when everyday life is dominated by the pursuit of material wealth, Dr. Barrie Sanford Greiff has redefined "net worth" as a life not dominated by the financial bottom line. Weaving together memorable stories and insights gathered during his long tenure as a Harvard psychiatrist, Greiff highlights in this though-provoking book nine essentials that make true worth: Loving, Learning, Laboring, Laughing, Lamenting, Linking, Living, Leading and Leaving. By heightening our awareness of these essentials in our lives, he reasons, we can find the path to spiritual worth -- and learn that sharing life lessons is the best way to make our lives worthwhile. Both pragmatic and uplifting, A Life Worth Living offers an inspiring remedy for the spiritual myopia of our time.
The Lifeline: The big-hearted and life-affirming follow-up to THE LIDO
by Libby Page'I loved this book - could not put it down' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A joy to read... I really did love every page of this book' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'An easy five stars' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Everybody needs saving sometimes...For Kate, having a newborn baby means she is almost never alone. But that doesn't mean she isn't lonely. The move from London to Somerset with her husband Jay was supposed be the start of an exciting new chapter. But sometimes she can't help but wonder if she turned the pages too soon . . . Phoebe needs help. As a mental health nurse serving her community, the wellbeing of her patients has always come before her own. Yet there's only so long she can pour from an empty cup. Looking for a lifeline, Kate and Phoebe find a sense of community - and each other - through their local river swimming group. But when things get tough, they realise that good friends can both raise us up and stop us sinking. For fans of THE LIDO, THE LIFELINE is the big-hearted and life-affirming follow-up novel by Sunday Times bestselling author Libby Page. Pre-order your copy now!'An honest and uplifting story about motherhood, mental health and the power of human connection. Libby Page writes with such warmth and compassion, I know readers will want to dive in to this beautiful novel' FREYA SAMPSON'Hot buttered-toast-and-tea feelgood fiction' THE TIMES
Life’s Emotions And Personal Care With Peanut
by Sheri Jean SchmittRead about Peanut the Dog as she tells her stories about everyday life. She tells about her emotions as she goes through different situations. Peanut also talks about how she takes care of herself. Everything is told from a dog&’s point of view. You will also meet some of Peanut&’s friends. As she tells her stories, she loves to give an educational lesson. Peanut gives this book a &‘ten paw&’ rating.
Life's Little Annoyances: True Tales of People Who Just Can't Take It Anymore
by Ian UrbinaWhat can you do when the world is pushing you over the edge? More than you think.For some of us, it's the automated voice that answers the phone when we'd rather talk to a real person. For others, it's the fact that Starbucks insists on calling its smallest-sized coffee "tall." Or perhaps it's those pesky subscription cards that fall out of magazines. Whatever it is, each of us finds some aspect of everyday life to be particularly maddening, and we often long to lash out at these stubborn irritants of modern life. In Life's Little Annoyances, Ian Urbina chronicles the lengths to which some people will go when they have endured their pet peeves long enough and are not going to take it any more. It is a compendium of human inventiveness, by turns juvenile and petty, but in other ways inspired and deeply satisfying. We meet the junk-mail recipient who sends back unwanted "business reply" envelopes weighted down with sheet metal, so the mailers will have to pay the postage. We commiserate with the woman who was fed up with the colleague who kept helping himself to her lunch cookies, so she replaced them with dog biscuits that looked like biscotti. And we revel in the seemingly endless number of tactics people use to vent their anger at telemarketers, loud cellphone talkers, spammers, and others who impose themselves on us.A celebration of the endless variety of passive aggressive behavior, Life's Little Annoyances will provide comfort and inspiration to everyone who has ever gritted his teeth and dreamed of sweet retribution against the slings and arrows of outrageous people.
Lift: Fitness Culture, from Naked Greeks and Acrobats to Jazzercise and Ninja Warriors
by Daniel KunitzA fascinating cultural history of fitness, from Greek antiquity to the era of the “big-box gym” and beyond, exploring the ways in which human exercise has changed over time—and what we can learn from our ancestors.We humans have been conditioning our bodies for more than 2,500 years, yet it’s only recently that treadmills and weight machines have become the gold standard of fitness. For all this new technology, are we really healthier, stronger, and more flexible than our ancestors?Where Born to Run began with an aching foot, Lift begins with a broken gym system—one founded on high-tech machinery and isolation techniques that aren’t necessarily as productive as we think. Looking to the past for context, Daniel Kunitz crafts an insightful cultural history of the human drive for exercise, concluding that we need to get back to basics to be truly healthy.Lift takes us on an enlightening tour through time, beginning with the ancient Greeks, who made a cult of the human body—the word gymnasium derives from the Greek word for “naked”—and following Roman legions, medieval knights, Persian pahlevans, and eighteenth-century German gymnasts. Kunitz discovers the seeds of the modern gym in nineteenth-century Paris, where weight lifting machines were first employed, and takes us all the way up to the game-changer: the feminist movement of the 1960s, which popularized aerobics and calisthenics classes. This ignited the first true global fitness revolution, and Kunitz explores how it brought us to where we are today.Once a fast-food inhaler and substance abuser, Kunitz reveals his own decade-long journey to becoming ultra-fit using ancient principals of strengthening and conditioning. With Lift, he argues that, as a culture, we are finally returning to this natural ideal—and that it’s to our great benefit to do so.
The Light Between Worlds
by Laura E. WeymouthWhat happens when you return to the real world after being in a fantastical one like Narnia? This YA debut by Laura E. Weymouth is perfect for fans of Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood and Lev Grossman’s The Magicians.Six years ago, sisters Evelyn and Philippa Hapwell were swept away to a strange and beautiful kingdom called the Woodlands, where they lived for years. But ever since they returned to their lives in post-WWII England, they have struggled to adjust.Ev desperately wants to return to the Woodlands, and Philippa just wants to move on. When Ev goes missing, Philippa must confront the depth of her sister’s despair and the painful truths they’ve been running from. As the weeks unfold, Philippa wonders if Ev truly did find a way home, or if the weight of their worlds pulled her under.Walking the line between where fantasy and reality meet, this lyrical and magical novel is, above all else, an exploration of loss and healing, and what it means to find where you belong.
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
by Zoë Schlanger“A masterpiece of science writing.” –Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass“Mesmerizing, world-expanding, and achingly beautiful.” –Ed Yong, author of An Immense World“Rich, vital, and full of surprises. Read it!” –Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky and The Sixth Extinction “A brilliant must-read. This book shook and changed me.” –David George Haskell, author of Sounds Wild and Broken, The Songs of Trees, and The Forest UnseenAward-winning Atlantic staff writer Zoë Schlanger delivers a groundbreaking work of popular science that probes the hidden world of the plant kingdom and reveals the astonishing capabilities of the green life all around us.It takes tremendous biological creativity to be a plant. To survive and thrive while rooted in a single spot, plants have adapted ingenious methods of survival. In recent years, scientists have learned about their ability to communicate, recognize their kin and behave socially, hear sounds, morph their bodies to blend into their surroundings, store useful memories that inform their life cycle, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit, to name just a few remarkable talents.The Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of green life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that challenges our very understanding of agency, consciousness, and intelligence. In looking closely, we see that plants, rather than imitate human intelligence, have perhaps formed a parallel system. What is intelligent life if not a vine that grows leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs, a flower that shapes its bloom to fit exactly the beak of its pollinator, a pea seedling that can hear water flowing and make its way toward it? Zoë Schlanger takes us across the globe, digging into her own memories and into the soil with the scientists who have spent their waking days studying these amazing entities up close.What can we learn about life on Earth from the living things that thrive, adapt, consume, and accommodate simultaneously? More important, what do we owe these life forms once we come to understand their rich and varied abilities? Examining the latest epiphanies in botanical research, Schlanger spotlights the intellectual struggles among the researchers conceiving a wholly new view of their subject, offering a glimpse of a field in turmoil as plant scientists debate the tenets of ongoing discoveries and how they influence our understanding of what a plant is.We need plants to survive. But what do they need us for—if at all? An eye-opening and informative look at the ecosystem we live in, this book challenges us to rethink the role of plants—and our own place—in the natural world.
The Light Fantastic: The Light Fantastic (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
by Jeffrey LangReturning to the story begun in the novel Immortal Coil and continuing in the bestselling Cold Equations trilogy, this is the next fascinating chapter in the artificial life of one of Star Trek’s most enduring characters.He was perhaps the ultimate human achievement: a sentient artificial life-form—self-aware, self-determining, possessing a mind and body far surpassing that of his makers, and imbued with the potential to evolve beyond the scope of his programming. And then Data was destroyed. Four years later, Data’s creator, Noonien Soong, sacrificed his life and resurrected his android son, who in turn revived the positronic brain of his own artificial daughter, Lal. Having resigned his commission, the former Starfleet officer now works to make his way on an alien world, while also coming to grips with the very human notion of wanting versus having a child. But complicating Data’s new life is an unexpected nemesis from years ago on the U.S.S. Enterprise—the holographic master criminal Professor James Moriarty. Long believed to be imprisoned in a memory solid, Moriarty has created a siphon into the "real" world as a being of light and thought. Moriarity wants the solid form that he was once told he could never have, and seeks to manipulate Data into finding another android body for him to permanently inhabit...even if it means evicting the current owner, and even if that is Data himself. ™, ®, & © 2013 CBS Studios, Inc. STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
A Light in the Darkness: The Music and Life of Joaquín Rodrigo
by Javier Suárez-Pajares Walter Aaron ClarkA composer of singular vision. Joaquín Rodrigo (1901–1999) is best known as the composer of one of the most popular works of music in the twentieth century—the Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra. It’s been featured in movies and television commercials and remains a staple of concert programs for orchestras around the world. Miles Davis said, “After listening to it for a couple of weeks…I couldn’t get it out of my mind,” and he used it as inspiration for his album Sketches of Spain. But as Javier Suárez-Pajares and Walter Aaron Clark reveal in this musical biography—the first complete study in English—Rodrigo’s work and influence extend far beyond that singular composition. A Light in the Darkness takes us through Rodrigo’s childhood in Valencia, the onset of blindness at the age of three, and the beginnings of his musical education. He achieved some early success in Spain as a composer before moving to Paris in 1927 to advance his studies, following in the footsteps of other eminent Spanish composers like Isaac Albéniz, Joaquín Turina, and Manuel de Falla. There he enrolled in courses with composer Paul Dukas, met the woman who would become his wife, and earned the respect and friendship of Falla, who became his champion. Along the way, Rodrigo’s musical voice developed and matured as his horizons widened. Suárez-Pajares and Clark present a definitive account of the making of Rodrigo’s celebrated guitar concerto, even as they capture the breadth of Rodrigo’s compositional output, from solo works for piano and guitar through chamber music and vocal works to concertos and orchestral pieces. As they demonstrate, Rodrigo’s music is unmistakably Spanish, but with his own unique accent. Rodrigo’s life and career spanned a period of great tumult in Spain, and he had to navigate strong, shifting political and cultural currents—before, during, and after Franco. An authoritative life of one of the twentieth century’s great musical geniuses, A Light in the Darkness becomes a stunning tale of how art gets made under even the most challenging circumstances.
The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East
by Christopher HardingThis rich and enjoyable book by the acclaimed author of Japan Story explores the many ways in which Asia has influenced Europe and North America over centuries of tangled, dynamic encountersFrom the time of the ancient Greeks onwards the West's relationship with Asia consisted for the most part of outrageous tales of strange beasts and monsters, of silk and spices shipped over vast distances and an uneasy sense of unknowable empires fantastically far away. By the twentieth century much of Asia might have come under Western rule after centuries of warfare, but its intellectual, artistic and spiritual influence was fighting back.The Light of Asia is a wonderfully varied and entertaining history of the many ways in which Asia has shaped European and North American culture over centuries of tangled, dynamic encounters, and the central importance of this vexed, often confused relationship. From Marco Polo onwards Asia has been both a source of genuine fascination and equally genuine failures of comprehension. China, India and Japan were all acknowledged to be both great civilizations and in crude ways seen as superseded by the West. From Chicago to Calcutta, and from antiquity to the new millennium, this is a rich, involving story of misunderstandings and sincere connection, of inspiration and falsehood, of geniuses, adventurers and con-men.Christopher Harding's captivating gallery of people and places celebrates Asia's impact on the West in all its variety.
Light of the Feather: A Teacher's Journey into Native American Classrooms and Culture
by Mick FedulloChronicles Fedullo's unique journey into the heart of contemporary Native America, describing how one white man crossed the cultural divide to discover, among his Native American students, old and new values, the determination of the human spirit, and, ultimately, himself.