en-US Fri, 15 Sep 2023 23:51:34 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 18373 Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache.
Ìę
Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence – a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.

As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie?]]> 311 Daniel Keyes 015603008X J 0 4.19 1966
author: Daniel Keyes
name: J
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1966
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/09/15
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]]> 51476326
Author Dave Malouf takes you through DesignOps concepts, components, methods, and tools and shows you how to put them to work. Operationalize your design practices and demonstrate and amplify the value of design for your company and customers alike.

‱ Explore frameworks, including the DesignOps Canvas and Projects, Process, People, to help you better understand DesignOps practices and create your own
‱ Understand the pieces that make up DesignOps, from human resources to delivery management, culture, and more
‱ Learn the role Agile can play in DesignOps
‱ Dive into common metrics to help determine the health of your design organization
‱ Discover how to assess the effectiveness of design operations in meeting goals]]> Dave Malouf 1492083011 J 0 to-read 3.00
author: Dave Malouf
name: J
average rating: 3.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/04/17
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]]> 40518562 Kate Battles J 0 to-read 3.69 2018
author: Kate Battles
name: J
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/04/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> 28859 ]]> 341 José Saramago 186046095X J 0 to-read 4.31 1991
author: José Saramago
name: J
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1991
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/12/02
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]]> 40495148 From Nobel Prize–winning author JosĂ© Saramago, a magnificent, mesmerizing parable of loss

A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations, and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides her charges—among them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tears—through the barren streets, and their procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. As Blindness reclaims the age-old story of a plague, it evokes the vivid and trembling horrors of the twentieth century, leaving readers with a powerful vision of the human spirit that's bound both by weakness and exhilarating strength.]]> 349 JosĂ© Saramago J 0 to-read 4.17 1995
author: José Saramago
name: J
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/12/02
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]]> 530773
From the back cover: "History and fiction have yielded little about those black slave women who were mistress and breeder to their white owners. There are some facts and figures, but they tell us nothing about the women themselves: their motives, their emotions, and the memories they passed on to their children. Gayl Jones's first novel is a gripping portrait of this harsh sexual and psychological genealogy....Jones's language is subtle and sinewy, and her imagination sure." —Margo Jefferson, Newsweek]]> 185 Gayl Jones J 0 to-read 3.92 1975
author: Gayl Jones
name: J
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1975
rating: 0
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date added: 2020/12/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> 44492286
The Children of Dune are twin siblings Leto and Ghanima Atreides, whose father, the Emperor Paul Muad'Dib, disappeared in the desert wastelands of Arrakis nine years ago. Like their father, the twins possess supernormal abilities--making them valuable to their manipulative aunt Alia, who rules the Empire in the name of House Atreides.

Facing treason and rebellion on two fronts, Alia's rule is not absolute. The displaced House Corrino is plotting to regain the throne while the fanatical Fremen are being provoked into open revolt by the enigmatic figure known only as The Preacher. Alia believes that by obtaining the secrets of the twins' prophetic visions, she can maintain control over her dynasty.

But Leto and Ghanima have their own plans for their visions--and their destinies....

Includes an introduction by Brian Herbert]]> 609 Frank Herbert 0593098242 J 0 to-read 3.96 1976
author: Frank Herbert
name: J
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1976
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/16
shelves: to-read
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]]> 18711215
The healing touchstone of millions, this modern classic by one of America's best-loved and most inspirational authors holds the key to understanding codependency and to unlocking its stultifying hold on your life.

Is someone else's problem your problem? If, like so many others, you've lost sight of your own life in the drama of tending to someone else's, you may be codependent--and you may find yourself in this book-- Codependent No More . The healing touchstone of millions, this modern classic by one of America's best-loved and most inspirational authors holds the key to understanding codependency and to unlocking its stultifying hold on your life.

With instructive life stories, personal reflections, exercises, and self-tests, Codependent No More is a simple, straightforward, readable map of the perplexing world of codependency--charting the path to freedom and a lifetime of healing, hope, and happiness.

Melody Beattie is the author of Beyond Codependency, The Language of Letting Go, Stop Being Mean to Yourself, The Codependent No More Workbook and Playing It by Heart .]]> 285 Melody Beattie J 0 currently-reading 4.27 1986
author: Melody Beattie
name: J
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/06/09
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]]> 34316764
Hailed as a storyteller whose fiction is “a glowing work of art” (Wall Street Journal), Akhil Sharma is possessed of a narrative voice “as hypnotic as those found in the pages of Dostoyevsky” (The Nation). In A Life of Adventure and Delight, Sharma delivers eight masterful stories that focus on Indian protagonists at home and abroad and that plunge the reader into the unpredictable workings of the human heart. A young woman in an arranged marriage awakens one day surprised to find herself in love with her husband. A retired divorcĂ© tries to become the perfect partner by reading women’s magazines. A man’s longstanding contempt for his cousin suddenly shifts inward when he witnesses his cousin caring for a sick woman. Tender and darkly comic, the protagonists in A Life of Adventure and Delight deceive themselves and engage in odd behaviors as they navigate how to be good, how to make meaningful relationships, and the strengths and pitfalls of self-interest. Elegantly written and emotionally immediate, the stories provide an intimate, honest assessment of human relationships between mothers and sons, sons and lovers, and husband and wives from a dazzlingly original, critically acclaimed writer.]]> 202 Akhil Sharma 0393285359 J 0 currently-reading 3.80 2017
author: Akhil Sharma
name: J
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/06/07
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]]> 23846151 Brown Girl in the Ring, Skin Folk) has been widely hailed as a highly significant voice in Caribbean and American fiction. She has been dubbed “one of our most important writers,” (Junot Diaz), with “an imagination that most of us would kill for” (Los Angeles Times), and her work has been called “stunning,” (New York Times) “rich in voice, humor, and dazzling imagery” (Kirkus), and “simply triumphant” (Dorothy Allison).

Falling in Love with Hominids presents over a dozen years of Hopkinson’s new, uncollected fiction, much of which has been unavailable in print. Her singular, vivid tales, which mix the modern with Afro-Caribbean folklore, are occupied by creatures unpredictable and strange: chickens that breathe fire, adults who eat children, and spirits that haunt shopping malls.]]> 240 Nalo Hopkinson 1616961988 J 0 to-read 3.93 2015
author: Nalo Hopkinson
name: J
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/05/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> 9548075
Machine of Death tells thirty-four different stories about people who know how they will die. Prepare to have your tears jerked, your spine tingled, your funny bone tickled, your mind blown, your pulse quickened, or your heart warmed. Or better yet, simply prepare to be surprised. Because even when people do have perfect knowledge of the future, there's no telling exactly how things will turn out.

Featuring stories by:

* Randall Munroe
* Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw
* Tom Francis
* Camille Alexa
* Erin McKean
* James L. Sutter
* Douglas J. Lane
* and many others.

Featuring illustrations by:

* Kate Beaton
* Kazu Kibuishi
* Aaron Diaz
* Jeffrey Brown
* Scott C.
* Roger Langridge
* Karl Kerschl
* Cameron Stewart
* and many others]]> 452 Ryan North 0982167121 J 0 to-read 3.94 2010
author: Ryan North
name: J
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/05/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> 13273 190 Paul Fussell 0075536064 J 0 to-read 3.97 1965
author: Paul Fussell
name: J
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1965
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/04/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> 38357434 Updated and expanded with more than 80 pages of new content!

Improve your athletic performance, extend your athletic career, treat stiffness and achy joints, and prevent and rehabilitate injuries—all without having to seek out a coach, doctor, chiropractor, physical therapist, or masseur. In Becoming a Supple Leopard, Dr. Kelly Starrett—founder of MobilityWOD.com—shares his revolutionary approach to mobility and maintenance of the human body and teaches you how to hack your own movement, allowing you to live a healthier, more fulfilling life. This new edition of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller has been thoroughly revised to make it even easier to put to use.

Want to truly understand the principles that guide human movement? Becoming a Supple Leopard lays out a blueprint for moving safely and effectively through life and sport. Want to learn how to apply those principles to specific movements, whether you are doing squats in the gym or picking up a bag of groceries? Hundreds of step-by-step photos show you not only how to perform a host of exercise movements, such the squat, deadlift, pushup, kettlebell swing, clean, snatch, and muscle-up, but also how to correct the common faults associated with those movements. Frustrated because you can't perform a certain movement correctly due to range of motion restrictions? Breaking the body down into 14 distinct areas, Starrett demonstrates hundreds of mobilization techniques that will help you resolve restrictions and reclaim your mobility. Unsure how to put it all together into a program that addresses your individual needs? This updated edition lays out dozens of prescriptions that allow you to hone in on a specific limitation, a nagging injury, or an exercise fault that you just can't seem to get right. It even offers a 14-day full-body mobility overhaul.

Performance is what drives us as human beings, but dysfunctional movement patterns can bring the human body to an abrupt halt. Often, the factors that impede performance are invisible even to seasoned athletes and coaches. Becoming a Supple Leopard makes the invisible visible. Whether you are a professional athlete, a weekend warrior, or simply someone wanting to live healthy and free from physical restrictions, this one-of-a-kind training manual will teach you how to harness your athletic potential and maintain your body.

Learn how to perform basic maintenance on your body, unlock your athletic potential, live pain-free
and become a Supple Leopard.

This step-by-step guide to movement and mobility will show you how to:
- Move safely and efficiently in all situations
- Organize your spine and joints in optimal, stable positions
- Restore normal function to your joints and tissues
- Accelerate recovery after training sessions and competition
- Properly perform strength and conditioning movements like the squat, bench press, pushup, deadlift, clean, and snatch
- Build efficient, transferable movement patterns and skill progressions from simple to more advanced exercises
- Identify, diagnose, and correct inefficient movement patterns
- Treat and resolve common symptoms like low back pain, carpal tunnel, shoulder pain, and tennis elbow
- Prevent and rehabilitate common athletic injuries
- Use mobilization techniques to address short and stiff muscles, soft tissue and joint capsule restriction, motor control problems, and joint range of motion limitations
- Create personalized mobility prescriptions to improve movement efficiency
]]> 484 Kelly Starrett J 0 currently-reading 4.52 2013
author: Kelly Starrett
name: J
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/03/07
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 17470674
Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

The classic dystopian novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization’s enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.

Bradbury’s powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which, decades on from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.

--back cover]]> 227 Ray Bradbury 0007491565 J 4
Bradbury wrote Farenheit 451 around the time that the television was entering the commercial mainstream. Bradbury witnessed its entrance as an invasion. Television, he thought, would interrupt and repress organic discussions, and its constant presence in the home would distract from contemplative thought. He saw how easy it was to brainwash viewers with advertisements, and for controlling forces to use it to suppress the imagination.

In the novel, he fears for the mere survival of literature and art and consequently the intellect, to which television and mass marketing were so antagonistic. What would happen if the dark forces who wish to control us got a hold of what is most dear--our individuality, our soul--and kept it from us? What if they destroyed it altogether? Bradbury argues that it is not books themselves, or art or natural beauty that we hold most dear, but what is recorded inside of them. The human heritage, for better or for worse: our recorded history, and the collected products of our best imaginations.

Bradbury's prose and storytelling are at least a 4/5, but for me personally it is one of the best.]]> 4.01 1953
author: Ray Bradbury
name: J
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1953
rating: 4
read at: 2019/01/22
date added: 2019/01/22
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As a kid I read this book as a Big Brother cautionary tale, a la 1984. It was even written around the same time as 1984 and Animal Farm, and it closely parallels the plot points of the film Equilibrium about a dystopian totalitarian state. A friend recently clued me in that Bradbury vehemently denied that it was about the "system" or about a totalitarian surveillance government. The novel is, as Bradbury explains in interviews, about television.

Bradbury wrote Farenheit 451 around the time that the television was entering the commercial mainstream. Bradbury witnessed its entrance as an invasion. Television, he thought, would interrupt and repress organic discussions, and its constant presence in the home would distract from contemplative thought. He saw how easy it was to brainwash viewers with advertisements, and for controlling forces to use it to suppress the imagination.

In the novel, he fears for the mere survival of literature and art and consequently the intellect, to which television and mass marketing were so antagonistic. What would happen if the dark forces who wish to control us got a hold of what is most dear--our individuality, our soul--and kept it from us? What if they destroyed it altogether? Bradbury argues that it is not books themselves, or art or natural beauty that we hold most dear, but what is recorded inside of them. The human heritage, for better or for worse: our recorded history, and the collected products of our best imaginations.

Bradbury's prose and storytelling are at least a 4/5, but for me personally it is one of the best.
]]> 194805 The New York Times). Noam Chomsky is universally accepted as one of the preeminent public intellectuals of the modern era. Over the past thirty years, broadly diverse audiences have gathered to attend his sold-out lectures. Now, in Understanding Power, Peter Mitchell and John Schoeffel have assembled the best of Chomsky's recent talks on the past, present, and future of the politics of power. In a series of enlightening and wide-ranging discussions, all published here for the first time, Chomsky radically reinterprets the events of the past three decades, covering topics from foreign policy during Vietnam to the decline of welfare under the Clinton administration. And as he elucidates the connection between America's imperialistic foreign policy and the decline of domestic social services, Chomsky also discerns the necessary steps to take toward social change. With an eye to political activism and the media's role in popular struggle, as well as U.S. foreign and domestic policy, Understanding Power offers a sweeping critique of the world around us and is definitive Chomsky. Characterized by Chomsky's accessible and informative style, this is the ideal book for those new to his work as well as for those who have been listening for years.]]> 416 Noam Chomsky 1565847032 J 0 to-read 4.42 2002
author: Noam Chomsky
name: J
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/01/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> 4894
Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry. And two are "Littlepeople" — beings the size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Their names are Hem and Haw.

"Cheese" is a metaphor for what you want to have in life — whether it's a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, health, or spiritual peace of mind.

And the "Maze" is where you look for what you want — the organisation you work in or the family or community you live in.

In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, one of them deals with it successfully, and writes what he has learned from his experience on the Maze walls.

When you come to see "The Handwriting on the Wall," you can discover for yourself how to deal with change, so that you can enjoy less stress and more success (however you define it) in your work and in your life.

Written for all ages, the story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights can last for a lifetime.]]> 98 Spencer Johnson 0091883768 J 4
The author is not a craftsman of fictional style nor a master of dialogue, and the puns and obvious plays on words will make you nauseous, but the story is a helpful allegory. The author reframes change and loss--and at their essence, destruction--as catalysts for positive change, and he outlines a philosophy of willing adaptation.

The message of the book is surprisingly profound for the juvenile and fairy tale-style prose.]]> 3.88 1999
author: Spencer Johnson
name: J
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2019/01/06
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review:
The forward and epilogue can be skipped, but the introduction, however flimsy, does set up the story. 1 hour read.

The author is not a craftsman of fictional style nor a master of dialogue, and the puns and obvious plays on words will make you nauseous, but the story is a helpful allegory. The author reframes change and loss--and at their essence, destruction--as catalysts for positive change, and he outlines a philosophy of willing adaptation.

The message of the book is surprisingly profound for the juvenile and fairy tale-style prose.
]]> 6473206 Now, sixteen years later, in a posthumous letter, Mrs. Crale has assured her grown daughter that she was innocent. But instead of setting the young woman's mind at ease, the letter only raises disquieting questions. Did Caroline indeed write the truth? And if she didn't kill her husband, who did?

To find out, the Crale’s daughter asks Hercule Poirot to reopen the case. His investigation takes him deep into the conflicting memories and motivations of the five other people who were with the Crales on the fatal day. With his keen understanding of human psychology, he manages to discover the surprising truth behind the artist's death.]]> 288 Agatha Christie J 0 currently-reading 4.22 1942
author: Agatha Christie
name: J
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1942
rating: 0
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date added: 2019/01/06
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 21094391
This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore’s gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire-building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin, to Bismarck, Lincoln, Queen Victoria and Lenin.]]> 784 Simon Sebag Montefiore 0297852663 J 0 to-read 3.97 2016
author: Simon Sebag Montefiore
name: J
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/12/31
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]]> 91950 The Myth of Sisyphus transformed twentieth-century philosophy with its impassioned argument for the value of life in a world without religious meaning.]]> 192 Albert Camus 0141182008 J 0 to-read 4.25 1942
author: Albert Camus
name: J
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1942
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> 42923 544 Robert Timberg 0684826739 J 0 to-read 4.23 1995
author: Robert Timberg
name: J
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/12/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> 6033525
In this gripping narrative, Daniel James Brown sheds new light on one of the most infamous events in American history. Following every painful footstep of Sarah's journey with the Donner Party, Brown produces a tale both spellbinding and richly informative.]]> 352 Daniel James Brown 0061348104 J 5 currently-reading
Brown goes into just enough detail of the historical events leading up to the westward emigrations of California and Oregon settlers in 1846. Such topics as the depression of 1836, the Mexican-American War, frontier life, and Malaria epidemics are given just enough attention to frame the average life of frontier settlers.

Brown fleshes out the human experience of life on the trail, providing details into the sights, sounds, and smells the migrants would have encountered, as well as the preparations and considerations that preoccupied them.

The story itself is told in every unbelievable, morbid detail.]]> 4.24 2009
author: Daniel James Brown
name: J
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2018/12/27
date added: 2018/12/27
shelves: currently-reading
review:
With compassion, elegant style, and an eye for historical detail, Brown recounts the infamous story of America's most famous cannibals.

Brown goes into just enough detail of the historical events leading up to the westward emigrations of California and Oregon settlers in 1846. Such topics as the depression of 1836, the Mexican-American War, frontier life, and Malaria epidemics are given just enough attention to frame the average life of frontier settlers.

Brown fleshes out the human experience of life on the trail, providing details into the sights, sounds, and smells the migrants would have encountered, as well as the preparations and considerations that preoccupied them.

The story itself is told in every unbelievable, morbid detail.
]]> 41025053 353 Martin Berkhan 9163977842 J 4
The author references a multitude of studies, along with his personal experience, to back up his theories. Altogether his claims don't feel pseudoscientific, and there is enough information to take on the LeanGains program.

I felt his tone could have been more serious, and I was left with some questions that weren't answered here or on the website.]]> 4.07
author: Martin Berkhan
name: J
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2018/12/26
date added: 2018/12/26
shelves:
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This book gives a great introduction to diet induced thermogenesis and how people interested in cutting can leverage this phenomenon to transform themselves.

The author references a multitude of studies, along with his personal experience, to back up his theories. Altogether his claims don't feel pseudoscientific, and there is enough information to take on the LeanGains program.

I felt his tone could have been more serious, and I was left with some questions that weren't answered here or on the website.
]]> 37781 Things Fall Apart is written with remarkable economy and subtle irony. Uniquely and richly African, at the same time it reveals Achebe's keen awareness of the human qualities common to men of all times and places.]]> 215 Chinua Achebe J 2
Still, this major conflict doesn't come until at least halfway through the book. The first hundred pages are a couple loose ethnographic vignettes which are narratively connected but uninteresting.

Kind of a slog.]]> 3.73 1958
author: Chinua Achebe
name: J
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1958
rating: 2
read at: 2018/12/22
date added: 2018/12/22
shelves:
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Overall, it makes a compelling impression of the impact of colonizing forces on native cultures. The story of Okonkwo and his clan does not have much dramatic structure, suspense or climax. But over 200 pages you do get to know the thought processes of the natives: not just they believe nut what why you believe it. Witnessing this culture crumble inexorably in the face of Western imperialism and stubborn evangelists is experienced with all its exasperation, frustration and futility.

Still, this major conflict doesn't come until at least halfway through the book. The first hundred pages are a couple loose ethnographic vignettes which are narratively connected but uninteresting.

Kind of a slog.
]]> 30186948 233 Napoleon Hill J 0 to-read 4.19 1937
author: Napoleon Hill
name: J
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1937
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> 34466963 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781501144318.

Neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night's sleep every night.]]> 368 Matthew Walker J 0 to-read 4.37 2017
author: Matthew Walker
name: J
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/12/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> 10975 366 William Faulkner J 3
This is a difficult read. The first chapter, told by Benjy, is a garbled recollection of sense-perceptions "told by an idiot" without ability for inference or judgment, and it skips between 6 different timelines. The second chapter is a flowery, overly-poetic stream-of-consciousness told by Benjy's brother Quentin, who is obsessed with his sister's promiscuity. The third chapter uses traditional narration in the first-person, but its difficulty comes from the insufferable spite and self-pity of the narrator, Benjy's and Quentin's brother Jason.

The fourth chapter breaks from these abrasive narrative devices and ends the story in an omniscient third-person recounting mainly from the perspective of Dilsey, the Compsons' black servant, who has been with the family from its height to its self-fulfilled destruction.

The novel draws a parallel between the degeneration of a single family in Mississippi and the disintegration of the culture of the antebellum American South as a whole.]]> 3.86 1929
author: William Faulkner
name: J
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1929
rating: 3
read at: 2018/11/22
date added: 2018/11/22
shelves:
review:
I would only ever recommend this novel to a post doc English student or to someone interested in the Post-Reconstruction Era American South.

This is a difficult read. The first chapter, told by Benjy, is a garbled recollection of sense-perceptions "told by an idiot" without ability for inference or judgment, and it skips between 6 different timelines. The second chapter is a flowery, overly-poetic stream-of-consciousness told by Benjy's brother Quentin, who is obsessed with his sister's promiscuity. The third chapter uses traditional narration in the first-person, but its difficulty comes from the insufferable spite and self-pity of the narrator, Benjy's and Quentin's brother Jason.

The fourth chapter breaks from these abrasive narrative devices and ends the story in an omniscient third-person recounting mainly from the perspective of Dilsey, the Compsons' black servant, who has been with the family from its height to its self-fulfilled destruction.

The novel draws a parallel between the degeneration of a single family in Mississippi and the disintegration of the culture of the antebellum American South as a whole.
]]> 30289 416 Plato 0140449140 J 4
In some cases his logic ignores obvious fallacies, and in others it does not extend to natural (antagonistic) conclusions.

Plato's vision of the ideal state is Orwellian, with strict artistic and journalistic censorship. The rigid dogma of his state is founded on a "noble lie", a fabricated mythology that establishes a divine justification for the caste-like social stratification as well as an apocalyptic end-game as repercussion for violating the social structure.

It has been tried in different ways, it could never work, and it would be miserable for creative people to live there. But the rational Socratic process he uses to drive his conclusions set the stage for Western philosophy and presaged political science.

As an end-note: Plato's famous allegory of the cave appears in Book VI, and it is worth the read if you're interested in understanding the basis of his Theory of Forms.]]> 3.97 -400
author: Plato
name: J
average rating: 3.97
book published: -400
rating: 4
read at: 2018/11/17
date added: 2018/11/17
shelves:
review:
Just read Books I-V. This work contains a brilliant articulation of ideas that attempt to construct a new political theory from nothing. the brilliance of Plato's arguments lies in his commitment to reaching his conclusions through pure logic.

In some cases his logic ignores obvious fallacies, and in others it does not extend to natural (antagonistic) conclusions.

Plato's vision of the ideal state is Orwellian, with strict artistic and journalistic censorship. The rigid dogma of his state is founded on a "noble lie", a fabricated mythology that establishes a divine justification for the caste-like social stratification as well as an apocalyptic end-game as repercussion for violating the social structure.

It has been tried in different ways, it could never work, and it would be miserable for creative people to live there. But the rational Socratic process he uses to drive his conclusions set the stage for Western philosophy and presaged political science.

As an end-note: Plato's famous allegory of the cave appears in Book VI, and it is worth the read if you're interested in understanding the basis of his Theory of Forms.
]]> 71865 276 John Marsden 0439829100 J 0 to-read 4.05 1993
author: John Marsden
name: J
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/11/17
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]]> 25422234 Only Ruth Bader Ginsburg can judge me.
The Ruth will set you free.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg never asked for fame—she was just trying to make the world a little better and a little freer. But along the way, the feminist pioneer's searing dissents and steely strength have inspired millions. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, created by the young lawyer who began the Internet sensation and an award-winning journalist, takes you behind the myth for an intimate, irreverent look at the justice's life and work. As America struggles with the unfinished business of gender equality and civil rights, Ginsburg stays fierce. And if you don't know, now you know.]]> 240 Irin Carmon 0062415832 J 0 to-read 4.18 2015
author: Irin Carmon
name: J
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/11/17
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]]> 43545 639 T.H. White 0441627404 J 0 to-read 4.07 1958
author: T.H. White
name: J
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1958
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/11/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> 23692271 512 Yuval Noah Harari J 0 to-read 4.33 2011
author: Yuval Noah Harari
name: J
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/10/21
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]]> 13103
The Celestine Prophecy contains secrets that are currently changing our world. Drawing on the ancient wisdom found in a Peruvian manuscript, it tells you how to make connections between the events happening in your own life right now...and lets you see what is going to happen to you in the years to come.

The story it tells is a gripping one of adventure and discovery, but it is also a guidebook that has the power to crystalize your perceptions of why you are where you are in life...and to direct your steps with a new energy and optimism as you head into tomorrow.

A book that comes along just once in a lifetime to change lives forever.]]> 247 James Redfield J 0 to-read 3.72 1993
author: James Redfield
name: J
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/10/21
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]]> 28257707 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062457738

In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.

For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.

Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.

There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.]]> 212 Mark Manson J 0 currently-reading 3.87 2016
author: Mark Manson
name: J
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/10/02
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> 88077
The Magic Mountain is a monumental work of erudition and irony, sexual tension and intellectual ferment, a book that pulses with life in the midst of death.]]> 706 Thomas Mann J 0 to-read 4.12 1924
author: Thomas Mann
name: J
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1924
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/09/26
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]]> 4631 192 Ernest Hemingway J 0 to-read 4.04 1964
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: J
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1964
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/09/26
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]]> 17716 109 Samuel Beckett J 4 3.85 1951
author: Samuel Beckett
name: J
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1951
rating: 4
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date added: 2018/09/26
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]]> 38502471
I'd Rather Be Reading is the perfect literary companion for everyone who feels that way. In this collection of charming and relatable reflections on the reading life, beloved blogger and author Anne Bogel leads readers to remember the book that first hooked them, the place where they first fell in love with reading, and all of the moments afterward that helped make them the reader they are today. Known as a reading tastemaker through her popular podcast What Should I Read Next?, Bogel invites book lovers into a community of like-minded people to discover new ways to approach literature, learn fascinating new things about books and publishing, and reflect on the role reading plays in their lives.

The perfect gift for the bibliophile in everyone's life, I'd Rather Be Reading will command an honored place on the overstuffed bookshelves of any book lover.]]> 156 Anne Bogel 0801072921 J 0 to-read 4.02 2018
author: Anne Bogel
name: J
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/09/26
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]]> 23513349 Milk and Honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity.

It is split into four chapters, with each chapter dealing with a different pain. Healing a different heartache. Milk and Honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them -- because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.]]> 204 Rupi Kaur 1502784270 J 0 to-read 3.96 2014
author: Rupi Kaur
name: J
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> 10799 A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Set against the looming horrors of the battlefield - the weary, demoralized men marching in the rain during the German attack on Caporetto; the profound struggle between loyalty and desertion—this gripping, semiautobiographical work captures the harsh realities of war and the pain of lovers caught in its inexorable sweep. Ernest Hemingway famously said that he rewrote his ending to A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times to get the words right.]]> 293 Ernest Hemingway 0099910101 J 4 3.83 1929
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: J
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1929
rating: 4
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Despite the author's artificial machismo and the flatness of his female characters, it is a powerful read.
]]> 46170 For Whom the Bell Tolls. The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain, it tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. In his portrayal of Jordan's love for the beautiful Maria and his superb account of El Sordo's last stand, in his brilliant travesty of La Pasionaria and his unwillingness to believe in blind faith, Hemingway surpasses his achievement in The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms to create a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving and wise. "If the function of a writer is to reveal reality," Maxwell Perkins wrote to Hemingway after reading the manuscript, "no one ever so completely performed it." Greater in power, broader in scope, and more intensely emotional than any of the author's previous works, it stands as one of the best war novels of all time.]]> 471 Ernest Hemingway J 0 to-read 3.98 1940
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: J
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1940
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]]> 4009
The stories are:

"A Perfect Day for Bananafish"
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut"
"Just Before the War with the Eskimos"
"The Laughing Man"
"Down at the Dinghy"
"For EsmĂ© – with Love and Squalor"
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes"
"De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period"
"Teddy"]]> 302 J.D. Salinger 0316767727 J 0 to-read 4.20 1953
author: J.D. Salinger
name: J
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1953
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]]> 10031
This brilliant snapshot of life in anguish is the perfect introduction to a collection of stories where the neurosis of the modern world is mirrored in the lives of the people that inhabit it.]]> 183 Jean-Paul Sartre 184391400X J 0 to-read 4.14 1939
author: Jean-Paul Sartre
name: J
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1939
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]]> 27202127
This Naked Mind offers a new solution. Packed with surprising insight into the reasons we drink, it will open your eyes to the startling role of alcohol in our culture. Annie Grace brilliantly weaves psychological, neurological, cultural, social and industry factors with her extraordinarily candid journey resulting in a must read for anyone who drinks.

This book, without scare tactics, pain or rules, gives you freedom from alcohol. By addressing causes rather than symptoms it is a permanent solution rather than lifetime struggle. It removes the psychological dependence allowing you to easily drink less (or stop drinking). Annie’s clarity, humor and unique ability to blend original research with riveting storytelling ensures you will thoroughly enjoy the process.

In a world defined by ‘never enough’ Annie takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of alcohol and specifically the connection between alcohol and pleasure. She dispels the cultural myth that alcohol is a vital part of life and demonstrates how regaining control over alcohol is not only essential to personal happiness and fulfillment but also to ending the heartache experienced by millions as a result of secondhand drinking.

Finally, with perfect clarity, this book opens the door to the life you have been waiting for.

Read this book. You’ll be glad you did.]]> 271 Annie Grace J 0 to-read 4.16 2015
author: Annie Grace
name: J
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2018/09/10
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]]>