With Malcolm Gladwell-like clarity, Churn captures the most commonplace tensions of life in a multifaceted democracy and how to minimize their corrosive effects in everyday life.

"This book is a stark warning about how smart devices and digital self-surveillance will be turned against us by police, prosecutors, and political whims"-- Provided by publisher.

"Recall the words chanted in Charlottesville, Virginia: 'You will not replace us!' Recall the string of mass shooters across the globe--in Oslo, Christchurch, Buffalo, El Paso, and Pittsburgh--who claimed their crimes were a defense against 'White genocide.' Recall business and media figures cultivating anxiety and furor over demographic change. These incidents only scratch the surface: Popular and ruling politicians in every region of the world have expressed some version of great replacement theory, eroding democratic norms in the name of preventing demographic change."--Amazon.

"We are all cyborgs, relying on technology--whether it's Alexa, a pacemaker, or a titanium knee--for our quotidian existence. In our deep connection to a technological world, from robots to augmented and virtual realities, metaverses, and gaming, Candi Cann sees an opportunity, and good reason, to question our ideas about accessibility and inclusion. In augmented, she asks us to reconsider traditional notions of biology and death. Having relied on hearing aids from the age of four, Cann uses her experience to challenge readers to reconsider their assumptions about technologies and their role in life--and death. She also focuses on what it means that most of us are living longer with the intervention of medical technologies, and how a better understanding of our relationship to technology will grant us greater control as we age. Drawing on her life experience in Asia, the author explains how cultural and religious views of machines and artificial intelligence vary globally--in particular, how a Western fear of machines contrasts with an animistic worldview that can see machines as conduits of care for others, embedding spiritual possibilities."--

"A profound meditation on Hip Hop's transformative power, In the hour of chaos takes us deep into the mind of the genre's most unabashed revolutionary. This book is not an autobiography. It's not a manifesto. It's a deep investigation into Hip Hop and rap music by searing lyricist and global music icon, Chuck D of Public Enemy. Engaging with some of the world's leading thinkers on Hip Hop, 'Professor Chuck' sets out on a journey that celebrates 50 years of Hip Hop's legacy and charts paths forward for its future. Exploring the intersections of Hip Hop with Black radicalism and feminism, media and technology, globalization and politics, and more, this curated collection shows the power of culture and the arts to not only bring people together, but to bring about political change in this current 'hour of chaos'."-- Provided by publisher.

"Jeannine Cook always thought she'd open a bookshop in her old age. Raised by a blind librarian, books were integral to her life, and she expected she would eventually write one as well. Instead, Jeannine found herself a burnt-out workaholic with three jobs and no time to read or write, feeling like she hadn't fulfilled her purpose. In her journal, Jeannine began an imaginary dialogue with Harriet Tubman, "Q&As" she dubbed Conversations with Harriett. Jeannine wondered how Harriet became a "wade through waist-high water in the winter: type of woman-and how she could become one too. On February 1, 2020, Jeannine fulfilled her dream and opened a bookstore in Philadelphia which she named after her hero and inspiration, Harriet Tubman. Harriet's Bookshop would be a place to celebrate women authors, artists, and activists. While the name was ironic-Harriet could neither read nor write-it was also fitting. The City of Brotherly love was one of Harriet's first stops to freedom on the Underground Railroad. But in only six weeks, Jeanne would be forced to shut the shop's doors when Covid turned the world upside down-not knowing whether her dream would survive. Five years later, this small independent bookshop is thriving, with satellite stores in unconventional places, from movie theaters to horse trailers. Despite global death and destruction, book bans, the downward spiral in readership, the lack of physical customers, AI, and more, Jeannie's shops have survived. Shut Up & Read is her story-the story of the little bookseller who could, and of the woman who has been the driving force behind it all"-- Provided by publisher.

"What do you do if the faith that raised you seems to fail when you need it the most? Kristen LaValley grew up a church kid through and through. She said "the sinner's prayer" before she could write her name-and spent the next few decades trying to prove she meant it; in a body that couldn't rest, with a mind she didn't yet understand, under a God she was afraid to disappoint. She learned to perform the kind of faith that got praised: one that hid pain and swallowed questions. But in the thick of depression, spiritual exhaustion, and a late ADHD diagnosis, she found herself wondering if the faith she'd built her life on could really hold her. In Growing Up Saved, Kristen maps the slow undoing of a faith formed in certainty and what it took to find God in the middle of her unraveling. In these pages, you'll find authenticity, empathy, and biblical wisdom as you explore how to find your way through a faith that was formed in fear, the intersection of trauma, mental health, neurodivergence, and spiritual identity, the healing work of making peace with your body, your mind, and your story, and a path for those navigating life after disillusionment, burnout, religious trauma, or pain. This book isn't a call to give up on faith. It's an invitation to hold it differently. With tenderness, grit, and humor, Kristen offers a hard-won way through grief and grace to a messy, holy rebuilding"-- Provided by publisher.

"Botanizing is the new birding! This fascinating book of 101 botany prompts is about the joy of getting to know plants in much the same way we get to know birds, through observation and attention. Let's Botanize! is a guide to learning about and understanding the world of plants, a hobby that can ease stress, bring joy, and deepen your connection with the incredible diversity of life all around you. With easy entry points and lush photography, the 101 prompts inspire readers to engage with plant life meaningfully each day by observing the parts, patterns, and processes that make plants so amazing. Examine a bud at the tip of a branch--does it have hairs or scales? What is the most brightly colored plant part you can find that is not a flower or a fruit? Listen to the plants--what sounds do you hear them making? Follow the prompts on dedicated walks in the woods, on your sidewalk, on your commute to work, or even in your kitchen! Revisit prompts at different times of year, in different countries, climates, and ecosystems. As you learn more, you may even find that revisiting the same prompt and the same tree can provide a completely different perspective as you become more familiar with the wonderful world of plants."-- Provided by publisher.

"If your life doesn't look the way you expected, that doesn't mean God can't use you. The Christian life often doesn't feel like the stained-glass images we remember from childhood--happy, holy, hopeful. But God never promised that we won't have trouble. Rather, He promises to be with us through the storm."--Amazon.

"Conspiracy theories are at the root of the most pressing political problems of our time, yet their influence cuts just as personal. Suspicion has fractured families, communities, churches, and our very social fabric, as one person's fact is another's fake news. In Reality in Ruins, Dr. Jared Stacy braves the untold history of conspiracism in American evangelicalism and the anxiety at the heart of this radioactive movement that affects us all. In a new age of what he calls 'Disreality,' many are left reeling in the ruins of what was once a common world, now splintered by warring ideologies, religious and political extremism, and cults of certainty. Dr. Stacy reports from the inside as someone raised and even ordained in one of the nation's most conservative denominations. Now, as a historian and post-evangelical theologian, Dr. Stacy traces the currents of pain, panic, and power that have thrust the evangelical church into a theological crisis with consequence for everyone. For concerned citizens, Christians who are sounding the alarm on Christian Nationalism, and anyone grieving the relationships paranoia has ruptured, Reality in Ruins profiles the problem, validates your pain, prepares you for good resistance, and empowers you to become the truth-tellers a common world deserves" -- Book jacket.

"If there was a core lie sabotaging your life, wouldn't you want to know what it is? And wouldn't you want to find the way to be free?"-- Provided by publisher.

"In The Next Renaissance: AI and the Expansion of Human Potential, acclaimed AI advisor Zack Kass presents an optimistic and compelling vision of how artificial intelligence will shape our lives. Drawing on historical context, cutting-edge advancements, and firsthand experience, Kass lays out how AI will become a collaborative partner in building a better, more creative, and more compassionate world"-- Provided by publisher.

"An unvarnished, deeply human account of one man's time in prison . . . and his unexpected journey to healing, accountability, transformation, and redemption.At 18, Jesse Crosson was considered a lost cause. Strung out on drugs, he committed a robbery and later a nonfatal shooting. For those choices, he was sentenced to 32 years-nearly twice as long as the maximum recommended by sentencing guidelines. No one expected his story to end well. But for Jesse, prison was not the end. It became the beginning of a long path toward redemption. In The Best Part of Prison, Jesse reveals how a system "meant to rehabilitate" so often alienates and destroys, describing both the daily brutality of incarceration and the added cruelty of surviving the COVID-19 pandemic behind bars. Across four prisons, shoulder to shoulder with people convicted of every imaginable crime, Jesse anticipated only the worst. Instead, he discovered teachers, friends, trauma survivors striving to heal, victims seeking repair, and even hardened lifers who became unlikely mentors. Within that crucible, he confronted what it means to cause harm, to make amends, and to rediscover humanity. Now a pardoned advocate for criminal justice reform and the founder of the Second Chancer Foundation, Jesse shares a story that exposes the inequity of today's justice system, champions rehabilitation and restorative justice, and demonstrates the redemptive power of accountability, education, and human connection. Electric and deeply felt-from the slam of a cell door to the awe of seeing the night sky after 19 years-The Best Part of Prison reminds us that second chances are always possible, and that none of us are defined solely by our worst moments"-- Provided by publisher.

"A lifetime of playing by the rules of female social conditioning is not what it's cracked up to be for Nolan. The years of making herself smaller (literally and metaphorically); the sexual advances that led to more than she wanted; the bad marriage she fought like hell to keep; all the ways others questioned her identity or choices and she let it slide to keep the peace; her silence when requested; her body when desired--none of it worked. None of it protected her the way it was advertised to. Nolan noticed the same was true for the women around her and the women in history she read about. Across time and location, they were raised to be agreeable and "good." Hyper-visible as sexual objects but invisible as full people. Living in a physical world created by men for men. Taking on the ultimate role of birth-giver and caretaker, yet seeing it remain an unsung act, even as it's a God-like creation. Only in midlife did Nolan begin to realize she was capable of living outside these cages of conditioning so slyly insidious that they're nearly invisible. GOOD WOMAN elegantly probes the knotty conditions themselves, the costs of adhering to them, and what happens when one refuses to comply. The twelve stunning and unforgettable essays blend memoir, reportage, and history to create a collection that is alternately bold, brash, and explosive ... and ravishingly tender, sensual, and joyous"-- Provided by publisher.

"The new science of why we quit, whether we should, and how to make the right choices for our work and lives, by a leading organizational psychologist. Most of us are just one event away from leaving our job. Conventional wisdom would have us believe that the decision to leave secure work is the result of an uneven trade-off between our paychecks and benefits, and the time and effort we put into our jobs. But in reality, quitting is most often triggered by a single event, inside or outside the workplace, that causes us to stop and reflect on our relationship with work. These events are what organizational psychologist Anthony Klotz calls "jolts," and they are the most underacknowledged realities in our work lives. In Jolted, Klotz breaks down what makes a jolt, and helps us navigate these inevitable disruptions, keeping us from being thrown off track by quitting when we shouldn't-or spurring us to make the career change that can improve our lives"-- Provided by publisher.

"This is an ode to the egg. It cracks open the techniques and recipes that make the egg the most versatile ingredient in your kitchen. From breakfast to dinner, with methods ranging from accessible to ambitious, Tove Nilsson celebrates the egg's essential role in kitchens around the world."--Back cover.

"Over the last few decades, and especially in the last ten years, our understanding of slavery has been transformed by the work of many talented scholars. We have learned a great deal about the actions of enslavers, the struggles and victories of the enslaved, and how the afterlives of American slavery persist into the present. Yet Dan Rood's In the Shadow of the Great House is one of the first contemporary books to focus on the primary engine of slavery, race, and capitalism in this country: the plantation."--

"Using the metaphor of cooking, Serving Up Scripture explains how the reader (or interpreter of Scripture) can make solid meals (trustworthy, insightful interpretations) from the ingredients (chapters and verses) in the Bible, putting the biblical text back in the hands of anyone who's ever felt it's been abused or its message mischaracterized"-- Provided by publisher.

"Sara Vladic, New York Times bestselling author of Indianapolis, reveals the gripping, untold history of the United States under attack during World War II and the improbable patriots who stepped up to defend their country in her hour of need."--Amazon.

"Birding can nourish our spiritual lives. Birdwatching is a delight, a deepening. It puts us in touch with the ineffable, and it draws us toward self-denial for the sake of love. Birding brings us close to hope, abundance, and joy. In fact, it looks a lot like prayer. From having his vision opened by a rare flycatcher, to learning the power of naming while watching shorebirds, to forging friendships on a Christmas Bird Count, naturalist, birder, and Episcopal priest Ragan Sutterfield delves into how birdwatching shapes our souls. He writes of turning yards into refuges for birds on their long migration. Even as we reckon with the inconsolable grief of habitat loss and species decline, he writes, birds can give us hope amid the desolation. Readers of Margaret Renkl, Drew Lanham, and Terry Tempest Williams will find a kindred spirit in Sutterfield as he explores, in verdant and lyrical prose, the spirituality of birding over a year of watching, waiting, and wondering. In each chapter, Sutterfield names a particular way in which paying attention to birds shapes our souls and draws us toward awe. Twelve virtues and practices rooted in the Christian tradition--including joy, attention, slowness, kenosis, and friendship--are nurtured within us as we wait and watch and wait some more. Watching birds, we move toward sacramental sight: looking at the visible to find the holy hidden behind it. Winged wonders that delight and sometimes disappoint, birds are ever within and beyond our vision. Whether you are a serious birder with an extensive life list or a casual observer of hawks along the highway, this book is an invitation to wonder and awe. It only takes paying attention"-- Provided by publisher.

"Joan Didion told us, "We tell ourselves stories in order to live." And yet, the story of stories has never been told until now. MIT technology pioneer Kevin Ashton was at the forefront of the digital revolution that led to the invention of the smartphone, the ultimate storytelling device. This latest technology in the long arc of human storytelling allows anyone, for the first time in history, to tell stories to everyone. In The Story of Stories, Ashton tells the untold story of storytelling. The result is an eye-opening, compelling journey through the eight great revolutions of storytelling, all of which follow a simple pattern: each major new storytelling tool increases the number of people who can share stories and the number of people with whom those stories can be shared. Our first night-fires created the earliest audiences for spoken stories. Language did not lead us to stories; stories led us to language. In time, the development of rhyme, song, and other mnemonic devices allowed those spoken stories to be preserved for generations; pictures drawn on cave walls turned preservation into permanence, telling stories we still experience thousands of years later; writing enabled storytellers to spread tales to faraway places; the Chinese invented printing with moveable metal type around 700 CE; the Toltecs independently invented it at about the same time; 750 years later Gutenberg independently invented it again, adding a converted wine press to create the mass production of mass communication. Over time, printing presses increased the number of storytellers and the size of their audiences by many orders of magnitude, a trend which led us to great revolutions, and electric, then electronic, then digital storytelling and all our storytelling tools of today--and tomorrow's. In this remarkable book, more than twenty-five years in the making, Ashton looks at the development of human storytelling to help us understand where we are in the latest iteration that is the digital era. Drawing on examples from art, literature, music, and pop culture, from the Bible to Bon Jovi, Aristotle to Artificial Intelligence, Frederick Douglass to Facebook, and cave paintings to cinema, The Story of Stories is a passionate and crucial exploration of how stories and the tools we use to tell them continue to change us, cause revolutions, and connect us to each other and give our lives meaning." --Provided by publisher.

After Annabelle Gurwitch received an out-of-the blue diagnosis of Stage 4 lung cancer, an existential dread set in. Precision medicine offered a temporary reprieve--but instead of turning into a cancer warrior, Annabelle declared herself a cancer slacker. Her motto: no runs, no ribbons, no religion. Told with her signature wit, warmth, and gimlet eye, Gurwitch draws inspiration from Greek mythology and TV comedies, Kermit the Frog and Samuel Beckett. She accidentally acquires an angel, embraces being in it "just for the sex," and finds herself on a European van tour selling merch for a heavy metal band. In this hilariously and deeply affecting meditation on mortality, the actress and activist illuminates life with chronic disease, inequities in care, and celebrates tiny victories, the crusty ends of baguettes, the discreet pleasure of sucking at a hobby, and the unshakable bond of female friendship. She upends the notion of living each day as if it were your last, as she discovers you can carpe too much diem, embracing, instead, the extraordinariness of the ordinary.

"Author and science journalist Bill Gifford takes readers on [an]... exploration of the power of heat to improve our performance and our health. Combining cutting-edge science, personal discovery, and practical insights, Gifford reveals how heat adaptation and heat therapy such as sauna can make us healthier, stronger, and even happier, by unlocking the body's built-in tools to promote longevity and resilience. Through innovative research in evolutionary biology, physiology, and thermoregulation, Gifford uncovers how humans evolved to excel in sweltering conditions--and how we've lost touch with this ancient advantage"--

"In this week-by-week guide, a former Harvard writing teacher and dean takes students and their families on a journey to explore their identities, write their stories, connect with one another, navigate the stress of college admissions, and find a fabulous future"-- Provided by publisher.