Glad to Be Human


Book Description

An inspiring collection of reflections on the daily beauties and bounties of human life that show us how we may see the joy in anything. In a world so often filled with distressing news and bewildering violence, being “human” often gets a bad rap. Rejoice in everyday reasons to smile, think positively, and enjoy the gift of life . . . In Glad To Be Human: Adventures in Optimism, award-winning writer Irene O’Garden reminds us of the radiance of human existence. From kitchens to gardens to busy city streets, all around, in your everyday life, you can find plenty of reasons to feel gratitude and hope, peace and joy. With this collection of essays, O’Garden explores a wide range of practical reasons to celebrate life?just look closely around you. In one essay, she describes the simple pleasure that comes from clearing clutter off a desk?in another, the thrill of visiting the Statue of Liberty. The book’s grand finale is the Pushcart Prize-winning essay, “Glad To Be Human.” Through contemplation, meditation and with literary style, Glad To Be Human invites readers to view life through a positive lens. From small, daily activities to journeys overseas, O’Garden has a knack for finding beauty and meaning in all life’s adventures?even in our deepest pain and suffering?helping all of us feel glad to be human. Perfect for readers of Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Anne Lamott, or books like Risking the Rapids, The Book of Joy, The Book of Delights, and The Gratitude Diaries. Praise for Glad to Be Human “For many years now, the poet, playwright, and memoirist Irene O’Garden has been a hero to me. I think of her as a walking, writing, beam of light. It is my hope that with the release of ‘Glad to be Human’ numberless others will come to know her gifts and, most of all, her captivating talent for wonder and marvel.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, #1 New York Times bestselling author of City of Girls and Big Magic “A field guide to embracing the creativity and spontaneity that bring joy to the business of being human. With an artist’s eye and a poet’s soul, Irene O’Garden shines her light on the bliss that surrounds us. Each of her essays turns the eye toward love and possibility. I am changed by these now dog-eared pages, and I will return to them again and again for inspiration.” —Annabel Monaghan, author of The Digit Series, columnist for The Week and The Huffington Post




Future Human Evolution


Book Description

Evolutionary selection has been radically relaxed in the human species as a result of the development of civilization, science in general, and medicine in particular. While these advances have hugely benefited current populations, they have to a significant degree released the species from the biological process which created it and maintains its viability. Formerly, natural selection took place largely as a result of differential mortality, but now that most people survive well beyond their child bearing years, selection is determined largely by differential fertility. Aside from genetic illnesses, this new selection is also characterized by a negative correlation between fertility and intelligencethe core of eugenic concern for over a century. Eugenics views itself as the fourth leg of the chair of civilization, the other three being a) a thrifty expenditure of natural resources, b) mitigation of environmental pollution, and c) maintenance of a human population not exceeding the planets carrying capacity. Eugenics, which can be thought of as human ecology, is thus part and parcel of the environmental movement. Humanity is defined, not as the totality of the currently living population, but as the number of people who will potentially ever live. This is a book about the struggle for human rights and parental responsibility.




You're Only Human


Book Description

Work. Family. Church. Exercise. Sleep. The list of demands on our time seems to be never ending. It can leave you feeling a little guilty--like you should always be doing one more thing. Rather than sharing better time-management tips to squeeze more hours out of the day, Kelly Kapic takes a different approach in You're Only Human. He offers a better way to make peace with the fact that God didn't create us to do it all. Kapic explores the theology behind seeing our human limitations as a gift rather than a deficiency. He lays out a path to holistic living with healthy self-understanding, life-giving relationships, and meaningful contributions to the world. He frees us from confusing our limitations with sin and instead invites us to rest in the joy and relief of knowing that God can use our limitations to foster freedom, joy, growth, and community. Readers will emerge better equipped to cultivate a life that fosters gratitude, rest, and faithful service to God.




A Little Life


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise.




To Sell Is Human


Book Description

Look out for Daniel Pink’s new book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing #1 New York Times Business Bestseller #1 Wall Street Journal Business Bestseller #1 Washington Post bestseller From the bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind, and teacher of the popular MasterClass on Sales and Persuasion, comes a surprising--and surprisingly useful--new book that explores the power of selling in our lives. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in nine Americans works in sales. Every day more than fifteen million people earn their keep by persuading someone else to make a purchase. But dig deeper and a startling truth emerges: Yes, one in nine Americans works in sales. But so do the other eight. Whether we’re employees pitching colleagues on a new idea, entrepreneurs enticing funders to invest, or parents and teachers cajoling children to study, we spend our days trying to move others. Like it or not, we’re all in sales now. To Sell Is Human offers a fresh look at the art and science of selling. As he did in Drive and A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pink draws on a rich trove of social science for his counterintuitive insights. He reveals the new ABCs of moving others (it's no longer "Always Be Closing"), explains why extraverts don't make the best salespeople, and shows how giving people an "off-ramp" for their actions can matter more than actually changing their minds. Along the way, Pink describes the six successors to the elevator pitch, the three rules for understanding another's perspective, the five frames that can make your message clearer and more persuasive, and much more. The result is a perceptive and practical book--one that will change how you see the world and transform what you do at work, at school, and at home.




Raising Good Humans


Book Description

“A wise and fresh approach to mindful parenting.” —Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance A kinder, more compassionate world starts with kind and compassionate kids. In Raising Good Humans, you’ll find powerful and practical strategies to break free from “reactive parenting” habits and raise kind, cooperative, and confident kids. Whether you’re running late for school, trying to get your child to eat their vegetables, or dealing with an epic meltdown in the checkout line at a grocery store—being a parent is hard work! And, as parents, many of us react in times of stress without thinking—often by yelling. But what if, instead of always reacting on autopilot, you could respond thoughtfully in those moments, keep your cool, and get from A to B on time and in one piece? With this book, you’ll find powerful mindfulness skills for calming your own stress response when difficult emotions arise. You’ll also discover strategies for cultivating respectful communication, effective conflict resolution, and reflective listening. In the process, you’ll learn to examine your own unhelpful patterns and ingrained reactions that reflect the generational habits shaped by your parents, so you can break the cycle and respond to your children in more skillful ways. When children experience a parent reacting with kindness and patience, they learn to act with kindness as well—thereby altering generational patterns for a kinder, more compassionate future. With this essential guide, you’ll see how changing your own “autopilot reactions” can create a lasting positive impact, not just for your kids, but for generations to come. An essential, must-read for all parents—now more than ever. “To raise the children we hope to raise, we have to learn to become the person we hoped to be…. This wonderful book will help you handle the ride.” —KJ Dell’Antonia, author of How to Be a Happier Parent “Hunter Clarke-Fields shares her wisdom and personal experience to help parents create peaceful families.” —Joanna Faber and Julie King, coauthors of How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen




The Good Book


Book Description

Few, if any, thinkers and writers today would have the imagination, the breadth of knowledge, the literary skill, and-yes-the audacity to conceive of a powerful, secular alternative to the Bible. But that is exactly what A.C. Grayling has done by creating a non-religious Bible, drawn from the wealth of secular literature and philosophy in both Western and Eastern traditions, using the same techniques of editing, redaction, and adaptation that produced the holy books of the Judaeo-Christian and Islamic religions. The Good Book consciously takes its design and presentation from the Bible, in its beauty of language and arrangement into short chapters and verses for ease of reading and quotability, offering to the non-religious seeker all the wisdom, insight, solace, inspiration, and perspective of secular humanist traditions that are older, far richer and more various than Christianity. Organized in 12 main sections----Genesis, Histories, Widsom, The Sages, Parables, Consolations, Lamentations, Proverbs, Songs, Epistles, Acts, and the Good----The Good Book opens with meditations on the origin and progress of the world and human life in it, then devotes attention to the question of how life should be lived, how we relate to one another, and how vicissitudes are to be faced and joys appreciated. Incorporating the writing of Herodotus and Lucretius, Confucius and Mencius, Seneca and Cicero, Montaigne, Bacon, and so many others, The Good Book will fulfill its audacious purpose in every way.




Better Never to Have Been


Book Description

Most people believe that they were either benefited or at least not harmed by being brought into existence. David Benatar presents a startling challenge to these assumptions. He argues that people systematically overestimate the quality of their life, and suffer quite serious harms by coming into existence.




Glad to Be Here


Book Description

Returning in triumph to New York City to announce their victory, the revolutionaries, Bil and Alce, the very, very old Ralp Nadir and the very, very sexy Dian Toffler, find that no one has noticed the revolution, and no one cares. Everyone just wants to keep on jogging, safe and secure and uninvolved. Finally, the message of freedom breaks through the nearly fatal apathy of the people, and the painful, stumbling process of reinstituting democracy begins, with Bil as the new President. Then suddenly, it's all a flashback to the twentieth century, as Bil attempts to revive such great American classics as marriage, fashion, pollution, pregnancy, subways and airplanes, and three square meals a day. Meanwhile, dogs demand equal rights, Staten Island threatens secession, and a counter-revolutionary group, the Sad To Be Heres, gains momentum. Can you teach a new society all of its old tricks? Can humanity relearn self-government and resist the temptation to slip back into the security of computer domination? Will the computers themselves remain unplugged-and unnoticed? In the wit and fun of Glad To Be Here, you'll find some startling and timely answers, and be glad that Arthur Herzog is back with this rip-roaring saga of life, love, and lunacy in the thirtieth century.




The Human Cloud


Book Description

Empower yourself with the knowledge to keep up with the rapidly changing technical world of work, as two workforce productivity and technology experts lay out a clear picture of the?coming?revolution?in how work is done and how jobs are shaped. If you listen to the news, robots are coming for your job. Full-time employment will soon be a thing of the past as organizations opt more to hire employees on a contract basis.?With technological advances across email, video, project management, and instant messaging platforms, being tied to a desk working full time for one company is becoming obsolete. So, where does that leave you? The Human Cloud may be the most important book you read to prepare for how work is done in the future. In these pages, human cloud technologist Matthew Mottola and AI expert Matthew Coatney help you not only clearly understand the transition you see happening around you, but they will also help you take advantage of it. In The Human Cloud, Mottola and Coatney inform you about topics including: How employees and employers will be able to take advantage of the new automated and freelance-based workplace. How they will be able to take advantage of the new technology disruptions the machine cloud will create. Why the changes employees and employers are seeing aren’t the projection of doom that many are predicting. How to navigate the coming job marketplace. By replacing fear with knowledge, you will better understand how this shift in employment is a good thing, be equipped to embrace the positive?advantages new technology brings, and further secure how your own job is shaped so you are never left behind.