The Unpredictability of Being Human


Book Description

Linni Ingemundsen is from Norway, though she currently lives in Malta. She does not know how to draw but is somehow a freelance cartoonist. Some of her favourite things in life include chocolate, free Wi-Fi and her yellow typewriter. Linni has lived in three different countries and will never be done exploring the world.




The Unpredictability of Life


Book Description

Life is filled with contrasting moments. Unfortunate things can happen to you at any point. Perhaps you plan to wed and your fianc suddenly calls off the wedding. You could be killed in a car accident; a loved one could die of disease. Or, worse still, you could enter a shopping mall and a disturbed individual could take his or her anger out on the world by going on a shooting rampage at the store where you shop. How do you react to such adversity? With what attitude do you approach such adversity? Perhaps you spend time seeking revenge or remaining bitter about what happened to you. Or, perhaps you are consumed by anger to the extent that your only concern is how others can feel the wrath. While these are ways of responding to adversity, this book cleverly dissuades this kind of approach. It destroys your present and hinders your future. The goal of this book is to help you realize this before precious time is wasted and invite you to learn how to let go of the past in order to invite a more prosperous future.




The Art of Unpredictability


Book Description

What could a book titled The Art of Unpredictability be about? This is probably why you're skimming through the description to decide if this is worth the time, or if it will end up as another Amazon purchase you'll leave on a bookshelf to collect dust. Honestly, this book is more about balance than anything. You see, we all need an equal balance of routine and surprise in our lives. Predictability and unpredictability. Each person's balance is different. Some people value more chaos, and others value more structure. Where that line is drawn is up to you. This book highlights the unpredictable side. Because I think most people tend to steer toward structure and aim to control their life when they really should let go and just say "yes" more often. That guy who has excuses all the time? I hate that guy. I've collected the best moments and challenges of Las Vegas adventures, Coldplay concerts, and major car crashes to reveal how you can develop my strongest personality trait-being completely unpredictable. I hope that as you venture through each chapter's stories, you'll be more inspired to take on each day as if it were a videogame. You get to create your own rules, the boundaries are limited only by your creativity, and the best part is that anything is possible... I know, you've heard that before. But how many people do you know who actively prove it?




Handbook for an Unpredictable Life


Book Description

Oscar-nominated actress and star of the new musical drama Rise, Rosie Perez’s never-before-told story of surviving a harrowing childhood and of how she found success—both in and out of the Hollywood limelight. Rosie Perez first caught our attention with her fierce dance in the title sequence of Do the Right Thing and has since defined herself as a funny and talented actress who broke boundaries for Latinas in the film industry. What most people would be surprised to learn is that the woman with the big, effervescent personality has a secret straight out of a Dickens novel. At the age of three, Rosie’s life was turned upside down when her mentally ill mother tore her away from the only family she knew and placed her in a Catholic children’s home in New York’s Westchester County. Thus began her crazily discombobulated childhood of being shuttled between “the Home,” where she and other kids suffered all manners of cruelty from nuns, and various relatives’ apartments in Brooklyn. Many in her circumstances would have been defined by these harrowing experiences, but with the intense determination that became her trademark, Rosie overcame the odds and made an incredible life for herself. She brings her journey vividly to life on each page of this memoir—from the vibrant streets of Brooklyn to her turbulent years in the Catholic home, and finally to film and TV sets and the LA and New York City hip-hop scenes of the 1980s and ‘90s. More than a page-turning read, Handbook for an Unpredictable Life is a story of survival. By turns heartbreaking and funny, it is ultimately the inspirational story of a woman who has found a hard-won place of strength and peace.




The Unpredictable Species


Book Description

How our brains have evolved so that we control how we think and behave The Unpredictable Species argues that the human brain evolved in a way that enhances our cognitive flexibility and capacity for innovation and imitation. In doing so, the book challenges the central claim of evolutionary psychology that we are locked into predictable patterns of behavior that were fixed by genes, and refutes the claim that language is innate. Philip Lieberman builds his case with evidence from neuroscience, genetics, and physical anthropology, showing how our basal ganglia—structures deep within the brain whose origins predate the dinosaurs—came to play a key role in human creativity. He demonstrates how the transfer of information in these structures was enhanced by genetic mutation and evolution, giving rise to supercharged neural circuits linking activity in different parts of the brain. Human invention, expressed in different epochs and locales in the form of stone tools, digital computers, new art forms, complex civilizations—even the latest fashions—stems from these supercharged circuits. The Unpredictable Species boldly upends scientifically controversial yet popular beliefs about how our brains actually work. Along the way, this compelling book provides insights into a host of topics related to human cognition, including associative learning, epigenetics, the skills required to be a samurai, and the causes of cognitive confusion on Mount Everest and of Parkinson's disease.




Living Life Fully


Book Description

The title refers to a remark Chögyam Trungpa once made to a too-busy student -- At least you’re living life fully! This ability to reframe our experience is central to Karelis’s carefully structured introduction to the path of awakening, aimed at those struggling to free themselves from circumstances that imprison them. Meditation, Karelis explains, doesn’t necessarily eliminate those circumstances; instead, it transforms them into tools for a fully awakened life.




Rock Breaks Scissors


Book Description

A practical guide to outguessing everything, from multiple-choice tests to the office football pool to the stock market. People are predictable even when they try not to be. William Poundstone demonstrates how to turn this fact to personal advantage in scores of everyday situations, from playing the lottery to buying a home. Rock Breaks Scissors is mind-reading for real life. Will the next tennis serve go right or left? Will the market go up or down? Most people are poor at that kind of predicting. We are hard-wired to make bum bets on "trends" and "winning streaks" that are illusions. Yet ultimately we're all in the business of anticipating the actions of others. Poundstone reveals how to overcome the errors and improve the accuracy of your own outguessing. Rock Breaks Scissors is a hands-on guide to turning life's odds in your favor.




Strangers on the Camino


Book Description

On pilgrimage to Camino de Santiago de Compostela, also known in English as The Way of St. James,in Spain.




The Illusion of Will, Self, and Time


Book Description

A Seminary Co-op Notable Book of 2016 William James is often considered a scientist compromised by his advocacy of mysticism and parapsychology. Jonathan Bricklin argues James can also be viewed as a mystic compromised by his commitment to common sense. James wanted to believe in will, self, and time, but his deepest insights suggested otherwise. "Is consciousness already there waiting to be uncovered and is it a veridical revelation of reality?" James asked shortly before his death in 1910. A century after his death, research from neuroscience, physics, psychology, and parapsychology is making the case, both theoretically and experimentally, that answers James's question in the affirmative. By separating what James passionately wanted to believe, based on common sense, from what his insights and researches led him to believe, Bricklin shows how James himself laid the groundwork for this more challenging view of existence. The non-reality of will, self, and time is consistent with James's psychology of volition, his epistemology of self, and his belief that Newtonian, objective, even-flowing time does not exist.




Embrace the Chaos


Book Description

An accomplished Fortune 50 executive translates for a western audience the lessons he learned from the land of his birth, India. Bob Miglani was stressed out, burnt out, and stuck until he rediscovered the enduring lessons of his childhood: celebrate impermanence, serve others, and move forward no matter what. Bob's message: chaos isn't going away--embrace it!