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.Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--And How It Can Renew America
City Travel Guides > Books > Science
by: Thomas L. Friedman

September 08, 2008

In Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America, Thomas Friedman presents an irresistible opportunity for Americans--one that can save the planet and increase our wealth.

The world is flat because of globalization--which is good, as ideas and practices can spread effectively. What is not so good is that our world population is exploding and countries like India and China are seeing an increase in wealth, which puts more strain on the world's resources and increases global warming.

Friedman begins the book with a discussion of how America has changed post 9/11. He uses the example of the US consulate built in 1882 in Istanbul. The consulate was built in the heart of ... Read More:
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.Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
City Travel Guides > Books > Science
by: Daniel G. Md Amen

December 31, 1999
Another excellent book by Dr. Amen, which is so fascinating about how the brain works and how with the newest diagnostic tools, it can be "tweaked" so our lives can be the best they can be. Very interesting read.

Dr. Amen was a welcomed guest on my Internet radio program, Coping with Caregiving.

Jacqueline Marcell, Author, Elder Rage
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.The Brain That Changes Itself
City Travel Guides > Books > Science
by: Norman Doidge

December 18, 2007
The history of Sigmund Freud's approach to the mechanisms of the mind has exhibited some tumultuous changes over the past century. Norman Doidge reminds us that Freud developed a thesis about the mind's plasticity over time. Freud's psychotherapy - irrespective of some questionable methods - was designed to allow the mind to search within itself and change outward behaviour by identifying memories hidden or repressed. However, after Freud, researchers using diagnoses of stroke or brain-injury victims, "mapped" areas in the brain for function. The first of these was the speech-producing region now named Broca's Area, after Paul Broca, its discoverer in the mid-19th century. Brain modularity, or "localization" as Doidge deems it, became the norm ... Read More:
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.Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
City Travel Guides > Books > Science
by: Dan Ariely

February 07, 2008

At first glance, the title of Dan Ariely's book seems to be an oxymoron. (It certainly catches one's attention.) Can irrational thought and/or behavior be predicted? Perhaps if it is repetitive? (The judgment and behavior of at least some people can be repetitive and thus predictable.) So I began to read his book with curiosity but also, yes, with some skepticism. Here are a few of my reactions. First, he learned a number of "lessons" from what he calls "experiments" in his life, each of which struck him as being counterintuitive. For example, everything is relative...even when "it shouldn't be"...or in fact isn't. That is, our mind can "play tricks" on us and thus we tend to see what we expect to see, hear what we expect to hear, etc. ... Read More:
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.The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
City Travel Guides > Books > Science
by: Michael Pollan

August 28, 2007
This book could be broken down into three parts. The first few chapters document the shocking state of our current agricultural industry and in particular the ecological costs of our massive overproduction of corn and the consequences it is having on the beef we eat. The middle portion is a first hand description of one farm in particular that has bucked the trend and still remained viable. This is then expanded into a more comprehensive look at the organic food industry and how it is evolving. Finally the author takes us on his own personal journey as he attempts to become a hunter/gatherer and ultimately prepare a meal in keeping with the philosophy set forth by the slow food movement.
The author is a journalist who I feel really attempts to look at ... Read More:
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.Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think
City Travel Guides > Books > Science
by: Dennis Greenberger, Christine A. Padesky

March 15, 1995
If there was ever a book that could change your life, this is one of them. It's so practical, insightful, intelligent, and useful. It has had a big influence on myself, and on my outlook on life. I love the way the authors (Dr's Greenberger and Padesky) use complete and incomplete thought records to "teach" the reader how to do it for him/herself. It has truly been of great help to me in recognizing my own patterns of distorted thinking as well as the "alternative/balanced" thinking which has helped to improve my mood on several occasions. I consider it one of those rare gems that helps the reader to "see the light" (as a true friend would) without forcing it upon him/her.
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.The Elements of Style
City Travel Guides > Books > Science
by: William Strunk, E. B. White

August 02, 1999
Roughly 80 years ago, William Strunk wrote a small textbook for students in his English Composition class. He wrote it with the intention of creation a short and accessible reference for his students, one of whom - E. B. White, author of the children's classic "Charlotte's Web" - would revise it almost thirty years later for publication to the general college market.

Since its inception, "The Elements of Style" has been the definitive text on clear written communication. It contains explicit guidelines that can easily be followed by anyone, and lays down the law in the form of 22 Elementary Rules of Usage and Elementary Principles of Composition (my favorite of which, "Omit needless words," I couldn't resist quoting in my own book).

Perhaps most ... Read More:
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.The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness
City Travel Guides > Books > Science
by: Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zindel Segal, Jon Kabat-Zinn

June 01, 2007
This book is only for those who do not want to live in the land of the hopeless. If you love feeling like you're at the end of your rope, that life is not worth living, and you enjoy the fatigue that comes with depression, then this book is not for you. This book is only for those who want to be released from the shackles of discouragement, from feelings of failure, and from the numbness and listlessness that results from having given up.

You should only read this if you've had enough of feeling lousy. Moreover, it comes with a CD to guide you through the practice sessions, until your new thinking becomes second-nature. If you don't want new thinking, complete with new-found contentment, then pass on this one.

You've been warned. This book is life-changing, ... Read More:
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.This Is Your Brain On Music
City Travel Guides > Books > Science
by: Daniel Levitin

August 28, 2007
As a physics grad student and a music/guitar enthusiast, I would describe myself as perfectly belonging to the target audience of this book. I started reading with great enthusiasm and interest, but was I in for a surprise. I have read many lovely popular science books, but I wouldn't put this book on that list for several reasons.

First of all, this is the book with the biggest number of typos per page that I have ever read, and for me they are real eye-sores. Second, there is a lot of repetition of already stated ideas, in a very unnecessary and unhelpful way. My reading was very often interrupted by thoughts of the type "he already said this earlier, will he just move on to the subject?". If I, as a casual reader, notice so many obvious blunders that my reading is constantly ... Read More:
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.Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
City Travel Guides > Books > Science
by: Malcolm Gladwell

December 04, 2006
With roughly 260 pages and seven chapters (including the conclusion), "Blink" is a well-written and insightful book on the subject of accurate "snap judgment" or two-second of "looking." This book gives us, the reader, a great deal of information about our "moment" to see things accurately, either in quick reaction, warnings, reading strangers, as it is very much like "gut" feelings or first impressions.

I personally found this book to be quite fascinating and insightful to which I enjoyed both Gladwell's flowing writing style and his clear organization. It took me a good few hours to read it as I could not put the book down. To understand our "snap" judgment is to reach an understanding of how basic a human being really is. Today's world, with all the media and overwhelming information, ... Read More:
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