Things to Make and Break

Things to Make and Break PDF Author: May-Lan Tan
Publisher: Coffee House Press
ISBN: 1566895359
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
These eleven short fictions evoke the microcosmic worlds every human relationship contains. A woman is captivated by the stories her boyfriend tells about his exes. A faltering artist goes on a date with a married couple. Twin brothers work out their rivalry via the girl next door. In every one of these tales, we meet indelibly real and unforgettable people, a cast of rebels and dreamers trying to transform themselves, forge new destinies, or simply make the moment last.

Things to Make and Break

Things to Make and Break PDF Author: May-Lan Tan
Publisher: Coffee House Press
ISBN: 1566895359
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 142

Get Book Here

Book Description
These eleven short fictions evoke the microcosmic worlds every human relationship contains. A woman is captivated by the stories her boyfriend tells about his exes. A faltering artist goes on a date with a married couple. Twin brothers work out their rivalry via the girl next door. In every one of these tales, we meet indelibly real and unforgettable people, a cast of rebels and dreamers trying to transform themselves, forge new destinies, or simply make the moment last.

Why Things Break

Why Things Break PDF Author: Mark Eberhart
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307422690
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Did you know— • It took more than an iceberg to sink the Titanic. • The Challenger disaster was predicted. • Unbreakable glass dinnerware had its origin in railroad lanterns. • A football team cannot lose momentum. • Mercury thermometers are prohibited on airplanes for a crucial reason. • Kryptonite bicycle locks are easily broken. “Things fall apart” is more than a poetic insight—it is a fundamental property of the physical world. Why Things Break explores the fascinating question of what holds things together (for a while), what breaks them apart, and why the answers have a direct bearing on our everyday lives. When Mark Eberhart was growing up in the 1960s, he learned that splitting an atom leads to a terrible explosion—which prompted him to worry that when he cut into a stick of butter, he would inadvertently unleash a nuclear cataclysm. Years later, as a chemistry professor, he remembered this childhood fear when he began to ponder the fact that we know more about how to split an atom than we do about how a pane of glass breaks. In Why Things Break, Eberhart leads us on a remarkable and entertaining exploration of all the cracks, clefts, fissures, and faults examined in the field of materials science and the many astonishing discoveries that have been made about everything from the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger to the crashing of your hard drive. Understanding why things break is crucial to modern life on every level, from personal safety to macroeconomics, but as Eberhart reveals here, it is also an area of cutting-edge science that is as provocative as it is illuminating.

Good Habits, Bad Habits

Good Habits, Bad Habits PDF Author: Wendy Wood
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1250159083
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
A landmark book about how we form habits, and what we can do with this knowledge to make positive change We spend a shocking 43 percent of our day doing things without thinking about them. That means that almost half of our actions aren’t conscious choices but the result of our non-conscious mind nudging our body to act along learned behaviors. How we respond to the people around us; the way we conduct ourselves in a meeting; what we buy; when and how we exercise, eat, and drink—a truly remarkable number of things we do every day, regardless of their complexity, operate outside of our awareness. We do them automatically. We do them by habit. And yet, whenever we want to change something about ourselves, we rely on willpower. We keep turning to our conscious selves, hoping that our determination and intention will be enough to effect positive change. And that is why almost all of us fail. But what if you could harness the extraordinary power of your unconscious mind, which already determines so much of what you do, to truly reach your goals? Wendy Wood draws on three decades of original research to explain the fascinating science of how we form habits, and offers the key to unlocking our habitual mind in order to make the changes we seek. A potent mix of neuroscience, case studies, and experiments conducted in her lab, Good Habits, Bad Habits is a comprehensive, accessible, and above all deeply practical book that will change the way you think about almost every aspect of your life. By explaining how our brains are wired to respond to rewards, receive cues from our surroundings, and shut down when faced with too much friction, Wood skillfully dissects habit formation, demonstrating how we can take advantage of this knowledge to form better habits. Her clear and incisive work shows why willpower alone is woefully inadequate when we’re working toward building the life we truly want, and offers real hope for those who want to make positive change.

Give Me a Break

Give Me a Break PDF Author: Hugh D. Culver
Publisher: Give Me a Break
ISBN: 0986765600
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Culver presents a model for getting to the heart of why people never seem to have enough time --and how to create the time they actually need. A past workaholic, successful business owner, and consultant to large corporations, Culver's solution is to first redefine the beliefs that drive the behavior and from there reset priorities, create better systems, practice better habits, and finally, invest in reflection, review, and renewal.

Why Do Things Break?

Why Do Things Break? PDF Author: R.A. Goodrich
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527534766
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
This study interrogates the breakages that occur in peoples’ lives such as psychological breakdowns, political ruptures, and the effects of history evolving ideologically such that the axioms of the past are overturned and people subsequently lose their sense of identity or purpose. The book combines creative writing pieces in which writers draw from personal experiences to demonstrate the impact of breakages with more discursive essays that question artificial breakdowns between disciplines and the imperative that underpins all knowledge: its provisional nature in conflict with the human need to categorize and define. It focuses on the psychologies that haunt creative autobiographical pieces, as well as the plight of broken minds and bodies in the face of trauma, historical change and political events. It also looks directly at the ideas of thinkers and artists from the past and the impact their work may still have despite shifting paradigms, ruptures and re-formations. Furthermore, it queries new formations by directly asking: why did former ideas break and why the need for salvaging the past (or authenticating the present) by identifying precursors?

Tiny Lights for Travellers

Tiny Lights for Travellers PDF Author: Naomi K. Lewis
Publisher: University of Alberta
ISBN: 177212477X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Why couldn’t I occupy the world as those model-looking women did, with their flowing hair, pulling their tiny bright suitcases as if to say, I just arrived from elsewhere, and I already belong here, and this sidewalk belongs to me? When her marriage suddenly ends, and a diary documenting her beloved Opa’s escape from Nazi-occupied Netherlands in the summer of 1942 is discovered, Naomi Lewis decides to retrace his journey to freedom. Travelling alone from Amsterdam to Lyon, she discovers family secrets and her own narrative as a second-generation Jewish Canadian. With vulnerability, humour, and wisdom, Lewis’s memoir asks tough questions about her identity as a secular Jew, the accuracy of family stories, and the impact of the Holocaust on subsequent generations.

Things Don't Break on Their Own

Things Don't Break on Their Own PDF Author: Sarah Easter Collins
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0593798333
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
“This is the one: the next must-read, must-recommend, must-discuss, must-re-read novel. A miraculous literary thriller, shocking, daring, moving, haunting, infinitely rewarding— as though Kate Atkinson and Ruth Rendell had joined forces.”—A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window and End of Story ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST’S 12 THRILLERS TO READ THIS SUMMER • ONE OF BLOOMBERG’S TOP NEW BOOKS FOR YOUR SUMMER READING LIST A heart-wrenching mystery about sisters, lovers, and a dinner party gone wrong. Twenty-five years ago, a young girl left home to walk to school. Her younger sister soon followed. But one of them arrived, and one of them didn’t. Her sister’s disappearance has defined Willa’s life. Everyone thinks her sister is dead, but Willa knows she isn’t. Because there are some things that only sisters know about each other—and some bonds only sisters can break. Willa sees fragments of her sister everywhere — the way that woman on the train turns her head, the gait of that woman in Paris. If there’s the slightest resemblance, Willa drops everything, and everyone, and tries to see if it is her. When Willa is invited to a dinner party thrown by her first love, she has no reason to expect it will be anything other than an ordinary evening. Both of them have moved on, ancient history. But nothing about Willa’s life has been ordinary since the day her sister disappeared, and that’s not about to change tonight. Sarah Easter Collins has written an extraordinary novel about memory, lost love, and long-buried secrets that sometimes see the light of day.

Works

Works PDF Author: Silas Weir Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description


How Things are Made

How Things are Made PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Happiness

Happiness PDF Author: Gill Hasson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0857087568
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description
Get into the habit of being happy! We may all have different abilities, interests, beliefs and lifestyles, beliefs but there is one thing that we all have in common: We want to be happy! Happiness shows you how to be happy by adopting lifelong “happiness habits” that bring and fulfilment and pleasure to your days. These habits will help you manage life’s inevitable ups and downs; consistent practice will develop your happiness abilities and help you live the happy life you want. Aristotle believed that happiness was comprised of pleasure and a sense of life well-lived. Today’s research agrees, suggesting that “happiness” is defined by your overall satisfaction with your life as well as how you feel from day to day. This book shows you that happiness is a skill made up of a particular set of habits that you can bring in your life starting today. Identify your own, personal definition of “happiness” Learn why we need to be happy and what often gets in the way Develop habits that help you create and maintain happiness long-term Learn how to be happy when you’re stuck in an unhappy situation Discover the often-overlooked happiness that surrounds you every day While happiness is not feeling good all the time you do have the ability to control how you feel Happiness gives you the skills and perspective to recognise happiness and pursue a happy life—whatever that may mean for you.