Living with Indifference

Living with Indifference PDF Author: Charles E. Scott
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253117038
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Living with Indifference is about the dimension of life that is utterly neutral, without care, feeling, or personality. In this provocative work that is anything but indifferent, Charles E. Scott explores the ways people have spoken and thought about indifference. Exploring topics such as time, chance, beauty, imagination, violence, and virtue, Scott shows how affirming indifference can be beneficial, and how destructive consequences can occur when we deny it. Scott's preoccupation with indifference issues a demand for focused attention in connection with personal values, ethics, and beliefs. This elegantly argued book speaks to the positive value of diversity and a world that is open to human passion.

Living with Indifference

Living with Indifference PDF Author: Charles E. Scott
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253117038
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
Living with Indifference is about the dimension of life that is utterly neutral, without care, feeling, or personality. In this provocative work that is anything but indifferent, Charles E. Scott explores the ways people have spoken and thought about indifference. Exploring topics such as time, chance, beauty, imagination, violence, and virtue, Scott shows how affirming indifference can be beneficial, and how destructive consequences can occur when we deny it. Scott's preoccupation with indifference issues a demand for focused attention in connection with personal values, ethics, and beliefs. This elegantly argued book speaks to the positive value of diversity and a world that is open to human passion.

Depraved Indifference

Depraved Indifference PDF Author: Gary Indiana
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 1635901081
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
The third of Gary Indiana's famed crime trilogy tells a story inspired by the virtuoso con artistry of mother-and-son criminals Sante and Kenneth Kimes. She collected future marks like lottery tickets. She operated by reflex. Any public room was a pristine harvest of human information. Not just business cards, phone numbers, fax numbers and the like, but weaknesses, quirks, character flaws, delusional ambitions, risky dreams, medical problems, shaky marriages. Everybody came equipped with a panel of invisible buttons.... If you had the right touch, if you knew how to press one button lightly and another button with a bit more force, you could make the emotional side of a person swing up and down as you wished. —from Depraved Indifference First published in 2001, Depraved Indifference is the third of Gary Indiana's famed crime trilogy now being reissued by Semiotext(e). Inspired by the virtuoso con artistry of mother-and-son criminals Sante and Kenneth Kimes, Depraved Indifference follows Evangeline Slote, a dead ringer for Elizabeth Taylor “so compulsive she grifts herself when she runs out of other people” through the circus of calamity that her compulsions invoke. Evangeline, or “Evelyn Carson, “Princess Shah Shah,” among other pseudonyms, accompanied by her alcoholic husband Warren and fanatically devoted son Devin, moves from Las Vegas to Hawaii to Nassau in a maelstrom of forgery and fraud that constantly threatens to come undone. When Warren dies, Evangeline and her son embark upon an ever more brazen series of grifts, frauds, and crimes. Thriving on chaos, a master of manipulation and seduction, Evangeline concocts the scheme to end all schemes—which may take a murder to complete. Reminiscent of Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust, Indiana's scathing, insightful prose is a mirror to the empty landscape of American culture.

The Sweet Indifference of the World

The Sweet Indifference of the World PDF Author: Peter Stamm
Publisher: Granta Books
ISBN: 1783785748
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
Christoph, a middle-aged writer, has a story to share with Lena, a young actress. A long time ago, he was in a relationship with a woman called Magdalena, who was also an actress. Lena is currently in a relationship with a man called Chris, who is also a writer. As the two talk, it becomes clear that the two relationships contain echoes, similarities, and coincidences too remarkable to be called coincidences. Are Chris and Lena doomed to repeat Christoph and Magdalena's broken relationship, or are Christoph and Magdalena a warning from the future? Who really exists? Is there such a thing as fate? And so begins a uniquely existential game of past and present that will leave no one unharmed.

A Year of Living Kindly

A Year of Living Kindly PDF Author: Donna Cameron
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1631524801
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
2020 New York City Big Book Awards Winner in Self-Help: Motivational 2020 14th Annual National Indie Excellence Award-Winner in Self-Help Motivational 2019 IPPY Gold Medal Winner: Self Help 2019 Nautilius Book Awards Gold Winner in Personal Growth & Self-Help 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Gold Medal Winner in Motivational 2019 Readers’ Favorite Awards: Gold Medal Winner in Nonfiction Self-Help 2019 Eric Hoffer Award Winner: Self-Help 2019 Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards: First Place in Self-Help 2019 Chanticleer I & I Book Awards for Instruction and Insight Finalist 2019 International Book Awards: Finalist, Self-Help: General 2019 Nancy Pearl Best Book Award: Finalist in Memoir 2019 Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal: Finalist 2019 Foreword Indies Finalist: Adult Nonfiction—Self-Help Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2018 Being kind is something most of us do when it’s easy and when it suits us. Being kind when we don’t feel like it, or when all of our buttons are being pushed, is hard. But that’s also when it’s most needed; that’s when it can defuse anger and even violence, when it can restore civility in our personal and virtual interactions. Kindness has the power to profoundly change our relationships with other people and with ourselves. It can, in fact, change the world. In A Year of Living Kindly—using stories, observation, humor, and summaries of expert research—Donna Cameron shares her experience committing to 365 days of practicing kindness. She presents compelling research into the myriad benefits of kindness, including health, wealth, longevity, improved relationships, and personal and business success. She explores what a kind life entails, and what gets in the way of it. And she provides practical and experiential suggestions for how each of us can strengthen our kindness muscle so choosing a life of kindness becomes ever easier and more natural. An inspiring, practical guide that can help any reader make a commitment to kindness, A Year of Living Kindly shines a light on how we can create a better, safer, and more just world—and how you can be part of that transformation.

Living in Denial

Living in Denial PDF Author: Kari Marie Norgaard
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262294982
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
An analysis of why people with knowledge about climate change often fail to translate that knowledge into action. Global warming is the most significant environmental issue of our time, yet public response in Western nations has been meager. Why have so few taken any action? In Living in Denial, sociologist Kari Norgaard searches for answers to this question, drawing on interviews and ethnographic data from her study of "Bygdaby," the fictional name of an actual rural community in western Norway, during the unusually warm winter of 2000-2001. In 2000-2001 the first snowfall came to Bygdaby two months later than usual; ice fishing was impossible; and the ski industry had to invest substantially in artificial snow-making. Stories in local and national newspapers linked the warm winter explicitly to global warming. Yet residents did not write letters to the editor, pressure politicians, or cut down on use of fossil fuels. Norgaard attributes this lack of response to the phenomenon of socially organized denial, by which information about climate science is known in the abstract but disconnected from political, social, and private life, and sees this as emblematic of how citizens of industrialized countries are responding to global warming. Norgaard finds that for the highly educated and politically savvy residents of Bygdaby, global warming was both common knowledge and unimaginable. Norgaard traces this denial through multiple levels, from emotions to cultural norms to political economy. Her report from Bygdaby, supplemented by comparisons throughout the book to the United States, tells a larger story behind our paralysis in the face of today's alarming predictions from climate scientists.

Depraved Indifference

Depraved Indifference PDF Author: Joseph Teller
Publisher: MIRA
ISBN: 1460399706
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
An Audi sports car, speeding in the wrong lane, forces an oncoming van off the road. The van bursts into flames, killing all nine occupants…eight of them children. Criminal defense attorney Harrison J. Walker, known simply as Jaywalker, is trying to keep his nose clean while serving a three-year suspension. But when a woman seduces him into representing the "Audi Assassin," a man who also happens to be her husband, things get messy. Struggling with the moral issues surrounding this case, Jaywalker tries to stay focused on his goal—limiting the damage to his client by exposing the legal system's hypocrisy regarding drunk driving. But when he rounds a blind corner in the case, he collides with a truth that could turn his entire defense into disaster.

Holy Living

Holy Living PDF Author: Rowan Williams
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472946111
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Apart from being a scholar and theologian, Rowan Williams has also demonstrated a rare gift for speaking and writing plainly and clearly about essentials of the Christian faith. In the chapters of this book he writes with profound perception about the life of holiness to which we are called. The range of Williams' frame of reference is astonishing – he brings poets and theologians to his aid, he writes about the Rule of St Benedict, the Bible, Icons, contemplation, St Teresa of Avila and even R. D. Laing. He concludes with two chapters on the injunction 'Know Thyself' in a Christian context. Throughout, Williams points out that holiness is a state of being – it is he writes 'completely undemonstrative and lacking any system of expertise. It can never be dissected and analysed.'

The Armchair Economist

The Armchair Economist PDF Author: Steven E. Landsburg
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471112233
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
Air bags cause accidents, because well-protected drivers take more risks. This well-documented truth comes as a surprise to most people, but not to economists, who have learned to take seriously the proposition that people respond to incentives. In The Armchair Economist, Steven E. Landsburg shows how the laws of economics reveal themselves in everyday experience and illuminate the entire range of human behavior. Why does popcorn cost so much at the cinema? The 'obvious' answer is that the owner has a monopoly, but if that were the whole story, there would also be a monopoly price to use the toilet. When a sudden frost destroys much of the Florida orange crop and prices skyrocket, journalists point to the 'obvious' exercise of monopoly power. Economists see just the opposite: If growers had monopoly power, they'd have raised prices before the frost. Why don't concert promoters raise ticket prices even when they are sure they will sell out months in advance? Why are some goods sold at auction and others at pre-announced prices? Why do boxes at the football sell out before the standard seats do? Why are bank buildings fancier than supermarkets? Why do corporations confer huge pensions on failed executives? Why don't firms require workers to buy their jobs? Landsburg explains why the obvious answers are wrong, reveals better answers, and illuminates the fundamental laws of human behavior along the way. This is a book of surprises: a guided tour of the familiar, filtered through a decidedly unfamiliar lens. This is economics for the sheer intellectual joy of it.

Stoic Indifference

Stoic Indifference PDF Author: Fausto DiCampo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
This is a book about mental discipline based on philosophy, primarily Stoicism, and meditation. Mental discipline as seen in the book consists of control of your thoughts and emotions. The entire process of training described in this book can be considered one of the ways of spiritual self-improvement and self-discovery. The topic is treated with beginners in mind. All the basic terms and concepts of practice are defined and explained for maximum clarity, while main points are repeated throughout the book.Philosophy servers as a framework or a basis for self improvement by forming a suitable mentality. Stoicism teaches us that we should live according to reason instead of living according to emotions and urges. It also teaches us there are things in life which we cannot change. It is futile to try changing them, so we should change ourselves instead to adapt, to become indifferent to such obstacles. Stoicism is all about perspective, so its practical use for life is to learn how to think in a stoic way which will change your inner state, your emotional state. The aim of stoic mentality is to face difficulty with rational indifference so that you can make better decisions and solve your problems. This is the start of developing mental discipline. It is described in the book along with suggestions on how to develop personal philosophy.The next step is meditation. It serves to discipline your thoughts and strengthen your will. The serious practice of meditation consists of mental exercises mostly done by focusing on a single object of thought (i.e. a visualization), or maintaining vacancy of mind. There are various exercises in the book ranging from beginner level to more advanced. As you focus on the visualization you strive to block all other thoughts unrelated to the exercise. The skill to block out unwanted thoughts can be used outside of meditation too. Emotions are influenced by thought process to a high degree, so if you remove a thought that causes irritation, irritation will be removed as well. So as meditation organizes your thoughts, you will be generally calmer and more focused. This mental state is suitable for general self control and changing your habits.The strongest and the most extreme possibility this book offers is self-hypnosis. Meditation naturally leads to a mental state of trance which makes it easier to imprint commands into your subconsciousness. With this skill you can cause a state of reduced intensity of emotions. In this state both emotions and urges are reduced, resulting in higher rationality. The intensity can be determined by training. It is possible to reduce emotions only slightly, or to a degree where they are near nonexistent, depending on preference. It's easier said than done. It takes time and training to become proficient. Along with stoic philosophy, this skill is used to form a passive resistance to outside influences. Simply put, you don't about things that are not important to you. It helps you free up your mental energy to spend it on more useful things, instead of agonizing about unchangeable facts and irrelevant people and their opinions. The extreme possibilities offered here are particularly useful to loners, but others can benefit from high level of control of their urges and emotions as well, which is a generally useful skill. Reduced intensity of urges make it significantly easier to change your habits, i.e. quit smoking, start exercising.The last part of mental discipline described in the book is willpower based emotion control. With the mental strength achieved through the exercises, you can find mechanisms in your mind to control emotions at will. Emotions become like an object that you can grasp and shape with your mental hand. At this state you can dissolve or create emotions at will resulting in a high level self control. All the mentioned techniques are just tools. How effective, useful, good, or bad are they depends on the use and skill.

Structures of Indifference

Structures of Indifference PDF Author: Mary Jane Logan McCallum
Publisher: Univ. of Manitoba Press
ISBN: 0887555713
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Book Description
Structures of Indifference examines an Indigenous life and death in a Canadian city and what it reveals about the ongoing history of colonialism. In September 2008, Brian Sinclair, a middle-aged, non-Status Anishinaabe resident of Winnipeg, arrived in the emergency room of a major downtown hospital. Over a thirty-four- hour period, he was left untreated and unattended to, and ultimately died from an easily treatable infection. McCallum and Perry present the ways in which Sinclair, once erased and ignored, came to represent diffuse, yet singular and largely dehumanized ideas about Indigenous people, modernity, and decline in cities. This story tells us about ordinary indigeneity in the city of Winnipeg through Sinclair’s experience and restores the complex humanity denied him in his interactions with Canadian health and legal systems, both before and after his death.