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Why we drive : toward a philosophy of the open road / by Crawford, Matthew B.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.From the author of the landmark Shop Class as Soulcraft, a brilliant, first-of-its-kind celebration of driving as a unique pathway of human freedom, one now critically threatened by automation. Once we were drivers, the open road alive with autonomy, adventure, danger, trust, and speed. Today we are as likely to be in the back seat of an Uber as behind the wheel ourselves. Tech giants are hurling us toward a shiny, happy "self-driving" future, selling utopia but equally keen to advertise to a captive audience strapped into another expensive device. Are we destined, then, to become passengers, not drivers? Why We Drive reveals that much more may be at stake than we might think. Ten years ago, in the New York Times-bestselling Shop Class as Soulcraft, philosopher-mechanic Matthew B. Crawford--a University of Chicago PhD who owned his own motorcycle shop--made a revolutionary case for manual labor, one that ran headlong against the pretentions of white-collar office work. Now, using driving as a window through which to view the broader changes wrought by technology on all aspects of contemporary life, Crawford investigates the driver's seat as one of the few remaining domains of skill, exploration, play--and freedom. Blending philosophy and hands-on storytelling, Crawford grounds the narrative in his own experience in the garage and behind the wheel, recounting his decade-long restoration of a vintage Volkswagen as well as his journeys to thriving automotive subcultures across the country. Crawford leads us on an irreverent but deeply considered inquiry into the power of faceless bureaucracies, the importance of questioning mindless rules, and the battle for democratic self-determination against the surveillance capitalists. A meditation on the competence of ordinary people, Why We Drive explores the genius of our everyday practices on the road, the rewards of "folk engineering," and the existential value of occasionally being scared shitless. Witty and ingenious throughout, Why We Drive is a rebellious and daring celebration of the irrepressible human spirit.
Subjects: Crawford, Matthew B.; Automated vehicles; Technological innovations; Automobile driving;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Mellencamp / by Rees, Paul(Music journalist),author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."John Mellencamp is not your typical rock star. Not only has he absorbed into his own work the influence of Faulkner, Williams, Steinbeck and other such literary giants, but he himself could have stepped straight from the pages of any of their great American novels. A complex, colorful and larger than life character, Mellencamp, like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash before him, walks to the beat of his own drum. Or, as he told author and veteran music journalist, Paul Rees: "I just refuse to take shit off anyone." Little Bastard will definitively chart the life of one of the most fascinating characters in all of American music. It will bring into full relief the complex, iconoclastic character of the man Billy Joel, when inducting Mellencamp into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, urged to "Stay ornery, stay mean. We need you to be pissed off," Joel continued. "People need to hear a voice like yours to echo the discontent in the heartland. Someone's got to tell 'em, 'Don't take any shit,' and John, you do that very well." Along with Mellencamp's full blessing, Rees will include new interviews from his friends, family and colleagues, including Bob Seger, Stephen King, Willie Nelson, Larry McMurtry, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow and Chuck D, among others. Rees will also include interviews from artists he has had a pronounced influence on such as John Mayer, Keith Urban, and Jason Isbell. Telling Mellencamp's story is telling the story of the American heartland, along with such pivotal moments in social history as the dawning of the Civil Rights movement, the hippy era, the anti-Vietnam War protests, Watergate, and the terms of such divisive US Presidents as Richard Nixon, Reagan, George W. Bush and now Donald Trump. In terms of music, Mellencamp's account runs parallel to the advent of rock-and-roll, the Summer of Love, the singer-songwriter superstars and the nihilistic punks of the nineteen-seventies, the founding of MTV and the have-it-all eighties, the creation of Farm Aid, and the radical re-shaping of the music industry that has gone on through this century"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Mellencamp, John, 1951-; Rock musicians; Singers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Here One Moment [electronic resource] : by Moriarty, Liane.aut; Lee, Caroline.nrt; Hakewill, Geraldine.nrt; cloudLibrary;
“A riveting story so wild you don’t know how she’ll land it, and then she does, on a dime.”—Anne Lamott, #1 New York Times bestselling author If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate? Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.   Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.   How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.”   Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.   A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.   If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?   Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Psychological; Family Life; Contemporary Women;
© 2024., Penguin Random House,
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The Devil's playbook : big tobacco, Juul, and the addiction of a new generation / by Etter, Lauren,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Big Tobacco meets Silicon Valley in this corporate exposé of what happened when two of the most notorious industries collided-and the vaping epidemic was born. Howard Willard lusted after Juul. As the CEO of tobacco giant Philip Morris's parent company, and a veteran of the industry's long fight to avoid being regulated out of existence, he grew obsessed with a prize he believed could save his company-the e-cigarette, a product with all the addictive upside of the original without the same apparent health risks and bad press. Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, Adam Bowen and James Monsees began work on a device meant to save lives and destroy Big Tobacco, only to end up baking the industry's DNA into their invention's science and marketing. Ultimately, Juul's e-cigarette was so effective, so market-dominating, that it put the company on a collision course with Philip Morris and sparked one of the most explosive public health crises in recent memory. In a deeply reported account, award-winning journalist Lauren Etter tells a riveting story of greed and deception in one of the biggest botched deals in business history. Etter shows how Philip Morris's struggle to innovate left Willard desperate to acquire Juul, even as his own team sounded alarms about the startup's reliance on underage customers. And she shows how Juul's executives negotiated a lavish deal that let them pocket the lion's share of Philip Morris's $12.8 billion investment while government regulators and furious parents mounted a campaign to hold the company's feet to the fire. The Devil's Playbook is the inside story of how Juul's embodiment of Silicon Valley's "move fast and break things" ethos wrought havoc on American health, and how a beleaguered tobacco company was seduced by the promise of a new generationof addicted customers. With both companies' eyes on the financial prize, neither anticipated the sudden outbreak of vaping-linked deaths that would terrorize a nation, crater Juul's value, end Willard's career, and show the costs in human life of the rush to riches-while Juul's founders, investors, and employees walked away with a windfall"--
Subjects: Cigarette industry.; Substance abuse.; Tobacco industry.; Vaping.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A city on Mars : can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through? / by Weinersmith, Kelly,author.; Weinersmith, Zach,1982-author,illustrator.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.In a world hurtling toward human expansion into space, 'A City on Mars' investigates whether the dream of new worlds won't create nightmares, both for settlers and the people they leave behind. In the process, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith answer every question about space you've ever wondered about, and many you've never considered. Can you make babies in space? Should corporations govern space settlements? What about space war? Are we headed for a housing crisis on the Moon's Peaks of Eternal Light-and what happens if you're left in the Craters of Eternal Darkness? With deep expertise, a winning sense of humor, and art from the beloved creator of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, the Weinersmiths investigate perhaps the biggest questions humanity will ever ask itself-whether and how to become multiplanetary.
Subjects: Humor.; Extraterrestrial anthropology.; Interplanetary voyages.; Life on other planets.; Space colonies.;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The scientist and the spy : a true story of China, the FBI, and industrial espionage / by Hvistendahl, Mara,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A riveting true story of industrial espionage in which a Chinese-born scientist is convicted of trying to steal U.S. trade secrets, by a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction. In September 2011, sheriff's deputies in Iowa encountered three neatly dressed Asian men at a cornfield that had been leased by Monsanto to grow corn from patented hybrids. What began as a routine inquiry into potential trespassing blossomed into a federal court case that saw one of the men -- Mo Hailong, also known as Robert Mo -- plead guilty to conspiracy to steal trade secrets from U.S. agro-giants DuPont Pioneer and Monsanto on behalf of the China-based DBN Group, one of the country's largest seed companies. The Mo case was part of the U.S. government's efforts to stanch the rising flow of industrial espionage by Chinese companies -- some with the assistance of the Chinese government itself -- on American companies. And it's not an isolated one. Economic espionage costs U.S. companies billions of dollars a year in lost revenue. As former Attorney General Eric Holder once put it, "There are only two categories of companies affected by trade secret theft: Those that know they've been compromised and those that don't know it yet." Using the story of Mo and of others involved in the case, journalist Mara Hvistendahl uncovers the fascinating and disquieting phenomenon of industrial espionage as China marches toward technological domination. In The Scientist and the Spy, she shines light on U.S. efforts to combat theft of proprietary innovation and technology and delves into the efforts to slow the loss of such secrets to other nations. As technology and innovation become more and more valuable, government agencies like the FBI and companies around the world are growing increasingly concerned -- and are increasingly outspoken about -- the threats posed to Western competitiveness. General Keith Alexander, the ex-director of the National Security Agency, has described Chinese industrial espionage and cyber crimes as "the greatest transfer of wealth in history." The Scientist and the Spy explains how the easy movement of experts and ideas affects development and the important role that espionage plays in innovation, both for the spies and the spied-upon. She also asks whether the current U.S. counter-espionage strategy helps or harms the greater public good. The result is a compelling nonfiction thriller that's also a call to arms on how we should rethink the best ways to safeguard intellectual property"--
Subjects: True crime stories.; United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation.; Agricultural industries; Business intelligence; Confidential business information; Spies;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Crazy ex-girlfriend. [videorecording] / by Bloom, Rachel,1987-actor.; Champlin, Donna Lynne,actor.; Gardner, Pete,actor.; Rodriguez, Vincent,actor.; Warner Home Video (Firm),distributor.;
Rachel Bloom, Donna Lynne Champlin, Vincent Rodriguez Iii, Pete Gardner, Vella Lovell, Gabrielle Ruiz.When last we left our intrepid and at least slightly nutty heroine, Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom), she was at her wedding, abandoned at the altar by her obsession, Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III). In that moment, Rebecca found herself in a cliffhanger. Literally, because she, like, almost flung herself off a cliff. Instead, she found an unexpected well of strength inside herself and finally stood up to the father who abandoned her, flanked by her fierce girl squad. Phew. It was quite the wedding. So what's a girl to do now? Why, get revenge, of course. Because Josh Chan, love of her life? He's crossed over to the dark side - ergo, he must pay, unless, of course, he sees the error of his ways and realizes he and Rebecca are meant to be. But will he? It might be a bit tough to figure out, since he ran off the day of the wedding to be a priest. (Did we mention it was quite the wedding?) There's also the matter of Rebecca's friends and how far they will follow her attraction now that it's turned possibly just a touch fatal. Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin), now in training to be a legal eagle, has to decide how far to walk the gangplank for her cookie, Rebecca. Meanwhile, Valencia (Gabrielle Ruiz) and Heather (Vella Lovell) will be facing giant obstacles and challenges in their personal lives. Hey, it's not like anyone in West Covina ever just gets to be happy. In season three, we will also spend more time with a new man in Rebecca's orbit, mega-WASP Nathaniel Plimpton III (Scott Michael Foster), who will collide with her like a very handsome meteor. He may seem all alpha on the outside, but he has his own daddy issues to work out. See above - no one in the Cov just gets to be happy right away. In other WeCo news, supercouple White Josh (David Hull) and Darryl (Pete Gardner) will be challenged by Darryl's baby fever. Will Darryl give up his yen for a baby Darryl or Darrylette? And how will Rebecca be entangled in their plans? And what about Rebecca's mental health? Will she finally turn her attention to what's fueling her romantic fire? This and more, accompanied by a bajillion songs and dances, coming up next on season three of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.14A.DVD ; widescreen presentation ; Dolby Digital 5.1.
Subjects: Television comedies.; Television programs.; Lawyers; Man-woman relationships;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Leonard Cohen, untold stories. by Posner, Michael,1947-author.;
"The extraordinary life of one of the world's greatest music and literary icons, in the words of those who knew him best. Poet, novelist, singer-songwriter, artist, prophet, icon--there has never been a figure like Leonard Cohen. He was a true giant in contemporary western culture, entertaining and inspiring the world with his work. From his groundbreaking and bestselling novels, The Favourite Game and Beautiful Losers, to timeless songs such as "Suzanne," "Dance Me to the End of Love," and "Hallelujah," Cohen is one of the world's most cherished artists. His death in 2016 was felt around the world by the many fans and followers who would miss his warmth, humour, intellect, and piercing insights. Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories chronicles the full breadth of his extraordinary life. This third and final volume in biographer Michael Posner's sweeping series of Cohen's life--That's How the Light Gets In--explores the last thirty years of his life, starting with the late 1980s revival of his music career with the successful albums I'm Your Man and The Future. It covers the death of his manager, Marty Machat, and the appointment of another who would ultimately be accused of stealing more than five million dollars from Cohen. Personally, Cohen suffers the traumatic end of his long relationship with French photographer Dominique Issermann and begins a public romance with actress Rebecca De Mornay. When that relationship ends in 1993, as Cohen is about to turn sixty years old, he begins a deeply spiritual phase, entering the Mount Baldy monastery under the tutelage of Zen master Joshu Sasaki Roshi--arguably the most important relationship in Cohen's life. Ever the seeker, he then goes to Mumbai in 1999, the first of half a dozen trips to India to investigate Advaita Vedanta Hinduism, expanding his growing fascination with spirituality. In 2008, Cohen makes his triumphant return to the concert stage, and for five years travels the world in an extraordinary final act of his life, giving almost four hundred performances over three continents. The book provides the first full chronicle of Cohen's final months, fighting debilitating disease, while still creating three new studio albums, adding to his remarkable legacy. Cohen's story is told through the voices of those who knew him best--family and friends, colleagues and contemporaries, business partners and lovers. Bestselling author Michael Posner draws on hundreds of interviews to reveal the unique, complex, and compelling figure of the man The New York Times called "a secular saint." This is a book like no other, about a man like no other."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Cohen, Leonard, 1934-2016.; Composers; Singers; Poets, Canadian (English);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Hurricane lizards and plastic squid : the fraught and fascinating biology of climate change / by Hanson, Thor,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In his three previous books-Feathers, The Triumph of Seeds, and Buzz-Thor Hanson has taken his readers on unforgettable journeys into nature, rendered with great storytelling, the soul of a poet, and the insight of a biologist. In this new book, he is doing it again, but exploring one of the most vital scientific and cultural issues of our time: climate change. As a young biologist, Hanson by his own admission watched with some detachment as our warming planet presented plants and animals with an ultimatum: change or face extinction. But his detachment turned to both concern and awe, as he observed the remarkable narratives of change playing out in each plant and animal he studied. In Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid, Hanson tells the story of how nature-both plants and animals, from beech trees to beetles-are meeting the challenges of rapid climate change head-on, adjusting, adapting, and sometimes noticeably evolving. Brown pelicans are fleeing uphill, seeking out new lives in the mountains. Gorillas in Uganda are turning to new food sources, such as eucalyptus trees (which humans only imported to Africa in the past several decades), as their old sources wain. Auklets, a little sea bird, aren't so lucky: changes in the lifecycles of their primary food source means they return at specific times of year to oceanic feeding grounds expecting plankton blooms that are no longer there. As global warming transforms and restructures the ecosystems in which these animals and others live, Hanson argues, we are forced to conclude that climate change will not have just one effect: Some transformations are beneficial. Others, and perhaps most, are devastating, wiping out entire species. One thing is constant: with each change an organism undergoes, the delicate balance of interdependent ecosystems is tipped, forcing the evolution of thousands more species, including us. To understand how, collectively, these changes are shaping the natural world and the future of life, Hanson looks back through deep time, examining fossil records, pollen, and even the tooth enamel of giant wombats and mummified owl pellets. Together, these records of our past tell the story of ancient climate change, shedding light on the challenges faced by today's species, the ways they will respond, and how these strategies will determine the fate of ecosystems around the globe. Ultimately, the story of nature's response to climate change is both fraught and fascinating, a story of both disaster and resilience, and, sometimes, hope. Lyrical and thought-provoking, Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid is poised to transform the conversation around climate change, shifting the focus from humans to the lattice of life, of which humans are just a single point"--
Subjects: Adaptation (Biology); Bioclimatology.; Biotic communities.; Climatic changes.; Global environmental change.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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River of the gods : genius, courage, and betrayal in the search for the source of the Nile / by Millard, Candice,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the New York Times bestselling author of RIVER OF DOUBT and DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC, the stirring story of one of the great feats of exploration of all time, and its complicated legacy The Nile River is the longest in the world. Its fertile floodplain allowed for rise to the great civilization of ancient Egypt, but for millennia the location of its headwaters was shrouded in mystery. Pharaonic and Roman attempts to find it were stymied by a giant labyrinthine swamp, and subsequent expeditions got nofurther. In the 19th century, the discovery and translation of the Rosetta Stone set off a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe - and extendtheir colonial empires. Two British men - Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke - were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton was already famous for being the first non-Muslim to travel to Mecca, disguised as an Arab chieftain. He spoke twenty-nine languages, was a decorated soldier, and literally wrote the book on sword-fighting techniques for the British Army. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officerdetermined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton's opposite in temperament and beliefs. From the start the two men clashed, Speke chafing under Burton's command and Burton disapproving of Speke's ignorance of the people whose lands through which they traveled. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years in, deep in the African interior, Burton became too sick to press on, but Speke did, and claimed he found the source in a great lake that he christened Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke rushed to take credit, disparaging Burton. Burton disputed his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke's great envy. The day before they were to publicly debate, Speke shot himself. Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan's army, and eventually traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguisticprowess and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. Without his talents, it is likely that neither Englishman would have come close to the headwaters of the Nile, or perhaps even survived. In RIVER OF THE GODS Candice Millard has written another peerless story of courage and adventure, set against the backdrop of the race to exploit Africa by the colonial powers"--
Subjects: Bombay, Sidi Mubarak; Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890; Speke, John Hanning, 1827-1864; Explorers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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