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Mother of invention : how good ideas get ignored in an economy built for men / by Marçal, Katrine,author.; translation of:Marçal, Katrine.Att uppfinna världen.English.;
Includes bibliographical references."It all starts with a rolling suitcase. The wheel was invented some 5,000 years ago, and the modern suitcase in the mid-nineteenth century, but it wasn't until the 1970s that someone successfully married the two. What was the hold up? For writer and journalist Katrine Marçal, the answer is both shocking and simple: because "real men" carried their bags, no matter how heavy. There were rolling suitcases before the '70s, but they were marketed as a niche product for (the presumably few) women travelling alone, and the wheeled suitcase wasn't "invented" until it was no longer threatening to masculinity. Mother of Invention draws on this example and many others, from electric cars to tech billionaires, to show how gender bias stifles the economy and holds us back. Our traditional notions about men and women have delayed innovations, sometimes by hundreds of years, and have distorted our understanding of our history. While we talk about the Iron Age and the Bronze Age, we might as well talk about the Ceramic Age or the Flax Age, since these technologies were just as important. But inventions associated with women are not considered to be technology in the same way. Katrine Marçal's Mother of Invention is a fascinating examination of business, technology, and innovation through a feminist lens. Marçal takes us on a tour of the global economy, arguing that gendered assumptions dictate which businesses get funding, how we value work, and how we trace human progress. And it carries a powerful message: If we upend our biases, we can unleash our full potential, tackling climate change and wielding technology to become more human, rather than less."--
Subjects: Feminist economics.; Inventions.; Inventors.; Sex discrimination in economics.; Technology and women.; Women intellectuals.; Women inventors.; Women; Technological innovations;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Flora! : a woman in a man's world / by MacDonald, Flora,1926-2015,author.; Stevens, Geoffrey,1940-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Flora Isabel MacDonald--politician, humanitarian, adventurer, and role model for a generation of women--was known across Canada and beyond simply as Flora. In her memoir, co-authored by award-winning journalist and author Geoffrey Stevens, she tells her personal story for the very first time. Flora describes her amazing journey from her childhood and secretarial school in Cape Breton through her years in backroom Progressive Conservative politics, to elected office and her appointment as Canada's first female foreign minister. Finally, she details her exceptional humanitarian work in India and in war-torn Africa and Afghanistan. Flora was driven by a lifelong conviction that there is nothing a woman cannot achieve in a world controlled by men, and she pursued this conviction in everything she did, carving a path for women in Parliament. She won international acclaim for bringing 60,000 Vietnamese refugees to Canada, and for engineering the rescue of six American hostages in Tehran in a top-secret collaboration with the CIA known as the the Canadian Caper. She exposed the inhumane treatment of inmates at Kingston's Prison for Women. She defied male chauvinists in the Progressive Conservative party by running for its leadership, and she introduced the Employment Equity Act to guarantee women equal access to federal jobs. Flora was brave. She was relentless. She was controversial. She was a force of nature. In her own words and drawing from interviews with those who knew her, Flora grants us insight into this exceptional woman who changed the course of history"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; MacDonald, Flora, 1926-2015.; Human rights workers; Legislators; Politicians; Women human rights workers; Women legislators; Women politicians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The secret history of the rape kit : a true crime story / by Kennedy, Pagan,1962-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."A thrilling, novelistic work of journalism that uncovers the remarkable and hidden story of Marty Goddard, the woman who invented the rape kit, changed the course of how we treat sexual assault forever, and then vanished from the record. The idea came to Marty Goddard in 1971. She was working at a crisis hotline, haunted by the stories of survivors and plagued by two principle questions: Why were so many predators getting away with crimes? And, how do we stop them? In the coming years, Marty set off a massive campaign that lobbied to have sexual assault treated and investigated as the crime that it is. By creating the first rape kit, she revolutionized forensics. The kit would live on as one of the most powerful and effective tools for bringing perpetrators to justice. Marty, however, and any record of her, simply disappeared. The Secret History of the Rape Kit chronicles the story of one journalist's mission to uncover the story and woman behind an invention that transformed the lives of women the country over. As Pagan Kennedy peels back the layers behind the history of the kit and Marty's life, she falls into a deeper and deeper obsession. As she pursues this overlooked but critical story from our past, she dives into the inequities built into our patent system and our understanding of technological progress, the problematic and gendered history of forensics, and sexual forensics in particular, the misogyny that runs rampant in police departments, the legacy of Marty's invention and the failings that persist in how we prosecute rape. And, as Pagan unearths who Marty really was, and what happened to her, she reflects on her own experiences with sexual assault, and how one forgotten woman's legacy could have saved her, as it has so many"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; True crime stories.; Goddard, Marty, 1941-2015.; Forensic sciences; Rape kits; Rape;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The sum of us : what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together / by McGhee, Heather C.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Heather C. McGhee's specialty is the American economy--and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. As she dug into subject after subject, from the financial crisis to declining wages to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a common problem at the bottom of them all: racism--but not just in the obvious ways that hurt people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It's the common denominator in our most vexing public problems, even beyond our economy. It is at the core of the dysfunction of our democracy and even the spiritual and moral crises that grip us. Racism is a toxin in the American body and it weakens us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out? To find the way, McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Mississippi to Maine, tallying up what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm--the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. Along the way, she collects the stories of white people who confide in her about losing their homes, their dreams and their shot at a better job to the toxic mix of American racism and greed. This is the story of how public goods in this country--from parks and pools to functioning schools--have become private luxuries; of how unions collapsed, wages stagnated, and inequality increased; and of how this country, unique among the world's advanced economies, has thwarted universal healthcare. It's why we fail to prevent environmental and public health crises that require collective action. But in unlikely places of worship and work, McGhee also finds proof of what she calls the Solidarity Dividend: gains that come when people come together across race, to the benefit of all involved"--
Subjects: Racism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Beyond this harbor : adventurous tales of the heart / by Styron, Rose,author.;
"An intimate portrait of a celebrated magic life and the famous and infamous who dropped in, summered, traveled with, played with, and the decades of friendship with everyone from Truman Capote and Robert Penn Warren to the Kennedys, the Bernsteins, Alexander Calder, John Hersey, and Lillian Hellman. Here as well are the years of dedication and risk, traveling the world, from Pinochet's Chile to El Salvador, Belfast, and Sarajevo, as Rose Styron, in search of those hiding from dictators and autocrats, bore witness to atrocities and human rights violations ... Styron writes of her childhood, born into a German Jewish, assimilated Baltimore family; a rebel from the start, studying poetry at Wellesley, Harvard, Johns Hopkins; traveling to Rome and her (second) meeting with Bill (the first time, "I can't remember even shaking hands. I wasn't thinking about him at all."); their eventual marriage, and their more than fifty years together--in bucolic Roxbury, Connecticut, and on Martha's Vineyard. She writes of Bill's writing and of retyping his manuscripts, discussing his writing progress, having babies, with visits from neighbors Arthur Miller; Mike Nichols and various wives; Dustin Hoffman buying the house over the hill; James Baldwin moving in to Styron's writing studio and writing The Fire Next Time, with Baldwin encouraging Styron to write Nat Turner in first person; Frank Sinatra, sailing into Vineyard Haven Harbor and soon dropping by for dinners chez Styrons; the Kennedys having rowdy sleepovers ... And she writes in detail about Bill Styron's full-on breakdowns, his recovery from the first depression; writing Darkness Visible. And fifteen years later, the second much worse crash; Bill Styron's death; her year of grief, teaching at Harvard; living full time on the Vineyard and making a new full life there ... "--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Styron, Rose.; Styron, William, 1925-2006; Human rights workers; Poets, American;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Small acts of courage : a legacy of endurance and the fight for democracy / by Velshi, Ali,author.;
"A captivating family history that illustrates how small actions can have an outsized political impact. Small acts of courage matter. Sometimes, they change the world. Our history books are filled with the stories of those who fought for democracy and freedom -- for idealism itself-against all odds, from Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. These iconic struggles for social change illustrate the importance of engagement and activism, and offer a template for the battles we are fighting today. But using the right words is often easier than taking action; action can be hard, and costly. More than a century ago, MSNBC host Ali Velshi's great-grandfather sent his seven-year-old son to live at Tolstoy Farm, Gandhi's ashram in South Africa. This difficult decision would change the trajectory of his family history forever. From childhood, Velshi's grandfather was imbued with an ethos of public service and social justice, and a belief in absolute equality among all people -- ideals that his children carried forward as they escaped apartheid, emigrating to Kenya and ultimately Canada and the United States. In Small Acts of Courage, Velshi taps into 125 years of family history to advocate for social justice as a living, breathing experience -- a way of life more than an ideology. With rich detail and vivid prose, he relates the stories of regular people who made a lasting commitment to fight for change, even when success seemed impossible. This heartfelt exploration of how we can breathe new life into the principles of pluralistic democracy is an urgent call to action -- for progress to be possible, we must all do whatever we can to make a difference"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Velshi, Ali.; Canadians; Immigrants; Muslims; Television journalists; Television personalities;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Hidden Nature [electronic resource] : by Roberts, Nora.aut; LaVoy, January.nrt; CloudLibrary;
“Golden Voice January LaVoy gives the listener a thoroughly enjoyable experience.” — AudioFile (Earphones Award Winner) The #1 New York Times-bestselling author presents a novel about an injured cop who must fight to bring down a pair of twisted killers… This program is read by January LaVoy, seven-time Audie Award–winner, Grammy nominee and AudioFile Golden Voice. Natural Resources police officer, Sloan Cooper, and her partner had just taken down three men preying on hikers in the Western Maryland mountains. Driving back, she pulled in at a convenience store—and walked right into a robbery in progress. One gunshot from a jittery thief was about to change her world. After being shocked back to life on the operating table, she has a long recovery ahead, so she moves back to her parents’ peaceful house in Heron’s Rest. As for the boyfriend who dumped her via text while she was in the hospital, good riddance. She may be down, but she’s not out. So when a woman vanishes, leaving her car behind in a supermarket parking lot, Sloan searches online for similar cases. She finds them, spread across three states. Men and women, old and young—the missing seem to have nothing in common. And the abductions keep happening. Luckily, the new man in her life shares her passion for solving this mystery. But it will take every ounce of endurance to get to the dark heart of this bizarre case—and she's willing to risk her life again if that's what it takes to stop the horror. "Narrator January LaVoy brings a richly layered performance to a story.... She expertly handles the large cast of multigenerational characters" —AudioFile on Hideaway A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Crime; Suspense; Contemporary Women;
© 2025., Macmillan Audio,
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Kill the mall / by Malla, Pasha,1978-author.;
"What has the mall ever done to you? Welcomed you with open arms, ie. doors. Showered you with pleasure. At worst confetti. Perhaps it offered you shelter, or a place to love, or a place to dream--all at affordable rates." After writing a letter in praise of "the mall," our eccentric narrator is offered a "residency" at a shabby local shopping centre. His mission: to occupy an abandoned storefront for twelve weeks, during which he must split his time between "making work" and "engaging with the public," all the while chronicling his efforts in weekly progress reports. He quickly becomes part of mall society--bonding with the mall's kindly caretaker, the band of greasy teens working in the derelict food court and the occasional elderly or otherwise transient mall patrons, most of whom treat its hallowed halls as little more than a thoroughfare. But soon a series of disturbing anomalies during the mall's after hours, including the disappearance of our narrator's closest new mall-friend--a bright-eyed, ponytailed, blue-jeans salesclerk named Dennis--sets our hero on a quixotic quest to untangle the mystery, only to discover an invisible evil lurking deep within the bowels of the mall. Before long things get hairy, and our narrator's optimism over his mall residency descends into a phantasmagoria of horror and (possibly) murder. With the aid of the caretaker and a wise pony (named, of course, Gary) who roams the halls, it dawns on our narrator that the mall may not in fact be a utopian hub of consumer bliss, but something more sinister. And who is pulling the strings in the mall's unmapped subterranean world? Pasha Malla's creative genius shines in this madcap satiric horror-fantasy--a deceptively cutting critique of capitalism as embodied in one of our saddest capitalist inventions: the fading local mall."-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Satirical literature.; Shopping malls;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The hype machine : how social media disrupts our elections, our economy, and our health - and how we must adapt / by Aral, Sinan,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Social media connected the world--and gave rise to fake news and increasing polarization. Now a leading researcher at MIT draws on 20 years of research to show how these trends threaten our political, economic, and emotional health in this eye-opening exploration of the dark side of technological progress. Today we have the ability, unprecedented in human history, to amplify our interactions with each other through social media. It is paramount, MIT social media expert Sinan Aral says, that we recognize the outsized impact social media has on our culture, our democracy, and our lives in order to steer today's social technology toward good, while avoiding the ways it can pull us apart. Otherwise, we could fall victim to what Aral calls "The Hype Machine." As a senior researcher of the longest-running study of fake news ever conducted, Aral found that lies spread online farther and faster than the truth--a harrowing conclusion that was featured on the cover of Science magazine. Among the questions Aral explores following twenty years of field research: Did Russian interference change the 2016 election? And how is it affecting the vote in 2020? Why does fake news travel faster than the truth online? How do social ratings and automated sharing determine which products succeed and fail? How does social media affect our kids? First, Aral links alarming data and statistics to three accelerating social media shifts: hyper-socialization, personalized mass persuasion, and the tyranny of trends. Next, he grapples with the consequences of the Hype Machine for elections, businesses, dating, and health. Finally, he maps out strategies for navigating the Hype Machine, offering his singular guidance for managing social media to fulfill its promise going forward. Rarely has a book so directly wrestled with the secret forces that drive the news cycle every day"--
Subjects: Information society.; Common fallacies.; Propaganda.; Social interaction.; Social media;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Mesopotamian riddle : an archaeologist, a soldier, a clergyman, and the race to decipher the world's oldest writing / by Hammer, Joshua,1957-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."It was one of history's great vanishing acts. As early as 3500 BCE, scribes in the mud-walled city-state of Sumer used a reed stylus to press tiny wedge-shaped symbols into clay. For three thousand years, the script chronicled the military conquests, scientific discoveries, and epic literature of the grand kingdoms of Mesopotamia-Assyria, Babylon, the mighty Achaemenid Empire -- along with precious minutia about everyday life so long ago. But as the palaces of these once great kingdoms sank beneath the desert sands, the meaning of these characters was lost. London, 1857. Colossal sculptures of winged bulls and alabaster bas-reliefs depicting cities under siege and vassals bearing tributes to Biblical kings lined the halls of the British Museum. In the Victorian era's obsession with the triumph of human progress, the mysterious kingdoms of ancient Mesopotamia -- the very cradle of civilization -- had captured the public imagination. Yet Europe's best philologists struggled to decipher the strange characters. Cuneiform seemed to have thousands of symbols -- with some scholars claiming each could be pronounced in up to eight, nine, even ten different ways. Others insisted they'd cracked the code and deciphered inscriptions that corresponded precisely to the Old Testament -- proving the veracity of the Word of God. Was it all a hoax? A delusion? A rollicking adventure through the golden age of archaeology, The Writing on the Wall tracks the decades-long race to decipher the oldest script in the world. It's the story of a swashbuckling young archaeologist, a suave British military officer, and a curmudgeonly Irish rector, all vying for glory -- from the ruins of Persepolis to the opulence of Ottoman-era Baghdad -- in a quest to unearth the relics of lost civilizations and unlock the secrets of humanity's past"--
Subjects: Assyriology; Cuneiform inscriptions.; Cuneiform writing.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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