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Tripping on utopia : Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the troubled birth of psychedelic science / by Breen, Benjamin,1985-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.""It was not the Baby Boomers who ushered in the first era of widespread drug experimentation. It was their parents." Far from the repressed traditionalists they are often painted as, the generation that survived the second World War emerged with a profoundly ambitious sense of social experimentation. In the '40s and '50s, transformative drugs rapidly entered mainstream culture, where they were not only legal, but openly celebrated. American physician John C. Lilly infamously dosed dolphins (and himself) with LSD in a NASA-funded effort to teach dolphins to talk. A tripping Cary Grant mumbled into a Dictaphone about Hegel as astronaut John Glenn returned to Earth. At the center of this revolution were the pioneering anthropologists-and star-crossed lovers-Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson. Convinced the world was headed toward certain disaster, Mead and Bateson made it their life's mission to reshape humanity through a new science of consciousness expansion, but soon found themselves at odds with the government bodies who funded their work, whose intentions were less than pure. Mead and Bateson's partnership unlocks an untold chapter in the history of the twentieth century, linking drug researchers with CIA agents, outsider sexologists, and the founders of the Information Age. As we follow Mead and Bateson's fractured love affair from the malarial jungles of New Guinea to the temples of Bali, from the espionage of WWII to the scientific revolutions of the Cold War, a new origin story for psychedelic science emerges"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Bateson, Gregory, 1904-1980.; Mead, Margaret, 1901-1978.; Anthropology; Cold War.; Hallucinogenic drugs;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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This is so awkward : modern puberty explained / by Natterson, Cara,1970-author.; Bennett, Vanessa Kroll,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Almost everything about puberty has changed since today's adults went through it. It starts, on average, two years earlier and stretches through high school ... and for some, beyond. Gens Z and Alpha are also contending with a whole host of thorny issues that parents didn't experience in their own youth but nonetheless need to understand: everything from social media and easy-access pornography to gender identities and new or newly-potent drugs. Talking about any of this is like puberty itself: Awkward! But it's also critical for the health, happiness, and safety of today's kids. Bewildered adults have begged for reliable and relatable information about the modern adolescent experience. This Is So Awkward answers their call. Written by a pediatrician and a puberty educator--together the hosts of a lively and popular podcast on puberty, and moms to six teens between them--this is the handbook everyone has been searching for, and includes: Pointed advice about how to talk to kids about almost anything: acne, body odor, growth spurts, eating disorders, mood swings, sexuality, and more. Science-based explanations for all of puberty's physical, emotional, and social changes, including the many ways hormones affect kids both above and below the neck. What adults needs to know about today's teen culture: their mental health drivers, the un-gendering of body image issues, the ways they think about sexual orientation, and more. Invaluable commentary straight from young adults just out the other side of adolescence that highlights what they wish the adults in their lives had known or done differently. Eye-opening and reassuring, This Is So Awkward will help adults understand the turbulent pubescent decade and become confident guides for today's kids"--
Subjects: Adolescence.; Puberty.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The hero / by Child, Lee,author.;
"In his first work of nonfiction, the creator of the multimillion-selling Jack Reacher series explores the endurance of heroes from Achilles to Bond, showing us how this age-old myth is a fundamental part of what makes us human. He demonstrates how hero stories continue to shape our world - arguing that we need them now more than ever. From the Stone Age to the Greek Tragedies, from Shakespeare to Robin Hood, we have always had our heroes. The hero is at the centre of formative myths in every culture and persists to this day in world-conquering books, films and TV shows. But why do these characters continue to inspire us, and why are they so central to storytelling? Scalpel-sharp on the roots of storytelling and enlightening on the history and science of myth, The Hero is essential reading for anyone trying to write or understand fiction. Child teaches us how these stories still shape our minds and behaviour in an increasingly confusing modern world, and with his trademark concision and wit, demonstrates that however civilised we get, we'll always need heroes."--Publisher's website.
Subjects: Heroes in literature.; Heroes in motion pictures.; Heroes; Storytelling.; Heroes;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Commanding hope : the power we have to renew a world in peril / by Homer-Dixon, Thomas F.,author.;
"Calling on history, cutting-edge research, complexity science and even Lord of the Rings, Homer-Dixon lays out the tools we can command to rescue a world on the brink. For three decades, the renowned author of The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization, and The Ingenuity Gap: Can We Solve the Problems of the Future?, has examined the threats to our future security--predicting a deteriorating global environment, extreme economic stresses, mass migrations, social instability and wide political violence if humankind continued on its current course. He was called The Doom Meister, but we now see how prescient he was. Today just about everything we've known and relied on (our natural environment, economy, societies, cultures and institutions) is changing dramatically--too often for the worse. Without radical new approaches, our planet will become unrecognizable as well as poorer, more violent, more authoritarian. In his fascinating long-awaited new book (dedicated to his young children), he calls on his extraordinary knowledge of complexity science, of how societies work and can evolve, and of our capacity to handle threats, to show that we can shift human civilization onto a decisively new path if we mobilize our minds, spirits, imaginations and collective values. Commanding Hope marshals a fascinating, accessible argument for reinvigorating our cognitive strengths and belief systems to affect urgent systemic change, strengthen our economies and cultures, and renew our hope in a positive future for everyone on Earth."-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Creative ability.; Environmental responsibility.; Social change.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Hysterical : a memoir / by Bassist, Elissa,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Equal parts medical mystery, cultural criticism, and rallying cry, writer Elissa Bassist shares her journey to reclaim her authentic voice in a culture that doesn't listen to women. Between 2016 and 2018, Elissa Bassist saw over twenty medical professionals for a variety of mysterious ailments. Bassist had what millions of American women had: pain that didn't make sense to doctors, a body that didn't make sense to science, a psyche that didn't make sense to mankind. But then an acupuncturist suggested some of her physical pain could be caged fury finding expression, and that treating her voice would treat the problem. It did. Growing up, Bassist's family, boyfriends, school, work, and television had the same expectation for a woman's voice: less is more. She was called dramatic and insane for speaking her mind; she was accused of overreacting and playing victim for having unexplained physical pain; she was ignored or rebuked like women throughout history for using her voice "inappropriately" by expressing sadness or suffering or anger or joy. Because of this, she said "yes" when she meant "no"; she didn't tweet #MeToo; and she never spoke without fear of being "too emotional." So, she felt rage, but like a good woman, repressed it. In Hysterical, Bassist explains how girls and women internalize and perpetuate directives about their voice, making it hard to emote or "just speak up" and "burn down the patriarchy." But her silence hurt more than anything she could ever say. Hysterical is a memoir of a voice lost and found, and a primer on new ways to think about a woman's voice, where it's being squashed and where it needs amplification. Bassist breaks her own silences and calls on others to do the same-to unmute their voice, listen to it above all others, and use it again without regret"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Bassist, Elissa; Sexism in medicine; Women authors, American; Women; Women; Women's health services;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Eris [electronic resource] : by Gaudet, Larry.aut; cloudLibrary;
An anarchist online group sets out to assassinate the corporate elites they believe have turned culture into a digital nightmare. “A blistering look at what our online and offline lives have devolved into at the hands of our corporate tech overlords and their lackeys in government.” — ROBERT J. SAWYER, Hugo Award–winning author Don Barton is the visionary creator of Greenhouse, a popular immersive game where millions play at “saving the environment” in the surreal digital landscapes of the metaverse. Now retired to his plutocratic wealth, he learns his teen son, a gifted gamer, has suddenly gone missing, having joined a terrorist group led by a mysterious young woman, Eris, a former cryptocurrency trader. She’s on a mission to destroy the world’s entertainment and social media platforms and assassinate the corporate elites who run them. In desperation, Barton roams Greenhouse, the only place his radicalized son will talk to him, learning that the game — his life’s work — is on the terrorist hit list. And both his life and his son’s are in danger. A RARE MACHINES BOOKGeneral adult.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Noir; Cyberpunk; Dystopian; Technological;
© 2024., Dundurn Press,
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In Putin's footsteps : searching for the soul of an empire across Russia's eleven time zones / by Khrushcheva, Nina L.,1962-author.; Tayler, Jeffrey,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In Putin's Footsteps is Nina Khrushcheva and Jeffrey Tayler's unique combination of travelogue, current affairs, and history, showing how Russia's dimensions have shaped its identity and culture through the decades. With exclusive insider status as Nikita Khrushchev's great grand-daughter, and an ex-pat living and reporting on Russia and the Soviet Union since 1983, Nina Khrushcheva and Jeffrey Tayler offer a poignant exploration of the largest country on earth through their recreation of Vladimir Putin's fabled New Year's Eve speech planned across all eleven time zones. After taking over from Yeltsin in 1999, and then being elected president in a landslide, Putin traveled to almost two dozen countries and a quarter of Russia's eighty-nine regions to connect with ordinary Russians. His travels inspired the idea of a rousing New Year's Eve address delivered every hour at midnight throughout Russia's eleven time zones. The idea was beautiful, but quickly abandoned as an impossible feat. He correctly intuited, however, that the success of his presidency would rest on how the country's outback citizens viewed their place on the world stage. Today more than ever, Putin is even more determined to present Russia as a formidable nation. We need to understand why Russia has for centuries been an adversary of the West. Its size, nuclear arsenal, arms industry, and scientific community (including cyber-experts), guarantees its influence"--
Subjects: Khrushcheva, Nina L., 1962-; Tayler, Jeffrey; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1952-; Regionalism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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This is your mind on plants / by Pollan, Michael,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Pollan, a radical challenge to how we think about drugs, and an exploration into the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants -- and the equally powerful taboos Of all the things humans rely on plants for--sustenance, beauty, fragrance, flavor, fiber--surely the most curious is our use of them is to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities of our mental experience. Take coffee and tea: people around the world rely on caffeine to sharpen their minds. We don't usually think of caffeine as a drug, or our daily use as an addiction, because it is legal and socially acceptable. So then what is a "drug?" And why, for example, is making tea from the leaves of a tea plant acceptable, but making tea from a seed head of an opium poppy a federal crime? In THIS IS YOUR MIND ON PLANTS, Michael Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs -- opium, caffeine, and mescaline -- and throws the fundamental strangeness, and arbitrariness, of our thinking about them into sharp relief. Exploring and participating in the cultures that have grown up around these drugs, while consuming (or in the case of caffeine, trying not to consume) them, Pollan reckons with the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants, and the equally powerful taboos with which we surround them. Why do we go to such great lengths to seek these shifts in consciousness, and then why do we fence that universal desire with laws and customs and such fraught feelings? A unique blend of history, science, memoir, as well as participatory journalism, Pollan examines and experiences these plants from several very different angles and contexts, and shines a fresh light on a subject that is all too often treated reductively -- as a drug, whether licit or illicit. But that's one of the least interesting things you can say about these plants, Pollan shows, for when we take them into our bodies and let them change our minds, we are engaging with nature in one of the most profound ways we can. Based in part on an essay written more than 25 years ago, this groundbreaking and singular consideration of psychoactive plants, and our attraction to them through time, holds up a mirror to our fundamental human needs and aspirations, the operations of our minds, and our entanglement with the natural world"--
Subjects: Psychotropic plants.; Opium.; Mescaline.; Caffeine.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Football Afficionado. by Khoshdel, Paliz,film director.; Mojtahedzadeh, Sharmin,film director.; Journeyman Pictures (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Originally produced by Journeyman Pictures in 2022.As women’s presence in stadiums is prohibited by the Iranian government, Zahra, a 27-year-old woman, and a football fan, disguises herself as a man to be able to watch a match. Thanks to social media, this simple initiative has led her to become a symbol of change and resistance of her generation.Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Mass media.; Digital communications.; Health.; Social sciences.; Physical education and training.; Foreign study.; Gender identity.; Documentary films.; Middle East.; Mass media and culture.; Women's studies.; Current affairs.; Social media.;
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Los Ultimos Frikis. by Brennan, Nicholas,film director.; Cinema Guild (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Originally produced by Cinema Guild in 2020.Filmed in Cuba over the course of ten years, Los Últimos Frikis tells the story of iconic Cuban heavy metal band Zeus and their three-decade fight to be heard. When Zeus formed in the 1980s, rock music was illegal and rockers were derisively called los frikis—the freaks. Fidel Castro’s communist government saw rock and roll as a mortal threat sent by a capitalist enemy. In the face of repression, Zeus rose to infamy as a counter-cultural phenomenon but paid a price. Zeus’s lead singer, Dionisio “Diony” Arce, spent six years in prison at the height of his career. Today, the band is part of the system as an official group within the Ministry of Culture’s Agency of Cuban Rock. As Cuba’s political and social climate once again shifts, the band embarks on a national tour across the island to defend their cultural impact and livelihood—to prove that frikis still have a voice in Cuba.Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Documentary films.; Political science.; Social sciences.; Arts.; Music.; Latin America.; Foreign study.; Documentary films.; Artists.; Current affairs.; Performing arts.;
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