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Size : how it explains the world / by Smil, Vaclav,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."To answer the most important questions of our age, we must understand size. Neither bacteria nor empires are immune to its laws. Measuring it is challenging, especially where complex systems like economies are concerned, yet mastering it offers rich rewards: the rise of the West, for example, was a direct result of ever more accurate and standardized measurements. Using the interdisciplinary approach that has won him a wide readership, Smil draws upon history, earth science, psychology, art, and more to offer fresh insight into some of our biggest challenges, including income inequality, the spread of infectious disease, and the uneven impacts of climate change. Size explains the regularities--and peculiarities--of the key processes shaping life (from microbes to whales), the Earth (from asteroids to volcanic eruptions), technical advances (from architecture to transportation), and societies and economies (from cities to wages). This book about the big and the small, and the relationship between them, answers the big and small questions of human existence: What makes a human society too big? What about a human being? Which alternative energy sources have the best chance of scaling and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels? Why do tall people make more money? What makes a face beautiful? How about a cathedral? How can changing the size of your plates help you lose weight? The latest masterwork of "an ambitious and astonishing polymath who swings for fences" (Wired) Size is a mind-bending journey that turns the modern world on its head."--
Subjects: Size perception.; Stature.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Girls and their monsters : the Genain quadruplets and the making of madness in America / by Farley, Audrey Clare,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."In 1954, researchers at the newly formed National Institute of Mental Health set out to study the genetics of schizophrenia. When they got word that four 24-year-old identical quadruplets in Lansing, Michigan, had all been diagnosed with the mental illness, they could hardly believe their ears. Here was incontrovertible proof of hereditary transmission and, thus, a chance to bring international fame to their fledgling institution. The case of the pseudonymous Genain quadruplets, they soon found, was hardly so straightforward. Contrary to fawning media portrayals of a picture-perfect Christian family, the sisters had endured the stuff of nightmares. Behind closed doors, their parents had taken shocking measures to preserve their innocence while sowing fears of sex and the outside world. In public, the quadruplets were treated as communal property, as townsfolk and members of the press had long ago projected their own paranoid fantasies about the rapidly diversifying American landscape onto the fair-skinned, ribbon-wearing quartet who danced and sang about Christopher Columbus. Even as the sisters' erratic behaviors became impossible to ignore and the NIMH whisked the women off for study, their sterling image did not falter. Girls and Their Monsters chronicles the extraordinary lives of the quadruplets and the lead psychologist who studied them, asking questions that speak directly to our times: How do delusions come to take root, both in individuals and in nations? Why does society profess to be "saving the children" when it readily exploits them? What are the authoritarian ends of innocence myths? And how do people, particularly those with serious mental illness, go on after enduring the unspeakable? Can the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood help the deeply wounded heal?"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Mental health; Quadruplets; Schizophrenia;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The anxious generation [sound recording] : how the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness / by Haidt, Jonathan,author,narrator.; Pratt, Sean,narrator.; Blackstone Publishing,publisher.;
Read by Sean Pratt, Jonathan Haidt."From New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Coddling of the American Mind, an essential investigation into the collapse of youth mental health-and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood. After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on most measures. Why? In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the "play-based childhood" began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the "phone-based childhood" in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this "great rewiring of childhood" has interfered with children's social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies. Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the "collective action problems" that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood. Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes-communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children-and ourselves-from the psychological damage of a phone-based life"--
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Child development; Child mental health; Children; Internet and children; Social media;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Once a warrior : how one veteran found a new mission closer to home / by Wood, Jake,1983-author.;
"The powerful story of one Marine who found healing and renewed purpose after returning from combat, for himself and tens of thousands of fellow veterans. When Marine sniper Jake Wood came home in 2009 from grueling tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, his country asked yet more of him: to compartmentalize his traumatic memories, put his elite military training on a shelf, and adjust to living outside high-stakes situations. Jake feared he would join the huge population of veterans struggling to reintegrate. Since 2001, more service members have died by suicide than have been killed in Afghanistan. One activity helped Jake and his friend and fellow Marine Clay Hunt find a measure of hope: helping communities after disasters, where their training rendered them unusually effective in high-stakes situations. But as their new organization struggled to get off the ground and the VA tied up Clay's meds in red tape, Clay committed suicide. Reeling, Jake resolved to help as many disaster-affected communities and provide a mission to as many veterans as possible. Over the past 10 years, with no money or experience, he and his team have recruited over 100,000 volunteers to his organization Team Rubicon. It's established a reputation for delivering desperately needed aid faster and better than other organizations hindered by bureaucracy. Racing against the clock, veteran volunteers utilize their military training to untangle complex problems quickly and keep calm under pressure in catastrophic scenarios. What's more, Team Rubicon gives meaningful direction to men and women who need the disaster response work as much as the work needs them. Having a continued purpose--a mission that matters--can be the key to a veteran's successful transition from war to peace"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Wood, Jake, 1983-; United States. Marine Corps; United States. Marine Corps. Marine Regiment, 7th. Battalion, 2nd.; Team Rubicon (Organization); Afghan War, 2001-; Disaster relief.; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Marines; Philanthropists; Veterans;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Courage under fire : under siege and outnumbered 58 to 1 on January 6 / by Sund, Steven A.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Courage under Fire is United States Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund's gripping personal account that takes readers inside the events leading up to January 6, and provides a detailed and harrowing minute-by-minute account of the attack on the US Capitol, which was valiantly defended in hand-to-hand combat by the US Capitol Police officers who found themselves outnumbered fifty-eight to one"--
Subjects: Sund, Steven A.; Trump, Donald, 1946-; United States. Capitol Police.; United States. Congress; Capitol Riot, Washington, D.C., 2021; Capitol Riot, Washington, D.C., 2021.; Domestic terrorism; Police psychology; Police; Political violence; Presidents; Radicalism; Right-wing extremists; Riots;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Homeland. [videorecording] / by Danes, Claire,1979-actor.; Friend, Rupert,actor.; Patinkin, Mandy,actor.; Marvel, Elizabeth,actor.; Roache, Linus,1964-actor.; Weber, Jake,1964-actor.; Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc.,publisher.;
Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Elizabeth Marvel, Linus Roache, Jake Weber, Robert Knepper.With a paranoid president facing investigation and the country tearing itself apart, Carrie and Saul must determine who they can trust in the gripping seventh season. As President Keane finds herself under threat from forces outside the government and within, Carrie embarks on a mission to unravel the truth and bring down a harrowing conspiracy.Canadian Home Video rating: 14A.DVD ; widescreen presentation ; Dolby Digital 5.1.
Subjects: Detective and mystery television programs.; Television programs.; Spy television programs.; Video recordings for the hearing impaired.; United States. Central Intelligence Agency; Women intelligence officers; Prisoners of war; Terrorists;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Justified. [videorecording] / by Davies, Jeremy,1969-; Goggins, Walton,1971-; Olyphant, Timothy.; Bluebush Productions.; Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (Firm); Sony Pictures Television.;
Disc 1. The gunfighter -- Cut ties -- Harlan roulette -- The devil you know -- Thick as mud.Disc 2. When the guns come out -- The man behind the curtain -- Watching the detectives -- Loose ends.Disc 3. Guy walks into a bar -- Measures -- Coalition -- Slaugterhouse.Timothy Olyphant, Jeremy Davies, Walton Goggins.In the nonstop, gunslinging third season of the highly acclaimed hit series, Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens must wield his brand of renegade justice against modern crime like never before. Surrounded by dirty politicians, drug cartels, murder frames, hidden fortunes and multiple criminal forces warring for control, Givens finds himself in everyone's cross hairs.Canadian Home Video Rating: PG.DVD, anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) presentation ; Dolby Digital 5.1 surround.
Subjects: Crime; Criminal behavior; Television programs.; United States marshals;
© c2012., Sony Pictures Home Entertainment,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The fifth act : America's end in Afghanistan / by Ackerman, Elliot,author.;
"A powerful and revelatory eyewitness account of the American collapse in Afghanistan, its desperate endgame, and the war's echoing legacy. Elliot Ackerman left the American military ten years ago, but his time in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Marines and, later, as a CIA paramilitary officer marked him indelibly. When the Taliban began to close in on Kabul in August of 2021 and the Afghan regime began its death spiral, he found himself pulled back into the conflict. Afghan nationals who had, for years, worked closely with the American military and intelligence communities now faced brutal reprisal and sought frantically to flee the country with their families. The official US government evacuation process was a bureaucratic failure that led to a humanitarian catastrophe. With his former colleagues, and friends, protecting the airport in Kabul, Ackerman was drawn into an impromptu effort alongside a group of journalists, and other veterans, to arrange flights and negotiate with both Taliban and American forces to secure the safe evacuation of hundreds. These were desperate measures taken during a desperate end to America's longest war, but the success they achieved afforded a degree of redemption. And, for Ackerman, a chance to reconcile his past with his present. The Fifth Act is an astonishing human document that brings the weight of twenty years of war to bear on a single week at its bitter end. Using the dramatic rescue efforts in Kabul as his lattice, Ackerman weaves in a personal history of the war's long progress, beginning with the initial invasion in the months after 9/11. It is a play in five acts, the fifth act being the story's tragic denouement, a prelude to Afghanistan's dark future. Any reader who wants to understand what went wrong with the war's trajectory will find a trenchant accounting here. And yet The Fifth Act is not an exercise in finger-pointing: it brings readers into close contact with a remarkable group of characters, American and Afghan, who fought the war with courage and dedication, in good faith and at great personal cost. Understanding combatants' experiences and sacrifices while reckoning with the complex bottom line of the post-9/11 wars is not an easy balance; it demands reservoirs of wisdom and the gifts of an extraordinary storyteller. It asks for an author willing to grapple with certain hard-earned truths. In Elliot Ackerman, this story has found that author. The Fifth Act is a first draft of history that feels like a timeless classic"--
Subjects: Ackerman, Elliot.; United States. Central Intelligence Agency.; United States. Marine Corps. Marine Regiment, 8th. Battalion, 1st.; Afghan War, 2001-2021; Afghan War, 2001-2021; Afghan War, 2001-2021; Disengagement (Military science); Paramilitary forces;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Before the ballot : building political support for library funding / by Chrastka, John,author.; Sweeney, Patrick "PC",author.;
Includes bibliographic references and index.""On the Path to the Ballot" will focus on Informational Communications Campaigns (commonly referred to as info-only campaigns) for library staff and administrators. The book will discuss the library's role in the years leading up to a campaign and the library's role during ballot measure campaigns. Our companion title "How to Win Elections ..." focused on building and running ballot measure committees and vote Yes campaigns during an election cycle. The material is referential but does not overlap in significant ways. The readership may overlap, but because the legal structure of libraries and the legal structure of ballot committees do not allow for the same type of campaign work, the strategies, and tactics are unique and distinct to these audiences"--
Subjects: Library fund raising; Library finance; Libraries and community;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The second : race and guns in a fatally unequal America / by Anderson, Carol,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the New York Times bestselling author of White Rage, an unflinching, critical new look at the Second Amendment--and how it has been engineered to deny the rights of African Americans since its inception. In The Second, historian and award-winning, bestselling author of White Rage Carol Anderson powerfully illuminates the history and impact of the Second Amendment, how it was designed, and how it has consistently been constructed to keep African Americans powerless and vulnerable. The Second is neither a "pro-gun" nor an "anti-gun" book; the lens is the citizenship rights and human rights of African Americans. From the eighteenth century, when it was encoded into law that the enslaved could not own, carry, or use a firearm whatsoever, until today, with measures to expand and curtail gun ownership aimed disproportionately at the African American population, the right to bear arms has been consistently used as a weapon to keep African Americans powerless--revealing that armed or unarmed, Blackness, it would seem, is the threat that must be neutralized and punished. Throughout American history to the twenty-first century, regardless of the laws, court decisions, and changing political environment, the Second has consistently meant this: That the second a Black person exercises this right, the second they pick up a gun to protect themselves (or the second that they don't), their life--as surely as Philando Castile's, Tamir Rice's, Alton Sterling's--may be snatched away in that single, fatal second. Through compelling historical narrative merging into the unfolding events of today, Anderson's penetrating investigation shows that the Second Amendment is not about guns but about anti-Blackness, shedding shocking new light on another dimension of racism in America"--
Subjects: United States.; Firearms; Firearms ownership; Gun control; African Americans;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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