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21 lessons for the 21st century / by Harari, Yuval N.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."World With Sapiens and Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari first explored the past, then the future of humankind, garnering the praise of no less than Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, to name a few, and selling millions of copies in the over 30 countries it was published. In 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, he devotes himself to the present. 21 Lessons For the 21st Century provides a kind of instruction manual for the present day to help readers find their way around the 21st century, to understand it, and to focus on the really important questions of life. Once again, Harari presents this in the distinctive, informal, and entertaining style that already characterized his previous books. The topics Harari examines in this way include major challenges such as international terrorism, fake news, and migration, as well as turning to more personal, individual concerns, such as our time for leisure or how much pressure and stress we can take. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century answers the overarching question: What is happening in the world today, what is the deeper meaning of these events, and how can we individually steer our way through them? The questions include what the rise of Trump signifies, whether or not God is back, and whether nationalism can help solve problems like global warming. Few writers of non-fiction have captured the imagination of millions of people in quite the astonishing way Yuval Noah Harari has managed, and in such a short space of time. His unique ability to look at where we have come from and where we are going has gained him fans from every corner of the globe. There is an immediacy to this new book which makes it essential reading for anyone interested in the world today and how to navigate its turbulent waters."--
Subjects: Civilization, Modern; World politics.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Homo deus : a brief history of tomorrow / by Harari, Yuval N.,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Subjects: Civilization, Modern; Science and civilization.; Technology and civilization.; Future, The.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Civilized to death : the price of progress / by Ryan, Christopher,1962-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.The New York Times best selling co-author of Sex at Dawn explores the ways in which 'progress' has perverted the way we live: how people eat, learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die.
Subjects: Progress.; Civilization, Modern.; Popular culture;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The age of insecurity : coming together as things fall apart / by Taylor, Astra,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."These days, everyone feels insecure. We are financially stressed and emotionally overwhelmed. The status quo isn't working for anyone, even those who appear to have it all. What is going on? In this urgent cultural diagnosis, author and activist Astra Taylor exposes how seemingly disparate crises--rising inequality and declining mental health, the ecological emergency, and the threat of authoritarianism--originate from a social order built on insecurity. From home ownership and education to the wellness industry and policing, many of the institutions and systems that promise to make us more secure actually undermine us. Mixing social critique, memoir, history, political analysis, and philosophy, this genre-bending book rethinks both insecurity and security from the ground up. By facing our existential insecurity and embracing our vulnerability, Taylor argues, we can begin to develop more caring, inclusive, and sustainable forms of security to help us better weather the challenges ahead. The Age of Insecurity will transform how you understand yourself and society--while illuminating a path toward meaningful change."--
Subjects: Anxiety.; Civilization, Modern; Security (Psychology); Social psychology.; Uncertainty.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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What we owe the future / by MacAskill, William,1987-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."One of the most stunning achievements of moral philosophy is something we take for granted: moral universalism, or the idea that every human has equal moral worth. In What We Owe the Future, Oxford philosopher William MacAskill demands that we go a step further, arguing that people not only have equal moral worth no matter where or how they live, but also no matter when they live. This idea has implications beyond the obvious (climate change) - including literally making sure that there are people in the future: It's not unusual to hear someone way, "Oh, I could never bring a child into this world." MacAskill argues that the sentiment itself may well be immoral: we have a responsibility not just to consider whether the world of the future will be suitable for supporting humans, but to act to make sure there are humans in it. And while it may seem that the destructive capacity of modern industrial technology means that we ought to eschew it as much as possible, MacAskill argues for optimism in our ability to (eventually) get technology right, for the future's benefit, and ours. Where Hans Rosling's Factfulness and Rutger Bregman's Utopia for Realists gave us reasons for hope and action in the present, What We Owe the Future is a compelling and accessible argument for why solving our problems demands that we worry about the future. And ultimately it provides an answer to the most important question we humans face: can we not just endure, but thrive?"--
Subjects: Altruism.; Civilization, Modern; Future, The.; Human beings; Human beings;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Enlightenment now : the case for reason, science, humanism, and progress / by Pinker, Steven,1954-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Subjects: Civilization, Modern; Humanism.; Progress.; Quality of life.; Social change.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Viking heart : how Scandinavians conquered the world / by Herman, Arthur,1956-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From a New York Times best-selling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist, a sweeping epic of how the Vikings and their descendants have shaped history and America."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Civilization, Modern; Civilization, Viking.; National characteristics, Scandinavian.; Northmen.; Scandinavian Americans; Vikings.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The myth of normal : trauma, illness & healing in a toxic culture / by Maté, Gabor,author.; Maté, Daniel,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From our most trusted, compassionate authority on stress, trauma and mental well-being--a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing. In the richest, most technically advanced, most health-obsessed society ever, all is not well. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic illnesses were on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, over 30 percent of the population suffers from hypertension. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the increase. So what is really 'normal' when it comes to health? Over four decades of clinical experience, Gabor Maté has come to recognize this version of 'normal' as misleading, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of life in the modern world, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all its expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, which in turn stresses the body, burdens the immune system and undermines emotional balance. Now, Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of commonly held myths about what makes us sick, and connects the dots between personal suffering and the pressures of modern-day living. Filled with stories of people in the grip of illness or in the triumphant wake of recovery, The Myth of Normal is Gabor Maté's most life-affirming and urgent book yet."--
Subjects: Civilization, Modern; Social medicine.; Diseases; Health;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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I wouldn't do that if I were me : modern blunders and modest triumphs (but mostly blunders) / by Gay, Jason(Newspaper columnist),author.;
"Like the rest of us, Jason Gay never anticipated where we've found ourselves. Challenged by the pandemic, frightened by political and societal divisiveness, awash in a digital world that dramatically changes how we think and interact, and all wondering what kind of calamity could possibly happen next. With a series of topical and interconnected personal pieces, Gay does his best to have some fun with all of it, looking for the optimism and joy in the face of the mountain of discouragement. From taking on his children's schooling to how texting has changed his relationship with his wife to allowing his mom to kidnap his family's cat to reckoning with the impending death of a close friend-Gay runs the gamut of our collective social lives, and he approaches it all with humility, grace, and more than a few laughs"--
Subjects: Civilization, Modern; Conduct of life.; Interpersonal relations.; Judgment;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The spinning magnet : the force that created the modern world and could destroy it / by Mitchell, Alanna,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The magnetic North Pole will eventually trade places with the South Pole. Satellite evidence suggests to some scientists that the move has already begun, but most still think it won't happen for many decades. All agree that it has happened many times before and will happen again. But this time it will be different. It will be a very bad day for modern civilization. Award-winning science journalist Alanna Mitchell tells in The Spinning Magnet the fascinating history of one of the four fundamental physical forces in the universe, electro-magnetism. From investigations into magnetism in 13th century feudal France and the realization six hundred years later in the Victorian era that electricity and magnetism were essentially the same, to the discovery that the earth was itself a magnet, spinning in space with two poles and that those poles aperiodically reverse, this is an utterly engrossing narrative history of ideas and science that readers of Stephen Greenblatt and Sam Kean will love. But the recent finding that the Earth's magnetic force field is decaying ten times faster than previously thought, portending an imminent pole reversal, ultimately gives this story a spine tingling urgency. When the poles switch, a process that takes many years, the Earth is unprotected from solar radiation storms that would, among other things, wipe out all electromagnetic technology. No satellites, no internet, no smart phones--maybe no power grid at all. Such potentially cataclysmic solar storms are not unusual. The last one occurred in 2012 and we avoided returning to the dark ages only because the part of the sun that erupted happened to be facing away from the Earth. One leading US researcher is already drawing maps of the parts of the planet that would likely become uninhabitable."--
Subjects: Geomagnetism.; Magnetic pole.; Electromagnetism.; Civilization, Modern;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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