In this thoughtful treatise spurred by the 2015 death of African-American academic Sandra Bland in jail after a traffic stop, New Yorker writer Gladwell (The Tipping Point) aims to figure out the strategies people use to assess strangers-to "analyze, critique them, figure out where they came from, figure out how to fix them," in other words: to understand how to balance trust and safety. He uses a variety of examples from history and recent headlines...

"'Magical thinking' can be broadly defined as the belief that one's internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the external world: Think of the conviction that one can manifest their way out of poverty, stave off cancer with positive vibes, thwart the apocalypse by learning to can their own peaches, or transform an unhealthy relationship to a glorious one with loyalty alone. In all its forms, magical thinking works in service of restoring agency...

"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...

"One of our great behavioral scientists plumbs the depths of the science and philosophy of decision-making to mount a devastating case against free will, an argument with profound consequences. Robert Sapolsky's "Behave," his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: We may not grasp the precise marriage of nature and nurture that creates the physics and chemistry at the base of human behavior,...

A photo essay introducing ocean creatures, featuring the manta ray, dophin, octupus, and others, and explains their physical structures and how they work. Includes a CD-ROM with clip art.

"The shocking inside story of the struggle for power and control at Paramount, the multibillion-dollar entertainment empire controlled by the Redstone family, and the dysfunction, misconduct, and deceit that threatened the future of the company, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists who first broke the news In 2016, the fate of Paramount-the entertainment conglomerate that includes Viacom, CBS, and Simon Schuster-hung precariously in the balance....

"How does the brain--a three-pound wrinkly mass--give rise to intelligence and conscious experience? Was Freud right that we are all plagued by forbidden sexual desires? What is the function of emotions such as disgust, gratitude, and shame? Renowned psychologist Paul Bloom answers these questions and many more in Psych, his riveting new book about the science of the mind. Psych is an expert and passionate guide to the most intimate aspects of our...

"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way, a brilliant scientific exploration of owls, the most elusive group of birds, and an investigation into why these remarkable and yet mysterious animals exert such a hold on human imagination. For centuries, owls have captivated and intrigued us. Our fascination with these mysterious birds was first documented over 30,000 years ago, in the Chauvet cave paintings in...

The author points out that core questions about the way the climate is responding to our influence and what the impacts will be remain largely unanswered. He provides insights and perspective free from political agendas, dispels popular myths, and unveils little-known truths. He points out that the models we use to predict the future aren't able to accurately describe the climate of the past, suggesting they are deeply flawed.

Why would someone wake up and claim they're Napoleon? Or believe they have been turned into a wolf and demand to be fed raw meat? For centuries, we've dismissed delusions as a problem for the shrinks to sort out in distant asylums. But delusions are more than just bizarre case studies - they tell stories of collective anxieties and traumas. In this groundbreaking history, Victoria Shepherd explores delusions from ancient times to present and implores...