Koncocoo

Best Women's Studies

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
The #1 international best seller In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg reignited the conversation around women in the workplace. With no small amount of self-deprecating humor, a massive quantity of facts and research, plus a liberal dose of very personal anecdotes, Sandberg forces each one of us—woman and man—to reexamine ourselves at work and in life, using a unique filter. In short, every single undoing of a woman’s career is examined thoughtfully and with twenty-first-century gentleness and exposed with recommended remedies.
Reviews
"This book CHANGED MY LIFE. I attribute this selection to my newfound confidence in my abilities and contributions to the organization, and I attribute that confidence to this book! I think every working woman should read this (especially working mothers), and possibly more importantly, every manager, male or female, should read this book."
"I'm writing this because I think some of the reviewers are missing what is significant (at least) to me about the book. I've also been criticized for being too direct -- something that is not considered negative for a man. Thinking about these questions made me realize that I can be passive about my career choices. There's a young man in my department who is new to the industry and training for his new position. Even though some of his questions and comments are boarderline embarrassing, I guarantee upper management knows who he is."
"I read this book and in waiting to read the book I had a avoided reading anything about it."
"Sheryl does a great job looking at underlying causes and the continuing cultural norms that create the current work environment for women in careers today."
"As an aspiring leader, this book is a must read."
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Knock Knock What I Love About Mom Fill In The Love Journal
Just complete each line and voilà: you have a uniquely personal gift Mother will read again and again.
Reviews
"A word of advice if you're willing to put in the work (which you should be, since you clearly love your mom): In a Word document, type out all the statements on each page, then fill in the blanks here before you copy them all into the actual book."
"I loved the idea of this gift-- but I loved it even more once it was complete."
"I filled it out with some very serious responses, and some funny, and sent it to my mom for Mother's Day."
"My mom is my best friend and to get a chance to leave some really sweet and loving notes and then some really funny make her laugh out loud notes I had to buy this book!"
"I got one of these for both of my parents for Christmas and they ADORED them."
"I filled it out and mailed it to my sister, across the country, who filled out her answers and mailed it to the rest of our siblings in another state."
"Over all a cute idea, although for the price I would have expected something a bit larger."
"If you are a person of few words, this is perfect to get you thinking and writing from the heart."
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Of Mess and Moxie: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life
New York Times bestselling author, Big Sister Emeritus, and Chief BFF Jen Hatmaker returns with another round of hilarious tales, shameless honesty, and hope for the woman who has forgotten her moxie. She and her husband, Brandon, founded the Legacy Collective and also starred in the popular series My Big Family Renovation on HGTV.
Reviews
"No, her life is absolutely nothing like mine, but every chapter ... every last one ... was filled with humor, honesty, and realism. Every chapter pulled me out of my world, and away from my pain, and they all made me think that everything is going to be ok. Life is messy for everyone, but it won't be that way forever. Based off a review I read on one of Mrs Hatmaker's previous books, I was skeptical that she'd be able to connect with me at all, but she did. The book is filled with uplifting humor, candid honesty, and messages about God and love. Mrs Hatmaker's "How To" chapters were my absolute favorites, and this is an excerpt from her instructions on "How to Get Uninvited Back to a Home Decor Store". 3) Hear gasp from a bystander, and look up to see your son's bare behind and a hearty stream of urine trailing from the cart into a $48 decorative basket. You don't understand why he had to drop his underpants to his ankles, but in addition to soiling the home goods, he has now displayed his bits and bobbles for all to witness. 5) Watch the tee-tee run down the shelving unit and soak the towels below before pooling in a delightful puddle at the end of isle 7."
"I just finished this book and I laughed and related to most of it."
"For moms trying to figure out how to be a family on mission because that’s what caring for your people is."
"This is such a fun, candid read that really made me think (in very important and good ways)!"
"This is a book about real life and real stories and real love for Jesus."
"... one of those friends who remind you of truth, cry with you, laugh with you and at themselves."
"One of the best books I read in 2017!"
"Author goes off on tangents with no point ans little organization."
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Best Abortion & Birth Control

Gosnell: The Untold Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer
Meanwhile, inside the filthy building, Gosnell was casually murdering born-alive infants, butchering women, and making a macabre collection of severed babies’ feet. But even more important to his decades-long crime spree were his enablers in the outside world―from the state bureaucrats who had copious evidence that Gosnell was breaking the law but did nothing to the politicians whose fervent support for abortion rights kept health inspectors away. Philadelphia Police Homicide Unit received a complaint about Gosnell years before he was caught, gave it a cursory look, and ignored the evidence. Gosnell thoroughly reports the facts the mainstream press largely ignored: that, for years, complaints about unsafe conditions and even fatal malpractice at Gosnell’s clinic were met with zero action, so concerned were the powers-that-be with protecting unfettered access to abortion. “In this historic book, Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer meticulously record the harrowing true-crime story of Kermit Gosnell’s barbaric abortion and infanticide business. Every American needs to read Gosnell , because the atrocities he committed, with the knowledge and support of public authorities, demand that we answer what we really believe about human dignity and the law’s equal protection for the most vulnerable.”. —David Daleiden, the undercover reporter behind the Center for Medical Progress videos that exposed Planned Parenthood’s baby parts business.
Reviews
"Thankfully, filmmakers Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer refused to avert their investigative glare from the inhumane travesty conducted in Philadelphia—the mutilated, mass killing of born-alive infants within the seedy walls of the Women’s Medical Society Clinic by a certain Doctor Kermit Gosnell. The complicit role activist media, social radicals, medical colleagues, and incompetent (politicized) government played in perpetuating his crimes is an indictment of the moral wasteland we’re becoming. And, it’s never acceptable to contrive distorted truths and false claims (rationalized that it’s ‘for the greater good’) as a justification for the darkest of human behavior. In that spirit, I recommend “Gosnell” as required reading in all institutions dedicated to social sciences, moral ethics, governance, and medicine."
"Horrors were perpetrated on desperate, innocent women while government bureaucrats repeatedly turned a blind eye, Why?"
"McElhinney & McAleer expose essential facts necessary for honest debate about the greatest moral question facing our nation today."
"Were it not for the Grand Jury testimony which McAleer and McElhinney used as their primary source and the interviews with law enforcement and Gosnell himself to verify the facts, one would be tempted to think the whole thing was fiction. Finally, as someone who is agnostic on the politics of abortion, I found the book to be an important read and one that ultimately forces the reader to deal with the deep moral, emotional and philosophical questions that must be grappled with if we are to be honest with ourselves with regards to this issue."
"This book made me want to scream at times, cry a lot, want to vomit."
"The book is a compendium of what can happen when every safety net fails, the corruption goes all the way to the governor, the procedures, the filth, uneducated and unqualified staff administering powerful drugs, bureaucrats ignoring the most damning reports, humans who had long since forgotten that they were human, and by the grace of God a few people who stood up and said this can't go on."
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Best Feminist Theory

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
The #1 international best seller In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg reignited the conversation around women in the workplace. With no small amount of self-deprecating humor, a massive quantity of facts and research, plus a liberal dose of very personal anecdotes, Sandberg forces each one of us—woman and man—to reexamine ourselves at work and in life, using a unique filter. In short, every single undoing of a woman’s career is examined thoughtfully and with twenty-first-century gentleness and exposed with recommended remedies.
Reviews
"This book CHANGED MY LIFE. I attribute this selection to my newfound confidence in my abilities and contributions to the organization, and I attribute that confidence to this book! I think every working woman should read this (especially working mothers), and possibly more importantly, every manager, male or female, should read this book."
"I'm writing this because I think some of the reviewers are missing what is significant (at least) to me about the book. I've also been criticized for being too direct -- something that is not considered negative for a man. Thinking about these questions made me realize that I can be passive about my career choices. There's a young man in my department who is new to the industry and training for his new position. Even though some of his questions and comments are boarderline embarrassing, I guarantee upper management knows who he is."
"I read this book and in waiting to read the book I had a avoided reading anything about it."
"Sheryl does a great job looking at underlying causes and the continuing cultural norms that create the current work environment for women in careers today."
"As an aspiring leader, this book is a must read."
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Best Women Writers in Women Studies

This Bridge Called My Back, Fourth Edition: Writings by Radical Women of Color
Through personal essays, criticism, interviews, testimonials, poetry, and visual art, the collection explores, as coeditor Cherríe Moraga writes, “the complex confluence of identities—race, class, gender, and sexuality—systemic to women of color oppression and liberation.”. Bridge continues to reflect an evolving definition of feminism, one that can effectively adapt to, and help inform an understanding of the changing economic and social conditions of women of color in the United States and throughout the world. I have loved this book for thirty years, and am so pleased we have returned with our stories, words, and attributes to the growing and resilient movement.” — Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth. Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth. Praise for the Third Edition. "This Bridge Called My Back" dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice. Angela Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz. "This Bridge Called My Back" has served as a significant rallying call for women of color for a generation, and this new edition keeps that call alive at a time when divisions prove ever more stubborn and dangerous. Shirley Geok-lin Lim, University of California, Santa Barbara. This book is a manifesto the 1981 declaration of a new politics US Third World Feminism. These essays and poems do more than just revisit the hopes, fears, frustrations, and accomplishments of women of color circa 1981; they also shed light on concerns women continue to face today There are lines of poetry here sure to stir the imagination and connect with all ages, races, and genders This Bridge Called My Back deserves to be picked up by a new generation of radical women. ForeWord Reviews Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Executive Director, Honor the Earth Praise for the Third Edition This Bridge Called My Back dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice. Angela Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz This Bridge Called My Back has served as a significant rallying call for women of color for a generation, and this new edition keeps that call alive at a time when divisions prove ever more stubborn and dangerous. Shirley Geok-lin Lim, University of California, Santa Barbara. This book is a manifesto the 1981 declaration of a new politics US Third World Feminism. There are lines of poetry here sure to stir the imagination and connect with all ages, races, and genders ... "Immense is my admiration for the ongoing dialogue and discourse on feminism, Indigenous feminism, the defining discussions in women of color movements and the broader movement. " This Bridge Called My Back ... dispels all doubt about the power of a single text to radically transform the terrain of our theory and practice.
Reviews
"I had originally rented this text but ultimately decided to purchase it because it resonated with me."
"Came in great condition and a priceless book to add to your collection."
"purchased as a gift &have received great feedback."
"So happy to have this out in a new edition."
"a must read for women passionate and deeply committed to "The Work.""
"One of my favorite reads of all time."
"Such a powerful collection, I am so happy to have ordered this book."
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Best Social Sciences

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. “[A] compassionate, discerning sociological analysis…Combining thoughtful inquiry with firsthand experience, Mr. Vance has inadvertently provided a civilized reference guide for an uncivilized election, and he’s done so in a vocabulary intelligible to both Democrats and Republicans. [Vance] offers a compelling explanation for why it’s so hard for someone who grew up the way he did to make it…a riveting book.” ( Wall Street Journal ). “[ Hillbilly Elegy ] couldn’t have been better timed...a harrowing portrait of much that has gone wrong in America over the past two generations...an honest look at the dysfunction that afflicts too many working-class Americans.” ( National Review ). Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy”, offers a starkly honest look at what that shattering of faith feels like for a family who lived through it.
Reviews
"Drugs, crime, jail time, abusive interactions without any knowledge of other forms of interaction, children growing up in a wild mix of stoned mother care, foster care, and care by temporary "boyfriends," and in general, an image of life on the edge of survival where even the heroes are distinctly flawed for lack of knowledge and experience of any other way of living. Second, the author's growing realization, fully present by the end of the work, that while individuals do not have total control over the shapes of their lives, their choices do in fact matter—that even if one can't direct one's life like a film, one does always have the at least the input into life that comes from being free to make choices, every day, and in every situation. I hate to fall into self-analysis and virtue-signaling behavior in a public review, but in this case I feel compelled to say that the author really did leave with me a renewed motivation to make more of my life every day, to respect and consider the choices that confront me much more carefully, and to seize moments of opportunity with aplomb when they present themselves."
"I never heard of the author until I saw him on Morning Joe a few days ago but I looked him up and read several articles he wrote for various publications so I bought his book. He suggests that tribalism, mistrust of outsiders and "elites," violence and irresponsibility among family members, parents without ethics and a sense of responsibility, terrible work ethics, and an us-against-them mentality is dooming the people who live that way to becoming poorer, more addicted, and more marginalized."
"I grew up without running water in Boone County, WV, and wound up with a degree from Harvard Law School."
"I escaped inner city Baltimore (see The Wire) due to luck, the ability to do well in school and a few good teachers.Instead of trying to describe my early life to my family and friends, I will give them this book."
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Best Politics & Government

Obama: An Intimate Portrait
Relive the extraordinary Presidency of Barack Obama through White House photographer Pete Souza's behind-the-scenes images and stories in this #1 New York Times bestseller--with a foreword from the President himself. During Barack Obama's two terms, Pete Souza was with the President during more crucial moments than anyone else--and he photographed them all. "The book, which distills the 1.9 million photographs that Souza took of Obama's eight years in the White House down to about 300 images, it as once warm and nostalgic, worshipful and respectful, sad and wistful-in a sense, not so different from the framed JFK portraits that everyday Americans hung in living rooms, right through the Nixon administration. "Here are the qualities that radiate from these photos of the former President and his family, all taken by Souza during his eight years as official White House photographer: intelligence, kindness, warmth, integrity. "Souza, chief official White House photographer for Obama's two terms, was on hand for history--documenting our first black president, and a pretty photogenic one at that. Souza's book, an instant best seller, includes many iconic images we've seen before, but its most poignant moments are the least public--like one of the president and his daughters frolicking in the snow at the White House. "The 300 photographs in the book are a remarkable account of President Obama's eight years in the White House, from events of historic significance to quiet moments with his wife and daughters and the family dogs.
Reviews
"I'd like to say up front here that this is one of those reviews where I am struggling so hard to put thoughts into words, because of how many thoughts I have, and how difficult it is for me to express them. He was funny and personable, and every time I heard him speak I felt suddenly prouder and more patriotic. Because all the rest of that time I wasted being blind and hateful. I'm not really the kind that normally runs off to scrounge around for books they can't afford, but this is the second photography book of the Obamas I've done so for, and it captured my heart as much the second time, as it did the first. UPDATE: Thanks to so many of the kind, heartwarming offers, I have received a copy of this book."
"Well, I guess it is the idea of the unconditional love that I have personally felt by dogs.....and the fact that it least in my mind that is what our former President and First Lady gave us for 8 years. I pray that someday Obama haters or hopefully their children will view the pictures in this “must have” Obama memorabilia and appreciate not only the historical significance of this man to US and world history but also feel his unconditional love of America ; its history, culture and people in every page."
"Obama wasn't perfect, but seeing his two-term administration, not riddled by scandal or buffoonery, captured in this historic volume brought tears to my eyes."
"As I thumb through the pages, I realize how much of my vision of President Obama was formed by the photographs of special moments captured by Souza."
"In capturing the defining moments of the Obama presidency, Mr. Souza has given the common citizen a personal, vulnerable look into the remarkable 8-year tenure of the 44th president."
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Best Sociology

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. “[A] compassionate, discerning sociological analysis…Combining thoughtful inquiry with firsthand experience, Mr. Vance has inadvertently provided a civilized reference guide for an uncivilized election, and he’s done so in a vocabulary intelligible to both Democrats and Republicans. [Vance] offers a compelling explanation for why it’s so hard for someone who grew up the way he did to make it…a riveting book.” ( Wall Street Journal ). “[ Hillbilly Elegy ] couldn’t have been better timed...a harrowing portrait of much that has gone wrong in America over the past two generations...an honest look at the dysfunction that afflicts too many working-class Americans.” ( National Review ). Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy”, offers a starkly honest look at what that shattering of faith feels like for a family who lived through it.
Reviews
"Drugs, crime, jail time, abusive interactions without any knowledge of other forms of interaction, children growing up in a wild mix of stoned mother care, foster care, and care by temporary "boyfriends," and in general, an image of life on the edge of survival where even the heroes are distinctly flawed for lack of knowledge and experience of any other way of living. Second, the author's growing realization, fully present by the end of the work, that while individuals do not have total control over the shapes of their lives, their choices do in fact matter—that even if one can't direct one's life like a film, one does always have the at least the input into life that comes from being free to make choices, every day, and in every situation. I hate to fall into self-analysis and virtue-signaling behavior in a public review, but in this case I feel compelled to say that the author really did leave with me a renewed motivation to make more of my life every day, to respect and consider the choices that confront me much more carefully, and to seize moments of opportunity with aplomb when they present themselves."
"I never heard of the author until I saw him on Morning Joe a few days ago but I looked him up and read several articles he wrote for various publications so I bought his book. He suggests that tribalism, mistrust of outsiders and "elites," violence and irresponsibility among family members, parents without ethics and a sense of responsibility, terrible work ethics, and an us-against-them mentality is dooming the people who live that way to becoming poorer, more addicted, and more marginalized."
"I grew up without running water in Boone County, WV, and wound up with a degree from Harvard Law School."
"I escaped inner city Baltimore (see The Wire) due to luck, the ability to do well in school and a few good teachers.Instead of trying to describe my early life to my family and friends, I will give them this book."
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Best Philosophy

When Breath Becomes Air
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both. And part comes from the way he conveys what happened to him—passionately working and striving, deferring gratification, waiting to live, learning to die—so well.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times. The book brims with insightful reflections on mortality that are especially poignant coming from a trained physician familiar with what lies ahead.” — The Boston Globe. As he wrote to a friend: ‘It’s just tragic enough and just imaginable enough.’ And just important enough to be unmissable.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times “Paul Kalanithi’s memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, written as he faced a terminal cancer diagnosis, is inherently sad. It is, despite its grim undertone, accidentally inspiring.” — The Washington Post “Paul Kalanithi’s posthumous memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, possesses the gravity and wisdom of an ancient Greek tragedy. [Kalanithi] is so likeable, so relatable, and so humble, that you become immersed in his world and forget where it’s all heading.” — USA Today “It’s [Kalanithi’s] unsentimental approach that makes When Breath Becomes Air so original—and so devastating. “Rattling, heartbreaking, and ultimately beautiful, the too-young Dr. Kalanithi’s memoir is proof that the dying are the ones who have the most to teach us about life.” —Atul Gawande “Thanks to When Breath Becomes Air, those of us who never met Paul Kalanithi will both mourn his death and benefit from his life. Kalanithi strives to define his dual role as physician and patient, and he weighs in on such topics as what makes life meaningful and how one determines what is most important when little time is left. This deeply moving memoir reveals how much can be achieved through service and gratitude when a life is courageously and resiliently lived.” — Publishers Weekly “A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity . Kalanithi describes, clearly and simply, and entirely without self-pity, his journey from innocent medical student to professionally detached and all-powerful neurosurgeon to helpless patient, dying from cancer. Every doctor should read this book—written by a member of our own tribe, it helps us understand and overcome the barriers we all erect between ourselves and our patients as soon as we are out of medical school.” —Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery “A tremendous book, crackling with life, animated by wonder and by the question of how we should live. Paul Kalanithi lived and died in the pursuit of excellence, and by this testimonial, he achieved it.” —Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being.
Reviews
"Ultimately there's not much triumph in it in the traditional sense but there is a dogged, quiet resilience and a frank earthiness that endures long after the last word appears. Dr. Kalanithi talks about his upbringing as the child of hardworking Indian immigrant parents and his tenacious and passionate espousal of medicine and literature. He speaks lovingly of his relationship with his remarkable wife - also a doctor - who he met in medical school and who played an outsized role in supporting him through everything he went through. He had a stunning and multifaceted career, studying biology and literature at Stanford, then history and philosophy of medicine at Cambridge, and finally neurosurgery at Yale. The mark of a man of letters is evident everywhere in the book, and quotes from Eliot, Beckett, Pope and Shakespeare make frequent appearances. Metaphors abound and the prose often soars: When describing how important it is to develop good surgical technique, he tells us that "Technical excellence was a moral requirement"; meanwhile, the overwhelming stress of late night shifts, hundred hour weeks and patients with acute trauma made him occasionally feel like he was "trapped in an endless jungle summer, wet with sweat, the rain of tears of the dying pouring down". The painful uncertainty which he documents - in particular the tyranny of statistics which makes it impossible to predict how a specific individual will react to cancer therapy - must sadly be familiar to anyone who has had experience with the disease. There are heartbreaking descriptions of how at one point the cancer seemed to have almost disappeared and how, after Dr. Kalanithi had again cautiously made plans for a hopeful future with his wife, it returned with a vengeance and he had to finally stop working."
"He says this, “The secret is to know that the deck is stacked, that you will lose, that your hands or judgment will slip, and yet still struggle to win …You can’t ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which are ceaselessly striving. In the foreword by fellow doctor and writer Abraham Verghese, that doctor writes, “He (Paul) wasn’t writing about anything—he was writing about time and what it meant to him now, in the context of his illness.” And in the afterword by his wife Lucy, the meaning of that time becomes even clearer."
"Paul's account of his love for his work and his patients really struck a chord with me as did the integrity and dignity with which he faced the prospect of his death."
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Best Anthropology

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas. “Yuval Noah Harari’s celebrated Sapiens does for human evolution what Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time did for physics.… He does a superb job of outlining our slow emergence and eventual domination of the planet.” ( Forbes ). “[I]nteresting and provocative…It gives you a sense of perspective on how briefly we’ve been on this earth, how short things like agriculture and science have been around, and why it makes sense for us to not take them for granted.” ( President Barack Obama ). “I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a fun, engaging look at early human history…you’ll have a hard time putting it down.” ( Bill Gates ).
Reviews
"Parts of it were downright fascinating such as "imagination" being a keystone to human activity, e.g. corporations, money, and religion. Finally he keeps touching on the fact that animals have paid a terrible price for the rise of sapiens. Incidentally our family has a farm background and I eat no chicken, turkey, pork, or beef. Now I didn't give the book five stars because he makes positive references to the misguided but widely read Jared Diamond. Let me emphasize that on this snowy March day the cat and I are both glad we don't need to go out and scavenge something off the frozen earth."
"A standard history of the human race begins with Paleolithic proto-humans, traces the development of modern man or homo sapiens sapiens, then chronicles the beginnings and expansions of human civilization from agriculture to the present. He asks how "An Animal of No Significance" managed to become the dominant life form, and whether that animal's learning to produce his own food and then to further harness the natural world to his will through science were boons or setbacks, both for that animal and for the rest of the biosphere."
"Harari covers the entire history of the species he calls Sapiens, from their unexceptional rise in Africa to their domination, and ultimate transformation of the world. But Harari is presenting a work that is vast in its scope and aims; in a way, it seems fair to leave this part of the human experience unanswered and contradictory."
"This is a very good book worth waiting. I should say I appreciate very much reuseaworld replaced the order for me when they figured out my order was lost during the very busy holiday delivery."
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