A Certain Idea of America: Selected Writings by Peggy Noonan
Requirements: .ePUB reader, 0.9 Mb
Overview: From Pulitzer-prize winning Wall Street Journal columnist and New York Times bestselling author Peggy Noonan, a masterclass in how to see and love America.
For a quarter century, Peggy Noonan has been thinking aloud about America in her much-loved Wall Street Journal column. In this new collection of her essential recent work, Noonan demonstrates the erudition, wisdom and humor that have made her one of America’s most admired writers.
She calls balls and strikes on the political shenanigans of recent leaders and she honors the integrity of great Americans, ranging from Billy Graham to the heroes of 9/11. A thinker who never allows her tenderness to slip into sentimentality, she writes with clear-eyed urgency about the internal and external dangers facing our republic. She sometimes writes with indignation, but above all she writes with love— and an enduring faith that America can be its best self, that its ideals are worth protecting, and that beauty and heroism can be found in our neighbors, in our history, and in ourselves. This book is a celebration of what America has been, is, and can be.
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational
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Category: Educational
Download Stranger Than Fiction by Edwin Frank (.ePUB)
Stranger Than Fiction: Lives of the Twentieth-Century Novel by Edwin Frank
Requirements: .ePUB reader, 3.3 Mb
Overview: A legendary editor’s reckoning with the twentieth-century novel and the urgent messages it sends.
“How can we live differently?” a young woman urgently demands in Virginia Woolf’s novel The Years. It is the 1930s, war and death are in the air, but her question was asked again and again in the course of a century where things changed fast and changed all the time. The century brought world wars, revolutions, automobiles, movies, and the internet, votes for women, death camps. The century brought questions. Novelists in the twentieth century had a question of their own: how can we write a novel as startling and unforeseen as the world we live in? Again and again they did, transforming the novel as the century remade the world.
Imagine the history of the twentieth-century novel recounted with the urgency and intimacy of a novel. That’s what Edwin Frank, the legendary editor who has run the New York Review Books publishing imprint since its inception, does in Stranger than Fiction. With penetrating insight and originality, Frank introduces us to books, some famous, some little-known, from the whole course of the century and from around the world. Starting with Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground of 1864, Frank shows how its twitchy, self-undermining, and never-satisfied narrator established a voice that would echo through the coming century. He illuminates the political vision of H.G. Wells’s science fiction, Colette and Andre Gide’s subversions of traditional gender roles, and Gertrude Stein’s untethering of the American sentence. He describes the monumental ambition of books such as Mrs. Dalloway, The Magic Mountain and The Man Without Qualities to rebuild a world of human possibility upon the ruins of World War I and explores how Japan’s Natsume Sōseki and Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe broke open European models to reflect their own, distinct histories and experience. Here too are Vasily Grossman, Anna Banti, and Elsa Morante reckoning in specific ways with the traumas of World War II, while later chapters range from Marguerite Yourcenar and V. S. Naipaul to Gabriel García Marquez and W.G. Sebald.
The story as a whole is one of fearless, often reckless exploration, as well as unfathomable desolation. Throughout, we discover the power of the novel to reinvent itself, to find a way for itself, to live differently. Stranger than Fiction offers a new vision of the history and art of the novel and of a dark and dazzling time in whose light and shadow we still stand.
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational > Literary Criticism
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https://ouo.io/Q4YRI0P
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Requirements: .ePUB reader, 3.3 Mb
Overview: A legendary editor’s reckoning with the twentieth-century novel and the urgent messages it sends.
“How can we live differently?” a young woman urgently demands in Virginia Woolf’s novel The Years. It is the 1930s, war and death are in the air, but her question was asked again and again in the course of a century where things changed fast and changed all the time. The century brought world wars, revolutions, automobiles, movies, and the internet, votes for women, death camps. The century brought questions. Novelists in the twentieth century had a question of their own: how can we write a novel as startling and unforeseen as the world we live in? Again and again they did, transforming the novel as the century remade the world.
Imagine the history of the twentieth-century novel recounted with the urgency and intimacy of a novel. That’s what Edwin Frank, the legendary editor who has run the New York Review Books publishing imprint since its inception, does in Stranger than Fiction. With penetrating insight and originality, Frank introduces us to books, some famous, some little-known, from the whole course of the century and from around the world. Starting with Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground of 1864, Frank shows how its twitchy, self-undermining, and never-satisfied narrator established a voice that would echo through the coming century. He illuminates the political vision of H.G. Wells’s science fiction, Colette and Andre Gide’s subversions of traditional gender roles, and Gertrude Stein’s untethering of the American sentence. He describes the monumental ambition of books such as Mrs. Dalloway, The Magic Mountain and The Man Without Qualities to rebuild a world of human possibility upon the ruins of World War I and explores how Japan’s Natsume Sōseki and Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe broke open European models to reflect their own, distinct histories and experience. Here too are Vasily Grossman, Anna Banti, and Elsa Morante reckoning in specific ways with the traumas of World War II, while later chapters range from Marguerite Yourcenar and V. S. Naipaul to Gabriel García Marquez and W.G. Sebald.
The story as a whole is one of fearless, often reckless exploration, as well as unfathomable desolation. Throughout, we discover the power of the novel to reinvent itself, to find a way for itself, to live differently. Stranger than Fiction offers a new vision of the history and art of the novel and of a dark and dazzling time in whose light and shadow we still stand.
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational > Literary Criticism
Download Instructions:
https://ouo.io/YM4D9z
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Download The Path to Singularity by J. Craig Wheeler (.PDF)
The Path to Singularity: How Technology Will Challenge the Future of Humanity by J. Craig Wheeler
Requirements: .PDF reader, 3 mb
Overview: Astrophysicist J. Craig Wheeler, former president of the American Astronomical Society, takes a critical look at the technological advances shaping our future. From artificial intelligence to genetic engineering, Wheeler explores how these innovations are interconnected and the potential they hold for humanity’s evolution. With thought-provoking insights into the ethical dilemmas we face, Wheeler stresses the importance of staying informed and proactive.
Key Questions Raised by Wheeler:
Will there be jobs for those willing to work in a future dominated by automation? How might social media companies manipulate our decisions, potentially stripping us of free will? Could AI influence or even dictate our voting behaviors? What implications arise if we solve aging? How will society adapt to the challenges of perpetual youth? What are the realistic prospects of migrating to space as Earth becomes increasingly inhospitable?
Our decisions today will determine if we control technology or if it controls us. Wheeler not only outlines the challenges but also offers practical advice on how we can retain control over our technological destiny.
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational
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https://ouo.io/r5sY1S
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Requirements: .PDF reader, 3 mb
Overview: Astrophysicist J. Craig Wheeler, former president of the American Astronomical Society, takes a critical look at the technological advances shaping our future. From artificial intelligence to genetic engineering, Wheeler explores how these innovations are interconnected and the potential they hold for humanity’s evolution. With thought-provoking insights into the ethical dilemmas we face, Wheeler stresses the importance of staying informed and proactive.
Key Questions Raised by Wheeler:
Will there be jobs for those willing to work in a future dominated by automation? How might social media companies manipulate our decisions, potentially stripping us of free will? Could AI influence or even dictate our voting behaviors? What implications arise if we solve aging? How will society adapt to the challenges of perpetual youth? What are the realistic prospects of migrating to space as Earth becomes increasingly inhospitable?
Our decisions today will determine if we control technology or if it controls us. Wheeler not only outlines the challenges but also offers practical advice on how we can retain control over our technological destiny.
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational
Download Instructions:
https://ouo.io/r5sY1S
Mirror:
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Download The Miraculous from the Material by Alan Lightman (.ePUB)
The Miraculous from the Material: Understanding the Wonders of Nature by Alan Lightman
Requirements: .ePUB reader, 36.7 Mb
Overview: A gorgeously illustrated exploration of the science behind the universe’s most stunning natural phenomena—from atoms and parameciums to rainbows, snowflakes, spider webs, the rings of Saturn, galaxies, and more
Nature is capable of extraordinary phenomena. Standing in awe of those phenomena, we experience a feeling of connection to the cosmos. For acclaimed physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, just as remarkable is that all of what we see around us—soap bubbles, scarlet ibises, shooting stars—are made out of the same material stuff and obey the same rules and laws. This is what Lightman calls “spiritual materialism,” the belief that we can embrace spiritual experiences without letting go of our scientific worldview.
Pairing 36 beautiful, full-color photos evoking some of nature’s most awe-inspiring phenomena with accessible and lyrical personal essays, The Miraculous from the Material explores the fascinating science underlying the natural world. Why do rainbows make an arc? Why does a particular waterfall at Yosemite National Park sometimes glow like it’s on fire? How does a hummingbird fly? The world has so many things to marvel at—and the science is just as fascinating.
Lightman’s imagination travels from the world of atoms and molecules to the animal kingdom, from places like Ha Long Bay, Vietnam and the Grand Canyon out to the solar system and beyond, illuminating the majesty of the cosmos and the remarkable science behind it. The Miraculous from the Material is a stunning, soaring ode to the beauty and wonder around us, and the perfect holiday gift for photography aficionados, life-long learners, and admirers of the natural world.
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational
Download Instructions:
https://ouo.io/MahhNze
https://ouo.io/ZnTg4W
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Requirements: .ePUB reader, 36.7 Mb
Overview: A gorgeously illustrated exploration of the science behind the universe’s most stunning natural phenomena—from atoms and parameciums to rainbows, snowflakes, spider webs, the rings of Saturn, galaxies, and more
Nature is capable of extraordinary phenomena. Standing in awe of those phenomena, we experience a feeling of connection to the cosmos. For acclaimed physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, just as remarkable is that all of what we see around us—soap bubbles, scarlet ibises, shooting stars—are made out of the same material stuff and obey the same rules and laws. This is what Lightman calls “spiritual materialism,” the belief that we can embrace spiritual experiences without letting go of our scientific worldview.
Pairing 36 beautiful, full-color photos evoking some of nature’s most awe-inspiring phenomena with accessible and lyrical personal essays, The Miraculous from the Material explores the fascinating science underlying the natural world. Why do rainbows make an arc? Why does a particular waterfall at Yosemite National Park sometimes glow like it’s on fire? How does a hummingbird fly? The world has so many things to marvel at—and the science is just as fascinating.
Lightman’s imagination travels from the world of atoms and molecules to the animal kingdom, from places like Ha Long Bay, Vietnam and the Grand Canyon out to the solar system and beyond, illuminating the majesty of the cosmos and the remarkable science behind it. The Miraculous from the Material is a stunning, soaring ode to the beauty and wonder around us, and the perfect holiday gift for photography aficionados, life-long learners, and admirers of the natural world.
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational
Download Instructions:
https://ouo.io/MahhNze
https://ouo.io/ZnTg4W
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Download Defiant Hope by Michael Gerson (.ePUB)
Defiant Hope: Essays on Life, Faith, and Freedom by Michael Gerson
Requirements: .ePUB reader, 3.5 Mb
Overview: The best writings from George W. Bush’s speechwriter Michael Gerson, a pioneer of the compassionate conservative movement, a champion of Christian engagement, and an eloquent defender of the poor and the marginalized.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Michael Gerson possessed one of the most important consciences of his generation. As the chief speech writer for George W. Bush, he wrote the words that rallied and ennobled the nation after September 11th. He helped design and champion Bush’s PEPFAR program, which saved upwards of 20 million lives as HIV ravaged Africa. His famous line defending public education was to say that failure would amount to “a soft bigotry of low expectations.” He became one of the nation’s most eloquent columnists, who was never content to do political horse race punditry but devoted himself to the most essential causes of the time, pushing back on the authoritarianism of Donald Trump and pushing for the kind of compassionate conservatism that he dedicated his life to designing.
Defiant Hope is his writings about the things he loved—humanity, God, his dog, and his boys. Essays feature the immensely complicated sadness when you drop your children off at college for the first time. Another is about his public battle of depression. He also includes chapters about men and women who formed this great procession of Christian Reformers—John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, William Wilberforce, and Olaudah Equiano—and the great causes to which they were devoted, from abolitionism to civil rights.
What lingers is his gracious voice across all the roles that he played, as David Brooks writes in the introduction. What you hear is “a prophet lamenting iniquity, a father and a friend capable of great bursts of gratitude and appreciation, a Christian who is sometimes buried under sadness and close to despair, but who never loses sight of that distant illuminating beacon of hope.”
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational > Essays
Download Instructions:
https://ouo.io/XTDEko
https://ouo.io/HuMjwn
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Requirements: .ePUB reader, 3.5 Mb
Overview: The best writings from George W. Bush’s speechwriter Michael Gerson, a pioneer of the compassionate conservative movement, a champion of Christian engagement, and an eloquent defender of the poor and the marginalized.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Michael Gerson possessed one of the most important consciences of his generation. As the chief speech writer for George W. Bush, he wrote the words that rallied and ennobled the nation after September 11th. He helped design and champion Bush’s PEPFAR program, which saved upwards of 20 million lives as HIV ravaged Africa. His famous line defending public education was to say that failure would amount to “a soft bigotry of low expectations.” He became one of the nation’s most eloquent columnists, who was never content to do political horse race punditry but devoted himself to the most essential causes of the time, pushing back on the authoritarianism of Donald Trump and pushing for the kind of compassionate conservatism that he dedicated his life to designing.
Defiant Hope is his writings about the things he loved—humanity, God, his dog, and his boys. Essays feature the immensely complicated sadness when you drop your children off at college for the first time. Another is about his public battle of depression. He also includes chapters about men and women who formed this great procession of Christian Reformers—John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, William Wilberforce, and Olaudah Equiano—and the great causes to which they were devoted, from abolitionism to civil rights.
What lingers is his gracious voice across all the roles that he played, as David Brooks writes in the introduction. What you hear is “a prophet lamenting iniquity, a father and a friend capable of great bursts of gratitude and appreciation, a Christian who is sometimes buried under sadness and close to despair, but who never loses sight of that distant illuminating beacon of hope.”
Genre: Non-Fiction > Educational > Essays
Download Instructions:
https://ouo.io/XTDEko
https://ouo.io/HuMjwn
Trouble downloading? Read This.