Goliath didn’t stand a chance, and he should have turned tail to run for the hills. Gladwell counterintuitively explains that David actually had everything on his side: speed, maneuverability, and a sling and stone that were deadly from a distance. Add to these his latest book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (Little, Brown, 2013), which shot straight up the bestseller lists and begins by reappraising one of the most famous stories of the Bible. His New York Times bestsellers include What the Dog Saw, Outliers, Blink, and The Tipping Point, which all present fresh views of cultural commonplaces, from the mystique of ketchup to hero legends. The beauty of Gladwell’s role as an intellectual provocateur is that he jolts us into seeing things anew. Or he proves them right after all - but for a completely different reason than we ever imagined. As a staff writer for the New Yorker and author of four previous books, he has created a niche for himself by questioning assumptions that we hold as blatant, undeniable, indisputable truths. Or at least what we all believe is the obvious. Malcolm Gladwell loves to challenge the obvious.
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The prologue captures this very quickly, and as the book progresses the significance of that first scene is later expanded upon with a great amount of detail which really helped to strengthen the world building. Dragons are the absolute last resort, a weapon that should only be used when there is no other choice because it is such a terribly powerful one. There is so much action and so much struggle for victory across these pages. The story begins in the middle of a battle, which sets the tone for the martial focus for the book. There are other voices out there, and they really are worth listening to. Admittedly I enjoy reading such books, though it’s refreshing to see more diverse books appearing in the fantasy genre in recent years. This is worthy of attention in and of itself, simply because fantasy is dominated by white male authors who write about white male characters. The Rage of Dragons is an African-inspired revenge fantasy novel. It was time to get out of here for real.Īnd after making his excuses and brushing off her thanks, that's exactly what he did. No more retreating behind words or laughter or desks. That was the only word for it-it wasn't just awareness. No matter how many times either of them tried to retreat behind a wall of friendly, casual conversation, they kept coming back to this. Her lips parted as she drew in a deep, slow breath, and he nearly groaned when she slipped her tongue out to moisten them. Her gaze traveled over him, from head to toe, as if assessing his height, his build. The words were an opening he hadn't intended, and she reacted to them. So jeans that were too short for him got passed down to Mark or Nick." "Fortunately," he explained, "I was always the same height as Joe, even though he's a year older. Raising a brow, she said, "No, I'm afraid not." Although the two women are opposites in nearly every way, they bring out the best in each other: Sugar convinces Pearl to loosen up and accompany her to a Saturday night juke joint, and Sugar promises to go to church for two months of Sundays. Pearl is struck by Sugar's uncanny likeness to Jude, and is determined to become Sugar's friend in spite of vocal disapproval. All except Pearl, Sugar's next-door neighbor, who more than a decade ago lost her beloved daughter, Jude, to a vicious rapist/murderer. Upon her mother's death in 1955, Sugar is willed a modest home in Bigelow, Ark., but when she moves into town, and supports herself the only way she knows, the female population rises in wrath against her. Louis and then Detroit, brings more degradation, along with an ever-hardening heart. Turning tricks at age 12, and leaving town four years later to try her luck in St. As a baby, Sugar is abandoned by her mother and raised by a trio of prostitutes who run an Arkansas bordello. Here, the hooker with a heart of gold is instead a hooker with a past so tarnished no amount of polishing can change her fate. With her eponymous anti-heroine, debut novelist McFadden breaks the mold of a venerable stereotype. With life changing in unbelievably horrific ways, Viann and Isabelle will find themselves facing frightening situations and responding in ways they never thought possible as bravery and resistance take different forms in each of their actions. But when the Second World War strikes, Antoine is sent off to fight and Viann finds herself isolated so Isabelle is sent by their father to help her.Īs the war progresses, the sisters' relationship and strength is tested. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Viann is content with life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. bittersweet" Publishers Weeklyĭespite their differences, sisters Viann and Isabelle have always been close. It has become a phenomenon that has enthralled a generation of readers.īravery, courage, fear and love in a time of war, from New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah. Soon to be a major motion picture, The Nightingale is a multi-million copy bestseller across the world. With the odds stacked against him, James Reece is on a mission generations in the making. They’re wrong.įrom the firms of Wall Street to the corridors of power in Washington, DC, and Moscow, secrets from the past have the uncanny ability to rise to the surface in the present. And with the world’s most dangerous man locked in solitary confinement, the conspirators believe the final obstacle to complete domination has been eliminated. Now, with the world on the brink of war and a weakened United States facing rampant inflation, political division, and shocking assassinations, a secret cabal of global elites is ready to assume control. In 1980, a freshman congressman was gunned down in Rhode Island, sending shockwaves through Washington that are still reverberating over four decades later. Navy SEAL James Reece faces a devastating global conspiracy in this high-adrenaline thriller that is ripped from the headlines-from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr. Note: This prologue to ONLY THE DEAD, the latest in the Terminal List series, originally ran on the Danger Close podcast.Īs the release date for ONLY THE DEAD quickly approaches, Danger Close listeners get exclusive access to the Audiobook prologue read by Ray Porter. And then there is a switch thrown in the mind, and the physiognomy suddenly becomes familiar again, recognized, seen now subjectively as a whole, rather than the sum of its parts. “There are a few dozen seconds, maybe a couple of minutes, Cleo thinks, when one meets someone one hasn’t seen for a long time, when they appear as strangers, and their faces must be read objectively. Hofmann’s writing is gorgeous, her characters are so real, so well-developed, the story so engaging that I would rush back from the gallery each day just to see what they were up to. I loved this book about a family that falls apart and the siblings who find each other, whole or in fragments, many years later. stickers from which I stuck onto the back of the book so the two are forever connected now. I read Karen Hofmann’s What is Going to Happen Next while in Ottawa,where, when I wasn’t reading or eating I was at the National Gallery…. The theater was almost full, with people of all ages. You don't need to understand the mathematics to enjoy the film, but I admit, it was fun to hear some concepts I haven't heard since my college days. Kevin Costner's character appears to be a generally good person who doesn't care about race, and yet still never even thought about the difficulty of being forced into a certain bathroom half a mile away. Katherine runs across campus just to find a bathroom that she is allowed to use and never once complaining about it until she is publicly berated about her use of time. Mary being reminded that she must sit in the back of the court room, again because of her race. And in spite of it being an overall positive experience, I could feel the oppression at certain points - Dorothy at the library just trying to find the right book, but it is in a part of the library to which she cannot gain admittance due to her race. You should walk away from this film smiling, maybe even a bit choked up. The climax is a bit Apollo 13ish, and I'm fairly certain some scenes were embellished, but who cares. It's also an important look back at the civil rights issues of the time period. Solid performances by all, some laugh-out-loud scenes, and some very emotional moments. This is the true story of three African-American women who worked for NASA on the Mercury program in the early 1960s. I would have loved the author to give some of his insights, ideas and interpretations of the science in general and life after death reports specifically. Are people just hallucinating or is there another way of looking at their reports? I came with an open mind and was left with what feels like a mostly academic exercise in Nonsense. After finishing to listen to the audiobook I was left wondering, how is the book useful for the reader in gaining any insight into the known contradictions between science and logic and near death experiences or life after death reports. If the concept of nonsense is supposed to help to gap science and spirituality, i was left wanting. The author claims to be the discoverer of coprology, however John Gregory Bourke documented his findings in this field under the title Scatalogic Rites of All Nations in 1891 and Coprologie Clinique, Exploration-Smiologie et Diagnostic Coprologique was written in 1927 by Jos Mara Rosell and Jean Cambis. Although there is a discussion of physics and life after death experiences, there was no real information on how the new framework can help to gather new insights from existing science or spirituality. The book lays down a really good understanding of the author’s framework of Nonsense and a better understanding of how can research in the future can use this framework to understand and analyse science and experiences of people in the future.
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