Archives de catégorie : Nonfiction

THE WORLD AFTER UKRAINE de Garry Kasparov

From renowned strategist and Russia expert, a new book on how to respond to the global crises we face today.

THE WORLD AFTER UKRAINE:
A Return to Values and the Building of a New Moral Order
by Garry Kasparov
Public Affairs, June 2023
(via The Gernert Company)

When Garry Kasparov’s 2015 book Winter is Coming predicted that Vladimir Putin would invade Ukraine, its warnings were largely ignored. But seven years later, his prophecies have come true – and it has finally shocked the West into action. America and many of its NATO allies have sent massive aid packages and defense weapons, and begun isolating Putin from his financial enablers. The effect has been powerful, and we can now begin to imagine his defeat, and what might follow it.
In THE WORLD AFTER UKRAINE, Kasparov again sees several moves ahead of the rest of us. He shows that the Ukraine crisis has brought us to a key moment: a chance to stem the rise of dictatorship across the globe. By showing the might of democracy and recommitting to a set of moral values we have allowed ourselves to ignore, we can fight back. He identifies the core tenets of this program in this book, and makes the case for how they can win the day.
Relying on his own experiences as first a Russian dissident, then an American civilian and the chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, Kasparov tells stories of oppression and autocracy across the globe, showing how they’ve been enabled by a world order that prizes strategic and financial assets above morality. He names the ideas and actions that can contain the threat of dictatorship and move us to a brighter, freer future.

Garry Kasparov is a Russian pro-democracy leader, global human rights activist, business speaker and former world chess champion. He is the author of Deep Thinking and Winter Is Coming, among other books.

WHAT WE VALUE d’Emily Falk

An award-winning University of Pennsylvania neuroscientist reveals the hidden calculations that shape our daily decisions—and how to make more fulfilling, impactful choices in our work, relationships, and lives.

WHAT WE VALUE:
The Neuroscience of Choice and Change
by Dr. Emily Falk
Norton, April 2025
(via Park & Fine Literary and Media)

Why is it so hard to stick with the choices we want to make? We decide to be healthier, but we snack all afternoon. We resolve to prioritize family time, but we end up working late into the evening. Change is hard – even when we really want, or need, to make it. Amid the many competing priorities of our busy lives, it can feel difficult to make the right decisions―ones that feel aligned with the things we care about. In this book, award-winning researcher Emily Falk reveals how we can transform our relationship with the daily choices that define our lives by thinking like a neuroscientist about what we value.

Introducing us to three brain systems responsible for computing our everyday decisions in a process known as the value calculation, Falk shows how we can work more strategically with our brains to make more fulfilling choices. Whether deciding on lunch or a career, changing our routines or other people’s minds, we learn how changing what we think about can change what we think, connecting with our core values can make us less defensive, and broadening our curiosity about different perspectives can seed innovation. Based on cutting-edge research, WHAT WE VALUE is a groundbreaking guide to finding new possibilities in our choices―and the lives we ultimately make with them.

Emily Falk is a professor of communication, psychology, and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania, where she also directs the Communication Neuroscience Lab and serves as associate dean for research at the Annenberg School for Communication. Her work on the science of attitude and behavior change has been widely covered in the popular press and recognized with numerous awards, including early career awards from the Social & Affective Neuroscience Society and the Association for Psychological Science, the National Institute of Health Director’s New Innovator Award, and more. She lives in Philadelphia.

HALF DEAF, COMPLETELY MAD de Tony Cohen & John Olson

This exuberant, tragic memoir of master music producer-engineer Tony Cohen is an extraordinary cultural message in a bottle.

HALF DEAF, COMPLETELY MAD
by Tony Cohen & John Olson
Black Inc., November 2022

This is a book about making art and the transgressions that might occur in doing so. Tony helped define the sounds of innumerable Australian bands from the 1970s through to the 2000s, and his always entertaining stories are hilarious, incisive and self-deprecating. Tony’s work with Nick Cave and his three bands – The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party, The Bad Seeds – comprises a large part of this memoir. There are also indelible stories of: Chrissy Amphlett/Divinyls, Beasts of Bourbon, Blondie, Cold Chisel, The Cruel Sea, Dirty Three, The Go-Betweens, Hoodoo Gurus, Michael Hutchence, Paul Kelly, Men at Work, Mixed Relations, The Saints, Split Enz … This is vastly entertaining fly-on-the-wall account of a life lived LOUD.

Like many geniuses, [Tony] was a nightmare to work with. But you came back again and again because he was just so good, everything he did was so unique and bold and startling. He was a master at both what not to do in the studio and what to do in the studio. For example – don’t set fire to the studio, don’t sleep in the air-conditioning vents, don’t not show up to the sessions for days at a time, but conversely – do record music like your very life depended on it, do create sounds that no-one has ever heard before …” —Nick Cave

Tony Cohen was perhaps Australia’s most original and influential record producer. He helped define the sounds of innumerable Australian bands (many of whom went on to find new lives in the UK and Europe) from the 1970s through to the 2000s, until his untimely death in August 2017.
John Olson is a producer and engineer, who interviewed Tony Cohen and assembled this account of his life and times.

DIE WEISHEIT DER FÜCHSE

The secret life of foxes: Clever, playful and caring – what these shrewd survival artists can teach us. Surprising and inspiring.

DIE WEISHEIT DER FÜCHSE
[The Wisdom of Foxes]
by Dag Frommhold & Daniel Peller
‎ Ludwig/Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe, September 2022

Red fur, amber eyes, a bushy tail: foxes are incredibly beautiful animals. We also think of them as intelligent, shrewd and playful. Yet foxes are not just smart: they have an extraordinary gift for empathy and are excellent communicators. They have a capacity for altruism and self-sacrifice, foster close emotional relationships, and are affectionate partners and loving parents. Foxes prove that you can achieve more through constructive debate than aggression, that smarts and flexibility can get us what we want, and that selflessness benefits everyone in the end.
In DIE WEISHEIT DER FÜCHSE, fox experts Dag Frommhold and Daniel Peller tell astonishing stories showing just how fascinating foxes are – not only are they much more like us than we think, but we can learn a lot from these unsung heroes.

Dag Frommhold has loved foxes ever since he was a child. As an author, co-founder of wildlife conservation initiatives and spokesperson for various wildlife and nature conservation organisations, he has spent many years championing foxes and their fellow vulpines.
When a serious illness forced him to give up his job, Daniel Peller decided to dedicate his life to foxes. After more than twenty years of observing them, corresponding with international fox specialists and closely working with wildlife shelters, he is now a bona fide fox expert. In 2017, he founded the organisation « Fox Aid », running its online aid network, and campaigning for wildlife conservation.

BÖSE BÄUME de Markus Bennemann

The evil life of trees: they kill, steal and commit arson – the truth about our beloved woodland friends.

BÖSE BÄUME
[Bad Trees]
by Markus Bennemann
Goldmann/Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe, November 2022

No wonder we love trees so much. Even just a short stroll through a park or woodland helps us breathe easier and replenish our energy resources, and looking up into the leafy canopy above your head can help clear your mind. But beeches, yews, etc. also have a darker side: they commit all sorts of nefarious deeds, and are willing to poison, mutilate and kill to gain the advantage over their neighbours. In BÖSE BÄUME, the science editor Markus Bennemann – who loves nothing more than taking a stroll in the woods – uncovers the unpleasant truth about their darker side. He tells readers about the tropical strangler fig, which insidiously chokes its victims; about the domestic walnut, which turns out to be a nasty poisoner; and about eucalyptus trees, who are actually pyromaniacs – and many other such unpalatable fellows in the world of trees.

Markus Bennemann couldn’t decide whether to major in literature or biology. In the end, he chose literature, and now writes books about… well, biology. He is the author of several adult non-fiction and children’s books, which have been translated into numerous languages.