Archives de catégorie : Nos incontournables

SHOULD WE GO EXTINCT? de Todd May

Easy to read in one sitting, this is a work of serious philosophy but written with sensitivity and wit, offering a framework for an approach to the future that will make the book’s title question feel less urgent—and more likely to elicit a humane response.

SHOULD WE GO EXTINCT?
A Philosophical Dilemma for Our Unbearable Times
by Todd May; foreword by Michael Schur
Crown, August 2024

Now, more than ever, many people wonder whether we should bring more human beings into the world when it seems increasingly clear that not only do we face bleak prospects as a species but also that we seem powerless to rein in the damage our existence causes the Earth and those we share it with. In SHOULD WE GO EXTINCT?, May reasons both for and against further procreation. He discusses the value that only humans can bring to the world and to one another as well as the goods, like art and music, that would be lost were we no longer to be here. On the other side of the ledger, he details the suffering we cause to nature and the non-human world. May considers the prospects and the complexities involved with such changes as an end to factory farming, curbing scientific testing of animals, reducing the human population, and seeking to develop empathy with our fellow creatures.

Todd May is the author of seventeen books of philosophy. He was one of the original philosophers asked to contribute to the New York Times philosophy blog The Stone. He was also one of the philosophical advisors to the hit NBC sitcom The Good Place and showrunner Michael Schur’s New York Times bestselling book How to Be Perfect. He teaches philosophy at Warren Wilson College.

THE ONES WE LOVED de Tarisai Ngangura

An aching love story and literary debut for readers of Britt Bennett, NoViolet Bulawayo and Yaa Ghasi.

THE ONES WE LOVED
by Tarisai Ngangura
HarperCollins Canada, Winter 2025

On a bus moving across a rural landscape, town to dusty town, two young people are escaping with their lives. She has committed a crime for which there will be retribution. He is staggering from a sudden loss.

These two will find each other and attempt a new way forward. But the talons of the past have dug deep and the wounds have not yet healed. Moving back and forth in time, from the fragile bonds of this new relationship to the lives they lived before, THE ONES WE LOVED tenderly weaves both myth and memory. It’s a story about generational living written in the rhythms of oral retellings practiced by Zimbabwe’s Shona ethnic group, where the soundscape of a ngano (story)— its melodies, pauses, lifts and stops—are a call and response with the listener.

The novel also pulls from literary stewards of Black Americana such as Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston, shaping characters whose way of loving is inherited and channeled into the lands they inhabit, the people they care for and the present they cling to.

Tarisai Ngangura’s photography, essays and interviews have appeared in The New York Times, Style Magazine, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, New York magazine, The Globe and Mail, VICE, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Jezebel, The New Republic and Lapham’s Quarterly. She was formerly a writer and social manager at Vanity Fair and a Senior Content Strategist at The Atlantic. She currently freelances and reviews music at Pitchfork and NPR.

PLAYING PUZZLES WITH DOLPHINS de Kelly Jaakkola

PLAYING PUZZLES WITH DOLPHINS promises to be a wonderfully informative and entertaining book on how dolphins think, revealing the vast cognitive ability of so many of our animal companions. A book for all readers interested in the latest research on animal intelligence.

PLAYING PUZZLES WITH DOLPHINS
by Kelly Jaakkola, Ph.D.
Anchor/Doubleday, 2025
(via The Martell Agency)

Perhaps more than any other wild creature, we have long been dazzled by dolphin intelligence and their affecting level of interaction with humans. But what is the nature and dimension of dolphin intelligence? Do they count? Do they have language or anything like it? Can they imitate behavior (even if blindfolded)? How do they coordinate their communication and cooperation?

Writing with insight and wit, Jaakkola will reveal the crucial role of puzzles and games for both researching and challenging dolphins’ minds and take readers behind the scenes of her own research on dolphin cognition to show the logic of how we know what we know, as well as the complexity, humor, and pure thrill that comes from running creative experiments with animals who don’t know your intended script and very clearly have minds of their own. The new information presented enhances our understanding of the inner life of these special creatures, as they actually exist and can thrive in nature, not just in the popular imagination.

Kelly Jaakkola is a cognitive psychologist, marine mammal scientist, and Director of Research for DRC. She earned her Masters degree in Psychology from Emory University, where she began her career studying cognition in chimpanzees and human children and received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from MIT. Her past research includes studies on number concepts, object permanence, imitation, and communication in dolphins, chimpanzees, and human children. Her current work focuses on dolphin cognition, communication, and welfare.

Dr. Jaakkola’s research has been published in numerous international scientific journals and book chapters, and her work on dolphin cognition has received worldwide coverage in newspapers, magazine articles, books, and television. She has taught courses on human and animal cognition at several colleges and chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums.

LAST TO EAT, LAST TO LEARN de Pashtana Durrani

From young Afghani activist and Amnesty International Global Youth Ambassador Pashtana Durrani, a deeply inspiring memoir about the power of learning and the value of educators in their many forms – from teachers, mentors, and role models, to fathers, mothers, and any one of us with the drive to stand against ignorance.

LAST TO EAT, LAST TO LEARN
My Life in Afghanistan Fighting to Educate Women
by Pashtana Durrani, with Tamara Bralo
Kensington, March 2024
(via The Martell Agency)

LAST TO EAT, LAST TO LEARN is the remarkable memoir of Pashtana Durrani, a 23-year-old Afghan woman, who has pursued her passion for educating the “disappearing girls” of the remote, contested rural tribal regions, amidst all the turmoil, violence and oppression that has enveloped her country – and her family — over a generation.

Pashtana Durrani was the first recipient of a grant from Malala’s Fund, and the founder of Learn NGO, an organization that was ruthlessly targeted by the Taliban. She conceived and developed a brilliant program for getting educational materials directly into the hands of girls and young women in the form of solar-powered tablets preloaded with lessons for grades K-12.

Pashtana escaped from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover and will soon be in the U.S., with a two-year residency at Wellesley College to continue her critical work for girls’ education. Malala wrote one of two letters to the U.S. government to petition for Pashatana’s safe evacuation to the U.S. Pashtana is a highly sought-after expert in the on-going international advocacy struggles, a figure of hope and promise for all those determined not to cede ground in the battle for women’s education and autonomy in Afghanistan and beyond.

Tamara Bralo is an award-winning journalist who worked for BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera English, and spent years covering war zones around the world, including Iraq, Libya, and Syria.

THE WALL OF LIFE de Shirley MacLaine

By introducing readers to her extensive photocollection, MacLaine shares both intimate family memories and images from some of the most significant figures from film, entertainment, and politics.

THE WALL OF LIFE
Pictures and Stories from My Life So Far
by Shirley MacLaine
Crown, October 2024

With over seventy years on the silver screen, Shirley MacLaine has, as she says, seen it all, done it all, been everywhere, and met everyone. In 1955, she debuted in Hollywood as the lead role in The Trouble with Harry, winning her the first of many Golden Globes, and from there, her popularity only grew as she amassed a stunning collection of awards, stories, and experiences. Now, at nearly ninety years old, MacLaine has more stories to tell and the pictures to bring them to life. Along the way, readers gain greater insight into figures such as Frank Sinatra, Bob Fosse, Bette Davis, Jack Nicholson, the Dalai Lama, Fidel Castro, Mikhael Baryshnikov, and many more.

Shirley MacLaine is an actress, author, and former dancer. Known for her portrayals of quirky, strong-willed, and eccentric women, she has received numerous accolades over her seven-decade career, including an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, six Golden Globes, and a Lifetime Achievement Award. Apart from acting, MacLaine has written numerous books regarding the subjects of metaphysics, spirituality, and reincarnation, as well as a New York Times best selling memoir, Out on a Limb.