Archives de catégorie : Nonfiction

CHIKA, le retour de Mitch Albom à la non fiction

Harpercollins vient d’annoncer la publication d’un nouveau titre de l’auteur des « Cinq Personnes Que J’Ai Rencontré Là-Haut » dans un communiqué de presse. Avec cet ouvrage, Mitch Albom revient à la non fiction après plus de dix ans pour célébrer Chika, une jeune orpheline haïtienne qui lui a changé la vie à jamais…

Told in hindsight, and through illuminating conversations with Chika herself, this is Albom at his most poignant and vulnerable

CHIKA
A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family
by Mitch Albom
Harper, November 2019

Chika Jeune was born three days before the devastating earthquake that decimated Haiti in 2010. She spent her infancy in a landscape of extreme poverty, and when her mother died giving birth to a baby brother, Chika was brought to the Have Faith Haiti Orphanage that Albom operates in Port Au Prince.
With no children of their own, the forty-plus children who live, play, and go to school at the orphanage have become family to Mitch and his wife, Janine. Chika’s arrival makes a quick impression. Brave and self-assured, even as a three-year-old, she delights the other kids and teachers. But at age five, Chika is suddenly diagnosed with something a doctor there says, “No one in Haiti can help you with.”
Mitch and Janine bring Chika to Detroit, hopeful that they can get the medical help needed to return her to a healthy life in Haiti. Instead, Chika becomes a permanent part of their household, and their lives, as they embark on a two-year, around-the-world journey to find a cure for an inoperable brain tumor. As Chika’s boundless optimism and humor teach Mitch the joys a child brings to their lives, he learns that a relationship built on love, no matter what blows it takes, can never be lost.
Chika is a celebration of a girl, her guardians, and the incredible bond they formed—a devastatingly beautiful portrait of what it means to be a family, regardless of how it is made.

Mitch Albom is a bestselling author, screenwriter, playwright and nationally syndicated columnist. He is the author of seven #1 New York Times bestsellers. “Tuesdays with Morrie”, which spent four straight years atop the New York Times list, is now the bestselling memoir of all time. “Morrie”, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”, “For One More Day” and “Have a Little Faith” have been made into award-winning television movies. Albom has founded nine charities in Detroit, including the first ever 24-hour medical clinic for homeless children in America. He also operates an orphanage in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, which he visits monthly.

THE HOCKNEYS de John Hockney

“I have always been proud of my older siblings and felt the stories of individual determination to succeed and be themselves should be told. From inspiring parents, and my father’s philosophical comment, “Never Worry What the Neighbours Think,” (an aristocratic sentiment, as David says); we each pursued life paths that vary” – John Hockney

THE HOCKNEYS:
Never Worry What the Neighbours Think
by John Hockney
Legend Press, October 2019

The Hockneys is a never-before-seen insight into the lives of this family, from growing up in the Second World War in Bradford through to their diverse lives across three continents. Hardship, successes as well as close and complex relationships are poignantly illustrated by both famous and private pictures and paintings from David Hockney. With a rare and spirited look into the lives of an ordinary family with extraordinary stories, we begin to understand the creative freedom that led to the successful careers of all the Hockney children. How was it that a poor family from Bradford- headed by a whimsical, conscientious objector father and an intense, religiously strict mother- brought into existence an artist whose work has inspired generations?

John Hockney is a storyteller by profession, a writer and a musician. He migrated to Australia in 1968 but has retained strong ties with his large family. His brother is world renowned artist David Hockney.

TOXIC FEMININITY IN THE WORKPLACE de Ginny Hogan

The first book on the special relationship between female coworkers and gender dynamics in the workplace to hit the market in a comedic gifty way

TOXIC FEMININITY IN THE WORKPLACE
by Ginny Hogan
Morrow Gift, September 2019

Talented humorist Ginny Hogan explores themes of sexism, workplace gender dynamics, and the challenges facing women at work (particularly in STEM fields) with disarming wit. Toxic Femininity includes fun short pieces (such as, “I’m Not A Sexist; I Also Ask My Male Colleagues If They’re Menstruating” and “How Silicon Valley Created The Perfect Meritocracy If You Specifically Happen To Be A Young, Straight, Well-Educated White Man”), true-false and multiple choice quizzes (including: “Are You Too Aggressive, or « Are You Politely Stating Your Opinion?” and Are You a True Feminist, a Male Feminist, a Feminist Just to Get Laid, or a Loaf of Bread?”), and even some surrealist essays (such as “A Woman From The Year 3018 Visits a Tech Startup” and “The Noise-Canceling Headphone’s Lament”). Toxic Femininity is a book that can be enjoyed in little sips or in one long drink.
The variety of the pieces and the illustrations make a lovely and gifty package—this product is perfect for a mentor encouraging her mentees, a big sister preparing her little sister for the work place, or shoring up your best friend after a rough day.
A conversation piece as much as a gift, the humorous nature of the work makes it possible to face topics that can be difficult to tackle head on; and we hope that this book will be able to serve not just as a gift but as a jumping off point for those hard-to have conversations that are a part of every work place environment.

Ginny Hogan is an NYC-based stand up comic and writer. She is a contributor to the New Yorker and McSweeney’s, and she’s the editor of the comedy blog Little Old Lady. She got her start as a data scientist in the mayonnaise industry, and since then she has tried to turn some of the uglier parts of the tech industry into comedy.

Le retour de Randall Munroe avec HOW TO!

Après le succès international de WHAT IF? (« Et si…? », éditions Flammarion) et THINGS EXPLAINER, le créateur de XKCD revient avec un guide éminemment scientifique qui donne des conseils extravagants sur comment faire des choses simples… de manière absurde et compliquée!
Le livre sera publié simultanément le 3 septembre 2019 par Riverhead aux Etats-Unis, John Murray au Royaume Uni, Penguin Verlag en Allemagne et Spectrum aux Pays Bas.

Cliquez ici pour voir l’article publié par Entertainment Weekly

For any task you might want to do, there’s a right way, a wrong way, and a way so monumentally bad that no one would ever try it. How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems is a guide to the third kind of approach. It’s the world’s least useful self-help book.

It describes how to cross a river by removing all the water, outlines some of the many uses for lava around the home, and teaches you how to use experimental military research to ensure that your friends will never again ask you to help them move.

With text, charts, and stick-figure illustrations, How To walks you through useless but entertaining approaches to common problems, using bad advice to explore some of the stranger and more interesting science and technology underlying the world around us.

THE WAR FOR KINDNESS de Jamil Zaki

A Stanford psychologist offers a bold new understanding of empathy, and shows how we can expand our circle of care, even in these divisive times

THE WAR FOR KINDNESS
Building Empathy in a Fractured World
by Jamil Zaki
Crown, June 2019

Empathy is in short supply. Isolation and tribalism are rampant. We struggle to understand people who aren’t like us, but find it easy to hate them. Studies show that we are less caring than we were even thirty years ago. In 2006, Barack Obama said that the United States is suffering from an “empathy deficit.” Since then, things only seem to have gotten worse. It doesn’t have to be this way. In this groundbreaking book, Jamil Zaki argues that empathy is not a fixed trait—something we’re born with or not—but rather a skill that we can all strengthen through effort. Drawing on both classic and cutting-edge research, including experiments from his own lab, Zaki shows how we can harness this new mindset to overcome toxic cultural divisions. He also tells the stories of people who are living these principles—fighting for kindness in the most difficult of circumstances. We meet a former neo-Nazi who is now helping extract people from hate groups, ex-prisoners discussing novels with the judge who sentenced them, Washington police officers changing their culture to decrease violence among their ranks, and NICU nurses fine-tuning their empathy so that they don’t succumb to burnout. Written with clarity and passion, The War for Kindness is an inspiring call to action. The future may depend on whether we accept the challenge.

Jamil Zaki is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.