DIE AUFGEREGTE GESELLSCHAFT de Philipp Hübl

                                                    Applied philosophy with some surprising eye-openers

                                                                       DIE AUFGEREGTE GESELLSCHAFT
                                                                                 by Philipp Hübl
                                                                                                      Blessing, publication Mars 2019

If you are a more conservative kind of person you are more likely to prefer dogs, while the progressive go for cats. And people driven by anger and rage seem to feel nothing but disgust. These are not simply clichés but reveal the core of our morality and are explained by Philipp Hübl in a book packed with amazing philosophical insights.
Research in the fields of psychology and philosophy have shown that emotions are not limited to personal matters but also include the daily news. Philipp Hübl demonstrates how our values and our political views are anchored in our emotional disposition. In other words, emotions influence our moral judgements. We are, however, not helplessly at their mercy; we can overcome them with reason and rational behaviour. With this theory, Hübl is provoking a critical self-examination and at the same time sharpens our view of society.
« The book is particularly interesting because it gives an explanatory approach for the evalutation of political movements in Europe. »

WIE WERDEN WER WIR SIND de Joachim Bauer

How we become who we are

WIE WERDEN WER WIR SIND
by Joachim Bauer
Blessing, publication Mai 2019

Why there is no me without you – the new major book by bestselling author Joachim Bauer.
Recent neuroscientific research indicates that human beings are born without a self. But how do we develop this « self », this « me » that can later define itself as distinct from others? How do we manage to think and feel in terms of me, you or we? What makes a human being into an individual? These are the central questions Joachim Bauer examines in his new major work, in which he demonstrates that our « true self » does not slumber within us like some natural resource waiting to be found and polished. It is rather the product of our encounters and relationships with others – experiences, joys and fears we share. Joachim Bauer makes us realise that this « me », in contrast to what had long been thought, is not engraved in stone but instead is a process of perpetual self-construction and life-long transition and can grow and change.
In an age of rampant egocentricity and social currents forcing us to assert ourselves by erecting a border between our own self and others, Bauer has drawn a new image of how we become who we are and explains why we can only find this path if we tread it together.

Also by Joachim Bauer, Selbsteuerung, the re-discovery of free will. blessing, May 2015
Self-control is an ability that in the world we live in is a prerequisite for professional success, happy relationships, and psychological and physical health. Those of us with selfcontrol– in other words, people who are in a position to postpone the short-term satisfaction of personal needs in favour of long-term advantages – don’t fall victim to unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise; they don’t spend too much time in front of the television or computer screens and are not at risk of addiction. This book makes it clear how self-control works, why it is so important for a successful life and what we can do to relearn what we have forgotten. Joachim Bauer emphasises that abstinence, putting off wants and consciously tackling problems are by no means unnatural forms of self-castigation. In fact, the contrary is true: the ability to learn self-control is inherent in human beings. If it is to develop, we have to practice it from an early age – an observation that radically runs counter to the idea of children not having to make an effort, of perpetually being « enthusiastic ».

Joachim Bauer is a university teacher and professor at the University of Freiburg. He is a doctor of internal medicine, psychosomatic medicine, psychiatry and psychotherapy. For his research work, he was awarded the renowned Organon Prize of the German Society for Biological Psychiatry.Spiegel bestselling author: More than 700,000 copies of his books sold.

THIS TRAIN IS BEING HELD de Ismée Williams

When family and class differences threaten the love of two teens in this contemporary romance

THIS TRAIN IS BEING HELD
by Ismee Williams
Amulet, Publication février 2020

When private school student Isabelle Warren first meets Dominican-American Alex Rosario on the 1 train, she remembers his green eyes and gentlemanly behavior. He remembers her long ballet dancer’s legs and untroubled happiness, something he feels belongs to all rich kids. As the two grow closer in and out of the subway, Isabelle learns of Alex’s father, who is hell-bent on Alex being a contender for the major leagues despite Alex’s desire to go to college and become a poet. Alex learns about Isabelle’s Havana-born mother, Eliza, a woman with a prejudice against Latino men, who pressures her daughter to stay away from him. When Isabelle’s father loses his job and her older brother struggles with his mental health, her relationship with Alex falters. But fate—and the 1 train—throw them together when Isabelle needs him the most.
Ismée Williams is a pediatric cardiologist by day and an accomplished author by night. Her first book with Abrams, Water in May, was released in 2017 to critical acclaim. She lives in New York City.

THE VOYAGE OF SORCERER II de J. Craig Venter & David Ewing Duncan

An epic science and adventure story about famed genome scientist Craig Venter’s global expeditions collecting tens of millions of marine microbes and revolutionizing our understanding of the microbiome that sustains us.

THE VOYAGE OF SORCERER II:
The Expedition That Unlocked the Secrets of the Ocean’s Microbiome
by Dr. J. Craig Venter & David Ewing Duncan
Harvard University Press, September 2023
(via Aaron Priest Literary)

In THE VOYAGE OF SORCERER II, Venter and science writer David Ewing Duncan tell the remarkable story of these expeditions and of the momentous discoveries that ensued―of plant-like bacteria that get their energy from the sun, proteins that metabolize vast amounts of hydrogen, and microbes whose genes shield them from ultraviolet light. The result was a massive library of millions of unknown genes, thousands of unseen protein families, and new lineages of bacteria that revealed the unimaginable complexity of life on earth. Yet despite this exquisite diversity, Venter encountered sobering reminders of how human activity is disturbing the delicate microbial ecosystem that nurtures life on earth. In the face of unprecedented climate change, Venter and Duncan show how we can harness the microbial genome to develop alternative sources of energy, food, and medicine that might ultimately avert our destruction.

J. Craig Venter, PhD, is regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 21st century for his numerous invaluable contributions to genomic research. Dr. Venter is Founder, Chairman, and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit research organization with approximately 200 scientists and staff dedicated to human, microbial, plant, synthetic, and environmental genomic research, and the exploration of social and ethical issues in genomics. He is also the founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics, Inc., and is the author of multiple nonfiction books. He lives in La Jolla, California.

David Ewing Duncan is an award-winning, bestselling author of nine books published in 21 languages, including Talking to Robots, Experimental Man, and The Calendar. David is the CEO and Curator of Arc Fusion, and a Health Strategist in Residence for IDEO.

HEATHCLIFF REDUX AND STORIES de Lily Tuck

A provocative and haunting novella and stories that excavates, with cool precision, the hidden dynamics and unspoken conflicts at the heart of human relationships.

HEATHCLIFF REDUX AND STORIES
by Lily Tuck
Atlantic Monthly Press, February 2020

In the title novella, a married woman reads Wuthering Heights at the same time that she falls under the erotic and destructive spell of her own Heathcliff. With “Labyrinth Two,” Tuck pays homage to Roberto Bolaño in a story of a single photograph that illuminates the intricate web of connections between friends at an Italian café. Another story describes a woman who, in the wake of her unstable husband’s arrest, brings home a peculiar item she finds on the beach, while “Carl Schurz Park” details a forgotten act of violence in New York as it returns to haunt the present. In the final story, a woman is prompted by a flurry of mysterious emails to recall her time as a member of the infamous Rajneesh cult.
With keen psychological insight and delicate restraint, Heathcliff Redux and Stories pries open the desires, doubts, and secret motives of its characters and exposes their vulnerabilities to the light. Sharp and unflinching, the novella and stories together form an exquisitely crafted collection from one of our most treasured, award-winning writers.

Lily Tuck is the author of seven novels: Sisters; The Double Life of Liliane; I Married You for Happiness; Interviewing Matisse or the Woman Who Died Standing Up; The Woman Who Walked on Water; Siam or the Woman Who Shot a Man, nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award; The News from Paraguay, winner of the National Book Award; the short-story collections The House at Belle Fontaine and Limbo, and Other Places I Hav

Lily Tuck’s writing has been praised as « enlivening » and « elegant »

SISTERS
By Lily Tuck
Atlantic Monthly Press, September 2017

Lily Tuck’s critically lauded, bestselling I Married You for Happiness was hailed by the Boston Globe as “an artfully crafted still life of one couple’s marriage.” In her singular new novel Sisters, Tuck gives a very different portrait of marital life, exposing the intricacies and scandals of a new marriage sprung from betrayal. Tuck’s unnamed narrator lives with her new husband, his two teenagers, and the unbanishable presence of his first wife—known only as she. Obsessed with her, our narrator moves through her days presided over by the all-too-real ghost of the first marriage, fantasizing about how the first wife lives her life. Will the narrator ever equal she intellectually, or ever forget the betrayal that lies between them? And what of the secrets between her husband and she, from which the narrator is excluded? The daring and precise buildup to an eerily wonderful conclusion is a triumph of subtlety and surprise.
With Sisters, Lily Tuck delivers a riveting psychological portrait of marriage, infidelity, and obsession—charting with elegance and insight love in all its phases.