American Mania When More Is Not Enough

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American Mania: When More is Not Enough

Author : Peter C. Whybrow
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 359 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2006-04-17
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780393348194

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American Mania: When More is Not Enough by Peter C. Whybrow Pdf

A doctor's bold analysis of the cultural disease that afflicts us all. Despite an astonishing appetite for life, more and more Americans are feeling overworked and dissatisfied. In the world's most affluent nation, epidemic rates of stress, anxiety, depression, obesity, and time urgency are now grudgingly accepted as part of everyday existence they signal the American Dream gone awry. Peter C. Whybrow, director of the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA, grounds the extraordinary achievements and excessive consumption of the American nation in an understanding of the biology of the brain's reward system offering for the first time a comprehensive and physical explanation for the addictive mania of consumerism. American Mania presents a clear and novel vantage point from which to understand the most pressing social issues of our time, while offering an informed approach to refocusing our pursuit of happiness. Drawing upon rich scientific case studies and colorful portraits, "this fascinating and important book will change the way you think about American life" (Karen Olson, Utne Reader).

Get Satisfied

Author : Carol Holst
Publisher : Easton Studio Press, LLC
Page : 202 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2011-10-11
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781935212355

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Get Satisfied by Carol Holst Pdf

What do Americans need that most eludes them? It's not a tank of cheap gas (as astonishing as that would be) or ever earlier pre-holiday sales. What Americans need most - and most of them know it - is satisfaction, especially the satisfaction of enough. So when the call for submissions to this book went out, the mainstream response was enthusiastic. From the outpouring of personal stories submitted, the editorial committee chose these twenty to represent the broadest possible spectrum of Americans who have sought and found a simpler, more satisfying life.

American Psycho

Author : Bret Easton Ellis
Publisher : Pan Macmillan
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2014-12-15
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781447277712

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American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis Pdf

A cult classic, adapted into a film starring Christian Bale. Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do? Patrick Bateman has it all: good looks, youth, charm, a job on Wall Street, reservations at every new restaurant in town and a line of girls around the block. He is also a psychopath. A man addicted to his superficial, perfect life, he pulls us into a dark underworld where the American Dream becomes a nightmare . . . With an introduction by Irvine Welsh, Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho is one of the most controversial and talked-about novels of all time. A multi-million-copy bestseller hailed as a modern classic, it is a violent black comedy about the darkest side of human nature.

A Mood Apart

Author : Peter C. Whybrow
Publisher : Pan Macmillan
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Affective disorders
ISBN : 033034367X

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A Mood Apart by Peter C. Whybrow Pdf

Originally published in 1997, a guide to mood and emotion disorders, written by the Director of the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA. It discusses topics such as mental illness, depression and mania, using real life case studies to demonstrate.

The Well-Tuned Brain: The Remedy for a Manic Society

Author : Peter C. Whybrow
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 400 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2015-05-18
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780393248470

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The Well-Tuned Brain: The Remedy for a Manic Society by Peter C. Whybrow Pdf

In this optimistic and inspiring book, Peter Whybrow, the prize-winning author of American Mania, returns to offer a prescription for genuine human progress. The Well-Tuned Brain is a call to action. Swept along by the cascading advances of today’s technology, most of us take for granted that progress brings improvement. Despite spectacular material advance, however, the evidence grows that we are failing to create a sustainable future for humanity. We are out of tune with the planet that nurtures us. Technology itself is not the problem, as Whybrow explains, but rather our behavior. Throughout its evolution the ancient brain that guides us each day has been focused on short-term survival. But fortunately we are intensely social creatures. Without the caring behaviors that flow from intimate attachments to others, we would be relying on a brain that is only marginally adapted to the complexity of the problems we must now face together. Today we must grapple with survival, not in its immediacy but over the long term. The first step in finding our way forward is to reexamine who we are as creatures of this planet. To this end, Whybrow takes us on a fascinating tour of self-discovery, drawing extensively upon his decades of experience as a psychiatrist and his broad knowledge of neuroscience and human behavior. Illustrated throughout with engaging personal stories, the book’s trove of cutting-edge science is enriched by philosophical, historical, and cultural perspectives. What emerges is a summons to rediscover the essential virtues of earlier nurturing, of mentored education, and an engagement with the natural world through curiosity and imagination. Neuroscience can open the search for a better future. But technology alone will not save us. To achieve success we will need the strength and wisdom of our better nature as humane social beings.

The Interdisciplinary Science of Consumption

Author : Stephanie D. Preston,Morten L. Kringelbach,Brian Knutson
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 343 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2014-08
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780262027670

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The Interdisciplinary Science of Consumption by Stephanie D. Preston,Morten L. Kringelbach,Brian Knutson Pdf

Scholars from psychology, neuroscience, economics, animal behavior, and evolution describe the latest research on the causes and consequences of overconsumption. Our drive to consume—our desire for food, clothing, smart phones, and megahomes—evolved from our ancestors' drive to survive. But the psychological and neural processes that originally evolved to guide mammals toward resources that are necessary but scarce may mislead us in modern conditions of material abundance. Such phenomena as obesity, financial bubbles, hoarding, and shopping sprees suggest a mismatch between our instinct to consume and our current environment. This volume brings together research from psychology, neuroscience, economics, marketing, animal behavior, and evolution to explore the causes and consequences of consumption. Contributors consider such topics as how animal food-storing informs human consumption; the downside of evolved “fast and frugal” rules for eating; how future discounting and the draw toward immediate rewards influence food consumption, addiction, and our ability to save; overconsumption as social display; and the policy implications of consumption science. Taken together, the chapters make the case for an emerging interdisciplinary science of consumption that reflects commonalities across species, domains, and fields of inquiry. By carefully comparing mechanisms that underlie seemingly disparate outcomes, we can achieve a unified understanding of consumption that could benefit both science and society.

Corporate Ties That Bind

Author : Martin J. Walker
Publisher : Skyhorse
Page : 748 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2017-03-28
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781510711891

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Corporate Ties That Bind by Martin J. Walker Pdf

In the 21st century, corporations have worked their way into government and, as they become increasingly more powerful, arguments about their involvement with public health have become increasingly black and white. With corporations at the center of public health and environmental issues, everything chemical or technological is good, everything natural is bad; scientists who are funded by corporations are right and those who are independent are invariably wrong. There is diminishing common ground between the two opposed sides in these arguments. Corporate Ties that Bind is a collection of essays written by influential academic scholars, activists, and epidemiologists from around the world that scrutinize the corporate reasoning, false science and trickery involving those, like in-house epidemiologists, who mediate the scientific message of organizations who attack and censure independent voices. This book addresses how the growth of corporatism is destroying liberal democracy and personal choice. Whether addressing asbestos, radiation, PCBs, or vaccine regulation, the essays here address the dangers of trusting corporations and uncover the lengths to which corporations put profits before health.

Mania

Author : Ronald K. L. Collins,David M. Skover
Publisher : Top Five Books LLC
Page : 484 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2013-03
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781938938030

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Mania by Ronald K. L. Collins,David M. Skover Pdf

By the time Lucien Carr stabbed David Kammerer to death on the banks of the Hudson River in August 1944, it was clear that the hard-partying teenage companion to Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, and William S. Burroughs might need to reevaluate his life. A two-year stint in a reformatory straightened out the wayward youth but did little to curb the wild ways of his friends. MANIA tells the story of this remarkable group—who strained against the conformity of postwar America, who experimented with drink, drugs, sex, jazz, and literature, and who yearned to be heard, to remake art and society in their own libertine image. What is more remarkable than the manic lives they led is that they succeeded—remaking their own generation and inspiring the ones that followed. From the breakthrough success of Kerouac's On the Road to the controversy of Ginsberg's Howl and Burroughs' Naked Lunch, the counterculture was about to go mainstream for the first time, and America would never be the same again. Based on more than eight years’ writing and research, Ronald Collins and David Skover—authors of the highly acclaimed The Trials of Lenny Bruce—bring the stories of these artists, hipsters, hustlers, and maniacs to life in a dramatic, fast-paced, and often darkly comic narrative.

End This Depression Now!

Author : Paul Krugman
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2012-04-30
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780393088878

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End This Depression Now! by Paul Krugman Pdf

A New York Times best-selling call to arms from Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman. The Great Recession is more than four years old—and counting. Yet, as Paul Krugman points out in this powerful volley, "Nations rich in resources, talent, and knowledge—all the ingredients for prosperity and a decent standard of living for all—remain in a state of intense pain." How bad have things gotten? How did we get stuck in what now can only be called a depression? And above all, how do we free ourselves? Krugman pursues these questions with his characteristic lucidity and insight. He has a powerful message for anyone who has suffered over these past four years—a quick, strong recovery is just one step away, if our leaders can find the "intellectual clarity and political will" to end this depression now.

A First-Rate Madness

Author : Nassir Ghaemi
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2011-08-04
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781101517598

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A First-Rate Madness by Nassir Ghaemi Pdf

The New York Times bestseller “A glistening psychological history, faceted largely by the biographies of eight famous leaders . . .” —The Boston Globe “A provocative thesis . . . Ghaemi’s book deserves high marks for original thinking.” —The Washington Post “Provocative, fascinating.” —Salon.com Historians have long puzzled over the apparent mental instability of great and terrible leaders alike: Napoleon, Lincoln, Churchill, Hitler, and others. In A First-Rate Madness, Nassir Ghaemi, director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center, offers a myth-shattering exploration of the powerful connections between mental illness and leadership and sets forth a controversial, compelling thesis: The very qualities that mark those with mood disorders also make for the best leaders in times of crisis. From the importance of Lincoln's "depressive realism" to the lackluster leadership of exceedingly sane men as Neville Chamberlain, A First-Rate Madness overturns many of our most cherished perceptions about greatness and the mind.

Slow is Beautiful

Author : Cecile Andrews
Publisher : New Society Publishers
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2006-10-01
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 1550924141

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Slow is Beautiful by Cecile Andrews Pdf

We’re hammered, we’re slammed, we’re out of control. Happiness is on the decline in the most affluent country in the world, and Americans are troubled by the destructiveness of a lifestyle devoted to money and status. Yet no one seems to have a clue how to exit from the fast lane. Slow is Beautiful analyzes the subtle consumer and political and corporate forces stamping the joy from our existence and provides a vision of a more fulfilling life through the rediscovery of caring community, unhurried leisure, and life-affirming joie de vivre. The book discusses: • The frantic time poverty plaguing everyone—a poverty that is being challenged by the growing slow life movement whose message is reverberating around the world • The need to build a culture of connection with both people and the planet by challenging the consumer society and re-creating vibrant life in our local communities • The creation of a different experience of time where we live life in slower, more reflective ways, savoring our lives and recapturing exuberance and laughter Offering inspiration and concrete ideas, Slow is Beautiful will appeal to a broad audience of baby boomers nearing retirement, harried professionals with a social conscience, the one-time “middle class,” and twenty- to thirty-somethings who are now facing the sobering realities of constricted choices.

Live Not by Lies

Author : Rod Dreher
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2020-09-29
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780593087404

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Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher Pdf

The New York Times bestselling author of The Benedict Option draws on the wisdom of Christian survivors of Soviet persecution to warn American Christians of approaching dangers. For years, émigrés from the former Soviet bloc have been telling Rod Dreher they see telltale signs of "soft" totalitarianism cropping up in America--something more Brave New World than Nineteen Eighty-Four. Identity politics are beginning to encroach on every aspect of life. Civil liberties are increasingly seen as a threat to "safety". Progressives marginalize conservative, traditional Christians, and other dissenters. Technology and consumerism hasten the possibility of a corporate surveillance state. And the pandemic, having put millions out of work, leaves our country especially vulnerable to demagogic manipulation. In Live Not By Lies, Dreher amplifies the alarm sounded by the brave men and women who fought totalitarianism. He explains how the totalitarianism facing us today is based less on overt violence and more on psychological manipulation. He tells the stories of modern-day dissidents--clergy, laity, martyrs, and confessors from the Soviet Union and the captive nations of Europe--who offer practical advice for how to identify and resist totalitarianism in our time. Following the model offered by a prophetic World War II-era pastor who prepared believers in his Eastern European to endure the coming of communism, Live Not By Lies teaches American Christians a method for resistance: • SEE: Acknowledge the reality of the situation. • JUDGE: Assess reality in the light of what we as Christians know to be true. • ACT: Take action to protect truth. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn famously said that one of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming totalitarianism can't happen in their country. Many American Christians are making that mistake today, sleepwalking through the erosion of our freedoms. Live Not By Lies will wake them and equip them for the long resistance.

Strictly Bipolar

Author : Darian Leader
Publisher : Hamish Hamilton
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Health & Fitness
ISBN : 0241146100

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Strictly Bipolar by Darian Leader Pdf

A treatise on the psychological disorder of our times. If the post-war period was called the 'age of anxiety' and the 1980s and '90s the 'antidepressant era', we now live in bipolar times. Mood-stabilising medication is routinely prescribed to adults and children alike, with child prescriptions this decade increasing by 400% and overall diagnoses by 4000%. What could explain this explosion of bipolarity?

Crazy Like Us

Author : Ethan Watters
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2010-01-12
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 1416587195

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Crazy Like Us by Ethan Watters Pdf

It is well known that American culture is a dominant force at home and abroad; our exportation of everything from movies to junk food is a well-documented phenomenon. But is it possible America's most troubling impact on the globalizing world has yet to be accounted for? In Crazy Like Us, Ethan Watters reveals that the most devastating consequence of the spread of American culture has not been our golden arches or our bomb craters but our bulldozing of the human psyche itself: We are in the process of homogenizing the way the world goes mad. America has been the world leader in generating new mental health treatments and modern theories of the human psyche. We export our psychopharmaceuticals packaged with the certainty that our biomedical knowledge will relieve the suffering and stigma of mental illness. We categorize disorders, thereby defining mental illness and health, and then parade these seemingly scientific certainties in front of the world. The blowback from these efforts is just now coming to light: It turns out that we have not only been changing the way the world talks about and treats mental illness -- we have been changing the mental illnesses themselves. For millennia, local beliefs in different cultures have shaped the experience of mental illness into endless varieties. Crazy Like Us documents how American interventions have discounted and worked to change those indigenous beliefs, often at a dizzying rate. Over the last decades, mental illnesses popularized in America have been spreading across the globe with the speed of contagious diseases. Watters travels from China to Tanzania to bring home the unsettling conclusion that the virus is us: As we introduce Americanized ways of treating mental illnesses, we are in fact spreading the diseases. In post-tsunami Sri Lanka, Watters reports on the Western trauma counselors who, in their rush to help, inadvertently trampled local expressions of grief, suffering, and healing. In Hong Kong, he retraces the last steps of the teenager whose death sparked an epidemic of the American version of anorexia nervosa. Watters reveals the truth about a multi-million-dollar campaign by one of the world's biggest drug companies to change the Japanese experience of depression -- literally marketing the disease along with the drug. But this book is not just about the damage we've caused in faraway places. Looking at our impact on the psyches of people in other cultures is a gut check, a way of forcing ourselves to take a fresh look at our own beliefs about mental health and healing. When we examine our assumptions from a farther shore, we begin to understand how our own culture constantly shapes and sometimes creates the mental illnesses of our time. By setting aside our role as the world's therapist, we may come to accept that we have as much to learn from other cultures' beliefs about the mind as we have to teach.

Afternoon Men

Author : Anthony Powell
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2014-11-07
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780226186924

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Afternoon Men by Anthony Powell Pdf

Written from a vantage point both high and deliberately narrow, the early novels of the late British master Anthony Powell nevertheless deal in the universal themes that would become a substantial part of his oeuvre: pride, greed, and the strange drivers of human behavior. More explorations of relationships and vanity than plot-driven narratives, Powell’s early works reveal the stirrings of the unequaled style, ear for dialogue, and eye for irony that would reach their caustic peak in his epic, A Dance to the Music of Time. In Afternoon Men, the earliest and perhaps most acid of Powell’s novels, we meet the museum clerk William Atwater, a young man stymied in both his professional and romantic endeavors. Immersed in Atwater’s coterie of acquaintances—a similarly unsatisfied cast of rootless, cocktail-swilling London sophisticates—we learn of the conflict between his humdrum work life and louche social scene, of his unrequited love, and, during a trip to the country, of the absurd contrivances of proper manners. A satire that verges on nihilism and a story touched with sexism and equal doses self-loathing and self-medication, AfternoonMen has a grim edge to it. But its dialogue sparks and its scenes grip, and for aficionados of Powell, this first installment in his literary canon will be a welcome window onto the mind of a great artist learning his craft.