The Machineries of Joy

The Machineries of Joy
Author: Ray Bradbury
Publisher:
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2000-11
Genre: Science fiction
ISBN: 9780671037710

From fantastical tales of Ireland to film studios, from monsters to the American countryside, THE MACHINERIES OF JOY explores Ray Bradbury's secret countries. Sometimes tender, sometimes harder than diamonds, his writing covers all seasons and emotions, and shows time after time why Harper's called him: 'America's finest living fantasist'.

Skyfaring

Skyfaring
Author: Mark Vanhoenacker
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2015-06-02
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 0385351828

A poetic and nuanced exploration of the human experience of flight that reminds us of the full imaginative weight of our most ordinary journeys—and reawakens our capacity to be amazed. The twenty-first century has relegated airplane flight—a once remarkable feat of human ingenuity—to the realm of the mundane. Mark Vanhoenacker, a 747 pilot who left academia and a career in the business world to pursue his childhood dream of flight, asks us to reimagine what we—both as pilots and as passengers—are actually doing when we enter the world between departure and discovery. In a seamless fusion of history, politics, geography, meteorology, ecology, family, and physics, Vanhoenacker vaults across geographical and cultural boundaries; above mountains, oceans, and deserts; through snow, wind, and rain, renewing a simultaneously humbling and almost superhuman activity that affords us unparalleled perspectives on the planet we inhabit and the communities we form.

Tom's Magnificent Machines

Tom's Magnificent Machines
Author: Linda Sarah
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 35
Release: 2018-08-23
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1471122476

A magical, captivating picture book about the power of love between a son and his father Tom and his dad are good at making things. Their inventions start out simple, but they quickly become bigger, faster, crazier - and they almost always involve wheels. But then Dad loses his job, and everything changes. Sadness clouds the house like a winter sky. That is, until Tom comes up with a brilliant plan that takes their amazing vehicle inventions and creates something astounding - something the world has never seen before . . . An emotionally charged and highly imaginative book that explores themes of love and support between children and their parents but is also great fun, with incredible inventions, crazy contraptions and a wonderfully inspiring pioneering spirit at its heart.

The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary

The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary
Author: Catherine Gray
Publisher: Aster
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2019-12-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1783253649

**From the Sunday Times Bestselling Author** Life-affirming - THE TELEGRAPH Wonderful - INDEPENDENT She made it her mission to learn how to be default happy rather than default disgruntled - RADIO 4 - WOMAN'S HOUR Take a leaf out of Gray's book and be kinder to yourself by appreciating life just as it is - IRISH TIMES This book came to me in an hour of need - during lockdown when I had to focus on the positive, appreciate simple things, not lose my shit, and value each day. It was a pure joy for me and held my hand - SADIE FROST Interesting and joyful. Lights a path that could help us to build resilience against society's urging to compare life milestones with peers - LANCET PSYCHIATRY Underwhelmed by your ordinary existence? Disillusioned with your middlin' wage, average body, 'bijou' living situation and imperfect loved ones? Welcome to the club. There are billions of us. The 'default disenchanted'. But, it's not us being brats. Two deeply inconvenient psychological phenomenons conspire against our satisfaction. We have negatively-biased brains, which zoom like doom-drones in on what's wrong with our day, rather than what's right. (Back in the mists of time, this negative bias saved our skins, but now it just makes us anxious). Also, something called the 'hedonic treadmill' means we eternally quest for better, faster, more, like someone stuck on a dystopian, never-ending treadmill. Thankfully, there are scientifically-proven ways in which we can train our brains to be more positive-seeking. And to take a rest from this tireless pursuit. Whew. Catherine Gray knits together illuminating science and hilarious storytelling, unveiling captivating research showing that big bucks don't mean big happiness, extraordinary experiences have a 'comedown' and budget weddings predict a lower chance of divorce. She reminds us what an average body actually is, reveals that exercising for weight loss means we do less exercise, and explores the modern tendency to not just try to keep up with the Murphys, but keep up with the Mega-Murphies (see: the social media elite). Come on in to this soulful and life-affirming read, to discover why an ordinary life may well be the most satisfying one of all.

The Joy of X

The Joy of X
Author: Steven Henry Strogatz
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2012
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0547517653

A delightful tour of the greatest ideas of math, showing how math intersects with philosophy, science, art, business, current events, and everyday life, by an acclaimed science communicator and regular contributor to the "New York Times."

Now and Forever

Now and Forever
Author: Ray Bradbury
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2007-09-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0061131563

In the first story, a journalist is drawn to a mysterious town and in the second story, a space crew pursues a comet in a remake of Herman Melville's classic, Moby Dick.

Ill Nature

Ill Nature
Author: Joy Williams
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2015-10-10
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 1493023713

Most of us watch with mild concern the fast disappearing wild spaces or the recurrence of pollution - related crises such as oil spills, toxic blooms in fertilizer-enriched rivers, and the increasing violence in our own country. Joy Williams does much more than watch. With guts and passion, she sounds the alarm over the general disconnection from the natural world that our consumer culture has created. The culling of elephants, electron-probed chimpanzees, and the vanishing wetlands are just some of her subjects. Razor-sharp, controversial, scathingly opinionated, and refreshingly unafraid of conflict, Williams refuses to compromise as she lashes out at the greed of Americans and decries our own turpitude. It is not enough to mourn the passing of the natural world, Ill Nature shouts. Get out of our homes and our cars and our cubicles and do something...now.

Joy, Inc.

Joy, Inc.
Author: Richard Sheridan
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2015-01-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1591847125

“A guidebook for how leaders can motivate, engage, and recognize their people all the while growing the business profitably.” —Forbes.com Every year, thousands of visitors come from around the world to visit Menlo Innovations, a small software company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They make the trek not to learn about technology but to witness a radically different approach to company culture. CEO Rich Sheridan removed the fear and ambiguity that typically make a workplace miserable. With joy as the explicit goal, he and his team changed everything about how the company was run. The results blew away all expectations. Menlo has won numerous growth awards and was named an Inc. magazine “audacious small company.” Joy, Inc. offers an inside look at how Menlo created its culture, and shows how any organization can follow their methods for a more passionate team and sustainable, profitable results.

Life, Death, and Other Inconvenient Truths

Life, Death, and Other Inconvenient Truths
Author: Shimon Edelman
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2022-06-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0262542781

A guide for making sense of life--from action (good except when it's not) to thinking (depressing) to youth (a treasure). This book offers a guide to human nature and human experience--a reference book for making sense of life. In thirty-eight short, interconnected essays, Shimon Edelman considers the parameters of the human condition, addressing them in alphabetical order, from action (good except when it's not) to love (only makes sense to the lovers) to thinking (should not be so depressing) to youth (a treasure). In a style that is by turns personal and philosophical, at once informative and entertaining, Edelman offers a series of illuminating takes on the most important aspects of living in the world.