Book Recommendation #10
The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World
Author: Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen
Call Number: BF323. D5 G39 2016
Currently, many people are facing a distracted mind problem, which influences their studying, working, and other aspects of life. If you are experiencing the same situation, this book might help solve your problems. In this book, Dr. Adam Gazzaley and Dr. Larry Rosen scientifically analyze the causes of a distracted mind through a series of experiments and show its impacts on our cognitive and emotional health. They summarize several methods to deal with distractions and provide corresponding training guidelines to readers. It helps them identify their issues timely, discard bad habits, and regain efficiency. It is believed that many readers can better cope with the challenges brought by today's information overload and high-tech environment after reading this book.
College: What it Was, Is, and Should Be
Author: Andrew Delbanco
Call Number: LA227.4 D45 2014
Higher education embodies people's aspirations for self-improvement and is often regarded as a regulator of social equity. But does it truly promote fair competition and social mobility as we hope? With the commercialization of higher education in the United States, an increasing number of students are narrowing the goals of college education, losing the impulse to explore interests, pursue bold ideas, and examine their values. The significance of college education is being shaken. In this book, Andrew Delbanco sharply criticizes the commercialization of higher education in today's American society, arguing that it is becoming a path for the wealthy to obtain privileges. He advocates for a return to the essence of true university education, emphasizing the quality of teaching and academic research, and proposes some strategies and reform suggestions. This work is of significant reference value for comprehensively examining and reflecting on the challenges of contemporary university education and exploring its future development direction.
Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant: A Memoir
Author: Roz Chast
Call Number: NC1429. C525 C43 2014
Death has always been a taboo topic, often avoided or glossed over due to people's fear of the mysterious afterlife and the pain of losing loved ones. However, death and aging are inevitable. How do we face the reality of our aging or dying parents? How do we guide them in their later years and discuss topics of health and mortality? Although the theme may be serious, Roz Chast, with her humorous writing and vivid comics, articulates personal experiences and observations of accompanying elderly parents in their final stages. She prompts readers to contemplate natural decay and the complex relationships within families using a technique of black humor. With her keen insight, she guides us to confront the existential challenges and life choices we will inevitably face, urging us to no longer shy away from this taboo, clarify the present and future reality, and make dignified choices, thus realizing the value of life.
Love in the Time of Cholera
Author: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Call Number: PQ8180.17.A73 A813 2001
Gabriel Garcia Marquez's epic novel Love in the Time of Cholera tells the story of the young telegraph operator Florentino, who falls in love at first sight with Fermina. They pledge eternal love to each other, but their plans are thwarted by Fermina's father. Fermina's departure leaves Florentino in despair until more than fifty years later when they meet again, allowing him to express his unwavering love once more. Through his unique narrative style, the author presents readers with a love story spanning over half a century, intertwining various connotations of love within the plot and exploring all the possibilities of love, immersing readers in a world full of romance and philosophy. The novel not only expresses the viewpoint that enduring the torment of love is a form of dignity but also showcases people's attitudes toward metaphysical issues such as love, death, time, youth, old age, morality, and fear.
The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality
Author: Angus Deaton
Call Number: HC79.I5 D43 2013
The history of humanity is a story of progressing ahead, as well as a story of creating inequality, which in turn fosters equality in a continuous cycle. This book delves deeply into wealth, health, and the origins of inequality throughout human history. Angus Deaton analyzes humanity's significant progress in health and wealth over the past two centuries and explores how these advancements have altered social structures and inequality. Using a storytelling approach, Deaton integrates knowledge from economics, history, demography, psychology, and other disciplines to narrate how life and society have gradually improved, why such progress has occurred, and the interplay between progress and inequality. This book is worth reading repeatedly, as it enables readers to have a deeper understanding of the history of human society and the progressing forces behind it.
Content | HU Linxiao
Layout | HU Linxiao
Review | GU Mengmeng & REN Yuanyuan
