Screams of Reason

Screams of Reason

Author: David J. Skal

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9780393045826

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From the author of "Hollywood Gothic" and "The Monster Show" comes the definitive book on the men in white coats who haunt our technological dreams and nightmares: mad scientists. 100 photos. College lectures.


The Reason

The Reason

Author: Lacey Sturm

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 2014-09-30

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 1441246525

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The day Lacey Sturm planned to kill herself was the day her grandmother forced her to go to church, a place Lacey thought was filled with hypocrites, fakers, and simpletons. The screaming match she had with her grandmother was the reason she went to church. What she found there was the Reason she is alive today. With raw vulnerability, this hard rock princess tells her own story of physical abuse, drug use, suicide attempts, and more--and her ultimate salvation. She asks the hard questions so many young people are asking--Why am I here? Why am I empty? Why should I go on living?--showing readers that beyond the temporary highs and the soul-crushing lows there is a reason they exist and a purpose for their lives. She not only gives readers a peek down the rocky path that led her to become a vocalist in a popular hardcore band, but she shows them that the same God is guiding their steps today.


Primal Screams

Primal Screams

Author: Mary Eberstadt

Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press

Published: 2019-08-26

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1599474115

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Who am I? The question today haunts every society in the Western world. Legions of people—especially the young—have become unmoored from a firm sense of self. To compensate, they join the ranks of ideological tribes spawned by identity politics and react with frenzy against any perceived threat to their group. As identitarians track and expose the ideologically impure, other citizens face the consequences of their rancor: a litany of “isms” run amok across all levels of cultural life, the free marketplace of ideas muted by agendas shouted through megaphones, and a spirit of general goodwill warped into a state of perpetual outrage. How did we get here? Why have we divided against one another so bitterly? In Primal Screams, acclaimed cultural critic Mary Eberstadt presents the most provocative and original theory to come along in recent years. The rise of identity politics, she argues, is a direct result of the fallout of the sexual revolution, especially the collapse and shrinkage of the family. As Eberstadt illustrates, humans have forged their identities within the kinship structure from time immemorial. The extended family, in a real sense, is the first tribe and teacher. But with its unprecedented decline across various measures, generations of people have been set adrift and can no longer answer the question Who am I? concerning primordial ties. Desperate for solidarity and connection, they claim membership in politicized groups whose displays of frantic irrationalism amount to primal screams for familial and communal loss. Written in her impeccable style and with empathy rarely encountered in today’s divisive discourse, Eberstadt’s theory holds immense explanatory power that no serious citizen can afford to ignore. The book concludes with three incisive essays by Rod Dreher, Mark Lilla, and Peter Thiel, each sharing their perspective on the author’s formidable argument.


Reasons My Kid Is Crying

Reasons My Kid Is Crying

Author: Greg Pembroke

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2014-04-01

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0804139849

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A glimpse into the tribulations of parenting that is part documentary, part therapy, and completely hilarious. It all started when busy father Greg Pembroke posted a few pictures online of his three-year-old son, mid-tantrum, alongside the reason his son was crying: He had broken his bit of cheese in half. In Reasons My Kid is Crying, Greg collects together photos sent from parents around the world, documenting the many, completely logical reasons why small children cry. Among them: “I let him play on the grass” . . . “He ran out of toys to throw into his pool” . . . “The neighbor’s dog isn’t outside”. The result is both an affectionate portrait of the universal, baffling logic of toddlers—and a reminder for burned-out parents everywhere that they are not alone.


Scream Site

Scream Site

Author: Justina Ireland

Publisher: Capstone

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1630791024

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Future investigative reporter Sabrina, fourteen, researches a popular website where people post horror videos, hoping to prove they are not as real as they seem until her sister, a big fan of the site, disappears.


Scream

Scream

Author: Margee Kerr

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2015-09-29

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1610394836

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Shiver-inducing science not for the faint of heart. No one studies fear quite like Margee Kerr. A sociologist who moonlights at one of America's scariest and most popular haunted houses, she has seen grown men laugh, cry, and push their loved ones aside as they run away in terror. And she's kept careful notes on what triggers these responses and why. Fear is a universal human experience, but do we really understand it? If we're so terrified of monsters and serial killers, why do we flock to the theaters to see them? Why do people avoid thinking about death, but jump out of planes and swim with sharks? For Kerr, there was only one way to find out. In this eye-opening, adventurous book, she takes us on a tour of the world's scariest experiences: into an abandoned prison long after dark, hanging by a cord from the highest tower in the Western hemisphere, and deep into Japan's mysterious "suicide forest." She even goes on a ghost hunt with a group of paranormal adventurers. Along the way, Kerr shows us the surprising science from the newest studies of fear -- what it means, how it works, and what it can do for us. Full of entertaining science and the thrills of a good ghost story, this book will make you think, laugh -- and scream.


Technophobia!

Technophobia!

Author: Daniel Dinello

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2006-01-01

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 0292709862

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Techno-heaven or techno-hell? If you believe many scientists working in the emerging fields of twenty-first-century technology, the future is blissfully bright. Initially, human bodies will be perfected through genetic manipulation and the fusion of human and machine; later, human beings will completely shed the shackles of pain, disease, and even death, as human minds are downloaded into death-free robots whereby they can live forever in a heavenly "posthuman" existence. In this techno-utopian future, humanity will be saved by the godlike power of technology. If you believe the authors of science fiction, however, posthuman evolution marks the beginning of the end of human freedom, values, and identity. Our dark future will be dominated by mad scientists, rampaging robots, killer clones, and uncontrollable viruses. In this timely new book, Daniel Dinello examines "the dramatic conflict between the techno-utopia promised by real-world scientists and the techno-dystopia predicted by science fiction." Organized into chapters devoted to robotics, bionics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and other significant scientific advancements, this book summarizes the current state of each technology, while presenting corresponding reactions in science fiction. Dinello draws on a rich range of material, including films, television, books, and computer games, and argues that science fiction functions as a valuable corrective to technological domination, countering techno-hype and reflecting the "weaponized, religiously rationalized, profit-fueled" motives of such science. By imaging a disastrous future of posthuman techno-totalitarianism, science fiction encourages us to construct ways to contain new technology, and asks its audience perhaps the most important question of the twenty-first century: is technology out of control?


Please Scream Inside Your Heart

Please Scream Inside Your Heart

Author: Dave Pell

Publisher: Hachette Go

Published: 2021-11-09

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 0306847418

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From the publisher of the NextDraft newsletter comes a cathartic and humorous ride through the unnerving, maddening hellscape of the 2020 press cycle, reestablishing the line between "real" news and real life. Please lower your shoulder restraint and keep your hands and feet in. You’re about to board a roller coaster ride through a year that was at once laughable and lethal. If you’ve got an anti-anxiety prescription, now would probably be a good time to call in a refill. Please Scream Inside Your Heart is a time capsule; a real-time ride through the maddening hell that was the 2020 news cycle—when historic turmoil and media mania stretched American sanity, democracy, and toilet paper. Who better to examine this unhinged period in all of its twists and turns than news addict Dave Pell, aka the internet’s Managing Editor? Fueled by the wisdom and advice of his two Holocaust-surviving parents, for whom parts of this story were all too familiar, Pell puts the key stories of 2020 into context with pith and punch; highlighting turning points that widened America’s divisions, deepened our obsession with a media-driven civil war, and nearly knocked the country off its tracks. Pell also examines the role of technology in society—and how we somehow built the exact opposite of what we thought we were building. Why did the lies spread faster than the truth? How did our tech addiction contribute to the nightmare? Why do you feel a vibration in your pocket right now? In 2020, the news was everywhere, and everything was political—even the air we breathed. So brace yourself as you’re hurtled through the twists and turns of the corkscrewiest year in American history; one that included two impeachment trials, a global pandemic, Black Lives Matter, the biggest election of a lifetime, a slide towards autocracy, and a warning from the makers of Lysol not to drink their products.


Fear Itself

Fear Itself

Author: Melvin E. Matthews, Jr.

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2009-07-01

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 0786443138

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book demonstrates how horror films of the 1930s and 1940s reflected specific events and personalities of the era, most notably the Great Depression and World War II. Beginning with Dracula and Frankenstein (1931), it relates the many ways that horror films and society intersected: Franklin D. Roosevelt's skepticism toward conventional wisdom and the public's distrust of experts was mirrored in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Murders in the Rue Morgue; the freaks in Tod Browning's 1932 film of the same name revolted against the powerful people of the circus, much like the Bonus Army protested the sufferings of the Depression; King Kong's rampage on New York personified the anti-New York sentiment in the nation at large; Lon Chaney Jr.'s Wolf Man symbolized the experience of his creator, Curt Siodmak, as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany.


The Daily Reader

The Daily Reader

Author: Fred White

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2009-10-13

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 1599633671

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Let Great Reading Fuel Your Writing Great writers read–voraciously and across many topics and genres. They read to learn, to research, to study the style of others, and to improve their own work. They read because they love the written word. But becoming well read takes time, dedication, and patience. The thought can be daunting–especially when you're eager to get to your own writing. Fred White, author of The Daily Writer, helps you sort through the plethora of reading material available by providing you with 366 engaging excerpts from ancient poetry to modern science, on topics from allegory to food to writer's block. Each thoughtfully chosen excerpt is followed by a brief reflection and a prompt that allows you to integrate elements from each piece into your own writing. The Daily Reader makes broad reading accessible, invigorates your thirst for the written word, and equips you to put the power of the pros behind your writing.