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Author: Ariel Yelen
Seeking to find a song of the self that can survive or even thrive amid the mundane routines of work, Ariel Yelen’s lyrics include wry reflections on the absurdities and abjection of being a poet who is also an office worker and commuter in New York.
In the poems’ dialogues between labor and autonomy, the beeping of a microwave in the staff lounge becomes an opportunity for song.
Author: Charles Duhigg
In “Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection,” Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg explains what a “supercommunicator” is, and why we might want to refine our communication style to become more like one.
“Conversation is the communal air we breathe. All day long, we talk to our families, friends, strangers, coworkers, and sometimes pets,” Duhigg — author of “The Power of Habit” and “Smarter Faster Better” — writes in the book, which was published earlier this year.
But, he adds, not all forms of communication — or types of conversations — are equal. Why does communication sometimes fail to, well, communicate?
The book offers many practical insights into the science and art of effective communication, focusing on how people can improve their ability to connect with others and within themselves.
It highlights strategies that great (or “super”) communicators use to build stronger relationships. It discusses different types of conversations, offering practical tips on how to engage in meaningful dialogue, avoid miscommunication, and align with others’ perspectives.
Duhigg emphasizes that anyone can become a “supercommunicator” by learning how communication functions and by applying certain techniques in everyday interactions, whether personal or professional.
He also examines how communication can help shape and restructure relationships, careers and entire societies, offering specific examples alongside scientific research, common sense insights, and practical advice.
Once you reach a certain level of awareness, Duhigg suggests, one can master the art of meaningful conversation, leading to deeper connections.
Perhaps the most compelling reason why this book is a must-read comes from the author himself. “Supercommunicators aren’t born with special abilities — but they have thought harder about how conversations unfold, why they succeed or fail, the nearly infinite number of choices that each dialogue offers that can bring us closer together or push us apart,” he writes. “When we learn to recognize those opportunities, we begin to speak and hear in new ways.”
Author: Rhodri Lewis
In Shakespeare’s Tragic Art, Rhodri Lewis offers a powerfully original reassessment of tragedy as Shakespeare wrote it— of what drew him toward tragic drama, what makes his tragedies distinctive, and why they matter.
After reconstructing tragic theory and practice as Shakespeare and his contemporaries knew them, Lewis considers in detail each of Shakespeare’s tragedies from Titus Andronicus to Coriolanus. He argues that these plays are a series of experiments whose greatness lies in their author’s nerve-straining determination to represent the experience of living in a world that eludes rational analysis. They explore not just our inability to know ourselves as we would like to, but the compensatory and generally unacknowledged fictions to which we bind ourselves in our hunger for meaning—from the political, philosophical, social, and religious to the racial, sexual, personal, and familial.
Lewis’s Shakespeare not only creates tragedies that exceed those written before them.
Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” published in 1948, is a short story set in a small and seemingly typical community that performs an annual lottery ritual.
The townspeople seem to be in a celebratory mood as they congregate, although conflict underpins their relationships.
Every household draws slips of paper to reveal a “winner” who is subsequently stoned to death by the community.
This startling ending exposes the negative aspects of conformity and tradition, therefore challenging readers to consider society’s standards and the nature of human aggression.
The narrative exposes the possibility of violence in daily life and questions mindless loyalty to traditions. Examining Jackson’s book offers a strong reflection on the dehumanizing nature of society’s rituals and the perils of unquestioned compliance.
Emphasizing how common people can engage in violence when mindlessly following tradition, the story’s modest environment contrasts strongly with its terrible ending.
The lottery shows how societies can preserve cruel behaviors in the guise of tradition by symbolizing arbitrary justice and the scapegoating system seen in many civilizations.
Jackson’s use of foreshadowing — through minute cues and the villagers’ nervous behavior — creates a sense of approaching catastrophe that culminates in the startling turnabout.
This study of human nature and social complexity challenges readers to explore the moral implications of their own views and deeds.
Jackson gained popularity with her short stories and books that regularly explore darker corners of human nature.
Her investigation of the nuances of gender roles, identity and the supernatural changed the psychological horror subgenre.
Among her best-known works is “The Haunting of Hill House,” which was adapted into a Netflix series.
Edited by Alexandra Libby, Brooks Rich, and Stacey Sell
Art played a pivotal role in the development of natural history during the 16th and 17th centuries. European colonial expansion enabled naturalists to study previously unknown insects, animals, and other beestjes—“little beasts”—from around the globe. “Little Beasts” explores how artists such as Joris Hoefnagel and Jan van Kessel helped deepen and spread knowledge of these creatures with highly detailed and playful works that inspired generations of printmakers, painters, decorative artists, and naturalists.
The engaging narratives in “Grappling” make the challenging work of self- improvement easier, says a review published on goodreads.com.
Leadership consultant and author Robert E. Kaplan has written parables based on real people. You will witness these leaders at work and at home — with their basic character in play as they strive to improve.
If you want to change in some way but find yourself stuck, “Grappling” makes the self-improvement quest relatable, inspirational, and within your reach.
