Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense

Author: Steve Hagen
Publisher: Sentient Publications
ISBN: 1591811805
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 330

Book Description
Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense is an eminently down-to-earth, practical, and non-technical response to the urgent questions posed by contemporary science and philosophy. This revised and updated edition of How the World Can Be the Way It Is includes new scientific understanding and clarification of some of its more complex ideas. Steve Hagen aims for an intelligent general audience not necessarily familiar with modern or classical physics, philosophy, or formal logic. Hagen takes us on a journey that examines our most basic assumptions about reality and carefully addresses the "paradoxes of the one and the many" that other works only identify. His primary purpose is to help us to perceive the world directly - as it is, not how we conceive it to be. Through this perception each of us can answer profound moral questions, resolve philosophical and ethical dilemmas, and live lives of harmony and joy. Book jacket.

Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't

Author: Gavin Ortlund
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1493432451
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Book Description
It has never been more important to articulate the wonder and enchantment of the Christian message. Yet the traditional approaches of apologetics are often outmoded in an age of profound disenchantment and distraction, unable to meet this pressing need. This winsome apologetics book for a new generation makes the case that Christianity offers a compelling explanatory framework for making sense of our world. Pastor and writer Gavin Ortlund believes it is essential to appeal not only to the mind but also to the heart and the imagination as we articulate the beauty of the gospel. Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't reimagines four classical theistic arguments--cosmological, teleological, moral, and Christological--making a cumulative case for God as the best framework for understanding the storied nature of reality. The book suggests that Christian theism can explain such things as the elegance of math, the beauty of music, and the value of love. It is suitable for use in classes yet accessibly written, making it a perfect resource for churches and small groups.

America the Anxious

Author: Ruth Whippman
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250071526
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
The author embarks on a pilgrimage to investigate how the national obessession with happiness infiltrates all areas of life, from religion to parenting, from the workplace to academia. She attends a Landmark Forum self-help course, visits Zappos headquarters in Las Vegas (a "happiness city"), looks into the academic "positive psychology movement" and spends time in Utah with Mormons, officially America's happiest people.

The Sense of an Ending

Author: Julian Barnes
Publisher: Random House Canada
ISBN: 0307360830
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 162

Book Description
Winner of the 2011 Booker Prize and #1 international bestseller, The Sense of an Ending is a masterpiece. The story of a man coming to terms with the mutable past, Julian Barnes's award-winning novel is laced with his trademark precision, dexterity and insight. It is the work of one of the world's most distinguished writers. Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they navigated the girl drought of gawky adolescence together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they swore to stay friends forever. Until Adrian's life took a turn into tragedy, and all of them, especially Tony, moved on and did their best to forget. Now Tony is in middle age. He's had a career and a marriage, a calm divorce. He gets along nicely, he thinks, with his one child, a daughter, and even with his ex-wife. He's certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer's letter is about to prove. The unexpected bequest conveyed by that letter leads Tony on a dogged search through a past suddenly turned murky. And how do you carry on, contentedly, when events conspire to upset all your vaunted truths?

Fewer, Better Things

Author: Glenn Adamson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1632869667
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
From the former director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, a timely and passionate case for the role of the well-designed object in the digital age. Curator and scholar Glenn Adamson opens Fewer, Better Things by contrasting his beloved childhood teddy bear to the smartphones and digital tablets children have today. He laments that many children and adults are losing touch with the material objects that have nurtured human development for thousands of years. The objects are still here, but we seem to care less and know less about them. In his presentations to groups, he often asks an audience member what he or she knows about the chair the person is sitting in. Few people know much more than whether it's made of wood, plastic, or metal. If we know little about how things are made, it's hard to remain connected to the world around us. Fewer, Better Things explores the history of craft in its many forms, explaining how raw materials, tools, design, and technique come together to produce beauty and utility in handmade or manufactured items. Whether describing the implements used in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, the use of woodworking tools, or the use of new fabrication technologies, Adamson writes expertly and lovingly about the aesthetics of objects, and the care and attention that goes into producing them. Reading this wise and elegant book is a truly transformative experience.

Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World

Author: Iddo Landau
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190657677
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
Does life have meaning? Is it possible for life to be meaningful when the world is filled with suffering and when so much depends merely upon chance? Even if there is meaning, is there enough to justify living? These questions are difficult to resolve. There are times in which we face the mundane, the illogically cruel, and the tragic, which leave us to question the value of our lives. However, Iddo Landau argues, our lives often are, or could be made, meaningfulwe've just been setting the bar too high for evaluating what meaning there is. When it comes to meaning in life, Landau explains, we have let perfect become the enemy of the good. We have failed to find life perfectly meaningful, and therefore have failed to see any meaning in our lives. We must attune ourselves to enhancing and appreciating the meaning in our lives, and Landau shows us how to do that. In this warmly written book, rich with examples from the author's life, film, literature, and history, Landau offers new theories and practical advice that awaken us to the meaning already present in our lives and demonstrates how we can enhance it. He confronts prevailing nihilist ideas that undermine our existence, and the questions that dog us no matter what we believe. While exposing the weaknesses of ideas that lead many to despair, he builds a strong case for maintaining more hope. Along the way, he faces provocative questions: Would we choose to live forever if we could? Does death render life meaningless? If we examine it in the context of the immensity of the whole universe, can we consider life meaningful? If we feel empty once we achieve our goals, and the pursuit of these goals is what gives us a sense of meaning, then what can we do? Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World is likely to alter the way you understand your life.

Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense

Author: Steve Hagen
Publisher: Sentient+ORM
ISBN: 1591812747
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
The bestselling author of Buddhism Plain and Simple ponders what we truly know about reality. Why the World Doesn’t Seem to Make Sense is an eminently down-to-earth, practical, and non-technical response to the urgent questions posed by contemporary science and philosophy. This revised and updated edition of How the World Can Be the Way It Is includes new scientific understanding and clarification of some of its more complex ideas. Steve Hagen aims for an intelligent general audience not necessarily familiar with modern or classical physics, philosophy, or formal logic. Hagen takes us on a journey that examines our most basic assumptions about reality and carefully addresses the “paradoxes of the one and the many” that other works only identify. His primary purpose is to help us to perceive the world directly—as it is, not how we conceive it to be. Through this perception each of us can answer profound moral questions, resolve philosophical and ethical dilemmas, and live lives of harmony and joy. Praise for Why the World Doesn’t Seem to Make Sense “For those who are certain that objectivity and intellect are the ground floor of all knowledge, this can be a valuable tripe to the sub-basement.” —Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance “An unusually stimulating and exhilarating book, of profound value to those seeking to clarify the essential nature of everyday existence—in short, all of us.” —Peter Matthiessen, author of The Snow Leopard “Read this book: it will change how you look at things.” —Nick Herbert, PhD, author of Quantum Reality “Hagen cuts cleanly through the duality of mind and body, perception and conception, science and religion, and takes us on a spell-binding journey through what we know—and what we only think we know—that ultimately provides a fresh, effective, and remarkably simple grounding for our lives. . . . Original, breathtaking, and beautiful.” —Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones

Making Sense of the World

Author: Stephen Robert Grimm
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190469862
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
Making Sense of the World offers original work on the nature of understanding by a range of distinguished philosophers. Although some of the essays are by scholars well known for their work on understanding, many of the essays bring entirely new figures to the discussion. The main purpose of the volume is twofold: to advance debates in epistemology and the philosophy of science, where work on understanding has recently flourished, and to jumpstart new questions and debates about understanding in other areas of philosophy, such as aesthetics, ethics, and the philosophy of religion.

Laziness Does Not Exist

Author: Devon Price
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982140135
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
From social psychologist Dr. Devon Price, a conversational, stirring call to “a better, more human way to live” (Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author) that examines the “laziness lie”—which falsely tells us we are not working or learning hard enough. Extra-curricular activities. Honors classes. 60-hour work weeks. Side hustles. Like many Americans, Dr. Devon Price believed that productivity was the best way to measure self-worth. Price was an overachiever from the start, graduating from both college and graduate school early, but that success came at a cost. After Price was diagnosed with a severe case of anemia and heart complications from overexertion, they were forced to examine the darker side of all this productivity. Laziness Does Not Exist explores the psychological underpinnings of the “laziness lie,” including its origins from the Puritans and how it has continued to proliferate as digital work tools have blurred the boundaries between work and life. Using in-depth research, Price explains that people today do far more work than nearly any other humans in history yet most of us often still feel we are not doing enough. Filled with practical and accessible advice for overcoming society’s pressure to do more, and featuring interviews with researchers, consultants, and experiences from real people drowning in too much work, Laziness Does Not Exist “is the book we all need right now” (Caroline Dooner, author of The F*ck It Diet).

The Etiquette of Social Media

Author: Leonard Kim
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781500918538
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 104

Book Description
Social Media is paving the way of the future. It is a new trend that is becoming standardized as a part of our daily lives. This new standard includes media outlets ranging from Facebook to LinkedIn to Quora and Twitter, along with many others. With how new social media is, there are no classes at our schools that cover the etiquette of social media. Whether you are in high school or a senior level executive, chances are you are oblivious to the guidelines of how to act on social media. In this day and age, that has been forgivable. Why? Because never before has there been a guide covering The Etiquette of Social Media, until now. Inspired by best-selling author James Altucher, Leonard Kim decided to write his first book of many. Being a personality with high visibility and a Top Writer on Quora, an Online Knowledge Market, Leonard has seen it all. From comments to messages to public attacks, Leonard has broken free from the viewpoint we all have of what is right in front of us. He has been able to expand outside of the myopic bubble of the Internet we have all come to see. He has expanded his view of our online society as a whole. In a single year, Leonard went from being a nobody to having over five million views on the internet. He went from being an introvert with less friends than he has fingers to cultivating friendships all across the world. Through decades of experience, Leonard has acquired a unique skill set. With a background in branding, Leonard understands the importance of your online reputation. He has been able to identify the key points to ensure that you come across as an approachable and likable human being. Are you looking to make new friends? Manage your online reputation? Or expand your business connections? This book will provide you with the essential tools you need to get ahead. The world is changing. Soon it will no longer be forgivable to be ignorant of your behavior on social media. People will start to judge you for each action you make. Read this guide to prepare yourself before that dreadfully awaited day finally arrives.