Inyo County Free Library - New Acquisitions

These are books and media new to the library and cataloged by the Inyo County Free Library.

Additional information about each title can be found in the catalog (click on the title). For older acquisition lists choose from Select another list. To request any of these titles please contact your local library branch.

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God's debris: a thought experiment

By Adams, Scott

Publishing Date: c2001

Classification: 100

Call Number: 110 ADA

In God's Debris, best-selling author and creator of Dilbert Scott Adams fashioned a thought-provoking exploration of life's great mysteries (everything from quantum physics and God to psychic phenomena and dating) that quickly captured the attention and imaginations of readers everywhere. The intriguing story of a deliveryman who meets the world's smartest person and learns the secret of reality is threaded with a variety of hypnosis techniques that Adams, a certified hypnotist, used to induce a feeling of euphoric enlightenment in readers to mirror the main character's feelings as he discovers the true nature of the universe.Launched to coincide with the hardcover publication of its sequel, The Religion War (see opposite page), this first paperback edition of God's Debris will soon make the leap to a broader audience. As Adams designed it, the book will "make your brain spin around inside your skull" and drive readers toward The Religion War as they seek to confirm or deny the dizzying impressions and chaotic memories of reading God's Debris.The book provides one of the most compelling visions of reality ever experienced on the printed page. Along the way, readers will enjoy the Thought Experiment: Trying to discover what's wrong with the sage's explanation of reality. This is a book, as Adams says, to be shared and savored with smart friends.- (Andrews McMeel Publishing)

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Cynical theories: how activist scholarship made everything about race, gender, and identity-and why this harms everybody

By Pluckrose, Helen

Publishing Date: [2020]

Classification: 100

Call Number: 149.97 PLU

"Outlines the origin and evolution of postmodern thought over the last half century and argues that the unchecked spread and application of postmodern ideas -- from academia, to activist circles, to the public at large - presents an authoritarian ideological threat not only to liberal democracy but also to modernity itself"--

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Blink: the power of thinking without thinking

By Gladwell, Malcolm

Publishing Date: 2005

Classification: 100

Call Number: 153.44 GLA

How do we think without thinking, seem to make choices in an instant--in the blink of an eye--that actually aren't as simple as they seem? Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others? Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, the author reveals that great decision makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.

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Socrates: a man for our times

By Johnson, Paul

Publishing Date: 2011

Classification: 100

Call Number: 183.2 JOH

Socrates is often called the father of philosophy. Yet he left no writings, so what we know of his life and ideas comes from the works of his contemporaries. Socrates taught--and strove to embody--that how each of us chooses to live and die has great meaning. By constantly examining one's life and actions, a philosophy of ethics is born. As Plutarch observed, "He was the first person to demonstrate that life is open to philosophy at all times, in every part, among all kinds of people, and in every experience and activity." In this biography, historian Paul Johnson situates Socrates in the life of fifth-century B.C. Athens, and his wide range of acquaintances, from the local grocer to the leading politicians, dramatists, and scholars. By studying his life and times, we benefit from his philosophy, for as Cicero said, "Socrates was the first to call Philosophy down from the skies ... and introduce her into people's homes, and force her to investigate ordinary life, ethics, good and evil."--From publisher description.

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Lives of the Stoics: the art of living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius

By Holiday, Ryan

Publishing Date: [2020]

Classification: 100

Call Number: 188 HOL

"From the bestselling authors of The Daily Stoic comes an inspiring guide to the lives of the Stoics, and what the ancients can teach us about happiness, success, resilience and virtue. Nearly 2,300 years after a ruined merchant named Zeno first established a school on the Stoa Poikile of Athens, Stoicism has found a new audience among those who seek greatness, from athletes to politicians and everyone in between. It's no wonder; the philosophy and its embrace of self-mastery, virtue, and indifference to that which we cannot control is as urgent today as it was in the chaos of the Roman Empire. In Lives of the Stoics, Holiday and Hanselman present the fascinating lives of the men and women who strove to live by the timeless Stoic virtues of Courage. Justice. Temperance. Wisdom. Organized in digestible, mini-biographies of all the well-known--and not so well-known--Stoics, this book vividly brings home what Stoicism was like for the people who loved it and lived it, dusting off powerful lessons to be learned from their struggles and successes. More than a mere history book, every example in these pages, from Epictetus to Marcus Aurelius--slaves to emperors--is designed to help the reader apply philosophy in their own lives. Holiday and Hanselman unveil the core values and ideas that unite figures from Seneca to Cato to Cicero across the centuries. Among them are the idea that self-rule is the greatest empire, that character is fate; how Stoics benefit from preparing not only for success, but failure; and learn to love, not merely accept, the hand they are dealt in life. A treasure of valuable insights and stories, this book can be visited again and again by any reader in search of inspiration from the past"--

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Philosophy and the mirror of nature

By Rorty, Richard

Publishing Date: 2009

Classification: 100

Call Number: 190 ROR

30 years ago Richard Rorty argued that philosophers had developed an unhealthy obsession with the notion of representation: comparing the mind to a mirror that reflects reality. The book now stands as a classic of 20th-century philosophy.

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