bookshelf

PROJECT UNLONELY

Name: PROJECT UNLONELY
Author: Jeremy Nobel
ISBN: 9780593191941

HEALING OUR CRISIS OF DISCONNECTION

by Jeremy Nobel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 3, 2023

Drawing on extensive experience and illustrative examples, Nobel offers practical remedies to a fundamental social problem.

bookshelf

An exploration of creative expression as a powerful response to the epidemic of loneliness.

Loneliness underpins a whole range of personal and social ills, writes Nobel, a physician and public health practitioner who has been working on the issue for many years. The lockdowns and distancing of the Covid-19 era crystalized the problem, but it had begun well before 2020 and continues to build even as the pandemic recedes. Loneliness, defined as a subjective gap between the level of human connection one has and the level they feel they need, has profound effects on mental and physical health. "Loneliness won’t just make you miserable," writes the author. "It can kill you." It is often at the heart of suicides, substance abuse, and mass shootings. Nobel digs into the root causes, exploring community breakdown stemming from economic dislocation. The rise of social media, which can give the illusion of connection while driving people into isolation, is also a major factor—although used the right way, it can be a powerful tool for positive interaction. Nobel, who directs an organization called Project UnLonely, suggests a range of remedies, many of them centered around making art, often in a group setting. Creative expression can provide a path to connection and a sense of hope for the future. The quality of the art, whether painting or poetry, is not important; what matters is the sense of communication and sharing with others. “I can’t say for certain that replacing time spent online with time spent in creative “time wasting” will make you less anxious and more connected,” writes the author. “But I do know that ten minutes writing a haiku is likely to be time better spent then ten minutes doom scrolling your Instagram feed.” The author provides useful answers and a path forward for many people who need one.

Drawing on extensive experience and illustrative examples, Nobel offers practical remedies to a fundamental social problem.

Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023

ISBN: 9780593191941

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Avery

Review Posted Online: May 27, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023

Categories:

bookshelf

THINK YOU'LL BE HAPPY

MOVING THROUGH GRIEF WITH GRIT, GRACE, AND GRATITUDE

by Nicole Avant ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 2023

Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.

bookshelf

Memories and life lessons inspired by the author’s mother, who was murdered in 2021.

“Neither my mother nor I knew that her last text to me would be the words ‘Think you’ll be happy,’ ” Avant writes, "but it is fitting that she left me with a mantra for resiliency.” The author, a filmmaker and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, begins her first book on the night she learned her mother, Jacqueline Avant, had been fatally shot during a home invasion. “One of my first thoughts,” she writes, “was, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me hate this man. Give me the strength not to hate him.’ ” Daughter of Clarence Avant, known as the “Black Godfather” due to his work as a pioneering music executive, the author describes growing up “in a house that had a revolving door of famous people,” from Ella Fitzgerald to Muhammad Ali. “I don’t take for granted anything I have achieved in my life as a Black American woman,” writes Avant. “And I recognize my unique upbringing…..I was taught to honor our past and pay forward our fruits.” The book, which is occasionally repetitive, includes tributes to her mother from figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, but the narrative core is the author’s direct, faith-based, unwaveringly positive messages to readers—e.g., “I don’t want to carry the sadness and anger I have toward the man who did this to my mother…so I’m worshiping God amid the worst storm imaginable”; "Success and feeling good are contagious. I’m all about positive contagious vibrations!” Avant frequently quotes Bible verses, and the bulk of the text reflects the spirit of her daily prayer “that everything is in divine order.” Imploring readers to practice proactive behavior, she writes, “We have to always find the blessing, to be the blessing.”

Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023

ISBN: 9780063304413

Page Count: 288

Publisher: HarperOne

Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023

Categories:

bookshelf

THINKING, FAST AND SLOW

by Daniel Kahneman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2011

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...

bookshelf

A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.

The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.