Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion

(Paperback)

By Alain De Botton

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What if religions are neither all true nor all nonsense? Alain de Botton's bold and provocative book argues that we can benefit from the wisdom and power of religion-without having to believe in any of it.

He suggests that rather than mocking religion, agnostics and atheists should instead steal from it-because the world's religions are packed with good ideas on how we might live and arrange our societies. De Botton looks to religion for insights into how to build a sense of community, make relationships last, overcome feelings of envy and inadequacy, inspire travel, get more out of art, and reconnect with the natural world. For too long non-believers have faced a stark choice between swallowing lots of peculiar doctrines or doing away with a range of consoling and beautiful rituals and ideas. Religion for Atheists offers a far more interesting and truly helpful alternative.

Steampunk: H.G. Wells

(Hardcover)

By Zdenko Basic

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No classic work lends itself better to Steampunk illustrations than The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, and The Country of the Blind, written by H.G. Wells, who many consider to be the father of Steampunk itself. Wells's tales of time travel and scientific romance is the perfect collection to the Steampunk series. Fans old and new will be delighted by Basic and Sumberac's four-color illustrations spiked with Steampunk machinery, gadgets, and fashion.

Y

(Hardcover)

By Marjorie Celona

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"Y. That perfect letter. The wishbone, fork in the road, empty wineglass. The question we ask over and over. Why? . . . My life begins at the Y." So opens Marjorie Celona's highly acclaimed and exquisitely rendered debut about a wise-beyond-her-years foster child abandoned as a newborn on the doorstep of the local YMCA. Swaddled in a dirty gray sweatshirt with nothing but a Swiss Army knife tucked between her feet, little Shannon is discovered by a man who catches only a glimpse of her troubled mother as she disappears from view. That morning, all three lives are forever changed.

Bounced between foster homes, Shannon endures abuse and neglect until she finally finds stability with Miranda, a kind but no-nonsense single mother with a free-spirited daughter of her own. Yet Shannon defines life on her own terms, refusing to settle down, and never stops longing to uncover her roots-especially the stubborn question of why her mother would abandon her on the day she was born.

Brilliantly and hauntingly interwoven with Shannon's story is the tale of her mother, Yula, a girl herself who is facing a desperate fate in the hours and days leading up to Shannon's birth. As past and present converge, Y tells an unforgettable story of identity, inheritance, and, ultimately, forgiveness. Celona's ravishingly beautiful novel offers a deeply affecting look at the choices we make and what it means to be a family, and it marks the debut of a magnificent new voice in contemporary fiction.

Physics in Mind: A Quantum View of the Brain

(Hardcover)

By Werner Loewenstein

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No one can escape a sense of awe when reflecting on the workings of the mind: we see, we hear, we are aware of the world around us. But what is the mind? In Physics in Mind, eminent biophysicist Werner R. Loewenstein seeks and answer in the mechanisms of physics. Bringing information theory--the idea that all information can be quantified and encoded in bits--to bear on recent advances in the neurosciences, Loewenstein reveals inside the brain a web of immense computational power capable of rendering a coherent representation of the world outside. He posits that quantum mechanics could be fundamental to our mind's ability to almost instantaneously process staggering amounts of information. Wide-ranging and brimming with insight, Physics in Mind will revolutionize our understanding of how the mind works.