Rachel Baack
Summary: This non-fiction essay by Henry David Thoreau outlines the author’s argument in favor of disobedience to immoral laws. It was written during the time of the Mexican-American War.
Summary: This non-fiction essay by Henry David Thoreau outlines the author’s argument in favor of disobedience to immoral laws. It was written during the time of the Mexican-American War.
Added to listGraphic Novelwith 6 books.
Summary: John Lewis tells the story of his experience working in the civil rights movement to bring about racial equality in the U.S.
This is a truly captivating read that really brings history alive.
Summary: John Lewis tells the story of his experience working in the civil rights movement to bring about racial equality in the U.S.
This is a truly captivating read that really brings history alive.
Summary: Michelle McNamara lays out the facts surrounding the crimes of and investigation into the Golden State Killer (a name the author herself gave the criminal who had been known as both the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker before DNA evidence revealed that these were, in fact, the same person).
Summary: Michelle McNamara lays out the facts surrounding the crimes of and investigation into the Golden State Killer (a name the author herself gave the criminal who had been known as both the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker before DNA evidence revealed that these were, in fact, the same person).
Added to listSelf-Helpwith 1 book.
Summary: This nonfiction work explores the personality discovery tool known as the Enneagram. It looks at 9 different personality types, explores the strengths, weaknesses, and “deadly sin” of each, and offers the reader help in living more successfully within his or her personality type within a Christian framework.
This book is a great tool to help you become a better friend, family member, and member of the community at large.
Summary: This nonfiction work explores the personality discovery tool known as the Enneagram. It looks at 9 different personality types, explores the strengths, weaknesses, and “deadly sin” of each, and offers the reader help in living more successfully within his or her personality type within a Christian framework.
This book is a great tool to help you become a better friend, family member, and member of the community at large.
Summary: Linguist and cognitive scientist Benjamin Bergen explains what “foul language” and our use of it can uniquely reveal about the brain, language, and social science.
Summary: Linguist and cognitive scientist Benjamin Bergen explains what “foul language” and our use of it can uniquely reveal about the brain, language, and social science.
Summary: Psychologist Richard Beck explores and explains the complicated and fascinating workings of the feeling of disgust and how that feeling can be inappropriately applied in ways that are damaging within the life of the Christian Church.
This is a religiously based work directed toward readers who identify as Christians, but the psychology of disgust can be, I think, interesting to any audience.
Summary: Psychologist Richard Beck explores and explains the complicated and fascinating workings of the feeling of disgust and how that feeling can be inappropriately applied in ways that are damaging within the life of the Christian Church.
This is a religiously based work directed toward readers who identify as Christians, but the psychology of disgust can be, I think, interesting to any audience.
Summary: This book explains how the U.S. education system regularly and uniquely marginalizes Black girls in ways that are demonstrably harmful to their education and lives. The book offers some alternatives school discipline, dress codes, and classroom interactions that will help facilitate educational experiences that help Black girls to thrive in their education and their lives outside of school. These alternatives are rooted in demonstrating understanding and respect for Black girls both as a group that faces unique challenges in the U.S. education system and broader culture and as individuals.
Summary: This book explains how the U.S. education system regularly and uniquely marginalizes Black girls in ways that are demonstrably harmful to their education and lives. The book offers some alternatives school discipline, dress codes, and classroom interactions that will help facilitate educational experiences that help Black girls to thrive in their education and their lives outside of school. These alternatives are rooted in demonstrating understanding and respect for Black girls both as a group that faces unique challenges in the U.S. education system and broader culture and as individuals.
Summary: In this book, Deluca presents scientific evidence showing how women are not the irrational, emotional, hormone-controlled creatures that society paints them to be. The book highlights studies that show that the hormones related to women’s menstrual cycles, pregnancies, and experiences with menopause do not cause them to become any less emotionally or mentally competent (except in rare cases which warrant medical attention).
This novel is a breath of fresh air for every woman who has been dismissed because of her so called “over-emotional, hormone-controlled nature.”
Summary: In this book, Deluca presents scientific evidence showing how women are not the irrational, emotional, hormone-controlled creatures that society paints them to be. The book highlights studies that show that the hormones related to women’s menstrual cycles, pregnancies, and experiences with menopause do not cause them to become any less emotionally or mentally competent (except in rare cases which warrant medical attention).
This novel is a breath of fresh air for every woman who has been dismissed because of her so called “over-emotional, hormone-controlled nature.”
Summary: Amanda Montell explores what it is that makes cults so fascinating and, to some, influential, and she argues that language is one of the best indicators and most effective tools of cults and “cultish” groups.
Summary: Amanda Montell explores what it is that makes cults so fascinating and, to some, influential, and she argues that language is one of the best indicators and most effective tools of cults and “cultish” groups.
Summary: Brainstorm explains the essence of adolescence in a way that allows both teens and adults to engage with their own brains and development as well as the minds of others. A few important takeaways for me were the idea of taking time-in to feel one’s sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts; the importance of being a secure, dependable attachment figure rather than an absent or unpredictable one; and the necessity of simply being present—being there for others without judgement, and really experiencing their feelings and listening to what they have to say.
Summary: Brainstorm explains the essence of adolescence in a way that allows both teens and adults to engage with their own brains and development as well as the minds of others. A few important takeaways for me were the idea of taking time-in to feel one’s sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts; the importance of being a secure, dependable attachment figure rather than an absent or unpredictable one; and the necessity of simply being present—being there for others without judgement, and really experiencing their feelings and listening to what they have to say.
Summary: In each chapter of this book, Amanda Montell addresses a different logical fallacy to which those of us living in the twenty-first century frequently fall victim. She explains the evolutionary advantage that she and other experts believe each fallacy gave our ancestors, and she goes on to explain why these fallacies no longer serve us and how we can avoid falling prey to them.
Some of Montell’s claims might be difficult for readers who are religious to fully agree with, but I think that all readers can benefit from understanding the ways in which we can fool ourselves.
Summary: In each chapter of this book, Amanda Montell addresses a different logical fallacy to which those of us living in the twenty-first century frequently fall victim. She explains the evolutionary advantage that she and other experts believe each fallacy gave our ancestors, and she goes on to explain why these fallacies no longer serve us and how we can avoid falling prey to them.
Some of Montell’s claims might be difficult for readers who are religious to fully agree with, but I think that all readers can benefit from understanding the ways in which we can fool ourselves.
Summary: In this book, Stanley Fish instructs readers in the craft of sentence-making. It uses examples of great sentences to guide readers in their own writing.
Summary: In this book, Stanley Fish instructs readers in the craft of sentence-making. It uses examples of great sentences to guide readers in their own writing.
Added to listHow-Towith 2 books.
This guide to punctuation is incredibly helpful and surprisingly funny.
This guide to punctuation is incredibly helpful and surprisingly funny.
Summary: Blain Roberts walks readers through the development of beauty practices and culture in the American South during the twentieth century. She addresses the ways in which beauty culture impacted and developed among Black and White Southern women differently, and she explores what Southern beauty culture can tell us about racism, patriarchy, and class structure.
Summary: Blain Roberts walks readers through the development of beauty practices and culture in the American South during the twentieth century. She addresses the ways in which beauty culture impacted and developed among Black and White Southern women differently, and she explores what Southern beauty culture can tell us about racism, patriarchy, and class structure.
Summary: This text focuses on what is known about the lives of the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper, from before their birth to the time of their murders. The book challenges the notion that Jack the Ripper was a “prostitute killer”; in fact, only two of them can be said with any degree of certainty to have ever engaged in prostitution. Rubenhold’s writing humanizes these victims while also revealing the conditions under which working-class women in 19th-century England lived.
Summary: This text focuses on what is known about the lives of the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper, from before their birth to the time of their murders. The book challenges the notion that Jack the Ripper was a “prostitute killer”; in fact, only two of them can be said with any degree of certainty to have ever engaged in prostitution. Rubenhold’s writing humanizes these victims while also revealing the conditions under which working-class women in 19th-century England lived.
Added to listYoung Adultwith 62 books.
Added to listMiddle Gradewith 27 books.
Summary: This nonfiction novel chronicles the lives of Tsar Nicholas (Russia’s last tsar), his family, and the Russian people. It is a fascinating read that tells of the atrocities committed against the Russian people, the drama surrounding the royal family and their relationship to the mysterious Rasputin, and the uprising of the lower classes.
Summary: This nonfiction novel chronicles the lives of Tsar Nicholas (Russia’s last tsar), his family, and the Russian people. It is a fascinating read that tells of the atrocities committed against the Russian people, the drama surrounding the royal family and their relationship to the mysterious Rasputin, and the uprising of the lower classes.
Summary: This novel tells the true story of a young Hmong girl whose family recently came to America. This girl has a slew of medical issues, but, because of cultural barriers, her family has difficulty communicating with and following the orders of the doctors. This is an eye-opening work that reveals issues in America’s health care system and broader society regarding cultural injustice.
Summary: This novel tells the true story of a young Hmong girl whose family recently came to America. This girl has a slew of medical issues, but, because of cultural barriers, her family has difficulty communicating with and following the orders of the doctors. This is an eye-opening work that reveals issues in America’s health care system and broader society regarding cultural injustice.