For happier and healthier individuals groups people communities societies lives

Friendships

Books

  • Becoming
  • Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
  • No Name in the Street
  • Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything
  • Speed: Facing Our Addiction to Fast and Faster–And Overcoming OurFear of Slowing Down
  • The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality
  • Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story
  • Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close
  • The Joyful Vegan: How to Stay Vegan in a World That Wants You to Eat Meat, Dairy, and Eggs
  • The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts
  • I’m Just a Person
  • My Life on the Road
  • In the Country We Love: My Family Divided
  • The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing
  • Laughing at My Nightmare
  • The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl
  • Emancipation of a Black Atheist
  • The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee
  • A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars
  • Every Day is an Atheist Holiday
  • Strangers Assume My Girlfriend Is My Nurse
  • Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
  • Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
  • Experts

  • Michelle Obama
  • Trevor Noah
  • Sarah Silverman
  • Gloria Steinem
  • Cara Santa Maria
  • Diane Guerrero
  • Bronnie Ware
  • Clare Patey
  • Gene Demby
  • Shereen Marisol Meraji
  • Shane Burcaw
  • Tig Notaro
  • William Still
  • Aminatou Sow
  • Ann Friedman
  • Penn Jillette
  • James Randi
  • Julie Sondra Decker
  • B.J. Fogg
  • Shelly Johnson
  • Cristen Conger
  • Caroline Ervin
  • Sabrina E. Dent, DMin
  • Jeremiah Camara
  • Ricky Gervais
  • Rebecca Sugar
  • Celeste Ng
  • Robia Rashid
  • Angie Thomas
  • Maya Shankar
  • Gillian Jacobs
  • Issa Rae
  • Movies/Videos

  • Becoming (2020 documentary film)
  • Contradiction: A Question of Faith
  • An Honest Liar
  • Bully
  • The Glorias
  • The Hate U Give
  • Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland
  • Podcasts

  • The Michelle Obama Podcast
  • The Sarah Silverman Podcast
  • Periodic Talks
  • A Slight Change of Plans
  • Unladylike
  • Latter-Day Lesbian
  • The Happiness Lab
  • Penn’s Sunday School
  • Code Switch
  • A Mile in my Shoes
  • Talk Nerdy
  • Series

  • Brainchild
  • Atypical
  • Little Fires Everywhere
  • Steven Universe
  • The Office (U.K.)
  • Websites

  • Americans United for Separation of Church and State
  • Laughing At My Nightmare
  • Psychology Today
  • Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

    Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

    Cover of Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sexbook

    Book Decription:

    In Bonk, the best-selling author of Stiff turns her outrageous curiosity and insight on the most alluring scientific subject of all: sex. Can a person think herself to orgasm? Why doesn’t Viagra help women-or, for that matter, pandas? Can a dead man get an erection? Is vaginal orgasm a myth? Mary Roach shows us how and why sexual arousal and orgasm-two of the most complex, delightful, and amazing scientific phenomena on earth-can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to make the bedroom a more satisfying place.

    Categories: All-or-Nothing Thinking, BEHAVIOR, Beliefs, Biases, Complex Realities, Cultures, Emotions, Evolution, Extreme Thinking, Family, Fear of the Unknown, Friendships, Gender Roles, Happiness, HEALTH, Hidden Motives, Information/Facts, Insincerity, KNOWLEDGE, Learning, Learning from Failures, Logical Ethics, Medical Experts, Mental Health, Opinions, Other People Exist, Over-all Health, Physical Health, Planning, Pride & Shame, Regrets, Relationships, Rewards and Punishments, Science, Social Skills, Societies, Technology, THINKING, This or That Thinking, Unhealthy Behavior, and What Should Be

    Author: Mary Roach

    Website: Link

    Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

    Publishing Date: 2009-04-06

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    Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

    Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

    Cover of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadaversbook

    Book Decription:

    Impossible (and irreverent) as it may sound, Roach has written a book about corpses that’s both lively and fresh. She traveled around the globe to conduct her forensic investigations, and her findings are wryly intelligent. While the myriad uses for cadavers recounted are often graphic, Roach imbues her subject with a sense of dignity, choosing to emphasize the oddly noble purposes corpses serve, from organ donation to lifesaving medical research.

    Readers will come away convinced of the enormous debt that we, the living, owe to the study of the remains of the dead. And while it may not offer the answer to the ancient mystery we were hoping for, Stiff offers a strange sort of comfort in the knowledge that, in a sense, death isn’t necessarily the end.

    Categories: All-or-Nothing Thinking, BEHAVIOR, Beliefs, Biases, Change, Complex Realities, Cultures, Empathy, Extreme Thinking, Family, Fear of the Unknown, Friendships, Gender Roles, Ideologies, Information/Facts, Insincerity, KNOWLEDGE, Learning, Learning from Failures, Logic, Logical Ethics, Negative Thinking, Other People Exist, Planning, Quantity vs Quality, Regrets, Relationships, Science, Social Skills, Societies, THINKING, This or That Thinking, Unhealthy Behavior, and What Should Be

    Author: Mary Roach

    Website: Link

    Publisher: W. W. Norton Company

    Publishing Date: 2004-05-17

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    Strangers Assume My Girlfriend Is My Nurse

    Strangers Assume My Girlfriend Is My Nurse

    Cover of Strangers Assume My Girlfriend Is My Nursebook

    Book Decription:

    With his signature acerbic wit and hilarious voice, twenty-something author, blogger, and entrepreneur Shane Burcaw is back with an essay collection about living a full life in a body that many people perceive as a tragedy. From anecdotes about first introductions where people patted him on the head instead of shaking his hand, to stories of passersby mistaking his able-bodied girlfriend for a nurse, Shane tackles awkward situations and assumptions with humor and grace.

    On the surface, these essays are about day-to-day life as a wheelchair user with a degenerative disease, but they are actually about family, love, and coming of age.

    Categories: BEHAVIOR, Beliefs, Biases, Complex Realities, Empathy, Exclusionary Behavior, Family, Fear of the Unknown, Friendships, Gender Roles, Hidden Motives, Independent Thinking, Individuality, Information/Facts, Insincerity, KNOWLEDGE, Learning, Learning from Failures, Logical Ethics, Negative Thinking, Other People Exist, Pride & Shame, Relationships, Social Skills, THINKING, Unhealthy Behavior, and What Should Be

    Author: Shane Burcaw

    Website: Link

    Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

    Publishing Date: 2019-04-28

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    Every Day is an Atheist Holiday

    Every Day is an Atheist Holiday

    Cover of Every Day is an Atheist Holidaybook

    Book Decription:

    The larger, louder half of legendary magic act Penn & Teller, and New York Times bestselling author of GOD, NO!, is back with a new collection of spiritual rants and hilarious ravings — the perfect year-round gift, when you consider that EVERY DAY IS AN ATHEIST HOLIDAY.

    Categories: All-or-Nothing Thinking, BEHAVIOR, Beliefs, Change, Complex Realities, Cultures, Evolution, Exclusionary Behavior, Extreme Thinking, Family, Fear of the Unknown, Freewill, Friendships, Happiness, HEALTH, Ideologies, Independent Thinking, Individuality, Information/Facts, KNOWLEDGE, Learning, Learning from Failures, Logic, Logical Ethics, Lying, Other People Exist, Pride & Shame, Religious Thinking, Social Skills, Societies, THINKING, This or That Thinking, and What Should Be

    Author: Penn Jillette

    Website: Link

    Publisher: Blue Rider Press

    Publishing Date: 2012-11-01

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    Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland

    Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland

    Cover of Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland book

    Expert: Kate Davis

    Website: Link

    Release Date: 2018-11-09

    Categories: All-or-Nothing Thinking, BEHAVIOR, Beliefs, Biases, Change, Complex Realities, Cultures, Empathy, Exclusionary Behavior, Extreme Thinking, Family, Fear of the Unknown, Friendships, Gender Roles, Hidden Motives, Ideologies, Information/Facts, Insincerity, KNOWLEDGE, Leadership, Learning from Failures, Logical Ethics, Negative Thinking, Opinions, Other People Exist, Power, Race and Racism, Rewards and Punishments, Social Skills, Societies, The News Media, THINKING, This or That Thinking, Unhealthy Behavior, and What Should Be

    A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars

    A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars

    Cover of A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Starsbook

    Book Decription:

    A NASA astrophysicist narrates his improbable journey from an impoverished childhood and an adolescence mired in drugs and crime to the nation’s top physics PhD program at Stanford in this inspiring coming-of-age memoir.

    Born into extreme poverty and emotional deprivation, James Edward Plummer was blessed with a genius I.Q. and a love of science. But in his community, a young bookworm quickly becomes a target for violence and abuse. As he struggles to survive his childhood in some of the toughest cities in the country, and his teenage years in the equally poor backwoods of Mississippi, James adopts the hybrid persona of a “gangsta nerd”–dealing weed in juke joints while winning state science fairs with computer programs that untangle the mysteries of Einstein’s relativity theory.

    Categories: Ambiguity, BEHAVIOR, Beliefs, Biases, Change, Complex Realities, Cultures, Exclusionary Behavior, Family, Fear of the Unknown, Freewill, Friendships, Hidden Motives, Independent Thinking, Individuality, Information/Facts, Insincerity, KNOWLEDGE, Learning, Learning from Failures, Logic, Logical Ethics, Lying, Numbers and Mathematics, Opinions, Other People Exist, Planning, Pride & Shame, Race and Racism, Regrets, Science, Social Skills, Societies, Teachers and Mentors, The Scientific Method, THINKING, This or That Thinking, Unhealthy Behavior, and What Should Be

    Author: Hakeem Oluseyi

    Website: Link

    Publisher: Ballantine Books

    Publishing Date: 2021-06-15

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    The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee

    The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee

    Cover of The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Peebook

    Book Decription:

    From the outrageously filthy and oddly innocent comedienne Sarah Silverman comes a memoir—her first book—that is at once shockingly personal, surprisingly poignant, and still pee-in-your-pants funny. If you like Sarah’s television show The Sarah Silverman Program, or memoirs such as Chelsea Handler’s Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea and Artie Lange’s Too Fat to Fish, you’ll love The Bedwetter.

    Categories: All-or-Nothing Thinking, BEHAVIOR, Beliefs, Biases, Blame, Change, Complex Realities, Emotions, Empathy, Exclusionary Behavior, Family, Fear of the Unknown, Friendships, Gender Roles, Happiness, HEALTH, Independent Thinking, Individuality, Insincerity, KNOWLEDGE, Learning, Learning from Failures, Logical Ethics, Lying, Mental Health, Negative Thinking, Opinions, Other People Exist, Pride & Shame, Regrets, Relationships, Rewards and Punishments, Social Skills, THINKING, This or That Thinking, Unhealthy Behavior, and What Should Be

    Author: Sarah Silverman

    Website: Link

    Publisher: Harper Collins

    Publishing Date: 2010-04-20

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    Emancipation of a Black Atheist

    Emancipation of a Black Atheist

    Cover of Emancipation of a Black Atheistbook

    Book Decription:

    Great journeys often start with a single question. For D. K. Evans, a newly married professional in the Christian-dominated South, that question was, “Why Do I Believe in God?” That simple query led him on a years-long search to better understand the nature of religion and faith, particularly as it applies to the Black community. While many taking such a journey today might immerse themselves in the writing of Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens, Evans took inspiration not only from John Henrik Clarke, Yosef-Ben Jochannan, Hubert Harrison, and John G. Jackson, champions of a rich Black tradition of challenging religious orthodoxy, but also from many others in his own community who had similarly come to question their core religious beliefs. While this journey eventually led him to discount the notion of God, he calls on all to ask their own questions, particularly those within the Black community who act on blind faith. While their own journey might not lead to his truth, he acknowledges, that is the only way they will ever emancipate themselves from the truths thrust on them by others and arrive at their most important truth—their own.

    Categories: Ambiguity, BEHAVIOR, Beliefs, Biases, Change, Complex Realities, Cultures, Evolution, Exclusionary Behavior, Family, Fear of the Unknown, Friendships, Ideologies, Independent Thinking, Individuality, Information/Facts, Insincerity, KNOWLEDGE, Learning, Learning from Failures, Logic, Logical Ethics, Lying, Other People Exist, Race and Racism, Relationships, Religious Thinking, Societies, The News Media, THINKING, Unhealthy Behavior, and What Should Be

    Author: D.K. Evans

    Website: Link

    Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing

    Publishing Date: 2017-12-14

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    Issa Rae

    Issa Rae

    Issa Rae photo

    Biography:

    Jo-Issa Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985), credited professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, and producer. Rae first garnered attention for her work on the YouTube web series Awkward Black Girl. Since 2011, Rae has continued to develop her YouTube channel, which features various short films, web series, and other content created by black people.

    Rae has achieved wider recognition as the co-creator, co-writer, and star of the HBO television series Insecure (2016–2021), for which she has been nominated for multiple Golden Globes Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards. Her 2015 memoir, titled The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, became a New York Times best-seller. In 2018, Rae was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

    Rae has also starred in feature films, with roles in the drama The Hate U Give (2018), the fantasy comedy Little (2019), the romance The Photograph (2020), and the romantic comedy The Lovebirds (2020). She will also voice Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023). Rae provided the voice work for the short film Hair Love, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2020.

    Main expertice: BEHAVIOR, Biases, Change, Cultures, Emotions, Exclusionary Behavior, Family, Fear of the Unknown, Freewill, Friendships, Gender Roles, Happiness, HEALTH, Hidden Motives, Independent Thinking, Individuality, Insincerity, KNOWLEDGE, Learning from Failures, Logical Ethics, Other People Exist, Race and Racism, Relationships, Social Skills, Societies, THINKING, Unhealthy Behavior, and What Should Be

    Website: Link

    Works of Issa Rae

    Books
  • The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl
  • Movies/Videos

    Podcasts

    Series

    Websites

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    The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl

    The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl

    Cover of The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girlbook

    Book Decription:

    In the bestselling tradition of Sloan Crosley’s I Was Told There’d Be Cake and Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, a collection of humorous essays on what it’s like to be unabashedly awkward in a world that regards introverts as hapless misfits, and black as cool.

    My name is “J” and I’m awkward—and black. Someone once told me those were the two worst things anyone could be. That someone was right. Where do I start?

    Being an introvert in a world that glorifies cool isn’t easy. But when Issa Rae, the creator of the Shorty Award–winning hit series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,” is that introvert—whether she’s navigating love, work, friendships, or “rapping”—it sure is entertaining. Now, in this debut collection of essays written in her witty and self-deprecating voice, Rae covers everything from cybersexing in the early days of the Internet to deflecting unsolicited comments on weight gain, from navigating the perils of eating out alone and public displays of affection to learning to accept yourself—natural hair and all.

    A reflection on her own unique experiences as a cyber pioneer yet universally appealing, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl is a book no one—awkward or cool, black, white, or other—will want to miss.

    Categories: All-or-Nothing Thinking, BEHAVIOR, Beliefs, Biases, Change, Cultures, Emotions, Exclusionary Behavior, Extreme Thinking, Family, Fear of the Unknown, Freewill, Friendships, Gender Roles, Happiness, HEALTH, Hidden Motives, Independent Thinking, Individuality, Insincerity, KNOWLEDGE, Learning from Failures, Logical Ethics, Mental Health, Negative Thinking, Opinions, Other People Exist, Race and Racism, Regrets, Relationships, Social Skills, Societies, THINKING, Unhealthy Behavior, and What Should Be

    Author: Issa Rae

    Website: Link

    Publisher: 37 Ink

    Publishing Date: 2015-02-10

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