Is what I’m feeling normal? Is what my body is doing normal? Am I normal? How do I know what are the right choices to make? How do I know how to behave? How do I fix it when I make a mistake?Let’s tal
"Tell me what you eat, I'll tell you who you are," said Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Today, "You are what you consume" is more apt. Barbara Krueger’s ironic twist of Descartes - "I shop therefore I am" -
If my ability to react freely is constrained by forces beyond my control, am I still morally responsible for the things I do?The question of whether, how and to what extent we are responsible for our
If my ability to react freely is constrained by forces beyond my control, am I still morally responsible for the things I do?The question of whether, how and to what extent we are responsible for our
I don’t know what it is I’m going to do but I’m going to do something. I’m going to be someone. I am! I’m sick of just being me. I’m going to be someone else. Someone better. I’m going to make a diffe
All of us ponder the big and enduring human questions—Who am I? Am I free? What should I do? What is good? Is there justice? Is life meaningful?—but this kind of philosophical interrogation is rarely
All of us ponder the big and enduring human questions—Who am I? Am I free? What should I do? What is good? Is there justice? Is life meaningful?—but this kind of philosophical interrogation is rarely
Philosophers often find that the response 'I am a philosopher' when given in reply to the question 'What do you do?' produces a puzzled silence. The puzzle is not one simply about the nature of philos
How the way we perceive our bodies plays a critical role in the way we perceive ourselves: stories of phantom limbs, rubber hands, anorexia, and other phenomena.The body is central to our sense of identity. It can be a canvas for self-expression, decorated with clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, tattoos, and piercings. But the body is more than that. Bodily awareness, says scientist-writer Moheb Costandi, is key to self-consciousness. In Body Am I, Costandi examines how the brain perceives the body, how that perception translates into our conscious experience of the body, and how that experience contributes to our sense of self. Along the way, he explores what can happen when the mechanisms of bodily awareness are disturbed, leading to such phenomena as phantom limbs, alien hands, and amputee fetishes. Costandi explains that the brain generates maps and models of the body that guide how we perceive and use it, and that these maps and models are repeatedly modified and reconstructed. Drawing
With answers to some of our most anxiety-inducing questions, such as "Why do I cringe at teenage me?" and "Why do I keep putting things off?" this insightful guide to our shared human experiences and quirks delves into the science behind 32 of our strangest thoughts and habits.Award-winning educator Dr. Jen Martin has created the perfect Q&A guide for the curious. In Why Am I Like This? she provides research-based explanations for popular questions about everything from overcoming anxiety and FOMO to why smells make us homesick and why we stick our tongues out when we concentrate.If you've ever wondered about the psychology and science behind the oddities of our daily lives, this accessible, entertaining, and informative guide is sure to educate you on what, exactly, makes you tick. This charming, vividly illustrated book makes the perfect gift for anyone who has ever stopped to wonder "Why?"
Acclaimed author Michael Parker tells the searing and unforgettable story of one decision that irrevocably changes the course of a young man’s life.In the early 1970s, in Stovall, Texas, seventeen-year-old Earl―a loner, dreamer, lover of music and words―meets Tina, the new girl in town. Tina convinces Earl to drive her to see her mother in Austin, where Earl and Tina are quickly separated. Two days later, Earl is being questioned by the police about Tina’s disappearance and the blood in the trunk of his car. But Earl can’t remember what happened in Austin, and with little financial support from his working-class family, he is sentenced for a crime he did not commit.Forty years later, Earl is released into a world he can barely navigate. Settling in a small town on the Oregon coast, he attempts to establish a sense of freedom from both bars and razor wire and the emotional toll of incarceration. But just as Earl finds the rhythm he’s a
