Also of interest…in counterintuitive ideas
The Depths; Machine Made; It’s Complicated; The Improbability Principle
The Depths
by Jonathan Rottenberg (Basic, $27)
Jonathan Rottenberg’s rigorous new book “decisively discredits” the widespread notion that depression is evidence of a character flaw, said Nick Romeo in TheDailyBeast.com. Rottenberg, a psychologist, argues instead that humans and many animals have long benefited from having such a shutdown mode because it has helped them survive in hostile environments. “Despite the dark subject,” following the book’s quest for depression’s roots proves “strangely consoling, even inspiring at points.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Machine Made
by Terry Golway (Liveright, $28)
“To most of us, Tammany Hall simply means Boss Tweed, corruption, and extreme patronage,” said Charles Cooper in the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger. But Terry Golway highlights a more admirable side of the political club that ruled New York City for decades. Though Golway’s account “continually acknowledges the organization’s misdeeds,” it shows how Tammany embraced previously shunned immigrants, eventually marshalling its people power to launch an effective national reform movement.
It’s Complicated
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
by Danah Boyd (Yale, $25)
“If you’ve found yourself in stark terror of being outmaneuvered by your kids online,” Danah Boyd’s book offers a cure, said Cory Doctorow in BoingBoing.net. Drawing on a decade of research, Microsoft’s resident scholar of social media “relentlessly” punctures baseless fears about cyberbullying, online predators, and Internet addiction. Boyd isn’t blind to online dangers. But she’s studied what teens truly do online, making this work “the most important analysis of networked culture I’ve read.”
The Improbability Principle
by David J. Hand (Scientific American, $28)
“Probability remains as hard for some of us to get a grip on as a wet and madly wriggling fish,” said Laura Miller in Salon.com. Fortunately, mathematician David Hand has offered us a net. His “remarkably entertaining” book explains how even seemingly miraculous coincidences—a man surviving seven lightning strikes, a psychic making accurate -predictions—actually do follow the laws of chance. Readers willing to take a chance on a book about math should find this one “intensely useful.”
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
The pros and cons of GMOs
Pros and Cons The modified crops are causing controversy
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
6 historic homes in the colonial style
Feature A home in Connecticut
By The Week Staff Published
-
Dignity in defeat
Opinion Chicago White Sox players during a baseball game in Detroit, Michigan
By Theunis Bates Published
-
Also of interest...in picture books for grown-ups
feature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”
By The Week Staff Last updated