Showing results by narrator "Nas Mehdi" in All Categories

By most popular accounts, the universe started with a bang some 13.8 billion years ago. But what happened before the Big Bang? And how do we know it happened at all? Here prominent cosmologist Niayesh Afshordi and science communicator Phil Halper offer a tour of the peculiar possibilities...

In this seductive, provocative debut, two Afghan men—cast out of their respective countries of birth by circumstances beyond their control—collide in Istanbul, a city that will test their willingness to sacrifice everything for the ones they love. When Delbar—a hapless twenty-something...

The death toll in Gaza continues to rise―a cold, lifeless number representing entire communities crushed under the weight of settler colonialism. What remains of the theories we use to understand our world? With lyrical and lucid fury, Hamid Dabashi exposes the racist roots of Western philosophy, demanding that listeners overcome its pernicious phantom of relevance. Rather than perceiving "the West" as giving carte blanche to Israel, Dabashi insists that Israel must be understood as its quintessence.

A major new history of revolutionary Iran, from the 1940s to the present Iran’s revolution in 1979 shook the world. The Pahlavi dynasty came crashing down, and the Islamic Republic rose in its place. But what led to this seismic event? How did the revolutionary movement gain such strength? And...

Is the destruction of Gaza only a consequence of the October 7, 2023 attack, or is it also the outcome of a long process of dispossession and eradication? Do Palestinians have the right to resist the occupation? Is talking about genocide anti-Semitism? Enzo Traverso goes to the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by calling history into question and offers a critical interpretation that overturns the one-sided perspective from which we have become accustomed to observing what is happening in Gaza.

From practical spells to swampy tales, this grimoire serves up a heaping helping of Southern magic that's as charming as a front porch on a summer evening. The swamp witch wanders through misty bayous and mysterious wetlands in search of ingredients for their magical work. From Spanish moss to...

In the summer of 1987, Payam Zamani fled Iran. As a member of the Baha'i Faith, he had already survived years of religious persecution at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists. Taking the only path available to him, he escaped to Pakistan through the Emptiness Desert: a harrowing five-day trek through one of the hottest, driest, and most hostile regions on the planet. Twelve years later, he and his brother set records when the company they founded hit a $1.2 billion valuation on Wall Street.

The world-changing story of Turkey—a country caught between two worlds This brilliant distillation traces Turkey's long and complicated history from the rise and decline of the Ottoman Empire—the most enduring, and perhaps the most important, Islamic empire in history—to the emergence of...

"He who controls the spice controls the universe." Frank Herbert's Dune saga is the epic story of Paul, son of Duke Leto Atreides, and heir to the massive fortune promised by the desert planet Arrakis and its vast reservoirs of a drug called "spice." To control the spice, Paul and his mother Jessica, a devotee of the pseudo-religious Bene Gesserit order, must find their place in the culture of the desert-dwelling Fremen of Arrakis. Paul must contend with both the devious rival House Harkonnen and the gargantuan desert sandworms—the source of the spice. 

Clear and compelling, Is There Always Value to Adversity? presents an interdisciplinary exploration of the age-old idea that adversity can lead to personal growth. Can adversity have an upside? Is there a purpose to suffering? Can difficult experiences involving trauma and hardship make us...

Current responses to our most pressing societal challenges—from poverty to ethnic conflict to climate change—are not working. These problems are incredibly dynamic and complex, involving an ever-shifting array of factors, actors, and circumstances. They demand a highly fluid and adaptive approach, yet we address them by devising fixed, long-term plans. Social labs, says Zaid Hassan, are a dramatically more effective response.

Hicky's Bengal Gazette is the story of India's first newspaper and its pivotal role in exposing the corruption of the British imperialist project. The story opens in late-eighteenth century Calcutta. The British are well-ensconced in Bengal, but the Raj has yet to emerge. Irishman, James August Hicky, arrives in Calcutta as a surgeon's mate, seeking his fame and fortune. He soon finds himself in debtors' prison, however, and it's while in jail that he first acquires the printing press that sets him on a collision course with the British East India Company.

Chock-full of real-world examples of mistakes, heartbreak, and redemption that makes it sound more like a juicy exposé than a business book, Love as a Business Strategy offers a new, people-first framework for achieving any business outcome. Written by authors who aren't fans of run-of-the-mill...