Social Lives

Birds, like most of us, are social creatures. In groups they can do things they'd never be able to do alone. Be that evading predators or raising young, together birds collaborate, cooperate and connect. But every group has its conflicts, and living together can come with a cost. Competing for food, mates and nests, life in a group can be hard and sometimes dangerous. From nest hijacking and thievery to seduction, dancing and secret relationships, The Social Lives of Birds discovers the various ways birds socialise.

Do you ever feel misunderstood despite your best intentions? Ever wonder why your brilliance doesn't always translate into respect or results? What if the most significant obstacle between you and extraordinary success isn't your skill set, but your emotional blindspots? In Low Emotional Intelligence, Sandra Jessop—a seasoned executive known for leading multimillion-dollar projects—reveals the hidden patterns that technical mastery alone can’t overcome.

In Social, renowned psychologist Matthew Lieberman explores groundbreaking research in social neuroscience, revealing that our need to connect with other people is even more fundamental, more basic, than our need for food or shelter. Because of this, our brain uses its spare time to learn about the social world-other people and our relation to them.

Meet Benny—a kid who loves soccer, video games, and having fun… but hates homework. When his mom orders Lazybot, a helpful AI robot, Benny thinks his problems are solved. Lazybot sorts toys, cleans rooms, and even does Benny’s homework!

By day, Julia Ebner works at a counter-extremism think tank, monitoring radical groups from the outside. But two years ago, she began to feel she was only seeing half the picture; she needed to get inside the groups to truly understand them. She decided to go undercover in her spare hours - late nights, holidays, weekends - adopting five different identities, and joining a dozen extremist groups from across the ideological spectrum.

Bring meaning and joy to all your days with this internationally best-selling guide to the Japanese concept of ikigai - the happiness of always being busy - as revealed by the daily habits of the world's longest-living people.

In a world where everything seems to transform in a blink, anyone can suddenly find themselves scrambling for human connection. Someone who has always found it easy to connect can suddenly feel disoriented if they start a new job, move to a new region, or welcome a new member into the family. Others may have always found it difficult to connect, feel they've outgrown their circles, or may feel dissatisfied for a range of other reasons. In Our New Social Life, social connection and happiness experts Natalie Kerr and Jaime Kurtz explain the science behind these struggles.

Declan Walsh is one of the New York Times's most distinguished international correspondents. His electrifying portrait of Pakistan over a tumultuous decade captures the sweep of this strange, wondrous, and benighted country through the dramatic lives of nine fascinating individuals. On assignment as the country careened between crises, Walsh traveled from the raucous port of Karachi to the salons of Lahore, and from Baluchistan to the mountains of Waziristan. He met a diverse cast of extraordinary Pakistanis....

Eve has always called the Crystal Forest her home—a magical world where trees have quartz bark, the rivers sing with tumbling gems, and the moss glows with a gentle light. But a strange sadness is falling over the land. A formless, creeping shadow is consuming the forest’s sparkle, leaving behind a cold, colorless silence. When Eve discovers a tiny, warm crystal shard humming with forgotten energy, she is set on a perilous quest. Guided by a loyal firefly named Flicker, she must journey through echoing caverns and across chattering chasms to find the Heart of the Forest.

First, the ruby-red berries turned a rusty brown. Then, the sky faded from brilliant blue to a weary, endless grey. In the world of Lyra, the light, color, and laughter are disappearing, replaced by a creeping, hopeless gloom. For a young girl named Gloria, this fading world is becoming all she knows. But everything changes when she captures a single, pulsing spark of brilliant blue light—a living piece of Lyra’s fading magic. Now, guided by a map woven from starlight and a compass that follows the song of a moonpetal, Gloria must embark on a perilous quest to the dreaded Sunken Spire.

The Adventures of Leaf is a delightful story for listeners of all ages. It is the tale of a distressed maple leaf whose tenuous hold on the tree is broken by the cool, fall wind. Her many adventures teach her about life and friendship. She believes her life is over, but when we hear about a new bud on the same tree in the following springtime, we know the spirit of Leaf has been reborn in a new form.

Packed with humor, cafeteria drama, and a surprising lesson in teamwork, resilience, and self-confidence, The Day Broccoli Danced with Pea is a fresh, laugh-out-loud story that also sneaks in the importance of healthy choices and believing in yourself.

Simon skal snart i nulte klasse. Det glæder han sig til. Men lidt nervøs er han også. Der er så meget nyt: bogstaver og tal, nye kammerater, en stor skole han slet ikke kender. Men far og mor hjælper ham med at blive skoleklar. Og heldigvis er der også en sød lærer i den klasse, Simon skal gå i. Så mon ikke det går?

Scientists' understanding of life is progressing more rapidly than at any point in human history, from the extraordinary decoding of DNA to the controversial emergence of biotechnology. Featuring pioneering biologists, geneticists, physicists, and science writers, Life explains just how far we've come - and takes a brilliantly educated guess at where we're heading.

In the first Quarterly Essay for 2011, David Malouf returns to one of the most fundamental questions and gives it a modern twist: what is it to live a good life? With grace and profundity, Malouf discusses new and old ways to talk about the self, morality and happiness. In an age of environmental peril, and in the wake of the global financial crisis, such questions have returned with new force - we live in unpredictable times and Homo economicus has been found wanting.

Middle school is full of challenges. Everyone knows how much brainy Bri likes the spotlight (not). So why did she ever agree to something that forces her to learn a new language, give a speech, help organize a party, and juggle drama at school and home? As the big event inches closer, Bri wonders if it’s all worth it....

Who are you? How do the identities you hold—like your racial or gender identity—impact you every day? How do they impact others? These big and important questions are key to understanding ourselves. Part of being your true self means learning about group identities and how they affect our experience of the world. With kid-friendly explanations of key ideas and relevant scenarios, this text will help young kids explore their identities and how it shapes their experience.

A vibrant and absorbing novel of six friends--each an unforgettable Latina in her late twenties--and the complications and triumphs in their lives As soon as it was written, The Dirty Girls Social Club began turning heads. The Chicago Tribune reported that the book "set off a bidding frenzy"...

The last decade has seen an exponential increase in the development and adoption of language technologies, from personal assistants such as Siri and Alexa, through automatic translation, to chatbots like ChatGPT. Yet questions remain about what we stand to lose or gain when we rely on them in our everyday lives. As a non-native English speaker living in an English-speaking country, Vered Shwartz has experienced both amusing and frustrating moments using language technologies: from relying on inaccurate automatic translation, to failing to activate personal assistants with her foreign accent.

Hidden deep in Russia’s borderlands, Black Dolphin is not just a prison—it’s a place designed to erase. Housing the country’s most dangerous murderers, terrorists, and cannibals, this maximum-security facility operates under a regime of total control and absolute silence. Black Dolphin: Russia’s Most Notorious Prison takes listeners inside a world of 23-hour confinement, psychological erosion, and a justice system that offers no second chances. Through chilling detail and unsparing truth, this book reveals the machinery of punishment at its most extreme.