What We Are Reading Today: ‘What I Know for Sure’

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Updated 12 April 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘What I Know for Sure’

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  • Oprah reveals her vulnerabilities as she shares her success stories and the challenges she has faced

Author: Oprah Winfrey

In “What I Know for Sure,” published in 2014, US talk show host and media figure Oprah Winfrey offers insights into the life lessons gained through her career and personal life. At the same time, she invites readers to reflect on their own lives, embrace authenticity, and live a meaningful life.  

One of the strengths of this book is Oprah’s ability to connect with her readers. Her writing style is warm and conversational, making readers feel like they are sitting with her over coffee, while she shares her wisdom and stories. Every chapter of the book is deep and powerful, with a thought-provoking narrative that lingers long after the final page.

Oprah reveals her vulnerabilities as she shares her success stories and the challenges she has faced. She reminds people that even during difficult times, they can grow and change their lives — keeping in mind that is known for her authenticity and desire to encourage others, and her ability to create an atmosphere of trust and connection where people can feel seen and understood.

Through her reflections, she emphasizes the importance of gratitude, mindfulness and self-care, reminding readers of life’s blessings, no matter how small or big.

She also focuses on the power of living in the moment, and encourages readers to gain a brighter perspective on life by slowing down, appreciating the beauty around them, and enjoying the simplest things.

Overall, the book offers more than just personal insights. It serves as a guide for dealing with relationships, accepting change, and finding meaning in life.

Oprah also shares valuable advice on topics such as forgiveness, letting go of fear, and embracing vulnerability; while inspiring readers to step out of their comfort zone, take risks, and pursue their passions with unwavering determination.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Atlas of Birds’ by Mike Unwin

What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Atlas of Birds’ by Mike Unwin
Updated 20 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Atlas of Birds’ by Mike Unwin

What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Atlas of Birds’ by Mike Unwin

“The Atlas of Birds” captures the breathtaking diversity of birds, and illuminates their conservation status around the world.

Full-color maps show where birds are found, both by country and terrain, and reveal how an astounding variety of behavioral adaptations—from flight and feeding to nest building and song—have enabled them to thrive in virtually every habitat on Earth.

Maps of individual journeys and global flyways chart the amazing phenomenon of bird migration, while bird classification is explained using maps for each order and many key families.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘When the Bombs Stopped’

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Updated 18 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘When the Bombs Stopped’

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  • Fifty years after the last sortie, residents of rural Cambodia are still coping with the unexploded ordnance that covers their land

Author: ERIN LIN

Over the course of the Vietnam War, the United States dropped 500,000 tonnes of bombs over Cambodia—more than the combined weight of every man, woman, and child in the country.

What began as a secret CIA infiltration of Laos eventually expanded into Cambodia and escalated into a nine-year war over the Ho Chi Minh trail fought primarily with bombs.

Fifty years after the last sortie, residents of rural Cambodia are still coping with the unexploded ordnance that covers their land. In “When the Bombs Stopped,” Erin Lin investigates the consequences of the US bombing campaign across post conflict Cambodia.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Spike’ by Mark Humphries

What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Spike’ by Mark Humphries
Updated 17 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Spike’ by Mark Humphries

What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Spike’ by Mark Humphries

We see the last cookie in the box and think, can I take that? We reach a hand out. In the 2.1 seconds that this impulse travels through our brain, billions of neurons communicate with one another, sending blips of voltage through our sensory and motor regions.

Neuroscientists call these blips “spikes.” Spikes enable us to do everything: talk, eat, run, see, plan, and decide. In “The Spike,” Mark Humphries takes readers on the epic journey of a spike through a single, brief reaction.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick
Updated 16 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Lost Souls’ by Sheila Fitzpatrick

When World War II ended, about 1 million people whom the Soviet Union claimed as its citizens were outside the borders of the USSR, mostly in the Western-occupied zones of Germany and Austria.

These “displaced persons,” or DPs—Russians, prewar Soviet citizens, and people from West Ukraine and the Baltic states forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1939—refused to repatriate to the Soviet Union despite its demands.

Thus began one of the first big conflicts of the Cold War. In “Lost Souls,” Sheila Fitzpatrick draws on new archival research, including Soviet interviews with hundreds of DPs, to offer a vivid account of this crisis, from the competitive maneuverings of politicians and diplomats to the everyday lives of DPs.


What We Are Reading Today: Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant

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Updated 15 November 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Leibniz in His World: The Making of a Savant

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  • Drawing on extensive correspondence by Leibniz and many leading figures of the age, Audrey Borowski paints a nuanced portrait of Leibniz in the 1670s, during his “Paris sojourn” as a young diplomat

Author: Audrey Borowski

Described by Voltaire as “perhaps a man of the most universal learning in Europe,” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) is often portrayed as a rationalist and philosopher who was wholly detached from the worldly concerns of his fellow men. Leibniz in His World provides a groundbreaking reassessment of Leibniz, telling the story of his trials and tribulations as an aspiring scientist and courtier navigating the learned and courtly circles of early modern Europe and the Republic of Letters.

Drawing on extensive correspondence by Leibniz and many leading figures of the age, Audrey Borowski paints a nuanced portrait of Leibniz in the 1670s, during his “Paris sojourn” as a young diplomat and in Germany at the court of Duke Johann Friedrich of Hanover. She challenges the image of Leibniz as an isolated genius, revealing instead a man of multiple identities whose thought was shaped by a deep engagement with the social and intellectual milieus of his time. Borowski shows us Leibniz as he was known to his contemporaries, enabling us to rediscover him as an enigmatic young man who was complex and all too human.