Outros livros que poderiam interessá-lo

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  Higher Admissions - The Rise and...

  Nicholas Lemann

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  In the 1930s, American colleges and universities began to screen applications using the SAT, a mass-administered, IQ-descended standardized test. The widespread adoption of the test accompanied the development of the world's first mass higher education system—and served to promote the idea that the United States was becoming a "meritocracy." In Higher Admissions, Nicholas Lemann reflects on the state of America's aspirational meritocracy and the enduring value and meaning of standardized testing. 
   
   
   
  Lemann writes that the anticipation of the Supreme Court's 2023 decision banning affirmative action, plus the Covid pandemic, led hundreds of universities to stop requiring standardized admissions tests; now a handful of elite universities are reinstituting test requirements. The country is preoccupied with the admissions policies of the most selective universities, but Lemann redirects our attention to an alternate path that American higher education can still take—one that emphasizes a significant upgrade of the entire higher education system. Lemann argues that to improve the state of higher education overall, we should focus not on the narrow chokepoint of admission to highly selective colleges, but on efforts to create as much meaningful opportunity for flourishing in our vast higher education system for as many people as possible.

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  The Relevance of Buddhism in the...

  Princess Poon Pismai Diskul

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  This is an audiobook of Bodhi Leaves No. 43 by Princess Poon Pismai Diskul, The Relevance of Buddhism in the Modern World narrated by Gregory M. Dams. The print edition can be found in the Pariyatti Edition of Collected Bodhi Leaves Vol. 2. The eBook of Bodhi Leaves No. 43 can be downloaded from the BPS website.
   
  Excerpt:
   
  Throughout history, the practice, adherence and belief in religion has been a virtually universal aspect of human society. And as a rule, the increase in complexity and sophistication of a given culture has borne with it an accompanying increase in the level of ethical and philosophical development of that society’s religious thought.
   
  Today, however, the world witnesses a level of civilization and social complexity far surpassing that of any previous era. Yet out of the great thoughts and discoveries of our time, no new major religion has evolved. Whatever new religious concepts may have appeared, they have failed to reach the masses of humanity in the form of altering basic beliefs and practices. Most of the new reforms that modern institutions sometimes announce with pride are actually negative in character; that is, the termination of outmoded practices and the relinquishment or reinterpretation of embarrassing dogmas. ...

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  Tsunami Days

  John Barnie

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  "We need more writers with bite. We have lived in the flatlands too long," writes John Barnie in one of his 'observations' ('Art in the Flatlands'). And bite he delivers.
  
  Ranging across politics, history, culture, ecological disaster, the meaning of truth, poetry, what we mean by identity and more… Barnie shares a window onto the world that is both erudite and particular. Leaning towards pessimism in a darkening world, these observations are often provocative, not from any bullish desire to antagonise, but as the result of mining a rationalist line of thought with an honesty and consistency that is applied as much to the author as to his subjects. There is a clarity here that some may find uncomfortable, but the aim is always dialogue above agreement; intellectual engagement above cheap solutions and sentimentality.
  
  Barnie asks us to think, consider and dig deeper, but most of all he asks that we "…live richly among our secondary self-created meanings, while recognising them for what they are. To face without flinching the nullity of the great void." ('Varieties of Meaning')
  Tsunami Days is a vital collection of essays for those prepared to engage with its unflinching observations.

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  Twelve Cases - A Psychiatrist's...

  MD Daniel Mierlak

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  Are you curious about the shadowy parts of the human psyche? Join Dr. Daniel Mierlak, a psychiatrist for twenty-five years, on a journey to the stranger corners of human experience. Here you'll meet: Tony, chauffeur to the fabulously rich, who overcomes crippling anxiety only to find himself descend into a homicidal rage following a botched cosmetic procedure. Amanda, hospitalized for mania, who sees a change to her medicine as an assassination attempt, and then stalks her doctor for a year after discharge. James, a schizophrenic hearing voices telling him to kill himself, whose piano playing leads to a shocking secret about his past. Psychiatric treatment is normally a private encounter and often misunderstood. In describing twelve of his most challenging cases, Dr. Mierlak brings you into his sessions, into his patients' lives, and into the world of psychiatry. Get ready for some surprises.

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  The Weather Girls

  Sarah Webb

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  It's 1944. Twelve-year-old Grace Devine lives at Blacksod Lighthouse and weather station in County Mayo with her parents and little brother. When a German plane crashes nearby, she and her best friend Sibby risk their lives to save the young pilot. Grace's family take him in, but their neighbours are horrified at having an 'enemy' in their midst.
  Meanwhile, the Met Office in England suddenly asks Blacksod to send them weather reports every hour. But why? As the wind and rain howl outside, Grace begins to understand that something important is happening, something to do with the war – and she is right in the eye of the storm.
  A tale of bravery, adventure and a remarkable friendship, inspired by true events from World War 2.

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  Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard...

  Charles River Editors

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  Laying next to the tomb effigy of King Henry II of England in France's Fontevraud Abbey is a curious coffin chiseled in the shape of a young woman in repose. The once vibrant paint on the effigy is flaking, and several areas of the centuries-old tombs are chipped, but her general features are still somewhat recognizable. The beautiful, crowned queen, depicted with a soft smile on her face, was dressed in a simple, but elegant gown in white and blue, and an open book in her arms. The effigy is for none other than Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine. 
  	Over the years, this mysterious 12th century figure has been portrayed in countless ways, from a valiant warrior queen and resourceful politician to a control-obsessed and manipulative siren whose only objective in life was power. What is clear is that during her long life, Eleanor she played an outsized role in both French and English history, and she also had an impact on the course of the Crusades, not just with her first husband, France’s King Louis VII, but also through her offspring with her second husband, Henry II.  
  	The enduring figure of the Middle Ages is the chivalrous knight who served as a hero across much of Europe, and nobody played a more defining role in casting the popular image of medieval knights than Eleanor’s son Richard the Lionheart, one of the most famous English kings and crusaders. In many respects, it was ironic that Richard became one of the central characters of the Middle Ages, and his very popular legacy today belies centuries of controversy. Richard I Plantagenet, better known by his nickname “Coeur de Lion” (Lionheart), eventually became King of England, Grand Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Poitou, and Duke of Anjou, but as the third son in a large family, he did not expect to or even want to rule England. Nevertheless, it was he who eventually came to the throne upon his father's death, assisted in great measure by his statesmanlike mother Eleanor.

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