Other books that might interest you

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  Airplane Mode - An Irreverent...

  Shahnaz Habib

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  Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals of Excellence 
   
   
   
  The conditions of travel have long been dictated by the color of passports and the color of skin. 
   
   
   
  The color of one's skin and passport have long dictated the conditions of travel.  For Shahnaz Habib, travel and travel writing have always been complicated pleasures. Habib threads the history of travel with her personal story as a child on family vacations in India, an adult curious about the world, and an immigrant for whom roundtrips are an annual fact of life. Tracing the power dynamics that underlie tourism, this insightful debut parses who gets to travel, and who gets to write about the experience. 
   
   
   
  Threaded through the book are inviting and playful analyses of obvious and not-so-obvious travel artifacts: passports, carousels, bougainvilleas, guidebooks, trains, the idea of wanderlust itself. Together, they tell a subversive history of travel as a Euro-American mode of consumerism—but as any traveler knows, travel is more than that. As an immigrant whose loved ones live across continents, Habib takes a deeply curious and joyful look at a troubled and beloved activity.

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  The Santa Muerte - The Healer...

  Kelly Mass

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  The cult image, female divine being, and folk saint Nuestra Seora de la Santa Muerte (Spanish meaning: Our Woman of the Holy Death) is a cult image, female divine being, and folk saint in Mexican Neopaganism and folk Catholicism. 
  Her worshippers relate her with healing, security, and safe delivery to the afterlife simply because she's a personification of death. In spite of condemnation from Catholic Church leaders and, more just recently, evangelical movements, her following has grown substantially since the start of the twenty-first century. 
  Santa Muerte, who was initially portrayed as a male character, is now generally illustrated as a skeletal female figure dressed in a long cape and clutching several things, most typically a scythe and a world. 
  Let’s take a look at what she means or meant to people in Mexico, and what we can learn about it.

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  The Secret of Chimneys

  Agatha Christie

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  At the request of George Lomax, Lord Caterham reluctantly agrees to host a weekend party at his home, Chimneys. A murder occurs in the house, beginning a week of fast-paced events with police among the guests...
  
  The Secret of Chimneys, by master-author Agatha Christie, introduces the much-loved characters of Superintendent Battle and Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent.

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  Jean-Michel Basquiat: A short...

  5 Minutes, 5 Minute Biographies,...

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  Jean-Michel Basquiat, American artist extraordinaire: Life and work in a short biography! Everything you need to know, brief and concise. Infotainment, education and entertainment at its best!

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  Cobalt - Cradle of the Demon...

  Charlie Angus

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  The world is desperate for cobalt. It drives the proliferation of digital and clean technologies. But this "demon metal" has a horrific present and a troubled history. 
   
   
   
  The modern search for cobalt has brought investors back to a small town in Northern Canada, a place called Cobalt. Like the demon metal, this town has a dark and turbulent history. 
   
   
   
  The tale of the early-twentieth-century mining rush at Cobalt has been told as a settle's adventure, but Indigenous people had already been trading in metals from the region for two thousand years. And the events that happened here—the theft of Indigenous lands, the exploitation of a multicultural workforce, and the destruction of the natural environment—established a template for resource extraction that has been exported around the world. 
   
    
   
  Charlie Angus reframes the complex and intersectional history of Cobalt within a broader international frame—from the conquistadores to the Western gold rush to the struggles in the Democratic Republic of Congo today. He demonstrates how Cobalt set Canada on its path to become the world's dominant mining superpower.

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  Mercy - Showing Kindness to the...

  Esther Jameson

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  Mercy is a profound expression of kindness, compassion, and forgiveness, often extended to those who may not seem to deserve it. It goes beyond simple generosity, as it requires an intentional choice to withhold judgment or punishment in favor of grace. Unlike justice, which demands fairness and consequences, mercy offers a second chance, a moment of reprieve that can change the course of a person’s life. It is an act of the heart, one that acknowledges human weakness yet chooses understanding over condemnation. 
  Throughout history, mercy has been revered as a virtue, praised in religious teachings, philosophy, and moral discussions. It is a force that has shaped civilizations, influenced legal systems, and guided personal relationships. In many cultures, it is considered not just an act of goodness but a moral responsibility. Leaders who have shown mercy, whether in governance, war, or interpersonal dealings, are often remembered with admiration, their compassion seen as a mark of true wisdom. Conversely, the absence of mercy has been linked to cruelty, oppression, and suffering, demonstrating how vital it is in maintaining harmony in society. 
  Mercy and grace are often confused, but while they share similarities, they are not identical. Grace is the act of giving blessings freely, often without any expectation or prerequisite, while mercy is specifically about withholding deserved punishment or hardship. When someone extends mercy, they acknowledge wrongdoing or imperfection but choose to respond with kindness rather than retribution. This makes mercy one of the most powerful ways to heal relationships and restore dignity to those who have fallen short.

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