Other books that might interest you

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  Housing the New Russia

  Jane R. Zavisca

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  In Housing the New Russia, Jane R. Zavisca examines Russia's attempts to transition from a socialist vision of housing, in which the government promised a separate, state-owned apartment for every family, to a market-based and mortgage-dependent model of home ownership. In 1992, the post-Soviet Russian government signed an agreement with the United States to create the Russian housing market. The vision of an American-style market guided housing policy over the next two decades. Privatization gave socialist housing to existing occupants, creating a nation of homeowners overnight. New financial institutions, modeled on the American mortgage system, laid the foundation for a market. Next the state tried to stimulate mortgages—and reverse the declining birth rate, another major concern—by subsidizing loans for young families.Imported housing institutions, however, failed to resonate with local conceptions of ownership, property, and rights. Most Russians reject mortgages, which they call "debt bondage," as an unjust "overpayment" for a good they consider to be a basic right. Instead of stimulating homeownership, privatization, combined with high prices and limited credit, created a system of "property without markets." Frustrated aspirations and unjustified inequality led most Russians to call for a government-controlled housing market. Under the Soviet system, residents retained lifelong tenancy rights, perceiving the apartments they inhabited as their own. In the wake of privatization, young Russians can no longer count on the state to provide their house, nor can they afford to buy a home with wages, forcing many to live with extended family well into adulthood. Zavisca shows that the contradictions of housing policy are a significant factor in Russia's falling birth rates and the apparent failure of its pronatalist policies. These consequences further stack the deck against the likelihood that an affordable housing market will take off in the near future.

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  Think Little - Essays

  Wendell Berry

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  The first in the new Counterpoints series, Think Little is an evergreen, ever-urgent, and now pocket-sized argument for focused and inclusive climate change activism
  Designed and priced for point-of-sale, the Counterpoints series will feature essays, poems, and stories from Wendell Berry, Gary Snyder, Mary Robison, Betty Fussell, MFK Fisher, and many more
  Berry argues that environmental activism and policy change cannot only be a public, large-scale, corporate- and organization-led; instead, changes must happen at the person, individual, and community levels in order for our attempts to slow climate change to be successful. Just as the Civil Rights movement had to become personal, had to be adopted in homes and communities across the country in order to gain momentum and critical mass, so too does environmental activism
  Berry also reminds us that the forces that would exploit people based on their race, gender, and socioeconomic status are the same forces that are content to exploit the earth for its natural resources

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  Hushed Cries - Healing is Found...

  Dorthea L. Hughes

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  According to Child Help, at least five children die from abuse and neglect every day. The ones who survive walk away with an everlasting scar in their hearts. Dorthea L. Hughes’s honest, vulnerable, yet ultimately victorious memoir about surviving child sexual abuse will encourage others in similar situations, serve as a precautionary tale to keep them from going down the all-too- common path of self-destruction, and help those who care about young people recognize the warning signs and stop the abuse from continuing.

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  The Joy of Gay Sex - Fully...

  Charles Silverstein, Felice Picano

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  For a new century and a new generation of readers comes a fully revised and expanded edition of a classic guide to gay sex, love, and life. Featuring 50 new illustrations. 
    
  One of the touchstones of the emerging gay consciousness when it was first published in the 70’s, and a standard reference for gay men throughout the 80’s and 90’s, The Joy of Gay Sex has informed countless men about the ins and outs of gay life, love, and pleasure. A full decade has now passed since the last update, and while the gay community has seen improved treatments for AIDS, more positive media coverage, new forums for the expression of community, and more favorable laws, there continues to be an urgent need for this book’s brand of positive and responsible advice. 
   Invaluable not only as a sex guide but as a resource on building self-esteem, and a coming out guide for young gay men, The Joy of Gay Sex addresses the many emotional and relationship-oriented issues in gay life, from long-term couples and one-night stands, to loneliness and growing older. It also serves as a general reference on a number of diverse topics, including living wills and insurance.

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  Conscious - A Brief Guide to the...

  Annaka Harris

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  NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 
  "If you’ve ever wondered how you have the capacity to wonder, some fascinating insights await you in these pages.” --Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals 
  As concise and enlightening as Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, this mind-expanding dive into the mystery of consciousness is an illuminating meditation on the self, free will, and felt experience. 
  What is consciousness? How does it arise? And why does it exist? We take our experience of being in the world for granted. But the very existence of consciousness raises profound questions: Why would any collection of matter in the universe be conscious? How are we able to think about this? And why should we? 
  In this wonderfully accessible book, Annaka Harris guides us through the evolving definitions, philosophies, and scientific findings that probe our limited understanding of consciousness. Where does it reside, and what gives rise to it? Could it be an illusion, or a universal property of all matter? As we try to understand consciousness, we must grapple with how to define it and, in the age of artificial intelligence, who or what might possess it.  
  Conscious offers lively and challenging arguments that alter our ideas about consciousness—allowing us to think freely about it for ourselves, if indeed we can.

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  Sword of Shadows

  Jeri Westerson

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  A quest to find the ancient sword Excalibur quickly turns into a hunt for a determined killer for Crispin Guest.
  
  London, 1396. A trip to the swordsmith shop for Crispin Guest, Tracker of London, and his apprentice Jack Tucker takes an unexpected turn when Crispin crosses paths with Carantok Teague, a Cornish treasure hunter. Carantok has a map he is convinced will lead him to the sword of Excalibur – a magnificent relic dating back to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table – and he wants Crispin to help him find it.
  
  Travelling to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall with Carantok and Jack, Crispin is soon reunited with an old flame as he attempts to locate the legendary sword. But does Excalibur really exist, or is he on an impossible quest? When a body is discovered, Crispin’s search for treasure suddenly turns into a hunt for a dangerous killer.

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