Angry, Bored, and Confused—three words that aptly describe the typical American’s view toward the world of politics. But it doesn’t have to stay this way, argues Michael J. Kryzanek in Angry, Bored, Confused: A Citizen Handbook of American Politics. Kryzanek discusses issues central to American politics—citizenship, power, leadership, problem solving, initiating change—through a series of straightforward questions, with sometimes surprising answers. Angry, Bored, Confused examines American politics from the perspective of an anxious consumer seeking to understand the political world and change it for the better.

An Entrepreneur Best Book of the Year Facebook makes us lonely. Selfies breed narcissism. On Twitter, hostility reigns. Pundits and psychologists warn that digital technologies substantially alter our emotional states, but in this lively investigation of changing feelings about technology, we learn that the gadgets we use don’t just affect how we feel—they can profoundly change our sense of self. When we say we’re bored, we don’t mean the same thing as a Victorian dandy. Could it be that political punditry has helped shape a new kind of anger? Luke Fernandez and Susan Matt take us back in time to consider how our feelings of loneliness, boredom, vanity, and anger have evolved in tandem with new technologies. “Technologies have been shaping [our] emotional culture for more than a century, argue computer scientist Luke Fernandez and historian Susan Matt in this original study. Marshalling archival sources and interviews, they trace how norms (say, around loneliness) have shifted with technological change.” —Nature “A powerful story of how new forms of technology are continually integrated into the human experience.” —Publishers Weekly

Angry, bored, and confused—three words that aptly describe the typical American's view toward the world of politics. But it doesn't have to stay this way, argues Michael Kryzanek, in Angry, Bored, Confused. Kryzanek discusses issues central to American politics—citizenship, power, leadership, problem solving, initiating change—through a series of straightforward questions, with sometimes surprising answers. Angry, Bored, and Confused examines American politics from the perspective of an anxious consumer seeking to understand the political world, and to change it for the better.

Barron’s ESL Proficiency Series: Prepositions provides comprehensive coverage of this most difficult topic in English grammar. The idiosyncratic nature of prepositions often makes them a barrier to achieving English language proficiency. Jean Yates offers clear explanations with lots of examples and opportunities to practice. Content is organized into simple 15-minute units each of which has its own practice exercises. An answer key is included in the back of the book. The ESL Profiency Series is a valuable tool for ESL teachers, tutors and learners who want to advance their English language skills for work, school or to prepare for proficiency tests such as TOEFL, IELTS, or TOEIC. It is ideal for independent study.

Community Writing: Researching Social Issues Through Composition employs a series of assignments that guide students to research and write about issues confronting their individual communities. Students start by identifying a community to which they belong and focusing on problems in it, and then analyze possible solutions, construct arguments for them, decide which are likely to succeed, and consider how to initiate action. This is a primary text for first-year composition courses, covering the basics of the writing process. The assignments are recursive. Short writing assignments in each chapter build up to longer papers. Each of the assignment questions is accompanied by a guide to thinking about and writing the assigned paper, followed by a short Focus On reading that provides a brief account of community activism, a media case study, or a notable success story. The longer papers are accompanied by in-class peer reading groups. Each successive peer reading attempts a higher level of conceptual critique. By working together throughout the semester, students create increasingly adept peer groups familiar with all stages of each other's research. The book is carefully structured, but there is plenty of "give" in it, allowing instructors to be flexible in adapting it to the needs of their students and courses. Community Writing: * is distinguished by pedagogy based on a collaborative, process-oriented, service learning approach that emphasizes media critique and field research on community issues chosen by individual students; * answers real student questions, such as: Where do I find articles on my topic? What if evidence contradicts my hypothesis? How do I know if a source is biased?; * is web-savvy--guides students into building their own Web sites, including a unique guide for critiquing the design and veracity of other people's websites; and * is media-savvy--topics include media monopolies, spin control, dumbing down, misleading statistics, the Freedom of Information Act, "crackpot" authors, political rhetoric, and fallacious argumentation.

This best-selling text emphasizes that social and cultural changes are the pervasive realities of our era. One of the main themes of Contemporary Society is that the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial order in the modern world is fraught with difficulties, as was the transition from an agricultural to an industrial order in an earlier era. Within this framework, we can observe the increasing fragmentation of the social order, which tends to lead people away from community and a common purpose and often invites conflict and disunity. At the same time, countervailing social forces are also at work, providing some stability, some shelter in the storm. Finally, societies are faced with the rapid and transformative power of information technology, a fact that propels separate groups of people into a global entity.

The original Guru, the Self, is present in everybody's heart as Silence. This Silence can be recognized in the gap between two thoughts, two actions, two breaths, two moments. This Silence may also just appear spontaneously, when one is simply at rest, at peace. Chup Sadhana is an effortless no-practice practice, which reveals this ever-present, underlying Silence in which all the events of life are experienced. This is the missing link, which connects different spiritual traditions.