Random Life is a collection of over 200 recent cartoons by much-loved cartoonist Judy Horacek. Drawn for her regular spot in the Age (and other publications wise enough to employ her), Judy¿s ninth cartoon collection covers subjects as diverse as climate change, feminism, social media, fairy tales, Mondays and zebras.These are cartoons that make us look anew at the contemporary world. They show us who we are, or who we might be. They make us laugh, or sometimes even cry. They are about life, and it is random.

In this fascinating book, mathematician Ed Beltrami takes a close enough look at randomness to make it mysteriously disappear. The results of coin tosses, it turns out, are determined from the start, and only our incomplete knowledge makes them look random. "Random" sequences of numbers are more elusive, but Godels undecidability theorem informs us that we will never know. Those familiar with quantum indeterminacy assert that order is an illusion, and that the world is fundamentally random. Yet randomness is also an illusion. Perhaps order and randomness, like waves and particles, are only two sides of the same (tossed) coin.

Selected as One of the Best Books of the 21st Century by The New York Times Set amid the havoc of the War on Drugs, this New York Times bestseller is an "astonishingly intimate" (New York magazine) chronicle of one family’s triumphs and trials in the South Bronx of the 1990s. “Unmatched in depth and power and grace. A profound, achingly beautiful work of narrative nonfiction…The standard-bearer of embedded reportage.” —Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted In her classic bestseller, journalist Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses readers in the world of one family with roots in the Bronx, New York. In 1989, LeBlanc approached Jessica, a young mother whose encounter with the carceral state is about to forever change the direction of her life. This meeting redirected LeBlanc’s reporting, taking her past the perennial stories of crime and violence into the community of women and children who bear the brunt of the insidious violence of poverty. Her book bears witness to the teetering highs and devastating lows in the daily lives of Jessica, her family, and her expanding circle of friends. Set at the height of the War on Drugs, Random Family is a love story—an ode to the families that form us and the families we create for ourselves. Charting the tumultuous struggle of hope against deprivation over three generations, LeBlanc slips behind the statistics and comes back with a riveting, haunting, and distinctly American true story.

Life has this tendency of offering lessons randomly in some inexplicable moments when one takes a road less travelled in pursuit of one’s own calling. Each page offers one such lesson that author has picked up from myriad experiences. Some came from intense interactions, others from deep observations and many appeared just like that fleeting cloud in the skies of mind. This book is a simple offering to the discerning minds which is written in day to day spoken language without any attempt by the author to distort it using embellishment and frills. It’s free flowing and readers are expected to contemplate on the lessons shared and move through every page with ease.