Did you know— • It took more than an iceberg to sink the Titanic. • The Challenger disaster was predicted. • Unbreakable glass dinnerware had its origin in railroad lanterns. • A football team cannot lose momentum. • Mercury thermometers are prohibited on airplanes for a crucial reason. • Kryptonite bicycle locks are easily broken. “Things fall apart” is more than a poetic insight—it is a fundamental property of the physical world. Why Things Break explores the fascinating question of what holds things together (for a while), what breaks them apart, and why the answers have a direct bearing on our everyday lives. When Mark Eberhart was growing up in the 1960s, he learned that splitting an atom leads to a terrible explosion—which prompted him to worry that when he cut into a stick of butter, he would inadvertently unleash a nuclear cataclysm. Years later, as a chemistry professor, he remembered this childhood fear when he began to ponder the fact that we know more about how to split an atom than we do about how a pane of glass breaks. In Why Things Break, Eberhart leads us on a remarkable and entertaining exploration of all the cracks, clefts, fissures, and faults examined in the field of materials science and the many astonishing discoveries that have been made about everything from the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger to the crashing of your hard drive. Understanding why things break is crucial to modern life on every level, from personal safety to macroeconomics, but as Eberhart reveals here, it is also an area of cutting-edge science that is as provocative as it is illuminating.

This study interrogates the breakages that occur in peoples’ lives such as psychological breakdowns, political ruptures, and the effects of history evolving ideologically such that the axioms of the past are overturned and people subsequently lose their sense of identity or purpose. The book combines creative writing pieces in which writers draw from personal experiences to demonstrate the impact of breakages with more discursive essays that question artificial breakdowns between disciplines and the imperative that underpins all knowledge: its provisional nature in conflict with the human need to categorize and define. It focuses on the psychologies that haunt creative autobiographical pieces, as well as the plight of broken minds and bodies in the face of trauma, historical change and political events. It also looks directly at the ideas of thinkers and artists from the past and the impact their work may still have despite shifting paradigms, ruptures and re-formations. Furthermore, it queries new formations by directly asking: why did former ideas break and why the need for salvaging the past (or authenticating the present) by identifying precursors?

The book that started the Techlash. A stinging polemic that traces the destructive monopolization of the Internet by Google, Facebook and Amazon, and that proposes a new future for musicians, journalists, authors and filmmakers in the digital age. Move Fast and Break Things is the riveting account of a small group of libertarian entrepreneurs who in the 1990s began to hijack the original decentralized vision of the Internet, in the process creating three monopoly firms -- Facebook, Amazon, and Google -- that now determine the future of the music, film, television, publishing and news industries. Jonathan Taplin offers a succinct and powerful history of how online life began to be shaped around the values of the men who founded these companies, including Peter Thiel and Larry Page: overlooking piracy of books, music, and film while hiding behind opaque business practices and subordinating the privacy of individual users in order to create the surveillance-marketing monoculture in which we now live. The enormous profits that have come with this concentration of power tell their own story. Since 2001, newspaper and music revenues have fallen by 70 percent; book publishing, film, and television profits have also fallen dramatically. Revenues at Google in this same period grew from $400 million to $74.5 billion. Today, Google's YouTube controls 60 percent of all streaming-audio business but pay for only 11 percent of the total streaming-audio revenues artists receive. More creative content is being consumed than ever before, but less revenue is flowing to the creators and owners of that content. The stakes here go far beyond the livelihood of any one musician or journalist. As Taplin observes, the fact that more and more Americans receive their news, as well as music and other forms of entertainment, from a small group of companies poses a real threat to democracy. Move Fast and Break Things offers a vital, forward-thinking prescription for how artists can reclaim their audiences using knowledge of the past and a determination to work together. Using his own half-century career as a music and film producer and early pioneer of streaming video online, Taplin offers new ways to think about the design of the World Wide Web and specifically the way we live with the firms that dominate it.

These eleven short fictions evoke the microcosmic worlds every human relationship contains. A woman is captivated by the stories her boyfriend tells about his exes. A faltering artist goes on a date with a married couple. Twin brothers work out their rivalry via the girl next door. In every one of these tales, we meet indelibly real and unforgettable people, a cast of rebels and dreamers trying to transform themselves, forge new destinies, or simply make the moment last.

Fiction. HOW THINGS BREAK by Kerala Goodkin is the winner of the Elixir Press Inaugural Fiction Award. It tells the story of Nat, a young woman who can't sit still. As the world she knows begins to crumble, mimicking the slow disintegration of the house she illegally occupies, she explores the limitations of her personal relationships, her ambition, and the small town she calls home. Kerala Goodkin began writing HOW THINGS BREAK at age 21, during her senior year at Brown University. While in college, she cofounded The Glimpse Foundation and currently serves as Editor-In-Chief of Glimpse Magazine, as well as contributing editor to National Geographic Traveler on Campus. Kerala also volunteers as the Translator and PR Coordinator for the Committee of Immigrants in Action.

***BREAK YOUR BAD HABITS, HARNESS YOUR WILLPOWER, and BUILD POWERFUL SELF-DISCIPLINE*** Tackle life’s challenges head-on with the third installment of the "Do the Hard Things First" series. In "Do the Hard Things First: How to Break Bad Habits by Mastering Willpower and Building Powerful Self-Discipline", readers delve deep into the anatomy of habits, understanding their essence and how they profoundly impact our well-being. From minor habits that interfere with our daily productivity to more destructive ones that have tangible negative consequences on our health and relationships, this book paints a comprehensive picture of why we fall prey to these behaviors and, most importantly, how to overcome them. Rooted in the philosophy of tackling the toughest challenges before anything else, this guidebook identifies your bad habits. It offers a step-by-step program to replace them with growth habits, all while harnessing the power of willpower and self-discipline. Whether you've been struggling with procrastination, feeling stuck in a cycle of self-destructive behaviors, or want to refine your self-discipline, this book is designed to equip you with strategies, insights, and real-life success stories to inspire transformation. Absolutely. Here's an extension of the previous synopsis with a section that outlines ten specific takeaways for readers: The Ten Key Takeaways from the Breaking Bad Habits are: 1. The Science Behind Habits: Dive deep into the neurological and psychological underpinnings of habits, understanding their formation, persistence, and impact on our daily lives. 2. Mastering Willpower: Discover techniques to harness and augment your inner reservoir of willpower, making it a tool for consistent progress and self-control. 3. Tackling Challenges Head-On: Embrace the "Do the Hard Things First" approach, learning the importance of addressing formidable challenges upfront to pave the way for success. 4. Identifying and Prioritizing Bad Habits: Acquire practical strategies to recognize, categorize, and prioritize habits that are detrimental to your growth, laying the groundwork for effective change. 5. Structured Habit Replacement: Follow a step-by-step program that not only eradicates negative patterns but instills positive habits in their place. 6. Mental Resilience Building: Learn exercises and practices to fortify mental strength, equipping you to handle setbacks and challenges with poise and determination. 7. Growth-Oriented Mindset: Understand the principles of a growth mindset, fostering an attitude that views challenges as opportunities and mistakes as learning experiences. 8. The Impact of Positive Change: Gain insight into the ripple effects of positive habits on various aspects of your life, from personal relationships to professional achievements. 9. Real-Life Success Stories: Absorb motivation and practical lessons from individuals who've successfully integrated the "Do the Hard Things First" philosophy into their lives. 10. Achieving Long-Term Fulfillment: Understand the intertwined relationship between habits, self-discipline, and long-term happiness, and acquire tools to achieve a sustained, fulfilling life. By diving into "Do the Hard Things First: Breaking Bad Habits: How to Harness Your Willpower to Break Bad Habits and Build Powerful Self-Discipline", you will embark on a transformative journey. Guided by Scott Allan's expertise, learn how to navigate the complexities of habits and self-discipline, emerging with a toolkit that empowers you to shape your destiny and lead an enriching and empowering lifestyle.

Start Finishing provides a system for transforming your ideas into finished projects. Here you’ll learn to focus your effort, identify drag points and pitfalls, build a pack of supporters, and end with momentum to start finishing the life-changing projects that create the future you want to live in.