A collection of commencement speeches and other wit and wisdom from the New York Times–bestselling literary icon and author of Slaughterhouse-Five. Master storyteller and satirist Kurt Vonnegut was one of the most in-demand commencement speakers of his time. For each occasion, Vonnegut’s words were unfailingly insightful and witty, and they stayed with audience members long after graduation. This expanded second edition also includes more than sixty pages of further thoughts from Vonnegut (whose good advice wasn’t limited to graduation speeches). Edited by Dan Wakefield, and including such pieces as “How to Make Money and Find Love!,” “How to Have Something Most Billionaires Don’t,” and “Somebody Should Have Told Me Not to Join a Fraternity,” this book reads like a narrative in the unique voice that made Vonnegut a hero to readers everywhere. Hilarious, razor-sharp, freewheeling, and at times deeply serious, these reflections are ideal not just for graduates but for anyone undergoing what Vonnegut would call their “long-delayed puberty ceremony”—marking the long and challenging passage to full-time adulthood. “Like Mark Twain, Mr. Vonnegut used humor to tackle the basic questions of human existence.” —The New York Times

Letters of Note, the book based on the beloved website of the same name, became an instant classic on publication in 2013, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. This new edition sees the collection of the world's most entertaining, inspiring and unusual letters updated with fourteen riveting new missives and a new introduction from curator Shaun Usher. From Virginia Woolf's heart-breaking suicide letter to Queen Elizabeth II's recipe for drop scones sent to President Eisenhower; from the first recorded use of the expression 'OMG' in a letter to Winston Churchill, to Gandhi's appeal for calm to Hitler; and from Iggy Pop's beautiful letter of advice to a troubled young fan, to Leonardo da Vinci's remarkable job application letter, Letters of Note is a celebration of the power of written correspondence which captures the humour, seriousness, sadness and brilliance that make up all of our lives.

Internet trolls live to upset as many people as possible, using all the technical and psychological tools at their disposal. They gleefully whip the media into a frenzy over a fake teen drug crisis; they post offensive messages on Facebook memorial pages, traumatizing grief-stricken friends and family; they use unabashedly racist language and images. They take pleasure in ruining a complete stranger's day and find amusement in their victim's anguish. In short, trolling is the obstacle to a kinder, gentler Internet. To quote a famous Internet meme, trolling is why we can't have nice things online. Or at least that's what we have been led to believe. In this provocative book, Whitney Phillips argues that trolling, widely condemned as obscene and deviant, actually fits comfortably within the contemporary media landscape. Trolling may be obscene, but, Phillips argues, it isn't all that deviant. Trolls' actions are born of and fueled by culturally sanctioned impulses -- which are just as damaging as the trolls' most disruptive behaviors. Phillips describes, for example, the relationship between trolling and sensationalist corporate media -- pointing out that for trolls, exploitation is a leisure activity; for media, it's a business strategy. She shows how trolls, "the grimacing poster children for a socially networked world," align with social media. And she documents how trolls, in addition to parroting media tropes, also offer a grotesque pantomime of dominant cultural tropes, including gendered notions of dominance and success and an ideology of entitlement. We don't just have a trolling problem, Phillips argues; we have a culture problem. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things isn't only about trolls; it's about a culture in which trolls thrive.

Thomas Gilovich offers a wise and readable guide to the fallacy of the obvious in everyday life. When can we trust what we believe—that "teams and players have winning streaks," that "flattery works," or that "the more people who agree, the more likely they are to be right"—and when are such beliefs suspect? Thomas Gilovich offers a guide to the fallacy of the obvious in everyday life. Illustrating his points with examples, and supporting them with the latest research findings, he documents the cognitive, social, and motivational processes that distort our thoughts, beliefs, judgments and decisions. In a rapidly changing world, the biases and stereotypes that help us process an overload of complex information inevitably distort what we would like to believe is reality. Awareness of our propensity to make these systematic errors, Gilovich argues, is the first step to more effective analysis and action.

First published in 2007 with the title: I thought it was just me: women reclaiming power and courage in a culture of shame.

Sheila Tubman sometimes wonders who she really is: the outgoing, witty, and capable Sheila the Great, or the secret Sheila, who's afraid of the dark, spiders, swimming, and dogs. When her family spends the summer in Tarrytown, Sheila has to face some of her worst fears. Not only does a dog come with the rented house, but her parents expect Sheila to take swimming lessons! Sheila does her best to pretend she's an expert at everything, but she knows she isn't fooling her new best friend, Mouse Ellis, who happens to be a crackerjack swimmer and a dog lover. What will it take for Sheila to admit to the Tarrytown kids -- and to herself -- that she's only human?

In this chilling short-story by a master of the craft, Kurt Vonnegut creates a fictional world of the future where life and death are no longer matters of individual choice or destiny. The title refers to the famous quote from Hamlet, "To be or not to be...." with "0" being pronounced as "naught." It also refers to the eternal dilemma of life and death that face every human being at some point in their lives.Written in 1962 it is set in some unspecified time in the future, when earth has become a Utopia. The population is under control, there is no poverty, suffering or even natural death. Man has conquered all. It's common for humans to live for two centuries or more. Death happens only when someone requests it. 2BR02B in the story is the telephone number that volunteers must call when they are ready for assisted suicide. It belongs to the Federal Bureau of Termination which decides that for every child born, one person must volunteer to die. However, all is not perfect in this paradise - human beings still retain a spark of humanity and yearn for freedom.When the story opens, Edward Wehling, a youngish father-to-be is waiting for his wife to give birth. What follows is both spine-chilling and eerie. It makes you introspect about the future of humankind, whether the earth can sustain itself at the pace at which population is growing and about the ethics of concepts like assisted suicide. The reader pauses to wonder whether greater common good can replace love and the individual.2BR02B has memorable characters like the nameless two-hundred-year-old painter, the genial Dr Hitz who created the first population control gas-chamber and Leora Duncan a gas-chamber hostess.Apart from these, the story explores Vonnegut's favorite anti-establishment ideas, where the government is seen as the enemy of personal freedom. Art in the future, according to Vonnegut, will become dull, commercialized and prescribed by the state. Creativity and individual expression will die out along with other freedoms. Technology and scientific advancements will render simple human concepts of compassion and love redundant.Though the story is a trifle dated (it refers to the year 2000 as the year in which population control systems were first imposed, and the earth had run out of food and water) it is an interesting one that appeals to readers of all ages. In this chilling short-story by a master of the craft, Kurt Vonnegut creates a fictional world of the future where life and death are no longer matters of individual choice or destiny. The title refers to the famous quote from Hamlet, "To be or not to be...." with "0" being pronounced as "naught." It also refers to the eternal dilemma of life and death that face every human being at some point in their lives.Written in 1962 it is set in some unspecified time in the future, when earth has become a Utopia. The population is under control, there is no poverty, suffering or even natural death. Man has conquered all. It's common for humans to live for two centuries or more. Death happens only when someone requests it. 2BR02B in the story is the telephone number that volunteers must call when they are ready for assisted suicide. It belongs to the Federal Bureau of Termination which decides that for every child born, one person must volunteer to die. However, all is not perfect in this paradise - human beings still retain a spark of humanity and yearn for freedom.When the story opens, Edward Wehling, a youngish father-to-be is waiting for his wife to give birth. What follows is both spine-chilling and eerie. It makes you introspect about the future of humankind, whether the earth can sustain itself at the pace at which population is growing and about the ethics of concepts like assisted suicide. The reader pauses to wonder whether greater common good can replace love and the individual.