Emory Reads

"When journalist John Leland set out to meet members of America's fastest-growing age group, he anticipated learning of challenges, of loneliness, and of the deterioration of body, mind, and quality of life. But the elders he met took him in an entirely different direction. Despite disparate backgrounds and circumstances, they each lived with a surprising lightness and contentment."

"Chris Stedman's personal and searing exploration of authenticity in the digital age, shines a light on how age-old notions of realness can be freshly understood in our new online lives."

"At thirteen, Ed Cohen was diagnosed with Crohn's disease--a chronic, incurable condition that nearly killed him in his early twenties. Exploring his own path to healing, he argues that learning to heal requires us to desire and value healing as a vital possibility. With this book, Cohen advocates reviving healing's role for all those whose lives are touched by illness."

"A guide to using the science of the body clock to promote better sleep, better health, and better thinking. By dismantling long-standing myths and citing cutting-edge science, Foster empowers readers to get back into rhythm and live healthier, sharper lives: scheduling meals to prevent obesity and diabetes; timing medications to increase their effectiveness; getting better sleep through exposure to natural light; and much more."

"From the brilliant mind of Michaela Coel, creator and star of I May Destroy You and Chewing Gum, comes a passionate and inspired declaration against fitting in. By embracing our differences, she says, we can transform our lives. Misfits is a triumphant call for honesty, empathy and inclusion. Championing "misfits" everywhere, this timely, necessary book is a rousing coming-to-power manifesto dedicated to anyone who has ever worried about fitting in."

"A hilarious and transformational book about how to tackle fear--that everlasting hater--and audaciously step into lives, careers, and legacies that go beyond even our wildest dreams. Luvvie Ajayi Jones has been challenged by the enemy of progress known as fear. She was once afraid to call herself a writer, and nearly skipped out on doing a TED talk that changed her life because of imposter syndrome. This book is about how to live boldly in spite of all the reasons we have to cower."

"Offering a frank and funny critique of the cultural forces that are driving us mad, Caroline Dooner examines how treating ourselves like never ending self-improvement projects is a recipe for burnout."

"An expansive look at how history has been shaped by humanity's appetite for food, farmland, and the money behind it all--and how a better future is within reach. Animal, Vegetable, Junk reveals not only how food has shaped our past, but also how we can transform it to reclaim our future."

"Although people choose to adopt new eating habits for individual reasons, broader forces shape why fad diets seem to make sense. Anxious Eaters sheds new light on why people adopt such diets and why these diets remain so attractive even though they often fail."

"Over the past several decades, globalization has homogenized what we eat, and done so ruthlessly. The numbers are stark: Of the roughly six thousand different plants once consumed by human beings, only nine remain major staples today. Just three of these--rice, wheat, and corn--now provide fifty percent of all our calories."

"In Feasting Wild, geographer and anthropologist Gina Rae La Cerva embarks on a global culinary adventure to trace our relationship to wild foods."

"Studying the extreme beliefs and practices of food cults allows us to see the ways in which food serves as a nexus for religious beliefs, sexuality, death anxiety, preoccupation with the body, asceticism, and hedonism, to name a few."

"From the author of Salt Sugar Fat comes a "gripping" (The Wall Street Journal) exposé of how the processed food industry exploits our evolutionary instincts, the emotions we associate with food, and legal loopholes in their pursuit of profit over public health."

"Chronic obesity is on the rise; our food is laced with additives and chemicals; and the environment is being devastated by factory farming, pesticides, fertilizers and monoculture. It is time to re-evaluate what we eat and how we eat it, and re-think the practices of agribusiness, food processing manufacturers and supermarkets."

"What should we have for dinner? Pollan's revolutionary examination has changed the way Americans think about food. The Omnivore's Dilemma continues to transform the way Americans think about the politics, perils, and pleasures of eating."

"This groundbreaking work of practical, popular science reveals that fat is much smarter than we think. Fat is an obsession, a dirty word, a subject of national handwringing--and, according to biochemist Sylvia Tara, the least-understood part of our body."

"This book offers a much-needed reframing of food discourse by presenting alternative ways of thinking about the changing politics of food, eating, and nutrition. It examines critical epistemological questions of how food knowledge comes to be shaped and why we see pendulum swings when it comes to the question of what to eat."

"No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you're not breathing properly. Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head."

"In The Intermittent Fasting Revolution, prominent neuroscientist Mark Mattson shows that intermittent fasting is not only normal but also good for us; it can enhance our ability to cope with stress by making cells more resilient. It also improves mental and physical performance and protects against aging and disease. Mattson-whose pioneering research uncovered the ways that the brain responds to fasting and exercise-explains how thriving while fasting became an evolutionary adaptation."

"One of Vogue Business 100Innovators 2022 . 'The Power of Plus will leave you feeling inspired, motivated, and ready to push for real change, as well as confident and encouraged to embrace yourself, just as you are. This is essential reading for anyone who truly cares about the future of fashion, and for anyone who believes in the power of being yourself.'--Versha Sharma, editor in chief, Teen Vogue"

"The Science and Practice of Middle and Long Distance Running links together the science and coaching artistry associated with preparing distance runners for events ranging from 800 m up to ultra-marathon distances and translates cutting-edge scientific research from the fields of physiology, biomechanics, psychology and nutrition into practical suggestions for achieving success."

"Graphic memoir of Bechdel's lifelong love affair with exercise, set against a hilarious chronicle of fitness fads in our times. Alison Bechdel delivers a deeply layered story of her fascination, from childhood to adulthood, with every fitness craze to come down the pike. The secret to superhuman strength lies not in six-pack abs, but in something much less clearly defined: facing her own non-transcendent but all-important interdependence with others."

Daniel Simpson's The Truth of Yoga offers an overview of yoga's evolution from its earliest origins to the present. It can either be read chronologically or be used as a reference guide to history and philosophy. Each short section addresses one element, quoting from traditional texts and putting their teachings into context. The intention is to keep things clear without oversimplifying.

"In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he'd completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, not to mention triathlons and a dozen critically acclaimed books, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and--even more important--on his writing."