Showing results by publisher "Blackstone Audio" in Social Psychology & Interactions

The Art of Is contains breath-of-fresh-air thinking about how to cultivate the kind of game-changing creativity everyone seeks. Stephen Nachmanovitch shows exactly how the passion and immediacy of improvisation can be cultivated and how, in fact, we all improvise all the time - whether we are driving or deep in conversation.

Americans have traditionally placed great value on self-reliance and fortitude. Recent decades, however, have seen the rise of a therapeutic ethic that views Americans as emotionally underdeveloped, requiring the ministrations of mental-health professionals to cope with life's vicissitudes. Today, having a book for every ailment, a counselor for every crisis, a lawsuit for every grievance, and a TV show for every problem degrades one's native ability to cope with life's challenges.

Pop quiz: Do you prefer when things go according to plan or when the unexpected happens? Most of us pick control and predictability. Yet research reveals a counterintuitive truth: our best memories are the surprising ones. We feel most comfortable when things are certain, but we feel most alive when they're not.

Over the last four decades, debt, bankruptcy, and home foreclosures have risen to epidemic levels, and the personal savings rate has sunk dangerously low. Why, in the richest nation on Earth, can't Americans hold on to their money? First published in 2008, Stuart Vyse's Going Broke described the epidemic of personal debt that existed in the years leading up to the Great Recession and anticipated the home mortgage crisis that started it. Ten years later, this fully updated new edition tackles the post-recession era of economic recovery. 

In Life Is Friends, Martinet focuses on at-home entertaining-the dinner parties, cocktail parties, and informal get-togethers that are the key to creating lasting, fulfilling interpersonal bonds. So hear what Martinet has to say. And then, go ahead: Invite people over.