The Avid Reader Show

Manga didn’t begin in the 20th century — it emerged from a rich, inventive world of illustrated books in early Japan. 🇯🇵📚 In Japan’s Manga Revolution, art historian Andreas Marks takes us through the playful, dramatic, and groundbreaking works that defined Japanese visual storytelling: Hokusai’s sketchbooks, Utamaro’s creature studies, serialized adventure sagas, and the first publication to ever use the word manga.
Discover how these early innovations set the stage for the global manga culture we know today.

Dr. Andreas Marks is the Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art and Director of the Clark Center for Japanese Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. From 2008 to 2013 he was the director and chief curator of the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture in California. He received a Ph.D. from Leiden University and a master's degree in East Asian Art History from the University of Bonn. A specialist in Japanese woodblock prints, he is the author of over 20 books. In 2014 he received the International Ukiyo-e Society Award in recognition of his research, and in 2018 and 2022 the top book award from the International Fine Print Dealers Association.

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Lift a glass to the story of sake—from Japanese homebrew to global phenomenon.
 
Sake, Japan’s iconic rice-based alcoholic drink, has been central to Japanese culture for over 1,300 years. Traditionally made with rice, water, and koji mold, it was consumed in early brewpubs and was vital to samurai rituals and festivals. Sake’s story includes homebrewers like clan matriarchs, ancient princes, and modern political activists who defied laws to keep homebrewing alive. Temples refined sake-making techniques, laying the foundation for a thriving industry that became a major economic force for shoguns and the modern state.
 
Kanpai is the first history of sake in English, exploring its evolution from homebrew to flavored varieties, and its cultural significance and global rise—including its growing popularity and production in North America and Europe. The book also shows how sake has shaped Japanese food, society, and traditions.

Eric C. Rath is professor of premodern Japanese history at the University of Kansas. He is the author of Food and Fantasy in Early Modern Japan.

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A disarmingly personal account of the new science of memory manipulation by one of today's leading pioneers in the field

As a graduate student at MIT, Steve Ramirez successfully created false memories in the lab. Now, as a neuroscientist working at the frontiers of brain science, he foresees a future where we can replace our negative memories with positive ones. In How to Change a Memory, Ramirez draws on his own memories--of friendship, family, loss, and recovery--to reveal how memory can be turned on and off like a switch, edited, and even constructed from nothing.

A future in which we can change our memories of the past may seem improbable, but in fact, the everyday act of remembering is one of transformation. Intentionally editing memory to improve our lives takes advantage of the brain's natural capacity for change.

In How to Change a Memory, Ramirez explores how scientists discovered that memories are fluid--they change over time, can be erased, reactivated, and even falsely implanted in the lab. Reflecting on his own path as a scientist, he examines how memory manipulation shapes our imagination and sense of self. If we can erase a deeply traumatic memory, would it change who we are? And what would that change mean anyway? Throughout, Ramirez carefully considers the ethics of artificially controlling memory, exploring how we might use this tool responsibly--for both personal healing and the greater good.

A masterful blend of memoir and cutting-edge science, How to Change a Memory explores how neuroscience has reached a critical juncture, where scientists can see the potential of memory manipulation to help people suffering from the debilitating effects of PTSD, anxiety, Alzheimer's, addiction, and a host of other neurological and behavioral disorders.

Steve Ramirez has been featured on CNN, NPR, and the BBC and in leading publications such as The New York Times, National Geographic, Wired, Forbes, The Guardian, The Economist, and Nature. An award-winning neuroscientist who has given TED talks on his groundbreaking work on memory manipulation, he is associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at Boston University.

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The moving life and legacy of Rome’s great emperor philosopher.
  
This book guides us through the fascinating life and writings of Marcus Aurelius, Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor. Philosopher William O. Stephens explores Marcus’s reluctant rise to power, his marriage, and his efforts to mold his son into a just successor. He examines Marcus’s Stoic tenets as he describes the struggles of dealing with a fifteen-year pandemic, the betrayal of a trusted general, social upheaval centered on a new “superstition” (Christianity), and how Marcus’s determination to stabilize the empire’s borders resulted in strife, broken treaties, and protracted wars. This gripping narrative of Marcus’ life, times, and thought, as well as his complex legacy will appeal to all those interested in Roman history.
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

William O. Stephens is professor emeritus of philosophy at Creighton University. His books include Epictetus’s Encheiridion: A New Translation and Guide to Stoic Ethics.

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With the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence, both existential fears and uncritical enthusiasm for AI systems have surged. In this era of unprecedented technological growth, understanding the profound impacts of AI — both positive and negative — is more crucial than ever.

In The Intelligence Explosion, James Barrat, a leading technology expert, equips readers with the tools to navigate the complex and often chaotic landscape of modern AI. This compelling book dives deep into the challenges posed by generative AI, exposing how tech companies have built systems that are both error-prone and impossible to fully interpret.

Through insightful interviews with AI pioneers, Barrat highlights the unstable trajectory of AI development, showcasing its potential for modest benefits and catastrophic consequences. Bold, eye-opening, and essential, The Intelligence Explosion is a must-read for anyone grappling with the realities of the technological revolution.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Barrat is an author and documentary filmmaker who’s written and produced films for National Geographic, Discovery, PBS, and many other broadcasters in the United States and Europe. He is the author of Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era, Facing Sucide: Why People Kill Themselves and How We Can Stop Them, and The Intelligence Explosion: When AI Beats Humans at Everything.

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Mapping the acoustic onto the human soul, moving meditations on the power and meaning of sound.
 
Nature writers Michaela Vieser and Isaac Yuen set out in search of sounds beautiful and loathsome, melodious and disturbing, healing, strange, and intimate. The phenomena of sound may be fleeting and evanescent, but the memory of it can open a window into the soul, deepening our connections with time, the environment, and each other. From the edge of the solar system to the crackle of arctic sea ice, from the ancient oracle site of Dodona to the singing pillars of Hampi, each of these thirty-six essays explores stories of sound through the lens of history, science, and culture, stylishly blending fantastical facts and unique anecdotes to create a compelling narrative.

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From the New York Times best-selling author of Stiff and Fuzz, a rollicking exploration of the quest to re-create the impossible complexities of human anatomy.

The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer. For centuries, medicine has reached for what’s available—sculpting noses from brass, borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, crafting eye parts from jet canopies and breasts from petroleum by-products. Today we’re attempting to grow body parts from scratch using stem cells and 3D printers. How are we doing? Are we there yet?

In Replaceable You, Mary Roach explores the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body’s failings. When and how does a person decide they’d be better off with a prosthetic than their existing limb? Can a donated heart be made to beat forever? Can an intestine provide a workable substitute for a vagina?

Roach dives in with her characteristic verve and infectious wit. Her travels take her to the OR at a legendary burn unit in Boston, a “superclean” xeno-pigsty in China, and a stem cell “hair nursery” in the San Diego tech hub. She talks with researchers and surgeons, amputees and ostomates, printers of kidneys and designers of wearable organs. She spends time in a working iron lung from the 1950s, stays up all night with recovery techs as they disassemble and reassemble a tissue donor, and travels across Mongolia with the cataract surgeons of Orbis International.

Irrepressible and accessible, Replaceable You immerses readers in the wondrous, improbable, and surreal quest to build a new you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Roach is the author of seven best-selling works of nonfiction, including Grunt, Stiff, and, most recently, Fuzz. Her writing has appeared in National Geographic and the New York Times Magazine, among other publications.

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An enlightening look at how our elevation of the sensorial and the subjective has impaired our ability to connect—and how we might build that connection back.
 
In today’s so-called experience society, everything is judged by personal experience, from online shopping to funerals. Value is measured by how satisfying an individual finds their experience, and the experience economy thrives on this desire for entertainment and fulfillment. Yet debates often reach an impasse when reduced to subjective feelings—whether offense is taken or criticisms are dismissed. Svend Brinkmann explores this cultural shift, examining how our reliance on subjective experience limits meaningful discussions and social cohesion. He argues that reclaiming a shared, objective reality is essential for tackling the major issues of our time and for fostering genuine understanding beyond personal perceptions.

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https://wellingtonsquarebooks.com/book/9781836390954

An intimate account of Albert Einstein’s visit to Oxford in the 1930’s, casting new light on why he continues to be the world’s most famous scientist.

In 1931, Albert Einstein visited Oxford to receive an honorary degree and lecture on relativity and the universe. While teaching, he naturally chalked equations and diagrams on several blackboards. Today, one of these boards is the most popular object in Oxford’s History of Science Museum. Yet Einstein tried to prevent its preservation because he was modest about his legendary status. Having failed, he complained to his diary: “Not even a cart-horse could endure so much!”

Nevertheless, he came back to Oxford in 1932 and again in 1933—then as a refugee from Nazi Germany. In many ways, the city appealed deeply and revealed him at his most charismatic as he participated in its science, music, and politics, and wandered its streets alone. Einstein in Oxford is an eye-opening exploration of the world’s most famous scientist, told through the personal writings he left behind from an important period of his life. From the pages of his diary entries, poem, and other written observations, readers gain a deeper understanding of the unique man—and humor—who continues to fascinate the world.

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Are we alone in the universe? It’s a fundamental question for Earth-dwelling humankind. Are there other worlds like ours, out there somewhere? In Hidden in the Heavens, Jason Steffen, a former scientist on NASA’s Kepler mission, describes how that mission searched for planets orbiting Sun-like stars—especially Earth-like planets circulating in Earth-like orbits. What the Kepler space telescope found, Steffen reports, contradicted centuries of theoretical and observational work and transformed our understanding of planets, planetary systems, and the stars they orbit. Kepler discovered thousands of planets orbiting distant stars—a bewildering variety of celestial bodies, including rocky planets being vaporized by the intense heat of their host star; super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, with properties simultaneously similar to and different from both Earth and Neptune; gas giants several times the size and mass of Jupiter; and planets orbiting in stellar systems that had only been imagined in science fiction.

‎Published by: Princeton University Press

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