Adult Non-Fiction

    These titles were recently added to the collection of Yakima Valley Libraries

    Notes to John

    Didion, Joan, author.

    In November 1999, Joan Didion began seeing a psychiatrist because, as she wrote to a friend, her family had had 'a rough few years.' She described the sessions in a journal she created for her husband, John Gregory Dunne. For several months, Didion recorded conversations with the psychiatrist in meticulous detail. The initial sessions focused on alcoholism, adoption, depression, anxiety, guilt, and the heartbreaking complexities of her relationship with her daughter Quintana. The subjects evolved to include her work, which she was finding difficult to maintain for sustained periods. There were discussions about her own childhood--misunderstandings and lack of communication with her mother and father, her early tendency to anticipate catastrophe--and the question of legacy, or, as she put it, 'what it's been worth.' The analysis would continue for more than a decade. Didion’s journal was crafted with the singular intelligence, precision, and elegance that characterize all of her writing. It is an unprecedently intimate account that reveals sides of her that were unknown, but the voice is unmistakably hers — questioning, courageous, and clear in the face of a wrenchingly painful journey.....

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    To save and to destroy : writing as an other

    Nguyen, Viet Thanh, 1971- author.

    Born in war-ravaged Vietnam, Viet Nguyen arrived in the United States as a child refugee in 1975. The Nguyen family would soon move to San Jose, California, where the author grew up, attending UC Berkeley in the aftermath of the shocking murder of Vincent Chin, which shaped the political sensibilities of a new generation of Asian Americans. The essays here, delivered originally as the prestigious Norton Lectures, proffer a new answer to a classic literary question: What does the outsider mean to literary writing? Over the course of six captivating and moving chapters, Nguyen explores the idea of being an outsider through lenses that are, by turns, literary, historical, political, and familial. Each piece moves between writers who influenced Nguyen’s craft and weaves in the haunting story of his late mother’s mental illness. Nguyen unfolds the novels and nonfiction of Herman Melville, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ralph Ellison, William Carlos Williams, and Maxine Hong Kingston, until aesthetic theories give way to pressing concerns raised by war and politics. What is a writer’s responsibility in a time of violence? Should we celebrate fiction that gives voice to the voiceless―or do we confront the forces that render millions voiceless in the first place? What are the burdens and pleasures of the “minor” writer in any society? Unsatisfied with the modest inclusion accorded to “model minorities” such as Asian Americans, Nguyen sets the agenda for a more radical and disquieting solidarity with those whose lives have been devastated by imperialism and forever wars.....

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    DIY solar projects for beginners : small and easy projects to whole-home systems use the sun

    Smith, Eric W. (Eric William), 1951- author.

    With clear instructions, tips, and step-by-step color photos for each project, this book takes the intimidation out of DIY solar builds. For those with more ambitious solar power plans, this updated edition contains information on outfitting your home with solar electricity collection systems and integrating them into your primary power supply system. Excitement about home solar energy is exploding, and DIY Solar Projects for Beginners sheds light on how you can get involved immediately. This book also offers an extensive resource guide with links to tax-reducing, subsidy, and support programs on both a national and state-by-state level. With high energy costs and an environment that demands cleaner fuel sources, now is the time to introduce new, cost-saving solar projects into your home.....

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    Small business

    Tyson, Eric (Eric Kevin), author.

    This guide takes current and would-be entrepreneurs through the step-by-step process of starting, buying, or sustaining a small business. Discover whether entrepreneurship is for you and turn your business idea into a solid plan. Dig into jargon-free guidance on marketing, managing, and growing your business. Employee benefits, small business taxes, staying financially solvent -- it's all in here, in terms anyone can understand. If you're itching to become your own boss, start with this guide.....

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    Hubris maximus : the shattering of Elon Musk

    Siddiqui, Faiz, author.

    An examination of Elon Musk during the most consequential period of his life, from the height of his power as the richest man on Earth to the potential beginnings of his downfall. What happened to Elon Musk? In six years, he turned Tesla into the world's most valuable automaker and cast himself as a savior of humanity, an altruist whose fortune would stop climate change and colonize Mars. How did this modern-day Edison devolve into a polarizing and perpetually distracted CEO and arguably the biggest bag-fumbler in human history? He didn't suddenly lose his mind, or morph into a tool of foreign agents. Elon Musk torched his reputation and put his entire empire at risk simply by being himself. Hubris Maximus provides a gripping, detailed portrait of the billionaire's rapid ascent and his spectacular public implosion. Washington Post reporter Faiz Siddiqui methodically deconstructs the making of the self-anointed Technoking, arguing that the warning signs were always visible to anyone willing to look. Musk's audacity and erratic behavior drove his success from the start; he spurned regulators and whistleblowers, and replaced those who dared question him with loyalists. Now he is in a unique position to sabotage it all, and there is no one left to save him from himself. This remarkable case study in the pitfalls of unyielding loyalty to one man and the fecklessness of a gridlocked government is ultimately a cautionary tale: in a world that can't turn away from its screens, competence is no match for the power of influence and sustained attention.....

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    No more tears : the dark secrets of Johnson & Johnson

    Harris, Gardiner, author.

    When reporter Gardiner Harris met a woman at an airport bar whose entire family has been shattered by her nephew's use of the drug Risperdal, one she sold to his doctor as a drug sales rep, he began to wonder how many similar stories are out there. This was in 2004, and since then, Harris has been investigating one of the largest players in Big Pharma, continuously reporting on it despite simultaneous landmark journalistic accomplishments, like exposing the extremely toxic mining conditions ignored by coal companies. For decades, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson was seen as a paragon of ethical conduct, especially considering the company's child-friendly products like baby powder and tearless shampoo. However, Harris has uncovered reams of evidence of deceitful and dangerous corporate practices that reveal a historic threat to the health of the American public. He covers several disasters: tissue death caused by J & J's touted hip replacements, their coverup of baby powder's linkage to cancer, the teen-directed marketing of the life-altering drug Risperdal, and more. The Hatch-Waxman Bill, which is meant to pave the way for lower-priced generic drugs, passed in 1984, and inadvertently created loopholes in the drug approval process which allowed urgency and profit maximization to take precedence over diligence and patient protection. Johnson & Johnson's subsequent lack of oversight, money-grubbing, and flat out lies have resulted in the death or serious injury of millions of people. To many, the peril of falsified science seems distant, but Harris reveals how a combination of misrepresented data and bribe culture directly impact doctors' decisions -- which are devastatingly revealed to be not at all in the interests of patients.....

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    Body-first healing : get unstuck and recover from trauma with somatic healing

    Piper, Brittany (Speaker), author.

    Brittany Piper spent most of her life sitting across from conventional therapists recalling the painful stories of her trauma. But rehashing each harrowing event—being put into foster care as a baby, losing her brother in a car accident, enduring a brutal rape and a very public trial, and more—made her even more stuck. At a crossroads, she took her recovery into her own hands. On this journey, Brittany discovered emerging science that explains how and why trauma lives in our bodies, not in the story of what happened to us. Trauma overwhelms our nervous system, which operates through feelings, sensations, and emotions, not through words and thoughts. Now a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner herself, in Body-First Healing Brittany provides a roadmap to recovery, resilience, and nervous system regulation. Whether you’re experiencing anxiety, depression, burnout, or the aftermath of trauma, this groundbreaking book will show you how to become your own best healer.....

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    How to eat well for adults with ADHD : a practical, non-diet guide to feeding your body & mind when you have ADHD

    King, Rebecca Marie, 1993- author.

    From a registered dietitian living with ADHD, discover a comprehensive guide to cooking and eating as an adult ADHDer, packed with simple strategies, practical tools, and 40 ADHD-friendly recipes... Figuring out how to nourish your body and mind when you have ADHD can be overwhelming and exhausting. Challenges with executive function, impulsivity, dopamine regulation, and more can lead to a host of obstacles: finding the motivation to cook a meal, remembering to eat, overeating for stimulation, getting adequate nutrition, and more. At their worst, these challenges can have serious consequences for your mental and physical health. But it doesn’t have to be this way. How to Eat Well for Adults with ADHD is a complete guide to how to cook regularly, eat intuitively, and nourish yourself well when you have ADHD. Written by registered dietitian and ADHDer Rebecca King, the “ADHD Nutritionist” (@adhd.nutritionist), this book is not a diet book, but rather a book of solutions to common problems ADHDers experience with food, cooking, and nutrition. Rooted in Rebecca’s weight-neutral, intuitive eating–based philosophy, this book breaks down how ADHD affects your relationship with food and gives you the tools to develop a better approach for your ADHD brain. The book includes: *An overview of intuitive eating and why it works for the ADHD brain *A primer on gentle nutrition for ADHD *Strategies for coping with emotional eating, eating for stimulation, sensory issues, and other common ADHD challenges *ADHD-friendly tips and hacks for shopping, meal-planning, food prep, cooking, cleaning, and more *Simple formulas for creating easy meals and snacks *Recommendations for how to approach your diet while you’re on medication *And 40 delicious, easy, ADHD-friendly recipes. Practical, comprehensive, backed by science, but written with the understanding of someone who’s actually been there, How to Eat Well for Adults with ADHD helps ADHDers address their challenges with food without shame or pressure. It’s a must-read for any ADHDer who’s ever struggled in the kitchen and wants to learn how to thrive! ....

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    Tangled fortunes : the hidden history of interracial marriage in the segregated South

    Schumaker, Kathryn, author.

    Interracial marriage was already illegal in some of the American colonies as early as the 1690s. But long before the Supreme Court declared interracial marriage constitutional in 1967, these families were far from rare. It took decades of hard work by Southern lawmakers and judges to create the illusion that they were, as Tangled Fortunes reveals in this new history of the rise and fall of the domestic color line. In Tangled Fortunes, historian Kathryn Schumaker narrates how the prohibition of interracial marriage became a priority for white supremacist lawmakers. To prevent white wealth falling into Black hands, they papered over the reality of interracial relationships, steered inheritances away from those who did not pass as white, and hardened the lines of racist exclusion. But they could neither erase the region's longer history of interracial relationships nor suppress the inheritance claims of biracial descendants dating back to the era of slavery. Tangled Fortunes sheds new light on the ways that interracial families overcame racist laws, uncovered closely kept Southern secrets, and battled to reclaim Black wealth--a fight that continues to this day.....

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    Stronger : the untold story of muscle in our lives

    Gross, Michael Joseph, author.

    Stronger tells a story of breathtaking scope, from the battlefields of the Trojan War in Homer’s Iliad, where muscles enter the scene of world literature; to the all-but-forgotten Victorian-era gyms on both sides of the Atlantic, where women build strength and muscle by lifting heavy weights; to a retirement home in Boston, where a young doctor makes the astonishing discovery that frail ninety-year-olds can experience the same relative gains of strength and muscle as thirty-year-olds if they lift weights. These surprising tales play out against a background of clashing worldviews, an age-old competition between athletic trainers and medical doctors to define our understanding and experience of muscle. In this conflict, muscle got typecast: Simplistic binaries of brain versus brawn created a persistent prejudice against muscle, and against weight training, the type of exercise that best builds muscular strength and power. Stronger shows muscle and weight training in a whole new light. With warmth and humor, Michael Joseph Gross blends history and firsthand reporting in an inspiring narrative packed with practical information based on rigorous scientific studies from around the world. The research proves that weight training can help prevent or treat many chronic diseases and disabilities throughout the lifespan, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, and depression. Stronger reveals how all of us, from elite powerlifters to people who have never played sports at all, can learn to lift weights in ways that yield life's ultimate prize: the ability to act upon the world in the ways that we wish.....

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    King of the North : Martin Luther King's life of struggle outside the South

    Theoharis, Jeanne, author.

    The Martin Luther King Jr. of popular memory vanquished Jim Crow in the South. But in this myth-shattering book, award-winning and New York Times bestselling historian Jeanne Theoharis argues that King’s time in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—outside Dixie—was at the heart of his campaign for racial justice. King of the North follows King as he crisscrosses the country from the Northeast to the West Coast, challenging school segregation, police brutality, housing segregation, and job discrimination. For these efforts, he was relentlessly attacked by white liberals, the media, and the federal government. In this bold retelling, King emerges as a someone who not only led a movement but who showed up for other people’s struggles; a charismatic speaker who also listened and learned; a Black man who experienced police brutality; a minister who lived with and organized alongside the poor; and a husband who—despite his flaws—depended on Coretta Scott King as an intellectual and political guide in the national fight against racism, poverty, and war. King of the North speaks directly to our struggles over racial inequality today. Just as she restored Rosa Parks’s central place in modern American history, so Theoharis radically expands our understanding of King’s life and work—a vision of justice unfulfilled in the present.....

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    Make money easy : create financial freedom and live a richer life

    Howes, Lewis, author.

    Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Do you feel trapped by your monthly expenses? Do you wonder how some people enjoy financial free­dom while you seem stuck? Your relationship with money begins with having the right mindset. Until you heal your relationship with money, nothing can change for the better. Because if you don’t care for your money, your money won’t care for you. Lewis Howes, host of The School of Greatness show, offers the practical advice and mindset shifts you need in order to make financial peace and fulfillment a day-to-day reality. Leveraging insights gained from interviews with the world’s leading financial experts, the latest research around the psychology of money, and his own journey to success, Lewis walks you through how to: Identify your Money Style (a key to understanding why you are lacking abundance) Develop a powerful Money Mindset so you can earn more. Create a Money Map to reach clear financial goals. Appreciate your value and discover your hidden skills for greater earning potential. Find your Money Mentors to limit money losses and accelerate financial gains. And much more . . .This isn’t just another book about finances or investing. This is everything you need to own your worth, so you can earn more and create the abundance you desire.....

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    Heartbreaker : a memoir

    Campbell, Mike, 1950- author.

    Mike Campbell was the guitarist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from the band's inception in 1976 to Petty's tragic death in 2017. His iconic, melodic playing helped form the foundation of the band's sound as heard on definitive classics like 'American Girl,' 'Breakdown', 'Don't Come Around Here No More,' 'Mary Jane's Last Dance,' 'Learning to Fly' and 'Into the Great Wide Open.' Together, Petty and Campbell wrote countless songs, including some of the band's biggest hits--'Refugee,' 'Here Comes My Girl,' 'You Got Lucky,' and 'Runnin' Down a Dream' among them. From their early days in Florida to their dizzying rise to superstardom to Petty's acclaimed, platinum-selling solo albums Full Moon Fever and Wildflowers, Petty never made a record without Campbell. Their work together is timeless, as are the career-defining hits Campbell co-wrote with Don Henley ('The Boys of Summer') and with Petty for Stevie Nicks ('Stop Draggin' My Heart Around'). But few know of the less-than-glamorous background from which Campbell emerged--a hardscrabble childhood on the north side of Jacksonville, often just days ahead of homelessness, raised by a single mother struggling on minimum wage. After months of saving, his mother bought him a $15 pawnshop acoustic guitar for his sixteenth birthday. With a chord book and a transistor radio, Campbell painstakingly taught himself how to play. When a chance encounter with a guidance counselor inspired him to enroll at the University of Florida, Campbell--broke with nowhere else to go and the Vietnam draft looming--moved into a rundown farmhouse in Gainesville, where he met a twenty-year-old Tom Petty. They were soon inseparable. Together they chased their shared dream all the way to Los Angeles, where Campbell would meet his destiny and the love of his life, Marcie. It was an at-times grueling dream come true that took Campbell from the very bottom to the absolute top, where Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers would remain for decades, creating an astonishing body of work. Brilliant, soft-spoken and intensely private, Campbell opens up within these pages for the first time, revealing himself to be an astute observer of triumphs, tragedies and absurdities alike, with a songwriter's eye for the telling detail and a voice as direct and unpretentious as his music.....

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    The fix : how the Twelve Steps offer a surprising path of transformation for the well-adjusted, the down-and-out, and everyone in between

    Cron, Ian Morgan, 1960- author.

    Did you know that anyone--addicts or non-addicts--can benefit from working the Twelve Steps and find the freedom, joy, and intimacy with God that their hearts long for? We all suffer from a sense of spiritual homelessness--a feeling that we're not fully at home in the world. To cope with our painful feelings and life traumas, we search for quick "fixes" that eventually become habitual, self-destructive behaviors that ultimately create more problems than they solve. As a person in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, Ian Cron is no stranger to these destructive habits. It wasn't until he embraced the Twelve Steps that he found true freedom. He knows from personal experience that Twelve Step recovery is more than just a life-saving strategy for guiding substance users into sobriety. Everybody is addicted to something to numb the discomfort of living in a messed-up world, he says, but the good news is that if you committedly "work the steps," you will eventually have a vital spiritual awakening that will give you an entirely new and radically beautiful orientation toward the life God has for you. If you long for sustainable healing and joy amid life's messiness, The Fix invites you to: Journey step-by-step through a spiritual curriculum that has helped millions overcome trauma, pain, and brokenness for over eight decades; Understand how the Twelve Steps can be a transformative tool not only for people with chemical or behavioral addictions but for anyone who wants to move beyond self-help to a spiritual awakening; Catch yourself in the act of self-sabotaging behaviors and understand how each day is a new opportunity to trade in self-willed reformation for grace-powered transformation. "My original subtitle for this book--Twelve Steps to Unscrewing Your Screwed-Up Life--was a little over the top," Ian comments. "But anyone who has ever fallen for a quick fix (like drugs, alcohol, porn, overeating, work, religion, people-pleasing, and more) knows firsthand how our self-prescribed treatment plans derail us. They might not be as visible as empty bottles stashed inside a desk drawer, but they are just as life-complicating and soul-crushing." With his characteristic wit and transparent self-disclosure, Ian guides us in learning how to work each of the Twelve Steps so we will finally be given a "new pair of glasses" through which we will be able to see ourselves, others, and the world in a startlingly new way--and ultimately take hold of the freedom God has been waiting to give us all along.....

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    Good stress : the health benefits of doing hard things

    Krasno, Jeff, author.

    Jeff Krasno, the founder and CEO of the global wellness platform Commune Media, thought he was pretty healthy. Though he suffered from brain fog, chronic fatigue, and bouts of insomnia, those symptoms seemed utterly normal in today's society. When he learned he had diabetes, his first thought was, How can that be? I run a wellness company! His diagnosis propelled him to consult every expert at his disposal and engage in intensive "me-search" in order to turn his health around. On this journey, he began to form a larger picture of what's wrong with our health in the modern world. In Good Stress--co-authored with his wife, Schuyler Grant, who shepherded him through 300-plus interviews with doctors and helped distill the results into actionable information--Jeff shares what he's learned and outlines a practical program for readers to reset their own health. For each practice, Jeff shares his own experience (there’s a great story of how Wim Hof finally convinced him to get into an ice bath); unpacks the science behind it, the place it has in our culture, and the effects it has on body and mind; and explains how to undertake it safely and mindfully.....

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