Showing results by narrator "Andrew Joseph Perez" in All Categories

The Santo Daime is a syncretic religion that arose in the Amazon region of Brazil in the middle of the twentieth century and now has churches throughout the world. Its spiritual practice is based around the sacramental use of ayahuasca, a psychedelic brew consumed only within regular ceremonies. In Liquid Light, G. William Barnard—an initiate of the religion and a scholar of religious studies—considers the religious practice and transformative inner experiences of the Santo Daime community.

David Wayne just wanted to repair his battle-scarred mech, Raven One—but life had other plans. A remote colony on Therasis begs for rescue, thieves and pirates plague the galaxy's shadows, and a brilliant scientist's research could save millions . . . or become a weapon that topples empires. His secret weapon? A fiercely protective, sometimes sarcastic AI named Tabitha. Together, they skirt the law with forged sedation logs, bribe corrupt officials, and hack Federation databases—all while rushing headlong into a war that corporate giants would rather keep hidden.

"Copaganda" is a special kind of propaganda employed by police, prosecutors, and news media. It stokes fear of police-recorded crime and distorts society’s responses to it. As the United States incarcerates five times more people per capita than it did in 1970—despite record low crime rates—a sprawling and profitable punishment bureaucracy spends a lot of time and money to manipulate what we think that bureaucracy does and why.

Like any established profession, coaching is full of unexamined assumptions. These need to be regularly questioned and tested to keep the profession vital and valuable. Coaches need to engage in the same kind of scrutiny and self-examination that offers such powerful benefits to their clients.

Sister Rafaela, a newcomer to the cloistered Sisters of Divine Innocence, yearns for redemption from her horrific past. However, her new abbey, bound by a vow of silence and a disturbing burial ritual, hides its own sinister secrets. When a mysterious stranger arrives and dies soon after, her body resists decomposition, sparking fevered claims of sainthood among the nuns . . . but Rafaela suspects something far darker.

Jesse Mathis's life was in shambles. He lost the woman he loved just months before their wedding, his career as a surgeon was at an all-time low, and his forbidden feelings for his best friend were growing more confusing by the day. Taking a step back from his once perfect life, Jesse makes a mistake that threatens to change his future forever. Forced to deal with the dark secrets that now threaten his happiness, can Jesse decide where his heart truly lies? And will admitting his feelings destroy the only safe thing he has in his life—the girl who's always had his back?

In Designs for the Pluriverse Arturo Escobar presents a new vision of design theory and practice aimed at channeling design's world-making capacity toward ways of being and doing t….

In The 15-Minute City: A Solution to Saving Our Time and Our Planet, Carlos Moreno delivers an exciting and insightful discussion of the deceptively simple and revolutionary idea that everyday destinations like schools, stores, and offices should only be a short walk or bike ride away from home. This book tells the story of an idea that spread from city to city, describing a new way of looking at living that addresses many of the most intractable challenges of our time.

This not your grandmother’s leadership book. Heck it isn’t even Ted’s grandmother’s leadership book. This book feels like having your own personal Ted Lasso breaking down leadership lessons in a way that will make you smile—inspiring action you can take right away.

Sleeping Worlds Have No Memory is a thought-provoking meditation on the fragility of the human condition, our beliefs, the manipulation of propaganda for political gains, and our ability to distinguish the real from the unreal and our willingness to accept convenient "truths." The novel is a compelling exploration of memory, its fragile nature, and its profound impact on our perception of identity, relationships, and facts themselves.

The Wolverines thought David Wayne was too scrawny to pilot a mech. They laughed in his face, telling him he needed more muscle and, hell, maybe a mustache to be worthy. But they underestimated the furious spark of ambition that burned inside. Driven by the sting of their ridicule, David teams up with his sarcastic AI, Tabitha, and a crew of overlooked society rejects, transforming scrap into a weapon that defies all expectations.

In The Chile Project, Sebastian Edwards tells the story of how the neoliberal economic model came to an end in 2021, when Gabriel Boric was elected president, vowing that "If Chile was the cradle of neoliberalism, it will also be its grave." More than a story about one Latin American country, The Chile Project is a behind-the-scenes history of the spread and consequences of the free-market thinking that dominated economic policymaking around the world in the second half of the twentieth century—but is now on the retreat.

Blending cutting-edge science with gripping storytelling, award-winning data journalist and competitive amateur athlete Henry Abbott reveals that we are on the cusp of a new era in sports medicine, built around the science of ballistic movements—leaping and landing—and the unique fingerprint of your body's physics. Abbott's inspiring narrative tells the story of sports scientist Dr. Marcus Elliott and the Peak Performance Project (P3), who use technology to study how athletes move and why they get hurt.

In The Spirituality of Dreaming, leading dream scholar and expert Dr. Kelly Bulkeley brings us a set of time-honored methods to stimulate innate dreaming capacities and amplify their impact in our waking lives. Relying on years of research, data analysis, and interviews, Bulkeley offers wisdom and strategies from "big dreamers"—people who have vivid, intense dreams and remember them.

Bloodshed is Coming. Acalan and Metztli Amos have been preparing for The Tournament of Heirs their entire lives. Ignoring their duty has never been an option. They must do whatever it takes to win, or leave their empire heirless. It's simple. Six Houses, Twelve Heirs, Only two blood bound tributes can win and bring home victory. Acalan has a duty to the empire he will inherit, and his sister Metztli has to make sure to keep Acalan alive long enough to see his rule come to fruition.

The Mexican board game of Lotería is a game of chance—similar to bingo. However, in Lotería instead of matching up numbers on a game board, players match up images. There are 54 cards in the Lotería game, and for this short story collection you will find one unique story per card based on a Latin American myth, folklore, superstition, or belief—with a slant towards the paranormal and horrific. In this deck of cards you will find murderers, ghosts, goblins and ghouls. This collection features creatures and monsters, vampires, werewolves and more.

Mexico arrives in its eighth edition with a new look and the most recent discoveries. This is the story of the pre-Spanish people of Mexico, who, with their neighbors the Maya, formed some of the most complex societies north of the Andes. Revised and expanded, the book is updated with the latest developments and findings in the field and current terminology.

Sydney drummed her fingers against her coffee cup, staring at the job application on her screen. The cursor blinked, waiting. She had the experience. The internships. The polished resume. So why did it feel like she was just another name in a sea of applicants? Like most people, Sydney had been playing by the rules—following the expected path, hoping the right opportunity would find her. But when an unexpected mentor hands her a challenge, she starts to realize something: The most successful people don’t wait for opportunities. They create them.

The importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace cannot be understated. But when half-baked and underdeveloped strategies are implemented, they often do more harm than good, leading the very constituents they aim to support to dismiss DEI entirely.

Anger is everywhere - and it has real risks, including heart disease and depression. So, how can you break free from painful, self-defeating, and dangerous anger traps? Drawing on the gold standard treatment for anger-cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) - and informed by the no-nonsense approach of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) - this workbook is chock-full of powerful tools, exercises, and self-assessments to help you overcome destructive anger, once and for all.