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Modern Meditations

THE 2015 ANTHOLOGY OF THE WEEKEND READER

Published December 2015.  350 pages. 

Available on Kindle and in paperback. Purchase here. 

WHAT'S INSIDE:

PART ONE: LARGER THAN LIFE. 

  • CH. 1: Here's to the Crazy Ones. Profiles of five who are marching to the beat of their own drummers, including a man trying to free North Korea by smuggling episodes of Friends.
  • Ch. 2: The Eyes of the Dragon. Profiles of Asian leaders, including the heads of China and Singapore and the world's greatest sumo wrestler.
  • Ch. 3: The Pope Pays a Visit. A five article exploration of Pope Francis, who is changing the way the secular wests views the Catholic Church
  • Ch. 4: Stephen Colbert, Louis C.K. and the Rise of the Philosopher Comedians. 'Nuff said. 

PART TWO: WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY DOING TO US?

  • Ch. 5: Hacking Your Health. A look at the plastic surgery capital of the world, NFL concussions, and the trend of "biohacking."
  • Ch. 6: The Germ Line -Editing Humanity. An in-depth look at the promise and peril of the technology that might allow us to genetically modify humans. 
  • Ch. 7: The Future of Food. The monumental decline in wold hunger. A chef who saved a writer's life. Farming underground.
  • Ch. 8: Drones. Taking "selfies" to a new level. How drones hurt the security of prisons. Drones as killing machines in warfare
  • Ch. 9 Privacy No More. The many and frightening ways we are losing our privacy online.

PART THREE: SELF-MASTERY

  • Ch. 10: Where Do Good Ideas Come From? The importance of "play." What Broadway musicals teach us about creativity. How travel breeds innovation.
  • Ch. 11: The Importance of Reading (vs. Skimming). "Binge Reading Disorder." Faking Cultural Literacy. Why The News Makes Us Dumb
  • Ch. 12: Why You Should Only Read Long Articles and Books. An essay of mine.
  • Ch. 13: Five Easy Pieces On Writing: Why You Should Take Notes By Hand. How To Write a Sitcom. Why It Helps to Be Old.
  • Ch. 14: Three Pieces of Writing Advice: Another essay of mine

PART FOUR: PERSECUTION AND PUNISHMENT

  • Ch. 15: We Are The Persecuted. We Are The Persecutors. The Silencing of the Deaf. Gays in Indiana. Muslims in the NBA. Christians in the Middle East.
  • Ch. 16: A Prison of Our Own Design. Inside the highest security prisons in the U.S. and in Norway. Conservatives and Liberals partnering for prison reform.
  • Ch. 17: Should Princeton Disown Woodrow Wilson. A look at racism, political correctness and the state of the black family in an age of mass incarceration.
  • Ch. 18: Fusillade. Je Suis Paris. In the wake of the Paris terrorist attack, in-depth insider looks at ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism

PART FIVE: ROBOTS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

  • Ch. 19: What is a Robot? A stunning survey of the state of robots - what they can and cannot yet do.  
  • Ch. 20: Rise of the Machines: Why do Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk think the human race should be gravely concerned with A.I.?

PART SIX: FRIENDSHIP, FAMILY AND ROMANCE

PART SEVEN: POP CULTURE

PART EIGHT: LAND, CITIES AND REAL ESTATE

PART NINE: THE WORKING WORLD