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"A National Book Award finalist in 2004 [for Madeleine Is Sleeping], Bynum returns with an intricate and absorbing collection of eight interconnected stories about Beatrice Hempel, a middle school English teacher.... Bynum seamlessly weaves stories of the teacher's childhood with the present...while simultaneously fleshing out the lives of Beatrice's impressionable students.... Bynum's sympathy for her protagonist runs deep, and even the slightest of events comes across as achingly real and, sometimes, even profound. Bynum writes with great acuity, and the emotional undercurrents in this sharp take on coming-of-age and growing up will move readers in unexpected ways." —Publishers Weekly (starred) more...
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Every day we produce loads of data about ourselves simply by living in the modern world: we click web pages, flip channels, drive through automatic toll booths, shop with credit cards, and make cell phone calls. Now, in one of the greatest undertakings of the twenty-first century, a savvy group of mathematicians and computer scientists is beginning to sift through this data to dissect us and map out our next steps. "You'll be amazed, alarmed, and at times even inspired by the power of the new geek elite to predict whom we'll marry, what we'll buy, and how we'll vote." —Daniel H. Pink (A Whole New Mind) more...
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Professor Alex ("Sandy") Pentland, a leading figure at the MIT Media Lab, writes that subtle patterns in how we interact with other people reveal our attitudes toward them. These unconscious social signals are not just a back channel or a complement to our conscious language; they form a separate communication network. Biologically based "honest signaling," evolved from ancient primate signaling mechanisms, offers an unmatched window into our intentions, goals, and values. "Sociometers are now gathering early data on the dominance of our nonlinguistic communications and their importance in increasing our 'network intelligence.'"—Bob Metcalfe, 3Com founder and Ethernet inventor more...
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