Need your weekly fix of books and binges? We got you.
This week, we take you to Tahiti, turn our minds to positive thinking, and learn about the terrible reality of new abortion laws in Texas.
Thanks to our partner, Scribd for supporting this feature.
Listen: The Exotic by Hampton Sides
We all know the name, but what really happened all those centuries ago when Captain James Cook travelled across the seas?
Hampton Sides has a brilliant gift for discovering little-known stories that bring fresh perspective to historical events. He does it again in his latest nonfiction work, The Exotic.
In this book, Sides tells the story of a downtrodden young man named Mai, who hitches a ride from Tahiti with Captain James Cook to become the first South Seas islander to set foot on English soil.
Mai represents the countless number of Indigenous people who lost their identities, if not their lives, as the result of their encounters with the West. Mai’s story raises questions that have no easy answers.
What is the legacy of these forgotten people? How do we reinterpret the complicated role of an explorer-like Cook? How do people retain their heritage while also assimilating?
Listen to it here, on Scribd.
Read: Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, & Endorphin Levels By Loretta Graziano
Loretta Graziano is the founder of the Inner Mammal Institute, which helps people manage the ups and downs of their mammal brain.
In her sensational book from 2015, Habits of a Happy Brain, she provides a practical guide for readers to trigger positive thoughts and feelings, even when the world isn’t giving you much to smile about.
You’ll learn the science behind your brain chemicals and formulate your own strategy for getting through tough times. This book is especially relevant as several Australian states struggle through lockdowns — you’ll want to know how to stay positive for your own mental wellbeing, as well as for those loved ones around you.
Read it here, on Scribd
The Daily Podcast, from the New York Times
A month ago, Texas adopted a new law which effectively banned abortions in the state.
The law prohibits abortions after roughly six weeks, which is a very early stage of pregnancy. As a result, many women are now traveling out of state for the procedure, putting their lives at risk.
Trust Women is an abortion clinic in Oklahoma, three hours north of Dallas and one of the closest clinics Texas women can go to. On the day the Texas law came into effect, “it was like a light had been flipped,” one of the workers who staffs the clinic’s phone lines told journalists at the New York Times.
“We had everyone’s line lit up for almost eight hours straight.”
On this episode of the podcast, The Daily, New York Times journalists visit Trust Women and speak to workers and patients about the real-world impact of the most restrictive abortion law in the country.
Listen here, on Scribd
