Paul Adams
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American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse: Conversation Starters
In November 2012, a fire burned down an abandoned house in Accomack County, Virginia. This turned out to be just the start of a series of fires that threatened the community for five straight months. After 86 fires, lovers Charlie Smith and Tonya Harding were caught as arsonists. Award-winning Washington Post writer Monica Hesse tells the story of their...
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Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High by Kerry Patterson: Conversation Starters
"Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High" is a communication and self-help book written by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler. In it, the authors explain different techniques on how to remain calm during a conversation and obtain the desired results. The book includes a six-minute technique to prepare...
43) Summary of Hunting El Chapo: The Inside Story of the American Lawman Who Captured the World's Most-W
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Hunting El Chapo: The Inside Story of the American Lawman Who Captured the World's Most-Wanted Drug Lord by Andrew Hogan: Conversation Starters
Former DEA Agent Andrew Hogan and author Douglas Century publish their first book Hunting El Chapo: The Inside Story of the American Lawman Who Captured the World's Most Wanted Drug-Lord. Hogan and his partner Brady were two of the several agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration who caught El Chapo...
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The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics by Salena Zito: Conversation Starters
The swing voters who were key to Donald Trump's unexpected win in the 2016 elections
have been hiding in plain sight. Their votes caused the greatest upset in the recent history of American elections. Often branded as racists and anti-immigrants, these voters cannot be limited to any particular category in education level, income bracket,...
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The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand: Conversation Starters
The Perfect Couple, the newest novel from "Queen of the Summer Beach Read," Elin Hilderbrand, is the author's first murder mystery novel. In The Perfect Couple, Hilderbrand takes readers back to Nantucket. This time the "Wedding of the Century" will be taking place between the wealthy Benjamin Winbury and Celeste Otis, who worked at the Bronx Zoo. Unfortunately, when a body is discovered...
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Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People by Bob Goff: Conversation Starters
Bob Goff teaches that people who become love are the ones who see beauty in others despite their strangeness, or their creepiness. Every time he starts to shield himself from creepy people by being opinionated, he hears God whispering to him" "Why are you so afraid?" Goff shares how he found friends, how failure taught him lessons,...
47) Summary of Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, its Chaotic Founding its Purloined B
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Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, its Chaotic Founding... its Purloined Basketball by Sam Anderson: Conversation Starters
Oklahoma City is a place "born from chaos" and one of the "great weirdo cities of the world." Oklahoma's basketball team Thunder is likened to the city's wild ambition and energy. Author Sam Anderson mixes historical writing with sports journalism, urban tales and studies, memoirs of idiosyncratic personalities,...
48) Summary of The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Gen
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The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lukianoff: Conversation Starters
Campuses are now troubled because of three terrible ideas: 1) What doesn't kill you makes you weaker; 2) Always trust your feelings; and 3) Life is a battle between good people and evil people. These ideas are woven into the way the youth are raised through childhood and how they are educated. This...
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All We Ever Wanted: A Novel by Emily Giffin: Conversation Starters
Nina takes pride that she and her wealthy husband raised their son Finch as a good man. Having grown up in a small town without the affluence she now enjoys, she is living the life others could only dream of. But when her Princeton-bound son gets embroiled in a photo incident showing a semi-nude high school girl, she suddenly gives her perfect life a reassessment. Is she truly married...
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To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han: Conversation Starters
Without her knowledge, Lara Jean Song Covey's love letters get sent to the five boys she likes. She has long kept these letters in a box under her bed, confident that only she knows about these letters' existence. But the letters are out now and she finds herself in an embarrassing yet exciting situation. With sister Margot off to Scotland for college, Lara Jean's relations with...
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Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas: Conversation Starters
This 2018, former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas publishes his book Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World. This book is a groundbreaking investigation of the collective efforts of global elites to "change the world." According to Giridharadas, these efforts are really stemmed from the desire to preserve the status...
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Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant: Conversation Starters
Adam Grant, the bestselling author of Originals, gives us a revolutionary look at the reasons why our interactions with others lead to success. Grants talk about how we need to stop focusing on what drives us to success individually, like passion, talent, luck, and hard work, and start paying attention to how we interact with others, our approach to work and...
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St Albans is a city steeped in history, a place of former martyrs, Roman legions, battles, bloodshed... and ghosts. Here the paranormal history of this remarkable area is brought vividly to life in the first dedicated guide to its unique haunted heritage that presents true encounters with the world of the strange and the unseen. Paranormal historian Paul Adams opens case files both ancient and modern to compile a chilling collection of supernatural...
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The Girl Before: A Novel by JP Delaney: Conversation Starters
One Folgate Street is a beautiful, minimalist house built by its obsessive architect and owner, Edward Monkford. A girl named Emma used to live in the house, but she is now dead. Jane now lives in the same house and is attracted to Edward, but discovers that she and Emma are physically identical, and the girl before was similarly involved with Edward. Jane suspects there are secrets hidden...
55) Summary of Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russian
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Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News by Clint Watts: Conversation Starters
Clint Watts, leading cyber-security expert and former FBI Special Agent provides readers with an overwhelming but crucial look at the misinformation campaigns and fake news. He also explains everything about the electronic surveillance operations that are the predominant form of current warfare but teaches...
56) Summary of The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal B
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The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future by Andrew Yang: Conversation Starters
A "wave of automation and job loss" is currently taking over American industries. Experts in robotics, automation, artificial intelligence, and software have warned that job losses will continue to happen in the coming years. "Normal people," who represent the 70 percent of the American population,...
57) Summary of Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst Presiden
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Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever by Rick Wilson: Conversation Starters
Rick Wilson uses his dark humor and biting analysis to examine the absurdity of American politics under Trump's administration. The author exposes the damage Trump has done to the country, to the conservative movement, and to the Republican Party. Wilson also alerts his own party of the political disaster that leaves...
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The Leavers: A Novel by Lisa Ko: Conversation Starters
Eleven-year-old Deming and his mother Polly are reunited after Deming arrives from China where Polly sent him when he was a baby to be cared for by his grandfather. Polly promises Deming they won't be separated again, but one morning, Polly leaves for the nail salon where she works and never comes home. Ten years pass and Deming is now named Daniel Wilkinson. Feeling the pain of abandonment all...
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Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence by James R. Clapper: Conversation Starters
In Facts and Fears, James R. Clapper uncovers the details about his work as a White House intelligence adviser, from the dangers of cyber attacks to the truth about Russia's part in the election of President Trump to his own relationships with President Obama and the Congress. He recounts his efforts to debunk the idea that our private lives are being...
60) Summary of House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia
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House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia by Craig Unger: Conversation Starters
The Trump presidency is the culmination of Russian president Vladimir Putin's secret work. Putin and his oligarchs spent many years burrowing into the foundation of American democracy. The Cold War never really ended but evolved into a different phase. The book reveals the hidden alliance between Americans and the Russian Mafia....