Whether it's our food, our health or getting older. We recommend five non-fiction books that will make you see the world a little differently.
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A non-fiction book is usually understood as a book with knowledge-oriented content aimed at readers who want to learn about a specific topic without being experts in the field. However, the term "non-fiction" is known for its imprecise definition and its sometimes different meanings. You can find out which non-fiction books you should take a closer look at in this article.
"Dangerously tasty": How the food industry manipulates us into eating all the unhealthy things
From parenting to humorous aging: Five nonfiction books you should © read stock&people/Imago
Chris van Tulleken points out a crucial factor that is responsible for this: ultra-processed foods. These foods are present everywhere and are difficult to avoid even for people who pay attention to their diet. Ultra-processed foods affect our bodies in a manipulative way – and this is quite intentional by the industry. Their products are designed to make us addicted and entice us to buy and consume more and more.
Why does our body know exactly how much water we need, how much oxygen we need – but when it comes to eating, our systems seem to fail? Why is it that for several decades now, overweight and obesity have become a serious problem around the world, which is becoming more serious with each passing year?
Blurb/Heyne
Chris van Tulleken "Dangerously tasty"
2023, Heyne, ISBN 13- 978-3-453-21847-5
Price: hardcover 24 €, e-book 16.99 €, number of pages: 416 (different from format)
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"Tomorrowmind": The toolkit for mental strength, health and more enjoyment at work
Tomorrowmind presents you with science-based methods and practical exercises to help you maintain your mental health. It is aimed not only at individuals, but also specifically at companies. After all, companies and their employees are faced with the common challenge of developing a mindset for the future. Only by keeping our brains up to date can we all be successful!
Mobile working at flexible times sounds totally tempting. But is our hybrid New Work world also good for our psyche? Gabriella Kellerman and Martin Seligman subject them to an in-depth check: Due to increasing digitalization, our work qualifications are becoming obsolete faster and faster, which in turn leads to higher employee turnover in companies. In addition, there is the new widespread disease of loneliness, because there are no social ties among employees. The result is burnout and stress disorders.
Blurb/Ariston
Gabriella Rosen Kellerman and Martin Seligman "Tomorrowmind"
2023, Ariston, ISBN 13-978-3-424-20264-9
Price: hardcover 24 e, e-book 19,99 €, number of pages: 336 (different from format)
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"Myth of maternal instinct": How modern brain research frees us from old role models and makes parenthood rethink
This book presents groundbreaking research that takes a whole new look at parenting. It dispels a historical myth: it shows how the belief in the maternal instinct came about, who benefits from it and what freedom we gain when we finally break away from it.
The maternal instinct sounds insanely plausible, like an image of intimate love paired with insane competence. The only catch: it doesn't exist. And that's actually a reason to celebrate! Because the narrative of instinct produces incredibly high demands on mothers – and leaves out all those who care for a child without having given birth to it.
Blurb/Kösel
Annika Rösler and Evelyn Höllrigl Tschaikner "The Myth of Mother Instinct"
2023, Kösel Verlag, ISBN 13-978-3-466-31202-3
Price: paperback €18, e-book €12.99, number of pages: 240 (different from format)
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"Getting older makes me really crisper" – sometimes it cracks here, sometimes it cracks there
Getting older can be an easy thing to do if you take it with humor. Silke Neumayer once again devotes herself to the topic she prefers to write about, even if her personal experiences and observations confront her with forehead wrinkles: aging.
With charm, openness and a large portion of comedy and self-irony, she shows the big and small changes that come our way over the years. Be it the eternal scrolling in drop-down menus until one's own year of birth appears, or the everyday struggle against the outward signs of aging that try to creep in.
Blurb/Heyne
Silke Neumayer: "Getting older really makes me crisper"
2023, Heyne, ISBN 13-978-3-453-21843-7
Price: paperback 14 e, e-book 11,99 €, number of pages: 224 (different from format)
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"Caring and fighting": Why gender equality in education and family makes us all freer
It seems that the world of children is already divided into two categories: pink and blue, affectionate and wild, caring and competitive. This division reinforces existing injustices and deprives future women and men of the concrete opportunity to shape their own lives. Cultural journalist Anne Waak examines how toxic notions of masculinity and femininity are reproduced in families, kindergartens and schools and makes a practical and non-dogmatic appeal to all those who bear responsibility: Only by raising our children to be feminists can we overcome the gender pay gap, fight male self-destruction and violence against women, and free our society from the high costs of patriarchy.
In Germany, women earn over 1,200 euros less per month than men and receive just under half as much pension. On the other hand, they spend a third more time on housework than their partners, even without children, while men face higher rates of addiction and mental illness as well as lower life expectancy. Every three days, a woman dies from male violence. Thus, despite all the achievements of the past decades, there can be no talk of gender equality.
Blurb/Goldmann
Anne Waak "Caring and Fighting"
2023, Goldmann, ISBN 13-978-3-442-31703-5
Price: paperback 18 €, e-book 11.99 €, number of pages: 256 (different from the format)
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