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Harvard Book Store is an independently run bookstore serving the greater Cambridge area. The bookstore is located in Harvard Square and has been family-owned since 1932. We are known for our extraordinary selection of new, used and remaindered books and for a history of innovation. In 2009, we introduced same-day "green delivery" and a book-making robot capable of printing and binding any of millions of titles in minutes. Find out more about us at www.harvard.com.

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Dan Ariely: The Upside of Irrationality

Thu, Jun 10, 2010

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely discusses his new book, *The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home*. The 2008 economic crisis taught us that irrationality is an influential player in financial markets. But it is often the case that irrationality also makes it way into our daily lives and decisionmaking—in slightly different and vastly more subtle ways. In this follow-up to his *New York Times* bestseller *Predictably Irrational*, Dan Ariely shows how irrationality is an inherent part of the way we function and think, and how it affects our behavior in all areas of our lives, from our romantic relationships to our experiences in the workplace to our temptations to cheat. Blending everyday experience with new research into our how we actually make decisions, Ariely explains how expectations, emotions, social norms, and other invisible, seemingly illogical forces skew our reasoning abilities. Using data from original experiments, he draws invaluable conclusions about how—and why—we behave the way we do, and reflects on ways we can make ourselves and our society better.

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Stephen Kinzer: Iran, Turkey, and America’s Future

Tue, Jun 8, 2010

Foreign correspondent and Boston University professor Stephen Kinzer discusses his book *Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America's Future*, which examines the complex state of Middle East politics. What can the United States do to help realize its dream of a peaceful, democratic Middle East? In *Reset*, Stephen Kinzer offers a surprising answer. Two countries in the region, he argues, are America's logical partners in the 21st century: Turkey and Iran. Besides proposing this new "power triangle," Kinzer also recommends that the United States reshape relations with its two traditional Middle East allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia. In *Reset*, Kinzer introduces us to larger-than-life figures, like a Nebraska schoolteacher who became a martyr to democracy in Iran, a Turkish radical who transformed his country and Islam forever, and a colorful parade of princes, politicians, women of the world, spies, oppressors, liberators, and dreamers.

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Kathryn Schulz on Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error

Fri, Jun 18, 2010

Journalist and "wrongologist" Kathryn Schulz holds a conversation about mistakes (and admitting them), and her new book, *Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error*. To err is human. Yet most of us go through life assuming (and sometimes insisting) that we are right about nearly everything, from the origins of the universe to how to load the dishwasher. If being wrong is so natural, why are we all so bad at imagining that our beliefs could be mistaken, and why do we react to our errors with surprise, denial, defensiveness, and shame? In *Being Wrong*, Kathryn Schulz explores why we find it so gratifying to be right and so maddening to be mistaken, and how this attitude toward error corrodes relationships--whether between family members, colleagues, neighbors, or nations. Along the way, she takes us on a tour of human fallibility, from wrongful convictions to no-fault divorce; medical mistakes to misadventures at sea; failed prophecies to false memories; "I told you so!" to "Mistakes were made." In the end, *Being Wrong* is not just an account of human error but a tribute to human creativity--the way we generate and revise our beliefs about ourselves and the world. At a moment when economic, political, and religious dogmatism increasingly divide us, Schulz explores the seduction of certainty and the crises occasioned by error.

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Luis Alberto Urrea: Into the Beautiful North

Mon, Jun 21, 2010

Award-winning novelist, poet, and essayist Luis Alberto Urrea reads from and discusses his newest novel, *Into the Beautiful North*. Nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to the US when she was young. Recently, it has dawned on her that he isn't the only man who has left town. In fact, there are almost no men in the village--they've all gone north. While watching *The Magnificent Seven*, Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men--her own "Siete Magnficos"--to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the bandidos who plan on taking it over.

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Belle Boggs: Mattaponi Queen

Thu, Jun 17, 2010

Short story writer Belle Boggs reads from her first book, *Mattaponi Queen*, a collection of connected stories, some of which have previously appeared in *The Paris Review*, G*limmer Train*, *At Length*, *storySouth* and *Five Chapters*. Set on the Mattaponi Indian Reservation and in its surrounding counties, the stories in this linked collection detail the lives of rural men and women with stark realism and plainspoken humor. A young military couple faces a future shadowed by injury and untold secrets. A dying alcoholic attempts to reconcile with his estranged children. And an elderly woman's nurse weathers life with her irascible charge by making payments on a decrepit houseboat--the Mattaponi Queen. The land is parceled into lots, work opportunities are few, and the remaining inhabitants must choose between desire and necessity as they navigate the murky stream of possession, love, and everything in between. *Mattaponi Queen* is being published by Graywolf Press as a result of being chosen the 2009 winner of the Katharine Bakeless Nason Fiction Prize.

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Denial: A Memoir of Terror

Tue, Jul 6, 2010

Terrorism and foreign policy expert Jessica Stern discusses her book, *Denial: A Memoir of Terror*. While the word "terror" is now primarily used in a global context, including in much of Stern′s work, Denial describes the very personal form of terror that she experienced as a young woman and that influenced her life and career in the years to come. Alone in an unlocked house in a safe neighborhood in the suburban town of Concord, Massachusetts, two good, obedient girls, Jessica Stern, 15, and her sister, 14, were raped on the night of October 1, 1973. The girls had just come back from ballet lessons and were doing their homework when a strange man armed with a gun entered their home. Afterward, when they reported the crime, the police were skeptical. The rapist was never caught. For over 30 years, Stern denied the pain and the trauma of the assault. Following the example of her family, Stern—who lost her mother at the age of three, and whose father was a Holocaust survivor—focused on her work instead of her terror. She became a world-class expert on terrorism, a lauded academic and writer who interviewed terrorists around the globe. But while her career took off, her success hinged on her symptoms. After her ordeal she could not feel fear in normally frightening situations.

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Herbert Benson: The Relaxation Revolution

Tue, Jul 13, 2010

Pioneer of mind body medicine Herbert Benson explores his new book, *The Relaxation Revolution: Enhancing Your Personal Health Through the Science and Genetics of Mind Body Healing*. In the 1970s, Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School ushered in a new era of understanding in the field of mind body medicine. Coining the term "relaxation response," Dr. Benson identified the body's physiologic reaction that is the exact opposite of the stress (fight-or-flight) response. In the four decades since that initial discovery, Benson and his colleagues have established the first effective therapy to counteract the harmful effects of stress. They have explored how the relaxation response, the power of expectation and belief, and other mind body phenomena can produce healing in your own body. *Relaxation Revolution* details Dr. Benson's recent work with colleagues in the field of genetics, which links mind body treatments to the healing of a steadily expanding number of medical conditions. Mind and body have become part of a scientific and medical whole; together they represent a complete approach to healing and maximal well-being. In clear, straightforward language, Benson and Proctor cite the experiences of real people to show how mind body techniques have the potential not only to enhance healing but also to reduce health costs to individuals and to society as a whole.

Mental Health Month

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Drawing the Map of Life: Inside the Human Genome Project

Tue, Jul 20, 2010

Science writer and founder the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships at MIT, Victor McElheny, for a look into the workings of the Human Genome Project and his new book, *Drawing the Map of Life*. *Drawing the Map of Life* is the dramatic story of the Human Genome Project from its origins, through the race to order the three billion subunits of DNA, to the surprises emerging as scientists seek to exploit the molecule of heredity. It’s the first account to deal in depth with the intellectual roots of the project, the motivations that drove it, and the hype that often masked genuine triumphs. Victor McElheny offers profiles of key people, such as David Botstein, Eric Lander, Francis Collins, James Watson, Michael Hunkapiller, and Craig Venter. McElheny also shows that the Human Genome Project is a striking example of how new techniques (such as restriction enzymes and sequencing methods) often arrive first, shaping the questions scientists then ask. Drawing on years of original interviews and reporting in the inner circles of biological science, *Drawing the Map of Life* is the definitive, up-to-date story of today’s greatest scientific quest.

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Amy McCoy: Poor Girl Gourmet

Mon, Jul 19, 2010

Learn a lesson in eating well, but frugally, from blogger and now cookbook writer Amy McCoy. When the economic recession cut into Amy McCoy's food budget, she was determined to continue eating well even though she was on a budget. As a result she started the blog *Poor Girl Gourmet* as a way to document and share her experiences. In her new cookbook, also called *Poor Girl Gourmet*, McCoy breaks down the costs for each dish while also offering money-saving strategies, including tips for growing and preserving your own food, as well as ideas for quick and delicious family meals. Each recipe serves at least four people, so it's perfect for families on a budget--because eating well while saving money is something that appeals to all of us. McCoy, knowing that a gourmet meal is enhanced by the proper wine, also reviews more than 25 affordable wine varietals and blends, with pairing suggestions for many of the dishes. And there is a chapter of splurges ($15 to $30 per entre for a family of four) for when you're feeling fancy.

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Excerpt of Nell Irvin Painter: The History of White People

Mon, Mar 29, 2010

Nell Irvin Painter, an American historian discusses her newest work, *The History of White People*. * In The History of White People*, Nell Irvin Painter tells perhaps the most important forgotten story in American history. Beginning at the roots of Western civilization, she traces the invention of the idea of a white race--often for economic, scientific, and political ends. She shows how the origins of American identity in the 18th century were intrinsically tied to the elevation of white skin into the embodiment of beauty, power, and intelligence; how the great American intellectuals--including Ralph Waldo Emerson--insisted that only Anglo Saxons were truly American; and how the definitions of who is "white" and who is "American" have evolved over time. *The History of White People closes* a gap in a literature that has long focused on the nonwhite, and it forcefully reminds us that the concept of "race" is a human invention whose meaning, importance, and reality have changed according to a long and rich history.

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