Popular Myths

50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology uses popular myths as a vehicle for helping students and laypersons to distinguish science from pseudoscience. It also explores topics that listeners will relate to, but often misunderstand, such as "opposites attract", "people use only 10% of their brains", and "handwriting reveals your personality", and provides a "mythbusting kit" for evaluating folk psychology claims in everyday life.

Fifty years after the sexual revolution, we are told that we live in a time of unprecedented sexual freedom: that if anything, we are too free now. But beneath the veneer of glossy hedonism, millennial journalist Rachel Hills argues, we are controlled by a new brand of sexual convention: one that influences all of us - woman or man, straight or gay, liberal or conservative.

“As I sat in the front row that day, I was 80% faking it with a 100% real Gucci bag.” Samhita Mukhopadhyay had finally made it: she had her dream job, dream clothes—dream life. But time and time again, she found herself sacrificing time with family and friends, paying too much for lattes, and limping home after working for twelve hours a day. Success didn't come without costs, right? Or so she kept telling herself. The Myth of Making It is a field guide and manifesto for all of us who are tired, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of hustle culture.

Final Fantasy is one of the most iconic and beloved video game series in the world. Since its inception, its titles have adopted names, themes, and stories from across global mythology, including the beliefs of the Vikings. This book embarks on a detailed exploration of how Norse lore in particular influenced the writing and design of Final Fantasy VII - arguably the most critically acclaimed of the franchise - and its wider Compilation. This work is presented as a tribute to the metaseries Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

FEAT DESCDescubre con tus hijos los 25 cuentos más mágicos de Perú. Una selección de las historias más entrañables para prosperar mirando al pasado y al futuro. Lo mejor de las tradiciones y las costumbres peruanas para los más pequeños con música de banda sonora, voces de cine y efectos de sonido. Son perfectos tanto para escuchar en casa antes de dormir como en el coche.

Did NASA really spend millions creating a pen that would write in space? Is chocolate poisonous to dogs? Does stress cause gray hair? These questions are a sample of the urban lore investigated in this audiobook, Fact or Fiction: Science Tackles 58 Popular Myths. Drawing from Scientific American’s “Fact or Fiction” and “Strange But True” columns, we’ve selected 58 of the most surprising, fascinating, useful, and just plain wacky topics confronted by our writers over the years.

The editors of Scientific American’s best-selling Fact or Fiction: Science Tackles 58 Popular Myths return with Fact or Fiction 2: 50 (More) Popular Myths Explained. We cast an analytical eye on another collection of urban lore and cultural myths that persist so long in our collective consciousness they acquire a ring of truth. Who hasn’t heard the “five-second rule”, which insists that food dropped on the floor is safe to eat if it’s picked up within five seconds? How many of us have been told to “feed a cold, starve a fever"?

Uncover the fascinating and complex women from mythology and folklore with this collection of stories profiling powerful goddesses, mighty queens, and legendary creatures. Get inspired with 50 fascinating stories of powerful female figures from mythologies around the world. From heroines and deities to leaders and mythical creatures, this collection explores figures of myth who can inspire modern listeners with their ability to shape our culture with the stories of their power, wisdom, compassion, and cunning.

Misinformation and myths have attached themselves to the Egyptian pyramids since ancient Greece and Rome. While many Americans believe that the pyramids were built by aliens, archaeologists understand that the Giza pyramids were built by the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty around 2450 BCE. So why is there such a disconnect between scholarly opinion and the popular view of Egypt? Jason Colavito takes us back to Late Antique Egypt, where the replacement of polytheism with Christianity gave rise to local efforts to rewrite the stories of Egyptian history in the image of the Bible.

Ever wonder why much of American Christianity is pro-spanking, pro-tough-on-crime, anti-gun control, pro-war, and hell-affirming, even though Jesus taught mercy, non-violence and enemy love? When Michael Camp started deconstructing his evangelical faith, he noticed a pattern. The doctrines he questioned—original depravity, substitutionary atonement, God-ordained genocide in the Old Testament, the doctrine of hell, etc.—were all tied to retribution and violence.

The book will be your strongest ally in combatting social awkwardness and will arm you with plenty of icebreaking pieces of trivia, suitable for any occasion. Following the success of my site RaiseYourBrain and numerous requests from readers, I decided to compile some of the most interesting facts in a book. That's why I decided to collect the best gems of breath-taking trivia and to present you a great compilation of verified facts, suitable for a broad audience. This is the result of years of sifting through history and reference books on a myriad of subjects as well as searching the ...

While the Western was dying a slow death across the cultural landscape, it was blazing back to life as a video game in the early twenty-first century. Rockstar Games' Red Dead franchise, beginning with Red Dead Revolver in 2004, has grown into one of the most critically acclaimed video game franchises of the twenty-first century. Red Dead Redemption: History, Myth, and Violence in the Video Game West offers a critical, interdisciplinary look at this cultural phenomenon at the intersection of game studies and American history.

Superman rose from popular culture - comic books, newspaper strips, radio, television, novels, and movies - but people have so embraced the character that he has now become part of folklore. This transition from popular to folk culture signals the importance of Superman to fans and to a larger American populace. Superman's story has become a myth dramatizing identity, morality, and politics. Many studies have examined the ways in which folklore has provided inspiration for other forms of culture, especially literature and cinema.

In 1970, Erin Keane’s mother ran away from home for the first time. She was thirteen years old. Over the next several years, and under two assumed identities, she hitchhiked her way across America, experiencing freedom, hardship, and tragedy. At fifteen, she met a man in New York City and married him. He was thirty-six. Through a deft balance of journalistic digging, cultural criticism, and poetic reimagining, Keane pieces together the true story of her mother’s teenage years, questioning almost everything she’s been told about her parents and their relationship.

Most of us are familiar with the greatest hits and legendary heroes of US history. In George Washington Is Cash Money, Cory O'Brien, author of Zeus Grants Stupid Wishes, does away with the pomp and circumstance and calls America's history what it is: one long violent soap opera.

This is the first study to explore fully the myth of America as reflected in the nation's popular music. Beginning with the songs of the Pilgrims and continuing through more than two centuries of history and music, Born in the U.S.A. shows the emerging American myth and gives a close reading of the compositions of songwriters as diverse as William Billings, Henry Clay Work, Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen.

From farm-to-table restaurants and farmers markets, to support for fair trade and food sovereignty, movements for food-system change hold the promise for deeper transformations. Yet Americans continue to live the paradox of caring passionately about healthy eating while demanding the convenience of fast food. Rooted Resistance explores this fraught but promising food scene. This book wagers that socially responsible agrarian mythmaking should be a vital part of a food ethic of resistance if we are to rectify the destructive tendencies in our contemporary food system.

Smart Ball follows Major League Baseball's history as a sport, a domestic monopoly, a neocolonial power, and an international business. MLB's challenge has been to market its popular mythology as the national pastime with pastoral, populist roots while addressing the management challenges of competing with other sports and diversions in a burgeoning global economy. Baseball researcher Robert F. Lewis II argues that MLB for years abused its legal insulation and monopoly status.

From monsters to witches and ancient libraries to lost islands, The Life Fantastic seeks to trace the origins of ideas, their surprising paths, and unexpected ways in which they interact and manifest throughout history. By digging around the roots of literary genres, popular stories, and ancient myths, Noa propels the listener back and forth through time, from high to popular culture, from art to politics and religion, on a journey to ever-expanding horizons. This is an invitation to explore the collective subconscious of Western culture.

"Alí Baba y los cuarenta ladrones", "El soldadito de plomo", "La gaita maravillosa", "La dama del lago", y "La princesita que fue convertida en almendro".