A Finalist for the NAACP Image Award 
Longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay
An NPR Best Book of the Year
A Washington Independent Review of Books Favorite of the Year
From the cofounder of VerySmartBrothas.com, and one of the most read writers on race and culture at work today, a provocative and humorous memoir-in-essays that explores the ever-shifting definitions of what it means to be Black (and male) in America 
For Damon Young, existing while Black is an extreme sport. The act of possessing black skin while searching for space to breathe in America is enough to induce a ceaseless state of angst where questions such as “How should I react here, as a professional black person?” and “Will this white person’s potato salad kill me?” are forever relevant. 
What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker chronicles Young’s efforts to survive while battling and making sense of the various neuroses his country has given him. 
It’s a condition that’s sometimes stretched to absurd limits, provoking the angst that made him question if he was any good at the “being straight” thing, as if his sexual orientation was something he could practice and get better at, like a crossover dribble move or knitting; creating the farce where, as a teen, he wished for a white person to call him a racial slur just so he could fight him and have a great story about it; and generating the surreality of watching gentrification transform his Pittsburgh neighborhood from predominantly Black to “Portlandia . . . but with Pierogies.” 
And, at its most devastating, it provides him reason to believe that his mother would be alive today if she were white. 
From one of our most respected cultural observers, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker is a hilarious and honest debut that is both a celebration of the idiosyncrasies and distinctions of Blackness and a critique of white supremacy and how we define masculinity.

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays

Biographies & Memoirs

Young, Damon

Community & Culture

Ecco

A Finalist for the NAACP Image Award Longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay An NPR Best Book of the Year A Washington Independent Review of Books Favorite of the Year
From the cofounder of VerySmartBrothas.com, and one of the most read writers on race and culture at work today, a provocative and humorous memoir-in-essays that explores the absurdities and anxieties of being Black in America
For Damon Young, existing while Black is an extreme sport. The act of possessing black skin while searching for space to breathe in America is enough to induce a ceaseless state of angst where questions such as “How should I react here, as a professional black person?” and “Will this white person’s potato salad kill me?” are forever relevant. 
What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker chronicles Young’s efforts to survive while battling and making sense of the various neuroses his country has given him. 
It’s a condition that’s sometimes stretched to absurd limits: creating the farce where, as a teen, he wished for a white person to call him a racial slur just so he could fight him and have a great story about it; provoking the angst that made him question if “being straight” was something he could practice and get better at, like a crossover dribble; and generating the surreal experience of watching his Pittsburgh neighborhood getrify from predominantly Black to “Portlandia . . . but with Pierogies.” 
And, at its most devastating, it provides him reason to believe that his mother would be alive today if she were white. 
From one of our most respected cultural observers, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker is a hilarious and honest debut that is both a celebration of the idiosyncrasies and distinctions of Blackness and a critique of white supremacy and how we define masculinity.

Exploring the nature of distraction, the popular philosophy surrounding it, and its role in modern life, this book surmises that distraction is often a matter of what one values. Written in a playful tone, this view analyzes important aspects of life, showing that technology, acquaintances, jobs, and addictions often waste time and energy. Through the history of popular philosophy, it is demonstrated that patient, sensitive, and thoughtful attention to the world suggests that the opposite of a life of distraction is one of grateful appreciation.

Distraction: A Philosopher's Guide to Being Free

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Melbourne University Publishing

USING PHILOSOPHY TO EXPLORE THE BIG IDEAS BEHIND FITNESS AND WAYS TO ENJOY EXERCISE WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR MIND BEHIND
It can often seem as though existence is split in two: body and mind, flesh and spirit, moving and thinking. In the office or at study we are ‘mind workers,' with seemingly superfluous bodies. Conversely, in the gym we stretch, run and lift, but our minds are idle. In How to Think About Exercise, author and philosopher Damon Young challenges this idea of separation, revealing how fitness can develop our bodies and minds as one. Exploring exercises and sports with the help of ancient and modern philosophy, he uncovers the pleasures, virtues and big ideas of fitness. By learning how to exercise intelligently, we are contributing to our overall enjoyment of life and enhancing our full humanity. Find out how bestselling author Haruki Murakami quit smoking and took up running, and why the simple act radically changed his whole outlook on life; why Schopenhauer thought that swimming was a sublime act; how Charles Darwin came up with some of his best ideas while exercising; and much more.
The School of Life is dedicated to exploring life's big questions: How can we fulfill our potential? Can work be inspiring? Why does community matter? Can relationships last a lifetime? We don't have all the answers, but we will direct you toward a variety of useful ideas―from philosophy to literature, from psychology to the visual arts―that are guaranteed to stimulate, provoke, nourish, and console.

How to Think About Exercise (The School of Life)

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Exercise & Fitness

Picador

Witty, crass, insightful, and uproarious, The Champ and Panama Jackson of VerySmartBrothas.com combine a unique blend of past experiences, tongue-in-cheek observations, timely pop-culture references, and outlandish analogies to create their occasionally exasperating but always entertaining relationship expertise. And, whether they're addressing the importance of Facebook chivalry, listing signs that he's a "pretend playa", outing the "Diva Dudes", or outlining why a working sense of humor is so critical when recording a personal sex tape, Your Degrees Won't Keep You Warm at Night is the definitive guide for the contemporary dater.

Your Degrees Won't Keep You Warm at Night: The Very Smart Brothas Guide to Dating, Mating, and Fighting Crime

Humor & Entertainment

Jackson, Panama

Humor

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

In recent years, the increased availability and reduced cost of sensor systems have led to a plethora of wearables such as smart sport watches that can track exertion activities. Sensors are now also embedded in sports clothing and game console accessories to monitor activity or stimulate gaming. Technical advancements like these have led to an increased interest into exertion experiences by the research community, resulting in the term Sports-HCI.Often, human-computer interaction around exercise and health make the underlying assumption that the human body can be seen as a machine, only monitoring measurable parameters, neglecting more human factors that help users to learn something about themselves, who they want to become and how to get there, through exertion experiences. This monograph uses the focussed technique of lenses to highlight factors that interactive technology could deploy to provide powerful opportunities in the design of such systems. Designers of interactive systems for exertion experiences can use the 10 lenses included in this monograph to explore the theoretical discussion around stimulating users through the use of technology. Each lens is unpacked into three components that provide designers with practical handles so they can engage with them in their design practice. This is complemented with design examples to suggest how such thinking can lead to particular designs. 10 Lenses to Design Sports-HCI is a stimulating read for all designers of computing systems that include an aspect exertion experiences. Students and researchers will find a wealth of new areas for further research contained within.

10 Lenses to Design Sports-HCI (Foundations and Trends(r) in Human-Computer Interaction)

Computers & Technology

Mueller, Florian

Computer Science

Now Publishers

Most of us struggle with distraction every day: the familiar feeling that our attention is not quite where it should be. We feel it at work and at home and it can be frustrating and uncomfortable. But what is distraction? In his lucid, timely book, Damon Young shows that distraction is more than too many stimuli, or too little attention. It is actually a matter of value - to be distracted is to be torn away from what is worthwhile in life. And for Young, what is most worthwhile is freedom: not simply rights or legal liberties, but the capacity to patiently, creatively craft one's own life. Exploring the lives of such luminaries as Henri Matisse, Karl Marx, Seneca and Henry James, Young exposes distraction in work, technology, art, politics and intimacy. With warmth and wit, he reveals what is most valuable, and what is best avoided, in the pursuit of a life of one's own.

Distraction (The Art of Living)

Routledge

11 inspiring philosophers and writers, and the practical ideas for living they found in gardens, parks and pots Why did Marcel Proust have bonsai beside his bed? What was Jane Austen doing, coveting an apricot? How was Friedrich Nietzsche inspired by his ‘thought tree’? Philosopher Damon reveals one of literature’s most intimate relationships: authors and their gardens. For some, the garden provided a retreat from workaday labour; for others, solitude’s quiet counsel. For all, it played a philosophical role, giving their ideas new life.\nWith lively prose and great stories, Young shows how gardens are much more than pretty ornaments or hobbies to kill the hours. Gardens, plants and the great outdoors console or confront, calm or animate, tease or test – they can be an antidote to distraction and disorientation. This insightful guide reveals the profound thoughts and ideas for living discovered by eleven famous writers in parks, backyards and pot-plants, making it a colourful yet philosophical companion to the garden’s toils and joys.

Voltaire's Vine and Other Philosophies: How Gardens Inspired Great Writers

Rider

The Art of Reading

A beautiful celebratory tribute to the powers of one of our most undervalued skills - an ideal gift for the avid reader. ‘What you are doing right now is, cosmically speaking, against the odds. As young children, we are taught to read, but soon go on to forget just how miraculous a process it is, this turning of scratches and dots into understanding, unease and inspiration. Perhaps we need to stop and remember, stop and learn again how to read better. Damon Young shows us how to do exactly this, walking alongside some of the greatest readers who light a path for us - Borges, Plato, Woolf. Young reads passionately, selectively, surprisingly - from superhero noir to speculative realism, from Heidegger to Heinlein - and shows his reader how cultivating their inner critic can expand their own lives as well as the lives of those on the pages of the books they love.

Scribe Publications

Why did Marcel Proust have bonsai beside his bed? What was Jane Austen doing, coveting an apricot? How was Friedrich Nietzsche inspired by his ‘thought tree’? In Philosophy in the Garden, Damon Young explores one of literature’s most intimate relationships: authors and their gardens. For some, the garden provided a retreat from workaday labour; for others, solitude’s quiet counsel. For all, it played a philosophical role: giving their ideas a new life. Philosophy in the Garden reveals the profound thoughts discovered in parks, backyards, and pot-plants. It does not provide tips for mowing overgrown cooch grass, or mulching a dry Japanese maple. It is a philosophical companion to the garden’s labours and joys.

Philosophy in the Garden

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Scribe UK

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Young, Damon. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Young, Damon

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Young, Damon. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays

Distraction: A Philosopher's Guide to Being Free

How to Think About Exercise (The School of Life)

Your Degrees Won't Keep You Warm at Night: The Very Smart Brothas Guide to Dating, Mating, and Fighting Crime

10 Lenses to Design Sports-HCI (Foundations and Trends(r) in Human-Computer Interaction)

Distraction (The Art of Living)

Voltaire's Vine and Other Philosophies: How Gardens Inspired Great Writers

The Art of Reading

Philosophy in the Garden