Books about Paradoxical from Amazon.com

ox-y-mor-on-i-ca (OK-se-mor-ON-uh-ca) noun, plural: Any variety of tantalizing, self-contradictory statements or observations that on the surface appear false or illogical, but at a deeper level are true, often profoundly true. See also oxymoron, paradox

examples:

"Melancholy is the pleasure of being sad."
Victor Hugo

"To lead the people, walk behind them."
Lao-tzu

"You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap."
Dolly Parton

You won't find the word "oxymoronica" in any dictionary (at least not yet) because Dr. Mardy Grothe introduces it to readers in this delightful collection of 1,400 of the most provocative quotations of all time. From ancient thinkers like Confucius, Aristotle, and Saint Augustine to great writers like Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and G. B. Shaw to modern social observers like Woody Allen and Lily Tomlin, Oxymoronica celebrates the power and beauty of paradoxical thinking. All areas of human activity are explored, including love, sex and romance, politics, the arts, the literary life, and, of course, marriage and family life. The wise and witty observations in this book are as highly entertaining as they are intellectually nourishing and are sure to grab the attention of language lovers everywhere.

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Price: $8.51 [Notify me when price goes down.]

To these seven narratives of neurological disorder Dr. Sacks brings the same humanity, poetic observation, and infectious sense of wonder that are apparent in his bestsellers Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. These men, women, and one extraordinary child emerge as brilliantly adaptive personalities, whose conditions have not so much debilitated them as ushered them into another reality..
Price: $7.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $7.31 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Can a lady be kissed without being touched? Raymond Smullyan has been providing the world with such puzzle fun, chess problems, and logic quizzes for a long time. Now, he reviews his life and how all of this got started in a way that is just as interesting as his previous entertainments.

Not surprisingly, there are more puzzles, but there are also new stories, many photos, and a look inside the many hobbies of the many personalities that is Raymond Smullyan.

Some Interesting Memories is a "rambly" account taking you inside university life, meeting musicians, mathematicians, magicians, then, off to Eastern Philosophy, making stereoscopic viewers, or installing a 40-speaker sound system..
Price: $15.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The author of Anyway delivers an inspirational new volume.

Kent M. Keith first articulated the ten timeless principles as a college student in the 1960s, and put them in the classic book Anyway. His modern credo for finding personal meaning in the face of adversity became a sensation and has been quoted for decades.

Now, the author presents an important and inspiring new book illustrating the paradoxical commandments through Bible stories and verses. In Jesus Did It Anyway, Keith draws from the Old and New Testaments to demonstrate how the paradoxical commandments are grounded in Scripture and the Christian faith.

Inspiring stories illuminate the paradoxical commandments by examining how Jesus and other biblical figures lived their faith against tremendous adversity-but always knew they were divinely blessed. In this enlightening book, Keith reveals how answering Jesus's call to live a paradoxical life can lead to the deepest personal meaning and spiritual fulfillment..
Price: $2.78 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Humanity has had an enduring desire for close contact with exotic animals--from the Egyptian kings who kept thousands of animals, including monkeys, wild cats, hyenas, giraffes, and oryx, to the enormously popular zoological parks of today. This book, the most extensive history of zoos yet published, is a fascinating look at the origins, evolution, and--most importantly--the future of zoos.
David Hancocks, an architect and zoo director for thirty years, is passionately opposed to the poor standards that have prevailed and still exist in many zoos. He reviews the history of zoos in light of their failures and successes and points the way toward a more humane approach, one that will benefit both the animals and the humans who visit them. This book, replete with illustrations and full of moving stories about wild animals in captivity, shows that we have only just begun to realize zoos' enormous potential for good.
Hancocks singles out and discusses the better zoos, exploring such places as the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Bronx Zoo with its dedication to worldwide conservation programs, Emmen Zoo in Holland with its astonishingly diverse education programs, Wildscreen in England, and Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, where the concept of "landscape immersion"--exhibits that surround people and animals in carefully replicated natural habitats--was pioneered.
Calling for us to reinvent zoos, Hancocks advocates the creation of a new type of institution: one that reveals the interconnections among all living things and celebrates their beauty, inspires us to develop greater compassion for wild animals great and small, and elicits our support for preserving their wild habitats..
Price: $17.82 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Taking advantage of contradictory elements in oneself and one's situation can lead to better performance all around
-- Presents a five-step process for using paradoxes to find solutions to a wide range of problems
-- Provides tools that enable people to improve actual performance when faced with seemingly contradictory goals
-- Includes case studies showing how real people have used paradoxical thinking to solve real problems

Everyone has, at one time or another, approached a daunting task and handled it with calm and focus. The successful resolution of difficult problems requires the ability to take advantage of the disparities inherent a troublesome situation. Only when one confronts and masters both sides of a contradiction can there be a "high performance" or successful outcome. Paradoxical Thinking addresses these considerations.

Fletcher and Olwyler have studied the way people succeed and found that those who understand their own paradoxical qualities are best able to deal with difficult and demanding situations. The authors' clear five-step process shows readers how to identify their own unique "core paradox" and then use it to deal with problems and opportunities in their lives.

Paradoxical Thinking empowers readers by showing when they can make more effective and positive choices in the face of negative possibilities. Readers can use this book -- filled with examples, solutions to actual paradoxical situations, and exercises -- to make satisfying and creative changes in their personal and professional lives..
Price: $6.72 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In a collection of intriguing essays on the work of Edward Said, internationally-recognized scholars pay homage to the late critic by addressing many aspects of his oeuvre, including his breakthrough Orientalism, the role of the intellectual, the Question of Palestine, and finally his dramatic memoir, Out of Place. This volume is a useful contribution for classroom use, as well as recreational reading for those interested in the work of this controversial thinker..
Price: $50.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]