non-fiction

Books about mental health often focus on symptoms, treatment, or personal stories. What’s Normal takes a very different route. William W. Hedrick, M.D. approaches the subject by asking a more foundational question: what does it actually mean for an emotional response to be normal? From that point onward, the book becomes a full-scale argument against what the author sees as major flaws in modern psychiatric thinking. Rather than accepting standard diagnostic models as they are, Hedrick proposes his own framework for understanding emotions, emotional illness, and the difference between feelings that fit a situation and feelings that do not.

Through the advent of the age of artificial intelligence, employing intentionality when using this cutting-edge technology to create insightful products will be the only way for anyone to set themselves a cut above the rest in an increasingly automated world.

Some books try to persuade you with emotion. This one persuades you with structure. Ending America’s Gun-Violence Epidemic approaches gun violence as a public-health crisis first, and a political issue second. Tyner’s goal is clear: show why the United States is an outlier among comparable countries, explain the main drivers behind that reality, and lay out a set of policies and community-based strategies that could reduce deaths. It’s written like a practical guide—heavy on data, direct in tone, and intent on moving the conversation from “why is this happening?” to “what would actually work?”