- Table View
- List View
10-Minute Life Lessons for Kids: 52 Fun and Simple Games and Activities to Teach Your Children Honesty, Trust, Love, and Other Important Values
by Jamie C. Miller52 playful and easy to understand activites to hhelp parents teach children moral lessons that they won't forget A child says, "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand." 10-Minute Life Lessons for Kids is a book about seeing and doing--a book that gives parents the ability to teach the powerful principles of honesty, trust, generosity, love, and other values. Children will discover the objectives themselves as they actively participate in fun games and activities. The games can be done in any order, with very little planning and with very few supplies--just common objects most people have around the house like toothpicks, string, pennies, or an apple. Some can be done while riding in the car, and others can be expanded to fill a whole evening with family fun. The activities in 10-Minute Life Lessons for Kids will not only create cozy and enjoyable moments of family togetherness, they will have a lasting impact on your growing child.
How to Fight FATflammation!: A Revolutionary 3-Week Program to Shrink the Body's Fat Cells for Quick and Lasting Weight Loss
by Lori ShemekFrom a leading voice in health, nutrition, and fat-cell research comes a radical and revolutionary approach to losing weight, looking great, and achieving optimum health—simply by restoring your body's fat cells to their natural state.Are you consistently overweight, no matter what you do? Have you tried everything? Are you plagued by stubborn fat hanging around your hips, thighs, and belly? Well, there's a reason for that. All those frustratingly pointless diets and exercise regimes have failed to address the root cause of weight gain.According to Dr. Lori Shemek, a successful diet isn't centered on calories or cardio. She says, "Cutting calories doesn't cut it." Our problems with fat are created because we eat foods that cause the body's natural fat cells to become inflamed. Sadly, the staples of the Standard American Diet—from pasta and bread to factory-farmed chicken and cattle, from sugar and artificial sweeteners to salad dressing and soft drinks—irritate our fat cells, causing chronic inflammation and chronically oversized fat cells. This irritation causes the body to store fat permanently, no matter how hard you exercise or how diligently you cut back on calories.Dr. Shemek calls this serious condition FATflammation, and only when you decrease the inflammation of the fat cells can you achieve the weight loss and optimum health you've been chasing. We need to forget about counting calories, counting points, fad diets, no-fat diets, and spending countless hours at the gym. There is a better and more satisfying way to lose the fat and maintain your desired weight. "If we want to fix our problems with fat," Shemek writes, "we need to reduce the inflammation in our fat cells." In How to Fight FATflammation Shemek reveals her revolutionary three-week program that helps reboot your body chemistry by returning your body's fat cells back to their natural, healthy state. In the process, she explains the critical importance of maintaining balance between good fats (omega-3) and bad fats (omega-6) and how a proper ratio of both will help boost your metabolism; in short, your body will burn fat simply by your eating the right kinds of fat. She also helps you eliminate from your diet the dreaded FATflammation Four—sugar, refined grains, high-fructose corn syrup, and artificial sweeteners. Here's your chance to shrink your fat cells and get the body you always wanted.
Where Everybody Looks Like Me: At the Crossroads of America's Black Colleges and Culture
by Ron StodghillA richly reported account of the forces threatening America's historic black colleges and universities—and how diverse leaders nationwide are struggling to keep these institutions and black culture alive for future generations.American education is under siege, and few parts of the system are more threatened than black colleges and universities. Once hailed as national treasures, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) such as Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Howard University—the backbone of the nation's black middle class which have produced legends including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and Oprah Winfrey—are in a fight for survival. The threats are numerous: Republican state legislators are determined to merge, consolidate, or shut down historically black colleges and universities; Ivy League institutions are poaching the best black high school students; President Obama's push for heightened performance standards, and cuts in loan funding from the U.S. Department of Education.In this tightly woven narrative full of intriguing characters, Where Everybody Looks Like Me chronicles this near breaking point for black colleges. Award-winning journalist Ron Stodghill offers a rare behind-closed-doors look into the private world of the boards of directors, the black intelligentsia, the leaders of business, law, politics, culture, and sports, and other influential figures involved in the debate and battle to save these institutions. Told from the perspective of a family, Where Everybody Looks Like Me shows their struggle to secure the best education for their child. Where Everybody Looks Like Me is a tale of vision and vanity—of boardroom backbiting, financial chicanery, idealism and passion. Here are administrators, celebrities, alumni, and others whose lives are intricately tied to these institutions and their fate—whether they will remain strong and vital, or become a revered part of our cultural past.
Weird in a World That's Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures
by Jennifer RomoliniAn honest, sharp-witted, practical guide to help you get and keep the job you want—from an outsider whose been there and done it, a woman who went from being a broke, divorced, college dropout to running some of the biggest websites in the world.Jennifer Romolini started her career as an awkward twenty-seven-year-old misfit, navigated her way through New York media and became a boss—an editor-in-chief, an editorial director, and a vice president—all within little more than a decade. Her book, Weird In A World That’s Not, asserts that being outside-the-norm and achieving real, high-level success are not mutually exclusive, even if the perception of the business world often seems otherwise, even if it seems like only office-politicking extroverts are set up for reward. Part career memoir, part real-world guide, Weird in a World That’s Not offers relatable advice on how to achieve your dreams, even when the odds seem stacked against you. Romolini helps you face down your fears, find a career that’s right for you, and get and keep a job. She tackles practical issues and offers empathetic, clear-cut answers to important questions:How do I navigate the awkwardness of networking?How do I deal with intense office politics?How do I leave my crappy job?How do I learn how to be a boss not just a #boss?And, most importantly: How do I do all this and stay true to who I really am?Authentic, funny, and moving, Weird in a World That’s Not will help you tap into your inner tenacity and find your path, no matter how offbeat you are.
Affair-Proof Your Marriage: Understanding, Preventing and Surviving an Affair
by Lana StaheliThis singular guide presents the straightforward facts on affairs, as well as advice to affairees and spouses on how to cope with them.Since 60% of marriages are affected by affairs, you should know the facts:Women under 30 are as likely as men to have an affair.Love affairs are different from sex affairs.Most affairs last between and three years, but the consequences can last a lifetime.Fewer than 10% of affairees divorce their spouses then marry their lover.Over 75% of those who do divorce and marry their lover divorce again.Nearly 80% of those who divorce during an affair are sorry later.Most marriages survive affairs. If you want to stay married, you can.Prevention works. You can -- and should -- affair-proof your marriage right now.
What's Your Story?: True Experiences from Complete Strangers (The Strangers Project)
by Brandon DomanEveryone has a story to share. What's yours?In 2009, Brandon Doman, who has always been curious about the people with whom we share our world, sat at a local coffeehouse and decided to ask passersby a simple question: "What's your story?"Providing only paper and pens, Doman created an exploratory space that instantly intrigued people to share their stories anonymously. Now, more than 10,000 stories later, the Strangers Project has become a momentous movement, engaging strangers of all ages and backgrounds to reflect, rejoice, heal, and connect through words.Published here for the first time, What's Your Story? showcases a selection of two hundred stories from the Strangers Project. Equal parts heartbreaking and humorous, this moving compendium lays bare our universal truths, desires, and sufferings, and illustrates the emotional power of storytelling and our shared humanity. To complete this beautiful collage of stories, a blank page is included at the end for readers to add their own personal story.With more than fifty color photographs and illustrations
Unbought and Unbossed
by Shirley ChisholmIn this classic work—a blend of memoir, social criticism, and political analysis that remains relevant today—the first Black Congresswoman to serve in American history, New York’s dynamic representative Shirley Chisholm, traces her extensive political struggle and examines the problems that have long plagued the American system of government.“A tremendously impressive book.” —Washington Post“What [Chisholm] did was so pioneering. . . . She embraced what made her different and used it as her superpower.” —Regina King“I want to be remembered as a woman . . . who dared to be a catalyst of change.” Political pioneer Shirley Chisholm—activist, member of the House of Representatives, and former presidential candidate—was a woman who consistently broke barriers and inspired generations of American women, and especially women of color. Unbought and Unbossed is her story, told in her own words—a thoughtful and informed look at her rise from the streets of Brooklyn to the halls of Congress. Chisholm speaks out on her life in politics while illuminating the events, personalities, and issues of her time, including the schism in the Democratic party in the 1960s and ’70s—all of which speak to us today.In this frank assessment, “Fighting Shirley” recalls how she took on an entrenched system, gave a public voice to millions, and embarked on a trailblazing bid to be the first woman and first African American President of the United States. By daring to be herself, Shirley Chisholm shows how one person forever changed the status quo.Look out for the biopic Shirley, directed by John Ridley and starring Regina King, coming in March 2024.“Her motto and title of her autobiography—Unbought and Unbossed—illustrates her outspoken advocacy for women and minorities during her seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.” —National Women’s History Museum
American Cornball: A Laffopedic Guide to the Formerly Funny
by Christopher MillerAmerican Cornball is Christopher Miller's irresistibly funny illustrated survey of popular humor—the topics that used to make us laugh, from hiccups and henpecked-husbands to outhouses and old maids—and what it tells us about our country yesterday and today.Miller revisits nearly 200 comic staples that have been passed down through our culture for generations, many originating from the vaudeville age. He explores the (often unseemly) contexts from which they arose, why they were funny in their time, and why they eventually lost their appeal. The result is a kind of taxonomy of humor during America's golden age that provides a deeper, more profound look at the prejudices, preoccupations, and peculiarities of a nation polarized between urban and rural, black and white, highborn and lowbrow.As he touches on issues of racism and sexism, cultural stereotypes and violence, Miller reveals how dramatically our moral sensibilities have shifted, most notably in the last few decades. Complete with more than 100 period illustrations, American Cornball is a richly entertaining survey of our shifting comic universe.
Cosmic Ordering: How to Make Your Dreams Come True
by Jonathan CainerCosmic Ordering is about wishing, about asking, and about making the impossible, possible. You can fill your life with more of what you want—and less of what you don’t. However big or small, your wishes are attainable. But how do you know what you really want? From order to delivery, Jonathan Cainer, the internationally famous astrologer for the The Daily Mail, will lead you through all the steps of the creed that has become a worldwide phenomenon.Learn how to decide what you really want, announce to the universe your intention to get it, and get it delivered. Call on the cosmos to change your life and realize your dreams with Cosmic Ordering!
Smart Fat: Eat More Fat. Lose More Weight. Get Healthy Now.
by Steven Masley Jonny BowdenThe innovative guide that reveals how eating more fat—the smart kind—is the key to health, longevity, and permanent weight loss.For years experts have told us that eating fat is bad. But by banning fat from our diets, we’ve deprived ourselves of considerable health benefits—and have actually sabotaged our own efforts to lose weight.Though they originally came from vastly different schools of thought about diet and weight loss, renowned nutritionist Jonny Bowden and well-respected physician Steven Masley independently came to the same conclusion about why so many people continually fail to shed pounds and get healthy. It all comes back to a distinction far more important than calories vs. carbs or paleo vs. plant-based: smart fat vs. dumb fat.In Smart Fat, they explain the amazing properties of healthy fat, including its ability to balance hormones for increased energy and appetite control, and its incredible anti-inflammatory benefits. The solution for slimming down—and keeping the pounds off for life—is to “smart-fat” your meals, incorporating smart fats with fiber, protein, and most importantly, flavor. Bowden and Masley identify smart fats, explain what not to eat, and provide a thirty-day meal plan and fifty recipes based on the magic formula of fat, fiber, protein, and flavor.It’s time to unlearn what we think we know about food. Getting smart about fat—and everything you eat—and learning to smart-fat your meals is the only solution you'll ever need.
The Demi-Monde: Winter (The Demi-Monde Saga)
by Rod Rees“You can’t help getting caught up in the smartly-paced story…which is served up with lashings of steampunk relish.”—SFX (UK)“Rees makes the book work: the world he’s created is a psychopathic nightmare.”—The GuardianIn the Demi-Monde, author Rod Rees has conjured up a terrifying virtual reality, a world dominated by history’s most ruthless and bloodthirsty psychopaths—from Holocaust architect Reinhard Heydrich to Torquemada, the Spanish Inquisition’s pitiless torturer, to Josef Stalin’s bloodthirsty right-hand man/monster, the infamous Beria. The Demi-Monde: Winter kicks off a brilliant, high concept series that blends science fiction and thriller, steampunk and dystopian vision. If Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson, James Rollins, and Clive Cussler participated in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, the result might be something akin to the dark and ingenious madness of Rees’s The Demi-Monde: Winter.
Copper, Iron, and Clay: A Smith's Journey
by Sara Dahmen“Sara Dahmen's beautifully photographed book is the most useful resource on copper cookware I've come across. An accomplished coppersmith, Sara not only shows us how copper cookware is made, but how to cook with it (along with a myriad of recipes), and care for it, too. The mysteries and mystique of cast-iron and clay cookware are explored in depth as well. Copper, Iron, and Clay is an indispensable cookware reference that every cook should have in their library. I learned so much from it . . . and you will too!” —David Lebovitz, author of My Paris Kitchen and Drinking FrenchA gorgeous, full-color illustrated love letter to our most revered cookware—copper pots, cast-iron skillets, and classic stoneware—and the artistry and workmanship behind them, written by an expert craftsperson, perhaps the only woman coppersmith in America.Today, most people are concerned about eating seasonal, organic, and local food. But we don’t think about how the choices we make about our pots, pans, and bowls can also enhance our meals and our lives. Sara Dahmen believes understanding the origins of the cookware we use to make our food is just as essential. Copper, Iron, and Clay, is a beautiful photographic history of our cooking tools and their fundamental uses in the modern kitchen, accompanied by recipes that showcase the best features of various cooking materials.Interested in history and traditional pioneer kitchens, early cooking methods, and original metals used in pots during the early years of America, Sara became obsessed with the crafts of copper- and tin-smithing for kitchenware—specialty trades that are nearly extinct in the United States today. She embarked on a journey to locate artisans nationwide familiar with the old ways who could teach and inspire her. She began making her own cookware not only to connect with the artisanal traditions of our nation’s past, but to adopt the pioneer kitchen to cook and eat healthier today. Why cook fantastic, healthful food in a cheap pan coated with toxic chemicals and inorganic elements? she asks. If you buy one high-quality item made from natural materials, it can serve your family for generations.Richly illustrated with dozens of stunning color photographs, Copper, Iron, and Clay showcases each material, exploring its fascinating history, fundamental science—including which elements work best for various cooking methods—and its practical uses today. It also features fascinating interviews with industry insiders, including cookware artisans, chefs, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers from around the world. In addition, Sara provides recipes from her own kitchen and some of her famous chef friends, as well as a few historical favorites—all which are optimized for particular kinds of cookware.
Ten Ways Not to Commit Suicide: A Memoir
by Darryl McDaniels Darrell DawseyIn this surprising and moving memoir, the legendary rap star and cofounder of Run D.M.C. keeps it a hundred percent, speaking out about his battle with depression and overcoming suicidal thoughts—one of the most devastating yet little known health issues plaguing the black community today.As one third of the legendary rap group Run D.M.C., Darryl “DMC” McDaniels—aka Legendary MC, The Devastating Mic Controller, and the King of Rock—had it all: talent, money, fame, prestige. While hitting #1 on the Billboard charts was exhilarating, the group’s success soon became overwhelming. A creative guy who enjoyed being at home alone or with his family, DMC turned to alcohol to numb himself, a retreat that became an addiction. For years, he went through the motions. But in 1997, when intoxication could no longer keep the pain at bay, he plunged into severe depression and became suicidal. He wasn’t alone. During the same period, suicide became the number three leading cause of death among black people—a health crisis that continues to this day.In this riveting memoir, DMC speaks openly about his emotional and psychological struggles and the impact on his life, and addresses the many reasons that led him—and thousands of others—to consider suicide. Some of the factors include not being true to who you are, feelings of loneliness, isolation, and alienation, and a lack of understanding and support from friends and family when it’s needed most. He also provides essential information on resources for getting help. Revealing how even the most successful people can suffer from depression, DMC offers inspiration for everyone in pain—information and insight that he hopes can help save other lives.
150 Best Eco House Ideas
by Marta SerratsFeaturing an extensive collection of full-color photographs, 150 Best Eco House Ideas features eco-friendly house designs created by internationally renowned architects and designers who have achieved practical, innovative, and stunning solutions adapted to the specific needs and tastes of their clients. Included here are the latest innovations in sustainable home design, including solar paneling, wind energy systems, environmentally-friendly heating and cooling solutions, thermal glazing, and trombe walls.150 Best Eco House Ideas covering the diversity of current trends in sustainable home design, and is both the perfect resource for designers, interior decorators, and architects, as well an inspirational sourcebook for all homeowners interested in creating warm and inviting homes that cause only a fraction of the environmental impact of those created using conventional building methods.
Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet
by Andrew Blum“Andrew Blum plunges into the unseen but real ether of the Internet in a journey both compelling and profound….You will never open an email in quite the same way again.”—Tom Vanderbilt, New York Times bestselling author of TrafficWhen your Internet cable leaves your living room, where does it go? Almost everything about our day-to-day lives—and the broader scheme of human culture—can be found on the Internet. But what is it physically? And where is it really? Our mental map of the network is as blank as the map of the ocean that Columbus carried on his first Atlantic voyage. The Internet, its material nuts and bolts, is an unexplored territory. Until now.In Tubes, journalist Andrew Blum goes inside the Internet's physical infrastructure and flips on the lights, revealing an utterly fresh look at the online world we think we know. It is a shockingly tactile realm of unmarked compounds, populated by a special caste of engineer who pieces together our networks by hand; where glass fibers pulse with light and creaky telegraph buildings, tortuously rewired, become communication hubs once again. From the room in Los Angeles where the Internet first flickered to life to the caverns beneath Manhattan where new fiber-optic cable is buried; from the coast of Portugal, where a ten-thousand-mile undersea cable just two thumbs wide connects Europe and Africa, to the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, where Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have built monumental data centers—Blum chronicles the dramatic story of the Internet's development, explains how it all works, and takes the first-ever in-depth look inside its hidden monuments.This is a book about real places on the map: their sounds and smells, their storied pasts, their physical details, and the people who live there. For all the talk of the "placelessness" of our digital age, the Internet is as fixed in real, physical spaces as the railroad or telephone. You can map it and touch it, and you can visit it. Is the Internet in fact "a series of tubes" as Ted Stevens, the late senator from Alaska, once famously described it? How can we know the Internet's possibilities if we don't know its parts?Like Tracy Kidder's classic The Soul of a New Machine or Tom Vanderbilt's recent bestseller Traffic, Tubes combines on-the-ground reporting and lucid explanation into an engaging, mind-bending narrative to help us understand the physical world that underlies our digital lives.
Leaving the Enchanted Forest: The Path from Relationship Addiction to Intimacy
by Stephanie S. Covington Liana BeckettAdvice and step-by-step guidelines for those seeking to recover from addictive relationships.
Wissenschaftliches Publizieren und Präsentieren: Ein Praxisleitfaden mit Hinweisen zur Promotion und Karriereplanung
by Claus AscheronDas Ziel dieses Buches ist es, jungen Wissenschaftlern zu helfen, ihre mündliche und schriftliche Kommunikationsfähigkeit zu verbessern und damit die eigenen Ergebnisse besser zu verkaufen. Dieses Buch ist kein wissenschaftliches Lehrbuch. Es stellt die oft vergessene Frage danach, wie man seine wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse effektiv und überzeugend in Vorträgen und Publikationen darstellt. Zusätzlich gibt dieses Buch Hintergrundwissen zum Prozess des wissenschaftlichen Publizierens und zu den wissenschaftlichen Gepflogenheiten.Die Empfehlungen helfen dabei, einen guten und effektiven Arbeits- und Kommunikationsstil zu entwickeln, der einem ein Leben lang nützt und Befriedigung in der Arbeit bringt.Weiterhin werden konkrete Hinweise dazu gegeben, wie eine Dissertation zu verfassen und erfolgreich zu verteidigen ist und wie die ersten Schritte der Karriereplanung gelingen.
The Simplest Gift
by Stefanos XenakisThe international bestseller—a collection of delightfully human stories that reveal the ways compassion and empathy can bring out the best in all of us.“Every day is a Gift. Open it. Do not throw it away.”The relentless pace of the working day. Endless, unconquerable to-do lists. A constant sense of distraction and isolation despite countless online connections. In our increasingly complex world, true contentment has never felt further from reach.The Simplest Gift is a vital antidote for our times. Over the course of one hundred stories—each centered around a unique lesson—Stefanos Xenakis shares the transformative outlook through which he has found purpose and meaning in life’s everyday moments. From rising early to sharing generously and laughing readily, Xenakis proves that joy can be found in the simplest and least expected places. Humane, compassionate, and profound, this essential book teaches us how to love fully, live freely, and embrace the remarkable beauty of our humanity.
Winning the Money Game: Lessons Learned from the Financial Fouls of Athletes
by Adonal FoyleA successful NBA veteran offers essential financial management advice for athletes, their families, and the fans to help them protect and keep their wealth.Over his sixteen-year career, former NBA center Adonal Foyle has watched other pros burn through their salaries, endorsement, and merchandising money, creating serious financial and legal hardships. While top professional athletes make millions, many have little in their bank accounts soon after hanging up their jerseys. Sixty percent of NBA players are broke within five years of retirement. Nearly eighty percent of NFL players are strapped within two years of retirement.Winning the Money Game offers much needed advice and insight to help these players—and the rest of us—manage money better. Drawing on experiences from his career, as well as interviews with current and retired athletes and financial pros, Foyle compiles a comprehensive list of money pitfalls as well as practical approaches to avoid them. In his straightforward, warm, and humorous voice, he breaks down expenses point by point, from taxes to luxury goods to family needs, outlining essential dos and don’ts to help you spend, save, and grow your money wisely.Smart, concise, and packed with proven advice, Winning the Money Game is a life guide for pros—and everyone who wants to protect their wealth.
The Wall of Birds: One Planet, 243 Families, 375 Million Years
by Jane Kim Thayer WalkerA celebration of the diversity and evolution of birds, as depicted in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's magnificent 2,500-square-foot Wall of Birds mural by artist Jane Kim.Part homage, part artistic and sociological journey, The Wall of Birds tells the story of birds' remarkable 375-million-year evolution. With a foreword by John W. Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and full of lush photographs of gorgeous life-size birds painted in exacting detail, The Wall of Birds lets readers explore these amazing creatures family by family and continent by continent. Throughout, beautifully crafted narratives and intimate artistic reflections tell of the evolutionary forces that created birds' dazzling variety of forms and colors, and reveal powerful lessons about birds that are surprisingly relevant to contemporary human challenges.From the tiny five-inch Marvelous Spatuletail hummingbird to the monstrous thirty-foot Yutyrannus, The Wall of Birds is a visual feast, essential for bird enthusiasts, naturalists, and art lovers alike.
Man About Town: A Novel
by Mark MerlisA congressional adviser and habitué of a cozy circuit of bars inside the Beltway, Joel Lingeman never quite felt middle-aged. At least not until he was abandoned by his partner of fifteen years and suddenly thrust into a dating scene with men half his age and no discernible trace of love handles. But this unexpected hole in his life inspires Joel's search for a 1964 edition ofan Esquire-like magazine that contained a swimsuit ad that obsessed and haunted him throughout his youth. Determined to find out what happened to the model shown in the ad, Joel slowly begins to understand what has happened to his own life. Sexy, smart, and deftly observed, Man About Town is a new twist on the idea that the personal is political and a must read for anyone who's ever wondered what happened to that first crush.
Off Course: Inside the Mad, Muddy World of Obstacle Course Racing
by Erin Beresini&“Beresini uncovers the growing sport&’s most compelling characters and provides the most authoritative insiders&’ guide to date.&” —Outside &“Obstacle course racing has taken the endurance world by storm, and in Off Course Erin Beresini gives us an insider perspective into the conflict and appeal of these masochistic suffer-fests, culminating in her quest to complete the granddaddy of them all, the Spartan Ultra Beast. A must-read for anyone currently competing in, or considering taking on, one of these newfangled racing events.&” —Dean Karnazes, best-selling author of Ultramarathon Man Everyone has seen the pictures on their social media feeds: friends or family wearing mud-spattered athletic gear, holding a medal to proclaim they&’ve crossed the finish line of an intensely grueling race. Indeed, obstacle course racing is the fastest growing sport in U.S. history. Every week, thousands of athletes shell out money to run through mud and fire, crawl under barbed wire, scramble over ten-foot walls, and dodge baton-wielding gladiators. Erin Beresini&’s Off Course chronicles the author&’s period of training and competition in obstacle course racing. As she investigates the world behind this military-inspired amateur competition and the industry surrounding it, Beresini meets the diverse characters who compete in these races and uncovers the sport&’s biggest scandals, lawsuits, and rivalries. And through her own race training, Erin illuminates the history, science, and psychology of this sport that is taking the endurance world by storm. &“[Beresini&’s] narrative has humor and heart, and a carnival of characters . . . By the end of her riotous narrative, I had to wipe mud from my glasses at least twenty-six times.&”—Gary M. Pomerantz, author of Their Life&’s Work: The Brotherhood of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, Then and Now
Working Stiff: The Misadventures of an Accidental Sexpert
by Grant StoddardA twenty-two-year-old perennial virgin, Englishman Grant Stoddard didn't know what to do with his life in America—until he won an X-rated online contest, the prize being intercourse with an infamous married sex columnist. He consequently wound up delivering mail at Nerve.com but accidentally found his calling as a gonzo sex reporter who would try any and every lurid activity his crafty coworkers devised—from offering himself up as man-bait at a hard-core gay bar to attending an elite orgy, to being a hapless participant in a sexual home invasion—all the while wishing he could be safely tucked in bed.Working Stiff is the humble, hilarious, and delightfully salacious fish-into-water story of a young man who followed his heart—and other organs—into places where few would dare to venture.
21 Days to Resilience: How to Transcend the Daily Grind, Deal with the Tough Stuff, and Discover Your Strongest Self
by Zelana MontminyHappiness is not about wishful thinking, good luck, or avoiding negative thoughts. In fact, the only path to true happiness requires seeing challenges as opportunities and discovering emotional strength during times of struggle. In other words, it's about resilience. Resilience is a quality most of us want to possess. The big issue is that no one knows how to access it in their day-to-day life. We understand that it's important, that it's crucial even, but it seems like an ephemeral thing that you either have or you don't. How we actually attain the skills to become resilient has been left out of the conversation. Until now.In 21 Days to Resilience, Dr. Zelana Montminy, a leading expert in positive psychology, offers a practical, science-backed toolkit to develop your capacity to handle whatever life throws your way—and thrive. Each day of her powerful program, Dr. Montminy introduces a key trait necessary to improve resiliency and enhance wellbeing, such as gratitude, focus, playfulness, self-respect, and flexibility, then provides three simple tasks to accomplish that day—one in the morning, one during the day, and one in the evening. In addition, the book offers a "Take Stock" section that will help you gauge your current level of skill and each chapter ends with a "Lifelong" exercise that offers ways to build the skill as needed to keep your resiliency muscles strong.Dr. Montminy writes, "Being resilient does not mean that you won't encounter problems or have difficulties overcoming a challenge in your life. The difference is that resilient people don't let their adversity define them. At its core, resilience is about being capable and strong enough to persevere in adverse or stressful conditions—and to take away positive meaning from that experience. Living with resilience is more than just bouncing back; it is about shifting our perceptions, changing our responses, and growing from them." Combining proven science, unique exercises, and insights from real-life experience, 21 Days to Resilience lays the foundation for happiness and shows you how to build your strength to carry you through the rest of your life.
Getting into Guinness: One Man's Longest, Fastest, Highest Journey Inside the World's Most Famous Record Book
by Larry OlmstedA fascinating mix of participatory journalism and history, Getting Into Guinness is the never-before told story of the bestselling copyrighted book of all time. Veteran reporter Larry Olmsted began a personal quest to break an existing world record, then to set another one, and soon he was fully immersed in the crazy and highly competitive world of record breaking. This is his behind-the-scenes report of the characters who created the famous record book and continue to make it wackier and wackier with every passing year.The enthralling 50-year history of the Guinness World Records is a story of phenomenal success, equally compelling failures, and extreme oddities. People all over the world strive to get into the book, often in the most unbelievable ways. Olmsted chronicles some of the funniest and most interesting Guinness record holders from a uniquely insider perspective: he himself is one of them. It all began with a gentleman's wager over which was the fastest game bird in Europe, the golden plover or the grouse. The attempt to answer this question has sold more than 100 million books in dozens of languages and every corner of the globe. Today, there is heated competition for the record to hold the most records (currently held by Ashrita Furman, 114 records and counting), as well as classic curiosities that have lasted for decades (the tallest man in history is still Robert Wadlow, at 8' 11"). Interwoven into all of this is Olmsted's account of his own two successful recordsetting attempts, the first involving traveling halfway around the world with his golf shoes—"Greatest Distance Between Two Rounds of Golf on the Same Day"—and the second causing him to nearly lose his mind while playing the world's longest poker session.Why do people devote so much energy to get into the record book, often at great risk? Why do the most extreme fans devote their entire lives to this pursuit? Why is society so obsessed with records and record breaking? Why do Americans alone buy a million and a half copies of the famous book every year, propelling it to the top of the bestseller lists decade after decade? Why do readers of all generations remember the same record holding icons, the fattest twins, the longest fingernails, and the tallest man? After his own journey inside the world of record breaking, these are the questions Olmsted attempts to answer.In the tradition of the bestselling Word Freak—a mélange of travelogue, memoir, investigative journalism, and history—Getting Into Guinness is a must-read for anyone who has ever read Guinness World Records and wondered why someone would grow their fingernails for an entire lifetime.