Author Gerry Christmas is one of "Kennedy's Children," an idealist who answered the call to join the Peace Corps not once but twice. In Breathing the Same Air, a gritty memoir of love and loss, he narrates his volunteer experiences in both Thailand and Samoa. From the sultry alleys of Bangkok to the serpentine paths of his Polynesian island, Christmas explores new frontiers of mind, body, and spirit. He shares stories from cross-cultural miscues and screw-ups to Peace Corps politics and squabbles. He also ventures into the classroom where he talks about his Thai and Samoan students who effuse a certain candor, curiosity, and charm. And he narrates pursuing Aied, his long-lost love, and the difficult decision to return to the United States. As Christmas looks back on his Peace Corps days, he is mindful of President Kennedy's words: "... we all inhabit this small planet. We all cherish our children's futures. We all breathe the same air. And we are all mortal."
Young Finnish photographer Nelli Palomäki (born 1981) is a graduate of Helsinki's renowned Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture. In her work, she aims to recapture the lost magic that was once inherent in photography. Even 50 years ago, having one's photograph taken was a special event; people donned their Sunday best and gazed, unmoving and serious, into the camera. Palomäki's models likewise tend not to smile, looking steadfastly at us with the kind of openness and attention that could be said to characterize the work of their photographer. This volume gathers Palomäki's black-and-white portraits, mostly of children and young people. The photographer says she wonders what her models will look like ten years from now; her contemplative photographs provoke a like sense of wonder in the viewer.
A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2020 Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR “A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe—and how we’ve all been doing it wrong for a long, long time.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat Pray Love No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly. There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo. Nestor tracks down men and women exploring the hidden science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe. Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is. Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.
The Guardian's Best Science Book of 2017: the fascinating science and history of the air we breathe. It's invisible. It's ever-present. Without it, you would die in minutes. And it has an epic story to tell. In Caesar's Last Breath, New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean takes us on a journey through the periodic table, around the globe, and across time to tell the story of the air we breathe, which, it turns out, is also the story of earth and our existence on it. With every breath, you literally inhale the history of the world. On the ides of March, 44 BC, Julius Caesar died of stab wounds on the Senate floor, but the story of his last breath is still unfolding; in fact, you're probably inhaling some of it now. Of the sextillions of molecules entering or leaving your lungs at this moment, some might well bear traces of Cleopatra's perfumes, German mustard gas, particles exhaled by dinosaurs or emitted by atomic bombs, even remnants of stardust from the universe's creation. Tracing the origins and ingredients of our atmosphere, Kean reveals how the alchemy of air reshaped our continents, steered human progress, powered revolutions, and continues to influence everything we do. Along the way, we'll swim with radioactive pigs, witness the most important chemical reactions humans have discovered, and join the crowd at the Moulin Rouge for some of the crudest performance art of all time. Lively, witty, and filled with the astounding science of ordinary life, Caesar's Last Breath illuminates the science stories swirling around us every second.
What do atoms have to do with your life? In Your Atomic Self, scientist Curt Stager reveals how they connect you to some of the most amazing things in the universe. You will follow your oxygen atoms through fire and water and from forests to your fingernails. Hydrogen atoms will wriggle into your hair and betray where you live and what you have been drinking. The carbon in your breath will become tree trunks, and the sodium in your tears will link you to long-dead oceans. The nitrogen in your muscles will help to turn the sky blue, the phosphorus in your bones will help to turn the coastal waters of North Carolina green, the calcium in your teeth will crush your food between atoms that were mined by mushrooms, and the iron in your blood will kill microbes as it once killed a star. You will also discover that much of what death must inevitably do to your body is already happening among many of your atoms at this very moment and that, nonetheless, you and everyone else you know will always exist somewhere in the fabric of the universe. You are not only made of atoms; you are atoms, and this book, in essence, is an atomic field guide to yourself.
"Elizabeth is still reeling from the death of her husband that took place a year prior. She and her young daughter, Emma, took a year to stay with Elizabeth's mother. When the time has come, Elizabeth and Emma choose to return to their hometown of Meadows Creek, Wisconsin. On the drive back into town, Elizabeth accidentally hits a dog, and the owner grumpily dashes into the street and demands Elizabeth takes him and the dog to the vet. Tristan is the owner of the dog. He's cold and distant, but Elizabeth connects to him in some odd way, even if they didn't have the best first meetings. It is later discovered that Tristan Cole is Elizabeth's new neighbor, and he is tagged as the town's grumpy jerk who is closed-off to everyone around him, outside of Mr. Henson, Tristan's odd and quirky boss who owns the shop Needful Things. While Tristan tries his best to keep his distance from Elizabeth, their paths keep crossing in the small town. The townspeople warn Elizabeth to keep her distance from Tristan, as he's a bad seed, but she cannot help but feel drawn to his darkness. During one of their crossings, Tristan snaps at Elizabeth, telling her that he doesn't want to get to know her, or be her friend, even though she keeps insisting on that happening. He ends up kissing her, which throws them both for a loop, and after said kiss, he accidentally makes her fall down the hill they are standing on, making her get scrapped up and injured. During their next crossing, Tristan finds Elizabeth wandering drunk in the wooded area behind their homes, and he helps her to his house after realizing she's too wasted to be outside alone. They have a heart-to-heart and learn about one another's losses. It is after that connection that they come up with the bad idea to use one another to feel again. They began having a fling, using sex to feel connected to another, to make believe that their loved ones are still around, yet it goes sideways once Elizabeth's grief becomes too loud. It is at that point that Tristan decides that being friends with Elizabeth would be the right option instead of using sex to forget. While the two are building their friendship, and are falling more and more for one another, the best friend of Elizabeth's late husband, Tanner, makes it known that he has feelings for her. Elizabeth explains to Tanner that she cares for him, but not in that way. After Tanner takes the rejection, he is livid to find out that she is seeing the town's jerk, Tristan. Tanner threatens Tristan, and tries to trigger him from time to time, to make him snap in front of Elizabeth. After none of Tanner's tricks works, he goes the extra mile by notifying Elizabeth that it was her late husband who was in the car accident with Tristan's late wife and his son, which led to their deaths. Elizabeth doesn't handle this news well but keeps it to herself because she knows it will destroy Tristan. That was when Tanner took the news and revealed it to Tristan, making Tristan harshly end things with Elizabeth. He leaves town and goes to see his parents, where he falls apart. It is then in those conversations that he learns the night of the accident, after Elizabeth loss her husband, she found Tristan's mom in the lobby of the hospital alone. Elizabeth comforted her, and then went and sat with Tristan's wife so she wouldn't be alone while Tristan's mom went to check on his son. The story concludes with Elizabeth learning that Tanner was the one who messed with her late husband's car, which in turn caused the accident. She learns how obsessed he had been with Elizabeth for years. Tanner caused the accident in order to get Elizabeth's husband out of the picture, so he could be the man in her life. Once Tristan connected those dots, he returned to town to protect Elizabeth and Emma from the craziness that was Tanner. After making sure everyone was safe, Tristan confesses his love for Elizabeth, who loves him fully back, and they begin to build a new life together, while still honoring their loved ones from the past. The Air He Breathes is a story of hope, of compassion, and the true meaning of love"--
**THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER** 'Rattling. Heartbreaking. Beautiful,' Atul Gawande, bestselling author of Being Mortal What makes life worth living in the face of death? At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, the next he was a patient struggling to live. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a medical student asking what makes a virtuous and meaningful life into a neurosurgeon working in the core of human identity - the brain - and finally into a patient and a new father. Paul Kalanithi died while working on this profoundly moving book, yet his words live on as a guide to us all. When Breath Becomes Air is a life-affirming reflection on facing our mortality and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a gifted writer who became both. 'A vital book about dying. Awe-inspiring and exquisite. Obligatory reading for the living' Nigella Lawson
The Pocket Book is for use by doctors nurses and other health workers who are responsible for the care of young children at the first level referral hospitals. This second edition is based on evidence from several WHO updated and published clinical guidelines. It is for use in both inpatient and outpatient care in small hospitals with basic laboratory facilities and essential medicines. In some settings these guidelines can be used in any facilities where sick children are admitted for inpatient care. The Pocket Book is one of a series of documents and tools that support the Integrated Managem.
Publisher’s Note: This title is now available under a new edition, The Art of Breathing ISBN 9781642970425. This edition will include a new afterword by Mark Williams, author of Mindfulness. International bestselling author Dr. Danny Penman provides a concise guide to letting go, finding peace, and practicing mindfulness in a messy world, simply by taking the time to breathe. With these simple exercises he teaches you how to dissolve anxiety, stress, and unhappiness, enhance your mind, and unleash your creativity. You will start to smile more, worry less, and with each little moment of mindfulness, discover a happier, calmer you. It really is as easy as breathing. All you need is a chair, a body, some air, and your mind. That's it!
A treasury of the most notable, profound, and thought-provoking Buddhism-inspired writing published in the last year. The Best Buddhist Writing 2009 includes: * An interview with novelist Tom Robbins * Guiding principles for a new ecospirituality from Thich Nhat Hanh * Jack Kornfield on basic human goodness * Pico Iyer's portrait of the Dalai Lama * Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle on a couple's journey through Alzheimer's disease * The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche on the true, enlightened nature of mind * Wendy Johnson on bringing the beginner's mind to gardening * A mindfulness practice from Pema Ch�dr�n to help us wake up to the world around us * Joan Halifax on approaching death with fearlessness and compassion * Peggy Rowe-Ward and Larry Ward with stories, meditations, and exercises for experiencing love in a new and deeper way * Natalie Goldberg on the art of writing personal memoir * Dzigar Kongtr�l on our search for happiness * Sharon Salzberg on overcoming passion, aggression, and ignorance in our relationships * Stephanie Kaza on making environmentalism a spiritual path, not just a change in lifestyle * Meshuga-wisdom from Rabbi Rami Shapiro * John Welwood on how we can use our relationships for profound spiritual growth * And much more
