"When a young boy Begins to play on the family's piano, reveling in the fun of plunking the keys, his father signs him up for lessons so he can learn to play properly. Raj learns notes, then scales, then songs, and finally classical pieces his father can recognize and be proud of. However, the more skilled he becomes, the less he enjoys playing--until he grows up and stops playing altogether. But when his father becomes ill and requests that Raj play for him, will Raj remember how to play from the heart?"--Provided by publisher
"Mateer's turn-of-the-century story is full of characters who will touch your heart."--RT Book Reviews Lula Bowman has finally achieved her dream: a teaching position and a scholarship to continue her college education in mathematics. But then a shocking phone call from her sister, Jewel, changes everything. With a heavy heart, Lula returns to her Oklahoma hometown to do right by her sister, but the only teaching job available in Dunn is combination music instructor/basketball coach. Lula doesn't even consider those real subjects! Determined to prove herself, Lula commits to covering the job for the rest of the school year. Reluctantly, she turns to the boys' coach, Chet, to learn the newfangled game of basketball. Chet is handsome and single, but Lula has no plans to fall for a local boy. She's returning to college and her scholarship as soon as she gets Jewel back on her feet. However, the more time she spends around Jewel's family, the girls' basketball team, music classes, and Chet, the more Lula comes to realize what she's given up in her single-minded pursuit of degree after degree. God is working on her heart, and her future is starting to look a lot different than she'd expected.
Jesse Lee is the worst!He's a multi-millionaire, triple-platinum-selling, Grammy-Award-winning man-slut--a worldly, self-indulgent heathen. I wouldn't sleep with him if he were our last chance to ensure survival of the human race. The only reason I put up with him is because he's my boss's brother. Whatsherface is one of those holier-than-thou types.She's bossy, has a horrific singing voice, and she's so ordinary, she practically blends in with the eggshell-colored walls--the complete opposite of anyone I'd bang. The only reason I put up with her is because my career is on the line.Playing by Heart is an enemies-to-lovers romance where opposites not only attract, they ignite.
Readers will learn what drives them into controlling behavior and victimhood--and what it takes to pull themselves out, to return to the healing, faith, and maturity that come with recovery. Since the publication of Melody Beattie's groundbreaking book Codependent No More, millions of people have confronted the demons of codependency. And yet, many in recovery find themselves slipping back into the old ways that brought them such grief.In her book Playing It by Heart, Beattie helps readers understand what drives them back into the grasp of controlling behavior and victimhood--and what it takes to pull themselves out, to return to the healing, faith, and maturity that come with a commitment to recovery.Personal essays, inspiring anecdotes, and prescriptive reminders show readers how to stop acting out their painful obsessions. Marked by compassion and keen insight, Playing It by Heart explores the author's most intense personal lessons and shows readers that, despite setbacks, recovery is a lifelong opportunity for spiritual growth.In her many best-selling books, including Stop Being Mean to Yourself, Codependent No More, and The Language of Letting Go, Melody Beattie draws on the wisdom of Twelve Step healing, Christianity, and Eastern religions.
Celebrate feelings in all their shapes and sizes in this New York Times bestselling picture book from the Growing Hearts series! Happiness, sadness, bravery, anger, shyness . . . our hearts can feel so many feelings! Some make us feel as light as a balloon, others as heavy as an elephant. In My Heart explores a full range of emotions, describing how they feel physically, inside, with language that is lyrical but also direct to empower readers to practice articulating and identifying their own emotions. With whimsical illustrations and an irresistible die-cut heart that extends through each spread, this gorgeously packaged and unique feelings book is sure to become a storytime favorite.
A new vision of the future of games and game design, enabled by AI. Can games measure intelligence? How will artificial intelligence inform games of the future? In Playing Smart, Julian Togelius explores the connections between games and intelligence to offer a new vision of future games and game design. Video games already depend on AI. We use games to test AI algorithms, challenge our thinking, and better understand both natural and artificial intelligence. In the future, Togelius argues, game designers will be able to create smarter games that make us smarter in turn, applying advanced AI to help design games. In this book, he tells us how. Games are the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence. In 1948, Alan Turing, one of the founding fathers of computer science and artificial intelligence, handwrote a program for chess. Today we have IBM's Deep Blue and DeepMind's AlphaGo, and huge efforts go into developing AI that can play such arcade games as Pac-Man. Programmers continue to use games to test and develop AI, creating new benchmarks for AI while also challenging human assumptions and cognitive abilities. Game design is at heart a cognitive science, Togelius reminds us—when we play or design a game, we plan, think spatially, make predictions, move, and assess ourselves and our performance. By studying how we play and design games, Togelius writes, we can better understand how humans and machines think. AI can do more for game design than providing a skillful opponent. We can harness it to build game-playing and game-designing AI agents, enabling a new generation of AI-augmented games. With AI, we can explore new frontiers in learning and play.
