In the early-morning hours of August 5, 1962, Los Angeles County deputy coroner Ben Fitzgerald arrives at the home of the world's most famous movie star, now lying dead in her bedroom, naked and still clutching a telephone. There he discovers The Book of Secrets - Marilyn Monroe's diary - revealing a doomed love affair with a man she refers to only as "The General." In the following days, Ben unravels a wide-ranging cover-up and some heartbreaking truths about the fragile, luminous woman behind the celebrity. Soon the sinister and surreal accounts in The Book of Secrets bleed into Ben's own life, and he finds himself, like Monroe, trapped in a deepening paranoid conspiracy. The Empty Glass is an unforgettable combination of the riveting facts and legendary theories that have dogged Monroe, the Kennedy's, the Mafia, and even the CIA for decades. It is an exciting debut from a remarkable new thriller writer.
The question of Pessimism vs. Optimism is often misunderstood, or worse yet, misinterpreted. But by taking a childlike and playful approach, we can explore one of humankind's most ancient riddles and learn some of the deeper lessons that The Question can teach each of us.The Question exists, in some form, in every language across the globe, and its origins are as ancient as the human spirit. But does this simple question really tell us if one is a Pessimist or an Optimist? Can we use The Question to help us with finding balance, managing stress, and enjoying life? Using humor and innocence, this book provides us the opportunity to determine the fullness of our own glass, and how to apply it to our daily lives.
This gripping and at times astonishing story will be inspirational to all adults either facing Asperger's syndrome personally or interacting with someone who has been diagnosed. In his own imitable style, Chris Mitchell describes his life before and after diagnosis with Asperger's syndrome. We follow Chris through primary and secondary school, where his lack of social interaction and anger continually landed him in trouble, and where he was bullied for being different. Only his excellent memory and specialist interests enable him to continue, and pass his GCSEs and a GNVQ in Media Studies. At university, studying Journalism, he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. Suddenly his life made more sense, and his self-awareness meant his self-confidence returned, resulting in world travel, a Masters qualification and finally, acceptance. Chris Mitchell was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome in 1998 when he was 20 years old. He has since achieved an MA (Hons) in Information and Library Management. Based in Sunderland, he is an advocate for Asperger's syndrome and speaks at many public events about the condition.
Despite the doom and gloom of financial crises, global terrorism, climate collapse, and the rise of the far-right, a number of leading intellectuals (Steven Pinker, Hans Rosling, Johan Norberg, and Matt Ridley, among others) have been arguing in recent years that the world is getting better and better. But this “progress narrative” is little more than a very conservative defence of the capitalist status quo. At a time when liberal democracy appears incapable of stemming the tide of the far-right populism, and when laissez-faire capitalism is ill-equipped to deal with socio-economic problems like climate change, inequality, and the future of wok, the real advocates of progress are those willing to challenge these established paradigms. The Glass Half-Empty argues that, without criticising the systems of capitalism, the changes needed to make a better world will always fall short of our expectations. The "progress narrative" needs to be challenged before we stumble into a potentially catastrophic future, despite having the means to build a truly better world.
"Like a modern day vagabonding beat poet, the possible love-child of Patti Smith and Charles Bukowski - Eriksson is a rare soul in today's society. Carefully balancing between wanting to defy the world, and wanting nothing more than to be a part of it." At 18 years old she left her home in Sweden and took off on her own to embark on the long journey of creating a life for herself. A life she could be proud of. A life that made her excited to wake up every morning. With nothing but a guitar, her stories and a dream, she spent a year wandering in England, sleeping at train stations, airports and helpful fans' couches. Singing for whoever was willing to listen and collecting stories. Her first book Empty Roads & Broken Bottles; in search for The Great Perhaps, is Charlotte's own journey of fighting for her dream, living rootless, learning solitude, the difference between having a home and feeling at home and how she finally found a home in herself, in her music, in her words.An ordinary girl created a community, now with thousands of fans following her journey. Aspiring to inspire others to follow their hearts and go against the tide, showing that you can achieve and become exactly who you want to be, if you just want it bad enough. "She seems to have such a deep love for life and experience, both the good and the bad, this book made me want to go out and live my life to the fullest. I want to feel all of this too." This book is filled with philosophical explorations, inspiring stories of facing fear and doubts, words on love and loss, hurting and healing. The second part of the book is Charlotte's own journals, written during her wandering year in England. Bold and honest, raw from stream-of-consciousness. She doesn't cover up how hard life can really be, how deep love can cut, or how mesmerising a simple conversation can be. Now, a few years later, Charlotte has become a prolific songwriter and author. She's released 3 critically acclaimed albums, published 3 books, and had excerpts from her books shared on large platforms such as Thought Catalog, Bella Grace Magazine, Berlin ArtParasites and Word Porn. She's taken on the challenge of writing comforting words on mental illness, depression, wanting more, heartbreak, chasing a dream and losing people. But this, is where it all started. "I wanted to turn my life into art, my very existence into a poem. This is my story. It might not always be easy, but it will always be beautiful." ************************* "Instant coffee and a tip from the sound-guy. I'm learning sounds, lying wide awake on different sofas every night. I know the difference between a well built wall and broken strength. I'm learning mindfulness, reading about gurus and poets every day on different trains to nowhere. I don't know what I'm learning but I hope I will understand one day. I'm selling my heart with each album and a silent prayer that they'll be gentle with it, gentle with me. And then the concerned looks they throw when I point at my worn out bag and broken guitar case as the answer to where I live. Sure I could spend a year or two selling my days and time for money, and I could buy all these things people want to have without never really needing it. It's just that when I'm on that stage every night, it all just seems so stupid. My guitar, my voice, my words, my story. That's all I want, that's what makes my heart beat. What am I supposed to do with belongings and material stuff when all I want is this. The open road and a new beginning every day."
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature The masterful collection from the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Wild Iris and Vita Nova Louise Glück has long practiced poetry as a species of clairvoyance. She began as Cassandra, at a distance, in league with the immortal; to read her books sequentially is to chart the oracle’s metamorphosis into unwilling vessel, reckless, mortal and crude. The Seven Ages is Glück’s ninth book, her strangest and most bold. In it she stares down her own death, and, in doing do, forces endless superimpositions of the possible on the impossible—an act that simultaneously defies and embraces the inevitable, and is, finally, mimetic. over and over, at each wild leap or transformation, flames shoot up the reader’s spine.
This book tries to answer that question through a global journey in search of places where conservation efforts mean things are getting better, not worse an attempt to understand conservation success, celebrate it, and learn from it.
So you tell someone you're having a bad day and they respond with "Oh, don't worry. Things will get better." Don't you just want to haul off and smack them? What you really want to do is take their happy-doodle attitude and stick it where the sun don't shine. Well, let them live in my shoes for just one week, let alone seven years. Seven years living at this house on Cedarcrest Road was no paradise. I was always someone who looked on the bright side of everything. I always looked at the 'glass as being half full' until I lived on Cedarcrest Road.
Glass Half Empty is the loosely based autobiography of Nette who tried hard to beat the statistics growing up in the rough streets of Memphis, Tennessee
