Inspired by the beloved Mr. Bowtie and the spectacular lighting displays on Oasis Avenue, The Light Man takes a lighthearted look at the Christmas season through the eyes of Mr. Brown.After some initial prodding from Mrs. Brown, Mr. Brown, a shy, soft spoken man, takes on the arduous task of decorating his house with lights. The difficult job soon becomes a labor of love when he realizes the joy the display brings to others.
New York City, 1973 and the city is falling apart under the weight of crime and degradation. Al loves Trudy but doesn't understand her or how to be a man in this world. He hopes that angry Mike, a courageous and selfless father to a mentally crippled son, can enlighten and inspire him. But Mike, who spends his nights manning a spotlight outside Broadway theaters, has a dark side. He can keep those beams licking the dark heavens and he can fix any broken appliance you hand him, but he can't fix his broken son and it is killing him. The two men forge a friendship and try to work out their frustrations, paranoia, and rage as they grope for some standing in a city buried in uncollected garbage and uncontrolled vermin. Meanwhile, Mike's wife, Arlene, a classically trained actress, becomes a New York City folk hero portraying a distraught housewife in a television commercial trying to battle an onslaught of cockroaches. With passion, authenticity, and insight," along with wild humor and relentless humanity, Light Man digs into the psyche of a city on the edge and two men whose lopsided versions of heroism take them to the brink of catastrophe and their own contorted versions of redemption.
The acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams tackles "big questions like the origin of the universe and the nature of consciousness ... in an entertaining and easily digestible way” (Wall Street Journal) with a collection of meditative essays on the possibilities—and impossibilities—of nothingness and infinity, and how our place in the cosmos falls somewhere in between. Can space be divided into smaller and smaller units, ad infinitum? Does space extend to larger and larger regions, on and on to infinity? Is consciousness reducible to the material brain and its neurons? What was the origin of life, and can biologists create life from scratch in the lab? Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, whom The Washington Post has called “the poet laureate of science writers,” explores these questions and more—from the anatomy of a smile to the capriciousness of memory to the specialness of life in the universe to what came before the Big Bang. Probable Impossibilities is a deeply engaged consideration of what we know of the universe, of life and the mind, and of things vastly larger and smaller than ourselves.
This early work by Henry James was originally published in 1869 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Henry James was born in New York City in 1843. One of thirteen children, James had an unorthodox early education, switching between schools, private tutors and private reading.. James published his first story, 'A Tragedy of Error', in the Continental Monthly in 1864, when he was twenty years old. In 1876, he emigrated to London, where he remained for the vast majority of the rest of his life, becoming a British citizen in 1915. From this point on, he was a hugely prolific author, eventually producing twenty novels and more than a hundred short stories and novellas, as well as literary criticism, plays and travelogues. Amongst James's most famous works are The Europeans (1878), Daisy Miller (1878), Washington Square (1880), The Bostonians (1886), and one of the most famous ghost stories of all time, The Turn of the Screw (1898). We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
Katie's first love was writing poetry. Katie's second love was Matt. She quit her previous job to pursue her passion for writing, but with thoughts of assuming her work wasn't good enough, she gave up and began a new job at the cafe in town. This is where she meets a regular customer named Brayden, who she finds out had a recent tragic event that later becomes a story she can relate to herself. After hearing his story, it causes her to appreciate even more that she has Matt, and it also begins to give her some inspiration to write again. Katie and Matt decide on their tenth anniversary of being together that they want to finally get married. They never wanted to be pressured into getting married, especially by Katie's parents. After Matt suggests eloping, Katie agrees that it would be for the best, and this causes even more tension between Katie and her mother. Only a month after tying the knot, a devastating accident happens that takes Matt's life. This turns Katie's world completely upside down. She stops writing again, quits her job at the cafe, closes herself off, and is lost and lonely. She was always convinced that if anything were to ever happen to Matt, that she would never be able to love someone else again. After reconnecting with Brayden months later, those doubts seem to change. Can Katie find the motivation and inspiration to write again and to find a way to rebuild the long-lost relationship with her family? Will she be able to open her heart up again to find love after him, possibly with Brayden? Or will she remain to stay true to Matt the rest of her life and continue to be alone?
Stargazers rejoice! In his first book for children, renowned physicist Alan Lightman and collaborators, with help from the Hubble telescope, light up the night sky. New York Times best-selling author Alan Lightman, in collaboration with Olga Pastuchiv, brings galaxies close in a stunning picture-book tribute to the interconnectedness of the natural world. Layering photographs taken from the Hubble telescope into charming and expressive art, illustrator Susanna Chapman zooms in on one child’s experiences: Ada knows that the best place for star-gazing is on the island in Maine where she vacations with her grandparents. By day, she tracks osprey in the trees, paddles a kayak, and hunts for shells. But she’s most in her element when the sun goes down and the stars blink to life. Will the fog this year foil her plans, or will her grandfather find a way to shine a spotlight on the vast puzzle of the universe . . . until the weather turns?
Alan Lightman, the internationally bestselling author of Einstein's Dreams, presents Mr g, a celebration of the highs and lows of existence, on the grandest possible scale: the story of Creation, as told by God. Once before time existed, Mr g woke up from a nap and decided to create the universe. In the shimmering Void, where he lives with his Aunt Penelope and Uncle Deva, he creates time, space, and matter. Soon follow stars, planets, animate matter, consciousness,and intelligent beings with moral dilemmas. But the creation of space and time has unintended consequences, including the arrival of Belhor, a clever and devious rival. Belhor delights in needling Mr g, demanding explanations for the inexplicable, offering his own opinions on the fledgling universes, and maintaining the necessity of evil. As Mr g’s favorite universe grows, he discovers how an act of creation can change everything in the world—including the creator himself.
The Jerusalem Bible, Ellerdale Road, St Paul's Girls School and a baby monitor: books and streets, buildings and objects fill this bildungsroman set in Hampstead, North West London. Sarah Lightman has been drawing her life since she was a 22-year-old undergraduate at The Slade School of Art. The Book of Sarah traces her journey from modern Jewish orthodoxy to a feminist Judaism, as she searches between the complex layers of family and family history that she inherited and inhabited. While the act of drawing came easily, the letting go of past failures, attachments and expectations did not. It is these that form the focus of Sarah's astonishingly beautiful pages, as we bear witness to her making the world her own.
Healing With Light. A uniquely gifted healer, Mauricio Panisset was literally a man of light. When performing his phenomenal work, bright lights could be seen flashing like lightning from parts of his physical body. The lights first came to Mauricio as a nine-year-old in Brazil. The powers remained for fifty-four years until his death. Among those whom he helped with his extraordinary gift were well-known politicians and Hollywood celebrities. While Mauricio's life may seem incredible, his extraordinary journey is told - for the first time - by the woman who worked by his side, his wife Kimberly Panisset Curcio. In this inspirational narrative, Kimberly shows how Mauricio's work helped many discover there is much more to life than suffering and struggle. Mauricio showed that God is here on earth, and He works through ordinary people like you and I. In Mauricio Panniset's wondrous story, readers will discover the light within, and by doing so, will be inspired to bring a greater light into our world.
The bestselling author of Einsteins Dreams explores the emotional and philosophical questions raised by recent discoveries in science with passion and curiosity. He looks at the dialogue between science and religion; the conflict between our human desire for permanence and the impermanence of nature; the possibility that our universe is simply an accident; the manner in which modern technology has separated us from direct experience of the world; and our resistance to the view that our bodies and minds can be explained by scientific logic and laws. Behind all of these considerations is the suggestion--at once haunting and exhilarating--that what we see and understand of the world is only a tiny piece of the extraordinary, perhaps unfathomable whole.
