The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise.
If you ask someone the question, "Tell me a story that changed your life," there will almost certainly be a thoughtful pause before a huge grin emerges. Everyone's life has been guided and impacted by stories, beginning with the earliest fables and nursery rhymes our parents used to instill moral values to the last time you wanted to illustrate a point in a meeting or get a laugh out of a friend over dinner. Storytelling is a uniquely human activity, among our first and most enduring forms of communication. This is a book about the meaning of stories in people's lives, especially those that have produced enduring changes in their values, behavior, lifestyle, and worldview. Carefully documented and supported by research from the social sciences, as well as from neurobiology, the humanities, media studies, and arts, Jeffrey Kottler will explore how and why stories are so powerfully influential in people's lives, especially those that lead to major life transformations.
In 1979, someone asked humorist Erma Bombeck, "If you had your life to live over, would you change anything'" Her immediate answer was no, but once she thought about it, she changed her mind. The result was a classic column full of Bombeck"s signature wit and warmth. Now the beloved column that has hung on hundreds of refrigerator doors has been cheerily illustrated and designed as a handsome gift book, Eat Less Cottage and More Ice Cream. In it, Bombeck gently reminds us of what is really important in life:"If I had my life to live over again I would have waxed less and listened more."I would have cried and laughed less while watching television . . . and more while watching real life."But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute of it . . . look at it and really see it . . . try it on . . . live it . . . exhaust it . . . and never give that minute back until there was nothing left of it. . . . "Long-time fans of Erma Bombeck will be thrilled to have this favorite column in the form of a beautiful keepsake. Readers discovering Bombeck for the first time will become fans instantly. Eat Less Cottage and More Ice Cream offers wisdom to inspire all of us.
“Matt Heard writes winsomely and compellingly, answering that quiet aching so many people – yes, even Christians – have that there must be more to life…. I highly recommend Life With a Capital L!” - Joni Eareckson Tada, Joni and Friends International Disability Center What is it that you long for? Dream about? Hunger after? We all desire more than just the endurance of our daily routines. But often we feel limited and stuck — like we’re merely existing instead of living. That’s not the way it was meant to be. God intends the humanity in each of us to be deeply experienced, lavishly enjoyed, and exuberantly celebrated. In fact this is what the gospel is all about. Yes, the gospel. Contrary to conventional thinking — inside and outside the church — following Jesus is not about denying our humanness but embracing it. Rather than acting more spiritual or being more religious, we’re called and enabled to become more fully human… and alive. Matt Heard escorts us on a journey of discovery: that Jesus didn’t come to save us from our humanity — Christ instead yearns to restore it to what God originally intended. Matt then explores ten key areas where everyday life can become extraordinary Life. Christ promised we could “live life to the full.” He didn’t just mean eventually. Life with a Capital L is the Life you are longing for. Now.
When author Amanda McDonough started losing her hearing at the age of 4 she swore her parents to secrecy. She hid her hearing loss for 18 years from her friends, family, teachers, and acquaintances. As the author grew older, her hearing gradually decreased, causing her to begin struggling in school, in her relationships with family and friends, and with her identity. By age twenty-two, she could no longer rely on her wit to hide her hearing loss. She became one hundred percent deaf in both ears. Amanda found herself unable to hear, talk, lip-read or sign. Her only method of communication with the world was through writing. Ready to be Heard is the story of how Amanda taught herself to speak again, to lip-read, and to sign. McDonough explains how she discovered a new culture, language, and most importantly, herself. In this memoir, the author narrates how she managed to finish college after becoming deaf. How she garnered straight As in school, entered the workforce, enjoyed a successful Hollywood acting career (Freeforms Switched at Birth, ABCs Speechless, NBCs Bad Judge, Google, 7UP, Deaf West/ Pasadena Playhouses Our Town, etc.), fought for her independence, and found her purpose. Ready to be Heard tells about the authors journey to find a balance between the hearing world she was raised in and the Deaf culture to which she now belonged.
Introducing new reprints by Gerald Heard: The Creed of Christ The Code of Christ Training for the Life of the Spirit Prayers and Meditations There was a period in my early thirties when these four small books by Gerald Heard served almost as my bible. I read and reread them, and invariably found them to be uplifting and inspiring. - Professor Huston Smith Gerald Heard was an inspiring voice for the life of the spirit. Wipf & Stock is to be commended that Heard's remarkable work is being made available to a new generation of spiritual seekers. - Dr. William H. Forthman Required reading for those walking the spiritual path, Gerald Heard's Training for the Life of the Spirit methodically outlines the entire course of the aspirant's journey. Heard provides a time-tested roadmap for the wayfarer: There is a purpose in evolution - to evolve consciously, to evolve consciousness. That evolution is achieved only by the skilled, conscious training of our spirits. The aspirant works to subdue their ego: For in so far as we are emptied of self, so far are we freed from accident. Our habit patterns, our moodsÉour natures can be reconditioned, re-freed. We will be inwardly reunited, our fissured selves re-fused. Training for the Life of the Spirit contains Gerald Heard's essential observation: Our whole life must become intentional and purposive, instead of a series of irrelevant events, adventures, and accidents, happy or unhappy.
From an innocuous encounter in an airplane, to discourses of the enrichment of the only philosophy his own father handed down to him, through issues of concern for dereliction of education, to building a wholesome and homogeneous community. He highlights issues through his own journey through life and the numerous recordation of those he had made and shared in a span of close to two decades, blending fun and earnest graveness without being preachy or sanctimonious. Drawing from the Desiderata and his favorite prayer, Good Morning God, he uses an engaging discourse form to deliver the message that our stories, individually and collectively, written or unwritten, is the culminant of the world's story. In this book, he shows that inspiration is not farfetched and that from effecting liveability in our immediate surrounding we can shape our story to effect "points of contact and communication" that will eventually give "the world story, the great Story, .....a chance to develop."
There are two paths in life: Should & Must. We arrive at this crossroads over and over again, and every day. And we get to choose. Starting out or starting over, making a career change or making a life change, the most life-affirming thing you can do is to honor the voice inside that says your have something special to give, and then heed the call and act. Many have traveled this road before. Here’s how you can, too. #choosemust An inspirational gift book for every recent graduate, every artist, every seeker, and every career change.
When a person goes with their Heart, they are taking the risk into discovering their own Being. Of course, all most all of us go through some type of schooling, which makes sense for the society in which we live, but if we never take the risk to discover our Heart and Being, then we continue on for many more unconscious lifetimes, until we are ready to WakeUp. But, we definitely need RealGuidance to discover who we are and why we are here, moreso than what can be found in any of the Literal Institutions. Young children, live with their Heart and not their head or mind, as they have not been overly conditioned. Nature, and all the creatures in it are the same way, as they are Being with Life, and not working against it or trying to destroy it. Of course, none of us can destroy Life, but we can create things that distort what Life has provided for us on the Earth. The Reality Life IS, is all about Becoming MoreAware from the Heart. www.DuaneTheGreatWriter.Info