Download or read book The Lost Art of Reading written by David L. Ulin and published by Sasquatch Books. This book was released on 2010-06-01 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reading is a revolutionary act, an act of engagement in a culture that wants us to disengage. In The Lost Art of Reading, David L. Ulin asks a number of timely questions - why is literature important? What does it offer, especially now? Blending commentary with memoir, Ulin addresses the importance of the simple act of reading in an increasingly digital culture. Reading a book, flipping through hard pages, or shuffling them on screen - it doesn't matter. The key is the act of reading, and it's seriousness and depth. Ulin emphasizes the importance of reflection and pause allowed by stopping to read a book, and the accompanying focus required to let the mind run free in a world that is not one's own. Are we willing to risk our collective interest in contemplation, nuanced thinking, and empathy? Far from preaching to the choir, The Lost Art of Reading is a call to arms, or rather, to pages.

Download or read book We Sold Our Souls written by Grady Hendrix and published by Quirk Books. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A gloriously over-the-top scare fest that has hidden depths. Readers will root for Kris all the way to the explosive, poignant finale.”—Publishers Weekly From the New York Times best-selling author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. Only a girl with a guitar can save us all. Every morning, Kris Pulaski wakes up in hell. In the 1990s she was lead guitarist of Dürt Würk, a heavy-metal band on the brink of breakout success until lead singer Terry Hunt embarked on a solo career and rocketed to stardom, leaving his bandmates to rot in obscurity. Now Kris works as night manager of a Best Western; she’s tired, broke, and unhappy. Then one day everything changes—a shocking act of violence turns her life upside down, and she begins to suspect that Terry sabotaged more than just the band. Kris hits the road, hoping to reunite Dürt Würk and confront the man who ruined her life. Her journey will take her from the Pennsylvania rust belt to a celebrity rehab center to a satanic music festival. A spine-tingling horror novel, We Sold Our Souls is an epic journey into the heart of a conspiracy-crazed, pill-popping, paranoid country that seems to have lost its very soul.

Download or read book You Are Not a Gadget written by Jaron Lanier and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-01-12 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A NATIONAL BESTSELLER A programmer, musician, and father of virtual reality technology, Jaron Lanier was a pioneer in digital media, and among the first to predict the revolutionary changes it would bring to our commerce and culture. Now, with the Web influencing virtually every aspect of our lives, he offers this provocative critique of how digital design is shaping society, for better and for worse. Informed by Lanier’s experience and expertise as a computer scientist, You Are Not a Gadget discusses the technical and cultural problems that have unwittingly risen from programming choices—such as the nature of user identity—that were “locked-in” at the birth of digital media and considers what a future based on current design philosophies will bring. With the proliferation of social networks, cloud-based data storage systems, and Web 2.0 designs that elevate the “wisdom” of mobs and computer algorithms over the intelligence and wisdom of individuals, his message has never been more urgent.

Download or read book Level Up Your Life written by Steve Kamb and published by Rodale Books. This book was released on 2016-01-12 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 5 years, Steve Kamb has transformed himself from wanna-be daydreamer into a real-life superhero and actually turned his life into a gigantic video game: flying stunt planes in New Zealand, gambling in a tuxedo at the Casino de Monte-Carlo, and even finding Nemo on the Great Barrier Reef. To help him accomplish all of these goals, he built a system that allowed him to complete quests, take on boss battles, earn experience points, and literally level up his life. If you have always dreamed of adventure and growth but can’t seem to leave your hobbit-hole, Level Up Your Life is for you. Kamb will teach you exactly how to use your favorite video games, books, and movies as inspiration for adventure rather than an escape from the grind of everyday life. Hundreds of thousands of everyday Joes and Jills have joined Steve’s Rebellion through his popular website, NerdFitness.com, and leveled up their lives—losing weight, getting stronger, and living better. In Level Up Your Life, you’ll meet more than a dozen of these members of The Rebellion: men and women, young and old, single and married, from all walks of life who have created superhero versions of themselves to live adventurously and happily. Within this guide, you’ll follow in their footsteps and learn exactly how to: • Create your own “Alter Ego” with real-life super powers • Build your own Epic Quest List, broken into categories and difficulty levels • Hack your productivity habits to start making progress • Train your body for any adventure • Build in rewards and accountability that will actually motivate you to succeed • Travel the world freely (and cheaply) • Recruit the right allies to your side and find powerful mentors for guidance Adventure is out there, and the world needs more heroes. Will you heed the call?

Download or read book Wish It Lasted Forever written by Dan Shaughnessy and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-11-16 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From award-winning Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy, an “entertaining” (The Wall Street Journal) and nostalgia-filled retelling of the 1980s Boston Celtics’ glory years, which featured the sublime play of NBA legend Larry Bird. Today the NBA is a vast global franchise—a billion-dollar industry seen by millions of fans in the United States and abroad. But it wasn’t always this successful. Before primetime ESPN coverage, lucrative branding deals like Air Jordans, and $40 million annual player salaries, there was the NBA of the 1970s and 1980s—when basketball was still an up-and-coming sport featuring old school beat reporters and players who wore Converse All-Stars. Enter Dan Shaughnessy, then the beat reporter for The Boston Globe who covered the Boston Celtics every day from 1982 to 1986. It was a time when reporters travelled with professional teams—flying the same commercial airlines, riding the same buses, and staying in the same hotels. Shaughnessy knew the athletes as real people, losing free throw bets to Larry Bird, being gifted cheap cigars by the iconic coach Red Auerbach, and having his one-year-old daughter Sarah passed from player to player on a flight from Logan to Detroit Metro. Drawing on unprecedented access and personal experiences that would not be possible for any reporter today, Shaughnessy takes us inside the legendary Larry Bird-led Celtics teams, capturing the camaraderie as they dominated the NBA. Fans can witness the cockiness of Larry Bird (who once walked into an All-Star Weekend locker room, announced that he was going to win the three-point contest, and did); the ageless athleticism of Robert Parish; the shooting skills of Kevin McHale; the fierce, self-sacrificing play of Bill Walton; and the playful humor of players like Danny Ainge, Cedric “Cornbread” Maxwell, and M.L. Carr. For any fan who longs to return—for just a few hours—to those magical years when the Boston Garden rocked and the winner’s circle was mostly colored Boston Green, Wish It Lasted Forever is a masterful tribute to “the Celtics from 1982–1986 [that] is so good even fervent Celtics haters will have trouble putting it down” (New York Post).

Download or read book Legacy of the Drow written by R. A. Salvatore and published by . This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 1077 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains four fantasy adventures with Drizzt Do'Urden and his allies who fight the Spider Queen Lolth and her followers in their defense against darkness.

Download or read book Oil on the Brain written by Lisa Margonelli and published by Crown. This book was released on 2008-02-12 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Oil on the Brain is a smart, surprisingly funny account of the oil industry—the people, economies, and pipelines that bring us petroleum, brilliantly illuminating a world we encounter every day. Americans buy ten thousand gallons of gasoline a second, without giving it much of a thought. Where does all this gas come from? Lisa Margonelli’s desire to learn took her on a one-hundred thousand mile journey from her local gas station to oil fields half a world away. In search of the truth behind the myths, she wriggled her way into some of the most off-limits places on earth: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the New York Mercantile Exchange’s crude oil market, oil fields from Venezuela, to Texas, to Chad, and even an Iranian oil platform where the United States fought a forgotten one-day battle. In a story by turns surreal and alarming, Margonelli meets lonely workers on a Texas drilling rig, an oil analyst who almost gave birth on the NYMEX trading floor, Chadian villagers who are said to wander the oil fields in the guise of lions, a Nigerian warlord who changed the world price of oil with a single cell phone call, and Shanghai bureaucrats who dream of creating a new Detroit. Deftly piecing together the mammoth economy of oil, Margonelli finds a series of stark warning signs for American drivers.

Download or read book Dungeons Dragons Forgotten Realms The Legend of Drizzt Omnibus Volume 1 written by Andrew Dabb and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the orgins of renegade dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden, the most popular character to come out of the Dungeons & Dragons universe. Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms — Legends of Drizzt Omnibus Volume 1 delivers the first three graphic novel adaptations of R.A. Salvatore's beloved Dark Elf Trilogy—Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn—in one tome! This story takes readers from the moments before the birth of Drizzt in the dark elf capital of Menzobarranzan, the City of Spiders, to the point where he forsakes his Drow heritage and leaves his home in the Underdark to venture up into the unknown.

Download or read book The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci Complete written by Leonardo da Vinci and published by Library of Alexandria. This book was released on 2020-09-28 with total page 1118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A singular fatality has ruled the destiny of nearly all the most famous of Leonardo da Vinci's works. Two of the three most important were never completed, obstacles having arisen during his life-time, which obliged him to leave them unfinished; namely the Sforza Monument and the Wall-painting of the Battle of Anghiari, while the third—the picture of the Last Supper at Milan—has suffered irremediable injury from decay and the repeated restorations to which it was recklessly subjected during the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries. Nevertheless, no other picture of the Renaissance has become so wellknown and popular through copies of every description. Vasari says, and rightly, in his Life of Leonardo, "that he laboured much more by his word than in fact or by deed", and the biographer evidently had in his mind the numerous works in Manuscript which have been preserved to this day. To us, now, it seems almost inexplicable that these valuable and interesting original texts should have remained so long unpublished, and indeed forgotten. It is certain that during the XVIth and XVIIth centuries their exceptional value was highly appreciated. This is proved not merely by the prices which they commanded, but also by the exceptional interest which has been attached to the change of ownership of merely a few pages of Manuscript. That, notwithstanding this eagerness to possess the Manuscripts, their contents remained a mystery, can only be accounted for by the many and great difficulties attending the task of deciphering them. The handwriting is so peculiar that it requires considerable practice to read even a few detached phrases, much more to solve with any certainty the numerous difficulties of alternative readings, and to master the sense as a connected whole. Vasari observes with reference to Leonardos writing: "he wrote backwards, in rude characters, and with the left hand, so that any one who is not practised in reading them, cannot understand them". The aid of a mirror in reading reversed handwriting appears to me available only for a first experimental reading. Speaking from my own experience, the persistent use of it is too fatiguing and inconvenient to be practically advisable, considering the enormous mass of Manuscripts to be deciphered. And as, after all, Leonardo's handwriting runs backwards just as all Oriental character runs backwards—that is to say from right to left—the difficulty of reading direct from the writing is not insuperable. This obvious peculiarity in the writing is not, however, by any means the only obstacle in the way of mastering the text. Leonardo made use of an orthography peculiar to himself; he had a fashion of amalgamating several short words into one long one, or, again, he would quite arbitrarily divide a long word into two separate halves; added to this there is no punctuation whatever to regulate the division and construction of the sentences, nor are there any accents—and the reader may imagine that such difficulties were almost sufficient to make the task seem a desperate one to a beginner. It is therefore not surprising that the good intentions of some of Leonardo s most reverent admirers should have failed.

Download or read book Geddy Lee s Big Beautiful Book of Bass written by Geddy Lee and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-12-18 with total page 1512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A treasure trove for any fan of the four-stringed (and occasionally more) instrument.” — Billboard "It's not surprising that sooner or later I'd dive down the proverbial rabbit hole into the world of vintage bass guitars."—Geddy Lee From Rush frontman Geddy Lee's personal collection of vintage electric bass guitars, dating from the 1950s to the 1980s, comes the definitive volume on the subject. Geddy's love of the bass has been nurtured over a lifetime spent in the limelight as one of the world's premier rock bassists. For the past seven years, he's dedicated himself to studying the history of the instrument that's been so essential to his career, collecting hundreds of basses from around the globe. Written with arts journalist Daniel Richler, gorgeously photographed in breathtaking detail by Richard Sibbald, and with insight from Geddy’s trusted bass tech and curator, John "Skully" McIntosh, Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass profiles over 250 classic basses from Geddy’s extensive collection. Representing every tone in the bass palette, every nuance of the rock and roll genre as well as blues, jazz, pop, and country, this one-of-a-kind collection features so-called "beauty queens"—pristine instruments never lifted from their cases—as well as "road warriors"—well-worn, sweat-soaked basses that proudly show their age and use. Complete with personal commentary from Geddy that showcases his knowledge both as a musician and an aficionado, this luxuriously produced volume is a revelatory look at the heavy hitters in the world of bass—Fender, Gibson/Epiphone, Rickenbacker, Höfner, Ampeg—and lesser known but influential global luthiers such as Antonio Wandr Pioli, Dan Armstrong, and Tony Zemaitis. The book also features interviews with John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin); Adam Clayton (U2); Robert Trujillo (Metallica); Jeff Tweedy (Wilco); Bill Wyman (The Rolling Stones); Les Claypool (Primus); Bob Daisley (Rainbow); Fender expert and owner of the legendary Gibson Explorer, Bass Ken Collins; veteran guitar tech for The Who, Alan Rogan; plus comments from many other great players across three decades of rock and roll. Written in Geddy's singular voice, this book reveals the stories, songs, and history behind the instruments of his inimitable collection. Complete with an index and a graphically designed timeline of the history of the bass, as well as an up-close look at Geddy's basses on Rush's final R40 Tour, his stage and recording gear from 1968 to 2017, and forewords by author and respected vintage expert, Terry Foster, and Rush band member, Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bass is the ultimate compendium for the consummate collector, musician, Rush fan, and anyone who loves the bass guitar.

Download or read book Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes written by Chris Crutcher and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-09-22 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Called a “masterpiece” in a starred review from School Library Journal, award-winning author Chris Crutcher’s acclaimed Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is an enduring classic. This bestselling novel is about love, loyalty, and friendship in the face of adversity. “Superb plotting, extraordinary characters, and cracking narrative make this novel unforgettable.”—Publishers Weekly Sarah Byrnes and Eric Calhoune have been friends for years. When they were children, his weight and her scars made them both outcasts. Now Sarah Byrnes—the smartest, toughest person Eric has ever known—sits silent in a hospital. Eric must uncover the terrible secret she’s hiding before its dark current pulls them both under. Will appeal to fans of Marieke Nijkamp, Andrew Smith, and John Corey Whaley. “Once again, Chris Crutcher plunges his readers into life's tough issues within a compelling story filled with human compassion . . . with his characteristic intelligence, humor, and empathy."—ALAN Review An American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults

Download or read book Talking to Dragons written by Patricia C. Wrede and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2003 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second two volumes of Patricia C. Wrede's beloved, bestselling Enchanted Forest Chronicles!

Download or read book The Big East written by Dana O'Neil and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive, compulsively readable story of the greatest era of the most iconic league in college basketball history—the Big East “This book, full of long-standing rivalries, unmatched moments in the lives of coaches and players, and juicy insider gossip, is, like the game of basketball, a ton of fun.”—Philadelphia magazine The names need no introduction: Thompson and Patrick, Boeheim and the Pearl, and of course Gavitt. And the moments are part of college basketball lore: the Sweater Game, Villanova Beats Georgetown, and Six Overtimes. But this is the story of the Big East Conference that you haven’t heard before—of how the Northeast, once an afterthought, became the epicenter of college basketball. Before the league’s founding, East Coast basketball had crowned just three national champions in forty years, and none since 1954. But in the Big East’s first ten years, five of its teams played for a national championship. The league didn’t merely inherit good teams; it created them. But how did this unlikely group of schools come to dominate college basketball so quickly and completely? Including interviews with more than sixty of the key figures in the conference’s history, The Big East charts the league’s daring beginnings and its incredible rise. It transports fans inside packed arenas to epic wars fought between transcendent players, and behind locker-room doors where combustible coaches battled even more fiercely for a leg up. Started on a handshake and a prayer, the Big East carved an improbable arc in sports history, an ensemble of Catholic schools banding together to not only improve their own stations but rewrite the geographic boundaries of basketball. As former UConn coach Jim Calhoun eloquently put it, “It was Camelot. Camelot with bad language.”

Download or read book Pinocchio the Tale of a Puppet written by Carlo Collodi and published by . This book was released on 2011-02 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet follows the adventures of a talking wooden puppet whose nose grew longer whenever he told a lie and who wanted more than anything else to become a real boy.As carpenter Master Antonio begins to carve a block of pinewood into a leg for his table the log shouts out, "Don't strike me too hard!" Frightened by the talking log, Master Cherry does not know what to do until his neighbor Geppetto drops by looking for a piece of wood to build a marionette. Antonio gives the block to Geppetto. And thus begins the life of Pinocchio, the puppet that turns into a boy.Pinocchio, The Tale of a Puppet is a novel for children by Carlo Collodi is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio, an animated marionette, and his poor father and woodcarver Geppetto. It is considered a classic of children's literature and has spawned many derivative works of art. But this is not the story we've seen in film but the original version full of harrowing adventures faced by Pinnocchio. It includes 40 illustrations.

Download or read book The Second Kind of Impossible written by Paul Steinhardt and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Shortlisted for the 2019 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize* One of the most fascinating scientific detective stories of the last fifty years, an exciting quest for a new form of matter. “A riveting tale of derring-do” (Nature), this book reads like James Gleick’s Chaos combined with an Indiana Jones adventure. When leading Princeton physicist Paul Steinhardt began working in the 1980s, scientists thought they knew all the conceivable forms of matter. The Second Kind of Impossible is the story of Steinhardt’s thirty-five-year-long quest to challenge conventional wisdom. It begins with a curious geometric pattern that inspires two theoretical physicists to propose a radically new type of matter—one that raises the possibility of new materials with never before seen properties, but that violates laws set in stone for centuries. Steinhardt dubs this new form of matter “quasicrystal.” The rest of the scientific community calls it simply impossible. The Second Kind of Impossible captures Steinhardt’s scientific odyssey as it unfolds over decades, first to prove viability, and then to pursue his wildest conjecture—that nature made quasicrystals long before humans discovered them. Along the way, his team encounters clandestine collectors, corrupt scientists, secret diaries, international smugglers, and KGB agents. Their quest culminates in a daring expedition to a distant corner of the Earth, in pursuit of tiny fragments of a meteorite forged at the birth of the solar system. Steinhardt’s discoveries chart a new direction in science. They not only change our ideas about patterns and matter, but also reveal new truths about the processes that shaped our solar system. The underlying science is important, simple, and beautiful—and Steinhardt’s firsthand account is “packed with discovery, disappointment, exhilaration, and persistence...This book is a front-row seat to history as it is made” (Nature).

Download or read book SpringBoard English Language Arts written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designed to meet the needs of the Common Core State standards for English Language Arts. It helps students develop the knowledge and skills needed for advanced placement as well as for success in college and beyond without remediation.

Download or read book Illuminae written by Amie Kaufman and published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2015-10-20 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For fans of Marie Lu comes the first book in an epic series that bends the sci-fi genre into a new dimension. “A truly beautiful novel that redefines the form." —Victoria Aveyard, bestselling author of Red Queen This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded. The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than a speck at the edge of the universe. Now with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to evacuate with a hostile warship in hot pursuit. But their problems are just getting started. A plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a web of data to find the truth, it’s clear the only person who can help her is the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again. Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, maps, files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes. “Prepare yourselves for Illuminae.” —EW.com “[Y]ou’re not in for an ordinary novel experience. . . .” —Bustle.com “A truly interactive experience. . . . A fantastically fun ride.” —MTV.com ★ “[O]ut-of-this-world awesome.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred ★ “…stylistically mesmerizing.” —Publishers Weekly, starred ★ “[A]n arresting visual experience.”—Booklist, starred ★ “[A] game-changer.” —Shelf Awareness, starred “Brace yourself. You're about to be immersed in a mindscape that you'll never want to leave.” —Marie Lu, bestselling author of the Legend trilogy "Genre: Undefinable. Novel: Unforgettable." —Kami Garcia, bestselling coauthor of Beautiful Creatures & author of Unbreakable “An exuberant mix of space opera, romance, zombies, hackers, and political thrills.” —Scott Westerfeld, bestselling author of Zeroes and Uglies “Stunningly creative. Smart, funny, and romantic.” —Veronica Rossi, bestselling author of Under the Never Sky “This is one of those rare books that will truly keep your heart pounding.” —Beth Revis, bestselling author of Across the Universe “This book is xxxxing awesome.” —Laini Taylor, bestselling author of Daughter of Smoke and Bone