Download or read book Embracing the Ordinary written by Michael Foley and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-07-05 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'In recession-chastened, soddenly staycationing Britain, Foley may well have devised a new bestseller format: a how-to book offering a way of escape ... [a] lovely book' Guardian It has always been difficult to appreciate everyday life, often devalued as dreary, banal and burdensome, and never more so than in a culture besotted with fantasy, celebrity and glamour. Yet, with characteristic wit and earthiness, Michael Foley - author of the bestselling The Age of Absurdity - draws on the works of writers, thinkers and artists who have celebrated and examined the ordinary life, and encourages us to delight in the complexities of the everyday. With astute observation, Foley brings fresh insights to such things as the banality of everyday speech, the madness and weirdness of snobbery, love and sex, and the strangeness of the everyday environment, such as the office. It is all more fascinating, comical and mysterious than you think. Intelligent, funny and entertaining, Foley shows us how to find contentment and satisfaction by embracing the ordinary things in life. 'A convincing argument for the beauty of the seemingly banal… ' Scotsman

Download or read book The Ordinary Spaceman written by Clayton C. Anderson and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2015-06 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What's it like to travel at more than 850 MPH, riding in a supersonic T-38 twin turbojet engine airplane? What happens when the space station toilet breaks? How do astronauts "take out the trash" on a spacewalk, tightly encapsulated in a space suit with just a few layers of fabric and Kevlar between them and the unforgiving vacuum of outer space? The Ordinary Spaceman puts you in the flight suit of U.S. astronaut Clayton C. Anderson and takes you on the journey of this small-town boy from Nebraska who spent 167 days living and working on the International Space Station, including nearly forty hours of space walks. Having applied to NASA fifteen times over fifteen years to become an astronaut before his ultimate selection, Anderson offers a unique perspective on his life as a veteran space flier, one characterized by humility and perseverance. From the application process to launch aboard the space shuttle Atlantis, from serving as a family escort for the ill-fated Columbia crew in 2003 to his own daily struggles--family separation, competitive battles to win coveted flight assignments, the stress of a highly visible job, and the ever-present risk of having to make the ultimate sacrifice--Anderson shares the full range of his experiences. With a mix of levity and gravitas, Anderson gives an authentic view of the highs and the lows, the triumphs and the tragedies of life as a NASA astronaut.

Download or read book Engaging Resistance written by Aaron Anderson and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-25 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Engaging Resistance: How Ordinary People Successfully Champion Change offers an empirically based explanation that expands our understanding about the nature of resistance to organizational change and the effects of champion behavior. The text presents a new model describing how resistance occurs over time and details what change proponents can do throughout three engagement periods to effectively work with hesitant colleagues. The book's findings are illuminated by examples of six different resistance cases, embedded in the transformation sagas of two real-world organizations. A fundamental premise of this work is that resistance should not be something to avoid or squash as people work to change their organizations. In fact, resistance can be viewed as a natural, healthy part of an organic process. When engaged properly, resisters can help to improve change efforts and strengthen an organization's overall transformation.

Download or read book Refuse to Be Ordinary written by Dennis King and published by . This book was released on 2012-07 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: REFUSE TO BE ORDINARY takes the reader inside the locker room, inside the huddle of final timeouts, inside the American classroom, and inside the head of a veteran English teacher who was inspired by the unique young men and women he taught and coached. Coach Dennis King combines a life-time of observation, reflection, and personal stories of inspiration to reveal an intense slice of high school basketball never before documented with such a specific lens. A champion is an athlete infected by a dream whose passion, discipline, competitiveness, poise, pride, humility, character, confidence, and courage separate him or her from the ranks of the ordinary. The author of REFUSE TO BE ORDINARY is not a celebrity coach who has written a book trying to cash in on a fleeting national championship. Hes a blue-collar teacher/coach whose entire career has been spent in the trenches of public education devoted to the grassroots mission of helping young people reach their full potential. 10 CHAMPIONSHIP TRAITS DREAMS - Champions dream in high definition. PASSION Champions self-ignite. COMPETITIVENESS Champions crave challenges. DISCIPLINE - Champions embrace repetition, habit and sacrifice. POISE Champions relax. PRIDE Champions care. HUMILITY Champions show gratitude. CONFIDENCE- Champions visualize victory. CHARACTER Champions make right choices. COURAGE Champions conquer fear.

Download or read book Brand Champions written by I. Buckingham and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-01-26 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A case-study based guide which showcases the individuals within organizations who nurture and sustain brands and bring them to life through their everyday performance. Critical enough to remain credible yet overwhelmingly positive, it is a charismatic illustration of how to achieve true brand engagement.

Download or read book Surprised by Motherhood written by Lisa-Jo Baker and published by Tyndale House Publishers. This book was released on 2014 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lawyer with a well-stamped passport and a passion for human rights, Lisa-Jo Baker never wanted to be a mom. And then she had kids. Having lost her own mother to cancer as a teenager, Lisa-Jo felt lost on her journey to womanhood and wholly unprepared to raise children.Surprised by Motherhoodis Lisa-Jo's story of becoming and being a mom, and in the process, discovering that all the "what to expect" and "how to" books in the world can never truly prepare you for the sheer exhilaration, joy, and terrifying love that accompanies motherhood.Set partly in South Africa and partly in the US (with a slight detour to Ukraine along the way), Surprised by Motherhoodis a poignant memoir of one woman's dawning realization that being a mom isn't about being perfect--it's about being present.

Download or read book The Age of Absurdity written by Michael Foley and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: PHILOSOPHY. A wry and accessible investigation into how the desirable states of wellbeing and satisfaction are constantly undermined by modern life. Michael Foley examines the elusive condition of happiness common to philosophy, spiritual teachings and contemporary psychology, then shows how these are becoming increasingly difficult to apply in a world of high expectations. The common challenges of earning a living, maintaining a relationship and ageing are becoming battlegrounds of existential angst and self-loathing in a culture that demands conspicuous consumption, high-octane partnerships and perpetual youth. Foley presents an entertaining strategy of not just accepting but embracing today's world - finding happiness in its absurdity.

Download or read book No Ordinary Champion written by Otto Thorwarth and published by . This book was released on 2023-08-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book August written by Callan Wink and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A boy coming of age in a part of the country that’s being left behind is at the heart of this dazzling novel—the first by an award-winning author of short stories that evoke the American West. LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • “August reads like early Hemingway, retooled for the present.”—William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Barbarian Days Callan Wink has been compared to masters like Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane. His short stories have been published in The New Yorker and have won numerous accolades. Now his enormous talents are showcased in a debut novel that follows a boy growing up in the middle of the country through those difficult years between childhood and adulthood. August is an average twelve-year-old. He likes dogs and fishing and doesn’t mind early-morning chores on his family’s Michigan dairy farm. But following his parents’ messy divorce, his mother decides that she and August need to start over in a new town. There, he tries to be an average teen—playing football and doing homework—but when his role in a shocking act of violence throws him off course once more, he flees to a ranch in rural Montana, where he learns that even the smallest communities have dark secrets. Covering August's adolescence, from age twelve to nineteen, this gorgeously written novel bears witness to the joys and traumas that irrevocably shape us all. Filled with unforgettable characters and stunning natural landscapes, this book is a moving and provocative look at growing up in the American heartland.

Download or read book The Eighty Dollar Champion written by Elizabeth Letts and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-08-23 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The dramatic and inspiring story of a man and his horse, an unlikely duo whose rise to stardom in the sport of show jumping captivated the nation Harry de Leyer first saw the horse he would name Snowman on a truck bound for the slaughterhouse. The recent Dutch immigrant recognized the spark in the eye of the beaten-up nag and bought him for eighty dollars. On Harry’s modest farm on Long Island, he ultimately taught Snowman how to fly. Here is the dramatic and inspiring rise to stardom of an unlikely duo. One show at a time, against extraordinary odds and some of the most expensive thoroughbreds alive, the pair climbed to the very top of the sport of show jumping. Their story captured the heart of Cold War–era America—a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and the chance to have it all. They were the longest of all longshots—and their win was the stuff of legend.

Download or read book The Age of Absurdity written by Michael Foley and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-09-16 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like Alain de Botton crossed with Charlie Brooker, Foley succeeds in educating and enlightening us in this wry take on the existential dilemmas of modern life. ‘Fascinating . . . the quest for happiness and how we are getting it all wrong' Jeremy Vine, Sunday Telegraph The good news is that the great thinkers from history have proposed the same strategies for happiness and fulfilment. The bad news is that these turn out to be the very things most discouraged by contemporary culture. This knotty dilemma is the subject of The Age of Absurdity – a humourous and accessible investigation into how the desirable states of wellbeing and satisfaction are constantly undermined by modern life. Michael Foley examines the elusive conditions of happiness common to philosophy, spiritual teachings and contemporary psychology, then shows how these are becoming increasingly difficult to apply in a world of high expectations. The common challenges of earning a living, maintaining a relationship and ageing are becoming battlegrounds of existential angst and self-loathing in a culture that demands conspicuous consumption, high-octane partnerships and perpetual youth. Rather than denouncing and rejecting these challenges, Foley presents an entertaining strategy of not just accepting but embracing today's world – finding happiness in its absurdity.

Download or read book Why Be a Champion written by and published by Armour Publishing Pte Ltd. This book was released on 2010 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Being Disabled Becoming a Champion written by Nicolas Bancel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-29 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Being Disabled, Becoming a Champion is an accessible presentation of current European research on the most recent evolutions in sports for people with disabilities, demonstrating knowledge developed from the field of sports practices of people with disabilities. It covers three interrelated themes. First, it covers the different facets of the history of sports organizations set up during the 1950s for athletes with motor or intellectual impairments. The second part focuses on the athletes themselves. Voices are given to the top-level athletes in adapted sports: people with intellectual impairment; the pioneers of wheelchair racing who invented a new discipline, off-road wheelchair racing; and a former Paralympic athlete who has become a researcher and a defender of specific sports practices. Finally, the third part interrogates the way support for disabled people can modify the existing definitions and conceptions of the body, of disability, of what is human, and of sports performance. This is an ideal text for students and researchers studying and working in the areas of Disability Studies, Sport Sciences and Paralympic Studies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Download or read book The Southeastern Reporter written by and published by . This book was released on 1904 with total page 1156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Best of Times written by Mark Field and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2016-05-19 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tensions simmer in the aftermath of 2008's catastrophic financial crash. As the darkest days of the crisis fade behind us, great obstacles to prosperity remain. Mark Field's acclaimed first book, Between the Crashes, explored the economic collapse. Now, in his new collection of essays, the City of London MP charts our progress as the economy splutters back to life, untangling the rhetoric of deficit reduction from reality, and meaningful reform from political posture. The Best of Times traces the compromises of coalition government and the emergence of a new anti-establishment sentiment, taking in the Scottish independence referendum, UKIP's rise and fall, and the unexpected genesis of Corbynism. Conflicts in the Middle East open a dark chapter in foreign affairs while, closer to home, a shock Conservative victory in the 2015 general election ensures a hotly debated EU referendum. Yet, for all the surprises delivered by the past three years, today's challenges are deeply familiar: shifting global power, generational wars and disillusionment with capitalism still threaten our prosperity. Engaging and unflinching, The Best of Times offers erudite analysis and practical solutions to the challenges facing Britain today.

Download or read book Truth written by and published by . This book was released on 1907 with total page 1726 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Cynics written by William Desmond and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once regarded as a minor Socratic school, Cynicism is now admired as one of the more creative and influential philosophical movements in antiquity. First arising in the city-states of late classical Greece, Cynicism thrived through the Hellenistic and Roman periods, until the triumph of Christianity and the very end of pagan antiquity. In every age down to the present, its ideals of radical simplicity and freedom have alternately inspired and disturbed onlookers. This book offers a survey of Cynicism, its varied representatives and ideas, and the many contexts in which it operated. William Desmond introduces important ancient Cynics and their times, from Diogenes 'the Dog' in the fourth century BC to Sallustius in the fifth century AD. He details the Cynics' rejection of various traditional customs and the rebellious life-style for which they are notorious.The central chapters locate major Cynic themes (nature and the natural life, Fortune, self-sufficiency, cosmopolitanism) within the rich matrix of ideas debated by the ancient schools. The final chapter reviews some moments in the diverse legacy of Cynicism, from Jesus to Nietzsche.