Download or read book Planet of the Blind written by Stephen Kuusisto and published by Delta. This book was released on 2013-08-07 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The world is a surreal pageant," writes Stephen Kuusisto. "Ahead of me the shapes and colors suggest the sails of Tristan's ship or an elephant's ear floating in air, though in reality it is a middle-aged man in a London Fog rain coat which billows behind him in the April wind." So begins Kuusisto's memoir, Planet of the Blind, a journey through the kaleidoscope geography of the partially-sighted, where everyday encounters become revelations, struggles, or simple triumphs. Not fully blind, not fully sighted, the author lives in what he describes as "the customs-house of the blind", a midway point between vision and blindness that makes possible his unique perception of the world. In this singular memoir, Kuusisto charts the years of a childhood spent behind bottle-lens glasses trying to pass as a normal boy, the depression that brought him from obesity to anorexia, the struggle through high school, college, first love, and sex. Ridiculed by his classmates, his parents in denial, here is the story of a man caught in a perilous world with no one to trust--until a devastating accident forces him to accept his own disability and place his confidence in the one relationship that can reconnect him to the world--the relationship with his guide dog, a golden Labrador retriever named Corky. With Corky at his side, Kuusisto is again awakened to his abilities, his voice as a writer and his own particular place in the world around him. Written with all the emotional precision of poetry, Kuusisto's evocative memoir explores the painful irony of a visually sensitive individual--in love with reading, painting, and the everyday images of the natural world--faced with his gradual descent into blindness. Folded into his own experience is the rich folklore the phenomenon of blindness has inspired throughout history and legend.

Download or read book The Cat Sitter s Whiskers written by Blaize Clement and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pet sitter Dixie Hemingway is on the prowl again in the newest installment of Blaize Clement's classic and beloved series of cozy mysteries, now written by her son, John Clement, using Blaize's notes and ideas for future adventures. Set in the sleepy beach-side town of Siesta Key, Florida, THE CAT SITTER'S WHISKERS catches up with Dixie as she heads off for work one morning in the dimly lit hours before sunrise. Her very first client of the morning is Barney Feldman, a Maine coon cat with a reputation for mischief who's guarding his vacationing owner's valuable collection of decidedly creepy antique masks. But someone's hiding in the house when she arrives, and they sneak up and knock her out cold. When the cops arrive at the house, there's just one problem: no one has broken in and nothing is missing. Searching for answers, Dixie soon finds herself hopelessly trapped in a murky world of black market antiques, dark-hearted secrets, and murderous revenge... a mystery only she can solve.

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds written by D. Caroline Coile and published by B.E.S. Publishing. This book was released on 2015 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a comprehensive reference for dog owners and prospective dog owners. Opening sections discuss breed evolution and point out the many physical and behavioural traits, and there are profiles of over 150 breeds in all, including 27 new breeds

Download or read book Boo written by J. H. Lee and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2011-08-03 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone loves Boo! His signature fluffy head and teddy bear like persona are irresistibly adorable. With nearly a million Facebook fans, and adding more each day, Boo is poised to become an international superstar. This charming book features exclusive new photographs of Boo doing all his favorite things: lounging around, playing with friends, exploring the whole wide world, and making those famous puppy-dog eyes. To know Boo is to love him, and this book is for anyone who loves the cutest dog ever.

Download or read book Horse Sense written by Bonnie Bryant and published by Delacorte Press. This book was released on 2012-09-26 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lisa love being a member of the Saddle Club. But lately, Stevie and Carole haven't had time for her or their friendship. And if she can'tconvince her friends that their club is just as important, she may have to find new members to replace them. . . .

Download or read book Do Not Interrupt written by Stephen Kuusisto and published by Union Square + ORM. This book was released on 2010-12-07 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reflections on how we talk to each other and how we can do it better by “a powerful writer with a musical ear for language and a gift for emotional candor.” —The New York Times In this erudite and playful primer on the art of conversation, Stephen Kuusisto vigorously tackles the slippery subject of how to converse meaningfully with others. Kuusisto employs a wide range of personal anecdotes, classical texts, and an engaging style to illustrate his points. In seven short, provocative and imaginatively wrought chapters, he spins a compelling argument for the joys of “being connected,” and skillfully shows how to achieve this bond in everyday exchanges. Praise for the works of Stephen Kuusisto “Masterful.” —Kirkus Reviews “Luminous.” —The Boston Globe “Perceptive and beautifully crafted.” —Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation

Download or read book Gwen Stefani written by Anne K. Brown and published by Greenhaven Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2009-03-13 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gwen Stefani is a well-known recording artist, TV personality, and fashion designer. Her work as lead vocalist in the rock band No Doubt propelled her into the spotlight in the 1990s and early 2000s.? After the band's hiatus in 2004, Stefani pursued a career as a solo artist. Stefani has won two Grammy Awards for her work with No Doubt and one for her collaboration with rapper Eve. This compelling edition profiles the life and career of this multitalented entertainer. Chapters discuss her early years in Orange County, explore her time as a lead singer for No Doubt, and offer readers an insight into Stefani's personal life.

Download or read book His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama written by Tenzin Geyche Tethong and published by Interlink Books. This book was released on 2020-11 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography of the Dalai Lama--blessed by His Holiness himself--is the most authentic and intimate profile of the world's greatest living spiritual figure. Tenzin Geyche Tethong, a close aide of His Holiness for forty years who became family, offers readers unprecedented access to the Dalai Lama in this beautifully illustrated book. The Dalai Lama's youngest brother, Ngari Rinpoche Tenzin Choegyal, who was only 12 years old when he accompanied His Holiness on his dangerous 1959 escape to India, is a personal friend of Tethong and the mentor for this book project. As "elders" to the Tibetan community in exile, these men have come together to tell the true story of His Holiness--their brother, friend, and leader. Featuring previously unpublished photographs, as well as interviews and memories of those closest to him, this book renders unparalleled insights into the Dalai Lama's experiences as the preeminent leader of Tibet, and the wealth of his compassion and gentle humor in the face of the ongoing conflict. This is in no small part due to Tethong and Ngari Rinpoche's unique perspectives on many sensitive issues. Richly compelling, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama: An Illustrated Biography is a stunning visual celebration of the Dalai Lama, sketching a memorable portrait of an icon and a cause that have won the attention and hearts of billions across the world. * As his long-time personal secretary, Tethong was privy to the Dalai Lama's difficult relationship with India during his exile, with many challenges arising from his host country's ambivalence to Tibet. Tethong candidly discusses India's lackluster attempts at uplifting his people--denying them official documentation, restricting employment, and crowding refugees in the remote location of Dharmsala--citing its fear of angering China as the reason behind its ambivalence towards Tibet. * Ngari Rinpoche revisits his own profound memory of their exile: his time in the Special Frontier Force, or the "22" of the Indian Army, a period of his life for which there had previously been little recorded information. Ngari Rinpoche and his wife, Rinchen Khando, were one of the many Tibetans who joined this covert force with the intent of fighting the Chinese, under the guidance of intelligence agencies such as India's RAW and the American CIA. For the very first time, they discuss their American colleagues, the disappointments they faced as part of the "22," and the experiences that led to Ngari Rinpoche's depressive episode. * Tethong also sheds much-needed light on the Dalai Lama's Nobel Prize-winning campaign for the spiritual and political liberation of his people. He adopts a nuanced approach towards the Dalai Lama's non-violent struggle for Tibetan autonomy, writing frankly about their attempts to mediate the political differences between younger Tibetans in Dharmsala and the Tibetan administration. He also explores the numerous political difficulties faced by the Dalai Lama's cause in the years before its worldwide recognition.

Download or read book Hauntings and Heists The Mysterious Four 1 written by Dan Poblocki and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can you crack the case with six clues or less?Welcome to Moon Hollow, where mystery lurks around every corner--and four kids have come together to solve crimes and puzzles big and small.Whether they're debunking sea monsters, thwarting bullies, or revealing who threw out mom's asparagus, Viola, Sylvester, Rosie, and Woodrow will figure out the truth in six clues or less. And readers are invited to guess alongside them each step of the way.Each book comes with an exclusive code so that readers can download a FREE copy of the e-book . . . which includes an extra mystery unavailable anywhere else!

Download or read book AKC Gazette written by and published by . This book was released on 2005-07 with total page 682 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Beasts of Burden written by Sunaura Taylor and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2018 American Book Award Winner A beautifully written, deeply provocative inquiry into the intersection of animal and disability liberation—and the debut of an important new social critic How much of what we understand of ourselves as “human” depends on our physical and mental abilities—how we move (or cannot move) in and interact with the world? And how much of our definition of “human” depends on its difference from “animal”? Drawing on her own experiences as a disabled person, a disability activist, and an animal advocate, author Sunaura Taylor persuades us to think deeply, and sometimes uncomfortably, about what divides the human from the animal, the disabled from the nondisabled—and what it might mean to break down those divisions, to claim the animal and the vulnerable in ourselves, in a process she calls “cripping animal ethics.” Beasts of Burden suggests that issues of disability and animal justice—which have heretofore primarily been presented in opposition—are in fact deeply entangled. Fusing philosophy, memoir, science, and the radical truths these disciplines can bring—whether about factory farming, disability oppression, or our assumptions of human superiority over animals—Taylor draws attention to new worlds of experience and empathy that can open up important avenues of solidarity across species and ability. Beasts of Burden is a wonderfully engaging and elegantly written work, both philosophical and personal, by a brilliant new voice.

Download or read book Deep Learning with PyTorch written by Luca Pietro Giovanni Antiga and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-07-01 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “We finally have the definitive treatise on PyTorch! It covers the basics and abstractions in great detail. I hope this book becomes your extended reference document.” —Soumith Chintala, co-creator of PyTorch Key Features Written by PyTorch’s creator and key contributors Develop deep learning models in a familiar Pythonic way Use PyTorch to build an image classifier for cancer detection Diagnose problems with your neural network and improve training with data augmentation Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About The Book Every other day we hear about new ways to put deep learning to good use: improved medical imaging, accurate credit card fraud detection, long range weather forecasting, and more. PyTorch puts these superpowers in your hands. Instantly familiar to anyone who knows Python data tools like NumPy and Scikit-learn, PyTorch simplifies deep learning without sacrificing advanced features. It’s great for building quick models, and it scales smoothly from laptop to enterprise. Deep Learning with PyTorch teaches you to create deep learning and neural network systems with PyTorch. This practical book gets you to work right away building a tumor image classifier from scratch. After covering the basics, you’ll learn best practices for the entire deep learning pipeline, tackling advanced projects as your PyTorch skills become more sophisticated. All code samples are easy to explore in downloadable Jupyter notebooks. What You Will Learn Understanding deep learning data structures such as tensors and neural networks Best practices for the PyTorch Tensor API, loading data in Python, and visualizing results Implementing modules and loss functions Utilizing pretrained models from PyTorch Hub Methods for training networks with limited inputs Sifting through unreliable results to diagnose and fix problems in your neural network Improve your results with augmented data, better model architecture, and fine tuning This Book Is Written For For Python programmers with an interest in machine learning. No experience with PyTorch or other deep learning frameworks is required. About The Authors Eli Stevens has worked in Silicon Valley for the past 15 years as a software engineer, and the past 7 years as Chief Technical Officer of a startup making medical device software. Luca Antiga is co-founder and CEO of an AI engineering company located in Bergamo, Italy, and a regular contributor to PyTorch. Thomas Viehmann is a Machine Learning and PyTorch speciality trainer and consultant based in Munich, Germany and a PyTorch core developer. Table of Contents PART 1 - CORE PYTORCH 1 Introducing deep learning and the PyTorch Library 2 Pretrained networks 3 It starts with a tensor 4 Real-world data representation using tensors 5 The mechanics of learning 6 Using a neural network to fit the data 7 Telling birds from airplanes: Learning from images 8 Using convolutions to generalize PART 2 - LEARNING FROM IMAGES IN THE REAL WORLD: EARLY DETECTION OF LUNG CANCER 9 Using PyTorch to fight cancer 10 Combining data sources into a unified dataset 11 Training a classification model to detect suspected tumors 12 Improving training with metrics and augmentation 13 Using segmentation to find suspected nodules 14 End-to-end nodule analysis, and where to go next PART 3 - DEPLOYMENT 15 Deploying to production

Download or read book Step by Step Studio Drawing Concepts written by Ken Goldman and published by Walter Foster Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Step-by-Step Studio: Drawing Concepts offers the fundamental information beginning artists need to kick off their creative pursuits in graphite pencil. Featuring in-depth instruction on composition, value, creating textures, using and manipulating photo references, and more, Step-by-Step Studio: Drawing Concepts is the perfect guide for you as a beginning or intermediate artist. After an introduction to art tools and materials and very basic techniques, four accomplished artists offer insight, tips, and helpful demonstrations that illustrate important art concepts and techniques. You will also find an impressive and varied selection of step-by-step projects to re-create, including still lifes, flowers, animals, landscapes, and portraits in the four sections. Values: Covers shapes, form, the light source, how to create depth, and the elements of design. Dynamic Compositions: Discusses viewpoint, the golden mean, symmetry and asymmetry, focal points, landscapes, and negative space. Realistic Textures: Focuses on rendering the many different textures found in traditional still lifes, animals, people, plants and flowers, and landscapes. Step-by-Step Exercises: Includes additional drawing projects, such as a teddy bear, landscape, horse, floral still life, portrait of a girl, and fruit and wine. Throughout the book, artists Ken Goldman, William F. Powell, Diane Cardaci, and Carol Rosinski offer practical and easy-to-understand drawing techniques and art principles. The journey through Step-by-Step Studio: Drawing Concepts is not about making perfect drawings; it’s about making each drawing better than the one before it, while having a great time. The books in the Step-by-Step Studio series are project driven and introduce beginning artists to the fundamental tools and techniques of their chosen medium. Easy-to-follow step-by-step projects help beginners hone their skills while creating artwork across a variety of subjects, from still life and landscapes to animal portraits and botanicals.

Download or read book Worse Worser Wurst 2 written by Nancy Krulik and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-01-16 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Princess Pulverizer may not be a knight yet, but she won't let that stop her from saving the day! There's trouble in the kingdom of Salamistonia! Ever since an evil wizard kidnapped Lester the jester, laughter and smiles have disappeared. Now Princess Pulverizer has the perfect opportunity to complete the next good deed on her Quest of Kindness: a rescue mission! With her friends Lucas and Dribble by her side, can Princess Pulverizer defeat the wizard, free Lester, and bring fun back to Salamistonia?

Download or read book The Last Dogs The Long Road written by Christopher Holt and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A science experiment gone horribly awry has granted Max, Rocky, and Gizmo the unique ability to read and understand human words. Armed with this know-how, they continue to journey south, on the lookout for beacons planted by a trusted friend's owner -- beacons that promise to lead the trio to their people. When the companions reach the ocean's edge, they find a free-spirited beachfront community. Reunited with long-lost friends (and introduced to a new delicacy -- cat kibble), Max, Rocky, and Gizmo gain the motivation they need to keep going. But danger lies ahead. . . . As their travels take them deep into the spooky swampland, can they discover what's driven the humans away? Or have they finally reached the end of the long road? The Last Dogs: The Long Road is the third book in a thrilling series about three unlikely friends on an epic quest to find their people -- and bring them home.

Download or read book My Spiritual Journey written by Dalai Lama and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-10-04 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In His Own Words The Compelling Personal Story of the Spiritual Life of the Dalai Lama

Download or read book A Journey with Elsa Cloud written by Leila Hadley and published by HarperThorsons. This book was released on 1999-01 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a memoir that Norman Mailer called the "best travel book I've ever read", Leila Hadley records a journey to India inspired both by her lifelong love of travel and by a desire to reconcile with Veronica, her estranged daughter, who was living in India and studying Buddhism. The book's title comes from Veronica's remark as a young girl that she wanted to be "the sea, the jungle, or else a cloud", thereby earning her homonymic endearment of Elsa Cloud. A Journey with Elsa Cloud describes the sensuous delights of India, explains sexual mores and myths of India, and speaks tellingly about a memorable cast of characters, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama. A Journey with Elsa Cloud is the record of a journey, a love story, and a beautiful work of art.