Download or read book Summary of Christopher R Beha s The Whole Five Feet written by Milkyway Media and published by Milkyway Media. This book was released on 2024-07-22 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Get the Summary of Christopher R. Beha's The Whole Five Feet in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. “The Whole Five Feet" by Christopher R. Beha chronicles the author's journey through the Harvard Classics, a 51-volume collection of significant literary works. The narrative begins with Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, setting a tone of self-improvement and moral reflection. Beha navigates through philosophical dialogues by Plato, meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and the poetic works of Milton, finding personal resonance in their timeless wisdom...
Download or read book The Whole Five Feet written by Christopher R. Beha and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique memoir of reading the classics to find strength and wisdom “makes an elegant case for literature as an everyday companion” (The New York Times Book Review). While undergoing a series of personal and family crises, Christopher R. Beha discovered that his grandmother had used the Harvard Classics—the renowned “five foot shelf” of great world literature compiled in the early twentieth century by Charles William Eliot—to educate herself during the Great Depression. He decided to follow her example and turn to this series of great books for answers—and recounts the experience here in a smart, big-hearted, and inspirational mix of memoir and intellectual excursion that “deftly illustrates how books can save one’s life” (Helen Schulman). “As he grapples with the death of his beloved grandmother, a debilitating bout with Lyme disease and other major and minor calamities, Beha finds that writers as diverse as Wordsworth, Pascal, Kant and Mill had been there before, and that the results of their struggles to find meaning in life could inform his own.” —The Seattle Times “An important book [and] a sheer blast to read.” —Heidi Julavits
Download or read book What Happened to Sophie Wilder written by Christopher Beha and published by Tin House Books. This book was released on 2012-05-29 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A heartfelt exploration of faith and love and friendship, What Happened To Sophie Wilder is a beautiful, absorbing work about the redemptive power of storytelling: a literary love story. Charlie Blakeman has just published his first novel, to almost no acclaim. He's living on New York's Washington Square, struggling with his follow-up, and floundering within his pseudointellectual coterie when his college love, Sophie Wilder, returns to his life. Sophie is also struggling, though Charlie isn't sure why, since they've barely spoke, after falling out a decade before. Now Sophie begins to tell Charlie the story of her life since then, particularly the story of the days she spent taking care of a dying man with his own terrible past and of the difficult decision he forced her to make. When she disappears once again, Charlie sets out to discover what happened to Sophie Wilder. Christopher Beha's debut novel explores faith, love, friendship, and, ultimately, the redemptive power of storytelling.
Download or read book The Index of Self Destructive Acts written by Christopher Beha and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the day Sam Waxworth arrives in New York to write for the Interviewer, a street-corner preacher declares that the world is coming to an end. A data journalist and recent media celebrity—he correctly forecast every outcome of the 2008 election—Sam knows a few things about predicting the future. But when projection meets reality, life gets complicated. His first assignment for the Interviewer is a profile of disgraced political columnist Frank Doyle, known to Sam for the sentimental works of baseball lore that first sparked his love of the game. When Sam meets Frank at Citi Field for the Mets’ home opener, he finds himself unexpectedly ushered into Doyle’s crumbling family empire. Kit, the matriarch, lost her investment bank to the financial crisis; Eddie, their son, hasn’t been the same since his second combat tour in Iraq; Eddie’s best friend from childhood, the fantastically successful hedge funder Justin Price, is starting to see cracks in his spotless public image. And then there’s Frank’s daughter, Margo, with whom Sam becomes involved—just as his wife, Lucy, arrives from Wisconsin. While their lives seem inextricable, none of them know how close they are to losing everything, including each other. Sweeping in scope yet meticulous in its construction, The Index of Self-Destructive Acts is a remarkable family portrait and a masterful evocation of New York City and its institutions. Over the course of a single baseball season, Christopher Beha traces the passing of the torch from the old establishment to the new meritocracy, exploring how each generation’s failure helped land us where we are today. Whether or not the world is ending, Beha’s characters are all headed to apocalypses of their own making.
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 An Enlarged Heart written by Cynthia Zarin and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2013-02-12 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Enlarged Heart, the exquisitely written prose debut from prize-winning poet Cynthia Zarin, is a poignantly understated exploration of the author’s experiences with love, work, and the surprise of time’s passage. In these intertwined episodes from her New York world and beyond, she charts the shifting and complicated parameters of contemporary life and family in writing that feels nearly fictional in its richness of scene, dialogue, and mood. The writer herself is the marvelously rueful character at the center of these tales, at first a bewildered young woman, navigating the terrain of new jobs and borrowed apartments and the rapidly fading New York of people like Mr. Ferri, the Upper East Side tailor (“a wren of a man with pins flashing in his teeth”). By the end, whether Zarin is writing about vanished restaurants, her decades-long love affair with her collection of coats, a newlywed journey to Italy, a child’s illness, Mary McCarthy’s file cabinet, or the inner life of the New Yorker staff she knew as a young woman, this history of the heart shows us how persistent the past is in returning to us with entirely new lessons, and that there are some truths not even a tailor can alter.
Download or read book The Use and Abuse of Literature written by Marjorie Garber and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2012-04-03 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this deep and engaging meditation on the usefulness and uselessness of reading in the digital age, Harvard English professor Marjorie Garber aims to reclaim “literature” from the periphery of our personal, educational, and professional lives and restore it to the center, as a radical way of thinking. But what is literature anyway, how has it been understood over time, and what is its relevance for us today? Who gets to decide what the word means? Why has literature been on the defensive since Plato? Does it have any use at all, other than serving as bourgeois or aristocratic accoutrements attesting to one’s worldly sophistication and refinement of spirit? What are the boundaries that separate it from its “commercial” instance and from other more mundane kinds of writing? Is it, as most of us assume, good to read, much less study—and what would that mean?
Download or read book The Great Indoors written by Emily Anthes and published by Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2020-06-23 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Architectural Record Notable Book A fascinating, thought-provoking journey into our built environment Modern humans are an indoor species. We spend 90 percent of our time inside, shuttling between homes and offices, schools and stores, restaurants and gyms. And yet, in many ways, the indoor world remains unexplored territory. For all the time we spend inside buildings, we rarely stop to consider: How do these spaces affect our mental and physical well-being? Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors? Our productivity, performance, and relationships? In this wide-ranging, character-driven book, science journalist Emily Anthes takes us on an adventure into the buildings in which we spend our days, exploring the profound, and sometimes unexpected, ways that they shape our lives. Drawing on cutting-edge research, she probes the pain-killing power of a well-placed window and examines how the right office layout can expand our social networks. She investigates how room temperature regulates our cognitive performance, how the microbes hiding in our homes influence our immune systems, and how cafeteria design affects what—and how much—we eat. Along the way, Anthes takes readers into an operating room designed to minimize medical errors, a school designed to boost students’ physical fitness, and a prison designed to support inmates’ psychological needs. And she previews the homes of the future, from the high-tech houses that could monitor our health to the 3D-printed structures that might allow us to live on the Moon. The Great Indoors provides a fresh perspective on our most familiar surroundings and a new understanding of the power of architecture and design. It's an argument for thoughtful interventions into the built environment and a story about how to build a better world—one room at a time.
Download or read book The Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction written by Joyce Carol Oates and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2008-10-14 with total page 788 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A definitive collection of the very best short stories by contemporary American masters Edited by Joyce Carol Oates, "the living master of the short story" (Buffalo News), and Christopher R. Beha, this volume provides an important overview of the contemporary short story and a selection of the very best that American short fiction has to offer.
Download or read book Vertical Run written by Joseph R. Garber and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2011-07-27 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A breathless read” (USA Today) featuring “some of the most ingenious military-techno twists this side of Tom Clancy” (San Francisco Chronicle). David Elliot is about to have a very bad day at the office. Each morning in his forty-fifth floor executive suite, David savors the quiet moments before the workday begins. Until today, when his boss walks in and aims a gun at him, murder glinting in his eye. For the rest of the day, David will be trapped in a midtown tower with a team of ruthless and professional mercenaries. Everyone he meets—and knows—will try to kill him. They expect him to be dead by lunchtime. But they’re wrong. This is the “killer” workday redefined, a high-stakes and whiplash-paced drama that plays out with an electrifying intensity. You’ll never see the office the same way again.
Download or read book Walker s Marsupials of the World written by Ronald M. Nowak and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2005-09-12 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Authoritative and engaging, this volume from the Walker's Mammals series focuses on marsupials, pouched animals whose unusual method of reproduction—between egg laying and placental birth—places them in a unique category among mammals. A comprehensive guide to the biology and distribution of marsupials, this book includes common and scientific names, size and physical traits, habitat and ecology, behavior and social interactions, reproduction, life span, and conservation. The text is coupled with illustrations from the collections of leading photographers and the world's greatest museums. An introduction by marsupial expert Christopher R. Dickman describes the evolution and current status of marsupials and reveals why they add so much intrigue to the natural world.
Download or read book Anatomy of a Miracle written by Jonathan Miles and published by Chatto & Windus. This book was released on 2018 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Confined to a wheelchair after a paralyzing injury, an Afghanistan War veteran endures a hardscrabble existence in his sister's ramshackle Mississippi home before spontaneously regaining his ability to walk, an apparent miracle that subjects him to scientific and religious debates and exposes his most private secrets."--
Download or read book Knights of the Hill Country written by Tim Tharp and published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2008-12-24 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a small Oklahoma town, one star linebacker must decide what kind of man he wants to be--both on and off the field. Welcome to Kennisaw--where Friday night high school football ranks right up there with God and country, and sometimes even comes in first. This year, the Kennisaw Knights are going for their fifth straight undefeated season, and if they succeed, they'll be more than the best high school team in the eastern Oklahoma hill country--they'll be legends. But the Knights' legacy is a heavy weight to carry for Hampton, linebacker and star of the team. On the field, he's so in control you'd think he was able to stop time. But his life off the field is a different story. His father walked out on him and his mom years ago, and now his mom has a new boyfriend every week. He's drawn to a smart, quirky girl at school--the type a star athlete just isn't supposed to associate with. And meanwhile, his best friend and teammate Blaine--the true friend who first introduced Hampton to football back when he had nothing else--is becoming uncomfortably competitive, and he's demanding Hampton's loyalty even as Hampton thinks he's going too far. This unforgettable novel is the story of a boy whose choices will decide the kind of man he becomes, and raises powerful questions about sportsmanship, loyalty, and the deceptiveness of legends.
Download or read book Freak the Mighty written by Rodman Philbrick and published by Usborne Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2015-04-01 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Max is used to being called Stupid. And he is used to everyone being scared of him. On account of his size and looking like his dad. Kevin is used to being called Dwarf. And he is used to everyone laughing at him. On account of his size and being some cripple kid. But greatness comes in all sizes, and together Max and Kevin become Freak The Mighty and walk high above the world. An inspiring, heartbreaking, multi-award winning international bestseller.
Download or read book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time written by Mark Haddon and published by Anchor Canada. This book was released on 2009-02-24 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bestselling modern classic—both poignant and funny—narrated by a fifteen year old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing emotions. Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. At fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbour’s dog Wellington impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing. Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer, and turns to his favourite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents’ marriage. As Christopher tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, the narrative draws readers into the workings of Christopher’s mind. And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon’s choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotions. The effect is dazzling, making for one of the freshest debut in years: a comedy, a tearjerker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read.
Download or read book The Writer s Notebook II written by Christopher Beha and published by Tin House Books. This book was released on 2012-10-23 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Writer's Notebook II offers aspiring authors sixteen insightful essays about the craft of writing by Tin House authors and summer workshop faculty members, including Aimee Bender, Steve Almond, Maggie Nelson, Karen Russell, Benjamin Percy, and others. The Writer's Notebook II continues in the tradition of The Writer's Notebook, featuring essays based on craft seminars from the Tin House Summer Writer's Workshop, as well as a variety of craft essays from Tin House magazine contributors and Tin House Books authors. The collection includes essays that not only examine important craft aspects such as humor, suspense, and research but that also explore creating fractured and nonrealist narratives and the role of dream in fiction. An engaging and enlightening read, The Writer's Notebook II is both a toolkit and an inspiration for any writer. The Writer’s Notebook II offers aspiring authors sixteen insightful essays about the craft of writing by Tin House authors and summer workshop faculty members, including Aimee Bender, Steve Almond, Maggie Nelson, Karen Russell, Benjamin Percy, and others.
Download or read book Beautiful Disaster Signed Limited Edition written by Jamie McGuire and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-11-27 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abby Abernathy is re-inventing herself as the good girl as she begins her freshman year at college, which is why she must resist lean, cut, and tattooed Travis Maddox, a classic bad boy.
