Download or read book In Search of the Meaning of Life an Autobiography Book Four The Great Adventure Part Two written by Mark D. Jones and published by In Search of the Meaning of Li. This book was released on 2019-03-07 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bruce and I completed the first leg of The Great Adventure, traveling 1,931 miles from southwest of Flint, MI, to my aunt and uncle's house in Tallahassee, FL, over the course of 58 days on our bicycle adventure. We departed the Flint area on September 22, 1976 and arrived in Tallahassee on November 18th - low on funds and needing to recuperate at our third oasis on the bicycle trip to date. The question remained though as to what would happen to us on this second leg of the adventure? We were almost out of money and had no idea what to expect in Florida and along the Gulf Coast, and soon our thoughts would begin focusing on looking for jobs - without having any concept of how that would work out or how we could make it happen. Would our adventure succeed or fail miserably, leaving us stranded on the road out of money and ideas? As they say, no guts no glory, and here begins the story of the second leg of 'The Great Adventure.' The opportunity to journey and adventure kindles the human spirit like nothing else can. For to immerse oneself in adventure and test your meddle beyond your known capabilities and prevail despite the odds, is to conquer and overcome your fears, and find within yourself the strength, reserves and will to endure and survive in the most difficult of circumstances. I wish you all the very best on your adventures in life, no matter where life's path takes you on your journey of discovery! Adventure is a mindset and a perspective, for one can find adventure in whatever endeavor you choose to participate in - it doesn't have to be a physical challenge taking you to the ends of the Earth. 'To adventure' is to take life by the horns and try your very best, to blaze your own trail, and live your hopes, dreams and passions in life. Choose adventure, because life is so much richer and rewarding for having tried to live the life of your dreams no matter the outcome - win, lose or draw! Cheers! Mark

Download or read book In Search of the Meaning of Life an Autobiography Book One The Early Years the Start of a Dream written by Mark D. Jones and published by In Search of the Meaning of Li. This book was released on 2019-02-15 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As I sit here to begin telling the story of my life that I call In Search of the Meaning of Life (An Autobiography), I aim to trace this singular thread of searching that has remained constant in my life of adventure. My life has been a mosaic of many independent events that on face value appear to have nothing in common, that is, when viewed from the outside. One must always remember to avoid drawing conclusions from appearances alone. When I view the events of my life from the inside, there is a great consistency and commitment to this search for meaning in my life. It is no small miracle that I have survived my adventures to this day to be able to tell my story, and it is by the grace of God alone that I've reached this point in my life to share my hopes, dreams, journeys and adventures with you. My journeys and adventures officially started the day I intentionally stepped off the well-worn path of life and onto the path less-traveled. It was a deliberate and calculated decision and my life has never been the same since. It has not been an easy life, for once the comfort of the path well-traveled is left behind, there are few signposts to follow and no maps to guide you. Uncharted territory as they say and not without its pitfalls, danger and misfortunes. I often wondered if this path would ever lead me back to the safety and comfort of the familiar again. In some ways it has and in other ways it hasn't, but 'The Great Adventure' I began in 1976 has never really ended for me over all these many years. I will be traveling this path less-traveled in my continuing search for the meaning of my life right up to the very end. I couldn't really explain it when I was growing up, but I wished there would have been some sort of guidebook I could read that would have broadened my choices in determining the course and direction of my life. Life seemed so programmed, restrictive and predictable - kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, high school and college. I felt straight-jacketed by the whole process and progressively funneled down an endless hallway leading to a destination that wasn't of my choosing. This entire process felt automated and confining - like a widget being processed along a conveyor belt or being prodded down a cattle chute leading to an unknown and uncertain outcome. Life seemed to be all about the process of conforming, as opposed to being all about journeys, dreams and adventures - which were never classes listed on my course schedule. The crux of the problem was that I wasn't enjoying life while growing up, and couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel to give me hope and encouragement...

Download or read book Meaning a Life written by Mary Oppen and published by David R. Godine Publisher. This book was released on 1978 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The wife of the American poet George Oppen tells of their experiences traveling throughout America and of their associations with the Communist Party.

Download or read book In Search of the Meaning of Life an Autobiography written by Mark Jones and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-04-26 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I had no idea of how my life would turn out after arriving in Seattle with Bruce following our bicycle adventure in June 1977 and it turned out that life opened up for me in ways I could have never thought possible. At the same time, after the adventurous initial ten months of mine in Seattle on my own, I couldn't have foreseen the dramatic changes that would occur in my life and sweep me away in ways I couldn't even believe at the time. All of the experiences I was going through during my time in Seattle were subconsciously making me more aware of the need to discover a greater theme of meaning and purpose for my life, for I still had no idea what I was to do in life, why I was born or what my future held. There had to be something greater than an endless series of adventures, but I really didn't have a clue at all as to what it was. At the time, I couldn't see further into my future than the next moment or two, leaving me no awareness of where I was headed and going in life. I certainly didn't see the changes to my life in Seattle that were just over the horizon at this point, or the dramatic events I'd be part of in the upcoming years...

Download or read book In Search of the Meaning of Life an Autobiography written by Mark Jones and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-05-24 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sometimes, the best way to find ourselves is to get lost in the process. So lost, in fact, that we're afraid we'll never find our way back again, especially the direction we've only just come from. It's when we find ourselves alone and directionless in the quiet moments of our lives, in surroundings we know we don't belong in and aspire to leave behind, that we can hear ourselves think without the distraction of the status quo calling us back to what had been our everyday reality. My questioning began very early on in this odyssey on the road, and as this internal dialogue developed I wrote down all of these debates with myself on a yellow, legal pad. This process of spontaneously writing my 152 philosophical questions and ponderings, laid the foundation for a resolution to the dilemma as to which way I should go with my life, seemingly giving me permission to follow my heart and my dreams...

Download or read book In Search of the Meaning of Life an Autobiography Book Twelve Adventures Near and Far written by Mark D. Jones and published by In Search of the Meaning of Li. This book was released on 2019-01-24 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I've often found my life being guided by moments of great insight or 'eureka moments, ' as I accidentally discovered the next direction my life should take while stranded at various mileposts and chapters during the course of my life. It seems these momentary glimpses into the future tended to occur more often than not when I was floundering and failing in life, not knowing what I was to do or where I was to go. So it was when I knew in my heart it was time to return to Michigan State University while watching the Michigan-Michigan State football game in the fall of 1979 on Bainbridge Island across Puget Sound from downtown Seattle. I knew in an instant I was to go back to school and arranged the details of my return in minutes, not days or weeks, to redirect the course of my life. Yet, I had no clue as to what this new journey and adventure I was starting out would mean to me and my future, or even what that future would hold. All I knew at the time was the timing was right to return to MSU, as my life was stagnating in Washington State with no real end game in sight. So it was as I boarded that Greyhound Bus - was I making the right decision? Would college work out for me this time around? Would I find my way into a career I wanted to have after graduation? Would I even graduate? I had no idea at the time, just a gut reaction that this was the right thing to do. In the end that's all that mattered, as I knew adventurers needed to know how to make decisions and stick with them. I'd made mine and now it was time to make the best of it... My life was filled with the excitement of the open road and traveling to parts unknown, while working various jobs to fund my adventures and experiencing opportunities I'd never dreamed of before, yet I began to wonder if that was all there was to life for me. At the end of the day I still didn't have a purpose or a plan, and life couldn't continue carrying on that way in a never ending series of road trips and hardships. I needed more out of life than just hitting the highway on yet another adventure. I still didn't know the meaning and purpose of my life, but came to understand it couldn't just be adventure for adventure's sake. This is where I found myself leading up to the beginning of Book Twelve of my autobiography, deciding at the time to return to Michigan State University to finish college and get my degree in business. I still didn't know what I'd do with my business degree, but felt it would at least funnel me into something where I could start living my life as an adult and not as a perpetual dreamer seeking my next adrenaline rush from adventure. Little did I know at the time I'd remain a dreamer my entire life, yet I found a way to not only live a life of purpose, meaning and responsibility, but also to continue living an adventurous life on an entirely new level I couldn't have imagined.

Download or read book Fish Out of Water written by Eric Metaxas and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What Happens When One of America’s Most Admired Biographers Writes His Own Biography? For Eric Metaxas, the answer is Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life—a poetic and sometimes hilarious memoir of his early years, in which the Queens-born son of Greek and German immigrants struggles to make sense of a world in which he never quite seems to fit. Renowned for his biographies of William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther, Metaxas is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, the witty host of the acclaimed Socrates in the City conversation series, and a nationally syndicated radio personality. But here he reveals a personal story few have heard, taking us from his mostly happy childhood—and riotous triumphs at Yale—to the nightmare of drifting toward a dark abyss of meaninglessness from which he barely escapes. Along the way he introduces us to an unforgettable troupe of picaresque characters who join this quintessentially first-generation American boy in what is both bildungsroman and odyssey—and which underscores just how funny, serious, happy, sad, and ultimately meaningful life can be.

Download or read book In Search of the Meaning of Life an Autobiography Book Three The Great Adventure Part One written by Mark D. Jones and published by In Search of the Meaning of Li. This book was released on 2019-02-26 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea of going on adventures captured my imagination ever since the sixth grade when my friend Dan first introduced me to J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy set in the fictional world of Middle-earth. I dreamed of going off on an adventure like Bilbo and Frodo Baggins through the Shire and beyond, but how does one take an adventure in the here-and-now of the real world? I didn't know how it might be possible, but understood it was up to me to figure out a way to turn my dreams into my reality. Adventure was never an offered class in my curriculum or coursework in school while growing up, but I was convinced there must be a way to go on great adventures in life. I figured that I'd just have to make it up on my own along the way - and when I wasn't accepted into the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University during Winter Term 1976, I realized this was my opportunity to follow my dreams and leave MSU. I finally settled on the idea of a great bicycle adventure around the United States and despite being broke, I set out to plan how to accomplish such a journey. This is the story of Part One of 'The Great Adventure' from southwest of Flint, MI, to our arrival at my aunt and uncle's house in Tallahassee, Florida - a journey around the U.S. in 1976-1977 of 8,111 miles that eventually finished in Seattle, WA. I left Michigan State University following Winter Term 1976 after not being accepted into the College of Veterinary Medicine, along with the fact there wasn't anything I wanted to do in life but go on adventures. Finally, after saving money and buying equipment, Bruce and I set out to begin 'The Great Adventure' on the sunny morning of Wednesday, September 22, 1976. I hope in telling the story of the adventure Bruce and I completed over 40 years ago, that you will seek to live your hopes, dreams, passions and adventures in life as well. Life is too short and precious not to live the life of your dreams - bon voyage! Cheers! Mark

Download or read book My Life as I See It written by Dionne Warwick and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-11-22 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time, music legend and humanitarian activist Dionne Warwick reflects on 50 years in showbusiness and the lessons she has learned from being an artist, a mother and a global icon. From her rise to superstardom to raising millions of dollars for AIDS research, she gives readers a glimpse into her dazzling, inspiring life. 'If you think you can do it, you can do it' was the advice she got from her grandfather as a young girl - words she has never forgotten. Like her music and humanitarian work, her story is guaranteed to give hope and inspiration to people across the world.

Download or read book Recollections written by Viktor E. Frankl and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2008-08-04 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born in 1905 in the center of the crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire, Viktor Frankl was a witness to the great political, philosophical, and scientific upheavals of the twentieth century. In these stirring recollections, Frankl describes how as a young doctor of neurology in prewar Vienna his disagreements with Freud and Adler led to the development of "the third Viennese School of Psychotherapy," known as logotherapy; recounts his harrowing trials in four concentration camps during the War; and reflects on the celebrity brought by the publication of Man's Search for Meaning in 1945.

Download or read book In Search of the Meaning of Life an Autobiography Book Eleven A Puerto Rican Adventure written by Mark D. Jones and published by In Search of the Meaning of Li. This book was released on 2018-10-28 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I had just finished the adventure of a lifetime bicycling through England, Scotland, Wales and France in the summer of 1979, but had no inkling of what my future held. I returned to Seattle with no job and little money to my name, didn't own a car and was living with Jim on Queen Anne Hill. My future was looking bleak. I'd rolled the dice and gambled everything on completing my long held dream of traveling across the Atlantic to bicycle in the U.K. and France, all the while knowing I'd have nothing waiting for me on my return to the Pacific Northwest - yet I was willing to risk everything for a dream.I'd once again enrolled in 'The School of Hard Knocks' during a series of mini-adventures that would give me the adrenaline rush of adventure and take me to the top of the world again, yet set me up to fail due to my overconfidence in my own abilities and loyalty to others. It was the story of my life all over again, from the highest highs to the lowest lows and everything in-between while pursuing adventure at all cost.Sometimes in life when you've lost your way and have no clue about the future, the best thing to do is simply nothing at all. That's exactly where I was following my solo-bicycle adventure to England, Scotland, Wales and France in the summer of 1979, with no idea of the direction to my future or any concept of what I should do with my life. My entire focus at the time was to procrastinate and delay making any decisions about a future I knew nothing about, thinking the longer I put it off the better. This is the story of how I crisscrossed the U.S. on transcontinental trips, traveled to Puerto Rico to meet a friend I'd only just met to go SCUBA diving in the Atlantic and discovered new ways to fail miserably despite having the best intentions in the world to succeed... Cheers! Mark

Download or read book In Search of the Meaning of Life an Autobiography written by Mark Jones and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-03-31 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bruce and I traveled 1,931 miles on the first leg of our bicycle adventure from the Flint, MI, area to Tallahassee, FL. The second leg of our journey covered 2,594 miles and took us from Tallahassee to Key West, FL, and back, before following the Gulf Coast to Houston and down to Rockport, TX, where we were given jobs through the kindness and generosity of others. The question before us was what would the third leg of our adventure be like? Part Three of The Great Adventure would essentially be the second half of our journey, both literally and figuratively. In many ways, the Western portion of our journey would be a completely different experience for us than the first two legs of our trip had been. The fundamental question before us though, was how would we survive the endeavor? We'd find out the answer soon enough, as we set out to traverse the vast distances across the West and hopefully make it to Seattle to prepare for what would be the rest of our lives...

Download or read book God and the Editor written by Robert H. Phelps and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-08 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly twenty years Robert H. Phelps ran interference for, cheered on, and sometimes scolded star reporters and top editors at the New York Times. Starting his editing career at the desk of the Providence Journal-Bulletin, Phelps joined the New York Times as a copy editor, eventually serving as the Times news editor for the Washington bureau. Along the way he struggled with balancing his moral ideals and his personal ambition. In this compelling memoir, Phelps interweaves his personal and professional experiences with some of the most powerful stories of the era. With candor and keen observation, Phelps chronicles both the triumphant and the tragic events at the Times. He explains the missed lessons of the Pentagon Papers, why the Times played catchup with the Washington Post on the Watergate scandal but eventually surpassed it on covering that seminal story, and how the Times failed to report a key element of the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention. Phelps offers mixed appraisals of such luminaries as A. M. Rosenthal, James B. Reston, E. Clifton Daniel, and Max Frankel, and expresses great admiration for Seymour Hersh, Neil Sheehan, and Bill Beecher, three unlikely scoop artists. As Phelps settled in at the New York Times, journalism became the religion he had searched for since his adolescence. Over his tenure of nearly two decades, however, Phelps found that journalism’s stark emphasis on fact was insufficient to address many of life’s dilemmas and failed to provide the sustaining guidance he envied in his wife’s Catholic faith.

Download or read book In Search of Identity written by Anwar Sadat and published by Fontana Press. This book was released on 1978-01 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Memoir Project written by Marion Roach Smith and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2011-06-09 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extraordinary "practical resource for beginners" looking to write their own memoir—​now new and revised (Kirkus Reviews)! The greatest story you could write is one you've experienced yourself. Knowing where to start is the hardest part, but it just got a little easier with this essential guidebook for anyone wanting to write a memoir. Did you know that the #1 thing that baby boomers want to do in retirement is write a book—about themselves? It's not that every person has lived such a unique or dramatic life, but we inherently understand that writing a memoir—whether it's a book, blog, or just a letter to a child—is the single greatest path to self-examination. Through the use of disarmingly frank, but wildly fun tactics that offer you simple and effective guidelines that work, you can stop treading water in writing exercises or hiding behind writer's block. Previously self-published under the title, Writing What You Know: Raelia, this book has found an enthusiastic audience that now writes with intent.

Download or read book I Came As a Shadow written by John Thompson and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2020-12-15 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK The long-awaited autobiography from Georgetown University’s legendary coach, whose life on and off the basketball court threw America’s unresolved struggle with racial justice into sharp relief. John Thompson was never just a basketball coach and I Came As A Shadow is categorically not just a basketball autobiography. After five decades at the center of race and sports in America, Thompson—the iconic NCAA champion, Black activist, and educator—was ready to make the private public at last, and he completed this autobiography shortly before his death in the historically tumultuous summer of 2020. Chockful of stories and moving beyond mere stats (three Final Fours, four-time national coach of the year, seven Big East championships, 97 percent graduation rate), Thompson’s book drives us through his childhood under Jim Crow segregation to our current moment of racial reckoning. We experience riding shotgun with Celtics icon Red Auerbach and coaching NBA Hall of Famers like Patrick Ewing and Allen Iverson. What were the origins of the the phrase “Hoya Paranoia”? You’ll see. And parting his veil of secrecy, Thompson brings us into his negotiation with a D.C. drug kingpin in his players’ orbit in the 1980s, as well as behind the scenes of his years on the Nike board. Thompson’s mother was a teacher who had to clean houses because of racism in the nation's capital. His father could not read or write. Their son grew up to be a man with his own larger-than-life statue in a building that bears his family’s name on a campus once kept afloat by the selling of 272 enslaved Black people. This is a great American story, and John Thompson’s experience sheds light on many of the issues roiling our nation. In these pages, he proves himself to be the elder statesman whose final words college basketball and the country need to hear. I Came As A Shadow is not a swan song, but a bullhorn blast from one of America’s most prominent sons.

Download or read book Life written by Keith Richards and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2010-11-12 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The long-awaited autobiography of Keith Richards, guitarist, songwriter, singer, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. With The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the songs that roused the world, and he lived the original rock and roll life. Now, at last, the man himself tells his story of life in the crossfire hurricane. Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records, learning guitar and forming a band with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones. The Rolling Stones's first fame and the notorious drug busts that led to his enduring image as an outlaw folk hero. Creating immortal riffs like the ones in "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Honky Tonk Women." His relationship with Anita Pallenberg and the death of Brian Jones. Tax exile in France, wildfire tours of the U.S., isolation and addiction. Falling in love with Patti Hansen. Estrangement from Jagger and subsequent reconciliation. Marriage, family, solo albums and Xpensive Winos, and the road that goes on forever. With his trademark disarming honesty, Keith Richard brings us the story of a life we have all longed to know more of, unfettered, fearless, and true.