Download or read book Life Is Short And So Is This Book written by Peter Atkins and published by peter atkins. This book was released on 2011-03-08 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life is short. You can, if you work hard and are lucky, get more of almost anything, but you can't get more time. Time only goes one way. The average American has a lifespan of less than 30,000 days. So how you choose to live matters. That's the topic of this book. I don't pretend to have all the answers. I'm still learning every day, and many of the good ideas here I've picked up from other people either directly or by reading. But this is what's worked for me. Like life, this book is short. Many books I read could communicate their ideas in fewer pages. So I've tried to be brief in line with the wise person who noted: "If I'd had more time I would have written a shorter letter". I don't think brevity implies lack of content. The concepts here have improved the quality of my life, and I hope they're useful to you as well. Using these concepts, I have created a life I love. My job doesn't feel like work. I love and respect the people with whom I spend time. And I'm also passionate about my life outside work. I've learned how to create a balance that makes me happy between work and other interests, including my family, friends and exercise. Sadly I think that's rare. And yet, while I know I'm lucky, most people can work towards those goals in their own lives. My interest in making the most of my life began when I was just starting college, but when I was in my mid-thirties a boss I admired died of cancer. He was young. He had a great wife; he had three young children; he had a fantastic career -- he had everything in life. He just didn't have enough time. So, while I'd often thought about how to get the most out of life, the death of someone so young and vital increased my sense of urgency to act on it. One of the things I've always wanted to do was to work for myself. As a result, I left an exciting job at Microsoft in 2001 amidst the Internet bust to found the investing firm I now run. It was hard to do, both financially and emotionally. When I left Microsoft, many people - friends, family, and even some of the press - thought I was deluding myself to start a fund focused on Internet-related companies during a market crash. A press quote from the time said: "Call him a little crazy. Call him a little nuts." I'd never seen that type of coverage before. And, in a sense, the press was right; the business wasn't easy to start. Fortunately, from a vantage point of ten years down the road, it's worked out quite well. A key part of my job is reading and thinking about a broad variety of topics. So writing this book was relatively easy. It's even easier to read. But, like many things in life, actually executing each day on these concepts is extremely difficult. With thanks to Thomas Edison, life is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Even so, I hope you have fun perspiring. Peter Atkins Seattle, WA December, 2010

Download or read book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Pulitzer Prize Winner written by Junot Díaz and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-09-02 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of: The Pulitzer Prize The National Book Critics Circle Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Jon Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize A Time Magazine #1 Fiction Book of the Year One of the best books of 2007 according to: The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, People, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Salon, Baltimore City Paper, The Christian Science Monitor, Booklist, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, New York Public Library, and many more... Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who—from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister—dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú—a curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao opens our eyes to an astonishing vision of the contemporary American experience and explores the endless human capacity to persevere—and risk it all—in the name of love.

Download or read book Brief written by Joseph McCormack and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2024-11-20 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Get heard by being clear and concise The only way to survive in business today is to be a lean communicator. Busy executives expect you to respect and manage their time more effectively than ever. You need to do the groundwork to make your message tight and to the point. The average professional receives 304 emails per week and checks their smartphones 36 times an hour and 38 hours a week. This inattention has spread to every part of life. The average attention span has shrunk from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight in 2012. So, throw them a lifeline and be brief. Author Joe McCormack tackles the challenges of inattention, interruptions, and impatience that every professional faces. His proven B.R.I.E.F. approach, which stands for Background, Relevance, Information, Ending, and Follow up, helps simplify and clarify complex communication. BRIEF will help you summarize lengthy information, tell a short story, harness the power of infographics and videos, and turn monologue presentations into controlled conversations. Details the B.R.I.E.F. approach to distilling your message into a brief presentation Written by the founder and CEO of Sheffield Marketing Partners, which specializes in message and narrative development, who is also a recognized expert in Narrative Mapping, a technique that helps clients achieve a clearer and more concise message Long story short: BRIEF will help you gain the muscle you need to eliminate wasteful words and stand out from the rest. Be better. Be brief.

Download or read book Summary of The Life Brief by Bonnie Wan A Playbook for No Regrets Living written by SUMMARY GP and published by BookRix. This book was released on 2024-02-15 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DISCLAIMER This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book. Summary of The Life Brief by Bonnie Wan: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living IN THIS SUMMARIZED BOOK, YOU WILL GET: Chapter provides an astute outline of the main contents. Fast & simple understanding of the content analysis. Exceptionally summarized content that you may skip in the original book The Life Brief is a playbook designed by Bonnie Wan to help individuals navigate life's decisions, crossroads, and curve-balls. It is a simple yet effective tool for living with intention and imagination. The book is divided into three parts: Get Messy, Get Clear, and Get Active. The first phase uses open-ended writing prompts to break through limiting beliefs, while the second phase offers prompts to find clarity around one's true desires. The Life Brief has transformed thousands of lives, from refining career paths to repairing relationships and rediscovering passion.

Download or read book Poe written by Peter Ackroyd and published by Nan A. Talese. This book was released on 2009-01-20 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gothic, mysterious, theatrical, fatally flawed, and dazzling, the life of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America’s greatest and most versatile writers, is the ideal subject for Peter Ackroyd. Poe wrote lyrical poetry and macabre psychological melodramas; invented the first fictional detective; and produced pioneering works of science fiction and fantasy. His innovative style, images, and themes had a tremendous impact on European romanticism, symbolism, and surrealism, and continue to influence writers today. In this essential addition to his canon of acclaimed biographies, Peter Ackroyd explores Poe’s literary accomplishments and legacy against the background of his erratic, dramatic, and sometimes sordid life. Ackroyd chronicles Poe’s difficult childhood, his bumpy academic and military careers, and his complex relationships with women, including his marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin. He describes Poe’s much-written-about problems with gambling and alcohol with sympathy and insight, showing their connections to Poe’s childhood and the trials, as well as the triumphs, of his adult life. Ackroyd’s thoughtful, perceptive examinations of some of Poe’s most famous works shed new light on these classics and on the troubled and brilliant genius who created them.

Download or read book A Bintel Brief written by Isaac Metzker and published by Schocken. This book was released on 2011-03-09 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than eighty years the Jewish Daily Forward's legendary advice column, "A Bintel Brief" ("a bundle of letters") dispensed shrewd, practical, and fair-minded advice to its readers. Created in 1906 to help bewildered Eastern European immigrants learn about their new country, the column also gave them a forum for seeking advice and support in the face of problems ranging from wrenching spiritual dilemmas to petty family squabbles to the sometimes hilarious predicaments that result when Old World meets New. Isaac Metzker's beloved selection of these letters and responses has become for today's readers a remarkable oral record not only of the varied problems of Jewish immigrant life in America but also of the catastrophic events of the first half of our century. Foreword and Notes by Harry Golden

Download or read book Brief Candle in the Dark written by Richard Dawkins and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2015-09-29 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this hugely entertaining sequel to the New York Times bestselling memoir An Appetite for Wonder, Richard Dawkins delves deeply into his intellectual life spent kick-starting new conversations about science, culture, and religion and writing yet another of the most audacious and widely read books of the twentieth century—The God Delusion. Called “one of the best nonfiction writers alive today” (Stephen Pinker) and a “prize-fighter” (Nature), Richard Dawkins cheerfully, mischievously, looks back on a lifetime of tireless intellectual adventure and engagement. Exploring the halls of intellectual inquiry and stardom he encountered after the publication of his seminal work, The Selfish Gene; affectionately lampooning the world of academia, publishing, and television; and studding the pages with funny stories about the great men and women he’s known, Dawkins offers a candid look at the events and ideas that encouraged him to shift his attention to the intersection of culture, religion, and science. He also invites the reader to look more closely at the brilliant succession of ten influential books that grew naturally out of his busy life, highlighting the ideas that connect them and excavating their origins. On the publication of his tenth book, the smash hit, The God Delusion, a “resounding trumpet blast for truth” (Matt Ridley), Richard Dawkins was catapulted from mere intellectual stardom into a circle of celebrity thinkers dubbed, “The New Atheists”—including Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett. Throughout A Brief Candle in the Dark, Dawkins shares with us his infectious sense of wonder at the natural world, his enjoyment of the absurdities of human interaction, and his bracing awareness of life’s brevity: all of which have made a deep imprint on our culture.

Download or read book Charlie Chaplin written by Peter Ackroyd and published by Nan A. Talese. This book was released on 2014-10-28 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brief yet definitive new biography of one of film's greatest legends: perfect for readers who want to know more about the iconic star but who don't want to commit to a lengthy work. He was the very first icon of the silver screen and is one of the most recognizable of Hollywood faces, even a hundred years after his first film. But what of the man behind the moustache? Peter Ackroyd's new biography turns the spotlight on Chaplin's life as well as his work, from his humble theatrical beginnings in music halls to winning an honorary Academy Award. Everything is here, from the glamor of his golden age to the murky scandals of the 1940s and eventual exile to Switzerland. There are charming anecdotes along the way: playing the violin in a New York hotel room to mask the sound of Stan Laurel frying pork chops and long Hollywood lunches with Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. This masterful brief biography offers fresh revelations about one of the most familiar faces of the last century and brings the Little Tramp vividly to life.

Download or read book Holding Silvan written by Monica Wesolowska and published by Hawthorne Books. This book was released on 2013 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shares a personal story about pain and loss, as Monica Wesolowska gives birth to a healthy-seeming baby boy until the doctors give her son a grim prognosis. The story that follows is not a story of typical maternal heroism. There is no medical miracle here. Instead, we find the strangest of hopes. Certain of her choice, Monica must still ask herself at every step if she is loving Silvan as well as a mother can. The result is a page-turning testimony to the power of love.

Download or read book A Brief Illustrated History of Life on Earth written by Steve Parker and published by Capstone. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Brief Illustrated History of Life on Earth charts the evolution of living species all the way from 2.5 billion years ago, through the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods and right through to today. With stunning full-color images and illustrations, this beautiful book is sure to fascinate and charm the young reader.

Download or read book Life is a Brief Opportunity for Joy written by Will Meyerhofer and published by Publish Green. This book was released on 2010 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a guide to discovering joy, the simple pleasure of living each day. I am a psychotherapist, with an office in New York City. As I work with patients and listen to their stories, I search for themes that define the human condition. These themes have melded into a philosophy centered upon living with joy. No book can substitute for the process of psychotherapy. But I hope these ideas will introduce you to the work of self-discovery at the heart of that experience.

Download or read book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao written by Junot Diaz and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Things have never been easy for Oscar. A ghetto nerd living with his Dominican family in New Jersey, he's sweet but disastrously overweight. He dreams of becoming the next J.R.R. Tolkien and he keeps falling hopelessly in love. Poor Oscar may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fukú - the curse that has haunted his family for generations. With dazzling energy and insight Díaz immerses us in the tumultuous lives of Oscar; his runaway sister Lola; their beautiful mother Belicia; and in the family's uproarious journey from the Dominican Republic to the US and back. Rendered with uncommon warmth and humour, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a literary triumph, that confirms Junot Díaz as one of the most exciting writers of our time.

Download or read book A Brief History of Life on Earth written by Clémence Dupont and published by Prestel. This book was released on 2018-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of life on earth unfolds in dramatic fashion in this amazing concertina picture book that takes readers from 4.6 billion years ago to the present day. Fully expanded to 8 meters (26 feet), this spectacular visual timeline is a very impressive panorama that reveals evolution in all its glory. Full color.

Download or read book The Life Brief written by Bonnie Wan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2024-01-16 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Start living an astonishing life with this "practical and accessible, moving and deeply meaningful" (Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone) guided program for identifying your core values and aligning every area of your life with them so you can feel fulfilled every day. "This book is a wonderful invitation. Take it" (Dave Evans, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Designing Your Life). We all have moments when we doubt the path we're on. The Life Brief is an essential tool for aligning your life with your dreams--personally, professionally, culturally, and spiritually. Based on the business world's most-used organizational tool, The Life Brief has three phases: Get Messy, Get Clear, and Get Active. The first phase is a set of open-ended writing prompts that cut through limiting beliefs and false assumptions about what's possible. Get Clear offers prompts for finding clarity around what you truly, deeply want. Finally, Get Active catapults you into the steps to making those desires a reality. Tried and tested by Bonnie herself as well as thousands of attendees of workshops and lectures, The Life Brief method is the most powerful tool for solving life's biggest messes and creating a life of meaning.

Download or read book A Brief History of Living Forever written by Jaroslav Kalfar and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2023-03-28 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this “ingenious, funny, and chilling” novel (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from the author of Spaceman of Bohemia, two long-lost siblings risk everything to save their mother from oblivion in an authoritarian near-future America obsessed with digital consciousness and eternal life—a story that “packs a walloping punch” (Esquire). When Adéla discovers she has a terminal illness, she leaves behind her native Czech village for a chance at reuniting in America with Tereza, the daughter she gave up at birth, decades earlier. But the country Adéla experienced as a young woman, when she eloped with a filmmaker and starred in his cult sci-fi movie, has changed entirely. In 2030, America is ruled by an authoritarian government increasingly closed off to the rest of the world. Tereza, the star researcher for VITA, a biotech company hellbent on discovering the key to immortality, is overjoyed to meet her mother, with whom she forms an instant, profound connection. But when their time together is cut short by shocking events, Tereza must uncover VITA’s alarming activity in the wastelands of what was once Florida, and persuade the Czech brother she’s never met to join her in this odds-defying adventure. Narrated from the beyond by Adéla’s restless spirit, A Brief History of Living Forever is a high-wire act of storytelling from a writer “booming with vitality and originality,” whose “voice is distinct enough to leave tread marks” (New York Times). By turns insightful, moving, and funny, the novel not only confirms Jaroslav Kalfař’s boundless powers of invention but also exults in the love between a mother and her daughter, which neither space nor time can sever. “Kalfař is a wise, rapturous, and original writer . . . Eloquent, heart-stunning, and rich in awe-inspiring prose.” —San Francisco Chronicle “Relentlessly inventive . . . His writing has the same hyperactivity and fidgety contempt for generic boundaries as that of the young Safran Foer.” —The Guardian

Download or read book Sociology written by David M. Newman and published by Pine Forge Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This carefully edited companion anthology provides provocative, eye-opening examples of the practice of sociology in a well-edited, well-designed, and affordable format. It includes short articles, chapters, and excerpts that examine common everyday experiences, important social issues, or distinct historical events that illustrate the relationship between the individual and society. The new edition will provide more detail regarding the theory and/or history related to each issue presented. The revision will also include more coverage of global issues and world religions.

Download or read book A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages written by Martyn Whittock and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2013-02-07 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using wide-ranging evidence, Martyn Whittock shines a light on Britain in the Middle Ages, bringing it vividly to life in this fascinating new portrait that brings together the everyday and the extraordinary. Thus we glimpse 11th-century rural society through a conversation between a ploughman and his master. The life of Dick Whittington illuminates the rise of the urban elite. The stories of Roger 'the Raker' who drowned in his own sewage, a 'merman' imprisoned in Orford Castle and the sufferings of the Jews of Bristol reveal the extraordinary diversity of medieval society. Through these characters and events - and using the latest discoveries and research - the dynamic and engaging panorama of medieval England is revealed.