Higher Life

At night, in Huda's fragrant garden, a breeze sweeps in from the desert encircling Baghdad, rustling the leaves of her apricot trees and carrying warning of visitors at her gate. Huda, a secretary at the Australian embassy, lives in fear of the Mukhabarat - the secret police who watch and listen for any scrap of information that can be used against America and its allies. They have ordered her to befriend Ally Wilson, the deputy ambassador's wife. Huda has no wish to be an informant, but fears for her teenage son, who may be forced to join a deadly militia.

Pompey, Caesar, Cicero, Brutus, Antony: the names resonate across thousands of years. Major figures in the civil wars that brutally ended the Roman republic, their lives still haunt us as examples of how the hunger for personal power can overwhelm collective politics, how the exaltation of the military can corrode civilian authority, and how the best intentions can lead to disastrous consequences. Plutarch renders these history-making lives as flesh-and-blood characters.

Cognitive science has revealed the hidden secrets of what really works for studying. Written by psychologists who are experts in the science of study habits, Study Like a Champ outlines clear steps students can use throughout their high school and college careers to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning.

We are naturally drawn to smooth, harmonious movement. Both social and physical graces have been taught since the dawn of civilization. Yet grace seems forgotten in our pushy, hectic modern world. Sarah L. Kaufman argues that we bring it back. She celebrates grace in the way bodies move, exploring how to stand, walk, and dress well. She deplores the rarity of grace among public figures and glories in it where found (Beyoncé at a fashion show).

After 30 years as a “functioning” alcoholic, my life falls apart. (See my books “Desperately Seeking Sex & Sobriety” and “My Final Journey with Alcoholism” for more details.) I end up in rehab at the Priory Mental Hospital in Chelmsford, England at age 49. This is my 28-day experience.

A year from retirement and still reeling from daughter Leena’s kidnapping, Portland PD Detective Wayne Deetz is called upon to check on a domestic violence case. From the moment Deetz and his friend Callie Freeland show up to help Sonny Carlisle, they are blindsided by a lawless, toxic steamroller named Blaine Milligan.

Coach Roy Williams, one of the most respected, successful, and dominant basketball coaches in the nation, had an unlikely rise to the Hall of Fame and a career that boasts the highest winning percentage among all active college coaches. Now, for the first time, Williams tells the story of his life that few people know, from his turbulent family life as a child to the North Carolina Tar Heels' National Championship victory in 2009. He speaks candidly of his past, his passions, his inspirations, and the coaching philosophy behind one of college basketball's most successful programs.

From the reflective pen of talented author Nico J. Genes comes the true story of discovery, friendship and unconditional acceptance. Spirited youngster Peter has a burning hunger and zeal for life. He runs between activities as excited as a kangaroo in an open field. However, his joy is not typically matched by those around him. They look upon him with furrowed brows and discerning eyes. Shunning and ultimately ostracizing the lively spirit. Amiable author Nico offers Peter and his devoted mother something which does not come so easily to them- a true friend. Through a series of intense ups...

Yoshie's much-loved musician father died in a suicide pact with an unknown woman. It is only when Yoshie and her mother move to Shimokitazawa, a traditional Tokyo neighborhood of narrow streets, quirky shops, and friendly residents, that they can finally start to put their painful past behind them. However, despite their attempts to move forward, Yoshie is haunted by nightmares in which her father is looking for the phone he left behind on the day he died, or on which she is trying—unsuccessfully—to call him. Is her dead father trying to communicate a message through these dreams?

Why do so many of us commit to the wrong person? Most believe that attraction and compatibility are the keys to relationship success when, in reality, these are red flags in 15-20% of the population. When it comes to love, the brain is irrational and shortsighted. We make decisions based on incomplete information, biased understanding, and strong emotion. Love truly is blind. That's why you need dating radar - it gives you a way to detect hazards you might otherwise miss by recognizing:

After being saved for years or even decades, we often find that the spiritual growth and holiness we desire is just not a reality. Peace and joy seem to elude us as we continue to struggle against our flesh and sin, unable to truly love others as ourselves. Sadly, I believed that this was simply how it was for Christians for as long as we are living in this mortal body-saved, but struggling along until the Lord finally takes us home. Many disillusioned by trials and tribulations wonder, where is the victory? Christian, this is NOT how it has to be! We can genuinely experience a deeper daily...

In this easy-to-listen-to yet wisdom-rich manual, Robin S. Sharma offers 101 simple solutions to life's most complex problems, ranging from a little-known method for beating stress and worry to a powerful way to enjoy the journey while you create a legacy that lasts.

In this groundbreaking biography, Mary Frances Phillips immerses listeners in the life and legacy of Ericka Huggins, a revered Black Panther Party member, as well as a mother, widow, educator, poet, and former political prisoner. In 1969, the police arrested Ericka Huggins along with Bobby Seale and fellow Black Panther Party members, who were accused of murdering Alex Rackley. This marked the beginning of her ordeal, as she became the subject of political persecution and a well-planned FBI COINTELPRO plot.

In this instant classic self-help guide, author Michael Z. gives us all the "missing life" manual we need to live happier, less stressful lives. This guide provides you with 100 practical, often lighthearted, and immediately useful tips, strategies, and techniques to help you reduce stress and anxiety, and to discover the sense of peace and happiness you've been looking for. Using Michael Z's gentle suggestions will help you live more gracefully, more mindfully, and with an increased awareness of and appreciation for the joy that is available to you whenever you slow down to see it.

Cat brothers Cecil and Anton are as different in personality as they are in looks. Cecil, stocky and black with white patches, thirsts for seafaring adventure as he roams the docks of his harborside home, taking day trips on fishing boats when the chance comes along. Slim, gray Anton prefers listening to the sailors' shanties at the town saloon. But one day when Anton does venture to port, he's stolen off the dock, and the next thing he knows, he's at sea.

When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965, Mooreland, Indiana, was a sleepy little hamlet of 300 people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was possessed of big eyes and even bigger ears. In this witty and lovingly told memoir, Kimmel takes readers back to a time when small-town America was caught in the amber of the innocent postwar period - people helped their neighbors, went to church on Sunday, and kept barnyard animals in their backyards.

Many academics attack the very idea of a Western canon as chauvinistic, while the general public increasingly doubts the value of the humanities. In Rescuing Socrates, Dominican-born American academic Roosevelt Montás tells the story of how a liberal education transformed his life, and offers an intimate account of the relevance of the Great Books today, especially to members of historically marginalized communities.

It does not minimize the devastation of that hurt. It does not require reconciliation with the one who inflicted the hurt. Rather, it describes a process, followed with success by people around the world, to confront the pain, rise above it to forgive, and in so doing, to loosen the grip of depression, anger, and resentment that has soured life.

In The Girl of the Lake, Bill Roorbach conjures vivid, complex characters whose layered interior worlds feel at once familiar and extraordinary.

Alaska Inferno is Book 2 of the Blazing Hearts Wildfire series and a Kindle Book Award winner for best indie romance! Can a series of arson wildfires lead to true love under a midnight sun? Jon Silva is back as a wildland fire investigator, along with his well-earned reputation as a crack firefighter and notorious serial dater. But things have changed in Jon’s world. Now, there are only two women in his life—the one he wants, and the one who wants him—at any cost. Liz Harrington returns to Alaska’s Aurora Crew, fighting wildfire to earn seed money for her new business. She resisted ...