Written in a style that is simple and engaging, it explores the history of Buddhism, its philosophies, and its relevance in today’s society. The book provides numerous meditative exercises that will allow you to experience the wondrous teachings of this ancient wisdom. Inside you will read about... ✓ A Brief History of Buddhism ✓ The Spread of Buddhism ✓ The Servant or the Master: Which One are You? ✓ Self-Identification with the Mind and Body ✓ Meditation ✓ The Presence of Mindfulness ✓ The Principle of Karma ✓ Dualistic versus Non-Dualistic Perspectives ✓ The Principle of Non-Substantiality ✓ One’s Life and the Environment ✓ Sentient and Non-Sentient Beings ✓ Attachment ✓ The Ten Worlds The author explains how Buddhism is more than a religion; it’s an internal science. Rather than relying on dogma or sacred texts, Buddhism teaches us to look inward and challenge our most deep-seated beliefs for the purpose liberating ourselves from our minds.

    Learn the Alphabet and pronunciation as well as useful phrases in 8 categories, such as greetings, travel and directions, making friends to business and emergencies. Download, read and enjoy your vacation like never before.

    gorgeous glitter with a high price tag. On a winter’s day it is beautiful, but on a spring day after bud burst it spells devastation. For Sean and Caro Feely, a couple whose love affair with wine and France has taken them through financial and physical struggle to create their organic vineyard, it could spell the end. Until they receive an unexpected call that could save their skins… This book is about life, love and taking risks, while transforming a piece of land into a flourishing vineyard and making a new life in France.

    Much as Brainiac offered a behind-the-scenes look at the little-known demimonde of competitive trivia buffs, Maphead finally gives equal time to that other downtrodden underclass: America's map nerds.In a world where geography only makes the headlines when college students are (endlessly) discovered to be bad at it, these hardy souls somehow thrive. Some crisscross the map working an endless geographic checklist: visiting all 3,143 U.S. counties, for example, or all 936 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Some pore over million-dollar collections of the rarest maps of the past; others embrace the future by hunting real-world cartographic treasures like "geocaches" or "degree confluences" with GPS device in hand. Some even draw thousands of their own imaginary maps, lovingly detailing worlds that never were.Ken Jennings was a map nerd from a young age himself, you will not be surprised to learn, even sleeping with a bulky Hammond atlas at the side of his pillow, in lieu of the traditional Teddy bear. As he travels the nation meeting others of his tribe--map librarians, publishers, "roadgeeks," pint-sized National Geographic Bee prodigies, the computer geniuses behind Google Maps and other geo-technologies--he comes to admire these geographic obsessives. Now that technology and geographic illiteracy are increasingly insulating us from the lay of the land around us, we are going to be needing these people more than ever. Mapheads are the ones who always know exactly where they are--and where everything else is as well.

    Techniques for using simple accessories such as bounce cards and diffusers, as well as how to improve a lighting scenario by enhancing it rather than overwhelming it, show photographers how to master this challenging aspect of portraiture.

    Read a concise history of South Africa in just one hour.South Africa is a nation that has been ravaged by oppression and racial inequality. After years of concentrated violence and apartheid, Nelson Mandela led the country to unite ‘for the freedom of us all’ as the country’s first black President.SOUTH AFRICA: HISTORY IN AN HOUR gives a lively account of the formation of modern South Africa, from the first contact with seventeenth-century European sailors, through the colonial era, the Boer Wars, apartheid and the establishment of a tolerant democracy in the late twentieth century. Here is a clear and fascinating overview of the emergence of the ‘Rainbow Nation’.Love your history? Find out about the world with History in an Hour…

    Paris, My Sweet is a personal and moveable feast that’s a treasure map for anyone who loves fresh cupcakes and fine chocolate, New York and Paris, and life in general. It’s about how the search for happiness can be as fleeting as a sliver of cheesecake and about how the life you’re meant to live doesn’t always taste like the one you envisioned. Organized into a baker’s dozen of delicacies (and the adventures they inspired) that will tempt readers’ appetites, Paris, My Sweet is something to savor.

    Her book, Chocolate and Zucchini, introduced her to a wider, equally enthusiastic audience. Now in Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris, Clotilde reveals her all-time favorite food experiences in her native city. She takes us on a mouthwatering tour of the restaurants, markets, and shops she loves the most: from the best places to go for lunch, tea, or a glass of wine, to “neo bistros” and the newest places to find spectacular yet affordable meals. Packed with advice on everything from deciphering a French menu to ordering coffee correctly, this book is like having Clotilde as a personal guide. A dozen tempting recipes are also included, shared or inspired by Clotilde’s favorite chefs and bakers.For first-time visitors and seasoned travelers alike, Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris offers invaluable insider recommendations on eating and shopping with Parisian panache.The best of Paris, featuring 164 restaurants, bistros, wine bars, and salons de thé, as well as over 130 bakeries, pastry shops, cheese shops, bookstores, chocolate and candy shops, cookware and tableware stores, specialty shops, outdoor markets, and much, much more!

    Offers ninety-nine itineraries for trips throughout the United States, including forty-eight hour itineraries for New Orleans, Manhattan, Boston, and Miami.

    Here are his greatest images of more than 40 national parks and monuments. 78 duotones.

    And don’t miss the next book in the series, North American Maps for Curious Minds! Publisher’s note: Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds was published in the UK under the title Brilliant Maps. Which countries don’t have rivers? Which ones have North Korean embassies? Who drives on the “wrong” side of the road? How many national economies are bigger than California’s? And where can you still find lions in the wild? You’ll learn answers to these questions and many more in Brilliant Maps for Curious Minds. This one-of-a-kind atlas is packed with eye-opening analysis (Which nations have had female leaders?), whimsical insight (Where can’t you find a McDonald’s?), and surprising connections that illuminate the contours of culture, history, and politics. Each of these 100 maps will change the way you see the world—and your place in it.

    It is the sound of isolation that has sold itself to millions.” Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue is the best-selling piece of music in jazz history and, for many listeners, among the most haunting works of the twentieth century. It is also, notoriously, the only jazz album many people own. Recorded in 1959 (in nine miraculous hours), there has been nothing like it since. Richard Williams’s “richly informative” (The Guardian) history considers the album within its wider cultural context, showing how the record influenced such diverse artists as Steve Reich and the Velvet Underground.In the tradition of Alex Ross and Greil Marcus, the “effortlessly versatile” Williams (The Times) “connects these seemingly disparate phenomena with purpose, finesse and journalistic flair” (Financial Times), making masterly connections to painting, literature, philosophy, and poetry while identifying the qualities that make the album so uniquely appealing and surprisingly universal.

    You'll never see the city the same way again.At the core of A Burglar's Guide to the City is an unexpected and thrilling insight: how any building transforms when seen through the eyes of someone hoping to break into it. Studying architecture the way a burglar would, Geoff Manaugh takes readers through walls, down elevator shafts, into panic rooms, up to the buried vaults of banks, and out across the rooftops of an unsuspecting city.With the help of FBI Special Agents, reformed bank robbers, private security consultants, the L.A.P.D. Air Support Division, and architects past and present, the book dissects the built environment from both sides of the law. Whether picking padlocks or climbing the walls of high-rise apartments, finding gaps in a museum's surveillance routine or discussing home invasions in ancient Rome, A Burglar's Guide to the City has the tools, the tales, and the x-ray vision you need to see architecture as nothing more than an obstacle that can be outwitted and undercut.Full of real-life heists-both spectacular and absurd-A Burglar's Guide to the City ensures readers will never enter a bank again without imagining how to loot the vault or walk down the street without planning the perfect getaway.

    In the second of her series of books on classic fashion destinations, Megan Hess takes you on a super stylish adventure through the French capital, showing you the best places for a fashionista to eat, sleep, shop and play – all illustrated in her inimitable, elegant style. Megan's tour reveals where fashion icons such as Coco Chanel, Karl Lagerfield, Chistian Dior and Louis-François Cartier worked and played, the top restaurants, hotels, boutiques and sites to visit, as well as Megan's own personal favorite places to shop. This is a must-have insider's guide to Paris for any fashion lover or Francophile.

    Explains how to achieve simple and pleasurable living through French cooking, including recipes, vegetable gardening techniques, and strategies for unique dinners and parties.