They had some good times. There was a whiteboard in the conference room, and often cartoons were drawn on this whiteboard. The cartoons were of varying quality. By the end of the year, with the help of a similar committee of high school students in Ann Arbor, and their guest editor, Rachel Kushner, they selected the contents of this anthology. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2016 features stories about Bulgarian spaceships, psychedelic mushroom therapy, and a cyclorama in Iowa. If you don’t know what a cyclorama is, you aren’t alone. Read on to find out.The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2016 includes N. R. KLEINFIELD,  ANNA KOVATCHEVA, DAN HOY, ANTHONY MARRA, MICHAEL POLLAN, MARILYNNE ROBINSON, DANA SPIOTTA, ADRIAN TOMINE, INARA VERZEMNIEKS and othersRachel Kushner, guest editor, is the author of The Flamethrowers, which was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award and one of the New York Times’s top five novels of 2013. Kushner’s debut novel, Telex from Cuba, was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award, a winner of the California Book Award, and a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book.

     In this deeply funny (and, no kidding, wise and poignant) book, Rakoff examines the realities of our sunny,  gosh­ everyone-can-be-a-star contemporary culture and finds that, pretty much as a universal rule, the best is not yet to come, adversity will triumph, justice will not be served, and your dreams won’t come true. The book ranges from the personal to the universal, combining stories from Rakoff’s reporting and accounts of his own experi­ences: the moment when being a tiny child no longer meant adults found him charming but instead meant other children found him a fun target; the perfect late evening in Manhattan when he was young and the city seemed to brim with such pos­sibility that the street shimmered in the moonlight—as he drew closer he realized the streets actually flickered with rats in a feeding frenzy. He also weaves in his usual brand Oscar Wilde–worthy cultural criticism (the tragedy of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, for instance). Whether he’s lacerating the musical Rent for its cutesy depic­tion of AIDS or dealing with personal tragedy, his sharp obser­vations and humorist’s flair for the absurd will have you positively reveling in the power of negativity.

     Here, with Tom Clancy's cooperation and approval, is a fascinating, in-depth look at his powerful and influential work. This newly revised, updated, and expanded guide features: - Information on his blockbuster novels, bestselling series, and major motion pictures - Clancy's controversial essays on current issues - A complete, updated concordance-a comprehensive, alphabetical guide to Clancy's characters, weapons, hardware, and more

    You probably thought you couldn't stand any more genius in one lifetime. Well, fasten your intellectual seat belts! Inside you'll find 100% guaranteed top quality brilliance on every page, as he winsomely and wisely answers questions like these: Can people really hear radio broadcasts through their teeth? What does Queen Elizabeth carry in that purse, anyway? So how DO porcupines mate? And many more. When you hear the answers, you'll be glad someone asked the questions.

    Don Marquis' creations have been constantly in print since 1934.

    Biography, memoir, narrative history, reportage, the travel account: all these forms now have their interesting and original practitioners in India. In this Granta issue they tackle questions ranging from rape in village India to scandal in Mumbai clubs. And there is room, as always, for the best of India's fiction.

    These are pivotal and seminal works, books in which a great writer was charting the course he later would follow, experimenting freely, boldly searching for a new kind of prose style to express "the power of the imagination to hold human beings to life and propel them onward.”The prose-poem improvisations (Kora in Hell) . . . the interweaving of prose and poetry in alternating passages (Spring and All and The Descent of Winter) . . . an antinovel whose subject is the impossibility of writing "The Great American Novel" in America . . . automatic writing (A Novelette) . . . these are the challenges which Williams accepted and brilliantly met in his early work.

    A leading spokesman for the English Aesthetic movement, Wilde promoted "art for art’s sake" against critics who argued that art must serve a moral purpose. On every page of this collection the gifted literary stylist admirably demonstrates not only that the characteristics of art are "distinction, charm, beauty, and imaginative power," but also that criticism itself can be raised to an art form possessing these very qualities.In the opening essay, Wilde laments the "decay of Lying as an art, a science, and a social pleasure." He takes to task modern literary realists like Henry James and Emile Zola for their "monstrous worship of facts" and stifling of the imagination. What makes art wonderful, he says, is that it is "absolutely indifferent to fact, [art] invents, imagines, dreams, and keeps between herself and reality the impenetrable barrier of beautiful style, of decorative or ideal treatment."The next essay, "Pen, Pencil, and Poison," is a fascinating literary appreciation of the life of Thomas Griffiths Wainewright, a talented painter, art critic, antiquarian, friend of Charles Lamb, and — murderer.The heart of the collection is the long two-part essay titled "The Critic as Artist." In one memorable passage after another, Wilde goes to great lengths to show that the critic is every bit as much an artist as the artist himself, in some cases more so. A good critic is like a virtuoso interpreter: "When Rubinstein plays … he gives us not merely Beethoven, but also himself, and so gives us Beethoven absolutely…made vivid and wonderful to us by a new and intense personality. When a great actor plays Shakespeare we have the same experience."Finally, in "The Truth of Masks," Wilde returns to the theme of art as artifice and creative deception. This essay focuses on the use of masks, disguises, and costume in Shakespeare.For newcomers to Wilde and those who already know his famous plays and fiction, this superb collection of his criticism offers many delights.The introduction is by Percival Pollard New York, July, 1905.

     Today only, get this Amazon #1 bestseller for just $4.99. Regularly priced at $9.99. Read on your PC, Mac, Smartphone, Tablet, or Kindle device. Nowadays, people often use the term “psychopath” to refer to criminals and people with violent tendencies. However, this abusive use of the word has led people to believe that any two-bit criminal immediately falls under the psychopath category. Regardless of these misconceptions (or perhaps because of them), psychopathy is a fascinating subject for most people. This book aims to set the record straight, once and for all, about psychopathy and how exactly the mind of a psychopath works. Delve into the minds of the world’s most famous psychopaths and discover the twisted logic that makes them commit horrific crimes without showing any signs of remorse. Why do they enjoy inflicting pain and suffering on other people, without qualms or any twinges of conscience? Now, lets switch gears and explore Sociopathy. Is society to be blamed for the negative perception of sociopaths? As serial killers and notorious criminals in history prove sociopaths can be extremely dangerous individuals. Their presence itself is threatening and they must be dealt with great precaution. While they can be fearsome and their existence troubling, they do stir intrigue. We cannot help but wonder about their nature simply because they are different. They are far from normal. In reading this book, you have to keep this in mind: Sociopathy is defined as a syndrome that makes a person incapable to emotionally condition his social experiences. Sociopaths essentially lack the ability to emotionally organize. This is why they do not feel empathy and other feelings which are normal to other people. This segment has four main goals. One is to help you understand the condition beyond the textbook definition of sociopathy. Two, I hope that you can effectively utilize the information presented in this book to spread awareness and help prevent the number of children growing up to become sociopaths. Three, this book is for your own safety and protection. Finally, I’d like to discuss the growing epidemic of Narcissism with you. As you cross the street, you are highly likely to come across a narcissist, and this would only mean one thing: they are common. Of course, there are two sides of the same coin when it comes to this type of personality. This segment will provide you with all the information that you will ever need to understand narcissism and the narcissistic personality disorder. Here you be able to know how to identify someone who is a narcissist, read up on ideas about whether this is a good or a bad thing and how to control the self one is narcissistic. It is amazing what you can learn from the mind of a narcissist or others with a personality disorder or mental illness. You will find many new discoveries within yourself and society when you start reading this book! Here Is A Preview Of What You'll Learn... Personality Disorders and Mental Illnesses Psychopathy Defined Personality Disorders and Psychopathy Crime and Psychopaths Psychopaths vs. Sociopaths Sociopath Defined The Goal of a Sociopath The Weaknesses of a Sociopath Dealing with a Sociopath Is there Hope for a Sociopath? Narcissism Defined The Narcissist in You The Narcissists of Today

    Matthew Arnold called Emerson’s essays “the most important work done in prose.”   INCLUDES A MODERN LIBRARY READING GROUP GUIDE

    Heartbreaking and humorous, Atlantis is a journey about picking up the pieces from the ruins of a life they said would be good for you.

    Although Kathleen Norris’s best-selling Dakota: A Spiritual Geography has brought her to the attention of many thousands of readers, she is first and last a poet.  Like Robert Frost, another poet identified with a particular landscape, she can reveal the miraculous in the ordinary, and she writes with clarity, humor, and deep sympathy for her subjects.

    in between, Nine Gates illumines the nature of originality, translation, the various strategies by which meaning unfolds itself in language, poetry's roots in oral memory and the importance of the shadow to good art.A person who enters completely into the experience of a poem is initiated into a deeper intimacy with life. Delving into the nature of poetry, Jane Hirshfield also writes on the nature of the human mind, perception and experience. Nine Gates is about the underpinnings of poetic craft, but it is also about a way of being alive in the world -- alertly, musically, intelligently, passionately, permeably.In part a primer for the general reader, Nine Gates is also a manual for the working writer, with each "gate" exploring particular strategies of language and thought that allow a poem to convey meaning and emotion with clarity and force. Above all, Nine Gates is an insightful guide to the way the mind of poetry awakens our fundamental consciousness of what can be known when a person is most fully alive.

    There are memoirs (Nelson Mandela), poetry (Les Murray) and many of the world’s great novels, from George Eliot’s Middlemarch to Toni Morrison’s Beloved.Our guide, in entertaining short essays about personal encounters with each of these works, is Michael McGirr: schoolteacher and former priest, reviewer of hundreds of novels and lifelong lover of literature. His humour and insight shine through in stories that connect the texts he has selected with each other, and connect us to them.Never prescriptive, and often very funny, this book is an invitation to reflect on—and share with others—the extraordinary gift of reading. ‘It is a gift that is taking me a lifetime to unwrap,’ McGirr writes. ‘The excitement has never worn off.’Great literature is thrilling. It will feed your hungry mind and take your heart on a journey. It will help you on the path of one of life’s most elusive and hard-won freedoms, freedom from the ego.Michael McGirr is the bestselling author of Snooze: The Lost Art of Sleep, Things You Get for Free and Bypass. He has reviewed almost one thousand books for various newspapers; his short fiction has appeared in Australian and overseas publications; and he has been a publisher of Eureka Street and fiction editor at Meanjin.He teaches at St Kevin’s College in Melbourne.‘McGirr is an inspired synthesiser, serious in intent even while riotous in execution.’ Eureka Street on Snooze: The Lost Art of Sleep‘His anecdotes will make you laugh out loud. If you haven’t read any books by him before, seek them out’. Good Reading‘Readers will come for the humour, but they’ll stay for McGirr’s haunting memories…brimming with lyrical insight and earthy humour, this debut is a rare treat’. Publishers Weekly on Things You Get For Free

    It is a seekers journey towards finding greatness within. This wonderfully crafted fable is about finding the direction you are destined to head in and creating the life of your dreams. License to Live tells the tale of a successful corporate guru who enrolls herself in a seminar by one of the finest success coaches in the world. His radical training methods take her on a life-changing odyssey. A seven day seminar spread over three countries, puts her onto a journey where she is forced to look within and be her own teacher and guide, something she had done so well for others but missed doing for herself. Full of wisdom, wit and spiritual insights, you collect lessons that will change the way you lead your life forever. Discover within this fast paced fable : * Surviving people you don’t understand * Solving situations you seem to have no control over * Finding greatness in your daily choices * Listening to your own voice – following your own path * Taking responsibility of your life and creating a worthwhile mission * Creating a future without fear and doubt entering it * Putting your past behind and standing tall in the present * Living in the present and creating your life anew one moment at a time * Putting an end to your fake helplessness.