Into Thick Air: Biking to the Bellybutton of Six Continents


Jim Malusa - 2008
    He pedaled across the Andes to Patagonia, around tiny Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, and from Tucson to Death Valley. With a scientist’s eye, he vividly observes local landscapes and creatures. As a lone man, he is overfed by grandmothers, courted by ladies of the night in Volgograd, invited into a mosque by Africa’s most feared tribe, chased by sandstorms and hurricanes — yet Malusa keeps riding. His reward: the deep silence of the world’s great depressions. A large-hearted narrative of what happens when a friendly, perceptive American puts himself at the mercy of strange landscapes and their denizens, Into Thick Air presents one of the most talented new voices in contemporary travel writing.

The Vegucation of Robin: How Real Food Saved My Life


Robin Quivers - 2013
    Known for her levelheaded, deadpan comebacks to Howard Stern’s often outrageous banter, Robin Quivers has developed an image as a powerful force. Yet few people know about her struggles with food—especially the high-fat, high-sugar, high-cholesterol, highly addictive foods that doomed many of her relatives to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Sick and tired of being sick and tired, she knew it was time to stop her slow slide into bad health. Quivers took a stand in her personal nutrition battle and emerged victorious thanks to a plant-based diet. On her sometimes rocky, though endearingly hysterical, path to newfound health, Quivers discovered the power of the produce aisle in changing her body and her mindset. By filling up on soul-quenching, cell-loving vegetables instead of damaging animal products and processed foods, Quivers left behind the injuries, aches, and pains that had plagued her for twenty years. Charting her inspiring road to wellness, The Vegucation of Robin describes her transformation inside and out, and, with the inclusion of ninety of her favorite vegan recipes, she encourages readers to join her in putting their health first. With her signature humor and wit, Quivers builds an undeniable case that the key to living the life you’ve always wanted lies not with your doctor but in your refrigerator. Putting a new face on the pro-veggie movement, Quivers’s star power is sure to dazzle readers who want to look good, feel good, and have fun doing it.

Slow Coast Home


Josie Dew - 2003
    In her latest book, she sets off on another quirky and riotous ride, choosing to circumnavigate the coastline of the British Isles. And she discovers that her homeland can be as surprising and full of incident as anywhere she has ever been. Beginning in Portsmouth, Josie sets off in a clockwise direction after a Shetland grandmother warns her that she'll end up meeting the devil if she travels anti-clockwise. Through rain, hail, floods, bitter temperatures, minor earthquakes and dusty drought, Josie pedals on, eventually returning to Land's End to complete Stage One of her remarkably lengthy odyssey along 5,000 miles of seaside, estuaries, creeks and islands. But is all as it seems? Who is the mysterious builder who appears at all the wrong moments? Who are the two-wheeled taggers-on lurking in her wake? What did she find at Puckpool Point, Bozomzeal and Woon Gumpus? And how did Josie so badly miscalculate her approach to the seafront at Newhaven that she landed in France?

Uncle John's Funniest Ever Bathroom Reader


Bathroom Readers' Institute - 2013
    In this book you will find the funniest 288 of them (with a few all-new funny pages squeezed in just because we couldn’t help ourselves). That’s page after page after page of laugh-out-loud dumb jokes, dumb jocks, toasts, pranks, kings, kittens, caboodles, and, of course, poorly translated kung-fu movie subtitles—such as. "It took my seven digestive pills to dissolve your hairy crab!” So whether you like your humor witty or witless, light or dark, or silly or sublime, you’ll laugh until your head explodes. Chortle at…Dumb crooks: The robber who ran face-first into a wall because he forgot to poke eye holes in his pillow case.Witty wordplay: If Snoop Doggy Dogg were to marry Winnie the Pooh, his name would become Snoop Doggy Dogg Pooh.Flubbed headlines: "British Left Waffles On House Floor”Quirky stars: Billy Idol’s concert rider demands he have one large tub of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter in his dressing room.Job Lingo: If you hear an E.R. doc mention a "VIP,” be on the lookout for a "Very Intoxicated Patient.”Comedian quips: "I wonder if deaf people have a sign for "Talk to the hand.’” --Zach GalifianakisSputtering sportscasters: "If only faces could talk.” --Pat SummerallAnd much, much more!

Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style


Benjamin Dreyer - 2019
    L. Doctorow, and Frank Rich, into a useful guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best foot forward in writing prose. Dreyer offers lessons on the ins and outs of punctuation and grammar, including how to navigate the words he calls "the confusables," like tricky homophones; the myriad ways to use (and misuse) a comma; and how to recognize--though not necessarily do away with--the passive voice. (Hint: If you can plausibly add "by zombies" to the end of a sentence, it's passive.) People are sharing their writing more than ever--on blogs, on Twitter--and this book lays out, clearly and comprehensibly, everything writers can do to keep readers focused on the real reason writers write: to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively. Chock-full of advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts on the rules (and nonrules) of the English language, this book will prove invaluable to everyone who wants to shore up their writing skills, mandatory for people who spend their time editing and shaping other people's prose, and--perhaps best of all--an utter treat for anyone who simply revels in language.

The Lost Cyclist


David V. Herlihy - 2010
    He finally got his chance by recasting himself as a champion of the downsized "safety-bicycle" with inflatable tires, the forerunner of the modern road bike that was about to become wildly popular. In the spring of 1892 he quit his accounting job and gamely set out west to cover twenty thousand miles over three continents as a correspondent for "Outing" magazine. Two years later, after having survived countless near disasters and unimaginable hardships, he approached Europe for the final leg.He never made it. His mysterious disappearance in eastern Turkey sparked an international outcry and compelled "Outing" to send William Sachtleben, another larger-than-life cyclist, on Lenz's trail. Bringing to light a wealth of information, Herlihy's gripping narrative captures the soaring joys and constant dangers accompanying the bicycle adventurer in the days before paved roads and automobiles. This untold story culminates with Sachtleben's heroic effort to bring Lenz's accused murderers to justice, even as troubled Turkey teetered on the edge of collapse.

Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess


Bobby Fischer - 1966
    The way a teaching machine works is: It asks you a question. If you give the right answer, it goes on to the next question. If you give the wrong answer, it tells you why the answer is wrong and tells you to go back and try again. This is called "programmed learning". The real authors were experts and authorities in the field of programmed learning. Bobby Fischer lent his name to the project. Stuart Margulies is a chess master and also a recognized authority on programmed learning. He is a widely published author of more than 40 books, all in the field of programmed learning, especially in learning how to read. For example, one of his books is "Critical reading for proficiency 1 : introductory level". Donn Mosenfelder is not a known or recognized chess player, but he was the owner of the company that developed and designed this book. He has written more than 25 books, almost all on basic reading, writing and math.

Core Performance: The Revolutionary Workout Program to Transform Your Body and Your Life


Mark Verstegen - 2004
    How? By giving you a personal coach who has worked with some of the most famous and successful athletes in the world today.The intense focus on the muscles of your core--abs, lower back, hips, and thighs--will help you stand taller and prevent the back pain from which most people eventually suffer. The detailed nutrition section guarantees that you'll feed your muscles, starve your fat, and get boundless energy when you need it most. This program is like nothing you've ever seen before--it enables you to totally transform your body in just 12 weeks. The potential is within you, and the power to unleash that potential is within Core Performance.

The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley


Eric Weiner - 2016
    He explores the history of places, like Vienna of 1900, Renaissance Florence, ancient Athens, Song Dynasty Hangzhou, and Silicon Valley, to show how certain urban settings are conducive to ingenuity. And, with his trademark insightful humor, he walks the same paths as the geniuses who flourished in these settings to see if the spirit of what inspired figures like Socrates, Michelangelo, and Leonardo remains. In these places, Weiner asks, “What was in the air, and can we bottle it?”

The Internet is a Playground


David Thorne - 2010
    The complete collection of articles and emails from 27bslash6 such as Overdue Account, Party in Apartment 3 and Strata Agreement plus articles too litigious to be on the website.

Lay the Favorite: A Memoir of Gambling


Beth Raymer - 2010
    In the meantime, she lived in a $17-a-night motel with her dog, Otis, and waited tables at a low-rent Thai restaurant. One day, one of her regular customers told her about a job she thought Beth would be perfect for and sent her to see Dink, of Dink Inc. Dink was a professional sports gambler—one of the biggest in Vegas. He was looking for a right-hand man—someone who would show up on time, who had a head for numbers, and who didn’t steal. She got the job.Lay the Favorite is the story of Beth Raymer’s years in the high-stakes, high-anxiety world of sports betting—a period that saw the fall of the local bookie and the rise of the freewheeling, unregulated offshore sports book, and with it the elevation of sports betting in popular culture. As the business explodes, Beth rises—from assistant to expert, trusted and seasoned enough to open an offshore booking office in the Caribbean with a few associates, men who leave their families up north to make a quick killing, while donning new tropical personas fueled by abundant drugs and local girlfriends, and who one by one succumb to their vices. They lie, cheat, steal, and run, until Beth is the last man standing.Beth Raymer is a natural storyteller: funny, charming, and fully awake to the ironies around her. But she is also a keen and compassionate observer of the adrenaline-addicted, rougish types who become her mentors, her enemies, her family. Raymer brings to life a world that teems with pathos and ecstasy in this wild picaresque that also tells the story of a young woman’s crazy, sexy, most unlikely coming-of-age.

Infinite Intensity


Ross Enamait - 2005
    This program integrates a lifetime of in the trenches experience, coupled with years of extensive research.Don't expect a picture book filled with secret exercises or bogus promises. There is nothing new under the sun. This 250 page manual will outline a complete system, from A to Z, covering all aspects of physical training.The philosophy behind this program is simple. If it works, we will use it. This program is not limited to one training style (ex. bodyweight exercise vs. weight training). This manual incorporates the best of both worlds.A sample 50 day routine is provided which applies the principles detailed throughout the manual. Topics Include: Dumbbell training for power and strength Advanced bodyweight exercises Isometrics Weighted and bodyweight core movements Low budget options for homemade training equipment Heavy bag drills for enhanced punching power Conditioning drills to enhance each energy system An analysis of periodization for combat athletes Research from world renowned sports scientists Commonly neglected areas such as the hands and neck A 50 day training program And much, much more... Infinite Intensity will enable the athlete to optimize strength and endurance based on the unique needs of the individual. This program will teach you how and why to incorporate strength training and conditioning, without allowing one objective to interfere with another.

Treat Your Own Knees: Simple Exercises to Build Strength, Flexibility, Responsiveness and Endurance


Jim Johnson - 2003
    In this compact and accessible book, he shows readers exactly how to improve and maintain the functioning of their knees by enhancing the four crucial abilities every knee must have:** muscular strength** flexibility** responsiveness (proprioception)** enduranceA chapter is devoted to each of these four functions, showing why they are essential. The reader is shown exactly how to do simple home exercises designed to restore or improve that particular ability. The last chapter is a "master plan" that pulls together all the concepts and exercises into a time-efficient exercise program. The author guides the reader effortlessly through the exercise routine.Clear drawings illustrate the muscles responsible for knee pain and the exact way to do the exercises.All the information is based on research trials and studies and evidence from peer-reviewed journals. The author has chosen for this book the best techniques for relieving knee pain.

Frumpy to Fabulous: Flaunting It. Your Ultimate Guide to Effortless Style


Natalie Jobity - 2010
    Your Ultimate Guide to Effortless Style", Natalie Jobity, a professional image consultant, shares with women tips, insider secrets and advice they can use immediately to learn how to dress to enhance their image so they look and feel amazing, inside and out. “Frumpy to Fabulous: Flaunting It” has step-by-step guidance on all the topics you care about: dressing to flatter your figure; determining your personal style; shopping smarter so you fill your closet with the right pieces; working with color; pulling your look together with accessories; dressing to elevate your image at work; and much more. As you read each chapter, Natalie's friendly, engaging, voice empowers you to unleash your style potential and encourages you to dare to express your fabulous. With illustrations showcasing “real” women, summarized tip lists (finding the right jeans, picking a cocktail dress and much more!), exercises and anecdotes based on Natalie's work with hundreds of women, this is a book that you will cherish and refer to time and time again. As you read, you will realize that you are in the midst of more than an image makeover. You are really being taken on a journey of transformation-- a wonderful and exhilarating experience that helps you tap into your true essence and express it by the way you dress. Natalie dishes her advice and wisdom in a down to earth and practical manner that is delivered with motivation and sass. She lets her book lead the way for the woman who is ready for her image to catch up with the rest of her life. This book is an invitation to change how the world sees you and how you see yourself, on your terms. Yes, you too can become one of those effortlessly stylish women you admire. Wherever you are on your image journey-from fashion challenged to emerging fashionista-with Natalie as your guide you will be inspired to "Flaunt It!"

Essential Yoga: An Illustrated Guide to over 100 Yoga Poses and Meditation


Olivia H. Miller - 2004
    Practical and interactive, it focuses on the poses themselves, providing clear, concise instructions and detailed illustrations for each, all in a lay-flat format that's easy to refer to during yoga practice. It also includes six classic moving meditations (such as Sun Salutation and Camel Vinyasa), 10 beginner-to-advanced sessions, and 48 mini-sequences designed to build strength for specific activities or alleviate health problems. Essential Yoga combines physical poses (asanas), breathing exercises (pranayamas), and meditations (dhyanas) into a simple and complete reference guide for yoga practitioners of all levels. Along the way, author Olivia Miller provides guidance on proper technique and alignment; modifications for beginners or those with knee, neck, or back pain; suggestions for preventing injury; and ways to keep a regular practice interesting and active. For beginners as muchas experts looking for one complete book that has it all, Essential Yoga is it.