It’s for anyone who has ever tried to prove that point by taking the hot seat in the management simulation Football Manager. Whilst most Football Manager players feel they possess innate tactical awareness, on point man-management skills and a gift for dealing with the media; even the most hardened fan would have to admit there’s much to be learned from those who ply their trade in the real world. If you want to make an immediate impact on your struggling hometown club, you need to refer back to Sir Bobby Robson. If you want to lay down the law with your young players, you need to take tips from Sir Alex Ferguson. Want to avoid a financial catastrophe? Then learn from Leeds United!So if, at any point in your life, you have imagined yourself in a tracksuit, waving your arms in the air on the touchline, with your perfect XI scribbled on the back of a beer mat and thinking ahead to the press conference, then this book is for you. After all, you’re already a football manager… you just haven’t been appointed yet.

    A whimsical comment from a kind stranger, 'Be sure to search for purple cows,' brings hope to a woman and her children fleeing from a life filled with trouble. In A Search for Purple Cows, Susan Call reveals to the world how painful a relationship can be when love deteriorates into a cycle of abuse and betrayal. Her moving memoir chronicles how she first met her husband, a handsome, stylish, generous man with whom she worked. Eventually they fell in love, married, and had two children. Their life seemed idyllic -- they had a beautiful home and everything a family could desire. But soon, inside those walls, Call was tormented by her husband's alcoholism, domestic abuse, and infidelity that cast her family into a world fraught with fear and despair. God found her in the midst of her pain, and showed her, through the unlikely source of a Christian radio station, that a journey toward Him was possible even in the most unthinkable circumstances. Call eventually found the strength to move on and start anew. Written with candor and grace, A Search for Purple Cows will leave you laughing, crying, and believing that God is present and able, ready to bring hope and healing.

    Doyle has a flare for writing about family dysfunction with a twist. With a unique blend of realism and fantasy, The Girl Who Ate Kalamazoo is the moving story of the hauntingly beautiful Audrey Mapes, who began her illustrious "career" by downing crayons by the carton only to graduate to eating an entire city one bite at a time. With vivid, acerbic wit, Doyle details the life of the world's most gifted "eatist" through the eyes of Audrey's sister, McKenna. Through her eyes, we see the real tragedy of the Mapes story is not the destruction of a city, but rather, the quiet disintegration of a family who just didn't quite know how to love.

    Rick has 48 long hours ahead of him until his housekeeper will come to his rescue and nothing to pass the time except pain, bad memories—and a strange book he finds lying beside him. Called “A History of Prisons,” it is written by one Seth Kaufman, and it seems mysteriously relevant to Rick’s predicament…

    Has your dog ever surprised you by doing something you said the first time? You are not alone! Here are 50 stories about amazing dogs who understood what their humans said. Some even saved lives in the process!Chloe the golden Beagle braved a hurricane to obey the new command, "I need Dad, Girl." Ellie the Coonhound helped her human family escape from an angry bear by obeying the new command, "Get it!" When her human brother said jokingly, "Maybe Cocoa could dig again and find it," Cocoa did just that!

    Hidden. Out of sight and out of mind. Until today… Warren Wilkes, age 13, doesn’t like what a greedy housing developer has done to his peaceful mountain community, so he vandalizes the developer’s property, flees into the wild, and stumbles upon an ancient human skeleton revealed by torrential rain. More than old bones have been exposed, however, and the curious artifact Warren finds makes him question his own identity, and his connection to an ancient terror. A terror destined to rise again and annihilate all that Warren loves. He must fight or see his whole world destroyed.

    But after falling backwards into the specialty, Dr. Fulkerson found neurosurgery to be a field filled with joy, sadness, a little humor, and courageous and inspiring patients.In an honest and compelling retelling of his long and winding road to train and then practice as a pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Fulkerson guides others through his journey from medical school to service on a small military base, through residency training, and finally, to a practice in a highly specialized children's hospital. The journey reveals the dramatic swings of emotions experienced by both patients and doctors in an increasingly hostile medical environment. Dr. Fulkerson also shares stories of dedicated professors who train medical students and resident surgeons to care for the tiniest neurosurgical patients.Nothing Good Happens at ... The Baby Hospital offers a compelling glimpse into the joys, tragedies, and hopeful moments that surround the highly specialized and sometimes silly world of pediatric neurosurgery.

    . . THE LEGEND BEGINS When the Ridgeway family staked their claim on more than 40,000 acres of land in northwest Texas, they knew they had their work cut out for them. Located on a sharp bend of the treacherous Red River, their new home—the Rocking R Ranch—was just a stone’s throw away from Indian territory. It was as lawless and wild as the West itself, crawling with unsavory characters, cattle rustlers, horse thieves, outlaws, robbers, and worse. But still, the Ridgeways were determined to make the Rocking R a success—and a home—for their four remarkable children: Percy, Eli, Abigail, and Rachel. This is their story. Together, the Ridgeways could endure anything. Floods, tornadoes, Commanche raids in the dead of night. But when one of their own is kidnapped . . . that’s when all hell breaks loose. This is their story. The story of the American West.

    Dark Zader was one of the most powerful men in the galaxy, but when he threw his emperor down a shaft, he found himself without a job. Living with his kids and down on his luck, he finds that he only has one solution, beg for his old job back from the very emperor he thought he'd killed. Read as this family of rebel scum scrambles to prepare a dinner fit for an emperor in the most ridiculous culinary experience ever. Double the excitement. Triple the laughs. Paintbrush illustrations. This is... Family Wars Episode I: The Forced Dinner

    I am seventeen years old, which makes me a senior at Richmond High. I never thought this would happen to me, but it has... I'm one of those people you see every day, go to school with, remember seeing at the supermarket or the mall, and then one day you don't hear about them any longer. They're gone, and eventually, you forget them.

    An educational and humorous look at life, language and culture in Britain through the eyes of an American who lives in Scotland, sometimes against her will.

    At a prominent showroom in downtown Bangalore. A pregnant woman swoons. Glittering crystals disperse. Chaos reigns. Siddhartha, English teacher-turned-conman, pulls off a diamond heist. With unconditional support from his theatre-artiste wife. Abhimanyu, the authoritarian business baron, retaliates. With a policy master stroke that will push Siddhartha into financial jeopardy. And renew Siddhartha’s streak to wreak vengeance. A devious plot unfolds. Involving the royal heirloom belonging to Abhimanyu. Provoked beyond limits, Abhimanyu pulls out all the stops. Even as he confronts the identity conflicts of a hitherto unknown son that has appeared. Stage-managed bank deposits. Orchestrated raid. A hostile alliance. Until he faces a sordid truth revealed by the blue-blooded mother he worships. How does this dynastic drama play out?

    Among the prospects are Virginia defensive end Chris Canty, who overcomes a devastating early-season knee injury to reestablish himself as a top draft hopeful, only to suffer a detached retina in a nightclub skirmish; and Fred Gibson, a talented but rail-thin Georgia wide receiver who struggles to put on the weight needed to go over the middle in the NFL.It's a complex environment, with college coaches attempting to protect their student-athletes from exploitation (while fully aware that they can only remain competitive if they attract NFL-caliber players to their schools), along with sports agents and NFL scouts trying to stay a step ahead of their competition. These parties provide a multi-angled view of the world of emerging NFL talent. The reader follows the season through the eyes of a host of power players and scouts, from veteran agent Pat Dye Jr. to Jerry Maguire clone Jack Scharf, to the coaching divisions of Florida State University and the University of Virginia---headed by longtime Bill Parcells disciple Al Groh. Also central to the narrative are the Atlanta Falcons and executives Rich McKay and Tim Ruskell (now with Seattle), who use a character-based evaluation system to set their draft board. These parallel stories weave together, culminating in draft weekend, to create a gripping and fascinating look at a world few see from the inside.

    An investor in the growing railroad industry, he played host to US presidents. And when he fell in love, he fell hard. Rosa Pelham was almost two decades younger than Suit, who courted her unsuccessfully for five long years. Then, in 1883, he found the chink in Rosa’s romantic armor. She dreamed of living in a castle. Suit vowed to build her one if she accepted his proposal. He was as good as his word, and Berkeley Castle became part of West Virginian history. Some say the story of Rosa and her castle ended badly, with heartache, financial ruin, and insanity. Some darkly hint that vengeful ghosts now walk the halls of Berkeley Castle, tormented by secret misdeeds. Others tell a different tale—one of love and courage in the face of changing fortunes. Rosa’s Castle tells this tale—a dazzling “what if” based on one of America’s most striking love stories. As for ghosts…well, not all are vengeful shades. Some haunt out of love for those they left behind.

    He's in his element when he's outside in the country air, not stuck in a classroom wasting his youth and the beauty of Yorkshire. When he starts as an apprentice farrier, his first few days are a baptism of fire. His fellow apprentice is a wind-up merchant and his gruff boss, Stanley, ribs him mercilessly about his tea drinking habit. But in this chaotic environment, the three of them form a brotherhood, and soon, Will realises that the coming year is going to teach him a lot more than how to shoe a horse properly...