Book picks similar to
Escaping Poverty by Reading Harbor
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Inca Trail to Machu Picchu: Sixteen strangers and the quest for the holy Facebook photo.
Joel Paul Reisig - 2020
The Code of Extraordinary Change
Steve Errey - 2012
More than a manifesto, The Code of Extraordinary Change cracks life wide open, taking you to a place where you're confident, capable and compelled to get out there and put a you-shaped dent in the universe.Containing a set of principles, ideas and specific actions learned from over 10 years of experience in coaching individuals on being naturally self-confident, the Code is a model for building natural confidence and creating and sustaining meaningful change.Get the Code of Extraordinary Change now and go dent the universe.
Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World
Bill Clinton - 2007
Giving is an inspiring look at how each of us can change the world. First, it reveals the extraordinary and innovative efforts now being made by companies and organizations—and by individuals—to solve problems and save lives both “down the street and around the world.” Then it urges us to seek out what each of us, “regardless of income, available time, age, and skills,” can do to help, to give people a chance to live out their dreams.Bill Clinton shares his own experiences and those of other givers, representing a global flood tide of nongovernmental, nonprofit activity. These remarkable stories demonstrate that gifts of time, skills, things, and ideas are as important and effective as contributions of money. From Bill and Melinda Gates to a six-year-old California girl named McKenzie Steiner, who organized and supervised drives to clean up the beach in her community, Clinton introduces us to both well-known and unknown heroes of giving. Among them:Dr. Paul Farmer, who grew up living in the family bus in a trailer park, vowed to devote his life to giving high-quality medical care to the poor and has built innovative public health-care clinics first in Haiti and then in Rwanda;a New York couple, in Africa for a wedding, who visited several schools in Zimbabwe and were appalled by the absence of textbooks and school supplies. They founded their own organization to gather and ship materials to thirty-five schools. After three years, the percentage of seventh-graders who pass reading tests increased from 5 percent to 60 percent;'Oseola McCarty, who after seventy-five years of eking out a living by washing and ironing, gave $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi to endow a scholarship fund for African-American students;Andre Agassi, who has created a college preparatory academy in the Las Vegas neighborhood with the city’s highest percentage of at-risk kids. “Tennis was a stepping-stone for me,” says Agassi. “Changing a child’s life is what I always wanted to do”;Heifer International, which gave twelve goats to a Ugandan village. Within a year, Beatrice Biira’s mother had earned enough money selling goat’s milk to pay Beatrice’s school fees and eventually to send all her children to school—and, as required, to pass on a baby goat to another family, thus multiplying the impact of the gift.Clinton writes about men and women who traded in their corporate careers, and the fulfillment they now experience through giving. He writes about energy-efficient practices, about progressive companies going green, about promoting fair wages and decent working conditions around the world. He shows us how one of the most important ways of giving can be an effort to change, improve, or protect a government policy. He outlines what we as individuals can do, the steps we can take, how much we should consider giving, and why our giving is so important.Bill Clinton’s own actions in his post-presidential years have had an enormous impact on the lives of millions. Through his foundation and his work in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, he has become an international spokesperson and model for the power of giving.“We all have the capacity to do great things,” President Clinton says. “My hope is that the people and stories in this book will lift spirits, touch hearts, and demonstrate that citizen activism and service can be a powerful agent of change in the world.”
It's All News to Me
Jeremy Vine - 2012
He also explains what it's like presenting Radio 2's lunchtime show and talking to 6 million listeners - people who, as he puts it have better stories than we do. Written in Jeremy's unmistakably lively and self-deprecating voice, It's All News to Me paints a vivid picture of what it's like to be trapped inside the BBC - arguably the most interesting organisation in the country - for 25 years
A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity
Nicholas D. Kristof - 2014
Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn brought to light struggles faced by women and girls around the globe, and showcased individuals and institutions working to address oppression and expand opportunity. A Path Appears is even more ambitious in scale: nothing less than a sweeping tapestry of people who are making the world a better place and a guide to the ways that we can do the same—whether with a donation of $5 or $5 million, with our time, by capitalizing on our skills as individuals, or by using the resources of our businesses. With scrupulous research and on-the-ground reporting, the authors assay the art and science of giving, identify successful local and global initiatives, and share astonishing stories from the front lines of social progress. We see the compelling, inspiring truth of how real people have changed the world, upending the idea that one person can’t make a difference. We meet people like Dr. Gary Slutkin, who developed his landmark Cure Violence program to combat inner-city conflicts in the United States by applying principles of epidemiology; Lester Strong, who left a career as a high-powered television anchor to run an organization bringing in older Americans to tutor students in public schools across the country; MIT development economist Esther Duflo, whose pioneering studies of aid effectiveness have revealed new truths about, among other things, the power of hope; and Jessica Posner and Kennedy Odede, who are transforming Kenya’s most notorious slum by expanding educational opportunities for girls. A Path Appears offers practical, results-driven advice on how best each of us can give and reveals the lasting benefits we gain in return. Kristof and WuDunn know better than most how many urgent challenges communities around the world face today. Here they offer a timely beacon of hope for our collective future.
Feathers Brush My Heart: True Stories of Mothers Touching Their Daughters' Lives After Death
Sinclair Browning - 2002
After her own mother died Sinclair Browning began receiving white feathers that she instinctively knew were from her mother, a once aspiring actress who did diaphragm exercises by blowing a white feather into the air while repeating, "I love you." When Browning shared her story on an all women's horseback ride, she as amazed that some of her fellow riders had stories of their own.Feathers Brush My Heart is the result of Browning's years collecting stories from throughout the country, from women with varying occupations, religions and ethnic backgrounds. While each story is unique, the common denominator is that they all share an afterlife gift that their mothers' spirits were alive and well.
They Don't Play Hockey in Heaven: A Dream, A Team, and My Comeback Season
Ken Baker - 2003
. . colorful descriptions make this a fun read." -Los Angeles Times "One of the best sports books of the year." -Booklist Ken Baker wanted nothing more than to play ice hockey with the pros-until a brain tumor cut his dreams short while in college. After surgery and several years of rehab, Baker, who in high school was a top prospect for the U.S. Olympic team, put his successful journalism career on hold to attempt the seemingly impossible: a comeback. He moved away from his family to become the third-string goalie for the Bakersfield Condors, an AA-level minor-league team in the dusty oil town of Bakersfield, California. At the age of thirty-one, Baker became the oldest rookie in all of pro-hockey, facing 100-m.p.h. slap shots and long bus rides, hostile fans and cheap motel rooms, body bruises, and battle-worn teammates. From his visit to an NHL training camp to his first nerve-rattled minutes as a pro, Baker joins the rookies who still dream of making it to the Show, the veterans long past their prime, and the obsessive fans who keep them going. When the season is over, Baker's pro-hockey adventure ends up teaching him nearly everything he will ever need to know about life.
Finding Freedom in the Lost Kitchen
Erin French - 2021
And of her son who became her guiding light as she slowly rebuilt her personal and culinary life around the solace she found in food--as a source of comfort, a sense of place, as a way of creating community and making something of herself, despite seemingly impossible odds.Set against the backdrop of rural Maine and its lushly intense, bountiful seasons, Erin French's rollercoaster memoir reveals struggles that have taken every ounce of her strength to overcome, and the passion and courage behind the fairytale success of The Lost Kitchen.
The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change
Adam Braun - 2014
But while traveling he met a young boy begging on the streets of India, who after being asked what he wanted most in the world, simply answered, “A pencil.” This small request led to a staggering series of events that took Braun backpacking through dozens of countries before eventually leaving one of the world’s most prestigious jobs to found Pencils of Promise, the organization he started with just $25 that has since built more than 200 schools around the world.The Promise of a Pencil chronicles Braun’s journey to find his calling, as each chapter explains one clear step that every person can take to turn your biggest ambitions into reality, even if you start with as little as $25. His story takes readers behind the scenes with business moguls and village chiefs, world-famous celebrities and hometown heroes. Driven by compelling stories and shareable insights, this is a vivid and inspiring book that will give you the tools to make your own life a story worth telling.*All proceeds from this book will support Pencils of Promise.
Heartbroken: Healing from the Loss of a Spouse
Gary Roe - 2015
She was your partner. Now your heart is broken. What do you do with all the pain, confusion, and anger? What will life be like? Who are you now? Your heart needs answers. Heartbroken can help. Bestselling author, hospice chaplain and grief specialist Gary Roe has walked with hundreds of spouses through this painful valley. From their stories he has composed this incredibly practical work that will touch your heart and comfort your soul. In this deeply personal, easy-to-read book, you will learn the following: - How to better manage the up and down, roller-coaster emotions of grief. - How to manage being misunderstood and navigate all the relationship changes that occur with the loss of a mate. - How to think about and face the future with hope. As you read, you will discover that you are far from alone, you’re not crazy, and that you will make it through this. The loss of a husband or wife is traumatic. Healing from loss is challenging. Open this book, and let the healing continue.
Camino Sunrise-Walking With My Shadows: One reluctant pilgrim packs a weighty load on a 500-mile path
Reginald Spittle - 2018
Walk? 500 miles? Across Spain? We can't do that!And so began the journey of a lifetime for Reg Spittle.An outwardly well-adjusted professional and family man, Reg was a master of disguising a lifetime of debilitating anxiety that undermined his self-confidence.Recently retired, he never dreamed he'd soon find himself chasing distant boundaries across a foreign land, sleeping in dorm bunks and sharing bathrooms as if he were a teenager experiencing his gap year.When tragedy strikes, Reg reluctantly accepts his wife's challenge to carry his red backpack on the historic Camino de Santiago, confronting past fears and humiliations, while packing weighty new worries.Self-reflection, humor, and a recurring cast of characters create the backdrop for a story of hope in Camino Sunrise: Walking With My Shadows.
Sonic Boom: Globalization at Mach Speed
Gregg Easterbrook - 2009
So what comes next? Growth will resume. But economic uncertainty will worsen, making what comes next not just a boom but a nerve-shattering SONIC BOOM. Gregg Easterbrook - who "writes nothing that is not brilliant" ("Chicago Tribune") - is a fount of unconventional wisdom, and over time, he is almost always proven right. Throughout 2008 and 2009, as the global economy was contracting and the experts were panicking, Easterbrook worked on a book saying prosperity is about to make its next big leap. Will he be right again? SONIC BOOM: Globalization at Mach Speed presents three basic insights. First, if you don't like globalization, brace yourself, because globalization has barely started. Easterbrook contends the world is about to become "far "more globally linked. Second, the next wave of global change will be primarily positive: economic prosperity, knowledge and freedom will increase more in the next 50 years than in all of human history to this point. But before you celebrate, Easterbrook further warns that the next phase of global change is going to drive us crazy. Most things will be good for most people - but nothing will seem certain for anyone. Each SONIC BOOM chapter is based on examples of cities around the world - in the United States, Europe, Russia, China, South America - that represent a significant Sonic Boom trend. With a terrific sense of humor, pitch-perfect reporting and clear, elegant prose, Easterbrook explains why economic recovery is on the horizon but why the next phase of global change will also give everyone one hell of a headache. "Forbes" calls Easterbrook "the best writer on complex topics in the United States" and SONIC BOOM will show you why.
Vanderbilt's Biltmore
Robert Wernick - 2012
But ambition quickly took wing. The house swelled to 225 rooms and became - until 2012 when it was topped by the home of a billionaire in Mumbai, India – the world’s largest residence ever built for a private citizen. Here’s the story of the house that Vanderbilt built - from the gardens by Frederick Law Olmsted to the John Singer Sargent portraits that adorn its walls.
Scrapbook of an Unfound Songstress
Vicky Nolan - 2017
Polydor records sends you to Copenhagen to make pop music - to make you a recording artist. You get back home and your future is looking brighter than ever - until the High Court writ hits the door mat - you've fallen out with your management and they have decided to sue. No, this isn't a dream, this is now Vicky Nolan's reality and fast becoming a nightmare, and all while still at school at the sweet age of sixteen.Read about the trial, the family, Hollywood, London town, the glamour, the dog (eh?) and most importantly, the music. Curiouser and curiouser?We always talk about 'making it' and fulfilling your dreams. The question is, what if you don't? What happens next? Ultimately, this book speaks about life and family; its hopes and disappointments, its ups and downs. Scrapbook of an Unfound Songstress is in some way a story that speaks to us all, because in the end, the best stories are always true."I'm living my life as consequence of yesterday.And all of my choices compliment my life today.There may have been times I could have gone and lost my way, I could have, I would have, I should have, I don't care - I'm here now."See the stories and hear the music@YouTube 'Scrapbook of an Unfound Songstress'
Confessions Subprime Lender
Richard Bitner - 2008
In Confessions of a Subprime Lender: An Insider's Tale of Greed, Fraud, and Ignorance, he reveals the truth about how the subprime lending business spiraled out of control, pushed home prices to unsustainable levels, and turned unqualified applicants into qualified borrowers through creative financing. Learn about the ways the mortgage industry can be fixed with his twenty suggestions for critical change.