The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived


William H. McRaven - 2021
    He longed to put on a cape and use his superpowers to save the earth from destruction. But as he grew older and traveled the world, he found real heroes everywhere he went -- and none of them had superpowers. None of them wore capes or cowls. But they all possessed qualities that gave them the power to help others, to make a difference, to save the world: courage, both physical and moral; humility; a willingness to sacrifice; and a deep sense of integrity.The Hero Code is not a cypher, a puzzle, or a secret message. It is a code of conduct; lessons in virtues that can become the foundations of our character as we build a life worthy of honor and respect.

Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself


Rich Roll - 2012
    Nearly fifty pounds overweight and unable to climb the stairs without stopping, he could see where his current sedentary life was taking him—and he woke up. Plunging into a new routine that prioritized a plant-based lifestyle and daily training, Rich morphed—in a matter of mere months—from out of shape, mid-life couch potato to endurance machine. Finding Ultra recounts Rich’s remarkable journey to the starting line of the elite Ultraman competition, which pits the world’s fittest humans in a 320-mile ordeal of swimming, biking, and running. And following that test, Rich conquered an even greater one: the EPIC5—five Ironman-distance triathlons, each on a different Hawaiian island, all completed in less than a week. In the years since Finding Ultra was published, Rich has become one of the world’s most recognized advocates of plant-based living. In this newly revised and updated edition, he shares the practices, tools, and techniques he uses for optimal performance, longevity, and wellness, including diet and nutrition protocols. Rich reflects on the steps he took to shift his mindset and leverage deep reservoirs of untapped potential to achieve success beyond his wildest imagination, urging each of us to embark on our own journey of self-discovery.

Your Soul Purpose: Learn How to Access the Light Within


Kim Russo - 2019
    Luckily, each of us has a guru residing inside—a spiritual guide to lead us on the path to fulfillment.As “The Happy Medium,” Kim has reached beyond the realms of the known. Her gift allows her to sees what many of us cannot: that the world is filled with distractions and barriers that can derail us from living our lives with meaning and purpose. By explaining spiritual laws—including divine oneness, balance, vibration, and resistance—and providing practical, illuminating exercises, Kim unlocks our spiritual toolbox to help us reframe our world.Wise and compassionate, Kim teaches us how to embrace love, reject fear, and rid ourselves of negativity bias, through a series of helpful quizzes and assignments that make it easy to discover who we are. Your Soul Purpose will empower readers to recognize love, leave their fear and egos at the door, and use the spiritual tools they already possess to fulfill their destiny.

Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was--And Learning to Live Well with What Is


Pat McLeod - 2019
    Facing the devastating possibility that things would never be the same for their beloved son, they committed to staying strong as a family and finding a way to maintain their footing. But the journey would reshape their faith, their family, and their future in ways they never saw coming.What would it take for them to navigate the endless fallout of their son's life-transforming injury? How could they reconcile their grief over the life Zach lost, with gratitude for the life that remained? And how does a couple move forward together in their search for hope, rather than letting indefinable loss drive them apart?Hit Hard is the true story of the McLeods' journey through ambiguous loss--both having and not having their son. It's the story of a family who faced unexpected heartbreak, a story that offers us all glimpses of how we can pick up the pieces, redefine expectations, and trust God for hope in the midst of unresolved pain.

Surfacing: From the Depths of Self-Doubt to Winning Big and Living Fearlessly


Siri Lindley - 2016
    But before Siri came to dominate the sport of triathlon, she was controlled by deep-seated insecurity that sabotaged her races and forced her to hide her sexuality.When her stunningly beautiful mother caught the attention of an NFL superstar, Siri s idyllic childhood was ripped apart. A whirlwind of glitzy dinner parties and world travel pulled her mother away, and Siri grew up feeling forgotten. As her intense loneliness gave way to anger, she lashed out against her New England life of privilege.Sports set Siri free. Shy and painfully self-aware, Siri came to life when she played field hockey, lacrosse, and ice hockey, and became a starter in all three sports at Brown University. When she fell short of making the national lacrosse team, she felt directionless once again until a friend invited her to watch her race a triathlon and ignited the fire for Siri s life work.Siri failed early and often before she found her formula for success. Brutal swim starts, bike equipment failures at key races, crushing workouts these were nothing compared to the performance anxiety that reared up from the depths of Siri s early years. It took eccentric Australian coach Brett Sutton to tear up her script of self-doubt and transform Siri Lindley into a world champion. Once she had proved herself to the world, Siri turned inward to stare down the demons that kept her from finding love as a gay woman. Today, Siri guides her own triathletes to win world championships at Kona and around the world.Surfacing is a breathtakingly honest book that shares Siri Lindley s daring journey. Siri proves it's never too late to rewrite your own story and change the thoughts, habits, and behaviors that hold you back. Surfacing will inspire you as it shows how to stop being your own worst enemy and start uncovering your own potential."

The Gratitude Effect: With This Rule, Bring All the Success and a Happiness You Can Handle (Inner Power)


John F. Demartini - 2007
    John Demartini is a guide to a new life of happiness and thankfulness. The main tenet of this simple and honest technique is for people to be happy with and grateful for what they have, and there will be much more in return. A practical guide that includes exercises, affirmations, and a gratitude journal, this book gived those who struggle a new, happier, more gracious perspective on life.

Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time


David Goodwillie - 2006
    Arriving in Manhattan in the mid-nineties, Goodwillie quickly falls into one implausible job after another. He becomes a private investigator, imagining himself as a gumshoe, a hired gun—only to realize that he's more adept at bungling cases than at solving them. When, in his stint as a freelance journalist, he unveils the Mafia in a magazine exposé, he succeeds only in becoming a target of their wrath. As a copywriter for a sports auction house, he imagines documenting the great histories hidden in priceless artifacts but finds himself forced to write about a lock of Mickey Mantle's hair. Even when he seems to break through, somehow becoming the sports expert at Sotheby's auction house—appearing on major news networks, raking in a hefty salary—he's lured away by the promise of Internet millions...just in time for the dot-com crash. Teeming with the vibrancy of a city in hyperdrive, Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time recounts a dizzying and enthralling search for authenticity in a cynical, superficial—and suddenly dangerous—age. In his heartbreaking and hilarious struggle to become a big-city writer, Goodwillie becomes something more: an important voice of the lost generation he so elegantly describes.

You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life


Eleanor Roosevelt - 1960
    Roosevelt expresses her philosophy of life by relating the experiences which have enabled her to cope with personal and public responsibilities.

Searching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess


Fred Waitzkin - 1988
    When Fisher disappeared from public view, Waitzkin's interest waned--until his own son Josh emerged as a chess prodigy.Searching for Bobby Fischer is the story of Fred Waitzkin and his son, from the moment six-year-old Josh first sits down at a chessboard until he competes for the national championship. Drawn into the insular, international network of chess, they must also navigate the difficult waters of their own relationship. All the while, Waitzskin searches for the elusive Bobby Fischer, whose myth still dominates the chess world and profoundly affects Waitzkin's dreams for his son.

Because Mummy Said So


Shari Low - 2018
    This collection of hilarious memories tells the truth about motherhood in all of its sleep-deprived, frazzled glory. No judgement, no impossibly high standards, no perfect day – just real life and a whole lot of chaos that every experienced, new or soon-to-be parent will relate to. Embarrassing mistakes, disastrous summer holidays, childhood milestones, tear-jerking nativity plays, eight bouts of chickenpox and that time when a three-year-old superhero locked himself in a toilet... this is one imperfect mum's tales of the ups, downs and unforgettable moments of parenthood.

Rise: My Story


Lindsey Vonn - 2022
    Vonn, who became the first American woman to win a downhill race at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, has led an incredible career on the slopes earning 82 World Cup wins, 20 World Cup titles, 3 Olympic medals, and 7 World Championship medals.In her new memoir, Vonn will share that her epic journey to success has been anything but downhill. From moving away from her small Minnesota town to pursue her career and navigating her personal life in the public eye, to challenging the skiing norm and raising the profile of women in the sport and the high-speed crashes she endured and the remarkable recoveries she made, Vonn has faced her fair share of obstacles and has unbelievably persevered through them all.Also the founder of the Lindsey Vonn Foundation, Vonn has been an inspiration to fans and athletes—especially young women—everywhere since her Olympic debut. With her new inspiring book, readers will cheer for their favorite sports hero all over again as she recounts her triumphs, shares what her next chapter will entail, and reminds us to never give up on our dreams.

Hosoi: My Life as a Skateboarder Junkie Inmate Pastor


Christian Hosoi - 2012
    A mix of Tony Hawk and Brian Welch comes together in skateboarding legend Christian Hosoi, who reveals everything about his rise, fall, and redemption, in this amazing tell-all—from being named the greatest skater of all time to bottoming out on drugs to finally finding redemption through God.Fans of Slater Kelly’s Pipe Dreams and Brian Welch’s Save Me From Myself, and followers of Tony Alva, Jay Adams, and Steve Caballero, will be captivated by this extraordinary, star-studded story, a gripping read that ranges from the heart of the 1980s skateboarding scene to the inside of a prison, from Hollywood parties to intense prayer sessions.Hosoi: My Life as a Skateboarder Junkie Inmate Pastor takes readers to the heart of one little-known world after another—and he portrays them in all their gore and glory for all the world to see.

Some Kind of Crazy: An Unforgettable Story of Profound Brokenness and Breathtaking Grace


Terry Wardle - 2019
     Terry Wardle grew up in the Appalachian coalfields of southwestern Pennsylvania, part of a hardscrabble family of coal miners whose cast of characters included a hot-tempered grandfather with a predilection for blowing up houses, a distant and disapproving father, and a mother who disciplined him with harsh words and threats of hellfire.After enduring a crazy childhood, Terry graduated to a troubled adolescence, and then on to what seemed like a successful transition into adulthood, earning multiple degrees and founding one of the country's fastest growing churches. But all was not well.All his life, he felt he was never enough. Plagued by a truckload of fear no matter what he accomplished, he fell down the ladder of success into the deepest ditch of his life--ending up in a psychiatric hospital. Fortunately, that's when he discovered that Jesus has no fear of ditches.In fact, Jesus does some of his best work with people who find themselves there. In sharing his remarkable journey, Terry offers hope that healing and wholeness are possible no matter how broken a life may be. His larger-than-life story will help you move forward along your own healing path.

How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't


Lane Moore - 2018
    But her story has had its obstacles, including being her own parent, living in her car as a teenager, and moving to New York City to pursue her dreams. Through it all, she looked to movies, TV, and music as the family and support systems she never had.From spending the holidays alone to having better “stranger luck” than with those closest to her to feeling like the last hopeless romantic on earth, Lane reveals her powerful and entertaining journey in all its candor, anxiety, and ultimate acceptance—with humor always her bolstering force and greatest gift.How to Be Alone is a must-read for anyone whose childhood still feels unresolved, who spends more time pretending to have friends online than feeling close to anyone in real life, who tries to have genuine, deep conversations in a roomful of people who would rather you not. Above all, it’s a book for anyone who desperately wants to feel less alone and a little more connected through reading her words.

Shadows on the Path


Abdi Assadi - 2007
    It is a common misconception for spirituality to be viewed as movement toward the light instead of delving into, identifying, and integrating repressed aspects of our psyche. The consequences of this omission are visible everyday in our addictive culture, its spiritual practices, and the high price that we all pay by depriving ourselves of this untapped reservoir of energy.