Forever Fifty

Judith Viorst is known and loved by readers of all ages, for children's books such as Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; nonfiction titles, including the bestseller Necessary Losses; and her collections of humorous poetry, which make perfect gifts for birthdays, Mother's Day, graduation, Christmas, Chanukah, or at any time of year. Now Judith Viorst looks at what it's like to be (gulp) fifty. Writing with the warmth and authenticity that have become her trademarks, Viorst once again demonstrates her uncanny ability to transform our daily realities into poems that make us laugh with recognition. Whether her subject is the decline of the body ("It's hard to be devil-may-care/When there are pleats in your derrière") or future aspirations ("Before I go, I'd like to have high cheekbones./I'd like to talk less like New Jersey, and more like Claire Bloom"), she always speaks directly to our condition. Her funny, compassionate poems shed a reassuring light on the fine art of aging, and will delight anyone who is now (or forever) fifty.

The author offers lyrical, compassionate, and witty observations about turning fifty years old and facing middle age

With the use of artificial intelligence (AI), the border that has traditionally separated fact, or “nonfiction,” and fiction has become increasingly porous. Think of posts on social media by bots pretending to be human, altered photos and videos, including deep fakes. Science-fiction has always held a special place in this divide; it is often the nonfiction of tomorrow. In this book, the author crosses the border in both directions, using fiction to teach the law of AI by asking the reader to follow Christine Jacobs, a law professor, and her students, in discussing what it means to be human in the age of AI, humanoid robots, and cyborgs as her boyfriend prepares the world for what’s next. Crisscrossed by world travel, peppered with fine food and wines, filled with Russian poetry and cinema, and reflections about life and death, this book invites the reader to a world in which technology allows humans to live forever—as long as they are willing to die first.

"Forever Eleven' is an adventure filled comedy with inspiration and pathos. It is a poignant coming of age story woven with emotion. An eleven year toughened city boy matures into a wiser young lad during his summer vacation on a ranch with an aunt he knows little about. A wonderful friendship is formed with an enigmatic aunt, who is seasoned by a life painted in darker colors, an older yet romantic rancher and a wonderful dog named Fritz. This friendship provides a growth spurt in the lad's spirit and influences his future. Everyday circumstances will have you laughing with abandonment over innocent exploits and then suddenly agonizing over personal tragedies. The lad experiences the sting of romance and narrow escapes from wild and domestic animals. Chapter titles such as: The Church Diving Board, The Outhouse Auction, The Hook in the Ear, Poor Footing in Centre Field are just a few of the personal adventures that changed his life. This is truly an absorbing, heart-warming and thought provoking book that will not be easily forgotten. For more information see: www.jerryraaf.com

For years, the Jesuit labored over a small square of greenish copper hidden in the Dead Sea Scrolls. What had he found? The message he translated would make the tumultuous history of the Middle East look like a street fight in Hell's Kitchen. This copper square was no less than a one-way ticket through the pass of Megiddo, the place of Armageddon. FOREVER INDEED spans the centuries from the time of the Roman conquest of Judea in the First Century CE to the present. It joins lovers separated by millennia sharing common loves, common thoughts, and common emotions. Hearts and souls race across thousands of years to find each other in a love story that is forever, indeed.

"Wallace Stegner called the national park system one of the United States' best ideas. That good idea has led to an institution that has grown over the past one hundred years, and the park system now encompasses four hundred areas that host over three hundred million visitors in typical year. Jonathan Jarvis (as a ranger, biologist, and director of the National Park Service in the Obama administration) and Destry Jarvis (as an advocate, policy analyst, and lobbyist) have worked to better the parks for over forty years. They offer here a history of the National Park Service (NPS) and an argument for the NPS to become an independent agency--similar to the Smithsonian Institution and separated from the Department of the Interior. Their reasoning relates to politics, finances, and science, and their proposal aims to safeguard the future of our national parks"--

This 216-page book pays tribute to the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley's history-making recording career. The format is a half-round shape to represent a vinyl LP album. Every chapter opens with one of Elvis's album covers, reproduced at near-actual size. More than 550 photographs, some never before published, illustrate the King of Rock 'n' Roll's recording and performing career as well as his private life.

This ultimate quick-reference problem-solver is for anyone who has ever been stumped at the prospect of buying the perfect gift.

Veronica is eternally fifty-one years old with a proclivity for problematic drinking. Like most hormonally challenged women negotiating the change of life, she is a hot mess. To retain her sanity, she attends weekly AA meetings and adheres to a strict diet of organic, locally-sourced, (mostly) cruelty-free human blood from the hospice facility where she works. Her life stopped being fun about a hundred years ago, right about the time her teenage daughter stole her soul and took off for California with a hot, older guy. These days, Veronica’s existence is just that – an existence, as flat and empty as her own non-reflection in the bathroom mirror. When her estranged daughter contacts her via Facebook, Veronica learns that she has one chance to escape her eternal personal summer: she must find and apologize to every one of the people she’s turned into vampires in the last century. That is, if they’re still out there. With raging hormones and a ticking clock, Veronica embarks on a last-ditch road trip to regain her mortality, reclaim her humanity, and ultimately, die on her own terms.

Fifty years of high-flying adventures, from barnstorming in prop planes to dogfigting Germans to testing supersonic jets.