Sheer Will

This is an updated and revised edition of the autobiography of extraordinary Australian mountaineer Michael Groom which we published in 1997. Even among the many achievement-against-all-setbacks books on the market, Michael Groom's story stands out. In 1987, he lost a third of both his feet to frostbite while climbing one of the world's highest mountains. He was told to forget about an active, outdoor life but by 1990 he had not only taught himself to walk again, he was back climbing the Himalayas. To increase the challenge, Michael climbs without supplementary oxygen, an extraordinary thing to do in the thin oxygen-deprived air at the top of the world. In 1999 Michael climbed Makalu in the Himalayas. Makalu is the fifth highest mountain in the world and it's generally considered to be a harder climb than Everest, which is why so few people have done it. Michael is now one of the very few people in the world to have climbed all six of the six highest mountains. The book features two stunning 8-page colour photo sections, and has an introduction by respected mountaineer Lincoln Hall. Its appeal will reach far beyond those already interested in mountaineering--it is ideal for anyone with a taste for gripping biography, struggle-against-the-odds stories, inspirational books, or travel in Nepal.

The story of 2014 Indy Car series champion Will Power. From the dirt tracks of Queensland, Australia, to the road, street and oval race tracks of America, join Will Power on his torrid 20-year ride to the top of Indy car racing, culminating in the 2014 IndyCar Series championship. Arduous both mentally and physically, Will's journey pushes him to the limit as he finds fans and critics, friends and rivals - and eventually a reputation as the fastest racer in America. Off the track, Will is known as a man of individualism, dry humour, brutal honesty (particularly with himself), unshakable principles and a ferocious desire to learn fast and beat everyone else. All these qualities and more are revealed in a biography that will have you laughing, crying and in awe at just what it takes to rise to the top of professional racing. Will has taken the hard road, but a champion like Power would never do it any other way.

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD "In the spirit of Julian Barnes's Flaubert's Parrot and Alain de Botton's How Proust Can Change Your Life, Mr. Dyer's Out of Sheer Rage keeps circling its subject in widening loops and then darting at it when you least expect it . . . a wild book."--Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times Geoff Dyer was a talented young writer, full of energy and reverence for the craft, and determined to write a study of D. H. Lawrence. But he was also thinking about a novel, and about leaving Paris, and maybe moving in with his girlfriend in Rome, or perhaps traveling around for a while. Out of Sheer Rage is Dyer's account of his struggle to write the Lawrence book--a portrait of a man tormented, exhilarated, and exhausted. Dyer travels all over the world, grappling not only with his fascinating subject but with all the glorious distractions and needling anxieties that define the life of a writer.

A #1 bestseller from one of Britain’s most popular novelists. • An all-consuming story revolving around the consequences of a desperate act. • "Nobody writes page-turning women's fiction like Vincenzi." —USA Today Martha, Clio, and Jocasta meet by chance at Heathrow airport in 1985 as they are starting off on separate backpacking adventures, and they decide to spend the first few days of their trips together in Thailand. When they go their separate ways, they vow to get together in London the following year. But many years pass before the three cross paths again, and the once-capricious, carefree girls now all have thriving careers. One of them, however, harbors a terrible secret: On her return from her pre-college excursion, she abandoned her just-born daughter at Heathrow. Clio has fulfilled her ambition of becoming a doctor, only to find herself trapped in a marriage to an arrogant surgeon who belittles her and her professional achievements. Martha is a highly paid corporate lawyer, just embarking on a political career. Dedicated to her job, she has had little time for personal relationships and lives a busy, but lonely life. Jocasta, a tabloid newspaper reporter with an infallible instinct for the big story, is in love with a charming colleague who can’t make the permanent commitment she longs for. The infant abandoned at Heathrow has grown up under the loving care of her adoptive family. Now a beautiful teenager named Kate, she sets out to find her birth mother—a quest that unexpectedly brings the women together and exposes the secret buried so many years before. Impossible to put down, Sheer Abandon is top-notch women’s fiction.

She never imagined the pursuit to parenthood would involve the emotional assault of an adoption agency's flexible morality--but it did. Lauri M. Velotta-Rankin and her husband were sent overseas by an unscrupulous adoption agency to chase the ghosts of children they'd never bring home. After turning to in-vitro fertilization (IVF), a life-threatening diagnosis sent them reeling with fear and to the brink of emotional collapse. Despite an onslaught of crushing blows, a gold thread of compassion was weaved into the fabric of their story. An infinite supply of benevolent refuge was found during an unanticipated two-week stay in the home of a Moroccan grandmother. Though there was no personal history, shared culture, or even common language, an immeasurable bond developed. And when the couple decided to explore domestic adoption, a pregnant teenager's weekly emails restored an emotion that had been ravaged throughout their journey: hope. Triumphing with revitalization, "Sheer Willpower" is an astonishing account of determination fortified by the resilience of maternal spirit.

This unique Book is the new enlarged and complete version of the earlier "Easy Guide to Mesmerism and Hypnotism", with added text and notes. Dr. Paret personally reviewed this new Edition as he applies with incredible success this ancient methodology into which he was personally initiated. Mesmerism is completely different from modern hypnosis. Mesmerism is the Western school corresponding to the use of Prana or Ki (Chi) in Orient. Parts of the teachings of this school were never completely disclosed in print. Dr. Paret, who is a genuine practitioner, wrote a serie of notes which allow a better understanding of practical applications of these techniques and their actualness. Many of the powerful results of Mesmerism are scarcely reachable if only pursued through verbal hypnosis. Dr. Paret therefore accompanies you through your reading. You will not only find here the original text of Dr. Coates, but also a better understanding of the original school of magnetism. If you really want to immerse in this powerful world, this is your occasion!

The senses -- The dirty body -- The foot -- The wound -- The corpse.

In this revised and updated relaese of their 1997 classic, the Von Hoffman brothers are at it again, shouting out a rallying cry for every guy whose time has come to get back to his masculine roots. Full-color illustrations.

A successful man's maniacal descent into emotional hell. Following repeated losses in family court, estrangement from his young sons, and the resulting depression, he checks himself into the psychiatric ward. Five months later he is indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for crimes that could put him in prison for 20 years. Sheer Madness is a story fo love, anguish, the fog of human experience, and the promise of resilience.--Back cover.

George Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Why I Write, the first in the Orwell’s Essays series, Orwell describes his journey to becoming a writer, and his movement from writing poems to short stories to the essays, fiction and non-fiction we remember him for. He also discusses what he sees as the ‘four great motives for writing’ – ‘sheer egoism’, ‘aesthetic enthusiasm’, ‘historical impulse’ and ‘political purpose’ – and considers the importance of keeping these in balance. Why I Write is a unique opportunity to look into Orwell’s mind, and it grants the reader an entirely different vantage point from which to consider the rest of the great writer’s oeuvre. 'A writer who can – and must – be rediscovered with every age.' — Irish Times