The Impossible Takes Longer

Witty, incisive observations on such universally meaningful topics as courage and compassion by many of the greatest minds of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been the hallmark of genius, but Nobel laureates tend to be more than merely brilliant-their idealism, courage, and concern for humanity have also made them sources of inspiration and wisdom. Contrary to the notion that geniuses are absentminded eccentrics who lead solitary lives, many Nobel laureates have been social activists and political leaders, and some have been polymaths whose interests and talents were diverse, such as Philip Noel-Baker, winner of the 1959 Peace prize, who ran in three Olympic Games. Most of the quotations have never been anthologized previously. There is a section of short biographical sketches of each of the roughly 250 laureates quoted in the book, a brief history of the Nobel Prize, and a complete list of every Nobel laureate through 2006. The Impossible Takes Longer is a remarkable assemblage of insightful, thought-provoking, sometimes humorous statements by some of the world's wisest men and women.

A postscript to this edition includes a touching letter that Berg's young daughter wrote about her father for the Books for a Better Life Awards ceremony. On December 26, 1983, Art Berg was traveling to see his fiancée when his car went off the road. A broken neck left him a quadriplegic. Doctors told Berg he would never walk, hold a job, or have children. But they could not have been more wrong. Berg was determined to prevail, and would one day wear his own Super Bowl ring. In The Impossible Just Takes a Little Longer, Berg recounts his harrowing and inspirational story while imparting larger lessons about life, fear, and passion. Never giving up, Art resolved to embrace life even more fully, and established a thriving career as a motivational speaker, giving more than 150 speeches each year. Tragically, Art Berg died in February 2002, but his inspiring story -- a singular vision of passion and conviction -- lives on in The Impossible Just Takes a Little Longer.

Vera Chatzman was born on November 27, 1881, in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. She was a medical student soon to become a pediatrician when, in 1906, she married Chaim Weizmann, a chemist already involved in the Zionist movement. For the next 46 years of their marriage, Vera was his companion, hostess, critic and adviser, with an intimate view of Weizmann’s career as scientist, diplomat and Jewish leader. In this memoir by the wife of a prominent man who held on to her own career, Vera Weizmann recounts momentous events in Zionist history and relates her impressions of personalities such as David Ben-Gurion, Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky, Albert Einstein, Isaiah Berlin, Harry Truman, Léon Blum and Arthur James Balfour. “The late Vera Weizmann, the wife of Israel’s first President, spent most of her life at the centre of Jewish history, and this book evokes, vividly, if painfully, the various crises suffered by the Jewish people before they finally attained Statehood... [Vera Weizmann’s] intensity of feelings makes it a moving social document.” — The Observer “... warm-hearted, engaging and often wise companion-volume to [Dr. Chaim Weizmann’s] magnificent Trial and Error... Its personal anecdotes... will enliven the Doctor’s more discreet paragraphs, and his carefully measured sentences.” — Sunday Telegraph “Vera Weizmann was one of the most remarkable personalities of those who led the great phase of Zionist development... This book contains her memories as related to her editor David Tutaev. He has succeeded in presenting her vivid self-portrait. Vera’s charm, will, wit and broad humour are here unmistakable and authentic.” — Christopher Sykes, Sunday Times (London) “The memoirs of Mrs. Chaim Weizmann are invested with the qualities of character, exacting civilized standards, and independence of spirit which her collaborator, Mr. Tutaev remarks upon in his memorial foreword (Mrs. Weizmann died in 1966 after approving proofs of this book). They reveal also that Mrs. Weizmann participated in her husband's public life fully and intimately; her book is a personal record of the Zionist movement at the highest level.” — Kirkus Reviews “In an age dominated by the big battalions the individual with nothing but the moral force of an idea can still make an impact on the world given the will, perseverance and character. The memoirs of the State of Israel’s first First Lady exemplify this truth while presenting a vivid panorama covering eighty-five eventful years... Affairs of state, conversations with Churchill, Truman, Lloyd George, Smuts, Orde Wingate, rub shoulders with the worries of everyday life, proud boasts with frank admissions. It is a most personal and revealing document as well as saga of achievement.” —Birmingham Post “Like Chaim Weizmann’s memoirs Trial and Error, it is a book that adds to history, and is the story of a miraculous achievement... [Vera Weizmann] records faithfully the principal political events affecting Zionism, and Chaim’s encounters with the statesmen and people who mattered in several countries. She has a talent for remembering good stories and witty conversations. Her book supplements the more political memoirs of her husband, adding picturesque details of the heroic period of Zionism, of the negotiations over years about the Balfour Declaration, and of the Jewish-English partnership in building the National Home.” — Jewish Chronicle

The Impossible Takes a Little Longer is the story of an adventure-packed overland journey made by an inexperienced group of young men and women who set out to drive across the world to Australia and back in two old motor vehicles. The chosen route would take them through the bandit-infested areas of the famous Burma Ledo road, en route to Singapore. Their plan was to work their passage across to Australia by ship.Many problems, disappointments, and mistakes were to arise during the early planning stages. The journey was made on a very limited budget and all the equipment was basic. The vehicles used had seen better days and sponsors were few and far between. There was much sickness on the return half of the journey, which included malaria, jungle foot, hookworm, fever, guinea worm and dysentery.It was reckoned that the whole journey would take about nine months. In fact, it took twice as long. The delay in leaving Australia, which was due with shipping bound for Singapore, resulted in a late arrival in Thailand and Burma, where the group ran smack into a monsoon and suffered all the delays and hold-ups associated with it.The complete journey (London-Singapore-Australia-Singapore-London) covered a road distance of 40,000 miles, more than 5,000 miles of which were in Australia.

More relevant than ever, this seminal collection of essays encourages us to believe in the power of ordinary citizens to change the world In today's turbulent world it's hard not to feel like we're going backwards; after decades of striving, justice and equality still seem like far off goals. What keeps us going when times get tough? How have the leaders and unsung heroes of world-changing political movements persevered in the face of cynicism, fear, and seemingly overwhelming odds? In The Impossible Will Take a Little While, they answer these questions in their own words, creating a conversation among some of the most visionary and eloquent voices of our times. Today, more than ever, we need their words and their wisdom. In this revised edition, Paul Rogat Loeb has comprehensively updated this classic work on what it's like to go up against Goliath -- whether South African apartheid, Mississippi segregation, Middle East dictatorships, or the corporations driving global climate change. Without sugarcoating the obstacles, these stories inspire hope to keep moving forward. Think of this book as a conversation among some of the most visionary and eloquent voices of our times -- or any time: Contributors include Maya Angelou, Diane Ackerman, Marian Wright Edelman, Wael Ghonim, Váav Havel, Paul Hawken, Seamus Heaney, Jonathan Kozol, Tony Kushner, Audre Lorde, Nelson Mandela, Bill McKibben, Bill Moyers, Pablo Neruda, Mary Pipher, Arundhati Roy, Dan Savage, Desmond Tutu, Alice Walker, Cornel West, Terry Tempest Williams, and Howard Zinn.

A brilliant historical YA that asks: how do you choose between survival and doing the right thing? The arrival of the Soviet Army in Germany at the end of World War II sends sixteen-year-old Katja and her family into turmoil. The fighting has stopped, but German society is in collapse, resulting in tremendous hardship. With their father gone and few resources available to them, Katja and her sister are forced to flee their home, reassured by their mother that if they can just reach a distant friend in a town far away, things will get better. But their harrowing journey brings danger and violence, and Katja needs to summon all her strength to build a new life, just as she’s questioning everything she thought she knew about her country. Katja’s bravery and defiance help her deal with the emotional and societal upheaval. But how can she stay true to herself and protect the people she loves when each decision has such far-reaching consequences? Acclaimed writerMichelle Barker’s new novel explores the chaos and destruction of the Second World War from a perspective rarely examined in YA fiction—the implications of the Soviet occupation on a German population grappling with the horrors of Nazism and its aftermath.

An original study of exile, told through the biography of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig By the 1930s, Stefan Zweig had become the most widely translated living author in the world. His novels, short stories, and biographies were so compelling that they became instant best sellers. Zweig was also an intellectual and a lover of all the arts, high and low. Yet after Hitler’s rise to power, this celebrated writer who had dedicated so much energy to promoting international humanism plummeted, in a matter of a few years, into an increasingly isolated exile—from London to Bath to New York City, then Ossining, Rio, and finally Petrópolis—where, in 1942, in a cramped bungalow, he killed himself. The Impossible Exile tells the tragic story of Zweig’s extraordinary rise and fall while it also depicts, with great acumen, the gulf between the world of ideas in Europe and in America, and the consuming struggle of those forced to forsake one for the other. It also reveals how Zweig embodied, through his work, thoughts, and behavior, the end of an era—the implosion of Europe as an ideal of Western civilization.

Wachsmann punctuates the absorbing details of preserving this artifact with the rich history that surrounds the Sea of Galilee, making this a uniquely enduring and personal work. Wachsmann transports us enabling us to savor this voyage with him on one of the greatest archaeological expeditions of the twentieth century.