Showing results by author "J. Michael" in All Categories

This Very Short Introduction takes listeners into the inferno of a racing pyroclastic current, and the heart of a moving lava flow, as understood through the latest scientific research. Exploring how volcanologists forensically decipher how volcanoes work, Michael Branney and Jan Zalasiewicz explain what we do (and don't) understand about the fundamental mechanisms of volcanism, and consider how volcanoes interact with other physical processes on the Earth, with life, and with human society.

With the discovery of a campaign journal from an American Revolutionary War officer who fought against the Iroquois Indians, the US Army calls in their top field historian to assess its contents. Jake Tununda, combat vet and half-Seneca Indian, is stunned when he gleans from the journal's cryptic Masonic passages clues to the location of an ancient shaman's crown once protected by the White Deer Society, a secret cult of his forefathers.

Meaningful school reform starts with your most powerful partner—your students! When you take time to listen, you’ll find that students’ aspirations can drive your school toward exciting new goals—and when students know they’re being heard, they engage meaningfully in their own academic success. Using examples drawn from student surveys, focus groups, observations, and interviews, this groundbreaking book presents a blueprint for a successful partnership between educators and students.

In 2013 Michael J. Yochim was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). While fighting the disease, he wrote Requiem for America's Best Idea. The book establishes a unique parallel between Yochim's personal struggle with a terminal illness and the impact climate change is having on the national parks—the treasured wilderness that he loved and to which he dedicated his life. A poignant and thought-provoking work, Requiem for America's Best Idea investigates the interactions between people and nature and the world that can inspire and destroy them.

Times are changing fast - and so should the way you create ideas and organize your thinking. Creativity is today's secret to continued success. And while you may not see yourself as creative, you now have in your hands the tool to unlock the infinite creative powers of your own brain.

Maybe it was the chance to make an easy $2,500. Or maybe it was the opportunity to examine a treasure trove of Anasazi pots - or maybe it was just a slow day at the antiques shop that convinced Hubie Schuze to agree to a strange proposition. A reclusive collector wants a confidential appraisal, with one catch: Hubie must be blindfolded and driven to an unknown location by a chauffeur. Sure, it’s an odd setup, but what could possibly go wrong?

Adam Baker, an eco-farming consultant, is separated from his wife, lonely, estranged from his family... totally miserable. Walking on a deserted beach, he meets Selph, a precocious, overweight, wisecracking, sloppily-dressed teenager, who appears out of nowhere and claims to be his long-sought after spiritual teacher. Wanting to get Adam's attention, Selph brings a long-dead seabird back to life. Thus begins this funny, insightful, dramatic and fast-paced adventure about the meaning of life.

Step back in time to the heart of Sydney’s gold rush era with an unfiltered glimpse into the city’s bustling construction scene. Immerse yourself in the vivid historical backdrop transporting your senses to the hustle and noise of the burgeoning Sydney in 1855.

On the first morning of her new job at Heartfield House, a care home for the elderly, Annie Jackson wakens from a terrifying dream. And when she arrives at the home, she knows that the first old man she meets is going to die. How she knows this is a terrifying mystery, but it is the start of horrifying premonitions...a rekindling of the curse that has trickled through generations of women in her family - a wicked gift known only as 'the murmurs'... With its reappearance comes an old, forgotten fear that is about to grip Annie Jackson.

On May 19, 1942, during World War II, a German submarine, a U-boat, in the Gulf of Mexico stalked its prey 50 miles from New Orleans. The submarine set its sights on the freighter Heredia. Most onboard were merchant seamen, but there were also civilians, including the Downs family: Ray and Ina and their two children. Fast asleep in their berths, the Downs family had no idea that two torpedoes were heading their way. When the ship exploded, chaos ensued - and each family member had to find their own path to survival.

In his instant self-help classic, the international bestseller How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, Michael J. Gelb identified seven aspects of da Vinci's genius that contemporary readers can emulate and apply in their own lives.

Over the course of a nearly sixty-year career, Norman Mailer wrote more than 30 novels, essay collections, and nonfiction books. Yet nowhere was he more prolific - or more exposed - than in his letters. All told, Mailer crafted more than 45,000 pieces of correspondence (approximately 20 million words), many of them deeply personal, keeping a copy of almost every one. Now the best of these are published - most for the first time - in one remarkable volume that spans seven decades and several lifetimes.

Annie Starling is missing her memory of the last eight weeks - the most devastating in history. It started in Russia and went global in a matter of days, the most virulent virus the world has ever known. It's stripping its victims of every last thing that makes them human. And that's just the beginning. The other survivors are no less dangerous than the infected. She meets Lane, who stops at nothing to assert power and control over everybody who's left; Kyle, who dreams of building a new world upon the ruins of the old.

A troubled young woman is recruited by a race of ancient alien explorers to be their emissary to save the human race from extinction. The problem is that not everyone believes the world is doomed, and not everyone trusts the aliens' motives. Holly Burton will have to overcome opposition from world leaders, attacks by religious zealots, assassination attempts, intractable bureaucracies, and her own fears and doubts if she is to save the human race, not just from the coming apocalypse, but from itself.

The ability to learn is life's most important skill. Now, Michael Gelb, a pioneer in the fields of creative thinking, accelerated learning and innovative leadership, and the world's leading authority on the application of genius thinking to personal and organizational development, teaches you the 5 keys to high performance.

A Brief Welcome to the Universe offers a breathtaking tour of the cosmos, from planets, stars, and galaxies to black holes and time loops. Best-selling authors and acclaimed astrophysicists Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott take listeners on an unforgettable journey of exploration to reveal how our universe actually works. Propelling you from our home solar system to the outermost frontiers of space, this book builds your cosmic insight and perspective through a marvelously entertaining narrative.

Once every 10,000 years comes the Sha’Daa, two days when evil crosses the dimensional barriers and attacks the Earth. Sha’Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse is a collection of frightening tales that run the gamut from soul-shaking horror, to wry and ironic takes on the end of reality as we know it. Unlikely heroes in unusual locations around the globe battle not only for their own survival, but for all of humanity.

Battle Prayers: 100 Prayers of Hope and Encouragement, by Michael Klassen and Thomas Freiling, gives listeners a model for lifting their prayers to God. Like classic books of prayer that have helped believers in their prayer lives over the years, this book emphasizes not only prayers for self, but for others too.

Responding to Mearsheimer's controversial essay blaming the West for the Ukraine crisis, McFaul and Sestanovich put the blame back on Putin and his ideological extremism, denying that NATO expansion provoked him. Mearsheimer replies.

The Seven Levels of Communication tells the entertaining and educational story of Rick Masters, who is suffering from a down economy when he meets a mortgage professional who has built a successful business without advertising or personal promotion. Skeptical, he agrees to accompany her to a conference to learn more about her mysterious methods. Rick soon learns that the rewards for implementing these strategies are far greater than he had ever imagined.