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Lessons from Gin: Business the Four Pillars Way
by Matt JonesHow a global industry icon was created right here in Australia — with insights, stories and recipes from a co-founder of Four Pillars Gin How did a small business from a regional Aussie town get voted the world’s best gin producer THREE times? Four Pillars Gin, a craft distillery in Victoria’s Yarra Valley, today is not only an Australian favourite but a global powerhouse. Co-founder Matt Jones shares the secrets behind building a brand that started as a small cult favourite and has become a world-leading success. Including stories, recipes and business lessons from a decade of gin-soaked archives, Lessons from Gin has the ingredients you need to grow your own business and brand. Matt tells his side of the extraordinary Four Pillars story, sharing what he and the team learned in a decade that changed the distilling industry in Australia. Taking you on his journey as a creative brand strategist during the rise of social media, he reveals how Four Pillars became a benchmark for excellence and a beloved household name. You’ll discover how true innovators think creatively and strategically, with practical models for driving incredible growth in your own career and industry. In Lessons from Gin, you’ll learn how to: Place creativity at the heart of your business Design a brand that tells a story Craft the kind of product excellence that wins fans and followers Create experiences that engage and build a community of loyal believers Develop a culture and lead a team of passionate people through a shared purpose and vision Build a sustainable business anchored in genuine values and bold ambition Lessons from Gin gives Four Pillars fans real insight into how their favourite gin conquered the world. It is a must-read for entrepreneurs, business owners, marketers, and leaders in any industry who want to craft a brand that people love to want.
Lessons from Grace: What a Baby Taught Me about Living and Loving
by Uma GirishLessons from Grace by Uma Girish is a one-of-its-kind book. Here, the author talks about learning mindfulness and the art of living from a toddler.'All children are born geniuses, and we spend the first six years of their lives degeniusing them.'-- R. Buckminster FullerWhen Uma, a forty-something mother of a college sophomore, was asked to nanny her friends' daughter, Grace, little did she know that she was about to begin an extraordinary journey.A baby arrives here as a pure being. Not yet marked by cultural and social conditioning, they bring a sense of sacredness to our lives. This was the author's experience. Through Grace, she is reminded of what is truly important in her life. More importantly, she also learns to navigate an increasingly complex world using the values of simplicity, joy, and presence--as babies do.Watching Grace brings her many lessons, like how the baby surrenders her entire being to a multicolored rattle by living in the present. The author relearns the art of living by aligning with the values this baby teaches her. The sublime prose of this book will shift your world view and encourage you to be present to the magic of everyday life as you reconnect with the simple but profound treasures of curiosity and wonder.
Lessons from Lockport: Dispatches from the Great American Divide (Excelsior Editions)
by Jim ShultzA long-time liberal activist gets an up-close political education about conservative America when he moves to a small town in upstate New York.During a time of great national division and a growing working-class rebellion that has turned American politics on its head, a longtime liberal activist moves to a small town in the conservative northwest corner of New York State. He becomes a weekly opinion columnist for the city's two-hundred-year-old daily newspaper. His columns force light into the dark corners of local politics and provoke local debate over national issues, from guns to climate change. Dozens of people begin to speak to him about his columns, in stores, on the street, in playgrounds, and beyond. His columns also spark fierce debate in a community Facebook group that includes almost everyone in town. The result is an up-close education about what makes small-town America tick, just as small towns like this one are driving a national political upheaval. Told through stories that will entertain readers as well as make them think, Lessons from Lockport offers a unique look at one of the most misunderstood corners of American culture.
Lessons from My Grandmother: Every Life is a Guided Journey
by Martha MutombaA successful woman leaves California and returns to her native Zimbabwe, in a spiritual tale that reads &“like crystal clear water in an ancient river&” (Robert C. Jameson, PhD, author of The Keys to Joy-Filled Living). After completing her graduate studies in England, Yeukai returns home to rural Zimbabwe to a jubilant celebration rich in the cultural traditions of the Shona-speaking people. There, she receives life lessons from her beloved grandmother—a wise elder holding sacred knowledge passed down through generations. Though impressed by her grandmother's lessons, Yeukai sets them aside to pursue a corporate career in the biotech industry in California. For years, Yeukai embraces a consumer lifestyle, pretending to live the American dream. However, the busy activities of her life—focused on chasing material delusions—hide the emotional turmoil within, until things come to a head. In search for meaning in her life, Yeukai returns home to Zimbabwe only to be heartbroken by the devastation inflicted by AIDS, rampant corruption, and a near-collapsed economy. In despair, Yeukai turns within in search for answers in her life. And the answers start to be revealed—in the deep meaning of her grandmother's teachings and the rediscovering of her own true nature. And she begins to redefine her relationship with the world. With poems interspersed throughout, this novel poignantly captures Yeukai's triumphant journey to the realization that a life of purpose is truly possible if we allow ourselves to be guided by mystic powers.
Lessons from My Teachers: From Preschool to the Present
by Sarah RuhlAn inspiring meditation on the life-altering bonds between teacher and student and the ineffable wisdom imparted both inside and outside the classroom, from critically acclaimed author, MacArthur genius, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Tony Award–nominated playwright and author, Sarah Ruhl.Based on her popular class at Yale, this masterful, intimate essay collection from one of our greatest living playwrights and teachers, Sarah Ruhl, is a testament to the singular impact of teachers across every stage of our lives. Anchored in stories both personal and universal, drawing on Sarah&’s experiences with her parents and children, with schoolteachers, creative influences, and beyond, Lessons from My Teachers offers an uplifting perspective on our basic human need to teach and learn from each other as we navigate the surprising paths that shape our lives. Meant to be shared with loved ones and role models alike and perfect for marking important seasons and milestones, Lessons from My Teachers provides an opportunity to reflect on the human connection between teacher and student and the times in which we ourselves have assumed each role.
Lessons from Tara: Life Advice from the World's Most Brilliant Dog
by David RosenfeltWhen David Rosenfelt first met his wife, Debbie, he also met her golden retriever, Tara... and he fell head over heels for both of them. Many years later, inspired by Tara, David and Debbie have dedicated their lives to rescuing thousands of unloved and unwanted dogs - sometimes living with up to 40 dogs at any one time. So here is the book dedicated to the inspirational canine who started it all, and taught David everything he knows. (Well, he did know how to tie his shoes before he met and came to love Tara, but that's about it.)Through Tara, David learned about dating, about being able to share his emotions, and also about everyday stuff like who gets to use the pillow if several dogs are sleeping in your bed (clue: It's not the human) and why random barking will never be something that can be eliminated. Lessons From Tara is infused with David's wry and self-deprecating sense of humor, and will move readers to tears and laughter.
Lessons from a Warzone: How to be a Resilient Leader in Times of Crisis
by Louai Al RoumaniOne day, everything is going well; the next, disaster strikes. What do you do when every pillar is collapsing, every rule is being broken and chaos seems to be all around you?'Pessimism be damned. This man steered his bank through four years of a hellish civil war - and the lessons he learnt will benefit us all.' Sathnam Sanghera, author of EmpireLand ________________ An inspiring story of resilient leadership in the toughest of times. Louai Al Roumani was head of finance and planning at one of the largest banks in Syria when the war broke out in 2011. In Lessons from a Warzone, Al Roumani shares his very personal account of coping with the day-to-day realities of leading an organization in dangerous and hostile conditions. His story shows how inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of places, and how a business can not only survive in chaos, but can learn to thrive - the bank became the undisputed sector leader as people's trust in its capability to protect their life-long savings strengthened. In this book, Al Roumani distils the knowledge and skills he and his colleagues developed while steering the bank through four impossible years into ten lessons applicable to any leader facing a crisis today. His valuable and often counterintuitive advice will help anyone understand how to be resilient even in the most challenging of times. ________________ 'A compelling guide for leaders grappling with the pandemic... the lessons in resilient leadership in turbulent times that Roumani offers are universal.' Pilita Clark, Financial Times'Contains powerful lessons about resilience that show how companies can come out of crises better and stronger if they focus on long-term opportunities, no matter how tough it gets in the short term' Ana Botín, executive chair, Banco Santander
Lessons from the Edge: A Memoir
by Marie YovanovitchAn inspiring and urgent memoir by the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine—a pioneering diplomat who spent her career advancing democracy in the post-Soviet world, and who electrified the nation by speaking truth to power during the first impeachment of President Trump. <p><p>By the time she became U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch had seen her share of corruption, instability, and tragedy in developing countries. But it came as a shock when, in early 2019, she was recalled from her post after a smear campaign by President Trump’s personal attorney and his associates—men operating outside of normal governmental channels, and apparently motivated by personal gain. Her courageous participation in the subsequent impeachment inquiry earned Yovanovitch the nation’s respect, and her dignified response to the president’s attacks won our hearts. She has reclaimed her own narrative, first with her lauded congressional testimony, and now with this memoir.<p><p>A child of parents who survived Soviet and Nazi terror, Yovanovitch’s life and work have taught her the preciousness of democracy as well as the dangers of corruption. Lessons from the Edge follows the arc of her career as she develops into the person we came to know during the impeachment proceedings. <p> <b>New York Times Bestseller</b>
Lessons from the Land of Pork Scratchings
by Greg GutfeldA stressed-out New York men's magazine editor gets posted to the UK and realises happiness is more easily achieved by adopting the British attitude to life - expecting the worst and going to the pub.
Lessons from the Lobster: Eve Marder's Work in Neuroscience (The\mit Press Ser.)
by Charlotte NassimHow forty years of research on thirty neurons in the stomach of a lobster has yielded valuable insights for the study of the human brain.Neuroscientist Eve Marder has spent forty years studying thirty neurons on the stomach of a lobster. Her focus on this tiny network of cells has yielded valuable insights into the much more complex workings of the human brain; she has become a leading voice in neuroscience. In Lessons from the Lobster, Charlotte Nassim describes Marder's work and its significance accessibly and engagingly, tracing the evolution of a supremely gifted scientist's ideas. From the lobster's digestion to human thought is very big leap indeed. Our brains selectively recruit networks from about ninety billion available neurons; the connections are extremely complex. Nevertheless, as Nassim explains, Marder's study of a microscopic knot of stomatogastric neurons in lobsters and crabs, a small network with a countable number of neurons, has laid vital foundations for current brain research projects. Marder's approach is as intuitive as it is analytic, but always firmly anchored to data. Every scrap of information is a pointer for Marder; her discoveries depend on her own creative thinking as much as her laboratory's findings. Nassim describes Marder's important findings on neuromodulation, the secrets of neuronal networks, and homeostasis. Her recognition of the importance of animal-to-animal variability has influenced research methods everywhere.Marder has run her laboratory at Brandeis University since 1978. She was President of the Society for Neuroscience in 2008 and she is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2016 Kavli Award in Neuroscience and the 2013 Gruber Prize in Neuroscience. Research that reaches the headlines often depends on technical fireworks, and especially on spectacular images. Marder's work seldom fits that pattern, but this book demonstrates that a brilliant scientist working carefully and thoughtfully can produce groundbreaking results.
Lessons from the Monk I Married
by Katherine JenkinsLessons from the Monk I Marriedoffers up ten of the most powerful lessons about life, love, and spirituality that Katherine Jenkins has gathered during her marriage to former Buddhist monk Seong Yoon Lee. A seeker in the truest sense of the word, Jenkins went to Korea on a whim, hoping to find the answers to her deepest, most pressing questions about how to find peace and her purpose in life. During her first months there, she sought out a remote temple, where she unknowingly crossed paths with an unassuming Buddhist monk. Months later, they met again by chance-and fell in love. Though their courtship was long, mostly secretive, and fraught with logistical and spiritual considerations, Jenkins and Lee were ultimately married in Korea in 2003. Through their relationship, Jenkins discovered the most important lesson of all: No one holds the keys to peace and happiness-you have walk yourownpath and find yourownwisdom through yourownexperiences. More than the improbable story of a girl from Seattle who found peace of mind (and love) with a Buddhist monk,Lessons from the Monk I Marriedis an approachable guide to the most elemental spiritual questions of our day.
Lessons from the Mountain: What I Learned From Erin Walton
by Mary McdonoughA fascinating look at what it's like to grow up in front of and beyond the cameras. --Eve PlumbFor nine seasons, Mary McDonough was part of one of the most beloved families in television history. Just ten years-old when she was cast as the pretty, wholesome middle child Erin, Mary grew up on the set of The Waltons, alternately embracing and rebelling against her good-girl onscreen persona. Now, as the first cast member to write about her experiences on the classic series, she candidly recounts the joys and challenges of growing up Walton--from her overnight transformation from a normal kid in a working class, Irish Catholic family, to a Hollywood child star, to the personal challenges that led her to take on a new role as an activist for women's body image issues. Touching, funny, sometimes heartbreaking, and always illuminating, Lessons from the Mountain is the story of everything Mary McDonough learned on her journey over--and beyond--that famous mountain. "For someone who started out as a sweet little girl afraid to speak up, it certainly is a pleasure to hear her shout from the top of the mountain now! --Alison Arngrim, New York Times bestselling author of Confessions of a Prairie Bitch"She's a radiant woman whose truth comes from within. . .if I had to pick one word that described Mary Beth, it would be resilience." --Earl Hamner, Creator of The Waltons"Mary is a whole lot more than Erin on The Waltons. This book shows how she's handled all the highs and lows with grace." -George Clooney Includes Never Before Published Bonus Chapter!
Lessons from the Prairie (Sometimes Just) Survival I Learned on America's Favorite Show: The Surprising Secrets To Happiness, Success, And (sometimes Just) Survival I Learned On America's Favorite Show
by Melissa FrancisMelissa Francis was only eight years old when she won the role of a lifetime: playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls on the world's most famous prime-time soap opera, Little House on the Prairie.Now in Lessons from the Prairie, she shares behind-the-scenes stories from the set, and lessons learned from the show's dynamic creator, Michael Landon, that have echoed throughout Melissa's adult life. With novel insights on hard work, making mistakes, and even spirituality, Francis shares inspirational and practical life lessons that will appeal both to her current TV fans, and fans of one of the most adored TV shows of all time.
Lessons in Becoming Myself
by Ellen BurstynBy the time Ellen Burstyn arrived in New York to study acting, she'd already worked as a Texas fashion model, a Montreal chorus girl, suffered numerous toxic relationships, and just as many name changes and spiritual paths. Theater legend Moss Hart called her "a natural" but Ellen Burstyn was still trying discover who she was. This is the graceful story of a personal and professional quest, a life-long journey-by turns triumphant and terrifying, tragic and funny, thoughtful and illuminating. .
Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam
by Gordon M. GoldsteinInteresting book about Bundy and the decisions made on whether or not to send troops into Vietnam.
Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam
by Gordon M. GoldsteinA revelatory look at the decisions that led to the US involvement in Vietnam, drawing on the insights and reassessments of one of the war’s architects.A Foreign Affairs BestsellerIn the last years of his life, the former US national security adviser McGeorge Bundy decided to revisit the role he played in leading the nation into the Vietnam War as a counselor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. “I had part in a great failure,” he said. “If I have learned anything I should share it.”In this original and provocative work, the political scientist Gordon M. Goldstein draws on his prodigious research as well as interviews and analysis he conducted with Bundy before his death in 1996 to distill the essential lessons of America’s involvement in Vietnam. Lessons in Disaster is a historical tour de force on the uses and misuses of American power.“Gordon Goldstein has written an illuminating book and a cautionary tale about the perils of intellectual arrogance overpowering good judgment at the highest levels of national security decision making. Every public servant and every citizen should know the story of McGeorge Bundy and how he lost his way.” —Tom Brokaw“A compelling portrait of a man once serenely confident, searching decades later for self-understanding.” —Richard Holbrooke, The New York Times Book Review
Lessons in Excellence from Charlie Trotter (Lessons from Charlie Trotter)
by Paul Clarke Geoffrey SmartCharlie Trotter's Chicago restaurant is not only one of the premiere eating experiences in America, it serves also as the model of a thriving business whose cutting-edge approach to management is setting new standards for quality, efficiency, and profitability. In fact, people in just about any field can learn from Charlie's methods. For this breakthrough business guide, journalist Paul Clarke conducted in-depth interviews with Charlie and his associates, distilling invaluable lessons for entrepreneurs and hospitality professionals who are committed to creating highly respected and innovative businesses. Anyone who wants to improve their business will be sure to learn something new from this Midwestern dynamo.From the Hardcover edition.
Lessons in Gratitude: A Memoir on Race, the Arts, and Mental Health (Campus Voices: Stories of Excellence from the University of Michigan)
by Aaron P DworkinLessons in Gratitude tells the story of Aaron Dworkin, a MacArthur Fellow, social entrepreneur, and spoken word artist who has dedicated his life’s work to changing the face of classical arts in the world. The themes of persistence, passion, and loyalty shine through stories of an unhappy childhood, a lifelong search for identity, and the obstacles of race, culture, and class. Readers will learn how the author greets these challenges and how they drove him to make a difference for people who are shut out of opportunity. Persistence in the face of multiple failures and false starts ultimately led Dworkin to create the Sphinx Organization, whose mission is to address the underrepresentation of Black and Latinx people in the field of the classical arts. Aaron’s unique journey, which begins with his adoption by a white Jewish couple from Chicago at two weeks of age, leads him to the ultimate reunification with his birth family at the age of 31. Lessons of Gratitude is a coming of age story that examines the difficulties of biracial identity across generations and the challenges that mixed race families still face today. It is also a painful and honest adoption memoir, further complicating the narrator’s experiences of racial identity throughout his life and shaping his experiences with his own children. Through his work in the arts and the impact of this work, Dworkin has been able to “pay forward” the first thing that offered him unconditional love—music.
Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life With St. John Paul Ii
by George WeigelA preeminent authority on the Catholic Church and papal biographer describes what he learned from chronicling the life of Pope John Paul IIIn Lessons in Hope, George Weigel tells the story of his unique friendship with St. John Paul II. As Weigel learns the pope "from inside," he also offers a firsthand account of the tumult of post-Vatican II Catholicism and the Cold War's endgame, introducing readers to the heroes who brought down European communism. Later, he shows us the aging pope grappling with the post-9/11 world order and teaching new lessons in dignity through his own suffering.A deeply humane portrait of an eminent scholar learning a saint, Lessons in Hope is essential reading for anyone seeking a fuller understanding of a world-changing pope.
Lessons in Liberty: Thirty Rules for Living from Ten Extraordinary Americans
by Jeremy S. Adams“Smart, patriotic, and readable, this book is what our cynical culture needs.” — Pete Hegseth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Battle for the American MindAmerica is full of inspiring heroes.Greatness is not a chance—it is a choice. George Washington didn’t simply wake up as one of the greatest men in human history. His greatness was the sum of a lifetime of difficult and consequential choices.In Lessons in Liberty, Jeremy S. Adams distills inspiring advice from the lives of extraordinary Americans from our past.George Washington’s lifelong struggle to conquer his temper makes him a model for self-help and self-improvement.Daniel Inouye was a beloved Japanese American senator who carried out daring missions in World War II, despite being subjected to discrimination by the very nation he decided to defend.Eleven-year-old Clara Barton’s role in nursing her injured brother back to health instilled the courage and ferocity that would later empower her to pioneer new nursing techniques during the Civil War.Adams has been an educator for more than a quarter century. Teaching a new generation of students who suffer with anxiety, passivity, and a cynical view of their own nation and its principles has convinced him that a change is urgently needed: The recovery of national greatness requires that we passionately study our heroes. Lessons in Liberty is the first step to discovering the better angels of our nature by restoring the possibilities of individual freedom.In this beautifully written, proudly patriotic, and deeply researched ode to American heroes from a rich variety of eras and backgrounds, Adams reclaims the power of the American story, discovering thirty different and surprising lessons that will inspire modern Americans to lead better and more substantive lives.
Lessons in Life I Learned from My Baseball Cards
by Patrick J. CaraherRemember when the most exciting moment of your childhood was opening a fresh pack of baseball cards? How you gazed lovingly at the pictures of your heroes, pored over their statistics, thrilled to their exploits and identified with their lives? We all know someone whose baseball card collection was the most significant touchstone of his childhood. Baseball card collector Patrick Caraher has turned his lifelong passion into a spiritual odyssey in Lessons in Life I Learned from Baseball Cards. Selecting some prize items from his collection, Caraher has reflected on their larger resonance and produced this little gem of a book, the sports equivalent of Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. With deft cameos of stars whose admirable lives and careers characterized such virtues as fortitude, humility, determination, honesty, and decency, Caraher has breathed life into the statistics behind baseball's role models and produced a collection of miniature portraits that illuminates the national pastime as few other books have.
Lessons in Life: What we can all learn from the world’s best teachers
by Andria ZafirakouOne of the world's best teachers discovers from other award-winning teachers what they have come to understand about children.What can the best teachers in the world tell us about our children? What advice can they give to help us raise happy, confident and caring kids? Teachers spend a lot of time with their pupils - talking and listening to them, observing and guiding them. What can we learn from teachers about helping kids become compassionate, contented and successful grown-ups, as well as conscientious global citizens? In Lessons in Life, Andria Zafirakou - the 2018 Global Teacher Prize winner - talks to 30 of the best teachers in the world willing to share their insight and wisdom, gained from years of working with children of all ages.They include:Ranjitsinh Disale (Global Teacher Prize winner 2020), a primary teacher who turned a cattle shed in the drought-prone village of Paritewadi in India into a school. His many skills include showing his pupils how to broaden their horizon, and to become advocates for change;Peter Tabichi (Global Teacher Prize winner 2019), a maths and physics teacher in the Rift Valley Province in Kenya, regularly impacted by famine, who has found a way to make his students care about their studies and believe in a future they can be part of, despite the hardship all around them.Esther Wojcicki (California Teacher of the Year 2002), a leading American teacher who challenged traditional school rules in her lessons to allow her students to take control, learn to believe in themselves and feel empowered.Andrew Moffat (MBE for services to equality in education 2017), a primary teacher in Birmingham who created a teaching resource called 'Challenging Homophobia in Primary Schools' to help his pupils understand the importance of tolerance and open-mindedness. The result is an inspiring, moving and fascinating listen that will help parents identify a child's potential and give them the tools to shine. To know what these incredible teachers know and see what they see is a privilege and a gift.(P) 2023 Quercus Editions Limited
Lessons in Life: What we can all learn from the world’s best teachers
by Andria ZafirakouWhat can the best teachers in the world tell us about our children? What advice can they give to help us raise happy, confident and caring kids? Teachers spend a lot of time with their pupils - talking and listening to them, observing and guiding them. What can we learn from teachers about helping kids become compassionate, contented and successful grown-ups, as well as conscientious global citizens? In Lessons in Life, Andria Zafirakou - the 2018 Global Teacher Prize winner - talks to 30 of the best teachers in the world willing to share their insight and wisdom, gained from years of working with children of all ages.They include:Ranjitsinh Disale (Global Teacher Prize winner 2020), a primary teacher who turned a cattle shed in the drought-prone village of Paritewadi in India into a school. His many skills include showing his pupils how to broaden their horizon, and to become advocates for change;Peter Tabichi (Global Teacher Prize winner 2019), a maths and physics teacher in the Rift Valley Province in Kenya, regularly impacted by famine, who has found a way to make his students care about their studies and believe in a future they can be part of, despite the hardship all around them.Esther Wojcicki (California Teacher of the Year 2002), a leading American teacher who challenged traditional school rules in her lessons to allow her students to take control, learn to believe in themselves and feel empowered.Andrew Moffat (MBE for services to equality in education 2017), a primary teacher in Birmingham who created a teaching resource called 'Challenging Homophobia in Primary Schools' to help his pupils understand the importance of tolerance and open-mindedness. The result is an inspiring, moving and fascinating read that will help parents identify a child's potential and give them the tools to shine. To know what these incredible teachers know and see what they see is a privilege and a gift.
Lessons in Taxidermy: A Compendium Of Safety And Danger (Punk Planet Books #0)
by Bee LavenderA riveting memoir of sickness and survival from Punk Planet Books! “Bee Lavender is a fantastic writer. Her work is deep and personal, and I don’t think there are any places she’s scared to go.” —Michelle Tea, author of The Chelsea Whistle “Bee’s scrupulous, non-histrionic style is thrilling; it allows for some devastating emotional moments because the author comes by them honestly.” —Ayun Halliday, author of No Touch Monkey Diagnosed with cancer at age twelve and perilously pregnant at eighteen, surviving surgeries and violent accidents: sometimes you can't believe Bee Lavender is still alive; sometimes you think nothing could kill her. Lessons in Taxidermy is Lavender's fierce and expressive search for truth and an elusive sense of safety. This autobiographical tale is stark and resolved, but strangely euphoric, tying together moments and memories into a frantic, delicate, and often transcendently funny account of anguish and confusion, pain and poverty, isolation and illusion. While staying conscious of the particulars of her circumstances, Lavender frames her life in the context of history, traveling, landscape, and freak show culture. Lessons in Taxidermy is apocryphal, troubling, cathartic, and important.
Lessons of Hope: How to Fix Our Schools
by Joel KleinNew York Times Bestseller (Education)The Economist Best Books of the Year SelectionIn this revealing and provocative memoir, the former chancellor of the New York City schools offers the behind-the-scenes story of the city’s dramatic campaign to improve public education and an inspiring blueprint for national reform.In 2002 New York City’s newly elected mayor, Michael Bloomberg, made a historic announcement: his administration had won control of the city’s school system in a first step toward reversing its precipitous decline. In a controversial move, he appointed Joel Klein, an accomplished lawyer from outside the education establishment, to lead this ambitious campaign.Lessons of Hope is Klein’s inside account of his eight-year mission of improvement: demanding accountability, eliminating political favoritism, and battling a powerful teachers union that seemed determined to protect a status quo that didn’t work for kids. Klein’s initiatives resulted in more school choice, higher graduation rates, and improved test scores. The New York City model is now seen as a national standard for meaningful school reform. But the journey was not easy. Klein faced resistance and conflict at every turn.Lessons of Hope lays bare the problems plaguing public education and shows how they can be solved. At its core lies Klein’s personal story: his humble upbringing in Brooklyn and Queens, and the key role that outstanding public school teachers played in nurturing his success. Engaging and illuminating, Lessons of Hope is essential reading for anyone concerned about the future of American public education.