A Short Life of M.


Book Description

ABOUT M. According to the Yugantar, one of the two pillars of Neo-Vedanta is the mighty, lionic Swami Vivekananda and the other, M., the humble, quiet, wise and illumined proclaimer singing day and night the glory of the Godman, Sri Ramakrishna. About him Sri Ramakrishna said, "With these very eyes, I saw you among the singers of Sri Chaitanya's sankirtana... You belong to the ever-perfect class... You are my own, of the same substance as father and son... You trade in the Jewellery of the Spirit... Ma! illumine him. Otherwise how will he illumine others. Except for me he knows nothing." Swami Vivekananda wrote to him, "You have hit Ramakrishna in the right point... (he) is with you evidently." Sri Ma Sarada Devi wrote to M., "When I heard you (read the Kathamrita) I felt those were His very words." Christopher Isherwood said of M., "The ideas and ideals Sri Ramakrishna taught to the house-holder found their embodiment in M." ABOUT THE BOOK The author has freely drawn on the Kathamrita, Sri Ma Darshan (M., the Apostle and the Evangelist), Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, Ramakrishna & his Disciples and on some articles which have appeared from time to time in the Prabuddha Bharata and the Vedantal Kesari in compiling this short life. Sri Ma Trust brought out A Short Life of M., in 1977. The present edition is a somewhat enlarged and corrected version of the same. The Trust has also brought out a bigger book on M. and the Kathamrita under the title, 'Life of M. and Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathmrita.'




A Little Life


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise.




A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards


Book Description




Short Life in a Strange World


Book Description

“Oddly charming, deeply intelligent. . . . Anyone asking questions about their own place in the world might be drawn to these portrayals of ordinary life from almost 500 years ago—scenes of human beings who work and return home, who carry their kids and tend to chores, who nap, play, eat, drink and do other, less decorous things. And, with the author’s help, we look at them more closely than before." — Washington Post “Graceful, transcendent even.” — Los Angeles Times “Captivating . . . a vibrant portrait of the artist’s work and world…. A profusely illustrated, deeply thoughtful meditation.” — Kirkus “Thought-provoking. . . . [Ferris] blends memoir with philosophic meditation on art criticism in his thoughtful debut.” — Publishers Weekly




River Phoenix


Book Description

River Phoenix: A Short Life is the first biography of this talented but tragic young star. It explores the contradictions of a life that encompassed the hippy philosophy of his unconventional parents, the abnormal pressures of child stardom on TV, leading inevitably to the big time as a brat pack hopeful in Hollywood. However, there was real talent in this young actor which was recognised by up-coming directors and established names. His performance in Sidney Lumet's Running on Empty and his role as a male prostitute in My Own Private Idaho established his credentials as a serious actor with the potential for greatness.




Four Thousand Weeks


Book Description

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Provocative and appealing . . . well worth your extremely limited time." —Barbara Spindel, The Wall Street Journal The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks. Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and still the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Oliver Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. Rejecting the futile modern fixation on “getting everything done,” Four Thousand Weeks introduces readers to tools for constructing a meaningful life by embracing finitude, showing how many of the unhelpful ways we’ve come to think about time aren’t inescapable, unchanging truths, but choices we’ve made as individuals and as a society—and that we could do things differently.




Billy the Kid


Book Description

Examines the career of the young outlaw whose life and death were an expression of the violence prevalent on the American frontier.




Life Is Short And So Is This Book


Book Description

Life is short. You can, if you work hard and are lucky, get more of almost anything, but you can't get more time. Time only goes one way. The average American has a lifespan of less than 30,000 days. So how you choose to live matters. That's the topic of this book. I don't pretend to have all the answers. I'm still learning every day, and many of the good ideas here I've picked up from other people either directly or by reading. But this is what's worked for me. Like life, this book is short. Many books I read could communicate their ideas in fewer pages. So I've tried to be brief in line with the wise person who noted: "If I'd had more time I would have written a shorter letter". I don't think brevity implies lack of content. The concepts here have improved the quality of my life, and I hope they're useful to you as well. Using these concepts, I have created a life I love. My job doesn't feel like work. I love and respect the people with whom I spend time. And I'm also passionate about my life outside work. I've learned how to create a balance that makes me happy between work and other interests, including my family, friends and exercise. Sadly I think that's rare. And yet, while I know I'm lucky, most people can work towards those goals in their own lives. My interest in making the most of my life began when I was just starting college, but when I was in my mid-thirties a boss I admired died of cancer. He was young. He had a great wife; he had three young children; he had a fantastic career -- he had everything in life. He just didn't have enough time. So, while I'd often thought about how to get the most out of life, the death of someone so young and vital increased my sense of urgency to act on it. One of the things I've always wanted to do was to work for myself. As a result, I left an exciting job at Microsoft in 2001 amidst the Internet bust to found the investing firm I now run. It was hard to do, both financially and emotionally. When I left Microsoft, many people - friends, family, and even some of the press - thought I was deluding myself to start a fund focused on Internet-related companies during a market crash. A press quote from the time said: "Call him a little crazy. Call him a little nuts." I'd never seen that type of coverage before. And, in a sense, the press was right; the business wasn't easy to start. Fortunately, from a vantage point of ten years down the road, it's worked out quite well. A key part of my job is reading and thinking about a broad variety of topics. So writing this book was relatively easy. It's even easier to read. But, like many things in life, actually executing each day on these concepts is extremely difficult. With thanks to Thomas Edison, life is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Even so, I hope you have fun perspiring. Peter Atkins Seattle, WA December, 2010




A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards


Book Description

Jonathan Edwards is one of the most extraordinary figures in American history. Arguably the most brilliant theologian ever born on American soil, Edwards (1703–1758) was also a pastor, a renowned preacher, a missionary to the Native Americans, a biographer, a college president, a philosopher, a loving husband, and the father of eleven children. George M. Marsden -- widely acclaimed for his magisterial large study of Edwards -- has now written a new, shorter biography of this many-sided, remarkable man. A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards is not an abridgment of Marsden's earlier award-winning study but is instead a completely new narrative based on his extensive research. The result is a concise, fresh retelling of the Edwards story, rich in scholarship yet compelling and readable for a much wider audience, including students. Known best for his famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards is often viewed as a proponent of fire, brimstone, and the wrath of God. As Marsden shows, however, the focus of Edwards's preaching was not God's wrath but rather his overwhelming and all-encompassing love. Marsden also rescues Edwards from the high realms of intellectual history, revealing him more comprehensively through the lens of his everyday life and interactions. Further, Marsden shows how Edwards provides a window on the fascinating and often dangerous world of the American colonies in the decades before the American Revolution. Marsden here gives us an Edwards who illumines both American history and Christian theology, an Edwards that will appeal to readers with little or no training in either field. This short life will contribute significantly to the widespread and growing interest in Jonathan Edwards.




A Short Life of Swami Vivekananda


Book Description

The life and message of Swami Vivekananda are a source of great inspiration to many in their individual as well as collective life. The present short biography published by Advaita Ashrama, a Publication House of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, is intended to meet the needs of those who have neither the time nor the opportunity to read bigger works about the Swami. A versatile genius as the great Swami was, and many-sided as were his activities, it is idle to hope that a complete picture of his wonderful life could be given in such a small compass. Here an attempt is made to give only a glimpse of this great personality so that people may become interested to know more about him.




Recent Books