Extreme Vinyl Cafe


Book Description

If you ask them, Dave and Morley's friends will tell you that no matter how long you've known people, they can still surprise you. After all, no one expects to see a grown man dive into the trunk of his car to chase a rat. And despite what they may claim, few people are actually prepared to have their backyard, never mind their 12-year-old son, shoot to stardom on YouTube's most watched videos. And yes, the sight of a 87-year-old bungeejumping off a cruise ship is... unusual. But well-wishers at the Vinyl Cafe will advise you to be philosophical about such things. No matter who sends a volley of nails through your truck window, which mannequin is disrobed, or how green your skin turns when your mom leaves town, life marches on. In "Extreme Vinyl Cafe" bestselling author Stuart McLean regales us with the wild impulses and extreme behaviours of Canada's favourite characters at the Vinyl Cafe.




Vinyl Cafe Diaries


Book Description

The further adventures of Dave and Morley.




The Craft and Science of Coffee


Book Description

The Craft and Science of Coffee follows the coffee plant from its origins in East Africa to its current role as a global product that influences millions of lives though sustainable development, economics, and consumer desire.For most, coffee is a beloved beverage. However, for some it is also an object of scientifically study, and for others it is approached as a craft, both building on skills and experience. By combining the research and insights of the scientific community and expertise of the crafts people, this unique book brings readers into a sustained and inclusive conversation, one where academic and industrial thought leaders, coffee farmers, and baristas are quoted, each informing and enriching each other.This unusual approach guides the reader on a journey from coffee farmer to roaster, market analyst to barista, in a style that is both rigorous and experience based, universally relevant and personally engaging. From on-farming processes to consumer benefits, the reader is given a deeper appreciation and understanding of coffee's complexity and is invited to form their own educated opinions on the ever changing situation, including potential routes to further shape the coffee future in a responsible manner. - Presents a novel synthesis of coffee research and real-world experience that aids understanding, appreciation, and potential action - Includes contributions from a multitude of experts who address complex subjects with a conversational approach - Provides expert discourse on the coffee calue chain, from agricultural and production practices, sustainability, post-harvest processing, and quality aspects to the economic analysis of the consumer value proposition - Engages with the key challenges of future coffee production and potential solutions




The Vinyl Cafe Notebooks


Book Description

Selected from fifteen years of radio-show archives and re-edited by the author, this eclectic collection gives a glimpse into the thoughful mind at work behind The Vinyl Cafe.




A Listener's Guide to Free Improvisation


Book Description

In the first book of its kind, John Corbett's A Listener's Guide to Free Improvisation provides a how-to manual for the most extreme example of spontaneous improvising: music with no pre-planned material at all. Drawing on over three decades of writing about, presenting, playing, teaching, and studying freely improvised music, Corbett offers an enriching set of tools that show any curious listener how to really listen, and he encourages them to enjoy the human impulse-- found all around the world-- to make up music on the spot.




Sophie's World


Book Description

A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.




Ask a Manager


Book Description

From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together




Vinyl Cafe Turns the Page


Book Description

A brand new collection of Vinyl Cafe stories, from the inimitable Stuart McLean, featuring a worldlier and wiser Dave and Morley. Dave and Morley are growing older, Steph and Sam are growing up. Moving out and moving on. Dave and Morley's marriage has mellowed and deepened like a fine wine, Sam has developed a palate for girls and Gruyere, and Steph's found happiness with an artist who photographs roadkill. Everyone's growing wiser and worldlier--well, almost everyone. Yes, Dave still has trouble with the automatic car wash, defibrillators, and hot yoga, but he's come to appreciate Mary Turlington, and that's saying quite a bit. In this brand new collection of Vinyl Cafe stories, the more things change, the more things stay the same . . .




Counter Intelligence


Book Description

Jonathan Gold has eaten it all. Counter Intelligence collects over 200 of Gold's best restaurant discoveries--from inexpensive lunch counters you won't find on your own to the perfect undiscovered dish at a beaten-path establishment. He reveals the hidden kitchens where Los Angeles' ethnic communities feed their own, including the best of cuisine from Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Burma, Canton, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Middle East, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand, Vietnam and more. Not to mention the perfectly prepared hamburger and Los Angeles' quintessential hot dog. Counter Intelligence is the richest and most complete guide to eating in Los Angeles. The listings include where to find it and how much you'll pay (in many cases, not very much) with appendices that cover food types and feeding by neighborhood.




Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe


Book Description

Every family has its secrets.Morley, for example, is reluctant to talk about her beauty parlour betrayal and that other man in her life: Mathieu.Stephanie hasn't been entirely open about what she was doing in the woods last summer.Sam is keeping mum about his dark powers of prophecy and why he is going by the alias "Samantha."And Dave tries to avoid mentioning his attempted break-and-enter at the Turlingtons'.Who can blame them? When you commit acts of arson during Christmas dinner, attempt to start a life of crime by shoplifting a lipstick or sink your false teeth into the forbidden pleasure of corn on the cob, it's hard to come clean.These are the stories that no one knows, the stories Dave and Morley wouldn't tell you themselves: lies, white and otherwise, aliases, double lives and all manner of petty crimes and everyday transgressions. These are the secrets from the Vinyl Cafe.