The Chess Traveler and Pioneer


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The Chess Traveler and Pioneer by Michael Abron __________________________________




Pioneer Mikes


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Spaceman


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'This terrific memoir... is utterly gripping' Mail on Sunday ‘Read this book and be inspired to reach for the impossible’ Brian Greene Many children dream of becoming an astronaut when they grow up, but when a six-year-old Mike Massimino saw Neil Armstrong walk on the moon he knew what he wanted to do when he became an adult. But NASA rejected him; then when he applied again they turned him down because of his poor eyesight. For the next year he trained his eyes to work better and finally, at the third time of asking, NASA accepted him. So began Massimino's 18-year career as an astronaut, and the extraordinary lengths he went to to get accepted was only the beginning. In this awe-inspiring memoir, he reveals the hard work, camaraderie and sheer guts involved in the life of an astronaut; he vividly describes what it is like to strap yourself into the Space Shuttle and blast off into space, or the sensation of walking in space, as he did when he completed a mission to service the Hubble telescope. He also talks movingly about the Columbia tragedy, and how it felt to step into the Space Shuttle again in the aftermath of that disaster. Massimino was inspired by the film The Right Stuff, and this book is not only a tribute to those fellow astronauts he worked with, but also a stunning example of someone who had exactly those attributes himself.




DK Readers L2: Journey of a Pioneer


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Photographs combine with lively illustrations and engaging, age-appropriate stories in DK Readers, a multilevel reading program guaranteed to capture children's interest while developing their reading skills and general knowledge. Journey of a Pioneer follows the adventures of a young girl as her family travels west in covered wagons along the famous Oregon Trail.




Moon Alaska


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Travel writer and nature photographer Don Pitcher covers the best of Alaska, from fine dining in Anchorage to backpacking in Denali National Park. Pitcher also includes various travel strategies such as The Best of Alaska and Along the AlCan. Complete with details on where to view wildlife at the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge and the best spots to kayak in Prince William Sound, Moon Alaska gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.




Pioneer Mother Monuments


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For more than a century, American communities erected monuments to western pioneers. Although many of these statues receive little attention today, the images they depict—sturdy white men, saintly mothers, and wholesome pioneer families—enshrine prevailing notions of American exceptionalism, race relations, and gender identity. Pioneer Mother Monuments is the first book to delve into the long and complex history of remembering, forgetting, and rediscovering pioneer monuments. In this book, historian Cynthia Culver Prescott combines visual analysis with a close reading of primary-source documents. Examining some two hundred monuments erected in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the present, Prescott begins her survey by focusing on the earliest pioneer statues, which celebrated the strong white men who settled—and conquered—the West. By the 1930s, she explains, when gender roles began shifting, new monuments came forth to honor the Pioneer Mother. The angelic woman in a sunbonnet, armed with a rifle or a Bible as she carried civilization forward—an iconic figure—resonated particularly with Mormon audiences. While interest in these traditional monuments began to wane in the postwar period, according to Prescott, a new wave of pioneer monuments emerged in smaller communities during the late twentieth century. Inspired by rural nostalgia, these statues helped promote heritage tourism. In recent years, Americans have engaged in heated debates about Confederate Civil War monuments and their implicit racism. Should these statues be removed or reinterpreted? Far less attention, however, has been paid to pioneer monuments, which, Prescott argues, also enshrine white cultural superiority—as well as gender stereotypes. Only a few western communities have reexamined these values and erected statues with more inclusive imagery. Blending western history, visual culture, and memory studies, Prescott’s pathbreaking analysis is enhanced by a rich selection of color and black-and-white photographs depicting the statues along with detailed maps that chronologically chart the emergence of pioneer monuments.




Think Again


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#1 New York Times Bestseller “THIS. This is the right book for right now. Yes, learning requires focus. But, unlearning and relearning requires much more—it requires choosing courage over comfort. In Think Again, Adam Grant weaves together research and storytelling to help us build the intellectual and emotional muscle we need to stay curious enough about the world to actually change it. I’ve never felt so hopeful about what I don’t know.” —Brené Brown, Ph.D., #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dare to Lead The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Potential, Originals, and Give and Take examines the critical art of rethinking: learning to question your opinions and open other people's minds, which can position you for excellence at work and wisdom in life Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn. In our daily lives, too many of us favor the comfort of conviction over the discomfort of doubt. We listen to opinions that make us feel good, instead of ideas that make us think hard. We see disagreement as a threat to our egos, rather than an opportunity to learn. We surround ourselves with people who agree with our conclusions, when we should be gravitating toward those who challenge our thought process. The result is that our beliefs get brittle long before our bones. We think too much like preachers defending our sacred beliefs, prosecutors proving the other side wrong, and politicians campaigning for approval--and too little like scientists searching for truth. Intelligence is no cure, and it can even be a curse: being good at thinking can make us worse at rethinking. The brighter we are, the blinder to our own limitations we can become. Organizational psychologist Adam Grant is an expert on opening other people's minds--and our own. As Wharton's top-rated professor and the bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take, he makes it one of his guiding principles to argue like he's right but listen like he's wrong. With bold ideas and rigorous evidence, he investigates how we can embrace the joy of being wrong, bring nuance to charged conversations, and build schools, workplaces, and communities of lifelong learners. You'll learn how an international debate champion wins arguments, a Black musician persuades white supremacists to abandon hate, a vaccine whisperer convinces concerned parents to immunize their children, and Adam has coaxed Yankees fans to root for the Red Sox. Think Again reveals that we don't have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel. It's an invitation to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility over foolish consistency. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don't know is wisdom.




To the Ends of the Earth


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Renowned as one of the world's foremost expedition photographers, Gordon Wiltsie has climbed Himalayan mountains, mushed dogs on the frozen Arctic Ocean, skied in Antarctica, and hacked through the Amazon jungle to photograph the most remote reaches of the planet. For the last three decades he has accompanied many of the great modern explorers--Alex Lowe, Conrad Anker, Will Steger, Jon Krakauer, David Breashears, Norman Vaughan--on incredibly challenging climbs and epic adventures. Despite carrying his own share of the weight--along with cameras, film, and lenses--he has matched these companions pitch for pitch and mile for mile, photographing them every inch of the way. In this journey through ten unique expeditions, Wiltsie illustrates the daily life of an explorer--from the thrill of summiting a virgin peak to the fear of surviving a storm, to the humorous and unexpected everyday moments of life on the edge.




Walking the Path


Book Description

About the Book Dr. Michael Frederick Walker was born in Australia and moved to the United States to study for a Ph.D. in Mathematics. In the United States, he met the Bahá’í Faith. Soon after graduating, he moved to South Africa as a pioneer for the Bahá’í Faith. At his pioneering post, he served as a Coordinator on the Literature Committee, translating Bahá’í Writings into South African languages. During that time, Dr. Walker, or “Mike Walker,” as he was known to his friends, also served as the Recording Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of South Africa, an administrative body in the Bahá’í Faith. Michael Walker passed on at his pioneering post in 2021 and is buried in South Africa as one of several pioneers whose many efforts played a crucial role in establishing the Bahá’í Faith in that country. This book is written by a friend who met him on his arrival in South Africa in 1969s.




Billboard


Book Description

In its 114th year, Billboard remains the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends.