Read This for Inspiration


Book Description

From former BuzzFeed personality Ashly Perez comes a funny, honest, and unabashedly feminist book of inspiration and wisdom to help you plant some roots, live in the process, and accept you for you. Take a break from mindless phone scrolling and empower yourself to live intentionally and find meaning all around you every single day. Read This for Inspiration, filled with short bursts of encouragement and enlightenment, is your staring place. Look inward and also way beyond your arm’s length—these entries are inspiring not only for the wisdom they impart but also for the way they lift you up. Virtual BuzzFeed start turned television writer Ashley Perez has compiled all of the inspirations that have enriched her own life—influenced by history, literature, music, and her mom—to help you discover what motivates you. We all have to start somewhere.




Ian Fleming's Inspiration


Book Description

James Bond is possibly the most well known fictional character in history. What most people don’t know is that almost all of the characters, plots and gadgets come from the real life experiences of Bond’s creator - Commander Ian Fleming. In this book, we go through the plots of Fleming’s novels explaining the real life experiences that inspired them. The reader is taken on a journey through Fleming’s direct involvement in World War II intelligence and how this translated through his typewriter into James Bond’s world, as well as the many other factors of Fleming’s life which were also taken as inspiration. Most notably, the friends who Fleming kept, among whom were Noel Coward and Randolph Churchill and the influential people he would mingle with, British Prime Ministers and American Presidents. Bond is known for his exotic travel, most notably to the island of Jamaica, where Fleming spent much of his life. The desk in his Caribbean house, Goldeneye, was also where his life experiences would be put onto paper in the guise of James Bond. As the island was highly influential for Fleming, it features heavily in this book, offering an element of escapism to the reader, with tales of a clear blue sea, Caribbean climate and island socialising. Ian Fleming might have died prematurely aged 53, but so much of him lives on to this day through the most famous spy in the world, James Bond.




Inspiration


Book Description

The #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Power of Intention “What I’m offering in this book is the awareness that we can return to a full-time position of inspiration, which is the true meaning of our life.”— Dr. Wayne W. Dyer In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer explains how we’ve chosen to enter this world of particles and form. From our place of origin, in ways that we don’t readily comprehend now, we knew what we were coming here to accomplish, and we participated in setting this life process in motion. So why not think along these same lines? Why put the responsibility or blame on any one or any thing that’s not a part of us? On Earth we have the capacity of volition—we can choose—so let’s assume that we had the same capacity when we resided in the spiritual realm. We chose our physical body, and we chose the parents we needed for the trip. It doesn’t seem too great a stretch to move into the idea that we chose this life in concert with our Source. Inspiration can be cultivated and be a driving force throughout life, rather than showing up every now and then and just as mysteriously disappearing, seemingly independent of our desires. Inspiration is for everyone! It isn’t reserved for high-profile creative geniuses in the arts and sciences—it’s inherent in our Divine birthright. The problem is that as children we’re gradually taught to believe exclusively in the world of phenomena where ego is dominant and inspiration diminished. As you read each chapter in this book, you’ll find specific suggestions for living “in-Spirit.” From a very personal viewpoint, Wayne offers a blueprint through the world of inspiration—your ultimate calling.




Rescue


Book Description

From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen comes a thrilling World War II story of espionage and intrigue, as one girl races to crack a coded message to save her father and the French resistance. Six hundred and fifty-seven days ago, Meg Kenyon's father left their home in France to fight for the Allies in World War II, and that was the last time Meg saw him. Recently, she heard he was being held prisoner by the Nazis, a terrible sentence from which Meg fears he'll never return. All she has left of him are the codes he placed in a jar for her to decipher, an affectionate game the two of them shared. But the codes are running low, and soon there'll be nothing left of Papa for Meg to hold on to at all. Suddenly, an impossible chance to save her father falls into Meg's lap. After following a trail of blood in the snow, Meggie finds an injured British spy hiding in her grandmother's barn. Captain Stewart tells her that a family of German refugees must be guided across Nazi-occupied France to neutral Spain, whereupon one of them has promised to free Meg's father. Captain Stewart was meant to take that family on their journey, but too injured to complete the task himself, he offers it to Meg, along with a final code from Papa to help complete the mission -- perhaps the most important, and most difficult, riddle she's received yet. As the Nazis flood Meg's village in fierce pursuit, she accepts the duty and begins the trek across France. Leading strangers through treacherous territory, Meg faces danger and uncertainty at every turn, all the while struggling to crack her father's code. The message, as she unravels it, reveals secrets costly enough to risk the mission and even her own life. Can Meg solve the puzzle, rescue the family, and save her father?




Daily Inspiration for the Purpose Driven Life


Book Description

Daily Inspiration for the Purpose Driven Life interweaves many of the Bible verses handpicked by author Rick Warren with reflections from his New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life. Designed to be used as a convenient standalone book for daily reflection, or as an easy reference tool when reading The Purpose Driven Life, every section corresponds to each one of the 40 Days of Purpose. Daily Inspiration for the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren is a wonderful resource of encouragement. Winner of the Retailers Choice Award, this expanded edition contains new material from the bestselling tenth-anniversary edition.




In Pursuit of Inspiration


Book Description

In this visually rich hardcover volume, beloved artist Rae Dunn shares her favorite techniques for approaching a blank page. From drawing with your nondominant hand to sketching with objects found in nature, each chapter offers a simple yet surprising catalyst to help readers get in touch with their own creativity. Full of gorgeous watercolors, sketches, original patterns, dreamy photography, and hand-lettered insight from the author, In Pursuit of Inspiration offers a unique glimpse into the process of a successful fine artist. It's the perfect how-to book for artists of all skill levels who prefer freeform experimentation to step-by-step instruction.




INSPIRED


Book Description

How do today’s most successful tech companies—Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla—design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of people around the world? Perhaps surprisingly, they do it very differently than the vast majority of tech companies. In INSPIRED, technology product management thought leader Marty Cagan provides readers with a master class in how to structure and staff a vibrant and successful product organization, and how to discover and deliver technology products that your customers will love—and that will work for your business. With sections on assembling the right people and skillsets, discovering the right product, embracing an effective yet lightweight process, and creating a strong product culture, readers can take the information they learn and immediately leverage it within their own organizations—dramatically improving their own product efforts. Whether you’re an early stage startup working to get to product/market fit, or a growth-stage company working to scale your product organization, or a large, long-established company trying to regain your ability to consistently deliver new value for your customers, INSPIRED will take you and your product organization to a new level of customer engagement, consistent innovation, and business success. Filled with the author’s own personal stories—and profiles of some of today’s most-successful product managers and technology-powered product companies, including Adobe, Apple, BBC, Google, Microsoft, and Netflix—INSPIRED will show you how to turn up the dial of your own product efforts, creating technology products your customers love. The first edition of INSPIRED, published ten years ago, established itself as the primary reference for technology product managers, and can be found on the shelves of nearly every successful technology product company worldwide. This thoroughly updated second edition shares the same objective of being the most valuable resource for technology product managers, yet it is completely new—sharing the latest practices and techniques of today’s most-successful tech product companies, and the men and women behind every great product.




Together is Better


Book Description

Most of us live our lives by accident - we live as it happens. Fulfilment comes when we live our lives on purpose. 'What are you going to do with your life? What are you doing with your life now?' 'Do you have goals? A vision? A clear sense of why you do what you do?' Almost everyone knows someone who has grappled with at least one of these questions. The answers can often seem elusive or uncertain. Though there are many paths to follow into the unknown future, there is one way that dramatically increases the chances we will enjoy the journey. To travel with someone we trust. We can try to build a successful career or a happy life alone, but why would we? Together is better. This unique and delightful little book makes the point that together is better in a quite unexpected way. Simon Sinek, bestselling author of Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last, blends the wisdom he has gathered from around the world with a heartwarming, richly illustrated original fable. Working hard for something we don't care about is called stress. Working hard for something we love is called passion.




The Story You Need to Tell


Book Description

A practical and inspiring guide to transformational personal storytelling, The Story You Need to Tell is the product of Sandra Marinella’s pioneering work with veterans and cancer patients, her years of teaching writing, and her research into its profound healing properties. Riveting true stories illustrate Marinella’s methods for understanding, telling, and editing personal stories in ways that foster resilience and renewal. She also shares her own experience of using journaling and expressive writing to navigate challenges including breast cancer and postpartum depression. Each of the techniques, prompts, and exercises she presents helps us “to unravel the knot inside and to make sense of loss.”




The Inspiration Code


Book Description

Everyone wants to be the kind of leader who energizes and mobilizes others-yet too few are. Why is it so challenging to crack the code? All it takes is the right conversation…great leaders inspire action with their words. They spark enthusiasm and commitment. With a single conversation, they can change the direction of someone's life. Executive coach Kristi Hedges spent years studying exactly what inspiring leaders do differently. Informed by quantitative research and thousands of responses from leaders at all levels, she reveals that inspiring communication isn't about grand gestures. Instead, those who motivate us most do a few things routinely, consistently, and intentionally. In Inspiration Code, Kristi explains: Present: investing their attention carefully and guiding the flow of conversations Personal: speaking genuinely, listening generously, and bringing out the potential of those around the Passionate: exhibiting sincere emotion and exuding energy attuned to the situation Purposeful: helping others find meaning and see their place in the bigger picture Eye-opening and accessible, The Inspiration Code dispels common myths about how leaders communicate-and guides them in cultivating qualities that authentically excite. Inspired companies need inspirational leaders. Learn to unlock motivation, lift peoples ‘sights, and lead them into the future.