Touching Greatness


Book Description

Tales of golfing stars and memorable moments from Ireland's best-loved golf correspondent. In almost thirty years as Ireland's leading golf journalist, Dermot Gilleece has met and interviewed numerous heroes of the game. Join Dermot on the course as he looks back over many wonderful years of golf with the greats - from Jack Nicklaus' first game on Irish soil, to sympathetic accounts of the declining skills of iconic golfers such as Seve Ballesteros. Packed with stories and insights about legends from Gene Sarazen, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods to, of course, 'Himself', Christy O'Connor Snr, Touching Greatness offers highlights from Dermot's much-loved column in the Irish Times, as well as more recent observations on the game. There are unmissable insights into illustrious characters from the amateur game, women's golf, Irish involvement in major team competitions like the Ryder Cup, and the history of Irish golfers in the Open, including the double Open and PGA Champion, Padraig Harrington. At turns moving and funny, and always beautifully written, Dermot's tales bring you right onto the fairway as you soak up the very best stories from inside the world of competitive golf.




The Consumer Society Reader


Book Description

The Consumer Society Reader features a range of key works on the nature and evolution of consumer society. Included here is much-discussed work by leading critics such as Jean Baudrillard, Susan Bordo, Dick Hebdige, bell hooks, and Janice Radway. Also included is a full range of classics, such as Frankfurt School writers Adorno and Horkheimer on the Culture Industry; Thorstein Veblen's oft-cited writings on "conspicuous consumption"; Betty Friedan on the housewife's central role in consumer society; John Kenneth Galbraith's influential analysis of the "affluent society"; and Pierre Bourdieu on the notion of "taste." "Consumer society--the 'air we breathe,' as George Orwell has described it--disappears during economic downtruns and political crises. It becomes visible again when prosperity seems secure, cultural transformation is too rapid, or enviornmental disasters occur. Such is the time in which we now find ourselves. As the roads clog with gas-guzzling SUVs and McMansions proliferate in the suburbs, the nation is once again asking fundamental questions about lifestyle. Has 'luxury fever,' to use Robert Frank's phrase, gotten out of hand? Are we really comfortable with the 'Brand Is Me' mentality? Have we gone too far in pursuit of the almighty dollar, to the detriment of our families, communities, and natural enviornment? Even politicians, ordinarily impermeable to questions about consumerism, are voicing doubts... [and] polls suggest majorities of Americans feel the country has become too materialistic, too focused on getting and spending, and increasingly removed from long-standing non-materialist values." —From the introduction by Douglas B. Holt and Juliet B. Schor




Touching Hearts, Teaching Greatness


Book Description

Coach Tom Krause is one of those teachers you never forget. His lessons in class or on the court stick with his students for life. Now this gifted instructor shares his inspiration and insights on the bigger game of life.In Touching Hearts, Teaching Greatness, Krause delivers his favorite stories and poems, many inspired by his students. Everything in this book comes from the heart, and readers can't help but be inspired, touched, and motivated by this rich material. From persevering to valuing others, facing fears to friendship, Krause shoots true.




Descending Into Greatness


Book Description

In a society where "upward mobility" is the highest goal, Bill Hybels asks a tough question: Do Christians place God's desires first-or their own? In Descending into Greatness, Hybels and writer Rob Wilkins take the example of Christ's downward journey as it was meant to be; the radical and essential answer for every Christian. In fourteen powerful chapters, the authors explore such topics as How Jesus managed power. The intentional decisions necessary to move down. The uplifting nature of true humility. Abundant life through dying to self. The ambush of joy. Moving down is never an easy matter that can be reduced to a formula. It involves a life committed to discipleship. Descending into Greatness introduces you to the touching stories of modern men and women committed to advancing the kingdom of God: from the pro football player, to the medical missionary, to a businessman wrestling with the priorities in the world of finance. Descending into Greatness asks tough questions and gives hopeful answers. Now, this powerful, urgent message also includes a discussion guide so that you can follow through, too. "Like Christ, we must descend-into self-abandonment, unconditional giving, sacrifice, and death to self. And, like Christ, we will then ascend-into fulfillment, blessing, joy, and purpose."




Consumer Tribes


Book Description

Marketing and consumer research has traditionally conceptualized consumers as individuals- who exercise choice in the marketplace as individuals not as a class or a group. However an important new perspective is now emerging that rejects the individualistic view and focuses on the reality that human life is essentially social, and that who we are is an inherently social phenomenon. It is the tribus, the many little groups we belong to, that are fundamental to our experience of life. Tribal Marketing shows that it is not individual consumption of products that defines our lives but rather that this activity actually facilitates meaningful social relationships. The social ‘links’ (social relationships) are more important than the things (brands etc.) The aim of this book is therefore to offer a systematic overview of the area that has been defined as “cultures of consumption”- consumption microcultures, brand cultures, brand tribes, and brand communities. It is though these that students of marketing and marketing practitioners can begin to genuinely understand the real drivers of consumer behaviour. It will be essential to everyone who needs to understand the new paradigm in consumer research, brand management and communications management.




So You Want to Work in Sports


Book Description

An essential resource offering career insight and practical advice from industry-leading sports professionals. In So You Want to Work in Sports, K. P. Wee has gathered invaluable first-hand perspectives from sports industry leaders with decades of experience in a range of fields, including broadcasting, sports management, journalism, scouting, marketing, analytics, and more. These seasoned professionals share their stories of how they got started in sports and the lessons they learned along the way. Wee shares how veteran sports radio reporter Ted Sobel deals with emotional athletes after a difficult loss; what broadcasters Chris King, Jeff Levering, and Steve Granado have to say about working in play-by-play; what advice Kris Budden has for conducting a quality interview; how respected baseball executive Andy Dolich got to where he is today, and more. Full of tips, advice, and inspiration for those wanting to gain a foothold in the competitive sports industry, So You Want to Work in Sports is an indispensable resource for students and young professionals alike.




Touching the Dragon


Book Description

“Jimmy Hatch is a personal hero of mine.” —Anderson Cooper “Irresistible. . . . A wounded SEAL’s shame becomes a salvation.” —J. Ford Huffman, Military Times James Hatch is a former special ops Navy SEAL senior chief, master naval parachutist, and expert military dog trainer and handler. On his fateful final mission in Afghanistan, his SEAL team was sent to recover Bowe Bergdahl—the soldier who deserted his post and fell into the hands of Al-Qaida and the Taliban. The mission went south, and Hatch was left with a shattered femur from an AK-47 round and the SEAL dog who fought alongside him was dead. As a result of his horrific leg wound, his twenty-four-year military career came to an end—and with it the only life he’d ever known. In Touching the Dragon, we witness his long road to recovery. Getting well physically required eighteen surgeries, twelve months of recovery, and learning to walk again. But getting well mentally would prove to be much tougher, as he fought through the depths of despair, alcoholism, and the pull to end his own life. What emerges is a different kind of hero’s journey, one in which Hatch shows the courage it takes to confess, confront, and overcome his own brokenness. Through the love of family, friends, and his military dogs, Hatch learned remarkable tools and found his purpose, and now he wants to share this wisdom with the rest of us because we all have wounds.




The White Rose of Langley


Book Description

Reproduction of the original: The White Rose of Langley by R.M. Ballantyne




The Vibe Q


Book Description

Presents twenty-four interviews done by VIBE magazine over the past fifteen years, featuring such celebrities as Tupac Shakur, Mary J. Blige, Colin Powell, and Michael Jackson.




Point B (a teleportation love story)


Book Description

"It's a doozie. Set in a science fictional universe where climate change is fixed but people get killed via teleportation, a young woman named Anna Huff has to navigate her adolescence and a murder mystery. It has a little bit of all the genres you love in combinations you've never imagined, and it's easily the funniest thing we've read this year so far." — GQ "Drew Magary's 'first posthumous novel' is so good. It's about big tech, weird futures, growing up, and, intriguingly for us, the absurdity of on-demand global travel." — Roads And Kingdoms When the corporate monolith PortSys brought porting to the masses, CEO Emilia Kirsch and her son Jason accomplished what every other startup company had failed to deliver. They really did change the world. They reversed climate change. They created a multitrillion dollar industry out of thin air, curing economic woes across the globe. They made it so that anyone could be anywhere simply by touching a screen… …including the man who murdered Sarah Huff. Now Sarah’s 17-year-old sister, Anna, is determined to hunt the bastard down. But there are a few problems. She doesn’t know who the killer is, or where in the world he may be at any given moment. Also, she’s stuck at prestigious Druskin Academy, where PortPhones are banned and any student who attempts to port off campus is immediately expelled. It gets stickier. Anna’s also fallen in love with her dazzling new roommate, who just so happens to be Emilia Kirsch’s daughter, Lara. The dean of students wants Anna dead, perhaps literally. And she has only two friends to confide in: one a reckless alcoholic and the other a bizarre fussbudget. Oh, and now she also needs to find Lara, who has mysteriously disappeared from campus. From the author of The Postmortal and The Hike comes his most deliriously entertaining novel yet. Point B is the story of one clever and occasionally determined young woman seeking both love and vengeance, but hardly ready for those two missions to intersect. It takes you to Vietnam, Hollywood, Singapore, Tokyo, inland Mexico, Oxford, the Maldives, Cuba, the coast of Northeast Australia, and ALL points beyond. You will find yourself plunged into a borderless, chaotic, oddly miraculous world that is ruled by a single bloodless corporation, and by a family determined to keep it that way. But PortSys never expected Anna Huff, and Anna Huff never expected love to make her this daring.