A gift book from Simple Truths
These beautifully produced books are designed to help reinforce what’s most important in your life or in your company. They were created in the belief that less is almost always more. Simple Truths wanted to create beautiful gift books that anyone can read in less than thirty minutes. Buy one today for someone special. They are only available in one place – online - so they are really unique. Simple Truths
Gr 9 and up.
John Francis is the founder and director of Planetwalk, a nonprofit environmental education organization. This book is about his quest to walk across the country, and taking a vow of silence after seeing the terrible effects of a 1971 oil spill in San Francisco Bay. The cover was the first thing about the book that drew me in.
When the struggle to save oil-soaked birds and restore blackened beaches left him feeling frustrated and helpless, John Francis decided to take a more fundamental and personal stand—he stopped using all forms of motorized transportation. Soon after embarking on this quest that would span two decades and two continents, the young man took a vow of silence that endured for 17 years. It began as a silent environmental protest, but as a young African-American man, walking across the country in the early 1970s, his idea of "the environment" expanded beyond concern about pollution and loss of habitat to include how we humans treat each other and how we can better communicate and work together to benefit the earth.
Through his silence and walking, he learned to listen, and along the way, earned college and graduate degrees in science and environmental studies. The United Nations appointed him goodwill ambassador to the world’s grassroots communities and the U.S. government recruited him to help address the Exxon Valdez disaster.
Was he crazy? How did he live and earn all those degrees without talking? An amazing human-interest story, with a vital message, Planetwalker is also a deeply personal and engaging coming-of-age odyssey—the positive experiences, the challenging times, the characters encountered, and the learning gained along the way.
These are such simple and quick questions. But, by taking the short time to answer them provides you with clarity, understanding, and allows your mind to see solutions to move you forward rather than getting stuck in the emotional aspects of the situation.
What is it that excites you, makes you smile and fuels your dreams? This is the question author Kevin Carroll urges children to contemplate in his new inspirational workbook, What's Your Red Rubber Ball?!: Discover Your Inspiration and Chase It for a Lifetime, co-published by Disney Press and ESPN Books. The book, which contains fold-outs, journal pages and self-discovery activities and features red rubber texturing on its cover, lands this month with a 100,000-copy first printing.
The genesis of the title is an actual ball that Carroll played with as a boy, which helped him discover his athletic ability and a passion for sports. That ball fueled Carroll's personal and professional dreams and, he insists, "it saved my life." Born in a Philadelphia suburb in 1958, he, along with his two brothers, moved in with their grandparents after their parents abandoned them. The local playground became what he calls "my sanctuary—a magical environment where my worries, shame and low self-esteem disappeared."
During 10 years of active duty in the Air Force, Carroll spent a good deal of time playing soccer. He went on to study sports medicine and worked as an athletic trainer for high school and college athletic teams, eventually becoming the head trainer for the Philadelphia 76ers. He then went to work for Nike, where he was responsible for inspiring employees. "It was my job to push their creativity and potential to the limit," he says.
From Mobile Entertainment: A Japanese printing company has debuted the first picture book on a cell phone, and hopes to have 50 titles available by September.
: Manners and Morals from Locke to Austen
by Jenny Davidson
This book offers fascinating insights into the politics of eighteenth-century manners.
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