Son of a middle-class Englishman, Robinson Crusoe takes to the sea to find adventure. And find it he does when on one of his voyages he is shipwrecked on a deserted South American island for thirty-five years. After scavenging his broken ship for useful items, he had only his skills and ingenuity to keep him alive as there was to be no one else on the island for the next twenty-four years. In the middle of that twenty-fourth year he rescued a native about to be eaten by cannibals who were using his island for a place of feasting. Crusoe named this man Friday, after the day of his rescue. Friday became his faithful servant and friend, even returning with him to England after their deliverance by an English ship. Listeners will enjoy Crusoe's determination for survival against all odds and admire the spirituality that gave him the strength to survive. A hero through the ages, he richly deserves the admiration that has endured over three centuries.

Millions of Christians have struggled with how to reconcile God's love and God's judgment: Has God created billions of people over thousands of years only to select a few to go to heaven and everyone else to suffer forever in hell? Is this acceptable to God? How is this "good news?"

Troubling questions--so troubling that many have lost their faith because of them. Others only whisper the questions to themselves, fearing or being taught that they might lose their faith and their church if they ask them out loud.

But what if these questions trouble us for good reason? What if the story of heaven and hell we have been taught is not, in fact, what the Bible teaches? What if what Jesus meant by "heaven," "hell," and salvation" are very different from how we have come to understand them?

What if it is God who wants us to face these questions?

Author, pastor, and innovative teacher Rob Bell presents a deeply biblical vision for rediscovering a richer, grander, truer, and more spiritually satisfying way of understanding heaven, hell, God, Jesus, salvation, and repentance. The result is the discovery that the "good news" is much, much better than we ever imagined.

Love wins.

• ISBN13: 9781426207556
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

In this expanded paperback edition of his New York Times bestseller, longevity expert Dan Buettner draws on his research from extraordinarily long-lived communities—Blue Zones—around the globe to highlight the lifestyle, diet, outlook, and stress-coping practices that will add years to your life and life to your years.

A long healthy life is no accident. It begins with good genes, but it also depends on good habits. If you adopt the right lifestyle, experts say, chances are you may live up to a decade longer. So what's the formula for success? National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner has lead teams of researchers across the globe to uncover the secrets of Blue Zones—geographic regions where high percentages of centenarians are enjoying remarkably long, full lives.

The recipe for longevity, Buettner has found, is deeply intertwined with community, lifestyle, and spirituality. You won't find longevity in a bottle of diet pills or with hormone therapy. You'll find it by embracing a few simple but powerful habits, and by creating the right community around yourself. In The Blue Zone, Buettner has blended his lifestyle formula with the latest longevity research to inspire lasting behavioral change and add years to your life.

Book Description
With the right lifestyle, experts say, chances are that you may live up to a decade longer. What’s the prescription for success? National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner has traveled the globe to uncover the best strategies for longevity found in the Blue Zones: places in the world where higher percentages of people enjoy remarkably long, full lives. And in this dynamic book he discloses the recipe, blending this unique lifestyle formula with the latest scientific findings to inspire easy, lasting change that may add years to your life.

You’ll meet a 94-year-old farmer and self-confessed "ladies man" in Costa Rica, a 102-year-old grandmother in Okinawa a 102-year-old Sardinian who hikes at least six miles a day, and others. By observing their lifestyles, Buettner's team has identified critical everyday choices.

Dan Buettner: Many Americans exercise too hard. The life expectancy of our species, for 99.9% of human history, was about 30 years. The fact that medicine has pushed life expectancy to age 78 doesn't mean our bodies were designed for three-quarters of a century of pounding. Muscles tear, joints wear out, backs go out. The world's longest-lived people tend to do regular, low intensity physical activity, like walking with friends, gardening and playing with their children. The key is to do something light every day.

I also think the trend toward isolation is a mistake. Drive down any American street at 9:00 pm and you can see the greenish glow of the television or the computer in people's window. We've become an increasingly isolated society. Fifteen years ago, the average American had three good friends. Now it's down to two. We know that isolation shaves good years off of your life. In The Blue Zones, I advocate reconnecting with your religious community and proactively building friendships with the right people.

Question: Is there something about the physical landscape that contributes to an area being a Blue Zone, or can people make their own personal Blue Zones, regardless of where they live?

Dan Buettner: Staying young and living long is mostly a function of your environment... and the good news is that to a great extent, we each have control over that environment. In the Blue Zones around the world, people live in places where walking is the main means of transportation, where the sun shines strong all year long so they get enough vitamin D; where they have established social norms that bring people together in supportive groups or clubs. The Blue Zones book shows you how to take about two hours and set up your home, your social life and your work place to help you get up to 10 more good years out of life (and look younger along the way!).

Question: Are Blue Zones about living longer, or living better?

Dan Buettner: Both. The same things that get you to a healthy 100 get you there better. The Blue Zones offers a completely different way to think about longevity and youth maintenance. If you look at the Power9—the common denominators of the longest-lived people—you see that they tend to put their families first, they belong to a faith-based community and they know their sense of purpose. All of these behaviors are associated with 3-6 years of life (which is better than any diet can promise) and they're good years. In other words, the same Blue Zone tenets that will help you get to a healthy age 90 will help ensure those years are vital and enriching.

Question: If considering all nine habits at once seems overwhelming, what's the first step someone could take toward living a more enriching, longer life?

Dan Buettner: The good news is that the Power9 is an a la carte menu: by no means do you have to do all nine to gain more good years out of life. In fact, do six of them and get about 90% of the benefit. The most important thing you can do is building your own Right Tribe. Which is to say, all of the world's longest-lived people were born into, or consciously chose to associate with, the right people. The Framingham Studies show us that if your three best friends are obese, there's a 50% better chance that you'll be obese. The reverse is true too. If you dine with people who eat healthy food, you're more likely to eat healthy food; if the friends you spend the most time with play a sport, you're more likely to join them. As your mother said, "You're known by the company you keep." You're also likely to resemble them.

This title suitable for ages 2 to 5 years. If Jesus lived inside our hearts, would it show? This delightful little story explores just that as the toddlers in the story learn to be kind and generous in a variety of situations. This is the third in a series of board books that parents can use as an introduction to Jesus and the ways in which we can have a personal relationship with him.

• ISBN13: 9780689823954
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. The author describes her experiences during World War II when she and her family were sent to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

I'm having a bad day. I've got OCD, I've been sat waiting to make an appointment for ages, and I've got a monstrous version of my Shadow sat next to me. I think this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Oh well everyone has problems.

I'd better get on with this insanity business.

The Girl Who Never Lived is narrated in the first person as the narrator finds himself going mad. Finding himself forced to deal with monstrous personifications of his own flaws and fears, he ends up delving deeper into a vicious world trying to find out why is here, and how he can make it go away. Faced with his own Shadow, long dead men, and Oblivion itself, he grows from a man outrunning the tragedy of his past into a confident if snarky hero. Willing to play along with the story, he begins to accept himself and face his past and find the girl who never lived.

The story has other plans and plenty of villains and monsters. Not all stories have a happy ending, even if the narrator wants one.

The Girl Who Never Lived is a novel of a dark world born inside the mind of an irreverent and unstable narrator. He shifts from honest horror to snide commentary. Even to the point disparaging his heroism. Faced with a story desperately adjusting to combat its own creator, The Girl Who Never Lived is the story of the battles a man faces in his own mind.

I'm having a bad day. I've got OCD, I've been sat waiting to make an appointment for ages, and I've got a monstrous version of my Shadow sat next to me. I think this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Oh well everyone has problems.

I'd better get on with this insanity business.

The Girl Who Never Lived is narrated in the first person as the narrator finds himself going mad. Finding himself forced to deal with monstrous personifications of his own flaws and fears, he ends up delving deeper into a vicious world trying to find out why is here, and how he can make it go away. Faced with his own Shadow, long dead men, and Oblivion itself, he grows from a man outrunning the tragedy of his past into a confident if snarky hero. Willing to play along with the story, he begins to accept himself and face his past and find the girl who never lived.

The story has other plans and plenty of villains and monsters. Not all stories have a happy ending, even if the narrator wants one.

The Girl Who Never Lived is a novel of a dark world born inside the mind of an irreverent and unstable narrator. He shifts from honest horror to snide commentary. Even to the point disparaging his heroism. Faced with a story desperately adjusting to combat its own creator, The Girl Who Never Lived is the story of the battles a man faces in his own mind.

This popular reader uses both primary and secondary sources to explore social history topics and sharpen students' interpretive skills. Each chapter includes one secondary source essay and several related primary source documents. Chapter introductions tie the readings together and pose questions to consider.

• ISBN13: 9780143039976
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate.

Visitors call seldom at Blackwood House. Taking tea at the scene of a multiple poisoning, with a suspected murderess as one's host, is a perilous business. For a start, the talk tends to turn to arsenic. "It happened in this very room, and we still have our dinner in here every night," explains Uncle Julian, continually rehearsing the details of the fatal family meal. "My sister made these this morning," says Merricat, politely proffering a plate of rum cakes, fresh from the poisoner's kitchen. We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson's 1962 novel, is full of a macabre and sinister humor, and Merricat herself, its amiable narrator, is one of the great unhinged heroines of literature. "What place would be better for us than this?" she asks, of the neat, secluded realm she shares with her uncle and with her beloved older sister, Constance. "Who wants us, outside? The world is full of terrible people." Merricat has developed an idiosyncratic system of rules and protective magic, burying talismanic objects beneath the family estate, nailing them to trees, ritually revisiting them. She has made "a powerful taut web which never loosened, but held fast to guard us" against the distrust and hostility of neighboring villagers.

Or so she believes. But at last the magic fails. A stranger arrives--cousin Charles, with his eye on the Blackwood fortune. He disturbs the sisters' careful habits, installing himself at the head of the family table, unearthing Merricat's treasures, talking privately to Constance about "normal lives" and "boy friends." Unable to drive him away by either polite or occult means, Merricat adopts more desperate methods. The result is crisis and tragedy, the revelation of a terrible secret, the convergence of the villagers upon the house, and a spectacular unleashing of collective spite.

The sisters are propelled further into seclusion and solipsism, abandoning "time and the orderly pattern of our old days" in favor of an ever-narrowing circuit of ritual and shadow. They have themselves become talismans, to be alternately demonized and propitiated, darkly, with gifts. Jackson's novel emerges less as a study in eccentricity and more--like some of her other fictions--as a powerful critique of the anxious, ruthless processes involved in the maintenance of normality itself. "Poor strangers," says Merricat contentedly at last, studying trespassers from the darkness behind the barricaded Blackwood windows. "They have so much to be afraid of." --Sarah Waters