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| chris gardner permission to dream: Start Where You Are Chris Gardner, Mim E. Rivas, 2009-05-05 “Gardner is encouraging us all to start where we are and dare to make our lives bigger and stronger, more satisfactory, and better. Chris Gardner is a knockout!” —Maya Angelou Chris Gardner’s astonishing memoir—the phenomenal New York Times bestseller, The Pursuit of Happyness, which inspired the film of the same name starring Will Smith—served as a shining beacon of hope for countless people. In Start Where You Are, “a book that teaches you how to transform the impossible into the possible” (Sidney Poitier), Gardner offers indispensible life lessons in getting from where you are to where you want to be. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: The Pursuit of Happyness Chris Gardner, Quincy Troupe, 2009-03-17 The rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father who went on to become a crown prince of Wall Street—the basis for the major motion picture starring Will Smith. At the age of twenty, Milwaukee native Chris Gardner, just out of the Navy, arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. Considered a prodigy in scientific research, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry-level position at a prestigious firm than Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him as part of the city’s working homeless and with a toddler son. Motivated by the promise he made to himself as a fatherless child to never abandon his own children, the two spent almost a year moving among shelters, “HO-tels,” soup lines, and even sleeping in the public restroom of a subway station. Never giving in to despair, Gardner made an astonishing transformation from being part of the city’s invisible poor to being a powerful player in its financial district. More than a memoir of Gardner’s financial success, this is the story of a man who breaks his own family’s cycle of men abandoning their children. Mythic, triumphant, and unstintingly honest, The Pursuit of Happyness conjures heroes like Horatio Alger and Antwone Fisher, and appeals to the very essence of the American Dream. “Gardner is honest and thorough as he solidly depicts growing up black and male in late twentieth-century urban America . . . a quality African-American/business memoir deserving a wider audience than its niche-market elements might suggest.” —Publishers Weekly |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Permission to Dream Chris Gardner, Mim Eichler Rivas, 2021-04-13 In the spirit of The Last Lecture, The Secret, and The Alchemist, this small book presents BIG ideas for turning your “one day” into today, including the generational transfer of a dream and a powerful blueprint for a masterpiece life—from the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir and major motion picture The Pursuit of Happyness. On a winter’s day, Chris Gardner set off with his nine-year-old granddaughter Brooke to find the harmonica of her dreams. The search sends them North “beyond the wall” into a foreboding Chicago neighborhood and, soon, on a harrowing adventure that will change both of their lives—and ours. Chris is still mourning the loss of his girlfriend to brain cancer. Her question haunts him: “Now that we know how short life can be, what will you do with the time you have left?” After five years, he feels an urgency—what he calls, “Atomic Time” in which every second counts—to find an answer, but is stuck. Even while giving Brooke permission to aspire to one day become President of the United States, he knows it’s time to reclaim his own permission to dream. Lost, Chris and his granddaughter board a bus, reminding him of earlier rides through dark times when dreams of a better life kept him alive. As the two wind through a changing cityscape, Chris reflects on past lessons that offer powerful guidance for dreaming your way to monumental success. At its heart, this book lays out a blueprint for building a dream-come-true life—even during uncertainty. Gardner delivers the secrets to achieving a prosperous career—from a method for identifying your ultimate dream to a playbook for becoming world class at it. His tools include the “new 3 R’s”—or the Rep, the Rap and the Rolodex—which reveal how to earn a stellar reputation, develop a rap for marketing yourself, and amass a Rolodex of rewarding relationships. No matter how much wealth you achieve, Chris notes, true success comes from enriching the lives of others—so all can still have access to the American Dream. Toward the end, Brooke observes that in Atomic Time it’s never too late for anyone to reinvent themselves and change their fortune. Chris, hearing her, realizes what his next pursuit will be—to go back to high school and give permission to dream to the next generation of problem solvers and change makers. A true fable, Permission to Dream is a timeless and timely manifesto for turning dreams into action—beginning right now. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Beautiful Jim Key Mim E. Rivas, 2009-10-13 The remarkable true saga of an exceptional animal—and the no less exceptional man who led him to greatness: “Seabiscuit had nothing on Beautiful Jim Key.” —Sacramento Bee Beautiful Jim Key—the onetime ugly duckling of a scrub colt who became one of the most beloved heroes of the turn of the twentieth century—was adored not for his beauty and speed but rather for his remarkable abilities to read, write, spell, do mathematics, even debate politics. Trained with patience and kindness by one of the most renowned horse whisperers of his day—former slave, Civil War veteran, and self-taught veterinarian Dr. William Key—Jim performed in expositions across the country to wildly receptive crowds for nine glorious years, smashing box office records, clearing towering hurdles of skepticism and prejudice, and earning the respect and admiration of some of the most influential figures of the era, from Booker T. Washington to President William McKinley. “Wonderful . . . a fascinating and touching book.” —Winston-Salem Journal “If Beautiful Jim Key were alive today, he’d have a movie deal.” —People “A classic. . . . a window into a lost world.” —Nashville Scene “Chronicles the adventures of a great horse and the men who loved him . . . engaging.” —Entertainment Weekly “Compelling . . . a vivid slice of Americana.” —Parade “Captivating.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Make It Reality Cris Abrego, 2016 From carrying camera gear on the sets of MTV's Road Rules, to pioneering the celeb-reality genre by creating such breakout hits as The Surreal Life and The Flavor of Love, and now as one of today's most prominent figures in the television industry-Cris Abrego's career has been nothing short of extraordinary. In Make It Reality, Abrego provides practical and motivating lessons collected from almost twenty years on the frontlines of television to help you realize there are no limits on what can be achieved. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: The Tanning of America Steve Stoute, 2011-09-08 The business marketing genius at the forefront of today's entertainment marketing revolution helps corporate America get hip to today's new consumer-the tan generation - by learning from hip-hop and youth culture. He is the conduit between corporate America and rap and the streets-he speaks both languages. -Jay-Z It's amazing to see the direct impact that black music, videos and the internet have had on culture. I've seen so many people race to the top of pop stardom using the everyday mannerisms of the hood in a pop setting. It's time to embrace this phenomenon because it ain't going nowhere! -Kanye West When Fortune 500 companies need to reenergize or reinvent a lagging brand, they call Steve Stoute. In addition to marrying cultural icons with blue-chip marketers (Beyoncé for Tommy Hilfiger's True Star fragrance, and Justin Timberlake for lovin' it at McDonald's), Stoute has helped identify and activate a new generation of consumers. He traces how the tanning phenomenon raised a generation of black, Hispanic, white, and Asian consumers who have the same mental complexion based on shared experiences and values. This consumer is a mindset-not a race or age-that responds to shared values and experiences, rather than the increasingly irrelevant demographic boxes that have been used to a fault by corporate America. And Stoute believes there is a language gap that must be bridged in order to engage the most powerful market force in the history of commerce. The Tanning of America provides that very translation guide. Drawing from his company's case studies, as well as from extensive interviews with leading figures of multiple fields, Stoute presents an insider's view of how the transcendent power of popular culture is helping reinvigorate and revitalize the American dream. He shows how he bridges the worlds of pop culture, brand consulting, and marketing in his turnkey campaigns offers keen insight into other successful campaigns-including the election of Barack Obama-to illustrate the power of the tan generation, and how to connect with it while staying true to your core brand. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Finding Fish Antwone Fisher, Mim E. Rivas, 2009-10-13 The author recounts his life from birth in prison to success in Hollywood in the New York Times–bestselling memoir that inspired the film Antwone Fisher. Baby Boy Fisher was raised in institutions from the moment he was born to a single mother in prison. He ultimately came to live with a foster family, where he endured near-constant verbal and physical abuse. In his mid-teens he escaped and enlisted in the navy, where he became a man of the world, raised by the family he created for himself. Finding Fish shows how, out of this unlikely mix of deprivation and hope, an artist was born—first as the child who painted the feelings his words dared not speak, then as a poet and storyteller who would eventually become one of Hollywood's most sought-after screenwriters. A tumultuous and ultimately gratifying tale of self-discovery written in Fisher's gritty yet melodic literary voice, Finding Fish “reads like a great work of fiction” (Denzel Washington). |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Angels Along the Way Della Reese, Franklin Lett, Mim Eichler, 1997 My life with help from above. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Rebounders Rick Newman, 2012 U.S. News & World Report journalist Newman examines the rise and fall--and rise again--of some of our most prolific and productive figures in order to demystify the anatomy of resilience. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: So Here's the Thing . . . Alyssa Mastromonaco, 2019-03-05 From the New York Times bestselling author of Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? comes a fun, frank book of reflections, essays, and interviews on topics important to young women, ranging from politics and career to motherhood, sisterhood, and making and sustaining relationships of all kinds in the age of social media. Alyssa Mastromonaco is back with a bold, no-nonsense, and no-holds-barred twenty-first-century girl's guide to life, tackling the highs and lows of bodies, politics, relationships, moms, education, life on the internet, and pop culture. Whether discussing Barbra Streisand or The Bachelor, working in the West Wing or working on finding a wing woman, Alyssa leaves no stone unturned...and no awkward situation unexamined. Like her bestseller Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?, SO HERE'S THE THING... brings a sharp eye and outsize sense of humor to the myriad issues facing women the world over, both in and out of the workplace. Along with Alyssa's personal experiences and hard-won life lessons, interviews with women like Monica Lewinsky, Susan Rice, and Chelsea Handler round out this modern woman's guide to, well, just about everything you can think of. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: A Father First Dwyane Wade, 2012-09-04 NBA star Dwyane Wade discusses the rewarding responsibilities of being a single dad to his two sons, Zaire and Zion and highlights of his basketball career-- |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Go Where There Is No Path Christopher Gray, Mim Eichler Rivas, 2022-08-23 For all who dare to go off the beaten track, this is the inspirational, power-packed playbook for transforming your life and your world--from a young, Black social entrepreneur whose dorm-room tech startup, Scholly, has helped millions pay for college and access unprecedented opportunity. Christopher Gray grew up in deep poverty in Birmingham, Alabama. An academic star, he had every qualification for attending a top college--except for the financial means. Desperate, Gray headed off the beaten path, applying for every scholarship he could find. His hustle resulted in awards of 1.3 million dollars and inspired him to create a startup called Scholly, an app that matches college applicants with millions of dollars in scholarships that often go unclaimed. As a senior at Drexel University, Gray appeared on Shark Tank and, in the most heated fight in the show's history, was challenged on whether his app was a charity or a profitable business. Both, he insisted, proposing a new paradigm for social entrepreneurship and netting deals from Lori Greiner and Daymond John. At the time Scholly had 90,000 users. Today the app has 4 million subscribers who have won scholarships totaling more than $100 million. Meanwhile, Gray has emerged as a tech startup superhero now tackling the crisis of student debt with innovative, unrivaled strategies. Gray's story is proof that when you create opportunities for others, you enrich the marketplace for yourself too. He shows us, we can carve out new paths to better days and leave trails for others. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Marianne Dreams Catherine Storr, 2014-06-03 'I could get in,' Marianne thought, 'if there was a person inside the house. There has got to be a person. I can't get in unless there is somebody there.' A powerful and haunting classic about a girl haunted by her own dreams. Ill and bored with having to stay in bed, Marianne picks up a pencil and starts doodling - a house, a garden, a boy at the window. That night she has an extraordinary dream. She is transported into her own picture, and as she explores further she soon realises she is not alone. The boy at the window is called Mark, and his every movement is guarded by the menacing stone watchers that surround the solitary house. Together, in their dreams, Marianne and Mark must save themselves . . . The perfect gift for children aged 8+, this well-loved classic will delight a new generation of readers of the Faber Children's Classics list. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: A Mother for All Seasons LP Debbie Phelps, 2009-05-12 The mother of the Olympic swimming champion shares the story of her life as a teacher, school principal, and single mother, from her childhood in a small, working-class town to raising her own children and seeing them succeed. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Woman Walk the Line Holly Gleason, 2021-10-05 Full-tilt, hardcore, down-home, and groundbreaking, the women of country music speak volumes with every song. From Maybelle Carter to Dolly Parton, k.d. lang to Taylor Swift—these artists provided pivot points, truths, and doses of courage for women writers at every stage of their lives. Whether it’s Rosanne Cash eulogizing June Carter Cash or a seventeen-year-old Taylor Swift considering the golden glimmer of another precocious superstar, Brenda Lee, it’s the humanity beneath the music that resonates. Here are deeply personal essays from award-winning writers on femme fatales, feminists, groundbreakers, and truth tellers. Acclaimed historian Holly George Warren captures the spark of the rockabilly sensation Wanda Jackson; Entertainment Weekly’s Madison Vain considers Loretta Lynn’s girl-power anthem “The Pill”; and rocker Grace Potter embraces Linda Ronstadt’s unabashed visual and musical influence. Patty Griffin acts like a balm on a post-9/11 survivor on the run; Emmylou Harris offers a gateway through paralyzing grief; and Lucinda Williams proves that greatness is where you find it. Part history, part confessional, and part celebration of country, Americana, and bluegrass and the women who make them, Woman Walk the Line is a very personal collection of essays from some of America’s most intriguing women writers. It speaks to the ways in which artists mark our lives at different ages and in various states of grace and imperfection—and ultimately how music transforms not just the person making it, but also the listener. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: O Beautiful Jung Yun, 2023-02-28 Jung Yun's O Beautiful is a mesmerizing and timely (New York Times) novel about a woman trying to come to terms with the ghosts of her past and the tortured realities of a deeply divided America. Elinor Hanson is struggling to reinvent herself as a freelance writer when she receives an unexpected assignment, a chance to write for a prestigious magazine about the Bakken oil boom in North Dakota. Elinor grew up near the Bakken, raised by an overbearing father and a distant Korean mother who met and married when he was stationed overseas. After decades away from home, Elinor returns to a landscape she hardly recognizes, overrun by tens of thousands of newcomers. Surrounded by roughnecks seeking their fortunes in oil and long-time residents worried about their changing community, Elinor experiences a profound sense of alienation and grief. The longer she pursues this potentially career-altering assignment, the more her past intertwines with the story she’s trying to tell, revealing disturbing new realities that will forever change her and the way she looks at the world. With graceful prose, Jung Yun's O Beautiful presents an immersive portrait of a community rife with tensions and competing interests, and one woman’s attempts to reconcile her anger with her love of a beautiful, but troubled land. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Rolling Warrior Judith Heumann, Kristen Joiner, 2021-06-15 As featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary Crip Camp, and for readers of I Am Malala, one of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her story of fighting to belong. “If I didn’t fight, who would?” Judy Heumann was only 5 years old when she was first denied her right to attend school. Paralyzed from polio and raised by her Holocaust-surviving parents in New York City, Judy had a drive for equality that was instilled early in life. In this young readers’ edition of her acclaimed memoir, Being Heumann, Judy shares her journey of battling for equal access in an unequal world—from fighting to attend grade school after being described as a “fire hazard” because of her wheelchair, to suing the New York City school system for denying her a teacher’s license because of her disability. Judy went on to lead 150 disabled people in the longest sit-in protest in US history at the San Francisco Federal Building. Cut off from the outside world, the group slept on office floors, faced down bomb threats, and risked their lives to win the world’s attention and the first civil rights legislation for disabled people. Judy’s bravery, persistence, and signature rebellious streak will speak to every person fighting to belong and fighting for social justice. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: The Beautiful No Sheri Salata, 2019-06-04 “Thursday morning. One hundred pounds overweight, no man in sight, and rounding the bend to 57 years old—a full-blown catastrophe.” What happens when you realize you’ve had the career of your dreams, but you don’t have the life of your dreams? This was the stark reality facing Sheri Salata when she left her twenty-year stint at The Oprah Winfrey Show, Harpo Studios and the OWN network. She had dedicated decades to her dream job, and loved (almost) every minute of it, but had left the rest of her life gathering dust on the shelf. After years of telling other people’s makeover stories, Sheri decided to “produce” her own life transformation. And this meant revisiting her past, excavating its lessons, and boldly reimagining her future. In these pages, she invites readers along for the ride—detoxing in the desert, braving humiliation at Hollywood’s favorite fitness studio, grappling with losses, reinventing friendships, baring her soul in sex therapy, and more. Part cautionary tale, part middle-of-life rallying cry, Sheri’s stories offer profound inspiration for personal renewal. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: No One Succeeds Alone Robert Reffkin, Benis Reffkin, 2021 The inspirational story of Compass CEO Robert Reffkin--born black and raised Jewish--and the vital lessons he learned to help him overcome life's daunting obstacles. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Priestdaddy Patricia Lockwood, 2017-05-02 ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR NAMED ONE OF THE 50 BEST MEMOIRS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS BY THE NEW YORK TIMES SELECTED AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: The Washington Post * Elle * NPR * New York Magazine * Boston Globe * Nylon * Slate * The Cut * The New Yorker * Chicago Tribune WINNER OF THE THURBER PRIZE FOR AMERICAN HUMOR “Affectionate and very funny . . . wonderfully grounded and authentic. This book proves Lockwood to be a formidably gifted writer who can do pretty much anything she pleases.” – The New York Times Book Review From Booker Prize finalist Patricia Lockwood, author of the novel No One Is Talking About This, a vivid, heartbreakingly funny memoir about balancing identity with family and tradition. Father Greg Lockwood is unlike any Catholic priest you have ever met—a man who lounges in boxer shorts, loves action movies, and whose constant jamming on the guitar reverberates “like a whole band dying in a plane crash in 1972.” His daughter is an irreverent poet who long ago left the Church’s country. When an unexpected crisis leads her and her husband to move back into her parents’ rectory, their two worlds collide. In Priestdaddy, Lockwood interweaves emblematic moments from her childhood and adolescence—from an ill-fated family hunting trip and an abortion clinic sit-in where her father was arrested to her involvement in a cultlike Catholic youth group—with scenes that chronicle the eight-month adventure she and her husband had in her parents’ household after a decade of living on their own. Lockwood details her education of a seminarian who is also living at the rectory, tries to explain Catholicism to her husband, who is mystified by its bloodthirstiness and arcane laws, and encounters a mysterious substance on a hotel bed with her mother. Lockwood pivots from the raunchy to the sublime, from the comic to the deeply serious, exploring issues of belief, belonging, and personhood. Priestdaddy is an entertaining, unforgettable portrait of a deeply odd religious upbringing, and how one balances a hard-won identity with the weight of family and tradition. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Toil & Trouble Augusten Burroughs, 2019-10-01 From the number one New York Times bestselling author comes another stunning memoir that is tender, touching...and just a little spooky. Here’s a partial list of things I don’t believe in: God. The Devil. Heaven. Hell. Bigfoot. Ancient Aliens. Past lives. Life after death. Vampires. Zombies. Reiki. Homeopathy. Rolfing. Reflexology. Note that 'witches' and 'witchcraft' are absent from this list. The thing is, I wouldn’t believe in them, and I would privately ridicule any idiot who did, except for one thing: I am a witch. For as long as Augusten Burroughs could remember, he knew things he shouldn't have known. He manifested things that shouldn't have come to pass. And he told exactly no one about this, save one person: his mother. His mother reassured him that it was all perfectly normal, that he was descended from a long line of witches, going back to the days of the early American colonies. And that this family tree was filled with witches. It was a bond that he and his mother shared--until the day she left him in the care of her psychiatrist to be raised in his family (but that's a whole other story). After that, Augusten was on his own. On his own to navigate the world of this tricky power; on his own to either use or misuse this gift. From the hilarious to the terrifying, Toil & Trouble is a chronicle of one man's journey to understand himself, to reconcile the powers he can wield with things with which he is helpless. There are very few things that are coincidences, as you will learn in Toil & Trouble. Ghosts are real, trees can want to kill you, beavers are the spawn of Satan, houses are alive, and in the end, love is the most powerful magic of all. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: An Invisible Thread Laura Schroff, Alex Tresniowski, 2012-08-07 A cloth bag containing eight copies of the title, that may also include a folder. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Becoming Dr. Q Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, 2011-10-01 Today he is known as Dr. Q, an internationally renowned neurosurgeon and neuroscientist who leads cutting-edge research to cure brain cancer. But not too long ago, he was Freddy, a nineteen-year-old undocumented migrant worker toiling in the tomato fields of central California. In this gripping memoir, Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa tells his amazing life story—from his impoverished childhood in the tiny village of Palaco, Mexico, to his harrowing border crossing and his transformation from illegal immigrant to American citizen and gifted student at the University of California at Berkeley and at Harvard Medical School. Packed with adventure and adversity—including a few terrifying brushes with death—Becoming Dr. Q is a testament to persistence, hard work, the power of hope and imagination, and the pursuit of excellence. It’s also a story about the importance of family, of mentors, and of giving people a chance. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Make Change Shaun King, 2020 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A captivating memoir of change. A hope-filled sermon for change. A tactical blueprint for how we can each make change. Make Change is all three and all the more towards an equitable and just world. --Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist Activist and journalist Shaun King reflects on the events that made him one of the most prominent social justice leaders of our time and lays out a clear action plan for you to join the fight. As a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement, Shaun King has become one of the most recognizable and powerful voices on the front lines of civil rights in our time. His commitment to reforming the justice system and making America a more equitable place has brought challenges and triumphs, soaring victories and crushing defeats. Throughout his wide-ranging activism, King's commentary remains rooted in both exhaustive research and abundant passion. In Make Change, King offers an inspiring look at the moments that have shaped his life and considers the ways social movements can grow and evolve in this hyper-connected era. He shares stories from his efforts leading the Raise the Age campaign and his work fighting police brutality, while providing a roadmap for how to stay sane, safe, and motivated even in the worst of political climates. By turns infuriating, inspiring, and educational, Make Change will resonate with those who believe that America can--and must--do better. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: The Second Chance Club Jason Hardy, 2021-02-16 A former parole officer shines a bright light on a huge yet hidden part of our justice system through the intertwining stories of seven parolees striving to survive the chaos that awaits them after prison in this illuminating and dramatic book. Prompted by a dead-end retail job and a vague desire to increase the amount of justice in his hometown, Jason Hardy became a parole officer in New Orleans at the worst possible moment. Louisiana’s incarceration rates were the highest in the US and his department’s caseload had just been increased to 220 “offenders” per parole officer, whereas the national average is around 100. Almost immediately, he discovered that the biggest problem with our prison system is what we do—and don’t do—when people get out of prison. Deprived of social support and jobs, these former convicts are often worse off than when they first entered prison and Hardy dramatizes their dilemmas with empathy and grace. He’s given unique access to their lives and a growing recognition of their struggles and takes on his job with the hope that he can change people’s fates—but he quickly learns otherwise. The best Hardy and his colleagues can do is watch out for impending disaster and help clean up the mess left behind. But he finds that some of his charges can muster the miraculous power to save themselves. By following these heroes, he both stokes our hope and fuels our outrage by showing us how most offenders, even those with the best intentions, end up back in prison—or dead—because the system systematically fails them. Our focus should be, he argues, to give offenders the tools they need to re-enter society which is not only humane but also vastly cheaper for taxpayers. As immersive and dramatic as Evicted and as revelatory as The New Jim Crow, The Second Chance Club shows us how to solve the cruelest problems prisons create for offenders and society at large. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: In the House of the Interpreter Ngugi wa Thiong'o, 2012-11-06 With black-and-white illustrations throughout World-renowned Kenyan novelist, poet, playwright, and literary critic Ng˜ug˜ý wa Thiong’o gives us the second volume of his memoirs in the wake of his critically acclaimed Dreams in a Time of War. In the House of the Interpreter richly and poignantly evokes the author’s life and times at boarding school—the first secondary educational institution in British-ruled Kenya—in the 1950s, against the backdrop of the tumultuous Mau Mau Uprising for independence and Kenyan sovereignty. While Ng˜ug˜ý has been enjoying scouting trips, chess tournaments, and reading about the fictional RAF pilot adventurer Biggles at the prestigious Alliance High School near Nairobi, things have been changing rapidly at home. Poised as he is between two worlds, Ng˜ug˜ý returns home for his first visit since starting school to find his house razed and the entire village moved up the road, closer to a guard checkpoint. Later, his brother Good Wallace, a member of the insurgency, is captured by the British and taken to a concentration camp. As for Ng˜ug˜ý himself, he falls victim to the forces of colonialism in the person of a police officer encountered on a bus journey, and he is thrown into jail for six days. In his second year at Alliance High School, the boarding school that was his haven in a heartless world is shattered by investigations, charges of disloyalty, and the politics of civil unrest. In the House of the Interpreter hauntingly describes the formative experiences of a young man who would become a world-class writer and, as a political dissident, a moral compass to us all. It is a winning celebration of the implacable determination of youth and the power of hope. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Will Will Smith, 2021-11-09 The instant #1 New York Times bestseller! “It's the best memoir I've ever read.” —Oprah Winfrey “Will Smith isn't holding back in his bravely inspiring new memoir . . . An ultimately heartwarming read, Will provides a humane glimpse of the man behind the actor, producer and musician, as he bares all his insecurities and trauma.” —USA Today Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had. Will Smith’s transformation from a West Philadelphia kid to one of the biggest rap stars of his era, and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, is an epic tale—but it’s only half the story. Will Smith thought, with good reason, that he had won at life: not only was his own success unparalleled, his whole family was at the pinnacle of the entertainment world. Only they didn't see it that way: they felt more like star performers in his circus, a seven-days-a-week job they hadn't signed up for. It turned out Will Smith's education wasn't nearly over. This memoir is the product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind. Written with the help of Mark Manson, author of the multi-million-copy bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Will is the story of how one person mastered his own emotions, written in a way that can help everyone else do the same. Few of us will know the pressure of performing on the world's biggest stages for the highest of stakes, but we can all understand that the fuel that works for one stage of our journey might have to be changed if we want to make it all the way home. The combination of genuine wisdom of universal value and a life story that is preposterously entertaining, even astonishing, puts Will the book, like its author, in a category by itself. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Frankenstink! Ron Lightburn, 2015-03-10 With vibrant and zany art, this is a book about garbage that transforms and mutates into a grotesque, greedy monster devouring everything in its path. Frankenstink! is sure to be a hit with kids who do not like to clean up. Is the monster who feeds on a mountainous salad of plastic and goo, fast-food leftovers and Styrofoam stew, real, a dream, or a warning of what is to come if we don't compost and recycle? Complemented by playful illustrations in a comic-book style. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: This is Me Chrissy Metz, Kevin Carr O'Leary, 2018 As Kate Pearson on the television show This Is Us, Metz presents a character that viewers see themselves in, no matter what they look like or where they come from. Now she shares her story, and shows how she has applied the lessons she learned from both setbacks and successes. She offers practical applications of her insights, blending love and experience. Metz encourages us all to claim our rightful place in a world that may be trying to knock us down, find our own unique gifts, and pursue our dreams. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: The Odd Woman and the City Vivian Gornick, 2015-05-19 A contentious, deeply moving ode to friendship, love, and urban life in the spirit of Fierce Attachments A memoir of self-discovery and the dilemma of connection in our time, The Odd Woman and the City explores the rhythms, chance encounters, and ever-changing friendships of urban life that forge the sensibility of a fiercely independent woman who has lived out her conflicts, not her fantasies, in a city (New York) that has done the same. Running steadily through the book is Vivian Gornick's exchange of more than twenty years with Leonard, a gay man who is sophisticated about his own unhappiness, whose friendship has shed more light on the mysterious nature of ordinary human relations than has any other intimacy she has known. The exchange between Gornick and Leonard acts as a Greek chorus to the main action of the narrator's continual engagement on the street with grocers, derelicts, and doormen; people on the bus, cross-dressers on the corner, and acquaintances by the handful. In Leonard she sees herself reflected plain; out on the street she makes sense of what she sees. Written as a narrative collage that includes meditative pieces on the making of a modern feminist, the role of the flaneur in urban literature, and the evolution of friendship over the past two centuries, The Odd Woman and the City beautifully bookends Gornick's acclaimed Fierce Attachments, in which we first encountered her rich relationship with the ultimate metropolis. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Bowie's Bookshelf John O'Connell, 2019-11-12 Named one of Entertainment Weekly’s 12 biggest music memoirs this fall. “An artful and wildly enthralling path for Bowie fans in particular and book lovers in general.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “The only art I’ll ever study is stuff that I can steal from.” ―David Bowie Three years before David Bowie died, he shared a list of 100 books that changed his life. His choices span fiction and nonfiction, literary and irreverent, and include timeless classics alongside eyebrow-raising obscurities. In 100 short essays, music journalist John O’Connell studies each book on Bowie’s list and contextualizes it in the artist’s life and work. How did the power imbued in a single suit of armor in The Iliad impact a man who loved costumes, shifting identity, and the siren song of the alter-ego? How did The Gnostic Gospels inform Bowie’s own hazy personal cosmology? How did the poems of T.S. Eliot and Frank O’Hara, the fiction of Vladimir Nabokov and Anthony Burgess, the comics of The Beano and The Viz, and the groundbreaking politics of James Baldwin influence Bowie’s lyrics, his sound, his artistic outlook? How did the 100 books on this list influence one of the most influential artists of a generation? Heartfelt, analytical, and totally original, Bowie’s Bookshelf is one part epic reading guide and one part biography of a music legend. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Anusual: Memoir of a Girl Who Came Back from the Dead Anu Aggarwal, 2015-07-18 Anusual is the story of Anu Aggarwal, the dusky Delhi girl who went to Bombay and became an international model, and then a star with her very first Bollywood movie, Aashiqui, only to chuck it all up and join a yogashram.Coming back to Bombay, she was involved in a horrifying car crash that put her in a coma for twenty-nine days. Miraculously, the girl who broke into a million pieces recovered, and put the pieces of her life back together, first taking sanyas and then returning to Bombay to teach yoga. This fascinating story of a woman's self-discovery, a near-death experience and amazing recovery is told in a straight-from-theheart, unbuttoned style, including details of the men in her life, from millionaire jet-setters to superyogis. In the end, as she says, love is all there is. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: The Stranded Whale Jane Yolen, 2015-07-16 Tender and heartrending, Jane Yolen’s clear-eyed tale of a child’s effort to rescue a beached whale evokes a fierce love of wildlife and a universal sense of loss. Sally and her brothers are walking home from school along the dunes in their Maine town when they come upon an enormous whale. He’s stranded on the beach. Her brother runs for help, and many people rally to respond, but the tide is going out quickly and the whale is just so big. Still, Sally is able to sit near the whale’s massive eye and tell him he’s beautiful and strong, and that she will miss him no matter what happens. Master storyteller Jane Yolen and illustrator Melanie Cataldo have created an authentic portrait of vulnerability that is at once spare, moving, and honest. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Superforecasting Philip E. Tetlock, Dan Gardner, 2015-09-29 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST “The most important book on decision making since Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow.”—Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal Everyone would benefit from seeing further into the future, whether buying stocks, crafting policy, launching a new product, or simply planning the week’s meals. Unfortunately, people tend to be terrible forecasters. As Wharton professor Philip Tetlock showed in a landmark 2005 study, even experts’ predictions are only slightly better than chance. However, an important and underreported conclusion of that study was that some experts do have real foresight, and Tetlock has spent the past decade trying to figure out why. What makes some people so good? And can this talent be taught? In Superforecasting, Tetlock and coauthor Dan Gardner offer a masterwork on prediction, drawing on decades of research and the results of a massive, government-funded forecasting tournament. The Good Judgment Project involves tens of thousands of ordinary people—including a Brooklyn filmmaker, a retired pipe installer, and a former ballroom dancer—who set out to forecast global events. Some of the volunteers have turned out to be astonishingly good. They’ve beaten other benchmarks, competitors, and prediction markets. They’ve even beaten the collective judgment of intelligence analysts with access to classified information. They are superforecasters. In this groundbreaking and accessible book, Tetlock and Gardner show us how we can learn from this elite group. Weaving together stories of forecasting successes (the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound) and failures (the Bay of Pigs) and interviews with a range of high-level decision makers, from David Petraeus to Robert Rubin, they show that good forecasting doesn’t require powerful computers or arcane methods. It involves gathering evidence from a variety of sources, thinking probabilistically, working in teams, keeping score, and being willing to admit error and change course. Superforecasting offers the first demonstrably effective way to improve our ability to predict the future—whether in business, finance, politics, international affairs, or daily life—and is destined to become a modern classic. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: The Media Book Chris Newbold, Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Hilde van den Bulck, 2002 The Media Book provides today's students with a comprehensive foundation for the study of the modern media. It has been systematically compiled to map the field in a way which corresponds to the curricular organization of the field around the globe, providing a complete resource for students in their third year to graduate level courses in the U.S. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: The Artist's Way Julia Cameron, 2020-11-05 Since its first publication, The Artist's Way has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert, Tim Ferriss and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron guides readers in uncovering problems and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to open up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron's most vital tools for creative recovery: The Morning Pages and The Artist Date. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. A revolutionary programme for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Raising Supaman Nathaniel A. Turner, Nathaniel a Turner J. D., 2014-01-11 In October 1994, Nathaniel Turner received news that left him petrified and ecstatic - he was going to be a father. Turner was inexperienced and unprepared. There was no guidebook on how to be a father. Determined to defy stereotypes and to be a great father, Turner created his own parenting manual. Raising Supaman is a collection of beautifully written letters Turner wrote to his son. The wonderfully loving letters established the relational legacy, provided instruction on being a great citizen, inspired his son to strive for excellence, and left a historical account of a parent's love. Raising Supaman is loaded with practical, insightful and useful tips to help parents. Raising Supaman encourages parents to be their best so that they can raise successful children. Whether you are dealing with the growing pains of a child or whether you are a attempting to inspire or motivate a child, Raising Supaman is a must read. If you've been looking for the answers: an instructional manual for great parenting, a tool to improve your relationship with your child and a guidebook that can inspire a child to consistently reach for the moon, Raising Supaman is just the book for you. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? Roz Chast, 2014-05-06 #1 New York Times Bestseller 2014 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST In her first memoir, New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents. Spanning the last several years of their lives and told through four-color cartoons, family photos, and documents, and a narrative as rife with laughs as it is with tears, Chast's memoir is both comfort and comic relief for anyone experiencing the life-altering loss of elderly parents. When it came to her elderly mother and father, Roz held to the practices of denial, avoidance, and distraction. But when Elizabeth Chast climbed a ladder to locate an old souvenir from the crazy closet†?-with predictable results-the tools that had served Roz well through her parents' seventies, eighties, and into their early nineties could no longer be deployed. While the particulars are Chast-ian in their idiosyncrasies-an anxious father who had relied heavily on his wife for stability as he slipped into dementia and a former assistant principal mother whose overbearing personality had sidelined Roz for decades-the themes are universal: adult children accepting a parental role; aging and unstable parents leaving a family home for an institution; dealing with uncomfortable physical intimacies; managing logistics; and hiring strangers to provide the most personal care. An amazing portrait of two lives at their end and an only child coping as best she can, Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant will show the full range of Roz Chast's talent as cartoonist and storyteller. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: Designing Writing Assignments Traci Gardner, 2008 Effective student writing begins with well-designed classroom assignments. In Designing Writing Assignments, veteran educator Traci Gardner offers practical ways for teachers to develop assignments that will allow students to express their creativity and grow as writers and thinkers while still addressing the many demands of resource-stretched classrooms. |
| chris gardner permission to dream: The Little Book of Big Lies Tina Lifford, 2020-11-05 An inspiring study in inner self care, told through 14 personal stories from award-winning actress Tina Lifford-- |
Any good fantasy and school appropriate book suggestions?
Aug 31, 2017 · A Series of Unfortunate events is a sequel by Lemony Snicket. The first book of the series is called The Bad Beginning. Will not do any spoilers for you as it is one of my …
Any good fantasy and school appropriate book suggestions?
Aug 31, 2017 · A Series of Unfortunate events is a sequel by Lemony Snicket. The first book of the series is called The Bad Beginning. Will not do any spoilers for you as it is one of my …
