On June 18, 2011, forty-eight hours away from death, Larry Booth received the gift of life. On that morning, after a six-hour operation at Stanford Hospital, Larry received a successful double lung transplant from a fourteen-year-old girl who had made the decision; she wanted to help people go on if she couldnt. What follows in these pages is a chronicle of the six-year struggle Larry endured to not only stay alive, but to also find the true nature of his disease. He went from doctor

Tuberculosis is an ancient disease, but it's not a disease of history. With more than a million victims every year - more than any other disease, including malaria - and antibiotic resistance now found in every country worldwide, tuberculosis is once again proving itself to be one of the smartest killers humanity has ever faced. But it's hardly surprising considering how long it's had to hone its skills. Forty-thousand years ago, our ancestors set off from the cradle of civilisation on their journey towards populating the planet. Tuberculosis hitched a lift and came with us, and it's been there ever since; waiting, watching, and learning. In The Robber of Youth, Kathryn Lougheed, a former TB research scientist, tells the story of how tuberculosis and humanity have grown up together, with each being shaped by the other in more ways than you could imagine. This relationship between man and microbe has spanned many millennia and has left its mark on both species. We can see evidence of its constant shadow in our genes; in the bones of the ancient dead; in art, music and literature. Tuberculosis has shaped societies -- and it continues to do so today.The organism responsible for TB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has had plenty of time to adapt to its chosen habitat - human lungs - and has learnt through natural selection to be an almost perfect pathogen. Using our own immune cells as a Trojan Horse to aid its spread, it's come up with clever ways to avoid being killed by antibiotics. But patience has been its biggest lesson -- the bacterium can enter into a latent state when times are tough, only to come back to life when a host's immune system can no longer put up a fight. Today, more than one million people die of the disease every year and around one-third of the world's population are believed to be infected. That's more than two billion people. Throw in the compounding problems of drug resistance, the HIV epidemic and poverty, and it's clear that tuberculosis remains one of the most serious problems in world medicine. The Robber of Youth follows the history of TB through the ages, from its time as an infection of hunter-gatherers to the first human villages, which set it up with everything it needed to become the monstrous disease it is today, through to the perils of industrialisation and urbanisation. It goes on to look at the latest research in fighting the disease, with stories of modern scientific research, interviews doctors on the frontline treating the disease, and the personal experiences of those affected by TB.

Catching Your Breath in Grief ...and grace will lead you home is a one-of-a-kind, heart-to-heart invitation to reflect on essential realities of life, deep human needs in soul and spirit, agonies of loss, and the hope and meaning possible in dark times. Written by Thomas Attig, a leading scholar in the field of death, dying, and bereavement, it is a remarkably accessible, even lyrical, treatment of profound truths from philosophy, depth psychology, and spirituality. Its combination of engaging text and uncannily matched, exquisite photographs is unique. As the author reflects on aspects of a universal story whose themes thread through the world's great spiritual and religious traditions, he invites readers to join in wondering about their own personal losses, loves, and lives. And he guides them in seeking hopeful paths to walk in the next chapters of their own life stories. About the Author: THOMAS ATTIG, PhD, is an applied philosopher and author of "How We Grieve: Relearning the World" (revised edition, 2011) and "The Heart of Grief: Death and the Search for Lasting Love" (2000), both published by Oxford University Press. A Past President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from The International Network on Personal Meaning, Tom Attig now lives in Victoria, British Columbia where he continues writing and teaching on-line. He invites you to visit his web site at www.griefsheart.com. About the Photographer: WILLIAM RATHJE, PhD (1945-2012), was a renowned archaeologist best known for The Garbage Project, using archaeological methods to mine landfills for insight into contemporary culture. His photos appeared in National Geographic, Natural History, and Shambala Sun. He photographed the natural world to provide vivid emotional connections with the assimilation of life's ups and downs. See "Remembering Bill" at www.griefsheart.com.

"NOOOOOOO! I don't want to go to the pool. What if . . . the water is too cold?" says Holly. Holly the hippo imagines the worst: icebergs and icy water, penguins and seals! Her imagination bursts at every turn, making it harder and harder for her to step foot in the pool. Until she get the chance to be a hero. Holly may be scared, but she is a very brave girl.

Breath . . . it inspires so many silly sayings.Let me catch my breath.You take my breath away.I need a breath of fresh air.And how did little white flowers come to be known as Baby's Breath?Breath is a mystery in more ways than one. And this story is all about breath: losing it, trying to find it, even trying to buy it. In the imagination of Paul Briggs, a boy's breath becomes personified, and it zooms away through farm, forest, and sea, returning only when the boy least expects it.