Includes exercises in braille, flashcards and a wall cheat-sheet.

Start doing good research faster than you can plan your next pitch.

Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of prac­ticing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct com­plex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By complet­ing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the meth­ods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard key­board, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the sim­ple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Fig­ure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcompo­nents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accu­rate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chain­saws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.

No one in their right mind was going to mistake Cat Taylor for a cougar on the prowl, and after losing her husband, Clint, the man she knew was her one and only soul mate, she was determined to reconcile herself to spending the rest of her life alone and, according to her friends, not doing very well at it. But no one had told her best friend’s son, Finn, that that was the plan, apparently. When he suddenly decides to move back to the coast of Maine, having made what his mother described as buckets of money, he stubbornly sets his sights on her and refuses to back down. His mentor, Clint, wouldn’t have, either. He’d taken a lot of cues about how to handle her from him, the worst of which was the distinct tendency to haul her over his lap and reduce her to tears any time she did anything he didn’t like. But Cat struggles to believe he could be attracted to a woman who is about the same age as his mother, until he proves to her, in no uncertain terms, that he can singe more than just the nerves in her behind, and that, just perhaps, she is one of those lucky women for whom lightning strikes twice in a lifetime. Publisher's Note: This contemporary older woman/younger man romance contains a theme of power exchange.

This the autobiography of the singer, writer and broadcaster, Mal Pope. Mal was born in Brynhyfryd, Swansea, and as a teenager he sent a tape of songs he had written to John Peel on Radio 1 and was invited to perform on John's Sounds of the Seventies show. Six weeks later Mal was signed to Elton John's Rocket record company.

This collection of amusing quotes and pictures shows that being middle-aged can be fun, too The good news about mid-life is the glass is still half-full . . . The bad news is it won't be long before your teeth are floating in it! Take a trip down old-age lane with artist Sarah Boddy's witty and wry take on that thing we fear the most. Packed with humorous quotes and comical illustrations on the vagaries of turning older, being old, and everything in between, this book will help you to laugh, embrace, and learn to love the downhill ride of aging.

A bold, brain-based teaching approach to culturally responsive instruction To close the achievement gap, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement. Culturally responsive instruction has shown promise, but many teachers have struggled with its implementation—until now. In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction. The book includes: Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships Ten “key moves” to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners Prompts for action and valuable self-reflection