A keen athlete in his late forties, philosophy professor Kevin Aho hadn’t given much thought to his own mortality, until he suffered a sudden heart attack that left him fighting for his life. Confronted with death for the first time, he realized that the things he thought gave his life meaning, such as his independence or his ability to plan his own future, were in tatters. Aho turned to those thinkers who have reflected deeply on the meaning of life and the anxiety of living when every heartbeat might be your last: the existentialists. Armed with insights from the likes of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Nietzsche, and de Beauvoir, he found new meaning and comfort in a view of life that strives for authenticity and accepts aging and death as part of what makes life worthwhile. Existentialism asks us to face the frailty of our existence and to live with a sense of urgency and gratitude toward its manifold beauties. It is only then that we can be released from patterns of self-deception and begin to appreciate what truly matters in our fleeting, precious lives.

Two Hearts, One Beat is a journey through an incredible time in my life from a time when clearly, I realized I was broken. Besides honoring my late wife, my goal was to introduce my daughters mom to her. The two only were together 2 days when she passed away from a brain aneurysm. While in the middle of writing the book, I realized how badly I was hurt, and more importantly, that I never stopped to heal from the pain of loss. When the book was completed, a huge weight was removed from my chest. I realized along the 20 years that have passed, I was an angry man, lashing out and caring little for many who entered my life. Writing this book was the most difficult, and most rewarding thing I have ever done. Though I would not wish anyone suffer a loss as my daughter and I have, I highly recommend writing down how you felt and what you currently feel as a means to move on. I sincerely hope you enjoy the read and welcome any comments. Thank you.

The heart is our most important organ and perhaps our most mysterious. Every day it pumps 9000 litres of blood and beats around 100,000 times. But the heart is more than just a pump. In all major human cultures, it is seen as the source of love, sympathy, joy, courage, strength and wisdom. Why is this so? Having witnessed the extraordinary complexity and unpredictability of human hearts in the operating theatre – each one individual in its make-up, like a fingerprint – heart surgeon Reinhard Friedl went on a search for answers. He examined closely the latest findings in neurocardiology and psychocardiology, and in The Beat of Life he shares his discoveries. In the tradition of Giulia Enders’ Gut and Norman Doidge’s The Brain That Changes Itself, he uses riveting personal stories to illustrate the complex relationship between the heart, the brain and the psyche. The Beat of Life ends with a plea: that we recognise the heart’s wisdom and adopt a more heart-centred way of living, which will lead to greater health.

From the outside, Julia and Michael seem to have it all. Both products of difficult childhoods in rural West Virginia, they become high school sweethearts. Now in their thirties, they're living a rarified life in a multi-million-dollar, Washington, D.C. home. Julia is a sought-after party planner and Michael has just sold his beverage company for $70 million. Then Michael collapses. Four minutes and eight seconds after his cardiac arrest, a portable defibrillator jumpstarts his heart. But in those lost minutes he becomes a different man. Money is meaningless to him and he wants to give it all away. Julia, who sees her life reflected in scenes from the world's great operas, has three weeks to make a choice: Walk away from the man she once adored, but who became a stranger to her even before this pronouncement, or give in to her husband's pleas for a second chance and a promise of a poorer but happier life?

An anthology of works by 27 women writers of the beat generation.

Letters to Lucky is a true story of a rescue dog that was adopted and transformed from a skittish and shy dog into the favorite dog on the block. As an artist, I painted our beagle on a mailbox and titled it 'Lucky's Fan Mail' . The children wrote letters and drew pictures to Lucky, which appear in the book. The book tells the story of what it means to belong and to be part of a family. The beautiful illustrations of Lucky's antics are entertaining, and there is a lesson included to ask before you pet a dog. There is also a surprise at the end of the book where the reader will have to go to the beginning and search for a hidden emblem in the illustrations. 'Letters to Lucky' It is written in verse format and makes it appealing to younger children, especially as a beginning reader option for those in early primary grades.