Written with warmth, sensitivity, and insight, Crossing Paths shows parents how to get through the worst flash points of an adolescent-induced midlife crisis and how to make this time an opportunity for positive change.

Contributors include Cheryl Strayed, Carrot Quinn, Barney "Scout" Mann, Aspen Matis, Nicholas Kristof, Heather Anderson, Will "Akuna" Robinson, and many more Shares new stories over the last decade to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original PCT Readers Sidebars address some of the issues affecting the PCT today Includes a map of the PCT to follow along with the stories What’s it like to be a trail angel and can romance truly blossom from first meeting to marriage on the Pacific Crest Trail? How do trail names get bestowed and what does it mean when you find yourself roaring back at a mountain lion? How have climate change, technology, and the sheer number of hikers affected life on the PCT? Find the answers to all these questions, and so many more, in the diverse writings gathered in Crossing Paths, an anthology of stories and poems written by PCT hikers. Reflecting the contributors’ rich and varied individual experiences, this collection includes both ordinary and extraordinary experiences, from dodging lightning strikes on an exposed ridge south of Sonora Pass or surviving early fall snowstorms in the Cascades, to deeply personal walks-as-therapy following military service or cancer treatment. The selection represents geographic, gender, ethnic, and age diversity, and strives to reflect the totality and depth of life on the trail.

Each discussion contributes to a portrait of these three composers as musical storytellers, each in his own way simulating the structure of lived experience in works of art."--BOOK JACKET.

Most works of art, whether illustrative, musical or literary, are created subject to a set of constraints. In many (but not all) cases, these constraints have a mathematical nature, for example, the geometric transformations governing the canons of J. S. Bach, the various projection systems used in classical painting, the catalog of symmetries found in Islamic art, or the rules concerning poetic structure. This fascinating book describes geometric frameworks underlying this constraint-based creation. The author provides both a development in geometry and a description of how these frameworks fit the creative process within several art practices. He furthermore discusses the perceptual effects derived from the presence of particular geometric characteristics. The book began life as a liberal arts course and it is certainly suitable as a textbook. However, anyone interested in the power and ubiquity of mathematics will enjoy this revealing insight into the relationship between mathematics and the arts.

Neuropsychologist Offers Hope to Those Struggling with Depression As a board-certified neuropsychologist, Dr. Michelle Bengtson sees the devastation of depression. Early on, she practiced the most effective treatments and prescribed them for her clients. But when she experienced depression herself, she found that the treatments she had recommended were lacking. Her experience showed her the missing component in treating depression. In Hope Prevails, Dr. Bengtson writes with deep compassion, blending her training and faith, to offer readers a hope grounded in God's love and grace. She helps readers understand what depression is, how it affects them spiritually, and what, by God's grace, it cannot do. The result is an approach that offers the hope of release, not just the management of symptoms. For those who struggle with depression and those who want to help them, Hope Prevails offers hope for the future.

Merideth Bradley, a professional fundraiser, needs a job fast--the further from NYC the better. She takes a gamble on helping a British landowner keep his historic estate in private hands. Meri's concept of a cross-continental Georgian Ball pairs perfectly with the owner's fundraising plans, until the property abruptly falls to his heir, Robert. When Meri discovers Robert is the carefree climber from the local pub she's been sharing hikes and kisses with on weekends she feels betrayed. Again! And his unwillingness to take responsibility for the future of this special house and all those who depend on it incenses her. Forced to work with him while he decides the fate of the property she's come to love, she struggles against her own past mistakes, reluctant to accept Robert's effort to define what matters most to him in life. Can Meri and Robert ignore the power of their own attraction? Not when Meri's ex-lover arrives to blackmail her and a shocking catastrophe demands Robert and Meri make choices, for both the property and themselves. You can run but you can't hide.

Sri Ramakrishna is widely known as a nineteenth-century Indian mystic who affirmed the harmony of all religions on the basis of his richly varied spiritual experiences and eclectic religious practices, both Hindu and non-Hindu. In Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality, Ayon Maharaj argues that Sri Ramakrishna was also a sophisticated philosopher of great contemporary relevance. Through a careful study of Sri Ramakrishna's recorded oral teachings in the original Bengali, Maharaj reconstructs his philosophical positions and analyzes them from a cross-cultural perspective. Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual journey culminated in the exalted state of "vijñana," his term for the "intimate knowledge" of God as the Infinite Reality that is both personal and impersonal, with and without form, immanent in the universe and beyond it. This expansive spiritual standpoint of vijñana, Maharaj contends, opens up a new paradigm for addressing central issues in cross-cultural philosophy of religion, including divine infinitude, religious pluralism, mystical experience, and the problem of evil. Sri Ramakrishna's vijñana-based religious pluralism--when grasped in all its subtlety--proves to have major philosophical advantages over dominant Western models. Moreover, his mystical testimony and teachings not only cut across long-standing debates about the nature of mystical experience but also bolster recent defenses of its epistemic value. Maharaj further demonstrates that Sri Ramakrishna's unique response to the problem of evil resonates strongly with Western "soul-making" theodicies and contemporary theories of skeptical theism. A pioneering interdisciplinary study of one of India's most important philosopher-mystics, Maharaj's book is essential reading for scholars and students in philosophy of religion, theology, religious studies, and Hindu studies.