“There's no writer alive like de Botton” (Chicago Tribune), and now this internationally heralded author turns his attention to the insatiable human quest for status—a quest that has less to do with material comfort than love. Anyone who’s ever lost sleep over an unreturned phone call or the neighbor’s Lexus had better read Alain de Botton’s irresistibly clear-headed new book, immediately. For in its pages, a master explicator of our civilization and its discontents explores the notion that our pursuit of status is actually a pursuit of love, ranging through Western history and thought from St. Augustine to Andrew Carnegie and Machiavelli to Anthony Robbins. Whether it’s assessing the class-consciousness of Christianity or the convulsions of consumer capitalism, dueling or home-furnishing, Status Anxiety is infallibly entertaining. And when it examines the virtues of informed misanthropy, art appreciation, or walking a lobster on a leash, it is not only wise but helpful.

Learn how acquisitions librarians successfully serve specialized users! In this book, you’ll find profiles, methods, and processes for acquisitions in specialized subject areas, such as local and regional poetry, oceanography, educational information in electronic formats, popular fiction, regional and ethnic materials, and more. Seasoned acquisitions librarians share their experiences in gathering the hard-to-find materials their libraries’ highly specialized clients need to access. You’ll also examine issues surrounding the acquisition of new reference tools that are vital in today’s emerging electronic environment. With Acquisition in Different and Special Subject Areas, you’ll examine: methods of ferreting out local and regional poetry—from Daniel Veach, editor/publisher of the Atlanta Review the acquisition process in a specialized institution devoted to oceanography—from Elizabeth Cooksey of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography how to acquire regional and ethnic materials for your library collection a practical guide to the acquisition of material from an African country (based on the author’s experience in the West African nation of Benin) acquisition of Web-based educational materials acquisitions in the expanding area of popular fiction an acquisition librarian’s mission to the multilingual nation of India, where she assessed the acquisition possibilities for the new India Studies program at Indiana University Special libraries can exist in corners of large public or university libraries or they can be independent. They can be large and populated by hundreds of staff, or very small, staffed by one person. The defining characteristic of a special library is that its clientele is specialized. Acquisition in Different and Special Subject Areas brings together the voices of acquisitions librarians serving a wide variety of fields to guide you through the acquisitions process in their areas of concentration. It is a book that no budding or experienced acquisitions librarian should be without!

This book describes the Interactive Method (IM) for teaching different abilities, special needs, and all learners. It involves hand’s-on techniques for retention of curriculum and the teaching of thinking; from the elementary through college years. Types of comprehension are defined along with how memory works. Chapters address types of special needs and defines the term and different abilities, in conjunction with creating lessons that result in memory acquisition and transference to personal success on tests or exams, as well as daily situations regarding experiential learning. Also offered are entry level means of instruction for developing a sense of self-confidence, efficacy, reliance and skills necessary for future learning challenges. In conjunction with this is the Reciprocal Thinking Skills Cognition to Metacognition Chart for identification and application of what one is thinking when engaged in the aforementioned IM. A few examples of this are provided through a listing and explanation of the values of this method, lesson objectives and application of these. Personal narratives are provided by teachers and/or parents of children with different abilities before the author’s closing comments respective of one’s being enough and practice of providing lift-up statements to encourage student learners in the academic and social cognition environments.

The first part of the book introduces the reader to what it is like to be a child who is different. The reader experiences how exceptional this is through Mia, who had a special different friend whom she loved spending days together with at school. As the story continues on, one day something dark happens, and Mia learns that she needs her mama to help her understand and cope with the grief of the tragic news. The middle of the story focuses on tough questions and the feelings that often come when someone experiences a life-changing event. Mia shows the different emotions we may go through after losing someone while also providing opportunities to express them through reflection, stopping and talking about our own experiences and comforting each other. The author includes the ideas of how diverse cultures have their own traditions of coping and cherishing the times we have had with a loved one. The story also shows how the concepts of faith in God, a parent's love, and the healing process of remembrance aid in managing the feelings and emotions that one feels. The author examines the importance of life's challenges and how it affects lives every day through uncertainty, which lingers at the beginning and end of life's journey. The story depicts how appreciating the importance of friendship, kindness, love and respect for someone who is different shows a caring sentiment. It opens the door to discuss a theme that can be hard to talk about with young children after the loss of a loved one. It encourages parents and children to be open about their feelings and emotions in times of a crisis and that unforeseen conditions sometimes visit us suddenly in life. At the end of the story, the author explains these occurrences through the memories of the ones who had and lost a special different friend and how empathy and compassion through this tough time empowered healing.

Every parent dreams of having a happy, healthy child. What happens when these dreams are shattered by a physical or cognitive disability? A Different Kind of Perfect offers comfort, consolation, and wisdom from parents who have been there—and are finding their way through. The writings collected here are grouped into chapters reflecting the progressive stages of many parents' emotional journeys, starting with grief, denial, and anger and moving towards acceptance, empowerment, laughter, and even joy. Each chapter opens with an introduction by Neil Nicoll, a child and family psychologist who specializes in development disorders.

A little boy brings his older brother, born with one hand, for show-and-tell. The students ask him all sorts of questions about how he does things with one hand and realize that he can do anything they can do, he just does it differently. Along the way, they notice that we're all different in one way or another, leading to the realization that not only are differences a similarity we all share, but, they are what make us unique - AND AWESOME!