"Kociejowski draws on all these aspects of his life in these engaging, idiosyncratic personal essays ... [that] proffer the reader equal measures of autobiography, insight and quirky charm." —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post In the game of bocce, no matter how intensely you study the world's surface, there is always a chance an unseen pebble will knock your ball in an unexpected direction. In these essays, poet, antiquarian bookseller, and celebrated travel writer Marius Kociejowski chronicles serendipitous encounters with authors, manuscripts, and eccentrics, in which “the curious workings of fate” and “art's unbidden swerve” intervene to shift the course of fortune. Carried by keen wit, aphoristic prose, and a rich sense of characterization, and featuring chance meetings and comic misadventures with such figures as Bruce Chatwin, Zbigniew Herbert, and Javier Marías, The Pebble Chance is a sumptuous offering of belles lettres exploring the incandescent moments when skill and providence collide.

What If Your Biggest Challenges, Struggles, and Heartbreaks Were Actually Preparing You for Your Greatest Transformation... and Contribution to the World? Can your most difficult moments be the ones that shed the greatest light in your life? These courageous visionaries say YES! Join bestselling authors Lisa Nichols, SARK, Christine Kloser, and many other Transformational Authors from around the world as they share their own touching, amazing, and deeply inspiring true stories of their trials, triumphs, and ultimate transformations. In this third wave of Pebbles in the Pond, you'll connect with a diverse group of messengers whose stories are unique, yet whose messages have a common thread of inspiration, hope, healing, transformation, and new possibilities. As they share their straight-from-the-heart experiences, they invite you to discover how to transform your own challenges into the greatest gifts and blessings in your life. You'll also discover how one transformed life can cause ripples of good that expand out into the world - just like a "pebble in the pond." Our hope is that you'll also be inspired to discover what your pebble is so you can create a wave of positive change too! As you'll discover on these pages, it doesn't matter where you came from or what you've been through... you are loved and you do make a difference!

In 1859, Charles Darwin used chance to introduce random mutations and selection as the basis for his theory of evolution. Since then, chance has invaded every corner of scientific inquiry. French scientist Remy Lestienne argues that chance is a real creative force and cites scientific evidence for the presence of true chance in the world.

Join lovable little penguin Pebble as he sneaks away from an important family visit! Will Pebble realize that it's much more fun to be with his family than on his own? Children will love to spot Pebble, with his heart-shaped tummy, in each scene!

At fifteen years old, Abigail Costa might not know much, but there are three things she's absolutely certain of: Her grandmother, Nonna, is a superhero and she wants to be just like her one day. The world is round and she wants to see absolutely every inch of it. And she and Elliot Peterson will be best friends for life. After over a decade of getting up to no good together and spending every possible moment in one another's company, it seems impossible that anything could ever change. Enter: the new girl. With perfect blonde hair and a body to die for, she's everything Abbi never realised she wanted to be. And as she starts to notice that something isn't right with Nonna, she finds that some of her certainties aren't quite so certain anymore, and loneliness forces her to dig deep for a strength she never knew she had.

A study of the relationship between realism, probability and chance in eighteenth-century fiction.