Adulthood is not an easy business. Not really. The moment you come of age, you're practically thrown into a completely different world in which you must be a mature person almost instantaneously. From love life to work environment, from friendships to behavior, from housing to daily stuff, this book will help you to get through this journey with lots of humor and personal experiences from yours truly.

"I never had a parent who shared such life changing stories with me"Brenda LLoris, CA.If you could have first hand information of decisions taken by others, their implications and consequences and how they resolved those consequences where possible, would you be guided by those lessons?This book delves straight into the lives of individuals and the hard lessons they got from their experiences.It will educate, inspire and motivate you.There are some of the stories that you can relate to, others you can learn from.To the majority of us, we will pick valuable lessons to help us in present situations as well as future scenarios we may find ourselves in. All in all you will receive strength to press on.Excerpts from the book: "there are thousands of good reasons why you should not take action, but you need to find one good reason why you should""not all activity is progress""It worked because I made it work. I found out how to make it work and I made it work.""Deadlines put a certain level of pressure on us to perform. Without these deadlines, we just do what we want at sometimes unacceptable paces""You see, a partner cannot demand what he cannot give. If I expect you to go one mile for me, it should mean I can or have gone one mile for you too""Partners are so called because they join forces to achieve a common goal. More often than not if there is nothing being worked towards, it becomes a boring exercise. ""You will not find many people who will go through your toughest time with you and still carry a smile. Bill is the kind who will walk into a room when all others are leaving just to stand in support of you."

With 30 idiot-proof instructions, this handbook is a smart, sassy rescue manual for the millions of readers who are still giving adulthood a trial run. 20 illustrations.

OVER 500,000 COPIES SOLD! “Most people spend far more time in preparation for their vocation than they do in preparation for marriage.” With more than 45 years of experience counseling couples, Gary has found that most marriages suffer due to a lack of preparation and a failure to learn to work together as intimate teammates. So he put together this practical little book, packed with wisdom and tips that will help many develop the loving, supportive, and mutually beneficial marriage they envision, such as: What the adequate foundation for a successful marriage truly is What to expect about the roles and influence of extended family How to solve disagreements without arguing How to talk through issues like money, sex, chores, and more Why couples must learn how to apologize and forgive Ideal for newly married couples and those considering marriage, the material lends itself to heart-felt, revealing, and critical conversations for relational success. Read this bookand you’ll be prepared for—not surprised by—the challenges of marriage. - Bonus features include: Book suggestions and an interactive websites to enhance the couples’ experience “Talking it Over” questions and suggestions to jumpstart conversations over each chapter Appendix on healthy dating relationships and an accompanying learning exercise

Featuring advice, wisdom, and observations from an array of prominent and beloved women, 30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She's 30 is an essential guide (and perfect gift) for women on the brink of thirty--and for those who are already there! Fifteen years ago, Glamour published a list of distinctive yet universally true must-haves and must-knows for women on the cusp of and beyond the age of thirty titled, "30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She's 30." It became a phenomenon. Originally penned by Glamour columnist Pamela Redmond Satran, The List found a second life when women began to forward it to one another online, millions of times. It became a viral sensation, misattributed to everyone from Maya Angelou to Hillary Clinton--but there's only one original list, and it stands the test of time. Quirky and profound, The List defines the absolute must-haves (#11: "A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra") and must-knows (#1: "How to fall in love without losing yourself") for grown-up female happiness. Now, Glamour magazine has gathered together its editors and an incredible group of notable women to expand on each of the items on The List in wise, thoughtful, and intimate essays. Kathy Griffin meditates on knowing when to try harder and when to walk away. Lisa Ling explores the idea that your childhood may not have been perfect, but it's over, and Lauren Conrad shares what she has learned about what she would and wouldn't do for money or love. Other personal insights come from Maya Angelou, Rachel Zoe, Taylor Swift, Katie Couric, Portia de Rossi, Kelly Corrigan, ZZ Packer, Bobbi Brown, Padma Lakshmi, Angie Harmon, and many more. Along with essays based on The List, writers share their feelings about what the milestone of turning thirty meant to them. 30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She's 30 is the one book women of all ages will turn to for timely and timeless wisdom.

A state-of-the-art weight-lifting and nutritional blueprint for "skinny" guys who want to pack on muscle Let's face it, naturally skinny guys are at a distinct genetic disadvantage when it comes to building muscle mass. But with the proper advice, these "hardgainers" definitely can realize their fitness goals. In Scrawny to Brawny, the authors draw on their years of practical experience as private strength and nutrition coaches to provide hardgainers with: • A progressive, state-of-the-art program that optimizes results with shorter, less frequent workouts that maximize compound exercises • A unique, action-based perspective on nutrition that shows how to prepare quick muscle-building meals and snacks-and how to take advantage of several critical times in the day when muscle growth can be stimulated by food intake • Vital information on how to identify and fix any weak links in their physiques that may be precursors to injury Designed not only for frustrated adult hardgainers but also--with its strong anti-steroid message--a terrific book for the large teen market, Scrawny to Brawny fills a significant gap in the weight-lifting arsenal.

With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.