In No Beginning, No End, Zen master Jakusho Kwong-roshi shows us how to treasure the ordinary activities of our daily lives through an understanding of simple Buddhist practices and ideas. The author’s spontaneous, poetic, and pragmatic teachings—so reminiscent of his spiritual predecessor Shunryu Suzuki (Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind)—transport us on an exciting journey into the very heart of Zen and its meaningful traditions. Because Kwong-roshi can transmit the most intimate thing in the most accessible way, we learn how to ignite our own vitality, wisdom, and compassion and awaken a feeling of intimacy with the world. It is like having a conversation with our deepest and wisest self. Jakusho Kwong-roshi was originally inspired to study Zen because of zenga, the ancient art of Zen calligraphy. Throughout this book he combines examples of his own unique style of calligraphy, with less-known stories from the Zen tradition, personal anecdotes—including moving and humorous stories of his training with Suzuki-roshi—and his own lucid and inspiring teachings. All of this comes together to create an intimate expression of the enlightening world of Zen.

Swiss artist, architect, designer, typographer, and theorist Max Bill (1908 94) was one of the most important exponents of concrete and constructive art and a key figure in European applied arts and design history. Educated by such prominent teachers as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandisky, and Walter Gropius at the Bauhaus, at the start of his career in the 1930s. In the 1950s he teamed up with Inge Scholl and Otl Aicher to found the legendary Ulm College of Design in Ulm, Germany, of which he became the first director. In his work, Max Bill carried on the legacy of the Bauhaus, both as an artist and a teacher, and made a decisive and lasting contribution to twentieth-century cultural life. "Max Bill" accompanies an exhibition at the Museum MARTa Herford in Herford, Germany, held to mark the centenary of this exceptional artist. The exhibition displays Bill s wide-ranging work, and it also sets him in the context of his cultural milieu by featuring works by his contemporaries, such as Kurt Schwitters, Wassily Kandinsky, and Donald Judd. Accompanying essays investigate Bill s influence on other artists and the lasting importance of his oeuvre in the present."

While Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first hundred days may be the most celebrated period of his presidency, the months before the attack on Pearl Harbor proved the most critical. Beginning as early as 1939 when Germany first attacked Poland, Roosevelt skillfully navigated a host of challenges -- a reluctant population, an unprepared military, and disagreements within his cabinet -- to prepare the country for its inevitable confrontation with the Axis. In No End Save Victory, esteemed historian David Kaiser draws on extensive archival research to reveal the careful preparations that enabled the United States to win World War II. Alarmed by Germany and Japan's aggressive militarism, Roosevelt understood that the United States would almost certainly be drawn into the conflict raging in Europe and Asia. However, the American populace, still traumatized by memories of the First World War, was reluctant to intervene in European and Asian affairs. Even more serious was the deplorable state of the American military. In September of 1940, Roosevelt's military advisors told him that the US would not have the arms, ammunition, or men necessary to undertake any major military operation overseas -- let alone win such a fight -- until April of 1942. Aided by his closest military and civilian collaborators, Roosevelt pushed a series of military expansions through Congress that nearly doubled the size of the US Navy and Army, and increased production of the arms, tanks, bombers, and warships that would allow America to prevail in the coming fight. Highlighting Roosevelt's deft management of the strong personalities within his cabinet and his able navigation of the shifting tides of war, No End Save Victory is the definitive account of America's preparations for and entry into World War II. As Kaiser shows, it was Roosevelt's masterful leadership and prescience that prepared the reluctant nation to fight -- and gave it the tools to win.

Describes the latest events and trends in terrorism against the United States.

As a cardiologist, Dr. Terry Gordon dealt with life-and-death circumstances on a daily basis. He learned that life is precious and tenuous; it can change in an instant. Such a dramatic shift occurred when his son, Tyler, was involved in a car accident, sustaining a severe spinal-cord injury that left him paralyzed. Leading his family through the experience, Terry’s journey resulted in a spiritual awakening to a clearer understanding of life and the truths it has to offer. Terry has learned that our experiences become calamities only if we make the conscious decision to make tragedies out of them. Rather than lamenting the so-called adversities, we can choose to be grateful for them, embracing them as gifts from the Divine. These gifts provide fertile soil for growth and enlightenment, offering us the opportunity to transform turmoil, disappointment, and suffering into understanding, insight, and resolve . . . and such gifts are presented to you in No Storm Lasts Forever.

This story is written as it happens, on the road. Digital technology and dot-com know-how are in harmony with minimalist living. The result is salt-of-the-earth drama related on the fly through an internet journal, culminating in a series of captivating true stories. A winning combination of integrity and know-how, with a relaxing informal prose, become informative nonfiction that reads like a novel. This first book progresses from the shedding of a traditional lifestyle to discoveries made on their bicycle journey from Arizona, USA to Panama City, Panama. On bicycle, the Travises are exposed to the ground level of society, an experience few outsiders will ever know. Along the way, the Travises witness a religious pilgrimage in Chalma, Mexico, visited ancient Aztec and Mayan ruins, were attacked by an airplane spraying pesticides in Guatemala and saw alligators, scarlet Macaws and three-toed sloths in the jungles and cloud forests of Costa Rica. You can check on their location, catch up on the latest news, and view stunning photographs from their global bicycle tour at their extensive web site: http://www.downtheroad.org.