A father and son's life-changing journey through Autism, adolescence and Africa. Inspiring, entertaining and a beacon of hope for those touched by autism. Life with a teenage boy on the autism spectrum has its challenges. Fourteen-year-old Sam is a world authority on Harry Potter but can't get to the corner store on his own. Sam's parents Dr James Best and Benison O'Reilly decide to think radically to help their son. They sell the family home to finance a six-month-long trip to Africa for James and Sam, in the hope that it will have far-reaching and life-changing results for Sam. Their plan is to take Sam a long way out of his comfort zone, so that he has to face new challenges and learn to navigate the completely unexpected - and that the exposure of all of these new experiences will help Sam grow emotionally and conversationally to achieve what he hasn't been able to in a familiar environment. The results were extraordinary and will give hope to many families dealing with autism. Sam's Best Shot is the moving and inspiring account of the amazing journey James and Sam took through the teeming cities and stunning landscapes of ten African countries - nerve-wracking and hugely challenging, but also transformative, fulfilling and entertaining. This is a father and son story like no other. 'James Best and his son travel across Africa in the search for nothing other than randomness and unpredictability. It presents as a travelogue with autism as a sub-plot but, in fact, it is a divine love story of a father and son who are bound together in the adventure of their lifetime.' Nicole Rogerson, CEO Autism Awareness Australia

A bold new theory of leadership drawn from elite captains throughout sports—named one of the best business books of the year by CNBC, The New York Times, Forbes, strategy+business, The Globe and Mail, and Sports Illustrated “The book taught me that there’s no cookie-cutter way to lead. Leading is not just what Hollywood tells you. It’s not the big pregame speech. It’s how you carry yourself every day, how you treat the people around you, who you are as a person.”—Mitchell Trubisky, quarterback, Chicago Bears Now featuring analysis of the five-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots and their captain, Tom Brady The seventeen most dominant teams in sports history had one thing in common: Each employed the same type of captain—a singular leader with an unconventional set of skills and tendencies. Drawing on original interviews with athletes, general managers, coaches, and team-building experts, Sam Walker identifies the seven core qualities of the Captain Class—from extreme doggedness and emotional control to tactical aggression and the courage to stand apart. Told through riveting accounts of pressure-soaked moments in sports history, The Captain Class will challenge your assumptions of what inspired leadership looks like. Praise for The Captain Class “Wildly entertaining and thought-provoking . . . makes you reexamine long-held beliefs about leadership and the glue that binds winning teams together.”—Theo Epstein, president of baseball operations, Chicago Cubs “If you care about leadership, talent development, or the art of competition, you need to read this immediately.”—Daniel Coyle, author of The Culture Code “The insights in this book are tremendous.”—Bob Myers, general manager, Golden State Warriors “An awesome book . . . I find myself relating a lot to its portrayal of the out-of the-norm leader.”—Carli Lloyd, co-captain, U.S. Soccer Women’s National Team “A great read . . . Sam Walker used data and a systems approach to reach some original and unconventional conclusions about the kinds of leaders that foster enduring success. Most business and leadership books lapse into clichés. This one is fresh.”—Jeff Immelt, chairman and former CEO, General Electric “I can’t tell you how much I loved The Captain Class. It identifies something many people who’ve been around successful teams have felt but were never able to articulate. It has deeply affected my thoughts around how we build our culture.”—Derek Falvey, chief baseball officer, Minnesota Twins

The Two Sams is a story of a Father and Son in the 1800's. The story follows each of their lives from birth to death. As the story of each man unfolds the reader will feel kinship to the people they meet. Most will have met people of the same caliber. Some are good and many are not so good. While each man has occasion to leave home in their teen years, the reader will marvel at how they find their way. Adventures with mountain men, a slave auction, buffalo hunts, famous lawmen of the west, facing down a bully bragger, feel the passion and desire for their women. In the century of the America we so proudly hail as the foundation of our civilization it was a hard and demanding time in our history. Life in the 1800's had few luxuries for frontier living. These men and their women with their courage, compassion and thoughtfulness helped to pave the way for us into the twentieth century. About the Author Francis M. (Frank) Worden was born in Oklahoma in 1930. He migrated to Tucson, Arizona, as a youngster with his family for the health of his mother. Growing up he became an avid student of the history of Arizona and America, especially the Civil War and the Western movement. He served seventeen and a half years in the National Guard of Arizona and Army Reserve, honorably discharged as a Captain. Frank has a deep admiration and love for his ancestors and the people who through courage, resourcefulness and hard work settled and developed this great nation. He lives in Tucson with his wife Beverly, is the father of five sons, a daughter, twelve grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. He owns a small business, race horses, is an outdoors-man and gun collector.

Dan Jenkins calls him “the greatest quarterback who ever lived, college or pro.” Slingin’ Sammy Baugh, who played for TCU and the Washington Redskins, single-handedly revolutionized the game of football. While the pros still wore leather helmets and played the game more like rugby, Baugh’s ability to throw the ball with rifle-like accuracy made the forward pass a strategic weapon, not a desperation heave. Like Babe Ruth, who changed the very perception of how baseball is played, Slingin’ Sam transformed the notion of offense in football and how much yardage can be gained through the air. As the first modern quarterback, Baugh led the Redskins to five title games and two NFL championships, while leading the league in passing six times—a record that endures to this day—and in punting four times. In 1943, the triple-threat Baugh also scored a triple crown when he led the league in passing, punting, and interceptions. Slingin’ Sam is the first major biography of this legendary quarterback, one of the first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Joe Holley traces the whole arc of Baugh’s life (1914–2008), from his small-town Texas roots to his college ball success as an All-American at TCU, his brief flirtation with professional baseball, and his stellar career with the Washington Redskins (1937–1952), as well as his later career coaching the New York Titans and Houston Oilers and ranching in West Texas. Through Holley’s vivid descriptions of close-fought games, Baugh comes alive both as the consummate all-around athlete who could play every minute of every game, on both offense and defense, and as an all-around good guy.

More golfers are looking to the mental side of the game to improve their performance. Unfortunately, many of the techniques and strategies advocated by the golf instruction industry have the opposite effect than intended. This book points golfers back towards the true source of well-being and high performance, both on and off the course.

Childhood memories of Joe Louis, Willie Mays, Lenny Moore, Johnny Unitas and several other sports icons are recalled in the idolizing mind of Freddie, a lifelong sports fan, who grew up in Western, North Carolina during the 1950s and 60s. The early careers of Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and O.J. Simpson, are written as personal narratives. The timeline spans five decades. Fanatical eyewitness accounts of sitting in the stands watching teenagers David Thompson, James Worthy, Eric Sleepy Floyd, and Michael Jordan are recalled and shared from the perspective of a tenacious sports fan. The early careers of Larry Bird and Earvin Magic Johnson are also recalled. Several associate Gastonia, NC Highland Junior-Senior High scholar athletes are highlighted. Florida State basketball coach Leonard Hamilton is one of the athletes. Leonard was a teammate of Sam Lowery a great Highland basketball players. Sam helped lay the foundation for James Worthy, Sleepy Floyd, Bubba Wilson, Daryl Armstrong and other NBA players. Sam died much too young. The closing chapter highlights wisdom and knowledge that should have been shared with the Sam Lowerys of the world.

For Sam Gildersleeve life on the boarding school planet was, without a doubt, the biggest source of his problems in his first thirteen years of existence. Then, on Sam's way back home to Earth for his winter break, everything changed. Unexpectedly, his ship came violently out of infinitspace and crash landed on an uncharted planet. It would stand to reason that Sam Gildersleeve, and just about any other thirteen year old, would have died in the most horrible of horribleness that horrible day. But he lived. Sam and his classmates suddenly found themselves stranded in a remarkable world where supervillains prospered and thirteen year old superheroes were made...