Travel through the life of an inner-city youth turned small-time gangster, suicide survivor, bipolar alcoholic/addict who survived the mean streets of Kensington, the Philadelphia section made famous by the Rocky movies. This real-life Rocky story shows the "roller-coaster ride" life of George McDermott as he squandered a pro soccer career twice before dealing with the demons of his addictions as well as the haunting memories of his mother's suicide. After returning from New York with a contract

Ace Backwards gives us our first real foray into the daily life of street people. Intended to be written as a how-to for anyone comtemplating or more likely thrust by circumstances into street life, it is an uncensored and candid look at an entirely different world that exists co-dependently with the one with which most of us are familiar. Ace himself admits that no book can teach you to survive the countless turbulent pitfalls awaiting you on the street - each street person's situation is unique. However, this book offers specific tips on street survival that worked - and some that didn't, which might be just as valuable for those who could learn from Ace's mistakes. For those of us who will never live on the streets, this book gives a brutally honest peek into an alien world from the eyes of a native.

“Ethnographically rich, these accounts come to life in beautiful prose. These are inspiring and at times heartbreaking stories of how people living in such difficult and dangerous circumstances find ways to survive, love and take care of each other. This will be a valuable contribution as well as a welcome counter to the more popular images of warzones as places of total immorality.”—Catherine Besteman, author of Transforming Cape Town

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

Examines the heritage of failure and shame in the lives of Henry James (1843-1916) and his father, his strategies for self- protection and vocational success in his A Small Boy and Others, the biographical consequences of his autobiography, and the divided messages he transmits in his subsequent book about his brother. Paper edition (unseen), $23.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

“When Gessen speaks about autocracy, you listen.” —The New York Times “A reckoning with what has been lost in the past few years and a map forward with our beliefs intact.” —Interview As seen on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and heard on NPR’s All Things Considered: the bestselling, National Book Award–winning journalist offers an essential guide to understanding, resisting, and recovering from the ravages of our tumultuous times. This incisive book provides an essential guide to understanding and recovering from the calamitous corrosion of American democracy over the past few years. Thanks to the special perspective that is the legacy of a Soviet childhood and two decades covering the resurgence of totalitarianism in Russia, Masha Gessen has a sixth sense for the manifestations of autocracy—and the unique cross-cultural fluency to delineate their emergence to Americans. Gessen not only anatomizes the corrosion of the institutions and cultural norms we hoped would save us but also tells us the story of how a short few years changed us from a people who saw ourselves as a nation of immigrants to a populace haggling over a border wall, heirs to a degraded sense of truth, meaning, and possibility. Surviving Autocracy is an inventory of ravages and a call to account but also a beacon to recovery—and to the hope of what comes next.

Discover the essential thinking tools you’ve been missing with The Great Mental Models series by Shane Parrish, New York Times bestselling author and the mind behind the acclaimed Farnam Street blog and “The Knowledge Project” podcast. This first book in the series is your guide to learning the crucial thinking tools nobody ever taught you. Time and time again, great thinkers such as Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett have credited their success to mental models–representations of how something works that can scale onto other fields. Mastering a small number of mental models enables you to rapidly grasp new information, identify patterns others miss, and avoid the common mistakes that hold people back. The Great Mental Models: Volume 1, General Thinking Concepts shows you how making a few tiny changes in the way you think can deliver big results. Drawing on examples from history, business, art, and science, this book details nine of the most versatile, all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making and productivity. This book will teach you how to: Avoid blind spots when looking at problems. Find non-obvious solutions. Anticipate and achieve desired outcomes. Play to your strengths, avoid your weaknesses, … and more. The Great Mental Models series demystifies once elusive concepts and illuminates rich knowledge that traditional education overlooks. This series is the most comprehensive and accessible guide on using mental models to better understand our world, solve problems, and gain an advantage.