A Day In The Life Of Louis Bloom

A welcome return for Brendy McCusker.... Charles crafts with such a careful eye on the sparks that can fly-some of them charming, some witty, some downright menacing-between characters who don't happen to see eye to eye, or sometimes even to be operating in the same galaxy. Once again, it's hard to resist a hero who realizes, 'He just had a habit of opening his mouth and not knowing what was going to come out.'--Kirkus Reviews. "Charles's skillful depiction of the many sides of love and its strange bypaths lifts this clever novel well above the genre average."--Publishers Weekly. "Paul Charles is an outstanding author of crime fiction novels. They are models of character development and powerful observations of people the detectives meet."--Irish American News

“This book will challenge you to rethink your vision of a good life. With sharp insights and lucid prose, Paul Bloom makes a captivating case that pain and suffering are essential to happiness. It’s an exhilarating antidote to toxic positivity.” —Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife One of Behavioral Scientist's "Notable Books of 2021" From the author of Against Empathy, a different kind of happiness book, one that shows us how suffering is an essential source of both pleasure and meaning in our lives Why do we so often seek out physical pain and emotional turmoil? We go to movies that make us cry, or scream, or gag. We poke at sores, eat spicy foods, immerse ourselves in hot baths, run marathons. Some of us even seek out pain and humiliation in sexual role-play. Where do these seemingly perverse appetites come from? Drawing on groundbreaking findings from psychology and brain science, The Sweet Spot shows how the right kind of suffering sets the stage for enhanced pleasure. Pain can distract us from our anxieties and help us transcend the self. Choosing to suffer can serve social goals; it can display how tough we are or, conversely, can function as a cry for help. Feelings of fear and sadness are part of the pleasure of immersing ourselves in play and fantasy and can provide certain moral satisfactions. And effort, struggle, and difficulty can, in the right contexts, lead to the joys of mastery and flow. But suffering plays a deeper role as well. We are not natural hedonists—a good life involves more than pleasure. People seek lives of meaning and significance; we aspire to rich relationships and satisfying pursuits, and this requires some amount of struggle, anxiety, and loss. Brilliantly argued, witty, and humane, Paul Bloom shows how a life without chosen suffering would be empty—and worse than that, boring.

A welcome return for Brendy McCusker.... Charles crafts with such a careful eye on the sparks that can fly-some of them charming, some witty, some downright menacing-between characters who don't happen to see eye to eye, or sometimes even to be operating in the same galaxy. Once again, it's hard to resist a hero who realizes, 'He just had a habit of opening his mouth and not knowing what was going to come out.'--Kirkus Reviews. "Charles's skillful depiction of the many sides of love and its strange bypaths lifts this clever novel well above the genre average."--Publishers Weekly. "Paul Charles is an outstanding author of crime fiction novels. They are models of character development and powerful observations of people the detectives meet."--Irish American News

Surrounded by lush flowers and neurotic brides, Elly Jordan has carved out a sweet life for herself as the owner of Posies, a boutique florist in St. Louis. Not bad for a woman who drove away from her life two years earlier when she found her husband entwined with a redheaded artist. Sure, Elly has an embarrassingly beautiful best friend, a badly behaved sheepdog, and a sarcastic assistant she simply calls "Snarky Teenager," but overall her days are pleasantly uneventful. As a bonus, her new next-door neighbor just happens to be an unnervingly handsome musician who has an eye for curvy Elly. Just when she feels that she is finally moving on from her past, she discovers that an extravagant wedding contract, one that could change her financial future, is more than she bargained for. With the help of her friends, staff, and more than a few tasty sandwiches, Elly bravely agrees to take on the event that threatens to merge her painful history with her bright new life, and finds herself blooming in a direction she never imagined.

Sacagawea was only sixteen when she made one of the most remarkable journeys in American history, traveling 4500 miles by foot, canoe, and horse-all while carrying a baby on her back! Without her, the Lewis and Clark expedition might have failed. Through this engaging book, kids will understand the reasons that today, 200 years later, she is still remembered and immortalized on a golden dollar coin.

Vols. for 1929-1935 contain Minnesota Association of Insurance Agents. Official bulletin; Jan.-Apr. 1936, Minnesota Association of Insurance Agents. Bulletin; May 1936-Oct. 1938, Minnesota Association of Insurance Agents. Special bulletin.