Choose The Life

What kind of life do you want for yourself? What choices will create this kind of life? In his New York Times bestseller Happier, positive psychology expert Tal Ben-Shahar taught us how to become happier through simple exercises. Now, in Choose the Life You Want, he has a new, life-changing lesson to share: Drawing on the latest psychological research, Ben-Shahar shows how making the right choices—not the big, once-in-a-lifetime choices, but the countless small choices we make every day almost without noticing—has a direct, long-lasting impact on our happiness. Every single moment is an opportunity to make a conscious choice for a happy and fulfilled life. Choose the Life You Want covers 101 such choices, complete with real-life stories, to help you identify and act on opportunities large and small.

You’re pro-life. But can you explain why? You already believe in choosing life. But when the counterarguments are coming at you from every angle—legal, biological, medical, ethical, moral, philosophical, and biblical—how do you defend the pro-life view? And as you defend it . . . how do you speak with wisdom, humility, and compassion? Now more than ever, the times call for a balance of truth and mercy. There are good, wise, and thoughtful rebuttals of every claim made by pro-abortion advocates. Collected here in one place, Choose Life offers you reasonable responses from leading experts in their respective fields. The authors are accomplished women and men from all walks of life. They’ll help you know what to say—and why to say it—when you’re faced with claims like: “The courts have already settled the issue.” “The fetus is not a person.” “My body, my choice.” “I shouldn’t have to raise an unwanted child.” “My circumstances justify ending my pregnancy.” “Abortions are helpful to women and society.” “The pro-life movement doesn’t care about social justice.” It’s time to set aside the strident fist-shaking and hurled insults. Learn to make the pro-life case with intelligent arguments and compassionate love—just the way a Christian should.

For Time magazine Toynbee was ’an international sage’ and certainly in the same bracket as ‘Einstein, Schweitzer or Bertrand Russell’. Daisaku Ikeda is a figure of global stature, the spiritual leader of a worldwide lay Buddhist organization devoted to the promotion of education, culture and peace. Between 1972 and 1974 Toynbee and Ikeda discussed many of the vital issues which confronted their societies in the early 1970s, all of which remain current and significant. Indeed, topics such as the problems of pollution, dwindling natural resources, conflict and war, the role of religion, and population growth, are even more pressing than they were thirty years ago. In this influential and inspiring volume, which records their wide-ranging conversations, the challenge issued by both men is framed as follows: will humankind choose to salvage its destiny by a revolution in thinking and morals? Or will disaster ensue if it pursues its present course towards self-destruction and the despoliation of the environment? While recognizing that our survival is threatened by the imbalance between human immaturity and technological achievement, the optimistic message of this classic dialogue is that man-made evils have a man-made cure.

This recently discovered and very timely 1970 Massey Lectures by Nobel Prize-winning scientist George Wald, now in print for the first time ever. Where did we come from, who are we, and what is to become of us — these questions have never been more urgent. Then, as now, the world is facing major political and social upheaval, from overpopulation to nuclear warfare to environmental degradation and the uses and abuses of technology. Using scientific fact as metaphor, Nobel Prize–winning scientist George Wald meditates on our place, and role, on Earth and in the universe. He urges us to therefore choose life — to invest in our capabilities as human beings, to heed the warnings of our own self-destruction, and above all to honour our humanity.

Much more than transgressional entertainment, Irvine Welsh's book Trainspotting and its derivatives is a window into the social mayhem that was everyday life in one of the most deprived areas in 1980s Britain. Thatcherism. Greed. Poverty. Heroin. HIV. Disenfranchised youth. In the back garden of posh, prosperous Edinburgh, Leith had the lot. For 20 years, Bell has interpreted Trainspotting on the streets of Leith for locals, tourists, aficionados and academics. In this book, a critical analysis of Trainspotting – the book, the play, and the film – he splices well-researched erudition with street-level wisdom and lived-experience testimony to tell the story behind the story. This new edition refocuses Trainspotting as a creative chronicle of the early years of the ongoing and uniquely Scottish drug death culture.

This unique set of daily readings from bestselling author Simon Guillebaud encourages the reader to live the Christian life without compromise and without restraint; to live on full throttle and with utter abandonment to Christ. Simon Guillebaud has lived in Burundi since his early twenties. He takes unimaginable risks so much so that he didn't expect to live to the age of 30. He sees miraculous results time and again as he works tirelessly for the salvation, peace and prosperity of the country he loves and daily gives his life for. Burundi is a place where choices are vivid, stark and sometimes deadly. It is a front line state in a fragile democracy seeking to overcome a bloody past. The spiritual battle between the forces of light and the repressive power of the local witchdoctors is very real. It is in this context that Simon Guillebaud has learned the lessons he shares in this volume. Succinct and engaging, these daily reading cover a separate topic every day. The range is striking and profound as Simon shares the things he has learned through the council of the Holy Spirit. Those who engage with this unique devotional will be challenged and ultimately changed.

Though written thousands of years ago, the book of Deuteronomy is unmatched in its relevance for the affluent Western church of today. Moses' words were meant to equip God's people for living godly lives in a prosperous, pluralistic world. The cultural changes now taking place in our own social setting make the parallel between Israel and the church—and what Deuteronomy has to say—both pertinent and instructive. This New Studies in Biblical Theology volume offers a significant study of Deuteronomy that recovers this Scripture's vibrant message for the contemporary Christian community. Showing the major contribution that Deuteronomy makes to our understanding of the Bible as a whole, J. Gary Millar explores Deuteronomy's ethical teaching in the light of its most important theological themes: covenant, journey, law, the nations and human nature. His perceptive analysis reveals the power with which Deuteronomy calls God's covenant people, from ancient Israelites to modern-day Christians, to hear God's voice and do his will. Whether read for its critical study of Scripture or for its practical insights into living faithfully today, this book will be a valuable resource for school, church and home. Addressing key issues in biblical theology, the works comprising New Studies in Biblical Theology are creative attempts to help Christians better understand their Bibles. The NSBT series is edited by D. A. Carson, aiming to simultaneously instruct and to edify, to interact with current scholarship and to point the way ahead.