How Do You Know

Love asks different creatures, objects, and ideas what they know and each responds with quiet observations of how they shape and view their world.

Investigates the art of reading by examining each aspect of reading, problems encountered, and tells how to combat them.

“Like the YouTube channel, this is a touching yet informative guide for those seeking fatherly advice, or even a few good dad jokes.” — Library Journal

Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of prac­ticing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct com­plex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By complet­ing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the meth­ods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard key­board, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the sim­ple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Fig­ure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcompo­nents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accu­rate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chain­saws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.

Give your child a smart start with the revised and updated What Your Third Grader Needs to Know What should your child learn in the third grade? How can you help him or her at home? This book answers these important questions and more, offering the specific shared knowledge that thousands of parents and teachers across the nation have agreed upon for American third graders. Featuring sixteen pages of full-color illustrations, a bolder, easier-to-follow format, and a thoroughly updated curriculum, What Your Third Grader Needs to Know is designed for parents and teachers to enjoy with children. Hundreds of thousands of children have benefited from the Core Knowledge Series. This edition, featuring a new Introduction, gives today’s generation of third graders the advantage they need to make progress in school and to establish an approach to learning that will last a lifetime. In this book you’ll discover • Favorite poems—old and new, from the traditional rhyme “For Want of Nail” to Lewis Carroll’s whimsical poem “The Crocodile” • Literature—including Native American stories, African folktales, European fairy tales, classic myths from ancient Greece, stories from ancient Rome, and more • Learning about language—the basics of written English, including sentence structure, parts of speech, and a first look at writing a report or letter • World and American history and geography—journey down the great rivers of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, visit ancient Rome, and experience the earliest days of America with the Pilgrims and Native Americans • Visual arts—an introduction to masterworks by Rembrandt, Henri Matisse, Mary Cassatt, and others, with full-color reproductions and fun, do-it-yourself activities • Music—the fundamentals of appreciating, reading, and making music, plus great composers, instruments, and sing-along lyrics for songs such as “Bicycle Built for Two” and “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” • Math—stimulating lessons ranging from counting money to solving division problems, numbers through 100,000, graphs, and the metric system • Science—fascinating discussions on the natural world, the cycles of life, the human body and its systems, and the environment, with accompanying activities and stories about famous scientists such as Copernicus and Alexander Graham Bell

Why is there so much bipartisan bickering? Why are some folks so darned adamant about their political viewpoints? Should we all actually develop a political belief system? But who really gives a hoot about politics, anyways? Have the schools of this USofA adequately prepared our 18 year olds for one of the important privileges that they can now engage, namely to vote? And even after 18 years old, how and when does each of us actually become EXPERT at selecting our politicians? How can any one person know who to vote for, and does it really make any difference which way we vote? They say that if I don't vote then I have no right to complain about who we get in our government. But that doesn't make any sense, or is it just me? Some say that the MEDIA is biased, but how can that be? They just report the news, don't they? Why won't our government just do more to FIX things and to HELP people? What SHOULD our government REALLY do to help us solve our problems? I've even heard people talk about dark and strange conspiracy theories; about people who are so super rich and powerful, who plan things in secret, and that THEY are the REAL people in control in this world, playing us as if we're all just tokens on a game board ...

This enlightening work by renowned psychic Sylvia Browne contains the Gnostic tenets of her church, the Society of Novus Spiritus, and is a map of our charts regardless of what spiritual path we follow. It has taken many years of research to put together what at first seems simple tenets to follow, but in going deeper, this book carries within it the very heart of humankind’s search for our own spirituality. Sylvia has also included many details from her own personal journey, which she feels is comparable to the quest that each of us follows to find our own God-center. As we travel this road, we can realize that long-forgotten, yet simple and truthful goal of viewing our life on Earth as our path to God.