How To Be Alive

“This is the book where self-help turns into helping the world—and then turns back into helping yourself find a better life. Fascinating and timely!”—Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet What does it take to achieve a successful and satisfying life? Not long ago, the answer seemed as simple as following a straightforward path: college, career, house, marriage, kids, and a secure retirement. Not anymore. Staggering student loan debt, sweeping job shortages, a chronically ailing economy—plus the larger issues of global unrest, poverty, and our imperiled environment—make the search for fulfillment more challenging. And, as Colin Beavan, activist and author of No Impact Man, proclaims, more exciting. In this breakthrough book, Beavan extends a hand to those seeking more meaning and joy in life even as they engage in addressing our various world crises. How to Be Alive nudges the unfulfilled toward creating their own version of the Good Life—a life where feeling good and doing good intersect. He urges readers to reexamine the “standard life approaches” to pretty much everything and to experiment with life choices that are truer to their values, passions, and concerns. How do you stop placing limits on your potential impact? How do you make your choices really matter in everything from your clothing purchases to your career? How do you find the people who will most support you in your quest for a good life? To answer these questions and more, Beavan draws on classic literature and philosophy; surprising new scientific findings; and the uplifting personal stories of real-life “lifequesters”—people who are breaking away from those old broken paths, blazing fresh trails, and reveling in every step along the way. “There is a movement afoot for a better life and Colin Beavan is its prophet, with a new book as powerful as his already classic No Impact Man.”—John de Graaf, coauthor of Affluenza

A radical revaluation of how contemporary society perceives death—and an argument for how it can make us happy. “He who would teach men to die would teach them to live,” writes Montaigne in Essais, and in How to Die: A Book about Being Alive, Ray Robertson takes up the challenge. Though contemporary society avoids the subject and often values the mere continuation of existence over its quality, Robertson argues that the active and intentional consideration of death is neither morbid nor frivolous, but instead essential to our ability to fully value life. How to Die is both an absorbing excursion through some of Western literature’s most compelling works on the subject of death as well as an anecdote-driven argument for cultivating a better understanding of death in the belief that, if we do, we’ll know more about what it means to live a meaningful life.

'Essential reading, not just for anyone struggling with mental illness, but for anyone who knows someone who needs support. That's all of us' Daisy Buchanan, author of *How to Be a Grown-Up 'An essential, wondrous WOW of a book' Sarah Knight, New York Times bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k It doesn't matter that you've lived in the shadows, that you've slept through years of your life, that you've done things you're shamed to admit even to yourself. It doesn't matter that you're an anxious mess with a shouty monster brain that keeps you from conforming to society's definition of normal. How to Come Alive Again is a relatable, honest, joyous and above all practical guide for anyone who has a mental illness – or anyone who knows and loves someone who does. Beth McColl shares what's worked for her and what hasn't, and what she wishes she'd known from the start: from advice on how get through a bad day to the truth about medication and what to expect from a partner. Here are the basics for mending your life, accepting yourself, and learning to live again.

"This firsthand account of Thornton's exploits that day and during the following three years he spent in captivity tells a tale of courage, cruelty, and compassion. His descriptions of combat are blood chilling, and his account of brainwashing is revealing and not without humor. First published in hardcover in 1981, this book earned Thornton high praise and brought his experiences to the attention of many Americans. In 1983 the book won the George Washington Honor Medal awarded by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge."--BOOK JACKET.

The ultimate survival guide from Bear Grylls, former Special Forces soldier and #1 world-renowned "King of Survival" (Outside) For more than a decade, Bear Grylls has introduced TV viewers to the most dramatic wilderness survival situations, through his hit shows such as Man Vs. Wild. Now, with How to Stay Alive, Bear reveals to readers his full toolkit of survival tactics, from everyday basics like avoiding blisters to once-in-a-lifetime events like surviving a kidnapping. Opening with the most essential survival skills—assembling your survival kit, making a fire, building a shelter—and then moving on to more specific situations, such as escaping fire, dealing with harsh terrain, and handling medical emergencies, Grylls is a sure guide for any type of disaster situation. Readers will learn how to survive in a life raft, land a helicopter in an emergency, treat hypothermia and frostbite, escape from quicksand, and numerous other lifesaving tips. Richly illustrated with diagrams throughout, How to Stay Alive will be the definitive outdoor survival tome for years to come.

What is it that keeps you from having the love you desire, the relationship you truly want? What is it that keeps your relationship from being lived to the fullest, from being filled with the utmost joy? How to Keep Your Love Alive will answer that question and show you how easy it is to have a healthy, happy lasting relationship once you learn and practice the laws of lasting love. Like the laws of gravity, these simple laws work unfailingly. If you jump off a building and expect to fly, you’ll find yourself crashing to the ground. If you undertake a relationship without following these laws, at one point or another, both you and the relationship can come crashing down too. This book shows you how to build your relationship on a firm foundation, so it can grow strong and tall. Filled with short, easy to understand chapters, you discover who you are, want you want and how to become your own best friend. You also find out more about your partner, what they truly need and want, and what makes them withdraw. Then you receive relationship tools - ways of solving stuck spots, healing misunderstandings, loneliness and pain. Once the relationship is established on a firm basis, this book shows how love grows, what keeps it strong, alive, and how to continually renew the romance and love. The chapters contains information, guidelines, tools and exercises. The exercises are simple and enjoyable and when you apply them to your life situation, amazing changes take place and soon you begin to experience the love you want. There is no problem that cannot be solved when you apply one of the tools or guidelines.

From one of our most celebrated contemporary writers, winner of the National Book Award and PEN/Faulkner Award: Ha Jin’s staggering story “Alive,” from the collection The Bridegroom. Tong Guhan is a regular businessman, husband, and father, trying to find a job for his daughter and an apartment for his son in rural China. He’s next in line to be Vice Director of the cannery where he works. One morning in late July he makes the eleven hour train trip from Muji City to Taifu, to conduct business for his company that he hopes will finally lead to a promotion and the easy life. The events that follow are nothing short of astonishing, as the very earth shifts under Guhan’s feet. This is Ha Jin’s moving, strange, captivating story of an earthquake and a common man, the ties of family and the powers of circumstance: the perfect introduction to an internationally acclaimed modern master. An eBook short.

"What is the combined weight of life and death? People are born, they get educated, work all their lives, make money, get married, have kids and get old. This is the cycle of life. What happens after that? Where is everyone’s life ultimately heading to? What is really out there? Is it created by God or the Big Bang? What is that one thing that is common to all of us, irrespective of nationality, religion, economic status and social standing? Brace yourself: you are still alive and reading this. We all are standing in the same long queue, waiting for our turn. Nobody wants to die; even the people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. We are all praying, but is He really listening? Even the people who pray everyday are going to die someday. What do they say about all this? Who is to blame for it? Is God behind all this? Is it even Him? What is the one thing that money cannot buy? Can vegetarians live forever by saving all the other animals? Why does life exist on earth? What is the driving purpose behind life? Did God create religion? Do all the good people really go to heaven? What if you don’t wake up alive tomorrow morning? It is the perfect time to find out... Are you ready to face the truth? The truth will set you free, But before that… it pisses you off!"