The Call Of The World

Two years after earning a business degree with honors from the University of Colorado, Trent Newcomer decides to abandon his corporate job, sell his car, and travel around the globe with nothing more than what he can fit in a small backpack. His goal is simple: experience all that the world has to offer so he can then be satisfied with settling down to a normal life. Over the next year and a half, the adventures that find Newcomer and the people he encounters teach him more about the world and his own place in it than he could have ever imagined. From having a gun pulled on him in Vietnam and being jumped by a gang of men while trying to change money on Kenya's black market to experiencing more near-death bus rides than he can count, Newcomer soon discovers that the journey itself is much more meaningful than checking items off a to-do list. Part travelogue and part memoir, The Call of the World is a candid and insightful account of the challenges and joys of backpacking solo around the globe, as well as one young man's journey of personal discovery. The Call of the World has been recognized as a Medalist (Travel Essay) in the 2009 Independent Publisher Book Awards, as well as a Finalist (Travel/Travel Guide) in the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

Bill Graham – Canada’s minister of foreign affairs and minister of defence during the tumultuous years following 9/11 – takes us on a personal journey from his Vancouver childhood to important behind-the-scenes moments in recent global history. With candour and wit, he recounts meetings with world leaders, contextualizes important geopolitical relationships, and offers acute observations on backstage politics. He explains Canada’s decision not to participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and makes a passionate case for why international law offers the best hope for a safer, more prosperous, and just world.

In 2009, Felicity Aston led a team of ‘ordinary’ women – some of whom had never even seen snow or slept in a tent before – on a 900 km skiing trek across the Antarctic, one of the toughest journeys on the planet. Despite eighty-mile-an-hour winds, deadly crevasses, frostbite and injuries, the expedition broke six World Records.

In "Modern Witchcraft's Call to Old World Magic: The Power of Ancient Practices in the 21st Century" by Lilith Silverwind, readers are invited on a transformative journey that bridges the mystical gap between the ancient traditions of witchcraft and their place in the modern world. This enlightening guide not only uncovers the historical roots and the evolution of witchcraft through the ages but also demonstrates how these time-honored practices can be adapted to empower our lives today. Silverwind masterfully weaves together the wisdom of the old with the realities of the 21st century, offering practical advice, rituals, and insights for those seeking spiritual growth, self-empowerment, and a deeper connection to the natural world. Whether you're a seasoned practitioner or new to the path of the witch, this book is a beacon of light, guiding readers to harness the power of ancient magic in our contemporary era.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die. "It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order." —Entertainment Weekly McCandess had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Not long after, he was dead. Into the Wild is the mesmerizing, heartbreaking tale of an enigmatic young man who goes missing in the wild and whose story captured the world’s attention. Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild. Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless. When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity, and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding—and not an ounce of sentimentality. Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.

Bullshit isn’t what it used to be. Now, two science professors give us the tools to dismantle misinformation and think clearly in a world of fake news and bad data. “A modern classic . . . a straight-talking survival guide to the mean streets of a dying democracy and a global pandemic.”—Wired Misinformation, disinformation, and fake news abound and it’s increasingly difficult to know what’s true. Our media environment has become hyperpartisan. Science is conducted by press release. Startup culture elevates bullshit to high art. We are fairly well equipped to spot the sort of old-school bullshit that is based in fancy rhetoric and weasel words, but most of us don’t feel qualified to challenge the avalanche of new-school bullshit presented in the language of math, science, or statistics. In Calling Bullshit, Professors Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West give us a set of powerful tools to cut through the most intimidating data. You don’t need a lot of technical expertise to call out problems with data. Are the numbers or results too good or too dramatic to be true? Is the claim comparing like with like? Is it confirming your personal bias? Drawing on a deep well of expertise in statistics and computational biology, Bergstrom and West exuberantly unpack examples of selection bias and muddled data visualization, distinguish between correlation and causation, and examine the susceptibility of science to modern bullshit. We have always needed people who call bullshit when necessary, whether within a circle of friends, a community of scholars, or the citizenry of a nation. Now that bullshit has evolved, we need to relearn the art of skepticism.