The Sum Of All Things

Have you ever had a moment that redefined everything you thought to be true about life, family, and faith? Derek L. Gray had such a moment in the fall of 2014, when he suffered a series of personal and professional setbacks that left him seeking answers to life's biggest questions. He was greeted by God and a host of spiritual guides more than happy to provide answers. In this book, he acts as a messenger of God, sharing what he learned over the course of two years. During that time, he spoke with angels, witnessed life hours after his birth, observed life before he was born, and crossed the veil to speak to his dad again. These amazing experiences-along with working side by side with his spiritual mother, Liese, and his spiritual guide, Harman, shape the life-changing messages in this book. If you've always been convinced that we can learn nothing more about God than what is written in the Bible, then open your mind to new ideas.

This book in the centrality of Jesus Christ in life and history is a compilation of messages given at mid-week meetings in Shanghai, China during the period of 1939-40 by the great Chinese pastor-teacher, Watchman Nee.

Have you ever wondered: Why Asians love "Hello Kitty"? What the tattooed Chinese characters really say? How to achieve feng shui for optimum make-out sessions? Where Asian cuties meet the white guys who love them? Then you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll realize this book is better than a Broadway production of Cats when you read scenes that include: twenty-something Lindsey Owyang mastering the intricacies of office voicemail and fax dialing an authentic Chinese banquet where Number One Son shows off his language skills by speaking "Chinglish" dating disasters with grandsons of Grandma's mahjong partners the discovery that the real China looks nothing like the pavilion at Disney World karaoke And all the while Lindsey is falling in lust with the "white devil" in her politically correct office. But will Grandma's stinky Chinese ointments send him running? Or will Lindsey realize that the path to true love lies somewhere between the dim sum and the pepperoni pizza?

How the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite, and how their consumer habits affect us all In today’s world, the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite. Highly educated and defined by cultural capital rather than income bracket, these individuals earnestly buy organic, carry NPR tote bags, and breast-feed their babies. They care about discreet, inconspicuous consumption—like eating free-range chicken and heirloom tomatoes, wearing organic cotton shirts and TOMS shoes, and listening to the Serial podcast. They use their purchasing power to hire nannies and housekeepers, to cultivate their children’s growth, and to practice yoga and Pilates. In The Sum of Small Things, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett dubs this segment of society “the aspirational class” and discusses how, through deft decisions about education, health, parenting, and retirement, the aspirational class reproduces wealth and upward mobility, deepening the ever-wider class divide. Exploring the rise of the aspirational class, Currid-Halkett considers how much has changed since the 1899 publication of Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class. In that inflammatory classic, which coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption,” Veblen described upper-class frivolities: men who used walking sticks for show, and women who bought silver flatware despite the effectiveness of cheaper aluminum utensils. Now, Currid-Halkett argues, the power of material goods as symbols of social position has diminished due to their accessibility. As a result, the aspirational class has altered its consumer habits away from overt materialism to more subtle expenditures that reveal status and knowledge. And these transformations influence how we all make choices. With a rich narrative and extensive interviews and research, The Sum of Small Things illustrates how cultural capital leads to lifestyle shifts and what this forecasts, not just for the aspirational class but for everyone.

Good gravy! Not only is washed-up minor league phenom Elmer Mulroy out in the very worst way, he’s still breezing around the same old no-tell. The one a way out where the high desert takes over and even Vegas’s blazing outskirts fade to black. The one where not even a naked showgirl and a pile of blow can kill the bitter taste of a shipwrecked dream. And we’re not talking to a degree; no, we’re talking every last staggering iota of him. As and sensible dust-to-duster might say, talk about going from bad to worse! Why, it’s gotten so a guy can’t depend on anything anymore, resting in peace included. There’s only one way to sort it all out now, though: nothing less than a pell-mell odyssey through a pretty darned checkered career, if not human history itself. And that’s without even mentioning all the real deadbeats a pretty irked spook is all but bound to bump into when it comes to strapping on the old snowshoes and embarking on anything that drastic.

The first book of the saga of The Runelords Young Prince Gaborn Val Orden of Mystarria is traveling in disguise on a journey to ask for the hand of the lovely Princess Iome of Sylvarresta. Armed with his gifts of strength and perception, Prince Gaborn and his warrior bodyguard stop in a local tavern along the way. Immediately, they spot a pair of assassins who have their sights set on Princess Iome's father. As the prince and his bodyguard race to warn the king of this impending danger, they realize that more than the royal family is at risk, the very fate of the Earth is in jeopardy. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • One of today’s most insightful and influential thinkers offers a powerful exploration of inequality and the lesson that generations of Americans have failed to learn: Racism has a cost for everyone—not just for people of color. WINNER OF THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, The Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ms. magazine, BookRiot, Library Journal “This is the book I’ve been waiting for.”—Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist Look for the author’s new podcast, The Sum of Us, based on this book! Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the financial crisis of 2008 to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a root problem: racism in our politics and policymaking. But not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out? McGhee embarks on a deeply personal journey across the country from Maine to Mississippi to California, tallying what we lose when we buy into the zero-sum paradigm—the idea that progress for some of us must come at the expense of others. Along the way, she meets white people who confide in her about losing their homes, their dreams, and their shot at better jobs to the toxic mix of American racism and greed. This is the story of how public goods in this country—from parks and pools to functioning schools—have become private luxuries; of how unions collapsed, wages stagnated, and inequality increased; and of how this country, unique among the world’s advanced economies, has thwarted universal healthcare. But in unlikely places of worship and work, McGhee finds proof of what she calls the Solidarity Dividend: the benefits we gain when people come together across race to accomplish what we simply can’t do on our own. The Sum of Us is not only a brilliant analysis of how we arrived here but also a heartfelt message, delivered with startling empathy, from a black woman to a multiracial America. It leaves us with a new vision for a future in which we finally realize that life can be more than a zero-sum game. LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL