Susan McPherson

Jackie Ashton

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

California

Reclaim the power of genuine human connection Networking is often considered a necessary evil for all working professionals. With social media platforms like Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at our disposal, reaching potential investors or employers is much easier. Yet, these connections often feel transactional, agenda-driven, and dehumanizing, leaving professionals feeling burnt out and stressed out. Instead, we should connect on a human level and build authentic relationships beyond securing a new job or a new investor for your next big idea. To build real and meaningful networking contacts, we need to go back to basics, remembering that technology is a tool and more than just a means to an end. We need to tap into our humanity and learn to be more intentional and authentic. As a “serial connector” and communications expert, Susan McPherson has a lifetime of experience building genuine connections in and out of work. Her methodology is broken down into three simple steps: Gather: Instead of waiting for the perfect networking opportunity to come to you, think outside the box and create your own opportunity. Host your own dinner party, join a local meet-up group, or volunteer at your neighborhood food pantry. Ask: Instead of leading with our own rehearsed elevator pitches asking for help, ask to help, opening the door to share resources, experience, contacts, and perspectives that add diversity to your own vision. Do: Turn new connections into meaningful relationships by taking these newly formed relationships deeper. Follow through on the promises you made and keep in touch. Woven together with helpful tips and useful advice on making the most out of every step, this book draws on McPherson’s own experience as a renowned “serial connector,” as well as the real life success stories of friends and clients. Filled with humor, humility, and wisdom, The Lost Art of Connecting is the handbook we all need to foster personal and professional relationships that blur the lines between work and play—and enrich our lives in every way.

The Lost Art of Connecting: the Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Business Relationships

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Joshua Glenn

Elizabeth Foy Larsen

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Serious Fun for Everyone

UNBORED Games has all the smarts, creativity, and DIY spirit of the originalUNBORED ("It's a book! It's a guide! It's a way of life!" -Los Angeles Magazine), but with a laser-like focus on the activities we do for pure fun: to while away a rainy day, to test our skills and stretch our imaginations-games. There are more than seventy games here, 50 of them all new, plus many more recommendations, and they cover the full gambit, from old-fashioned favorites to today's high-tech games. The book offers a gold mine of creative, constructive fun: intricate clapping games, bike rodeo, Google Earth challenges, croquet golf, capture the flag, and the best ever apps to play with Grandma, to name only a handful. Gaming is a whole culture for kids to explore, and the book will be complete with gaming history and interviews with awesome game designers. The lessons here: all games can be self-customized, or hacked. You can even make up your own games. Some could even change the world.

The originalUNBORED has taken its place as a much beloved, distinctly contemporary family brand.UNBORED Games extends the franchise -- also includingUNBORED Adventure -- in a new handy flexibound format, illustrated in full color throughout. This is a whole shelf of serious fun the whole family can enjoy indoors, outdoors, online and offline.

UNBORED Games

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Susan Branch

Book is like new but the cover is missing

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

A tribute to the fall in the spirit of The Summer Book features simple recipes, decorating suggestions, and gift ideas inspired by the season, in a brightly illustrated guide that includes tips on celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Autumn from the Heart of the Home

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Timber Hawkeye

A Memoir

An inspirational and page-turning journey of a young man pursuit of happiness. Intrigued by what people believe, he's not necessarily against religion, but he doesn't think we need it in order to be ethical. Discover the difference between feelings and emotions, the disparity between truths and facts, and the countless benefits of mindful living.

Faithfully Religionless

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Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Preventing Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma in an Ever-Changing World: Updated + Expanded

How empathy can jeopardize a therapist's well-being. Therapist burnout is a pressing issue, and self-care is possible only when therapists actively help themselves. The authors examine the literature from neurobiology, social psychology, and folk psychology in order to explain how therapists suffer from an excess of empathy for their clients, and then they present strategies for dealing with burnout and stress.

Help for the Helper

How to Create a Culture That Cares for Kids

Children's lives today are complex, stressful, and dangerous. Kids are overscheduled, come home to empty houses and neighborhoods where they don't know a soul, and in school, face violence-all too often from their peers. In Stopping at Every Lemonade Stand, James Vollbracht provides a blueprint for transforming our unstable and disconnected culture into a healthier, supportive one. Vollbracht bases his approach on six overlapping circles of community-our personal circle, families, neighborhoods, larger communities, business worlds, and elders-and outlines simple actions within each circle that will help rescue our kids. Through a rich blend of heartwarming anecdotes and creative, practical strategies, Stopping at Every Lemonade Stand affirms the age-old wisdom that the power and responsibility to heal our communities rest in our own hands.

Stopping at Every Lemonade Stand

Susan Clark

Woden Teachout

Pencil markings on about 1/4 of the pages but not distracting from the text. 

Rediscovering Community, Bringing Decision Making Back Home

Reconnecting with the sources of decisions that affect us, and with the processes of democracy itself, is at the heart of 21st-century sustainable communities. Slow Democracy chronicles the ways in which ordinary people have mobilized to find local solutions to local problems. It invites us to bring the advantages of "slow" to our community decision making. Just as slow food encourages chefs and eaters to become more intimately involved with the production of local food, slow democracy encourages us to govern ourselves locally with processes that are inclusive, deliberative, and citizen powered. Susan Clark and Woden Teachout outline the qualities of real, local decision making and show us the range of ways that communities are breathing new life into participatory democracy around the country. We meet residents who seize back control of their municipal water systems from global corporations, parents who find unique solutions to seemingly divisive school-redistricting issues, and a host of other citizens across the nation who have designed local decision-making systems to solve the problems unique to their area in ways that work best for their communities. Though rooted in the direct participation that defined our nation's early days, slow democracy is not a romantic vision for reigniting the ways of old. Rather, the strategies outlined here are uniquely suited to 21st-century technologies and culture.If our future holds an increased focus on local food, local energy, and local economy, then surely we will need to improve our skills at local governance as well.

Slow Democracy

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Bradford Tatum

Some markings on top. Previous library book. Pages are clean. 

A Novel

"Classic horror buffs will race through this novel that blends historical fiction with uncanny elements of the gothic. A perfect read for Halloween." --BookPage

With Lon Cheney and Boris Karloff among its characters, this sweeping and stylish love letter to the golden age of horror cinema tells the wonderful, tragic story of Maddy Ulm. It takes readers through her rise from the complicated shadows of Berlin's first experiments with expressionist cinema to the glamorous deserts of Hollywood. For Maddy has a secret. A secret that has given her incredible insight into the soul of horror. A secret that has a terrible price as well.

A young girl awakens in a hastily dug grave--vague memories of blood and fever, her mother performing a mysterious ceremony before the world went away. Germany has lost the first great war and Europe has lost millions more to the Spanish Flu epidemic. But Maddy has not only survived, she has changed. No longer does she eat, sleep, or age. No longer can she die. After taking up with a pair of street performers, she shocks and fascinates the crowds with her ability to survive outrageous traumas. But at a studio in Berlin, Maddy discovers her true calling: film.

With her intimate knowledge of fear, death, and realms beyond the living, she practically invents the modern horror genre on the spot. Before long, she travels to California and insinuates herself in Hollywood as the genius secretly behind The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, and Frankenstein. And yet she must remain in the shadows--a chilling apparition suspended eternally between worlds.

Clever, tragic, and thoroughly entertaining, Only the Dead Know Burbank introduces readers to one of the most unique, unforgettable characters in fiction.

Only the Dead Know Burbank

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Arthur W. Upfield

Previous library book. Markings on the top. Pages are clean and in good condition. 

A string of bizarre murders shares common elements: all the victims are elderly bachelors and there is always a woman nearby at the time of the deaths. When the witnesses' descriptions of the woman vary widely, half-Aborigine detective Napoleon Bonaparte ("Bony") finds himself calling on a professional burglar and an amateur sketch artist for help.

The Bachelors of Broken Hill

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Alessia Resta

A Relationship Guide for Plants and Their Parents

The plant influencer behind Apartment Botanist proves that anyone can be a plant parent, no matter where you live, how small your space is, or how busy you are.

Plant Parent (n.)- Any person who has ever cared for or dreamed about caring for at least one plant.

Whether you are an aspiring plant parent or already care for a junglelike brood, plant-stagram influencer Alessia Resta (aka Apartment Botanist) has distilled everything you need to know to start and grow your collection in this plant-care bible. It covers all the basics, like understanding light sources, choosing and buying plants, planning for seasonal care, and watering regimens. Alessia also dives into more sophisticated plant care, such as managing humidity, propagating, and mixing your own soil mediums.

Plus-
. A quiz to help you figure out your parenting style
. Profiles of twenty-six popular house plants to swipe right on
. Hard-learned lessons on battling pests, avoiding scams, nursing plants back to health, and more
. Five soil recipe cards to get you started

With an emphasis on building a collection that fits your personality and lifestyle, everyone from aspiring newbies to green goddesses will find their perfect plant matches.

Plants Are My Favorite People

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Potter Potter Gift

Essential Life Lessons for Perennial Happiness

A beautifully illustrated celebration of the wisdom of trees and what they can teach us about everyday life, from basking in the sun to weathering the storm. This sweet and informative book brings together fifty-nine universal life lessons taken from the infinite wisdom of trees. As you learn about dozens of trees, from the Acai palm to the Yoshino cherry, you'll find that their means of survival are not so different from ours. The juniper tree proves that it's possible to flourish anywhere as long as we put down strong roots. A mountain hemlock finds strength basking in the sun while a black walnut's sturdiness comes from its thick, steely core. The hawthorn demonstrates resilience as it adapts to strong winds and storms by finding balance in its roots. Trees have many more lessons to offer, from letting go of the past, to branching out, to resisting the urge to overstretch ourselves. With detailed illustrations and advice for lifelong happiness, How to Be More Tree is an essential companion for all those moments when we're having trouble seeing the forest for the trees.

How to Be More Tree

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Tracy Kidder

Dr. Jim o'Connell's Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The powerful story of an inspiring doctor who made a difference, by helping to create a program to care for Boston's homeless community--by the Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Mountains Beyond Mountains

"I couldn't put Rough Sleepers down. I am left in awe of the human spirit and inspired to do better."--Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone
 
Tracy Kidder has been described by The Baltimore Sun as a "master of the nonfiction narrative." In Rough Sleepers, Kidder shows how one person can make a difference, as he tells the story of Dr. Jim O'Connell, a gifted man who invented ways to create a community of care for a city's unhoused population, including those who sleep on the streets--the "rough sleepers."
 
When Jim O'Connell graduated from Harvard Medical School and was nearing the end of his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, the chief of medicine made a proposal: Would he defer a prestigious fellowship and spend a year helping to create an organization to bring health care to homeless citizens? Jim took the job because he felt he couldn't refuse. But that year turned into his life's calling. Tracy Kidder spent five years following Dr. O'Connell and his colleagues as they served their thousands of homeless patients. In this illuminating book we travel with O'Connell as he navigates the city, offering medical care, socks, soup, empathy, humor, and friendship to some of the city's most endangered citizens. He emphasizes a style of medicine in which patients come first, joined with their providers in what he calls "a system of friends." 
 
Much as he did with Paul Farmer in Mountains Beyond Mountains, Kidder explores how a small but dedicated group of people have changed countless lives by facing one of American society's difficult problems instead of looking away.

Rough Sleepers

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Stephanie Szostak

Step into a Journey of Self-Discovery to Revive Confidence, Joy, and Meaning

Create your inspirational playbook for life. Self!sh | adj. | taking time for oneself every day. Some might call that selfish. We say own it. This is your personal playbook for your mindset. Your tool kit to cope and grow. It’s unique to you. It gets you back to the best of You. Yes, it’s a good thing to take care of yourself. You’ll bring more of what you cherish and value to the world and those around you. That's self!sh. Chances are, if you’ve picked up this workbook, you are looking for a mind shift. You want more out of life. You are self-motivated to “do the work” to heal, grow, and thrive. Take a journey inward with humility and compassion. Forget the roles you play, the job title or the status symbol. Surrender. Make space for all of you, the bold and the vulnerable. This isn’t about proving anything to yourself or anyone else. There is no audience here. Quiet down your inner critic. Follow your heart. Surprise yourself! Built around eight self-reflection exercises, this workbook will guide you every step of the way through prompts, questions and examples that will culminate in you creating your personal Playbook. You will be empowered to cultivate a sense of worth tied to your intrinsic value, your character, and your principles. You will gain clarity on what is truly important to you, what motivates you, and what gets you emotionally charged to live the life you want.

Selfish

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Cathy Winks

An eye-opening anatomy lesson and no-nonsense debunking of the myths and misinformation surrounding the G-spot.

Good Vibrations G-Spot Guide

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Cosmic Publications

Workbook: Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience

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Alan Watts

Deepak Chopra

A Message for an Age of Anxiety

Suggests that the best way to achieve security in life is to let go of the anxiety associated with the past and future, understand and accept the limits of technology and science, and to focus on the present moment.

The Wisdom of Insecurity

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Traces the origin of Zen and discusses the Zen way of life against its historical and cultural background.

The Way of Zen

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Phil Race

Brenda Smith

Business & Economics

'500 Tips for Trainers' is a treasure trove of more than 500 enlightening, practical suggestions. all are easy to read and simple to use. This handbook is great as a quick reference when it's time to: *organize the venue * create flip charts and handouts * motivate the participants * fill five minutes until coffee! This entertaining book is packed with good ideas, creative techniques, and extensive appendices available for photocopying. It is a basic handbook for trainers in areas such as industry, government, and healthcare, as well as for personnel and HRD staff, and staff development officers in education. Phil Race, an open and flexible learning specialist, conducts staff development workshops on learning, teaching, and assessment throughout the world. He has co-authored many books, including '500 Tips for Tutors', '500 Tips for Teachers' and 'Assess Your Own Teaching Quality'. Brenda Smith is teaching and learning quality manager at Nottingham Trent University. She facilitates seminars and is co-editor of 'Research, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education'.

500 Tips for Trainers

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A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage

The Orangette blogger and author of the best-selling A Homemade Life describes how her husband's decision to open and run a pizza restaurant sparked a first crisis in their young marriage.

Delancey

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Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed

If you've ever been fired, you're in good company. That's what actress and writer Annabelle Gurwitch discovered when she was fired by her idol Woody Allen ("You look retarded"). She confided her tale of woe to her friend Felicity Huffman, who made Annabelle laugh with her own stories. Annabelle realized that there was a world of people out there waiting to laugh at the experience that virtually everyone shares, and she began to collect stories of being fired from friends and colleagues. Soon she was contributing regular "Fired!" segments to Day to Day on NPR and gathering friends to appear with her in sold-out performances of Fired! in Los Angeles and New York. Fired!, her documentary film inspired by these stories, comes out in 2006. This book is a collection of hilarious but true tales from people who've all gotten the ax, the boot, or been canned at some point in their lives. In "That's a Fact," Andy Borowitz tells the story of being fired as a writer for the television sitcom The Facts of Life after being informed that he just didn't "get" Tootie. "Take that hanger off your head, you idiot!" were the last words Jeff Garlin heard before being fired from Spec's Music store after only one day on the job, just one of the many firings he recounts in "That Garlin Boy." In "Jimmy the Idiot," Dana Gould sums up his firing from the cast of the sitcom Working that led him to become a producer of The Simpsons: "In the second episode, I was a math genius, in the third -- a motocross racer, and in the fourth episode I was replaced by a chimp, but nobody noticed." In "Poor Judgment," Illeana Douglas tells about being fired after a few hours of working as a coat check girl: "How is it possible to be fired from hanging coats? I have arms. I know what coats are. I don't come home and throw my coat on the floor. I hang it in a closet. I have experience." How did Bob Saget find out he was being phased out of his job on The Morning Program? "One day I showed up and my hosting chair was gone!" With an all-star cast from Tim Allen to Morgan Spurlock, from Anne Meara to David Cross, and contributions from people from all over the country, this book proves it's not the bounce that counts, it's the bounce back.

Fired!

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How to Decode Their Behavior, Develop Trust, and Raise a Respectable Adult

Nautilus Gold Award Winner: Parenting & Family

A practical guide to understanding teens from bestselling author and global youth advocate Josh Shipp.

In 2015, Harvard researchers found that every child who does well in the face of adversity has had at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult. But Josh Shipp didn't need Harvard to know that. Once an at-risk foster kid, he was headed straight for trouble until he met the man who changed his life: Rodney, the foster parent who refused to quit on Shipp and got him to believe in himself.

Now, in The Grown-Up's Guide to Teenage Humans, Shipp shows all of us how to be that caring adult in a teenager's life. Stressing the need for compassion, trust, and encouragement, he breaks down the phases of a teenage human from sixth to twelfth grade, examining the changes, goals, and mentality of teenagers at each stage.

Shipp offers revelatory stories that take us inside the teen brain, and shares wisdom from top professionals and the most expert grown-ups. He also includes practice scripts that address tough issues, including:

 * FORGIVENESS: What do I do when a teen has been really hurt by someone and it's not their fault?
 * COMMUNICATION: How do I get a teen to talk to me? They just grunt.
 * TRUST: My teen blew it. My trust is gone. Where do we go from here?
 * BULLYING: Help! A teen (or their friend) is being harassed.
 * DIFFICULT AND AWKWARD CONVERSATIONS: Drugs. Death. Sex. Oh my.

Written in Shipp's playfully authoritative, no-nonsense voice, The Grown-Up's Guide to Teenage Humans tells his story and unpacks practical strategies that can make a difference. Ultimately, it's not about shortcuts or magic words--as Shipp reminds us, it's about investing in kids and giving them the love, time, and support they need to thrive.

And that means every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story.

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Susan McPherson; Jackie Ashton