Akron Public Library

"On the Brink of Everything is an exploration of Parker Palmer's experience of living and aging, written in hopes of encouraging readers of every age to explore their life course. It is not a "guide to" or "handbook" for "getting old"--something all of us are doing all the time. Instead it's a set of meditations in prose and poetry that turn the prism on the meaning(s) of one's life--and on the importance of staying meaningfully engaged with life...

"A masterpiece of warrior wisdom that shows how to overcome obstacles with positive action. The best-selling author, Navy SEAL, and humanitarian Eric Greitens offers a self-help book unlike any other. Two years ago, Eric Greitens unexpectedly heard from a former SEAL comrade, a brother-in-arms he hadn't seen in a decade. Drew Sheets had been one of the toughest of the tough. But ever since he returned home from war to his young family in a small...

Rachel Hollis is sounding a wake-up call. She knows that many women have been taught to define themselves in light of other people--whether as wife, mother, daughter, or employee instead of learning how to own who they are and what they want. With a challenge to women everywhere to stop talking themselves out of their dreams, Hollis identifies the excuses to let go of, the behaviors to adopt, and the skills to acquire on the path to growth, confidence,...

"'America's Mom' Tabitha Brown presents an inspirational guide for encouraging positive changes in your life— one day and one challenge at a time. I did a new thing today! Years ago, Tabitha Brown started a 30-day personal challenge that she called 'I Did a New Thing!' The challenge was simple. Every day she would do something she'd never done before. Sometimes it was something small like trying a new food. Other times, she'd step it up a bit and...

"A new inspirational and practical fitness book by celebrity trainer and bestselling author, Chris Powell, known to an audience of millions from the first and second seasons of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition." His carb cycling plan and inspiring training techniques are taken to a new level in CHOOSE MORE, LOSE MORE FOR LIFE as Powell--who understands that the journey toward fitness can plateau if one becomes bored or feels limited--provides...

"In her late twenties, Cait Flanders found herself stuck in the consumerism cycle that grips so many of us: earn more, buy more, want more, rinse, repeat. Even after she worked her way out of nearly $30,000 of consumer debt, her old habits took hold again. When she realized that nothing she was doing or buying was making her happy--only keeping her from meeting her goals--she decided to set herself a challenge:she would not shop for an entire year....

Statistics don't lie. People today are more fatigued, burned out, and overwhelmed than ever. This book provides radical concepts that will help you trade life's junk food, like pursuing stuff, allowing distractions, and living in frenzy, for real nourishment, like building a community, cherishing moments, and embracing rest.

One recent December, at age 53, John Kralik found his life at a terrible, frightening low: his small law firm was failing; he was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose contact with his young daughter; he was living in a tiny apartment where he froze in the winter and baked in the summer; he was 40 pounds overweight; his girlfriend had just broken up with him; and...

"A simple and counterintuitive approach to finding true joy. When PurposeFairy.com founder Luminita Saviuc posted her simple list of things to let go of in order to be happy, she had no idea that it would go viral, shared more than one million times and counting, and be called "the most viral self-development article in the history of the internet." Based on that inspiring post, this heartfelt book gives readers permission to give up--that is, to...

Uses a technique based on an ancient Japanese aesthetics to explain how to sustain a loving, romantic partnership through learning to love a partner's imperfections.