"In this remarkable journey, Mark Woods captures the essence of our National Parks: their serenity and majesty, complexity and vitality--and their power to heal." --Ken Burns Many childhood summers, Mark Woods piled into a station wagon with his parents and two sisters and headed to America's national parks. Mark’s most vivid childhood memories are set against a backdrop of mountains, woods, and fireflies in places like Redwood, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon national parks. On the eve of turning fifty and a little burned-out, Mark decided to reconnect with the great outdoors. He'd spend a year visiting the national parks. He planned to take his mother to a park she'd not yet visited and to re-create his childhood trips with his wife and their iPad-generation daughter. But then the unthinkable happened: his mother was diagnosed with cancer, given just months to live. Mark had initially intended to write a book about the future of the national parks, but Lassoing the Sun grew into something more: a book about family, the parks, the legacies we inherit and the ones we leave behind.

Written and illustrated by a 7-year-old, this book is a true story of Arfa Abdul Karim Randhawa, a Pakistani computer prodigy who in 2004 at the age of nine, became the world's youngest Microsoft Certified Professional. This not only surprised her family, the management of the institute but also bewildered the Microsoft team. Bill Gates was so impressed by her that he invited her to the company's US headquarters. She has multiple awards and achievements that are discussed in this book. She wanted to graduate from an Ivy League school and work as a software developer. Unfortunately, she died in 2012, at the young age of 16, due to a heart attack. This book depicts how a child finds inspiration and courage to achieve something big.

This is the emotional story of a young man's search for paradise at the turn of the century. He travels with his family from Eastern Europe to South America, then to Hawaii, and finally to a permanent home in San Francisco. Tragic events, caused by both man and nature, alter the path of his journey; and in the aftermath his life is forever changed.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year Winner of the Mountains and Plains Book Seller's Association Award "Sprawling in scope. . . . Mr. Egan uses the past powerfully to explain and give dimension to the present." --The New York Times "Fine reportage . . . honed and polished until it reads more like literature than journalism." --Los Angeles Times "They have tried to tame it, shave it, fence it, cut it, dam it, drain it, nuke it, poison it, pave it, and subdivide it," writes Timothy Egan of the West; still, "this region's hold on the American character has never seemed stronger." In this colorful and revealing journey through the eleven states west of the 100th meridian, Egan, a third-generation westerner, evokes a lovely and troubled country where land is religion and the holy war between preservers and possessors never ends. Egan leads us on an unconventional, freewheeling tour: from America's oldest continuously inhabited community, the Ancoma Pueblo in New Mexico, to the high kitsch of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where London Bridge has been painstakingly rebuilt stone by stone; from the fragile beauty of Idaho's Bitterroot Range to the gross excess of Las Vegas, a city built as though in defiance of its arid environment. In a unique blend of travel writing, historical reflection, and passionate polemic, Egan has produced a moving study of the West: how it became what it is, and where it is going. "The writing is simply wonderful. From the opening paragraph, Egan seduces the reader. . . . Entertaining, thought provoking." --The Arizona Daily Star Weekly "A western breeziness and love of open spaces shines through Lasso the Wind. . . . The writing is simple and evocative." --The Economist

For twelve years, Andrea Lankford lived in the biggest, most impressive national parks in the world, working a job she loved. She chaperoned baby sea turtles on their journey to sea. She pursued bad guys on her galloping patrol horse. She jumped into rescue helicopters bound for the heart of the Grand Canyon. She won arguments with bears. She slept with a few too many rattlesnakes. Hell yeah, it was the best job in the world! Fortunately, Andrea survived it. In this graphic and yet surprisingly funny account of her and others’ extraordinary careers, Lankford unveils a world in which park rangers struggle to maintain their idealism in the face of death, disillusionment, and the loss of a comrade killed while holding that thin green line between protecting the park from the people, the people from the park, and the people from each other. Ranger Confidential is the story behind the scenery of the nation’s crown jewels—Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Great Smokies, Denali. In these iconic landscapes, where nature and humanity constantly collide, scenery can be as cruel as it is redemptive.

Smart, short, and irresistibly illustrated, This Is a Book for People Who Love National Parks is a park-by-park celebration of the American outdoors. For devoted park-goers and casual campers alike, this charming guide is nothing short of a celebration of America's natural wonders. An introduction to the storied history of the Parks Service is paired with engaging profiles of each of the sixty-one National Parks, from Acadia to Zion and everything in between. Quirky facts and key dates are woven throughout, while refreshingly modern illustrations capture the iconic features of each majestic setting. Deeply researched but not too serious, This Is a Book for People Who Love National Parks is an essential addition to every park lover's field library.

A suspicious accident, a prized asteroid, and a game of politics to decide who rules the galaxy. Someone’s making a power play, but who? Captain Greg Daniels of the DSM Boone is a handful of asteroids away from retiring when his plans are threatened by an explosion on his ship. With the risk of another more lethal attack, Greg must locate the source of the explosion or he’ll lose more than the priceless rock he just obtained - he’ll lose his life. On the Lunar Community, Final Frontier Mining Director David Rivera has his sights set on becoming Prime Minister of the ISC. His hopes rest on ace miner, Daniels, bringing in the most profitable asteroid in the company's history to keep himself in the spotlight. But when he discovers a conspiracy to destroy his company and put a stop to his political aspirations, David must hunt down his mysterious hacker while trying to save Greg, DSM Boone, and the asteroid it has secured. One man fights for survival in deep space, another on the moon, but is there someone else pulling the strings of both? Only if they can work together, will they find the answers they need to survive. This is book 1 of the 5 book Deep Space Mining Series

A Navy admiral’s firsthand account of the Allied salvage operation that played a key role in recovering North Africa from the Nazis during World War II. By 1942, Mussolini’s forces were on the run in East Africa. In order to slow the Allied advance, the Italians used audacious tactics—including making ports inoperable, leaving the Allies without the infrastructure necessary to continue the war effort. At Massawa, Eritrea, the fleeing Italians left the largest mass wreck in the world, turning a vital port into a tangle of shattered ships, cranes, sunken dry docks, and dangerous booby traps. In order to continue the war effort and push back the Axis powers in Africa, the Allies enlisted a naval salvage expert known as Commander Ellsberg. Ellsberg, a veteran miracle worker in raising sunken ships, was given his toughest assignment yet: Reopen the port with no budget, no men, and no tools. The British had claimed the task was impossible—Massawa couldn’t be cleared. But a determined Ellsberg navigated complicated American and British bureaucracies to build a ragtag group of international civilians and pull off a historic feat of engineering. This is his account of that crucial operation—the largest of its kind the world had ever seen—accomplished in the searing heat of Eritrea.

An American Library Association Notable Book and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year:Twelve-year-old Arilla goes on a quest to discover who she is and where she fits into her family—and the world Arilla Adams is tired of being the moon to her older brother’s sun. Sixteen-year-old Jack has rejected being part of an interracial family and identifies only with his Native American heritage. But Arilla, also part African American and part Native American, isn’t so sure where she belongs. She knows there are people who care about her. Old James False Face tells her stories. Her mom, who’s as beautiful as a queen, wants Arilla to learn to dance. And her classmate Angel Diovalad, the star of the girls’ basketball team, tells her secrets about the boy she loves, whom she meets with on the sly. Arilla also has secrets: She sneaks out to the roller rink to practice figure skating. And she’s afraid of horses. But she’s about to discover her inner courage on a daring rescue mission that will transform her relationship with her family and earn her the name Arilla Sun Down.

Storytelling is an ancient practice known in all civilizations throughout history. Characters, tales, techniques, oral traditions, motifs, and tale types transcend individual cultures - elements and names change, but the stories are remarkably similar with each rendition, highlighting the values and concerns of the host culture. Examining the stories and the oral traditions associated with different cultures offers a unique view of practices and traditions."Storytelling: An Encyclopedia of Mythology and Folklore" brings past and present cultures of the world to life through their stories, oral traditions, and performance styles. It combines folklore and mythology, traditional arts, history, literature, and festivals to present an overview of world cultures through their liveliest and most fascinating mode of expression. This appealing resource includes specific storytelling techniques as well as retellings of stories from various cultures and traditions.