Accidental Optimist's Guide to Life PDF Download

Author: Emily Joy
Publisher: Eye Books (US&CA)
ISBN: 1908646780
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Exploring an inimitable philosophy of hope and humor through a variety of ups and downs, this quirky recollection illustrates the author’s search for the meaning of life. Depicting her experiences as the only doctor on call for an entire hospital in Sierra Leone in the midst of civil war, this portrait tells a story of optimism triumphing over what might elsewhere be the makings of disappointment and despair. From births and illnesses to family deaths and problem pets, this frank and unpredictable memoir demonstrates the remarkable insights that can be discovered from living through the seemingly unremarkable.

Author: Dorian Amos
Publisher: Eye Books (US&CA)
ISBN: 190864690X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
The sequel to the bestselling book about leaving the UK for a new life in the Yukon, Dorian and his growing family get gold fever, start to stake land claims and prospect for gold. Follow them along the learning curve about where to look for gold and how to live in this harsh climate. It shows that with good humor and resilience life can only get better.

Author: Robbie Marshall
Publisher: Eye Books (US&CA)
ISBN: 1908646217
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
STRONGA humorous, soul-searching account of an aging hippie who gives up his hard-won career, family, and home life to bike around the world in search of new experiences At age 45 Robbie Marshall had it all, or so it seemed. He had been married, had two children, and built up a successful advertising agency. So what on earth made him trade his suit for leathers, his office for the saddle of a great motorcycle, and his bulging appointment book for an out-of-date world atlas? The prospect of a new challenge held such overwhelming appeal that he was prepared to risk it all—his hard won career, the trappings of wealth, and the love of a good woman—for life on the road and a lifestyle completely removed from anything he had known before. And so he shook hands with his business partner, kissed his girlfriend goodbye, and rode off into the unknown. Over the course of this double or nothing adventure he came face to face with his own ignorance, enormous danger, and wracking loneliness as well as some of the best that human nature has to offer.

Author: Sue Riches
Publisher: Eye Books (US&CA)
ISBN: 1908646063
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
"Men like to conquer, fight, or subdue the Arctic, while we had a different attitude. We felt that we had to go along with what we were faced with. . . . We tried to have the Arctic on our side instead of confronting it." In 1997 a group of 20 women set out to become the world's first all-female expedition to the North Pole, hoping to raise awareness and support for sufferers of cancer and other illnesses. Sue Riches, recently recovering from a mastectomy, and her daughter Victoria were among them, and this is their inspirational story of personal accomplishment.

Author: Alastair Humphreys
Publisher: Eye Books (US&CA)
ISBN: 1908646306
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Alistair Humphreys cycled around the world—a journey of 46,000 miles. This inspiring story traces the second leg of his travels—the length of South and North America, the breadth of Asia and back across Europe, crossing the mountains and salt-flats of South America, canoeing the Five-Finger Rapids of the Yukon River, and braving a Siberian Winter with only the flimsiest tent to protect him from the elements.

Author: Gwen Maka
Publisher: Eye Books (US&CA)
ISBN: 1908646152
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Frank and often outrageous, this is an account of a 40-something Englishwoman's epic 4,000 mile cycle ride from Seattle to Mexico, via the snow-covered Rockies, mostly alone and camping in the wild. She runs appalling risks and copes in a gutsy, hilarious way with exhaustion, climatic extremes, dangerous animals, eccentrics, lechers, and a permanently saddle-sore backside. We share her deep involvement with the West's pioneering past, and with the tragic traces that history has left lingering on the land. When she rides the faded trails of the vanished American Indian nations she displays a strong sensitivity to the atmosphere of the spectacular landscape, as if the moments of its vibrant past are hanging in the air, only waiting for her to conjure them up vividly—sometimes with humor, and frequently with passion. As she travels, the ghosts of Lewis and Clark, Chief Joseph and Geronimo, Custer and Crazy Horse—all the legendary figures of the Old West—ride with her.

Author: Emily Joy
Publisher: Eye Books (US&CA)
ISBN: 1908646098
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
When your Dad can crash his airplane into two water buffalo, life is unlikely to go according to plan. Even so, Emily Joy puts on her rose-tinted glasses, leaves behind her comfortable life as a doctor in Britain, and heads off for two years to a remote hospital in Sierra Leone. There she finds the oranges are green, the bananas are black, and her patients are very ill. There's no water, no electricity, no oxygen, no amputation saw—and Dr. Em is no surgeon. And there's no chocolate to treat her nasty case of unrequited love. Dr. Em's problems are tiny compared to those faced by the people of Sierra Leone on a daily basis. If they can remain so optimistic, what's Em's excuse? Our green doctor is a bit of a yellow-belly, often red-faced, trying to fight the blues. But green oranges give sweet orange juice. Never judge a fruit by its color.

Author: Nicola Naylor
Publisher: Eye Books (US&CA)
ISBN: 1908646128
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
Many would balk at the idea of a white woman traveling India alone—and in particular, a blind woman. Throughout her childhood Nicola Naylor had been fascinated by images of the subcontinent and was determined both to realize her dream of visiting and to push back the stifling constraints imposed by perceptions of her disability. While depending on her third eye—or sixth sense—she explores India from the inside. Her account is both sensuous and enormously visual as she gradually rebuilds her shattered self-confidence, regains her desire to live life, and rediscovers her almost forgotten love of writing.

Author: Jurriaan Kamp
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1626562768
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
The world isn't coming to an end, contrary to what you may have heard, says Jurriaan Kamp. Certainly there's upheaval and economic, political, and social instability, but the media's near-exclusive focus on conflict and disaster means that the progress and everyday acts of brilliance taking place across the globe go unnoticed, which contributes to the sense that apocalypse is at hand. And pessimism can be fatal: Kamp cites research showing that those who indulge in negative thinking are more likely to smoke, be overweight, and have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and an increased risk of Parkinson's disease than optimists. Meanwhile, evidence abounds that optimism—intelligent optimism, not a rose-colored-glasses brand of wishful thinking—is good not only for your mind but for your body, too. Kamp demonstrates that, on the whole, we're living longer, becoming smarter, working less, and growing richer. Democracy is on the rise, and violence is declining. He explains how we can cultivate an outlook of informed optimism that will make our lives and the world better—because, as he quotes Helen Keller, “No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.”

Author: Jurriaan Kamp
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 1626562776
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 119

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Book Description
The world isn’t coming to an end, contrary to what you may have heard. But the media’s near-exclusive focus on conflict and disaster means that the progress and everyday acts of brilliance taking place across the globe go unnoticed. Jurriaan Kamp shows that optimism—intelligent optimism, not a rose-colored-glasses brand of wishful thinking—is good for not only your mind but your body too. He details a whole host of health problems that can actually be linked to pessimism. Moreover, there is good reason for optimism: Kamp proves that on the whole we’re living longer, becoming smarter, working less, and growing richer. Not only that, democracy is on the rise, and violence is declining. This book will help you tune out the media’s focus on sensationalism and negativity and turn on your natural optimism so you’ll drop into a “real world” that’s richer than you ever imagined.