Endless Perfect Circles

Author: Ian Walker
Publisher: Ian Walker
ISBN: 1838535543
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 174

Book Description
A professional psychologist spent his entire life believing he had no ability or interest in sport. Then, in his forties, he became a champion ultradistance athlete before breaking the world record for the fastest bicycle crossing of Europe. This journey - made entirely alone and without any support crew - went from the northernmost point in the Arctic down to the very southernmost point in Spain. Averaging 377 kilometres each day and with up to 18 hours in the saddle at a time, the total distance of 6367 km was covered in well under 17 days, knocking more than two days off the previous record. It was a journey of ultimate self-reliance. Endless Perfect Circles is not just a tale of sleep deprivation and eating terrible food in supermarket car parks, it is also a celebration of how tough sporting challenges offer ordinary people a path to self-improvement. Weaving his own experiences together with psychological insights, Ian Walker demonstrates the rewards we can all find from setting ourselves difficult personal goals and working out how we will rise to meet these. "When I ride, my mind is both crowded and empty. The practical part of me churns, thinking all the time about navigation, shops, food, weather and lodging, seeking information about those raw essentials of life and planning dozens of contingencies. But when I look back on any given ride, even one lasting many days, I would struggle to tell you a single thought that passed through my head, because the rest of my mind has been liberated. All of life’s needs have been simplified by the pure act of riding." About the author Ian Walker splits his time across two related worlds. By day, he is an environmental psychologist at the University of Bath, specialising in transport choices, traffic safety, energy consumption and water use. As you will see from his textbooks, he also teaches research methods and statistics at a whole range of levels from entry-level introductions up to doctoral level. Ian's professional interest in clean transport and traffic safety also extends into his personal life, where he takes part in ultradistance bicycle racing - an activity explored in his new book Endless Perfect Circles. This introduces readers to the extraordinary world of nonstop bicycle races that last for weeks at a time. It goes on to describe how Ian won a tough 4300-kilometre cycle race before breaking the Guinness World Record for the fastest ever bicycle crossing of Europe.

Endless Perfect Circles

Author: Ian Walker
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781838535551
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Perfect Circles

Author: Simon Kewin
Publisher: Stormcrow Books
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 505

Book Description
The fantasy short stories from Spell Circles, the science fiction short stories from Eccentric Orbits and the literary stories from Life Cycles, collected together in one box set. Desperate magic worked in the face of terrible danger. An old house with a hidden secret. An interview with a zombie. A woman allergic to the twenty-first century. A necromancer with evil written all over his face. Literally. An astronaut alone in the void of deep space. An alien starship capable of destroying all creation. A DNA Detective in search of the genetic code of The Beatles. A terrorist explosion trapped inside a bubble of space/time. A new life-form found in the quantum echoes of the void. Tilting at windmills in the twenty-first century. A dying woman's surprising final wish. The unlikely connections between a Manchester woman and a 17th century Renaissance man. A chance encounter on a motorway. A woman allergic to the modern world. Perfect Circles contains seventy-three stories originally published between 1999 and 2011. Stories range from the very short up to novella length.

The Circle

Author: Dave Eggers
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0385351402
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Book Description
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A bestselling dystopian novel that tackles surveillance, privacy and the frightening intrusions of technology in our lives—a “compulsively readable parable for the 21st century” (Vanity Fair). When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

The Revolutions

Author: Felix Gilman
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0765337177
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 414

Book Description
"In 1893, young journalist Arthur Shaw is at work ... when the Great Storm hits London, wreaking unprecedented damage. In its aftermath, Arthur's newspaper closes, owing him money, and all his debts come due at once ... At one of [his fiancee Josephine's occult society] meetings, Arthur is given a job lead for what seems to be accounting work, but at a salary many times what any clerk could expect. The work is long and peculiar, as the workers spend all day performing unnerving calculations that make them hallucinate or even go mad, but the money is compelling. Things are beginning to look up when the perils of dabbling in the esoteric suddenly come to a head: a war breaks out between competing magical societies"--Dust jacket flap.

The Woodwright's Shop

Author: Roy Underhill
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807869805
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Book Description
Roy Underhill brings to woodworking the intimate relationship with wood that craftsmen enjoyed in the days before power tools. Combining historical background, folklore, alternative technololgy, and humor, he provides both a source of general information and a detailed introduction to traditional woodworking. Beginning with a guide to trees and tools, The Woodwright's Shop includes chapters on gluts and mauls, shaving horses, rakes, chairs, weaving wood, hay forks, dough bowls, lathes, blacksmithing, dovetails, panel-frame construction, log houses, and timber-frame construction. More than 330 photographs illustrate the text.

Great Circle

Author: Maggie Shipstead
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0525656979
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 609

Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK • The unforgettable story of a daredevil female aviator determined to chart her own course in life, at any cost: an “epic trip—through Prohibition and World War II, from Montana to London to present-day Hollywood—and you’ll relish every minute” (People). After being rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, Marian and Jamie Graves are raised by their dissolute uncle in Missoula, Montana. There--after encountering a pair of barnstorming pilots passing through town in beat-up biplanes--Marian commences her lifelong love affair with flight. At fourteen she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy bootlegger who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe by flying over the North and South Poles. A century later, Hadley Baxter is cast to play Marian in a film that centers on Marian's disappearance in Antarctica. Vibrant, canny, disgusted with the claustrophobia of Hollywood, Hadley is eager to redefine herself after a romantic film franchise has imprisoned her in the grip of cult celebrity. Her immersion into the character of Marian unfolds, thrillingly, alongside Marian's own story, as the two women's fates--and their hunger for self-determination in vastly different geographies and times--collide. Epic and emotional, meticulously researched and gloriously told, Great Circle is a monumental work of art, and a tremendous leap forward for the prodigiously gifted Maggie Shipstead.

Brain Training for Riders

Author: Andrea Monsarrat Waldo
Publisher: Trafalgar Square Books
ISBN: 1570768390
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
Did you know there is an area of your brain known as the “Lizard Brain” that thinks only about the immediate moment and your means of survival? Yes, in certain circumstances, your “Rational Brain” can effectively “shut down” and you are at the mercy of a reptile ... dry-mouthed, sweating, queasy, unable to think clearly—even though you know better. When does the Lizard Brain run the show? It can happen in any number of unfamiliar, uncomfortable, challenging, or “stressful” riding situations. But here’s the thing: with the right kind of training, you can learn to manage the reptile within, which leads to greater confidence with horses, better riding performance, and ultimately, happiness at the barn, at shows, and everywhere in between. Andrea Monsarrat Waldo teaches you how to: handle uncomfortable emotions, such as fear, anger, anxiety, and embarrassment; hone your mental game and focus your riding time to get the most out of your hours in the saddle; care for your emotional injuries the same way you would care for an injured horse; and produce a state of “Focused Calm” and tap into the skills you have (whether you know it or not!) to ensure an outstanding ride.

Adventures in Circles

Author: Leigh E. McDonald
Publisher: Martingale
ISBN: 1604686898
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
Circles made easy! Discover the excitement of working with curves in this color-splashed book. Learn the latest tricks for cutting and sewing circles; then apply your new skills in eight creative projects Choose from small wall hangings to twin-size quilts in both contemporary and traditional designs; a gallery of quilts provides even more inspiration Find essential tips on machine appliqueing circles and fun ways to embellish with threads, decorative fabrics, and beads

Perspectives

Author: Jim Hanson
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666777617
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 173

Book Description
Drawing from an interdisciplinary career based upon sociology, Jim Hanson employs poetry to provide perspectives upon the humanities and sciences established in curricula of high education. He starts with ancient empires of history, then works through theology, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, philosophy, language, the sciences, and poets such as T. S. Eliot and Walt Whitman. His poems sparkle with humanistic insight about the issues of these disciplines and their applications to modern society, such as theological and religious speculation, callings of Buddhism and Taoism, contending philosophies of Sartre and Heidegger, and the environmental crisis. His style varies, from long poems of blank verse narrative to short poems of standard rhyme and meter, in order to use poetry’s power to enlighten through figurative language and minimal wordage. Heeding Shelley’s proclamation that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world, he revives the interdisciplinary practices of the ancient poets who speculated about the world through the exclusive use of poetry.