The Biggest Challenge of His Life
Dirk Vlieks was at the top of his game. At the age of thirty-two he was a top-ranked triathlete with numerous Ironman finishes under his belt.
That all changed in an instant one day in June of 2006 when he stepped groggily from his bike in Honu, Hawaii, and collapsed. He had suffered a stroke so devastating that by the time he reached the hospital, a doctor told his wife to prepare to turn off the machines keeping him alive.
Vlieks spent the next two months in intensive care before he was strong enough to begin a rehabilitation program that included learning to speak, talk, eat, and walk again.
His first weaving, assisted walks turned later to slow jogs, then short runs. Five years later, he returned to Hawaii to finish the race in which he nearly died. He would then run the New York City Marathon.
In Square One: Returning to Life and Competitive Running After My Devastating Stroke, Vlieks shares his inspirational story about persevering against all odds. It has not been a smooth ride, and he continues to work—and run and inspire. His mission now is to help energize and motivate others to live their lives with determination and joy.
A Cancer Survivor's Advice: Be Your Own Advocate
“The book offers not only an arresting remembrance, but also an inspirational one that’s filled with wisdom gained through difficult experience.” –Kirkus Reviews
As an experienced pediatrician, Sajjad Iqbal, MD, had long enjoyed using his medical expertise to treat children’s illnesses and alleviate their parents’ concerns. Suddenly, however, he was on the other side of the divide.
As Iqbal began to battle severe facial paralysis, misguided and obstinate doctors became an obstacle to finding a correct diagnosis and treatment. Iqbal’s doctors believed that he had Bell’s palsy, a temporary, benign condition.
But Iqbal rejected that theory.
He knew enough about medicine and his own body to suspect a far more deadly cause—cancer of the parotid (salivary) glands.
Initially, Iqbal couldn’t convince the so-called experts to listen and his doctors rushed forward with a flawed treatment plan including unnecessary surgery.
Given a 30 percent chance of living two years—he has survived 15 years, overcoming repeated recurrences of cancer by charting his own course of treatment.
In this extraordinary memoir, Iqbal recounts how he advocated for his health and relentlessly fought for a correct diagnosis.
As he reveals how he unraveled this medical mystery, facing repeated setbacks, you will be inspired to take charge of your own healthcare. Iqbal’s experiences convincingly show the importance of speaking up and pushing back against medical professionals’ apathy and arrogance.
Arctic Adventure
Sprague Theobald, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and expert sailor with over 40,000 offshore miles under his belt, always considered the Northwest Passage--the sea route connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific--the ultimate uncharted territory.
Since Roald Amundsen completed the first successful crossing of the fabled Northwest Passage in 1906, only twenty-four pleasure craft have followed in his wake. Many more people have gone into space than have traversed the Passage, and a staggering number have died trying.
From his home port of Newport, Rhode Island, through the Passage and around Alaska to Seattle, it would be an 8,500-mile trek filled with constant danger from ice, polar bears, and severe weather.
What Theobald couldn't have known was just how life-changing his journey through the Passage would be.
Reuniting his children and stepchildren after a bad divorce more than fifteen years earlier, the family embarks with unanswered questions, untold hurts, and unspoken mistrusts hanging over their heads.
Unrelenting cold, hungry polar bears, and a haunting landscape littered with sobering artifacts from the tragic Franklin Expedition of 1845, as well as personality clashes that threaten to tear the crew apart, make The Other Side of the Ice a harrowing story of survival, adventure, and, ultimately, redemption.
(So Corny, I Used a Pen Name)
Old age isn’t for wimps, nor is it for those without a sense of humor.
The Big Book of Senior Moments is chock full of those small blunders, momentary lapses, and misplaced keys that happen to all of us. Humor might not help you remember your cat’s name, but it will certainly make you feel less alone!
Did you know that Albert Einstein once searched frantically for his misplaced train ticket because he couldn’t remember where he was going? Or that Marilyn Monroe forgot the same line through 52 takes during the filming of Some Like it Hot? Can you believe that Marlon Brando had to have his lines written on another actor’s forehead so he could get through a scene?
If you have done something like this, don’t despair, for you are among other greats like Lincoln, Beethoven, Newton, Toscanini, and a whole assortment of presidents, poets, philosophers, popes, and Nobel Prize–winners. The Big Book of Senior Moments will be sure to bring a smile to friends and family alike.
Exciting Books for Reluctant Readers
Pirates and Shipwrecks
When Daniel Collins and the crew of the Betsey set sail for Cuba in 1824, they have no idea of the horrors that lie ahead.
This is just one of the stories in a collection of five true tales about pirates and shipwrecks written to introduces readers to the perils of the high seas.
Pirates and Shipwrecks: True Stories features true tales that whet appetites for history genres with proven track recordsmystery and adventure.
Each of the true tales in Pirates and Shipwrecks, including stories about pirate Barbarossa and adventurer John Franklin, is paired with interesting facts about the setting, industry, and time period.
Survival
Tales of survival are as old as humanity.
In Survival: True Stories, readers discover accounts of survival that required innovation, a thirst for adventure, and even a bit of brutality.
Whether it’s Shackleton on the frozen landscape of Antarctica or William Bligh and his loyal followers adrift in the Pacific after mutiny on the Bounty, survival is a fascinating topic.
Weird Disappearances
Where did Virginia Dare and the rest of the colonists of Roanoke go?
Did Anastasia Romanov escape being murdered by revolutionaries?
Weird Disappearances: Real Tales of Missing People, features five true tales that examine moments in history when someone vanished without a trace.
These mysterious disappearances are discussed against the backdrop of historical circumstances, whether it be the upheaval of the Russian Revolution or the blazing of a new trail high in the skies.
Dramatic and Riveting Collections
Heists
Crime does pay. At least for a while.
You’ll see that quickly in these nine compelling and true stories of brilliant plans and guile. The thieves awaiting you seem to have it all. They are clever, cool, and determined with icy resolve. It took a lot of guts and nerves of steel to do what they did and not fold under the pressure. After all, if those hard-wrought plans had failed, they would have had plenty of time to think about what went wrong in prison.
Hijack an airplane, demand a ransom and two parachutes, then disappear?
Invent a device that allows you to record the combination of any bank vault, then break into bank vaults twice?
Steal from a secret mob depository run by a boss known for his brutality? Rob a small-town bank in midday and ride off without a second thought? Piece of cake.
The Greatest Heists Stories Ever Told will allow readers to appreciate the efforts that go into a truly magnificent heist. It is a celebration of stunning, well-planned and audacious capers that left police and armies of investigators looking for answers and scratching their heads.
Life on the Frontier
Saddle up for a wild ride through those thrilling days of yesteryear.
In Stories of the Old West, Tom McCarthy and Steven Price serve up a heapin’ helpin’ of tales of America’s frontier days: ranches and rodeos, lawmen and desperadoes, saloons and gunslingers, wilderness exploring and range warfare, and everything else that reflects our fascination with our Western heritage from its earliest untamed era to the dawn of the 20th Century.
Gripping Stories of Courage and Perseverance
Being aboard a sinking ship is perhaps the most terrifying experience a human being can endure.
Imagine those last peaceful moments as the vessel beneath you slides quickly into the dark waters that only moments before you had so confidently glided across.
It is as one survivor you will read about in this stunning collection recalled, “a sudden sickening sense of disaster.”
Awaiting you are starvation, thirst and horrible weather--perhaps blistering sun or soul-crushing cold. Outside your leaking and fragile craft are circling sharks waiting to tear you to shreds. Hope will fade quickly.
Utterly absorbing and eminently entertaining, here are twelve inspirational stories of life and death and hope—and of resilience and strength.
These stories show more than anything the indomitable spirit of sailors who scoffed at death and moved on—doing what they had to do to live.
The Greatest Sea Survival Stories Ever Told is a tribute to incredible men and women. It is a testament to the remarkable fortitude that made them quiet heroes.
Aaaaarrrrgh!
Fifteen thrilling stories that have long been unabatedly popular with readers of all ages. Stories that are, in turn, dramatic, exciting, and eminently readable.
These are stories that will transport readers to a long-forgotten world inhabited by some of history’s most notorious pirates—both fictional and real-life. These are tales of hidden treasures, kidnapping, murder, intrigue and betrayal—and above all else, adventure.
Blackbeard, Long John Silver, buccaneers, and Captain Blood—long forgotten tales from such authors as Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Dolye, and James Fenimore Cooper—the gritty adventure and skullduggery of pirates that has been a staple of adventure tales for hundreds years.
Readers have long turned to the sea as a backdrop for escape. Who doesn’t love a tale of pirates, and duplicity, and hidden treasures? All of these stories have endured the test of time and await a new generation of readers.
Heroism Aloft
Air combat has captured the imaginations of people since the fighter plane was first introduced during WWI.
Stories of aces such as Eddy Rickenbacker and Captain Baron Manfred Von Richthofen have become staples of books and movies as well as the stuff of legend.
In The Greatest Air Combat Stories Ever Told, Tom McCarthy has pulled together some of the finest tales of heroism and valor in the skies over the battlefield.
It is an unforgettable collection.