Books with author John Hart

Excerpt from Pike County BalladsAnd here all hope soured on me, Of my fellow-critter's aid, I jest flopped down on my marrow-bones.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Book One of Time in a Bottle Trilogy is subtitled, "Ken Janzen vs. Lung Cancer". It centers around the 10 months of suffering that Ken Janzen went through in his battle against lung cancer. Kenny launched "Ken Janzen's Health and Wellness Blog" in March 2007, still thinking, at that time, that he would beat the disease and maybe write a book about it. He lost the battle on January 18th, 2008 at 3:39 p.m. He was 37 years old. Kenny was a very talented young man: a web designer, singer, composer, and a graphics artist. He chose to die at home surrounded by family.Through Book One, Wally Janzen, Kenny's dad, points out the short comings of Canada's health care system. Our doctors only know the 3 current techniques of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery for cancer patients. Ken Janzen himself proposed a foundation, Voice for Choice, which championed alternative treatments. When he was alive, writing the Blog, Kenny felt like he was caught in the machinery of a huge system which was prone to misdiagnoses and long waiting times. Since he no longer has a voice, I have taken over bringing Kenny's story to the public. Kenny's brother-in-lawJohn Hartig

There is simply no other book like this one on the market. One reason may be that a market scarcely exists for the secrets that baseball’s greatest hitters (or “strikers,” or “stickers”) brought to their craft over a century ago. Like other sports, and like our culture generally, baseball coaches and gurus have invested heavily in the notion of progress. Today is better than yesterday (goes the dogma) in every way, thanks to technology, training, and medical advances. A lot of that notion is true: some of it is bunk.“Players are stronger and healthier today.” True; so why do they strike out one out of every three trips to the plate? “Because pitchers are throwing much harder.” Generally speaking, yes; but the mound is also lower, the hitting background is better, batters wear helmets and body armor, and a zero-tolerance exists for knockdown pitches. Tris Speaker fanned 13 times in 674 plate appearances during the 1920 campaign while batting .388 and leading the league (for the fifth of eight seasons) with 50 doubles. Who performs at that rate today, even in Little League?John Harris believes in the value of historical research and scientific method—and he also entertains a skepticism of our blind, arrogant faith in the present’s superiority to the past. Convinced that yesteryear’s batsmen must have done at least some things better (precisely because they amassed such dazzling numbers while being less healthy and less tutored), he has invested years in reverse-engineering the swing that preceded Babe Ruth and the “live ball.” No single type of swing existed back then, it turns out; in fact, hitting featured a vast diversity of styles compared to the modern game. Nevertheless, certain tendencies can be isolated (front-foot hitting, shifting in the box, choking and hand-spreading, etc.). To judge by casual explanations offered of (for instance) the Georgia Peach's three-inch hand spread, today’s color commentators and technical analysts haven’t a clue about what was going on with Ty Cobb or Honus Wagner. As for baseball historians, they can tell you about Ed Delahanty’s drinking problem or Fred Clarke’s eye for the girls... but most of them have no interest whatever in how their subject gripped a bat.Dr. Harris corrects many such oversights, insofar as is humanly possibly over a century later and with little more than grainy still photos to go on. True students of the game will be shocked--and perhaps delighted--by how many potentially game-changing tips he has managed to uncover for the next generation of hitters... if any risk-takers emerge among the crop, that is.

A twentieth-century classic, Appointment in Samarra is the first and most widely read book by the writer Fran Leibowitz called “the real F. Scott Fitzgerald.”In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville social circuit is electrified with parties and dances, where the music plays late into the night and the liquor flows freely. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English—the envy of friends and strangers alike. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction. Appointment in Samarra brilliantly captures the personal politics and easy bitterness of small-town life. It is John O’Hara’s crowning achievement, and a lasting testament to the keen social intelligence of a major American novelist.From the Trade Paperback edition.

A twentieth-century classic, Appointment in Samarra is the first and most widely read book by the writer Fran Leibowitz called “the real F. Scott Fitzgerald.”In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville social circuit is electrified with parties and dances, where the music plays late into the night and the liquor flows freely. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English—the envy of friends and strangers alike. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction. Appointment in Samarra brilliantly captures the personal politics and easy bitterness of small-town life. It is John O’Hara’s crowning achievement, and a lasting testament to the keen social intelligence of a major American novelist.

Four days after Nick Harman was seven, his father climbed onto a bridge high above four lanes of traffic, paused, then threw himself on the road below. That was over nine years ago. Today Nick was sixteen. The clock alongside his bed read 7:59.Nick lives on a tough estate in north London. On his sixteenth birthday, his mother gives him a box left to him all those years ago. The contents lead Nick to discover what took his father from being a successful blues singer to taking his own life.Against a background of shifting allegiances, involving the violent gangs on the estate and his first serious involvement with a girl, Nick is forced to come to terms, not only with whom his father was but who he is himself.‘A fine novel about growing up by one of the masters of British crime fiction’ — Le MondeJohn Harvey is the winner of the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger for Sustained Excellence in Crime Writing. His latest adult novel is Cold in Hand, the latest in his long series of Resnick novels. Nick’s Blues is John Harvey’s first young adult book for twenty years – the opening title of Francois Guerif’s young adult crime fiction programme.

Sadness for some can become a safe place where numbness and limited expectations offer some protection from hurt and disappointment. If through familiarity, it becomes a comfort zone, the prospects of returning to a more positive, less risk averse perspective may fade, and the mild depression of sadness becomes the norm.This short book has two aims. Firstly to encourage the recognition that how we feel is not who we are. Secondly, to briefly summarise some practical theories that can help to free us from some learned beliefs that sometimes hold us back.In the book we meet Joe, a teenager for whom sadness has come to provide some comfort in a life that he views through the opposite of rose tinted spectacles. The author worked for decades as a probation officer in the community and prison, and more recently as a mentor for Kids Company and several secondary schools.

A twentieth-century classic, Appointment in Samarra is the first and most widely read book by the writer Fran Leibowitz called “the real F. Scott Fitzgerald.”In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville social circuit is electrified with parties and dances, where the music plays late into the night and the liquor flows freely. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English—the envy of friends and strangers alike. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction. Appointment in Samarra brilliantly captures the personal politics and easy bitterness of small-town life. It is John O’Hara’s crowning achievement, and a lasting testament to the keen social intelligence of a major American novelist.