Books with author Thompson

The instant New York Times bestseller!From one of America's most beloved sportswriters, a collection of true stories about the dream of greatness and its cost in the world of sports."Wright Thompson's stories are so full of rich characters, bad actors, heroes, drama, suffering, courage, conflict, and vivid detail that I sometimes thinks he's working my side of the street - the world of fiction." - John GrishamThere is only one Wright Thompson. He is, as they say, famous if you know who he is: his work includes the most read articles in the history of ESPN (and it's not even close) and has been anthologized in the Best American Sports Writing series ten times, and he counts John Grisham and Richard Ford among his ardent admirers (see back of book). But to say his pieces are about sports, while true as far as it goes, is like saying Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove is a book about a cattle drive. Wright Thompson figures people out. He jimmies the lock to the furnaces inside the people he profiles and does an analysis of the fuel that fires their ambition. Whether it be Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods or Pat Riley or Urban Meyer, he strips the away the self-serving myths and fantasies to reveal his characters in full. There are fascinating common denominators: it may not be the case that every single great performer or coach had a complex relationship with his father, but it can sure seem that way. And there is much marvelous local knowledge: about specific sports, and times and places, and people. Ludicrously entertaining and often powerfully moving, The Cost of These Dreams is an ode to the reporter's art, and a celebration of true greatness and the high price that it exacts.

From National Book Award finalist and the New York Times bestselling author of The Year We Left Home comes a “powerful, beautifully crafted” (People) family saga about three generations of women who struggle to find freedom and happiness in their small Midwestern college town.A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl is a poignant novel about three generations of the Wise family—Evelyn, Laura, and Grace—as they hunt for contentment amid chaos of their own making. We see these women and their trials, small and large: social slights and heartbreaks; marital disappointments and infidelities; familial dysfunction; mortality. Spanning from World War II to the present, Thompson reveals a matrilineal love story that is so perfectly grounded in our time—a story of three women regressing, stalling, and yes, evolving, over decades. One of the burning questions she asks is: by serving her family, is a woman destined to repeat the mistakes of previous generations, or can she transcend the expectations of a place, and a time? Can she truly be free? Evelyn, Laura, and Grace are the glue that binds their family together. Tethered to their small Midwestern town—by choice or chance—Jean Thompson seamlessly weaves together the stories of the Wise women with humanity and elegance, through their heartbreaks, setbacks, triumphs, and tragedies. “Thompson’s new novel draws the reader in with character and plot…but what ultimately holds the reader enthralled is…her ability to capture the nuance of individual moments, thoughts, and reactions. No one writing today is better at this…[an] extraordinary novel” (Washington Independent Review of Books).

Less than four years ago, Simon O'Toole was a middle-aged I.T. specialist. Now, after the fall of technology and the rise of magic, he has been Changed. He has become a young wizard, struggling to use his new-found powers and trying to survive in a world rich in magical energy and filled with reborn, legendary evil. The world itself has changed. Humans, the few that are left, are being hunted down and destroyed by dragons, the agents of darkness. Only when the last of humanity is destroyed can the ancient ones, the gods of Chaos, return and reclaim the New Earth.Simon, with the help of a handful of allies, managed to destroy a great evil and has now attracted the attention of the Chaotic gods themselves. Only by becoming a powerful wizard and making more allegiances can Simon hope to save the last few remnants of the human race. Time is short and the darkness is growing ever stronger.

*Boost your Immunity, Reduce Inflammation and Prevent Disease with the 30-Minute Immune System Diet Plan*Your immune system is the most important function your body has. It makes sure you have the ability to fight deadly infections and diseases, by removing excess fluids, absorbing fatty acids and forming white blood cells. As such you have to take care and strengthen your immune system so it keeps you healthy.Many people fail to recognize this simple important truth, but with The 30-Minute Immune System Diet Plan: Quick Recipes to Strengthen Immunity and Prevent Disease you will be able to improve your overall health and enjoy a better life, with chapters on:The best foods for boosting immunity How to lower your risks of getting autoimmune diseaseHow to speed up recovery from illnessHow to improve your sleep and boost energyExercises to increase energy and relive stressSupplements and why you should consider themGrocery lists and shopping tricksQuick and tasty immune-boosting recipesA 14-day meal planAnd more…This easy to follow diet plan provides delicious recipes that can be made in just 30 minutes or less, saving you time and transforming your body from one that is susceptible to diseases, to one that is full of vitality.With dozens of great meal ideas, from breakfast through to dinner and everything in between, The 30-Minute Immune System Diet Plan is a book that will transform your health and life for the better!★Get the Paperback and Receive the Kindle eBook for FREE★

Maximize Your Weight Loss and Health Potential with the Science of Intermittent FastingAre you thinking about losing weight or have you been trying to lose weight unsuccessfully?Have you tried numerous fad diets and weight loss programs?Are you ready to try something that will shed those excess pounds and boost your heath?Intermittent fasting is a method which alternates between controlled eating and fasting. It isn’t a ‘diet’ as such, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you should starve yourself, but it has been proven to reduce weight for the millions who have tried it.Now, in The Science of Intermittent Fasting: The Complete Guide to Unlocking Your Weight Loss Potential, you can discover how intermittent fasting could work for you, through chapters that look at:What intermittent fasting is all aboutCellular repairImproving brain healthInsulin levelsInflammationCholesterolCancer and diabetesAgingHow to get the most out of your fastsAnd lots more…The scientific benefits of intermittent fasting on your health and weight loss are clear to see and with an in-depth look into the research and studies carried out on intermittent fasting, The Science of Intermittent Fasting is the perfect book that deliver all the answers.Get a copy today and see for yourself how intermittent fasting can not only be good for your weight, but good for your whole body.★Get the Paperback and Receive the Kindle eBook for FREE

Start birding in your own backyard! From the editor of the nation's premier birding magazine, this authoritative guide will help you identify, feed, and nurture the birds you see every day. Written by Bill Thompson III, the editor and co-publisher of Bird Watcher's Digest, this comprehensive yet portable guide contains the same variety of entertaining and informative entries that make Bird Watcher's Digest the nation's most popular birding magazine. While many birdwatchers travel regularly for their hobby, the environmental landscape of the Northeast supports fascinating species and variations exclusive to the area. Take a close look and you're sure to agree: some of the most beautiful and intriguing birds are the ones that frequent our backyards daily. While some guides—even regional ones!—focus on bird types that the casual observer is never likely to encounter, Northeastern Birds celebrates the species living side-by-side with us in the Northeast. In this book, you'll find:Profiles for all the most common birds in the Northeast: New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.Beautiful photos and detailed descriptions to help ID what you see: Large color photos and gender-specific physical descriptions take the guesswork out of identification.At a Glance information for busy birders: Charts will help you quickly figure out details like whether the bird uses a birdhouse, is attracted by feeders or specific plants, has different plumage by sex, and more! There's also a quick-reference guide for bird-friendly trees and shrubs.Extended information as well: Nesting and feeding details, bird call particulars, and interesting stories are included for each species.The basics of bird watching: Essential gear, bird-friendly food and plantings, housing tips, and observational techniques for those that are just getting started or want to brush up.Pick up this essential companionfor your Northeast birding adventures, and be sure to look for our other backyard bird guides covering the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, South, and West regions of the United States.

Assassin. Rogue. Demon’s bane. Dragon-slayer. Kylac Kronus has been called many names, and earned every one of them. Months shy of his seventeenth spring, he is already the deadliest man alive. Nothing—be it man or beast—has been able to prove otherwise.Uncomfortable with his newfound fame following the War of the Demon Queen, Kylac seeks fresh adventure overseas, recruited by a band of outlanders under royal commission to escort a kidnapped princess back to her father, King Kendarrion, ruler of the Sundered Isle. They warn him that, to do so, he will brave tempest seas full of raging leviathans while seeking to evade those responsible for the princess’s abduction—including a terrifying mutant left over from the days of the Mage Wars.Kylac readily agrees.But when the mutant proves as cunning as it is savage, the perilous voyage gives way to an even deadlier trek across a poisoned wilderness once home to the ancient Gorrethrehn—“Breeders”—a sect of magi known for their foul creation practices. Stalked by bestial denizens, treacherous companions, and horrors that his blades cannot touch, Kylac finds himself embattled as never before. For the mutant is relentless in its hunt, the island’s terrors do not rest, and not even the deadliest man alive can hope to emerge unscathed.

Fourteen year old Justin McLeod has learned that he is a new Titan, born five thousand years after that mythic race disappeared. Forced to flee from his home by unknown adversaries, he escapes to Sanctuary, a huge, hidden base where other teens like himself have taken refuge. There he begins to learn about his race's past, why he and the other young Titans have appeared at this moment in history, and about his powers and how to use them.But other Titans have also come into the world; older, more powerful and bent on world domination. They see Justin and the new Titans as a threat to their plans. They attack Sanctuary but, thanks in part to Justin's powers, are driven back.Soon after the failed attack, Justin learns that a family friend is being held captive by government forces. So he and his new friend, Aaron, decide to leave Sanctuary on their own to try to save him. However, they are tricked by their enemies and trapped along with six other young Titans.Following a daring escape, the eight teens find themselves stranded on the lowest level of Sanctuary, faced with a daunting task; to travel through the countless levels of this huge complex in the hope that they can reach the top level and safety. Unless, of course, Sanctuary has already fallen.

“They don’t make plus size spacesuits” is a sci-fi short story collection, featuring an introductory essay. It is written by long-time fat activist, Ali Thompson of Ok2BeFat.This book is a incandescent cry from the heart, a radical turn away from utopian daydreaming of future body perfection to center a fat perspective instead. Ali invites people to experience a fictional version of a few of the many ways that fatphobia can manifest in a life. The ways that the people closest to fat people can subject them to tiny betrayals on a near constant basis. The disdain that piles up over the years, until it all becomes too large to bear.And while some of the fatphobic tech in these stories may seem outrageous and downright unbelievable, it is all based on extrapolations of so-called “advances” by the diet industry, as they search for ever more efficient ways to starve people. The modern day worship of Health promises a future peopled only by the thin, a world where the War on Fatness is won and only visually acceptable bodies remain.What will that future mean for the fat people who will inevitably still continue to exist?Nothing good.

A hilarious nonfiction look at two of history's most epic "failures": the Wright brothers, whose countless crashes ultimately led to groundbreaking success.Although Orville and Wilbur Wright are celebrated today as heroes for their revolutionary contributions to science and engineering―they are acknowledged as the first men to successfully achieve powered, piloted flight―their success was hard-earned. (Spoiler alert: there were a lot of nosedives involved.) In fact, it took the self-taught engineers years of work and dozens of crashes before they managed a single twelve-second flight! In this first installment of the brand new Epic Fails series, Ben Thompson and Erik Slader take readers through the Wright brothers' many mishaps and misadventures as they paved the way for modern aviation. The Epic Fails series takes a humorous and unexpected view of history, exploring the surprising stories behind a variety of groundbreaking discoveries, voyages, experiments, and innovations, illustrating how many of mankind's biggest successes are in fact the result of some pretty epic failures.This title has Common Core connections.