The Last Lecture

Download The Last Lecture PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780340978504
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (785 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Last Lecture by : Randy Pausch

Download or read book The Last Lecture written by Randy Pausch and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

Wolf in White Van

Download Wolf in White Van PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN 13 : 0374709661
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (747 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Wolf in White Van by : John Darnielle

Download or read book Wolf in White Van written by John Darnielle and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beautifully written and unexpectedly moving, John Darnielle's audacious and gripping debut novel Wolf in White Van is a marvel of storytelling and genuine literary delicacy. Welcome to Trace Italian, a game of strategy and survival! You may now make your first move. Isolated by a disfiguring injury since the age of seventeen, Sean Phillips crafts imaginary worlds for strangers to play in. From his small apartment in southern California, he orchestrates fantastic adventures where possibilities, both dark and bright, open in the boundaries between the real and the imagined. His primary creation, Trace Italian, is an intricate text-role playing game that enables participants far and wide to explore a dystopian America, seeking refuge amidst the ruin. However, when two high school players, Lance and Carrie, extend the game into their reality, the consequences are horrifying, leaving Sean to account for it. Darnielle’s Wolf in White Van invites us to comprehend the depth and intricacy of Sean's life. Told in reverse, the story draws us back to the moment that fundamentally altered Sean’s life as he knows it.

The Artist's Way

Download The Artist's Way PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101156880
Total Pages : 295 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (11 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Artist's Way by : Julia Cameron

Download or read book The Artist's Way written by Julia Cameron and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2002-03-04 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With its gentle affirmations, inspirational quotes, fill-in-the-blank lists and tasks — write yourself a thank-you letter, describe yourself at 80, for example — The Artist’s Way proposes an egalitarian view of creativity: Everyone’s got it."—The New York Times "Morning Pages have become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential"—Vogue Over four million copies sold! Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors. A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.

Writing without Teachers

Download Writing without Teachers PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199766363
Total Pages : 239 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (997 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Writing without Teachers by : Peter Elbow

Download or read book Writing without Teachers written by Peter Elbow and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1998-06-25 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Writing Without Teachers, well-known advocate of innovative teaching methods Peter Elbow outlines a practical program for learning how to write. His approach is especially helpful to people who get "stuck" or blocked in their writing, and is equally useful for writing fiction, poetry, and essays, as well as reports, lectures, and memos. The core of Elbow's thinking is a challenge against traditional writing methods. Instead of editing and outlining material in the initial steps of the writing process, Elbow celebrates non-stop or free uncensored writing, without editorial checkpoints first, followed much later by the editorial process. This approach turns the focus towards encouraging ways of developing confidence and inspiration through free writing, multiple drafts, diaries, and notes. Elbow guides the reader through his metaphor of writing as "cooking:" his term for heating up the creative process where the subconscious bubbles up to the surface and the writing gets good. 1998 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Writing Without Teachers. In this edition, Elbow reexamines his program and the subsequent influence his techniques have had on writers, students, and teachers. This invaluable guide will benefit anyone, whether in the classroom, boardroom, or living room, who has ever had trouble writing.

Musicophilia

Download Musicophilia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Vintage Canada
ISBN 13 : 0307373495
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (73 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Musicophilia by : Oliver Sacks

Download or read book Musicophilia written by Oliver Sacks and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2010-02-05 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What goes on in human beings when they make or listen to music? What is it about music, what gives it such peculiar power over us, power delectable and beneficent for the most part, but also capable of uncontrollable and sometimes destructive force? Music has no concepts, it lacks images; it has no power of representation, it has no relation to the world. And yet it is evident in all of us–we tap our feet, we keep time, hum, sing, conduct music, mirror the melodic contours and feelings of what we hear in our movements and expressions. In this book, Oliver Sacks explores the power music wields over us–a power that sometimes we control and at other times don’t. He explores, in his inimitable fashion, how it can provide access to otherwise unreachable emotional states, how it can revivify neurological avenues that have been frozen, evoke memories of earlier, lost events or states or bring those with neurological disorders back to a time when the world was much richer. This is a book that explores, like no other, the myriad dimensions of our experience of and with music.

The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop

Download The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Haymarket Books
ISBN 13 : 1642593877
Total Pages : 164 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (425 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop by : Felicia Rose Chavez

Download or read book The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop written by Felicia Rose Chavez and published by Haymarket Books. This book was released on 2021-01-05 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Antiracist Writing Workshop is a call to create healthy, sustainable, and empowering artistic communities for a new millennium of writers. Inspired by June Jordan 's 1995 Poetry for the People, here is a blueprint for a 21st-century workshop model that protects and platforms writers of color. Instead of earmarking dusty anthologies, imagine workshop participants Skyping with contemporary writers of difference. Instead of tolerating bigoted criticism, imagine workshop participants moderating their own feedback sessions. Instead of yielding to the red-penned judgement of instructors, imagine workshop participants citing their own text in dialogue. The Antiracist Writing Workshop is essential reading for anyone looking to revolutionize the old workshop model into an enlightened, democratic counterculture.

The City of Dreaming Books

Download The City of Dreaming Books PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Abrams
ISBN 13 : 1590203682
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (92 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The City of Dreaming Books by : Walter Moers

Download or read book The City of Dreaming Books written by Walter Moers and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2008-09-02 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this whimsical fantasy adventure, a novelist’s search for an author takes him to a magical city, a villainous literary scholar, and perilous catacombs. Optimus Yarnspinner’s search for an author’s identity takes him to Bookholm―the so-called City of Dreaming Books. On entering its streets, our hero feels as if he has opened the door of a gigantic second-hand bookshop. His nostrils are assailed by clouds of book dust, the stimulating scent of ancient leather, and the tang of printer’s ink. Soon, though, Yarnspinner falls into the clutches of the city’s evil genius, Pfistomel Smyke, who treacherously maroons him in the labyrinthine catacombs underneath the city, where reading books can be genuinely dangerous . . . In The City of Dreaming Books, Walter Moers transports us to a magical world where reading is a remarkable adventure. Only those intrepid souls who are prepared to join Yarnspinner on his perilous journey should read this book. We wish the rest of you a long, safe, unutterably dull, and boring life! Praise for The City of Dreaming Books “German author and cartoonist Moers returns to the mythical lost continent of Zamonia in his uproarious third fantasy adventure to be translated into English, a delightfully imaginative mélange of Shel Silverstein zaniness and oddball anthropomorphism à la Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. . . . A wonderfully whimsical story that will appeal to readers of all ages.” —Publishers Weekly “A salmagundi of whimsy, imagination and book lore—remarkable fun.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer “Moers puts Tolkien through some sort of Willy Wonka sweetening process and comes up with characters such as Optimus Yarnspinner, who, names being fate and all, just has to be a storyteller.” —Kirkus Reviews

Deep Work

Download Deep Work PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1455586668
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (555 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Deep Work by : Cal Newport

Download or read book Deep Work written by Cal Newport and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF 2O16 PICK IN BUSINESS & LEADERSHIP WALL STREET JOURNAL BUSINESS BESTSELLER A BUSINESS BOOK OF THE WEEK AT 800-CEO-READ Master one of our economy’s most rare skills and achieve groundbreaking results with this “exciting” book (Daniel H. Pink) from an “exceptional” author (New York Times Book Review). Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep Work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. In short, deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy. And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep-spending their days instead in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media, not even realizing there's a better way. In Deep Work, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four "rules," for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill. 1. Work Deeply 2. Embrace Boredom 3. Quit Social Media 4. Drain the Shallows A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, Deep Work takes the reader on a journey through memorable stories-from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air-and no-nonsense advice, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored. Deep Work is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world.

Steal Like an Artist

Download Steal Like an Artist PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Workman Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 0761171258
Total Pages : 161 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (611 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Steal Like an Artist by : Austin Kleon

Download or read book Steal Like an Artist written by Austin Kleon and published by Workman Publishing Company. This book was released on 2012-02-28 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlock your creativity. An inspiring guide to creativity in the digital age, Steal Like an Artist presents ten transformative principles that will help readers discover their artistic side and build a more creative life. Nothing is original, so embrace influence, school yourself through the work of others, remix and reimagine to discover your own path. Follow interests wherever they take you—what feels like a hobby may turn into you life’s work. Forget the old cliché about writing what you know: Instead, write the book you want to read, make the movie you want to watch. And finally, stay Smart, stay out of debt, and risk being boring in the everyday world so that you have the space to be wild and daring in your imagination and your work. “Brilliant and real and true.”—Rosanne Cash

DIY MFA

Download DIY MFA PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1599639343
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (996 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis DIY MFA by : Gabriela Pereira

Download or read book DIY MFA written by Gabriela Pereira and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-07-08 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Get the Knowledge Without the College! You are a writer. You dream of sharing your words with the world, and you're willing to put in the hard work to achieve success. You may have even considered earning your MFA, but for whatever reason--tuition costs, the time commitment, or other responsibilities--you've never been able to do it. Or maybe you've been looking for a self-guided approach so you don't have to go back to school. This book is for you. DIY MFA is the do-it-yourself alternative to a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. By combining the three main components of a traditional MFA--writing, reading, and community--it teaches you how to craft compelling stories, engage your readers, and publish your work. Inside you'll learn how to: • Set customized goals for writing and learning. • Generate ideas on demand. • Outline your book from beginning to end. • Breathe life into your characters. • Master point of view, voice, dialogue, and more. • Read with a "writer's eye" to emulate the techniques of others. • Network like a pro, get the most out of writing workshops, and submit your work successfully. Writing belongs to everyone--not only those who earn a degree. With DIY MFA, you can take charge of your writing, produce high-quality work, get published, and build a writing career.

Poignant Moments...

Download Poignant Moments... PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : BOOKSURGE, an Amazon.com Co
ISBN 13 : 1419610422
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (196 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Poignant Moments... by : John Wissler

Download or read book Poignant Moments... written by John Wissler and published by BOOKSURGE, an Amazon.com Co. This book was released on 2005-07-20 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dialysis patient and author Jurgen Hesse says, Poignant Moments. . .A Caregiver's Perspective is "A powerful memoir . . . it is the kind of moving story that cannot be told enough times." Many people unfortunately do not understand dialysis, but all know that we have kidneys. However, author John Francis Wissler will wager that almost everyone knows someone who gives care for a friend, mother, or father; a grandfather; a grandmother. . .a son, daughter. . .or a spouse and home hemodialysis patient. In the United States alone, caregiver value accounts for $265 billion per year. In this book a story is told of the skills, patience and stresses of one out of fifty million caregivers. Wissler takes the reader on a tortuous journey of him as caregiver, and his significant other, Lois, as care receiver, with all the bumps and laughs in the road along the way. No less important is the bureaucratic wrangling as the author relentlessly seeks the appropriate level of medical care for a woman in increasingly dire straits. It is a compelling human-interest, educational, nonfiction novel that NHHD caregiver Martha Washburn articulates is ". . . a required reading for everyone in government and the healthcare industry."

Several Short Sentences About Writing

Download Several Short Sentences About Writing PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307279413
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (72 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Several Short Sentences About Writing by : Verlyn Klinkenborg

Download or read book Several Short Sentences About Writing written by Verlyn Klinkenborg and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-04-09 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An indispensable and distinctive book that will help anyone who wants to write, write better, or have a clearer understanding of what it means for them to be writing, from widely admired writer and teacher Verlyn Klinkenborg. Klinkenborg believes that most of our received wisdom about how writing works is not only wrong but an obstacle to our ability to write. In Several Short Sentences About Writing, he sets out to help us unlearn that “wisdom”—about genius, about creativity, about writer’s block, topic sentences, and outline—and understand that writing is just as much about thinking, noticing, and learning what it means to be involved in the act of writing. There is no gospel, no orthodoxy, no dogma in this book. Instead it is a gathering of starting points in a journey toward lively, lucid, satisfying self-expression.

That's My Story!: Drama for Confidence, Communication and Creativity in KS1 and Beyond

Download That's My Story!: Drama for Confidence, Communication and Creativity in KS1 and Beyond PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1003853765
Total Pages : 123 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (38 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis That's My Story!: Drama for Confidence, Communication and Creativity in KS1 and Beyond by : Adam Power-Annand

Download or read book That's My Story!: Drama for Confidence, Communication and Creativity in KS1 and Beyond written by Adam Power-Annand and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-03-25 with total page 123 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ability to communicate is an essential life skill for all children and young people and it underpins their social, emotional and educational development. If a child experiences a positive relationship with an adult listening carefully, they are more likely to constructively share their thoughts, feelings and their imaginative ideas. That’s My Story! places children’s imagined stories at the heart of their own development and provides a joyful, creative approach to support young children’s personal and social development and to encourage their communication. In this book you will find: Tried-and-tested drama games and activities that support communication and well-being, all adaptable to complement your current practice Guidance and advice on how to promote positive adult-child interactions Examples of creative interventions that support children’s communication development A celebration of the joy that comes with carefully listening to children’s own imagined stories Those of us who work with children can sense a tangible connection between how young children feel and how they communicate. This essential and practical resource will be valuable reading for primary teachers, teaching assistants, speech and language therapists, and drama practitioners, as well as outreach and education departments of theatre companies and other arts organisations.

Stein On Writing

Download Stein On Writing PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1466864990
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Stein On Writing by : Sol Stein

Download or read book Stein On Writing written by Sol Stein and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2014-02-11 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your future as a writer is in your hands. Whether you are a newcomer or an accomplished professional, a novelist, story writer, or a writer of nonfiction, you will find this book a wealth of immediately useful guidance not available anywhere else. As Sol Stein, renowned editor, author, and instructor, explains, "This is not a book of theory. It is a book of useable solutions-- how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is good, how to create interesting writing in the first place." You will find one of the great unspoken secrets of craftsmanship in Chapter 5, called "Markers: The Key to Swift Characterization." In Chapter 7, Stein reveals for he first time in print the wonderful system for creating instant conflict developed in the Playwrights Group of the Actors Studio, of which he was a founder. In "Secrets of Good Dialogue," the premier teacher of dialogue gives you the instantly useable techniques that not only make verbal exchanges exciting but that move the story forward immediately. You won't need to struggle with flashbacks or background material after you've read Chapter 14, which shows you how to bring background into the foreground. Writers of both fiction and nonfiction will relish the amphetamines for speeding up pace, and the many ways to liposuction flab, as well as how to tap originality and recognize what successful titles have in common. You'll discover literary values that enhance writing, providing depth and resonance. You'll bless the day you read Chapters 32 and 33 and discover why revising by starting at page one can be a serious mistake, and how to revise without growing cold on your manuscript. In the pages of this book, nonfiction writers will find a passport to the new revolution in journalism and a guide to using the techniques of fiction to enhance nonfiction. Fresh, useful, informative, and fun to read and reread, Stein on Writing is a book you will mark up, dog-ear, and cherish.

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die

Download I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : WaterBrook
ISBN 13 : 0593193539
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (931 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die by : Sarah J. Robinson

Download or read book I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die written by Sarah J. Robinson and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

The Creative Qualitative Researcher

Download The Creative Qualitative Researcher PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429614519
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (296 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Creative Qualitative Researcher by : Ronald J. Pelias

Download or read book The Creative Qualitative Researcher written by Ronald J. Pelias and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-29 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Creative Qualitative Researcher is designed to help readers see the range of possibilities of creative scholarship. The phrase "creative qualitative researchers" points toward scholars who call upon their literary skills to evoke the emotional and intellectual complexity of their subjects; who deploy their vulnerable, relational, and reflexive selves to expose and change problematic cultural practices; and who engage their embodied ideological and ethical sensibilities as researchers. Part I introduces chapters on four qualitative methods: autoethnography, performative writing, narrative inquiry and poetic inquiry. Each of these four method chapters presents the method written in the style it features, provides writing prompts for exploring the chapter’s themes, and offers written examples of the method. Part II, divided into four chapters, aims to develop creative qualitative research skills relevant to the methods discussed in Part I. Chapter 5 discusses empathy and ethics; Chapter 6 is a primer on creative writing; Chapter 7 identifies some alternative ideas for using the words of others; and Chapter 8 focuses on collaborative improvisation to compose scholarly work. Each of the chapters in Part II includes a large number of writing exercises, prompts and strategies to assist scholars in becoming better creative researchers. By the end of the book, readers will know what creative research might entail and will have a clear understanding of the methods. Working with the various writing strategies, readers will see the potential of creative research and gain skills for its use.

The Sense of an Ending

Download The Sense of an Ending PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307957330
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (79 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Sense of an Ending by : Julian Barnes

Download or read book The Sense of an Ending written by Julian Barnes and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-10-05 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.