Sports/Games/Chess
Cross-train your brain. All it takes is ten to fifteen minutes a day of playing the right games. (It's fun.) Exercising your brain is like exercising your body--with the right program, you can keep your brain young, strong, agile, and adaptable. Organized on an increasing scale of difficulty from "Warm-up" to "Merciless," here are 399 puzzles, trivia quizzes, brainteasers, and word game that are both fun and engaging to play, and are expertly designed to give your brain the kind of workout that stimulates neurogenesis, the process of rejuvenating the brain by growing new brain cells. Target Six Key Cognitive Functions: 1. Long-Term Memory. 2. Working Memory. 3. Executive Functioning. 4. Attention to Detail. 5. Multitasking. 6. Processing Speed.
**An Amazon Editor's Pick in Best Nonfiction**
"An intimate, honest, accountable, and thorough invitation into healing" -- adrienne maree brown, author of Pleasure Activism
"This book is a powerhouse." -- Ashley Judd The myth of wellness is a lie. And until we learn to confront and dismantle its toxic systems, we can't ever be well. Better, stronger, healthier, whole--the wellness industry promises us that with enough intention, investment, and positive thinking, we'll unlock our best selves and find meaning and purpose in a chaotic and confusing world. The problem? It's a lie. The industry soars upwards of $650 billion a year, but we're still isolated, insecure, and inequitable. "Wellness" isn't making us well; it's making us worse. It diverts our attention and holds us back from asking the questions that do help us heal: Who gets to be well in America? Who's harmed--and who's left out? And what's the real-life cost of our obsession with self-improvement? To be truly well, we don't need juice fasts or yoga fads. We need to detox from a culture rooted in perfectionism, white supremacy, and individualism--and move toward a model that embodies mutual responsibility and extends beyond self-help to collective care. In American Detox, organizer, yoga activist, wellness disruptor, and CTZNWELL founder Kerri Kelly sounds the wake-up call. It's time to commit to the radical work of unlearning the toxic messages we've been fed--to resist, disrupt, and dream better futures of what wellness really means.
"An intimate, honest, accountable, and thorough invitation into healing" -- adrienne maree brown, author of Pleasure Activism
"This book is a powerhouse." -- Ashley Judd The myth of wellness is a lie. And until we learn to confront and dismantle its toxic systems, we can't ever be well. Better, stronger, healthier, whole--the wellness industry promises us that with enough intention, investment, and positive thinking, we'll unlock our best selves and find meaning and purpose in a chaotic and confusing world. The problem? It's a lie. The industry soars upwards of $650 billion a year, but we're still isolated, insecure, and inequitable. "Wellness" isn't making us well; it's making us worse. It diverts our attention and holds us back from asking the questions that do help us heal: Who gets to be well in America? Who's harmed--and who's left out? And what's the real-life cost of our obsession with self-improvement? To be truly well, we don't need juice fasts or yoga fads. We need to detox from a culture rooted in perfectionism, white supremacy, and individualism--and move toward a model that embodies mutual responsibility and extends beyond self-help to collective care. In American Detox, organizer, yoga activist, wellness disruptor, and CTZNWELL founder Kerri Kelly sounds the wake-up call. It's time to commit to the radical work of unlearning the toxic messages we've been fed--to resist, disrupt, and dream better futures of what wellness really means.
Game of the Year winner at the 2009 International Toy Fair, Bananagrams is the international phenomenon that started with a simple idea: An anagram game that is so fast it will drive you bananas! Doing for letters what Sudoku did for numbers, it's the obsessive new puzzle craze that starts with 144 letter tiles in a banana-shaped bag and captures all the fun of crosswords and word games like Scrabble and Boggle. Now comes Bananagrams! The Official Book, which translates the brain-twisting word fun of the game onto the page, and adds much, much more. Even if you've never dipped your hand into the Bananagrams pouch, the book stands on its own with hours of challenging play. Written by the only three-time National Scrabble Champion, Joe Edley, Bananagrams! offers sixteen clever puzzle types, including Banana Trees, where the object is to build word grids based on a theme; Banana Splits, a collection of four quick anagram puzzles to be solved in rapid-fire style; Banana Leaves, with its four-, five-, six- and seven-letter words; Banana Filling--what happens when you add a K?; and more. The puzzles have four levels of difficulty, from one banana to four bananas. Plus, there are glossaries; special strategies for Bananagrams: The Game; a list of Weords--weird words that are cool to play; two- and three-letter words to take your game to the next level; fun banana facts; and, of course, an answer key.
Bananagrams is on a roll. Now introducing Bananagrams! The On-the-Go Edition, a Bananagrams! book in the bestselling chunky 4 by 6-inch format.
It's an appealing puzzle-book format that's perfect for on-the-go play--to be pulled out of a purse, messenger bag, or knapsack. And just like crosswords, Sudoku, and word searches, Bananagrams! are the kind of puzzles best for when commuting or in the waiting room, or to play before bed--whenever there are a few minutes to challenge and stretch the brain.
On-the-Go offers a total of 575 original puzzles in three levels of difficulty and sixteen lively and varied puzzle types, including two created exclusively for this book. Plus there are Weords (weird words that are fun to play), lists of common two- and three-letter words to improve your game, fun facts about bananas and monkeys, and (of course!) an answer key.
It's an appealing puzzle-book format that's perfect for on-the-go play--to be pulled out of a purse, messenger bag, or knapsack. And just like crosswords, Sudoku, and word searches, Bananagrams! are the kind of puzzles best for when commuting or in the waiting room, or to play before bed--whenever there are a few minutes to challenge and stretch the brain.
On-the-Go offers a total of 575 original puzzles in three levels of difficulty and sixteen lively and varied puzzle types, including two created exclusively for this book. Plus there are Weords (weird words that are fun to play), lists of common two- and three-letter words to improve your game, fun facts about bananas and monkeys, and (of course!) an answer key.
Matching suits and numbers is fun to play with these beautifully illustrated cards by Caldecott winner Chris Raschka.
Features:
- Cards are 3.25" x 4.5"
- Instructions included
- Sturdy sliding tray box for easy storage
A classic look at those years of baseball futility and frustration that make the rare taste of success so much sweeter. Any team can have an off-decade. But three in a row? Only in Cleveland. No sports fans suffered more miserable teams for more seasons than Indians fans of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. Terry Pluto takes a fond and often humorous look at “the bad old days” of the Tribe and finds plenty of great stories for fans to commiserate with. Other teams lose players to injuries; the Indians lost them to alcoholism (Sam McDowell), a nervous breakdown (Tony Horton), and the pro golf tour (Ken Harrelson). They even had to trade young Dennis Eckersley (a future Hall-of-Famer) because his wife fell in love with his best friend and teammate. Pluto profiles the men who made the Indians what they were, for better or worse, including Gabe Paul, the underfunded and overmatched general manager; Herb Score, the much-loved master of malaprops in the broadcast booth; Andre Thornton, who weathered personal tragedies and stood as one of the few hitting stalwarts on some terrible teams; and Super Joe Charboneau, who blazed across the American League as a rookie but flamed out the following season. Long-suffering Indians fans finally got an exciting, star-studded, winning team in the second half of the 1990s. But this book still stands as the definitive story of that generation of Tribe fans—and a great piece of sports history writing.
1st edition; inscribed by author on ffep. DJ protected. VG+/VG+
*NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
From the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Tiger Woods comes the definitive inside story of the New England Patriots--the greatest sports dynasty of the 21st century. It's easy to forget that the New England Patriots were once the laughingstock of the NFL, a nearly bankrupt team that had never won a championship and was on the brink of moving to St. Louis. Everything changed in 1994, when Robert Kraft acquired the franchise and soon brought on board head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Since then, the Patriots have become a juggernaut, making ten trips to the Super Bowl, winning six of them, and emerging as one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world. How was the Patriots dynasty built? And how did it last for two decades? In The Dynasty, acclaimed journalist Jeff Benedict provides richly reported answers in a sweeping account based on exclusive interviews with more than two hundred insiders--including team executives, coaches, players, players' wives, team doctors, lawyers, and more--as well as never-before-seen recordings, documents, and electronic communications. Through his exhaustive research, Benedict uncovers surprising new details about the inner workings of a team notorious for its secrecy. He puts us in the room as Robert Kraft outmaneuvers a legion of lawyers and investors to buy the team. We listen in on the phone call when the greatest trade ever made--Bill Belichick for a first-round draft choice--is negotiated. And we look over the shoulder of forty-year-old Tom Brady as a surgeon operates on his throwing hand on the eve of the AFC Championship Game in 2018. But the portrait that emerges in The Dynasty is more rewarding than new details alone. By tracing the team's epic run through the perspectives of Kraft, Belichick, and Brady--each of whom was interviewed for the book--the author provides a wealth of new insight into the complex human beings most responsible for the Patriots' success. The result is an intimate portrait that captures the human drama of the dynasty's three key characters while also revealing the secrets behind their success. "The Dynasty is...[a] masterpiece...It's a relationship book, it's a football book, it's a business book...you'll just eat up these stories" (Colin Cowherd).
From the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Tiger Woods comes the definitive inside story of the New England Patriots--the greatest sports dynasty of the 21st century. It's easy to forget that the New England Patriots were once the laughingstock of the NFL, a nearly bankrupt team that had never won a championship and was on the brink of moving to St. Louis. Everything changed in 1994, when Robert Kraft acquired the franchise and soon brought on board head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Since then, the Patriots have become a juggernaut, making ten trips to the Super Bowl, winning six of them, and emerging as one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world. How was the Patriots dynasty built? And how did it last for two decades? In The Dynasty, acclaimed journalist Jeff Benedict provides richly reported answers in a sweeping account based on exclusive interviews with more than two hundred insiders--including team executives, coaches, players, players' wives, team doctors, lawyers, and more--as well as never-before-seen recordings, documents, and electronic communications. Through his exhaustive research, Benedict uncovers surprising new details about the inner workings of a team notorious for its secrecy. He puts us in the room as Robert Kraft outmaneuvers a legion of lawyers and investors to buy the team. We listen in on the phone call when the greatest trade ever made--Bill Belichick for a first-round draft choice--is negotiated. And we look over the shoulder of forty-year-old Tom Brady as a surgeon operates on his throwing hand on the eve of the AFC Championship Game in 2018. But the portrait that emerges in The Dynasty is more rewarding than new details alone. By tracing the team's epic run through the perspectives of Kraft, Belichick, and Brady--each of whom was interviewed for the book--the author provides a wealth of new insight into the complex human beings most responsible for the Patriots' success. The result is an intimate portrait that captures the human drama of the dynasty's three key characters while also revealing the secrets behind their success. "The Dynasty is...[a] masterpiece...It's a relationship book, it's a football book, it's a business book...you'll just eat up these stories" (Colin Cowherd).
King James Brings The Land a Crown picks up the Cleveland Cavaliers' tale with the 2015 Finals loss to Golden State on their home floor. It chronicles the team's victorious journey back to that summit to which this generation's greatest sports icon returned for his storybook ending against a Warriors team that finished with an NBA record 73 wins, and took a 3-1 lead in the Finals.
You'll read about Love's one-on-one games with his dad, how Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson brought the team together, hear players talk about building their game, and of course an in-depth examination of Tyronn Lue's value to the team and the circumstance leading up to David Blatt's midseason dismissal. This includes a beat-by-beat review of that Game 7 for the ages that's like hearing it live.
Perhaps no NBA player today is as exciting and yet enigmatic as Kyrie Irving. Martin Gitlin's biography chronicles Irving's brilliance on the court as a devastating one-on-one talent, examines the influence of his father, the untimely death of his mother, his growth as a basketball player in high school and college, and his journey in the NBA. Nicknamed the "Isolation Assassin," Irving has earned the distinction as the most incredible isolation player in the league, outperforming rivals such as Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook with his crossover dribble, drives to the basket, stop-and-go moves, and smooth, feathery jumpers, a distinction borne out, moreover, by his championship-clinching shot against Curry's Golden State Warriors in 2016. Yet while he speaks of maximizing his talent, he has shown reluctance to maximize the production of his teammates by passing the ball, as well as his overall defense. Irving expresses his desire to win championships yet demanded a trade away from the franchise best suited to deliver him a second. Off the court there is no one like Irving either. An educated individual who claims that the earth could be flat and that dinosaurs perhaps never existed, Irving is a man of puzzling contradictions who seeks self-actualization and contentment through a variety of pursuits, including reflection, music, and acting. Gitlin, a veteran writer who has followed Irving's career from the beginning, has much to tell about one of the most mysterious and sensational athletes of our time whose appeal transcends his sport.
From Jeff Benedict, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Tiger Woods and The Dynasty, this is the definitive biography of LeBron James, one of the greatest athletes of all time--the king of basketball, the figure at the center of social movements, the man everyone has an opinion on--based on three years of exhaustive research and more than two hundred interviews. LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of the twenty-first century, and he's in the conversation with Michael Jordan as the greatest of all-time. He wears the crown like he was born to it. Yet what makes LeBron's story so compelling is that he won his destiny despite overwhelmingly long odds, in a drama worthy of a Dickens novel. As a child, he was a lost little boy living in a public housing project in Akron, Ohio. His mother, who had LeBron when she was sixteen, would sometimes leave him on his own. Scared and alone, destitute and fatherless, LeBron missed close to 100 days of school in fourth grade and didn't play organized basketball. LeBron tells the full, riveting saga of how a boy adrift finds the will to become a titan. Jeff Benedict, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Tiger Woods, paints a vivid picture of LeBron's epic origin story, showing the gradual ascent of a star who, surrounded by a tight-knit group of friends and adult mentors, transformed into a speeding comet during high school. LeBron today has built not only a basketball career that will go down as one of the greatest in the sport's history, but a solid family and a business empire. He produces Hollywood films and television shows, he has a social media presence that includes over 100 million followers, he engages in political activism and takes outspoken stances on racism and social injustice, he transforms lives through his visionary philanthropy, and he's the first active NBA player to become a billionaire. To tell the story of LeBron's rise to dominance on the court and beyond, Benedict pored through thousands of pages of primary source documents and countless of hours of video footage. He conducted hundreds of interviews with the people who were intimately involved with LeBron at different stages of his life, taking us inside his early years through his famed NBA career spanning championships with three teams as well as his supremacy in the Olympics. Destined to be the authoritative account of LeBron's life, LeBron is a gripping and unprecedented account of one of the world's greatest and most iconic athletes.