Collection: Self-Development

Get your crochet off to a flying start with 8 simple projects and multiple techniques to master.

A must-have guide for those new to crochet stitches, techniques and projects, or those wanting a recap.

In this complete course, crochet expert Claire Montgomerie covers all the basics from

• selecting the right tools and materials to
• holding your hook,
• making those crucial first stitches,
• fastening off, and
• reading a pattern.

Clear step-by-step photographs and a handy fold-out flap with crochet abbreviations make it accessible for all, whether you are hooking your first stitch or revisiting the basics.

Claire's approachable and friendly guidance is complemented by a delightful array of modern projects that will leave you inspired. As you build your skills, you'll be amazed at the progress you make while creating 8 stunning designs, each one teaching and reinforcing a new technique- from increasing and decreasing to changing color and joining seams.

Choose from a diverse range of projects that will captivate your imagination: Craft eco-friendly washcloths and makeup pads, perfect for pampering yourself or gifting to loved ones or knit a ribbed beanie with a whimsical pompom, keeping you cozy and stylish in colder months. Or even unlesh your creativity and crochet a lovable cuddly toy that will bring joy to children and adults alike.

Once you've gained confidence in your crochet skills, it's time to have some fun! Explore a world of eye-catching yarns and vibrant hooks as you embark on inspiring projects that showcase your newfound expertise. Start stitching today and unlock a world of endless possibilities.

PARIS, 1976: Twenty-year-old American student Julie Scolnik had just arrived in the City of Light to study the flute when, from across a sea of faces in the chorus of the Orchestre de Paris, she is drawn to Luc, a striking (married) French lawyer in the bass section. This moving tale of an ebullient young American and a reserved Frenchman will transport readers to the cafés, streets, and concert halls of Paris in the late seventies, and, spanning three decades, evolves from deep romance to sudden heartbreak, and finally to a lifelong quest for answers to release hidden, immutable grief.

Against a magical backdrop of Paris and classical music, Paris Blue is true fairy-tale memoir (with a dark underbelly) about the tenacious grip of first love.

Baby's on the way. Is Dad ready?

First-time dads can feel like they're waiting forever for their baby to arrive, so why not help them use that time to reflect on all their big feelings (and bigger questions) about fatherhood? This guided journal helps them explore and record their thoughts as the big day approaches, while also providing the tools needed to support their partner and take the first steps into fatherhood.

This dad journal features:

• Monthly check-ins-From the first trimester to the first months of baby's life, this combo guide and journal keeps dads up-to-date on what's happening with their partner and baby.
• Fatherhood prep-Insightful journal prompts and practical exercises help dads work through their thoughts and plan ahead.
• Memories to treasure-Encourage dads to create a keepsake that captures this incredible and irreplaceable time in their life.

Help dads prepare mentally, physically, and emotionally for the arrival of their child with the First-Time Dad Journal.

When Business Is Love tells the story of Jan Ryde's mission to create the world's finest beds and to operate his fifth-generation business, Hästens, on the basis of love.

Love.

It isn't everything. It's the only thing.

Despite the world being such a rich and abundant place, love is one thing that all the world is longing for, yet (as the old song goes) just can't seem to get enough of.

In When Business Is Love: The Spirit of Hästens -- At Work, At Play, and Everywhere In Your Life, Jan Ryde, the fifth generation CEO of family-owned Swedish bed manufacturer Hästens, reveals the secrets to running a business and living a life rooted in love.

When Business Is Love is a book about what can happen when one approaches business and life with the single intention to give everyone involved the opportunity to experience their best life.

When Business Is Love shares Jan Ryde's mission to make the world a better place by putting people first and leading with values of humility, honesty, integrity, mastery, gratitude, forgiveness, encouragement, joy, peacefulness, and -- above all else: LOVE.

Readers will follow Jan's personal journey from business school professor to CEO of a modest family business that he built into a global company, and learn from his successful leadership philosophy:

* Why you must embrace your whole story -- even the dark times.

* The importance of a clearly-defined mission.

* The magic of imagination and retaining one's child-like creativity.

* How to step into and live in abundance through connection to the Source.

* The myth of competition and how you only have to create to succeed.

* The power of modeling and acting on the clues that success freely leaves for you.

* The miracles that show up in your life when you invest in helping people to have their best life ever.

Under Jan Ryde's management, Hästens, founded in Sweden in 1852 as a one-man saddlery, has grown into one of the world's most beloved brands with stores from Los Angeles to London, from Istanbul to Singapore. Hästens enjoys an outstanding international reputation for creating the finest beds in the world, as evidenced by a client list that includes everyone from Hollywood royalty to actual crowned heads of state. Its luxurious, handcrafted, top-of-the-line Grand Vividus sells for as much as a million dollars.

Readers following Jan Ryde's example of business as love will find themselves asking the transformative question that motivates the entire Hästens team: how good do you want to have it?

2022 NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDS FINALIST -- HEALTH: GENERAL

"It is exceptionally well organized and presented, making it an ideal and highly recommended addition to personal, community, college, and university library Health/Medicine collections." --Midwest Book Review

Nature puts a "survival switch" in our bodies to protect us from starvation. Stuck in the "on" position, it's the hidden source of weight gain, heart disease, and many other common health struggles. But you can turn it off.

Dr. Richard Johnson has been on the cutting edge of research into the cause of obesity for more than a decade. His team's discovery of the fructose-powered survival switch--a metabolic pathway that animals in nature turn on and off as needed, but that our modern diet has permanently fixed in the "on" position, where it becomes a fat switch--revolutionized the way we think about why we gain weight.

In Nature Wants Us to Be Fat, he details the mounting evidence on how this switch is responsible both for excess fat storage and for many of the major diseases endemic to the Western world, including heart disease, cancer, and dementia. Dr. Johnson also reveals the surprising link between the survival switch and health conditions such as gout, kidney disease, liver disease, stroke--and even behavioral issues like addiction and ADHD. And, most important, he shares a science-based plan to help readers fight back against nature.

Guided by ongoing clinical research--plus fascinating observations from the animal kingdom, evolution, and history--Dr. Johnson takes you along on an eye-opening investigation into:

• What you can do to turn off your survival switch

• What we have in common with hibernating bears, sperm whales, and the world's fattest bird

• Why it's fructose (not glucose) that drives insulin resistance and metabolic disease

• The foods we eat that trigger the body to make its own fructose

• The surprising role salt and dehydration play in fat accumulation

• The surprising link between the survival switch and health conditions such as gout and liver and kidney diseases, and even behavioral issues like addiction and ADHD

Dr. Johnson not only provides new recommendations for how we can prevent or treat obesity, but also how we can use this information to reduce our risk of developing disease. Nature wants us to be fat, and when we understand why, we gain the tools we need to lose weight and optimize our health.

An inclusive guide to the biggest questions we ask search engines about our bodies, our brains, and how we live together in society.

What is the most personal thing you've asked the Internet? Illustrator Hazel Mead turns to Google to uncover what we secretly ask search bars about our relationships, bodies, and identities. With hundreds of demystifying and empowering illustrations, she offers a fun, shame-free, and inclusive guide to life's big questions. This is the emotional curriculum you'll wish was taught in every classroom.

What if there was a book that explored the big lessons of life? Sure, formal education will equip you with requisite knowledge on photosynthesis. But when it comes to spotting the green flags in a prospective partner, navigating yours or a loved one's grief, knowing how to prepare for a cervical screening, or to practicing self-defense, it can feel like total guesswork.

Using the latest research, interviews with experts, and her signature visuals, Hazel interrogates the taboos that shame us into silence. Since the answers to life's big questions are rarely black and white, she answers them in color, with accessible design, and compassionate reflections. Why Aren't We Talking About This?! is an exploration of the things we're too afraid to ask but desperately need to know and talk about for greater acceptance of others and ourselves. It's a bold invitation to forget normal and embrace what makes you unique.

The book features interviews and expert advice from:

Psychotherapist and grief expert, Dr. Julia Samuel @juliasamuelmbe

Clinical Psychologist, Dr Karen Gurney @thesexdoctor

Asexual Activist, writer and model Yasmin Benoit @theyasminbenoit

Anxiety Therapist, Joshua Fletcher @anxietyjosh

Journalist and founder of the Femedic, Monica Karpinski @thefemedic

Founder of Defend Yourself self-defence trainor, Lauren R. Taylor @thedefendyourself

A MAJOR INTERNATIONAL BEST-SELLER

A timely, powerful reflection on our relationship to death and an invitation to accept loss and vulnerability as essential and enriching parts of life, from France's most prominent female rabbi and a leading intellectual.

The New York Times describes Delphine Horvilleur as "the rare intellectual to bring religious texts into the public square," and, as one of only five female rabbis in France, unique in that she "calls for a plurality of religious voices in interpreting holy texts."

Living with Our Dead is a profoundly humanist, universal, and hopeful book that celebrates life, love, memory, and the power of storytelling to inspire and sustain us.

In this moving book by the leader of France's Liberal Jewish Movement, Delphine Horvilleur recounts eleven stories of loss, mourning, and consolation, collected during the years she has spent caring for the dying and their loved ones.

From Elsa Cayat, the psychologist and Charlie Hebdo columnist killed in the 2015 terrorist attack, to Simone Veil and Marceline Loridan, "the girls of Birkenau"; from Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated in 1995, to Myriam, a New Yorker obsessed with planning her own funeral, to the author friend's Ariane and her struggle with terminal illness. In telling these stories and her own relationship to them, Horvilleur addresses death and dying with intelligence, humor, and compassion. Rejecting the contemporary tendency to banish death from our thoughts and discourse, she encourages us to embrace its presence as a fundamental part of life.

Let your toddler discover the joys of yoga through the simple poses in this yoga book for kids.

With a range of gentle poses carefully selected in an order that will engage, energize, and then relax, this book can be accessed by all abilities. Sweet illustrations of yoga positions are brought to life with real photographs of young children practicing the moves. From downward dog, to cat stretch, to sleepy sloth, this board book includes a variety of yoga moves that are made fun for little ones.

Babies and toddlers will love looking at the beautiful pictures in this illustrated children's book and turning the pages by themselves. There are a range of easy poses for toddlers to copy. Can they stand up tall like a tree and try to balance on one leg or breathe out fiercely like a lion?

My First Yoga helps preschoolers to develop their early learning skills as they name the animals and objects that go with each pose, broadening their vocabulary. The sturdy board book is made for kids to get hands-on with and is perfect for little children to hold by themselves. Yoga has many health benefits as it helps with balance, coordination and mindfulness -- it's never too early to start!

Spread joy, positivity, and inspiration with Instant Happy Notes, the perfect gift for Christmas, back-to-school, new jobs, or simply to brighten someone's day!

These vibrant and uplifting sticky notes are designed to bring happiness and motivation to adults of all ages. With a wide range of positive affirmations, encouraging messages, and joyful illustrations, Instant Happy Notes is a delightful way to share positivity and self-care with loved ones, friends, coworkers, teachers, and more.

• Inspiring Messages: Each sticky note features a motivational quote, uplifting message, or positive affirmation that sparks joy and promotes a sense of well-being.
• Vibrant and Eye-Catching Designs: The colorful and lively illustrations on each sticky note add a touch of happiness to any workspace, lunchbox, or gift.
• Versatile Gift Option: Perfect for Christmas stocking stuffers, as well as for teachers, friends, coworkers, and loved ones, Instant Happy Notes makes a thoughtful and meaningful gift for any occasion.
• Sticker Book Bonus: Includes a sticker book with additional joyful and motivational stickers, perfect for adding a touch of positivity to journals, calendars, planners, or gifts.

Spread happiness, motivation, and positivity with Instant Happy Notes. Whether you're looking for Christmas gifts for coworkers, teachers, friends, or just a little something to cheer up someone's day, these sticky notes are sure to bring a smile. Share the joy of self-care, inspiration, and uplifting messages with this delightful gift that keeps on giving.

Packed with boundary-setting phrases and sample dialogue scripts, this book offers easy-to-remember guidance for navigating life's trickier conversations, and encourages readers to communicate kindly and directly on a variety of sensitive topics.

If you are looking to learn how to express what you truly feel and ask for what you want in a kind and direct way, this book will help you take control of situations and set boundaries that work for you in your environment. Giving hundreds of examples of boundary phrases and conversation scripts, it's designed to be both easy to read and an accessible reference to pull out again and again when you need boundary-setting guidance. Featuring three boundary phrase frameworks and a multitude of topics for use in each, this book suggests communication strategies for speaking compassionately about:

• body image
• sexual orientation
• race
• relationships
• and much more!

With her friendly voice and a spark of humor, boundary coach Kami Orange is here to help you navigate life's tricky situations and learn how to stand up for yourself, for others, and to say the thing.

A Course in Miracles (ACIM)--the self-study spiritual-thought system that teaches the way to love and forgiveness--has captured the minds and hearts of millions of people, and delivered inner peace where fear and pain once prevailed.

Its universal message is unsurpassed in its power to heal. Yet many students report that they have difficulty grasping the principles, or encounter resistance to the lessons. So, even while they yearn for the spiritual freedom the Course offers, they put the book aside, hoping one day to get to it.

Alan Cohen, ACIM student and teacher for over 30 years, takes the Big Picture ideas of the Course and brings them down to earth in practical, easy-to-understand lessons with plenty of real-life examples and applications.

A Course in Miracles Made Easy is the Rosetta stone that will render the Course understandable and relatable; and, most importantly, generate practical, healing results in the lives of students. This unique reader-friendly guide will serve longtime students of the Course, as well as those seeking to acquaint themselves with the program.

Lady Sunflower is an achingly poignant collection written by Sierra Shuck-Sparer when she found herself grappling with the unimaginable: high-risk medulloblastoma. At the age of fifteen, Sierra was thrust into her harrowing battle against Gertrude (the name she gave her cancer). She faced relentless treatments and surgeries all while trying to retain her identity as a teenager heading into her college years. Sierra chronicled her journey through diagnosis, relapses, and treatment stages using a remarkable blend of heart-rending poetry, introspective essays and songs, zines, and curated playlists. This collection is a radiant call to raise awareness about pediatric cancer and a moving glimpse into Sierra's humorous, heartbreaking, and sanguine view of the world around her.

"To me, my X-Men!" This - the first full-sized sourcebook for the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game - features the X-Men and all their various spin-off teams, greatest allies and most fearsome foes. Written by d616 System co-creator and New York Times-bestseller Matt Forbeck (The Marvel Encyclopedia, Dungeons & Dragons: Endless Quest) and packed with illustrations by Marvel's incredible army of artists, the X-Men Expansion is jammed full of vital information about Marvel's most popular mutants, including new options for creating characters, new Traits, new Tags and new Powers! It also includes new profiles for dozens of characters from X-Force, New Mutants and Marauders, new full-color maps of famous X-Men homes, including the Xavier Institute, Krakoa and Arakko and plenty of plot hooks for an entire campaign. Answer the call and join the X-Men!

Sadhana brings us into an intimate alignment with the reality of who we are: as a creature of the Creator and as a human being. First published in 1974, Kundalini Yoga Sadhana Guidelines has become the best-selling Kundalini Yoga manual of all time. Within these pages, you'll find the inspiration to keep returning breath-by-breath to your true Self and to your practice.

Sadhana is everything we do on a daily basis as our self-discipline and our commitment to our higher self. It is a spiritual practice in which we confront the tendencies of our mind and ego and, out of love, we invite in the dimensions of our soul, spirit, and intuition. In its essence, it is a process of refinement, development, and mastery.

As we learned from eastern traditions, a sadhu is a being who has disciplined himself. Likewise, the definition of a yogi is a person who has totally leaned on the supreme consciousness, which is God. The purpose of sadhana is to arrive at the place where we go beyond our ego and its limitations. Morning sadhana-done before the sunrise-is a special time when we sit before the altar of our own consciousness and have the opportunity to clean up our inner world before we engage in the outer world-our jobs, our families, our responsibilities.

This manual exists to serve you and to help you uplift yourself and others. It is designed for both the new and the experienced student. It focuses on the essential practice of Kundalini Yoga. A material that offers lectures, essays, insights, and a series of exercises that one can experience and improve one's own personal practice.

Roy Underhill brings to woodworking the intimate relationship with wood that craftsmen enjoyed in the days before power tools. Combining historical background, folklore, alternative technololgy, and humor, he provides both a source of general information and a detailed introduction to traditional woodworking. Beginning with a guide to trees and tools, The Woodwright's Shop includes chapters on gluts and mauls, shaving horses, rakes, chairs, weaving wood, hay forks, dough bowls, lathes, blacksmithing, dovetails, panel-frame construction, log houses, and timber-frame construction. More than 330 photographs illustrate the text.

For more than twenty-five years, Roy Underhill has taught the techniques of traditional hand-tool woodworking. In five books and on his popular, long-running PBS series, The Woodwright's Shop, America's leading authority on old-time woodcraft has inspired millions to take up chisel and plane. Designed for both woodworking novices and for more seasoned woodworkers looking for enjoyable projects, the books feature step-by-step instructions, complete with easy-to-follow photographs and measured drawings.
Roy Underhill is the former master housewright at Colonial Williamsburg. He created The Woodwright's Shop, one of the first television programs devoted to woodworking, in 1979. The series is produced by the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television and has aired nationally since 1981. Roy is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a master's degree from Duke University. He lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The Woodwright's Shop
A Practical Guide to Traditional Woodcraft
Features a guide to trees and tools as well as chapters on gluts and mauls, shaving horses, chairs, lathes, blacksmithing, log houses, and more.

The Woodwright's Companion
Exploring Traditional Woodcraft
Includes chapters on helves and handles, saws, the search for the whetstone quarry, hurdles, whimmy diddles, planes, window sashes, and pit sawing.

The Woodwright's Workbook
Further Explorations in Traditional Woodcraft
With step-by-step instructions for tool chests, workbenches, lathes, and historical reproductions of items for the home. Roy also explores building barns, boats, and even colonial fortresses.

The Woodwright's Eclectic Workshop
Popular projects include the Adirondack chair, tavern table, folding ladder, rocking horse, lathe, and kayak, all illustrated with photographs and measured drawings.

The Woodwright's Apprentice
Twenty Favorite Projects from The Woodwright's Shop
Begins with directions for building a workbench, then builds new skills--from frame construction to dovetailing, turning, steam-bending, and carving--with each successive project.

Open your mind and start living your best life with 369 Laws of Attraction Guided Workbook.

The law of attraction is the belief that your thoughts become your actions and your actions become your destiny! Think positive thoughts and attract positive results. It sounds simple enough, but changing our everyday thought patterns in order to put this theory into practice can be challenging.

369 Laws of Attraction Guided Workbook will start you on your manifestation journey with:

• An introduction to the theories and history of the universal laws, divine numbers, manifestation, and more.
• Writing exercises to allow you to tap into your inner power, expand your mindset, and effect positive change in your life.

You will learn about the 369 method, a proven manifestation technique based on the mathematical theories of Nicola Tesla. The included 369 method worksheets will allow you to begin your own 369 practice immediately.

369 Laws of Attraction Guided Workbook is the perfect beginner-friendly way to start turning your dreams into reality today.