The Smart Guide to Bridge

Twenty million people in North America play bridge. If you are not one of them, you are missing out on the world's most popular card game. But that's not all. Bridge is a social game and a thinking game. It's a great way to keep your mind sharp. It's great mental exercise to follow the cards, count your points and plan your strategies. It's easy to learn the basics, but when you discover the endless variety of bridge - every hand you pick up is a new adventure - you will want to know more. You will learn that there are different ways to communicate with your partner in the bids that you make. You will learn new and exciting ways to manipulate the cards to come out on top. This book is designed to help you at all stages of your development - teaching you from scratch but adding the extra touches that will help you become a good player. It's all there: the mechanics of play, how to bid, how to relate to your partner, how to take those all-important tricks that make you a successful player. You will learn when to be aggressive and when to rein in your enthusiasm. To be sure, bridge can be a challenging game. This book will help you get the most out of the most fascinating card game ever. Don't wait - get started today.

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A Warrior's Heart: The True Story of Life Before and Beyond the Fighter

With the success of the critically-acclaimed, Academy Award-winning film "The Fighter," the world stood up and cheered for the inspiring true story of Micky Ward--a heart-and-soul warrior who overcame the odds to make history in the ring. But that was only part of the tale... Now, in his own words, "Irish" Micky Ward tells his inspirational life story as only he can. From his first bout at the age of seven, Micky Ward was known first and foremost for giving as good as he got, and for leaving absolutely everything he had in the ring. When he fought, quitting was never an option. It was that indomitable spirit that would allow him to survive, battle against, and overcome the harsh realities that he faced every day of his life. For it was outside the ring that Ward's heart would be most needed, from witnessing his idolized older half-brother Dicky fall from grace, to dealing with his wildly dysfunctional--if frighteningly loyal--family, to the darkest of secrets that he has never revealed until now, and the numerous setbacks and defeats that would have stopped a lesser man. Micky Ward has remained a fighter, through and through--both as a professional boxer, and as a man who finally found his greatest strength in friendship, family, and faith in himself From the rough streets of Lowell, Massachusetts, to the blood and sweat of the international fight game, to the bright lights and adulation of Hollywood, this is the rousing, moving, tragic, and humorous story of the one and only Micky Ward.


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Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA, and One Man's Fight for Justice

In 1997, Dave Ridpath walked onto the campus of Marshall University as a sports-loving athletic administrator with a career on the rise. Less than five years later, Ridpath's quest to reform one of the most corrupt athletic departments in college sports, while simultaneously standing up to the behemoth governing body that is the NCAA, had all but destroyed that career. While serving as assistant athletic director for compliance and student services at Marshall University from 1997 through 2001, Ridpath unearthed violations of several NCAA rules. These violations included overt academic fraud and impermissible, booster-devised employment for members of the Marshall University football team-a team had taken the nation by storm because of its incredible success on the field. Ridpath now chronicles his experiences through this trying time in Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA, and One Man's Fight for Justice. Instead of being hailed as a conquering hero determined to clean up an outlaw program, Ridpath had the tables turned on him. He found himself out of a job when Marshall University and the NCAA determined that the path of least resistance would be to remove him rather than address the issues head-on. With this action, they hoped to avoid damaging the university, the athletic department, and the NCAA overall. This story is about more than the NCAA or Marshall University. It is about the state of the business of intercollegiate athletics told by someone on the inside who lived it-the good and the bad.

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The Best American Sports Writing 2012

The Best American Sports Writing" brings together the finest writing on sports to appear in the past year. Culled from over 350 publications, this collection captures the world of sports in all its drama, humanity, and excitement.

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Up: A Mother and Daughter's Peakbagging Adventure

When Trish Herr became pregnant with her first daughter, Alex, she and her husband, Hugh, vowed to instill a bond with nature in their children. By the time Alex was five, her over-the-top energy levels led Trish to believe that her very young daughter might be capable of hiking adult-sized mountains.
In" Up, " Trish recounts their always exhilarating--and sometimes harrowing--adventures climbing all forty-eight of New Hampshire's highest mountains. Readers will delight in the expansive views and fresh air that only peakbaggers are afforded, and will laugh out loud as Trish urges herself to "mother up" when she and Alex meet an ornery--and alarmingly bold--spruce grouse on the trail. This is, at heart, a resonant, emotionally honest account of a mother's determination to foster independence and fearlessness in her daughter, to teach her "that small doesn't necessarily mean weak; that girls can be strong; and that big, bold things are possible."

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The Appalachian Trail Visitor's Companion

A comprehensive naturalist's guide to the Appalachian Trail, the Visitor's Companion contains all the essential information about the AT - from the trail's fascinating history to detailed information on the geology, trees, flowers, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals of the Appalachian Mountains. Author Leonard M. Adkins even shares suggested hikes. With this guide in hand on the trail, you'll be able to identify certain flowers - and even know how they reproduce and why they grow in select areas. You'll recognize piles of stone as reminders of days gone by. Markings in the mud will become signs of nearby wildlife and the relation of trees to other types of plants will become clear. After reading this guide, you'll gain a greater appreciation and knowledge of this spectacular national treasure and its importance in preserving the natural world.

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Ray Eye's Turkey Hunter's Bible: The Tips, Tactics, and Secrets of a Professional Turkey Hunter

Legendary turkey hunter Ray Eye provides all of the information you need to know to successfully hunt wild turkeys across the country: how to scout, how and when to call, special tactics for the early season, how to hunt pressured turkeys, how to hunt heavy timber or open fields, and much, much more. Told in Ray s down-home, folksy manner, the book not only informs, but entertains as well. There s also a bonus storytelling section that will have you laughing in stitches as you read of some of Ray s more ponderous exploits.

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National Geographic Guide to State Parks of the United States

Nominated for inclusion in this book by the 50 state parks directors, this stunning group of 200-plus state parks presents the diversity and beauty of these accessible gems. From Florida to Alaska, from the white water at Ohiopyle State Park, Pennsylvania to the dunes of Pink Coral Sand Dunes, Utah, from the 6-acre Iao Valley to the 204,000-acre Baxter, these parks represent the best cultural and natural areas protected within our state parks' system. From free to affordable, the state parks appeal to the day-visitor or the weekend escapist alike. Of the state parks' 25,000 miles of trails and recreation, the authors have selected favorites for hiking and biking, horseback riding, and wildflower gazing as well as ample opportunities for the birdwatcher or rock climber, the wildlife observer or the amateur archaeologist. The guide features more than 200 gorgeous, color photographs that capture the spendor of the parks, insider tips from state parks staff that are invaluable planning tools, and 32 easy-to-use maps that highlight sites, trails and campgrounds, as well as information on recreational activities, camping, and lodging.


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Ozzie's School of Management: Lessons from the Dugout, the Clubhouse, and the Doghouse

Going behind the scenes with Ozzie Guillen, baseball's most colorful and irrepressible manager, to reveal the hidden factors that create a winning teamWhen Ozzie Guillen opens his mouth, nobody knows what's going to come out. And that has made the manager of the Miami Marlins endlessly entertaining to legions of baseball fans. In language that is often as profane as it is colorful, he will lash out not only at his team's opponents but also at his own players, reporters, fans, and most of all, himself. He is always getting himself in hot water, and he loves every minute of it.Yet for all the antics and controversy, Guillen is also one of the game's best managers--a World Series champion and a perennial contender. This book opens the door on the secrets to his success.Ozzie's School of Management distills the ten commandments of managing, Guillen-style, which means no-holds-barred and leave your squeamishness at the door. The Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Rick Morrissey, who built a strong rapport with Guillen during his eight years with the Chicago White Sox, takes us on a rollicking ride through Ozzie's world, shining a light on his sharp intellect, organizational insights, and changing moods, and showing that the most important part of managing occurs before the first pitch and after the last out"--Provided by publisher.

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Damn Yankees: Twenty-Four Major League Writers on the World's Most Loved (and Hated) Team

Everyone has an opinion about the Yankees. More than an opinion in most cases, but an opinion at the very least.
--From the Introduction
Love them or hate them, the New York Yankees have been an American institution for nearly a century. With their rich history and colorful cast of characters, the Yankees never fail to inspire or provoke. In this exciting compendium, some of today's most acclaimed writers--including Pete Dexter, Colum McCann, Roy Blount Jr., Dan Barry, Jane Leavy, Charles P. Pierce, J. R. Moehringer, Daniel Okrent, Frank DeFord, Bill James, and many more--step up to the plate to take their cuts. The result is a collection of original essays as idiosyncratic and expansive as the team that has inspired them: ruminations on Babe Ruth's gravestone, Derek Jeter's swing, and the upper-deck vantage of the Oldest Living Yankee; dual allegiances; mortal rivalries; and every other subject that spans from the hilarious (the Yankee wife-swap of the '70s) to the sublime (the grace of Catfish Hunter).
Superbly written, deeply insightful, and full of both passion and humor, "Damn Yankees" is a completely fresh look at baseball's most enduring franchise by a Murderers' Row of writers as stacked as that of the 1927 Yanks.

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