Choices and Chances is an ideal supplement to introductory textbooks. By showing how theories can apply to everyday life, it demonstrates the ways sociology—a living, growing discipline—can shed light on issues of immense personal and social importance.

Today is your chance to make a choice to make a change or stay the same. Everyday chances are given or taken in life. With those chances, we all must make choices that will bring changes in our lives, or cause our lives to remain the same. If you want to make a change today, the choice is yours. Take a chance and see how wonderful your life can be!

The stunning summer besteller from Freya North.

How to win the battle to bring opportunity scholarships to your state, based on the dramatic story and ultimately successful campaign of D.C. Parents for School Choice: Get the inside story on this grassroots effort and empower parents for your own campaign. This book teaches parents how to fight to free children from failing schools. It equips you to speak out and secure school choice so that the right learning environment can be given to each child. You get both instruction and inspiration in this compelling, candid book.

Life extracts a price from us-and it is up to us to determine what that price will be. This book relates the true story of a young man who believes he has no future. Therefore, he pays the price for failure. He has no goals, no ambition, no work ethic, and no sense of responsibility. After years of self indulgence and numerous brushes with the law, he is on the verge of completely destroying his life. Then something in him ignites: a spark of hope. The spark becomes a raging fire. He finds himself consumed with a burning desire to excel. He learns to pay the price for success and his life is transformed. The dramatic events that motivated this man to rise to the top of his field will inspire those who feel uninspired and give hope to those who feel hopeless. The mature reader will enjoy a nostalgic visit. The teens and younger adult readers will discover the ingredients for success. All readers will experience a roller coaster of emotions.

Whether we're buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401(k), everyday decisions—both big and small—have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented. As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and perpetual stress. And, in a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression. In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice—the hallmark of individual freedom and self-determination that we so cherish—becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice—from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, and individual needs—has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. Schwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse. By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counter intuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. He offers eleven practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on those that are important and ignore the rest, and ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.

"What are the odds against winning the Lotto, The Weakest Link, or Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The answer lies in the science of probability, yet many of us are unaware of how this science works. Every day, people make judgements on a wide variety of situations where chance plays a role, including buying insurance, betting on horse-racing, following medical advice - even carrying an umbrella. In Taking Chances, John Haigh guides the reader round common pitfalls, demonstrates how to make better-informed decisions, and shows where the odds can be unexpectedly in your favour. This new edition has been fully updated, and includes information on top television shows, plus a new chapter on Probability for Lawyers."--BOOK JACKET.

Does the history of the U.S. West look any different when men are not consistently the principal actors, decision makers, and heroes? As this engaging first volume in our new Western History Series illustrates, the familiar scene changes dramatically. By putting women at the center of the story, from before first contact to the end of World War II, and looking at the historical narrative from women’s points of view, this unique new book gracefully shows that women of all races, ethnicities, classes, and religions—workers and explorers, mothers and adventurers, miners and ranchers, activists and environmentalists, housewives and community organizers—were active participants in every facet of the history of the West. Indeed, the choices women made and the actions they took helped shape the way that history was made. With clearly defined themes woven throughout an engaging narrative-driven text—as well as maps and three banks of stunning photographs, Choices and Chances, this innovative and important new work is certain to give college-level students and readers of all levels alike a new appreciation of and perspectives in western history, making it ideal supplementary reading for courses in the history of the U.S. West as well as survey courses in United States and Women’s history.

Pitts investigates the long term aims, impact and effects of music education in a school setting. Evaluating the extent to which school music provides a foundation for lifelong involvement in music, Pitts integrates empirical data with a review of historical and contemporary debates on the practices of music teaching and learning.