You can have the love you want...but first you have to do your homework. Millions of viewers have tuned in for each episode of VH1 Tough Love, the hit show that takes a group of single women and puts them through a rigorous relationship boot camp where they must follow host Steve Ward’s dating rules. Now, for the first time, master matchmaker Steve Ward and his mother, JoAnn, share all of their straightforward, no-nonsense dating and relationship lessons in this handy guide to love. Just as they dish out their tough love on the show, the authors explain how to flirt with a purpose, set up a date, turn a spark into a lasting connection, manage relationship fears, bounce back from rejection, and much more. Whether you're trying to find Mr. Right or want to keep him around now that you've snagged him, the innovative (and brutally honest) advice will help you break bad habits, take a fresh approach to dating, and transform your love life.

“An engrossing tale [that] provides plenty of food for thought” (People, Best New Books pick), this playful, wise, and profoundly moving second novel from the internationally bestselling author of How Proust Can Change Your Life tracks the beautifully complicated arc of a romantic partnership. We all know the headiness and excitement of the early days of love. But what comes after? In Edinburgh, a couple, Rabih and Kirsten, fall in love. They get married, they have children—but no long-term relationship is as simple as “happily ever after.” The Course of Love explores what happens after the birth of love, what it takes to maintain, and what happens to our original ideals under the pressures of an average existence. We see, along with Rabih and Kirsten, the first flush of infatuation, the effortlessness of falling into romantic love, and the course of life thereafter. Interwoven with their story and its challenges is an overlay of philosophy—an annotation and a guide to what we are reading. As The New York Times says, “The Course of Love is a return to the form that made Mr. de Botton’s name in the mid-1990s….love is the subject best suited to his obsessive aphorizing, and in this novel he again shows off his ability to pin our hopes, methods, and insecurities to the page.” This is a Romantic novel in the true sense, one interested in exploring how love can survive and thrive in the long term. The result is a sensory experience—fictional, philosophical, psychological—that urges us to identify deeply with these characters and to reflect on his and her own experiences in love. Fresh, visceral, and utterly compelling, The Course of Love is a provocative and life-affirming novel for everyone who believes in love. “There’s no writer alive like de Botton, and his latest ambitious undertaking is as enlightening and humanizing as his previous works” (Chicago Tribune).

"The inspiring true story of a teacher's experiences with her students and the life lessons she learned that can help others find joy and success. Crash Course chronicles the life lessons that Kim Bearden has learned during an award-winning career in education that has spanned three decades. Kim has taught more than 2,000 students, and each has shown her something about the world and the abundant capacity for love, resilience, and appreciation that we all possess. By sharing her students' stories, she teaches their inspiring lessons to us all. Throughout the ups and downs of her professional and personal life, Kim found that her students were the light that illuminated her path; they were her sanctuary in the storm. From her challenges as a first year teacher, to her triumphs as the cofounder of the highly acclaimed Ron Clark Academy, Kim shares how children can teach each of us the importance of building relationships, abandoning fear, embracing one's unique gifts, and living with passion. Full of honesty, humor, heartbreak, and humanity, Kim's experiences show how children can help any one of us, despite life's obstacles, find the joy and significance in both our personal and professional lives"--

The next twenty years will be completely unlike the last twenty years. The world is in economic crisis, and there are no easy fixes to our predicament. Unsustainable trends in the economy, energy, and the environment have finally caught up with us and are converging on a very narrow window of time—the "Twenty-Teens." The Crash Course presents our predicament and illuminates the path ahead, so you can face the coming disruptions and thrive--without fearing the future or retreating into denial. In this book you will find solid facts and grounded reasoning presented in a calm, positive, non-partisan manner. Our money system places impossible demands upon a finite world. Exponentially rising levels of debt, based on assumptions of future economic growth to fund repayment, will shudder to a halt and then reverse. Unfortunately, our financial system does not operate in reverse. The consequences of massive deleveraging will be severe. Oil is essential for economic growth. The reality of dwindling oil supplies is now internationally recognized, yet virtually no developed nations have a Plan B. The economic risks to individuals, companies, and countries are varied and enormous. Best-case, living standards will drop steadily worldwide. Worst-case, systemic financial crises will toss the world into jarring chaos. This book is written for those who are motivated to learn about the root causes of our predicaments, protect themselves and their families, mitigate risks as much as possible, and control what effects they can. With challenge comes opportunity, and The Crash Course offers a positive vision for how to reshape our lives to be more balanced, resilient, and sustainable.

Trauma following automobile accidents can persist for weeks, months, or longer. Symptoms include nervousness, sleep disorders, loss of appetite, and sexual dysfunction. In Crash Course, Diane Poole Heller and Laurence Heller take readers through a series of case histories and exercises to explain and treat the health problems and trauma brought on by car accidents.

"I never thought I would see him again. Not in the real world. Not here." After Arden Hart gets into a horrible collision with a drunk driver, her life comes to a standstill. Now, she's a year behind her peers in graduating high school, college plans are on hold indefinitely, and nightmares of that horrifying night plague her every time she shuts her eyes. The only way she can cope with her past is by detaching from the present, so Arden makes it her mission to isolate herself. Everything changes when Henry Ames, the young, mysterious guy who saved her from the car wreck, unexpectedly becomes the new Creative Writing teacher at her high school. Much to Arden's frustration, his presence is a constant reminder of the night she's tried so hard to forget. When Henry is forced to help her with an assignment that confronts her buried emotions, she has no choice but to face her trauma head-on. What she doesn't expect is the immediate connection she feels to Henry. As the two begin to develop an undeniable bond, Arden comes to a startling realization-the one person she cannot have is the only person she doesn't want to push away. Though Henry is adamant that their relationship remains professional, neither can deny their growing feelings. When boundaries blur, emotions run high, and secrets from that terrible night emerge, Arden must decide if the fight for Henry's heart is worth risking her own.

Python Crash Course is a fast-paced, thorough introduction to Python that will have you writing programs, solving problems, and making things that work in no time. In the first half of the book, you’ll learn about basic programming concepts, such as lists, dictionaries, classes, and loops, and practice writing clean and readable code with exercises for each topic. You’ll also learn how to make your programs interactive and how to test your code safely before adding it to a project. In the second half of the book, you’ll put your new knowledge into practice with three substantial projects: a Space Invaders–inspired arcade game, data visualizations with Python’s super-handy libraries, and a simple web app you can deploy online. As you work through Python Crash Course you’ll learn how to: –Use powerful Python libraries and tools, including matplotlib, NumPy, and Pygal –Make 2D games that respond to keypresses and mouse clicks, and that grow more difficult as the game progresses –Work with data to generate interactive visualizations –Create and customize Web apps and deploy them safely online –Deal with mistakes and errors so you can solve your own programming problems If you’ve been thinking seriously about digging into programming, Python Crash Course will get you up to speed and have you writing real programs fast. Why wait any longer? Start your engines and code! Uses Python 2 and 3

A fast-paced, thorough introduction to modern C++ written for experienced programmers. After reading C++ Crash Course, you'll be proficient in the core language concepts, the C++ Standard Library, and the Boost Libraries. C++ is one of the most widely used languages for real-world software. In the hands of a knowledgeable programmer, C++ can produce small, efficient, and readable code that any programmer would be proud of. Designed for intermediate to advanced programmers, C++ Crash Course cuts through the weeds to get you straight to the core of C++17, the most modern revision of the ISO standard. Part 1 covers the core of the C++ language, where you'll learn about everything from types and functions, to the object life cycle and expressions. Part 2 introduces you to the C++ Standard Library and Boost Libraries, where you'll learn about all of the high-quality, fully-featured facilities available to you. You'll cover special utility classes, data structures, and algorithms, and learn how to manipulate file systems and build high-performance programs that communicate over networks. You'll learn all the major features of modern C++, including: Fundamental types, reference types, and user-defined types The object lifecycle including storage duration, memory management, exceptions, call stacks, and the RAII paradigm Compile-time polymorphism with templates and run-time polymorphism with virtual classes Advanced expressions, statements, and functions Smart pointers, data structures, dates and times, numerics, and probability/statistics facilities Containers, iterators, strings, and algorithms Streams and files, concurrency, networking, and application development With well over 500 code samples and nearly 100 exercises, C++ Crash Course is sure to help you build a strong C++ foundation.