The first cremation the homeless people held in Golden Gate Park was for a dog; their second pyre held a much larger body. To find the one responsible for these deaths, Kate Martinelli sets out on a quest for Brother Erasmus -- an enigmatic creature who has befriended the homeless and speaks only in quotations.

The role of the fool is to provoke the powerful to question their convictions, preferably while avoiding a beating. Fools accomplish this not by hectoring their audience, but by broaching sensitive topics indirectly, often disguising their message in a joke or a tale. Writers and thinkers throughout history have adopted the fool's approach, and ...

We live in a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, in which our work and lives are constantly disrupted and changing. But coaches and leaders are still trained to operate within stable models with a uni-focus on performance. Coaches are starting to question the remit of ‘raising performance’ within existing systems, many of which are outdated, dysfunctional and even toxic. The role of the coach today must evolve to become fit for purpose in challenging times and coaching must re-articulate its values, as the essential compass for navigating turbulent waters. In The Future of Coaching, Hetty Einzig examines the role of coaching and leadership in the twenty-first century, and sets out a compelling vision for its future. Drawing on experience gained over twenty-five years of coaching leaders in the corporate and public sectors, in the UK and globally, she challenges the tenet of coaching neutrality. Rather than simply following the client agenda, she encourages coaches to see themselves as partners in courageous leadership and to work towards building an ethical, holistic and networked coaching approach to help create businesses that serve society and our globalised world. The book asks essential questions of coaches working today: how can leaders and coaches become ‘positive deviants’ and transform the rules of the game within cultures where denial and group-think are rife? How can coaches work with the anxious and depressed, embracing the dark as well as the light? Are coaches prepared for the rise of Millennials, women leaders and those over sixty (the Third Acters)? Einzig challenges the model of the Strong Leader in favour of Respons-able leadership based on authentic strength, distributed power and responsive thinking. And she shows how this vision of a transformed workplace is essential for the transformations society must undertake to reclaim a positive future. This thought provoking collection of essays, designed to be read in any order, is enlightening and inspiring reading for coaches in practice and in training, HR and L&D professionals and for leaders everywhere.

Nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2011 Shakespeare in Love meets Twelfth Night - A gripping and evocative historical novel by bestselling Celia Rees

Everyone’s favorite houseguest who never left, Leon Black (played by award-winning comedian JB Smoove on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm) drops his wisdom and good-bad advice for the masses. Learn the secrets Larry David has gleaned from the Falstaff of television. Live your best Leon. Bring the Ruckus. Aristotle. Gandhi. Lao Tzu. Dr. Ruth. Amateurs. For centuries bespeckled dorks have pored over the scrolls of the ancients, read tea leaves, and looked to the stars for philosophy, wisdom, and advice. While some people have probably offered good advice, and others offer bad advice, Leon is here to offer his brand of good-bad advice. These are the musings of a master genius spitting out the secrets of the universe—to help you become just like him. Be forewarned: in opening this tome and Leon’s mind, you need to be prepared for straight talk. The kind of unfiltered blunt straight talk that pounds on your door, invites itself in, makes itself at home, helps itself to your food, security pass code, your expensive organic beet juice, and finally makes itself comfortable on that twin bed in your guest room. All the while you think you’re helping it—but really it’s helping you help yourself! Because that’s how this book doozit. Leon Black, he ain’t wrong...he just ain’t right.

Roly Bain is a priest who is a clown. His unique ministry is a dramatic sign of the joy of the gospel which is often obscured by church pomp and ceremony, and the inverted values of the kingdom of God. Here, Bain tells his story and relects on the long tradition of the holy fool; the biblical concepts of the "foolishness of God" and "the folly of the cross"; the relationship between humour and healing; prayer and prayerfulness; and much more. Peppered with moving and memorable anecdotes from his work in prisons, hospices, schools and, increasingly, business organizations, this book should encourage all who try to communicate the good news of the gospel. Roly Bain first trained as a priest and then as a clown and has since combined the two roles with astonishing success. He is in constant demand to conduct services, celebrations and workshops, often in places of great need, such as prisons and hospitals. His first book, 'Fools Ruch In', was published by HarperCollins and sold through three printings. He lives in Bristol.

The role of the fool is to provoke the powerful to question their convictions, preferably while avoiding a beating. Fools accomplish this not by hectoring their audience, but by broaching sensitive topics indirectly, often disguising their message in a joke or a tale. Writers and thinkers throughout history have adopted the fool’s approach, and here Ralph Lerner turns to six of them—Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Robert Burton, Pierre Bayle, Benjamin Franklin, and Edward Gibbon—to elucidate the strategies these men employed to persuade the heedless, the zealous, and the overly confident to pause and reconsider. As Playing the Fool makes plain, all these men lived through periods marked by fanaticism, particularly with regard to religion and its relation to the state. In such a troubled context, advocating on behalf of skepticism and against tyranny could easily lead to censure, or even, as in More’s case, execution. And so, Lerner reveals, these serious thinkers relied on humor to move their readers toward a more reasoned understanding of the world and our place in it. At once erudite and entertaining, Playing the Fool is an eloquently thought-provoking look at the lives and writings of these masterly authors.

In Whats My Name, Fool? sports writer Dave Zirin shows how sports express the worst - and at times the most creative, exciting, and political - features of our society. Zirins sharp and insightful commentary on the personalities, politics, and history of American sports is unlike any sports writing being done today. Zirin explores how NBA brawls highlight tensions beyond the arena, how the bold stances taken by sports unions can chart a path for the entire labor movement, and the unexplored political stirrings of a new generation of athletes who are no longer content to just ''play one game at a time.'' Whats My Name, Fool? draws on original interviews with former heavyweight champ George Foreman, Olympic athlete John Carlos, NBA player and anti-death penalty activist Etan Thomas, antiwar womens college hoopster Toni Smith, Olympic Project for Human Rights leader Lee Evans and many others. It also unearths a history of athletes ranging from Jackie Robinson to Muhammad Ali to Billie Jean King, who charted a new course through their athletic ability and their outspoken views.

“Hilarious, always inventive, this is a book for all, especially uptight English teachers, bardolaters, and ministerial students.” —Dallas Morning News Fool—the bawdy and outrageous New York Times bestseller from the unstoppable Christopher Moore—is a hilarious new take on William Shakespeare’s King Lear…as seen through the eyes of the foolish liege’s clownish jester, Pocket. A rousing tale of “gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity,” Fool joins Moore’s own Lamb, Fluke, The Stupidest Angel, and You Suck! as modern masterworks of satiric wit and sublimely twisted genius, prompting Carl Hiassen to declare Christopher Moore “a very sick man, in the very best sense of the word.”

Mischief, thou art afoot.Special Agent Ryan "Mac" McGuinness is having a rough week. Not only is he on a new diet, but he's also been tasked with keeping Henry Page - the world's most irritating witness - alive. Which is tough when Mac's a breath away from killing the Shakespeare-quoting, ethically-challenged, egg-obsessed Henry himself. Unless killing isn't really what Mac wants to do to him.Con man Henry Page prefers to keep his distance from the law . . . though he wouldn't mind getting a little closer to uptight, handsome Agent McGuinness. As the sole witness to a mob hit, Henry's a valuable asset to the FBI. But he's got his own agenda, and it doesn't involve testifying.When evidence surfaces of a mole in the FBI office, Mac and Henry are forced to go into hiding. Holed up in a fishing cabin, they're surprised to discover that their feelings run more than skin deep. But as the mob closes in, Henry has to make his escape. And Mac has to decide how far he's willing to go to keep Henry by his side.* * * * * * *