This book began with a phrase of a friend, a musician, a few days before he ended up in psychiatric unit permanently. We were sitting outside a bar at night, and he saw a young man walking wearing sunglasses. He told me, "A blind man who sees at night," which is the title of the book in Greek. This phrase was the fuel of my inspiration to write this book, which moves between fantasy and reality, symbolism and surrealism together, in a fusion of prose and poetry, positive and negative, history and icons, dreams, voices, and sounds. When I was writing it, I felt like being in a pandemonium of senses, logic, and unconscious scripture. The quest is the course in life's path to find the real inside. Who am I? Why should I follow the ordinary steps in life? What is the cause of all these rules, while the lawyers say the rules are to be violated? The Fish-Man is my option of our lives; everybody watches behind glasses, like the fish in the aquarium. Somehow all of us have been in front of a crossroad of decisions our choice rules and ruled, our management of our lives, failure and success, negative or positive. What is right for today may be wrong for tomorrow. The fear of our choice, it is like the film of Luis Buñuel called Angel Exterminator, while the heroes were encapsulated. A Blind Man's Quest is a symbolic-surrealistic novel that "watches" the social history, the antiquity with today in a non-time environment, with fantastic creatures from horror tales or from my imagination. The place is the Greek environment, though it is unspecific. The dreams are referred. The first at December '44 in Athens; while in the British territories, people should walk with their hands up behind their heads. The other at '99, in Athens too; it's the same global story with the international stock market fraud. While all kinds of people invested their money on the stock market, and you could observe the whole society, from housekeepers to taxi drivers, listening to the stock market live on the radio or watching the ribbons at the bottom of TV showing numbers and green and red arrows. They were once more encapsulated. The circles we made. The backslides in our lives are the colors of our society.

“Heart-stopping and relentlessly gripping. Tabor takes us on an odyssey into unfathomable worlds beneath us, and into the hearts of rare explorers who will do anything to get there first.”—Robert Kurson, author of ShadowDivers In 2004, two great scientist-explorers attempted to find the bottom of the world. American Bill Stone took on the vast, deadly Cheve Cave in southern Mexico. Ukrainian Alexander Klimchouk targeted Krubera, a freezing nightmare of a supercave in the war-torn former Soviet republic of Georgia. Both men spent months almost two vertical miles deep, contending with thousand-foot drops, raging whitewater rivers, monstrous waterfalls, mile-long belly crawls, and the psychological horrors produced by weeks in absolute darkness, beyond all hope of rescue. Based on his unprecedented access to logs and journals as well as hours of personal interviews, James Tabor has crafted a thrilling exploration of man’s timeless urge to discover—and of two extraordinary men whose pursuit of greatness led them to the heights of triumph and the depths of tragedy. Blind Descent is an unforgettable addition to the classic literature of true-life adventure, and a testament to human survival and endurance. “Holds the reader to his seat, containing dangers aplenty with deadly falls, killer microbes, sudden burial, asphyxiation, claustrophobia, anxiety, and hallucinations far underneath the ground in a lightless world. Using a pulse-pounding narrative, this is tense real-life adventure pitting two master cavers mirroring the cold war with very uncommonly high stakes.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A fascinating and informative introduction to the sport of cave diving, as well as a dramatic portrayal of a significant man-vs.-nature conflict. . . . What counts is Tabor’s knack for maximizing dramatic potential, while also managing to be informative and attentive to the major personalities associated with the most important cave explorations of the last two decades.”—Kirkus Reviews Includes a 16-pg black and white insert

Bestselling author Erik Weihenmayer, who Jon Krakauer calls “an inspiration,” tells the epic story of his latest adventures, including solo kayaking The Colorado River.

The incredible bestselling book from the author of No Barriers and The Adversity Advantage Erik Weihenmayer was born with retinoscheses, a degenerative eye disorder that would leave him blind by the age of thirteen. But Erik was determined to rise above this devastating disability and lead a fulfilling and exciting life. In this poignant and inspiring memoir, he shares his struggle to push past the limits imposed on him by his visual impairment-and by a seeing world. He speaks movingly of the role his family played in his battle to break through the barriers of blindness: the mother who prayed for the miracle that would restore her son's sight and the father who encouraged him to strive for that distant mountaintop. And he tells the story of his dream to climb the world's Seven Summits, and how he is turning that dream into astonishing reality (something fewer than a hundred mountaineers have done). From the snow-capped summit of McKinley to the towering peaks of Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro to the ultimate challenge, Mount Everest, this is a story about daring to dream in the face of impossible odds. It is about finding the courage to reach for that ultimate summit, and transforming your life into something truly miraculous. "An inspiration to other blind people and plenty of us folks who can see just fine."—Jon Krakauer, New York Times bestselling author of Into Thin Air

A young Chinese came to the U.S. for theological training. His goal was to become a pastor/teacher in Singapore. Upon graduation, he returned to Singapore with his Caucasian wife to fulfill his obligations and to do post-graduate study, concurrently. Unwittingly, the young couple was entangled in church and secular politics and they had to leave Singapore. They began a new life in America. At several critical junctures of the protagonists career when he was in a relatively comfortable environment, he moved out of the comfort zone to tackle a new challenge, in response to a higher calling. The detours in his life journey, the prejudice and discrimination in the workplace, the consistent acts of fairness of people of good will, the secrets of his success, and the mellowing of his worldview and religious faith are the substance of this unusual book of inspiration. For a deeper appreciation of one who has led a life full of challenges, a life characterized by many successes against high odds and a life replete with recognitions and awards in secular and religious settings, I invite you to read on.

Nothing could have prepared Captain Calhoun for simultaneous threats from the D'myurj, bent on the domination or destruction of humanity, and Morgan Primus, a sophisticated computer simulation taking up residence within the very core of the U.S.S. Excalibur.

Loaded with 40 remarkable short stories, the sequel to Nabil Jamal's first offering, 'A Harvest of Change', also promotes self-improvement by inspiring you to adopt a more positive outlook at matters, think out of the box, enhance your self-confidence and decisiveness, embrace change, work on goals, follow through, grab opportunities, and never give up. Again, for those 18 and above, each story is an enjoyable quick read coupled with a very useful takeaway.

Sheds new light on literary representations of blindness from a disability studies perspective

An epic battle between Light and Darkness is about to begin as the Luminary awakens on his 16th birthday. Join a diverse cast of characters as you traverse the world of Erdrea on a quest to discover why you've been branded the Darkspawn and the many mysteries of the Luminary. The most complete guide for Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age features all there is to do and see in the world of Erdrea. A step-by-step walkthrough featuring every item, quest and side activity illustrated with gorgeous screenshots. Version 1.2 - Differences between the original game and the Definitive Edition - Walkthrough for all Tickington Locations - Deep dive for all characters, including a suggested build for each one - Locations of every in-game recipe - Full Walkthrough of the main storyline - Coverage of every quest - All mini-games blown open

In Quest of Justice provides the first full account of the establishment and workings of a new kind of state in Egypt in the modern period. Drawing on groundbreaking research in the Egyptian archives, this highly original book shows how the state affected those subject to it and their response. Illustrating how shari’a was actually implemented, how criminal justice functioned, and how scientific-medical knowledges and practices were introduced, Khaled Fahmy offers exciting new interpretations that are neither colonial nor nationalist. Moreover he shows how lower-class Egyptians did not see modern practices that fused medical and legal purposes in new ways as contrary to Islam. This is a major contribution to our understanding of Islam and modernity.