My stroke taught me so much, and for all that it stole, it gave me even more. In the process of healing, my life has changed for the better. Now I want to share what I have learned. In this vivid and very personal reflection upon his extraordinary life as an actor, author, and legend in his own time, Kirk Douglas offers a candid and heartfelt memoir of where it all went right in his life -- even after suffering a debilitating stroke. Revealing not only the incredible physical and emotional toll of his stroke but how it has changed his life for the better, Douglas shares the lessons that saved him and helped him to heal. Alongside his heartfelt advice and insight, he also recalls warm memories of some of the most famous figures of our time -- including Burt Lancaster, Michael J. Fox, and Gary Cooper -- as well as others who have soared to greatness in the face of adversity. Charming, soulful, and filled with personal photographs, My Stroke of Luck is an intimate look at the real person behind the fabulous talent -- and at a life lived to its very fullest.

The actor recounts his recovery from a debilitationg stroke.

When an occupational therapist suffers a massive stroke while attending a wedding in her native England, she can’t believe it. Janet R. Douglas emerges from a coma weeks later at a Chicago hospital where she once worked. Her left side is totally paralyzed, her eyesight impaired, her memory and identity lost. Trapped in the present, she finds herself talking in German even though she has seldom spoken the language since high school. With no understanding of the severity of her problems, she resists therapy, thinking she doesn’t need it. Despite all odds, she returns to her high-powered job only to find herself cast adrift by a corporate reorganization. With time on her hands, she carries out her own research to find out how damage to one specific part of the brain affects behavior. From the perspective of both therapist and patient, Douglas explains the impact of stroke, how it makes the simplest tasks difficult, and how the visible disabilities it causes are just the tip of the iceberg. Join Douglas on a decade-long quest to recapture her identity so she can once again enjoy family, work, and travel in A Wonderful Stroke of Luck.

A Good Housekeeping Best Book of the Year "Every sentence shines with wit, originality, and sharp observations." --The Boston Globe A razor-sharp, deeply felt novel about the complicated relationship between a charismatic teacher and his students, and the secrets we keep from those we love At a boarding school in New Hampshire, Ben joins the honor society led by Pierre LaVerdere, an enigmatic, brilliant, yet perverse, teacher who instructs his students not only about how to reason, but how to prevaricate. As the years go by, LaVerdere's covert and overt instruction lingers in his students' lives as they seek some sense of purpose or meaning. When Ben feels the pace of his life accelerating and views his intimate relationships as less and less fulfilling, there seems to be a subtext he's not able to access. And what, really, did Bailey Academy teach him? While relationships with his stepmother and sister improve, and a move to upstate New York offers respite from his anxiety about love and work, LaVerdere's reappearance in his life disturbs his equilibrium. Everything he once thought he knew about his teacher--and himself--is called into question. Written by one of our most iconic writers, known for casting a cold eye on her generation's ambivalence and sometimes mistaken ambition, A Wonderful Stroke of Luck is a keenly observed psychological study of a man who alternates between careful driving and hazardous risk taking, as he struggles to incorporate his past into the vertiginous present.

"Transformative...[Taylor's] experience...will shatter [your] own perception of the world."—ABC News The astonishing New York Times bestseller that chronicles how a brain scientist's own stroke led to enlightenment On December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven- year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist experienced a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. As she observed her mind deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life-all within four hours-Taylor alternated between the euphoria of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace, and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized she was having a stroke and enabled her to seek help before she was completely lost. It would take her eight years to fully recover. For Taylor, her stroke was a blessing and a revelation. It taught her that by "stepping to the right" of our left brains, we can uncover feelings of well-being that are often sidelined by "brain chatter." Reaching wide audiences through her talk at the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference and her appearance on Oprah's online Soul Series, Taylor provides a valuable recovery guide for those touched by brain injury and an inspiring testimony that inner peace is accessible to anyone.

The newest erotic romance from bestselling author Opal Carew, Stroke of Luck. Good things do come in threes. April Smith’s luxurious Las Vegas wedding crashed and burned when her wealthy fiancé cheated on her and left her with a hotel bill that costs more than she makes in a year. Even more humiliating, her college ex-boyfriend Quinn Taylor has come to her rescue and bailed her out. They didn’t part on the best of terms and never expected to see one another again. For Quinn, April was the one who got away and despite the heartache she caused him, he’s never gotten over her. Not wanting to be in his debt, April makes Quinn a tempting offer: she’ll spend the next month with him during his Vegas vacation, fulfilling his fantasies. Being with April has always been Quinn’s number one fantasy, and next on the list is sharing a woman with his best friend and business partner, Austin Wright. Since he can see an undeniable attraction between April and Austin, he makes that a condition of their deal, too. Enjoying the attention and affection from two hot and handsome men, April gives in to her desires to be with both of them. But with those desires comes a growing love that she fears may force her to choose between Quinn and Austin—or lose them both.

This book chronicles four years of my ongoing journey from self-pity to laughing at predicaments from my inconvenient stroke. Humor found in everyday occurrences continues to this day. A stroke changes the life of the survivor forever, subtly or catastrophically. One determines if she will be the kicker or the kickee. I chose to be the kicker and will laugh my way through these challenges, come hell or high water. I hope you enjoy my journey and see that, stressors be damned, there's always room for the healing power of laughter in overcoming any of life's predicaments.

The stimulating saga of a man who, thanks to his never-say-die attitude, found the courage and the determination to bounce back despite being felled by a serious, disabling condition When Vijay Santhanam was afflicted with a stroke at the age of 41, he was paralyzed on the right side of his body. He couldn’t move without help and he couldn’t speak at all. But he soon realized that his powers of reasoning/thought were not lost to him. And he garnered his spirit and willpower within him to work at regaining his health and faculties; a stroke wasn’t going to get him down. Vijay goes on to get back to work, to write two books on one of the biggest passions of his life—cricket, a sport that was one of his greatest inspirations while in hospital and on the road to recovery, and to teach at IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Lucknow. This is the inspiring story of a man who didn’t waste time bemoaning his fate; his immediate agenda was to understand what could make him healthy again and to start with, to return to the life he’d known before as a regional head of marketing in a multinational company in Singapore. My Stroke of Luck: Alphabet to Author is Vijay’s journey through long, sometimes painful, and often frustrating, months of therapy, relearning the alphabet and learning new strengths: emotional, mental and physical. Vijay’s attempt is not to describe the human brain and how it works in a scientific manner but to celebrate a man’s inspiring journey. He believes when a human being is confronted by a big crisis, often she/he summons all her/his spirit and willpower to fight back and win. His story is testimony and an eloquent example of it.

He’s hoping to bury the past. She’s ready to settle the score. The Sterling Ranch’s season opening isn’t going so smoothly. With the ranch’s lodge full of guests and a Montana blizzard threatening, Will Sterling needs help—and he needs it fast. So when his childhood friend Poppy Carmichael agrees to lend a hand, he’s grateful for a second chance…and more enticed by the woman she’s become than he cares to admit. For Poppy, it was supposed to be a retreat full of horse rides and hoedowns—with a side of showing Will what he’s been missing all these years. But as the snow deepens outside, the guests’ suspicion and mistrust turn sinister inside, catching Will and Poppy in the crosshairs. Weathering the storm in each other’s arms is all too easy for Will and Poppy, but will a confrontation with a killer mean their reunion is short-lived? New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author B.J. Daniels starts her Sterling’s Ranch series off with a bang in this suspenseful story of romance and revenge.

"Teach Us to Sit Still is the visceral, thought-provoking, and inexplicably entertaining story of how Tim Parks found himself in serious pain, how doctors failed to help, and the quest he took to find his own way out. Overwhelmed by a crippling conditionwhich nobody could explain or relieve, Parks follows a fruitless journey through the conventional medical system only to find relief in the most unexpected place: a breathing exercise that eventually leads him to take up meditation. This was the very last place Parks anticipated finding answers; he was about as far from New Age as you can get. As everything that he once held true is called into question, Parks confronts the relationship between his mind and body, the hectic modern world that seems to demand all our focus, and his chosen life as an intellectual and writer. He is drawn to consider the effects of illness on the work of other writers, the role of religion in shaping our sense of self, and the influence of sports and art on our attitudes toward health and well-being. Most of us will fall ill at some point; few will describe that journey with the same verve, insight, and radiant intelligence as Tim Parks"--Provided by publisher.