Ocean State Libraries

Reflections of a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor who lectured on "Really achieving your childhood dreams," shortly after having been diagnosed with terminal cancer. His advice concerned seizing the moment while living, rather than dying.

"Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag." In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure...

Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: • New introductions commissioned from todays top writers and scholars • Biographies of the authors • Chronologies of contemporary...

A young man, blessed with loving parents and a safe home in a world where want and neglect abound, leaves this haven in search of himself. He joins the Samanas, a band of wandering ascetics without possessions or earthly ties. His quest unfulfilled, he descends into a life of unbounded luxury and indulgence. Where is truth? Where will his soul find true ease? In denial? In decadence? Or in some truth far greater than himself, so simple, so close to...

Translated into over 50 languages, The Purpose Driven Life is far more than just a book; it is a guide to a spiritual journey that has transformed millions of lives. Once you take this journey, you'll never be the same again. This new, expanded edition of The Purpose Driven Life, created for a new generation of reader, includes: Video introductions by Rick Warren to chapters 1-42 and an audio Bible study at the end of each chapter, with over 30 additional...

The author recounts his grief over the death of his wife, and explains how he reexamined his religious beliefs.

'"I am stockpiling antibiotics for the apocalypse, even as I await the blossoming of paperwhites on the windowsill in the kitchen," Anne Lamott admits at the beginning of Almost Everything. Despair and uncertainty surround us: in the headlines, in our families, and in ourselves. But even when life is at its bleakest--when everything makes us feel, as Lamott puts it, "doomed, stunned, exhausted, and overly caffeinated" --the seeds of rejuvenation are...

"One of the most important Christian books of the 20th century, C.S. Lewis?s classic, Mere Christianity, is now available in a beautiful keepsake edition 60 years after its original publication. A timeless and thought-provoking spiritual work from the author of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters?one of the leading Christian writers and thinkers of our age?this beautifully illustrated anniversary edition includes a new foreword and...

"A SCIENTIST'S CASE FOR THE AFTERLIFE Near-death experiences, or NDEs, are controversial. Thousands of people have had them, but many in the scientific community have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those people. A highly trained neurosurgeon who had operated on thousands of brains in the course of his career, Alexander knew that what people of faith call the "soul" is really a product of brain chemistry. NDEs, he would...

Mitch Albom's first true-life story since Tuesdays with Morrie explores life through a unique journey: his search for the right words to eulogize a Man of God. Along the way, Albom - who walked away from a deeply religious background as a young man - rekindles his faith by sitting with and caring for the wise, funny, but slowly decaying man of the cloth. Together, they explore the things that pull us apart about faith, as well as the universal beliefs...