A gift that celebrates being yourself, in your own unique way. Do you ever feel different? A little weird, a little wacky? It’s time to own it, because, as Meryl Streep proclaimed, “what makes you different or weird, that’s your strength.� In this inspiring collection, singers, poets, actors, activists, comedians, designers, athletes, and philosophers share wise and pithy reflections on what it’s like to march to the beat of a different drummer. Every statement is a powerful, positive reminder that to live successfully is to be completely unapologetically you. “We are not what other people say we are. We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love. That’s OK.� —Laverne Cox “All the colors I am inside have not been invented yet.� —Shel Silverstein “I am different, not less� —Temple Grandin “The more I feel imperfect, the more I feel alive.� —Jhumpa Lahiri “Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.� —Ai Weiwei

There really always is something to celebrate, as Kathryn Petras truly learned when undergoing treatment for breast cancer. And that was the genesis of "Nothing is Worth More Than This Day" - a book with glass half full outlook. Building on Kathryn & Ross Petra's successful series of quotation books, it's the perfect gift for the good times (birthday, graduation, Mother's Day, a new job) and even the not so goo times. Here are quotations that tap into a wellspring of joy, inspirational ideas of gratitude, hope, love and laughter. "Nothing Is Worth More Than This Day" shares the words and thoughts from a wide range of people including George Carlin, Judy Blume, Frida Kahlo, Marcus Aurelius, Louis Armstrong, Charles Bukowski, Michael J. Fox, Maya Angelou, Jack Kerouac, Buckminster Fuller, Andy Warhol, Anne Frank, Johnny Depp, Anthony Bourdain, Goethe (the source of the title quote) and many, many more.

Uncommon times call for uncommon wisdom. It s inspiring to hear from people who ve graduated from the school of hard knocks, yet kept a sense of humor. People like Twain, Voltaire, Oscar Wilde. People who've said the thing so well that we all wish we'd said it. People who've been there, done that, and refuse to sugarcoat what they've learned. People who know, as Sherry Hochman puts it, that ""Every day is a gift even if it sucks.""
From Kathryn and Ross petras, curators of craziness (and surprising smarts), comes a timely collection of reassuring reality:
""Why is there so much month left at the end of the money?"" John Barrymore
""October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February."" Mark Twain
""I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much."" Mother Teresa
""When one burns one's bridges, what a very nice fire it makes."" Dylan Thomas
""If you think you have it tough, read history books."" Bill Maher
And Voltaire: " "Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats."""

It's ill-becoming for an old broad to sing about how bad she wants it. But occasionally we do. -Lena Horne
"I take a simple view of living. It is: Keep your eyes open and get on with it." -Laurence Olivier

"The only sin is mediocrity." -Martha Graham

"When I was young, I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in a sock. So I stopped wearing socks." -Albert Einstein

"Go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is."-Jimmy Carter

Full of surprise, insight, humor, perspective, celebration, inspiration, and a kind of offhand, poignant poetry, "Age Doesn't Matter Unless You're a Cheese"-title courtesy of Billie Burke-shares hundreds of the best things men and women over sixty have said about how to love, work, laugh, and live. Collected by authors with a perfect ear for quotes, Kathryn and Ross Petras, "Age Doesn't Matter" brings together Albert Einstein's equation for happiness, Colette on the virtues of astonishment, and Julia Child's secret of longevity: "Red meat and gin."

A grab bag of historic spleens, chins, and more, this is your ultimate literary dissection of body parts throughout history! From famous craniums to prominent breasts, ancient spleens and bound feet, this book will bring history to life in a whole new way. With their inimitable wit and probing intelligence, authors Kathy and Ross Petras look at the role the human body has played throughout history as each individual part becomes a jumping-off point for a wider look at the times. In far-ranging, quirky-yet-interrelated stories, learn about Charles II of Spain's jaw and the repercussions of inbreeding, what Anne Boleyn's heart says about the Crusades and the trend of dispersed burials, and what can be learned about Lady Xoc's pierced tongue. A History of the World Through Body Parts is packed with fascinating little-known historical facts and anecdotes that will entertain, enlighten, and delight even the most well-read history buff.

Pursuing a dream is hard work, but the right words delivered at the right time--by people who've been there and done that--can give us just the motivation we need. The right words can rekindle our enthusiasm, re-energize our efforts, dispel doubt, let us know we're not alone, and show us that the fight is worth it--and winnable. Kathryn and Ross Petras are masters at choosing and delivering just the right words. Their books--such as "Age Doesn't Matter Unless You're a Cheese" and "Dance First. Think Later."--and bestselling calendar, The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said, have over 5.2 million copies in print. Now comes a book for dreamers and doers, plus writers, entrepreneurs, graduates, artists, future movers and shakers. Collecting the hard-won, brilliantly expressed advice from pioneers who have paved the way, including everyone from Rumi to Steve Jobs, Michelangelo to Oprah to Tina Fey, "It Always Seems Impossible Until It's Done" is like a rousing locker-room speech, inspiring courage, commitment, and perseverance. "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." --Michael Jordan "Go for it, baby! Life ain't no dress rehearsal." --Tallulah Bankhead "Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving." --Neil Gaiman "If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?" --T. S. Eliot "It always seems impossible until it's done." --Nelson Mandela

The thrill of victory, the agony of a tight jockstrap. It's the reason we love sports--you never know what's going to happen. Sometimes everything clicks, with the best athlete in the world competing at their peak, and the result is a thing of breathtaking beauty. But sometimes the opposite happens, resulting in moments of breathtaking hilarity, or astonishing inanity, or just plain head-scratching puzzlement. Welcome to The Stupidest Sports Book of All Time. Featuring: The most boring games in sports history Wise(ish) words on winning Stupid mascot antics The strangest things coaches have done to motivate teams And much, much more!

Timeless in their wisdom, thought-provoking in their message, surprising in their truth and memorable in their originality, the right words can give direction, inspiration, and sometimes a tangible boost onto the right path. For example, Steve Jobs once read Stay hungry Stay foolish on the back cover of "The Whole Earth Catalog," and those four words came to guide his life.
Created by Kathryn and Ross Petras, connoisseurs of quotes, whose books and calendars have over 56 million copies in print, ""Dance First. Think Later." "is a collection of the greatest life wisdom from an unexpected group of speakers, doers, and thinkers. There are 618 rules to live by funny, sly, declarative, thoughtful, offhanded, clever, and always profound:
" Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. " Roald Dahl
" If everything is under control, you are going too slow. " Mario Andretti
" Never make a credit decision on a beach. " Victor J. Boschini
" Dance first. Think later. It s the natural order. " Samuel Beckett
" The only time to eat diet food is while waiting for the steak to cook. " Julia Child
" What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight; build it anyway. " Mother Teresa
And: " Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. " Oscar Wilde

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Wretched writing is the lowest of the low; it is a felonious assault on the English language. Exuberantly excessive, it is a sin committed often by amateurs and all-too-frequently by gifted writers having an off day. In short, it's very bad writing. Truly bad. Appallingly bad.
It's also very funny.
A celebration of the worst writing imaginable, "Wretched Writing "includes inadvertently filthy book titles, ridiculously overwrought passages from novels, bombastic and confusing speeches, moronic oxymorons, hyperactive hyperbole, horribly inappropriate imagery in ostensibly hot sex scenes, mangled cliches, muddled metaphors, and unintended double entendres.
Sit back and enjoy these deliciously dreadful samples, and try not to cringe too much.

Jobs '98 is your ticket to today's changing job market, with up-to-date and comprehensive information on:

• The most exciting new opportunities, from on-line journalism to financial consulting to jobs abroad in Eastern Europe and Asia
• The hottest cities and regions in the country with the best job opportunities
• The top companies in every industry
• The best job-hunting tools and leads available on-line—and how to use them
• The real lowdown on salaries, working conditions, and outlook
• "Best bet" companies with strong employment prospects, unique opportunities, or great chances for advancement
• What the future holds—business by business, region by region, career by career

Whether you're hunting for your first job out of college, turning over a new leaf and switching careers, looking to move up in your current field, or assessing the ever-evolving job market, this is the ultimate resource. In these pages you'll find all the best positions, the best salaries, and the best opportunities in every area, plus the trends to be on the lookout for.

Designed to make your job search as quick, effective, and enlightening as possible, Jobs '98 puts a wealth of timely and specific job leads at your fingertips. Everything you need is here.

The ultimate reference for info-junkies, multiculture vultures, and trivia pursuers. Here's everything you need to know about the history, philosophy, art, literature, politics, and worldview of all the cultures of the world.

United States citizens are becoming citizens of the world. Just look at the front page of any newspaper, the travel schedule of any corporate executive, college curricula, high school reading lists, the advertising and fashion spreads that fill our magazines, and our computer screens. The global village has arrived. We're all connected.

World Access Is the first reference book guaranteed to fill in the gaps in anyone's incomplete education and provide a great time along the way. Packed with lists, brief biographies, statistics, and much more, this lively volume explores:

• the history of the world, from ancient Africa to modern China
• the philosophies of the world, plus what philosophy is, in case you wondered
• who's worshipping whom, from Jesus to Vishnu
• art and architecture from hieroglyphics to op art, from Angkor Wat to Chartres cathedral
• literature from its sparest (the Japanese haiku) to Its most expansive (the Greek epic poem, or would it be Ulysses?)
• how we act out, from Sophocles to Satyajit Ray to downtown performance art
• the music of our sphere, from Haydn's symphonies to reggae's beat
• the top ten languages of the world (not counting English)
• politics: You say you want a revolution? Or did you want peace in the Middle East?

Cutting-edge and fun to read, rich with facts and art and charts and bite-size nuggets of all kinds, World Access takes us beyond our own borders to the world at large.

This is the first guide to include every aspect of retirement. All the information necessary to design a retirement life-style that works for your individual needs is given. Written in a clear, step-by-step format, The Only Retirement Guide offers advice on such topics as annuities, pensions, and IRAs, retirement communities, starting your own business, managing health care, and retiring abroad.

Not just stupidity, but "obsessive" stupidity Not just random stupidity, but organized stupidity Here, from the celebrated collectors of the stupidest things ever said, it's the cre me de la cre me of stupidities, made even funnier and more compelling in an irresistible top 10 list format. Try one: The Top 10 Stupidest Actual Book Titles: 1. A Toddler's Guide to the Rubber Industry 2. Constipation and our Civilization 3. Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers 4. The Secret of Sphincters 5. A Pictorial Book of Tongue Coating 6. Life and Laughter 'midst the Cannibals 7. Be Bold With Bananas 8. Hand-Grenade Throwing as a College Sport 9. Collect Fungi on Stamps10. A Study of Hospital Waiting Lists in Cardiff, 1953-1954Plus lost-in-translation moments. Doubles entendres. Political speeches, foreign menus, traffic signs. Celebrities on literature, on homelessness, on revealing too much about themselves. Mangled cliche s and bizarre analogies, the wit of the witless and comedy of the clueless--never before have so many said something so dumb, now in one book."

A connoisseur's compendium of Freudian slips,  spoonerisms, double-talk, and utter bosh from famous  and infamous figures past and present -- a  complete course in anti-eloquence by the foot-in-mouth  champions of all time.