Illustrations and Insights from the Old Testament: A Coffee Table Book

How does the story of creation start in the Old Testament?

The texts and paintings in this book are to give insight and encourage readers to follow other books to expand their knowledge in art, religion and daily life. Most of the paintings are the author’s creations, in a mystical, symbolic style, with a Judaic point of view. There are a few paintings from Biblical artists of the past such as Leonardo Da Vinci, whose works decorate ceilings of the Sistine Chapel.

The author’s paintings are not just beauty at the surface but have deeper meanings hidden inside. Every painting may inspire a certain category of readers. They speak about the relationship between God and man, our behavior toward others, and our duty toward nature. These artworks give the reader a sense of hope and awe. Many of the paintings teach us the importance of learning history so we may prevent history from repeating itself.

In today’s world, our actions matter. We all share this beautiful and magnificent planet, and it is each and everyone’s duty to learn and then educate future generations to come. We can all start by conserving the rich biodiversity that is keeping all the parts of the world in total equilibrium. We can all have a peaceful, harmonious life for generations to come if we keep greed at bay and conserve this glorious planet.

In The Shade of The Oaks

In the movies, it seems as if it is hard work pushing the plow. The horse pulls the plow, all the plow-hand has to do is keep the plow upright and guide it. He can think and dream. As a 15-year-old boy, I plowed and dreamed of becoming wealthy and owning a big ranch. I worked, earned a living but never became wealthy. After retiring, I decided to write this book, put a 15-year-old boy behind a plow, find a way to make him wealthy, and thus accomplish my dreams and much more.

Ink-Stained for Life

“Walking with Lloyd through the pages of Ink-Stained for Life will make you laugh, and think, and cheer, and deeply feel what gives meaning to life. A page-turning jaunt of joy.”

— Ron Suskind

Pulitzer prize-winning author of A Hope in the Unseen, The One Percent Doctrine and Life, Animated

In the 1950s, America was coming of age. During the same time, in the North Bronx and within a Jewish family, so was Lloyd Sederer.

This is not exactly a log-cabin tale. Yet, in this story and essay collection, Sederer wrestles with everything—from family and family businesses to mischief, from playing music to gambling and running away from home, from rich people and Jewish people to cars and much more.

Through a unique juxtaposition of first-person stories and essays that further their theme, Sederer attempts to frame his childhood years within the pillars of mid-20^th century thought and values—that education, work, and enterprise were the formula for realizing the American dream, that family was the foundation for all of this, and how tradition is bred into our lives and tribes.

Through these tales from when he was 8 until 17, and their modern-day essay expositions, Sederer illustrates our times and the perspectives gained as a family man, a psychiatrist, and a public health doctor more than five decades later.

Is It Possible to Inspire Anyone?

Readable, compelling and totally persuasive, the ideas in this book have the potential to transform the ways readers approach, establish and achieve goals in a sustainable way.

The book Is It Possible to Inspire Anyone? is a must read especially for young, middle-age and senior adults.

Morales-Pita deciphers the conditions to inspire and to be inspired – generally speaking and especially in the classroom and at home. At the end of every chapter, there is a small “food for thought” paragraph inviting the readers – on the basis of the chapter they had just finished reading – to meditate and to prepare themselves for the following chapter.

The importance of tenacity and passion to succeed in whatever undertakings they pursue becomes more evident as the readers advance in the book.

This self-help memoir differs from most self-help books in that it requires the relationship of the readers not only in one issue that they are trying to cope with, but also necessarily in connections with other people. In an inspirational context, “It takes two to tango.”

Jockeying for Position

It’s said that amazing things happen when you’re in the right place at the right time. Right place, right time was a reality one early morning as I walked down the shed row of the barn at the racetrack toward my boss, Jim. I will never forget him looking up from the newspaper and saying to me, “Well, jock, do you want to ride races?” I was so angry when he said that because in those days, women were not allowed to be jockeys. I remember thinking, I am as good as any guy on a horse but I can’t ride races because it is a male dominated sport. Jim looked at me and said, “Look at this article in the paper.” Sure enough, a woman, Kathy Kusner, had applied for a jockey license.

This would change history, my life, and the lives of many other women who wanted to pursue non-traditional careers. I am the 4^th woman jockey in US history to ride and win a race at a recognized track. I am also the first woman jockey to win races in Arizona and Colorado, and the first woman jockey to become a member of the male Jockey Guild. It has been over 50 years since I rode my first race. Since I’m not getting any younger, I decided it was about time that I wrote my story, because it is so unique. Hope you have as much fun reading it as I did living it.

John's Story

My child is an intelligent man. Like many in our society today, he does not believe in God. He asked me to write him a story every day in a way he could readily understand the Bible’s words. John’s Story: Perfect Love is written from the Apostle John’s perspective. It is a daily devotional based on three books in the Bible: John, Acts, and I John. This is John’s Story.

Junk Knowledge

Maybe you are in some high-end rehab in Sausalito, California. Maybe you are staying in a shelter in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. Maybe you moved back in with your parents. It really doesn’t matter where you are. If you are a junky and you want to quit but you can’t, I get it. I have been there more than once. But do you really want to get sober? Or are you just broke and need a place to crash? Maybe your girlfriend threw you and all your shit out because you get crazy and you black out and you threatened to kill her again. Maybe you finally got caught robbing your grandmother’s house. Such scenarios are not fictions for addicts; they are standard. But when it comes to the point that everyone in your life has told you to get the fuck out, perhaps it’s time to change.

Just Be Kuz – A Life Most Fractious

This book blurb introduces the concept of being a ‘sunshine seeker’ and asks whether these individuals are never satisfied with what they have or simply driven to be their best selves. The author shares personal stories related to addiction, family, divorce, and other topics, offering a unique perspective on the world. The book contains some strong language and shocking content.

See the world through the lens of a sunshine seeker. See how he feels about everything from sex to addiction, to family and divorce.

Be entertained by the stories which drive Just Be Kuz in his world of sunshine seeking. See where you agree and disagree.

Caution, there’s some real shock value in this book – and some off-colored language! Apologies up-front.

Justice or Not

As you read Paul Harrington’s day-to-day and month-to-month experiences within the state's prison system, you will see a broken system – one that is full of loopholes, lies, cover-ups and corruption. This system is full of daily violence and numerous officers are injured by violent inmates.

Each officer has their unique view of the prison system. Here, Harrington wishes to share his perspective of how different administrations created changes in the daily operations at Fishkill Correctional Facility, where he was stationed after a 15-month stint at Sing Sing.

Not every day was routine, albeit that is how most officers wanted it, including the author. Even the inmates wanted to know what to expect on their assigned units each day they woke up. This book will take you down the hallways and up the stairs of Fishkill's various buildings in its vast complex. It will show you everything from contraband weapons to a takeover note written by inmates 20 years ago following a homicide of a prisoner that led to 40 inmates being shipped out just hours later.

Karen’s Spiritual Pilgrim Journey

This book describes my days on a pilgrimage to Haifa, Israel before the pandemic hit the world, and my feelings and thoughts on each day of the magnificence, serenity, and deeply felt love in each and everything I did with the assigned group of each day. Even today I shed tears when reflecting on my time and being in the presence of such grandeur and beauty. The Baháʼí Faith is just waiting for receptive souls to reach out and grasp hold of the reigns of this glorious pathway to gain virtue and practice daily good deeds. I sit and wonder at how I have been blessed with this wondrous ‘Prescription for Living’ (Rabbani, 1950) in my days of material living. I offer to the readers a glimpse of my journey with the thought that maybe you also are searching, seeking, wondering, ‘where can I find the place I belong?’ The Baháʼí Faith may be that place for you.

Knysna Forest

Sparky, a 19-year old, quick-witted thrill-seeker, went hiking in the majestic Knysna forest in South Africa upon returning from the United Kingdom. After a series of bad decisions, driven by stubbornness, he tumbles off a cliff with no turning back.

Wounded, lost, low on supplies, and without any knowledge of survival, he is plagued by nature’s lethal attacks until he is too weak to carry on. As dusk and dehydration ominously takes its toll, he is faced with fears he never anticipated.

As death approaches mercilessly again and again, he must fight above willpower to stay alive. With every calculated risk, less calculated, hope, survival, and divine intervention, becomes a distant dream.

Knysna Forest is an epic, true miracle race-against-time survival-story that will leave adventurers astounded in anticipation.

“If you are reading this, it means that you are experiencing the result of a miracle, because how is it possible that I survived death, more than once?”

Learning, Healing, and Change: Notes on Teaching in Testing Times

Drawing on illuminating stories from thirteen years as a public school teacher, Ms. Coolidge challenges cultural assumptions about effecting learning and change, making a compelling case for a bigger-picture perspective in the classroom and in society at large. She shares personal insights about learning as an innate gift, similar to healing, which is fed by responsive interactions. Learning is at the core of all human endeavors and is essential for individual well-being, democracy, and social progress. Although rigid separation is our cultural habit, good teaching is embodied, integrated with the arts and play, and engaged with diverse perspectives. Ms. Coolidge offers food for thought on how 21st-century federal education reforms, by elevating the status of words and right answers at the expense of connection and meaning, have played a key role in a reactionary cultural backlash.