Discover the essential thinking tools you’ve been missing with The Great Mental Models series by Shane Parrish, New York Times bestselling author and the mind behind the acclaimed Farnam Street blog and “The Knowledge Project” podcast. This first book in the series is your guide to learning the crucial thinking tools nobody ever taught you. Time and time again, great thinkers such as Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett have credited their success to mental models–representations of how something works that can scale onto other fields. Mastering a small number of mental models enables you to rapidly grasp new information, identify patterns others miss, and avoid the common mistakes that hold people back. The Great Mental Models: Volume 1, General Thinking Concepts shows you how making a few tiny changes in the way you think can deliver big results. Drawing on examples from history, business, art, and science, this book details nine of the most versatile, all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making and productivity. This book will teach you how to: Avoid blind spots when looking at problems. Find non-obvious solutions. Anticipate and achieve desired outcomes. Play to your strengths, avoid your weaknesses, … and more. The Great Mental Models series demystifies once elusive concepts and illuminates rich knowledge that traditional education overlooks. This series is the most comprehensive and accessible guide on using mental models to better understand our world, solve problems, and gain an advantage.

This book was shortlisted for the Lord Aberdare Prize 2013. While the relationship between amateurism and sport is well documented, the impact of this ethos on the professional coaches and trainers who directed and supported elite sporting performance has been entirely overlooked. This book explores the foundations of coaching and training practices and chronicles how traditional approaches to performance preparation evolved during the nineteenth century. Drawing on primary material to uncover the life courses of coaches and their families, the author argues that approaches to coaching replicated the traditional craft approach to skilled work. The advent of centralized, amateur-controlled governing bodies of sport created a significant shift in the coaching environment for professional coaches, meaning that individuals had to adapt to the master-servant relationship preferred by the middle classes. Cultural differences in the value accorded to coaching also contributed to a decline in the competitiveness of British athletes in the international arena. The author concludes by arguing that despite scientific advances, Edwardian coaching practices remained reliant on long-established training principles and that coaching practices in any period are inevitably an amalgamation of both tradition and innovation.

Written for the amateur magician, this illustrated guide offers 50 easy, effective, and well-known tricks that are used by professionals: cards, handkerchiefs, mental magic, and more. The author includes an overview for each trick, shows how the act appears to the audience, and details both the mechanisms and the presentation. 63 illustrations.

From the Hamlet acted on a galleon off Africa to the countless outdoor productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream that now defy each English summer, Shakespeare and Amateur Performance explores the unsung achievements of those outside the theatrical profession who have been determined to do Shakespeare themselves. Based on extensive research in previously unexplored archives, this generously illustrated and lively work of theatre history enriches our understanding of how and why Shakespeare's plays have mattered to generations of rude mechanicals and aristocratic dilettantes alike: from the days of the Theatres Royal to those of the Little Theatre Movement, from the pioneering Winter's Tale performed in eighteenth-century Salisbury to the Merchant of Venice performed by Allied prisoners for their Nazi captors, and from the how-to book which transforms Mercutio into Yankee Doodle to the Napoleonic counterspy who used Richard III as a tool of surveillance.

????? "Lays out all the elements needed to succeed and excel at triathlon without compromising the other important things in your life like family, friends and sleep." In Fast-Track Triathlete, elite triathlon coach Matt Dixon offers his plan of attack for high performance in long-course triathlon—without sacrificing work or life. Developed for busy professionals with demanding schedules, the Fast-Track Triathlete program makes your PR possible in Ironman®, Ironman 70.3®, Rev3, and Challenge triathlon in about 10 hours a week. Training for long-course triathlons once demanded 15-20 hours each week—on top of work, family, travel and other time commitments. For many, preparing for long-distance triathlon is more challenging than the race itself. Fast-Track Triathlete opens the door to your best performance in full- and half-distance triathlons in half the traditional training time. Dixon’s laser-focused, effective approach to workouts, recovery, strength and mobility, and nutrition means you can prepare for triathlon’s greatest challenges in just 7-10 hours per week for half-distance and 10-12 hours per week for full-distance. Fast-Track Triathlete includes: Dixon’s complete guide to creating a successful sport and life performance recipe How to plan out your triathlon training Scaling workouts for time and fatigue Training and racing during travel Executing your swim-bike-run and transitions plan on race day 10-week off-season training program with key workouts 14-week pre-season training program with key workouts 14-week comprehensive race-prep full and half training plans with fully integrated strength and conditioning Dixon’s first book, The Well-Built Triathlete, revealed his four-tiered approach to success in all triathlon race distances. Fast-Track Triathlete turbocharges Dixon’s well-built program so even the busiest athletes can achieve their long-distance triathlon dreams without sacrificing so much to achieve them. _____________________________________________________________ What other athletes are saying about FAST-TRACK TRIATHLETE: ????? "I went from marathons and sprint tris straight to a full Ironman in 1 year while overcoming an injury with this plan." ????? "The importance of sleep/rest, quality vs. quantity, endurance AND strength, nutrition, etc. -- this book shares such a realistic and balanced approach to training and helped me train for and complete my first Ironman (140.6) race as a working mother of 3 small children and a 13:32 finish time." ????? "Breath of fresh air read on triathlon training - planning - life balance, in context of performance improvement.

A synthesis of Stebbins' (sociology, U. of Calgary) previous published studies of professionals and dedicated amateurs in eight specific fields of entertainment, science, and sport. Having constructed a theoretical framework for behavior in each field, he presents a general theory of leisure. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR