» Listen to an audiobook excerpt from W.E.B. Griffin's The Shooters on the Penguin Podcast.

» Listen to other Penguin Podcasts.

W.E.B. Griffin, The Shooters, Penguin Podcast, podcast, Books, Penguin Books

(View entire post here)

A Live Interactive Worldwide Web Event and Book Club First: Oprah Joins Author to Teach a 10-Week Webcast Series of Classes on Oprah.com

CHICAGO, IL - "Being able to share this material with you is a gift and a part of the fulfillment of my life's purpose," Oprah Winfrey said on Wednesday, January 30, 2008, as she revealed the 61^th Oprah's Book Club selection A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. She added, "It was an awakening for me that I want for you, too."

For the first time ever, readers around the world will be able to participate in a free, live interactive classroom discussion, led by Winfrey and Tolle. Each weekly class will correspond to a chapter from A New Earth, with the discussion focusing on the chapter's themes. The 10 weekly sessions will be webcast every Monday night from March 3 through May 5, at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT. To pre-register for the class, log onto www.oprah.com/anewearth.

Published in 2005, A New Earth encourages a collective sense of commitment to changing the way we live for people who want to make a difference. With the knowledge that we live in a time desperate for global change, renowned spiritual teacher Tolle's book answers the question: what can one person do to enact that change? With clarity and in practical terms, he gently leads readers to a new level of consciousness, awakening them to their lives' purpose and inviting them to envision a new earth where peace and fellowship are the norm.

(View entire post here)

I receive lots of mail. Yesterday I read a letter from a passionate and talented young teacher who had visited my room a year ago. He is in his first year of teaching and incredibly discouraged.

I come home tired and frustrated, and to be honest, I sometimes think about quitting. I'm sure, Rafe, that you have had your own share of aggravations in a lengthy career in education. But I never saw that for a moment in your class at Hobart; each moment was filled with joy. How do you prevent any of that negative energy from breaching the walls of Room 56?

I feel discouraged practically every day. I was quite sad yesterday. It was Saturday morning, normally one of my favorite days of the week. This is the day when about 60 former students, grades 6-9, return to my classroom to continue their studies. The kids are amazing. They study Shakespeare, algebra, and college prep tests. These young people are hungry, kind, and hard working. The school is completely empty, and on these days Room 56 is the closest thing to Utopia I have ever discovered.

But I lost two kids yesterday and it is very discouraging.