Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series)

Computers & Technology

Beck, Kent

Brant, John

Roberts, Don

Martin, Fowler

Opdyke William

Programming

Addison-Wesley Professional

In the tradition of Uzodinma Iweala’s Beasts of No Nation by way of Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run, this is the inspirational true story of the Ugandan boy soldier who became a world-renowned runner, then found his calling as director of a world-renowned African children’s charity. “Julius can’t remember who first saw the men. He heard no warning sounds—no dog barking or twig snapping. Until this point, events had moved too swiftly for Julius to be afraid, but now panic seized him. In another instant, he realized that his old life was finished.” Thus begins the extraordinary odyssey of Julius Achon, a journey that takes a barefoot twelve-year-old boy from a village in northern Uganda to the rebel camp of the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army, where he was made a boy soldier, and then, miraculously, to a career as one of the world’s foremost middle-distance runners. But when a devastating tragedy prevents Julius from pursuing the gold at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, he is once again set adrift and forced to forge a new path for himself, finally finding his true calling as an internationally recognized humanitarian. Today, Julius is the director of the Achon Uganda Children’s Fund, a charity whose mission is to improve the quality of life in rural Uganda through access to healthcare, education, and athletics. While pursuing his destiny, Julius encounters a range of unforgettable characters who variously befriend and betray him: the demonic Joseph Kony, a “world-class warlord”; John Cook, a brilliant and eccentric U.S. track coach; Jim Fee, an American businessman who helps Julius build a state-of-the-art medical center deep in the Ugandan bush; and finally Kristina, Julius’s mother, whose own tragic journey forms the pivot for this spellbinding narrative of love, loss, suffering, and redemption. Written by award-winning sportswriter John Brant, The Boy Who Runs is an empowering tale of obstacles overcome, challenges met, and light wrested from darkness. It’s a story about forging your true path and finding your higher purpose—even when the road ahead bends in unexpected directions. Advance praise for The Boy Who Runs “Brant proves again why he is one of our best sportswriters, masterfully weaving a compelling narrative of an African country at war, along with the transformation of a young man from athlete to humanitarian. . . . [Achon’s] life story is a shining example of the Olympic spirit.”—Booklist (starred review) “Fantastic . . . Brant does a beautiful job of chronicling the tension. . . . Indeed, his work is first-rate throughout the book, and it makes for a read-in-one-sitting story.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Inspiring . . . Achon’s difficult journey as an athlete and humanitarian reveals how sport can provide a valuable avenue of hope for those seeking to rise above tragic circumstances.”—Library Journal “This is an astonishing story about an amazing athlete who outruns not only the grinding poverty and deprivation of the Ugandan bush but brutal war and imminent death, then dedicates himself to saving his family and friends. This man has the heart of a lion. I couldn’t put this book down.”—John L. Parker, Jr., author of Once a Runner “An instant classic . . . John Brant has given us an epic, moving, and ultimately hopeful story about the power of sport and friendship to transcend boundaries and make the world a better place.”—Daniel Coyle, author of The Talent Code

The Boy Who Runs: The Odyssey of Julius Achon

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Ballantine Books

John Brant re-creates the tense drama of the 1982 Boston Marathon―and the powerful forces of fate that drove these two athletes in the years afterwards "One was a humble farm boy from Minnesota. The other was the most electrifying distance runner of his time. In 1982, they battled stride for stride for more than two hours in the most thrilling Boston Maraton ever run. Then the drama really began. . . ." Thus John Brant sets the stage for the epic race that took place 23 years ago between Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley. Since Beardsley was only 26 and Salazar 23 at the time, everyone assumed that this would be the start of a long and glorious rivalry.
Instead Beardsley soon began a descent into drug addiction that brought him perilously close to dying. Salazar's decline was more gradual, his vigor slowly giving way to baffling symptoms that left him completely exhausted. Brant's portraits of the painkiller-addicted Beardsley and the depression-plagued Salazar are at once sensitive and hair-raising. The supporting characters are also richly drawn, from Alberto's father, Jose Salazar, a towering presence with a fascinating history and a former close friend of Fidel Castro, to Bill Squires, Beardsley's coach, a Casey Stengel–like figure whose oddball goofiness masks an encyclopedic knowledge of distance running. This elegantly written story is riveting nonfiction at its very best.

Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America's Greatest Marathon

Rodale Books

The 1982 Boston Marathon was great theater: Two American runners, Alberto Salazar, a celebrated champion, and Dick Beardsley, a gutsy underdog, going at each other for just under 2 hours and 9 minutes. Neither man broke. The race merely came to a thrilling, shattering end, exacting such an enormous toll that neither man ever ran as well again. Beardsley, the most innocent of men, descended into felony drug addiction, and Salazar, the toughest of men, fell prey to depression. Exquisitely written and rich with human drama, John Brant's Duel in the Sun brilliantly captures the mythic character of the most thrilling American marathon ever run—and the powerful forces of fate that drove these two athletes in the years afterward.

14 Minutes: A Running Legend's Life and Death and Life

In 2007, after collapsing on a practice field at the Nike campus, champion marathoner Alberto Salazar's heart stopped beating for 14 minutes. Over the crucial moments that followed, rescuers administered CPR to feed oxygen to his brain and EMTs shocked his heart eight times with defibrillator paddles. He was clinically dead. But miraculously, Salazar was back at the Nike campus coaching his runners just nine days later. Salazar had faced death before, but he survived that and numerous other harrowing episodes thanks to his raw physical talent, maniacal training habits, and sheer will, as well as—he strongly believes—divine grace. In 14 Minutes, Salazar chronicles in spellbinding detail how a shy, skinny Cuban-American kid from the suburbs of Boston was transformed into the greatest marathon runner of his era. For the first time, he reveals his tempestuous relationship with his father, a former ally of Fidel Castro; his early running life in high school with the Greater Boston Track Club; his unhealthy obsession to train through pain; the dramatic wins in New York, Boston, and South Africa; and how surviving 14 minutes of death taught him to live again.

Sports & Outdoors

Salazar,Alberto

Biographies

What if you could design your future instead of having it just happen to you? The Power to Transform teaches you the strategies corporate, military, and sports leaders have used to do just that for themselves and their organizations! Yes, you can have the life of your dreams-here's how. 
Chris Majer has designed large scale transformational programs for the US Army, and Marine Corps, Amgen, AT&amp;T, Microsoft, Intel, Allianz, and Capital One, and a host of others to revamp the way they do business. Organizations Majer has put through his process have seen measurable and dramatic increases in their performance and profits. 
In The Power to Transform, Majer tailors his program to you the individual, sharing the methods he has developed over two decades that have made him one of the leading innovators in the field. The book distills complex philosophical and linguistic concepts into easy-to-use practices that produce transformational change. Readers have reached a plateau in their personal or professional lives know that there is something more to life. They are committed to real change will find considerable power in: -Building the practices for authentic learning -Seeing that learning isn't about "knowing and understanding," it is the development of "embodied competence" -Learning how new action, not new thinking, is the cornerstone of change -Facing down the most daunting challenges and making consistently powerful choices -Building a practice that will enable you to stay calm while the world around you swirls in confusion

The Power to Transform: Passion, Power, and Purpose in Daily Life

Business & Money

Majer, Chris

Business Culture

My Marathon: Reflections on a Gold Medal Life is a revealing memoir by Frank Shorter, the father of American distance running. After winning the 1969 NCAA title in the 10,000 meters during his senior year at Yale, Shorter went on to win a staggering 24 national titles on track, road, and cross-country courses, but it was in the marathon that Shorter achieved his greatest fame and recognition. At the 1972 Munich Games, Shorter won the Olympic marathon finishing more than 2 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher. Four years later, he finished a controversial second in the marathon at the Olympic Games in Montreal. The controversy, still unresolved to this day, revolved around the East German “winner” being a possible drug cheat. Shorter later founded the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Written with noted sportswriter John Brant, My Marathon details these inspiring events, as well as the physical and emotional abuse Shorter suffered as a child. This inspiring memoir is a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit and the transformative power of sports.

My Marathon: Reflections on a Gold Medal Life

Shorter, Frank

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Books by Brant, John