Guest Author: Ted Kerasote

For many of us dogs are our most important relationship, touching us in a way that fellow humans do not, something I found out firsthand in 1991 when I met a half-wild, ten-month-old pup on the San Juan River in southern Utah. Golden in color, shading to fox red, he was of indeterminate ancestry and had strong Lab features — the tall rangy Lab, the field Lab — with perhaps a bit of hound and Golden Retriever thrown in. I liked his looks, and I very much liked how collected and intelligent he was, an individual with refined survival skills and a good sense of humor.  I named him Merle and he came home with me to Wyoming, where we spent the next thirteen years together.  When he died, he broke my heart.

As a way to get over my grief, I wrote his biography, Merle’s Door:  Lessons From A Freethinking Dog.  The book spent nine months on The New York Times bestsellers lists, and I received thousands of letters from readers who told me, with a torrent of emotion, that the book had made them face an uncomfortable but in the end uplifting truth:  they had never wept as much for their gone husbands or parents as they had for their gone dog.  Often, these readers closed their letters with a plaint: “Why do our dogs die so young?”

After a few months, I felt that could no longer ignore the letters nor what I had come to realize: I wanted another dog, and I wanted him to live longer than Merle had, if possible. 

So I set out upon a five-year quest, combing the veterinary literature and interviewing veterinarians, dog breeders, and shelter workers about the factors that affect dog health and longevity. Six factors were on almost everyone’s list:  inbreeding, nutrition, environmental pollutants, vaccination, spaying and neutering, and a shelter system in which too many dogs end their days.  One factor that wasn’t frequently mentioned, but which I believe is also important, is the amount of freedom dogs enjoy.

The book I eventually wrote, Pukka’s Promise:  The Quest For Longer-Lived Dogs, examines all these topics while interweaving the quest for my own new dog, a quest that took me across the United States and Europe until I found just the right pup, whom I named Pukka, which means “genuine” or “first-class” in Hindi.  Along the way, I discovered some key information about how to help our dogs live healthier, longer lives.  In a nutshell, the book’s message is this:

Choose dogs who still have their historic conformation—longish legs and a real snout through which they can breathe—and who don’t share many similar ancestors, which can lead to a higher incidence of genetically transmitted diseases.

Don’t feed dogs grain, like corn and rice.  It tends to spike their blood glucose levels and the scientific literature has shown that animals who keep their blood glucose levels low tend to have fewer chronic diseases and live longer.  Today, it’s easy to feed a dog its historic high-protein/low carb diet.  Numerous pet food manufacturers offer such no-grain diets in kibble or frozen form.

Vaccinate a dog minimally against parvo, distemper, adenovirus-2, and rabies.  Then, every three years, have your vet take a blood sample and titer it to see if the dog still has immunity.  If it does, no need to revaccinate.

Consider leaving your dog intact, if you can reliably control its sex life or, if you can’t, give it a vasectomy if it’s a male, or a tubal ligation or hysterectomy if it’s a female. Unlike spaying and neutering, which remove a dog’s testes or ovaries, these procedures leave them in place so that the dog retains its full complement of beneficial sex hormones, which protect against cancer, orthopedic injuries, and endocrine dysfunction.  

Keep your dog away from environmental toxins, like lawn chemicals, give it a stainless steel or glass bowl instead of a plastic one (many forms of plastic contain endocrine-disrupting phthalates), and make sure that your dogs gets to run off-leash at dog speed with other dogs several times a week.  Such exercise helps to keep your dog both physically and psychologically healthy.

All these points are described in greater detail in Pukka’s Promise, as well as the story of how this new little golden pup opened the door to my heart once again.

Author’s Bio

Ted Kerasote is the author of many books, including the national bestseller Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog and Out There: In The Wild in a Wired Age, which won the National Outdoor Book Award. Ted’s writing has often focused on the interrelationship between people, animals, and the natural environment, and during his four-decades-long career, his essays and photographs have appeared in magazines as wide-ranging in their subject matter as Audubon, Geo, Outside, National Geographic Traveler, Sports Afield, and The New York Times. 

To find out more about Rick, you can visit http://www.kerasote.com/

“Inferno” is Brown’s latest Langdon installment masterfully fused with art, historical references, codes and symbols. In the very first week of its release, the book topped the UK’s book charts and became a bestselling novel in USA. In this riveting new thriller, Brown packs the pages with picturesque attractions of Florence, Venice, and Constantinople, and he has used these landmarks deftly in his novel. Moreover, the most admiring thing is that Brown has never forced his tale comes to a crashing halt in his scrupulous research of the rich history and numerous historical sites of these cities. Inferno’s codes are largely inspired by Dante Alighieri’s 14th century epic poem “The Divine Comedy”, which details his ride through hell.

The story revolves around the Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon who is hospitalized in Florence, the city in “Inferno”, with mild amnesia, incapable to recall how and why he got there. Luckily, Dr. Sienna Brooks- a former child prodigy and Zobrist’s former lover helps Langdon to figure out the highly contagious airborne virus created by Zobrist- the main antagonist of the novel, who has hidden the virus in an unknown location. However Sienna’s former relationship with Zobrist somewhere makes her loyalty toward Langdon doubtful until she read Zobrist’s last letter. She determines not to let his new technology fall into the wrong hands. Langdon runs away with the lady and reaches his flat where he discovers that his Harris Tweed Jacket contains a small projector that displays threatening message of Dante’s vision of Hell. Well, the future of the world is at stake and only Langdon’s knowledge of hidden passageways and ancient secrets can ward off a disaster contrived by a crazy man.

Like other Robert Langdon novels, Brown’s Inferno amidst the clotted prose is a collection of odds and ends from top Western culture. Unfortunately, the novel reads more like a movie treatment with some glittering factoid about a past that may appeal to those who are unknown with it. There are plenty of dusty books and musty passageways in the novel to make people believe the reality of ancient global conspiracies.

The best part of it is Dante’s treatment in the novel that helps to bind the reader who is unfamiliar with the Commedia. Moreover, the whirlwind tour to the famous and beautiful sights of Florence will definitely captivate the readers. As with Brown’s other works, it’s more easy and enjoyable to read “Inferno” when he presents effective dialogue, facts, and back story in digestible chunks that don’t take readers out of the story.

If you like Dan Brown already, you will certainly love “Inferno” although it’s a little exaggerated.

You can grab a copy of this book from our online bookstore, Printsasia.com.

Author : Sherry Helms

Father’s Day is a special occasion to honor fatherhood, paternal bonds as well as the noteworthy influence of fathers in our societies. It is a time to acclaim father’s eternal and unconditional affection and devotion.  

With Father’s Day, 2013 around the corner, we are helping you by suggesting a few inspirational yet widely acknowledged Books on Fatherhood that we believe would come out to be of great help to all the men, who are fathering veteran or entering the trenches of fatherhood.

Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads: Be Prepared is an ultimate guide for men who mastering the first year as a dad. With exceptional insights, MacGyver gives no-nonsense advice, and teaches men all the stuff they really need to know about fatherhood. Engagingly written, cleverly demonstrated and filled with witty and humorous anecdotes, this book is a great gift for any expectant father. The book teaches how to stay awake (or at least upright) at job, make a baby diaper out of a towel, and so much more to develop a lasting parent-child relationship.

Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child: A pioneer in the field of fatherhood research and a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Kyle D. Pruett shows how fathering affects both men and children. A perfect resource for all dads- including stepfathers, divorced fathers, fathers of special children, as well as moms who wants kids who are mixed and meaningfully attached to their fathers. Fatherneed is a great book that will help enable fathers to give their kids the skills they need to grow into cheerful and healthy adults.

The Single Father: A Dad’s Guide to Parenting Without a Partner: A trustworthy and helpful book for dads, who are divorced, widowed, gay, or never-married to face the special issues of parenting alone. The latest in the “New Father” series, Brott’s book comprises the personal experiences of single dads along with the practical and encouraging advices from experts on how to take a constructive approach to unravel general problems following a divorce.

That’s My Girl: How a Father’s Love Protects and Empowers his Daughter: This is true that the father commonly has as much or more influence than mother on every aspect of his daughter’s life. In today’s time when relations have become progressively more complicated, it is often difficult for parents to stay connected with their daughter and especially so for fathers. In this exceptional and invaluable guide, parenting expert Rick Johnson reveals men how to cultivate the close relationships with their daughters that they both long for.

Be a Better Dad Today Ten Tools Every Father Needs: The Honorable Gregory W. Slayton has written an inspirational and practical guidebook for every dad who desires to become the best father he can be-not only for the sake of family and society but also for his own development. Jam-packed with humor, compassion, reasonable, tough talk, and gripping stories from his personal experience, Slayton provides wise insights and practical advice and simple but dynamically effective strategies that will assist every dad to carry out his God-given duties.

What a Son Needs From His Dad How a Man Prepares His Sons for Life: Warm and fuzzy, anchored in values, and filled with encouragement, good and time-tested advice, and words of wisdom, What a Son Needs From His Dad provides everything that a father need to become a role model for his son. The book contains all essential practical topics including developing boys for work, friendships, wedding, and their relationships with God. Author-cum-dad, Michael O’Donnell believes that no one can prepare a son for life better than his father and motivates dads to become a kind of men that they want their sons to become.

The above-mentioned books are just suggestive. You can grab all these books and browse through a wide range of books on Fatherhood by viewing our official website Printsasia.com.

 Printsasia.com   (USA)

Author Bio:    

Bill Crider is the author of more than fifty published novels and numerous short stories. He won the Anthony Award for best first mystery novel in 1987 for Too Late to Die and was nominated for the Shamus Award for best first private-eye novel for Dead on the Island. He and his wife, Judy, won the best short story Anthony in 2002 for their story “Chocolate Moose.”  His story “Cranked” was nominated for the Edgar award for best short story.  Check out his homepage at http://www.billcrider.com/ ,or take a look at his peculiar blog at http://billcrider.blogspot.in/. Connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

It is really difficult to unfold the darkest moments of our life as it requires a lot of guts to relive a moment, which you never wanted to be repeated in your life. But a few Bravehearts dare to narrate such traumatic tales. Some of them have expressed it so vividly that their accounts received wide acclamation and have occupied a space in the most prestigious bestsellers’ reading lists worldwide.

This post is dedicated to touching and heartfelt memoirs of a few such bravehearts whose lives are marked by harrowing unusual experiences but they continued incessantly to create history.

Smashed Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas: Eye-opening and completely enthralling Smashed became a media sensation and a New York Times bestseller. This is a heart touching memoir of Zailckas, who initiated into the world of drinking with one stiff sip of Southern Comfort at a very tender age. From then on, she started drinking fanatically. Smashed is an astonishing literary debut of a girl  that how she got in an unfamiliar apartment in New York City, and after a decade of getting drunk, having blackouts and smashups, what it took her to realize that she had to give up drinking.  Zailckas has written coherently about her past, showing the devastating effects of her lifestyle without ever trying to invoke pity for anything that happened to her in the past.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers: This is the heartbreaking memoir of a college senior and a terrifically talented writer, Dave Eggers, who at the age of 22 loses both of his parents to cancer within the space of five weeks. This is an exhilarating and poignant memoir of Dave that depicts how he becomes an unofficial guardian of his eight-year-old brother, Christopher. The story mainly concentrates on the ethics and desires of Egger who feels robbed of his youth due to untimely death of his parents and his responsibility to take care of his brother.

Against All Odds by Paul Connolly: Heartbreaking and inspiring, this is the success story of Paul Collony’s life started as an abandoned child in an orphanage and became a successful entrepreneur in his later life.  This book gives the real insight of what happens in children homes and how someone with such an awful start in life can take a turn for the better and go on to be a successful businessman.

Switching Time: A Doctor’s Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities by Richard Baer: Karen Overhill walks into Psychiatrist Richard Baer’s office with her strange complaints of having vague physical pains and depression. Her problems were so insidious that she often  feels like an impersonator in her own life; she even doesn’t distinguish the people who call themselves her friends, and she can’t even remember being intimate with her own husband. After realizing that Karen has multiple personality disorder, Baer faces the intimidating task of generating a therapy that will make his patient whole again.

Lucky A Memoir by Alice Sebold: What happened to Alice Sebold should not happen with anyone else. This is a harrowing and heart-wrenching memoir by Alice Sebold revealing that how her life was utterly transformed when, as an eighteen-year-old college freshman at Syracuse University, she was brutally attacked and raped in a park near campus, forced onto the ground in a tunnel “among the withered leaves and broken beer bottles.” And what was more surprising and disturbing was the statement of police who said she was “lucky”. At least she wasn’t killed and dismembered like a young woman before her. In a narrative by turns disturbing, thrilling, and inspiring, Alice Sebold illuminates the experience of trauma victims even as she imparts wisdom profoundly hard-won: “You save yourself or you remain unsaved.”

A Child Called “It”: One Child’s Courage to Survive by Dave Pelzer: This is ghastly and harrowing memoir of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the autobiographical account of a young boy who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who isolated him from the rest of the family and who played tortuous games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother’s torturous games in order to survive because she treated him not like her son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an “it.”

The Watchmaker’s Daughter: A Memoir by Sonia Taitz: This is funny yet stirring memoir sheds light on Sonia’s life, the daughter of holocaust survivors growing up in America. This legacy, combined with Sonia’s ambition and intelligence, directs her to lead an audacious life in which she probe to heal herself and her parents through travel, achievement and daring love affair. Sardonically, this is due to her marriage to a non-Jew that brings her parents the stillness and fulfillment that they have longed for.

Slave: My True Story by Mende Nazer: This is a tragic and harrowing memoir of Mende Nazer who lost her childhood at age twelve, when she was sold as a maid to a wealthy Arab family. It all began one horrific night in 1993, when she was snatched by Arab raiders, raped and shipped to Khartoum. Slave is a heart-wrenching story of almost beyond belief that portrays the power and dignity of the Nuba tribe. It recounts the savage way in which the Nuba and their ancient culture are being shattered by a secret modern trade of slaves. Above all, the core of the book is the unbreakable spirit and incredible courage of a young woman.

We hope our readers will like reading these remarkably written and uniquely gripping memoirs, and if we have missed your favorite, make sure to chime in with your own picks in the comments.