Unblinded is the true story of New Yorker Kevin Coughlin, who became blind at age thirty-six due to a rare genetic disorder known as Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy. Twenty years later, without medical intervention, Kevin’s sight miraculously started to return. He is the only known person in the world who has experienced a spontaneous, non-medically assisted, regeneration of the optic nerve.

Unblinded follows Kevin’s descent into darkness, and his unexplained reemergence to sight. It provides honest, profound insight into the emotional trauma that occurs when vision is lost and the path forward in life cannot be seen. The book offers a fascinating, behind-the-scenes tour of what went on during those years of darkness and how Kevin Coughlin, after battling alcoholism, loneliness, prejudice, and perhaps most of all himself, emerges as a man of wisdom and sight.

Bill Courtney is a familiar name to those who saw him in Undefeated, the Oscar-winning movie about the high school football team he coached in a downtrodden section of North Memphis. Now, in his first book, Against the Grain, Courtney describes the key principles— including service, civility, leadership, character, commitment, and forgiveness—that have helped young people and adults to live better and more fulfilled lives.

Courtney has also passed along these values to his 120 employees at the lumber company he built from scratch. A former drug addict became a line manager and loving family man; an out-of-control cornerback is now a cadet at West Point; a star running back has discovered he can show his emotions and still be strong. Courtney, Esquire magazine’s Coach of the Year in 2012, shares these and other compelling stories to illustrate how readers can enrich themselves their families, their businesses, and their communities.

Courtney goes against the grain of today’s me-first culture, while explaining why these time-tested principles are needed now more than ever. He shows that winning isn’t just about the score at the end of the game, or the profit margin. Ultimately, it’s about the impact you make on your fellow human beings and the legacy you leave behind.

A Struggle of the Spirit and a Search for the Truth

Written with the same masterful prose and clarity of vision that made The Alchemist an international phenomenon, The Fifth Mountain is Paulo Coelho's inspiring story of the Biblical prophet Elijah. In the ninth century B.C., the Phoenician princess Jezebel orders the execution of all the prophets who refuse to seek safety in the land of Zarephath, where he unexpectedly finds true love with a young widow. But this newfound rapture is to be cut short, and Elijah sees all of his hopes and dreams irrevocably erased as he is swept into a whirlwind of events that threatens his very existence. In what is truly a literary milestone, Coelho gives a quietly moving account of a man touched by the hand of God who must triumph over his frustrations in a soul-shattering trail of faith.

Todd Anderson and his friends at Welton Academy can hardly believe how different life is since their new English professor, the flamboyant John Keating, has challenged them to make your lives extraordinary! Inspired by Keating, the boys resurrect the Dead Poets Society--a secret club where, free from the constraints and expectations of school and parents, they let their passions run wild. As Keating turns the boys on to the great words of Byron, Shelley, and Keats, they discover not only the beauty of language, but the importance of making each moment count.

But the Dead Poets pledges soon realize that their newfound freedom can have tragic consequences. Can the club and the individuality it inspires survive the pressure from authorities determined to destroy their dreams?