The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.
Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #27 in Books
Brand: Grand Central Publishing
Published on: 1988-10-11
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Dimensions: .98" h x 4.13" w x 6.69" l, .40 pounds
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
384 pages
Features
Great product!
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out."
Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.
Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. --Alix Wilber
From School Library Journal Spacek, with her lilting Southern accent, perfectly captures the voice of Scout, the young girl whose life is thrown into turmoil when her father, the upright and highly ethical lawyer Atticus Finch, takes on the defense of a black man accused of raping a white woman. Their sleepy Alabama town may never be the same and Spacek's exceptional pacing propels this Pulitzer Prize-winner-a staple of many high school reading lists-to its inexorable conclusion. The 1962 film, starring Gregory Peck (who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Atticus Finch), was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1995.α(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
A #1 National Bestseller. Cut hidden food toxins, lose weight, and get healthy in just 21 days.
Did you know that your fast food fries contain a chemical used in Silly Putty? Or that a juicy peach sprayed heavily with pesticides could be triggering your body to store fat? When we go to the supermarket, we trust that all our groceries are safe to eat. But much of what we're putting into our bodies is either tainted with chemicals or processed in a way that makes us gain weight, feel sick, and age before our time.
Luckily, Vani Hari - aka the Food Babe - has got your back. A food activist who has courageously put the heat on big food companies to disclose ingredients and remove toxic additives from their products, Hari has made it her life's mission to educate the world about how to live a clean, organic, healthy lifestyle in an overprocessed, contaminated-food world, and how to look and feel fabulous while doing it.
In THE FOOD BABE WAY, Hari invites you to follow an easy and accessible plan to rid your body of toxins, lose weight withoutcounting calories, and restore your natural glow in just 21 days. Including anecdotes of her own transformation along with easy-to-follow shopping lists, meal plans, and mouthwatering recipes, THE FOOD BABE WAY will empower you to change your food, change your body, and change the world.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #38 in Books
Published on: 2015-02-10
Released on: 2015-02-10
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Dimensions: 9.63" h x 1.13" w x 6.38" l, .0 pounds
Binding: Hardcover
369 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review "Vani Hari is a crusader for truth in what we eat and drink. She turns her in-depth food investigations into a practical, easy-to-follow plan that will have you feeling and looking your best in no time." —Frank Lipman, MD, author of The New Health Rules
"Read this book and you will never think about food, your health, or the world in the same way again. And we will all be better off for it."—From the foreword by Mark Hyman, MD, author of The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet
"Vani Hari is a fierce protector of our health and well-being and millions will benefit from her heroic deeds. It would be nearly impossible for someone not to lose weight and feel better after following these 21 habits. They are absolutely life changing and I recommend them to my patients and students of medicine." —Joel Kahn MD, FACC, clinical professor of medicine, Wayne State University School of Medicine, and author of The Whole Heart Solution
"There's a reason big food companies are terrified of Food Babe. She finds out the truth about what's in your food like no one else, and holds food manufacturers accountable when they're selling you food products they know will make you sick. Now, in this fabulous book, she shows you how to be your own food investigator, activist, and nutritionist. She shows you how to get rid of polluting foods and replace them with ones that are truly healthy. Follow her plan and your life will be more vibrant, more beautiful, and more powerful." —John Robbins, author Diet for a New America and The Food Revolution
"The Food Babe is a one woman consumer protection agency... If you want to bring transparency to our food system and improve the health and well-being of our fellow Americans then you need to join this movement. "—Congressman Tim Ryan
"Vani Hari is a fearless leader in a new food revolution. I'm in awe of her commitment to heal the world one bite at a time. In her book, The Food Babe Way, Vani wakes us up to the truth about our food, our health and our future. I recommend this book to everyone!"—Gabrielle Bernstein, author of Miracles Now
About the Author Vani Hari is a food activist and the creator of foodbabe.com. In her work, Hari has influenced how food giants like Kraft, Subway, Chipotle, Chick-fil-A, and Starbucks create their products, steering them toward more healthful policies. She lives in North Carolina and travels around the world to speak about health and food awareness.
The New York Times bestselling 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse will jump-start your weight loss, increase your energy level, clear your mind, and improve your overall health.
Made up of supernutrients from leafy greens and fruits, green smoothies are filling and healthy and you will enjoy drinking them. Your body will also thank you for drinking them as your health and energy improve to levels you never thought possible. It is an experience that could change your life if you stick with it!
This book provides a shopping list, recipes, and detailed instructions for the 10-day cleanse, along with suggestions for getting the best results. It also offers advice on how to continue to lose weight and maintain good health afterwards.
Are you ready to look slimmer, healthier, and sexier than you have in years? Then get ready to begin the 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse!
If you successfully complete the 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse, you will… • Lose 10–15 pounds in 10 days • Get rid of stubborn body fat, including belly fat • Drop pounds and inches fast, without grueling workouts • Learn to live a healthier lifestyle of detoxing and healthy eating • Naturally crave healthy foods so you never have to diet again • Receive over 100 recipes for various health conditions and goals
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #21 in Books
Brand: JJ Smith
Published on: 2014-07-15
Released on: 2014-07-15
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Dimensions: 8.37" h x .60" w x 5.50" l, 1.20 pounds
Binding: Paperback
192 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review Here are just a few of the testimonials from those who did the 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse:
"I completed my 10 days & lost a total of 15 pounds Woooo-hoooo!! I learned so much about my body and the importance of clean eating in this short time period." -- Nicole F.
"DAY 10!!!! Feeling super excited at how far I've come!! I've lost 14 pounds and feel amazing! -- Mya B.
"I'm feeling more energetic, my eyes are clear, and lower back pain has decreased. Today is day 10 and I have lost 13 pounds and have noticed the belly fat melting away." -- Wilson G.
About the Author JJ Smith is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse and the #1 national bestseller and USA TODAY bestseller Lose Weight Without Dieting or Working Out! JJ Smith is a nutritionist and certified weight-loss expert who has been featured on The View, The Steve Harvey Show, The Montel Williams Show, and The Jamie Foxx Show and on the NBC, FOX, and CW Network television stations, as well as in the pages of Glamour, Essence, and Ladies' Home Journal. Since reclaiming her health, losing weight, and discovering a “second youth” in her forties, JJ has become the voice of inspiration to those who want to lose weight, be healthy, and get their sexy back! To learn more, check out JJSmithOnline.com.
“It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon. . .” This is how Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she fell in love with Red that day in July 1959. The Whitshanks are one of those families that radiate togetherness: an indefinable, enviable kind of specialness. But they are also like all families, in that the stories they tell themselves reveal only part of the picture. Abby and Red and their four grown children have accumulated not only tender moments, laughter, and celebrations, but also jealousies, disappointments, and carefully guarded secrets. From Red’s father and mother, newly arrived in Baltimore in the 1920s, to Abby and Red’s grandchildren carrying the family legacy boisterously into the twenty-first century, here are four generations of Whitshanks, their lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that has always been their anchor.
Brimming with all the insight, humor, and generosity of spirit that are the hallmarks of Anne Tyler’s work, A Spool of Blue Thread tells a poignant yet unsentimental story in praise of family in all its emotional complexity. It is a novel to cherish.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #24 in Books
Published on: 2015-02-10
Released on: 2015-02-10
Format: Deckle Edge
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Dimensions: 9.53" h x 1.29" w x 6.60" l, 1.25 pounds
Binding: Hardcover
368 pages
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of the Month for February 2015: It’s pretty clear that Anne Tyler is comfortable with the art of storytelling. From the first lines of A Spool of Blue Thread, there’s an urge to sit back and settle into the cadence of her words. Or, rather, Abby Whitshank’s words as she recounts the story of how she fell in love with Red Whitshank in 1959. But don’t get too comfortable. Anne Tyler understands that, despite their best intentions, family members don’t often let each other settle back for very long—and the Whitshanks, a Baltimore clan whose history is told through several generations in this sensitive and empathetic novel, is no different than most. As Abby and Red age, their children are drawn back to their sprawling house. When the second part of the novel moves back in time, the shift is jarring at first; but after a fifty year writing career (this is her 20th novel), Tyler has the end in sight. This is a book about the stories we tell each other and the little moments that make up our lives. – Chris Schluep
Review “. . .Tyler is as fleet and graceful as a skater, her prose as transparent as ice . . . We get swept up in the spin of conversations, the slipstream of consciousness, and the glide and dip of domestic life, then feel the sting of Tyler’s quick and cutting insights into unjust assumptions about class, gender, age, and race . . . Tyler’s long dedication to language and story [is] an artistic practice made perfect in this charming, funny, and shrewd novel of the paradoxes of self, family, and home.” —Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred)
“Tyler gives us lovely insights into an ordinary family who, ‘like most families . . . imagined they were special.’ They will be special to readers thanks to the extraordinary richness and delicacy with which Tyler limns complex interactions and mixed feelings familiar to us all and yet marvelously particular to the empathetically rendered members of the Whitshank clan. The texture of everyday experience transmuted into art . . . Family life in Baltimore [is] still a fresh and compelling subject in the hands of this gifted veteran.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“Anne Tyler’s novels are invitations to spend time in the houses of the Baltimore neighborhood that she has built—house by house, block by block, word by word—over her long and bright career.” —Francine Prose, The New York Review of Books
“Tyler has proved again and again that a chronicle of middle-class family life in Baltimore can illuminate the human condition as acutely as any novel of ideas, albeit with a more modest demeanor . . . The Whitshanks [are] rendered with such immediacy and texture that they might be our next-door neighbors.” —Wendy Smith, Los Angeles Times
“Happily, A Spool of Blue Thread is a throwback to the meaty family dramas with which Tyler won her popularity in the 1980s . . . As in the best of her novels, she here extends her warmest affection to the erring, the inconstant, and the mismatched—the people who are ‘like anybody else,’ in Red’s words.” —Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal
“Graceful and capacious . . . Quintessential Anne Tyler, as well as quintessential American comedy. Tyler has a knack for turning sitcom situations into something far deeper and more moving. Her great gift is playing against the American dream, the dark side of which is the falsehood at its heart: that given hard work and good intentions, any family can attain the Norman Rockwell ideal of happiness . . . She’s a comic novelist, and a wise one.” —Rebecca Pepper Sinkler, New York Times Book Review
“An act of literary enchantment . . . How can it be so wonderful? . . . Tyler remains among the best chroniclers of family life this country has ever produced . . . Some of the most lovely and loving writing Tyler has ever done.” —Washington Post
“It’s been a long time since I read a book I wished would not end, purposely slowing my progress to save a bit for later. A Spool of Blue Thread was that kind of book . . . The Whitshanks are us, in a way, and this makes them endlessly interesting to watch, as well as very touching.” —Newsday “Well-built, homey and unpretentious . . . Readers of any age should have no trouble relating . . . We can only hope that Tyler will continue spooling out her colorful Baltimore tales for a long time to come.” —NPR.org
“Among her finest . . . There’s no novelist living today who writes more insightfully (and often humorously) than Tyler does about the fictions and frictions of family life.” —Baltimore Sun
“Fifty years, and Tyler’s still got it . . . [She] is a master at creating clans; at crafting groups of diverse characters who nonetheless belong together, who seem vulnerable and honest and real . . . I couldn’t put A Spool of Blue Thread down.” —Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times “Deeply moving . . . A Spool of Blue Thread is a miracle of sorts, a tender, touching and funny story about three generations of an ordinary American family who are, of course, anything but . . . Tyler’s accomplishment in this understated masterpiece is to convince us not only that the Whitshanks are remarkable but also that every family—no matter how seemingly ordinary—is in its own way special.” —Associated Press
“You legion of lovers of Anne Tyler are going to get this new novel of hers and love it, too . . . With this novel, as with her others, it’s easy to underestimate or simply miss the art that looks and feels so much like life—which is, after all the essence of Anne Tyler’s art and, like life, never easy at its best.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Tyler has constructed the character of Abby with all the care to rival some of her best previous characters from her 50 years of writing . . . When you reach the last page of the book, you hope the author has the first draft of another book about the same people already written. There’s a good chance you’ll feel this way about the Whitshank family.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Tyler’s novels have won a legion of fans. And they will not be disappointed by A Spool of Blue Thread . . . As Tyler delves further into her creations’ psyches, she ratchets up to familial drama, and she does so with prose that occasionally soars from the page and stops the reader’s breath . . . A humane and moving novel.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Tyler tenderly unwinds the tangled skeins of three generations, then knits them together . . . in precise often hilarious detail . . . By the end of this deeply beguiling novel, we come to know a reality entirely different form the one at the start. Not that anyone’s lying, only that everything—the way we see the world and the way we understand it to work—is changed by the intimate, incremental shifts of daily life.” —O magazine
“Tyler slyly dismantles the myth-making behind all our family stories . . . She does so with a compassion that recognizes that few of us will be immune to similar accommodations with the truth . . . The novel [makes] piercing forays into the long-distant past . . . We are not reading the fiction of estrangement, or of disorientation, but its power derives from the restless depths beneath its unfractured surface.” —The Guardian
“What a wonderful, natural writer she is . . . She knows all the secrets of the human heart.” —Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane
“Anne Tyler is one of my favourite writers and this is a delicious book. It is like being with a dear old friend. It is very special.” —Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
“[Tyler's] extraordinary gift for producing what seems less like fiction than actuality works wonders again. Characters all but elbow their way off the page with lifelikeness . . . Masterly . . . Magnificent . . . A gleamingly accomplished book.” —Peter Kemp, The Sunday Times
“Exploring this dichotomy—the imperfections that reside within a polished exterior—is Tyler’s specialty, and her latest generation-spanning work accomplishes just that, masterfully and monumentally . . . Indelible.” —Elyse Moody, Elle
“This book is about love and the tensions that bind us . . . Focused,wholly audacious and damn good." —Gawker
“Tyler show[s] once again that she’s a gifted and engrossing storyteller.” —Publishers Weekly
“It is wonderful to pick up a novel from a bonafide literary superstar. A Spool of Blue Thread is Anne Tyler’s twentieth novel and it shows in every flawless sentence . . . A stunning novel about family life which just rings so true—it depicts the bonds and the tensions, the love and the exasperation beautifully . . . A terrific novel.” —The Bookseller, UK (Book of the Month)
Reviews from the UK:
“A glorious treat for her loyal and attentive readers . . . As accomplished as her Pulitzer Prize-winning Breathing Lessons, it is the best novel Tyler has published in decades . . . It is a masterclass of restrained writing, lightened with gentle comedy and pitch-perfect dialogue . . . The complex narrative has more layers than Merrick Whitshank’s wedding cake.” —The Independent
“She has given us plenty of reminders of her lavish strengths: the quiet authority of her prose; the ultimately persuasive belief that a kindly eye is not necessarily a dishonest one; and perhaps above all, the fact that, 50 years after she started, she still gives us a better sense than almost anyone else of what it’s like to be alive.” —The Sunday Telegraph
“A Spool of Blue Thread may be her best yet . . . Anne Tyler leaves me thrilled and baffled by her genius . . . How does she do it? . . . Her books are somehow more gripping than the paciest transcontinental thriller . . . I know of no other novelist who draws so directly from real life, and whose work remains so uncontaminated by the shortcuts and clichés of television and Hollywood.” —Mail on Sunday
“I’ve been reading Anne Tyler novels for more than 20 years and she has never let me down . . . Tyler has the remarkable gift of laying bare the ordinariness of family life and thereby turning it into something extraordinary. Scratch beneath the surface and most families are dysfunctional and this is what Tyler evokes time and time again with mesmerizing power . . . Read this and you won’t be disappointed . . . Engrossing.” —Vanessa Berridge, Express
About the Author ANNE TYLER was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is her twentieth novel; her eleventh, Breathing Lessons, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
A #1 New York Times bestseller, this innovative and wildly funny read-aloud by award-winning humorist/actor B.J. Novak will turn any reader into a comedian. You might think a book with no pictures seems boring and serious. Except . . . here’s how books work. Everything written on the page has to be said by the person reading it aloud. Even if the words say . . .
BLORK. Or BLUURF.
Even if the words are a preposterous song about eating ants for breakfast, or just a list of astonishingly goofy sounds like BLAGGITY BLAGGITY and GLIBBITY GLOBBITY.
Cleverly irreverent and irresistibly silly, The Book with No Pictures is one that kids will beg to hear again and again. (And parents will be happy to oblige.)
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #19 in Books
Brand: Penguin Random House
Published on: 2014-09-30
Released on: 2014-09-30
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Dimensions: 10.25" h x .38" w x 8.38" l, 1.04 pounds
Binding: Hardcover
48 pages
Features
Fun book to show children the power of words
Encourages reading skills, imaginative thinking
Kids delight in discovering what words are really capable of
Contains absolutely NO pictures
Written by well known writer, actor, director, comedian - B.J. Novak
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal K-Gr 2—The actor (and writer, producer, and director) has penned his first picture book, but can it be called a picture book when there are no pictures? Entering the field of unique interactive books begging to be opened, including Hervé Tullet's Press Here (Chronicle, 2011) and Adam Lehrhaupt's Warning: Do Not Open This Book! (S. & S., 2013), this title will instantly intrigue children. Upon opening the book, readers are drawn in ("Here is how books work: everything the words say, the person reading the book has to say. No matter what."). What follows is an uproariously raucous time, with readers being forced to utter nonsense words ("blork," "bluurf") and phrases that will have young listeners in stitches ("And my head is made of blueberry pizza."). Admittedly, there are no illustrations, but Novak has employed the use of various sizes of black typeface with expansive white space and color to highlight some of the text. This book is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, and it's perfect for one-on-one sharing with a parent or caregiver. Expect requests for repeated readings.—Michele Shaw, Quail Run Elementary School, San Ramon, CA
Review "Conceptually radical . . . making the refreshing and contrarian case that words alone have sensory and imaginative vibrancy to spare."—Mark Levine, The New York Times Book Review
* "“This book may not have pictures, but it's sure to inspire lots of conversations—and laughs . . . A riotously fresh take on breaking the fourth wall.”"— Kirkus, starred review
"This book is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, and it’s perfect for one-on-one sharing with a parent or caregiver. Expect requests for repeated readings."—School Library Journal
"Actor Novak’s expert sense of comic timing is on full display in his first picture book . . . sure to deliver big laughs."— Publishers Weekly
"Listeners will be tickled by hearing adults say ridiculous things . . . The comic pacing and foolproof theatrics ensure a wild and silly trip through the pages for everyone."— The Horn Book
"This picture book with no pictures knows a thing or two about both books and kid-friendly comedy . . . Once children get the joke, they'll want to play it on as many of their grownups as possible."— The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Unlike any of the children's books you read growing up."— Bustle.com
"Will have little ones laughing and finding a new appreciation for words."— Entertainment Weekly
"A perfectly-pitched tool for parental humiliation and childish glee."— The Boston Globe
About the Author B.J. Novak is well known for his work on NBC’s Emmy Award-winning comedy series The Office as an actor, writer, director, and executive producer. He is also acclaimed for his standup comedy, his performances in motion pictures, and his New York Times bestselling book of short stories, One More Thing. A graduate of Harvard University with a degree in English and Spanish literature, B.J. lives in Los Angeles, California.
MORE THAN 100 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE FIFTY SHADES OF GREY IS NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
When unworldly student Anastasia Steele first encountered the driven and dazzling young entrepreneur Christian Grey it sparked a sensual affair that changed both of their lives irrevocably. Shocked, intrigued, and, ultimately, repelled by Christian’s singular erotic tastes, Ana demands a deeper commitment. Determined to keep her, Christian agrees.
Now, Ana and Christian have it all—love, passion, intimacy, wealth, and a world of possibilities for their future. But Ana knows that loving her Fifty Shades will not be easy, and that being together will pose challenges that neither of them would anticipate. Ana must somehow learn to share Christian’s opulent lifestyle without sacrificing her own identity. And Christian must overcome his compulsion to control as he wrestles with the demons of a tormented past.
Just when it seems that their strength together will eclipse any obstacle, misfortune, malice, and fate conspire to make Ana’s deepest fears turn to reality.
This book is intended for mature audiences.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #39 in Books
Brand: Random House, Inc
Published on: 2012-04-17
Released on: 2012-04-17
Format: Abridged
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Dimensions: 8.00" h x .99" w x 5.12" l, .84 pounds
Binding: Paperback
592 pages
Features
* Brand New-Authorized Dealer *Discreet Packaging * International and Expedited Shipping Available *
Editorial Reviews
Review THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING FIFTY SHADES Trilogy
"In a class by itself." —Entertainment Weekly
About the Author E L James is a former TV executive, wife and mother of two based in West London. Since early childhood she dreamed of writing stories that readers would fall in love with, but put those dreams on hold to focus on her family and her career. She finally plucked up the courage to put pen to paper with her first novel, Fifty Shades of Grey.
Mommy! Mommy! Mommy is asleep on the floor. She has been asleep for a long time. I brush her hair because she likes that. She doesn’t wake up. I shake her. Mommy! My tummy hurts. It is hungry. He isn’t here. I am thirsty. In the kitchen I pull a chair to the sink, and I have a drink. The water splashes over my blue sweater. Mommy is still asleep. Mommy wake up! She lies still. She is cold. I fetch my blankie, and I cover Mommy, and I lie down on the sticky green rug beside her. Mommy is still asleep. I have two toy cars. They race by the floor where Mommy is sleeping. I think Mommy is sick. I search for something to eat. In the freezer I find peas. They are cold. I eat them slowly. They make my tummy hurt. I sleep beside Mommy. The peas are gone. In the freezer is something. It smells funny. I lick it and my tongue is stuck to it. I eat it slowly. It tastes nasty. I drink some water. I play with my cars, and I sleep beside Mommy. Mommy is so cold, and she won’t wake up. The door crashes open. I cover Mommy with my blankie. He’s here. Fuck. What the fuck happened here? Oh, the crazy fucked-up bitch. Shit. Fuck. Get out of my way, you little shit. He kicks me, and I hit my head on the floor. My head hurts. He calls somebody and he goes. He locks the door. I lay down beside Mommy. My head hurts. The lady policeman is here. No. No. No. Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me. I stay by Mommy. No. Stay away from me. The lady policeman has my blankie, and she grabs me. I scream. Mommy! Mommy! I want my mommy. The words are gone. I can’t say the words. Mommy can’t hear me. I have no words.
“Christian! Christian!” Her voice is urgent, pulling him from the depths of his nightmare, the depths of his despair. “I’m here. I’m here.”
He wakes and she’s leaning over him, grasping his shoulders, shaking him, her face etched with anguish, blue eyes wide and brimming with tears.
“Ana.” His voice is a breathless whisper, the taste of fear tarnishing his mouth. “You’re here.”
“Of course I’m here.”
“I had a dream . . .”
“I know. I’m here, I’m here.”
“Ana.” He breathes her name, and it’s a talisman against the black choking panic coursing through his body.
“Hush, I’m here.” She curls around him, her limbs cocooning him, her warmth leeching into his body, forcing back the shadows, forcing back the fear. She is sunshine, she is light . . . she is his.
“Please let’s not fight.” His voice is hoarse as he wraps his arms around her.
“Okay.”
“The vows. No obeying. I can do that. We’ll find a way.” The words rush out of his mouth in a tumble of emotion and confusion and anxiety.
“Yes. We will. We’ll always find a way,” she whispers, and her lips are on his, silencing him, bringing him back to the now.
CHAPTER ONE
I stare up through gaps in the sea-grass parasol at the bluest of skies, summer blue, Mediterranean blue, with a contented sigh. Christian is beside me, stretched out on a sun lounge. My husband—my hot, beautiful husband, shirtless and in cut-off jeans—is reading a book predicting the collapse of the Western banking system. By all accounts, it’s a page-turner. I haven’t seen him sit this still, ever. He looks more like a student than the hotshot CEO of one of the top privately owned companies in the United States.
On the final leg of our honeymoon, we laze in the afternoon sun on the beach of the aptly named Beach Plaza Monte Carlo in Monaco, although we’re not actually staying in this hotel. I open my eyes and gaze out at the Fair Lady anchored in the harbor. We are staying, of course, on board a luxury motor yacht. Built in 1928, she floats majestically on the water, queen of all the yachts in the harbor. She looks like a child’s wind-up toy. Christian loves her—I suspect he’s tempted to buy her. Honestly, boys and their toys.
Sitting back, I listen to the Christian Grey mix on my new iPod and doze in the late afternoon sun, idly remembering his proposal. Oh, his dreamy proposal in the boathouse . . . I can almost smell the scent of the meadow flowers . . .
-----
“Can we marry tomorrow?” Christian murmurs softly in my ear. I am sprawled on his chest in the flowery bower in the boathouse, sated from our passionate lovemaking.
“Hmm.”
“Is that a yes?” I hear his hopeful surprise.
“Hmm.”
“A no?”
“Hmm.”
I sense his grin. “Miss Steele, are you incoherent?”
I grin. “Hmm.”
He laughs and hugs me tightly, kissing the top of my head. “Vegas, tomorrow, it is then.”
Sleepily I raise my head. “I don’t think my parents would be very happy with that.”
He thrums his fingertips up and down my naked back, caressing me gently.
“What do you want, Anastasia? Vegas? A big wedding with all the trimmings? Tell me.”
“Not big . . . Just friends and family.” I gaze up at him, moved by the quiet entreaty in his glowing gray eyes. What does he want?
“Okay.” He nods. “Where?”
I shrug.
“Could we do it here?” he asks tentatively.
“Your folks’ place? Would they mind?”
He snorts. “My mother would be in seventh heaven.”
“Okay, here. I’m sure my mom and dad would prefer that.”
He strokes my hair. Could I be any happier?
“So, we’ve established where, now the when.”
“Surely you should ask your mother.”
“Hmm.” Christian’s smile dips. “She can have a month, that’s it. I want you too much to wait any longer.”
“Christian, you have me. You’ve had me for a while. But okay—a month it is.” I kiss his chest, a soft chaste kiss, and smile up at him.
-----
“You’ll burn,” Christian whispers in my ear, startling me from my doze.
“Only for you.” I give him my sweetest smile. The late afternoon sun has shifted, and I am under its full glare. He smirks and in one swift move pulls my sun lounge into the shade of the parasol.
“Out of the Mediterranean sun, Mrs. Grey.”
“Thank you for your altruism, Mr. Grey.”
“My pleasure, Mrs. Grey, and I’m not being altruistic at all. If you burn, I won’t be able to touch you.” He raises an eyebrow, his eyes shining with mirth, and my heart expands. “But I suspect you know that and you’re laughing at me.”
“Would I?” I gasp, feigning innocence.
“Yes, you would and you do. Often. It’s one of the many things I love about you.” He leans down and kisses me, playfully biting my lower lip.
“I was hoping you’d rub me down with more sunscreen.” I pout against his lips.
“Mrs. Grey, it’s a dirty job . . . but that’s an offer I can’t refuse. Sit up,” he orders, his voice husky. I do as I’m told, and with slow meticulous strokes from strong and supple fingers, he coats me in sunscreen.
“You really are very lovely. I’m a lucky man,” he murmurs as his fingers skim over my breasts, spreading the lotion.
“Yes, you are, Mr. Grey.” I gaze coyly up at him through my lashes.
“Modesty becomes you, Mrs. Grey. Turn over. I want to do your back.”
Smiling, I roll over, and he undoes the back strap of my hideously expensive bikini.
“How would you feel if I went topless, like the other women on the beach?” I ask.
“Displeased,” he says without hesitation. “I’m not very happy about you wearing so little right now.” He leans down and whispers in my ear. “Don’t push your luck.”
“Is that a challenge, Mr. Grey?”
“No. It’s a statement of fact, Mrs. Grey.”
I sigh and shake my head. Oh, Christian . . . my possessive, jealous, control freak Christian.
When he’s finished, he slaps my behind.
“You’ll do, wench.”
His ever-present, ever-active BlackBerry buzzes. I frown and he smirks.
“My eyes only, Mrs. Grey.” He raises his eyebrow in playful warning, slaps my backside once more, and sits back down on his lounger to take the call.
My inner goddess purrs. Maybe tonight we could do some kind of floor show for his eyes only. She smirks knowingly, arching a brow. I grin at the thought and drift back into my afternoon siesta.
“Mam’selle? Un Perrier pour moi, un Coca-Cola light pour ma femme, s’il vous plait. Et quelque chose a manger . . . laissezmoi voir la carte.”
Hmm . . . Christian speaking fluent French wakes me. My eyelashes flutter in the glare of the sun, and I find Christian watching me while a liveried young woman walks away, her tray held aloft, her high blonde ponytail swinging provocatively.
“Thirsty?” he asks.
“Yes,” I mutter sleepily.
“I could watch you all day. Tired?”
I flush. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Me neither.” He grins, puts down his BlackBerry, and stands. His shorts fall a little and hang . . . in that way so his swim trunks are visible beneath. Christian takes his shorts off, stepping out of his flip-flops. I lose my train of thought.
“Come for a swim with me.” He holds out his hand while I look up at him, dazed. “Swim?” he says again, cocking his head to one side, an amused expression on his face. When I don’t respond, he shakes his head slowly.
“I think you need a wake-up call.” Suddenly he pounces and lifts me into his arms while I shriek, more from surprise than alarm.
“Christian! Put me down!” I squeal.
He chuckles. “Only in the sea, baby.”
Several sunbathers on the beach watch with that bemused disinterest so typical, I now realize, of the French, as Christian carries me to the sea, laughing, and wades in.
I clasp my arms around his neck. “You wouldn’t,” I say breathlessly, trying to stifle my giggling.
He grins. “Oh, Ana, baby, have you learned nothing in the short time we’ve known each other?” He kisses me, and I seize my opportunity, running my fingers through his hair, grasping two handfuls and kissing him back while invading his mouth with my tongue. He inhales sharply and leans back, eyes smoky but wary.
“I know your game,” he whispers and slowly sinks into the cool, clear water, taking me with him as his lips find mine once more. The chill of the Mediterranean is soon forgotten as I wrap myself around my husband.
“I thought you wanted to swim,” I murmur against his mouth.
“You’re very distracting.” Christian grazes his teeth along my lower lip. “But I’m not sure I want the good people of Monte Carlo to see my wife in the throes of passion.”
I run my teeth along his jaw, his stubble tickly against my tongue, not caring a dime for the good people of Monte Carlo.
“Ana,” he groans. He wraps my ponytail around his wrist and tugs gently, tilting my head back, exposing my throat. He trails kisses from my ear down my neck.
“Shall I take you in the sea?” he breathes.
“Yes,” I whisper.
Christian pulls away and gazes down at me, his eyes warm, wanting, and amused. “Mrs. Grey, you’re insatiable and so brazen. What sort of monster have I created?”
“A monster fit for you. Would you have me any other way?”
“I’ll take you any way I can get you, you know that. But not right now. Not with an audience.” He jerks his head toward the shore.
What?
Sure enough, several sunbathers on the beach have aban-doned their indifference and now regard us with interest. Suddenly, Christian grabs me around my waist and launches me into the air, letting me fall into the water and sink beneath the waves to the soft sand below. I surface, coughing, spluttering, and giggling.
“Christian!” I scold, glaring at him. I thought we were going to make love in the sea . . . and chalk up yet another first. He bites his lower lip to stifle his amusement. I splash him, and he splashes me right back.
“We have all night,” he says, grinning like a fool. “Laters, baby.” He dives beneath the sea and surfaces three feet away from me, then in a fluid, graceful crawl, swims away from the shore, away from me.
Gah! Playful, tantalizing Fifty! I shield my eyes from the sun as I watch him go. He’s such a tease . . . what can I do to get him back? While I swim to the shore, I contemplate my options. At the lounges our drinks have arrived, and I take a quick sip of Diet Coke. Christian is a faint speck in the distance.
Hmm . . . I lie down on my front and, fumbling with the straps, take my bikini top off and toss it casually onto Christian’s sun lounge. There . . . see how brazen I can be, Mr. Grey. Put this in your pipe and smoke it. I shut my eyes and let the sun warm my skin . . . warm my bones, and I drift away under its heat, my thoughts turning to my wedding day.
-----
“You may kiss the bride,” Reverend Walsh announces.
I beam at my husband.
“Finally, you’re mine,” he whispers and pulls me into his arms and kisses me chastely on the lips.
I am married. I am Mrs. Christian Grey. I am giddy with joy.
“You look beautiful, Ana,” he murmurs and smiles, his eyes glowing with love . . . and something darker, something hot. “Don’t let anyone take that dress off but me, understand?” His smile heats a hundred degrees as his fingertips trail down my cheek, igniting my blood.
Holy crap . . . How does he do this, even here with all these people staring at us?
I nod mutely. Jeez, I hope no one can hear us. Luckily Reverend Walsh has discreetly stepped back. I glance at the throng gathered in their wedding finery . . . My mom, Ray, Bob, and the Greys are all applauding—even Kate, my maid of honor, who looks stunning in pale pink as she stands beside Christian’s best man, his brother Elliot. Who knew that even Elliot could scrub up so well? All wear huge, beaming smiles—except Grace, who weeps graciously into a dainty white handkerchief.
“Ready to party, Mrs. Grey?” Christian murmurs, giving me his shy smile. I melt. He looks divine in a simple black tux with silver waistcoat and tie. He’s so . . . dashing.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I grin, a totally goofy smile on my face.
Later the wedding party is in full swing . . . Carrick and Grace have gone to town. They have the tent set up again and beautifully decorated in pale pink, silver, and ivory with its sides open, facing the bay. We have been blessed with fine weather, and the late afternoon sun shines over the water. There’s a dance floor at one end of the tent, a lavish buffet at the other.
Ray and my mother are dancing and laughing with each other. I feel bittersweet watching them together. I hope Christian and I last longer. I don’t know what I’d do if he left me. Marry in haste, repent at leisure. The saying haunts me.
Kate is beside me, looking so beautiful in her long silk gown. She glances at me and frowns. “Hey, this is supposed to be the happiest day of your life,” she scolds.
“It is,” I whisper.
“Oh, Ana, what’s wrong? Are you watching your mom and Ray?”
I nod sadly.
“They’re happy.”
“Happier apart.”
“You’re having doubts?” Kate asks, alarmed.
“No, not at all. It’s just . . . I love him so much.” I freeze, unable or unwilling to articulate my fears.
“Ana, it’s obvious he adores you. I know you had an unconventional start to your relationship, but I can see how happy you’ve both been over the past month.” She grasps my hands, squeezing them. “Besides, it’s too late now,” she adds with a grin.
I giggle. Trust Kate to point out the obvious. She pulls me into a Katherine Kavanagh Special Hug. “Ana, you’ll be fine. And if he hurts one hair on your head, he’ll have me to answer to.” Releasing me, she grins at whoever is behind me.
“Hi, baby.” Christian puts his arms around me, surprising me, and kisses my temple. “Kate,” he acknowledges. He’s still cool toward her even after six weeks.
“Hello again, Christian. I’m off to find your best man, who happens to be my best man, too.” With a smile to us both, she heads over to Elliot, who is drinking with her brother, Ethan, and our friend José.
“Time to go,” Christian murmurs.
“Already? This is the first party I’ve been to where I don’t mind being the center of attention.” I turn in his arms to face him.
“You deserve to be. You look stunning, Anastasia.”
“So do you.”
He smiles, his expression heating. “This beautiful dress becomes you.”
“This old thing?” I blush shyly and pull at the fine lace trim of the simple, fitted wedding dress designed for me by Kate’s mother. I love that the lace is just off the shoulder—demure, yet alluring, I hope.
He bends and kisses me. “Let’s go. I don’t want to share you with all these people anymore.”
“Can we leave our own wedding?”
“Baby, it’s our party, and we can do whatever we want. We’ve cut the cake. And right now, I’d like to whisk you away and have you all to myself.”
I giggle. “You have me for a lifetime, Mr. Grey.”
“I’m very glad to hear that, Mrs. Grey.”
“Oh, there you two are! Such lovebirds.”
I groan inwardly . . . Grace’s mother has found us.
“Christian, darling—one more dance with your grandma?”
Christian purses his lips. “Of course, Grandmother.”
“And you, beautiful Anastasia, go and make an old man happy—dance with Theo.”
“Theo, Mrs. Trevelyan?”
“Grandpa Trevelyan. And I think you can call me Grandma. Now, you two seriously need to get working on my great-grandkids. I won’t last too much longer.” She gives us both a simpering smile.
Christian blinks at her in horror. “Come, Grandmother,” he says, hurriedly taking her hand and leading her to the dance floor. He glances back at me, practically pouting, and rolls his eyes.
“Laters, baby.”
As I walk toward Grandpa Trevelyan, José accosts me.
“I won’t ask you for another dance. I think I monopolized too much of your time on the dance floor as it is . . . I’m happy to see you happy, but I’m serious, Ana. I’ll be here . . . If you need me.”
“José, thank you. You’re a good friend.”
“I mean it.” His dark eyes shine with sincerity.
“I know you do. Thank you, José. Now if you’ll please excuse me—I have a date with an old man.”
He furrows his brow in confusion.
“Christian’s grandfather,” I clarify.
He grins. “Good luck with that, Annie. Good luck with everything.”
“Thanks, José.”
After my dance with Christian’s ever-charming grandfather, I stand by the French doors, watching the sun sink slowly over Seattle, casting bright orange and aquamarine shadows across the bay.
“Let’s go,” Christian urges.
“I have to change.” I grasp his hand, meaning to pull him through the French windows and upstairs with me. He frowns, not understanding, and tugs gently on my hand, halting me.
“I thought you wanted to be the one to take this dress off,” I explain. His eyes light up.
“Correct.” He gives me a lascivious grin. “But I’m not undressing you here. We wouldn’t leave until . . . I don’t know . . .” He waves his long-fingered hand, leaving his sentence unfinished but his meaning quite clear.
I flush and let go of his hand.
“And don’t take your hair down either,” he murmurs darkly.
“But—”
“No buts, Anastasia. You look beautiful. And I want to be the one to undress you.”
Oh. I frown.
“Pack your going-away clothes,” he orders. “You’ll need them.
Taylor has your main suitcase.”
“Okay.” What has he got planned? He hasn’t told me where we’re going. In fact, I don’t think anyone knows where we’re going.
Neither Mia nor Kate has managed to inveigle the information out of him. I turn to where my mother and Kate are hovering nearby.
“I’m not changing.”
“What?” my mother says.
“Christian doesn’t want me to.” I shrug as if this should explain everything. Her brow furrows briefly.
“You didn’t promise to obey,” she reminds me tactfully. Kate tries to disguise her snort as a cough. I narrow my eyes at her. Neither she nor my mother have any idea of the fight Christian and I had about that. I don’t want to rehash that argument. Jeez, can my Fifty Shades sulk . . . and have nightmares. The memory is sobering.
“I know, Mom, but he likes this dress, and I want to please him.”
Her expression softens. Kate rolls her eyes and tactfully moves away to leave us alone.
“You look so lovely, darling.” Carla gently tugs at a loose tendril of my hair and strokes my chin. “I am so proud of you, honey. You’re going to make Christian a very happy man.” She pulls me into a hug.
Oh, Mom!
“I can’t believe how grown-up you look right now. Beginning a new life . . . Just remember that men are from a different planet, and you’ll be fine.”
I giggle. Christian is from a different universe, if only she knew.
“Thanks, Mom.”
Ray joins us, smiling sweetly at both Mom and me.
“You made a beautiful baby girl, Carla,” he says, his eyes glowing with pride. He looks so dapper in his black tux and pale pink waistcoat. Tears prick the backs of my eyes. Oh no . . . so far I have managed not to cry.
“And you watched her and helped her grow up, Ray.” Carla’s voice is wistful.
“And I loved every single minute. You make one hell of a bride, Annie.” Ray tucks the same loose strand of hair behind my ear.
“Oh, Dad . . .” I stifle a sob, and he hugs me in his brief, awkward way.
“You’ll make one hell of a wife, too,” he whispers, his voice hoarse.
When he releases me, Christian is back at my side.
Ray shakes his hand warmly. “Look after my girl, Christian.”
“I fully intend to, Ray. Carla.” He nods at my stepdad and kisses my mom.
The rest of the wedding guests have formed a long human arch for us to travel through, leading around to the front of the house.
“Ready?” Christian says.
“Yes.”
Taking my hand, he leads me under their outstretched arms while our guests shout good luck and congratulations and shower us with rice. Waiting with smiles and hugs at the end of the arch are Grace and Carrick. They hug and kiss us both in turn. Grace is emotional again as we bid them hasty good-byes.
Taylor is waiting to whisk us away in the Audi SUV. As Christian holds the car door open for me, I turn and toss my bouquet of white and pink roses into the crowd of young women that has gathered. Mia triumphantly holds it aloft, grinning from ear to ear.
As I slide into the SUV, laughing at Mia’s audacious catch, Christian bends to gather the hem of my dress. Once I’m safely in, he bids the waiting crowd farewell.
Taylor holds the car door open for him. “Congratulations, sir.”
“Thank you, Taylor,” Christian replies as he seats himself beside me.
As Taylor pulls away, our wedding guests shower the vehicle with rice. Christian grasps my hand and kisses my knuckles.
“So far so good, Mrs. Grey?”
“So far so wonderful, Mr. Grey. Where are we going?”
“Sea-Tac,” he says simply and smiles a sphinxlike smile.
Hmm . . . what is he planning?
Taylor does not head for the departure terminal as I expect but through a security gate and directly onto the tarmac. What? And then I see her—Christian’s jet . . . Grey Enterprises Holdings, Inc. in large blue lettering across her fuselage.
“Don’t tell me you’re misusing company property again!”
“Oh, I hope so, Anastasia.” Christian grins.
Taylor halts the Audi at the foot of the steps leading up to the plane and leaps out to open Christian’s door. They have a brief discussion, then Christian opens my door—and rather than stepping back to give me room to climb out, he leans in and lifts me.
Whoa! “What are you doing?” I squeak.
“Carrying you over the threshold,” he says.
“Oh.” Isn’t that supposed to be at home?
He carries me effortlessly up the steps, and Taylor follows with my small suitcase. He leaves it on the threshold of the plane before returning to the Audi. Inside the cabin, I recognize Stephan, Christian’s pilot, in his uniform.
“Welcome aboard, sir. Mrs. Grey.” He grins.
Christian puts me down and shakes Stephan’s hand. Beside Stephan stands a dark-haired woman in her—what? Early thirties? She’s also in uniform.
“Congratulations to you both,” Stephan continues.
“Thank you, Stephan. Anastasia, you know Stephan. He’s our captain today, and this is First Officer Beighley.”
She blushes as Christian introduces her and blinks rapidly. I want to roll my eyes. Another female completely captivated by my too-handsome-for-his-own-good husband.
“Delighted to meet you,” gushes Beighley. I smile kindly at her. After all—he is mine.
“All preparations complete?” Christian asks them both as I glance around the cabin. The interior is all pale maple and pale cream leather. It’s lovely. Another young woman in uniform stands at the other end of the cabin—a very pretty brunette. “We have the all clear. Weather is good from here to Boston.”
Boston?
“Turbulence?”
“Not before Boston. There’s a weather front over Shannon that might give us a rough ride.”
Shannon? Ireland?
“I see. Well, I hope to sleep through it all,” says Christian matter-of-factly.
Sleep?
“We’ll get underway, sir,” Stephan says. “We’ll leave you in the capable care of Natalia, your flight attendant.” Christian glances in her direction and frowns, but turns to Stephan with a smile.
“Excellent,” he says. Taking my hand, he leads me to one of the sumptuous leather seats. There must be about twelve of them in total.
“Sit,” he says as he removes his jacket and undoes his fine sliver brocade vest. We sit in two single seats facing each other with a small, highly polished table between us.
“Welcome aboard, sir, ma’am, and congratulations.” Natalia is at our side, offering us each a glass of pink champagne.
“Thank you,” Christian says, and she smiles politely at us and retreats to the galley.
“Here’s to a happy married life, Anastasia.” Christian raises his glass to mine, and we clink. The champagne is delicious.
“Bollinger?” I ask.
“The same.”
“The first time I drank this it was out of teacups.” I grin.
“I remember that day well. Your graduation.”
“Where are we going?” I’m unable to contain my curiosity any longer.
“Shannon,” Christian says, his eyes alight with excitement. He looks like a small boy.
“In Ireland?” We’re going to Ireland!
“To refuel,” he adds, teasing.
“Then?” I prompt.
His grin broadens and he shakes his head.
“Christian!”
“London,” he says, gazing intently at me, trying to gauge my reaction.
I gasp. Holy cow. I thought maybe we’d be going to New York or Aspen or maybe the Caribbean. I can hardly believe it. My lifetime ambition has been to visit England. I’m lit up from within, incandescent with happiness.
“Then Paris.”
What?
“Then the South of France.”
Whoa!
“I know you’ve always dreamed of going to Europe,” he says softly. “I want to make your dreams come true, Anastasia.”
In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending
Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering.
Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession’s ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified.
Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Being Mortal asserts that medicine can comfort and enhance our experience even to the end, providing not only a good life but also a good end.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #12 in Books
Published on: 2014-10-07
Released on: 2014-10-07
Format: Deckle Edge
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Dimensions: 8.55" h x 1.11" w x 5.79" l, .89 pounds
Binding: Hardcover
304 pages
Features
Being Mortal shares how we can better live with age-related frailty, serious illness and approaching death.
It is also a call for a change in the philosophy of health care from ensuring health and survival, "to enable well-being."
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of the Month, October 2014: True or false: Modern medicine is a miracle that has transformed all of our lives.
If you said “true,” you’d be right, of course, but that’s a statement that demands an asterisk, a “but.” “We’ve been wrong about what our job is in medicine,” writes Atul Gawande, a surgeon (at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston) and a writer (at the New Yorker). “We think. . .[it] is to ensure health and survival. But really. . .it is to enable well-being. And well-being is about the reasons one wishes to be alive.” Through interviews with doctors, stories from and about health care providers (such as the woman who pioneered the notion of “assisted living” for the elderly)—and eventually, by way of the story of his own father’s dying, Gawande examines the cracks in the system of health care to the aged (i.e. 97 percent of medical students take no course in geriatrics) and to the seriously ill who might have different needs and expectations than the ones family members predict. (One striking example: the terminally ill former professor who told his daughter that “quality of life” for him meant the ongoing ability to enjoy chocolate ice cream and watch football on TV. If medical treatments might remove those pleasures, well, then, he wasn’t sure he would submit to such treatments.) Doctors don’t listen, Gawande suggests—or, more accurately, they don’t know what to listen for. (Gawande includes examples of his own failings in this area.) Besides, they’ve been trained to want to find cures, attack problems—to win. But victory doesn’t look the same to everyone, he asserts. Yes, “death is the enemy,” he writes. “But the enemy has superior forces. Eventually, it wins. And in a war that you cannot win, you don’t want a general who fights to the point of total annihilation. You don’t want Custer. You want Robert E. Lee... someone who knows how to fight for territory that can be won and how to surrender it when it can’t.” In his compassionate, learned way, Gawande shows all of us—doctors included—how mortality must be faced, with both heart and mind. – Sara Nelson
Review New York Times Bestseller
Washington Post 10 Best Books of 2014Apple iBooks 10 Best of 2014New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books of 2014NPR Best Books of 2014Amazon 2014 Best Books of the Year: The Top 100Chicago Tribune Best Books of 2014 "Illuminating." —Janet Maslin, The New York Times "Being Mortal, Atul Gawande’s masterful exploration of aging, death, and the medical profession’s mishandling of both, is his best and most personal book yet." —Boston Globe "American medicine, Being Mortal reminds us, has prepared itself for life but not for death. This is Atul Gawande’s most powerful—and moving—book." —Malcolm Gladwell "Beautifully crafted . . . Being Mortal is a clear-eyed, informative exploration of what growing old means in the 21st century . . . a book I cannot recommend highly enough. This should be mandatory reading for every American. . . . it provides a useful roadmap of what we can and should be doing to make the last years of life meaningful." —Time.com "Masterful . . . Essential . . . For more than a decade, Atul Gawande has explored the fault lines of medicine . . . combining his years of experience as a surgeon with his gift for fluid, seemingly effortless storytelling . . . In Being Mortal, he turns his attention to his most important subject yet." —Chicago Tribune "Beautifully written . . . In his newest and best book, Gawande . . . has provided us with a moving and clear-eyed look at aging and death in our society, and at the harms we do in turning it into a medical problem, rather than a human one." —The New York Review of Books "Powerful." —New York Magazine "Atul Gawande’s wise and courageous book raises the questions that none of us wants to think about . . . Remarkable." —John Carey, The Sunday Times (UK) "A deeply affecting, urgently important book—one not just about dying and the limits of medicine but about living to the last with autonomy, dignity, and joy." —Katherine Boo "Dr. Gawande’s book is not of the kind that some doctors write, reminding us how grim the fact of death can be. Rather, he shows how patients in the terminal phase of their illness can maintain important qualities of life." —Wall Street Journal (Best Books of 2014) "Being Mortal left me tearful, angry, and unable to stop talking about it for a week. . . . A surgeon himself, Gawande is eloquent about the inadequacy of medical school in preparing doctors to confront the subject of death with their patients. . . . it is rare to read a book that sparks with so much hard thinking." —Nature "We have come to medicalize aging, frailty, and death, treating them as if they were just one more clinical problem to overcome. However it is not only medicine that is needed in one’s declining years but life—a life with meaning, a life as rich and full as possible under the circumstances. Being Mortal is not only wise and deeply moving, it is an essential and insightful book for our times, as one would expect from Atul Gawande, one of our finest physician writers." —Oliver Sacks "Gawande’s book is so impressive that one can believe that it may well [change the medical profession] . . . May it be widely read and inwardly digested." —Diana Athill, Financial Times (UK) "Eloquent, moving." —The Economist (Best Books of 2014) "A great read that leaves you better equipped to face the future, and without making you feel like you just took your medicine." —Mother Jones (Best Books of 2014) "Beautiful." —New Republic "Gawande displays the precision of his surgical craft and the compassion of a humanist . . . in a narrative that often attains the force and beauty of a novel . . . Only a precious few books have the power to open our eyes while they move us to tears. Atul Gawande has produced such a work. One hopes it is the spark that ignites some revolutionary changes in a field of medicine that ultimately touches each of us." —Shelf Awareness (Best Books of 2014) "A needed call to action, a cautionary tale of what can go wrong, and often does, when a society fails to engage in a sustained discussion about aging and dying." —San Francisco Chronicle
About the Author
Atul Gawande is author of three bestselling books: Complications, a finalist for the National Book Award; Better, selected by Amazon as one of the ten best books of 2007; and The Checklist Manifesto. His latest book is Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. He is also a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He has won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science, a MacArthur Fellowship, and two National Magazine Awards. In his work in public health, he is Executive Director of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation, and chairman of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization making surgery safer globally. He and his wife have three children and live in Newton, Massachusetts.
What happens to race car drivers when they eat too much? They get indy-gestion. Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes for Kids provides children ages 7-10 many hours of fun and laughter. Young readers will have a blast sharing this collection of hundreds of one-liners, knock knock jokes, tongue twisters, and more with their friends and family! This mega-bestselling book will have children rolling on the floor with laughter and is sure to be a great gift idea for any child.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #15 in Books
Brand: Revell
Model: 800788036
Published on: 2010-08-01
Released on: 2010-08-01
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Dimensions: 6.80" h x .32" w x 4.20" l, .18 pounds
Binding: Paperback
128 pages
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover Over 1 million sold!
Q: Who keeps the ocean clean? A: The mermaid.
Q: How do you make a hot dog stand? A: Take away its chair.
Q: What happens to race car drivers when they eat too much? A: They get indy-gestion.
The laughter won't stop with Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes for Kids. With hundreds of one-liners, knock knock jokes, and tongue twisters, this book is sure to have kids rolling on the floor! These good, clean jokes are perfect for the young comedian in your family.
Rob Elliott has been a publishing professional for more than fifteen years and lives in West Michigan, where in his spare time he enjoys laughing out loud with his wife and four children.
About the Author Rob Elliott has been a publishing professional for more than fifteen years and lives in West Michigan, where in his spare time he enjoys laughing out loud with his wife and four children.
Learn the secrets to maximizing your Social Security benefits and earn up to thousands of dollars more each year with expert advice that you can’t get anywhere else.
Want to know how to navigate the forbidding maze of Social Security and emerge with the highest possible benefits? You could try reading all 2,728 rules of the Social Security system (and the thousands of explanations of these rules), but Kotlikoff, Moeller, and Solman explain Social Security benefits in an easy to understand and user-friendly style. What you don’t know can seriously hurt you: wrong decisions about which Social Security benefits to apply for cost some individual retirees tens of thousands of dollars in lost income every year.
How many retirees or those nearing retirement know about such Social Security options as file and suspend (apply for benefits and then don’t take them)? Or start stop start (start benefits, stop them, then re-start them)? Or—just as important—when and how to use these techniques? Get What’s Yours covers the most frequent benefit scenarios faced by married retired couples, by divorced retirees, by widows and widowers, among others. It explains what to do if you’re a retired parent of dependent children, disabled, or an eligible beneficiary who continues to work, and how to plan wisely before retirement. It addresses the tax consequences of your choices, as well as the financial implications for other investments.
Many personal finance books briefly address Social Security, but none offers the thorough, authoritative, yet conversational analysis found here. You’ve paid all your working life for these benefits. Now, get what’s yours.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #19 in Books
Published on: 2015-02-17
Released on: 2015-02-17
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Dimensions: 8.25" h x 1.10" w x 5.50" l, .0 pounds
Binding: Hardcover
336 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review “An indispensable and surprisingly entertaining guide for anyone who is retiring or thinking of retiring with all of the Social Security benefits they’ve earned.” (Jane Pauley)
“Choosing when to take Social Security is one of the biggest decisions of your life. By doing it right, you can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to your lifetime income and leave more money for your spouse as well. This great book tells you how . . . and it’s funny, too!” (Jane Bryant Quinn, author of Making the Most of your Money NOW)
“I love this book! Seriously! Who could ever guess that reading about Social Security could be this entertaining? And if you think you know enough about the subject, you would be wise to think again. Smartly written by an all-star, financial expert dream team, the engaging, down-to-earth prose makes Get What’s Yours the definitive guide to maximizing what is, for many, the most important retirement asset by far. From determining the best age to claim (hint: it’s not what you’ve been told) to figuring out the intricacies of spousal benefits to avoiding the ‘gotchas’ that can reduce your checks, this must-read guide is truly that. And don’t be surprised if you actually enjoy it!" (Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life)
“[Goes] a long way in educating the public and financial advisers about this important lifetime benefit. Get What's Yours is a fun read for advisers with a slightly snarky tone that puts the absurdity of the program's more than 2,800 rules into perspective.” (Mary Beth Franklin Investment News)
“[A] can’t-miss guide to the system. . . . Clear enough for even the most intimidated reader, with a concluding cheat sheet helpfully summing up the book’s suggestions. The authors’ palpable fervor to help readers get back what they’ve paid will energize readers to claim what is rightfully theirs.” (Publishers Weekly)
“Just what we need: a clear explanation of how Social Security works—and how to get the highest benefits—without reading all 2,728 rules of the Social Security system.” (Library Journal)
About the Author Laurence J. Kotlikoff is a professor of economics at Boston University and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. His company websites are ESPlanner.com and MaximizeMySocialSecurity.com.
Philip Moeller is a longtime journalist and currently a contributing writer at Money, where he specializes in retirement. He also is a Research Fellow at the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College, and the founder of Insure.com, a leading site for insurance information.
Paul Solmanisa Brady-Johnson Distinguished Practitioner in Grand Strategy at the International Security Studies department at Yale University. He is the business and economics correspondent for PBS NewsHour.
GETTING PAUL NEARLY $50,000 IN EXTRA BENEFITS OVER TENNIS
This book was born of a simple question—How old are Paul and his wife?
Larry and Paul were taking a break from what they call tennis, shooting the breeze, since talking is easier than running after errant shots. Larry launched into a harangue, as he often does; this one was about Social Security’s impossible complexity. Paul was listening, as usual, with his skeptical journalist’s ear. Or, maybe, since it was Larry, just half-listening.
Then Larry asked, How old were Paul and his wife and when were they planning to take their Social Security benefits?
Proudly, Paul told Larry not to worry: he and his wife had it all figured out. They would both wait until 70, when Paul would get something like $40,000 a year instead of the $30,000 or so if he took his benefits at 66, his “full”—but not “maximum”—retirement age, which was coming right up. Paul had been reading and saving those annual green statements from the Social Security Administration for years with their “Estimated Benefits.” He’d been reading his wife’s, too. As the family’s financial planner, he knew just how much they were entitled to.
But how old are you and Jan? Larry asked.
What difference does it make? said Paul. Like I say, we’re both waiting until 70.
It makes a big difference, said Larry.
Okay, Paul’s wife would soon turn 66; he, 65.
Here’s what you do, said Larry, never at a loss when it comes to speaking in the imperative. Jan should apply for her Social Security retirement benefit when she turned 66, but then “suspend” it. That is, she would make herself eligible for the benefit but wouldn’t take it.
Then, said Larry, when you (Paul) turn 66, you apply just for a spousal benefit. When you each hit 70, you do as originally planned—you each take your own retirement benefits, at which point they will start at their highest possible values.
Or, Larry continued, clearly thinking aloud, you apply and suspend at 66 and Jan begins taking the spousal benefit, since you earned more than she did, didn’t you?
Paul can be quite dismissive of what he considers Larry’s flights of fantasy, Larry being the epitome of “often overstated, but never in doubt.” Yet Paul had begun to pay close attention. Having reported on business and economics on public television for decades, Paul understood the intricacies of business, finance, and economics better than most Americans (though admittedly, that may not be saying much). The exceptions, however, were the professional economists he’d befriended in the course of his career. Larry was one of them, and among the most deeply versed in financial planning.
Spousal benefits? Paul had vaguely heard of them. He had, however, never imagined he or his wife were eligible for any, though, had you asked him why not, he couldn’t have told you.
Spousal benefits for four years. That should be almost $50,000, Larry quickly estimated.
An aside is in order here. Larry is a world-famous scold or, he will tell you, a dead-on Cassandra, with respect to Social Security’s insolvency. Advising people like Paul to take extra benefits from the system while himself decrying the system’s funding shortfall was not what Paul expected to hear. (More on that in Chapter 18.) But Larry believes it’s not fair that some beneficiaries get more than others simply because they know the system’s rules. And Paul and Phil agree with him.
Fifty thousand dollars? Explain, Paul said.
Well, if Jan’s Social Security full retirement benefit were, say, $24,000, you’d be eligible to get half that as a spousal benefit: about $12,000 a year. And if you get $12,000 a year from age 66 to age 70, that’s $48,000. If, on the other hand, Jan takes the spousal benefit on your Social Security earnings record, she’ll get more per year but for only three years instead of four, because she’ll be 67 by the time you become eligible, only three years from 70. But still, that would mean . . . etc.
However number-laden the trees, the forest was plain to see: there seemed to be an unambiguous strategy for maximizing benefits that Paul and Jan were eligible to collect, having contributed for decades, but had been entirely unaware of.
If this is true, said Paul, I’m buying you dinner. Anywhere in the world.
Boston will do, said Larry, who also lives there. But there are dozens of really important details like this one. What we should really do (we’re compressing here) is write a book. And we should include Phil Moeller, a retirement expert who’s already spoken with me about such a project. He’s been a financial journalist for years, and has written article after article for U.S. News & World Report and Money about retirees who collectively leave tens of billions of dollars in Social Security benefits on the table by failing to claim everything to which they are entitled. Plus, Phil loves the Red Sox (although not as much as the Baltimore Orioles) and the New England Patriots.
Fast-forward. Paul’s wife came of age (66). She filed and suspended—by phone. The person she talked to couldn’t have been nicer. Paul came of age. He filed for a spousal benefit. The Social Security woman on the phone had never heard of file-and-suspend, checked with her supervisor, and came back on the line to thank him for enlightening her about a strategy she could now share with everyone who called. When they hit 70, both Paul and his wife called again, were again reprocessed—graciously, competently, and within minutes, though his wife was nonplussed when asked if she’d ever been a nun. And Paul has since taken Larry to dinner, and a pretty good dinner at that.
SOCIAL SECURITY VERBATIM
YOU’RE RIGHT THERE (AND WE’RE RIGHT HERE)
“The regulations that require a notice for an initial determination contemplate sending a correct notice. We consider that an initial determination is correct even if we send an incorrect notice.”
ALL QUOTES FROM OFFICIAL SOCIAL SECURITY RULES
GET WHAT’S YOURS—AND YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE TO BUY LARRY A MEAL
We’ve written this book to help people maximize the Social Security benefits they have earned and therefore, we believe, deserve to get. We three authors—Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff, journalist and aging expert Phil Moeller, and PBS NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman—have spent years studying the system and making it intelligible to the public.
Why have we bothered to write this book?
Because Social Security is, far and away, Americans’ most important retirement asset. And that’s not only true for people of modest means. Middle-income and upper-income households actually have the most to gain, in total amounts, from getting Social Security right. Toting up lifetime benefits, even low-earning couples may be Social Security millionaires. And except for the Bill Gateses and Warren Buffetts of the world—whose percentage of the population was exceedingly modest last we checked—Social Security is a very meaningful income source.
So, this book is for nearly every one of you who’s ever earned a paycheck and wants every Social Security benefit dollar to which you are entitled—entitled because you paid for it. You earned it. It’s yours. It can even be yours if you never contributed a penny to the system but have or had a spouse, living or dead, who did. It may even be yours if you spent some of all of your career working for employers who did not have to participate in Social Security.
Perhaps you wondered, when you got your first paycheck, what the huge deduction for that four-letter word “FICA” referenced. If you learned that it stood for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, you might have been none too pleased at first, but then assuaged by hearing that these “contributions”—week after week, month after month, year after year, out of each and every paycheck (up to a limit)—would lead to higher retirement benefits.
Even those of us who aren’t superrich, but have earned and saved a lot, view Social Security as a critical lifeline. We realize, after the Crash of 2008, that no assets—not our homes, not our bonds, and certainly not our stocks—are safe from life-altering declines. We realize that even our private pensions, if we have them, may hinge on our former employer staying in business and inflation not eroding the pension’s purchasing power. (It’s the rare private-sector pension that boosts payments to protect against inflation.) We also know that we could, with plausible breakthrough medical discoveries, live to 100 or longer.
But isn’t Social Security a bigger deal for the poor? Actually, it’s not. To be sure, Social Security benefits are a crucial lifeline for lower-income beneficiaries. And, yes, Social Security benefits rise less for higher earners than do their FICA tax contributions. But benefits do rise with both time and earnings and they involve very big sums.
Take, for example, a 60-year-old couple, who both stop working at that age, each partner having earned Social Security’s taxable FICA limit—the maximum taxable amount, starting at age 25. That maximum was $22,900 in wage income in 1979, when they began working; it’s $118,500 for 2015, going up every year in lockstep with the nation’s average wage increases. Running coauthor Larry’s maximizemysocialsecurity.com software, a 60-year-old couple who earned at or above the payroll tax ceiling their entire lives would get $31,972 each or $63,944 a year collectively if they began taking benefits at 66, which is their Full Retirement Age (FRA). (We will have more to say about the FRA and other official Social Security terms in Chapter 3, and key terms like this one also are explained in the Glossary at the end of the book.) If they deferred benefits until age 70, they’d get $42,203 ($84,406), which is 32 percent higher than their age 66 benefits, because for every year you wait, Social Security pays you a benefit that’s 8 percent higher than the year before, even before its annual inflation adjustment.
For such a couple, collecting Social Security at 62 represents a $1.2 million asset. In other words, you’d need a nest egg of $1.2 million to produce the same amount of annual income that you’ll get from Social Security, assuming you could safely earn 2 percent a year above inflation on your investments.
Now, $1.2 million is more than many upper-middle-income retirees have saved by retirement age. The net worth of a typical household headed by someone aged 65 to 69 is only a fourth of this amount and much of it is in the value of their home. And all you have to do is stay alive and those Social Security payments will keep coming each and every month—payments guaranteed by the United States government and protected against inflation. That’s because every January, you get, by law, annual benefit raises that equal the prior year’s rate of inflation.1
Moreover, there is a huge amount of money at stake in maximizing one’s Social Security benefits. The $1.2 million valuation, large as it is, actually assumes our 60-year-old couple makes the wrong Social Security benefit collection decisions. It assumes they take their retirement benefits as early as possible and forgo cashing in on what are, to them, free spousal benefits like the one Paul took. If they make the right decisions, they can increase the value of their lifetime Social Security “asset” by more than $400,000, to $1.6 million!
This 33 percent increase may sound hard to believe, but it’s true. The couple just needs to apply for the right benefits at the right time, as Larry advised Paul and Jan to do. Simple enough. But figuring out what to apply for and when to do it is not simple. Indeed, Social Security is the most complicated “simple” program you’re ever likely to encounter.
One more story, just to drive home the point of complexity. It comes from our Technical Expert, Jerry Lutz.
One day, while Jerry still worked for Social Security, a claims representative approached him with a question. A new claimant’s husband had died of a heart attack while they were having sex. They had been married for less than 9 months, the threshold for receiving survivor’s benefits from Social Security. But one of the exceptions to the 9-month duration of marriage rule involves “accidental death.” Up until then, Jerry had considered “accidental” to mean something like a car wreck. But his job was to research tough cases like this one. So he searched the vast Social Security rule book and found POMS GN 00305.105, which describes an accidental death in part as follows:
A “bodily injury” occurs whenever the outside force or cause affects the body sufficiently to interfere with its normal function.
The cause of the bodily injury is:
“External” if it originated outside the body. An external force can include an injury suffered due to weather conditions or exertion.
NOTE: By exertion we mean an activity that involves at least moderate effort for the average person. Routine activities, e.g., standing, do not constitute exertion for purposes of finding accidental death. Circumstances which more readily lend themselves to a favorable finding of accidental death include:
• an unexpected heart attack occurs during moderate exertion;
• an unforeseen event negates the voluntary nature of an activity, e.g., an exercise machine breaks down while exercising;
• some unintended, unexpected, and unforeseen result occurs during exertion, e.g., a fall or slip while running; or
• a crisis or sudden peril requires strenuous exertion.
“Moderate exertion”? Arguably. “Unintended” and “unexpected”? Indubitably. And so, based on the claimant’s testimony and her husband’s death certificate, widow’s benefits were eventually conferred, but the determination was anything but simple.
There are 10,000 baby boomers reaching retirement age every day. Each of them needs to know precisely how to get Social Security’s best deal. But Paul’s best moves—or Larry’s or Phil’s, for that matter—aren’t necessarily yours. The Social Security system has 2,728 core rules and thousands upon thousands of additional codicils in its Program Operating Manual, which supposedly clarify those rules. In the case of married couples alone, the formula for each spouse’s benefit comprises 10 complex mathematical functions, one of which is in four dimensions.
This book contains minimal math, excepting the “simple” formula presented in this endnote.2 Rather, it explains in the simplest possible terms the traps to avoid and basic strategies to employ in maximizing a household’s Social Security retirement, spousal, child, mother/father, survivor, divorcee, and disability benefits. That covers a whole lot of ground, which is why this book is about Social Security and nothing else. And why it’s not as succinct as we (and you) might like.
We will point out Social Security’s windfalls and pitfalls—explain obscure benefits and more obscure penalties; benefit collection strategies like file and suspend (applying for benefits, but not taking them) and start, stop, start (starting benefits, stopping them, and restarting them), which we bet most of you have never heard of. We’ll also get into the details of Social Security’s deeming rules (being forced, in some cases, to take certain benefits early at a very big cost) and related gotchas that can handicap you financially for the rest of your life.
We’ll walk you through Social Security’s significant incentives to get divorced, to get married, or to live in sin depending on your circumstances. Do you know about Social Security’s hidden payoff to working late in life? About the Earnings Test (loss of benefits at certain ages from earning too much) that may not really be a test at all? How about the Family Maximum Benefit (the limit to the benefits your family can collect based on your work record)? It’s actually not a maximum. It’s also unfairly low for poor, disabled workers.
Throughout, we’ll emphasize the often huge payoff from waiting to collect benefits. But we’ll also explain lots of situations where it’s best not to wait. We’ll even throw in the mythical man with four ex-wives who could theoretically collect divorce or widower benefits on each of them. The ever-surprising and often frustrating Social Security Sudoku puzzle goes on and on. We’re here to solve it.
We’re also relieved that you came to us to learn about Social Security and aren’t relying solely on Social Security’s advice. Frankly, Social Security is not the first place we’d send you to learn how to maximize your lifetime benefits. With the exception of the system’s small number of Technical Experts (including former Technical Expert Jerry Lutz, who reviewed this book for accuracy), many of Social Security’s official or phone support staff are insufficiently trained or too beleaguered to dispense information or advice about the system’s ins and outs. And they aren’t supposed to give advice anyway. We’re going to provide specific examples of people losing lots of money by believing or following what the well-meaning folks at Social Security told them. Unfortunately, the local Social Security office is single-stop shopping for most retirees making their benefit decisions. And many of them are waiting pretty late in the game before even thinking about managing what for most retirees is their largest financial asset.
At the surface level, Social Security is complex because it has so many seemingly crazy rules. At a deeper level, its complexity reflects social policy that, when translated into practice, produces results that often defy common sense. An example is paying survivor benefits, based on the work records of ex-spouses, to divorcees who remarry, but only if they remarry after reaching age 60. Get remarried at 59 and 364 days and you’re out of luck. Another perversity is paying benefits to mothers (or fathers) of young children if their spouse is collecting retirement benefits, but only if the parents are married. If the parents are divorced, too bad.
The result is a government retirement system that few if any can decipher without the kind of help provided here. And yet, for most people, Social Security is their only retirement option. Moreover, given the virtual disappearance of company pensions, except for those grandparented under old plans, and the failure of most Americans either to contribute or contribute fully to 401(k), IRA, and other retirement accounts, Social Security is, well, pretty much it for pretty much all of us.
Our book will be organized around general lessons, supporting examples, specific game plans tailored to your situation, and answers to actual questions posed to Larry in his enormously popular “Ask Larry” column, which appears weekly on Paul’s PBS NewsHour Making Sen$e Business Desk (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/).
A warning that we’ll issue up front and reiterate throughout the book: we will often repeat ourselves. The worst that can happen, we figure, is that you’ll simply skim and skip ahead. Much worse would be your forgetting some of your key options and thus nullifying, at least for yourself, the whole point of Get What’s Yours. And for those of you who might think the repetitions betray a lack of confidence in our readers, know that we authors ourselves still check our notes on these items when we hit the key age milestones, despite having written about Social Security for years.
PAUL AND JAN GOT WHAT’S THEIRS. TIME TO GET WHAT’S YOURS.
This book was born of Paul’s first Social Security encounter with Larry. We wrote it to help people like you, who don’t happen to know Larry, get every last penny Social Security owes you. We’ve spent a huge amount of time trying to come up with clear, correct answers to questions we all face so you don’t have to.
Finally, we think it’s more than legitimate for you to feel entitled to these benefits, a feeling deeply rooted in all those years of FICA payments, buttressed by the annual Social Security statements itemizing your past contributions and projecting your future benefits, and guaranteed by our politicians’ unwavering promises to defend the system and what it owes you. You have been forking over payroll taxes your entire working life; you deserve to get what you paid for; and it’s the law.
