An “elegant translation” of Rilke’s writings on sculptor Auguste Rodin that “offers a fresh look at an unlikely mentorship” and two extraordinary artists (The New York Times Book Review).Sculptor Auguste Rodin was fortunate to have his secretary Rainer Maria Rilke, one of the most sensitive poets of our time. These two pieces discussing Rodin’s work and development as an artist are as revealing of Rilke as they are of his subject.Written in 1902 an...

A search for a missing girl leads detective Alex Rainer into a run-down apartment in Whitechapel, London. Inside, he finds one of the most horrific scenes he’s seen in his twenty-year career.A mass of dismembered body parts arranged on the victim’s bed to resemble a human figure, perfectly assembled with methodical precision.And in the victim’s severed hand, a ringing phone.“Welcome to my little puzzle, detective. Can you solve it before the time is up?”Alex ...

No one wants to see a church die. And yet, far too many churches are dying. For more than twenty-five years, Dr. Thom Rainer has helped churches grow, reverse the trends of decline, and has autopsied those that have died. From this experience, he has discovered twelve consistent themes among those churches that have died. Yet, it’s not gloom and doom because from those twelve themes, lessons on how to keep your church alive have emerged.Whether your church is vibrant or dying, whether you ...

You Are Created for More.Our hearts are filled with all types of longings—yearnings for contentment, satisfaction, and happiness. We all want to be part of something greater than ourselves. Yet our biggest temptation is to try to satisfy those longings by seeking after more money and more stuff. That is junk food for our souls, full of quickly fading pleasure that leaves us unhealthier than we were before.We deeply desire God and the good gifts that come fr...

Sheryl Massaro's duino elegies offers an interpretation, rather than a new traditional translation, of Rainer Maria Rilke's seminal collection of ten elegies. In an effort toward making the poems more understandable to modern audiences, some of Rilke's allusions are clarified and a few take a backseat to flow and meaning. Overall, Massaro's objective is to remove impediments to Rilke's concept of life as a continuum.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

From the writer of the classic Letters to a Young Poet, reflections on grief and loss, collected and published here in one volume for the first time.“A great poet’s reflections on our greatest mystery.”—Billy Collins“A treasure . . . The solace Rilke offers is uncommon, uplifting and necessary.”—The GuardianGleaned from Rainer Maria Rilke’s voluminous, never-before-translated letters to bereaved fr...

Most church members don't see their churches clearly.In almost all of Thom S. Rainer's consultations, church members perceive their church to be friendly. But as he surveyed guests, he found that the guests typically saw church members as unfriendly. The perception chasm existed because the members were indeed friendly . . . to one another.The guests felt like they crashed a private party.Bestselling author Thom Rainer (I Am a Church Member, Au...

The influence and popularity of Rilke’s poetry in America have never been greater than they are today, more than fifty years after his death. Rilke is unquestionably the most significant and compelling poet of romantic transformation, of spiritual quest, that the twentieth century has known. His poems of ecstatic identification with the world exert a seemingly endless fascination for contemporary readers.

The ten letters collected here are arguably the most famous and beloved letters of our century. Written when Rainer Maria Rilke was himself still a young man with most of his greatest work before him, they are addressed to a student who had sent Rilke some of his work, asking for advice about becoming a writer. The two never met, but over a period of several years Rilke wrote him these ten letters, which have been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of readers for what Stephen Mitchell calls ...

Gleaned from Rainer Maria Rilke’s voluminous, never-before-translated correspondence, this volume offersthe best writings and personal philosophy of one of the twentieth century’s greatest poets. The result is a profound vision of how the human drive to create and understand can guide us in every facet of life. Arranged by theme–from everyday existence with others to the exhilarations of love and the experience of loss, from dealing with adversity to the nature of inspiration–here are Rilk...

Let Rainer Stahlberg and The Survivalist’s Handbook prepare you for any crisis. Here are step-by-step plans for surviving a range of disasters—both natural and manmade. This sit he ultimate handbook of disaster scenarios and survival techniques. With this one-of-a-kind guide, you can be ready for:Nuclear, chemical, and biological attacksGlobal energy crisesWorldwide economic collapseNatural disastersDrastic climate changePolitical upheavalA...