Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World

Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World

by Bill Clinton

Here, from Bill Clinton, is a call to action. Giving is an inspiring look at how each of us can change the world. First, it reveals the extraordinary and innovative efforts now being made by companies and organizations—and by individuals—to solve problems and save lives both “down the street and around the world.” Then it urges us to seek out what each of us, “regardless of income, available time, age, and... (more)

Rebel Without Borders: Frontline Missions in Africa and the Gulf

Rebel Without Borders: Frontline Missions in Africa and the Gulf

by Marc Vachon

A biting and fascinating review of humanitarian aid, this account of volunteer life working for Doctors Without Borders illuminates the logistics of building camps for refugees and delivering clean water to towns amid the violence, abuse, and injustice in developing countries. From a Malawi refugee camp to truck smuggling over the Kurdish border, Marc Vachon has seen the power struggles behind the scenes... (more)

Three Cups of Tea

One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations... One School at a Time

by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin

The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain... (more)

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific

by J. Maarten Troost

At the age of twenty-six, Maarten Troost—who had been pushing the snooze button on the alarm clock of life by racking up useless graduate degrees and muddling through a series of temp jobs—decided to pack up his flip-flops and move to Tarawa, a remote South Pacific island in the Republic of Kiribati. He was restless and lacked direction, and the idea of dropping everything and moving to the ends of the Earth was... (more)

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil

by Deborah Rodriguez

Soon after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001, Deborah Rodriguez went to Afghanistan as part of a group offering humanitarian aid to this war-torn nation. Surrounded by men and women whose skills–as doctors, nurses, and therapists–seemed eminently more practical than her own, Rodriguez, a hairdresser and mother of two from Michigan, despaired of being of any real use. Yet she soon found she had a gift for... (more)

Walking With the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development

Walking With the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development

by Bryant L. Myers

Written in Blood, newly revised edition: The Story of the Haitian People 1492-1995Nancy Gordon Heinl

Written in Blood, newly revised edition: The Story of the Haitian People 1492-1995

by Nancy Gordon Heinl

This newly revised edition of "Written in Blood", expanded by Michael Heinl, incorporates new research and up-to-date orthography of Creole since the publication of the second edition in 1996. "Written in Blood" remains the most complete history of Haiti ever written in English, and one of the most complete in any language.

Volunteer: A Traveler's Guide to Making a Difference Around the World (General Reference) (Lonely Planet General Reference)

Volunteer: A Traveler's Guide to Making a Difference Around the World (General Reference) (Lonely Planet General Reference)

by Charlotte Hindle; Nate Cavalieri; Rachel Collinson; Korina Miller; Mike Richard

Are you looking for a more meaningful travel experience? Do you want to give back to the communities you visit, make a genuine connection with locals, meet like-minded travelers and build your skills? International volunteering opens up all these opportunities, and this book has all the advice you need to get you there. Much more than just a resource directory, Volunteer is packed with invaluable information and... (more)

Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century

Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century

by Jonathan Glover

This important book confronts the brutal history of the twentieth century to unravel the psychological mystery of why so many atrocities occurred--the Holocaust, Hiroshima, the Gulag, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and others--and how we can prevent their recurrence. Jonathan Glover finds disturbing similarities in the psychology of those involved with atrocities, yet offers hope that the development of a ... (more)

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

by Ishmael Beah

My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life. “Why did you leave Sierra Leone?” “Because there is a war.” “You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?” “Yes, all the time.” “Cool.” I smile a little. “You should tell us about it sometime.” “Yes, sometime.” This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s.... (more)

Think and Grow Rich

by Napoleon Hill

Here are money-making secets that can change your life. Inspired by Andrew Carnegie's magic formula for success, this book will teach you the secrets that will bring you a fortune. It will show you not only what to do but how to do it. Once you learn and apply the simple, basic techniques revealed here, you will have mastered the secret of true and lasting success. And you may have whatever you want in life.

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

by Jeffrey Sachs

A landmark exploration of the way out of extreme poverty for the world’s poorest citizens Among the most eagerly anticipated books of any year, this landmark exploration of prosperity and poverty distills the life work of an economist Time calls one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Sachs’s aim is nothing less than to deliver a big picture of how societies emerge from poverty. To do so he ... (more)

The Rainbow Warrior

by Charis Mundy, Carlos Mundy

THE RAINBOW WARRIOR has been successfully published in Spain. The book narrates a dream and like dreams, it is woven with threads of two worlds: the real and imaginary one.It is a choral and visual composition. A caricature and a kaleidoscope of human emotions, painted with light and thick strokes of a brush, in a simple language. The teachings of several great masters enlighten us throughout.The alter ego of... (more)

Mountains Beyond Mountains : The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

Mountains Beyond Mountains : The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

by Tracy Kidder

Tracy Kidder is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of the bestsellers The Soul of a New Machine , House , Among Schoolchildren , and Home Town . He has been described by the Baltimore Sun as the “master of the non-fiction narrative.” This powerful and inspiring new book shows how one person can make a difference, as Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who is in love with the world... (more)

by James Orbinski

From one of the world’s greatest humanitarian activists comes a searing personal memoir that is also an urgent call to confront suffering in all its many forms. Having seen things we hope never to see, confronted suffering and dispassion and evil we hope never to encounter, and faced deep personal torment, James Orbinski still believes in “the good we can be if we so choose.” His chosen medium for revealing this... (more)

SOMETIMES GOD HAS A KID'S FACE THE STORY OF AMERICA'S EXPLOITED STREET KIDSBurce Ritter

SOMETIMES GOD HAS A KID'S FACE THE STORY OF AMERICA'S EXPLOITED STREET KIDS

by Burce Ritter

The Gospel of Father Joe: Revolutions and Revelations in the Slums of Bangkok

The Gospel of Father Joe: Revolutions and Revelations in the Slums of Bangkok

by Greg Barrett

Three decades ago in a cordoned-off corner of the developing world an angry Catholic priest armed only with pencil, paper, and crayons, declared a revolution. From a shanty school shared with Buddhists and Muslims in Bangkok's squatter slums, Father Joe Maier began his advance on abject poverty. Today, his Human Development Foundation and Mercy Centre charity is responsible for thirty-two preschools that have... (more)

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Tags: humanitarianism