Brian Doyle

This volume presents a series of prayers unlike any of the beautiful, formal, orthodox prayers of the Catholic tradition or the warm, extemporized prayers heard from pulpits and dinner tables. Doyle's often-dazzling, always-poignant prayers include eye-opening hymns to shoes and faith and family.

When Brian Doyle passed away at the age of sixty after a bout with brain cancer, he left behind a cult-like following of devoted readers who regard his writing as one of the best-kept secrets of the twenty- first century. Doyle writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the sanctity of everyday things, and about love and connection in all their forms: spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon.At a moment when the world can sometimes feel darker than ever, Doyle's writing, which constantly evokes the humor and even bliss that life affords, is a balm. His essays manage to find, again and again, exquisite beauty in the quotidian, whether it's the awe of a child the first time she hears a river, or a husband's whiskers that a grieving widow misses seeing in her sink every morning. Through Doyle's eyes, nothing is dull. David James Duncan sums up Doyle's sensibilities best in his introduction to the collection: "Brian Doyle lived the pleasure of bearing daily witness to quiet glories hidden in people, places and creatures of little or no size, renown, or commercial value, and he brought inimitably playful or soaring or aching or heartfelt language to his tellings." A life's work, One Long River of Song invites readers to experience joy and wonder in ordinary moments that become, under Doyle's rapturous and exuberant gaze, extraordinary.

When Brian Doyle died of brain cancer at the age of sixty, he left behind dozens of books -- fiction and nonfiction, as well as hundreds of essays -- and a cult-like following who regarded his writing on spirituality as one of the best-kept secrets of the 21st century. Though Doyle occasionally wrote about Catholic spirituality, his writing is more broadly about the religion of everyday things. He writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the holiness of small things, and about love in all its forms: spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, friendly love, love of nature, and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon. At a time when our world feels darker than ever, Doyle's essays are a balm for the tired soul. He finds beauty in the quotidian: the awe of a child the first time she hears a river, the whiskers a grieving widow misses seeing in her sink every day -- but through his eyes, nothing is ordinary. David James Duncan sums up Doyle's sensibilities best in his introduction to the collection: "Brian Doyle lived the pleasure of bearing daily witness to the glories hidden in people, places and creatures of little or no size or renown, and brought inimitably playful or soaring or aching or heartfelt language to his tellings." In a time when wonder seems to be in short supply, Your One Wild and Precious Life, Doyle and Duncan invite readers to experience it in the most ordinary of moments, and allow themselves joy in the smallest of things.

Brian Doyle himself explains it best: “A few years ago I was moaning to my wry gentle dad that basketball, which seems to me inarguably the most graceful and generous and swift and fluid and ferociously-competitive-without-being-sociopathic of sports, has not produced rafts of good books, like baseball and golf and cricket and surfing have . . . Where are the great basketball novels to rival The Natural and the glorious Mark Harris baseball quartet and the great Bernard Darwin’s golf stories? Where are the annual anthologies of terrific basketball essays? How can a game full of such wit and creativity and magic not spark more great books?" “‘Why don’t you write one?’ said my dad, who is great at cutting politely to the chase."And so he has. In this collection of short essays, Brian Doyle presents a compelling account of a life lived playing, watching, loving, and coaching basketball. He recounts his passion for the gyms, the playgrounds, the sounds and scents, the camaraderie, the fierce competition, the anticipation and exhaustion, and even some of the injuries.

How do you successfully lead the five generations in today's workforce?You need the tools to navigate. Filled with over 100 case studies and the Generational Matrix, Gray Goldfish provides the definitive map for leaders to follow as they recruit, train, manage, and inspire across the generations.We believe the recipe for successfully leading across these five generations is not a one-size-fits-all solution. We believe the recipe comes from understanding nuances and being able to treat each team member as an individual. This involves going beyond the "Golden Rule" and treating others how you would like to be treated. Gray Goldfish implores leaders to treat others how they like to be treated.Gray Goldfish is broken into three main sections: Section I: Here we outline the "Why"The first part of the book explores the reasons for focusing on leading across the five generations and the origin of the Goldfish metaphor. We'll also provide an overview of each of the five generations and what makes them tick.Section II: We uncover the "What" We'll share leading examples from the Gray Goldfish Project culled from over 75 case studies in eight major categories: Recruiting/Onboarding, Project Management, Recognition/Motivation, Flexing, Training/Development, Vision/Purpose, Feedback/Mentoring, and Retention/Loyalty. You'll see how other companies have instituted programs and policies to engage their employees effectively.Section III: We'll share the "How"In order to be an effective leader, we need to know how to lead every generation. Here we introduce the Generational Matrix, a handy reference tool. In addition, there is a chapter for each of the five generations. In order to lead every generation, you need to know how to lead in the context of your own generation. As a little extra, we'll also talk about the importance of followership.PRAISE FOR GRAY GOLDFISH"With Gray Goldfish, Stan Phelps and Brian Doyle have written the ultimate playbook for every employer, human resource director, Fortune 500 CEO and small business owner on how to effectively engage and lead as many as five different generations in the workplace." -- MARK BEAL"Gray Goldfish offers an innovative and insightful approach to recruiting, managing and inspiring employees of all generations. The Generational Matrix it introduces is a compelling guide to personalized and authentic leadership that builds lasting employee loyalty." -- CHRIS MALONE"As a founder and CEO of multiple recruiting companies, I've seen how generational differences can make all the difference in recruiting and onboarding new employees. Brian & Stan's book is exactly what leaders today need to understand in order to Hire/Train/Retain the best talent possible and stay competitive " -- BILL LAUGHLIN"By laying out why the generations are different and then how to use that knowledge, Brian Doyle and Stan Phelps have provided a leadership roadmap that every leader can employ immediately." -- MARKE "HOOT" GIBSON

But now Brian Doyle brings Stevenson’s untold tale to life, braiding the adventures of seaman John Carson with those of a young Stevenson, wandering the streets of San Francisco, gathering material for his fiction, and yearning for his beloved across the bay. An adventure tale, an elegy to one of the greatest writers of our language, a time-traveling plunge into The City by the Bay during its own energetic youth, The Adventures of John Carson in Several Quarters of the World is entertaining, poignant, and sensual.

Pope Francis was born in Argentina. He always loved life and had a huge passion for soccer - and dancing the tango He also had a great love for the poor. So he decided to become a priest and make helping others the focus of his life. He worked so hard and was finally elected Pope.He is a humble man who chooses to live, not in the splendid Apostolic Palace, but in an apartment in the Vatican guesthouse. He is also a brave man and travels in an open-air 'popemobile' instead of one enclosed in bulletproof glass. He travels the world meeting the poor and rich people, reminding them to love each other.

Brian Doyle himself explains it best: “A few years ago I was moaning to my wry gentle dad that basketball, which seems to me inarguably the most graceful and generous and swift and fluid and ferociously-competitive-without-being-sociopathic of sports, has not produced rafts of good books, like baseball and golf and cricket and surfing have . . . Where are the great basketball novels to rival The Natural and the glorious Mark Harris baseball quartet and the great Bernard Darwin’s golf stories? Where are the annual anthologies of terrific basketball essays? How can a game full of such wit and creativity and magic not spark more great books?" “‘Why don’t you write one?’ said my dad, who is great at cutting politely to the chase."And so he has. In this collection of short essays, Brian Doyle presents a compelling account of a life lived playing, watching, loving, and coaching basketball. He recounts his passion for the gyms, the playgrounds, the sounds and scents, the camaraderie, the fierce competition, the anticipation and exhaustion, and even some of the injuries.

Engage answers the age-old questions:What is it Men are looking for and Need in a Church? andHow do I build this Ministry?Engaging men to lead at the local church level is one of the biggest overlooked opportunities facing America’s churches today. The needs of men in the church are being missed, and the health of churches are at risk. Engage begins at a macro level, helping to build the vision for your church, to a micro level showing how to meet men at their deepest need; to engage in something powerful.Written from the perspective of 5 men in church leadership, Engage provides the game plan for developing a powerful vision that drives the actions needed from overall men's ministry down to impactful men's small groups.In each chapter, the authors have cut away the fat and delivered 100% Grade-A meat to your table. Engage is a systematic plan that answer those age-old questions using a strong biblical foundation that will help you assess your church and give you tools to both evaluate and create a successful plan of action.When Men are engaged, churches flourish.

The young Robert Louis Stevenson, living in a boarding house in San Francisco while waiting for his beloved's divorce from her feckless husband, dreamed of writing a soaring novel about his landlady's adventurous and globe-trotting husband but he never got around to it. And very soon thereafter he was married, headed home to Scotland, and on his way to becoming the most famous novelist in the world, after writing such classics as Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Kidnapped. But now Brian Doyle brings Stevenson's untold tale to life, braiding the adventures of seaman John Carson with those of a young Stevenson, wandering the streets of San Francisco, gathering material for his fiction, and yearning for his beloved across the bay. An adventure tale, an elegy to one of the greatest writers of our language, a time-traveling plunge into The City by the Bay during its own energetic youth, The Adventures of John Carson in Several Quarters of the World is entertaining, poignant, and sensual.

On the last day of summer, some years ago, a young college graduate moves to Chicago and rents a small apartment on the north side of the city, by the vast and muscular lake. This is the story of the five seasons he lives there, during which he meets gangsters, gamblers, policemen, a brave and garrulous bus driver, a cricket player, a librettist, his first girlfriend, a shy apartment manager, and many other riveting souls, not to mention a wise and personable dog of indeterminate breed. A love letter to Chicago, the Great American City, and a wry account of a young man's coming-of-age during the one summer in White Sox history when they had the best outfield in baseball, Brian Doyle's Chicago is a novel that will plunge you into a city you will never forget, and may well wish to visit for the rest of your days.

A collection of headlong tales by Oregon author Brian Doyle—exploring such riveting and peculiar topics as chess in the Levant, tailors who specialize in holes, how to report stigmata to your attending physician, the intense hilarity of basketball, how to have a bitter verbal marital fight in your car, an all-Chinese football team in Australia, soccer and Catholicism, what it's like to be in a ska band, a singing Korean baker, an archbishop who loses his faith between the salad and the entree, genius Girl Scouts who save a radio station, and a baby born from a lake in Illinois. And some other fascinating stories. Really. Trust us.

Proems, taut tales, small stories with rhythm and blues and grace and bruise and laughter between the lines. Brian Doyle’s The Kind of Brave You Wanted to Be is a book of cadenced notes on the swirl of miracle and the holy of attentiveness; a book about children and birds, love and grief and everything alive, which is to say all prayers.

WINNER OF THE LESLIE BRADSHAW AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE WINNER OF THE BANFF MOUNTAIN BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION Dave is fourteen years old, living with his family in a cabin on Oregon's Mount Hood (or as he prefers to call it, like the Multnomah tribal peoples once did, Wy'east). Dave will soon enter high school, with adulthood and a future not far off--a future away from his mother, father, his precocious younger sister, and the wilderness where he's lived all his life. And Dave is not the only one approaching adulthood and its freedoms on Wy'east that summer. Martin, a pine marten (of the mustelid family) is leaving his own mother and siblings and setting off on his own as well. As Dave and Martin set off on their own adventures, their lives, paths, and trails will cross, weave, and blend. Why not come with them as they set forth into the forest and crags of Oregon's soaring mountain wilderness in search of life, family, friends, enemies, wonder, mystery, and good things to eat? Martin Marten is a braided coming-of-age tale like no other, told in Brian Doyle's joyous, rollicking style.

In this rich treasury of prose poems on matters theological, spiritual, mystical, and everyday, popular Catholic author Brian Doyle offers readers a lyrical but common-sense take on the ways grace, prayer, sin, love, boredom, joy, suffering and redemption play out in our daily lives. Doyle's hundred-plus proems are lyrical creations resembling poetry, but devoid of any meter or typical poetic structure-and yet they are not strictly prose either. Some are droll and acid takes on modern life; others spirit-lifting paeans to the joy of creation; still others humorous and light appreciations of the grace-filled moments that can fill the day of any person paying close enough attention.