Michael Perry

'Hand Job' collects groundbreaking work from an international array of some of today's most talented typographers who draw by hand, with graphic designer and hand typographer Michael Perry selecting work representing the full spectrum of design methods and styles.

A Catalog of Type

Hand Job

An oddball memoir of a small-town prodigal son turned volunteer with the local fire department who returns to his hometown after a decade of exile chronicles life in a village of 485 people in rural Wisconsin. Reprint.

Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time

Population: 485

Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember meets Louis Sachar's Holes in this imaginative and hilarious middle grade novel from New York Times bestselling author Michael Perry. When the world started to fall apart, the government gave everyone two choices: move into the Bubble Cities…or take their chances outside. Maggie's family chose to live in the world that was left behind. Deciding it's time to grow up and grow tough, Maggie rechristens herself "Ford Falcon"—a name inspired by the beat-up car she finds at a nearby junkyard. Ford's family goes to this junkyard to scavenge for things they can use or barter with the other people who live OutBubble. Her family has been able to survive this brave new world by working together. But when Ford comes home one day to discover her home ransacked and her family missing, she must find the strength to rescue her loved ones with the help of some unlikely friends. The Scavengers is a wholly original tween novel that combines an action-packed adventure, a heartfelt family story, and a triumphant journey of self-discovery in a world where one person's junk is another person's key to survival. Katherine Applegate, author of the Newbery Medal winner The One and Only Ivan, raves "Michael Perry pulls out all the stops in this colorful tale."

The Scavengers

The beloved memoirist and bestselling author of Population: 485 reflects on the lessons he’s learned from his unlikely alter ego, French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne. "The journey began on a gurney," writes Michael Perry, describing the debilitating kidney stone that led him to discover the essays of Michel de Montaigne. Reading the philosopher in a manner he equates to chickens pecking at scraps—including those eye-blinking moments when the bird gobbles something too big to swallow—Perry attempts to learn what he can (good and bad) about himself as compared to a long-dead French nobleman who began speaking Latin at the age of two, went to college instead of kindergarten, worked for kings, and once had an audience with the Pope. Perry "matriculated as a barn-booted bumpkin who still marks a second-place finish in the sixth-grade spelling bee as an intellectual pinnacle . . . and once said hello to Merle Haggard on a golf cart." Written in a spirit of exploration rather than declaration, Montaigne in Barn Boots is a down-to-earth (how do you pronounce that last name?) look into the ideas of a philosopher "ensconced in a castle tower overlooking his vineyard," channeled by a midwestern American writing "in a room above the garage overlooking a disused pig pen." Whether grabbing an electrified fence, fighting fires, failing to fix a truck, or feeding chickens, Perry draws on each experience to explore subjects as diverse as faith, race, sex, aromatherapy, and Prince. But he also champions academics and aesthetics, in a book that ultimately emerges as a sincere, unflinching look at the vital need to be a better person and citizen.

An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy

Montaigne in Barn Boots

New York Times bestselling humorist Michael Perry makes his fiction debut with this hilarious and big-hearted tale, a comic yet sincere exploration of faith and the foibles of modern life that blends the barbed charm of Garrison Keillor, the irreverent humor of Christopher Moore, and the audacious insight of Chuck Klosterman. Life is suddenly full of drama for low-key Harley Jackson: A woman in a big red pickup has stolen his bachelor’s heart, a Hummer-driving predatory developer is threatening to pave the last vestiges of his family farm, and inside his barn is a calf bearing the image of Jesus Christ. His best friend, Billy, a giant of a man who shares his trailer house with a herd of cats and tries to pass off country music lyrics as philosophy, urges him to avoid the woman, fight the developer, and get rich off the calf. But Harley takes the opposite tack, hoping to avoid what his devout, dearly departed mother would have called “a scene.” Then the secret gets out—right through the barn door, and Harley’s “miracle” goes viral. Within hours pilgrims, grifters, and the media have descended on his quiet patch of Swivel, Wisconsin, looking for a glimpse (and a percentage) of the calf. Does Harley hide the famous, possibly holy calf and risk a riot, or give the people what they want—and raise enough money to keep his land—and, just possibly, win the woman and her big red pickup truck? Harley goes all in, cutting a deal with a major Hollywood agent that transforms his little farm into an international spiritual theme park—think Lourdes, only with cheese curds and t-shirts. Soon, Harley has lots of money . . . and more trouble than he ever dreamed.

A Novel

The Jesus Cow

What can we learn about life, love, and artillery from an eighty-two-year-old man whose favorite hobby is firing his homemade cannons? Visit by visit—often with his young daughters in tow—author Michael Perry is about to find out. Toiling in a shop Perry describes as "an antique store stocked by Rube Goldberg, curated by Hunter Thompson, and rearranged by a small earthquake," Tom Hartwig makes gag shovel handles, parts for quarter-million-dollar farm equipment, and—now and then—batches of potentially "extralegal" explosives. As he approaches his sixtieth wedding anniversary with his wife, Arlene, Tom, famous for driving a team of oxen in local parades, has an endless reservoir of stories dating back to days of his prize Model A, and an anti-authoritarian streak refreshed daily by the four-lane interstate that was shoved through his front yard in 1965 and now dumps over 8 million vehicles past his kitchen window every year. And yet Visiting Tom is dominated by the elderly man's equanimity and ultimately—when he and Perry converse over the kitchen table as husbands and as the fathers of daughters—unvarnished tenderness.

A Man, a Highway, and the Road to Roughneck Grace

Visiting Tom

In over his head with two pigs, a dozen chickens, and a baby due any minute, Perry gives us a humorous, heartfelt memoir of a new life in the country.

A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting

Coop

"From Scandihoovian Spanglish to snickering chickens, New York Times bestselling author and humorist Michael Perry navigates a wide range of topics in this collection of brief essays drawn from his weekly appearances on the nationally syndicated Tent Show Radio program. Fatherhood, dumpster therapy, dangerous wedding rings, Christmas trees, used cars, why you should have bacon in your stock portfolio, loggers in clogs-whatever the subject, Perry has a rare ability to touch both the funny bone and the heart"--

brief transmissions from Tent show radio

From the top

This book teaches you how to evaluate a distributed system from the perspective of immutable objects. You will understand the problems in existing designs, know how to make small modifications to correct those problems, and learn to apply the principles of immutable architecture to your tools. Most software components focus on the state of objects. They store the current state of a row in a relational database. They track changes to state over time, making several basic assumptions: there is a single latest version of each object, the state of an object changes sequentially, and a system of record exists. This is a challenge when it comes to building distributed systems. Whether dealing with autonomous microservices or disconnected mobile apps, many of the problems we try to solve come down to synchronizing an ever-changing state between isolated components. Distributed systems would be a lot easier to build if objects could not change. After reading The Art of Immutable Architecture, you will come away with an understanding of the benefits of using immutable objects in your own distributed systems. You will learn a set of rules for identifying and exchanging immutable objects, and see a collection of useful theorems that emerges and ensures that the distributed systems we build are eventually consistent. Using patterns, you will find where the truth converges, see how changes are associative, rather than sequential, and come to feel comfortable understanding that there is no longer a single source of truth. Practical hands-on examples reinforce how to build software using the described patterns, techniques, and tools. By the end, you will possess the language and resources needed to analyze and construct distributed systems with confidence. The assumptions of the past were sufficient for building single-user, single-computer systems. But as we expand to multiple devices, shared experiences, and cloud computing, they work against us. It is time for a new set of assumptions. Start with immutable objects, and build better distributed systems. What You Will Learn Evaluate a distributed system from the perspective of immutable objects Recognize the problems in existing designs, and make small modifications to correct them Start a new system from scratch, applying patterns Apply the principles of immutable architecture to your tools, including SQL databases, message queues, and the network protocols that you already use Discover new tools that natively apply these principles Who This Book Is For Software architects and senior developers. It contains examples in SQL and languages such as JavaScript and C#. Past experience with distributed computing, data modeling, or business analysis is helpful.

Theory and Practice of Data Management in Distributed Systems

The Art of Immutable Architecture

New York Times bestselling author, humorist, and newspaper columnist Michael Perry returns with a new collection of bite-sized essays from his Sunday Wisconsin State Journal column, “Roughneck Grace.” Perry’s perspectives on everything from cleaning the chicken coop to sharing a New York City elevator with supermodels will have you snorting with laughter on one page, blinking back tears on the next, and--no matter your zip code--nodding in recognition throughout.

Farmer Yoga, Creeping Codgerism, Apple Golf, and Other Brief Essays from on and Off the Back Forty

Roughneck Grace

The author of Population: 485 returns, delivering a truckload of humor, heart, and . . . gardening tips? Think Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, complete with stock cars, sexy vegetables, and a laugh track. "All I wanted to do was fix my old pickup truck," says Michael Perry. "That, and plant my garden. Then I met this woman. . . ." Truck: A Love Story recounts a year in which Perry struggles to grow his own food ("Seed catalogs are responsible for more unfulfilled fantasies than Enron and Penthouse combined"), live peaceably with his neighbors (one test-fires his black powder rifle in the alley; another's best Sunday shirt reads 100 PERCENT WHUP-ASS), and sort out his love life. But along the way, he sets his hair on fire, is attacked by wild turkeys, takes a date to the fire department chicken dinner, and proposes marriage to a woman in New Orleans. As with Population: 485, much of the spirit of Truck: A Love Story may be found in the characters Perry meets: a one-eyed land surveyor, a paraplegic biker who rigs a sidecar so that his quadriplegic pal can ride along, a bartender who refuses to sell light beer, an enchanting woman who never existed, and half the staff of National Public Radio. By turns hilarious and heartfelt, a tale that begins on a pile of sheep manure, detours to the Whitney Museum of American Art, and returns to the deer-hunting swamps of northern Wisconsin, Truck: A Love Story becomes a testament to the surprising and unintended consequences of love. 1006

Truck: A Love Story

Looks at how patterns are being used by designers to add complexity and color to their work.

A Catalog of Hand-Drawn Patterns

Over and Over

Celebrate the weird, wacky, and wonderful world of plants with a book that revels in the diversity of the botanical world. Plants are truly awe-inspiring. They can be vast, minute, smelly, or spectacularly ugly. Some plants live on their own, or by growing off others; some live by air and water; others are carnivorous, eating the creatures around them; some plants look remarkably like animals; while others have unusual symbolism; and some have special cultural significance. This book explores them all, bringing together the most peculiar and most fascinating plants on the planet – celebrating them in all their diverse splendor. Split into five chapters, covering everything from poisonous plants to painkilling ones, Michael Perry explains exactly what makes each plant special. With exquisitely detailed illustrations of all the different species, this is an informative, humorous, and beautiful gift for all those who love plants – whether they want to grow them or not. Hortus Curious delivers a different way to view the plant world and enjoy it for its bonkers and bizarre. The book is split into five chapters, covering: - Plants Behaving Badly – the criminal world of plants such as poisonous plants, insect catching plants, and plants that do risky thing - Mistaken Identity – plants that look like other things, e.g. flowers that look like monkeys, bees, or even dead man’s fingers - Greater Good – did you know that aspirin comes from a plant? This chapter explores the plants that make up our everyday products - Superheroes – find out about the plants that can disguise themselves, changing color, shape or even moving themselves - X-rated Plants – a selection of the rudest plants out there! A humorous and quirky gift book for people interested in plants and gardening, Hortus Curious is sure to delight.

Discover the World's Most Weird and Wonderful Plants and Fungi

Hortus Curious

This book provides a practically applicable guide to injuries, diseases, and disorders affecting the head, neck, and dental region seen within accident and emergency departments. These regions contain a number of specialized structures each with individual neural, muscular and vascular elements, meaning that the study of these anatomical areas is complicated and often quite daunting. Chapters in this work aim to break the treatment of such injuries and diseases into an easy-to-digest format via chapters featuring a symptom-based approach. Therefore, enabling the reader to quickly access the information they require when treating patients with a variety of disorders in the emergency room. Diseases and Injuries to the Head, Face and Neck: A Guide to Diagnosis and Management is a concise overview of how to deal with head, neck, and dental emergencies and is an important up-to-date resource for all medical professionals and trainees who encounter these patients.

A Guide to Diagnosis and Management

Diseases and Injuries to the Head, Face and Neck

Andrew Brown

Peter Banks

Fractures of the Facial Skeleton, Second Edition gives a clear, concise and practical overview of the management of maxillofacial injuries. This new edition has been fully updated to include recent developments and improvements in facial trauma management, with expanded sections on emergency and early treatment, soft tissue injuries and major maxillofacial injuries. Written by an experienced author team, this text will appeal to trainees in all surgical specialities involved in facial trauma. Summary tables and colour illustrations throughout aid understanding, making this both an ideal introduction to the subject and a useful exam revision text. Key features include: New, updated edition of a well-respected text Easy-to-read, practical clinical handbook Covers aetiology and anatomy, emergency management of trauma, imaging, treatment of dentoalveolar, mandible and midfacial injuries, postoperative care, and complications Suitable for postgraduate students, trainees and practitioners in oral and maxillofacial surgery and practitioners of other medical disciplines involved in facial trauma

Fractures of the Facial Skeleton

Doug Cunningham

'Do ya like scratchin'' Timmy is determined to Hip-Hop his way to becoming the world's youngest turntable DJ champion. Readers will have a hip-hop-till-they-drop good time as they discover with Timmy that the key to ultimate success is perseverance, commitment and dedication! This kinetic rap-rhyming tale definitely puts the word fun back in funky.

Turntable Timmy

In over his head with two pigs, a dozen chickens, and a baby due any minute, the acclaimed author of Population: 485 gives us a humorous, heartfelt memoir of a new life in the country. Living in a ramshackle Wisconsin farmhouse—faced with thirty-seven acres of fallen fences and overgrown fields, and informed by his pregnant wife that she intends to deliver their baby at home—Michael Perry plumbs his unorthodox childhood for clues to how to proceed as a farmer, a husband, and a father. Whether he’s remembering his younger days—when his city-bred parents took in sixty or so foster children while running a sheep and dairy farm—or describing what it’s like to be bitten in the butt while wrestling a pig, Perry flourishes in his trademark humor. But he also writes from the quieter corners of his heart, chronicling experiences as joyful as the birth of his child and as devastating as the death of a dear friend.

Brief essays by New York Times bestselling author Michael Perry on memorials and mercy, storms and farewells, family and fowl, barnyard ballets, the Sunday night sads, the wisdom of roadies, cucumbers and kindness, quotidian asparagus, appropo malaprops, pickleball, sushi boats and weird TV, the poetics of garlic, contrails, Mobius mind-grooves, quietude, Christmas tree injuries, cats, waffle houses, puffy partridges, bonfire bonhomie, dating in a hearse, and more. Gathered from his most recent "Roughneck Grace" columns, this is Michael Perry on: Bad days: "First thing I did today was back into the garage door. From the inside." Releasing injured birds: "Nature gives odds, not insurance." Returning home: "Like hubcap spinners rotating at a stoplight, the sensation of a road trip lingers, even as we stare at the hearth." Contentment: "Find your happy place, they say, and so I am cutting up venison in the living room while watching the Packers." Daughters dating: "...sometimes it'd be nice to have Grandma back, just sitting over there in a rocking chair with her rifle." Hope: "A pair of wrens whose eggs may not hatch, but proceed as if that is the only outcome." Politics: "These days asking questions in public is like pulling the toilet handle while standing in the bowl." Physical fitness: "To say I run like a farmer is to insult a lot of farmers...my form was that of a man jogging while carrying two pails of milk shortly after eating a lard sandwich." On children: "How many times do we hold our children close under the guise of comforting them when in fact we are clinging to them as if they were the last buoy in a cold sea?" Peaceful Persistence picks up where the three other collections (Roughneck Grace, From the Top, and Million Billion) left off, and includes columns originally published between April 2018 and March 2020.

Essays On...

Peaceful Persistence

Simon Holmes

The idea behind this book is to produce a fully comprehensive and highly illustrated “how to” technical reference manual, demonstrating surgical procedures in a step by step manner. This book also covers assessment and investigations, but focuses on the surgical and non surgical management of all aspect of maxillofacial trauma. It will include most, if not all, of the surgical approaches and techniques used, for all injuries. This volume includes emergency procedures and the various techniques in repair of fractures and soft tissue injuries, from the simple to the complex. Each step is illustrated photographically or with line diagrams, with explanatory text. This will enable surgical trainees and surgeons with limited trauma experience to understand how and why any particular procedure is undertaken.

Michael Perry

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