The Butterfly Hunter: The Curious Adventures of the Butterfly Hunter And Others Who Have Found Their Life's Work - Rilegato

Ballard, Chris

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0767918681 ISBN 13: 9780767918688

Casa editrice: Broadway Books, 2006

Riassunto

Do we each have a dream job that we are, by nature or nurture, uniquely meant for? To answer this question, Chris Ballard set out to talk to people who found work they love way off the beaten path. The Butterfly Hunter is a rollicking narrative of what he discovered, and reveals insights the rest of us can use to find passion in our work.

The Butterfly Hunter begins its roundup of quirky characters in unusual professions with Spiderman Mulholland, a former Marine, who rappels to suicidal spots on sheer building faces to assess damage or make repairs. (And yes, that’s his legal name.) Through Spiderman, Ballard learns that one can find a calling by following one’s wildest idiosyncrasies. Along the way he learns the history of window-washing, why it is that some people enter risky professions, and the best way to jump off a 230-foot building.

His adventures continue as he meets America’s top lumberjill, an NFL kicking coach who has never kicked a ball in his life, a MacArthur genius who’s spent his life in remote jungles chasing butterflies, and the movie trailer voice-over artist known as the Voice of God.

These ten characters each reveal an aspect of the search for a life’s work, and reaffirm for Ballard that we, too, can discover a calling if only we look in the right place. As with true love, there aren’t seven steps to finding it, but The Butterfly Hunter teaches us what it looks like when it’s real.

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Advance Praise for The Butterfly Hunter


“Chris Ballard’s vibrant collection of true stories about passionate men and women doing oddball things for a living—and loving it—is the ideal elixir for anyone mired in the daily grind and wishing for a way out. The literary equivalent of a pair of battery cables, this book will jumpstart the dreams of anyone who reads it.”

—Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City


“The Butterfly Hunter offers an important reminder in these risk-averse, mass-marketed times: One person’s weird is another’s passion. Chris Ballard’s subjects are lucky to have found their callings—and we’re lucky to have these inspiring, affectionate, well-crafted portraits of them.”

—Stefan Fatsis, author of Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players
“Some people study insects, some climb walls, some like hunting for mushrooms. Chris Ballard collects interesting people who make a living from what they do. For these people work is living. Wouldn’t life be great if we could all do that? Well you can and these stories will tell you how. You only have one life and making the most of it should be considered a moral imperative. Just do it. I did.”

—Richard Donkin, fisherman, writer, and author of Blood, Sweat and Tears: The Evolution of Work


“This is a bright and sunny book about the delightful variety of ways that people occupy themselves for pay. Ballard’s eccentric characters remind us that the jobs we chose to do in life are limited only by our passions and imagination.” 
—Joanne B. Ciulla, Ph.D., author of The Ethics of Leadership and The Working Life

L'autore:

After a string of oddball jobs, CHRIS BALLARD found his calling at Sports Illustrated as a staff writer covering the NBA and writing features. He has written profiles of people with offbeat professions for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Hoops Nation, which was named one of Booklist’s Top Ten Sports Books in 1998. Ballard recently moved from New York City to Berkeley, California.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Broadway Books
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0767918681
• ISBN 13: 9780767918688
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 272