Off the top of my head
Subtitle: an alphabetical odyssey
By: Stephen Lorch
Publisher: J.W. Lorbek Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Little Compton, RI
Language: eng
Number of pages: 319
ISBN-13: 9780989884013; 9780989884006
Subjects: Essays; Diseases; Biography; Authors
Description: Off the Top of My Head is a candid and thought-provoking set of twenty-six alphabetical essays (A-Z) penned over five years by Stephen Lorch as he coped with, and ultimately overcame, a life-threatening illness. Paired with the typographic styling of award-winning book designer Jean Wilcox, Off the Top of My Head is a contemporary illuminated manuscript that explores how we think about, experience, and ultimately communicate--to ourselves as well as to others--the impact of significant life events.  At the book's core is the author's own story: a Jewish boy growing up in New York City in the 1940s and 50s, a lifetime of overcoming the challenges of physical handicap, the culminating experiences and influences of being a mathematician, a student of philosophy, a psychotherapist, a project manager, an opera lover, and a foodie, as well as an organizational consultant and executive coach to leaders of major hospitals, universities, social service agencies, and think tanks.  Complemented by a rich and eclectic tapestry of Lorch's favorite quotes, books, recipes, jokes, poems, and song lyrics (reflecting a lifelong and insatiable love of learning), Off the Top of My Head is both witty and poignant, heartfelt and wise.
Table of contents: title: Appearance; title: Boundary; title: Care; title: Discrimination; title: Exhaust; title: Frame; title: Gestalt; title: How are you?; title: Imagine; title: Jackie; title: Karola's kitchen; title: Language; title: Myths, memes, and the Marines; title: Opera, option, and organization; title: Power; title: Question; title: Risk; title: Silence, space, system, strategy; title: Trust; title: Unity and uncertainty; title: Vision; title: The six W's; title: X = the unknown; title: Yes!; title: Zabaglione and zero.