London Underground's Strangest Tales: Extraordinary but True Stories


Iain Spragg - 2013
    Located deep beneath the heart of Greater London, the Underground is awash with more strangeness than you can shake your prepaid train card at. So, pack up your day bag and travel stop-by-stop with us on this strange and fantastic journey along the Northern, Picadilly, Metropolitan, Jubilee, Hammersmith & City, and District Line, and explore the Underground as you've never seen it before with this treasure trove of the humorous, the odd, and the baffling—an alternative travel guide to the Underground's best-kept secrets.

Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World


Christopher Mark O'Brien - 2006
    Chris O’Brien presents the case for beer as both the cause of and solution to all of the world’s problems. Beer has contributed to the best qualities of civilization, but it is also helping to destroy them.The global beer industry relies heavily on fossil-fuels and chemical agriculture, rapidly destroying nature and contributing to climate change.Corporate beer is centralized and hierarchical, which is good for a few elites, but displaces local brewing traditions and exacerbates the growing wealth gap.But the craft brewing renaissance relies on cooperation, emphasizes local production, protects and celebrates nature, and nurtures the growth of strong and equitable communities.Fermenting Revolution traces the path of brewing from a women-led, home-based craft to corporate industry, and describes how modern craft breweries and home-brewers are forging stronger communities. O’Brien explains how corporate mega-breweries are also taking steps to pioneer industrial ecology, and profiles the most inspiring and radical breweries, brewers, and beer drinkers that are making the world a better place to live.In the last two decades, Americans have returned to to beer as a way of life rather than as a commodity. Casting off its industrial chains, beer is again communal, convivial, democratic, healthful, and natural. The contemporary American brewing scene champions ecologically sustainable production and is helping to create thriving community places. After reading Fermenting Revolution, mere beer drinkers will become "beer activists," ready to fight corporate rule by simply meeting their neighbors for a pint at the local brewpub-saving the world one beer at a time.

The Mind of a Madman: Norway's Struggle to Understand Anders Breivik


Richard Orange - 2012
    When he was arrested, he claimed to act on behalf of the Knights Templar, a militant network sworn to protect Europe from Islam. But Norwegian police could find no evidence such a group existed. Was Breivik a genuine terrorist, driven by far-right ideology, or a deluded madman? Over the next year, this question would draw in police specialists, lawyers, psychiatrists, and experts in the far-right, culminating in a trial that ceased to be simply about guilt or innocence. Instead, the court would confront a more troubling question: how could such brutal acts become possible for a young man brought up in some of the most privileged parts of Oslo? In "Mind of a Madman", journalist Richard Orange draws on his own court reporting, three court psychiatric reports, police interviews, and transcripts from the trial to give the most complete account yet of a shocked society's attempt to understand the killer.

Center of Attention: A True Crime Memoir


Jami D. Brown Martin - 2020
    The photo looks completely out of place on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list where it’s been since December, 8, 2007. For eight of those years, Jason appeared directly beside Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden is long gone, but Jason is still wanted for armed robbery and murder.For years, his sister, Jami D. Brown Martin has watched the true crime programs and read the amateur investigative blogs devoted to Jason, his crime, and the efforts to apprehend him knowing the story wasn’t as simple, nor was it just Jason’s. To be the sister, brother, or relative of one of the world’s most wanted men is to live every day with the horrible truth and many consequences of his brutal act.CENTER OF ATTENTION is the story of a former Mormon missionary turned murderer. It is also a riveting look behind the facade of the genetically blessed, seemingly prominent and pious Brown family of Laguna Beach, California. It is a tale of the family patriarch, John Brown, who disappeared without a trace ten years before his son. More important, it is the gripping and ultimately hopeful story of the sister of one of the world’s most wanted fugitives and her journey to accept that despite being a product of the same crazy environment as her brother, her life and path are her own.

Bonifacio's Bolo


Ambeth R. Ocampo - 1995
    In Bonifacio's Bolo, Ambeth Ocampo adds even more interesting bits to another scrapbook of history.

The Beautiful Game: Sixteen Girls and the Soccer Season That Changed Everything


Jonathan Littman - 1998
    They were a ragtag team of girls who wanted to play soccer, and no one took them seriously. Their male coach expected little from his "ladies, " and their mediocre performance convinced them he was right.Then a kind of miracle happened. Emiria Salzmann, Thunder's new coach, a top player herself, knew what it took to win--discipline, relentless drills, thigh-burning sprints, and an inspired passing game. The girls hated it, but their coach never let up. Tough and determined, she showed them what it felt like to be winners--and they loved it. As the momentum grew with a string of victories, the girls thrived on the competition, believing they had the right stuff to become champions.They were right! With spirits soaring, Thunder won its league on the last day of the season and headed for the state cup, emerging not just as powerful athletes but as strong, confident, emotionally healthy human beings--champions in the game of soccer, and in the game of life.

Kids Who Kill: Case 1: Joshua Phillips


Kathryn McMaster - 2018
    There is something about him they don’t like, including his talk of sex with their girls. However, Maddie Clifton, bubbly and friendly, considers Joshua to be one of her best friends and they continue to play together. On the evening she disappears he is seen creeping up on Maddie in her front yard. For a while a neighbor watches them talk before going back inside. After that, Maddie disappears into thin air.For a frantic week the neighborhood is searched, people are interviewed, and yellow ribbons hang from trees in the hope that Maddie will return alive and well. Little do they know that Maddie Clifton is just across the street encased in a space under the waterbed of Joshua Phillips where she has been the whole time."We were raising our girls in a Christian home where we prayed every day. What we didn't know was that the devil himself had moved in right across the street."This true crime story will suit readers who enjoy books by Ann Rule, Jack Rosewood, or Kathryn Casey. Kathryn McMaster is an accomplished author who specializes in true crime and unsolved cases and explores the darkest side of the human mind.

Considerations


Colin Wright - 2014
    We act according to data acquired by viewing the world from a single perspective: our own. As a result, we don’t always think to ask certain questions that, when answered, may benefit us greatly. We don’t do important things because we never think them worth doing. We don’t assess unfamiliar facets of life, even though such scrutiny might change everything about how we live. A well-curated collection of perspectives is one of the most valuable assets a person can possess, and the ability to filter those perspectives — to figure out which of them has value for us as individuals, and which are not relevant to our unique beliefs and goals — is vital. Considerations is about asking questions, attaining new perspectives, figuring out what you believe, and determining how these beliefs can help guide your actions. The book is formatted as a series of over fifty short essays which are intended to spark ideas, questions, and thoughtfulness in those who read them

Naked Wine: Letting Grapes Do What Comes Naturally


Alice Feiring - 2011
    Naked, or natural, wine is the opposite of most New World wines today; Alice Feiring calls them “overripe, over-manipulated, and overblown” and makes her case that good (and possibly great) wine can still be made, if only winemakers would listen more to nature and less to marketers, and stop using additives and chemicals. But letting wine make itself is harder than it seems.Three years ago, Feiring answered a dare to try her hand at natural winemaking. In Naked Wine ,she details her adventure—sometimes calm, sometimes wild, always revealing—and peers into the nooks and crannies of today’s exciting, new (but centuries-old) world of natural wine.

England: The Biography: The Story of English Cricket


Simon Wilde - 2018
    It is now 140 years since England first played Test match cricket and, for much of that time, it has struggled to perform to the best of its capabilities. In the early years, amateurs would pick and choose which matches and tours they would play; subsequently, the demands of the county game - and the petty jealousies that created - would prevent many from achieving their best. It was only in the 1990s that central contracts were brought in, and Team England began to receive the best possible support from an ever-increasing backroom team.  But cricket isn't just about structures, it depends like no other sport on questions of how successful the captain is in motivating and leading his team, and how well different personalities and egos are integrated and managed in the changing room. From Joe Root and Alastair Cook back to Mike Atherton, Mike Brearley and Ray Illingworth, England captains have had a heavy influence on proceedings. Recent debates over Kevin Pietersen were nothing new, as contemporaries of W.G.Grace would doubtless recognise. As England close in on playing their 1000th Test, this is a brilliant and unmissable insight into the ups and downs of that story.

The Real Estate Retirement Plan: An Investment and Lifestyle Solution for Canadians


Calum Ross - 2017
    Many Canadians who own their home have never considered buying a second property. And nearly one-third of retirees are worried about running out of money. The Real Estate Retirement Plan shows how homeowners can use the tools already available to them — their mortgages — to access the initial capital to invest and prepare for their retirement. This is a proven, validated antidote to today’s historically low savings rates, poor current rates of return, and pressure on CPP and health care.With examples and a detailed discussion of the principles and mechanics, Calum Ross and Simon Giannini demystify real-estate investing and make an irrefutable case for borrowing to invest.

Ultimate Beer


Michael Jackson - 1998
    Just as any wine can be consumed at any time, so can any beer, but like the grape, the grain has its favored moods and moments including the right beer for every occasion. Written for the novice as well as the connoisseur, "Ultimate Beer" elevates beer to the lofty status of wine and cigars. Encyclopedic presentation of more than 1000 beers from around the world. .Includes sections on beer and food and cooking with beer.

Cameron's Coup: How the Tories took Britain to the Brink


Polly Toynbee - 2015
    Despite coalition compromises, he has turned out to be more radical than Margaret Thatcher. She privatised industries. But he planned to dismantle the welfare state itself - starting with the NHS. The cuts signalled an assault on Britain's post-war social settlement. Children, young people and the poor are bearing the brunt. Social welfare, police, council services, housing and legal aid are under fierce attack. Will it succeed? Writing with their trademark incisiveness and wit, Toynbee and Walker report how a party that failed to win a Commons majority has still been devastatingly effective. Blending analysis and statistics with moving human stories from Sydenham to Sheffield, Cameron's Coup argues that Britain is becoming meaner and harsher. The pressing question now is whether these changes are irrevocable.

Hellraiser: The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Drummer


Ginger Baker - 2009
    A pioneering drummer who has transcended genres, he did much to popularize world music with his fierce passion for the rhythms of Africa. He is that rare thing, a critically acclaimed musician who has enjoyed global success with not one but several supergroups to his name, including Cream and Blind Faith. Here, Ginger tells his story for the first time and without any self-censorship. It's an often harrowing, but honest journey from his humble beginnings in war-torn south London to his adopted home in South Africa's beautiful Western Cape. He tells of his life-long love of jazz, how he discovered the drums and African music, and life on the road. He also confesses to the heroin use that should have killed him in his colorful 1960s prime, working and playing with the biggest names of the time. In the 1970s, he came up with a trans-Saharan trucking scheme, was a successful rally driver, built an ill-fated recording studio, and discovered a consuming passion for playing polo. He talks candidly of the loss and recovery of his fortune, his three marriages, Cream's 1993 induction into the rock 'n' roll hall of fame, their subsequent successful reunion in 2005, and his hopes for the future.

It's Time!: My 360-Degree View of the UFC


Bruce Buffer - 2013
    And if you’re a fan, then you probably recognize my face. Yeah, that’s right—I’m that guy you see at every UFC match, spinning around and roaring into the microphone and getting up in fighters’ grills. Okay, so I might not be the most subtle or refined announcer in the business. But I hope I communicate my passion for the sport in a way no other announcer does.    I’ll say it again: Passion. Because that’s what this book is about. In these pages, I want to tell you about the passion that first led me to bet everything on this sport of ours, way back when MMA was outlawed in half the country and there wasn’t a dime to be made on it. I want to tell you how that passion all started, with my larger-than-life father, a former Marine Drill Sergeant who, by the time I was ten, had taught me to play poker and blackjack, field-strip a Luger pistol blindfolded, and recite poetry. He was a man who thought nothing of confronting a group of thugs armed with nothing but his fists—and who expected the same strength and honor from his sons.  I want to take you inside the incredible brotherhood that makes up the UFC as nobody ever has before, to tell you about the bond we all share and the crazy times I’ve had over the years with guys like Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, BJ Penn, and Jon “Bones” Jones. I want to give you my Octagon-side insights on many of the big fights you remember, and just maybe, to tell you about a few memorable fights that took place outside of the octagon, too—from my own sparring match with a youngster named Royce Gracie back before the phrase “Mixed Martial Arts” even existed, to some other brawls you might’ve heard about.  And I want to tell you about the remarkable, late-life meeting with the celebrity brother I never knew I had—a brother whose existence my parents had never once breathed a word about!—that helped inspire me to chase my own dreams of standing up in the Octagon. Surprising stuff from the guy in the fancy tux, right? And that’s just the start. There’s a lot you don’t know about me yet. And now… IT’S TIME! I told you.