Phil Cross: Gypsy Joker to a Hells Angel: From a Joker to an Angel


Phil Cross - 2013
    Photos & stories are a must read for all motorcycle riders" - "Sonny Barger " In the early 1960s, a young Navy vet, motorcyclist, amateur photographer, and rebel named Phil Cross joined a motorcycle club called the Hells Angels. It turned out to be a bogus chapter of the club that would soon find infamy, so he switched to another club called the Night Riders. Like the bogus chapter of the Hells Angels, this turned out to be a club whose brotherhood was run by a man Mr. Cross describes as a complete asshole. One day, Mr. Cross stuffed the leader in a ringer-type washing machine and joined a club called the Gypsy Jokers. He started a San Jose chapter of the Jokers and embarked on the most action-packed years of his life. The Jokers were in the midst of a shooting war with the real Hells Angels. The fighting became so intense that the Jokers posted snipers atop their clubhouse. This was a rough time, but it was also the height of the free-love hippie era, and as a young man, Phil enjoyed himself to the fullest. He never let anything as minor as a little jail time stop his fun. Once, while serving time for fighting and fleeing an officer, Phil broke out of jail, entered his bike in a bike show, won the bike show, and broke back into jail before anyone discovered he was missing. Though Phil was tough he was a certififed martial arts instructor the Angels proved a tough foe. After multiple beating-induced emergency room visits, Mr. Cross decided that if you can t beat em, join em, so he and most of his club brothers patched over to become the San Jose chapter of the Hells Angels. This book chronicles the life and wild times of Mr. Cross in words and photos.

Lost with Directions: Ambling Around America


Rob Erwin - 2016
     Aside from the bipolar hillbillies, unfriendly wild animals, run-ins with the law, a mental breakdown, a bad first date, and a near-death experience . . . things actually went pretty well. Taking plenty of detours along the way, Rob’s contagious and hilarious sense of wanderlust carries him on a whirlwind road trip from the Smoky Mountains in the East, to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Colorado’s snow-covered peaks in the West. In a refreshing style that brings these incredible wild places to life like no travel guide ever could, on seemingly every page we’re reminded of the one universal truth of travel . . . the best parts of any journey are the adventures we least expect.

Undercover - Ajit Doval in Theory and Practice


The Caravan Magazine - 2017
    His designation grants him sweeping powers over the Indian security and intelligence apparatuses, and a say in foreign relations that he has exercised vigorously, particularly when it comes to the country’s neighbours. His outlook combines strident Hindu nationalism with habits learnt over his decades in the Intelligence Bureau. The results have been far from extraordinary—yet large sections of the media continue to laud him. Doval’s public persona as a super-spy and statesman may be too good to be true. The Caravan -India's finest magazine of politics, culture and business. Since its relaunch in 2010, The Caravan has earned a reputation as one of South Asia's most sophisticated publications, a showcase of the region's finest writers, with a distinctive blend of masterful reporting, unique criticism and stunning photo essays.

8 Simple Rules for Marrying My Daughter: And Other Reasonable Advice from the Father of the Bride (Not that Anyone is Paying Attention)


W. Bruce Cameron - 2008
    Bruce Cameron returns with an even more hilarious look at fatherhood, capturing the predicament of the forgotten man in the tux at his little girl's wedding. As Cameron explains, modern weddings are much like royal coronations, only more expensive. Aside from the writing of checks, there is not much fathers understand about them. Why can't guests successfully eat, drink, and dance unless the whole event is as carefully choreographed as a Broadway production? With his characteristic wit, Cameron captures the aspects of the wedding that are the most ridiculous to paternal eyes, for example: • why the wedding needs a theme (this one is "We're all stressed out") • why the wedding has to be photographed as if it will be reviewed by the Warren Commission • why the bouquet must include a species of flower found only at the tip of the Himalayas • why the wedding dress has to strike the right mood (which, judging from everyone's behavior, might best be summed up as "crabby") Throughout it all, however, a father keeps faith that the wedding -- if not the wedding preparation -- will make his daughter a happy woman. Hilarious yet poignant, 8 Simple Rules for Marrying My Daughter is sure to be a comfort to the legions of fathers (and mothers) who will one day have a daughter walking down the aisle.

J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World: Movie Magic Volume One: Extraordinary People and Fascinating Places


Jody Revenson - 2016
    Rowling’s Wizarding World for young fans. From the gilded halls of Gringotts and Hogwarts to the New York City of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, each page of this book delivers a fun, interactive experience for young readers as they discover how the extraordinary places and fascinating characters of the wizarding world took shape onscreen. Filled with lift-the-flaps, stickers, and other engaging inserts, this engrossing book overflows with captivating facts about the movie magic used to create a world fit for witches and wizards. Including insights from the actors who played Harry Potter, Professor Dumbledore, Newt Scamander, and many more, this book is a must-have for young fans of the Wizarding World.

The Weird Middle Ages: A Collection of Mysterious Stories, Odd Customs, and Strange Superstitions from Medieval Times


Charles River Editors - 2020
    

Lost in Tokyo: A Year of Sex, Sushi, and Suicide in the Real Japan


Garett Wilson - 2018
    until he started a new job and a new life at a high school in downtown Tokyo. Here he discovered the real Japan, not the version sold to tourists, and realized that it was far more thrilling, heartbreaking, and beautiful than anything he had ever experienced. Over the course of one year in Tokyo, Garett navigates the perilous waters of 21st-century Japan, where love and laughter are as common as violence and tragedy. From love hotels to sumo, yakuza gangs to hostess bars, and a Shinto wedding to a KFC Christmas, discover what Tokyo is really like for its 38 million inhabitants. A travel book, a tale of sex and romance, and a love letter to a maddening, wonderful place, Lost in Tokyo provides a new perspective on living, working and playing in the world's most vibrant city.

The House Party: A Short History of Leisure, Pleasure and the Country House Weekend


Adrian Tinniswood - 2019
    Parlour games. Cocktails. Welcome to a glorious journey through the golden age of the country house party - and you are invited. Our host, celebrated historian Adrian Tinniswood, traces the evolution of this quintessentially British pastime from debauched royal tours to the flamboyant excess of the Bright Young Things. With cameos by the Jazz Age industrialist, the bibulous earl and the off-duty politician - whether in moated manor houses or ornate Palladian villas - Tinniswood gives a vivid insight into weekending etiquette and reveals the hidden lives of celebrity guests, from Nancy Astor to Winston Churchill, in all their drinking, feasting, gambling and fornicating. The result is a deliciously entertaining, star-studded, yet surprisingly moving portrait of a time when social conventions were being radically overhauled through the escapism of a generation haunted by war - and a uniquely fast-living period of English history. Praise for The Long Weekend:'Delicious, occasionally fantastical, revealing in ways that Downton Abbey never was. It is as if Tinniswood is at the biggest, wildest, most luxuriantly decadent party ever thrown, and he knows everyone.' Observer 'A deliciously jaunty and wonderfully knowledgeable book. Tinniswood displays a terrific insider's grasp of gossip . A meticulous, irresistible story.' Spectator 'Elegant, encyclopedic and entertaining . A confident and skilled historian who understands the mores of his era and wears his learning lightly . Deserves to be on every costume drama producer's bookshelf.' Times

Kendo: The Definitive Guide


Hiroshi Ozawa - 1997
    Kendo: The Definitive Guide is the first book in English to provide a practical and truly comprehensive approach to the subject. Everything that the novice needs to know, from basic information about purchasing, wearing, and maintaining essential equipment to competing in international tournaments, is explained in simple, straightforward language. Step-by-step explanation of fundamental techniques needed to be mastered to attain black belt level is illustrated in easy-to-follow line drawings. With appendices giving the rules at international competitions and important information about Kendo clubs outside Japan, Kendo is the definitive guide for all non-Japanese Kendoists. A special section about the history and development of this martial art and guidelines for running practice sessions also make it a unique resource for all teachers of Kendo.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect Official Study Guide: Associate Exam


Joe Baron - 2016
     AWS has been the frontrunner in cloud computing products and services, and the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Official Study Guide for the Associate exam will get you fully prepared through expert content, and real-world knowledge, key exam essentials, chapter review questions, access to Sybex’s interactive online learning environment, and much more. This official study guide, written by AWS experts, covers exam concepts, and provides key review on exam topics, including: Mapping Multi-Tier Architectures to AWS Services, such as web/app servers, firewalls, caches and load balancers Understanding managed RDBMS through AWS RDS (MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, Postgres, Aurora) Understanding Loose Coupling and Stateless Systems Comparing Different Consistency Models in AWS Services Understanding how AWS CloudFront can make your application more cost efficient, faster and secure Implementing Route tables, Access Control Lists, Firewalls, NAT, and DNS Applying AWS Security Features along with traditional Information and Application Security Using Compute, Networking, Storage, and Database AWS services Architecting Large Scale Distributed Systems Understanding of Elasticity and Scalability Concepts Understanding of Network Technologies Relating to AWS Deploying and Managing Services with tools such as CloudFormation, OpsWorks and Elastic Beanstalk. Learn from the AWS subject-matter experts, review with proven study tools, and apply real-world scenarios. If you are looking to take the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam, this guide is what you need for comprehensive content and robust study tools that will help you gain the edge on exam day and throughout your career.

Biltmore Estate


Ellen Erwin Rickman - 2005
    Created in the 1890s by George Washington Vanderbilt, a member of one of America's wealthiest families, the estate combined a 250-room French Renaissance-style chateau with 125,000 acres of gardens, forests, and working farms. Biltmore House served as Vanderbilt's primary residence for almost 20 years. After Mr. Vanderbilt's death in 1914, life at Biltmore continued for his wife Edith and daughter Cornelia. In 1930, Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil and her husband, Hon. John Francis Amherst Cecil, opened Biltmore House--the largest private home in the United States--to the public, firmly establishing the Asheville area as a major tourist destination.

HBR's 10 Must Reads 2018: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review (with bonus article “Customer Loyalty Is Overrated”) (HBR’s 10 Must Reads)


Harvard Business Review - 2017
    With authors from Michael E. Porter to Daniel Kahneman and company examples from P&G to Adobe, this volume brings the most current and important management conversations to your fingertips. This book will inspire you to: Reconsider what keeps your customers coming back Create visualizations that send a clear message Assess how quickly disruptive change is coming to your industry Boost engagement by giving your employees the freedom to break the rules Understand what blockchain is and how it will affect your industry Get your product in customers' hands faster by accelerating your research and development phase This collection of articles includes "Customer Loyalty Is Overrated," by A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin; "Noise: How to Overcome the High, Hidden Cost of Inconsistent Decision Making," by Daniel Kahneman, Andrew M. Rosenfield, Linnea Gandhi, and Tom Blaser; "Visualizations That Really Work," by Scott Berinato; "Right Tech, Wrong Time," by Ron Adner and Rahul Kapoor; "How to Pay for Health Care," by Michael E. Porter and Robert S. Kaplan; "The Performance Management Revolution," by Peter Cappelli and Anna Tavis; "Let Your Workers Rebel," by Francesca Gino; "Why Diversity Programs Fail," by Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev; "What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class," by Joan C. Williams; "The Truth About Blockchain," by Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani; and "The Edison of Medicine," by Steven Prokesch.

Japan Style: Architecture Interiors Design


Geeta K. Mehta - 2005
    Japan Style introduces 20 special residences. With more than 200 color photographs, this book showcases the stunning beauty of old homes, and reveals how they are cared for by their owners.Traditional Japanese homes, with superbly crafted fine wood, great workmanship and seasonal interior arrangements, have an aesthetic of infinite simplicity. Unlike Japanese inns and historical buildings, the houses featured in this book are private property and are not open to public viewing. Japan Style offers a rare glimpse into the intimate world of the everyday Japanese and fascinating insight into the traditional architecture of Japan.

Unconscious Putting: Dave Stockton's Guide to Unlocking Your Signature Stroke


Dave Stockton - 2011
    As a top coach, Stockton has taught a long list of pro players-including Annika Sorenstam, Yani Tseng (winner of four LPGA tournaments), Adam Scott (Texas Open champion), Hunter Mahan (Phoenix Open champion), and Morgan Pressel (World Ladies Championship of Japan winner)-the putting strategies that finessed their game.Stockton's breakthrough concept is that every player has their own Signature Stroke, which is unconscious. Good putting comes from the mind, Stockton says, not from a series of stiff mechanical positions. With visualization, the right frame of mind, an efficient pre-putt routine, and connection to the individual internal stroke signature, any player can make far more putts. Putting has always been taught as an offshoot to the full swing, when in reality it is far different- almost a different game. "Unconscious Putting" will help players get out of the rigid, mechanical, overthinking trap.In "Unconscious Putting," Stockton shows how players at every handicap level-from pros to weekend golfers-can putt effortlessly and with confidence by integrating a new mental approach with a few simple physical routines that will keep them locked on target. Readers will also gain invaluable advice on reading greens and equipment. Illustrated throughout and filled with anecdotes about how Stockton's lessons have helped today's leading players, "Unconscious Putting" is a must-have golf book and a category classic-in-the-making.

Original Spin: Misadventures in Cricket


Vic Marks - 2019
    Apart from Richards, 'all of us were eighteen years old, though Botham seemed to have lived a bit longer - or at least more vigorously - than the rest.'In this irresistible memoir of a life lived in cricket, Vic Marks returns to the heady days when Richards and Botham were young men yet to unleash their talents on the world stage while he and Roebuck looked on in awe. After the high-octane dramas of Somerset, playing for England was almost an anti-climax for Marks, who became an unlikely all-rounder in the mercurial side of the 1980s. Moving from the dressing room to the press box, with trenchant observations about the modern game along the way, Original Spin is a charmingly wry, shrewdly observed account of a golden age in cricket.