Being Mortal by Atul Gawande - A 20-minute Summary: Medicine and What Matters in the End


Instaread Summaries - 2014
    Being Mortal by Atul Gawande - A 20-minute Summary Inside this Instaread Summary: • Overview of the entire book• Introduction to the important people in the book• Summary and analysis of all the chapters in the book• Key Takeaways of the book• A Reader's Perspective Preview of this summary: Chapter 1 Gawande grew up in Ohio. His parents were immigrants from India and both were doctors. His grandparents stayed in India, and there were few older people in his neighborhood, so he had little experience with aging or death until he met his wife’s grandmother, Alice Hobson. Hobson was seventy-seven and living on her own in Virginia. She was a spirited widow who fixed her own plumbing and volunteered with Meals On Wheels. However, Hobson was losing strength and height steadily each year as her arthritis worsened.Gawande’s father enthusiastically adopted the customs of his new country, but he could not understand the way in which seniors were treated in the US. In India, the elderly were treated with great respect and lived out their lives with family.In the United States, Sitaram Gawande, Gawande’s grandfather, likely would have been sent to a nursing home like most of the elderly who cannot handle the basics of daily living by themselves. However, in India, Sitaram Gawande was able to live in his own home and manage his own affairs, with family constantly around him. He died at the age of one hundred and ten when he fell off a bus during a business trip.Until recently, most elderly people stayed with their families. Even as the nuclear family unit became predominant, replacing the multi-generational family unit, people cared for their elderly relatives. Families were large and one child, usually a daughter, would not marry in order to take care of the parents.This has changed in much of the world, where elderly people end up struggling to live alone, like Hobson, rather than living with dignity amid family, like Sitaram Gawande.One cause of this change can be found in the nature of knowledge. When few people lived to be very old, elders were honored. Their store of knowledge was greatly useful. People often portrayed themselves as older to command respect. Modern society’s emphasis on youth is a complete reversal of this attitude. Technological advances are perceived as the territory of the young, and everyone wants to be younger. High-tech job opportunities are all over the world, and young people do not hesitate to leave their parents behind to pursue them.In developed countries, parents embrace the concept of a retirement filled with leisure activities. Parents are happy to begin living for themselves once children are grown. However, this system only works for young, healthy retirees, but not for those who cannot continue to be independent. Hobson, for example, was falling frequently and suffering memory lapses. Her doctor did tests and wrote prescriptions, but did not know what to do about her deteriorating condition. Neither did her family… About the Author With Instaread Summaries, you can get the summary of a book in 30 minutes or less. We read every chapter, summarize and analyze it for your convenience.

Phil Lynott: The Rocker


Mark Putterford - 1994
    Using dozens of frank interviews with family friends and band members, this is a touching and shocking account of the life of the Irish legend.Mark Putterford's eye opening biography traces Lynott's visionary ambitions to fuse dance music and heavy rock as well as influences on the early careers of future stars like Bob Geldof, Midge Ure, Huey Lewis and Mark Knopfler.Using dozens of frank interviews with family, friends and band members, Putterford gives us a touching and sometimes shocking account of the life of the one and only black Irish rock legend.Includes full discography.

The Trouser Press Guide to 90's Rock


Ira A. Robbins - 1997
    Each insightful entry contains pungent critical analysis, biographical information and a complete album disography.Selected praise for "The Trouser Press Record Guide to '90's Rock""My trustworthy fact checker, be-all-and-end-all arguement settler and the last word on modern rock. I don't go on the air without it." -- Gary Cee, WLIR-FM"Still the most comprehensive guide through the labryrinth of indie and alternative rock. WHen you need a refresher course on all of Steve Albini's bands, or if you just wan tto know what Boy George did after Cultrue Club, this is the book to grab." -- David Browne, "Entertainment Weekly"

Peter Capstick's Africa: A Return To The Long Grass


Peter Hathaway Capstick - 1987
    Such highly successful titles as Death in the Long Grass, Death in the Silent Places, and Death in the Dark Continent have established him as the modern-day master of African adventure writing. Sportsman, adventurer, raconteur par excellence, Capstick has in many ways done for contemporary hunting literature what Hemingway and Robert Ruark did in decades past.Until now, Capstick has written post facto about classic hunters of the past and safaris in which he participated as a professional hunter. Peter Capstick's Africa, however, is a very different breed of book: it is the enthralling tale of an entirely new safari, an exciting first-person adventure in which Peter Capstick returns to the long grass for his own dangerous and very personal excursion. The result is a definitive work on African hunting, and one of Peter Capstick's greatest achievements to date.In 1985, Capstick went back into the African bush with two top photographers and a crack professional hunter, It was a venture taken for personal challenge, and for the chance to look anew at what had become of the Africa immortalized in his own earlier works. Peter Capstick's Africa is the chronicle, in text and pictures, of this safari. It is full of the same edge-of-the-seat narration, witty anecdotes, and wry observations that have made Capstick's earlier books so popular. But in addition, it tells the story of Africa today as Capstick sees it: a place that is in some ways the same as, but in many different from, the "dark continent" of even a few years ago. The text of the book has been integrated with the photographs of Paul Kimble and Dick van Niekerk into a lavish full-color production that illustrates Capstick's story in a way his fans have never seen before.Peter Capstick's Africa is a book few lovers of travel and adventure will want to be without.

Bad Boys Finish First: How to Stop Being the Nice Guy and Become the Man Women Can’t Resist


Dominic Mann - 2016
    Bad Boys Finish First: How to Stop Being the Nice Guy and Become the Man Women Can’t Resist will explain the evolutionary basis for why women love jerks--and how you can turn that to your advantage. Bad Boys Finish First offers easy, proven dating tips any guy can follow. Whether your goal is seduction or a lasting relationship, you’ll discover how to awaken the deepest desires in any woman. Inside the Book: How to be comfortable with your own masculinity The importance of not investing in any one woman Why you should tell her she looks fat in that dress The power of making statements, not asking questions The tests all women will give you--and how to pass them, every time And much more!You CAN escape the friendzone. Grab Bad Boys Finish First today, and watch as women flock to your side!

Thoughts on The Promise and Darkness On The Edge Of Town


Bruce Springsteen - 2010
    The second essay appears in Springsteen's forthcoming releases, The Promise and The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story.

The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry for the Prize


David Cavanagh - 2000
    During the Britpop boom of the mid-90s, the astonishing success of Oasis brought Creation fame on the world stage. In 1999, however, McGee announced his shock departure as his label's influence over a generation of British music came to a confusing and disappointing end.

Intelligent Music Teaching: Essays on the Core Principles of Effective Instruction


Robert A. Duke - 2009
    Written in an engaging, conversational style, the individual essays outline the elements of intelligent, creative teaching. Duke effectively explains how teachers can meet the needs of individual students from a wide range of abilities by understanding more deeply how people learn. Teachers and interested parents alike will benefit from this informative and highly readable book.

Bittman's Kitchen: What I Grill and Why (Kindle Single)


Mark Bittman - 2011
    These are the essentials, the ones that Bittman goes back to time and again. Easy and accessible, each of these is a delicious excuse to grab a spatula and head outside. And, each is accompanied by short essay written in Bittman's trademark conversational style--so you feel like he's right there with you at the grill, sharing a story while the coals heat up. With this must-have grilling collection, Bittman also serves up a short but comprehensive guide to the grill, including how to get started, how to master doneness, what to grill, and what to keep in the pantry to make planning simple. Whether you cook everyday or pick up a set of tongs only on holiday weekends, these recipes are the ones you'll want to have on hand all summer long.

Illuminati in the Music Industry


Mark Dice - 2013
    These stars allegedly use Illuminati and satanic symbolism in their music videos and on their clothes that goes unnoticed by those not “in the know.”Since these stars appear in our livings rooms on family friendly mainstream shows like Good Morning America, Ellen, and dozens of others—and are loved by virtually all the kids—they couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the infamous Illuminati or anything “satanic,” could they? Some famous musicians have even publicly denounced the Illuminati in interviews or songs.Illuminati in the Music Industry takes a close look at some of today’s hottest stars and decodes the secret symbols, song lyrics, and separates the facts from the fiction in this fascinating topic. You may never see your favorite musicians the same way ever again. Includes 50 photographs.Discover why so many artists are promoting the Illuminati as the secret to success. Why an aspiring rapper in Virginia shot his friend as an “Illuminati sacrifice” hoping it would help him become rich and famous. How and why the founder of BET Black Entertainment Television became the first African American billionaire.Why popular female pop stars like Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, Kesha and others are promoting Satanism as cool, something that was once only seen in heavy metal and rock and roll bands. Some musicians like Korn’s singer Jonathan Davis, rapper MC Hammer, Megadeth’s frontman Dave Mustaine and others, have all denounced the Illuminati and artists promoting them. Les Claypool, singer of Primus wrote a song about the Bohemian Grove.Muse singer Matt Bellamy recants his belief that 9/11 was an inside job after getting a taste of mainstream success with his album, The Resistance. Bono said he attended an Illuminati meeting with other celebrities. Was he joking or serious?Why rap and hip hop is filled with Illuminati puppets and wannabes more than other genres of music.Learn about media effects, the power of celebrity, what the externalization of the hierarchy means and how you can break free from the mental enslavement of mainstream media and music. By the author of The Illuminati: Facts & Fiction-About the Author-Mark Dice is a media analyst, author, and political activist who, in an entertaining and educational way, gets people to question our celebrity obsessed culture and the role the mainstream media and elite secret societies play in shaping our lives. Mark's YouTube channel has received over 150 million views and his viral videos have been mentioned on the Fox News Channel, CNN, the Drudge Report, TMZ, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, and other media outlets around the world.He has been featured on various television shows including the History Channel's Decoded and America's Book of Secrets, Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, Secret Societies of Hollywood on E! Channel, America Declassified on the Travel Channel, and is a frequent guest on Coast to Coast AM, The Alex Jones Show, and more.Mark Dice is the author of several popular books on secret societies and conspiracies, including The Illuminati in Hollywood, Big Brother: The Orwellian Nightmare Come True, The New World Order, Facts & Fiction, Inside the Illuminat

A Many-Colored Glass (Page-Barbour Lectures)


Freeman Dyson - 2007
    The emphasis is, instead, on the myriad ways in which the universe presents itself to us--and how, as observers and participants in its processes, we respond to it. "Life, like a dome of many-colored glass," wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley, "stains the white radiance of eternity." The author seeks here to explore the variety that gives life its beauty.Taken from Dyson's recent public lectures--delivered to audiences with no specialized knowledge in hard sciences--the book begins with a consideration of the practical and political questions surrounding biotechnology. As he seeks how best to explain the place of life in the universe, Dyson then moves from the ethical to the purely scientific. The book concludes with an attempt to understand the implications of biology for philosophy and religion.The pieces in this collection touch on numerous disciplines, from astronomy and ecology to neurology and theology, speaking to the lay reader as well as to the scientist. As always, Dyson's view of human nature and behavior is balanced, and his predictions of a world to come serve primarily as a means for thinking about the world as it is today.

Days of Defiance: Sumter, Secession, and the Coming of the Civil War


Maury Klein - 1997
    . . . Deserves a place in the highest ranks of Civil War scholarship."--The Cleveland Plain DealerIn November 1860, telegraph lines carried the news that Abraham Lincoln had been elected president. Over the next five months the United States drifted, stumbled, and finally plunged into the most destructive war this country has ever faced. With a masterful eye for telling detail, Maury Klein provides fascinating new insights into the period from the election of Abraham Lincoln to the shelling of Fort Sumter.Klein brings the key players in the tragedy unforgettably to life: from the vacillating lame-duck President Buchanan, to the taciturn, elusive, and relatively unknown Abraham Lincoln; from Secretary of State Seward carrying on his own private negotiations with the South, to Major Robert Anderson sitting in his island fortress awaiting reinforcements. Never has this immensely significant moment in our national story been so intelligently of so spellbindingly related.

Bob Marley: A Life from Beginning to End (Biographies of Musicians)


Hourly History - 2021
    

Some Girls


Cyrus R.K. Patell - 2011
    A fascinating look at the Stones in the late 70s - inspired by a year just spent in the disco/punk cauldron of New York City.

Queens Reigns Supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent, and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler


Ethan Brown - 2005
    Now, for the first time ever, this gripping narrative digs beneath the hip-hop fables to re-create the rise and fall of hustlers like Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichols, Gerald “Prince” Miller, Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, and Thomas “Tony Montana” Mickens. Spanning twenty-five years, from the violence of the crack era to Run DMC to the infamous murder of NYPD rookie Edward Byrne to Tupac Shakur to 50 Cent’s battles against Ja Rule and Murder Inc., to the killing of Jam Master Jay, Queens Reigns Supreme is the first inside look at the infamous southeast Queens crews and their connections to gangster culture in hip hop today.