Guitar Lessons: A Life's Journey Turning Passion Into Business


Bob Taylor - 2011
    From the "a-ha" moment in junior high school that inspired his very first guitar, Taylor has been living the American dream, crafting quality products with his own hands and building a successful, sustainable business. In Guitar Lessons, he shares the values that he lives by and that have provided the foundation for the company's success. Be inspired by a story of guts and gumption, an unwavering commitment to quality, and the hard lessons that made Taylor Guitars the company it is today.

EMERGENCY 24/7: NURSES OF THE EMERGENCY ROOM


Echo Heron - 2015
    EMERGENCY 24/7: Nurses of the Emergency Room, portrays thirty-one nurses, each with a distinctive voice and unique view of what really goes on behind the closed doors of the secret and chaotic world of the emergency room. Also included are the moment-by-moment chronicles of eleven nurses who worked in New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001. These compelling accounts give new perspectives on the horrors and heroics of that tragic day. Ranging from inspiring to heart-rending to outrageously funny, these gripping narratives make EMERGENCY 24/7 a fascinating and provocative book—a fitting tribute to the frontline nurses.

Ronan O'Gara: My Autobiography


Ronan O'Gara - 2008
    He is a brilliant kicker both from the hand and at penalty goals, a sublime organizer of play from the out-half position, and a cool head in the pressure-cooker of club and international rugby. The list of the Cork man's achievements goes on and on:  he is the leading points scorer in Irish rugby history, and one of the top ten in the world; the leading points scorer in the history of the Heineken Cup; and the first ever points and try scorer at the home of Gaelic sports, Croke Park. In his candid, illuminating autobiography, O'Gara tells the story of those many on-field successes, culminating in the glorious year of 2006 when his tactical prowess and will to win first helped guide Ireland to the Triple Crown in the Six Nations championship, then Munster to a memorable Heineken Cup victory over Biarritz at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. O'Gara kicked a perfect five out of five in the 23-19 win as Munster lifted the coveted trophy for the first time, sparking wild celebrations heard all the way back in Limerick and Cork. Yet as in any sporting career, there have been the setbacks as well, most notably Ireland's disappointing performance in the Rugby World Cup in France last year. O'Gara reveals what really went on in a divided dressing-room as a series of flat performances sent the Irish crashing out, while he personally had to deal with a series of front-page allegations about his private life. O’Gara has never been shy about the fact that he's fond of a drink and a bet, and he confronts his critics head on in this book. This is the unforgettable story of a rugby player at the top of his game, of a life lived to the full, and of a passionate and proud representative of the people of Cork and Ireland.

Rodeo In Joliet


Glenn Rockowitz - 2009
    The story takes us from Glenn's unexpected diagnosis of 'three months at best' just days before the birth of his only child, to his miraculous remission and the ironic death of his father. It is a journey that is by turns heartbreaking, painfully funny, misanthropic, loving and ultimately heroic. Rodeo In Joliet tramples the Hallmark cliches and platitudes of traditional cancer survival stories and presents in their place an experience that leaves the reader in awe and grateful for his or her every breath.

Life Is Tough (But So Are You): How to rise to the challenge when things go pear-shaped


Briony Benjamin - 2022
    "This is the book everyone needs to read when life takes an unexpected turn." - Mia Freedman, MamaMia Not all storms come to disrupt your life. Some come to clear your path. Viral video producer Briony Benjamin was a few months into a new job when she started feeling crappy... All. The. Time. Doctors told her she was just stressed and should rest more and learn to meditate. But it turns out she had cancer all through her body. Turning the camera on herself, Briony started documenting her journey in the short video You Only Get One Life. Its raw portrayal of her experience went viral, touching millions. Here Briony shares some of the important lessons learnt through her illness and recovery - everything from how to assemble your A Team in times of crisis and learning to make friends with the pain, to happy hacks for cutting yourself some slack and some great tips on being a kick-arse support human when a friend is going through the rough stuff. If you want to live the richest version of your life, bring some more joy into your day-to-day existence and have some tools up your sleeve for when things get tricksy, this book is for you. Because - spoiler alert - we all have to deal with our fair share of tough times sooner or later. It's how we handle them and bounce back afterwards that really matters.

Waiting to Derail: Ryan Adams and Whiskeytown, Alt-Country's Brilliant Wreck


Thomas O'Keefe - 2018
    Lumped into the burgeoning alt-country movement, the band soon landed a major label deal and recorded an instant classic: Strangers Almanac. That's when tour manager Thomas O'Keefe met the young musician.For the next three years, Thomas was at Ryan's side: on the tour bus, in the hotels, backstage at the venues. Whiskeytown built a reputation for being, as the Detroit Free Press put it, "half band, half soap opera," and Thomas discovered that young Ryan was equal parts songwriting prodigy and drunken buffoon. Ninety percent of the time, Thomas could talk Ryan into doing the right thing. Five percent of the time, he could cover up whatever idiotic thing Ryan had done. But the final five percent? Whiskeytown was screwed.Twenty-plus years later, accounts of Ryan's legendary antics are still passed around in music circles. But only three people on the planet witnessed every Whiskeytown show from the release of Strangers Almanac to the band's eventual breakup: Ryan, fiddle player Caitlin Cary, and Thomas O'Keefe.

Where the Devil Don't Stay: Traveling the South with the Drive-By Truckers


Stephen Deusner - 2021
    The Drive-By Truckers, as they named themselves, grew into one of the best and most consequential rock bands of the twenty-first century, a great live act whose songs deliver the truth and nuance rarely bestowed on Southerners, so often reduced to stereotypes.Where the Devil Don’t Stay tells the band’s unlikely story not chronologically but geographically. Seeing the Truckers’ albums as roadmaps through a landscape that is half-real, half-imagined, their fellow Southerner Stephen Deusner travels to the places the band’s members have lived in and written about. Tracking the band from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, to the author’s hometown in McNairy County, Tennessee, Deusner explores the Truckers’ complex relationship to the South and the issues of class, race, history, and religion that run through their music. Drawing on new interviews with past and present band members, including Jason Isbell, Where the Devil Don’t Stay is more than the story of a great American band; it’s a reflection on the power of music and how it can frame and shape a larger culture.

You Are a Complete Disappointment: A Triumphant Memoir of Failed Expectations


Mike Edison - 2016
    For anyone who has ever suffered from parental bullying, this often-hilarious yet intensely heartbreaking memoir from the former High Times publisher will provide both solace and laughter. It begins with a child’s hunger for love and acceptance and continues through years of withering criticism, perverse expectations, and unfounded competition from a narcissistic father who couldn’t tolerate his son’s happiness and libertine spirit. In the end, the author unravels a relationship that could never be fixed—but perhaps didn’t need to be. In the spirit of Augusten Burroughs by way of Jeannette Walls, Edison’s memoir is a candid, devastating, and deeply funny read.

Pull No Punches: Memoir of a political survivor


Judith Collins - 2020
    

Whistle in the Wind: Life, death, detriment and dismissal in the NHS. A whistleblower's story


Peter Duffy - 2019
    Charting his career pathway from auxiliary nurse and unskilled operating theatre orderly, he takes us through his progress to senior consultant surgeon and head of department. In 2015, and after blowing the whistle on a series of near misses, he reluctantly reported an avoidable death, cover-up and ongoing surgical risk-taking to the Care Quality Commission. Within months he was out of work and unemployed. Via avoidable deaths and errors, cover-ups, misuse of public funds, bullying, abuse and victimisation the author charts out in searing detail his demotion, punishments and exile from both family and NHS and the subsequent brutal legal process that followed his illegal dismissal. "Peter's love for his family and for what he does as a surgeon runs through the pages of this gripping book as he takes you on a journey to some of the darker areas of our NHS and legal system. As a society we need to face up to the appalling reality of what the NHS does to staff that speak up and how much public money it wastes fighting people that act in the public interest. Even a committed, award winning surgeon who transformed cancer services was not immune from attempts by the NHS to destroy him when he decided to stand up for patients and services. This is everyone's problem." Dr Chris Day, junior doctor and whistle-blower "As a fellow whistleblower in the same NHS Trust I recommend that everybody should read Peter's account. This is an incredibly important and unmissable portrayal of how toxic NHS management culture is harming patients and destroying the careers and lives of dedicated healthcare professionals. His bravery, dedication to his patients and commitment to exposing the truth is commendable. Read his book to learn the truth as to what is happening every day in NHS Trusts across the UK." Sue Allison, Morecambe Bay whistle-blower "Peter’s book has opened our eyes to a series of injustices that has not only destroyed his family life but revealed appalling wrong doings within the NHS. Our father was sadly a victim in a dysfunctional urological surgery department, where Peter was trying to make a difference against the odds. Our sincerest gratitude goes to a person who has tirelessly fought with passion, dignity and sheer determination against an organisation that wish to silence the honesty of a whistle-blower." Karen and Nicola Read, daughters of ‘Patient A’

The Voice: Listening for God’s Voice and Finding Your Own


Sandi Patty - 2018
    And yet, off the stage, Sandi struggled to have a voice at all.Through deeply intimate stories of her life and the empowering spiritual truths she’s learned, Sandi offers readers wisdom to navigate the journey from voicelessness to discovering the voice God has given you. With a poignant history of sexual abuse, infidelity, divorce, and crises of self-image, Sandi lived much of her life feeling unworthy of love or value. And like so many of us, she coped by living through the voices of others, allowing other people to prescribe her identity. As she performed around the world, Sandi met others just like her, who hid wounds behind quiet smiles and struggled to live with fractured identities.Sandi’s warm and invitational writing will draw you to the voice of God who sings over your life saying you are seen, you are loved, and your voice is worth hearing. With timeless wisdom, The Voice will help you uncover your God-given identity and a voice of your very own.“God heard my voice even when I couldn’t hear it myself and then his voice broke through my walls and wounds, insecurities and self-doubts. I am voiceless no more!”

Wicked and Weird: The Amazing Tales of Buck 65


Rich Terfry - 2015
    Born in a small town in Nova Scotia to a mother who begins yelling at him the moment he is born and a father who keeps his own counsel, Buck imbibes fear and insecurity like other kids guzzle milk. Hobbled by his fears and demons, Buck almost disappears into the “evil in the woods” that lurks just beyond the town's border . . . until he is saved by three gifts: baseball, romantic love and music. His epic journey­­—full of diversions, coincidences, and larger-than-life characters—out of the darkness of his suicide-plagued childhood and into the bright wide world begins with a killer pitching arm (Buck almost makes it to the pros) and continues with his transformation into hip hop artist Buck 65. Along the way, Buck develops into a hopeless romantic and an obsessively creative, shape-shifting man who both fears life and dives into it with abandon. Wicked and Weird is a lively, sometimes shocking portrait of a life lived on the edge, by turns funny and heartbreaking.

And Then I Cried: Stories of a Mortuary NCO


Justin Jordan - 2012
    Jordan details life as an Air Force Mortuary Non Commissioned Officer. In his stunning debut Jordan forces the reader to walk beside him on his journey in this gruesome world. Jordan holds nothing back, and shares in graphic detail how he honored Americas heroes, both at deployed locations and stateside. This book will pry your eyes wide open as you gasp from the sheer horror he faced daily, from dealing with the families of the fallen, to witnessing the embalming and preparations of the deceased. Jordan also shares how this job taxed his mental well being, as he suffered in silence, longing not to care. Jordan is still serving on Active Duty and suffers from the crippling effects of PTSD, his story will enlighten you, it will touch you, and yes, you will cry.

Drive: 9 Lessons to Win in Business and in Life


Kelley Earnhardt Miller - 2020
    In Drive, Kelley Earnhardt Miller, daughter of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and sister to Dale Jr., opens up about growing up in the world of NASCAR, sharing the lessons she learned about being a successful business leader and what she discovered, often the hard way, about winning in life.Kelley never felt she was winning at anything until she began to deal with the thoughts and feelings that were driving her decisions and taking her in the wrong direction. Her journey of transformation is what empowered her to run the family business in an entirely different way than she had previously and to lead people not only with her head but also with her heart.Drive offers nine important lessons learned about winning in business and in life, given not as a formula for greatness but as insight from a fellow traveler on a journey that is sometimes difficult, painful, unexpected, or confusing and sometimes exhilarating and joyful:Be Authentic and ApproachableManage Your EmotionsSucceed Using StrengthsLet Go to Move ForwardCustomize Your CommunicationKnow How to Make DecisionsAim for the Win-WinShow KindnessLive a Balanced LifeBecome a stronger person and a more effective leader by facing the truth about your own life in a healthy way and then drive to the win!

Nightingale: A Memoir of Murder, Madness, and the Messenger of Spring


Suzanne Congdon LeRoy - 2014
    Entrusted with the burdens and joys of memory, Elisabeth’s eldest granddaughter, Suzanne Congdon LeRoy, combines lived experience with meticulous historical research as she details a family legacy filled with inconceivable loss, love, and perseverance. Elisabeth Congdon emerges as the messenger of spring and the key to her granddaughter’s survival. Her early efforts to nurture a foundation of hope, optimism, and the power of possibility lead Suzanne to advanced education, a remarkable nursing career and the discovery of the ineffable relationship between healing oneself, service to others, and the connection to the spirit and beauty of the earth that makes her whole again. “Nightingale” is a book of rare power, beauty, and hope. All proceeds, after taxes, are used to support health and human rights initiatives that benefit women and girls with an emphasis on education, reproductive health, and violence prevention.