Book picks similar to
Zelda Fitzgerald: The Biography by University Press Biographies
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Forever Young: The Story of Adrian Doherty, Football's Lost Genius
Oliver Kay - 2016
For one thing, he was blessed with extraordinary talent. Those who played alongside and watched him in the Manchester United youth team in the early 1990s insist he was as good as Ryan Giggs - possibly even better. Giggs, who played on the opposite wing, says he is inclined to agree.Doherty was also an eccentric - by football standards, at least. When his colleagues went to Old Trafford to watch the first team on Saturday afternoons, he preferred to take the bus into Manchester to go busking. He wore second-hand clothes, worshipped Bob Dylan, read about theology and French existentialism and wrote songs and poems. One team-mate says "it was like having Bob Dylan in a No 7 shirt".On his 17th birthday, Doherty was offered a five-year contract - unprecedented for a United youngster at that time - and told by Alex Ferguson that he was destined for stardom. But what followed over the next decade is a tale so mysterious, so shocking, so unusual, so amusing but ultimately so tragic, that you are left wondering how on earth it has been untold for so long.The stories of Doherty's contemporaries, that group of Manchester United youngsters who became known as the "Class of '92", are well known. Giggs ended up as the most decorated player in United's history; David Beckham became the most recognisable footballer on the planet; Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and others are household names. The story you don't know is about the player who, having had the world at his feet, died the day before his 27th birthday following an accident in a canal in Holland.
The Sum of My Parts
James Sanford - 2011
At first I tried to deny my condition (trying to treat a tumor with hot baths and ice packs). Eventually, I decided I would learn as much about my illness as possible while trying to keep my emotions on hold.What followed was an experience that finally forced me to deal with issues about my body that I had tried to ignore for decades. Along the way I dealt with a physician who gave me ridiculous advice and acquaintances who asked unbelievable questions. But I was also fortunate to be surrounded by people who supported me and doctors who helped me through the process.
The Forgotten Soldier
Charlie Connelly - 2014
They died only a few miles apart and yet there cannot be a bigger contrast between their legacies. Edward had been born into poverty in west London on the eve of the twentieth century, had a job washing railway carriages, was conscripted into the army at the age of eighteen and sent to the Western Front from where he would never return.He lies buried miles from home in a small military cemetery on the outskirts of an obscure town close to the French border in western Belgium. No-one has ever visited him.Like thousands of other young boys, Edward’s life and death were forgotten.By delving into and uncovering letters, poems and war diaries to reconstruct his great uncle’s brief life and needless death; Charlie fills in the blanks of Edward’s life with the experiences of similar young men giving a voice to the voiceless. Edward Connelly’s tragic story comes to represent all the young men who went off to the Great War and never came home.This is a book about the unsung heroes, the ordinary men who did their duty with utmost courage, and who deserve to be remembered.
Street Photography: 50 Ways to Capture Better Shots of Ordinary Life
Eric Kim - 2013
There is no need for the latest gadgets or trips to “exotic” places. Amazing images can be captured everywhere, all the time, and with the simplest equipment. All you need is a camera, an interest in ordinary people doing everyday things, and—of course—this book. In Street Photography, acclaimed photographer Eric Kim shares everything you need to develop your own street photography skills: how to conquer your fear of shooting in public, tips on choosing your gear, and inspiring techniques to discover the beauty in the mundane. You’ll learn how to chase the all-important “decisive moment,” and even how to find your own style. As a bonus, you’ll get insights from renowned street photographers Ludmilla Morais, Blake Andrews, Thomas Leuthard, and Kramer O’Neill. Street photography is all about discovering the wonderful things most of us are too busy to notice. Let this book inspire you to hit the streets—and turn everyday moments into extraordinary photos! About the author Eric Kim is a street photographer whose blog and sold-out workshops have become today’s most popular resources for aspiring “streettogs.” Eric has exhibited at Gulf Photo Plus, the ThinkTank Gallery in Los Angeles, and Leica stores internationally, and has been featured in Popular Photographer, Black+White, VICE, pixelperfect.com, Salon.com, and on the BBC. He can be found at erickimphotography.com, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Eric lives in Berkeley, CA.
War in the South Pacific: Out in the Boondocks, U.S. Marines Tell Their Stories
James Horan - 2015
We were halfway in when the Japanese machine guns got their range. Bullets slapped the water and whined as they ricocheted off the barge. Some of us ducked; some of us fell to the floor; and all of us prayed.”
Here, in heart-stopping human detail, are twenty-one personal accounts told by the men themselves. They are the stories of men who lived in hell and lived to tell of it. There is the story of Sgt. Albert Schmid who was awarded the Navy Cross for his single-handed destruction of a flanking attack while on Guadalcanal. The account of Private Nicolli who was literally blown into the air like a matchstick and then, with a piece of shrapnel in his chest, managed to help a wounded comrade to the rear. “The luckiest man in the Solomons,” Sgt. Koziar, tells of how he had his tonsils removed with the assistance of a Japanese sniper’s bullet. These are just three of the twenty-one fascinating stories that were told to Gerold Frank and James Horan just months after these marines had returned from active duty to recover from the conflict in the Pacific. The valor of these marines is astounding, as twenty-one-year-old Corporal Conroy states in the book, “I don’t suppose I shall ever be able to sum up all the bravery, the guts, the genuine, honest courage displayed by the boys out in Guadalcanal. They were afraid, and yet they took it. They had what it takes . . .” The battles of Gavutu-Tanambogo, Tulagi, Tenaru, Matanikau and Guadalcanal are all covered through these accounts which take the reader right to the epicenter of the Pacific conflict. “telling of living conditions on the beaches and in the jungles where they fought, offering an insider’s view of foxholes, food, snipers, mosquitos, boondocks, shrapnel, their injuries, and their pain.” Great Stories of World War II Gerold Frank and James Horan were professional authors who wrote down the stories of these marines shortly after they had returned from active duty. The War in the South Pacific was first published in 1943 as Out in the Boondocks. Frank went on to become a prominent ghostwriter and passed away in 1998. Horan, author of more than forty books, died in 1981.
Danger Stalks the Land: Alaskan Tales of Death and Survival
Larry Kaniut - 1999
This one-of-a-kind anthology captures the spine tingling adventures of daring men and women who venture into Alaska's vast wilderness and look death in the eye. Danger Stalks the Land relates gripping episodes of animal attacks, avalanches, aircraft disasters, fishing, hunting, and skiing accidents, and chronicles risky climbs and reckless mountaineering amid Alaska's fantastic peaks. Through exhaustive research and interviews, author Larry Kaniut has captured in one volume, the terror and beauty of man's attempt to explore a vast and unforgiving land.
Lost Boys of Hannibal: Inside America's Largest Cave Search
John Wingate - 2017
Three modern day Tom Sawyers, with no caving expertise but an abundance of bravado, made Hannibal ground zero for a terrifying calamity that would leave its traumatic mark for half a century. Joel Hoag, his brother Billy, and their friend Craig Dowell vanished after exploring a vast and complex maze cave system that had been exposed by highway construction. Fifty years later, their fate remains the ultimate unsolved mystery.
The Gilded Age
Milton Rugoff - 2018
Treasury. And Alva Vanderbilt squandered tens of thousands on one evening to crack the closed social circle of the Mrs. Astor. And when Jay Gould, of Black Friday fame, sent his card to one of the Rothschilds, it was returned with the comment, "Europe is not for sale." It was this climate of mid- and late-nineteenth-century excess that fostered the most rapid period of growth in the history of the United States, replacing the unyielding Puritanism of Cotton Mather with the flexible creed of Henry Ward Beecher. National Book Award nominee Milton Rugoff gives his uniquely revealing view of the Gilded Age in this collective biography of Americans from 1850 to 1890. Writing on the political spoilsmen, money kings, parvenus, forty-niners, lords of the press, sexual transgressors, and women's rights leaders, Rugoff focuses on thirty-six men and women from almost every walk of life. His exponents include U.S. Grant, John Charles Frémont, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jim Fisk, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Horatio Alger, free-love advocate Victoria Woodhull, first female surgeon Bethenia Owens-Adair, Brigham Young's rebellious nineteenth wife Anna Eliza Young, Boston Brahmin Charles Eliot Norton, Gold Rush pioneer Sarah Royce, black visionary Sojourner Truth, and to critique American society, Walt Whitman. In examining the Gilded Age, Milton Rugoff offers fresh glimpses into the lives of the celebrities of the era, as well as some lesser-known Americans, while at the same time revealing the roots of problems that still plague us today.
Spirituality for Badasses: How To Find Inner Peace and Happiness Without Losing Your Cool
J. Stewart Dixon - 2021
Squawk 7700
Peter M. Buffington - 2009
Buffington, tells of his personal adventure into the world of aviation to achieve a professional airline pilot career. He provides riveting details of daily operations within the aviation industry, and the struggles flight crew members face to maintain their lifestyles.Buckle your seatbelt and prepare for an eye-opening, turbulent ride into the world of aviation from the pilot's seat. From student pilot at age 15, to flight instructor, to nighttime cargo pilot, and finally to first officer aboard the ATR 42 and ATR 72 turboprop airliners, island hopping across the Caribbean, Buffington relates his personal experiences. He explains why recent accidents, like Colgan Air Flight 3407, in Buffalo, NY, and Comair Flight 5191, in Lexington, KY, can occur.My personal experiences as an airline pilot and as acting first officer aboard US Airways Flight 1549 that ditched into the Hudson River, I recommend Squawk 7700 for anyone interested in an aviation career, and mandatory reading for those who fly on our national airline system. - Jeff Skiles, First Officer US Airways Flight 1549A few more reviews...An honest, inside look at the aviation industry from someone who lived it.- A.S., Former regional airline captainI finished your book a few weeks ago...I could not put it down. It was like I was living it all right beside you. I ached in agony while reading about some of your experiences, and then thinking about how you are probably the most naturally blessed pilot with great flying abilities that I ever flew with.- K.S., American Airlines First OfficerI have just finished reading your book. I read it cover to cover in two days! Thanks for an exciting and informative story! I am impressed by the openness with which you describe your personal story....anyway, thanks again for "the book that was missing" and the best of luck to you. I will spread the word of your book among my aviation friends."-Tom P., Commercial Pilot, Danderyd, SwedenThe industry has changed much since I flew in the hay day of the airline boom. 1963 -> 1993 - retired TWA, 30 years. This young lad has written a solid tale about how things have changed in today's airline career. Outstanding book about an often overlooked niche of the aviation industry - The 1st 10 years. Sacrifices abound and soul searching within, I look back at my own sacrifice, for each of us was created to die, and within, Peter is a lad of integrity, nicely done.- TARPAAlthough two decades separate his trials and tribulations from mine to obtain federal licensing permitting us to fly commercially in an effort to build the experience necessary become employed by a major airline, the insufferable challenges remain unchanged. Peter’s descriptions of the existence of dangerously poor maintenance and unscrupulous pressure to ignore Federal Aviation Regulations at entry level air freight and air taxi charter operations were chillingly reminiscent of my experiences in the 1970s. The actions, or perhaps more accurately reactions, taken by Congress to supplant the “invisible hand” with a “visible hammer” only validate the voracity of Peter’s accounts of his experiences while attempting to pursue a career as a professional pilot. Television shows such as the PBS series Flying Cheap very adroitly lift Peter’s words from the pages of his book, and provide audio visual validation to his experiences. Squawk 7700 provides the reader with an excellent insight as to the coming shortage of qualified pilots this country will experience during the second decade of the 21st century.
OFF THE MAP: 25 True Stories to Inspire Your Next Adventure
Chelsea Fagan - 2014
But it’s never too late to write your next story, and to go on your next adventure. In partnership with Cayman Jack, Thought Catalog presents a collection of 25 travel stories to inspire you to leave behind the predictable and take to the open road in search of the unforgettable. Your next great memory is waiting for you, whether you realize it or not. And these exceptional stories will help you find it.
Call Sign Dracula: My Tour with the Black Scarves April 1969 to March 1970
Joe Fair - 2014
It is a genuine, firsthand account of a one-year tour that shows how a soldier grew and matured from an awkward, bewildered, inexperienced, eighteen year-old country “bumpkin” from Kentucky, to a tough, battle hardened, fighting soldier. You will laugh, cry and stand in awe at the true life experiences shared in this memoir. The awfulness of battle, fear beyond description, the sorrow and anguish of losing friends, extreme weariness, the dealing with the scalding sun, torrential rain, cold, heat, humidity, insects and the daily effort just to maintain sanity were struggles faced virtually every day. And yet, there were the good times. There was the coming together to laugh, joke, and share stories from home. There was the warmth and compassion shown by men to each other in such an unreal environment. You will see where color, race or where you were from had no bearing on the tight-knit group of young men that was formed from the necessity to survive. What a “bunch” they were! ... then the return to home and all the adjustments and struggles to once again fit into a world that was now strange and uncomfortable. "Call Sign Dracula" is an excellent and genuine memoir of an infantry soldier in the Vietnam War.
Diary Of An 80s Computer Geek: A Decade of Micro Computers, Video Games & Cassette Tape
Steven Howlett - 2014
The 1980s were certainly loud, often garish and utterly fabulous - no matter how embarrassing the outfits were.There are so many elements, which made the 80s a truly great decade, but one of the greatest contributions, if not the greatest, is the mass introduction of affordable 8-bit home micro computers.These curious machines of geekdom changed the way we regarded computers and technology. No longer were they the sole perverse of tweed jacket clad scientists sporting unruly beards, micro computers were now forming a staple inventory in millions of homes.Much of the technology that we enjoy today, such as desktop computers, notebooks, tablets, gaming consoles and smart phones, all of which are often taken for granted, can be traced back to this innovative decade.If you were a child of the 80s and remember the joy of receiving your very first home computer or maybe a young adult who fondly remembers the excitement, then you will appreciate this unabashed reminiscence of a simpler time whose adolescent technological was on the cusp of great advancements.This book is intended as celebration and reflection of all the computer technology that made the 80s such a wonderful, pioneering period and follows the journey of a self confessed, teenaged computer geek who experienced and enjoyed every ground breaking moment, including publishing his own software.10 Print “The 80s are fab!”20 Goto 10RunAuthor's Comments:The current edition is dated 31st January 2016 and has been edited based on customer feedback.
Steve Jobs Ek Zapatlela Tantradnya (Marathi)
ATUL KAHATE ACHYUT GODBOLE - 2011
The PCs, the i- phones, the i-pods, the tablet PCs all will be a constant reminder of the genuine and witty ways that Steve handled and fondled. He was always lost in a world of his own. He hugged the glory and the downfalls with equal aloofness. Not once were his beliefs shattered. Throughout his life, he struggled and dared to bring his dreams come true. His dreams had a silvery lining of consistency, persuasion and intention. He was unique in every way. The life threatening disease of cancer could not prevent him from working till his last breath, literally. Though stubborn and dominant by nature he stood as a magician in the field of technology. Here is a simple gesture to pay him respect and honour. A magnificent journey presented authentically.
The Presidential Years: 2012–2017
Pranab Mukherjee - 2021