The Boy Who Never Gave Up: A refugee's epic journey to triumph
Emmanuel Taban - 2021
When he finally managed to escape, he literally took a wrong turn and, instead of being reunited with his family, ended up in neighbouring Eritrea as a refugee. Over the months that followed, young Emmanuel went on a harrowing journey, often spending weeks on the streets and facing many dangers. Relying on the generosity of strangers, he made the long journey south to South Africa, via Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, travelling mostly by bus and on foot. When he reached Johannesburg, 18 months after fleeing Sudan, he was determined to resume his education. He managed to complete his schooling with the help of Catholic missionaries and entered medical school, qualifying as a doctor, and eventually specialising in pulmonology. Emmanuel's skill and dedication as a physician, and his stubborn refusal to be discouraged by setbacks, led to an important discovery in the treatment of hypoxaemic COVID-19 patients. By never giving up, this son of Sudan has risen above extreme poverty, racism and xenophobia to become a South African legend. This is his story.
Million Dollar Agent: Brokering the Dream
Josh Flagg - 2011
Within the first four years of his career, Josh participated in several record sales, including the highest sale in the history of Brentwood Park and the highest sales on the exclusive Roxbury, Foothill and Monovale Drives, making him one of Los Angeles' hottest agents. Flagg has participated in sales up to $25,000,000."The best thing I have seen Josh do, was wrap an entire house in a big red bow before delivering the keys to the new owners. He is very creative, and that is why he is so successful."In Josh s mind, there are no limitations. Josh is also one of the stars of BRAVO TVs, Million Dollar Listing, returning for its fourth season February 2011. In his new book, Million Dollar Agent: Brokering the Dream, Josh writes about having travelled to more than fifty countries, his years growing up in one of the most famous cities in the world (Beverly Hills) and how to develop a successful career in high-end real estate."My funniest experience so far was when I fell into the pool of a client s house in the middle of a showing, clothes, jewelry and all! Well I couldn t let that slow me down, so I put on the owners robe, threw on some slippers and continued the showing. The buyers sent me a pair of swim-trunks when we closed escrow." -- Josh Flagg
Flash of Silver: ...the Leap That Changed My World
Graham Kerr - 2015
It contains a powerful remedy for indifference in just one word...resilience!Resilience has begun to outstrip 'sustainability' as the action to be taken to preserve many species, including our own.Graham Kerr, as the 'Galloping Gourmet' was referred to, during his international TV series, as the 'High Priest of Hedonism'. He had learned how to eat, cook and profit from some of the finest and richest foods in the world and he used those gifts with enormous enthusiasm and good humor.Suddenly everything changed as an accident severed his success with one blow.Searching for a return to resilience for himself and his family he began an ocean sailing adventure that took them 24,000 miles in 2 years.Then follows one of the most observed U turns ever made by one man. The Kerr's went from a conspicuous gourmet lifestyle to that of a small family living their lives beyond immediate self-interest and they did this in plain sight!Graham uses the literary practice of the 'extended metaphor' to enquire how habits are both formed and relinquished. He does this by comparing his life with that of a wild pacific Chinook salmon. Using poetic license, imagination and good science he asks his readers to hear from the salmon...direct and to see how both man and fish have somewhat similar rites of passage.They are swept 'downstream' where they face continuous discovery, some of which are difficult, some joyful...even hilarious.Upon reaching the salt waters they encounter the challenge of an almost limitless 'ocean of opportunity' where they must eat or be eaten, always driven by immediate self-interest and the need to survive.Finally they turn away from conspicuous consumption and begin to go 'upstream on purpose', this time motivated not just to survive as individuals, but also as a species...It's a wild ride as the scent of their natal river begins to provide direction for their way back home, where it all began.Kerr is not an angry activist, as he puts it."I have a story to tell and it's personal. I have made a series of very obvious leaps over some major obstacles, not unlike the salmon. Their flashes of silver are, for me, a splendid example of the resilience that is ours for the asking."Flash of Silver is supported by an extensive web site that includes an interactive 'REFLECTIVE READERS CLUB' at www.grahamkerr.com/RRC
Good-bye for Always: The Triumph of the Innocents
Cecile Kaufer - 1997
The Nazis had overrun a great deal of the continent, bent on the domination of the world and the annihilation of an entire people. The death camps, unknown to most outside Europe, claimed more than six millions Jews during that time. Some endured -- and most have breathtaking stories of survival. Why they survived when so many perished is a matter of coincidence, luck, the will to live and the courage and sacrifice of many others. The full scope of that sacrifice will never be completely chronicled, it is just too vast. "Good-bye for Always, The Triumph of the Innocents" is the story of the youngest members of the Widerman family, who moved to Paris from Poland, only to be caught up in the horror of the Nazi occupation. In 1942, Cecile and Betty Widerman began a journey into the belly of the worst beast mankind has to offer. For two years they were literally one step ahead of death, as Nazi cruelty sought to envelop them as it had millions of others. How they survived, why they survived and who nearly gave their own lives to protect them is a story of inspiration and will that is sure to live forever.
The Forgotten Prince William: The House of Windsor's First Modern Prince
Parker Healy - 2012
A young page in Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s wedding, in thirty short years William became the House of Windsor's first modern prince but has been largely forgotten. He tested the limits of royal convention in work and love by pursuing a career in business and diplomacy and dating women who could never be accepted as a royal bride. William also lived an adventurous life, escaping several near death experiences during travels around the world, witnessing one of the most tragic periods in American history, and becoming a competitive pilot before his life was cut short in a tragic accident.Based on personal accounts by the family and friends who knew William best, extracts from his own reflections on his life and family, and photographs at different stages of his life, this book provides a unique glimpse into a prince’s coming of age and what growing up in the British royal family is really like.
Life of Brine
Phil Jarratt - 2017
Jarratt, who has often courted controversy in his long career as a journalist, editor and documentarian, pulls no punches as he rides an exhilarating wave of nostalgia from the Sixties up until now, through the heady days of drugs, alcohol and excess from Bali to Biarritz, Morocco to Malibu, and other exotic locations in between. Filled with the carefree, sometimes reckless enthusiasm of youth, yet balanced by reflection and insight, this is a book that will be devoured by surfers young and old, and by free spirits of all kinds and all ages. About the authorPhil Jarratt has worked in surf publishing and the surf industry for more than forty years, and is regarded as one of the sport’s foremost authorities. The editor of Tracks and Australian Surfer’s Journal and an associate editor of Surfer, Phil has received the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame Media Award four times and has won numerous other awards for his work. He has authored thirty-five books including award-winning surf histories and bestselling biographies.
Monty's Highlanders: 51st Highland Division in the Second World War
Patrick Delaforce - 1997
It was the only infantry division in the armies of the British Empire that accompanied Monty from during Alamein to BerlinAfter the 1940 disaster at St Vale'ry when many were killed or captured, the re-formed 51st were a superlative division, brilliantly inspired and led. The 'Highway Decorators' (after their famous HD cypher) fought with consummate success through North Africa and Tunisia and from Normandy into the heart of Germany. Blooded at Alamein - where they suffered over 2000 casualties - they pursued the Afrika Korps via Tripoli and Tunis fighting fierce battles along the way. They lost 1,500 men helping to liberate Sicily. Back to the UK for the second front, the Highlanders battled their way through Normandy bocage, the break-out to the Seine, triumphal re-occupation of St Vale'ry, and were the first troops to cross the Rhine, fighting on to Bremen and Bremerhaven. In the eleven months fighting in NW Europe in 1944 and 1945 the Highlanders suffered more than 9000 casualties.
Nobody's Perfect: Two Men, One Call, and a Game for Baseball History
Armando Galarraga - 2011
No hits, no walks, no men reaching base. In nearly four hundred thousand contests in more than 130 years of Major League Baseball, it has only happened twenty times. On June 2, 2010, Armando Galarraga threw baseball’s twenty-first perfect game. Except that’s not how it entered the record books.That’s because Jim Joyce, a veteran umpire with more than twenty years of big league experience, the man voted the best umpire in the game in 2010 by baseball’s players, missed the call on the final out at first base. “No, I did not get the call correct,” Joyce said after seeing a replay. But rather than throw a tantrum, Galarraga simply turned and smiled, went back to the mound and took care of business. “Nobody’s perfect,” he said later in the locker room.In Nobody’s Perfect, Galarraga and Joyce come together to tell the personal story of a remarkable game that will live forever in baseball lore, and to trace their fascinating lives in sports up until this pivotal moment. It is an absorbing insider’s look at two lives in baseball, a tremendous achievement, and an enduring moment of sportsmanship.
They Called Me God: The Best Umpire Who Ever Lived
Doug Harvey - 2014
Working his way through the minor leagues, earning three hundred dollars a month, he survived just about everything, even riots in stadiums in Puerto Rico. And while players and other umps hit the bars at night, Harvey memorized the rule book. In 1962, he broke into the big leagues and was soon listening to rookie Pete Rose worrying that he would be cut by the Reds and laying down the law with managers such as Tommy Lasorda and Joe Torre. This colorful memoir takes you behind the plate for some of baseball’s most memorable moments, including Roberto Clemente’s three thousandth and final hit; the heroic three-and-two pinch-hit home run by Kirk Gibson in the ’88 World Series; and the nail-biting excitement of the ’68 World Series. But beyond the drama, Harvey turned umpiring into an art. He was a man so respected, whose calls were so feared and infallible, that the players called him “God.” And through it all, he lived by three rules: never take anything from a player, never back down from a call, and never carry a grudge. A book for anyone who loves baseball, They Called Me God is a funny and fascinating tale of on- and off-the-field action, peopled by unforgettable characters from Bob Gibson to Nolan Ryan, and a treatise on good umpiring techniques. In a memoir that transcends the sport, Doug Harvey tells a gripping story of responsibility, fairness, and honesty.
War and Peace
Ricky Hatton - 2013
Gasping for breath, down and out, it was then that something extraordinary happened: 20,000 fans began to sing his name. Ricky Hatton: War and Peace is the story of one of British boxing’s true icons. From a Manchester council estate to the lights of Las Vegas, Ricky Hatton experienced incredible highs in his career, including one of the greatest ever wins by a British boxer, over the IBF Light Welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu. But heavy defeats to two legends of the ring, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, brought him quickly down to earth to face a new set of battles against depression, drink and drugs.Through it all, however, Ricky Hatton has remained the same charismatic, genuinely funny, eloquent man – a man who boxing fans have always taken to their heart. A man who has survived a lifetime of wars both in and out of the ring, and who in defeat has finally found something close to peace.
The Long Ball: The Summer of '75 -- Spaceman, Catfish, Charlie Hustle, and the Greatest World Series Ever Played
Tom Adelman - 2003
In this resoundingly acclaimed bestseller, Tom Adelman tells the story of the season that led up to that classic Series and then delivers the inside pitch on those amazing seven games.
Tears Behind the Veil: A True Story
Shaida Mehrban - 2008
She does well at school, plays football with her classmates and lives in a happy home with two loving parents. She has no cares, no worries. However, this all changes the day her father dies. To cope with the death of her English husband, Sania's mother takes her on a journey back to India, the land of her birth, to reunite with her family. What Sania doesn't know is that this is no holiday, but possibly her new home for the rest of her life. Sania becomes embroiled in a world of culture clashes, prejudice and forced marriages; a world where sexual abuse and the subordination of women is commonplace and unquestioned. When her mother remarries and Sania too is forced into a marriage, she must learn to live her life in India until she can find a way to get home. But how? Who will hear her cries and wipe her tears? Who will see the tears behind the veil, who will hear her tears of silence? Who can she turn to for help and support? How many sacrifices can she endure for the promise of the freedom that she so desperately desires?
Entrepreneur: Anthony Robbins: 7 Life Changing Lessons (Free "9 Keys to improving your life" and "10 Minutes Morning Ritual guide" Inside)
Dave O'Brian - 2016
When we listen, we can notice that there are seven main lessons he encourages for people to learn. By learning and implementing these lessons and habits into your everyday life, you can increase your likelihood of achieving your goals and manifesting your dreams into reality. These habits work in both your personal life, as well as your career life, and will assist you in making the most of any opportunity. It is important to realize that you must work simultaneously on your personal and business lives to achieve success in either, because as Anthony says: “Success without fulfillment is failure.” You cannot truly succeed in one, if you are unhappy and failing within’ the other.
Manny Pacquiao: A Biography
Gary Andrew Poole - 2010
But few could have imagined that Pacquiao would have ever reached the pinnacle of his sport, considering his background. He ran away from homea cardboard shack in General Santos City in the Philippinesat age fourteen. After making his way to Manila, and eventually the United States, Pacquiao hooked up with trainer Freddie Roach in 2001, and, from there, his fighting career took off.Named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World” last year, the aptly nicknamed Pac-Man is a fascinating figure who will go down as one of the greatest boxers in history.