Book picks similar to
The Tarnished Shooter by Charles James
memoir
biography
general-nonfiction
narrative-nonfiction
Determined, Dedicated, Disciplined to Be Fit: The "Ageless" Journey of Ernestine Shepherd
Ernestine Shepherd - 2016
She is up at 3 a.m. every morning, she spends her days running, lifting weights and working out. She also works as a certified personal trainer at her gym. Feeling better than she did at 40, "Bodybuilding Champion" Ernestine Shepherd shows us that being out of shape as we age truly is merely an option, NOT a mandate! She is a role model not just for senior women everywhere, but for every one of us. She is having the time of her life and constantly shows that "age is nothing but a number." When many folks only see themselves as declining and getting old, she is in the best shape of her life and is a supreme role model to seniors every where and to the rest of us, too. She has a lot to teach us about thriving at any age, if we are but ready and open to learn. What's her secret? What exactly is she doing to defy "normal" aging? How did she transform herself from an average middle-aged woman to bodybuilding diva? Are you ready to go on her life journey and see the world from her eyes? Ready? Ok, let's get determined, dedicated and disciplined to be fit through the eyes of Lady Ernestine Shepherd, and ghostwriter and publisher, Theresa Royal Brown. This book will make you laugh and cry and help you get started on your own fitness journey.
Downsizing: How I Lost 8 Stone, Reversed My Diabetes and Regained My Health
Tom Watson - 2020
This book will change lives.' Michael Mosley
'Two years ago I turned 50, weighed 22 stone and was heavily medicated for type 2 diabetes. I thought it would be all downhill from there. By radically changing my nutrition, cutting out sugar, and taking up exercise, I've changed my life and reversed my diabetes. I hope my story will inspire others to regain their health and happiness and discover the new lease of life I'm experiencing.'Tom Watson began to put on weight in his early twenties, having developed an appetite for fast food and cheap beer while studying at the University of Hull. As time progressed - and his penchant for anything sweet, fatty or fizzy persisted - he found himself adjusting his belt, loosening his collar and upsizing his wardrobe to XXL. He continued to pile on the pounds when he entered the world of politics as MP for West Bromwich East (despite short-lived flirtations with fad diets and fitness classes). By December 2014, his bathroom scales had tipped to 22 stone. After being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in late 2015, he decided to take control of his diet and exercise. He started to feel better quickly and within a short time his long-term blood sugar levels were within normal range. By July 2018, he came off medication.
Marv Levy: Where Else Would You Rather Be?
Marv Levy - 2004
Forty-seven years of joyous celebrations after victories and crushing disappointments after defeats are encompassed in it, but it is about more than just touchdowns and interceptions. It is about how a person like Marv Levy, dedicated to his life's work, can begin his career as the obscure assistant coach of a high school junior varsity team and then one day, decades later, lead his men out onto the field in football's greatest spectacle--the Super Bowl. Readers are invited to come experience what it was like to be on the sidelines and be the winning coach in a game that has been designated as the greatest upset in collegiate football history and then be there again 25 years later when an injury-riddled team, losing 35-3 in the second half, rallies and then miraculously goes on to achieve the greatest comeback victory in the history of the National Football League. Fans will learn what it was like to wallow in the exhilaration that comes from leading a team to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances, only to follow it with the desolation that strikes when all four of those games end in defeat. But they will also learn about the character, persistence, and personalities of those incomparable Buffalo Bills of the 1990s who so resolutely pursued their impossible dream. There will be some laughs and there may be some tears. Readers will meet the people who shaped this coach's life, and they will wind up feeling close to them. They will look forward to each adventure contained in these pages, and when each new one does come, they are likely to say, along with the author, "Where else would I rather be than right here--rightnow "
Dude, Where's my Stethoscope
Donovan Gray - 2012
The adventure begins during the author's formative years in medical school and takes the reader through two decades of thought-provoking rural and urban-based ER and family practice experiences. Humorously written in an engaging mash-up of formal prose and informal medical slang with a nod to pop culture and ancient mythology, Dude is a powerful book that is certain to please readers of all stripes.
Fighting Back: The Chris Nilan Story
Chris Nilan - 2013
He was a valued teammate whose very presence on the ice affected the way the game was played. As an enforcer and as a teammate, Nilan ranks among the greatest of all time; when the cheering stopped, however, Chris Nilan did not do well. The same qualities—his aggressiveness and high-emotion style—that proved so valuable on the ice did not serve him well when his career ended. Nilan turned to drugs and alcohol to dull his pain and nearly died from an overdose. His story is a fascinating and troubling exposé of the booze, bills, and drugs that destroy so many athletes after their careers are over. But it’s also a story of triumph, as Nilan has been the victor in his fight against his demons.
Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism
Jenny McCarthy - 2007
She ran into her two-year-old son Evan's room and found him having a seizure. Doctor after doctor misdiagnosed Evan until after many harrowing, life-threatening episodes one good doctor discovered that Evan is autistic.With a foreword from Dr. David Feinberg, medical director of the Resnick Neuro-psychiatric Hospital at UCLA, and an introduction by Jerry J. Kartzinel, a top pediatric autism specialist, Louder Than Words follows Jenny as she discovered an intense combination of behavioral therapy, diet, and supplements that became the key to saving Evan from autism. Her story sheds much-needed light on autism through her own heartbreak, struggle, and ultimately hopeful example of how a parent can shape a child's life and happiness.
The Interventionist
Joani Gammill - 2011
Phil's leading interventionist and recovering addict Joani Gammill."Exuding the same passion and purpose as the author herself, Joani Gammill's The Interventionist is a heartfelt game changer and long overdue. You deserve to read it." --Dr. Phil McGraw, host of CBS's nationally syndicated show "Dr. Phil" Joani Gammill, an average suburban mom on the outside, was secretly addicted to multiple forms of opiates and amphetamine for years, and almost died as a result. Through the life-changing intervention staged by Dr. Phil on his show, Gammill not only committed to getting help for her addiction, but she also went on to become a professional interventionist, helping thousands of others in distress. In The Interventionist, she intertwines her experiences with depictions of her often harrowing and always inspiring interventions of the addicts and families she's worked with over the years. In each chapter she recounts details of a client's unique battle with addiction and the devastation that led to a loved one's request for her help. Gammill's intriguing story--and the equally captivating stories of the brave people who come to her for help--demonstrates how it is possible to emerge from the seemingly hopeless world of out-of-control drug use and not only regain one's sanity, but actually discover that life clean and sober can be more meaningful than it ever was before.
Strange Places
Will Elliott - 2009
In 2006 Will Elliott had his first novel the Pilo Family Circus published. It won five literary awards and great acclaim, nationally and internationally. What nobody knew was that the young author of that work of terrifying fantasy had recently recovered from a psychotic episode and been diagnosed as schizophrenic. Strange Places takes us on a journey through psychosis and out the other side, documenting the delusions, the drugs and the insights that recovery brings. A beautifully written memoir of a harrowing - and enlightening - time, from one of Australia's best young writers.
Ruby's Diary: Reflections on All I've Lost and Gained
Ruby Gettinger - 2009
As the ad campaign for the show says, Ruby doesn′t know how she got to this weight, but she knows its killing her. Having been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and told by doctors that she would die if she continued to carry all that weight, Ruby is changing her life to save it. Her honesty, optimism and genuine commitment to uncover all the underlying causes of her addiction--mental, physical and emotional--are inspiring millions of others in the process. So too is her progress. (She′s now down to 360 pounds!)While Style′s cameras have been following Ruby′s personal journey as she sheds the weight, gets healthier, battles discrimination daily, and struggles to recover lost childhood memories, these excerpts, taken from the journal Ruby carries with her everywhere on the show, include her most intimate reflections, insights and discoveries regarding her life "before" and "during" this incredibly transformative experience. It also includes her fears, hopes and dreams for life after her goal is realized. In addition, the book will feature thoughts from the doctors, dieticians, trainers, therapists, friends and family supporting Ruby′s mission. Everyone following and touched by Ruby′s story will want to read this book.
Into The Rip
Damien Cave - 2021
Having covered the war in Iraq and moved to Mexico City with two babies in nappies, he and his wife Diana thought they understood something about the subject.But when they arrived in Sydney so that Cave could establish The New York Times's Australia Bureau, life near the ocean confronted them with new ideas and questions, at odds with their American mindset that risk was a matter of individual choices. Surf-lifesaving and Nippers showed that perhaps it could be managed together, by communities. And instead of being either eliminated or romanticised, it might instead be respected and even embraced.And so Cave set out to understand how our current attitude to risk developed - and why it's not necessarily good for us.Into the Rip is partly the story of this New York family learning to live better by living with the sea and it is partly the story of how humans manage the idea of risk. Interviewing experts and everyday heroes, Cave asks critical questions like: Is safety overrated? Why do we miscalculate risk so often and how can we improve? Is it selfish to take risks or can more exposure make for stronger families, citizens and nations? And how do we factor in legitimate fears and major disasters like Cave has covered in his time here: the Black Summer fires; the Christchurch massacre; and, of course, Covid?The result is Grit meets Phosphorescence and Any Ordinary Day - a book that will change the way you and your family think about facing the world's hazards.
Life, Interrupted
James McConnel - 2006
He finds some solace in his talent for piano playing but slowly comes to realise that the incontrollable sniffs, coughs, and faces night not just be a funny, little habit.
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
Susannah Cahalan - 2012
Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Cahalan tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen.
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.
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.
Always Young and Restless: My Life On and Off America's #1 Daytime Drama
Melody Thomas Scott - 2020
But the high drama, angst, and catastrophes aren’t confined to her character’s plotlines. In this captivating memoir, Melody reveals behind-the-scenes tales of her own riveting journey to becoming an icon.As Nikki Newman went from impoverished stripper to resourceful, vivacious heroine―with missteps as gripping as her triumphs―Melody became a household name, enthralling audiences across the globe. But her road to stardom also had to be one to freedom marked by an escape fit for cinema. In Always Young and Restless, Melody tells of her troubled, untraditional upbringing for the first time.Readers will learn how she suffered at home with her hoarder grandmother, whose cruelty as her manager is shockingly extreme; abuse at the hands of industry men; the intensity of acting in feature films with Alfred Hitchcock and Clint Eastwood; and how she finally took control of her life and career, in a getaway move as daring as any on The Young and the Restless. And of course, Melody divulges forty years’ worth of juicy on-and-off-set details of what it’s like to be one-half of the show’s most successful supercouple, “Niktor,” plus her personal path to healing, love, and family. In witty, warm prose, meet the shining, persevering heart of an American icon―and prepare to be moved by a life story fit for a soap opera star.