Book picks similar to
Funny Business: The Craft Of Comedy Writing by Sol Saks
comedy
audio-cd-s-cassettes
writing
screenwriting
Word Play: A cornucopia of puns, anagrams and other contortions and curiosities of the English language
Gyles Brandreth - 1982
Words are magic. Words are fun.Join Gyles Brandreth - wit and word-meister, Just A Minute regular, One Show reporter, denizen of Countdown's Dictionary Corner, founder of the National Scrabble Championships, patron of The Queen's English Society, QI, Room 101, Have I Got News For You and Pointless survivor - on an uproarious and unexpected magic carpet ride around the awesome world of words and wordplay.Puns, palindromes, pangrams, Malaprops, euphemisms, mnemonics, acronyms, anagrams, alphabeticals, Tweets, verbiage, verbarrhea - if you can name it, you should find it here, along with the longest, shortest, wittiest, wildest, oldest, latest, oddest, most interesting and most memorable words in the English language - the richest, most remarkable language ever known.
The Wedding Officiant's Guide: How to Write and Conduct a Perfect Ceremony
Lisa Francesca - 2014
With the officiating trend on the rise, novice officiants need a resource to guide them. In The Wedding Officiant's Guide, interfaith minister Lisa Francesca breaks down the entire officiating process, from becoming an ordained officiant and interviewing the couple to drafting and performing a moving ceremony. Written in an engaging and friendly tone, and featuring empowering advice, suggested readings, stories and lessons learned from new officiants, and practical tips from wedding planners, this inviting handbook will help new officiants write and deliver a wedding ceremony that fulfills marriage laws, delights guests, and honors the marrying couple.
Funny How Life Works
Michael Jr. - 2021
draws on personal stories infused with humor and wisdom to extract impactful life lessons. He walks us through some of his most career-defining moments to emphasize the importance of living life with the punchline in mind. With a comedian's cadence and a dependable friend's outstretched hand, Michael Jr. addresses provocative issues including race, policing in America, forgiveness, socio-economics, and faith with gritty familiarity. While you will find yourself laughing out loud, at its core, FUNNY HOW LIFE WORKS reveals that if you pay close attention, the obstacles you face day to day are part of a much bigger plan that can help you realize and fulfill your life's mission. Like many of us, Michael Jr. wrestled with several moments of uncertainty, from living in his car to being held up by officers, but he never lost sight of the bigger picture. In this inspiring and self-reflective book, he implores us to do the same.
I'll Give You Something to Cry About: A memoir of a daughter's struggle to survive a mother with paranoia, schizophrenia, and manic depression
Elizabeth Acker - 2016
Elizabeth is forced to become estranged from her father and struggles alone to create hope and meaning for her life while serving her mother like a slave. This book is a true account of a daughter's struggle to survive a mother with paranoia, schizophrenia, and manic depression.
Author Unleashed: Advanced Publishing and Marketing Strategies for Indie Authors
Robert J. Ryan - 2019
They want more. But no matter what they do, those sales remain elusive. Worse, the publishing environment is getting harder every year, crushing their dreams day by day.But somehow, some authors succeed. How do they do it? Is there a secret? Is it blind luck? Do they all have teams of ghostwriters behind them churning out novels while one person claims the glory?It’s none of those things. It’s a combination of hard work and correct knowledge.This book gives you that knowledge. You’ll learn things like:
How professional marketers write blurbs
How to decode Amazon webpages for clues to buyer behavior
Why great books sink into oblivion and ordinary books sell
How to go beyond accepted practice and find best practice
This book gives you the knowledge to sell, and to sell at a high scale. Much of it will surprise you, even if you’re a veteran of indie publishing.You’ll never look at publishing the same way again. Are you ready to unleash your author career?
Respect for Acting
Uta Hagen - 1973
It is at once the voicing of her exacting standards for herself and those she teaches, and an explanation of the means to the end. For those unable to avail themselves of her personal tutelage, her book is the best substitute." --Publishers Weekly "Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting is not only pitched on a high artistic level but it is full of homely, practical information by a superb craftswoman. crafts-woman. An illuminating discussion of the standards and techniques of enlightened stage acting." --Brooks Atkinson"Hagen adds to the large corpus of titles on acting with vivid dicta drawn from experience, skill, and a sense of personal and professional worth. Her principal asset in this treatment is her truly significant imagination. Her 'object exercises' display a wealth of detail with which to stimulate the student preparing a scene for presentation." --Library Journal"Respect for Acting is a simple, lucid and sympathetic statement of actors' problems in the theatre and basic tenets for their training wrought from the personal experience of a fine actress and teacher of acting." --Harold Clurman"Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting...is a relatively small book. But within it Miss Hagen tells the young actor about as much as can be conveyed in print of his craft." --Los Angeles Times"Uta Hagen is our greatest living actor; she is, moreover, interested and mystified by the presence of talent and its workings; her third gift is a passion to communicate the mysteries of the craft to which she has given her life. There are almost no American actors uninfluenced by her." --Fritz Weaver"This is a textbook for aspiring actors, but working thespians can profit much by it. Anyone with just a casual interest in the theater should also enjoy its behind-the-scenes flavor. Respect for Acting is certainly a special book, perhaps for a limited readership, but of its "How-To" kind I'd give it four curtain calls, and two hollers of "Author, Author --King Features Syndicate
Point and Figure Charting: The Essential Application for Forecasting and Tracking Market Prices (Wiley Trading)
Thomas J. Dorsey - 1995
- Jim Rogers, author of Hot Commodities and Investment Biker "An invaluable road map for managing risk in the markets. Tom's methodology has given us the discipline and confidence to look around corners for our clients for almost twenty years." - James A. Parish, President and COO, Morgan Keegan & Co., Private Client Group "Tom Dorsey continues to be one of the foremost authorities on Point and Figure charting. His relative strength analyses are essential for investors and traders alike. Furthermore, I always want to know what his NYSE Bullish Percent Indicators is "saying." - Lawrence G. McMillan, President, McMillan Analysis Corp., "Tom Dorsey has done it again...he has taken his 30-plus years of unending devotion, talents, and insights in technical analysis and applied them to Exchange Traded Funds. He begins with the history of ETFs, explains how different they are from mutual funds, and then applies his expertise in Point and Figure charting to help traders and investors time their purchases and sales." - Ralph J. Acampora, CMT, Director of Technical research, Knight Capital "Reading Tom Dorsey's Point & Figure Charting is the like procuring a road map before you begin a journey. It's a comprehensive look at how to succeed in the markets. This book is not only essential but easy to follow for everyone." - Paulo Pinto, CEO, Dif Broker "Point and Figure Charting has become a valuable part of my daily trading routine. As an investment professional, it makes perfect sense to use Tom's methods in conjunction with fundamental analysis." - Damion Carufe, Investment Professional
Believe: What Life and Cricket Taught Me
Suresh Raina - 2021
If It Ain't Baroque: More Music History as It Ought to Be Taught
David W. Barber - 1992
Barber takes you on another delightful romp through the pages of music history - as it ought to be taught.
Tony Accardo is Joe Batters
Neil Gordon - 2018
Throw in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and the murders of John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, Marilyn Monroe, Bugsy Siegel, Sam Giancana, Lucky Luciano, Tony the Ant Spilotro, Johnny Roselli and Jimmy Hoffa. Toss in Hollywood scandal and the mobbed up career of Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack. Now you can begin to grasp the epic story of Tony Accardo. Why has this story never been told? Accardo killed everyone in his path: family, friends, cops, reporters, movie stars, and politicians. Operating from deep within the shadows Tony influenced national policy, exploited the FBI, owned politicians, and fixed presidential elections. Connected to every gangster from Al Capone to Lucky Luciano to John Gotti, Joe Batters is the must-read that every Godfather fan is craving.
Spanish: 201 Easy Spanish Phrases: Increase Your Vocabulary With New Spanish Phrases & Words Explained. Includes Access to a Spanish Audio Book
J.G. Jimenez - 2015
These are phrases that you hear almost every day in Spanish speaking countries, on TV, in movies, and when talking with friends in Spanish. Included in this book is FREE Access to Downloadable Mp3's of this book. Spanish Audio book is available by clicking link in book. This book is very basic Spanish. It is for beginning Spanish learners or students that want to review basic Spanish phrases. Some Topics Covered in this book are: Greetings Music What are you doing? Phrases about the Present (right now) Phrases about the Past Hotels Restaurants And Many More! Are you ready to learn some Spanish phrases you can use right away? GREAT! Download the book now and start learning Spanish.
The Missing Ring: How Bear Bryant and the 1966 Alabama Crimson Tide Were Denied College Football's Most Elusive Prize
Keith Dunnavant - 2006
It is both a story of a changing era and of an extraordinary team on a championship quest. Very few institutions in American sports can match the enduring excellence of the University of Alabama football program. Across a wide swath of the last century, the tradition-rich Crimson Tide has claimed twelve national championships, captured twenty-five conference titles, finished thirty-four times among the country's top ten, and played in fifty-three bowl games.Especially dominant during the era of the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant, the larger-than-life figure who towered over the landscape like no man before or since, Alabama entered the 1966 season with the chance to become the first college football team to win three consecutive national championships. Every aspect of Bryant's grueling system was geared around competing for the big prize each and every year, and in 1966 the idea of the threepeat tantalized the players, pushing them toward greatness. Driven by Bryant's enthusiasm, dedication, and perseverance, players were made to believe in their team and themselves. Led by the electrifying force of quarterback Kenny "Snake" Stabler and one of the most punishing defenses in the storied annals of the Southeastern Conference, the Crimson Tide cruised to a magical season, finishing as the nation's only undefeated, untied team. But something happened on the way to the history books.The Missing Ring is the story of the one that got away, the one that haunts Alabama fans still, and native Alabamian Keith Dunnavant takes readers deep inside the Crimson Tide program during a more innocent time, before widespread telecasting, before scholarship limitations, before end-zone dances. Meticulously revealing the strategies, tactics, and personal dramas that bring the overachieving boys of 1966 to life, Dunnavant's insightful, anecdotally rich narrative shows how Bryant molded a diverse group of young men into a powerful force that overcame various obstacles to achieve perfection in an imperfect world.Set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, the still-escalating Vietnam War, and a world and a sport teetering on the brink of change in a variety of ways, The Missing Ring tells an important story about the collision between football and culture. Ultimately, it is this clash that produces the Crimson Tide's most implacable foe, enabling the greatest injustice in college football history. "Keith Dunnavant has written yet another fabulous book about the fabled Alabama football program. You will be amazed at how one of the great injustices in the history of college football cost them their rightful place in history. And you just thought the system was screwed up now." ---Jim Dent, author of The Junction Boys "Keith Dunnavant nails it: all the sacrifices the 1966 Alabama team made to win three national championships in a row, and how we were robbed at the ballot box."---Jerry Duncan, one of the boys of 1966 "Dunnavant infuses reportage and passion into a tale that every Alabamian of a certain age knows: For all the crying about Penn State in 1969, Penn State in 1994, or Auburn in 2004, no team ever got shafted the way the 1966 Crimson Tide did. It's all here: the churning legs, the churning stomachs, and the dreaded gym classes where Bear Bryant's boys made the sacrifices he demanded in order to become champions. They conquered their opponents on the field, but proved to be no match for the politics of the day off the field. The '66 Tide is still waiting for the Missing Ring. Thanks to Dunnavant, we don't have to." ---Ivan Maisel, senior writer, ESPN.com, and co-author of A War in Dixie "Absolutely stunning. The Missing Ring left me breathless. Keith Dunnavant has proven again why he is one of America's greatest sports authors and historians. With so much having been written about Bryant and Alabama, I had my doubts going into this book that there was something I didn't know or hadn't read. Yet Dunnavant has managed to strike gold with The Missing Ring in every way and shape imaginable. His quiet prose goes down as effortlessly as bourbon and branch water. Fans of college football will marvel at his painstaking research. Dunnavant turned the clock back forty years and it was 1966 all over again. The pain and the glory, the pride and the prejudice, all brought to life in the pages of this extraordinary book." ---Paul Finebaum, Paul Finebaum Radio Network
Six Silent Men, Book Two
Kenn Miller - 1997
It was a bitter pill. After working on their own in Vietnam for more than two years, the Brigade LRRPs were ordered to join forces with the division once again.But even as these formidable hunters and killers were themselves swallowed up by the Screaming Eagles' Division LRPs to eventually become F Co., 58th Infantry, they continued the deadly, daring LRRP tradition. From saturation patrols along the Laotian border to near-suicide missions and compromised positions in the always dangerous A Shau valley, the F/58th unflinchingly faced death every day and became one of the most highly decorated companies in the history of the 101st.
A Microsoft Life
Stephen Toulouse - 2010
Enjoy a journey through the eyes of a geek working at one of the most important companies in the world as he walks you through events both large and small. Just don't get caught in the Redmond reality distortion field! What others are saying about "A Microsoft Life": "Any self-respecting geek needs to read this book. Stepto provides an enjoyable and entertaining insight of life inside Microsoft." - Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, Director of Programming for Xbox LIVE "Anyone who lived through the adolescent years of the computer revolution will alternate between laughing and crying (from laughing) at these great stories from inside the monolith. - Ken Denmead, NYT Bestselling Author, and editor of Geekdad.com
Great Speeches of the 20th Century
Bob Blaisdell - 2010
This compact and affordable anthology gathers complete speeches and selected excerpts from some of the twentieth century's most memorable addresses. Writers and speakers in search of memorable quotations will appreciate this collection, as will any reader seeking historical wisdom and inspiration. Featured speakers include Winston Churchill, rousing the British to defend their lives and homes against the Nazis; Mohandas Gandhi, advocating non-violent resistance to deplorable living conditions; and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, calming the nation's fears during the Great Depression. Additional orations include those of Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Ronald Reagan, Elie Wiesel, the Dalai Lama, César Chávez, and many others. Includes three selections from the Common Core State Standards Initiative: "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: Address to Parliament on May 13th, 1940," "I Have a Dream," and "Remarks to the Senate in Support of a Declaration of Conscience."