Book picks similar to
Triumph of the Absurd: A Reporter’s Love for the Abandoned People of Vietnam by Uwe Siemon-Netto
non-fiction
giveaway-books
memoir
good-reads-giveaways
One Trip Too Many - A Pilot's Memoirs of 38 Months in Combat Over Laos and Vietnam
Wayne A. Warner - 2012
It is primarily a story to share with family and friends about my personal involvement in the conflict and the turbulent decade of the 60s and does not attempt to question the politics of the era. It begins with a brief description of my quest to gain admittance to the United States Air Force Academy, my four years at the Academy, and the subsequent year of pilot training. I flew three different types of aircraft in combat and the book provides insight into the training that took place for the C-130 Hercules, the F-105 Thunderchief, and the A-1 Skyraider. Each of the three tours in combat over Laos and Vietnam is described with emphasis on the more memorable flights including a bailout in the A-1 and the final crash on takeoff that ended my active duty Air Force career. My time in various hospitals is described at the end of the book and the epilogue tells briefly of my life after retirement from the United States Air Force. The book has been described as a combination of Band of Brothers, Top Gun, and Forrest Gump.
Small Town Ho: The Hilarious Story of Moving from the Big City to North Idaho
Duke Diercks - 2015
No Jobs. No friends. Just buckets of our own ignorance. Follow along in horror and hilarity as the family acclimates to the new small town way of life and the author bounces from jobs working in a school cafeteria to selling women’s clothing in a call center to opening a barbecue restaurant. Written in a smart, self-deprecating, salty style, Small Town Ho is all at once poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, full of the struggle of an ordinary family consisting of three boys, one big black lab, one assassin of a cat, and two very tired parents.
Redemption: From Iron Bars to Ironman
John McAvoy - 2016
Born into a notorious London crime family, his uncle Micky was one of the key players in the legendary Brink's-Mat gold bullion caper. John bought his first gun at 16 and carved out a lucrative career in armed robbery. At one point he was one of Britain's most-wanted men. It took two spells in prison and the death of a friend on a botched heist to change his path. During his second stint in jail he discovered a miraculous natural talent while serving life in the Belmarsh high security unit - where fellow inmates included Abu Hamza, the hook-handed extremist cleric, and the 7/7 bombers. John broke three world rowing records while still an inmate and since his release has become one of the UK's leading Ironman competitors. He aims to turn pro in 2016 after competing in the European championships in Frankfurt. Redemption is the ultimate story of sporting salvation.
Glam Italia! How to Travel Italy: Secrets To Glamorous Travel (On A Not So Glamorous Budget)
Corinna Cooke - 2018
Do you want to see the glamorous side of Italy but think it’s out of your budget? Does preparing for international travel leave you feeling anxious? Do you worry about falling into a tourist trap? Italian travel guide and blogger Corinna Cooke has years of experience creating glamorous private vacations throughout every corner of the country. And now she’s here to share her insider tips so you can make the most of your Italian adventure. Glam Italia! How to Travel Italy is your all-in-one guide for crafting your personalized dream vacation. You’ll create an itinerary that’s custom-fit to your interests: from world-renowned art to mouthwatering cuisine, from breathtaking landscapes to trendsetting fashion. With this guide you’ll learn how to find hidden gems and get insider’s advice for touring Italy’s most famous attractions. Whether you plan to travel in style or on a shoestring budget, you’ll discover hidden gems and little-known advice for touring Italy’s most famous attractions. With Cooke’s hassle-free guide, you’ll finally learn to sit back and savor your authentic Italian experience like a local. In Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy, you'll discover: - Step-by-step methods for planning your entire trip, regardless of time or budget - Lists of the best cuisines, and wines by region to satisfy any appetite - Optimum lengths of time to visit each attraction so you can get the best bang for your buck - Simple tips for booking flights that will save hundreds of dollars from your bottom line - Precautions you can take to stay safe and healthy while traveling and much, much more! Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy is your glamorous go-to travel guide for experiencing this charming Mediterranean destination. If you like practical tips, insider advice from a local expert, and stress-free planning, then you’ll love Corinna Cooke’s handbook for your dream vacation. Buy Glam Italia! How To Travel Italy, and pack your bags for a very fabulous, once-in-a-lifetime adventure!
Alaska Man: A Memoir of Growing Up and Living in the Wilds of Alaska
George Davis - 2017
He survives this perilous wheel of fortune, and thrives in the face of danger! I would like to add to why my book is important, is that we are true authentic Alaskans that live life off of the grid and that we have been entrepreneurs, making our living off of the land and sea. We are wilderness and off the grid consultants if that is important. On our website we have a variety of things we consult on from sport fishing, hunting, adventures, lodges/outfitters, developing or improving remote properties, and much more.
But Why? : A Collection of Reader-Submitted Medical Stories
Kerry Hamm - 2019
You'll giggle when an EMT reveals his/her most prized possession, shake your head at some of the RIDICULOUS behavior seen in the emergency room, and you'll relate to the frustrations and joy healthcare workers across the globe express in their submissions. Special sections within this volume include: That Darn Cat, DOGgonit!, As Heard on the Scanner, and many more.
Veronica's Grave: A Daughter's Memoir
Barbara Donsky - 2016
She is left a confused child whose father is intent upon erasing any memory of his dead wife. Forced to keep the truth of her mother's existence from her younger brother, Barbara struggles to keep from being crushed under the weight of family secrets as she comes of age and strives to educate herself despite her father's stance against women s education. Veronica's Grave shows the psychological cost of families who keep secrets and the importance of pursuing one's dreams and passions. The memoir, told in the young girl's voice, asks the reader to consider what parents owe their children and how far a child need go to make things right for her family.Ultimately, it's a tale of loss and resilience, showing the power of literature - from Orphan Annie and Prince Valiant to the incomparable Nancy Drew - to offer hope where there is little.
Four Years in the Rockies -- the Adventures of Isaac P. Rose--Hunter and Trapper in that Remote Region (1884)
James B. Marsh - 2010
Rose (1815-1899) was a Rocky Mountain trapper and mountain man. No novel was ever written depicting more thrilling encounters with Indians or hair-breadth escapes than were experienced by Isaac Rose and his companions. These are fully recounted in a volume entitled, "Four Years in the Rockies," the authorship of which is accredited to James B. Marsh. It is a work full of interest for all readers. He was nineteen years old when he left his plough and, in company with a companion, Joe Lewis, he made his way to Pittsburg. The boys had cherished the hope of securing employment as stage drivers but, as they found no opening in that direction, they accepted berths at $15 per month as deck hands on a steamboat that was then loading for St. Louis. When they reached the latter city, Rose found employment as a hack driver in a livery stable, and Lewis a job of attending to the horses. Here the boys became acquainted with a number of "Rocky Mountain Boys," as they were called, and became fascinated with their stories of mountain life, of fights with bear and adventures in buffalo, elk and deer hunting, together with skirmishes with the Indians. Soon after this he joined a company formed by Nathaniel Wyeth, which started from Independence for the Rocky Mountains, with an outfit worth $100,000, sixty men and 200 horses and mules heavily loaded with goods. At the Gallatin River Isaac Rose and his party were joined by some trappers belonging to the American Fur Company, one of whom was Kit Carson. For years this noted trapper and Mr. Rose were closely associated in their adventurous life. Later, Mr. Rose became so expert a trapper himself that he won a prize of $300 as a trapper of beaver. In 1836 he had a thrilling experience with Indians, which almost caused the loss of his arm. The author writes: "The hunters and trappers of the far west, at the time when the incidents I am about to relate occurred, were a brave, hardy and adventurous set of men, and they had peculiarities in their characters that cannot be found in any other people. From the time they leave civilization they—metaphorically speaking—carry their lives in their hands. An enemy may be concealed in every thicket or looked for behind every rock. They have not only the wild and savage beasts to contend with, but the still more wily and savage Indian, and their life is one continual round of watchfulness and excitement. Their character is a compound of two extremes— recklessness and caution—and isolation from the world makes them at all times self-reliant. In moments of the greatest peril, or under the most trying circumstances, they never lose their presence of mind, but are ready to take advantage of any incident that may occur to benefit themselves or foil their enemies. "As, in the course of this narrative, we may have occasion to describe some of the trappers who were comrades of Mr. Rose, and who took part in many of his adventures, I wish my readers to be fully aware of the character of these men, and that their camp stories are not all idle boasting. A more hardy, fearless, improvident set of men can nowhere else be found." This book originally published in 1884 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
How Sweet the Bitter Soup
Lori Qian - 2019
Her dad’s Alzheimer’s was in high gear. And the rent on her parents’ small Chicago apartment had just gone up. Again. But Lori was holding it all together: helping care for her dad and pay her family’s bills, figuring out how to navigate graduate school and four jobs on top of her family responsibilities, and, somehow, continuing to believe that there was more to life than this. And there was. An exciting job teaching at a prestigious school in China. Although the previous month, she had turned down a job offer in Iowa―thinking it was too far away from her family―she felt completely at ease accepting the job in China. Grasping on to the fierce determination she’d had since childhood, Lori found herself in Guangzhou, China, where she fell in love with the culture and with a man from a tiny town in Hubei province. What followed was a transformative adventure―one that will inspire readers to use the bitter to make life even sweeter.
Forever Different: A Memoir of One Woman's Journey Living with Bipolar Disorder
Christine F. Anderson - 2013
The denial of her diagnosis and the eventual acceptance of her medication and disease. She takes us from her innocence as a child to her adult criminal lifestyle, which led to a subsequent 70 month federal prison sentence for Securities Fraud. A tale so unbelievable and elements so disturbing, you would swear you were reading fiction.
Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist
Baye McNeil - 2012
Loco of the influential blog "Loco in Yokohama) vividly illustrates with unflinching introspection and candor, the birth and evolution of a racist, and in doing so makes the persuasive argument that the only way to cure this social virus is by first acknowledging and engaging one’s own racism. Loco takes us on a scintillating journey from the streets of Brooklyn, where a child’s first playground was the frontlines of the Black Nationalist Movement of the seventies, to a period of black militancy, military service, interracial romance and corporate bigotry in the eighties and nineties. Following the traumatic events of 9/11/2001, Loco relocates to Japan where he learns that old adage -— you can’t hide from yourself -— the hard way. He finds the woman he was made to love; only she’s a member of a race he has come to loathe. In the name of this love, Loco confronts this dark stowaway with deep roots even as the world is literally falling apart around him, in the form of the Tohoku disaster of 3/11/2011. A book that is both a memoir and an impassioned call to arms, Hi! My Name is Loco and I am a Racist tells us in no uncertain terms that while racism continues to be demonized as a dark aberration that only “evil people,” ignorant fools, or people lacking compassion and common decency are subject to, then it will remain at large – hiding in plain sight, in our schools, offices, carpools, living rooms...and sometimes even in the mirror.
Travels with Willie: Adventure Cyclist
Willie Weir - 2009
Hop on a bike and that view will brighten drastically. Travels with Willie is about finding adventure and facing fear, embarrassing blunders and language barriers, ice cream and kindness, Cuba and Colombia, Turkey and Thailand, the world's steepest street and the world's cheapest engagement ring, catching a thief and losing a zebra, a father's touch and a farmer's embrace, buying time and spending another night. Fellow bicycle travelers will smile with recognition, and arm-chair travelers might find themselves wandering into a bike shop, looking for a passport to adventure.
Preston Tucker and His Battle to Build the Car of Tomorrow
Steve Lehto - 2016
Having spent years building tanks and airplanes for the army, the car companies would need years more to retool their production to meet the demands of the American public, for whom they had not made any cars since 1942. And then in stepped Preston Tucker. This salesman extraordinaire from Ypsilanti, Michigan, had built race cars before the war, and had designed prototypes for the military during it. Now, gathering a group of brilliant automotive designers, engineers, and promoters, he announced the creation of a revolutionary new car: the Tucker '48, the first car in almost a decade to be built fresh from the ground up. Tucker's car would include ingenious advances in design and engineering that other car companies could not match. With a rear engine, rear-wheel drive, a safety-glass windshielf that would pop out in case of an accident, a padded dashboard, independent suspension, and automatic transmission, it would be more attractive and aerodynamic—and safer—than any other car on the road. But as the public eagerly awaited Tucker's car of tomorrow, powerful forces in Washington were trying to bring him down. An SEC commissioner with close ties to Detroit's Big Three automakers deliberately leaked information about an investigation the agency was conducting, suggesting that Tucker was bilking investors with a massive fraud scheme. Headlines accused him a perpetrating a hoax and claimed that his cars weren't real and his factory was a sham. In fact, the Tucker '48 sedan was genuine, and everyone who saw it was impressed by what this upstart carmaker had achieved. But the SEC's investigation had compounded the company's financial problems and management conflicts, and a superior product was not enough to keep Tucker's dream afloat. Here, Steve Lehto tackles the story of Tucker's amazing rise and tragic fall, relying on a huge trove of documents that has been used by no other writer to date. It is the first comprehensive, authoritative account of Tucker's magnificent car and his battles with the government. And in this book, Lehto finally answers the questions automobile aficionados have wondered about for decades: Exactly how and why was the production of such an innovative car killed?
NYPD Green: The True Story of an Irish Detective in New York
Luke Waters - 2015
Dreaming of becoming a police officer, Waters immigrated to the United States in search of better employment opportunities and joined the NYPD.Despite a successful career with one of the most formidable and revered police forces in the world, Waters’s reality as a cop in New York was a far cry from his fantasy of serving and protecting his community. Over the course of a career spanning more than twenty years—from rookie to lead investigator, during which time he saw New York transform from the crack epidemic of the ’90s to the low crime stats of today—Waters discovered that both sides of the law were entrenched in crooked culture.In NYPD Green Waters offers a gripping and fascinating account filled with details from real criminal cases involving murder, theft, gang violence, and more, and takes you into the thick of the danger and scandal of life as a New York cop—both on and off the beat. Balanced with wit and humor, Waters’s account paints a vivid picture of the colorful characters on the force and on the streets and provides an unflinching—often critical—look at the corruption and negligence in the justice system put in place to protect us, showing the hidden side of police work where many officers are motivated not purely by the desire to serve the community, but rather by the “green” earned in overtime, expenses, and allowances.A multifaceted and engaging narrative about the immigrant experience in America, Waters’s story is also one of personal growth, success, and disillusionment—a rollicking journey through the day-to-day in the New York Police Department.
Stick It!: My Life of Sex, Drums, and Rock 'n' Roll
Carmine Appice - 2016
He was managed by the mob, hung with Hendrix, trashed thousands of hotel rooms, unwittingly paid for an unknown Led Zeppelin to support him on tour, taught John Bonham (as well as Fred Astaire) a thing or two about drumming, and took part in Zeppelin’s infamous deflowering of a groupie with a mud shark. After enrolling in Rod Stewart’s Sex Police, he hung out with Kojak, accidentally shared a house with Prince, became blood brothers with Ozzy Osbourne, and got fired by Sharon. He formed an all-blond hair metal band, jammed with John McEnroe and Steven Seagal, became a megastar in Japan, got married five times, slept with 4,500 groupies—and, along the way, became a rock legend by single-handedly reinventing hard rock and heavy metal drumming. Carmine Appice has enjoyed a jaw-dropping rock-and-roll life—and here he is telling his scarcely believable story. Cowritten with Ian Gittins, the coauthor with Nikki Sixx of the New York Times bestseller The Heroin Diaries, Stick It! is one of the most extraordinary and outrageous rock-and-roll biographies of our time.