Book picks similar to
Portrait of the Rails: From Steam to Diesel by Don Ball Jr.
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Cassidy
Lee Nelson - 2002
Unlike most cowboy outlaws of his day, Butch Cassidy defended the poor and oppressed, refused to shoot people, and shared his stolen wealth with those in need. Early in his outlaw career, Butch discovered true love. Her name was Mary, and the love they shared lasted for decades. However, Pinkerton agents, law officers, bank detectives and bounty hunters chased Cassidy relentlessly, making it impossible for him to leave the outlaw life, eventually pushing him to seek refugein Argentina and Bolivia. But in the end Butch outsmarted them all.
Learning to Love: Passion, Compassion and the Essence of the Gospel
Heidi Baker - 2012
Woven alongside fascinating narrative from Mozambique is teaching from Heidi and Rolland that communicates the distilled wisdom about the heart of the Gospel from all their years of serving the poor. More than any of their previous books, this one has the most to say about what Rolland and Heidi have learned about love--whether in Africa or wherever home might be: finding intimacy with Jesus, concentrating on the humble and lowly, being willing to suffer for love's sake, finding God's supply of utterly needed miracles, and walking in the unquenchable joy of the Lord. Every reader will find incredible challenge and refreshment in these pages.
Hormegeddon: How Too Much Of A Good Thing Leads To Disaster
Bill Bonner - 2014
Simply put, it ends in disaster. Drawing on stories and examples from throughout modern political history—from Napoleon's invasion of Russia to the impending collapse of the American healthcare system, from the outbreak of WWII and the fall of the Third Reich to the 21st century War on Terror, from the Great Recession to the sovereign debt crisis—Bonner pursues a modest ambition: to understand what goes wrong. History is not a clean yarn spun by its victors. It is a long tale of things that went FUBAR—debacles, disasters, and catastrophes. That each disaster carries with it a warning is what makes it useful to study. For instance, if the architect of a great ship tells you that ‘not even God himself could sink this ship,' you should take the next boat. If the stock market is selling at 20 times earnings and all the expert analysts urge you to ‘get in’ because you ‘can’t lose’—it’s time to get out! Similarly, public policy disasters are what you get when well meaning people with this same Titanic degree of certitude apply rational, small-scale problem-solving logic to inappropriately large scale planning. First, you get a declining rate of return on your investment (of time or resources) until you hit zero. Then, if you keep going through the zero floor—and you always keep going—you get a disaster. The problem is, these disasters cannot be stopped by well-informed smart people with good intentions, because they are the people who cause them in the first place. From the mind of Bill Bonner comes Hormegeddon, a phenomenon that occurs when a small dose of something produces a favorable result, but if you increase the dosage, the results end in disaster. The same applies when the world gets too much of a good thing in public policy, economics, and business. Drawing on examples throughout modern political history, Bonner brings context and understanding to this largely ignored and anonymous phenomenon.
Parallel Lines: Or, Journeys on the Railway of Dreams
Ian Marchant - 2003
Then the love affair turned sour - strikes, bad food, delays, disasters...Parallel Lines tells the story of these two railways: the real railway and the railway of our dreams. Travelling all over Britain, Ian Marchant examines the history of the British railway and meets those who still hold the railways close to their hearts - the model railway enthusiasts, the train-spotters and bashers (a hybrid of train-spotting where the individual - usually male - has to travel behind a certain locomotive in order to catalogue it), the steam enthusiasts. He swaps stories with commuters at the far reaches of London suburbia, he travels to deserted railway museums, and smokes cigarettes on remote, windswept stations in the furthest corners of Scotland, turning his characteristic eye for character, humour and surprise to one of the great shared experiences of the British nation.
National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Birds of North America
Edward S. Brinkley - 2007
Birders will find it indispensable: this single, portable volume features more than 750 species, along with more than 2,000 stunning images by leading nature photographers showing birds in their natural habitats. Captions highlight important field marks, and comprehensive species accounts describe habitats, behavior, flight, migration, songs, and plumages. Other features include: more than 600 maps showing bird distribution in every season; strategies for watching and identifying birds; a complete species index plus a quick-flip index; a glossary of terms; and a checklist of birds. The guide’s unique waterproof cover makes it especially valuable for use in the field.
Interstate 69: The Unfinished History of the Last Great American Highway
Matt Dellinger - 2010
With this epic tale of one vast and controversial road project, Matt Dellinger brings to life the country's complex political, social, and economic landscape. The 1,400-mile extension of I-69 south from Indianapolis, if completed, will connect Canada to Mexico through Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. This so-called NAFTA highway has been in development for two decades, and while segments are under construction today, others may never be built. Eagerly anticipated by many as an economic godsend, I-69 has also been opposed by environmentalists, farmers, ranchers, anarchists, and others who question both the wisdom of building more highways and the merits of globalization. Part history, part travelogue, Interstate 69 reveals the surprising story of how this extraordinary undertaking began, introduces us to the array of individuals who have worked tirelessly for years to build the road--or to stop it--and guides us through the many places the highway would transform forever: from sprawling cities like Indianapolis, Houston, and Memphis to the small rural towns of the Midwestern rust belt, the Mississippi Delta, and south Texas. This book vividly illustrates that the story of America is indeed the story of transportation--and that story continues. In an era when bridges fall, levies fail, and states lease their toll roads to foreign-owned corporations, Americans are realizing the central importance of infrastructure, how it affects our standard of living and quality of life and how it determines which places prosper and which places fade.Matt Dellinger connects these dots with an absorbingly human, on-the-ground examination of our country's struggle with development. Interstate 69 captures the hopes, dreams, and fears surrounding what we build and what we leave behind.
From Away: A Novel
David Carkeet - 2010
His night at the hotel begins with promise, but then his prospective one-night stand walks out on him. Leaving town, Denny is mistaken for look-a-like Homer Dumpling, a popular native son who mysteriously disappeared from town three years earlier. Instead of correcting the mistake, Denny dons his new identity as easily as a Vermonter's winter fleece, and a good thing too-the woman he had hoped to sleep with has turned up dead, and Denny is the chief suspect.As Denny tries to unravel the mystery, he struggles to hide his true identity from Homer's increasingly suspicious circle of family and friends, including Homer's prickly girlfriend. In Denny, Carkeet has crafted a fast- talking bumbler whose instinct for survival will face the ultimate challenge, with readers cheering him on all the way..
Fallam's Secret
Denise Giardina - 2003
When she falls into a crevasse, she finds she has followed her uncle farther than she thought-to Norchester, England, in 1657. Times are dark: the ruling Puritans have beheaded the king and prohibited song, dance, and even Christmas. Though she passes as a boy with her short hair and pants, local official Noah Fallam is still suspicious of her strange clothing and outspokenness. Luckily, she soon finds her uncle, and another man: the Raven, a bandit who provides for the poor through smuggling and robbery. The unlikely couple fall in love, and Lydde must decide where-and when-she belongs. This captivating story brings us close to Denise Giardina's signature concerns of faith and the way we treat the earth.
Psychotherapy
Marie-Louise von Franz - 1993
She draws on her many years of practical experience in psychotherapy, her intimate knowledge of Jung's methods and theories, and her wide-ranging interests in fields such as mythology, alchemy, science, and religion to illumine these varied topics: • Projection • Transference • Dream interpretation • Self-realization • Group psychology • Personality types • Active imagination • The therapeutic use of hallucinogenic drugs • The choice of psychotherapy as a profession • The role of religious experience in psychological healing
Tim McCarver's Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans: Understanding and Interpreting the Game So You Can Watch It Like a Pro
Tim McCarver - 1998
I finished it as Casey Stengel."--The Cincinnati EnquirerTim McCarver, baseball's preeminent analyst, has set down all that he knows about how the game should be played and watched. With his trademark wit and style, McCarver explains the fundamentals and proper mechanics at the level necessary for success in the major leagues. Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans is a gold mine for all fans, brain surgeons or otherwise, and anyone learning how to play or coach the game. (Even major leaguers will pick up some pointers.) After the wonderful 1998 season, America's pastime has never been more popular, and with the deeper knowledge and understanding of baseball that Brain Surgeons provides, any fan will be able to watch it like a pro.
Pleasant Valley
Louis Bromfield - 1945
And Bromfield skillfully portrays that marriage between dream and reality that is so necessary in working the land as he writes, "Wait until Spring comes!" This beautiful new edition of Pleasant VAlley is as useful now, maybe even more so. than when it was first published in the early 1940s.
Cars
Elizabeth Hurchalla - 2006
But on the way to the race, Lightning's impatience causes him to get separated from his driver. In his struggle to find the interstate, Lightning tears through the forgotten Route 66 town of Radiator Springs, demolishing its main street in the process. With the race just days away, Lightning is arrested and forced to slow down for the first time in his life. As he gets to know the town's offbeat residents, he learns the importance of teamwork and friendship--and discovers that life is about the journey, not the finish line.
Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights
Trevor Paglen - 2006
We’re so used to being fed politics as fantasy entertainment, by art and the media, that we end up never being sure when we’re looking at the real thing...”—The New York TimesSURPRISE BUSH ANNOUNCEMENT CONFIRMS DETAILS OFNEW BOOK ON SECRET CIA PROGRAMSEPTEMBER 6, 2006—In a surprise admission, President Bush today confirmed widespread suspicion that the U.S. has maintained a network of secret prisons since 9/11—the first time the administration has acknowledged a secret CIA program despite worldwide criticism for the treatment of detainees, including accusations of torture and international kidnapping.The announcement confirms charges made in a new book, Torture Taxi:On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights, the first book on the secret U.S. program.The “extraordinary rendition” program the president spoke of is part of what has become the largest single U.S. clandestine operation since the end of the Cold War. However, the President said that he would not divulge specifics of the CIA program, because “Doing so would provide our enemies with information they could use to take retribution against our allies and harm our country.”But investigative journalist A.C. Thompson—winner of a 2005 Polk Award for investigative reporting—and “military geographer” Trevor Paglen have systematically investigated the CIA program for more than two years, learning much about the specifics of the CIA’s operations. In a series of journeys investigating the agency, they have uncovered all of the major elements of the CIA’s rendition and detention operations.In Torture Taxi, they travel to suburban Massachusetts to profile a CIA front company that supplies the agency with airplanes; to Smithfield, North Carolina, to meet pilots who fly CIA aircraft; study with a “planespotter” who tracks CIA planes in the Nevada desert; and go to Afghanistan to visit the notorious “Salt Pit” prison and interview released Afghan detainees.Contradicting the President’s depiction of the CIA program as a legal and useful tool for bringing terrorists to justice, Torture Taxi proves that the CIA’s operations since 9/11 have been tainted by torture and a long series of intelligence failures.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles
Darwin Holmstrom - 2001
When you need to get around town, you can drive your car, ride a bike, or even take the bus. But when it comes to hopping on a motorcycle, you don't know how to get your motor running. Get ready for the ride of your life! The Complete Idiot's Guide to motorcycles makes learning to ride as easy as slipping on a leather jacket and a pair of cool shades. With humor and enthusiasm, the experts at Motorcyclist magazine teach you how to buy your very first bike and take to the open road.
Ultimate Beer
Michael Jackson - 1998
Just as any wine can be consumed at any time, so can any beer, but like the grape, the grain has its favored moods and moments including the right beer for every occasion. Written for the novice as well as the connoisseur, "Ultimate Beer" elevates beer to the lofty status of wine and cigars. Encyclopedic presentation of more than 1000 beers from around the world. .Includes sections on beer and food and cooking with beer.