Book picks similar to
Russian Silhouettes by Genna Sosonko
chess
non-fiction
ashkenazim
my_ebooks
Muhammad Ali: A Life From Beginning to End
Hourly History - 2019
Cassius Clay Jr. The Greatest. The Louisville Lip. The People’s Champion. Muhammad Ali. All are names for one of the greatest boxers of all time. Muhammad Ali lived a life that produced some of the most notable boxing matches ever. He also had battles outside of the boxing ring—battles that included fighting with the federal government for his freedom as well as fighting against his debilitating Parkinson’s disease. Inside you will read about... ✓ Growing up in the Jim Crow South ✓ Becoming the Greatest ✓ The King of Trash Talk ✓ Refusing to Join the Vietnam War ✓ Politics and Parkinson’s ✓ Personal Life and Marriages And much more! You’re about to embark on a journey of greatness. Dive into the life of one of the greatest athletes ever to grace the boxing ring, Muhammad Ali. Ali’s life wasn’t perfect—it was full of twists and turns and conflicts, inside and outside the ring. But his life was truly meaningful, and it made Muhammad Ali worthy of the title he often used to describe himself, “The Greatest.”
The Tao Of Chess: 200 Principles to Transform Your Game and Your Life
Peter Kurzdorfer - 2004
In The Tao of Chess, the author seamlessly blends the wisdom of a time-honoured spiritual quest for truth with 200 principles that will improve anyone's chess game. By following the author's principles, readers not only come to enjoy the game more, they develop a habit of seeking underlying truth - whether in a chess game or a real-life situation.The Tao of Chess is full of conscise advice, such as:Understanding is more important than memoryFortune favors the braveWhen you see a good move, wait and look for a better moveMistakes tend to come in bunchesTrust your intuition; it's usually rightAuthoritative and easy to follow, this book will turn every reader into a master strategist.
Say Goodnight, Gracie!: The Story of George Burns & Gracie Allen
Cheryl Blythe - 1986
This book is a comprehensive ‘backstage look’ at the making of this historic TV show – how the writers contrived that delicious misinterpretation of Gracie’s world; the real Gracie and George vs. the characters they play; and an early look at broadcast television - kinescopes, then the coaxial cable – and loaded with George’s comedic wisdom and dialog from the series! The comedy is timeless. The genius behind the show may have been George Burns, who played the "straight man," but the one who got the laughs was Gracie, whose "illogical logic" made the show catch on like wildfire.
No Cake, No Jam: Hardship and happiness in wartime London
Marian Hughes - 1995
She spent most of her early childhood with her elder sisters and brother in Spurgeon's Orphanage in South London. There she learned to love extravagant hymns and to receive regular beatings.Suddenly, when Marian was ten, her mother appeared. All four children were swept up by their mother to live in a damp and filthy flat off Baker Street. There began a life of moonlight flits, camping and squats. Marian's mother forgot to feed her children, and paid no attention to school or the bombing. Marian soon turned to begging and stealing to help the family get by.Marian's brother and elder sisters left home as soon as they could, but Marian remained to support her deranged and frequently violent mother, evading Care and Protection Orders and often running away. Then the day finally came when Marian had to sign the papers to have her mother committed. From that moment, 14-year-old Marian had to find out if she was strong enough to live for herself ...Throughout all the twists and turns of her childhood, Marian never lost her spirit and never faltered in her loyalty. Full of vigour, truth, humour and curiosity, No Cake, No Jam is a passionate celebration of a life and love.
Lute!: The Seasons of My Life
Lute Olson - 2006
. . . One day I picked up a basketball, and it never let me go."For fifty seasons Lute Olson has been teaching young athletes the skills of basketball---and life. Starting as a high school coach, he worked his way to the top of the basketball world, winning more than a thousand games, a national championship, and a world championship, producing some of the NBA's biggest stars, and eventually being enshrined in the basketball Hall of Fame.This is the story of his upbringing in Mayville, North Dakota, where he learned his famous work ethic and survival skills; the telling of the eighteen years it took to finally coach for a major college team; the fond memories of coaching famed players as well as the stories of bitter losses and breathtaking wins. This is his story, from recruiting in the dangerous projects of big cities and the vast farmlands of the Midwest, to finally winning an NCAA championship. It's the inside-the-locker-room story of many extraordinary emotional moments that will live forever in basketball lore. "Lute! Lute! Lute!" The cheer by which the Arizona fans greet their coach before each game is the story of a man with a lifelong passion for a game. This book will take the reader inside the incredibly popular world of collegiate basketball, as seen through the eyes of a giant of the sport.But his is far more than a basketball story. Lute's partner for forty-seven years in building championship programs was his high school sweetheart, Bobbi, whose blueberry pancakes became as widely known in the basketball world as his own full head of white hair. While Lute was the taciturn coach, she became the player's mother-away-from-home. America got to meet her as she fought her way courtside through cheering fans after Lute's Arizona team had earned a trip to the Final Four, and on national television he swept her off her feet and the two of them whirled round and round in joy. It is a love story of a couple who together built a sports legend. Lute and Bobbi Olson were a team. The Arizona community loved her almost as much as he did---traditionally at the beginning of each game the Wildcat band greeted them with a cheer. Their almost half-century love affair ended with Bobbi's death from cancer. Lute explores how he dealt with her death, and how he moved forward to find a new love.This is the chronicle of one American boy's dream to become a great basketball coach---his achievements, his coaching strategies, and the wins and losses he faced as boy, man, and coach, but always with one constant in his life: the game of basketball. This is the story of fifty seasons in the life of Lute Olson.
More Moaning: The Return of the Enlightened One
Karl Pilkington - 2016
In his inimitable style, he tackles the juicy subjects of health, art, values, identity and pollution. Will his travels around the world reveal the meaning of life? Find out in this hilarious new book.
Where the Soul Hungers: One Doctor’s Journey from Atheism to Faith
Samuel Morris Brown - 2021
Brown was an atheist from an early age and proud of it. Yet, by his own account, God became an undeniable presence in his life. Now a faithful Latter-day Saint, this practicing research physician narrates some of the waypoints on his journey into believing and belonging. Some are dramatic—his wife’s cancer diagnosis or working in a hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic—while many are simple yet profound: being mistaken for a homeless person while a student at Harvard, growing to like little children and opera, and learning to bake cookies for others. With gentle, self-critical humor and a generous regard for those who have accompanied him on his way, Brown’s book is an offer to walk with you a while on your own journey of faith.
The Care Factor
Ailsa Wild - 2021
As a nurse, her skill is to care. When Covid-19 began to spread across the world in 2020, Sim volunteered to retrain to work in Melbourne’s intensive care units. And as she prepared to go back to ICU and case numbers began climbing, Sim started talking to her friend Ailsa. Through the exhaustion, the confusion, the many tears and the surprising moments of hilarity, Sim kept talking. And Ailsa started writing. In The Care Factor, Ailsa walks behind Sim as she faces the realities of the coronavirus. The result is a deeply human account of what the pandemic has really meant, not just for Sim and her fellow health professionals, but also for their patients, their families and friends, and the many who faced life in lockdown. This is a celebration of nursing, of friendship, and of the layers of connection and care that allow us to keep going when it feels impossible. 'This book has single-handedly restored my faith in humanity. Offering a rare and thrilling glimpse into the life of a frontline healthcare worker during the COVID-19 Pandemic, The Care Factor is full to bursting with spirit, guts, empathy and love. It humbled and moved me in so many ways. I can’t recommend it enough!' – Emily Bitto, author of Stella Prize winning novel The Strays
Something Quite Peculiar
Steve Kilbey - 2014
Best known as the lead singer and enigmatic front man, songwriter, bassist of The Church, Steve has experienced both amazing international success and all the excesses that go with it, as well as a well known heroin addiction that delivered some very dark times. The Church has been a significant and constant influence on the Australian music industry and readers will be keen to hear from one of the industry's most successful, creative and long-standing key protagonists. Kilbey is Australian rock and roll royalty and for the first time this is his story. Come inside the world of Steve Kilbey singer songwriter and bassist of one of Australia's best loved bands, The Church. From his migrant ten pound pom childhood through his adolescence growing up during the advent of The Beatles, Dylan and The Stones to his early adventures in garage bands and neighbourhood jams. His misadventures with a full time job and a 9 to 5 life and wild adventures with The Church as they conquer Australia and then the world. The tours. The records. The women. And then the heroin addiction which enslaved him for ten long years. Then the two sets of twins he fathers along the way and branching off into acting, painting and writing. From snowy Sweden to a cell in New York City, from Ipanema beach to Bondi, Kilbey stumbles through his surrrealistic life as an idiot savant that will make you smile as well as want to kick him up the arse. After coming out the other side his tale is simply too good not to be told. Narrated with unusual and often pristine clarity we and with much focus on his considerable musical talent.
Simple Chess: New Algebraic Edition
Michael Stean - 2003
By isolating the basic elements and illustrating them through a selection of Master and Grand Master games, Simple Chess breaks down the mystique of strategy into plain, easy-to-understand ideas — only a knowledge of basic chess terminology is assumed.More than a lesson in chess fundamentals, this book illustrates an increasingly prevalent and successful style of play — a method that begins by slowly accumulating small but permanent advantages, saving the outright attack for later in the game. Newly converted into the current algebraic chess notation, this edition of Simple Chess offers a strategic weapon for players at every level of expertise.
Juke Box Hero: My Five Decades in Rock 'n' Roll
Lou Gramm - 2013
Songs such as “Cold As Ice,” “I Want to Know What Love Is,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Double Vision,” “Urgent,” and “Midnight Blue” are among 20 Gramm songs that achieved Top 40 status on the Billboard charts and became rock classics still played often, nearly three decades after they first hit the airwaves and the record store shelves. Juke Box Hero: The My Five Decades in Rock 'n' Roll chronicles, with remarkable candor, the ups and downs of this popular rocker’s amazing life—a life which saw him achieve worldwide fame and fortune, then succumb to its trappings before summoning the courage and faith to overcome his drug addiction and a life-threatening brain tumor. Gramm takes the reader behind the scenes—into the recording studio, back stage, on the bus trips and beyond—to give an insider’s look into the life of the man Rolling Stone magazine referred to as “the Pavarotti of rock.”
Lady Gaga: Just Dance: The Biography
Helia Phoenix - 2010
But she was a born performer, destined to be on the stage. Unlike fake starlets who become famous overnight, Gaga earned her success the hard way, working night after night at sleazy bars and clubs, performing at every club in New York, getting booed offstage, and in the process, finding herself—as a singer, a dancer, a performer, and an artist. She has shocked the public with her crazy outfits, individual sense of style, and headstrong manner. She has sold millions of records, performed to millions of people, and through it all, she has won hearts with her brashness and honesty.
The Rescue: Seven People, Seven Amazing Stories…
Jim Cymbala - 2018
Each has a reason to despair and a wound that won’t heal. Until something unexpected happens—something that will change their lives forever.The Rescue tells the powerful, true stories of men and women whose lives should have ended badly but didn’t. What happens to each of them will take you by surprise and give you hope. It will restore your sense that no matter what you are facing, Someone good is in control of the universe. Fortunately, that Someone cares about you. If you or people you care about are facing challenges beyond their strength, it may be time to experience The Rescue.
Taylor Swift: The Whole Story
Chas Newkey-Burden - 2013
But how did she get there? And what lies in store for her in the future?From childhood dreams of a musical future in Pennsylvania, to determined and budding teen musician with a trademark she’s stayed faithful to ever since: honest lyrics about real-life events; her fight to be taken seriously in the music industry, through to the rewards of success and the intense pressure of expectation, Taylor Swift: The Whole Story is a full account of Taylor’s incredible journey, with everything you need to know about America’s Sweetheart.This compelling book is packed full of fascinating details revealing the true Taylor – what drives, motivates and moves her, how she overcame the challenges that loomed on the road to fame and how authentic her wholesome image is, plus the truth about her relationships with Harry Styles, Jake Gyllanhaal and Conor Kennedy and who she’s really talking about on her tracks.The full portrait of a girl who could so easily have faded into the background – but who blossomed in the spotlight into a grounded, graceful and inspiring young woman.
Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders
Greg King - 2000
King also brings to vivid life the complete account of the tate murders, describes the lengthy search for the killers. and includes previousl unpublished police and detective reports, trail transcripts and letters from Charles Manson to "squeaky Fromme." More importantly, this is the first book to focus on the victims of the Manson murders. As such, it brings a fresh perspective to the murder story that created a media frenzy foreshadowing what occurs with alarming regularity today.