Biographies & Memoirs - Books

Winter

Biographies & Memoirs

In this radiant work of creative nonfiction, internationally beloved novelist Val McDermid delivers a dazzling ode to a lost world, ruminating on a single winter in her life as she journeys into the heart of the season’s ever-evolving community-based traditionsVal McDermid has always had a soft spot for winter: the bitter clarity of a crisp cold day, the crunch of frost on fallen leaves, and the chance to be enveloped in big jumpers and thick socks.In Winter, McDermid takes us on an adventure through the season, from the frosty streets of Edinburgh to the windblown Scottish coast, from Bonfire Night and Christmas to Burns Night and Up Helly Aa. Recalling in parallel memories from her own childhood—of skating over frozen lakes and carving a “neep” (rutabaga) for Halloween to being taken to see her first real Christmas tree in the town square—McDermid offers a wise and enchanting meditation on winter and its ever-changing, sometimes ephemeral, traditions.A hygge-filled journey through winter nights, McDermid reminds us that it is a time of rest, retreat and creativity, for scribbling in notebooks and settling in beside the fire. A treat for the hunkering-down, post-holiday reading season, Winter is a charming and cozy celebration of the year’s idle months from one of Scotland’s best-loved writers.

Biblical Biography Series (12-in-1)

Biographies & Memoirs

F. B. Meyer (1847 – 1929) was a famous pastor and evangelist in England. He was a frequent speaker at Keswick and a friend of Hudson Taylor, D. L. Moody and Spurgeon. He was loved for his many writings, devotionals and Scriptural biographies which helped countless thousands grow in their love for the Lord and his Word. It is our prayer that Meyer's writings will similarly challenge and encourage you in your Christian walk. Included in this collection are the full texts of all 12 books in his popular Biblical Biography Series: 1. John the Baptist 2. Peter – Fisherman, Disciple, Apostle 3. Paul – A Servant of Jesus Christ 4. Abraham, or the Obedience of Faith 5. Israel – A Prince with God 6. Joseph – Beloved, Hated, Exalted 7. Moses – The Servant of God 8. Joshua and the Land of Promise 9. Samuel the Prophet 10. David – Shepherd, Psalmist, King 11. Elijah and the Secret of his Power 12. Jeremiah – Priest and Prophet

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Biographies & Memoirs

Norman Malcolm, amico di Wittgenstein, ci narra con grande passione e vivacità la vita del grande pensatore e ci mostra la ricchezza umana, le tensioni, la bizzarria inquietante dell'autore del "Tractatus".

The Water Giver

Biographies & Memoirs

Both a medical drama and meditation on motherhood, The Water Giver is Joan Ryan's honest account of her doubts and mistakes in raising a learning-disabled son and the story of how his near-fatal accident gave her a second chance as a parent. Joan Ryan tells the powerful story of how her son’s near-fatal accident, and his struggle to become whole again, gave her a second chance to become the mother she had always wished she could be.• Acclaimed journalist and author: Joan Ryan’s sports columns earned her thirteen Associated Press Sports editors Awards, the National Headliner Award, and the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Journalism Award, among other honors. Her first book, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters was named one of the Top 100 Sports Books of all Time by Sports Illustrated.• Medical drama: When Ryan’s sixteen-year-old son fell off of a skateboard, it wasn’t obvious at first how serious his injuries were. With a journalist’s eye for the telling detail and the rhythms of a natural storyteller, she captures his medical ordeal as he lurches from crisis to crisis—and with harrowing honesty and astonishing insight, relates her own journey through unknown emotional terrain.• A mother’s story: Ryan’s son was diagnosed with Sensory Integration Dysfunction as a toddler; by the time he reached school age, it was clear that he suffered from ADHD and other learning disabilities. Though she loved him fiercely, she never stopped trying to fix him. When he is restored to her after his accident, she realizes she has the opportunity to be his mother all over again—only this time she lets go of the illusion of control. Now she not only accepts, but also embraces her son for who he really is.

Goethe: Der Titan der Literatur und der Geist hinter den Monumenten

Biographies & Memoirs

Die Anthologie 'Goethe: Der Titan der Literatur und der Geist hinter den Monumenten' ist eine beeindruckende Sammlung, die das weitreichende Erbe und die komplexe Vielseitigkeit von Goethes Schaffen beleuchtet. Mit einer Mischung aus Essays, Gesprächen und literarischen Analysen erforscht dieses Werk die verschiedenen Facetten des großen Dichters der Weimarer Klassik. Von der poetischen Tiefe seiner Lyrik bis hin zur philosophischen Klarheit seiner Prosa wird in dieser Sammlung sowohl seine künstlerische als auch seine intellektuelle Größe gewürdigt. Besondere Erwähnung verdienen die Gespräche mit Goethe, die einen einzigartigen Einblick in das Denken dieser herausragenden Persönlichkeit bieten. Die Beiträge von Friedrich Gundolf und Johann Peter Eckermann ergänzen und unterstreichen Goethes Bedeutung innerhalb der deutschen Literatur und darüber hinaus. Gundolfs tiefgründige Analysen und Eckermanns klassische Gespräche mit Goethe bieten einen lebendigen Eindruck seines umfassenden Einflusses auf die Literatur seiner Zeit und seiner Nachwelt. Diese Sammlung bietet einen umfassenden Überblick über die literarischen Strömungen und Bewegungen, die Goethe nicht nur beeinflusste, sondern auch entscheidend prägte. So entsteht ein vielseitiges, kollektives Porträt dieses literarischen Giganten. Dieses Buch ist eine unverzichtbare Ressource für jeden, der sich für die tiefgehende Erforschung Goethes Schaffens und seines Einflusses interessiert. Es bietet eine einzigartige Gelegenheit, verschiedene Perspektiven und literarische Stile zu erkunden und einen eindrucksvollen Dialog zwischen den bedeutenden Stimmen der Literaturgeschichte zu erleben. Der Leser wird eingeladen, in die Texte einzutauchen, die nicht nur ein Stück deutscher Literaturgeschichte, sondern auch universelle Fragen zu Menschheit und Kunst reflektieren. Die Sammlung ist ein wertvoller Bestandteil jeder literarischen Bibliothek.

Picasso

Biographies & Memoirs

"Je n'ai jamais considéré la peinture comme un art de simple agrément, de distraction. J'ai voulu par le dessin et par la couleur, puisque c'étaient là mes armes, pénétrer toujours plus avant dans la connaissance du monde et des hommes, afin que cette connaissance nous libère toujours davantage." Cubiste, Picasso ? allons donc ! Surréaliste ? Encore moins. Communiste ? Pas vraiment. Sans doute fut-il à l'origine du cubisme, proche pendant quelque temps des surréalistes et détenteur d'une carte du Parti communiste, mais le plus grand peintre du XXe siècle est irréductible à toute étiquette. Complexe, multiple, en constante métamorphose, artiste polymorphe et amant dynamique, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) n'eut, dans sa vie comme dans son oeuvre, d'autre loi que la sienne.

Tim Cook. Η Ιδιοφυία που ανέβασε την Apple στο επόμενο επίπεδο

Biographies & Memoirs

Ο θάνατος του Στιβ Τζομπς το 2011 άφησε ένα τεράστιο κενό σε μια από τις πιο καινοτόμες εταιρείες όλων των εποχών. Ο Τζομπς δεν ήταν απλώς ο ιδρυτής και διευθύνων σύμβουλος της Apple. Ήταν η ζωντανή ενσάρκωση ενός εταιρικού σήματος παγκόσμιας εμβέλειας. Δύσκολα φανταζόταν κανείς ότι κάποιος θα μπορούσε να τον αντικαταστήσει επάξια – ειδικά ο Τιμ Κουκ, το στέλεχος που πολλοί θεωρούσαν το «επιχειρησιακό drone» της Apple. Εφτά χρόνια αργότερα, όπως αποκαλύπτει ο δημοσιογράφος Λιάντερ Κέινι, τα πράγματα στην Apple δε θα μπορούσαν να είναι καλύτερα. Η μετοχή της έχει τριπλασιαστεί, κάνοντάς την την πρώτη εταιρεία αξίας ενός τρισεκατομμυρίου δολαρίων. Υπό την ηγεσία του Κουκ, η Apple έχει μπει δυνατά στον χώρο της ανανεώσιμης ενέργειας, των φιλικών στο περιβάλλον αλυσίδων εφοδιασμού, της ιδιωτικότητας του χρήστη και των ανακυκλώσιμων προϊόντων. Από τη μαζική ανάπτυξη του iPhone μέχρι τις λιγότερο γνωστές νίκες όπως το Apple Watch, ο Κουκ οδηγεί την Apple σε μια νέα εποχή επιτυχιών. Έχοντας πρόσβαση σε αρκετά στελέχη της Apple, ο Κέινι αφηγείται την ιστορία ενός άντρα που προσπάθησε να αντικαταστήσει κάποιον αναντικατάστατο και, με όπλα του μια δυνατή, ανθρώπινη ηγεσία, την κατανόηση της αλυσίδας εφοδιασμού και την αφοσίωση στις αξίες του, πέτυχε περισσότερα απ’ όσο θα μπορούσε ποτέ κανείς να φανταστεί.

De Gaulle et l'Algérie. La tragédie, le héros et le témoin

Biographies & Memoirs

"Un quart de siècle après l'événement, à la demande de ses amis des Editions du Seuil, Jean Daniel nous tend ce miroir où s'inscrit le grand dialogue entre de Gaulle et l'Algérie. On permettra peut-être à un biographe du Général, qui vient d'étudier ce dossier avec le recul du temps et l'apport d'une riche historiographie, de saluer ici un exemple peu banal de lucidité immédiate. D'innombrables documents ont été publiés depuis lors. Beaucoup d'acteurs ont témoigné. Et plusieurs très bons livres ont paru sur la question. Nous en savons davantage. Mais, vingt-cinq ans plus tard, le tableau du journaliste garde sa fraîcheur et son éclat. Avec la force irrésistible de la perception immédiate, de ce qui a été vu, senti, souffert."Jean Lacouture Passionnément lié, comme Camus qui fut son ami, à l'Algérie, interlocuteur privilégié à Paris, Tunis et Alger des protagonistes du drame, Jean Daniel en fut l'un des témoins les plus exigeants et les mieux informés. C'était alors dans l' Express de Françoise Giroud, Pierre Viansson-Ponté, Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, celui du "Bloc-notes" de François Mauriac, proche de Camus et de Pierre Mendès France, que l'on pouvait lire chaque semaine ses reportages. Précédé d'une réflexion personnelle qu'autorise aujourd'hui le recul du temps, le choix de textes qu'on trouvera ici reconstitue avec éclat ce que Jean Daniel appelle l'"impétueux corps à corps du Général avec l'Algérie".

Touching the Jaguar

Biographies & Memoirs

The author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman details the experience that transformed him into an activist.When New York Times–bestselling author John Perkins was a young Peace Corps volunteer, his life was saved by an Amazonian shaman who taught him to “touch the jaguar”—to transform his fears into positive action. He went on to become an “economic hit man” (EHM), convincing developing countries to build huge infrastructure projects that put them perpetually in debt to the World Bank and other US-controlled institutions. Although he sincerely believed this was the best model for economic development, he came to realize it was really a new form of colonialism. Returning to the Amazon, he saw the destructive impact of his EHM work. But he also was inspired by a previously uncontacted tribe that touched its jaguar by uniting with its enemies to defend its territory against invading oil and mining companies.For the first time, Perkins details how shamanism converted him from an EHM to a crusader for transforming a failing Death Economy (exploiting resources that are declining at accelerating rates) into a Life Economy (cleaning up pollution, recycling, and developing green technologies). He discusses the power our perceptions have for molding reality. And he provides a strategy for each of us to change our lives and defend our territory—the earth—against current destructive policies and systems.“This eloquent book inspires us to create a new reality of what it means to be humans on this magnificent planet.” —Deepak Chopra“Touching the Jaguar is a heartfelt exploration into the powers to change ourselves, transform businesses, and renew society—powers indigenous shamans have cultivated for millennia and we must embrace to dream the world in a new way.” —Alberto Villoldo, PhD, bestselling author of One Spirit Medicine and Shaman, Healer, Sage“Perkins is a master storyteller. In this story of deceit, divided loyalties, and ultimate redemption, he draws us to a deeper understanding of ourselves and the possibilities of a human rebirth and brings us together on the path to a future that works for the whole of life.” —David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World

A Bridge for Passing

Biographies & Memoirs

The Nobel Prize–winning and New York Times–bestselling author’s memoir of making a movie in 1960s Japan, while mourning the loss of her husband. Pearl S. Buck’s children’s story, The Big Wave, about two young friends whose lives are transformed when a volcano erupts and a tidal wave engulfs their village, was eventually optioned as a movie. A Bridge for Passing narrates the resulting adventure, the story of the people involved in the movie-making process (including Polish director Tad Danielewski), their many complications while shooting, and the experience of working in Japan at a time when memories of the war remained strong. As much as all this, the book is a poignant reflection on personal crisis, and relates Buck’s grief over the death of her husband of twenty-five years, Richard Walsh, who was also her editor. A Bridge for Passing offers an intimate view of postwar Japan mixed with Buck’s heartrending meditation on loss and love. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Pearl S. Buck including rare images from the author’s estate.

Agent Josephine

Biographies & Memoirs

The New Yorker, Best Books of 2022 Vanity Fair, Best Books of 2022 Booklist, Best Books of 2022 Singer. Actress. Beauty. Spy. During WWII, Josephine Baker, the world's richest and most glamorous entertainer, was an Allied spy in Occupied France. Prior to World War II, Josephine Baker was a music-hall diva renowned for her singing and dancing, her beauty and sexuality; she was the highest-paid female performer in Europe. When the Nazis seized her adopted city, Paris, she was banned from the stage, along with all “negroes and Jews.” Yet instead of returning to America, she vowed to stay and to fight the Nazi evil. Overnight, she went from performer to Resistance spy. In Agent Josephine, bestselling author Damien Lewis uncovers this little-known history of the famous singer’s life. During the war years, as a member of the French Nurse paratroopers—a cover for her spying work—Baker participated in numerous clandestine activities and emerged as a formidable spy. In turn, she was a hero of the three countries in whose name she served—the US, France, and Britain. Drawing on a plethora of new historical material and rigorous research, including previously undisclosed letters and journals, Lewis upends the conventional story of Josephine Baker, explaining why she fully deserves her unique place in the French Panthéon.

James Watt

Biographies & Memoirs

The history of inventors is generally the same old struggle with poverty... The history of James Watt, the inventor of the steam-engine, is no exception to the rule of struggling to win. He was born in the little town of Greenock, Scotland, 1736. Too delicate to attend school, he was taught reading by his mother, and a little writing and arithmetic by his father. When six years of age, he would draw mechanical lines and circles on the hearth, with a colored piece of chalk. His favorite play was to take to pieces his little carpenter tools, and make them into different ones. He was an obedient boy, especially devoted to his mother, a cheerful and very intelligent woman, who always encouraged him.

My Life and Hard Times

Biographies & Memoirs

My Life and Hard Times This short autobiographical book is James Thurber’s comic portrait of his childhood in early-20th-century Columbus, Ohio. In nine linked sketches he recounts the eccentricities of his family, neighbors, and pets, turning ordinary mishaps into absurd farce. We meet his nervous, hypochondriac mother; his hot-tempered but hapless father; a bullying older brother; and a parade of unforgettable minor characters—from a hard-drinking grandfather to a perpetually escaping dog named Muggs. The episodes include household disasters, mistaken alarms about burglars, and surreal social misunderstandings, all described in Thurber’s understated, deadpan style. Although the tone is nostalgic and playful, the stories also hint at the anxieties of growing up in a chaotic, unpredictable world. Interspersed with his own line drawings, the book established Thurber as a master of American humor, blending memoir and tall tale to show how a shy, near-sighted boy developed the wry outlook that would define his later work.

L'any del pensament màgic

Biographies & Memoirs

Una crònica commovedora sobre la malaltia i la mort a través de l'experiència personal de la periodista i escriptora Joan Didion.El Nadal del 2003, la Joan Didion va haver d'afrontar la sobtada mort del seu marit, el també escriptor John Gregory Dunne, i la llarga malaltia de la seva filla. L'autora va narrar amb una fascinant distància emocional la seva reacció a la tragèdia a L'any del pensament màgic, un llibre breu i intens, d'una honestedat desbordant, que s'ha convertit en un clàssic del dol.Aquesta crònica de supervivència ha captivat milions de lectors a tot el món i va guanyar, l'any 2005, el prestigiós National Book Award.Crítiques:«Plena de detalls i d'una enlluernadora honestedat [...], un retrat indeleble de la pèrdua i del dol.»Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times«El llibre és un intent de transcendir l'estupor i el sense sentit en què ens deixa sumits el dolor quan experimentem la mort d'algú molt proper.»Eduardo Lago, Babelia«Un llibre per al consol. En comparació amb els textos d'autoajuda i els repertoris tècnics de superació de l'insuperable, el llibre de la Joan Didion ens col·loca a la sala d'espera del dolor, ens en presenta el públic i els pacients.»Alejandro Gándara, El Mundo«Una escriptura directa, sense concessions sentimentals, que recorre al flashback per mantenir el lector sempre en suspens.»Bernabé Sarabia, El Cultural«No puc pensar en un llibre que necessitem més que el seu. [...] No em puc imaginar morir sense aquest llibre.»John Leonard, The New York Review of Books«Un acte consumat de valentia literària, una escriptora reconeguda per la seva claredat que ens permet entrar dins la seva ment mentre aquesta s'ennuvola pel dol.»Lev Grossman, Time

Blockbuster!

Biographies & Memoirs

Before there was Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, there was Fergus Hume’s The Mystery of a Hansom Cab—the biggest, and fastest-selling, detective novel of the 1800s, and Australia’s first literary blockbuster. Fergus Hume was an aspiring playwright when he moved from Dunedin to Melbourne in 1885. He wrote The Mystery of a Hansom Cab with the humble hope of bringing his name to the attention of theatre managers. The book sold out its first run almost instantly and it became a runaway word-of-mouth phenomenon—but its author sold the copyright for a mere fifty pounds, missing out on a potential fortune. Blockbuster! is the engrossing story of a book that would help define the genre of crime fiction, and a portrait of a great city in full bloom. Rigorously researched and full of arresting detail, this captivating book is a must-read for all fans of true crime, history and crime fiction alike. Lucy Sussex was born in New Zealand. She has edited four anthologies, including She’s Fantastical, shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award. Her award-winning fiction includes books for younger readers and the novel The Scarlet Rider. Lucy has five short-story collections, including My Lady Tongue, A Tour Guide in Utopia, Absolute Uncertainty and Matilda Told Such Dreadful Lies. Lucy Sussex's latest book is Blockbuster! Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab. She lives in Melbourne. ‘An absorbing, at times fascinating companion to The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.’ Age ‘Told with wit and lightly worn scholarship…Sussex has written a fine, thoroughly engaging and multifaceted history. Generously, she has shared her fun with the rest of us.’ Australian ‘The book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of crime fiction or Australian literature, but is highly recommended even if you’re not: Sussex is a superb story-teller and leavens this fascinating account with dry wit. It deserves to be a blockbuster.’ Tara Sharp ‘Sussex skillfully assembles the known information about a very private man and his times, and reveals a Victorian world whose machinations and mysteries are equal to those of his most famous fiction.’ Stuff NZ

When We Were the Kennedys

Biographies & Memoirs

Winner of the Sarton Memoir Award. “[A] marvel of storytelling, layered and rich . . . an account of one family’s grief, love, and resilience” (Maine Sunday Telegram). Mexico, Maine, 1963: The Wood family is much like its close, Catholic, immigrant neighbors, all dependent on the fathers’ wages from the Oxford Paper Company. But when Dad suddenly dies on his way to work, Mum and the four deeply connected Wood girls are set adrift. When We Were the Kennedys is the story of how a family, a town, and then a nation mourns and finds the strength to move on. “Intimate but expansive . . . A tender memoir of a very different time.”—O, The Oprah Magazine “Every few years, a memoir comes along that revitalizes the form . . . With generous, precise, and unsentimental prose, Monica Wood brilliantly achieves this . . . When We Were the Kennedys is a deeply moving gem!”—Andre Dubus III, #1 New York Times bestselling author “On her own terms, wry and empathetic, Wood locates the melodies in the aftershock of sudden loss.”—The Boston Globe “This is an extraordinarily moving book, so carefully and artfully realized, about loss and life and love. Monica Wood displays all her superb novelistic skills in this breathtaking, evocative new memoir. Wow.”—Ken Burns, filmmaker “A gorgeous, gripping memoir. I don’t know that I’ve ever pulled so hard for a family. When We Were the Kennedys captures a shimmering mill-town world on the edge of oblivion, in a voice that brims with hope, feeling, and wonder. The book humbles and soars.”—Mike Paterniti, New York Times bestselling author

Tutto ciò che conta

Biographies & Memoirs

Quando il critico cinematografico Gene Siskel le chiese: "Di cosa sei assolutamente sicura?", Oprah Winfrey decise di cogliere l'occasione per "fare il punto sulla sua vita", inaugurando la rubrica da cui nasce questo libro sulla sua rivista "O, The Oprah Magazine". Da allora l'ha scritta una volta al mese per quattordici anni. Nel frattempo ha lasciato il talk show che l'ha resa celebre (il programma di intrattenimento più premiato nella storia) e lanciato la sua rete televisiva, diventando la prima miliardaria nera d'America; ha ricevuto una laurea honoris causa dall'università di Harvard e la Medaglia presidenziale della libertà da Barack Obama; ha visto amici e colleghi allontanarsi o restarle accanto, ha perduto i suoi adorati animali e ne ha adottati di nuovi, ha festeggiato compleanni spartiacque. Tutto ciò non le ha impedito di continuare a dispensare parole profonde e ispiratrici per i suoi lettori. Ora, per la prima volta, queste perle di saggezza sono state riviste, aggiornate e raccolte dalla loro autrice in questo libro ricco di intuizioni e rivelazioni, i cui capitoli parlano di gioia, resilienza, legami, gratitudine, possibilità, stupore e potere, che ci consente di comprendere il pensiero di una delle donne più straordinarie del mondo. Schiette, commoventi ed elettrizzanti, le parole di Oprah brillano di quel genere di umanità e verità a cui i lettori continueranno ad attingere sfogliando e risfogliando le pagine di questo libro.

Le livre de la pitié et de la mort

Biographies & Memoirs

Le livre de la pitié et de la mort est l'ouvrage le plus émouvant de Pierre Loti (1850-1923), qui sut trouver les mots justes pour évoquer le deuil et le souvenir d'êtres chers - humains ou animaux - et marquants.

Samuel the Prophet

Biographies & Memoirs

Sueños en tiempos de guerra

Biographies & Memoirs

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o nació en 1938 en la Kenya rural. Incluso mientras la Segunda Guerra Mundial afectaba las vidas de los africanos bajo el yugo imperialista inglés y su familia pasaba dificultades económicas, Ngũgĩ consiguió ir a la escuela para saciar su singular sed de conocimientos. Años más tarde se convertiría en uno de los principales escritores y pensadores africanos.En Sueños en tiempos de guerra, Ngũgĩ dibuja hábilmente una era pasada, capturando el paisaje, la gente y la cultura. Narrado desde los ojos de un niño y al mismo tiempo la inteligencia de una vida dedicada, entre otras cosas, al estudio y la defensa de las culturas minorizadas, el libro evidencia la vicisitudes sociales y políticas de la vida colonial y la guerra. El autor nos acerca a su experiencia a través del relato sobre la complicada relación entre una clase cristianizada emergente y la clase pobre rural que mantiene sus creencias tradicionales o la guerra por la independencia.En la obra, se expresan delicadas y poderosas sutilezas y complejidades con una sensibilidad conmovedora. Es el testigo de un niño que, en medio de un país inmerso en el desencanto y la muerte, emprende cada día su camino hacia la escuela con la firme esperanza que los sueños pueden cambiar el mundo.

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