Biographies & Memoirs - Books

It's All In The Playing

Biographies & Memoirs

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this intimate and compelling memoir, lauded actress Shirley MacLaine casts herself in her most challenging role yet—as seeker of personal and metaphysical truth. “It began in Peru ten years ago and ended in Peru ten years later. But the steps along the way were the real story.” In filming the miniseries Out on a Limb, Oscar-winning actress, social activist, and singular entertainer Shirley MacLaine was forced to recreate herself ten years earlier. To journey back from Malibu to London, from Sweden to the mysterious landscape of Peru . . . to the places, the perceptions, and profound emotions she experienced then. And to journey beyond, exploring new personal and cosmic dimensions, the choices of her lifetimes, who she was and who she would become. At the heart of It’s All in the Playing is a compelling challenge: We choose our own destinies, create our illusions. We have the power to design the world in which we live, and the strength to remake ourselves in the image of our dreams.

Omul ultra. De la supraponderal, la campion de anduranță – povestea celei mai uimitoare transformări fizice

Biographies & Memoirs

În noaptea dinaintea zilei în care împlinea 40 de ani, Rich Roll a avut revelația înspăimântătoare a viitorului său. Cântărind cu aproape 25 de kilograme mai mult decât normalul și incapabil să urce câteva scări fără să gâfâie, a putut să vadă care era rezultatul stilului său de viață complet sedentar – și ce fel de schimbare trebuie să adopte pentru a obține rezultate reale. Adoptând o nouă rutină care punea pe primul loc nutriția din plante si antrenamentele zilnice, Rich s-a transformat – în doar câteva luni – dintr-un bărbat total ieșit din formă, într-o adevărată „mașinărie“ destinată sportului de anduranță. Omul ultra relatează călătoria remarcabilă a lui Rich spre linia de start a competiției de elită Ultraman, care îi supune pe cei mai în formă oameni din lume la un calvar de peste 500 de kilometri străbătuți înot, pe bicicletă și în alergare. Și, după acest test, Rich a trecut cu succes de unul chiar mai dificil: EPIC5 – cinci triatloane pe distanța folosită la competiția Ironman, fiecare dintre ele pe o insulă diferită din arhipelagul Hawaii, toate finalizate în mai puțin de o săptămână. Omul ultra este un portret minunat despre ceea ce poate realiza puterea voinței. Ne provoacă pe toți să ne gândim din nou la ce suntem capabili să realizăm și ne îndeamnă, implicit și explicit, să „trecem la treabă“.

Proud Shoes

Biographies & Memoirs

First published in 1956, Proud Shoes is the remarkable true story of slavery, survival, and miscegenation in the South from the pre-Civil War era through the Reconstruction. Written by Pauli Murray the legendary civil rights activist and one of the founders of NOW, Proud Shoes chronicles the lives of Murray's maternal grandparents. From the birth of her grandmother, Cornelia Smith, daughter of a slave whose beauty incited the master's sons to near murder to the story of her grandfather Robert Fitzgerald, whose free black father married a white woman in 1840, Proud Shoes offers a revealing glimpse of our nation's history.

Like A River To The Sea

Biographies & Memoirs

The story of heartbreak to triumph in the wake of a tragedy. Their first date in college was a U2 concert and after that Lauren and Jack Grandcolas were inseparable. He was mesmerized by her sweetness, fierce intelligence and eyes that were as blue and alive as the ocean. They married and settled in San Francisco, each pursuing their dreams in the business world. After a decade of trying, Lauren finally got pregnant at the age of 38. On Sept. 6, 2001 she flew to New Jersey—her beloved Little Grandma had died and following the funeral Lauren shared the joyous news of her pregnancy to lift her family’s spirits. Flying home to Jack on September 11th, she arrived at Newark airport early and walked on to a flight for which she hadn’t been ticketed: United 93. During that terrifying flight, Lauren left a calm and reassuring voice mail for Jack which remains a testament to her courage and selfless love, even in the face of her own mortality.Like A River To The Sea is a story of love overcoming loss. In this moving memoir, Jack Grandcolas brings to life his college sweetheart while taking the reader through his long journey to make peace with the loss of Lauren and their unborn child. Jack is honest about the depth of his despair and his battles with depression, PTSI, and heavy drinking. As he digs himself out of the deepest hole imaginable, Jack learns universal truths that will help anyone confronted with tragedy.Like A River To The Sea is also a deeply personal look at an event of historical importance. Jack takes us inside the White House to meet with President Bush and to the precipice of a still-smoldering hole in the earth outside of Shanksville, Penn. The book goes aboard United 93 in its final minutes, when this brave collection of Americans fought to retake control of the plane, ultimately preventing the hijackers from completing their mission and becoming the first heroes in the war against terror.As with Jack’s life, Like A River To The Sea is defined by the boundless depths of human love. Eighteen years after losing his wife and their unborn baby, Jack finally remarried, and his new bride so honors the love between him and Lauren that her wedding ring includes stones that Lauren once wore on her finger. This is the magic of Like A River To The Sea, which begins with heartbreak but becomes a story about the triumph of the human spirit.

Échec à Bonaparte

Biographies & Memoirs

Cet ouvrage est une réédition numérique d’un livre paru au XXe siècle, désormais indisponible dans son format d’origine.

A Lotus Grows in the Mud

Biographies & Memoirs

In this candid, insightful, and unconventional memoir, Goldie Hawn invites us to join her in an inspirational look back at the people, places, and events that have touched her. It is the spiritual journey of a heart in search of enlightenment. With her trademark effervescence, Goldie delivers a personal look at private and powerful events that carried her through life: her father’s spontaneity; her mother’s courage; and the joy of being a daughter, a sister, a parent, and a lover. She writes about her childhood dreams of becoming a ballerina. She takes us on a tour of her go-go years in 1960s New York City, the phenomenon of TV’s Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, her Oscar-winning debut in Cactus Flower and Hollywood stardom. She writes intimately about the challenges of love, anger and fear, and the importance of compassion and integrity. She speaks openly about her family, her partner Kurt Russell, her children; her faith, her curiosity for that which she doesn’t yet know, and her thirst for knowledge. Most of all, it is a trip back through a life well lived by a woman well loved.

Cómo aprendí a entender el mundo

Biographies & Memoirs

En 2017, cuando Hans Rosling murió de cáncer, estaba escribiendo dos libros. El primero sería Factfulness, un bestseller global en el que explicaba por qué tendemos a ser más pesimistas de lo que deberíamos y por qué el mundo es mejor de lo que suelen contarnos las noticias. El segundo son estas memorias: un relato en primera persona, sincero y arrebatador, sin números de por medio, sobre cómo Rosling pasó de ser un médico comprometido a una eminencia en el estudio de grandes tendencias globales como el hambre, el analfabetismo o la esperanza de vida.Con un humor socarrón, una gran fascinación por la vida y un talento único para contar historias inspiradoras, Rosling relata innumerables aventuras como un viaje a la India en el que conoció a varios seres humanos extraordinarios; una estancia en Mozambique en la que trató a enfermos con las piernas paralizadas por una epidemia; o la extraña historia de sus viajes a Cuba y su encuentro con Fidel Castro.Rosling fue un maestro en iluminar con gráficos y datos nuestra comprensión del mundo y alguien que confiaba enormemente en las posibilidades del ser humano. En este libro inolvidable, muestra su lado más humano y recuerda una vida llena de acontecimientos memorables que terminó demasiado pronto y que contribuyó a hacer el mundo un poco mejor.

A Prelude

Biographies & Memoirs

The leading literary critic Edmund Wilson shares his travels and adventures from his young life in this intellectual autobiography, A Prelude. From his early childhood in Red Bank, New Jersey, to his undergraduate years in Princeton, to his later time spent in the army, this personal study, told partly in diary form, provides an illuminating look inside the mind of one of the twentieth century's towering man of letters. Also included in this volume is two short stories by Wilson, both based on actual events: "The Death of a Soldier," about the death of a young soldier from pneumonia just before going to the front. And "Lieutenant Franklin" concerning a young officer in the Army of Occupation in Germany after the war.

Na marginesie Manhattanu. Radość, śmierć i Joan Didion – wspomnienie

Biographies & Memoirs

Hipnotyzująca relacja z wchodzenia w dojrzałe życie u boku legendy – Joan Didion. Poruszający portret spotkania dwóch Ameryk: przedstawicielki wielkomiejskiej elity intelektualnej i młodego pisarza z niższej klasy średniej, pragnącego odnaleźć własny głos i własne miejsce w życiu.W wieku dwudziestu kilku lat Cory Leadbeater desperacko próbuje napisać coś wielkiego. Otrzymuje szansę pracy dla znanej pisarki, której tożsamość początkowo pozostawała tajemnicą. Od burzliwego dzieciństwa szukał schronienia w literaturze, a teraz został osobistym asystentem jednej z największych ikon literackich – Joan Didion.Przez dziewięć lat funkcjonował w świecie, do którego inaczej nie mógłby się dostać. Razem z Didion recytowali poezję o poranku, jadali z sędziami Sądu Najwyższego, uczestniczyli w wernisażach, a po kolacji palili po jednym papierosie.Jednocześnie w życiu Leadbeatera nadal istnieje jego rodzinne Jersey City. Ojciec, który za swoje machlojki trafia wreszcie do więzienia. Bezradna matka i bracia, od których Cory coraz bardziej się oddala. Po śmierci najbliższego przyjaciela Cory powoli osuwa się w otchłań kryzysu, depresji i uzależnień. W tym wszystkim wciąż wierzy, że kiedyś napisze powieść, która potwierdzi jego literacką wartość.„Na marginesie Manhattanu” to mistrzowsko napisana opowieść o nierównościach społecznych, rodzinnych traumach, stracie i twórczej pasji. Pełna życia i tęsknoty stanowi poruszający hołd dla Joan Didion oraz świadectwo relacji, które pomagają nam odnaleźć sens w nieustającej pogoni za życiem wartym przeżycia.

Hannah's Child

Biographies & Memoirs

In this award-winning memoir Stanley Hauerwas gives a frank, transparent account of his own life interwoven with the development of his thought. Unique to this paperback edition is a new afterword that offers Hauerwas's reflections on responses to Hannah's Child.

Heaven and Hell

Biographies & Memoirs

The Eagles are the bestselling, and arguably the tightest-lipped, American group ever. Now band member and guitarist Don Felder finally breaks the Eagles’ years of public silence to take fans behind the scenes. He shares every part of the band’s wild ride, from the pressure-packed recording studios and trashed hotel rooms to the tension-filled courtrooms, and from the joy of writing powerful new songs to the magic of performing in huge arenas packed with roaring fans.

The Future of the American Negro

Biographies & Memoirs

This is an electronic edition of the complete book complemented by author biography. This book features a table of contents linked to every chapter. The book was designed for optimal navigation on the iPad, PDA, Smartphone, and other electronic readers. It is formatted to display on all electronic devices including the iPad, Smartphones and other Mobile Devices with a small display.

Sharing the Wealth

Biographies & Memoirs

"Sharing the Wealth" is the incredible true story of how a $40 a week baker became a multimillionaire owner of a Super Bowl NFL team and an unprecedented philanthropist.

Historien public

Biographies & Memoirs

"Après avoir édité quelque sept cents livres, je me suis résolu à m'éditer moi-même. Cet ouvrage-ci mêle autobiographie intellectuelle et portrait d'époque à travers les interventions, polémiques et prises de position que j'ai été amené à provoquer ou à soutenir depuis cinquante ans. C'est au croisement de mon activité d'éditeur d'une intelligentsia encore au sommet de son rayonnement mondial et d'historien de la France contemporaine et de sa mémoire nationale que je me suis retrouvé historien public. Depuis Archives, cette collection de poche qui mettait les bibliothèques dans la rue et les archives dans la poche, jusqu'à Liberté pour l'histoire, qui défend l'indépendance du travail de l'esprit, en passant par la revue Le Débat et Les Lieux de mémoire, qui réconcilient l'histoire de pointe avec la mémoire collective, une même volonté se dégage de tant d'engagements sans rapport apparent : mettre l'histoire au cœur de la culture et de l'identité françaises." Pierre Nora.

Windsor Castle

Biographies & Memoirs

This book contains short stories set in the oldest and most famous castle in England. The theme linking through all the short stories is the courtship of Anne Boleyn by Henry VIII and his efforts to divorce his wife Katherine of Aragon. Characters are drawn into the lot such as Wolsey and Herne the Hunter a spirit of Windsor forest. Enjoy both book and a spoken word audio in this great value package.

Jane Goodall

Biographies & Memoirs

A biography of the primatologist that “vividly and significantly enriches our understanding of Goodall”—includes photographs (Booklist, starred review).This essential biography of one of the most influential women of the past century shows how truly remarkable Jane Goodall’s accomplishments have been. Goodall was a secretarial school graduate when Louis Leakey, unable to find someone with more fitting credentials, first sent her to Gombe to study chimpanzees. In this acclaimed work, Dale Peterson details how this young woman of uncommon resourcefulness and pluck would go on to set radically new standards in the study of animal behavior. He vividly captures the triumphs and setbacks of her dramatic life, including the private quest that led to her now-famous activism.Peterson, a longtime Goodall collaborator, has a unique knowledge of his subject. Candid and illuminating, this work will be a revelation even to readers who are familiar with the public Goodall as presented in her own writing.“Peterson provides colorful descriptions of day-to-day life at Gombe and Goodall’s interaction with the chimps, and ably portrays her relationship with Leakey, the National Geographic Society (which sponsored much of her work), her two marriages, her reaction to her celebrity and her ventures as an activist for the well-being of chimpanzees.” —Publishers Weekly“Captures the spirit of a remarkable woman in science.” —Library Journal (starred review)

You're Not Doing It Right

Biographies & Memoirs

Following his first book of hilarious essays in My Custom Van, Michael Ian Black expands his commentary to the subject that has made him one of the most-followed celebrities on Twitter: his irreverent take on the joys of suburban family life. In the tradition of Christian Lander’s hipster/yuppie-friendly bestselling catalog of observations in Stuff White People Like, Michael Ian Black delivers his unique brand of quirky, deadpan humor in this new collection of comedic essays. Now that Black has become the guy he swore he’d never be—a Yuppie A-Hole—he has a lot to say about his family life in suburbia, and he shares his incisive yet absurd observations with readers in Clappy as a Ham. Chronicling his adventures from cruising the neighborhood for his inevitable future “divorce house” (despite being happily married) to listening to Lite FM and realizing he loves it, Black delivers his straightfaced musings with the same sardonic humor that has earned him a rabid cult following. Want to know the pros and cons of Kashi GoLean Crunch or why kindergarten recitals are so boring? Looking for tips for lying to your kids about Santa? Clever, dry, and laugh-out-loud funny, Clappy as a Ham will “blow your mind all over your face” just like My Custom Van.

The Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1955–1966

Biographies & Memoirs

The sixth volume of the diary of “one of the most extraordinary and unconventional writers of [the twentieth] century” (The New York Times Book Review). Anaïs Nin continues “one of the most remarkable diaries in the history of letters” with this volume covering more than a decade of her midcentury life (Los Angeles Times). She debates the use of drugs versus the artist’s imagination; portrays many famous people in the arts; and recounts her visits to Sweden, the Brussels World’s Fair, Paris, and Venice. “[Nin] looks at life, love, and art with a blend of gentility and acuity that is rare in contemporary writing.” —John Barkham Reviews Edited and with a preface by Gunther Stuhlmann

Ik ben ik ben ik ben

Biographies & Memoirs

Een kinderziekte waarvan niet verwacht werd dat ze hem zou overleven. Een tiener die smacht naar een vlucht uit haar bestaan – met een bijna desastreuze afloop. Een angstaanjagende ontmoeting op een verlaten pad. Een rampzalige bevalling in een onderbezet ziekenhuis dat er een puinhoop van maakt. Ik ben ik ben ik ben is het onweerstaanbare levensverhaal van een buitengewone vrouw in zeventien bijna-doodervaringen. Een meeslepend, inspirerend en scherp boek dat je in één ruk uitleest en jezelf doet afvragen wat je zou doen als jij of een geliefde in levensgevaar zou zijn. Een buitengewoon verhaal dat je bewustzijn over de fragiliteit van het leven opnieuw aanwakkert, en je vastbesloten achterlaat om elke hartslag te laten tellen.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Biographies & Memoirs

A remarkable account of early slavery and later freedom, “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” is the 1789 autobiography of former slave Olaudah Equiano. His life is a tale of terror as well as an exciting adventure. He tells of his abduction from Africa at the age of ten, and his subsequent years of labor on slave ships. During and after this time, he fervently attempts to gain independence. He studies the Bible and carefully saves his money. After surviving a decade in this way, Equiano is able to purchase his own freedom in 1766. What follows is his success in business, in literacy, and in his outspoken condemnation of the slave trade. Considered an admirable precursor to such slave narratives as that of Frederick Douglass, Equiano’s degraded youth and respected later life in England is told with verve and sophistication in this spirited quest for fulfillment.

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