Biographies & Memoirs - Books

Jony Ive

Biographies & Memoirs

“An adulating biography of Apple’s left-brained wunderkind, whose work continues to revolutionize modern technology.” —Kirkus ReviewsIn 1997, Steve Jobs discovered a scruffy British designer toiling away at Apple’s headquarters, surrounded by hundreds of sketches and prototypes. Jony Ive’s collaboration with Jobs would produce some of the world’s most iconic technology products, including the iMac, iPod, iPad, and iPhone. Ive’s work helped reverse Apple’s long decline, overturned entire industries, and created a huge global fan base. Yet little is known about the shy, soft-spoken whiz whom Jobs referred to as his “spiritual partner.”Leander Kahney offers a detailed portrait of the English art school student with dyslexia who became the most acclaimed tech designer of his generation. Drawing on interviews with Ive’s former colleagues and Apple insiders, Kahney “takes us inside the creation of these memorable objects.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Queen of Thrift : Snapshots of a Military Wife

Biographies & Memoirs

When 21-year old military wife, Betty Whalen and her five-month-old daughter, Kim, embark on the 13,000 mile trip from New Jersey to Taiwan to join her husband, Betty never dreamed the trip, undertaken in the days before jet travel and disposable diapers, would take nine days, during which Kim would be hit with colic and diarrhea. Adding to the challenges the young mother would face was an unnecessary two-hour round trip by bus to San Francisco because of misinformation about her visa given to her by a flight operations specialist at Travis Air Force Base, California, her first stop. The error resulted in a tedious three-hour delay which caused Betty to miss a flight to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. Two days later upon arrival at Hickam, she faced another three-day wait. Then another exasperating four days in the Philippine Islands. On Taiwan, Betty was the youngest American Round-eye to meet the legendary Taiwanese President, Chiang Kai Shek. While there she gives birth to her second daughter in a missionary hospital only to lose this child suddenly three years later. Upon her familys return by ship, with two babies under two, from Taiwan, the angry Pacific Ocean brings their ship breathtakingly close to capsizing. During the voyage, 20-month old Kim faces emergency surgery on a ship that was bucking so badly, the surgeon was unable to stand upright without assistance.Back in the states with a family of four, Betty hones the shopping practices that enabled her to multiply her dollars and earn her the designation: Queen of Thrift. Her four basic principles: never pay the retail price, know the brands, shop the discount stores, and be patient, have paid off big for her. They can for anyone willing to try them.

Het verdeelde koninkrijk

Biographies & Memoirs

1215 was niet alleen het jaar van de wetshervormingen uit de Magna Charta en het conflict tussen koning Jan zonder Land en zijn edelen, maar een jaar van kruistochten en kerkhervormingen, van buitenlandse oorlogen en dramatische belegeringen, van handel en verraad. Een jaar waarin Engeland werd binnengevallen door een Frans leger en Londen werd bestormd door eigen woedende edelen. In Het verdeelde koninkrijk tekent bestsellerauteur Dan Jones een levendig beeld van het middeleeuwse leven in het belangrijkste jaar in de Engelse geschiedenis. Een derde maar losstaand deel na Vorsten van Albion en Gevecht om de troon. 'Jones heeft een geweldig oog voor narratieve geschiedenis en alleszeggende details... Het zijn de momentopnames van die tijd die dit boek zo boeiend maken.' – Daily Telegraph 'Jones loodst ons vakkundig door deze turbulente periode en werpt een fascinerend licht op het leven in Plantagenet Engeland.' – Irish Times

Einstein secondo me

Biographies & Memoirs

Tutti conosciamo Einstein, o almeno pensiamo di conoscerlo: il genio incompreso nascosto nell’oscuro ufficio brevetti di Berna, il bizzarro vecchietto che scorrazza in bicicletta per i viali di Princeton, con i capelli bianchi scarmigliati, il pacifista irriverente che non esita a tirar fuori la lingua davanti ai fotografi. Ma che cosa c’era davvero dietro la superficie di quest’immagine ormai immutabile, cosa nascondeva quel volto immortalato in migliaia di gadget, poster, magliette, tazze, magneti per il frigo, pupazzi? Chi era davvero Einstein e soprattutto che cos’è stato per quelli che l’hanno conosciuto? Ventiquattro scienziati ci raccontano in questo libro che cos’ha rappresentato Einstein per loro e come ne sono stati influenzati, nella vita professionale e personale. Arriviamo così a conoscere l’Einstein più privato, libero dall’aura del saggio che circonda solitamente la sua figura. Materiali inediti e memorie autobiografiche si fondono in un caleidoscopio commovente, nell’affettuoso ricordo di un uomo, rimpianto come amico più che come padre della teoria della relatività. Einstein secondo me è una testimonianza unica del potere che può avere un lascito intellettuale ed è una lettura entusiasmante, alla portata di tutti. John Brockman è scrittore, agente letterario, fondatore della Edge Foundation e animatore dell’omonimo sito web, dedicato alla «Terza Cultura», dove scienziati e intellettuali di primo piano condividono le loro ricerche con il pubblico. In Italia ha pubblicato tra gli altri I nuovi umanisti (2005) e 135 ragioni per essere ottimisti (2009).

An Aran Keening

Biographies & Memoirs

In November 1968, at the age of twenty-two, Andrew McNeillie left his job and his girlfriend in Wales and travelled to Inishmore. He was not a tourist: he stayed eleven months in Aran, living alone in a tiny house. An Aran Keening is a richly lyrical memoir of that time, a celebration of the island and its people, a lament for a way of life that was infused with a deep sadness then and that no longer exists. Based closely on a contemporary journal and on letters home – which are quoted at length, and which show the author to have been an immensely gifted young writer – An Aran Keening tells of a time before electricity and landing strips, a time of true poverty for many. Island life was, in both mind and body, more stark and dramatic then than now; it stood closer to the candle- and horse-powered nineteenth century than to the digitized twenty-first. McNeillie fished and trapped for his food – his accounts of his methods are among the most dazzling passages in the book – and writes with great love, but without a trace of romanticism, about the natural world of Aran. With extraordinary sensitivity and subtlety, he recounts the awkward, sometimes fraught, but ultimately enriching interactions between the green outsider he was and the people of Inishmore, and the islanders' tragic internal struggles. An Aran Keening commemorates both the immortality of youth, in all its courage, folly and quick tenderness of heart, and the passing of a world. It is a singular addition to the literature of Aran and, in this age of two-a-penny memoirs, one of the finest works in that genre to come out of these islands in recent decades.

The Man Eaters of Tsavo

Biographies & Memoirs

It was towards noon on March 1, 1898, that I first found myself entering the narrow and somewhat dangerous harbour of Mombasa, on the east coast of Africa. The town lies on an island of the same name, separated from the mainland only by a very narrow channel, which forms the harbour; and as our vessel steamed slowly in, close under the quaint old Portuguese fortress built over three hundred years ago, I was much struck with the strange beauty of the view which gradually opened out before me. Contrary to my anticipation, everything looked fresh and green, and an oriental glamour of enchantment seemed to hang over the island. The old town was bathed in brilliant sunshine and reflected itself lazily on the motionless sea; its flat roofs and dazzlingly white walls peeped out dreamily between waving palms and lofty cocoanuts, huge baobabs and spreading mango trees; and the darker background of well-wooded hills and slopes on the mainland formed a very effective setting to a beautiful and, to me, unexpected picture.

Becoming Myself

Biographies & Memoirs

Bestselling writer and psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom puts himself on the couch in a “candid, insightful” (Abraham Verghese) memoir Irvin D. Yalom has made a career of investigating the lives of others. In this profound memoir, he turns his writing and his therapeutic eye on himself. He opens his story with a nightmare: He is twelve, and is riding his bike past the home of an acne-scarred girl. Like every morning, he calls out, hoping to befriend her, "Hello Measles!" But in his dream, the girl's father makes Yalom understand that his daily greeting had hurt her. For Yalom, this was the birth of empathy; he would not forget the lesson. As Becoming Myself unfolds, we see the birth of the insightful thinker whose books have been a beacon to so many. This is not simply a man's life story, Yalom's reflections on his life and development are an invitation for us to reflect on the origins of our own selves and the meanings of our lives.

Tough Jews

Biographies & Memoirs

Award-winning writer Rich Cohen excavates the real stories behind the legend of infamous criminal enforcers Murder, Inc. and contemplates the question: Where did the tough Jews go?In 1930s Brooklyn, there lived a breed of men who now exist only in legend and in the memories of a few old-timers: Jewish gangsters, fearless thugs with nicknames like Kid Twist Reles and Pittsburgh Phil Strauss. Growing up in Brownsville, they made their way from street fights to underworld power, becoming the execution squad for a national crime syndicate. Murder Inc. did for organized crime what Henry Ford did for the automobile, and Tough Jews is the first in-depth portrait of these men, a thrilling glimpse at the muscle that made possible the success of gangster statesmen such as Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, and Lucky Luciano. For Rich Cohen, who grew up in suburban Illinois in the 1980s taunted by the stereotype of Jews as book-reading rule followers, the very idea of the Jewish gangster was a relief; for once, a Jew in jail did not have to be a white collar criminal. With a clear eye and a comic sensibility, Cohen looks beyond the blood and ultimately encounters each of these ruthless killers’ matzo-ball heart. Tough Jews shows what can happen when a member of the tribe combines brains, heart, and a dangerous determination never to back down.

Winston S. Churchill: Road to Victory, 1941–1945

Biographies & Memoirs

The seventh volume of the acclaimed, official biography: “An engrossing history of Churchill’s crucial role in the grand alliance of World War II” (Los Angeles Times). This seventh volume in the epic, multivolume biography of Winston S. Churchill takes up the story of “Churchill’s War” with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and carries it on to the triumph of V-E Day, May 8, 1945, the end of the war in Europe. Acclaimed historian Martin Gilbert charts Churchill’s course through the storms of Anglo-American and Anglo-Soviet rivalry, and between the conflicting ambitions of other forces embattled against the common enemy: between General de Gaulle, his compatriots in France, and the French Empire; between Tito and other Yugoslav leaders; between the Greek Communists and monarchists; between the Polish government exiled in London and the Soviet-controlled “Lublin” Poles. Amid all these volatile concerns, Churchill had to find the path of prudence, of British national interest, and, above all, of the earliest possible victory over Nazism. In doing so he was guided by the most secret sources of British Intelligence: the daily interception of the messages of the German High Command. These pages reveal, as never before, the links between this secret information and the resulting moves and successes achieved by the Allies. “A milestone, a monument, a magisterial achievement . . . rightly regarded as the most comprehensive life ever written of any age.” —Andrew Roberts, historian and author of The Storm of War “The most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written.” —Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times

Led Zeppelin

Biographies & Memoirs

From the author of the definitive New York Times bestselling history of the Beatles comes the authoritative account of the group many call the greatest rock band of all time, arguably the most successful, and certainly one of the most notoriousRock star. Whatever that term means to you, chances are it owes a debt to Led Zeppelin. No one before or since has lived the dream quite like Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham. In Led Zeppelin, Bob Spitz takes their full measure, separating the myth from the reality with his trademark connoisseurship and storytelling flair.From the opening notes of their first album, the band announced itself as something different, a collision of grand artistic ambition and brute primal force, of English folk music and African American blues. That record sold over 10 million copies, and it was just the beginning; Led Zeppelin's albums have sold over 300 million certified copies worldwide, and the dust has never settled. The band is notoriously guarded, and previous books provided more heat than light. But Spitz's authority is undeniable and irresistible. His feel for the atmosphere, the context--the music, the business, the recording studios, the touring life, the whole ecosystem of popular music--is unparalleled. His account of the melding of Page and Jones, the virtuosic London sophisticates, with Plant and Bonham, the wild men from the Midlands, in a scene dominated by the Beatles and the Stones but changing fast, is in itself a revelation. Spitz takes the music seriously and brings the band's artistic journey to full and vivid life.The music, however, is only part of the legend: Led Zeppelin is also the story of how the sixties became the seventies, of how playing clubs became playing stadiums, of how innocence became decadence. Led Zeppelin wasn't the first rock band to let loose on the road, but as with everything else, they took it to an entirely new level. Not all the legends are true, but in Spitz's careful accounting, what is true is astonishing and sometimes disturbing. Led Zeppelin gave no quarter, and neither has Bob Spitz. Led Zeppelin is the full and honest reckoning the band has long awaited, and richly deserves.

Stąd w nieznane

Biographies & Memoirs

Historia Lisy Marie Presley, córki Elvisa i Priscilli, po raz pierwszy opowiedziana jej własnymi słowami Lisa Marie długie lata nagrywała swoje wspomnienia. Pracę nad nimi przerwała jej nagła śmierć w 2023 roku. Pozostały jednak taśmy, które odsłuchiwała pogrążona w żałobie córka artystki, Riley Keough. Lisa Marie opowiadała o dzieciństwie w Graceland i bezwarunkowej miłości do ojca. O tym, jak z krzykiem biegła ku jego martwemu ciału. O życiu w Los Angeles i trudnej relacji z oziębłą matką. O relegowaniu jej z kolejnych szkół. O wyjątkowej, trwającej całe życie relacji z Dannym Keoughem. O związkach z Michaelem Jacksonem i Nicholasem Cage’em. O macierzyństwie i samobójczej śmierci syna. O uzależnieniu i międzypokoleniowej traumie. Słuchając, Riley nabierała pewności, że musi spełnić życzenie Lisy Marie i ujawnić jej żarliwe, pełne bólu wspomnienia. By w końcu świat mógł poznać jej matkę, skomplikowaną, pełną pasji i troski osobę. Osobiste i do głębi poruszające Stąd w nieznane to książka jak żadna inna – ostatnie słowa jedynego dziecka amerykańskiej legendy – skomponowana z przeplatających się głosów matki i córki.

Clive

Biographies & Memoirs

Cliver Palmer, MP, leader of the Palmer United Party and big-spending billionaire: now here's the true story behind the larger-than-life Queenslander. Read the real story behind the larger-than-life Queenslander: MP, leader of the PUP and big-spending billionaire.He's bought a football team, helped create a political party, added robot dinosaurs to a luxury golf resort and is set to recreate the 'titanic'. But are these just fanciful splurges or something more calculated? the reality is that Clive Palmer uses his immense mining wealth (which some estimates put at over $6 billion) in a proactive (if sometimes eccentric) global way. His personal story is just as colourful and intriguing: Clive spent time as a child in China and writes poetry. He is well-known for attention-grabbing statements that send the media into a spin. Shortly after Clive was named a National Living treasure, he claimed that the CIA was secretly backing green groups in a bid to kill the Australian coal-mining industry. In true Clive fashion, in May 2012 he announced that he was building a luxury cruise liner - the 'titanic II' - and his political feuds are legendary. In this part business book, part political-insider profile and all rollicking tale, journalist Sean Parnell reveals what makes Clive Palmer tick.'this brilliant debut biography goes a long way towards capturing the eccentric, enigmatic and downright hysterical character of Clive Palmer.' - the Australian

Artistic Circles

Biographies & Memoirs

Discover the fascinating connections between the world's greatest artists. Artistic Circles introduces some of the most inspirational stories of friendship, love, creativity and shared passions in the world of art. Whether through teaching, as in the case of Paul Klee and Anni Albers; a mutual muse, as seen in the flowers of Georgia O'Keeffe and Takashi Murakami; or an inspirational romantic coupling like that of Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock. In telling the tales of these creatives lives and achievements – each extraordinary and oftentimes ground-breaking – Susie Hodge exposes the fascinating web of connections that have fostered some of the world's art masterpieces. Some are well-known, whereas others span both time and place, linking pioneers in art in fascinating and unexpected ways. Illustrated in colourful tribute to each artists' unique style, Artistic Circles is an illuminating and celebratory account of some of the art world's most compelling visionaries. A perfect introduction for students, and a source of new and surprising stories for art lovers.

Cómo encontré el autor de mi necrológica

Biographies & Memoirs

A lo largo de su breve e intensa vida Jaroslav Hašek se vio obligado a aceptar cualquier trabajo que se le ofreciera: redactor de una revista de zoología, empleado en una droguería, pedagogo y muchos más. Todas estas expe- riencias confluyeron en los numerosos cuentos autobiográficos que escribió en su vida, que relatan historias hilarantes al límite del absurdo. Después de la Historia del Partido del Progreso Moderado dentro de los Límites de la Ley y de El buen soldado Svejk antes de la guerra, en La fuga continuamos el proyecto de recuperación y traducción de los cuentos de Jaroslav Hašek con esta divertida selección que nos acerca a la biografía de este maestro de la literatura humorística.

Murphy's Logic

Biographies & Memoirs

After a lifetime of reporting news and showcasing the opinions of others, Steve Murphy is finally ready to express his own opinions about the things he's done and the people he's met along the way. Murphy's Logic delves without reservation into Murphy's informal education in broadcasting, beginning as a sixteen-year-old kid who "just wanted to be on the radio." Mixing memoir and commentary, Murphy writes about his adventures covering significant regional, national, and international events and offers unique insight into the more than five thousand interviews he has conducted over his forty-five-year career—with five prime ministers, thirty-five premiers, and numerous historic figures and celebrities. Both candid and brutally honest, Murphy's Logic examines, for the first time, two high-profile occasions during which Murphy unintentionally—and uncomfortably—became part of the stories he was covering. He offers pointed views on how the proliferation of social media has dramatically affected the news industry, and challenges readers to think critically about the media they consume. With more than forty images, including a colour photo insert, and featuring a foreword by Ian Hanomansing, Murphy's Logic peers behind the curtain of the news business and offers readers rare insight into what Steve Murphy really thinks.

Αδρεναλίνη

Biographies & Memoirs

ΕΝΤΑΞΕΙ, ΠΑΡΑΔΙΝΟΜΑΙ. ΕΙΜΑΙ ΘΕΟΣ, ΑΛΛΑ ΕΝΑΣ ΘΕΟΣ ΠΟΥ ΓΕΡΝΑΕΙ. ΕΙΜΑΙ ΣΑΡΑΝΤΑ ΧΡΟΝΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΧΩ ΔΥΟ ΓΙΟΥΣ. Σ’ ΑΥΤΗ ΤΗΝ ΗΛΙΚΙΑ ΣΥΝΗΘΩΣ ΤΡΑΒΑΣ ΜΙΑ ΓΡΑΜΜΗ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΝΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΑΘΡΟΙΣΜΑ. ΑΥΤΟ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΤΟ ΝΟΗΜΑ ΤΟΥ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΥ. Ο πιο αμφιλεγόμενος σκόρερ του ποδοσφαίρου δεν έχει ανάγκη πλέον να αποδείξει τίποτα ούτε να θυμηθεί τις μεγάλες επιτυχίες που τον έκαναν μοναδικό. Στο βιβλίο αυτό, για πρώτη φορά τον ακούμε να αποκαλύπτει τι πραγματικά σκέφτεται για τα χρόνια του στην Πρέμιερ Λιγκ και τι ένιωσε όταν «εκτέλεσε» την Αγγλία με ένα ανεπανάληπτο ανάποδο ψαλίδι. Μαθαίνουμε για την ομάδα που παραλίγο να τον αποκτήσει, για τους ξεκαρδιστικούς διαπληκτισμούς του με τα γαλλικά μίντια –και τους Γάλλους γενικά– και πολλά άλλα. Δύναμη, αποφασιστικότητα, τόλμη· αλλά και τρυφερότητα και ευαισθησία – το αγόρι από το Ρόζενγκαρντ είχε ό,τι χρειαζόταν για να φτάσει στην κορυφή του κόσμου και να αφήσει το δικό του αποτύπωμα στην ιστορία του ποδοσφαίρου.

Tattered Kimonos in Japan

Biographies & Memoirs

Examines Japan’s war generation—Japanese men and women who survived World War Two and rebuilt their lives, into the 21st century, from memories of that conflictSince John Hersey’s Hiroshima—the classic account, published in 1946, of the aftermath of the atomic bombing of that city—very few books have examined the meaning and impact of World War II through the eyes of Japanese men and women who survived that conflict. Tattered Kimonos in Japan does just that: It is an intimate journey into contemporary Japan from the perspective of the generation of Japanese soldiers and civilians who survived World War II, by a writer whose American father and Japanese father-in-law fought on opposite sides of the conflict.The author, a former NPR senior editor, is Jewish, and he approaches the subject with the sensibilities of having grown up in a community of Holocaust survivors. Mindful of the power of victimhood, memory, and shared suffering, he travels across Japan, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, meeting a compelling group of men and women whose lives, even now, are defined by the trauma of war, and by lingering questions of responsibility and repentance for Japan’s wartime aggression.The image of a tattered kimono from Hiroshima is the thread that drives the narrative arc of this emotional story about a writer’s encounter with history, inside the Japan of his father’s generation, on the other side of his father’s war. This is a book about history with elements of family memoir. It offers a fresh and truly unique perspective for readers interested in World War II, Japan, or Judaica; readers seeking cross-cultural journeys; and readers intrigued by Japanese culture, particularly the kimono.

Last Words

Biographies & Memoirs

This ebook features added multimedia content: an interview with George Carlin’s daughter Kelly about life with her dad, and a tribute video with interviews with Susie Essman, Michael Ian Black, Richard Belzer, George Wendt, and Jeffrey Ross, who talk about Carlin’s incredible ability to make people laugh.One of the undisputed heavyweight champions of American comedy, with nineteen appearances on the Johnny Carson show, thirteen HBO specials, five Grammys, and a critical Supreme Court battle over censorship under his belt, George Carlin saw it all throughout his extraordinary fifty-year career, and made fun of most of it. Last Words is the story of the man behind some of the most seminal comedy of the last half century, blending his signature acerbic humor with never-before-told stories from his own life, including encounters with a Who’s Who of 1970s celebrity—from Lenny Bruce to Hugh Hefner—and the origins of some of his most famous standup routines. Carlin’s early conflicts, his long struggle with substance abuse, his turbulent relationships with his family, and his triumphs over catastrophic setbacks all fueled the unique comedic worldview he brought to the stage. From the heights of stardom to the low points few knew about, Last Words is told with the same razor-sharp wit and unblinking honesty that made Carlin one of the best-loved comedians in American history.

Les années

Biographies & Memoirs

"La photo en noir et blanc d'une petite fille en maillot de bain foncé, sur une plage de galets. En fond, des falaises. Elle est assise sur un rocher plat, ses jambes robustes étendues bien droites devant elle, les bras en appui sur le rocher, les yeux fermés, la tête légèrement penchée, souriant. Une épaisse natte brune ramenée par-devant, l'autre laissée dans le dos. Tout révèle le désir de poser comme les stars dans Cinémonde ou la publicité d'Ambre Solaire, d'échapper à son corps humiliant et sans importance de petite fille. Au dos : août 1949, Sotteville-sur-Mer. " Au travers de photos et de souvenirs laissés par les événements, les mots et les choses, Annie Ernaux donne à ressentir le passage des années, de l'après-guerre à aujourd'hui. En même temps, elle inscrit l'existence dans une forme nouvelle d'autobiographie, impersonnelle et collective.

Great-Heart"": The Life Story of Theodore Roosevelt

Biographies & Memoirs

A quick, easy read somewhat dated but filled with interesting facts. Good for a first time reader about Theodore Roosevelt and his life. (Goodreads)

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