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Let the World See You: How to Be Real in a World Full of Fakes
by Sam AchoNFL linebacker, speaker, podcaster, and humanitarian Sam Acho gives a blueprint for taking off our masks and living lives of genuine authenticity.Most of us hide. We play small and don't live up to our full potential. Sam Acho was one of those people. As an NFL linebacker, for example, he earned his MBA but told no one because he was afraid of what people might think if they found out that he cared about things that weren't "normal" for his profession. After many years of hiding himself, the person he had become had no connection to the real Sam. Only when he lost a friend and a mentor did he realize he was doing it all wrong--just like many us do, when we try to become someone we're not. All the while, we ignore the unique gifts and talents and personality we truly possess.But there is another way of living: Let the world see you. Your quirks, your passions, and your inner desires were not given to you by accident. And the world needs your gifts.In Let the World See You, Sam Acho shares lessons from his own life as well as stories from others to reveal how you can overcome your fears and discover your true selves. Being the real you pays big. No one else has what you have. No one else can share what you share. Let the World See You helps crack the shell of people who are in hiding and reveals the benefits of a lifestyle lived on purpose.
Blue Light of the Screen: On Horror, Ghosts, and God
by Claire CroninBlue Light of the Screen is a memoir about the author's obsession with horror and the supernatural.Blue Light of the Screen is about what it means to be afraid -- about immersion, superstition, delusion, and the things that keep us up at night. A creative-critical memoir of the author's obsession with the horror genre, Blue Light of the Screen embeds its criticism of horror within a larger personal story of growing up in a devoutly Catholic family, overcoming suicidal depression, uncovering intergenerational trauma, and encountering real and imagined ghosts.As Cronin writes, she positions herself as a protagonist who is haunted by what she watches and reads, like an antiquarian in an M.R. James ghost story whose sense of reality unravels through her study of arcane texts and cursed archives. In this way, Blue Light of the Screen tells the story of the author's conversion from skepticism to faith in the supernatural.Part memoir, part ghost story, and part critical theory, Blue Light of the Screen is not just a book about horror, but a work of horror itself.
What Becomes a Legend Most: A Biography of Richard Avedon
by Philip GefterThe first definitive biography of Richard Avedon, a monumental photographer of the twentieth century, from award-winning photography critic Philip Gefter.In his acclaimed portraits, Richard Avedon captured the iconic figures of the twentieth century in his starkly bold, intimately minimal, and forensic visual style. Concurrently, his work for Harper's Bazaar and Vogue transformed the ideals of women's fashion, femininity, and culture to become the defining look of an era. Yet despite his driving ambition to gain respect in the art world, during his lifetime he was condescendingly dismissed as a "celebrity photographer."What Becomes a Legend Most is the first definitive biography of this luminary—an intensely driven man who endured personal and professional prejudice, struggled with deep insecurities, and mounted an existential lifelong battle to be recognized as an artist. Philip Gefter builds on archival research and exclusive interviews with those closest to Avedon to chronicle his story, beginning with Avedon’s coming-of-age in New York between the world wars, when cultural prejudices forced him to make decisions that shaped the course of his life.Compounding his private battles, Avedon fought to be taken seriously in a medium that itself struggled to be respected within the art world. Gefter reveals how the 1950s and 1960s informed Avedon’s life and work as much as he informed the period. He counted as close friends a profoundly influential group of artists—Leonard Bernstein, Truman Capote, James Baldwin, Harold Brodkey, Renata Adler, Sidney Lumet, and Mike Nichols—who shaped the cultural life of the American twentieth century. It wasn't until Avedon's fashion work was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the late 1970s that he became a household name.Balancing glamour with the gravitas of an artist's genuine reach for worldy achievement—and not a little gossip—plus sixteen pages of photographs, What Becomes a Legend Most is an intimate window into Avedon's fascinating world. Dramatic, visionary, and remarkable, it pays tribute to Avedon's role in the history of photography and fashion—and his legacy as one of the most consequential artists of his time.
My Psychedelic Explorations: The Healing Power and Transformational Potential of Psychoactive Substances
by Claudio NaranjoClaudio Naranjo&’s psychedelic autobiography with previously unpublished interviews and research papers • Explores Dr. Naranjo&’s pioneering work with MDMA, ayahuasca, cannabis, iboga, and psilocybin • Shares his personal accounts of psychedelic sessions and experimentation, including his work with Alexander &“Sasha&” Shulgin and Leo Zeff • Includes the author&’s reflections on the spiritual aspects of psychedelics and his recommended techniques for controlled induction of altered states In the time of the psychedelic pioneers, there were psychopharmacologists like Alexander &“Sasha&” Shulgin, psychonauts like Aldous Huxley, and psychiatrists like Humphrey Osmond. Claudio Naranjo was all three at once. He was the first to study the psychotherapeutic applications of ayahuasca, the first to publish on the effects of ibogaine, and a long-time collaborator with Sasha Shulgin in the research behind Shulgin&’s famous books. A Fulbright scholar and Guggenheim fellow, he worked with Leo Zeff on LSD-assisted therapy and Fritz Perls on Gestalt therapy. He was a presenter at the 1967 University of California LSD Conference and, 47 years later, gave the inaugural speech at the First International Conference on Ayahuasca in 2014. Across his career, Dr. Naranjo gathered more clinical experience in individual and group psychedelic treatment than any other psychotherapist to date. In this book, his final work, Dr. Naranjo shares his psychedelic autobiography along with previously unpublished interviews, session accounts, and research papers on the therapeutic effects of psychedelics, including MDMA, ayahuasca, cannabis, iboga, and psilocybin. The book includes Naranjo&’s reflections on the spiritual aspects of psychedelics and the healing transformations they bring, his philosophical explorations of how psychedelics act as agents of deeper consciousness, and his recommended techniques for controlled induction of altered states using different visionary substances. Naranjo&’s work shows that psychedelics have the strongest potential for transforming and healing people over all therapeutic methods currently in use.
The Gucci Mane Guide to Greatness
by Gucci ManeFrom the platinum selling recording artist and New York Times bestselling author of The Autobiography of Gucci Mane comes THE GUCCI MANE GUIDE TO GREATNESS - an unprecedented look at Gucci Mane&’s secrets to success, health, wealth and self-improvement.From Gucci: 'I live by the principles in this book. I wanted to write this book to give you a tool set. This book should touch people who are going through something. It&’s not going to be easy. But study these words, and put them into action. I want this book to keep you motivated. I want you to keep coming back to it for guidance and inspiration. You can put it on your shelf and keep going to TheGucci Mane Guide to Greatness. This book is a challenge. Don&’t underestimate yourself. Don&’t think that what you&’re saying is not important. Don&’t think you can&’t achieve the impossible. Everyone needs some game, so here it is. TheGucci Mane Guide to Greatness is for the world. Enjoy.' In this inspiring follow-up to his iconic memoir, Gucci Mane gifts us with his playbook for living your best life. Packed with stunning photographs, The Gucci Mane Guide to Greatness distils the legend&’s timeless wisdom into a one-of-a-kind motivational guidebook. Gucci Mane emerged transformed after a turbulent life of violence, crime and addiction to become a dazzling embodiment of the power of positivity, focus and hard work. Using examples from his life of unparalleled success, Gucci Mane looks inwards and upwards to offer his blueprint for greatness. A must-read for anyone with big ambitions and bigger dreams.
Friends and Enemies
by Barbara AmielShockingly honest, richly detailed, and pulling no punches, Friends and Enemies traverses the highs and lows of Barbara Amiel's storied life in journalism and high society.From her early childhood in London during the Blitz to emigrating to North America and her rise to the top rungs of journalism; to her four husbands and other assorted beaus both famous and not; and right up to her marriage to Conrad Black and their prolific legal battles against the powerful and vengeful American justice system, Barbara Amiel's life has been as dramatic as it is glamorous. She has been called every conceivable name in the book by the media (and authors of unauthorized biographies about her), pilloried for her extravagant lifestyle and sometimes regrettable quotes to the press ("My extravagance knows no bounds," for instance, to Vogue), not to mention her outspoken conservative political views as stated in her weekly newspaper columns around the world. It's no surprise she remains to this day a subject of utter fascination after over four decades in the public eye. But until now, very few people actually know her real story—the break-up of her family when she was a child, her bouts of debilitating depression and other chronic health issues, her thoughts on feminism and #MeToo, her travels with the international jet set and A-list celebrities, and, of course, her unvarnished views on the trial and conviction (since overturned) of Conrad Black and the iron-clad bond they have shared since they were married in 1992. Whether you are an admirer or critic of Amiel&’s, you will be completely engrossed in her operatic life, one that seems ripped from the pages of a scandalous novel. She also distinguishes herself as a woman well ahead of her time—the first female editor of a national newspaper in Canada, she challenged the sexual mores of society while also angering the feminist establishment. She has certainly had many friends and enemies over the years—Henry and Nancy Kissinger, Elton John, Tom Stoppard, David Frost, Anna Wintour, Oscar de la Renta, Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana, Marie Jose Kravis, to name but a few—and she brings these personalties into the spotlight in this larger-than-life memoir that is sure to cause a sensation with readers everywhere.
El Creador de Exitos: El hombre y su musica
by Tommy MottolaSe ha escrito mucho acerca de Tommy Mottola, uno de los ejecutivos más poderosos, visionarios y exitosos en la historia de la industria de la música. Descubrió, desarrolló y acompañó el progreso profesional de muchas súper estrellas incluyendo a Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez y Gloria Estefan, y es reconocido como el creador de la "explosión latina". Ha tenido el privilegio de trabajar al lado de Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Beyoncé, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, las Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, Aerosmith, Tony Bennett y Ozzy Osbourne, entre otros gigantes de la música. Esta es su historia - la historia de la industria de la música moderna, desde Elvis hasta el iPod - a través de los ojos del hombre que hizo que la mayor parte del desarrollo de esta industria fuera posible. EL CREADOR DE ÉXITOS relata la forma como un muchacho del Bronx -un desertor escolar- se convirtió en uno de los CEOs más creativos y controversiales de la industria de la música. Por primera vez, Tommy pone al descubierto los hechos tras los aspectos más sensacionales de su vida, como el de haber estado casado con Mariah Carey y haber desarrollado la carrera de esta artista, haber sido la persona encargada de manejar los altibajos emocionales de Michael Jackson, haber tenido la fuerza para enfrentarse a quien fuera en una época su jefe y su mentor, Walter Yetnikoff. EL CREADOR DE ÉXITOS nos llevará a ese mundo de poder, dinero y fama, a medida que nos narra sus fascinantes encuentros con incontables íconos y lo que fue para Tommy Mottola estar en la cima en el momento en el que el negocio sufrió un cambio repentino. La historia de Tommy es una que jamás podrá igualarse, y está aquí, por primera vez, en su propia voz.
Letters of Note: Cats (Letters of Note #1)
by Shaun UsherAn irresistible new volume of affectionate missives about our feline companions from Charles Dickens, Anne Frank, Raymond Chandler, Elizabeth Taylor, and more, from the author of the bestselling Letters of Note collectionsFlorence Nightingale sends care instructions to the woman who has just adopted her angora tomcat Mr. White. T. S. Eliot issues a rhyming birthday party invitation to all Jellicle cats for his four-year-old godson. Jack Kerouac's mother grieves at the death of the family cat. Jack Lemmon winkingly suggests to Walter Matthau that they go in on a cat ranch in Mexico. This utterly charming collection offers a warm and friendly look at the place that cats occupy in our hearts and lives. These thirty letters capture the profound delight of having or observing a cat, and they reveal a keen insight into feline nature as well as our own.
Hope in the Balance: A Newfoundland Doctor Meets a World in Crisis
by Andrew FureyDr. Andrew Furey, an orthopedic surgeon, was sitting by the fireplace at his home in St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, watching TV after work, when dreadful images of the aftermath of an earthquake in Haiti burst in on the cosy domestic scene. Human suffering on an epic scale was being documented in real time. Dr. Furey spent a sleepless night, and woke knowing he had to help in some way. In what has been a theme throughout Newfoundland and Labrador's history, he found himself answering the call. Dr. Furey formed a team of three--himself; his wife and pediatric emergency room physician, Dr. Allison Furey; and orthopedic surgeon Will Moores--and together they travelled from to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where they spent a week volunteering. The challenge seemed overwhelming: a multitude of badly injured victims, horrendous working conditions and overstretched aid agencies. But somehow the trio did not lose hope. Instead, they redoubled their efforts. After returning from that first mission, Dr. Furey founded Team Broken Earth--an expert, unbureaucratic, fleet-footed volunteer task force of physicians, nurses and physiotherapists committed to providing aid in Haiti. The organization has continued to grow, recruiting volunteers from all over Canada. It has carried out many more missions to Port-au-Prince and has expanded its operations to other countries like Bangladesh, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Nicaragua. And its mission has expanded in other ways, with education and training for local medical professionals now at the heart of its endeavour. Dr. Andrew Furey tells the story of Team Broken Earth's founding and remarkable work with vivid immediacy and raw honesty. He shares his doubts and failures and moments of near-despair. He explores how his Newfoundland and Labrador upbringing has informed his efforts abroad. And he reaches an optimistic conclusion that will leave readers inspired to bring about positive change in their own lives.
Sing a Battle Song: The Revolutionary Poetry, Statements, and Communiques of the Weather Underground 1970-1974
by Bill Ayers Bernardine Dohrn Jeff JonesOutraged by the Vietnam War and racism in America, a group of young American radicals announced their intention to "bring the war home." The Weather Underground waged a low-level war against the U.S. government through much of the 1970s, bombing the Capitol building, breaking Timothy Leary out of prison, and evading one of the largest FBI manhunts in history.Sing a Battle Song brings together the three complete and unedited publications produced by the Weathermen during their most active period underground, 1970 to 1974: The Weather Eye: Communiqués from the Weather Underground; Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism; and Sing a Battle Song: Poems by Women in the Weather Underground Organization.Sing a Battle Song is introduced and annotated by three of the Weather Underground's original organizers--Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, and Jeff Jones--all of whom are all still actively engaged in social justice movement work.Idealistic, inspired, pissed-off, and often way-over-the-top, the writings of the Weather Underground epitomize the sexual, psychedelic, anti-war counterculture of the American 1960s and 1970s.
Someone Was Here: Profiles in the AIDS Epidemic
by George WhitmoreThree powerful profiles of men and women whose lives were changed forever by the AIDS epidemic<P> "Some of my reasons for wanting to write about AIDS were altruistic, others selfish. AIDS was decimating the community around me; there was a need to bear witness. AIDS had turned me and others like me into walking time bombs; there was a need to strike back, not just wait to die. What I didn't fully appreciate then, however, was the extent to which I was trying to bargain with AIDS: If I wrote about it, maybe I wouldn't get it. My article ran in May 1985. But AIDS didn't keep its part of the bargain." --George Whitmore, The New York Times Magazine<P> Published at the height of the AIDS epidemic, Someone Was Here brings together three stories, reported between 1985 and 1987, about the human cost of the disease. Whitmore writes of Jim Sharp, a man in New York infected with AIDS, and Edward Dunn, one of the many people in Jim's support network, who volunteers with the Gay Men's Health Crisis organization in the city. Whitmore also profiles a mother, Nellie, who drives to San Francisco to bring her troubled son, Mike, home to Colorado where he will succumb to AIDS. Finally, Whitmore tells of the doctors and nurses working on the AIDS team in a South Bronx hospital, struggling to treat patients afflicted with an illness they don't yet fully understand.<P> Expanded from reporting that originally appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Someone Was Here is a tragic and deeply felt look at a generation traumatized by AIDS, published just one year before George Whitmore's own death from the disease.
Herself: An Autobiographical Work
by Hortense CalisherA National Book Award nominee: Hortense Calisher's autobiography captures the making of a distinct literary voiceAlthough Hortense Calisher's fiction often draws on autobiographical elements, Herself is a disciplined documentation of the award-winning author's life and work. She surveys the various decades and landscapes she has inhabited, mining her family's Jewish lineage, discussing her children, exploring her greatest artistic influences, and describing her work process in a brave and bold work of autobiography. Herself is a rich collage of essays, reviews, recollections, and observations that unite the writer and the person.
Saturday's Child: A Memoir
by Robin MorganAn amazing trajectory: From child star to prize-winning writer to feminist icon Robin Morgan is famous as a bestselling author of nonfiction, a prize-winning poet, and a founder and leader of contemporary feminism. Before all of that, though, she was a working child actor. From the age of two, "Saturday's child had to work for a living." She had her own radio show on New York's WOR, Little Robin Morgan, by the time she was four; starred during the Golden Age of television in TV's Mama from ages seven to fourteen; and was named the Ideal American Girl when she was twelve. In Saturday's Child, she writes for the first time about her working youth, her battles to break away from show business and from her mother, her search for her absent, abandoning father, her entrance into the literary world, and the development of her politics, relationships, and writing. Morgan describes her tumultuous but successful life with startling honesty: her flight from child stardom into literature, her twenty-year marriage to a bisexual man, her joyful motherhood, her lovers, both male and female, her actions as a "temporary terrorist" on the left during the 1970s, and her travels and experiences in the global women's movement. She writes about compiling and editing the famous anthologies Sisterhood Is Powerful and Sisterhood Is Global and later cofounding with Simone de Beauvoir the Sisterhood Is Global Institute. Saturday's Child follows this "Ideal American Girl" on her path to becoming the feminist icon she is today. Epic in scope, witty, and bravely insightful, this is the tale of half of humanity rising up and demanding its rights, told through the intensely personal story of one remarkable woman.
Brill Among the Ruins: A Novel
by Vance BourjailyNominated for the National Book Award: The story of a middle-aged American man searching for himself in the ruins of Mexico At the start of this vibrant and invigorating novel, Robert Brill has a farm, a law practice, a daughter in high school, a son fighting in Vietnam, and a wife who deep dives into the sherry bottle every night. What more can a typical midwesterner ask for in the late 1960s? A lot, thinks Brill. Tired of distracting himself with drinking, hunting, and sleeping around, Brill leaves Illinois and his family to join an archaeological dig in Puebla, Mexico. As he sifts through pre-Columbian artifacts, Brill considers the ruins of his life and imagines what might have been. One exhilarating fantasy involves a beautiful and free-spirited woman named Gabby. If there is a lesson to be learned from cataloging ancient pottery sherds, however, it is that the past never disappears, no matter how far you try to run from it. Hilarious, candid, and deeply felt, Brill Among the Ruins is considered by many critics to be Vance Bourjaily's finest novel.
The Horror of Love: Nancy Mitford and Gaston Palewski in Paris and London
by Lisa HiltonThe dramatic love story of two extraordinary individuals--Nancy Mitford and free French commander Gaston Palewski--living in extraordinary times."Oh, the horror of love!" Nancy Mitford once exclaimed to her sister Diana Mosley.Elegant and intelligent, Nancy was a reknowned wit and a popular author. Yet this bright, waspish woman gave her heart to a well-known philanderer who went on to marry another woman. Was Nancy that unremarkable thing--a deluded lover--or was she a remarkable woman engaged in a sophisticated love affair? Gaston Palewski was a Free French commander and one of the most influential politicians in post-war Europe. She supported him throughout his tumultuous career and he inspired some of her best work, including The Pursuit of Love.Lisa Hilton's provocative and emotionally challenging book reveals how, with discipline, gentleness, and a great deal of elegance, Nancy Mitford and Gaston Palewski achieved an affair of the heart.
Setting the Tone: Essays and a Diary
by Ned RoremA sterling collection of essays, commentary, reviews, and personal recollections on art, love, and the musical life, from Ned Rorem, award-winning composer and author extraordinaireNed Rorem, the acclaimed American composer and writer, displays his incisive, sometimes outrageous genius for artistic critique and social commentary with a grand flourish in this engaging collection of essays and diary entries. Fearlessly offering opinions on a wealth of subjects--from the lives of the famous and infamous to popular culture to the state of contemporary art--Rorem proves once again that he is an artist who tells unforgettable stories not only through music, but with a pen, as well. Setting the Tone gathers together essays and commentary previously published elsewhere and combines them with pages from Rorem's ongoing diary, offering readers a vivid and enlightening view of Rorem's world along with an honest portrait of the author himself. Whether he's lambasting critics and former friends and acquaintances, vivisecting opera, or presenting his views on theater, film, books, or composers and their music, Rorem is ingenious, incorrigible, and madly entertaining.
Half A Brain: Confessions of a Special Needs Mom
by Jenni BaschA fascinating and inspiring memoir about one woman's epic struggle raising a child with severe disabilities. At nine months pregnant, Jenni Basch learns that her unborn baby experienced a catastrophic brain injury and may not survive. Against insurmountable odds, her daughter survives and Jenni is faced with raising a child with complex medical issues.When her daughter is diagnosed with a devastating form of epilepsy, Jenni and her husband must make the ultimate decision on behalf of their daughter. In order to save her, they must consent to a radical surgery, the removal of half the brain. With candor and wit, Jenni introduces us to a world usually unseen and misunderstood. Half A Brain provides an extraordinary account of a mom raising a child with special needs. Through each terrifying diagnosis and crisis, Jenni must face and confront her own insecurities, fears, judgments, and inexperience. But even when all hope seems lost, she finds a strength she never imagined possible.
John Steinbeck, Writer: A Biography
by Jackson J. BensonDrawing on John Steinbeck's papers and photographs, and scores of interviews, Jackson J. Benson explores the influences that contributed to Steinbeck's archetypal sense of American culture and his controversial concerns. An in-depth study of the shy, private individual behind many American classics.
An Absolute Gift: A New Diary
by Ned RoremA magnificent collection of essays, opinions, and reflections on life, culture, art, love, and music--always lyrical, witty, and brazenly provocative--from one of the most acclaimed contemporary American composersTime magazine has called Ned Rorem "the world's best composer of art songs." But his genius does not end in the realm of classical music. Rorem has a rare gift for writing, as well, and the wide acclaim that has greeted his memoirs, essay collections, and published diaries attest to this fact. An Absolute Gift is a cornucopia of Roremisms--essays, reviews, and opinions on a vast array of fascinating subjects, from music to film to drama to sex. Here also are candid diary entries, displaying the frankness and remarkable insight for which Rorem is known. Whether he's lambasting or celebrating the world's great musical works and their creators (and, according to Stephen Sondheim, "He is one of the best writers about music that I have ever read"), offering intensely personal musings on death and love, or brilliantly dissecting the artist's craft, Ned Rorem is always fascinating, always provocative, and enormously entertaining.
Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice of the American Century
by John Loughery Blythe RandolphThe first full authoritative biography of Dorothy Day, American icon, radical pacifist, Catholic convert, and activist whom Pope Francis I compared to Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln. After a middle-class Republican childhood and a few years as a Communist sympathizer, Dorothy Day converted to Catholicism and became an anomaly in American life for almost fifty years. As an orthodox Catholic, political radical, and a rebel who courted controversy, she attracted three generations of admirers. Day went to jail challenging the draft and the war in Vietnam. She was critical of capitalism and foreign policy, and as skeptical of modern liberalism as political conservatism. Her protests began in 1917, leading to her arrest during the suffrage demonstration outside President Wilson&’s White House. In 1940 she spoke in Congress against the draft and urged young men not to register. She frequented jail throughout the 1950s protesting the nuclear arms race. She told audiences in 1962 that President Kennedy was as much to blame for the Cuban missile crisis. She refused to hear any criticism of the pope, though she sparred with American bishops and priests who lived in well-appointed rectories and tolerated racial segregation in their parishes. Dorothy Day is the exceptional biography of a dedicated modern-day pacifist, the most outspoken advocate for the poor, and a lifelong anarchist. This definitive and insightful account explores the influence this controversial and yet &“sainted&” woman still has today.
Who Is Ruth Bader Ginsburg? (Who Was?)
by Patricia Brennan Demuth Who HQYou've probably seen her on t-shirts, mugs, and even tattoos, well, now that famous face graces the cover of our latest Who Is? title.Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is famous for her stylish collars (called jabots) and her commanding dissents. This opera-loving New Yorker has always spoken her mind; as a young lawyer, RBG advocated for gender equality and women's rights when few others did. She gained attention for the cases she won when arguing in front of the Supreme Court, before taking her place on the bench in 1993. Author Patricia Brennan Demuth answers all the question about what makes RBG so notorious and irreplaceable
Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut's Story of Invention (Lemelson Center Studies in Invention and Innovation series)
by Kathryn D. SullivanThe first American woman to walk in space recounts her experience as part of the team that launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained the Hubble Space Telescope. <p><p> The Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of the universe. It has, among many other achievements, revealed thousands of galaxies in what seemed to be empty patches of sky; transformed our knowledge of black holes; found dwarf planets with moons orbiting other stars; and measured precisely how fast the universe is expanding. In Handprints on Hubble, retired astronaut Kathryn Sullivan describes her work on the NASA team that made all of this possible. Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space, recounts how she and other astronauts, engineers, and scientists launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained Hubble, the most productive observatory ever built. <p><p> Along the way, Sullivan chronicles her early life as a “Sputnik Baby,” her path to NASA through oceanography, and her initiation into the space program as one of “thirty-five new guys.” (She was also one of the first six women to join NASA's storied astronaut corps.) She describes in vivid detail what liftoff feels like inside a spacecraft (it's like “being in an earthquake and a fighter jet at the same time”), shows us the view from a spacewalk, and recounts the temporary grounding of the shuttle program after the Challenger disaster. <p><p>Sullivan explains that “maintainability” was designed into Hubble, and she describes the work of inventing the tools and processes that made on-orbit maintenance possible. Because in-flight repair and upgrade was part of the plan, NASA was able to fix a serious defect in Hubble's mirrors—leaving literal and metaphorical “handprints on Hubble.” <p><p> Handprints on Hubble was published with the support of the MIT Press Fund for Diverse Voices.
Sketches from a Life
by George F. KennanWritten originally as a series of entries in a travel diary and now considered one of the most important memoirs of our time, Sketches from a Life is George F. Kennan's peerless, impressionistic record of his experiences with twentieth-century history. Beginning with his first foreign service post in 1927 and ending seven decades later, Kennan's account is rich with the insight of a major historical participant. Whether relating the perils of Hitler's Germany or revisiting Kennan's days as ambassador to the Soviet Union, Sketches from a Life is as riveting as great literature, and one of the most invaluable documents of our time.
You Are The First You
by Whitney HoltzmanYou Are the First You tells the story of Whitney Holtzman’s journey through the sports and marketing world as a female entrepreneur and the lessons she learned along the way. Whitney’s career in pro sports has included stops at ESPN and Major League Baseball, in addition to working for entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk at VaynerMedia. Her passion is at the intersection of sports and making the world a better place, which was showcased when she then joined RISE, a racial equality nonprofit with every pro sports league on the board. Ultimately, Whitney became an entrepreneur and launched her own company, Social Victories, which represents professional athletes and sports leagues to help them build their brands. Most importantly, You Are the First You is filled with all the essential lessons Whitney has learned throughout her journey that are key to a successful career but are not taught in school. Her goals in sharing her story are to provide readers with an unwavering belief in themselves and to motivate them to never give up on their dreams. “It’s time to follow the nagging voice that’s been tugging inside of you, and it’s time to chase ultimate happiness and the life you’ve always envisioned for yourself.”
It's Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, Hip Hop's First Latino DJ
by Ivan SanchezIt's Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, Hip Hop's First Latino DJ is a gritty and gripping tale of one man's struggles to not only survive, but to triumph over adversity and abuse that will make your blood run cold. By conquering unimaginable obstacles, Wiz offers inspiration to anyone who has ever wondered, "Why me?"