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The Man Who Invented the Computer
by Jane SmileyFrom one of our most acclaimed novelists, a David-and-Goliath biography for the digital age.One night in the late 1930s, in a bar on the Illinois-Iowa border, John Vincent Atanasoff, a professor of physics at Iowa State University, after a frustrating day performing tedious mathematical calculations in his lab, hit on the idea that the binary number system and electronic switches, combined with an array of capacitors on a moving drum to serve as memory, could yield a computing machine that would make his life and the lives of other similarly burdened scientists easier. Then he went back and built the machine. It worked. The whole world changed. Why don't we know the name of John Atanasoff as well as we know those of Alan Turing and John von Neumann? Because he never patented the device, and because the developers of the far-better-known ENIAC almost certainly stole critical ideas from him. But in 1973 a court declared that the patent on that Sperry Rand device was invalid, opening the intellectual property gates to the computer revolution. Jane Smiley tells the quintessentially American story of the child of immigrants John Atanasoff with technical clarity and narrative drive, making the race to develop digital computing as gripping as a real-life techno-thriller.From the Hardcover edition.
The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ
by Mike Colapietro Roger Stone"We appreciate Roger Stone, he is one tough cookie." - President TrumpThe sensational New York Times bestseller, now in paperback.Find out how and why LBJ had JFK assassinated.The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ hit the New York Times bestseller list the week of the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Consummate political insider Roger Stone makes a compelling case that Lyndon Baines Johnson had the motive, means, and opportunity to orchestrate the murder of JFK. Stone maps out the case that LBJ blackmailed his way on the ticket in 1960 and was being dumped in 1964 to face prosecution for corruption at the hands of his nemesis attorney Robert Kennedy. Stone uses fingerprint evidence and testimony to prove JFK was shot by a long-time LBJ hit man-not Lee Harvey Oswald.President Johnson would use power from his personal connections in Texas, from the criminal underworld, and from the United States government to escape an untimely end in politics and to seize even greater power. President Johnson, the thirty-sixth president of the United States, was the driving force behind a conspiracy to murder President Kennedy on November 22, 1963.In The Man Who Killed Kennedy, you will find out how and why he did it.Legendary political operative and strategist Roger Stone has gathered documents and uses his firsthand knowledge to construct the ultimate tome to prove that LBJ was not only involved in JFK’s assassination, but was in fact the mastermind.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan
by Sebastian MallabyThe definitive biography of the most important economic statesman of our time Sebastian Mallaby's magisterial biography of Alan Greenspan, the product of over five years of research based on untrammeled access to his subject and his closest professional and personal intimates, brings into vivid focus the mysterious point where the government and the economy meet. To understand Greenspan's story is to see the economic and political landscape of the last 30 years--and the presidency from Reagan to George W. Bush--in a whole new light. As the most influential economic statesman of his age, Greenspan spent a lifetime grappling with a momentous shift: the transformation of finance from the fixed and regulated system of the post-war era to the free-for-all of the past quarter century. The story of Greenspan is also the story of the making of modern finance, for good and for ill. Greenspan's life is a quintessential American success story: raised by a single mother in the Jewish émigré community of Washington Heights, he was a math prodigy who found a niche as a stats-crunching consultant. A master at explaining the economic weather to captains of industry, he translated that skill into advising Richard Nixon in his 1968 campaign. This led to a perch on the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and then to a dazzling array of business and government roles, from which the path to the Fed was relatively clear. A fire-breathing libertarian and disciple of Ayn Rand in his youth who once called the Fed's creation a historic mistake, Mallaby shows how Greenspan reinvented himself as a pragmatist once in power. In his analysis, and in his core mission of keeping inflation in check, he was a maestro indeed, and hailed as such. At his retirement in 2006, he was lauded as the age's necessary man, the veritable God in the machine, the global economy's avatar. His memoirs sold for record sums to publishers around the world. But then came 2008. Mallaby's story lands with both feet on the great crash which did so much to damage Alan Greenspan's reputation. Mallaby argues that the conventional wisdom is off base: Greenspan wasn't a naïve ideologue who believed greater regulation was unnecessary. He had pressed for greater regulation of some key areas of finance over the years, and had gotten nowhere. To argue that he didn't know the risks in irrational markets is to miss the point. He knew more than almost anyone; the question is why he didn't act, and whether anyone else could or would have. A close reading of Greenspan's life provides fascinating answers to these questions, answers whose lessons we would do well to heed. Because perhaps Mallaby's greatest lesson is that economic statesmanship, like political statesmanship, is the art of the possible. The Man Who Knew is a searching reckoning with what exactly comprised the art, and the possible, in the career of Alan Greenspan.From the Hardcover edition.
The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan
by Robert KanigelThe Man Who Knew Infinity is the true story of a friendship between Srinivasa Ramanujan and G.H. Hardy that forever changed mathematics. In 1913, a young unschooled Indian clerk wrote a letter to G H Hardy, begging the pre-eminent English mathematician's opinion on several ideas he had about numbers. Realising the letter was the work of a genius, Hardy arranged for Srinivasa Ramanujan to come to England. Thus began one of the most improbable and productive collaborations ever chronicled.With a passion for rich and evocative detail, Robert Kanigel takes us from the temples and slums of Madras to the courts and chapels of Cambridge University, where the devout Hindu Ramanujan, 'the Prince of Intuition,' tested his brilliant theories alongside the sophisticated and eccentric Hardy, 'the Apostle of Proof'. In time, Ramanujan's creative intensity took its toll: he died at the age of thirty-two and left behind a magical and inspired legacy that is still being plumbed for its secrets today.
The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan
by Robert KanigelNOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING JEREMY IRONS AND DEV PATEL!A moving and enlightening look at the unbelievable true story of how gifted prodigy Ramanujan stunned the scholars of Cambridge University and revolutionized mathematics.In 1913, a young unschooled Indian clerk wrote a letter to G H Hardy, begging the preeminent English mathematician's opinion on several ideas he had about numbers. Realizing the letter was the work of a genius, Hardy arranged for Srinivasa Ramanujan to come to England.Thus began one of the most improbable and productive collaborations ever chronicled. With a passion for rich and evocative detail, Robert Kanigel takes us from the temples and slums of Madras to the courts and chapels of Cambridge University, where the devout Hindu Ramanujan, "the Prince of Intuition," tested his brilliant theories alongside the sophisticated and eccentric Hardy, "the Apostle of Proof."In time, Ramanujan's creative intensity took its toll: he died at the age of thirty-two, but left behind a magical and inspired legacy that is still being plumbed for its secrets today.
The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the invention of computers
by David LeavittThe story of Alan Turing, the persecuted genius who helped break the Enigma code and create the modern computer.To solve one of the great mathematical problems of his day, Alan Turing proposed an imaginary programmable calculating machine. But the idea of actually producing a 'thinking machine' did not crystallise until he and his brilliant Bletchley Park colleagues built devices to crack the Nazis' Enigma code, thus ensuring the Allied victory in the Second World War. In so doing, Turing became a champion of artificial intelligence, formulating the famous (and still unbeaten) Turing test that challenges our ideas of human consciousness.But Turing's work was cut short when, as an openly gay man in a time when homosexuality was illegal in Britain, he was apprehended by the authorities and sentenced to a 'treatment' that amounted to chemical castration. Ultimately, it lead to his suicide, and it wasn't until 2013, after many years of campaigning, that he received a posthumous royal pardon. With a novelist's sensitivity, David Leavitt portrays Turing in all his humanity - his eccentricities, his brilliance, his fatal candour - while elegantly explaining his work and its implications.
The Man Who Learned to Walk Three Times
by Peter KavanaghFrom the well-known CBC journalist comes a story of hardship, resilience and repeatedly learning the same lesson. Peter Kavanagh was just an infant when he was diagnosed with paralytic polio and suffered permanent paralysis in the lower part of his left leg. As a child, Kavanagh endured painful medical procedures to even out the length of his legs, and experimental exercise techniques. He spent his youth in a leg brace and special footwear, isolating for a boy whose classmates ran freely in sneakers. His first lesson in walking was how to move while wearing such equipment. Throughout his life, as he developed a very successful career in public broadcasting, built a family, and indulged in his love of music and travel, Kavanagh underwent various surgeries and rehabilitation to give him "normal" mobility. The Man Who Learned to Walk Three Times is a moving memoir of a full life, and of learning the same lesson over and over. Like Oliver Sacks's books and Marni Jackson's classic Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign, it combines medical history with a very personal case study. It documents coping with one's pain, guilt and shame, and the anger that arises from being bullied. But this book is also a story of healing and rehabilitation, and of hard lessons, hard earned--about the courage to keep going and, if one way isn't working, the awareness and bravery to try something new. Over time, these decisions and lessons help form a sense of identity; as Kavanagh says, "Walking is the key to who I am."
The Man Who Listens to Horses
by Monty RobertsNot only does this book tell the story of Monty Roberts, but also it teaches horse-lovers a gentle way to work with their beloved animals.
The Man Who Lives with Wolves
by Shaun Ellis Penny JunorTo wolf expert, Shaun Ellis, wolves arenâ t just his work, theyâ re also his family. An extraordinary man, Shaun has been fascinated by wolves all his life, even living as part of a wild pack for two years with no human contact. What he gained was a unique and fascinating insight into their world, and that of our very own domestic dogs. Shaun Ellis grew up in the Norfolk countryside with a passion for and understanding with animals from an early age. His early fascination with wolves, and determination to understand them, led to him spending years in the US with the Naz Paz Indian tribe, watching wolves, learning to understand their roles and behaviour in the pack and how to communicate with them. He even lived as part of a wild pack for two years, without any human contact. Bringing his knowledge back to the UK, he astonished wildlife experts with his knowledge and insight. He now lives, eats and sleeps with his two wolf packs at Combe Martin Wildlife Park. This is the story of Shaunâ s determination to understand these extraordinary animals and how what he has learned can help others to understand their own domestic dogs.
The Man Who Lost His Language
by Sheila HaleSir John Hale is one of the worlds foremost renaissance historians whose book The Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance (1993) won The Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Award and the International Silver Pen. Soon after delivering the second draft of his text, Hale had a stroke that deprived him of the power of speech. His wife Shelia Hale set out to find out what had happened and how John might be brought back to normal as far as possible. The book combines a detailed account of dysphasia and what he can tell us about language with a personal account of John and Shelia's own expericences.
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
by Allison Hoover BartlettIn the tradition of The Orchid Thief, a compelling narrative set within the strange and genteel world of rare-book collecting: the true story of an infamous book thief, his victims, and the man determined to catch him.Rare-book theft is even more widespread than fine-art theft. Most thieves, of course, steal for profit. John Charles Gilkey steals purely for the love of books. In an attempt to understand him better, journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett plunged herself into the world of book lust and discovered just how dangerous it can be.John Gilkey is an obsessed, unrepentant book thief who has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of rare books from book fairs, stores, and libraries around the country. Ken Sanders is the self-appointed "bibliodick" (book dealer with a penchant for detective work) driven to catch him. Bartlett befriended both outlandish characters and found herself caught in the middle of efforts to recover hidden treasure. With a mixture of suspense, insight, and humor, she has woven this entertaining cat-and-mouse chase into a narrative that not only reveals exactly how Gilkey pulled off his dirtiest crimes, where he stashed the loot, and how Sanders ultimately caught him but also explores the romance of books, the lure to collect them, and the temptation to steal them. Immersing the reader in a rich, wide world of literary obsession, Bartlett looks at the history of book passion, collection, and theft through the ages, to examine the craving that makes some people willing to stop at nothing to possess the books they love.
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
by Bartlett Allison HooverIn the tradition of The Orchid Thief, a compelling narrative set within the strange and genteel world of rare-book collecting: the true story of an infamous book thief, his victims, and the man determined to catch him. Rare-book theft is even more widespread than fine-art theft. Most thieves, of course, steal for profit. John Charles Gilkey steals purely for the love of books. In an attempt to understand him better, journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett plunged herself into the world of book lust and discovered just how dangerous it can be. Gilkey is an obsessed, unrepentant book thief who has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars? worth of rare books from book fairs, stores, and libraries around the country. Ken Sanders is the self-appointed ?bibliodick? (book dealer with a penchant for detective work) driven to catch him. Bartlett befriended both outlandish characters and found herself caught in the middle of efforts to recover hidden treasure. With a mixture of suspense, insight, and humor, she has woven this entertaining cat-and-mouse chase into a narrative that not only reveals exactly how Gilkey pulled off his dirtiest crimes, where he stashed the loot, and how Sanders ultimately caught him but also explores the romance of books, the lure to collect them, and the temptation to steal them. Immersing the reader in a rich, wide world of literary obsession, Bartlett looks at the history of book passion, collection, and theft through the ages, to examine the craving that makes some people willing to stop at nothing to possess the books they love. .
The Man Who Loved China
by Simon WinchesterIn sumptuous and illuminating detail, Simon Winchester, the bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman ("Elegant and scrupulous"-New York Times Book Review) and Krakatoa ("A mesmerizing page-turner"-Time) brings to life the extraordinary story of Joseph Needham, the brilliant Cambridge scientist who unlocked the most closely held secrets of China, long the world's most technologically advanced country. No cloistered don, this tall, married Englishman was a freethinking intellectual, who practiced nudism and was devoted to a quirky brand of folk dancing. In 1937, while working as a biochemist at Cambridge University, he instantly fell in love with a visiting Chinese student, with whom he began a lifelong affair. He soon became fascinated with China, and his mistress swiftly persuaded the ever-enthusiastic Needham to travel to her home country, where he embarked on a series of extraordinary expeditions to the farthest frontiers of this ancient empire. He searched everywhere for evidence to bolster his conviction that the Chinese were responsible for hundreds of mankind's most familiar innovations-including printing, the compass, explosives, suspension bridges, even toilet paper-often centuries before the rest of the world. His thrilling and dangerous journeys, vividly recreated by Winchester, took him across war-torn China to far-flung outposts, consolidating his deep admiration for the Chinese people. After the war, Needham was determined to tell the world what he had discovered, and began writing his majestic Science and Civilisation in China, describing the country's long and astonishing history of invention and technology. By the time he died, he had produced, essentially single-handedly, seventeen immense volumes, marking him as the greatest one-man encyclopedist ever. Both epic and intimate, The Man Who Loved China tells the sweeping story of China through Needham's remarkable life. Here is an unforgettable tale of what makes men, nations, and, indeed, mankind itself great-related by one of the world's inimitable storytellers.
The Man Who Loved China
by Simon WinchesterIn sumptuous and illuminating detail, Simon Winchester, the bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman ("Elegant and scrupulous"--New York Times Book Review) and Krakatoa ("A mesmerizing page-turner"--Time) brings to life the extraordinary story of Joseph Needham, the brilliant Cambridge scientist who unlocked the most closely held secrets of China, long the world's most technologically advanced country.No cloistered don, this tall, married Englishman was a freethinking intellectual, who practiced nudism and was devoted to a quirky brand of folk dancing. In 1937, while working as a biochemist at Cambridge University, he instantly fell in love with a visiting Chinese student, with whom he began a lifelong affair.He soon became fascinated with China, and his mistress swiftly persuaded the ever-enthusiastic Needham to travel to her home country, where he embarked on a series of extraordinary expeditions to the farthest frontiers of this ancient empire. He searched everywhere for evidence to bolster his conviction that the Chinese were responsible for hundreds of mankind's most familiar innovations--including printing, the compass, explosives, suspension bridges, even toilet paper--often centuries before the rest of the world. His thrilling and dangerous journeys, vividly recreated by Winchester, took him across war-torn China to far-flung outposts, consolidating his deep admiration for the Chinese people.After the war, Needham was determined to tell the world what he had discovered, and began writing his majestic Science and Civilisation in China, describing the country's long and astonishing history of invention and technology. By the time he died, he had produced, essentially single-handedly, seventeen immense volumes, marking him as the greatest one-man encyclopedist ever.Both epic and intimate, The Man Who Loved China tells the sweeping story of China through Needham's remarkable life. Here is an unforgettable tale of what makes men, nations, and, indeed, mankind itself great--related by one of the world's inimitable storytellers.
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth
by Paul Hoffman"A funny, marvelously readable portrait of one of the most brilliant and eccentric men in history." --The Seattle Times Paul Erdos was an amazing and prolific mathematician whose life as a world-wandering numerical nomad was legendary. He published almost 1500 scholarly papers before his death in 1996, and he probably thought more about math problems than anyone in history. Like a traveling salesman offering his thoughts as wares, Erdos would show up on the doorstep of one mathematician or another and announce, "My brain is open." After working through a problem, he'd move on to the next place, the next solution. Hoffman's book, like Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Nash, A Beautiful Mind, reveals a genius's life that transcended the merely quirky. But Erdos's brand of madness was joyful, unlike Nash's despairing schizophrenia. Erdos never tried to dilute his obsessive passion for numbers with ordinary emotional interactions, thus avoiding hurting the people around him, as Nash did. Oliver Sacks writes of Erdos: "A mathematical genius of the first order, Paul Erdos was totally obsessed with his subject--he thought and wrote mathematics for nineteen hours a day until the day he died. He traveled constantly, living out of a plastic bag, and had no interest in food, sex, companionship, art--all that is usually indispensable to a human life."The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is easy to love, despite his strangeness. It's hard not to have affection for someone who referred to children as "epsilons," from the Greek letter used to represent small quantities in mathematics; a man whose epitaph for himself read, "Finally I am becoming stupider no more"; and whose only really necessary tool to do his work was a quiet and open mind. Hoffman, who followed and spoke with Erdos over the last 10 years of his life, introduces us to an undeniably odd, yet pure and joyful, man who loved numbers more than he loved God--whom he referred to as SF, for Supreme Fascist. He was often misunderstood, and he certainly annoyed people sometimes, but Paul Erdos is no doubt missed. --Therese Littleton
The Man Who Loved Siberia
by Roy Jacobsen Anneliese PitzSiberia, to me, is a fairy-tale land.Fritz Dörries set out on his first trip to Eastern Siberia in 1877, when there were still blank spaces on maps of the world. Travelling alone or with his brothers, he climbed mountains, traversed great rivers, explored remote islands and crossed treacherous lakes of ice, always with one purpose: to augment man's knowledge of the natural world. Bears, tigers, vipers, bandits, stormy seas, frostbite, ice chasms fathoms deep - every danger was faced head on and overcome. And yet he remained defenceless against the charms of the landscape, and the animals, birds and butterflies he found there.Through his twenty-two years in Siberia, Dörries collected a wealth of essential material for scientific institutions, fundamental to our understanding of fauna and flora. This account of his adventures, set down for his daughters in his ninetieth year, and adapted for publication by Roy Jacobsen and Anneliese Pitz, is his second great legacy.Translated from the Norwegian by Seán Kinsella
The Man Who Made Lists
by Joshua KendallIn the tradition of The Professor and the Madman, a "brisk and vivid"( Los Angeles Times) account of an obsessive scholar. Polymath, eccentric, and synonym aficionado, Peter Mark Roget had a host of female admirers, was one of the first to test the effects of laughing gas, invented the slide rule, and narrowly escaped jail in Napoleon's France. But Roget is best known for making lists. After the tragic turmoil of his early life (both his mother and sister were institutionalized), Roget longed for order in his chaotic world. At the age of eight, he began his quest to put everything in its rightful place, one word at a time. This is the fascinating story of a driven man and a brilliant scholar-and the legacy he has left for generations.
The Man Who Made Mark Twain Famous: Stories from the Kennedy Center, the White House, and Other Comedy Venues
by Cappy McGarrIn The Man Who Made Mark Twain Famous, Cappy McGarr shares how he became an Emmy-nominated co-creator/executive producer of the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and got involved in national politics—all with charming southern style and a self-deprecating sense of humor.For decades, Cappy McGarr has been in the room where it happens. With The Man Who Made Mark Twain Famous, he&’d like to invite you into that room, complete with his color commentary on the other folks inside. For the first time in print, Cappy reveals how the Mark Twain Prize was conceived, how it changed venues and networks, and even how it almost wasn&’t renewed after a controversial first outing with Richard Pryor. From there, Cappy pulls back the curtain for a behind-the-scenes look at over two decades of the Mark Twain Prize, sharing his take on the Kennedy Center&’s tributes to Pryor, Jonathan Winters, Carl Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, Lily Tomlin, Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, Neil Simon, Billy Crystal, George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Ellen DeGeneres, Carol Burnett, Jay Leno, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, David Letterman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Dave Chappelle. Cappy also gives the inside scoop on several shows he produced from the East Room of the White House, including the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Plus, he tells tales from his involvement in national politics—including encounters with the likes of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Governor Ann Richards, President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama, and many others. &“Reading Cappy&’s book is not unlike sitting down to dinner with him and listening to the stories he has picked up from decades of rubbing elbows with political leaders and comedians alike. There are historic set pieces. There are laughs and howls and chuckles and chortles.&” —Ken Burns Cappy is donating all of his proceeds from this book to the Kennedy Center Arts Education Programs.
The Man Who Made Parks: The Story Of Parkbuilder Frederick Law Olmsted
by Frieda Wishinsky Song Nan ZhangWhen the great cities of North America were being developed, there was little thought to creating “green spaces. ” Frederick Law Olmsted combined his childhood love for nature with the structured beauty of the great parks of London and Paris to turn a neglected, swampy area into one of the most acclaimed parks in North America: Central Park in New York City.
The Man Who Made the Movies: The Meteoric Rise and Tragic Fall of William Fox
by Vanda KrefftA riveting story of ambition, greed, and genius unfolding at the dawn of modern America. This landmark biography brings into focus a fascinating brilliant entrepreneur—like Steve Jobs or Walt Disney, a true American visionary—who risked everything to realize his bold dream of a Hollywood empire.Although a major Hollywood studio still bears William Fox’s name, the man himself has mostly been forgotten by history, even written off as a failure. Now, in this fascinating biography, Vanda Krefft corrects the record, explaining why Fox’s legacy is central to the history of Hollywood.At the heart of William Fox’s life was the myth of the American Dream. His story intertwines the fate of the nineteenth-century immigrants who flooded into New York, the city’s vibrant and ruthless gilded age history, and the birth of America’s movie industry amid the dawn of the modern era. Drawing on a decade of original research, The Man Who Made the Movies offers a rich, compelling look at a complex man emblematic of his time, one of the most fascinating and formative eras in American history.Growing up in Lower East Side tenements, the eldest son of impoverished Hungarian immigrants, Fox began selling candy on the street. That entrepreneurial ambition eventually grew one small Brooklyn theater into a $300 million empire of deluxe studios and theaters that rivaled those of Adolph Zukor, Marcus Loew, and the Warner brothers, and launched stars such as Theda Bara. Amid the euphoric roaring twenties, the early movie moguls waged a fierce battle for control of their industry. A fearless risk-taker, Fox won and was hailed as a genius—until a confluence of circumstances, culminating with the 1929 stock market crash, led to his ruin.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales
by Oliver SacksIn his most beloved and extraordinary book, Dr. Sacks recounts the case histories of patients inhabiting the compelling world of neurological disorders. Featuring a preface never before included.Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with perceptual and intellectual disorders: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; whose limbs seem alien to them; who lack some skills yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. In Dr. Sacks's splendid and sympathetic telling, his patients are deeply human, and his tales are studies of struggles against incredible adversity. A great healer, Sacks never loses sight of medicine's ultimate responsibility: "the suffering, afflicted, fighting human subject."
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales
by Oliver SacksIn his most extraordinary book, the bestselling author of Awakenings and "poet laureate of medicine&” (The New York Times) recounts the case histories of patients inhabiting the compelling world of neurological disorders, from those who are no longer able to recognize common objects to those who gain extraordinary new skills.Featuring a new preface, Oliver Sacks&’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat tells the stories of individuals afflicted with perceptual and intellectual disorders: patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; whose limbs seem alien to them; who lack some skills yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. In Dr. Sacks&’s splendid and sympathetic telling, his patients are deeply human and his tales are studies of struggles against incredible adversity. A great healer, Sacks never loses sight of medicine&’s ultimate responsibility: &“the suffering, afflicted, fighting human subject.&”
The Man Who Moved the World: The Life and Work of Mohamed Amin
by Bob Smith Salim Amin Michael BuerkMohamed Amin was the most famous photo journalist in the world, making the news as often as he covered it. His coverage of the 1984 Ethiopian famine proved so compelling that it inspired a collective global conscience and became the catalyst for the greatest-ever act of giving--the "We Are the World" campaign. Unquestionably, it also saved the lives of millions of men, women and children. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Mo covered every major event in Africa and beyond, braving torture, surviving bombs and bullets to emerge as the most decorated news cameraman of all time. But his frenetic life was cut tragically short when, in November, 1996, hijackers took over an Ethiopian airliner forcing it to ditch in the Indian Ocean killing 123 passengers and crew. Mo died on his feet still negotiating with the terrorists.
The Man Who Named the Clouds
by Joan Holub Paige Billin-Frye Julie HannaIn 1782, when Luke Howard was ten, he began keeping a weather journal to describe what he saw in the sky--he especially loved to watch the clouds. As an adult, Luke wanted to classify clouds, though many others had failed at this.
The Man Who Never Stopped Sleeping: A Novel
by Aharon AppelfeldFrom the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author (“One of the greatest writers of the age”—The Guardian): a young Holocaust survivor takes his first steps toward creating a new life in the newly established state of Israel. Erwin doesn’t remember much about his journey across Europe when the war finally ended because he spent most of it asleep, carried by other survivors as they emerged from their hiding places or were liberated from the camps and made their way to the shores of Naples,where they filled refugee camps and wondered what was to become of them. As he struggles to stay awake, Erwin becomes part of a group of boys being rigorously trained both physically and mentally by an emissary from Palestine for life in their new home. The fog of sleep slowly begins to lift, and when Erwin and his fellow clandestine immigrants are released by British authorities from the detention camp in Atlit, he and his comrades are assigned to a kibbutz, where they learn how to tend to the land and speak their new language. But a part of Erwin desperately clings to the past—to memories of his parents, to his mother tongue, to the Ukrainian city where he was born—and he knows that despite what he is being told, who he was is just as important as who he is now becoming.When he is wounded in an engagement with snipers, Erwin must spend long months recovering from multiple surgeries and trying to regain the use of his legs. As he exercises his body, he exercises his mind as well, copying passages from the Bible in his newly acquired Hebrew and working up the courage to create his own texts in this language both old and new, hoping to succeed as a writer where his beloved, tormented father had failed. With the support of his friends and of other survivors, and with the encouragement of his mother (who visits him in his dreams), Erwin takes his first tentative steps with his crutches—and with his pen. Once again, Aharon Appelfeld mines heartrending personal experience to create dazzling, masterly fiction with a universal resonance.From the Hardcover edition.