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The Game Inventor's Guidebook: How To Invent And Sell Board Games, Card Games, Role-playing Games, And Everything In Between!
by Brian TinsmanThe definitive guide for anyone with a game idea who wants to know how to get it published from a Game Design Manager at Wizards of the Coast, the world's largest tabletop hobby game company. Do you have an idea for a board game, card game, role-playing game or tabletop game? Have you ever wondered how to get it published? <P><P>For many years Brian Tinsman reviewed new game submissions for Hasbro, the largest game company in the US. With The Game Inventor's Guidebook: How to Invent and Sell Board Games, Card Games, Role-playing Games & Everything in Between! he presents the only book that lays out step-by-step advice, guidelines and instructions for getting a new game from idea to retail shelf.
Game for Life: A Pro Football Hall Of Fame Biography (Game for Life)
by Clarence HillJoin the Pro Football Hall of Fame in celebrating this legendary quarterback and football commentator! It's a new biography based on interviews with Troy Aikman himself!Troy Aikman has always been a winner. In high school, he won the state championship—in typing! Of course, he was a football star in high school, too. And in college. And he was a number-one draft pick. As a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, Troy won three Super Bowls—and was once the Super Bowl MVP. Then, he became a football analyst for Fox Sports, where millions of fans watch and listen to his Super Bowl commentary. He's even been nominated for four Emmys for sportscasting! What will Troy Aikman win next?Game for Life biographies support the Pro Football Hall of Fame's mission to honor the heroes of the game, preserve its history, promote its values, and celebrate excellence everywhere. Don't miss the other books in the series, John Madden and Michael Strahan!
Game for Life: A Pro Football Hall Of Fame Biography (Game for Life #1)
by Peter RichmondJoin the Pro Football Hall of Fame in celebrating the legendary coach, announcer, and video game personality! This new biography is based on interviews with John Madden himself!Nobody knows more about football than John Madden does. His childhood revolved around sports. When an injury kept him from playing in the NFL, he continued to learn everything he could about football. As head coach of the Oakland Raiders, Madden won more games than any other coach in Raiders history. Then he used his football knowledge as a commentator and the creator of one of the most popular video games ever—Madden NFL. Find out why John Madden is such a beloved member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame!Game for Life biographies support the Pro Football Hall of Fame's mission to honor the heroes of the game, preserve its history, promote its values, and celebrate excellence everywhere. Don't miss Game for Life: Michael Strahan!
Game Face: A Lifetime of Hard-Earned Lessons On and Off the Basketball Court
by Jerome Preisler Bernard KingA memoir by the NBA Hall of Fame player, active from 1977-1993 and widely regarded as one of the all-time great New York Knicks. NBA Hall of Famer Bernard King is one of the most dynamic scorers in basketball history. King was notoriously private as a player, and rarely spoke to the press-not about his career and never about his personal life. And even beyond his prolific scoring, King will forever be remembered for the gruesome knee injury he suffered in 1985. Doctors who told him he'd never play again were shocked when he not only became the first player to return to the NBA from a torn ACL, but returned at an All Star level. In Game Face, King finally opens up about his life on and off the court. In his book, King's basketball I.Q. is on full display as he breaks down defenses using his own unique system for taking shots from predetermined spots on the floor. King talks about matching up against some of the all-time NBA greats, from Michael Jordan, Julius Erving and Charles Barkley to Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing and many others. He also tackles issues of race and family off the court, as well as breaking a personal cycle of negativity and self-destructiveness with the help of his family. Engaging, shocking, revelatory, yet always positive and upbeat, Bernard King's memoir appeals to multiple generations of basketball fans.
Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams
by Lesa Cline-Ransome<p>Six days a week they awoke before the sun came up to practice their serves and returns, to learn to run faster and hit harder. They were unstoppable. At age fourteen, Venus played her first professional match. Three years later, it was Serena’s turn. It wasn’t easy. Some tennis fans cheered for these two fresh faces, while those who were unhappy to see two black girls competing in a nearly all-white sport booed and taunted them. But they didn’t let it stop them. <p>With vibrant mixed media art, nonfiction superstars Lesa Cline-Ransome and Coretta Scott King Honor winner James E. Ransome share the inspirational story of two tennis legends who were fierce competitors on the courts, but close sisters above all.</p>
Game Changer: John Mclendon And The Secret Game
by John CoyWhen they piled into cars and drove through Durham, North Carolina, the members of the Duke University Medical School basketball team only knew that they were going somewhere to play basketball. They didn't know whom they would play against. But when they came face to face with their opponents, they quickly realized this secret game was going to make history. Discover the true story of how in 1944, Coach John McLendon orchestrated a secret game between the best players from a white college and his team from the North Carolina College of Negroes. At a time of widespread segregation and rampant racism, this illegal gathering changed the sport of basketball forever.
The Game Changer: A Memoir of Disruptive Love
by Av Flox Franklin VeauxFranklin and Celeste’s open marriage seemed perfectly safe—until the day Amber entered his life and showed them why the heart does not obey rules.
Game Changer: Our Fifty-Year Mission to Secure America's Energy Independence
by Harold HammGame Changer is the story of one man&’s fifty-year journey doing battle with the conventional wisdom and in the process helping to restore America as an energy superpower. A day doesn&’t go by without energy in the headlines. From banning gas stoves to prices at the pump to threats to the world&’s energy supplies, energy is front and center. Most of what we are hearing is high emotion, low-fact misinformation offered by folks who have no clue what they are talking about. Game Changer is the story of Harold Hamm and his fifty-year journey battling conventional wisdom and, in the process, helping restore America as an energy superpower. How did he do it? With horizontal drilling. What Hamm did was game changing—for his country and the world. In Game Changer, Hamm explains: Why American Energy Independence is the most important policy to guarantee our long-term economic and national security. How the conversion to natural gas for electricity production in the US has led to the largest declines in emissions in the industrialized world. Why much of the energy narrative is distorted by money, politics, activism, and virtue-signaling. Why the so-called &“energy crisis&” in America is self-inflicted. We&’ve been relentlessly told that oil and natural gas is the enemy, that humanity&’s very existence depends on its extinction. Yet our whole world—your world—runs on it. Game Changer invites you to learn the real story, the story we all need to hear, told through the common-sense eyes of the man who has led what he calls the American Energy Renaissance. If you care about your future, and the future of your kids and grandkids, read this book.
Game Changer
by Cora StauntonCora Staunton is an iconic figure in the world of modern GAA. In this ground-breaking autobiography, she reveals her extraordinary journey from teenage rookie to the highest-scoring forward in the history of Ladies Gaelic Football. Since making her senior inter-county debut for Mayo at just thirteen years of age, Cora has become a feared and respected opponent on any pitch. Now, for the first time, she recounts the triumphs of her career and the personal struggles that have plagued it. In this refreshingly candid book, Cora recalls finding refuge in the game after the death of her mother, but also speaks openly about the challenges and conflicts she and her teammates have experienced in the under-resourced world of female sport. She gives a fascinating insight into her move to a professional team in Sydney and how she coped with going from a veteran to a newcomer overnight. In the first-ever autobiography of a female GAA star, Game Changer will take its place as one of the most influential and powerful sports books in recent years.
The Game Changer: A Memoir of Disruptive Love
by Franklin VeauxTo make an open marriage work, Franklin and Celeste knew they needed to make sure no one else ever came between them. That meant there had to be rules. No overnights, no falling in love, and either one of them could ask the other to end an outside relationship if it became too much to deal with. It worked for nearly two decades--and their relentless focus on their own relationship let them turn a blind eye to the emotional wreckage they were leaving behind them. The rules did not prepare them for Amber. "I have a question," Amber would say. And whatever came next would send a wrecking ball through Franklin and Celeste's comforting illusions. Amber was the first of Franklin's polyamorous secondary partners to insist on being treated like a person, and the first to peel back the layers of insecurity and fear that surrounded their relationship. Amber was a game changer. A game-changing relationship is one that uproots and redirects your life. It overthrows your assumptions about who you are and why. It awakens you to possibilities you'd never conceived of. It disrupts. And it is the unspoken elephant in the attractive showroom of polyamorous relationships. This book is the true story of a game-changing relationship that changed not only Franklin and Celeste's lives, but the face of the modern polyamory movement. A game-changing relationship can happen to anyone. How will you handle it when it happens to you?
Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador, and the Future of Hockey
by Ken DrydenFrom the bestselling author and Hall of Famer Ken Dryden, this is the story of NHLer Steve Montador—who was diagnosed with CTE after his death in 2015—the remarkable evolution of hockey itself, and a passionate prescriptive to counter its greatest risk in the future: head injuries. Ken Dryden’s The Game is acknowledged as the best book about hockey, and one of the best books about sports ever written. Then came Home Game (with Roy MacGregor), also a major TV-series, in which he explored hockey’s significance and what it means to Canada and Canadians. Now, in his most powerful and important book yet, Game Change, Ken Dryden tells the riveting story of one player’s life, examines the intersection between science and sport, and expertly documents the progression of the game of hockey—where it began, how it got to where it is, where it can go from here and, just as exciting to play and watch, how it can get there.
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime
by John Heilemann Mark Halperin"This shit would be really interesting if we weren't in the middle of it."--Barack Obama, September 2008. In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton--and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines has yet been told. In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country's leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. How did Obama convince himself that, despite the thinness of his résumé, he could somehow beat the odds to become the nation's first African American president? How did the tumultuous relationship between the Clintons shape--and warp--Hillary's supposedly unstoppable bid? What was behind her husband's furious outbursts and devastating political miscalculations? Why did McCain make the novice governor of Alaska his running mate? And was Palin merely painfully out of her depth--or troubled in more serious ways? Game Change answers those questions and more, laying bare the secret history of the 2008 campaign. Heilemann and Halperin take us inside the Obama machine, where staffers referred to the candidate as "Black Jesus." They unearth the quiet conspiracy in the U.S. Senate to prod Obama into the race, driven in part by the fears of senior Democrats that Bill Clinton's personal life might cripple Hillary's presidential prospects. They expose the twisted tale of John Edwards's affair with Rielle Hunter, the truth behind the downfall of Rudy Giuliani, and the doubts of those responsible for vetting Palin about her readiness for the Republican ticket--along with the McCain campaign staff's worries about her fitness for office. And they reveal how, in an emotional late-night phone call, Obama succeeded in wooing Clinton, despite her staunch resistance, to become his secretary of state. Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.
Game Boy: Un libro de ficción, ensayo y privilegio (Caballo de Troya 2019, #Volumen 1)
by Víctor ParkasVíctor Parkas dispara contra la hombría en Game Boy. Esta suma endiabladamente pop de sangrantes columnas de opinión y relatos tragicómicos es un dardo directo al ocaso de las masculinidades tóxicas. «Las nuevas masculinidades, para ser realmente nuevas, tienen que estar dispuestas a tomar posiciones que las lleven a sufrir el acoso, la suspicacia, la fiscalización, la persecución que sufren y han sufrido el resto de opciones genéricas, por el simple hecho de serlo frente a una dominante. El hombre nuevo sólo puede serlo si acepta adoptar gestos que no den réditos de cara a la galería [...]. Lo que sería nuevo es que los hombres, tan ansiosos de refundarse, desistieran para alivio del resto. Que entregasen las armas y se disolvieran [...]. Que todos los grupos de hombres merodeando por espacios públicos sean detenidos, identificados y disueltos. Que cinco tipos conjurados en un portal no puedan sertratados de otro modo, en lo jurídico, que como es tratada una organización terrorista.» Así habla Víctor Parkas en Game Boy, un libro que no es una recopilación de sangrantes columnas de opinión, ni tampoco una novelita generacional sobre el ocaso de las masculinidades tóxicas, ni mucho menos un conjunto de relatos endiabladamente pop. Game Boy es todas esas cosas a la vez, además de la confirmación de que su autor se ha convertido en uno de los críticos más voraces del panorama literario en español.
Game 7, 1986: Failure and Triumph in the Biggest Game of My Life
by Ron Darling Daniel PaisnerNew York Times BestsellerAn inside look at one of the most famous baseball games of all time, game seven of the 1986 World Series from Emmy-winning baseball analyst Ron Darling, the METS' starting pitcher, in his words.Every little kid who's ever taken the mound in Little League dreams of someday getting the ball for Game Seven of the World Series. Ron Darling got to live that dream - only it didn't go exactly as planned. In New York Times bestselling Game 7, 1986, the award-winning baseball analyst looks back at what might have been a signature moment in his career, and reflects on the ways professional athletes must sometimes shoulder a personal disappointment as their teams find a way to win.Published to coincide with the anniversary of the 1986 New York Mets championship season, Darling's book breaks down one of baseball's great "forgotten" games - a game that stands as a thrilling, telling, and tantalizing exclamation point to one of the best-remembered seasons in Major League Baseball history.Working once again with bestselling collaborator Daniel Paisner, who teamed with the former All-Star pitcher on his acclaimed 2009 memoir, The Complete Game, Darling offers a book for the thinking baseball fan, a chance to reflect on what it means to compete at the game's highest level, with everything on the line.
Game: An Autobiography
by Grant HillThe full, frank story of a remarkable life&’s journey—to the pinnacle of success as a basketball player, icon, and entrepreneur, to the depths of personal trauma and back, to a place of flourishing and peace—made possible above all by a family&’s loveGrant Hill always had game. His choice of college was a subject of national interest, and his arrival at Duke University cemented the program&’s arrival at the top. In his freshman year, he led the team to its first NCAA championship, and three championship appearances in four years. His Duke career produced some of the most iconic moments in college basketball history, and Coach K proved to be a lifelong mentor. Later, as one of the NBA&’s best players and a new face of the Detroit Pistons franchise, Hill was the first person with the potential to give Michael Jordan a run for his money, not just as a player but as a brand. His $45 million rookie contract was almost the least of it. He turned down Nike for Fila, and soon Method Man and Tupac Shakur were wearing his shoes. Hill writes candidly about all of it, including the transactional impermanence of life in the league and the isolation caused by his growing fame. His parents and friends helped ground him, and eventually he met a gifted musician named Tamia. The love he found with her and the arrival of their two beautiful daughters would be his rock as a brutal and mysterious injury sidelined him, coinciding with his wife&’s own serious health struggles. With openness and insight, Hill relates his entire path, including post-career highlights like his Hall of Fame induction, co-ownership of the Atlanta Hawks, the directorship of the USA Basketball Men&’s National Team, and even a yearly gig calling the Final Four. Hill&’s father, Calvin, used to tell him that there were always a lot of reasons but never any excuses, and Game is a distillation of a lifetime&’s effort to understand the reasons—the good and the bad. At his hardest moments, Hill sought out wisdom from others, stories of inspiration and overcoming obstacles. Now, with Game, he has returned the favor.
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
by Neil StraussThe author, a writer for Rolling Stone magazine, spent 2 years learning about and perfecting his 'game' - picking up women.
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
by Neil StraussHidden somewhere, in nearly every major city in the world, is an underground seduction lair. And in these lairs, men trade the most devastatingly effective techniques ever invented to charm women. This is not fiction. These men really exist. <P><P>They live together in houses known as Projects. And Neil Strauss, the bestselling author and journalist, spent two years living among them, using the pseudonym Style to protect his real-life identity. The result is one of the most explosive and controversial books of the last decade--guaranteed to change the lives of men and transform the way women understand the opposite sex forever.On his journey from AFC (average frustrated chump) to PUA (pick-up artist) to PUG (pick-up guru), Strauss not only shares scores of original seduction techniques but also has unforgettable encounters with the likes of Tom Cruise, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Heidi Fleiss, and Courtney Love. And then things really start to get strange--and passions lead to betrayals lead to violence. The Game is the story of one man's transformation from frog to prince to prisoner in the most unforgettable book of this generation.
Gambling
by Harry BelafonteAn eBook short. A participant's portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement, from Harry Belafonte's memoir of activism and entertainment, My Song.Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 was one of the most segregated cities in America. It had segregated lunch counters, restrooms, and water fountains. It had a nickname, "Bombingham," for the homemade bombs detonated by local Klansmen. And it had Eugene "Bull" Connor, a racist police chief with a hair-trigger temper. It was here that Dr. King and his advisers, Harry Belafonte among them, rolled the dice on an enormous action which would rejuvenate the civil rights movement. Harry Belafonte is one of America's greatest entertainers and also one of our most profoundly influential activists. During the 1960s he befriended MLK and began using his celebrity in support of civil rights and other social causes. This is Belafonte's personal story of fame, performance, and a lasting friendship. From stages in Vegas to political salons in New York, to the streets of Birmingham and letters from Birmingham Jail, Belafonte gives the reader a unique view of Martin Luther King, Jr. at one of his finest moments.
The Gambler's Daughter: A Personal and Social History (Excelsior Editions)
by Annette B. DunlapScreening calls from her father's creditors, hiding his mail from her mother—being the child of a compulsive gambler wasn't easy, and Annette B. Dunlap thought for years that her experience was a singular one. In early adulthood, she was fortunate enough to learn that she was not unique, that other children had grown up with parents (usually fathers) addicted to gambling. But when she learned, shortly before her mother died, that her grandfather had also been involved in gambling, she realized the extent to which gambling was a part of her family history. As she delved further into the subject, she also discovered the extent to which gambling is, in her words, "a peculiarly Jewish addiction."Framing the issue of gambling in both historical and sociological terms, Dunlap examines the struggle between the "official" Jewish community—Jewish leaders have long either condemned or ignored the evils of gambling—and the significant number of everyday Jews who continue to gamble, many at a level that would be considered addictive. Gambling continues to be a serious problem within the Jewish community, Dunlap argues, regardless of whether the person is Orthodox or a Jew in name only.The Gambler's Daughter is both a personal story of a father's gambling addiction and a more general inquiry into the hidden history of gambling in the Jewish community. Readers who either live or have lived with an addictive family member will find the book useful, as will those students of Jewish social history interested in a long-ignored facet of American Jewish life.
The Gambler Wife: A True Story of Love, Risk, and the Woman Who Saved Dostoyevsky
by Andrew D. KaufmanA revelatory new portrait of the courageous woman who saved Dostoyevsky&’s life—and became a pioneer in Russian literary historyIn the fall of 1866, a twenty-year-old stenographer named Anna Snitkina applied for a position with a writer she idolized: Fyodor Dostoyevsky. A self-described &“emancipated girl of the sixties,&” Snitkina had come of age during Russia&’s first feminist movement, and Dostoyevsky—a notorious radical turned acclaimed novelist—had impressed the young woman with his enlightened and visionary fiction. Yet in person she found the writer &“terribly unhappy, broken, tormented,&” weakened by epilepsy, and yoked to a ruinous gambling addiction. Alarmed by his condition, Anna became his trusted first reader and confidante, then his wife, and finally his business manager—launching one of literature&’s most turbulent and fascinating marriages. The Gambler Wife offers a fresh and captivating portrait of Anna Dostoyevskaya, who reversed the novelist&’s freefall and cleared the way for two of the most notable careers in Russian letters—her husband&’s and her own. Drawing on diaries, letters, and other little-known archival sources, Andrew Kaufman reveals how Anna warded off creditors, family members, and her greatest romantic rival, keeping the young family afloat through years of penury and exile. In a series of dramatic set pieces, we watch as she navigates the writer&’s self-destructive binges in the casinos of Europe—even hazarding an audacious turn at roulette herself—until his addiction is conquered. And, finally, we watch as Anna frees her husband from predatory contracts by founding her own publishing house, making Anna the first solo female publisher in Russian history. The result is a story that challenges ideas of empowerment, sacrifice, and female agency in nineteenth-century Russia—and a welcome new appraisal of an indomitable woman whose legacy has been nearly lost to literary history.
The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History
by William C. Rempel“A remarkably detailed and fascinating look at the career of an idiosyncratic tycoon.” – Booklist The rags-to-riches story of one of America’s wealthiest and least-known financial giants, self-made billionaire Kirk Kerkorian—the daring aviator, movie mogul, risk-taker, and business tycoon who transformed Las Vegas and Hollywood to become one of the leading financiers in American business.Kerkorian combined the courage of a World War II pilot, the fortitude of a scrappy boxer, the cunning of an inscrutable poker player and an unmatched genius for making deals. He never put his name on a building, but when he died he owned almost every major hotel and casino in Las Vegas. He envisioned and fostered a new industry —the leisure business. Three times he built the biggest resort hotel in the world. Three times he bought and sold the fabled MGM Studios, forever changing the way Hollywood does business.His early life began as far as possible from a place on the Forbes List of Billionaires when he and his Armenian immigrant family lost their farm to foreclosure. He was four. They arrived in Los Angeles penniless and moved often, staying one step ahead of more evictions. Young Kirk learned English on the streets of L.A., made pennies hawking newspapers and dropped out after eighth grade. How he went on to become one of the richest and most generous men in America—his net worth as much as $20 billion—is a story largely unknown to the world. That’s because what Kerkorian valued most was his privacy. His very private life turned to tabloid fodder late in life when a former professional tennis player falsely claimed that the eighty-five-year-old billionaire fathered her child.In this engrossing biography, investigative reporter William C. Rempel digs deep into Kerkorian’s long-guarded history to introduce a man of contradictions—a poorly educated genius for deal-making, an extraordinarily shy man who made the boldest of business ventures, a careful and calculating investor who was willing to bet everything on a single roll of the dice.Unlike others of his status and importance, Kerkorian made few public appearances and strenuously avoided personal publicity. His friends and associates, however, were some of the biggest names in business, entertainment, and sports—among them Howard Hughes, Ted Turner, Steve Wynn, Michael Milken, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Elvis Presley, Mike Tyson, and Andre Agassi.When he died in 2015 two years shy of the century mark, Kerkorian had outlived many of his closest friends and associates. Now, Rempel meticulously pieces together revealing fragments of Kerkorian’s life, collected from diverse sources—war records, business archives, court documents, news clippings and the recollections and recorded memories of longtime pals and relatives. In The Gambler, Rempel illuminates this unknown, self-made man and his inspiring legacy as never before.
Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk
by Billy WaltersNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * &“An insightful read…Walters is a larger-than-life character.&” —Sports Illustrated * &“This book is going to become the sports gambling bible…The formula&’s in the book.&” —Pat McAfee The wild and massively entertaining autobiography of Billy Walters—&“the greatest and most controversial sports gambler ever&” (ESPN)—who shares his extraordinary life story, reveals the secrets to his fiercely protected betting system, and breaks his silence about Phil Mickelson.Anybody can get lucky. Nobody controls the odds like Billy Walters. Widely regarded as &“the Michael Jordan of sports betting,&” Walters is a living legend in Las Vegas and among sports bettors worldwide. With an unmatched winning streak of thirty-six consecutive years, Walters has become fabulously wealthy by placing hundreds of millions of dollars a year in gross wagers, including one Super Bowl bet of $3.5 million alone. Competitors desperate to crack his betting techniques have tried hacking his phones, cloning his beepers, rifling through his trash, and bribing his employees. Now, after decades of avoiding the spotlight and fiercely protecting the keys to his success, Walters has reached the age where he wants to pass along his wisdom to future generations of sports bettors. Gambler is more than a traditional autobiography. In addition to sharing his against-all-odds American Dream story, Walters reveals in granular detail the secrets of his proprietary betting system, which will serve as a master class for anyone who wants to improve their odds at betting on sports. Walters also breaks his silence about his long and complicated relationship with Hall of Fame professional golfer Phil Mickelson. On a typical weekend gameday packed with college and pro sports, Walters will bet $20 million. It&’s a small sum for someone with his resources today, but an unbelievable fortune for the child who was raised by his grandmother in extreme poverty in rural Kentucky. By the age of nine, Walters became a shark at hustling pool and pitching pennies. As a young adult, he set records as a used-car salesman, hustled golf, and dabbled in bookmaking. He eventually moved to Las Vegas, where he revolutionized sports betting strategy and became a member of the famed Computer Group, the first syndicate to apply algorithms and data analysis to sports gambling. He built a fortune while overcoming addictions and outmaneuvering organized crime figures made infamous by Martin Scorsese&’s film Casino. In Gambler, Walters shares everything he&’s learned about sports betting. First, he shows bettors how to mine the information we have at our fingertips to develop a sophisticated betting strategy and handicapping system of our own. He explains how even avid bettors often do not grasp all of the variables that go into making an informed wager—home field advantage, individual player values, injuries or illness, weather forecasts, each team&’s previous schedule, travel distance/ difficulty, stadium quirks, turf types, and more. Variable by variable, Walters breaks down the formulas, betting systems, and money-management principles that he&’s developed over decades of improving his craft. A self-made man who repeatedly won it all, lost it all, and earned it all back again, Walters has lived a singular and wildly appealing American life, of the outlaw variety. Gambler is at once a gripping autobiography, a blistering tell-all, and an indispensable playbook for coming out on top.
Gamble Rogers: A Troubadour's Life
by Bruce HorovitzFlorida Book Awards, Bronze Medal for Florida Nonfiction Florida Historical Society Charlton Tebeau Award Beloved raconteur, environmentalist, and down-home philosopher, Gamble Rogers (1937–1991) ushered in a renaissance of folk music to a place and time that desperately needed it. In this book, Bruce Horovitz tells the story of how Rogers infused Florida's rapidly commercializing landscape with a refreshing dose of homegrown authenticity and how his distinctive music and personality touched the nation. As a college student, motivated by personal advice from William Faulkner to stay true to himself, Rogers broke away from his family's prestigious architecture business. Rogers was a skilled guitar player and storyteller who soon began performing extensively on the national folk music circuit alongside Pete Seeger, Doc Watson, and Jimmy Buffett. He discovered a special knack for public radio, appearing frequently as a guest commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered. Rogers was known across the country for his intricate fingerpicking guitar style and rapid-fire stage act. Audiences welcomed his humorous homespun tales set in the fictitious Oklawaha County, which was based on places from his own upbringing and populated by a cast of unforgettable characters. His stories evoked rural life in Florida, celebrated the state's natural resources, and called attention to life's many small ironies. As Florida was experiencing colossal growth embodied by the new Kennedy Space Center and Disney World, Rogers's folksy style cheered and reassured listeners in the state who worried that their traditional livelihoods and locales were disappearing. Horovitz shows that even beyond his genius as a performing artist, Rogers was loved for his compassion, integrity, connection with people, and courage. Rogers displayed these widely admired traits for the last time when—on a camping trip to the beach—he tried to save a drowning stranger despite back problems that made it almost impossible for him to swim. This heroic effort led to his untimely death. The life of Gamble Rogers is a window into an important creative subculture that continues to flourish today as contemporary folk artists take on roles similar to the one Rogers established for himself. A modern-day troubadour, Rogers delighted in entertaining audiences with what was familiar and real—by championing the ordinary people of his home community who were closest to his heart.
Gambatte: A Memoir
by David Tsubouchi”Gambatte” means do your best and never give up, and that spirit is at the heart of David Tsubouchi’s life story. This memoir of the former Ontario cabinet minister begins as his family strives for acceptance amid the imprisonment of Canadians of Japanese descent and the confiscation of their property, possessions, and businesses by the Mackenzie King Liberal government in 1941. Despite growing up on the outside looking in, Tsubouchi never felt disadvantaged because he had a good family and was taught to persevere. Gambatte outlines his unusual career path from actor to dedicated law school student/lumber yard worker to politician. Tsubouchi was the first person of Japanese descent elected in Canada as a municipal politician and, as an MPP, to serve as a cabinet minister. His story also reveals an insider’s perspective of Mike Harris’s “Common Sense Revolution.”
Galvanized: The Odyssey of a Reluctant Carolina Confederate
by Michael K. BrantleyEvery Civil War veteran had a story to tell. But few stories top the one lived by Wright Stephen Batchelor. Like most North Carolina farmers, Batchelor eschewed slaveholding. He also opposed secession and war, yet he fought on both sides of the conflict. During his time in each uniform, Batchelor barely avoided death at the Battle of Gettysburg, was captured twice, and survived one of the war&’s most infamous prisoner-of-war camps. He escaped and, after walking hundreds of miles, rejoined his comrades at Petersburg, Virginia, just as the Union siege there began. Once the war ended, Batchelor returned on foot to his farm, where he took part in local politics, supported rights for freedmen, and was fatally involved in a bizarre hometown murder. Michael K. Brantley&’s story of his great-great-grandfather&’s odyssey blends memory and Civil War history to look at how the complexities of loyalty and personal belief governed one man&’s actions—and still influence the ways Americans think about the conflict today.