Here is a multidimensional playland of ideas from the world'smost eccentric Nobel-Prize winning scientist. Kary Mullis islegendary for his invention of PCR, which redefined the world ofDNA, genetics, and forensic science. He is also a surfer, a veteranof Berkeley in the sixties, and perhaps the only Nobel laureate todescribe a possible encounter with aliens. A scientist of boundlesscuriosity, he refuses to accept any proposition based on secondhandor hearsay evidence, and always looks for the "money trail" whenscientists make announcements.
“Buried as a g while tha whole world remembers me” –Tupac Shakur, from “Until the End ofTime” Tupac Shakur was larger than life. A giftedrapper, actor, and poet, he was fearless, prolific, andcontroversial–and often said that he never expected to live pastthe age of thirty. He was right. On September 13, 1996, he died ofgunshot wounds at age twenty-five. But even ten years after Tupac’stragic passing, the impact of his life and talent continues toflourish. Lauded as one of the greatest hip-hop artists of alltime, Tupac has sold more than sixty-seven million recordsworldwide, making him the top-selling rapper ever. How Long Will They Mourn Me? celebrates Tupac’sunforgettable life–his rise to fame; his tumultuous dark sidemarked by sex, drugs, and violence; and the indelible legacy heleft behind. Although Tupac’s murder remains unsolved, the spiritof this legendary artist is far from forgotten. How long will wemourn him? Fans worldwide will grieve his untimely death for a longti
This comprehensive, original portrait of the life and work ofone of America's greatest poets--set in the social, cultural, andpolitical context of his time--considers the full range of writingsby and about Whitman, including his early poems and stories, hisconversations, letters, journals, newspaper writings, and daybooks. of photos.
Andrew Jackson, his intimate circle of friends, and histumultuous times are at the heart of this remarkable book about theman who rose from nothing to create the modern presidency. Belovedand hated, venerated and reviled, Andrew Jackson was an orphan whofought his way to the pinnacle of power, bending the nation to hiswill in the cause of democracy. Jackson’s election in 1828 usheredin a new and lasting era in which the people, not distant elites,were the guiding force in American politics. Democracy made itsstand in the Jackson years, and he gave voice to the hopes and thefears of a restless, changing nation facing challenging times athome and threats abroad. To tell the saga of Jackson’s presidency,acclaimed author Jon Meacham goes inside the Jackson White House.Drawing on newly discovered family letters and papers, he detailsthe human drama–the family, the women, and the inner circle ofadvisers–that shaped Jackson’s private world through years of stormand victory. One of our most significant
“Christopher Hogwood came home on my lap in a shoebox. He wasa creature who would prove in many ways to be more human than Iam.” –from The Good Good Pig A naturalist who spent months at a time living on her own amongwild creatures in remote jungles, Sy Montgomery had always feltmore comfortable with animals than with people. So she gladlyopened her heart to a sick piglet who had been crowded away fromnourishing meals by his stronger siblings. Yet Sy had no inklingthat this piglet, later named Christopher Hogwood, would not onlysurvive but flourish–and she soon found herself engaged with hersmall-town community in ways she had never dreamed possible.Unexpectedly, Christopher provided this peripatetic traveler withsomething she had sought all her life: an anchor (eventuallyweighing 750 pounds) to family and home. The Good Good Pig celebrates Christopher Hogwood in all hisglory, from his inauspicious infancy to hog heaven in rural NewHampshire, where his boundless zest for life a
The first account—prodigiously researched, richly detailed—ofthe last remarkable twenty-five years of the life and art of one ofAmerica’s greatest and most beloved musical icons. Much has been written about Louis Armstrong, but most of itfocuses on the early and middle stages of his long career. Now,Ricky Riccardi—jazz scholar and musician—takes an in-depth look atthe years in which Armstrong was often dismissed as a buffoon?ish,if popular, entertainer, and shows us instead the inventiveness anddepth of expression that his music evinced during this time. These are the years (from after World War II until his death in1971) when Armstrong entertained crowds around the world andrecorded his highest-charting hits, including “Mack the Knife” and“Hello, Dolly”; years when he collaborated with, among others, EllaFitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Dave Brubeck; when he recorded withstrings and big bands, and, of course, with the All-Stars, hisprimary performing ensemble for more than
Extraordinary. A brilliant, painful, and important book. THE NEW YORK TIMES If there was any one man who articulated the anger, the struggle,and the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man wasMalcolm X. His AUTOBIOGRAPHY is the result of a uniquecollaboration between Alex Haley and Malcolm X, whose voice andphilosophy resonate from every page, just as his experience and hisintelligence continue to speak to millions.
The Secretary of Defense for the Kennedy and Johnsonadministrations provides an account of how and why America becameinvolved in Vietnam and discusses the long-term ramifications ofdecisions made during the 1960s. Reprint. 125,000 firstprinting.
An enraged man abducts his estranged wife and child, holes upin a secluded mountain cabin, threatening to kill them both. Aright wing survivalist amasses a cache of weapons and resists callsto surrender. A drug trafficker barricades himself and his familyin a railroad car, and begins shooting. A cult leader in Waco,Texas faces the FBI in an armed stand-off that leaves many dead ina fiery blaze. A sniper, claiming to be God, terrorizes the DCmetropolitan area. For most of us, these are events we hear abouton the news. For Gary Noesner, head of the FBI’s groundbreakingCrisis Negotiation Unit, it was just another day on the job. In Stalling for Time, Noesner takes readers on a heart-poundingtour through many of the most famous hostage crises of the pastthirty years. Specially trained in non-violent confrontation andcommunication techniques, Noesner’s unit successfully defused manypotentially volatile standoffs, but perhaps their most hard-wonvictory was earning the recognition and respect of the
Dennis Rodman shoots from the lip as he talks about everythingfrom the NBA and his game, his sexuality, dating, his wild flingwith superstar Madonna, and morality. Reprint."
A writer renowned for his insight into the mysteries of the bodynow gives us a lambent and profoundly moving book about themysteries of family. At its center lies Sherwin Nuland’sRembrandtesque portrait of his father, Meyer Nudelman, a Jewishgarment worker who came to America in the early years of the lastcentury but remained an eternal outsider. Awkward in speech andmovement, broken by the premature deaths of a wife and child, Meyerruled his youngest son with a regime of rage, dependency, andhelpless love that outlasted his death. In evoking their relationship, Nuland also summons up the warmthand claustrophobia of a vanished immigrant New York, a world thatimpelled its children toward success yet made them feel liketraitors for leaving it behind. Full of feeling and unwaveringobservation, Lost in America deserves a place alongside suchclassics as Patrimony and Call It Sleep .
A comprehensive, authoritative, in depth andentertaining biography of one of the greatest and most influentialfantasy authors in modern time, J.R.R. Tolkien. In this informed an entertaining account, renowned biographerMichael White delves into the little-known life of one of the mosttreasured and enduring authors of our time, J.R.R. Tolkien. In absorbing and revealing detail, White describes Tolkien'slife -- from his childhood years and the tragic early death of hisparents; his burgeoning romance with Edith Brett; fighting on thefront lines in WWII; his many years as an Oxford academic, wherethe idea of the Hobbit struck him while marking a term paper; tohis friendship with C.S. Lewis and the founding of the group "TheInklings"; and why The Lord of the Rings became the mostinfluential book in the late sixties counter-culture, one of themost respected and most-read trilogies ever written, and the centerof a major film phenomenon. With 16 pages of black and white photos.
Einstein believed in humanity, in a peaceful world of mutualhelpfulness, and in the high mission of science. Intended as a pleafor these beliefs, this book, like no other provides a complete keyto the understanding of this distinguished man's personality.
Soon after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001, Deborah Rodriguezwent to Afghanistan as part of a group offering humanitarian aid tothis war-torn nation. Surrounded by men and women whose skills–asdoctors, nurses, and therapists–seemed eminently more practicalthan her own, Rodriguez, a hairdresser and mother of two fromMichigan, despaired of being of any real use. Yet she soon foundshe had a gift for befriending Afghans, and once her professionbecame known she was eagerly sought out by Westerners desperate fora good haircut and by Afghan women, who have a long and proudtradition of running their own beauty salons. Thus an idea wasborn. With the help of corporate and international sponsors, the KabulBeauty School welcomed its first class in 2003. Well meaning butsometimes brazen, Rodriguez stumbled through language barriers,overstepped cultural customs, and constantly juggled the challengesof a postwar nation even as she learned how to empower her studentsto become their families’ breadwinners
The only thing the writers in this book have in common is thatthey've exchanged sex for money. They're PhDs and dropouts, soccermoms and jailbirds, $2,500-a-night call girls and $10 crack hos,and everything in between. This anthology lends a voice to anunderrepresented population that is simultaneously reviled andworshipped. Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys is a collection of shortmemoirs, rants, confessions, nightmares, journalism, and poetrycovering life, love, work, family, and yes, sex. The editors gatherpieces from the world of industrial sex, including contributionsfrom art-porn priestess Dr. Annie Sprinkle, best-selling memoiristDavid Henry Sterry (Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man forRent), sex activist and musical diva Candye Kane, women and menright off the streets, girls participating in the first-everNational Summit of Commercially Sexually Exploited Youth, and RuthMorgan Thomas, one of the organizers of the European Sex Work,Human Rights, and Migration Conference. Se
As he magnificently combines meticulous scholarship withirresistible narrative appeal, Richardson draws on his closefriendship with Picasso, his own diaries, the collaboration ofPicasso's widow Jacqueline, and unprecedented access to Picasso'sstudio and papers to arrive at a profound understanding of theartist and his work. 800 photos.
A rich evocation of Nabokov's life and times, even as it offersincisive insights into his major works, including LOLITA, PNIN,DESPAIR, THE GIFT and others.
The 22-year old James Boswell first met Johnson, who was then aged 54, in 1763. Nine years later he wrote in his journal of his 'constant plan to write the life of Mr Johnson'. Boswell was tireless in his search for authenticated proof, and his training as a lawyer helped him sift the evidence of friends and to operate forensically on Johnson himself. Boswell drew him out as no one else could, and although three-quarters of the book concerns the last twenty years of Johnson's life, his skill in constructing the early years is remarkable. The text of this complete and unabridged edition is that of the 1791 first edition, and it remains, by common consent, the greatest biography in the English language. Johnson's centrality in 18th century letters is established not only by Boswell's record of his life and conversations, but also by the success of the work in placing him in a literary and cultural context. James Boswell (1740-95) was educated at Edinburgh and Glasgow universities as a lawyer. He moved to
From Ann Wroe, a biographer of the first rank, comes astartlingly original look at one of the greatest poets in theWestern tradition. Being Shelley aims to turn the poet's life inside out: ratherthan tracing the external events of his life, she tracks the innerjourney of a spirit struggling to create. In her quest tounderstand the radically unconventional Shelley, Wroe pursues thequestions that consumed the poet himself. Shelley sought to freeand empower the entire human race; his revolution was meant toshatter illusions, shock men and women with new visions, find truelove and liberty—and take everyone with him. Now, for the firsttime, this passionate quest is put at the center of his life. Theresult is a Shelley who has never been seen in biographybefore.
modern-day classic. "Gift from the Sea is like a shell itself inits small and perfect form . . . It tells of light and life andlove and the security that lies at the heart."--New York Times BookReview.
