In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands. In 1962, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and created a company with a simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost athletic shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his lime green Plymouth Valiant, Knight grossed $8,000 his first year. Today, Nike s annual sales top $30 billion. In an age of startups, Nike is the ne plus ultra of all startups, and the swoosh has become a revolutionary, globe-spanning icon, one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable symbols in the world today. But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always remained a mystery. Now, for the first time, in a memoir that is candid, humble, gutsy, and wry, he tells his story, beginning with his crossroads moment. At 24, after bac
Sometimes it seems as though I've waited my entirelife to bephotographed by Terry Richardson. With Terry,the relationshipextends beyond the photograph, andif you're really lucky he willteach you something trulyprofound about yourself. I have discoveredthrough himthat "shame" is an obsolete notion and "apology"is aninjustice to any performance. Perhaps it is hiskind eyes behindthose famous glasses, or the gigglingnoise he makes at 4:30 in themorning when he's caughtme in bed. Click, giggle, click, click,click, "beautiful." To sayhe is a free spirit is a tremendousunderstatement, andto say that he (or I) make people uncomfortable,is spot on.We share these things in common. However, it is uniquetoTerry and his subjects that there are no limitations.At all. Hisheart is too wide. He makes me wantto widen my own.
David Beckham is the world's most famous football icon. In Maythis year he brought down the curtain on a hugely successfulplaying career that spanned two decades, during which he proudlywore the shirts of Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, ACMilan, Paris Saint-Germain, and England. He captained his countryon 58 occasions, winning 115 international caps in total, anEnglish record for an outfield player. His colourful and stellarcareer has been characterised by the emotional highs of great goalsand remarkable trophy successes around the world, as well as bymore than the occasional moment of set-back, disappointment anddespair, but through it all Beckham has emerged as a universallyadored figure, both inside and outside the game. Here, intimatelytalking us through 150 of his favourite images which define hisplaying days, he invites us behind the scenes of an incredible20-year footballing journey.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio lived the darkest and mostdangerous life of any of the great painters. The worlds of Milan,Rome and Naples through which Caravaggio moved and which AndrewGraham-Dixon describes brilliantly in this book, are those ofcardinals and whores, prayer and violence. On the streetssurrounding the churches and palaces, brawls and sword fights wereregular occurrences. In the course of this desperate lifeCaravaggio created the most dramatic paintings of his age, usingordinary men and women - often prostitutes and the very poor - tomodel for his depictions of classic religious scenes. AndrewGraham-Dixon's exceptionally illuminating readings of Caravaggio'spictures, which are the heart of the book, show very clearly how hecreated their drama, immediacy and humanity, and how completely hedeparted from the conventions of his time.
The outrageous exploits of one of this century's greatestscientific minds and a legendary American original. In thisphenomenal national bestseller, the Nobel Prize-winning physicistRichard P. Feynman recounts in his inimitable voice his adventurestrading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and Bohr and ideas ongambling with Nick the Greek, painting a naked female toreador,accompanying a ballet on his bongo drums and much else of aneyebrow-raising and hilarious nature. A New York Times bestseller; more than 500,000 copies sold.
A secret life, A tragic death, A towering legacy. 有人这样形容他:“他英年早逝却成就颇丰,他的研究让他青史留名”。他就是阿兰?图灵,二十世纪的一位伟大人物。然而,在70年代之前,他的名字还不为人知,因为他在破译德国英格玛(enigma)密码机方面的贡献还没有被公开。图灵的故事令人着迷,而在他自杀之后,他的名气不降反升,因为人们更加深刻地认识到他对逻辑学、数学、计算、人工智能以及计算生物学所做出的贡献。为纪念图灵诞辰一百周年,特将图灵母亲所著的传记再版。数学家马丁?戴维斯为该版重新作序,另外此版还附上了首次公布的图灵哥哥的回忆录。但哥哥的回忆录和图灵母亲的传记之间的差别透露出了矛盾,也可以使读者从新的角度了解图灵本人,以及图灵和家人的关系。 阿兰?图灵传奇的一生虽引人注意,但了解他生平详情的人并不多。他的母
Marty Sklar was hired by The Walt Disney Company after hisjunior year at UCLA, and began his Disney career at Disneyland inJuly 1955, the month before the park opened. He spent his firstdecade at Disney as "the kid," the very youngest of the creativeteam Walt had assembled at WED Enterprises. But despite his youth,his talents propelled him forward into substantial responsibility:he became Walt's speech writer, penned Walt's and Roy's messages inthe company's annual report, composed most of the publicity andmarketing materials for Disneyland, conceived presentations for theU.S. government, devised initiatives to obtain sponsors to enablenew Disneyland developments, and wrote a twenty-four-minute filmexpressing Walt's philosophy for the Walt Disney World project andEpcot. He was Walt's literary right-hand man. Over the next forty years, Marty Sklar rose to become presidentand principal creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, andhe devoted his entire career to creating, enhancing, and expand
Jack Welch is perhaps the greatest corporate leader of the20th century. When he first became CEO of General Electric in 1981the company was worth $12 billion. Twenty years later it is worth atotal of $280 billion. But Welch was more than just the leader ofthe most successful business in the world. He revolutionised GE'sentire corporate culture with his distinctive, highly personalmanagement style: the individual appreciation of each of his 500managers, the commitment to an informal but driven work style andthe encouragement of candour were all part of the Welch approach.Following John Harvey Jones's "Making It Happen" and"Troubleshooter", "Jack" has already become the businessman's Biblefor the 21st century - an inspiration for a new generation ofcorporate players.
"Team of Rivals" is a brilliant, multi-million sellingbiography, now the inspiration for a major Stephen Spielberg filmstarring Daniel Day-Lewis. "A wonderful book ...a remarkable studyin leadership". (Barack Obama). "The most uplifting book that Ihave read in the last two decades. Sensational". (Jon Snow). "Teamof Rivals" shows how Abraham Lincoln saved Civil War-torn Americaby appointing his fiercest rivals to key cabinet positions. As wellas a thrilling piece of narrative history, it's an inspiring studyof one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen. "I have notenjoyed a history book as much for years". (Robert Harris). "Abrilliant book...I couldn't get enough of it". (Sir Alex Ferguson)."A fabulously engrossing, exciting narrative in the grand old style...overflowing with colour and character". (Dominic Sandbrook). "Aportrait of Lincoln as a virtuosic politician and managerialgenius". (Michiko Kakutani, "New York Times").
The Romans regarded her as "fatale monstrum”—a fatal omen.Pascal said the shape of her nose changed the history of the world.Shakespeare portrayed her as an icon of tragic love. But who wasCleopatra, really? We almost feel that we know Cleopatra, but ourdistorted image of a self-destructive beauty does no justice toCleopatra’s true genius. In Cleopatra, Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesleyoffers an unexpectedly vivid portrait of a skillful Egyptian ruler.Stripping away our preconceptions, many of them as old as Egypt’sRoman conquerors, Cleopatra is a magnificent biography of a mostextraordinary queen.
Sir Alex announced his retirement as manager of ManchesterUnited after 27 years in the role. He has gone out in a blaze ofglory, with United winning the Premier League for the 13th time,and he is widely considered to be the greatest manager in thehistory of British football. Over the last quarter of a century there have been seismicchanges at Manchester United. The only constant element has beenthe quality of the manager's league-winning squad and United's runof success, which included winning the Champions League for asecond time in 2008. Sir Alex created a purposeful, but welcoming,and much envied culture at the club which has lasted the test oftime. Sir Alex saw Manchester United change from a conventionalfootball club to what is now a major business enterprise, and henever failed to move with the times. It was directly due to hisvision, energy and ability that he was able to build teams both onand off the pitch. He was a man-manager of phenomenal skill, andincreasingly he had to deal with global stars.