No matter how long or how hard they strive, no matter how extensive their education as a species, no matter what they experience of the small heavens and larger hells they create for themselves, it seems that humans are destined to see their technological accomplishments always exceed their ability to understand themselves. Certainly there was no understanding, no meeting of the minds, on the world called Aquila Major. There was only the devastation of one mind-set by another. Proof of it took the form of a statue fashioned of advanced, reinforced preformata resin. It was an imposing piece of work, for all that it had been reproduced by its originators on many other worlds. Too many other worlds, according to some. Not nearly enough, according to those who had put it in place, its massive footing firmly rammed into the resistant soil of Aquila Major. It was a Conquest Icon of the Necromongers. Over five hundred meters tall, it gaped openmouthed at the utter desolation and wreckage that spre
More a biography of Mozart's music than a study of the man himself, Sadie's final opus—he died this year after publishing some 30 books—should delight musicologists but puzzle general readers. Not only is the music Sadie's primary interest, he does not believe it reveals anything, necessarily, about its composer. Indeed, he reminds readers not to impose contemporary values on Mozart's era. "Romantic eyes," for example, might see certain minor-key compositions as expressions of Mozart's grief over his mother's death, but Sadie argues that there's "no real reason to imagine that he used his music as [a] vehicle for the expression of his own personal feelings." Likewise, modern critics expect to see a certain type of progress in Mozart's oeuvre, with subsequent works building and elaborating former ones, in ways alien to Mozart on his contemporaries. Sadie is deft at situating various styles of musical composition in their cultural context: preferences for serious vs. comic opera, shorter vs. longer works, e
Three years ago,award-winning actress Angelina Jolie took on a radically different role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees .Here are her memoirs from her journeys to Sierra Leone,Tanzania,where she lived and worked and gave her heart to theose who suffer the world's most shattering violence and victimization.Here are her revelations of joy and warmth amid utter destitution compelling snapshots of courageous and inspiring people for whom survival is their daily work and candid notes form a unique pilgrimage that completely changed the actress's worlview-and the world within herself
After two delicious excursions into the raunchy glitter of the Hollywood star machine (Hollywood Wives and Hollywood Husbands), Collins nose-dives precipitously - with a sloppy, near-perfunctory tale of three pop-music heroes and the devious mogul who controls their lives. Kinky record-magnate Marcus Citroen and his sleek wife, Nova (a former prostitute who puts up with his taste for violent sex), live on a fantastic Malibu estate that contains three separate mansions and has enough room for - well, for a fund-raising party for Governor Jack Highland. Virtually ordered to perform are three of Marcus' top stars: libidinous English singer Kris Phoenix, who rises from hauling his ashes to oblige; top black performer Bobby Mandella; and young pop sensation Rafealla, who has made a Faustian deal with Citroen. In a series of long, obvious flashbacks that clumsily cut away from dramatic moments and derail all suspense, the reader learns: that Bobby Mandella's affair with Nova resulted in his being hurled from a 14-s
国际读书网站Goodreads评选的 2013年度*传记类作品. "I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday." When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she became a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize. I AM MALALA is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and e
Tough, resolute, fearless, Alexander was a born warrior and ruler of passion-ate ambition who understood the intense adventure of conquest and of theunknown. When he died in 323 B.C. at age thirty-two, his vast empire com-prised more than two million square miles, spanning from Greece to India.His achievements were unparalleled--he had excelled as leader to his men,founded eighteen new cities, and stamped the face of Greek culture on the ancient East. The myth he created is as potent today as it was in the ancient world.
Known to tabloids as "Paris the Heiress," the twenty-three-year-old became famous at a young age for being a rich, spoiled socialite who could never turn away from a camera. . An in-depth, revealing portrait of the girl constantly in the media, Paris Hilton: The Naked Truth uncovers the story behind the family fortune, what the entertainment world really thinks of her, and Paris's many famous moments in the spotlight. Despite the notoriety she has achieved purely by shopping, dating, and partying, her most recent claim to famo the racy sex tape she made with a former boyfriend, which was released on the Internet and most recently picked up by a pornography production company--turned her into one of the most recognizable people in the country.
The best book yet written about Lady Thatcher." Daily Telegraph "A fascinating account. Campbell's research is as exhaustive as it is meticulous." Observer "Thorough, scholarly and fair-minded." Independent on Sunday "A searching and beautifully written volume." Independent "An exciting narrative...A triumph." Spectator From the Trade Paperback edition.
"Every person who dreams of building a great business mustread this book. Sam Walton set the standard for listening to his customers and listening to the people who do the work. In addition to being a great entrepreneur and business leader, Sam Walton was, above all, a fine, decent, kind, generous man. I will miss him. We all will miss him'--H. Ross Perot "Sam Walton was the role model to all who knew him. Nowwe can all know him:'-Robert W. Galvin, Chairman, Motorola Inc. "Sam Walton understood people the way Thomas Edison understood innovation and Henry Ford, production. He brought out the very best in his employees, gave his very best to his customers, and taught something of value to everyone he touched. His triumphant success reminded America that its dream is alive and well:'-Jack Welch, Chairman of the Board, General Electric Company 'A man I have long admired as a prime exemplar of entrepreneurship, as an innovative merchant, and as a warm human being?'-Stanley Marcus 'America's gre
It's hard to think of a CEO that commands as much respect as Jack Welch. Under his leadership, General Electric reinvented itself several times over by integrating new and innovative practices into its many lines of business. In Jack: Straight from the Gut, Welch, with the help of Business Week journalist John Byrne, recounts his career and the style of management that helped to make GE one of the most successful companies of the last century. Beginning with Welch's childhood in Salem, Massachusetts, the book quickly progresses from his first job in GE's plastics division to his ambitious rise up the GE corporate ladder, which culminated in 1981. What comes across most in this autobiography is Welch's passion for business as well as his remarkable directness and intolerance of what he calls "superficial congeniality"--a dislike that would help earn him the nickname "Neutron Jack." In spite of its 496 pages, Jack: Straight from the Gut is a quick read that any student or manager would do well to consider. High
Hillary Rodham Clinton is known to hundreds of millions ofpeople around the world. Yet few beyond her close friends andfamily have ever heard her account of her extraordinary journey.She writes with candor, humor and passion about her upbringing insuburban, middle-class America in the 1950s and her transformationfrom Goldwater Girl to student activist to controversial FirstLady. Living History is her revealing memoir of life through theWhite House years. It is also her chronicle of living history withBill Clinton, a thirty-year adventure in love and politics thatsurvives personal betrayal, relentless partisan investigations andconstant public scrutiny. Hillary Rodham Clinton came of age during a time of tumultuoussocial and political change in America. Like many women of hergeneration, she grew up with choices and opportunities unknown toher mother or grandmother. She charted her own course throughunexplored terrain -- responding to the changing times and her owninternal compass -- and became an
In this thorough, encyclopedic study, Buchan goes beyond the modern myth of Adam Smith-father of the laissez-faire approach to free markets and champion of small government-to find a more nuanced view, one that supercedes the narrow views of contemporary disciples such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Taking the reader deep into Smith's works and beliefs, Buchan produces a thinker as often concerned with philosophy and aesthetics as with economics and finance, a man of immense gifts, nearly unlimited potential, and unrestrained drive who, although he achieved much, "meant to have done more." Smith died at 67 the author of perhaps the first great work of modern economics (The Wealth of Nations), but still hoping to complete treatises on the visual and performing arts and to revisit his first major book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Buchan clearly knows his subject, as his treatment is detailed and backed up with ample endnotes, and this volume will be of great interest to specialists or those w
The secret behind France's astonishingly well-behaved children. When American journalist Pamela Druckerman has a baby in Paris, she doesn't aspire to become a French parent. French parenting isn't a known thing, like French fashion or French cheese. Even French parents themselves insist they aren't doing anything special. Yet, the French children Druckerman knows sleep through the night at two or three months old while those of her American friends take a year or more. French kids eat well-rounded meals that are more likely to include braised leeks than chicken nuggets. And while her American friends spend their visits resolving spats between their kids, her French friends sip coffee while the kids play. Motherhood itself is a whole different experience in France. There's no role model, as there is in America, for the harried new mom with no life of her own. French mothers assume that even good parents aren't at the constant service of their children and that there's no need to feel guilt
Ellis Amburn's magnificent biography of the Academy Award -winning actress and legendary beauty captures the unparalleled Elizabeth in all her tragedy and splendor her tumultuous loves, her doomed affections, her shocking excesses, her courage, and her inimitable style. Filled with stunning revelations about the men in her life Burton, Clift, Hilton, Dean, Fisher it is a glorious celebration of the turbulent life of a brilliant star that none in Hollywood or heaven could ever outshine. ,