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27: Robert Johnson (The 27 Club Series #7)
by Chris SalewiczRobert Johnson was, according to Eric Clapton, "the most important blues singer that ever lived." An itinerant street musician, with a weakness for whisky and women, his is a life of pure legend - the man who sold his soul for the devil, and thereby invented modern music.Precious little is known about his 27 years, or the circumstances of his death, and even the site of his grave is contested. In this mini-biography, acclaimed music critic Chris Salewicz investigates the truth behind the myth, evoking an incisive profile of an enigmatic figure who, with just 29 songs, changed popular music for ever.27: Robert Johnson is the final part of a series of short music ebooks. Other titles in the series include 27: Brian Jones, 27: Jimi Hendrix, 27: Janis Joplin, 27: Jim Morrison, 27: Kurt Cobain and 27: Amy Winehouse.
29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life
by Cami WalkerAfter a devastating MS diagnosis, one woman shares her inspirational journey in gratitude and generosity--in this New York Times bestseller.At age thirty-five, Cami Walker was burdened by an intensified struggle with multiple sclerosis, a chronic neurological disease that left her debilitated and depressed. Then she received an uncommon "prescription" from South African healer Mbali Creazzo: Give away 29 gifts in 29 days.29 Gifts is the insightful story of the author's life change as she embraces and reflects on the naturally reciprocal process of giving. Many of Walker's gifts were simple--a phone call, spare change, a Kleenex. Yet the acts were transformative. By Day 29, not only had Walker's health and happiness improved, but she had also created a worldwide giving movement. 29 Gifts shows how a simple, daily practice of altruism can dramatically alter your outlook on the world.
2SAS: Bill Stirling and the forgotten special forces unit of World War II
by Gavin MortimerDrawing on recently declassified files and interviews with veterans, this is a fascinating history of Bill Stirling and 2SAS – pioneering founders of modern special forces. David Stirling is the name synonymous with the wartime SAS, but the real brains behind the operation was in fact Bill Stirling, David's eldest brother. Bill was described in the SAS War Diary as a 'man from the shadows'; it was an apt description for, unlike his attention seeking brother, Bill shunned the spotlight. Now for the first time the truth – and the triumph – of 2SAS is revealed. Having originally joined the SOE in March 1940, Bill Stirling sailed for Cairo in 1941 and there had the idea for a small special forces unit to be led by his mercurial brother. But despite some success, David allowed the legendary 1SAS to drift under his leadership. Following his capture, Bill re-directed 2SAS, under his personal command, to the strategy he had originally envisaged: parachuting behind enemy lines to gather intelligence. Fully illustrated with rare and previously unpublished photographs, this compelling history details how 2SAS fought with ingenuity and aggression, from Italy and then into France before heading through Holland into Germany. The unit was capable of attacking by parachute, jeep or landing craft, establishing a template for future special forces' operations. Their feats have been overshadowed by the many books that have focused on David and 1SAS. 2SAS corrects this oversight, revealing that the real innovator was Bill Stirling – the true pioneer of Who Dares Wins.
2SAS: Bill Stirling and the forgotten special forces unit of World War II
by Gavin MortimerDrawing on recently declassified files and interviews with veterans, this is a fascinating history of Bill Stirling and 2SAS – pioneering founders of modern special forces. David Stirling is the name synonymous with the wartime SAS, but the real brains behind the operation was in fact Bill Stirling, David's eldest brother. Bill was described in the SAS War Diary as a 'man from the shadows'; it was an apt description for, unlike his attention seeking brother, Bill shunned the spotlight. Now for the first time the truth – and the triumph – of 2SAS is revealed. Having originally joined the SOE in March 1940, Bill Stirling sailed for Cairo in 1941 and there had the idea for a small special forces unit to be led by his mercurial brother. But despite some success, David allowed the legendary 1SAS to drift under his leadership. Following his capture, Bill re-directed 2SAS, under his personal command, to the strategy he had originally envisaged: parachuting behind enemy lines to gather intelligence. Fully illustrated with rare and previously unpublished photographs, this compelling history details how 2SAS fought with ingenuity and aggression, from Italy and then into France before heading through Holland into Germany. The unit was capable of attacking by parachute, jeep or landing craft, establishing a template for future special forces' operations. Their feats have been overshadowed by the many books that have focused on David and 1SAS. 2SAS corrects this oversight, revealing that the real innovator was Bill Stirling – the true pioneer of Who Dares Wins.
2Stoned
by Andrew Loog OldhamIn 1963, in a south London hotel, Andrew Loog Oldham discovered an unknown rhythm and blues band called the Rolling Stones and became their manager and producer; by 1967 they had achieved worldwide celebrity, been arrested in a notorious drugs raid and split with the manager that made them. 2Stoned is the remarkable record of these years, when Oldham's radical strategies transformed them into the Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band That Ever Drew Breath. In his first book, Stoned, Oldham recorded his early years and the meeting with the Stones that changed all their fates; 2Stoned is the story of what followed.
3: The Quest to Break the Four Minute Mile
by John Bryant"Ladies and gentlemen, here is the result of event nine, the one mile: first, #41, Roger Bannister ... with a time which will be a new English Native, British National, All-Comers, European, British Empire and World Record. The time was three..."As the announcer spoke those fateful words, the crowd roared, and the century-long quest to run 'the world's greatest race' was finally at an end.For decades, amateur athletes like the American Lon Myers, a stick-thin hypochondriac who was sick before and after every race, yet still held every US record from 50 yards to the mile, and Joe Binks, an English journalist who only trained once per week, dominated the field. Paavo Nurmi, the 'Phantom Finn', won nine Olympic gold medals and set so many world records that statisticians still argue over the total, but even he couldn't breach the magic four-minute mark.As competition intensified, the Swede Gunder 'the Wonder' Haegg ran the mile in 4:01.4 - but it took the legendary Roger Bannister and his two co-runners to finally accomplish 'the most significant sporting achievement of the twentieth century'. It took a wholesale reimagining of running itself, as each generation built on the discoveries and secrets of the last, until the fateful day finally arrived, and an impossible dream became reality:6 May 1954. Roger Bannister. 3:59.4.
3,096 Days: The True Story Of My Abduction, Eight Years Of Enslavement, And Escape
by Natascha KampuschOn 2 March 1998 ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was snatched off the street by a stranger and bundled into a white van. Hours later she found herself in a dark cellar, wrapped in a blanket. When she emerged eight years later, her childhood had gone.In 3,096 Days Natascha tells her incredible story for the first time: her difficult childhood, what exactly happened on the day of her abduction, her imprisonment in a five-square-metre dungeon, and the mental and physical abuse she suffered from her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil.3,096 Days is ultimately a story about the triumph of the human spirit. It describes how, in a situation of almost unbearable hopelessness, she slowly learned how to manipulate her captor. And how, against inconceivable odds, she managed to escape unbroken.
3 Commando: Helmand Assault
by Ewen Southby-TailyourWhen the Royal Marines Commandos returned to a chaotic Helmand in the winter of 2008, they realised that to stand any chance of success they would need to pursue an increasingly determined Taliban harder than ever before. This time they were going to hunt them down from the air. With the support of Chinooks, Apaches, Lynx, Sea Kings and Harriers, the Commandos became a deadly mobile unit, able to swoop at a moments notice into the most hostile territory.From huge operations like the gruelling Red Dagger, when 3 Commando Brigade fought in Somme-like mud to successfully clear the area around the capital of Helmand, Lashkar Gar, of encroaching enemy forces, to the daily acts of unsupported, close-quarters 360-degree combat and the breath-taking, rapid helicopter night assaults behind enemy lines - this was kind of battle that brought Commando qualities to the fore. As with the Sunday Times bestselling 3 Commando Brigade, ex-Marine Lieutenant Colonel Ewen Southby-Tailyour brings unparalleled access to the troops, a soldier's understanding of the conflict and a visceral sense of the combat experience. This is the real war in Afghanistan as told to him by a hand-picked band of young fellow marines as they encounter the daily rigours of life on the ground in the world's most intense war zone.
3 Commando Brigade: Helmand Assault
by Ewen Southby-Tailyour'The 3 Commando Brigade's six month deployment in Helmand Province was among the finest pieces of soldiering I have come across' General Sir Richard Dannett, Chief of General StaffIn October 2006, the Royal Marine Commandos took up their six month tour of duty in war-torn Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan - the toughest and hottest war zone on earth. After the tactical retreat of their predecessors, the Paras, the Marines knew they would have to take a different approach to have any chance of success. So they took the war to the enemy. Roving and aggressive, the Commandos forced the insurgent Taliban on to the back foot. As a result, they were involved in daily fire fights of an intensity not encountered by British troops since North Korea.3 Commando Brigade is a thrilling first-hand account of that dogged, heroic pursuit of the Taliban by the ordinary Marines, sailors and soldiers responsible. It is a story of valour, fortitude, supreme physical and mental fitness, and unrivalled professionalism under the most testing of circumstances. The account explodes from the first page with Operation Glacier, a graphic, no-holds-barred account of a Commando attack on a key Taliban base south of Garmsir - a battle that ends with the dramatic recovery of a Corporal's body from alongside the fort by Apache helicopters. From this opening salvo the action never lets up, offering a startlingly honest account of the war in Afghanistan as told by the junior officers, corporals and marines on the ground.
3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans & The Lost Empire of Cool
by James Kaplan1959 saw Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the other members of Miles’s sextet come together to record the seminal jazz album of all time Kind of Blue. 3 Shades of Blue is a magnificent, blended biography on the meandering paths which led Miles, Coltrane and Evans to the mountaintop of 1959 and the aftermath. It’s a book about music, business, race, addiction and the cities that gave jazz its home; from New York and LA to Philadelphia, Chicago and Kansas City. Kaplan meditates on creativity and the great forebears of this golden age who would take the music down strange new paths. Above all, this is a book about three very different men – their struggles, their choices, their tragedies, their greatness. The tapestry of their lives is, in Kaplan’s hands, an American Odyssey, with no direction home.
30 Days in Sydney: A Wildly Distorted Account (The\writer And The City Ser. #Vol. 2)
by Peter CareyAfter living abroad for years, novelist Peter Carey returns home to Sydney and attempts to capture its character with the help of his old friends, drawing the reader into a wild and wonderful journey of discovery and rediscovery as bracing as the southerly buster that sometimes batters Sydney's shores. Famous sights such as Bondi Beach, the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the Blue Mountains all take on a strange new intensity when exposed to the penetrating gaze of the author and his friends.
30 Days (Text Only): A Month At The Heart Of Blair's War
by Peter StothardA unique, unprecedented eyewitness account of the thirty most critical days of Tony Blair’s political career as Prime Minister, from 10 March 2003 to the end of the second Gulf War, written by the former editor of The Times.
30-Something and Over It: What Happens When You Wake Up and Don't Want to Go to Work . . . Ever Again
by Kasey EdwardsKasey Edwards has everything she's always wanted: a successful career and the lifestyle and assets to match. But she's empty and uninspired and doesn't want to go to work . . . Ever again. Terrified that she'll spend the rest of her life wearing pinstripes and pretending to care about 'adding value', Kasey embarks on a quest to rediscover passion and purpose in her life and work. We follow her on a journey of self-discovery as she looks for meaning in a puppy's eyes, begs her gynaecologist to cure her existential crisis, dabbles with the Law of Attraction and braves ten days of silent meditation. Meanwhile, her best friend Emma, who is experiencing a similar crisis, concentrates her search in the fields of casual sex and vodka shots. This irreverent yet poignant memoir will make you question our definition of the 'perfect life', laugh at the absurdity of the modern workplace and be warmed by the story of a friendship. Rise above your office cubicle for a moment and join Kasey in asking life's big questions - and find the courage to listen to your answers.
30-Something and the Clock Is Ticking: What Happens When You Can No Longer Ignore the Baby Issue
by Kasey EdwardsWhen Kasey Edwards discovers she'll be infertile within a year, she is forced to bring the baby issue to the forefront of her mind. In 30-Something and the Clock Is Ticking, she explores what having a child would mean to her identity, her career, her body, her relationships and her mental health.Kasey speaks to people who have children and people who don't, women who claim motherhood is the best thing they've ever done and those who say it's the worst. She discovers how the desire for a baby can drive people to the brink of insanity, the logistical challenges of ovulating and trying to conceive on a longhaul flight, the indignity and despair of IVF and the price of buying sperm on the Internet.This witty memoir will make you laugh, cry and ponder the joys and regrets of motherhood. It will inspire you to tackle the baby issue head-on and on your own terms, rather than letting time, denial and social pressures make the decision for you.
3000 Degrees: The True Story of a Deadly Fire and the Men Who Fought It
by Sean FlynnThe unforgettable and heartbreaking true story of the firemen who bravely fought "the perfect fire".
31 Dates in 31 Days
by Tamara Duricka JohnsonOn the eve of her 31st birthday, after yet another painful breakup, Tamara Duricka Johnson decides it’s time to overhaul her dating habits. When a friend jokingly suggests that she embark on a "dating project,” inspiration strikes: in honor of turning 31, she'll go on 31 dates in 31 days - and resist the urge to turn each date into her next relationship. Instead, she’ll have to wait until the 31st date to pick one of the 30 men to go out with a second time. With each date, Johnson learns something about herself. Some experiences are awful, but others are amazing - and all of them help change her attitude about not just dating but people in general. In the end, though, she realizes there’s only one man of the entire 30 that she can see herself marrying - and one year later, she does. Chatty, fun, and confessional, 31 Dates in 31 Days is an entertaining journey that offers astute insights into the modern dating scene.
31 Songs
by Nick Hornby'I decided that I wanted to write a little book of essays about songs I loved ... Songs are what I listen to, almost to the exclusion of everything else.'In his first non-fiction work since Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby writes about 31 songs that either have some great significance in his life - or are just songs that he loves. He discusses, among other things, guitar solos and losing your virginity to a Rod Stewart song and singers whose teeth whistle and the sort of music you hear in Body Shop.'The soundtrack to his life ... a revealing insight into one of Britain's most popular writers' Evening Standard
32 Programmes
by Dave RobertsWhen Dave Roberts relocates to the USA, his wife informs him that they can only take what is 'absolutely essential'. Packing his collection of football programmes (1,134 of them - football fans are sticklers for statistics), Dave is aghast to be informed that the programmes do not fall into that category. He must whittle down his treasured archive to only what will fit inside a Tupperware container the size of a Dan Brown hardback.32 Programmes tells the story of how Dave made the selection of his most important programmes, and how the process brought back a flood of nostalgia for simpler times. As the sights, sounds and smells of those 1,134 football matches return, the choices Dave makes reflect the twists and turns that life takes. Finally, with just hours to go before the flight, the container is full to the brim. One more programme will be added to the collection - one that Dave never thought he would see and which means more to him than any other.32 Programmes is the story of youthful football obsession, crushes on disinterested girls, rubbish jobs and trying to impress skinheads. But most of all, it is the story of a man's life and loves, of family, friends and football.
The 33: Inside The Miraculous Survival And Dramatic Rescue Of The Chilean Miners
by Jonathan FranklinOn 12 October 2010 the world's attention was fixed on a remote copper mine in the Atacama desert in Chile. Final preparations were underway for a daring rescue to bring to an end the longest underground entrapment in human history.69 days earlier, 33 men were midway through a routine shift, deep in the San Jose mine. They stopped for lunch at the tiny safety shelter, 688 meters below the surface. Ten minutes later they heard an almighty crack and a deep rumbling sound. Clouds of dust and debris poured down on the choking men. The bombardment lasted for five hours. When it finally cleared the men discovered they were trapped under tonnes of collapsed rock.17 days after the collapse, a drill finally reached them. They sent a note back to the surface: 'We are well inside the shelter, the 33'. Building on the exclusive access he was given by the rescue team, and dozens of hours of interviews with the miners themselves, Jonathan Franklin takes us deep into the collapsed mine with the men, and behind the scenes of the rescue effort to bring them back to life. For 17 days, hope slowly turned to desperation and then resignation as the miners prepared themselves for a slow agonising death. When a drill finally got through to the men, they still had over seven weeks to wait until they were freed. What those men experienced in the claustrophobic dark of the mine, how their families kept faith, and the unprecedented scale of the rescue make this an unforgettable story of how hope overcame fear,ingenuity triumphed over adversity and how 33 trapped men and the rescuers dedicated to saving them created a miracle in the desert.
The 33 (Now a major motion picture - previously titled Deep Down Dark): The Untold Stories Of 33 Men Buried In A Chilean Mine, And The Miracle That Set Them Free
by Héctor TobarNOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING JULIETTE BINOCHE AND ANTONIO BANDERASTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST'Riveting ...The best book I've read all year.' Ann Patchett'An astonishing tale of survival' Spectator THE STORY THAT GRIPPED THE GLOBEAugust 2010: the San Jose mine in Chile collapses trapping 33 men half a mile underground for 69 days. Faced with the possibility of starvation and even death, the miners make a pact: if they survive, they will only share their story collectively, as 'the 33'.1 billion people watch the international rescue mission. Somehow, all 33 men make it out alive, in one of the most daring and dramatic rescue efforts even seen.Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Héctor Tobar is the man they choose to tell their story.' An eloquent testament to the human spirit' The Times'A masterful account of exile and human longing, of triumph in the face of all odds.' Los Angeles Times
34 Patients: The profound and uplifting memoir about the patients who changed one doctor’s life
by Tom TempletonIn the last year we've called our doctors heroes, but what is daily life really like? Discover the truth, hurt, heartbreak, life and death and everything in between through 34 Patients 'Wonderful - insightful and compassionate' Dr Richard Shepherd, author of UNNATURAL CAUSES ________ We ask so much of our doctors. To heal. To trust. To care. To listen.To cure someone's pain. To deliver a baby safely into the world. To give the good news that will change someone's life. Doctors know our deepest secrets, our private worries and our most vulnerable moments. But they listen to all of us, and under their gaze we are all equally worthy of help. 34 Patients is the breathtaking and uplifting memoir of a doctor who dares to look closer at a crowded waiting room, and value each soul and story he encounters. Through stories of the patients he has helped and lost, and those who have changed him forever, Dr Tom Templeton weaves a profound and moving portrait of humanity, asking us to treat all with compassion.
41: A Portrait Of My Father
by George W. BushForty-three men have served as President of the United States. Countless books have been written about them. But never before has a President told the story of his father, another President, through his own eyes and in his own words. A unique and intimate biography, the book covers the entire scope of the elder President Bush’s life and career, including his service in the Pacific during World War II, his pioneering work in the Texas oil business, and his political rise as a Congressman, U.S. Representative to China and the United Nations, CIA Director, Vice President, and President. The book shines new light on both the accomplished statesman and the warm, decent man known best by his family. In addition, George W. Bush discusses his father’s influence on him throughout his own life, from his childhood in West Texas to his early campaign trips with his father, and from his decision to go into politics to his own two-term Presidency.
41: Inside the Presidency of George H. W. Bush (Miller Center of Public Affairs Books)
by Michael Nelson Barbara A. PerryAlthough it lasted only a single term, the presidency of George H. W. Bush was an unusually eventful one, encompassing the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the invasion of Panama, the Persian Gulf War, and contentious confirmation hearings over Clarence Thomas and John Tower. Bush has said that to understand the history of his presidency, while "the documentary record is vital," interviews with members of his administration "add the human side that those papers can never capture."This book draws on interviews with senior White House and Cabinet officials conducted under the auspices of the Bush Oral History Project (a cooperative effort of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation) to provide a multidimensional portrait of the first President Bush and his administration. Typically, interviews explored officials’ memories of their service with President Bush and their careers prior to joining the administration. Interviewees also offered political and leadership lessons they had gleaned as eyewitnesses to and shapers of history.The contributors to 41—all seasoned observers of American politics, foreign policy, and government institutions—examine how George H. W. Bush organized and staffed his administration, operated on the international stage, followed his own brand of Republican conservatism, handled legislative affairs, and made judicial appointments. A scrupulously objective analysis of oral history, primary documents, and previous studies, 41 deepens the historical record of the forty-first president and offers fresh insights into the rise of the "new world order" and its challenges.
42: Inside the Presidency of Bill Clinton (Miller Center of Public Affairs Books)
This book uses hundreds of hours of newly opened interviews and other sources to illuminate the life and times of the nation’s forty-second president, Bill Clinton. Combining the authoritative perspective of these inside accounts with the analytic powers of some of America’s most distinguished presidential scholars, the essays assembled here offer a major advance in our collective understanding of the Clinton White House. Included are path-breaking chapters on the major domestic and foreign policy initiatives of the Clinton years, as well as objective discussions of political success and failure. 42 is the first book to make extensive use of previously closed interviews collected for the Clinton Presidential History Project, conducted by the Presidential Oral History Program of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. These interviews, recorded by teams of scholars working under a veil of strict confidentiality, explored officials’ memories of their service with President Clinton and their careers prior to joining the administration. Interviewees also offered political and leadership lessons they had gleaned as eyewitnesses to and shapers of history. Their spoken recollections provide invaluable detail about the inner history of the presidency in an age when personal diaries and discursive letters are seldom written. The authors producing this volume had first access to more than fifty of these cleared interviews, including sessions with White House chiefs of staff Mack McLarty and Leon Panetta, Secretaries of State Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright, National Security Advisors Anthony Lake and Sandy Berger, and a host of political advisors who guided Clinton into the White House and helped keep him there. This book thus provides a multidimensional portrait of Bill Clinton's administration, drawing largely on the observations of those who knew it best.
438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea
by Jonathan FranklinOn 17th November, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea. The storm picked up and carried him West, deeper into the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Alvarenga would not touch solid ground again for 14 months. When he was washed ashore on January 30th, 2014, he had drifted over 9,000 miles. Three dozen cruise ships and container vessels passed nearby. Not one stopped for the stranded fisherman. He considered suicide on multiple occasions – including offering himself up to a pack of circling sharks. But Alvarenga developed a method of survival that kept his body and mind intact long enough for the Pacific Ocean to spit him up onto a remote palm-studded island. Crawling ashore, he was saved by a local couple living in their own private castaway paradise.Based on dozens of hours of interviews with Alvarenga and his colleagues, search and rescue officials, the medical team that saved his life and the remote islanders who nursed him back to normality, 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin is an epic tale of survival and one man's incredible story of beating the ultimate odds.