Biografier

Seducer, gambler, necromancer, swindler, swashbuckler, poet, self-made gentleman, bon vivant, Giacomo Casanova was a notorious lover of the Western world. This title contains the highlights of Casanova's life: his youth in Venice as a precocious ecclesiastic; his dabbling in the occult; his imprisonment and escape; and his amorous conquests.

For 22 years, Dr Zhisui Li was Mao Tse-tung's personal physician, confidant and companion. In this biography Li provides insights into social and political events in China, and details of Mao's private life - from his sexual appetite to the political effects of his aims, fears and idiosyncrasies.

A biography of the influential jazz pianist, Bill Evans. Peter Pettinger, himself a concert pianist, describes Evans's life, his personal tragedies and commercial successes, his music making, his technique and compositional methods, his approach to ensemble playing, and his legacy.

Murakami tells the true story behind an act of terrorism that turned an average Monday morning into a national disaster. In spite of the perpetrators' intentions, the Tokyo gas attack left only twelve people dead, but thousands were injured and many suffered serious after-effects.

Moore and Galloway have captured the terror and exhilaration, the comradeship and self-sacrifice, the brutality and compassion that are the dark heart of war' THE TIMESTHE MUST READ CLASSIC OF THE VIETNAM WARIn November 1965, 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt.Col.

A chance encounter with a reproduction of Rembrandt's painting, The Return of the Prodigal Son, catapulted Henri Nouwen into a long spiritual adventure. In his highly-acclaimed book of the same title, he shares the deeply personal meditation that led him to discover the place within which God has chosen to dwell. This Lent course, which has been adapted from the book, helps us to reflect on the meaning of the parable for our own lives. Divided into five sessions, the course moves through the parable exploring our reaction to the story: the younger son's leaving and return, the father's restoration of sonship, the elder son's resentment and the father's compassion. All of us who have experienced loneliness, dejection, jealousy or anger will respond to the persistent themes of homecoming, affirmation and reconciliation. Each session contained on the CD includes extracts from the book by Henri Nouwen, and background information about Henri Nouwen's life, as well as suggestions for reflection. Notes for Group Leaders and written questions for group discussion are also included in the enclosed booklet.

Explosive autobiography of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver bass guitarist Duff McKagan.

Every day in my consulting room with a dog at my feet I have seen the very best that humanity has to offer and often in the very worst of circumstances.No matter where a family comes from, whether prince or pauper, when they come through the door, every single person has three things in common. One, they love their dogs beyond anything that can be described in words. Two, they will do whatever it takes to help their friend.And three, they have all come to me for one thing and one thing only: hope. Dogs don't care where we come from, and neither do I. My room is the great leveller. From the sublime to the ridiculous, Professor Noel Fitzpatrick has seen it all in his veterinary practice.Dogs (and their humans): stories of healing and hope from the Supervet's surgeryis a funny, uplifting and at times heartbreaking celebration of our connection with our loyal canine friends. Dogs allow us to be the very best we can be.

The first portrait of Thomas Keating's remarkable evolution, in the last decades of his life, into a fully realized modern-day Christian mystic. In the first four decades of his life as a Trappist monk, Thomas Keating created a comprehensive, unified psychospiritual pathway leading from healing to holiness and from contemporary psychological wellness to classic mystical sanctity and beatitude. In short, he fashioned a powerful new on-ramp to the Christian contemplative tradition. Yet, as beloved author and Keating disciple Cynthia Bourgeault shows, that was not the end of Keating's story. In this unique blend of biography, personal experience, and close reading of his late works, Bourgeault illuminates Keating's remarkable spiritual development from the late 1980s until his death in 2018. She explores: Keating's increasing commitment to the nondual practice of "objectless awareness" His contributions to interspiritual dialogue The evolution of his early teaching on the movement from "false self" to "true self," to that from "true self" to "no self" His final "dark night of the spirit" and passage through death New evidence that he never left Christianity but carried it with him to new places The profound final stages of Keating's spiritual journey may inspire you toward the ineffable experience of living as a modern mystic--fundamentally at home and at peace in the universe.

In my book, you will meet a little girl named Viola who ran from her past until she made a life changing decision to stop running forever. This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond.

"This book honestly helped to understand and release those experiences that made me feel unworthy and doubt myself for years. I feel more empowered than I ever have. These words will stay with me forever."- Samantha F (Amazon customer)Daniel Chidiac, International best-selling author of Who Says You Can't? You Do and The Modern Break-Up brings his new interactive series, Thoughts and Feelings - A collection of his never released work. Thoughts and Feelings is a compassionate and empowering guide designed to help you liberate yourself from the grip of negativity. With a dedicated lined-page next to each piece, Daniel invites the reader to write down their own thoughts and feelings. At the end, the reader will have their own Thoughts and Feelings book written.This book focuses on dismantling and releasing self-doubt, the feeling of unworthiness and finally discovering the self-love you have been yearning for. Through the therapeutic act of reading and writing, it guides you to confront and let go of negative thoughts, paving the way for a transformative journey towards positivity. The way we observe ourselves through our experiences (especially our experiences with others) impacts our life deeply. Thoughts and Feelings helps you come to terms with those experiences through observing and understanding them in a way that will change YOU, and your life for the better.Note from the author..."I often have these deep thoughts and feelings that I express in the only way I know how...through words. I don't usually share them as most are a passing moment, a sudden reflection or a personal perspective of my experiences. But now, I really feel it's time to release them for others to relate to, connect with and to gain inspiration from. I invite you to get a pencil, co-write and express yourself in the same way within this book. You may write something in relation to what I have written or something completely different...that side of the book is yours. And in the end, you will have your own Thoughts and Feelings Volume One book written. If you do not feel ready to write anything, that is also fine. I hope you enjoy the read."Love,Daniel Chidiac

When Paul Rosolie, a restless eighteen-year-old hungry for adventure, embarked on a journey to the western Amazon in 2006, he didn't know that it would transform his life. In the Madre de Dios ("Mother of God") region of Peru, where the Amazon River begins, the cloud forests of the Andes converge with the lowland Amazon rain forest to create the most biodiverse wilderness on the planet.In a true story of adventure and discovery that spans more than nine years, Rosolie takes us into the most inaccessible reaches of the Amazon. Along the way, he encounters massive snakes, isolated tribes, prowling jaguars, giant anteaters, and much more in the Wild West of the natural world. It is a journey into the last great wilderness that ultimately asks the question of our time: How much longer will these places exist? The primordial depths of the Madre de Dios are in grave danger.Mother of God is the story of an amazing odyssey into the heart of the wildest place on earth. But as Rosolie delves deeper into the heart of the jungle, he finds things he never imagined could exist. And as the legendary explorer Percy Fawcett warned, "The few remaining unknown places of the world exact a price for their secrets."

The fascinating story behind the making of Bruce Springsteen’s most surprising album, Nebraska, revealing its pivotal role in Springsteen’s career—in development as a major motion picture starring Jeremy Allen White (The Bear) “Brilliant . . . For fans of American music, Deliver Me from Nowhere makes a great ghost story.”—The Boston GlobeAN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEARWithout Nebraska, Bruce Springsteen might not be who he is today. The natural follow-up to Springsteen’s hugely successful album The River should have been the hit-packed Born in the U.S.A. But instead, in 1982, he came out with an album consisting of a series of dark songs he had recorded by himself, for himself. But more than forty years later, Nebraska is arguably Springsteen’s most important record—the lasting clue to understanding not just his career as an artist and the vision behind it, but also the man himself. Nebraska is rough and unfinished, recorded on cassette tape with a simple four-track recorder by Springsteen, alone in his bedroom, just as the digital future was announcing itself. And yet Springsteen now considers it his best album. Nebraska expressed a turmoil that was reflective of the mood of the country, but it was also a symptom of trouble in the artist’s life, the beginnings of a mental breakdown that Springsteen would only talk about openly decades after the album’s release. Warren Zanes spoke to many people involved with making Nebraska, including Bruce Springsteen himself. He also interviewed more than a dozen celebrated artists and musical insiders, from Rosanne Cash to Steven Van Zandt, about their reactions to the album. Zanes interweaves these conversations with inquiries into the myriad cultural touchpoints, including Terrence Malick’s Badlands and the short stories of Flannery O’Conner, that influenced Springsteen as he was writing the album’s haunting songs. The result is a textured and revelatory account of not only a crucial moment in the career of an icon but also a record that upended all expectations and predicted a home-recording revolution.

"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Lost City of Z, a mesmerizing story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing 2500 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes. But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they had a very different story to tell. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous captain and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death-for whomever the court found guilty could hang. The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound. Most powerfully, he unearths the deeper meaning of the events, showing that it was not only the Wager's captain and crew who were on trial - it was the very idea of empire"--

A dazzling exploration of the intersections of beauty and power around the globe, told through the lens of an iconic cosmeticFrom the distant past to the present day, humans have been drawn to lining their eyes. The aesthetic trademark of figures ranging from Nefertiti to Amy Winehouse, eyeliner is one of our most enduring cosmetic tools; ancient royals and Gen Z beauty influencers alike would attest to its uniquely transformative power. It is undeniably fun - yet it is also far from frivolous.Seen through Zahra Hankir's (kohl-lined) eyes, this ubiquitous but seldom-examined product becomes a portal to history, proof both of the stunning variety among cultures across time and space and of our shared humanity. Through intimate reporting and conversations - with nomads in Chad, geishas in Japan, dancers in India, drag queens in New York, and more - Eyeliner embraces the rich history and significance of its namesake, especially among communities of colour. What emerges is a delightful, surprising, and unexpectedly moving journey through streets, stages, and bedrooms around the world, and a thought-provoking reclamation of a key piece of our collective history.

"Here, for the first time in print, is the history of The Beach Boys, by The Beach Boys. Their only official book, The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys is the ultimate chronicle of one of the world's greatest bands. Through their unique sound, complex harmonies, sensational live shows and use of innovative recording techniques, The Beach Boys became woven into the cultural fabric of America and influenced generations of musicians globally. This book documents how it happened. Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston together provide a combined career narrative especially for this book, and through meticulous compilation from sources worldwide, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson's words are equally represented. Documenting how they went from a Hawthorne garage band to a global phenomenon, they tell the astounding story of their ascent: perfecting their harmonies, initial fame as a surf group, and then their ultimate progression as pioneering recording artists to become one of the most musically complex ensembles in history. Their story is accompanied by iconic images, never-before-seen negatives and rare ephemera. Given unprecedented access to their personal archives, The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys offers intimate insight into the lives of the group. Also opening their archives are Brother Records and Capitol Records, all of which assist in illustrating their remarkable journey. Joining the band are a host of contributors who have been involved with or inspired by the band's music, including Peter Blake, Lindsey Buckingham, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Ray Davies, Bob Dylan, Def Leppard, the Flaming Lips, Bobby Gillespie, David Lee Roth, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Jim Kerr, Roger McGuinn, Graham Nash, Jimmy Page, Carly Simon, Pete Townshend, Rufus Wainwright, Thom Yorke, and many more. A group collaboration, The Beach Boys by the Beach Boys is, in effect, The Beach Boys' autobiography. Like their music, it is poignant, frank, often humorous but always sincere. Finally, here is The Beach Boys' own story." --

A CAREER-SPANNING COLLECTION OF INSPIRING, REVELROUS ESSAYS ABOUT ART AND ARTISTS'Like Love may be one of the most movingly specific, the most lovingly unruly celebrations of the ethics of friendship we have' Guardian'Incisive, smart and witty, it will leave you looking and love and life anew' iLike Love is a momentous, raucous collection of essays drawn from twenty years of Maggie Nelson's brilliant work. These profiles, reviews, remembrances, tributes and critical essays, as well as several conversations with friends and idols, bring to life Nelson's passion for dialogue and dissent. The range of subjects is wide - from Prince to Carolee Schneemann to Kara Walker to Bjork - but certain themes recur: intergenerational exchange; love and friendship; feminist and queer issues, especially as they shift over time; subversion, transgression and perversity; and the fruits and follies of a life spent devoted to making.The collection is a portrait of a time, an anarchic party rich with wild guests, a window into Nelson's own development as a writer, and a testament to the profound sustenance offered by art and artists.'Maggie Nelson is one of the most unique voices in non-fiction: enquiring, political, lyrically dazzling, empathetic' Sinéad Gleeson

From New York Times bestselling author Naomi Wolf, Facing the Beast is a devastating, detailed account of wrongthink, deplatforming, and an unexpected political, personal, and spiritual transformation that followed during one of the most divisive times in American history. In this uncompromising investigation into todayâEUR(TM)s most urgent issues, Naomi Wolf uses her own wildly politicized pilgrimageâEUR"from New York Times bestselling author and high-level Democratic consultant to a journalist cast out from the elite political and social circles she once moved throughâEUR"as a stunning narrative framework that is both chilling and incisive. WolfâEUR(TM)s sin? Doing the job that good journalists once prided themselves on: asking questions, challenging authority, and, during one of the most politically divisive moments in modern history, exposing the many failures of the public health response during the COVID-19 pandemic by chronicling the dangerous descent of our democracy into tyranny, censorship, and totalitarianism. Unable to remain silent in the shadows and unwilling to collude with the mainstream, Wolf bravely covers topics that few other writers dare to address critically for fear of being deplatformed. Facing the Beast explores reproductive rights, medical freedom, the uncurious thought-policing of the âEURœprogressiveâEUR? left, the Second Amendment, the criminal relationship between the FDA and PfizerâEUR"WolfâEUR(TM)s clear writing repeatedly shines light in the dark corners of our fractured society. A decades-long champion of free speech, freedom of the press, and the Constitution, Wolf found herself not only in the midst of a political rebirth but a spiritual transformation as wellâEUR"one in which the events of the day could only be described in terms of good, evil, and a metaphysical quest on the nature of reality. For readers of Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, and Bari Weiss, Facing the Beast is a fearless indictment of legacy media and the political class, as well as a brutal reminder that searching for and defending the truth can be dangerous. âEURœNaomi Wolf is one of the bravest, clearest-thinking people I know. The reason you hear the forces of repression so desperately trying to dismiss her is because she is right.âEUR?âEUR"Tucker Carlson

A gripping, sweeping new epic from the critically-acclaimed #1 international bestselling author of We Begin At The End, Chris Whitaker.A missing persons mystery.A serial killer thriller.A love story.One of the must-read novels of the year.