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In Love with the World: What a Buddhist Monk Can Teach You About Living from Nearly Dying
by Yongey Mingyur RinpocheA rare, intimate account of a world-renowned Buddhist monk’s near-death experience and the life-changing wisdom he gained as a result.'One of the most generous, beautiful, and essential books I’ve ever read – thoroughly engaging, so clear, so honest, so courageous and full of wisdom.' George Saunders, Booker Prize-winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo'This book makes me think enlightenment is possible and necessary.' Russell BrandYongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s experience begins the night he has chosen to embark on a four-year wandering retreat, slipping past the monastery gates. Alone for the first time in his life, he sets out into the unknown. His initial motivation is to step away from his life of privilege and to explore the deepest, most hidden aspects of his being, but what he discovers throughout his retreat – about himself and about the world around us – comes to define his meditation practice and teaching.Just three weeks into his retreat, Rinpoche becomes deathly ill and his journey begins in earnest through this near-death experience. Moving, beautiful and suffused with local colour, In Love with the World is the story of two different kinds of death: that of the body and that of the ego, and how we can bridge these two experiences to live a better and more fulfilling life. Rinpoche’s skilful and intimate account of his search for the self is a demonstration of how we can transform our dread of dying into joyful living.
In My Mind's Eye: A Thought Diary
by Jan Morris'I have never before in my life kept a diary of my thoughts, and here at the start of my ninth decade, having for the moment nothing much else to write, I am having a go at it. Good luck to me.'So begins this extraordinary book, a collection of diary pieces that Jan Morris wrote for the Financial Times over the course of 2017.A former soldier and journalist, and one of the great chroniclers of the world for over half a century, she writes here in her characteristically intimate voice - funny, perceptive, wise, touching, wicked, scabrous, and above all, kind - about her thoughts on the world, and her own place in it as she turns ninety. From cats to cars, travel to home, music to writing, it's a cornucopia of delights from a unique literary figure.
In Search of Isaiah Berlin: A Literary Adventure
by Henry HardyIsaiah Berlin was one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century - a man who set ideas on fire. His defence of liberty and plurality was passionate and persuasive and inspired a generation. His ideas - especially his reasoned rejection of excessive certainty and political despotism - have become even more prescient and vital today.But who was the man behind such influential views? In Search of Isaiah Berlin tells the compelling story of a decades-long collaboration between Berlin and his editor, Henry Hardy, who made it his vocation to bring Berlin's huge body of work into print. Hardy discovered that Berlin had written far more than people thought, much of it unpublished. As he describes his struggles with Berlin, who was almost on principle unwilling to have his work published, an intimate and revealing picture of the self-deprecating philosopher emerges. This is a unique portrait of a man who gave us a new way of thinking about the human predicament, and whose work had for most of his life remained largely out of view.
In That Time: Michael O'Donnell and the Tragic Era of Vietnam
by Daniel H. WeissThrough the story of the brief, brave life of a promising poet, the president and CEO of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art evokes the turmoil and tragedy of the Vietnam War era.In That Time tells the story of the American experience in Vietnam through the life of Michael O'Donnell, a bright young musician and poet who served as a soldier and helicopter pilot. O'Donnell wrote with great sensitivity and poetic force, and his best-known poem is among the most beloved of the war. In 1970, during an attempt to rescue fellow soldiers stranded under heavy fire, O'Donnell's helicopter was shot down in the jungles of Cambodia. He remained missing in action for almost three decades.Although he never fired a shot in Vietnam, O'Donnell served in one of the most dangerous roles of the war, all the while using poetry to express his inner feelings and to reflect on the tragedy that was unfolding around him. O'Donnell's life is both a powerful, personal story and a compelling, universal one about how America lost its way in the 1960s, but also how hope can flower in the margins of even the darkest chapters of the American story.
In That Time: Michael O'Donnell and the Tragic Era of Vietnam
by Daniel H. WeissThrough the story of the brief, brave life of a promising poet, the president and CEO of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art evokes the turmoil and tragedy of the Vietnam War era.In That Time tells the story of the American experience in Vietnam through the life of Michael O'Donnell, a bright young musician and poet who served as a soldier and helicopter pilot. O'Donnell wrote with great sensitivity and poetic force, and his best-known poem is among the most beloved of the war. In 1970, during an attempt to rescue fellow soldiers stranded under heavy fire, O'Donnell's helicopter was shot down in the jungles of Cambodia. He remained missing in action for almost three decades.Although he never fired a shot in Vietnam, O'Donnell served in one of the most dangerous roles of the war, all the while using poetry to express his inner feelings and to reflect on the tragedy that was unfolding around him. O'Donnell's life is both a powerful, personal story and a compelling, universal one about how America lost its way in the 1960s, but also how hope can flower in the margins of even the darkest chapters of the American story.
In the Shadow of the Eighth: My Forty Years Working for Women's Health in Ireland
by Peter BoylanIn over forty years in medicine - seven of these as Master of the National Maternity Hospital - obstetrician Peter Boylan was at the births of more than 6,000 babies. He saw women and families at their most vulnerable, their most joyous, and sometimes their most heart-broken.In the Shadow of the Eighth is the story of how a young doctor without strong views on abortion became convinced that women should be trusted to make the right decisions for their lives - and how he then did everything in his power to bring about a situation where they could.More than that, it is an engaging account of working in one of medicine's most satisfying specialities, a revealing behind-the-scenes insight into what it's like trying to make change happen, and a fascinating portrait of a society in transition.Lively, gripping, sometimes enraging but always compassionate, Peter Boylan's story is vital and encouraging reading for these turbulent times.'A hero to many (including me)' @MarianKeyes'A fascinating story' Matt Cooper, Today FM'The book is fabulous' Pat Kenny, Newstalk
In the Shadow of Vesuvius: Life, Letters And Natural History In The Shadows Of Vesuvius
by Daisy DunnAsh spewed into the sky. All eyes were on Vesuvius. Pliny the Elder sailed towards the phenomenon. A teenage Pliny the Younger waited. His uncle did not come back.
In the Wake of Mercedes Gleitze: Open Water Swimming Pioneer
by Doloranda PemberIn 1927, Mercedes Gleitze became the first British woman to swim the English Channel, transforming her from a humble working-class typist into one of the most iconic sportswomen of her age. Fiercely independent and with no financial backing, Mercedes was at the forefront in the struggle to break through the existing prejudices against women taking part in sport. Over a ten-year period and a large number of pioneering, record-setting swims around the world, she achieved celebrity status, helped make Rolex famous, and was regularly in the spotlight of the worldwide press. While pursuing her dream she led by example, showing that women deserved recognition for their sporting achievements – though she herself was very modest about her success, barely talking about it even to her own children. Here, Mercedes’ daughter documents the remarkable story of her early life and subsequent swimming career, using Mercedes’ personal records and pictures, recollections from acquaintances and newspaper articles of the time.
In A Time Of Monsters: Travels Through a Middle East in Revolt
by Emma SkyReturning to the UK in September 2010 after serving in Iraq as the political adviser to the top American general, Emma Sky felt no sense of homecoming. She soon found herself back in the Middle East travelling through a region in revolt. In A Time of Monsters bears witness to the demands of young people for dignity and justice during the Arab Spring; the inability of sclerotic regimes to reform; the descent of Syria into civil war; the rise of the Islamic State; and the flight of refugees to Europe. With deep empathy for its people and an extensive understanding of the Middle East, Sky makes a complex region more comprehensible. A great storyteller and observational writer, Sky also reveals the ties that bind the Middle East to the West and how blowback from our interventions in the region contributed to the British vote to leave the European Union and to the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.
In Your Loving is Your Knowing: Elizabeth Templeton - Prophet of Our Times
by Peter Matheson Alastair HulbertAn anthology of 33 talks, articles, lectures and sermons by one of the most outstanding theologians of her generation. Elizabeth Templeton’s accessible and passionate writing is both refreshing and thought-provoking, exploring ideas that concern us all - life, freedom, forgiveness, death, love, evil, culture and belonging, amongst many others.All the pieces dive with apparent effortlessness to the heart of the issues, combining brilliant original scholarship with a warm sensitivity to the difficulties of many people in decoding theology, relating it to their own life and thought.
Incandescent: We Need to Talk About Light
by Anna LevinLight is changing, dramatically. Our world is getting brighter – you can see it from space. But is brighter always better?Artificial light is voracious and spreading. Vanquishing precious darkness across the planet, when we are supposed to be using less energy. The quality of light has altered as well. Technology and legislation have crushed warm incandescent lighting in favour of harsher, often glaring alternatives. Light is fundamental – it really matters. It interacts with life in profound yet subtle ways: it tells plants which way to grow, birds where to fly and coral when to spawn. It tells each and every one of us when to sleep, wake, eat. We mess with the eternal rhythm of dawn-day-dusk-night at our peril. But mess with it we have, and we still don’t truly understand the consequences.InIncandescent, journalist Anna Levin reveals her own fraught relationship with changes in lighting, and she explores its real impact on nature, our built environment, health and psychological well-being. We need to talk about light, urgently. And ask the critical question: just how bright is our future?
The Incredible yet True Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt: The Greatest Inventor-Naturalist-Scientist-Explorer Who Ever Lived
by Volker MehnertAn immersive and beautifully illustrated narrative biography about the German explorer and early scientist Alexander von Humboldt, whose journeys throughout the world yielded countless discoveries and earned him the admiration of Charles Darwin (and many others). For kids ages 8-12.
Initiated: Memoir of a Witch
by Amanda Yates GarciaAn initiation signals a beginning: a door opens and you step through. Some traditions dictate that a witch be initiated through a formal ceremony complete with rose wands, red candles, and sacred chants. But even though Amanda Yates Garcia's mother initiated her into the goddess-worshipping practice of witchcraft when she was thirteen years old, Amanda's true life as a witch only began when she underwent a series of spontaneous initiations of her own.Descending into the underworlds of poverty, sex work and misogyny, Initiated describes Amanda's journey to return to her body, harness her natural power, and finally reclaim her witchcraft to create the magical world she envisioned. Hailed by crows, seduced by malicious spirits and haunted by ancestors broken beneath the wheels of patriarchy, Amanda adventured across the globe. On the way, she survived abuse, resisted societal expectations and struggled to create intimacy - all while grappling with the question: is it possible to live a life of beauty and integrity in a world that feels like it's dying?Peppered with mythology, tales of the goddesses and magical women throughout history, Initiated stands squarely at the intersection of witchcraft and feminism. Amanda shows that practising magic is about more than spells and potions; magic is nothing less than claiming power for oneself and taking back our planet in the name of Love. Initiated is both memoir and manifesto, calling the magical people of the world to take up their wands, be brave, and create the enchanted world they long to live in.
Innocent: The True Story Of Siblings Struggling To Survive
by Cathy GlassInnocent is the shocking true story of little Molly and Kit, siblings, aged 3 years and 18 months, who are brought into care as an emergency after suffering non-accidental injuries.
Innocent: The True Story Of Siblings Struggling To Survive
by Cathy GlassInnocent can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 1 of 3 Innocent is the shocking true story of little Molly and Kit, siblings, aged 3 years and 18 months, who are brought into care as an emergency after suffering non-accidental injuries.
Innocent: The True Story Of Siblings Struggling To Survive
by Cathy GlassInnocent can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 2 of 3 Innocent is the shocking true story of little Molly and Kit, siblings, aged 3 years and 18 months, who are brought into care as an emergency after suffering non-accidental injuries.
Innocent: The True Story Of Sibliings Struggling To Survive
by Cathy GlassInnocent can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 3 of 3 Innocent is the shocking true story of little Molly and Kit, siblings, aged 3 years and 18 months, who are brought into care as an emergency after suffering non-accidental injuries.
Insane Mode: How Elon Musk’s Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil
by Hamish McKenzieFrom a journalist and former writer for Tesla comes the astounding story of the most revolutionary car company since Ford, revealing how, under Elon Musk's 'insane mode' leadership, it is bringing an end to the era of gasoline powered transportation. Hamish McKenzie explores how an unlikely West Coast start up, with an audacious dream to create a new, successful US car company - the first since Chrysler in 1925 - went up against not only the might of the government-backed Detroit companies, but also the massive power of Big Oil and its benefactors, the infamous Koch brothers. Insane Mode is a story of ingenuity and revolution - of how a new world of transportation could change people's lives globally.
Inside Out: A Memoir
by Demi MooreA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Famed American actress Demi Moore at last tells her own story in a surprisingly intimate and emotionally charged memoir.
Inside Out: A Memoir
by Demi MooreA NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Famed American actress Demi Moore at last tells her own story in a surprisingly intimate and emotionally charged memoir.
Inside Trump’s White House: The Authorized Story
by Doug WeadAfter dozens of books and articles by anonymous sources, here, finally, is a history of the Trump White House, with the President and his staff talking openly and on the record. In President Trump, Doug Wead offers a sweeping, eloquent history of President Donald J. Trump’s first years in the White House, covering everything from election night to the biggest political obstacles of his presidency.The book will include never-before-reported stories and scoops, including how President Trump turned around the American economy, how he “never complains and never explains”, and insight into how his actions sometimes lead to misunderstandings with the media and the public.President Trump features exclusive interviews with the Trump family about the Mueller Report, and narrates their reactions when the report was finally released. Wead successfully gained interviews with the President in the Oval Office, chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Jared and Ivanka Kushner, Donald Trump Jr, Eric and Lara Trump, and White House insiders for this illuminating history.
An Instrument Of Peace: The Full-circled Life Of Ambassador Guillermo Belt Ramírez
by Daniel I. Pedreira James C. Ambassador CasonThis book presents a meticulously-researched biography on Guillermo Belt Ramìrez, one of Cuba's most important diplomats of the 20th century. As Ambassador, Belt represented his homeland in the United States and the Soviet Union as the Cold War turned wartime allies into enemies. He also represented a generation of diplomats who, after bearing witness to the horrors of war, had the resolve to join to create the United Nations and regional organizations such as the Organization of American States. Belt's success in the diplomatic and political spheres were met with the pain and hardship of exile. Thanks to his faith, the love of his family, and an unwavering sense of patriotism, Belt persevered, maintaining his passion for Cuba's democratic values and ideals until his passing. In doing so, he became a respected and sought after voice for Cuban exiles in Washington's diplomatic and government circles. This book explores several key questions: Who was Guillermo Belt and what role did he play in Cuban politics and diplomacy? What was Cuba's role in world affairs during and after World War II? How does Cuba's diplomatic history help explain current U.S.-Cuban relations within a broader political and historical context as reflected by Ambassador Belt's life?
Into a Star
by Puk QvortrupIntimate and devastating, a luminous debut novel about untimely grief and the resilience of the human heart, inspired by the author's own experiences'Three in the bed. One not yet born, another dead, and I'm alive.'Puk is 26 years old, preparing for the birth of her second child, when her husband has a heart attack while out running. She leaves their toddler with a friend and dashes to the hospital, where Lasse lies unresponsive in a coma. He dies a few hours later.Into a Star follows Puk and her young family in the first year after this tragedy, which has shattered the ordinary life she imagined for them. As the days turn to weeks and months, Puk's second son is born, her sister moves in, her relationship with her in-laws fractures and evolves. She reckons daily with her memories of Lasse: how they met and fell in love, their adventures, their dreams for the future. And she navigates the miraculous, brutal, overwhelming days of early parenthood alone.Into a Star is a luminous meditation on loss and renewal. With remarkable dignity, candour and attention to human detail, Puk Qvortrup invites us into the hardest moments of her life. And she reveals, amid the devastation, a powerful, life-affirming thread of hope.
Inventing Edward Lear
by Sara LodgeEdward Lear—the father of nonsense—wrote some of the best-loved poems in English. He was also admired as a naturalist, landscape painter, travel writer, and composer. Awkward but funny, absurdly sympathetic, Lear invented himself as a Victorian character. Sara Lodge offers a moving account of one of the era’s most influential creative figures.
Irving Berlin: New York Genius (Jewish Lives)
by James KaplanFrom the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a fast†‘moving, musically astute portrait of arguably the greatest composer of American popular music Irving Berlin (1888–1989) has been called—by George Gershwin, among others—the greatest songwriter of the golden age of the American popular song. “Berlin has no place in American music,” legendary composer Jerome Kern wrote; “he is American music.” In a career that spanned an astonishing nine decades, Berlin wrote some fifteen hundred tunes, including “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “God Bless America,” and “White Christmas.” From ragtime to the rock era, Berlin’s work has endured in the very fiber of American national identity. Exploring the interplay of Berlin’s life with the life of New York City, noted biographer James Kaplan offers a visceral narrative of Berlin as self†‘made man and witty, wily, tough Jewish immigrant. This fast†‘paced, musically opinionated biography uncovers Berlin’s unique brilliance as a composer of music and lyrics. Masterfully written and psychologically penetrating, Kaplan’s book underscores Berlin’s continued relevance in American popular culture.About Jewish Lives: Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award.More praise for Jewish Lives: “Excellent.” – New York times “Exemplary.” – Wall St. Journal “Distinguished.” – New Yorker “Superb.” – The Guardian