Top Biography General & Other eBooks

Beachcombing at Miramar: The Quest for an Authentic Life eBook by Bode, Richard

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

Beachcombing at Miramar is the tale of a man who moves into a cottage on a California beach to find out who he is and what he wants out of life.

Slowly, he learns to see as a child sees, and through the ebb and flow of the tides, he gradually gains insight into what makes an authentic life.

With all the lyrical wisdom and passion that moved and delighted readers of Richard Bode's First You Have to Row a Little Boat, Beachcombing at Miramar moves, with surprise, gently and beautifully toward the ultimate goal -- a life well lived.

A Brother's Journey: Surviving a Childhood of Abuse eBook by Pelzer, Richard, B.

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

Customer Review: This was a sad book, written by the David Pelzer's brother. The abuse suffered in this family was horrible.

Connected: The Surprising Power of Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives eBook by

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

Your colleague's husband's sister can make you fat, even if you don't know her. A happy neighbor has more impact on your happiness than a happy spouse. These startling revelations of how much we truly influence one another are revealed in the studies of Drs. Christakis and Fowler, which have repeatedly made front-page news nationwide.

In CONNECTED, the authors explain why emotions are contagious, how health behaviors spread, why the rich get richer, even how we find and choose our partners. Intriguing and entertaining, CONNECTED overturns the notion of the individual and provides a revolutionary paradigm-that social networks influence our ideas, emotions, health, relationships, behavior, politics, and much more. It will change the way we think about every aspect of our lives.

American Childhood eBook by Dillard, Annie

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

A book that instantly captured the hearts of readers across the country, An American Childhood is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Dillard's poignant, vivid memoir of growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950s.

Bad Faith: A Forgotten History of Family, Fatherland and Vichy France eBook by Callil, Carmen

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

Bad Faith tells the story of one of history’s most despicable villains and con men—Louis Darquier de Pellepoix, Nazi collaborator and “Commissioner for Jewish Affairs” in France’s Vichy government.

Darquier set about to eliminate Jews in France with brutal efficiency, delivering 75,000 men, women, and children to the Nazis and confiscating Jewish property, which he used for his own gain. Carmen Callil’s riveting and sometimes darkly comic narrative reveals Darquier as a self-obsessed fantasist who found his metier in propagating hatred—a career he denied to his dying day—and traces the heartrending consequences for his daughter Anne of her poisoned family legacy. A brilliant meld of epic sweep and psychological insight, Bad Faith is a startling history of our times.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Agatha Christie eBook by Campbell, Mark

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

Since her debut in 1920 with The Mysterious Affair At Styles, Agatha Christie has become the chief proponent of the English village murder mystery. Although she created two enormously popular characters - the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and the inquisitive elderly spinster and amateur sleuth Miss Jane Marple of St Mary Mead - it is not generally acknowledged that she wrote in many different genres: comic mysteries (Why Didn't They Ask Evans?), atmospheric whodunits (Murder On The Orient Express), espionage thrillers (N or M?), romances (under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott), plays (The Mousetrap) and poetry. She was never afraid to break the rules either, and provoked a storm of controversy with the unorthodox resolution of The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd, now acclaimed as one of the classics of British crime fiction. Christie wrote complex whodunits in a clear, readable style, which is why her books are as popular now as they were 80 years ago. Exemplary film and TV adaptations (Peter Ustinov and David Suchet as Poirot, Margaret Rutherford and Joan Hickson as Miss Marple), have also encouraged new readers to search out her work.

As well as an informed introduction to the Christie phenomenon, this book examines all her novels and short stories. The film, TV and stage adaptations are listed, and the appendices point you to books and websites where you can find out more.

American Childhood, An eBook by Dillard, Annie

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

A Big Little Life eBook by Koontz, Dean

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

Dean Koontz thought he had everything he needed. A novelist for nearly forty years, with more than twenty #1 New York Times bestsellers to his credit , his career was thriving. He had been married to his high school sweetheart, Gerda, since the age of twenty, and together they had forged a happy life for themselves in their Southern California home. It was the picture of peace and contentment. Then along came Trixie. Dean had been researching his novel Midnight - a book which includes a service dog named Moose - when he came across Canine Companions for Independence. Never having had a pet, the last thing he was looking to do was adopt a dog...but that's what happened a few years later when a beautiful golden retriever named Trixie was retired from CCI service because of an elbow injury - and that put her in need of a home of her own. Once in Dean and Gerda's home, Trixie very quickly found a way into their hearts. A Big Little Life tells the story of unexpectedly falling in love with a dog in middle age. It details Trixie's life with Dean and Gerda, the tremendous impact she had on them, and the things she taught them along the way. A lively and joyful read, it presents Trixie in all her complicated glory - her smarts, her lack of vanity, and her uncanny knack for living in the present. A powerful tribute to a beautiful friend, A Big Little Life will remind readers everywhere that the love of our canine best friends is a love that lasts more than a lifetime.

A Tuscan Childhood eBook by Beevor, Kinta

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

Kinta Beevor was born in 1911 in Northbourne, England, and died in 1995.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Au Japon: The Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent in Japan, Korea, and China, 1892-1894 eBook by de Guerville, Amde. Baillot

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

What they were saying in 1904 . . . "Monsieur de Guerville is a passionate, and perhaps overly partial, friend of Japan. What he describes for us [in AU JAPON] is what he himself witnessed-the festivals, the dinners, and the prominent and picturesque customs of the common people . . . Here is not a single figure, not a statistic, but vivid sketches that cut to the quick, and which, without sacrificing accuracy, offer up all the delights of a charming novel." - L'Illustration (1904) In AU JAPON "[A. B. de Guerville] recounts some of his experiences in this country and sets forth his opinions about what he saw and heard. . . . The style is thoroughly French; that is to say, light, clear and graceful, and the matter is always interesting. What strikes us especially is that the author takes such trouble to contradict the gross exaggerations published in 1895 about the Port Arthur affair. Mr. de Guerville was among the newspaper correspondents who entered the place immediately after the fight and he is therefore in a position to speak positively. His verdict is this: ' . . . there was no butchery and no general massacre.'" -Japan Weekly Mail (1904) In what was by all appearances a relatively short life, Amedee Baillot de Guerville was by turns an instructor of French at a women's college, a newspaper and magazine owner and editor, Honorary Commissioner for the World's Columbian Exhibition, popular lecturer, war correspondent, author, and general "globe-trotter." Immigrating to the United States as a very young man in the 1880s, de Guerville gained his widest fame as a New York based correspondent and lecturer in the 1890s, before returning to his native France in 1898. In AU JAPON (1904), de Guerville recounts with mostly comical gaze-and perhaps a touch of imagination-his experiences in the Far East during the years 1892 and 1894. As the author himself confesses, "each of us sees things in our own way." After a century, that of Monsieur de Guerville is worth rediscovering. In addition to translating the original French, DANIEL C. KANE provides a thorough introduction, a glossary of key figures, a chronology of de Guerville's publications, and an index. ABOUT THE AUTHOR-- AMDE BAILLOT DE GUERVILLE (1869-1911) was a French war correspondent and travel writer whose books include Au Japon (1904), La Lutte contre la tuberculose (1904), and La Nouvelle Egypte, ce qu'on dit, ce qu'on voit du Caire Fashoda. 1905). He was a lecturer in French at Milwaukee Women's College and later served as the Honorary Commissioner of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR--DANIEL KANE received his BA in French and History from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale in 1992. After a time in Korea in the military he went on to study Korean History at the University of Hawaii, where he received his MA in 1999. He is currently completing a doctorate in Korean history from the University of Hawaii. Writing Travel Series Edited by Jeanne Moskal

Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary (1831-1836) eBook by Darwin, Charles

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

The Beagle Diary was used to write Darwin's famous book 'Voyage of the Beagle' (1839). The narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836. Darwin describes each day of the voyage, some in intimate detail, during the Beagle's circumnavigation of the globe.

A Stripper's Tail eBook by Diamond

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

For more than eight years, I lived and worked in the dark underworld of Las Vegas as an exotic dancer. Some things are worth repeating-others you try to forget. Unfortunately, you never forget. I decided it was time that somebody told the truth about what really happens in Las Vegas strip clubs and their VIP rooms. Is there 'sex in the champagne room?" With the right dancer and for right price, there is anything you want in the champagne room! This book gives a lot of insight into what really happens when men are turned loose on the Las Vegas scene. I think men and women alike will be interested in reading about what really happens in Vegas. See what the dark twenty-four-hour world of Vegas is really like. See what an insider has to say about the life of an exotic dancer.

Apartheid South Africa eBook by Allen, John

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

Non-partisan and hard-hitting, John Allen's personal account of life in South Africa during the apartheid era will surprise many with its combination of intimate detail and grassroots insight. It contains revealing glimpses of the international media's selective reporting, and gives an insider's view of the country's inhabitants, their cultural differences and manner of dealing with them. The book also touches on a number of external influences that so adversely affected the population and brought the country to the brink of revolution.

Drawing from an abundance of experience, the author recalls-often with spirited humor-what living in apartheid South Africa really entailed, transporting the reader to every corner of the region as he maps out the historical parameters around which the nation was shaped. From early colonial discriminatory influence to the more recent groundbreaking reconciliation process, Allen provides the no-nonsense perspective so necessary for a balanced understanding of the country and its quandaries. He also turns the spotlight on other nations where apartheid, a system of government under which so many still live, has been practiced but never labeled.

Unambiguous and challenging, Apartheid South Africa brings to public scrutiny one of the world's toughest-and most enduring-problems.

Although British-born, John Allen lived in South Africa from 1954 to 1990, a 36-year period during which the country experienced its most climactic-and sometimes terrible-events.

Speaking from firsthand knowledge and with an intimate understanding of the situation, the author takes us beyond the media hype that so dominated Western television screens to answer some of the most vital questions concerning the apartheid era:

Who originated the system of government the world grew to hate so much?
Was South Africa the only 'apartheid' nation?
Did economic sanctions have the desired effect?
How did Washington's domestic agenda affect US foreign policy?
What was the West's real motive in forcing the country to its knees?
Why did Nelson Mandela's release from prison exacerbate rather than diminish violence?

Apartheid South Africa addresses these and a host of other issues, bringing to light little-known facts concerning historical detail and providing the reader with eyewitness accounts of day-to-day life in one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic eBook by Osho

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic

A Red State of Mind: How a Catfish Queen Reject Became a Liberty Belle eBook by French, Nancy

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 46:11:58 GMT

A columnist for the "Philadelphia Daily News," Nancy French blends her hilarious fish-out-of-water tale with humorous observations about the South's obsession with everything from church attendance to the blue-state notion that red staters think as slowly as they speak.