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Биографии и Мемуары
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Аннотация
Cruise ships can be compared to small floating cities, and unlike their counterparts ashore, they actually move around. This makes them unique, as one day a ship can be found in Manhattan, and a few weeks later she could be in the South China Sea. <br>This book is about 'normal' everyday people who sail on these ships, who just like their counterparts ashore do have their faults, their hopes and at times achieve their share of greatness.<br>The captain sits at the top of the ships pyramid and if he listens well, hears most of what happens on board his ship. Shifting through the enormous pile of material, I decided to use almost exclusively stories which were funny to (almost) all involved.<br>Every chapter you will read, truly happened. The characters, truly existed, although I did change names and ships around a bit. This book is a picture of my life and undoubtedly that of many others who have spend a considerable time at sea.
Аннотация
This is a story written by a pilot who followed his father into commercial aviation. It is, on one hand, the biography of a professional pilot and, on other levels, provides us with insight into the mental disciplines necessary to follow such a career path. The story begins with a description of his life as a kid in rural New Jersey and follows him from his first flight to his last, some fifty years latter.<br><br>As each passage of life ends, a new begins. The author provides us with an understanding of what it means to be a professional aviator and what he has learned along the way about his profession and about life. We see him grow as a person and as a pilot. We see the world through his eyes and gain an appreciation of his accumulated experiences both funny and those no so.<br><br>Anyone who has spent years looking down on the world most certainly develops a different view of things than those who meander along the surface. This is certainly true of the author who provides the reader with a sense of his understanding along the way.
Аннотация
Stories I'd Tell My Children (but maybe not until they're adults) is mostly hysterically funny, sometimes poignant and profound, often bawdy and always delightful.<br><br>The book includes more than 100 stories that span 55 years: pre-school, in school, and after the author had enough school. There's lots of sex, drugs and rock & roll. Even the sex and drug stories are funny.<br><br>Some stories were written as revenge against bad teachers, evil bosses and crazy clients. There are stories about weird relatives, weird food, women the author considered marrying, and the woman he did marry. You'll even learn what his wife had to do in bed to defeat the competition.<br><br>Although Michael N. Marcus is a first-year baby-boomer who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, "This book provides a hilarious look at life for people of all ages who want to roll on the floor, laughing until the tears come." Another reviewer said, "This book is so funny that I nearly peed in my pants. My girlfriend didn't think it was funny, so I got a new girlfriend."<br><br>In addition to laughter, the book provides an education. One chapter helps women understand the male fascination with farts and breasts. Another explains how Betty Friedan and Anthony Quinn made 1965 much sexier than 1964.<br><br>Other chapters explain the difference between New York and Connecticut mommies, the connection between Sigmund Freud and Groucho Marx, how baseball can be child abuse, how oral sex can be dangerous, what boys don't know about jockstraps and childbirth, the meaning of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," the disgusting secret ingredients in the world's greatest coleslaw, how a free dog can cost $100,000, and how the author conducted a test to determine if he attracted crazy women or drove women crazy.<br><br>There are four murders in the book, two failed attempts at maiming, one near-electrocution, one paranormal experience, one story about the loss of virginity with an older woman, one story about sex with a 15-year-old girl (who seemed much older), one story about contemplating sex with another 15-year-old girl, two three-in-a-bed scenes, two episodes of paranoid delusion, one offer of sex from a woman who had escaped from a mental hospital, and three frustrating encounters between a horny heterosexual male and lesbians. These stories are all funny, and guaranteed to be at least 80% true.
Аннотация
Adventures of QM3 Joe Callihan, while serving in the Navy during the Vietnam Era. Working in an Op Center in Panama brought many adventures, as did my time in the Reserves.<br> Brought up to believe respect is something which must be earned by those walking on a two way street. I was perhaps the "Pappy Boyington" of the Navy. An honorable man of integrity, I was considered to be brash among those believing a uniform gave them respect; while they chose to act with blatant disrespect toward others.<br> This book asks two questions of the reader. Can a man like Joe Callihan survive the Navy? Can the Navy survive a man like Joe Callihan. <br> To learn the answer and draw your own conclusions, purchase and read Adventures In Navyland today!
Аннотация
When I was 18 years old, I left Iran after graduating from high school to come to America to continue my education, with the hope that someday I might become a physician. I suffer from multiple disabilities. The most troubling issue revolves around polio. At the age of five, I contracted polio as a result of a bad dose of the vaccine I received. As an adult with a sever twisted body, I have been forced to walk with a cane and stand only four feet tall. Over the course of my life, I've had to deal with additional medical issues as a result of my initial infection. <br><br>It would be easy for me to be bitter about my situation, but I have chosen a different path. I've written a short memoir which I have titled I Am Like You. My hope is that my book will both inspire and encourage others with disabilities to recognize that they need not be defined or limited by whatever physical limitations they may encounter in the world. Certainly, my life has been a challenge, but I've chosen to remain optimistic about the limitless possibilities available to anyone who isn't ready to throw in the towel.<br><br>I've tried to tell my story with a mixture of humor and pathos. Additionally, I think there is a unique perspective to my story. Coming from a Third World country allows me to compare and contrast the differences between the treatment of the disabled in a country like America compared to how someone with my kinds of issues may be dealt with in Iran (or any Third World country for that matter).
Аннотация
Muzungu, the Swahili word for white folk, translated literally means "confused person wandering about." During the author's months working and traveling through Kenya, this description fits her to a tee. Her audacious Kenyan adventure makes for a bucket load of anecdotes and impressions born of heart and hands-on experience–enough to knock your socks off. <br>The devil in Africa is in the details, and Muzungu is there in the trenches – raw, down and dirty, unapologetic. The author witnesses religious elders morphing into villains, political leaders exposed as criminals, tribal chiefs engaging in forbidden rituals, disease obliterating a generation, dedicated missionaries at the ends of their ropes, and a country in violent revolt. Her husband is railroaded and sentenced to prison. Her co-worker, the author's stalwart bellwether for hard fact and unlikely personal guide into the shadowy underbelly of the country, ultimately commits suicide. She is present for a bizarre meeting between doctors and activists from President Bush's AIDS Relief Project. With these topics being ever-present on today's world stage, this is one story that is dying to get out there. <br>The author's white skin and declaration that she is a writer become her free pass through each successive door and ticket to all events, bar none: in the hospital wards, surgery rooms, orphan clinics, homes, schools, villages, churches, government offices, during tribal ceremonies and throughout the commission of heinous crimes. <br>The reader will meet an African mission's peculiar band of residents up close and personal, their unsparing good, bad and ugly. The author herself is not immune to this intense scrutiny. Quite the opposite, in fact. No pious filter softens this writer's lens. A living newsreel of realities informs the narrative. Candid conversations and interviews are recorded verbatim and in their entirety. <br>The real "AIDS in Africa" will be disclosed. Western definition does not apply. In fact, the reader may come to realize that few concepts familiar to them can be applied in Kenya. The term "lost in translation" emerges as a gross understatement. Fellow volunteers who find themselves trapped in the foxholes during a horrific national political revolution witness and report from the front lines.Secret tribal rituals are described in graphic detail. Long-established cultural traditions are examined. Western religion's influence is dissected. Foreign intervention is challenged. History is revisited. Kenya is deconstructed. <br>The reader is invited into a tiny school where the students create a children's picture book for the author in the hope that she can get it published for them in America. Vignettes from the Orphan Feeding Program and the Mobile Medical Clinic will break hearts. Tribal chiefs, church bishops, heads of Non-Governmental Organizations, leaders of Faith-Based Operations, representatives of all manner of self-righteous American and European groups desperate to leave their idealistic fingerprints on the continent, hold forth. Those with their fingers truly on the pulse of the people furiously demand to be heard as well. However, it is the locals themselves who provide the most unwaveringly transparent view of the Kenyans and their condition. <br>Muzungu is complete with color photographs that will touch anyone who has ever had a financial, spiritual, anthropological, sociological or humanitarian interest in Africa, or those who are simply adventurers at heart. Unlike other books on the subject of Africa, this one is specific to the author's own uniquely personal experience with Kenya – too fantastic to be believed. Almost.
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When the bottom fell out of Carol Masheter's life at age 50, she took up mountaineering to cope with her grief and anger. Little did she know that mountaineering would lead her to try Everest when she was 61 in 2008. "No Magic Helicopter: An Aging Amazon's Climb of Mount Everest" chronicles her preparation for the climb, the struggle to the summit, and the blind descent that nearly cost her life. Currently, Dr. Masheter is the second oldest woman in the world to summit Everest and return home alive.
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What would happen if The Unthinkable blindsided you, requiring everything be put on hold to become a full time caregiver for a loved one? At the very least, it would reshape your life. Without a survival guide, it could even destroy it.<br><br>Barb Owen delivers precisely that survival guide in NORMAL Doesn't Live Here Anymore: An Inspiring Story of Hope for Caregivers. She weaves a story, through the first two parts of the book, based on her life-changing experience as primary caregiver for her elderly parents. Following each chapter a bit of wisdom gained from Barb's experience is summarized as a Reflection. The third part of NORMAL Doesn't Live Here Anymore addresses the critical need for self-care for the new and seasoned caregiver alike. Specific suggestions abound for Me Time—how to find it—what to do with it—and how very important it is for sustaining oneself throughout the often arduous caregiving-marathon. <br><br>This truly inspiring book is one part parable, one part autobiography and all survival guide, illuminating a path for the more than 65 million caregiving Americans. <br><br>"Everything hinges on your ability to care for both yourself and your loved one," says Owen. "This maxim is of great consequence—heed it, and you will endure. Dismiss it, and you will have trouble surviving. Take care of yourself, your loved one and keep the faith, because you're not alone."<br><br>––– REFLECTION;<br><br>Difficult subjects sometimes need to be discussed. You might be asked by others to deliver bad news—news of someone's death, a life-altering diagnosis, or even the necessity for a change in residence. Each conversation carries the potential for unleashed emotions. My advice? No matter how difficult or emotional, don't leave words left unsaid. People, if capable of understanding, deserve information. Often, they are much stronger than we realize.<br><br>Words are powerful. They carry courage, condemnation, reassurance or permission. Choose them wisely as your words may be the ones that bring freedom from pain or suffering. It's tough, but I know you can do it and if you listen to that voice inside, you will know exactly the right time and the right words.<br><br>Be Strong!
Аннотация
Gunships suddenly descended, fanning out from a central point around the Iroquois and sending streams of machine-gun fire and rockets into the jungle below. The Iroquois peeled away from the main formation and dipped below the tree line under the cover of the assault, dropping swiftly to a small paddy field. They spilled from the chopper and crouched low to the ground. The machine lifted and was gone . . .<br>Six allied soldiers on an impossible, secret mission in Vietnam to find and report on the enemy's supply lines on the motor roads in 'neutral' countries. For Australian Gary Bishop the assignment is one that takes him on a physical and emotional journey into hell.<br>Back in Australia, Gary's new wife Leanne is facing challenges of her own. Alone, pregnant and fighting an attraction to another man, she finds herself drawn in directions that she never anticipated.<br>The wounds of war run deep and Leanne and Gary will need all their strength to survive.
Аннотация
In the winter of 1948, a poorly educated jack-of-all-trades moved his ever- increasing family to a small vegetable crops' farm on the Darling Downs, in Queensland. They arrived in a horse and wagon to begin an extraordinary life of hardship and challenge in the bush.<br>This book follows the harsh life of poverty that is eclipsed by the threads of dry humour, love and warmth that embraces a large closely-knit family. The living conditions endured are almost primitive, even for the nineteen fifties, as they fight to carve an existence from the land.<br>His father's lingering fight with lung cancer compounds the pain of his own battle, as a National Service Soldier in the Vietnam War. The accounts of the war are graphic and poignant, and could only emerge from one who has experienced the frightening reality of combat. Highlighted through the suffering and dreams is a mother's undying devotion to her family, as she struggles to raise them, more or less on her own.