Here is an American mind contemplating contemporary society and culture with wit, imagination, and a brave intelligence. Tillman upends expectations, shifts tone, introduces characters, breaches limits of genre and category, reconfiguring the world with the turn of a sentence. Like other unique thinkers, Tillman sees the world differently — she is not a malcontent, but she is discontented. Her responses to art and literature, to social and political questions change the reader's mind, startling it with new angles. Which is why so many of us who know her work often wonder: what would Lynne Tillman do? A long-time resident of New York, Tillman's sharp humor is like her city's, tough and hilarious. There are distinct streams of concern coursing through the seeming eclecticism of topics — Hillary Clinton, Jane Bowles, O.J. Simpson, art and artists, Harry Mathews, the state of fiction, film, the state of her mind, the State of the Nation. There is a great variety, but what remains consistent is how differently she writes about them, how well she understands, how passionate and bold her writing is.What does Lynne Tillman do? Everything. Anything. You name it. She has a conversation with you, and you're a better, smarter person for it.

Written during the last few months of Philip Gould’s life, this is a hugely inspiring and ultimately uplifting look at his “lessons from the death zone”On 29 January 2008 Philip Gould was told he had cancer. He was stoical, and set about his treatment, determined to fight his illness. In the face of difficult decisions he sought always to understand the disease and the various medical options open to him, supported by his wife Gail and their two daughters, Georgia and Grace.In 2010, after two hard years of chemotherapy and surgery, the tests came up clear - Philip appeared to have won the battle. But his work as a key strategist for the Labour party took its toll, and feeling ill six months later, he insisted on one extra, precautionary test, which told him that the cancer had returned.Thus began Philip’s long, painful but ultimately optimistic journey towards death, during which time he began to appreciate and make sense of his life, his work and his relationships in a way he had never thought possible. He realized something that he had never heard articulated before: death need not be only negative or painful, it can be life-affirming and revelatory. Written during the last few months of his life, When I Die describes the journey Philip took with his illness, leaving to us what he called his lessons from the death zone.This courageous, profoundly moving and inspiring work is as valuable a legacy to the world as anyone could wish to bestow - hugely uplifting, beautifully written, with extraordinary insight.

In her moving and insightful new book, Joan Didion reassesses parts of her life, her work, her history and ours. A native Californian, Didion applies her scalpel-like intelligence to the state’s ethic of ruthless self-sufficiency in order to examine that ethic’s often tenuous relationship to reality.Combining history and reportage, memoir and literary criticism, Where I Was From explores California’s romances with land and water; its unacknowledged debts to railroads, aerospace, and big government; the disjunction between its code of individualism and its fetish for prisons. Whether she is writing about her pioneer ancestors or privileged sexual predators, robber barons or writers (not excluding herself), Didion is an unparalleled observer, and her book is at once intellectually provocative and deeply personal.

The magnum opus from Alejandro Jodorowsky — director of The Holy Mountain, star of Jodorowsky’s Dune, spiritual guru behind Psychomagic and The Way of Tarot, innovator behind classic comics The Incal and Metabarons, and legend of Latin American literature.There has never been an artist like the polymathic Chilean director, author, and mystic Alejandro Jodorowsky. For eight decades, he has blazed new trails across a dazzling variety of creative fields. While his psychedelic, visionary films have been celebrated by the likes of John Lennon, Marina Abramovic, and Kanye West, his novels — praised throughout Latin America in the same breath as those of Gabriel García Márquez — have remained largely unknown in the English-speaking world. Until now.Where the Bird Sings Best tells the fantastic story of the Jodorowskys’ emigration from Ukraine to Chile amidst the political and cultural upheavals of the 19th and 20th centuries. Like One Hundred Years of Solitude, Jodorowsky’s book transforms family history into heroic legend: incestuous beekeepers hide their crime with a living cloak of bees, a czar fakes his own death to live as a hermit amongst the animals, a devout grandfather confides only in the ghost of a wise rabbi, a transgender ballerina with a voracious sexual appetite holds a would-be saint in thrall. Kaleidoscopic, exhilarating, and erotic, Where the Bird Sings Best expands the classic immigration story to mythic proportions.

'It seems certain that the apple in Eden grew on the tree of knowledge of elsewhere. Up until that point Adam and Eve were happy where they were. Then they ate the apple and it was slightly disappointing to them and they started to wonder if maybe there were other kinds of apples elsewhere, if there were crunchier and crisper and sweeter apples to be had from somewhere else. They began to think that there might be a funner place, where the food was better. They even began to suspect that paradise itself might be somewhere else. . From there, to keep the history of the world as brief as possible, it is only a small step to package cruises and supermarkets stocking the full spectrum of exotic fruit.'Taking the form of ten journeys, White Sands is an exploration of why we travel from perhaps Britain's greatest globetrotter. Episodic, wide-ranging, funny and smart, it marks a return to the subject of Dyer's Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered to Do It, albeit with the wisdom of age.From viewing a lightning field in the Mexican desert by night, to chasing Gauguin's ghost in French Polynesia, from falling in love with a tour guide in the Forbidden City of Beijing to tracking down the house of a childhood idol in LA, Dyer pursues all permutations of the peak experience, explores the voyage through time, and plumbs the effects of distance. In his trademark style he blends travel writing, essay, criticism and fiction with a smart and cantankerous wit that is unmatched. This is a book for armchair travellers and procrastinating philosophers everywhere.

Oscar-nominated Charlotte Rampling most recently appeared in HBO’s Dexter, and the feature film 45 Years. Her career has spanned popular entertainment and arthouse cinema, having starred in English, French and Italian films from 1966’s Georgy Girl (opposite Lynn Redgrave), to films with French director François Ozon, including 2003’s Swimming Pool.Having shied away from biographies and autobiographies (“too personal”) Rampling has now written Who I Am (first published in French) a lyrical, and intimate self-portrait via reminiscences. Highly personal, packed with photographs from her personal archive, Rampling recounts her childhood and youth as the daughter of an army officer (who won a gold medal for the 4 x 400 relay in the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympics), and the memories and passions that would inspire her life and later work as an actress.Written in a style that gives a unique insight into her screen persona, it is an idiosyncratic and beguiling insight of one of the most consistently adventurous and interesting actors.

A stimulating read, a real page turner. Perfect for those nights when your girlfriend just left you for a sushi chef and stomped a hole in your heart with a spiked high heel shoe.

In this unique homage to an American icon, journalist and award-winning author Pete Hamill evokes the essence of Sinatra-examining his art and his legend from the inside, as only a friend of many years could do. Shaped by Prohibition, the Depression, and war, Francis Albert Sinatra became the troubadour of urban loneliness. With his songs, he enabled millions of others to tell their own stories, providing an entire generation with a sense of tradition and pride belonging distinctly to them.From Publishers WeeklyLike a musical Elements of Style, Hamill’s slim meditation on Frank Sinatra is confident, smart and seamless. Since (and immediately before) Sinatra’s death in May 1998, countless tributes have been made to the singer; Hamill (A Drinking Life) seems to be writing to set the record straight, for he knew Sinatra and, before that, knew the singer’s music. But Hamill doesn’t fawn over Sinatra the way other, younger writers have recently done. Rather, he elegantly tells the Sinatra story, dwelling on the singer’s best recordings, dismissing “the Rat Pack, the swagger, the arrogance, the growing fortune, the courtiers,” because in the end, he writes, they are “of little relevance.” What matters, according to Hamill, is the music, chiefly that of Sinatra’s early mature years, when the singer released his celebrated albums on the Capitol label. Where a starry-eyed author might vaguely praise these albums for their pathos and vulnerability, Hamill points out that, before the singer’s Capitol comeback years, Sinatra’s fans were almost exclusively young women. The stubborn, post-Ava Gardner heartache of Sinatra’s later records, however, with their lack of self-pity, gained Sinatra a chiefly male audience. Of this, perhaps the singer’s greatest musical period, Hamill writes that Sinatra “perfected the role of the Tender Tough Guy… Before him, that archetype did not exist in American popular culture.” That may be true, but Hamill sets his book apart from the many others about Old Blue Eyes by tempering intelligent superlatives with the retelling of touching, revelatory moments the two men shared. Hamill’s is a definitive introduction to Sinatra’s work.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Library JournalThe barrage of recent Frank Sinatra books has resulted in his being the most written-about celebrity in the world after Monroe and Presley. Hamill’s slim essay is distinguished from other recent works by its objective focus on the components of the late singer’s enduring musical legacy. Veteran writer Hamill (e.g., A Drinking Life, LJ 1/94) is comfortable in the New York City milieu of late nights, saloons, and prizefighters, and he has captured the essence of Sinatra, who created something that was not there before he arrived: an urban American voice. The book’s strength is its insight into and evocation of the Italian American immigrant experience that had such a strong influence on Sinatra. Minor weaknesses are an oversimplified examination of prejudice and an underdeveloped 1974 vignette about Ava Gardner that fails to make its point. Recommended for public and academic libraries.?Bruce Henson, Georgia Inst. of Technology, AtlantaCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sarah Bakewells Buch ist ein Geniestreich: Auf höchst elegante und unterhaltsame Weise erzählt sie das Leben Montaignes und beantwortet zugleich unsere Fragen nach einem guten Leben. Authentischer und aktueller wurde noch nie über den großen Philosophen und Essayisten geschrieben. Das Buch wurde in den USA mit dem „National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography“ und in Großbritannien mit dem „Duff Cooper Prize for Non-Fiction“ ausgezeichnet und stand auf den Shortlists des „Costa Biographie Award“ und des „Marsh Biography Award“.Lies viel, vergiss das meiste wieder, und sei schwer von Begriff! — Habe ein Hinterzimmer in deinem Geschäft! — Tu etwas, was noch nie zuvor jemand getan hat! — Mach deinen Job gut, aber nicht zu gut! — Philosophiere nur zufällig! — Bedenke alles, bereue nichts! — Mit diesen und anderen Antworten auf die eine Frage „Wie soll ich leben?“ führt Sarah Bakewell durch das ungewöhnliche Leben des Weingutbesitzers, Liebhabers, Essayisten, Bürgermeisters und Reisenden Michel de Montaigne. Dabei gelingt ihr das Kunststück, ihn ganz im 16. Jahrhundert, im Zeitalter der Religionskriege, zu verorten und gerade dadurch für unsere Zeit verständlich zu machen. Wie soll man Montaigne lesen? Nicht wie ein Kind, um sich zu amüsieren, und nicht wie die Ehrgeizigen, um sich zu belehren. „Nein. Lesen sie ihn, um zu leben!“, empfahl der große Flaubert.„Eine bezaubernde Einführung in Leben und Denken Montaignes und ein großes Lesevergnügen. Hier ist eine Autorin, deren Liebe zu ihrem Gegenstand ansteckend ist.“ Mark Lilla, The New York Review of Books„Eine Mischung aus Biographie und Alain-de-Bottonesker Lebensphilosophie, … die erfreulichste Einführung in Montaigne in englischer Sprache, … eine überzeugende Verbindung von Literatur und Leben.“ Timothy Chesters, The Times Literary Supplement„Montaigne hat hier die Biographie, die er verdient, und hätte seine Freude an ihrem unkonventionellen Aufbau.“ Michael Bywater, The Independent„Eine wunderbar souveräne und klare Einführung … Man kann Sarah Bakewell nur dazu gratulieren, dass sie den Lesern einen so reizvollen Zugang zu Montaigne eröffnet.“ David Sexton, Evening Standard„Glänzend konzipiert und vorzüglich geschrieben. … Sarah Bakewell bringt eine neue Generation dazu, sich in Montaigne zu verlieben …, enorm fesselnd …, rühmenswert.“ James McConnachie, Sunday Times„Das Buch schöpft gekonnt eine Lebenskunst aus dem breiten Strom der Montaigne'schen Prosa. … Eine überragende, begnadete Einführung in den Meister!“ Adam Thorpe, Guardian

«Я всегда считал себя трусом. Большая часть моих детских воспоминаний так или иначе связана со страхом: я боялся других детей, боялся покалечиться, боялся опозориться, боялся, что меня будут считать слабаком».

Трудно поверить, но именно так начинает свою исповедь звезда Голливуда и любимчик миллионов Уилл Смит. Сложные отношения с отцом, взросление, головокружительная карьера и непростая личная жизнь — об этом и многом другом мистер «Я — легенда» откровенно рассказал в автобиографии «Will».

Смелая, вдохновляющая книга написана в соавторстве с Марком Мэнсоном, автором многомиллионного бестселлера «Тонкое искусство пофигизма».

Обложку книги разработал художник-визуалист из Нового Орлеана Брендан «Bmike» Одумс.

В формате PDF A4 сохранен издательский макет книги.

Winds of Destruction is a unique account of one man’s service in the Rhodesian Air Force, spanning a period of twenty-three years from 1957 to 1980—through the politically turbulent years of Federation; the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (U.D.I.) by Ian Smith’s government in 1965 and thirteen years of relentless, uncompromising bush warfare against the never-ending tide of Robert Mugabe’s and Joshua Nkomo’s ZANLA and ZIPRA guerrillas. In a gruelling conflict that permitted no quarter, the Rhodesian Air Force (Rh.A.F.) fast became one of the Rhodesian Defence Force’s most lethal and effective counter-insurgency organs. In pre-emptive bombing strikes against enemy camps in Mozambique, Zambia and as far afield as Tanzania; in its integral role as a troop-carrier and airborne strike force in ‘fireforce’ operations; in working closely with such specialist units as the Selous Scouts, the S.A.S., the R.L.I. and the R.A.R. the Rhodesian Air Force was never far from the action and in no small way responsible for the astonishing military successes against a vastly numerically superior army. This all in spite of the international sanctions against Rhodesia, which ordinarily would have brought a nation’s armed forces to its knees. However, forced by circumstances, the Rh.A.F. was obliged to maximise usage of its aging fleet of fighter-bombers, transports and helicopters and to resort to innovative techniques in terms of tactics and weapons systems, many of which were later adopted by the South African Air Force in its own counter-insurgency operations in Angola and Namibia in the ’80s.

In Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher tells the true and intoxicating story of her life with inimitable wit. Born to celebrity parents, she was picked to play a princess in a little movie called Star Wars when only 19 years old. “But it isn’t all sweetness and light sabres.” Alas, aside from a demanding career and her role as a single mother (not to mention the hyperspace hairdo), Carrie also spends her free time battling addiction and weathering the wild ride of manic depression. It’s an incredible tale—from having Elizabeth Taylor as a stepmother, to marrying (and divorcing) Paul Simon, and from having the father of her daughter leave her for a man, to ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed.

Finally, after four hit novels, Carrie Fisher comes clean (well, sort of) with the crazy truth that is her life in her first-ever memoir. In Wishful Drinking, adapted from her one-woman stage show, Fisher reveals what it was really like to grow up a product of "Hollywood in-breeding," come of age on the set of a little movie called Star Wars, and become a cultural icon and bestselling action figure at the age of nineteen. Intimate, hilarious, and sobering, Wishful Drinking is Fisher, looking at her life as she best remembers it (what do you expect after electroshock therapy?). It's an incredible tale: the child of Hollywood royalty—Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher—homewrecked by Elizabeth Taylor, marrying (then divorcing, then dating) Paul Simon, having her likeness merchandized on everything from Princess Leia shampoo to PEZ dispensers, learning the father of her daughter forgot to tell her he was gay, and ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed. Wishful Drinking, the show, has been a runaway success. Entertainment Weekly declared it "drolly hysterical" and the Los Angeles Times called it a "Beverly Hills yard sale of juicy anecdotes." This is Carrie Fisher at her best—revealing her worst. She tells her true and outrageous story of her bizarre reality with her inimitable wit, unabashed self-deprecation, and buoyant, infectious humor.

In the final months of the Second World War in 1945, the German Army was in full retreat on both its Western and Eastern Fronts. British and American troops were poised to cross the River Rhine in the west, while in the East the vast Soviet war machine was steam-rolling the soldiers of the Third Reich back towards the capital, Berlin. Even in retreat, the German Army was still a force to be reckoned with and vigorously defended every last bridge, castle, town and village against the massive Russian onslaught.Tony Le Tissier has interviewed a wide range of former German Army and SS soldiers to provide ten vivid first-hand accounts of the fighting retreat that, for one soldier, ended in Hitler’s Chancellery building in the ruins of Berlin in April 1945. The dramatic descriptions of combat are contrasted with insights into the human dimensions of these desperate battles, reminding the reader that many of the German soldiers whose stories we read shared similar values to the average British ‘Tommy’ or the American GI and were not all crazed Nazis.Illustrated with photographs of the main characters and specially commissioned maps identifying the location and course of the battles, With Our Backs to Berlin is a fascinating read for anyone who is interested in the final days of the Second World War.

Wenn Paranoia als Sinn für die Realität gelten muss: Der Moskauer Kremlkundler Stanislaw Belkowski analysiert Wladimir Putins Verhältnis zur Macht und zu seinen russischen Landsleuten. Wer ist Putin wirklich? Er inszeniert sich als Angler mit gestähltem Oberkörper, als Taucher, Pilot, Macho und Frauenheld – doch obwohl es mittlerweile Dutzende Bücher und Tausende Artikel über den Staatschef Wladimir Putin gibt, bleibt die Person hinter dem Amt seltsam unklar. Ist er tatsächlich der russische »Übervater«? Der Staatserneuerer, der das Tor zu einer leuchtenden Zukunft aufgestoßen hat? Oder doch eher der »Kremltyrann«, der im Begriff ist, die junge russische Demokratie zu zerstören? Stanislaw Belkowski, Insider des Moskauer Politbetriebes, widerlegt in seinem Buch die hartnäckigsten Mythen über Wladimir Putin und beleuchtet dessen persönliche Motive für sein.

История легендарной хардкор-рэп-группы, рассказанная одним из ее создателей, музыкантом U-GOD! Стиль Wu-Tang хорошо известен своей тяжелой музыкой и агрессивной лирикой, которая шокировала и восхищала все рэп-сообщество. U-GOD делится уроками, которые он извлек во время своего путешествия от организатора мелких проектов на Стейтен-Айленд до уровня международной суперзвезды.

Что представлял собой Нью-Йорк в 1970–1990-х годах для молодых музыкантов из неблагополучных районов?

Каково жить в условиях, когда приходится прятать под фанатской майкой бронежилет?

Как в девяностых девять друзей, каждый мастер своего дела, каждый со своей ролью, собрались вместе, чтобы создать легендарную группу, которую вы знаете как Wu-Tang Clan?

«Wu-Tang Clan. Дао», воссозданное в легко узнаваемом стиле U-GOD, одновременно удивительное, глубокое и провокационное – настоящая духовная исповедь, которую мир никогда не видел и никогда больше не увидит.

Книга содержит нецензурную брань.

From one of China’s most acclaimed and decorated writers comes a powerful first-person account of life in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak and the toll of this deadly calamity on families and individual lives.

On January 25, 2020, acclaimed Chinese writer Fang Fang began publishing an online diary to help herself and others understand what was happening in Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. Deeply personal and informative, her posts reveal in real-time the widespread impact of the virus and the government’s mandatory quarantine on the city’s residents. Each day, she gives voice to the fears, frustrations, anger, and hope of millions of ordinary Chinese, reflecting on the psychological impact of forced isolation, the role of the internet as both community lifeline and source of misinformation, and most tragically, the lives of neighbors and friends taken by the deadly virus.

In a nation where authorities use technology to closely monitor citizens and tightly control the media, writers often self-censor. Yet the stark reality of this devastating situation drives Fang Fang to courageously speak out against social injustice, corruption, abuse, and the systemic political problems which impeded the response to the epidemic. For treading close to the line of “dissident,” she pays a price: the government temporarily shuts down her blog and deletes many of her published posts.

A fascinating eyewitness account of events as they unfold, Wuhan Diary captures the challenges of daily life and the changing moods and emotions of being quarantined without reliable information. As Fang Fang documents the beginning of the global health crisis in real time, she illuminates how many of the countries dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic have repeated similar patterns and mistakes.

Blending the eerie and dystopian, the profound and the quotidian, Wuhan Diary is a remarkable record of our times and a unique look at life in confinement in an authoritarian nation.

From one of China’s most acclaimed and decorated writers comes a powerful first-person account of life in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak and the toll of this deadly calamity on families and individual lives.

On January 25, 2020, acclaimed Chinese writer Fang Fang began publishing an online diary to help herself and others understand what was happening in Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. Deeply personal and informative, her posts reveal in real-time the widespread impact of the virus and the government’s mandatory quarantine on the city’s residents. Each day, she gives voice to the fears, frustrations, anger, and hope of millions of ordinary Chinese, reflecting on the psychological impact of forced isolation, the role of the internet as both community lifeline and source of misinformation, and most tragically, the lives of neighbors and friends taken by the deadly virus.

In a nation where authorities use technology to closely monitor citizens and tightly control the media, writers often self-censor. Yet the stark reality of this devastating situation drives Fang Fang to courageously speak out against social injustice, corruption, abuse, and the systemic political problems which impeded the response to the epidemic. For treading close to the line of “dissident,” she pays a price: the government temporarily shuts down her blog and deletes many of her published posts.

A fascinating eyewitness account of events as they unfold, Wuhan Diary captures the challenges of daily life and the changing moods and emotions of being quarantined without reliable information. As Fang Fang documents the beginning of the global health crisis in real time, she illuminates how many of the countries dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic have repeated similar patterns and mistakes.

Blending the eerie and dystopian, the profound and the quotidian, Wuhan Diary is a remarkable record of our times and a unique look at life in confinement in an authoritarian nation.

XX столетие не зря окрестили «ВЕКОМ АВИАЦИИ» – всего за сто лет она прошла колоссальный путь от первых робких полетов, продолжавшихся считаные минуты, до полного господства в воздухе и статуса новой «Богини войны». Каким образом произошло это превращение из вспомогательного рода войск в определяющий фактор боевых действий? Как удалось создать совершенный механизм «воздушного блицкрига» – несмотря на то что сами немецкие асы считали воздушную поддержку танков Гудериана второстепенной задачей, мешавшей им вести «правильную» войну? Почему так краток оказался век пикирующих бомбардировщиков? Кто побеждает в вековом противостоянии ВВС и ПВО? И что позволяет боевой авиации сохранять господство над полем боя даже в эпоху ЗКР, ядерного оружия и межконтинентальных ракет?Прослеживая всю историю ВВС от первых «небесных тихоходов» до новейших боевых комплексов пятого поколения, ведущий военный историк определяет скрытые закономерности и возможные альтернативы, главные уроки прошлого и прогнозы на будущее.