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The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

Candice Millard

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 211 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, The River of Doubt is the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth.

The River of Doubt—it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world. Indians armed with poison-tipped arrows haunt its shadows; piranhas glide through its waters; boulder-strewn rapids turn the river into a roiling cauldron.
After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer, Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt accomplished a feat so great that many at the time refused to believe it. In the process, he changed the map of the western hemisphere forever.
Along the way, Roosevelt and his men faced an unbelievable series of hardships, losing their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and enduring starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. Three men died, and Roosevelt was brought to the brink of suicide. The River of Doubt brings alive these extraordinary events in a powerful nonfiction narrative thriller that happens to feature one of the most famous Americans who ever lived.
From the soaring beauty of the Amazon rain forest to the darkest night of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, here is Candice Millard’s dazzling debut.

Obama: From Promise to Power

David Mendell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The biography of America's hottest political superstar—Barack Obama—from a journalist who has been covering his career since his successful run for U.S. Senate.

Barack Obama's meteoric rise is the stuff of legend. Since his headline-grabbing speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, Obama has come to represent the promise of unity among groups of all types—blacks and whites; Democrats, Republicans, and moderates; the upper, middle, and lower classes. In this groundbreaking biography, veteran journalist and Obama chronicler David Mendell gives an in-depth, comprehensive portrait of a man whose last name has become a catchphrase for hope in a politically jaded society desperate for a new star.

Mendell has covered Obama since the beginning of Obama's campaign for the Senate and as a result enjoys far-reaching access to the new Senator. His research includes exclusive interviews with Obama's closest aides, mentors, political adversaries, and family. Mendell reveals the surprising, cutthroat campaign tactics sanctioned by Obama—who has steeped his image and reputation on the ideals of clean politics and good government—to win his Senate seat by employing some of the most ruthless operatives in the business.

Eye-opening, well-researched, and compulsively readable, Obama: From Promise to Power is a necessary look at the evolution of a politician from public servant to candidate-savior.

What I Talk about When I Talk about Running

Murakami, Haruki

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

One big autobiographic disappointment 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Like many people I love Murakami. I don't have 1 favorite. It can be Windup chronicles, Kafka on the shore, Dance dance dance or even Hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world. Yet, if you do like Murakami like me and don't want to be disappointed. I strongly suggest you avoid this book. It's autobiographic and has nothing of that magic of his fictional books. The only reason to read this book is when you run like he runs. If you want to read about other people preparing for a marathon this book has some insights you want to know about. If you don't run long distances and just like literature in general and/or specifically Murakami avoid this book. Don't spoil your feelings/associations/recollections by reading this book. Preserve Murakami as you know him!

A single review 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

What I talk about when I talk about running - Haruki Murakami

Theme:
Making best use of ones talents in running as a metaphor for life and especially for running is the main theme of this book. Murakami started running at 33 after realizing that smoking an average of 60 cigarettes a day wasn't doing him any good. Twenty four marathons later and well over fifty years old, he is penning his thoughts on running and the part it plays in his life as an individual and as a writer.

Essentials:
* You have some talents in any sphere - running/writing. You can just do "as best as you can", by developing endurance and focus, without which one cannot "push his possibilities".
* Long distance running is an excellent example wherein need for endurance, both during preparation and during the race, is visibly apparent. It is ditto with writing and in general, for most activities in life.
* You should do whatever you want to do irrespective of the talent you have, but be aware that you are only pushing your possibilities.
* You need to be honest about yourself, honest about what you would want to achieve and paddle on to achieve it.
* It is not possible to please everyone, but the key element is to please a few. If you run a Jazz Bar or write a book, you do not expect every visitor or reader to like what you dish out, only a few would. The measure of your success in your professional life is how many of such "customers" you have and how much joy they derive from your enterprise. Though you'd never realize the extent of it.

Some thoughts
How about walking? Doesn't it achieve all the ingredients of "pushing the limits" and at the same time permit one to enjoy the places at a much leisurely pace, it is much more natural, remember, as natural as walking! It is therapeutic and maybe meditative as well. Agreed, it is not "glamorous" or competitive as running, but it has major plus of being something natural, safe and perfectly healthy activity while permitting one to reach places at a leisurely pace.

P.S
* Somerset Maugham: "A philosophy lies in each shave": Given enough time and contemplation on single act, the act become deep, acquires a meaning and life of its own. It makes up for a metaphor, maybe a microcosm of life itself.
* We come back to the rebellion of the existential philosophers: it really doesn't matter what one does, except the cadence one does it with. That is the revolt and that is the perhaps the philosophy that Maugham refers to.
* "18 till I die" (Bryan Adams): Means that you die at 18!

Editorial Review:

This rich and revelatory memoir offers a cornucopia of memories and insights about writing and running and the integral impact both have made on the authors life as he prepares for the 2005 New York City Marathon.

Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time

Valerie Bertinelli

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 195 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

America's Sweetheart turned working mother gives a frank and inspiring account of her life backstage and in the spotlight.

We all knew and loved Valerie Bertinelli years ago when she played the girl-next-door cutie, Barbara Cooper, in the hit TV show One Day at a Time. From wholesome primetime in America's living rooms, Valerie moved to late nights with the hardest partying band of the decadent 80s when she married rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen at the age of 20. Here are the ups and downs of teen stardom, of her complicated marriage, and of her very public struggle with weight.

Surprising, uplifting, and empowering, Losing It takes you behind the scenes in Valerie's acting career and marriage. Despite Valerie's celebrity, her voice is so down-to-earth, honest, and appealing that you'll feel as if you're talking with a girlfriend over coffee. Funny and candid, Valerie recounts her attempts to maintain a healthy self-image while dealing with social pressures to look and act a certain way, and to overcome career insecurities and relationship problems familiar to the millions of women who struggle every day with these same issues.

From marital turmoil to the joys of a new career, from being named among Penthouse's ten sexiest women in the world to overhearing whispers about her weight gain in the grocery store, this is Valerie's inspiring journey as she finds new love, raises a terrific kid, and motivates other women as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig.

Emily Post : Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners

Claridge, Laura

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Original Miss Manners 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Laura Claridge has written the definitive biography of Emily Post. A long account at nearly 550 pages, the author has included every piece of information about her family of origin, her childhood, disasterous marriage and arbitrator of American manners. Fortunately, her chatty conversational style of writing saves the reader when one reads information that has little to do with the story. Ms. Post had an interesting life that became immortal when she decided to write a book about proper behavior in 1922. Being the first to do so made her famous and alone in her field for three decades. The author includes the cultural surroundings of her life to make this a book for the reader to go back in time. Her life stretched from the post Civil War era to the post World War II era until her death at the age of 88.

Editorial Review:

Laura Claridge has written the first biography of the high society woman who became an advocate for the middle class and immigrant Americans. Today, almost a half century after the writers death, the name Emily Post remains a touchstone of twenty-first century Americans.

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

Jung Chang

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 353 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent presentation 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I've had this book on my shelf since published in 1991 and decided this week to read it. I am sorry I waited so long. Beautifully written and an invaluable insight into the Chinese mind. In my opinion it goes a very long way toward explaining the historical distrust between Chinese and Western peoples. Chinese people could not/were trained not to express their thoughts (and in many instances were encouraged to not even have thoughts) and this lack of ability to communicate directly is perceived as untrustworthy by Westerners. I did have to laugh when I read that Chinese told their children to be grateful for their food as children in the capitalist West were starving! (Being of an age where when I said "yuck" I was told children in China were starving and I should be glad I wasn't.) But many did starve and many more were starved of spirit and individual thought. An outstanding and extremely readable history of a period of relatively recent political events and the results therefrom. Alas, the philosophy and practices of Mao have permeated many other parts of the world.

Editorial Review:

"This is a powerful, moving, at times  shocking account of three generations of Chinese women,  as compelling as Amy Tan." --Mary Morris.

"An evocative, often astonishing view of life in a  changing China." -- The New York  Times

Cobain Unseen

Charles R. Cross

Amazon Price: $19.79 List Price: $29.98 Not yet published By: Hachette Audio

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Awesome Book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I just picked this up today and I can't seem to put it down. If your a fan of Cobain and or Nirvana I recommend buying this. It is packed full of very nice pictures and tons of other things.

Editorial Review:

An unparalleled look inside the brilliant mind of one of America's most revered rock legends, Cobain Unseen collects previously unseen artifacts and photographs from the estate's archives to form a fascinating portrait of the creativity, madness, and genius of Kurt Cobain.
Personal items and photographs take readers deeper inside Cobain's life than they've ever been before, and interactive features, such as Kurt's handwritten sticker-sheet of Nirvana name tags, facsimiles of unseen journal pages, and gatefolds of his graffiti-embellished guitars make this an essential keepsake. An audio CD showcasing spoken-word material by Cobain, some of it never before released, will be included. Accompanying the previously unpublished images and memorabilia is a compelling biographical narrative by New York Times-bestselling author Charles R. Cross.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Jean-Dominique Bauby

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 155 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

2 cassettes / 2 hours
Unabridged
Read by Rene Auberjonois

In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, the father of two young childen, a 44-year-old man known and loved for his wit, his style, and his impassioned approach to life. By the end of the year he was also the victim of a rare kind of stroke to the brainstem.  After 20 days in a coma, Bauby awoke into a body which had all but stopped working: only his left eye functioned, allowing him to see and, by blinking it, to make clear that his mind was unimpaired. Almost miraculously, he was soon able to express himself in the richest detail: dictating a word at a time, blinking to select each letter as the alphabet was recited to him slowly, over and over again. In the same way, he was able eventually to compose this extraordinary book.

By turns wistful, mischievous, angry, and witty, Bauby bears witness to his determination to live as fully in his mind as he had been able to do in his body. He explains the joy, and deep sadness, of seeing his children and of hearing his aged father's voice on the phone. In magical sequences, he imagines traveling to other places and times and of lying next to the woman he loves. Fed only intravenously, he imagines preparing and tasting the full flavor of delectable dishes. Again and again he returns to an "inexhaustible reservoir of sensations," keeping in touch with himself and the life around him.

Jean-Dominique Bauby died two days after the French publication of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

This AudioBook is a lasting testament to his life.

Scar Tissue

Anthony Kiedis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 155 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

As lead singer and songwriter for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Anthony Kiedis has lived life on the razor's edge. So much has been written about him, but until now, we've only had Kiedis's songs as clues to his experience from the inside. In Scar Tissue, Kiedis proves himself to be as compelling a memoirist as he is a lyricist, giving us a searingly honest account of the life from which his music has evolved.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are that rare breed of rock band. Critically lauded and popularly embraced by millions of fans, their albums consistently sell into the stratosphere -- their CD Californication sold over 13 million copies alone.

Now in Scar Tissue, Anthony Kiedis defies the rock star clichés. In his telling, we can see everything he has done has been part of a passionate journey. Kiedis is a man "in love with everything" -- the darkness, the death, the disease. Even his descent into drug addition was a part of that journey, another element that he has transformed into art.

Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta"

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 119 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This historic work reveals the inner spiritual life of one of the most beloved and important religious figures in history.

During her lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa became an icon of compassion to people of all religions; her extraordinary contributions to the care of the sick, the dying, and thousands of others nobody else was prepared to look after has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world. Little is known, however, about her own spiritual heights or her struggles. This collection of her writing and reflections, almost all of which have never been made public before, sheds light on Mother Teresa's interior life in a way that reveals the depth and intensity of her holiness for the first time.

Compiled and presented by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., who knew Mother Teresa for twenty years and is the postulator for her cause for sainthood and director of the Mother Teresa Center, MOTHER TERESA brings together letters she wrote to her spiritual advisors over decades. A moving chronicle of her spiritual journey—including moments, indeed years, of utter desolation—these letters reveal the secrets she shared only with her closest confidants. She emerges as a classic mystic whose inner life burned with the fire of charity and whose heart was tested and purified by an intense trial of faith, a true dark night of the soul.

Published to coincide with the tenth anniversary of her death, MOTHER TERESA is an intimate portrait of a woman whose life and work continue to be admired by millions of people.