Download or read book The Last Lecture written by Randy Pausch and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.
Download or read book Old Man on a Bicycle written by Don Petterson and published by . This book was released on 2014-06-10 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Don Petterson, a former American ambassador, told family and friends he intended to ride a bicycle from New Hampshire to San Francisco, most of them questioned his judgment, if not his sanity. He was in his seventies, hadn't been on a bike for years, and had never ridden more than a few miles at a time. But, in May 2002, putting doubters-and self-doubt-behind him, Petterson headed west. Laboring against strong headwinds, struggling up steep hills, or coping with extreme weather, he sometimes wondered what in the world he was doing. But he kept going-the lure of riding his bike across the Golden Gate a compelling incentive. Ahead of him lay many challenges-among them, riding his loaded bike over the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, crossing the Great Plains in brutal summer heat, dealing with the aftermath of a collision with a car, and traversing Nevada's basin and range country and the Great Salt Lake's desert. His rewards included passing through spectacular mountain forests, experiencing the aching beauty of the lonely plains, and viewing the grandeur of the West's sculpted canyons and mesas. In Old Man on a Bicycle, the author relates how he prepared for the 3,600-mile journey and what he saw and did during the two months he was on the road. In addition he rebuts the misconception that aging means debilitating decline and, drawing on certain events of his ride, offers research-based advice on how to ease the physical aspects of aging. It's an inspirational account, emphasizing the importance of exercise to physical and mental well-being.
Download or read book I Know This Much Is True written by Wally Lamb and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-06-03 with total page 884 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.
Download or read book The Piper s Lament written by GD Steel and published by Tri-Swan Press LLC. This book was released on 2015-03-09 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Well Of Souls Series~ A paranormal historical romance by GD Steel and Ray McHatton In 1746, Scotland fought its last battle for sovereignty on the moors of Culloden, and lost. For over 200 years there have been Highlanders trapped in the Well of Souls… Cameron and Enid are young lovers, until Prince Charles Stuart’s war tears them apart. Trapped in the Well of Souls, Cameron’s essence is tied to his bagpipes, keeping his link to his family alive throughout the centuries, always mourning his lost love. In 2013, Gavin is a staid Scottish Accountant and Master Piper haunted by dreams of war, sorrow and death. Elizabeth is a young American Mercantile Heiress on holiday researching her family’s lineage before taking over the family business. They are each haunted by the ghosts of the past in different ways. Will love be enough to free the trapped Highlanders from The Well of Souls or are their fates tied to that of Scotland’s Independence? **Contains ADULT content
Download or read book The Congregationalist written by and published by . This book was released on 1922 with total page 1710 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Collier s written by and published by . This book was released on 1910 with total page 904 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Saturday Evening Post written by and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 1230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Royal Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 1915 with total page 654 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Christian Advocate written by and published by . This book was released on 1922 with total page 846 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book One More Train to Ride written by Cliff (Oats) Williams and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2009-09-18 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawn from intimate interviews with 14 modern-day "steel rail nomads," One More Train to Ride provides a revealing picture of today's American hobo. Interspersed with their stories are original poems and songs echoing the ancient lyricism and loneliness of life on the road. Their connections with the past make the experiences of these hoboes even more striking, as they ride freight trains and jungle up in hobo camps, light years away from the 21st-century cyberworld -- yet touching the very core of American freedom and individualism. Cliff Williams skillfully elicits details of family background, motives, and clear insights into the daily life and philosophy of the modern hobo. With its evocative link to the past, One More Train to Ride continues a long tradition of books on hobo oral history, including Nels Anderson's The Hobo (1923) and Thomas Minehan's Boy and Girl Tramps of America (1934).
Download or read book Herald and Presbyter written by and published by . This book was released on 1894 with total page 858 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Texas Bankers Record written by and published by . This book was released on 1922 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Outers Book recreation written by and published by . This book was released on 1919 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Christian Register and Boston Observer written by and published by . This book was released on 1903 with total page 1576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Collier s written by Hansi and published by . This book was released on 1915 with total page 696 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Everybody s written by and published by . This book was released on 1926 with total page 1070 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Yeast written by Kingsley and published by . This book was released on 1890 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
