Download or read book Improbable Journeys written by Robin Magowan and published by Northwestern University Press. This book was released on 2002-05-22 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All writers risk their identities, some with each sentence. But abroad, writing about a life that can't help but seem elusive, the charlatan in oneself may feel all too exposed. Limited to the surface, to the most fortuitous of impressions, how can a foreign pair of eyes hope to pen anything that can vie with something an insider, born there, carrying that landscape in his bones, might write? For more than four decades, poet Robin Magowan has journeyed in search of ecstatic spiritual experiences. Hitchhiking and walking, by bus or boat or when necessary by horse, he has explored lands as exotic as Nepal and New Guinea, as classic as Italy or France, and as forgotten as Persia and pre-Castro Cuba. All the while he has submerged himself, whether in the mysteries of Haitian voodoo or the simples pleasures of Burgundian peasant life. Known for the beauty, wit, and expressive power of his prose, Magowan's writing vibrates with the intensity of an outsider who crawls into the skin of a country--and emerges transformed.
Download or read book A Most Improbable Journey A Big History of Our Planet and Ourselves written by Walter Alvarez and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2016-11-15 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A thrilling synthesis from a brilliant scientist who discovered one of the most important chapters in our history." —Sean B. Carroll Big History, the field that integrates traditional historical scholarship with scientific insights to study the full sweep of our universe, has so far been the domain of historians. Famed geologist Walter Alvarez—best known for the “Impact Theory” explaining dinosaur extinction—has instead championed a science-first approach to Big History. Here he wields his unique expertise to give us a new appreciation for the incredible occurrences—from the Big Bang to the formation of supercontinents, the dawn of the Bronze Age, and beyond—that have led to our improbable place in the universe.
Download or read book The Monkey s Voyage written by Alan de Queiroz and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2014-01-07 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the world, closely related species are found on landmasses separated by wide stretches of ocean. What explains these far-flung distributions? Why are such species found where they are across the Earth? Since the discovery of plate tectonics, scientists have conjectured that plants and animals were scattered over the globe by riding pieces of ancient supercontinents as they broke up. In the past decade, however, that theory has foundered, as the genomic revolution has made reams of new data available. And the data has revealed an extraordinary, stranger-than-fiction story that has sparked a scientific upheaval. In The Monkey's Voyage, biologist Alan de Queiroz describes the radical new view of how fragmented distributions came into being: frogs and mammals rode on rafts and icebergs, tiny spiders drifted on storm winds, and plant seeds were carried in the plumage of sea-going birds to create the map of life we see today. In other words, these organisms were not simply constrained by continental fate; they were the makers of their own geographic destiny. And as de Queiroz shows, the effects of oceanic dispersal have been crucial in generating the diversity of life on Earth, from monkeys and guinea pigs in South America to beech trees and kiwi birds in New Zealand. By toppling the idea that the slow process of continental drift is the main force behind the odd distributions of organisms, this theory highlights the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the history of life. In the tradition of John McPhee's Basin and Range, The Monkey's Voyage is a beautifully told narrative that strikingly reveals the importance of contingency in history and the nature of scientific discovery.
Download or read book Atlas of Improbable Places written by Travis Elborough and published by Aurum Press. This book was released on 2021-07-06 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Atlas of Improbable Places shows the modern world from surprising new vantage points that will inspire urban explorers and armchair travellers alike to consider a new way of understanding the world we live in.
Download or read book Improbable Libraries written by Alex Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do you use your local library? Does it arrive at your door on the back of an elephant? Can it float down the river to you? Or does it occupy a phone booth by the side of the road? Public libraries are a cornerstone of modern civilization, yet like the books in them, libraries face an uncertain future in an increasingly digital world. Undaunted, librarians around the globe are thinking up astonishing ways of reaching those in reading need, whether by bike in Chicago, boat in Laos, or donkey in Colombia. Improbable Libraries showcases a wide range of unforgettable, never-before-seen images and interviews with librarians who are overcoming geographic, economic, and political difficulties to bring the written word to an eager audience. Alex Johnson charts the changing face of library architecture, as temporary pop-ups rub shoulders with monumental brick-and-mortar structures, and many libraries expand their mission to function as true community centers. To take just one example: the open-air Garden Library in Tel Aviv, located in a park near the city's main bus station, supports asylum seekers and migrant workers with a stock of 3,500 volumes in sixteen different languages. Beautifully illustrated with two hundred and fifty color photographs, Improbable Libraries offers a breathtaking tour of the places that bring us together and provide education, entertainment, culture, and so much more. From the rise of the egalitarian Little Free Library movement to the growth in luxury hotel libraries, the communal book revolution means you'll never be far from the perfect next read.
Download or read book Improbable Scholars written by David L. Kirp and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Improbable Scholars, David L. Kirp challenges the conventional wisdom about public schools and education reform in America through an in-depth look at Union City, New Jersey's high-performing urban school district. In this compelling study, Kirp reveals Union's city's revolutionary secret: running an exemplary school system doesn't demand heroics, just hard and steady work.
Download or read book The Bald Eagle The Improbable Journey of America s Bird written by Jack E. Davis and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best Books of the Month: Wall Street Journal, Kirkus Reviews From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Gulf, a sweeping cultural and natural history of the bald eagle in America. The bald eagle is regal but fearless, a bird you’re not inclined to argue with. For centuries, Americans have celebrated it as “majestic” and “noble,” yet savaged the living bird behind their national symbol as a malicious predator of livestock and, falsely, a snatcher of babies. Taking us from before the nation’s founding through inconceivable resurgences of this enduring all-American species, Jack E. Davis contrasts the age when native peoples lived beside it peacefully with that when others, whether through hunting bounties or DDT pesticides, twice pushed Haliaeetus leucocephalus to the brink of extinction. Filled with spectacular stories of Founding Fathers, rapacious hunters, heroic bird rescuers, and the lives of bald eagles themselves—monogamous creatures, considered among the animal world’s finest parents—The Bald Eagle is a much-awaited cultural and natural history that demonstrates how this bird’s wondrous journey may provide inspiration today, as we grapple with environmental peril on a larger scale.
Download or read book The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles written by Ronald E. Yates and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2016-05-23 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Billy Battles is definitely not in Kansas anymore. As Book 2 of the Finding Billy Battles trilogy opens, Billy is far from his Kansas roots and his improbable journeys are just starting. The year is 1894 and Billy is aboard the S S China sailing to the inscrutable Far East. Trouble is not far behind. He has met a mysterious and possibly dangerous German Baroness. He has locked horns with malevolent agents of the German government and battled ferocious Chinese and Malay pirates in the South China Sea. Later, he is embroiled in the bloody anti-French insurgency in Indochinawhich quite possibly makes him the fi rst American combatant in a country that eventually will become Vietnam. Then, in the Philippines, he is thrust into the Spanish-American War and the brutal anti-American insurgency that follows. But Billys troubles are only beginning. As the 19th century ends and the 20th century begins, he finds himself entangled with political opportunists, spies, revolutionaries, and an assortment of vindictive and dubious characters of both sexes. How will Billy handle those people and the challenges they present? The answers are just ahead.
Download or read book 596 Switch written by Ryan Leaf and published by Crimson Oak Publishing. This book was released on 2011-11 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All-American Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf, who led the WSU Cougars to a Rose Bowl appearance in 1998, shares the ins and outs of a young man from Montana, attending college with dreams of a pro football career! It covers four years, from the moment Leaf decided to attend Washington State up through the Rose Bowl appearance in 1998. For college football fans and for WSU Cougar fans, this is an entertaining, behind-the-scenes journey through a fascinating time in the school's football history. For sports fans generally, it offers an unvarnished look at the world of college athletics, good and bad. The book does not glorify the sport or the WSU Cougar team, but does shed light on the powerful stories, colorful characters and some of the shenanigans behind one of our country's most beloved weekend pastimes.
Download or read book Yes written by Daniel Bryan and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-07-21 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most popular WWE champions tells his behind-the-scenes story for the first time.
Download or read book Myth Ion Improbable written by Robert Asprin and published by Meisha Merlin Publishing. This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Apprentice magician Skeeve, his mentor Aahz, and Tanda, the former assassin, journey into the Kowtow realm to retrieve a golden cow that gives gold-laced milk, but first they will have to match wits with a gang of vegetarian cowboys who will do anything to protect their livestock from an evil enemy that only comes out after dark.
Download or read book A Dream Too Big written by Caylin Louis Moore and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this inspiring and provocative memoir about a young black man, Caylin Moore tells the against-all-odds story of his rise from racial injustice and cruel poverty in gang-ridden Los Angeles to academic success at the University of Oxford, with hope as his compass. A Dream to Big is for readers who want to … enjoy a compelling, true, hard-to-believe inspirational story; thoughtfully embrace a long-overdue conversation about equality and justice in America; and be inspired and find hope from a firsthand account of redemption through even the most painful life experiences. When Caylin Louis Moore was a young child, his mother gathered her three young children and fled an abusive marriage, landing in poverty in a heavily policed, gang-ridden community. When Moore’s mother suffered from health complications and a devastating experience in the hospital and his father was sentenced to life imprisonment, Moore was forced to enter adulthood prematurely. His hope was fueled by embracing his mother's steely faith in a brighter future. Moore skirted the gangs, the police, and the violence endemic to Compton to excel as a student and athlete, eventually reaching the pinnacles of academic achievement as a Rhodes Scholar. Moore's eye-opening, against-all-odds story reveals that there is no such thing as a dream too big.
Download or read book Indonesia Etc Exploring the Improbable Nation written by Elizabeth Pisani and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2014-06-23 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A spectacular achievement and one of the very best travel books I have read." —Simon Winchester, Wall Street Journal Declaring independence in 1945, Indonesia said it would "work out the details of the transfer of power etc. as soon as possible." With over 300 ethnic groups spread across over 13,500 islands, the world’s fourth most populous nation has been working on that "etc." ever since. Author Elizabeth Pisani traveled 26,000 miles in search of the links that bind this disparate nation.
Download or read book Choosing the Hero written by K. Riva Levinson and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Literary Nonfiction. Memoir. Women's Studies. Politics. African Studies. The rise of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to become the president of Liberia and the first woman elected to lead an African nation is one of the most inspiring stories of our time. But Sirleaf could not have done it alone. Among the people who worked tirelessly to help her achieve her victory was Washington, D.C.-based international consultant and lobbyist K. Riva Levinson. "A wonderful book about the extraordinary camaraderie between Africa's first woman president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her loyal friend and political ally, Riva Levinson... a must- read for all those interested in... Liberia's recent and turbulent history, and the immense power of friendship and loyalty."—Johnnie Carson, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Affairs "A deeply moving story of two extraordinary women, from very different backgrounds, who worked together through thick and thin and achieved so much... I would highly recommend this book to all."—Joyce Banda, former President of Malawi "A riveting and compelling story that restores one's faith in humanity... a profound lesson to all of us on the vital importance of courage and perseverance to the pursuit of a life of purpose."—Tony Elumelu, Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Nigeria "A deeply personal and thoughtful book on some of the most important foreign policy issues of our time and a great read!"—Lloyd Pierson, former Director, U.S. Peace Corps, former President, African Development Foundation "A compelling set of stories... about how political capital was built by addition, multiplication, patience, and strategy by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Riva Levinson."—William R. Sweeney Jr., President and CEO, International Foundation for Electoral Systems "Riva's story reminds us that often the best, most challenging work comes to us when we least expect it and most need it. Her connection with President Sirleaf helped Liberia turn an important page in its history and further cemented the long existing bond between our countries."—U.S. Senator Chris Coons "Peace and democracy seemed far, far off to Liberians when brutal warlord Charles Taylor ruled. This fast-paced, crisply told story of Liberia's rebirth under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is inspiring and impressively honest."—U.S. Representative Ed Royce "Riva Levinson gives us a peek behind the curtain of how American foreign policy is formulated and practiced. A thoroughly engaging read from cover to cover."—U.S. Senator Jeff Flake "The inspiring story of two brilliant women who overcame the odds to make positive change in Liberia. A must-read for any aspiring global change maker!"—Dr. Rajesh Panjabi, CEO, Last Mile Health, associate physician, Harvard Medical School, one of Time's 100 Most Influential People, 2016, and one of Fortune's World's 50 Greatest Leaders "A book that reads like Le Carr�, if Le Carr� was a combination of killer politico and Tina Fey... smart, heartbreaking, funny, inspiring, and an unbelievably entertaining read."—Dan Gordon, screenwriter of The Hurricane
Download or read book Havin a Ball written by Richie Adubato and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2020-10 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Havin' a Ball one of basketball's most colorful characters and storytellers chronicles his life in the game, from high school coach in New Jersey to head coach in both the NBA and the WNBA. Richie Adubato isn't a Hall of Fame name, but he's one of basketball's most beloved coaches, with a lifetime of stories that are humorous and heartfelt, poignant and personal. Adubato's career has crossed paths with many of basketball's most memorable people and events. Starting in the 1960s, he was part of the Jersey Guys, a group of young junior high and high school coaches--including Hubie Brown, Dick Vitale, and Mike Fratello--who all later went on to coach in the NBA. He was hired as Vitale's assistant coach with the Pistons in 1979. Then, three years later, he was hired by Hubie Brown as the Knicks' assistant coach. He would stay in pro basketball for the next twenty-five years, with stints as head coach for the Dallas Mavericks and Orlando Magic and the WNBA's New York Liberty and Washington Mystics. In fact, he is the first coach to have led teams in both leagues to the playoffs. Adubato grew up as an Irish Italian Jersey kid with modest aspirations who went on to experience a fascinating ride in pro basketball. He tells readers how a young Magic team led by Shaquille O'Neal came undone, about his years coaching the Mavericks at a time when the NBA was never more popular, what it was like to coach in the WNBA when the Liberty were outdrawing the Knicks in attendance, and what it was like to coach with, and against, other Hall of Famers. Havin' a Ball takes readers into locker rooms, planes, practices, games, and off court to the inner world of pro basketball with an insider's unique perspective.
Download or read book My Improbable Journey written by Silas W. Huff and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2009-05-27 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the first of this book I talk about my dad’s workhorses running away. I was borne in a century with many changes. I feel really fortunate to have ridden in my dad’s horse and wagon as a little boy and educated out in the field the few times I tried to plow the corn with the horses. The horses always made a quick study of who had a hold of the plow. I’m also fortunate to live in the jet and space age where surgeons have the knowledge to remove brain tumors. In life as in the corn field you have to grab the reins and hold on to the plow and not quit until you reach the end of the row. We need not to look back where we were plowing, but forward to what wonders that God and this life hold.
Download or read book Searching for Whitopia written by Rich Benjamin and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As America becomes more and more racially diverse, Rich Benjamin noticed a phenomenon: Some communities were actually getting less multicultural. So he got out a map, found the whitest towns in the USA -- and moved in. A journalist-adventurer, Benjamin packed his bags and embarked on a 26,909-mile journey throughout the heart of white America, to some of the fastest-growing and whitest locales in our nation. Benjamin calls these enclaves "Whitopias." In this groundbreaking book, he shares what he learned as a black man in Whitopia. Benjamin's journey to unlock the mysteries of Whitopia took him from a three-day white separatist retreat with links to Aryan Nations in North Idaho to exurban mega-churches down South, and many points in between. A compelling raconteur, bon vivant, and scholar, Benjamin reveals what Whitopias are like and explores the urgent social and political implications of this startling phenomenon. Benjamin's groundbreaking study is one of few to have illuminated in advance the social and political forces propelling the rise of Donald Trump. After all, Trump carried 94 percent of America's Whitopian counties. And he won a median 67 percent of the vote in Whitopia compared to 46 percent of the vote nationwide. Leaving behind speculation or sensationalism, Benjamin explores the future of whiteness and race in an increasingly multicultural nation.
