Download or read book No Dream Is Too Big Memoirs of a Civil Servant written by Dr G G Saxena and published by Prabhat Prakashan. This book was released on 2023-11-24 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting journey of an IAS officer that unfolds between the pages of the book. Be it the difficult posting in Andaman and Nicobar or critical handling in Delhi Administration, the book is raw and relatable for readers everywhere. It takes you through the decision making process of a seasoned bureaucrat who formulated policies, advised political leaders, guided subordinates while serving the public at large.

Download or read book Memoirs of a Civil Servant written by David Ford and published by . This book was released on 2016-09-18 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A factual account of a Civil Servant during one of the most interesting periods in British History. It gives a unique perspective of what it is like to be part of a band of colleagues engaged on work of National Importance I ask for the forbearance of the reader to indulge me in my factual account of being a young twenty something civil servant in a period, "before the rot set in". "Before the rot set in" I hear you say, by that I mean being in the employ of the Government at a period that was sadly to be the end of an era in hindsight. An era of fair reciprocity, those in the employ of central government were proud to serve Her Majesty, and in return the civil servant was valued, if he or she did their bit then promotion was not a dirty word. The employee was also regaled with numerous privileges. Today such favourable circumstances are frowned upon, likened to old men looking up ladies skirts; in short it would today elicit an exhortation of distaste among general society, government and employers in particular. Ironically this end of the golden age of being a civil servant was for me from the midterm of the Thatcher years through to the early Major years. Today loyalty has to be bludgeoned out of the employee , by artifice of ever lower rates of pay and general entitlements , a kind of neo Dickensian world where long hours , hard labour and employment into old age are the way of things. So those in the establishment today look down their long noses finger wagging as if the "Golden era" I alluded to was some kind of aberration, that cardinal sin the spending of public money. Yes we spent public money, and yes it wasn't always targeted to the right place, but by God we healthily injected money by way of investment into the private sector, as inevitably we used contractors for works service. Then those contractors paid tax on profits, and so the funding merry goes round repeated it. It is my belief no accident that our spending fuelled a buoyant economy at that time. And there I must leave it I made a pact with myself not to become a political commentator or amateur economist, we will leave such matters to those better qualified. What the finger wagging establishment did not know was that the average Civil Servant during that period was loyal hard working discrete and professional to the highest degree. Indeed many of us so much loved our careers that we lamented the onset of the weekend!Of course we live in a subjective world on the large part, yes it was a golden era in the civil service yet we are reminded in Buddhism that "through our thoughts we create the world". I write this tome subjectively; I was a young bright healthy twenty something determined to make my mark, so for me perhaps even greater opportunities were open to me. If I had been perhaps as I am now middle aged , world weary and cynical , then the "Golden age " might not have appeared so Golden. So it is on that thought I leave the reader to make their own judgements. In the back of the Chartered Institute of Building Services Journal It was packed with job opportunities. One caught my eye, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers wanted in the Department of the Environment the Property Services Agency. It turned out they were inviting applications to the grade of graduate Engineer with a secure career, training and privileges. My eyes were out on stalks, central government, to be a Civil Servant. I didn't care where it was I was mobile I could always rent out my house. I fancied working for the Government. But it has to be remembered especially in my line of work a lot of Engineers were doing trying to do the opposite of me, they were looking to leave the Civil Service and use their skill and experience in securing higher salaries. Hence there was a "brain drain" of sorts, but I was not the norm, my Father had instilled in me that the public sector was better in the long game stakes. My Father was a gifted Clerk of Works for the County Council .

Download or read book Simple Dreams written by Linda Ronstadt and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-09-02 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes discography (page 203-225) and index.

Download or read book Memoirs written by Habib Tanvir and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2014-05-15 with total page 569 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the man who brought the popular and the demotic into modern Indian theatre, Habib Tanvir is one of Asia’s most important and gifted theatre directors. In this memoir, touching on both the private and the public aspects of his life with startling candour, he takes us on a journey from his childhood in Raipur to the Bombay film world of the 1940s and thence to the Indian Theatre People’s Association, offering an invaluable window into twentieth-century India. Whether he is describing his family members, friends or actors, Habib Tanvir is superbly observant and sharply insightful, capturing both the quotidian and the quirky in his distinct style and delightful voice. Written with great warmth and humour, these memoirs provide a memorable portrait of an extraordinary man.

Download or read book China Unicorn Memoirs written by Robin Soo and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2003-05-06 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Control of all triads rests on ownership of the ancient unicorn. Priests decree the true owner is recorded in memoirs of an American Andrew Goodwest. Lily Shan unravels the true owner by reading the memoirs. She finds much more and understands China better by reading about Andrew's finding of Hong Kong and Shanghai. His son Ben's dealing with Sun Yat San and a Shanghai mobster Boss Hwang. Ben's granddaughter Mai Lin tells about 1920's Shanghai, Warlords, Japanese invasion, Long March and Civil wars. Lily finds a Tibetan to fight against Dragon Wu and wins.

Download or read book A Reason to Believe written by Governor Deval Patrick and published by Crown. This book was released on 2011-04-12 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Deval Patrick, “an inspirational figure guided by optimism and hope who presaged the rise of President Obama” (The Boston Globe), recounts his extraordinary journey from the South Side of Chicago to the governorship of Massachusetts. “I’ve simply seen too much goodness in this country—and have come so far in my own journey—not to believe in those ideals, and my faith in the future is sometimes restored under the darkest clouds.”—Governor Deval Patrick In January 2007, Deval Patrick became the first black governor of the state of Massachusetts, one of only two black governors elected in American history. But that was just one triumphant step in an improbable life that began in a poor tenement on the South Side of Chicago, taking Patrick from a chaotic childhood to an elite boarding school in New England, from a sojourn doing relief work in Africa to the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies, and then to a career in politics. In this heartfelt and inspiring memoir, he pays tribute to the family, friends, and strangers who, through words and deeds, have instilled in him transcendent lessons of faith, perseverance, and friendship. In doing so, he reminds us of the power of community and the imperative of idealism. With humility, humor, and grace, he offers a road map for attaining happiness, empowerment, and success while also making an appeal for readers to cultivate those achievements in others, to feel a greater stake in this world, and to shape a life worth living. Warm, nostalgic, and inspirational, A Reason to Believe is destined to become a timeless tribute to a uniquely American odyssey and a testament to what is possible in our lives and our communities if we are hopeful, generous, and resilient. Governor Deval Patrick is donating a portion of the proceeds from A Reason to Believe to A Better Chance, a national organization dedicated to opening the doors to greater educational opportunities for young people of color.

Download or read book Being Seen written by Elsa Sjunneson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-10-26 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A deafblind writer and professor explores how the misrepresentation of disability in books, movies, and TV harms both the disabled community and everyone else. As a deafblind woman with partial vision in one eye and bilateral hearing aids, Elsa Sjunneson lives at the crossroads of blindness and sight, hearing and deafness—much to the confusion of the world around her. While she cannot see well enough to operate without a guide dog or cane, she can see enough to know when someone is reacting to the visible signs of her blindness and can hear when they’re whispering behind her back. And she certainly knows how wrong our one-size-fits-all definitions of disability can be. As a media studies professor, she’s also seen the full range of blind and deaf portrayals on film, and here she deconstructs their impact, following common tropes through horror, romance, and everything in between. Part memoir, part cultural criticism, part history of the deafblind experience, Being Seen explores how our cultural concept of disability is more myth than fact, and the damage it does to us all.

Download or read book Life written by Keith Richards and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2010-11-12 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The long-awaited autobiography of Keith Richards, guitarist, songwriter, singer, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. With The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the songs that roused the world, and he lived the original rock and roll life. Now, at last, the man himself tells his story of life in the crossfire hurricane. Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records, learning guitar and forming a band with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones. The Rolling Stones's first fame and the notorious drug busts that led to his enduring image as an outlaw folk hero. Creating immortal riffs like the ones in "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Honky Tonk Women." His relationship with Anita Pallenberg and the death of Brian Jones. Tax exile in France, wildfire tours of the U.S., isolation and addiction. Falling in love with Patti Hansen. Estrangement from Jagger and subsequent reconciliation. Marriage, family, solo albums and Xpensive Winos, and the road that goes on forever. With his trademark disarming honesty, Keith Richard brings us the story of a life we have all longed to know more of, unfettered, fearless, and true.

Download or read book War on the Middle Class written by Lou Dobbs and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-10-05 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lou Dobbs's bestselling exposé of the silent assault on the living standards of ordinary Americans Millions of TV viewers have known Lou Dobbs for years as the Walter Cronkite of economics coverage, and now the anchor has become the preeminent champion of the common man and the good of the national interest, who tells uncomfortable truths in a voice that can't be ignored. In this incendiary book, he presents a frontline report on the betrayal of America's middle class by interests that range from rapacious corporations to an out-of-touch political elite. The result is not only lost jobs but also dysfunctional schools and unaffordable health care. But War on the Middle Class also outlines a bold program for change. As essential as it is infuriating, this book furnishes the talking points for the national debate on income and class.

Download or read book Memoirs of an Infantry Officer written by Siegfried Sassoon and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer" by Siegfried Sassoon. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Download or read book No Higher Honor written by Condoleezza Rice and published by Crown. This book was released on 2012-09-04 with total page 786 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the former national security advisor and secretary of state comes a “sharp and penetrating . . . reminder that foreign-policy choices facing the United States are complex and difficult, with no easy solutions” (The Washington Post). A native of Birmingham, Alabama, who overcame the racism of the civil rights era to become a brilliant academic and expert on foreign affairs, Condoleezza Rice first distinguished herself as an advisor to George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign, and eventually became one of his closest confidantes. Once he was elected, she served first as his chief advisor on national security issues and later as America’s chief diplomat. From the aftermath of September 11, 2001, when she stood at the center of the administration’s efforts to protect the nation, to her efforts as secretary of state to manage the world’s volatile relationships with North Korea, Iran, and Libya, her service to America led her to confront some of the worst crises the country has ever faced. This is her unflinchingly honest story of that remarkable time, from what really went on behind closed doors when the fates of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Lebanon often hung in the balance and how frighteningly close all-out war loomed in clashes involving Pakistan-India and Russia-Georgia, to her candid appraisal of her colleagues and contemporaries. In No Higher Honor, Condoleezza Rice delivers a master class in statecraft—but always in a way that reveals her essential warmth and humility and her deep reverence for the ideals on which America was founded.

Download or read book The Insider s View written by Javid Chowdhury and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2012-09-15 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this illuminating memoir Javid Chowdhury shares his varied experiences over four decades in the IAS: the years in training when he imbibed the service’s ethos and values; his initiation into the rural universe as the District Development Officer and the District Magistrate; and further on, to his handling of the infamous Bank Securities and Jain Hawala scams as Director of Enforcement and Union Revenue Secretary. With a light pen, Chowdhury describes the changing social profile and attitudes of entrants to the higher civil services; the nepotism, in many garbs, that he encountered as Establishment Officer; and the stranger-than-fiction tortuous investigations of crimes. He also offers his nuanced reflections on the dubious legacy Gujarat acquired as a result of the communal carnage in 2002. Chowdhury further examines how policymaking within government came to be whittled away under the neo-liberal theology, with key scrutiny being left to external expert think tanks and ad hoc groups. As a consequence, he perceives that public accountability came to be inordinately diffused, resulting in the roller-coaster governance that we witness today. Sharp and insightful, replete with telling anecdotes and amusing sketches of icons, colleagues and ministers, The Insider’s View is a compelling portrait of the author, a self-confessed welfare socialist, besides being an X-ray of the innards of the bureaucracy.

Download or read book Memoirs of an Agent for Change in International Development written by Ludwig Rudel and published by Ludwig Rudel. This book was released on 2014 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE ASSOCIATION FOR DIPLOMATIC STUDIES AND TRAINING (see ADST.org) has selected this memoir for inclusion in its "Memoirs and Occasional Papers" series. Lu Rudel describes his unique experiences with US foreign economic aid programs during some of the most dramatic international events since World War II. These include Iran after the fall of Mosaddegh (1956-1960); Turkey after the military coup of 1960 to the start of the Cuba Missile crisis; India after the death of Nehru (1965-1970); and Pakistan following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988. Rudel's firsthand observations on Iran differ markedly from the description of events commonly espoused by some historians and journalists. He also provides a firsthand account of the political metamorphosis over the past half-century of the "Group of 77" nations as they attempted to employ the UN's economic development agencies to press for a "New International Economic Order." These experiences lead him to draw important lessons about the conduct and effectiveness of foreign aid. After retirement in 1980 he launched a second career, applying lessons learned from his work in international development to creation of a thousand-acre land development and resort in rural Appalachia. His experiences over the following thirty years as an entrepreneur track the relentless growth of government regulations and the disappearance of community support institutions such as local banks, now being replaced by mega-banks. Finally, he examines global trends of the past eighty years in four critical areas of change affecting our lives-population growth, science and technology, economic systems, and political structures-to draw some surprising conclusions and projections. Photos that accompany the text may be accessed through the web site: www.rudel.net

Download or read book Little Failure written by Gary Shteyngart and published by Random House. This book was released on 2014-01-07 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY MICHIKO KAKUTANI, THE NEW YORK TIMES • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY TIME NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY MORE THAN 45 PUBLICATIONS, INCLUDING The New York Times Book Review • The Washington Post • NPR • The New Yorker • San Francisco Chronicle • The Economist • The Atlantic • Newsday • Salon • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Guardian • Esquire (UK) • GQ (UK) After three acclaimed novels, Gary Shteyngart turns to memoir in a candid, witty, deeply poignant account of his life so far. Shteyngart shares his American immigrant experience, moving back and forth through time and memory with self-deprecating humor, moving insights, and literary bravado. The result is a resonant story of family and belonging that feels epic and intimate and distinctly his own. Born Igor Shteyngart in Leningrad during the twilight of the Soviet Union, the curious, diminutive, asthmatic boy grew up with a persistent sense of yearning—for food, for acceptance, for words—desires that would follow him into adulthood. At five, Igor wrote his first novel, Lenin and His Magical Goose, and his grandmother paid him a slice of cheese for every page. In the late 1970s, world events changed Igor’s life. Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev made a deal: exchange grain for the safe passage of Soviet Jews to America—a country Igor viewed as the enemy. Along the way, Igor became Gary so that he would suffer one or two fewer beatings from other kids. Coming to the United States from the Soviet Union was equivalent to stumbling off a monochromatic cliff and landing in a pool of pure Technicolor. Shteyngart’s loving but mismatched parents dreamed that he would become a lawyer or at least a “conscientious toiler” on Wall Street, something their distracted son was simply not cut out to do. Fusing English and Russian, his mother created the term Failurchka—Little Failure—which she applied to her son. With love. Mostly. As a result, Shteyngart operated on a theory that he would fail at everything he tried. At being a writer, at being a boyfriend, and, most important, at being a worthwhile human being. Swinging between a Soviet home life and American aspirations, Shteyngart found himself living in two contradictory worlds, all the while wishing that he could find a real home in one. And somebody to love him. And somebody to lend him sixty-nine cents for a McDonald’s hamburger. Provocative, hilarious, and inventive, Little Failure reveals a deeper vein of emotion in Gary Shteyngart’s prose. It is a memoir of an immigrant family coming to America, as told by a lifelong misfit who forged from his imagination an essential literary voice and, against all odds, a place in the world. Praise for Little Failure “Hilarious and moving . . . The army of readers who love Gary Shteyngart is about to get bigger.”—The New York Times Book Review “A memoir for the ages . . . brilliant and unflinching.”—Mary Karr “Dazzling . . . a rich, nuanced memoir . . . It’s an immigrant story, a coming-of-age story, a becoming-a-writer story, and a becoming-a-mensch story, and in all these ways it is, unambivalently, a success.”—Meg Wolitzer, NPR “Literary gold . . . bruisingly funny.”—Vogue “A giant success.”—Entertainment Weekly

Download or read book Alive Alive Oh written by Diana Athill and published by Granta Publications. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Enchanting . . . Diana Athill, 98, still has a few things to teach us about growing old with dignity and humor and grace . . . Astute and sparkling.”—Associated Press Several years ago, Diana Athill accepted that she could no longer live entirely independently, and moved to a retirement home in Highgate. Released from the daily anxieties of caring for her own property and free to settle into her remaining years, she reflects on what it feels like to be very old, and on the moments in her long life that have risen to the surface and which sustain her in these last years. What really matters in the end? Which memories stand out? As she approaches her 100th year, Athill recalls in sparkling, precise detail the exact layout of the garden of her childhood, a vast and beautiful park attached to a large house; relates with humor, clarity and honesty her experiences of the First and Second World Wars and her trips to Europe as a young woman; and in the remarkable title chapter, describes her pregnancy at the age of forty-three, losing the baby and almost losing her life—and her gratitude and joy on discovering that she had survived. Alive, Alive Oh! is “so beautifully written and exquisitely detailed . . . [Athill] mines her memories of a life well-lived and generously lays them out on the page for the rest of the world to enjoy” (Star Tribune). “Witty, candid . . . If you haven’t read Athill, and open her latest book expecting serene reflections from a nonagenarian sipping tea in her garden, you’re in for a surprise.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Download or read book A Promised Land written by Barack Obama and published by Random House. This book was released on 2024-08-13 with total page 801 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making—from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAACP IMAGE AWARD NOMINEE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND PEOPLE NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times • NPR • The Guardian • Slate • Vox • The Economist • Marie Claire In the stirring first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency—a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil. Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office. Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune’s Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden. A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective—the story of one man’s bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of “hope and change,” and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible. This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.

Download or read book No Such Thing as a Bad Day written by Hamilton Jordan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-05 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Former White House chief of staff recounts his bouts with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, melanoma, and prostate cancer.