Download or read book The Ragged Edge written by Michael Zacchea and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2017-04-01 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deployed to Iraq in March 2004 after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, US Marine Michael Zacchea thought he had landed a plum assignment. His team's mission was to build, train, and lead in combat the first Iraqi Army battalion trained by the US military. Quickly, he realized he was faced with a nearly impossible task. With just two weeks' training based on outdated and irrelevant materials, no language instruction, and few cultural tips for interacting with his battalion of Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Yazidis, and others, Zacchea arrived at his base in Kirkush to learn his recruits would need beds, boots, uniforms, and equipment. His Iraqi officer counterparts spoke little English. He had little time to transform his troops—mostly poor, uneducated farmers—into a cohesive rifle battalion that would fight a new insurgency erupting across Iraq. In order to stand up a fighting battalion, Zacchea knew, he would have to understand his men. Unlike other combat Marines in Iraq at the time, he immersed himself in Iraq's culture: learning its languages, eating its foods, observing its traditions—even being inducted into one of its Sunni tribes. A constant source of both pride and frustration, the Iraqi Army Fifth Battalion went on to fight bravely at the Battle of Fallujah against the forces that would eventually form ISIS. The Ragged Edge is Zacchea's deeply personal and powerful account of hopeful determination, of brotherhood and betrayal, and of cultural ignorance and misunderstanding. It sheds light on the dangerous pitfalls of training foreign troops to fight murderous insurgents and terrorists, precisely when such wartime collaboration is happening more than at any other time in US history.
Download or read book The Ragged Edge of Silence written by John Francis, Ph.D. and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the author of Planetwalker, The Ragged Edge of Silence takes us to another level of appreciating, through silence, the beauty of the planet and our place in it. John Francis's real and compelling prose forms a tapestry of questions and answers woven from interviews, stories, personal experience, science, and the power of silence through history, including practice by Native American, Hindu, and Buddhist cultures. Through their time-honored traditions and his own experience of communicating silently for 17 years, Francis's practical exercises lay the groundwork for the reader to build constructive silence into everyday life: to learn more about oneself, to set goals and accomplish dreams, to build strong relationships, and to appreciate and be a steward of the Earth. With its amazing human interest element and first-person expertise, this book is energizing and universally instructive.
Download or read book The Ragged Edge of the World written by Eugene Linden and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pioneering work of environmental journalism that vividly depicts the people, animals and landscapes on the front lines of change's inexorable march. A species nearing extinction, a tribe losing centuries of knowledge, a tract of forest facing the first incursion of humans-how can we even begin to assess the cost of losing so much of our natural and cultural legacy? For forty years, environmental journalist and author Eugene Linden has traveled to the very sites where tradition, wildlands and the various forces of modernity collide. In The Ragged Edge of the World, he takes us from pygmy forests to the Antarctic to the world's most pristine rainforest in the Congo to tell the story of the harm taking place-and the successful preservation efforts-in the world's last wild places. The Ragged Edge of the World is a critical favorite, and was an editors' pick on Oprah.com.
Download or read book Pluto and Charon written by Alan Stern and published by Wiley-VCH. This book was released on 1998 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rave reviews for Pluto and Charon: Ice Worlds on the Ragged Edge of the Solar System The story of the quest to understand Pluto and the resulting transformation of our concept of the diminutive planet from that of solar-system misfit to king of the Kuiper Belt is told in this book by Alan Stern and Jacqueline Mitton. Stern, a Plutophile to the core, is one of the most energetic, talented, and savvy planetary astronomers in the business today. Mitton, trained as an astronomer, is an experienced writer and editor of scientific books for nonscientists. Together they have created an immensely informative book . . . Written in an engaging and informal style, Pluto and Charon takes the reader step by step from the discovery of the ninth planet in 1930 to the current understanding of Pluto and its moon, Charon.-Sky & Telescope More than a book summarizing what we know about [the] planet, [Pluto and Charon is] about how far and how fast astronomical technology has come since 1965 . . . Stern and Mitton use the narrative of Pluto research to explain in comfortable, everyday language how such work is done . . . One of the nice touches in the book is that Stern and Mitton tell us something about each astronomer.-Astronomy Pluto and Charon presents the exploration of the ninth planet-written as a vivid historical account-for anyone with an interest in science and astronomy . . . the authors describe in simple language the methods researchers use to explore the universe and the way ever-improving instrumentation helps their knowledge advance.-Physics Today
Download or read book The Ragged Edge Illustrated written by Harold Macgrath and published by . This book was released on 2021-01-08 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Master is inordinately fond of young fools. That is why they are permitted to rush in where angels fear to tread-and survive their daring! This supreme protection, this unwritten warranty to disregard all laws, occult or apparent, divine or earthly, may be attributed to the fact that none but young fools dream gloriously. For such of us as pretend to be wise-and we are but fools in a lesser degree-we know that humanity moves onward only by the impellant of fine dreams. Sometimes these dreams are simple and tender; sometimes they are magnificent. With what airs we human atoms invest ourselves! What ridiculous fancies of our importance! We believe we have destinies, when we have only destinations: that we are something immortal, when each of us is in truth only the repository of a dream. The dream flowers and is harvested, and we are left by the wayside, having served our singular purpose in the scheme of progress: as the orange is tossed aside when sucked of its ruddy juice.
Download or read book Badluck Way written by Bryce Andrews and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-01-07 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Much more than a coming-of-age story, Badluck Way is an important meditation on what it means to share space and breathe the same air as truly wild animals, and the necessary damage that can occur when boundaries are crossed” (Tom Groneberg, author of The Secret Life of Cowboys). In this gripping memoir of a young man, a wolf, their parallel lives and ultimate collision, Bryce Andrews describes life on the remote, windswept Sun Ranch in southwest Montana. The Sun’s twenty thousand acres of rangeland occupy a still-wild corner of southwest Montana—a high valley surrounded by mountain ranges and steep creeks with portentous names like Grizzly and Bad Luck. Just over the border from Yellowstone National Park, the Sun holds giant herds of cattle and elk amid many predators—bears, mountain lions, and wolves. In lyrical, haunting language, Andrews recounts marathon days and nights of building fences, riding, roping, and otherwise learning the hard business of caring for cattle, an initiation that changes him from an idealistic city kid into a skilled ranch hand. But when wolves suddenly begin killing the ranch’s cattle, Andrews has to shoulder a rifle, chase the pack, and do what he’d hoped he would never have to do. Called “an elegant memoir” by the Great Falls Tribune, Badluck Way is about transformation and complications, about living with dirty hands every day. It is about the hard choices that wake us at night and take a lifetime to reconcile. Above all, Badluck Way celebrates the breathtaking beauty of wilderness and the satisfaction of hard work on some of the harshest, most beautiful land in the world.
Download or read book Re gifters written by Mike Carey and published by Minx. This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Korean-American Jen Dik Seong, known as Dixie to her friends, puts most of her money and energy into the martial art of hapkido, but she nearly loses her competitive edge when she falls for fellow hapkido enthusiast Adam--a boy who soon makes it obvious he is not worthy of her affection.
Download or read book Living on the Ragged Edge Workbook written by Charles R. Swindoll and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2005-04-06 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the never-ending quest for fulfillment, we sometimes convince ourselves that life would be better if we just had a different career . . . more education . . . a new spouse . . . a fresh start in another location. The solution to life's challenges, we think, is just around the corner, a few steps ahead?always just out of reach. Living on the Ragged Edge Workbook opens the pages of an ancient journal?the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. In this very personal, unbelievably honest book, King Solomon chronicles his search for satisfaction, experiencing everything the world offered. The wisest man who ever lived, he certainly had the intelligence and the vast resources to pursue whatever his heart desired?from personal riches to sexual pleasures. Solomon had it all. He did it all with abandon. And he came to the end of his days with the ultimate secret for the "good life." Do you want to know the secret? Do you want to know how to find joy and peace in this world gone mad? In this bestseller Charles Swindoll delivers his characteristic insights and wisdom in an exploration of the book of Ecclesiastes and brings home to you Solomon's powerful message for living at its best.
Download or read book Building Construction Illustrated written by Francis D. K. Ching and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-03-10 with total page 815 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic visual guide to the basics of building construction, now with the most current information For nearly three decades, Building Construction Illustrated has offered an outstanding introduction to the principles of building construction. This new edition of the revered classic remains as relevant as ever-providing the latest information in Francis D.K. Ching's signature style. Its rich and comprehensive approach clearly presents all of the basic concepts underlying building construction and equips readers with useful guidelines for approaching virtually any new materials or techniques they may encounter. Laying out the material and structural choices available, it provides a full under-standing of how these choices affect a building's form and dimensions. Complete with more than 1,000 illustrations, the book moves through each of the key stages of the design process, from site selection to building components, mechanical systems, and finishes. Illustrated throughout with clear and accurate drawings that present the state of the art in construction processes and materials Updated and revised to include the latest knowledge on sustainability, incorporation of building systems, and use of new materials Archetypal drawings offer clear inspiration for designers and drafters Reflects the most current building codes and CSI Master Format numbering scheme With its comprehensive and lucid presentation of everything from foundations and floor systems to finish work, Building Construction Illustrated, Fourth Edition equips students and professionals in all areas of architecture and construction with useful guidelines for approaching virtually any new materials or techniques they may encounter in building planning, design, and construction.
Download or read book The Illustrated Gormenghast Trilogy written by Mervyn Peake and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2018-07-17 with total page 1186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young heir matures within a bleak, sprawling castle filled with intrigue in this epic gothic trilogy, featuring over 100 illustrations by the author. Titus is expected to rule this extraordinary kingdom and his eccentric and wayward subjects. But with the arrival of an ambitious kitchen boy, Steerpike, the established order is thrown into disarray. Over the course of these three novels—Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone—Titus must contend with a kingdom about to implode beneath the weight of centuries of intrigue, treachery, manipulation, and murder. Intoxicating, rich, and unique, The Gormenghast Trilogy is a tour de force that ranks as one of the twentieth century's most remarkable feats of imaginative writing. This special edition, published for the centenary of Mervyn Peake’s birth, is accompanied by over one hundred of Peake's dazzling drawings. Praise for Mervyn Peake and the Gormenghast Trilogy “[Peake’s books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience.” —C. S. Lewis “Mervyn Peake is a finer poet than Edgar Allan Poe, and he is therefore able to maintain his world of fantasy brilliantly through three novels. It is a very, very great work . . . A classic of our age.” —Robertson Davies “[A] magnificent ediface spun from thin air by a tortured genius.” —Liz Jensen, author of The Rapture “This extravagant epic about a labyrinthine castle populated with conniving Dickensian grotesques is the true fantasy classic of our time.” —Washington Post Book World
Download or read book Illustrated World written by and published by . This book was released on 1908 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Truth s Ragged Edge written by Philip F. Gura and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2013-04-09 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the acclaimed cultural historian Philip F. Gura comes Truth's Ragged Edge, a comprehensive and original history of the American novel's first century. Grounded in Gura's extensive consideration of the diverse range of important early novels, not just those that remain widely read today, this book recovers many long-neglected but influential writers—such as the escaped slave Harriet Jacobs, the free black Philadelphian Frank J. Webb, and the irrepressible John Neal—to paint a complete and authoritative portrait of the era. Gura also gives us the key to understanding what sets the early novel apart, arguing that it is distinguished by its roots in "the fundamental religiosity of American life." Our nation's pioneering novelists, it turns out, wrote less in the service of art than of morality. This history begins with a series of firsts: the very first American novel, William Hill Brown's The Power of Sympathy, published in 1789; the first bestsellers, Susanna Rowson's Charlotte Temple and Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette, novels that were, like Brown's, cautionary tales of seduction and betrayal; and the first native genre, religious tracts, which were parables intended to instruct the Christian reader. Gura shows that the novel did not leave behind its proselytizing purpose, even as it evolved. We see Catharine Maria Sedgwick in the 1820s conceiving of A New-England Tale as a critique of Puritanism's harsh strictures, as well as novelists pushing secular causes: George Lippard's The Quaker City, from 1844, was a dark warning about growing social inequality. In the next decade certain writers—Hawthorne and Melville most famously—began to depict interiority and doubt, and in doing so nurtured a broader cultural shift, from social concern to individualism, from faith in a distant god to faith in the self. Rich in subplots and detail, Gura's narrative includes enlightening discussions of the technologies that modernized publishing and allowed for the printing of novels on a mass scale, and of the lively cultural journals and literary salons of early nineteenth-century New York and Boston. A book for the reader of history no less than the reader of fiction, Truth's Ragged Edge—the title drawn from a phrase in Melville, about the ambiguity of truth—is an indispensable guide to the fascinating, unexpected origins of the American novel.
Download or read book A Wrinkle in the Skin written by John Christopher and published by Wildside Press LLC. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A massive series of powerful earthquakes on a worldwide scale reduce towns and cities to rubble and plunge the survivors into barbarism. Most of western Europe is dramatically uplifted, transforming the English Channel into a muddy desert, while elsewhere lands are plunged below sealevel and flooded. The protagonist is Matthew Cotter, a Guernsey horticulturalist who finds himself one of only a handful of survivors on the former island. Cotter decides to trek across the empty seabed to England, in the faint hope that his daughter has somehow survived. He finds the situation on the former mainland has descended to barbarism, with competing bands of scavengers preying on survivors. He and his companion, a young boy, finally make their way to the borders of Sussex, where his daughter was staying, only to discover that the land has slipped beneath the sea. Cotter, along with some survivors from the mainland, eventually returns to Guernsey."--Wikipedia.
Download or read book Illustrated Phonographic World written by and published by . This book was released on 1886 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bear in Love written by Daniel Manus Pinkwater and published by Candlewick Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bear with a secret admirer who leaves sweet, crunchy treats outside his cave each night tries to repay the kindness with honey, but comes to find out that his new friend is smaller, cuter, and fonder of carrots than any bear.
Download or read book The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 1910 with total page 980 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists written by Robert Tressell and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 1962 with total page 639 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is a classic representation of the impoverished and politically powerless underclass of British society in Edwardian England, ruthlessly exploited by the institutionalized corruption of their employers and the civic and religious authorities. Epic in scale, the novel charts the ruinous effects of the laissez-faire mercantilist ethics on the men, women, and children of the working classes, and through its emblematic characters, argues for a socialist politics as the only hope for a civilized and humane life for all. It is a timeless work whose political message is as relevant today as it was in Tressell's time. For this it has long been honoured by the Trade Union movement and thinkers across the political spectrum.
