Download or read book The Diver who Fell from the Sky written by Simon Pridmore and published by Simon Pridmore. This book was released on 2020-06-26 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maverick, innovator, entrepreneur, environmentalist and sheer force of nature, Francis Toribiong would have been a unique and significant individual no matter where in the world he was born. As it turned out, he was born in the island nation of Palau in the Western Pacific at just the right time to apply his special set of skills and attributes to the task of helping his country find its place in the world. In the 1980s and 1990s, he arguably did more than anyone to build Palau’s economy and help it develop into an independent, forward-looking nation. And, improbably, he achieved this via the sport of scuba diving. Francis Toribiong is a Pacific Islander like no other. He is the father of Palau tourism, a scuba diving pioneer, and an effective, tireless ambassador for both his country and its abundant marine and land resources. He was born poor and had no academic leanings. Yet he was driven to succeed by a combination of duty, faith, a deep-seated determination to do the right thing and an absolute refusal ever to compromise his values. For his whole life, he has been a devoted friend to strangers and an implacable opponent to anybody who, through malevolence or negligence, threatens Palau’s considerable natural treasures. He has also been the perfect host to generations of scuba divers from all over the world, who have visited Palau to see those treasures for themselves. And, as well as all that, he was Palau’s first ever parachutist – known throughout the islands as the Palauan who fell from the sky. They were speaking both literally and figuratively. He was so completely different from all of his contemporaries in terms of his demeanor, his ambitions and his vision, that it was as if he had come from outer space. Palau had never seen anybody quite like him and there was no historical precedent for what Francis Toribiong did. He had no operations manual to consult and no examples to follow. He wrote his own life. Francis Toribiong was the first Palauan ever to seek and seize the international narrative. No Palauan, in any context or field, had previously thought to go out into the world and say: “This is Palau – what we have is wonderful. Come and see!” This is his astonishing story.
Download or read book When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky written by Margaret Verble and published by Mariner Books. This book was released on 2021 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Louise Erdrich meets Karen Russell in this deliciously strange and daringly original novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Margaret Verble: An eclectic cast of characters--both real and ghostly--converge at an amusement park in Nashville, 1926.
Download or read book The Diving Bell and the Butterfly written by Jean-Dominique Bauby and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2008-03-06 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A triumphant memoir by the former editor-in-chief of French Elle that reveals an indomitable spirit and celebrates the liberating power of consciousness. In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, the father of two young children, 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 book is a lasting testament to his life.
Download or read book Scuba Confidential written by Simon Pridmore and published by Sandsmedia via PublishDrive. This book was released on 2020-08-03 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scuba Confidential is a unique book packed full of valuable tips and expert advice, giving you unprecedented access to the secrets of dive professionals and technical divers. With Scuba Confidential, you will learn how to master skills and techniques that will make you a more confident, capable and safe diver. It offers an informed, balanced view on some of scuba diving's most contentious issues like going solo, deep diving and rebreathers and includes a comprehensive analysis of how diving accidents happen and how to make sure you do not become a statistic. Scuba Confidential also gives you valuable insights on a vast range of topics such as what it is like to do a cave diving course, how to make sure you buy the right equipment, what to consider when choosing an instructor, things even the pros get wrong and where to find the best diving in the world. This is candid, no-nonsense practical advice from a professional who has been involved over the last three decades with virtually every aspect of the sport. Have you ever wondered? How to look as comfortable in the water as the professionals do? What it is like to dive inside shipwrecks? Which training courses are most worthwhile? If you would make a good technical diver? If you should be considering a rebreather? How you can improve your diving skills? How you can reduce your air consumption? Why diving accidents happen and how to prevent them? Whether you might sometimes actually be safer solo diving? How to dive deep safely? Or How muck diving can possibly be any fun? Scuba Confidential has the answers to these questions and many more.
Download or read book The Diver Who Fell from the Sky Color written by Simon Pridmore and published by . This book was released on 2020-07-06 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inspiring biography of Pacific scuba diving pioneer Francis Toribiong - the man who built Palau tourism.
Download or read book Dive into Taiwan written by Simon Pridmore and published by Simon Pridmore. This book was released on 2019-11-18 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taiwan is a Pacific island – actually several islands: a big one and some smaller satellites – surrounded by warm tropical seas. It is easily accessible, has excellent transportation and is a first-world society with out-going, friendly, laid-back people. Especially in the south and on several of the outlying islands, there is some very good scuba diving and also a network of dive centres and resorts with first-class professional staff and equipment. They provide services for a young generation of Taiwanese, who are driving development in the sport with considerable enthusiasm. Yet, when divers elsewhere in the world think about diving destinations, Taiwan is rarely even a blip on their radar screen. Very few people outside Taiwan have ever thought to enquire about the diving there, and very few people inside Taiwan have ever thought to tell anyone about it. Until now... In Dive into Taiwan, Simon Pridmore unveils the underwater secrets of these islands and guides you around expertly, making sure you travel easily, dine well and appreciate the unique culture and traditions of Taiwan as well as its marine treasures. This is the first English-language guide to diving the reefs and wrecks of hitherto unknown locations such as Penghu, Xiaoliuqiu, Hengchun, Lanyu (Orchid Island), Ludao (Green Island) and Taiwan’s Northeast Coast and places them firmly on the international diving map. Authoritative, well written and beautifully illustrated by Taiwanese photographer Kyo Liu’s superb underwater images, Dive into Taiwan opens the door to a new and exciting destination for travelling divers.
Download or read book Brain Teasers from the World Almanac R for Kids written by Debra Housel and published by Teacher Created Resources. This book was released on 2003-06-20 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chock-full of information from The World Almanac for Kids, the books in this series provide stimulating puzzles and games that can be used as quick stand-alone activities or to reinforce classroom lessons. Each subject-specific section includes valuable background information along with brain teasers that develop a variety of skills and appeal to all types of learners.
Download or read book Blue Sky Kingdom written by Bruce Kirkby and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A warm and unforgettable portrait of a family letting go of the known world to encounter an unfamiliar one filled with rich possibilities and new understandings. Bruce Kirkby had fallen into a pattern of looking mindlessly at his phone for hours, flipping between emails and social media, ignoring his children and wife and everything alive in his world, when a thought struck him. This wasn't living; this wasn't him. This moment of clarity started a chain reaction which ended with a grand plan: he was going to take his wife and two young sons, jump on a freighter and head for the Himalaya. In Blue Sky Kingdom, we follow Bruce and his family's remarkable three months journey, where they would end up living amongst the Lamas of Zanskar Valley, a forgotten appendage of the ancient Tibetan empire, and one of the last places on earth where Himalayan Buddhism is still practiced freely in its original setting. Richly evocative, Blue Sky Kingdom explores the themes of modern distraction and the loss of ancient wisdom coupled with Bruce coming to terms with his elder son's diagnosis on the Autism Spectrum. Despite the natural wonders all around them at times, Bruce's experience will strike a chord with any parent—from rushing to catch a train with the whole family to the wonderment and beauty that comes with experience the world anew with your children.
Download or read book The World Book Dictionary written by and published by World Book .com. This book was released on 2003 with total page 1282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An English language dictionary, in two volumes, that provides definitions, spellings, and pronunciations to more than 225,000 terms.
Download or read book Into the Blue American Writing on Aviation and Spaceflight written by Joseph J. Corn and published by Library of America. This book was released on 2011-10-13 with total page 1018 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Into the Blue revisits the remarkable trajectory of Americans in air and space, gathering sixty of the best eyewitness and participant narratives from Benjamin Franklin's letters on the first hot air balloons to Chris Jones's account of being marooned on the International Space Station. Here are those who made flight happen: Orville and Wilbur Wright, self-taught pioneers whose homespun invention stunned the world; World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker, whose memoirs (excerpted here for the first time in unedited form) describe the frightening novelties of aerial combat; and daredevils like Texas barnstormer Slats Rodgers and test pilot Jimmy Collins. Ernest Hemingway offers a vivid dispatch on a 1922 flight over France, and Gertrude Stein muses on the look of America from the air; Charles A. Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart narrate their groundbreaking transatlantic flights; Ralph Ellison reflects on the experience of African American airmen at Tuskegee; William F. Buckley Jr. recounts his mishaps as an amateur pilot; Wernher von Braun envisions a space station of the future, while astronauts John Glenn, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin provide firsthand recollections of the conquest of space. Here too, among many other subjects, are scenes and episodes in the development of commercial aviation, from the hiring of the first stewardesses and the high stress lives of air traffic controllers to the new ubiquity of what Walter Kirn calls "Airworld." A thirty-two-page insert offers photographs, some previously unpublished, of the writers and their crafts.
Download or read book Colour Films in Britain written by Sarah Street and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-18 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Eastmancolor's arrival on the British filmmaking scene is one of intermittent trial and error, intense debate and speculation before gradual acceptance. This book traces the journey of its adoption in British Film and considers its lasting significance as one of the most important technical innovations in film history. Through original archival research and interviews with key figures within the industry, the authors examine the role of Eastmancolor in relation to key areas of British cinema since the 1950s; including its economic and structural histories, different studio and industrial strategies, and the wider aesthetic changes that took place with the mass adoption of colour. Their analysis of British cinema through the lens of colour produces new interpretations of key British film genres including social realism, historical and costume drama, science fiction, horror, crime, documentary and even sex films. They explore how colour communicated meaning in films ranging from the Carry On series to Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), from Lawrence of Arabia (1962) to A Passage to India (1984), and from Goldfinger (1964) to 1984 (1984), and in the work of key directors and cinematographers of both popular and art cinema including Nicolas Roeg, Ken Russell, Ridley Scott, Peter Greenaway and Chris Menges.
Download or read book Semblances written by S. P. Elledge and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2007-05-27 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here once more are thirteen short stories, not for everyone. Several of these stories have previously appeared in magazines, some of them in slightly different versions, and they were completed in part with funds from local and state arts grants and during stays at various artists' retreats. Our thanks yet again to all these generous patrons and benefactors.
Download or read book Why is the Sky Blue written by David West and published by Barron's Educational Series. This book was released on 1992 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is inside the sun? How does the earth build mountains? This answer book for kids emphasizes entertainment but keeps all information scientifically sound. It answers precisely the kinds of questions children like to ask--and the full-color illustrations are both comical and instructive.
Download or read book The Q Continuum written by Greg Cox and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2003-10-07 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The unpredictable cosmic entity known only as Q has plagued Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise™ since their very first voyage together. But little was known of Q's mysterious past or of the unearthly realm from which he hails. Until now. A brilliant scientist may have found a way to breach the energy barrier surrounding the Milky Way galaxy, and the Enterprise is going to put it to the test. The last thing Captain Picard needs is a surprise visit from Q, but the omnipotent trickster has more in mind than his usual pranks. Kidnapping Picard, he takes the captain back through time to the moment the Q Continuum faced its greatest threat. Now Picard must learn Q's secrets -- or all of reality may perish!
Download or read book The Last Uncharted Sky written by Curtis Craddock and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2020-08-11 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An airship captain battles spies, disturbing visions, and more as she races to find treasure in this swashbuckling high fantasy series conclusion. When a legendary craton is discovered, newly appointed airship captain Isabelle desZephyrs and her trusted musketeer Jean-Claude travel on a perilous mission to recover its fabled treasure for l’Empire Céleste. Bust Isabelle’s leadership quickly becomes jeopardized. The dark, magical abilities she inherited give her increasingly disturbing and disruptive hallucinations. Disasters are compounded when a spy sabotages the ship, and Jean-Claude is lost to the expedition. Separated, Isabelle and Jean-Claude must each overcome a growing number of enemies—from the past, from the court, and from their own minds—and gather trustworthy friends before a rival expedition unlocks an ancient secret for their own nefarious ends. Praise for the Risen Kingdoms series “A gripping tale of a woman who refuses to be defined by her physical and magical limitations, thwarting both assassins and all who see her as a pawn. A great read!” —Brandon Sanderson, #1 New York Times–bestselling author, on An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors “A fun, complicated tale, filled with adventure and intrigue.” —Booklist on A Labyrinth of Scions and Sorcery
Download or read book The World Almanac for Kids Brain Teasers written by Debra J. Housel and published by Teacher Created Resources. This book was released on 2003-05-21 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chock-full of information from The World Almanac for Kids, the books in this series provide stimulating puzzles and games that can be used as quick stand-alone activities or to reinforce classroom lessons. Each subject-specific section includes valuable background information along with brain teasers that develop a variety of skills and appeal to all types of learners.
Download or read book Chinook texts written by Franz Boas and published by . This book was released on 1894 with total page 588 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
