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Book The Fourteen Lives of Matt Perry

Download or read book The Fourteen Lives of Matt Perry written by Matthew Perry and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2009-01-09 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a family saga about emigration and its aftermath. Matthew Valentin Perry is the child of immigrants--a man from humble origins following the American dream. His life is the product of resolve in a changing world and ambition in a land of opportunity. His successes and failures are unique but familiar, and his memoir is a written testament to the American spirit.

Book The Fourteen Lives of Matt Perry

Download or read book The Fourteen Lives of Matt Perry written by Matthew Perry and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2009-01-05 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who can say how words in this book will be received ? Will readers respond to a message about immigration and resilience ? I know my own reaction. I came to the conclusion that nobody would buy in. That was a switch because I had believed people would eat up my every word. As I wrote, a change came over me. I began to believe that my words would also change others. Even Warren Buffett, the modern King Midas. I began to see that my book was not just about emigration and resilience but also about repentance and redemption. I accepted the notion that this was my Pactolus, the river which had lifted the burden of greed and threat from Midas, whose food and drink---and daughter---turned into gold at his touch. Suddenly, Midas was free to live like a person who could touch his food, drink and family members without bad results. He was freed from his addiction to wealth. ---------------------------- My 77-year-span unfolded before my eyes. I recorded all traumas in detail---a million words, hundreds of pages. Slowly, I began to understand that I was having a conversion experience. -------------------------- I went from admiration and love of pennies, nickels, dimes, riches, wealth---an addicted state of mind---to the realization that I had a condition which I call Buffett mania. As Buffett's biographer Schroeder wrote this year, Buffett did not control money. Rather, money controlled Warren Buffett. In Omaha, Buffett stole his sister's bicycle--because he wanted a trade-in as he bought a bicycle for himself. He shop-lifted golf balls at Sears in Washington so he could sell balls himself. During my careers as chemical engineer and stock-market analyst, I observed Buffett mania in my engineering and business associates but overlooked my addiction. I still have traces of this mental illness. Now I have decided to be a man---to confront Warren Buffett with my book. Buffett's biographer describes his mania in a new biography, The Snowball. American preoccupation with economics played a part in Warren Buffett's so-called success and so-called wealth. ----------------------------- There is an antidote to the poison of addiction to greed---and that is this book, My Fourteen Lives. My resilience, which saved my life 13 times, is nothing less than a gift from God, who will also save Warren Buffett from his greed. It's not just about my life and that of Warren Buffett because 500,000 other lives hang in the balance. Addiction to greed has targeted many victims for a hellish life and death. Time for repentance and redemption ! Time to give away your money, Mr. Buffett. In your own lifetime. Do it yourself. As Carnegie did. As Rockefeller did. As Morgan did. Time for everybody on "Wall Street" to refuse the end-of-year bonus. Buy books instead. Buy The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the business of life. $35 for 960 pages ! Buy My Fourteen Lives: the many lives of Matthew Valentin Perry Give them as presents. Read them yourself. ( You never know...)

Book Friends  Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing

Download or read book Friends Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing written by Matthew Perry and published by Headline Book Publishing. This book was released on 2024-03-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'There's never been a more honest or raw memoir ... and it may just save lives' Daily Mail 'Funny, fascinating, compelling ... also a wonderful read for fans of Friends' The Times The beloved star of Friends takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this candid, funny, and revelatory memoir that delivers a powerful message of hope and persistence. This is the riveting story of acclaimed actor Matthew Perry, who takes us along on his journey from childhood ambition to fame to addiction and recovery in the aftermath of a life-threatening health scare. Before the frequent hospital visits and stints in rehab, there was five-year-old Matthew, who travelled from Montreal to Los Angeles, shuffling between his separated parents; fourteen-year-old Matthew, who was a nationally ranked tennis star in Canada; twenty-four-year-old Matthew, who nabbed a coveted role as a lead cast member on the talked-about pilot then called Friends Like Us. . . and so much more. In an extraordinary story that only he could tell - and in the heartfelt, hilarious, and warmly familiar way only he could tell it - Matthew Perry lays bare the fractured family that raised him (and also left him to his own devices), the desire for recognition that drove him to fame, and the void inside him that could not be filled even by his greatest dreams coming true. But he also details the peace he's found in sobriety and how he feels about the ubiquity of Friends, sharing stories about his castmates and other stars he met along the way. Frank, self-aware, and with his trademark humour, Perry vividly depicts his lifelong battle with addiction and what fuelled it despite seemingly having it all. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is an unforgettable memoir that is both intimate and eye-opening - as well as a hand extended to anyone struggling with sobriety. Unflinchingly honest, moving, and uproariously funny, this is the book fans have been waiting for. 'An unflinching and often harrowing must-read for 90s pop culture fans' Guardian 'Written with Chandler's trademark sarcasm and self-deprecation' Telegraph 'A hopeful read ... I started to think of [it] not as a celebrity memoir about addiction, but as an addiction memoir written by a man who understands his own history through the prism of showbiz' Independent

Book Uncovered  The Naked Truth of Life  Love and Addiction

Download or read book Uncovered The Naked Truth of Life Love and Addiction written by Matt Mathews and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-08-15 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Uncovered, author Matt Mathews recounts a lifetime spent breaking the unfortunate cycle of addiction as well as sharing his experiences with growing up as a gay person in Alabama. With insights about the heartbreak of losing loved ones due to tragic events and how to break ties with those who harm us, as well as amusing anecdotes from his life as a professional boudoir photographer. A comedic self-help memoir and all around hilariously tragic story, Uncovered: The Naked Truth of Life, Love, and Addiction doesn't take itself seriously as it faces many taboo topics we rarely discuss. You?ll laugh, you?ll cry, and in the end, you?ll survey your own life so you can better face the challenges this remarkable journey of human survival will relentlessly serve up.

Book Perry Como

    Book Details:
  • Author : Malcolm Macfarlane
  • Publisher : McFarland
  • Release : 2015-05-07
  • ISBN : 1476600244
  • Pages : 313 pages

Download or read book Perry Como written by Malcolm Macfarlane and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perry Como put aside his career as a barber to become one of the top American crooners of the 20th century and also one of the first multimedia stars. His record sales exceeded 100 million. In 1948, Como was the first popular singer to cross over to television and The Perry Como Show became the benchmark for a broadcast music and variety show. Como's career illuminates developments in the music and television business in the middle of the last century. This biography features 73 photographs, a complete discography, a listing of all television appearances, and a year by year chronology of Perry Como's life from 1912 to 2001.

Book The Good Mothers

    Book Details:
  • Author : Alex Perry
  • Publisher : HarperCollins
  • Release : 2018-06-05
  • ISBN : 0062655639
  • Pages : 364 pages

Download or read book The Good Mothers written by Alex Perry and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES The electrifying, untold story of the women born into the most deadly and obscenely wealthy of the Italian mafias – and how they risked everything to bring it down. The Calabrian Mafia—known as the ’Ndrangheta—is one of the richest and most ruthless crime syndicates in the world, with branches stretching from America to Australia. It controls seventy percent of the cocaine and heroin supply in Europe, manages billion-dollar extortion rackets, brokers illegal arms deals—supplying weapons to criminals and terrorists—and plunders the treasuries of both Italy and the European Union. The ’Ndrangheta’s power derives from a macho mix of violence and silence—omertà. Yet it endures because of family ties: you are born into the syndicate, or you marry in. Loyalty is absolute. Bloodshed is revered. You go to prison or your grave and kill your own father, brother, sister, or mother in cold blood before you betray The Family. Accompanying the ’Ndrangheta’s reverence for tradition and history is a violent misogyny among its men. Women are viewed as chattel, bargaining chips for building and maintaining clan alliances and beatings—and worse—are routine. In 2009, after one abused ’Ndrangheta wife was murdered for turning state’s evidence, prosecutor Alessandra Cerreti considered a tantalizing possibility: that the ’Ndrangheta’s sexism might be its greatest flaw—and her most effective weapon. Approaching two more mafia wives, Alessandra persuaded them to testify in return for a new future for themselves and their children. A feminist saga of true crime and justice, The Good Mothers is the riveting story of a high-stakes battle pitting a brilliant, driven woman fighting to save a nation against ruthless mafiosi fighting for their existence. Caught in the middle are three women fighting for their children and their lives. Not all will survive.

Book The Meursault Investigation

Download or read book The Meursault Investigation written by Kamel Daoud and published by Other Press, LLC. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book of 2015 “A tour-de-force reimagining of Camus’s The Stranger, from the point of view of the mute Arab victims.” —The New Yorker He was the brother of “the Arab” killed by the infamous Meursault, the antihero of Camus’s classic novel. Seventy years after that event, Harun, who has lived since childhood in the shadow of his sibling’s memory, refuses to let him remain anonymous: he gives his brother a story and a name—Musa—and describes the events that led to Musa’s casual murder on a dazzlingly sunny beach. In a bar in Oran, night after night, he ruminates on his solitude, on his broken heart, on his anger with men desperate for a god, and on his disarray when faced with a country that has so disappointed him. A stranger among his own people, he wants to be granted, finally, the right to die. The Stranger is of course central to Daoud’s story, in which he both endorses and criticizes one of the most famous novels in the world. A worthy complement to its great predecessor, The Meursault Investigation is not only a profound meditation on Arab identity and the disastrous effects of colonialism in Algeria, but also a stunning work of literature in its own right, told in a unique and affecting voice.

Book Looking for Lorraine

Download or read book Looking for Lorraine written by Imani Perry and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2019 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction Winner of the Shilts-Grahn Triangle Award for Lesbian Nonfiction Winner of the 2019 Phi Beta Kappa Christian Gauss Award A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 A revealing portrait of one of the most gifted and charismatic, yet least understood, Black artists and intellectuals of the twentieth century. Lorraine Hansberry, who died at thirty-four, was by all accounts a force of nature. Although best-known for her work A Raisin in the Sun, her short life was full of extraordinary experiences and achievements, and she had an unflinching commitment to social justice, which brought her under FBI surveillance when she was barely in her twenties. While her close friends and contemporaries, like James Baldwin and Nina Simone, have been rightly celebrated, her story has been diminished and relegated to one work—until now. In 2018, Hansberry will get the recognition she deserves with the PBS American Masters documentary “Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart” and Imani Perry’s multi-dimensional, illuminating biography, Looking for Lorraine. After the success of A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry used her prominence in myriad ways: challenging President Kennedy and his brother to take bolder stances on Civil Rights, supporting African anti-colonial leaders, and confronting the romantic racism of the Beat poets and Village hipsters. Though she married a man, she identified as lesbian and, risking censure and the prospect of being outed, joined one of the nation’s first lesbian organizations. Hansberry associated with many activists, writers, and musicians, including Malcolm X, Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, among others. Looking for Lorraine is a powerful insight into Hansberry’s extraordinary life—a life that was tragically cut far too short. A Black Caucus of the American Library Association Honor Book for Nonfiction A 2019 Pauli Murray Book Prize Finalist

Book The Dead Life

    Book Details:
  • Author : Matthew Sprosty
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2021-05-15
  • ISBN : 9781637529621
  • Pages : 280 pages

Download or read book The Dead Life written by Matthew Sprosty and published by . This book was released on 2021-05-15 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meet your new favorite undead character! (She's not dead yet, but she's getting there...) A sixteen-year-old girl wakes up in somebody's front yard, and cannot remember a single thing. All she knows is that she was abandoned, has a bite wound on her shoulder, and a hankering hunger for meat. Why would someone bite her? Who bit her? Are they still out there? Will they come back to finish their meal? And really, honestly, most importantly- who is she? THE DEAD LIFE is a humorous horror novel that will have you laughing out loud one moment and grossed out the next. Witty and gruesome, follow a teenager as she begins to understand her new life, temper her appetite, and solve the crime of who infected her with a deadly virus.

Book Life of the Party

    Book Details:
  • Author : Bert Kreischer
  • Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
  • Release : 2014-05-27
  • ISBN : 1250030315
  • Pages : 181 pages

Download or read book Life of the Party written by Bert Kreischer and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2014-05-27 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of outrageous stories by the standup comic, TV host, and inspiration for the movie National Lampoon's Van Wilder Bert Kreischer doesn't know how to say "no." If he did, he wouldn't have gotten himself mixed up with a group of Russian mobsters on a class trip to Moscow, earning him his nickname: "The Machine." He wouldn't have wrestled with a bear or swum with sharks on national television. He wouldn't have (possibly) smoked PCP with a star of Saturday Night Live. And he wouldn't have been named the Number One Partier in the Nation by Rolling Stone, inspired the movie National Lampoon's Van Wilder, or performed standup to sellout crowds across the country. The stories Kreischer shares in Life of the Party are a guidebook on how not to grow up. From his fraternity days at Florida State University, to his rise as a standup, to his marriage and first brushes with fatherhood, Kreischer shows you a path that may not lead you to maturity or personal growth. But it will lead you to a shitload of fun.

Book The Neighbor s Secret

    Book Details:
  • Author : L. Alison Heller
  • Publisher : Flatiron Books
  • Release : 2021-10-05
  • ISBN : 1250205824
  • Pages : 335 pages

Download or read book The Neighbor s Secret written by L. Alison Heller and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Addictive, suspenseful and masterfully written...will delight fans of Big Little Lies.” —Michele Campbell “[A] witty, hyperlocal mystery...With a light, Liane Moriarty-esque touch...” —New York Times L. Alison Heller, whose work has been praised by Liane Moriarty as "warm, witty...refreshingly true to life,” explores the ultimate sacrifices of parenting in The Neighbor’s Secret, a propulsive and juicy novel filled with gripping twists and instantly recognizable characters. How well do you really know your neighbors? With its sprawling yards and excellent schools, Cottonwood Estates is the perfect place to raise children. The Cottonwood Book Club serves as the subdivision’s eyes and ears, meeting once a month for discussion, gossip, and cocktails. If their selections trend toward twisty thrillers and salacious murder mysteries, it’s only because the members feel secure that such evil has no place in their own cul-de-sacs. Or does it? What happened to Lena’s family fifteen years ago was a tragic accident, and she will never admit otherwise. Devoted wife and mother Annie refuses to acknowledge—even to herself—the weight of a past shame. And new resident Jen wants friends, but as always, worry about her troubled son gets in the way. When late-night acts of vandalism target the women of the book club in increasingly violent and personal ways, they will be forced to decide how far to go to keep their secrets. At least they all agree on what’s most important: protecting their children at any cost—even if it means someone has to die.

Book Rocks

    Book Details:
  • Author : Joe Perry
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • Release : 2014-10-23
  • ISBN : 1471138631
  • Pages : 519 pages

Download or read book Rocks written by Joe Perry and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-10-23 with total page 519 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this riveting inside account of his life in rock-and-roll band Aerosmith, Joe Perry opens up for the first time to tell the story of his wild, unbridled life as the band's lead guitarist. He delves deep into his volatile, profound, and enduring relationship with singer Steve Tyler, and reveals the real people behind the larger-than-life rock-gods on stage. It's an intimate account of nearly five decades of mega highs and heartbreaking lows. The story of Aerosmith is not your average rock-and-roll tale. It's an epic saga, at once a study in brotherhood and solitude that plays out on the killing fields of rock and roll. With record-making hits and colossal album sales that compete with legends such as U2 and Frank Sinatra, Aerosmith has earned their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But with a sweeping comeback in the late 80s, one can see there is a bigger story here: to come back that high, you have to have plummeted pretty low. Aerosmith's game with fame is one of success, failure, rebirth, re-destruction, even the post-destructive rebirth, but here they are today, in their 60s and still on top. ROCKS is ultimately a story of endurance, and it starts almost half a century ago with young Perry, the misanthrope whose loving parents practically begged him to assimilate, but who quits school because he doesn't want to cut his hair. He meets Tyler in a restaurant in Boston, sways him from pop music to the darker side, rock-and-roll, and it doesn't take long for the "Toxic Twins" to skyrocket into a world of fame, drugs, and utter excess. Perry takes fora personal look into the two stars behind Aerosmith, the people who enabled them, the ones who controlled them, and the ones who changed them.

Book Love in the Big City

    Book Details:
  • Author : Sang Young Park
  • Publisher : Grove Press
  • Release : 2021-11-16
  • ISBN : 080215879X
  • Pages : 194 pages

Download or read book Love in the Big City written by Sang Young Park and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2021-11-16 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A funny, transporting, surprising, and poignant novel that was one of the highest-selling debuts of recent years in Korea, Love in the Big City tells the story of a young gay man searching for happiness in the lonely city of Seoul Love in the Big City is the English-language debut of Sang Young Park, one of Korea’s most exciting young writers. A runaway bestseller, the novel hit the top five lists of all the major bookstores, went into twenty-six printings, and was praised for its unique literary voice and perspective. It is now poised to capture a worldwide readership. Young is a cynical yet fun-loving Korean student who pinballs from home to class to the beds of recent Tinder matches. He and Jaehee, his female best friend and roommate, frequent nearby bars where they push away their anxieties about their love lives, families, and money with rounds of soju and ice-cold Marlboro Reds that they keep in their freezer. Yet over time, even Jaehee leaves Young to settle down, leaving him alone to care for his ailing mother and to find companionship in his relationships with a series of men, including one whose handsomeness is matched by his coldness, and another who might end up being the great love of his life. A brilliantly written novel that takes us into the glittering nighttime of Seoul and the bleary-eyed morning after with both humor and emotion, Love in the Big City is a wry portrait of millennial loneliness as well as the abundant joys of queer life.

Book Stories I Only Tell My Friends

Download or read book Stories I Only Tell My Friends written by Rob Lowe and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2011-04-26 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Actor Rob Lowe's memoir presents a wryly funny and surprisingly moving account of an extraordinary life lived almost entirely in the public eye. A teen idol at fifteen, an international icon and founder of the Brat Pack at twenty, and one of Hollywood's top stars to this day, Rob Lowe chronicles his experiences as a painfully misunderstood child actor in Ohio uprooted to the wild counterculture of mid-seventies Malibu, where he embarked on his unrelenting pursuit of a career in Hollywood. The Outsiders placed Lowe at the birth of the modern youth movement in the entertainment industry. During his time on The West Wing, he witnessed the surreal nexus of show business and politics both on the set and in the actual White House. And in between are deft and humorous stories of the wild excesses that marked the eighties, leading to his quest for family and sobriety. Never mean-spirited or salacious, Lowe delivers unexpected glimpses into his successes, disappointments, relationships, and one-of-a-kind encounters with people who shaped our world over the last twenty-five years. Rob Lowe's New York Times bestselling autobiography, Stories I Only Tell My Friends, shares tales that are as entertaining as they are unforgettable.

Book The Essex Serpent

    Book Details:
  • Author : Sarah Perry
  • Publisher : HarperCollins
  • Release : 2017-06-06
  • ISBN : 0062666398
  • Pages : 420 pages

Download or read book The Essex Serpent written by Sarah Perry and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-06-06 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOW AN APPLE TV+ SERIES A Washington Post Notable Work of Fiction * Winner of the British Book Awards Fiction Book of the Year and overall Book of the Year *A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of The Year * Waterstones Book of the Year * Costa Book Award Finalist “A novel of almost insolent ambition—lush and fantastical, a wild Eden behind a garden gate...it’s part ghost story and part natural history lesson, part romance and part feminist parable. I found it so transporting that 48 hours after completing it, I was still resentful to be back home.” —New York Times London, 1893. When Cora Seaborne’s brilliant, domineering husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness: her marriage was an unhappy one, and she never suited the role of society wife. Seeking refuge in fresh air and open space, she leaves the metropolis for coastal Essex, accompanied by her inquisitive and obsessive eleven-year-old son, Francis, and the boy’s nanny, Martha, her fiercely protective friend. Once there, they hear rumors that after nearly three hundred years, the mythical Essex Serpent, a fearsome creature that once roamed the marshes, has returned. When a young man is mysteriously killed on New Year’s Eve, the community’s dread transforms to terror. Cora, a keen amateur naturalist with no patience for religion or superstition, is immediately enthralled, certain that what locals think is a magical sea beast may be a previously undiscovered species. Eager to investigate, she is introduced to parish vicar William Ransome, who is equally suspicious of the rumors but for different reasons: a man of faith, he is convinced the alarming reports are caused by moral panic, a flight from the correct and righteous path. As Cora and William attempt to discover the truth about the Essex Serpent’s existence, these seeming opposites find themselves inexorably drawn together in an intense relationship that will change both of them in ways entirely unexpected. And as they search for answers, Cora’s London past follows her to the coast, with striking consequences. Told with exquisite grace and intelligence, The Essex Serpent masterfully explores questions of science and religion, skepticism and faith, but it is most of all a celebration of love, and the many different—and surprising—guises it can take.

Book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

Download or read book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick written by Chris Van Allsburg and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1996 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since its publication in 1984, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick has stimulated the minds of readers of all ages and backgrounds. Now the original fourteen drawings are available in a large portfolio edition of loose sheets. In addition, a newly discovered fifteenth drawing, titled The Youngest Magician, has been added, as well as an updated introduction by the author. The puzzles of these mysterious drawings will be even more provocative because of the larger size and the exceptional printing quality. For the first time, the drawings can be shared with groups or displayed singly. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick was a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 1984.

Book Bruce Lee

Download or read book Bruce Lee written by Matthew Polly and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The first noteworthy treatment of its subject—and a definitive one at that...Fascinating narrative threads proliferate” (The New York Times Book Review). The most authoritative biography—featuring dozens of rarely seen photographs—of film legend Bruce Lee, who made martial arts a global phenomenon, bridged the divide between Eastern and Western cultures, and smashed long-held stereotypes of Asians and Asian-Americans. Forty-five years after Bruce Lee’s sudden death at age thirty-two, journalist and bestselling author Matthew Polly has written the definitive account of Lee’s life. It’s also one of the only accounts; incredibly, there has never been an authoritative biography of Lee. Following a decade of research that included conducting more than one hundred interviews with Lee’s family, friends, business associates, and even the actress in whose bed Lee died, Polly has constructed a complex, humane portrait of the icon. Polly explores Lee’s early years as a child star in Hong Kong cinema; his actor father’s struggles with opium addiction and how that turned Bruce into a troublemaking teenager who was kicked out of high school and eventually sent to America to shape up; his beginnings as a martial arts teacher, eventually becoming personal instructor to movie stars like James Coburn and Steve McQueen; his struggles as an Asian-American actor in Hollywood and frustration seeing role after role he auditioned for go to a white actors in eye makeup; his eventual triumph as a leading man; his challenges juggling a sky-rocketing career with his duties as a father and husband; and his shocking end that to this day is still shrouded in mystery. Polly breaks down the myths surrounding Bruce Lee and argues that, contrary to popular belief, he was an ambitious actor who was obsessed with the martial arts—not a kung-fu guru who just so happened to make a couple of movies. This is an honest, revealing look at an impressive yet imperfect man whose personal story was even more entertaining and inspiring than any fictional role he played onscreen.