"The lessons that these animals taught me have been subtle, startling, and inspirational, playing a small but vital part in helping to shape the person you see with the stethoscope around his neck." -Dr. Nick Trout New York Times bestselling author Nick Trout has captivated readers by taking them behind the scenes into the heartwarming-and sometimes heartrending-world of veterinary medicine. In Ever By My Side, Nick turns the lens inward to offer a funny, moving, and intimate memoir about how the pets he has had throughout his life have shaped him into the son, husband, father, and doctor he is today. Using his relationships with those beloved animals to tell his life story, Nick shares the profound lessons he's learned about friendship, loyalty, and resilience. The result is a moving story that speaks not just to animal lovers, but to any reader who appreciates the bonds we have with our loved ones, be they animal or human, and the lengths to which we go to nurture those bonds. Nick waxes nostalgic about his boyhood in a working-class British suburb, where a large German shepherd named Patch was the perfect companion to a scrawny, bookish boy in a neighborhood full of bullies. He writes about his relationship with his father, the man who nurtured Nick's dream of becoming a vet, even though he couldn't have imagined the career would lead his only son 3,000 miles away. He describes wooing his future wife and stepdaughter and (perhaps most difficult of all) their ornery cat. And he offers a poignant chronicle of his daughter's devastating diagnosis of cystic fibrosis and how a little yellow Labrador retriever played an important role in bringing joy to their family when they needed it most. Alongside Nick's warm reflections, the pets in these pages come alive as irresistible characters in their own right and showcase the power of animals to offer a lifetime of consolation, guidance, and abiding affection.Tender, wry, and ruminative, Ever By My Side is a tribute to the power and beauty of ordinary life and a celebration of how pets make it all the sweeter and richer.
In Every Day by the Sun, Dean Faulkner Wells recounts the story of the Faulkners of Mississippi, whose legacy includes pioneers, noble and ignoble war veterans, three never-convicted murderers, the builder of the first railroad in north Mississippi, the founding president of a bank, an FBI agent, four pilots (all brothers), and a Nobel Prize winner, arguably the most important American novelist of the twentieth century. She also reveals wonderfully entertaining and intimate stories and anecdotes about her family-in particular her uncle William, or "Pappy," with whom she shared colorful, sometimes utterly frank, sometimes whimsical, conversations and experiences. This deeply felt memoir explores the close relationship between Dean's uncle and her father, Dean Swift Faulkner, a barnstormer killed at age twenty-eight during an air show four months before she was born. It was William who gave his youngest brother an airplane, and after Dean's tragic death, William helped to raise his niece. He paid for her education, gave her away when she was married, and maintained a unique relationship with her throughout his life. From the 1920s to the early civil rights era, from Faulkner's winning of the Nobel Prize in Literature to his death in 1962, Every Day by the Sun explores the changing culture and society of Oxford, Mississippi, while offering a rare glimpse of a notoriously private family and an indelible portrait of a national treasure.
From the smoky music halls of 1860s Paris to the tumbling skyscrapers of twenty-first-century New York, a sweeping tale of passion, music, and the human heart's yearning for connection. An unlikely quartet is bound together across centuries and continents by the strange and spectacular history of Richard Wagner's masterpiece opera Tristan and Isolde. Martin is a forty-year-old lawyer who, despite his success, feels disoriented and disconnected from his life in post-9/11 Manhattan. But even as he comes to terms with the missteps of his past, he questions whether his life will feel more genuine going forward. Decades earlier, in the New York of the 1960s, Anna is destined to be a grande dame of the international stage. As she steps into the spotlight, however, she realizes that the harsh glare of fame may be more than she bargained for. Maria is a tall, awkward, ostracized teenager desperate to break free from the doldrums of 1970s Pittsburgh. When the operatic power of her extraordinary voice leads Maria to Juilliard, New York seems to hold possibilities that are both exhilarating and uncertain. Lucien is a young Parisian at the birth of the modern era, racing through the streets of Europe in an exuberant bid to become a singer for the ages. When tragedy leads him to a magical discovery, Lucien embarks on a journey that will help him-and Martin, Maria, and Anna-learn that it's not how many breaths you take, it's what you do with those you're given. Grandly operatic in scale, their story is one of music and magic, love and death, betrayal and fate. Matthew Gallaway's riveting debut will have readers spellbound from the opening page to its breathtaking conclusion.
The horrific and astonishing true story of the double life of Russell Williams, who was at once a respected figure in the Canadian military and a ruthless sado-sexual serial criminal and murderer.A model officer and elite pilot, Colonel Russell Williams was trusted with flying international dignitaries including Queen Elizabeth, as well as commanding Canada's most important military airbase. Yet his dark and violent secret life included breaking into 82 homes of girls and women; thefts of vast amounts of lingerie (which he dressed in); two bizarre sexual assaults that left an uncomprehending Ontario village on a knife's-edge; and eventually, two rape-murders. In A New Kind of Monster, veteran Globe and Mail crime reporter Tim Appleby chronicles a true story that could have been lifted from the darkest pages of pulp fiction, one that offers fascinating--and troubling--insights on human psychopathology.
What's a wise, witty travel writer to do when she reaches forty and is still single? Wander the globe searching for romance and adventure, of course. On a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, to celebrate her fortieth birthday, Laura Fraser confronts the unique trajectory of her life. Divorced and childless in her thirties, she found solace in the wanderlust that had always directed her heart-and found love and comfort in the arms of a dashing Frenchman. Their Italian affair brought her back to herself-but now she wonders if her passion for travel (and for short-lived romantic rendezvous) has deprived her of what she secretly wants most from life: a husband, a family, a home.When her Parisian lover meets her in Oaxaca and gives her news that he's found someone new, Laura is stunned and hurt. Now, it seems, she has nothing but her own independence for company-and, at forty, a lot more wrinkles on her face and fewer years of fertility. How is Laura going to reconcile what seem to be two opposite desires: for adventure, travel, great food, and new experiences, but also a place to call home-and a loving pair of arms to greet her there?And so, she globe hops. What else is a travel writer to do? From Argentina to Peru, Naples to Paris, she basks in the glow of new cultures and local delicacies, always on the lookout for the "one" who might become a lifelong companion. But when a terrible incident occurs while she's on assignment in the South Pacific, Laura suddenly finds herself more aware of her vulnerability and becomes afraid of traveling. It seems as if she might lose the very thing that has given her so much pleasure in her life, not to mention the career she has built for herself as a world traveler and chronicler of far-flung places. Finding herself again will be both more difficult and more natural than she imagined. Ultimately, Laura realizes the most important journey she must take is an internal one. And the tale of how she reaches that place will captivate every woman who has ever yearned for a different life.
Just when the world needs it most, a new style of social engagement is emerging: Active Citizenship. A key member of one of New York's most civic-minded families-one that has supported many of America's notable institutions and deserving programs-Jonathan Tisch has devoted a lifetime to "active citizenship." It's an idea that uses the power of practical creativity and grassroots participation to solve seemingly intractable problems. In Citizen You, Tisch challenges readers to join this movement and points the way toward making our world a better place, one person and one neighborhood at a time. Tisch has filled Citizen You with accounts of people who you'll meet, such inspirational individuals as: Scott Harrison, who has used the networking and marketing skills he developed as a night club promoter to help over a million people in the developing world get access for the first time to clean, safe drinking water.Steffi Coplan, whose Broadway2Broadway project brought out the hidden musical talents of kids at an inner city school.Eric Schwarz, who decided to do something about America's under-performing schools, and parlayed a single classroom mentoring project into the nationwide Citizens Schools movement.Chris Swan, who is training a new generation of "citizen engineers" to make sure that the projects they build aren't just structurally sound but also environmentally and socially sustainable. Dave Nelson, who traded his role as an executive at IBM for a job at a struggling nonprofit that teaches kids about the power of entrepreneurship-and discovered a host of new challenges and rewards in the process.Through these and many other remarkable stories, you'll learn how today's active citizens are transforming thinking about social change. Rather than short-term fixes and hand-me-down charity, they're striving to build sustainable, systemic solutions to our most challenging problems, building and empowering communities rather than fostering dependency. And they're using a host of new tools, from online networking and private-public partnerships to corporate engagement and social entrepreneurship, to redefine how change can happen. Citizen You is a potent antidote to pessimism. At a time of unprecedented challenges on the national and world stage, when active citizenship is not a choice but a necessity, Citizen You dares us to reshape the social, political, and intellectual structures that have long confined us, and offers fresh thinking that redefines the very concept of activism. For more information and ideas about how to be an active citizen go to www.citizenyou.org
Circle of Greed is the epic story of the rise and fall of Bill Lerach, once the leading class action lawyer in America and now a convicted felon. For more than two decades, Lerach threatened, shook down and sued top Fortune 500 companies, including Disney, Apple, Time Warner, and-most famously-Enron. Now, the man who brought corporate moguls to their knees has fallen prey to the same corrupt impulses of his enemies, and is paying the price by serving time in federal prison. If there was ever a modern Greek tragedy about a man and his times, about corporate arrogance and illusions and the scorched-earth tactics to not only counteract corporate America but to beat it at its own game, Bill Lerach's story is it.
This "oral autobiography" of Jimmy Page, the intensely private mastermind behind Led Zeppelin-one of the most enduring bands in rock history-is the most complete and revelatory portrait of the legendary guitarist ever published. More than 30 years after disbanding in 1980, Led Zeppelin continues to be celebrated for its artistic achievements, broad musical influence, and commercial success. The band's notorious exploits have been chronicled in bestselling books; yet none of the individual members of the band has penned a memoir nor cooperated to any degree with the press or a biographer. In Light & Shade, Jimmy Page, the band's most reticent and inscrutable member, opens up to journalist Brad Tolinski, for the first time exploring his remarkable life and musical journey in great depth and intimate detail. Based on extensive interviews conducted with the guitarist/producer over the past 20 years, Light & Shade encompasses Page's entire career, beginning with his early years as England's top session guitarist when he worked with artists ranging from Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, and Burt Bacharach to the Kinks, The Who, and Eric Clapton. Page speaks frankly about his decadent yet immensely creative years in Led Zeppelin, his synergistic relationships with band members Robert Plant, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones, and his notable post-Zeppelin pursuits. While examining every major track recorded by Zeppelin, including "Stairway to Heaven," "Whole Lotta Love," and "Kashmir," Page reflects on the band's sensational tours, the filming of the concert movie The Song Remains the Same, his fascination with the occult, meeting Elvis Presley, and the making of the rock masterpiece Led Zeppelin IV, about which he offers a complete behind-the-scenes account. Additionally, the book is peppered with "sidebar" chapters that include conversations between Page and other guitar greats, including his childhood friend Jeff Beck and hipster icon Jack White. Through Page's own words, Light and Shade presents an unprecedented first-person view of one of the most important musicians of our era.
Romeo Cacciamani and Julie Roseman are rival florists whose families have hated each other for as long as anyone can remember, yet no one can remember why. When the two meet at a small business owners' seminar, an intense and unwavering attraction blooms between them. Unsure of what fate has in store, but deeply in love, Julie and Romeo are not about to let something as silly as a generations-long feud stand in their way. That is, until Romeo's octogenarian mother, Julie's meddling ex-husband, and a cast of grown Cacciamani and Roseman children begin to intervene with a passionate hatred that matches that of the Montagues and Capulets.A love story for the ages - all ages - Julie and Romeo is a stunning novel of star-crossed love finally found, threatened by family, but with a profound and modern finale of delicious proportion.
The second novel in Peter Clines' bestselling Ex series.It's been two years since the plague of ex-humans decimated mankind. Two years since the superheroes St. George, Cerberus, Zzzap, and Stealth gathered Los Angeles's survivors behind the walls of their fortress, the Mount. Since then, the heroes have been fighting to give the Mount's citizens hope, and something like a real life. But now supplies are growing scarce, the zombies are pressing in . . . and the heroes are wondering how much longer they can hold out. Then hope arrives in the form of a surviving US Army battalion--and not just any battalion. The men and women of the Army's Project Krypton survived the outbreak because they are super-soldiers, created before mankind's fall to be better, stronger, faster than normal humans--and their secure base in Arizona beckons as a much needed refuge for the beleaguered heroes and their charges. But a dark secret lies at the heart of Project Krypton, and those behind it wield an awesome and terrifying power.
The times have changed. We need a fresh understanding of the meaning of success. What do Condoleezza Rice, Joe Torre, Bill Gates, Goldie Hawn, Mary Hart, Garry Kasparov, and Jack Welch have in common? All have talked at length with Maria Bartiromo about business, the world and their surprising, inspiring and uncommon ideas about the meaning of success. Their stories, those of an extraordinary range of other people from all walks of life, and Maria Bartiromo's personal insights are the foundation of The 10 Laws of Enduring Success. It is the guide for the extraordinary times we are living through. During bullish, optimistic periods, people seem to ride an upward wave with ease and confidence. The tangible evidence is right there for all to see--in their jobs, bank accounts, homes, families, and the admiration of their peers. But it is a fact of life that success, once earned, is not necessarily there to stay. If ever there was a cautionary tale about the fleeting nature of success, it is the events of recent years. But a funny thing happened. Faced with gut-wrenching realities, many people have started to re-evaluate the meaning of success in less superficial and impermanent ways. They're asking themselves hard questions that havelong been ignored: about what's really important to them, and where the bedrock of their personal achievement lies. As Maria Bartiromo watched the financial drama from her front-row seat at the New York Stock Exchange, she began to re-assess the meaning of success--not just as one-off achievements, but as a durable, lifelong pursuit. Is there, she wondered, a definition of success that you can have permanently--in spite of the turmoil in your life, your job, or your bank account? This question is more important than ever, given the unpredictability of the current economy. --What are the intangibles that can't be measured or counted? --What are the qualities that aren't reflected in your title or on your business card?--And more practically, how can you remain successful even when the worst things happen to you? --Is it possible to build success from failure? It's lonely at the bottom of the heap, when your BlackBerry stops buzzing, and the world moves on without you. Everyone wants to be close to success, and to have success. But what is success? How do you get it, and how do you keep it? As Maria interviewed some of the most successful people in the world, she felt the need to answer these questions: what makes these success stories tick? How did they achieve such leadership and power and how can one hold onto it, once you get it. What are the barriers to success and what is the bedrock to enduring success?
A Fresh and Important New Way to Understand Why We BuyWhy did the RAZR ultimately ruin Motorola? Why does Wal-Mart dominate rural and suburban areas but falter in large cities? Why did Starbucks stumble just when it seemed unstoppable?The answer lies in the ever-present tension between fidelity (the quality of a consumer's experience) and convenience (the ease of getting and paying for a product). In Trade-Off, Kevin Maney shows how these conflicting forces determine the success, or failure, of new products and services in the marketplace. He shows that almost every decision we make as consumers involves a trade-off between fidelity and convenience-between the products we love and the products we need. Rock stars sell out concerts because the experience is high in fidelity--it can't be replicated in any other way, and because of that, we are willing to suffer inconvenience for the experience. In contrast, a downloaded MP3 of a song is low in fidelity, but consumers buy music online because it's superconvenient. Products that are at one extreme or the other-those that are high in fidelity or high in convenience--tend to be successful. The things that fall into the middle--products or services that have moderate fidelity and convenience--fail to win an enthusiastic audience. Using examples from Amazon and Disney to People Express and the invention of the ATM, Maney demonstrates that the most successful companies skew their offerings to either one extreme or the other--fidelity or convenience--in shaping products and building brands.
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