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Author: Jane Furnival
Publisher: Trans-Atlantic Publications
Published: 1998
Total Pages: 184
ISBN-13: 9781854793652
DOWNLOAD EBOOKLaunched in 1906, the Puffing Billy was an elaborate machine and the equivalent would cost #2000 to buy in the 1990s. This text follows the chain of false starts and ingenious ideas which have evolved around the modern-day vacuum cleaner.
Author: John Popper
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 2016-04-05
Total Pages: 354
ISBN-13: 0306824051
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHailed by many as the world's greatest harmonica player, John Popper has redefined the instrument. As the lead singer and principal songwriter of Blues Traveler, Popper has performed for more than 30 million people over 2,000 live dates and composed such radio staples as "Hook," "But Anyway," and "Run-Around," the longest-charting single in Billboard history. He has appeared with Eric Clapton and B. B. King at the White House, welcomed the Hungarian ambassador to the stage, and inducted Carlos Santana into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In Suck and Blow, Popper shares a candid, spirited account of his life and career. A straight-F student at Princeton High School, Popper's life changed with one serendipitous harmonica solo that captured the attention of his mercurial band teacher (the same teacher whose life was later fictionalized in the Academy Award-winning film Whiplash). After befriending three fellow musicians with whom he would form Blues Traveler, Popper's academic career nearly ended in twelfth grade, until a meeting with the Dean of the New School for Social Research in which Popper pulled out his trusty harp and played his way into college. Popper and Blues Traveler soon became enmeshed in the lower Manhattan music scene of the late 1980s, eventually becoming the house band at the fabled Wetlands Preserve and embarking on a journey that would one day land the group at Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve. Along the way, Popper and his cohorts commanded the attention of fans and bands alike, through inspired performances and riotous debauchery. Popper's unique perspective on the music business began under the tutelage of Blues Traveler's mentor and manager Bill Graham. After the rock impresario's untimely passing, Popper applied many of Graham's lessons to the formation of the H.O.R.D.E. tour, which John co-owned and hosted over eight years, welcoming such artists as Neil Young, the Allman Brothers Band, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Ziggy Marley, and his longtime friends the Spin Doctors. Popper also shares a forthright assessment of his longstanding battle with obesity. Plagued by weight problems since childhood, a motorcycle accident a few years into his career confined him to a wheelchair for two years while his weight ballooned to 436 pounds. Angioplasty, gastric bypass surgery, and a tattoo on his chest that reads "I Want to Be Brave" when viewed in the mirror are products of Popper's struggle, compounded by codependency issues and the untimely death of founding Blues Traveler bassist Bobby Sheehan. Popper's personal identity is entwined with his political passions. A staunch supporter of gun rights, he has performed at the National Republican Convention, yet he also maintains liberal positions on social issues. He will reconcile these views and share his encounters with the Bush family, the Clintons, the Gores, and other politicos. The iconoclastic, self-described Johnny Appleharp also dishes on cutting contests, Twitter trolls, party fouls, and prostitutes. In Suck and Blow, John Popper does it all with his signature honesty, humility, and humor. /DIV
Author: Wolf Haas
Publisher: Melville International Crime
Published: 2014
Total Pages: 242
ISBN-13: 1612193390
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDisillusioned ex-cop Simon Brenner decides to take a job as an ambulance driver, in the hopes of getting away from the drudgery and corruption in the police force, and finding a worthy profession.' But the ambulance service he goes to work for has a problem - their major competitors are beating them to every pick-up, somehow listening on their radio communications. And Brenner can't help being just a little bit curious about this chance to do some detective work. Things turn darker as he digs deeper, and it turns out that ambulances are a cutthroat business...'
Author: Neal Bell
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Published: 1986
Total Pages: 60
ISBN-13: 9780822209317
DOWNLOAD EBOOKTHE STORY: Sam, a young former policeman who has been drummed out of the force because of suspected corruption, is approached by his father, Mel, to act as a gay decoy to entrap a reportedly homosexual congressman. Mel, a convicted confidence man,
Author: Karen Rinaldi
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2019-05-07
Total Pages: 256
ISBN-13: 150119576X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDiscover how the freedom of sucking at something can help you build resilience, embrace imperfection, and find joy in the pursuit rather than the goal. What if the secret to resilience and joy is the one thing we’ve been taught to avoid? When was the last time you tried something new? Something that won’t make you more productive, make you more money, or check anything off your to-do list? Something you’re really, really bad at, but that brought you joy? Odds are, not recently. As a sh*tty surfer and all-around-imperfect human Karen Rinaldi explains in this eye-opening book, we live in a time of aspirational psychoses. We humblebrag about how hard we work and we prioritize productivity over play. Even kids don’t play for the sake of playing anymore: they’re building blocks to build the ideal college application. But we’re all being had. We’re told to be the best or nothing at all. We’re trapped in an epic and farcical quest for perfection. We judge others on stuff we can’t even begin to master, and it’s all making us more anxious and depressed than ever. Worse, we’re not improving on what really matters. This book provides the antidote. (It’s Great to) Suck at Something reveals that the key to a richer, more fulfilling life is finding something to suck at. Drawing on her personal experience sucking at surfing (a sport she’s dedicated nearly two decades of her life to doing without ever coming close to getting good at it) along with philosophy, literature, and the latest science, Rinaldi explores sucking as a lost art we must reclaim for our health and our sanity and helps us find the way to our own riotous suck-ability. She draws from sources as diverse as Anthony Bourdain and surfing luminary Jaimal Yogis, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Jean-Paul Sartre, among many others, and explains the marvelous things that happen to our mammalian brains when we try something new, all to discover what she’s learned firsthand: it is great to suck at something. Sucking at something rewires our brain in positive ways, helps us cultivate grit, and inspires us to find joy in the process, without obsessing about the destination. Ultimately, it gives you freedom: the freedom to suck without caring is revelatory. Coupling honest, hilarious storytelling with unexpected insights, (It’s Great to) Suck at Something is an invitation to embrace our shortcomings as the very best of who we are and to open ourselves up to adventure, where we may not find what we thought we were looking for, but something way more important.
Author: Guinevere Turner
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2023-05-23
Total Pages: 337
ISBN-13: 0593237609
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn this immersive, spell-binding memoir, an acclaimed screenwriter tells the story of her childhood growing up with the infamous Lyman Family cult—and the complicated and unexpected pain of leaving the only home she’d ever known On January 5, 1975, the world was supposed to end. Under strict instructions, six-year-old Guinevere Turner put on her best dress, grabbed her favorite toy, and waited with the rest of her community for salvation—a spaceship that would take them to live on Venus. But the spaceship never came. Guinevere did not understand that her family was a cult. She spent most of her days on a compound in Kansas, living apart from her mother with dozens of other children who worked in the sorghum fields and roved freely through the surrounding pastures, eating mulberries and tending to farm animals. But there was a dark side to this bucolic existence. Guinevere was part of the Lyman Family, a secluded cult spearheaded by Mel Lyman, a self-proclaimed savior, committed to isolation from a World he declared had lost its way. When Guinevere caught the attention of Jessie, the woman everyone in the Family called the Queen, her status was elevated—suddenly she was traveling with the inner circle among communities in Los Angeles, Boston, and Martha’s Vineyard. But before long, the life Guinevere had known ended. Her mother, from whom she had been separated since age three, left the Family with another disgraced member, and Guinevere and her four-year-old sister were forced to leave with them. Traveling outside the bounds of her cloistered existence, Guinevere was thrust into public school for the first time, a stranger in a strange land wearing homemade clothes, and clueless about social codes. Now out in the World she’d been raised to believe was evil, she faced challenges and horrors she couldn’t have imagined. Drawing from the diaries that she kept throughout her youth, Guinevere Turner’s memoir is an intimate and heart-wrenching chronicle of a childhood touched with extraordinary beauty and unfathomable ugliness, the ache of yearning to return to a lost home—and the slow realization of how harmful that place really was.
Author: Kristin Hersh
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 2015-10-01
Total Pages: 181
ISBN-13: 1477308741
DOWNLOAD EBOOK“Friend, asshole, angel, mutant,” singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt “came along and made us gross and broken people seem . . . I dunno, cooler, I guess.” A quadriplegic who could play only simple chords on his guitar, Chesnutt recorded seventeen critically acclaimed albums before his death in 2009, including About to Choke, North Star Deserter, and At the Cut. In 2006, NPR placed him in the top five of the ten best living songwriters, along with Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Paul McCartney, and Bruce Springsteen. Chesnutt’s songs have also been covered by many prominent artists, including Madonna, the Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M., Sparklehorse, Fugazi, and Neutral Milk Hotel. Kristin Hersh toured with Chesnutt for nearly a decade and they became close friends, bonding over a love of songwriting and mutual struggles with mental health. In Don’t Suck, Don’t Die, she describes many seemingly small moments they shared, their free-ranging conversations, and his tragic death. More memoir than biography, Hersh’s book plumbs the sources of Chesnutt’s pain and creativity more deeply than any conventional account of his life and recordings ever could. Chesnutt was difficult to understand and frequently difficult to be with, but, as Hersh reveals him, he was also wickedly funny and painfully perceptive. This intimate memoir is essential reading for anyone interested in the music or the artist.
Author:
Publisher: ItsSoarTime.com
Published: 2023-09-09
Total Pages: 177
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIs common sense really not common? Some people say so. Some people really think so. They are both wrong. EXERCISE COMMON SENSE consists of anecdotes that are based on observations of and experiences with primarily the mASShole residents of the MEANtown known as Beantown in the state of ASSachusetts. The stories offer intelligent—college educated, professional, and mature—adults suggestions and advice on how to (better) exercise common sense. The book seeks to prove to this group, especially, that common sense is not common because people do not choose to commonly exercise it. The fact is, when we choose to exercise common sense we automatically exercise common courtesy, common decency, and common respect. In other words, we practice The Golden Rule. EXERCISE COMMON SENSE is the second how-to guide or self-help book in the A Self-Improvement Quick Read series. Read it along with FRIEND REQUEST YOURSELF: Learn How To LIKE Yourself More!, another ItsSoarTime.com publication.
Author: Denis Leary
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2018-09-18
Total Pages: 338
ISBN-13: 1524762741
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom the author of the bestselling Why We Suck comes a searing comic look at these divisive times, skewering liberals and conservatives alike with a signature dose of sarcasm and common sense. In an America so gluten-free that a box of jelly donuts is now a bigger threat than Vladimir Putin, where college kids are more afraid of Ann Coulter than HIV, it’s time for someone to stand up and make us all smell the covfefe. Dr. Denis Leary is that guy. With Why We DON’T Suck: And How All of Us Need to Stop Being Such Partisan Little Bitches, Denis is on a devoted mission to #MakeAmericaLaughAgain. Using the clamorous political atmosphere as a starting point, he takes a bipartisan look at the topics we all hold so dear to our patriotic hearts—including family, freedom, and the seemingly endless search for fame and diet vodka. Denis will answer important questions like: When will Hillary blame herself? Why does Beyoncé think he’s Bryan Adams? And why doesn’t he follow the millennial lead and post pictures of his food on social media? (Spoiler alert: He’s too busy actually eating it.) Not that Denis has anything against millennials: “When it comes to science, math, and technological advances, this generation has done more in three and a half decades than any other age group in history. What did my generation do? Cocaine and quaaludes mostly. With a side order of really stupid haircuts.” Dr. Leary is here to remind us of what truly makes America great, even though we’re #7 on the most recent list of Best Countries to Live In. Which may sound bad but means we still make the playoffs.
Author: Maxine Blake
Publisher: Maxine Blake
Published: 2020-12-10
Total Pages: 225
ISBN-13: 1838304002
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThey never taught me how to handle this during teacher training at university. I work in a world with hormonal teenagers, inappropriate proposals, the full spectrum of bodily odours and the odd indecent exposure.” Ever wondered what life is like as a teacher? Or what happens on school or college trips? Perhaps you’ve speculated on what your teacher really thought about the students. Don’t Poo in the Pudding Bowl answers these questions and more! Including 34 real-life stories about teaching teens in Sheffield, this book reveals exactly what happens behind those school doors. Maxine Blake, a teacher for 37 years, takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of classrooms, school trips and student shenanigans, with plenty of awkward, embarrassing and laugh-out-loud funny moments along the way. From students escaping out of windows to conversations about farting pigeons, these stories will have you clutching your sides with laughter. Captivating, moving and side-splittingly hilarious, Don’t Poo in the Pudding Bowl is a must-read full of insights about the life of a teacher. Welcome to life in the classroom! A collection of short stories describing teacher/student interactions interjected with comedy moments, drama and of course teenage toilet humour. Don’t Poo, is a humorous memoir, collated throughout Maxine’s years of teaching. Perfect for your coffee table, bathroom reading or a dinner party conversation starter. This a great gift for those parents who ever wondered what their children get up to in and out of their classrooms whilst at school or if you want to re-live your childhood shenanigans with your friends. A reminder for teachers of what they’ve been through and more importantly, what is left to come. *** Captivating, moving and side-splittingly hilarious, Don’t Poo in the Pudding Bowl is a must-read full of insights about the life of a teacher. Welcome to life in the classroom!
