Winner of the Rebecca's Reads 2011 Award for Creative Non-Fiction http: //rebeccasreads.com/WrittenArtAwards2011Winners.html 4 strong women, who, left alone, endure heartbreak and incredible hardships. 3 strong men, who face the horrors and loneliness of war, human brutality and the harshness of nature. This book vividly brings to life the triumph of human spirit as the characters deal with world-changing events in World War 1, the Russian Revolution, World War 2 and Stalin's gulags. It recounts the true experiences of 7 members of one ordinary family under extraordinary conditions. Spanning 60 years and weaving from one side of the world to the other, the intertwining threads of 7 people's lives form the multicoloured tapestry of this story. These events took place less than 100 years ago and millions of people living in Europe at that time shared similar experiences. The book has been written by a direct descendent who gathered her information from secret diaries, family documents and verbal records of the actual participants.

Manyhave called her a saint. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India'shighest civilian honor, the Jewel of India, in 1980. Pope John Paul II declaredher "Blessed," beatifying her in 2003. For nearly fifty years at the head ofCalcutta's Missionaries of Charity, the Albanian-born Agnes GonxhaBojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa, advocatedfor the poor and homeless, ministered to the sick, provided hospice for theafflicted, and embodied the very essence of humanitarianism. Now, revised andupdated, Kathryn Spink's definitive, authorized biography is "simply the best ...around," according to James Martin, SJ, author of The Jesuit Guide to(Almost) Everything. "Thoroughly researched, sensitively written andunfailingly inspiring, Kathryn Spink's book should be, after Mother Teresa'sown writings, your first resource for understanding one of the greatest saintsin Christian history."

At the age of 17, David McCumber was stricken with "road fever" that irresistible call to the itinerant life of a professional gambler. Twenty-two years later, he got the chance to follow that dream-not as a player but as the "stakehorse" (financial backer) for Tony Annigoni, a non-smoking, macrobiotic-eating "Renaissance Pool Hustler," student of Eastern religion, and master of the pure green-felt poetry of the dead stroke." With $27,000 in David's pocket they took off together on an astonishing four-month odyssey across America-traveling from seedy, hole-in-the-wall billiard parlors to high-class snooker rooms to high-tension pro tourneys, from Seattle to Miami and back again-exploring a shady twilight subculture and uniquely American mythos, in search of serious money, local glory...and the perfect hustle.

AI tech giant Nvidia is the world's first $4-trillion company.

It has shaped life as we know it.

This is the inside story of the company that is inventing the future and its charismatic CEO Jensen Huang.

In June 2024, Nvidia became the most valuable corporation on Earth. The Thinking Machine is the astonishing story of how a designer of videogame equipment conquered the market for AI hardware, and in the process reinvented the computer.

It is the story of a determined entrepreneur who defied Wall Street to push his radical vision for computing, becoming one of the wealthiest men alive.

And it’s the story of our awesome and terrifying AI future, as a new kind of microchip unlocks hyper-realistic avatars, autonomous robots, self-driving cars and new movies, art and books, generated on command.

This 35-page book contains sayings, comments, philosophy, and instructions by Yogacharya John Oliver Black. Mr. Black was a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda and studied with him for more than 30 years. Founder of Golden Lotus and Song of the Morning Ranch, a yoga retreat in northern Michigan, Yogahcharya Oliver instructed students from around the country and from around the world. The sayings in this book help one understand and appreciate this advanced disciple. From them we can obtain insight into your own natures and a deeper appreciation of the science of yoga.

Wintering is a poignant and comforting meditation on the fallow periods of life, times when we must retreat to care for and repair ourselves. Katherine May thoughtfully shows us how to come through these times with the wisdom of knowing that, like the seasons, our winters and summers are the ebb and flow of life.

A moving personal narrative interwoven with lessons from literature, mythology and the natural world, May's story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.

Ultimately, Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season

Run for the Love of Life is a must-read for anyone who desires to escape the day-to-day sameness of our new pandemic-informed lives, or who seeks to feel alive, inspired, and filled with a renewed enthusiasm for the year ahead.

It recounts the extraordinary journey of South African Erica Terblanche, an ordinary woman who manages to not only achieve – but excel – on the world stage of extreme distance-running in some of the most inhospitable and majestic landscapes across the planet. Raw, honest and infinitely human, this part-memoir, part-travel novel thunders through one exotic race location after the other, as the runners battle the elements and each other across the vastness of the Sahara, Atacama and Namib Deserts, the great Grand Canyon, Turkish Cappadocia and the Kalahari Desert, to name only a few.

But more than just a book on racing, what makes this novel infinitely compelling and rewarding is that in the echoes of Erica’s story, one begins to sense the pulse of one’s own potential and long-forgotten dreams. While you may laugh, cry, and forget to take a breath at times, it is inevitable that Run will spur you on to find your own bliss, that which is buried deep within your soul and body.

At its heart, Run for the love of life is a story about love, forgiveness, perseverance and growth, and about the important things in life that ultimately makes us happy. Told with wit, humour and vulnerability, it is a book that will stay with the reader long after the final page is turned.

Nadia Kamies has written a profound and moving meditation on what it meant to grow up ‘coloured’ in South Africa under apartheid. The photographs from family albums that gave rise to this project not only represent the aspirations of the families and community about whom Kamies is writing, but are also repositories of memories weighted equally with joy and sorrow. Kamies mines these images for their secrets, showing them to be a record of the past and a promise of what the future might be.

‘Sharing food is one of the purest human acts'

Food has always been an integral part of Stanley Tucci’s life: from stracciatella soup served in the shadow of the Pantheon, to marinara sauce cooked between rehearsals and costume fittings, to home-made pizza eaten with his children before bedtime.

In What I Ate in One Year, Tucci records twelve months of eating, in restaurants, kitchens, film sets, press junkets, at home and abroad, with friends, with family, with strangers, and occasionally just by himself.

Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku made a vow to smile every day and now believes he is the ‘happiest man on earth’. In his inspirational memoir, he pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story and sharing his wisdom.

Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you.

Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed in November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp.

Over the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on a Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country.

The Happiest Man on Earth is a powerful, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful memoir of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of times.

An annual collection of studies on individuals who have made major contributions to the development of geography and geographical thought. Each paper describes the geographer's education, life, work, their influence and spread of academic ideas. A bibliography of their works and chronology is also incorporated. The work includes a listed general index, and cumulative index of geographers in the volumes published to date.

Desiree Ellis has been associated with Banyana Banyana, the South African women’s national football team, for 30 years – initially making her mark as a player (1993–2002), before transitioning to coaching. Taking the experience of 32 caps, including captaining the team when South Africa won the inaugural Cosafa Women’s Cup in 2002, she went on to become the most successful women’s coach in South Africa.

After a stint as assistant coach to Vera Pauw, Desiree was officially appointed head coach in 2018 and continued adding to her outstanding resumé. A high point came in 2022 when she coached Banyana Banyana to the Wafcon title in Morocco. The win also earned the team automatic qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

But Desiree’s inspiring football journey began many years before on the streets of Salt River in Cape Town where she developed the strength and skills that earned her the nickname ‘Magic’ on the field. Back then soccer boots were only dreamed of and it was her Bata Toughees school shoes that suffered the wear and tear, often to the despair of her hardworking parents. In the early days of the Athlone Celtic women’s side, it was a family affair: (Uncle) Eddie took on the role of coach, (Mom) Natalie’s seamstress skills saw them all kitted out, and (Dad) Ernest handled everything else, from transport to scheduling games.

When Desiree’s talent and dedication saw her become a serious contender at league and then provincial level, and finally gave her a chance to play with and against the world’s best, there was no stopping her. As South Africa emerged from sporting exile after the dark days of apartheid and stepped up to the international stage, Desiree proved to everyone who believed in her that dreams can come true.

Jan Smuts is revered by some as a national and international statesman, but he is condemned by others as an architect of segregation. In his new book, prize-winning author Bongani Ngqulunga examines Smuts’s political life in terms of how it affected black people.

He considers the impact of Smuts’s role in the treaty ending the Anglo-Boer War and the National Convention that created the Union of South Africa. He follows Smuts’s actions as a minister under Louis Botha, as prime minister from 1919 to 1924 and again from 1939 to 1948, and his relationship with Barry Hertzog’s National Party, first in opposition and then in a fused South African Party. Ngqulunga concentrates on the events and policies that affected black people directly, and he presents the views of people such as Sol Plaatje, Alfred Xuma, John Dube, D.D.T. Jabavu and Z.K. Matthews – and, later on, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. He shows how Smuts evolved in his views, eventually coming to recognise that segregation had failed. But the reforms he introduced in the 1940s were too little, too late, and were swept away by the National Party and its policy of apartheid.

Giving a balanced view that is both respectful and critical, Under Smuts’s Rule is a vital addition to the literature on Smuts and to South African history.

Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment.

She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognisable voices in popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture.

In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career, from growing up in Brooklyn to her first star-making appearances in New York nightclubs to her breakout performance in Funny Girl (musical and film) to the long string of successes in every medium in the years that followed.

She recounts her early struggles to become an actress, eventually turning to singing to earn a living; the recording of some of her acclaimed albums; the years of effort involved in making Yentl; her direction of The Prince of Tides; her friendships with figures ranging from Marlon Brando to Madeleine Albright; her political advocacy; and the fulfillment she's found in her marriage to James Brolin.

No entertainer's memoir has been more anticipated than Barbra Streisand's, and this engrossing book will be eagerly welcomed by her millions of fans.

On a defining evening of the 1980s, Donald Trump hosted celebrities and high rollers in a Jersey Shore town to witness 21-year-old Mike Tyson knock out Michael Spinks in just 91 seconds, earning more than the annual payrolls of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics combined.

Only eight years earlier, Tyson, a troubled child from Brooklyn, was taken under the wing of boxing legend Cus D’Amato in upstate New York. Their story of mutual redemption captivated novelists, screenwriters, and the emerging cable TV industry. Tyson became HBO’s leading man long before Tony Soprano.

Despite the immense success, Tyson's story was more complex and darker than it appeared. Over the decades, he has been villainized, lionized, and fetishized―but never fully humanized until now. Acclaimed biographer Mark Kriegel, who first encountered Tyson as a young reporter, explores Tyson's life through what he survived rather than whom he knocked out.

Tyson, often compared to Jack Dempsey, was more akin to Sonny Liston―Black, feared, and expected to die young. What made Liston a pariah made Tyson a touchstone for a generation influenced by hip hop and gunfire. Kriegel captures not just Tyson’s rise but his profound impact on the American psyche.