How does it feel to live and work in the world's most beautiful and luxurious tropical island resort, surrounded by white sandy beaches and aquamarine seas? How does it feel to be in the lap of luxury when you're thousands of miles from anywhere else? And when the guests are some of the richest and most demanding people in the world, where do you find the energy every day to smile, smile and smile again? Beach Babylon takes you behind the scenes at a five-star tropical island resort. Do all the stories which take place behind the closed doors of the exclusive spa have happy endings? What do the world's richest people expect from room service during their fortnight in paradise? What does the windsurfing instructor do to keep sane after hours? In the bestselling tradition of her previous Babylon books, Imogen Edwards-Jones investigates the rivalries and alliances between the staff at a resort where pandering to the guests' most extravagant whims is de rigueur. With a cast of millionaires, celebrities, hangers-on and prostitutes, Beach Babylon takes you to a world where extreme luxury is the norm and where excess somehow isn't always enough...

A fat boy with a passion for sweets and a loathing for games, the young Michael Simkins finds in cricket a sport where size doesn't necessarily matter and a full-blown obsession is born. Now in middle-age, he still harbours the somewhat deluded belief that the England middle-order might usefully benefit from his hard-earned skills. From impromptu Test series played with his dad in the family sweetshop through to his years running a team of dysfunctional inadequates, Fatty Batter is the bestselling and hilarious story of one man's life lived through cricket.

From an early age, Vincent Roth kept a detailed account of his experiences, often illustrated with sketches and later by watercolors. It was from these handwritten journals that his son-in-law edited this book. The first volume covers his early years as a child abandoned to relatives in France, Scotland, and London. It also covers his reuniting at the age of 12 with his father and stepmother in Australia, his arrival in British Guyana, and the first 15 years of his work in the interior.

Ranson skillfully recreates his northern experience in strong crisp stories that are humorous quirky and unique Working North makes it clear why Ranson was moved to &quotpity the southerner who has never seen an arctic sun skipping along the earth gathering all the colours of the prism and turning the land a warm purple " "Working North" is an engaging and entertaining read for inexperienced southerners and northern travellers alike

Powerful, dramatic, heartwarming, this is the true story of Sarbi, the scruffy black Labrador-cross trained by the Australian Army as an explosives detection dog for the most dangerous combat mission imaginable.Thirteen months after Australia's most famous canine warrior went missing in action following an historic battle between the elite SAS and the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2008, she was found by an American Special Forces officer patrolling a village in a region known to be a Taliban stronghold. Against all odds, Sarbi had survived her injuries, the enemy's weapons, a bitter winter, one brutal summer and the harsh unforgiving landscape on her own. She was the miracle dog of Tarin Kot.Sarbi's story, and those of the other brave Australian Army dogs in Afghanistan, will resonate with anyone who has known the unconditional love of man's best friend, and understands the rewards of unbidden loyalty, trust and devotion. It will appeal to all those who appreciate the selflessness of serving your country and the inherent dangers of putting your life on the line for others in a war zone. And it will strike a chord with anyone who has experienced the magical connection with a dog.

On 16 August 2012 the most shocking carnage in South Africa’s recent history occurred in the platinum mining town of Rustenburg: the Marikana shooting that left 34 striking miners dead. This book tells the story behind the newspaper headlines. Who was involved? Where did the miners, mostly migrant workers, come from and what were their personal circumstances? The authors explore the realities of their lives and also tells the story of “the man in the green blanket”, who became a symbol of the strike. The broader context is investigated: what was the role of the mines – Lonmin in particular – and the competing unions, NUM and Amcu? What role did traditional beliefs play – did a witch doctor aggravate the situation? A striking photo section of mostly unpublished photos also chronicles the events from a different angle. Through incisive investigative journalism the events and parties involved are identified and their role analysed. The findings of the Marikana commission will also be included.

Memoirs of an Albanian emigrant in Australia.

Hospital Babylon is an in-depth, amusing and highly insightful expose of the extraordinary world of modern medicine. It will take the reader on a journey through the various departments and wards where babies are made, thighs are reduced, noses straightened and spare kidneys are flown in from the Indian subcontinent. We will meet doctors who sleep with nurses. Doctors who sleep with patients. Doctors who fiddle their insurance forms. Doctors who suck fat, pump up breasts, plump lips and lengthen penises. The doctor who specialises in flatulence. The doctor who shoots up before he operates. Doctor Feelgood who will give you anything and everything you need. As well as the doctor who makes a fortune doing buttock enlargements in the Caribbean. En route, we will discover what touches them, what amuses them and quite how obsessively insane you have to be to make it to the top. Why does a private room cost over GBP1000 a night? Who are the people changing your bedpan? Holding your hand as you go to sleep? What do they do to you while you're out cold? Why are drugs so expensive? How easy is it for the pharmaceutical companies to grease the good doctor's palm? Who exactly is profiting from your illness, embarrassing affliction or brand new nose? And, of course, what happens when it all goes wrong? Packed with true stories, anecdotes and revelations, Hospital Babylon is a riveting, entertaining and shocking look at 24 hours in the life of a hospital. Both amusing and appalling, it will make you question whether you should sign that consent form after all...

As we humans have explored the world's oceans and exploited them for tourism and recreation, we have found ourselves coming into contact with more and more sharks. And the outcome can be fatal. From the Seychelles to South Africa, and Australia to North America, tourists, divers and surfers have seemingly found themselves under increased threat from unprovoked shark attacks. Fatal attacks have occurred in locations that were previously thought to be safe, and in late 2010 the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was rocked by an incredible five shark attacks in a matter of weeks. But are sharks really ruthless, vicious killers, or are they simply reacting to humans invading their habitat? Has the number of shark attacks increased in recent years? What can be done to prevent shark attacks? All these questions and more are answered in this fascinating book.

Dogs are truly one of God's finest creatures, a marvelous gift for us humans. In the perfect follow-up to "A Prince among Dogs," Callie Smith Grant compiles a delightful collection of true stories that celebrate the dogs in our lives. These stories will touch our hearts, renew our spirits, and show us how God made these wonderful creatures for unique purposes.
Readers will love these uplifting glimpses into the lives of ordinary and extraordinary dogs and the people who love them. The stories are warm, captivating, and ideal for a good curl-up-and-read or a perfect gift for any dog lover.

In This Common Secret Dr. Susan Wicklund chronicles her emotional and dramatic twenty-year career on the front lines of the abortion war. Growing up in working class, rural Wisconsin, Wicklund had her own painful abortion at a young age. It was not until she became a doctor that she realized how many women shared her ordeal of an unwanted pregnancy,and how hidden this common experience remains. This is the story of Susan's love for a profession that means listening to women and helping them through one of the most pivotal and controversial events in their lives. Hers is also a calling that means sleeping on planes and commuting between clinics in different states,and that requires her to wear a bulletproof vest and to carry a .38 caliber revolver. This is also the story of the women whom Susan serves, women whose options are increasingly limited. Through these intimate, complicated, and inspiring accounts, Wicklund reveals the truth about the women's clinics that anti-abortion activists portray as little more than slaughterhouses for the unborn. As we enter the most fevered political fight over abortion America has ever seen, this raw and powerful memoir shows us what is at stake.

When Jim Gordon set out to build a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, he knew some people might object. But there was a lot of merit in creating a privately funded, clean energy source for energy-starved New England, and he felt sure most people would recognize it eventually. Instead, all Hell broke loose. Gordon had unwittingly challenged the privileges of some of America's richest and most politically connected people, and they would fight him tooth and nail, no matter what it cost, and even when it made no sense. Cape Wind is a rollicking tale of democracy in action and plutocracy in the raw as played out among colourful and glamorous characters on one of our country's most historic and renowned pieces of coastline. As steeped in American history and local colour as The Prince of Providence as biting, revealing and fun as Philistines at the Hedgerow , it is also a cautionary tale about how money can hijack democracy while America lags behind the rest of the developed world in adopting clean energy.

One Navy admiral called it"one of the greatest unsolved sea mysteries of our era." The U.S. Navy officially describes it an inexplicable accident. For decades, the real story of the disaster eluded journalists, historians, and the family members of the lost crew. But a small handful of Navy and government officials knew the truth: The sinking of the U.S.S. Scorpion on May 22, 1968, was an act of war. In Scorpion Down , military reporter Ed Offley reveals that the true cause of the Scorpion's sinking was buried by the U.S. government in an attempt to keep the Cold War from turning hot. For five months, the families of the Scorpion crew waited while the Navy searched feverishly for the missing submarine. For the first time, Offley reveals that entire search was cover-up, devised to conceal that fact that the Scorpion had been torpedoed by the Soviets. In this gripping and controversial book, Offley takes the reader inside the shadowy world of the Cold War military, where rival superpowers fought secret battles far below the surface of the sea.

Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, taking lives and livelihoods and displacing thousands. Because the hurricane struck at the beginning of the school year, the city's children were among those most affected. Michael Tisserand, former editor of the alternative cultural newspaper Gambit Weekly, evacuated with his family to New Iberia, Louisiana. Then, rather than waiting to find out when--or if--schools in New Orleans would reopen, Tisserand and other parents persuaded one of his children's teachers, Paul Reynaud, to start a school among the sugarcane fields. So was born the Sugarcane Academy--as the children themselves named it--and so also began an experience none of Reynaud's pupils will ever forget. This inspiring book shows how a dedicated teacher made the best out of the worst situation, and how the children of New Orleans, of all backgrounds and races, adjusted to Katrina's consequences.

Greece, it has been said, is where art became inseparable from life. The country evokes a richly embroidered tapestry of images, from old monuments rife with history to idyllic isles of glass-blue sea and blinding-white stucco dwellings. Greece enchants its visitors with its beauty, tradition, and spirit. In this eloquent collection, women share firsthand experiences of the people, history, and landscapes of Greece. Their essays go beyond ordinary travelogue to capture the ways in which Greece has shaped lives and influenced decisions. In expressing their love for the country, these women share stories as visceral as they are poignant, as entertaining as they are endearing. Whether they are seasoned travelers or armchair adventurers, Greece aficionados or those just beginning to learn about the country, readers of this compelling collection will gain a better understanding of Greece and how experiences abroad can impact their lives.

" Business during the Week was very dull. The great Plague of the Year Cholera is driving every Country [person] and Merchants from Surrounding Cities away. The City looks like a desert Compared to its usual animated appearance. Last week ending the 6th there were 78 deaths from it, altogether 173. This week ending yesterday 278 deaths 189 from Cholera. People parting for a day or so, bid farewell to each other. My Partners family are fortunately in the Country. I and Clemens sleep in the Same bed, in Case of a Sudden attack to be within groaning distance. . ."
-- Diary entry for Sunday, May 13th, 1849
Joseph J. Mersman was a liquor merchant, a German American immigrant who aspired-- with success-- to become a self-made man. The diary he kept from 1847 to 1864 provides an intriguing account of life in Cincinnati and St. Louis-- America' s emerging frontier.
Outside of Gold Rush diaries and emigration journals, few narrative records of the antebellum period have been published. As a record of both the man and the time in which he lived, "The Whiskey Merchant' s Diary" is a valuable resource for social historians, providing significant details about bachelorhood, whiskey making, ballroom dancing, circus history, card games, steamboat transportation, gender roles, theater history, and Victorian etiquette. The diary is also the story of a man who confronted serious disease, and his descriptions of cholera and syphilis are exceptional.
Complemented by photographs, maps, and period advertisements, the diary reveals how a German American businessman worked to establish himself in his newly adopted country during an era that wasrife with opportunity. Linda A. Fisher' s professional training as a physician makes the public health aspect of this project particularly valuable, and her annotations throughout serve to emphasize the significance of Mersman' s firsthand observations.

"If all the ladies should know about spectroscopes and cathode rays, who will attend to the buttons and breakfasts?" "Asked of Wellesley astronomy professor Sarah Whiting by a male colleague in the 1880s."

"I agreed to read this manuscript as a favor. It was another chore in a week already overburdened by professional and personal duties. But I was riveted by the stories, the emotions, the glimpses into women's lives. Women like me and unlike me, with stories I identified with, and those I didn't. I read it in one afternoon, like fiction.Ifind that I know each of these women, most of whom I've never met. And hell, I'm proud of them."
--Jo-Anne Richards, University of the Witswatersrand

The Wits WonderWoman are a group of academics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. "Buttons and Breakfasts" is a collection of their writings and reflections on growing up in a man's world, and working in an environment peopled by male professors. There are journeys here from dusty township to dental school, from dropout to doctorate. There are testimonies of careers kept aloft through sexual harassment cases, pregnancies, cancer, marital breakup, and personal despair.

In these pages, the secret lives of women academics come to light the sacrifices they've made in their passionate commitment to their chosen discipline and to their students. Sometimes profoundly solitary, sometimes bolstered by the sisterhood, sometimes warrior-like and sometimes weeping, they've crossed borders and boundaries of the academic and the personal unknown. From moving tales of grandmothers and mothers to irreverent satires of university life, the pieces in this book offer an explicit counter-narrative.

The collection is eclectic and quirky, it is a book to dip into and savor in fragments. It will offer resonance for other academic women, cautionary and inspirational tales for young women planning a career, and some startling insights for men who wonder what women "really" are thinking. The collection includes a number of illustrations (including an academic board game) and a photo-essay capturing the mysterious and unseen spaces of university life.

"Margaret Orr" and "Mary Rorich" are professors at the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa). "Finuala Dowling" is a published poet and author of the novel "What Poets Need."

From the author of the bestselling Philistines at the Hedgerow, a mesmerizing inside account of the high-stakes world of Manhattan residential real estate Steven Gaines takes us from New York's most expensive condominiums and co-ops to the offices of its most powerful real estate brokers to reveal the outlandish displays of ego, bad behavior, and status hunger that come into play when the best addresses in the city are on the line. With his signature elan, Gaines weaves a gossipy tapestry of brokers, buyers, co-op boards, and eccentric landlords and tells of the apartment hunting and renovating adventures of many celebrities-from Tommy Hilfiger to Donna Karan, from Jerry Seinfeld to Steven Spielberg, from Barbra Streisand to Madonna. Gaines uncovers the secretive, unwritten rules of co-op boards: why diplomats and pretty divorcees are frowned upon, what not to wear to a board interview, and which of the biggest celebrities and CEOs have been turned away from the elite buildings of Fifth and Park Avenues. He introduces the carriage-trade brokers who never have to advertise for clients and gives us finely etched portraits of a few of the discreet, elderly society ladies who decide who gets into the so-called Good Buildings. Here, too, is a fascinating chronicle of the changes in Manhattan's residential skyline, from the slums of the nineteenth century to the advent of the luxury building. Gaines describes how living in boxes stacked on boxes came to be seen as the ultimate in status, and how the co-operative apartment, originally conceived as a form of housing for the poor, came to be used as a legal means of black-balling undesirable neighbors. A social history told through brick and mortar, The Sky's the Limit is the ultimate look inside one of the most exclusive and expensive enclaves in the world, and at the lengths to which people will go to get in.

The period just prior to the birth of one's child is a time of deep personal development. Expecting Teryk is an intimate exploration, written in the form of a letter from a parent to her future son, that reclaims a rite of passage that modern society would strip of its magic. Dawn Prince-Hughes, renowed author of Songs of a Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism, considers the ways her disabilities might inform her parenting. She candidly narrates her experience of becoming a parent as part of a lesbian couple-from meeting her partner and the questions they ask about their readiness to become parents, to the practical considerations of choosing a sperm donor. Expecting Teryk is expressed through the lens of autism as Prince-Hughes shares the unique way she sees and experiences. Contemplating the evolutionary traditions of motherhood, and embedded in the reassurances that nature offers, Expecting Teryk is a work of sensuous wonder that speaks to the deeper realities and archetypal experiences shared by all who embark on the journey of parenthood.

Colin Miller was born in 1940 in Rollesby, a village near Great Yarmouth in the heart of Broadland Norfolk. In Rollesby, as in so many other rural communities at this time, drinking water was from a well, the lavatory was a bucket in an outside privy, transport was a bicycle or a bus, and entertainment was provided by the radio, whist drives at the village hall or a rare visit to the cinema. As the 1940s and '50s progressed this way of life changed dramatically, some would say disappeared - and Colin Miller chronicles these developments through the eyes of a Norfolk schoolboy and teenager. Developing themes such as school days, health, work, entertainment, sport and leisure, this honest and thoughtful account also includes brief extracts from the local newspapers, reporting local events and illustrating the social change experienced by the author.

The editor of the classic GO ASK ALICE has compiled the poignant journals of a 14-year-old date-rape victim who contracted AIDS and died.

- Previously published in mass market as "Erotica from Penthouse III (Warner, 1994) and "More Erotica from Penthouse (Warner, 1992), "PENTHOUSE UNCENSORED IV continues the successful trade paperback reissue of this series. "Penthouse Uncensored (Warner, 2000) went back to press three times and has net sales of over 63,000 copies. "Penthouse Uncensored 11 (Warner, 2001) has net sales of almost 35,000 copies.- In addition to the "Penthouse Uncensored series, Warner has published 17 volumes in the Letters to "Penthouse series. With a sell through greater than 80% and over 1.25 million combined copies sold, this enduring series shows no signs of slowing down.- Featuring letters from people who have had memorable sexual experiences, the "Penthouse "Forum" section is a favorite with readers of the magazine. It is these letters that are compiled here in "PENTHOUSE UNCENSORED IV.

The stories told in this collection, though tragic for many, also illustrate the steadfast determination and courage of people in the face of misfortune and extreme distress. From the lesser-known weed outbreaks and tornadoes to the world-wide influenza outbreak in 1918 that devastated many Calgary families, these stories focus on the human side of these disasters. It may be a heroic individual or the collective response of a community, but what is truly remarkable in these stories is the human response to the world being turned upside down by famine and disease, by flood, fire, or rock slide, by wind and cold, by dynamite or gas explosions, or even by the seemingly mundane threat of weeds upon crops. It is the resolution to continue to fight and the persistence of the human spirit and its adaptability to challenges that is the true story of a century of development in western Canada.

Meet M. Dylan Raskin -- "MDR" to friends. At 22, he's the opposite of hip: a working-class college dropout who lives with his mother in Queens -- "Flushing-Stinking-Queens," to be precise. It's not that he doesn't like New York, exactly, it's just that lately he's felt more and more at odds with everything -- his family, his generation, his hometown, even himself. One day he gets fed up and decides to take his freedom on the road, setting off for Chicago in a quixotic attempt to turn his life around. Little New York Bastard is the story of an outsider for the ages, a mixed-up kid who knows what he wants in life but has no idea how to get it. Raskin's anger is palpable and his wounds are unabashedly raw, and readers will appreciate the immediacy and honesty of his story. Equal parts road story, coming-of-age memoir, and existential manifesto -- this debut is in the tradition of cult classics like Youth in Revolt and The Fuck Up.