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The Memory Palace
by Mira Bartok" People have abandoned their loved ones for much less than you've been through," Mira Bartók is told at her mother's memorial service. It is a poignant observation about the relationship between Mira, her sister, and their mentally ill mother. Before she was struck with schizophrenia at the age of nineteen, beautiful piano protégé Norma Herr had been the most vibrant personality in the room. She loved her daughters and did her best to raise them well, but as her mental state deteriorated, Norma spoke less about Chopin and more about Nazis and her fear that her daughters would be kidnapped, murdered, or raped. When the girls left for college, the harassment escalated--Norma called them obsessively, appeared at their apartments or jobs, threatened to kill herself if they did not return home. After a traumatic encounter, Mira and her sister were left with no choice but to change their names and sever all contact with Norma in order to stay safe. But while Mira pursued her career as an artist--exploring the ancient romance of Florence, the eerie mysticism of northern Norway, and the raw desert of Israel--the haunting memories of her mother were never far away. Then one day, Mira's life changed forever after a debilitating car accident. As she struggled to recover from a traumatic brain injury, she was confronted with a need to recontextualize her life--she had to relearn how to paint, read, and interact with the outside world. In her search for a way back to her lost self, Mira reached out to the homeless shelter where she believed her mother was living and discovered that Norma was dying. Mira and her sister traveled to Cleveland, where they shared an extraordinary reconciliation with their mother that none of them had thought possible. At the hospital, Mira discovered a set of keys that opened a storage unit Norma had been keeping for seventeen years. Filled with family photos, childhood toys, and ephemera from Norma's life, the storage unit brought back a flood of previous memories that Mira had thought were lost to her forever. The Memory Palace is a breathtaking literary memoir about the complex meaning of love, truth, and the capacity for forgiveness among family. Through stunning prose and original art created by the author in tandem with the text, The Memory Palace explores the connections between mother and daughter that cannot be broken no matter how much exists--or is lost--between them.
The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci
by Jonathan D. SpenceIn 1577, the Jesuit Priest Matteo Ricci set out from Italy to bring Christian faith and Western thought to Ming dynasty China. To capture the complex emotional and religious drama of Ricci's extraordinary life, Jonathan Spence relates his subject's experiences with several images that Ricci himself created--four images derived from the events in the bible and others from a book on the art of memory that Ricci wrote in Chinese and circulated among members of the Ming dynasty elite. A rich and compelling narrative about a remarkable life, The Memory Palace Of Matteo Ricci is also a significant work of global history, juxtaposing the world of Counter-Reformation Europe with that of Ming China.
The Memory Sessions
by Suzanne Farrell SmithSuzanne Farrell Smith’s father was killed by a drunk driver when she was six, and a devastating fire nearly destroyed her house when she was eight. She remembers those two—and only those two—events from her first nearly twelve years of life. While her three older sisters hold on to rich and rewarding memories of their father, Smith recalls nothing of him. Her entire childhood was, seemingly, erased. In The Memory Sessions, Smith attempts to excavate lost childhood memories. She puts herself through multiple therapies and exercises, including psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, somatic experiencing, and acupuncture. She digs for clues in her mother’s long-stored boxes. She creates—with objects, photographs, and captions—a physical timeline to compensate for the one that’s missing in her memory. She travels to San Diego, where her family vacationed with her father right before he died. She researches, interviews, and meditates, all while facing down the two traumatic memories that defined her early life. The result is an experimental memoir that upends our understanding of the genre. Rather than recount a childhood, The Memory Sessions attempts to create one from research, archives, imagination, and the memories of others. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.
Memory Stick
by Oliver MilnerCrafty, cunning and certainly clever, Memory Stick is a firework display of different literary styles and genres. Crammed with detail and facts. Just like a memory stick.Book club readers have described this first volume of Oliver Milner’s entertaining autobiography as “William Boyd and Bill Bryson meet James Herriot and Sue Townsend.”Structurally Memory Stick is based around 134 footnotes, taken from opensource Wiki history references, between 1961 and 1987. The story starts in wet and windy North Yorkshire. Flies to Nigeria. Flies back again. Goes back to Nigeria. Flies back again. Neil Armstrong lands on the moon. Olly goes to Wales. Takes in Norwich, ends up in London. Tames a penguin, and then…?Just download Memory Stick, it gets rather interesting.
Memory Theater
by Simon CritchleyFrom this renowned philosopher comes a debut work of fiction, at once a brilliant précis of the history of philosophy, a semiautobiographical meditation on the absurd relationship between knowledge and memory, and a very funny storyA French philosopher dies during a savage summer heat wave. Boxes carrying his unpublished papers mysteriously appear in Simon Critchley's office. Rooting through them, Critchley discovers a brilliant text on the ancient art of memory and a cache of astrological charts predicting the deaths of various philosophers. Among them is a chart for Critchley himself, laying out in great detail the course of his life and eventual demise. While waiting for his friend's prediction to come through, Critchley receives the missing, final box, which contains a maquette of Giulio Camillo's sixteenth-century Venetian memory theater, a space supposed to contain the sum of all knowledge. With nothing left to hope for, Critchley devotes himself to one final project before his death--the building of a structure to house his collective memories and document the remnants of his entire life.
Memory's Last Breath: Field Notes on My Dementia
by Gerda Saunders"[A] courageous and singular book."---Andrew Solomon In the tradition of Brain on Fire and When Breath Becomes Air, Gerda Saunders' Memory's Last Breath is an unsparing, beautifully written memoir--a true-life Still Alice that captures Saunders' experience as a fiercely intellectual person living with the knowledge that her brain is betraying her. Saunders' book is uncharted territory in the writing on dementia, a diagnosis one in nine Americans will receive. Based on the "field notes" she keeps in her journal, Memory's Last Breath is Saunders' astonishing window into a life distorted by dementia. She writes about shopping trips cut short by unintentional shoplifting, car journeys derailed when she loses her bearings, and the embarrassment of forgetting what she has just said to a room of colleagues. Coping with the complications of losing short-term memory, Saunders nonetheless embarks on a personal investigation of the brain and its mysteries, examining science and literature, and immersing herself in vivid memories of her childhood in South Africa. Written in a distinctive voice without a trace of self-pity, Memory's Last Breath is a remarkable, aphorism-free contribution to the literature of dementia--and an eye-opening personal memoir that will grip all adventurous readers.
Memos from Purgatory: An Autobiography
by Harlan EllisonHemingway said, "A man should never write what he doesn't know." In the mid-fifties, Harlan Ellison--kicked out of college and hungry to write--went to New York to start his career. It was a time of street gangs, rumbles, kids with switchblades, and zip guns made from car radio antennas. Ellison was barely out of his teens himself, but he took a phony name, moved into Brooklyn's dangerous Red Hook section, and managed to con his way into a "bopping club." What he experienced (and the time he spent in jail as a result) was the basis for the violent story that Alfred Hitchcock filmed as the first of his hour-long TV dramas. This autobiography is a book whose message you will not be able to ignore or forget.
Memphis: Birthplace of Rock and Roll (Images of America)
by Robert W. DyeThe music that has been produced in Memphis over the past 100 years is as unique and diverse as the city itself. Growing out of the Mississippi Delta, the Memphis blues have been transported worldwide by such ambassadors as B.B. King and Howlin' Wolf. Rock's first baby steps were taken at the tiny Sun Studio by a group of artists who have inspired generations of musicians to follow in their beat. Soul music found its groove at Stax with a homegrown sound that exploded onto the American music scene. Music producers, including Sam Phillips, Willie Mitchell, Chips Moman, and Jim Stewart, found in Memphis a sound as distinctive as their individual personalities. Each one inspired, motivated, and encouraged their artists and, in doing so, produced a volume of work that has become the sound track of their generation.
Memphis Movie Theatres
by Vincent AstorMemphis has always been a theatrical town--a crossroads in the center of America for entertainment as well as commerce. Movies are among the many things that travel through the city, both for distribution and exhibition. Thousands of people who have lived here or just passed through, especially during and after World War II, found their way to the movie theatres. From the vaudeville palaces on Main Street to the nickelodeons on Beale Street, these theatres helped shape the culture of the city. Kemmons Wilson operated movie houses before he built the first Holiday Inn. Several movie theatres played roles in the life of Elvis Presley. W.C. Handy attended the opening of a theatre named for him. Local censorship practices influenced decisions in Hollywood, and the first multiplex in the region was built in Memphis.
Memphis Music: Before the Blues
by Tim SharpMemphis means music. That relationship was solidified in 1909 when W. C. Handy wrote the song "Mr. Crump" and later published it as the "Memphis Blues." As Handy's songs were sung and played in streets and music halls, a spotlight began to shine on a new mecca for innovation in music--Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis Music: Before the Blues surveys the people, music, and events that contributed to the rich musical life that emerged against the backdrop of the Civil War and yellow fever in the 19th century. The story is not just one of the building blocks to what has been called America's greatest export--popular music--but rather it is a story of ongoing innovation and creativity that came from a convergence of people of different cultures.
Men!: Forget the fiction! Where are the interesting and available men?
by Isabel LosadaFast, hard-hitting, funny and honest, this is the book that answers the question that all women discuss every day: 'Where are the interesting and available men?' Forget the fiction. This is not self help or a dating manual - This is 'Men!' - controversial, sassy and very entertaining - Michael Moore meets real life Bridget Jones.Bestselling author Isabel Losada throws herself (literally) into all male environments to learn about how different 'Men!' are from women. From learning to be a plumber and riding a Harley to interviewing psychologists and dating hosts, every page will have readers smiling and learning about 'Men!' and about themselves. How do you define an 'interesting' man? (or women?) How are male and female brains different? What do the richest men in the city and the builders on the building sites want of women? This is not a book for women who think that finding a man is the solution to their problems; rather it is an intelligent, controversial and often hilarious journey through modern life and relationships by a unique and well-loved author.
Men Are Stupid . . . And They Like Big Boobs
by Valerie Frankel Joan RiversRed-carpet fashion laureate, comic icon, and outspoken superstar Joan Rivers is uniquely qualified to talk about plastic surgery -- because she's one of the few celebrities unafraid to admit to the world what she's "had done" to keep looking so great. Now, in this no-holds-barred book, she gives women straight-talking advice on better living through looking better. Joan Rivers' abiding life philosophy is simple: in the appearance-centric society of the twenty-first century, beauty is key -- especially where men are concerned. Men like pretty women. And so, getting something lifted, tightened, adjusted, or removed is as fundamental as wearing makeup or using hair conditioner; it's become something we do to make ourselves look better. Now, for any woman considering her options, Joan Rivers takes the mystery out of cosmetic surgery with a practical overview, aided and informed by the country's top plastic surgeons, of almost every single cosmetic procedure legally performed in America today. She takes readers step-by-step through these entire processes, from fi nding the right doctor to the bruising truth about recovery and the facts about cosmetic surgery's very real risks. But don't worry -- there's dish, too. Filled with Rivers' personal anecdotes about life under the knife, Men Are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobs is also rife with Hollywood gossip about who's done what and how often. Part comic musing, part bitch-fest, and part hands-on advice, this is a bracingly funny, wildly frank, and genuinely passionate argument for a woman's right to do whatever it takes to be beautiful, to feel better about herself, and most of all to be happy -- not only with who she is, but who she wants to be. Throughout the book, Joan Rivers is right there, guiding and encouraging with no apologies, no excuses, and absolutely no shame. Take it from the woman who enjoys having it all -- done.
Men at Arnhem
by Geoffrey PowellWhen Men at Arnhem was first published in 1976 the author modestly concealed his identity behind a pseudonym and changed the names of his comrades in arms. But the book was at once recognised as one of the finest evocations of an infantrymans war ever written and those in the know were quick to identify the author. His cover has long since been blown, in this edition Geoffrey Powell adds an introduction in which he identifies the men who fought with him in those eight terrible days at Arnhem in September, 1944. The book cannot be said to be a military history in the strictest sense, even the units involved being unidentified, but the events described are, as the author points out in his introduction, as nearly accurate as memory allowed after a lapse of over thirty years. It is unlikely every to be surpassed as the most vivid first-hand account of one of those epic disasters which we British, in our paradoxical way, seem to cherish above and beyond the most glorious victories.
The Men Behind Monty
by Richard MeadThe Men Behind Monty examines the role played by the staff in the victorious campaigns of Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, Britain's most successful field commander since the Duke of Wellington.When Monty took command of Eighth Army in August 1942, he inherited the staff of his predecessor. He retained all the key members and most of them stayed with him not only from El Alamein to Tunis, but also in Sicily and Italy. When he took command of 21st Army Group in January 1944, many accompanied him to take up the most prominent positions on the HQ staff and the majority remained until the German surrender in May 1945.This fascinating work focuses not only on the senior officers responsible for the various staff branches, and notably on Monty's outstanding Chief of Staff, Freddie de Guingand, but also on his personal staff, the ADCs and personal liaison officers.The book sheds light on the work of the staff generally, and on their direct contribution to Monty's decisions, his sometimes difficult and controversial relationships with his superiors and allies.
Men Behind the Medals: A New Selection
by Air Commodore Graham PitchforkThis book pays tribute to the quite remarkable bravery of those young men who risked, and all too often lost, their lives for their country during the war. The author, himself a distinguished Royal Air Force officer, has singled out twenty-one men to represent 'the many' to whom he dedicated the book; but he has chosen them with care to illustrate, as far as possible, the wide scope of the duties of the Royal Air Force in wartime.
Men in Blazers Present Gods of Soccer: The Pantheon of the 100 Greatest Soccer Players (According to Us)
by Roger Bennett Michael Davies Miranda DavisFrom the hosts of the popular podcast and tv show Men in Blazers, comes their completely scientific, 100% definitive, defend-to-the-death list of the greatest soccer players of all time.Every fan has their own list of the 100 soccer players they consider the greatest ever to play the game. A list based on triumphs, sublime moments of skill, superhuman tenacity, and telenovela-esque backstories. To the list-maker, that 100 feels objective. Unequivocal. An absolute truth.This is one such list.Written with the same signature Men in Blazers humor found in their New York Times bestseller Encyclopedia Blazertannica, and accompanied by Nate Kitch's iconic photographic illustrations, Men in Blazers share the stories of household names like David Beckham and Alex Morgan, along with cult icons such as Garrincha, the Brazilian star of the 1960s who was born with one leg six inches shorter than the other, and Briana Scurry, a trailblazer who paved a path for young Black soccer-playing women. Page by page, you will revel in the depictions of players you adore, discover tales you have never heard, and experience vivid stories of dreams, loyalty, perseverance, creativity, and luck. Together, they form an alternative telling of the history of soccer, tracing the evolution of the men's and women's games around the globe, one unlikely, unbelievable, unforgettable career at a time. Thanks to the transcendent career arcs depicted within, Gods of Soccer is rife with tales that will make readers' hearts soar. Encourage them to dream. And then quickly rush off to make their own lists.FOR READERS OF: Complete Book of Soccer, The Baseball 100, Encyclopedia Blazertannica, and Reborn in the USAA COMPANION TO MEN IN BLAZERS PODCAST AND SHOWS: This is the perfect companion for avid fans of the Men in Blazers podcast, one of the largest soccer podcasts in the world, and their weekly NBC show.A GREAT GIFT: Surprise the soccer fans in your life or introduce someone to the sport with God's of Soccer. This will make a fantastic gift for both novice and die-hard players and soccer fans of all ages.
Men in Green
by Michael BambergerThe instant New York Times bestseller from acclaimed Sports Illustrated writer Michael Bamberger—a warm, nostalgic, intimately reported account of golf&’s greatest generation, and &“maybe the best golf book I&’ve ever read&” (Bill Reynolds, The Providence Journal).With “exceptional insight into some of America’s greatest players over the last half-century” (The Philadelphia Inquirer), Men in Green is to golf what Roger Kahn’s The Boys of Summer was to baseball: a big-hearted account of the sport’s greats, from the household names to the private legends, those behind-the-curtain giants who never made the headlines. Michael Bamberger, who has covered the game for twenty years at Sports Illustrated, shows us the big names as we’ve never seen them before: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Curtis Strange, Fred Couples—and the late Ken Venturi. But he also chronicles the legendary figures known only to insiders, who nevertheless have left an indelible mark on the sport. There’s a club pro, a teaching pro, an old black Southern caddie. There’s a tournament director in his seventies, a TV director in his eighties, and a USGA executive in his nineties. All these figures, from the marquee names to the unknowns, have changed the game. What they all share is a game that courses through their collective veins like a drug. Was golf better back in the day? Men in Green weaves a history of the modern game that is personal, touching, inviting, and new. This meditation on aging and a celebration of the game is “a nostalgic visit and reminiscence with those who fashioned golf history…and should be cherished” (Golf Digest).
The Men in My Life: A Memoir of Love and Art in 1950s Manhattan
by Patricia BosworthAcclaimed biographer Patricia Bosworth recalls her emotional coming of age in 1950s New York in this profound and powerful memoir, a story of family, marriage, tragedy, Broadway, and art, featuring a rich cast of well-known literary and theatrical figures from the period.From Bosworth—acclaimed biographer of Montgomery Clift, Diane Arbus, Marlon Brando, and Jane Fonda—comes a series of vivid confessions about her remarkable journey into womanhood. This deeply-felt memoir is the story of a woman who defied repressive 1950s conventions while being shaped by the notable men in her life.Born into privilege in San Francisco as the children of famous attorney Bartley Crum and novelist Gertrude, Patricia and her brother Bart Jr. lead charmed lives until their father’s career is ruined when he defends the Hollywood Ten. The family moves to New York, suffering greater tragedy when Bart Jr. kills himself. However, his loving spirit continues to influence Patricia as she fights to succeed as an actress and writer.Married and divorced from an abusive husband before she’s twenty, she joins the famed Actors Studio. She takes classes with Lee Strasberg alongside Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, and others; she works on Broadway opposite Paul Muni, Helen Hayes, and Elaine Stritch; Gore Vidal and Elia Kazan become her mentors. Her anecdotes of theatre’s Golden Age have never been told before. At the zenith of her career, about to film The Nun’s Story with Audrey Hepburn, Patricia faces a decision that changes her forever.The Men in My Life is about survival, achieving your goals, and learning to love. It’s also the story of America’s most culturally pivotal era, told through the lens of one insider’s extraordinary life.
Men I've Never Been (Living Out: Gay and Lesbian Autobiog)
by Michael SadowskiMen I’ve Never Been recounts Michael Sadowski’s odyssey as a boy who shuns his own identity—and, ultimately, his sexual orientation—in order to become who he thinks he’s supposed to be. Beginning with the memory of a four-year-old sitting in a dingy dive bar, sounding out newspaper headlines while his boasting father collects drinks from onlookers, each chapter highlights a different image of manhood that Sadowski saw at home, at school, or on television—from sports heroes, hunters, and game show hosts to his charismatic but hard-drinking father. As he learns not to talk, laugh, cry, or love, he retreats further behind a stoic mask of silence—outwardly well-functioning but emotionally isolated, sinking under the weight of the past. Through wrenching tragedy and tense, life-threatening challenges, Sadowski learns to find love, purpose, and healthy self-regard. In coming to understand his identity and his place within his family, he meditates on the power of real human connection and comes to grasp the damage of his troubled upbringing and the traumas caused by toxic masculinity. By turns comic and tragic, this nuanced memoir uncovers the false selves we create to get along in the world and the price we pay to maintain them.
Men of The Battle of Britain: A Biographical Dictionary of the Few
by Kenneth G. WynnSince it was first published in 1989, Men of the Battle of Britain has become a standard reference book for academics and researchers interested in the Battle of Britain. Copies are also owned by many with purely an armchair interest in the events of 1940.The book records the service details of the airmen who took part in the Battle of Britain in considerable detail. Where known, postings and their dates are included, as well as promotions, decorations and successes claimed flying against the enemy. There is also much personal detail, often including dates and places of birth, civilian occupations, dates of death and place of burial or, for those with no known grave, place of commemoration. There are many wartime head-and-shoulders photographs. Inevitably the high achievers who survived tend to have the longest entries, but those who were killed very quickly, sometimes even on their first sortie, are given equal status.The 2015 third edition will include new names and corrected spellings, as well as many new photographs. Plenty of the entries have been extended with freshly acquired information. The stated nationalities of some of the airmen have been re-examined and, for example, one man always considered to be Australian is now known to have been Irish.
The Men of Cajamarca: A Social and Biographical Study of the First Conquerors of Peru
by James LockhartIn November 1532, a group of 168 Spaniards seized the Inca emperor Atahuallpa in the town of Cajamarca, in the northern Peruvian highlands. Their act, quickly taken as a symbol of the conquest of a vast empire, brought them unprecedented rewards in gold and silver; it made them celebrities, gave them first choice of positions of honor and power in the new Peru of the Spaniards, and opened up the possibility of a splendid life at home in Spain, if they so desired. Thus they became men of consequence, at the epicenter of a swift and irrevocable transformation of the Andean region. Yet before that memorable day in Cajamarca they had been quite unexceptional, a reasonable sampling of Spaniards on expeditions all over the Indies at the time of the great conquests.
Men of Fire: Grant, Forrest, and the Campaign That Decided the Civil War
by Jack HurstDeep in the winter of 1862, on the border between Kentucky and Tennessee, two extraordinary military leaders faced each other in an epic clash that would transform them both and change the course of American history forever. Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant had no significant military successes to his credit at the outset of the campaign. He was barely clinging to his position within the Union Army--he had been officially charged with chronic drunkenness only days earlier, and his own troops despised him. His opponent was as untested as he was: an obscure lieutenant colonel named Nathan Bedford Forrest. The two men held one thing in common: an unrelenting desire for victory at any cost. A riveting account of the making of two great military leaders, and two battles that transformed America forever, Men of Fire is destined to become a classic work of military history.
The Men of Gonzales
by John H. CulpThis 1960 novel by acclaimed author John H. Culp, author of Born of the Sun and The Restless Land, tells the tale of the heroic thirty-two men, guided by Texan political figure John W. Smith, who rode to the relief of the Alamo on March 1, 1836. At dawn on this day, Capt. Albert Martin, with 32 men (himself included) from Gonzales and DeWitt's Colony, passed the lines of Santa Anna and entered the walls of the Alamo, never more to leave them. These men, chiefly husbands and fathers, owning their own homes, voluntarily organized and passed through the lines of an enemy four to six thousand strong, to join 150 of their countrymen and neighbors, in a fortress doomed to destruction. A gripping read.
Men of Mathematics
by E. T. BellHere is the classic, much-read introduction to the craft and history of mathematics by E.T. Bell, a leading figure in mathematics in America for half a century. Men of Mathematics accessibly explains the major mathematics, from the geometry of the Greeks through Newton's calculus and on to the laws of probability, symbolic logic, and the fourth dimension. In addition, the book goes beyond pure mathematics to present a series of engrossing biographies of the great mathematicians -- an extraordinary number of whom lived bizarre or unusual lives. Finally, Men of Mathematics is also a history of ideas, tracing the majestic development of mathematical thought from ancient times to the twentieth century. This enduring work's clear, often humorous way of dealing with complex ideas makes it an ideal book for the non-mathematician.