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The 22 Letters
by Richard Kennedy Clive KingThree brothers embark on daring journeys in this epic of high adventure that reimagines the origins of monumental discoveries in ancient history. Afraid that Aleph may have taught his sister, Beth, the priestly writing, his father sends him to climb the mountain as punishment. But Aleph couldn't teach Beth the sacred writing even if he tried--there are so many symbols, and he just can't seem to learn them. Instead, he and Beth have invented a new way of writing with only twenty-two letters. But his father won't hear it, and so Aleph must go up the mountain to count the felled trees at the lumber camp. Near the top of the mountain, however, Aleph discovers that all is not as it should be: The camp is empty! Curious, he sets off to find the loggers, never suspecting that the writing game he played with his sister will become invaluable, nor that his search will take him much farther than the mountaintop. Meanwhile, Aleph's two older brothers are on journeys of their own. Zayin, the eldest and a general in their city-state Gebal's small army, is on a quest to find monsters in the Valley of the Centaurs. Nun, the second son, aims for the sea and the Court of Minos. Then, grave news sends all three brothers hurrying home to protect their small city. But something even more disastrous looms on the horizon . . . From beloved children's author Clive King (Stig of the Dump), The 22 Letters is an epic tale of three great advances in history, told through the adventures of four young siblings.
The 24-Hour Soup Kitchen: Soul-Stirring Lessons in Gastrophilanthropy
by Stephen HendersonIt was when traveling on assignment in India that journalist Stephen Henderson first learned of soup kitchens operated by Sikh houses of worship (or gurudwaras). After volunteering for a week at the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib in Delhi—which feeds 20,000 men, women, and children every day—Henderson became curious to research global gastrophilanthropy, or the very different ways in which hungry people are served free meals around the world. When newspaper and magazine work dispatched him to places across America and abroad, Henderson would add days to his itineraries to learn about local customs of charitable cookery. This intriguing series of field reports reveals the clamor, chaos, and compassion of kitchens in places such as Iran, Israel, and South Korea, as well as those in Austin, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh. While the recipes, culinary methods, and clientele may vary, all the soul-stirring experiences share a common theme: a great way to show love to the needy is through the gift of food. Written with a huge heart, and an even bigger appetite, these chapters—sad and funny, sometimes both—may inspire you to embark on your own acts of gastrophilanthropy. Now released in paperback, Stephen Henderson's revised edition adds two new chapters reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on food insecurity and homelessness. His latest perspective demonstrates even further the necessity for all to step up in any way they can. After all, someone, somewhere, is always hungry.
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
by Timothy FerrissWhat do you do? Tim Ferriss has trouble answering the question. Depending on when you ask this controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer: I race motorcycles in Europe; I ski in the Andes; I scuba dive in Panama; I dance tango in Buenos Aires. He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the New Rich, a fast-growing subculture who has abandoned the deferred-life plan; and instead mastered the new currencies: time and mobility to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now. Whether you are an overworked employee or an entrepreneur trapped in your own business, this book is the compass for a new and revolutionary world. Join Tim Ferriss as he teaches you: How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want; How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs; How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist; How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and freuent "mini-retirements"; What the crucial difference is between absolute and relative income; How to train your boss to value performance over presence, or kill your job (or company) if it's beyond repair; What automated cash-flow muses are and how to create one in 2 to 4 weeks; How to cultivate selective ignorance and create time with a low-information diet; What the management secrets of Remote Control CEOs are; How to get free housing worldwide and airfare at 50- 80% off; How to fill the void and create a meaningful life after removing work and the office. You can have it all really.
The 5th Horseman
by James Patterson Maxine PaetroA young mother is recuperating in a top San Francisco hospital when suddenly she's gasping for breath. The call button fails to bring help in time. How and why did this happen? With help from the newest member of the Women's Murder Club, Yuki Castellano, Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer discovers that this is not the hospital's first suspicious case. Other patients have taken unexpected and devastating turns for the worse just as they're planning to go home. Are these just appalling coincidences? Or is a maniac playing God with people's lives? When someone close begins to exhibit the same terrifying symptoms, Lindsay fears no one is safe. In a wild race against time she must fight an administration determined to shield its reputation even if it means hiding a killer...
The 5th Horseman (Women's Murder Club #5)
by James Patterson Maxine PaetroA young mother is recuperating in a top San Francisco hospital when suddenly she's gasping for breath. The call button fails to bring help in time. How and why did this happen? With help from the newest member of the Women's Murder Club, Yuki Castellano, Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer discovers that this is not the hospital's first suspicious case. Other patients have taken unexpected and devastating turns for the worse just as they're planning to go home. Are these just appalling coincidences? Or is a maniac playing God with people's lives? When someone close begins to exhibit the same terrifying symptoms, Lindsay fears no one is safe. In a wild race against time she must fight an administration determined to shield its reputation even if it means hiding a killer...(P)2012 Headline Digital
The 6th Target (Women's Murder Club Ser. #6)
by James Patterson Maxine PaetroWhen a lone gunman goes on a shooting spree aboard a packed San Francisco ferry, Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer is called in to investigate. At the scene she finds three people dead and Claire Washburn fighting for her life. Lindsay promises to find whoever did this. But it's a promise she may not be able to keep.As the investigation makes its way to court, news of a child abduction comes through. Lindsay discovers that more children have been taken. But with no ransom demands the abductions don't seem to make sense - unless the kidnappers aren't planning on returning their hostages... The clock is ticking as Lindsay tries to fit all the pieces together. She knows that if she doesn't find the children quickly it will be too late...
The 8: From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie
by Andrew EamesIn 1928, Agatha Christie, the world's most widely read author, was a thirty-something single mother. With her marriage to her first husband, Archie Christie, over, she decided to take a much needed holiday; the Caribbean had been her intended destination, but a conversation at a dinner party with a couple who had just returned from Iraq changed her mind. Five days later she was off on a completely different trajectory. Merging literary biography with travel adventure, and ancient history with contemporary world events, Andrew Eames tells a riveting tale and reveals fascinating and little-knowndetails en route in this exotic chapter in the life of Agatha Christie. His own trip from London to Baghdad--a journey much more difficult to make in 2002 with the political unrest in the Middle East and the war in Iraq, than it was in 1928--becomes ineluctably intertwined with Agatha's, and the people he meets could have stepped out of a mystery novel. Fans of Agatha Christie will delight in Eames' description of the places and events that appeared in andinfluenced her fiction--and armchair travelers will thrill in the exotica of the journey itself. .
The A-Z of Eating Out
by Joseph Connolly"Plenty to savour--this modern overview covers everything from Escoffier to greasy spoons, dress codes to liquid lunches." --GQ (UK) This wonderfully lighthearted, humorous, and anecdotal guide to all aspects of eating out offers a wealth of guidelines, suggestions, top tips, cautions, advice, and insider knowledge. Organized into 146 A-Z entries, each of which is followed by a handy list of related topics, the book is not a restaurant guide but rather a shrewd and in-depth exploration of every facet of eating out - some more familiar than others.
The A303
by Tom FortSome roads take us from A to B. Others take us on a journey. Others tell a story. The A303 is a one of the essential routes of English motoring. It is a byword for traffic-jam misery; yet at the same time it holds out a promise: to take the traveller west, to a world of entrancement and escape. In the A303, Highway to the Sun, Tom Fort takes a journey back thousands of years across an ever-changing English landscape. He meditates on the road's ancient origins, when bluestones were conveyed along its route to build Stonehenge, and on the Roman roads and drovers' paths that lie beneath it. He explores the rich and diverse terrain around it, the wide spaces of Salisbury Plain, the steep valleys of Somerset, the streams it crosses, the ancient woods that look down on it. And he gives voice to the stories that the road has to tell: of solstice seekers and Stonehenge; of Queen Guinevere and Sir Launcelot; of army camps and Druid rites; stagecoaches and motorcars; transport visionaries and batty clergymen; truckers' tea stops, and ancient inns; battles, festivals, punch-ups; of churches, farms and burial mounds. Digging in dark corners, peering into dusty corners. exploring long-forgotten byways and poring over ancient maps, Tom Fort has created a story of exploration, and of social and cultural history, as alive to the England of 3000 BC as the England of 2012 AD. Tom Fort was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1978 he joined the BBC in London where he worked in the BBC Radio newsroom for 22 years. He lives in South Oxfordshire with his wife and two of his children and has been travelling up and down the A303 for over five decades.
The A303: Highway to the Sun
by Tom Fort'A nostalgic experience, informative, humorous, charming, but pervaded by the bitter-sweet scent of regret' Daily MailThe A303 is more than a road. It is a story. One of the essential routes of English motoring and the road of choice to the West Country for thousands of holidaymakers, the A303 recalls a time when the journey was an adventure and not simply about getting there. Tom Fort gives voice to the stories this road has to tell, from the bluestones of Stonehenge to Roman roads and drovers paths, to turnpike tollhouses, mad vicars, wicked Earls and solstice seekers, the history, geography and culture of this road tells a story of an English way of life. 'Fort has an eye for the quirky, the absurd, the pompous and a style that, like the road, is always on the move' Sunday Telegraph'A lovely book...At last someone has celebrated the romance of the British road' Guardian
The AA British Road Map Puzzle Book: These highly-addictive brain games will make you a mapping mastermind
by Helen BrocklehurstNo need to miss the open road whilst you're in lockdown - dive into these highly addictive map-based brain games whist you stay home, now available in ebook.Uncover the history of Britain's roads and work your way around its highways, byways, bypasses and backwaters in these map-based challenges.Test your word-puzzling skills, map-reading savvy, general knowledge and problem-solving prowess, with over 400 mind-stretching questions. Guaranteed to drive your mind round the bend, this is the ultimate quiz to British places for motorists and map addicts.From producing the first road signs and handwriting route directions, to its bestselling atlases and touring guides, The AA has been helping motorists navigate British roads since 1905 - and no one knows Britain's roads better.And whilst you #StayHome, don't miss these other great titles from Sphere Books: ** Distract Yourself: 101 Positive Things to Do and Learn Whilst You Stay Home **** The Bumper Book of Would You Rather? Over 350 hilarious hypothetical questions for ages 6 to 106 **** Home Sweet Home: The Little Book of Natural Cleaning **** Shelf Respect: A Book Lovers' Guide to Curating Your Book Shelves at Home **
The Abalone King of Monterey: Pop Ernest Doelter, Pioneering Japanese Fishermen And The Culinary Classic That Saved An Industry (American Palate)
by Tim ThomasIn 1908, "Pop" Ernest Doelter was crowned the Abalone King. In the kitchen of his Alvarado Street restaurant in Monterey, California, Pop transformed rubbery gastropods into an epicurean delight. Working with red abalone collected by Monterey's community of Japanese divers, Pop dipped the foot in egg wash, added a secret ingredient, rolled it in cracker crumbs and cooked it quickly in olive oil. Tourists and celebrities alike sat down at Pop's table to enjoy his famous recipe, and eventually, he shipped steaks on ice to hotels and restaurants throughout the state. Pull up a chair as historian Tim Thomas recounts the story of an innovative restaurateur and a group of pioneering fishermen who turned underappreciated mollusks into the talk of the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair.
The Abernathy Boys
by L. J. HuntMeet Bud Abernathy, age nine, and his brother, Temp, age five: two cowboys determined to see the Old West. The boys are headed for the Goodnight Ranch, where their daddy once was known as "Catch'em Alive" Jack for his ability to catch live wolves with his bare hands. To get to Goodnight, the brothers and their horses, Sam and Geronimo, will have to cross the caprock, a vast desert that is the loneliest place on earth. They're determined to do it -- and to do it alone. Some would say that the story of the boys' journey is a mighty tall tale. But it's entirely true.
The Absolute Worst Vacation Ever (Fountas & Pinnell LLI Gold #Level N)
by Stephen KrensleyThe Absolute Worst Vacation Ever Author: Stephen Krensky
The Absolution: A Menacing Icelandic Thriller, Gripping from Start to End (Freyja and Huldar #3)
by Yrsa SigurdardottirThe new novel from the internationally bestselling, prizewinning, queen of Icelandic crime. All he wants is for them to say sorry. The police find out about the crime the way everyone does: on Snapchat. The video shows the terrified victim begging for forgiveness. When her body is found, it is marked with a number 2...Detective Huldar joins the investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager's friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim - but even so, who could have hated her enough to kill? Then another teenager goes missing, and more clips are sent. Freyja and Huldar can agree on two things at least: the truth is far from simple. And the killer is not done yet.A brilliantly suspenseful story about the dark side of social media, The Absolution will make you wonder what you should have said sorry for...Praise for Yrsa Sigurdardottir 'Iceland's outstanding crime novelist' Daily Express 'A magnificent writer' Karin Slaughter'The undisputed queen of Icelandic Noir' Simon Kernick 'Believe all the hype - this is crime at its best.' Heat
The Absolution: A Menacing Icelandic Thriller, Gripping from Start to End (Freyja and Huldar #3)
by Yrsa SigurdardottirThe new novel from the internationally bestselling, prizewinning, queen of Icelandic crime. All he wants is for them to say sorry. The police find out about the crime the way everyone does: on Snapchat. The video shows the terrified victim begging for forgiveness. When her body is found, it is marked with a number 2...Detective Huldar joins the investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager's friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim - but even so, who could have hated her enough to kill? Then another teenager goes missing, and more clips are sent. Freyja and Huldar can agree on two things at least: the truth is far from simple. And the killer is not done yet.A brilliantly suspenseful story about the dark side of social media, The Absolution will make you wonder what you should have said sorry for...Praise for Yrsa Sigurdardottir 'Iceland's outstanding crime novelist' Daily Express 'A magnificent writer' Karin Slaughter'The undisputed queen of Icelandic Noir' Simon Kernick 'Believe all the hype - this is crime at its best.' Heat
The Absolution: A Menacing Icelandic Thriller, Gripping from Start to End (Freyja and Huldar #3)
by Yrsa SigurdardottirYrsa remains the queen of Icelandic thriller writers. - GuardianAll he wants is for them to say sorry... In the latest novel from the Queen of Icelandic crime, Freyja and Huldar must stop a ruthless killer taking revenge on teenage bullies.The first the police know of the crime is when clips are sent from the victim's Snapchat account, showing her begging for forgiveness. The CCTV at the cinema where she was working show her being dragged into the night by a masked killer. When the body is found, it is marked with a number 2...Detective Huldar joins the murder investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager's friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim: a relentless bully, she made life miserable for those around her. Freyja suspects this led to her death - but she may be overly influenced by her own childhood. Huldar simply wants to find out if there is a first victim still waiting to be discovered. Then another teenager goes missing, and more clips are sent. Freyja and Huldar can agree on two things at least: the truth is far from simple. And the killer is not done yet.(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
The Abu Dhabi Bar Mitzvah: Fear And Love In The Middle East
by Adam Valen LevinsonChronically questioning, funny, and bold, a young American explores the majority-Muslim lands that scare him most. Armed only with college Arabic and restless curiosity, Adam Valen Levinson sets out to “learn about the world 9/11 made us fear.” From a base in globalized and sterilized Abu Dhabi, he sets out to lunch in Taliban territory in Afghanistan, travels under the watchful eye of Syria’s secret police, risks shipwreck en route to Somalia, investigates Yazidi beliefs in a sacred cave, cliff dives in Oman, celebrates New Year’s Eve in Tahrir Square, and, at every turn, discovers a place that matches not at all with its reputation. Valen Levinson crosses borders with wisecracking humor, erudition, and humanity, seeking common ground with “bros” everywhere, and finding that people who pray differently often laugh the same. And as a young man bar mitzvahed eight years late, he slowly learns how childish it is to live by decisions and distinctions born of fear.
The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New
by Annie DillardIn recognition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author's long and lauded career as a master essayist, a landmark collection, including her most beloved pieces and some rarely seen work, rigorously curated by the author herself."A writer who never seems tired, who has never plodded her way through a page or sentence, Dillard can only be enjoyed by a wide-awake reader," warns Geoff Dyer in his introduction to this stellar collection. Carefully culled from her past work, The Abundance is quintessential Annie Dillard, delivered in her fierce and undeniably singular voice, filled with fascinating detail and metaphysical fact. The pieces within will exhilarate both admiring fans and a new generation of readers, having been "re-framed and re-hung," with fresh editing and reordering by the author, to situate these now seminal works within her larger canon.The Abundance reminds us that Dillard's brand of "novelized nonfiction" pioneered the form long before it came to be widely appreciated. Intense, vivid, and fearless, her work endows the true and seemingly ordinary aspects of life--a commuter chases snowball-throwing children through neighborhood streets, a teenager memorizes Rimbaud's poetry--with beauty and irony, inviting readers onto sweeping landscapes, to join her in exploring the complexities of time and death, with a sense of humor: on one page, an eagle falls from the sky with a weasel attached to its throat; on another, a man walks into a bar.Reminding us of the indelible contributions of this formative figure in contemporary nonfiction, The Abundance exquisitely showcases Annie Dillard's enigmatic, enduring genius, as Dillard herself wishes it to be marked.
The Accessible Museum Model Programs of Accessibility for Disabled and Older People
by American Association of MuseumsA very interesting guide to museums of all kinds, which cater to accessibility for disabled and older people.
The Accidental Connoisseur: An Irreverent Journey Through the Wine World
by Lawrence Osborne“Witty, sometimes withering, learned and often loopy musings on the world of fine wine . . . an excellent drinking companion.” —Adam Sachs, NewsdayWhat is taste? Is it individual or imposed on us from the outside? Why are so many of us so intimidated when presented with the wine list at a restaurant? In The Accidental Connoisseur, journalist Lawrence Osborne takes off on a personal voyage through a little-known world in pursuit of some answers. Weaving together a fantastic cast of eccentrics and obsessives, industry magnates and small farmers, the author explores the way technological change, opinionated critics, consumer trends, wheelers and dealers, trade wars, and mass market tastes have made the elixir we drink today entirely different from the wine drunk by our grandparents.In his search for wine that is a true expression of the place that produced it, Osborne takes the reader from the high-tech present to the primitive past. From a lavish lunch with wine tsar Robert Mondavi to the cellars of Marquis Piero Antinori in Florence, from the tasting rooms of Chateau Lafite to the humble vineyards of northern Lazio, Osborne winds his way through Renaissance palaces, $27 million wineries, tin shacks and garages, opulent restaurants, world-famous chais and vineyards, renowned villages and obscure landscapes, as well as the great cities which are the temples of wine consumption: New York, San Francisco, Paris, Florence, and Rome. On the way, we will be shown the vast tapestry of this much-desired, little-understood drink: who produces it and why, who consumes it, who critiques it? Enchanting, delightful, entertaining, and, above all, down to earth, this is a wine book like no other.
The Accidental Explorer: Wayfinding in Alaska
by Sherry SimpsonAlaska is a place of great adventure and exploration. After having lived in the Great Land for nearly all of her life, Sherry Simpson realized that she had not scaled mountains, trekked across wild tundra, or blazed trails through virgin forests. Did that fact make her less of an Alaskan? In the series of essays that comprise The Accidental Explorer, Sherry Simpson recounts the experiences of an ordinary woman confronting the great expanses of water and untracked land in Alaska, as she makes her best efforts to map her sense of place and her sense of self in a land that seems to require exploration of its inhabitants. While undertaking arduous treks into the backcountry, she falls into a glacial river and nearly drowns. On an archetypal epic solo hike, she ruminates constantly on when and whether she should abandon that folly. She writes with both humor and humility, harnessing great powers of observation of the natural world. In a downright scary encounter with a mildly aggressive bear, Simpson shrinks from any supposed Alaskan larger-than-life persona to assume her place on the food chain: an urbanized human who is appropriately afraid of big bears. Simpson also offers up the (less reverent) Alaskan view of Chris McCandles, the wanderer who perished in an abandoned bus near Denali, subject of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Can an ordinary, not especially heroic, person be an adventurer? If she sets out, in a wild place like Alaska, what will she find out there, and what will she learn about the place back home? Throughout this compelling and probing book, Sherry Simpson illuminates the act of exploration as both a feat of extraordinary effort and as an everyday experience.
The Accidental Office Lady
by Laura KriskaA young woman with a new degree in Japanese studies and plenty of youthful idealism and can-do spirit accepts a job as the first American trainee at Honda's headquarters in Tokyo. Her image of Japanese corporate life is dramatically challenged on her first day at work when she is issued a blue polyester uniform--a uniform worn only by women!From menial beginnings serving tea to executives and cleaning the boss's desk, to a stint in public relations, to developing training classes for Japanese associates going to America, Laura Kriska recounts her struggle to adapt to--and ultimately thrive in--the culture of a traditional Japanese company. Shortly before her departure, she travels full circle by introducing a successful campaign to make women's uniforms optional.Now with a new foreword by the author, The Accidental Office Lady is a vivid and valuable firsthand account not only of corporate Japan and the gender inequality that persists within it, but of an outsider's successful attempt to work within cultural boundaries to affect organizational change.
The Accidental Office Lady
by Laura KriskaA young woman with a new degree in Japanese studies and plenty of youthful idealism and can-do spirit accepts a job as the first American trainee at Honda's headquarters in Tokyo. Her image of Japanese corporate life is dramatically challenged on her first day at work when she is issued a blue polyester uniform--a uniform worn only by women!From menial beginnings serving tea to executives and cleaning the boss's desk, to a stint in public relations, to developing training classes for Japanese associates going to America, Laura Kriska recounts her struggle to adapt to--and ultimately thrive in--the culture of a traditional Japanese company. Shortly before her departure, she travels full circle by introducing a successful campaign to make women's uniforms optional.Now with a new foreword by the author, The Accidental Office Lady is a vivid and valuable firsthand account not only of corporate Japan and the gender inequality that persists within it, but of an outsider's successful attempt to work within cultural boundaries to affect organizational change.
The Accidental Philanthropist: From A Bronx Stickball Lot to Manhattan Courtrooms and Steering Leona Helmsley's Billions
by Sandor FrankelThe True Story of an Extraordinary Journey from the Bronx to the Helm of the $5 Billion Helmsley Charitable Trust, Doling Out Unimaginable Amounts of Money for the Good of the World. The Author met his client in the prison&’s visitors&’ room: he, the lawyer, and she, his client, now being patted down by a guard following the first night of a four-year sentence. Identified here by an inmate number, she was known worldwide: the notorious Leona Helmsley, owner of a gargantuan real estate portfolio; the woman who had reputedly scoffed &“Only the little people pay taxes"; the &“queen of mean&” whom Newsweek described as &“rhymes with rich.&” Wolfing down popcorn the author bought her from the prison vending machine, she was one of the most maligned people on the planet. What he saw, though, was a frightened 71-year-old inmate, alone and in need of something altogether absent from her life: someone she could trust. In her eyes, he was perhaps the closest thing. Two years earlier, he had joined her legal team following her conviction for tax crimes. Just two days before, in her sumptuous Manhattan penthouse, she ferociously fired one lawyer while the others quit. He was the last man standing. In time, he became not just her go-to lawyer but her consigliere. He now had to deal with the countless people trying to dip a pinky or a shovel into her fortune. She also presented him with a host of personal issues. Ultimately, she named him as one of her executors, charged with overseeing and liquidating her multi-billion dollar estate, and also one of the trustees of a charitable trust she would fund &“to improve lives…around the world.&” That is how, on Leona Helmsley&’s death in 2007, the author became a steward of her $5 billion fortune, which he and his co-trustees were duty-bound to give away to causes and recipients they alone would determine. Little in his life had prepared him for such a role. He grew up in a lower middle-class section of the Bronx, wound up at Harvard Law School, and built a successful career as a trial lawyer, representing some of the rich and famous and some ordinary folks. But overseeing perhaps the largest private real estate empire in the country, selling all those properties and the assorted bonds, diamonds, and other playthings of the rich, and choosing the goals of a vast charitable trust funded with those sales&’ proceeds, was something else altogether. He tasted the nectar of instant popularity, and became incontrovertible proof that when you control billions of dollars, you become wittier, funnier, far more profound than you&’ve ever been, and always worth listening to. Friends, pseudo-friends, former friends, would-be friends, quasi friends, friends of friends—everyone comes knocking. The Accidental Philanthropist tells how all this happened.