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Every Day Birds
By Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Dylan Metrano. 2016
Young readers get an introduction to twenty different types of birds, with breathtaking paper-cuts by newcomer Dylan Metrano! "Chickadee wears…
a wee black cap. Jay is loud and bold. Nuthatch perches upside-down. Finch is clothed in gold." Young readers are fascinated with birds in their world. Every Day Birds helps children identify and learn about common birds. After reading Every Day Birds, families can look out their windows with curiosity--recognizing birds and nests and celebrating the beauty of these creatures! Every Day Birds focuses on twenty North American birds, with a poem and descriptions written by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and beautiful paper-cuttings by first-time picture book illustrator Dylan Metrano. Interesting facts about each bird are featured in the back of the book.Signifying Bodies
By G. Thomas Couser. 2009
Thomas Couser sSignifying Bodiescomes at a crucial moment when debates about physician assisted suicide genetic engineering and neo-natal…
screening are raising the question of what constitutes a life worth living for persons with disabilities Couser s work engages these debates by exploring the extensive number of personal narratives by or about persons with disabilities As Couser brilliantly demonstrates through synoptic readings these works challenge the preferred rhetorics by which such narratives are usually written triumphalist gothic nostalgic while making visible the variegated nature of embodied life ---Michael Davidson University of California San Diego Signifying Bodiesshows us that life writing about disability is everywhere From obituary to documentary film to ethnography to literary memoir to the law the book casts a wide net detailing how various written and filmed responses to disability both enact and resist conventional narrative patterns This not only broadens our idea about where to look for life writing but also demonstrates how thoroughly stereotypes about disability mediate our social and artistic languages---even when an author has so-called the best intentions ---Susannah B Mintz Skidmore College Memoirs have enjoyed great popularity in recent years experiencing significant sales prominent reviews and diverse readerships Signifying Bodiesshows that at the heart of the memoir phenomenon is our fascination with writing that focuses on what it means to live in or be an anomalous body---in other words what it means to be disabled Previous literary accounts of the disabled body have often portrayed it as a stable entity possibly signifying moral deviance or divine disfavor but contemporary writers with disabilities are defining themselves and depicting their bodies in new ways Using the insights of disability studies and source material ranging from the Old and New Testaments to the works of authors like Lucy Grealy and Simi Linton and including contemporary films such asMillion Dollar Baby G Thomas Couser sheds light on a broader cultural phenomenon exploring topics such as the ethical issues involved in disability memoirs the rhetorical patterns they frequently employ and the complex relationship between disability narrative and disability law G Thomas Couser is Professor of English at Hofstra UniversityRochester's Lakeside Resorts and Amusement Parks
By Donovan A. Shilling. 1999
The period from 1884 to 1926 was the heyday of thetrolley lines, the height of steam travel, and the peak…
of interest in the "back to nature" movement. It was a time for spiritual renewal, when society was encouraged to enjoy family activities in the fresh air. Resorts served as an escape from summer's oppressive heat and offered a world of fun, fantasy, and fishing--a world far removed from the toils of the shop, the chores of the farm, or the everyday drudgery demanded by a labor intensive, pre-electric society. Rochester's Lakeside Resorts and Amusement Parks documents in over 200 photographs the development, dates, locations, and attractions that were a unique part of the rich history of each resort. Offering a window into yesterday, this book reveals many unusual facts about the area and features the fascinating characters who owned and operated the impressive hotels, boats, trolley lines, and amusement concessions.A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor
By Harry Mazer. 2001
They rowed hard, away from the battleships and the bombs. Water sprayed over them. The rowboat pitched one way and…
then the other. Then, before his eyes, the Arizona lifted up out of the water. That enormous battleship bounced up in the air like a rubber ball and split apart. Fire burst out of the ship. A geyser of water shot into the air and came crashing down. Adam was almost thrown out of the rowboat. He clung to the seat as it swung around. He saw blue skies and the glittering city. The boat swung back again, and he saw black clouds, and the Arizona, his father's ship, sinking beneath the water. -- from A Boy at War "He kept looking up, afraid the planes would come back. The sky was obscured by black smoke....It was all unreal: the battleships half sunk, the bullet holes in the boat, Davi and Martin in the water." December 7, 1941: On a quiet Sunday morning, while Adam and his friends are fishing near Honolulu, a surprise attack by Japanese bombers destroys the fleet at Pearl Harbor. Even as Adam struggles to survive the sudden chaos all around him, and as his friends endure the brunt of the attack, a greater concern hangs over his head: Adam's father, a navy lieutenant, was stationed on the USS Arizona when the bombs fell. During the subsequent days Adam -- not yet a man, but no longer a boy -- is caught up in the war as he desperately tries to make sense of what happened to his friends and to find news of his father. Harry Mazer, whose autobiographical novel, The Last Mission, brought the European side of World War II to vivid life, now turns to the Pacific theater and how the impact of war can alter young lives forever.The Tale of the Rose
By Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry. 2001
In the spring of 1944, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry left his wife, Consuelo, to return to the war in Europe. Soon…
after, he disappeared while flying a reconnaissance mission over occupied France. Neither his plane nor his body was ever found. The Tale of the Rose is Consuelo's account of their extraordinary marriage. It is a love story about a pilot and his wife, a man who yearned for the stars and the spirited woman who gave him the strength to fulfill his dreams.Consuelo Suncin Sandoval de Gómez and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry met in Buenos Aires in 1930--she a seductive young widow, he a brave pioneer of early aviation, decorated for his acts of heroism in the deserts of North Africa. He was large in his passions, a fierce loner with a childlike appetite for danger. She was frail and voluble, exotic and capricious. Within hours of their first encounter, he knew he would have her as his wife.Their love affair and marriage would take them from Buenos Aires to Paris to Casablanca to New York. It would take them through periods of betrayal and infidelity, pain and intense passion, devastating abandonment and tender, poetic love. Several times in the course of their marriage they would go their separate ways, but always they would return. The Tale of the Rose is the story of a man of extravagant dreams, and of the woman who was his muse, the inspiration for the Little Prince's beloved rose--unique in all the world--whom he could not live with and could not live without.Written on Long Island in a quiet spell of reconciliation, The Little Prince was Antoine's greatest gift to the woman he never stopped loving, the only child to emerge from their union. The Tale of the Rose is Consuelo's reply--the love letter she never could write to her husband--a fable of its own, just as magical, poetic, and tragic as The Little Prince.A Winter in Arabia
By Freya Stark. 1940
One of the most unconventional and courageous explorers of her time, Freya Stark chronicled her extraordinary Travels in the Near…
East, establishing herself as a twentieth century heroine. A Winter in Arabia recounts her 1937-8 expedition in what is now Yemen, a journey which helped secure her reputation not only as a great travel writer, but also as a first-rate geographer, historian, and archaeologist. There, in the land whose "nakedness is clothed in shreds of departed splendor, " she and two companions spent a winter in search of an ancient South Arabian city. Offering rare glimpses of life behind the veil -- the subtleties of business and social conduct, the elaborate beauty rituals of the women, and the bitter animosities between rival tribes, Freya Stark conveys the "perpetual charm of Arabia . . . that the traveler finds his own level there simply as a human being. " Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.Wild by Nature: From Siberia to Australia, Three Years Alone in the Wilderness on Foot
By Sarah Marquis, Stephanie Hellert. 2014
One woman 10,000 miles on foot 6 countries 8 pairs of hiking boots 3,000 cups of tea 1,000 days and…
nights "The only way to survive three years of walking was to embrace the moment of now."--from Wild by Nature Not since Cheryl Strayed gifted us with her adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail in her memoir, Wild, has there been such a powerful epic adventure by a woman alone. In Wild by Nature, National Geographic Explorer Sarah Marquis takes you on the trail of her ten-thousand-mile solo hike across the remote Gobi desert from Siberia to Thailand, at which point she was transported by boat to complete the hike at her favorite tree in Australia. Against nearly insurmountable odds and relying on hunting and her own wits, Sarah Marquis survived the Mafia, drug dealers, thieves on horseback who harassed her tent every night for weeks, temperatures from subzero to scorching, life-threatening wildlife, a dengue fever delirium in the Laos jungle, tropic ringworm in northern Thailand, dehydration, and a life-threatening abscess. This is an incredible story of adventure, human ingenuity, persistence, and resilience that shows firsthand what it is to adventure as a woman in the most dangerous of circumstance, what it is to be truly alone in the wild, and why someone would challenge themselves with an expedition others would call crazy. For Marquis, her story is about freedom, being alive and wild by nature.Cypress Gardens
By Mary M. Flekke, Randall M. Macdonald, Sarah E. Macdonald. 2006
Florida's first theme park, Cypress Gardens, was the brainchild of Richard Downing Dick" Pope Sr. With his wife, Julie Downing…
Pope, he transformed a marshy, lakeside property in Winter Haven into a magnificent garden. The park's first visitors in 1936 toured pathways surrounded by lush plants from around the world. Two years later, electric boats meandered through the park's winding, hand-dug canals. Water ski shows commenced in 1942, and the park became the "Water Ski Capital of the World." The Florida-shaped Esther Williams Swimming Pool still graces the shore of Lake Eloise. The park was a set for dozens of short feature films, a stage for beauty pageants, and a site for special television broadcasts. A butterfly garden, zoo, rides, and the small-town Southern Crossroads shopping and dining area remain popular features. Kent Buescher purchased Cypress Gardens in 2004, and today's expanded Cypress Gardens Adventure Park preserves the family-friendly appeal of Dick and Julie Pope's magnificent park."Lake Quinsigamond and White City Amusement Park (Images of America)
By Michael Perna. 2004
In the 1800s and well into the 1900s, the area around Lake Quinsigamond, in Shrewsbury and Worcester, was one huge…
summer resort. Hotels, ethnic and social clubs, boat clubs, a horse racing track, picnic grounds, and two amusement parks, Lincoln Park and White City Park, lined the shore. Steamboats and smaller steam launches transported tourists to the area. Canoes, rowboats, sailboats, and motorboats crowded the lake on weekends. Crew boat regattas, which started in the 1850s, continue to this day. Lake Quinsigamond and White City Amusement Park lets readers experience the attractions, such as the shoot the chutes and White City roller coaster, and enjoy the fun atmosphere during those long-ago summers.Adventure Carolinas
By Joe Miller. 2014
Have you ever wanted to take up a new outdoor sport but thought, "Not me" or "Where do I begin"?…
In this unique take-it-with-you guide, outdoors and fitness writer Joe Miller introduces you to sixteen adventure sports in the Carolinas, from water to land and through all four seasons. No matter where you live or what your level of expertise may be, he will lead you to opportunities that range from beginner level to peak experience and equip you with the tools and courage to get outdoors and enjoy nature in new and exciting ways. For each experience, Miller includes location, how to start, associated costs, organizations that can help you begin, physical and mental demands of each activity, and whether the activities are seasonal or competitive.Activities include mountain biking, flat-water and whitewater paddling, scuba diving, climbing, backcountry exploration, skiing, snowboarding and tubing, kiteboarding, hang gliding, and ziplining.Tough As They Come
By Marcus Brotherton, Gary Sinise, Travis Mills. 2015
Thousands have been wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Five have survived quadruple amputee injuries. This is one…
soldier's story. Thousands of soldiers die year to defend their country. United States Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills was sure that he would become another statistic when, during his third tour of duty in Afghanistan, he was caught in an IED blast four days before his twenty-fifth birthday. Against the odds, he lived, but at a severe cost--Travis became one of only five soldiers from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to survive a quadruple amputation. Suddenly forced to reconcile with the fact that he no longer had arms or legs, Travis was faced with a future drastically different from the one he had imagined for himself. He would never again be able to lead his squad, stroke his fingers against his wife's cheek, or pick up his infant daughter. Travis struggled through the painful and anxious days of rehabilitation so that he could regain the strength to live his life to the fullest. With enormous willpower and endurance, the unconditional love of his family, and a generous amount of faith, Travis shocked everyone with his remarkable recovery. Even without limbs, he still swims, dances with his wife, rides mountain bikes, and drives his daughter to school. Travis inspires thousands every day with his remarkable journey. He doesn't want to be thought of as wounded. "I'm just a man with scars," he says, "living life to the fullest and best I know how."From the Hardcover edition.Surfing Indonesia
By Lorca Lueras, Leonard Lueras. 2002
Indonesia is well-known to surfers the world over as "The Last Frontier" of their sport. Indeed, except for Hawaii, where…
the ancient Polynesian sport of surfing orignated and was refined, no other maritime nation on Earth is so rich in challenges for accomplished waveriders. Periplus' team of renowned authors-photographers-surfers takes you on a safari that is the stuff of dreams-from the huge island of Sumatra in the west and on east through Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa and Indonesia's "Far East."More than 120 action-pumped photographsInsightful essays by surfers for surfersDetailed maps of important surfing sitesUp-to-date travel advisoriesSurf, surf, surf and more surf!The Footloose American
By Brian Kevin. 2014
An adventure-filled and thought-provoking travelogue along Hunter S. Thompson's forgotten route through South AmericaIn 1963, twenty-five-year-old Hunter S. Thompson completed…
a yearlong journey across South America, filing a series of dispatches for an upstart paper called the National Observer. It was here, on the front lines of the Cold War, that this then-unknown reporter began making a name for himself. The Hunter S. Thompson who would become America's iconic "gonzo journalist" was born in the streets of Rio, the mountains of Peru, and the black market outposts of Colombia. In The Footloose American, Brian Kevin traverses the continent with Thompson's ghost as his guide, offering a ground-level exploration of twenty-first-century South American culture, politics, and ecology. By contrasting the author's own thrilling, transformative experiences along the Hunter S. Thompson Trail with those that Thompson describes in his letters and lost Observer stories, The Footloose American is at once a gripping personal journey and a thought-provoking study of culture and place.From the Trade Paperback edition.Extreme Cuisine
By Anthony Bourdain, Michael Freeman. 2004
"I could not have written A Cook's Tour without this book. There is so much I would have missed. So…
dig in. Enjoy [...] Eat. Eat adventurously. Miss nothing. It's all here in these pages."--From the Introduction by Anthony BourdainSit down for a meal with the locals on six continents and what they eat may surprise you. Extreme Cuisine examines eating habits across the global neighborhood, showing once and for all that road kill for one culture is restaurant fare for another!"I've tried to make this book a guide to how the other half dines and why. Over a period of twenty-five years I've augmented my meat-and-potatoes upbringing in the United States to try a wide variety of regional specialties, from steamed water beetles, fried grasshoppers and ants, to sparrow, bison and crocodile... This list goes on, and I share some of these experiences in the chapters following, along with many recipes. After all, no matter what humans eat, by choice or circumstance, the one thing all the dishes have in common is that they must be prepared properly."--From the introduction by Jerry HopkinsChapters include: Mammals Reptiles & Water Creatures Birds Insects, Spiders & Scorpions Plants LeftoversWide-Open World
By John Marshall. 2015
For readers of Three Cups of Tea; Eat, Pray, Love; and Wild comes the inspiring story of an ordinary American…
family that embarks on an extraordinary journey. Wide-Open World follows the Marshall family as they volunteer their way around the globe, living in a monkey sanctuary in Costa Rica, teaching English in rural Thailand, and caring for orphans in India. There's a name for this kind of endeavor--voluntourism--and it might just be the future of travel. Oppressive heat, grueling bus rides, backbreaking work, and one vicious spider monkey . . . Best family vacation ever! John Marshall needed a change. His twenty-year marriage was falling apart, his seventeen-year-old son was about to leave home, and his fourteen-year-old daughter was lost in cyberspace. Desperate to get out of a rut and reconnect with his family, John dreamed of a trip around the world, a chance to leave behind, if only just for a while, routines and responsibilities. He didn't have the money for resorts or luxury tours, but he did have an idea that would make traveling the globe more affordable and more meaningful than he'd ever imagined: The family would volunteer their time and energy to others in far-flung locales. Wide-Open World is the inspiring true story of the six months that changed the Marshall family forever. Once they'd made the pivotal decision to go, John and his wife, Traca, quit their jobs, pulled their kids out of school, and embarked on a journey that would take them far off the beaten path, and far out of their comfort zones. Here is the totally engaging, bluntly honest chronicle of the Marshalls' life-altering adventure from Central America to East Asia. It was no fairy tale. The trip offered little rest, even less relaxation, and virtually no certainty of what was to come. But it did give the Marshalls something far more valuable: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to conquer personal fears, strengthen family bonds, and find their true selves by helping those in need. In the end, as John discovered, he and his family did not change the world. It was the world that changed them.Advance praise for Wide-Open World "For anyone who has ever imagined what it would be like to pack up, unplug, pull the kids out of school, and travel around the world, this volunteer adventure is your ticket. Wide-Open World will move, engage, and inspire you, even if you never leave the couch."--Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train"John Marshall has done it, written a big, honest, charming memoir about the dream--and reality--of escaping it all, on a round-the-globe boondoggle with your family. In Wide-Open World, the pleasures are deep, the sentiments revelatory, and the voice true and funny. And best of all, you won't have to leave your armchair, or upend your life, to know what it feels like to make your way, with kids, out there in the beautiful, churning world."--Michael Paterniti, author of Love and Other Ways of Dying "Volunteering may not change the world--but as we learn in Wide-Open World, it will change you and your family. Let this heartwarming, hilarious, poignant book be your inspiration: Dare to follow in the Marshall family's footsteps, and give more of your time, effort, and heart than you ever thought possible--and watch the blessings flow!"--Sy Montgomery, author of The Good Good Pig "Compelling, richly detailed, and often laugh-out-loud funny."--Gwen Cooper, author of Homer's OdysseyFrom the Hardcover edition.The Lost Explorer
By David Roberts, Conrad Anker. 1999
This is the adventure story of the year -- how Conrad Anker found the body of George Mallory on Mount…
Everest, casting an entirely new light on the mystery of the explorer who may have conquered Everest seventy-five years ago. On June 8, 1924, George Leigh Mallory and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine were last seen climbing toward the summit of Mount Everest. Clouds soon closed around them, and they vanished into history. Ever since, mountaineers have wondered whether they reached the summit twenty-nine years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. On May 1, 1999, Conrad Anker, one of the world's strongest mountaineers, discovered Mallory's body lying facedown, frozen into the scree and naturally mummified at 27,000 feet on Everest's north face. The condition of the body, as well as the artifacts found with Mallory, including goggles, an altimeter, and a carefully wrapped bundle of personal letters, are important clues in determining his fate. Seventeen days later, Anker free-climbed the Second Step, a 90-foot sheer cliff that is the single hardest obstacle on the north ridge. The first expedition known to have conquered the Second Step, a Chinese team in 1975, had tied a ladder to the cliff, leaving unanswered the question of whether Mallory could have climbed it in 1924. Anker's climb was the first test since Mallory's of the cliff's true difficulty. In treacherous conditions, Anker led teammate Dave Hahn from the Second Step to the summit. Reflecting on the climb, Anker explains why he thinks Mallory and Irvine failed to make the summit, but at the same time, he expresses his awe at Mallory's achievement with the primitive equipment of the time. Stunningly handsome and charismatic, Mallory charmed everyone who met him during his lifetime and continues to fascinate mountaineers today. He was an able writer, a favorite of the Bloomsbury circle, and a climber of legendary gracefulness. The Lost Exploreris the remarkable story of this extraordinarily talented man and of the equally talented modern climber who spearheaded a discovery that may ultimately help solve the mystery of Mallory's disappearance.Chasing Che
By Patrick Symmes. 2000
Intrepid journalist Patrick Symmes sets off on his BMW R80 G/S in search of the people and places in Ernesto…
"Che" Guevara's classic Motorcycle Diaries, seeking out his own adventure as well as the legacy of the icon Che would become, Symmes retraces the future revolutionary's path. And on the way he runs out of gas in an Argentine desert, talks a Peruvian guerrilla out of taking him hostage, wipes out in the Andes, and, in Cuba, drinks himself blind with Che's travel partner, Alberto Granado. Here is the unforgettable story of a wanderer's quest for food, shelter, and wisdom. Here, too, is the portrait of a continent whose dreams of utopia give birth not only to freedom fighters, but also to tyrants whose methods include torture and mass killing. Masterfully detailed, insightful, unforgettable, Chasing Che transfixes us with the glory of the open road, where man and machine traverse the unknown in search of the spirit's keenest desires.From the Trade Paperback edition.Life as Jamie Knows It: An Exceptional Child Grows Up
By Michael Berube. 2016
The story of Jamie Bérubé's journey to adulthood and a meditation on disability in American lifePublished in 1996, Life as…
We Know It introduced Jamie Bérubé to the world as a sweet, bright, gregarious little boy who loves the Beatles, pizza, and making lists. When he is asked in his preschool class what he would like to be when he grows up, he responds with one word: big. At four, he is like many kids his age, but his Down syndrome prevents most people from seeing him as anything but disabled.Twenty years later, Jamie is no longer little, though he still jams to the Beatles, eats pizza, and makes endless lists of everything--from the sixty-seven counties of Pennsylvania (in alphabetical order, from memory) to the various opponents of the wrestler known as the Undertaker.In Life as Jamie Knows It, Michael Bérubé chronicles his son's journey to adulthood and his growing curiosity and engagement with the world. Writing as both a disability studies scholar and a father, he follows Jamie through his social and academic experiences in school, his evolving relationships with his parents and brother, Nick, his encounters with illness, and the complexities of entering the workforce with a disability. As Jamie matures, his parents acknowledge his entitlement to a personal sense of independence, whether that means riding the bus home from work on his own, taking himself to a Yankees game, or deciding which parts of his story are solely his to share.With a combination of stirring memoir and sharp intellectual inquiry, Bérubé tangles with bioethicists, politicians, philosophers, and anyone else who sees disability as an impediment to a life worth living. Far more than the story of an exceptional child growing up to be "big," Life as Jamie Knows It challenges us to rethink how we approach disability and is a passionate call for moving toward a more just, more inclusive society.From the Hardcover edition.Walking the Bible
By Bruce Feiler. 2008
Both a heart-racing adventure and an uplifting quest, Walking the Bible describes one man's epic odyssey--by foot, jeep, rowboat, and…
camel--through the greatest stories ever told. From crossing the Red Sea to climbing Mount Sinai to touching the burning bush, Bruce Feiler's inspiring journey will forever change your view of some of history's most storied events.The Man Who Walked Through Time
By Colin Fletcher. 1967