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Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbag
By Michael Tonello. 2009
An insider's hilarious, whirlwind account of his years spent globe-trotting in search of the holy grail of handbags: the BirkinFor…
more than twenty years, the Hermès Birkin bag has been the iconic symbol of fashion, luxury, and wealth. Though the bag is often seen dangling from the arms of celebrities, there is a fabled waiting list of more than two years to buy one from Hermès, and the average fashionista has a better chance of climbing Mount Everest in Prada pumps than of possessing one of these coveted carryalls. Unless, of course, she happens to know Michael Tonello . . .Michael's newfound career started with an impulsive move to Barcelona, a vanished job assignment, no work visa, and an Hermès scarf sold on eBay to generate some quick cash. But soon the resourceful Michael discovered the truth about the waiting list and figured out the secret to getting Hermès to part with one of these precious bags. Millions of dollars worth of Birkins later, Michael had become one of eBay's most successful entrepreneurs—and a Robin Hood to thousands of desperate rich women.With down-to-earth wit, Michael chronicles the unusual ventures that took him to nearly every continent, from eBay to Paris auction house and into the lives of celebrities and poseurs. Flirting with danger, Michael recounts the heady rush of hand delivering his first big score to famed songwriter Carole Bayer Sager in Paris; how he had to hire thugs to rescue a bag that one of his "shoppers" held for ransom; and the story of the Oscar-worthy performances that allowed him to snag "reserved" bags from other, less dogged Birkin seekers. Whether he's relating his wining and dining, buying and selling, dodging and weaving, laughing and crying, or schmoozing and stammering, Michael is a master raconteur who weaves together tales of hunting Birkins in the world's most posh locales, memories of meals that would make any gastronome salivate, anecdotes of obsessed collectors with insatiable desires, and sweetly intimate stories about his family, friends, and finding true love. The result is a memoir that is distinctive, fun, page-turning, and as addictive as its namesake.“The Buddha’s teachings are not a philosophy or a religion; they are a call to action and invitation to revolution.”Noah…
Levine, author of the national bestseller Dharma Punx and Against the Stream, is the leader of the youth movement for a new American Buddhism. In Heart of the Revolution, he offers a set of reflections, tools, and teachings to help readers unlock their own sense of empathy and compassion. Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within, declares Levins to be "in the fore among Young Buddhas of America, a rebel with both a good cause and the noble heart and spiritual awareness to prove it,” saying, “I highly recommend this book to those who want to join us on this joyful path of mindfulness and awakening."Children of the Land: A Memoir
By Marcelo Hernandez Castillo. 2020
An NPR Best Book of the YearA 2020 International Latino Book Award FinalistAn Entertainment Weekly, The Millions, and LitHub Most Anticipated…
Book of the Year This unforgettable memoir from a prize-winning poet about growing up undocumented in the United States recounts the sorrows and joys of a family torn apart by draconian policies and chronicles one young man’s attempt to build a future in a nation that denies his existence.“You were not a ghost even though an entire country was scared of you. No one in this story was a ghost. This was not a story.”When Marcelo Hernandez Castillo was five years old and his family was preparing to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, he suffered temporary, stress-induced blindness. Castillo regained his vision, but quickly understood that he had to move into a threshold of invisibility before settling in California with his parents and siblings. Thus began a new life of hiding in plain sight and of paying extraordinarily careful attention at all times for fear of being truly seen. Before Castillo was one of the most celebrated poets of a generation, he was a boy who perfected his English in the hopes that he might never seem extraordinary.With beauty, grace, and honesty, Castillo recounts his and his family’s encounters with a system that treats them as criminals for seeking safe, ordinary lives. He writes of the Sunday afternoon when he opened the door to an ICE officer who had one hand on his holster, of the hours he spent making a fake social security card so that he could work to support his family, of his father’s deportation and the decade that he spent waiting to return to his wife and children only to be denied reentry, and of his mother’s heartbreaking decision to leave her children and grandchildren so that she could be reunited with her estranged husband and retire from a life of hard labor.Children of the Land distills the trauma of displacement, illuminates the human lives behind the headlines and serves as a stunning meditation on what it means to be a man and a citizen.The Stark Naked 21-Day Metabolic Reset: Effortless Weight Loss, Rejuvenating Sleep, Limitless Energy, More Mojo
By Brad Davidson, Laura Morton. 2015
A groundbreaking lifestyle plan to help you attain lasting peak levels of health and fitness by resetting and optimizing your…
metabolism—resulting in a lean, strong body, more energy, mental sharpness, better sleep, a heightened sex drive, and increased resiliency to stress.Are you totally over feeling tired, sick, and under-sexed? Wondering why you aren’t seeing results even though you’re eating all the right foods and hitting the gym?Forget everything you think you know.You won’t lose weight or improve your health cutting calories and carbs or relying on longer and harder workouts. Those old school approaches are actually detrimental to your health. You’ve got to reset and optimize your metabolism.In The Stark Naked 21-Day Metabolic Reset, fitness expert and co-founder of Stark fitness Brad Davidson shares his exclusive two-tiered program to help you feel great and perform at consistent peak level—with boundless energy that lasts.Davidson begins by showing you how to repair your metabolism by reducing common stressors and removing food sensitivities and toxins that cause inflammation, weight gain and burn out. He then teaches you how to optimize your metabolism by safely reintroducing the right foods for you and learning how to carb cycle, a method of eating carbohydrates that enhances performance without health risks. Designed to withstand the hectic demands of modern life, The Stark Naked 21-Day Metabolic Reset includes step-by-step meal plans and easy to follow recipes, without using any expensive, hard to find foods or complicated calculations. This is THE ultimate program for the high achiever on the go.Get the results you’ve always wanted but never thought possible—The Stark Naked 21-Day Metabolic Reset is the lifestyle plan to help you take control of your health and fitness forever.Deal with the Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship with a Mafia Killer
By Peter Lance. 2014
In Deal with the Devil, five-time Emmy Award–winning investigative reporter Peter Lance draws on three decades of once-secret FBI files…
to tell the definitive story of Greg Scarpa Sr., a Mafia capo who “stopped counting” after fifty murders, while secretly betraying the Colombo crime family as a Top Echelon FBI informant.Lance traces Scarpa’s shadowy relationship with the FBI all the way back to 1960, when his debriefings went straight to J. Edgar Hoover. In forty-two years of murder and racketeering, Scarpa served only thirty days in jail thanks to his secret relationship with the Feds. This is the untold story that will rewrite Mafia history as we know it —a page-turning work of journalism that reads like a Scorsese film. Deal with the Devil includes more than 130 illustrations, crime scene photos, and never-before-seen FBI documents.Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World's Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler
By Jessica Speart. 2011
One of the world's most beautiful endangered species, butterflies are as lucrative as gorillas, pandas, and rhinos on the black…
market. In this cutthroat $200 million business, no one was more successful—or posed a greater ecological danger—than Yoshi Kojima, the kingpin of butterfly smugglers.In Winged Obsession, author Jessica Speart tells the riveting true story of rookie U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agent Ed Newcomer's determined crusade to halt the career of a brazen and ingenious criminal with an almost supernatural sixth sense for survival. But the story doesn't end there. Speart chronicles her own attempts, while researching the book, to befriend Kojima before betraying him—unaware that the cagey smuggler had his own plans to make the writer a player in his illegal butterfly trade.Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony
By Jeff Ashton, Lisa Pulitzer. 2012
The definitive inside story of the case that captivated the nation. . . and the verdict that no one saw…
coming.It was the trial that stunned America. On July 5, 2011, nearly three years after her initial arrest, Casey Anthony walked away, virtually scot-free, from one of the most sensational murder trials of all time. She'd been accused of killing her daughter, Caylee, but the trial only left behind more questions: Was she actually innocent? What really happened to Caylee? Was this what justice really looked like?In Imperfect Justice, prosecutor Jeff Ashton, one of the principal players in the case's drama, sheds light on those questions and much more, telling the behind-the-scenes story of the investigation, the trial, and the now-infamous verdict. Complete with never-before-revealed information about the case and the accused, Ashton examines what the prosecution got right, what they got wrong, and why he remains completely convinced of Casey Anthony's guilt.The New Normal: A Roadmap to Resilience in the Pandemic Era
By Jennifer Ashton, Sarah Toland. 2021
From Dr. Jennifer Ashton—the Chief Medical Correspondent at ABC News covering breaking medical news for Good Morning America and GMA3:…
What You Need to Know—comes a doctor’s guide to finding resilience in the time of COVID, while staying safe and sane in a rapidly changing world.In March 2020, “normal” life changed, perhaps forever. In its place we were confronted with life and routines that were unusual and different: the new normal. As we’ve all learned since then, the new normal isn’t just about wearing masks and standing six feet apart—it’s about recognizing how to stay safe and sane in a world that is suddenly unfamiliar. And no one understands this evolving landscape better than Dr. Jennifer Ashton. As ABC’s Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Ashton has been reporting on the novel coronavirus daily, helping Americans comprehend the urgent medical updates that have shaped the nation’s continued response to this public health crisis. Now in The New Normal, Dr. Ashton offers the essential toolkit for life in this unfamiliar reality. Rooted in her reporting on COVID-19 and the understanding that the virus isn’t going anywhere overnight, The New Normal is built on a simple foundation: thriving in this evolving world demands accepting the new normal for what it is, not what we want it to be. No longer is wellness a buzzword, but an imperative for surviving this unprecedented time. Using her trademark practical, easy-to-follow advice, Dr. Ashton gives you all the necessary information to reclaim control of your life and live safely—from exercise, to diet, to general health—showing how to prepare your body and mind for challenges such as: - Taking proper medical precautions to protect yourself and your loved ones- Exercising during the pandemic, even if you no longer feel safe at the gym- Finding emotional balance through these uncertain times- Deciphering complicated medical news to learn what to trust and what to ignore With these straightforward and accessible strategies and many more, Dr. Ashtonhelps empower you to make the unexpectedly hard decisions about socializing, food-shopping, seeing doctors, and most of all, finding normalcy. At once reassuring and urgent, The New Normal is a holistic roadmap through the ongoing struggles of the pandemic, providing the guidance you need to navigate this unsettling time and take charge of your future wellbeing.American Princess: The Love Story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
By Leslie Carroll. 2018
A behind-the-scenes look into the life of Meghan Markle and her romance with Prince Harry—a dishy, delightful must-read filled with…
exclusive insights for anyone obsessed with the Royal Family.Leslie Carroll’s books on royalty are “an irresistible combination of People Magazine and the History Channel.”—Chicago TribuneWhen Prince Harry of Wales took his American girlfriend, Meghan Markle, to have tea with his grandmother the queen, avid royal watchers had a hunch that a royal wedding was not far off. That prediction came true on November 27, 2017, when the gorgeous, glamorous twosome announced their engagement to the world. As they prepare to tie the knot in a stunning ceremony on May 19, 2018, that will be unprecedented in royal history, people are clamoring to know more about the beautiful American who captured Prince Harry’s heart. Born and raised in Los Angeles to a white father of German, English, and Irish descent and an African American mother whose ancestors had been enslaved on a Georgia plantation, Meghan has proudly embraced her biracial heritage. In addition to being a star of the popular television series Suits, she is devoted to her humanitarian work—a passion she shares with Harry. Though Meghan was married once before, Prince Harry is a modern royal, and the Windsors have welcomed her into the tight-knit clan they call “The Firm.” Even a generation ago, it would have been unthinkable, as well as impermissible, for any member of Great Britain’s royal family to consider marrying someone like Meghan. Professional actresses were considered scandalous and barely respectable. And the last time an American divorcee married into the Royal Family, it provoked a constitutional crisis!In American Princess, Leslie Carroll provides context to Harry and Meghan’s romance by leading readers through centuries of Britain’s rule-breaking royal marriages, as well as the love matches that were never permitted to make it to the altar; followed by a never-before-seen glimpse into the little-known life of the woman bringing the Royal Family into the 21st century; and her dazzling, thoroughly modern romance with Prince Harry.Got What It Takes?: Successful People Reveal How They Made It to the Top
By Bill Boggs. 1985
Beyond talent, what factors have determined and defined the careers of well-known individuals? Training? Risk-taking? Luck? Emmy Award®-winning interviewer Bill…
Boggs shares success secrets he uncovered in candid conversations with 44 leaders in entertainment and the arts, sports, fashion, the business world, and more, including: Mark Burnett, Craig Newmark (Craigslist.com), Matt Lauer, Anna Quindlen, Renée Zellweger, Sir Richard Branson, Bobby Flay, Brooke Shields, Diane von Furstenberg, Norman Lear, Donald Trump, and Joe Torre, among others. They reveal crucial influences, how they deal with adversity and stress, and the choices they made that helped them to prevail in their careers and in their lives. This is an inside view of what makes the most successful people tick and a lessons-in-life career guide from accomplished stars at the top of their game.Goddesses in Older Women: Archetypes in Women Over Fifty
By Jean Shinoda Bolen. 2001
At some point after fifty, every woman crosses a threshold into the third phase of her life. As she enters…
this uncharted territory -- one that is generally uncelebrated in popular culture -- she can choose to mourn what has gone before, or she can embrace the juicy-crone years.In this celebration of Act Three, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Jungian analyst and bestselling author of Goddesses in Everywoman, names the powerful new energies and potentials -- or archetypes -- that come into the psyche at this momentous time, suggesting that women getting older have profound and exciting reasons for welcoming the other side of fifty.Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption
By Christopher Kennedy Lawford. 2005
At last, the first memoir from a Kennedy family member—an inspirational, candid, and explosive personal story sure to be one…
of the most sensational bestsellers of the yearChristopher Kennedy Lawson was born to enormous privilege. But with fame, money, and power came tragedy and heartbreak. In this clear-eyed, sensitive, and compulsively readable autobiography, he breaks his family’s long-held silence to a rare glimpse into the exclusive worlds of both Washington politicos and the Hollywood elite during the socially turbulent 1960s and 1970s. As the first born child of famed Rat Pack actor, Peter Lawford, and John F. Kennedy’s sister, Patricia, Christopher Lawford was raised in Malibu and Martha’s Vineyard with movie stars and presidents as close family members and friends. But this little boy who learned the twist thanks to private lessons from Marilyn Monroe would grow up to become a spoiled adolescent with a near-fatal jones for heroin and alcohol. With deep sincerity, Kennedy sets the record straight, sharing many never-before-told stories about the good, the bad, and the ugly in his life, including the deaths of his uncles, his parents’ divorce and its effect, his hard-fought struggle to overcome addiction, his long-lasting sobriety, his acting career, and his relationships with his famous cousins and his own children. Surprisingly frank, Kennedy pulls no punches as he tells us what it’s really like to be a member of America’s first family.Toxic In-Laws: Loving Strategies for Protecting Your Marriage
By Susan Forward, Donna Frazier. 2001
From Susan Forward, Ph.D., the New York Times bestselling author of Toxic Parents and Men Who Hate Women and the…
Women Who Love Them, comes a practical and powerful book that will help couples cope with terrible and toxic in-laws.Toxic in-laws are in-laws who create genuine chaos through various assaults—aggressive or subtle—on you and your marriage. Toxic in-laws come in a wide variety of guises: “The Critics,” who tell you what you're doing wrong; “The Controllers,” who try to run you and your partner's life; “The Engulfers,” who make incessant demands on your time; “The Masters of Chaos,” who drain you and your partner with their problems; and “The Rejecters,” who let you know they don't want you as part of their family. Susan Forward draws on real-life voices and stories of both women and men struggling to free themselves from the frustrating, hurtful, and infuriating relationships with their toxic in-laws. Dr. Forward offers highly effective communication and behavioral techniques for getting through to partners who won't or can't stand up to their parents. Next, she lays out accessible and practical ways to reclaim your marriage from your in-laws. She shows you what to say, what to do, and what limits to set. If you follow these strategies, you may not turn toxic in-laws into the in-laws of your dreams, but you will find some peace in your relationship with them.Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World
By Carol S. Pearson. 1991
"The heroic quest is about saying 'yes' to yourself and in so doing, becoming more fully alive and more effective…
in the world. . . . The quest is replete with dangers and pitfalls, but it offers great rewards: the capacity to be successful in the world, knowledge of the mysteries of the human soul, and the opportunity to find and express your unique gifts in the world."In this bold and original work, Carol S. Pearson shows that the heroic quest isn't just for certain people under special circumstances. Exploring the many heroic paths available to each of us, at every point in our lives, her innovative program enables us to live heroically by activating and applying twelve archetypes in our lives.This companion to the bestselling The Hero Within outlines twelve archetypal patterns that can aid inner development and the quest for wholeness.These archetypes are inner guides that can help usprepare for the journey, by learning how to become successful members of society;embark upon the quest, by becoming initiated into the mysteries of the human soul; and return to transform our lives as a result of claiming our uniqueness and personal power. Writing for individuals seeking to realize their full potential and professionals engaged in empowering others, Pearson shows how journeys differ by the age, gender, and cultural background of the seeker, and how archetypes help awaken the capacities of our psyches. A unique diagnostic test, the Heroic Myth Index, and exercise are included to help us understand and awaken our inner guides.Joy on Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within
By Chade-Meng Tan. 2016
A long-awaited follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Search Inside Yourself shows us how to cultivate joy within the…
context of our fast-paced lives and explains why it is critical to creativity, innovation, confidence, and ultimately success in every arena.In Joy on Demand, Chade-Meng Tan shows that you don’t need to meditate for hours, days, months or years to achieve lasting joy—you can actually get consistent access to it in as little as fifteen seconds. Explaining joy and meditation as complementary things that naturally reinforce each other, Meng explains how these two skills form a virtuous cycle, and once put into motion, become a solid practice that can be sustained in daily life.For many years, meditation has been taught and practiced in cultures where almost all meditators practice full-time for years, resulting in training programs optimized for practitioners with lots of free time and not much else to do but develop profound mastery over the mind. Seeing a disconnect between the traditional practice and the modern world, the bestselling author and Google’s “Jolly Good Fellow” has developed a program, through “wise laziness,” to help readers meditate more efficiently and effectively. Meng shares the three pillars of joy (inner peace, insight, and happiness), why joy is the secret is to success, and demonstrates the practical tools anyone can use to cultivate it on demand.The Book of Rosy: A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border
By Rosayra Pablo Cruz, Julie Schwietert Collazo. 2020
“Offers hope in the face of desperate odds” – ELLE Magazine, ELLE’s Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2020“[D]isturbing and unforgettable…
memoir…This wrenching story brings to vivid life the plight of the many families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.” – Publisher’s Weekly, STARRED REVIEW“[The] haunting and eloquent…narrative of a Guatemalan woman's desperate search for a better life." -Kirkus, STARRED ReviewPEOPLE Magazine Best Books of Summer 2020TIME Magazine Best Books of Summer 2020PARADE Best Books of Summer 2020 Compelling and urgently important, The Book of Rosy is the unforgettable story of one brave mother and her fight to save her family. When Rosayra “Rosy” Pablo Cruz made the agonizing decision to seek asylum in the United States with two of her children, she knew the journey would be arduous, dangerous, and quite possibly deadly. But she had no choice: violence—from gangs, from crime, from spiraling chaos—was making daily life hell. Rosy knew her family’s one chance at survival was to flee Guatemala and go north.After a brutal journey that left them dehydrated, exhausted, and nearly starved, Rosy and her two little boys arrived at the Arizona border. Almost immediately they were seized and forcibly separated by government officials under the Department of Homeland Security’s new “zero tolerance” policy. To her horror Rosy discovered that her flight to safety had only just begun.In The Book of Rosy, with an unprecedented level of sharp detail and soulful intimacy, Rosy tells her story, aided by Julie Schwietert Collazo, founder of Immigrant Families Together, the grassroots organization that reunites mothers and children. She reveals the cruelty of the detention facilities, the excruciating pain of feeling her children ripped from her arms, the abiding faith that staved off despair—and the enduring friendship with Julie, which helped her navigate the darkness and the bottomless Orwellian bureaucracy.A gripping account of the human cost of inhumane policies, The Book of Rosy is also a paean to the unbreakable will of people united by true love, a sense of justice, and hope for a better future.Bind, Torture, Kill: The Inside Story of BTK, the Serial Killer Next Door
By Roy Wenzl, Tim Potter, L. Kelly, Hurst Laviana. 2007
For thirty-one years, a monster terrorized the residents of Wichita, Kansas. A bloodthirsty serial killer, self-named "BTK"—for "bind them, torture…
them, kill them"—he slaughtered men, women, and children alike, eluding the police for decades while bragging of his grisly exploits to the media. The nation was shocked when the fiend who was finally apprehended turned out to be Dennis Rader—a friendly neighbor . . . a devoted husband . . . a helpful Boy Scout dad . . . the respected president of his church.Written by four award-winning crime reporters who covered the story for more than twenty years, Bind, Torture, Kill is the most intimate and complete account of the BTK nightmare told by the people who were there from the beginning. With newly released documents, evidence, and information—and with the full cooperation, for the very first time, of the Wichita Police Department’s BTK Task Force—the authors have put all the pieces of the grisly puzzle into place, thanks to their unparalleled access to the families of the killer and his victims.Blood Brother: 33 Reasons My Brother Scott Peterson Is Guilty
By Anne Bird. 2005
What happens if, after being given up for adoption in childhood, you reestablish contact with your biological family -- only…
to discover that your newfound brother is a killer?Anne Bird, the sister of Scott Peterson, knows firsthand.Soon after her birth in 1965, Anne was given up for adoption by her mother, Jackie Latham. Welcomed into the well-adjusted Grady family, she lived a happy life. Then, in the late 1990s, she came back into contact with her mother, now Jackie Peterson, and her family -- including Jackie's son Scott Peterson and his wife, Laci. Anne was welcomed into the family, and over the next several years she grew close to Scott and especially Laci. Together they shared holidays, family reunions, and even a trip to Disneyland. Anne and Laci became pregnant at roughly the same time, and the two became confidantes.Then, on Christmas Eve 2002, Laci Peterson went missing -- and the happy façade of the Peterson family slowly began to crumble. Anne rushed to the family's aid, helping in the search for Laci, even allowing Scott to stay in her home while police tried to find his wife. Yet Scott's behavior grew increasingly bizarre during the search, and Anne grew suspicious that her brother knew more than he was telling. Finally she began keeping a list of his disturbing behavior. And by the time Laci's body -- and that of her unborn son, Conner -- were found, Anne was becoming convinced: Her brother Scott Peterson had murdered his wife and unborn child in cold blood.Filled with news-making revelations and intimate glimpses of Scott and Laci, the Peterson family, and the investigation that followed the murder, Blood Brother is a provocative account of how long-dormant family ties dragged one woman into one of the most notorious crimes of our time.Regrets of the Dying: Stories and Wisdom That Remind Us How to Live
By Georgina Scull. 2022
'A beautiful and moving reminder to appreciate life' Roxie Nafousi, author of Manifest'This book may on first glance appear to…
be about death and regrets, but is in reality about life and choices. It is warmly life-affirming ... A magnificent read that will inspire. I loved it' Sue Black 'So beautiful ... Perfectly written and judged ... A wonderful book that made me grasp life a little more firmly' Dr Chris van Tulleken A powerful, moving and hopeful book exploring what people regret most when they are dying and how this can help us lead a better life. If you were told you were going to die tomorrow, what would you regret?Ten years ago, without time to think or prepare, Georgina Scull ruptured internally. The doctors told her she could have died and, as Georgina recovered, she began to consider the life she had led and what she would have left behind.Paralysed by a fear of wasting what seemed like precious time but also fully ready to learn how to spend her second chance, Georgina set out to meet others who had faced their own mortality or had the end in sight.Windswept & Interesting: My Autobiography
By Billy Connolly. 2021
In his first full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting…
life.Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, Billy's life is a remarkable story of success against all the odds.Billy found his escape first as an apprentice welder in the shipyards of the River Clyde. Later he became a folk musician - a 'rambling man' - with a genuine talent for playing the banjo. But it was his ability to spin stories, tell jokes and hold an audience in the palm of his hand that truly set him apart.As a young comedian Billy broke all the rules. He was fearless and outspoken - willing to call out hypocrisy wherever he saw it. But his stand-up was full of warmth, humility and silliness too. His startling, hairy 'glam-rock' stage appearance - wearing leotards, scissor suits and banana boots - only added to his appeal.It was an appearance on Michael Parkinson's chat show in 1975 - and one outrageous story in particular - that catapulted Billy from cult hero to national star. TV shows, documentaries, international fame and award-winning Hollywood movies followed. Billy's pitch-perfect stand-up comedy kept coming too - for over 50 years, in fact - until a double diagnosis of cancer and Parkinson's Disease brought his remarkable live performances to an end. Since then he has continued making TV shows, creating extraordinary drawings... and writing.Windswept and Interesting is Billy's story in his own words. It is joyfully funny - stuffed full of hard-earned wisdom as well as countless digressions on fishing, farting and the joys of dancing naked. It is an unforgettable, life-affirming story of a true comedy legend.'I didn't know I was Windswept and Interesting until somebody told me. It was a friend who was startlingly exotic himself. He'd just come back from Kashmir and was all billowy shirt and Indian beads. I had long hair and a beard and was swishing around in electric blue flairs.He said: "Look at you - all windswept and interesting!"I just said: "Exactly!"After that, I simply had to maintain my reputation...'