No-Man's Lands

No-Man's Lands PDF Author: Scott Huler
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1400082838
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
When NPR contributor Scott Huler made one more attempt to get through James Joyce’s Ulysses, he had no idea it would launch an obsession with the book’s inspiration: the ancient Greek epic The Odyssey and the lonely homebound journey of its Everyman hero, Odysseus. No-Man’s Lands is Huler’s funny and touching exploration of the life lessons embedded within The Odyssey, a legendary tale of wandering and longing that could be read as a veritable guidebook for middle-aged men everywhere. At age forty-four, with his first child on the way, Huler felt an instant bond with Odysseus, who fought for some twenty years against formidable difficulties to return home to his beloved wife and son. In reading The Odyssey, Huler saw the chance to experience a great vicarious adventure as well as the opportunity to assess the man he had become and embrace the imminent arrival of both middle age and parenthood. But Huler realized that it wasn’t enough to simply read the words on the page—he needed to live Odysseus’s odyssey, to visit the exotic destinations that make Homer’s story so timeless. And so an ambitious pilgrimage was born . . . traveling the entire length of Odysseus’s two-decade journey. In six months. Huler doggedly retraced Odysseus’s every step, from the ancient ruins of Troy to his ultimate destination in Ithaca. On the way, he discovers the Cyclops’s Sicilian cave, visits the land of the dead in Italy, ponders the lotus from a Tunisian resort, and paddles a rented kayak between Scylla and Charybdis and lives to tell the tale. He writes of how and why the lessons of The Odyssey—the perils of ambition, the emptiness of glory, the value of love and family—continue to resonate so deeply with readers thousands of years later. And as he finally closes in on Odysseus’s final destination, he learns to fully appreciate what Homer has been saying all along: the greatest adventures of all are the ones that bring us home to those we love. Part travelogue, part memoir, and part critical reading of the greatest adventure epic ever written, No-Man’s Lands is an extraordinary description of two journeys—one ancient, one contemporary—and reveals what The Odyssey can teach us about being better bosses, better teachers, better parents, and better people.

No-Man's Lands

No-Man's Lands PDF Author: Scott Huler
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1400082838
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Get Book Here

Book Description
When NPR contributor Scott Huler made one more attempt to get through James Joyce’s Ulysses, he had no idea it would launch an obsession with the book’s inspiration: the ancient Greek epic The Odyssey and the lonely homebound journey of its Everyman hero, Odysseus. No-Man’s Lands is Huler’s funny and touching exploration of the life lessons embedded within The Odyssey, a legendary tale of wandering and longing that could be read as a veritable guidebook for middle-aged men everywhere. At age forty-four, with his first child on the way, Huler felt an instant bond with Odysseus, who fought for some twenty years against formidable difficulties to return home to his beloved wife and son. In reading The Odyssey, Huler saw the chance to experience a great vicarious adventure as well as the opportunity to assess the man he had become and embrace the imminent arrival of both middle age and parenthood. But Huler realized that it wasn’t enough to simply read the words on the page—he needed to live Odysseus’s odyssey, to visit the exotic destinations that make Homer’s story so timeless. And so an ambitious pilgrimage was born . . . traveling the entire length of Odysseus’s two-decade journey. In six months. Huler doggedly retraced Odysseus’s every step, from the ancient ruins of Troy to his ultimate destination in Ithaca. On the way, he discovers the Cyclops’s Sicilian cave, visits the land of the dead in Italy, ponders the lotus from a Tunisian resort, and paddles a rented kayak between Scylla and Charybdis and lives to tell the tale. He writes of how and why the lessons of The Odyssey—the perils of ambition, the emptiness of glory, the value of love and family—continue to resonate so deeply with readers thousands of years later. And as he finally closes in on Odysseus’s final destination, he learns to fully appreciate what Homer has been saying all along: the greatest adventures of all are the ones that bring us home to those we love. Part travelogue, part memoir, and part critical reading of the greatest adventure epic ever written, No-Man’s Lands is an extraordinary description of two journeys—one ancient, one contemporary—and reveals what The Odyssey can teach us about being better bosses, better teachers, better parents, and better people.

One Man's Wilderness

One Man's Wilderness PDF Author: Sam Keith
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781941821237
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Broke Through Britain

Broke Through Britain PDF Author: Peter Mortimer
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1780574460
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
During the summer of 1998, Peter Mortimer set off on the 500-mile journey from Plymouth to Edinburgh, accompanied only by his King Charles spaniel. He took no money and had no transport or pre-arranged accommodation. Bereft of the basics necessary for human existence, such as food and shelter, he was dependent for his survival on his own wits, the generosity of others and good fortune.

"Exterminate All the Brutes"

Author: Sven Lindqvist
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620977052
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description
Now part of the eponymous HBO docuseries written and directed by Raoul Peck, “Exterminate All the Brutes” is a brilliant intellectual history of Europe’s genocidal colonization of Africa—and the terrible myths and lies that it spawned “A book of stunning range and near genius. . . . The catastrophic consequences of European imperialism are made palpable in the personal progress of the author, a late-twentieth-century pilgrim in Africa. Lindqvist’s astonishing connections across time and cultures, combined with a marvelous economy of prose, leave the reader appalled, reflective, and grateful.” —David Levering Lewis “Exterminate All the Brutes,” Sven Lindqvist’s widely acclaimed masterpiece, is a searching examination of Europe’s dark history in Africa and the origins of genocide. Using Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as his point of departure, the award-winning Swedish author takes us on a haunting tour through the colonial past, interwoven with a modern-day travelogue. Retracing the steps of European explorers, missionaries, politicians, and historians in Africa from the late eighteenth century onward, “Exterminate All the Brutes” exposes the roots of genocide in Africa through Lindqvist’s own journey through the Saharan desert. As he shows, fantasies not merely of white superiority but of actual extermination—“cleansing” the earth of the so-called lesser races—deeply informed the colonialism and racist ideology that ultimately culminated in Europe’s own Holocaust. Conquerors’ stories are the ones that inform the self-mythology of the West—whereas the lives and stories of those displaced, enslaved, or killed are too often ignored and forgotten. “Exterminate All the Brutes” forces a crucial reckoning with a past that still echoes in our collective psyche—a reckoning that compels us to acknowledge the exploitation and brutality at the heart of our modern, globalized society. As Adam Hochschild has written, “Lindqvist’s work leaves you changed.”

One in a Billion

One in a Billion PDF Author: Nancy Pine
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538143410
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
This heart-wrenching story immerses readers in the dramatic survival of one outspoken man who illuminates the souls of a billion ordinary Chinese citizens. An Wei—a stubborn, hardworking peasant who has lived by his values and stood up for his convictions­—has succeeded against all odds in the authoritarian environment of China. Despite grinding poverty, hunger, reeducation campaigns, and attacks from jealous peers, An Wei continues to inspire with his daring achievements, such as launching a democratic congress in his own village. His compelling life provides a vivid backdrop for understanding the development of modern China from the unique perspective of an outspoken citizen. Through his audacious determination and survival skills forged in rural poverty, An Wei’s unstoppable drive to improve himself and rural China will captivate and enthrall readers. Her website can be found at https://nancypine.info/

Gib's Odyssey

Gib's Odyssey PDF Author: Walter Bradley
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 149300302X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Gib's Odyssey is the true story of one extraordinary man, Gib Peters, and his solo odyssey along the Intracoastal Waterway from Key West to New York and back while suffering the ravages of Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS). On an astonishing six-month voyage, Gib and his boat, Ka-accidentally, encounter everything from an incompetent captain who dives into the water and accidently stabs himself with his knife after wrapping his ship's anchor around one of Ka Ching’s propellers, to the U.S. Coast Guard rushing to stop him from entering an active weapons test zone. At one point, Gib even commences an epic search for his two kittens, Faith and Hope, when they go AWOL at a marina in Atlantic City. All the while, Gib is forced to cope with increasing levels of paralysis, ultimately having to steer the boat home with his feet after losing all use of the muscles in his arms. The book is far from depressing, however. It is the story of Gib's indomitable spirit in the face of death--one that causes him to do acts such as pouring his invented alcoholic drink, the rum-ka-ching directly into his stomach via his feeding tube and getting incredibly drunk one night. Authored by Gib's neurologist, the book is told in Gib's own voice through his correspondence with friends and family as well as the articles he wrote for the Key West Citizen. Part travelogue, part soul-searching meditation, Gib’s Odyssey is the heart-rending story of a man who defiantly resisted the encroachments of a fatal degenerative disease. The odyssey of Gib Peters is a story of a man who left a lasting mark on his community by conquering despair and choosing a life of adventure with the precious time he had left.

Man of the World

Man of the World PDF Author: Graham Hughes
Publisher: ATBOSH Media Ltd.
ISBN: 1626130817
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description
MAN OF THE WORLD is the gripping account of the first year of British adventurer Graham Hughes’s daring Guinness World Record™ attempt to visit every country on Earth using only surface-based transportation, told with refreshing candour in his own words. Buckle up for a rib-tickling multinational caper of courage, tenacity, love, friendship, danger, panic, passport stamps and geo-politics, washed down with copious amounts of alcohol.

Arctic Crossing

Arctic Crossing PDF Author: Jonathan Waterman
Publisher: New York : A.A. Knopf
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
The Arctic—with its twenty-four-hour daylight, surprisingly curious animals and inexplicable humming noises—is a world of constant danger and limitless possibility. This unforgiving landscape is home to the Inuit (the name they prefer to “Eskimos”), whose complex and little-studied society is fascinating in its divergence from as well as its assimilation into Western culture. Jonathan Waterman’s 2,200-mile journey across the roof of North America took him through Inuit communities in Alaska to Nunavut, Canada’s new, 770,000-square-mile, self-governed territory. His story, at once illuminating and alarming, offers firsthand observations of their life, language and beliefs; records their reactions to global modernization; documents their centuries of unjust treatment at the hands of Kabloona (bushy-eyebrowed whites); and witnesses unemployment, teen suicide and such persistent plagues as spousal violence and substance abuse. From the perspective of his 1997–1999 voyage—as the Inuit stand on the brink of a more hopeful, independent future—he also looks into a past marked by famous (or infamous) Arctic explorers, government cover-ups and environmental destruction. This beautifully written work of intrepid reporting and even scholarship also reveals the physical risks and psychological perils of crossing the legendary Northwest Passage. Utterly alone for weeks at a time, Waterman struggles against freezing conditions, the tricks played on him by his own mind and dangers more complex than aggressive bears, stormy seas and mosquito blizzards. Following the advice of an Inuit shaman, who said that “those things hidden from others” are discovered only “far from the dwellings of men, through privation and suffering,” Waterman kayaks, skis, dogsleds and sails across the Great Solitudes in a thrilling and ultimately successful quest for this “true wisdom,” arriving at a profound understanding of environment and culture.

One Man's Wilderness

One Man's Wilderness PDF Author: Richard Louis Proenneke
Publisher: Alaska Northwest Books
ISBN: 9781513261805
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
To live in a pristine land unchanged by man; to roam the wilderness through which few other humans have passed; to choose an idyllic site, cut trees, and build a log cabin; to be a self-sufficient craftsman, making what is needed from materials available; to be not at odds with the world, but content with one's own thoughts and company: thousands have had such dreams, but Richard Proenneke lived them. This book is a simple account of the day-by-day explorations and activities he carried out alone, and the constant chain of nature's events that kept him company. From Proenneke's journals, and with first-hand knowledge of his subject and the setting, Sam Keith has woven a tribute to a man who carved his masterpiece out of the beyond.--From publisher description.

One Man's Odyssey

One Man's Odyssey PDF Author: Ian Pearce
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0852071795
Category : Physicians
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
An account of a personal spiritual journey.