Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  Elon Musk - Risking it All

  Michael Vlismas

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  In 2022 Elon Musk - one of the richest and best-known people on earth - made headlines worldwide with his bid to buy Twitter, and he is often in the news for his entrepreneurial exploits and his controversial tweets. Who is this boundary-pushing billionaire with grand plans of inhabiting Mars, and what lies at the heart of his vision? Why is he so utterly unafraid of risk? 
   
  As an awkward Pretoria schoolboy who loved comics and science fiction, Musk's early years and singular family background were crucial in forming his stellar ambitions. Journalist and author Michael Vlismas, who attended the same high school as Musk, knows well the environment that shaped him and offers new insights into Musk's development, including his troubled relationship with his father. 
   
  Tracing his remarkable life, from his South African childhood to his move to Canada at 17 and then to the US - where Musk made millions out of PayPal and built Tesla and SpaceX into two of the world's most famous companies - this is the revealing new story of a man driven to preserve the optimism he sees in humanity and find a future for humans 'out there among the stars'.

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  Self-Portrait

  Celia Paul

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  A rich, penetrating memoir about the author's relationship with a flawed but influential figure—the painter Lucian Freud—and the satisfactions and struggles of a life lived through art. 
   
   
   
  One of Britain's most important contemporary painters, Celia Paul has written a reflective, intimate memoir of her life as an artist. Self-Portrait tells the artist's story in her own words, drawn from early journal entries as well as memory, of her childhood in India and her days as a art student at London's Slade School of Fine Art; of her intense decades-long relationship with the older esteemed painter Lucian Freud and the birth of their son; of the challenges of motherhood, the unresolvable conflict between caring for a child and remaining committed to art; of the "invisible skeins between people," the profound familial connections Paul communicates through her paintings of her mother and sisters; and finally, of the mystical presence in her own solitary vision of the world around her. 
   
   
   
  Self-Portrait is a powerful, liberating evocation of a life and of a life-long dedication to art. 
   
   
   
  Contains mature themes.

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  Ancient and Modern Celebrated...

  Charles Bradlaugh

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  Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers by Charles Bradlaugh: Charles Bradlaugh's "Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers" is a collection of biographical sketches and essays that celebrate the lives and ideas of prominent freethinkers throughout history. As an ardent advocate for secularism and freethought, Bradlaugh aims to promote rationalism, skepticism, and intellectual inquiry. The book features influential figures like Voltaire, Thomas Paine, and Giordano Bruno, shedding light on their contributions to science, philosophy, and the advancement of human knowledge. 
   
  Bradlaugh, a prominent British atheist, political activist, and writer, was a leading advocate for secularism and freethought. As a passionate proponent of free speech and social reform, Bradlaugh wrote extensively on topics related to atheism, politics, and social justice, challenging prevailing religious and societal norms.

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  Little Tuk

  Hans Christian Andersen

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  "Little Tuk" is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a young boy named Tuk who embarks on a fantastical journey in his dreams. Tuk, a kind and helpful boy, is asked by his ailing mother to watch over his younger siblings while she goes out. Tuk is tired but does his best to keep an eye on his siblings, eventually falling asleep in his chair.
  As he sleeps, Tuk dreams of a series of magical adventures. In his dreams, he visits various places around his town, which have transformed into fantastical landscapes. He encounters talking animals, beautiful gardens, and even the town's history unfolding before his eyes. Each experience teaches Tuk something new and imparts a lesson or moral.
  When Tuk finally wakes up, he is surprised to find that his mother has returned, and everything has returned to normal. However, the lessons he learned in his dreams remain with him, and he becomes an even more thoughtful and considerate boy.
  "The Little Tuk" is a heartwarming tale that showcases the power of dreams, imagination, and the importance of learning from experiences, whether real or imagined.

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  Charles Babbage and Ada...

  Charles River Editors

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  While many are familiar with those facts, and a recent movie revived interest in Alan Turing’s achievements with computing during World War II, it was Charles Babbage who was the first to conceive the notion of a programmable and automatic universal computer, which, on top of its ability to calculate any mathematical equation at an unmatched speed, could also be used for a seemingly infinite number of other applications. In other words, he envisioned the precursor to the modern computer.   
  At first blush, Babbage hardly seemed the type, because in many ways, Babbage was the antithesis of the debonair, silver-tongued, and effortlessly charismatic CEOs of present-day tech giants. Babbage was a quirky individual to say the least. He was highly observant, but was in the same breath a habitual daydreamer, often caught in a trance of deep thought.  Indeed, his unquenchable thirst for knowledge and his brilliant mind were unparalleled, but this was paired with his restless, addictive, and extreme nature, as well as his obsession with precision and factual accuracy.  
  	Working with Babbage was certainly an unusual path for any woman, but Ada Lovelace managed to do so before an incredibly premature death. Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, died in 1852 at the age of 36, but during her short and tumultuous life, she was one of the first to recognize that computers could do far more than complex calculations. This was all the more surprising given that, during her life, no computers existed, and her ideas were based on an implicit understanding of the theoretical work of Charles Babbage, who himself is today recognized as the “Father of the Computer.” What makes her work truly startling is that she did this more than 100 years before the first computer had even been created. But Ada Lovelace was a woman, and in Victorian England, her work was generally either ignored or disparaged.

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  True Crime Philadelphia - From...

  Kathryn Canavan

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  Serial killer H. H. Holmes built his murder castle in Chicago, but he met the hangman in Philadelphia. Al Capone served his first prison sentence here. America's first bank robbery was pulled off here in 1798. The country's first kidnapping for ransom came off without a hitch in 1874. A South Philadelphia man hatched the largest mass murder plot in US history in the 1930s. His partners in crime were unhappy housewives. Civil rights hero Octavius V. Catto was gunned down on South Street in 1871. 
   
   
   
  Take a walk with us through city history. Would you pass Eastern State Penitentiary on April 3, 1945, just as famed bank robber Willie Sutton popped out of an escape tunnel in broad daylight? Or you might have been one of the invited guests at H. H. Holmes's hanging at Moyamensing Prison on a gray morning in May 1896. It still ranks as one of the most bizarre executions in city history. Or, if you walked down Washington Lane on July 1, 1874, would you have been alert enough to stop the two men who lured little blond Charley Ross away with candy? You might have stopped America's first kidnapping for ransom, the one that gave rise to the admonition, "Never take candy from a stranger." The case inspired the Leopold and Loeb kidnapping. 
   
   
   
  Mix in murderous maids, bumbling burglars, and unflinching local heroes and you have True Crime Philadelphia.

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