Other books that might interest you

• 

  The Dressmaker's Mirror - Sudden...

  Susan Weiss Liebman

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Experts agree on the value of genetic testing when there is a family history of disease, or if the patient has an illness frequently caused by a mutation. Knowing the disease mutation lets family members find out if they have it too and need preventive care. The book explains that doctors can order tests with genetic counseling at relatively low cost and how this will help them prescribe preventive actions, make earlier diagnoses, and get better outcomes. The book's genetic discussions also delve into the implications of broad-based genetic screening without a family history. Policymakers are considering the benefits and drawbacks of this approach and I present both sides of this debate. 
   
   
   
  While working on this book I uncovered a family secret hidden for over one hundred years. Family lore had it that a heavy dressmaker's mirror fell on and killed my uncle when he was four. But the death certificate told a different story—his true cause of death was heart failure. My grandparents fabricated the accident to protect their surviving children's marriage prospects. Long before the discovery of DNA, my grandparents intuited and feared James Watson's message, "We used to think that our fate was in our stars, but now we know that, in large measure, our fate is in our genes." The book suggests genetic testing and associated medical intervention can change our fates.

  Show book

• 

  Poof

  J. M. Tolcher

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Part provocateur, part seducer, this young gay man’s account of life offers one of the freshest takes on Australia and the world today. 
  Honouring poets of the past – Jean Genet, Veronica Franco, Euripedes, Hunter S. Thompson, Oscar Wilde – and joining in their task of finding meaning in existence and the modern world, Tolcher has produced a brazenly honest debut without precedent. 
  Through his writing he subverts his own shame, weaponises it, and positions himself as an anti-hero of our time right when we need him the most. 
  Following his humble beginnings as an outcast in the dreary outer suburbs of Brisbane and escalating into a Dionysian, poetic and pornographic international climax, Poof follows Tolcher's search for love and purpose as he is drawn to the beds of powerful, sadistic men. If he can endure just a little longer, a little more... will they love him? 
  In an age of victimhood, Tolcher offers us a roadmap to empowerment and integrity as he pulls back the curtain on both our pride and our shame, and shines a spotlight on a hidden history that has been erased time and again.

  Show book

• 

  Tower The (Unabridged)

  Thea Lenarduzzi

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Once upon a time, there was a tower on a hill, beyond the dark trees, somewhere north. An octagonal tower on two levels: glass upstairs and stone below, beneath a steep slate roof - a folly, it was said. According to locals, a young woman named Annie who fell ill was confined to the tower by her father for three years and died there, alone. Fascinated by Annie's story, Thea Lenarduzzi attempts to piece the past together in a formidable act of imagination, which, tugging at the strings of the how, why and who of stories, begins to unravel the very idea of storytelling itself. Veering between fiction, memoir, fairy tale and folklore, The Tower is an extraordinary book about power, abuse and why we don't always tell the story we set out to tell.

  Show book

• 

  Stumped - One Cricket Umpire Two...

  Richard Harrison

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  An Umpire's Journey Through Cricket's Evolution 
  In a sport where legends are forged on hallowed grounds from Lord's to Eden Gardens, one umpire's story stands apart. 
  A passionate Australian cricketer trades his whites for an umpire's coat, embarking on a journey that would challenge cricket's traditions. For six years, he witnesses the game's magic from cricket's most privileged position - standing in matches across England's most storied grounds, where giants of the game once played. 
  But it's his return to Australia that delivers an unexpected twist - like a Kumble googly that deceives even the most seasoned batsman. 
  Inspired by the rising tide of women's cricket - a phenomenon that has given India superstars like Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana - he makes an unprecedented decision. Joining the Victorian Premier Cricket Umpires Panel, he chooses to stand exclusively in women's matches, becoming a champion for the fastest-growing segment of our beloved sport. 
  Stumped is more than just a memoir - it's a window into cricket's soul. Through the unique lens of an umpire, author Richard Harrison captures the game's finest nuances, from the technical mastery required in decision-making to the various elements that enshrine the spirit of cricket. 
  Join Richard as he shares fascinating insights into: 
  The art and science of umpiring at elite levels 
  Cricket's evolution from traditional men's formats to the explosive growth of the women's game 
  Behind-the-scenes stories that will delight every true cricket lover 
  Don't let this one slip through to the keeper - get your copy of Stumped today and discover how one umpire's decision to challenge convention helped champion the future of cricket.

  Show book

• 

  The US Army Combat Historian and...

  Kathryn Roe Coker, Jason Wetzel

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  "How is history useful for an operational commander or to soldiers in general? What role does history have for doctrine and training to the U.S. Army as an institution? These are questions this book answers as the authors narrate the development combat historian and the evolving role of combat historians as they develop history into a useful tool for informing training, operations, and doctrine development."—New York Journal of Books
  
  In World War I, Major General Pershing proposed the idea of establishing a historical office within the AEF headquarters. The War Department reorganized the General Staff to include a Historical Branch. Evidence shows that soldiers acting as historians went "down range," albeit not into combat. By World War II, the situation had changed—whether S.L.A. Marshall's popping out of a billet in Sibret as a shells exploded on the road; Forrest Pogue's typing "on a little camp desk under an apple tree;" Chester Starr's terrain reconnaissance in the Mediterranean theater, or Ken Hechler's command of a four-man historical team interviewing soldiers at the Remagen Bridge and searching through secret documents—the World War II combat historians were there behind and on the front lines with a notebook in one hand and their carbine in the other hand, ever ready to collect battlefield information.
  
  Eight historical service detachments were deployed to Korea. The youngest commander, 1st Lieutenant Bevin Alexander, noted "We were on the front lines the whole time . . . We would interview the people afterwards and create a battle study…." After the Korean War, the duties of the combat historian further evolved as what became the Center of Military History published doctrine about military history detachments (MHDs). As America’s immersion in Vietnam escalated, there was concern regarding historical coverage. Chief of Military History Brigadier General Hal Pattison established a network of historical teams to collect information on the U.S Army in the war. A major development in the history program and in deploying MHDs came with the establishment of Headquarters, U.S. Army Vietnam (USARV) under General William C. Westmoreland’s command. In 1965, the history office was organized at Headquarters, U.S. Army Vietnam (USARV). MHDs were deployed across Vietnam, conducting combat after action interviews, and collecting documents. This study focuses on U.S. Army historical programs during combat operations from World War I to the Vietnam War with particular attention on the combat historians, those individuals deployed to a theater of war with the mission of documenting the actions of that theater for current and future historical use.

  Show book

• 

  Mercenaries Gunslingers and...

  Robert M. Kurtz

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Retired after 12 years in the military, Robert Kurtz had never deployed to war, so when he got the opportunity to deploy to Iraq as a private security contractor, he did not hesitate. The two and a half years he spent in Iraq and the people he met would change his life profoundly. 
  Recounts 2½ years of a security contractor’s profound experiences in Iraq, blending gripping vignettes of firefights, cultural encounters, and the human cost of conflict. 
  A candid and multifaceted look at life as a security contractor in Iraq in the early years after the American invasion. It’s not just a story of surviving IEDs and firefights while protecting American contractors—though those moments are vividly recounted—it’s also an exploration of the broader, often unexpected, experiences that defined the author’s two and a half years in Iraq. 
  Structured as a series of concise, self-contained chapters, the book captures a wide range of events and encounters: high-speed crashes, tense standoffs with Iraqi security forces, the ever-present uncertainty of knowing who to trust, and the toll of living in a warzone—but outside the protection of the military—on contractors, clients, and locals alike. The focus isn’t just on action but also on the everyday challenges and the strategies necessary to stay safe in such a dangerous and unpredictable environment. 
  The book introduces the diverse people the author met through his work, from former Green Berets, British Royal Marines and South African commandos, through to Gurkhas, a former member of the French Foreign Legion, and even a Buddhist monk. There are stories of heroic, larger-than-life figures and of outlaws who came to Iraq because they didn’t fit in anywhere else and ended up not fitting in there either. It also delves into the lives of Iraqi civilians, who offered glimpses of kindness and humanity amid the chaos. These stories provide listeners with a nuanced and personal perspective on a challenging and complex chapter of modern conflict.

  Show book