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  Endangered Coral Reefs Die

  PBS NewsHour

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  In addition to negative consequences caused by overfishing and pollution, coral reefs face another major existential threat: increased acidity from warming oceans. Hari Sreenivasan reports from Florida about the dire outlook for coral reefs, as well as efforts and research to try and save them.

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  Peaks and Lamas

  Marco Pallis

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  Peaks and Lamas is one of the classic early 20th-century accounts of travelling in the Himalayas on the borders of Tibet. It is, in its way, on a par with the more famous Mystery and Imagination in Tibet by Alexandra David-Néel (also available on Dharma Audiobooks).It describes two journeys in the 1930s, one physically active and one more of spiritual investigation. It starts as the title suggests, as a mountaineering adventure, when a group of English climbers set out to climb unconquered peaks in the Himalayas. Marco Pallis (1895-1989), of Greek and English parentage and schooled at Harrow, was wounded at Cambrai in 1918 but took up climbing on his return.His first expedition was in 1933 with the goal of climbing the peaks, and it dominates his account of the journey. But he became increasingly intrigued by Tibetans, the Tibetan way of life and Tibetan Buddhism. Like David-Néel, this became much more than a traveller's interest, and in 1936 he returned with one companion, his close friend Richard Nicholson. They went first to Sikkim, (a strongly ‘Tibetan' country though with political affiliations to India), where he met the abbot of Lachhen and learned directly the very specific ‘Vajrayana' version of Buddhism.Having started learning Tibetan in England, Pallis became increasingly fluent in the language, both spoken and written. Unable to obtain permission to go to Tibet's capital, Lhasa, Pallis travelled to Ladakh instead - politically part of India but very much (as now) a Tibetan country. There he adopted the chuba, the Tibetan dress. While never losing his European identity, Pallis felt at one with Tibetan culture and religion, and his account of his time in Ladakh is one of clarity and pervasive warmth.No uncritical idealist, he was acutely aware that lamas can vary from the saintly to highly secular. He cast a discriminating eye on the traditions of Tibetan art, in their thangkas and rupas; he noted the poverty of the people, but also their kindness. This extended noticeably towards animals, he reported, though he also acknowledged the violence that existed, as demonstrated by the necessity to have fearsome chained mastiffs to guard households. In Peaks and Lamas, he devoted chapters to explaining Vajrayana Buddhism, and though it is now one of the most prevalent forms in the West, his summary generally still holds up and even offers insights. Above all, his generous and warm personality shines through this account. And endearing details emerge.As a former student of early music in England under the famed Professor Arnold Dolmetsch, Pallis often travelled with his viols and (on his first mountaineering journey) played viol consorts with his companions to villagers high in the Himalayas. The audiobook ends with a warning of the deleterious effect of Western culture on traditional art and values and an idealistic polemic on education. But Peaks and Lamas is a most engaging account and undeniably a classic of its kind.

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  Life Out Loud -- A Memoir of...

  Ed Nef

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  Born and raised in New York to a Swiss father and Polish mother, Ed Nef seemed destined for an international life. After serving in Germany with the US Army, Ed began his career with the Foreign Service in Dakar, Senegal, in 1960. Tours in Guatemala and Colombia followed, broken up by assignments to the Peace Corps. While on assignment in Canada, Ed accepted a Congressional Fellowship on Capitol Hill that turned into a job as legislative director for Senator Max Baucus.  
    
  Six years later, Ed left government and politics behind, buying a small language school and turning it into the foremost private language-training facility in the DC area. Ed eventually operated language schools in Tokyo, Vietnam, and Mongolia. Inspired by the people he met, Ed began producing documentary films on topics including Vietnam-American relations, Mongolian mining, Senegalese women, and Thai elephant polo, among others.   
    
  Today, Ed runs his family foundation to support worthy projects around the world. Its current focus is providing disabled Mongolians with high-quality prosthetics.   

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  Woodrow on the Bench - Life...

  Jenna Blum

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  “When I say Jenna Blum’s upcoming Woodrow on the Bench wrecked me and that I’m now sobbing eating all the chocolate, I mean it in the best way possible.”—Jodi Picoult  
  ""Jenna Blum's wonderful moving memoir, is a “girl and her dog” story for the ages!”—Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain 
  The New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Those Who Save Us pays tribute to her beloved black Lab, Woodrow, in this beautiful memoir that recalls the last six months of his life and the ways in which he taught her to live.  
   “For anyone who’s ever loved an old dog.” 
  Since she adopted him as a puppy fifteen years earlier, Jenna Blum and Woodrow have been inseparable. Known to many as “the George Clooney of dogs” for his good looks and charm, Woodrow and his “Mommoo” are fixtures in their Boston neighborhood.  
  But Woodrow is aging. As he begins to fail, the true nature of his extraordinary relationship with Jenna is revealed. Jenna may be the dog parent, but it is Woodrow, with his amazing personality and trusting nature, who has much to teach her. A divorcée who has experienced her share of sadness and loss, Jenna discovers, over the months she spends caring for her ailing dog, what it is to be present in the moment, and what it truly means to love. 
  Aided by an amazing group of friends and buoyed by the support of strangers, Jenna and Woodrow navigate these precious final days together with kindness, humor, and grace. Their unforgettable love story will reaffirm your belief in kindness, break your heart, and leave your spirit soaring.

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  Master of War - The Life of...

  Benson Bobrick

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  In this revelatory, dynamic biography, one of our finest historians, Benson Bobrick, profiles George H. Thomas, arguing that he was the greatest and most successful general of the Civil War. Because Thomas didn't live to write his memoirs, his reputation has been largely shaped by others, most notably Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, two generals with whom Thomas served and who, Bobrick says, diminished his successes in their favor in their own memoirs.Born in Virginia, Thomas survived Nat Turner's rebellion as a boy, then studied at West Point, where Sherman was a classmate. Thomas distinguished himself in the Mexican War and then returned to West Point as an instructor. When the Civil War broke out, Thomas remained loyal to the Union, unlike fellow Virginia-born officer Robert E. Lee (among others). He compiled an outstanding record as an officer in battles at Mill Springs, Perryville, and Stones River. At the Battle of Chickamauga, Thomas, at the time a corps commander, held the center of the Union line under a ferocious assault, then rallied the troops on Horseshoe Ridge to prevent a Confederate rout of the Union army. His extraordinary performance there earned him the nickname "The Rock of Chickamauga."Promoted to command of the Army of the Cumberland, he led his army in a stunning Union victory at the Battle of Chattanooga. Thomas supported Sherman on his march through Georgia in the spring of 1864, winning an important victory at the Battle of Peachtree Creek. As Sherman continued on his March to the Sea, Thomas returned to Tennessee and in the battle of Nashville destroyed the army of Confederate general John Bell Hood. It was one of the most decisive victories of the war, and Thomas won it even as Grant was on his way to remove Thomas from his command. (When Grant discovered the magnitude of Thomas's victory, he quickly changed his mind.) Thomas died of a stroke in 1870 while still on active duty. In the entire Civil War, he never lost a battle or a movement.Throughout his career, Thomas was methodical, careful, and always prepared. Unlike Grant at Shiloh, he was never surprised by an enemy. Unlike Sherman, he never panicked in battle but always remained calm and focused. He was derided by both men as "Slow Trot Thomas," but as Bobrick shows in this brilliant biography, he was quick to analyze every situation and always knew what to do and when to do it. He was not colorful like Grant and Sherman, but he was widely admired by his peers, and some, such as Grant's favorite cavalry commander, General James H. Wilson, thought Thomas the peer of any general in either army. He was the only Union commander to destroy two Confederate armies in the field.Although historians of the Civil War have always regarded Thomas highly, he has never captured the public imagination, perhaps because he has lacked an outstanding biographer-until now. This informed, judicious, and lucid biography at last gives Thomas his due.

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  Lee Harvey Oswald - In His Own...

  Geoffrey Giuliano

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  For the first time ever, we can now go deep inside the mind of the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy. In this never before heard collection of ultra rare interviews and a press conferrence with Oswald, we gain great insight into the mysterious life and time of one of history's most misunderstood and iconic characters.

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