Other books that might interest you

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  Struck by Genius - How a Brain...

  Maureen Seaberg, Jason Padgett

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  From head trauma to scientific wonder—a “deeply absorbing . . . fascinating” true story of acquired savant syndrome (Entertainment Weekly). Twelve years ago, Jason Padgett had never made it past pre-algebra. But a violent mugging forever altered the way his brain worked. It turned an ordinary math-averse student into an extraordinary young man with a unique gift to see the world as no one else does: water pours from the faucet in crystalline patterns, numbers call to mind distinct geometric shapes, and intricate fractal patterns emerge from the movement of tree branches, revealing the intrinsic mathematical designs hidden in the objects around us.   As his ability to understand physics skyrocketed, the “accidental genius” developed the astonishing ability to draw the complex geometric shapes he saw everywhere. Overcoming huge setbacks and embracing his new mind, Padgett “gained a vision of the world that is as beautiful as it is challenging.” Along the way he fell in love, found joy in numbers, and spent plenty of time having his head examined (The New York Times Book Review).   Illustrated with Jason’s stunning, mathematically precise artwork, his singular story reveals the wondrous potential of the human brain, and “an incredible phenomenon which points toward dormant potential—a little Rain Man perhaps—within us all” (Darold A. Treffert, MD, author of Islands of Genius: The Bountiful Mind of the Autistic, Acquired, and Sudden Savant).   “A tale worthy of Ripley’s Believe It or Not! . . . This memoir sends a hopeful message to families touched by brain injury, autism, or neurological damage from strokes.” —Booklist   “How extraordinary it is to contemplate the bizarre gifts that might lie within all of us.” —People

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  Memoirs of a Stuka Pilot

  Helmut Mahlke

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  “Well-written and holds the reader’s attention . . . an engaging book and a rare personal view of flying one of the most iconic aircraft of WWII.” —Firetrench   After recounting his early days as a naval cadet, including a voyage to the Far East aboard the cruiser Köln and as the navigator/observer of the floatplane carried by the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer during the Spanish Civil War, Helmut Mahlke describes his flying training as a Stuka pilot.   The author’s naval dive-bomber Gruppe was incorporated into the Luftwaffe upon the outbreak of war. What follows is a fascinating Stuka pilot’s-eye view of some of the most famous and historic battles and campaigns of the early war years: the Blitzkrieg in France, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the bombing of Malta, North Africa, Tobruk, and Crete, and, finally, the invasion of the Soviet Union.   Mahlke also takes the reader behind the scenes into the day-to-day life of his unit and brings the members of his Gruppe to vivid life, describing their off-duty antics and mourning their losses in action. The story ends when he himself is shot down in flames by a Soviet fighter and is severely burned. He was to spend the remainder of the war in various staff appointments.   “An engaging, engrossing and exceptionally informative book. A worthy addition to any military enthusiast’s library and is unhesitatingly and heartily recommended.” —Aviation History

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  A Gentleman Abroad - Francis...

  Francis Brennan

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  Travel around the world and back again with Francis!Francis Brennan recounts his journeys across the globe and the adventures and mishaps that ensue along the way. From Vietnam to the Vatican, India to Australia, and his recent bucket-list trip along Route 66 – but always back to Kenmare, because there's no place like home. Let Francis take you on a grand tour of his best travel memories and be inspired to see the world in a new light.

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  New Report Reveals Where You...

  PBS NewsHour

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  Children of low-income families in certain communities are more likely to move up the economic ladder than others, says a new report by Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley. Jeffrey Brown talks to co-author Raj Chetty, Harvard professor of economics, for more on their portrait of American social mobility.

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  Dear Diary Boy - An Exacting...

  Kumiko Makihara

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  When her five-year-old son passed the rigorous entrance exams to one of Japan's top private elementary schools, Makihara, a single mother, thought they were on their way. Taro would wear the historic dark blue uniform and learn alongside other little Einsteins while she basked in the glory of his high achievements with the other perfect moms. Together they would climb the rungs into the country's successful elite.But it didn't turn out that way. Taro had other things in mind. While set in Japan, their struggles in the school's hyper-competitive environment mirror those faced by parents here in the US and raise the same questions about the best way to educate a child—especially one that doesn't quite fit the mold. Public or private? Competitive or nurturing? Standardized or individualized? Helicopter parenting or free-range? Amid this frenzied debate, how does one find balance and maintain a healthy parent-child relationship?Dear Diary Boy is an intensely personal, heartwarming, and heartbreaking chronicle of one mother and child's experience in a prestigious private Tokyo school. It's a tale that will resonate with all parents as we try to answer the age-old questions of how best to educate our children and what, truly, is in their best interests versus what is in our own.

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  Already Too Late - a boyhood memoir

  Carl MacDougall

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  In post-war Glasgow a primary school class was set a composition topic: a memorable family event. Each child completed the assignment – all, that is, but one. 
  Why didn't you write about your family?
  Please, miss. I didn't, I didn't know what to write.
  But now, he does.
  
  In Already, Too Late, Carl MacDougall, one of Scotland's most accomplished and celebrated literary writers, presents a memoir of extraordinary authenticity and honesty.
  
  This memoir takes us through MacDougall's upbringing, both in and out of care on the west coast of Scotland, Fife, and industrial Glasgow, during the first decade of his life.
  
  Within this world, now teetering on the brink of our collective memory, sits a single-parent household of German descent; money is tight, trauma roams free and tragedy comes calling again and again.
  
  Through a powerful mosaic of stories, MacDougall strips away all rose-tinted sentimentality to create a vivid account of heart-break, dissociation and loss.
  
  Already, Too Late is the early life of an outsider looking in, a changeling child, displaced, alone, and – in his own grandmother's words – 'no right'. Because for some, even the very beginning is already too late.

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