Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  An Italian Education - The...

  Tim Parks

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  A “marvelous” Mediterranean memoir of an expatriate father raising his children in Italy—from the author of Italian Neighbors (The Washington Post).   Tim Parks offers another lively firsthand account of Italian society and culture—this time focusing on all the little things that turn an ordinary newborn infant into a true Italian.   When British-born Tim Parks heard a mother at the beach in Pescara shout to her son, “Alberto, don’t sweat! No you can’t go in the sea till eleven, it’s still too cold, go and see your cousin in row three number fifty-two,” he was inspired to write about parenting in Italy—which he was doing himself at the time after adopting the country as his own. In this humorous memoir, Parks offers an enchanting portrait of Italian childhood that shifts from comedy to despair in the time it takes to sing a lullaby. The result is “a wry, thoughtful, and often hilarious book . . . a parable of how our children, no matter what, are other than ourselves” (The New Yorker).   “Glimpses of Italy that are fond, critical, pithy and penetrating.” —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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  Big Book of Ohio Ghost Stories

  James A Willis

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  “Chronicling the haunted history . . . of Ohio . . .” a collection of “chillingly entertaining ghostly tales [from] a master storyteller.” (Mark Moran, Co-creator of the Weird U.S. book series) Reader, beware! Turn these pages and enter the world of the paranormal, where ghosts and ghouls alike creep just out of sight. Author James A. Willis shines a light in the dark corners of Ohio and scares those spirits out of hiding in this thrilling collection. From ghostly soldiers that still haunt Fort Meigs to the eerie Franklin Castle, there’s no shortage of bone-chilling tales to keep you up at night. There’s even a carved tombstone of an infant at Cedar Hill cemetery, whose ghostly eyes keep watch over those who wander too close. Around the campfire or tucked away on a dark and stormy night, this big book of ghost stories is a hauntingly good read.   “Sure to satisfy anyone’s hankering for hauntings, havoc, and horror in the ‘boo-tiful’ Buckeye State.” —Linda S. Godfrey, Author of Haunted Wisconsin and Real Wolfmen

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  Urgent Calls from Distant Places...

  Marc-David Munk

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  A profound exploration of emergency medicine practiced at the most remote and challenging frontiers of East Africa. This inspiring collection of essays finds hope and meaning in the face of extraordinary odds, as a young physician asks: What are the ethical and moral dimensions of saving one life knowing countless others will die? 
  In 2008, a young doctor set out for Kenya, to volunteer with the famed AMREF East African Flying Doctors Service. An emergency physician looking to make a difference, Marc-David Munk flew dozens of missions as a flight surgeon to eleven East African countries, including war-torn Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 
  From his unarmed air ambulance, Munk and his team treated patients suffering from severe trauma, possible Ebola hemorrhagic fever, elephantiasis, malaria, and gunshot wounds. In Urgent Calls from Distant Places, the missions described are real and compelling. Readers will meet sick NGO workers in Somalia, malnourished Ugandan soldiers, suicidal teenagers, violent cow rustlers, American special forces, albino children murdered for their body parts, and even 19th-century explorers David Livingstone and Henry Stanley. Each chapter details the medical challenges of the mission but also explores the greater philosophical questions raised by treating patients in East Africa: African history, the impact of colonialism, communism, religion, terrorism, and war. Munk examines the unique histories and politics of the eleven countries he visits. 
  Urgent Calls is the story of the doctors, nurses, and pilots who tackled complex and dangerous missions to save lives. The book also bears witness to the author’s moral development as a healer and as a human. Urgent Calls takes readers to the wild beauty of East Africa and embraces the challenges of healing patients with humility, gratitude, and hope... one life at a time.

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  Strange Stones - Dispatches from...

  Peter Hessler

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  Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage—a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work.Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions. This unusual perspective distinguishes Strange Stones, which showcases Hessler’s unmatched range as a storyteller. “Wild Flavor” invites readers along on a taste test between two rat restaurants in South China. One story profiles Yao Ming, basketball star and China’s most beloved export, another David Spindler, an obsessive and passionate historian of the Great Wall. In “Dr. Don,” Hessler writes movingly about a small-town pharmacist and his relationship with the people he serves.While Hessler’s subjects and locations vary, subtle but deeply important thematic links bind these pieces—the strength of local traditions, the surprising overlap between apparently opposing cultures, and the powerful lessons drawn from individuals who straddle different worlds.

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  Plain Chinglish

  Oliver Radtke Lutz

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  Plain Chinglish offers an insightful look at misuses of the English language in Chinese street signs, products, and advertising. Menu translations such as “Chicken scratched in front of a peice of noodles” and public education signs such as “Labor glorious, Lazy shamefull” will make readers laugh out loud. 

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  Germania

  Publius Cornelius Tacitus

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  The Germania (Latin: De Origine et situ Germanorum, literally The Origin and Situation of the Germans), written by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus around 98, is an ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire. Germania fits squarely within the tradition established by authors from Herodotus to Julius Caesar. Tacitus himself had already written a similar essay on the lands and tribes of Britannia in his Agricola. The Germania begins with a description of the lands, laws, and customs of the Germanic people; it then segues into descriptions of individual tribes, beginning with those dwelling closest to Roman lands and ending on the uttermost shores of the Baltic, among the amber-gathering Aesti, the primitive and savage Fenni, and the unknown tribes beyond them. 
  Tacitus’ descriptions of the Germanic character are at times favorable in contrast to the opinions of the Romans of his day. He holds the strict monogamy and chastity of Germanic marriage customs worthy of the highest praise, in contrast to what he saw as the vice and immorality rampant in Roman society of his day, and he admires their open hospitality, their simplicity, and their bravery in battle. One should not, however, think that Tacitus’ portrayal of Germanic customs is entirely favorable; he notes a tendency in the Germanic people for what he saw as their habitual drunkenness, laziness, and barbarism, among other traits. Tacitus says that physically, the Germans appeared to be a distinct race, not an admixture of their neighbors. In Chapter 4, he mentions that they have common characteristics of blue eyes, blond or reddish hair and large size. 
  In Chapter 7, Tacitus describes their government and leadership as somewhat merit-based and egalitarian, with leadership by example rather than authority and that punishments are carried out by the priests. He mentions that the opinions of women are given respect. In Chapter 9, Tacitus describes a form of folk assembly rather similar to the public Things recorded in later Germanic sources: in these public deliberations, the final decision rests with the men of the tribe as a whole. 
  Tacitus further discusses the role of women in Chapters 7 and 8, mentioning that they often accompany the men to battle and offer encouragement. He says that the men are often motivated to fight for the women because of an extreme fear of their being taken captive. Tacitus says that the Germans are mainly content with one wife, except for a few political marriages, and specifically and explicitly compares this practice favorably to other barbarian cultures, perhaps since monogamy was a shared value between Roman and Germanic cultures. He also records that adultery is very rare, and that an adulterous woman is shunned afterward by the community regardless of her beauty. 
  This translation by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb, was first published in 1877. (Summary from Wikipedia.)

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