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  The Pear is Ripe - A Memoir

  John Montague

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  The book is full of warm anecdotes and wry observations on the numerous literary, artistic and musical characters John Montague encountered, befriended and occasionally provoked. He recounts his personal and professional relationships with such luminaries as Patrick Kavanagh, Allen Ginsberg and, as co-founder of Claddagh Records, with composer Seán Ó Riada. There is an interesting account of meeting Charles Haughey and a suggestion that a seed was sown that might have led ultimately to the introduction of the artist tax exemption. The Pear is Ripecovers a period of great social change and upheaval internationally and, in particular, the north of Ireland. Montague's proximity to these changes, by accident or design, was to influence his work and lends this memoir an immediacy that belies the intervening years.While much of the book covers the writer's public and literary life, it also addresses the strain that living apart from his wife Madeleine placed on their marriage - which would ultimately lead to their break-up. While the book principally spans the period from the mid-sixties to the late seventies, Montague has included a powerful and moving epilogue featuring more recent events. He writes of visiting young men with AIDS in a New York hospital, and of a final meeting with an ailing Samuel Beckett in Paris.

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  Gandhi CEO - 14 Principles to...

  Alan Axelrod

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  Fourteen lessons to instruct, inspire, and encourage, drawn from the life and work of one of the twentieth century’s true leaders. 
   
  Gandhi, a CEO? Absolutely—and an incomparable example for our uncertain times, when we need leaders we can trust and admire. Not only was he a moral and intensely spiritual man, but also a supremely practical manager and a powerful agent for change, able to nurture the rebirth of an entire nation.  
   
  To achieve this goal, he mastered the elements of personal leadership and institutional management. In this enlightening book, historian and bestselling business writer Alan Axelrod looks at this much-studied man in a way nobody has before, employing his engaging, conversational style to bring each lesson to life through quotes and vivid examples from Gandhi’s life.

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  Last Days of the Bus Club

  Chris Stewart

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  It's two decades since Chris Stewart moved to his farm on the wrong side of a river in southern Spain and his daughter Chlöe is preparing to leave for university. We find Chris, a local literary celebrity, using his fame to help his old sheep-shearing partner find work on a raucous road trip; cooking a TV lunch for visiting British chef, Rick Stein; and, most movingly, visiting famine-stricken Niger for Oxfam.

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  Frank Sinatra 2: Up Close and...

  Geoffrey Giuliano

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  Continuing the almost fairytale saga of the unlikely life of Frank Sinatra, in part two, Frank discusses his alleged ties with the mafia, his wild, international concert tours, and his private time at home with his wife Barbara, children, and grandchildren. It is an intimate look at the man behind the legend such as you will not find. Featuring rare interviews and commentary. Recommended for all library collections. Narrated by the author.

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  Tolstoy

  L. Winstanley

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  Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is universally regarded as one of the greatest authors in history. This brief biography discusses, among other things, Tolstoy's childhood, married life, contemporaries, travels, and his strongly held opinions concerning religion and class privilege. Individual chapters are devoted to War and Peace and Anna Karenina. The former, with its vivid character portrayals and great historical, political, and military insight, is considered by many to be the world's greatest novel. Another chapter is devoted to Tolstoy's other notable works, and the book concludes with a consideration of his lasting influence. The book, published in 1914, contains a bibliography listing works about and by Tolstoy. L. Winstanley was a lecturer in English at the University College at Wales. --Adapted by Lee Smalley

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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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