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  An Appetite for Wonder - The...

  Richard Dawkins

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  New York Times bestselling author and renowned atheist and evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins delivers an intimate look into his own childhood and intellectual development, illuminating his path to becoming one of the foremost thinkers in modern science today “A memoir that is funny and modest, absorbing and playful. Dawkins has written a marvelous love letter to science . . . and for this, the book will touch scientists and science-loving persons . . . Enchanting.” —NPR  Richard Dawkins’s first book, The Selfish Gene, was an immediate sensation and dramatically shifted the study of biology by offering a gene-centered view of evolution. Published in 1976, the book transformed the way we think about genes and evolution and has sold more than a million copies. In 2006, Dawkins transformed the world’s cultural and intellectual landscape again with The God Delusion, a scientific dismantling of religion. It was a New York Times bestseller and has sold more than two million copies worldwide. An Appetite for Wonder is Dawkins’s insightful memoir examining his own evolution as a man and as a thinker. From his beginnings in colonial Kenya to his intellectual awakening at Oxford, Dawkins shares his path to the creation of The Selfish Gene, and offers readers an in-depth look at the man and the mind that has changed the way we view science and evolution.

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  Above the Battle - An Air...

  Ronald Lyell Munro

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  A rare memoir of serving as an AOP pilot—one of the most daring and dangerous jobs in World War II. Includes maps and photos.   In April 1943, a young officer arrived at Penshurst to join C Flight, 653 Squadron. He was no ordinary pilot, and this was no ordinary RAF outfit. Lyell Munro was a soldier and 653 was an Air Observation Post Squadron whose pilots were Royal Artillery and whose ground crew were RAF.   AOP pilots were expert gunners, skilled flyers, and incurable rule breakers. Flying from airstrips just behind the front lines, without armament and often with no parachute, they controlled the fire of hundreds of guns and their enemies learned to dread the sight of the little green Austers in the skies above the battlefield. An incautious movement, a puff of smoke or a chance flash of reflected sunlight could bring tons of high explosives raining down.   They flew alone without ground control, scanning the skies constantly while they directed the guns. Closing at over 250mph, an attacking ME 109 left no time for indecision. Reactions had to be instinctive and evasive action instant. Failure was fatal. After the war ended, the survivors went back into civilian life and few histories mention them or what they did. Lyell’s is one of only two personal accounts that are known to exist, and it is likely that there will be no more. Written for his family and his comrades in C Flight, Above the Battle is a story told without heroics, but with a deep affection for the men with whom he flew and worked.

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  Narrative of the Life of...

  Frederick Douglass

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  "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" is a memoir on abolition written by Frederick Douglass. It is held to be the most famous of a number of narratives written by former slaves during the 19th century. In factual detail, the text describes the events of his life and is considered to be one of the most influential pieces of literature to fuel the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century in the United States. 
  Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writings.

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  The Dambuster Who Cracked the...

  Arthur G. Thorning

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  On September 25, 1939 Melvin Young reported to No. 1 Initial Training Unit. He was selected as a bomber pilot and promoted to Flying Officer. Having undertaken a Lancaster conversion course Melvin and his new crew were posted to 57 Squadron at Scampton  soon to become 617 Squadron. On 15 May the Order for Operation Chastise was issued—the raid to be flown the next night, 16/17 May. The plan for the operation was that three waves of aircraft would be employed. The first wave of nine aircraft, led by Gibson, would first attack the Mohne Dam, then the Eder followed by other targets as directed by wireless from 5 Group HQ if any weapons were still available. This wave would fly in three sections of three aircraft about ten minutes apart led by Guy Gibson, Melvin Young and Henry Maudslay. At 00.43 Melvin and his crew made their attempt on the Mohne dam. Gibson recorded that Youngs weapon made three good bounces and contact. Once the dam had been breached Gibson with Melvin as his deputy led the three remaining armed aircraft towards the Eder Dam. On the return trip Melvin Young and his crew fell victim to enemy guns. At 02.58 gunners at Castricum-an-Zee reported shooting down an aircraft and several batteries also reported firing at it. A.J.-A crashed into the sea. Over the North Sea, Guy Gibson called Melvin on the radiothere was no reply.

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  A Very Private Celebrity - The...

  Hugh Purcell

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  John Freeman was one of Britain's most extraordinary public figures for over half a century: a renaissance man who constantly reinvented himself; a household name who sought complete anonymity. From advertising executive to war hero to MP tipped to be Prime Minister, Freeman then changed direction to become a seminal television interviewer and editor of the New Statesman. He subsequently remodelled himself yet again to become, in turn, an ambassador, a TV mogul, a university professor and, finally, in retirement, a well-known bowls player in south London. Freeman packed nine lives into his ninety-nine years, but all he really wanted was to be forgotten. The paradox of this private celebrity was captured by the very series that made him famous: Face to Face. While Freeman remorselessly interrogated the stars of his age, he himself sat in the shadows, his back to the camera. He was the grand inquisitor, exposing the personalities behind the public figures - but never his own. For ten years, Hugh Purcell has been tracking Freeman's story, trying to come face to face with this enigma who believed in changing his life - and his wife - every ten years. Why did Freeman want to forget what most old men would be proud to remember? Why did he try to erase himself from history? And yet, despite Freeman's best efforts to be ignored, his death in 2014 was marked by an enormous outpouring of appreciation and admiration. With his life now free from its shroud of inscrutability, the true story of this incredibly multifaceted man can finally be told.

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  Without Tradition - 2 Para...

  Robert Peatling

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  Firsthand accounts of the Second Battalion, Parachute Regiment, and its important role in Britain’s war effort, with photos included.   2 Para’s performance during Operation Market Garden is legendary—but, as this book amply demonstrates, it was the culmination of three years of battle experience. A major factor behind the battalion’s successes was the leadership of its commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel John D. Frost, who never failed to inspire those under him by his example and character.  Without Tradition is a superb record of, and a fitting tribute to, one of the most successful fighting units in the long and glorious history of the British Army.

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