Maison d'édition: Qasim Idrees
One of the most influential books ever written, Descartes' Discourse on the Method delves into some of the most basic and profound philosophical problems facing humanity. Follow this great mind through the logical processes that ultimately led him to conclude, "I think, therefore I am"—and to change Western philosophy forever in the process.
Simo Häyhä (1905-2002) is the most famous sniper in the world. During the Winter War fought between Russia and Finland in 1939-1940 he had 542 confirmed kills with iron sights, a record that still stands today. He has been a role model for snipers all over the world. Simo Häyhä was a man of action who spoke very little, but he was respected by his men and his superiors and given many difficult missions, including taking out specific targets. Able to move silently and swiftly through the landscape, melting into the snowbound surroundings in his white camouflage fatigues, his aim was deadly and his quarry rarely escaped. The Russians learned of his reputation as a marksman and tried several times to kill him by indirect fire. He was promoted from corporal to second lieutenant and he was awarded the Cross of Kollaa. After the war Simo Häyhä lead a quiet, unassuming life in farming and forestry. His roots were deep in the Finnish soil, and he loved life in rural Finland. A true patriot, he epitomized the traits of a professional soldier, performing his duty and setting an example of bravery that personified the Finnish spirit when confronted by the Russian onslaught. The White Sniper fully explores Simo Häyhä's life, his exploits in the Winter War, and the secrets behind his success.Voir livre
Theirs was an unlikely life together. Sheila gave birth to Josephine on 11th May 1993 and for twenty-three years they co-existed in a loving mother-daughter relationship, but one with a difference. Josephine suffered catastrophic brain injury at birth, never spoke to Sheila, rarely smiled and was barely able to see the faces of the people who loved her. Without a how-to guide, people around Josephine strove to make her life better through years of multiple medical procedures, tortuous therapies and uncomfortable equipment. But this isn't a misery memoir; it's the story of a person who touched the lives of so many people - a bright and beautiful young lady who could work the room despite her enormous limitations. She brought out the best in people. Expect to cry, expect to laugh, but don't expect to be indifferent to this story.Voir livre
A riveting look behind the mask of an NHL goalie, The Save of My Life offers understanding and hope to anyone living with mental illness By the time he was twenty-two years old, goaltender Corey Hirsch had realized his childhood dream of playing in the NHL, won an Olympic medal and drunk from the Stanley Cup. While he excelled on the ice, out of the net Hirsch was plagued by persistent dark thoughts and ceaseless anxiety. On days when he could barely get out of bed, he was able to push aside the endless loop of dark thoughts running inside his brain long enough to win a game. But as soon as he got back home, the agonizing cycle started all over again. And it continued, until finally he was able to confide in a team trainer who helped him get the professional treatment he needed. Diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Hirsch was able to embark on the rocky road to recovery. As one of the first professional athletes to talk openly about mental health, Hirsch wrote about his OCD for the Players’ Tribune. His piece remains one of their most-read articles ever. As Hirsch says, “I am not insane. I am not a bad person. I am not weak. I have an illness, and there is a treatment.”Voir livre
One of the four central works in Daoism. The Lie-Tzu, or Liezi, was originally thought to have been composed in the same period as the Dao and Zhuang Zi, around the 5th century BCE. However, it is now believed to have been compiled nearly a thousand years later, around 400 CE. Lionel Giles, in fact, was one of the first to call out the Lieh Tzu’s suspicious origins, saying “scholars […] seem to have enjoyed nothing so much as forging, if not the whole, at any rate portions, of the works of ancient authors. Someone even produced a treatise under the name of Lieh Tzu, a philosopher mentioned by Chuang Tzu, not seeing that the individual in question was a creation of Chuang Tzu's brain!” Around 700 CE, it was given a new honorific title, the Chongxu zhenjing or Classic of the Perfect Emptiness, and designated a Daoist classic. The triad of Tao Te Ching, Zhuang Zi, and Lieh Tzu makes a certain logical sense, as each work contrasts the other two. The Dao is deeply abstract, and the Zhuang Zi filled with ethical conundrums and nonsensical stories. The Lieh Tzu is a much more practical work, turning the philosophy into a much more workable framework for thought and action. Most of the chapters are named for famous Chinese characters from history or mythology, and many of the stories are continuations or different perspectives on tales and characters in the Zhuang Zi. In this version, Chapter 7 is excluded. This chapter was not translated by Giles, and occasions a great deal of controversy. It is written in a very different voice and perspective to the other chapters, such that some have described it as ‘hedonistic’ and ‘negative Daoism’. Others have claimed that it must have been written before the author even discovered Daoism.Voir livre
I got the idea for PLEDGE because I was annoyed by pledge drives I’d been hearing since the mid 90s, and I decided I wanted to rant about them. But I quickly realized that public radio is in a terrible spot between money and mission. Going deeper, I learned of things affecting the genre that most people never consider as they listen to their regular shows for days, weeks, months and years on end. They include hunts for the ultimate content sharing technology, public radio’s struggles to not lose its soul to corporate money, how it must surveil its listeners to serve them without treating them like numbers or “prey”, how budget cuts can make stations change character or disappear altogether and finally, keeping affiliates from feeling bypassed by networks that have found workarounds to their audiences. I want readers to buy the book because public radio needs them to understand it much better than they currently can. That’s because public radio hides its problems and convinces the world that everything is fine while facing stress fractures in every direction. It needs to be as open and honest about what it essentially is and needs as when it asks for money. A greater public can more fully support it only if they know the real deal.Voir livre
Lafayette Square, just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, was once the most fashionable neighborhood in Washington. In its row houses and mansions lived cabinet secretaries, members of Congress, and many of the most memorable characters in the history of the nation. Presidents casually walked across the park in the middle of the Square to visit and talk politics with their neighbors. As in any neighborhood, there were friendships and romances, secrets and scandals. Eventually the old houses were allocated to other uses and plans were made to demolish them all until, in the early 1960s, President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy, new residents in the White House, prevailed—they were determined to preserve them.Voir livre
