Imperfect

Download Imperfect PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Ballantine Books
ISBN 13 : 0345523261
Total Pages : 330 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (455 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Imperfect by : Jim Abbott

Download or read book Imperfect written by Jim Abbott and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2013-03-26 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Honest, touching, and beautifully rendered . . . Far more than a book about baseball, it is a deeply felt story of triumph and failure, dreams and disappointments. Jim Abbott has hurled another gem.”—Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Man NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Born without a right hand, Jim Abbott dreamed of someday being a great athlete. Raised in Flint, Michigan, by parents who encouraged him to compete, Jim would become an ace pitcher for the University of Michigan. But his journey was only beginning: By twenty-one, he’d won the gold medal game at the 1988 Olympics and—without spending a day in the minor leagues—cracked the starting rotation of the California Angels. In 1991, he would finish third in the voting for the Cy Young Award. Two years later, he would don Yankee pinstripes and pitch one of the most dramatic no-hitters in major-league history. In this honest and insightful book, Jim Abbott reveals the challenges he faced in becoming an elite pitcher, the insecurities he dealt with in a life spent as the different one, and the intense emotion generated by his encounters with disabled children from around the country. With a riveting pitch-by-pitch account of his no-hitter providing the ideal frame for his story, this unique athlete offers readers an extraordinary and unforgettable memoir. “Compelling . . . [a] big-hearted memoir.”—Los Angeles Times “Inspirational.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer Includes an exclusive conversation between Jim Abbott and Tim Brown in the back of the book.

An Improbable Life

Download An Improbable Life PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN 13 : 9781474614771
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (147 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis An Improbable Life by : Trevor McDonald

Download or read book An Improbable Life written by Trevor McDonald and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2020-05-14 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

A Reason to Believe

Download A Reason to Believe PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0767931122
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (679 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Reason to Believe by : Governor Deval Patrick

Download or read book A Reason to Believe written by Governor Deval Patrick and published by Crown. This book was released on 2011-04-12 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Deval Patrick, “an inspirational figure guided by optimism and hope who presaged the rise of President Obama” (The Boston Globe), recounts his extraordinary journey from the South Side of Chicago to the governorship of Massachusetts. “I’ve simply seen too much goodness in this country—and have come so far in my own journey—not to believe in those ideals, and my faith in the future is sometimes restored under the darkest clouds.”—Governor Deval Patrick In January 2007, Deval Patrick became the first black governor of the state of Massachusetts, one of only two black governors elected in American history. But that was just one triumphant step in an improbable life that began in a poor tenement on the South Side of Chicago, taking Patrick from a chaotic childhood to an elite boarding school in New England, from a sojourn doing relief work in Africa to the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies, and then to a career in politics. In this heartfelt and inspiring memoir, he pays tribute to the family, friends, and strangers who, through words and deeds, have instilled in him transcendent lessons of faith, perseverance, and friendship. In doing so, he reminds us of the power of community and the imperative of idealism. With humility, humor, and grace, he offers a road map for attaining happiness, empowerment, and success while also making an appeal for readers to cultivate those achievements in others, to feel a greater stake in this world, and to shape a life worth living. Warm, nostalgic, and inspirational, A Reason to Believe is destined to become a timeless tribute to a uniquely American odyssey and a testament to what is possible in our lives and our communities if we are hopeful, generous, and resilient. Governor Deval Patrick is donating a portion of the proceeds from A Reason to Believe to A Better Chance, a national organization dedicated to opening the doors to greater educational opportunities for young people of color.

An Improbable Life

Download An Improbable Life PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231537050
Total Pages : 325 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis An Improbable Life by : Michael I. Sovern

Download or read book An Improbable Life written by Michael I. Sovern and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2014-02-18 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Columbia University began the second half of the twentieth century in decline, bottoming out with the student riots of 1968. Yet by the close of the century, the institution had regained its stature as one of the greatest universities in the world. According to the New York Times, "If any one person is responsible for Columbia's recovery, it is surely Michael Sovern." In this memoir, Sovern, who served as the university's president from 1980 to 1993, recounts his sixty-year involvement with the institution after growing up in the South Bronx. He addresses key issues in academia, such as affordability, affirmative action, the relative rewards of teaching and research, lifetime tenure, and the role of government funding. Sovern also reports on his many off-campus adventures, including helping the victims of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, stepping into the chairmanship of Sotheby's, responding to a strike by New York City's firemen, a police riot and threats to shut down the city's transit system, playing a role in the theater world as president of the Shubert Foundation, and chairing the Commission on Integrity in Government.

Eternal Troubadour

Download Eternal Troubadour PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Jawbone Press
ISBN 13 : 9781908279873
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (798 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Eternal Troubadour by : Justin Martell

Download or read book Eternal Troubadour written by Justin Martell and published by Jawbone Press. This book was released on 2016-02-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Bing Crosby once put it, Tiny Tim represents 'one of the most phenomenal success stories in show business'. In 1968, after years of playing dive bars and lesbian cabarets on the Greenwich Village scene, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Bob Dylan and Lenny Bruce, the forty-something falsetto-voiced, ukulele-playing Tiny Tim landed a recording contract with Sinatra's Reprise label and an appearance on NBC's Laugh-In. The resulting album, God Bless Tiny Tim, and its single, 'Tip-toe Thru' The Tulips With Me', catapulted him to the highest levels of fame. Soon, Tiny was playing to huge audiences in the USA and Europe, while his marriage to the seventeen-year-old 'Miss' Vicki was broadcast on The Tonight Show in front of an audience of fifty million. Before long, however, his star began to fade. Miss Vicki left him, his earnings evaporated, and the mainstream turned its back on him. He would spend the rest of his life trying to revive his career, with many of those attempts taking a turn toward the absurd. But while he is often characterized as an oddball curio, Tiny Tim was a master interpreter and student of early American popular song, and his story is one of Shakespearean tragedy framed around a bizarre yet loveable public persona. Here, drawing on dozens of new interviews, never-before-seen diaries, and years of original research, author Justin Martell brings that story to life with the first serious biography of one of the most fascinating yet misunderstood figures in popular music.

The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird

Download The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1761101374
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (611 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird by : Diane Connell

Download or read book The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird written by Diane Connell and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-04-26 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you were charmed by The Curious Incident, laughed with Eleanor Oliphant and cried over A Man Called Ove, you will love Ricky Bird. No one loved making forts more than Ricky. A fort was a place of safety and possibility. It shut out the world and enclosed her and Ollie within any story she wanted to tell ... Ricky Bird loves making up stories for her brother Ollie almost as much as she loves him. The imaginary worlds she creates are wild and whimsical places full of unlimited possibilities. Real life is another story. Ricky’s father has abandoned them and the family has moved to a bleak new neighbourhood. Worse still, her mother’s new boyfriend, Dan, has come with the furniture. But Ricky Bird is a force to be reckoned with. As the mastermind of so many outlandish adventures, her imagination is her best weapon. As her father used to say, if you can spin a good yarn you can get on in life. The trouble is that in the best stories characters sometimes take on a life of their own and no one, not even Ricky, is able to imagine the consequences. Beautifully written, heartbreakingly funny and deeply moving, this book has already been compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Lost and Found, Shuggie Bain, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and A Monster Calls. But Ricky’s story is all her own – and it will stay with you long after the last page. ‘Fierce and wonderful and utterly singular, Ricky embodies the sheer joy and transformative power of storytelling.’ Kate Mildenhall, author of The Mother Fault and Skylarking ‘A wise, tender but unflinching portrait of an ordinary family and the unordinary girl at its heart. Ricky – fragile, tough, endearing and funny – is a fabulous creation. She'll walk around in my world all year, and more.’ Kristina Olsson, award-winning author of Shell and Boy, Lost

Rifke

Download Rifke PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : ECW Press
ISBN 13 : 1550227750
Total Pages : 520 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (52 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Rifke by : Rosalie Sharp

Download or read book Rifke written by Rosalie Sharp and published by ECW Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this memoir, the author casts a wry and self-deprecating look back on her childhood, with anecdotes about the chance events and comic ironies that make up a life. Rifke (Rosalie Wise Sharp) grew up in North Toronto, which felt to her like a foreign place because there were no other Jewish families there in the late 1930s. Yiddish was spoken in her household, and the food, dress, and customs of Ozarow—the Polish shtetl (small Jewish town) from which her parents emigrated—were all maintained. Rifke's peers took lessons in tap dancing, ice skating, the piano, and the flute—activities that didn't translate into the Yiddish vocabulary, where only hard work, no-nonsense, and book learning were permitted. Rifke secretly decided to pass as a gentile, joining a bible class and the Christmas choir, and she was guilty about her pursuit of these activities during the war, when her mother was frantic with fear that their family in Poland was being slaughtered by the Nazis. In high school, Rifke's life changed: it was there that she met and married her soul mate Isadore, who worked in the construction business, much to her parents' disappointment. Prosperity, took time however, and Isadore's audacious dream to build a world-class hotel chain, The Four Seasons, came to pass.

Prince Charles

Download Prince Charles PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0812988434
Total Pages : 624 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (129 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Prince Charles by : Sally Bedell Smith

Download or read book Prince Charles written by Sally Bedell Smith and published by Random House. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The life and loves of Prince Charles are illuminated in a major new biography from the New York Times bestselling author of Elizabeth the Queen—perfect for fans of The Crown. Sally Bedell Smith returns once again to the British royal family to give us a new look at Prince Charles, the oldest heir to the throne in more than three hundred years. This vivid, eye-opening biography—the product of four years of research and hundreds of interviews with palace officials, former girlfriends, spiritual gurus, and more, some speaking on the record for the first time—is the first authoritative treatment of Charles’s life that sheds light on the death of Diana, his marriage to Camilla, and his preparations to take the throne one day. Prince Charles brings to life the real man, with all of his ambitions, insecurities, and convictions. It begins with his lonely childhood, in which he struggled to live up to his father’s expectations and sought companionship from the Queen Mother and his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten. It follows him through difficult years at school, his early love affairs, his intellectual quests, his entrepreneurial pursuits, and his intense search for spiritual meaning. It tells of the tragedy of his marriage to Diana; his eventual reunion with his true love, Camilla; and his relationships with William, Kate, Harry, and his grandchildren. Ranging from his glamorous palaces to his country homes, from his globe-trotting travels to his local initiatives, Smith shows how Prince Charles possesses a fiercely independent spirit and yet has spent more than six decades waiting for his destined role, living a life dictated by protocols he often struggles to obey. With keen insight and the discovery of unexpected new details, Smith lays bare the contradictions of a man who is more complicated, tragic, and compelling than we knew, until now. Praise for Prince Charles “[Smith] understands the British upper classes and aristocracy (including the royals) very well indeed. . . . [She] makes many telling, shrewd points in pursuit of realigning the popular image of Prince Charles.”—William Boyd, The New York Times Book Review “[A] masterly account.”—The Wall Street Journal “Thoroughly researched and insightful . . . In this profile, it is clear [Smith] got inside the circular barriers that protect the man and his position. The Charles that emerges is, as the subtitle suggests, both a paradox and a creature of his passions.”—The Washington Times “[A] compellingly juicy bio . . . Windsor-philes will be mesmerized.”—People “Prince Charles paints an affectingly human portrait. . . . Smith writes about [Charles’s life] with a skill and sympathy she perfected in her 2012 biography of Charles’s mother.”—The Christian Science Monitor “Comprehensive and admirably fair . . . Until his accession to the throne, Smith’s portrait will stand as the definitive study.”—Booklist (starred review) “[A] fascinating book that is not just about a man who would be king, but also about the duties that come with privilege.”—Walter Isaacson “Sally Bedell Smith has given us a complete and compelling portrait of the man in the shadow of the throne. It’s all here, from the back stairs of the palaces to the front pages of the tabs.”—Tom Brokaw

An Improbable Life Book Ii

Download An Improbable Life Book Ii PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : AuthorHouse
ISBN 13 : 1524661988
Total Pages : 237 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (246 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis An Improbable Life Book Ii by : Frasar

Download or read book An Improbable Life Book Ii written by Frasar and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2016-11-18 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When a Chinese astrologer in Macao told him he was a Golden Dragon, and he could fly everywhere, Francis smiled. Those were the 70s and he already knew a lot about the world, having travelled far and wide. What he did not know, however, was that this was only the start to an epic tale of travelling and discovering the mysteries of the world while living and working in every Continent except Antarctica. His life of travels began as a gold explorer in Australia and concluded in Washington as an executive for the World Bank. FRASAR is the pen name for the writer of the An Improbable Life series, which has carried its readers along a trail of extraordinary and personally experienced adventures. FRASAR lives with his family between New York, Miami and a charming town of fortune on the Adriatic coast of Italy. THE FIVE BOOKS OF FRASAR AN IMPROBABLE LIFE BOOK I The Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2 ) Dawn, First Adventures BOOK II (ANTIPODIUM) Chapters 3, 4 and 5 European, Australian, New Zealand Years BOOK III (to be published shortly) Chapters 6 and 7 South American and Arabian Years BOOK IV Chapters 8 and 9 Asiatic and Pacific Island Years) BOOK V Chapters 10 and 11 African and North American Years

The Boy Who Loved Math

Download The Boy Who Loved Math PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Roaring Brook Press
ISBN 13 : 146683952X
Total Pages : 44 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Boy Who Loved Math by : Deborah Heiligman

Download or read book The Boy Who Loved Math written by Deborah Heiligman and published by Roaring Brook Press. This book was released on 2013-06-25 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most people think of mathematicians as solitary, working away in isolation. And, it's true, many of them do. But Paul Erdos never followed the usual path. At the age of four, he could ask you when you were born and then calculate the number of seconds you had been alive in his head. But he didn't learn to butter his own bread until he turned twenty. Instead, he traveled around the world, from one mathematician to the next, collaborating on an astonishing number of publications. With a simple, lyrical text and richly layered illustrations, this is a beautiful introduction to the world of math and a fascinating look at the unique character traits that made "Uncle Paul" a great man. The Boy Who Loved Math by Deborah Heiligman is a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2013 and a New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2013.

An Improbable Life Book Iii

Download An Improbable Life Book Iii PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : AuthorHouse
ISBN 13 : 1546291334
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (462 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis An Improbable Life Book Iii by : FRASAR

Download or read book An Improbable Life Book Iii written by FRASAR and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2018-04-18 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He already knew that he should never give up but persevere and Head towards that unknown world that represented life in order to survive And find his place within the human race If the life of Francis, the hero of the saga of An Improbable Life, were a river, it would be longer than the Nile, more exciting than the Amazon, more fascinating than the Danube, more laden with legends of the Mississippi and it would run across all continents. After his early, fascinating adventures of the Book I and Francis explorer life in the Australia outback and his extraordinary New Zealand adventures described in Antipodium, the Book II of the series, the new Book III-The Light of Canopus of the An Improbable Life series will take you from a terrifying ambush inside the Tomb of Absalom in Jerusalem to black magic rites in Venezuela, an escape from the Guatemalan guerrillas, a shipwreck in the Caribbean in addition to climbs of gigantic volcanoes, discovery of pre-Inca mummies, floating islands, diabolic events, a (true) UFO battle in Peru and spiritual wonders. Yet Book III, like all previous books, is NOT fiction. Every episode is true and documented, even photographed. And once you have finished reading it, your only desire will be to find out where the next book would take you.

Soaring, My Improbable Life

Download Soaring, My Improbable Life PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Booklocker.com
ISBN 13 : 9781647193478
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (934 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Soaring, My Improbable Life by : Major Alphonso B Jones

Download or read book Soaring, My Improbable Life written by Major Alphonso B Jones and published by Booklocker.com. This book was released on 2021-02-26 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soaring, My Improbable Life is the inspiring story of a poor, African American boy growing up in the Great Depression, who dreams of traveling the world. With audacity, focus, and resilience, he succeeds in getting a college education, finding love, journeying to distant lands, becoming a decorated war hero, and raising three successful children. Al's story provides valuable insights for dreamers everywhere determined to make their own dreams come true against the odds.

Partial Memories

Download Partial Memories PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Andrews UK Limited
ISBN 13 : 1845405773
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (454 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Partial Memories by : Ernst von Glasersfeld

Download or read book Partial Memories written by Ernst von Glasersfeld and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2016-12-19 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Autobiographical sketches by the philosopher and semioticist Ernst von Glasersfeld. The author writes: "Memories are a personal affair. They are what comes to mind when you think back, not what might in fact have happened at that earlier time in your life. You can no longer be certain of what seemed important then, because you are now looking at the past with today’s eyes. The Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico had that insight three hundred years ago: When we think of things that lie in the past, we see them in terms of the concepts we have now."

All These Things That I've Done

Download All These Things That I've Done PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1476793921
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (767 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis All These Things That I've Done by : Matt Pinfield

Download or read book All These Things That I've Done written by Matt Pinfield and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The most trusted opinion in rock music” (Billy Corgan, The Smashing Pumpkins), Matt Pinfield offers the ultimate music fan’s memoir, an “entertaining and insightful” (Clive Davis) chronicle of the songs and artists that inspired his improbable career alongside some of the all-time greats, from The Beatles to KISS to U2 to The Killers. Matt Pinfield “makes rock ‘n’ roll fandom sound like a lifelong heroic quest—which it is” (Rob Sheffield). He’s the guy who knows every song, artist, and musical riff ever recorded, down to the most obscure band’s B-side single on its vinyl-only import EP. As a child, Pinfield made sense of the world through music. Later, as a teenager, Pinfield would approach his music idols after concerts and explain why he loved their songs. As an adult, rock music inspired his career, fueled his relationships, and, at times, became a life raft. In this “charming, rambling account of a life saved by rock ’n’ roll...Pinfield is a disarmingly likable guide” (Kirkus Reviews) through his lifelong music obsession—from the heavy metal that infused his teenage years, to his first encounters with legends like Lou Reed and the Ramones and how, through his MTV years, he played a major role in bringing nineties alt rock mainstream. Over his long career Pinfield has interviewed everyone from Paul McCartney to Nirvana to Jay-Z, earning the trust and admiration of artists and fans alike. Now, for the first time, he shares his five decades of stories from the front lines of rock ‘n’ roll, exploring how, with nothing more than passion and moxy, he became a sought-after reporter, unlikely celebrity, and the last word in popular music. Featuring a rousing collection of best-of lists, favorite tracks, and artist profiles, All These Things That I’ve Done “is an excellent read” (Publishers Weekly) about how a born outsider wound up in the inner circle.

Imperfect

Download Imperfect PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Ballantine Books
ISBN 13 : 0345523261
Total Pages : 330 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (455 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Imperfect by : Jim Abbott

Download or read book Imperfect written by Jim Abbott and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2013-03-26 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Honest, touching, and beautifully rendered . . . Far more than a book about baseball, it is a deeply felt story of triumph and failure, dreams and disappointments. Jim Abbott has hurled another gem.”—Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Man NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Born without a right hand, Jim Abbott dreamed of someday being a great athlete. Raised in Flint, Michigan, by parents who encouraged him to compete, Jim would become an ace pitcher for the University of Michigan. But his journey was only beginning: By twenty-one, he’d won the gold medal game at the 1988 Olympics and—without spending a day in the minor leagues—cracked the starting rotation of the California Angels. In 1991, he would finish third in the voting for the Cy Young Award. Two years later, he would don Yankee pinstripes and pitch one of the most dramatic no-hitters in major-league history. In this honest and insightful book, Jim Abbott reveals the challenges he faced in becoming an elite pitcher, the insecurities he dealt with in a life spent as the different one, and the intense emotion generated by his encounters with disabled children from around the country. With a riveting pitch-by-pitch account of his no-hitter providing the ideal frame for his story, this unique athlete offers readers an extraordinary and unforgettable memoir. “Compelling . . . [a] big-hearted memoir.”—Los Angeles Times “Inspirational.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer Includes an exclusive conversation between Jim Abbott and Tim Brown in the back of the book.

Improbable Destinies

Download Improbable Destinies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0399184937
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (991 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Improbable Destinies by : Jonathan B. Losos

Download or read book Improbable Destinies written by Jonathan B. Losos and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-08-08 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major new book overturning our assumptions about how evolution works Earth’s natural history is full of fascinating instances of convergence: phenomena like eyes and wings and tree-climbing lizards that have evolved independently, multiple times. But evolutionary biologists also point out many examples of contingency, cases where the tiniest change—a random mutation or an ancient butterfly sneeze—caused evolution to take a completely different course. What role does each force really play in the constantly changing natural world? Are the plants and animals that exist today, and we humans ourselves, inevitabilities or evolutionary flukes? And what does that say about life on other planets? Jonathan Losos reveals what the latest breakthroughs in evolutionary biology can tell us about one of the greatest ongoing debates in science. He takes us around the globe to meet the researchers who are solving the deepest mysteries of life on Earth through their work in experimental evolutionary science. Losos himself is one of the leaders in this exciting new field, and he illustrates how experiments with guppies, fruit flies, bacteria, foxes, and field mice, along with his own work with anole lizards on Caribbean islands, are rewinding the tape of life to reveal just how rapid and predictable evolution can be. Improbable Destinies will change the way we think and talk about evolution. Losos's insights into natural selection and evolutionary change have far-reaching applications for protecting ecosystems, securing our food supply, and fighting off harmful viruses and bacteria. This compelling narrative offers a new understanding of ourselves and our role in the natural world and the cosmos.

Climbing Mount Improbable

Download Climbing Mount Improbable PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393070522
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (93 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Climbing Mount Improbable by : Richard Dawkins

Download or read book Climbing Mount Improbable written by Richard Dawkins and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 1997-09-17 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliant book celebrating improbability as the engine that drives life, by the acclaimed author of The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker. The human eye is so complex and works so precisely that surely, one might believe, its current shape and function must be the product of design. How could such an intricate object have come about by chance? Tackling this subject—in writing that the New York Times called "a masterpiece"—Richard Dawkins builds a carefully reasoned and lovingly illustrated argument for evolutionary adaptation as the mechanism for life on earth. The metaphor of Mount Improbable represents the combination of perfection and improbability that is epitomized in the seemingly "designed" complexity of living things. Dawkins skillfully guides the reader on a breathtaking journey through the mountain's passes and up its many peaks to demonstrate that following the improbable path to perfection takes time. Evocative illustrations accompany Dawkins's eloquent descriptions of extraordinary adaptations such as the teeming populations of figs, the intricate silken world of spiders, and the evolution of wings on the bodies of flightless animals. And through it all runs the thread of DNA, the molecule of life, responsible for its own destiny on an unending pilgrimage through time. Climbing Mount Improbable is a book of great impact and skill, written by the most prominent Darwinian of our age.