The triumphant true story of the man who achieved one of the greatest feats of our era???the mapping of the human genome.,Growing up in California, Craig Venter didn???t appear to have much of a future. An unremarkable student, he nearly flunked out of high school. After being drafted into the army, he enlisted in the navy and went to Vietnam, where the life and death struggles he encountered as a medic piqued his interest in science and medicine. After pursuing his advanced degrees, Venter quickly established himself as a brilliant and outspoken scientist. In 1984 he joined the National Institutes of Health, where he introduced novel techniques for rapid gene discovery, and left in 1991 to form his own nonprofit genomics research center, where he sequenced the first genome in history in 1995. In 1998 he announced that he would successfully sequence the human genome years earlier, and for far less money, than the government-sponsored Human Genome Project would??? a prediction he kept in 2001, is the triumphant story of one of the most fascinating and controversial figures in science today. In his riveting and inspiring account Venter tells of the unparalleled drama of the quest for the human genome, a tale that involves as much politics (personal and political) as science. He also reveals how he went on to be the first to read and interpret his own genome and what it will mean for all of us to do the same. He describes his recent sailing expedition to sequence microbial life in the ocean, as well as his groundbreaking attempt to create synthetic life. Here is one of the key scientific chronicles of our lifetime, as told by the man who beat the odds to make it happen.
Alberto Giacometti was born in Switzerland and became a student of the arts early in life. He travelled to Paris in his early twenties and became a painter, sculptor and printmaker. Throughout his life and work he focused on three core themes, standing women, busts and a man in movement. He experimented with surrealism and cubism and kept a riotously colourful list of acquaintances and contemporaries including Picasso and Mir??.,Giacometti was in many ways the perfect subject for a study on the creative process. He was bohemian but still driven. James Lord, an author and his biographer, agreed to sit for a portrait by the artist and this book is the result of his recording of those days. He did not merely experience the day to day activity in the studio or Giacometti’s many idiosyncrasies, Lord recorded the artist’s emotional state and the tribulations and distractions that occurred over the 18 days of sitting. Lord shows us a man who seems irritable but warm, engaging but absorbed in his work.,’Giacometti’s Portrait’ details Alberto’s fixation on his younger brother as a model for his work, his messy surroundings and the cigarette ash dropping to the floor as he became distracted. Creatives of all kinds will appreciate the reliance of Giacometti on the ritual and instinctive in striving to create a meaningful work of art. The two eggs the artist needed to eat, the two glasses of beaujolais and the two cups of coffee that were required are familiar to all of us from the student writing an essay to the artist creating a masterpiece. The earthly fortifications that surround the creation of art which is supposed to transcend them remain fascinating.
In A Curious Discovery, media titan John Hendricks tells the remarkable story of building one of the most successful media empires in the world, Discovery Communications.,John Hendricks, a well-respected corporate leader and brand builder, reveals that his professional achievements would not have been possible without one crucial quality that has informed his life since childhood: curiosity. ,This entrepreneur???s story takes you behind the scenes of some of the network???s most popular shows and greatest successes, and imparts crucial lessons from the network???s setbacks.,With insights, anecdotes, photographs, and real-world wisdom, A Curious Discovery is more than a powerful autobiography and corporate history: It also a valuable primer for business innovators and entrepreneurs.
The , best-selling sequel to ,???,Like the “funny, brilliant, bawdy” (,) , this book???s many stories???some funny, others intensely moving???display Richard P. Feynman???s unquenchable thirst for adventure and unparalleled ability to recount important moments from his life.,Here we meet Feynman???s first wife, Arlene, who taught him of love???s irreducible mystery as she lay dying in a hospital bed while he worked on the atomic bomb at nearby Los Alamos. We listen to the fascinating narrative of the investigation into the space shuttle ,???s explosion in 1986 and relive the moment when Feynman revealed the disaster???s cause through an elegant experiment: dropping a ring of rubber into a glass of cold water and pulling it out, misshapen. In , one of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century lets us see the man behind the genius.
1 New York Times bestselling author and Oscar???winning producer Brian Grazer has written a brilliantly entertaining and eye-opening exploration of curiosity and the life-changing effects it can have on every person???s life.,From Academy Award???winning producer Brian Grazer, New York Times bestseller A Curious Mind offers a brilliant peek into the ???curiosity conversations??? that inspired him to create some of the world???s most iconic movies and television shows. He shows how curiosity has been the ???secret??? that fueled his rise as one of Hollywood???s leading producers and creative visionaries, and how all of us can channel its power to lead bigger and more rewarding lives.,Grazer has spent most of his life exploring curiosity through what he terms ???curiosity conversations??? with some of the most interesting people in the world, including spies, royals, scientists, politicians, moguls, Nobel laureates, artists???anyone whose story might broaden his worldview. These discussions sparked the creative inspiration behind many of his movies and TV shows, including Splash, 24, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Arrested Development, 8 Mile, J. Edgar, Empire, and many others.,A Curious Mind is not only a fascinating page-turner???it also offers a blueprint for how we can awaken our own curiosity and use it as a superpower in our lives. Whether you???re looking to strengthen your management style at work, uncover a new source of creativity, or become a better romantic partner, this book???and its lessons on the power of curiosity???can change your life.
From the author of ,and, Anna Quindlen???s classic reflection on a meaningful life is the perfect gift for graduation, or any occasion.,???,In this treasure of a book, Anna Quindlen, the bestselling novelist and columnist, reflects on what it takes to ???get a life??????to live deeply every day and from your own unique self, rather than merely to exist through your days. ???Knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives us,??? Quindlen writes, ???because unless you know the clock is ticking, it is so easy to waste our days, our lives.??? Her mother died when Quindlen was nineteen: ???It was the dividing line between seeing the world in black and white, and in Technicolor. The lights came on for the darkest possible reason. . . . I learned something enduring, in a very short period of time, about life. And that was that it was glorious, and that you had no business taking it for granted.??? But how to live from that perspective, to fully engage in our days? In , Quindlen guides us with an understanding that comes from knowing how to see the view, the richness in living.
In their second collaboration, biographers Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman present the story of Claude Shannon???one of the foremost intellects of the twentieth century and the architect of the Information Age, whose insights stand behind every computer built, email sent, video streamed, and webpage loaded. Claude Shannon was a groundbreaking polymath, a brilliant tinkerer, and a digital pioneer. He constructed the first wearable computer, outfoxed Vegas casinos, and built juggling robots. He also wrote the seminal text of the digital revolution, which has been called ???the Magna Carta of the Information Age.??? In this elegantly written, exhaustively researched biography, Soni and Goodman reveal Claude Shannon???s full story for the first time. With unique access to Shannon???s family and friends, A Mind at Play brings this singular innovator and always playful genius to life.
In this intimate portrait of an extraordinary father???son relationship, Mark K. Shriver discovers the moral principles that guided his legendary father and applies them to his own life,When Sargent “Sarge” Shriver???founder of the Peace Corps and architect of President Johnson’s War on Poverty???died in 2011 after a valiant fight with Alzheimer’s, thousands of tributes poured in from friends and strangers worldwide. These tributes, which extolled the daily kindness and humanity of “a good man,” moved his son Mark far more than those who lauded Sarge for his big-stage, headline-making accomplishments. After a lifetime searching for the path to his father’s success in the public arena, Mark instead turns to a search for the secret of his father’s joy, his devotion to others, and his sense of purpose. Mark discovers notes and letters from Sarge; hears personal stories from friends and family that zero in on the three guiding principles of Sarge’s life???faith, hope, and love???and recounts moments with Sarge that now take on new value and poignancy. In the process, Mark discovers much about himself, as a father, as a husband, and as a social justice advocate. A Good Man is an inspirational and deeply personal story about a son discovering the true meaning of his father’s legacy.
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As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer–a pastor and author, known as much for such spiritual classics as “The Cost of Discipleship “and “Life Together,” as for his 1945 execution in a concentration camp for his part in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.,In the first major biography of Bonhoeffer in forty years, “New York Times” best-selling author Eric Metaxas takes both strands of Bonhoeffer’s life???the theologian and the spy???to tell a searing story of incredible moral courage in the face of monstrous evil. In a deeply moving narrative, Metaxas uses previously unavailable documents???including personal letters, detailed journal entries, and firsthand personal accounts???to reveal dimensions of Bonhoeffer’s life and theology never before seen.,In “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy”???”A Righteous Gentile vs the Third Reich,” Metaxas presents the fullest accounting of Bonhoeffer’s heart-wrenching 1939 decision to leave the safe haven of America for Hitler’s Germany, and using extended excerpts from love letters and coded messages written to and from Bonhoeffer’s Cell 92, Metaxas tells for the first time the full story of Bonhoeffer’s passionate and tragic romance.,Readers will discover fresh insights and revelations about his life-changing months at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and about his radical position on why Christians are obliged to stand up for the Jews. Metaxas also sheds new light on Bonhoeffer’s reaction to Kristallnacht, his involvement in the famous Valkyrie plot and in “Operation 7,” the effort to smuggle Jews into neutral Switzerland.,”Bonhoeffer” gives witness to one man’s extraordinary faith and to the tortured fate of the nation he sought to deliver from the curse of Nazism. It brings the reader face to face with a man determined to do the will of God radically, courageously, and joyfully???even to the point of death. “Bonhoeffer” is the story of a life framed by a passion for truth and a commitment to justice on behalf of those who face implacable evil.
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As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer–a pastor and author, known as much for such spiritual classics as “The Cost of Discipleship “and “Life Together,” as for his 1945 execution in a concentration camp for his part in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.,In the first major biography of Bonhoeffer in forty years, “New York Times” best-selling author Eric Metaxas takes both strands of Bonhoeffer’s life???the theologian and the spy???to tell a searing story of incredible moral courage in the face of monstrous evil. In a deeply moving narrative, Metaxas uses previously unavailable documents???including personal letters, detailed journal entries, and firsthand personal accounts???to reveal dimensions of Bonhoeffer’s life and theology never before seen.,In “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy”???”A Righteous Gentile vs the Third Reich,” Metaxas presents the fullest accounting of Bonhoeffer’s heart-wrenching 1939 decision to leave the safe haven of America for Hitler’s Germany, and using extended excerpts from love letters and coded messages written to and from Bonhoeffer’s Cell 92, Metaxas tells for the first time the full story of Bonhoeffer’s passionate and tragic romance.,Readers will discover fresh insights and revelations about his life-changing months at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and about his radical position on why Christians are obliged to stand up for the Jews. Metaxas also sheds new light on Bonhoeffer’s reaction to Kristallnacht, his involvement in the famous Valkyrie plot and in “Operation 7,” the effort to smuggle Jews into neutral Switzerland.,”Bonhoeffer” gives witness to one man’s extraordinary faith and to the tortured fate of the nation he sought to deliver from the curse of Nazism. It brings the reader face to face with a man determined to do the will of God radically, courageously, and joyfully???even to the point of death. “Bonhoeffer” is the story of a life framed by a passion for truth and a commitment to justice on behalf of those who face implacable evil.
