Biografier

"This lavishly illustrated book by Lisa Perrin introduces more than 25 infamous women poisoners, exploring the circumstances and skill sets that led them to lives of crime. Learn about popular poisons throughout history and their deadly effects, and explore the common motives that drove these women to commit their dastardly deeds. You might find yourself rooting for some of them-like Sally Bassett, who helped poison her granddaughter's enslavers in Bermuda, or the Angel Makers of Nagyrâev, who helped women get rid of their abusive husbands. Other stories, though-including that of Yiya Murano, one of Argentina's most notorious swindlers and serial killers, or the terrifying Nurse Jane Toppan-may prove less palatable"--

From the multi-award-winning and million-copy bestselling author of This is Going to Hurt, comes Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas, a brand new gift book that alternates between the hilarious and the heartbreaking, in a love letter to all those who spend their festive season on the front line.

An insightful and provocative exploration of the relationship between motherhood and art through the lives of women artists and writers

In praise of Charlie D. "Falloon's eloquent explication of the life of the legendary Charlie D delivers a good read while exposing that most under-publicized commodity of them all-a mega-trader with a low public profile whose superhuman trading abilities were exceeded by only one thing-the extended reach of his heart and soul. " -Patrick H.

The inside story of The Who, exposing the real events behind the band's forefront position in mod culture, the ambition of their work, Daltrey's occasionally fraught relationship with the other band members and other revelations of fan and general interest. Not final jacket image.

Tells the story of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist coming to terms with his father's story. In this title, Vladek's harrowing story of survival is woven into the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father.

But is it an antidote to modern life, or a symptom of a modern illness?Adharanand Finn travelled to the heart of the sport to find out - and to see if could become an ultra runner himself.

The instant New York Times bestselling memoir that everyone is talking about'This book about open marriage is going to blow up your group chat' The Washington PostMolly Roden Winter was a mother of small children with a husband, Stewart, who often worked late. One night when Stewart missed the kids' bedtime-again-she stormed out of the house to clear her head. At a bar, she met Matt, a flirtatious younger man. When Molly told her husband that Matt had asked her out, she was surprised that Stewart encouraged her to accept. So began Molly's unexpected open marriage and, with it, a life-changing journey of self-discovery. Molly signs up for dating sites, enters into passionate flings, and has sex in hotels and public places around New York City. For Molly it's a mystery why she wants what she wants. In therapy sessions, fuelled by the discovery that her parents had an open marriage, too, she grapples with her past and what it means to be a mother and a whole person. Molly and Stewart, who also begins to see other people, set ground rules: Don't date an ex. Don't date someone in the neighbourhood. Don't go to anyone's home. And above all, don't fall in love. In the years that follow, they break most of their rules, even the most important one. They grapple with jealousy, insecurity, and doubts, all the while wondering: Can they love others and stay true to their love for each other? Can they make the impossible work?More is an electric debut that offers both steamy fun and poignant reflections on motherhood, daughterhood, marriage, and self-fulfilment. With warmth, humour, and style, Molly Roden Winter delivers an unputdownable journey of a woman becoming her most authentic self.

This book, the first ever biography of the father of philosophy, tracks Plato's life from his childhood in war-torn Athens at the end of the fifth century BCE to his founding of the Academy, adventures in Sicily, death, and immense legacy. Throughout, it sheds light on Plato's many timeless works of philosophy.

Grace Kelly: The Illustrated World of a Fashion Icon is a stunning illustrated biography of style and screen legend Grace Kelly, from internationally renowned fashion illustrator Megan Hess.   Oscar-winning actress, muse to one of the greatest directors of all time, global fashion icon and European princess – Grace Kelly was a truly remarkable figure. In just six short years in Hollywood, she became one of the most significant and highest-paid stars of her generation. She was the darling of costume designers and fashion houses everywhere and beloved by fans across the globe, but at the height of her fame, 'the girl in the white gloves' gave it all away to follow her heart across the sea. In a lavish ceremony that captivated the world, she married Prince Rainier III and became Princess Grace of Monaco.   Elegantly enclosed by a hardback cover and ribbon, Grace Kelly: The Illustrated World of a Fashion Icon is a celebration of a cultural icon who turned heads and won hearts wherever she went, with every enchanting detail brought to life on the page by the expert hand of Megan Hess.

Featuring a personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, Ernest's sole surviving son, and an introduction by the editor and grandson of the author, Sean Hemingway, this new edition also includes a number of unfinished, never-before-published Paris sketches revealing experiences that Hemingway had with his son Jack and his first wife, Hadley.

In 1973, Judy Scott was intent on traveling to Istanbul, but serendipitously she stumbled onto the incomparable Greek island of Hydra and the people who would continue, over many subsequent visits, to enhance and influence her life ever after.This memoir, based on notebooks and journals Scott kept during various times and visits to her favorite place on earth, recounts in very intimate detail her interactions and developing relationships with singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen and his beautiful muse and “love of his life” Marianne Ihlen. As Leonard himself observed of this book when Scott sent the manuscript to him for his approval: “I particularly admire the detail and honesty of the piece.” One of the more unique features in this recounting is the emerging acknowledgment the author confronts of her own sexuality, as she recounts: “It did not take long for Leonard to recognize that I was more attracted to Marianne than I was to him, though I came to love him too in the end.” And indeed it was Marianne herself, who sought out and fostered Scott’s interest and affection. After a shocking interlude at Marianne’s 38th birthday party, Scott writes: “After that, my life on Hydra was all about Marianne.” But it was Leonard’s interest, his kindness and generosity that signified her lifelong love and respect for the real private person who was Leonard Cohen. Robert Kory, Leonard’s executor, told Scott when they met to discuss several edits the Cohen family had requested: “Your story details a side of Leonard and a phase in his life that no other biography or coverage of the public person he was captures. And it lovingly depicts and lets me see the person he was at 38, long before I made his acquaintance and got to experience the musical and literary genius, and whose legacy I’m now dedicated to preserving.”The book also goes into a detailed description of Hydra in the early 1970s. A unique place filled with astonishing physical beauty and an incomparable atmosphere of serenity and peaceful energy. Hydra is the only inhabited Greek island with no cars (they are forbidden), no automotive transportation at all. All the roads on the three large hills that circle the small deep-water yacht port contain stairs or steps that make traversing by wheeled vehicles impossible. This absence of gas-powered vehicles and motors was also the reason Hydra attracted so many artists; it was the light, the unfiltered magical “Greek light” absent noxious fumes that presented some of the purist images on earth. The island also contained a small foreign community of like-minded creative souls, artists, musicians, writers and their supporters and admirers. As Scott explains: “Hydra in the late ’60s early ’70s was at its creative zenith. Like Paris in the ’30s, Harlem in the ’40s, Greenwich Village in the ’50s, San Francisco in the ’60s—Hydra in the ’70s was the place to be.”The memoir, though it centers on her most important, most impactful interactions with Leonard and Marianne, also contains several portraits of other Hydra habitués, all members of the same small ex-pat community, all close friends (and occasional lovers) of Leonard and Marianne, all uniquely interesting in their own right. From George Lialios, the wealthy Greek man the book is dedicated to (whom Scott met first on the island and who introduced her to all the others contained in these pages) to Alexis Bolens, the Swiss/Greek handsome lothario, who’d worked as a mercenary in Rhodesia and a plantation manager in South Africa, from Lindsey Callicoatt, the writer, artisan and most beloved of all the foreign community, to George Slater, irascible poet, sea captain and brilliant curry maker—there are many characters who all contributed to the “Hydra family” that Scott lovingly recalls. This book is both a story of a special time, place and cast of characters—a travelogue of an enchanted island as it was back then and still is to this day, backlit by the glow of Leonard Cohen and his muse, Marianne.

Barely educated and valued since childhood strictly for his labour, Ernaux's father had grown into a hard, practical man who showed his family little affection. Narrating his slow ascent towards material comfort, Ernaux's cold observation in A MAN'S PLACE reveals the shame that haunted her father throughout his life.

Annie Ernaux turns her penetrating focus on those points in life where the everyday and the extraordinary intersect, where "things seen" reflect a private life meeting the larger world. Ernaux's thought-provoking observations map the world's fleeting and lasting impressions on the shape of inner life.

Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine is an unprecedented glimpse into the creative life of one of Americäs most groundbreaking, influential, and enduring artists. Several years ago, a treasure trove containing some 6,000 original Bob Dylan manuscripts was revealed to exist. Their destination? Tulsa, Oklahoma. The documents, as essential as they are intriguing¿draft lyrics, notebooks, and diverse ephemera ¿ comprise one of the most important cultural archives in the modern world. Along with countless still and moving images and thousands of hours of riveting studio and live recordings, this priceless collection now resides at The Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, just steps away from the archival home of Dylan¿s early hero, Woody Guthrie. Nearly all the materials preserved at The Bob Dylan Center are unique, previously unavailable, and, in many cases, even previously unknown. As the official publication of The Bob Dylan Center, Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine is the first wide-angle look at the Dylan archive, a book that promises to be of vast interest to both the Nobel Laureate¿s many musical fans and to a broader national and international audience as well. Edited by Mark Davidson and Parker Fishel, Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine focuses a close look at the full scope of Dylan¿s working life, particularly from the dynamic perspective of his ongoing and shifting creative processes¿his earliest home recordings in the mid-1950s right up through Rough and Rowdy Ways (2020), his most recent studio recording, and into the present day. The centerpiece of Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine is a carefully curated selection of over 600 images including never-before-circulated draft lyrics, writings, photographs, drawings and other ephemera from the Dylan archive. With an introductory essay by Sean Wilentz and epilogue by Douglas Brinkley, the book features a surprising range of distinguished writers, artists, and musicians, including Joy Harjo, Greil Marcus, Michael Ondaatje, Gregory Pardlo, Amanda Petrusich, Tom Piazza, Lee Ranaldo, Alex Ross, Ed Ruscha, Lucy Sante, Greg Tate and many others. After experiencing the collection firsthand in Tulsa, each of the authors was asked to select a single item that beguiled or inspired them. The resulting essays, written specifically for this volume, shed new light on not only Dylan¿s creative process, but also their own.

'What matters is to live everything. Live the questions for now.'A hugely influential collection for writers and artists of all kinds, Rilke's profound and lyrical letters to a young friend advise on writing, love, sex, suffering and the nature of advice itself.One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.

The seven rules to follow to realize your true purpose in life-distilled by Arnold Schwarzenegger from his own journey of ceaseless reinvention and extraordinary achievement, and available for absolutely anyone.

***SOON TO BE A MAJOR HOLLYWOOD FILM DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER NOLAN***WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR NONFICTION 'Reads like a thriller, gripping and terrifying' Sunday TimesPhysicist and polymath, as familiar with Hindu scriptures as he was with quantum mechanics, J. Robert Oppenheimer - director of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb - was the most famous scientist of his generation. In their meticulous and riveting biography, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin reveal a brilliant, ambitious, complex and flawed man, profoundly involved with some of the momentous events of the twentieth century.

From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of Elon Musk, the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter. When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist. His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive. At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one satellites, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,” he said. It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?

A reissue of this classic title with a new introduction by Andrew Morton reflecting on the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the original publication, and on the long term legacy of Diana.