Memoirs – Survival, Perseverance & Life Changing Experiences:

Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home by Nando Parrado and Vince Rause

Imagine a real-life Lost where personal survival replaces viewer suspense. On the morning of October 12, 1972, a plane crashed into an inaccessible region of the Argentine Andes. For 72 harrowing days, the survivors, most of them members of a top Uruguayan rugby team, fought to stay alive on a windy glacier without food, blankets, warm clothing, or means of communicating with the outside world. For more than two months, they struggled against hunger, forcing themselves to eat strips of leather and, eventually, human flesh stripped from their dead colleagues.

Nando Parrado, one of the survivors of the crash, tells his story in Miracle in the Andes, and for the first time discusses how and why he survived. This enthralling tale is testimony to one man's unquenchable instinct for survival, and the resilience of the human spirit. Make no mistake, this book, brutal and shocking in places, but an impressive reminder of what the human spirit can achieve, will stay with you long after it has been put down.

More than a companion to the 1970s bestselling chronicle of the disaster, Alive, Parrado's vivid account gives this book a power and level of emotion that only a firsthand account can provide. Parrado's extraordinary quality is to remind those of us living within the firm safety net of society that we are all capable of pushing ourselves to the limit. But more important, it teaches us not to waste a single moment, or a single breath. Put away your Doctor Phil books and read this to see how you should really be living. The editors of Amazon.com selected Miracle in the Andes as one of the Top 50 Books of 2006.

http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Andes-Days-Mountain-Long/dp/1400097673/ref=ed_oe_h/105-2262262-1136448

Thieves of Baghdad by Matthew Bogdanos & William Patrick

The New York tabloids call him ‘the pit bull’ for his relentless prosecution of high-profile defendants. Matthew Bogdanos is an assistant D.A., a spit-and-polish Marine, a trigger-puller on counter-terrorist missions to Afghanistan, a competitive boxer — and a dedicated classics scholar. So when he discovered that the Iraq National Museum had been looted during the battle of Baghdad, he immediately embarked on a mission to recover the stolen antiquities. Accompanied by a select group of men, Bogdanos set off across the desert without official sanction, risking his career and his life in pursuit of this priceless treasure.

Thieves of Baghdad immerses the reader into the rich culture, the colorful characters, the double-dealing, and the derring-do, to sort out once and for all what actually happened during the chaos of the Baghdad invasion, exactly how the thefts took place, and how the most notable objects were retrieved. We learn how Bogdanos and his team went on raids and negotiated recoveries, blew open safes, and mingled in the marketplaces. Bogdanos gradually earns the trust of Iraqis eager to preserve their cultural heritage — and then stuns the world by unearthing the most sensational treasure of all, The Gold of Nimrud over 1,000 pieces of gold jewelry, precious stones, and ornaments often called “Iraq’s Crown Jewels.”

Beginning with an Indiana Jones-like opening that finds him in the museum’s bowels, Bogdanos chronicles in Thieves of Baghdad a journey fueled by his passion for history and frustrated by erratic record-keeping and factionalism among Iraqis, not to mention the hazards of warfare. Bogdanos weaves together a detective story, adventure yarn and history lesson, committing himself to the investigation of stolen artifacts and reflecting on rumor and exaggeration among the media coverage and academics who claimed irrevocable archeological tragedy.

http://www.amazon.com/Thieves-Baghdad-Matthew-Bogdanos/dp/1582346453/ref=sr_oe_1_1/105-7424265-7767653?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196892739&sr=1-1

Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief by Bill Mason, With Lee Gruenfeld

Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief tells the true story of Bill Mason, arguably the greatest jewel thief who ever lived. During a thirty-year career he charmed his way into the inner circles of high society and stole more than $35 million worth of fabulous jewels from such celebrities as Robert Goulet, Armand Hammer, Phyllis Diller, Bob Hope, Truman Capote, Marguax Hemingway and Johnny Weissmuller - he even hit the Mafia. Along the way he seduced a high-profile Midwest socialist into leaving her prominent industrialist husband, nearly dies after being shot during a robbery, tricked both Christie's and Sotheby's into fencing stolen goods for him, was a fugitive for five years and the object of a nationwide manhunt. Yet despite the best efforts of law enforcement authorities from several states as well as the federal government, Mason spent less than three years total in prison.

Now nearly old enough to receive Social Security and in a mellow mood, a once-notorious cat burglar reveals how he filched from the rich and famous. Mason was no Robin Hood; he kept what he stole. With evident aid from veteran thriller writer Lee Gruenfeld, he details the mechanics of his most exciting jewelry heists. He never confronted a victim, never carried a weapon, and delayed fencing the loot. He worked alone, though the papers usually reported his daring robberies as the work of gangs. Supplementing his recreations of the thrill of the heist, Mason also offers abundant info on the feckless underworld life, sharp looks at lawyers and the criminal-justice system from arrest through prison to parole, and a couple of tips on thwarting break-ins. While burglary was his avocation, this thief had a decent day job. Even as Mason was nabbed and shipped to jail, he remained a regular family man.

Shadowy, elusive and intensely private, Mason has been the subject of many magazine and newspaper features, but no journalist has ever come close to knowing the facts. Now, in his own words and with no holds barred, he reveals everything in Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief, and the real story is far more incredible than any of the reporters, detectives or FBI agents who pursued Mason ever imagined. An engaging and extravagant account of life on the wrong side of the law that leaves readers to decide for themselves how much to like the rogue - and how much to believe him.

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Master-Jewel-Thief-Mason/dp/0375760717/ref=ed_oe_p/105-8776200-9844431

Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good by Paul Newman and A.E. Hotchner

One of the most unusual philanthropic enterprises of the 20th century almost never happened: Newman's Own was the name intended for a restaurant the movie star wanted to open near his home in Westport, Connecticut. The idea never went any­where, freeing up Newman to start a business in the early 1980s with his friend A. E. Hotchner, a bestselling author (Papa Hemingway), selling a salad dressing made from Newman's personal recipe. What had started as a lark quickly escalated into a full-fledged business, the first company to mass-market all-natural foods, Newman's Own became a major player in the food business. From the rare glimpses into Newman's private life to A. E. Hotchner's wonderfully told tales, Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good, is at once playful, informative and inspirational.

As this breezy memoir recalls, the two broke every rule for launching a new food business, ignoring the failure rate for celebrity-themed products, demanding all-natural ingredients and bypassing nearly every aspect of market research (although they did hold one taste test at the home of local caterer Martha Stewart). Despite all this, they managed to pull in nearly $1 million in profits their first year, all earmarked for charity, and have since launched many more products and donated nearly $140 million in profits to medical research, education, the environment, children's programs and the cre­ation of camps for children with serious illnesses.

Newman and Hotchner recount the saga of their unexpected success in Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good. In alternating voices, playing off each other in classic "Odd Couple" style, they describe how they systematically dis­regarded the advice of experts and relied instead on instinct, imagination, and common sense. They write about how they hurdled obstacle after obstacle, share their hilarious misadventures, and reveal their off-beat solutions to conventional problems. The entertaining book is the story of two men who didn't just break the rules to achieve business success: they took the rule book, set it on fire, and threw away the ashes.

http://www.amazon.com/Shameless-Exploitation-Pursuit-Common-Good/dp/0756783747/ref=sr_oe_2_2/104-8029043-3543151?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196892797&sr=1-2

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich

It's Friday night and you're on a red-eye to the city of sin. Strapped to your chest is half a million dollars; in your overnight bag is another twenty-five thou­sand in blackjack chips; and your wallet holds ten fake IDs. As soon as you land in Las Vegas, you are positive you are being investigated and followed. To top it all off, the IRS is auditing you, someone has been going through your mail - and you have a multivariable calculus exam on Monday morning. Welcome to the world of an exclusive group of audacious MIT math geniuses who legally took the casinos for over $3 million dollars -­while still finding time for college keg parties, football games, and final exams.

Handpicked by an eccentric mastermind - a former MIT professor and an obsessive player who had devel­oped a unique system of verbal cues, body signals, and role-playing -- this ring of card savants, a group of overachieving MIT students joined a decades-old underground blackjack club dedicated to counting cards and beating the system at major casinos around the world. Equipped with twenty different aliases and dis­guises, the group of young card counters struggle around these roadblocks to live the high life - until one fateful day when Vegas violently follows them home to Boston.

Master storyteller Ben Mezrich takes you from the ivory towers of academia to the Technicolor world of Las Vegas, where anything can happen -- and often does. Bringing Down the House launches you into the seedy underworld of corporate Vegas - deep into the realm of back rooms, ever-present video cameras, pri­vate investigators, and the threats and tactics of pit bosses and violent heavies. Filled with tense action and incredibly close calls, Bringing Down the House is a real-life mix of Liar's Poker and Ocean's Eleven -- and it's a story Vegas doesn't want you to read.

http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Down-House-Students-Millions/dp/0743225708/ref=sr_oe_1_1/002-5697048-8753621?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196892829&sr=1-1

Leap Of Faith: Memoirs Of An Unexpected Life by Queen Noor

Leap of Faith is the dramatic and inspiring story of an American woman's incredible journey into the heart and hearts of a man and his nation. Born into a distinguished Arab-American family and raised amid privilege, Lisa Halaby was in the first co-educational freshman class at Princeton, graduating in 1974 with a degree in architecture and urban planning. Then, in 1976, she was introduced on an airport runway to King Hussein of Jordan, a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad. In less than two years, she was his wife, Noor al-Hussein, Queen of Jordan.

With eloquence and candor, Queen Noor talks frankly of the many challenges of her life as wife and partner to the monarch, providing both an intimate portrait of the late King Hussein and his quest for peace in the Middle East, and a moving account of the demands his public role as a world statesman placed on the royal couple's private life. Noor details Hussein's struggles to create Arab unity and his vision of peaceful coexistence with Israel, as well as her own activities in developing village-based economic self-sufficiency projects and improving Jordan's medical, educational and cultural facilities.

Sharing a personal perspective on the past three decades of world history, Leap of Faith highlights Queen Noor's views on Islam and the West; the challenges of rearing her family; her work as queen and humanitarian activist; and her struggles to protect her husband as he slipped into the illness that would kill him in 1999. Queen Noor reacts on the true message of Islam and the ongoing violence in the Middle East from her unique perspective with a deep and abiding understanding of Arab aspirations and history. Leap of Faith is refreshingly candid and clear-eyed, a true love story set against the turbulent politics of the Middle East.

http://www.amazon.com/LEAP-FAITH-MEMOIRS-UNEXPECTED-LIFE/dp/1401359485/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-7097791-1127903?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196892908&sr=1-2

The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw

Declared a "triumph" by The New York Times Book Review, Linda Greenlaw's first book, The Hungry Ocean, was a fixture on bestseller lists across the country. Now she has written a book that does for lobstering what The Hungry Ocean did for swordfishing - and which is every bit as honest, funny, scrappy and authentic. After 17 years at sea, Greenlaw decided it was time to take a break from being a sword boat captain, the career that would later earn her a prominent role in Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm and a portrayal in the subsequent film. She felt she needed to return home - to a tiny island seven miles off the Maine coast with a population of 70 year-round residents, 30 of whom are her relatives. She would pursue a simpler life: move back in with her parents and get to know them again: become a professional lobsterman; and find a guy, build a house, have kids, and settle down.

But all doesn't go quite as planned. The lobsters resolutely refuse to crawl out from under their rocks and into the traps she and her stern man (her father) have painstakingly set. Her fellow Islanders, an extraordinary collection of characters, draw her into their bizarre Island intrigues. Eligible bachelors prove even more elusive than the lobsters. And as mainlanders increasingly fish waters that are supposed to be reserved for Islanders, she realizes that the Island might be heading for a "gear war," a series of attacks and retaliations that have been known to escalate from sabotage of equipment to extreme violence. Then, just when she thinks things couldn't get too much worse, something happens that forces her to reevaluate everything she thought she knew about life, luck, and lobsters.

Life on an island has its hardships (no Starbucks!), and Greenlaw is frequently lonely - but more frequently, quite self-sufficient. Anecdotes about encounters at the boat yard or general store recall a quieter, less crowded America that now seems rare indeed. Straightforward storytelling and captivating reading: as satisfying as a Maine lobster dinner.

http://www.amazon.com/LOBSTER-CHRONICLES-LIFE-SMALL-ISLAND/dp/0786885912/ref=ed_oe_p/002-5699547-8185655

Twilight of the Wagners: The Unveiling of a Family’s Legacy by Gottfried Wagner, Della Couling (Translator)

Richard Wagner's great-grandson Gottfried Wagner, born after the end of World War II, was taught to worship his great-grandfather as a cultural ancestor of all of Germany. Perhaps no one took Richard Wagner's polemics more to heart than Adolf Hitler, for whom the musician was a foundational influence. Born into an influential family who single-handedly managed the Bayreuth Wagner Festival, Gottfried began investigating German-Jewish relations and his family's Nazi past from an early age. Drawing on family letters and photographs, Gottfried uncovers his grandmother's close relationship with Hitler, although she declined his marriage proposal, she remained the Fuhrer's intimate friend and a dedicated Nazi Party member.

In Gottfried Wagner's memoir, Twilight of the Wagners: The Unveiling of a Family's Legacy, Hitler is an inescapable presence, as he was in Gottfried's family - one of the many specters haunting the Wagner estate, though young Gottfried wondered if he was the only one who could see them. One afternoon he discovered old photographs and oil paintings of Hitler among the family memorabilia. Warned never to mention the pictures to anyone, he became an unwilling co-conspirator in his family's secret. Gottfried Wagner reclaimed his voice during adolescence and began an impassioned crusade in adulthood to examine the hatred and racism he knew growing up in Bayreuth.

Although disinherited and ostracized by his father, Gottfried has become an outspoken critic of Richard Wagner's legacy and a champion of greater understanding between Germans and Holocaust survivors worldwide. With a judicious eye for detail, a sweeping sense of conscience, and the determination to redeem himself and his past, Gottfried Wagner lays bare the sins of this powerful family. A disturbing examination of the great composer's legacy that sheds new light on a powerful clan and the persistence of Nazi ideology in postwar Germany.

http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Wagners-Unveiling-Familys-Legacy/dp/B000HWYVI8/ref=sr_1_1/002-4474683-1452810?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196892987&sr=1-1

Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale and Stan Redding

Frank Abagnale was one of the most daring con men, forgers, imposters, and escape artists in history. In his brief but notorious criminal career, Abagnale donned a pilot's uniform and copiloted a Pan Am jet, masqueraded as the supervising resident of a hospital, practiced law without a license, passed himself off as a college sociology professor, and cashed over $2.5 million in forged checks, all before he was 21. Known by the police of twenty-six foreign countries and all fifty states as "The Skywayman," Abagnale lived a sumptuous life on the lam - until the law caught up with him. Abagnale's creative skein came to an end when a flight attendant recognized the glowering face on the Interpol poster. After a 5-year prison sabbatical, Abagnale received an offer he couldn't refuse: parole for the price of his knowledge.

Now recognized as the nation's leading authority on financial foul play, Abagnale is a charming rogue whose hilarious, stranger-than-fiction international escapades, and ingenious escapes - including one from an airplane, make Catch Me If You Can an irresistible tale of deceit. This extraordinarily informative and strangely exhilarating memoir was first published twenty years ago. Abagnale who now runs an anti-fraud corporation has updated his tale with insights into criminal advances in the technological age.

Abagnale's autobiography is more entertaining than fiction. Abagnale weaves a captivating web of intrigue as he takes us along on the wild ride of his exploits, sharing details and emotions as he goes. You'll shake your head in wonderment as you move smoothly through the pages of this book. The author's use of language makes the incredible tale even more believable. When you're done, you'll want to share the book with a friend; it's too good a treasure to be kept to yourself.

http://www.amazon.com/Catch-Me-If-You-Can/dp/0767905385/ref=sr_1_1/102-9320408-2997703?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196893010&sr=1-1

The Nazi Officers Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust by Edith Hahn Beer

In The Nazi Officer's Wife, Edith Hahn describes how she grew up with her parents and sisters in Vienna in the 1920's. Vienna in those days was a magical, picturesque, and sophisticated place. This lovely city was filled with sunny cafes, cultural activities and daring intellectuals. Even though the undercurrents of anti-Semitism were pres­ent in Vienna, Jews and gentiles coexisted side by side in peace.

In 1938, Edith's world was turned upside down. The German army marched into Austria and the Austrians voted for Anschluss, a union with Germany. After the Nazis took over, everything changed for Edith and her family. German thugs ruled the streets and laws were passed which tightened the noose around Jewish necks day by day. Some members of Edith's family escaped Austria before conditions deteriorated any further. However, Edith remained in Austria and was sent to do forced labor at a farm and later at a work camp. With the help of some friends, Edith avoided deportation by obtaining forged papers declaring her to be an Aryan of pure blood. At the age of twenty-eight, she married a Nazi party member named Werner Vetter and spent the war years in Brandenburg, Germany, as a dutiful "Aryan" wife and mother.

In wrenching detail, Edith recalls a life of constant, almost paralyzing fear. She tells of German officials who casu­ally questioned the lineage of her parents; of how, when giving birth to her daughter, she refused all painkillers, afraid that in an altered state of mind she might reveal something of her past, and of how, after her husband was captured by the Soviet army, she was bombed out of her house and had to hide while drunken Russian soldiers raped women on the street. Yet despite the risk it posed to her life, Edith created a remarkable record of sur­vival. The Nazi Officer's Wife provides an eye-opening glimpse through Edith's eyes of how ordinary Germans viewed their lives during the war, deluding themselves that Hitler must ultimately triumph.

http://www.amazon.com/Nazi-Officers-Wife-Survived-Holocaust/dp/068817776X/ref=ed_oe_p/002-9493607-8135220

Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man's Journey to Climb Farther than the Eye Can See by Erik Weihenmayer

In this moving and adventure-packed memoir, Erik Weihenmayer begins with his gradual loss of sight as a very young child. By the time he became fully blind in high school he had already developed the traits that would carry him to the summits of some of the world's highest mountains, as well as onto the frequently, hazardous slopes of daily life: charm, resilience, a sense of humor, a love of danger and a concern for others. His eloquent memoir exhibits all these traits.

Weihenmayer - a thrill seeker who skydives, climbs mountains and skis - devotes the first half of the book to his adolescence, punctuated by his loss of sight, his mother's sudden death and his diligent efforts not only to pick up girls, but first to figure out which ones were attractive. With its many tales of pranks, adventures and the talents of his guide dog, this half alone is worth the price of admission. He goes on to chronicle his young adulthood, including his teaching career and his passion for climbing, seeded during a month-long skills camp for blind adolescents and blossoming on his harrowing ascent of Mount McKinley.

He describes fearsome ascents of Kilimanjaro - with his fiance, so they can be married near the crater summit - El Capitan and Aconcagua's Polish Glacier. Weihenmayer tells his extraordinary story with humor, honesty and vivid detail, and his fortitude and enthusiasm are deeply, inspiring.

http://www.amazon.com/Touch-Top-World-Journey-Farther/dp/0452282942/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1502770-6640053?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196893110&sr=1-1

Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News by Bernard Goldberg

Is there a liberal bias in America's media? Conservatives have made the argument for years, but former CBS broadcast journalist Bernard Goldberg claims that the problem is so widespread that he was forced to break ranks and name names. Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist Goldberg reveals a corporate news culture in which the close-mindedness is breathtaking, journalistic integrity has been pawned to liberal opinion, and "entertainment" trumps hard news every time.

In his three decades at CBS, Goldberg repeatedly voiced his concerns to network executives about the often one-sided nature of the news coverage. But no one listened to his complaints - or if they did listen, they did nothing about the problem. Finally, Goldberg had no choice but to blow the whistle on his own industry, to break the code of silence that pervades the news business. Bias is the result. As the author reveals, "liberal bias" doesn't mean simply being hard on Republicans and easy on Democrats. Real media bias is the result of how those in the media see the world - and their bias directly affects how we all see the world.

Bias is a fearless and vitally important book. In exposing the bottomless intellectual corruption within his own industry, Bernard Goldberg does what so many in the mainstream press only pretend to do: he tells the truth without regard to personal consequences.

http://www.amazon.com/Bias-Insider-Exposes-Media-Distort/dp/0060520841/ref=ed_oe_p/002-1796133-2349669

Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger

In April 1970, during the glory days of the Apollo space program, NASA sent Navy Captain Jim Lovell and two other astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. Only 55 hours into the flight of Apollo 13, disaster struck: a mysterious explosion rocked the ship, and soon its oxygen and power began draining away.

Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, Apollo 13 tells the full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe. Minutes after the explosion, the three astronauts are forced to abandon the main ship for the lunar module, a tiny craft designed to keep two men alive for just two days. As the hours tick away, the narrative shifts from the crippled spacecraft to Mission Control, from engineers searching desperately for a way to fix the ship to Lovell's wife and children praying for his safe return.

The entire nation watches as one crisis after another is met and overcome. By the time the ship splashes down in the Pacific, we understand why the heroic effort to rescue Lovell and his crew is considered by many to be NASA's finest hour. As inspiring today as when the first mission flew, the story of Apollo 13 is a timeless tribute to the enduring American spirit and sparkling individual heroism.

http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-13-Anniversary-Jeffrey-Kluger/dp/0618056653/ref=sr_1_1/002-2644563-5440841?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196893212&sr=1-1

Man's Search For Meaning by Victor E. Frankl

When Man's Search for Meaning was first published in 1959, it was hailed by Carl Rogers as "one of the outstanding contributions to psychological thought in the last fifty years." Now, more than forty years and 4 million copies later, this tribute to hope in the face of unimaginable loss has emerged as a true classic.

Man's Search for Meaning - at once a memoir, a self-help book, and a psychology manual - is the story of psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's struggle for survival during his three years in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Yet rather than, "a tale concerned with the great horrors," Frankl focuses in on the "hard fight for existence" waged by "the great army of unknown and unrecorded."

Victor Frankl's training as a psychiatrist allowed him a remarkable perspective on the psychology of survival. In these inspired pages, he asserts that" the will to meaning" is the basic motivation for human life. This simple yet profound statement became the basis of his psychological theory, logotherapy, and forever changed the way we understand our humanity in the face of suffering. Frankl's seminal work offers us all an avenue to greater meaning and purpose in our own lives - a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the act of living.

http://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0807014265/ref=ed_oe_h/105-6567478-6560420

Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945 by Leo Marks

In 1942, Leo Marks left his father's famous bookshop and went off to fight the war. He was 22. Soon recognized as a cryptographer of genius, he became head of communications at the Special Operations Executive (SOE). As a top codemaker, Marks had a unique perspective on one of the most fascinating and, until now, little-known aspects of the Second World War. SOE’s main function was to infiltrate agents into enemy-occupied territory to perform acts of sabotage and form secret armies in preparation for D-Day. Marks's ingenious codemaking innovation was to devise and implement a system of random numeric codes printed on silk. Camouflaged as handkerchiefs, underwear, or coat linings, these codes could be destroyed message by message, and therefore could not possibly be remembered by the agents, even under torture.

Between Silk and Cyanide chronicles Marks's obsessive quest to improve the security of agents' codes and how this crusade led to his involvement in some of the war's most dramatic and secret operations. By the end of this incredible tale, truly one of the last great World War II memoirs, it is clear why General Eisenhower credited the SOE with shortening the war by three months.

This stunning memoir, often funny, always gripping and acutely sensitive to the human cost of each operation, provides a unique inside picture of the extraordinary SOE organization at work and reveals for the first time many unknown truths about the conduct of the war. Between Silk and Cyanide sheds light on one of the least-known but most dramatic aspects of the war. A compelling insider's view to the shadow war: intrigue and treachery, double-dealing and deception, hope and despair, triumph and tragedy. A spellbinding, real-life thriller.

http://www.amazon.com/Between-Silk-Cyanide-Codemakers-1941-1945/dp/068486780X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-7334987-6498005?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196893404&sr=1-1

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

Into Thin Air is a riveting first-hand account of a catastrophic expedition up Mount Everest. In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day eight people were dead. Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end.

Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest. Taking the reader step by step from Katmandu to the mountain's deadly pinnacle, Krakauer has his readers shaking on the edge of their seat. Beyond the terrors of this account, however, he also peers deeply into the myth of the world's tallest mountain. What is it about Everest that has compelled so many people, including himself, to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense?

Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions. Into Thin Air ranks among the great adventure books of all time. A book of rare eloquence and power that could remain relevant for centuries.

http://www.amazon.com/Into-Thin-Air-Personal-Disaster/dp/0385494785/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-0670608-1243921?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196893437&sr=1-1

MacMillan: The American Grain Family by W. Duncan MacMillan

MacMillan: The American Grain Family is the multi-generational biography of the MacMillan family, which along with the Cargills, has built the largest privately held company in the world. To say that the MacMillans have achieved financial success would be understating the fact considerably. The MacMillans, with their Cargill cousins, are today the owners of the largest privately held company in the world: Cargill, Inc.

Unlike the tragedies and scandal of the Kennedy's, and unlike the pomposity and notoriety of the Rockefellers, the MacMillan and Cargill families exemplify the way we'd all like to remember American history. The MacMillan boys, somewhat experienced with timbering and the grain business in Quebec, took their entrepreneurial skills to America in 1848. They settled, two years later, in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. With their 1875 purchase of a flour mill in LaCrosse, the MacMillan brothers firmly established themselves in the grain business. At the same time, W.W. Cargill moved his wheat operation from Minnesota to LaCrosse. The families became close and the future of the grain business in America would never be the same after John Hugh MacMillan and Edna Clara Cargill were married. In 1896, the MacMillan and Cargill businesses were also wed to become Cargill, Inc.

Author W. Duncan MacMillan is heir to the company concern, founded by his great-grandfather, W. W. Cargill, and later run by his father, John H. MacMillan. MacMillan himself served as a Cargill director for more than thirty years. Part history, part biography, it shows not only the author's love of his family, but also his pride in being part of it. An engrossing saga of pluck and daring, love and loss, triumph and failure, MacMillan is the last great American success story with its roots in the nineteenth century.

http://www.amazon.com/Macmillan-American-Family-W-Duncan/dp/1890434043/ref=sr_1_1/105-5323890-1051627?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196893464&sr=1-1

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger?

Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Mitch Albom began visiting his old college professor Morrie Schwartz after seeing him on ABC’s “Nightline” talking about his fight against Lou Gehrig’s disease. One Tuesday visit turned into another, resulting in a “final class” between professor and student in what you learn about life once you truly prepare to die. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class": lessons in how to live.

Now, the best-selling memoir of all-time, Tuesdays With Morrie began as a modest labor of love. Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift with the world.

http://www.amazon.com/Tuesdays-Morrie-Young-Greatest-Lesson/dp/076790592X/ref=ed_oe_p/002-2947794-2076846