Tales of adventure, misadventure, love and loss - this collection of non-fiction short stories from the Australian rock legend turned writer is vintage Jimmy. Outrageous, witty, warm and wise, Killing Time shares more than forty yarns reflecting an epic life - from an encounter with a soul legend in Memphis, a night in a haunted studio in upstate New York, and a doomed haircut in Thailand to a madcap misunderstanding in a Japanese ski resort, a family feud on a remote coral atoll, and an all-too-revealing appearance for a Sydney charity. PRAISE FOR KILLING TIME: "A moving and deeply felt kaleidoscope of life, love, family, music, friendship and the fragility of time. Barnes proved his storytelling mettle with his memoirs. But in Killing Time he has refined his unique voice with this wildly entertaining suite of tales, anecdotes, observations and reflections that can have you laughing out loud on one page and moved to tears on the next. It is all here, the joys and fears of parenthood, the search for your sense of place, fortune-tellers, the loss of beloved pets, bad golf, ghosts, backstage stories, celebrities, the homeless, and the wonder of being alive, all told with searing honesty. What sets Barnes's writing above the rest is that it comes from an authentic and soulful place. His work cannot help but ring true, like the strike of a tuning fork." Matt Condon "Jimmy Barnes is never a bystander. Stories happen to him. He not only remembers every circumstance, he has the ability to distil the moment in a way that's both poetic and uncontrived. He's funny, chaotic, insightful and heartbreaking. Jimmy is truly a natural-born storyteller. It's like writing has just been waiting for him to arrive. And now, he's here." Mandy Nolan

'Bower's book is a devastating indictment' Sunday Times 'Explosive ... Bower reveals a remarkable and sinister picture of the man who likes to appear as the ever-smiling hero' Daily Mail A sensational critical biography of the man and his business practices. No British tycoon is better known, few claim to be richer and none has masterminded a more recognisable brand than Richard Branson. What is behind the success of the buccaneering balloonist, the tabloids' favourite celebrity nude, the 'grinning jumper' and the scourge of corporate goliaths? Tom Bower has a uncovered a different tale to the one so eagerly promoted by Virgin's publicists. Here is the full story of Branson: his businesses, his friendships, his ambition, his law-breaking, his drug-taking, his bullying. Offering an intimate scrutiny of exactly how Richard Branson created and sold himself, this biography reveals Branson to be a single-minded profiteer who, while occasionally generous to others, has a fixed purpose to enhance his family's wealth in secret off-shore trust funds. Instead of a glittering saint, Branson emerges as a devious actor, proud of plucking for his own profit the good ideas of others.

Ever wonder why so many B actors wind up as A-grade politicians? Or how the casting couch worked? Acclaimed author Kathleen Sharp traces the influence of show business through the lives of its first power couple. Edie and Lew Wasserman built the world's largest talent agency, MCA, created the multibillion-dollar Universal Studios, and helped shape Washington, DC. Starting from MCA's birth in gangland Chicago, Lew represented stars such as Jimmy Stewart and Marilyn Monroe; pioneered TV with Leave It to Beaver and Miami Vice ; spawned the blockbuster movie model with Psycho and Jaws ; and developed a mega-theme park. His savvy wife, Edie, was the daughter of a mob attorney, the queen of A-list parties, and Lew's secret agent who boosted their status. Yet, the couple was attacked by rivals, federal prosecutors, and their own protégés. Even so, over the course of seven decades they managed to vanquish their enemies and parlay their influence far beyond Sunset Strip into governors' mansions, Senate chambers, and the White House. At the end, Edie and Lew became diplomats, kingmakers, and philanthropists, who elevated the fortunes of middle-class workers and California itself. Based on some four hundred interviews, this book features Janet Leigh, Clark Gable, Grace Kelly, John Belushi, Jean Stein, and Steven Spielberg along with the Kennedys, the Johnsons, the Reagans, and the Clintons. It's a fascinating read about how two kids from Cleveland created the largest entertainment conglomerate in the world and wound up ruling twentieth-century America.

When Mickie Siebert arrived in New York in the mid-1950s, she had $500 in her wallet and drove a used Studebaker. Almost fifty years later she is known as the "First Woman of Finance," the only woman to head a publicly traded national brokerage firm. Pithy, vastly entertaining, and full of behind-the-scenes anecdotes, Changing the Rules reveals how Siebert forged her phenomenal success in the chaotic and cutthroat world of Wall Street. Three four-letter words are behind Siebert's career success: One is work -- she learned everything there was to know about a company before recommending its stock. The second is luck -- as an analyst in training, she had the good fortune to follow a fledgling industry that nobody else wanted. (The "dog" industry was airlines.) The third word is risk -- she knew how to assess liability and make a decision. Siebert recounts the resistance of the good gray Stock Exchange when she dared to infiltrate the boys' club, threatening to have a Port-O-San delivered to the NYSE luncheon club if they didn't add a women's bathroom. She reveals the backstage stories about saving Lockheed and selling Conrail (at the time, the largest stock offering in Wall Street history), as well as the changes on the Street that led to May Day, 1975, when she was first in line as a discount broker (and considered a pariah by industry standards). She tells of her memorable encounters with such legendary figures as Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, the World War I flying ace who ran Eastern Airlines, and Robert Brimberg, the iconoclastic "Scarsdale Fats" whose investing acumen was the envy of the Street. Writing with equal candor about the politics of finance and the finance of politics, Siebert recalls her five years as Superintendent of Banking for New York State -- when she helped to prevent a national fiscal crisis during the Iran hostage situation -- and her experiences as a pro-choice Republican senatorial candidate. Siebert's reputation for rocking the boat is legendary, and Changing the Rules is both a fascinating biography of a true pioneer, and a valuable strategic and informational tool for anyone who deals with or dabbles in the money game.

On the motion-picture front, no other publication of our age has achieved the stature, vitality, or magic of Vanity Fair. In its coverage of the film industry, the magazine prides itself on assigning the world's top photographers, writers, and illustrators to explore the brightest stars in the Hollywood firmament. Now, for the first time, the most memorable renderings of this illustrious pantheon have been assembled in one volume: Garbo and Swanson, Fairbanks and Pickford, Gable and Grant, Tracy and Hepburn, Taylor and Burton -- along with today's cinematic giants, including Cruise and Kidman, Nicholson and Streep, De Niro and DiCaprio, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, and scores more. As this sweeping, lavish book makes clear, Vanity Fair's stable of photographers (Cecil Beaton, Annie Leibovitz, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, Edward Steichen, Mario Testino, Bruce Weber, and many others represented here) have helped define modern portraiture. Likewise, Vanity Fair's Hollywood includes Vanity Fair contributors of the past (D.H. Lawrence, Clare Boothe Luce, Dorothy Parker, Carl Sandburg, Walter Winchell, and P.G. Wodehouse) and of the present.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." --George Santayana We need only to look back to Rwanda, and now to Darfur, to see that once again we are living the worst of times. Who better to guide our understanding and give us hope than Martin Gray--a man who survived the worst of times, flourished, and still managed to find joy in living? Martin has come full circle since his boyhood world was turned upside down by the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Overnight, the teenage Martin and his family were immersed in the horrors of the Holocaust and held captive in the Warsaw Ghetto. It was a nightmare of brutality, starvation, and death. Martin became a clever smuggler to help his family survive--until the "butchers" of Treblinka took his mother and brothers. Against impossible odds, Martin survived and returned to fight in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. As the Nazis incinerated the ghetto, he escaped to fight with the partisans, and then the Red Army. After the war, Martin made his way to New York. The cunning and skills he developed during the war enabled him to learn the language and create a successful business. At 35, he retired to France with a fortune and a beautiful Dutch wife, starting a family and living in happiness and peace. But his world was shattered once again by a forest fire that engulfed his fleeing family. In a tragic repeat of history, Martin alone survived. Martin Gray's past could be our future if we don't heed his call to be the change. In this 35th anniversary expanded edition of For Those I Loved, a book beloved by millions of readers worldwide, Martin reminds us that the past is connected to the present. Only we can ensure that history is not repeated.

We've all made a mess. And that means we all have a message. This is the book that shows you how to take the former and make it into the latter. FROM THE NY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR When Anna David got sober and sold a book about her recovery to the biggest publisher in the world, she thought she'd made it. She was wrong. Still, after years of struggle and self-discovery, she ended up thriving personally and professionally. Now she's sharing what she's learned-and showing others how to do the same. In this page-turning and useful memoir-meets-manual, David reveals her personal lows (doing cocaine by herself while contemplating suicide), her career lows (a past-his-prime celebrity hurling a phone at her as she wrote his biography) and how her life today wouldn't be possible without those experiences. The last quarter of the book is a practical guide so that readers can make their own mess into a message-and memoir. In this completely comprehensive "biz-oir" packed with proven and authentic tools and techniques, memoirists-in-the-making will travel with David on her journey from struggling addict to New York Times bestselling writer/entrepreneur and also learn: -How to determine a memoir message and "why" -How to select scenes -The advantages and disadvantages of traditional and self-publishing -How to come up with a title, rewrite a book and hire editors -Potential legal concerns and how to avoid them -How to gather blurbs, write acknowledgments and arrange for a foreword -How to be set up for success on Amazon -The importance of an Advanced Reader Team And much more. The best time to write a book was 10 years ago. The second best time is now. To start creating the business tool that will change your career-and life-click ADD TO CART before the price changes.

For years, sports fans across the country have run to their morning newspapers to read Mitch Albom. Here, in his fourth superb collection, the nation's No. 1 sports columnist tackles everything from Tonya and Nancy to O.J., from the Lions foibles to the Red Wings' Stanley Cup final. In Live Albom IV, Albom --- also an ESPN analyst, WJR radio talk showhost, and author of the national best-sellers "Bo" and "Fab five" --- gives a full plate of his lyrical column style, which has been hailed by his peers as the best in the business.Touching, insightful, hard-hitting and often hilarious, Live Albom IV also features, in tis entirety, the award-winning Secret World Series, Albom's fictional account about the greatest Fall Classic never played. And, of course, there is a full helping of Albom's non-sports columns from the Comment section of the Detroit Free Press.

Sex goddess, Hollywood star, transgressive playwright, author, blues singer, and vaudeville brat---Mae West remains the twentieth century's greatest comedienne. She made an everlasting mark in trailblazing Broadway plays such as Sex and The Constant Sinner and in films such as She Done Him Wrong, Klondike Annie, and I'm No Angel. Simon Louvish, biographer of W. C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, and Keystone's Mack Sennett, brings Mae to vibrant life in this unparalleled new biography. He charts her amazing seven decades in show business, from early years in teenage summer stock to her last reincarnation as 1960s gay icon and grande dame of Hollywood survivors. Mae West: It Ain't No Sin is the first biography to make use of Mae's recently uncovered personal papers, offering an unprecedented view into the endless creative drive and daring wit of this legendary star.

For this definitive biography, acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Tom Bower was granted unprecedented access to Simon Cowell and those around him--and the result is a fascinating multilayered portrait of one of the world's most intriguing television personalities ever to dominate the music industry. Simon Cowell has made an international name for himself as the no-holds-barred judge on the television phenomenon American Idol . He's been called mean, arrogant, brash, and unapologetic, but his stinging barbs and smug personality have also earned him cheers from fans, as well as millions of dollars, a string of exotic beauties, and industry clout to develop his own projects. But Cowell's true reward is revenge . Sweet Revenge is the ultimate insider's account of Simon Cowell's rise to fame--even as others plotted his downfall--from his cheeky exploits as a British school lad to his failures as a frustrated young music exec in London to his explosive rivalry with Simon Fuller over the genesis of the Idol franchise to the PR disaster that nearly sunk his wildly successful show The X Factor . Conducting more than 150 interviews with industry power players, Cowell's inner circle, and Cowell himself on a private jet, chartered yacht, at his L.A. home, and on the studio lot, Tom Bower pulls back the curtain on a man who is at once insecure, ambitious, easily bored, vain, needy, and driven, a man who will go to any limit to secure his success. Cowell is also revealed as a loyal friend and loving son. His father, to whom Cowell was particularly close, became his most trusted adviser and mentor. Packed with juicy details, exclusive interviews, and never-before-revealed facts, Sweet Revenge presents a complete picture of Simon Cowell that few have ever seen.

Tropicana is to Cuba what the Bolshoi is to Russia, the Moulin Rouge to Paris, or the Blue Note to New York--an enduring cultural mecca. This definitive biography of the place that was known as Paradise Under the Stars, vividly describes the 1950s nightclub that was part casino, part cabaret and was the only club owned and run by Cubans rather than the American mob. Nat "King" Cole, Liberace, and Carmen Miranda performed there before audiences that included Joan Crawford, Marlon Brando, and Ernest Hemingway. The book portrays the cultural richness and roiling social problems of pre-Revolutionary Cuba and takes the reader on a tour of one of the world's most glamorous venues at its most brilliant moment.

Passionate, profound and funny, Berman is inspiring people from all walks of life to get off the sidelines and fight the good fight--and win. This unique book--part manifesto from a leader, part humorous activist memoir from a soccer mom--offers a wryly honest, behind-the-scenes, ultimately uplifting look at the state of the planet. For almost 20 years, Tzeporah Berman has been one of our most influential environmentalists. A founder of ForestEthics and PowerUp Canada, she was instrumental in shaping the tactics and concerns of the modern environmental movement. In her early 20s she faced nearly one thousand criminal charges and 6 years in prison for her role organizing blockades in Canada's rainforest. She later transformed her tactics and sat down with CEOs and political leaders to reshape their policies and practices. In her new role at Greenpeace International she is fighting the problem of our time: climate change. This Crazy Time is an impassioned plea for a better world.

Reviews the current conditions of economics, the recent blunders and serious shortcomings of government, corporate, and academic economists, and the needed relevance of Smith, Marx, Veblen, and Keynes

This book examines the much-debated question of whether John Maynard Keynes' greatest work— The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money —was an instance of Mertonian simultaneous scientific discovery. In part I of this study, Don Patinkin argues for Keynes' originality, rejecting the claims of the Stockholm school and the Polish economist Michal Kalecki. Patinkin shows that the theoretical problems to which the Stockholm school and Kalecki devoted their attention largely differed from those of the General Theory and that, even when the problem addressed was similar, the treatment they accorded it was not part of their central messages. In the remaining parts of the book Patinkin presents a critique of Keynes' theory of effective demand and discusses Keynes' monetary theory and policy thinking, as well as the relationship between the respective developments of Keynesian theory and national income accounting in the 1930s.

This entertaining memoir follows Connie Sawyer's show business career, from childhood dance lessons through radio, vaudeville, nightclubs, USO, Broadway, movies and television. Connie never stopped moving, creating a career and a life of amazing longevity, while maintaining a deep connection with her extended family.

Tin Lizzie: The Story Of The Fabulous Model T Ford is a book written by Philip Van Doren Stern. The book is a comprehensive history of the Model T Ford, one of the most iconic cars in American history. The book covers the development of the Model T, its impact on American society, and the people who drove and worked on the car. The book is divided into several sections, each of which covers a different aspect of the Model T. The first section covers the early history of the automobile and the development of the Model T. The second section covers the impact of the Model T on American society, including its role in the growth of the middle class and the expansion of the American economy. The third section of the book covers the people who drove and worked on the Model T, including the assembly line workers who built the car and the farmers and businessmen who used it for transportation. The fourth section covers the Model T's impact on American culture, including its appearance in popular music and literature. Overall, Tin Lizzie: The Story Of The Fabulous Model T Ford is a fascinating and informative book that provides a comprehensive history of one of the most important cars in American history. The book is well-researched and well-written, making it an enjoyable read for anyone interested in the history of the automobile or American culture.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

AN INVENTED LIFE: The story of Alan Amron is one of a free-thinking individual, unencumbered by self-imposed constraints. Alan invented the first Post-It sticky notes, battery operated water guns, temperature alarms to prevent blood and food spoilage, the first ever Digital Photo wallet for Nikon, and much more. It is a glimpse into the creative mind of an inventor, entrepreneur, businessman and Federal Court Plaintiff vs. 3M.With over 40 United States patents for his inventions, Alan's journey is truly an inspiration. Who would have thought that a Brooklyn boy would go on to rub shoulders with Frank Sinatra, Kristy McNichol, have a shouting match with J.D. Salinger and partner with the boxing champion of the world Muhammad Ali, who at the time was more famous than the President of the United States, to bring back the Beatles?An Invented Life is a fun roller-coaster ride, with humor in Alan's naivety, heart aches and accomplishments. His charming personality comes through in all that he has accomplished, seeing the ridiculousness of the moments and the displays of his natural chutzpah.The $1.5 Billion dollar SMOKING GUN corroborating Federal Court Testimony by Christopher Turner, former 3M corporate senior VP of new product development from 1964-1990."I knew first hand for the last 40 years, that Alan Amron invented the Post-It sticky notes for 3M, but 3M management had threatened me with losing my pension if I ever came forward. The only reason I'm coming forward now, is those people that threatened my pension are gone."

If you use a personal computer or automated teller machine, make purchases online, or consume media of any kind, your life is directly impacted by the five digital-age visionaries profiled in The New Imperialists . Reams have already been written, of course, about Microsoft's Bill Gates, AOL-Time Warner's Steve Case, Oracle's Larry Ellison, Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos, and Cisco's John Chambers. But Mark Leibovich, national technology reporter for The Washington Post , digs deeper here to present insightful individual portraits of these "generals of the networked world's ruling empires" that reveal what has really driven them to the leading edge of today's business universe. Based on some 400 interviews with relatives, friends, associates, and adversaries, in addition to one-on-one sessions with its usually more reticent subjects, the book offers a very readable account of key formative events and subsequent reactions that are not typically part of such titans' shared résumés. From the personal experiences that helped shape their generally serene youth--Ellison "had difficulty telling the truth," for example, while Chambers "battled dyslexia and for a time believed he was stupid"--to the public manifestations that now affect millions, Leibovich presents eye-opening accounts recommended for anyone drawn to the human stories behind our day's most ubiquitous corporate names. --Howard Rothman