Tag: #Inspirational

Posted in #non-fiction

The Big Book of Quotes

Posted on by BookReviews

Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1)

A Great Anthology of Wisdom

Over 3,500 quotes sharing the words of wisdom of the great and the good from down the ages.

  • Makes a perfect gift
  • A quote for every thought, occasion and feeling
  • Ideal for empowering your life
  • A life affirming collection of quotes
R. Jolly
5 out of 5 stars
For anyone who wants to hear somethinng worth knowing
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2020
Format: Paperback
Verified Purchase
Personally, I am obsessed with gaining knowledge ( a nerd for good non-fiction books, I guess). The bible says to gain knowledge to gain wisdom. How else can it be done? I find no other way that to search, read, study what individuals much smarter than me have experienced. With this book, you are looking across several hundred years (maybe over 1,000 years) of knowledge and wisdom, gained. You are only given approximately 70 years, plus or minus, to experience and learn. Not long, right? By reading biographies and quotes of many people you can have access to a thousand years experiences, and knowledge, to gain wisdom, which makes all of our lives richer and happier, in may ways. Few people seem to understand this and fewer still, even care. It's the rare few who do, who become the movers and shakers on this planet.

Bill
5 out of 5 stars
This is one of the best books I have ever bought.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2025
Format: Paperback
Verified Purchase
This book will not be for everyone. It will appeal to people with a philosophical outlook who give a lot of thought to all aspects of life and of human behaviour. The great majority of quotes here, and there are a mountain of them, have something important to say and be considered. (eg.- 'illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States, ask any Indian!') Many, many are also very funny - a great book and HIGHLY recommended. Thanks - Terry.
Posted in #non-fiction

The World According to Tom Hanks

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

The Life, the Obsessions, the Good Deeds of America’s Most Decent Guy

An entertaining and insightful homage to America’s favorite movie star, from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Tao of Bill Murray.

Niceness gets a bad rap these days. Our culture rewards those who troll the hardest and who snark the most. At times it seems like there’s no place anymore for optimism, integrity, and good old-fashioned respect. Enter “America’s Dad”: Tom Hanks. Whether he’s buying espresso machines for the White House Press Corps, rewarding a jovial cab driver with a night out on Broadway, or extolling the virtues of using a typewriter, Hanks lives a passionate, joyful life and pays it forward to others. Gavin Edwards takes readers on a tour behind the scenes of Hanks’s life: from his less-than-idyllic childhood, rocky first marriage, and career wipeouts to the pinnacle of his acting career and domestic bliss with the love of his life, Rita Wilson.

As he did for Bill Murray, Edwards distills Hanks’s life story into ten “commandments” that beautifully encapsulate his All-American philosophy. Contemplating the life, the achievements, and the obsessions of Mr. Tom Hanks may or may not give you the road map you need to find your way. But at the very least, it’ll show you how niceness can be a worthy destination.

“If there is a new Mr. Rogers in our culture, it’s got to be Tom Hanks: honest, decent, trustworthy. Gavin Edwards’s book taps into what makes Hanks someone we love and someone we should emulate.” ―Morgan Neville, Oscar-winning director of Won’t You Be My Neighbor?


Editorial Reviews

Review

“If there is a new Mr. Rogers in our culture, it’s got to be Tom Hanks: honest, decent, trustworthy. Gavin Edwards’s book taps into what makes Hanks someone we love and someone we should emulate.”―Morgan Neville, director of Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

“There have been greater, weightier testaments to the art of cinema published in 2016 . . . but for sheer dopamine release, [The Tao of Bill Murray is] hard to beat.”―The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Gavin Edwards is the New York Times bestselling author of nine books, including The Tao of Bill Murray, Last Night at the Viper Room, Can I Say (written with Travis Barker), VJ (written with the original MTV VJs), and ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy. As a longtime contributing editor for Rolling Stone, he has written a dozen cover stories for the magazine, traveled the world from Bahrain to New Zealand, and taken a city bus to the Grammys. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife and their two sons.

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Posted in #History

Lies My Teacher Told Me

Posted on by BookReviews

Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

“Every teacher, every student of history, every citizen should read this book. It is both a refreshing antidote to what has passed for history in our educational system and a one-volume education in itself.”
—Howard Zinn

A new edition of the national bestseller and American Book Award winner, with a new preface by the author

Since its first publication in 1995, Lies My Teacher Told Me has become one of the most important—and successful—history books of our time. Having sold nearly two million copies, the book also won an American Book Award and the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship and was heralded on the front page of the New York Times.

For this new edition, Loewen has added a new preface that shows how inadequate history courses in high school help produce adult Americans who think Donald Trump can solve their problems, and calls out academic historians for abandoning the concept of truth in a misguided effort to be “objective.”

What started out as a survey of the twelve leading American history textbooks has ended up being what the San Francisco Chronicle calls “an extremely convincing plea for truth in education.” In Lies My Teacher Told Me, James W. Loewen brings history alive in all its complexity and ambiguity. Beginning with pre-Columbian history and ranging over characters and events as diverse as Reconstruction, Helen Keller, the first Thanksgiving, the My Lai massacre, 9/11, and the Iraq War, Loewen offers an eye-opening critique of existing textbooks, and a wonderful retelling of American history as it should—and could—be taught to American students.


Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Lies My Teacher Told Me:
“Powerful . . . it serves as a crucial counter-textbook to provide a more realistic and critical narrative about the American past.”
―Truthdig

“A treat to read and a serious critique of American education.”
―Award Citation, American Book Award

“Remarkable.”
―USA Today

“A lively critique.”
―The New York Times

“Honest and well-written.”
―Harper’s Magazine

“Loewen’s book contains so much history that it ends up functioning not just as a critique, but also as a kind of counter-textbook that retells the story of the American past.”
―The Nation

“Every teacher, every student of history, every citizen should read this book. It is both a refreshing antidote to what has passed for history in our educational system and a one-volume education in itself.”
―Howard Zinn

About the Author

James W. Loewen (1942–2021) was the bestselling and award-winning author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, Lies Across America, Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus, Sundown Towns, and Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers’ Edition (all from The New Press). He also wrote Teaching What Really Happened and The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White and edited The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader. He won the American Book Award, the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for Distinguished Anti-Racist Scholarship, the Spirit of America Award from the National Council for the Social Studies, and the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award.

History, , #WorldHistory,

Posted in #History

Mexican History

Posted on by BookReviews

A Captivating Guide to the History of Mexico and the Mexican Revolution (South American Countries)

If you want to discover the captivating history of Mexico, then keep reading…

Free History BONUS Inside!

Two captivating manuscripts in one book:

  • History of Mexico: A Captivating Guide to Mexican History, Starting from the Rise of Tenochtitlan through Maximilian’s Empire to the Mexican Revolution and the Zapatista Indigenous Uprising
  • The Mexican Revolution: A Captivating Guide to the Mexican Civil War and How Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata Impacted Mexico

The modern country was born in 1821. Before 1821, ancient dynasties and kingdoms inhabited the territory that today comprises 32 states and a few small islands. These were dynasties of warriors, astronomers, and priests. There were also temples for human sacrifice. Surprisingly, some of the largest cities in the world were here. Experts think the city of Chichen Itza was larger than Paris at its height of splendor. It is located in the Yucatan Peninsula.

This journey through Mexico’s history is fascinating. It spans from its amazing pre-Hispanic past to the end of the 20th century. It will reveal more surprises than the reader can imagine. In the words of the self-proclaimed Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, “Mexico has magic. I looked for that magic, and I found it there.”

Here are just some of the topics covered in part 1 of this book:

  • The Era of Empires
  • The Spanish-Aztec War and New Spain
  • The Birth of a Nation
  • “From the Halls of Montezuma…”
  • The Big Division
  • “The Most Beautiful Empire in the World”
  • In the Times of Don Porfirio
  • The Mexican Revolution
  • The Cristeros
  • The Second World War and the Mexican Miracle
  • End of Century Pangs
  • And much, much more!

Here are just some of the topics covered in part 2 of this book:

  • The Comet
  • The Strong Man of the Americas
  • Francisco and the Spirits
  • Victory Comes Too Soon
  • The Wicked Ambassador
  • Victoriano Huerta
  • Two Hurricanes
  • The Convention of Aguascalientes
  • The Presidential Chair
  • Huerta Strikes Back
  • The Horsemen of the Apocalypse
  • The Centaur and the General: Pershing’s Punitive Expedition
  • The Zimmermann Telegram
  • Aftermath
  • And much, much more!

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Posted in #History

History of Argentina

Posted on by BookReviews

A Captivating Guide to Argentine History, Starting from the Pre-Columbian Period Through the Inca Empire and Spanish Colonization to the Present (South American Countries)

Did you know that as of 2018, Argentina has a literacy level of 99 percent? Are you curious to find out how it achieved this?

Argentina has a long and complex history. For hundreds of years, Argentina was inhabited by hunter-gatherer groups. For the most part, these people groups got along well with each other. In time, the Inca Empire rose to prominence and took over the Argentinian communities one by one. The Spanish arrived about twenty years later, bringing a new wave of invasion to the native inhabitants. The people of Argentina wouldn’t declare their independence until 1816, and after that, they faced civil war after civil war.

Argentina’s history might seem like it’s only compromised of conquest and warfare. However, it is also filled with fascinating civilizations and influential figures. Examples include José de San Martín and the less-revered Juan Manuel de Rosas. Argentineans have a rich culture to this day. Their cultural identity truly began to emerge on the international stage in the 19th century.

Almost everyone knows that Argentina is located in South America. However, not everyone is aware that Argentina’s successful May Revolution inspired other countries in Latin America to rebel. Many may have heard of Juan Perón and his wife, Eva. However, few know about Perón’s third wife, Isabel, and her time as the president of Argentina. This book will guide you through Argentina’s past. You will explore both its highs and lows. Discover a fuller picture of the beautiful nation of Argentina.

In this book, you will learn about:

  • The people groups who lived in the country before European colonization
  • The Spanish conquistadors who made their mark on the country
  • The May Revolution and Argentina’s struggle for independence
  • The immigrants who made Argentina their home and pushed its economy and society to new heights
  • The world wars and how Argentina strove to stay neutral
  • Juan Perón’s time in office
  • The “Dirty War” and the Falkland War