Bookpedia : GQ Book Library : Genre : B

ISBN: 0689875959

ListPrice: £14.95

Summary:

ISBN:

ListPrice: $19.99

Summary: Amazon Exclusive: A Letter from Sarah Silverman

Dear Reader:

My name is Sarah Silverman. I was once primarily known for saying the word "poop" and getting paid above market rates for it. But those days are over, because I am now going to be known for having written a book. Why did I write a book, you might wonder? Because it just seemed like the right time to be getting into the publishing industry.

I'm kidding. Publishing is rotting like an abandoned possum carcass on the shoulder of I-95. I know that for a fact, because shortly after my book deal was announced, I kept hearing people lament the imminent demise of literature. These days there is only one reason to write a book: to be taken seriously. And that is exactly what is about to happen to me. I'm an author now! Like Ernest Hemingway and Fyodor Dostoevsky!

When I was asked to provide text for an author page, I decided to approach it in a scholarly manner, because that's what authors do. I looked to other author pages for inspiration, and I learned so much. For example, while Hemingway and Dostoevsky do not have their own author pages on Amazon.com, Paris Hilton does. And so does former teenage porn star and multi-tasking fellatrix, Traci Lords. Hemingway and Dostoevsky might be wondering, quite literally, "Whom do I have to blow to get my own author page?" If someone had a cruel sense of humor, they might respond to Hemingway, "How about your head off? Oh wait – you already DID that!" But such a remark would be in bad taste, and as a serious author, I'm above all that.

I also learned that Paris' dog, Tinkerbell Hilton, has her own book too. I read a few pages and found the prose to be overwrought, but you can imagine that, being a dog, she'd be coming from a place of needing to prove something. By the way, here's a quote from a review of Paris' book that I found on her Amazon.com author page:

"Heiress, socialite, model, actress, singer and media darling Hilton loves her life, knows how to get what she wants and matter-of-factly explains how anyone can be a glamorous, fun-loving, tiara-wearing heiress just like her… [Paris’] advice to 'channel your own inner heiress, create your own image, and project an extreme sense of confidence' is an empowering message for young women."

This was profoundly inspiring to me. It made me realize: if young women can read Hilton's book and become heiresses, they can likewise read my book and become anxiety-ridden bedwetters. And amidst this generation of disposability that favors the digital over the physical, shopping online rather than in stores (oops, this is awkward!), and reading from LCD screens rather than from print on paper, it's nice to know that I will have left a permanent stain by which future generations shall know of my existence. So read The Bedwetter, if not for me, then for the children.

ISBN: 1843541858

ListPrice: £7.99

Edition: New Ed

Summary: Firstly, despite all the blurb on the cover, this book really isn't "outrageously funny" or "hilarious" etc., etc.. In my opinion it's just moderately humorous - no more, no less. Still, it is a fairly gripping read, especially for any 12-steppers. What is perhaps not quite believable is that - despite being a raging drunk - he get's instantly sober with one visit to a clinic and remains like that for what seems to be months. That's a bit unusual and makes me think that perhaps he wasn't really at rock-bottom in the first place. And, as another reviewer remarked, a lot of the bits about AA Meetings and recovery etc. really do write themselves. Nevertheless, it's an entertaining read.

ISBN: 9780811860789

ListPrice: $40.00

Dimensions: 0.90 x 10.60 x 8.70 in

Summary: Behind-the-scenes hero to anyone who's thrilled by giant monsters duking it out over Tokyo, Eiji Tsuburaya was the visual effects mastermind behind Godzilla, Ultraman, and numerous Japanese science fiction movies and TV shows beloved around the world. The first book on this legendary film figure in English, this highly visual biography details his fascinating life and career, featuring hundreds of film stills, posters, concept art, and delightful on-set photos of Tsuburaya prompting monsters to crush landmark buildings. A must-have for fans, this towering tribute also features profiles of Tsuburaya's film collaborators, details on his key films and shows (most available on DVD), and features on the enduring popularity of the characters he helped create.

ISBN: 0586050388

ListPrice: £6.99

Edition: New Ed

Summary: Professor Keith Simpson's evocative descriptions of how to determine the cause, time, place, method and sometimes motive of a corpse is mind blowing to say the least. The book describes his life as one of Britain's first criminal pathologists, frequently describing actual cases and how various conclusions were reached. At times throughout the book a strong stomach is necessary, but how do you describe terrible deeds without horrible facts? I just could not put the book down until I had finished it and then only started to re-read the whole thing again. Especially recommended for the "True Life Murder" brigade and anyone interested in forensic pathology.

ISBN: 9780091800093

Edition: Export e.

Summary: He spent his earliest years in post WWII–refugee camps. He came to America and grew up in Cleveland—stealing cars, rolling drunks, battling priests, nearly going to jail. He became the screenwriter of the worldwide hits "Basic Instinct," "Jagged Edge", and "Flashdance. "He also wrote the legendary disasters "Showgirls" and "Jade"." "The rebellion never ended, even as his films went on to gross more than a billion dollars at the box office and he became the most famous—or infamous—screenwriter in Hollywood.

Joe Eszterhas is a complex and paradoxical figure: part outlaw and outsider combined with equal parts romantic and moralist. More than one person has called him “the devil.” He has been referred to as “the most reviled man in America.” But "Time" asked, “If Shakespeare were alive today, would his name be Joe Eszterhas?” and he was the first screenwriter picked as one of the movie industry’s 100 Most Powerful People. Although he is often accused of sexism and misogyny, his wife is his best friend and equal partner. Considered an apostle of sex and violence, he is a churchgoer who believes in the power of prayer. For many years the ultimate symbol of Hollywood excess, he has moved his family to Ohio and immersed himself in the midwestern lifestyle he so values.

Controversial, fearless, extremely talented, and totally unpredictable, the author of the best-selling "American Rhapsody" and National Book Award nominee "Charlie" S"impson’s Apocalypse "has surprised us yet again: he has written a memoir like no other.

On one level, "Hollywood Animal" is a shocking and often devastating look inside the movie business. It intimately explores the concept of fame and gives us a never-before-seen look at the famous. Eszterhas reveals the fights, the deals, the extortions, the backstabbing, and the sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll world that is Hollywood.

But there are many more levels to this extraordinary work. It is the story of a street kid who survives a life filled with obstacles and pain . . . a chronicle of a love affair that is sensual, glorious, and unending . . . an excruciatingly detailed look at a man facing down the greatest enemy he’s ever fought: the cancer inside him . . . and perhaps most important, "Hollywood Animal" is the heartbreaking story of a father and son that defines the concepts of love and betrayal.

This is a book that will shock you and make you laugh, anger you and move you to tears. It is pure Joe Eszterhas—a raw, spine-chilling celebration of the human spirit.


"From the Hardcover edition."

ISBN: 1843543621

ListPrice: £9.99

Summary: This is the first - but certainly not the last - book I have read from this author. It is a collection of autobiographical short stories which represent small snippets of his life experiences, written about in a hilariously crazy way. The way his mind works seems to pour itself onto paper in a fashion that is very enjoyable to read. His experiences are not that amazing in themselves, it is his angle on them and his reactions to seemingly banal occurences that make one laugh. His writing style is a little Hunter S. Thompsonesque due to his opulent use of vocabulary. Because of the short story format it is easy to read for people with a short attention span or not much time on their hands. The result was that I was kept fixated and interested and read the book in one day.

ISBN: 031242227X

ListPrice: $14.00

Edition: Reprint

Summary: There is a passage early in Augusten Burroughs's harrowing and highly entertaining memoir, "Running with Scissors", that speaks volumes about the author. While going to the garbage dump with his father, young Augusten spots a chipped, glass-top coffee table that he longs to bring home. "I knew I could hide the chip by fanning a display of magazines on the surface, like in a doctor's office," he writes, "And it certainly wouldn't be dirty after I polished it with Windex for three hours." There were certainly numerous chips in the childhood Burroughs describes: an alcoholic father, an unstable mother who gives him up for adoption to her therapist, and an adolescence spent as part of the therapist's eccentric extended family, gobbling prescription meds and fooling around with both an old electroshock machine and a pedophile who lives in a shed out back. But just as he dreamed of doing with that old table, Burroughs employs a vigorous program of decoration and fervent polishing to a life that many would have simply thrown in a landfill. Despite her abandonment, he never gives up on his increasingly unbalanced mother. And rather than despair about his lot, he glamorizes it: planning a "beauty empire" and performing an a capella version of "You Light Up My Life" at a local mental ward. Burroughs's perspective achieves a crucial balance for a memoir: emotional but not self-involved, observant but not clinical, funny but not deliberately comic. And it's ultimately a feel-good story: as he steers through a challenging childhood, there's always a sense that Burroughs's survivor mentality will guide him through and that the coffee table will be salvaged after all. "--John Moe"

ISBN: 9780340794685

ListPrice: $13.38

Dimensions: 1.18 x 7.72 x 5.04 in

Summary: In 1611 an astonishing letter arrived at the the East India Trading Company in London after a tortuous seven-year journey. Englishman William Adams was one of only twenty-four survivors of a fleet of ships bound for Asia, and he had washed up in the forbidden land of Japan. The traders were even more amazed to learn that, rather than be horrified by this strange country, Adams had fallen in love with the barbaric splendour of Japan -- and decided to settle. He had forged a close friendship with the ruthless Shogun, taken a Japanese wife and sired a new, mixed-race family. Adams' letter fired up the London merchants to plan a new expedition to the Far East, with designs to trade with the Japanese and use Adams' contacts there to forge new commercial links. SAMURAI WILLIAM brilliantly illuminates a world whose horizons were rapidly expanding eastwards.

ISBN: 0340591943

ListPrice: £7.99

Edition: New Ed

Summary: I decided to dedicate some time to reading this book, so I brought it with me to work everyday.

I found that after the first chapter, I could not put it down. The author truly knows his facts and is neither 'for' or 'against' Dahmer, which is great because he tells you two sides of the story as oppossed to just one, which is usually the argument 'against' Jeff.

The author goes into enough detail, not too much as to not upset family members of the victims etc. You can see that Brian Masters has really done his research, speaking to main characters involved in the case. He goes into detail about Jeff's childhood and now we can all see where things really went wrong for Jeff. He refers to Denis Nilsen alot, a 'serial killer' much like Jeff who was convicted of killing 15 young men back in the 1970's.

This is a 'must-read' book and it will be hard to find any other book/movie that is as accurate about Jeff's life as the author is in this book.

After reading this book, you will become either a friend or a foe of Jeff.

Definitely recommend it.

ISBN: 9781740666459

ListPrice: $26.95

Dimensions: 0.60 x 8.10 x 5.30 in

Summary: Focusing on the importance of people rather than profits, this inspirational guide explores what new and experienced business owners can do to form a long-lasting and passion-filled foundation for their ventures. Issues such as defining leisure time, the importance of networking, how to develop working relationships with other businesses, and finding quality mentors are thoroughly discussed, while step-by-step instructions illustrate exactly how to develop a healthy workplace. Growth, consolidation, risk taking, and other key business concepts are explored and supplemented with tools proven to carry a company through its fifth, 10th, or 20th anniversary.

ISBN: 9780312427993

ListPrice: $16.00

Edition: 1st

Dimensions: 1.40 x 8.10 x 5.50 in

Summary: Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" advances a truly unnerving argument: historically, while people were reeling from natural disasters, wars and economic upheavals, savvy politicians and industry leaders nefariously implemented policies that would never have passed during less muddled times. As Klein demonstrates, this reprehensible game of bait-and-switch isn't just some relic from the bad old days. It's alive and well in contemporary society, and coming soon to a disaster area near you.
"At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq'' civil war, a new law is unveiled that will allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves… Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly outsources the running of the 'War on Terror' to Halliburton and Blackwater… After a tsunami wipes out the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts… New Orleans residents, scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals and schools will never be re-opened." Klein not only kicks butt, she names names, notably economist Milton Friedman and his radical Chicago School of the 1950s and 60s which she notes "produced many of the leading neo-conservative and neo-liberal thinkers whose influence is still profound in Washington today." Stand up and take a bow, Donald Rumsfeld.
There's little doubt Klein's book--which arrived to enormous attention and fanfare thanks to her previous missive, the best-selling "No Logo", will stir the ire of the right and corporate America. It's also true that Klein's assertions are coherent, comprehensively researched and footnoted, and she makes a very credible case. Even if the world isn't going to hell in a hand-basket just yet, it's nice to know a sharp customer like Klein is bearing witness to the backroom machinations of government and industry in times of turmoil. --"Kim Hughes"

ISBN: 0074528572

Summary: