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A Note from Sir Richard Branson
Richard Branson is best known for his successful Virgin brand, encompassing everything from a record label, a chain of music retail stores, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, and more. In September, 2006, Branson agreed to donate $3 billion to fight global warming.
"There is no greater thing you can do with your life and your work than follow your passions—in a way that serves the world and you. In this book you will learn from unknown and famous people—inspiring leaders like Nelson Mandela and entrepreneur Michael Dell—along with schoolteachers, scientists, community workers, athletes, artists, Nobel laureates and the Presidents of nations.
"From Bono and Quincy Jones to Maya Angelou and The Dalai Lama, they all challenged themselves to do more, be more and give back more than even they thought possible. Everyone wants success, but you can do better than that. This is an extraordinary book that finally reveals a meaningful 'secret formula' for success based on the lives of remarkable people."
Lessons of Lasting Success
Watch video of co-author Mark Thompson as he interviews figures featured in Success Built to Last.
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Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group |
President Jimmy Carter |
Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines |
Senator John McCain |
Customer Reviews:
Good, well packaged, but not great .......2007-05-31
The success of "Built To Last" must have attracted many business/management book readers who seldom read self improvement books to "Success Built To Last". Otherwise, the percentage of 5 star reviews should have been lower. The key findings (backed by a 750 sample survey) is very similar to the preachings commonly found in most self help books of the "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" and "Awaken the Giant Within" genre. Not really remarkable nor well organized, despite the abundance of opinion of successful and renowned people of our time. Nevertheless, still worth the time and the price.
p.s. I would like to share with you my most favorite passage in the book.
"If I see something I dont like, I try to change it, and if I cant change it, I change my position of looking at it, and then by seeing it from a different angle, I might be able to change it; or I might find some good in it that I can use, which might make it change itself." - Maya Angelou
excellent book.......2007-05-27
This is a wonderful book. I also highly recommend Emery Stewart's two previous books, "Actualizations..." and "The Owners Manual for Your Life.....".
These books are based on the realities of life, not an unattainable fantasy.
Do yourself a favor and get these books!
Passion is the New Differentiator.......2007-05-06
Passion is the new differentiator. To quote the authors, "if you don't love what you're doing, you'll lose to someone who does." Larry Bossidy, former chairman and CEO of Honeywell International, Inc. and AlliedSignal and author (et. al.) of Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done and Confronting Reality: Doing What Matters to Get Things Right calls love "a competitive imperative." According to (retired) Brigadier General Clara Adams-Ender, "you can survive without loving it, but you will be second-rate...not knowing why you're there will take your power away."
Success Built to Last's underlying premise is that an individual's meaningful engagement is a necessary condition for a healthy, sustainable society. Indeed, their position is that "great organizations and societies can only be built by human beings who can grow and create meaningful success." Thus, passion is both a personal and leadership imperative. Building on the findings of Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, the authors' research indicates that a core ideology - values and purpose - generally trumps the big idea as an indicator of success at the organizational, career and personal levels.
This premise is fleshed out in conversations with a diverse group of leaders and influencers around questions of success, leadership and balance. Key out-takes:
On Success: "Until you `figure out what success means' to you personally and to your organization, leadership is an almost `pointless conversation.'" - Peter Drucker
On Leadership: "The job of leadership today is not just to make money, it's to make meaning." - John Seely Brown, USC Visiting Scholar and former Chief Scientist, Xerox Corporation
On Balance: "Balance is bull%$#&." - Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
Distilling extensive interview material and survey data, the authors derive three essential elements for Success Built to Last: (1) Meaning, (2) "ThoughtStyle" or the head game, and (3) "ActionStyles" or ability to execute. Net net: by aligning your thoughts and actions with your definition of meaning, you will be best positioned to achieve enduring success.
The power and possibility of this book isn't the meaning + mindset + action formula per se, but the "success is just a little past splat" perspective. Creating a life that matters isn't easy, but neither is living a life of quiet desperation. From knights and CEOs to poets, pundits, former presidents and former prostitutes, the interviewees all overcame significant challenges to achieve success on their own terms. If you dare to believe you can change a life or, perhaps, the world - this is your playbook.
Useful Information Mined from Great Minds........2007-04-25
The good: a. sound advice, time proven principles - and inspiring. Many of you who read success type books probably know most of this stuff...but for it to work you have to feel it - and in hearing the personal stories and the data collected here has inspired me to actually do the right thing rather than think about doing the right thing.
b. how they got their information -not just from surveys -but from interviews - from people who don't normally grant this sort of access. that's a lot more believable than information garnered from a survey.
the bad: despite advising readers to 'not be a politically correct' (they misuse the phrase) the authors are just that - hand-picking this or that gender or minority to illustrate their points that would probably have been illustrated better by someone else. It didn't seem authentic to me and it really undermines the book.
A good read for leaders with lots of food for thought.......2007-04-09
One of the authors of the classic "Built To Last" (Jerry Porras) teamed up with two other heavyweights (Stewart Emery, one of the fathers of the Human Potential Movement; and executive coach and advisor, Mark Thompson) to put out what I consider to be one of the most interesting and inspirational pieces for business people in 2006.
Their approach is based on interviewing hundreds of leaders, some well known, some obscure, to suck the marrow out of their experience and put it in front of the readers. Their result is a framework consisting of three overlapping circles: Meaning, Thought and Action, which lead to success built to last. Meaning, catering to the importance of being passionate about what you do, about what you work towards. Thought, having the leader develop the thought pattern required to be succesful in spite of the challenges that s/he will encounter along the way. And Action, the component to translate the passion and right mindset into something lasting.
While the book could have easily been 100 pages shorter or so, the end result is thought provoking and exciting for anyone facing the challenges of swimming against the current or leading a team or an organization to accomplish a seemingly impossible to achieve goal, but one worth fighting for.
Book Description
Since 1940 Slim Aarons has been hard at work, first as a war photographer, then with unprecedented access as a photographer to the rich and famous. In this gorgeous sequel to Slim Aarons-Once Upon a Time, he develops the environmental portrait to the level of art, always showing his subjects in their natural setting, in a circumstance synonymous with their station in life. He documented a particular world that is vanished. A Place in the Sun is that special glimpse of privilege under a bright and beaming sky, whether on sandy shore, snowy slope, or elegant home where cares are few. Through 250 stunning color pictures, Aarons provides a veritable who's who of high society: Aristotle Onassis with his first wife, Tina, and their children, Christina and Alexander; C.Z. Guest at her villa in Palm Beach; the Aga Khan at his Sardinian resort; and Truman Capote in Palm Springs. From Mustique to Monaco, from Aspen to Gstaad, only Slim Aarons can take us on a journey to the most exclusive playgrounds of the rich, inspiring even the most jaded armchair traveler.
Customer Reviews:
A feast for the eyes........2007-01-22
Beautiful pictures that tell us volumes about the social class portrayed in them.
Great Work .......2006-07-02
Being that Slim Aarons recently passed away, his work warrants an even closer work. What this book and the equally impressive Once Upon a Time have in common is that they portray true grace, elegance and class that makes todays celebrities look like a bunch of bums.
Farewell to a Bygone Era.......2006-06-03
With the recent death at age eighty of Slim Aarons the end of the time of the 'beautiful people' seems at an end - at least the photo documented class of the rich and famous as seen by the chief photographer of that elite group.
Slim Aarons earned his place in the sun. He was a combat photographer in WW II and after the war in which he lost his twin brother, he simply elected to not look at things that were ugly any more: saturation from the scenes of war played out its dynamic in a distant path for Aarons. He spent his fifty-odd years photographing the haunts of the wealthy and the beautiful, finding the special places, and openly introduced to the clans. He found the elegance of wealth as his subject, photographing beautiful people in their beautiful surroundings. Some would call this a shallow obsession, but his photographs became famous, e.g. Hollywood Legends, Joan Collins demurely stretched out on her bed with her pink poodle, etc.
Now Slim Aarons is gone and with him has passed the time when leisure among those who had it all has been tainted by the paparazzi. Aarons kept it clean and eloquent, and we are fortunate to have this excellent volume of his works as a celebration of his talent. Christopher Sweet is the one to thank for that and he has created a photo album well worth perusing, well worth remembering when times were different. Grady Harp, June 06
Town and Country.......2006-01-21
Slim Aarons really knew how to capture the jet set of a certain era, his images are so well crafted and the lucky subjects are always shown in there best light, literally and figuratively. The best picture in an array of amazing photography, and one that perfectly captures this rarified air, is the iconic picture of CeZe Guest standing by her pool, it captures all you need to know good and bad, through the prism of a beautiful woman, in a beautiful setting without a seeming care in the world, the very definition of, "To the Manor Born". Mr. Aarons captures so perfectly a life of unapolegetic jet setting opulance, and whether he means to are not he also captures the shallowness of it all, and you wonder, with all of this, are these people really any happier than the rest of us?
Book Description
This enlightening and browsable guide features more than 500 profiles of the lives, deaths, and final resting places of our most influential figures from sports, music, film, television, literature, and politics.
This unparalleled compilation of profiles of the deceased--from Abbott & Costello to Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, from Arthur Ashe to Andy Warhol--offers all of the pertinent details on their lives, deaths, and grave sites, providing a pop-cultural road map for anyone fascinated by celebrity, history, and travel. Listings include Mark Twain, Sonny Bono, Dr. Seuss, Salvador Dali, Mickey Mantle, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Ingrid Bergman, William Shakespeare, Andy Kaufman, Bob Crane, Louis Armstrong, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Al Capone, Ella Fitzgerald, Mae West, Gertude Stein, and hundreds more.
Fifty photos and a number of informative sidebars (on such topics as how to find the grave of anyone you choose) round out this entertaining look at the permanent addresses of our most significant late citizens. And each listing offers concise directions to both the cemetery and the grave itself, an added benefit for tombstone travelers.
Customer Reviews:
Just as the book's title said..............2007-06-28
Just as the title of this book said, this is a book about where famous persons are buried and also how they died.
I'm having so much fun reading this book because it gives a nice background about the famous person that died. Also, I did not know how 80% of the famous people in this book died, so those facts are a nice addition to the book (a sort of BONUS) .
There are other books out there that describe where famous people are buried, but I like this book the best because of the added BONUS of telling the reader how the persons died and some nice information about them,while they were still alive.
Very informative.
Every thing you needed to know..........2007-04-16
Short descriptions on the deaths of famous people. I would have liked a little more detail regarding the circumstances of the deaths, and less about the location of the graves. Still a great read and would recommend it to anyone!
Interesting facts I Never Knew..........2007-03-19
I love how I read about each person's career and accomplishments of their lives. And myths about their deaths and the real reason for their death exposed. Also where they are buried or perhaps they had their ashes scattered. Very interesting.
The title says it all........2007-01-10
A great book for those of us who are fascinated by the "permanent addresses" of famous people who have passed on.
The book was extensively researched and has many photos of famous grave sites.
"Graveyards are full of indispensible men." Charles de Gaulle.......2006-10-17
Tod Benoit has put together a wonderful little book that would be interesting to anyone.He tells us what happened to 450 well known people in their final years,how they died ,where they are buried and how to locate their graves.He covers people from all walks of life and no matter who picks up this book they are sure to find someone who they often wondered "what ever became of them"...and now they'll know.
I have been fascinated with Graveyards ever since I was a kid.Yes ,they can be macabre places,if you let them be;but if you are the curious type,they can be very interesting.
Tod tells us a bit about these people ,but the real interesting thing would be to visit these sites.Since they are scattered all over the country,that would be a monumental task.However; a visit to any graveyard can be an experience.
When I was a teen in the Army Cadets and on convoys,the popular place to set up the field kitchen was in the parking lot of small country churches. It was quiet,nobody aound and generally an old graveyard nearby.After eating, I would take a stroll,read some of the stones,and invariably find something of interest. You will find things like a whole family being wiped out by things like the Spanisk Flu in 1917. The grave of a soldier who sacrificed his life in some far off war or in the Civil War.Maybe a stone of some old fellow who reached the grand old age of 95 years,who had 5 wives along the way,and they are laying there by his side.
There is just no end to what you can stumble across;and whenever I get a chance and have a little time to spare ;I am never disappointed in what I come across.
I spend a lot of time Birdwatching all over the country and one often end up in a graveyard .It is those little ones way off on the back roads that hold the surprises.
For instance,when I was in Galway,Ireland,a few years ago,I had a morning to myself. I decided to check out an old graveyard in the center of town.I met up with a very popular sports figure who was on the cemetary restoration board of directors . He gave me a tour of the graveyard and showed me a plaque as a memorial to 300 sailors from the Spanish Armada who scrambled ashore after their ships had wrecked on the Irish coast.They were captured and all murdered by the British. The site was originally a monestary, but the British destroyed it and all the monk's graves had been covered up by a garbage dump,but now had been restored. He also pointed out a huge Celtic Cross that was made for the World's Fair in Chicago.After the fair it was shipped back to Ireland and erected as a family monument. I noticed that there was an iron bar,hasp and lock on one of those crypts a little larger than a coffin sitting on the ground. When I asked why the locked opening;he explained that there was not a body inside the crypt.Actually, there was a crypt for 6 below grade and this was an opening to the stairs.You learn something every day.
With the age of Internet,a search of many well known personalities will give their final demise and gravesites.Also many large cemetaries have books written by them covering gravesites and information of famous persons interred there.
Overall, a great book and shows how interesting graveyards and gravesites can be.
Average customer rating:
- Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope, and Happiness at America's Most Famous Steps
- Very Inspirational
- Stories of inspiration
- Good Philly Publicity for once!
- Yo! Buy this book!
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Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope, And Happiness at America's Most Famous Steps
Michael Vitez
Manufacturer: Paul Dry Books
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Similar Items:
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Rocky: The Ultimate Guide
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The Rocky Guide to Life
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The Great Book of Philadelphia Sports Lists
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Rocky Balboa: The Best of Rocky
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Rocky (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
ASIN: 1589880293 |
Book Description
"Two extraordinarily talented journalists, Michael Vitez and Tom Gralish, have captured this uniquely American phenomenon with whimsy, poignancy, and utter charm." --John Grogan, author of
Marley & Me
Pulitzer Prize-winners Michael Vitez and Tom Gralish of the
Philadelphia Inquirer spent a year visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art to capture the stories of "Rocky runners," who come from all over the world to run up America's most famous steps--just as Sylvester Stallone did in
Rocky. People make the pilgrimage to mark a new beginning, to seek inspiration, to celebrate an accomplishment, to find the perfect backdrop for romance, or simply because they love the movie. As one runner says, "It gives you the feeling that anything is possible."
The authors have uncovered a real cultural phenomenon, one that centers on Philadelphia and draws people to Center City, and yet, as Michael Vitez writes in his introduction, is a true American, and even international, rite of passage.
The book includes fifty-two profiles and one hundred photographs, together with a foreword by Sylvester Stallone, and interviews with
Rocky's Academy Award-winning director John G. Avildsen, composer Bill Conti, and cameraman Garrett Brown.
In his foreword, Sylvester Stallone sums up his thoughts on the phenomenon: "You can't borrow Superman's cape. You can't use the Jedi laser sword. But the steps are there. The steps are accessible. And standing up there, you kind of have a piece of the
Rocky pie."
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Advance praise for
Rocky Stories:
"
Rocky Stories captures the sprawling complexity of life. It's a delight." --Mark Bowden, author of
Black Hawk Down and
Guests of the Ayatollah
"A book that is an absolute joy and an absolute blast and quintessentially American in its hopes and dreams and sweetness." --Buzz Bissinger, author of
Friday Night Lights and
A Prayer for the City
"The Rocky steps have become a special place for tourists and Philadelphians alike. Virtually everyone who lives here or comes here wants to say that they ran up the Rocky steps and saw the incredible view down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. When I was Mayor, the city planned 24 hours of millennium celebrations, one each hour. Of course we had to kick it off at the Rocky steps and we did so with 2,000 people all dressed like Rocky running up the steps at the same time. It was awesome." --Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell
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A sampling of the people profiled in
Rocky Stories:
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Rocky Balboa, the sixth film in the series, is scheduled for a December 22 release.
Customer Reviews:
Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope, and Happiness at America's Most Famous Steps.......2007-03-18
Each story in the book is inspiring. Excellent writing and wonderful photography. Very enjoyable reading.
Very Inspirational.......2007-03-09
Love this clever book. If you love the Rocky film and the inspirational "pull yourself up by the book strings" ideals of the films then you're not alone - and this book proves it. Being a Philly native and a fellow alumni of LaSalle University this book and the stories it shares have a special place within me. Highly recommend it.
Stories of inspiration.......2007-01-17
my family and i had recently gone to philly for a family wedding. one of the main things that my elderly father wanted to see, before any of the more traditional things like the liberty bell, was the "rocky statue"! therefore, i bought this book for him for christmas to remind him of the day. of course i read some of it before gifting it, and found the stories to be very inspirational.. also, i was unable to find the book here in california, so was very thankful for the ease of ordering it through amazon.
Good Philly Publicity for once!.......2006-12-31
I have always loved the Rocky Movies even though some people think they insult our intelligence. It is more than just a movie it is an inspiration and after reading this book it makes me proud to be a Philadelphian even though Philly gets a bad rap. I have ran up those steps many times and I think that Rocky has put Philly on the map in a good way. Something we need badly here. The photos are wonderful, so inspirational and the stories are so heartful. Read this book! You won't regret it.
Yo! Buy this book!.......2006-12-30
You want to run up the Rocky steps, you know you do. In fact, if you've have ever had the chance, you probably already have. Nobody comes to Philadelphia without jogging to the top of the Art Museum steps, twirling around, and triumphantly pumping their fists in the air. If you've seen the movie, and ever been in Philly, you've climbed the steps. I'd bet a cheesesteak on it. If you haven't been fortunate enough to star in your own reenactment of this classic cinematic scene, this book is the next best thing. It's full of great stories and photographs of people fulfilling their dream of following in Rocky Balboa's footsteps, which, for each and every one of them, commemorates some unique goal, achievement, or special moment. It's a terrific book about humanity. Buy one for yourself and one for someone else - it's a great gift. Enjoy.
Book Description
With its extravagant homes, sumptuous gardens, and iconic residents, Palm Beach radiates luxury and wealth. Tiffany's Palm Beach showcases roughly 70 of the area's wealthiest, most powerful, and, in some cases, most reclusive residents in and around their stylishly opulent homes and gardens. Highlighted are exquisite Tiffany objects and jewels, both antique and contemporary, wherever they appear. With unprecedented access into the jealously and heavily guarded retreats in this most exclusive of American resorts, this deluxe volume is a virtual who's who of Palm Beach society.
The text accompanying the book's lush photography provides historical context to the significance of these spectacular homes as well as the architects, interior designers, and garden designers that fashioned them. The ultimate luxury wish book, this collection is perfect for admirers of Tiffany style and of life at the top in America today. The publication of this book coincides with the reopening of the renovated Tiffany & Co. in Palm Beach, in November 2005.
Customer Reviews:
a bit shallow.......2006-12-23
There isn't much substance to this book......
Fun pictures, but nothing much more
PALM BEACH.......2006-09-24
To almost anyone, Tiffany and Co. and Palm Beach would go hand and hand, analagous like Lalique and Monte Carlo. The concept for this book is very interesting and the author fully realizes how to exploit the two to their most advantagious. The text is highly informative and the images are crisp and beautifully presented. I agree with one of the reviews that this is an expensive coffee table book, but frankly im sure those interested in this sort of thing, will not think twice about the price of admission. Really a wonderful book on a very interesting subject, well done indeed.
FANTASY LAND.......2006-03-17
This book shows that given enough money there is no limit to how young, thin and attractive your wife can be. And apparently there is no limit to the hubris of the rich--designer wine cellars on a hurricane prone barrier island.
Last I checked there were over 260 homes for sale on Palm Beach with an asking price of $2 million up.
A great coffee table book. And a pictorial guide to The Season by Ronald Kessler that is sitting on my book shelves awaiting a read.
Tiffany's Palm Beach Review.......2006-03-11
Loved this book. I purchased it merely for inspiration photos for my own construction, but found myself reading each page!! Very interesting read!
You could only dream :-().......2006-01-16
For most people, this kind of lifestyle is only a dream, but wow, what colourful and beautiful dreams. This book is choc full of stunning photos that reflect the wealth some people luckily or unluckily have. Their houses (or should I say shrines) are treasures in their own rights, but the possesions inside are also gems. The Tiffany theme is reflected in here all the way through and there is some stunning pieces. This is a pricey 'coffee table' book, but it's so beautiful, you'll be glad you treated yourself or someone else.
Book Description
For seventy-five years, it’s been Manhattan’s richest apartment building, and one of the most lusted-after addresses in the world. One apartment had 37 rooms, 14 bathrooms, 43 closets, 11 working fireplaces, a private elevator, and his-and-hers saunas; another at one time had a live-in service staff of 16. To this day, it is steeped in the purest luxury, the kind most of us could only imagine, until now.
The last great building to go up along New York’s Gold Coast, construction on 740 Park finished in 1930. Since then, 740 has been home to an ever-evolving cadre of our wealthiest and most powerful families, some of America’s (and the world’s) oldest money—the kind attached to names like Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Bouvier, Chrysler, Niarchos, Houghton, and Harkness—and some whose names evoke the excesses of today’s monied elite: Kravis, Koch, Bronfman, Perelman, Steinberg, and Schwarzman. All along, the building has housed titans of industry, political power brokers, international royalty, fabulous scam-artists, and even the lowest scoundrels.
The book begins with the tumultuous story of the building’s construction. Conceived in the bubbling financial, artistic, and social cauldron of 1920’s Manhattan, 740 Park rose to its dizzying heights as the stock market plunged in 1929—the building was in dire financial straits before the first apartments were sold. The builders include the architectural genius Rosario Candela, the scheming businessman James T. Lee (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s grandfather), and a raft of financiers, many of whom were little more than white-collar crooks and grand-scale hustlers.
Once finished, 740 became a magnet for the richest, oldest families in the country: the Brewsters, descendents of the leader of the Plymouth Colony; the socially-registered Bordens, Hoppins, Scovilles, Thornes, and Schermerhorns; and top executives of the Chase Bank, American Express, and U.S. Rubber. Outside the walls of 740 Park, these were the people shaping America culturally and economically. Within those walls, they were indulging in all of the Seven Deadly Sins.
As the social climate evolved throughout the last century, so did 740 Park: after World War II, the building’s rulers eased their more restrictive policies and began allowing Jews (though not to this day African Americans) to reside within their hallowed walls. Nowadays, it is full to bursting with new money, people whose fortunes, though freshly-made, are large enough to buy their way in.
At its core this book is a social history of the American rich, and how the locus of power and influence has shifted haltingly from old bloodlines to new money. But it’s also much more than that: filled with meaty, startling, often tragic stories of the people who lived behind 740’s walls, the book gives us an unprecedented access to worlds of wealth, privilege, and extraordinary folly that are usually hidden behind a scrim of money and influence. This is, truly, how the other half—or at least the other one hundredth of one percent—lives.
Customer Reviews:
My head is spinning.......2007-06-27
I'm on pg 184, and vow to get to the end, but I don't expect it to be easy. Like the other comments, I agree that pictures would have been wonderful to include, just so I could attempt to keep some of these people straight. This book gets so weighed down with names, and they've become a blur. Junior Rockefeller was interesting, but all the names of each and every lawyer and law firm and decorators and whatnot it just bogs it all down.
I'm doing Google searches on the main people, just so I can try to paint a better mental picture.
**edited - I didn't make it through the book. It's not worth my time.
No One Does NY Dish Better.......2007-05-24
Michael Gross has been living in New York City his entire life. That's a nice way of saying that he comes by his real estate obsesssion naturally. All New Yorkers seem to talk about these days is where they live, where they want to live and how much it costs.
That makes 740 Park is a natural subject for Gross who's got a sharp wit and fine sense of what makes his native city's power brokers tick. 740 Park is a great read for anyone wanting a history of one of the city's big name building, one of those places that almost everyone in towns wants to own but only a few - very few - even get to visit.
I liked this book both for its dish and its perpective and that's a hard act to pull off successfully. Gross does a fine job.
When Does This End?.......2007-05-17
I lived in NY from 1989-1994, worked around the corner at Ralph Lauren and have always had a strong interest in architecture and New York history. I bought this book with enthusiasm.
I couldn't believe how much information is packed into it. There are over 500 pages! About page 20, I began to get lost. I simply couldn't read it. It is packed with so much minutae and tedious history of each and every tenant that it became absurd.
Here is what (my version) of his writing is. Imagine 500 pages of:
"Lucretia Davis was the widow of Malcom Dodge Davis, the same Dodges who came over on the Mayflower and began to buy up land outside of Dodgeville, MS. The old Mississippi Dodges met the Fish family when wintering in Jekyll Island and they began a friendship that cultimated in Betsy Fish's marriage to Dennis Davis and the birth of their daughter Emily Davis in 1911. In that year, the entire Davis clan, and the Fish family formed a corporation, known as Dodge Fish which eventually became the F. Dodge Fish Financial Bank. This bank began serving customers on July 21, 1921 but not before a terrible fire at 5 Wall Street which began on the night of July 20, 1921 and severely burned Mrs. Fish Davis so that she was forced to recuperate in Oyster Bay, NY where she met her next husband Dr. Leonard Foxhound Koop."
This book should not be read in bed or on a full stomach.
740 PARK.......2007-01-27
This book is the very definition of over rated..how on earth do you have a book like this and no images of these supposed fantastic apartments, I suggest a book on the architects of this building, Rosario Candela and James Carpenter, now that will show you the famous Rockefeller apartment, and fyi, it's a fantastic book, this book on the other hand is inane dribble...what a bore.
Amazing.......2007-01-10
One of the most fascinating and classy books I have ever read so far. Read it, you won't regret it.
Amazon.com
Sometimes it seems like every standup comedian worth his or her salt just has to do the book thing, and you might feel that yet another warmed-over stage routine is the last thing you need taking up valuable bookshelf space. Jon Stewart's book will come as an extremely pleasant surprise. He eschews the standard standup patter and instead gives us 18 short comic essays in a variety of styles that recall the prose work of Woody Allen, only with a few more references to genitals. Stewart proves himself a remarkably nimble humorist with a sharp eye for parody, whether he's writing "A Very Hanson Christmas" or "Adolf Hitler: The Larry King Interview."
HITLER: ...Larry, look, I was a bad guy. No question. I hate that Hitler. The yelling, the finger pointing, I don't know ... I was a very angry guy.
KING: And this ... new Hitler?
HITLER: I get up at seven, have half a melon, do the jumble in the morning paper and then let the day take me where it will.... Me!! The inventor of the Blitzkrieg... When you stop having to control everything it's very freeing.
Stewart is not afraid to flirt with bad taste, in fact, some of the pieces in this collection do for "flirting with bad taste" what Bill Clinton did for "not having sexual relations." But it's wonderful to see an edgy comedian taking on the traditionally cozy genre of the humorous essay, creating work that combines the wit of Robert Benchley with the energy and attitude of the best modern standup. Naked Pictures of Famous People proves that Jon Stewart is as comfortable, and accomplished, in front of a word processor as he is in front of an audience. --Simon Leake
Book Description
In these nineteen whip-smart essays, Jon Stewart takes on politics, religion, and celebrity with a seethingly irreverent wit, a brilliantsense of timming, and a palate for the obsurd -- and these one-of-a-kind forays into his hilarious world will expose you to all its wickedly naked truths.
He's the MTV generation's master of modern humor, a star of film, TV, and the comedy stage. This sultan of savvy serves up a whip-smart, utterly original collection of comic essays in Naked Pictures of Famous People. And as of January 11, 1999, you can enjoy the intelligence and self-deprecating charm he brings to contemporary comedy on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."
In his first book, he translates that unique talent to the page, with humorous forays into a vast array of subjects: fashion, urban life, fast cars, cocktail culture, modern Jewishness, politics, and dating.
A seethingly irreverent wit, Stewart has a genius for language and brilliant timing that makes his up-to-the-minute collection a must-have for humor lovers in search of a Woody Allen for the 90s.He's the MTV generation's master of modern humor, a star of film, TV, and the comedy stage. This sultan of savvy serves up a whip-smart, utterly original collection of comic essays in Naked Pictures of Famous People. And as of January 11, 1999, you can enjoy the intelligence and self-deprecating charm he brings to contemporary comedy on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."
In his first book, he translates that unique talent to the page, with humorous forays into a vast array of subjects: fashion, urban life, fast cars, cocktail culture, modern Jewishness, politics, and dating.
A seethingly irreverent wit, Stewart has a genius for language and brilliant timing that makes his up-to-the-minute collection a must-have for humor lovers in search of a Woody Allen for the 90s.
Customer Reviews:
If you have a sense of humour, he brings the reason for having one!.......2007-09-26
Yes, i am an enthusiastic fan of Mr. Stewart - i call him "The Mark Twain of Our Time" - for good reason. I'll get killed for that, but trust me - Twain was as controversial in his time, and about the same amount smart.
This book pulls no punches. That is exactly the way punches are meant to be. Some of these punches even knock me back. No "Sacred Cow" remained un-slaughtered in the creation of this book.
You have been warned.
If you can take it - then get this book, and GET IT. This isn't as politically-focused as America - the Book, and so it might appeal to open-humoured persons less into that arena. I'm a fan of all of it - but this is refreshing and just as crammed full to bursting of actual unadulterated (adult) wit. Remember wit?
Jon does.
It's Time for Prayer: Where's Cap'n Crunch?.......2007-09-03
I'm a 17 year old girl and this is one of THE best books I've ever read! I am a HUGE fan of The Daily Show and Jon Stewart, so I was pretty sure I'd like this book, and I was SO freakin right. It's hilarious! And so accurate! Jon Stewart is brilliant with these essays. It normally takes me a while to read a book, but I finished this book really fast. I couldn't stop reading it! I actually got yelled at a couple of times in class for reading it while the teachers were talking, but it was so funny! I highly recommend this book to ANYONE that doesn't mind a little offensive humor. I dunno why people think it's mean. It's not like Jon Stewart is saying offensive things about them. He's talking about well known celebrities, and is OBVIOUSLY kidding. I am so glad I bought this book.
Don't read if you are famous.......2007-08-23
I really enjoy the humor in this book, though I can see why some might not. It is the kind of thing that you read and think, "Is it okay to laugh at that?" The answer, of course, is yes. I am sure that JFK is up in Kennedy Heaven (like normal Heaven, but bigger) laughing about the jokes in this book.
had a moment.......2007-08-21
Just as the title of this review states, that's all it had, just A moment. I really only laughed once throughout the whole thing. As I was reading it I could feel the disgusted look on my face, as if I was watching a car accident. I wanted it to be funny, but it just wasn't. I read the excerpt that Amazon gave on it, and that one bit was funny, just that ONE bit. Not even the rest of the Hitler interview was that funny. I tried to finish it but I simply couldn't. I tried to give it two stars, to be nice, but I just couldn't, so, for it making me laugh but only once, I give it one star.
Jon Stewart is the best.......2007-07-29
Jon Stewart should be teaching journalism classes; his program, his sense of humor, his irreverence is priceless!
Product Description
`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.
Customer Reviews:
Check and see.......2007-06-21
I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.
Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22
Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.
Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05
We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:
a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;
b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;
c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.
Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:
It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.
- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.
- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.
Fomenko goes by the following axioms:
- Chronology is the basis of history;
- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;
- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;
- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;
- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;
- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.
Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?
The Russians:
Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.
The Westerners:
Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.
The Chinese:
Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.
The Arabs:
Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.
The Divinity:
Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.
According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.
St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."
Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09
After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.
However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:
- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.
I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.
The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.
It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?
Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.
Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30
If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?
Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.
Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..
Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.
Book Description
To celebrate the millionth copy sold of Howard Zinn's great People's History of the United States, Zinn drew on the words of Americans -- some famous, some little known -- across the range of American history. These words were read by a remarkable cast at an event held at the 92nd Street YMHA in New York City that included James Earl Jones, Alice Walker, Jeff Zinn, Kurt Vonnegut, Alfre Woodard, Marisa Tomei, Danny Glover, Myla Pitt, Harris Yulin, and Andre Gregory.
From that celebration, this book was born. Collected here under one cover is a brief history of America told through dramatic readings applauding the enduring spirit of dissent.
Here in their own words, and interwoven with commentary by Zinn, are Columbus on the Arawaks; Plough Jogger, a farmer and participant in Shays' Rebellion; Harriet Hanson, a Lowell mill worker; Frederick Douglass; Mark Twain; Mother Jones; Emma Goldman; Helen Keller; Eugene V. Debs; Langston Hughes; Genova Johnson Dollinger on a sit-down strike at General Motors in Flint, Michigan; an interrogation from a 1953 HUAC hearing; Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper and member of the Freedom Democratic Party; Malcolm X; and James Lawrence Harrington, a Gulf War resister, among others.
Customer Reviews:
Not the version I wanted.......2007-03-08
The excerpt from the Spanish priest on Santo Domingo does not contain the most powerful passage that I've heard read. It concerns the execution of an Indian chief who when asked if he wanted to convert to Christianity before his execution, asked if all Christians went to heaven. Told they did, he said he'd rather go to the other place.
Howard Zinn - a true American.......2006-11-10
Very interesting book, the variety of people is wonderful and well thought out. It takes someone special to look at their own country and not shy away from painful parts of our history. The only way to move forward is to learn from the real past not the rosy schoolbook history that been sanitized.
Book Description
Amarillo Slim Preston has won $300,000 from Willie Neslon playing dominoes and $2 million from Larry Flynt playing poker. He has shuffled, dealt, and bluffed with some of twentieth-century's most famous figures. He beat Minnesota Fats at pool with a broom, Bobby Riggs at table tennis with a skillet, and Evel Knievel at golf with a carpenter's hammer. Amarillo Slim has gambled with 'em all, and left most of them wishing they hadn't.
The memoirs of a living American icon,
Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People is the story of life as a Texas road gambler and the discovery of the Wild West. It's also the story of how Slim won the World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe, became a worldwide celebrity, and brought poker from smoky backrooms to mainstream America. Just let him tell it:
"If there's anything I'll argue about, I'll either bet on it or shut up. And since it's not very becoming for a cowboy to be arguing, I've made a few wagers in my day. But in my humble opinion, I'm no ordinary hustler. You see, neighbor, I never go looking for a sucker. I look for a champion and make a sucker out of him ..."
"I'm fixing to tell you a few things that I've been keeping to myself for a lot of years. If you're not careful, you just might learn how to get rich without ever having a job."
Customer Reviews:
Very Entertaining!.......2007-08-26
This was a very entertaining book. The stories in here will keep you interested from the beginning all the way to the end. It is written in colorful language and allows you to kind of get inside Slim's head. It is a short 264 pages filled with wild stories of how Slim would gamble on almost anything and win. You may not agree with everything written in these pages but you will definitely get a few laughs along the way.
Slim talks about human psychology and what role that plays in gambling. One of his sayings is "never make a bet unless the bet is already one." And through these pages he reveals his secrets to doing just that. I think there are a number of useful things that anyone could pick up and find useful in their own lives from some psychology to a number of bets that anyone could make others that could almost be guaranteed winners. One of the last things Slim says is, "making peace with yourself is the first thing a winner must do."
If you have any interest in the mind of a gambler and like outrageous stories involving risk then I think you will enjoy this book.
Great stories.......2007-07-05
Fast read on a fast pace of a fast life. Amusing and entertaining, and probably educational if you pay attention. The lessons aren't presented as such, but if you follow the pattern of his betting, you learn not to get sucked into a bad deal. Not going to win a Pulitzer, but a great light read if you like biographies, poker, Texas or characters. He makes Huck Finn look like an altar boy.
The Elephant in the Room.......2007-04-20
Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People is a autobiography of Slim focusing (unsurprisingly) on his gambling exploits.
The upside of this book is that it's very entertaining & well written. For a lot of people, that may be more than enought it make it worth their time. The gambling yarns contained within are some of the most incredible I've seen in print, and I'm a fan of the genre.
Unfortunately, there are serious issues of Slim's honesty and integrity surrounding this book.
The first, and more minor, issue is that the book is largely assembled from Slim's previous "Play Poker To Win" and Holden's "Big Deal," often taken nearly word for word from those sources. Not only is this a bit of a raw deal for readers who already have those books, but I'm a little curious why Holden is credited and quoted for some of the sections he wrote, but others masquerade as Slim's voice. I hope nothing dirty is going on here plagiarism-wise, but I'm suspicious.
The second, more serious, issue, is that this is a self-flattering autobiography by a man of very questionable morals. There's no doubt, reading this book, that Slim thinks quite highly of himself. But his actions don't exactly support his opinion. He's a self admitted gambling cheat and liar. In fact, the allegations of cheating go far beyond what he admits to in the book - the depth of his association with Johnny Moss' dirty card rooms and and various mechanics on the Texas circuit was not discussed. Worse yet, there's good reason to believe that Slim is a pedophile. He was arrested on three charges of indecency with his 12-year old granddaughter in 2003, apparently confessed to police, and then plead guilty to reduced charges. His wife divorced him over the incident. Sources in the poker community say that Slim maintains his innocence and claims it was a scheme by a faction of his family to get a hold of his money, but that doesn't explain the confession.
Final Verdict: I WANT to like this book, but a good book glorifying a bad man looses a lot of its luster. In light of that I can't bring myself to like Slim, or his book, nearly as much as he likes himself.
Hilarious!.......2006-09-22
This book is really funny but it isn't going to teach you anything really about gambling and poker. He does give a few pointers, but it is basically the story of his life and what a story it was. It is a very easy book to read and enjoyable for anyone who likes gambling.
The most entertaining poker book ever..........2005-09-27
In a way it's fitting that the most entertaining poker book ever written contains total detail about the most dramatic game of poker ever played, by the greatest card man of the twentieth century. I'm talking about the truly legendary, Thomas Austin "Amarillo Slim" Preston. His amazing book, Amarillo Slim In A World Full of Fat People, is for poker what the BBC's Top Gear is to motoring: funny, wicked, informative and entertaining. If Jeremy Clarkeson is reading this, that wipes out any future poker debts I might accrue!
In the early nineties, Slim was invited help launch the Casino de Caribe in Cartagena, Columbia by casino boss Lynn Simon. Amarillo was flattered to be asked at this late stage in his career only to discover that he would be playing some of the deepest untaxed pockets in the world:namely, the major drug lords of the Columbian cartels. Playing poker for the very highest stakes is nerve racking at the best of times: now just imagine that you're about to have a showdown with Pablo Escobar, probably the most feared cold-blooded killer on Earth. Turns out Pablo just wanted to be friends and show Slim his mansion, his zoo and that he was in charge of Columbia. Once this had been established, Escobar's helicopter dropped Amarillo back at the Caribe. The tall Texan then proceeded to financially disable some of the deadliest Cartel bosses, under protection from a Swiss style physical safety agreement, which they honoured under pain of death from Escobar. Apparently Pablo himself didn't fair well at poker against the card playing cowboy, leaving the Columbian poker challenge to come from his under bosses, who lost the equivalent of 'a week's supply' to the six foot four American.
By the third day the physical safety agreement broke down when one of the Cali Cartel bosses decided to shoot a disloyal girlfriend with a pump action shotgun about a yard from where Amarillo was standing. This should have been Slim's signal to catch the next jet home to Texas but he readily confesses to a liking for danger and besides, a quote from the man himself betrays another reason to stay: "I'd never seen men with more money and less brains than these drug lords." The cowboy stayed and rounded up a mountain of cash before high-tailing it back to cattle country.
In the lives of most card players, the above true story would stand out as the most remarkable of adventures, but trust me, to a man who had won a million dollars by the age of 19, played poker with two Presidents and driven a golf ball over a mile, it was just one of many.
Books:
- The Art of Metal Clay: Techniques for Creating Jewelry and Decorative Objects
- The Art of Resin Jewelry: Layering, Casting, and Mixed Media Techniques for Creating Vintage to Contemporary Designs
- The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery
- The Art of the Market
- The Children of Húrin
- The Doubtful Guest
- The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy: Achieving Energy Independence Through Solar, Wind, Biomass And Hydropower (Mother Earth News Wiser Living)
- The Quilts of Gee's Bend: Masterpieces from a Lost Place
- The Red Tent
- The Remarkable Potters of Seagrove: The Folk Pottery of a Legendary North Carolina Community (A Lark Ceramics Book)
Books Index
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