Showing titles in Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence

Neil deGrasse Tyson is arguably the most influential, acclaimed scientist on the planet. As director of the Hayden Planetarium, and host of Cosmos and StarTalk, he has dedicated his life to exploring and explaining the mysteries of the universe. Every year, he receives thousands of letters – from students to prisoners, scientists to priests. Some seek advice, others yearn for inspiration; some are full of despair, others burst with wonder. But they are all searching for understanding, meaning and truth.

"Lorsque j'ai reçu votre première lettre, chère amie, je vous ai répondu immédiatement. Avoir de vos nouvelles plus de trente ans après m'a procuré une telle émotion que ma réaction ne pouvait être qu'un cri instantané. Votre deuxième lettre, que j'ai sous les yeux, je l'ai gardée longtemps avec moi, c'est seulement aujourd'hui que je tente de vous donner une réponse. La raison de ce retard, vous l'avez sans doute devinée, puisque votre missive contient une singulière requête : 'Parlez-moi de l'âme'..."

When the Japanese invade in 1942, the Australian men and women stationed at the New Guinea port of Rabaul flee into the jungle. Written off by their government as ‘hostages to fortune', the little-known garrison on Australia's tropic frontier has been left with no modern equipment, no lifeline to the outside, and no means of escape. Most are captured and killed in the sinking of the prison ship Montevideo Maru, which remains Australia's worst sea disaster. But the surviving soldiers and nurses carry on.

In these days of nonstop, round-the-clock division, where confrontation is our most prevalent form of entertainment, we’ve forgotten the more fundamental things that unite us. We’ve lost track of the importance of conversations that foster growth, self-reflection, and discovery of one another while cultivating our sense of shared humanity. In her new book, Dear Hartley, Jedediah Bila reignites much-needed conversations about everything from character and empathy to parenting and friendship, from education and family to fitness and food.

Franz Kafka'nın 'Babaya Mektup' adlı eseri, edebiyat dünyasının en çarpıcı itiraflarından birini barındırır. Kafka'nın kendi babası Hermann Kafka'ya yazdığı bu mektup, yazarın iç dünyasının derinliklerine bir yolculuk sunar. Mektup, Kafka'nın babasıyla karmaşık ilişkisini, ondan aldığı baskıyı ve bu baskının yazarın kişiliği ile yaratıcılığı üzerindeki etkisini detaylı bir şekilde ele alır.

Friedrich Nietzsche gilt bis heute als Spitze der philosophischen Nahrungskette. Sein umfassendes Werk deckt wissenschaftliche, künstlerische, philosophische und philologische Schriften ab. Nietzsche beeinflusste Maler, Literaten, Musiker, Wissenschaftler und Künstler aller sogenannten Genres und birgt nach wie vor gesellschaftliches Dynamit. Gerade wegen der Zeitlosigkeit und Aktualität seiner Schriften haben es keinerlei Gruppierungen jeglicher Art versäumt, sich schamlos an aus dem Zusammenhang gerissenen Formulierungen Nietzsches zu bedienen und auf ihre Fahnen zu schmieren.

Sueños de paz es un diario cuya existencia se desconocía hasta hace muy poco. Refleja la historia de una joven neerlandesa entre los años 1943 y 1945, escondida también, como Ana Frank, y viviendo bajo una amenaza permanente. Un relato que hace sentir al oyente en carne propia lo que la protagonista y su familia pasaron día a día, mientras tomaba notas del horror nazi hasta llenar una libreta y seis cuadernos.

The brief and tragic life of Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) is told through the beautiful and passionate letters written by Charlotte to her best friend Ellen Nussey. Born and brought up in the bleak Haworth parsonage with only her sisters and brother for company, she soon obtains employment as a Governess. Having travelled abroad to study languages in Brussels, she returns to the Yorkshire moors to join her family where she writes her most successful novel, Jane Eyre.

China - Superpower or basket case? You decide! A wide-eyed expat is detained by Beijing cops and told to sign a false confession. Will he make it out of China alive? Dueling the Dragon is a great adventure story, but this one, here narrated by the author, just happens to be true! With a journalist's eye and lively wit, LeRoy exposes the deep levels of corruption tearing at China's social fabric. You will learn of college students sold into slavery, media suppression of pollution reports, and persecution of a broadcaster just trying to do his job.

"L'intranquillité" de Fernando Pessoa met en scène les différents hétéronymes que l'auteur avait inventés pour se permettre des styles d'écriture divers, voire opposés. Ces personnages prennent une certaine consistance dans ce journal intime qui mêle réalité vécue et réalité littéraire. Écrit à partir de 1913 et jusqu'à la mort de Pessoa en 1935, ce texte est à la fois préoccupé, libre et poétique.

Morris waxes on the ironies of modern life in all their resonant glories and inevitable stupidities - from her daily exercise (a "statutory thousand paces of brisk walk") to the troubles of Brexit; her enduring yet complicated love for America; and honest reflections on the vagaries and ailments of aging. Both intimate and luminously wise, Thinking Again is a testament to the virtues of embracing life, creativity, and above all, kindness.

In Tales from the Farm by the Yorkshire Shepherdess, Amanda takes listeners on an evocative journey to Ravenseat, where she lives with husband Clive and their nine children, not to mention their flock of sheep, herd of cows, hardworking dogs and a formidable chicken called Linda.

Dark night of the soul, spirituality, ascension. These were all new concepts to KR. A whole new world had opened up to him. Willing to explore this new world, KR embraced the future with an open mind. And then there was Theresa, the catalyst that awakened him, sending him on a quest for answers that led him to a juncture of two paths, where anything could be manifested.

Joan Collins has been a diarist from the age of 12, writing enthusiastically over the years. She dictated most of these entries in real time into a mini-tape recorder at the end of the day, and now she is spilling the beans - well, nearly all of them. What you will discover was written when Joan 'felt like it' between 1989 and 2009. Whether it is an encounter with a superstar or a member of the royal family, or her keen and honest insights into other celebrities at dinner parties and events, Joan is honest and unapologetic.

History cannot be relived, but thanks to a tradition that spans millennia, we can revisit it in the letters of the people who influenced or witnessed the moments it changed forever. In Written In History, acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore selects some of the greatest letters ever written from ancient times to the 20th century: declarations of war, petitions for peace, diplomatic entanglements, steamy love letters and beyond.

Carl Lavin was a high school senior when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The Canton, Ohio, native enlisted when he turned 18, a decision that would take him with the US Army from training across the United States and Britain to combat with the 84th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Bulge. Home Front to Battlefront is the tale of a foot soldier who finds himself thrust into a world where he and his unit grapple with the horrors of combat, the idiocies of bureaucracy, and the oddities of life back home - all in the same day.

Before Lucia Berlin died, she was working on a book of previously unpublished autobiographical sketches called Welcome Home. The work consisted of more than 20 chapters that started in 1936 in Alaska and ended (prematurely) in 1966 in Southern Mexico. In our publication of Welcome Home, her son, Jeff Berlin, is filling in the gaps with photos and letters from her eventful, romantic, and tragic life.

When he turned 65, the playwright Simon Gray began to keep a diary: not a careful honing of the days' events with a view to posterity but an account of his thoughts as he had them, honestly, turbulently, digressively expressed. One of Britain's most amusing and original writers reflects on a life filled with cigarettes (continuing), alcohol (stopped), several triumphs and many more disasters - a record of shame, adultery, friendship and love. Few diarists have ever been so frank about themselves and even fewer so entertaining.

Tony Benn's diaries began in 1940, and have been compared to those of Pepys in their detail, scope, and accuracy. This volume brings them right up to date, covering the Gulf War, the rise of New Labour, international repercussions of American foreign policy, and reactions against it.

The official companion to ITV's hotly anticipated new drama, The Victoria Letters delves into the private writings of the young Queen Victoria, painting a vivid picture of the personal life of one of England's greatest monarchs. From the producers of Poldark and Endeavour, ITV's Victoria follows the early years of the young Queen's reign, based closely on Victoria's own letters and journals.