Genius Biographies

This riveting biography from the American Bar Association visits the spectacular life of Edwin Land, breakthrough inventor. At the time of his death, he stood third on the list of our most prolific inventors, behind only Thomas Edison and one of Edison's colleagues. Land's most famous achievement was the creation of a revolutionary film-and-camera system that could produce a photographic print moments after the picture was taken.

Russell Kirk has ingeniously combined into a living whole the private Burke and the public Burke. He gives us a fresh assessment of Burke, a statesman enjoying even greater influence today than in his own time. He lucidly unfolds Burke's philosophy, showing how it revealed itself in concrete historical situations in the 18th century and how Burke, through his philosophy, "speaks to our age".

Hunter Harrison, the revolutionary railroader from Memphis, dramatically turned four publicly traded companies into cash machines. Starting as a laborer when he was a wayward teenager, Harrison spent a half century in the rail business and nearly two decades running Illinois Central, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and CSX. Railroader offers insights into running all businesses. Howard Green’s highly personal biography is deeply researched, based on conversations with Harrison over several years.

لا يُقدّم العقّاد في هذا الكتاب سردًا لسيرة حياة عمر بن الخطاب، وإنّما يُقدّم وصفًا لأطواره، ودلالةً على خصائص عظمته، واستفادةً من هذه الخصائص في علم النفس، وعلم الأخلاق وحقائق الحياة، كما يقول في مقدّمة الكتاب، ولم يمنعه صغر الحادث من أن يقدّمه بالاهتمام والتّنويه على أكبر الحوادث، إن كان أوفى تعريفًا بعمر، وأصدق دلالة عليه.

For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe—and extend their colonial empires.

Globe and Mail golf columnist Lorne Rubenstein has authored multiple acclaimed books and had his work featured in major golf publications. Moe & Me is a riveting exploration of the life of Moe Norman, known for his unusual swing on the course - and his crippling insecurity and introverted nature off of it.

The death of Steve Jobs left a gaping void at one of the most innovative companies of all time. Jobs wasn't merely Apple's iconic founder and CEO; he was the living embodiment of a global megabrand. It was hard to imagine that anyone could fill his shoes - especially not Tim Cook, the intensely private executive who many thought of as Apple's "operations drone". But seven years later, as journalist Leander Kahney reveals in this definitive audiobook, things at Apple couldn't be better.

Versace. The very name conjures up images of outrageous glamour and bold sexuality, opulence and daring. All of course true, but only half the story. Versace is also the legacy of a great creative genius from a poor, backward part of southern Italy who transformed the fashion world through his intuitive understanding of both women and how a changing culture influenced the way they wanted to dress. House of Versace shows how Gianni Versace, with his flamboyant sister Donatella at his side, combined his virtuosic talent and extraordinary ambition to help create celebrity culture.

In 1714, England's Parliament offered a huge reward to anyone whose method of measuring longitude could be proven successful. The scientific establishment--from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton--had mapped the heavens in its certainty of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution--a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had been able to do on land. And the race was on....

The best-selling author of Inside Steve's Brain profiles Apple's legendary chief designer, Jonathan Ive. Jony Ive's designs have not only made Apple one of the most valuable companies in the world; they've overturned entire industries, from music and mobile phones to PCs and tablets.

From the acclaimed author of The Nobel Prize comes this fascinating portrait of four of the greatest minds in the history of science and the impossible turning point they faced. As World War II wound down, and it became increasingly clear that the Allies would emerge victorious, Albert Einstein invited three close friends - all titans of contemporary science and philosophy - to his home at 112 Mercer Street in Princeton, New Jersey, to discuss what they loved best: science and philosophy.

Author of The Kennedys at War and The Lion’s Pride, Edward J. Renehan, Jr. presents a fascinating biography of one of the most hated and most admired American entrepreneurs of all time. Here, he sheds light on Wall Street magnate Jay Gould and his frequently overshadowed creativity. Gould was the quintessential robber baron and the original modern businessman whose financial examples persist even today.

Divorce Court star Judge Lynn Toler shares her mother's wisdom for learning to conquer anger and become immune to insult. Toler credits her mother's "rules" for life - a life that saw her grow up the daughter of a poor teen mother and endure a husband who suffered mental illness and alcoholism - with providing the grounding for her own success and happiness. Toler shows how the mindset of "a black woman who knew how to make things work" taught her the power of knowing how to manage one's emotional business - lessons that this book offers in wrenching stories....

Through immersive and intimate reporting, When the Heavens Went on Sale reveals the spectacular chaos of the new business of space, and what happens when the idealistic, ambitious minds of Silicon Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of the stars. This is the tale of technology’s most pressing and controversial revolution, as told through fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes in the race to space.

At the dawn of the 20th century, humanity was facing global disaster. Mass starvation, long predicted for the fast-growing population, was about to become a reality. A call went out to the worlds scientists to find a solution. This is the story of the two enormously gifted, fatally flawed men who found it: the brilliant, self-important Fritz Haber and the reclusive, alcoholic Carl Bosch. Together they discovered a way to make bread out of air, built city-sized factories, controlled world markets, and saved millions of lives.

Kristine Barnett’s son Jacob has an IQ higher than Einstein’s, a photographic memory, and he taught himself calculus in two weeks. At 9 he started working on an original theory in astrophysics that experts believe may someday put him in line for a Nobel Prize, and at age 12 he became a paid researcher in quantum physics. But the story of Kristine’s journey with Jake is all the more remarkable because his extraordinary mind was almost lost to autism. At age 2, when Jake was diagnosed, Kristine was told he might never be able to tie his own shoes.

One phone call. That's all it took to change Stephanie Wittels Wachs's life forever.... Her younger brother Harris, a star in the comedy world known for his work on shows like Parks and Recreation, had died of a heroin overdose. How do you make sense of such a tragic end to a life of so much hilarious brilliance? In beautiful, unsentimental, and surprisingly funny prose, Stephanie Wittels Wachs alternates between her brother's struggle with addiction, which she learned about three days before her wedding, and the first year after his death, in all its emotional devastation.

A candid, colorful, and comprehensive oral history that reveals the secrets of Silicon Valley - from the origins of Apple and Atari to the present day clashes of Google and Facebook, and all the start-ups and disruptions that happened along the way. Drawing on over 200 in-depth interviews, Valley of Genius takes listeners from the dawn of the personal computer and the Internet, through the heyday of the web, up to the very moment when our current technological reality was invented.

لا يُقدّم العقّاد كتابه "عبقريّة محمد"، مجرّد سردٍ للسّيرة النّبويّة، وإنّما أراد في كتابه تقديرًا لعبقريّة محمّد عليه الصّلاة والسّلام، فهو يرى أنّ إعطاء العظمة حقّها لازمٌ في كلّ أوان وبين كلّ قبيل، فالعبقريّة قيمة في النّفس قبل أن تبرزها الأعمال، وإنّ محمد وقد رجح به ميزان العبقريّة، وميزان العمل، وميزان العقيدة، نبيٌّ عظيم، وبطلٌ عظيم، وإنسان عظيم.

تُعدّ سلسلة العبقريّات من أشهر مؤلّفات العقّاد، وفي هذا الكتاب يُقدّم العقّاد سيرةَ الإمام عليّ، مُشيرًا إلى الجوانب الإنسانيّة في شخصيّته، كما يُسلّط الضّوء على بعض أفكاره الفريدة في التصوّف والشّريعة والأخلاق، وتحدّث العقّاد كذلك عن أخلاق الإمام عليّ، فذكر نقاء سريرته وعلوّ همّته، وغزارة علمه، وزهده وحكمته، وشجاعته، فضمّن هذا الكتاب سيرةً عظيمةً جاعلًا محورها جوانب النّفس الإنسانيّة.