The Package Deal: My (not-so) Glamorous Transition from Single Gal to Instant Mom SALE

Title : The Package Deal: My (not-so) Glamorous Transition from Single Gal to Instant Mom
Category: Memoirs
Brand: Crown
Item Page Download URL : Download in PDF File
Rating : 4.6
Buyer Review : 38

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Meet Izzy Rose–a hilarious and chic new stepmom trying to come to terms with the package deal. A single “middle-class socialite” living in San Francisco, Izzy loved her career as a successful, Emmy Award-winning TV producer and she was fine with the fact that she was unmarried and kid-less at thirty-five. But, then she fell in love with an irresistible Southern man named Hank and her Izzy-centric lifestyle turned upside down.

In short order, Izzy finds herself saying I DO to becoming a wife and “instant mom” to Hank’s two sons and packing her bags for a new life in Austin, Texas. There, Izzy struggles to hold on to a bit of her professional identity while reinventing the stepmother role in her sassy, stylish, but also loving and vulnerable way. Honest and daring, The Package Deal is a toast to the richness of her new life and a tribute to any woman whose ever fallen in love and then asked, What exactly did I get myself into?


From the Trade Paperback edition.Meet Izzy Rose–a hilarious and chic new stepmom trying to come to terms with the package deal. A single “middle-class socialite” living in San Francisco, Izzy loved her career as a successful, Emmy Award-winning TV producer and she was fine with the fact that she was unmarried and kid-less at thirty-five. But, then she fell in love with an irresistible Southern man named Hank and her Izzy-centric lifestyle turned upside down.

In short order, Izzy finds herself saying I DO to becoming a wife and “instant mom” to Hank’s two sons and packing her bags for a new life in Austin, Texas. There, Izzy struggles to hold on to a bit of her professional identity while reinventing the stepmother role in her sassy, stylish, but also loving and vulnerable way. Honest and daring, The Package Deal is a toast to the richness of her new life and a tribute to any woman whose ever fallen in love and then asked, What exactly did I get myself into?


From the Trade Paperback edition.


Review :
This is for the sisterhood of stepmothers....
Izzy Rose has written a delightful book: The Package Deal about her journey from independent career woman to taking on an instant family with two teenage boys! The role she finds herself in is peppered with "Rules" she is learning along the way and some great recipes for coping - check out Gram's Rum Cake. Izzy combines warmth, humor and the hopes and dreams of most women who decide to take on this challenge for the man they love. From the time she makes her decision to move across the country, away from career, family and friends for love, you are in the struggle with her. The Rules that evolve along the way are rules so many in steplife learn, and usually the hard way: Rule #10: Surrender your expectations; Rule #12: When the Kids have a "tude, suck it up and don't take it personally; Rule #16: Compromise but don't sacrifice yourself. Wisdom she is gaining as she moves through the process.

Hank and Izzy's relationship is what stands out though because with a good...
A must buy for stepmoms!

This book is a must buy for single gals entering true love with more than one person as a stepmom. I am a single girl who has fallen for a fantastic man with 3 kids and an ex who is unbearable and this book put it all in perspective - andgave me hope it will work with humour! When you feel alone this book will let you know you are amongst millions in the same boat. Also check out the website [...]
Fantastic!

The Hilarious, Brilliant, Awful Truth: The Package Deal
Attention everyone who has ever told a woman with stepkids, "You just need a sense of humor." Calling all those who presume that the whole problem for those of us having problems with stepkinder is that we just don't know how to laugh it off. Clearly you've never met Izzy Rose or read her book, The Package Deal.

It's not easy to make stepmothering funny, because the difficulties can be so, well, aggravating, consuming, unremitting, and un-funny. Particularly in the first year or so, as the woman with stepkids endures everything from insults to her cooking from kids in a loyalty bind to the insult of stepfamily architecture in which she is the stuck outsider to all the persistent cultural dumbthink about stepmothering ("You'll get back whatever you give"; "All you need are good intentions," "Just love them and they'll come around," etc).

In spite of all she's (and all stepmothers are) up against, Rose pulls of the seemingly impossible: she writes about the...

A Bum Deal: An Unlikely Journey from Hopeless to Humanitarian Big SALE

Title : A Bum Deal: An Unlikely Journey from Hopeless to Humanitarian
Category: Memoirs
Brand: Brand: Sourcebooks
Item Page Download URL : Download in PDF File
Rating : 4.7
Buyer Review : 49

Description : This particular A Bum Deal: An Unlikely Journey from Hopeless to Humanitarian works excellent, easy to use as well as change. The price of this wa much lower when compared with other areas My partner and i reviewed, and not considerably more as compared to similar product or service

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I was supposed to give a speech when I got the award, but I had no idea what to say. Given what my life had been like in recent years, I felt as if this were some kind of bad dream. I thought about being born in a small southern town, beginning my life by drinking beer from a baby bottle, getting kicked out of school, the whole army disaster, the crazy van trip out west, train jumping-and then, all those years I spent as a homeless drunk.

And, of course, the Bumfights-when I risked life and limb for booze while some kids filmed the whole damn thing. Looking at all this on paper, I wondered how any man could have survived.

And I noticed my hands. Even after a number of painful and expensive laser treatments the letters were still there, tattooed across my knuckles: B-U-M-F-I-G-H-T. I thought about the damage these hands had done-to me, and even worse, to my best friend...

The last thing Rufus Hannah expected the morning he climbed into an alley Dumpster was to have his life completely changed. It was the last thing Barry Soper expected either, when he spotted a homeless man sifting through the trash outside his apartment complex. But in that moment they'd join on a path of triumph and defeat, despair and salvation.

Rufus Hannah is regrettably known to millions around the world as "Rufus the Stunt Bum" because of his participation in the infamous Bumfights-an underground video series in which homeless men were given booze and cash to fight or do bone-shattering stunts. But his story doesn't begin or end where the videos do...it is a story of incredible pride and perseverance, and a recovery no one-least of all Rufus himself-could have imagined.

A Bum Deal is a story of our personal demons and a journey from the depths of despair to recovery and rebirth, and the ordinary man who risked everything to help this stranger survive against the most unimaginable cruelty.

Rufus Hannah is an advocate for the homeless, and currently an assistant manager of a townhome development. He was formerly featured in the infamous Bumfights videos.

Activist and businessman Barry Soper is chairman of the board of Oak Grove, a nonprofit educational and residential treatment center serving 160 children, ages five to eighteen. Soper has served on the board of St. Vincent DePaul Village, a key center for San Diego's large homeless population.

Features :

• Used Book in Good Condition

Review :
Amazing story - an inside look at homelessness

So compelling! Could not put it down. Rufus is amazing and Mr. Soper is really a saint. I have already told lots of friends about this great story. It really changed the way I look at the homeless. Those horrible kids who did the filming are contemptible but the people who bought those videos are just as bad. This book is so revealing. This deserves to be made into a movie!

Inspiring book

How many times has any of us ever walked past a homeless man or woman on a street and wondered what it would take to help? This book shows the potential of taking that extra minute to help your fellow man. Rufus' remarkable journey both into and out of homelessness and the help he receives from a complete stranger who helps turn his life around are monuments to what humans are truly capable of, as much as the kids filming the fights also reveal what humans are truly capable of. The dynamics between the two make for a fascinating read and a story you will remember for a long time.

How a Man Fell and Rose Again
'A Bum Deal: A Memoir' is the story of the man who was the face of the infamous website BumFights, Rufus Hannah, aka Rufus the Stunt Bum. It chronicles his journey from early alcoholism and social misfit into a symbol of unrestrained greed and disregard for human life and finally a voice for others with similar troubles. It's a story that sounds clichéd in our times but still occurs all too often. And as is often the case, a human face and voice are what's needed to drive the issues home.

It almost seems Rufus was doomed from the start. Coming from southern working class parents with alcohol problems, he was born jaundiced due to his mother's drinking. Even so, they often resorted to the old southern remedy of lacing the baby bottle with vodka to keep the child quiet. Yet the parents instilled a work ethic into all of their children that served him well when little else did.

His journey takes him through failed marriages and jobs lost due to...

Two Good Deals Promo Offer

Title : Two Good Deals
Category: Memoirs
Brand: Trafford
Item Page Download URL : Download in PDF File
Rating : 5.0
Buyer Review : 3

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The book captures events of the authors from childhood to marriage in our early twenties. Then jointly from marriage through child rearing and careers in civilian and military service, this was followed by a career in the business world, combined with community service volunteers in Lions Clubs International, Veterans Administration and Jail Prison ministry. It is primarily a history and Spiritual guide book to family members.


Review :
Two GREAT People

Ken and Shirley Deal are two of the most thoroughly decent people I have ever known. Our friendship goes back over half a century. Their success in life is directly attributable to their faith in God, their inherent goodness and honesty and love of friends and family. Much of their story was new to me and only increased my love and respect for them. "Two Good Deals" is a good read that is full of anecdotes that contribute to a story of lives well lived.

Five Stars

Excellent and funny.

Wonderful Read

Great book. Chock full of details documenting a full and well rounded life. Easy, conversational style of writing. There was so much to take in that I read the book twice and have been going back and forth between chapters for a third reading. Funny in spots as well as a few poignant moments. A family's legacy; a priceless gift to those who succeed them.

Deal: In a Deadly Game of Working Undercover, Dea Special Agent Michael S. Vigil Recounts Standing Face to Face with Treache Big Discount

Title : Deal: In a Deadly Game of Working Undercover, Dea Special Agent Michael S. Vigil Recounts Standing Face to Face with Treache
Category: Memoirs
Brand: iUniverse
Item Page Download URL : Download in PDF File
Rating : 5.0
Buyer Review : 30

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There were always two hotel rooms. One for his counterparts doing the surveillance and one he used as the stage to play a ruthless Mexican drug trafficker making the deal for enormous amounts of cocaine, marijuana or heroin. One small slip of the tongue, or a slight bead of sweat on the brow could result in his violent, painful death. He was willing to do anything to convince the dangerous criminals he was one of them. Whether showing them a million dollars cash packed in a suitcase, flashing a bag of diamonds, buying rounds of drinks for everyone in a nightclub, whatever it took to make them believe he was as greed-filled and callous as they were. It was a spectacular cat and mouse game with the ultimate reward of sitting next to a hand cuffed cartel head on a flight headed to prison. It was listening to him beg for his freedom, offer millions in bribes, threaten his life and both knowing he had won.


Review :
DEAL is real.

DEAL is very real. I'm a retired DEA agent. I have seen and been apart of these stories. Mike is so true. I've know Mike while on the job. He is the best under cover agent that DEA has produced. No one like him. He's done it all. Operations was his fortay. It can not say enough about him. Best undercover agent book written by one of our own.

Legendary Covert Agent - A Must Read

A riveting and compelling work of one man's journey into the murky and violent world of international drug trafficking. As a legendary covert agent, he played cat and mouse with some of the most treacherous and murderous drug lords in the world. They made the villains in 007 movies seem like choirboys. It is a MUST read and difficult to put down.

From Undercover Operative Extraordinaire to Head of DEA Foreign Operations!!
Michael Vigil shared the inside look of a world that is out of reach of the common person. Thank you for that!! Imagine sitting feet away from Pablo Escobar, The King of Cocaine, at a soccer game in Colombia!! Wow!! This world-reknowned kingpin knew where this DEA undercover agent lived in Medellin, miles away from his castle! Much respect!!

No agent in DEA will be able to live this type of life again! The world dynamic has changed!! Good to have captured the life of this Extraordinaire DEA Undercover Agent, and the countless undercover operations he did, who rose to the rank of Chief of DEA Foreign Operations, bringing the savvy that he had acquired while in Mexico, South America and the Caribbean those 18 years, to build "Operational Platforms, Exchange of Intelligence Models amongst countries that are in use today, in the fight against drug trafficking worldwide!!

A great read!! I won't be surprised to learn that Mr. Vigil is approached by...

Running Like a Girl: Notes on Learning to Run Big SALE

Title : Running Like a Girl: Notes on Learning to Run
Category: Memoirs
Brand: Scribner
Item Page Download URL : Download in PDF File
Rating : 4.5
Buyer Review : 95

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The inspiring, hilarious memoir of a “Bridget Jones-like writer” (The Washington Post) who transforms her life by learning to run, with stories of miserable defeat, complete victory, and learning to choose the right shoes.

When Alexandra Heminsley decided to take up running, she had hopes for a blissful runner’s high and immediate physical transformation. After eating three slices of toast with honey and spending ninety minutes creating the perfect playlist, she hit the streets—and failed spectacularly. The stories of her first runs turn on its head the common notion that we are all “born to run”—and exposes the truth about starting to run: it can be brutal.

Running Like a Girl tells the story of getting beyond the brutal part, how Alexandra makes running a part of her life, and reaps the rewards: not just the obvious things, like weight loss, health, and glowing skin; but self-confidence and immeasurable daily pleasure, along with a new closeness to her father—a marathon runner—and her brother, with whom she ultimately runs her first marathon.

But before her first marathon, she has to figure out the logistics of running: the intimidating questions from a young and arrogant sales assistant when she goes to buy her first running shoes, where to get decent bras for the larger bust, how not to freeze or get sunstroke, and what (and when) to eat before a run. She’s figured out what’s important (pockets) and what isn’t (appearance), and more.

For any woman who has ever run, wanted to run, tried to run, or failed to run (even if just around the block), Heminsley’s funny, warm, and motivational personal journey from nonathlete extraordinaire to someone who has completed five marathons is inspiring, entertaining, practical, and fun.


Review :
Very inspirational book!

I liked this book so much I bought two more copies for friends who, admittedly, already love to run. Still... I wanted them to know that I *get* it after reading this book. She is absolutely right in that we have everything we need to get moving. You just have to start somewhere. And after I read this book, I went running for the first time in more than 30 years... and survived to write this review!

Not too old

Loved this book. Coming from someone who started running at 56 .. I appreciated its honesty and humor! Never quit trying!

Made my first few weeks of running easier and joyful!

This book has made me laugh until I could hardly breathe and cry just as hard. I have always been the least athletic person in my family. I was the one with the best grades and the nerd, so I found excuses not to even try physically in PE at school. I told myself it just wasn't my "thing," even though I secretly envied those who were athletic and fit. I started a 5k training program a couple weeks ago, and heard myself saying inwardly, "You can't do this. You aren't physically strong enough." Being a cancer survivor and having a rare lung disease would be easy excuses for me, but they taught me that I am stronger than I thought- and now I want to be a runner. Just for me. I want to prove to myself that I can use my body to move me forward, not just be a victim and suffer its illnesses and pains. This book has given me such courage through the first two weeks of training, and I know I will reread it over and over.

Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant Big Discount

Title : Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
Category: Memoirs
Brand: Free Press
Item Page Download URL : Download in PDF File
Rating : 4.5
Buyer Review : 337

Description : This specific Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant functions fantastic, easy to use as well as change. The cost of this is lower when compared with other locations My spouse and i investigates, and never a lot more when compared with comparable item

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A journey into one of the most fascinating minds alive today—guided by the owner himself.

Bestselling author Daniel Tammet (Thinking in Numbers) is virtually unique among people who have severe autistic disorders in that he is capable of living a fully independent life and able to explain what is happening inside his head.

He sees numbers as shapes, colors, and textures, and he can perform extraordinary calculations in his head. He can learn to speak new languages fluently, from scratch, in a week. In 2004, he memorized and recited more than 22,000 digits of pi, setting a record. He has savant syndrome, an extremely rare condition that gives him the most unimaginable mental powers, much like those portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film Rain Man.

Fascinating and inspiring, Born on a Blue Day explores what it’s like to be special and gives us an insight into what makes us all human—our minds.A journey into one of the most fascinating minds alive today—guided by the owner himself.

Bestselling author Daniel Tammet (Thinking in Numbers) is virtually unique among people who have severe autistic disorders in that he is capable of living a fully independent life and able to explain what is happening inside his head.

He sees numbers as shapes, colors, and textures, and he can perform extraordinary calculations in his head. He can learn to speak new languages fluently, from scratch, in a week. In 2004, he memorized and recited more than 22,000 digits of pi, setting a record. He has savant syndrome, an extremely rare condition that gives him the most unimaginable mental powers, much like those portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film Rain Man.

Fascinating and inspiring, Born on a Blue Day explores what it’s like to be special and gives us an insight into what makes us all human—our minds.


Review :
An astonishing book that will touch and warm your heart
This is an astonishing book, written in first person. It is a memoir of the author's life with the "synaesthesia and savant syndrome", a rare form of Asperger's syndrome.

People with synaethesia see numbers as forms with color and texture, and days as vivid colors, and so Daniel Tammet has the ability to see in his mind numbers and days as colors, each number and day having its own distinct color as an attribute. A day with a color, like a flower with a scent! The blue day of the title of this book refers to Wednesday, which, like the number nine, he sees in his mind as blue. "I know it was a Wednesday," narrates Tammet, "because the date is blue in my mind and Wednesdays are always blue, like the number nine or the sound of loud voices arguing."

Daniel is also a savant, with a remarkable ability to multiply and divide given numbers with astonishing speed. He can recite from memory the number pi, 22 divided by 7, or 3.1428571 to 22,514 decimal places, a feat...
Unique insight
Over the last couple of years there has been an explosion of new and valuable material written on the experience of autism, much of it written from the points of view of either how to deal with an autistic child or a more medical explanation of symptoms. Reading about what it actually feels like to live with autism is very rare. Daniel's ability to so carefully describe to us how he experiences life is highly unusual and must be incredibly valuable to researchers.

Daniel Tammet is still a very young man, and his autobiography is necessarily not going to be very long. Moreover, due to the nature of his condition it was not until very recently that he has had much by way of dealings with the outside world. Much of the book takes place in his own mind, his relationships with numbers, logic, mathematics, chess and puzzles, essentially how his mind organizes its thought. One also finds how the tiniest irregularities in his routines - a dropped spoon, perhaps, or the ring of...
Breathtaking!

A must read for parents and family of autistic children and adults. To finally discover an explanation for the little habits...obsession with spinning, walking in circles, plugging/covering of the ears, rocking... It's all here in one place. While I have become very accustomed to my son's habits, I have never understood what exactly was causing the behavior. After reading Tammet's book, I feel I can better help my son enjoy his environment.

Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant Discount !!

Title : Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
Category: Memoirs
Brand: Free Press
Item Page Download URL : Download in PDF File
Rating : 4.5
Buyer Review : 337

Description : This particular Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant functions great, simple to use and also modify. The price for this is much lower compered to other locations My partner and i explored, rather than a lot more when compared with comparable merchendise

This specific obcject gives surpasses the prospect, this has become a fantastic buy for me personally, The theory arrived safely as well as quickly Born On A Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant


A journey into one of the most fascinating minds alive today—guided by the owner himself.

Bestselling author Daniel Tammet (Thinking in Numbers) is virtually unique among people who have severe autistic disorders in that he is capable of living a fully independent life and able to explain what is happening inside his head.

He sees numbers as shapes, colors, and textures, and he can perform extraordinary calculations in his head. He can learn to speak new languages fluently, from scratch, in a week. In 2004, he memorized and recited more than 22,000 digits of pi, setting a record. He has savant syndrome, an extremely rare condition that gives him the most unimaginable mental powers, much like those portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film Rain Man.

Fascinating and inspiring, Born on a Blue Day explores what it’s like to be special and gives us an insight into what makes us all human—our minds.

Features :

• autism
• savant
• understanding autism
• special needs
• Dustin Hoffman

Review :
An astonishing book that will touch and warm your heart
This is an astonishing book, written in first person. It is a memoir of the author's life with the "synaesthesia and savant syndrome", a rare form of Asperger's syndrome.

People with synaethesia see numbers as forms with color and texture, and days as vivid colors, and so Daniel Tammet has the ability to see in his mind numbers and days as colors, each number and day having its own distinct color as an attribute. A day with a color, like a flower with a scent! The blue day of the title of this book refers to Wednesday, which, like the number nine, he sees in his mind as blue. "I know it was a Wednesday," narrates Tammet, "because the date is blue in my mind and Wednesdays are always blue, like the number nine or the sound of loud voices arguing."

Daniel is also a savant, with a remarkable ability to multiply and divide given numbers with astonishing speed. He can recite from memory the number pi, 22 divided by 7, or 3.1428571 to 22,514 decimal places, a feat...
Unique insight
Over the last couple of years there has been an explosion of new and valuable material written on the experience of autism, much of it written from the points of view of either how to deal with an autistic child or a more medical explanation of symptoms. Reading about what it actually feels like to live with autism is very rare. Daniel's ability to so carefully describe to us how he experiences life is highly unusual and must be incredibly valuable to researchers.

Daniel Tammet is still a very young man, and his autobiography is necessarily not going to be very long. Moreover, due to the nature of his condition it was not until very recently that he has had much by way of dealings with the outside world. Much of the book takes place in his own mind, his relationships with numbers, logic, mathematics, chess and puzzles, essentially how his mind organizes its thought. One also finds how the tiniest irregularities in his routines - a dropped spoon, perhaps, or the ring of...
Breathtaking!

A must read for parents and family of autistic children and adults. To finally discover an explanation for the little habits...obsession with spinning, walking in circles, plugging/covering of the ears, rocking... It's all here in one place. While I have become very accustomed to my son's habits, I have never understood what exactly was causing the behavior. After reading Tammet's book, I feel I can better help my son enjoy his environment.

On Immunity: An Inoculation On Sale

Title : On Immunity: An Inoculation
Category: Memoirs
Brand: Graywolf Press
Item Page Download URL : Download in PDF File
Rating : 4.0
Buyer Review : 114

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A New York Times Best Seller
A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
A New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book of the Year
A Facebook "Year of Books" Selection

One of the Best Books of the Year
* National Book Critics Circle Award finalist * The New York Times Book Review (Top 10) * Entertainment Weekly (Top 10) * New York Magazine (Top 10)* Chicago Tribune (Top 10) * Publishers Weekly (Top 10) * Time Out New York (Top 10) * Los Angeles Times * Kirkus * Booklist * NPR's Science Friday * Newsday * Slate * Refinery 29 * And many more...


Why do we fear vaccines? A provocative examination by Eula Biss, the author of Notes from No Man's Land, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award

Upon becoming a new mother, Eula Biss addresses a chronic condition of fear-fear of the government, the medical establishment, and what is in your child's air, food, mattress, medicine, and vaccines. She finds that you cannot immunize your child, or yourself, from the world.
In this bold, fascinating book, Biss investigates the metaphors and myths surrounding our conception of immunity and its implications for the individual and the social body. As she hears more and more fears about vaccines, Biss researches what they mean for her own child, her immediate community, America, and the world, both historically and in the present moment. She extends a conversation with other mothers to meditations on Voltaire's Candide, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Susan Sontag's AIDS and Its Metaphors, and beyond. On Immunity is a moving account of how we are all interconnected-our bodies and our fates.

Review :
Parents and doctors / This is a "Must Read" for you / It's wisdom and truth
I work in pediatrics- a field that deals with immunizations and questions about immunizations on a daily basis. I have lectured about vaccines to numerous parent and medical groups. There are a cornucopia of books about vaccines out there, and there are many that are good and very good. On Immunity is just excellent.

In my medical training, during the late 1990's-early 2000's, we were taught very little about how to discuss vaccines with parents. The attitude was that the doctor would tell the parent "your child is getting some shots today" and the parent would say "that's great, thanks!" and we would all go on with our day. When I entered the real world, I found that parents had many questions - some crazy and some very legitimate. As I was about to have my own child, I worried that some of the fears I was hearing could be true, and I spent a great deal of time doing further research. In the subsequent years, I put together a lecture that addressed...
"A child cannot be kept from his fate, though this does not stop the gods themselves from trying."
"I am no longer fearless." She is a new mother who finds that the most perilous thing we may do is to bear children. No longer an entity contained within her skin, she sets off to determine the real risks inherent in inoculations, among other interventions in the modern world. she notes in a lucid voice, that to act is to start the future in motion, and to do nothing still sets that future in its course.

I found this to be an amazing voice who has placed the fears and and anxieties of our modern medicine in the context of our existence as true beings in the whole of our world. Her various observations of the philosophy of immunizations are truly startling and clear in her well researched discussions of the role of science in our world.

She makes a cogent argument for out inability to rationally assess true risk in the face of fear. In another instance, her discussion of "herd immunity" point to the obligation that those who have access to care have to those...
Brilliant, profound exploration of cultural and historical forces that culminate in the decision not to vaccinate
ScienceThrillers Review: On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss is an extraordinary, unclassifiable, vital book that deserves to be widely read and reflected upon. Written by a critically acclaimed essayist, On Immunity is a memoir, an essay collection, a history, a social commentary, a parenting guide, a literary work...The author herself has a hard time succinctly answering the question, "What is your book about?"

I'll tell you what On Immunity is about by telling you why it's an important book. As a scientist and medical professional myself, I "believe" in vaccination. My kids get their immunizations on schedule, I get my flu shot every fall. I bristle when I encounter anti-vaccine people and propaganda. And like many other people in my shoes, I look at the data on the benefits versus risks of vaccination, and I wonder why "those people" don't get it. Essentially, I'm asking, "What is WRONG with those people?"

But did I ever truly, honestly explore the...

Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget Discount !!

Title : Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget
Category: Memoirs
Brand: Grand Central Publishing
Item Page Download URL : Download in PDF File
Rating : 4.4
Buyer Review : 177

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*A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

"It's such a savage thing to lose your memory, but the crazy thing is, it doesn't hurt one bit. A blackout doesn't sting, or stab, or leave a scar when it robs you. Close your eyes and open them again. That's what a blackout feels like."

For Sarah Hepola, alcohol was "the gasoline of all adventure." She spent her evenings at cocktail parties and dark bars where she proudly stayed till last call. Drinking felt like freedom, part of her birthright as a strong, enlightened twenty-first-century woman.

But there was a price. She often blacked out, waking up with a blank space where four hours should be. Mornings became detective work on her own life. What did I say last night? How did I meet that guy? She apologized for things she couldn't remember doing, as though she were cleaning up after an evil twin. Publicly, she covered her shame with self-deprecating jokes, and her career flourished, but as the blackouts accumulated, she could no longer avoid a sinking truth. The fuel she thought she needed was draining her spirit instead.

A memoir of unblinking honesty and poignant, laugh-out-loud humor, BLACKOUT is the story of a woman stumbling into a new kind of adventure--the sober life she never wanted. Shining a light into her blackouts, she discovers the person she buried, as well as the confidence, intimacy, and creativity she once believed came only from a bottle. Her tale will resonate with anyone who has been forced to reinvent or struggled in the face of necessary change. It's about giving up the thing you cherish most--but getting yourself back in return.

An Amazon Best Book of June 2015: Bracing and heartbreakingly honest, Sarah Hepola’s memoir Blackout tears off the Band-Aid of her alcohol addiction and takes a whole lot of skin with it, too. Thirty-something and a successful writer in Manhattan, Hepola turns at night to the embrace of alcohol. When her drinking transforms from a gentle suitor into an uncontrollable beast, Hepola begins to black out regularly, operating for all the world as if she’s fully aware and conscious but with no memory later of what she did. Her blackouts lead to sex with strange men and force longtime friends to take a cautious step back, and after several unsuccessful starts, Hepola finally completes the grueling process of getting clean. Hepola’s wry voice stays on the sane side of raw but doesn’t relinquish any power of authenticity as she casts a light on her own bad decisions as well the fact we now live in a culture where women getting tipsy or drunk is considered a sign of female empowerment. You don’t need to be enthralled by alcohol to be deeply affected by Blackout. But for those who do worry—or know—that they have similar struggles, Hepola’s ultimately uplifting story could help lead the way out of the rabbit hole of alcohol abuse. --Adrian Liang

*A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

"It's such a savage thing to lose your memory, but the crazy thing is, it doesn't hurt one bit. A blackout doesn't sting, or stab, or leave a scar when it robs you. Close your eyes and open them again. That's what a blackout feels like."

For Sarah Hepola, alcohol was "the gasoline of all adventure." She spent her evenings at cocktail parties and dark bars where she proudly stayed till last call. Drinking felt like freedom, part of her birthright as a strong, enlightened twenty-first-century woman.

But there was a price. She often blacked out, waking up with a blank space where four hours should be. Mornings became detective work on her own life. What did I say last night? How did I meet that guy? She apologized for things she couldn't remember doing, as though she were cleaning up after an evil twin. Publicly, she covered her shame with self-deprecating jokes, and her career flourished, but as the blackouts accumulated, she could no longer avoid a sinking truth. The fuel she thought she needed was draining her spirit instead.

A memoir of unblinking honesty and poignant, laugh-out-loud humor, BLACKOUT is the story of a woman stumbling into a new kind of adventure--the sober life she never wanted. Shining a light into her blackouts, she discovers the person she buried, as well as the confidence, intimacy, and creativity she once believed came only from a bottle. Her tale will resonate with anyone who has been forced to reinvent or struggled in the face of necessary change. It's about giving up the thing you cherish most--but getting yourself back in return.

Review :
A Poignant and Revealing Look Into the Mind of An Alcoholic
As the father of a son in long-term recovery, I have read more than my fair share of books about addiction. In fact, the shelves in my bedroom are filled with addiction-related books. Books about the science of addiction. Twelve-step books. Guides to helping loved ones get clean and sober. Memoirs written by people in recovery. Etc. (If you're looking for a book on addiction, come on over. Chances are it's on my shelf and you're welcome to borrow it.)

Reading about people's struggles with--and triumphs over--addiction is especially fascinating to me. In the world of drug and alcohol abuse, everyone's story is so similar; but at the same time, everyone's story is so unique. When someone is brave enough to put their temporary train wreck of a life down on paper for the world to see, I can't help but get sucked in. Such was the case with Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola.

Hepola started drinking at an early age and fell in love with...
Powerful. Heart Wrenching. Brave.
Sarah Hepola had me at the first page. By the last page, I felt like we were friends.

Blackout is a sharply written, brave and thoughtful account of author, Sarah Hepola’s journey through shame, self degradation and self destruction during dark and muddled years when she drank to the point of oblivion: blackouts.

Blackouts occur when alcohol prevents the brain from recording new memories. Blackouts are not a loss of memory; blackouts occur when there is no memory recorded. It is like the save button in your computer doesn’t save. There is a gap. There is nothing.

This is the story of the life of an alcoholic woman. Hepola could not imagine a sober life. She said she knew what she wanted. She didn’t want to face a day without alcohol and she wanted to not have to face the consequences of having it in her life.

She tells about her first sip of stolen beer when she was seven; getting drunk in the sixth grade; her squirm and...
An unflinching and accurate memoir of drinking and sobriety - with a shot of humor ;)
When I saw the title, the first thing I thought was "been there.. and unfortunately.. done that!"
While she described alcohol as "the gasoline of all adventure" to me it was the road to escape and also the road to creative ideas For me, running my own business, creating products and websites for them - I always had a bit of vodka to help me relax and create, and to escape.

A "bit" turned to about a liter a day... I came to a moment of clarity and had to stop. This book reminds me so much of those days (both good and bad). I totally get where she is coming from. It's terrifying to just "not know" what the hell you did, how you got to your bed, couch or floor
..who you insulted or angered, or if you were the life of the party! (Luckily for me, I was a "happy drunk" and was responsible enough to drink either at home, or walking distance or have a ride home.) I also never woke up in any exotic locations or with strangers...