After the fall of France in May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force was miraculously evacuated from Dunkirk. Britain now stood alone to face Hitler’s inevitable invasion attempt. For the German army to land across the channel, Hitler needed mastery of the skies—the Royal Air Force would have to be broken. So every day throughout the summer, German bombers pounded the RAF air bases in the southern counties. Greatly outnumbered by the Luftwaffe, the pilots of RAF Fighter Command scrambled as many as five times a day, and civilians watched skies crisscrossed with the contrails from the constant dogfights between Spitfires and Me–109s. Britain’s very freedom depended on the outcome of that summer’s battle: Its air defenses were badly battered and nearly broken, but against all odds, "The Few," as they came to be known, bought Britain’s freedom–many with their lives. More than a fifth of the British and Allied pilots died during the Battle of Britain. These are the personal accounts of the pilots who fought and survived that battle. Their stories are as riveting, as vivid, and as poignant as they were seventy years ago. We will not see their like again.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies – Jared Diamond
Life isn't fair--here's why: Since 1500, Europeans have, for better & worse, called the tune that the world has danced to. In Guns, Germs & Steel, Jared Diamond explains the reasons why things worked out that way. It's an elemental question. Diamond is certainly not the 1st to ask it. However, he performs a singular service by relying on scientific fact rather than specious theories of European genetic superiority. Diamond, a UCLA physiologist, suggests that the geography of Eurasia was best suited to farming, the domestication of animals & the free flow of information. The more populous cultures that developed as a result had more complex forms of government & communication, & increased resistance to disease. Finally, fragmented Europe harnessed the power of competitive innovation in ways that China didn't. (For example, the Europeans used the Chinese invention of gunpowder to create guns & subjugate the New World.) Diamond's book is complex & a bit overwhelming. But the thesis he methodically puts forth--examining the "positive feedback loop" of farming, then domestication, then population density, then innovation etc.--makes sense. Written without bias, Guns, Germs & Steel is good global history. BooksAvenue price: S$10 (50% Discount) With delivery charge of S$3.00 per title (or FREE local pickup at Yishun MRT), PLUS, Book wrap service available at S$2/- Free delivery for purchase over S$50 Don’t forget to ‘Like’ us on Facebook~! 🙂 Click here to order (Opens in a new window) ———————————————————-
Mao’s Last Dancer – Li Cun Xin
For everyone who has been fascinated by the grace of ballet dancers, here's a true story which details the sweat and tears which goes on before the big jumps and standing ovations. Li Cun Xin made it his life's dream to dream in the biggest stage ever, and as a result being deemed a traitor by his homeland. But with his hailing accomplishments in the world of ballet together with the revolution in China, his final dream to dance once more in his country will be fulfilled. A great read for the culture and live of a growing country.
Mao’s Last Dancer – Li Cun Xin
For everyone who has been fascinated by the grace of ballet dancers, here's a true story which details the sweat and tears which goes on before the big jumps and standing ovations. Li Cun Xin made it his life's dream to dream in the biggest stage ever, and as a result being deemed a traitor by his homeland. But with his hailing accomplishments in the world of ballet together with the revolution in China, his final dream to dance once more in his country will be fulfilled. A great read for the culture and live of a growing country.
Gang Leader For A Day – Sudhir Venkatesh
Sudhir Venkatesh who authored this book gave first hand insights of how the gangs operate in Chicago's South Side. It all began with a research project to understand urban poverty in Chicago. Eventually, the gang leader for Black Kings, J.T., befriended him, and at the same time, chided him for being naive that statistics and questionnaires cannot, and will not, help him to understand the life of urban poor in Chicago. From there, a friendship was forged, with Sudhir slowly gaining J.T.'s trust over some time. J.T. demonstrated his way of running the gang, the daily operations and his way of keeping his henchmen disciplined. In order to effectively convince Sudhir of his CEO-like qualities, he made Sudhir the gang leader for a day. Ultimately, the narration gradually draws to a close with Sudhir's research project came to a conclusion and the FBI started to crack down on the gang Black Kings.
A Colossal Failure Of Common Sense: The Inside Story Of The Collapse Of Lehman Brothers – Larry Mcdonald With Patrick Robinson
One of the biggest questions of the financial crisis has not been answered until now. What happened at Lehman Brothers and why was it allowed to fail, with aftershocks that rocked the global economy? In this news-making, often astonishing book, a former Lehman Brothers Vice President gives us the straight answers—right from the belly of the beast. In A Colossal Failure of Common Sense, Larry McDonald, a Wall Street insider, reveals, the culture and unspoken rules of the game like no book has ever done. The book is couched in the very human story of Larry McDonald’s Horatio Alger-like rise from a Massachusetts “gateway to nowhere” housing project to the New York headquarters of Lehman Brothers, home of one of the world’s toughest trading floors. We get a close-up view of the participants in the Lehman collapse, especially those who saw it coming with a helpless, angry certainty. We meet the Brahmins at the top, whose reckless, pedal-to-the-floor addiction to growth finally demolished the nation’s oldest investment bank. The Wall Street we encounter here is a ruthless place, where brilliance, arrogance, ambition, greed, capacity for relentless toil, and other human traits combine in a potent mix that sometimes fuels prosperity but occasionally destroys it. The full significance of the dissolution of Lehman Brothers remains to be measured. But this much is certain: it was a devastating blow to America’s—and the world’s—financial system. And it need not have happened. This is the story of why it did.
The Spartacus War – Barry Strauss
The Spartacus War is the extraordinary story of the most famous slave rebellion in the ancient world, the fascinating true story behind a legend that has been the inspiration for novelists, filmmakers, and revolutionaries for 2,000 years. Starting with only seventy-four men, a gladiator named Spartacus incited a rebellion that threatened Rome itself. With his … Continue reading The Spartacus War – Barry Strauss
BooksAvenue 