Biografier

The story of the visionary young widow who built a champagne empire, showed the world how to live with style, and emerged a legendVeuve Clicquot champagne epitomizes glamour, style, and luxury. But who was this young widow—the Veuve Clicquot—whose champagne sparkled at the courts of France, Britain, and Russia, and how did she rise to celebrity and fortune?In The Widow Clicquot, Tilar J. Mazzeo brings to life—for the first time—the fascinating woman behind the iconic yellow label: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin. A young witness to the dramatic events of the French Revolution and a new widow during the chaotic years of the Napoleonic Wars, Barbe-Nicole defied convention by assuming—after her husband's death—the reins of the fledgling wine business they had nurtured. Steering the company through dizzying political and financial reversals, she became one of the world's first great businesswomen and one of the richest women of her time. Although the Widow Clicquot is still a legend in her native France, her story has never been told in all its richness—until now. Painstakingly researched and elegantly written, The Widow Clicquot provides a glimpse into the life of a woman who arranged clandestine and perilous champagne deliveries to Russia one day and entertained Napoléon and Joséphine Bonaparte on another. She was a daring and determined entrepreneur, a bold risk taker, and an audacious and intelligent woman who took control of her own destiny when fate left her on the brink of financial ruin. Her legacy lives on today, not simply through the famous product that still bears her name, but now through Mazzeo's finely crafted book. As much a fascinating journey through the process of making this temperamental wine as a biography of a uniquely tempered woman, The Widow Clicquot is utterly intoxicating.

Go the Joe Rogan way. Sh*t Joe Rogan Says is a book of motivation, inspiration, and reflections from the man who talks to everybody.

In this frank and damning exposé of the Teresa cult, Hitchens details the nature and limits of one woman's mission to help the world's poor. He probes the source of the heroic status bestowed upon an Albanian nun whose only declared wish was to serve God. He asks whether Mother Teresa's good works answered any higher purpose than the need of the world's privileged to see someone, somewhere, doing something for the Third World. He unmasks pseudo-miracles, questions Mother Teresa's fitness to adjudicate on matters of sex and reproduction, and reports on a version of saintly ubiquity which affords genial relations with dictators, corrupt tycoons and convicted frauds. Is Mother Teresa merely an essential salve to the conscience of the rich West, or an expert PR machine for the Catholic Church? In its caustic iconoclasm and unsparing wit, The Missionary Position showcases the devastating effect of Hitchens' writing at its polemical best.

In the headline-making and bestselling tradition of Bill Browder's Red Notice comes a unique and incendiary memoir from an entrepreneur who rose to the zenith of power and money in 21st century China and whose wife was disappeared - and then mysteriously reappeared four years later on the eve of Red Roulette's publication and global media coverage about it. As Desmond Shum was growing up impoverished in China, he vowed his life would be different. Through hard work and sheer tenacity, he earned an American college degree and returned to his native country to establish himself in business. There, he met his future wife, the highly intelligent and equally ambitious Whitney Duan who was determined to make her mark within China's male-dominated society. Whitney and Desmond formed an effective team and, aided by relationships they formed with top members of China's Communist Party, the so-called Red Aristocracy, he vaulted into China's billionaire class. Soon they were developing the massive air cargo facility at Beijing International Airport, and they followed that feat with the creation of one of Beijing's premier hotels. They were dazzlingly successful, travelling in private jets, funding multi-million-dollar buildings and endowments, and purchasing expensive homes, vehicles and art. But in 2017, their fates diverged irrevocably when Desmond, while living overseas with his son, learned that his now ex-wife Whitney had vanished along with three co-workers.In Red Roulette Desmond Shum pulls back the curtain on China's ruling elite and reveals the real truth of what is happening inside China's wealth-making machine. This is both Desmond's story and Whitney's, because she has not been able to tell it herself.

A tale of the 80s and pop stardom, from the two singers who found fame as backing singers in Wham! then going on to form their own band.

Carrie Sun was in her twenties when she stepped into the fast and furious world of high finance. An immigrant from China who grew up in the Midwest and graduated from M.I.T., hers was a world of 24/7 striving in which working hard was the ultimate virtue. After a grueling interview process, she lands a position at one of Wall Street's most covert investment firms. She begins her job eager to learn, grow, and do whatever it takes to dazzle her billionaire boss. But the deeper Sun ventures into this white, male-dominated, time-starved, luxury-laden world, the less she recognises herself. It takes playing the game at the highest level, amidst the ultimate winners in our winners-take-all economy, for Sun to question her past that brought her to the top and, perhaps, find the courage to break free and leave it all behind. Coming in the midst of a global reckoning with burnout, when many - and perhaps especially women - are reevaluating their relationship to work, Sun's story illuminates the struggle for balance in a world of extremes. It is a universal tale of self-creation. Challenging us to account for some of our most deeply held beliefs about work and money and identity, Private Equity is a stunning, dramatic story of personal transformation within an unjust system.

An engaging and in-depth examination of the work of Christopher Nolan, one of the most revered directors working in modern cinema. Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear, storytelling, over the course of 15 years of filmmaking, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the biggest blockbusters ever made.

'During downtime on the pottery throwdown Keith made my hair curl with some of his tales - he's a great raconteur and recounts his story in this book as he does in real life - with joy, charm & mischief.' - Sara CoxBallet dancer. Front man in an almost famous band. Judge on The Great Pottery Throwdown. How did all that happen?By accident mostly. But I always say we make our own luck. What if an art teacher hadn't given me a lump of clay? What if the band had been really successful? What if I hadn't taken a photograph of a bowl to the buyer at Heals in London? What if she'd hated it? Or hadn't seen it... What if I hadn't agreed to dress up as Adele to make a crazy YouTube video? Every chapter of my book is based around an object (usually a pot) that's been significant in my life. It's just at trigger to let me go off in a lot of different directions and tell a few stories. A lot of stories. Dyslexia. The art teacher who changed my life. My Mother. My Father. A life-changing job interview with a man who lay under his car throughout. That video.Sifting through half-forgotten memories, trying to pick out the golden nuggets from the stuff that is definitely dross has been a curious, and at times hilarious, sometimes sad, but definitely enlightening process. So here it is - my pottery life with some very loud music and some pretty good dancing. And a lot of throwing, fettling and firing. Oh ...and a good dose of anxiety.

An inspiring, rags-to-riches guide to achieving success in life and business by the founder of Myprotein .How did a working-class 23-year-old, who left school with almost no qualifications, launch a business with just a 500 overdraft and turn it into more than 350 million? In Bootstrap Your Life, Oliver Cookson shares how he was able to build Europe's number one online brand using nothing more than his own limited resources and the right mindset. Self-sufficient and self-taught, Oliver always had an eye for opportunities and pursued them obsessively. His breakthrough came when he combined his passion for health and fitness with his skills as a web developer. By embracing a disruptive, agile approach to business, offering unparalleled choice, and identifying trends ahead of the competition, Oliver was able to grow Myprotein rapidly into a top international, award-winning brand.In Bootstrap Your Life, Oliver doesn't just share his journey but uses simple language to break down every aspect of his thinking, providing a thorough step-by-step guide on how to think like an entrepreneur. His approach to marketing, innovation, strategy, leadership and other key elements are explained in great detail using memorable analogies that anyone can relate to.Oliver explains how bootstrapping his life catapulted him from an ordinary life in the suburbs of Greater Manchester to being included in the Sunday Times Rich List with a personal net worth of over a third of a billion pounds. His message is clear: bootstrap your life!

When you think you're safe, when you think you're all alone, That's when he'll come for you... A silent killer stalks the city, targeting those home alone at night, playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with the victims. As panic spreads, Detective Inspector Helen Grace leads the investigation, but is herself a hunted woman, her every step shadowed by a ruthless psychopath bent on revenge. As she tracks the murderer, Grace begins to suspect there is a truly shocking home truth that connects these brutal crimes. But what she will find is something more twisted than she could ever suspect --

"Nick Lavery is an active-duty Green Beret within the United States Army Special Forces. Although injuries sustained in combat resulted in the above-the-knee amputation of his leg-- Nick not only remained in the Army, he returned to his Special Forces Detachment and continues conducting combat operations to this day. Objective Secure is the methodology Nick employed to return to operational status. It is also the methodology he uses today as he continues this unprecedented journey in service to his country. It is a battle tested guide forged by fire--literally." -- page [4] of cover

Honest heartbreak advice for grown ups.

An in-depth, insider s look at how Suede came back from the brink to create their most successful album, Coming Up.