The Life Of An Ordinary Man

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • The raw, candid, unvarnished memoir of an American icon. The greatest movie star of the past 75 years covers everything: his traumatic childhood, his career, his drinking, his thoughts on Marlon Brando, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, John Huston, his greatest roles, acting, his intimate life with Joanne Woodward, his innermost fears and passions and joys. With thoughts/comments throughout from Joanne Woodward, George Roy Hill, Tom Cruise, Elia Kazan and many others. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: TIME and Vanity Fair "Newman at his best…with his self-aware persona, storied marriage and generous charitable activities…this rich book somehow imbues his characters’ pain and joy with fresh technicolor." —The Wall Street Journal In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman’s family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor’s life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years. The result is an extraordinary memoir, culled from thousands of pages of transcripts. The book is insightful, revealing, surprising. Newman’s voice is powerful, sometimes funny, sometimes painful, always meeting that high standard of searing honesty. The additional voices—from childhood friends and Navy buddies, from family members and film and theater collaborators such as Tom Cruise, George Roy Hill, Martin Ritt, and John Huston—that run throughout add richness and color and context to the story Newman is telling. Newman’s often traumatic childhood is brilliantly detailed. He talks about his teenage insecurities, his early failures with women, his rise to stardom, his early rivals (Marlon Brando and James Dean), his first marriage, his drinking, his philanthropy, the death of his son Scott, his strong desire for his daughters to know and understand the truth about their father. Perhaps the most moving material in the book centers around his relationship with Joanne Woodward—their love for each other, his dependence on her, the way she shaped him intellectually, emotionally and sexually. The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is revelatory and introspective, personal and analytical, loving and tender in some places, always complex and profound.

I enjoy writing. I don’t possess an imagination that can make up fiction, so I only write about actual historical events particularly those that occurred during my life. As has been said, truth can be stranger than fiction. Necessarily, my writings include stories involving my forebears, but they predominantly document events that took place during my marriage with Alida. I was born and raised in Scotland, a country known for its excellent education system. I was able to read and write before my sixth birthday. As a boy, I read extensively, first comics then the classics. I say “comics” but the weekly publications (Rover, Wizard and others) consisted solely of adventure stories, words without any pictures. Boys would create pictures in their own minds to illustrate what they were reading. I hope that readers will be able to form word pictures in their imaginations when they read the stories in this book.

The remarkable autobiography of Paul Rusesabagina, the globally-recognized human rights champion whose heroism inspired the film Hotel Rwanda “Fascinating…your book is called An Ordinary Man, yet you took on an extraordinary feat with courage, determination, and diplomacy.” – Oprah, O, The Oprah Magazine As Rwanda was thrown into chaos during the 1994 genocide, Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, turned the luxurious Hotel Milles Collines into a refuge for more than 1,200 Tutsi and moderate Hutu refugees, while fending off their would-be killers with a combination of diplomacy and deception. In An Ordinary Man, he tells the story of his childhood, retraces his accidental path to heroism, revisits the 100 days in which he was the only thing standing between his “guests” and a hideous death, and recounts his subsequent life as a refugee and activist.

This book will restore your faith in life. It might even save your life. The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is not "based on a true story." It is a true story. More precisely, it is a memoir of dozens of Dr. Tom Schneider's true stories: from devilish schoolboy hijinks to death-defying heroics during his time in the military, and even a heated disagreement with his boss: the U.S. Surgeon General. You'll start reading The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man because you want to hear those stories. And you'll love them. But what will keep you reading is the authenticity of Dr. Schneider's voice: the way he writes to you and only you; the way his jokes, corny coming from anyone else, are funny and endearing coming from him. Then, when you get to the final few chapters and you think you there's no way Dr. Schneider can provide you with more value, you'll learn the basics of human health and wellness -- from someone who learned them the hard way. It's a miracle that Dr. Schneider lived to write this book. That he did is a testament to his fighting but humble spirit, and to his desire to live up to the true meaning of his profession. The word "doctor" originally comes from the Latin "docere." It does not mean "to heal" or "to cure." It means, instead, "to teach." The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man will teach you something about life, death, and the human spirit on every single page.

From a New York Times bestselling author, a gripping account of the slave rebellion that led to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. For five horrific weeks after Christmas in 1831, Jamaica was convulsed by an uprising of its enslaved people. What started as a peaceful labor strike quickly turned into a full-blown revolt, leaving hundreds of plantation houses in smoking ruins. By the time British troops had put down the rebels, more than a thousand Jamaicans lay dead from summary executions and extrajudicial murder. While the rebels lost their military gamble, their sacrifice accelerated the larger struggle for freedom in the British Atlantic. The daring and suffering of the Jamaicans galvanized public opinion throughout the empire, triggering a decisive turn against slavery. For centuries bondage had fed Britain’s appetite for sugar. Within two years of the Christmas rebellion, slavery was formally abolished. Island on Fire is a dramatic day-by-day account of this transformative uprising. A skillful storyteller, Tom Zoellner goes back to the primary sources to tell the intimate story of the men and women who rose up and tasted liberty for a few brief weeks. He provides the first full portrait of the rebellion's enigmatic leader, Samuel Sharpe, and gives us a poignant glimpse of the struggles and dreams of the many Jamaicans who died for liberty.

Sir, you asked me who I am. What shall I say? I have been asking myself this question for quite some time and reached nowhere. After all I am no saint to throw away everything that I have and go in search of an answer. If I had, I would have been a saint. Don’t you agree? Well I have a name, but what’s in a name? You may call me an Ordinary Man. The narrator in a series of conversations with a friend who he says is his alter ego and through his own introspections, unfolds the process of growing up and aging through an exploration of all that had brought joy in living to serious questions regarding God, religion, destiny, freewill, compassion and to whether we have been really honest in our relationships; the relationships that have affected us at various stages in our life and continue to influence even our present living. They are all locked up somewhere within our private world and which we release and relish in our solitude. Though ‘I am just An Ordinary Man’ is an autobiographical novel, it is only in parts that real events have been narrated to build a base for addressing the questions and the existential angst which arise in the mind of any person during the process of living and that the first step towards resolution is in acceptance of the reality of existence and the finality of death.

Dick Pariseau reveals the excitement, adventures, and predicaments one can get into if one is afraid to miss anything, welcomes every opportunity, seeks excitement, and listens to one's poker buddies when they suggest new or unfamiliar areas to explore. He earned a PhD at night school because he thought decision makers would more readily accept his analysis if it was authored by a doctor. Denied the opportunity to play basketball--his most accomplished sport--in college, he chose to play lacrosse and became a First Team All-American. Seeking an advantage over the competition at singles dances, he took dance lessons and ended up as a dance host and instructor aboard a cruise ship. Uncomfortable with the casual disrobing of the co-ed models at the university painting class, his poker buddies recommended that he "get over it" by spending time at a nudist camp. As an adventuresome traveler, he has sailed the Nile River and flown in a hot air balloon over the Valley of the Kings, gone hut-to-hut hiking in the Swiss Alps, and learned to throw a boomerang with the aboriginals in Cairns, Australia. Be entertained by the adventures and humorous predicaments of this ordinary man, and use it as a catalyst to document the adventures in your life.