The Life That Jack Built

Jack Pechter was five years old and living with his parents and three sisters in eastern Poland when the Nazis invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Because of his father's foresight and his mother's support and courage, Jack and his sisters, led by their parents, began a five-year journey through eastern Europe and Russia to evade the Nazis. His father, Max, was one of the first of the Polish Jews to realize the murderous intent of the Nazis, saying "When a fire is burning, you run." His mother, Sarah, kept the family strengthened with her consoling message throughout the war: "Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow will be better." When Jack arrived in America in 1949 with his family, he had to begin life anew. But he quickly embraced the opportunities he found. He eventually enrolled in the University of Maryland, served in the army for a two-year stint, soon met and married his wife Marilyn, and in 1958 found his career when he became a salesman in a real estate company. Jack eventually went out on his own, getting a loan to construct townhomes and joining with a partner who had a background in real estate development. With his success in that first development, he was soon building townhome communities throughout Maryland. Other projects followed. What also followed was "doing for others," as his mother often told him was the secret for happiness.

It is the early 1940s; Jack is a young man leaving university at odds with himself. Set aside from his peers fighting in the Second World War he tries to make a career in banking but finding himself a square peg in a round hole, decided to enter the teaching profession which takes him to urban and rural schools in post war Britain. This is the story of his many escapades. It is the tale of how he handles work, romantic attachments and manages to wriggle out of the tightest of situations. Jack’s story is true of all of us who go through life searching. Then suddenly opportunity knocks for him – it is an opportunity you’d have to be mad to take –he takes the plunge, but at the end he is in for a surprise. ‘The Life that Jack Built’ teaches us about the demons within ourselves and makes us question if destiny is mapped out for us all. A fascinating and heart-warming tale that is personal, historical and humorous with moments of passion, pathos and fear. Book reviews online: PublishedBestsellers website.

It's Halloween and Jack and his ghouly family and friends have put together a haunted house. As the rhyme goes along, we meet a ghost, a witch, a mummy, a fairy, a monster and more. At the end of the rhyme, we see that all of the characters are actually just friends and family dressed up in costumes.

The House That Jack Built reveals the truth behind one of history's greatest untold stories. An old lead miner and his wife who took up residence in a remote cave on a windswept beach in South Shields. A pub was built within the cave and a search initiated to find buried Roman treasure hidden in a network of underground caves and tunnels.

In this imaginative interpretation of the nursery rhyme “The House That Jack Built,” young Jack builds an amazing fort in the middle of the living room, using the chairs, blankets, and other objects on hand. Unfortunately, those objects belong to his family members, so when they want their things back—there goes the walls and roof! Jack struggles to keep his fortress going as it crumbles piece by piece. Finally, Grandma saves the day with her quilts for a sweet, satisfying ending filled with family fun. Boni Ashburn’s text is brought to life by acclaimed illustrator Brett Helquist, whose lively style takes this tale beyond the living room and into the world of adventure.

The familiar cumulative nursery rhyme is illustrated with scenes placing the characters in an Aotearoa, New Zealand, setting during the early 19th century.

In just a decade and half Jack Ma, a man who rose from humble beginnings and started his career as an English teacher, founded and built Alibaba into the second largest Internet company in the world. The company’s $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the world’s largest, valuing the company more than Facebook or Coca Cola. Alibaba today runs the e-commerce services that hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend on every day, providing employment and income for tens of millions more. A Rockefeller of his age, Jack has become an icon for the country’s booming private sector, and as the face of the new, consumerist China is courted by heads of state and CEOs from around the world. Granted unprecedented access to a wealth of new material including exclusive interviews, Clark draws on his own first-hand experience of key figures integral to Alibaba’s rise to create an authoritative, compelling narrative account of how Alibaba and its charismatic creator have transformed the way that Chinese exercise their new found economic freedom, inspiring entrepreneurs around the world and infuriating others, turning the tables on the Silicon Valley giants who have tried to stand in his way. Duncan explores vital questions about the company’s past, present, and future: How, from such unremarkable origins, did Jack Ma build Alibaba? What explains his relentless drive and his ability to outsmart his competitors? With over 80% of China’s e-commerce market, how long can the company hope to maintain its dominance? As the company sets its sights on the country’s financial and media markets, are there limits to Alibaba’s ambitions, or will the Chinese government act to curtail them? And as it set up shop from LA and San Francisco to Seattle, how will Alibaba grow its presence and investments in the US and other international markets? Clark tells Alibaba’s tale within the wider story of China’s economic explosion—the rise of the private sector and the expansion of Internet usage—that haver powered the country’s rise to become the world’s second largest economy and largest Internet population, twice the size of the United States. He also explores the political and social context for these momentous changes. An expert insider with unrivaled connections, Clark has a deep understanding of Chinese business mindset. He illuminates an unlikely corporate titan as never before, and examines the key role his company has played in transforming China while increasing its power and presence worldwide.

A cumulative rhyme in French and English relating the chain of events that started when Jack built a house.