An Old Man Remembering Birds


Book Description

Bird watching is by far the most popular outdoor recreation in the United States. That makes perfect sense, because their freedom of flight makes birds accessible to virtually all people everywhere -- along ocean beaches, lakeshores, rivers and creeks; on remote prairies and urban golf courses; in mountain forests and parched deserts; on Times Square and apartment house roofs; and in back yards everywhere. But due to habitat loss, pollution and climate change, there are three billion fewer birds in America today than there were in 1970. The logical conclusion to be drawn from this sad fact is that we need even more bird-watchers, people who might care enough about these wild, lovely creatures to do whatever they can to reverse this appalling decline. In his 80-plus years around birds, Michael Baughman has learned one immutable lesson: As long as you remain alive and human, the closer you get to birds, the more time you spend among them, the more you love them.




An Old Man Remembering Birds


Book Description

"In a series of short, engaging essays, Michael Baughman reflects on his lifelong fascination with birds-on his deck in southern Oregon, at the end of a shotgun, on the beaches of Hawaii and Baja California. Birders are dedicated and passionate, and, like anglers, they all have their stories. But Baughman tells more than simple accounts of birds spotted in the field. He reflects on human-animal relations, why humans seek closeness with nature, how a dedicated birder can also be a dedicated hunter. He explores how environmental change has altered the rhythms of bird life: the ospreys that resurged after DDT was banned, the waxwings and juncos that appear rarely now as climate change takes a toll on bird populations. Baughman also describes encounters with wildfires and smoke and discusses how they shape the landscape and wildlife of contemporary Oregon. In his eighty-plus years around birds, Michael Baughman has learned one immutable lesson: as long as you remain alive and human, the closer you get to birds, and the more time you spend among them, the more you love them"--




Let's Tell This Story Properly


Book Description

Provocative, moving, and rich in craft, the stories gathered here represent some of the most original emerging writers in the world. The selected, groundbreaking stories carry on the almost thirty-year tradition of the Commonwealth Writers' Prizes, past winners of which include Jhumpa Lahiri. Zadie Smith, Alice Munro, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.




The Old Man and the Sea


Book Description

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.




Notes of a Dirty Old Man


Book Description

A compilation of Charles Bukowski's underground articles from his column "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" appears here in book form. Bukowski's reasoning for self-describing himself as a 'dirty old man' rings true in this book. "People come to my door—too many of them really—and knock to tell me Notes of a Dirty Old Man turns them on. A bum off the road brings in a gypsy and his wife and we talk . . . . drink half the night. A long distance operator from Newburgh, N.Y. sends me money. She wants me to give up drinking beer and to eat well. I hear from a madman who calls himself 'King Arthur' and lives on Vine Street in Hollywood and wants to help me write my column. A doctor comes to my door: 'I read your column and think I can help you. I used to be a psychiatrist.' I send him away . . ." "Bukowski writes like a latter-day Celine, a wise fool talking straight from the gut about the futility and beauty of life . . ." —Publishers Weekly "These disjointed stories gives us a glimpse into the brilliant and highly disturbed mind of a man who will drink anything, hump anything and say anything without the slightest tinge of embarassment, shame or remorse. It's actually pretty hard not to like the guy after reading a few of these semi-ranting short stories." —Greg Davidson, curiculummag.com Charles Bukowski was born in Andernach, Germany on August 16, 1920, the only child of an American soldier and a German mother. Bukowski published his first story when he was twenty-four and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. His first book of poetry was published in 1959; he went on to publish more than forty-five books of poetry and prose, including Pulp (Black Sparrow, 1994), Screams from the Balcony: Selected Letters 1960-1970 (1993), and The Last Night of the Earth Poems (1992). Other Bukowski books published by City Lights Publishers include More Notes of a Dirty Old Man, The Most Beautiful Woman in Town, Tales of Ordinary Madness, Portions from a Wine-Stained Notebook, and Absence of the Hero. He died of leukemia in San Pedro on March 9, 1994.




The Man Who Dared to Dream


Book Description

This is a story of tragedy, love, heartbreak, hope, humor, forgiveness, and the pure power of human compassion. An old man has been living on his own for many years. Although not considered a recluse or hermit, he does spend much time alone. He is guilt-ridden and has many regrets which he thinks about in his isolation. Mainly, its the guilt of leaving his children on that day, those many years past. His guilt haunts him in the form of dreams and nightmares. The old man is a father whose heart aches with the love for his children, yet he finds it difficult to locate the level ground on which to have a relationship, as well as a level piece of ground to deal with the choices that he has made in his life. A bird of faith, not believed to exist, befriends him and stands by him, even to protect him from a near-death tragedy, and has the ability to locate him, no matter where he is. Although once a solid blackbird, it slowly changes to white as the man sheds his guilt. He develops a passion to make sketches of the bird, and this becomes a source that creates the problem. Due to certain circumstances, he ends up in a hospital mental ward. A continuous barrage of technicalities and other circumstances make it difficult for him to attain his freedom. He captures the love of a middle-aged, not-so pretty, recovering drug addict who along with her illiteracy had a speech impediment. A dedicated doctor finds he is not too old to learn a lesson about life from his patient. And two compassionate ward nurses befriend him and help him make life-changing decisions. His impact on them is no less life-changing. Hopefully, the man who dared to dream will capture your heart, as well.




Lynyrd Skynyrd


Book Description

The first complete, unvarnished history of Southern rock’s legendary and most popular band, from its members’ hardscrabble boyhoods in Jacksonville, Florida and their rise to worldwide fame to the tragic plane crash that killed the founder and the band’s rise again from the ashes. In the summer of 1964 Jacksonville, Florida teenager Ronnie Van Zant and some of his friends hatched the idea of forming a band to play covers of the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Yardbirds and the country and blues-rock music they had grown to love. Naming their band after Leonard Skinner, the gym teacher at Robert E. Lee Senior High School who constantly badgered the long-haired aspiring musicians to get haircuts, they were soon playing gigs at parties, and bars throughout the South. During the next decade Lynyrd Skynyrd grew into the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful of the rock bands to emerge from the South since the Allman Brothers. Their hits “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama” became classics. Then, at the height of its popularlity in 1977, the band was struck with tragedy --a plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant and two other band members. Lynyrd Skynyrd: Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock is an intimate chronicle of the band from its earliest days through the plane crash and its aftermath, to its rebirth and current status as an enduring cult favorite. From his behind-the-scenes perspective as Ronnie Van Zant’s lifelong friend and frequent member of the band’s entourage who was also aboard the plane on that fateful flight, Gene Odom reveals the unique synthesis of blues/country rock and songwriting talent, relentless drive, rebellious Southern swagger and down-to-earth sensibility that brought the band together and made it a defining and hugely popular Southern rock band -- as well as the destructive forces that tore it apart. Illustrated throughout with rare photos, Odom traces the band’s rise to fame and shares personal stories that bring to life the band’s journey. For the fans who have purchased a cumulative 35 million copies of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s albums and continue to pack concerts today, Lynyrd Skynyrd is a celebration of an immortal American band.




The Journey of the Golden Sword


Book Description

Christopher, the youngest child of King Adrian and Queen Ediline, has just gotten his very first pet. While he could choose among many other animals, the young boy opted to have a small goat as a companion. Sure enough, Jumpy, as the goat is later called, turns out to be the young prince’s best friend. Together, they do everything from mischief to pranks to small adventures. But Christopher and Jumpy’s carefree days suddenly come to a halt when their kingdom is stirred by the alarming news that a vicious female dragon is out to bring gloom. Astonia, Dragon Queen of the Night, had once brought darkness to one kingdom in the northeast when she threatened its king to have the people surrender their freedom or be destroyed. Now enslaving the villagers of the already ruined kingdom, Astonia is eyeing to conquer the kingdom of King Adrian and Queen Ediline. However, when Christopher and Jumpy, with the help of the Old Man of the Mountains, take in their hands a powerful sword, they know that they have the duty to protect their people. But is the untrained, adventurous little prince and his mischievous goat friend capable of battling the mighty dragon? Peppered with striking illustrations that bring more life to the story, The Journey of the Golden Sword follows Christopher, Jumpy, and the friends they meet along the way, in their quest to defeat evil. From page to page, readers will join in the exciting, exhilarating yet fun adventures—and misadventures. For more information on this book, interested parties may log on to www. Xlibris.com.




Come Again in the Spring


Book Description

An old man tries to outsmart Death with the help of the birds who come to his cabin.




Birds of Paradise Lost


Book Description

From the award-winning author of Perfume Dreams, a collection of thirteen short stories following Vietnamese immigrants new to the United States. The thirteen stories in Birds of Paradise Lost shimmer with humor and pathos as they chronicle the anguish and joy and bravery of America’s newest Americans, the troubled lives of those who fled Vietnam and remade themselves in the San Francisco Bay Area. The past—memories of war and its aftermath, of murder, arrest, re-education camps and new economic zones, of escape and shipwreck and atrocity—is ever present in these wise and compassionate stories. It plays itself out in surprising ways in the lives of people who thought they had moved beyond the nightmares of war and exodus. It comes back on TV in the form of a confession from a cannibal; it enters the Vietnamese restaurant as a Vietnam Vet with a shameful secret; it articulates itself in the peculiar tics of a man with Tourette’s Syndrome who struggles to deal with a profound tragedy. Birds of Paradise Lost is an emotional tour de force, intricately rendering the false starts and revelations in the struggle for integration, and in so doing, the human heart. *Finalist for the California Book Award* “His stories are elegant and humane and funny and sad. Lam has instantly established himself as one of our finest fiction writers.” —Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Perfume Mountain “Read Andrew Lam, and bask in his love of language, and his compassion for people, both those here and those far away.” —Maxine Hong Kingston, award-winning author of The Woman Warrior