Biographies & Memoirs (GR)

Maye Musk at seventy-one is a fashionable, charming, jet-setting supermodel and public speaker with a fascinating and tight-knit circle of family and friends. But things were not always so easy or glamorous--she became a single mom at thirty-one years old, struggling through poverty to provide for her three children; dealt...

She was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter. Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanfords campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on Buzzfeed, where it instantly went...

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'In story after page-turning story, Lives of the Stoics brings ancient philosophers to life.' - David Epstein, bestselling author of Range 'Wonderful' - Chris Bosh, two-time NBA Champion For millennia, Stoicism has been the ancient philosophy that attracts those who seek greatness, from athletes...

In twenty years behind the till in The Bookshop, Wigtown, Shaun Bythell has met pretty much every kind of customer there is - from the charming, erudite and deep-pocketed to the eccentric, flatulent and possibly larcenous. In Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops he distils the essence of...

Irreverently funny ... kept me giggling all week. Scotland on Sunday "Do you have a list of your books, or do I just have to stare at them?" Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. With more than a mile of shelving, real log fires in...

Behind the statistics of migration are the life stories of millions of migrants and their descendants. The movement of people out of China is one of the largest movements of humanity in modern times, and large numbers of Chinese emigrated to the colony of the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia....

A native of Bruges (now part of Belgium), Jacques de Coutre was a gem trader who spent nearly a decade in Southeast Asia in the early 17th century. In addition to a substantial autobiography written in Spanish and preserved in the National Library of Spain in Madrid, he wrote a...

Ten years ago, Liyana Dhamirah was in a precarious situation: at 22, she was heavily pregnant and had no place to call home. For Liyana, home was often unstable. Once a bright teenager full of optimism, she faced uncertainty and found no support from family, government agencies and welfare groups....

"It is important not to forget the role of the many people like [Gunn Chit Wha] who…played their part in helping our nation through the challenges of independence and beyond." —From a foreword by HRH Sultan of Selangor Meet Gunn Chit Wha, a pioneering role model with many firsts: she...

Lee Kuan Yew played the pivotal role in Singapore’s transition from British Crown Colony to independent developing nation, and on to the economically powerful and diplomatically influential city-state it is today. Throughout this surprising and at times painful journey, he has proved a charismatic and occasionally controversial leader. Lee is...

King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand is the world’s longest reigning monarch. Indeed, his 65-year reign is one of the longest in world history, an achievement few would have predicted when the Thai king acceded the throne after the mysterious death of his brother in 1946. How did King Bhumibol revive...

When the renowned American businessman, Jim Thompson, disappeared on Easter Sunday 1967 in mysterious circumstances, the legend of this extraordinarily gifted designer and entrepreneur began. During a period of twodecades, he had developed silk making from being a static village craft into a dynamic textile industry providingexquisite silks for both...

Jim Thompson was already a legend for the James H.W. Thompson Silk Company that he founded, when he disappeared in the Cameron highlands in Malaysia in 1967. Explores the double legend of Thompson’s silk company and the unsolved case.” -- The New Yorker

Malaysia’s longest-serving and most outspoken prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad has been politically active for more than 60 years. As a young doctor he agitated for independence from the British and promoted the rights of the Malays, and his long political career culminated in his 22-year term as prime minister...

Marina Mahathir continues to make her mark as a community leader, writer and outspoken commentator on social and political affairs. She is also the eldest child of Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister. Marina has for more than 20 years written an insightful and provocative column which is published fortnightly in The...

Recollections of Chin Peng himself, the guerrilla leader who waged a 12-year anti-colonial war against British and Commonwealth forces in the jungles of Malaya.This book stands as a unique and extraordinary historical document from the man who, along with fellow believers, challenged militarily the might of the British and Japanese...

'Kerry Brown's Xi is the perfect primer for understanding Xi Jinping's status as China's greatest ruler since Mao and as this century's least assailable statesman' John Keay, author of China: A History'A valuable primer for anyone looking to get up to speed on Xi Jinping's rise to global power' Jeff...

A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020'Mightily impressive ... a marvellous read' Sunday TimesFrom the acclaimed author of Japan Story, this is the history of Japan, distilled into the stories of twenty remarkable individuals.The vivid and entertaining portraits in Chris Harding's enormously enjoyable new book take the reader from...

A compelling new picture of one of the most important, complex, and misunderstood figures of our time.The name George Soros is recognized around the world. Universally known for his decades of philanthropy, progressive politics, and investment success, he is equally well known as the nemesis of the far right-the target...

Named one of the best books of 2017 by The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, & Vox The father of virtual reality explains its dazzling possibilities by reflecting on his own lifelong relationship with technology Bridging the gap between tech mania and the experience of being inside the human body,...