Two Continents and One Island

Two Continents and One Island
Author: Abel Ndambasha
Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2021-06-03
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 164952501X

Two Continents and One Island conveys a physical representation to the metaphorical, mental, and spiritual journey of growth undertaken by the protagonist through life's unknowns. It chronicles the author's life story, starting in Zambia, Africa, where he was born and raised, through Cuba, where he attended postsecondary education, to North America, where he ultimately established his professional life. It makes for an intriguing life story of perseverance and opportunity interspersed with failures and successes, sorrows and laughter, ups and downs, but above all God's direction at every turn. The interweaving of religion and morality, recurring as a predominant theme, is well presented through the author's unique experiences in three unique environments. The story is not merely a series of facts about the protagonist's life, but it also fluidly manages to reflect the author's views on religion, politics, and social themes from both the perspectives of being a devout Christian and a vulnerable young man on a sojourn to distant lands while surrounded by temptations, which are usually quite different. Yet he manages to reconcile these viewpoints very nicely and shows how a "black and white" view on morals and the world can become grayer and still retain its righteous character. This blend between spirituality, carnal desires masquerading as temptations of a young man and his unique perspective on politics in a time of extreme political upheaval makes for the most fascinating storyline in the book. While the author is quick to point out that this is not a story about the rise from poverty to riches, he lays out an interesting perspective of how Providence orchestrated his life and miraculously opened doors at every step of the way with the help of what he commonly refers to as human angels. In the end, he reminds us that, all things considered, success, no matter how it is defined, is uniquely about tenacity and will. The memoir covers an array of universal experiences, such as growth, spirituality, culture, and politics. It is a well-written and fascinating book as it provides a unique perspective on such difficult times in the author's history and journey. Additionally, it paints an interesting viewpoint likely to capture the attention and enjoyment of those who may not have shared the journey and origins. Whether it is the reader wishing to explore life's paradoxes in the diaspora or the immigrant who may draw upon the common experience or perhaps the curious reader wishing to explore the intricacies of a closed socialist system, everyone will find the story relatable and easier to share in the experience of the protagonist.

Two Continents and One Island

Two Continents and One Island
Author: Abel Ndambasha
Publisher:
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2021-04-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781649525000

Two Continents and One Island conveys a physical representation to the metaphorical, mental, and spiritual journey of growth undertaken by the protagonist through life's unknowns. It chronicles the author's life story, starting in Zambia, Africa, where he was born and raised, through Cuba, where he attended postsecondary education, to North America, where he ultimately established his professional life. It makes for an intriguing life story of perseverance and opportunity interspersed with failures and successes, sorrows and laughter, ups and downs, but above all God's direction at every turn. The interweaving of religion and morality, recurring as a predominant theme, is well presented through the author's unique experiences in three unique environments. The story is not merely a series of facts about the protagonist's life, but it also fluidly manages to reflect the author's views on religion, politics, and social themes from both the perspectives of being a devout Christian and a vulnerable young man on a sojourn to distant lands while surrounded by temptations, which are usually quite different. Yet he manages to reconcile these viewpoints very nicely and shows how a "black and white" view on morals and the world can become grayer and still retain its righteous character. This blend between spirituality, carnal desires masquerading as temptations of a young man and his unique perspective on politics in a time of extreme political upheaval makes for the most fascinating storyline in the book. While the author is quick to point out that this is not a story about the rise from poverty to riches, he lays out an interesting perspective of how Providence orchestrated his life and miraculously opened doors at every step of the way with the help of what he commonly refers to as human angels. In the end, he reminds us that, all things considered, success, no matter how it is defined, is uniquely about tenacity and will. The memoir covers an array of universal experiences, such as growth, spirituality, culture, and politics. It is a well-written and fascinating book as it provides a unique perspective on such difficult times in the author's history and journey. Additionally, it paints an interesting viewpoint likely to capture the attention and enjoyment of those who may not have shared the journey and origins. Whether it is the reader wishing to explore life's paradoxes in the diaspora or the immigrant who may draw upon the common experience or perhaps the curious reader wishing to explore the intricacies of a closed socialist system, everyone will find the story relatable and easier to share in the experience of the protagonist.

Visions From Two Continents

Visions From Two Continents
Author: Patsy Buell Stierna
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022-10-31
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

A woman artist struggles to successfully raise her children during desperate times. A recreation of the stories Sheila Buchanan Buell told to her daughter the author, Patsy Buell Stierna.

The Geography of Bliss

The Geography of Bliss
Author: Eric Weiner
Publisher: Twelve
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2008-01-03
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 0446511072

Now a new series on Peacock with Rainn Wilson, THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS is part travel memoir, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide that takes the viewer across the globe to investigate not what happiness is, but WHERE it is. Are people in Switzerland happier because it is the most democratic country in the world? Do citizens of Qatar, awash in petrodollars, find joy in all that cash? Is the King of Bhutan a visionary for his initiative to calculate Gross National Happiness? Why is Asheville, North Carolina so damn happy? In a unique mix of travel, psychology, science and humor, Eric Weiner answers those questions and many others, offering travelers of all moods some interesting new ideas for sunnier destinations and dispositions.

Green Island

Green Island
Author: Shawna Yang Ryan
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2016-02-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101874260

“Shawna Yang Ryan’s propulsive storytelling carries us through a bloody time in Taiwanese history, its implications still reverberating today. The story is haunted by questions about whether Taiwan is a part of China or its own country, what the costs are of standing up for one’s beliefs and by the choices made by one father and his daughter. Green Island is a tough, unsentimental and moving novel that is a memorial not only to the heroes, but also to the survivors.” —Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer A stunning story of love, betrayal, and family, set against the backdrop of a changing Taiwan over the course of the twentieth century. February 28, 1947: Trapped inside the family home amid an uprising that has rocked Taipei, Dr. Tsai delivers his youngest daughter, the unnamed narrator of Green Island, just after midnight as the city is plunged into martial law. In the following weeks, as the Chinese Nationalists act to crush the opposition, Dr. Tsai becomes one of the many thousands of people dragged away from their families and thrown into prison. His return, after more than a decade, is marked by alienation from his loved ones and paranoia among his community—conflicts that loom over the growing bond he forms with his youngest daughter. Years later, this troubled past follows her to the United States, where, as a mother and a wife, she too is forced to decide between what is right and what might save her family—the same choice she witnessed her father make many years before. As the novel sweeps across six decades and two continents, the life of the narrator shadows the course of Taiwan’s history from the end of Japanese colonial rule to the decades under martial law and, finally, to Taiwan’s transformation into a democracy. But, above all, Green Island is a lush and lyrical story of a family and a nation grappling with the nuances of complicity and survival, raising the question: how far would you be willing to go for the ones you love?

Colliding Continents

Colliding Continents
Author: Mike Searle
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 728
Release: 2013-03-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0191652490

The crash of the Indian plate into Asia is the biggest known collision in geological history, and it continues today. The result is the Himalaya and Karakoram - one of the largest mountain ranges on Earth. The Karakoram has half of the world's highest mountains and a reputation as being one of the most remote and savage ranges of all. In this beautifully illustrated book, Mike Searle, a geologist at the University of Oxford and one of the most experienced field geologists of our time, presents a rich account of the geological forces that were involved in creating these mountain ranges. Using his personal accounts of extreme mountaineering and research in the region, he pieces together the geological processes that formed such impressive peaks.

Desloge Chronicles - A Tale of Two Continents - An Amazing Family's Journey - Volume One

Desloge Chronicles - A Tale of Two Continents - An Amazing Family's Journey - Volume One
Author: Christopher Desloge
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 679
Release: 2012-12-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 130056976X

Desloge Chronicles, A Tale of Two Continents is a monograph of an amazing family's journey supported by genealogical summaries which provide solid provenance. Situated in France and America, this is an authentic historical narrative built around one family's 600 letters dating from 200 years, providing live-action reality present at France & the French Revolution and the American Frontier. Based upon one of the largest bodies of vibrant correspondence written from the turn of the 1800s, we are able to peer into the scene of teeming wildlife and Native American Indians in the young America expanding from this family's French nobility on the young American frontier and then blooming into titanic industrialists and caring naturalists and philanthropists. Within this monograph, historical fact, studied historical research, and expanded narrative craft a compelling legend of the prominent Desloge family. More than simply cold chronology of facts, these are "action figures".