Philippe Gilbert

Author: Philippe Gilbert
Publisher: Lannoo Meulenhoff - Belgium
ISBN: 9401401594
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
How many times had Philippe repeated this sentence, as his successes, ever more prestigious, were mounting up? 'I'm benefiting from it!', like the 'carpe diem' immortalised two thousand years earlier by the Roman poet, Horace. Like the magic of the moment, the pleasures of which one savours without knowing whether they will ever be reproduced. It was with that exact mindset that the world number one, the best cyclist of the year, the most titled modern-era rider of the classics, evolved during the four seasons of the exceptional year 2011, the one of his summit and his glory, where all his dreams, or almost, came true. Phil benefitted from his form, his talent, his work, his audacity and his character to pull off 19 major successes, including the two Ardennes classics, two national titles, the first stage of the Tour De France and the distinctive jerseys that accompanied him. On the podium of the Walloon Arrow, in Huy, Bernard Hinault himself said this: 'You see kid, you've done it, and there was no reason to fear the gradient of the Wall of Huy. Benefit, benefit: when you're in such form, you have to jump on everything that moves.' And he benefitted from it, beyond, perhaps, his wildest dreams. He indulged, while offering his public emotions of rare intensity. He has brought some pages of history to Belgian cycling on a cloud that it will be good to immortalise when the time comes. But Phil did not want to wait for the archives of his memory, rightly believing that this exceptional 2011 season might never again be reproduced. Rather than postponing sine die his emotions, his memories and his anecdotes into an end-of-career book, he has... benefitted from the freshness of his feelings to recount them hard on the heels of a breathtaking adventure, in a pulsating account of his victories that he dissects with meticulousness, precision, and passion.

Your Inner Fish

Author: Neil Shubin
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307377164
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
The paleontologist and professor of anatomy who co-discovered Tiktaalik, the “fish with hands,” tells a “compelling scientific adventure story that will change forever how you understand what it means to be human” (Oliver Sacks). By examining fossils and DNA, he shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our heads are organized like long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genomes look and function like those of worms and bacteria. Your Inner Fish makes us look at ourselves and our world in an illuminating new light. This is science writing at its finest—enlightening, accessible and told with irresistible enthusiasm.

Sons

Author: Pearl S. Buck
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1453263470
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 815

Book Description
DIVThe second installment in Pearl S. Buck’s acclaimed Good Earth trilogy: the powerful story of three brothers whose greed will bring their family to the brink of ruin/divDIV Sons begins where The Good Earth ended: Revolution is sweeping through China. Wang Lung is on his deathbed in the house of his fathers, and his three sons stand ready to inherit his hard-won estate. One son has taken the family’s wealth for granted and become a landlord; another is a thriving merchant and moneylender; the youngest, an ambitious general, is destined to be a leader in the country. Through all his life’s changes, Wang did not anticipate that each son would hunger to sell his beloved land for maximum profit./divDIV /divDIVAt once a tribute to early Chinese fiction, a saga of family dissension, and a depiction of the clashes between old and new, Sons is a vivid and compelling masterwork of fiction. /divDIV /divDIVThis ebook features an illustrated biography of Pearl S. Buck including rare images from the author’s estate./div

The Spirit of Racing

Author: Trevor Jones
Publisher: Kensington West Productions
ISBN: 9781871349733
Category : Horse racing
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A photographic portrait of horse racing featuring the work of acclaimed photographers Trevor Jones and George Selwyn. Text is from top racing journalists, which supports each section. The book covers every aspect of racing and is very much an international title. The images are collected together in chapters covering: The Origins of Racing, Breeding, Peaks and Troughs of Training, Flat Racing, National Hunt Racing, Betting, and Legends. The Spirit of Racing is a book of interest to anyone who enjoys horses and equestrianism. It is a collection of photographs that demonstrate that the "sport of kings" is an international sport.

Luxury Arts of the Renaissance

Author: Marina Belozerskaya
Publisher: Getty Publications
ISBN: 0892367857
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Book Description
Today we associate the Renaissance with painting, sculpture, and architecture—the “major” arts. Yet contemporaries often held the “minor” arts—gem-studded goldwork, richly embellished armor, splendid tapestries and embroideries, music, and ephemeral multi-media spectacles—in much higher esteem. Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, was typical of the Italian nobility: she bequeathed to her children precious stone vases mounted in gold, engraved gems, ivories, and antique bronzes and marbles; her favorite ladies-in-waiting, by contrast, received mere paintings. Renaissance patrons and observers extolled finely wrought luxury artifacts for their exquisite craftsmanship and the symbolic capital of their components; paintings and sculptures in modest materials, although discussed by some literati, were of lesser consequence. This book endeavors to return to the mainstream material long marginalized as a result of historical and ideological biases of the intervening centuries. The author analyzes how luxury arts went from being lofty markers of ascendancy and discernment in the Renaissance to being dismissed as “decorative” or “minor” arts—extravagant trinkets of the rich unworthy of the status of Art. Then, by re-examining the objects themselves and their uses in their day, she shows how sumptuous creations constructed the world and taste of Renaissance women and men.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Author: Susanna Clarke
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 160819535X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 1162

Book Description
In the Hugo-award winning, epic New York Times Bestseller and basis for the BBC miniseries, two men change England's history when they bring magic back into the world. In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England - until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and becomes an overnight celebrity. Another practicing magician then emerges: the young and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's pupil, and the two join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wild, most perilous forms of magic, and he soon risks sacrificing his partnership with Norrell and everything else he holds dear. Susanna Clarke's brilliant first novel is an utterly compelling epic tale of nineteenth-century England and the two magicians who, first as teacher and pupil and then as rivals, emerge to change its history.

Skiing

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description

Visions of Cycling

Author: Graham Watson
Publisher: Not Applicable
ISBN: 9780962263002
Category : Bicycle racing
Languages : en
Pages : 125

Book Description

A Long Way From Verona

Author: Jane Gardam
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1405516240
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 174

Book Description
I ought to tell you at the beginning that I am not quite normal having had a violent experience at the age of nine' Jessica Vye's 'violent experience' colours her schooldays and her reaction to the world around her- a confining world of Order Marks, wartime restrictions, viyella dresses, nicely-restrained essays and dusty tea shops. For Jessica she has been told that she is 'beyond all possible doubt', a born writer. With her inability to conform, her absolute compulsion to tell the truth and her dedication to accurately noting her experiences, she knows this anyway. But what she doesn't know is that the experiences that sustain and enrich her burgeoning talent will one day lead to a new- and entirely unexpected- reality.

The Monuments

Author: Peter Cossins
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408846829
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 469

Book Description
'Peter Cossins is an engaging writer whose conversational style makes this an effortless yet interesting read. The cosy tone delivers a great deal with a good balance of history and anecdotes. If you wish to explore cycling beyond the Grand Tours this is the book.' - Carlton Kirby An awe-inspiring history of the five most legendary 'classic' races in world cycling. The Tour de France may provide the most obvious fame and glory, but it is cycling's one-day tests that the professional riders really prize. Toughest, longest and dirtiest of all are the so-called 'Monuments', the five legendary races that are the sport's equivalent of golf's majors or the grand slams in tennis. Milan–Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Tour of Lombardy date back more than a century, and each of them is an anomaly in modern-day sport, the cycling equivalent of the Monaco Grand Prix. Time has changed them to a degree, but they remain as brutally testing as they ever have been. They provide the sport's outstanding one-day performers – the likes of Philippe Gilbert, Fabian Cancellara, Mark Cavendish, Tom Boonen, Peter Sagan and Thor Hushovd – with a chance to measure themselves against each other and their predecessors in the most challenging tests in world cycling. From the bone-shattering bowler-hat cobbles of the Paris–Roubaix (rumoured to be Bradley Wiggins' next challenge) to the insanely steep hellingen in the Tour of Flanders, each race is as unique as the riders who push themselves through extreme exhaustion to win them and enter their epic history. Over the course of a century, only Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck have won all five races. Yet victory in a single edition of a Monument guarantees a rider lasting fame. For some, that one victory has even more cachet than success in a grand tour. Each of the Monuments has a fascinating history, featuring tales of the finest and largest characters in the sport. In The Monuments, Peter Cossins tells the tumultuous history of these extraordinary races and the riders they have immortalised.