5 Biographies eBooks

The Case of Alan Turing: The Extraordinary and Tragic Story of the Legendary Codebreaker by Eric Liberge, Arnaud Delalande
Leaving for the Seal Hunt: The Life of a Swiler by John Gillett
Wolford's Cavalry : The Colonel, the War in the West, and the Emancipation Question in Kentucky
A 1990s Childhood: From Bum Bags to Tamagotchis by Michael Johnson
A Passion for Speed: The Daring Life of Mildred, The Honourable Mrs Victor Bruce by Paul Smiddy

*The Case of Alan Turing: The Extraordinary and Tragic Story of the Legendary Codebreaker by Eric Liberge, Arnaud Delalande

English | October 18th, 2016 | ISBN: 1551526506 | 103 Pages | PDF | 34.58 MB
Alan Turing, subject of the Oscar-winning 2014 film The Imitation Game, was the brilliant mathematician solicited by the British government to help decipher messages sent by Germany's Enigma machines during World War II. The work of Turing and his colleagues at Hut 8 created what became known as the "bombe" which descrambled the German navy's messages and saved countless lives and millions in British goods and merchandise.
The Case of Alan Turing: The Extraordinary and Tragic Story of the Legendary Codebreaker
Despite his heroics, however, Turing led a secret life as a homosexual. After a young man with whom he was involved stole money from him, he went to the police, where he confessed his homosexuality; he was charged with gross indecency, and only avoided prison after agreeing to undergo chemical castration. Tragically, he committed suicide two years later.
The Case of Alan Turing: The Extraordinary and Tragic Story of the Legendary Codebreaker
Authors Liberge and Delalande used once-classified information only available in 2012 to create a biography that is scientifically rigorous yet understandable for the lay reader. It's also a meticulous depiction of World War II, and an intimate portrayal of a gay man living in an intolerant world.
The Case of Alan Turing: The Extraordinary and Tragic Story of the Legendary Codebreaker
Delving deeper into Turing's life than The Imitation Game, this graphic novel is a fascinating portrait of this brilliant, complicated, and troubled man.

*Leaving for the Seal Hunt: The Life of a Swiler by John Gillett

English | February 25, 2015 | ISBN: 1771174137 | EPUB | 172 pages | 19.2 MB
“In the harsh, bitter, cold environment we work in, seal harvesting and fishing are two of the most dangerous jobs in the world. The North Atlantic has no friends. It just makes you believe it is your friend when it offers up its beauty and bounty. Without notice it can turn ugly, a ravenous enemy ready to devour! It doesn’t matter if you are the greatest or the worst fishing captain in the North Atlantic: if the sea wants you, it will get you.”
This is the memoir of John Gillett, a fisherman and staunch advocate of the Newfoundland seal hunt. He grew up in Twillingate in the 1950s, idolizing the fishermen and sealing skippers who would visit his home to yarn with his father, the famous sealing captain George Gillett. John spent most of his adult life as a sealer, beginning in the early winter of 1971, when he wrote his uncle and asked for a berth out on the ice with him aboard the Arctic Endeavour.
As a participant in the most controversial animal hunt in the world, John also describes his run-ins with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and animal rights activists, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
In Leaving for the Seal Hunt, he shares stories of working with fellow sealers, of friendships that lasted a lifetime, of his many adventures on the ice . . . and of defying death at every turn.

*Wolford's Cavalry : The Colonel, the War in the West, and the Emancipation Question in Kentucky

English | 2016 | ISBN: 1612348513 | 314 Pages | PDF | 2.4 MB
Colonel Frank Wolford, the acclaimed Civil War colonel of the First Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry, is remembered today primarily for his unenviable reputation. Despite his stellar service record and widespread fame, Wolford ruined his reputation and his career over the question of emancipation and the enlistment of African Americans in the army.
Unhappy with Abraham Lincoln's public stance on slavery, Wolford rebelled and made a series of treasonous speeches against the president. Dishonorably discharged and arrested three times, Wolford, on the brink of being exiled beyond federal lines into the Confederacy, was taken in irons to Washington DC to meet with Lincoln. Lincoln spared Wolford, however, and the disgraced colonel returned to Kentucky, where he was admired for his war record and rewarded politically for his racially based rebellion against Lincoln.
Although his military record established him as one of the most vigorous, courageous, and original commanders in the cavalry, Wolford's later reputation suffered. Dan Lee restores balance to the story of a crude, complicated, but talented man and the unconventional regiment he led in the fight to save the Union. Placing Wolford in the context of the political and cultural crosscurrents that tore at Kentucky during the war, Lee fills out the historical picture of “Old Roman Nose.”

*A 1990s Childhood: From Bum Bags to Tamagotchis by Michael Johnson

English | November 1st, 2017 | ASIN: B074WKS5DK, ISBN: 0750984090 | 192 Pages | EPUB | 4.11 MB
Do you remember getting up on a Saturday morning to watch Going Live? A time when scrunchies and curtains were the height of cool? Playing Sonic the Hedgehog on your Sega Mega Drive? Then the chances are you were a child in the nineties. This trip down memory lane will jog the memory of even the coolest 30-year-old, and make you long for the days when Gladiators was on the telly on Saturday night and the Spice Girls spiced up your life.

*A Passion for Speed: The Daring Life of Mildred, The Honourable Mrs Victor Bruce by Paul Smiddy

English | September 1st, 2017 | ISBN: 0750985305 | 252 Pages | EPUB | 4.43 MB
THE HONOURABLE MRS VICTOR BRUCE: record-breaking racing motorist; speedboat racer; pioneering aviator and businesswoman - remarkable achievements for a woman of the 1920s and '30s. Mildred Bruce enjoyed a privileged background that allowed her to search for thrills beyond the bounds of most female contemporaries.
She raced against the greats at Brooklands, drove 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle and won the first ladies' prize at the Monte Carlo Rally. Whilst Amy Johnson was receiving global acclaim for her flight to Australia, Mildred learned to fly, and a mere eight weeks later she embarked on a round-the-world flight, becoming the first person to fly solo from the UK to Japan. Captured by brigands and feted by the Siamese, Japanese and Americans, she survived several crashes with body and spirit intact, and became a glittering aviation celebrity on her return. A thoroughly modern woman, she pushed similar boundaries in her unconventional love life and later became Britain's first female airline entrepreneur. This is the story of a charismatic woman who defied the conventions of her time, and loved living life in the fast lane.