True Celebrity Biography

Mickey Cohen, who died in 1976, was a colorful, feared West Coast gangster-gambler who knew the biggest names in Hollywood including the Rat Pack, was a confidant of Bugsy Siegel, a friend of Las Vegas' late Liz Renay and on first names with the biggest guys in the Mafia, plus Frank Sinatra, Richard Nixon and Billy Graham. Brad Lewis' book about Cohen draws from thousands of resources - a virtual treasure trove of Mafia-related books, articles and interviews.

Moved by a particularly inspirational tweet one day, Ali Wentworth resolves to live by the pithy maxims she discovers in her feeds. What begins as a sort of self-help project quickly turns into something far grander - and increasingly funnier - as the tweets she once viewed with irony become filled with increasing metaphysical importance. And thus begins her "Unhappiness Project".

Williamson takes us through his life, from growing up on the land in the Mallee and Moree in a family of five boys, to being the voice of Australia. John got a lucky break that kickstarted his music career with ‘Old Man Emu’, which he wrote and performed on New Faces in 1970. After huge initial success, his music career floundered for a decade until he reinvented himself.

Step into the van right beside Kyle, Ax, Don, and Phil, as Kyle recounts his days as a professional touring musician in the best worst band you've never heard of. In this raucous tell-all book, Kyle Katastrophe of the punk rock band The Needn'ts holds nothing back. This isn't just a tale of all the fun days of rock n' roll when everything goes right. this depicts a struggling band in its heyday, warts and all. It's a hilarious jaunt across the United States where everything can, and frequently does, go wrong.

This is the real story of the Beatles' harrowing rise to fame, focusing on that seven-year stretch from the time the boys met as teenagers in the 1950s to early 1964, when the Fab Four prepared to invade America. From the boys' humble beginnings in Liverpool, to the cellars of Hamburg, When They Were Boys includes stories never before told, including heartbreaks, lucky breaks, and dramatic twists of timing, fate, loyalty, and betrayal.

If you read a standard history of magic, you learn that it begins in ancient Egypt with the resurrection of a goose in front of the Pharaoh. You discover how magicians were tortured and killed during the age of witchcraft. You are told how conjuring tricks were used to quell rebellious colonial natives. The history of magic is full of such stories, which turn out not to be true. Behind the smoke and mirrors, however, lies the real story of magic.

In Autobiography of a Fat Bride, Laurie Notaro tries painfully to make the transition from all-night partyer and bar-stool regular to mortgagee with plumbing problems and no air conditioning. Laurie finds grown-up life just as harrowing as her reckless youth, as she meets Mr. Right, moves in, settles down, and crosses the toe-stubbing threshold of matrimony.

Laurie Notaro is married, mortgaged, and now - miraculously - employed in the corporate world, discovering that bosses come in all shapes, sizes, and degrees of mental stability. After maxing out her last good credit card at Banana Republic, she's dressed for success and ready to face the jungle: surviving feral, six-foot-plus Gretchen ("The Three Thousand Faces of Eve") before battling the overbearing, overstuffed (in way-too-small pants) new mom Suzi....

In the spring of 1933, more than 8,000 Jewish musicians, actors, and other artists were expelled from their positions with German orchestras, opera companies, and theater groups. Later that year, the Jüdische Kulturbund, or Jewish Culture Association, was created to allow Jewish artists to perform for Jewish audiences.

Movie star and Emmy Award-winner Joe Pantoliano's Who's Sorry Now was originally published in 2003 to critical acclaim and became a New York Times best seller. Available for the first time in audio, Pantoliano's intimate and honest performance of the story of his own life memorably amplifies the humor and pain of his childhood. Occasionally going "off script", he adds depth, warmth, and new insights to his reminiscences.

In the summer of 1986, "Rumors/Vicious Rumors" by Timex Social Club dominated radio airwaves. Their song also topped Billboard magazine's urban charts, garnishing the number one position respectively for hot black singles, hot dance club play, and 12-inch sales.

William Peter Blatty, the best-selling author and Oscar Award-winning screenwriter of The Exorcist, lived a charmed life among the elite stars of Hollywood. His son, Peter, born over a decade after The Exorcist, grew from an apple-cheeked boy into an "imposing young man with a quick, warm smile". But when Peter died very suddenly from a rare disorder, Blatty's world turned upside down.

One hundred and thirty years ago Eadweard Muybridge invented stop-motion photography, anticipating and making possible motion pictures. He was the first to capture time and play it back for an audience, giving birth to visual media and screen entertainments of all kinds. Yet the artist and inventor Muybridge was also a murderer who killed coolly and meticulously, and his trial is one of the early instances of a media sensation.

Marriage, movies, and miracles. Oh, my! Marriage is a dance (even when you step on each other's toes), and movies are minefields of problems and politics, but miracles are more common than you might believe. Kevin and Sam show that if you keep your feet moving and your hearts focused on God's divine rhythm, you can discover successes you might never imagine. All it takes is a little faith. Throughout True Faith, the Sorbos personify this verse as they embrace the struggles they meet and use their faith to bolster their responses.

These days, the road to success can feel jampacked with scheduling, networking, nonstop hustle, and flat-out absurdity. And no one knows that better than Al Roker - beloved cohost of The Today Show, weatherperson extraordinaire, and the man we all secretly wish we could turn to for wisdom and wisecracks in our everyday lives. Al has learned worthwhile lessons over a long, successful career. And now, for the first time, Al is ready to unleash savvy advice on how to embrace happiness.

You're driving on a deserted road when your car dies. Your cell phone isn't getting service. All you have on hand are a gum wrapper and a wire hanger. Or maybe you're living in a building without central air conditioning in July. You can't afford an AC; all you have access to are a fan and a bucket of water. In such times of desperation, many have called upon the symbol of all that is inventive, the hero who awed thousands with his cool, quick wit: "What would MacGyver do?" they ask.

Tan pronto entré al cuarto para mi primera entrevista con los productores de Dancing with the Stars, uno de ellos dijo, “¿Por qué no estás bailando?” Miré a mi alrededor. No había música. “Perdón, ¿Entré cuando no debía?” No tenía la más remota idea de qué estaban hablando. Todos se rieron, y me explicaron, “Tú eres Latino, así que creíamos que ibas a entrar bailando!” Esta experiencia fue la que me puso a pensar acerca de los estereotipos Latinos, y luego nició el camino para escribir este libro.

Twelve-year-old Marion Parker was kidnapped from her Los Angeles school by an unknown assailant on December 15, 1927. Her body was found days later, delivered to her father by the killer, who fled with the ransom money. When William Hickman was hunted down and charged with the killing, he admitted to all of it, in terrifying detail, but that was only the start. His insanity plea was the first of its kind in the history of California, and the nature of the crime led to a media frenzy unlike any the country had seen up to that point.

Palm Trees on the Hudson is the hilarious prequel to Elliot Tiber’s bestseller Taking Woodstock. Before Elliot found financial success by bringing Woodstock Ventures to his upstate motel, he was one of Manhattan’s leading interior designers. Then, Elliot’s career came to a halt due to a floating society party, Judy Garland, and the Mob. In April 1968, Elliot was hired to throw an elegant dinner party aboard a luxury yacht on the Hudson River.

Many of these stories have been percolating for years inside Burt's brain (what is still remaining) and have not been told before. The book's contents sound more like a stand-up comedy routine so we can more easily absorb life's adventures and difficulties. Please enjoy laughing at Burt's pain and suffering, and always remember that it's not going to be okay, but that's okay. Oh, and while listening, it is recommended you remove any sharp objects from within your reach.