Non-Fiction Books

A classic from the New York Times bestselling author of The Things They Carried "One of the best, most disturbing, and most powerful books about the shame that was / is Vietnam." — Minneapolis Star and Tribune Before writing his award-winning Going After Cacciato , Tim O'Brien gave us this intensely personal account of his year as a foot soldier in Vietnam. The author takes us with him to experience combat from behind an infantryman's rifle, to walk the minefields of My Lai, to crawl into the ghostly tunnels, and to explore the ambiguities of manhood and morality in a war gone terribly wrong. Beautifully written and searingly heartfelt, If I Die in a Combat Zone is a masterwork of its genre. Now with Extra Libris material, including a reader’s guide and bonus content.

Use Bloom's Taxonomy to Help Students Independently Evaluate Literature Instead of teaching your students how to answer questions about a particular text, help them develop the skills to critically evaluate literature without relying on outside guidance. Using Bloom's learning domains, Levels of Understanding breaks down complex questions into smaller parts and outline the steps necessary for students to develop a sound evaluation of a text. Students will begin with the most basic and fundamental skill, comprehension, move on to reader response, analysis, and synthesis, and gradually build to the highest skill, evaluation. Not only will these guides help you prepare your students for standardized tests like the AP* Language and Literature exam, the SATs,* and the ACTs, but they will also give students the self-assurance to develop and articulate a personal assessment of the text - a skill that will be advantageous in college and beyond. *Note from Publisher: SAT and AP are registered trademarks of the College Entrance Examination Board, which was not involved in the production of and does not endorse this product.

Roller coasters took Dick Kinzel slowly to the top and a $1.24 billion acquisition ultimately lead to his direst years. During his 39-year career (25 as president and CEO) with Cedar Point and Cedar Fair parks, he built the world's first 200, 300, and 400-foot tall roller coasters. He is responsible for adding more than 35 multi-million dollar scream machines to the company's 11 amusement parks. It was he who delivered the first shot in the coaster wars of the 1990s when he built the Magnum XL-200, the first to top the 200-foot barrier. . He brought big, edgy and expensive coasters to Cedar Point knowing that the bigger the thrill ride, the bigger the crowds. He made sure Cedar Point remained the "Amazement Park" and the Roller Coaster Capital of the World. His story is one of tenacity, conservatism and risk taking. It's one of big business and one of fun making. Dick spent his life putting smiles on people's faces and fear in their eyes. For the first time his journey is told in full: from his highs and lows to the laughs and tears, this is the story of the man who brought more roller coaster to Ohio than any other man. This is the official biography of Richard L. Kinzel.

Written by award-winning psychologist Dr Tim O’Brien, "wholeheartedly" recommended by Sir Elton John and endorsed by Arsene Wenger, Manager of Arsenal Football Club in the English Premier League, this is a book about you. There are two stories inside your head. One is about your life. The other is controlling your life - that story is your Inner Story. It is created in your mind and controls everything that you think, feel and do. If you want to understand and change how you think, feel and behave or if you want to be more confident, successful and happier you have to know your inner story. If you want to perform better as an individual or as a team you have to know your inner story too - but how much do you know about yours? For years Tim has worked behind-the-scenes in global businesses, elite sport and with high profile public figures. Now he shares his expertise with you so that you can understand your mind and change your world. This book will also help you change the world of others.

It's like deja vu all over again! Just in time for the 2016 Baseball Season! Baseball is a sport that naturally lends itself to oddities, rituals, superstitions, and unique happenings. It's a long season and a lot can happen! Here's a sampling of what you'll find in this unique book of obscure oddities: * A foul ball crashed into a fan's face. As she was being carried out on a stretcher, she was hit by another ball hit by the same batter! * One Major League player sleeps with his bats. * Hear about the error-prone outfielder who received a standing ovation for catching a hotdog wrapper on the fly. * No fans were allowed to attend a 2015 Major League game due to local safety concerns, and the game went on in front of 46,000 empty seats! * There was a four-day period when every American League game was rained out. * A player pitches a perfect game and goes home to find that his wife filed divorce papers while he was making baseball history. * The MLB team with the highest payroll pays out $57 million more than three of its league's teams - combined. * In a special "Bat" section, we learn that each team orders 150 bats a year for each of its hitters. In all, this new volume of Baseball Oddities & Trivia presents more than 350 fun, all new, weird and strange Believe It or Nots! plus more than 50 illlustrations drawn by John Graziano, Ripley's official cartoonist. Tim O'Brien and Ripley's take readers on another journey down the offbeat and bizarre, but 100% factual road through the world of baseball players, coaches, owners, teams, stadiums and fans! No one does the odd and trivial better than Ripley! Ripley's Believe It or Not! Baseball Oddities & Trivia - Ball Two! is far from a conventional trivia book. It's an oddities publication with the spirit of a traditional Ripley book throughout! With a whole lot of totally unbelievable and mind-boggling facts, this Believe It or Not! book stands out from the rest in sports publishing. While best known for his artistic endeavors and the coining of the popular Believe It or Not! phrase, Robert Ripley's move to New York City in early 1914 marked his determination to play professional baseball. His career with the New York Giants in 1914 ended abruptly in his very first game when a hard-hit line drive smashed his pitching arm. With his baseball career apparently over, he landed an illustrators job at the New York Globe in the sports department where he was soon combining his passion for sports with his love for the odd and unusual. This entire book is dedicated to the bizarre, colorful and entertaining universe of baseball oddities and trivia.

Harrison “Buzz” Price was a true Disney Legend and his son David Price has now written the ultimate professional and personal tribute to his father and mentor. Part memoir, part consulting primer, and part love story, “Buzz Stories at Thirty Thousand Feet” contains stories written by those with whom he shared his intelligence, humor, passion and wit. It brings you closer to understanding the birth of an industry and a life lived The Buzz Way.  Each chapter stands on its own as a tribute to a well-rounded, intelligent, one-of-a-kind pioneer who saw numbers not only as the means to an end but as a portal to magical worlds of entertainment . Known as Walt Disney's "Numbers Guy," Buzz created the magic formulas for where to build both California’s Disneyland and the later, Walt Disney World in Florida. It was his "rollercoaster math" that made building a successful theme park possible, in an age before real theme parks existed.  Everyone who ever knew Buzz has countless stories to tell of their relationship. Some are sad, some are funny, some are enlightening, and some are not suitable for print. But all show the brilliance of the man and help explain why he is today recognized as the dean of entertainment attraction consulting. This volume is an entertaining and informative read about the life and times of Harrison Buzz Price.

Best-selling author Tim O’Brien shares wisdom from a life in letters, lessons learned in wartime, and the challenges, humor, and rewards of raising two sons. “We are all writing our maybe books full of maybe tomorrows, and each maybe tomorrow brings another maybe tomorrow, and then another, until the last line of the last page receives its period.” In 2003, already an older father, National Book Award–winning novelist Tim O’Brien resolved to give his young sons what he wished his own father had given to him—a few scraps of paper signed “Love, Dad.” Maybe a word of advice. Maybe a sentence or two about some long-ago Christmas Eve. Maybe some scattered glimpses of their rapidly aging father, a man they might never really know. For the next fifteen years, the author talked to his sons on paper, as if they were adults, imagining what they might want to hear from a father who was no longer among the living. O’Brien traverses the great variety of human experience and emotion, moving from soccer games to warfare to risqué lullabies, from alcoholism to magic shows to history lessons to bittersweet bedtime stories, but always returning to a father’s soul-saving love for his sons. The result is Dad’s Maybe Book, a funny, tender, wise, and enduring literary achievement that will squeeze the reader’s heart with joy and recognition.

Tim O'Brien's Roadside Pics & Picks - The Huge, The High, The Half-Buried is an exhibition of photos culled from thousands taken during the last decade by Tim O'Brien, an award-winning observational-style photo-journalist. At 174 pages and more than 400 colorful photographs, this book is an outrageously offbeat exhibition of his favorite roadside photos, divided into four chapters. In Roadside Giants (the Huge), a variety of tall Muffler Man statues are featured, along with a bevy of Pink Elephants, dinosaurs, donuts, and a number of eccentric and one of a kind structures. In the Things-on-a-Pole (the High) chapter, featured are items mounted on poles of all heights. Pole toppers include the world's largest catsup bottle, the world's largest soda pop bottle, a full size tractor trailer truck, cars, trucks, airplanes, and ice cream cones. The Half-Buried chapter features planted funky, rusty and sometimes colorful vehicles, ranging from a full size school bus to a little red wagon to farm combines and of course cars. Cadillac Ranch, Bug Ranch, Carhenge, Boathenge, and Truckhenge are among those highlighted. In the highly eclectic Roadside Art Parks chapter, Tim explores the creative world of several outsider artists who used upcycled material to create assemblage sculptures, including Dr. Evermor's Forevertron, Billy Tripp's Mindfield, Elmer Long's Bottle Tree Forest and the creative souls living in East Jesus, California. This collection is a whimsical photographer's glimpse of roadside America. Still, he pays homage to the true stars of this exhibition - the creators whose visions were fulfilled without the baggage of cultural influence.

Ripley's Believe It or Not! Amusement Park Oddities & Trivia is an uncanny journey through the weird, wacky, and absolutely true world of amusement parks, rides and attractions! Tired of the traditional ho-hum trivia book? Rejoice, here's one that's unique, enjoyable, accurate AND edgy! With a bit of history, a bit of trivia and a lot of totally unbelievable facts, this is a first of its kind book for the amusement industry. With more than 350 Believe It or Nots! inside its pages, and 50-plus original illustrations by Ripley's official cartoonist John Graziano, nearly half of the book is dedicated to the bizarre, colorful and entertaining universe of amusement parks, rides and attractions. The other half features chapters on the Walt Disney parks, roller coasters, Ferris wheels, carousels, entertainers and park food! Nearly 100 different amusement and theme parks, waterparks, attractions, zoos and aquariums are represented in these colorful pages, not to mention the 14 pages packed with astounding roller coaster Believe It or Nots! A comprehensive index permits readers to quickly discover the oddities of their favorite park.