Books with author David W Thompson

Behind the scenes at the legendary Warner Brothers film studio, where four immigrant brothers transformed themselves into the moguls and masters of American fantasy Warner Bros charts the rise of an unpromising film studio from its shaky beginnings in the early 20th century through its ascent to the pinnacle of Hollywood influence and popularity. The Warner Brothers - Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack - arrived in America as unschooled Jewish immigrants, yet they founded a studio that became the smartest, toughest, and most radical in all of Hollywood. David Thomson provides fascinating and original interpretations of Warner Brothers pictures from the pioneering talkie The Jazz Singer through black-and-white musicals, gangster movies, and such dramatic romances as Casablanca, East of Eden, and Bonnie and Clyde. He recounts the storied exploits of the studio's larger-than-life stars, among them Al Jolson, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, Doris Day, and Bugs Bunny. The Warner brothers' cultural impact was so profound, Thomson writes, that their studio became "one of the enterprises that helped us see there might be an American dream out there".

Babysitters, Inc., a co-op of 13-year-old girls, founded by Millie McCall, babysit alone or in pairs for various children in their neighborhood. Their friend, Marvin Matson, thinks Millie’s job as a babysitter is a no-brainer. So easy, in fact, he believes he can handle it just as well if not better than she can. Marvin goads Millie into making a wager in which he is allowed to work three babysitting jobs. Millie and her companions aren’t thrilled about the bet so they try to make things hard on Marvin by assigning him unusually difficult sitting jobs, hoping he’ll fail. After a shaky start, Marvin proves to be tougher and smarter than they expected. Is babysitting the soft job Marvin says it is? Millie wonders about that until things take an unexpected turn.

Enter the world of visual magic where a random pattern of squares suddenly becomes a face, or when special glasses (found in the book) transform a dotted pattern into 3-D splendor. Thirty tricks and illusions will delight you for hours. Watch as a goldfish seems to vanish from a picture, try to figure out which of two goats is actually bigger, and focus on the workings of some “impossible” shapes.

On Earth, nothing is still. Mountains rise and fall. Tides ebb and flow. Even the continents themselves are on the move. Beneath the surface, a nuclear engine powers earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the shifting of continents. Above ground, the sun causes the wind to howl, rain to pour, rivers to churn, and oceans to swell with waves. Processes That Shape the Earth surveys these forces and the ways they sculpt the planet. The modern theory of plate tectonics is introduced, along with other pertinent topics in physical geology. Several chapters add relevant historical context, presenting readers with fascinating discussions of Earth's origin, its history over billions of years, and the recent changes that have resulted from human activity.

For those who truly love the game, there is no beginning player, or former player, there are only players. Daydreaming, A Baseball Story is for everyone who loves the game, be they younger players who are crossing the white lines for the first time, or those of us that know we will not cross them again as an active player, but in our minds we are still capable of making a play or getting a key hit. It is a story that begins and ends in an older player’s head as he gets the opportunity to spend one more moment in the sun through the actions and dreams of two younger players. In watching their joy at being able to play such a perfect game there is the chance to once again feel the pop of a great pitch into your mitt, and the thrill of throwing that fastball by a great hitter. I hope as you read it, either to yourself or to someone special, you will find yourself as I did, being transported to a special diamond of your dreams.

Excerpt from Japanese Fairy Tale Series, Vol. 2: The Tongue Cut SparrowRolls of silk. They never expected any thing like this. The more they took out the more they found inside. The supply was in.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

On Earth, nothing is still. Mountains rise and fall. Tides ebb and flow. Even the continents themselves are on the move. Beneath the surface, a nuclear engine powers earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the shifting of continents. Above ground, the sun causes the wind to howl, rain to pour, rivers to churn, and oceans to swell with waves. Processes That Shape the Earth surveys these forces and the ways they sculpt the planet. The modern theory of plate tectonics is introduced, along with other pertinent topics in physical geology. Several chapters add relevant historical context, presenting readers with fascinating discussions of Earth's origin, its history over billions of years, and the recent changes that have resulted from human activity.