The year when everything needed to be experienced and tried, when innocence was tempted, played, and lost.1969 was that pivotal year for the baby boomers. Young and innocent, they were given the ultimate freedoms and were faced with growing up.This touching, hilarious memoir is the true story of a late sixties grand tour of Europe—a life-defining parable, for those who remember and for those who can't. Never before and not since have a handful of seasons so exquisitely defined the difference between right and wrong. With the gift of youth they saw, sensed, and savored the laughably clear distinction between profit motive and greed, between truth and propaganda, between national interest and defense contractors, between a lovely cloud of smoke and the smoke of napalm, and between the phantoms of security and the dangers of complacency and atrophy.Stoned to the gills and then some, these adventurers saw and felt and knew things that no generation before...

Big M OK Used Car–magnate Michael Mulroney never set out to be heroic. He lives at the top, naturally, thanks to instinct, wit, and the will to win. Insolvency is not the same as poverty; poverty is for poor people. And a man of proven dexterity is not poor. He beats the practical challenges of life in the golden state—of fickle markets, lowballers, long-toothed real-estate women, name droppers, fitness compulsives, sexual-molestation charges, and the ten-percent grade up Hazel Dell on a bicycle four days in a row—at sixty!Samson slew a thousand philistines with the jawbone of an ass. Michael Mulroney may be more deliberate in sussing out a situation, measuring a mark for front-end warmth, background development, schmoozing up and hosing down. But soon he'll step back in deference to his inner Samson, who will swing away, going in for the close.If the ledger won't balance, give it a few days with some hustle and scramble and judiciously placed phone...

Nine million Americans are touched by aneurysms during their lifetime. This is one story of love.Brainstorm is the candid and powerful memoir of the author's harrowing experience of an aneurysm and his road to recovery. It is a journey of love, devotion, and a clash of medical beliefs and countercultures. The fierce resolve of the author and his wife is extraordinary, inspiring, and matched only by the tremendous competence and care of the medical system—one to which the author initially stands in opposition, but that he later learns to admire and respect.This book is for anyone who has experienced the fear and difficulties of a major illness. The themes, truths, and above all, the compassion that this book shares will be familiar not just to the nine million Americans affected by aneurysms, but to anyone whose family has been touched by a medical trauma. Filled with raw emotion, Brainstorm affords quiet but powerful support to those suffering...

Ravid Rockulz has a good life as a dive leader in Hawaii: good friends, good times, plenty of willing female tourists. But something is missing. What’s more, he’s increasingly disillusioned with Hawaii. The influx of new residents seeking Paradise with all the modern conveniences is dragging the islands ever closer to that scab on the world, LA. An unexpected heartbreak and a disconcerting attempt on his life push Ravid out of his rut: Tahiti calls, untrammeled and pure. There, Ravid rediscovers a passion for photography. Armed with his camera, he captures on the reefs of Tahiti the aquatic life and vibrancy long since lost on the reefs of Hawaii: a mother-and-child set of Moorish idols, the brightly banded coral shrimp the local divers take for granted, and a photographer’s holy grail, a mated pair of shy, beautiful, flame angels.

Can a conflicted dive leader keep from drowning amidst a midlife crisis, a break up, an attempted murder, and the changing of his beloved Hawaiian paradise?Ravi Rockulz is a dive leader in Hawaii with good friends, good times, and plenty of willing female tourists. But something is missing, and rapid development is displacing the magic of his island home. The influx of new residents seeking Paradise and demanding modern conveniences is making things painfully similar to that scab on the earth, LA.An unexpected heartthrob leads to sudden growth in a break-up and attempted murder. It's enough to push a guy out of his rut: Tahiti calls, untrammeled and pure. Rediscovering reef love, passion and a keen eye through a lens, he seeks artistic expression. He captures aquatic life and social order in compelling portraiture, along with vibrancy and abundance long gone on the reefs of Hawaii. A mother-and-child duet of Moorish idols, brightly banded coral shrimp the local...