Author: James Frey File Type: mobi Amazon.com ReviewBook DescriptionAt the age of 23, James Frey woke up on a plane to find his front teeth knocked out and his nose broken. He had no idea where the plane was headed nor any recollection of the past two weeks. An alcoholic for ten years and a crack addict for three, he checked into a treatment facility shortly after landing. There he was told he could either stop using or die before he reached age 24. This is Freys acclaimed account of his six weeks in rehab. Amazon.com ReviewThe electrifying opening of James Freys debut memoir, A Million Little Pieces, smash-cuts to the then 23-year-old author on a Chicago-bound plane covered with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood. Wanted by authorities in three states, without ID or any money, his face mangled and missing four front teeth, Frey is on a steep descent from a dark marathon of drug abuse. His stunned family checks him into a famed Minnesota drug treatment center where a doctor promises he will be dead within a few days if he starts to use again, and where Frey spends two agonizing months of detox confronting The Fury head onblockquoteI want a drink. I want fifty drinks. I want a bottle of the purest, strongest, most destructive, most poisonous alcohol on Earth. I want fifty bottles of it. I want crack, dirty and yellow and filled with formaldehyde. I want a pile of powder meth, five hundred hits of acid, a garbage bag filled with mushrooms, a tube of glue bigger than a truck, a pool of gas large enough to drown in. I want something anything whatever however as much as I can.blockquoteOne of the more harrowing sections is when Frey submits to major dental surgery without the benefit of anesthesia or painkillers (he fights the mind-blowing waves of bayonet pain by digging his fingers into two old tennis balls until his nails crack). His fellow patients include a damaged crack addict with whom Frey wades into an ill-fated relationship, a federal judge, a former championship boxer, and a mobster (who, upon his release, throws a hilarious surf-and-turf bacchanal, complete with pay-per-view boxing). In the books epilogue, when Frey ticks off a terse update on everyone, you can almost hear the Jim Carroll Bands brutal survivors lament People Who Died kicking in on the soundtrack of the inevitable film adaptation.The rage-fueled memoir is kept in check by Freys cool, minimalist style. Like his steady mantra, I am an Alcoholic and I am a drug Addict and I am a Criminal, Freys use of repetition takes on a crisp, lyrical quality which lends itself to the surreal experience. The book could have benefited from being a bit leaner. Nearly 400 pages is a long time to spend under Freys influence, and the stylistic acrobatics (no quotation marks, random capitalization, left-aligned text, wild paragraph breaks) may seem too self-conscious for some readers, but beyond the literary fireworks lurks a fierce debut. --Brad Thomas ParsonsFrom Publishers WeeklyFrey is pretender to the throne of the aggressive, digressive, cocky Kings David Eggers and Foster Wallace. Pre-pub comparisons to those writers spring not from Freys writing but from his attitude as a recent advance profile put it, the 33-year-old former drug dealer and screenwriter wants to be the greatest literary writer of his generation. While the Davids have their faults, their work is unquestionably literary. Freys work is more mirrored surface than depth, but this superficiality has its attractions. With a combination of upper-middle-class entitlement, street credibility garnered by astronomical drug intake and PowerPoint-like sentence fragments and clipped dialogue, Frey proffers a book that is deeply flawed, too long, a trial of even the most nave readers credulousness-yet its posturings hit a nerve. This is not a new story boy from a nice, if a little chilly, family gets into trouble early with alcohol and drugs and stays there. Pieces begins as Frey arrives at Hazelden, which claims to be the most successful treatment center in the world, though its success rate is a mere 17%. There are flashbacks to the binges that led to rehab and digressions into the history of other patients a mobster, a boxer, a former college administrator, and Lilly, his forbidden love interest, a classic fallen princess, former prostitute and crack addict. What sets Pieces apart from other memoirs about 12-stepping is Freys resistance to the concept of a higher power. The book is sure to draw criticism from the recovery community, which is, in a sense, Freys great gimmick. He is someone whose problems seem to stem from being uncomfortable with authority, and who resists it to the end, surviving despite the odds against him. The prose is repetitive to the point of being exasperating, but the story, with its forays into the consciousness of an addict, is correspondingly difficult to put down. 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. James Frey wakes up on a plane, with no memory of the preceding two weeks. His face is cut and his body is covered with bruises. He has no wallet and no idea of his destination. He has abused alcohol and every drug he can lay his hands on for a decade and he is aged only twenty-three. What happens next is one of the most powerful and extreme stories ever told. His family takes him to a rehabilitation centre. And James Frey starts his perilous journey back to the world of the drug and alcohol-free living. His lack of self-pity is unflinching and searing. A Million Little Pieces is a dazzling account of a life destroyed and a life reconstructed. It is also the introduction of a bold and talented literary voice. The most lacerating tale of drug addiction since William S. Burroughs Junky. The Boston GlobeAgain and again, the book delivers recollections that leave the reader winded and unsteady. James Freys staggering recovery memoir could well be seen as the final word on the topic.San Francisco ChronicleA brutal, beautifully written memoir.The Denver PostGripping . . . A great story . . . You cant help but cheer his victory. Los Angeles Times Book Review

Author: Todd Lammle File Type: pdf A must-have study guide for exam 640-911 on Ciscos Unified Data CenterThe Cisco Certified Network Associate Data Center certification is Ciscos newest certification, covering the Cisco Unified Data Center technologies. Written by unparalleled author and Cisco authority Todd Lammle, and CCIE John Swartz, this comprehensive study guide is essential reading for anyone preparing to take the 640-911 exam (Introducing Cisco Data Center Networking), providing in-depth coverage of all the exams objectives. In addition, it offers expanded coverage on key topics reflected on the exam. Addresses understanding basic networking and ethernet technologiesReviews the OSI and DoD model and TCPIP Transport LayerCovers basic IP routing technologies, layer 2 switching technologies, and routing principlesProvides an introduction to Nexus switch as well as how to configure it CCNA Data Center Study Guide offers you access to additional study tools, including bonus practice exams, electronic flashcards, a searchable PDF of a glossary of terms. Plus, you will be able to use the free nexus simulator to perform all the hands-on labs in the book.