This is not just the story of what was perhaps the most daring raid undertaken by the commandos during the war, but it is also the true and remarkable account of a desperate escape by Marine Sparks and Major 'Blondie' Hasler across German-occupied France. For nearly three months, while they desperately sought assistance from the suspicious French Resistance and dodged German soldiers at every turn, Sparks and Hasler found themselves avoiding capture and certain death.

David Niven appeared in films for over 50 years of his life, from swashbucklers such as The Prisoner of Zenda and The Guns of Navarone to the Pink Panther series. Despite his on-screen persona, Niven wasn’t always the perfect gentleman. He was insecure both privately and professionally and used people to get ahead. But he did, he said, ‘at least try to be a decent man.’ He knew he often failed, although it isn’t easy to find people who ever had a bad word to say about him. In this fascinat...

‘After reading this affectionately candid biography, it is hard not to echo Olivier’s response on hearing of Burton’s death: “He was so young, so young”’ Daily MailA man of contradictions, Richard Burton’s life and remarkable career are revealed by a writer who knew him from 1968 up to Burton’s last film. Recounting Burton’s deepest and often darkest thoughts and secrets, as well as hell-raising stories quashed by the Hollywood system, such as affairs with Monroe and Lana Turner, be...

Hitler believed himself to be as much an artist as a politician, and his rise to power owed a great deal to the creation of myth around his own personality. In his Germany politics and culture became one, the cult of celebrity nurtured and driven by Hitler and his acolyte Joseph Goebbels. In their version of Hollywood there were scandals, starlets, secret agents, premieres and the infamous 'casting couch'. But one of the actresses was a Soviet agent who held the key to killing the Führer. ...

A rare behind-the-scenes look at John Wayne: the legend, hero, and Hollywood icon of numerous epic Western films, including an Academy Award-winning performance in True Grit.No legend ever walked taller than “The Duke.” Now, author Michael Munn’s startling new biography of John Wayne sets the record straight on why Wayne didn’t serve in World War II, on director John Ford’s contribution to Wayne’s career, and the mega-star’s highs and lows: three failed ma...

The design patterns in this book capture best practices and solutions to recurring problems in machine learning. The authors, three Google engineers, catalog proven methods to help data scientists tackle common problems throughout the ML process. These design patterns codify the experience of hundreds of experts into straightforward, approachable advice.In this book, you will find detailed explanations of 30 patterns for data and problem representation, operationalization, repeatab...

Most intermediate-level machine learning books focus on how to optimize models by increasing accuracy or decreasing prediction error. But this approach often overlooks the importance of understanding why and how your ML model makes the predictions that it does.Explainability methods provide an essential toolkit for better understanding model behavior, and this practical guide brings together best-in-class techniques for model explainability. Experienced machine learning engineers a...

In the summer of 1970 McQueen and author Michael Munn took a road trip in England while the actor’s film Le Mans was on hold. McQueen told stories of being a kid on the street, petty theft, rolling drunks, gangs and losing his virginity to a whore who took cakes in exchange for sexual favours.Munn met McQueen on other occasions, last speaking in 1980, and in this poignant, personal account, recalls the story of one of the greatest American anti-heroes of all time. Dubbed the King o...

Wherever we are in the quality movement, there is more to discover--to explore. Today, quality serves business as a way of increasing profits. That is one end of a spectrum. Tomorrow, quality takes business into the rest of the spectrum. In this new dimension, business learns to serve, and be served, from a foundation of unconditional love. At the other end of the spectrum is quality's far-reaching goal--the attainment of harmony between people and the entire cosmos. This goal reveals the ...

Machine learning systems are both complex and unique. Complex because they consist of many different components and involve many different stakeholders. Unique because they're data dependent, with data varying wildly from one use case to the next. In this book, you'll learn a holistic approach to designing ML systems that are reliable, scalable, maintainable, and adaptive to changing environments and business requirements.Author Chip Huyen, co-founder of Claypot AI, considers each ...

The author's half sister Pamela was James Mason's first wife and Diana de Rosso enjoyed a close friendship with the actor throughout his life. Drawing on her own experience and interviews with those who knew him, including Alec Guinness, Margaret Lockwood, Deborah Kerr and many other actors, directors and writers, Diana de Rosso lets us into the real life of a truly great Englishman.

A New York Times bestseller and a “charming tribute” (Kirkus) to Hollywood’s most beloved eraFilm and television star Robert Wagner has been delighting audiences for more than sixty years, and his many fans flocked to bookstores when he began to record his memories on the page. In his second New York Times bestseller, Wagner shares stories of Hollywood life behind the scenes from the 1930s through the 1950s. As poignant as it is revealing—and filled with ...