Losing My Virginity
Not long ago the Big Thicket of East Texas was still one of those places singular in its southernness, like the Mississippi Delta or the Carolina Low Country. Now its old-timers and their ways are nearly gone. They will not be forgotten, though, for in My Grandfather's Finger Edward Swift recalls a Big Thicket populated by family and friends as gloriously vibrant and enigmatic as the land itself. From Camp Ruby to nearby Woodville and all the swamps, bayous, and forests in between, Swift shows us a place and time so fecund with humor, tragedy, and good talk that, in growing up there, he had no choice but to become a novelist. We meet, among many others, Mother, a widowed war bride who would spring-clean the inside of her house with a garden hose, and Aunt Coleta, childlike and always surrounded by an entourage of kids half enchanted by her and half scared witless. Then there are Uncle Frank, who, with self-fulfilling flair, would have drawn a pistol at the merest suggestion that his family was dysfunctional, and, of course, Grandfather, who lost his finger to a machete and his mind to cough medicine. A mystical world of carnivals, talking fiddles, houses on wheels, atomic bombs, and total-immersion baptisms, Edward Swift's Big Thicket was also a world in which he was loved unconditionally--and that alone makes it worth getting to know.
Stats for nerds
24recommend
37mentions
34people
2008–2025years
70% recommend30% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Good idea.
* "Billion Dollar Loser" by Reeves Wiedeman (WeWork) * "Bad Blood" by John Carreyrou (Theranos) * "Losing My Virginity" by Richard Branson (his failed projects) * "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz - 51. The Dream Machine - A deep dive into the history of computing.
52. Mindstorms by Seymour Papert - Groundbreaking work on computers in education.
53. Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir by Don Eyles - The Apollo Guidance Computer.
54. Build by Tony Fadell - Memoir and innovation lessons.
55. Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy - Punic Wars and Carthage's fall.
56. Making PCR - The story of polymerase chain reaction development.
57. Moonwalking with Einstein - Memory training and championship.
58. The Rickover Effect by Theodore Rockwell - First nuclear-powered submarine.
59. The Idea Factory - Bell Labs and American innovation.
60. Hackers by Steven Levy - History of computer hackers.
61. Fire in the Valley - Personal computing revolution.
62. Monk in the Garden - Life of Gregor Mendel.
63. Leadership Moment - Lessons from leaders in crises.
64. The Man Who Discovered Quality - W. Edwards Deming and quality management.
65. Eccentric Orbits - Iridium satellite network's rescue.
66. The Road to Character - Human nature and moral development.
67. The Spy and the Traitor - Soviet spy Oleg Gordievsky's story.
68. Billion Dollar Spy - Cold War espionage.
69. Skunk Works - Lockheed's F-117 and SR-71 programs.
70. Working by Robert Caro - Insights into Caro's research.
71. The Wager by David Grann - 18th-century British maritime disaster.
72. Caro's LBJ Series - Biography of Lyndon B. Johnson.
73. The Prize by Daniel Yergin - Oil industry history.
74. The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf - Alexander von Humboldt's contributions.
75. Bad Blood by John Carreyrou - Theranos scandal.
76. Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson - Memoir and business insights.
77. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz - Leadership lessons.
78. Billion Dollar Loser by Reeves Wiedeman - WeWork's rise and fall.
79. Tuxedo Park - Invention of radar during WWII.
80. Insisting on the Impossible - Edwin Land and instant photography.
- Richard Branson's "Losing my Virginity" is pretty cool.
- Here are some that I've enjoyed reading:
Steve Martin - Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Kevin Mitnick - Ghost In The Wires
Kenneth Roman - The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising
Walter Isaacson - Steve Jobs
Alan Deutschman - The Second Coming of Steve Jobs
James Wallace - Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire
Alice Schroeder - The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
Richard Branson - Losing My Virginity
- I've recently read a book which encouraged me to change my lazy habits and strive for more: Losing my Virginity, by Richard Branson and Edward Whitley.
It made me realize I've never really hustled in my life. Reading it was a humbling experience. When I finished the book I was on the verge of tears, an odd mix of shame and wonder.
I highly recommend you Branson's autobiography.
- Oh, that's my favorite subject, I love reading autobiographies of awesome people =)
Here are my favorites:
- Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman
- Ghost In The Wires by Kevin Mitnick
- Catch me if you can by Abagnale
- iWoz by Steve Wozniak
- Losing my Virginity by Richard Branson
- Without their Permission by Alexis Ohanian
All of them are absolutely awesome and enlightening and entertaining. Also I can highly recommend listening them as audiobooks, very convenient.
