Did you know these about Albert Einstien?

His tendency to rebel against the prescriptive nature of school, where everything was unthinkingly memorised, led to some teachers giving him bad reports. His Munich schoolmaster said “he will never amount to anything”.
Einstein penned what would be seen as his first major paper, "The Investigation of the State of Aether in Magnetic Fields.' when he was just a teenager.
After failing the entrance exam for a Zurich technical college, Einstein studied a new syllabus at school, and entered college on his second attempt.  
At 17, he renounced his German citizenship in order to avoid military service. For the next four years, Einstein was not the citizen of any country.
An academic career was put on hold after graduating with average marks, and finding his girlfriend and fellow student Mileva Marić had fallen pregnant.

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born on January 29th in the year 1860, in the small seaport of Taganrog, Ukraine. He is regarded as one of Russia’s most cherished story tellers. He has produced some hilarious one-acts, but his tragic stories have gained him the name of being one of the major dramatists. Today, he is remembered as a playwright and one of the masters of the modern short story. He was the grandson of a serf and the son of a grocer, whose religious fanaticism caused much of his early years to reside under its shadow. While he was doing medicine in the University of Moscow, he began writing short stories. After graduating in 1884, he worked as a freelance writer and journalist related to comics. He used the money gathered from it to support himself and his family, and by 1886, he had gained wide fame as a writer. Chekhov’s works were published in various St. Petersburg papers, including Peterburskaia Gazeta in 1885, and Novoe Vremia in 1886. The Shooting Party published by him was translated into English in 1926.

In the early part of his career, he mastered the art of one-act and produced some fine pieces. In 1888, he wrote a story, The Bear, in which a creditor pursues a young widow, but later proposes marriage to her after being impressed that she’s agreed to fight a duel with him. In 1889, he wrote The Wedding, which also has a very nice story attached to it, and became an instant hit amongst his fans.

In 1886, he began contributing regularly to St. Petersburg daily Novoe Vremia and that was when he developed the style of calm writing. He was criticized by his opponents because his story lacked social commentary, but at the same time, he was praised by authors such as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov.

In 1888, Chekhov was rewarded the Pushkin Prize and the very next year, he was elected a member of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature.  He withdrew from Literature and turned to Science for a while when his play, The Wood Demon failed in 1889. As a part of his doctoral research, he made a trip to the penal colony of Sakhalin, north of Siberia, where he surveyed 10,000 convicts sentenced to life on the island. During the latter half of the year, he traveled all over the word, including places as South East Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, and the Middle East.

In 1901, Chekhov finally married an actress, Olga Knipper, who had performed in his plays.  On July 15, 1904, in Badenweiler, Germany, Chekhov died. He is buried in the cemetery of the Novodeviche Monastery in Moscow.

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway, famous author and journalist, was born in the affluent Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, on July 21, 1899. His father was a doctor; his mother, a musician. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Ernest Hall. As a young man, he was interested in writing; he wrote for and edited his high school’s newspaper, as well as the high school yearbook. Upon graduating from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1917, he worked for the Kansas City Star newspaper briefly, but in that short time, he learned the writing style that would shape nearly all of his future work.

As an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I, Ernest Hemingway was wounded and spent several months in the hospital. While there, he met and fell in love with a Red Cross nurse named Agnes von Kurowsky. They planned to marry; however, she became engaged to an Italian officer instead.

This experience devastated Hemingway, and Agnes became the basis for the female characters in his subsequent short stories “A Very Short Story” (1925) and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1936), as well as the famous novel “A Farewell To Arms” (1929). This would also start a pattern Ernest would repeat for the rest of his life – leaving women before they had the chance to leave him first.

Ernest Hemingway began work as a journalist upon moving to Paris in the early 1920s, but he still found time to write. He was at his most prolific in the 20s and 30s. His first short story collection, aptly titled “Three Stories and Ten Poems,” was published in 1923. His next short story collection, “In Our Time,” published in 1925, was the formal introduction of the vaunted Hemingway style to the rest of the world, and considered one of the most important works of 20th century prose. He would then go on to write some of the most famous works of the 20th century, including “A Farewell to Arms,” “The Sun Also Rises,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” and “The Old Man and the Sea.” He also won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.

Ernest Hemingway lived most of his later years in Idaho. He began to suffer from paranoia, believing the FBI was aggressively monitoring him. In November of 1960 he began frequent trips to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for electroconvulsive therapy – colloquially known as “shock treatments.” He had his final treatment on June 30, 1961. Two days later, on July 2, 1961, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth with a twelve-gauge shotgun. He was a few weeks short of his 62nd birthday. This wound up being a recurring trend in his family; his father, as well as his brother and sister, also died by committing suicide. The legend of Hemingway looms large, and his writing style is so unique that it left a legacy in literature that will endure forever.

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom’s autobiography began with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ten Boom watch shop in Haarlem, Holland. The ten Boom family was a highly respected one known for their deep religious faith and good will towards anyone who might need their help. This celebration took place in 1937 within the shadow of World War II and the rise of Nazism. However, the Dutch people believed that just as in World War I, their neutrality would be honored. Unfortunately, they could not know the evil and the horrors that come with it were just around the corner for them.

Corrie described in detail the old, strangely built Dutch house where she was born, because it would become the main setting of The HidingPlace - a secret room they would build to hide Jews and political prisoners fleeing Nazi persecution. The big old house was a beloved part of Corrie’s childhood as she used it as a backdrop to reminisce about how she grew up. She remembered many fond moments: trying to get out of going to school; a father who prized his faith and education above all; a mother who made it a regular habit to visit the poor and ill and bring them help; an older sister who was to always be one her greatest friends; an older brother who was educated and ordained a Protestant minister while also working later for the Resistance Movement; a younger sister whose strict honesty sometimes got her into trouble; three aunts, all different in personality and attitude toward life, but who were great examples to Corrie as she grew up; and people in the community of Haarlem who valued her family and their contribution to their city.

Corrie, her father, and her sister, Betsie, eventually had to face the Nazi invasion of Holland and became a part of the Resistance Movement. They provided a place for people who were fleeing the Nazis to live and a secret room for them to hide, in case the house was ever raided. During this time, Corrie often had doubts about whether her mission was wrong, but she always found her way back to the truth by relying on God. They practiced daily for the raid and continued to pray that it never happened. Unfortunately, that day did arrive as the result of a man who Corrie later learned was named Jan Vogel and was a Dutchman who collaborated with the Germans. The Jews hiding in the secret room were saved, but Corrie, her father, and Betsie were taken into custody. Father died ten days after his arrest and was buried in a pauper’s grave while Corrie and Betsie found themselves imprisoned first in Scheveningen Prison, a Dutch federal prison used by the Nazis. There, Corrie, who was ill when the arrest occurred, was kept in solitary for a month or two. Every time she reached a moment of despair, God seemed to provide something to give her strength. For example, the only company she had other than a “hand” delivering her food tray through a slot in the cell wall each day was a black ant to whom she gave pieces of her bread. He provided an example of strength for her to follow as he struggled to take the bread back to his home through the crack in the floor.

Later, the two women were transported to Vught Prison, where Corrie was finally able to catch up and be with Betsie. Corrie knew that Betsie, who had had a weak heart all her life, needed her now more than ever. Here, with the help of a set of the four Gospels given to Corrie by a nurse in the hospital at Schevenigen, they told the story of God’s love and the promise of Jesus’ Resurrection.

In spite of being together at last, Corrie wished valiantly for release. Instead, they were soon transported in boxcars into eastern Germany and the infamous prison of Ravensbruck. Conditions there were horrifying, and gradually, Betsie became more and more ill. Throughout it all, however, they continued to bring the word of God to any prisoner who wanted to learn. They became the strength these women needed to face whatever the future might bring. Many miracles occurred there: the tiny vitamin bottle Corrie sneaked in to help keep Betsie strong, seemed to never empty, even though they shared its contents with anyone who appeared ill; the guards never tried to come in and confiscate their Scriptures even though it was common practice in the other barracks; on her deathbed, Betsie predicted that they would be released by the first of the year, 1945, and that Corrie would open a huge home with tall windows and a garden for the injured of the war, all of which came true; and when Betsie died, her face miraculously lost its skeletal, lined appearance to look free, young and strong again, just as she looked at the Beje.

Corrie was eventually released and sent back to Holland. It was only later in 1957, when she returned for the first time to Ravensbruck that she learned her release was a clerical error and that all women her age the next week were sent to the gas chambers. The journey home was long and arduous, but eventually Corrie arrived at Willem’s home first and then the Beje later. However, she was restless with whatever work she tried, from repairing and making watches to opening the Beje to the feeble-minded. Eventually, she began to speak to churches and other groups about her and Betsie’s experiences. It was at one of these speaking engagements that she met Mrs. Bierens de Haan, a wealthy woman who promised that if her son came home from Germany, she would open her mansion to fulfill Betsie’ dream. The son came home and Corrie readied the house for the hundreds of people who began filtering there to learn how to forgive those who had so horribly wronged them. She also opened up a former concentration camp for the same purpose.

Later, she took her ministry throughout Europe and the Near East and gained a great reputation for her stories about her time in Nazi prisons. This was how she met John and Elizabeth Sherrill, the husband and wife team who helped to co-write her story, The Hiding Place. Eventually, her age led to several debilitating strokes which robbed her of her power to speak, but she remained a source of inspiration to everyone who came to see her.

She died on her 91st birthday in Orange County, California, where she had been living with friends. Her story is still an inspiration 35 years after it was first published.

The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne

An eight-year-old boy is found dead in a playground . . . and his eleven-year-old neighbor is accused of the crime. Leading the defense is London solicitor Daniel Hunter, a champion of lost causes.

A damaged boy from a troubled home, Daniel's young client, Sebastian, reminds Daniel of his own turbulent childhood--and of Minnie, the devoted woman whose love saved him. But one terrible act of betrayal irrevocably shattered their bond.

As past and present collide, Daniel is faced with disturbing questions. Will his sympathy for Sebastian and his own memories blind him to the truth? What happened in the park--and who, ultimately, is to blame for a little boy's death? Rethinking everything he's ever believed, Daniel begins to understand what it means to be wrong . . . and to be the guilty one. 

Monster

This story is about a 16-year-old teenage black boy, Steve Harmon, who is caught up in a series of accused murder and robbery. He is accused of so because there were people that claimed that they saw him there at the scene of the crime. He battles to prove his innocence and battle the prosecution with sheer determination.

Steve also inserts entries of his diary into this novel, he talks about how tough his life is in prison and the kind of problems he has to face and endure. Through it all, he learns to survive and live each day as it comes in prison. 

A bigger part of this novel is made into a courtroom drama, where the trial goes for the state to prosecute Steve for murder and Steve's defense lawyer who battles the prosecution and eliminates proof against Steve.