An heir and a spare: One son, protected future king, and the other a dense, drug-using recluse, destined for failure – that is, if we are to believe the press. In the best-selling memoir of all time, a high-ranking member of the royal family gives us an inside look into the world he was born into and ultimately left for his sanity and health.

An heir and a spare: One son, protected future king, and the other a dense, drug-using recluse, destined for failure – that is, if we are to believe the press. In the best-selling memoir of all time, a high-ranking member of the royal family gives us an inside look into the world he was born into and ultimately left for his sanity and health.

As always, before discussing this week's book, we discuss a theme inspired by the book. This week's theme is The Power of Traveling Abroad. Then, on to our story: Many have their opinions about him. But this is his story told in his own words through a series of uninhibited conversations with one of the most influential authors of his time.

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Who raised you? The assumption is that our families shape who we become, but do our friends have more of an influence than we realize? In his autobiographical tale of being born and raised under apartheid in South Africa, Trevor Noah praises the people who gave him the vision and tools to make his path. He also paints the picture of his mother as a courageous visionary ahead of her time. Before diving into this heartwarming story, we discuss family vs. environment, which significantly influences our lives. 

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A family is devastated by information that their mother, long dead, is helping people live longer, happier lives all around the world. How can this be? Rumors spread that scientists have cloned the matriarch and that the woman they love now has duplicates of herself around Europe. Still, another suspicion is that she's been shot into space, stuffed into a bomb, and inserted with AIDS, suffering alone in some cold lab halfway around the planet. The stress of all this news cripples her children, but what is the truth?

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Doctors provide her with the best treatment available, but they don't tell the woman they are stealing a portion of her body during their treatments. Those stolen cells proved extraordinarily incredible, saving people's lives worldwide, and they continue to marvel even in our day. Everyone benefits from the woman's unknowing sacrifice, except for her family and children.

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Iconic American poet, activist, playwright, and holder of numerous awards and 50 honorary degrees, Maya Angelou, was a giant among humans- but like all giants, she started small before learning to grow. This, the first of her famous autobiographies, tells of her modest start and the beginning of her meteoric rise. The lesson — no matter what we've been through, we all decide where we're going.

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