Agree with him or not, one thing is clear about Christopher Hitchens: He possessed the spirit of a war reporter, able to stare directly at anything that appeared before him and report back without a flinch. In “Mortality," a collection of his writings released today, he details his last days, spent dying of esophageal cancer in a critical-care hospital in Houston. Inside, the descriptions of his physical pain come in language as terse and brave as his often controversial opinions, along with notes on the resolve to stay honest that made him such a crucial part of our world: “Must take absolute care not to be self-pitying or self-centred.” [via Business Standard]

Last week, Milestone Pictures released a restored documentary on jazz phenomenon Ornette Coleman. Created by filmmaker Shirley Clarke in 1985, this detail-rich film is a composition of images as visually driving as Ornette’s whirling jazz sounds: ramshackle rural landscapes, noisily intellectually experimental nightclubs, and a freight train roaring through a countryside comprise pieces of an hour-and-a-half-long mosaic that portrays the king of free-styling as accurately as it does the 1960s and 1970s America from which he pulled those sounds. [via the New York Times]

If you just can’t get enough Neil Armstrong -- and that’s quite likely as he never wrote a memoir and agreed to very few interviews and public appearances -- there’s good news on the horizon. A bestselling biography of him, “First Man," has gone back to press in order to include a newly updated foreward by author James R. Hansen, the Armstrong go-to guy for dozens of news outlets, including NPR and PBS. Look for the new edition this fall. [via Publishers Weekly]

Actor Demi Moore has agreed to share her life story via HarperCollins, for a price tag of two million dollars. Cast as a self-searching look into her alcohol and cocaine addictions and her relationship with her mother, the Moore memoir will also be another peek inside Hollywood -- and according to some, boosted by inside info on her marriages to fellow actors Ashton Kutchner and Bruce Wills. [via Celebrity Fix]

Steve Jobs has joined the graphic biography crowd. “Steve Jobs: Genius By Design," written by Jason Quinn with art by Amit Tayal, offers an illustration of the American icon as modern-day hero: a man who held close to his own vision, transforming the way the rest of us think, see, and listen in the process. Pictures of the Apple founder’s legendary difficultness are included, too -- from his dislike of school to his reportedly callous treatment of his employees -- for a thoroughly human presentation of a rare inventor-businessman figure. [via Blogcritics.com]