Best of
Social

2016

The Lonely Life of Biddy Weir


Lesley Allen - 2016
    All except one. And Alison doesn't take kindly to people who don't fit her mould . . . A story of abuse and survival, of falling down and of starting again, and of one woman's battle to learn to love herself for who she is, The Lonely Life of Biddy Weir is Lesley Allen’s startlingly honest debut novel, perfect for fans of Rowan Coleman and Julie Cohen.

Becoming the Narcissist's Nightmare: How to Devalue and Discard the Narcissist While Supplying Yourself


Shahida Arabi - 2016
    Individuals with this disorder engage in chronic devaluation and manipulation of their partners, a psychological and emotional phenomenon known as "narcissistic abuse." Unfortunately, the full extent of what narcissistic abuse entails is not taught in any psychology class or diagnostic manual. Since pathological narcissists are unlikely to seek treatment for their disorder, it is difficult to pinpoint what exactly makes a narcissistic abuser tick and the manipulative tactics they use, which are likely to differ from those of other types of abusers as they are more covert and underhanded. What is even more baffling is the addiction we form with our narcissistic abusers, created by biochemical bonds and trauma bonds that are also unlike any other relationship we experience. In this book, survivors will learn:•The red flags of narcissistic behavior and covert manipulation tactics, including subtle signs many survivors don't catch in the early stages of dating a narcissist.•The motives behind narcissistic abuse and techniques to resist a narcissist's manipulation.•Why abuse survivors usually stay with a narcissist long after incidents of abuse occur.•How our own brain chemistry locks us into an addiction with a narcissistic or toxic partner, creating cravings for the constant chaos of the abuse cycle.•Traditional and alternative methods to begin to detach and heal from the addiction to the narcissist, including eleven important steps all survivors must take on the road to healing.•Methods to rewrite the narratives that abusers have written for us so we can begin to reconnect with our authentic selves and purpose.•How to rebuild an even more victorious and empowering life after abuse.Narcissistic partners employ numerous stealthy tactics to devalue and manipulate their victims behind closed doors. These partners lack empathy and demonstrate an incredible sense of entitlement and sense of superiority which drives their exploitative behavior in interpersonal relationships. Their tactics can include verbal abuse and emotional invalidation, stonewalling, projection, taking control of every aspect of the victim’s life, gaslighting and triangulation. Due to the narcissistic partner’s “false self,” the charismatic mask he or she projects to society, the victim often feels isolated in this type of abuse and is unlikely to have his or her experiences validated by friends, family and society. Using the latest scientific research as well as thousands of survivor accounts, this book will explore how the emotional manipulation tactics of narcissistic and antisocial partners affect those around them, particularly with regards to its cumulative socioemotional and psychological effects on the victim. It will also address questions such as: What successful techniques, tools and healing modalities (both traditional and alternative) are available to survivors who have been ridiculed, manipulated, verbally abused and subject to psychological warfare? What can survivors do to better engage in self-love and self-care? How can they forge the path to healthier relationships, especially if they've been a victim of narcissistic abuse by multiple people or raised by a narcissist? Most importantly, how can they use their experiences of narcissistic abuse to empower themselves towards personal development? What can their interactions with a narcissistic abuser teach them about themselves,their relationship patterns and the wounds that still need to be healed in order to move forward into the happy relationships and victorious lives they do deserve?

Super 30


Anand Kumar - 2016
    He dealt with his own disappointment by setting up an innovative school in 2002 to prepare underprivileged students for the IIT JEE examination. Super 30 has an astonishing success rate and on an average twenty-seven to twenty-eight of the thirty students crack the exam every year.Stirring and heart-wrenching this is the extraordinary story of a visionary who has elevated these bright sparks and through education given them hope to rise above crippling poverty. About the AuthorAnand Kumar is an Indian mathematician and founder of Super 30. People Magazine heralded him as People s Hero .

The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy


Michael E. Mann - 2016
    Mann and the Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Tom Toles have been on the front lines of the fight against climate denialism for most of their careers. They have witnessed the manipulation of the media by business and political interests and the unconscionable play to partisanship on issues that affect the well-being of billions. The lessons they have learned have been invaluable, inspiring this brilliant, colorful escape hatch from the madhouse of the climate wars.The Madhouse Effect portrays the intellectual pretzels into which denialists must twist logic to explain away the clear evidence that human activity has changed Earth's climate. Toles's cartoons collapse counter-scientific strategies into their biased components, helping readers see how to best strike at these fallacies. Mann's expert skills at science communication aim to restore sanity to a debate that continues to rage against widely acknowledged scientific consensus. The synergy of these two climate science crusaders enlivens the gloom and doom of so many climate-themed books--and may even convert die-hard doubters to the side of sound science.

Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars, Killing Fields, and the New Politics of Latin America


Ioan Grillo - 2016
    In Brazil's biggest city, a mysterious prisoner orders hit men to gun down forty-one police officers and prison guards in two days. In southwest Mexico, a meth maker is venerated as a saint while enforcing Old Testament justice on his enemies.A new kind of criminal kingpin has arisen: a hybrid of CEO, terrorist, and part rock star, commanding guerrilla attacks, strong-arming governments, and taking over much of the world's trade in narcotics, guns, and humans. What they do affects you now--from the gas in your car, to the gold in your jewelry, to the tens of thousands of Latin Americans calling for refugee status in the United States. Gangster Warlords is the first definitive account of the crime wars unleashing humanitarian disaster in Central and South America and the Caribbean, regions largely abandoned by the United States after the Cold War. Author of the critically acclaimed El Narco, Ioan Grillo has covered Latin America since 2001 and gained access up the cartel chain of command in what he calls the new battlefields of the Americas. Moving between militia-controlled ghettos and the halls of top policymakers, Grillo provides a disturbing new understanding of a war that has spiraled out of control--and needs to be confronted now.

Tying the Knot: A Premarital Guide to a Strong and Lasting Marriage


Rob Green - 2016
    Tying the Knot offers soon-to-be-married couples a practical vision of Christ-centered marriage

The Kindness Challenge: Thirty Days to Improve Any Relationship


Shaunti Feldhahn - 2016
    Think of a relationship that is good but could be great. Think of a group of people that drives you nuts. You want to show more kindness and generosity, but sometimes you’re just tired, stretched, and frustrated. Besides, would small actions make that big a difference? Yes!After years of extensive research, Shaunti Feldhahn has concluded that kindness is a superpower. It can change any relationship, make your life easier and better, and transform our culture. But how does it work? And how can you show kindness when you don’t feel like it?In The Kindness Challenge, Shaunti explores….* Three simple acts that make all the difference in any relationship (with a spouse, child, co-worker, brother-in-law…)* Whether kindness is ever the wrong approach * The seven ways you may be unkind and never realize it * Eight types of kindness—and which might be the best fit for you* Ten sneaky obstacles that get in the way of giving praise* Practical ways to persevere when kindness is tough* How kindness in marriage leads to benefits in the bedroom (yes, really!)* Why your acts of kindness today can help transform the worldWith self-assessments, day-to-day tips, a 30-day challenge, and specific kindness ideas, The Kindness Challenge can make your toughest relationships better and your good relationships great—starting today.

The Power of the Other: The startling effect other people have on you, from the boardroom to the bedroom and beyond-and what to do about it


Henry Cloud - 2016
    These are necessary, but not sufficient. Using evidence from from neuroscience and his work with leaders, Dr. Cloud shows that the best performers draw on another vital resource: personal and professional relationships that fuel growth and help them surpass current limits. Popular wisdom suggests that we should not allow others to have power over us, but the reality is that they do, for better or for worse. Consider the boss who diminishes you through cutting remarks versus one who challenges you to get better. Or the colleague who always seeks the limelight versus the one who gives you the confidence to finish a difficult project. Or the spouse who is honest and supportive versus the one who resents your success. No matter how talented, intelligent, or experienced, the greatest leaders share one commonality: the power of the others in their lives. Combining engaging case studies, persuasive findings from cutting-edge brain research, and examples from his consulting practice, Cloud argues that whether you’re a Navy SEAL or a corporate executive, outstanding performance depends on having the right kind of connections to fuel personal growth and minimize toxic associations and their effects. Presenting a dynamic model of the impact these different kinds of connections produce, Cloud shows readers how to get more from themselves by drawing on the strength and expertise of others. You don’t have a choice whether or not others have power in your life, but you can choose what kinds of relationships you want.

Challenging Destiny A Biography of Chhatrapati Shivaji


Medha Deshmukh Bhaskaran - 2016
    Darkness engulfs the Indian subcontinent. The 17th century is destined to be an era of brutal wars, incessant oppression, and physical and spiritual carnage in the name of religion. Shivaji, a warrior and thinker far ahead of his times, rises and renders a rousing dream - respect and dignity for human life, economic equity, and empowerment. Destiny does not favour him; he faces terribile odds - a fallen and defeated populace, the might of the Mughal Empire, and naval supremacy of the Western powers. Thus begins a battle of conflicting ideologies, contrasting belief systems, and sharply different visions of India - a stake is the future of most ancient civilization. Witness the beginnings of the momentous events that will send thunderbolts across centuries, the echoes of which still haunt the subcontinent.

Academic Hinduphobia: A critique of Wendy Doniger's erotic school of Indology


Rajiv Malhotra - 2016
    In the name of scholarship, which is often hatred and racism in disguise, Hindus are routinely characterized as misogynists, oppressive, anti-minority, irrational, violent and debauched. The author terms this mass-produced hate-mongering literature as 'Atrocity Literature'. Indian culture, he says, is reduced to 'cows, caste, curry, sati and dowry.' If these scholars are to be believed, several sections of Hindu society are apparently in need of being 'saved' by those bearing the white (wo)man's burden even today. This volume is a compilation of several path-breaking essays, most of which were published online at the turn of the century.

A Radical Faith: The Assassination of Sister Maura


Eileen Markey - 2016
    But as Congress held hearings, the State Department, CIA, and FBI traded memos, and supporters held emotional memorial services, the women themselves became symbols, shorn of context and background: hapless victims.In A Radical Faith, journalist Eileen Markey sets the record straight, exploring the full and complex life of one of these women, Sister Maura Clarke. Raised in a tight-knit Irish Catholic community in Queens, New York during WWII, by the 1970s she was organizing and marching against the dictatorship in Nicaragua and willing to take great risks for a movement to transform El Salvador.Drawing on interviews with Maura’s family and those she worked with, Maura’s letters, and declassified government documents, Markey weaves an intimate portrait of Maura’s spiritual and political journey during a shockingly violent era. Working in poor communities transformed Maura from an obedient and rule-bound young woman into a provocative critic of authority who pushed the boundaries of what it meant to be faithful to religious conviction and her own heart—even if it meant challenging the CIA-backed regimes that terrorized the poor of Latin America. Maura’s life is a microcosm of the larger evolution of postwar Catholicism: from a inward-looking, protective institution in the 1950s, through the dramatic reassessments of Vatican II to a community of Christians grappling with liberation theology and what it meant to serve God in the world and beside the poor in the 1970s. As Pope Francis challenges and fascinates the world with outspoken calls for justice, A Radical Faith provides an up-close account of what a faith that does justice looks like.

Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World


Deirdre Nansen McCloskey - 2016
    Stunningly so, the economist and historian Deirdre McCloskey argues in the concluding volume of her trilogy celebrating the oft-derided virtues of the bourgeoisie. The poorest of humanity, McCloskey shows, will soon be joining the comparative riches of Japan and Sweden and Botswana.   Why? Most economists—from Adam Smith and Karl Marx to Thomas Piketty—say the Great Enrichment since 1800 came from accumulated capital. McCloskey disagrees, fiercely. “Our riches,” she argues, “were made not by piling brick on brick, bank balance on bank balance, but by piling idea on idea.” Capital was necessary, but so was the presence of oxygen. It was ideas, not matter, that drove “trade-tested betterment.”  Nor were institutions the drivers. The World Bank orthodoxy of “add institutions and stir” doesn’t work, and didn’t. McCloskey builds a powerful case for the initiating role of ideas—ideas for electric motors and free elections, of course, but more deeply the bizarre and liberal ideas of equal liberty and dignity for ordinary folk. Liberalism arose from theological and political revolutions in northwest Europe, yielding a unique respect for betterment and its practitioners, and upending ancient hierarchies. Commoners were encouraged to have a go, and the bourgeoisie took up the Bourgeois Deal, and we were all enriched.   Few economists or historians write like McCloskey—her ability to invest the facts of economic history with the urgency of a novel, or of a leading case at law, is unmatched. She summarizes modern economics and modern economic history with verve and lucidity, yet sees through to the really big scientific conclusion. Not matter, but ideas. Big books don’t come any more ambitious, or captivating, than Bourgeois Equality.

The Great Convergence: Information Technology and the New Globalization


Richard Baldwin - 2016
    Since then, that share has plummeted to where it was in 1900. As Richard Baldwin explains, this reversal of fortune reflects a new age of globalisation that is drastically different from the old.In the 1800s, globalisation leaped forward when steam power and international peace lowered the costs of moving goods across borders. This triggered a self-fueling cycle of industrial agglomeration and growth that propelled today's rich nations to dominance. That was the Great Divergence. The new globalisation is driven by information technology, which has radically reduced the cost of moving ideas across borders. This has made it practical for multinational firms to move labor-intensive work to developing nations. But to keep the whole manufacturing process in sync, the firms also shipped their marketing, managerial, and technical know-how abroad along with the offshored jobs. The new possibility of combining high tech with low wages propelled the rapid industrialisation of a handful of developing nations, the simultaneous deindustrialisation of developed nations, and a commodity supercycle that is only now petering out. The result is today's Great Convergence.Because globalisation is now driven by fast-paced technological change and the fragmentation of production, its impact is more sudden, more selective, more unpredictable, and more uncontrollable. As The Great Convergence shows, the new globalisation presents rich and developing nations alike with unprecedented policy challenges in their efforts to maintain reliable growth and social cohesion.

Brazen: The Courage to Find the You That's Been Hiding


Leeana Tankersley - 2016
    But what if God is calling us to shamelessly recover the woman he created us to be? What if God is urging us to be--for the first time in our lives--brazen? The word "brazen" means "without shame." Leeana Tankersley wants women to be just that--to unapologetically move from shame- and fear-based living toward lives that are based on love and belonging. With moving personal stories and spot-on observations of the longings we all experience--to know we are loved, to feel comfortable in our own skin, to be heard--Tankersley calls women to honor that voice deep down inside of them rather than bowing to outside influences that push them to become someone they're not. Gritty and overflowing with grace, Brazen will set women free to be truly themselves in a world bent on molding them in its image.

A Global Warming Primer: Answering Your Questions About The Science, The Consequences, and The Solutions


Jeffrey O. Bennett - 2016
    Many times we’ve even heard pundits say “I am not a scientist” to avoid the issue altogether. But the truth is, the basic science is not that difficult. Using a question and answer format, this book will help readers achieve three major goals: To see that anyone can understand the basic science of global warming;  To understand the arguments about this issue made by skeptics, so that readers will be able to decide for themselves what to believe; To understand why, despite the “gloom and doom” that often surrounds this topic, the solutions are ones that will not only protect the world for our children and grandchildren, but that will actually lead us to a stronger economy with energy that is cheaper, cleaner, and more abundant than the energy we use today.

Can't We All Disagree More Constructively?: from The Righteous Mind (Kindle Single) (A Vintage Short)


Jonathan Haidt - 2016
      Drawing on twenty-five years of groundbreaking research, Haidt shows why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have such different intuitions about right and wrong, and why we need the insights of each if we are to flourish as a nation. Here is the key to understanding the miracle of human cooperation and the eternal curse of moralistic aggression, across the political divide and around the world.   An ebook short.

Hunger Pains: Life Inside Foodbank Britain


Kayleigh Garthwaite - 2016
    This book is built on hundreds of hours of interviews with the people who rely on food banks today, as well as with the volunteers who keep them running on tight budgets and in difficult conditions. Kayleigh Garthwaite brings to the book her own experience volunteering in a food bank, and the result is a close-up, empathetic, politically potent portrait of a sadly essential part of daily life in today’s Britain.

Persuasion Secrets of the World's Most Charismatic & Influential Villains


Ben Settle - 2016
    this book shows you how.Mush cookies and feminists will be horrified. The information's been used for centuries by history's most powerful, influential, and sometimes notorious men to live lives lesser men only imagine. Just some of the secrets inside: Mental techniques used by General Douglas MacArthur to inflict psychological pain on someone who disobeys or displeases you. (Psychologists say this causes the same reaction in their brain as physical pain, without leaving marks. Use it for disciplinary purposes only.) 13 ways to keep your enemies and competitors constantly on defense, fearing your next move, struggling to keep up with you. How to peacock your way to straight to the top level power! How men grab power over others — in professional relationships, personal, and family. (The closest thing to owning a "super power"!) How to go from being socially awkward and shunned by women to becoming the most confident guy in the room. (Even broke, creepy losers can become successful and confident, with beautiful women always on an arm.) How to get women to compete for your attention, love, and commitment. How to inspire other men to want to follow and help you achieve your goals. (They'll be loyal and cheerfully submit to your will.) How ugly, short, broke men instantly become attractive to women. (Be attractive to business partners, lenders, clients, and all others you want something from.) A secret way to make people fight to be with you, listen and obey you, and get nervous if they don't hear from you! (You'll be the person everyone wants to hang out with are yours.) Easiest way to attract people and opportunity like a magnet. (No fluffy universe-worshiping woo-woo nonsense here!) How to change your phone usage making yourself influential and persuasive. (Chicks, friends, customers, or anyone!) The ruthless dictator's secret to gain obedience, loyalty, and the top work from all you wish to lead (without committing genocide). Lex Luthor's method for getting devotion from women, underlings, minions, and employees. (Be perceived as a strong leader for a change!) The mistake 80%+ of men make that ensures they're looked down upon by women, clients, customers, friends, and family. (It's probably the most common reason why men fail at reaching their goals, are always broke, and cry in their beer lonely each night.) How being nice makes people hostile (And no, you don't have to sell your soul or be a dick to anyone.) Embrace selfishness to help others. (You'll notice things fall in place: Chicks, family, colleagues, and bosses!) And so much more! Get it today and live a new life by tonight!

Waveform: Twenty-First-Century Essays by Women


Marcia AldrichBich Minh Nguyen - 2016
    Historically, women have been instrumental in moving the essay to center stage, and Waveform continues this rich tradition, further expanding the dynamic genre s boundaries and testing its edges. With thirty essays by thirty distinguished and diverse women writers, this carefully constructed anthology incorporates works ranging from the traditional to the experimental.Waveform champions the diversity of women s approaches to the structure ofthe essay today a site of invention and innovation, with experiments in collage, fragments, segmentation, braids, triptychs, and diptychs. Focused on these explorations of form, Waveform is not wed to a fixed theme or even to women s experiences per se. It is not driven by subject matter but highlights the writers interaction with all manner of subject and circumstance through style, voice, tone, and structure.This anthology presents some of the women who are shaping the essay today, mapping an ever-changing landscape. It is designed to place essays recently written by women such as Roxane Gay, Cheryl Strayed, Margo Jefferson, Jaquira Diaz, and Eula Biss into the hands of those who have been waiting patiently for something they could equally claim as their own.Contributors: Marcia Aldrich, Jocelyn Bartkevicius, Chelsea Biondolillo, Eula Biss, Barrie Jean Borich, Joy Castro, Meghan Daum, Jaquira Diaz, Laurie Lynn Drummond, Patricia Foster, Roxane Gay, Leslie Jamison, Margo Jefferson, Sonja Livingston, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, Brenda Miller, Michele Morano, Kyoko Mori, Bich Minh Nguyen, Adriana Paramo, Jericho Parms, Torrey Peters, Kristen Radtke, Wendy Rawlings, Cheryl Strayed, Dana Tommasino, Sarah Valentine, Neela Vaswani, Nicole Walker, Amy Wright"

Shortcuts Get You Lost!: A Leadership Fable on the Dangers of the Blind Leading the Blind


Mark Villareal - 2016
    Read this book to learn: * Key discussion points that motivate front-line team members * How to engage employees in productive, problem solving dialogue * The importance of illustrations and stories in shaping the culture of your business. This book will enable and empower your team to scale to new heights and achieve world-class success. Read it today and reference it for a lifetime.In this book you'll discover how some managers are consistently more successful than others. What do they do differently? What is it about certain leaders that allow them to be successful no matter what circumstance or situation they find themselves in? Think about an athletic coach who can take over a struggling team and immediately impact success with the same players, the same managers, and the same coaches. The only change was at the top. What is that individual's secret? Learn the keys in Shortcuts Get You Lost!

The Little Book of Feminism


Harriet Dyer - 2016
    The term refers to the organised activities and campaigns for new rights for women in the latter half of the 1800s, although the term "feminism" wouldn't be coined until 1895."From the corseted rabble-rousers of the suffragist movement to the sharp-fingered bloggers of today, this comprehensive little guide will teach you the history, theory and big issues and everything you need to know to become a CARD-CARRYING FEMINIST.

Dhamapada: The Essential Teachings of the Buddha


F. Max Müller - 2016
    This foundation scripture teaches the supreme doctrine of nirvana and the way to the highest possible happiness for mankind. Oxford professor Dr. Max Muller, a great scholar and Orientalist, did the translation.

Purple Prose: Bisexuality in Britain


Kate Harrad - 2016
    This accessible collection of interviews, essays, poems and commentary explores topics such as definitions of bisexuality, intersections of bisexuality with other identities, stereotypes and biphobia, being bisexual at work, teenage bisexuality and bisexuality through the years, the media’s approach to bisexual celebrities, and fictional bisexual characters. Filled with raw, honest, first-person accounts as well as comments from leading bisexual activists in the UK, this is the book you’ll buy for your friend who’s just come out to you as bi-curious, or for your parents who think your bisexuality is weird or a phase, or for yourself, because you know you’re bi but you don’t know where to go or what to do about it.

Fair Game: The Incredible Untold Story of Scientology in Australia


Steve Cannane - 2016
    From Rugby League players trying to improve their game, to Hollywood superstars and the depressed sons of media moguls, Scientology has recruited its share of famous Australians. Less known is that Australia was the first place to ban Scientology, or that Scientology spies helped expose the Chelmsford Deep Sleep Scandal. Numerous Australians have held senior posts in the organisation only to fall foul of the top brass and lose their families as a result. Based on years of interviews and research, Walkley Award-winning journalist Steve Cannane tells for the first time the fascinating story of Australia's vital involvement with this powerful, secretive and punitive cult.

The Medium and the Message: Understanding the Information World


Marshall McLuhan - 2016
    Tracing the descent of technological culture from the phonetic alphabet and resulting "lineal" thought that gave birth to Western civilization, McLuhan explores the contemporary transition from lineality to simultaneity, from text to image, from sequence to spontaneity, and from left to right hemisphere. Topics include: - the environment itself becoming information - the effects of products being written into their design - from 'jobs' to 'roles' in an electronic society - myth as a coping strategy of information overload and more.

Age of Folly: America Abandons Its Democracy


Lewis H. Lapham - 2016
    The self-glorifying march of folly steps off at the end of the Cold War, in an era when delusions of omnipotence allowed the market to climb to virtual heights, while society was divided between the selfish and frightened rich and the increasingly debt-ridden and angry poor. The new millennium saw the democratic election of an American president nullified by the Supreme Court, and the pretender launching a wasteful, vainglorious and never-ending war on terror, doomed to end in defeat and the loss of America’s prestige abroad.All this culminates in the sunset swamp of the 2016 election—a farce dominated by Donald Trump, a self-glorifying photo-op bursting star-spangled bombast in air. This spectacle would be familiar to Aristotle, whose portrayal of the “prosperous fool” describes a class of people who “consider themselves worthy to hold public office, for they already have the things that give them a claim to office.”

Subdivided: Building Inclusion into the Global City


Jay PitterBeyhan Farhadi - 2016
    With essays contributed by an array of city-builders, it proposes solutions for fully inclusive communities that respond to the complexities of a global city.John Lorinc is a Toronto-based journalist who writes about urban affairs, politics, and business. He co-edited The Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto's First Immigrant Neighbourhood (Coach House, 2015).Jay Pitter is a writer and professor based in Toronto. She holds a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University.

Optimistic Nihilism: A Psychologist's Personal Story & (Biased) Professional Appraisal of Shedding Religion


David Landers - 2016
    But much more than autobiography, his story is woven with provocative psychological and philosophical commentary, including input from the likes of Lucretius, Freud, and the metal band Napalm Death. A rare style of intellectual but conversational and poignant but humorous makes for a highly accessible and enjoyable read. As the spiritual account winds down, the book transitions into a more rational exploration of the problems associated with religion—and even with spirituality in general. Everyone from outspoken atheists to moderate believers will be engaged, as David is able to critically evaluate spirituality without the hostility so common among modern atheist writers. At the book’s climax, David develops the popular atheist conversation a little deeper by courageously exploring the implications of nihilism: If our deepest fears about the nature of reality were to be true, could we go on? By the end of Optimistic Nihilism, we begin to suspect that we could—and even wonder if a relatively nihilistic perspective paradoxically makes life more precious than any other scheme. A critical must-read for all students of spirituality, psychology, and humanity.

The Big Book of Trains


National Railway Museum - 2016
    Different types of trains are featured on their own spreads, and each page features multiple images to give a close-up view as well as informative text about each train. See the differences among monorails, passenger trains, and TGVs. Learn about pistons, fireboxes, boilers, and coupling rods, and find out exactly what they do to help the train travel down on the tracks.See key features of each train model and discover the difference between steam trains and diesels. Find out how trains are designed for certain jobs and tasks, including mountain trains, snow trains, and freight trains. Look at the biggest and fastest trains in the world.With incredible pictures and informative text, The Big Book of Trains is the essential book for young readers who want to know everything about trains.

Ethical Porn for Dicks: A Man’s Guide to Responsible Viewing Pleasure


David J. Ley - 2016
    Using a natural question/answer format for people feeling fear and shame about porn use, this accessible, funny, and well-informed book is the first one to offer men a nonjudgmental way to discover how to view and use pornography responsibly.David J. Ley, PhD, is an internationally recognized expert on issues related to sexuality and mental health. He has authored two books, published in the Los Angeles Times and Playboy, and appeared on television with Anderson Cooper and Dr. Phil.

Troubled Refuge: Struggling for Freedom in the Civil War


Chandra Manning - 2016
    By the end of the Civil War, nearly half a million slaves had taken refuge behind Union lines, in what became known as "contraband camps." These were crowded, dangerous places, yet some 12-15 percent of the Confederacy's slave population took almost unimaginable risks to reach them, and they became the first places Northerners came to know former slaves en masse. Ranging from stories of individuals to those of armies on the move to the debates in Congress, Troubled Refuge probes what the camps were really like and how former slaves and Union soldiers warily united there. This alliance, which would outlast the war, helped to destroy slavery and ward off the surprisingly tenacious danger of re-enslavement. But it also raised unsettling questions about the relationship between American civil and military authority, and reshaped the meaning of American citizenship, to the benefit as well as the lasting cost of African-Americans.

Stop Being Lonely: Three Simple Steps to Developing Close Friendships and Deep Relationships


Kira Asatryan - 2016
    It can also happen when we are with people. Online friends, followers, or “likers” don’t necessarily add up to much when you crave fulfilling interaction, and satisfying, long-term relationships are not a mystery to be left up to chance (or technology). The good news is that, according to relationship coach Kira Asatryan, loneliness has a reliable antidote: the feeling of closeness. We can and should cultivate closeness in our relationships using the steps outlined in this book: knowing, caring, and mastering closeness.Whether with romantic partners, friends, family members, or business colleagues, these techniques will help you establish true closeness with others. The simple and straightforward actions Asatryan presents in this wonderfully practical book will guide you toward better relationships and less loneliness in all social contexts.

Vulnerability in Resistance


Judith Butler - 2016
    Focusing on political movements and cultural practices in different global locations, including Turkey, Palestine, France, and the former Yugoslavia, the contributors to Vulnerability in Resistance articulate an understanding of the role of vulnerability in practices of resistance. They consider how vulnerability is constructed, invoked, and mobilized within neoliberal discourse, the politics of war, resistance to authoritarian and securitarian power, in LGBTQI struggles, and in the resistance to occupation and colonial violence. The essays offer a feminist account of political agency by exploring occupy movements and street politics, informal groups at checkpoints and barricades, practices of self-defense, hunger strikes, transgressive enactments of solidarity and mourning, infrastructural mobilizations, and aesthetic and erotic interventions into public space that mobilize memory and expose forms of power. Pointing to possible strategies for a feminist politics of transversal engagements and suggesting a politics of bodily resistance that does not disavow forms of vulnerability, the contributors develop a new conception of embodiment and sociality within fields of contemporary power.Contributors: Meltem Ahiska, Athena Athanasiou, Sarah Bracke, Judith Butler, Elsa Dorlin, Basak Ertür, Zeynep Gambetti, Rema Hammami, Marianne Hirsch, Elena Loizidou, Leticia Sabsay, Nükhet Sirman, Elena Tzelepis

Workplace Poker: Are You Playing the Game, or Just Getting Played?


Dan Rust - 2016
    Most assume that they have an advantage that protects them—degrees from the right schools, great mentors, influential friends and family, or just better luck. But these hyper-successful professionals have faced setbacks, too. Instead of allowing challenges to derail their rise, they’ve learned how to manage them better.In Workplace Poker, Dan Rust gives you the strategies you need to accelerate your career, and prevent setbacks from stalling your progress or spiraling it downward. The trick, he reveals, is to “play the game under the game,” to think more deeply and act more strategically. If you are talented, ambitious, and hardworking, but feel your career just isn’t accelerating as rapidly as it should, or as fast as you would like it to, this book is for you. If you have been frustrated to see others (less talented, who don’t work as hard as you do) achieve rapid professional progress while your career stalls out, this book is for you. If you’ve been annoyed by those who are successful primarily because of where they went to school, or family connections, or financial resources, this book is for you.Rust gives you the insight and skills you need to transform yourself and adapt and survive any hurdle—to turn every adversity into advantage, and every struggle into strength, including:• Recognition of your own “blind spots” and what to do about them• Mastering strategic and authentic self-promotion• Enhancing your personal charm and likeability• Achieving the high energy, both mental and physical, necessary to drive an exceptional career trajectory• Developing an interest in “corporate anthropology” and the complex human dimensions of business• Neutralizing the career-stalling impact of difficult or dysfunctional colleagues• Deeply “owning” and learning from career missteps and failuresIn his smart, funny, relatable voice, Rust shares stories of individuals who have applied these capabilities in real world situations, and provides short, focused exercises to help you think about yourself and your own career. With Workplace Poker¸ you’ll learn how to get out of you own way, and find the success you deserve.

Books that Matter: The Prince


William Landon - 2016
    But what does it really mean to be Machiavellian?These 24 lectures are more than just a close reading of one of the great books of Western history. They're a revealing investigation of the historical context of Machiavelli's philosophical views, his tumultuous relationship with Florentine politics, his reception by his contemporaries and by 20th-century scholars, and his lasting influence on everyone from William Shakespeare to Joseph Stalin.Throughout the lectures, you'll dive deeply into the work's most important chapters to survey their main insights; read between the lines to uncover hidden meanings, inspirations, and ironies; learn how scholars have debated their historical inspiration and importance; and discover the author's startling imagery and sometimes beautiful language. Going beyond the commonly held vision of Renaissance Italy as a place of creative genius, Professor Landon reveals the drama and terror of Machiavelli's life and world, including his relationships to the city of Florence, the powerful Medici family, and the villainous Cesare Borgia (Machiavelli's ideal prince).For those who have already heard The Prince, prepare to engage with the text on a deeper level than ever before. And for those who've always wanted to listen to this important book, this is your introduction to one man's revolutionary beliefs about achieving - and maintaining - power.

The 6-Figure Speaker: The Ultimate Blueprint to Build a Business as a Highly-Paid Professional Speaker


Brian Tracy - 2016
    After giving over 5,000 talks in 70 countries Brian has become one of highest paid and most sought after public speakers in the world. And in this new book he reveals everything he’s learned over his 30 year career. It’s a must-read for anyone who wants to create a successful speaking career. Inside the 6-Figure Speaker, you’ll get all the tips, tricks, strategies and secrets Brian has used to build a speaking empire.With the lessons in this book, you’ll be able to build your own business as a 6-Figure Speaker.This book will show you: The 7 habits all 6-figure speakers use to stay fully booked, charge higher fees, and deliver the types of speeches that get them re-booked again and again The 4 point bullet plan for a 20 minute speech and how to easily expand it for 40, 60 and even 90 minute speeches. How to craft an electrifying title to your speech that has people saying “I’ve got to hear that” even if they’ve never heard of you! A step-by-step action plan to take everything you’ve learned and start building your business as a 6-figure speaker today. Readers should consider The 6-Figure Speaker their action guide to a successful and lucrative career as a speaker. It will become YOUR PLAY BOOK for finding and securing high-quality speaking engagements, charging higher fees so you can easily scale your business, and crafting unforgettable speeches that have your audience talking about you long after you’ve left the stage.It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out, or if you’re someone with experience as a speaker. The 6 Figure Speaker has everything you need to get started, scale up and shortcut your journey to success as a speaker. Get Brian's latest book today!

Knocked Up Abroad: Stories of pregnancy, birth, and raising a family in a foreign country


Lisa Ferland - 2016
     This book is not only for expectant parents as it is a delightful tour of the world through the eyes of people living in countries other than their native land. Without knowing the language, culture, or customs, having a baby abroad isn't as easy as you might expect. Knocked Up Abroad is an anthology of 24 stories about the trials and joys experienced by 21 mothers and two dads who raised their families abroad. These life stories span several continents to highlight the infinite ways in which babies are welcomed into the world. Each story is as unique as the child being born. Their experiences range from the spa-like treatments for postpartum women in Japan to insatiable pregnancy cravings in the Seychelles to non-functioning toilets in West Africa. Contributors include: Lana Ankarcrona, Jannecke Balys, Erin Boeck Motum, Candice Cabutihan-Cipullo, Mirren Childs, Michelle Estekantchi, Ersatz Expat, Cathy Ferland, Lisa Ferland, Jonathan Ferland, Naomi Hattaway, Sherah Haustein, Katarina Holm-DiDio, Chantelle Howell, Demi Jones, Olga Mecking, Sarah Metzker Erdemir, Sarah Murdock, Penelope Stanley, Ember Swift, Sten-Ove Tullberg, Meika Weiss, Clara Wiggins, Jackie Wilson

The QBQ! Workbook: A Hands-on Tool for Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life


John G. Miller - 2016
    Fish! helped raise flagging morale. Execution guided readers to overcome the inability to get things done. QBQ!: The Question Behind the Question, now a classic bestselling guide celebrating 15 years in print, addresses the most important issue in business and society today: personal accountability. This brand-new workbook and study guide will take you deeper into the material, allowing you to explore and absorb how to replace blame, complaining, and procrastination with personal accountability, by asking the simple question, "What can I do better next time?" Instead of, "Who dropped the ball?" "Why do they keep messing up?" or "Why do we have to go through all these changes?" you will begin to ask, "How can I improve this situation?" "What can I contribute?" and "How can I make a difference?" The perfect companion to QBQ! and a powerful tool for individuals, teams, and organizations, this deceptively simple workbook presents a bold new way to solve problems, improve teamwork, increase productivity, and pave the way for extraordinary success.

This Brave New World: India, China, and the United States


Anja Manuel - 2016
    During that time, Asia will surpass the combined strength of North America and Europe in economic might, population size, and military spending. Both India and China will have vetoes over many international decisions, from climate change to global trade, human rights, and business standards. From her front row view of this colossal shift, first at the State Department and now as an advisor to American business leaders, Anja Manuel escorts the reader on an intimate tour of the corridors of power in Delhi and Beijing. Her encounters with political and business leaders reveal how each country’s history and politics influences their conduct today. Through vibrant stories, she reveals how each country is working to surmount enormous challenges—from the crushing poverty of Indian slum dwellers and Chinese factory workers, to outrageous corruption scandals, rotting rivers, unbreathable air, and managing their citizens’ discontent. “Incisive…lively and accessible…Manual shows us that an optimistic path is possible: we can bring China and India along as partners“ (San Francisco Chronicle). We wring our hands about China, Manuel writes, while we underestimate India, which will be the most important country outside the West to shape China’s rise. Manuel shows us that a different path is possible—we can bring China and India along as partners rather than alienating one or both, and thus extend our own leadership in the world. This Brave New World offers “a thoughtful analysis…and a strategy for keeping it from turning violent” (The Wall Street Journal).

Bravehearts: Whistle Blowing in the Age of Snowden


Mark Hertsgaard - 2016
    When insiders like former NSA analyst Edward Snowden or ex-FBI agent Coleen Rowley or Big Tobacco truth-teller Jeffrey Wigand blow the whistle on high-level lying, lawbreaking or other wrongdoing—whether it's government spying, corporate murder or scientific scandal—the public benefits enormously. Wars are ended, deadly products are taken off the market, white-collar criminals are sent to jail. The whistleblowers themselves, however, generally end up ruined. Nearly all of them lose their jobs—and in many cases their marriages and their health—as they refuse to back down in the face of increasingly ferocious official retaliation. That moral stubbornness despite terrible personal cost is the defining DNA of whistleblowers. The public owes them more than we know.In Bravehearts, Hertsgaard tells the gripping, sometimes darkly comic and ultimately inspiring stories of the unsung heroes of our time. A deeply reported, impassioned polemic, Bravehearts is a book for citizens everywhere—especially students, teachers, activists and anyone who wants to make a difference in the world around them.

Crunching Numbers: An Inside Look At The Salary Cap And Negotiating Player Contracts


Jason Fitzgerald - 2016
    It explores how the National Football League (NFL) operates and continues to define success. Crunching Numbers goes into great detail to explain key concepts from the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) such as signing bonuses, dead money, free agency, salary guarantees, franchise tags, forfeitures, grievances, and many more. By using practical case player examples to illustrate the concepts within the CBA, readers will learn how to calculate a player’s salary cap number and the ways in which teams manipulate those numbers to work within the NFL rules. In addition, the book will explore ways to benchmark contracts and the roles contract negotiators play in today’s NFL. Whether you are a student with aspirations of working in an NFL front office, a sports agent, a sports writer or just an avid fan, Crunching Numbers will help you better understand the intricacies of the NFL’s player’s contracts, the salary cap, and salary cap management. For more information, please check out book website CrunchingNumbersBook.com

Arranging love, contemporary way!


Poornima Dhiman - 2016
    After her break-up, when everyone else was focusing on her ‘marriageable age’ she decided to move to America for a work opportunity. People criticized her for making career a priority when being almost 30 years old single girl she should be JUST thinking about getting married. But she stood up for herself and refused to settle for less. She wanted to know the guy well before committing to marriage, so she decided to try the contemporary way of Matrimony Portals to find a suitable match over traditional arranged marriages. It sounded perfect and an intelligent way to find love, get married and live happily-ever-after but her experience with the website wasn’t something she was hoping for. From some fake profiles to people who wanted to have just question answer sessions; to people who were looking for just a hook-up to some male chauvinist pigs -- She interacted with all different kinds of people and what happened in the end was more shocking than anything else.The story is inspired by every young, independent woman who refuses to settle for less.

Getting to Green: Saving Nature: A Bipartisan Solution


Frederic C. Rich - 2016
    Pew polling reveals that the environment is one of the two things about which Republicans and Democrats disagree most. Congress has not passed a landmark piece of environmental legislation for a quarter-century. As atmospheric CO2 continues its relentless climb, even environmental insiders have pronounced “the death of environmentalism.”In Getting to Green, Frederic C. Rich argues that meaningful progress on urgent environmental issues can be made only on a bipartisan basis. Rich reminds us of American conservation’s conservative roots and of the bipartisan political consensus that had Republican congressmen voting for, and Richard Nixon signing, the most important environmental legislation of the 1970s. He argues that faithfulness to conservative principles requires the GOP to support environmental protection, while at the same time he criticizes the Green movement for having drifted too far to the left and too often appearing hostile to business and economic growth.With a clear-eyed understanding of past failures and a realistic view of the future, Getting to Green argues that progress on environmental issues is within reach. The key is encouraging Greens and conservatives to work together in the space where their values overlap—what the book calls “Center Green.” Center Green takes as its model the hugely successful national land trust movement, which has retained vigorous bipartisan support.Rich’s program is pragmatic and non-ideological. It is rooted in the way America is, not in a utopian vision of what it could become. It measures policy not by whether it is the optimum solution but by the two-part test of whether it would make a meaningful contribution to an environmental problem and whether it is achievable politically. Application of the Center Green approach moves us away from some of the harmful orthodoxies of mainstream environmentalism and results in practical and actionable positions on climate change, energy policy, and other crucial issues. This is how we get to Green.

Review of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler


George Orwell - 2016
    George Orwell published his critical review of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler in 1940.

Leading Not Normal Volunteers


Sue Miller - 2016
    Sue Miller and Adam Duckworth show how to lead volunteers in practical and unexpected ways, how to leverage their quirks, and how to equip them to become incredible volunteers.

Strangers at Our Door


Zygmunt Bauman - 2016
    For the people behind the doors, these uninvited guests were always strangers, and strangers tend to generate fear and anxiety precisely because they are unknown. Today we find ourselves confronted with an extreme form of this historical dynamic, as our TV screens and newspapers are filled with accounts of a 'migration crisis', ostensibly overwhelming Europe and portending the collapse of our way of life. This anxious debate has given rise to a veritable 'moral panic' - a feeling of fear spreading among a large number of people that some evil threatens the well-being of society. In this short book Zygmunt Bauman analyses the origins, contours and impact of this moral panic - he dissects, in short, the present-day migration panic. He shows how politicians have exploited fears and anxieties that have become widespread, especially among those who have already lost so much - the disinherited and the poor. But he argues that the policy of mutual separation, of building walls rather than bridges, is misguided. It may bring some short-term reassurance but it is doomed to fail in the long run. We are faced with a crisis of humanity, and the only exit from this crisis is to recognize our growing interdependence as a species and to find new ways to live together in solidarity and cooperation, amidst strangers who may hold opinions and preferences different from our own.

How the World Changed Social Media


Daniel MillerXinyuan Wang - 2016
    Print copies are also available.How the World Changed Social Media is the first book in Why We Post, a book series that investigates the findings of anthropologists who each spent 15 months living in communities across the world. This book offers a comparative analysis summarising the results of the research and explores the impact of social media on politics and gender, education and commerce. What is the result of the increased emphasis on visual communication? Are we becoming more individual or more social? Why is public social media so conservative? Why does equality online fail to shift inequality offline? How did memes become the moral police of the internet?Supported by an introduction to the project’s academic framework and theoretical terms that help to account for the findings, the book argues that the only way to appreciate and understand something as intimate and ubiquitous as social media is to be immersed in the lives of the people who post. Only then can we discover how people all around the world have already transformed social media in such unexpected ways and assess the consequences.This book is available as a free open access PDF from ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press. Print copies are also available.

JFK and the Masculine Mystique: Sex and Power on the New Frontier


Steven Watts - 2016
    Kennedy’s allure was more akin to a movie star than a presidential candidate. Why were Americans so attracted to Kennedy in the late 1950s and early 1960s ― his glamorous image, good looks, cool style, tough-minded rhetoric, and sex appeal?As Steve Watts argues, JFK was tailor made for the cultural atmosphere of his time. He benefited from a crisis of manhood that had welled up in postwar America when men had become ensnared by bureaucracy, softened by suburban comfort, and emasculated by a generation of newly-aggressive women. Kennedy appeared to revive the modern American man as youthful and vigorous, masculine and athletic, and a sexual conquistador. His cultural crusade involved other prominent figures, including Frank Sinatra, Norman Mailer, Ian Fleming, Hugh Hefner, Ben Bradlee, Kirk Douglas, and Tony Curtis, who collectively symbolized masculine regeneration. 'JFK and the Masculine Mystique' is not just another standard biography of the youthful president. By examining Kennedy in the context of certain books, movies, social critiques, music, and cultural discussions that framed his ascendancy, Watts shows us the excitement and sense of possibility, the optimism and aspirations, that accompanied the dawn of a new age in America.

Truly Global: The Theory and Practice of Bringing Your Company to International Markets


Anna N Schlegel - 2016
    Every company that seeks to grow beyond its national boundaries needs a globalization team to help develop, translate, adapt, and promote products to international markets. This team is vital to ensuring that customers receive product information and support in their own language in a personalized and seamless way. From a company’s website, to product interfaces and documentation, to telephone and online support, providing this culturally specific experience is essential to building a brand across international borders with a solid enterprise approach. Ideal for global corporate leaders, board members, employees, and students, Truly Global provides an insider’s look at how large companies move into international markets to successfully deliver their product to customers across different cultures and languages. It covers everything you need to know, to globalize your company from start to finish, including who to recruit as members of a globalization team, how to integrate globalization in each department, and how to use the team’s research to build your brand’s presence in new markets. This book will help your company succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy, and lay the foundation for your growth from national company to international household brand.

Understand to Be Understood: By Using the Process Communication Model


Gérard Collignon - 2016
    The theorist will have ample opportunity to test his or her current knowledge against this model, to find answers to questions and to stimulate more thinking. The person who needs to see and understand the value of committing time to learn something new will not be disappointed. You will certainly find a rich source of material that will add value when applied in the workplace. The person who likes to play with theory, tossing it around, testing it on friends and even applying it at work, will like this book, as there will be stimulation enough to satisfy. Those who care about people and want to know how to further improve on the quality of their relationships will love this book. People who need to grasp the nettle of tricky situations and apply what they know to get results quickly that make positive impact on their bottom line will grasp the power of this tool. Those who need to take time to turn things over and examine them by reflecting upon the learning points and seeing how to use the tools will find plenty to stimulate their imaginations. This book about coaching using PCM is overflowing with the complexity and at the same time the ordinariness of people in relationships.This model can help you develop skills in four areas:self-knowledge and self-awareness self-management knowledge and awareness of others relationship managementHappy Coaching!

The Ways of the World


David Harvey - 2016
    Beginning in the early 1970s with his trenchant and still-relevant book Social Justice and the City and through this day, Harvey has written numerousbooks and dozens of influential essays and articles on topics across issues in politics, culture, economics, and social justice.In The Ways of the World, Harvey has gathered his most important essays from the past four decades. They form a career-spanning collection that tracks not only the development of Harvey over time as an intellectual, but also a dialectical vision that gradually expanded its reach from the slums ofBaltimore to global environmental degradation to the American imperium. While Harvey's coverage is wide-ranging, all of the pieces tackle the core concerns that have always animated his work: capitalism past and present, social change, freedom, class, imperialism, the city, nature, social justice, postmodernity, globalization, and the crises that inhere in capitalism.A career-defining volume, The Ways of the World will stand as a comprehensive work that presents the trajectory of Harvey's lifelong project in full.

Social Media in Northern Chile


Nell Haynes - 2016
    Print copies are also available. Based on 15 months of ethnographic research in the city of Alto Hospicio in northern Chile, this book describes how the residents use social media, and the consequences of this use in their daily lives. Nell Haynes argues that social media is a place where Alto Hospicio’s residents – or Hospiceños – express their feelings of marginalisation that result from living in city far from the national capital, and with a notoriously low quality of life compared to other urban areas in Chile.In actively distancing themselves from residents in cities such as Santiago, Hospiceños identify as marginalised citizens, and express a new kind of social norm. Yet Haynes finds that by contrasting their own lived experiences with those of people in metropolitan areas, Hospiceños are strengthening their own sense of community and the sense of normativity that shapes their daily lives. This exciting conclusion is illustrated by the range of social media posts about personal relationships, politics and national citizenship, particularly on Facebook. This book is available as a free open access PDF from ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press. Print copies are also available.

Mindfulness for Women


Vidyamala Burch - 2016
    And we long to be able to ride out the tough patches that hit all of us from time to time with some degree of grace and dignity. The good news is that we can fulfil these longings at any time, in any place. They are only a moment away, a breath away. We can learn how to be comfortable with our body, know and understand our mind, and love our heart. It isn't difficult, long-winded or time-consuming. In doing so you'll feel happier in your own skin, less stressed, more confident, more capable and more at ease with yourself and life. This is what Mindfulness for Women is about. It is a practical guide to coming home to yourself in each present moment. To finding the ledge behind the waterfall. To resting in the depths of the ocean rather than being tossed about by surface waves. Mindfulness is a potent antidote to anxiety, stress, depression, exhaustion and irritability. It leads to a greater sense of contentment and can also reduce addictive and self-destructive behavioural patterns. This book will enable you to experience the benefits for yourself. It's not designed as a lengthy course but is solutions-based. It's fast - evidence shows that a little bit of mindfulness goes a long way. It's also bespoke - you can read all of it cover to cover, or simply dip in and out, depending on what you want to focus on. You can listen to whichever meditation track suits you at any given time and you can run tracks together if you want to meditate for longer periods. It's designed to suit your life and priorities now and well into the future.

Intro To Army Life: A Handbook for Spouses and Significant Others Entering the Army Lifestyle


Allison Mewes - 2016
    Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition.No one hands you a guidebook when you enter Army life; you either learn the hard way or stumble upon resources on your own . . . until now. Intro to Army Life gives you the tools and resources necessary to make your transition into the Army lifestyle easier, less stressful and more fun. You don't have to learn the hard way--all the information you need is here, ready to help you make the transition. Along with engaging personal narrative and stories, this book includes:-Army hierarchy and social structure -15 tips for dealing with a deployment -Perks of a military ID -Top 25 Army acronyms -Military discounts and how to find them -Top 10 resources for military children -Fun facts, such as where the term military brat originated -and much more Intro to Army Life is a North American Book Award winner, and a must-read for any military spouse or significant other.

Beating Heart Cadavers


Laura Giebfried - 2016
    To do so, they've created an agency known only as the Spӧken, whose members hunt down the Mare-folk to the best of their ability. But the Mare-folk look and act like everyone else, and distinguishing them from ordinary people proves harder than anyone could have imagined. When the Spӧken task their new ambassador, Matthew Caine, with getting rid of the Mare-folk using any means necessary, he agrees to do so in exchange for his young son's freedom, whom the government has taken from him for reasons that remain undisclosed. But the further that Caine goes to aid the Spӧken and destroy the Mare-folk, the more he begins to wonder: how can he eradicate a group of people who are outwardly no different than anyone else? And more importantly: are we all different, or are we all the same?A twisting, suspenseful story inundated with dark humor and depth, Beating Heart Cadavers examines how prejudice can overtake one's better judgement, and scrutinizes the formidable idea of what it means to be human.

The Conversation Code: How to Upgrade Your Social Skills and Your Life


Gregory Peart - 2016
    Why are they so confident? How do they always have something interesting to say? How do they initiate conversations so easily? The most comprehensive conversation study of its kind, spanning over 15 years and over 17,500 conversations, is now available as a practical guide to improving your conversation skills. This engaging book teaches the habits of the best conversationalists, including invaluable actionable techniques for surviving and thriving in any common social situation. It’s no secret how vital social skills are to life success. By learning the skills to effortlessly navigate any social interaction, the rewards are limitless. Learn how to: Initiate and connect with anyone Be more confident and likeable Improve your conversational sixth sense Offer fascinating observations and opinions Ask the best questions Become an exceptional listener Maintain any conversation

The Third Circle Protocol: How to relate to yourself and others in a healthy, vibrant, evolving way, Always and All-ways


Georgina Cannon - 2016
    It shows how to feel comfortable and flourish in the relationship with self and others. The Third Circle Protocol teaches the reader how to understand the often unspoken or unrecognized contracts we have with each other. And how to write new ones--when the current one isn't working. These contracts start with the relationship with yourself, your lover, your kids, your sister, or your parents. The centre core of your life is affirming interactive relationships, in your private life as well as at work. The exercises are simple, pragmatic and profound.

What is a Refugee?


William Maley - 2016
    In Europe, the recent arrival of over a million refugees and asylum-seekers has provoked a sense of panic across that continent and beyond. William Maley’s illuminating introduction offers a guide to the complex idea of ‘the refugee’ and sets the current crisis within the wider history of human exile, injecting much-needed objectivity and nuance into the debate. Arguing that Western states are now reaping the consequences of policies aimed at blocking safe and ‘legal’ access to asylum, What is a Refugee? shows why many proposed solutions to the refugee ‘problem’ will exacerbate tension and risk fuelling the growth of extremism among people who have been denied all hope. This lucid book also tells of the families and individuals who have sought refuge, highlighting the suffering, separation and dislocation on their perilous journeys to safety. Only through such stories can we properly begin to understand what it is to be a refugee.

The Fight for Freedom


Marcus Ferrar - 2016
    This moving narrative recounts the exploits of leaders such as Spartacus, Boadicea, Lincoln and Gandhi, through to heroes of the modern age – Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi. Their enemies have been despots – for example Persia’s Emperor Xerxes, Stalin and Hitler – but sometimes also religions, ideologies, and even liberation movement leaders who became new tyrants. Concise and accessible, this book introduces a subject at the forefront of human concerns, and examines its triumphs and the failures. The struggle never ends, and at crucial times it has brought the best out of human beings. Despite setbacks and controversies, the fight for freedom is a heart-warming story of human endeavour that has enriched mankind.

Into The Open Economy: How Everything You Know About The World Is About To Change


Colin R. Turner - 2016
    Find out why we need it, how it will work, why it will work, and how we get there. This book is your bite-size guide to the Open Economy.

Zero to One: by Peter Thiel | Conversation Starters


Daily Books - 2016
    The author tries to motivate the readers to take risks and set up a business with a unique technology or product. He gives his personal notes and real-life examples of successful people and companies that stand out in the crowd and the reasons for their success. He advises people with the most important factors to keep in mind at all times in order to be successful. All in all, the book provides some interesting thoughts, ideas, and a different perspective for those who are planning to start a business.Peter Thiel’s Zero to One: Notes on Startups or How to Build the Future is a New York Times bestseller and is ranked in the top five on Amazon in various categories including Economic Policy, Economic Policy and Development and New Business Enterprises.EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPERthan the surface of its pages. The characters and their world come alive,and the characters and its world still live on.Conversation Starters is peppered with questions designed tobring us beneath the surface of the pageand invite us into the world that lives on.These questions can be used to...Create Hours of Conversation:• Foster a deeper understanding of the book• Promote an atmosphere of discussion for groups• Assist in the study of the book, either individually or corporately• Explore unseen realms of the book as never seen beforeDisclaimer: This book you are about to enjoy is an independent resource to supplement the original book, enhancing your experience of Zero to One. If you have not yet purchased a copy of the original book, please do before purchasing this unofficial Conversation Starters.

Kiffy Rubbo: curating the 1970s


Janine Burke - 2016
    It was the time of ‘the personal is political’, of the Vietnam War and the draft, of Indigenous rights and feminism. It was under Kiffy Rubbo’s leadership — and at a time when the artistic community was increasingly seen as an alternative to the mainstream political rhetoric — that the George Paton Gallery, at the University of Melbourne, would become known as a vital, nationally recognised centre for contemporary art.Through Kiffy’s visionary and progressive approach, the gallery was transformed into a hub for ideas and discussion, and art-political activism. It became the home for feminist enterprises such as the Women’s Art Movement and the Women’s Art Register, as well as fostering publications such as the Art Almanac and Arts Melbourne. Many major contemporary artists, such as Elizabeth Gower, Stelarc, Peter Tyndall, and Lyndal Jones, were early exhibitors there.Featuring contributions by significant curators, artists, and critics, 'Kiffy Rubbo: curating the 1970s' explores for the first time Rubbo’s enduring legacy — and the immense role that she played in nurturing Australian visual-art culture at such a crucial time in its history.

Evil Little Things: A Study of the Women Who Shaped Secular Humanist and Atheist Activism in post World War II America


Sylvia Broeckx - 2016
    Their activism played a causal role in the rise of the New Christian Right and the subsequent Culture Wars. Their actions furthermore protected the rights of religious minorities, resulted in the creation of pressure groups, and helped shape the socio-political course of twentieth century America. This study is a dissertation submitted in part-fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MA in American History.

Inner Speech and the Dialogical Self


Norbert Wiley - 2016
    It has several functions and structures, from everyday thinking and self-regulation to stream of consciousness and daydreaming. Inner Speech and the Dialogical Self provides a comprehensive analysis of this internal conversation that people have with themselves to think about problems, clarify goals, and guide their way through life. Norbert Wiley shrewdly emphasizes the semiotic and dialogical features of the inner speech, rather than the biological and neurological issues. He also examines people who lack control of their inner speech—such as some autistics and many emotionally disturbed people who use trial and error rather than self-control—to show the power and effectiveness of inner speech. Inner Speech and the Dialogical Self takes a humanistic social theorist approach to its topic. Wiley acknowledges the contributions of inner speech theorists, Lev Vygotsky and Mikhail Bakhtin, and addresses the classical pragmatism of Charles Sanders Peirce, John Dewey, William James, and George Herbert Mead to show the range and depth of this largely unexplored field.

Sisters Against the Empire: Countess Constance Markievicz and Eva Gore-Booth, 1916-1917


Patrick Quigley - 2016
    Countess Constance Markievicz, one of the leaders of the Rising, is arrested by the British but, due to her gender, her death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment. Her sister Eva, dismayed at the atmosphere of fear in Dublin, fears that solitary confinement will drive her sister insane.The Gore-Booth family are divided between conflicting loyalties. Sir Josslyn Gore-Booth begins to sorts out his sister’s finances and writes endless letters to uncover the truth behind the rumours Constance killed a policeman on St. Stephen’s Green.Eva returns to London where she attends the trail of Sir Roger Casement and campaigns against his execution. The next twelve months will stretch Eva’s physical and mental powers to the limit. She becomes Constance’s ally and closest confidant, her go-between and secretary and connection with the Gore-Booth family.Constance struggles against the attempts of the prison authorities to crush her revolutionary spirit. The prison rations weaken her health and she suffers periods of illness and desperation. During her dark season of the soul she finds an outlet by producing a remarkable series of drawings and sketches in her prison Journals, reproduced here for the first time.Sisters against the Empire draws on new sources to show how “two girls, both beautiful, one a gazelle” defied the might of an empire at war. This is history with the attention to detail and vivid characterization, told with the intensity of a novel.

Beyond Jihad: The Pacifist Tradition in West African Islam


Lamin O. Sanneh - 2016
    How did this happen? The usual answer is that Islam spread by the sword-believers waged jihad against rival tribes and kingdoms and forced them to convert. Lamin Sanneh argues that this is far from the whole story. Beyond Jihad examines the origin and evolution of the African pacifist tradition in Islam, beginning with an inquiry into the faith's origins and expansion in North Africa and its transmission across trans-Saharan trade routes to West Africa. The book focuses on the ways in which, without jihad, the religion spread and took hold, and what that tells us about the nature of religious and social change.At the heart of this process were clerics who used religious and legal scholarship to promote Islam. Once this clerical class emerged, it offered continuity and stability in the midst of political changes and cultural shifts, helping to inhibit the spread of radicalism, and subduing the urge to wage jihad. With its policy of religious and inter-ethnic accommodation, this pacifist tradition took Islam beyond traditional trade routes and kingdoms into remote districts of the Mali Empire, instilling a patient, Sufi-inspired, and jihad-negating impulse into religious life and practice. Islam was successful in Africa, Sanneh argues, not because of military might but because it was made African by Africans who adapted it to a variety of contexts.