Sex, Drugs & Economics: An Unconventional Introduction to Economics


Diane Coyle - 2002
    It is rare that an economist has the courage and aptitude to take a studied look at real world issues and to lay out the advantages and disadvantages of current policies. Coyle takes these potentially confusing and politically rife issues and makes them straightforward, thereby educating the reader in an entertaining and sophisticated manner. Coyle uses humour and irony to explain the issues. Who else could draw a link between Japanese teenage fashion and the country's long standing liquidity trap; or how sunspots can determine whether we will have a financial crisis on earth; or how pork belly futures depend on the weather and pigs' amorous intentions? Throughout the book, Diane Coyle highlights the fact that above all, economics is a social science, and one that affects us all.

The Story of Silver: How the White Metal Shaped America and the Modern World


William Silber - 2019
    Roosevelt during the 1930s and by the richest man in the world, Texas oil baron Nelson Bunker Hunt, during the 1970s altered the course of American and world history. FDR pumped up the price of silver to help jump start the U.S. economy during the Great Depression, but this move weakened China, which was then on the silver standard, and facilitated Japan's rise to power before World War II. Bunker Hunt went on a silver-buying spree during the 1970s to protect himself against inflation and triggered a financial crisis that left him bankrupt.Silver has been the preferred shelter against government defaults, political instability, and inflation for most people in the world because it is cheaper than gold. The white metal has been the place to hide when conventional investments sour, but it has also seduced sophisticated investors throughout the ages like a siren. This book explains how powerful figures, up to and including Warren Buffett, have come under silver's thrall, and how its history guides economic and political decisions in the twenty-first century.

The Rise and Fall of Nations: Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World


Ruchir Sharma - 2016
    Narrowing the thousands of factors that can shape a country’s fortunes to ten clear rules, Sharma explains how to spot political, economic, and social changes in real time. He shows how to read political headlines, black markets, the price of onions, and billionaire rankings as signals of booms, busts, and protests. Set in a post-crisis age that has turned the world upside down, replacing fast growth with slow growth and political calm with revolt, Sharma’s pioneering book is an entertaining field guide to understanding change in this era or any era.A Library Journal Best Book of 2016

This Time Will Be Different: A Short Book on Making Permanent Changes


Martin Meadows - 2017
    Making one attempt after another, you fail and continue to fail, and it seems there’s no way to make the change stick for longer than a couple of weeks. Perhaps… except some people somehow manage to stick to their resolutions in the long term and their lives do get better — permanently. What makes the difference between those superheroes and “mere mortals”? More importantly, can the “mortals” acquire those superpowers, or should they accept that they’ll never be able to permanently change their lives? Written by bestselling author, Martin Meadows, This Time Will Be Different: A Short Book on Making Permanent Changes goes through a 4-step process called STAR that will take you on a journey, from the moment you introduce a new change, all the way to how to live your life after you’ve successfully implemented it. Designed to be a short read packed with practical advice, you can finish the entire book in just one or two sittings and quickly begin to implement it in your own life. Here are just some of the things you’ll learn from the book: - One motivator you might not have thought about that can mean the difference between failure and success. Don’t proceed any further until you learn about it… - What motivational links are and why they’re crucial if you want to introduce permanent changes. This unique concept alone can be enough to successfully implement a change in the long term. - How to gain traction when implementing new changes. Discover CCC, a 2-step process designed to help you undergo an identity shift that leads to a permanent change. - 5 tools to help you persevere when you’re struggling to stick to your new resolution. That’s when most people give up. Avoid their fate by applying the strategies discussed in this chapter. - 3 core principles to live your success. It’s not only about reaching success; it’s also about maintaining it, which is often trickier than achieving it. Learn how to ensure permanent, long-term success. If you’re tired of consistently unsuccessful attempts and itch for a permanent positive change in your life, buy this book now and learn how to finally make this time different!

Flirting with Stocks: Stock Market Investing for Beginners


Anil Lamba - 2018
    Acclaimed financial expert Dr Anil Lamba begins with the basics of how the investment cycle works, and builds up to the nitty-gritties of bulls and bears, mutual funds, kerb trading, badla finance and share-price fixing. Included also are case studies on asset bubbles and insider trading that are lessons for potential investors on how to make money while minimising risks. Written in Dr Lamba’s characteristic lucid style, this book makes stock market investing a non-intimidating, fun activity.

Advancing Your Photography: A Handbook for Creating Photos You'll Love


Marc Silber - 2017
    From teaching you the basics to exploring the stages of the cycle of photography, Silber makes it easy for you to master the art form and create stunning pictures.Valuable photography tips from thousands of hours of interviews with professional photography masters: "What makes this book so powerful is that I have been able to distill from my 1,000s of hours of interviews with top photographers high level knowledge, that would take decades to acquire ― but I have presented this knowledge in a way that even a new photographer can grasp and put right to work. If someone applies themselves and rolls up their sleeves, with this handbook, they can become an excellent photographer and make photographs that they and others will love." You will learn valuable insights from the professional photography masters: • beginner photography tips • amateur photography tips • landscape photography tips • wedding photography tips • lifestyle photography tips • sports photography tips • animal photography tips • portrait photography tips • still life photography tips • iPhone photography tips Photography and the technology associated with it is constantly evolving, but the fundamentals remain the same. Advancing Your Photography will help to bring you the joy and satisfaction of a lifetime of pursuing the art of photography.Advancing Your Photography features: • Top tips for making outstanding photographs from iconic photographers and many other leading professional photography masters of today. • Numerous step-by-step examples • Guidance on training your eye to see composition with emotional impact • Tips on mastering the key points of operating your camera like a pro • Secrets to processing your images to professional standards • Compact design that will easily fit in your camera bag

Ethereum: The Ultimate Guide to the World of Ethereum, Ethereum Mining, Ethereum Investing, Smart Contracts, Dapps and DAOs, Ether, Blockchain Technology


Ikuya Takashima - 2017
    This book is going to provide you with everything you need to know about Ethereum and whether it is worth investing in now. Like many people, I became interested in Bitcoin years ago, when Bitcoin was still relatively new, but hinting at a huge profit margin for those who took the risk and invested. It was after a couple of years playing around on the Bitcoin market that I heard about a new type of blockchain technology, one that wasn’t just a digital form of payment, but one that could support potentially endless different types of applications. Not only that, but it comes with its own currency. This, to me, sounded like a potentially profitable situation, so I decided to dig a little deeper. Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum is still largely unknown to those who don’t keep up with the cryptocurrency world, so the amount of information available is limited or highly technical. Still, it was fascinating and the more I read about Ethereum, the more I began to see its huge potential. And I’m not alone. More and more Fortune 500 companies are investing in Ethereum technology as it becomes increasingly lucrative and poises to change business processes as we know them. I decided to condense my research and share my knowledge on Ethereum by writing this book. The book is designed for those who are new to cryptocurrency, but want to invest in it or learn more about it, as well as for more experienced traders looking to expand their portfolios. With a 5,000% increase in value in the first few months of 2017, Ethereum is proving to be a profitable currency. Still, as it is so new – it was only launched in 2015 – it comes with many infancy-related risks. It’s partly this that makes it so exciting. This book will help you make your own investment decisions and decide if Ethereum is the right coin for you after weighing up the pros and cons that are presented here. So far, Ethereum has made me good money and I was lucky to make the investment when I did. However, now is not too late to invest, not by a long shot. In fact, now is the perfect moment to make the most of Ethereum’s infancy and gain potential first-mover advantages. Ethereum’s technology is only at the beginning of its potential growth stages, possibly reaching to dozens of industries and thousands of services. If its technology is adopted the way it is expected to be, Ethereum will enjoy a long and lucrative spot at the top. The profits are ripe for the taking. Here Is A Preview Of What’s Included… What Is Ethereum? Smart Contracts, Dapps, And DAOs The Technology Behind Ethereum What Is Ethereum Mining? Uses Of Ethereum What Is Ether? The Financial History Of Ether How to Buy, Sell, And Store Ether The Mining Process Of Ether Should I Invest In Ether? The Future Of Ethereum Much, Much More! Get your copy today!

The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas


Robert H. Frank - 2006
    Drive-up ATM keypads have Braille dots because it's cheaper to make the same machine for both drive-up and walk-up locations. Travelers from Kansas City to Orlando pay less because they are usually price-sensitive tourists with many choices of destination, whereas travelers originating from Orlando typically choose Kansas City for specific family or business reasons.The Economic Naturalist employs basic economic principles to answer scores of intriguing questions from everyday life, and, along the way, introduces key ideas such as the cost benefit principle, the "no cash left on the table" principle, and the law of one price. There is no more delightful and painless way of learning these fundamental principles.

What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets


Michael J. Sandel - 2012
    Sandel takes up one of the biggest ethical questions of our time: Isn't there something wrong with a world in which everything is for sale? If so, how can we prevent market values from reaching into spheres of life where they don't belong? What are the moral limits of markets?In recent decades, market values have crowded out nonmarket norms in almost every aspect of life. Without quite realizing it, Sandel argues, we have drifted from having a market economy to being a market society.In Justice, an international bestseller, Sandel showed himself to be a master at illuminating, with clarity and verve, the hard moral questions we confront in our everyday lives. Now, in What Money Can't Buy, he provokes a debate that's been missing in our market-driven age: What is the proper role of markets in a democratic society, and how can we protect the moral and civic goods that markets do not honor and money cannot buy?

Gina Rinehart: The Untold Story of the Richest Woman in the World


Adele Ferguson - 2012
    The daughter of Lang Hancock – legendary arch-conservative, secessionist, mining millionaire and discoverer of the world's largest iron deposit in the Pilbara – Gina has grown up in a family known as much for its front-page legal stoushes as for its business acumen and toughness.With her reported wealth more than doubling in the last twelve months, Rinehart is beginning to flex the enormous power her money gives, buying large shareholdings in television's Ten Network and newspaper group Fairfax Media. They are moves that will give Rinehart and her controversial views a major place in Australian life and public affairs.Based on painstaking research and a wealth of interviews with Rinehart's colleagues, friends, family and former employees, award-winning journalist Adele Ferguson has written the definitive biography, shining a light into the private world of Gina Rinehart, her family, her feuds and the iron determination that has driven her relentless rise.

The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy


Stephanie Kelton - 2020
    Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country.Kelton busts through the myths that prevent us from taking action: that the federal government should budget like a household, that deficits will harm the next generation, crowd out private investment, and undermine long-term growth, and that entitlements are propelling us toward a grave fiscal crisis.MMT, as Kelton shows, shifts the terrain from narrow budgetary questions to one of broader economic and social benefits. With its important new ways of understanding money, taxes, and the critical role of deficit spending, MMT redefines how to responsibly use our resources so that we can maximize our potential as a society. MMT gives us the power to imagine a new politics and a new economy and move from a narrative of scarcity to one of opportunity.

What Chinese Want: Culture, Communism and the Modern Chinese Consumer


Tom Doctoroff - 2012
    But despite the nation's growing influence, the average Chinese person is still a mystery - or, at best, a baffling set of seeming contradictions - to Westerners who expect the rising Chinese consumer to resemble themselves. Here, Tom Doctoroff, the guiding force of advertising giant J. Walter Thompson's (JWT) China operations, marshals his 20 years of experience navigating this fascinating intersection of commerce and culture to explain the mysteries of China. He explores the many cultural, political, and economic forces shaping the twenty-first-century Chinese and their implications for businesspeople, marketers, and entrepreneurs - or anyone else who wants to know what makes the Chinese tick. Dismantling common misconceptions, Doctoroff provides the context Westerners need to understand the distinctive worldview that drives Chinese businesses and consumers, including:- why family and social stability take precedence over individual self-expression and the consequences for education, innovation, and growth;- their fundamentally different understanding of morality, and why Chinese tolerate human rights abuses, rampant piracy, and endemic government corruption; and -the long and storied past that still drives decision making at corporate, local, and national levels.Change is coming fast and furious in China, challenging not only how the Western world sees the Chinese but how they see themselves. From the new generation's embrace of Christmas to the middle-class fixation with luxury brands; from the exploding senior demographic to what the Internet means for the government's hold on power, Doctoroff pulls back the curtain to reveal a complex and nuanced picture of a facinating people whose lives are becoming ever more entwined with our own.

In Search of Duncan Ferguson: The Life and Crimes of a Footballing Enigma


Alan Pattullo - 2013
    A tall, lean striker with the world at his feet, Ferguson seemed destined to develop into one of Scotland's most successful exports, but anger, and a number of injuries, hampered his progress. Ferguson has scored the most goals of any Scot in the Premiership but also shares the record for Premiership red cards. In 1995, he became the first professional footballer to be jailed for an offence committed on the pitch. It earned him a three-month sentence in Glasgow's infamous Barlinnie Prison and a twelve-match ban from the SFA. Bruised by the experience, he walked away from the Scotland team and blanked the media from then on. Featuring contributions from numerous top players, this explosive biography uncovers the real Duncan Ferguson. The author delves into Ferguson's personal and professional life and reveals that there is more to him than the media portrayal of a Scottish hard man.

They Flew Hurricanes


Adrian Stewart - 2006
    Many pilots, including Douglas Bader, thought it was superior to the Spit--but together they saved Britain from Nazi invasion and possible defeat.Adrian Stewart has produced a gloriously atmospheric and nostalgic book capturing the spirit of these great aircraft and the pilots who flew them. It tracks the aircraft as it was developed and improved, and follows it to the many theaters of the war where it saw service. Among the lesser-known are Burma and hazardous convoy protection in the Arctic and Mediterranean, flying from makeshift carriers. This book will fascinate specialist aviation historians and those who enjoy a rattling good war story, and includes a superb selection of rare photographs.

Incentivology


Jason Murphy - 2019
    Punishments. Prices. The Nobel Prize. Candy Crush. Incentives take more forms than you might expect and they can be hard to spot, but they shape our lives in ways that we rarely examine.Some incentives are obvious, like for example, publicly committing to doing something you dislike in order to motivate you to do something difficult, like lose weight. But, many of the most powerful incentives are accidental, and invisible even to those who designed them. Some are tame – and some are most definitely not. Whether it’s bounties for criminals or Instagrammable meals, training your dog or saving the planet, incentives regularly backfire, go missing, mutate and evolve. Without oversight, their unintended consequences can have very global effects. In Incentivology, economist Jason Murphy uncovers the huge incentive systems we take for granted and turns them inside out. In lively, entertaining prose he explores the mechanisms behind many tremendous successes and spectacular failures in our history, culture and everyday lives, and shows us how to use (or lose) incentives in our world at large.