Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future


George B.N. Ayittey - 2005
    As war and conflict replaced peace, Africa's infrastructure crumbled. Instead of bemoaning the myriad difficulties facing the continent today, Ayittey boldly proposes a program of development--a way forward--for Africa. Africa Unchained investigates how Africa can modernize, build, and improve its indigenous institutions, and argues forcefully that Africa should build and expand upon traditions of free markets and free trade rather than continuing to use exploitative economic structures. The economic model here is uniquely African and takes little heed from the developed world; this is sure to be a highly controversial plan for moving Africa forward.

Diary Of A Wimpy Pika 1 (Animal Diary, #2)


Red Smith
    Would Pika adapt or react to the new change? Is Pika really different from us? You'll be surprised at what you discover. So, jump into this adventure and find out!.FREE BONUS only for Kindle readers =>Strange Origins of the Wimpy Pika book 1 & 2 Be the first to discover the untold legend of the Wimpy Pika!Get your Copy for FREE with Kindle Unlimited!

The Daniel Plan 365-Day Devotional: Daily Encouragement for a Healthier Life


Rick Warren - 2015
    Feast on something bigger than a fad. Motivational tips, Scripture passages, Food for Thought, and a special note from Rick Warren lead the way to transformation for the long haul.The Daniel Plan Daily Devotional builds on the top essential—Faith—that has made The Daniel Plan doable and successful for thousands of people worldwide. A dream team of spiritual, fitness, and health professionals, including Rick Warren, Dr. Daniel Amen, Dr. Mark Hyman, and the Daniel Plan Wellness Faculty will help you continue your journey toward whole health and wellness.Ultimately, The Daniel Plan Daily Devotional will change your life in the areas of faith, food, fitness, focus, and friends—the five essentials to transform your body, mind, and spirit from the inside out!

King of the Wilderness: The Life of Deny King


Christobel Mattingley - 2001
    By the time he died in 1991 he was truly the king of his remarkable wilderness, and internationally celebrated for his unique lifestyle.

Bookclub-in-a-Box Discusses A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini


Marilyn Herbert - 2008
    This book tells the dramatic story of an unlikely friendship between two women, Mariam and Laila, who are married to the same man. The story takes us through each of their lives before the Russians enter Afghanistan, into the horrible years of Taliban rule, and beyond. Watching these women grow in their relationship, we are given a picture of what it has meant to be a woman in Afghanistan during the last four decades. The novel lifts the veil of these women and shows the reader the female face of Afghanistan's population. Readers can use Bookclub-in-a-Box to unravel and be sensitive to the exceptionally difficult situation in Afghanistan today, to appreciate the intricate nature of human endurance, faith, hope and resilience, to explore the complex relationships of Afghanistan's sons and daughters to each other and to the world at large, and to find out what Hosseini and others envision for Afghanistan's future. Every Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guide includes complete coverage of the themes and symbols, writing style and interesting background information on the novel and the author.

Of Love and Life: 31 Dream Street / Hidden / The Two Mrs Robinsons


Lisa Jewell - 2007
    But when a quiet tragedy and an unwelcome letter interrupt Toby's sedate existence, he needs his housemates to find some direction in their lives. Leah Pilgrim has watched the tenants of the house over the road for several years, and when the owner of 31 Silversmith Road asks her for advice, he opens the door not only to the eccentric building across the street - but to five lives in various stages of turmoil. Can Toby and Leah help these misfits to grow up, move on and move out? And in doing so, can they make their own dreams come true? Hidden : A trail of blood winding through a squalid flat in Margate leads DCI Dave Gosworth to the body of Jacqui Jennings, her skull smashed with a chisel. For Dave it is just the start of a long and puzzling case...Forty miles away in South London a young single mother named Melanie Stenning is blissfully unaware of Jacqui's life and death. But that trail of blood will one day lead straight to her door - with terrifying repercussions. For Melanie is about to fall in love with a stranger...Fourteen months later, Melanie has a new husband, a new baby and a new home on the isolated Kent coast. But when her seven-year-old daughter Poppy disappears, she is forced to question everything in her new life, including the man she loves. Because DCI Dave Goswrth has come knocking - with some chilling questions... The Two Mrs Robinsons: Anna lives with Oliver Robinson and their 3-year-old son Charlie. They met when she worked as a waitress at his restaurant; he had recently separated and she was a shoulder to cry on. But friendship turned to love. Now she juggles motherhood with part-time work and she couldn't be happier. Or perhaps she could? Oliver has never divorced his first wife Eve who is everything Anna is not. Eve insists on making herself part of their lives and her demands soak up much of their time and income. Anna understands that Oliver needs to support his two teenage children, but why should they keep Eve too? The situation looks set to grumble on indefinitely unless someone or something shakes it up. And something does - it's called Fate. Oliver is killed in a car crash, leaving both women shattered. How will they react to this appalling tragedy? Will it drive them further apart, or force them to cut their losses and pull together for the sake of their children and their futures?

Begging for Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient, and Rewarding for All


Robert Egger - 2004
    You are one of the 84 million Americans who volunteer with a charity. You are part of a national donor pool that contributes nearly $200 billion to good causes every year. But you wonder: Why don't your efforts seem to make a difference?Fifteen years ago, Robert Egger asked himself this same question as he reluctantly climbed aboard a food service truck for a night of volunteering to help serve meals to the homeless. He wondered why there were still people waiting in line for soup in this day and age. Where were the drug counselors, the job trainers, and the support team to help these men and women get off the streets? Why were volunteers buying supplies from grocery stores when restaurants were throwing away unused fresh food every night? Why had politicians, citizens, and local businesses allowed charity to become an end in itself? Why wasn't there an efficient way to solve the problem?Robert knew there had to be a better way. In 1989, he started the D.C. Central Kitchen by collecting unused food from local restaurants, caterers, and hotels and bringing it back to a central location where hot, nutritious meals were prepared and distributed to agencies around the city. Since then, the D.C. Central Kitchen has been named one of President Bush Sr.'s Thousand Points of Light and has become one of the most respected and emulated nonprofit agencies in the world, producing and distributing more than 4,000 meals a day. Its highly successful 12-week job-training program equips former homeless transients and drug addicts with culinary and life skills to gain employment in the restaurant business.In Begging for Change, Robert Egger looks back on his experience and exposes the startling lack of logic, waste, and ineffectiveness he has encountered during his years in the nonprofit sector, and calls for reform of this $800 billion industry from the inside out. In his entertaining and inimitable way, he weaves stories from his days in music, when he encountered legends such as Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme, and Iggy Pop, together with stories from his experiences in the hunger movement -- and recently as volunteer interim director to help clean up the beleaguered United Way National Capital Area. He asks for nonprofits to be more innovative and results-driven, for corporate and nonprofit leaders to be more focused and responsible, and for citizens who contribute their time and money to be smarter and more demanding of nonprofits and what they provide in return. Robert's appeal to common sense will resonate with readers who are tired of hearing the same nonprofit fund-raising appeals and pity-based messages. Instead of asking the "who" and "what" of giving, he leads the way in asking the "how" and "why" in order to move beyond our 19th-century concept of charity, and usher in a 21st-century model of change and reform for nonprofits.Enlightening and provocative, engaging and moving, this book is essential reading for nonprofit managers, corporate leaders, and, most of all, any citizen who has ever cared enough to give of themselves to a worthy cause.

Garfield's Guide to Everything


Jim Davis - 2004
    Sleep — “The best 18 hours of my day”Coffee — “Mother Nature’s Jumper Cables”Dogs — “They contain 90% of the world’s drool supply.”Love — “”…is splitting the last piece of pizza.”Exercise — “My favorite spectator sport.”Mondays — “The armpit of days.”Golf — “That’s Scottish for ‘AAARGH!’.”

Painted Lives


Charlotte Vale Allen - 1990
    Mattie Sylvester, a widow of one of America's most celebrated painters, reveals the sordid truth of the past, and of her husband, to her secretary.

The White Coat Investor's Financial Boot Camp: A 12-Step High-Yield Guide to Bring Your Finances Up to Speed


James M Dahle - 2019
    

Armchair Economist: Economics & Everyday Life


Steven E. Landsburg - 1993
    But Steven E. Landsburg...is one economist who fits the bill. In a wide-ranging, easily digested, unbelievably contrarian survey of everything from why popcorn at movie houses costs so much to why recycling may actually reduce the number of trees on the planet, the University of Rochester professor valiantly turns the discussion of vexing economic questions into an activity that ordinary people might enjoy. -- Joe Queenan, The Wall Street Journal The Armchair Economist is a wonderful little book, written by someone for whom English is a first (and beloved) language, and it contains not a single graph or equation...Landsburg presents fascinating concepts in a form easily accessible to noneconomists. -- Erik M. Jensen, The Cleveland Plain Dealer ...enormous fun from its opening page...Landsburg has done something extraordinary: He has expounded basic economic principles with wit and verve. -- Dan Seligman, Fortune

The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity


Russell Roberts - 2008
    He crosses paths with provost and economics professor Ruth Lieber when he plans a campus protest against the price-gouging retailer--which is also a major donor to the university. Ruth begins a dialogue with Ramon about prices, prosperity, and innovation and their role in our daily lives. Is Ruth trying to limit the damage from Ramon's protest? Or does she have something altogether different in mind? As Ramon is thrust into the national spotlight by events beyond the Stanford campus, he learns there's more to price hikes than meets the eye, and he is forced to reconsider everything he thought he knew. What is the source of America's high standard of living? What drives entrepreneurs and innovation? What upholds the hidden order that allows us to choose our careers and pursue our passions with so little conflict? How does economic order emerge without anyone being in charge? Ruth gives Ramon and the reader a new appreciation for how our economy works and the wondrous role that the price of everything plays in everyday life.The Price of Everything is a captivating story about economic growth and the unseen forces that create and sustain economic harmony all around us.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Why Public Efforts to Boost Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Have Failed--and What to Do About It: Why Public Effort ... Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship)


Josh Lerner - 2009
    Yet, for every public intervention that spurs entrepreneurial activity, there are many failed efforts that waste untold billions in taxpayer dollars. When has governmental sponsorship succeeded in boosting growth, and when has it fallen terribly short? Should the government be involved in such undertakings at all? "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is the first extensive look at the ways governments have supported entrepreneurs and venture capitalists across decades and continents. Josh Lerner, one of the foremost experts in the field, provides valuable insights into why some public initiatives work while others are hobbled by pitfalls, and he offers suggestions for how public ventures should be implemented in the future. Discussing the complex history of Silicon Valley and other pioneering centers of venture capital, Lerner uncovers the extent of government influence in prompting growth. He examines the public strategies used to advance new ventures, points to the challenges of these endeavors, and reveals the common flaws undermining far too many programs - poor design, a lack of understanding for the entrepreneurial process, and implementation problems. Lerner explains why governments cannot dictate how venture markets evolve, and why they must balance their positions as catalysts with an awareness of their limited ability to stimulate the entrepreneurial sector. As governments worldwide seek to spur economic growth in ever more aggressive ways, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" offers an important caution. The book argues for a careful approach to government support of entrepreneurial activities, so that the mistakes of earlier efforts are not repeated.

HDFC Bank 2.0


Tamal Bandyopadhyay - 2019
    India is set for seismic changes to day-to-day banking over the next few years and banks who don’t commit to fully re-engineering their practice around becoming a technology company that delivers real-time, contextual banking experiences will wither on the vine. HDFC Bank has made a solid start on this journey, but the final chapter has not yet been written.” BRETT KING, Founder, Moven and bestselling author of Bank 4.0 The seeds of change were sown in September 2014, when HDFC Bank MD Aditya Puri went to Silicon Valley to meet the brightest tech minds in the world. By the time he got back, he knew exactly what needed to be done. It was time for a revolution. Instead of waiting to be disrupted by fintech companies, HDFC Bank went all out to disrupt itself, recasting its role and scope on a scale that has never been attempted before. In one of the biggest transformations ever undertaken in any business, HDFC Bank wants to become a platform facilitating a financial experience. Tamal Bandyopadhyay chronicles HDFC Bank’s own digital disruption exercise through the very people who drove it, narrating a story that’s as compelling as unique in India’s financial system. With his keen eye for detail, deep knowledge of banking and unparalleled storytelling ability, Bandyopadhyay recounts the journey of India’s most valued lender from a life cycle bank to a lifestyle bank.

Graham and Dodd's Security Analysis


Sidney Cottle - 1980
    Now the fifth edition of this classic updates the application of the Graham and Dodd valuation approach for today's greatly changed investment environment.