One day an invitation arrives. Peyton has been selected to attend a luxurious all-expense-paid seminar in Iceland, where participants, billed as some of the greatest thinkers in the world, will be charged with answering one perplexing question. Meeting her diverse teammates--two neuroscientists, a philosopher, a dance teacher, a collage artist, and a farmer--Peyton wonders what she could ever have to contribute. The ensuing journey of discovery will transform the characters' work, their biases, and themselves. This suspenseful novel shows that the answers you seek can be found in the most unlikely places. It can be read for pleasure, is a great choice for book clubs, and can be used as unique and inspiring reading in qualitative research and other courses in education, sociology, social work, psychology, and communication.

    Written by the founder and editor of MarketBeat, a daily investment newsletter with more than 425,000 subscribers, this invaluable resource will show you how to identify investments that offer lower volatility, higher returns and an automatic income stream of dividends that you can live off of during retirement. This strategy is easy to implement and will set you off on a path toward true financial independence. Here's what you'll learn: How you can create an automatic income stream you can actually live on during retirement. How to build an investment portfolio of rock-solid companies that outperform the S&P 500. What criteria can identify dividend stocks that consistently return 10% or more per year. Which newsletters, websites and other resources you should use to research dividend stocks. Why you won't be tempted to cash out your dividend stock portfolio during the next recession. How to reduce your tax bill by choosing the right dividend investments and the right accounts. Why dividend-growth investing is superior to traditional income investing strategies. Market risk is near an all-time high and interest rates are at a historic low. There has never been a better time to switch to a more sensible wealth-generation strategy. If you want to improve your market returns, spend less time worrying about money and achieve true financial independence, this book is for you.

    Service providers, bureaucrats, and employers exhort them to be self-reliant, individualistic, and free, even as the system and the culture constrain them within terms of ethnicity, race, and class. Buddha Is Hiding tells the story of Cambodian Americans experiencing American citizenship from the bottom-up. Based on extensive fieldwork in Oakland and San Francisco, the study puts a human face on how American institutions—of health, welfare, law, police, church, and industry—affect minority citizens as they negotiate American culture and re-interpret the American dream.In her earlier book, Flexible Citizenship, anthropologist Aihwa Ong wrote of elite Asians shuttling across the Pacific. This parallel study tells the very different story of "the other Asians" whose route takes them from refugee camps to California's inner-city and high-tech enclaves. In Buddha Is Hiding we see these refugees becoming new citizen-subjects through a dual process of being-made and self-making, balancing religious salvation and entrepreneurial values as they endure and undermine, absorb and deflect conflicting lessons about welfare, work, medicine, gender, parenting, and mass culture. Trying to hold on to the values of family and home culture, Cambodian Americans nonetheless often feel that "Buddha is hiding." Tracing the entangled paths of poor and rich Asians in the American nation, Ong raises new questions about the form and meaning of citizenship in an era of globalization.

    Here, Dave Lowry, one of the best-known writers on the Japanese martial arts, illuminates the complete path of karate including practice, philosophy, and culture. He covers myriad subjects of interest to karate practitioners of all ages and levels, including:    • The relationship between students and teachers    • Cultivating the correct attitude during practice    • The differences between karate in the East and West    • Whether a karate student really needs to study in Japan to perfect the art    • The meaning of rank and the black belt    • Detailed descriptions of kicks, punches, evasions, and techniques and the philosophical concepts that they manifest    • What practice means and looks like as one ages    • How the practice of karate aims toward cultivating character and spiritual development After forty years studying karate and the budo arts, Lowry is an informative and reliable guide, highlighting aspects of the karate path that will surprise, entertain, and enlighten.

    A recognized classic of cultural anthropology, this book explores the political, religious, and economic life of Japan from the seventh century through the mid-twentieth, as well as personal family life.

    Placing the West's failure to acknowledge the most successful slave revolt in history alongside denials of the Holocaust and the debate over the Alamo, Michel-Rolph Trouillot offers a stunning meditation on how power operates in the making and recording of history.

    However, anime is much more than children's cartoons. It runs the gamut from historical epics to sci-fi sexual thrillers. Often dismissed as fanciful entertainment, anime is actually quite adept at portraying important social and cultural issues like alienation, gender inequality, and teenage angst. This book investigates the ways that anime presents these issues in an in-depth and sophisticated manner, uncovering the identity conflicts, fears over rapid technological advancement, and other key themes present in much of Japanese animation.

    With its cultivated obscurity, ear-shattering sound, and over-the-top performances, Noise has captured the imagination of a small but passionate transnational audience.For its scattered listeners, Noise always seems to be new and to come from somewhere else: in North America, it was called "Japanoise." But does Noise really belong to Japan? Is it even music at all? And why has Noise become such a compelling metaphor for the complexities of globalization and participatory media at the turn of the millennium?In Japanoise, David Novak draws on more than a decade of research in Japan and the United States to trace the "cultural feedback" that generates and sustains Noise. He provides a rich ethnographic account of live performances, the circulation of recordings, and the lives and creative practices of musicians and listeners. He explores the technologies of Noise and the productive distortions of its networks. Capturing the textures of feedback—its sonic and cultural layers and vibrations—Novak describes musical circulation through sound and listening, recording and performance, international exchange, and the social interpretations of media.

    Whether foot soldier, samurai or trained assassin, these men were driven by strict codes of honor and bound by deep allegiances of rank, family or religion.This book examines the military lives of four formidable warrior types, covering the samurai and the ninja as well as the experiences of warrior monks and ashigaru foot soldiers, less familiar to western readers. The recruitment, training and equipment of each warrior type are described, and their beliefs, motivation and experience of warfare are explored. Rare material from Japanese sources makes this a highly authoritative treatment of the military elites of medieval Japan, brought to life by lavish illustrations and photography.

    In recent years, however, the fundamental principles of the movement have influenced other academic disciplines, from sociology and politics to ethnic studies and history.And yet, while the critical race theory movement has spawned dozens of conferences and numerous books, no concise, accessible volume outlines its basic parameters and tenets. Here, then, from two of the founders of the movement, is the first primer on one of the most influential intellectual movements in American law and politics.

    With this book, Barthes offers a broad-ranging meditation on the culture, society, art, literature, language, and iconography--in short, both the sign-oriented realities and fantasies--of Japan itself.

    The co mpanion will interest tourists, students and business travel lers to Japan. '

    I did it all by myself, and I did it all inside a tiny niche. This isn't some get-rich-quick scheme or "push a button and make money" type approach. Rather, it's about understanding how to enhance your personal brand, how to leverage LinkedIn's built-in advantages and how to apply the specific type of selling psychology that generates nonstop leads and customers when done correctly. The simple formula I’ll teach you works in any niche, takes just a few minutes a day to apply and drives targeted, ready-to-buy prospects to your virtual front door. It doesn’t matter what your experience level is when it comes to LinkedIn – literally anyone can do this! Find out RIGHT NOW just how easy it is! Inside This Book You’ll Discover: - How to ensure your LinkedIn profile ranks #1 in your niche or industry - How to instantly locate your ideal prospects on LinkedIn no matter what industry you’re in - How to engage your ideal prospects on LinkedIn by creating instant likability and trust - How to create content on LinkedIn that establishes your credibility and attracts your ideal prospects - How to turn LinkedIn Groups into your own personal ATM Machine - How to move new LinkedIn connections from prospects to paying customers as quickly as possible ABOUT THE AUTHOR JOHN NEMO is a former Associated Press Reporter, Award-Winning PR Director and Social Media Consultant who generated more than $135,000 in revenue for his business in just 90 days using LinkedIn. He is the creator of www.LinkedInRiches.com, an online training course that helps brands, businesses and individuals leverage LinkedIn to generate more sales leads, add new clients and increase revenue. In addition to public speaking, live trainings and presentations, Nemo also offers 1-on-1 coaching and consulting services to clients worldwide in a variety of business development, marketing and lead generation areas. The author of five previous books, John Nemo has written for nearly 150 different national and regional publications over the past 20 years, including Sports Illustrated online, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Chicago Sun-Times and The Arizona Republic. He lives near St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife, Sara, their three sons and Rosie the dog.

    From vast deserts to an Indonesian fishing boat, a slow train through Burma to an armed confrontation in Laos, lullabies from middle-aged Chinese businessmen to a cold night on the Great Wall, wolves and reindeer herders, thieves and nomads: this is a vivid illustration of Asia and the people who live there, and of one ancient, stubborn motorcycle travelling through the world's wild places.

    Brain-dead for sight, speech and movement, yet hopelessly alive to pain, hunger and terror, she now lies, barely alive, in the hospital where she once treated patients back to health. Virani's investigations also unearthed the crowning tragedy: while Aruna has been in coma for over twenty-five years, her rapist, a sweeper in the hospital, walked a free man after a mere seven years in prison for 'robbery and attempt to murder'. Vivid and gut-wrenching, this is a book that will haunt the reader long after the final page has been turned. 'Pinki Virani has narrated Aruna's brutalization through meticulous and persistent research. The structure of the book is notable in the way it resists sensationalism.' --The Telegraph 'Virani's book is researched, thought-provoking, sharp. It is both sad and angry, scathing and restrained.' --Pioneer '...her storytelling skil