Contagious: Why Things Catch On


Jonah Berger - 2013
    People don't listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers. But why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral? Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger has spent the last decade answering these questions. He's studied why New York Times articles make the paper's own Most E-mailed List, why products get word of mouth, and how social influence shapes everything from the cars we buy to the clothes we wear to the names we give our children. In this book, Berger reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos.Contagious combines groundbreaking research with powerful stories. Learn how a luxury steakhouse found popularity through the lowly cheese-steak, why anti-drug commercials might have actually increased drug use, and why more than 200 million consumers shared a video about one of the seemingly most boring products there is: a blender. If you've wondered why certain stories get shared, e-mails get forwarded, or videos go viral, Contagious explains why, and shows how to leverage these concepts to craft contagious content. This book provides a set of specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread - for designing messages, advertisements, and information that people will share. Whether you're a manager at a big company, a small business owner trying to boost awareness, a politician running for office, or a health official trying to get the word out, Contagious will show you how to make your product or idea catch on.

The Blog Startup: Proven Strategies to Launch Smart and Exponentially Grow Your Audience, Brand, and Income without Losing Your Sanity or Crying Bucketloads of Tears


Meera Kothand - 2020
    It takes several years for that—more than a book and a couple of days of reading can promise.  But this gives you a plan for success before you even start. Think of it as a road map for your first 90 days!Now, you can start a solid blog with the potential to make money WITHOUT a $1,000+ blogging education! Here’s a snapshot of what’s packed into this how-to guide: Popular guru promises exposed! I expose the truth about popular revenue streams and why NOT ALL monetization options are right for you despite guru promises! The 2M (+1) strategy to help you hit your first $1K blogging. How to find YOUR unique angle, so you can stand out from the pack and attract the right kind of readers. The smartest ways to make critical website pages sticky—Make these pages shout out “YES, you’re in the right place!” and understand what you need and don’t need to include. Why some bloggers make the leap and others don’t. (It has everything to do with what they don’t do!) 3 MUST-ANSWER questions that will shape your blog’s journey. How to create a strategic blog launch plan and my answer to the question “How many posts do you need before launching?” (No more confusion or stress. Just an actionable plan for results.) AND MORE! Imagine knowing exactly what you need to focus on despite all the distractions pulling you in a million directions.Imagine if in a mere year you accomplish more than you ever thought possible, feel a sense of satisfaction, and actually make progress toward this larger vision of what you want your blog and business to do for you.You don't flinch, get panicky, or try different tactics hoping one sticks. You have a plan of action and every decision you make for your blog is calculated and intentional. That’s the power of the process and the promise behind The Blog Startup!Intrigued yet? Then scroll to the top and click or tap “Buy Now.”

Tell Me The Odds: A 15 Page Introduction To Bayes Theorem


Scott Hartshorn - 2017
    Essentially, you make an initial guess, and then get more data to improve it. Bayes Theorem, or Bayes Rule, has a ton of real world applications, from estimating your risk of a heart attack to making recommendations on Netflix But It Isn't That Complicated This book is a short introduction to Bayes Theorem. It is only 15 pages long, and is intended to show you how Bayes Theorem works as quickly as possible. The examples are intentionally kept simple to focus solely on Bayes Theorem without requiring that the reader know complicated probability distributions. If you want to learn the basics of Bayes Theorem as quickly as possible, with some easy to duplicate examples, this is a good book for you.

Drugs, Behavior and Modern Society


Charles F. Levinthal - 1995
    Drugs, Behavior, and Modern Society, 6/e, examines the impact of drug-taking behavior on our society and our daily lives.  The use and abuse of a wide range of licit and illicit drugs are discussed from historical, biological, psychological, and sociological perspectives.  The use of Drugs in our lives and drug-taking behavior, legally restricted drugs in our society, legal drugs in our society, medicinal drugs, treatment, prevention, and education.  Forstudents, or people working with drug related topics in the fields of psychology and health.

Rachel & Leah - Bible Study Book: What Two Sisters Teach Us about Combating Comparison


Nicki Koziarz - 2018
    Learn to be content without becoming complacent, and discover godly wisdom to quiet the incessant Why Her? question in your head. Develop greater awareness of your insecurities, and learn to stop the lies in their tracks. Because the truth will set you free, and free women don't have to measure up to anyone. Not even her.Features: Leader helps to guide questions and discussions within small groupsPersonal study segments with homework to complete between 6 weeks of group sessionsA weekly Bible verse to help combat comparisonOptional six interactive teaching videos, approximately 5-10 minutes per session, available for purchase or rentBenefits: Discover what the Bible says about God, Rachel, Leah, and Jacob, and how He used flawed people for His kingdom.Learn to define success through a biblical perspective.Remember that someone else's gain is not your loss.Evaluate the impact of comparison in your life.

City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp


Ben Rawlence - 2016
    Rawlence combines intimate storytelling with broad socio-political investigative journalism.

Understanding Social Problems


Linda A. Mooney - 1996
    The text progresses from a micro- to macro-level of analysis, focusing first on such problems as illness and health care, drugs and alcohol, and family problems and then broadening to the larger issues of poverty and inequality, population growth, environmental problems, and conflict around the world. The social problem in each chapter is framed in a global as well as U.S. context. In every chapter, the three major theoretical perspectives are applied to the social problem under discussion, and the consequences of the problem, as well as alternative solutions, are explored. Pedagogical features such as The Human Side and Self and Society enable students to grasp how social problems affect the lives of individuals and apply their understanding of social problems to their own lives.

When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone


James Montague - 2008
    James Montague travelled there for three years, observing the region's cultures and politics through the prism of football and interviewing all the major teams along the way. He soon realised that to understand the game there is to understand its people. For as much as football forms an unlikely common thread between different countries, the sport also reflects what is unique in the national characters of those who play, support and organise it.When Friday Comes is an insightful and humorous account of Montague's journey, during which he gets stoned with the Yemeni FA, harangues Iran's Deputy President at the World Cup, has a gun pulled on him by genocidal Lebanese football fans, encounters a rioting group of fanatical young Jews singing 'I'm West Ham 'til I Die' in mockney English and was made to strip and then dance for the Iraqi national team.This is a compelling travel memoir that will enlighten, surprise and entertain football fans everywhere.

An Intelligent Person's Guide to Education


Tony Little - 2015
    One of the most progressive and imaginative people in British education today he has hitherto kept a low profile. This book accompanies a three part television series to be screened on BBC 2 but differs from it significantly.There is a crisis in the British education system. Year on year GCSE and A Level pupils post better exam results, with more students achieving top grades. Yet business leaders and employers complain bitterly that our schools are not producing people fit for purpose. What we have become is a nation 'Over schooled and under educated'. Far from being locked in an ivory tower, a bastion of privilege, Mr Little has used his time as a teacher and headmaster to get to grips with fundamental questions concerning education. He wants to produce people fit to work in the modern world. How do children absorb information? What kind of people does society need? What is education for? Not only is the author one of the great reforming headmasters of our time but he has planted Academies in the East end of London, founded a state boarding school near Windsor and yet is a passionate advocate of single sex schools.This book is not a text book for colleges of education- it is a book to enlighten the teaching profession and just as much for anxious parents. The book is simply arranged under topics such as authority, expectations, progress, self-confidence, sex, crises and creativity.Tony Little thinks it is time to ask some fundamental questions, and to make brave decisions about how we make our schools and our schoolchildren fit for purpose.

The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis


Christiana Figueres - 2020
    How we address it in the next thirty years will determine the kind of world we will live in and will bequeath to our children and to theirs.In The Future We Choose, Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac--who led negotiations for the United Nations during the historic Paris Agreement of 2015--have written a cautionary but optimistic book about the world's changing climate and the fate of humanity.The authors outline two possible scenarios for our planet. In one, they describe what life on Earth will be like by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris climate targets. In the other, they lay out what it will be like to live in a carbon neutral, regenerative world. They argue for confronting the climate crisis head-on, with determination and optimism. The Future We Choose presents our options and tells us what governments, corporations, and each of us can and must do to fend off disaster.

Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods


Robert K. Yin - 2017
    Yin's bestselling text provides a complete portal to the world of case study research. With the integration of 11 applications in this edition, the book gives readers access to exemplary case studies drawn from a wide variety of academic and applied fields. Ultimately, Case Study Research and Applications will guide students in the successful design and use of the case study research method. New to this Edition Includes 11 in-depth applications that show how researchers have implemented case study methods successfully. Increases reference to relativist and constructivist approaches to case study research, as well as how case studies can be part of mixed methods projects. Places greater emphasis on using plausible rival explanations to bolster case study quality. Discusses synthesizing findings across case studies in a multiple-case study in more detail Adds an expanded list of 15 fields that have text or texts devoted to case study research. Sharpens discussion of distinguishing research from non-research case studies. The author brings to light at least three remaining gaps to be filled in the future: how rival explanations can become more routinely integrated into all case study research; the difference between case-based and variable-based approaches to designing and analyzing case studies; and the relationship between case study research and qualitative research.

Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril


Margaret Heffernan - 2011
    A distinguished businesswoman and writer, she examines the phenomenon and traces its imprint in our private and working lives, and within governments and organizations, and asks: What makes us prefer ignorance? What are we so afraid of? Why do some people see more than others? And how can we change?We turn a blind eye in order to feel safe, to avoid conflict, to reduce anxiety, and to protect prestige. Greater understanding leads to solutions, and Heffernan shows how--by challenging our biases, encouraging debate, discouraging conformity, and not backing away from difficult or complicated problems--we can be more mindful of what's going on around us and be proactive instead of reactive.Covering everything from our choice of mates to the SEC, Bernard Madoff's investors, the embers of BP's refinery, the military in Afghanistan, and the dog-eat-dog world of subprime mortgage lenders, this provocative book demonstrates how failing to see--or admit to ourselves or our colleagues--the issues and problems in plain sight can ruin private lives and bring down corporations. Heffernan explains how willful blindness develops before exploring ways that institutions and individuals can combat it. In the tradition of Malcolm Gladwell and Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Margaret Heffernan's Willful Blindness, is a tour de force on human behavior that will open your eyes.

This Explains Everything: Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works


John BrockmanSean Carroll - 2013
    Why do we recognize patterns? Is there such a thing as positive stress? Are we genetically programmed to be in conflict with each other? Those are just some of the 150 questions that the world's best scientific minds answer with elegant simplicity.With contributions from Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, Nassim Taleb, Brian Eno, Steven Pinker, and more, everything is explained in fun, uncomplicated terms that make the most complex concepts easy to comprehend.

The New Geography of Jobs


Enrico Moretti - 2012
    An unprecedented redistribution of jobs, population, and wealth is under way in America, and it is likely to accelerate in the years to come. America’s new economic map shows growing differences, not just between people but especially between communities. In this important and persuasive book, U.C. Berkeley economist Enrico Moretti provides a fresh perspective on the tectonic shifts that are reshaping America’s labor market—from globalization and income inequality to immigration and technological progress—and how these shifts are affecting our communities. Drawing on a wealth of stimulating new studies, Moretti uncovers what smart policies may be appropriate to address the social challenges that are arising. We’re used to thinking of the United States in dichotomous terms: red versus blue, black versus white, haves versus have-nots. But today there are three Americas. At one extreme are the brain hubs—cities like San Francisco, Boston, Austin, and Durham—with a well-educated labor force and a strong innovation sector. Their workers are among the most productive, creative, and best paid on the planet. At the other extreme are cities once dominated by traditional manufacturing, which are declining rapidly, losing jobs and residents. In the middle are a number of cities that could go either way. For the past thirty years, the three Americas have been growing apart at an accelerating rate. This divergence is one the most important recent developments in the United States and is causing growing geographic disparities is all other aspects of our lives, from health and longevity to family stability and political engagement. But the winners and losers aren’t necessarily who you’d expect. Moretti’s groundbreaking research shows that you don’t have to be a scientist or an engineer to thrive in one of these brain hubs. Among the beneficiaries are the workers who support the "idea-creators"—the carpenters, hair stylists, personal trainers, lawyers, doctors, teachers and the like. In fact, Moretti has shown that for every new innovation job in a city, five additional non-innovation jobs are created, and those workers earn higher salaries than their counterparts in other cities. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. As the global economy shifted from manufacturing to innovation, geography was supposed to matter less. But the pundits were wrong. A new map is being drawn—the inevitable result of deep-seated but rarely discussed economic forces. These trends are reshaping the very fabric of our society. Dealing with this split—supporting growth in the hubs while arresting the decline elsewhere—will be the challenge of the century, and The New Geography of Jobs lights the way.

A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, Revised Edition


Edwin H Friedman - 2017
    His understandings about our regressed, “seatbelt society,” oriented toward safety rather than adventure, help explain the sabotage that leaders constantly face today. Suspicious of the “quick fixes” and instant solutions that sweep through our culture only to give way to the next fad, he argued for strength and selfdifferentiationas the marks of true leadership. His formula for success is more maturity, not more data; stamina, not technique; and personal responsibility, not empathy.A Failure of Nerve was unfinished at the time of Friedman’s death and originally publishedin a limited edition. This new edition cleans up some oversights in the original and bringshis life-changing insights and challenges to a new generation of readers.“Reading this book is like discovering an unpublished Beethoven sonata or a missing play of Shakespeare. Ed Friedman was one of our most brilliant, original, and provocative thinkers across the fields of therapy, ministry, and organizational leadership.”—Professor William J. Doherty, Director, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, University of Minnesota