Where would we be without bike helmets, baggies, toothbrushes, and pacemakers? But a century into our love affair with plastic, we’re starting to realize it’s not such a healthy relationship. Plastics draw on dwindling fossil fuels, leach harmful chemicals, litter landscapes, and destroy marine life. As journalist Susan Freinkel points out in this engaging and eye-opening book, we’re nearing a crisis point. We’ve produced as much plastic in the past decade as we did in the entire twentieth century. We’re drowning in the stuff, and we need to start making some hard choices. Freinkel gives us the tools we need with a blend of lively anecdotes and analysis. She combs through scientific studies and economic data, reporting from China and across the United States to assess the real impact of plastic on our lives. She tells her story through eight familiar plastic objects: comb, chair, Frisbee, IV bag, disposable lighter, grocery bag, soda bottle, and credit card. Her conclusion: we cannot stay on our plastic-paved path. And we don’t have to. Plastic points the way toward a new creative partnership with the material we love to hate but can’t seem to live without.

    Leonard examines the “stuff” we use everyday, offering a galvanizing critique and steps for a changed planet.The Story of Stuff was received with widespread enthusiasm in hardcover, by everyone from Stephen Colbert to Tavis Smiley to George Stephanopolous on Good Morning America, as well as far-reaching print and blog coverage. Uncovering and communicating a critically important idea—that there is an intentional system behind our patterns of consumption and disposal—Annie Leonard transforms how we think about our lives and our relationship to the planet.From sneaking into factories and dumps around the world to visiting textile workers in Haiti and children mining coltan for cell phones in the Congo, Leonard, named one of Time magazine’s 100 environmental heroes of 2009, highlights each step of the materials economy and its actual effect on the earth and the people who live near sites like these.With curiosity, compassion, and humor, Leonard shares concrete steps for taking action at the individual and political level that will bring about sustainability, community health, and economic justice. Embraced by teachers, parents, churches, community centers, activists, and everyday readers, The Story of Stuff will be a long-lived classic.

    In this age of economic recession and financial uncertainty, the patented Peters approach to business and management—no-nonsense, witty, down-to-earth, insightful—is more pertinent now than ever. As essential for small-business owners as it is for the heads of major corporations, The Little Big Things is a rousing call-to-arms to American business to get “back to the basics” of running a successful enterprise.

    But more than a temperament, being positive, we are told, is the key to success and prosperity. In this utterly original take on the American frame of mind, Barbara Ehrenreich traces the strange career of our sunny outlook from its origins as a marginal nineteenth-century healing technique to its enshrinement as a dominant, almost mandatory, cultural attitude. Evangelical mega-churches preach the good news that you only have to want something to get it, because God wants to "prosper" you. The medical profession prescribes positive thinking for its presumed health benefits. Academia has made room for new departments of "positive psychology" and the "science of happiness." Nowhere, though, has bright-siding taken firmer root than within the business community, where, as Ehrenreich shows, the refusal even to consider negative outcomes—like mortgage defaults—contributed directly to the current economic crisis.With the myth-busting powers for which she is acclaimed, Ehrenreich exposes the downside of America’s penchant for positive thinking: On a personal level, it leads to self-blame and a morbid preoccupation with stamping out “negative” thoughts. On a national level, it’s brought us an era of irrational optimism resulting in disaster. This is Ehrenreich at her provocative best—poking holes in conventional wisdom and faux science, and ending with a call for existential clarity and courage.

    In 1867 an infant girl called Luli is born into a middle-class Chinese family on the mainland. Her fate is altered when instead of being put to the breast of her mother, her father declares her a misfortune and she is left at the famous Chaozhou wall where many parents and grandparents abandon their unwanted girls. But the child’s mother is desperate to save her and beseeches one of her sons to step in and deliver the baby to safety.At the same time in the affluent house of a scholar on the island of Hong Kong, house slaves Sun Ling and Jingwei are sworn sisters, bound by their shared struggles. When the hardship and abuse become too much too bear, the girls escape and make a run for freedom, then find themselves on a ship bound for the western coast of the Americas. When the paths of these three forgotten girls of China meet, the ocean journey is treacherous and not for the faint-hearted. In the midst of monumental difficulties, their lives converge, and they traverse many obstacles, but will do anything for one another in their oath to stay together and fulfill their hope for a better future in Chinatown, on the shores of San Francisco.

    Marshall III, the renowned author of the bestselling The Lakota Way, says no. Reminding us that those who hold public office are first and foremost politicians, and that corporate bigwigs serve the bottom line, Marshall presents us with a different idea of leadership, one drawn from his own Lakota Sioux culture. “True leadership,” he informs us, “is only possible when character is more important than authority.”Marshall III draws inspiration from three names that have resonated powerfully throughout history to develop his unique concept of leadership: Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and, especially Crazy Horse, whose fascinating life Marshall already chronicled in a biography that Publishers Weekly praised as “vivid and haunting.” Crazy Horse did not teach leadership; he simply demonstrated it, effectively and with compassion. Four factors stand out when looking at him as a leader, and they were the basis of his success:Know yourself. Know your friends. Know the enemy. Lead the way.  The Power of Four shows how and why these maxims—and this Native American philosophy of leadership—is not only applicable to today’s world, but desperately needed: why leadership by example is more powerful than authority; and why the selection of leaders also becomes one way of controlling those very same leaders. Marshall will open readers’ eyes and help them discover how to apply a new set of principles and actions to their own lives.

    One section focused on eight incredibly subtle—and devastatingly destructive—tactics for sabotaging the decision-making processes of organizations. While the manual was written decades ago, these sabotage tactics thrive undetected in organizations today:Insist on doing everything through channels. Make speeches. Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Refer all matters to committees. Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible. Haggle over precise wordings of communications. Refer back to matters already decided upon and attempt to question the advisability of that decision. Advocate caution and urge fellow-conferees to avoid haste that might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on. Be worried about the propriety of any decision.Everyone has been faced with someone who has used these tactics, even when they have meant well. Filled with proven strategies and techniques, this brief, clever book outlines the counter-sabotage measures to detect and reduce the impact of these eight classic sabotage tactics to improve productivity, spur creativity, and engender better collegial relationships.

    Here, for the first time and in detail, Zimbardo tells the full story of the Stanford Prison Experiment, the landmark study in which a group of college-student volunteers was randomly divided into “guards” and “inmates” and then placed in a mock prison environment. Within a week, the study was abandoned, as ordinary college students were transformed into either brutal, sadistic guards or emotionally broken prisoners. By illuminating the psychological causes behind such disturbing metamorphoses, Zimbardo enables us to better understand a variety of harrowing phenomena, from corporate malfeasance to organized genocide to how once upstanding American soldiers came to abuse and torture Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib. He replaces the long-held notion of the “bad apple” with that of the “bad barrel”—the idea that the social setting and the system contaminate the individual, rather than the other way around.

    He offers a straight-talking, step-by-step, scientifically sound system for turning self-doubt into self-esteem, obstacles into opportunities, and thought into action. You will learn— Ten rules for setting and achieving goals— Four creative factors that lead to successful outcomes— A four-part daily prescription for peace of mind— Ten "of course you can" principles— A three-point formula for getting rid of depression— Six positive thoughts to eliminate destructive habits— A three-part blueprint for spiritual and physical health— The single most important step toward becoming a positive personLet Norman Vincent Peale show you how to meet bigger challenges, realize your fondest dreams, and achieve success in every aspect of your life!

    His students, some of the nation’s brightest minds, were adrift when it came to the big questions: how to think critically and creatively, and how to find a sense of purpose.Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with parents and counselors who demand perfect grades and culminates in the skewed applications Deresiewicz saw firsthand as a member of Yale’s admissions committee. As schools shift focus from the humanities to "practical" subjects like economics and computer science, students are losing the ability to think in innovative ways. Deresiewicz explains how college should be a time for self-discovery, when students can establish their own values and measures of success, so they can forge their own path. He addresses parents, students, educators, and anyone who's interested in the direction of American society, featuring quotes from real students and graduates he has corresponded with over the years, candidly exposing where the system is broken and clearly presenting solutions.

    By his late forties, he'd gone from Princeton to Harvard Law to dramatic success as a prosecutor and attorney general to the governorship of New York. Many thought he would become the first Jewish president of the United States. Then came the prostitution scandal that shocked and mystified the nation. Peter Elkind's definitive account gets at all sides of this complex man: the well-intentioned do-gooder, the aggressive lawyer, the hardball politician, the dutiful son, the loving husband and father, and the secretive "Client 9" of the Emperor's Club escort service. Elkind interviewed dozens of key sources ranging from Spitzer's family, friends, and closest aides, to targets of his high-profile investigations, to central players in the prostitution ring. He reveals many groundbreaking new details about Spitzer's rise, his short time as governor, and the way his enemies plotted against him. The result is a gripping, almost Shakespearean narrative-a tragedy of one man's noble intentions and fatal flaws and the powerful forces (both internal and external) that destroyed him.

    Based on the present political situation in Kashmir valley.

    For his own reasons he still remains anonymous, the hypnotic self-help elite must be ruffled! They don’t want this stuff getting out! The Rogue Hypnotist is a top UK clinical hypnotherapist and Advanced NLP expert. He has a very good success rate indeed with his client’s and he wants to share the tricks that work with you! He helps his client’s in 1 session only at a very reasonable rate. They leave with a big smile on their faces. Police officers, multimillionaire’s even TV celebs have sought his help; now he wants to help YOU! The sequel to ‘How to hypnotise anyone,’ the number 1 best seller on hypnosis on Amazon.com and .co.uk is here! ‘Mastering hypnotic language,’ awaits you!!! You can now take your hypnotic mastery up to the next level! In book 1 you learnt how to hypnotise anyone using words alone. Now you will learn how to use words with such precision that your total hypnotic power is assured! The Rogue Hypnotist is giving away almost for free all the ‘language patterns’ that work as opposed to all the junk being sold out that that won’t do anything to anyone. Learning hypnosis should be easy and fun! The hypnosis bag of magic tricks that you can expect to effortlessly learn and put into practise are… 1. The specific language that will induce trance and hypnosis in anyone. 2. Why words beginning in RE are hypnotic! 3. Why you SHOULD use PMR (Progressive Muscle Relaxation) with a script showing just how to do so. 4. How to dissociate the conscious and unconscious minds. Script provided! 5. What ‘colour feelings’ are and how to use them in hypnosis. 6. The secrets of ‘hidden code’ hypnosis. 7. How to use ‘hypnotic negations’ properly and why they work. 8. The amazing expose of how the unconscious reveals the truth through ‘reverse speech.’ 9. A powerful and much more advanced ‘hypnotic mind model,’ that will give you far greater understanding of how the mind works than 99% of mental health care professionals, helping you hypnotise anyone with flair. 10. What the best ‘temporal and spatial’ language predicates to use in hypnosis are. 11. Exactly how to use language to dig out specifics, to find the missing pieces and stop yourself being influenced against your will. 12. How to use hypnotic assumptions and nominalisations and which ones work best. 13. How to specifically and expertly use artfully vague hypnotic language. 14. What hyperbolic words and hypnotic poetry is. 15. The specifics of ‘hypnotic languaging.’ 16. A knowledge of associational networks and artful ambiguity. 17. The 100% fail proof formula to create your own hypnotic deepeners! It’s easier than you think! And you get a free bonus – ‘The Silly Deepener!’ 18. An embedded commands induction PLUS the specific ‘embeds’ that induce trance in any conversation. You will learn TRUE conversational hypnosis that works including how to describe a state to elicit it! 19. A step by step description of the precise way to create a ‘symbolic deepener’ with full script provided. 20. Your special BONUS – ‘The Unicorn Deepener’ and much, much more! The Rogue Hypnotist is practically giving this away so that YOU will have by end of the book more hypnotic ability than 99% of so-called hypnotists out there! That’s my promise to you.

    And you can claim it beginning now. The well know Bible story of David and Goliath is the back drop that Steven A. Cramer uses to show how we can enlist the aid of the Lord in overcoming any of our problems. In our day, we do not have to face nine-foot giants physically, but often our Goliaths come in the form of spiritual giants that will not yield to a stone or sword.

    But is it for the better? Amid a chorus of doomsayers, Clive Thompson delivers a resounding "yes." The Internet age has produced a radical new style of human intelligence, worthy of both celebration and analysis. We learn more and retain it longer, write and think with global audiences, and even gain an ESP-like awareness of the world around us. Modern technology is making us smarter, better connected, and often deeper—both as individuals and as a society. In Smarter Than You Think Thompson shows that every technological innovation—from the written word to the printing press to the telegraph—has provoked the very same anxieties that plague us today. We panic that life will never be the same, that our attentions are eroding, that culture is being trivialized. But as in the past, we adapt—learning to use the new and retaining what’s good of the old. Thompson introduces us to a cast of extraordinary characters who augment their minds in inventive ways. There's the seventy-six-year old millionaire who digitally records his every waking moment—giving him instant recall of the events and ideas of his life, even going back decades. There's a group of courageous Chinese students who mounted an online movement that shut down a $1.6 billion toxic copper plant. There are experts and there are amateurs, including a global set of gamers who took a puzzle that had baffled HIV scientists for a decade—and solved it collaboratively in only one month. Smarter Than You Think isn't just about pioneers. It's about everyday users of technology and how our digital tools—from Google to Twitter to Facebook and smartphones—are giving us new ways to learn, talk, and share our ideas. Thompson harnesses the latest discoveries in social science to explore how digital technology taps into our long-standing habits of mind—pushing them in powerful new directions. Our thinking will continue to evolve as newer tools enter our lives. Smarter Than You Think embraces and extols this transformation, presenting an exciting vision of the present and the future.