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Shift: Inside Nissan's Historic Revival by Carlos Ghosn ( Nissan CEO)

2011-01-29T04:16:00.000-08:00

The best book of Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan Automobile , carreer before and during Nissan's Turnaround.

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
When French auto manufacturer Renault acquired Nissan, they sent Ghosn to engineer the failing company's turnaround, and in short order, interviews and pictures of him were everywhere. The story behind his success is familiar to any reader of business publications, but he gives it here again, along with an extensive recitation of the business strategy that put the failing company back in black. Those who haven't heard the continent-hopping tale of Ghosn's family will be fascinated by the first few chapters, in which he talks about his Lebanese grandfather, who went to Brazil to make his fortune, and reminisces about his own childhood in Brazil and Lebanon. Though some readers may yearn for more details about Ghosn's childhood and his days attending university in Paris, Ghosn is all business. Indeed, his background information seems to have been included largely to establish him as a creature of globalization. The bulk of the book follows his progress at Nissan in dry terms, with short, declarative sentences moving the story efficiently but mechanically. Ghosn sprinkles in occasional passages about his business philosophy, briefly analyzing why Nissan went downhill under the traditional Japanese system and expounding on the necessity of communication, dedication and never hesitating. Nissan's resurgence was doubtless a relief for its shareholders and employees (at least the ones who survived Ghosn's downsizing), but there isn't likely to be a large readership for what, by the end, feels less like a book and more like a company's annual report, complete with history, statistics and vision for the future.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
In Turnaround (2003), David Magee profiled the dramatic comeback of Nissan Corporation under the leadership of international businessman Carlos Ghosn. Here Ghosn relates the story in his own words, first sharing some of his family background and previous experience in the auto industry working at Michelin and at Renault, where he earned a reputation as "le cost killer." Ghosn was chosen by Renault as the only possible candidate to implement the changes necessary to revitalize Nissan, which was suffering under a decade of decline and unprofitability. The Renault alliance with Nissan injected desperately needed cash and revolutionized the stagnated culture at the Japanese company. Although Nissan had technologically superior products, Ghosn found there was a distinct absence of vision and leadership. His Nissan Revival Plan would become a highly successful cultural intersection that created the most dramatic turnaround in automotive history. Ghosn's rapidly paced narrative concludes with his hopes for the future of Nissan, penetrating new segments of the market in SUVs, pickups, and hybrids, along with a much-hoped-for entrance into the Chinese market. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs: Insanely Different Principles for Breakthrough Success

2011-01-29T04:03:00.000-08:00

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
A "THINK DIFFERENT" APPROACH TO INNOVATION

-- Based on the Seven Guiding Principles of Apple CEO Steve Jobs

In his acclaimed bestseller The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs author Carmine Gallo laid out a simple step-by-step program of powerful tools and proven techniques inspired by Steve Jobs's legendary presentations. Now, he shares the Apple CEO's most famous, most original, and most effective strategies for sparking true creativity--and real innovation--in any workplace.
THE INNOVATION SECRETS OF STEVE JOBS

"Steve Jobs has reinvented music distribution, the mobile telephone, and book publishing. You might want to take a look at how someone creates multi-billion dollar ideas, and turns them into multi-billion dollar products that everyone loves and admires. This book is not an option. Buy it now, bank it tomorrow." -- Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling

“In The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs, Carmine Gallo captures the true mindset of Jobs and Apple. This book is not just for the techie and marketing crowd, although they will gain valuable insight that can be applied to their worlds. It is also for anyone who loves technology and wants to understand how to createsimple devices that are easy to use and can impact our lives.” -- Tim Bajarin, president, Creative Strategies, Inc.

"An inspiring roadmap for anyone who wants to live a life of passion and purpose."
-- Tony Hsieh, author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.com, Inc.

"Apple changed the world with the Mac and hasn't stopped innovating since. Carmine Gallo reveals the secrets and gives you the tools to unleash your inner Steve."
-- Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com and author of the national bestseller Behind the Cloud

Learn how to RETHINK your business, REINVENT your products, and REVITALIZE your vision of success--the Steve Jobs way.

When it comes to innovation, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is legendary. His company slogan "Think Different" is more than a marketing tool. It's a way of life--a powerful, positive, game-changing approach to innovation that anyone can apply to any field of endeavor.

These are the Seven Principles of Innovation, inspired by Steve Jobs himself:

1.Do What You Love.
Think differently about your career.

2.Put a Dent in the Universe.
Think differently about your vision.

3.Kick Start Your Brain.
Think differently about how you think.

4.Sell Dreams, Not Products.
Think differently about your customers.

5.Say No to 1,000 Things.
Think differently about design.

6.Create Insanely Great Experiences.
Think differently about your brand experience.

7.Master the Message.
Think differently about your story.

By following Steve Jobs's visionary example, you'll discover exciting new ways to unlock your creative potential and to foster an environment that encourages innovation and allows it to flourish. You'll learn how to match—and beat—the most powerful competitors, develop the most revolutionary products, attract the most loyal customers, and thrive in the most challenging times. Bestselling business journalist Carmine Gallo has interviewed hundreds of successful professionals--from CEOs, managers, and entrepreneurs to teachers, consultants, and stay-at-home moms—to get to the core of Steve Jobs's innovative philosophies. These are the simple, meaningful, and attainable principles that drive us all to "Think Different." These are The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs.

About the Author
Carmine Gallo is a communications coach for the world’s most admired brands. He is an author and columnist for Bloomberg BusinessWweek and Monster.com and a keynote speaker and seminar leader who has appeared on CNBC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC.com, BNET, Forbes.com, and in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Investor's Business Daily. Gallo is a former television anchor and business correspondent and has also held a position as a vice president for a global, top-ten public relations firm. Gallo lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two daughters.

Chasing Goldman Sachs: How the Masters of the Universe Melted Wall Street Down . . . And Why They'll Take Us to the Brink Again

2010-08-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

From Booklist
Business journalist McGee paints Wall Street as a utility with capital flowing through the system like an electric power grid, noting why it almost failed. She describes the pressure on the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008 to bail out Wall Street firms, why Wall Street was called an “abstraction,” and how Wall Street morphed from an intermediary (raising capital) into a casino. Goldman Sachs was the master of its universe, generating average return on equity of 25.4 percent in the decade before the financial crisis, compared with 15 percent annually for four other firms during the same period. Other firms' CEOs chased Goldman Sachs, considering it their model for boosting their own personal wealth and keeping shareholders happy. The author reports, “When left to their own devices, financial services firms . . . will focus almost monomaniacally on what is in their own best interest, seeking out ways to take earn sichigher returns and recruit top talent by paying the most lavish bonuses and offering the most enticing perks. . . . They cannot help themselves.” Excellent book. --Mary Whaley

Review
"...masterful...exceptionally lucid, well-written"--Washington Post

“…must-read on the venerable Wall Street firm [Goldman Sachs].”— Dow Jones’ FINS

“A disturbing account of how Goldman Sachs Group Inc. became a seductively successful Pied Piper, luring rival banks down a path to destruction.”— Bloomberg

“McGee’s book is full of entertaining and enlightening material.” — Financial Times

“McGee has taken it upon herself to make the case less through assertion or argument than through anecdote and appeal to authority.” — New York Times Book Review

“…a great look at a current event for the general reader.”— Library Journal

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Turnaround : How Carlos Ghosn Rescued Nissan

2010-08-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The facts of Magee's account are quite startling. Nissan, once a darling of the automotive world, with its cheap Datsun pickups and stylish, spunky Z roadsters, had, by the 1990s, fallen on hard times. Saddled with billions in debt, the company merged with Renault in 1999, and a Renault v-p, Carlos Ghosn, was named Nissan's new CEO. Routing not only every naysayer in the auto industry, Ghosn, who was born to Lebanese parents in Brazil, also had to overcome an entrenched Japanese business culture that at that time had seemed to stress perks, seniority and relationships over the bottom line. Given complete control over the company, Ghosn slashed costs and laid off employees, as was expected, but also instituted a sweeping reorganization of the entire company, announced an ambitious slate of new vehicles and promised that if Nissan was not profitable in 2000, he and his entire managerial staff would quit. Journalist Magee lays out Ghosn's management style, his mantra of complete transparency and responsibility, and all the tiny victories that went into returning Nissan to the top ranks of automakers. His approach can be hagiographic, but this profile of an astoundingly effective CEO (one of the few who might have actually earned his large salary) is sure to inspire.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
This the story of the dramatic comeback of Nissan under the leadership of CEO Carlos Ghosn. The ultimate international businessman, Ghosn is of Lebanese descent, born in Brazil and raised as a French citizen. He saved Renault first and then Nissan from bankruptcy by using drastic cost-cutting measures and by fully engaging the workforce from the ground up to stimulate creative innovation. In order to do so, he had to implement Western-style changes, such as plant closings and layoffs, and risk alienating a Japanese culture used to life-long job security. In 1999, Ghosn unveiled his Nissan Revival Plan and made headlines by pledging to quit if the ailing company was not profitable within one year. He proved all the doubters wrong when he announced that fiscal year 2000 was not only profitable but had posted the best financial performance in the company's history. Magee's report is a fine lesson in the adage that "there are no problems at a car company good products can't solve." David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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The Ghosn Factor: 24 Inspiring Lessons From Carlos Ghosn, the Most Successful Transitional CEO by Miguel Rivas-Micoud

2010-07-01T05:54:00.000-07:00

24 Management Philosophies of Sucessful CEO of Nissan - Renault, Carlos Ghosn

whom revived Nissan from verge of collapse return to state of competitive.

One of the most active CEO and Change Catalyst.

Overview

Get inside the mind and the methods of one of the most innovative leaders in the world-and learn to emulate his success

In 1999, Nissan's market share was plunging, and the company was billions in debt. Carlos Ghosn's successful implementation of his ?Nissan Revival? created record profits-and made him a business legend around the world. Now the CEO of both Nissan and Renault, Carlos Ghosn is a management icon everyone wants to understand.

The Ghosn Factor, examines the life, works, and words of Carlos Ghosn, exploring what principles guide him, what goals drive him, and how he has succeeded where other CEOs have failed.

About Author
Miguel Rivas-Micoud is the co-author of Renaissance, Carlos Ghosn's only official and authorized autobiography. He is a professor of English in the law faculty of Meiji University in Tokyo and author of numerous books and articles on language, society, management, politics, and economics. He is a contributing editor to the Diamond Harvard Business Review.

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1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die by Patricia Schultz

2010-06-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

Book Description
It's the phenomenon: 1,000 Places to See Before You Die has 2.2 million copies in print and has spent 144 weeks and counting on The New York Times bestseller list.

Now, shipping in time for the tens of millions of travelers heading out for summer trips, comes 1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die. Sail the Maine Windjammers out of Camden. Explore the gold-mining trails in Alaska's Denali wilderness. Collect exotic shells on the beaches of Captiva. Take a barbecue tour of Kansas City—from Arthur Bryant's to Gates to B.B.'s Lawnside to Danny Edward's to LC's to Snead's. There's the ice hotel in Quebec, the Great Stalacpipe Organ in Virginia, cowboy poetry readings, what to do in Louisville after the Derby's over, and for every city, dozens of unexpected suggestions and essential destinations.

The book is organized by region, and subject-specific indices in the back sort the book by interest—wilderness, great dining, best beaches, world-class museums, sports and adventures, road trips, and more. There's also an index that breaks out the best destinations for families with children. Following each entry is the nuts and bolts: addresses, websites, phone numbers, costs, best times to visit.

From the Back Cover
It's a traveler's life list, a guide, an inspiration, a memory book. Open it to check out where you've been, and where you should go next. What to see and what to do and what to show the kids. Where to eat and where to stay. And how to change your life.

Covering the U.S.A. and Canada like never before, here are 1,000 spectacular, compelling, essential, offbeat, utterly unforgettable places. Pristine beaches and national parks, world-class museums and the Corn Palace, mountain resorts, salmon-rich rivers, scenic byways, Chez Panisse and the country's best taco, lush gardens and Holden Arboretum, mountain biking on the Maah Daah Hey trail, historic mansions, vineyards, hot springs, the Talladega Superspeedway, classic ballparks, and more. Includes more than 150 places of special interest to families, and, for every entry, the nuts and bolts of how and when to visit. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author
Patricia Schultz is the author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die and Executive Producer of the Travel Channel’s reality show of the same name. Based in New York City, she’s also written for Condé Nast Traveler, Islands, and Harper’s Bazaar.

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Sean Connery: Neither Shaken nor Stirred by Andrew Yule

2010-05-28T23:31:00.000-07:00

Product Description
From humble beginnings as a milkman and coffin-polisher to one of the world’s biggest box-office names, Sean Connery is one of Hollywood’s all-time greatest success stories. The star of nearly 80 films, Connery is perhaps still best known for his seven performances as James Bond. Indeed, for many movie fans Connery’s 007 is unsurpassed to this day. But how did this working-class Scot come to embody the quintessentially English agent? This definitive biography reveals Connery’s early successes and failures—both personal and professional—and looks at the little-known life behind the cameras. Frank and thorough, this is a complete look at the film world’s classic charismatic hard man.

About the Author
Andrew Yule is the author of numerous biographies of film personalities, including Fast Fade, Picture Shows, and Steven Spielberg.

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Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm

2010-05-23T00:55:00.000-07:00

This myth shattering book reveals the methods Nouriel Roubini used to foretell the current crisis before other economists saw it coming and shows how those methods can help us make sense of the present and prepare for the future.

Renowned economist Nouriel Roubini electrified his profession and the larger financial community by predicting the current crisis well in advance of anyone else. Unlike most in his profession who treat economic disasters as freakish once-inÂa-lifetime events without clear cause, Roubini, after decades of careful research around the world, realized that they were both probable and predictable. Armed with an unconventional blend of historical analysis and global economics, Roubini has forced politicians, policy makers, investors, and market watchers to face a long-neglected truth: financial systems are inherently fragile and prone to collapse. Drawing on the parallels from many countries and centuries, Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm, a professor of economic history and a New York Times Magazine writer, show that financial cataclysms are as old and as ubiquitous as capitalism itself. The last two decades alone have witnessed comparable crises in countries as diverse as Mexico, Thailand, Brazil, Pakistan, and Argentina. All of these crises-not to mention the more sweeping cataclysms such as the Great Depression-have much in common with the current downturn. Bringing lessons of earlier episodes to bear on our present predicament, Roubini and Mihm show how we can recognize and grapple with the inherent instability of the global financial system, understand its pressure points, learn from previous episodes of irrational exuberance, pinpoint the course of global contagion, and plan for our immediate future. Perhaps most important, the authors-considering theories, statistics, and mathematical models with the skepticism that recent history warrants- explain how the world's economy can get out of the mess we're in, and stay out. In Roubini's shadow, economists and investors are increasingly realizing that they can no longer afford to consider crises the black swans of financial history. A vital and timeless book, Crisis Economics proves calamities to be not only predictable but also preventable and, with the right medicine, curable.

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Ian Bremmer and Nouriel Roubini: Author One-to-One
In this Amazon exclusive, we brought together authors Ian Bremmer and Nouriel Roubini and asked them to interview each other.

Ian Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group, the world's leading global political risk research and consulting firm. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Foreign Affairs, and other publications, and his books include The End of the Free Market, The J Curve, and The Fat Tail. Read on to see Ian Bremmer's questions for Nouriel Roubini, or turn the tables to see what Roubini asked Bremmer.

Bremmer: You argue in your book [Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance] that financial crises are not unpredictable “black swan” events but, rather, can be forecast – in effect, white swans. What do you mean by that?

Roubini: My friend Nassim Taleb popularized the concept of “Black Swans,” those economic and financial events that are sudden, unexpected and unpredictable. But if you look at financial crises through history – and the earliest is the Tulipmania in the Netherlands in the 17th Century – you see a pattern that is highly regular and predictable: An asset bubble – often in real estate or in stock markets or in a new industry – leads to financial euphoria, excessive risk taking, an accumulation of excessive debt and leverage. So the signposts of this phase — asset boom and bubble, followed by the eventual bust and crash — are highly predictable if one looks at the economic and financial indicators that show the build-up of such excesses. Thus, financial boom and bust are predictable white swan events, not unpredictable and random black swans. Financial crises have repeatedly occurred for hundreds of years and they follow quite regular pattern. That is why my book is about “crisis economics”, a phenomenon that is becoming more of a rule than an exception. Financial crises that should have occurred once in 100 years now occur more frequently and with greater virulence than in the past; and their economic, fiscal, financial and social costs are rising.

The trouble is that in the bubble phase nearly everyone, the exception being a few critical analysts, is swept in a delusional bubble mania of irrational euphoria: households, financial institutions, investors, governments, spinmeisters all of whom profit from the bubble, including Ponzi-schemers who concoct their houses of cards and financial con games. So, in each bubble there are cranks who argue that this time is different and that the bubble is driven by a fundamental brave new world of ever rising growth and profits. Then, when the boom and bubble turns into a bust and crash, a reality check occurs and financial depression sets in.

Bremmer: Who is to blame the most for the recent financial crisis? Who were the culprits of the latest one?

Roubini: The list of culprits is very long. The Fed kept interest rates too low for too long in the earlier part the past decade and fed — pun intended — the housing and credit bubble. Bankers and investors on Wall Street and in financial institutions were greedy, arrogant and reckless in their risk taking and build-up of leverage because they were compensated based on short term profits. As a result, they generated toxic loans – subprime mortgages and other mortgages and loans – that borrowers could not afford and then packaged these mortgages and loans into toxic securities – the entire alphabet soup of structured finance products, so-called “SIVs” like MBSs – Mortgage-Backed Securities, or CDOs – Collateralized Debt Obligations -- and even CDOs of CDOs. These were new, complex, exotic, non-transparent, non-traded, marked-to-model rather than market-to-market and mis-rated by the rating agencies. Indeed, the rating agencies were also culprits as they had massive conflicts of interest: they made most of their profits from mis-rating these new instruments and being paid handsomely by the issuers. Also, the regulators and supervisors were asleep at the wheel as the ideology in Washington for the last decade was one of laissez faire “Wild West” capitalism with little prudential regulation and supervision of banks and other financial institutions.

Bremmer: In the book you express concern that following the massive leveraging of the private sector there is now a massive re-leveraging of the public sector that will put the economic recovery at risk. Why such worries?

Roubini: The Great Recession of 2008-2009 was triggered by excessive debt accumulation and leverage on the part of households, financial institutions and even the corporate sector in many advanced economies. While there is much talk about de-leveraging as the crisis wanes, the reality is that private-sector debt ratios have stabilized at very high levels. By contrast, as a consequence of fiscal stimulus and socialization of part of the private sector’s losses, there is now a massive re-leveraging of the public sector. Deficits in excess of 10% of GDP can be found in many advanced economies, including America’s, and debt-to-GDP ratios are expected to rise sharply – in some cases doubling in the next few years.

Such balance-sheet crises have historically led to economic recoveries that are slow, anemic, and below-trend for many years. Sovereign-debt problems are another strong possibility, given the massive re-leveraging of the public sector. In countries that cannot issue debt in their own currency (traditionally emerging-market economies), or that issue debt in their own currency but cannot independently print money (as in the eurozone), unsustainable fiscal deficits often lead to a credit crisis, a sovereign default, or other coercive form of public-debt restructuring. In countries that borrow in their own currency and can monetize the public debt, a sovereign debt crisis is unlikely, but monetization of fiscal deficits can eventually lead to high inflation. And inflation is – like default – a capital levy on holders of public debt, as it reduces the real value of nominal liabilities at fixed interest rates.

Thus, the recent problems faced by Greece are only the tip of a sovereign-debt iceberg in many advanced economies (and a smaller number of emerging markets). Bond-market vigilantes already have taken aim at Greece, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Iceland, pushing government bond yields higher. Eventually they may take aim at other countries – even Japan and the United States – where fiscal policy is on an unsustainable path.

Bremmer: Should we then worry about the risk of a collapse of the European Monetary Union--the so-called “eurozone?”

Roubini: This is a serious and rising risk. The dilemma for Greece and the other fiscally challenge countries dubbed the PIIGS — that’s Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain — is that, whereas fiscal consolidation is necessary to prevent an unsustainable increase in the spread on sovereign bonds, the short-run effects of raising taxes and cutting government spending tend to cause economic contraction. This, too, complicates the public-debt dynamics and impedes the restoration of public-debt sustainability. Indeed, this was the trap faced by Argentina in 1998-2001, when needed fiscal contraction exacerbated recession and eventually led to default.

In countries like the eurozone members, a loss of external competitiveness, caused by tight monetary policy and a strong currency, erosion of long-term comparative advantage relative to emerging markets, and wage growth in excess of productivity growth, impose further constraints on the resumption of growth. If growth does not recover, the fiscal problems will worsen while making it more politically difficult to enact the painful reforms needed to restore competitiveness.

A vicious circle of public-finance deficits, current-account gaps, worsening external-debt dynamics, and stagnating growth can then set in. Eventually, this can lead to default on euro-zone members’ public and foreign debt, as well as exit from the monetary union by fragile economies unable to adjust and reform fast enough.

Provision of liquidity by an international lender of last resort – the European Central Bank, the IMF, or even a new European Monetary Fund – could prevent an illiquidity problem from turning into an insolvency problem. But if a country is effectively insolvent rather than just illiquid, such “bailouts” cannot prevent eventual default and devaluation (or exit from a monetary union) because the international lender of last resort eventually will stop financing an unsustainable debt dynamic, as occurred Argentina (and in Russia in 1998). Thus, the weakest links of the EMU – countries such as Greece may be eventually be forced to default and to exit the monetary union to regain their competitiveness and growth through a depreciation of their new national currency.

Bremmer: So how can we properly deal with the fallout of financial crises? How to properly reduce private and public debts?

Roubini: Cleaning up high private-sector debt and lowering public-debt ratios by growth alone is particularly hard if a balance-sheet crisis leads to an anemic recovery. And reducing debt ratios by saving more leads to the paradox of thrift: too fast an increase in savings deepens the recession and makes debt ratios even worse.

At the end of the day, resolving private-sector leverage problems by fully socializing private losses and re-leveraging the public sector is risky. At best, taxes will eventually be raised and spending cut, with a negative effect on growth; at worst, the outcome may be direct capital levies (default) or indirect ones (the inflation tax if large budget deficits are sharply monetized).

Unsustainable private-debt problems must be resolved by defaults, debt reductions, and conversion of debt into equity. If, instead, private debts are excessively socialized, the advanced economies will face a grim future: serious sustainability problems with their public, private, and foreign debt, together with crippled prospects for economic growth.

Bremmer: In the book you propose radical reforms of the system of regulation and supervision of banks and other financial institutions and criticize the more cosmetic reforms now considered by the US Congress and in other countries. Why the need for radical reform?

Roubini: If reforms will be cosmetic we will not prevent future asset and credit bubbles and we will experience new and more virulent crises. The currently proposed reforms of “too-big-to-fail” financial institutions are not sufficient: imposing higher capital levies on these firms and have a resolution regime for an orderly shutdown of large systemically important insolvent firms will not work. If a financial firm is too-big-to-fail it is just too big: it should be broken up to make it less systemically important. And in the heat of the next crisis using a resolution regime to close down too-big-to-fail firms will be very hard; thus, the temptation to bail them out again will be dominant.

Also, the modest Volcker Rule – that may not even be passed by Congress because of the banking lobbies power – does not go far enough. It correctly points out that banking institutions that have access to insured deposits and to the lender of last resort support of the Fed should not be allowed to engage into risky activities such as prop trading, hedge funds and private investments. But more needs to be done: we need to go back to the more radical separation between commercial and investment banking that the Glass Steagall Act had imposed. Repealing this Act was a mistake that led to excessive risk taking and leverage by both banks and non-bank financial institutions.

Finally, the government should regulate much more tightly toxic and dangerous over-the-counter derivative instruments; and compensation of bankers and traders should be subject to radical “clawbacks”: bonuses should not be paid outright but go into a fund and clawed back if the initial investments/trades turned out to be risky and money losing over time.

Bremmer: Have we learned the lessons from the last financial crisis or are we planting the seeds of the next one?

Roubini: I fear that we have not learned those lessons and that part of the policy response is now creating a new global asset bubble that will cause a bigger financial crisis in the next few years. For one thing, there is a lot of talk about better regulation an supervision of the financial system but the financial industry is back to business as usual – rebuilding leverage, engaging in prop trading and other risk behavior, compensating bankers and traders with indecent bonuses - and is lobbying against better regulation and supervision. Governments are talking about reforms but almost no one has implemented them.

In the meanwhile interest rates remain close to zero in most advanced economies and they are also very low in many overheating emerging markets. Also dollar funded carry trades are feeding asset bubbles globally. Thus, part of the sharp rise in risky asset prices since March 2009 is driven by a wall of liquidity chasing assets that are becoming overpriced: US and global equities, credit, oil and commodity prices, emerging markets asset prices. And if this bubble eventually gets out of hand the eventual bust could lead to another and bigger global financial crisis in the next two or three years.

Review
"A succinct, lucid and compelling account of the causes and consequences of the great meltdown of 2008"
-Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"A rigorous yet highly readable look at why booms and busts occur and how to keep them from wreaking havoc on the real economy"
-Bloomberg

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Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip A. Fisher

2010-05-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

"I am 15% Fisher and 85% Graham" - Warren Buffet

Phillip Arthur Fisher (September 8, 1907 – March 11, 2004) is considered a pioneer in the field of growth investing. Morningstar has called him "one of the great investors of all time". His career spanned 74 years--but was more diverse than growth stock picking. He did early venture capital and private equity, advised chief executives, wrote and taught. He had an impact. For decades, big names in investing claimed Dad as a mentor, role model, inspirations.

Phil Fisher was one of only three people ever to teach the investment course at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. He taught Jack McDonald, the course's current professor. For 40 years Jack has seen to it that you can't get past that class without reading Phil Fisher. Dad last lectured at Stanford for Jack four years ago. He had a knack for getting great minds to think their own thoughts--but bigger than they would have conceived otherwise on their own. Many disciples described this experience to me.

Review
"...written by American Investment genius.... We are delighted to have the opportunity to reproduce an extract from this classic, recently reissued..." (Financial Director, November 2003)
"...these updated classics are packed with investment wisdom..." (What Investment, November 2003)

Product Description
Critical Praise for Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings
"You will find lots of jewels in these pages that may do as much for you as they have for me."
–– Kenneth L. Fisher

"I sought out Phil Fisher after reading his Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings. When I met him, I was as impressed by the man as by his ideas. A thorough understanding of the business, obtained by using Phil’s techniques . . . enables one to make intelligent investment commitments."
–– Warren Buffett

"Little known to the public, rarely interviewed, and accepting few clients, Philip Fisher is nevertheless read and studied by most thoughtful investment professionals . . . everyone will profit from pondering–as Warren Buffett has done–the investment principles Fisher espouses."
–– James W. Michaels
former editor, Forbes

"My own copy [of Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings] has underlinings and marginal thoughts throughout."
–– John Train
author of Dance of the Money Bees

Updated features include a new Preface and Introduction from Kenneth L. Fisher

Widely respected and admired, Philip Fisher is among the most influential investors of all time. His investment philosophies, introduced almost forty years ago, are not only studied and applied by today’s finance professionals, but are also regarded by many as gospel. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings reveals these timeless philosophies.

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Execution Premium by Robert S.Kaplan and David P. Norton

2010-04-14T06:24:00.000-07:00

In this book you will find about

-Why your firm must link strategy with operations
-How to accomplish that goal in six stages
-Why you need a central oversight unit
-Where quality programs like Six Sigma fit in
-Why executive support is vital in aligning operations and strategy

The reason why this book is so special.

Senior executives love to plan strategies. They believe this puts them in the exalted company of Napoleon, Sun-Tzu and Clausewitz. Indeed, for CEOs and their corporate management team, developing strategy is the heart of leadership. Unfortunately, most companies end up with strategies that are not linked to their actual operations. The result? Strategy that is not strategic, since companies are unable to implement it. Strategy experts Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton created the Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Maps and have now developed a versatile, 6-stage program your corporation can use to mesh its strategy with its operations. Their approach already works for numerous top-flight organizations. get Abstract applauds this outstanding book. It is an exceptionally worthwhile read, especially given its invaluable case studies. Readers who are not grounded in sophisticated, strategic systems, such as Six Sigma and Balanced Scorecard, will be in over their heads starting on page one.

Product Description
In a world of stiffening competition, business strategy is more crucial than ever. Yet most organizations struggle in this area--not with formulating strategy but with executing it, or putting their strategy into action. Owing to execution failures, companies realize just a fraction of the financial performance promised in their strategic plans.

It doesn't have to be that way, maintain Robert Kaplan and David Norton in The Execution Premium. Building on their breakthrough works on strategy-focused organizations, the authors describe a multistage system that enables you to gain measurable benefits from your carefully formulated business strategy. This book shows you how to:

-Develop an effective strategy--with tools such as SWOT analysis, vision formulation, and strategic change agendas
-Plan execution of the strategy--through portfolios of strategic initiatives linked to strategy maps and Balanced Scorecards
-Put your strategy into action--by integrating operational tools such as process dashboards, rolling forecasts, and activity-based costing
-Test and update your strategy--using carefully designed management meetings to review operational and strategic data

Drawing on extensive research and detailed case studies from a broad array of industries, The Execution Premium presents a systematic and proven framework for achieving the financial results promised by your strategy.

About the Author
Robert S. Kaplan is the Baker Foundation Professor at the Harvard Business School. He has been a codeveloper of both activity-based costing and the Balanced Scorecard.

David P. Norton is a founder and director of the Palladium Group, a consultancy focusing on strategy execution, and is codeveloper of the Balanced Scorecard.

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Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, & Religion by David Barton

2010-04-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

Product Description
This book deals with what the author calls "judicial micromanagement" of the American government, charging that the courts have virtually rewritten the liberties enumerated in the Constitution. He proposes ideas for returning to "original intent.

About the Author
David Barton is founder and president of WallBuilders, a national pro-family organization which distributes historical, legal, and statistical information, and helps citizens become active in their local schools and communities. He was appointed by the Texas State Board of Education and the California Academic Standards Commission to review their History/Social Studies standards.
David is the recipient of several national and international awards, including the Daughters of the American Revolution Medal of Honor; the George Washington Honor Medal; two Angel Awards for excellence in media and educational medium, many Who's Who, and numerous other awards.

He is the author of numerous books on historical, legal, and educational issues. David is a national conference speaker and a frequent consultant to state and federal legislators.

Price : 440 THB

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Battle Angel Alita: Last Order / Gunnm: Last Order, Vol. 12 (Battle Angel Alita (Graphic Novels))

2010-04-02T05:58:00.000-07:00

Product Description
A sophisticated science fiction tale packed with action, black humor, and philosophical, historical, and cultural references! R to L (Japanese Style). "Angel Redux"This time, Alita returns in an unprecedented form (Check out this volume's cover for details!) it seems no one can touch--not even Super Nova! Then Agi Mbadi, the dictator of Ketheres, goes on the offensive. If he cancels the Z.O.T.T. for "safety reasons," will Alita's dream of independence for Tiphares and the Scrapyard be crushed forever? Master manga creater Yukito Kishiro returns, accompanied by his most celebrated character, cyborg sweetheart Battle Angel Alita. Meet Kishiro's latest bevy of bizarre and tormented characters and catch up with your favorite friends and foes! A sophisticated science fiction tale packed with action, black humor, and philosophical, historical, and cultural references!

About the Author
At 17, he won one of Shueisha's manga contests, but opted to go onto art school instead of ploughing straight into the manga industry. Yukito Kishiro is also the author of Ashen Victor, Aqua Knight, and Battle Angel Alita: Last Order.

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Battle Angel Alita / Gunnm , Vol. 1 (Battle Angel Alita (Graphic Novels)) , Yukito Kishiro

2010-04-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

Amazon.com Review
In the first volume of Yukito Kishiro'sBattle Angel Alita /Gunnm , Daisuke Ido discovers a badly damaged cyborg in the trash heap beneath the floating city of Tiphares, which he rebuilds and names Alita. She has no memory of her previous life, but when she is drawn into a battle with the monster Makaku, Alita realizes that she must uncover the dark secrets of her past.
Kishiro's story is much more than a science-fiction adventure. Woven into the violent, roller-coaster plot is a strand of philosophical speculation. Battle Angel Alita takes us to a world where technology blurs the boundaries between human and machine, begging the question "What makes us who we are?"

Product Description
When Doc Ido, a talented cyberphysician, finds Alita's head in a junk heap, she has lost all memory of her past life. But when he reconstructs her, she discovers her body still instinctively remembers the Panzer Kunst, the most powerful cyborg fighting technique ever known. In the postapocalyptic world of the Scrapyard, as the secrets of Alita's past unfold, each day is a struggle for survival.

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Caught by Harlan Coben

2010-03-24T04:28:00.000-07:00

Product Description
From the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense comes a fast-paced, emotion-packed novel about guilt, grief, and our capacity to forgive

17-year-old Haley McWaid is a good girl, the pride of her suburban New Jersey family, captain of the lacrosse team, headed off to college next year with all the hopes and dreams her doting parents can pin on her. Which is why, when her mother wakes one morning to find that Haley never came home the night before, and three months quickly pass without word from the girl, the community assumes the worst.

Wendy Tynes is a reporter on a mission, to identify and bring down sexual predators via elaborate—and nationally televised—sting operations. Working with local police on her news program Caught in the Act, Wendy and her team have publicly shamed dozens of men by the time she encounters her latest target. Dan Mercer is a social worker known as a friend to troubled teens, but his story soon becomes more complicated than Wendy could have imagined.

In a novel that challenges as much as it thrills, filled with the astonishing tension and unseen suburban machinations that have become Coben’s trademark, Caught tells the story of a missing girl, the community stunned by her loss, the predator who may have taken her, and the reporter who suddenly realizes she can’t trust her own instincts about this story—or the motives of the people around her.

Praise for Long Lost:

"Coben is one of the best authors around at writing page-turning suspense, as Long Lost makes clear."
-Chicago Sun-Times

"Roller-coaster plot and savvy dialogue...All the ingredients of a good old- fashioned thriller: murder, action and wit."
-New York Daily News

About the Author
Harlan Coben is the bestselling author of sixteen previous novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers Long Lost and Hold Tight. Winner of the Edgar Award, the Shamus Award, and the Anthony Award, Coben lives in New Jersey with his family.

Price: 595 THB

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The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition by Warren Buffet Himself

2010-03-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

Product Description
The definitive work concerning Warren Buffett and intelligent investment philosophy, this is a collection of Buffett's letters to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway written over the past few decades that together furnish an enormously valuable informal education. The letters distill in plain words all the basic principles of sound business practices. They are arranged and introduced by a leading apostle of the 'value' school and noted scholar, Lawrence Cunningham.

What's new in the second edition? This new edition has extensive additional content that highlights topics of vital national or international significance, including:

- the proliferation of stock option compensation and excessive CEO pay;
- Berkshire s shareholder-designated contribution program and the controversy over the abortion issue that led to its termination;
- the explosion of derivative financial instruments and related perils and how Berkshire dealt with managing a sizable portfolio of them after buying Gen Re;
- the dramatic increase in foreign currency trading in the past five years along with the astonishing growth in the US trade deficit;
- management succession at Berkshire Hathaway as Mr. Buffett ages;
- commentary on his philanthropic thinking in giving his entire fortune to charities; and
- the fairness and other matters concerning taxation of corporations.

Here in one place are the priceless pearls of business and investment wisdom, woven into a delightful narrative on the major topics concerning both managers and investors. These timeless lessons are useful to members of a wide range of professions, including law, accounting, finance and management, and provide rich teaching materials for courses in those fields.

Price: 1,070 THB

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The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Second Edition

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The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America

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Essays of Warren Buffett : Lessons for Corporate America

Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1 (The Twilight Saga) by Stephenie Meyer

2010-03-12T05:14:00.000-08:00

First beautifully rendered graphic novel version of bestselling vampire novel serie : Twilight

Book Description
When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret...
Beautifully rendered, this first installment of Twilight: The Graphic Novel is a must-have for any collector’s library.

About the Author
Stephenie Meyer graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English literature, and she lives with her husband and three young sons in Arizona. After the publication of her debut novel, Twilight, booksellers chose her as one of the "most promising new authors of 2005" (Publishers Weekly).

Young Kim graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in painting from the College of Fine Arts. She has worked on numerous animation and cover illustration projects and currently makes her home in Yongin, Korea.

Price : 697 THB

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Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1 (The Twilight Saga)

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Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1 (The Twilight Saga)

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Twilight Graphic Novel Vol.1

Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip by Jim Rogers

2010-03-03T06:57:00.000-08:00

Defnitely greatest Journey around the world with complete experiences

about investment and economics

From Publishers Weekly
Legendary Financier Jim Rogers retired from his career at 37 and motorcycled around the world, turning the trip into the book Investment Biker, a hybrid of business advice and travelogue. That journey, however, failed to squelch his wanderlust. Instead of enjoying his sedate life teaching finance, Rogers decided to take his fiancée and a souped-up Mercedes on a frighteningly intense road trip: three years, 116 countries and 152,000 miles. Like the car that plowed through snow, mud, sand and highways on every continent, Rogers's memoir of the journey is its own breed. Although Rogers writes, far too briefly, of life-changing events like getting married and hearing of his father's death, the book has an uncommon level of detachment. Also, even though Rogers shares investment advice and observations about the planet's political economies, his thoughts are too general to serve as business lessons. The result is an adventure tale without heart and a finance book without teeth. Rogers tries to make up for this by describing experiences like eating fried silkworms and watching prostitutes caught in the world's sex trade. Mainly, though, he chronicles prosaic details, like taking car ferries and talking to border guards, and then riffs on politics, money, immigration and culture.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
Rogers, a Wall Street success story who has been called "The Indiana Jones of Finance," once circled the planet on a motorcycle, which landed him in The Guinness Book of World Records and resulted in his first book, Investment Biker (1994). In 1999 he set out on another world-record drive around the world in a custom-built yellow Mercedes convertible with his fiancee, Paige Parker. Starting out in Iceland, the trip took three years and encompassed 116 countries, many of which are rarely visited, in a continuous swath across Europe, the former Soviet Republic, China, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. No one had ever driven overland following these routes, a total of 152,000 miles, another Guinness world record. Rogers' insightful commentary on the political and historical topography of these diverse countries cuts through stereotypes to give us a glimpse of the world the way it really is, for better or worse. This is a gutsy travelogue adventure from a guy who shoots straight from the hip, and it really hits the mark. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"My success in the market has been predicated on viewing
the world from a different perspective".Jim Rogers," the Indiana Jones of finance"

(Time magazine) -- Review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
Drive . . . and grow rich!

The bestselling author of Investment Biker is back from the ultimate road trip: a three-year drive around the world that would ultimately set the Guinness record for the longest continuous car journey. In Adventure Capitalist, legendary investor Jim Rogers, dubbed “the Indiana Jones of finance” by Time magazine, proves that the best way to profit from the global situation is to see the world mile by mile. “While I have never patronized a prostitute,” he writes, “I know that one can learn more about a country from speaking to the madam of a brothel or a black marketeer than from meeting a foreign minister.”

Behind the wheel of a sunburst-yellow, custom-built convertible Mercedes, Rogers and his fiancée, Paige Parker, began their “Millennium Adventure” on January 1, 1999, from Iceland. They traveled through 116 countries, including many where most have rarely ventured, such as Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, Angola, Sudan, Congo, Colombia, and East Timor. They drove through war zones, deserts, jungles, epidemics, and blizzards. They had many narrow escapes.

They camped with nomads and camels in the western Sahara. They ate silkworms, iguanas, snakes, termites, guinea pigs, porcupines, crocodiles, and grasshoppers.

Best of all, they saw the real world from the ground up—the only vantage point from which it can be truly understood—economically, politically, and socially.

Here are just a few of the author’s conclusions:

• The new commodity bull market has started.
• The twenty-first century will belong to China.
• There is a dramatic shortage of women developing in Asia.
• Pakistan is on the verge of disintegrating.
• India, like many other large nations, will break into several countries.
• The Euro is doomed to fail.
• There are fortunes to be made in Angola.
• Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are a scam.
• Bolivia is a comer after decades of instability, thanks to gigantic amounts of natural gas.

Adventure Capitalist is the most opinionated, sprawling, adventurous journey you’re likely to take within the pages of a book—the perfect read for armchair adventurers, global investors, car enthusiasts, and anyone interested in seeing the world and understanding it as it really is.

About the Author
Born in 1942, Jim Rogers had his first job at age five, picking up bottles at baseball games. Winning a scholarship to Yale, Rogers was coxswain on the crew. Upon graduation, he attended Balliol College at Oxford. After a stint in the army, he began work on Wall Street. He cofounded the Quantum Fund, a global-investment partnership. During the next ten years, the portfolio gained more than 4,000 percent, while the S&P rose less than 50 percent. Rogers then decided to retire—at age thirty-seven—but he did not remain idle.
Continuing to manage his own portfolio, Rogers served as a professor of finance at the Columbia Univer-sity Graduate School of Business and as moderator of The Dreyfus Roundtable on WCBS and The Profit Motive on FNN. At the same time, he laid the groundwork for his lifelong dream, an around-the-world motorcycle trip: more than 100,000 miles across six continents. That journey became the subject of Rogers’s first book, Investment Biker (1994), now available from Random House Trade Paperbacks.
While laying plans for his Millennium Adventure 1999–2001, he continued as a media commentator at Worth, CNBC, et al., and as a sometime professor.
He now contributes to Fox News, Worth, and others as he and Paige eagerly await their first child.
He can be reached at http://www.jimrogers.com/.

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Adventure Capitalist : The Ultimate Road Trip

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Paperback Boxed Set (Books 1-3)

2010-02-25T05:25:00.000-08:00

Product Description
Humans and half-bloods alike agree--Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a series fit for heroes! Re-live the adventure from the beginning with this boxed set of the first three books.

The Lightning Thief Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. When his mom tells him the truth about where he came from, she takes him to the one place he'll be safe--Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island). There, Percy learns that the father he never knew is actually Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon Percy finds himself caught up in a mystery that could lead to disastrous consequences. Together with his friends--a satyr and other the demigod daughter of Athena--Percy sets out on a quest to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.

The Sea of Monsters After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson finds his seventh-grade school year unnervingly calm. But things don't stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: the magical borders which protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters. To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner by the Cyclops Polyphemus on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters--the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millennia--only today, the Sea of Monsters goes by a new nameL: the Bermuda Triangle. Now Percy and his friends must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer or Camp Half-Blood will be destroyed. But first, Percy will learn a stunning new secret about his family--one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon's son is an honor or simply a cruel joke...

The Titan's Curse When Percy Jackson receives a distress call from his friend Grover, he immediately prepares for battle. He knows he'll need his powerful demigod allies, Annabeth and Thalia, at his side; his trusty broze sword Riptide; and... a ride from his mom. The demigods race to the rescue, to find that Grover has made an important discovery: two new powerful half-bloods whose parentage is unknown. But that's not all that awaits them. The Titan lord, Kronos, has set up his most devious trap yet, and the young heroes have unwittingly fallen prey. Hilarious and action-packed, this third adventure in the series finds Percy faced with his most dangerous challenge so far: the chilling prophecy of the Titan's curse.

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Percy Jackson The Lightning Thief
The Sea of Monsters
Perci Jackson Titan's'Curse

from abebooks.com

Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media) by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah

2010-02-20T03:51:00.000-08:00

Product Description
Stop pushing your message out and start pulling your customers in

Traditional "outbound" marketing methods like cold-calling, email blasts, advertising, and direct mail are increasingly less effective. People are getting better at blocking these interruptions out using Caller ID, spam protection, TiVo, etc. People are now increasingly turning to Google, social media, and blogs to find products and services. Inbound Marketing helps you take advantage of this change by showing you how to get found by customers online.

Inbound Marketing is a how-to guide to getting found via Google, the blogosphere, and social media sites.

• Improve your rankings in Google to get more traffic
• Build and promote a blog for your business
• Grow and nurture a community in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
• Measure what matters and do more of what works online

The rules of marketing have changed, and your business can benefit from this change. Inbound Marketing shows you how to get found by more prospects already looking for what you have to sell.

From the Back Cover
To connect with today's buyer, you need to stop pushing your message out and start pulling your customers in. The rules of marketing have changed and the key to winning is to use this change to your advantage.
If you've wondered how to get found in Google or why blogs and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are important, Inbound Marketing is the book for you. HubSpot founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah give you the tools and strategies you need to improve your Google search rankings; build a blog to promote your business; grow and nurture a community on social media sites; and analyze which of your online marketing efforts are working.

Stop wasting money blasting the world with marketing messages that nobody cares about. Instead, learn to get found with Inbound Marketing.

"If you've been looking for a trustworthy primer on getting found online, here's a great place to start. Buy one for your clueless colleague too." --Seth Godin, author of Meatball Sundae

"If you have more money than brains, you should focus on outbound marketing. If you have more brains than money, you should focus on inbound marketing by reading this book." --Guy Kawasaki, cofounder of Alltop, and author of Reality Check

About the Author
Brian Halligan is cofounder and CEO of HubSpot, a marketing software company that helps businesses "get found." He is a former venture capitalist and seasoned sales and marketing executive. He is a frequent lecturer at MIT and Harvard Business School.

Dharmesh Shar is cofounder and CTO of HubSpot. He is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and authors the top-ranking blog OnStartups.com. He speaks frequently on the topics of marketing and entrepreneurship.

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Inbound Marketing Abebooks.com

Classic Drucker: From the Pages of Harvard Business Review by Peter Ferdinand Drucker

2010-02-16T03:34:00.000-08:00

Review
"You will not get a better chance to read the musings of Peter Drucker."

- Jack Covert -- USA Today

Product Description
For nearly half a century, Peter Drucker inspired and educated managers--and powerfully shaped the nature of business--with his landmark articles in Harvard Business Review. Here, framed by a thoughtful introduction from HBR editor Thomas A. Stewart, is a priceless collection of Drucker's most significant work.

Through his unique lens, Drucker traces the evolution of the great shifts in organizations and the role of managers in the ongoing effort to balance change with continuity. He paints a clear, comprehensive picture of management thinking and practice--as it was and as it will be.

Revealing a celebrated thinker at his best, Classic Drucker offers a wealth of insights and practical guidelines for managers seeking to address today's thorniest organizational challenges. For example, you'll find selections on how to enhance your company's innovative prowess, make effective decisions, raise knowledge workers' productivity, remain engaged and productive during a long work life, know when the assumptions on which your business was founded must change, and get the data you need to execute your company's competitive strategy.

Doing what's right for your company will always be challenging. But thanks to the clear focus, broad vision, and practical wisdom of Peter Drucker, the task is now a little less daunting.

About the Author
Peter Ferdinand Drucker was a writer, teacher, and consultant. His thirty-four books have been published in more than seventy languages. He founded the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, and counseled thirteen governments, public services institutions, and major corporations.

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http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1422125920/earssit-20

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Harvard Business Review on Managing Your Career in Tough Times

2010-02-15T04:47:00.000-08:00

Product Description
This title offers the advice and strategies you need to keep your career on track in tough times. Managing your career is always important, but it's especially difficult and front-of-mind when times are tough. This collection of HBR articles addresses the top skills, strategies and perspectives you need to thrive, whatever comes your way.

About the Author
The Harvard Business Review Paperback is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.

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Amazon.com

The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work by Ted Leonsis

2010-02-12T05:51:00.000-08:00

Posted on http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2010/02/business-of-happiness-6-secrets-to.html

Review

“As Ted shows, the happier the company, the more successful it can become.”
—Maria Shriver, author, journalist, First Lady of California

“A happy team can be a winning team. It is all about following Ted’s belief in happiness and success. I buy into it completely, and it really works; I believe Ted’s book can help you become MVP in your life, at work, and at home.”
—Alex Ovechkin, two-time NHL Most Valuable Player—Washington Capitals

“Ted Leonsis has one of the most creative minds in business. His insights on business, career planning, and how to succeed in today’s 24/7 environment reflect the wisdom of a renaissance man. . . and in The Business of Happiness, he is your personal guide.”
—Ken Chenault, CEO and Chairman, American Express Company

“Ted’s successful path to happiness in life, from the mean streets of Brooklyn to AOL executive to philanthropist, moved him to share his story and his way. Do yourself a favor: read it and be inspired.”
—Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corporation and the Mozilla Foundation, which created the Firefox browser

“This wonderful book is as bouncy, ebullient, energetic, and likeable as its author.”
—Don Graham, CEO and chairman of the board, The Washington Post Company

“Read this book. You may not end up with his life. But there’s a good chance you’ll get something even more valuable—his outlook on life.”
—Chris Wallace, FOX News

“Ted Leonsis is absolutely correct that money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you Ted’s book, which will bring you happiness—and success.”
—LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers

A Sneak Peek At Ted Leonsis's New Book The Business of Happiness
This weekend, BoomTown got hold of a new book by former AOL exec and longtime entrepreneur Ted Leonsis, which it set to be released on Feb. 8 by Regnery Publishing. Titled The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work, Leonsis penned the book with former AOL PR head John Buckley. And like the ebullient Leonsis, its entertaining fulcrum is a list he often talks about, one he made after a scary plane experience 25 years ago of the 101 things he wanted to achieve before he died. "At the time, I thought that ticking items off my list would make me happy," he writes in the book's introduction. It seems to have worked, he notes. "I've found that actively pursuing happiness seems to be a driver of success." In the second part of the book, Leonsis offers advice to others on how to get to happiness and success the Ted way. But I especially enjoyed the first part, in which Leonsis tells his story--from humbling beginnings to college at Georgetown University to his start in the tech industry at Wang to his first successful forays into entrepreneurship. Eventually, one of his start-ups--Redgate Communications--was bought by Steve Case of AOL. Leonsis writes about this roller-coaster ride at AOL, which had as many downs as ups--with one of its down-est downs being its moment of glory: The merger with Time Warner (TWX). "Let me state for the record: I was passionately opposed to the merger with Time Warner," he writes. And he was. For the most part in the book, Leonsis is probably kinder to the principals on all sides than is warranted. But--for those who know him well--this is due more his glass-full nature than trying to be willfully opaque about what is now widely considered the worst U.S. business alliance in history....Leonsis left AOL 2007 and moved on--becoming even more involved with his sports teams, forays into filmmaking and investing in new start-ups (sometimes with Case)--and carving out what seems to be a pretty happy life. At the end of his book, Leonsis publishes his list and shows what he has checked off and what he has not. He seems to have made a big dent in it, although he still needs to win a world championship and go into outer space. Also get a hole-in-one. Not that I am keeping track, Ted, but you better get cracking. --All Things Digital, January 19, 2010, Kara Swisher

Product Description
Albert Schweitzer said, “Happiness is the key to success.” In The Business of Happiness, Ted Leonsis—business, sports, and media mogul—proves Schweitzer’s point, explaining that success may or may not make you happy, but happiness will almost always make you more successful. Through research studies, personal stories, and anecdotal evidence from celebrities, famous athletes, and influential businessmen, Ted reveals the six secrets to achieving true happiness—and how they make success almost inevitable. Showing people exactly how they can apply the six secrets to their work, at home, and in their personal lives, Leonsis also reveals how some of the most successful and happy people today—Bono, Michael Jordan, Steve Case—have put these secrets into practice for themselves. Dynamic, inspiring, and unique, The Business of Happiness proves that anyone can be more successful and happier, including you.

Click here to buy The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work from Amazon.com

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Ultimate Guide by Mary-Jane Knight

2010-02-12T05:42:00.000-08:00

Product Description
It's the handbook no half-blood should be without: a fully illustrated, in-depth guide to gods, monsters, and all things Percy. This novelty companion to the best-selling series comes complete with trading cards, full-color diagrams, and maps, all packaged in a handy, "manual-size" POB with a crisp, magnetic flap enclosure.

Star Wars: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil: A Novel of the Old Republic by Drew Karpyshyn

2010-02-10T06:50:00.000-08:00

One of most popular book from Old replublic saga of Star Wars.

Product Description
Twenty years have passed since Darth Bane, reigning Dark Lord of the Sith, demolished the ancient order devoted to the dark side and reinvented it as a circle of two: one Master to wield the power and pass on the wisdom, and one apprentice to learn, challenge, and ultimately usurp the Dark Lord in a duel to the death. But Bane’s acolyte, Zannah, has yet to engage her Master in mortal combat and prove herself a worthy successor. Determined that the Sith dream of galactic domination will not die with him, Bane vows to learn the secret of a forgotten Dark Lord that will assure the Sith’s immortality–and his own.

A perfect opportunity arises when a Jedi emissary is assassinated on the troubled mining planet Doan, giving Bane an excuse to dispatch his apprentice on a fact-finding mission–while he himself sets out in secret to capture the ancient holocron of Darth Andeddu and its precious knowledge. But Zannah is no fool. She knows that her ruthless Master has begun to doubt her, and she senses that he is hiding something crucial to her future. If she is going to claim the power she craves, she must take action now.

While Bane storms the remote stronghold of a fanatical Sith cult, Zannah prepares for her Master’s downfall by choosing an apprentice of her own: a rogue Jedi cunning and cold-blooded enough to embrace the Sith way and to stand beside her when she at last wrests from Bane the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith.

But Zannah is not the only one with the desire and power to destroy Darth Bane. Princess Serra of the Doan royal family is haunted by memories of the monstrous Sith soldier who murdered her father and tortured her when she was a child. Bent on retribution, she hires a merciless assassin to find her tormentor–and bring him back alive to taste her wrath.

Only a Sith who has taken down her own Master can become Dark Lord of the Sith. So when Bane suddenly vanishes, Zannah must find him–possibly even rescue him–before she can kill him. And so she pursues her quarry from the grim depths of a ravaged world on the brink of catastrophe to the barren reaches of a desert outpost, where the future of the dark side’s most powerful disciples will be decided, once and for all, by the final, fatal stroke of a lightsaber.

About the Author
Drew Karpyshyn is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, and the Mass Effect novels Revelation and Ascension, as well as several other fantasy and science fiction novels. He is also an award-winning writer/designer for the computer game company BioWare, where he was lead writer on Mass Effect and the blockbuster Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game. He lives in Canada’s hinterlands with his wife, Jen, and their cat.

The Official Illustrated History of Manchester United: The Full Story and Complete Record 1878-2008

2010-02-10T06:27:00.000-08:00

Manchester United perhaps is one of

the most successful soccer club in world's history.

with 11 seasons Premier League Champion honors, 3 times Uefa Champion League honors in 132 years of club history.

From School Library Journal
This in-depth history by Murphy (Grass in the Sky) and Endlar (Manchester United) opens with a warm foreword by former player Bobby Charlton, survivor of the titular team's 1958 Munich air disaster and a 1966 World Cup medalist. The 12-chapter chronology, rich with action photographs, follows the team from its humble 1878 origins at Newton Heath to European football supremacy. Significant players, including George Best and David Beckham, receive full-page profiles, as do the team's championship games.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description
The definitive history of the world’s most popular football club, featuring a complete statistical record, is now fully updated! Take an amazing journey from the club’s humble beginning in 1878—when it was founded by a group of railway workers—through the golden Edwardian era, right up to the heroics of last season. The 2007-08 campaign turned out to be one of the most dramatic in the club’s history, climaxing with the Champions League final in Moscow. The hundreds of superb action photographs, interviews with leading players, and results and scorers for every game ensure this book is a must-have for every one of the club’s 139 million fans.

About the Author
From its humble beginnings as Newton Heath Cricket and Football Club in the late nineteenth century, Manchester United has grown to become the world's most popular football club, with a global fan base of 75 million.

Sir Bobby Charlton: The Autobiography: My Manchester United Years by Bobby Charlton himself

2010-02-07T02:57:00.000-08:00

Review

'For anyone who loves football, this book cannot be ignored'

-- Leo McKinstry, The Times

'Beautifully crafted'

-- Daily Mail

'Enthralling'

-- Scotsman

'It is the greatest story of British sport'

-- Sunday Express

'With many autobiographies you wonder what the point was. Not this one. Not only is Bobby Charlton a figure whose life story should be told, but he has done so in a book of at times agonising honesty'

-- FourFourTwo

'It's a fantastic book. I couldn't put it down. It has everything I would want a player of mine to know and feel about the game. Bobby Charlton is a great man and he has told a great story'

-- Sir Alex Ferguson

Product Description

Bobby Charlton is Manchester United through and through. One of the original Busby Babes; he has devoted his career to the club, playing in 754 games over 17 years, and winning everything the game had to offer. He played alongside some of the greats such as Best and Law, suffered devastating defeats and was involved in one of the greatest soccer tragedies of all time. Here, for the very first time, he tells the story of those United years, how he tasted FA Cup victory in the emotional final of 1963, won three First Division championships and in 1968 reached the pinnacle of club success—winning the European Cup. Inevitably, such highs are balanced with no less dramatic lows, such as the 1957 European Cup semi-final, the highly charged 1958 FA Cup loss which followed only weeks after the Munich Air disaster, and the 1969 European Cup defeat by Milan. The legacy that Bobby Charlton gives to United is beyond compare.

About the Author
Sir Bobby Charlton is an English former professional football player who won the World Cup and was named the European Footballer of the Year in 1966. He played almost all of his club football at Manchester United, where he became renowned for his attacking instincts from midfield and his ferocious long-range shot. His elder brother Jack, who was also in the World Cup-winning team, was a former defender for Leeds United and coach.

He began to play for United's first team in 1956, and over the next two seasons gained a regular place in the team, during which time he survived the Munich air disaster of 1958. After helping United to win the Football League in 1965, he won a World Cup medal with England in 1966 and another Football League title with United the following year. In 1968, he captained the Manchester United team that won the European Cup, scoring two goals in the final to help his team be the first English side to win the competition. He has scored more goals for England and United than any other player. He had made more appearances for Manchester United than any other player (758), a record superseded by Ryan Giggs at the Champions League Final in Moscow on 21 May 2008. However, Charlton still owns the club record for most league appearances with 606, and is considered by many to be one of the greatest English players of all time.

At the time of his retirement from the England team in 1970, he was the nation's most capped player, having turned out 106 times at the highest level. This record has since been eclipsed by Bobby Moore, Peter Shilton and then David Beckham.

He left Manchester United in 1973, becoming player-manager of Preston North End but decided management was not for him and left after one season. After assuming the post of the director at Wigan Athletic for some time, he became a member of Manchester United's board of directors in 1984 and remains one as of November 2009. He set goalscoring records for both the England team and Manchester United, with both records remaining intact some 35 years after the end of his playing career. He was knighted in 1994.

Click here to buy

Sir Bobby Charlton: The Autobiography: My Manchester United Years from Amazon.com

I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne

2010-02-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English heavy metal singer-songwriter, whose career has spanned four decades. Osbourne was awarded Grammy for the track "I Don't Want to Change the World" from No More Tears for Best Metal Performance of 1994 .Osbourne rose to prominence as lead vocalist of pioneering British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and eventually achieved a multi-platinum solo career between the early 1980s and mid 1990s which revolutionized the heavy metal genre. Osbourne was awarded his only Grammy for the track "I Don't Want to Change the World" from No More Tears for Best Metal Performance of 1994.

As a result he is known as the "Godfather of Heavy Metal" and because of some of his material, the "Prince of Darkness". In the early 2000s, his career expanded to a new medium when he became a star in his own reality show, The Osbournes, alongside wife/manager Sharon and two of their three children, Kelly and Jack. In August 2008, Osbourne stated in USA Today that he intends to retire from his music career after two more albums

Product Description
"They've said some crazy things about me over the years. I mean, okay: 'He bit the head off a bat.' Yes. 'He bit the head off a dove.' Yes. But then you hear things like, 'Ozzy went to the show last night, but he wouldn't perform until he'd killed fifteen puppies . . .' Now me, kill fifteen puppies? I love puppies. I've got eighteen of the f**king things at home. I've killed a few cows in my time, mind you. And the chickens. I shot the chickens in my house that night.

It haunts me, all this crazy stuff. Every day of my life has been an event. I took lethal combinations of booze and drugs for thirty f**king years. I survived a direct hit by a plane, suicidal overdoses, STDs. I've been accused of attempted murder. Then I almost died while riding over a bump on a quad bike at f**king two miles per hour.

People ask me how come I'm still alive, and I don't know what to say. When I was growing up, if you'd have put me up against a wall with the other kids from my street and asked me which one of us was gonna make it to the age of sixty, which one of us would end up with five kids and four grandkids and houses in Buckinghamshire and Beverly Hills, I wouldn't have put money on me, no f**king way. But here I am: ready to tell my story, in my own words, for the first time.

A lot of it ain't gonna be pretty. I've done some bad things in my time. I've always been drawn to the dark side, me. But I ain't the devil. I'm just John Osbourne: a working-class kid from Aston, who quit his job in the factory and went looking for a good time."

About the Author
Ozzy Osbourne was born in Aston, Birmingham, in 1948. He has sold over a hundred million records both with Black Sabbath and as an award-winning solo artist. He has five children and lives with his wife, Sharon, in California and Buckinghamshire.

Click here to buy I Am Ozzy from Amazon.com

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo

2010-02-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

As the co-founder and CEO of Apple Computer, Steve Jobs has successfully presented many Apple's products into our global community. Jobs has very confident and persuasive characteristic when it is time to do his presentation in front of many audience.

Many people consider this is one of main causes of his sucess in gigantic and dynamic business.

Carmine Gallo has integrated step - by - step of Steve Jobs's presentation skill in this paticular book.

Product Description

“The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs reveals the operating system behind any great presentation and provides you with a quick-start guide to design your own passionate interfaces with your audiences.” —Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points and The Activist Audience
Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s wildly popular presentations have set a new global gold standard—and now this step-by-step guide shows you exactly how to use his crowd-pleasing techniques in your own presentations. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is as close as you’ll ever get to having the master presenter himself speak directly in your ear. Communications expert Carmine Gallo has studied and analyzed the very best of Jobs’s performances, offering point-by-point examples, tried-and-true techniques, and proven presentation secrets that work every time. With this revolutionary approach, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to sell your ideas, share your enthusiasm, and wow your audience the Steve Jobs way.

“No other leader captures an audience like Steve Jobs does and, like no other book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs captures the formula Steve uses to enthrall audiences.”
--Rob Enderle, The Enderle Group

“Now you can learn from the best there is--both Jobs and Gallo. No matter whether you are a novice presenter or a professional speaker like me, you will read and reread this book with the same enthusiasm that people bring to their iPods."
--David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR and World Wide Rave

About the Author
Carmine Gallo writes a bi-weekly column for Businessweek.com and has been a featured contributor to several other major websites including MSNBC, Military.com, Always On, AOL and Yahoo Finance. Gallo personally coaches leading executives for keynote speeches, media interviews, product launches, and book tours.

Click here to buy The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs from Amazon.com

Thailand (Country Guide)

2010-02-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

Bestselling Thailand travel guidebook.

Review
For sheer global reach and dogged research, attention must be paid to Lonely Planet…' --Los Angeles Times, February 2, 2003 .

Product Description
Nobody knows Thailand like Lonely Planet. Our 13th edition will have you soaking up the sun on the island paradises of the south, trekking among the hill tribes and riding elephants in Chiang Mai, discovering the ancient temples of Sukhothai and snapping up bargains or being pampered in a spa in Bangkok.

Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip.

In This Guide:

Detailed advice on everything from food & drink to transport & health
Special 'Thailand & You' chapter with tips on culture and etiquette
Extensive Deep South coverage eases your travels in the conflicted region.

Click here to buy Thailand Country Guide from Amazon.com

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion by Don Rosa

2010-02-05T06:30:00.000-08:00

Amazon.com Review
The Life of Scrooge McDuck Companion is it, six new chapters that weave through the original 12 that have the pre-miser Scrooge encountering Magica De Spell, the Beagle Boys, Annie Oakley and other Western icons, and Teddy Roosevelt at the Panama Canal. Even better, "The Prisoner of White Agony Creek" and "Hearts of the Yukon" reveal Scrooge's (gasp) romantic side in his brief but intense relationship with Glittering Goldie. Filling out the volume are an excerpt from another Rosa tale of the early Scrooge, "Last Sled to Dawson," and "The Dream of a Lifetime," which puts an amusing time-travel spin on a number of the Life and Times chapters. If you haven't already read the complete "Last Sled to Dawson," however, you'll have to pick it up elsewhere, like in the Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge & Donald Duck: Don Rosa Special
or Uncle Scrooge #350 .--David Horiuchi

Product Description
You asked for them, and here they are... the pre-chapters, the post-chapters and the in-between chapters of Don Rosa's Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck! Included in this companion are the stories "The Cowboy Captain of the Cutty Sark," "The Vigilante of Pizen Bluff," "The Prisoner of White Agony Creek," "Hearts of the Yukon" and "Sharpie of the Culebra Cut." Finally rounding out the collection are two slightly unusual takes on Scrooge's life: "Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies" and "Dream of a Lifetime" in which the Beagle Boys invade Scrooge's subconscious mind (!) and wreak havoc during dream-versions of the various "Life of Scrooge" chapters.

Click Here to buy The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion from Amazon.com

A Sense of Urgency by John P. Kotter

2010-02-03T05:05:00.000-08:00

A book from professor John P. Kotter, change management and leadership guru. Writer of bestseller change management book Leading Change and Our Iceberg is melting.

From Publishers Weekly
Author and international business consultant Kotter (Leading Change, Our Iceberg is Melting) returns with an engaging look at companies that need to overcome a lack of urgency-or a surfeit of complacency-with a proactive agenda. Kotter dissects well his seemingly simple premise, using his professional experiences to examine the inner workings of real companies. Kotter defines his terms with clear language and bullet lists, convincingly asserting that urgency "is not driven by a belief that... everything is a mess but, instead, that the world contains great opportunities and great hazards"; it is, in fact, "a compulsive determination to move, and win, now." Among suggested tactics: bring the outside world into overly insular work teams; make your deeds consistent with your words; view crises as potential opportunities; and disseminate data that "feels interesting, surprising, or dramatic," as opposed to "information so antiseptic that it flows in and out of short-term memory with great speed." Great examples illustrate real-life frustrations and successes, and a special section on dealing with the nay-sayers is full of practical ploys to overcome dissent and kill complacency.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Change can strike fear in the hearts and minds of businesspeople, whether frontline employee or C-suite executive. Harvard Business School professor Kotter is the master of change, hammering home his eight principles straightforwardly (Leading Change, 1996) and via fable (Our Iceberg Is Melting, 2006). Now Kotter identifies the single biggest factor to successful change, which also happens to be his number-one principle: creating a true sense of urgency. In a way that will resonate with those charged with carrying out new corporate strategies or implementing transformation, he details one streamlined strategy—appeal to the head and the heart—with four supporting tactics: bring the outside reality in, behave with true urgency every day, selectively look for upside possibilities in crises, and effectively confront what he calls the no-no’s. Stories accompany all; unfortunately, a number are repeats from The Heart of Change (2002) and stripped of detail for confidentiality. Charts and chapter summaries help connect theory to the practical question: How do we move people to act? An easy, quick read that provides good elucidation of what makes change work. --Barbara Jacobs

Review
But now a distinguished author says that what so many of us really lack is a sense of urgency. Is this guy for real? He is. John Kotter, emeritus professor at Harvard Business School, has a clear and simple message...This succinct book has a gentle, unhurried tone, but its message is insistent, relentless and urgent. --The Financial Times, September 24, 2008

Instilling urgency in employees is critical to getting organizations to switch directions--it's just that arguing the business case using facts alone won't create that urgency, says Kotter. Rather, you have to tug at people's heartstrings. Instead of showing them your case on PowerPoint, for instance, tell a story. That's one of many on-target suggestions on how to make people truly want change in the latest from this author of several books about leadership. --Entrepreneur.com, September 2008

Kotter's new book, A Sense of Urgency, is excellent. It is stimulating, a thoughtful extension of his work, filled with actionable and practical tools for creating the kind of productive urgency that contributes to successful change. --Fast Company, September 11, 2008

Let's hear professor John Kotter interview with Havard Business Publishing about
his perspective how importance of sense of urgency impact with organization.

Product Description
Most organizational change initiatives fail spectacularly (at worst) or deliver lukewarm results (at best). In his international bestseller Leading Change, John Kotter revealed why change is so hard, and provided an actionable, eight-step process for implementing successful transformations. The book became the change bible for managers worldwide.

Now, in Urgency, Kotter shines the spotlight on the crucial first step in his framework: creating a sense of urgency by getting people to actually see and feel the need for change.

Why focus on urgency? Without it, any change effort is doomed. Kotter reveals the insidious nature of complacency in all its forms and guises.

In this exciting new book, Kotter explains:

How to go beyond "the business case" for change to overcome the fear and anger that can suppress urgency
Ways to ensure that your actions and behaviors -- not just your words -- communicate the need for change
How to keep fanning the flames of urgency even after your transformation effort has scored some early successes

Written in Kotter's signature no-nonsense style, this concise and authoritative guide helps you set the stage for leading a successful transformation in your company.

About the Author
John P. Kotter is Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School, and is widely regarded as the world's foremost authority on leadership and change. His has been the premier voice on how the best organizations actually do change.

Click here to buy A Sense of Urgency from Amazon.com

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

2010-02-03T04:22:00.000-08:00

Posted on http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2010/02/7-habits-of-highly-effective-people-by.html

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is bestseller book in 1990. It was sold 10 million copies all around the world.

Amazon.com Review
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change was a groundbreaker when it was first published in 1990, and it continues to be a business bestseller with more than 10 million copies sold. Stephen Covey, an internationally respected leadership authority, realizes that true success encompasses a balance of personal and professional effectiveness, so this book is a manual for performing better in both arenas. His anecdotes are as frequently from family situations as from business challenges. Before you can adopt the seven habits, you'll need to accomplish what Covey calls a "paradigm shift"--a change in perception and interpretation of how the world works. Covey takes you through this change, which affects how you perceive and act regarding productivity, time management, positive thinking, developing your "proactive muscles" (acting with initiative rather than reacting), and much more. This isn't a quick-tips-start-tomorrow kind of book. The concepts are sometimes intricate, and you'll want to study this book, not skim it. When you finish, you'll probably have Post-it notes or hand-written annotations in every chapter, and you'll feel like you've taken a powerful seminar by Covey. --Joan Price

Review
Ken M. RadziwanowskiAT&T School of BusinessPicture someone going through the best experience they've ever had in terms of training -- that's what they say. People credit the 7 Habits with changing their lives, with getting back on track personally and professionally.

The late Skip LeFauvePresident, Saturn Corporation/General MotorsStephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People played a major role in the development of Saturn's operating systems and philosophy. Our commitment to quality and to our customers has its roots in The 7 Habits.

Product Description
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity -- principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

From the Publisher
The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People is a comprehensive program based on developing an awareness of how perceptions and assumptions hinder success---in business as well as presonal relationships. Here's an approach that will help broaden your way of thinking and lead to greater opportunities and effective problem solving. Be Pro-Active: Take the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen. Begin With an End in Mind: Start with a clear destination to understand where you are now, where you're going and what you value most. Put First Things First: Manage yourself. Organize and execute around priorities. Think Win/Win: See life as a cooperative, not a comprehensive arena where success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others. Seek First to Understand: Understand then be understood to build the skills of empathetic listening that inspires openness and trust. Synergize: Apply the principles of cooperative creativity and value differences. Renewal: Preserving and enhanving your greatest asset, yourself, by renewing the physical, spiritual, mental and social/emotional dimensions of your nature. Stephen R. Covey is the most respected motivator in the business world today. Learn to use his 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Por unavaeople--and see how they can change your life. --This text refers to an out of print ilable edition of this title.

About the Author
Stephen R. Covey is a renowned authority on leadership, a family expert, teacher, organizational consultant, and vice chairman of FranklinCovey Co. The author of several acclaimed books, he has also received numerous honors and awards, including being named one of Time magazine's twenty-five most influential Americans. Covey lives with his wife, Sandra, and their family in the Rocky Mountains of Utah.

Click Here to buy from amazon.com

World Almanac and Book of Facts 2010

2010-01-25T06:21:00.000-08:00

Posted on http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/world-almanac-and-book-of-facts-2010.html

Ranked #1 of New York Times bestseller book.
World Almanac is a complete book of statistic data of 2009. Containing complete information of political , economic , scientific , entertainment and education in 1008 pages. Almanac is one of all time annually published book.

Product Description
Get answers to virtually any question with this impressive compendium of information.

The World Almanac and Book of Facts is America's top-selling reference book of all time, with more than 80 million copies sold. Published annually since 1868, this compendium of information is the source for all your entertainment, reference, and learning needs. Labeled a "treasure trove of political, economic, scientific and educational statistics and information" by the Wall Street Journal, the almanac contains thousands of facts that are unavailable publicly elsewhere, making it a must-have for students, teachers, and anyone with a thirst for knowledge-in fact, it has been featured as a category on Jeopardy and is routinely used as a go-to general study guide for aspiring game show contestants. Coming soon in a 2010 edition and boasting full-color and black-and-white photographs, The World Almanac and Book of Facts will answer all your trivia questions-spanning a wide range of categories, including history, sports, geography, pop culture, and much more.

Notable features include:

-2009 Time Capsule
-The Bush Legacy
-Swine Flu Coverage
-Decade in Review
-U.S. Colleges and Universities
-Population Statistics for Cities over 10,000 People
-The World at a Glance
-Offbeat News Stories
-World Series Results
-Year in Pictures.

Click here to buy World Almanac and Book of Facts 2010 from Amazon.com

Bon Jovi : When we were beautiful by Bon Jovi

2010-01-15T19:39:00.000-08:00

"We've got to hold on for what we've got"

Livin' on a Prayer
You Give Love a Bad Name
Wanted Dead or Alive
Bad Medicine
Keep the Faith
Bed of Roses
Always
It's My Life
Have a Nice Day

These are names of greatest hits song of legendary rock band formed in 1983.
Bon Jovi. It has been 26 years since their first album "Bon Jovi" came out in 1984.
The band is still active nowaday. This book contains their stories through decades and their personal life.

Pictures of their daily schedule of concert tours in this book.

Back cover picture:

From left: Tico Torres ( drummer, percussion ) , Jon Bon Jovi ( lead singer ) ,

Richie Sambora ( guitar,back vocals ) , David Bryan ( keyboardrist,back vocals )

From Backcover

The Story of Bon Jovi's career - spanning three deacdes,producing countless hits , and

selling out stadium-sized concert venues-has earned the band legendary status. But despite

the band's acclaim,fans have been offered very few up-close-andpersonal glimpses of the musicians. To commemorate their twenty-fifth anniversary, Bon Jovi gave flimaker and photographer Phil Griffin unprecedented access to their lives, onstage and off.

Product Description
BON JOVI: WHEN WE WERE BEAUTIFUL is an intimate look at one of America′s most enduringly popular bands after 25 years of hits, fame, tours and troubles. It is the companion to a major documentary to be released in Fall 09 to coincide with the band′s anniversary. The documentary follows the band on their 2008 Lost Highway tour and at home, talking about everything from life on the road and onstage to band members′ own personal crises.

The book is illustrated with gorgeous new photos and stills from the documentary, providing unprecedented insights into a band that is known for staying away from the media. Archival photographs provide the complete picture of the band′s extraordinary reign at the top of the charts. Jon Bon Jovi is writing an introduction and text throughout the book, and the other band members, including Richie Sambora, are contributing extended captions. This is a unique portrait of rock legends after 25 years together, reflecting on their past as well looking forward to the future.

About the Author
Bon Jovi is the American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Front man Jon Bon Jovi is lead singer, with Richie Sambora on guitar, David Bryan on keyboard, and Tico Torres on the drums. Over the past twenty-five years Bon Jovi has sold more than 120 million albums worldwide and 34 million in the United States.

Clickhere to buy this book from Amazon.com

The Autobiography of Ben Franklin by Benjamin Franklin himself

2010-01-09T23:15:00.000-08:00

Posted on http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/autobiography-of-ben-franklin-by.html

Benjamin Franklin ( January 17, 1706 - April 17, 1790 ) ,is perhaps one of most important history figure in U.S. history. Benjamin Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman , soldier and one of Founding Fathers of United States of America. His colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement have seen Franklin honored on coinage and money; warships; the names of many towns, counties, educational institutions, namesakes, and companies; and more than two centuries after his death, countless cultural references.

Every children in U.S. have learned about his role in American history, but there are more to learn about his inspired life during the hard time of American Revolutionary.

Review
"The acting is superb."

-- LA Times

"This well-known work by one of our nation's founding fathers was certainly given to the right individual to narrate. Fredd Wayne, whose one-man show, "Benjamin Franklin, Citizen," has also been recorded by Audio Editions, seems to have captured Franklin's persona."

-- Dick Richmond, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 19, 1997

Product Description
Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography is one of the most famous works in American literature. He started it as a private collection of anecdotes for his son, but soon it was transformed into a work of history. This is a charming, self-portrait of one of America's greatest forefathers.

From the Inside Flap
Famous as a scientist, statesman, philosopher, businessman, and civic leader, Benjamin Franklin was also one of the most powerful and controversial American writers of his time, and has been a subject of intense debate ever since: to Matthew Arnold, he exemplified "victorious good sense"; to D.H. Lawrence, he was "the first dummy American." Franklin's classic Autobiography is his last word on his greatest literary creation -- his own invented persona, the original incarnation of the American success story.

For the first time, the authoritative editions of works by major American novelists, poets, scholars, and essayists collected in the hardcover volumes of The Library of America are being published singly in a series of handsome and durable paperback books. A distinguished author has contributed an introduction for each volume, which also includes a detailed chronology of the author's life and career, an essay on the choice of the text, and notes.

About the Author
Fredd Wayne's distinguished career includes stage, film and television performances in South Pacific, Oh, Men! Oh, Women!, Wonderful Town, Cagney & Lacey, Cheers, and Matlock. He has performed Benjamin Franklin, Citizen on Broadway and toured with it throughout the world, as well as starring in an NBC-TV special, Ben Franklin, American.

Click here to buy The Autobiography of Ben Franklin from Amazon.com

George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success

2010-01-07T06:29:00.000-08:00

Posted On : http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/george-lucass-blockbusting-decade-by.html

Journey through decades of Movies business industry and its evolution throughout our history.

Find out what is the best 300 flims of all time.

Reccommended by many famous directors :

Steven Spielberg

Martin Scorsese

WalterMurch

Ron Howard

Sid Ganis

Product Description
By meticulously compiling the details of how movies have been made and financed since the medium′s inception, chronicling their performances at the box office, and offering expert commentary about the most important trends of the last one hundred years, the authors of this book have given readers a singularly unique perspective on the film-making industry and a superlative blueprint for future successful filmmaking ventures.

Taking us decade by decade, this book focuses on the revenues, costs, production and distribution of 300 of the most critically and financially successful movies of all time from the business′s origins through 2005. Its numerous essays examine trends in war, noir, bio-drama, biblical, epic, musical, western, disaster, crime, and action adventure films, as well as the advent the summer movie, auteur filmmaking, and the revolutionary advances that have been made in film technology over time. Furthermore, its full complement of charts, graphs and diagrams presenting such things as salary histories, awards and honors, the number of principal photography days required, advertising expenditures, domestic versus overseas profits and more, also include conversions of past movie-making dollars into current dollar values for easy and relevant comparisons.

The ideal resource for filmmakers of every kind, this book evidences that blockbusters have not only been made on relatively low budgets before, but that they have been made time and time again through varying economic climates.

George Lucas′s Blockbusting is indispensible reading for all who love and contribute to the film business.

About the Author
Alex Ben Block is an internationally known entertainment industry journalist, author, broadcaster, and show business historian. He was Editor of two of Hollywood's top trade publications-The Hollywood Reporter and Television Week, which Block helped successfully re-launch. He was also an Associate Editor of Forbes magazine and a movie critic in Detroit, Miami, and Los Angeles. He oversaw programming for the American Pavilion at Cannes, 2008. Currently Editor-at-Large for The Hollywood Reporter and Show Business Historian for Hollywood Today. Lucy Autrey Wilson began her career with Lucasfilm in 1974, typing the script to the first Star Wars movie on an IBM Selectric typewriter. She then explored areas as diverse as construction, film, special effects, licensing, and merchandising. In the late 1980s, she launched an all-new Star Wars publishing program comprised of more than 1,500 titles, including 63 New York Times bestsellers, before moving on to new challenges in nonfiction publishing. She currently serves as the Director of Publishing for George Lucas Books, a division of JAK Films.

Click here to buy George Lucas's Blockbusting book from Amazon.com

What the dog saw : And other adventures by Malcolm Gladwell

2009-12-24T08:35:00.000-08:00

Posted On : http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-dog-saw-and-other-adventures-by.html

Volume 4 book of National Magazine Award winner Malcolm Gladwell.

What The Dog Saw.

Review
GREAT PRAISE FOR WHAT THE DOG SAW:

"[Malcolm Gladwell] is one of the brightest stars in the media firmament...Gladwell's clear prose and knack for upending conventional wisdom across the social sciences have made The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers, as well as his lengthy magazine features on topics ranging from cool-hunting to ketchup, into must reads." (Time.com Alex Altman )

"This evidence of a Gladwell effect helps to predict something larger: that Mr. Gladwell's new book will be as successful as his first three...This book full of short conversation pieces is a collection that plays to the author's strengths. It underscores his way of finding suitably quirky subjects (the history of women's hair-dye advertisements; the secret of Heinz's unbeatable ketchup; even the effects of women's changing career patterns on the number of menstrual periods they experience in their lifetimes) and using each as gateway to some larger meaning." (New York Times Janet Maslin )

"Gladwell is a writer of many gifts. His nose for the untold back story will have readers repeatedly muttering, "Gee, that's interesting!" He avoids shopworn topics, easy moralization and conventional wisdom, encouraging his readers to think again and think different...Some chapters are masterpieces in the art of the essay."

(The New York Times Book Review Steven Pinker )

"Uniformly delightful...Malcolm Gladwell can write engrossingly about just about anything...His witty, probing articles are as essential to David Remnick's New Yorker as those of Wolcott Gibbs and A.J. Liebling were to Harold Ross's...Gladwell has a gift for capturing personalities, a Borscht Belt comic's feel for timing and a bent for counterintuitive thinking. He loves to start a piece by settling you onto a cushion of received ideas, then yanking it out from under you."-

(Bloomberg News Craig Seligman )

"Malcolm Gladwell triumphantly returns to his roots with this collections of his great works from The New Yorker Magazine....Do yourself a favor and curl up with What the Dog Saw this week: It is more entertaining and edifying than should be legal for any book."

(Louisville Courier-Journal Scott Coffman )

"In What the Dog Saw, Malcolm Gladwell leads the reader on delightful side excursions, shows with insightful conversation how one path interweaves with another, and suggests meaning-he is, in short, an interpretative naturalist of American culture." (The Oregonian Alice Evans )

Product Description
What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century?

In the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has written three books that have radically changed how we understand our world and ourselves: The Tipping Point; Blink; and Outliers. Now, in What the Dog Saw, he brings together, for the first time, the best of his writing from TheNew Yorker over the same period.

Here is the bittersweet tale of the inventor of the birth control pill, and the dazzling inventions of the pasta sauce pioneer Howard Moscowitz. Gladwell sits with Ron Popeil, the king of the American kitchen, as he sells rotisserie ovens, and divines the secrets of Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" who can calm savage animals with the touch of his hand. He explores intelligence tests and ethnic profiling and "hindsight bias" and why it was that everyone in Silicon Valley once tripped over themselves to hire the same college graduate.

"Good writing," Gladwell says in his preface, "does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head."What the Dog Saw is yet another example of the buoyant spirit and unflagging curiosity that have made Malcolm Gladwell our most brilliant investigator of the hidden extraordinary.

About the Author
Malcolm Gladwell has been a staff writer with The New Yorker magazine since 1996. His 1999 profile of Ron Popeil won a National Magazine Award, and in 2005 he was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People. He is the author of "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference," (2000) and "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" (2005), both of which were number one New York Times bestsellers.

Click here to buy " What the dog saw " book from Amazon.com here.

Investment Legends: The Wisdom that Leads to Wealth (Financial Review) by Barrie Dunstan

2009-12-16T08:11:00.000-08:00

Posted on http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2009/12/investment-legends-wisdom-that-leads-to.html

This book contain stories of 15 legendary investors

The Chronicler and Historian - Peter Bernstein
The Literary Investor - Barton Biggs
Staying the Course - John C Bogle
Calm and Balance - Anthony Bolton
The Corporate Raider - Sir Ron Brierley
Analytical Perspicacity - Gary Brinson
The Prodigies - Warren Buffet and Charles Munger
The Optimist - Abby Joseph Cohen
The Teacher - Ray Dalio
The Contrarian - Marc Faber
The Admired Manager - David Fisher
The Articulate Pessimist - Jeremy Grantham
The Card Counter - Bill Gross
The Nicest Guy in the Business - Martin Leibowitz
The Early Adopter - Lewis Sanders

You will find the content in both profession and personal story of each extraordinary investor with different styles. They have their keys to be successful in this capitalism global investment.

Product Description
Part-philosophy, part-business strategy and part-biography, Investment Legends provides fascinating insight into the key ingredients required for successful investing, as explored through the experiences and tips of fifteen of the world’s leading investors.

Drawing on his forty years in the business, leading Financial Review journalist, Barrie Dunstan has travelled the globe interviewing the cast of characters in this book. Throwing the net far and wide, Dunstan’s subjects include those virtually born into the business, such as Barton Biggs and Peter Bernstein, as well as others who came to investment via the card tables at Las Vegas or the ski slopes of Switzerland. Each interview provides insights about the legends - who are they, how do they think about investment, what do they believe is most important, why these beliefs matter, and when they might change their mind.

In this captivating book, you’ll get to meet some of the world’s leading lights in the investment world. Share in their secrets to success, and follow their dramatic journeys, led by the guiding hand of wise and insightful author, Barrie Dunstan.

From the Back Cover
With over half a century of experience to draw upon, no other journalist cam boast the range and depth of analysis of financial markets. As the elder statesman of Australian financial journalism, Barrie brings to his interviews a depth of understanding that allows him to probe the thinking of some of the best financial minds in a manner that puts his subjects at ease and that delivers rare insights.—Richard Gilbert, CEO, Investment and Financial Services Association

Barrie Dunstan brings both great experience and insight to his writings on the investment industry. Over the years he has sat down with some of the true legends of the investment world and this book offers a unique insight into how some of the best minds in the world approach investing.—Jeremy Duffield, Managing Director, Vanguard Asia-Pacific

Dunstan has produced a book that is as insightful as it is readable. His dissection of these investment veterans’ different ways of thinking is testament to his journalistic prowess…
--David Marvin, Chairman, Marvin & Palmer

Part-business strategy and part-biography, Investment Legends provides a rare insight into the world’s mist influential and successful investor. In this collection of candid, perceptive and engaging profiles, respected financial journalist Barrie Dunstan reveals the people behind the legends and the personal qualities that have seen them dominate the world of investment. Discover what shaped these pioneers during their lives and their education, what brought them into the industry, the people who influenced them during their career and who among their peers they admire.

About the Author
Barrie Dunstan is one of Australia’s most experienced and widely read investment writers, with 52 years of stock market involvement underpinning his craft. He has worked at The Age and The Herald, and since 1987 has been writing for The Australian Financial Review, where he is currently an associate editor.

Click here to buy Investment Legend from Amazon.com

The Complete Sherlock Holmes: All 4 Novels and 56 Short Stories

2009-12-10T22:36:00.000-08:00

Posted on http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2009/12/complete-sherlock-holmes-all-4-novels.html

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who first appeared in publication in 1887. The author was a Scottish writer and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Story focus on the brilliant London "consulting detective",Sherlock Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess and is renowned for his skilful use of astute observation, deductive reasoning and forensic skills to solve difficult cases.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 4 novels and 56 short stories that feature Holmes. The first story, A Study in Scarlet, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887 and Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890, respectively. Sherlock Holmes grew tremendously in popularity with the beginning of the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine in 1891; further series of short stories and two serialised novels appeared until 1927. The stories cover a period from around 1875 up to 1907, with a final case in 1914.

This is a set of complete work of Sherlock Holmes containing with 4 novels and 56 short stories which have been arranged in 1986 within 944 pages.

Amazon.com Review
This volume, authorized by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's estate, contains all 4 full-length novels and all 56 short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes. At over a thousand pages, the weighty tome is a perfect gift for budding amateur sleuths, and it is an ideal companion for a long stay on a desert island (or a leisurely trip through the English countryside). As the reader wades past the tense introductions of A Study in Scarlet and moves towards such classic tales as The Hound of the Baskervilles, "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," and "The Final Problem," she is sure to draw her own conclusions about Holmes's veiled past and his quirky relationship with his "Boswell," Watson. Doyle never revealed much about Holmes's early life, but the joy of reading the complete Holmes is assembling the trivia of each story into something like a portrait of the detective and his creator. By the end of the long journey through London and across Europe (with a long stopover at Reichenbach Falls), one is apt to have found a friend for life.

--Patrick O'Kelley --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"A remarkable undertaking - the dramatisation of all 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories.. Applauding them, and particularly Clive Merrison's Holmes, made my hands sore."" Peter Davalle, The Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
“Sherlock Holmes is the very foundation stone of the edifice that is crime fiction.”
— The Times --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher
Here, collected in one volume, are all four full-length novels and 56 short stories chronicling the colorful adventures of Sherlock Holmes--every word Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ever wrote about Baker Street's most famous resident. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap
Here, collected in one volume, are all four full-length novels and 56 short stories chronicling the colorful adventures of Sherlock Holmes--every word Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ever wrote about Baker Street's most famous resident. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) produced more than 30 books, 150 short stories, poems, plays and essays across a wide range of genres. His most famous creation is the detective Sherlock Holmes, whom he introduced in his first novel A Study in Scarlet. P. D. James is an award-winning author whose titles include Death in Holy Orders, The Lighthouse, and The Murder Room.

Click here to buy complete set of Sherlock Holmes novel at Amazon.com

Bed of Roses (The Bride Quartet)

2009-12-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Posted On

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From Publishers Weekly
In her second bridal-themed romance about four friends who run Vows, a Greenwich, Conn., wedding planning business, Roberts focuses on Emma Grant while her partners, MacKensie, Parker and Laurel, play supporting roles. In the first installment of this planned quartet, Vows' bridal photographer got engaged, and now florist Emma wonders if she can find true love with old friend Jack Cooke, who is also very close to Emma's associates. When Emma kisses Jack, her spark-o-meter melts from the blazing heat, but their romance's setbacks are smoothed out with a little help from their friends. Though there are few surprises in this cute courtship, those with a TiVo full of Bridezillas should enjoy it, thanks largely to Roberts's effortless wit. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description
Love blooms in the second novel in Nora Roberts's celebrated Bride Quartet series.

As little girls MacKensie, Emma, Laurel, and Parker spent hours acting out their perfect make believe "I do" moments. Years later their fantasies become reality when they start their own wedding planning company to make every woman's dream day come true. With perfect flowers, delicious desserts, and joyful moments captured on film, Nora Roberts's Bride Quartet shares each woman's emotionally magical journey to romance.

In Bed of Roses, florist Emma Grant is finding career success with her friends at Vows wedding planning company, and her love life appears to be thriving. Though men swarm around her, she still hasn't found Mr. Right. And the last place she's looking is right under her nose.

But that's just where Jack Cooke is. He's so close to the women of Vows that he's practically family, but the architect has begun to admit to himself that his feelings for Emma have developed into much more than friendship. When Emma returns his passion—kiss for blistering kiss—they must trust in their history…and in their hearts.

About the Author
Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 170 novels. She is also the author of the bestselling futuristic suspense series written under the name J.D. Robb. With more than 300 million copies of her books in print, Nora Roberts is indisputably the most celebrated and beloved women's fiction writer today.

Click here to buy Bed of Roses from Amazon.com

Guinness World Records 2010

2009-11-29T03:17:00.000-08:00

Posted on http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2009/11/guinness-world-records-2010.html

The new update Guiness World Records prepare for 2010.

Published on: September 15 ,2009

Product Description
Guinness World Records 2010 continues to build on the intriguing, informative, inspiring and instructional records and superlatives that have made Guinness World Records one of the most famous brands and an annual best-seller around the world. Over 100 million copies have sold since the first edition was published in 1955. Nearly 4 million copies are sold every year in more than 100 countries and in 25 languages.

What's new in Guinness World Records 2010?...

- Free downloadable content, including videos, photographs, screensavers and interviews - 100% new photographs and fully updated records

- Brilliant new "steampunk" graphic novel design

- New sections and record threads celebrating the first decade of the 21st century

- Top 50 Records of the Decade

- Record of the Day - one for every day of the year

- Unbreakable Records (those that will seemingly never be broken)

- Lasts (records such as the last living survivor of the Titanic disaster, or the last known dodo)

- The Name's Bond (celebrating the James Bond phenomenon)

- Culture Shock (unusual rituals and festivals around the globe)

- Gold (the commodity that never loses its luster)

- Updated gazetteer sections covering records in all major regions of the world

- Fully updated regular sections, including Space, Planet Earth, The Animal Planet, The Body, Human Achievements, Engineering and Technology, The Modern World, Arts and the Media and, of course, Sports.

Click here to buy from Amazon.com

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: 5th Anniversary Edition

2009-11-22T08:33:00.000-08:00

Post On

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From Booklist
Film lovers seeking critical guidance more discerning than daily newspaper reviews but less daunting than scholarly journal articles depend on a handful of critics who write about rarefied films for a general audience. 1001 Movies You Must See before You Die puts a user-friendly mask on the serious thought animating its effort to create a roster of indispensable films and rather belies the erudition of its well-qualified contributors. The chosen 1,001 are chronologically listed, from the surreal sf short A Trip to the Moon (1902) to Russian Ark and chicago (both 2002). This list has been compiled with an eye to historical importance and popular acclaim, which explains the presence of such critically suspect crowd-pleasers as Saturday Night Fever, Top Gun, and E.T. Since Chantal Akerman's nearly four-hour Jeanne Dielman and the Czech psychedelic farce Sedmikrasky (Daisies) also appear, it can't, however, be accused of pandering to popular taste. Attractive design, incorporating stills from most chosen titles, makes the volume a browser's delight as well as a useful guide for casual viewers and film buffs alike. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Page of some great movies in this 2000s era like the Queen and Once

Reviews
“1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die is one heavy, fat tome, but it’s a great motivating guide to cinema. After reading one of its engaging, often profound entries on a missed film, you want to run out to Premiere Video and rent it. Best of all, it includes international, silent, animated and recent films such as City of God. And yes, Richard Linklater’s Slacker is here.”

—Dallas Morning News, April 29, 2004

“Instead of simply summarizing the plot, Schneider and his team of experts briefly explain why each film is a must see. … Schneider’s choices are irrefutable. Highly recommended for all film, general public, and academic reference collections.”

— Library Journal, April 15, 2004

“An excellent new film anthology from Barron’s Publishing… 1001 Movies will serve as one of your ultimate movie guides. It presents everything you need to know about the must-see films… For students of cinema, for discerning film buffs, for enthusiastic fans, and for readers who enjoy thumbing through reminiscing over unforgettable screen memories, here’s the place to start reading.”
—The Wave Channel Guide, February 14, 2004

“…the book is a pretty good one, Schneider’s sources are solid… the book is much more reliable that the New York Times book of ‘1,000 Movies Ever Made.’ … illustrations often opt for choice rarities rather than ordinary iconography.”
—Buffalo News, February 22, 2004

“If you’re constantly wondering what to pop into the VCR or DVD player, get this book!”
—The Star, March 8, 2004

“A mammoth-size, newspaper-weight coffee table book celebrating the twentieth century celluloid canon…”
—Gotham, April 2004

“Every essay demonstrates Rosenbaum’s fervent dedication to the cinema and more important that he has the knowledge and insight to support his impassioned opinions. … compiled with an eye to historical importance and popular acclaim. … a useful guide for casual viewers and film buffs alike.”
—Gordon Flagg, Booklist, April 1, 2004

Raider of the lost ark is among 1980s section as well as Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot

Product Description
This special Fifth Anniversary Edition of the acclaimed film reference guide is packed with virtually everything movie lovers need to know about the films they simply must see. Stephen Jay Schneider and his team of writers have brought the book up to date by including the most memorable movies released during the past five years. Among their new additions are The Queen, The Lives of Others, Brokeback Mountain, and several more recent movies that have attracted worldwide attention. Covering more than a century of filmmaking and dating back to silent-era sensations such as Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery and Chaplin’s The Gold Rush, this book describes musicals, dramas, screwball comedies, experimental “New Wave” films from 1950s and ’60s Italy and France, major films noir, classic westerns, action and adventure films, and even memorable documentaries. It lists each film’s director and cast, presents a plot summary and production notes, and cites interesting, often little-known facts relating to the film’s cast, storyline, and production. For students of cinema, discerning film buffs, DVD collectors, and readers who enjoy thumbing through and reminiscing over cherished screen moments, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die is the place to start reading. Filled with 800 movie still shots and actors’ photos.

From the Inside Flap (back cover) of
5TH
ANNIVERSARY
EDITION

“I have, by the way, seen 943 of the 1001 movies, and am carefully rationing the remaining titles to prolong my life.”
--Roger Ebert

“. . . a great motivating guide to cinema. After reading one of its engaging, often profound entries on a missed film, you want to run out and rent it.”
--Dallas Morning News

“Both a fun stroll through some all-time favourites, and a guilty reminder of just how many great movies I haven’t seen yet....”
--Aubrey Day, Total Film (U.K.)

“As edited by Steven Jay Schneider, it makes for addictive browsing, and likewise features top quality stills.”
--Film Review (U.K.)

“One of the best desert island books about art house film in print.”
--The Times (London)

(front flap)
With over 750,000 copies sold worldwide in twenty-four languages, the newly revised and updated 5th Anniversary edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die celebrates the great and groundbreaking, classic and cult must-see movies of all time and offers a treasure trove of incisive, witty, and revealing insights into the world of film. Illustrated with hundreds of stunning film stills, portraits, and poster art, 1001 Movies brings together the most significant movies from all genres, from action to western, through animation, comedy, documentary, musical, noir, romance, thriller, short, and sci-fi. The selection includes movies from over 30 countries and spans more than a century of extraordinary cinematography. Whether your passion is romantic comedy or art house, The Blue Angel or Blue Velvet, 1001 Movies is the book for you.

(back flap)
Steven Jay Schneider, one of the true connoisseurs of movie horror, has written, talked, taught, and published extensively on all aspects of film, from aesthetics and psychoanalysis to the joys of the slasher flick. Here he has brought together over 50 of the finest writers, reviewers, critics, professors, aficionados, and filmmakers from across the globe.

From Le Monde’s Jean-Michel Frodon in Paris to Undercurrent’s Chris Fujiwara in Tokyo, the team comprises the best that film writing has to offer and includes contributors to Empire, Sight and Sound, Time Out, Rolling Stone, the New York Times, Total Film, International Film Guide, LA Weekly, CineAction, Film Quarterly, NME, the Washington Post, Filmmaker, Moviemaker, and many more.

From the Back Cover

These are the films nobody should miss—from 12 Angry Men to Z, from art house classic to western—their selection for this book based on historical, popular, and critical acclaim. This huge volume gives you the reviews, often witty, always informative, and written by a team of internationally published critics. Once you open 1001 Movies you’ll never be at a loss for a film choice again.

flap copy
Here is everything you need to know about the movies you simply must see—all 1001 of them! Whether you want to look up details about a film you thought you knew by heart, or if you’re simply trying to decide what to watch tonight, 1001 Movies will serve as your ultimate movie guide. It presents everything you need to know about those magnificent, must-see films—not only the ones you shouldn’t have missed the first time around, but also the classics that are worth seeing again and again.

Open this book to any page and you’ll find a major film’s vital statistics, plus a few facts about it that might surprise you. If you collect DVDs and VCRs, you’ll find this volume a must for your bookshelf. But even if you’re simply a casual moviegoer, you’re sure to enjoy browsing through this big, entertaining volume.

For students of cinema, for discerning film buffs, for enthusiastic fans, and for readers who enjoy thumbing through and reminiscing over unforgettable screen memories, here’s the place to start reading. You’ll find information and reviews covering nearly a century of memorable movies.

So read, enjoy, and relish!

About the Author
Stephen Jay Schneider is a film critic, scholar, and an author and editor of several books on films and filmmaking. Among his recent titles are 501 Movie Stars and 501 Movie Directors, both available in North America from Barron’s.

Click here to buy this epic tome of greatest movies from amazon.com

When the Game Was Ours by Larry Bird and Earvin Johnson Jr.

2009-11-21T00:18:00.000-08:00

Posted on

http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2009/11/when-game-was-ours-by-larry-bird-and.html

The magnificent memoirs of 2 legendary NBA basketball players which their rivalry in NBA basketball court in 80s has become an epic for many later basketball generations.
Larry Bird and Earving "Magic" Johnson.

Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is a retired American NBA basketball player. Drafted into NBA by the Boston Celtics in 1978, Bird started at small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons, teaming with legendary center Robert Parish and forward Kevin McHale.He led Boston Celtic to NBA champion in 1981,1984 and 1986.He also received 3 consecutive time NBA MVP on 1984-1986. Due to back problems, he retired as a player from the NBA in 1992. Bird was voted to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996 and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. He served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. In 2003, he assumed the role of president of basketball operations for the Pacers, which he currently still holds.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers.After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers. He won 5 times NBA championship(1980,1982,1985,1987 ,and1988) and 3 times NBA MVP Award (1987,1989 ,and 1990).Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996 to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.

Johnson was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, and enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.He was rated the greatest NBA point guard of all time by ESPN in 2007.His friendship and rivalry with Boston Celtics star Larry Bird, whom he faced in the 1979 NCAA finals and three NBA championship series, were well documented. Since his retirement, Johnson has been an advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and safe sex,as well as a philanthropist and motivational speaker.

Amazon Exclusive: A Q&A with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson

Amazon.com: It was interesting to learn that a fast break during an exhibition game sparked the start of your long friendship. Talk about that play and how it set the stage for future Bird vs. Magic battles.

Larry Bird: What I remember about that play was we had the defender spinning around like a top because we moved the ball so quickly. I had never played with anyone who could pass the ball like Magic. I was blown away by the things he was doing on the court. But once we were done as teammates on that All-Star team, I moved on. And, a year later, when we played against each other for the NCAA championship, I treated him like he was just another guy. I wasn't too big on being friendly with people I was trying to beat. I think that upset him, but I didn't care. I was always taught, "Don't talk to the enemy."

Earvin "Magic" Johnson: I already knew about Larry before we played in the World Invitational Tournament. I was dying to meet this guy who went to Indiana, quit school, worked on a garbage truck, then came back and started putting up really big numbers for Indiana State. We played on the second team together during those exhibitions, and the way we moved the ball, we were better than the starters! That one play was so fast, so amazing, those Russian players had no idea what hit them. We didn't spend a whole lot of time together off the court, because Larry kept to himself, but I was real excited the following spring when I realized our Michigan State team was going to play his Indiana State team for the NCAA championship. I went over to say hello to him at the press conference a day or two before the game, and he totally blew me off. I couldn't believe it. I left thinking, "That Larry Bird, he's kind of a jerk." And the rivalry was on.

Amazon.com: Where did you each develop your love for the game?

Bird: My two older brothers, Mike and Mark, played basketball all day long. They were bigger and stronger than me, so they were better in the beginning. But I loved the way it felt when the ball dropped through the strings, so I was out there all the time, day and night, working on my game. I wasn't going to stop until I could beat my brothers. And by the time that happened, I was hooked on the game. I couldn't live without it.

Johnson: I honestly can't remember a time when basketball wasn't a part of my life. I grew up in a big family, so we played all kinds of sports, including basketball. I loved the way the ball felt in my hands. I took my ball with me everywhere--to school, to the store, to the school dances. People in Lansing, Michigan, got used to seeing me walking down the street dribbling my ball. I wasn't going to stop until I was in the NBA.

Amazon.com: If you could each replay one game from the past, which would it be and why?

Bird: I'd like to go back to the 1987 Finals, to the game when Magic sunk his junior junior hook. It was down to the final seconds, and Magic had Kevin McHale isolated out on the wing, and when he drove past him to the basket, our center, Robert Parish, came over to help, and I came over from the weak side, but probably a second too late. I never expected Magic to shoot a hook. I had never seen him do anything like that before. People forget that even after that basket, we still had a chance to pull it out. I got a great look from the baseline in the final seconds, but the shot rolled off. If I could go back and replay that game, maybe we would have won it, and possibly the series as well.

Johnson: That's easy. I'd go back to Game 2 of the 1984 Finals, when we were in Boston and about to take a 2–0 lead in the series, and instead I called a time-out in the final seconds. If I hadn't called it, we would have run out the clock and taken total command of the series. Instead, because of the time-out, the Celtics were able to set their defense, and James Worthy's pass was intercepted by Gerald Henderson. That was one of the most disappointing losses of my career, and I've never forgotten it.

Amazon.com: One of the most powerful moments in the book surrounds November 7, 1991--the day Magic announced he was HIV positive. Magic, why was it so important to you to contact Larry before the news hit?

Johnson: You've got to understand that by this point, we're like Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. Nobody talked about one of us without mentioning the other. We were that connected. I knew the minute the news hit, people would be flocking to get a reaction from both Larry and Michael Jordan, so I felt I had to give them some warning. Also, by then, Larry and I had developed a bit of a relationship. In spite of all our battles, I felt a real affection for him. He needed to know, and he needed to know from me.

Amazon.com: Larry, what do you remember most about that day?

Bird: The feeling I had in the pit of my stomach. It was a horrible, awful feeling. I just remember lying in my room, trying to take a nap, and all I could think about was that Magic would be dead soon. At that time, we didn't know much about HIV. We all just assumed he had been given a death sentence, and that was really shocking to think about.

Amazon.com: How did winning a gold medal with the 1992 Dream Team compare to winning an NBA championship?

Johnson: That whole experience in Barcelona was amazing, fantastic. At that point, I was technically retired from the NBA because of my HIV illness, and I missed basketball so much. To be out there playing for my country, not to mention alongside Larry and Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing, was one of the biggest thrills of my life. I savored every single moment of it.

Bird: It was a little harder for me because my back was in such bad shape, and sometimes it was hard for me to enjoy it because of the pain. I just wanted to get into a game and make a contribution and be able to say I did it, that I was part of an Olympic team. And once I did that, I was happy. My goals were pretty realistic in Barcelona. Still, I didn't realize how amazing it would feel to be up on that medal stand, alongside Magic, John Stockton, Patrick, and all the guys, with that gold medal around my neck. That is one special memory.

Amazon.com: Who carries the NBA torch today?

Johnson: There's some great young talent out there, but I've got to choose the Laker, Kobe Bryant. I think he proved in the 2009 NBA championship that he learned how to balance his own individual skills with those of his teammates. That was a big step forward for him. What I liked best about Kobe was watching him enjoy himself. The game is supposed to be fun. Larry and I never lost sight of that.

Bird: You certainly couldn't go wrong choosing Kobe, but I'm a LeBron James man. He is so strong. He's also fearless, and he's convinced he can do anything. That's what stands out to me. He still has some steps to take, like bringing the same effort defensively every night that he brings on the offensive end, but he has all the tools to accomplish that. He's going to have a long, successful career that will include some championships of his own.

Amazon.com: If you both laced 'em up right now, who would win one-on-one in H-O-R-S-E?

Bird: Nobody beats me in H-O-R-S-E. Besides, Magic can't shoot.

Johnson: Larry, you'd have no chance against me one-on-one. I've got too many ways to beat you. Plus, as slow as I am, I'm still faster than you.

Reviews
“MAGICBIRD, BIRDMAGIC really should be the titled “When the Game was Mine” because that is how they went after each other on the court. In When the Game Was Ours you will enjoy an exhilarating ride down one of the most competitive rivalries ever.”
—Pat Riley

"Finally—a book that tells the story of Magic and Larry from their vantage point. When the Game Was Ours took me inside their fascinating rivalry with new insights and revealing details about two men who evolved from bitter competitors into lifelong friends."
—Denzel Washington

"At long last the great book on Bird and Magic—their own account, told from behind the scenes, inside huddles, confidential phone conversations, backseats of cars, and most importantly, from their inner hearts. Their book is alive with truth—it's a story of brilliance, brilliantly told with the help of prize-winning writer Jackie MacMullan."
—Sally Jenkins, author of The Real All Americans, Funny Cide, and It’s Not About the Bike with Lance Armstrong

"When The Game Was Ours is the ultimate insiders' account of the rivalry, the friendship, the tension and the bond between Bird and Magic that launched the modern NBA. A real treat for all hoops fans."
—Tom Verducci, author with Joe Torre of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Yankee Years

"You know that game where you pick a certain number of characters for your favorite dinner party of all time? (The one where you picked Gandhi, Babe Ruth, Li'l Wayne and, who was it, Jenna Jameson?) I just spent a couple of nights with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the lyrical When The Game Was Ours and they should be in the mix. They're funny, frank, anecdotal and just plain interesting. This book is terrific."
—Leigh Montville, bestselling author of Ted Williams and The Big Bam

Here are some photographs in this great book.

Click here to buy this book from Amazon.com

Open: An Autobiography of Andre Agassi

2009-11-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

Post in http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2009/11/open-autobiography-of-andre-agassi.html

The extraordinary tennis player who has successfully conquered 8 grandslam trophies and Olympic gold medal. He is also former No. 1 Tennis player of the world. The rivalry between him and Pete Sampras has become a long legend in ATP Tennis history pages (1989-2001) , Andre Agassi. finally published his biography

Reviews From The Washington Post's Book World

Pro tennis could teach the mafia about omertà. Although dozens of champions have chattered away to ghostwriters, their memoirs have generally remained silent about the game's seamy realities. Presented to the public as clean family fun, an upscale entertainment for the country-club set, top-level tennis is actually played by the physical and emotional mutants of a misery machine that leaves them too ill-educated or psychically damaged to understand what has happened to their lives. Like most victims of abuse, they'd rather not talk about it. So it's both astonishing and a pleasure to report that Andre Agassi, who was castigated for an ad campaign saying "Image is everything," has produced an honest, substantive, insightful autobiography. True to the genre of jock hagiography, it has its share of stock footage -- total recall of famous matches, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat and an upbeat ending. But the bulk of this extraordinary book vividly recounts a lost childhood, a Dickensian adolescence and a chaotic struggle in adulthood to establish an identity that doesn't depend on alcohol, drugs or the machinations of PR. Agassi was born in Las Vegas to a brutal Iranian immigrant, a former Olympic boxer, who forced his four children to play tennis. As a pre-schooler, Andre began hitting balls on the backyard court for hours every day. School, friends, social life and especially thinking were considered distractions by his father, who terrified the entire family. But while his sisters rebelled and his older brother, Philly, finally lacked the killer instinct, Andre became his father's obsession and whipping boy -- one who was expected to whip other boys and unsuspecting men on court. His father pitted him at age 8 against suckers, including football great Jim Brown, who foolishly bet $500 that he could beat the kid. Before junior tournaments, Mr. Agassi fed his son caffeine-laced pills. Later, he tried to turn Andre on to speed. At the age of 12, Andre traveled to Australia with a team of elite young players. For each tournament he won, he got a beer as a reward. Then in the seventh grade he was shipped off to the Bollettieri Academy in Florida, where his tennis flourished, but his life turned feral. Drinking hard liquor and smoking dope, he wore an earring, eyeliner and a Mohawk. Nobody objected as long as he won matches. The academy, in Agassi's words, was "Lord of the Flies with forehands." Since the press and the tennis community still regard Nick Bollettieri as a seer and an innovator whose academy spawned dozens of similar training facilities, Agassi's critical opinion of him may shock the ill-informed. But in fact, Bollettieri is the paradigmatic tennis coach: that is, a man of no particular aptitude or experience and no training at all to deal with children. With no time and certainly no encouragement to get an education, Andre stopped school in the ninth grade, which is about average on the circuit. With the possible exception of boxers, tennis players have less formal schooling than any other pro athletes. In addition to blighting their lives and leaving them vulnerable to agents and hangers-on, this severely limits their options. Again and again, Agassi laments that he hated tennis from the start -- he claims he hates it still -- but felt he had no alternative and no talent to do anything else except turn pro at 16. Judging by the record books and his tax returns, this decision seemed to make sense; Agassi went on to win eight Grand Slam titles and tens of millions of dollars. But the personal cost, as he makes clear, was catastrophic. With no idea who he was, he found himself defined by publicity campaigns and articles by sportswriters who couldn't have guessed what he was actually up to and probably wouldn't have reported it even if they had. Lonely and depressed, he drank a lot, just as he'd been doing since adolescence. In a stranger effort to relax, he lit fires in hotel rooms. Nothing apocalyptic, just a bit of pyromania between matches. Petrified that his hair was falling out, he took to wearing a hairpiece, which gave him yet another thing to worry about during big points. What if his rug fell off? He drifted into a relationship with Brooke Shields but knew the marriage was doomed when she made him wear lifts in his shoes so she could wear high heels on their wedding day. Not surprisingly, he began to lose focus, lose the capacity to care and finally lose tennis matches. He played the game like a man with a plane to catch, and spectators and even the Davis Cup coach publicly accused him of tanking. Now that drinking and lighting fires no longer dulled the pain, he turned to snorting crystal meth. Of all the admissions Agassi makes, this may be the one that causes the most controversy. People will debate whether the drug ruined his game or was in fact what allowed him to come back when his ranking fell out of the top 100. But whatever the doping reveals about Agassi, it says far more about the Association of Tennis Professionals and its drug program. When Agassi tested positive at a tournament, the result was never made public; he was never suspended; and the ATP ultimately accepted his bogus claim, sent by letter and supported by no evidence, that he accidentally drank a spiked soda. While not without excitement, Agassi's comeback to No. 1 is less uplifting than his sheer survival, his emotional resilience and his good humor in the face of the luckless cards he was often dealt. In the end he made some inspired choices, not simply by marrying Steffi Graf, starting a charitable foundation for the education of poor children and finding a terrific ghostwriter in J.R. Moehringer, a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also by refusing to put pressure on his kids to play tennis. bookworld@washpost.com
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

Reviews from other magazine
“Andre Agassi’s memoir is just as entrancing as his tennis game . . . By sharing an unvarnished, at times inspiring story in an arresting, muscular style, Agassi may have just penned one of the best sports autobiographies of all time. Check—it’s one of the better memoirs out there, period.”
-Sean Gregory, Time

“Not just a first-rate sports memoir but a genuine bildungsroman, darkly funny yet also anguished and soulful. It confirms what Agassi’s admirers sensed from the outset, that this showboat . . . was not clamoring for attention but rather conducting a struggle to wrest some semblance of selfhood from the sport that threatened to devour him.”
-Sam Tanenhaus, The New York Times Book Review

“[A] heartfelt memoir . . . Agassi’s style is open, all right, and his book, like so many of his tennis games, is a clear winner.”
-O, The Oprah Magazine

“Open describes [Agassi’s] personal odyssey with brio and unvarnished candor . . . His career-comeback tale is inspiring but even more so is another Open storyline. It could be called: The punk grows up . . . Countless athletes start charitable foundations, but frequently the organizations are just tax shelters or PR students. For Mr. Agassi helping others has instead become his life’s calling . . . Open is a superb memoir, but it hardly closes the books on an extraordinary life.”
-Jay Winik, The Wall Street Journal

“It’s both astonishing and a pleasure to report that Andre Agassi . . . has produced an honest, substantive, insightful autobiography . . . The bulk of this extraordinary book vividly recounts a lost childhood, a Dickensian adolescence, and a chaotic struggle in adulthood to establish an identity . . . While not without excitement, Agassi’s comeback to No. 1 is less uplifting than his sheer survival, his emotional resilience, and his good humor in the face of the luckless cards he was often dealt.”
-Michael Mewshaw, Washington Post

“Honest in a way that such books seldom are . . . An uncommonly well-written sports memoir.”
-Charles McGrath, The New York Times

“Refreshingly candid . . . This lively, revealing, and entertaining book is certain to roil the tennis world and make a big splash beyond.”
-Publishers Weekly

“Enigmatic tennis great Agassi lays it all on the line . . . Agassi’s photographic recall of pivotal matches evokes the raw intensity of watching them from the stands. Lovers of the sport will also appreciate this window into the mind of a champion . . . An ace of a tale about how one man found his game.”
-Kirkus

About the Author
Andre Agassi played tennis professionally from 1986 to 2006. Often ranked number one, he captured eight Grand Slam singles championships. Founder of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, he has raised more than $85 million for the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy for underprivileged children in Las Vegas, where he lives with his wife, Stefanie Graf, and their two children.

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Stephen King's Under the Dome

2009-11-08T08:58:00.000-08:00

Original Post http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2009/11/stephen-kings-under-dome.html

The return of the king of suspense/thriller fictions writer,Stephen King.
Under the dome will be release on November 10 2009.

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Amazon.com Review about Under The Dome
Book Description

Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan share their enthusiasm for Stephen King's thriller, Under the Dome. This pair of reviewers knows a thing or two about the art of crafting a great thriller. Del Toro is the Oscar-nominated director of international blockbuster films, including Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy. Hogan is the author of several acclaimed novels, including The Standoff and Prince of Thieves, which won the International Association of Crime Writer's Dashiell Hammett Award in 2005. The two recently collaborated to write the bestselling horror novel, The Strain, the first of a proposed trilogy. Read their exclusive Amazon guest review of Under the Dome:

The first thing readers might find scary about Stephen King's Under The Dome is its length. The second is the elaborate town map and list of characters at the front of the book (including "Dogs of Note"), which sometimes portends, you know, heavy lifting. Don't you believe it. Breathless pacing and effortless characterization are the hallmarks of King's best books, and here the writing is immersive, the suspense unrelenting. The pages turn so fast that your hand--or Kindle-clicking thumb--will barely be able to keep up.

You Are Here.

Nobody yarns a “What if?” like Stephen King. Nobody. The implausibility of a dome sealing off an entire city--a motif seen before in pulp magazines and on comic book covers--is given the most elaborate real-life alibi by crafting details, observations, and insights that make us nod silently while we read. Promotional materials reference The Stand in comparison, but we liken Under The Dome more to King's excellent novella, The Mist: another locked-door situation on an epic scale, a tour-de-force in which external stressors bake off the civility of a small town full of dark secrets, exposing souls both very good...and very, very bad.

Yes, "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," but there is so much more this time. The expansion of King’s diorama does not simply take a one-street fable and turn it into a town, but finds new life for old archetypes, making them morally complex and attuned to our world today. It makes them relevant and affecting once again. And the beauty of it all is that the final lesson, the great insight that is gained at the end of this draining journey, is not a righteous 1950’s sermon but an incredibly moving and simple truth. A nugget of wisdom you'll be using as soon as you turn the last page.

This Is Now.

Along the way, you get bravura writing, especially featuring the town kids, and a delicious death aria involving one of the most nefarious characters--who dies alone, but not really--as well as a few laugh-out-loud moments, and a cameo (of sorts) by none other than Jack Reacher. Indeed--whether during a much-needed comfort break, or a therapeutic hand-flexing--you may find yourself wondering, "Is this a horror novel? Or is it a thriller?" The answer, of course, is: Yes, yes, yes.

"...the blood hits the wall like it always hits the wall."

It seems impossible that, as he enters his sixth decade of publishing, the dean of dark fiction could add to his vast readership. But that is precisely what will happen...when the Dome drops.

Now Go Read It. --Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

The jacket concept for Under the Dome originated as an ambitious idea from the mind of Stephen King. The artwork is a combination of photographs, illustration and 3-D rendering. This is a departure from the direction of King's most recent illustrated covers.

In order to achieve the arresting image for this jacket, Scribner art director Rex Bonomelli had to seek out artists who could do a convincing job of creating a realistic portrayal of the town of Chester's Mill, the setting of the novel. Bonomelli found the perfect team of digital artists, based in South America and New York, whose cutting edge work had previously been devoted to advertisement campaigns. This was their first book jacket and an exciting venture for them. "They are used to working with the demands of corporate clients," says Bonomelli. "We gave them freedom and are thrilled with what they came up with."

The CGI (computer generated imagery) enhanced image looks more like something made for the big screen than for the page and is sure to make a lasting impact on King fans.

Meet the Characters from Under the Dome

Dale Barbara
Barbie, a drifter, ex-army, walks with a burden of guilt from the time he spent in Iraq. Working as a short-order cook at Sweetbriar Rose is the closest thing he’s had to a family life. When his old commander, Colonel Cox, calls from outside, Barbie's burden becomes the town itself.

Julia Shumway
The attractive Editor and Publisher of the local town newspaper, The Chester's Mill Democrat, Julia is self-assured and Republican to the core, but she is drawn to Barbie and discovers, when it matters most, that her most vulnerable moment might be her most liberating.

Jim Rennie, Sr.
"Big Jim." A used car dealer with a fierce smile and no warmth, he'd given his heart to Jesus at age sixteen and had little left for his customers, his neighbors, or his dying wife and deteriorating son. The town's Second Selectman, he’s used to having things his way. He walks like a man who has spent his life kicking ass.

Joseph McClatchey
Scarecrow Joe, a 13-year-old also known as "King of the Geeks" and "Skeletor, a bona fide brain whose backpack bears the legend "fight the powers that be." He’s smarter than anyone, and proves it in a crisis.

From Publishers Weekly
King's return to supernatural horror is uncomfortably bulky, formidably complex and irresistibly compelling. When the smalltown of Chester's Mill, Maine, is surrounded by an invisible force field, the people inside must exert themselves to survive. The situation deteriorates rapidly due to the dome's ecological effects and the machinations of Big Jim Rennie, an obscenely sanctimonious local politician and drug lord who likes the idea of having an isolated populace to dominate. Opposing him are footloose Iraq veteran Dale “Barbie” Barbara, newspaper editor Julia Shumway, a gaggle of teen skateboarders and others who want to solve the riddle of the dome. King handles the huge cast of characters masterfully but ruthlessly, forcing them to live (or not) with the consequences of hasty decisions. Readers will recognize themes and images from King's earlier fiction, and while this novel doesn't have the moral weight of, say, The Stand, nevertheless, it's a nonstop thrill ride as well as a disturbing, moving meditation on our capacity for good and evil. (Nov.)

Click here to buy Stephen King's Under the Dome from Amazon.com

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt

2009-10-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

Original Post : http://platinumbooks.blogspot.com/2009/10/superfreakonomics-global-cooling.html

The sequel of famous bestseller book in 2006, Freakonomics .
SuperFreakonomics will be based largely upon the innovative research of Professor Levitt, who has tackled problems inside and outside the field of economics.

SuperFreakonomics gonna challenge the way we think all over again. 288 pages

Table of contents:
Introduction: Putting the Freak in Economics
Chapter 1: How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa?
Chapter 2: Why should suicide bombers buy life insurance?
Chapter 3: Unbelievable stories about apathy and altruism
Chapter 4: The fix is in---and it's cheap and simple
Chapter 5: What do Al Gore and Mount Pinatubo have in common?

Explore and find the answer of these mystery unexposed reality.

-How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa?
-Why are doctors so bad at washing their hands?
-How much good do car seats do?
-What's the best way to catch a terrorist?
-Did TV cause a rise in crime?
-What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common?
-Are people hard-wired for altruism or selfishness?
-Can eating kangaroo save the planet?
-Which adds more value: a pimp or a Realtor?

About the Author
Steven D. Levitt is a professor or economics at the University of Chicago and the recipient of the John Bates Clark medal, awarded to the most influential economist under the age of forty.

Stephen J. Dubner, a former writer and editor at The New York Times Magazine, is the author of Turbulent Souls (Choosing My Religion), Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper, and the children’s book The Boy With Two Belly Buttons.

Click here to buy from Amazon.com

True Compass: A Memoir by Edward M. Kennedy

2009-08-27T07:01:00.000-07:00

Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy

(February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009)

was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. In office from November 1962 until his death, Kennedy served nine terms in the Senate. At the time of his death, he was the second most senior member of the Senate, and the third-longest-serving senator in U.S. history. Kennedy crossed party lines to reach legislative goals.[4] Kennedy was one of the most influential leaders in history and one of America's greatest senators.

Kennedy was respected and admired around the world He was best known as one of the most outspoken and effective Senate proponents of progressive causes and bills. For many years the most prominent living member of the Kennedy family, he was the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both victims of assassinations, and the father of Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy.

He became known as "The Lion of the Senate", through his long tenure and influence. More than 300 bills that Kennedy and his staff wrote were enacted into law. He was known for working with Republicans and finding compromises among Senators with disparate views. Kennedy played a major role in passing many important laws, including laws addressing immigration, cancer research, health insurance, apartheid, disability discrimination, AIDS care, civil rights, mental health benefits, children's health insurance, education and volunteering. In the 2000s, he led several unsuccessful immigration reform efforts. During decades in office, Kennedy's major legislative goal was enactment of universal health care, which he continued to work toward during the Obama administration.

Product Description
In this landmark autobiography, five years in the making, Senator Edward M. Kennedy tells his extraordinary personal story--of his legendary family, politics, and fifty years at the center of national events.

TRUE COMPASS

The youngest of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, he came of age among siblings from whom much was expected. As a young man, he played a key role in the presidential campaign of his brother John F. Kennedy, recounted here in loving detail. In 1962 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he began a fascinating political education and became a legislator.

In this historic memoir,Ted Kennedy takes us inside his family, re-creating life with his parents and brothers and explaining their profound impact on him. or the first time, he describes his heartbreak and years of struggle in the wake of their deaths. Through it all, he describes his work in the Senate on the major issues of our time--civil rights, Vietnam, Watergate, the quest for peace in Northern Ireland--and the cause of his life: improved health care for all Americans, a fight influenced by his own experiences in hospitals.

His life has been marked by tragedy and perseverance, a love of family, and an abiding faith. There have been controversies, too, and Kennedy addresses them with unprecedented candor. At midlife, embattled and uncertain if he would ever fall in love again, he met the woman who changed his life, Victoria Reggie Kennedy. Facing a tough reelection campaign against an aggressive challenger named Mitt Romney, Kennedy found a new voice and began one of the great third acts in American politics, sponsoring major legislation, standing up for liberal principles, and making the pivotal endorsement of Barack Obama for president.

Hundreds of books have been written about the Kennedys. TRUE COMPASS will endure as the definitive account from a member of America's most heralded family, an inspiring legacy to readers and to history, and a deeply moving story of a life like no other.

About the Author
Edward M. Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate for forty-seven years. In 2004 he began interviews at the Miller Center of the University of Virginia for an oral history project about his life. Since then, he has drawn from his fifty years of contemporaneous notes from his personal diaries and worked closely on this book with Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Powers, coauthor of Flags of Our Fathers and author of Mark Twain: A Life.

Find more books about senator Edward Kennedy here

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A Pocket Style Manual 5e with 2009 MLA Update (Spiral-bound) by Diana Hacker

2009-08-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

Product Description

The first of its kind, A Pocket Style Manual continues to help student writers get answers to their writing and research questions. Its concise and straightforward content is flexible enough to suit the needs of writers in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, health professions, business courses, fine arts, teacher training courses, and beyond. Its slim format, brief length, and spiral binding make it a portable and practical tool. With its signature Diana Hacker quick-reference features, A Pocket Style Manual has always provided quick solutions to writing problems. Supplemented by the best free and open Web resources, A Pocket Style Manual offers the best value for students.

In the Hacker tradition, the new contributing authors — Nancy Sommers, Tom Jehn, Jane Rosenzweig, and Marcy Carbajal Van Horn — have crafted solutions for the challenges today’s college students face. Together they give us a new edition that provides more help with research writing and one that works better for a wider range of students.

About the Author

Diana Hacker personally class-tested her handbooks with nearly four thousand students over 35 years at Prince George’s Community College in Maryland, where she was a member of the English faculty. Hacker handbooks, built on innovation and on a keen understanding of the challenges facing student writers, are the most widely adopted in America. Other Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin’s, include The Bedford Handbook, Seventh Edition (2006); A Writer’s Reference, Sixth Edition (2007); and A Pocket Style Manual, Fifth Edition (2008).

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

NANCY SOMMERS, Sosland Director of Expository Writing at Harvard University, has also taught composition at Rutgers University and at Monmouth College and has directed the writing program at the University of Oklahoma. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well-known for her research and publications on student writing. Her recent work involves a longitudinal study of undergraduate writing. Nancy Sommers is co-author of Fields of Reading, Eighth Edition (2007) for Bedford/St. Martin’s.

TOM JEHN teaches composition and directs the Writing Across the Disciplines program at Harvard University. A recipient of numerous teaching awards both at Harvard and at the University of Virginia, he also leads professional development seminars on writing instruction for public high school teachers.

JANE ROSENZWEIG teaches composition and directs the writing center at Harvard University. She has also taught writing at Yale University and the University of Iowa.

MARCY CARBAJAL VAN HORN, Assistant Professor of English and ESL at Santa Fe Community College (FL), teaches composition to native and nonnative speakers of English and teaches the Advanced ESL Writing course.

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A Writer's Reference with 2009 MLA Update by Diana Hacker

2009-08-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

Product Description

A Writer’s Reference is the most widely adopted college handbook ever published. The new edition is available in a classic version that provides more help with academic writing, serves a wider range of multilingual students, and lends more support for college research — all in an easy-to-use quick-reference format. Now for all the ways you teach your course, you can choose the classic version or choose from among 4 additional versions with varied content.

-A Writer’s Reference with Exercises is tailor-made for classroom use or for additional grammar practice with 86 integrated exercise sets.

-A Writer’s Reference with Writing in the Disciplines provides help for college writing beyond composition with advice and models in six academic disciplines.

-A Writer’s Reference with Writing about Literature includes an entire tabbed section on interpreting and writing about works of literature, with two annotated student essays.

-A Writer’s Reference with Extra Help for ESL Writers includes an entire tabbed section for nonnative speakers of English; it offers targeted advice and strategies for college writing and research.

About the Author

Diana Hacker's handbooks, used at almost half of the colleges and universities in the country, are the most widely adopted in America. A member of the English faculty at Prince George's Community College in Maryland for almost 35 years, Diana Hacker personally class-tested her handbooks with nearly four thousand students. Diana Hacker's other handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin's, include The Bedford Handbook (2006); Rules for Writers (2004); andA Pocket Style Manual (2004).

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS
NANCY SOMMERS, Sosland Director of Expository Writing at Harvard University, has also taught composition at Rutgers University and at Monmouth College and has directed the writing program at the University of Oklahoma. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well-known for her research and publications on student writing. Her articles "Revision Strategies of Student and Experienced Writers" and "Responding to Student Writing" are two of the most widely read in the field. Her recent work involves a longitudinal study of undergraduate writing. Nancy Sommers is coauthor of Fields of Reading (2007) and tudent Writers at Work: The Bedford Prizes, both published by Bedford/St. Martin's.

TOM JEHN teaches composition and directs the writing across the disciplines program at Harvard University. A recipient of numerous teaching awards both at Harvard and at the University of Virginia, he also leads professional development seminars on writing instruction for public high school teachers through the Calderwood Writing Fellows Project.

JANE ROSENZWEIG, a published author of fiction and non-fiction, teaches composition and directs the writing center at Harvard University. She has also taught writing at Yale University and the University of Iowa.

MARCY CARBAJAL VAN HORN, assistant professor of English and ESL at Santa Fe Community College (FL), teaches composition to native and nonnative speakers of English and teaches the Advanced ESL Writing course. She has also taught university-level academic writing and critical thinking at Instituto Technológico y de Estudios Superiores in Mexico.

EDITORIAL ADVISERS:
Of the more than 500 experienced composition instructors who reviewed the new edition, a core group served as an editorial advisory board — carefully reviewing all new material in depth, making sure the book would work as well for their students as it always had.

Joanne ADDISON
University of Colorado, Denver

Derick BURLESON
University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Paige BYAM
Northern Kentucky University

Elizabeth CANFIELD
Virginia Commonwealth University

Richard CARR
University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Michele CHEUNG
University of Southern Maine

Jon CULLICK
Northern Kentucky University

David ENDICOTT
Tacoma Community College

Lin FRASER
Sacramento City College

Hank GALMISH
Green River Community College

Nancy GISH
University of Southern Maine

Jacqueline GRAY
St. Charles Community College

Barclay GREEN
Northern Kentucky University

Karen GROSSWEINER
University of Alaska, Fairbanks

D. J. HENRY
Daytona Beach Community College

Kandace KNUDSON
Sacramento City College

Tonya KROUSE
Northern Kentucky University

Tamara KUZMENKOV
Tacoma Community College

Cheryl LAZ
University of Southern Maine

Lydia Lynn LEWELLEN
Tacoma Community College

Jeanette LONIA
Delaware Technical and Community College

Walter LOWE
Green River Community College

Michael MACKEY
Community College of Denver

Tammy MATA
Tarrant County Community College

Holly MCSPADDEN
Missouri Southern State University

Liora MORIEL
University of Maryland, College Park

Patricia MURPHY
Missouri Southern State University

Melissa NICOLAS
University of Louisiana, Lafayette

Diane Allen O’HERON
Broome Community College

Sarah QUIRK
Waubonsee Community College

Ann SMITH
Modesto Junior College

Steve THOMAS
Community College of Denver

Nick TINGLE
University of California, Santa Barbara

Terry Myers ZAWACKI
George Mason University

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Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff by Erin Arvedlund

2009-08-15T02:41:00.000-07:00

In 11 December 2008 the federal authorities arrest the NASDAQ stock exchange

former chairman who perform what has been called the largest investor fraud ever committed by an individual.

Bernard Madoff

Product Description
Despite all the headlines about Bernard Madoff, who pleaded guilty to running a $65 billion Ponzi scheme, he is still shrouded in mystery. Why (and when) did he turn his legitimate business into a massive fraud? How did he fool so many smart investors for so long? Who among his family and employees knew the truth?

The best person to answer these questionsÂ—and tell the full story of MadoffÂ’s rise and fallÂ—is Erin Arvedlund. In early 2001, she was suspicious of the amazing returns of MadoffÂ’s hedge fund, which no one could explain. Her article in BarronÂ’s, based on more than one hundred interviews, could have prevented a lot of misery, had the SEC followed up.

But almost no one was willing to believe anything bad about Â“Uncle BernieÂ”Â—so nice, so humble, so generous to charities. As Arvedlund shows, Madoff was no ordinary liar, but a master of the type of lies people really wanted to believe. He kept his clients at a distance and allowed handsomely paid friends to solicit new ones for him; playing hard to get created an irresistible mystique.

Now, Arvedlund tackles the tough questions that are still unanswered in the wake of Madoff’s collapse:

Did he start off as a legitimate money manager or was he a fraud from the beginning? Were there indications of larceny at the very start of his career?
Why did MadoffÂ’s biggest supporters within the industry, such as Walter Noel of Fairfield Greenwich and Ezra Merkin of Gabriel Capital, ignore the warning signs that were so apparent? Did they choose to remain ignorant as long as their commissions rolled in?
Why did SEC investigations fail to catch Madoff’s Ponzi scheme even though several people had voiced concerns about his operation?
Who else helped Madoff carry out his scam? His family and close associates have denied any involvement, but was it possible for one man to engineer a heist of such scope?

With her keen investigative eye, Arvedlund presents a sweeping narrative of Madoff’s career—from his youth in Queens, New York, to his early days working for his father-in-law, to his time as chairman of the NASDAQ exchange, and finally to infamy as the worldÂ’s most notorious swindler. She offers a riveting glimpse of Madoff the manÂ—an indifferent student with little ambition who transformed himself into a star with a talent for trading, a reputation for innovation, and an unmistakably erratic nature.

Readers will be fascinated by Arvedlund’s portrayal of Madoff, his empire, and all those who never considered that he might be too good to be true.

About the Author
Erin Arvedlund is an investigative journalist who has written for BarronÂ’s, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, TheStreet.com, and Portfolio.com. In 2001, she wrote the first skeptical article about Bernard Madoff for a major publication. This is her first book.

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My Journey with Farrah: A Story of Life, Love, and Friendship by Alana Stewart

2009-08-15T01:53:00.000-07:00

The story about Alana Hamiltion Stewart friend Farrah Fawcett's battle with cancer.

Product Description

Alana Stewart and Farrah Fawcett went through it all together. Friends for thirty years, they were an essential part of each other's lives since first meeting at a dinner party in the 1970s. During that time, they supported each other through the trials of Hollywood life while also raising their families, keeping in close contact.

But in the fall of 2006, a test of their friendship arose unlike any other they'd faced: Farrah was diagnosed with aggressive rectal cancer. She was determined to fight, and Alana was determined to help her. Together, they were relentless in their pursuit of a cure, traveling halfway around the world as they sought every mainstream, alternative, and experimental therapy available. In all, they spent the better part of the next three years together - Alana by her friend's side as they struggled hand in hand with the unknown.

Now, in these intimate and personal diaries, Alana shares her thoughts on the events of the last three years, documenting the journey she and Farrah embarked on as they prayed for a miracle. Reflecting back on the three decades they shared, Alana details what she's learned about her friend and herself as they battled through the trials of this illness. From the importance of selflessness, to the undeniable value of faith, to the remarkable resilience of the human spirit, Alana's day-to-day entries reveal a side of these two friends that the world has never seen. Even in the face of this debilitating disease, Farrah's courage and determination continues to teach us about life . . . and love.

Writing candidly about aging, marriage, motherhood, and faith--all topics she and Farrah dealt with together over the years - Alana provides a moving tribute to a woman, once Hollywood's golden girl, and an inspiring celebration of life. My Journey with Farrah is the story of two courageous women who stood by each other through good times, bad times, and now the most trying of times. It is a book that will make people laugh, cry, and rejoice in the power of friendship.

About the Author

Alana Stewart is an actress, former model, and talk-show host who has worked in Hollywood for almost forty years. She filmed and produced Farrah's Story, a documentary about her friend Farrah Fawcett's battle with cancer, which aired on NBC in May 2009. Alana devoted the past three years of her life to helping Farrah through her harrowing and courageous journey. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

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Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. 2 by Julia Child

2009-08-15T01:41:00.000-07:00

The sequel of Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One

Product Description
Here is the sequel to the great cooking classic. Each of the new recipes is worked out step-by-step, with the clarity and precision that are the essence of the first volume. 5 times as many drawings as in Vol. I make the clear instructions even more so.

About the Author
Julia Child , a native of California and a Smith College graduate; Simone Beck, French-born and -educated; and Louisette Bertholle, half French and half American, educated in both countries, represented an even blending of the two backgrounds and were singularly equipped to write about French cooking for Americans. Mrs. Child studied at Paris's famous Cordon Bleu, and all three authors worked under various distinguished French chefs. In 1951 they started their own cooking school in Paris, L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes, at the same time that this book was taking shape. After that, Madame Beck published two cookbooks, Simca's Cuisine in 1972 and New Menus from Simca's Cuisine in 1979, and she continued to teach cooking in France. Madame Bertholle also had several cookery books published. Shortly after the appearance of Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 1961, Julia Child began appearing in the public television series The French Chef, which aired for many years all over the United States, and in 1978 the program Julia Child & Company was launched, followed the next year by Julia Child & More Company. In 1968 recipes from her early programs, many of which were drawn from this book, were published in The French Chef Cookbook.

In 1975 From Julia Child's Kitchen was published, followed in 1978 and 1979 by Julia Child & Company and Julia Child & More Company, based on those programs. Also based on television series were the two books—Cooking with Master Chefs and In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs—she wrote in the mid-1990s, as well as Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, with Jacques Pépin, in 1999. The Way to Cook, her magnum opus, was published in 1989, and in 2000 she gave us Julia's Kitchen Wisdom, a distillation of her years of cooking experience.

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The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

2009-08-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

The best selling romance fiction of 2003 and become motion pictures in 2009

The Time Traveler's Wife, published in 2003, is the debut novel of American author Audrey Niffenegger. It is a love story about a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably, and about his wife, an artist who has to cope with his frequent absences and dangerous experiences. Niffenegger, frustrated in love when she began the work, wrote the story as a metaphor for her failed relationships. The tale's central relationship came to her in a flash one day and subsequently became the novel's title. The novel, which has been classified as both science fiction and romance, examines issues of love, loss, and free will. In particular, it uses time travel to explore miscommunication and distance in relationships. It also investigates deeper existential questions.

The novel won the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize and a British Book Award. A film version was released in August 2009.

From Publishers Weekly
This clever and inventive tale works on three levels: as an intriguing science fiction concept, a realistic character study and a touching love story. Henry De Tamble is a Chicago librarian with "Chrono Displacement" disorder; at random times, he suddenly disappears without warning and finds himself in the past or future, usually at a time or place of importance in his life. This leads to some wonderful paradoxes. From his point of view, he first met his wife, Clare, when he was 28 and she was 20. She ran up to him exclaiming that she'd known him all her life. He, however, had never seen her before. But when he reaches his 40s, already married to Clare, he suddenly finds himself time travelling to Clare's childhood and meeting her as a 6-year-old. The book alternates between Henry and Clare's points of view, and so does the narration. Reed ably expresses the longing of the one always left behind, the frustrations of their unusual lifestyle, and above all, her overriding love for Henry. Likewise, Burns evokes the fear of a man who never knows where or when he'll turn up, and his gratitude at having Clare, whose love is his anchor. The expressive, evocative performances of both actors convey the protagonists' intense relationship, their personal quirks and their reminiscences, making this a fascinating audio.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --

From Booklist
On the surface, Henry and Clare Detamble are a normal couple living in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Henry works at the Newberry Library and Clare creates abstract paper art, but the cruel reality is that Henry is a prisoner of time. It sweeps him back and forth at its leisure, from the present to the past, with no regard for where he is or what he is doing. It drops him naked and vulnerable into another decade, wearing an age-appropriate face. In fact, it's not unusual for Henry to run into the other Henry and help him out of a jam. Sound unusual? Imagine Clare Detamble's astonishment at seeing Henry dropped stark naked into her parents' meadow when she was only six. Though, of course, until she came of age, Henry was always the perfect gentleman and gave young Clare nothing but his friendship as he dropped in and out of her life. It's no wonder that the film rights to this hip and urban love story have been acquired. Elsa Gaztambide
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"A powerfully original love story."

-- People

"Tremendous grace and imagination . . . A love story without softness or flinchiing."

-- The Washington Post Book World

"[A] time-travel love story par excellence. . . . [A] soaring celebration of thhe victory of love over time."

-- Chicago Tribune

Spirited . . . Niffenegger plays ingeniously in her temporal hall of mirrors."

-- The New Yorker

Product Description
A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap, and it is Audrey Niffenegger's cinematic storytelling that makes the novel's unconventional chronology so vibrantly triumphant.

An enchanting debut and a spellbinding tale of fate and belief in the bonds of love, The Time Traveler's Wife is destined to captivate readers for years to come.

About the Author
Audrey Niffenegger is a professor in the M.F.A. program at the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts.This is her first novel, which in hardcover was a selection of Today’s Book Club. She lives in Chicago.

Awards and nominations

Locus Award for Best First Novel 2004 Nominated
Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2004 Longlisted
Arthur C. Clarke Award 2005 Shortlisted
John W. Campbell Memorial Award 2005 Third place
Exclusive Books Boeke Prize 2005 Won
Geffen Award 2006 Nominated
British Book Award for Popular Fiction 2006 Won

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Sookie Stackhouse, Books 1-7 [BOX SET] by Charlaine Harris

2009-08-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

The books box set of famous vampire fictions of Sookie Stackhouse serie.

Product Description
Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is no typical Southern belle. She can read minds. And sheÂ’s got a thing for vampires. Which, in a town like Bon Temps, Louisiana, means sheÂ’ll have to watch her backÂ—and neckÂ…

This box set
Includes:

Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse

About the author
Charlaine Harris(born November 25, 1951 in Tunica, Mississippi) is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over twenty years. She was raised in the Mississippi River Delta area. Though her early works consisted largely of poems about ghosts and, later, teenage angst, she wrote plays when she attended Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. She began to write books a few years later.

After publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris launched a lighthearted series "starring" Georgia librarian Aurora Teagarden, with Real Murders, a Best Novel nominee for the 1990 Agatha Awards. Harris wrote eight Aurora titles. In 1996, she released the first of the much darker Shakespeare mysteries, featuring the amateur sleuth Lily Bard, a karate student who makes her living cleaning houses. Shakespeare's Counselor, the fifth--and last-- was printed in fall 2001.

After Shakespeare, Harris created The Sookie Stackhouse urban fantasy series about a telepathic waitress who works in a bar in the fictional Northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps. The first of these, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery in 2001. Each book follows Sookie as she tries to solve mysteries involving vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. The series, which now numbers nine titles, has been released worldwide.

Sookie Stackhouse proved to be so popular that Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under, announced he would undertake the production of a new show for HBO based upon the books. He wrote and directed the pilot episode for that series, True Blood, which premiered in September of 2008. It was an instant success and was quickly picked up for a second season.

In October 2005, Harris's new mystery series about a young woman named Harper Connelly debuted with the release of Grave Sight. Harper has the ability to determine the cause of death of any body. There are now three Harper titles (GRAVE SIGHT, GRAVE SURPRISE, AN ICE COLD GRAVE) with a 4th (GRAVE SECRET) to be released in 2009.

Harris has also co-edited three very popular anthologies with her friend Toni L.P. Kelner. The anthologies feature stories with an element of the supernatural, and the submissions come from a rare mixture of mystery and urban fantasy writers.

Professionally, Harris is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the American Crime Writers League. She is a member of the board of Sisters in Crime, and alternates with Joan Hess as president of the Arkansas Mystery Writers Alliance. Personally, Harris is married and the mother of three. She lives in a small town in Southern Arkansas and when she is not writing her own books, she reads omnivorously!

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Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One (1) (Fortieth - 40th - Anniversary Edition) (Vol 1) by Julia Child

2009-08-08T04:59:00.000-07:00

Julia Child (born Julia Carolyn McWilliams August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author and television personality. She introduced French cuisine and cooking techniques to the American mainstream through her many cookbooks and television programs, notably The French Chef which premiered in 1963 and showcased her one-of-a-kind persona. Her most famous work is the 1961 cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Her biogrphy movie , Julie & Julia is now a major motion picture (releasing in August 2009) starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child. It is partially based on her memoir, My Life in France.

For those who looking for this book sequel please visit here.

Volume two

Product Description
Revised edition of the classic cookbook, originally published in 1961.

From the Inside Flap
"Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere," wrote Mesdames Beck, Bertholle, and Child, "with the right instruction." And here is the book that, for forty years, has been teaching Americans how.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned cooks and beginners who love good food and long to reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas. This beautiful book, with more than one hundred instructive illustrations, is revolutionary in its approach because:

• It leads the cook infallibly from the buying and handling of raw ingredients, through each essential step of a recipe, to the final creation of a delicate confection.
• It breaks down the classic cuisine into a logical sequence of themes and variations rather than presenting an endless and diffuse catalogue of recipes; the focus is on key recipes that form the backbone of French cookery and lend themselves to an infinite number of elaborations—bound to increase anyone's culinary repertoire.
• It adapts classical techniques, wherever possible, to modern American conveniences.
• It shows Americans how to buy products, from any supermarket in the U.S.A., that reproduce the exact taste and texture of the French ingredients: equivalent meat cuts, for example; the right beans for a cassoulet; the appropriate fish and shellfish for a bouillabaisse.
• It offers suggestions for just the right accompaniment to each dish, including proper wines.

Since there has never been a book as instructive and as workable as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the techniques learned here can be applied to recipes in all other French cookbooks, making them infinitely more usable. In compiling the secrets of famous cordons bleus, the authors have produced a magnificent volume that is sure to find the place of honor in every kitchen in America.

From the Back Cover
"Has it really been 40 years since Julia Child rescued Americans from dreary casseroles? This reissue, clad in a handsome red jacket, is what a cookbook should be: packed with sumptuous recipes, detailed instructions, and precise line drawings. Some of the instructions look daunting, but as Child herself says in the introduction, 'If you can read, you can cook.'"
- Entertainment Weekly

About the Author
Julia Child, a native of California and a Smith College graduate; Simone Beck, French-born and -educated; and Louisette Bertholle, half French and half American, educated in both countries, represented an even blending of the two backgrounds and were singularly equipped to write about French cooking for Americans. Mrs. Child studied at Paris's famous Cordon Bleu, and all three authors worked under various distinguished French chefs. In 1951 they started their own cooking school in Paris, L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes, at the same time that this book was taking shape. After that, Madame Beck published two cookbooks, Simca's Cuisine in 1972 and New Menus from Simca's Cuisine in 1979, and she continued to teach cooking in France. Madame Bertholle also had several cookery books published. Shortly after the appearance of Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 1961, Julia Child began appearing in the public television series The French Chef, which aired for many years all over the United States, and in 1978 the program Julia Child & Company was launched, followed the next year by Julia Child & More Company. In 1968 recipes from her early programs, many of which were drawn from this book, were published in The French Chef Cookbook.

In 1975 From Julia Child's Kitchen was published, followed in 1978 and 1979 by Julia Child & Company and Julia Child & More Company, based on those programs. Also based on television series were the two books—Cooking with Master Chefs and In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs—she wrote in the mid-1990s, as well as Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, with Jacques Pépin, in 1999. The Way to Cook, her magnum opus, was published in 1989, and in 2000 she gave us Julia's Kitchen Wisdom, a distillation of her years of cooking experience.

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The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet

2009-08-08T04:41:00.000-07:00

From Publishers Weekly
Checking in on a friend's brother at Ivenwald, a Washington-based fundamentalist group living communally in Arlington, Va., religion and journalism scholar Sharlet finds a sect whose members refer to Manhattan's Ground Zero as "the ruins of secularism"; intrigued, Sharlet accepts on a whim an invitation to stay at Ivenwald. He's shocked to find himself in the stronghold of a widespread "invisible" network, organized into cells much like Ivenwald, and populated by elite, politically ambitious fundamentalists; Sharlet is present when a leader tells a dozen men living there, "You guys are here to learn how to rule the world." As it turns out, the Family was established in 1935 to oppose FDR's New Deal and the spread of trade unions; since then, it has organized well-attended weekly prayer meetings for members of Congress and annual National Prayer Breakfasts attended by every president since Eisenhower. Further, the Family's international reach ("almost impossible to overstate") has "forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most oppressive regimes in the world." In the years since his first encounter, Sharlet has done extensive research, and his thorough account of the Family's life and times is a chilling expose.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"A brilliant marriage of investigative journalism and history, an unsettling story of how this small but powerful group shaped the faith of the nation in the 20th century and drives the politics of empire in the 21st. Anyone interested in circles of power will love this book." -- Debby Applegate, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher

"An astounding entrée to a fascinating Christian network unknown to most Americans. . . . A must-read for any American who wants to know who is actually pulling the strings at the highest levels of power." -- Heidi Ewing, co-director Jesus Camp

"I was once an insider’s insider within fundamentalism. Unequivocally: Sharlet knows what he’s talking about. . . . Those who want to be un-deceived (and wildly entertained) must read this disturbing tour de force." -- Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy For God: How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back

"Jeff Sharlet is one of the very best writers covering the politics of religion. Brilliantly reported and filled with wonderful anecdotes, THE FAMILY tells the story of an influential group that you haven’t previously heard of, and need to know about." -- Ken Silverstein, Washington editor of Harper's and author of The Radioactive Boy Scout

"Jeff Sharlet provides a fascinating account of how part of American Christianity has gone off on a dangerous tangent. It should worry everyone—maybe especially those of us who understand the Gospels to be a call to help the powerless, not prop up the powerful." -- Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and The Bill McKibben Reader

"Of all the important studies of the American right, THE FAMILY is undoubtedly the most eloquent. It is also quite possibly the most terrifying." -- Thomas Frank, New York Times bestselling author of What's the Matter with Kansas?

"One of the most compelling and brilliantly researched exposes you’ll ever read—just don’t read it alone at night!" -- Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch

"This is a gripping, utterly original narrative about an influential evangelical elite that few Americans even know exists. . . . The Christian Right will never look the same again." -- Michael Kazin, author of A Godly Hero: the Life of William Jennings Bryan and The Populist Persuasion: An American History

"Un-American theocrats can only fool patriotic American democrats when there aren’t critics like Jeff Sharlet around—careful scholars and soulful writers who understand both the majesty of faith and the evil of its abuses. A remarkable accomplishment in the annals of writing about religion." -- Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America

"[Sharlet] has managed to infiltrate the most influential and secretive fundamentalist network in America, and ground his reporting in the most astute and original explanation of fundamentalism I’ve ever read. . . . Indispensable." -- Hanna Rosin, former religion reporter for the Washington Post and author of God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save the Nation --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"I was once an insider's insider within fundamentalism. Unequivocally: Sharlet knows what he's talking about. . . . Those who want to be un-deceived (and wildly entertained) must read this disturbing tour de force." (Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy For God: How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back )

"[Sharlet] has managed to infiltrate the most influential and secretive fundamentalist network in America, and ground his reporting in the most astute and original explanation of fundamentalism I've ever read. . . . Indispensable." (Hanna Rosin, former religion reporter for the Washington Post and author of God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save the Nation )

"An astounding entre to a fascinating Christian network unknown to most Americans. . . . A must-read for any American who wants to know who is actually pulling the strings at the highest levels of power." (Heidi Ewing, co-director Jesus Camp )

"A brilliant marriage of investigative journalism and history, an unsettling story of how this small but powerful group shaped the faith of the nation in the 20th century and drives the politics of empire in the 21st. Anyone interested in circles of power will love this book." (Debby Applegate, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher )

"Jeff Sharlet provides a fascinating account of how part of American Christianity has gone off on a dangerous tangent. It should worry everyone-maybe especially those of us who understand the Gospels to be a call to help the powerless, not prop up the powerful." (Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and The Bill McKibben Reader )

"Un-American theocrats can only fool patriotic American democrats when there aren't critics like Jeff Sharlet around-careful scholars and soulful writers who understand both the majesty of faith and the evil of its abuses. A remarkable accomplishment in the annals of writing about religion." (Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America )

"Jeff Sharlet is one of the very best writers covering the politics of religion. Brilliantly reported and filled with wonderful anecdotes, THE FAMILY tells the story of an influential group that you haven't previously heard of, and need to know about." (Ken Silverstein, Washington editor of Harper's and author of The Radioactive Boy Scout )

"Of all the important studies of the American right, THE FAMILY is undoubtedly the most eloquent. It is also quite possibly the most terrifying." (Thomas Frank, New York Times bestselling author of What's the Matter with Kansas? )

"One of the most compelling and brilliantly researched exposes you'll ever read-just don't read it alone at night!" (Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch )

"This is a gripping, utterly original narrative about an influential evangelical elite that few Americans even know exists. . . . The Christian Right will never look the same again." (Michael Kazin, author of A Godly Hero: the Life of William Jennings Bryan and The Populist Persuasion: An American History )

Product Description

They insist they are just a group of friends, yet they funnel millions of dollars through tax-free corporations. They claim to disdain politics, but congressmen of both parties describe them as the most influential religious organization in Washington. They say they are not Christians, but simply believers.

Behind the scenes at every National Prayer Breakfast since 1953 has been the Family, an elite network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful. Their goal is "Jesus plus nothing." Their method is backroom diplomacy. The Family is the startling story of how their faith—part free-market fundamentalism, part imperial ambition—has come to be interwoven with the affairs of nations around the world.

About the Author

Jeff Sharlet is a visiting research scholar at New York University's Center for Religion and Media. He is a contributing editor for Harper's and Rolling Stone, the coauthor, with Peter Manseau, of Killing the Buddha, and the editor of TheRevealer.org. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant

2009-08-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

One of bestselling business management book.

Published by Harvard Business School Press since 2005

by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

From Publishers Weekly
Kim and Mauborgne's blue ocean metaphor elegantly summarizes their vision of the kind of expanding, competitor-free markets that innovative companies can navigate. Unlike "red oceans," which are well explored and crowded with competitors, "blue oceans" represent "untapped market space" and the "opportunity for highly profitable growth." The only reason more big companies don't set sail for them, they suggest, is that "the dominant focus of strategy work over the past twenty-five years has been on competition-based red ocean strategies"-i.e., finding new ways to cut costs and grow revenue by taking away market share from the competition. With this groundbreaking book, Kim and Mauborgne-both professors at France's INSEAD, the second largest business school in the world-aim to repair that bias. Using dozens of examples-from Southwest Airlines and the Cirque du Soleil to Curves and Starbucks-they present the tools and frameworks they've developed specifically for the task of analyzing blue oceans. They urge companies to "value innovation" that focuses on "utility, price, and cost positions," to "create and capture new demand" and to "focus on the big picture, not the numbers." And while their heavyweight analytical tools may be of real use only to serious strategy planners, their overall vision will inspire entrepreneurs of all stripes, and most of their ideas are presented in a direct, jargon-free manner. Theirs is not the typical business management book's vague call to action; it is a precise, actionable plan for changing the way companies do business with one resounding piece of advice: swim for open waters.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"Blue Ocean Strategy will have you wondering why companies need so much persuasion to stay out of shark-infested waters." -- BusinessWeek, April 4th 2005

"Blue Ocean raises pertinent questions… and delivers valuable answers." -- American Way, March 2005

"Companies struggling to stay afloat in the market's...red oceans would do well to look into Blue Ocean Strategy." -- Fort Worth Star Telegram, 14 February 2005

"The book is clearly written, offering many examples of blue-ocean strategies and the techniques to develop such a scheme." -- Globe and Mail, June 8, 2005

Product Description

Winning by Not Competing: A Fresh Approach to Strategy

Since the dawn of the industrial age, companies have engaged in head-to-head competition in search of sustained, profitable growth. They have fought for competitive advantage, battled over market share, and struggled for differentiation. Yet these hallmarks of competitive strategy are not the way to create profitable growth in the future.

In a book that challenges everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic success, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne argue that cutthroat competition results in nothing but a bloody red ocean of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than a hundred years and thirty industries, the authors argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors, but from creating "blue oceans": untapped new market spaces ripe for growth. Such strategic moves-which the authors call "value innovation"- create powerful leaps in value that often render rivals obsolete for more than a decade.

Blue Ocean Strategy presents a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant and outlines principles and tools any company can use to create and capture blue oceans. A landmark work that upends traditional thinking about strategy, this book charts a bold new path to winning the future.

From the Inside Flap
"After reading Blue Ocean Strategy, you will never again see your competition in quite the same light. Kim and Mauborgne present a compelling case for pursuing strategy with a creative, not combative, approach. Their emphases on value innovation and stakeholder engagement alone make this book a must-read for both executives and students of business."

-Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

"This is an extremely valuable book to read. It examines the experience of companies in areas as diverse as watches, wine, cement, computers, automobiles, and even the circus to shed new light on the development of future strategies."

-Nicolas G. Hayek, Cofounder and Chairman of the Board, Swatch Group

"I recommend Blue Ocean Strategy to any executive in the private or public sector. It shows how to break from the status quo, create a winning future strategy, and execute this fast at low cost. As much a practical guide as an eye-opener."

-William J. Bratton, Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, former Police Commissioner of the City of New York

"Kim and Mauborgne's strategies are not only original but practical. Our company has used them and obtained powerful results. The authors chart a bold new path to winning the future."

-Patrick Snowball, Chief Executive, Norwich Union Insurance

From the Back Cover

Companies have long engaged in head-to-head competition in search of sustained, profitable growth. They have fought for competitive advantage, battled over market share, and struggled for differentiation.

Yet in today’s overcrowded industries, competing head-on results in nothing but a bloody “red ocean” of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. In a book that challenges everything you thought you knew about the requirements fro strategic success, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne contend that while most companies compete within such red oceans, this strategy is increasingly unlikely to create profitable growth in the future.

Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more then a hundred years and thirty industries, Kim and Mauborgne argue that tomorrow’s leading companies will succeed not by battling competitors, but by creating “blue ocean” of uncontested market space ripe for growth. Such strategies moves—termed “value innovation”-create powerful leaps in value for both the firm and its buyers, rendering rivals obsolete and unleashing new demand.

Blue Ocean Strategyprovides a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant. In this frame-changing book, Kim and Mauborgne present a proven analytical framework and the tools for successfully creating and capturing blue oceans. Examining a wide range of strategic moves across a host of industries, Blue Ocean Strategy highlights the six principles that every company can use to successfully formulate and execute blue ocean strategies. The six principles show how to reconstruct market boundaries, focus on the big picture, reach beyond existing demand, get the strategic sequence right, overcome organizational hurdles, and build execution into strategy.

Upending traditional thinking about strategy, this landmark book charts “a bold new path to winning the future”.

About the Author

W. Chan Kim is the Boston Consulting Group Bruce D. Henderson Chair Professor of Strategy and International Management at INSEAD.

Renée Mauborgne is the INSEAD Distinguished Fellow and Professor of Strategy and Management.

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