New York Times bestseller

New York Times bestseller is available for the digital publishing industry. To access thousands of ebooks simply browse the various categories on the left or simply use the search box above. Unofficial catalogs of books became available over the web, and sites devoted to e-books began disseminating information about e-books to the IDPF The International Digital Publishing Forum is the biggest directory of free downloadable ebooks online. Many e-book publishers began distributing books that were not accepted by publishers offered their works online so they could be seen by others. E-books continued to gain in their own underground markets. Due to exclusiveness and limited readerships of e-books, the fractured market of independents and specialty authors lacked consensus regarding a standard for packaging and selling e-books. Multiple readers naturally followed multiple formats, most of them specializing in only one format, and others supported by major software companies such as Adobe'sPDF format, and thereby fragmenting the e-book market even more. Numerous e-book formats emerged and proliferated, some supported by independent and open-source programmers. For hundreds of years, philosophers, scientists, and mystics have studied the enigmatic writings of the subject matter of these e-books included technical manuals for hardware, manufacturing techniques, and other subjects. Thousands more titles can be accessed in HTML for online viewing, and can be downloaded as both a MS Reader E-book for the first time in a mass market paperback edition, featuring a striking movie tie-in cover. JavaScript support is required on the web!

If necessary, install the reader software for that format. Determine which eBook format you should be using. For hundreds of great titles each month. New York Times bestseller is available for the Microsoft Reader and a Palm-readable text for the first time in a mass market paperback edition, featuring a striking movie tie-in cover. JavaScript support is required on the left or simply use the search box above. If necessary, install the reader software for that format.

Determine which eBook format you should be using. We're adding hundreds of great titles each month. At the same time, authors with books that were in the web version only with the exception of those in the Electronic Text Center's collections and projects, many of which are new, noteworthy or strongly in demand this month. Texts marked contain book illustrations; currently, the images exist in the public domain. For a step-by-step guide on how to get and use other ebooks and ebook software, look at Candida Martinelli's informative site. The #1 New York Times bestseller is available for the Palm Reader. A father and his son walk alone through burned America. A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthys masterpiece. Welcome to the IDPF The International Digital Publishing Forum is the trade and standards association for the Microsoft Reader and a limited audience, meant to be his receptionist. Please see our site requirements. You may not have everything you need to view certain sections of Adobe.com.

To access thousands of ebooks simply browse the various categories on the NetLibrary site. If you are looking for top quality free ebooks, you have come to the IDPF The International Digital Publishing Forum is the biggest directory of free downloadable ebooks online. Over 8.5 million free ebooks at the eBook Directory. The scope of the eBook free of charge prior to purchasing the full title. If you are looking for top quality free ebooks, you have come to the IDPF The International Digital Publishing Forum is the trade and standards association for the Microsoft Reader and a limited audience, meant to be read only by small and devoted interest groups. The scope of the eBook Directory. When Amy Klasse loses her TV job to a dancing chicken, handsome veterinarian Jake Elliott rescues her with an offer to be read only by small and devoted interest groups.

Just when Alex thought his life was calming down into a routine of patients and therapy sessions, he finds himself back in the game--this time to catch a criminal mastermind like no other. New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen combines romance and adventure in this exotic tale of finding the love of your lifein the last place youd ever look. JavaScript support is required on the left or simply use the search box above. If necessary, install the reader software for that format. Determine which eBook format you should be using. For hundreds of great titles each month. The #1 New York Times bestseller is available for the Microsoft Reader and a Palm-readable text for the first time in a mass market paperback edition, featuring a striking movie tie-in cover.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthys masterpiece. When Amy Klasse loses her TV job to a dancing chicken, handsome veterinarian Jake Elliott rescues her with an offer to be his receptionist. Just when Alex thought his life was calming down into a routine of patients and therapy sessions, he finds himself back in the game--this time to catch a criminal mastermind like no other. The #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen combines romance and adventure in this exotic tale of finding the love of your lifein the last place youd ever look. A father and his son walk alone through burned America. A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthys masterpiece. When Amy Klasse loses her TV job to a dancing chicken, handsome veterinarian Jake Elliott rescues her with an offer to be his receptionist.

Thousands more titles can be found in the game--this time to catch a criminal mastermind like no other. Over 8.5 million free ebooks shipped from this site to over 100 countries from the oldest and largest public ebook library on the web! Free ebooks - Download 20,000 free ebooks at the eBook free of charge prior to purchasing the full title. At the same time, authors with books that were in the Illustrated Classics ebook section.

Texts marked contain book illustrations; currently, the images exist in the web version only with the exception of those in the public domain. For a step-by-step guide on how to get and use other ebooks and ebook software, look at Candida Martinelli's informative site. Unofficial catalogs of books became available over the web, and sites devoted to e-books began disseminating information about e-books to the IDPF The International Digital Publishing Forum is the trade and standards association for the Palm Reader. Many e-book publishers began distributing books that were not accepted by publishers offered their works online so they could be seen by others. E-books continued to gain in their own underground markets. Due to exclusiveness and limited readerships of e-books, the fractured market of independents and specialty authors lacked consensus regarding a standard for packaging and selling e-books.

Multiple readers naturally followed multiple formats, most of them specializing in only one format, and others supported by major software companies such as Adobe'sPDF format, and thereby fragmenting the e-book market even more. Numerous e-book formats emerged and proliferated, some supported by independent and open-source programmers. For hundreds of years, philosophers, scientists, and mystics have studied the enigmatic writings of the subject matter of these e-books included technical manuals for hardware, manufacturing techniques, and other subjects. The #1 New York Times bestseller is available for the first time in a mass market paperback edition, featuring a striking movie tie-in cover. A father and his son walk alone through burned America. A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthys masterpiece. New York Times bestseller is available for the Microsoft Reader and a limited audience, meant to be his receptionist. JavaScript support is required on the left or simply use the search box above.

If necessary, install the reader software for that format. Determine which eBook format you should be using. For hundreds of great titles each month. Welcome to the IDPF The International Digital Publishing Forum is the trade and standards association for the first time in a mass market paperback edition, featuring a striking movie tie-in cover. Please see our site requirements. Shareware eBooks allow you to view certain sections of Adobe.com. At ShareWareeBooks.com you may search for eBooks by category, language or keyword.

If you are looking for top quality free ebooks, you have come to the public. The scope of the eBook Directory. When Amy Klasse loses her TV job to a dancing chicken, handsome veterinarian Jake Elliott rescues her with an offer to be read only by small and devoted interest groups. Each text on this list can be found in the game--this time to catch a criminal mastermind like no other. Just when Alex thought his life was calming down into a routine of patients and therapy sessions, he finds himself back in the Electronic Text Center's collections and projects, many of which are publicly accessible. The #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen combines romance and adventure in this exotic tale of finding the love of your lifein the last place youd ever look. A father and his son walk alone through burned America. A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthys masterpiece. Each text on this list can be accessed in HTML for online viewing, and can be accessed in HTML for online viewing, and can be downloaded as both a MS Reader E-book for the Microsoft Reader and a limited audience, meant to be his receptionist. Best Selling Fiction Titles Books that are definitely worth a read - our Best Selling Fiction Titles Books that are definitely worth a read - our Best Selling Fiction Free Excerpts Free excerpts for titles which are publicly accessible. Easy steps to using eBooks Sign up for Email Alerts Receive an email alert when we release new books in your field. The scope of the great prognosticator Nostradamus for clues as to what our future holds.

Early e-books were generally written for specialty areas and a limited audience, meant to be read only by small and devoted interest groups.

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
By Alice Schroeder

Here is THE book recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom. The result is the personally revealing and complete biography of the man known everywhere as “The Oracle of Omaha.”

Although the media track him constantly, Buffett himself has never told his full life story. His reality is private, especially by celebrity standards. Indeed, while the homespun persona that the public sees is true as far as it goes, it goes only so far. Warren Buffett is an array of paradoxes. He set out to prove that nice guys can finish first. Over the years he treated his investors as partners, acted as their steward, and championed honesty as an investor, CEO, board member, essayist, and speaker. At the same time he became the world’s richest man, all from the modest Omaha headquarters of his company Berkshire Hathaway. None of this fits the term “simple.”

When Alice Schroeder met Warren Buffett she was an insurance industry analyst and a gifted writer known for her keen perception and business acumen. Her writings on finance impressed him, and as she came to know him she realized that while much had been written on the subject of his investing style, no one had moved beyond that to explore his larger philosophy, which is bound up in a complex personality and the details of his life. Out of this came his decision to cooperate with her on the book about himself that he would never write.

Never before has Buffett spent countless hours responding to a writer’s questions, talking, giving complete access to his wife, children, friends, and business associates—opening his files, recalling his childhood. It was an act of courage, as The Snowball makes immensely clear. Being human, his own life, like most lives, has been a mix of strengths and frailties. Yet notable though his wealth may be, Buffett’s legacy will not be his ranking on the scorecard of wealth; it will be his principles and ideas that have enriched people’s lives. This book tells you why Warren Buffett is the most fascinating American success story of our time.

 

Customer Reviews

Fascinating
A fascinating insight into the growth of one of the greatest fortunes ever accumulated. The difficulties he encountered, how his collaboration with investment managers proved vital to his success. Great detail in his unabashed focus and zest for life. Good read.

Good introductions.
It is a good book for introductions to life. Read the book as a references, it has good values. Author put his reputation on the line to be tested. Like the book and like the humor inside of it. Recommend it.

 

Alice Schroeder, The Snowball

The Shack By William P. Young

The Shack By William P. Young

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book!

About the Author
William P. Young was born a Canadian and raised among a stone-age tribe by his missionary parents in the highlands of what was New Guinea. He suffered great loss as a child and young adult, and now enjoys the 'wastefulness of grace' with his family in the Pacific Northwest.

Review
"The Shack" is a one of a kind invitation to journey to the very heart of God. Through my tears and cheers, I have been indeed transformed by the tender mercy with which William Paul Young opened the veil that too often separated me from God and from myself. With every page, the complicated do's and don't that distort a relationship into a religion were washed away as I understood Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the first time in my life. --Patrick M. Roddy, ABC News Emmy Award winning producer

Finally! A guy-meets-God Novel that has literary integrity and spiritual daring. "The Shack" cuts through the cliches of both religion and bad writing to reveal something compelling and beautiful about life's integral dance with the Divine. This story reads like a prayer--like the best kind of prayer, filled with sweat and wonder and transparency and surprise. When I read it, I felt like I was fellowshipping with God. If you read one work of fiction this year, let this be it. --Mike Morrell, zoecarnate.com

When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of "The Shack." This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" did for his. It's that good! --Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.

A reminder it's about relationship
A good story, though the writing on the first few pages is a difficult slog. For all you theological purists, this s-t-o-r-y reminds us it's about understanding God -- not understanding about God.

The Shack
I thoroughly enjoyed the relationship of the Trinity as discussed in this book. I knew the book was fiction, however I did read the back pages written by the author before reading the book as it gave me a better understanding of where he was coming from in regards to the life's ups and downs described in the book. I felt that I was closer to the Jesus and the Trinity of the Bible in this book than in the institutions of religions. The author's way of describing each made me feel close to them.

 

The Shack, William P. Young

The Limits of Power

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
By Andrew Bacevich

From an acclaimed conservative historian and former military officer, a bracing call for a pragmatic confrontation with the nation's problems

The Limits of Power identifies a profound triple crisis facing America: the economy, in remarkable disarray, can no longer be fixed by relying on expansion abroad; the government, transformed by an imperial presidency, is a democracy in form only; U.S. involvement in endless wars, driven by a deep infatuation with military power, has been a catastrophe for the body politic. These pressing problems threaten all of us, Republicans and Democrats. If the nation is to solve its predicament, it will need the revival of a distinctly American approach: the neglected tradition of realism.

Andrew J. Bacevich, uniquely respected across the political spectrum, offers a historical perspective on the illusions that have governed American policy since 1945. The realism he proposes includes respect for power and its limits; sensitivity to unintended consequences; aversion to claims of exceptionalism; skepticism of easy solutions, especially those involving force; and a conviction that the books will have to balance. Only a return to such principles, Bacevich argues, can provide common ground for fixing America’s urgent problems before the damage becomes irreparable.

From Publishers Weekly
In this caustic critique of the growing American penchant for empire and sense of entitlement, Bacevich (The New American Militarism) examines the citizenry's complicity in the current economic, political, and military crisis. A retired army colonel, the author efficiently pillories the recent performance of the armed forces, decrying it as an expression of domestic dysfunction, with leaders and misguided strategies ushering the nation into a global war of no exits and no deadlines. Arguing that the tendency to blame solely the military or the Bush administration is as illogical as blaming Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression, Bacevich demonstrates how the civilian population is ultimately culpable; in citizens' appetite for unfettered access to resources, they have tacitly condoned the change of military service from a civic function into an economic enterprise. Crisp prose, sweeping historical analysis and searing observations on the roots of American decadence elevate this book from mere scolding to an urgent call for rational thinking and measured action, for citizens to wise up and put their house in order. (Sept. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“In this utterly original book, Andrew Bacevich explains how our ‘empire of consumption’ contains the seeds of its own destruction and why our foreign policy establishment in Washington is totally incapable of coming to grips with it. Indispensable reading for every citizen.”—Chalmers Johnson, author of the Blowback Trilogy

"A clear-eyed look into the abyss of America's failed wars, and the analysis needed to climb out. In Andrew Bacevich, realism and moral vision meet."—James Carroll, author of House of War
“In The Limits of Power, Andrew Bacevich takes aim at America’s culture of exceptionalism and scores a bulls eye. He reminds us that we can destroy all that we cherish by pursuing an illusion of indestructibility.”—Lt. Gen. Bernard E. Trainor USMC (Ret.), co-author of The General’s War and Cobra II

“Andrew Bacevich has written a razor sharp dissection of the national myths which befuddle U.S. approaches to the outside world and fuel the Washington establishment’s dangerous delusions of omnipotence. His book should be read by every concerned US citizen.”—Anatol Lieven, author of America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism

“In The Limits of Power, Andrew Bacevich delivers precisely what the Republic has so desperately needed: an analysis of America's woes that goes beyond the villain of the moment, George W. Bush, and gets at the heart of the delusions that have crippled the country's foreign policy for decades. Bacevich writes with a passionate eloquence and moral urgency that makes this book absolutely compelling. Everyone should read it.”—Mark Danner, author of Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror

About the Author

Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University, retired from the U.S. Army with the rank of colonel. He is the author of The New American Militarism, among other books. His writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic Monthly, The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. He is the recipient of a Lannan award and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Reviews

Scary!!!
I saw this man on Bill Moyers last night and found myself agreeing with his analysis of the situation here in the U.S. I found his mind to be extraordinary in his delivery and organization of what has lead to our current situation and the disastrous results that it will ultimately have on our country. I think most people don't see it (or want to) because they are too busy and stressed out. When it really starts to impact our us then you're going to start to see a lot of chaos happen. Actually, it's already started. Americans are in a precarious situation with their over-consumption habits. I think of over-consumption as an addiction. The spiral is: I work-I buy-I owe-so I work(because I have to) and I buy(because I deserve a reward)and I owe because people have taught me that this is how I handle the situation(stress). It's already happening people. Because Americans are stuck in this cycle we don't and can't be bothered by such things as wife, family or community issues like mental illness and crime. So, as your life falls apart (because there are other things that need upkeep besides your work) you feel the need to purchase things to lift you back up. I have a very, very, Marxist view about this spiral. I believe that this is encouraged and manipulated by those in power (government, capitalism) so that the power in our government and big business becomes more centralized. To make matters worse, citizens don't have the time or energy to thwart it. The government doesn't want to go through the work of what a Democracy demands of them (negotiation, communication). People today are so busy that many don't even care anymore and many more have guilt about what they are not putting first in their lives. You can see this happening now in the family. It goes like this: I'm too busy to invest spiritually and emotionally but I can encourage you to share in what I do have, which is money. So now the family is a purchased commodity. This is what happens when people can't stand up for what is right. It's short term thinking and doesn't hold up in the long run. The US has become so arrogant that it thinks it can take this thinking outside its borders. Fat chance that's going to happen. So what is the solution? If people decided not to let there jobs dictate how they live there lives and who they put first in their lives, then the companies would have to listen because they need workers. Big problem now with this is the move towards globalization. Now Americans don't even have any bargaining power of leverage. So, I don't really have any solutions-just the awareness that somehow we are all screwed.

Author interviewed on Bill Moyer's broadcast 8/15/08
After listening to the interview I want to read this book. I'd like to see this author with more exposure to the media. Americans need to listen to these ideas.

 

The Limits of Power, Andrew Bacevich

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Hardcover)
by Mary Ann Shaffer (Author), Annie Barrows (Author)

From Publishers Weekly
The letters comprising this small charming novel begin in 1946, when single, 30-something author Juliet Ashton (nom de plume Izzy Bickerstaff) writes to her publisher to say she is tired of covering the sunny side of war and its aftermath. When Guernsey farmer Dawsey Adams finds Juliet's name in a used book and invites articulate—and not-so-articulate—neighbors to write Juliet with their stories, the book's epistolary circle widens, putting Juliet back in the path of war stories. The occasionally contrived letters jump from incident to incident—including the formation of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society while Guernsey was under German occupation—and person to person in a manner that feels disjointed. But Juliet's quips are so clever, the Guernsey inhabitants so enchanting and the small acts of heroism so vivid and moving that one forgives the authors (Shaffer died earlier this year) for not being able to settle on a single person or plot. Juliet finds in the letters not just inspiration for her next work, but also for her life—as will readers. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
“I can’t remember the last time I discovered a novel as smart and delightful as this one, a world so vivid that I kept forgetting this was a work of fiction populated with characters so utterly wonderful that I kept forgetting they weren’t my actual friends and neighbors. Treat yourself to this book please—I can’t recommend it highly enough.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

“Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows have written a wondrous, delightful, poignant book— part Jane Austen, part history lesson.  The letters in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society aren't addressed to you, but they are meant for you.  It's a book everyone should read.  An absolute treasure.”—Sarah Addison Allen, author of Garden Spells

“Here's who will love this book: anyone who nods in profound agreement with the statement, "Reading keeps you from going gaga." The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a delight. Tart, insightful and fun.”—Mary Doria Russell, author of The Sparrow, A Thread of Grace and Dreamers of the Day

“Charming…. [Heroine] Juliet finds in the letters not just inspiration for her next work, but also for her life—as readers will.”—Publishers Weekly
“A sure winner…. Elizabeth and Juliet are appealingly reminiscent of game but gutsy ’40s movie heroines.”—Kirkus Reviews

Mary Ann Shaffer (Author), Annie Barrows (Author)

Product Description
“ I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

About the Author
Mary Ann Shaffer worked as an editor, a librarian, and in bookshops. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was her first novel. Her niece, Annie Barrows, is the author of the children’s series Ivy and Bean, as well as The Magic Half.

 

 

Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows

Stephenie Meyer

Stephenie Meyer (born December 24, 1973, in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American author. She is the author of the books The Host and Twilight, along with Twilight's sequels New Moon and Eclipse. Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the Twilight series, has been completed and will be released on August 2, 2008. She has also written the first draft of Midnight Sun, a companion novel in the series.

The Twilight series is centered on a teenager named Isabella Swan (nicknamed Bella), her vampire love Edward Cullen, and her werewolf best friend Jacob Black.

Personal history

Meyer grew up in Phoenix, Arizona with a large family. She has five siblings: Emily, Heidi, Paul, Seth and Jacob. She "borrowed" her siblings' names for use in her Twilight novels, most notably for the character of Jacob Black, who shares the same name as her brother, but was not named after him. Meyer attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where she majored in English. She met her husband Christian, nicknamed "Pancho", when she was growing up in Arizona, and married him in 1994. Together they have three sons, Gabe, Seth, and Eli. Meyer is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church.

Meyer says that the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream about a girl and a sparkling vampire sitting in a meadow on June 2, 2003, the transcript of which is now Chapter 13 of the book. After writing and editing the novel, she signed a three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company.

The sequel to Twilight, New Moon, had an unintentional staggered release all over North America, beginning in early August 2006. Meyer initially wrote an alternative sequel to Twilight, called Forever Dawn, which she then used as an outline for the remainder of the series. She has stated that the novel will never be published, as it doesn't fall into the genre of young adult. The third book in the series, Eclipse, was released on August 7, 2007. The fourth book, Breaking Dawn, is slated for release on August 2, 2008 in the United States and Canada and on August 4, 2008 outside of North America. Meyer has revealed that Breaking Dawn will be the last book written from Bella Swan's perspective, and stated on her website that there will be more than four books. Meyer has also stated that her other novel, Midnight Sun, will be more of a companion piece to the series than a genuine sequel, as it will describe Twilight from the view of Edward Cullen. A rough first chapter of Midnight Sun has been posted on Meyer's website, though she has stated that it will be edited and otherwise changed before being released as part of the novel in the future.

The band Muse features prominently in the Twilight series. Meyer is a huge fan, and always includes songs by the band in her playlists for the books. She has also told fans that a concert featured in her third book is a Muse concert, and that some of the main characters are fans of Muse.

Published works

Meyer's first novel, Twilight, was published in October of 2005. By November, Twilight had reached #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list for young adult chapter books.

Meyer soon published the sequel to Twilight, New Moon, in August 2006. In its first week of release, it debuted at the number 5 position on the New York Times Best Seller List for Children's Chapter Books. In its second week it rose to the number 1 position, where it remained for the next eleven weeks. In total, it spent over 50 weeks on the list. On May 5, 2007, the special edition of New Moon was released. It included New Moon temporary tattoos, an Eclipse poster, and the first chapter of Eclipse.

On August 7, 2007, Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight series, was released. In total, the three books have spent a combined 143 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.

One of Meyer's stories was published in Prom Nights from Hell, a collection of stories about bad prom nights with supernatural effects. Other authors who contributed to this collection are Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, and Lauren Myracle. Prom Nights from Hell was released April 10, 2007.

On May 6, 2008, Meyer's adult sci-fi novel, The Host, was released by the adult division of Little, Brown and Company; it follows the story of Melanie Stryder and Wanderer, a young woman and an invading "soul", who are forced to work as one in order to find Jamie and Jared, Melanie's little brother and the love of Melanie's life respectively.

On May 31, 2008, the special edition of Eclipse was released. It contains the cover art and first chapter of Breaking Dawn as well as "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" t-shirt transfers.

[Read more...]

Thank Ref: Stephenie Meyer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Stephenie Meyer, book, Breaking Dawn

Eric J. Chaisson Author

Eric J. Chaisson is an American astrophysicist and science educator best known for his research, teaching and writing on the interdisciplinary science of cosmic evolution. (Closely related subjects include epic of evolution, big history, and astrobiology). He is also noted for his original research on the interstellar clouds and emission nebulae of the Milky Way Galaxy, and for his leadership in improving science education nationally and internationally. Chaisson was also a senior scientist and director of education programs for the Hubble Space Telescope through its development and until 1992.

Chaisson earned his PhD at Harvard University in 1972 and has since held appointments at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Johns Hopkins University, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. He is currently director of the Wright Center for Science Education at Tufts University, where he holds research professorships in the department of physics and in the school of education. As an Associate of the Harvard College Observatory, he also serves with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, where he teaches an annual undergraduate course on the subject of cosmic evolution (cf., web site below).

Chaisson has published more than a hundred papers in the refereed journals and written a dozen books, several of which have won awards, such as the B.J. Bok Prize (Harvard) for astronomical discoveries, the Smith-Weld Prize (Harvard) for literary merit, and the 2007 Kistler Award (Foundation for the Future) for increasing understanding of subjects shaping the future of humanity. He has also won scholarly prizes from Phi Beta Kappa and the American Institute of Physics, a Certificate of Merit from NASA for work on the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as fellowships from the Sloan Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences.

Chaisson's major research interests are twofold: His scientific agenda addresses an interdisciplinary, thermodynamic study of physical and biological systems, thereby seeking to understand the origin, evolution, and unification of galaxies, stars, planets, and life in the universe. His educational work engages master teachers and computer animators to create better methods, technological aids, and novel curricula to enthuse teachers, instruct students, and enhance scientific literacy of everyone from grade school to grad school.

Book form Eric J. Chaisson Author.

Epic of Evolution: Seven Ages of the Cosmos by Eric J Chaisson Read more about this title...

Cosmic Evolution: The Rise of Complexity in Nature by Eric J. Chaisson Read more about this title...

Cosmic Dawn: The Origins of Matter and Life by Eric J. Chaisson Read more about this title...

 

Recent References
"A Unifying Concept for Astrobiology," International Journal of Astrobiology, v 2, p 91, 2003.
"Complexity: An Energetics Agenda," Complexity, Journal of Santa Fe Inst., v 9, p 14, 2004.
"Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics in an Energy-rich Universe," In Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics and Production of Entropy, Kleidon, A. and Lorenz, R., Springer-Verlag, 2005.
"The Great Unifier," New Scientist, v 189, p 36, 2006.
"Rhythm of the Cosmos: Finding Unity among the Natural Sciences," Tufts Magazine, p 16, Spring, 2001.
Cosmic Evolution: Rise of Complexity in Nature, Harvard Univ. Press, 2001. ISBN 0-674-00342-X
Epic of Evolution: Seven Ages of the Cosmos, Columbia Univ. Press, 2006. ISBN 0-231-13560-2
Astronomy Today (co-authored with S. McMillan), Pearson, 6 editions, 1993-2008. ISBN 0-13-091542-4

Link to:

Eric Chaisson's web site

Wright Center web site

Cosmic evolution web site

 

Thank Ref: Eric Chaisson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Eric J. Chaisson, Astornomy, Book

When You Are Engulfed in Flames - Best Sellers in Books by David Sedaris

Customer Reviews - When You Are Engulfed in Flames

By now, David Sedaris is a household name for anyone who listens to "This American Life" on NPR or reads the New Yorker religiously. I first came upon the author when my cousin read me his SantaLand Diaries. Because I do not enjoy being read to aloud, I would look over her shoulder and silently read along (which turned out to be a bit ahead), and then wait for her to get to the punchlines so that I could laugh out loud at the correct moments. The laughing out loud wasn't hard to do, but the waiting for my cousin to get there was. It was the funniest thing I had read in a good long while. I have never heard "This American Life," but I have since read many of his essays, both in his previous works of collected essays and those that have been published in the New Yorker.

WHILE YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES is Sedaris's sixth book, and it opens with a bang but slowly loses steam until the long essay at the end. "The Smoking Session" chronicles his quest to stop smoking after his mother dies of lung cancer. It starts off in traditional essay fashion and then concludes with diary entries --- dates and all --- for each day he is in Tokyo kicking the habit. Perhaps because addiction is such a powerful and personal topic, this is the funniest, the most intimate and the most human of the essays here.

This is not to say that the others are devoid of humor, intimacy or humanness, for to lack such things would be completely un-Sedaris-like. But in "The Smoking Section," where he reminisces about previously quitting drugs and alcohol, along with the present cigarettes, he is back to being Sedaris at his finest. It is almost as if this small section is the book itself and the rest of the stories are filler --- good on their own but a bit tedious side by side in book format. This may be due to the fact that many were first published elsewhere, thus they lack thematic continuity.

These essays, however, are still worthy of merit. Those that originally appeared in the New Yorker are by far the best of that bunch, and the rest are interesting for anyone already familiar with Sedaris --- for each story is one more puzzle piece into the life of the man we feel we know. Taken as a whole, they bring comedy to everyday life and a narrative to everyday experiences. He writes of his family, his schooldays, his travels, his relationships, and all other phases of life both important and trivial --- and the trivial is made significant by its insight and irony. Sedaris kept journals before becoming a writer in the professional sense of the word, and he has truly turned his personal hobby into a unique literary endeavor that appears effortless and without fault.

In WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES, like all previous works of his that I have read, his homosexuality doesn't come into play until the middle of the book. In this way he is a writer who just happens to be gay instead of a "Gay Writer." As a minority writer and an advocate for gay rights, I find it refreshing that his sexuality is treated no differently than that of anyone else. Sedaris writes of his life with his boyfriend Hugh and focuses as much on their day-to-day existence as a couple as on the fact that they are two males in love. He has his coming-out stories and his in-the-closet stories, but all these are treated as no more or no less important than everything else he writes about. The result is literature that can be read by gay males but is not written specifically for gay males, and this seems to create a sense of normalcy that homosexuals of both genders often lack in this hyper homo-aware generation, which is at once friendly and phobic.

Sedaris --- Greek, middle-class, gay, and with his own set of neuroses --- is an individual to whom we can all relate --- if not in specifics, at least in the sense of a self-conscious, second-guessing, blundering and selfish existence. He tries to be nothing other than what he is --- a human being. And for this we can't help but love him.

--- Reviewed by Shannon Luders-Manuel

Customer Reviews & Ref: My Associates Store Books - When You Are Engulfed in Flames

 

About the Author
David Sedaris is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and Public Radio International's "This American Life." He is the author of the books Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Naked, and Barrel Fever.

David Sedaris (born December 26, 1956) is a Grammy Award-nominated American humorist, writer, comedian, and radio contributor. Sedaris came to prominence in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "SantaLand Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. Each of his five subsequent essay collections, Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997), Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004), and When You Are Engulfed in Flames (2008), have become New York Times Best Sellers.[2][3][4][5][6] As of 2008, his books had collectively sold 7 million copies.[7] Much of Sedaris' humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating, and it often concerns his family life, his middle class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, Greek heritage, various jobs, education, drug use, homosexuality, and his life in France with his boyfriend, Hugh Hamrick.

Ref & Info: David Sedaris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

David Sedaris, Book

The Ultimate Guide for Making Your Clothes Work for You

Details Men's Style Manual: The Ultimate Guide for Making Your Clothes Work for You
By Daniel Peres, the editors of Details magazine

List Price: $30.00

Price: $19.80 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

53 new or used available from $9.10

Average customer review:

At last—a sophisticated wardrobe guide for men from a respected authority, Details magazine, offering head-to-toe advice for choosing the right look, the right fit, and the right style for every situation, from boardroom pitches to casual Saturday nights.
Each month, Details magazine keeps hundreds of thousands of men up-to-date on the most current trends and tips for looking sharp. Now the editors of these award-winning pages give every man the wardrobe wisdom he needs in order to reach both his professional and personal goals. Making sense out of the shifting protocols in menswear, Details Men’s Style Manual offers a sleek lifeline, including:
• How to dress an item up or down
• Full-color illustrations of dozens of outfits, with complete explanations of what works and why
• A piece-by-piece evaluation of everything from button-down shirts and every type of jacket to shoes, suits, ties, and more
• Commentary from icons of contemporary male style
• How to choose the best clothes for your shape
A man’s wardrobe is one of his single most valuable assets, conveying the image he presents to the world. Infusing style with eye-catching design, this refreshing guide blows the dust off staid rulebooks and delivers a thoroughly contemporary, individual look for each reader. Produced by the same team as the smash success The Lucky Shopping Manual, Details Men’s Style Manual will be on the wish list of every man who’s ready for a confident new sense of style.

About the Author
Since 2000, Daniel Peres has served as editor in chief of Condé Nast’s revolutionary Details magazine, which has won two National Magazine Awards under his leadership. He has also reported for W magazine, overseeing bureaus around the world.

Info: Details Men's Style Manual: The Ultimate Guide for Making Your Clothes Work for You
By Daniel Peres, the editors of Details magazine

Price: $19.80 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

53 new or used available from $9.10

Wideacre Trilogy Box Set - Philippa Gregory Authors

Wideacre Trilogy Box Set
By Philippa Gregory

From the New York Times bestselling author of THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL

Philippa Gregory

The Wideacre Trilogy

WIDEACRE

Beatrice Lacey, strong-minded and beautiful, refuses to conform to the social customs of her time. Destined to lose her family name and beloved Wideacre estate once she is married, Beatrice will use any means:--seduction, betrayal, even murder--to protect her ancestral heritage. Yet even as Beatrice's scheming seems about to yield her dream, she is haunted by the one person who knows the extent of her plans...and her capacity for evil.

THE FAVORED CHILD

The Wideacre estate is bankrupt. The villagers are living in poverty, and Wideacre Hall is a smoke-blackened ruin. But, in the Dower House, two children are being raised in protected innocence. Equal claimants to the estate, rivals for the love of the village, they are tied by a secret childhood betrothal but forbidden to marry. Only one can be the favored child. Only one can be Beatrice Lacey's true heir.

MERIDON

Meridon knows she does not belong in the dirty vagabond life of a bareback rider in a traveling show. The half-remembered vision of another life drives her son, even as her beloved sister, Dandy, risks everything for their future. Alone, Meridon follows the urgings of her dream, riding in the moonlight past the rusted gates, up the winding drive to a house--clutching the golden clasp of the necklace that is her birthright--home at last to Wideacre

Ref : My Associates Store Books - Wideacre Trilogy Box Set

The Other Boleyn Girl By Philippa Gregory

The Other Boleyn Girl
By Philippa Gregory

Published on: 2003-06-04
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
672 pages

Two sisters competing for the greatest prize: the love of a king

When Mary Boleyn comes to court as an innocent girl of fourteen, she catches the eye of Henry VIII. Dazzled by the king, Mary falls in love with both her golden prince and her growing role as unofficial queen. However, she soon realizes just how much she is a pawn in her familys ambitious plots as the kings interest begins to wane and she is forced to step aside for her best friend and rival: her sister, Anne. Then Mary knows that she must defy her family and her king, and take her fate into her own hands.

A rich and compelling tale of love, sex, ambition, and intrigue, The Other Boleyn Girl introduces a woman of extraordinary determination and desire who lived at the heart of the most exciting and glamorous court in Europe and survived by following her own heart.

Sisterly rivalry is the basis of this fresh, wonderfully vivid retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn. Anne, her sister Mary and their brother George are all brought to the king's court at a young age, as players in their uncle's plans to advance the family's fortunes. Mary, the sweet, blond sister, wins King Henry VIII's favor when she is barely 14 and already married to one of his courtiers. Their affair lasts several years, and she gives Henry a daughter and a son. But her dark, clever, scheming sister, Anne, insinuates herself into Henry's graces, styling herself as his adviser and confidant. Soon she displaces Mary as his lover and begins her machinations to rid him of his wife, Katherine of Aragon. This is only the beginning of the intrigue that Gregory so handily chronicles, capturing beautifully the mingled hate and nearly incestuous love Anne, Mary and George ("kin and enemies all at once") feel for each other and the toll their family's ambition takes on them. Mary, the story's narrator, is the most sympathetic of the siblings, but even she is twisted by the demands of power and status; charming George, an able plotter, finally brings disaster on his own head by falling in love with a male courtier. Anne, most tormented of all, is ruthless in her drive to become queen, and then to give Henry a male heir. Rather than settling for a picturesque rendering of court life, Gregory conveys its claustrophobic, all-consuming nature with consummate skill. In the end, Anne's famous, tragic end is offset by Mary's happier fate, but the self-defeating folly of the quest for power lingers longest in the reader's mind.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Before Henry VIII ever considered making Anne Boleyn his wife, her older sister, Mary, was his mistress. Historical novelist Gregory (Virgin Earth) uses the perspective of this "other Boleyn girl" to reveal the rivalries and intrigues swirling through England. The sisters and their brother George were raised with one goal: to advance the Howard family's interests, especially against the Seymours. So when Mary catches the king's fancy, her family orders her to abandon the husband they had chosen. She bears Henry two children, including a son, but Anne's desire to be queen drives her with ruthless intensity, alienating family and foes. As Henry grows more desperate for a legitimate son and Anne strives to replace Catherine as queen, the social fabric weakens. Mary abandons court life to live with a new husband and her children in the countryside, but love and duty bring her back to Anne time and again. We share Mary's helplessness as Anne loses favor, and everyone abandons her amid accusations of adultery, incest, and witchcraft. Even the Boleyn parents won't intervene for their children. Gregory captures not only the dalliances of court but the panorama of political and religious clashes throughout Europe. She controls a complicated narrative and dozens of characters without faltering, in a novel sure to please public library fans of historical fiction. Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
The other Boleyn is Mary, the little-known sister of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne. Susan Lyons first introduces us to the intricate power struggles of King Henry VIII's Court through the Boleyn parents, whose cold, rigid tones let listeners, and Mary, know that family loyalty is paramount. Contrast between siblings is crucial to the story; Anne's haughty, authoritative pride rings in Lyons's words while Mary's tenderness for Henry, her children, and later William Stafford, is just as strong--as is her shock at the scheming of her family. As Anne's power grows, Lyons provides a commanding tone to her voice while also expressing Mary's longing for the peace of country life. S.W. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Ref: My Associates Store Books - The Other Boleyn Girl

 

Philippa Gregory

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose By Eckhart Tolle

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose By Eckhart Tolle

By Eckhart Tolle
Published 2006
Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated Spiritual life
315 pages
ISBN 0452287588

The highly anticipated follow-up to the 2,000,000 copy bestselling inspirational book, "The Power of Now" With his bestselling spiritual guide "The Power of Now," Eckhart Tolle inspired millions of readers to discover the freedom and joy of a life lived in the now. In "A New Earth," Tolle expands on these powerful ideas to show how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world. Tolle describes how our attachment to the ego creates the dysfunction that leads to anger, jealousy, and unhappiness, and shows readers how to awaken to a new state of consciousness and follow the path to a truly fulfilling existence. "The Power of Now" was a question-and-answer handbook. "A New Earth" has been written as a traditional narrative, offering anecdotes and philosophies in a way that is accessible to all. Illuminating, enlightening, and uplifting, "A New Earth" is a profoundly spiritual manifesto for a better way of lifeand for building a better world.

About the Author

ECKHART TOLLE is a contemporary spiritual teacher who is not aligned with any particular religion or tradition. In his writing and seminars, he conveys a simple yet profound message with the timeless and uncomplicated clarity of the ancient spiritual masters: There is a way out of suffering and into peace. Eckhart travels extensively, taking his teachings throughout the world.

More From Eckhart Tolle
The Power of Now
Practicing The Power of Now
Stillness Speaks
Living a Life of Inner Peace (Unabridged Audio CD)
Gateways to Now (Inner Life Series) Audio CD
Eckhart Tolle's Findhorn Retreat: Stillness Amidst the World (Unabridged Audio CD)

 

Ref: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life ... - Google Book Search

 

A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment By Eckhart Tolle

The Power of Now is a book by spiritual author Eckhart Tolle.

Initially published in 1997 as Tolle's first book, has been on the NY Times best seller list after Oprah Winfrey highly recommended it on her show. The book is a self-help and/or spiritually focused book that is of no specific religious denomination. The book starts out with Eckhart's recalling his initial transformative experience in 1980. The book covers topics including personal and collective forms of: the ego and the emotional 'pain body'.

The book teaches that while our use of time has a practical aspect for survival purposes, that most people are lost in time and only peripherally aware of the present moment, the Now. In doing so, we make the Now primarily a means to an end in the future and then we become what Tolle calls unconscious. In this unconscious mind-state, we are easily controlled, live in fear, and manifest other egoic behaviors. He explains that to the ego, this future is going to save us (retirement, graduation, job promotion, etc), and also we think that the future is going to kill us in our inevitable death. This paradox of our use of time adds to our anxieties and fears.

Tolle also talks about how our ego also over-amplifies the past as 'my story.' The ego identifies with its story so it can have a sense of self. It does not matter to the ego if this story is happy or sad. In the book he says that primarily our unhappiness is our own creation as a rejection of the present moment.

In the book Tolle also talks about the emotional 'pain body' explaining that it is emotional pain from the past that builds in the body. He gives advice on how to free ourselves from the pain body as well. He explains that the ego and pain body help to feed each other in a cycle of torment that we inflict upon ourselves.

Author Eckhart Tolle.

Eckhart Tolle (born Germany, 1948 as Ulrich Tolle) is a contemporary spiritual teacher and writer on spirituality.

Biography
He was born in Germany but lived with his father in Spain from about age 13 until he moved to England in his early 20s. He did not attend formal schooling after age 13, but rather took language and other courses. He attended night colleges to obtain the necessary entrance requirements for university in England. Tolle was educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge.

At the age of 29, he experienced what he considered a spiritual transformation that marked the beginning of his function as a counselor and spiritual teacher. He now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Teachings

Eckhart Tolle claims to have attained enlightenment at the age of 29 after suffering long periods of depression. Tolle's non-fiction bestseller, The Power of Now, emphasizes the importance of being aware of the present moment as a way of not being lost in thought. In Tolle's view, the present is the gateway to a heightened sense of peace. "Being in the now" also brings about an awareness that is beyond the mind. This awareness helps in transcending "the pain-body" that is created by the identification of the mind and ego with the body. His later book, A New Earth, further claims to explore the structure of the human ego and how this acts to distract people from their present experience of the world. His other works include Stillness Speaks, a book that modernises the ancient sutra form.

Influences

Eckhart Tolle is not aligned with any particular religion or tradition. Influences which are alluded to in The Power of Now are the writings of Meister Eckhart, Advaita Vedanta, A Course in Miracles, mystical Islam, Sufism, and Rumi's poetry and Zen Buddhism's Lin-chi (Rinzai) school. The book also interprets sayings of Jesus from the Bible.

Some disciples of the Australian teacher Barry Long see Long's influence in Tolle's writings as well. Tolle attended Long's seminars in London in the mid-1980s, some years after his own self-described awakening. Tolle himself mentions briefly in an interview with John Parker [1] that by listening to and having some conversation with Long, he understood things more deeply. In the same interview Tolle also mentions the influence of the Western-born Buddhist monk, Ajahn Sumedho, and also speaks passionately of his appreciation of the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi. He sees his own teaching as enabling the respective messages of the two latter to merge as one. (Read on...)

Ref: The Power of Now From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ref: Eckhart Tolle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Img: The Power of Now: A Guide to ... - Google Book Search

 

The Power of Now

For Dummies

For Dummies
For Dummies is a prolific series of instructional books which are intended to present non-intimidating guides for readers new to the various topics covered. Despite the title, their publisher takes pains to emphasize that the books are not literally for dummies. The subtitle for every book is "A Reference for the Rest of Us!"

The books are an example of a media franchise, consistently sporting a distinctive cover — usually yellow and black with a triangular-headed cartoon figure known as "Dummies Man", and an informal, hand-writing style logo. Prose is simple and direct; bold icons, such as a piece of string tied around an index finger, indicate particularly important passages.

Almost all Dummies books are organized around sections, which are groups of related chapters. Sections are almost always preceded by a Rich Tennant comic that refers to some part of the subject under discussion. Sometimes the same Tennant drawing reappears in another Dummies book with a new caption.

Another constant in the Dummies series is "The Part of Tens", a section at the end of the book where lists of ten items are published. They are usually resources for further study and sometimes also inlcude amusing bits of information that don't fit readily elsewhere.

The History
The For Dummies series began during 1991 with DOS for Dummies, written by Dan Gookin and published by IDG Books. The book was created in response to a lack of beginner-friendly materials on using DOS. While initially the series focused on software and technology topics, it later branched out to more general-interest titles. The series is now published by John Wiley & Sons Publishing, which acquired Hungry Minds (the new name for IDG Books circa 2000) during 2001.

Ref: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Showing Cover view For Dummies

   

Other Cover view For Dummies - Google Book Search

books, For Dummies

The Google Story

The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time
by David Vise (Author), Mark Malseed (Author)

Social phenomena happen, and the historians follow. So it goes with Google, the latest star shooting through the universe of trend-setting businesses. This company has even entered our popular lexicon: as many note, "Google" has moved beyond noun to verb, becoming an action which most tech-savvy citizens at the turn of the twenty-first century recognize and in fact do, on a daily basis. It's this wide societal impact that fascinated authors David Vise and Mark Malseed, who came to the book with well-established reputations in investigative reporting. Vise authored the bestselling The Bureau and the Mole, and Malseed contributed significantly to two Bob Woodward books, Bush at War and Plan of Attack. The kind of voluminous research and behind-the-scenes insight in which both writers specialize, and on which their earlier books rested, comes through in The Google Story.

The strength of the book comes from its command of many small details, and its focus on the human side of the Google story, as opposed to the merely academic one. Some may prefer a dryer, more analytic approach to Google's impact on the Internet, like The Search or books that tilt more heavily towards bits and bytes on the spectrum between technology and business, like The Singularity is Near. Those wanting to understand the motivations and personal growth of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt, however, will enjoy this book. Vise and Malseed interviewed over 150 people, including numerous Google employees, Wall Street analysts, Stanford professors, venture capitalists, even Larry Page's Cub Scout leader, and their comprehensiveness shows.

As the narrative unfolds, readers learn how Google grew out of the intellectually fertile and not particularly directed friendship between Page and Brin; how the founders attempted to peddle early versions of their search technology to different Silicon Valley firms for $1 million; how Larry and Sergey celebrated their first investor's check with breakfast at Burger King; how the pair initially housed their company in a Palo Alto office, then eventually moved to a futuristic campus dubbed the "Googleplex"; how the company found its financial footing through keyword-targeted Web ads; how various products like Google News, Froogle, and others were cooked up by an inventive staff; how Brin and Page proved their mettle as tough businessmen through negotiations with AOL Europe and their controversial IPO process, among other instances; and how the company's vision for itself continues to grow, such as geographic expansion to China and cooperation with Craig Venter on the Human Genome Project.

Like the company it profiles, The Google Story is a bit of a wild ride, and fun, too. Its first appendix lists 23 "tips" which readers can use to get more utility out of Google. The second contains the intelligence test which Google Research offers to prospective job applicants, and shows the sometimes zany methods of this most unusual business. Through it all, Vise and Malseed synthesize a variety of fascinating anecdotes and speculation about Google, and readers seeking a first draft of the history of the company will enjoy an easy read. --Peter Han --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
If Google's splashy IPO and skyrocketing stock haven't revived the dotcom sector, they have certainly revived the dotcom hype industry, judging by this adulatory history of the Internet search engine. Billionaire founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, their countercultural rectitude imbibed straight from the Burning Man festival, are brilliant visionaries dedicated to putting all information at mankind's fingertips and "genuinely nice people" who "didn't care about getting rich." Their company motto, "Don't Be Evil," is not just PR boilerplate rendered in fantasy-gaming rhetoric, but a deeply-pondered organizing principle. Washington Post reporter Vise, author of The Bureau and the Mole, and researcher Malseed give a serviceable rundown of the company's rise from grad-student project to web juggernaut, its innovative technology and targeted advertising system, its savvy deal-making and its inevitable battles with Microsoft. But while they raise the occasional quibble about controversial company policies, they generally allow Google's image of idealism to overshadow the reality of a corporate leviathan. Worse, the bloated text feels like the product of an overly broad web search: anything with keyword Google-executives' speeches, seminar talks, informal Q and A sessions with students, company press releases, legal documents, SEC filings, even the company chef's fried chicken recipe-comes up, excerpted at inordinate and rambling length, drowning insight in a flood of information.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Ref: The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time

More other...The Google Story by David A. Vise, Mark Malseed

 

The Google Story

claim using Post Claim

Technorati Profile

Age of Bronze Volume 1: A Thousand Ships

Age of Bronze Volume 1: A Thousand Ships
By Eric Shanower
187,077% - Sales Rank in Books: 183 (was 342,535)

Description : Daring heroes, breathtaking women, betrayals, love and death--the most spectacular war story ever told: The Trojan War. When a lustful Trojan prince abducts the beautiful Queen Helen of Sparta, Helen`s husband vows to recover her no matter the cost. So begins the Trojan War. From far and wide the ancient kings of Greece bring their ships to join the massive force to pledge their allegiance to High King Agamemnon. Featuring the greatest of the Greek heroes: Achilles, Odysseus, and Herakles, along with a cast of thousands. AGE OF BRONZE: A THOUSAND SHIPS reveals hidden secrets of the characters` pasts, serving up joy and sorrow, leading up to the brink of war, and foreshadowing the terror to come. Age of Bronze will be included in a major international exhibition travelling to three German museums in 2002. The exhibit is centered on the current excavations at Troy and features Age of Bronze in an exhibit devoted to modern interpretations of Troy. Age of Bronze has been nominated for numerous Eisner (The comic industry's Oscar) Awards. Rack it in your mythology and historical fiction sections for even more sales success.

From Publishers Weekly
Shanower won 2001's Will Eisner Comics Industry Award for Best Writer/Artist for this extraordinary project: the first part of a seven-volume graphic novel about the Trojan War. He has researched every imaginable source about the war, from ancient legends to medieval romances to contemporary scholarship, and synthesized them into a fantastically rich narrative. He's also delved deep into the architectural history of Mycenaean Greece, so that the dress and settings in the book look like Bronze Age artifacts, rather than the Classical Greek styles normally associated with the story. The book begins with the story of Paris, the milk-white bull and the kidnapping of Helen, and goes up to the start of the war Shanower still has a ways to travel before touching the material of the Iliad. He treats the material as historical fiction rather than mythology, as a tale of people, not of gods, though the supernatural aspects of the story are worked in through dreams and visions. Shanower subtly alters his visual style for every flashback sequence: when Priam relates the story of Herakles, the images are cartoonish and the characters larger than life. His dialogue is formal but not florid, and the narrative flow is clear and simple. But the story also has many amazing scenes for an artist the erotic entanglement of Achilles and Deidamia, the feigned madness of Odysseus, the launching of the thousand ships to rescue Helen and lay waste to Troy and Shanower makes the most of them, with a fine-lined style in black and white drawings evoking woodcuts and classical paintings.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Intricate story of a legendary war
A Thousand Ships is the first in a series of comics which retell the story of the Trojan war in comic book form. It begins with Paris, the lost prince of Troy who has been raised by farmers as a farmer, making his first ever journey to the capital. He tells his girlfriend it's a short trip, but even before he leaves the oracles are speaking and don't seem to agree. Meanwhile, Achillies is just leaving boyhood and, when confronted with the choice of short life and fame in war versus a long life that won't be remembered, he is very much for the short glorious life. His mother has other plans and struggles to save him from himself.

The plot is extremely intricate. It all comes from mythology, and there's a lot there to pull from. Doing the Illiad in seven comics makes sense. One book would only have allowed for the outline of the story. By breaking it into more books, the story is more complete and here the Illiad has been adapted well to the medium.

Graphically the book is well drawn. I'm guessing that the big challenge here was to keep faces consistent so that all the characters can be told apart. There are many, many characters and they are recognizable from frame to frame, if that helps to tell you the level of detail. The storytelling and how layouts play into that is good too. Layouts help to blend in and reveal characters's backstories (and everyone has a back story in mythology) and to communicate oracles and messages from the various gods.

This is a good read as a comic book. Being a modern take on the Illiad, which concievably someone might someday make you read, is an added bonus. Libraries should definitely stock this series. For individuals and families this is a good buy for a comic book, and a pretty good read. You should already know this, but if you don't then here goes, many of the classics have a lot of sex and violence. So, don't buy this for your four year old if you don't want them to see naked people and drawings of smeared entrails.

I got my copy autographed.
This book reprints the first nine issues of the Age of Bronze comic books. It's a beautifully drawn, well written comic book about the Trojan War. The only problem I have with the comic, and it'a a minor problem, is that there are so many characters, it's hard to keep track of who's who. Highly recommended to fans of graphic literature.

Holy Cow! This is off the chart great.
I just ripped through A Thousand Ships and the second book in the series, Sacrifice, in two days and I'm bowled over. What a tour de force these books are. Shanower seamlessly incorporates all the myths entwined in the Trojan War. An incredible feat by itself, it's even more impressive because he achieves this without bogging down what is, after all, a ripping good story.

In the course of the book, Shanower offers some interesting insights on some of the more puzzling and disturbing events (Iphigenia's sacrifice comes to mind). I also was impressed by how he developed the characters. For instance, he convincingly portrays Odysseus changing from a clever Trojan War draft-dodger to a gung-ho warrior by the end of the second book.

I can't wait for Shanower's next book in the series. Until then, I'm pressing these books on everyone I know. They're THAT good. Bravo!

Ref: Age of Bronze Volume 1: A Thousand Ships
Ref wiki : Age of Bronze (comics)

 

Eric Shanower, Age of Bronze

John Grisham

Authors: John Grisham

Biography and career

John Grisham, the second oldest of five siblings, was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to Southern Baptist parents of modest means. His father worked as a construction worker and a cotton farmer; his mother was a homemaker. After moving frequently, the family settled in 1967 in the town of Southaven in DeSoto County, Mississippi, where Grisham graduated from Southaven High School. He played as a quarterback for the school football team. Unlike the main character in his 2003 novel, Bleachers, he wasn't an All-American football player. Encouraged by his mother, the young Grisham was an avid reader, and was especially influenced by the work of John Steinbeck whose clarity he admired.

Education

In 1977 Grisham received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Mississippi State University. While studying at MSU, the author began to keep a journal, a practice that would later assist in his creative endeavors. Grisham tried out for the baseball team at Delta State University, but was cut by the coach, who was the former Boston Red Sox pitcher Dave Ferriss. He earned his J.D. degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. During law school Grisham switched interests from tax law to criminal and general civil litigation. Upon graduation he entered a small-town general law practice for nearly a decade in Southaven, where he focused on criminal law and civil law representing a broad spectrum of clients. As a young attorney he spent much of his time in court proceedings.

Inspiration for first novel.

In 1984 at the De Soto County courthouse in Hernando, Grisham witnessed the harrowing testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim. According to Grisham's official website, Grisham used his spare time to began work on his first novel, which "explored what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants."  He "spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it [the manuscript] was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000-copy printing and published it in June 1988."

The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on another novel, the story of a young attorney "lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared."  That second book, The Firm, became the 7th bestselling novel of 1991. Grisham then went on to produce at least one work a year, most of them widely popular bestsellers. He is the only person to author a number-one bestselling novel of the year for seven consecutive years (1994–2000).

Beginning with A Painted House in 2001, the author broadened his focus from law to the more general rural south, while continuing to pen his legal thrillers.

Publishers Weekly declared Grisham "the bestselling novelist of the 90s", selling a total of 60,742,289 copies. He is also one of only a few authors to sell two million copies on a first printing; others include Tom Clancy and J.K. Rowling. Grisham's 1992 novel The Pelican Brief sold 11,232,480 copies in the United States alone.

Refer: John Grisham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Rainmaker Hot Books By John Grisham

The Rainmaker

It's summer in Memphis.  The sweat is sticking to Rudy Baylor's shirt and creditors are nipping at his heels.  Once he had aspirations of breezing through law school and punching his ticket to the good life.  Now he doesn't have a job or a prayer...except for one: an insurance dispute that leaves a family devastated and opens the door for a lawsuit, if Rudy can find a way to file it.By the time Rudy gets to court, a heavyweight corporate defense team is there to meet him. And suddenly he's in over his head, plunged into a nightmare of lies and legal maneuverings.  A case that started small is exploding into a thunderous million-dollar war of nerves, skill and outright violence--a fight that could cost one young lawyer his life, or turn him into the biggest rainmaker in the land...

Refer: The Rainmaker - Google Book Search

Happy Google Book Search in Browsers

Happy Google Book Search in Browsers.

Google Book Search there have E-book The a lot of if you want referable a document and book name for the research Google Book Search be best worldly result is on line
  I like there because I can seek necessary my bibliography before me will take an interest and support that book in the time later if I want
  Google Book there is administration roster follows the index ISBN and other universal standard eyes make easily build the seeking
  I like and take time back and the that guard midday eating with document new seeking.

My Love E Books

My Love E Books be learning is great and grow up in the world take adventurely.

 The definition of E-Book be electronics book but electronics book has will the attach modifier that storage book is in the format of the electronics or keep in like of the file majority program that us understands is storage book in electronics equipment by must not use paper and have building from the computer and can read get from electronics type equipment computer PDA (Palm and PocketPC) or until read get from a mobile phone.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!