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Africa A Biography of the Continent
Brief summary
In 1978, paleontologists in East Africa discovered the earliest evidence of our divergence from the apes: three pre-human footprints, striding away from a volcano, were preserved in the petrified surface of a mudpan over three million years ago.
Out of Africa, the world's most ancient and stable landmass, Homo sapiens dispersed across the globe. And yet the continent that gave birth to human history has long been woefully misunderstood and mistreated by the rest of the world.
In a book as splendid in its wealth of information as it is breathtaking in scope, British writer and photojournalist John Reader brings to light Africa's geology and evolution, the majestic array of its landforms and environments, the rich diversity of its peoples and their ways of life, the devastating legacies of slavery and colonialism as well as recent political troubles and triumphs. Written in simple, elegant prose and illustrated with Reader's own photographs, Africa: A Biography of the Continent is an unforgettable book that will delight the general reader and expert alike.
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ISBN:9780679738695
Author:John Reader
Born Free A Lioness of Two Worlds
Brief summary
There have been many accounts of the return to the wild of tame animals, but since its original publication in 1960, when the New York Times hailed it as a "fascinating and remarkable book," Born Free has stood alone in its power to move us.
Joy Adamson's story of a lion cub in transition between the captivity in which she is raised and the fearsome wild to which she is returned captures the abilities of both humans and animals to cross the seemingly unbridgeable gap between their radically different worlds. Especially now, at a time when the sanctity of the wild and its inhabitants is increasingly threatened by human development and natural disaster, Adamson's remarkable tale is an idyll, and a model, to return to again and again.
Illustrated with the same beautiful, evocative photographs that first enchanted the world forty years ago and updated with a new introduction by George Page, former host and executive editor of the PBS series Nature and author of Inside the Animal Mind, this anniversary edition introduces to a new generation one of the most heartwarming associations between man and animal.
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ISBN:9780375714382
Author:Joy Adamson
Even Dogs in the Wild
Brief summary
Hands in his pockets, Rebus turned to face Cafferty. They were old men now, similar builds, and similar backgrounds. Sat together in a pub, the casual onlooker might mistake them for pals who’d known one another since school. But their history told a different story.
Retirement doesn’t suit John Rebus. He wasn’t made for hobbies, holidays or home improvements. Being a cop is in his blood.
So when DI Siobhan Clarke asks for his help on a case, Rebus doesn’t need long to consider his options.
Clarke’s been investigating the death of a senior lawyer whose body was found along with a threatening note. On the other side of Edinburgh, Big Ger Cafferty – Rebus’s long-time nemesis – has received an identical note and a bullet through his window.
Now it’s up to Clarke and Rebus to connect the dots and stop a killer.
Meanwhile, DI Malcolm Fox joins forces with a covert team from Glasgow who are tailing a notorious crime family. There’s something they want, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it.
It’s a game of dog eat dog – in the city, as in the wild.
Even Dogs in the Wild brings back Ian Rankin’s greatest characters in a story exploring the darkest corners of our instincts and desires.
ISBN:9780316342513
Author:Ian Rankin
What Men Say What Women Hear
Brief summary
What Men Say What Women Hear: Conquering the Communication Gap One Misunderstanding at a Time.
An indispensable relationship guide for every woman who has ever told her partner "really, don't go to any trouble for my birthday.” And then been disappointed when he didn't. He says: "that dress looks great! Let’s buy it!" you hear: "he really loves being with me. i feel as though we've truly bonded."
He means: "For the love of God, the last eight black dresses you tried on looked identical! Just buy one, so we can get home in time for the game!"
In "What Men Say, What Women Hear,” Dr. Linda Papadopoulos tackles the saying, hearing, and listening gap between men and women that can complicate every step of a relationship, from first dates and first sex to meeting the parents and living happily ever after. An expert on Cognitive Behavior Therapy, which connects people's initial and often misguided perception of something to the emotional reaction that follows, Dr. Linda deconstructs the common thinking errors that can hinder communication -- such as personalizing everything ("He's in a bad mood. Clearly he's thinking of a way to dump me.") And jumping to conclusions ("He asked how much younger my sister is than me. I bet he thinks I look like an old bat compared to her.").
By applying clinical techniques to fun -- and oh-so-familiar -- examples, Dr. Linda helps readers eliminate unnecessary relationship anxiety and reevaluate the way they think about themselves, their partners, and the world around them.
ISBN:9781416585213
Author:Linda Papadopoulos
The Storyteller
Brief summary
Sage Singer befriends an old man who's particularly beloved in her community. Josef Weber is everyone's favorite retired teacher and Little League coach. They strike up a friendship at the bakery where Sage works. One day he asks Sage for a favor: to kill him. Shocked, Sage refuses... and then he confesses his darkest secret—he deserves to die, because he was a Nazi SS guard. Complicating the matter? Sage's grandmother is a Holocaust survivor.
What do you do when evil lives next door? Can someone who's committed a truly heinous act ever atone for it with subsequent good behavior? Should you offer forgiveness to someone if you aren't the party who was wronged? And most of all—if Sage even considers his request—is it murder, or justice?
ISBN:9781439102763
Author:Jodi Picoult
Raising Confident Girls
Brief summary
Raising Confident Girls: Practical Tips for Bringing Out the Best in Your Daughter.
Girls have an instinctive ability for good verbal communication, nurturing and emotional intelligence, but they need a simple and strong foundation from their parents to really grow into healthy adults.
Raising Confident Girls is all about working with the essential character of girls to raise confident, communicative and successful women by showing you how to combine warmth and encouragement with routine and predictability in her life.
Ian and Mary Grant have packed Raising Confident Girls with indispensable no-nonsense advice on raising girls from the pre-school years through to the challenging teens. With chapters on the nature of girls, the roles of mums and dads, and on the special challenges faced by single parents, plus hot tips, quotes and action labs to encourage parents to take a hands-on approach, this book will help you cultivate your daughter's natural talents to help her succeed in the game of life.
ISBN:9780091929442
Author:Ian Grant and Mary Grant
The Male Brain
Brief summary
Dr. Louann Brizendine, the founder of the first clinic in the country to study gender differences in brain, behavior, and hormones, turns her attention to the male brain, showing how, through every phase of life, the "male reality" is fundamentally different from the female one. Exploring the latest breakthroughs in male psychology and neurology with her trademark accessibility and candor, she reveals that the male brain:
1. Is a lean, mean, problem-solving machine. Faced with a personal problem, a man will use his analytical brain structures, not his emotional ones, to find a solution.
2. Thrives under competition, instinctively plays rough and is obsessed with rank and hierarchy.
3. Has an area for sexual pursuit that is 2.5 times larger than the female brain, consuming him with sexual fantasies about female body parts.
4. Experiences such a massive increase in testosterone at puberty that he perceive others' faces to be more aggressive.
The Male Brain finally overturns the stereotypes. Impeccably researched and at the cutting edge of scientific knowledge, this is a book that every man, and especially every woman bedeviled by a man, will need to own.
ISBN:9780767927536
Author:Louann Brizendine
Intelligent Leadership
Brief summary
Intelligent Leadership: Creating a Passion for Change
The need for high-quality leadership in all areas of business and organizational activity has never been greater. A myriad of inter-linked factors mean that styles of leadership that were appropriate in the past are now no longer working. (These factors include new technologies, more questioning attitudes to authority, the arrival of the "virtual organization" with its network of contributors, and the unprecedently high expectations of customers and employees.)
In Intelligent Leadership, Alan Hooper and John Potter look at how changes affect people in businesses and organizations, including through specific case studies - and propose practical ways for leaders to provide effective leadership in a quickly changing and confusing work environment. The focus is on winning hearts and minds, on leadership as an emotional and psychological commitment to the people being led, and on the idea of emotional intelligence.
ISBN:9780712684200
Author:Alan Hooper and Dr John Potter
How Life Imitates Chess by Garry Kasp...
Brief summary
How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom
One of the most highly regarded strategists of our time teaches us how the tools that made him a world chess champion can make us more successful in business and in life.
Garry Kasparov was the highest-rated chess player in the world for over twenty years and is widely considered the greatest player that ever lived. In How Life Imitates Chess Kasparov distills the lessons he learned over a lifetime as a Grandmaster to offer a primer on successful decision-making: how to evaluate opportunities, anticipate the future, and devise winning strategies.
He relates in a lively, original way all the fundamentals, from the nuts and bolts of strategy, evaluation, and preparation to the subtler, more human arts of developing a personal style and using memory, intuition, imagination and even fantasy. Kasparov takes us through the great matches of his career, including legendary duels against both man (Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov) and machine (IBM chess supercomputer Deep Blue), enhancing the lessons of his many experiences with examples from politics, literature, sports and military history.
With candor, wisdom, and humor, Kasparov recounts his victories and his blunders, both from his years as a world-class competitor as well as his new life as a political leader in Russia. An inspiring book that combines unique strategic insight with personal memoir, How Life Imitates Chess is a glimpse inside the mind of one of today's greatest and most innovative thinkers.
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ISBN:9781596913875
Author:Garry Kasparov
Every Young Woman’s Battle: Gua...
Every Young Woman's Battle: Guarding Your Mind, Heart, and Body in a Sex-Saturated World
Guys Aren't the Only Ones Fighting a Battle for Purity.
The world you live in promotes sex as the answer to just about everything. The pressure to go along with the crowd is greater than ever before, and it's easy to compromise in little ways that are a lot more harmful than they seem. You and your friends may become caught up in destructive relationships or sexual activities without even knowing how you got there. You just want to be normal–to fit in, to be liked, to look attractive to the opposite sex. But are you paying too high a price?
This counterpart to the award-winning Every Young Man's Battle can help you:
1. Learn how the sexual battle begins in your heart and mind
2. Understand your hunger for attention from guys
3. Recognize and avoid the potential pitfalls awaiting young women on the journey toward adulthood and possibly marriage
4. Find out how the media, novels, fashion, internet chat rooms, and body and beauty obsessions influence your sexual choices–and what you can do about it
5. Guard your mind, heart, and body against sexual and emotional compromise
6. Develop a deeper, more satisfying level of intimacy with God
Whether you have so far protected yourself emotionally and sexually, feel that you've been robbed of your purity, or have given in to temptation in some way, this book can help you achieve or reclaim sexual integrity. It can also guide you through the temptations and pressures of young adulthood while demonstrating how you can live your life to the fullest–without regrets.
Includes a comprehensive workbook for individual or group study.
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis ...
In today's fast-paced world of competitive workplaces and turbulent economic conditions, each of us is searching for effective tools that can help us to manage, adapt, and strike out ahead of the pack.
By now, emotional intelligence (EQ) needs little introduction—it’s no secret that EQ is critical to your success. But knowing what EQ is and knowing how to use it to improve your life are two very different things.
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 delivers a step-by-step program for increasing your EQ via four, core EQ skills that enable you to achieve your fullest potential:
1) Self-Awareness
2) Self-Management
3) Social Awareness
4) Relationship Management
Economics in One Lesson
Brief summary
Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest & Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics
A million copy seller, Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson is a classic economic primer. But it is also much more, having become a fundamental influence on modern "libertarian” economics of the type espoused by Ron Paul and others.
Considered among the leading economic thinkers of the "Austrian School,” which includes Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich (F.A.) Hayek, and others, Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993), was a libertarian philosopher, an economist, and a journalist. He was the founding vice-president of the Foundation for Economic Education and an early editor of The Freeman magazine, an influential libertarian publication. Hazlitt wrote Economics in One Lesson, his seminal work, in 1946. Concise and instructive, it is also deceptively prescient and far-reaching in its efforts to dissemble economic fallacies that are so prevalent they have almost become a new orthodoxy.
Many current economic commentators across the political spectrum have credited Hazlitt with foreseeing the collapse of the global economy which occurred more than 50 years after the initial publication of Economics in One Lesson. Hazlitt’s focus on non-governmental solutions, strong — and strongly reasoned — anti-deficit position, and general emphasis on free markets, economic liberty of individuals, and the dangers of government intervention make Economics in One Lesson, every bit as relevant and valuable today as it has been since publication.
ISBN:9780517548233
Author:Henry Hazlitt
Dukawalla and Other Stories by Pheroz...
In this collection of stories, Pheroze Nowrojee takes his readers on journeys into varied Kenyan, East African, and other landscapes, delving into lives and personalities equally diverse.
Whether actively transforming their surroundings or being transformed by what is around them, his complex characters reflect our common humanity in sometimes ordinary and sometimes surprising—but always compelling—ways.
Exquisitely told, laden with humor and beauty and poignancy, these stories are a vital addition to the East African anthology.
Dont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight
Brief summary
In Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller remembers her African childhood with candor and sensitivity. Though it is a diary of an unruly life in an often inhospitable place, it is suffused with Fuller’s endearing ability to find laughter, even when there is little to celebrate.
Fuller’s debut is unsentimental and unflinching but always captivating. In wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she stares down disaster and looks back with rage and love at the life of an extraordinary family in an extraordinary time.
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ISBN:9780375758997
Author:Alexandra Fuller
Do They Hear You When You Cry by Fauz...
For Fauziya Kassindja, an idyllic childhood in Togo, West Africa, sheltered from the tribal practices of polygamy and genital mutilation, ended with her beloved father's sudden death. Forced into an arranged marriage at age seventeen, Fauziya was told to prepare for kakia, the ritual also known as female genital mutilation. It is a ritual no woman can refuse. But Fauziya dared to try.
This is her story--told in her own words--of fleeing Africa just hours before the ritual kakia was to take place, of seeking asylum in America only to be locked up in U.S. prisons, and of meeting Layli Miller Bashir, a law student who became Fauziya's friend and advocate during her horrifying sixteen months behind bars.
Layli enlisted help from Karen Musalo, an expert in refugee law and acting director of the American University International Human Rights Clinic. In addition to devoting her own considerable efforts to the case, Musalo assembled a team to fight with her on Fauziya's behalf. Ultimately, in a landmark decision in immigration history, Fauziya Kassindja was granted asylum on June 13, 1996. Do They Hear You When You Cry is her unforgettable chronicle of triumph.
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madelei...
"In a single year, my father left us twice. The first time, to end his marriage, and the second, when he took his own life. I was ten years old.”
Master storyteller Madeleine Thien takes us inside an extended family in China, showing us the lives of two successive generations—those who lived through Mao’s Cultural Revolution and their children, who became the students protesting in Tiananmen Square. At the center of this epic story are two young women, Marie and Ai-Ming. Through their relationship Marie strives to piece together the tale of her fractured family in present-day Vancouver, seeking answers in the fragile layers of their collective story.
Her quest will unveil how Kai, her enigmatic father, a talented pianist, and Ai-Ming’s father, the shy and brilliant composer, Sparrow, along with the violin prodigy Zhuli were forced to reimagine their artistic and private selves during China’s political campaigns and how their fates reverberate through the years with lasting consequences.
With maturity and sophistication, humor and beauty, Thien has crafted a novel that is at once intimate and grandly political, rooted in the details of life inside China yet transcendent in its universality.
The Dictators Learning Curve
Brief summary
The Dictator's Learning Curve: Inside the Global Battle for Democracy
It’s not easy being a dictator these days. Since the end of the Cold War, dictatorships worldwide have been on the decline and those that survive have changed dramatically. Not so long ago, blunt weapons were used to keep citizens under control, but in a globalized world connected to new media more subtle methods for preserving power have replaced yesterday’s forms of intimidation.
The Dictator’s Learning Curve gives a fascinating insight into the way dictators are adapting to the demands of the modern world, and their insidious efforts to disguise their regimes as democracies. Mubarak, Ben Ali and Gaddafi may be gone, but the Arab Spring is only the latest front in a worldwide battle between freedom and oppression.
In this page-turning and authoritative book, William J. Dobson illuminates the connections and differences between authoritarian regimes in places as far apart as Russia, China, Venezuela, Egypt and Malaysia. Drawing on first-hand testimony from those close to these governments and those who challenge them – from incarcerated dissidents, student revolutionaries, to Serbian and American 'trainers in nonviolent revolution' –Dobson shows that we are witnessing an incredible moment in the war between dictators and democracy.
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ISBN:9781846556906
Author:William J Dobson
The Dictators Hitlers Germany Stalins...
Brief summary
If the past century will be remembered for its tragic pairing of civilized achievement and organized destruction, at the heart of darkness may be found Hitler, Stalin, and the systems of domination they forged. Their lethal regimes murdered millions and fought a massive, deadly war.
Yet their dictatorships took shape within formal constitutional structures and drew the support of the German and Russian people. In the first major historical work to analyze the two dictatorships together in depth, Richard Overy gives us an absorbing study of Hitler and Stalin, ranging from their private and public selves, their ascents to power and consolidation of absolute rule, to their waging of massive war and creation of far-flung empires of camps and prisons.
The Nazi extermination camps and the vast Soviet Gulag represent the two dictatorships in their most inhuman form. Overy shows us the human and historical roots of these evils.
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ISBN:9780393327977
Author:Richard Overy
Diary of a Bad Year
Brief summary
J.M. Coetzee once again breaks literary ground with Diary of a Bad Year, a book that is, in the words of its protagonist, a response to the present in which I find myself. Aging author Senor C has been commissioned to write a series of essays entitled Strong Opinions, of which he has many.
After hiring a beautiful young typist named Anya, the two embark on a relationship that will have a profound impact on them both especially when Alan, Anya's no-good boyfriend, develops designs on Senor C's bank account.
Told in these three voices simultaneously, Coetzee has created any entirely new way of telling a story, and nothing less than an involving, argumentative, moving novel (The New Yorker).
ISBN:9780670018758
Author:J.M. Coetzee
The Devil’s Star
Brief summary
A young woman is murdered in her Oslo flat. One finger has been severed from her left hand, and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five-pointed star - a pentagram, the devil's star.
Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-time adversary Tom Waaler and initially wants no part in it. But Harry is already on notice to quit the force and is left with little alternative but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and get to work.
A wave of similar murders is on the horizon. An emerging pattern suggests that Oslo has a serial killer on its hands, and the five-pointed devil's star is key to solving the riddle.
ISBN:9780099478539
Author:Jo Nesbø
