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The Submission: A Novel
by Amy WaldmanEntertainment Weekly's Favorite Novel of 2011 Esquire's 2011 Book of the Year A New York Times Notable Book for 2011A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book for 2011One of NPR's 10 Best Novels of 2011Ten years after 9/11, a dazzling, kaleidoscopic novel reimagines its aftermathA jury gathers in Manhattan to select a memorial for the victims of a devastating terrorist attack. Their fraught deliberations complete, the jurors open the envelope containing the anonymous winner's name—and discover he is an American Muslim. Instantly they are cast into roiling debate about the claims of grief, the ambiguities of art, and the meaning of Islam. Their conflicted response is only a preamble to the country's.The memorial's designer is an enigmatic, ambitious architect named Mohammad Khan. His fiercest defender on the jury is its sole widow, the self-possessed and mediagenic Claire Burwell. But when the news of his selection leaks to the press, she finds herself under pressure from outraged family members and in collision with hungry journalists, wary activists, opportunistic politicians, fellow jurors, and Khan himself—as unknowable as he is gifted. In the fight for both advantage and their ideals, all will bring the emotional weight of their own histories to bear on the urgent question of how to remember, and understand, a national tragedy.In this deeply humane novel, the breadth of Amy Waldman's cast of characters is matched by her startling ability to conjure their perspectives. A striking portrait of a fractured city striving to make itself whole, The Submission is a piercing and resonant novel by an important new talent.
Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams
by Paul MartinDoes the early bird really catch the worm, or end up healthy, wealthy, and wise? Can some people really exist on just a few hours' sleep a night? Does everybody dream? Do fish dream? How did people cope before alarm clocks and caffeine? And is anybody getting enough sleep? Even though we will devote a third of our lives to sleep, we still know remarkably little about its origins and purpose. Paul Martin's Counting Sheep answers these questions and more in this illuminating work of popular science. Even the wonders of yawning, the perils of sleepwalking, and the strange ubiquity of nocturnal erections are explained in full. To sleep, to dream: Counting Sheep reflects the centrality of these activities to our lives and can help readers respect, understand, and extract more pleasure from that delicious time when they're lost to the world.
Hungry Girl to the Max!: The Ultimate Guilt-Free Cookbook
by Lisa LillienGo TO THE MAX with the most massive and complete Hungry Girl cookbook ever---650 recipes from the guru of guilt-free eating! Consider this your HUNGRY GIRL BIBLE. In Hungry Girl to the Max!, Lisa Lillien has created a book that is a must-have for anyone who craves insanely delicious food without the high-calorie price tag! HG classics like large-and-in-charge egg mugs,oversized oatmeal bowls,crock-pot recipes, comfort foods,foil-pack dishes, and fast-food swaps are all here. You'll also find single-serving recipes,dishes with five ingredients or less,meatless meals, and more. Including:*Chili Cheese Egg Mug (195 calories)*Cinna-Raisin Oatmeal (301 calories) *Over the Rainbow Pancakes (267 calories) *Onion Rings Parm (176 calories) *Garlic-Bread White Pizza (289 calories) *Southwestern Meatloaf (232 calories) *Cheesed-Up Taco Turkey Burgers (219 calories) *Veggie-Loaded Cashew Chicken (318 calories) *Gooey-Good Fuji Apple Pie (159 calories) *Chocolate PB Pretzel Cupcakes (135 calories) . . . and SO much more!
Trial by Fire: The Last Good War (Last Good War Ser. #2)
by James ReasonerDecember 7, 1941"A day that will live in infamy," is how President Franklin Delano Roosevelt described the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. With a devastating stroke, World War II was no longer a strictly European war; it was now our war, too. In this powerful, exciting sequel to Battle Lines, James Reasoner shows us the fight through four friends cast into the chaos of the war that reshaped the twentieth century.As the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, they simultaneously launch an assault on Wake Island, where Adam Bergman is one of the marines working feverishly to complete the installation of an airstrip. He is unaware of the Pearl Harbor disaster that sends hundreds of casualties streaming into the hospital on the United States Naval Base, where his wife, Nurse Catherine Tancred of the Naval Medical Corps, is one of dozens ministering to the wounded and dying.While Adam and Catherine are immersed in the Pacific war effort, their friends Joe and Dale Parker are stationed with British tank divisions that are fighting the Germans for control of North Africa.Joe and Dale are only supposed to advise their British allies, but before long, Dale is manning a tank to help stem the tide of battle, and Joe is working directly with British intelligence in Cairo.Upon entering World War II, Americans fought to defend freedom around the world. Through the eyes of those in battle, we share their struggles and hardships in this memorable story of Americans at war.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Patsy's Italian Family Cookbook
by Sal ScognamilloPatsy's Restaurant, so famous for its classic Neapolitan Italian food that Frank Sinatra used to fly his favorite dishes from its kitchen to his gigs, has had three chefs since it was founded in 1944: Patsy, his son Joe, and his grandson Sal Scognamillo. The three passed down family recipes, invented great new twists on beloved classics, and emphasized giving their diners-many of them celebrities-exactly what they wanted to eat. Patsy's Italian Family Cookbook features recipes we really want to eat-and can easily make at home, including:- Meatballs!- Pasta with Lentils- Penne alla Vodka with Shrimp- Pork Scaloppine alla Vodka- Chicken Pizzaola- Chicken Liver Cacciatore- Bass Puttanesca- Stuffed Veal Chop- Patsy's Famous Onion Relish- Stuffed Zeppole- Tiramisu- Lemon Ricotta CheesecakeA big, warm, beautiful Italian cookbook with full color throughout, Patsy's Italian Family Cookbook is a great book for those who know the restaurant, and the nationally distributed sauce and pasta line, but also for those who love classic Italian.
It's a Long Way from Penny Apples
by Bill CullenTis better to be born lucky than rich....There are many ways to confront tragedy and hard times. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt's tragic--and ultimately uplifting--tale of how one man overcame adversity and found happiness in the New World is a compelling story that has touched thousands of readers.It's a Long Way from Penny Apples is another view of the Irish experience, another man's journey out of the grinding poverty that held an entire generation of Irishmen in its thrall.Poverty and its ills can rend a family apart and ruin countless lives, leaving individuals on their own to find their way, if they can, out of that despair and on to a new life. But not every family gives in to defeat. Sometimes the choice is to not leave anyone behind... and out of that love, a family can come together, using all their talents to bring all of their loved ones to a better place.Bill Cullen was lucky enough to have one such family. Born and bred in the rough inner city slums of Summerhill in Dublin, Bill was one of fourteen children. Selling on the streets from the age of six, be it fruit, flowers, newspapers, Christmas decorations, football colors, or programs, was a means of putting food on the table for Bill and his family. He finished school at thirteen to go on the street fulltime. In 1956 Bill got a job as a messenger boy for a pound a week at Waldens Ford Dealer in Dublin. Through hard work and unrelenting determination, Bill was appointed director general of the company, in 1965. Bill went on to set up the Firlane Motor Company which became the biggest Ford dealership in Ireland. In 1986 he took over the troubled Renault car distribution franchise from Waterford Crystal. His turnaround of that company into what is now the Glencullen Group is a business success story-the group now has an annual turnover of 250 million.Bill Cullen's story is an account of incredible poverty and deprivation in the Dublin slums. It highlights the frustration of a father and mother feeling their relationship crumble as they fight to give their children a better life. It's a story of courage, joy, and happiness--of how a mother gave inspiration and values to her children, saying to them, "The best thing I can give you is the independence to stand on your own feet."It's a Long Way from Penny Apples is nothing less than a modern-day Horatio Alger story, told with humor and love; a heartwarming tale of redemption and overcoming adversity by one of the most famous self-made men in IrelandAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro Asian American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day
by JJ Johnson Alexander Smalls Veronica ChambersWinner of the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook“Between Harlem and Heaven presents a captivatingly original cuisine. Afro-Asian-American cooking is packed with unique and delicious layers of flavor. These stories and recipes lay praise to the immense influence the African Diaspora has had on global cuisine.”— Sean BrockIn two of the most renowned and historic venues in Harlem, Alexander Smalls and JJ Johnson created a unique take on the Afro-Asian-American flavor profile. Their foundation was a collective three decades of traveling the African diaspora, meeting and eating with chefs of color, and researching the wide reach of a truly global cuisine; their inspiration was how African, Asian, and African-American influences criss-crossed cuisines all around the world. They present here for the first time over 100 recipes that go beyond just one place, taking you, as noted by The New Yorker, “somewhere between Harlem and heaven.”This book branches far beyond "soul food" to explore the melding of Asian, African, and American flavors. The Afro Asian flavor profile is a window into the intersection of the Asian diaspora and the African diaspora. An homage to this cultural culinary path and the grievances and triumphs along the way, Between Harlem and Heaven isn’t fusion, but a glimpse into a cuisine that made its way into the thick of Harlem's cultural renaissance. JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls bring these flavors and rich cultural history into your home kitchen with recipes for...- Grilled Watermelon Salad with Lime Mango Dressing and Cornbread Croutons,- Feijoada with Black Beans and Spicy Lamb Sausage,- Creamy Macaroni and Cheese Casserole with Rosemary and Caramelized Shallots,- Festive punches and flavorful easy sides, sauces, and marinades to incorporate into your everyday cooking life.Complete with essays on the history of Minton’s Jazz Club, the melting pot that is Harlem, and the Afro-Asian flavor profile by bestselling coauthor Veronica Chambers, who just published the wildly successful Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson, this cookbook brings the rich history of the Harlem food scene back to the home cook. “This is more than just a cookbook. Alexander and JJ take us on a culinary journey through space and time that started more than 400 years ago, on the shores of West Africa. Through inspiring recipes that have survived the Middle Passage to seamlessly embrace Asian influences, this book is a testimony to the fact that food transcends borders." — Chef Pierre Thiam
Follow Me Down: A Novel
by Sherri SmithFollow Me Down is a rare find—a gutsy, visceral, and beautifully crafted psychological thriller that Diane Chamberlain called "an engrossing page turner [that] will keep you guessing right up to the delicious ending" from talented new author Sherri Smith.Mia Haas has built her life far from the North Dakota town where she grew up, but when she receives word that her twin brother is missing, she is forced to return home. Back to the people she left behind, the person she used to be, and the secrets she thought she’d buried. Once hailed as the golden boy of their town, and now a popular high school teacher, Lucas Haas disappears the same day the body of one of his students is pulled from the river. Trying to wrap her head around the rumors of Lucas’s affair with the teen, and unable to reconcile the media’s portrayal of Lucas as a murderer with her own memories of him, Mia is desperate to find another suspect. All the while, she wonders: If he’s innocent, why did he run?As Mia reevaluates their difficult, shared history and launches her own investigation into the grisly murder, she uncovers secrets that could exonerate Lucas—or seal his fate. In a small town where everyone’s lives are intertwined, Mia must confront her own demons if she wants to get out alive.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
A Pagan Place: A Novel
by Edna O'BrienA newly reissued edition of this haunting, poetic coming-of-age novel from “one of the great writers...in the English-speaking world” (The New York Times)“O’Brien’s evocative prose shows the chilling hold that history and the dead clamp on the living.” —Paul Gray, Time“O’Brien brings together the earthy and the delicately poetic: she has the soul of Molly Bloom and the skills of Virginia Woolf.” —Ray Sawhill, NewsweekIn A Pagan Place, Edna O’Brien returns to Ireland, the uniquely wonderful, terrible, and peculiar place she once called home. After leaving to join a religious community in Belgium, a young woman remembers her childhood on the western coast of Ireland. She reflects on the rituals of rural life, the people she encountered, and the enchanting beauty of the landscape.This is the Ireland of country villages and barley fields, of mischievous girls and druids in the woods. As the impressions of her former home intensify, her mind turns to the shocking event that led to her departure.
Nightfall Over Shanghai: A Novel (Shanghai Series #3)
by Daniel KallaPassion, espionage, and battlefield drama: the loves and fears of one remarkable family unfold against the Second World War's Pacific theatre in Daniel Kalla's Nightfall Over Shanghai.It's 1944 and the Japanese are losing the war, but Shanghai is more dangerous than ever, particularly for the Adler family. After fleeing Nazi Europe, Dr. Franz Adler and his daughter, Hannah, have adjusted to life in their strange adopted city, but they are now imprisoned in the Shanghai Ghetto for refugee Jews.Franz is compelled to work as a surgeon for the hated Japanese military, while his beloved Eurasian wife, Sunny, is recruited into a spy ring, providing crucial information to the Allies about the city's port. Inadvertently, Hannah is drawn into the perilous operation, just as she also becomes drawn to the controversial Zionism movement. After the Japanese launch a major new offensive against the Chinese, Franz is forced into the unthinkable: he is sent inland to work as a field doctor on the frontlines. There, he must contend with his tangled loyalties, aerial bombings overhead, and his uncertain feelings for a vulnerable Canadian nurse.In 1945, American B-52s bomb Shanghai in strategic raids. While the war seems to be winding down in the Far East, many questions remain unanswered for the Adlers. As the bombers circle ominously overhead, they must now struggle for more than simple safety. For the first time in many war-riven years, they face the challenge of re-envisioning their lives, and the prospect of forging a hopeful path forward for the future-if they can first survive.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Armed & Dangerous: Memoirs of a Chicago Policewoman
by Gina GalloThe critically acclaimed memoirs of one female police officer's sixteen-year odyssey, beginning with day one at the Police Academy and spanning assignments on Chicago's West Side, one of the most dangerous areas in the city.The notorious cops' code of silence is broken as the author recounts incidents in the West Side projects: shoot-outs, ambushes, and what it feels like to kill a man—just four days out of the Academy.The stories told are sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, often poignant, and always provide the reader with an on the scene feel for life behind the badge. Domestic violence, murdered spouses, abused children, and philandering CPD brass are just some of the topics addressed, topics that officer Gallo dealt with everyday.From her work with gangs, narcotics, the gun task force, and acting as a prostitute, Gina Gallo offers a gritty account of the darker side of the city, giving readers an objective side to the cops, crooks, and victims that comprise a the police cops world.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
The Love of Stones: A Novel
by Tobias HillBurrowing through the goldsmiths' quarters and hidden archives of London, Tokyo, and Istanbul, Katharine Sterne is on the trail of a ruby, diamond, and pearl brooch once worn by Queen Elizabeth I. Interwoven with the tale of her hunt is that of a pair of Iraqi Jewish brothers who traveled to London two hundred years earlier with fortunes made from an unearthed jar of priceless stones. Spanning two continents and six centuries, The Love of Stones follows three very different people, each consumed by the same desire-possession of the legendary jewel-which binds their stories together in an irresistible quest.
Westward: 28 Original Stories from Western Writers of America, Inc.
by Dale L. WalkerThe American West. Just as America attracted millions to her shores by building upon a foundation of freedom, democracy, and a new start, the lands beyond the Mississippi would also attract people from all over the world with visions of opportunity and wide open spaces and provide America with legends and myths that have yet to die.In Westward, the history of the Old American West unfolds in twenty-eight original stories written especially for this unique collection that commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of Western Writers of America. Featuring stories handpicked by four-time Spur Award-winning author Dale L. Walker, Westward is a time capsule of the Old American West, from the first horse ever seen by a North American Indian to a man who escaped from the Alamo, from the massacre at Mountain Meadows to Libbie Custer's great secret, from the Apache wars to the California gold rush. And such luminaries of the West as Crazy Horse, Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith, King Fisher, Doc Holliday, Belle Starr, John Wesley Hardin, and the one black man to accompany the Lewis and Clark expedition are brought to life in these colorful and dramatic tales.Here, the ghosts of the Old West, some already there, others lured to that vast and trackless land of the setting sun, will talk to you in this volume of short stories to be treasured.Includes new short fiction by:Arthur Winfield KnightBill CriderBill GulickC. F. EckhardtCotton SmithDale L. WalkerDan AadlandDon ColdsmithElaine LongEmery L. MehokIvon B. BlumJames ReasonerJanet E. GraebnerJohn JakesJohn V. BreenLenore CarrollLinda SandiferLoren D. EstlemanMatt BraunMichelle BlackOtis CarneyRichard C. HouseRichard S. WheelerRiley FrohRod MillerSusan K. SalzerTroy D. SmithWin BlevinsAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump's America
by Cheryl Strayed Rebecca SolnitTwenty-Three Leading Feminist Writers on Protest and SolidarityWhen 53 percent of white women voted for Donald Trump and 94 percent of black women voted for Hillary Clinton, how can women unite in Trump’s America? Nasty Women includes inspiring essays from a diverse group of talented women writers who seek to provide a broad look at how we got here and what we need to do to move forward.Featuring essays by REBECCA SOLNIT on Trump and his “misogyny army,” CHERYL STRAYED on grappling with the aftermath of Hillary Clinton’s loss, SARAH HEPOLA on resisting the urge to drink after the election, NICOLE CHUNG on family and friends who support Trump, KATHA POLLITT on the state of reproductive rights and what we do next, JILL FILIPOVIC on Trump’s policies and the life of a young woman in West Africa, SAMANTHA IRBY on racism and living as a queer black woman in rural America, RANDA JARRAR on traveling across the country as a queer Muslim American, SARAH HOLLENBECK on Trump’s cruelty toward the disabled, MEREDITH TALUSAN on feminism and the transgender community, and SARAH JAFFE on the labor movement and active and effective resistance, among others.
Powersat: A Thriller of Technology, Terrorism, and Hope (The Grand Tour)
by Ben BovaTwo hundred thousand feet up, things go horribly wrong. An experimental low-orbit spaceplane breaks up on reentry, falling to earth over a trail hundreds of miles long. And it its wake is the beginning of the most important mission in the history of space.America needs energy, and Dan Randolph is determined to give it to them. He dreams of an array of geosynchronous powersats, satellites which gather solar energy and beam it to generators on Earth, freeing America from its addiction to fossil fuels and breaking the power of the oil cartels forever. But the wreck of the spaceplane has left his company, Astro Manufacturing, on the edge of bankruptcy. Worse, Dan discovers that the plane worked perfectly right up until the moment that saboteurs knocked it out of the sky. And whoever brought it down is willing and able to kill again to keep Astro grounded.Now Dan has to thread a dangerous maze. The visible threats are bad enough: Rival firms want to buy him out and take control of his dreams. His former lover wants to co-opt his unlimited-energy ideal as a campaign plank for the candidate she's grooming for the presidency. NASA and the FAA want to shut down his maverick firm. And his creditors are breathing down his neck.Making matters even more dangerous, an international organization of terrorists sees the powersat as a threat to their own oil-based power. And they've figured out how to use it as a weapon in their war against the West.A sweeping mix of space, murder, romance, politics, secrets, and betrayal, Powersat will take you to the edge of space and the dawning of a new world.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Songdogs: A Novel
by Colum McCannColum McCann creates in Songdogs a mesmerizing evocation of the gulf between memory and imagination, love and loss, past and present. With unreliable memories and scraps of photographs as his only clues, Conor Lyons follows in the tracks of his father, a rootless photographer, as he moved from war-torn Spain, to the barren plains of Mexico, where he met and married Conor's mother, to the American West, and finally back to Ireland, where the marriage and the story reach their heartrending climax. The narratives of Conor's quest and his parents' lives twine and untwine to astonishing effect.
Saturn: Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Tales Of The Grand Tour, Powersat, Mercury, Titan, Mars Life, Leviathans Of Jupiter, Farside, New Earth (The Grand Tour)
by Ben BovaSecond in size only to Jupiter, bigger than a thousand Earths but light enough to float in water, home of crushing gravity and delicate, seemingly impossible rings, it dazzles and attracts us:SATURNEarth groans under the thumb of fundamentalist political regimes. Crisis after crisis has given authoritarians the upper hand. Freedom and opportunity exist in space, for those with the nerve and skill to run the risks. Now the governments of Earth are encouraging many of their most incorrigible dissidents to join a great ark on a one-way expedition, twice Jupiter's distance from the Sun, to Saturn, the ringed planet that baffled Galileo and has fascinated astronomers ever since.But humans will be human, on Earth or in the heavens-so amidst the idealism permeating Space Habitat Goddard are many individuals with long-term schemes, each awaiting the tight moment. And hidden from them is the greatest secret of all, the real purpose of this expedition, known to only a few....At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Merge: Two Short Novels From Crosstown To Oblivion (From Crosstown to Oblivion)
by Walter MosleyWalter Mosley's talent knows no bounds. Love Machine is one of six fragments in the Crosstown to Oblivion short novels in which Mosley entertainingly explores life's cosmic questions. From life's meaning to the nature of good and evil, these tales take us on speculative journeys beyond the reality we have come to know. In each tale someone in our world today is given insight into these long pondered mysteries. But how would the world really receive the answers?Raleigh Redman loved Nicci Charbon until she left him heartbroken. Then he hit the lotto for twenty-four million dollars, quit his minimum wage job and set his sights on one goal: reading the entire collection of lectures in the Popular Educator Library, the only thing his father left behind after he died. As Raleigh is trudging through the eighth volume, he notices something in his apartment that at first seems ordinary but quickly reveals itself to be from a world very different from our own. This entity shows Raleigh joy beyond the comforts of twenty-four million dollars...and merges our world with those that live beyond.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Finding North: How Navigation Makes Us Human
by George Michelsen FoyNavigation is the key human skill. It's something we do everywhere, whether feeling our way through a bedroom in the dark, or charting a ship's course. But how does navigation affect our brains, our memory, ourselves? Blending scientific research and memoir, and written in beautiful prose, Finding North starts with a quest by the author to understand this most basic of human skills---and why it's in mortal peril.In 1844, Foy's great-great grandfather, captain of a Norwegian cargo ship, perished at sea after getting lost in a snowstorm. Foy decides to unravel the mystery surrounding Halvor Michelsen's death---and the roots of his own obsession with navigation---by re-creating his ancestor's trip using only period instruments. Beforehand, he meets a colorful cast of characters to learn whether men really have better directional skills than women, how cells, eels, and spaceships navigate; and how tragedy results from GPS glitches. He interviews a cabby who has memorized every street in London, sails on a Haitian cargo sloop, and visits the site of a secret navigational cult in Greece.At the heart of Foy's story is this fact: navigation and the brain's memory centers are inextricably linked. As Foy unravels the secret behind Halvor's death, he also discovers why forsaking our navigation skills in favor of GPS may lead not only to Alzheimers and other diseases of memory, but to losing a key part of what makes us human.
The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City
by Anna ShermanAn elegant and absorbing tour of Tokyo and its residentsFrom 1632 until 1854, Japan’s rulers restricted contact with foreign countries, a near isolation that fostered a remarkable and unique culture that endures to this day. In hypnotic prose and sensual detail, Anna Sherman describes searching for the great bells by which the inhabitants of Edo, later called Tokyo, kept the hours in the shoguns’ city.An exploration of Tokyo becomes a meditation not just on time, but on history, memory, and impermanence. Through Sherman’s journeys around the city and her friendship with the owner of a small, exquisite cafe, who elevates the making and drinking of coffee to an art-form, The Bells of Old Tokyo follows haunting voices through the labyrinth that is the Japanese capital: an old woman remembers escaping from the American firebombs of World War II. A scientist builds the most accurate clock in the world, a clock that will not lose a second in five billion years. The head of the Tokugawa shogunal house reflects on the destruction of his grandfathers’ city: “A lost thing is lost. To chase it leads to darkness.”The Bells of Old Tokyo marks the arrival of a dazzling new writer who presents an absorbing and alluring meditation on life in the guise of a tour through a city and its people.
Big Data Baseball: Math, Miracles, and the End of a 20-Year Losing Streak
by Travis SawchikBig Data Baseball provides a behind-the-scenes look at how the Pittsburgh Pirates used big data strategies to end the longest losing streak in North American pro sports history.New York Times BestsellerAfter twenty consecutive losing seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates, team morale was low, the club’s payroll ranked near the bottom of the sport, game attendance was down, and the city was becoming increasingly disenchanted with its team. Big Data Baseball is the story of how the 2013 Pirates, mired in the longest losing streak in North American pro sports history, adopted drastic big-data strategies to end the drought, make the playoffs, and turn around the franchise’s fortunes.Big Data Baseball is Moneyball for a new generation. Award-winning journalist Travis Sawchik takes you behind the scenes to expertly weave together the stories of the key figures who changed the way the Pirates played the game, revealing how a culture of collaboration and creativity flourished as whiz-kid analysts worked alongside graybeard coaches to revolutionize the sport and uncover groundbreaking insights for how to win more games without spending a dime.From pitch framing to on-field shifts, this entertaining and enlightening underdog story closely examines baseball’s burgeoning big data movement and demonstrates how the millions of data points which aren’t immediately visible to players and spectators, are the bit of magic that led the Pirates to finish the 2013 season in second place and brought an end to a twenty-year losing streak.
The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls: A Novel
by Ursula Hegi"A joy to read." —New York Times Book ReviewFrom beloved bestselling author Ursula Hegi, a new novel about three mothers, set on the shores of the Nordsee, perfect for fans of Water for Elephants and The Light Between Oceans.In the summer of 1878, the Ludwig Zirkus arrives on Nordstrand in Germany, to the delight of the island’s people. But after the show, a Hundred-Year Wave roars from the Nordsee and claims three young children. Three mothers are on the beach when it happens: Lotte, whose children are lost; Sabine, a Zirkus seamstress with her grown daughter; and Tilli, just a girl herself, who will give birth later that day at St. Margaret’s Home for Pregnant Girls. After the tragedy, Lotte’s husband escapes with the Zirkus, while she loses the will to care for their surviving son. Tilli steps in, bonding with him in a way she isn’t allowed to with her own baby, taken away at birth. Sabine, struggling to keep her childlike daughter safe in the world, forms a complicated friendship with Lotte. But the mothers' fragile trio is threatened when Lotte and her husband hatch a dangerous plan to reunite their family, and Tilli and Sabine must try to find a way to pull them back to reality. As full of joy and beauty as it is of pain, and told with the luminous power that has made Ursula Hegi a beloved bestselling author for decades, The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls is a shining testament to the ways in which women hold each other up in the most unexpected of circumstances.
At Last: Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother's Milk, And At Last (The Patrick Melrose Novels #5)
by Edward St. AubynNow a 5-Part Limited Event Series on Showtime, Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Blythe DannerA New York Times Notable Book of the Year • One of TIME's Top 10 Fiction Books of the Year • Named One of the best books of the Year by The Telegraph and EsquireHere, from the writer described by The Guardian as "our purest living prose stylist" and whom Alan Hollinghurst has called "the most brilliant English novelist of his generation," is a work of glittering social comedy, profound emotional truth, and acute verbal wit. At Last is also the stunning culmination of one of the great fiction enterprises of the past two decades in the life of the English novel.As readers of Edward St. Aubyn's extraordinary earlier works—Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, and the Man Booker Prize finalist Mother's Milk—are well aware, for Patrick Melrose, "family" has always been a double-edged sword. At Last begins as friends, relatives, and foes trickle in to pay final respects to his mother, Eleanor. An American heiress, Eleanor married into the British aristocracy, giving up the grandeur of her upbringing for "good works" freely bestowed on everyone but her own son, who finds himself questioning whether his transition to a life without parents will indeed be the liberation he had so long imagined. The service ends, and family and friends gather for a final party. Amid the social niceties and social horrors, Patrick begins to sense the prospect of release from the extremes of his childhood, and at the end of the day, alone in his room, the promise some form of safety...at last.
What Are the Chances: A Novel
by Kenny Rogers Mike BlakelyCountry music legend Kenny Rogers teams up with Spur Award–winning author Mike Blakely for a rousing tale set in the heyday of Nashville in What Are the Chances. It's 1975, and Ronnie Breed's chart-topping rock band has just self-destructed in a recording studio fistfight. Ronnie makes a bold decision—return home to Texas and reinvent himself as a solo act. Enter Dan Campbell, Ronnie's cousin, who recruits Ronnie for a new kind of venture. Dan, who always had a penchant for wild schemes, wants to televise a Texas Hold 'Em tournament…and Ronnie could never say no to his cousin Dan. As celebrity spokesman for the poker tournament, Ronnie soon finds himself recruiting world-class gamblers in illegal card games while trying to put together a new country band and win a Nashville recording contract—not to mention trying to avoid falling head-over-heels in love with his new manager, Dorothy. But when things start to get weird—hidden cameras, secret high-stakes side-bets, a visit from the FBI—it seems that Dan's poker tournament may be a façade for something much bigger and much more dangerous.Ronnie begins to wonder if he will end up with the girl of his dreams in the Country Music Hall of Fame, or broke and lonely in some prison cell. What are the chances? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Future Focused Innovation: Mit zukunftsfähigen Innovationen die Welt von morgen mitgestalten
by Daniela Freudenthaler-Mayrhofer„Ist unser Unternehmen optimal für zukünftige Entwicklungen aufgestellt?“, „Gelingt es uns, die wesentlichen Transformationen im Umfeld zu erkennen und mitzuprägen?“, „Sind wir fähig, Innovationen für eine noch unbekannte Welt zu entwickeln?“ – diese und ähnliche Fragen beschäftigen Führungskräfte, da sie für die Zukunftsfähigkeit einer Organisation von hoher Relevanz sind.Der Blick in die Zukunft ist ungewiss, herausfordernd und für jedes Unternehmen höchst individuell. Umso offener, positiver und konstruktiver Menschen und Organisationen auf das Morgen blicken, desto größer unsere Handlungsspielräume. Jedes Unternehmen, das den Anspruch stellt, die Zukunft aktiv mitgestalten zu wollen, braucht einen weitblickenden Prozess, der nutzerorientierte Innovationsmodelle um die Entwicklung von Zukunftsbildern erweitert.Das vorliegende Buch bietet einen neuen, zukunftsorientierten Innovationsansatz, der das klassische nutzerorientierte Innovationsmodell fortentwickelt und um die Zukunftsperspektive erweitert. Die Autorin erläutert anschaulich, wie die Auseinandersetzung mit wünschenswerten Zukünften die Innovationsarbeit in Unternehmen wesentlich bereichern kann und stellt ein Modell vor, das bekannte Innovationsprozesse um das Explorieren von Trends, das Formulieren von Visionen und das proaktive Entwickeln von Strategien ergänzt.Ausgewählte Fallbeispiele von Unternehmen zeigen, wie individuell und vielschichtig die Gestaltung der Unternehmenszukunft in der Praxis aussehen kann. Sie dienen damit als Inspiration für den eigenen Umgang in der Innovationsarbeit. Mit Beiträgen von:Barbara BoucekThomas FrauscherMarkus KretschmerChristopher LindingerSandra MagerMartina MaraAndrea MassimianiElisabeth SpitzenbergerPatricia Wiendl-Stark