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books tagged “Social Issues”
books tagged “Social Issues”
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Adventures in Missing the Pointby Brian D. McLarenISBN 0310267137 (0-310-26713-7)
Softcover, Youth Specialties
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Adventures in Missing the Point'Book summary:How the Culture-Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel If you're brave enough to take an honest look at the issues facing the culture--controlled church---and the issues in your own life---read on. Do you ever look at how the Christian faith is being lived out in the new millennium and wonder if we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing? That we still haven't quite 'gotten it'? That we've missed the point regarding many important issues? It's understandable if we've relied on what we've been told to believe or what's widely accepted by the Christian community. But if we truly turned a constructive, critical eye toward our beliefs and vigorously questioned them and their origins, where would we find ourselves? Best-selling authors Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo invite you to do just that. Join them on an adventure---one that's about uncovering and naming faulty conclusions, suppositions, and assumptions about the Christian faith. In Adventures in Missing the Point, the authors take turns addressing how we've missed the point on crucial topics such as: salvation, the Bible, being postmodern, worship, homosexuality, truth, and many more. [via]
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Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture-Controlled Church Neutered the Gospelby Tony Campolo, Brian D. McLarenISBN 0310253845 (0-310-25384-5)
Hardcover, Zondervan
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture-Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel'Book summary:If you're brave enough to take an honest look at the issues facing the culture--controlled church--and the issues in your own life--read on. Do you ever look at how the Christian faith is being lived out in the new millennium and wonder if we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing? That we still haven't quite 'gotten it'? That we've missed the point regarding many important issues? It's understandable if we've relied on what we've been told to believe or what's widely accepted by the Christian community. But if we truly turned a constructive, critical eye toward our beliefs and vigorously questioned them and their origins, where would we find ourselves? Best-selling authors Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo invite you to do just that. Join them on an adventure--one that's about uncovering and naming faulty conclusions, suppositions, and assumptions about the Christian faith. In Adventures in Missing the Point, the authors take turns addressing how we've missed the point on crucial topics such as: Salvation, The Bible, Being Postmodern, Worship, Homosexuality, Truth, and many more... [via]
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Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemicby Thomas H. Naylor, David Wann, John De Graaf, Vicki Robin, David HorseyISBN 1576753573 (1-57675-357-3)
Softcover, Ingram Pub Services
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Affluenza: The All-consuming Epidemic'Book summary:Affluenza is an eye-opening, soul-prodding look at the wretched excess of today's American society. John De Graaf, David Wann and Thomas Naylor define it as something akin to "a painful, contagious, socially-transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more". Having begun life as two US TV programmes co-produced by De Graaf, this book takes a hard look at the symptoms of affluenza, the history of its development into an epidemic, and the options for treatment. In making its readers aware of this pervasive disease in an age when "the urge to splurge continues to surge", the first section is the book's most provocative. According to figures the authors quote and expound upon, Americans each spend more than $21,000 per year on consumer goods, average rates of saving have fallen from about 10 per cent of income in 1980 to zero in 2000, credit card indebtedness tripled in the 1990s and more people file for bankruptcy each year than graduate from college. "To live, we buy," explain the authors. They present many of the historical, political and socio-economic reasons that affluenza has taken such strong root in American society and, in the final section, offer practical ideas for change. These use the intriguing stories of those who have already opted for simpler living and are creatively combating the disease, through simple habit alterations to more in-depth environmental considerations and from living lightly to managing wealth responsibly.
Many books make you think the author has crammed everything they know into a one-hit wonder attempt at knowledge transfer. The feeling you get reading Affluenza is quite different; the authors appear well-read, well-rounded and intelligent, knowledgable beyond the content of their book but smart enough to realise that we need a short, sharp jolt to recognise our current ailment. It's obviously a cliché that money can't buy happiness, but this book will strike a resounding chord with anyone who realises that time is more valuable than toys. Affluenza is a clarion call for those interested in being part of the healing solution. --S Ketchum [via]
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Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Businessby Neil PostmanISBN 0670804541 (0-670-80454-1)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business'More editions of Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business:
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And the Band Played onby Randy ShiltsISBN 0613298721 (0-613-29872-1)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'And the Band Played on'Book summary:In the first major book on AIDS, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Randy Shilts examines the making of an epidemic. Shilts researched and reported the book exhaustively, chronicling almost day-by-day the first five years of AIDS. His work is critical of the medical and scientific communities' initial response and particularly harsh on the Reagan Administration, who he claims cut funding, ignored calls for action and deliberately misled Congress. Shilts doesn't stop there, wondering why more people in the gay community, the mass media and the country at large didn't stand up in anger more quickly. The AIDS pandemic is one of the most striking developments of the late 20th century and this is the definitive story of its beginnings. [via]
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Bait And Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dreamby Barbara EhrenreichISBN 0805081240 (0-8050-8124-0)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bait And Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream'Book summary:Questions for Barbara Ehrenreich
Through over three decades of journalism and activism and over a dozen books, Barbara Ehrenreich has been one of the most consistent and imaginative chroniclers of class in America, but it was her bestselling 2001 book, Nickel and Dimed, a undercover expose of the day-to-day struggles of the working poor, that has been the most influential work of her career. Now, with Bait and Switch, she has gone undercover again, this time as a middle-aged professional trying to get a white-collar job in corporate America. We asked her a few questions about what she found: Amazon.com: Your previous book, Nickel and Dimed, became a blockbuster bestseller with a classic "there but for the grace of God go I" liberal message just when the general political mood of the country seemed to be going in a very different direction. Why do you think it struck such a chord? What sorts of reactions have you gotten to it over the past four years?
Barbara Ehrenreich: A lot of Nickel and Dimed readers are people who regularly inhabit the low-wage work world, and many of them write to tell me that the book affirmed their experience and made them feel less alone and ignored. Other readers though, are affluent people who write to say I opened their eyes to a world they'd been unaware of. For those people, I think one appealing feature of Nickel and Dimed is that it's a personal narrative that gives them a look at lives lived at the margins of their own. The most gratifying response has been from people who tell me the book inspired them to become activists for things like a living wage or affordable housing.
Amazon.com: At what point did you realize that your new book, Bait and Switch, in which you went undercover again, this time to tell a story of working in corporate America, was instead becoming one of not working in corporate America? Is that the story you expected to tell?
Ehrenreich: My initial aim was not "to tell a story of working in corporate America" but to try to understand the human underside of corporate America--the job insecurity, the constant layoffs and downsizings that now occur even in the best of times. I expected to get a job and hence an inside view, but I always knew that that would be very difficult. After about 4-5 months of job searching, I began to get seriously discouraged, but I also came to understand that a fruitless search is in fact a very common experience. After all, today 44 percent of the long-term unemployed are white collar folks--an unusually high percentage. It's their world I entered, and their story that I tell in Bait and Switch.
Amazon.com: For someone with a white-collar career, you didn't have much experience in corporate culture before you attempted to join it for this book. What surprised you the most about what you found?
Ehrenreich: What surprised me most, right from day one of my job search, was the surreal nature of the job searching business. For example, everyone, from corporations to career coaches, relies heavily on "personality tests" which have no scientific credibility or predictive value. One test revealed that I have a melancholy and envious nature and, for some reason, was unsuited to be a writer! And what does "personality" have to do with getting the job done, anyway? There's far less emphasis on skills and experience than on whether you have the prescribed upbeat and likeable persona. I kept wondering: Is this any way to run a business? I was also surprised--and disgusted--by the constant victim-blaming you encounter among coaches, at networking events for the unemployed, and in the business advice books. You're constantly told that whatever happens to you is the result of your attitude or even your "thought forms"--not a word about the corporate policies that lead to so much turmoil and misery.
Amazon.com: You seemed to make much closer ties with your fellow workers in Nickel and Dimed than you did on the white-collar job hunt. What was different this time?
Ehrenreich: You're right--there is a difference. But it's not so much a matter of personalities as it is about two different worlds. There's a lot of camaraderie in the blue-collar world I entered in Nickel and Dimed. People help each other and look out for each other; they laugh together--often at the managers. The white-collar world doesn't encourage camaraderie, far from it. There it's all about competition and fear--of losing one's job, for one thing. Other people are seen as sources of contacts or tips, at best; as competitors or rivals, at worst. And among the unemployed add shame and a sense of personal failure, the constant message that it's all your own fault. All this discourages any solidarity with others or real openness.
Amazon.com: God forbid anyone would come to your book as a guide for finding a white-collar job, but what advice would you give to someone in the shoes you put yourself in: a middle-aged professional woman, in fear of falling irrevocably out of touch with the world of the regularly employed?
Ehrenreich: You don't think I'd make a good career coach? OK, but I have three pieces of advice for the middle-aged, middle-class job seeker anyway:
One, be very careful how you spend your money and time. Since the mid-90s, a whole industry has sprung up to help--or, depending on your point of view, prey upon--white-collar job seekers. The "professionals" in this business are usually entirely unlicensed and unregulated. Also, watch out for events billed as "networking" opportunities that really have another agenda--like recruiting you into expensive coaching or proselytizing you into a particular religion.
Two, don't count on the internet job sites to find you a job or even an interview. On any of these sites, your resume will be competing with hundreds of thousands of others, and most large companies today don't even bother reading online resumes; they have computer programs scan them for keywords (and you won't know what those keywords are.)
Three, and most important: stop believing that it's your own fault. That's the first step to recognizing the common problems facing white-collar workers and responding to them. I'd be thrilled if this book, like Nickel and Dimed, also inspires readers to get involved and become active in efforts to make life a little easier for the growing numbers of people who are unemployed, underemployed, or anxiously employed. What could they do? Lobby for universal health insurance that's not tied to a job, for example. Fight for extended unemployment benefits. Raise their voices to complain about corporate tax breaks and subsidies that are justified in terms of "job creation" but often go to companies that are busy laying people off. One major reason job loss is so catastrophic is that we just don't have much of a safety net in this country. That has to change, and who's going to make it change, if not people like those I met in Bait and Switch? I've got a new website, barbaraehrenreich.com, and I'd like to hear from readers--both their stories and their ideas for how to take action.
Classic Ehrenreich
[via]
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class
Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of WarMore editions of Bait And Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream:
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The Bias Against Guns: Why Almost Everything You'Ve Heard About Gun Control Is Wrongby John R. LottISBN 0895261146 (0-89526-114-6)
Hardcover, Regnery Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Bias Against Guns: Why Almost Everything You'Ve Heard About Gun Control Is Wrong'Book summary:John Lott shows how liberals bury pro-gun facts out of sheer bias against the truth. With irrefutable evidence, Lott shoots gun critics down and provides the information needed to win arguments with those who want to ban guns. Lott shows: How Diane Sawyer, Dan Rather, Charlie Gibson, and other TV talking heads promote gun control in the guise of 'news'; The clever way reporters and the New York Times 'spike' pro-gun stories; The trick government statisticians use to 'cook' data for the anti-gun lobby; Why bicycles, buckets, and football games are more dangerous to children than guns; Why 'assault weapons bans' and 'gun show' regulations are counterproductive; Why Britain -- which recently banned handguns -- now has a violent crime rate double that of America's; The fallacy of 'safe storage' laws. Want the facts? John Lott has them. With this book, anyone can arm themselves against liberals who would rather confiscate guns than fight crime. [via]
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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinkingby Malcolm GladwellISBN 0316011789 (0-316-01178-9)
Hardcover, Little Brown & Company
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking'Book summary:Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking [via]
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Can Motherhood Survive: A Christian Looks at Social Parentingby Connaught Coyne MarshnerISBN 1561210072 (1-56121-007-2)
Softcover, Thomas Nelson Inc
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The Catcher in the Ryeby J. D. SalingerISBN 0316769177 (0-316-76917-7)
Softcover, Little Brown & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Catcher in the Rye'Book summary:Anyone who has read J.D. Salinger's New Yorker stories ? particularly A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, The Laughing Man, and For Esme ? With Love and Squalor, will not be surprised by the fact that his first novel is fully of children. The hero-narrator of THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it. There are many voices in this novel: children's voices, adult voices, underground voices-but Holden's voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep. [via]
More editions of The Catcher in the Rye:
- The Catcher in the Rye: ISBN 0316769487 (0-316-76948-7)
Softcover, Grand Central Pub - The Catcher in the Rye: ISBN 0316769533 (0-316-76953-3)
Hardcover, Little Brown & Co - The Catcher in the Rye: ISBN 0808514032 (0-8085-1403-2)
Hardcover, Bt Bound - The Catcher in the Rye: ISBN 0553149660 (0-553-14966-0)
Softcover, Bantam Books - The Catcher in the Rye: ISBN 0553250256 (0-553-25025-6)
Softcover, Bantam Books - The Catcher in the Rye: ISBN 0792715160 (0-7927-1516-0)
Softcover, Chivers North Amer - Catcher in the Rye: ISBN 0606048871 (0-606-04887-1)
Hardcover, Demco Media - The Catcher in the Rye: ISBN 0792715179 (0-7927-1517-9)
Hardcover, Curley Large Print - Catcher in the Rye: ISBN 0822070383 (0-8220-7038-3)
Hardcover, John Wiley & Sons Inc - The Catcher in the Rye: ISBN 0316769177 (0-316-76917-7)
Softcover, Little Brown & Co
- The Catcher in the Rye: ISBN 0316769487 (0-316-76948-7)
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The Catcher in the Rye: New Essaysby J. P. SteedISBN 0820457299 (0-8204-5729-9)
Softcover, Peter Lang Pub Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Catcher in the Rye: New Essays'Book summary:J. D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye celebrated its fiftieth anniversary of publication in 2001. The Catcher in the Rye: New Essays presents a variety of new approaches to this extremely popular and intensely influential novel, ranging [via]
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The Catcher in the Ryeby Not AvailableISBN 055311722X (0-553-11722-X)
Softcover, Bantam Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Catcher in the Rye'Book summary:Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins,
"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."
His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation. [via]
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El Guardian Entre El Centeno/ The Catcher in the Ryeby J. D. SalingerISBN 8420666858 (84-206-6685-8)
Hardcover, Alianza Editorial Sa
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› Find signed collectible books: 'El Guardian Entre El Centeno/ The Catcher in the Rye'Book summary:Por expreso deseo del autor, no esta ermitido que la editorial aporte en su material promocional ningu tipo de texto adicional, informacio biograica, cita o resen relacionados con esta obra. El lector interesado podra no obstante, encontrar abundante informacio al respecto en internet. [via]
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Fast Food Nationby Eric SchlosserISBN 0618130977 (0-618-13097-7)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin College Div
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fast Food Nation'Book summary:On any given day, one out of four Americans opts for a quick and cheap meal at a fast-food restaurant, without giving either its speed or its thriftiness a second thought. Fast food is so ubiquitous that it now seems as American, and harmless, as apple pie. But the industry's drive for consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed America's diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously destructive ways. Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, opens his ambitious and ultimately devastating exposé with an introduction to the iconoclasts and high school dropouts, such as Harlan Sanders and the McDonald brothers, who first applied the principles of a factory assembly line to a commercial kitchen. Quickly, however, he moves behind the counter with the overworked and underpaid teenage workers, onto the factory farms where the potatoes and beef are grown, and into the slaughterhouses run by giant meatpacking corporations. Schlosser wants you to know why those French fries taste so good (with a visit to the world's largest flavor company) and "what really lurks between those sesame-seed buns." Eater beware: forget your concerns about cholesterol, there is--literally--feces in your meat.
Schlosser's investigation reaches its frightening peak in the meatpacking plants as he reveals the almost complete lack of federal oversight of a seemingly lawless industry. His searing portrayal of the industry is disturbingly similar to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, written in 1906: nightmare working conditions, union busting, and unsanitary practices that introduce E. coli and other pathogens into restaurants, public schools, and homes. Almost as disturbing is his description of how the industry "both feeds and feeds off the young," insinuating itself into all aspects of children's lives, even the pages of their school books, while leaving them prone to obesity and disease. Fortunately, Schlosser offers some eminently practical remedies. "Eating in the United States should no longer be a form of high-risk behavior," he writes. Where to begin? Ask yourself, is the true cost of having it "your way" really worth it? --Lesley Reed [via]
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Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Mealby Eric SchlosserISBN 0060838582 (0-06-083858-2)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal'Book summary:On any given day, one out of four Americans opts for a quick and cheap meal at a fast-food restaurant, without giving either its speed or its thriftiness a second thought. Fast food is so ubiquitous that it now seems as American, and harmless, as apple pie. But the industry's drive for consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed America's diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously destructive ways. Eric Schlosser, an award-winning journalist, opens his ambitious and ultimately devastating exposé with an introduction to the iconoclasts and high school dropouts, such as Harlan Sanders and the McDonald brothers, who first applied the principles of a factory assembly line to a commercial kitchen. Quickly, however, he moves behind the counter with the overworked and underpaid teenage workers, onto the factory farms where the potatoes and beef are grown, and into the slaughterhouses run by giant meatpacking corporations. Schlosser wants you to know why those French fries taste so good (with a visit to the world's largest flavor company) and "what really lurks between those sesame-seed buns." Eater beware: forget your concerns about cholesterol, there is--literally--feces in your meat.
Schlosser's investigation reaches its frightening peak in the meatpacking plants as he reveals the almost complete lack of federal oversight of a seemingly lawless industry. His searing portrayal of the industry is disturbingly similar to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, written in 1906: nightmare working conditions, union busting, and unsanitary practices that introduce E. coli and other pathogens into restaurants, public schools, and homes. Almost as disturbing is his description of how the industry "both feeds and feeds off the young," insinuating itself into all aspects of children's lives, even the pages of their school books, while leaving them prone to obesity and disease. Fortunately, Schlosser offers some eminently practical remedies. "Eating in the United States should no longer be a form of high-risk behavior," he writes. Where to begin? Ask yourself, is the true cost of having it "your way" really worth it? --Lesley Reed [via]
More editions of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal:
- Fast Food Nation Tie-in: The Dark Side of the All-american Meal: ISBN 006116139X (0-06-116139-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins - Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal: ISBN 0395977894 (0-395-97789-4)
Hardcover, Houghton Mifflin - Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal: ISBN 0060938455 (0-06-093845-5)
Softcover, Harpercollins - Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal: ISBN 0060838582 (0-06-083858-2)
Softcover, Harpercollins
- Fast Food Nation Tie-in: The Dark Side of the All-american Meal: ISBN 006116139X (0-06-116139-X)
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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everythingby Stephen J. Dubner, Steven D. LevittISBN 0061245135 (0-06-124513-5)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything'Book summary:Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don't need to be so mysterious: They could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Elsewhere, by analyzing data gathered from innercity Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonald's, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues that parenting methods don't really matter much and that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun. These enlightening chapters are separated by effusive passages from Dubner's 2003 profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, which led to the book being written. In a book filled with bold logic, such back-patting veers Freakonomics, however briefly, away from what Levitt actually has to say. Although maybe there's a good economic reason for that too, and we're just not getting it yet. --John Moe
Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner Answer The Amazon.com Significant Seven
Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, author and co-author of this season's bestselling quirky hit, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, graciously answered the Amazon.com Significant Seven questions that we like to run by every author.
Levitt and Dubner answer the Amazon.com Significant Seven questionsMore editions of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything:
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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everythingby Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. DubnerISBN 006089637X (0-06-089637-X)
Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything'Book summary:Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don't need to be so mysterious: They could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Elsewhere, by analyzing data gathered from innercity Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonald's, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues that parenting methods don't really matter much and that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun. These enlightening chapters are separated by effusive passages from Dubner's 2003 profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, which led to the book being written. In a book filled with bold logic, such back-patting veers Freakonomics, however briefly, away from what Levitt actually has to say. Although maybe there's a good economic reason for that too, and we're just not getting it yet. --John Moe
Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner Answer The Amazon.com Significant Seven
Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, author and co-author of this season's bestselling quirky hit, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, graciously answered the Amazon.com Significant Seven questions that we like to run by every author.
Levitt and Dubner answer the Amazon.com Significant Seven questionsMore editions of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything:
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Freakonomics Intl Pb: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everythingby Stephen J. Dubner, Steven D. LevittISBN 0061131326 (0-06-113132-6)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Freakonomics Intl Pb: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything'More editions of Freakonomics Intl Pb: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything:
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Girls In Pants: The Third Summer Of The Sisterhoodby Ann BrasharesISBN 0553375938 (0-553-37593-8)
Softcover, Random House Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Girls In Pants: The Third Summer Of The Sisterhood'Book summary:Ages 12 and up. Best buds Tibby, Carmen, Lena and Bridget are back with their magical pair of shared jeans in Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood. Each summer brings new and difficult challenges, as the perennially separated friends discover afresh this last season before college. Tibby struggles with the idea of close friend Brian becoming her boyfriend, and their fragile relationship is soon tested by a tragedy in her immediate family. Carmen doesnt know how to react when she finds out that her middle-aged mom is pregnant, and Bridget is unpleasantly surprised to be reunited with the boy who broke her heart two summers ago. Finally, Lena, still coming to terms with the loss of her first love, tries to convince her strict father that art school is a better career path than Greek restaurant management. But through every crisis, each girl is assured of the love and support of the created sisterhood when she pulls on the denim armor of the cherished, and by now, a bit fragrant ("Rule # 1. You must never wash the Pants.") Traveling Pants.
Full of homey platitudes about life, love and the pursuit of perfect jeans, Girls in Pants occasionally reads like a lengthy Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul entry. But often thats precisely the kind of friendly reassurance female readers are looking for, and fans of the wildly popular series whove journeyed every summer with the "Septembers" will find much to laugh and cry about in this concluding volume. --Jennifer Hubert [via]
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Go Ask Aliceby AnonymousISBN 1416914633 (1-4169-1463-3)
Softcover, Simon Pulse
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Go Ask Alice'Book summary:The torture and hell of adolescence has rarely been captured as clearly as it is in this classic diary by an anonymous, addicted teen. Lonely, awkward, and under extreme pressure from her "perfect" parents, "Anonymous" swings madly between optimism and despair. When one of her new friends spikes her drink with LSD, this diarist begins a frightening journey into darkness. The drugs take the edge off her loneliness and self-hate, but they also turn her life into a nightmare of exalting highs and excruciating lows. Although there is still some question as to whether this diary is real or fictional, there is no question that it has made a profound impact on millions of readers during the more than 25 years it has been in print. Despite a few dated references to hippies and some expired slang, Go Ask Alice still offers a jolting chronicle of a teenager's life spinning out of control. [via]
More editions of Go Ask Alice:
- Go Ask Alice: ISBN 0671664581 (0-671-66458-1)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster - Go Ask Alice: ISBN 0380005239 (0-380-00523-9)
Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books - Go Ask Alice: ISBN 0689817851 (0-689-81785-1)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - Go Ask Alice: ISBN 1416914633 (1-4169-1463-3)
Softcover, Simon Pulse
- Go Ask Alice: ISBN 0671664581 (0-671-66458-1)
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God & Government: An Insider's View on the Boundaries Between Faith & Politicsby Charles Colson, Ellen Santilli VaughnISBN 0688073492 (0-688-07349-2)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'God & Government: An Insider's View on the Boundaries Between Faith & Politics'Book summary:' ...Definitely worth reading' -Billy Graham 'Colson's criticisms of the Religious Right are especially noteworthy...Colson's warnings echo a concern that religious conservatives would be reckless to ignore.' -Richard N. Ostling, Religion Editor, Time 'The timing could hardly be better for an author with a new book.' -Newsweek 'Kingdoms in Conflict speaks with wisdom and 'guts' to the major issues of our day.' -Charles R. Swindoll 'Kingdoms in Conflict is a classic that belongs on every Christian's bookshelf.' -Dr. James C. Dobson 'This was a book waiting for Chuck Colson to write. As no other evangelical author can, Colson brings his political experience, thoroughly changed life, and lucid writing together at just the right time...' -Moody Monthly 'The arguments- church-state, the correct admixture between the two- are familiar grist for controversial mills, but Colson does wonderful theatrical instruction in his book...' - William F. Buckley, Jr. 'In Kingdoms in Conflict Charles W. Colson masterfully weds the two subjects he knows best- politics and Christian faith.' -Russell Chandler 'Kingdoms in Conflict offers a welcomed new insight into an age-old question.' - Jack Anderson 'One cannot be a passive reader of Chuck Colson's Kingdoms in Conflict.' -Mark O. Hatfield [via]
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Guns, Germs & Steel: The Fates of Human Societiesby Jared DiamondISBN 0393317552 (0-393-31755-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Guns, Germs & Steel: The Fates of Human Societies'Book summary:With a new chapter. The phenomenal bestseller; over 1.5 million copies sold; is now a major PBS special.Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs, and Steel is a brilliant work answering the question of why the peoples of certain continents succeeded in invading other continents and conquering or displacing their peoples. This edition includes a new chapter on Japan and all-new illustrations drawn from the television series. Until around 11,000 BC, all peoples were still Stone Age hunter/gatherers. At that point, a great divide occurred in the rates that human societies evolved. In Eurasia, parts of the Americas, and Africa, farming became the prevailing mode of existence when indigenous wild plants and animals were domesticated by prehistoric planters and herders. As Jared Diamond vividly reveals, the very people who gained a head start in producing food would collide with preliterate cultures, shaping the modern world through conquest, displacement, and genocide.The paths that lead from scattered centers of food to broad bands of settlement had a great deal to do with climate and geography. But how did differences in societies arise? Why weren't native Australians, Americans, or Africans the ones to colonize Europe? Diamond dismantles pernicious racial theories tracing societal differences to biological differences. He assembles convincing evidence linking germs to domestication of animals, germs that Eurasians then spread in epidemic proportions in their voyages of discovery. In its sweep, Guns, Germs and Steel encompasses the rise of agriculture, technology, writing, government, and religion, providing a unifying theory of human history as intriguing as the histories of dinosaurs and glaciers. 32 illustrations [via]
More editions of Guns, Germs & Steel: The Fates of Human Societies:
- Guns, Germs, And Steel: The Fates of Human Societies: ISBN 0393061310 (0-393-06131-0)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - Guns, Germs & Steel: The Fates of Human Societies: ISBN 061318114X (0-613-18114-X)
Hardcover, Bt Bound - Guns, Germs, and Steel : The Fates of Human Societies: ISBN 0393038912 (0-393-03891-2)
Hardcover, Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W. - Guns, Germs & Steel: The Fates of Human Societies: ISBN 0393973867 (0-393-97386-7)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - Guns, Germs & Steel: The Fates of Human Societies: ISBN 0393317552 (0-393-31755-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
- Guns, Germs, And Steel: The Fates of Human Societies: ISBN 0393061310 (0-393-06131-0)
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Guns, Germs, and Steel Reader's Companionby Jared DiamondISBN 1586638637 (1-58663-863-7)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Guns, Germs, and Steel Reader's Companion'Book summary:Scholar and professor Jared Diamond made a huge splash with this fascinating but controversial book, which argues that geography and environment have almost singlehandedly determined the course of human history. Dig deeper into his contentions with the information inside this invaluable reader's handbook:- Why did Europe colonize Africa and Asia rather than the other way around?
- Why is geography the most important factor in human history?
- How has the rest of the scientific community received Diamond's theory?
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The Heaven Shopby Deborah EllisISBN 1550419080 (1-55041-908-0)
Hardcover, Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Heaven Shop'Book summary:For Binti's father, who runs Heaven Shop Coffins in the small African country of Malawi, business is booming. It is not until his death, however, that the 13-year-old girl comes face to face with the horror of the AIDS pandemic. In this touching young-adult novel about one of sub-Saharan Africa's 13 million AIDS orphans, Deborah Ellis once again deftly explores a serious world issue through the eyes of a child. Binti, like Parvana in The Breadwinner and its sequel Parvana's Journey, comes from a relatively wealthy and liberal-minded family, making her a character with whom young Western readers can easily identify. When her grandmother publicly reveals that both her parents died of AIDS, though, Binti's comfortable world quickly collapses. She and her 16-year-old sister, Junie, and 14-year-old brother, Kwasi, are taken out of their private schools and shunted off to unfeeling relatives who refuse to touch or eat with them. Worst of all, Binti has to give up her starring role on a popular radio show--the one thing that made her feel special.
In straightforward and unadorned but deeply moving prose, Ellis describes the hardships and ignominies that Binti and other African orphans experience under the taint of AIDS, including physical neglect, imprisonment, and even rape. Ignorance and prejudice are revealed to be just as venomous as the HIV virus itself. As Binti's grandmother remarks, AIDS is "a lion in our village" and yet "We do not want to say what it is. We think that if we don't say it, it will go away, but it won't go away." Some of Ellis's characters can sound a bit like safe-sex pamphlets and her break-neck pacing results in occasionally skeletal plot development. But this is an important book--one that packs an emotional wallop at the same time as it introduces teens to one of the great injustices of our times. --Lisa Alward [via]
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High Tide in Tucsonby Barbara Kingsolver, Paul MirochaISBN 0786206306 (0-7862-0630-6)
Hardcover, Thorndike Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'High Tide in Tucson'Book summary:The bestselling author of Animal Dreams and Pigs in Heaven brings her acclaimed voice to the essay, in a handsomely designed book. High Tide in Tucson provides readers with a reflection of Kingsolver's sensibility and creativity, as she constantly examines the urgent business of being alive. 25 line drawings. [via]
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I am The Messengerby Markus ZusakISBN 0375836675 (0-375-83667-5)
Softcover, Alfred a Knopf Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'I Am the Messenger'Book summary:Meet Ed Kennedyunderage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and hes hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. Thats when the first Ace arrives. Thats when Ed becomes the messenger. . . .
Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains: Whos behind Eds mission?
Winner of the 2003 Childrens Book Council Book of the Year Award in Australia, I Am the Messenger is a cryptic journey filled with laughter, fists, and love. [via]More editions of I am The Messenger:
- I am The Messenger: ISBN 0375830995 (0-375-83099-5)
Hardcover, Alfred a Knopf Inc - I am The Messenger: ISBN 037593099X (0-375-93099-X)
Hardcover, Alfred a Knopf Inc - I am The Messenger: ISBN 0330363883 (0-330-36388-3)
Hardcover, Pan - I Am the Messenger: ISBN 0375836675 (0-375-83667-5)
Softcover, Alfred a Knopf Inc
- I am The Messenger: ISBN 0375830995 (0-375-83099-5)
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I Am the Messengerby M. ZusakISBN 1417700238 (1-4177-0023-8)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'I Am the Messenger'Book summary:FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. After capturing a bank robber, 19-year-old cab driver Ed Kennedy begins receiving mysterious messages that direct him to addresses where people need help, and he begins getting over his lifelong feeling of worthlessness. [via]
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Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warmingby Al GoreISBN 0670062715 (0-670-06271-5)
Hardcover, Viking Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming'Book summary:Former Vice President Al Gore's New York Times #1 bestselling book is a daring call to action, exposing the shocking reality of how humankind has aided in the destruction of our planet and the future we face if we do not take action to stop global warming. Now, Viking has adapted this book for the most important audience of all: today's youth, who have no choice but to confront this climate crisis head-on.[via]Dramatic full-color photos, illustrations, and graphs combine with Gore's effective and clear writing to explain global warming in very real terms: what it is, what causes it, and what will happen if we continue to ignore it. An Inconvenient Truth will change the way young people understand global warming and hopefully inspire them to help change the course of history.
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An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About Itby Al GoreISBN 1594865671 (1-59486-567-1)
Softcover, Rodale Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It'Book summary:[via]An Inconvenient Truth--Gore's groundbreaking, battle cry of a follow-up to the bestselling Earth in the Balance--is being published to tie in with a documentary film of the same name. Both the book and film were inspired by a series of multimedia presentations on global warming that Gore created and delivers to groups around the world. With this book, Gore, who is one of our environmental heroes--and a leading expert--brings together leading-edge research from top scientists around the world; photographs, charts, and other illustrations; and personal anecdotes and observations to document the fast pace and wide scope of global warming. He presents, with alarming clarity and conclusiveness--and with humor, too--that the fact of global warming is not in question and that its consequences for the world we live in will be disastrous if left unchecked. This riveting new book--written in an accessible, entertaining style--will open the eyes of even the most skeptical.More editions of An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It:
J.D. Salingerby Harold BloomISBN 0877547165 (0-87754-716-5)
Hardcover, Chelsea House Pub
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› Find signed collectible books: 'J.D. Salinger'More editions of J.D. Salinger:
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J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Ryeby Harold BloomISBN 0791056643 (0-7910-5664-3)
Hardcover, Facts on File
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› Find signed collectible books: 'J. D. Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye'Book summary:Includes a brief biography of the author, thematic and structural analysis of the work, critical views, and an index of themes and ideas. [via]
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J.D. Salinger's the Catcher in the Ryeby J. D. SalingerISBN 0671006916 (0-671-00691-6)
Softcover, Monarch Notes
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› Find signed collectible books: 'J.D. Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye'Book summary:Plot synopsis of this classic is made meaningful with analysis and quotes by noted literary critics, summaries of the work's main themes and characters, a sketch of the author's life and times, a bibliography, suggested test questions, and ideas for essays and term papers. [via]
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Lifeviewsby R. C. SproulISBN 0800753577 (0-8007-5357-7)
Softcover, Baker Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lifeviews'More editions of Lifeviews:
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Lifeviews: Understanding the Ideas That Shape Society Todayby R. C. SproulISBN 0800714695 (0-8007-1469-5)
Hardcover, F.H. Revell
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lifeviews: Understanding the Ideas That Shape Society Today'Book summary:How to confront moral and social issues with a biblical response. [via]
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Mountains Beyond Mountainsby Tracy KidderISBN 0375506160 (0-375-50616-0)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mountains Beyond Mountains'More editions of Mountains Beyond Mountains:
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Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the Worldby Tracy KidderISBN 0812973011 (0-8129-7301-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World'Book summary:Tracy Kidder is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the author of the bestsellers The Soul of a New Machine , House , Among Schoolchildren , and Home Town . He has been described by the Baltimore Sun as the "master of the non-fiction narrative." This powerful and inspiring new book shows how one person can make a difference, as Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who is in love with the world and has set out to do all he can to cure it. At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life's calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. This magnificent book shows how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and it also shows how a meaningful life can be created, as Farmer-brilliant, charismatic, charming, both a leader in international health and a doctor who finds time to make house calls in Boston and the mountains of Haiti-blasts through convention to get results. Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity" - a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners In Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.'s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb "Beyond mountains there are mountains": as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too. [via]
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Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in Americaby Barbara EhrenreichISBN 1587243687 (1-58724-368-7)
Hardcover, Wheeler Pub Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America'Book summary:Essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich has always specialized in turning received wisdom on its head with intelligence, clarity, and verve. With some 12 million women being pushed into the labor market by welfare reform, she decided to do some good old-fashioned journalism and find out just how they were going to survive on the wages of the unskilled--at $6 to $7 an hour, only half of what is considered a living wage. So she did what millions of Americans do, she looked for a job and a place to live, worked that job, and tried to make ends meet.
As a waitress in Florida, where her name is suddenly transposed to "girl," trailer trash becomes a demographic category to aspire to with rent at $675 per month. In Maine, where she ends up working as both a cleaning woman and a nursing home assistant, she must first fill out endless pre-employment tests with trick questions such as "Some people work better when they're a little bit high." In Minnesota, she works at Wal-Mart under the repressive surveillance of men and women whose job it is to monitor her behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. She even gets to experience the humiliation of the urine test.
So, do the poor have survival strategies unknown to the middle class? And did Ehrenreich feel the "bracing psychological effects of getting out of the house, as promised by the wonks who brought us welfare reform?" Nah. Even in her best-case scenario, with all the advantages of education, health, a car, and money for first month's rent, she has to work two jobs, seven days a week, and still almost winds up in a shelter. As Ehrenreich points out with her potent combination of humor and outrage, the laws of supply and demand have been reversed. Rental prices skyrocket, but wages never rise. Rather, jobs are so cheap as measured by the pay that workers are encouraged to take as many as they can. Behind those trademark Wal-Mart vests, it turns out, are the borderline homeless. With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty. --Lesley Reed [via]
More editions of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America:
- Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America: ISBN 0805063897 (0-8050-6389-7)
Softcover, Henry Holt & Co - Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America: ISBN 0805063889 (0-8050-6388-9)
Hardcover, Henry Holt & Co - Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America: ISBN 1587243687 (1-58724-368-7)
Hardcover, Wheeler Pub Inc
- Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America: ISBN 0805063897 (0-8050-6389-7)
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Noise: The Political Economy of Musicby Jacques Attali, Brian MassumiISBN 0816612870 (0-8166-1287-0)
Softcover, Univ of Minnesota Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Noise: The Political Economy of Music'Book summary:University of Minnesota, 1985; Paperback in good; no marks. The book has been stored properly on bookshelves in the 4th floor, not musty, one owner. We have numerous Lacan titles from this acquisition. From a recent acquisition of a retired therapist. [via]
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Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Marketby Eric SchlosserISBN 0618446702 (0-618-44670-2)
Softcover, Houghton Mifflin
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market'Book summary:As much as 10% of the American economy, and perhaps more, is comprised of illegal "underground" enterprises, according to author and Atlantic Monthly correspondent Eric Schlosser. And while this segment is never discussed in the newspaper business pages, Schlosser tackles it with the same in-depth analysis and compulsive readability that made his Fast Food Nation a best seller. Reefer Madness spotlights marijuana, migrant labor, and pornography, three of the most thriving black market industries, and analyzes the often-tenuous place each holds in society as a whole. While each of the three could be the subject of its own book, Schlosser keeps his scope narrow by concentrating on the lives of the participants in the underground economy, especially Mark Young, an Indiana man given a life sentence for participating in a marijuana sale, and Ohio porn magnate Reuben Sturman. At just 21 pages, the treatment of migrant laborers in the California strawberry fields is dealt with more briefly but is just as compelling thanks to the first-person narrative of Schlossers investigation. In telling these stories, which are both personal and universal, Schlosser deftly explores the manner in which his subjects are treated (and punished) compared to others in more above-ground ventures. Along the way, he asks hard questions as to what that treatment says about America. Schlosser writing is passionately opinionated, but this is no mere opinion piece: his perspective is amply supported by extensive research and clearly reasoned interpretation of data. His direct and forceful writing style makes the impact greater still. After reading Reefer Madness, readers are likely to be shocked, appalled, and flat-out bewildered by whats happening in the cracks and crevices of American business. --John Moe [via]
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Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtueby Wendy ShalitISBN 0684863170 (0-684-86317-0)
Softcover, Free Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue'Book summary:Where once a young woman had to be ashamed of her sexual experience, today she is ashamed of her sexual inexperience. Where not long ago an unmarried woman was ashamed to give public evidence of sexual desire by living with someone, today she must be ashamed to give evidence of romantic desire. From sex education in grade school to coed bathrooms in college, today's young woman is being pressured relentlessly to overcome her embarrassment, her "hang-ups," and especially her romantic hopes.
Meanwhile, the problems young women struggle with grow steadily more extreme: from sexual harassment, stalking, and date rape to anorexia and self-mutilation. Both men and women endlessly lament the loss of privacy and of real intimacy. What is it all about?
Beholden neither to conservatives who discount as exaggeration the dangers facing young women, nor to feminists who steadfastly affix blame on the patriarchy, Wendy Shalit proposes that, in fact, we have lost our respect for an important classical virtue -- that of sexual modesty. "A Return to Modesty is a deeply personal account as well as a fascinating intellectual exploration. From seventeenth-century manners guides to Antonio Canova's sculpture, "Venus Italico," to Frank Loesser's 1948 tune, "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "A Return to Modesty unfolds like a detective's search for a lost idea as Shalit uncovers opinions about this lost virtue's importance, from Balzac to Simone de Beauvoir, that have not been aired for decades. Then she knocks down the accompanying myths one by one. Female modesty is not about a "sexual double standard," as is often thought, but is related to male virtue and honor. Modesty is not a social construct,but a natural response. And modesty is not prudery, but a way to preserve a sense of the erotic in our lives.
With humor and piercing insight, Shalit invites us to look beyond the blush and consider the new power to be found in an old ideal. She maintains that the sex education curriculum forced on those of her generation from an early age is fundamentally flawed, centered as it is on overcoming reticence -- what we today call "hang-ups." Shalit surprisingly and persuasively argues that without these misnamed hang-ups there can be no true surrender, no richness and depth to relations between the sexes. The natural inclination toward modesty is not a hang-up that we should set out to cure, but rather a wonderful instinct that, if rediscovered and given the right social support, has the power to transform society. [via]
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Savage Inequalities : Children in America's Schoolsby Jonathan KozolISBN 051758221X (0-517-58221-X)
Hardcover, Crown Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Savage Inequalities : Children in America's Schools'Book summary:A searing, eye-opening exposé of the inequality built into America's public education system, written by Jonathan Kozol, the National Book Award-winning author of Death at an Early Age. Traveling the most blighted neighborhoods of our country, Kozol discovers a separate and unequal school system for America's less fortunate. [via]
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Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsby Ann BrasharesISBN 0385730586 (0-385-73058-6)
Softcover, Random House Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants'Book summary:They were just a soft, ordinary pair of thrift-shop jeans until the four girls took turns trying them on--four girls, that is, who are close friends, about to be parted for the summer, with very different sizes and builds, not to mention backgrounds and personalities. Yet the pants settle on each girl's hips perfectly, making her look sexy and long-legged and feel confident as a teenager can feel. "These are magical Pants!" they realize, and so they make a pact to share them equally, to mail them back and forth over the summer from wherever they are. Beautiful, distant Lena is going to Greece to be with her grandparents; strong, athletic Bridget is off to soccer camp in Baja, California; hot-tempered Carmen plans to have her divorced father all to herself in South Carolina; and Tibby the rebel will be left at home to slave for minimum wage at Wallman's.
Over the summer the Pants come to represent the support of the sisterhood, but they also lead each girl into bruising and ultimately healing confrontations with love and courage, dying and forgiveness. Lena finds her identity in Greece and the courage not to reject love; Bridget gets in over her head with an older camp coach; Carmen finds her father ensconced with a new fiancée and family; and Tibby unwillingly takes on a filmmaking apprentice who is dying of leukemia. Each girl's story is distinct and engrossing, told in a brightly contemporary style. Like the Pants, the reader bounces back and forth among the four unfolding adventures, and the melange is spiced with letters and witty quotes. Ann Brashares has here created four captivating characters and seamlessly interwoven their stories for a young adult novel that is fresh and absorbing. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell [via]
More editions of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants:
- Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: ISBN 0440229707 (0-440-22970-7)
Softcover, Random House Childrens Books - Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: ISBN 0553494791 (0-553-49479-1)
Softcover, Random House Childrens Books - Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: ISBN 0385729332 (0-385-72933-2)
Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books - Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: ISBN 0385730586 (0-385-73058-6)
Softcover, Random House Childrens Books
- Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: ISBN 0440229707 (0-440-22970-7)
Small Stepsby Louis SacharISBN 0385733143 (0-385-73314-3)
Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Small Steps'Book summary:Two years after being released from Camp Green Lake, Armpit is home in Austin, Texas, trying to turn his life around. But its hard when you have a record, and everyone expects the worst from you. The only person who believes in him is Ginny, his 10-year old disabled neighbor. Together, they are learning to take small steps. And he seems to be on the right path, until X-Ray, a buddy from Camp Green Lake, comes up with a get-rich-quick scheme. This leads to a chance encounter with teen pop sensation, Kaira DeLeon, and suddenly his life spins out of control, with only one thing for certain. Hell never be the same again.
In his first major novel since Holes, critically acclaimed novelist Louis Sachar uses his signature wit combined with a unique blend of adventure and deeply felt characters to explore issues of race, the nature of celebrity, the invisible connections that determine a persons life, and what it takes to stay on course. Doing the right thing is never a wrong choicebut a small step in the right direction.
From the Hardcover edition. [via]
Television and the Teaching of Englishby Neil PostmanISBN 0891974458 (0-89197-445-8)
Softcover, Ardent Media Inc
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There Are No Children Hereby Alex KotlowitzISBN 0385265565 (0-385-26556-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'There Are No Children Here'Book summary:There Are No Children Here, the true story of brothers Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, ages 11 and 9 at the start, brings home the horror of trying to make it in a violence-ridden public housing project. The boys live in a gang-plagued war zone on Chicago's West Side, literally learning how to dodge bullets the way kids in the suburbs learn to chase baseballs. "If I grow up, I'd like to be a bus driver," says Lafeyette at one point. That's if, not when--spoken with the complete innocence of a child. The book's title comes from a comment made by the brothers' mother as she and author Alex Kotlowitz contemplate the challenges of living in such a hostile environment: "There are no children here," she says. "They've seen too much to be children." This book humanizes the problem of inner-city pathology, makes readers care about Lafeyette and Pharoah more than they may expect to, and offers a sliver of hope buried deep within a world of chaos. [via]
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Wickedby Gregory MaguireISBN 0613621697 (0-613-62169-7)
Hardcover, Bt Bound
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wicked'Book summary:An astonishingly rich re-creation of the land of Oz, this book retells the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who wasn't so wicked after all. Taking readers past the yellow brick road and into a phantasmagoric world rich with imagination and allegory, Gregory Maguire just might change the reputation of one of the most sinister characters in literature. [via]
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The Wisdom Of Crowdsby James Surowiecki, Surowiecki, James (AFT)ISBN 0385721706 (0-385-72170-6)
Softcover, Anchor Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wisdom Of Crowds'Book summary:In this fascinating book, New Yorker business columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea: Large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliantbetter at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.
With boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, behavioral economics, artificial intelligence, military history, and politics to show how this simple idea offers important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, run our companies, and think about our world. [via]More editions of The Wisdom Of Crowds:
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The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nationsby James SurowieckiISBN 0385503865 (0-385-50386-5)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations'Book summary:No one in this world, so far as I know, has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. H. L. Mencken
[via]
H. L. Mencken was wrong.
In this endlessly fascinating book, New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki explores a deceptively simple idea that has profound implications: large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliantbetter at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, even predicting the future.
This seemingly counterintuitive notion has endless and major ramifications for how businesses operate, how knowledge is advanced, how economies are (or should be) organized and how we live our daily lives. With seemingly boundless erudition and in delightfully clear prose, Surowiecki ranges across fields as diverse as popular culture, psychology, ant biology, economic behaviorism, artificial intelligence, military history and political theory to show just how this principle operates in the real world.
Despite the sophistication of his arguments, Surowiecki presents them in a wonderfully entertaining manner. The examples he uses are all down-to-earth, surprising, and fun to ponder. Why is the line in which youre standing always the longest? Why is it that you can buy a screw anywhere in the world and it will fit a bolt bought ten-thousand miles away? Why is network television so awful? If you had to meet someone in Paris on a specific day but had no way of contacting them, when and where would you meet? Why are there traffic jams? Whats the best way to win money on a game show? Why, when you walk into a convenience store at 2:00 A.M. to buy a quart of orange juice, is it there waiting for you? What do Hollywood mafia movies have to teach us about why corporations exist?
The Wisdom of Crowds is a brilliant but accessible biography of an idea, one with important lessons for how we live our lives, select our leaders, conduct our business, and think about our world.More editions of The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations:
- The Wisdom of Crowds : Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations: ISBN 0375433627 (0-375-43362-7)
Hardcover, Random House Large Print - The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations: ISBN 0385503865 (0-385-50386-5)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
- The Wisdom of Crowds : Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations: ISBN 0375433627 (0-375-43362-7)
Spanish
Armas, germenes y acero/ Guns, Germs and Steelby Jared DiamondISBN 848306667X (84-8306-667-X)
Hardcover, Debate Editorial
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Blink Inteligencia Intuitiva?/blink.: Por Que Sabemos La Verdad En Dos Segundos/ the Power of Thinking Without Thinkingby Malcolm GladwellISBN 1598200879 (1-59820-087-9)
Softcover, Santillana USA Pub Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Blink Inteligencia Intuitiva?/blink.: Por Que Sabemos La Verdad En Dos Segundos/ the Power of Thinking Without Thinking'Book summary:In Blink, bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant ¯in the blink of an eye¯ that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? How do our brains really work - in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others? [via]
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Freakonomics: Un Economista Polfticamente Incorrecto Explora El Lado Oculta De Lo Que Nos Afectaby Stephen J. Dubner, Steven D. LevittISBN 8466625127 (84-666-2512-7)
Softcover, Ediciones B
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Freakonomics: Un Economista Polfticamente Incorrecto Explora El Lado Oculta De Lo Que Nos Afecta'Book summary:[via]Presenting economics as the underlying connection between seemingly unrelated events or phenomena, this international bestseller establishes a new way of looking at the world. The authors explain the hidden side of everything, from violent crime, parenting, and baby names to the Ku Klux Klan and real estate, demonstrating how economics isn't just about numbers, but a study of incentiveshow people get what they need and want when others need and want the same thing.Comprobando que el estudio de la economía puede explicar como se relacionan fenómenos distintos, este bestseller internacional establece una nueva manera de ver al mundo. Los autores explican el lado escondido de todo, desde crímenes violentos y nombres de bebes hasta el Ku Klux Klan y bienes raíces, demostrando que el estudio de la economía es un estudio de los incentivos: el modo en que las personas obtienen lo que desean o necesitan, especialmente cuando otras personas desean o necesitan lo mismo.More editions of Freakonomics: Un Economista Polfticamente Incorrecto Explora El Lado Oculta De Lo Que Nos Afecta:
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El Guardian Entre el Centenoby J. D. SalingerISBN 8420634093 (84-206-3409-3)
Hardcover, Alianza Editorial, S. A.
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› Find signed collectible books: 'El Guardian Entre el Centeno'Book summary:Por expreso deseo del autor, no esta ermitido que la editorial aporte en su material promocional ningu tipo de texto adicional, informacio biograica, cita o resen relacionados con esta obra. El lector interesado podra no obstante, encontrar abundante informacio al respecto en internet. [via]
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El Guardian Entre El Centeno/ The Catcher in the Ryeby J. D. SalingerISBN 8420616893 (84-206-1689-3)
Softcover, Distribooks Inc
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Italian
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Il Giovane Holdenby J. D. SalingerISBN 8806163698 (88-06-16369-8)
Softcover, Distribooks Inc
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