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Random House, Inc.
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In a recent series of ground-breaking psychological experiments, volunteers were shown a 30-second film of some people playing basketball and told to count the number of passes made with the ball. After just a few seconds, a man dressed as a gorilla slowly walked into frame, beat his chest at the camera, and sauntered off. Unbelievably, almost none of the people watching the film noticed the gorilla. Exactly the same psychological mechanisms that cause people to miss the gorilla also make them miss unexpected but vitally important opportunities in their professional and personal lives. This book outlines the scientific evidence and thinking behind this remarkable new phenomenon, and shows you how you can spot gorillas in your life — and what to do when you see one. |
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Based on the award-winning formula of his hugely popular nightly show on CNBC, Donny Deutsch's The Big Idea is a step-by-step guide for anyone who has ever dreamt of following through on creating their own business. From the 'Aha! Moment' to taking that all-important first leap, Deutsch cheers aspiring entrepreneurs along every step of the way. Starting with how to look for opportunities, through to keeping what you've created going and growing, each stage of the process is illustrated by an invaluable lesson learned by a leading entrepreneur. With the author's irrepressible energy, enthusiasm and expertise providing the engine that drives this incredibly upbeat book, The Big Idea will provide the tools to tackle issues head on, and is the ideal how-to for entrepreneurs — from inventors to artists, marketers to producers, teenagers to retirees. Timely, and hitting just the right note given the economic challenges so many face today as they struggle to pursue their dreams and control their destinies, The Big Idea is an inspirational road map to achieving your dreams. |
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Who Owns the World is the first ever compilation of landowners and landownership structures in every single one of the world's 197 states and 66 territories. It covers the history of landownership as far as written history will allow and shows the division of landownership in every region of the globe. Packed with revelatory information, the book: identifies the person who owns the largest proportion of the world's land and documents that person's landholdings; provides details of the next 25 top landowners; reveals that aristocratic families own over 60 per cent of Europe's land mass and receive most of the EC's agricultural subsidy allowance; documents the vast landholdings of the four largest religious groups: the Catholic Church and the other Christian churches, the Islamic trusts, and the temple possessions of the Hindus and Buddhists; details the landownership structure of all the countries of the British Commonwealth; contains a complete survey of the historic record of landownership, starting in Mesopotamia/Iraq in 8000 BC; lists many of the world's great Domesdays, going back to the earliest, in Ptolemaic Egypt; and includes an analysis of the legal structures that have reduced 85 per cent of the earth's population to serfdom. This is a breathtaking tome of huge political, economic and social importance. It will revolutionise our understanding of our planet, its history and its land. |
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What does Jade Goody tell us about Athenian democracy? What does Achilles say about the death of Ayrton Senna? Why does anyone want to be famous? Why do we want them to be? Everybody wants their fifteen minutes of fame. But just what is it that elevates mere mortals to the status of gods, and why has celebrity become an increasing preoccupation in the modern world? It once was ability, intelligence, power or beauty that established fame: military or sporting achievement, artistic, literary or musical genius, political prowess, blue blood or, occassionally, criminal depravity. Attributes of the men and women who rose above the common stock. Throughout history we have defined ourselves with reference to famous people, and allowed them to exercise a strange power over us, and us, a strange power over them. Fame though, has changed. The cult of celebrity has become a global obsession. Reality television dramatises the lives of the famous as though they were people just like us, and people just like us can become famous on reality TV. Are we more preoccupied with fame than before? Or have we always been a little too interested? In A History of Fame Tom Payne expertly answers these puzzling questions and many more. From deities to divas, masterpieces to magazines, it is a book about the heroes, losers, loners and glamour-pusses of all times. It is also a book about the rest of us, about what our hunger for celebrity says about ourselves, and about the value of fame, both good and bad. |
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This powerful collection of stories, set in the mid-West among the lonely men and women who drink, fish and play cards to ease the passing of time, was the first by Raymond Carver to be published in the UK. With its spare, colloquial narration and razor-sharp sense of how people really communicate, the collection was to become one of the most influential literary works of the 1980s. |
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If you want to be the best, focus on your most valuable asset: the power of your creative mind. As competition and the pace of change intensify, companies and individuals need to harness their creativity to stay ahead of the field. Under pressure, people often think they can't be creative; many more are convinced they are not creative at all because they have never been arty. Creative genius Edward de Bono debunks these common notions in this remarkable book. He shows how creativity is a learnable skill — one that everyone can use to improve their performance. He then explains how you can unlock your own creativity to reap the personal and professional rewards it will bring. It helps you learn how to: be creative on demand with de Bono's step-by-step approach; add value to ideas and turn them into financial assets; boost creativity with the power of lateral thinking; and, break free from old ways of thinking with creative challenging. |
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Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet. Why would they? Anna's a sixteen-year-old in 1995, fiercely determined to secure a running scholarship so she can leave her quiet, dull town and finally travel the world. Bennett's a seventeen-year-old in 2012, living in San Francisco and trying to control his ability to travel through time — an incredible gift, but also an unpredictable curse, which constantly threatens to separate him from the people he loves. When a minor lapse in judgment puts his sister Brooke in danger, Bennett finds himself two thousand miles and seventeen years away — in Anna's world. As he searches for Brooke, Bennett is strangely and inescapably drawn to Anna, who feels sure she's seen him somewhere before. Through the gorgeous, mysterious newcomer, able to travel anywhere in a split second, Anna visits deserted tropical beaches and stunning mediterranean coastlines for the first time, and they can't help falling for one another. But they both know, deep down, that it can never last. For no matter how desperate Bennett is to stay with Anna, his uncontrollable condition will inevitably knock him right back to where he belongs — and Anna will be left to pick up the pieces. |
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Calling Anna and Bennett's romance long distance is an understatement. She's from 1995 Chicago, and he's a time traveller from 2012 San Francisco. They never should have met, but they did. They fell in love, even though they knew they shouldn't. And they found a way to stay together, against all the odds. It's not perfect, of course. Bennett is forced to skip parts of his own present in order to be with Anna in hers, and he's unable to stay in the past for more than brief periods of time. But they're sure they can make it work, somehow... until Bennett witnesses a single event he never should have seen, and certainly never expected to. Will the decisions he makes from that point on cement a future that both Anna and Bennett are desperate to avoid? |
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From petticoat duels and lucky cats to the Stiffs Express, Lord Nelson's spare nose, the Piccadilly earthquake and the Great Beer Flood of 1814, A Curious Guide to London takes you on a captivating, wildly entertaining tour of the city, unearthing the capital's secrets and celebrating its rich and colourful history. Brimming with tales about the city's forgotten past, its strangest traditions and its most eccentric inhabitants, this quirky compendium commemorates the unique, the unusual and the unknown. Perfect for tourists, day-trippers, commuters and the millions of people who call London home, this book will make you look at the city in a whole new light. |
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Since 2006, award-winning investigative journalist Nick Davies has worked tirelessly — determined, driven, brilliant — to uncover the truth about the goings on behind the scenes at the News of the World and News International. This book now brings us the definitive, inside story of the whole scandal. How a network of lawyers, politicians and celebrities worked with Nick to expose the facts and to stand up to Rupert Murdoch, arguably one of the most powerful men in the world; how News International attempted to protect itself with lies and threats and money; how the police and the press regulators failed; how the prime minister ended up with the wrong man inside his office. Hack Attack discloses in detail for the first time the full extent of crimes committed by the corporation, and other Fleet Street papers, and probes the relationship between Murdoch and his network with government. It is also a thrilling, nail-biting account of an investigative journalist's journey, showing us how the quest unfolded, and is a shining example of the might of good journalism. This is not simply a story about journalists behaving badly, this is a story about power and truth. Ambitious, comprehensive, gripping, essential — Hack Attack is the definitive book about the biggest scandal of our age. There will be no other book like it. |
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Full of magic and appealing characters, this classic novel takes readers on a remarkable adventure. It's Omri's birthday, but all he gets from his best friend, Patrick, is a little plastic Indian brave. Trying to hide his disappointment, Omri puts the Indian in a metal cupboard and locks the door with a mysterious skeletonkey that once belonged to his great-grandmother. Little does Omri know that by turning the key, he will transform his ordinary plastic Indian into a real live man from an altogether different time and place! Omri and the tiny warrior called Little Bear could hardly be more different, yet soon the two forge a very special friendship. Will Omri be able to keep Little Bear without anyone finding out and taking his precious Indian from him? |
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Dr. Seuss's magic elixir may — or may not — prolong life, but it is a fact that it makes you feel a whole lot better Here in one glorious volume are six of the good doctor's best prescriptions. Not a word or a picture has been omitted or changed. Ranging from his very first book, And to Thing That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, to his prophetic The Lorax, Six by Seuss is the perfect collection to share with the entire family and to pass from generation to generation. |
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Illus. in full color. A baffled youngster awakens one morning to find everything's out of place, but no one seems to notice! Beginning readers will have fun discovering all the wacky things wrong on each page while sharpening their ability to observe, as well as to read. |
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Top TV anchorwoman Melanie Adams had given up on love after a failed marriage and an unhappy affair. With her two teenage children and her television news career, she had no room in her life for a man. Then she met famous heart surgeon Peter Hallam, a widower with three children of his own. Suddenly Melanie was experiencing feelings she thought were gone forever. But two families (one in New York and one in Los Angeles), two exciting careers, and two strong-willed people were too much to handle. And Melanie faced a painful choice between her glamorous life in the public eye, her private life, the needs of her family, and the new family she took on. Changes lead each of them to new places, new problems, new people, and the new life they begin. |
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From the author of the breathtaking bestsellers Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, the extraordinary saga continues. Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her... and her body still cries out for him in her dreams. Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny. And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her... the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland... and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite — or forever doom — her timeless love. |
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In this magisterial and wide-ranging survey of political leadership over the past hundred years, Archie Brown challenges the widespread belief that strong leaders — those who dominate their colleagues and the policy-making process — are the most successful and admirable. Within authoritarian regimes, a more collective leadership is a lesser evil compared with personal dictatorship where cultivation of the myth of the strong leader is often a prelude to oppression and carnage. Within democracies, although 'strong leaders' are seldom as strong or independent as they purport to be, the idea that one person is entitled to take the big decisions is dangerous nonetheless, and the advantages of a collegial style of leadership are too often overlooked. In reality, only a minority of political leaders make a big difference, by challenging assumptions about the politically possible or setting in motion systemic change. Yet in a democracy that is rare. It is especially when enlightened leaders acquire power in an authoritarian system that the opportunity for radical transformation occurs. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, Willy Brandt and Mikhail Gorbachev, Deng Xiaoping and Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair are among the leaders whom Brown examines in this original and illuminating study. |
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Olav lives the lonely life of a fixer. When you 'fix' people for a living — terminally — it's hard to get close to anyone. Now he's finally met the woman of his dreams. But there are two problems. She's his boss' wife. And Olav's just been hired to kill her. |
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2045-2059. After the cataclysmic upheavals of Step Day and the Yellowstone eruption humanity is spreading further into the Long Earth, and society, on a battered Datum Earth and beyond, continues to evolve. Now an elderly and cantankerous AI, Lobsang lives in disguise with Agnes in an exotic, far-distant world. He's convinced they're leading a normal life in New Springfield — they even adopt a child — but it seems they have been guided there for a reason. As rumours of strange sightings and hauntings proliferate, it becomes clear that something is very awry with this particular world. Millions of steps away, Joshua is on a personal journey of discovery: learning about the father he never knew and a secret family history. But then he receives a summons from New Springfield. Lobsang now understands the enormity of what's taking place beneath the surface of his earth — a threat to all the worlds of the Long Earth. To counter this threat will require the combined efforts of humankind, machine and the super-intelligent Next. And some must make the ultimate sacrifice... |
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A masterpiece of satire and a key work of the Russian fantastic movement. One of the most celebrated tales in Russian literature. Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov awakens to discover that his nose is missing, leaving a smooth, flat patch of skin in its place. He finds and confronts his nose in the Kazan Cathedral, but from its clothing it is apparent that the nose has acquired a higher rank in the civil service than he and refuses to return to his face. THE ART OF THE NOVELLAToo short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers but beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. The Art of the Novella Series celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners. The series has been recognized for its excellence in design by AIGA. |
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