About seventy percent of American families own their own homes, and for many their houses represent the bulk of their net worth. As is evident by the cascading mortgage market meltdown, housing policy affects not only the quality of community life but also the economic well-being of entire nations.Although most housing in the United States is allocated in the private market, this market is heavily regulated and subsidized, with government policies dictating whether...

A collection of twenty pieces that represent the best science and nature writing published the previous year and explores our ever-changing world.On his selections for this year’s The Best American Science and Nature Writing, Randall Munroe writes, “Rather than simply telling people facts, I leaned toward articles that explained why we knew those facts, and why we cared, sharing portraits of people trying earnestly to understand the world around t...

A collection of twenty pieces that represent the best science and nature writing published the previous year and explores our ever-changing world.On his selections for this year’s The Best American Science and Nature Writing, Randall Munroe writes, “Rather than simply telling people facts, I leaned toward articles that explained why we knew those facts, and why we cared, sharing portraits of people trying earnestly to understand the world around th...

Professional life is filled with opportunities to learn. One such opportunity is to learn from colleagues***. Believe! The Winning Mindset for Project Managers*** is an opportunity to learn from dedicated project managers.People who are dedicated and believe in their profession achieve amazing results because they enjoy what they do, feel positive about all activities they do, and are confident and happy with the people around them. The book shows how this is true for project profe...

Investigates how discourse spills from language to action, generating, obfuscating, and perpetuating violence while also offering the words, principles, and practices that may interrupt itWe are continually catching up with and being caught by words, especially words that hurt. These collected essays probe the interaction of violence and words across time, place, and circumstance. Often cited as the core source of violence, religion’s capacity for coordinating idea...

After fifty years and more than 100,000 deals spanning music licenses, real estate, and major copyright agreements for songs you've heard in movies and commercials, Randall Wixen has learned what actually works when real money and real relationships are on the line, and he's put it all in this book.Wixen isn't providing a step-by-step system or a framework with a catchy acronym. Negotiation: Laugh and Learn is an honest, experience-driven guide to handling pressure, readin...

In the rigidly controlled world of Apollyon, assassination is not a crime but a civic ritual, and Rad Bartol is seized because his face can stand in for a ruler's. Surgically altered and hypnotically conditioned into the exact double of the Autarch, he is forced to smile, wave, and play his part even as an attack on the palace begins. The premise fuses political satire with science-fiction suspense, trapping Bartol between his stolen identity and the commands buried in his mind. Chosen bec...

From Elvis and Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash and The Beatles, to B.B. King and Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, dozens of artists across many decades are discussed in this eBook. Essay topics include how musicians pay tribute to other musicians in song lyrics, how highways in road-trip songs represent our life’s journey, how love songs can evoke both joy and heartbreak, how spoken words integrated into songs lead to great storytelling, and how music fans befriend one another and f...

Snuggle up for a magical journey with 24 enchanting bedtime stories from around the world - one for every hour children fall asleep somewhere on Earth. From mysterious forests and clever, mischievous animals to starlit skies and flying beds, each tale is a window into the rich folklore, nature, and traditions of a different country.Written by James Randall and brought to life with charming illustrations by Freya Hartas, this truly ...

France did not build one colonial empire, but two. The first reached west across the Atlantic in search of Asia and found instead fish, furs, forests, sugar islands, Indigenous alliances, and a fragile North American world that could never match the settler weight of Britain.New France stretched across maps with astonishing ambition, but its real strength rested on trade networks, river routes, missionaries, soldiers, and uneasy partnerships in a continent already filled with power...

A daring alien spy, a revolutionary spacecraft, and one tiny mistake with catastrophic consequences. On a remote Earth spaceport, the experimental Skyjumper is nearly ready to change the course of an interstellar war. Hidden among the engineers is Torlyn Khy, a Valdorian operative who believes he has found the perfect opportunity to steal humanity's greatest technological breakthrough. Disguised, determined, and armed with an invisibility belt, he slips aboard the ship expecting a swift, f...

Joe Davis, humor blogger and Twin Cities low-grade celebrity, is thrilled he finally has a neighbor he can vibe with. That changes when the vibe turns to murder.Sara, the new neighbor, comes home one night to discover a murdered man in her living room. No murder weapon is found. There is no sign of forced entry. And Sara has never met the victim. When the police focus on Sara as the prime suspect, Joe decides to take up the investigation.The victim turns out to be a college...