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Out of Control chronicles the dawn of a new era in which the machines and systems that drive our economy are so complex and autonomous as to be indistinguishable from living things.

Why is it that Casio can sell a calculator more cheaply than Kellogg's can sell a box of corn flakes? Why can FedEx absolutely, positively" deliver your package overnight but airlines have trouble keeping track of your bags? What does your company do better than anyone else? What unique value do you provide to your customers? How will you increase that value next year? As customers' demands for the highest quality products, best services, and lowest prices increase daily, the rules for market leadership are changing. Once powerful companies that haven't gotten the message are faltering, while others, new and old, are thriving. In disarmingly simple and provocative terms, Treacy and Wiersema show what it takes to become a leader in your market, and stay there, in an ever more sophisticated and demanding world.

The Instant Economist will give you the basic information every manager needs to survive the economic challenges of modern business. You'll find more theory in fewer pages than you would have thought possible,interest rates and inflation, opportunity costs and the cost of living, prices and profits, debts and deficits,all the confusing and crucial ideas you never quite learned, summarized in easy-to-understand, impossible-to-forget images and phrases.This amazing little book is an amusing dialogue between a young MBA and an old Professor of Economics. Like most of us, this young manager-to-be has taken courses and slogged through the formulas of basic economics but he still doesn't have the first idea of what economics really means. As we listen, the Processor explains the real points of macro, micro, and international economics concepts without graphs or jargon or math or anything but common sense.

In The Dark Side of Man, Michael Ghiglieri, a biologist and protégé of Jane Goodall, takes on one of the most highly charged debates in modern science: the biological roots of bad behaviour. Beginning with rape, and moving on to murder, war, and genocide, Ghiglieri offers the most up-to-date, comprehensive look at the male proclivity for violence. In a strong narrative voice, he draws on the latest research and his own personal experiences,both as a primatologist and as a soldier,to explain that male violence is largely innate, a product of millions of years of evolution. In the process, he debunks many of our most clung-to, politically correct" notions: that the differences between men and women are strictly due to socialization, that rape is really about power,not sex,and that genocide is only possible with a single madman at the helm. Well-argued, evenhanded, yet never dull, this important book illuminates the darkest impulses of the male psyche, and suggests ways for modern society to curb them.

In Things That Make Us Smart, Donald A. Norman explores the complex interaction between human thought and the technology it creates, arguing for the development of machines that fit our minds, rather than minds that must conform to the machine.Humans have always worked with objects to extend our cognitive powers, from counting on our fingers to designing massive supercomputers. But advanced technology does more than merely assist with thought and memory,the machines we create begin to shape how we think and, at times, even what we value. Norman, in exploring this complex relationship between humans and machines, gives us the first steps towards demanding a person-centreed redesign of the machines that surround our lives.

Convinced that the veil is a symbol of unjust male authority over women, in The Veil and the Male Elite , Moroccan feminist Fatima Mernissi aims to investigate the origins of the practice in the first Islamic community.

Bill Nye The Science Guy knows how cool science can be. After all, everything in the universe involves science. And you already think scientifically everyday, even if you don't know it. So get ready for a universe of amazing fun,you'll have a blast. Read about quarks, quasars, and the questions that scientists are still trying to figure out. And find spectacular science projects that let you see how cool science guys and gals can be. Do you know: that everything you see is made up of just 92 kinds of atoms? why this book and your hands are mostly empty space? how to launch a hot-air baloon? that light comes as both waves and particles (but doesn't come out of a black hole?) how to build a miniature electric motor? why microwave ovens and lamps are like radios? how a television show arrives at your TV set? that we move more than 100 miles through space every second? about entropy? ozone? absolute zero? heavy water? pulsars?

As a supervisor, manager, engineer, or technical expert, you may often be asked to pass on your important knowledge and skill to other people in your organization. This convenient handbook provides everything you need to know to succeed with these occasional or routine training assignments. Formatted for easy reference, and avoiding jargon or heavy doses of theory, this unique volume lays out the basics of training, including:the characteristics of the adult learnertraining objectives and why they are importanthow to design a training programwhen and how to use different instructional techniquesselecting the right visual aidcreating lesson planshow to give an effective presentationdrawing on subject matter expertsevaluating and giving feedbackAlong with practical tips and examples, author Steven Ellis, also provides extensive checklists, a summary of each chapter's main points, and a list of references and materials--everything to help you from start to finish.

Organizational Diagnosis suggest ways of looking at an organization to determine "gaps" between "what is" and "what ought to be."In workbook format, the author presents a vocabulary and concepts which quickly help the reader understand many things about an organization and decide what changes need to be made. To help in the diagnosis, a "six-box model" using the categories if structure, purposes, relationships, rewards, helpful mechanisms, and leadership is provided in Part I. On left-hand pages are presented the vocabulary and concepts of this diagnostic process, the various factors affecting an organization's performance, and the key elements leading to improvement. The right-hand pages in Part I furnish brief pencil-and-paper exercises for trying out these theories and evaluating any organization the reader is familiar with. Part II consists of annotated readings from leading theory sources, offering opportunities for a more comprehensive study of the diagnostic concepts introduced in Part I of the book. Thus readers can proceed from brief theory, to personal experience, to in-depth study--as they wish.The six-box framework provides a way of organizing experience that makes sense to managers.Weisbord's concepts have been applied successfully to work teams, industrial firms, government agencies, universities, medical centers, and small businesses. They can be used as a "cognitive" framework for team development, management training, supervisory training courses, organizational behavior education, or diagnostic self-study.The two parts, theory and practice in the first section plus resource readings in the second, make this an ideal book around which to design introductory courses in organizational behavior, as part of undergraduate or graduate management training. The book may also be used in continuing education courses, whether oriented toward industry, the public sector, or health care.

How do you want your next presentation to come across? as a bland outline that glosses over your topic? as a "data dump," confusing or boring your audience? as nerve-wracking torture for everyone involved? The key to effective presentations is preparation, so Loud and Clear shows you six steps for planning any technical or business presentation. It discusses the best use of audiovisual aids and explains the basics of set-up and delivery. Loud and Clear's practical, step-by-step advice has helped more than 300,000 technical experts become expert presenters as well. Whether you present proposals to new clients or a weekly status report, Loud and Clear will help you deliver your message clearly and confidently.

Miller's Bolt is the fast-paced fictional story of a top-notch manager who is in danger of being fired. For although Jim Manion does his job well, his relationships with his coworkers have become increasingly antagonistic. Given just three months to turn himself around, Jim consults his friend Peter Miller, a personal performance coach, and together the two of them work to save Jim's career.We watch Jim as he learns new interpersonal skills, manages change, and improves his performance. Thomas Stirr guides us through the techniques and conceptual tools that Jim uses, including Miller's Bolt--a simple and logical tool that reminds us that our performance is never static. We are either getting a little better and moving up the threads on our bolt, or a little worse and moving downward--every day.Realistic characters and situations bring the story alive as Jim faces the challenges of a tense board meeting, a climate of lagging sales, and his personal nemesis, a manipulative coworker who tests Jim's newfound skills.Each of these dramatic turning points further crystallizes the main message of the book: If we want our lives to be different in the future we have to make different decisions today. By taking responsibility for our perceptions, our relationships, and our performance, we gain the ability to learn and grow.As we read about Jim's success and failures, we learn along with him the practical skills that we all need to thrive in today's business world. Miller's Bolt is a new kind of business book: It's a page-turner.

A hard-headed liberal economist, Alan Blinder clearly shows how economic policy is made in America and how good policies often make bad politics. He discusses liberal-conservative divisiveness and shows how it often prevents sound economic advice from being heeded. Blinder offers his own nonpartisan vision for the future of our economic society and challenges law-makers--Democrats and Republicans--to do better.

Today's business prose has to be done yesterday. And it has to cut through gigabytes of other information. Can your memos and marketing material compete? do you spend so much time agonizing over words that you have no time for other work?With Words at Work you can make your writing faster, more foreceful, and more fun. Susan Benjamin's six-step process can turn your next business documnet into the best you've ever written. Learn to: Raise a "writing umbrella" to make your message memorable; exorcise the demons of past criticism and bad advice; strengthen your style at a glance with "no-read" editing.Words at Work gives you quick-and-easy recipes for the most important letters, reports, and proposals. It steers you around the potholes of punctuation, usage, and grammar. Soon all your business documents, from press releases to e-mail, will reflect your best work--and leave you enough time to do that work!

Rain of Iron and Ice shows us the unmistakable evidence--from spaceprobe flybys of the planets to the scars on our own Earth--of cataclysmic comet and asteroid impacts. By comparing what we know about the earth's geology and paleontology with the ages of the other planets and moons in our solar system, Lewis makes the strongest case yet for sudden, dramatic extinctions and assesses the risks to planet Earth.

Scientists believe that we would not be here it were not for three great cataclysms in the early history of Earth and of the universe. This is the first book to explore the deep connection between the events that shaped life on Earth: the "Big Bang" that spawned an entire universe; the explosion of a supernova, which seeded the solar system with heavy elements; and the crash of a comet or asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and cleared the way for the evolution of mammals.

Scientist and submersible pilot Cindy Lee Van Dover has travelled to the bottom of the sea. In this book she gives voice to the scientific passion that motivates her while taking us along with her as she reveals the wonders of the ocean floor.

With elegant simplicity, Maxim D. Frank-Kamenetskii elucidates the essential history and inner workings of DNA-a tiny molecule that holds within it the deepest mysteries of life. As Frank-Kamenetskii explains, DNA will undoubtedly shape our future, too, as we call upon it to convict criminals, clone creatures, and ultimately, cure cancer. This definitive guide to DNA, a previous version of which sold over 300,000 copies in the author's native Russia, promises to both inform and inspire.

With the increased pressures on business today, the workplace can be rampant with resentment, subpar performance, and inflexibility. So how does a manager address the issue of employee and coworker negativity, and create a more positive workplace? Using practical information, useful diagnostic tests, and hands-on instruction, The Bad Attitude Survival Guide provides managers with the tools, insights, and strategies to identify root causes of antiproductive behaviour, diagnose problems, and foster a more cooperative and productive working environment. It also realistically assesses the limitations managers might face, identifies problems that cannot be corrected, and suggests how to proceed in a way that will obtain the most desirable results.

A century ago, the living body, like most of the material world, was opaque. Then Wilhelm Roentgen captured and X-ray image of his wife's finger,her wedding ring floating" around a white bone,and our range of vision changed forever. By the 1920s, X-ray technology was common-place: all army recruits had lined up for chest pictures during WWI, and children were examining the bones of their feet in shoe store fluoroscopes, spectacularly unaware of the radiation they were absorbing. Through lucid prose, vivid anecdotes, and over seventy striking illustrations, science writer Bettyann Holtzman Kevles shows how X-rays and the subsequent daughter technologies,CT, MRI, PET, ultrasound,transformed the practice of medicine (from pediatrics to neurosurgery), the rules of evidence in courts, and the vision of artists.

Until very recently, all we really knew about Venus, our nearest planetary neighbour, was that it was roughly the same size and mass as the earth and was surrounded by a thick atmosphere. Then, in 1989, American scientists launched Magellan,the spacecraft that would revolutionize our vision of this mysterious planet. Venus Revealed is the first book to explain the breathtaking results of this mission, which unveiled a Venusian world of active volcanoes, shining mountains, and river valleys carved by torrents of flowing lava. At one time, Venus may have even had a wet, temperate climate, much like Earth's. What happened to turn it into a hostile, burning acid world? The answer could very well help us solve some of our most pressing environmental problems,from global warming to acid rain. In Venus Revealed, David Grinspoon eloquently argues that studying our exotic twin will inevitable teach us more about ourselves.

This is the compelling, first-hand account of Alan Guth's paradigm-breaking discovery of the origins of the universe,and of his dramatic rise from young researcher to physics superstar. Guth's startling theory,widely regarded as one of the most important contributions to science during the twentieth century,states that the big bang was set into motion by a period of hyper-rapid inflation," lasting only a billion-trillion-billionth of a second. The Inflationary Universe is the passionate story of one leading scientist's effort to look behind the cosmic veil and explain how the universe began.

Martin Broadwell has dominated the field of management training for over thirty years, inspiring and guiding thousands of front-line managers in virtually every industry, in the U.S. and abroad. In this classic bestseller he offers new managers a comprehensive primer to the essentials of effective management,delegation, problem solving, motivation, time management, communication, and performance appraisal. Now teamed up with his daughter, he has expanded and updated this handy guide to reflect the management issues of the '90s, including stress management and team building. Packed with practical examples, no-nonsense advice, and illustrative exercises, The New Supervisor is an indispensable resource for every manager on the way up.

The Particle Garden is the clearest survey of particle physics, including the theory, its experimental foundations, its relations to cosmology and astrophysics, and its future. Known as an excellent expositor of physics, Kane has marshaled his research and teaching experience to make this daunting subject understandable to all readers.

The Manufactured Crisis debunks the myths that test scores in America's schools are falling, that illiteracy is rising, and that better funding has no benefit. It shares the good news about public education. Disputing conventional wisdom, this book ignited debate in Newsweek, The New York Times, and the entire teaching profession. Winner of the American Educational Research Association book award, The Manufactured Crisis is the best source of facts and analysis for people who care about what's really happening in our schools.

Why do we make mistakes? Are there certain errors common to failure, whether in a complex enterprise or daily life? In this truly indispensable book, Dietrich Dörner identifies what he calls the logic of failure",certain tendencies in our patterns of thought that, while appropriate to an older, simpler world, prove disastrous for the complex world we live in now. Working with imaginative and often hilarious computer simulations, he analyzes the roots of catastrophe, showing city planners in the very act of creating gridlock and disaster, or public health authorities setting the scene for starvation. The Logic of Failure is a compass for intelligent planning and decision-making that can sharpen the skills of managers, policymakers and everyone involved in the daily challenge of getting from point A to point B.

Yes, You Can! gives you good advice, and it gives you more: it tells how you can make that advice part of your daily life. Whether your goal is to speak eloquently, discover hidden talents, or find fulfillment at work, this book can help. It covers more than 125 personal goals with the clear, practical advice for which Deep and Sussman are known. The result is an inspiring guide to improving yourself and improving your relationships, balancing work and home, and building lasting success. Many books will tell you that you can achieve your goals. Yes, You Can! gives you the tools to make that happen.

Whether you're in charge of a small business, a big department, or a growing corporation, you face more challenges than most managers. Smart Moves for People in Charge answers the big questions for people with big responsibilities. Easy-to-use checklists explain how leaders motivate and manage groups, uncover new ideas, stay close to customers, handle budgets, and find balance in a busy life.