Daylight Robbery

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Panorama | Daylight Robbery:

"Daylight Robbery: BBC One 9pm Tuesday 10 June 2008. Panorama investigates claims that as much as $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or not properly accounted for in Iraq."

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams read by Stephen Fry

Description

Don't leave Earth without this hilarious international bestseller about the end of the world and the happy-go-lucky days that follow...about the worst Thursday that ever happened and why the Universe is a lot safer if you bring a towel.

Last Lecture

Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow read by Erik Singer

Description

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." - Randy Pausch

A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave - "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" - wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

In this audiobook, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

For more information visit www.theLastLecture.com

GOD's Banana

from kottke.org by jason@kottke.org
Man, I love this video. It's some guy explaining how...

Man, I love this video. It's some guy explaining how the banana -- "the atheist's nightmare" -- so perfectly fits in the human hand and peels so easily that it must have been made by God**. Kirk Cameron listens intently. I can't wait for the followup video where he explains why watermelons don't have handles and what God was thinking when he built the coconut.

** Not that this guy cares or whatever, but the modern banana is a cultivated fruit...i.e. pressured by humans to, oh what's the word...evolve into its present form. And other varieties of bananas are smaller or larger and differently shaped. Some wild bananas have large hard seeds. I could go on....

Bananas

Bananas: How The United Fruit Company Shaped the World by Peter Chapman

NYT Sunday Book Review
Big Fruit
By DANIEL KURTZ-PHELAN
Published: March 2, 2008
A U.S. company, Latin America and the dark side of the banana business.

Banana

Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World by Dan Koeppel

Description

From its early beginnings in Southeast Asia, to the machinations of the United Fruit Company in Costa Rica and Central America, the banana's history and its fate as a victim of fungus are explored.

New York Times - Op-Ed Contributor

Yes, We Will Have No Bananas

By DAN KOEPPEL

Published: June 18, 2008

If bananas reach $1 a pound, the strategy that allowed banana companies to turn an exotic, tropical fruit into an everyday favorite will begin to unravel.

The Nation - Banana Kings by Emily Biuso

The Passion Plan

The Passion Plan: Find Your Passion and Change Your Life by Richard Chang read by Richard Chang

Description

In The Passion Plan, Dr. Richard Chang presents seven simple steps to discovering the things we really care about, deciding where we want them to take us, and developing a plan to get us there.

Hot Target

Hot Target: Troubleshooters Series, Book 8 by Suzanne Brockmann read by Patrick Lawlor and Melanie Ewbank

Description

New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann knows exactly what makes hearts race and pulses pound: peril and passion. No one succeeds more brilliantly at blending these exhilarating elements in breathtaking novels of men and women forced to grapple with the deepest emotions and the highest risks. And there's no better proof than her new novel of suspense: Hot Target aims to thrill on every level.

Like most men of action, Navy SEAL Chief Cosmo Richter has never learned how to take a vacation. So when he finds himself facing a month's leave, he offers his services to Troubleshooters Incorporated. Founded by a former SEAL, the private-sector security firm is a major player in the ongoing war against terrorism, carrying out covert missions too volatile for official U.S. military action. But the first case Richter takes on is anything but under the radar.

High-profile maverick movie producer Jane Mercedes Chadwick hasn't quite completed her newest film, but she's already courting controversy. The World War II epic frankly portrays the homosexuality of a real-life hero - and the storm of media buzz surrounding it has drawn the fury of extremist groups. But despite a relentless campaign of angry e-mails, phone calls, and smear tactics, Chadwick won't be pressured into abandoning the project. Then the harassment turns to death threats.

Though the FBI is on the scene, nervous Holly-wood associates call in Troubleshooters, and now Chadwick has an army of round-the-clock body-guards whether she likes it or not. And she definitely doesn't. But her stubbornness doesn't make FBI agent Jules Cassidy's job any easier. The fiercely independent filmmaker presents yet another emotional obstacle that Cassidy doesn't need - he's already in the midst of a personal tug-of-war with his ex-lover, and now he's also fighting a growing attraction to Chadwick's brother.

Determined to succeed - and survive - on her own terms, Chadwick will face off with enemies and allies alike. And yet she hasn't counted on the bond she'll form with the quiet, capable Cosmo Richter. Even as the noose of deadly terror around them draws tighter, their feelings bring them closer. And when all hell erupts, desire and desperate choices will collide on a killing ground that may trap them both in the crossfire.

The Golden Rule of Schmoozing

The Golden Rule of Schmoozing: The Authentic Practice of Treating Others Well by Aye Jaye read by Penn Jillette

Description

So what is schmoozing? According to Webster's unabridged dictionary, schmoozing is a yiddish word that means to chat or to converse idly. But today there is a common misconception, the word has come to suggest a con or trickery. It's not. Schmoozing is the Golden Rule at full throttle. It's a thrill and an art form that encourages people to say, "you've made my day" instead of demanding "make my day". It's a technique for turning others on, not taking others on. A schmoozer is someone who talks to people as if they really mattered-and they do! Read by Penn Jillette, who has been called the most wired magician on this planet, is the more gregarious half of Penn & Teller—the world’s most famous magic duo.

Kingfish

Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long by Richard D. White, Jr. read by Patrick Cullen

Description

Outrageous demagogue or charismatic visionary? In this powerful new biography, Richard D. White, Jr., brings Huey Long to life in all his blazing, controversial glory.

From the moment he took office as governor in 1928 to the day an assassin’s bullet cut him down in1935, Huey Long wielded all but dictatorial control over the state of Louisiana. A man of shameless ambition and ruthless vindictiveness, Huey orchestrated elections, hired and fired thousands at will, and deployed the state militia as his personal police force. And yet, paradoxically, as governor and later as senator, Huey did more good for the state’s poor and uneducated than any politician before or since.

With Kingfish, White has crafted a balanced, lucid, and absolutely spellbinding portrait of the life and times of the most incendiary figure in American politics.

Poe: A Life Cut Short

Poe: A Life Cut Short by Peter Ackroyd

Edgar Allan Poe's life (1809-1849) was Gothic, mysterious, theatrical, fatally flawed, original, dark, dazzling, satirical, inventive - in short, an ideal subject for Peter Ackroyd. Concise, dramatic and immensely readable, this is an essential and idiosyncratic addition to Ackroyd's canon of brilliant biographies.

Look Me in the Eye

Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison read by Mark Deakins

Description

Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them)—had earned him the label "social deviant." No guidance came from his mother, who conversed with light fixtures, or his father, who spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. It was no wonder he gravitated to machines, which could, at least, be counted on. After fleeing his parents and dropping out of high school, his savant-like ability to visualize electronic circuits landed him a gig with KISS, for whom he created their legendary fire-breathing guitars. Later, he drifted into a "real" job, as an engineer for a major toy company. But the higher Robison rose in the company, the more he had to pretend to be "normal" and do what he simply couldn't: communicate. It wasn't worth the paycheck. It was not until he was forty that an insightful therapist told him he had the form of autism called Asperger's syndrome. That understanding transformed the way Robison saw himself—and the world. LOOK ME IN THE EYE is the moving, darkly funny story of growing up with Asperger's at a time when the diagnosis simply didn't exist. A born storyteller, Robison takes you inside the head of a boy whom teachers and other adults regarded as "defective," who could not avail himself of KISS's endless supply of groupies, and who still has a peculiar aversion to using people's given names (he calls his wife "Unit Two"). He also provides a fascinating reverse angle on the younger brother he left at the mercy of their nutty parents—the boy who would later change his name to Augusten Burroughs and write the bestselling memoir Running with Scissors. Ultimately, this is the story of Robison's journey from his world into ours, and his new life as a husband, father, and successful small business owner—repairing his beloved high-end automobiles. It's a strange, sly, indelible account—sometimes alien, yet always deeply human.

America Alone

America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It by Mark Steyn read by Brian Emerson

Description

It’s the end of the world as we know it. Someday soon, you might wake up to the call to prayer of a muezzin. Europeans already do.

Liberals tell us that “diversity is our strength”—while Talibanic enforcers cruise Greenwich Village burning books and barber shops, while the Supreme Court decides that sharia law doesn’t violate the “separation of church and state,” and the Hollywood Left decides to give up on gay rights in favor of the much safer charms of polygamy.

If you think this can’t happen, you haven’t been paying attention, as the hilarious and provocative columnist Mark Steyn shows to devastating effect in this, his first book on American and global politics.

The Return of History

The Return of History and the End of Dreams by Robert Kagan

Description

Hopes for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War have been dashed by sobering realities: Great powers are once again competing for honor and influence. The world remains "unipolar," but international competition among the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Japan, India, and Iran raise new threats of regional conflict. In The Return of History and the End of Dreams, Robert Kagan masterfully poses the most important questions facing the liberal democratic countries, challenging them to choose whether they want to shape history or let others shape it for them.

Your Inner Fish

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5 Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin

Description

Why do we look the way we do? What does the human hand have in common with the wing of a fly? Are breasts, sweat glands, and scales connected in some way? To better understand the inner workings of our bodies and to trace the origins of many of today's most common diseases, we have to turn to unexpected sources: worms, flies, and even fish.

Neil Shubin, a leading paleontologist and professor of anatomy who discovered Tiktaalik—the "missing link" that made headlines around the world in April 2006—tells the story of evolution by tracing the organs of the human body back millions of years, long before the first creatures walked the earth. By examining fossils and DNA, Shubin shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our head is organized like that of a long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genome look and function like those of worms and bacteria.

Shubin makes us see ourselves and our world in a completely new light. Your Inner Fish is science writing at its finest—enlightening, accessible, and told with irresistible enthusiasm.

Super Crunchers

Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart by Ian Ayres

Today, number crunching affects your life in ways you might never imagine. In this lively and groundbreaking new book, economist Ian Ayres shows how today's best and brightest organizations are analyzing massive databases at lightening speed to provide greater insights into human behavior. They are the Super Crunchers. From internet sites like Google and Amazon that know your tastes better than you do, to a physician's diagnosis and your child's education, to boardrooms and government agencies, this new breed of decision makers are calling the shots. And they are delivering staggeringly accurate results. How can a football coach evaluate a player without ever seeing him play? Want to know whether the price of an airline ticket will go up or down before you buy? How can a formula outpredict wine experts in determining the best vintages? Super crunchers have the answers. In this brave new world of equation versus expertise, Ayres shows us the benefits and risks, who loses and who wins, and how super crunching can be used to help, not manipulate us.

Howl

Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg

The epigraph for Howl is from Walt Whitman: "Unscrew the locks from the doors!/Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!" Announcing his intentions with this ringing motto, Allen Ginsberg published a volume of poetry which broke so many social taboos that copies were impounded as obscene, and the publisher, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, was arrested. The court case that followed found for Ginsberg and his publisher, and the publicity made both the poet and the book famous. Ginsberg went on from this beginning to become a cultural icon of sixties radicalism. This works seminal place in the culture is indicated in Czeslaw Milosz's poetic tribute to Ginsberg: "Your blasphemous howl still resounds in a neon desert where the human tribe wanders, sentenced to unreality".

The Dharma Bums

The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac read by Tom Parker

Description

Two ebullient young men are engaged in a passionate search for dharma, or truth. Their major adventure is the pursuit of the Zen way, which takes them climbing into the high Sierras to seek the lesson of solitude, a lesson that has a hard time surviving their forays into the pagan groves of San Francisco's Bohemia with its marathon wine-drinking bouts, poetry jam sessions, experiments in "yabyum," and similar nonascetic pastimes.

This autobiographical novel appeared just a year after the author's explosive On the Road put the Beat generation on the literary map and Kerouac on the best-seller lists. The same expansiveness, humor, and contagious zest for life that sparked the earlier novel ignites this one.

Know-How

Know-How
The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't

Description

The new grand theory of leadership by Ram Charan…The breakthrough audiobook that links know-how--the skills of people who know what they are doing--with the personal and psychological traits of the successful leader.

How often have you heard someone with a commanding presence deliver a bold vision that turned out to be nothing more than rhetoric and hot air? All too often we mistake the appearance of leadership for the real deal. Without a doubt, intelligence, vision, and the ability to communicate are important. But something big is missing: the know-how of running a business--the capacity to take it in the right direction, do the right things, make the right decisions, deliver results, and leave the people and the business better off than they were before.

For well over four decades, Ram Charan has been learning in the most visceral way the underlying reasons why leaders succeed and fail. As one of the most influential advisers to top management teams of leading companies around the world, he has had a front-row seat to observe the cause and effect of leadership practices and behaviors.

How To Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less

http://www.nicholasboothman.com/manifestos.htm

Description

Whether meeting a new client or bumping into a potential mate, you only have a few seconds to make a favorable impression. Is that really possible? Author Nicholas Boothman, a lecturer and licensed master practitioner of neurolinguistic programming, believes yes! He introduces a revolutionary approach to face-to-face communication that will help anyone succeed at making meaningful, and immediate, connections. Whether selling, managing, job hunting, negotiating, pitching an idea, applying for law school, joining a new group, or on your knees with a marriage proposal, the secret of success is based on connecting with other people. And the most powerful new idea for making connections is revealed, step by step, in Nicholas Boothman's breakthrough program of rapport by design. Easily learned, it will help you make the best of any relationship's most important moment: those first 90 seconds!