QUICK DELIVERY
Swift dispatch
The Real Politics of the Horn of Afri...
Brief Summary
The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa delves into the business of politics in the turbulent, war-torn countries of north-east Africa. It is a contemporary history of how politicians, generals and insurgents bargain over money and power, and use of war to achieve their goals.
Drawing on a thirty-year career in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, including experience as a participant in high-level peace talks, Alex de Waal provides a unique and compelling account of how these countries’ leaders run their governments, conduct their business, fight their wars and, occasionally, make peace.
De Waal shows how leaders operate on a business model, securing funds for their ‘political budgets’ which they use to rent the provisional allegiances of army officers, militia commanders, tribal chiefs and party officials at the going rate. This political marketplace is eroding the institutions of government and reversing state buildingÑ and it is fuelled in large part by oil exports, aid funds and western military assistance for counter-terrorism and peacekeeping.
The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa is a sharp and disturbing book with profound implications for international relations, development and peacemaking in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
ISBN:9780745695587
Author:Alex de Waal
Weapons of Math Destruction How Big D...
Brief Summary
A former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on mathematical modeling—a pervasive new force in society that threatens to undermine democracy and widen inequality.
We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules, and bias is eliminated. But as Cathy O’Neil reveals in this shocking book, the opposite is true.
The models being used today are opaque, unregulated, and uncontestable, even when they’re wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination: If a poor student can’t get a loan because a lending model deems him too risky (by virtue of his race or neighborhood), he’s then cut off from the kind of education that could pull him out of poverty, and a vicious spiral ensues. Models are propping up the lucky and punishing the downtrodden, creating a "toxic cocktail for democracy.” Welcome to the dark side of Big Data.
Tracing the arc of a person’s life, from college to retirement, O’Neil exposes the black box models that shape our future, both as individuals and as a society. Models that score teachers and students, sort resumes, grant (or deny) loans, evaluate workers, target voters, set parole, and monitor our health—all have pernicious feedback loops.
They don’t simply describe reality, as proponents claim, they change reality, by expanding or limiting the opportunities people have. O’Neil calls on modelers to take more responsibility for how their algorithms are being used. But in the end, it’s up to us to become more savvy about the models that govern our lives. This important book empowers us to ask the tough questions, uncover the truth, and demand change.
ISBN:9780553418811
Author:Cathy O'Neil
Work in Progress and Other Stories
Brief Summary
The Caine Prize for African Writing is Africa’s leading literary prize and is awarded to a short story by an African writer published in English, whether in Africa or elsewhere. This edition collects the five 2009 shortlisted stories, along with twelve stories written at the Caine Prize Writers’ Workshop, taking place in spring 2009.
Previous winners and entrants include Segun Afolabi, Leila Aboulela, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Brian Chikwava, Henrietta Rose-Innes, Mary Watson, and Binyavanga Wainaina.
The collection will be released in time for the announcement of the award in July 2009.
This year's shortlist:
• Mamle Kabu (Ghana), 'The End of Skill from Dreams,' from Miracles and Jazz, published by Picador Africa, Johannesburg 2008
• Parselelo Kantai (Kenya), 'You Wreck Her,' from the St Petersburg Review, NY 2008
• Alistair Morgan (South Africa), 'Icebergs,' from The Paris Review no.
183, NY 2008
• EC Osondu (Nigeria), 'Waiting,' from Guernicamag.com, October 2008
• Mukoma wa Ngugi (Kenya), 'How Kamau wa Mwangi Escaped into Exile,' from Wasafiri No54, Summer 2008, London
ISBN:9781906523145
Author:The Caine Prize for African Writing
Knowledge And Decisions by Thomas Sowell
Brief Summary
With a new preface by the author, this reissue of Thomas Sowell's classic study of decision making updates his seminal work in the context of The Vision of the Anointed, Sowell, one of America's most celebrated public intellectuals, describes in concrete detail how knowledge is shared and disseminated throughout modern society.
He warns that society suffers from an ever-widening gap between firsthand knowledge and decision making—a gap that threatens not only our economic and political efficiency, but our very freedom because actual knowledge gets replaced by assumptions based on an abstract and elitist social vision of what ought to be.
Knowledge and Decisions, a winner of the 1980 Law and Economics Center Prize, was heralded as a ”landmark work” and selected for this prize ”because of its cogent contribution to our understanding of the differences between the market process and the process of government.” In announcing the award, the center acclaimed Sowell, whose ”contribution to our understanding of the process of regulation alone would make the book important, but in reemphasizing the diversity and efficiency that the market makes possible, [his] work goes deeper and becomes even more significant.”
ISBN:9780465037384
Author:Thomas Sowell
Barbarians at the Gate The Fall of RJ...
Brief Summary
A #1 New York Times bestseller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco. An enduring masterpiece of investigative journalism by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, it includes a new afterword by the authors that brings this remarkable story of greed and double-dealings up to date twenty years after the famed deal.
The Los Angeles Times calls Barbarians at the Gate, "Superlative.” The Chicago Tribune raves, "It’s hard to imagine a better story...and it’s hard to imagine a better account.”
And in an era of spectacular business crashes and federal bailouts, it still stands as a valuable cautionary tale that must be heeded.
ISBN:9780060536350
Author:Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
How to Use Your Enemies
Brief Summary
'Better mad with the crowd than sane all alone'
In these witty, Machiavellian aphorisms, unlikely Spanish priest Baltasar Gracián shows us how to exploit friends and enemies alike to thrive in a world of deception and illusion.
Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries.
They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.
ISBN:9780141398273
Author:Baltasar Gracián
Willpower Rediscovering the Greatest ...
Brief Summary
One of the world's most esteemed and influential psychologists, Roy F. Baumeister, teams with New York Times science writer John Tierney to reveal the secrets of self-control and how to master it.
Pioneering research psychologist Roy F. Baumeister collaborates with New York Times science writer John Tierney to revolutionize our understanding of the most coveted human virtue: self-control. Drawing on cutting-edge research and the wisdom of real-life experts, Willpower shares lessons on how to focus our strength, resist temptation, and redirect our lives. It shows readers how to be realistic when setting goals, monitor their progress, and how to keep faith when they falter.
By blending practical wisdom with the best of recent research science, Willpower makes it clear that whatever we seek—from happiness to good health to financial security—we won’t reach our goals without first learning to harness self-control.
ISBN:9780143122234
Author:Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney
Money Makers Inside the New World of ...
Brief Summary
Money Makers illuminates the often secretive industries of the private sector that drive the modern economy. David Snider and Chris Howard draw on their interviews with top executives- such as Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase; David Rubenstein, Cofounder of the Carlyle Group; and Shona Brown, Senior Vice President of Business Operations at Google- to reveal the histories, mechanics, operations and challenges of investment banking, venture capital, private equity, hedge funds, management consulting, and the management of Fortune 500 companies.
Money Makers is an indispensable on-the-ground guide that puts today’s financial landscape into perspective.
With a Foreword by Robert K. Steel, Former CEO of Wachovia and Under Secretary of Domestic Finance for the US Treasury.
ISBN:9780230614017
Author:David Snider and Chris Howard
Lewis Hamilton My Story
Brief Summary
Benjamin Franklin’s account of his rise from poverty and obscurity to affluence and fame has charmed every generation of readers since it first appeared. Begun as a collection of anecdotes for his son, the memoir grew into a history of his remarkable achievements in the literary, scientific, and political realms. A printer, inventor, scientist, diplomat, and statesman, Franklin was also a brilliant writer whose wit and wisdom shine on every page. His Autobiography has deservedly become the most widely read American autobiography of all time—the self-portrait of a quintessential American.
Franklin was a remarkably prolific writer, and is equally beloved for his humorous, philosophical, parodic, and satirical writings, parables, and maxims, which he published under an astonishing number of pen names, including Poor Richard, the Busy-Body, and Silence Dogood. This hardcover edition of The Autobiography and Other Writings contains a varied selection of these, including "The Kite Experiment,” "A Parable Against Persecution,” "Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind,” "Rules for Making Oneself a Disagreeable Companion,” and "The Way to Wealth.”
Lewis Hamilton's explosive arrival on the Formula 1 scene has made front-page headlines. In My Story, for the first time Lewis opens up about his stunning debut season in grand prix racing, as well as his dad Anthony, his home life and his early years. The only book with the real story, as told by Lewis.
In his first season in F1, Lewis Hamilton thrilled the world of motor racing by finishing on the podium in his first nine consecutive races – the first driver to do so in the sport's 57-year history – and drove to victories in Canada, America, Hungary and Japan. But bare statistics alone do scant justice to the amazing impact Lewis Hamilton has had on the sporting landscape. My Story gives the real account from Lewis himself, as he sets the record straight about his colorful life on and off the track.
Given a grounded upbringing by his dedicated father in unremarkable Stevenage, Lewis tells about how he first tried out go-karting while on a cut-price family holiday in Ibiza. In his book he gives the real version of events at a motor sport dinner where, as a nine-year-old wearing a borrowed suit, he approached McLaren team boss Ron Dennis with the immortal words that were to change his life forever.
He rose rapidly through the Junior and Formula ranks, dominating every series with his raw speed and canny race craft. Here Lewis candidly recalls those key moments that shaped his career and went some way towards compensating for the sacrifices made by his father Anthony in getting his son to the top.
Lewis also charts how he got into the sport and was signed up by Ron Dennis, what motivates him, who are his closest friends, how he copes with the constant travelling, and the physical and mental challenges of driving a state-of-the-art Formula 1 car. He looks back in detail at the 2007 World Championship – the race wins, the frightening crash in Germany, his intense rivalry with team-mate Fernando Alonso, his special relationship with Ron Dennis, and the furore over the Ferrari allegations – right up to the dramatic last race of the season in Brazil.
ISBN:9780007270064
Author:Lewis Hamilton
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Brief Summary
The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky, Perks follows observant "wallflower” Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood.
First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes.
Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.
ISBN:9780671027346
Author:Stephen Chbosky
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo’s tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, when, owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place; and by the relentless investigations of the dogged policeman Javert.
It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty.
A compelling and compassionate view of the victims of early nineteenth-century French society, Les Misérables is a novel on an epic scale, moving inexorably from the eve of the battle of Waterloo to the July Revolution of 1830.
Norman Denny’s introduction to his lively English translation discusses Hugo’s political and artistic aims in writing Les Misérables.
The In Between World of Vikram Lall
Brief Summary
Vikram Lall comes of age in 1950s Kenya, at the same time that the colony is struggling towards independence. Against the unsettling backdrop of Mau Mau violence, Vic and his sister Deepa, the grandchildren of an Indian railroad worker, search for their place in a world sharply divided between Kenyans and the British.
We follow Vic from a changing Africa in the fifties, to the hope of the sixties, and through the corruption and fear of the seventies and eighties. Hauntingly told in the voice of the now exiled Vic, The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is an acute and bittersweet novel of identity and family, of lost love and abiding friendship, and of the insidious legacy of the British Empire.
ISBN:9781400076567
Author:M.G. Vassanji
So the Path Does Not Die by Pede Hollist
Long after Fina has left Sierra Leone for America, memories of a broken initiation still haunt her. She longs to return, to find her grandmother and right the path that has been set for young girl’s centuries past.
Her journey from the streets of Freetown to Washington echo with the tensions, ambiguities, and fragmentation of the diaspora.
Fina's inner turmoil and feelings of 'otherness', persist as she travels further from home.
Ultimately, the broken path of her childhood brings Fina back to Sierra Leone, to a life she had never imagined for herself.
So the Path Does Not Die is a tender and gently observed novel exploring attitudes towards female circumcision, and a beautifully rendered novel, rom an exciting new voice in African literature.
A Certain Amount of Madness The Life ...
Brief Summary
Thomas Sankara was one of Africa's most important anti-imperialist leaders of the late 20th Century. His declaration that fundamental socio-political change would require a 'certain amount of madness' drove the Burkinabe Revolution and resurfaced in the country's popular uprising in 2014. This book looks at Sankara's political philosophies and legacies and their relevance today.
Analyses of his synthesis of Pan-Africanism and humanist Marxist politics, as well as his approach to gender, development, ecology and decolonization offer new insights to Sankarist political philosophies. Critical evaluations of the limitations of the revolution examine his relationship with labour unions and other aspects of his leadership style.
His legacy is revealed by looking at contemporary activists, artists and politicians who draw inspiration from Sankarist thought in social movement struggles today, from South Africa to Burkina Faso. In the 30th anniversary of his assassination, this book illustrates how Sankara's political praxis continues to provide lessons and hope for decolonisation struggles today.
ISBN:9780745337579
Author:Amber Murrey
Amerika Novel
Brief Summary
Kafka’s first and funniest novel, Amerika tells the story of the young immigrant Karl Rossmann who, after an embarrassing sexual misadventure, finds himself "packed off to America” by his parents.
Expected to redeem himself in this magical land of opportunity, young Karl is swept up instead in a whirlwind of dizzying reversals, strange escapades, and picaresque adventures.
Although Kafka never visited America, images of its vast landscape, dangers, and opportunities inspired this saga of the "golden land.” Here is a startlingly modern, fantastic and visionary tale of America "as a place no one has yet seen, in a historical period that can’t be identified,” writes E. L. Doctorow in his new foreword. "Kafka made his novel from his own mind’s mythic elements,” Doctorow explains, "and the research data that caught his eye were bent like rays in a field of gravity.
ISBN:9780805210644
Author:Franz Kafka
The Discourses by NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
Brief Summary
Few figures in intellectual history have proved as notorious and ambiguous as Niccolo Machiavelli. But while his treatise The Prince made his name synonymous with autocratic ruthlessness and cynical manipulation, The Discourses (c.1517) shows a radically different outlook on the world of politics.
In this carefully argued commentary on Livy's history of republican Rome, Machiavelli proposed a system of government that would uphold civic freedom and security by instilling the virtues of active citizenship, and that would also encourage citizens to put the needs of the state above selfish, personal interests.
Ambitious in scope, but also clear-eyed and pragmatic, The Discourses creates a modern theory of republic politics. Leslie J. Walker's definitive translation has been revised by Brian Richardson and is accompanied by an introduction by Bernard Crick, which illuminates Machiavelli's historical context and his new theories of politics. This edition also includes suggestions for further reading and notes.
ISBN:9780140444285
Author:Niccolo Machiavelli
Precolonial Black Africa by Cheikh An...
Dark Matter
Brief Summary
"Are you happy with your life?”
Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.
Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.
Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, "Welcome back, my friend.”
In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.
Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.
From the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human—a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.
ISBN:9781101904220
Author:Blake Crouch
Kingdom Parenting
Brief Summary
The authors provide answers to burning questions both teens and parents have in facing the unique challenges of today.
Combined, they have more than 50 years’ experience ministering, counseling, training, and mentoring parents and young people.
ISBN:9780768424188
Author:Myles Munroe and David Burrows
The Confidence Code by Katty Kay and ...
Brief Summary
The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance – What Women Should Know
Following the success of Lean In and Why Women Should Rule the World, the authors of the bestselling Womenomics provide an informative and practical guide to understanding the importance of confidence—and learning how to achieve it—for women of all ages and at all stages of their career.
Working women today are better educated and better qualified than ever before. Yet men still predominate in the corporate world. In The Confidence Code, Claire Shipman and Katty Kay argue that the key reason is confidence.
Combining cutting-edge research in genetics, gender, behavior, and cognition—with examples from their own lives and those of other successful women in politics, media, and business—Kay and Shipman go beyond admonishing women to "lean in." Instead, they offer the inspiration and practical advice women need to close the gap and achieve the careers they want and deserve.