Search results for ""author bill"

Early one icy winter morning, Detective Alex King is called to a murder scene at a local park. The river is running high, and in the water lies the body of a woman, her wrists tied, and all her fingernails missing.The victim, beautiful, young Lola Evans, had a troubled past, but Alex's team can't find a reason why anyone would want to kill her. The pressure to solve the case keeps mounting, but all their leads run dry. Then, another body is found in the water.A disturbing clue suggests how the girls are connected. But who would target such vulnerable girls, and does this mean another life is at risk? Just when Alex thinks she has cracked the case, she realises one of her own team is in terrible danger.Alex is caught in a race against time to reach the next victim before it's too late... and some of her team must face terrifying truths from their own lives if they're to have a chance of catching the killer. Utterly nail-biting and compelling with a jaw-dropping twist, The Girls in the Water is perfect for fans of Robert Bryndza, Val McDermid, and Mark Billingham.

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As the planet warms, winter is shrinking. In the last fifty years, the Northern Hemisphere lost a million square miles of spring snowpack, and high-elevation snowpacks in the western United States have decreased by nearly half since 1982. On average, winter has shrunk by a month in most northern latitudes.In this deeply researched, beautifully written, and adventure-filled book, journalist Porter Fox travels along the edge of the Northern Hemisphere's snow line to track the scope of this drastic change and how it will literally change everything-from rapid sea level rise, to fresh water scarcity for two billion people, to massive greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost, and several climate tipping points that could very well spell the end of our world.This original research is animated by four harrowing and illuminating journeys-each grounded by interviews with idiosyncratic, charismatic experts in their respective fields and Fox's own narrative of growing up on a remote island in northern Maine.Timely, atmospheric, and expertly investigated, The Last Winter showcases a shocking and unexpected casualty of climate change-which may well set off its own unstoppable warming cycle.

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Berlin has survived two world wars, was divided by a wall during the Cold War, and after the fall of the wall was reunited. The city emerged as a center of European power and culture. From 1860 to the present day, this book is the most comprehensive photographic study of this extraordinary city, dense with spirit as much as with history. Some 560 pages gather aerial views, street scenes, portraits, and more to trace Berlin history from the Imperial Era as capital of Prussia through the Roaring Twenties to devastating images of war to heartwarming postwar photos of a city picking up the pieces—the Reichstag in ruins and later wrapped by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Among the photographs are works by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helmut Newton, René Burri, Robert Capa, Thomas Struth, and Wolfgang Tillmans in addition to well-known Berlin photo-chroniclers such as Friedrich Seidenstücker, Erich Salomon, Willy Römer, and Heinrich Zille (an index of photographers’ biographies is also included). The images are accompanied by quotes from Berliners and Berlin connoisseurs such as Vladimir Nabokov, Alfred Döblin, Herwarth Walden, Marlene Dietrich, Billy Wilder, John F. Kennedy, Willy Brandt, Helmut Newton, Sir Simon Rattle, and David Bowie. More than a tribute to the city and its civic, social, and photographic history, this book pays homage to Berlin’s inhabitants: full of hope and strength, in their faces is reflected Berlin’s undying soul.

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The Wild, Wild East recounts the adventures of late-onset Texan and international businessman Tom Meurer over a span of 55 years, from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism. As a freshly commissioned Air Force lieutenant, Tom experienced a build-up to war. But it was only after billionaire H. Ross Perot wooed him into the seemingly starchy world of software engineering that Meurer traveled to wartime Vietnam and Laos, searching for evidence of 1,600 missing U.S. prisoners of war. He found himself negotiating with drug-runners, brothel owners, gold smugglers, and dangerously high-ranking diplomats. What started as a privately funded international spy-ring, ended with a privately funded tickertape parade and star-studded weekend reception in San Francisco. Years later, he returned to Vietnam, looking for oil instead of prisoners.Between trips to Southeast Asia, Meurer began working with the Nixon White House as a presidential advance man. Beyond the obvious challenges of anti-war and civil rights protests, Meurer recounts the perils of camera angles, college football fans, bathroom visits, exotic helicopter rides, and the devastating 1970 Peruvian earthquake, which killed more than 80,000 people.Meurer tells of his longtime friendship and business career with Ray Hunt, of Hunt Oil Company, and the game-changing discovery of oil in Yemen – a country "storming out of the 14th century." Ever the fish-out-of-water, he describes his travels, negotiations, and business developments in "Red China" as it began to turn capitalist in 1979. Through his role in Chinese oil exploration, private equity, personal friendships, and the nascent beef industry, Meurer witnessed the People's Republic of China's meteoric rise over the following 35 years. Along the way, we find him pranking communist border guards, breaking out of curfew-imposed war zone hotels and into U.S. embassies, nearly crash landing in Siberia, arrested for jogging in Albania, vacationing with the family in Karl-Marx-Stadt, and ingesting unspeakably exotic foods. He watched leaders, luminaries, lending practices, and landscapes change and change again (and then again), while collecting hotel soap, memberships to airline VIP lounges, and frequent flyer miles. He often found himself in rooms with presidents, prime ministers, sheikhs, and village chiefs as history was happening.In true Forest Gumpian fashion, The Wild, Wild East is a study in best-case scenario of wit + energized wonder + proximity to wealth. Through the opportunities presented by Perot and Hunt, Dallas billionaires who were employers but became dear family friends, Meurer found himself living his best life, one of worldwide adventure while simply having fun, making an honest living, and helping the truest of people and best of friends.These are stories of one man's life – the career, adventures, and impressive people, friends, axioms, discoveries, events, cultures, and institutions he encountered along the way.

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Marine plant life is an abundant source of nutrients that enhance the daily diet. In recent years, consuming diets rich in seaweeds or their extracts have been shown to provide health benefits due to being rich in macronutrients, micronutrients and nutraceuticals. The commercial value of seaweeds for human consumption is increasing annually, and some countries harvest several million tons annually. The seaweeds industry is valued at around $12 billion in 2017, and supports millions of families worldwide. Seaweeds production grew globally by 30 million tons in 2016. Seaweeds have seen increasing usage in the food industry due to their abundance of beneficial nutrients, vitamins and ω–3 fatty acids. To date there have been no books that comprehensively cover up-to-date information on seaweeds cultivation, processing, extraction and nutritional properties. This text lays out the properties and effects of seaweeds from their use as bioresources to their use in the feed industry to their applications in wastewater management and biofuels. Sustainable Global Resources of Seaweeds Volume 2: Industrial Perspectives offers a complete overview of the application of seaweeds into food, pharmaceuticals and other health-based applications. The first section focuses on the various foods derived from seaweeds, including extensive insight into the beneficial nutrients these plants contain. The many functional foods derived from sea plants are covered in detail, including foods from tropical seaweeds, macroalgae, Monostroma, Caulerpa, Palmaria, Gracillaria, Porphyra, Laminaria, Fucus, Undaria, and many more. The chapters delve further into the nutritional makeup of these foods, their health benefits and chemical makeup. A second section is dedicated to the pharmaceutical applications of seaweeds and their many health benefits. With chapters devoted to vitamin sources, health properties and pharmaceutical applications, this section acts as a single source for researchers exploring the pharmaceutical applications and possibilities of seaweeds. Research, development, and commercial applications are explored, plus a complete picture of the multitude of health benefits derived from these plentiful and beneficial plants. For researchers in search of a comprehensive and up-to-date source on the application of nutrient-rich seaweeds from across the world into novel foods and pharmaceuticals, look no further than this volume.

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From legendary wrestling announcer Jim Ross, this candid, colorful memoir about the inner workings of the WWE and the personal crises he weathered at the height of his career is “a must-read for wrestling fans” (Charleston Post Courier).If you’ve caught a televised wrestling match anytime in the past thirty years, you’ve probably heard Jim Ross’s throaty Oklahoma twang. The beloved longtime announcer of the WWE “has been a driving force behind a generation of wrestling fans” (Mark Cuban), and he’s not slowing down, having signed on as the announcer of the starry new wrestling venture All Elite Wrestling. In this follow-up to his bestselling memoir Slobberknocker, he dishes out about not only his long career, which includes nurturing global stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and John Cena, but also about his challenges of aging and disability, his split from collaborator Vince McMahon, and the sudden death of his beloved wife, Jan. The result is a gruff, endearing, and remarkably human-scale portrait, set against the larger than life backdrop of professional wrestling. Ross’s ascent in WWE mirrors the rise of professional wrestling itself from a DIY sideshow to a billion-dollar business. Under the Black Hat traces all the highs and lows of that wild ride, in which Jim served not only as on-air commentator, but talent manager, payroll master, and even occasional in-ring foil to threats like Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Undertaker. While his role brought him riches and exposure he had never dreamed of, he chafed against the strictures of a fickle corporate culture and what he saw as a narrow vision of what makes great wrestlers—and great story lines. When suddenly stricken with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis that makes it impossible to smile, he started down his greatest fear—being cast out of the announcing booth for good. Picking up where Slobberknocker left off and ending on the cusp of a new career in a reimagined industry, Under the Black Hat is the triumphant tale of a country boy who made it to the top, took a few knocks, and stuck around—just where his fans like him. Not only being one of the greatest wrestlers of the WWE, Ross is also “a master storyteller, and this book is the perfect forum for his forty years’ worth of tales” (Chris Jericho, former WWE champion).

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Yes, it’s safe to go back to poetry. In fact, it’s highly recommended, thanks to Rex Wilder and his engaging first book of poems. Waking Bodies has already been praised by luminaries as diverse as the metrical Richard Wilbur and the asymmetrical Billy Collins for its qualities of pure enjoyment. The highly popular Collins, a Two-Term Poet Laureate of the United States, says, "In Rex Wilder's poetry, the tired English of everyday use comes back to us refreshed and full of its original surprise. In a world glutted with poetry, that Wilder has found a new way to say the old things is a notable achievement."

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Some summers were made for growing up… Dundee, 1917. When his father goes to fight in the war, 11-year-old James is sent to live with his mill-town relatives and his cousin, Billy. In this unfamiliar world of poverty, bullying, and uncertainty, James fights to be accepted and learns the true value of friendship and family. ‘The God of All Small Boys is the one who grows trees, with branches in just the right places, so we can climb right to the top. He invented fireworks and dogs and sticks and horses and muddy puddles. And he lets us find secret places... like this!’

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Public fire departments in the U.S. responded to almost 1.3 million fires in the United States in 2014. To help support local firefighting efforts, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), allocated almost $5.8 billion from 2009 to 2016 to award grants to fire departments and other organisations for equipment, staffing, research, and other needs. The FEMA's Grant Programs Directorate (GPD) revised fire grant policies for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG), Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER), and Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) grant programs in response to the Fire Grants Reauthorization Act of 2012 (FGRA).

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One of Sidney Sheldon’s most popular and bestselling titles, repackaged and reissued for a new generation of fans. A gripping, glamorous novel of scorching sensuality and heart-stopping evil. A beautiful French actress whose craving for passion and vengeance takes her from the gutters of Paris to the bedroom of a powerful billionaire; a dynamic Greek tycoon who never forgets an insult, never forgives an injury; and a handsome war hero lured from his wife by another woman. From Paris to Washington, Hollywood to the islands of Greece, The Other Side of Midnight is the story of four star-crossed lives enmeshed in a deadly ritual of passion, intrigue and corruption.

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A Celebration of Tea. One of the most popular drinks in the world, over two billion cups of tea are drunk every day! But how do you take yours? With one lump or two? At four o'clock with scones and jam?From humble beginnings in China over 5000 years ago, the humble cup of tea has become a staple in homes across the globe...'If you are cold, tea will warm you; If you are too heated, it will cool you; If you are depressed, it will cheer you; If you are excited, it will calm you' William Ewart Gladstone, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

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Billions of citizens around the world are frustrated with their governments. Why is this? And what can we do about it? In this groundbreaking book Michael Barber draws on his wealth of international experience advising political leaders, to show how those in power can make good on their promises. 'Refreshingly ruthless ... has an uplifting brio to it' Economist'Michael Barber is a source of inspiration and wisdom' Andrew Adonis, New Statesman'Excellent ... there is a lot of common sense and practical wisdom ... a breath of fresh air' David Willetts,Standpoint'Barber is the global overlord of public policy ... a record around the world of actually achieving change' Philip Collins, Prospect

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It is the mid 1870s, and the railroad being built westward toward San Antonio will eventually connect Texas to California. Luling, one of the towns springing up along the route, is the end of the line for a year or so. Established in 1874 a few miles east of the San Marcos River, Luling is a melting pot of humanity. Later known as the toughest town in Texas, it is a haven for gamblers, outlaws, and 'ladies of the night.'Hardeman Lodge follows some of the characters introduced in Plum Creek (TCU Press, 2016) as they meet the challenges that life presents them. Billy McCulloch faces some tough moral choices as he embarks upon the practice of law. Ada Adams and Everett Hardeman become engulfed in a crisis arising from her marriage to a cruel husband. And the indomitable Lily Poe is forced to deal with tragedy.In spite of lingering racial prejudice and streaks of lawlessness, principles of justice and fair play still live in the hearts of most of the characters who come near Hardeman Lodge.

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Investors, shell-shocked by the "Great Recession" of 2008-2009, are looking for answers, for something fresher than the old 'buy-and-hold' mantra. They hunger for stability, yet yearn for growth to rejuvenate their battered portfolios. Ray Lucia's The Buckets of Money Retirement Solution: The Ultimate Guide to Income for Life provides just that—a reassuring and scientifically proven strategy that gives investors both growth and income. Lucia, a Certified Financial Planner who's helped thousands of people invest more than $2 billion, explains how to spend down 'safe' buckets (containing, for example, Treasuries, CDs, bonds), while leaving a riskier bucket (real estate, stocks and alternative investments) to grow long-term. This strategy shields investors from the short-term ups and downs of the market. And it gives them the courage and discipline to stay invested no matter what the future holds. Written in a breezy, accessible style and loaded with tons of examples and clear, specific calculations, the book explains how to set your financial goals, divvy up your money accordingly, and then invest intelligently. With this book as your guide, readers will learn how to achieve both income and growth while at the same time reducing risk. "All in all," Lucia writes, "this plan is akin to a sports car that seats six, approximating the best of both worlds. In this case by being a conservative strategy that’s also growth-oriented." Almost every kind of investment—stocks, bonds, commodities, real estate—plunged in the past year or two, turning off millions of investors who'd been planning for and counting on a reasonably comfortable retirement. These retirees or near-retirees need solutions ... something fresher than the old 'buy-and-hold' mantra. Yet here's what they hear from the financial-services industry: Set up an asset-allocation model, then take a systematic withdrawal to support your retirement ... remembering, of course, to rebalance the accounts to remain in sync with the model. Wrong! That maximizes the advisors' fees but doesn't protect the investors' assets during the tough times.

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This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license.By 2050, human population is expected to reach 9.7 billion. The demand for increased food production needs to be met from ever reducing resources of land, water and other environmental constraints. Rice remains the staple food source for a majority of the global populations, but especially in Asia where ninety percent of rice is grown and consumed. Climate change continues to impose abiotic and biotic stresses that curtail rice quality and yields. Researchers have been challenged to provide innovative solutions to maintain, or even increase, rice production. Amongst them, the ‘green super rice’ breeding strategy has been successful for leading the development and release of multiple abiotic and biotic stress tolerant rice varieties. Recent advances in plant molecular biology and biotechnologies have led to the identification of stress responsive genes and signaling pathways, which open up new paradigms to augment rice productivity. Accordingly, transcription factors, protein kinases and enzymes for generating protective metabolites and proteins all contribute to an intricate network of events that guard and maintain cellular integrity. In addition, various quantitative trait loci associated with elevated stress tolerance have been cloned, resulting in the detection of novel genes for biotic and abiotic stress resistance. Mechanistic understanding of the genetic basis of traits, such as N and P use, is allowing rice researchers to engineer nutrient-efficient rice varieties, which would result in higher yields with lower inputs. Likewise, the research in micronutrients biosynthesis opens doors to genetic engineering of metabolic pathways to enhance micronutrients production. With third generation sequencing techniques on the horizon, exciting progress can be expected to vastly improve molecular markers for gene-trait associations forecast with increasing accuracy. This book emphasizes on the areas of rice science that attempt to overcome the foremost limitations in rice production. Our intention is to highlight research advances in the fields of physiology, molecular breeding and genetics, with a special focus on increasing productivity, improving biotic and abiotic stress tolerance and nutritional quality of rice.

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A heartfelt portrait of Hank Aaron, featuring nearly 40 years of stories plus never-before-told insights from the home run king When journalist Terence Moore was 12 years old, he treasured his poster of Henry Aaron. Years later, Aaron would sign it for him: "Best wishes to Terry." Later still, Moore would be named an honorary pall bearer at the home run king's funeral, staying up late into the night with Aaron's widow, Billye, to get the obituary just right for the program. Friends and family knew Aaron as quick-witted, hilarious, and fiercely opinionated beyond what was shown in public. With the encouragement of Aaron's family, Moore now shares this intimate perspective on the baseball legend, the culmination of decades of friendship and correspondence. The Real Hank Aaron captures the icon's contagious laugh and pointed views, from the depth of his admiration for Jackie Robinson to his true thoughts on Barry Bonds and the steroid era.Also featuring Aaron's views on race, politics, media, and sports fandom, this is a charming and illuminating glimpse at the man outside the spotlight.

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A heartfelt portrait of Hank Aaron, featuring nearly 40 years of stories plus never-before-told insights from the home run king When journalist Terence Moore was 12 years old, he treasured his poster of Henry Aaron. Years later, Aaron would sign it for him: "Best wishes to Terry." Later still, Moore would be named an honorary pall bearer at the home run king's funeral, staying up late into the night with Aaron's widow, Billye, to get the obituary just right for the program. Friends and family knew Aaron as quick-witted, hilarious, and fiercely opinionated beyond what was shown in public. With the encouragement of Aaron's family, Moore now shares this intimate perspective on the baseball legend, the culmination of decades of friendship and correspondence. The Real Hank Aaron captures the icon's contagious laugh and pointed views, from the depth of his admiration for Jackie Robinson to his true thoughts on Barry Bonds and the steroid era. Also featuring Aaron's views on race, politics, media, and sports fandom, this is a charming and illuminating glimpse at the man outside the spotlight.

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A Wall Street Journal bestselling series. Unmasking a treasonous American conspiracy is a dangerous move in a heart-pounding thriller about greed, power, revenge, and murder. After covert investigators Ryan Decker and Harlow Mackenzie demolished APEX, a billion-dollar criminal enterprise, a tenuous truce between the two factions suggested the battle was over. But not for Decker’s director, Senator Margaret Steele. She’s uncovered an even deadlier operation—code name Skystorm. Skystorm violates every international arms-trafficking law imaginable. And for the senator, exposing the plot may be a gamble too far. APEX has caught wind of the investigation, and they’ve gone on the offensive. Steele’s warning to Decker and Harlow: we’re all in a no-holds-barred fight for our lives. With APEX’s scorched-earth tactics now unmistakable, Decker and Harlow pull the trigger on their worst-case-scenario plan and move to turn the tables on their ruthless adversary. With a shadowy mercenary team, Decker and Harlow embark for a war—one that Skystorm’s influential DC backers have no intention of losing. To safeguard their treasonous secret, they aim to bury it, along with Decker and everyone he loves.

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A new critical perspective on the female auteur that considers her place in the avant-garde tradition of provocation Includes close critical analysis of eight contemporary women filmmakers and their provocative works Provides an exploration and account of provocation as an artistic strategy in cinema Offers a feminist interrogation of the gendering of provocation, and the provocateur, in the discourses of film criticism as a masculine mode Critics regularly use the term provocateur" to describe controversial film directors. Although most individuals who attract this term are men, there is a long and largely unexamined history of female auteurs who shock and unsettle their viewers. Provocation in Women's Filmmaking: Authorship and Art Cinema investigates how women directors participate in the tradition of provocative art cinema. Focusing on the post-millennium films of auteurs such as Lisa Aschan, Catherine Breillat, Jennifer Kent, Isabella Ekl f, Lucile Had ihalilovi?, Claire Denis, Anna Biller and Athina Rachel Tsangari, this book considers the aesthetics and strategies of women's provocative filmmaking in contemporary cinema. Challenging the gendering of provocation as a hyper-masculine mode of authorship, the book uncovers an enticing and complex array of divisive works by women. "

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This gripping narrative explores today’s scientific pursuit of immortality, with exclusive visits inside Silicon Valley labs and interviews with the visionaries who believe we will soon crack the aging process and cure death. We live in an age when billionaires are betting their fortunes on laboratory advances to prove aging unnecessary and death a disease that can be cured. Researchers are delving into the mysteries of stem cells and the human genome, discovering what it means to grow old and how to keep those processes from happening. This isn’t science fiction; it’s real, it’s serious, and it’s on track to revolutionize our definitions of life and mortality. In Immortality, Inc., veteran science journalist Chip Walter gains exclusive access to the champions of this radical cause, delivering a book that brings together for the first time the visions of molecular biologist and Apple chairman Arthur Levinson, genomics entrepreneur Craig Venter, futurist Ray Kurzweil, rejuvenation trailblazer Aubrey de Grey, and stem cell expert Robert Hariri. Along the way, Walter weaves in fascinating conversations about life, death, aging, and the future of the human race.

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In an alternate reality a lot like our world, every person’s physical size is directly proportional to their wealth. The poorest of the poor are the size of rats, and billionaires are the size of skyscrapers. Warner and his sister Prayer are destitute—and tiny. Their size is not just demeaning, but dangerous: day and night they face mortal dangers that bigger richer people don’t ever have to think about, from being mauled by cats to their house getting stepped on. There are no cars or phones built small enough for them, or schools or hospitals, for that matter—there’s no point, when no one that little has any purchasing power, and when salaried doctors and teachers would never fit in buildings so small. Warner and Prayer know their only hope is to scale up, but how can two littlepoors survive in a world built against them? A brilliant, warm, funny trip, unlike anything else out there, and a social novel for our time in the tradition of 1984 or Invisible Man. Inequality is made intensely visceral by an adventure and tragedy both hilarious and heartbreaking.

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Daring ...Sexy ...Irresistible ...They're the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel When fireman Fred Breen rescues a bachelorette party after a construction crane collapses onto their limo, the media labels him the "Bachelor Hero." But all Fred can think about is the petite brunette with the sexy mane of dark curls who bolted away from him faster than a wildfire after he carried her to safety. And when he discovers she's none other than Rachel Kessler, the daughter of a tech billionaire, the girl whose kidnapping riveted the nation, he intends to learn every intimate detail about this intriguing woman who sets his pulse on fire. Rachel can't deny the lean-muscled firefighter is smokin' hot. But after having one too many drinks at the bar where she first meets him, Rachel knows she's made a fool of herself. Yet when he rescues her from the limo, she feels safe for the first time since she was held for ransom as a child. Then her overprotective father insists Fred be her bodyguard-and his close presence kindles a burning desire that only he can extinguish.

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Since its invention, the integrated circuit has necessitated new process modules and numerous architectural changes to improve application performances, power consumption, and cost reduction. Silicon CMOS is now well established to offer the integration of several tens of billions of devices on a chip or in a system. At present, there are important challenges in the introduction of heterogeneous co-integration of materials and devices with the silicon CMOS 2D- and 3D-based platforms. New fabrication techniques allowing strong energy and variability efficiency come in as possible players to improve the various figures of merit of fabrication technology. Integrated Nanodevice and Nanosystem Fabrication: Breakthroughs and Alternatives is the second volume in the Pan Stanford Series on Intelligent Nanosystems. The book contains 8 chapters and is divided into two parts, the first of which reports breakthrough materials and techniques such as single ion implantation in silicon and diamond, graphene and 2D materials, nanofabrication using scanning probe microscopes, while the second tackles the scaling and architectural aspects of silicon devices through HiK scaling for nanoCMOS, nanoscale epitaxial growth of group IV semiconductors, design for variability co-optimization in SOI FinFETs, and nanowires for CMOS and diversifications.

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For fans of Kate Morton and Tracy Rees comes a captivating novel about two women, separated by centuries, whose fates are bound together by one haunting secret. *** ‘A fascinating tale with intriguing twists.’ Barbara Erskine‘I was hooked from the first pages.’ Gill Paul‘Atmospheric and compelling’ Sarah Morgan‘You just can’t put it down. Brilliant!’ Katie Fforde *** ‘I see it all again: the silver moon swimming beneath the water and the golden gown billowing out about her…’ 1765: Lady Isabella Gerard asks her maid to take her new golden gown and destroy it. Its shimmering beauty has been tainted by the actions of her husband the night before. Three months later: Lord Eustace Gerard stands beside the lake looking down at the woman in the golden gown. As the body slowly rolls over to reveal her face, it’s clear this is not his intended victim… 1996: Fenella Brightwell steals a stunning gown from a stately home. Twenty years later and reeling from the end of an abusive marriage, she wonders if it has cursed her all this time. Now she’s determined to discover the history behind the beautiful golden dress…

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In the third volume of the acclaimed Turf Wars series, journalist and broadcaster Steve Tongue looks at the history of football in the West Midlands, where the world's first Football League was dreamed up and administered more than 130 years ago. Fierce rivalries had already emerged by then, and have remained as strong as anywhere. Aston Villa and Birmingham City (as Small Heath Alliance) were founded within a year of each other, only a few miles apart, as were equally bitter neighbours West Bromwich Albion and Wolves. And just as in London and Lancashire, turf wars were fought off the pitch too. In Burton and Walsall, the biggest local clubs once amalgamated to carry the name of their town forward. But what an outcry there was in the Potteries when Stoke City and Port Vale almost did the same. This is the story of them all, large and small, and non-league too with a colourful cast of characters - Stanley Matthews and Billy Wright, Major Frank Buckley and Ron Atkinson, William McGregor, Jimmy Hill and 'Deadly' Doug Ellis among them.

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The Bible is the most widely distributed book in the world. Translated into over two thousand languages, it is estimated that more than six billion copies have been sold in the last two hundred years alone. In this seminal account, Karen Armstrong traces the gestation of the Bible to reveal a complex and contradictory document created by scores of people over hundreds of years. Karen Armstrong begins her analysis with the origins of the very earliest books of the Hebrew Bible, in which God was called both 'Yahweh' and 'Elohim'. She then traces the development of both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament to reveal the disparate influences that helped to form these sacred texts. From the Jewish practice of Midrash and the Christian cult of Jesus; to the influence of Paul's letters on the Reformation and the manipulation of Revelations by Christian fundamentalism, Armstrong explores the contexts in which these sixty-six books were understood and explains the social needs they answered. In the process she reveals an unfamiliar and paradoxical work that will permanently alter our understanding of the Bible.

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In their short history, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have gone through booms, busts, and internecine wars, recently reaching a market valuation of more than $2 trillion. The central promise of crypto endures-vast fortunes made from decentralized networks not controlled by any single entity and not yet regulated by many governments.The recent growth of crypto would have been all but impossible if not for a brilliant young man named Vitalik Buterin and his creation: Ethereum. In this book, Laura Shin takes readers inside the founding of this novel cryptocurrency network, which enabled users to launch their own new coins, thus creating a new crypto fever. She introduces readers to larger-than-life characters like Buterin, the Web3 wunderkind; his short-lived CEO, Charles Hoskinson; and Joe Lubin, a former Goldman Sachs VP who became one of crypto's most well-known billionaires. Sparks fly as these outsized personalities fight for their piece of a seemingly limitless new business opportunity.This fascinating book shows the crypto market for what it really is: a deeply personal struggle to influence the coming revolution in money, culture, and power.

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China’s huge environmental challenges affect not only the health and well-being of China but the very future of the planet. In this fully revised and updated third edition of her acclaimed book, noted scholar of Chinese environmentalism Judith Shapiro explores China’s struggle to achieve the ‘ecological civilization’ championed by Xi Jinping since 2017. Drawing on six core analytical concepts - globalization, governance, national identity, civil society, environmental justice, and extractivism - Shapiro ably demonstrates the multifaceted and complex nature of this struggle. China’s precipitous economic growth has carried a heavy cost in air and water pollution, soil contamination, and loss of habitat for the biodiversity upon which human life depends. But its quest for sustainability has been further hampered by authoritarian governance patterns, soaring middle class consumption, the need to provide employment and safety nets for a population of more than one billion, and a manufacturing sector thirsty to secure global resources and sell to new markets. Transformation to a more sustainable development model is still possible. But, as Shapiro persuasively argues, this will require humility, creativity, and a rejection of business as usual. China – and the planet – are at a pivotal moment.

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Since the rise of the smartphone, apps have become entrenched in billions of users' daily lives. Accessible across phones and tablets, watches and wearables, connected cars, sensors, and cities, they are an inescapable feature of our current culture. In this book, Gerard Goggin provides a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the development of apps as a digital media technology. Covering the technological, social, cultural, and policy dynamics of apps, Goggin ultimately considers what a post-app world might look like. He argues that apps represent a pivowtal moment in the development of digital media, acting as a hinge between the visions and realities of the “mobile,” “cyber,” and “online” societies envisaged since the late 1980s and the imaginaries and materialities of the digital societies that emerged from 2010. Apps offer frames, construct tools, and constitute “small worlds” for users to reorient themselves in digital media settings. This fascinating book will reframe the conversation about the software that underwrites our digital worlds. It is essential reading for students and scholars of media and communication, as well as for anyone interested in this ubiquitous technology.

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Near to one billion people call slums their home, making it a reasonable claim to describe our world as a `planet of slums.’ But how has this hard and unyielding way of life been depicted on screen? How have filmmakers engaged historically and across the globe with the social conditions of what is often perceived as the world’s most miserable habitats? Combining approaches from cultural, globalisation and film studies, Igor Krstic outlines a transnational history of films that either document or fictionalise the favelas, shantytowns, barrios poulares or chawls of our `planet of slums’, exploring the way accelerated urbanisation has intersected with an increasingly interconnected global film culture. From Jacob Riis’ How The Other Half Lives (1890) to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (2008), the volume provides a number of close readings of films from different historical periods and regions to outline how contemporary film and media practices relate to their past predeccesors, demonstrating the way various filmmakers, both north and south of the equator, have repeatedly grappled with, rejected or continuously modified documentary and realist modes to convey life in our `planet of slums’.

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From 1865 to 1950, the multi-faceted world of the American West, its rich, colorful characters, and its many faces - historical, mythic, and cinematic - are captured in the story of a reclusive, elderly photographer and her friend, a writer of Western comic books. Two characters dominate the novel's foreground: a Georgia O'Keeffe-like figure, photographer Susan Garth, shrewd, cantankerous, reclusive, and still self-reliant at 80, and her longtime friend Bark Blaylock, a western writer/filmmaker who may be Wyatt Earp's son. A subplot involves James Averill, a wealthy Easterner who sees his philandering as a frontiersman's quest for knowledge. As the time frame shuttles between 1950 and the late 1800s, we meet Susan's father, a gentlemanly cattle rancher who reads Thomas Hardy, and serves as a springboard to the Old West of Bat Masterson, Geronimo and Billy the Kid. The cast includes Willa Cather, Montgomery Clift, Charles Ives, Judge Roy Bean and numerous characters smuggled in from such movies as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and McCabe and Mrs. Miller. Silver Light artfully juxtaposes the brimming frontier of legend against a construct of the West as a constricted wilderness of the soul.

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Bivalve Molluscs is an extremely comprehensive book covering all major aspects of this important class of invertebrates. As well as being an important class biologically and ecologically, many of the bivalves are fished and cultured commercially (e.g. mussels, oysters, scallops and clams) in a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry. Elizabeth Gosling who has a huge wealth of research, teaching and hands on experience working with bivalves, has written a landmark book that will stand for many years as the standard work on the subject. Chapters in Bivalve Molluscs cover morphology, ecology, feeding, reproduction, settlement and recruitment, growth, physiology, fisheries, aquaculture, genetics, diseases and parasites, and public health issues. A full understanding of many of these aspects is vital for all those working in bivalve fisheries and culture. An essential purchase for anyone concerned with this important class of animals, copies of Bivalve Molluscs should be on the shelves of biologists, ecologists, environmental scientists, fisheries scientists and personnel within the aquaculture industry. Copies of the book should be available in all libraries and research establishments where these subjects are studied or taught. Elizabeth Gosling is based at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Galway, Ireland.

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This book gathers together the stories of the 123 prisoners who were executed at Gloucester between 1792, when the first prisoner was hanged on the roof over the entrance gate of the newly-built prison, and 1939, when the last convict was executed within the prison's walls. Infamous cases include the Berkeley poachers who shot and killed the Earl of Berkeley's gamekeeper; Rebecca Worlock, who poisoned her husband with arsenic; notorious robbers Matthew and Henry Pinnell; Charlotte Long, the last woman to be hanged for arson in England; and Herbert Rowse Armstrong, the Hay-on-Wye solicitor who was found guilty of poisoning his wife and attempting to murder a fellow solicitor. Famous executioners - including William Calcraft, William Marwood, William Billington and the Pierrepoints - also played their part in the history of the prison. Also included in this volume is an appendix listing all the men and women hanging at Over, near Gloucester, between 1731 and 1790. Fully illustrated, Hanged at Gloucester is sure to appeal to everyone interested in true crime history and the shadier side of Gloucestershire's past.

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Diamonds are a multi-billion dollar business involving some of the world’s largest mining companies, a million and a half artisanal diggers, more than a million cutters and polishers and a huge retail jewellery sector. But behind the sparkle of the diamond lies a murkier story, in which rebel armies in Angola, Sierra Leone and the Congo turned to diamonds to finance their wars. Completely unregulated, so-called blood diamonds became the perfect tool for money laundering, tax evasion, drug-running and weapons-trafficking. Diamonds brings together for the first time all aspects of the diamond industry. In it, Ian Smillie, former UN Security Council investigator and leading figure in the blood diamonds campaign, offers a comprehensive analysis of the history and structure of today’s diamond trade, the struggle for effective regulation and the challenges ahead. There is, he argues, greater diversification and competition than ever before, but thanks to the success of the Kimberley Process, this coveted and prestigious gem now represents a fragile but renewed opportunity for development in some of the world’s poorest nations. This part of the diamond story has rarely been told.

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China�s military transformation is one of the major geo-strategic developments of the 21st Century. Billions of dollars are being spent modernizing The People�s Liberation Army (PLA) as China seeks to upgrade and expand its military capabilities to rival the US. In this cutting-edge analysis, You Ji, a leading expert on China�s military affairs, explores the changes taking places within the PLA today, covering its ground, aerospace and maritime forces, its ability to meet asymmetric threats, and the growing role played by the People�s Armed Police in quelling dissent in China. He shows how these transformations in personnel, technology and strategic goals are slowly driving a wedge between China�s two most powerful institutions. Until recently, relations between the CCP and PLA were harmonious, but as the PLA becomes increasingly professionalized and autonomous so its unconditional loyalty to the ruling Party may weaken. The changing relationship between the CCP and PLA, he argues, is likely to have profound implications for China�s own political development and the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region. Comprehensive and incisive, this timely book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the nature and consequences of China�s military rise.

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For eighty years, Pinewood Studios has made dreams a reality. Billions of people across the globe, of all ages, from all walks of life have read six words on cinema or television screens: 'Made at Pinewood Studios, London, England'. From hosting super spies and superheroes, Pinewood has been home to a galaxy far, far away, helping create the movies that have made audiences laugh and cry in equal measure. Some of the most glittering careers on both sides of the camera have been launched behind the iconic gates of Pinewood.From James Bond to Star Wars, the modern age of Marvel and the re-imagining of the Disney classics, Pinewood Studios and Shepperton Studios have played host to the greatest and most cherished movies of all time. Complete with many exclusive behind-the-scenes images from those classic movies, this beautiful new book offers insight, anecdotes and interviews with some of the producers, directors and acting talent who have worked at the studios, including Ridley Scott, Barbara Broccoli, Tim Burton and Sir Roger Moore.

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You'll Like it Here is a haunting bricolage, divided into three parts, that excavates the forgotten history of Redondo Beach in the early 1900’s through old news clippings, advertisements, recipes and other ephemera that speak to the ills of male stoicism, industrialization and capitalism, and environmental displacement. Ashton used digital archives from the Redondo Reflex and other city adjacent newspapers as the basis for his surrealist account, masterfully tracing this larger shift away from coastal maritime repose in the wake of the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, and World War II through momentary fragments that feel as real and palpable as they do transient, mythological, and strangely reminiscent of our current times. Formally, You'll Like it Here works in conversation with Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Maggie Nelson’s Bluets, Amina Cain’s Indelicacy, and Kathryn Scanlan’s Aug 9 Fog. The novel also embraces a multi-register, journalistic storytelling that questions the tenuous line between objectivity and subjectivity in documenting the unreliability of history—both personal and collective—brilliantly balancing voids of loss, absence, and disappearance with moments of natural transcendence and miraculous phenomena.

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This book presents key concepts for students to understand chemical resistance in agriculture and apply that knowledge to achieving global food security. In the race to feed the world's seven billion people, we are at a standstill. Over the past century, we have developed increasingly potent and sophisticated pesticides, yet in 2014, the average percentage of U.S. crops lost to agricultural pests was no less than in 1944. To use a metaphor the field of evolutionary biology borrowed from Alice in Wonderland, farmers must run ever faster to stay in the same place, i.e., produce the same yields. With Chasing the Red Queen, Andy Dyer offers the first book to apply the Red Queen Hypothesis to agriculture. Dyer examines one of the world's most pressing problems as a biological case study. He presents key concepts, from Darwin's principles of natural selection to genetic variation and adaptive phenotypes. Understanding the fundamentals of ecology and biology is the first step to "playing the Red Queen," and escaping her unwinnable race. The book's novel frame will help students, researchers, and policy-makers alike apply that knowledge to the critical task of achieving food security.

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Shortlisted for the 2023 Arthur C. Clarke Award!Terraforming - the megascale-engineering of a planet's surface to one more Earth-like - is now commonplace across the Solar System, and Pluto's is set to be the most ambitious transformation yet. Four billion miles from the Sun and two hundred degrees below zero, what this worldlet needs is light and heat. Through captured asteroids and solar mirrors, humanity's finest scientists and engineers are set to deliver them.What nobody factored in was a saboteur - but who, and why? From the start, terraformer Lucian is intrigued by nine-year-old Nou, silent since a horrifying incident that shook the base and upended her family into chaos. If he could reach her, perhaps he could understand what happened that day - and what she knows about the secrets of Pluto. Nou possesses unspoken knowledge that could put a stop to the terraforming. Gripped by her fears, unable to trust her family, there is no one she can talk to. Only through Lucian's gentle friendship will she start to rediscover her voice - and what she has to say could transform our understanding of the Universe.

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Compulsive, gripping and dark, NEVER BE BROKEN is the stunning new novel in the Marnie Rome series, for fans of Peter James, Mark Billingham, and Val McDermid'Sarah Hilary writes beautifully and unflinchingly' Peter JamesNoah Jake has seen dead bodies before but when a young woman falls to her death from a London tower block, landing in the bonnet of his car, everything changes for him. Has he witnessed an accident, suicide, or something worse? Whichever, it affects him deeply. London's young people are being trafficked into gangs, exploited, and killed. Thirteen-year-old Raffa Jordan was shot in the street, an innocent bystander in a gang war, or so it seems. It looks as if Samantha Haile is just the latest victim in the wave of violence sweeping the city. Only Noah feels the need to treat her differently, to chase down the truth of what happened that day.Marnie Rome wants to help, but even she cannot grasp why Noah is risking so much for the sake of this stranger he never knew. As Marnie finally finds peace with her own past, she is faced with the far harder task of bringing Noah back from the brink of self-destruction.

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No one anticipated quite how thoroughly the Ford Mustang would catch the imagination of the American public. The Mustang was marketed as the all-American classic and introduced what became known as the ‘Pony Car’ - an affordable, compact, highly styled car with a sporty or performance-oriented image - and a revolutionary example of automotive design in the United States. The company made over a billion dollars selling over 400,000 units in its debut year. It took only eighteen months for Ford to hit the million Mustang mark, making it Ford’s most successful launch since the Model A. Today’s car sales don’t even scratch the number of Mustangs sold in their first year. In over fifty years of production, Ford has sold 9 million Mustangs worldwide. This book focuses on the first generation (1964-73) and the evolution of the Ford Mustang. This was an era when Mustang became synonymous with the name Ford and set an unprecedented benchmark for all rivals to follow. Its popularity was an emotional connection based on its unique and adaptable styling, its performance and its affordability.

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THE FIRST IN THE GRIPPING ACTION-PACKED HECTOR CROSS SERIES, FROM WILBUR SMITH. PERFECT FOR FANS OF BOURNE AND LEE CHILD'S JACK REACHER SERIES. Some debts can only be paid in blood . . . When Hazel Bannock, billionaire oil tycoon, discovers her daughter has been kidnapped by Al Qaeda pirates just off the coast of Somalia, she uses all the power at her disposal to rescue her daughter - but politics and diplomacy fail her at every turn. Her only hope is Hector Cross, an expert in surveillance, infiltration and combat. For all Hazel's connections and wealth, Cross is the one man who is offering to find her daughter. Hazel and Cross must work together to bring Cayla home, but neither of them realises that the kidnappers are not merely interested in ransom - what they have planned is far, far worse . . . The first Hector Cross thriller. Book 2 in the series, Vicious Circle, is out now in paperback and ebook. REVIEWS'Those in Peril has much to recommend it . . . if you like your action plain, graphic and simple yet never entirely predictable, Smith will satisfy' - Sunday Express

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Book 5 of the After series—Anna Todd’s Wattpad fan fiction that racked up 1 billion reads online and captivated romance readers across the globe! Before explores Hardin Scott’s life before Tessa, reveals what happens after After, and gives new insights on their turbulent #Hessa romance. Cosmopolitan called Anna Todd “the biggest literary phenomenon of her generation.” That’s Normal declared Hardin and Tessa “The Mr. Darcy and Lizzy Bennet of our time.” Revel in the awesome, messy power of true love. BEFORE Hardin met Tessa he was a raging storm. DURING those first moments they met, he realized he needed to keep her for himself—his life depended on it. AFTER they got together, the world would never be the same. Hardin and Tessa’s dramatic love affair became a vortex pulling in everyone around them. For the first time these others are given voice as they appear before, during, and after the events in original After novels. Alongside them, Hardin’s account of his first encounters with Tessa—which will change what you thought you knew about the brooding boy and the angel who loved him.

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‘Remarkable ... Evoking the intensity with which orchid hunters pursue their quarry ... Vivid and expressive’ Sunday Times ‘Wonderfully vivid … this is a beautifully written celebration of these mysterious and endangered plants’ Guardian ‘Rich with orchids and their subjects ... A wonderful book’ Robert Macfarlane Orchid Summer is a heady celebration of the beauty and history of the wild orchid species of the British Isles, embraced in one dazzling summer-long hunt by naturalist Jon Dunn. The flowers that are the focus of this treasure hunt are exquisite and diverse. Some tower above the surrounding vegetation; others are vanishingly small and discrete. Some are sweetly scented; others smell of ripe billy goats. Some are abundant; others more elusive – none more so than the last to flower, the ghost orchid… Capturing the intoxicating beauty of these rare flowers, Orchid Summer explores their history, their champions, their place in our landscape and the threats they face. Combining infectious enthusiasm and a painterly eye with a deep knowledge that comes from a lifetime’s passionate devotion to their study, Dunn sweeps us up on his adventure.

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"Fragile Web" is a remarkable exploration of the past, present and future of nature's remarkable diversity and how humans will impact upon its uncertain future. Written by a team of international experts, the book is divided into three main sections. The first section explores the origins of biodiversity and the evolution of life on Earth, from 3.5 billion years ago to the present day. It explains how species are formed, including the complex role of genetics, and how diversity hotspots such as the Amazonia region and Sahara desert have developed. The second section examines ecology and how human activities can foster rather than threaten biodiversity. It explains the importance of the world's ecosystems and how they function, and suggests how we can enjoy and appreciate nature to the full. In the final section, Fate, the book discusses the major threats to our natural world, both now and in the future, and considers possible solutions. Fully illustrated with photographs diagrams and maps, "Fragile Web" provides a timely snapshot of the state of life on Earth and considers what may be next for our natural world.

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An insightful, engaging tour by a noted Silicon Valley insider of how accelerating developments in Artificial Intelligence will transform the way we live and workSelected as one of the 10 best science and technology books of 2015 by The Economist After billions of dollars and fifty years of effort, researchers are finally cracking the code on artificial intelligence. As society stands on the cusp of unprecedented change, Jerry Kaplan unpacks the latest advances in robotics, machine learning, and perception powering systems that rival or exceed human capabilities. Driverless cars, robotic helpers, and intelligent agents that promote our interests have the potential to usher in a new age of affluence and leisure — but as Kaplan warns, the transition may be protracted and brutal unless we address the two great scourges of the modern developed world: volatile labor markets and income inequality. He proposes innovative, free-market adjustments to our economic system and social policies to avoid an extended period of social turmoil. His timely and accessible analysis of the promise and perils of artificial intelligence is a must-read for business leaders and policy makers on both sides of the aisle.

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An inside account of the multi-billion pound world of private equity and a masterclass on the art of deal-making.The Dealmaker is a frank and honest account of how a severely dyslexic child who struggled at school went on to graduate from Oxford and become a serial entrepreneur. It describes Guy Hand's career in private equity, first at Nomura and then as head of his own company, Terra Firma. It looks in detail at the huge deals that Terra Firma has done over the years, involving everything from cinema chains and pubs to waste management, aircraft leasing and green energy. And it offers a brutally honest appraisal of the deal that almost bankrupted him - the acquisition of multinational music recording and publishing company EMI in 2007, just as a global financial crash loomed on the horizon. Above all, he gives the reader a real sense of what it's like inside the secretive world of private equity, describing in frank detail the pressures and rewards involved. Insightful and page-turning, The Dealmaker will prove inspirational and essential reading for all those who want to understand how huge business negotiations are done, and what makes one of private equity's biggest players tick.

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When Adam Ranworth relocates from his luxury London apartment on impulse, he chooses the iconic West Country holiday town of Daymouth as his destination. A waterside cottage that overlooks the beautiful estuary with its golden sandy beaches is just what he needs to start this new phase of his life. He very quickly discovers that life in Daymouth is quite different from London. He meets strong, independently minded locals including lifeboat crew member Laura Clift; his neighbour, the eccentric retired Naval Admiral; and his housekeeper Jasmine, who has a husband serving time in Dartmoor prison. Adam becomes involved in events at the core of coastal community life. He joins the lifeboat crew where he experiences high drama and deep tragedy. He is also drawn into the darker side of Daymouth life involving drugs and migrants, resulting in tension and uncertainty about who is involved. As the story moves to an exciting climax on the Cotes d'Azur, Adam meets a Polish billionaire benefactor who wants to finance the UK West Country... But will the police be able to identify the drug and migrant mastermind disrupting the Daymouth peace?

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