Living in Washington D.C. is meant to be all politics, glamour and great conversations. But what do you do when you don't have the words to join in, or the knowledge to ride the subway, or you're scared someone will mug you and a million other disasters could be just around the corner? For Clara, joining her mother on a three-month stint in Washington is her end-of-school adventure and a chance to be someone else other than the studious geek she's always been. Although, starting an adventure is hard to do when you won't leave the house. But Clara didn't count on meeting Campbell and his anarchist group and she didn't count on her new discoveries threatening to unravel all her plans. Will she still be the same after Washington? From CBCA shortlisted author, Penny Tangey, comes a moving–and funny–coming-of-age story set in Washington, D.C. Views: 53
With one touch, 17 year old Lily can learn all about someone’s life, a skill that’s been ruining her social life. So she’s shocked when Ryder, the cutest guy in school, asks her out. And even more so to learn he has a rival—Lucian, hot new kid in town. But...the boys seem to know each other from a dark past. A past full of terrible secrets. The kind of secrets that could get a girl killed. Views: 53
SUMMARY:A wonderfully wicked new anthology from the editor of The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime It is the Victorian era and society is both entranced by and fearful of that suspicious character known as the New Woman. She rides those new- fangled bicycles and doesn't like to be told what to do. And, in crime fiction, such female detectives as Loveday Brooke, Dorcas Dene, and Lady Molly of Scotland Yard are out there shadowing suspects, crawling through secret passages, fingerprinting corpses, and sometimes committing a lesser crime in order to solve a murder. In The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime, Michael Sims has brought together all of the era's great crime-fighting females- plus a few choice crooks, including Four Square Jane and the Sorceress of the Strand. Views: 53
Max and Lia's underwater adventure continues in this thrilling, high-action series!Max and Lia are following the evil Professor's trail to rescue Max's father. But when Max doesn't heed Lia's warning about the dangers of the ocean, he ends up getting scooped up in a jetstream. Luckily his friends manage to keep up with him. The stream leads him to another one of the Professor's Robobeasts, Silda the Electric Eel. Can Max defeat this foe and recover the second piece of the ancient skull that grants magical powers to Lia and her people? Views: 53
Fearless historian and adventurer, Hiram Bingham risks all and battles storms, fire, Condors, cannibals and treacherous cliffs on his quest to find the lost city of Machu Picchu. This gripping new adventure should come with a warning for the faint-hearted. It′s history, but not as we know it. Views: 53
In DEMAND: Giving People What They Love Before They Know They Want It (Crown Business; October 2011), Adrian Slywotzky, named by Industry Week one of the world’s six most influential management thinkers, provides a radically new way to think about demand, with a big idea and a host of practical applications—not just for people in business but also for social activists, governments leaders, non-profit managers, and other would-be innovators. They all need to master such ground-breaking concepts as the hassle map (and the secrets of fixing it); the curse of the incomplete product (and how to avoid it); why very good ≠ magnetic; how what you don’t see can make or break a product; the art of transforming fence sitters into customers; why there’s no such thing as an average customer; and why real demand comes from a 45-degree angle of improvement (rather than the five degrees most organizations manage). From the Hardcover edition.Amazon.com ReviewIn DEMAND: Giving People What They Love Before They Know They Want It (Crown Business; October 2011), Adrian Slywotzky, named by Industry Week one of the world’s six most influential management thinkers, provides a radically new way to think about demand, with a big idea and a host of practical applications—not just for people in business but also for social activists, governments leaders, non-profit managers, and other would-be innovators. They all need to master such ground-breaking concepts as the hassle map (and the secrets of fixing it); the curse of the incomplete product (and how to avoid it); why very good ≠ magnetic; how what you don’t see can make or break a product; the art of transforming fence sitters into customers; why there’s no such thing as an average customer; and why real demand comes from a 45-degree angle of improvement (rather than the five degrees most organizations manage). Author Q&A with Adrian SlywotzkyHow do some companies seem to know what we want–even before we do?We all want video on demand now. But could we have even imagined it 10 years ago? Netflix founder Reed Hastings anticipated the future shift to on-demand streaming–even in 1998, when fewer than 7% of U.S. homes had broadband: "That’s why we named the company Netflix, and not DVDsByMail.com." Demand "creators" always look to solve the next customer hassle–before we even recognize the hassle itself.What makes us rave about some things, but rant about others–even when the underlying products are functionally the same?Magnetic products not only offer superior functionality, but forge an emotional attachment that is hard to sever. They embed themselves so seamlessly into our lives that they become part of who we are. Take grocery chain Wegmans. More than just an incredibly functional supermarket–with an average of 60,000 items in stock–Wegmans has an emotional appeal that led 7,000 people (in 2010 alone!) to beg for a store in their area.Can you actually create demand--or are you just getting lucky?Smart companies recognize that we often can’t articulate what we really want… and that "creating" demand is often just a matter of recognizing untapped demand. Demand "creators" identify hassles that bedevil all of us–and instead of simply accepting them, they ask: "Do they have to be this way?" Reed Hastings founded Netflix after a personal frustration with a $40 late fee. By making the leap from the way things are to the way they should be, he unleashed demand… to the tune of $2BN.Why do most attempts to create demand fail?Identifying hassles that could be solved is a start–but it’s not enough. Demand creators recognize that even great products have a very low chance of success… and they do everything they can to increase it. Toyota knew the Prius’ odds of success were less than 5%. Yet instead of dropping the project, Toyota actively asked, "How can we change those odds?" The company even went so far as to create a new division for the project… and then successfully launched the Prius 2 months ahead of an already "impossible" schedule.Does what happens behind the scenes actually matter for demand creators?It’s easy to think that only the product itself matters… but what happens behind the scenes can shape both the end product and your experience using it. Take the market for e-readers. The Amazon Kindle provided instant, wireless access to the world’s biggest bookstore. The Sony Reader–released 10 months before the Kindle–offered wireless access to only 20,000 titles. The backstory makes all the difference: there really is no point to an e-reader that doesn’t have the books you want to read, when you want to read them!So many great products never get purchased… while others fly off the shelves. What triggers us to buy something?Most of us need a trigger to get from want to buy. For Zipcar, it’s density--and just a short walk to the car. For Nespresso, it’s taste and trial in a fancy boutique. For Netflix, it’s waiting 1 day for a movie to arrive instead of 6. Smart companies recognize that each product has its own trigger--and that discovering these triggers is the key to creating demand.Why is it that some companies keep getting better and better, while others just flatline?A great and increasing trajectory is incredibly important to demand creators. U.K. sandwich chain Pret a Manger is famous for not only refreshing its 100-item menu, but constantly revising its existing recipes–including its carrot cake (50 times), its chocolate brownie (36 times)… and even its pickle recipe (15 times!). Companies like Pret keep giving the customer better versions of what they already love–and new things they didn’t even know they wanted.How do some companies see past the "average" customer–and create offers that solve our individual hassles?Smart companies know that there is no average customer–and work to create offers that appeal to everyone, on every occasion. Take the Boston Symphony Orchestra: by learning to see past the "average"--and making the same concert feel "customized" to many types of customers--it expanded to a wider audience… and increased ticket sales by 34%.All companies talk about the quality of their people. But does the whole team really matter?Demand creators recognize that every employee can–and should–contribute to demand creation. Take Pixar, where the concept that "ideas come from anywhere" is taken seriously: all employees are encouraged to spend 4 hours a week learning filmmaking at Pixar University. Pixar even teaches its accountants how to draw… and all this translates to 11 blockbusters in a row.Review“Those who enjoy straightforward audio presentations . . . will appreciate Courvoisier’s delivery of the authors’ detailed, thoroughly researched explanations of how these companies transformed products from brilliant concepts to compelling realties that consumers come to believe are essential.” —AudioFile Views: 53
Fern Michaels has entertained millions of readers with her deeply-involving contemporary novels including Celebration, Yesterday, and her recent New York Times bestseller, Finders Keepers. Now, she delivers her most exciting story yet: the breathtaking tale of a woman on the run who's given the chance for a whole new life... What You Wish ForIf her abusive husband hadn't tried to kill her and her beloved dog Lucie, Helen Ward might never have left her million-dollar home and run far away. Now Helen's changed her identity and moved across the country, hopeful that she can be safe, happy, maybe even loved. And when she meets college professor Sam Tolliver, she begins to believe fairytales do come true.But even with love blossoming and her new online business venture taking off, Helen knows that the past is catching up with her. . .and her fear is growing. Wanting to flee, desperate to get away for good, she'll soon face the biggest... Views: 53
