When the ancient scriptures are uttered.....you never know what might happen under the blinding light of a full moon. She was born in darkness, under the shadow of a full moon during a solar eclipse, with a mysterious black dagger at her side. As a child, Olivia James witnessed her mother's gruesome murder. As an adult, her godfather has trained her to be a skilled fighter. But when Olivia's boyfriend betrays her and threatens her life, setting off a string of events that catapults her back in time from 21st century Seattle into 3rd century Rome, the secrets of her past begin to unravel. The discovery that she is a Timeborne, one with the ability to travel across time, is just the beginning. Soon Olivia finds herself under the protection of-and owned by-Roman Alexander, a former gladiator and bodyguard to the emperor. Torn between his duty to his emperor, a desire for vengeance, and a longing to search for his lost twin brother, Roman now has the added complication of protecting this strange woman from the depravity of ancient Rome. Worse, he finds himself falling for her, despite accusations that she is an enemy spy. But even Roman is no match for the dark shadow that has pursued Olivia into the past. A fighter in her own right, she's forced to work with Roman to find a way back to her own time. Do the ancient scriptures on her dagger hold the key? Can she trust Roman with her secrets? And can she fight her enemies and protect her heart at the same time? Timeborne is the first book in the Blade of Shadows series. Begin your adventure now!

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! An NPR Best Book of 2022 "The questions throughout What If? 2 are equal parts brilliant, gross, and wonderfully absurd and the answers are thorough, deeply researched, and great fun. . . . Science isn’t easy, but in Munroe’s capable hands, it surely can be fun." —TIME The #1 New York Times bestselling author of What If? and How To answers more of the weirdest questions you never thought to ask The millions of people around the world who read and loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger. Thank goodness xkcd creator Randall Munroe is here to help. Planning to ride a fire pole from the Moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking the landing. Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone’s freezer door at the same time? Maybe it’s time for a brief introduction to thermodynamics. Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, built a billion-story building, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on a geyser as it erupted? Okay, if you insist. Before you go on a cosmic road trip, feed the residents of New York City to a T. rex, or fill every church with bananas, be sure to consult this practical guide for impractical ideas. Unfazed by absurdity, Munroe consults the latest research on everything from swing-set physics to airliner catapult–design to answer his readers’ questions, clearly and concisely, with illuminating and occasionally terrifying illustrations. As he consistently demonstrates, you can learn a lot from examining how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances.

Colton has always walked the line of golden boy meets bad boy. It helped catapult his popularity as the starting pitcher in his first year of college and during the scandalous exposé when he came out as bi. But Colton struggles with the accolades he receives, balancing who he is versus who he was versus who he's expected to be. Because before Colton was a queer icon for star athletes, he was a closeted bully who made one guy's life completely miserable. Isaac hates Colton. But to be fair, Isaac hates everyone-maintaining an icy distance from even his closest friends. Mostly, Isaac wants to shove Colton off the pedestal he's been placed upon. Just because he came out publicly doesn't mean he's some sort of hero. It doesn't help that Isaac once fawned over the closeted jock in high school. He cared deeply for Colton and did everything he could to please the star athlete, even keeping their private rendezvous a secret. Which meant Isaac paid the price of utter humiliation, taunting, and bullying as the weirdo loner gay guy with a creepy crush. When Isaac catches Colton cheating on an exam, he plans to ruin his enemy by destroying his academic standing and costing Colton his baseball scholarship. Isaac wants nothing more than to see Colton kicked out of campus. But when the jock offers to do anything to keep this a secret, Isaac decides to test the lengths Colton is willing to go to make things right between them. Isaac's over secrets, but this is an opportunity unlike any other. He presents an ultimatum that'll push Colton to the edge of his limits. In this sordid hate-fueled lust, all Isaac wants is revenge and all Colton wants is redemption.

Lady Gaga, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Dua Lipa, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, the Barbie soundtrack-Mark Ronson's musical fingerprints are everywhere in our pop culture. Now comes his electrifying memoir, which captures the music, characters, escapades, and raw emotional journey of his DJ days in '90s New York. 'What happens when your music obsession catapults you beyond your wildest dreams? The answer is Night People - the most life-affirming coming-of-age story I've read in an age, with a soundtrack to die for. You know how your favourite record sounds? That's how Mark Ronson writes.' Pete Paphides, author of Broken Greek Mark Ronson was born a night person. With hedonistic creatives for parents, parties became his playground. Yet, having moved to New York City from London at a young age, he always felt like a bit of an outsider, until discovering himself in the pulsing, unifying joy of the city's parties and hip-hop scene. Each night brought a heady mix of music, ambition, danger, delight, and possibilities. Having well and truly caught the DJing bug, he worked to find his place and make his name in the city that never sleeps. Night People conjures the undeniable magic of '90s New York. It evokes the rush of a time and place where fashionistas and rappers on the rise danced alongside club kids and 9-to-5'ers - and invites us into the tribe of creatives and partiers who came alive when the sun went down. A heartfelt coming-of-age tale, Night People is the definitive account of a cultural moment and the making of a musical mastermind. **Buy now to get your hands on a special foiled design beneath the jacket, EXCLUSIVE to the first hardback print run while stocks last**

Lady Gaga, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Dua Lipa, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, the Barbie soundtrack-Mark Ronson's musical fingerprints are everywhere in our pop culture. Now comes his electrifying memoir, which captures the music, characters, escapades, and raw emotional journey of his DJ days in '90s New York. 'What happens when your music obsession catapults you beyond your wildest dreams? The answer is Night People - the most life-affirming coming-of-age story I've read in an age, with a soundtrack to die for. You know how your favourite record sounds? That's how Mark Ronson writes.' Pete Paphides, author of Broken Greek Mark Ronson was born a night person. With hedonistic creatives for parents, parties became his playground. Yet, having moved to New York City from London at a young age, he always felt like a bit of an outsider, until discovering himself in the pulsing, unifying joy of the city's parties and hip-hop scene. Each night brought a heady mix of music, ambition, danger, delight, and possibilities. Having well and truly caught the DJing bug, he worked to find his place and make his name in the city that never sleeps. Night People conjures the undeniable magic of '90s New York. It evokes the rush of a time and place where fashionistas and rappers on the rise danced alongside club kids and 9-to-5'ers - and invites us into the tribe of creatives and partiers who came alive when the sun went down. A heartfelt coming-of-age tale, Night People is the definitive account of a cultural moment and the making of a musical mastermind. **Buy now to get your hands on a special foiled design beneath the jacket, EXCLUSIVE to the first hardback print run while stocks last**

Now in paperback: Legendary business coach and entrepreneur Dean Graziosi takes you from where you are in life to where you want to be, using simple tools to reshape daily routines and open new doors to prosperity--whether you're a fellow entrepreneur, an employee or executive, or a new grad in your first job. "In this book there are amazing recipes to get the life you want faster, easier, and with less stress. Read it and live rich!" - David Bach, nine-time New York Times best-selling author and financial expert Millionaire Success Habits is a book designed with one purpose in mind: to take you from where you are in life to where you want to be by incorporating easy-to-implement "Success Habits" into your daily routine. Legendary business coach Dean Graziosi has broken down the walls of complexity around success and created simple strategies that you can quickly put to use to reach the level of wealth and abundance you desire. This book is not about adding more time to your day. It is about replacing those things that are not serving your future with success habits designed specifically to assist you on your journey to a better you. In these pages, you'll: - Drill down deep to identify your "why"-the true purpose that drives you and the real reason you want to prosper - Expose and overcome the "villain within" that's holding you back - Unlock the single biggest secret to being productive (it's probably not what you think) - Believe in your own massive potential-so you can make it a reality - Use Dean's 30-day Better Life Challenge to catapult you into your new life Now in paperback, Millionaire Success Habits gives you the tools you need to radically reshape your daily routine and open new doors to prosperity.

*The Sunday Times top ten bestseller* *A Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month* *Pre-order The Kingpin now* ***** Is revenge the most lethal dose of all? 'Without a doubt the best crime thriller I've read this year ... A story of loyalties and desperation. A brilliant read' Reader review ¿¿¿¿¿ 'A. A. Dhand is masterful within the gangland genre. He grabs the reader's attention from the start, and we remain gripped to the end' Reader review ¿¿¿¿¿ * * * * Local pharmacist and pillar of the community, Idris Khan, spends his days doling out methadone to the hundreds of addicts in his care. They trust Idris with their secrets, and so he knows more than his mild manner suggests. So when his childhood sweetheart, Rebecca, doesn't turn up for her daily methadone dose, Idris is worried. Worried enough to go looking for her in the most deprived area of Leeds, alone. The mess Idris finds catapults him into the middle of a turf war between the two most powerful drug cartels in Yorkshire. Now, he must use every bit of intelligence and cunning he has to keep those he loves safe. Because a war is on the way. And when Idris goes after his enemies, they won't see him coming. * * * * Praise for A. A. Dhand: 'Dark, daring and utterly propulsive ... blurs the lines between hero and villain' Kia Abdullah, author of Those People Next Door 'Terrific ... dispensing thrills and tension from start to finish' Trevor Wood, author of The Man on the Street 'Gritty, dark, and visceral ... If I read a better book in the next year, it's probably because I've read this one twice' Neil Lancaster, author of Dead Man's Grave 'The Chemist is absolutely compelling, inventive and original ... Simply brilliant. State of the art British Crime fiction. Read it as soon as you can!' Reader review ¿¿¿¿¿

An eye-opening and previously untold story, Factory Girls is the first look into the everyday lives of the migrant factory population in China. China has 130 million migrant workers—the largest migration in human history. In Factory Girls, Leslie T. Chang, a former correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Beijing, tells the story of these workers primarily through the lives of two young women, whom she follows over the course of three years as they attempt to rise from the assembly lines of Dongguan, an industrial city in China’s Pearl River Delta. As she tracks their lives, Chang paints a never-before-seen picture of migrant life—a world where nearly everyone is under thirty; where you can lose your boyfriend and your friends with the loss of a mobile phone; where a few computer or English lessons can catapult you into a completely different social class. Chang takes us inside a sneaker factory so large that it has its own hospital, movie theater, and fire department; to posh karaoke bars that are fronts for prostitution; to makeshift English classes where students shave their heads in monklike devotion and sit day after day in front of machines watching English words flash by; and back to a farming village for the Chinese New Year, revealing the poverty and idleness of rural life that drive young girls to leave home in the first place. Throughout this riveting portrait, Chang also interweaves the story of her own family’s migrations, within China and to the West, providing historical and personal frames of reference for her investigation. A book of global significance that provides new insight into China, Factory Girls demonstrates how the mass movement from rural villages to cities is remaking individual lives and transforming Chinese society, much as immigration to America’s shores remade our own country a century ago.

Lady Gaga, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Dua Lipa, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, the Barbie soundtrack-Mark Ronson&#39,s musical fingerprints are everywhere in our pop culture. Now comes his electrifying memoir, which captures the music, characters, escapades, and raw emotional journey of his DJ days in &#39,90s New York. &#39,What happens when your music obsession catapults you beyond your wildest dreams? The answer is Night People - the most life-affirming coming-of-age story I&#39,ve read in an age, with a soundtrack to die for. You know how your favourite record sounds? That&#39,s how Mark Ronson writes.&#39, Pete Paphides, author of Broken Greek Mark Ronson was born a night person. With hedonistic creatives for parents, parties became his playground. Yet, having moved to New York City from London at a young age, he always felt like a bit of an outsider, until discovering himself in the pulsing, unifying joy of the city&#39,s parties and hip-hop scene. Each night brought a heady mix of music, ambition, danger, delight, and possibilities. Having well and truly caught the DJing bug, he worked to find his place and make his name in the city that never sleeps. Night People conjures the undeniable magic of &#39,90s New York. It evokes the rush of a time and place where fashionistas and rappers on the rise danced alongside club kids and 9-to-5&#39,ers - and invites us into the tribe of creatives and partiers who came alive when the sun went down. A heartfelt coming-of-age tale, Night People is the definitive account of a cultural moment and the making of a musical mastermind. **Buy now to get your hands on a special foiled design beneath the jacket, EXCLUSIVE to the first hardback print run while stocks last**

Colton has always walked the line of golden boy meets bad boy. It helped catapult his popularity as the starting pitcher in his first year of college and during the scandalous exposé when he came out as bi. But Colton struggles with the accolades he receives, balancing who he is versus who he was versus who he's expected to be. Because before Colton was a queer icon for star athletes, he was a closeted bully who made one guy's life completely miserable. Isaac hates Colton. But to be fair, Isaac hates everyone-maintaining an icy distance from even his closest friends. Mostly, Isaac wants to shove Colton off the pedestal he's been placed upon. Just because he came out publicly doesn't mean he's some sort of hero. It doesn't help that Isaac once fawned over the closeted jock in high school. He cared deeply for Colton and did everything he could to please the star athlete, even keeping their private rendezvous a secret. Which meant Isaac paid the price of utter humiliation, taunting, and bullying as the weirdo loner gay guy with a creepy crush. When Isaac catches Colton cheating on an exam, he plans to ruin his enemy by destroying his academic standing and costing Colton his baseball scholarship. Isaac wants nothing more than to see Colton kicked out of campus. But when the jock offers to do anything to keep this a secret, Isaac decides to test the lengths Colton is willing to go to make things right between them. Isaac's over secrets, but this is an opportunity unlike any other. He presents an ultimatum that'll push Colton to the edge of his limits. In this sordid hate-fueled lust, all Isaac wants is revenge and all Colton wants is redemption.

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Electrifying" (People) ¿ "Masterly" (The Guardian) ¿ "Dramatic and memorable" (The New Yorker) ¿ "Magic" (TIME) ¿ " Ingenious" (The Financial Times) ¿ "A gonzo literary performance" (Entertainment Weekly) ¿ "Rare and splendid" (The Boston Globe) ¿ "Remarkable" (USA Today) ¿ "Delicious" (The New York Times) ¿ "Book groups, meet your next selection" (NPR) From the author of Flashlight, a twisting and tender novel of adolescent pressures and intrigues that unravel towards a greater truth. In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and, particularly, their acting classes. When within this striving "Brotherhood of the Arts," two freshmen, David and Sarah, fall headlong into love, their passion does not go unnoticed-or untoyed with-by anyone, especially not by their charismatic acting teacher, Mr. Kingsley. The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school's walls-until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down. What the reader believes to have happened to David and Sarah and their friends is not entirely true-though it's not false, either. It takes until the book's stunning coda for the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place-revealing truths that will resonate long after the final sentence. As captivating and tender as it is surprising, Susan Choi's Trust Exercise will incite heated conversations about fiction and truth, and about friendships and loyalties, and will leave readers with wiser understandings of the true capacities of adolescents and of the powers and responsibilities of adults.

*The Sunday Times top ten bestseller* *A Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month* *Pre-order The Kingpin now* ***** Is revenge the most lethal dose of all? 'Without a doubt the best crime thriller I've read this year ... A story of loyalties and desperation. A brilliant read' Reader review ¿¿¿¿¿ 'A. A. Dhand is masterful within the gangland genre. He grabs the reader's attention from the start, and we remain gripped to the end' Reader review ¿¿¿¿¿ * * * * Local pharmacist and pillar of the community, Idris Khan, spends his days doling out methadone to the hundreds of addicts in his care. They trust Idris with their secrets, and so he knows more than his mild manner suggests. So when his childhood sweetheart, Rebecca, doesn't turn up for her daily methadone dose, Idris is worried. Worried enough to go looking for her in the most deprived area of Leeds, alone. The mess Idris finds catapults him into the middle of a turf war between the two most powerful drug cartels in Yorkshire. Now, he must use every bit of intelligence and cunning he has to keep those he loves safe. Because a war is on the way. And when Idris goes after his enemies, they won't see him coming. * * * * Praise for A. A. Dhand: 'Dark, daring and utterly propulsive ... blurs the lines between hero and villain' Kia Abdullah, author of Those People Next Door 'Terrific ... dispensing thrills and tension from start to finish' Trevor Wood, author of The Man on the Street 'Gritty, dark, and visceral ... If I read a better book in the next year, it's probably because I've read this one twice' Neil Lancaster, author of Dead Man's Grave 'The Chemist is absolutely compelling, inventive and original ... Simply brilliant. State of the art British Crime fiction. Read it as soon as you can!' Reader review ¿¿¿¿¿

If you have ever doubted your abilities to earn an A, this book will remove those doubts and position you for academic success. The key to becoming a successful student begins even before your classes begin. A strong focus towards goals, effective habits, and a well-developed study strategy will provide an unbreakable foundation for future success. This proactive approach empowers the student to work on pace with their courses and avoid cramming during crunch time. Utilizing winning study techniques and sound personal planning help prepare students for the success they have always wanted. When applied, the comprehensiveness and simplistic elements behind this approach coexist to help catapult students into academic positions previously unreachable. In Student Excellence: Become a Winning Student, Bruce Duthie passionately presents a learning system that originated when he overcame tremendous obstacles early in his university career. After graduating with Honors, he realized this story must be shared with other students facing similar academic challenges. His real-life lessons are easily understood, and the results are real. There is a common thread woven throughout the book that centralizes on core values and personal management. The collaboration of effective study management techniques with a personal mission statement provides students with a refreshing outlook to succeed. Student Excellence offers telling new insights into developing a solid academic foundation. Topics include: · Developing a Student Mission Statement · Aligning passion, skills, effort and talent to reach your goals · Strategies for exam preparation and exam writing skills · Nine Habits and Strategies to Improve your Transcript · Identifying the critical information most likely tested · Myths of Education Written in a straight-forward, no-nonsense language that echoes Bruce Duthie's attitude, here is the advice and guidance students have waited for to climb the ladder of educational success. Reach for the top of your class and watch the other students fight to keep up with you!

Agile has the power to transform work--but only if it's implemented the right way. For decades business leaders have been painfully aware of a huge chasm: They aspire to create nimble, flexible enterprises. But their day-to-day reality is silos, sluggish processes, and stalled innovation. Today, agile is hailed as the essential bridge across this chasm, with the potential to transform a company and catapult it to the head of the pack. Not so fast. In this clear-eyed, indispensable book, Bain & Company thought leader Darrell Rigby and his colleagues Sarah Elk and Steve Berez provide a much-needed reality check. They dispel the myths and misconceptions that have accompanied agile's rise to prominence--the idea that it can reshape an organization all at once, for instance, or that it should be used in every function and for all types of work. They illustrate that agile teams can indeed be powerful, making people's jobs more rewarding and turbocharging innovation, but such results are possible only if the method is fully understood and implemented the right way. The key, they argue, is balance. Every organization must optimize and tightly control some of its operations, and at the same time innovate. Agile, done well, enables vigorous innovation without sacrificing the efficiency and reliability essential to traditional operations. The authors break down how agile really works, show what not to do, and explain the crucial importance of scaling agile properly in order to reap its full benefit. They then lay out a road map for leading the transition to a truly agile enterprise. Agile isn't a goal in itself; it's a means to becoming a high-performance operation. Doing Agile Right is a must-have guide for any company trying to make the transition--or trying to sustain high agility.

The James Beard Award–winning author of the New York Times bestseller Mi Cocina is back with a guide to the brightest dish in any Mexican meal, snack-filled afternoon, or sun-drenched beach day: salsa. From refreshing classics to rich sauces, this collection of over seventy salsas and twenty-four easy meals is a fun-loving introduction to the joy of Mexican cooking. A WASHINGTON POST BEST COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR Chips, salsa, happiness. We know that essential truth. But after over 500 years of salsa history, there’s so much more to discover about this staple dish, one that cooks today can customize and riff on freely. Salsa can be an irresistible dip, yes, or a flavorful condiment, or it can be the basis for iconic Mexican meals—not to mention a savior for grilled cheese, burgers, rotisserie chicken, or platters of roasted vegetables. Rick takes us deep into the world of traditional and modern salsas, where a playful pico de gallo with tomatoes, avocados, and chipotles is chopped up in a few minutes or where you might blend roasted peanuts with caramelized onions and toasted chiles for a nutty-savory spicy sauce. You’ll find smashed salsas, like La Tatemada Cremosa (charred tomato, chipotle in adobo, and crema), chopped salsas, such as Xnipec (tomato, habanero, and sour orange), as well as cooked salsas, like Pipián Verde (pepitas, peanuts, and tomatillo) and specials like Salsa Macha (peanuts, guiajillo, and chile de árbol) and Aioli Rojo (morita, guajillo, garlic, and lime). Turn these incredibly delicious salsas into easy meals like Chilaquiles, Enchiladas Gratinadas, Puffy Tacos, or Pozole Verde con Pollo. With over seventy salsa recipes and twenty-four easy meals that offer endless variation, Salsa Daddy shows you how salsa can catapult joy into your cooking and become the heart of every table. Like Rick, you’ll learn that salsa isn’t a condiment—it’s a lifestyle.

'An astounding debut, so full of wonder, outrage, invention, fireworks, sheer brilliance' Edward Carey, author of Little 'Subversive, hilarious and shockingly original' Rosanna Pike, author of A Little Trickerie 'A true, unique talent' Kat Dunn, author of Hungerstone Step into the past. Rush headlong at the future. The Age of Calamities is here. Henry VIII wants Anne Boleyn dead, but there's just one small problem: she's alive again by morning, sipping tea at the breakfast table. In the gilded hush of the Winter Palace, the Romanov sisters slip through time and waltz aboard a spaceship bound for the stars. A woman on the run strikes a sinister bargain with the ghost of Joan of Arc, but can she reclaim her body before sunrise? With flickers of horror and dark humour, The Age of Calamities catapults us through sentient houses, looping timelines and haunted histories. Fiercely inventive and wickedly playful, these stories mark the arrival of a bold new voice in fiction-inviting the reader to confront the past, the present and themselves, all at once. PRAISE FOR THE AGE OF CALAMITIES:'Surreal, funny and endlessly thought-provoking' Dazed 'An addictive blend of imagination and wit' Katherine J. Chen, author of Joan 'Full of imaginative daring and electrifying humour' Naomi Booth, author of Animals at Night 'The past comes to unexpected, vivid life in these speculative short stories' Publishers Weekly 'Wonderful writing that had me in its grasp to the very last sentence' Nydia Hetherington, author of Sycorax 'Stunning in its power, purpose and ambition' Maggie Su, author of Blob: A Love Story 'Dazzlingly inventive' Kelly Link, author of White Cat, Black Dog 'Wild, incantatory, upending' Claire Oshetsky, author of Evil Genius 'I loved Ahmad's perilously playful journeys to other timescapes' Leon Craig, author of Parallel Hells

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Electrifying" (People) ¿ "Masterly" (The Guardian) ¿ "Dramatic and memorable" (The New Yorker) ¿ "Magic" (TIME) ¿ " Ingenious" (The Financial Times) ¿ "A gonzo literary performance" (Entertainment Weekly) ¿ "Rare and splendid" (The Boston Globe) ¿ "Remarkable" (USA Today) ¿ "Delicious" (The New York Times) ¿ "Book groups, meet your next selection" (NPR) From the author of Flashlight, a twisting and tender novel of adolescent pressures and intrigues that unravel towards a greater truth. In an American suburb in the early 1980s, students at a highly competitive performing arts high school struggle and thrive in a rarified bubble, ambitiously pursuing music, movement, Shakespeare, and, particularly, their acting classes. When within this striving "Brotherhood of the Arts," two freshmen, David and Sarah, fall headlong into love, their passion does not go unnoticed-or untoyed with-by anyone, especially not by their charismatic acting teacher, Mr. Kingsley. The outside world of family life and economic status, of academic pressure and of their future adult lives, fails to penetrate this school's walls-until it does, in a shocking spiral of events that catapults the action forward in time and flips the premise upside-down. What the reader believes to have happened to David and Sarah and their friends is not entirely true-though it's not false, either. It takes until the book's stunning coda for the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place-revealing truths that will resonate long after the final sentence. As captivating and tender as it is surprising, Susan Choi's Trust Exercise will incite heated conversations about fiction and truth, and about friendships and loyalties, and will leave readers with wiser understandings of the true capacities of adolescents and of the powers and responsibilities of adults.

Since the invention of black powder and the development of large cannons, artillery has been considered a gamechanger of global military history. It spelled the end for knights and castles, both of which were unable to resist its powerful impact, and it ushered in radically new warship designs, whose firepower changed the face of sea warfare forever. Artillery was seen as a vital component in the military rise of Europe, with whose armies and navies Asian, African and American native forces were unable to compete. While such ideas continue to exist, the present volumes aim is to approach the history of artillery on a broader scale by taking global developments into account and putting them into perspective. It begins by examining the mechanical artillery of antiquity with its catapults and stone-throwers. The development of the cannon from a cumbersome and unreliable bombard into a modern high-tech weapon was a long process that took centuries to complete. The efficiency of the new weapon was highly dependent not just on improved production techniques but also on transport and logistics, and on increasingly lethal and destructive ammunition. And although artillery has been considered an indispensable part of any army for five hundred years, it remained an auxiliary weapon for a long time until mass deployment of fast-firing, large-calibre, guns during the First World War made artillery the true queen of battlefields. Alexander Querengässers new book gives the interested reader an innovative overview of the history of artillery which appreciates developments both inside and outside Europe. It seeks to examine the many factors which proved decisive for its consistently improving efficiency from ancient times right to the battlefields of the present. More than 200 illustrations will provide the reader with a comprehensive visual impression of the history of this remarkable weapon.

Agile has the power to transform work--but only if it's implemented the right way. For decades business leaders have been painfully aware of a huge chasm: They aspire to create nimble, flexible enterprises. But their day-to-day reality is silos, sluggish processes, and stalled innovation. Today, agile is hailed as the essential bridge across this chasm, with the potential to transform a company and catapult it to the head of the pack. Not so fast. In this clear-eyed, indispensable book, Bain & Company thought leader Darrell Rigby and his colleagues Sarah Elk and Steve Berez provide a much-needed reality check. They dispel the myths and misconceptions that have accompanied agile's rise to prominence--the idea that it can reshape an organization all at once, for instance, or that it should be used in every function and for all types of work. They illustrate that agile teams can indeed be powerful, making people's jobs more rewarding and turbocharging innovation, but such results are possible only if the method is fully understood and implemented the right way. The key, they argue, is balance. Every organization must optimize and tightly control some of its operations, and at the same time innovate. Agile, done well, enables vigorous innovation without sacrificing the efficiency and reliability essential to traditional operations. The authors break down how agile really works, show what not to do, and explain the crucial importance of scaling agile properly in order to reap its full benefit. They then lay out a road map for leading the transition to a truly agile enterprise. Agile isn't a goal in itself; it's a means to becoming a high-performance operation. Doing Agile Right is a must-have guide for any company trying to make the transition--or trying to sustain high agility.

Life is a creative act. Start living a meaningful life with this soul-shaking, "brilliant companion on the road to more aliveness" (Dave Evans, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Designing Your Life) to identify your core values and create the life you want. We all have moments when we doubt the path we're on. Am I in the right relationship? Is this the career for me? Is this as good as it gets? These questions can feel uncomfortable without a method for uncovering the answers. Enter the USA TODAY bestseller, The Life Brief, a simple yet effective playbook for navigating life's decisions, crossroads, and curveballs. Modeled after the creative brief, a tool used by the most innovative companies in the world to unlock clarity and unleash action, The Life Brief carves a path for living with intention and imagination. Designed by award-winning brand strategist Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief is a practice in three parts: The first phase, Get Messy , is a set of open-ended writing prompts that cut through limiting beliefs and false assumptions about what's possible. The second phase, Get Clear , guides you to crystal clarity so you can declare what you truly, deeply want. The third phase, Get Active , catapults you into the steps to making your desires real. This is the "ultimate tool to set us on our true path towards success and joy" (Deepak Chopra, New York Times bestselling author) that challenges the limiting beliefs that create friction in your life. This powerfully adaptive tool has transformed thousands of lives, from refining career paths to repairing relationships, from rediscovering passion to cutting through overwhelm. Don't let another moment pass you by. "If you want to be happier, you should write a Life Brief," (Fast Company). Discover The Life Brief and unlock your path today.