ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Bear, Greg, PUBLISHER: Tor Books, " years ago, the galaxy was populated by a great variety of beings. But one species--eons beyond all others in both technology and knowledge--achieved dominance. They ruled in peace but met opposition with quick and brutal effectiveness. They were the Forerunners--the keepers of the Mantle, the next stage of life in the Universe's Living Time. And then they vanished. This is their story." "" "Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting" is a young rebellious Forerunner. He is a Manipular, untried--yet to become part of the adult Forerunner society, where vast knowledge and duty waits. He comes from a family of Builders, the Forerunners' highest and most politically powerful rate. It is the Builders who create the grand technology that facilitates Forerunner dominance over the known universe. It is the Builders who believe they must shoulder the greatest burden of the Mantle--as shepherds and guardians of all life. Bornstellar is marked to become a great Builder just like his father. But this Manipular has other plans. He is obsessed with lost treasures of the past. His reckless passion to seek out the marvelous artifacts left behind by the Precursors--long-vanished superbeings of unknowable power and intent---forces his father's hand. Bornstellar is sent to live among the Miners, where he must come to terms with where his duty truly lies. But powerful forces are at play. Forerunner society is at a major crux. Past threats are once again proving relentless. Dire solutions--machines and strategies never before contemplated--are being called up, and fissures in Forerunner power are leading to chaos. On a Lifeworker's experimental planet, Bornstellar's rebellious course crosses the paths of two humans, and the long lifeline of a great military leader, forever changing Bornstellar's destiny...and the fate of the entire galaxy. This is a tale of life, death, intergalactic horror, exile, and maturity. It is a story of overwhelming change--and of human origins. For the Mantle may not lie upon the shoulders of Forerunners forever.
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Fishman, Ted, PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster, China today is visible everywhere -- in the news, in the economic pressures battering america, in the workplace, and in every trip to the store. provocative, timely, and essential, this dramatic account of china's growing dominance as an industrial super-power by journalist Ted C. Fishman explains how the profound shift in the global economic order has occurred -- and why it already affects us all. How has an enormous country once hobbled by poverty and Communist ideology come to be the supercharged center of global capitalism? What does it mean that China now grows three times faster than the United States? That China uses 40 percent of the world's concrete and 25 percent of its steel? What is the global impact of 300 million rural Chinese walking off their farms and heading to the cities in the greatest migration in human history? Why do nearly all of the world's biggest companies now have large-scale operations in China? What does the corporate march into China mean for workers left behind in America, Europe, and the rest of the world? Meanwhile, what makes China's emerging corporations so dangerously competitive? What could happen when China will be able to manufacture nearly "everything" -- computers, cars, jumbo jets, and pharmaceuticals -- that the United States and Europe can, at perhaps half the cost? How do these developments reach around the world and straight into the lives of all Americans? These are ground-shaking questions, and "China, Inc." provides answers.Veteran journalist and former commodities trader Ted C. Fishman paints a vivid picture of the megatrends radiating out of China. Fishman's account begins with the burgeoning output of China's vast low-cost factories and the swelling appetite of its 1.3 billion consumers, both of which are being driven by historically unprecedented infusions of foreign capital and technological know-how. Traveling through China's frenetic landscape of growth, Fishman visits the factories, markets, streets, stores, towns, and cities where the story of Chinese capitalism is being lived by one-fifth of all humanity. Fishman also draws on interviews with Chinese, American, and European workers, managers, and executives to show how China will force all of us to make big changes in how we think about ourselves as consumers, workers, citizens, and even as parents. The result is a richly engaging work of penetrating, up-to-the-minute reportage and brilliant analysis that will forever change how readers think about America's future.
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Pagliarini, Robert, PUBLISHER: St. Martin's Press, This isn't your father's personal finance book. The way we currently save and invest is confusing, frustrating, and quite simply doesn't work. Get ready for a personal finance book that is actually unique. Get ready for financial strategies that you've never seen or heard before. Get ready to transform your financial life in less than a week Robert Pagliarini has taken budgeting, investing, insurance, and retirement planning--subjects that most of us find stressful and overwhelmingly complex--and made it approachable and even manageable through his unsinkable optimism and relentless simplification process. He says, "We're going to take the pie-in-the-sky theories and turn them into bite-size pieces that you can and will be able to implement in your life immediately." THE SIX DAY FINANCIAL MAKEOVER does a lot of things really well, but I'll just tell you about three. First and foremost it actually provides advice--yes, real advice. Not wishy-washy "maybe you should do this" or "it all depends on your situation" nonsense (what Robert calls "financial fog"). Second, it has an action bias. No, not really a bias, more like a mantra. Implement, implement, implement is the theme in every chapter and on every page (there's even a patent-pending free web site at www.sixdayfinancialmakeover.com readers can use to help them take the advice they read and incorporate it into their lives). Three, it is full of brand-new, never seen before financial shortcuts and strategies such as: " " Why your seven year old is a better investor than you are. Kids intuitively understand how to save and invest better than most adults. The trick is focus and creating separate physical accounts for themyriad goals we have. There is no "right" way to invest. What's crucial is that people determine their investment personality - particularly how involved they want to be with investing - and let that be their guide. Disregarding one's investment personality and pursuing an approach that's not compatible with it is a recipe for disaster. Why you shouldn't work for a paycheck. Most of us work to earn a paycheck, right? Well that's the wrong way to think about work. Once we can align our life's vision and deepest goals to our income, we start to see our purpose for waking up each morning entirely differently. Work is no longer work--it becomes a catalyst that helps us achieve our goals. The most important thing you should save for (and it's not retirement). What's more important and more satisfying than retirement? Financial independence. Discover how many days your passive income could support your lifestyle (if your score is less than 31, don't quit your day job). The more information and choices you have, the worse your finances will be. There are more financial books, magazines, journals, newspapers, radio shows, TV shows, web sites, Podcasts, and free information available today, yet most of