Peter Gleick knows water. A world-renowned scientist and freshwater expert, Gleick is a MacArthur Foundation "genius," and according to the BBC, an... environmental visionary. And he drinks from the tap. Why don't the rest of us? Bottled and Sold shows how water went from being a free natural resource to one of the most successful commercial products of the last one hundred years-and why we are poorer for it. It's a big story and water is big business. Every second of every day in the United States, a thousand people buy a plastic bottle of water, and every second of every day a thousand more throw one of those bottles away. That adds up to more than thirty billion bottles a year and tens of billions of dollars of sales. Are there legitimate reasons to buy all those bottles? With a scientist's eye and a natural storyteller's wit, Gleick investigates whether industry claims about the relative safety, convenience, and taste of bottled versus tap hold water. And he exposes the true reasons we've turned to the bottle, from fearmongering by business interests and our own vanity to the breakdown of public systems and global inequities. "Designer" H2O may be laughable, but the debate over commodifying water is deadly serious. It comes down to society's choices about human rights, the role of government and free markets, the importance of being "green," and fundamental values. Gleick gets to the heart of the bottled water craze, exploring what it means for us to bottle and sell our most basic necessity.

Peter Gleick knows water. A world-renowned scientist and freshwater expert, Gleick is a MacArthur Foundation "genius," and according to the BBC, an... environmental visionary. And he drinks from the tap. Why don’t the rest of us? Bottled and Sold shows how water went from being a free natural resource to one of the most successful commercial products of the last one hundred years—and why we are poorer for it. It’s a big story and water is big business. Every second of every day in the United States, a thousand people buy a plastic bottle of water, and every second of every day a thousand more throw one of those bottles away. That adds up to more than thirty billion bottles a year and tens of billions of dollars of sales. Are there legitimate reasons to buy all those bottles? With a scientist’s eye and a natural storyteller’s wit, Gleick investigates whether industry claims about the relative safety, convenience, and taste of bottled versus tap hold water. And he exposes the true reasons we’ve turned to the bottle, from fearmongering by business interests and our own vanity to the breakdown of public systems and global inequities. "Designer" H2O may be laughable, but the debate over commodifying water is deadly serious. It comes down to society’s choices about human rights, the role of government and free markets, the importance of being "green," and fundamental values. Gleick gets to the heart of the bottled water craze, exploring what it means for us to bottle and sell our most basic necessity.

Lithium batteries may hold the key to an environmentally sustainable, oil-independent future. From electric cars to a “smart” power grid that can... actually store electricity, letting us harness the powers of the sun and the wind and use them when we need them, lithium—a metal half as dense as water, found primarily in some of the most uninhabitable places on earth—has the potential to set us on a path toward a low-carbon energy economy. In Bottled Lightning, Seth Fletcher takes us on a fascinating journey, from the salt flats of Bolivia to the labs of MIT and Stanford, from the turmoil at GM to cutting-edge lithium-ion battery start-ups, introducing us to the key players and ideas in an industry with the power to reshape the world. Lithium is the thread that ties together many crucial stories of our time: the environmental movement; the American auto industry, staking its revival on the electrification of cars and trucks; the struggle between first-world countries in need of natural resources and the impoverished countries where those resources are found; and the overwhelming popularity of the portable, Internet-connected gadgets that are changing the way we communicate. With nearly limitless possibilities, the promise of lithium offers new hope to a foundering American economy desperately searching for a green-tech boom to revive it.

“An engaging investigation of an unexpectedly murky substance…After you read it you will sip warily from your water bottle.”—New York Times Book... Review Bottled water is on the verge of becoming the most popular beverage in the country. But what’s the cost of all this water—for us and for the environment? In this eye-opening book, Elizabeth Royte does for water what Michael Pollan did for food: She examines the people, machines, economies, and cultural trends that surround it on its journey from distant aquifers to our supermarkets and homes. She looks at the various sources of drinking water (including the embattled Maine town that Poland Spring exports from), the chemicals we dump into it to make it potable, and the real differences between tap and bottled. Bottlemania is the story of one of the greatest marketing coups of the twentieth century—and one of the most troubling issues facing our environment today. With a new afterword on the developing issues in clean water around the world.

A major new graphic novel from a major new talent.Bottomless Belly Button is a comedy-drama that follows the dysfunctional adventures of the Loony... Family. After 40-some years of marriage, Maggie and David Loony shock their children with their announcement of a planned divorce. But the reason for splitting isn't itself shocking: they’re "just not in love any more." The announcement sparks a week long Loony family reunion at Maggie and David's creepy (and possibly haunted) beach house. The eldest child, Dennis, struggles with his parents' decision while facing difficulties of his own in his recent marriage. Believing that his parents are hiding the true reasons behind their estrangement, Dennis embarks on a quest to discover the truth and searches through clues, trap doors, and secret tunnels in attempt to find an answer. Claire, the middle child, is a single mother whose 16-year-old daughter, Jill, is apathetic to the divorce but confounded by Claire and troubled by her own "mannish" appearance. The youngest child, Peter, is a hack filmmaker suffering from paralyzing insecurities who establishes an unorthodox romance with a mysterious day care counselor at the beach. In a six-day period rich with atmospheric sequences, these characters stumble blindly around one another, often ignoring their surroundings and consumed by their own daily conflicts. Visually, Shaw employs a leisurely storytelling pace that allows room for exploring the interconnecting relationships among the characters and plays to his strength as a cartoonist — small gestural details and nuanced expressions that bring the characters to vivid and intimate life. If the controversial R.D. Laing wrote an episode of The Simpsons, it might read something like Bottomless Belly Button. Official Selection, 2009 Festival International de la Bande Dessinée de Angoulême; named one of Publishers Weekly's 2008 "Best Books of the Year: Comics;" named one of Booklist's "Top 10 Graphic Novels" of the Year."

Your customers and prospects are too busy to bother with any salesperson who promises to "add value" without an in-depth understanding of their... business. The only way to add measurable value to your customers-the kind that gets the attention of high-level decision makers-is to understand how their business generates cash, bring solid ideas for improving their cash flow engine, and speak the language that resonates with them. Bottom-Line Selling shows you how to stand out by becoming a cash flow engineer. "I read a lot of business books, more than 100 a year, and I can say without question that Bottom-Line Selling is absolutely one of my all time favorites. If you want to clearly understand how to use business acumen, competitive intelligence and your customer's financials to position yourself as a trusted advisor and close major deals, this is a MUST read book."-John Spence - one of America's top 100 business thought leaders "I receive several calls each day from salespeople attempting to get on my calendar to pitch their product or service. I never cease to be amazed at how low the quality is of the calls and emails that I get and how little the people know about my business. If they read this book, they may have a chance to get my attention."-Bill Davidson, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Investor Relations, Qualcomm "The ability to connect with our customers, intelligently discussing the business issues is critical to sales success. Jack Malcolm's Bottom-Line Selling is the best resource I've seen to help sales people have meaningful conversations on business and financial issues. It's a must read for all sales professionals and should be a desktop reference for anyone who deals with customers."-Dave Brock, President and CEO, Partners In EXCELLENCE "Rarely in sales do you find a methodology that goes past just getting the deal and actually gives you a model to demonstrate significant top and bottom line impact for your customers. In today's world where multi-level sales relationships are even more critical than ever, Bottom-Line Selling is a fantastic working guide to anyone who wants to be a world class consultative seller."-Alexander Turnbull, Director, Fonterra.

On April 18, 1981, a ball game sprang eternal. For eight hours, the night seemed to suspend a town and two teams between their collective pasts and... futures, between their collective sorrows and joys—the shivering fans; their wives at home; the umpires; the batboys approaching manhood; the ejected manager, peering through a hole in the backstop; the sportswriters and broadcasters; and the players themselves—two destined for the Hall of Fame (Cal Ripken and Wade Boggs), the few to play only briefly or forgettably in the big leagues, and the many stuck in minor-league purgatory, duty bound and loyal forever to the game. With Bottom of the 33rd, celebrated New York Times journalist Dan Barry delivers a lyrical meditation on small-town lives, minor-league dreams, and the elements of time and community that conspired one fateful night to produce a baseball game seemingly without end. An unforgettable portrait of ambition and endurance, Bottom of the 33rd is the rare sports book that changes the way we perceive America’s pastime—and America’s past.

The value of this booklet lies in its concise summary of the fundamentals of French grammar, and as such it constitutes a particularly useful tool at... the beginner and intermediate levels as well as for more advanced levels. "I think our students will love having such a clear and comprehensive presentation of French grammar. They have always found the long verbose presentations confusing. I believe this book will be a great addition to their traditional grammar books, and something they can keep with them for the duration of their studies as a memo ad easy reference to go to." -Professor Alissa M. Webel, Department of French, Georgetown University. "Stella J. Cohen-Scali's new guide to French grammar, Bouées de Grammaire: le Français en Tableaux, compiles at long last in published form the ingenious strategies that the author has developed to help students navigate their way through the challenges of using the French language correctly and confidently. By the many students who have urged Professor Cohen-Scali over the years to bring her work to press, this guide has been praised as no less than a pedagogical lifeline." -Professor Deborah Lesko Baker, Department of French, Georgetown University. Students comments "The diagrams really help me to understand the material. It is simpler and explained better than in the book and would be a great supplement to the book work. The color coding really makes it easy to understand even some of the more complex topics by linking the material to some examples. The bottom line is that as a student, I would definitely want to buy this material". -Zach Schwab "Professor Cohen-Scali's grammar charts are the most comprehensive and useful study tools I've used in studying French! The charts not only present the material in a way that's easy to memorize for class, but that also facilitates quick recall in daily conversation." -Faith Mulroy "This book will serve as a constant reference to students at all levels of study. The grammatical charts allowed me to learn French quickly and effectively and they helped make clear a variety of complicated concepts and rules. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a useful reference for navigating French grammar". -Nabil Hashmi

A top reporter exposes the deep ties between the Obama administration and the big banks that are bankrupting our country. As the recession continues,... President Obama has chastised the "fat cats" who feast off government bailout money while unemployment remains high and smaller businesses struggle. But according to Gasparino, Obama is faking his outrage, and his calls for new policies to rein in banks that are "too big to fail" are just pabulum. In reality, Obama has climbed into bed with Wall Street CEOs, giving them what they want so they will support his liberal, big- government agenda. As a result, the big banks responsible for the credit crisis get rescued, while small businesses and ordinary Americans get crushed by higher taxes and irresponsible spending. Gasparino draws on interviews with dozens of key CEOs and political players to trace the roots of Wall Street's twisted love affair with one of the most liberal presidents in American history. He shows how, for decades, big banks and big business have colluded with big government, thereby laying the groundwork for today's shady dealings, and how the same bankers Obama now publically reprimands have supported him-not because he promises change, but because he promises business. Written in Gasparino's characteristic smart yet no-nonsense style, this book is both an exposé and a wake-up call to all Americans to strike back against the people and policies who are ruining our country.

A new, revised edition of this invaluable guide to the background to and causes of the Union of 1707 which, outside Parliament in Edinburgh, was deeply... unpopular in Scotland. Extended and re-written in the light of re-establishment of a Scottish Parliament in 1999, the book takes the reader through the maze of competing arguments about why Scots gave up their Parliament in the first place. Professor Whatley's account is dispassionate but also lucid, highly readable and frank in its assessments. Importantly, the book views the Union not only from the Scottish perspective, but also from that of England. It also considers the context of Europe, where political unions were by no means unusual by the early eighteenth century.

Se réunir en troupeaux de quatre cent mille hommes, marcher jour et nuit sans repos, pourrir de saleté, coucher dans la fange, piller les villes,... brûler les villages, ruiner les peuples, puis rencontrer une autre agglomération de viande humaine, se ruer dessus, faire des lacs de sang " : telle est la définition de la guerre selon Maupassant.Les nouvelles rassemblées dans ce recueil, pourtant, ne montrent pas seulement l'effroyable réalité du conflit franco-prussien de 1870. L'auteur y met aussi en scène des prostituées patriotes, des commerçants héroïques et des paysans vengeurs : ce sont autant de vérités individuelles qu'il dresse contre la mort.