The Smart Traveler’s Passport is a collection of 399 of the best travel tips you’ll ever read, compiled from the pages of Budget Travel magazine.

You’ll learn:

• 13 different uses for Ziploc bags
• How dental floss can double as a tape measure
• Where to find the best street food in cities worldwide
• How a digital camera can help you find your rental car
• Why clearing your Web browser’s cache will lead to lower prices on airfare and hotel reservations
• How to avoid long lines at the world’s most popular attractions

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Yaconelli has an annoying habit of speaking the truth. As an author, he changed the face of youth ministry over the past three decades with his honest approach to the challenges of today’s youth.

As former editor of The Wittenberg Door (now simply The Door), he and his staff humorously challenged what they saw as the church’s many hypocrisies and inconsistencies. Here, Yaconelli explores the perfectionism that plagues so many in the church, an examination that is both challenging and deeply personal. He does an excellent job of naming some of the unspoken assumptions in today’s church context, arguing, for example, that the church “has communicated that competence is one of the fruits of the Spirit”. But even more effective are his vivid stories, where he gives blood and flesh to the idea of grace lost and found again in the church. Read the rest of this entry »

Inge’s gathering of “Schulz’s major prose writings” attests the cartoonist’s consistency. He wrote without drawing as limpidly as he did with. His sentences are as chaste and precise in diction, as direct in address, and as lucid in meaning as the words he put in the Peanuts gang’s speech and thought balloons.

His stylistic peers are Hemingway and the best of the lean, clean, mostly crime-fiction writers who followed Papa. But he’s never as passive as Papa, never as sentimental as those crime-fictionists. He sounds ingenuous and comradely, one person talking to another, engaged but uncontentious. Read the rest of this entry »

There are two kinds of knowledge law school teaches: legal rules on the one hand, and tools for thinking about legal problems on the other. Although the tools are far more interesting and useful than the rules, they tend to be neglected in favor of other aspects of the curriculum. In The Legal Analyst, Ward Farnsworth brings together in one place all of the most powerful of those tools for thinking about law.

From classic ideas in game theory such as the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” and the “Stag Hunt” to psychological principles such as hindsight bias and framing effects, from ideas in jurisprudence such as the slippery slope to more than two dozen other such principles, Farnsworth’s guide leads readers through the fascinating world of legal thought. Each chapter introduces a single tool and shows how it can be used to solve different types of problems. The explanations are written in clear, lively language and illustrated with a wide range of examples. Read the rest of this entry »

Grade 4–9 – Forty years as a sportscaster gives Berman plenty of experience to choose the 25 greatest sports moments. His writing is lively, humorous, and informative – just right to sustain kids (or adults) interest. Quality photos throughout are another plus.

Each of the entries for the individuals chosen includes a brief biographical profile with birth date, birthplace, height, weight, and a fact about their accomplishments. Other boxes feature interesting trivia such as the price of a baseball ticket in the 1930s being a little more than a dollar. Another describes the amazing typical breakfast for swimmer Michael Phelps. An audio CD that includes many of the moments as they were broadcast live is part of the package. Read the rest of this entry »

The Truth About Starting a Business reveals 53 bite-size, easy-to-use techniques for choosing, planning, launching, and growing your winning business.

You’ll learn how to generate and test business ideas, and pick the one that’s best for you…select the right entry strategy…name and locate your business…raise capital…build your team and get expert advice…protect your business secrets and intellectual property…effectively brand your business and market its offerings…handle pricing, distribution, and sales…manage your finances to specific objectives…prepare for growth…and even maintain your work/life balance as an entrepreneur.

This isn’t “someone’s opinion”: it’s a definitive, evidence-based guide to building your own successful enterprise–a set of bedrock principles you can rely on whoever you are, wherever you are, and whatever business you choose to launch. Read the rest of this entry »

Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings, Fifth Edition, is the most comprehensive topically organized collection of classical and contemporary philosophy available.

Ideal for introductory philosophy courses, the text includes sections on God and evil, knowledge and reality, the philosophy of science, the mind/body problem, freedom of will, consciousness, ethics, political philosophy, existential issues, and philosophical puzzles and paradoxes.

Insightful introductions to each part, study questions after each reading selection, and an extensive glossary of philosophical terms help make the readings more accessible to students. Read the rest of this entry »

Digital cameras are the hot new tech toy-but many of the millions of people who are buying the cameras aren’t getting the most out of their new purchase. Mysterious icons, strange jargon, a dizzying array of imaging software and hardware…stumbling blocks quickly become tools to create great pictures with The BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Photography.

This practical, lesson-based workbook gives readers a step-by-step tutorial in getting bright, crisp, beautiful pictures from their digital cameras every time. Learn about exposure, file formats and quality settings, low-light photography, digital filters and white balance, composition and lens choice, manipulating images, printing, and much more, all in a handy, bring-along format. Read the rest of this entry »

Essentials of Accounting, 10/e, is a self-teaching, self-paced introduction to financial accounting for active users of business data. Basic Concepts; Balance Sheet Changes: Income Measurement; Accounting Records and Systems; Revenues and Monetary Assets; Expense Measurement: The Income Statement; Inventories and Cost of Sales; Noncurrent Assets and Depreciation; Liabilities and Equities; Statement of Cash Flows; Analysis of Financial Statements; Nonprofit Financial Statements; International Financial Reporting Standards. For active users of business data who want to expand their knowledge or refresh their skills. Read the rest of this entry »