There are a billion reasons Kate should marry her current boyfriend. Will she trade them all to be madly in love? Katie McKenna leads a perfect life. She has a fulfilling job, a cute apartment, and a wedding to plan with her soon-to-be fiancé, Dexter. She can think of a billion reasons why she should marry Dexter. He’s everything she wants in a husband. And then in walks Luc DeForges, her bold, breathtaking ex-boyfriend. Only now he’s a millionaire. And he wants her to go home to New Orleans to sing for a friend’s wedding. As his date. But Katie made up her mind about Luc eight years ago, when she fled their hometown after a very public breakup. Yet there’s still a magnetism between them she can’t deny. Katie thought her predictable relationship with Dexter would be the bedrock of a lasing, Christian marriage. But what if there’s more? What if God’s desire for her is a heart full of life? And what if that’s what Luc has offered all along? "Katie and Luc dance off the pages of this book, making you fall in love with them and New Orleans. Full of surprises and romance." —Carolyne Aarsen, author of The Baby Promise
A wayward billionaire looking for love. An activist who also happens to write the most scorching dark romance novels to ever hit the bookshelves. Every time they think they’re clicking, they’re reminded of the differences that shackle them to the same old lives. That’s what happens when Phoebe Dahl walks into the office of Preston Bradley, the man who owns her publisher. What’s a mere formality for her turns into the best day of Preston’s life. Because he’s found the one. Phoebe’s distrust of capitalism and drive to help those less fortunate than her puts her at instant odds with the man who lives by himself in a huge mansion in Portland’s affluent hills. Yet he wants her. He’s pretty sure she wants him too. Otherwise, how is she ending up in his bed? But there’s one thing Preston doesn’t know about Phoebe. He’s not her first ride at the billionaire boyfriend rodeo… and the last rich boyfriend nearly destroyed her ability to love. While Phoebe plugs away at her next bestseller, Preston comes up with a plan to prove to her – and the world – that they are destined to be together. Even if there are a billion reasons telling them to give it up.
India - a land of a billion people; a nation for a billion reasons. India continues to mesmerise and surprise the rest of the world as much as she enchants and bewilders her own people. An ancient civilsiation and a young nation at once, modern India is a thriving democracy, an economic powerhouse, an increasingly assertive global political player and a world leader in science and technology. At the same time, she remains rooted in tradition - her art, culture and literature continue to enrich her mind, body and soul, as also of the rest of humanity. This superbly-crafted book, adorned with rich and spontaneous photographs, unravels the beauty and enigma of India and her people in an unusually simple and uncomplicated manner, thereby providing an overview of what constitutes this great nation.
This is not just a book about the past, it is about the future! Bernard Madoff is in jail. You might think the Securities Industry is once again safe for investors. You would be wrong. It started with a phone call on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 8:07 P.M. I was totally unprepared for the 14 words which transpired over the next 10 seconds - "have you heard the financial news - Bernie Madoff was just arrested for securities fraud." These words changed my life forever and began a journey that continues to this day with no end in sight. Many books have been written about Madoff and the largest financial crime in history. This one-of-a-kind book is different. It offers an extraordinary first party view of the scandal from the perspective of an average American who had the misfortune to invest with Bernard Madoff Investment Securities as the central element of a long range retirement plan. This unique narrative discusses my information gathering process, observations and conclusions not only of the inner workings of the Madoff crime, but also of the role played by government regulators and Wall Street in their collective failures to detect the crime and the resulting impact of those failures on investors. Americans have a right to know what really happened. The information I collected is being presented in an adult education class at a local college. That effort led directly to this book with the hope that the message will be received by a much wider audience. If you have a brokerage account, 401k or pension plan that invests money in the U.S. Securities market then this book has a message for you. Wall Street is not a safe place for your money. But not for the reason you might think. Not because stocks carry inherent risk and can lose value due to market dynamics. You are at risk because your broker may be a fraud and regulators can decide your account statement is absolutely worthless. You may think that fraud in a market regulated by the U.S. Government cannot occur. On October 20, 2007, Bernie Madoff told us that "in today's regulatory environment, it is virtually impossible to violate rules. It is impossible for a violation to go undetected." Madoff lied. He did commit fraud. It was never detected. Thousands of American investors are paying a huge price for that fraud. After reading this book you will question whether you should trust your financial future to a system created by Wall Street and regulated by the U.S. Government. You will come to understand how laws that were put in place by Congress with the express intent to protect investors have instead been twisted and misinterpreted to deny those protections - all to the benefit of Wall Street. The system is broken. You are at risk. The brokerage account protections put in place by the U.S. Congress in 1970 share something in common with Madoff - these protections are a fraud. If you are involved in a brokerage fraud you will see that YOU are treated like a criminal and YOUR retirement will be sacrificed to the unrelenting and unforgiving profit motivations of Wall Street. This book isn't really about me, it is about you.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER What would actually make America great: more people. If the most challenging crisis in living memory has shown us anything, it’s that America has lost the will and the means to lead. We can’t compete with the huge population clusters of the global marketplace by keeping our population static or letting it diminish, or with our crumbling transit and unaffordable housing. The winner in the future world is going to have more—more ideas, more ambition, more utilization of resources, more people. Exactly how many Americans do we need to win? According to Matthew Yglesias, one billion. From one of our foremost policy writers, One Billion Americans is the provocative yet logical argument that if we aren’t moving forward, we’re losing. Vox founder Yglesias invites us to think bigger, while taking the problems of decline seriously. What really contributes to national prosperity should not be controversial: supporting parents and children, welcoming immigrants and their contributions, and exploring creative policies that support growth—like more housing, better transportation, improved education, revitalized welfare, and climate change mitigation. Drawing on examples and solutions from around the world, Yglesias shows not only that we can do this, but why we must. Making the case for massive population growth with analytic rigor and imagination, One Billion Americans issues a radical but undeniable challenge: Why not do it all, and stay on top forever?
$29 Billion Reasons to Lie about Cholesterol provides the facts; enabling readers to make informed choices about the prevention of heart disease and diabetes.
The Bottom Billion is an elegant and impassioned synthesis from one of the world's leading experts on Africa and poverty. It was hailed as "the best non-fiction book so far this year" by Nicholas Kristoff of The New York Times.
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “One of the most important books I’ve ever read—an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.” – Bill Gates “Hans Rosling tells the story of ‘the secret silent miracle of human progress’ as only he can. But Factfulness does much more than that. It also explains why progress is so often secret and silent and teaches readers how to see it clearly.” —Melinda Gates "Factfulness by Hans Rosling, an outstanding international public health expert, is a hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases." - Former U.S. President Barack Obama Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts. When asked simple questions about global trends—what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school—we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers. In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective—from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse). Our problem is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases. It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. That doesn’t mean there aren’t real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most. Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world and empower you to respond to the crises and opportunities of the future. --- “This book is my last battle in my life-long mission to fight devastating ignorance...Previously I armed myself with huge data sets, eye-opening software, an energetic learning style and a Swedish bayonet for sword-swallowing. It wasn’t enough. But I hope this book will be.” Hans Rosling, February 2017.
Nick A man like me has certain tastes. And needs. I’ll pay top dollar for whatever I’m craving. No price is too high if it means I get what I want. What I desire. Until one day when a certain blonde walks in and turns my life upside down. All I need is one month to get her out of my system forever. At least that’s what I hope. Cherry Lying on my back for rich guys is not my idea of a dream job. Ever since my world imploded, I’ve had to do what I’ve had to do. I’m not proud of it. But I’m a survivor. I’ll do whatever it takes. Until I lay eyes on my billionaire client, Nick. The things he does to me—and the way he makes me feel, blows my mind and shakes my reality. When he asks for one month of exclusivity—I can’t say no. My head tells me I can keep it professional. My heart isn’t so sure. After all, it’s just another job. Right?
"In the grand tradition of Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires (2009)... an engaging look into a fascinating subculture of millions." —Booklist "Breezy...How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars ably if uncritically chronicles the short history of a young company catering to young users, with a young chief executive, and reveals, intentionally or not, the limitations that come with that combination." —Wall Street Journal The improbable and exhilarating story of the rise of Snapchat from a frat boy fantasy to a multi-billion dollar internet unicorn that has dramatically changed the way we communicate. In 2013 Evan Spiegel, the brash CEO of the social network Snapchat, and his co-founder Bobby Murphy stunned the press when they walked away from a three-billion-dollar offer from Facebook: how could an app teenagers use to text dirty photos dream of a higher valuation? Was this hubris, or genius? In How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars, tech journalist Billy Gallagher takes us inside the rise of one of Silicon Valley's hottest start-ups. Snapchat developed from a simple wish for disappearing pictures as Stanford junior Reggie Brown nursed regrets about photos he had sent. After an epic feud between best friends, Brown lost his stake in the company, while Spiegel has gone on to make a name for himself as a visionary—if ruthless—CEO worth billions, linked to celebrities like Taylor Swift and his wife, Miranda Kerr. A fellow Stanford undergrad and fraternity brother of the company’s founding trio, Gallagher has covered Snapchat from the start. He brings unique access to a company Bloomberg Business called “a cipher in the Silicon Valley technology community.” Gallagher offers insight into challenges Snapchat faces as it transitions from a playful app to one of the tech industry’s preeminent public companies. In the tradition of great business narratives, How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars offers the definitive account of a company whose goal is no less than to remake the future of entertainment.
