The Chris Voss Show

Desperate: An Epic Battle for Clean Water and Justice in Appalachia by Kris Maher Erin Brockovich meets Dark Waters in this propulsive and heart-wrenching legal drama set in Appalachian coal country, as one determined lawyer confronts a coal industry giant in a battle over clean drinking water for a West Virginia community—from Wall Street Journal reporter Kris Maher. For two decades, the water in the taps and wells of Mingo County didn’t look, smell, or taste right. Could it be the root of the health problems—from kidney stones to cancer—in this Appalachian community? Environmental lawyer Kevin Thompson certainly thought so. For seven years, he waged an epic legal battle against Massey Energy, West Virginia’s most powerful coal company, helmed by CEO Don Blankenship. While Massey’s lawyers worked out of a gray glass office tower in Charleston known as “the Death Star,” Thompson set up shop in a ramshackle hotel in the fading coal town of Williamson. Working with fellow lawyers and a crew of young activists, Thompson would eventually uncover the ruthless shortcuts that put the community’s drinking water at risk. A respected preacher and his brother, retired coal miners, and women whose families had lived in the area’s coal camps for generations, all put their trust in Thompson when they had nowhere else to turn. As he dug deeper into the mystery of the water along a stretch of road where the violence from the legendary Hatfield-McCoy feud still echoes, he was pulled into the darkest corners of Mingo County, risking his finances, his marriage, his career, and even his safety. Bringing to life a rich cast of characters and the legacy of coal mining in an essential yet often misunderstood part of America, Desperate is a masterful work of investigative reporting about greed and denial, a revealing portrait of a town besieged by hardship and heartbreak, and an inspiring account of one tenacious environmental lawyer’s mission to expose the truth and demand justice.

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography • “One of the most beautiful biographies I’ve ever read.” —Glennon Doyle, author of #1 New York Times Bestseller, Untamed The highly anticipated biography of Sylvia Plath that focuses on her remarkable literary and intellectual achievements, while restoring the woman behind the long-held myths about her life and art. With a wealth of never-before-accessed materials–including unpublished letters and manuscripts; court, police, and psychiatric records; and new interviews–Heather Clark brings to life the brilliant daughter of Wellesley, Massachusetts who had poetic ambition from a very young age and was an accomplished, published writer of poems and stories even before she became a star English student at Smith College in the early 1950s. Determined not to read Plath’s work as if her every act, from childhood on, was a harbinger of her tragic fate, Clark evokes a culture in transition, in the shadow of the atom bomb and the Holocaust, as she explores Plath’s world: her early relationships and determination not to become a conventional woman and wife; her conflicted ties to her well-meaning, widowed mother; her troubles at the hands of an unenlightened mental-health industry; her Cambridge years and thunderclap meeting with Ted Hughes, a marriage of true minds that would change the course of poetry in English; and much more. Clark’s clear-eyed portraits of Hughes, his lover Assia Wevill, and other demonized players in the arena of Plath’s suicide promotes a deeper understanding of her final days, with their outpouring of first-rate poems. Along with illuminating readings of the poems themselves, Clark’s meticulous, compassionate research brings us closer than ever to the spirited woman and visionary artist who blazed a trail that still lights the way for women poets the world over

Bloom Health Partners: Cole Lysaught, Abbas Khan Co-Founders Interview Bloomhealthpartners.com

The Summit: Journey to Hero Mountain by Deborah Johnson THE SUMMIT is an allegorical tale of Mallery, our female protagonist who hides her ideas in a book beneath her pillow. She decides to escape the constraints of the land of Baybel to pursue her Summit, which holds the promise of a bigger and better future. In this realistic fantasy, she crosses multiple terrains, mountainous caverns, and rocky hills. Along the way, she discovers she has the courage and everything within her to press on to reach the very top. Mallery, which means “the unfortunate and insignificant one,” uses her Band of Hope to affirm her ideas, strengths, and uniqueness to set her apart from the ordinary. She emerges from the tangled forest, cave of discovery, and bridge of possibility strong and fearless, ready to meet her future. Readers will enjoy the magical realism of traveling through the different lands. Especially relevant for today is the Land of Allure and the Social Media Circus, which serve to distract Mallery from her goal. Only after she gets stuck on a roundabout does she see the emptiness in what’s not real. Mallery has to regain her focus to stick with her larger purpose in getting to her Summit, which is atop Hero Mountain(R). The principles she learns along the way not only contribute to her success, but are applicable for most any reader. To review a book like this one is a huge privilege. BECAUSE, it previews the multitude of readers who will be deeply challenged and inspired in their life journey to go ‘big’, to ‘go beyond’ to believe where others doubt and diminish their dreams. To review a book like this one is a huge privilege. BECAUSE, it previews the multitude of readers who will be deeply challenged and inspired in their life journey to ‘go big, ‘ to ‘go beyond’ to believe where others doubt and diminish their dreams. Highly recommended…amazing gift! Naomi Rhode, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, Past. Pres. National Speakers Assoc., Past Pres. International Fed. of Prof. Speakers Note from the Author: My hope is for you to reach your successful Summit as you make decisions to conquer your own obstacles and demons of personal and professional development that hold you back from reaching your potential.

There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century by Fiona Hill “As a memoir this is hard to put down; if you are seeking a better American future you should pick it up.”—Timothy Snyder, New York Times best-selling author of On Tyranny A celebrated foreign policy expert and key impeachment witness reveals how declining opportunity has set America on the grim path of modern Russia—and draws on her personal journey out of poverty, as well as her unique perspectives as an historian and policy maker, to show how we can return hope to our forgotten places. Fiona Hill grew up in a world of terminal decay. The last of the local mines had closed, businesses were shuttering, and despair was etched in the faces around her. Her father urged her to get out of their blighted corner of northern England: “There is nothing for you here, pet,” he said. The coal-miner’s daughter managed to go further than he ever could have dreamed. She studied in Moscow and at Harvard, became an American citizen, and served three U.S. Presidents. But in the heartlands of both Russia and the United States, she saw troubling reflections of her hometown and similar populist impulses. By the time she offered her brave testimony in the first impeachment inquiry of President Trump, Hill knew that the desperation of forgotten people was driving American politics over the brink—and that we were running out of time to save ourselves from Russia’s fate. In this powerful, deeply personal account, she shares what she has learned, and shows why expanding opportunity is the only long-term hope for our democracy.

Impact Players: How to Take the Lead, Play Bigger, and Multiply Your Impact by Liz Wiseman Why do some people break through and make an impact while others get stuck going through the motions? In every organization there are Impact Players—those indispensable colleagues who can be counted on in critical situations and who consistently receive high-profile assignments and new opportunities. Whether they are on center stage or behind the scenes, managers know who these top players are, understand their worth, and want more of them on their team. While their impact is obvious, it’s not always clear what actually makes these professionals different from their peers. In Impact Players, New York Times bestselling author and researcher Liz Wiseman reveals the secrets of these stellar professionals who play the game at a higher level. Drawing on insights from leaders at top companies, Wiseman explains what the most influential players are doing differently, how small and seemingly insignificant differences in how we think and act can make an enormous impact, and why—with a little coaching—this mindset is available to everyone who wants to contribute at their highest level. Based on a study of 170 top contributors, Wiseman identifies the mindsets that prevent otherwise smart, capable people from contributing to their full potential and the five practices that differentiate Impact Players: While others do their job, Impact Players figure out the real job to be done. While others wait for direction, Impact Players step up and lead. While others escalate problems, Impact Players move things across the finish line. While others attempt to minimize change, Impact Players are learning and adapting to change. While others add to the load, the Impact Players make heavy demands feel lighter. Wiseman makes clear that these practices—and the right mindset—can help any employee contribute at their fullest and shows leaders how they can raise the level of play for everyone on the team. Impact Players is your playbook for the new workplace.

Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood by Dawn Turner A “beautiful, tragic, and inspiring” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) memoir about three Black girls from the storied Bronzeville section of Chicago that offers a penetrating exploration of race, opportunity, friendship, sisterhood, and the powerful forces at work that allow some to flourish…and others to falter. They were three Black girls. Dawn, tall and studious; her sister, Kim, younger by three years and headstrong as they come; and her best friend, Debra, already prom-queen pretty by third grade. They bonded—fervently and intensely in that unique way of little girls—as they roamed the concrete landscape of Bronzeville, a historic neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, the destination of hundreds of thousands of Black folks who fled the ravages of the Jim Crow South. These third-generation daughters of the Great Migration come of age in the 1970s, in the warm glow of the recent civil rights movement. It has offered them a promise, albeit nascent and fragile, that they will have more opportunities, rights, and freedoms than any generation of Black Americans in history. Their working-class, striving parents are eager for them to realize this hard-fought potential. But the girls have much more immediate concerns: hiding under the dining room table and eavesdropping on grown folks’ business; collecting secret treasures; and daydreaming about their futures—Dawn and Debra, doctors, Kim a teacher. For a brief, wondrous moment the girls are all giggles and dreams and promises of “friends forever.” And then fate intervenes, first slowly and then dramatically, sending them careening in wildly different directions. There’s heartbreak, loss, displacement, and even murder. Dawn struggles to make sense of the shocking turns that consume her sister and her best friend, all the while asking herself a simple but profound question: Why? In the vein of The Other Wes Moore and The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, Three Girls from Bronzeville is a piercing memoir that chronicles Dawn’s attempt to find answers. It’s at once a celebration of sisterhood and friendship, a testimony to the unique struggles of Black women, and a tour-de-force about the complex interplay of race, class, and opportunity, and how those forces shape our lives and our capacity for resilience and redemption.

The Corporate Match Maker by Martin Rowinsk, CEO at boardsi Corporatematchmakerbook.com CREATING A ROBUST BOARD ROOM Every CEO needs a Board of Directors and a Board of Advisors to help them think clearly about important business decisions, but many challenges surface when we start thinking about how to assemble the perfect team. When challenges arise, people call in the Corporate Matchmaker, Martin Rowinski. Martin is the co-founder and CEO of Boardsi. He knows how to connect the right people to the advisory positions that drive epic business. His expertise is what businesses need! The unique and proven strategies that Martin has cultivated in the Boardroom were formed throughout his life. He is a Polish immigrant who came to America without any command of the English language. As a child, he always found ways to not only catch up to the other children but move beyond to achieve his goals. Always learning…always growing. Along the way, he gained mastery in the commands of life that are required in a functioning and effective Boardroom. Today, he helps CEO’s meet diverse and qualified people they need to cultivate a dynamic and innovative Board. This is a process that is defined by building up skills, relationships, and exploring how a Board can best be built for a company’s specific needs, and in collaboration with its CEO. When all these elements come together, exciting and innovative business outcomes begin to surface. Everyone wins, regardless of their position in the company. This is the book that CEO’s and current/future Board members need. It offers a captivating personal story paired with a dynamic vision geared toward driving better business results.

The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat by Eric Jager – The Last Duel Movie The gripping true story of the duel to end all duels in medieval France as a resolute knight defends his wife’s honor against the man she accuses of a heinous crime In the midst of the devastating Hundred Years’ War between France and England, Jean de Carrouges, a Norman knight fresh from combat in Scotland, returns home to yet another deadly threat. His wife, Marguerite, has accused squire Jacques Le Gris of rape. A deadlocked court decrees a trial by combat between the two men that will also leave Marguerite’s fate in the balance. For if her husband loses the duel, she will be put to death as a false accuser. While enemy troops pillage the land, and rebellion and plague threaten the lives of all, Carrouges and Le Gris meet in full armor on a walled field in Paris. What follows is the final duel ever authorized by the Parlement of Paris, a fierce fight with lance, sword, and dagger before a massive crowd that includes the teenage King Charles VI, during which both combatants are wounded—but only one fatally. Based on extensive research in Normandy and Paris, The Last Duel brings to life a colorful, turbulent age and three unforgettable characters caught in a fatal triangle of crime, scandal, and revenge. The Last Duel is at once a moving human drama, a captivating true crime story, and an engrossing work of historical intrigue with themes that echo powerfully centuries later.

Order my new book, screenshot me a copy of your receipt and I’ll mail you a collectors numbered autographed bookplate and get you a trial entry into our new Mastermind leadership group! https://tinyurl.com/tk4vfaxb From a Forbes Top 50 recognized leader, this book is filled with a multitude of insightful stories, lessons, and experiences in leadership & character. It gives you the secrets in his CEO/Entrepreneurs’ Toolbox that was used to scale business success, innovate and build a multitude of brick and mortar companies. It shares the vision, lessons and hard work that was used to build successful multi-million dollar companies with very little capital. He shares amazing stories of acquiring companies and pulling them back from the brink of bankruptcy, along with other extraordinary tales of innovation and resilience. In this new digital age, Chris shares with you how he reinvented himself after the 2008 recession, wiped out all of his companies to win multiple awards and become a Forbes Top 50 recognized brand. He built The Chris Voss Show and its Podcast up to an audience of hundreds of thousands of people. This book will inspire, motivate, and move you to your own successful path by using his experience, knowledge, vision in a recollection of memories and lessons. It will give you the tools Chris used to build success in your life and business to become the best leader and person you can be. Buy the book. CHANGE your life. See more autographed goodies at BeaconsOfLeadership.com

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – The Insanity Of Ideas: Why ideas are now leaving human control and developing minds of their own by Mr Matthew Godfrey A mind-blowing examination on what ideas our society is attracted to, where ideas are going and why things today seem increasingly insane. The game changers are exponential changes in population growth, technology and social interaction. It is a provocative exploration of both the innovators, such as Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg and others and the methods that have used to create the transformative ideas, that frame our world. As the speed of our ideas infinitely accelerates, and the impact of them becomes increasingly powerful, it asks whether we are best placed to make the right choices for future generations or whether we should hand the responsibility on to Artificial Intelligence. Will our ideas fail, create confusion and drive division? Will emerging artificial intelligence ultimately, generate its own independent ideas, and then action the ones that will govern the future of humanity. Will ideas evolve to not obey our commands and live completely out of our control, and what are the alternatives? Chapter 1: What is an Idea? Chapter 2: Evolutionary Ideas. Chapter 3: The Idea Explosion. Chapter 4: Cities. The Idea Hives. Chapter 5: The Dopamine Apes. Chapter 6: Misleading Ideas. Chapter 7: Idea Oralces. Chapter 8: The Idea Economy. Chapter 9: The Idea Illusion. Chapter 10: The Idea Colony. Chapter 11: The Augmented Ape. Chapter 12: Artificial Ideas. Chapter 13: Whats Next?

Jeff Marx, President and Chief Operating Officer at Cerapedics Cerapedics.com

The Redemption of Bobby Love: A Story of Faith, Family, and Justice by Bobby Love, Cheryl Love The inspiring, dramatic, and heartwarming true account of an escaped convict and his wife of thirty-five plus years who never knew his secret, which captured the imaginations of millions on Humans of New York. Bobby and Cheryl Love were living in Brooklyn, happily married for decades, when the FBI and NYPD appeared at their door and demanded to know from Bobby, in front of his shocked wife and children: “What is your name? No, what’s your real name?” Bobby’s thirty-eight-year secret was out. As a Black child in the Jim Crow South, Bobby found himself in legal trouble before his 14th birthday. Sparked by the desperation he felt in the face of limited options and the pull of the streets, Bobby became a master thief. He soon found himself facing a thirty-year prison sentence. But Bobby was smarter than his jailers. He escaped, fled to New York, changed his name, and started a new life as “Bobby Love.” During that time, he worked multiple jobs to support his wife and their growing family, coached Little League, attended church, took his kids to Disneyland, and led an otherwise normal life. Then it all came crashing down. With the drama of a jailbreak story and the incredible tension of a life lived in hiding, The Redemption of Bobby Love is an unbelievable but true account of building a life from scratch, the pain of festering secrets in marriage, and the unbreakable bonds of faith and love that keep a family together.

12 Hours of Heaven: Lessons for a Better World by Rick Ornelas Let’s face it, humanity is suffering. The pendulum of our collective soul has swung too far in the direction of darkness. We need more positivity. We need to move toward the direction of light and focus on the good in our hearts. Motivated to write this book by the ever-worsening times we live in, Rick Ornelas shares an uplifting story of hope for humanity. 12 Hours of Heaven is an inspirational guide to positive change through lessons for a better world as told by Ezra, the wisest Archangel in Heaven. Join Ezra as he teaches his young protégé Anabeth what it takes to become an angel. As he shares his story, he recounts the many lessons learned when he found himself trapped in an elevator for 12 hours with ten people from all walks of life. In their short time together he helps each of them through their biggest challenge while maturing in his understanding of himself. This heartfelt story will absorb you and take you on an emotional ride through the deepest parts of your heart and soul. In the end, you will feel empowered to spark change and create a better world.

Jim Flynn, Author Interview JimFlynnSix.com About Jim Flynn Jim Flynn worked in the financial industry for 35 years. He is currently writing the JR Johnson book series, and has published the first two volumes, Losing Lola, and The Bitcoin Gambit. Losing Lola won The AudioBook Reviewer award for Best Thriller in 2020. The books are written as financial thrillers with humor. Flynn is currently writing the third installment of the series. The first book Flynn published was Be Sincere Even When You Don’t Mean It, a humorous fictional memoir. Flynn lives on a farm on Northwest Connecticut. For more information, see website: jimflynnsix.com

Josh Elledge, Founder/CEO Company UpMyInfluence.com upmyinfluence.com

The Power of Flexing: How to Use Small Daily Experiments to Create Big Life-Changing Growth by Susan J. Ashford A leadership and learning expert shows you how to change your behavior, develop soft skills, and achieve personal and professional growth through a series of small experiments she calls “Flexing.” A personnel shift at your organization puts you into a leadership role you don’t feel prepared for. Your boss tells you that you seem aloof and unapproachable in client meetings. You need to win the support of the members of a local community group for a project you feel passionate about. Addressing these diverse issues depends on improving your soft skills—such as time management, team building, communication and listening, creative thinking, and problem-solving. But this isn’t as easy as it may seem. Sue Ashford, the chair of the Management and Organizations group at the Ross School of Business, has the solution. In this timely book, she introduces Flexing—a technique individuals, teams, and entire organizations can use to learn, grow, and develop their skills and knowledge with every new project, work assignment, and problem. Flexing empowers you to embrace any challenge and adapt to any change, yielding practical, valuable takeaways that ensure growth. Flexing helps you move ahead when you’re confronted with a new challenge, or simply want to develop a vital skill. It’s a journey that begins with setting a flex goal—stating explicitly what you want to learn and how you want to grow. Once that flex goal is set, you then begin to run experiments, solicit feedback from peers or colleagues, and monitor and tweak your progress on the way to achieving your goal. Flexing can be tailored to each person, allowing you to reflect on your own experiences and incorporate the lessons you learn in the next project you tackle. It’s a growth mindset that will help you become the best version of yourself. Flexing also works with teams and organizations. Ashford teaches small groups and large how to implement flexing to ensure their members are ready for new challenges. With more people moving to remote working full-time and developing new ways of collaborating in teams, this warm and practical guide will help every professional and any organization on the journey to greater effectiveness.

The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Mike Stamper, Kayco Beyond Business General Manager Kayco.com

Michael Collura, President & CEO at In Home Personal Services, Inc. ihps.com

Arriving Today: From Factory to Front Door — Why Everything Has Changed About How and What We Buy by Christopher Mims The Wall Street Journal technology columnist reveals the fascinating story behind the misleadingly simple phrase shoppers take for granted—“Arriving Today”—in this eye-opening investigation into the new rules of online commerce, transportation, and supply chain management. We are at a tipping point in retail history. While consumers are profiting from the convenience of instant gratification, rapidly advancing technologies are transforming the way goods are transported and displacing workers in ways never before seen. In Arriving Today, Christopher Mims goes deep, far, and wide to uncover how a single product, from creation to delivery, weaves its way from a factory on the other side of the world to our doorstep. He analyzes the evolving technologies and management strategies necessary to keep the product moving to fulfill consumers’ demand for “arriving today” gratification. Mims reveals a world where the only thing moving faster than goods in an Amazon warehouse is the rate at which an entire industry is being gutted and rebuilt by innovation and mass shifts in human labor practices. He goes behind the scenes to uncover the paradoxes in this shift—into the world’s busiest port, the cabin of an 18-wheeler, and Amazon’s automated warehouses—to explore how the promise of “arriving today” is fulfilled through a balletic dance between humans and machines. The scope of such large-scale innovation and expended energy is equal parts inspiring, enlightening, and horrifying. As he offers a glimpse of our future, Mims asks us to consider the system’s vulnerability and its resilience, and who shoulders the burden, as we hurtle toward a fully automated system—and what it will mean when we are there.

Adi Shankar – Producer, Writer, Actor https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3021774/

The Last Million: Europe’s Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War by David Nasaw From bestselling author David Nasaw, a sweeping new history of the one million refugees left behind in Germany after WWII In May 1945, after German forces surrendered to the Allied powers, millions of concentration camp survivors, POWs, slave laborers, political prisoners, and Nazi collaborators were left behind in Germany, a nation in ruins. British and American soldiers attempted to repatriate the refugees, but more than a million displaced persons remained in Germany: Jews, Poles, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, and other Eastern Europeans who refused to go home or had no homes to return to. Most would eventually be resettled in lands suffering from postwar labor shortages, but no nation, including the United States, was willing to accept more than a handful of the 200,000 to 250,000 Jewish men, women, and children who remained trapped in Germany. When in June, 1948, the United States Congress passed legislation permitting the immigration of displaced persons, visas were granted to sizable numbers of war criminals and Nazi collaborators, but denied to 90% of the Jewish displaced persons. A masterwork from acclaimed historian David Nasaw, The Last Million tells the gripping but until now hidden story of postwar displacement and statelessness and of the Last Million, as they crossed from a broken past into an unknowable future, carrying with them their wounds, their fears, their hope, and their secrets. Here for the first time, Nasaw illuminates their incredible history and shows us how it is our history as well.

Robert R. Wilson, President & CEO of R2C, Inc. R2c-inc.com About Experienced Executive with over 25 years experience in the Aviation field, 17 years special emphasis on Acquisition and Project / Program Management. Exceptional skills in Business Development and Expansion, systems design, development, and Integration, system definitions & source selection, decision analyses, qualification & certification testing, and verification. Experienced manager of people, equipment, and supplies; personally motivated and result oriented; Thrive in deadline driven environments. Specialties: Program Management, Acquisition Process, Business Development and Expansion. Training, Design, Development & Integration, Testing and Documentation, Logistics, Technical Liaison, Air Traffic Control, Flight Management Systems, Evaluation and Technical Writing, System Analysis, Flight Safety.

The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power by Max Chafkin A biography of venture capitalist and entrepreneur Peter Thiel, the enigmatic, controversial, and hugely influential power broker who sits at the dynamic intersection of tech, business, and politics “Max Chafkin’s The Contrarian is much more than a consistently shocking biography of Peter Thiel, the most important investor in tech and a key supporter of the Donald Trump presidency. It’s also a disturbing history of Silicon Valley that will make you reconsider the ideological foundations of America’s relentless engine of creative destruction.”—Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store and Amazon Unbound Since the days of the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s, no industry has made a greater impact on the world than Silicon Valley. And few individuals have done more to shape Silicon Valley than Peter Thiel. The billionaire venture capitalist and entrepreneur has been a behind-the-scenes operator influencing countless aspects of our contemporary way of life, from the technologies we use every day to the delicate power balance between Silicon Valley, Wall Street, and Washington. But despite his power and the ubiquity of his projects, no public figure is quite so mysterious. In the first major biography of Thiel, Max Chafkin traces the trajectory of the innovator’s singular life and worldview, from his upbringing as the child of immigrant parents and years at Stanford as a burgeoning conservative thought leader to his founding of PayPal and Palantir, early investment in Facebook and SpaceX, and relationships with fellow tech titans Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Eric Schmidt. The Contrarian illuminates the extent to which Thiel has sought to export his values to the corridors of power beyond Silicon Valley, including funding the lawsuit that destroyed the blog Gawker and strenuously backing far-right political candidates, notably Donald Trump for president in 2016. Eye-opening and deeply reported, The Contrarian is a revelatory biography of a one-of-a-kind leader and an incisive portrait of a tech industry whose explosive growth and power is both thrilling and fraught with controversy.

Lori Hamilton, Founder/President at Prosperity Productions About Generated over $3 Billion in new business for our clients; won 58 awards for creative and marketing excellence along the way. Personally interviewed over 25,000 people. Expert at insights, innovation, communications and marketing. Lecturer at Columbia University’s Masters Degree Program in Strategic Communications as well as NYU Business School. I specialize in telling the stories that change the world. What’s yours? See my websites www.ProsperityProductionsInc.com and www.TheLoriHamilton.com Specialties: Services: Qualitative research, ethnography, quantitative, segmentation, usability, video diaries, creative testing, new product development, filmmaking, webisodes, scripted film, documentary, website testing Industries: consulting, bus. services, electronics, food, pkg. goods, technology, Green, fin. services, telcom, pharma, banking, insurance, construction, building materials, logistics/distrib. software Audiences, b-to-b, consumer, Hispanic, teens, kids, analysts, small biz, futurists, MDs

Emily Goldberg, Genetic Counselor for JScreen jscreen.org

Dr. A. Jerome R. Butler

Spies and Traitors: Kim Philby, James Angleton and the Friendship and Betrayal that Would Shape MI6, the CIA and the Cold War by Michael Holzman A brilliant exposé of how Kim Philby—the master-spy and notorious double agent—became the mentor, and later, mortal enemy, of James Angleton, who would eventually lead the CIA. Kim Philby’s life and career has inspired an entire literary genre: the spy novel of betrayal. Philby was one of the leaders of the British counter-intelligence efforts, first against the Nazis, then against the Soviet Union. He was also the KGB’s most valuable double-agent, so highly regarded that his image is on the postage stamps of the Russian Federation even today. Before he was exposed, Philby was the mentor of James Jesus Angleton, one of the central figures in the early years of the CIA who became the long-serving chief of the counter-intelligence staff of the Agency. James Angleton and Kim Philby were friends for six years, or so Angleton thought. Then they were enemies for the rest of their lives. This is the story of their intertwined careers and a betrayal that would have dramatic and irrevocable effects on the Cold War and US-Soviet relations, and have a direct effect on the shape and culture of the CIA in the latter half of the twentieth century. Spanning the globe, from London and Washington DC, to Rome and Istanbul, Spies and Traitors gets to the heart of one of the most important and flawed personal relationships in modern history.

Good Comes First: How Today’s Leaders Create an Uncompromising Company Culture That Doesn’t Suck by S. Chris Edmonds, Mark S. Babbitt Discover the practical, step-by-step guide to creating a workplace culture that’s better for employees, customers, and stakeholders—and your company’s bottom line. For decades, talented people have tolerated old-school leaders who put results before respect, toxic company cultures, and workplaces that suck. But those days are over, and if leaders want to attract and retain the best employees—while improving productivity, customer service, employee satisfaction, and profits—it’s time for them to create work cultures where good comes first. The problem is that because the corporate world has too often been driven primarily by results, we seldom ask leaders to change their work cultures. Even if we did, most leaders don’t know how. This book provides the actionable inspiration and practical direction needed to make that change happen. In Good Comes First, S. Chris Edmonds and Mark S. Babbitt go beyond theoretical advice, using their combined 50 years of experience to present proven strategies for creating purposeful, positive and productive work cultures. Cultures where good comes first for employees, customers, leaders, and stakeholders—and where improved business outcomes quickly follow. In these pages, readers will learn to: • Appreciate why a good comes first culture is a business imperative – especially for younger generations. • Distance yourself from the competition that maintains its undefined work culture (one that most likely sucks). • Identify what “good” means for your company in today’s business climate – and in the future of work. • Define your uncompromising work culture as you build a foundation of respect AND results. • Formalize your team’s servant purpose so that everyone understands how what your team does improves lives and communities. • Specify respectful behaviors, so your desired values are observable, tangible, and measurable. • Align your entire organization to your desired work culture – where good comes first every day. • Assess the quality of your current work culture by measuring and monitoring how well your leaders and your executive team demonstrate your servant purpose, valued behaviors, strategies, and goals. • Hold everyone accountable for both respect and results through modeling, celebrating, measuring, coaching, and mentoring leaders and team members. • Implement real, needed change – and quit “thinking” and “talking” about change (but never really get change started). • Become a change champion while creating a lasting legacy as a business leader. • Build a team of good people doing good work in a good company. What’s more, Good Comes First shows you where potential barriers to success hide—and how to push through them—and illuminates the moments when you’ll feel the most satisfaction and gain the most traction. After reading this book, you will see that when done right, change is not only possible—it’s practical, powerful, and profitable. And you will realize that you are the right person, at the right time, to make that change happen.

Prince A Portrait of the Artist by Paul Sexton Prince Rogers Nelson was a musical phenomenon who constantly reinvented himself throughout his long and colourful career, changing his style and even his name to keep his artistic output fresh and funky. Eccentric and flamboyant with an impressive vocal range, Prince influenced many other musicians with his trademark mix of funk, rock and R&B. In addition to his remarkable musical output, Prince helped other performers on their path to stardom, written songs for a variety of artists and even directed (and starred in) his own movies. He produced over 35 albums, including ten that went platinum in a career that spanned 5 decades, with 100m records sold worldwide. Fans around the world mourned his untimely death in 2016 but continue to buy records, books and memorabilia.

The Business of Tomorrow: The Visionary Life of Harry Guggenheim: From Aviation and Rocketry to the Creation of an Art Dynasty by Dirk Smillie The first biography of the brilliant and complex Harry Guggenheim by a veteran Forbes journalist. At the turn of the last century, the Guggenheim family ran the most powerful mining conglomerate on earth. Decades later came the Guggenheim museum, which would become the hub of the world’s most powerful art brand. But who was behind this transformation? It took three generations of Guggenheims to build the wealth and power in its first era. Yet it was the singular force of Harry Guggenheim who would guide the family’s next generation of businesses in to modernity. Part angel investor, part entrepreneur, part technologist, Harry launched businesses whose impact on 20th century America went far beyond the Guggenheims’ mines or museum. His visionary investments continue to profoundly influence our world and hold valuable business lessons for billionaire dynasty builders like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, who can only aspire to match Harry’s lasting, multigenerational impact. A flawed but brilliant man, Harry Guggenheim was the confidante to six U.S. presidents and a key financial force behind commercial aviation and space exploration, two innovations that catapulted the nation into the future. Epic and intimate, The Business of Tomorrow reveals the groundbreaking life of an American icon.

The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich by Thom Hartmann Popular progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann reveals how and why attempts to implement affordable universal healthcare in the United States have been thwarted and what we can do to finally make it a reality. “For-profit health insurance is the largest con job ever perpetrated on the American people—one that has cost trillions of dollars and millions of lives since the 1940s,” says Thom Hartmann. Other countries have shown us that affordable universal healthcare is not only possible but also effective and efficient. Taiwan’s single-payer system saved the country a fortune as well as saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic, enabling the country to implement a nationwide coronavirus test-and-contact-trace program without shutting down the economy. This resulted in just ten deaths, while more than 500,000 people have died in the United States. Hartmann offers a deep dive into the shameful history of American healthcare, showing how greed, racism, and oligarchic corruption led to the current “sickness for profit” system. Modern attempts to create versions of government healthcare have been hobbled at every turn, including Obamacare. There is a simple solution: Medicare for all. Hartmann outlines the extraordinary benefits this system would provide the American people and economy and the steps we need to take to make it a reality. It’s time for America to join every industrialized country in the world and make health a right, not a privilege

Getting to Zero: How to Work Through Conflict in Your High-Stakes Relationships by Jayson Gaddis The counselor, teacher, and founder of The Relationship School reveals the origins of conflict styles, and how to stop avoiding and resolve conflict in relationships with loved ones. Conflicts in our closest relationships are scary because so much is at stake. If the conflict doesn’t go well, we could lose our marriage, our family or our job, all connected to our security and survival. So we do just about anything not to lose those relationships, including avoid conflict, betraying ourselves or becoming dishonest. Unresolved conflict affects every single aspect of our lives, from self-confidence to physical and mental health. Jayson Gaddis is a personal trainer for relationships and one of the world’s leading authorities on interpersonal conflict. For almost two decades, Gaddis has helped individuals, couples, and teams get to the bottom of their deepest conflicts. He helps people see the wisdom in conflict and how to get to zero—which means we have successfully worked through our conflict and have nothing in the way of a good connection. In Getting to Zero, Gaddis shows the reader how to stop running away from uncomfortable conversations and instead learn how to work through them. Through funny personal stories, uncomfortable examples, and effective tools and skills, he shows the reader how to move from disconnection to connection, acceptance, and understanding. This method upgrades the old tired and static conflict resolution approaches and offers a fresh, street-level, user-friendly road map on exactly how to work through conflict with the people you care most about.

One-Legged Mongoose: Secrets, Legacies, and Coming of Age in 1950s New York by Marc J Straus It’s June 1953 and ten-year-old Marc Straus is in his mother’s car, getting sick from her cigarette smoke on his way to a Hebrew lesson. He and his younger brother, Stephen, are transferring from public school to a Yeshiva and Marc needs tutoring. His parents haven’t said why they’re transferring-the family isn’t religious. All Marc knows is he’ll have to protect his brother. Stephen’s a delicate kid other kids pick on. Marc’s a street fighter who knows how to wall off pain. So begins One-Legged Mongoose, Marc Straus’s vivid, compelling, you-are-there memoir of two years in the life of a precocious, scrappy Jewish kid carrying a dark secret as he embarks on the journey to young manhood in 1950s New York. When school starts, Marc begins commuting four hours daily to a different world, where kids are smart like him and fight with words instead of fists and a caring principal takes the troubled truant under his wing. On Sundays, Marc works at his dad’s textile store, learning from his immigrant father about honor and hard work. At home he faces his volatile mother. Sidelined too often by illness and injuries, Marc starts rethinking his risk-taking way of life. A voracious reader, he looks to books for insights-What would Santiago do?-and comes to accept that he’s not invulnerable. Life will wound him, but the rest is up to him.

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray The Instant New York Times Bestseller! A Good Morning America* Book Club Pick! “Historical fiction at its best!”* A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict, and acclaimed author Victoria Christopher Murray. In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection. But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American. The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

Before the Flood: Destruction, Community, and Survival in the Drowned Towns of the Quabbin by Elisabeth C. Rosenberg In the tradition of Silent Spring, a modern parable of the American experience and our paradoxical relationship with the natural world. Though it seems a part of the “natural” landscape of New England today, the Swift River Valley reservoir, dam, dike, and nature area was a triumph of civil engineering. It combined forward-looking environmental stewardship and social policy, yet the “little people”—and the four towns in which they lived—got lost along the way. Elisabeth Rosenberg has crafted Before the Flood to be both a modern and a universal story in a time when managed retreat will one day be a reality. Meticulously researched, Before the Flood, is the first narrative book on the incredible history of the Swift River Valley and the origins Quabbin Reservoir. Rosenberg dive into the socioeconomic and psychological aspects of the Swift River Valley’s destruction in order to supply drinking water for the growing populations of Boston and wider Massachusetts. It is as much a human story as the story of water and landscape, and Before the Flood movingly reveals both the stories and the science of the key players and the four flooded towns that were washed forever away.

The Ten: The stories behind the fashion classics by Lauren Cochrane ‘Lauren Cochrane’s The Ten is the definitive one-stop guide to fashion’s most essential and iconic styles, with an unrivalled collection of the fashion industry’s authoritative voices – from mainstream icons to underground figures – shedding light on the cultural and personal impact of classics that will never date. The perfect gift and resource for anyone with an interest in style.’ – Sara McAlpine, Fashion Features Editor, ELLE White T-shirt, Miniskirt, Hoodie, Jeans, Ballet flat, Breton top, Biker jacket, Little black dress, Stiletto, Trench. What are you wearing? In all likelihood, your outfit will feature at least one of these 10 items. Familiar, commonplace, ubiquitous – each piece has become an emblem of a certain style, carrying its own connotations and historical significance. Our social history is contained within these perfect 10 pieces – while trends may come and go, these are here to stay. The Perfect 10 includes deep dive explorations into each item’s history, how it gained its reputation, and what it means today, accompanied by stylish photography and illustrations, as well as interviews with notable proponents of each item. From the evolution of the white T-shirt from army staple to symbol of achingly cool simplicity, the hoodie’s birth in the monasteries of Rome to its domination of streetwear, and the transition of the stiletto from the feet of fifteenth-century Iranian equestrians to those of New York businesswomen, The Perfect 10 puts fashion in context. Showing how certain pieces are just as ubiquitous on the catwalk as on the street, Lauren Cochrane’s crucial volume defines the fashion items that make up your wardrobe, and how they got there, providing the perfect excuse for the reader to wear them time and time again. “A deeper-than-deep dive into fashion’s enduring classics” – Navaz Batliwalla, DISNEYROLLERGIRL

Davron Karimov of Funderhunt Small business Loans funderhunt.co

Riding The Executive Roller Coaster: Medical Staffing Cases by Kelli Christina This is a fictionalized book based on real life events and court cases that went unnoticed by the public eye over the period of a decade in this country. The author plays the primary role in the book; the book covers the trials and tribulations of professional offices at their highest and lowest moments .The consequences of handling business and professional issues in the wrong manner or even illegally can escalate and destroy many lives along the way. Too often bosses and employees learn the hard way about employment laws designed to help businesses. When business goes terribly wrong, you can expect attorneys’ offices to explode and many court proceedings to follow. One of my greatest wishes in life is for business leaders to learn employment laws prior to trouble, lawsuits, and mass destruction. This book follows the long path of success and falling in despair over lawsuits and loss; it includes all the important life lessons to be learned along life’s path. Our jobs and well-being can affect our families, friends, relationships, and love life. This is a life story rolling through some good and bad experiences and all the people you meet along the life’s journey. We have a lot of survivors and fighters in this world who can relate to the book’s title, “Riding the Executive Roller Coaster—The Cases of Medical Staffing.” Life can be “up” and “down” like a roller coaster; you just must hang on for the ride and keep going. As a woman in today’s world, Kelli Christina attributes her success to her hard work, education and determination. With 20 years of specialized medical recruiting experience and 10 years in business management, she is currently the CEO, owner, and director of recruiting for KD-Staffing. Ms. Christina created KD-Staffing on the idea that “recruiting is an art.” She has perfected her skills in this “art” through a number of managerial and leadership positions since the start of her career; she became a restaurant manager and a boss at nineteen years old. Before she started a career in recruiting, Ms. Christina obtained a bachelor’s degree in business, hotel and restaurant management from the University of North Texas. With 30 years of career experience, her advice to younger generations of women entering the workforce is to remember the importance of education. She also advises them to be strong-willed and to never give up.

The Power to Speak Naked: How to Speak with Confidence, Communicate Effectively, and Win Your Audience by Sean Tyler Foley Does your stomach do somersaults every time you need to speak to more than one person? Are your incredible ideas the best-kept secret around because you dread sharing your thoughts at meetings? Are you in sales, network marketing, or customer relations and looking for ways to fully engage your audience and connect with them on a more meaningful level? Have you ever dreamed of speaking on stage in front of an audience primed to soak up your brilliance? If any of these questions sparked something in you, this book is a must for your public speaking toolkit.Perhaps you are an entrepreneur who wants to increase your customer base, a seasoned or bourgeoning professional speaker who wants to improve their skill set, or are among the millions of people who need to speak to an audience greater than one. Maybe public speaking comes naturally to you or maybe it doesn’t. Either way, if you are looking to develop your skills to the next level, The Power to Speak Naked will give you the confidence to captivate your audience and get the results you desire. What are you waiting for? Your audience awaits!

Crisis Averted: PR Strategies to Protect Your Reputation and the Bottom Line by Evan Nierman, Red Banyan Founder/CEO When Facing a Crisis HOW SHOULD YOU RESPOND? If you want to protect the things that matter most in your life, then Crisis Averted was written for YOU. • Can you spot the inevitable threat that could bankrupt your business? • Have you adopted the two core practices that will make your social media bulletproof? • Are you willing to act today to guarantee success tomorrow? The answers to these key questions could mean the difference between surviving or thriving. Crisis Averted explores the unpredictable world of crisis management and the decisions that make or break a company’s future. A no-nonsense playbook offering practical guidance, applying its principles and strategies will empower you to approach potential challenges with confidence and competence. The lessons are universal and cut across every industry, meaning all organizations can use Crisis Averted to safeguard their single most important asset: their reputation.

The Apology Project: A Novel by Jeanette Escudero Dear (almost) everyone: Can we be friends again? Life is about to get complicated for Amelia Montgomery, a prominent litigator in Chicago. She’s been fired for not compromising her principles in a high-profile case and then punching her partner in the nose for the misogynistic comment he made in retort (not her finest moment). Leaving a career that gave her purpose, Amelia can only ask, What next? Let it be better than her epic failure of a fortieth birthday party: an open bar full of no-shows except for John Ellis, a total stranger and the new associate at her ex-firm. As it turns out, though, he’s very good company―and a wake-up call. With the help of John and a lot of champagne, Amelia considers the people she’s wronged, from old besties to former boyfriends to coworkers. Amelia resolves to make amends―to those who really deserve it. One apology at a time, Amelia’s looking at the choices she’s made in the past, the new ones she’s making with John, and those she’s making for herself. What next? Maybe a second chance she never expected.

Bart McDonough, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Agio Agio.com

Loving Your Place on the Spectrum: A Neurodiversity Blueprint by Jude Morrow Loving Your Place on the Spectrum: A Neurodiversity Blueprint provides answers to many of your questions about autism, helping you to embrace neurodiversity and love your autistic self and the autistic people in your life. Jude Morrow speaks from personal experience when he says that he has learned to be proud to be autistic and he wants you to be proud too. Browse through the many books available on autism and you might notice a trend: too many of them are written by neurotypical professionals who aim to “fix” autism or help autistic people appear “normal.” Jude Morrow noticed this problem and decided that something needed to change. Loving Your Place on the Spectrum is a guide for living a happy and successful autistic life. Jude combines his own experiences as an autistic man with the stories of others to provide a handbook to help autistic individuals navigate life’s major changes, from childhood to college, jobs, and relationships. Each chapter identifies common issues faced by autistic people of a particular age or social group and explains how educators, teachers, parents, and professionals can be supportive through all these life stages. The world needs a new perspective on autism, and Jude Morrow’s Loving Your Place on the Spectrum provides parents, workplaces, individuals, and society an alternative, strengths-based viewpoint, where autistic people are accepted, embraced, and loved.

Go Where There Is No Path: Stories of Hustle, Grit, Scholarship, and Faith by Christopher Gray For all who dare to go off the beaten track, this is the inspirational, power-packed playbook for transforming your life and your world—from a young, Black social entrepreneur whose dorm-room tech startup has helped millions pay for college and access unprecedented opportunity. Gray, the son of a single working mother who had him at age fourteen, grew up in deep poverty in Birmingham, Alabama. An academic star, he had every qualification for attending a top college—except for the financial means. Desperate, Gray headed off the beaten path, searching online to apply for every scholarship he could find. His hustle resulted in awards of 1.3 million dollars and became his call to action to help other students win their own “schollys.” It inspired him to start up Scholly, an app that matches college applicants with millions of dollars in outside scholarships that often go unclaimed. When he was a senior at Drexel University, he appeared on Shark Tank as CEO of Scholly. In the most heated fight in the show’s history, the sharks challenged Gray as to whether his app was a charity or a profitable business. Both, he insisted, proposing a new paradigm for social entrepreneurship and netting deals from Lori Grenier and Daymond John. At the time Scholly’s subscriber base was 90,000 users. Today the app has 4 million subscribers who have won scholarships totaling more than $100 million. Meanwhile, Gray—without help from the mostly all-white boy’s club of Silicon Valley—has emerged as a tech startup superhero now tackling the crisis of student debt with innovative, unrivaled strategies. Gray’s premise is that when you lead with the good—confronting issues such as poverty and racism—the money will follow. His story is proof that when you develop a mindset for success, you turn disadvantages into gold. And when you create opportunities for others, you enrich the marketplace for yourself too. Gray shows us, we can carve out new paths to better days and leave trails for others.

Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood by Danny Trejo, Donal Logue “If you’re a fan like I am this is definitely the book for you.” —Pete Davidson, actor, producer, and cast member on Saturday Night Live “Danny’s incredible life story shows that even though we may fall down at some point in our lives, it’s what we do when we stand back up that really counts.” —Robert Rodriguez, creator of Spy Kids, Desperado, and Machete Discover the full, fascinating, and inspirational true story of Danny Trejo’s journey from crime, prison, addiction, and loss—it’s “enough to make you believe in the possibility of a Hollywood ending” (The New York Times Book Review). On screen, Danny Trejo the actor is a baddie who has been killed at least a hundred times. He’s been shot, stabbed, hanged, chopped up, squished by an elevator, and once, was even melted into a bloody goo. Off screen, he’s a hero beloved by recovery communities and obsessed fans alike. But the real Danny Trejo is much more complicated than the legend. Raised in an abusive home, Danny struggled with heroin addiction and stints in some of the country’s most notorious state prisons—including San Quentin and Folsom—from an early age, before starring in such modern classics as Heat, From Dusk till Dawn, and Machete. Now, in this funny, painful, and suspenseful memoir, Danny takes us through the incredible ups and downs of his life, including meeting one of the world’s most notorious serial killers in prison and working with legends like Charles Bronson and Robert De Niro. An honest, unflinching, and “inspirational study in the definition of character” (Kevin Smith, director and actor), Trejo reveals how he managed the horrors of prison, rebuilt himself after finding sobriety and spirituality in solitary confinement, and draws inspiration from the adrenaline-fueled robbing heists of his past for the film roles that made him a household name. He also shares the painful contradictions in his personal life. Although he speaks everywhere from prison yards to NPR about his past to inspire countless others on their own road to recovery and redemption, he struggles to help his children with their personal battles with addiction, and to build relationships that last. Redemptive and painful, poignant and real, Trejo is a portrait of a magnificent life and an unforgettable and exceptional journey.

You Are What You Risk: The New Art and Science of Navigating an Uncertain World by Michele Wucker The #1 international bestselling author of The Gray Rhino offers a bold new framework for understanding and re-shaping our relationship with risk and uncertainty to live more productive and successful lives. What drives a sixty-four-year-old woman to hurl herself over Niagara Falls in a barrel? Why do we often create bigger risks than the risks we try to avoid? Why are corporate boards newly worried about risky personal behavior by CEOs? Why are some nations quicker than others to recognize and manage risks like pandemics, technological change, and climate crisis? The answers define each person, organization, and society as distinctively as a fingerprint. Understanding the often-surprising origins of these risk fingerprints can open your eyes, inspire new habits, catalyze innovation and creativity, improve teamwork, and provide a beacon in a world that seems suddenly more uncertain than ever. How you see risk and what you do about it depend on your personality and experiences. How you make these cost-benefit calculations depend on your culture, your values, the people in the room, and even unexpected things like what you’ve eaten recently, the temperature, the music playing, or the fragrance in the air. Being alert to these often-unconscious influences will help you to seize opportunity and avoid danger. You Are What You Risk is a clarion call for an entirely new conversation about our relationship with risk and uncertainty. In this ground-breaking, accessible and eminently timely book, Michele Wucker examines why it’s so important to understand your risk fingerprint and how to make your risk relationship work better in business, life, and the world. Drawing on compelling risk stories around the world and weaving in economics, anthropology, sociology, and psychology research, Wucker bridges the divide between professional and lay risk conversations. She challenges stereotypes about risk attitudes, re-frames how gender and risk are related, and shines new light on generational differences. She shows how the new science of “risk personality” is re-shaping business and finance, how healthy risk ecosystems support economies and societies, and why embracing risk empathy can resolve conflicts. Wucker shares insights, practical tools, and proven strategies that will help you to understand what makes you who you are –and, in turn, to make better choices, both big and small.

Unthinkable by Brad Parks From international bestselling author Brad Parks comes a new thriller about an ordinary man who may be able to save the world as we know it―but to do so, he must make an impossible choice. Nate Lovejoy is a self-proclaimed nobody, a stay-at-home dad who doesn’t believe he’s important to anyone but his wife and their two daughters. So it’s a shock when members of a powerful secret society kidnap and spirit Nate away to a mansion at the behest of their leader, Vanslow DeGange, who claims to know the future. He’s foreseen that a billion people could die―unless Nate acts. It seems improbable, especially given what DeGange says will set this mass casualty incident in motion: a lawsuit against the biggest power company in Virginia, being brought by Nate’s wife, Jenny. Nate quickly smells a scam being perpetrated by the power company. But at every turn, it becomes apparent there’s more to DeGange’s gift than Nate wants to acknowledge. A billion people really could die, and Nate might be the only one who can save them. All he has to do is the unthinkable.

A Minute to Think: Reclaim Creativity, Conquer Busyness, and Do Your Best Work by Juliet Funt “You’re going to want to share copies of this book with your overbooked friends and colleagues, but before you do, take some time to read it yourself. Funt’s wisdom around making space is priceless.” —Seth Godin, author of The Practice Do you wish you could stop the mayhem of work and life and just take a minute? Do you sense you could contribute more if there were a little more room in the day? Does busyness deprive you and your burnt-out team of the oxygen your talents need to catch fire? Many have felt that way, yet taking a pause has seemed impossible—until now. In A Minute to Think, Juliet Funt, a globally recognized warrior in the battle against busyness, provides a powerful guide that will give you the permission, framework, and specific direction you need to do the following: Regain control of your overloaded, caffeinated, inbox-worshiping workday Liberate yourself and your teams from burnout and busywork Reclaim creativity and focus despite the chaos around you Bring thoughtfulness into designing your next work norms Tame the beast of email and escape the mire of meetings Find your precious minute to think You’re not alone in your yearning for freedom from constant reactivity. The global workforce today is so fried that it belongs in the food court of a county fair. We’re relentlessly behind the curve, dousing fires everywhere, and our 3 a.m. insomnia provides the only unscheduled thinking time of the day. What we need reinserted in our lives is the missing element of white space—short periods of open, unscheduled time that, when recaptured, change the very nature of work. White space is the stepping back, the strategic pause, the oxygen that allows the sparks of our efforts to catch fire. White space has the power to radically—and simply—reinvent the way we approach work in this maxed-out, post-COVID 21st-century world. With Juliet’s memorable stories, easy-to-use tools, and razor-sharp instruction, she carves for us an escape route from the overwhelming amount of low-value tasks and the daily avalanche of e-mails, meetings, decks, and reports. Using research, client stories, and a relatable voice, Juliet shows all of us how to reclaim time for thinking and make room for what truly matters. Whether you are an individual trying to build a more sane and humane flow of daily work, a team that wants new levels of efficiency and effectiveness, or an entire organization changing your culture toward thoughtfulness, this book will lead you there.

The Empire of Depression: A New History by Jonathan Sadowsky Depression has colonized the world. Today, more than 300 million of us have been diagnosed as depressed. But 150 years ago, “depression” referred to a mood, not a sickness. Does that mean people weren’t sick before, only sad? Of course not. Mental illness is a complex thing, part biological, part social, its definition dependent on time and place. But in the mid-twentieth century, even as European empires were crumbling, new Western clinical models and treatments for mental health spread across the world. In so doing, “depression” began to displace older ideas like “melancholia,” the Japanese “utsushō,” or the Punjabi “sinking heart” syndrome. Award-winning historian Jonathan Sadowsky tells this global story, chronicling the path-breaking work of psychiatrists and pharmacists, and the intimate sufferings of patients. Revealing the continuity of human distress across time and place, he shows us how different cultures have experienced intense mental anguish, and how they have tried to alleviate it. He reaches an unflinching conclusion: the devastating effects of depression are real. A number of treatments do reduce suffering, but a permanent cure remains elusive. Throughout the history of depression, there have been overzealous promoters of particular approaches, but history shows us that there is no single way to get better that works for everyone. Like successful psychotherapy, history can liberate us from the negative patterns of the past.