E-Book Frontier

Stormbreaker

2009-08-29T13:24:00.005+08:00

Stormbreaker is the first novel in the Alex Rider series by British author Anthony Horowitz. It was released in the United Kingdom on September 4, 2000 and in the United States on May 21, 2001. A film adaptation, starring Alex Pettyfer as Rider, was released on July 21, 2006. The book has sold at least nine million copies worldwide.

Alex Rider is a series of spy novels by English author Anthony Horowitz about a young spy named Alex Rider. The series is aimed primarily at children aged 12+. Seven novels have been published to date, as well as two graphic novels (with a third to be published in September 2009), two short stories and a supplementary book. The first novel, Stormbreaker, was first released in the United Kingdom in 2000 and was adapted into a motion picture in 2006. A line of action figures based on the film actors have also been released, featuring two different Alex Rider figures, Darrius Sayle, and Yassen Gregorovich.^[1] A video game was released in 2006, based on the film. The novels are published by Walker Books in the United Kingdom. They were first published by Puffin in the United States, but have also been published more recently by Philomel, also an imprint of Penguin Books.^[2] The graphic novels are published by Walker in the United Kingdom, and by Philomel in the United States.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anthony Horowitz (Born 5 April 1956) is an English author and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including The Power of Five, Alex Rider and The Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels for ITV series. He is the creator and writer of the ITV series Foyle's War.

Horowitz began his most famous and successful series in the new millennium with the Alex Rider novels. These books are about a 14-year-old boy becoming a spy. He is a member of MI6. Currently, there are seven Alex Rider books: Stormbreaker (2000), Point Blanc (2001), Skeleton Key (2002), Eagle Strike (2003), Scorpia (2004) Ark Angel (2005) and Snakehead (2007). To current date Anthony Horowitz has been writing the newest book in the AR series, so named Crocidile Tears. A picture of the cover can bee see in advance, AR's newest adventure is due out in November. All the Alex Rider books have been released in April, one every year (Ark Angel was released on 1 April 2005) However, no seventh book arrived in 2006, presumably due to Horowitz's commitments to the Power of Five series and the Stormbreaker movie, which was released in the UK in July 2006. The seventh Alex Rider novel, Snakehead, was released on 31 October 2007.^[7] There are plans for three further Alex Rider books, Crocodile Tears (planned publication date November 2009), Yassen, and Endurance Point. In 2003 Horowitz also wrote three novels featuring the Diamond Brothers: The Blurred Man, The French Confection and I Know What You Did Last Wednesday, which were republished together as Three of Diamonds in 2004. The author information page in early editions of Scorpia and the introduction to Three of Diamonds claimed that Horowitz had travelled to Australia to research a new Diamond Brothers book, entitled Radius of the Lost Shark. However, this book has not been mentioned since, so it is doubtful it is still planned. A new Diamond Brothers "short" book entitled The Greek who Stole Christmas was later released. It is hinted at the end of The Greek who Stole Christmas that Radius of the Lost Shark may turn out to be the eighth book in the series.

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The Alex Rider Series

Stormbreaker
Point Blanc
Skeleton Key
Eagle Strike
Ark Angel

Memento Mori

2009-08-21T18:55:00.005+08:00

"Memento Mori" is a short story written by Jonathan Nolan. In the story, a man named Earl has anterograde amnesia, a condition in which his brain cannot make new memories. Because of his inability to remember things for more than a few minutes, he uses notes and tattoos to keep track of information. Earl received his condition after he and his wife were attacked by an unknown assailant. His wife was killed and Earl suffered severe head injuries, resulting in his amnesia. He is now confined to a mental institution. Eventually, through notes written to himself, he convinces himself to escape and hunt for the man who killed his wife. Earl succeeds in murdering the man, but is unable to remember his success.

Nolan got the idea for the story from his general psychology class at Georgetown University.^[1] Nolan pitched the idea to his brother Christopher during a cross-country road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles. His brother responded to the idea, and encouraged him to write a first draft.^[2] After Jonathan returned to Washington, D.C. to finish college, he sent his brother a draft two months later, and Christopher set to work on a screenplay, while Jonathan began finishing the short story.^[2]

Christopher eventually made the feature film Memento, starring Guy Pearce, which was inspired from Jonathan's story, although radically different. Jonathan's short story was eventually published in Esquire magazine, although it can also be found in James Mottram's making-of book about the film, The Making of Memento, and as a hidden special feature on the film's special edition DVD.

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Memento Mori

3:10 to Yuma

2009-08-21T09:26:00.006+08:00

"Three-Ten to Yuma" is a short story written by Elmore Leonard. The story was first published in Dime Western Magazine, a 1950s Pulp magazine, in March of 1953. The story has since been adapted to the screen twice as 3:10 to Yuma (1957 film) and 3:10 to Yuma (2007 film).

The story focuses on two men, one of whom is a deputy sheriff, another a ruthless outlaw. The outlaw is to be taken to the Yuma Territorial Prison in Yuma, Arizona by train. The deputy overcomes the odds to get the outlaw to the train (a 3:10 departure to Yuma, thus the name). The story is the kernel on which the two films were built and is the source of some dialogue in both. The names of most characters in the movies are different from the story except for Charlie Prince, a character who appears in all three versions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elmore John Leonard, Jr. (born October 11, 1925) is a American novelist and screenwriter.

His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, and Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, several of which have been adapted into successful motion pictures or TV movies.

Leonard was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but since his father worked as a site locator for General Motors, the family moved frequently for several years. In 1934, the family finally settled in Detroit, Michigan. Leonard has made the Detroit area his home ever since.

In the 1930s, two major events occurred that would influence many of his works. Gangsters such as Bonnie and Clyde were making national headlines, as were the Detroit Tigers baseball team. From about 1931 to 1934, Bonnie and Clyde were on a rampage; they were killed in May 1934. The Tigers made it to the World Series in 1934. Leonard turned these events into lifelong fascinations with both sports and guns.

Leonard graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School in 1943 and immediately joined the Navy, where he served with the Seabees for three years in the south Pacific. In 1946 he enrolled at the University of Detroit, where he pursued writing more seriously, entering his work in short story contests and sending it off to magazines. A year before he graduated, he got a job as a copy writer with Campbell-Ewald Advertising agency, a position he kept for several years as he wrote on the side. He graduated in 1950 with a degree in English and Philosophy.

Leonard had his first success in 1951 when Argosy published the short story "Trail of the Apaches".[1] During the 1950s and early 1960s, he continued writing westerns, publishing over 30 short stories. He wrote his first novel, The Bounty Hunters, in 1953 and followed this with four other novels. Two of his stories were turned into movies at this time, The Tall T and 3:10 to Yuma.

Leonard—or "Dutch," as he is sometimes called—got his first break in the fiction market during the 1950s, regularly publishing pulp western novels. He has since forayed into mystery, crime, and more topical genres, as well as screenwriting.

Leonard now lives with his family in Oakland County, Michigan.

He has been commended by critics for his gritty realism and strong dialogue. His writing style sometimes takes liberties with grammar in the interest of speeding along the story. In his essay, "Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing," he writes, "My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." His advice to writers also includes the hint, "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip."[2]

Leonard has been called "the Dickens of Detroit" because of his intimate portraits of people from that city. Leonard's ear for dialogue and ability to render same on the printed page are uncanny and have been praised by writers such as Saul Bellow, Martin Amis, and Stephen King. "Your prose makes Raymond Chandler look clumsy," Amis told Leonard at a Writers Guild event in Beverly Hills in 1998.

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3:10 to Yuma

Also by Elmore Leonard

Glitz
The Hunted
The Cat Chaser
52 Pickup
Freaky Deaky
The Switch
Tishomingo Blues
Stick
Pagan Babies
Rum Punch
Riding the Rap
La Brava
The Big Bounce
Get Shorty
Maximum Bob
Split Images
Be Cool
Bandits
Gold Coast
City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit
Moment of Vengeance and other Stories
Up in Honey's Room
Touch

Fight Club

2009-08-18T13:18:00.003+08:00

Fight Club is a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. The book follows the experiences of an anonymous protagonist struggling with his way of life and changes in American pop-culture masculinity. To overcome this, he establishes an underground fighting club as radical psychotherapy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk (pronounced /ˈpɑːlənɪk/;^[1] born February 21, 1962) is an American transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a film directed by David Fincher. He lives near Vancouver, Washington.

Palahniuk began writing fiction in his mid-thirties. By his account, he started writing while attending writer's workshops, hosted by Tom Spanbauer, which he attended to meet new friends. Spanbauer largely inspired Palahniuk's minimalistic writing style. His first book, Insomnia: If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Already, never was adapted due to his disappointment with the story (though a small part of it was later salvaged for use in Fight Club). When he attempted to publish his next novel, Invisible Monsters, publishers rejected it for its disturbing content. This led him to work on his most famous novel, Fight Club, which he wrote as an attempt to disturb the publisher even more for rejecting him. Palahniuk wrote this story in his spare time while working for Freightliner. After initially publishing it as a short story (which would become chapter 6 of the novel) in the 1995 compilation Pursuit of Happiness, Palahniuk expanded it into a full novel, which—contrary to his expectations – the publisher was willing to publish.^[7] While the original hardcover edition of the book received positive reviews and some awards, it had a short shelf life.

Initially, Palahniuk struggled to find a literary agent and went without one until after the publication of Fight Club.^[8] After he began receiving attention from 20th Century Fox, Palahniuk was signed by Edward Hibbert, who is most famously known as the actor who played Gil Chesterton on Frasier.^[8]^[9]^[10] Hibbert eventually guided and brokered the deal that took Fight Club to the big screen.^[8] In 1999, three years after the novel's publication, the film adaptation by director David Fincher was released. The film was a box office disappointment (although it was #1 at the U.S. box office in its first weekend) and critical reaction was mixed but a cult following soon emerged as the DVD of the film was popular upon release. The novel has been re-released three times in paperback, in 1999, in 2004 (with a new introduction by the author about the success of the film adaptation) and in 2005 (with an afterword by Palahniuk).

A revised version of Invisible Monsters, as well as his fourth novel, Survivor, were also published that year, allowing Palahniuk to become a cult figure himself. A few years later Palahniuk managed to make his first New York Times bestseller, the novel Choke. From then on, Palahniuk's later books would often meet with similar success. Such success has allowed him to go on book tours to promote his books, where he reads from both new and upcoming works.

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Fight Club

Also by Chuck Palahniuk

Diary
Choke
Pygmy
Lullaby
Survivor
Fugitives & Refugees
Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey

No Country for Old Men

2009-08-17T08:57:00.005+08:00

No Country for Old Men is a 2005 novel by American author Cormac McCarthy. Set along the United States–Mexico border in 1980, the story concerns an illicit drug deal gone wrong in a remote desert location. The title comes from the poem "Sailing to Byzantium" by William Butler Yeats.^[1] The book was adapted into the 2007 film No Country for Old Men, which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cormac McCarthy, born Charles McCarthy^[1] (born July 20, 1933), is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels in the Southern Gothic, western, and post-apocalyptic genres, and has also written plays and screenplays. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for The Road, and his 2005 novel No Country for Old Men was adapted as a 2007 film of the same name, which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. He received a National Book Award in 1992 for All the Pretty Horses.

His earlier Blood Meridian (1985) was among Time Magazine's poll of 100 best English-language books published between 1923 and 2005^[2] and he placed joint runner-up for a similar title in a poll taken in 2006 by The New York Times of the best American fiction published in the last 25 years.^[3] Literary critic Harold Bloom named him as one of the four major American novelists of his time, along with Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo and Philip Roth. He is frequently compared by modern reviewers to William Faulkner.

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

No Country for Old Men

Also by Cormac McCarthy

Blood Meridian
The Crossing
All the Pretty Horses
The Road

Bram Stoker's Dracula

2009-08-15T17:47:00.004+08:00

Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula.

Dracula has been attributed to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature. Structurally it is an epistolary novel, that is, told as a series of diary entries and letters. Literary critics have examined many themes in the novel, such as the role of women in Victorian culture, conventional and conservative sexuality, immigration, colonialism, postcolonialism and folklore. Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, the novel's influence on the popularity of vampires has been singularly responsible for many theatrical, film and television interpretations throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847–20 April 1912) was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 horror novel Dracula. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, which Irving owned.

He was born in 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent, then in Clontarf, now in Fairview.^[1]^[2] His parents were Abraham Stoker (1799–1876), from Dublin, and the feminist Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely (1818–1901), who came from Ballyshannon, County Donegal. Stoker was the third of seven children.^[3] Abraham and Charlotte were members of the Church of Ireland Parish of Clontarf and attended the parish church with their children, who were baptised there.

Stoker was bed-ridden until he started school at the age of seven, when he made a complete recovery. Of this time, Stoker wrote, "I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years." He was educated in a private school run by the Rev. William Woods.^[4]

After his recovery, he grew up without further major health issues, even excelling as an athlete (he was named University Athlete) at Trinity College, Dublin, which he attended from 1864 to 1870. He graduated with honours in mathematics. He was auditor of the College Historical Society and president of the University Philosophical Society, where his first paper was on "Sensationalism in Fiction and Society".

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

Dracula
Lair of the White Worm

The Godfather

2009-08-15T16:18:00.000+08:00

The Godfather is a crime novel written by American author Mario Puzo, originally published in 1969 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. It details the story of a fictitious Sicilian Mafia family based in New York City (and Long Beach, NY) and headed by Don Vito Corleone, who became synonymous with the Italian Mafia. The novel covers the years 1945 to 1955, and also provides the back story of Vito Corleone from early childhood to adulthood.

The book introduced Italian criminal terms like consigliere, caporegime, Cosa Nostra, and omertà to an English-speaking audience.

It formed the basis for a 1972 film of the same name. Two film sequels, including new contributions by Puzo himself, were made in 1974 and 1990. The first and second films are widely considered to be two of the greatest films of all time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mario Gianluigi Puzo (October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was a two time Academy Award-winning Italian American author and screenwriter, known for his novels about the Mafia, especially The Godfather (1969), which he later co-adapted into a film with Francis Ford Coppola.

Puzo was born in a poor family of Neapolitan immigrants living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City.^[1] Many of his books draw heavily on this heritage. After graduating from the City College of New York, he joined the United States Army Air Forces in World War II. Due to his poor eyesight, the military did not let him undertake combat duties but made him a public relations officer stationed in Germany. In 1950, his first short story "The Last Christmas" was published in American Vanguard. After the war, he wrote his first book, The Dark Arena, which was published in 1955.

At periods in the 1950s and early 1960s, Puzo worked as a writer/editor for publisher Martin Goodman's Magazine Management Company. Puzo, along with other writers like Bruce Jay Friedman, worked for the company line of men's magazines, pulp titles like Male, True Action, and Swank. Under the pseudonym Mario Cleri, Puzo wrote World War II adventure features for True Action.^[2]

Puzo's most famous work, The Godfather, was first published in 1969 after he had heard anecdotes about Mafia organizations during his time in pulp journalism. He later said in an interview with Larry King that his principal motivation was to make money. He had already, after all, written two books that had received great reviews, yet had not amounted to much. As a government clerk with five kids, he was looking to write something that would appeal to the masses. With a number one bestseller for months on The New York Times Best Seller List, Mario Puzo had found his target audience. The book was later developed into the film The Godfather directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The movie received 11 Academy Award nominations, winning three, including an Oscar for Puzo for Best Adapted Screenplay. Coppola and Puzo collaborated then to work on sequels to the original film, The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III.

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

The Godfather

Other novels by Mario Puzo:

Fools Die
The Sicilian
The Last Don
The Fourth K
The Dark Arena
The Family: A Novel

A Walk To Remember

2009-08-13T14:33:00.001+08:00

A Walk to Remember is a novel by American writer Nicholas Sparks, released in October 1999. The novel, set in the mid-1950s in Beaufort, North Carolina, is a story of two teenagers who fall in love with each other despite the disparity of their personalities. A Walk to Remember is adapted in the film of the same name.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicholas Charles Sparks (born December 31, 1965) is an internationally bestselling American author, writing novels with themes that include Christianity, love, tragedy and fate. He has 14 published novels and lives in New Bern, North Carolina, USA, with his wife Cathy and their five children.

In 1985 Sparks penned his first novel, The Passing, while home for the summer between freshman and sophomore years at Notre Dame. It was never published. In 1989 he wrote his second novel, also unpublished, The Royal Murders.

In 1990, Sparks co-wrote with Billy Mills Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding.^[4] The book was published by Feather Publishing, Random House, and Hay House. Sales for this book topped 50,000 copies in its first year after release.^[5]

In 1994, over a period of six months, Nicholas penned what was to be his first published novel, The Notebook. He was discovered by literary agent Theresa Park, who picked The Notebook out of her agency's slush pile, liked it, and offered to represent him. In October 1995, Park secured a $1 million advance for The Notebook from Time Warner Book Group. The novel was published in October 1996 and made the New York Times best-seller list in its first week of release.

After his first publishing success, he wrote a string of international bestsellers. Four of his novels have been made into films: Message in a Bottle (1999), A Walk to Remember (2002), The Notebook (2004), and Nights in Rodanthe (2008). One is being filmed, The Last Song.^[6] A film version of Dear John is scheduled for release in February 2010.^[7]^[8]

He has the sold screenplay adaptations of True Believer and At First Sight.

DOWNLOAD LINK:

A Walk to remember

The Twilight Saga

2009-08-13T08:31:00.000+08:00

Twilight is the debut, young-adult vampire-romance novel by author Stephenie Meyer. Twilight was initially rejected by 14 agents,^[5] but became an instant bestseller when published originally in hardback in 2005, debuting at #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list within a month of its release^[6] and later peaking at #1.^[7] That same year, Twilight was named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of 2005.^[8] The novel was also the biggest selling book of 2008^[9] and, to date, has sold 17 million copies around the globe, spent over 91 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list,^[10] and been translated into 37 different languages.^[11]

It is the first book of the Twilight series, and introduces seventeen-year-old Isabella "Bella" Swan, who moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington and finds her life in danger when she falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. The novel is followed by New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. A film adaptation of Twilight was released in 2008. It was a commercial success, grossing more than $382 million worldwide^[12] and an additional $157 million from North American DVD sales, as of July 2009.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephenie Meyer (née Morgan, born December 24, 1973) is an American author, known for her vampire romance series Twilight. The Twilight novels have gained worldwide recognition, won multiple literary awards and sold over 70 million copies worldwide,^[1] with translations into 37 different languages around the globe.^[2]^[3] A film adaptation of Twilight was released in the United States on November 21, 2008. Meyer is also the author of the adult science-fiction novel The Host. Meyer was named USA Today's "Author of the Year" in 2008.^[4] She was also the biggest selling author of the year, having sold over 29 million books in 2008 alone,^[5]^[6] with Twilight being the best selling book of the year.^[7] Meyer was ranked #49 on Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in 2008,^[8] and was also included in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list of the world's most powerful celebrities in 2009, entering at #26 with annual earnings exceeding $50 million.

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn

Moneyball

2009-08-09T20:30:00.000+08:00

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

(ISBN 0-393-05765-8) is a book by Michael M. Lewis, published in 2003, about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. Its focus is the team's modernized, analytical, sabermetric approach to assembling a competitive baseball team, despite Oakland's disadvantaged revenue situation.

The central premise of Moneyball is that the collected wisdom of baseball insiders (including players, managers, coaches, scouts, and the front office) over the past century is subjective and often flawed. Statistics such as stolen bases, runs batted in, and batting average, typically used to gauge players, are relics of a 19th century view of the game and the statistics that were available at the time. The book argues that the Oakland A's' front office took advantage of more empirical gauges of player performance to field a team that could compete successfully against richer competitors in Major League Baseball.

Rigorous statistical analysis had demonstrated that on-base percentage and slugging percentage are better indicators of offensive success, and the A's became convinced that these qualities were cheaper to obtain on the open market than more historically valued qualities such as speed and contact. These observations often flew in the face of conventional baseball wisdom and the beliefs of many baseball scouts and executives.

By re-evaluating the strategies that produce wins on the field, the 2002 Athletics, with approximately $41 million in salary, are competitive with larger market teams such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, who spend over $100 million in payroll. Because of the team's smaller revenues, Oakland is forced to find players undervalued by the market, and their system for finding value in undervalued players has proven itself thus far.

DOWNLOAD LINK:

Moneyball

BLOGGER'S NOTE:

THIS CAN BE APPLIED IN ANY SPORT. I JUST LOVE IT AT THE PART WHEN IT SAYS THERE THAT BILLY BEANE BASED HIS PICKS FROM AN ASSISTANT WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT PRO BASEBALL AND JUST CONSULTS HIS LAPTOP FOR THE STATISTICS. LOL. TALK ABOUT OBJECTIVITY. A GOOD READ ALTHOUGH I THOUGHT THE AUTHOR'S STORYTELLING LEAVES A LOT TO BE DESIRED.

The Art of War

2009-08-08T19:29:00.000+08:00

ABOUT THE NOVEL

The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; pinyin: Sūn Zǐ Bīng Fǎ) is a Chinese military treatise that was written by Sun Tzu in the 6th century BC, during the Spring and Autumn period. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time, and one of the basic texts on the subject.

The Art of War is one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy in the world. It has had a huge influence on Eastern military thinking, business tactics, and beyond. Sun Tzu recognized the importance of positioning in strategy and that position is affected both by objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective opinions of competitive actors in that environment. He taught that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through a to-do list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions. Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a competitive environment, competing plans collide, creating unexpected situations.

The book was first translated into the French language in 1772 by French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, and into English by British officer E. F. Calthrop in 1905. It very likely influenced Napoleon,^[1] and the planning of Operation Desert Storm.^[2]^[3] Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Baron Antoine-Henri Jomini, and General Douglas MacArthur have claimed to have drawn inspiration from the work. The Art of War has also been applied to business and managerial strategies.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sun Tzu (traditional Chinese: 孫子; simplified Chinese: 孙子; pinyin: Sūn Zi, pronounced [suən˥ tsz̩˨˩˦]. Sun is his family name, and Tzu is an honorific in classic Chinese, roughly equivalent to Sir, or the Learned Gentleman. His given name is Wǔ (武). His style name is Chángqīng (長卿). Sun Tzu is traditionally believed to be the author of The Art of War, sometimes called the Sun Tzu, an influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy considered to be a prime example of Taoist strategy. Sun has had a significant impact on Chinese and Asian history and culture, both as an author of the Art of War and as a legendary figure. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Sun's The Art of War grew in popularity and saw practical use in Western society, and his work has continued to influence both Asian and Western culture and politics.

IN A NUTSHELL

ITS ALL IN THE MIND

Laying Plans explores the five fundamental factors that define a successful outcome (the Way, seasons, terrain, leadership, and management). By thinking, assessing and comparing these points you can calculate a victory, deviation from them will ensure failure. Remember that war is a very grave matter of state.

Waging War explains how to understand the economy of war and how success requires making the winning play, which in turn, requires limiting the cost of competition and conflict.

Attack by Stratagem defines the source of strength as unity, not size, and the five ingredients that you need to succeed in any war.

Tactical Dispositions explains the importance of defending existing positions until you can advance them and how you must recognize opportunities, not try to create them.

Energy explains the use of creativity and timing in building your momentum.

Weak Points & Strong explains how your opportunities come from the openings in the environment caused by the relative weakness of your enemy in a given area.

Maneuvering explains the dangers of direct conflict and how to win those confrontations when they are forced upon you.

Variation in Tactics focuses on the need for flexibility in your responses. It explains how to respond to shifting circumstances successfully.

The Army on the March describes the different situations in which you find yourselves as you move into new enemy territories and how to respond to them. Much of it focuses on evaluating the intentions of others.

Terrain looks at the three general areas of resistance (distance, dangers, and barriers) and the six types of ground positions that arise from them. Each of these six field positions offer certain advantages and disadvantages.

The Nine Situations describe nine common situations (or stages) in a campaign, from scattering to deadly, and the specific focus you need to successfully navigate each of them.

The Attack by Fire explains the use of weapons generally and the use of the environment as a weapon specifically. It examines the five targets for attack, the five types of environmental attack, and the appropriate responses to such attack.

The Use of Spies focuses on the importance of developing good information sources, specifically the five types of sources and how to manage them.

DOWNLOAD LINK:

Art of War

The Little Prince

2009-08-07T19:47:00.000+08:00

The Little Prince (French: Le Petit Prince), published in 1943, is French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's most famous book. Saint-Exupéry wrote it while living in the United States. It has been translated into more than 180 languages and sold more than 80 million copies^[1]^[2] making it one of the best selling books ever.

An earlier memoir by the author recounts his aviation experiences in the Saharan desert. He is thought to have drawn on these same experiences for use as plot elements in The Little Prince. Saint-Exupéry's novella has been adapted to various media over the decades, including stage, screen and operatic works.

Though ostensibly a children's book, The Little Prince makes several profound and idealistic observations about life and human nature. For example, Saint-Exupéry tells of a fox meeting the young prince as he exits the Sahara desert. The story's essence is contained in the lines uttered by the fox to the little prince: "On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." ("It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.") Other key thematic messages are articulated by the fox, such as: "You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed" and "It is the time you have spent with your rose that makes your rose so important."

THE FOOLISH THINGS PEOPLE DO

The King who can apparently "control" the stars but only by ordering them to do what they would do anyway. He then relates this to his human subjects; it is the citizens' duty to obey, but only if the king's demands are reasonable. He orders the prince to leave as his ambassador.

The Conceited Man who wants to be admired by everyone, but lives alone on his planet. He cannot hear anything that is not a compliment.

The Drunkard/Tippler who drinks to forget that he is ashamed of drinking.

The Businessman who s constantly busy counting the stars he thinks he owns. He wishes to use them to buy more stars. The prince then goes on to define property. The prince owns the flower and volcanoes on his planet because he cares for them and they care for him, but because one cannot maintain the stars or be of use to them, he argues, the Businessman cannot own them.

The Lamplighter who lives on an asteroid which rotates once a minute. Long ago, he was charged with the task of lighting the lamp at night and extinguishing it in the morning. At that point, the asteroid revolved at a reasonable rate, and he had time to rest. As time went on, the rotation sped up. Refusing to turn his back on his work, he now lights and extinguishes the lamp once a minute, getting no rest. The prince empathizes with the Lamplighter, who is the only adult he meets to care about something other than himself.

The Geographer who spends all of his time making maps, but never leaves his desk to examine anywhere (even his own planet), considering that is the job of an explorer. The Geographer is in any case very doubting of any explorer's character and would most likely disregard the report. He does not trust things he has not seen with his own eyes, yet will not leave his desk. Out of professional interest, the geographer asks the prince to describe his asteroid. The prince describes the volcanoes and the rose. "We don't record flowers", says the geographer, "because they are only ephemeral". The prince is shocked and hurt to learn that his flower will someday be gone. The geographer then recommends that he visit the Earth.

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

The Little Prince Pdf

The Little Prince Audiobook

The Love Story Behind The Little Prince Consuelo de Saint Exupery (Author's wife)

Dan Brown

2009-08-07T10:41:00.000+08:00

Dan Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols and codes, and have been translated into 51 languages.^[1]

Brown's novels that feature the lead character Robert Langdon also include historical themes and Christianity as recurring motifs, and as a result, have generated controversy. Brown states on his website that his books are not anti-Christian, as he is a Christian himself, and says of his book The Da Vinci Code that it is simply "an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate" and suggests that the book may be used "as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration of our faith".

In 2006, the novel The Da Vinci Code was released as a film by Columbia Pictures, with director Ron Howard; the film starred Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon, Audrey Tautou as Sophie Neveu and Sir Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing. It was much anticipated and served to launch the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, though it received overall poor reviews. It was later listed as one of the worst films of 2006,^[10] but also the second highest grossing film of the year, pulling in $750 million USD worldwide.^[11] Brown was listed as one of the executive producers of the film The Da Vinci Code, and also created additional codes for the film. One of his songs, "Phiano", which Brown wrote and performed, was listed as part of the film's soundtrack. In the film, Brown and his wife can be seen in the background of one of the early book signing scenes.

The next film, Angels & Demons, was released on May 15, 2009, with Howard and Hanks returning.

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

Digital Fortress 1998

Angels & Demons 2000

Deception Point 2001

The Da Vinci Code 2003

The Lost Symbol 2009

Harry Potter

2009-08-06T17:16:00.001+08:00

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter, together with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, his friends from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The central story arc concerns Harry's struggle against the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents in his quest to conquer the wizarding world and subjugate non-magical (Muggle) people to his rule. Several successful derivative films, video games and other themed merchandise have been based upon the series.

Since the 1997 release of the first novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was retitled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States, the books have gained immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide.^[1] As of June 2008, the book series has sold more than 400 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages,^[2]^[3] and the last four books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history.

English-language versions of the books are published by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic Press in the United States, Allen & Unwin in Australia, and Raincoast Books in Canada. Thus far, the first six books have been made into a series of motion pictures by Warner Bros., with the sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, released on 15 July 2009.^[4] The series also originated much tie-in merchandise, making the Harry Potter brand worth £15 billion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joanne "Jo" Murray OBE^[1] (née Rowling; born 31 July 1965),^[2] who writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling,^[3] is a British author best known as the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, the idea for which was conceived whilst on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, and sold more than 400 million copies.

Aside from writing the Potter novels, Rowling is perhaps equally famous for her "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on welfare to multi-millionaire status within five years. The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at £560 million ($798 million), ranking her as the twelfth richest woman in Britain.^[5] Forbes ranked Rowling as the forty-eighth most powerful celebrity of 2007,^[6] and Time magazine named her as a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fandom.^[7] She has become a notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, and the Children's High Level Group.

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (26 June 1997)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2 July 1998)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (8 July 1999)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (8 July 2000)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (21 June 2003)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (16 July 2005)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (21 July 2007)

Complete Harry Potter Series

Who moved my cheese?

2009-08-06T14:55:00.000+08:00

'Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life', published in 1998, is a motivational book by Spencer Johnson written in the style of a parable or business fable. It describes change in one's work and life, and four typical reactions to said change by two mice and two "littlepeople", during their hunt for cheese. A New York Times business bestseller since release, Who Moved My Cheese? remained on the list for almost five years and spent over 200 weeks on Publishers Weekly's hardcover nonfiction list.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Spencer Johnson is known for his 1998 motivational book, titled Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life. It has stayed on the New York Times Bestseller list, and has remained on the Publishers Weekly Hardcover nonfiction list. Johnson is Chairman of Spencer Johnson Partners^[2].

Johnson also wrote the book "Yes" or "No": The Guide to Better Decisions (1992), which has been translated into a number of languages including Spanish, Korean and German . He co-authored the One Minute Manager series of books with management writer Ken Blanchard. His latest book, is The Present. He also wrote the book "Peaks And Valleys".

Johnson's books have been translated into twenty-six languages.

"CHEESY" LESSONS

Change Happens

They Keep Moving The Cheese

Anticipate Change

Get Ready For The Cheese To Move

Monitor Change

Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old

Adapt To Change Quickly

The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese

Change

Move With The Cheese

Enjoy Change!

Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!

Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again & Again

They Keep Moving The Cheese.

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

Who moved my cheese? Pdf

Who moved my cheese? Pdf and Audiobook

One-minute Manager Also by Spencer Johnson (with Ken Blanchard)

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

2009-08-06T09:54:00.000+08:00

Crime and Punishment (Russian: Преступление и наказание Prestupleniye i Nakazaniye) is a novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky that was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments in 1866.^[1] It was later published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoevsky's full-length novels after he returned from his exile in Siberia, and the first great novel of his mature period.^[2]

Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, an impoverished St. Petersburg ex-student who formulates and executes a plan to kill a hated, unscrupulous pawnbroker for her money, thereby solving his financial problems and at the same time, he argues, ridding the world of an evil, worthless parasite. Raskolnikov also strives to be an extraordinary being, similar to Napoleon, believing that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky, sometimes transliterated Dostoevsky, Dostoievsky, Dostojevskij, Dostoevski or Dostoevskii (November 11, [O.S. October 30] 1821 – February 9, [O.S. January 28] 1881) was a Russian writer, essayist and philosopher, known for his novels Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.

Dostoyevsky's literary output explores human psychology in the troubled political, social and spiritual context of 19th-century Russian society. Considered by many as a founder or precursor of 20th-century existentialism, his Notes from Underground (1864), written in the embittered voice of the anonymous "underground man", was called by Walter Kaufmann the "best overture for existentialism ever written."^[5] Dostoyevsky is recognized internationally as one of the greatest and most influential writers of all time.

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

The Gambler

Crime and Punishment

The Idiot

Grand Inquisitor

Insulted and Injured

The Brothers Karamazov

Possessed

The Raw Youth / The Adolescent

Poor Folk

Paulo Coelho

2009-08-05T17:58:00.000+08:00

Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His father, Pedro, was an engineer, and his mother Lydia was a home-maker.^[1] He attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer. Upon telling his mother this, she responded with "My dear, your father is an engineer. He's a logical, reasonable man with a very clear vision of the world. Do you actually know what it means to be a writer?"^[1] After researching, Coelho concluded that a writer "always wears glasses and never combs his hair" and has a "duty and an obligation never to be understood by his own generation," amongst other things.^[1] At 17, Coelho's introversion and opposition to follow a traditional path led to his parents committing him to a mental institution from which he escaped three times before being released at the age of 20.^[2]^[3] Coelho later remarked that "It wasn't that they wanted to hurt me, but they didn't know what to do... They did not do that to destroy me, they did that to save me.^[4]

At his parents' wishes, Coelho enrolled in law school and abandoned his dream to become a writer. One year later, he dropped out and lived life as a hippie, traveling through South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe and becoming immersed in the drug culture of the 1960s.^[5]^[6] Upon his return to Brazil, Coelho worked as a songwriter, composing lyrics for Elis Regina, Rita Lee, and Brazilian icon Raul Seixas.^[7] In 1974, Coelho was arrested and tortured for "subversive" activities by the ruling militia, who viewed his lyrics as left-wing and dangerous.^[4]

In 1986, Coelho walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, a turning point in his life.^[5]^[8] On the path, Coelho had a spiritual awakening, which he described autobiographically in The Pilgrimage. ^[9] In an interview, Coelho stated "[In 1986], I was very happy in the things I was doing. I was doing something that gave me food and water -- to use the metaphor in The Alchemist, I was working, I had a person who I loved, I had money, but I was not fulfilling my dream. My dream was, and still is, to be a writer."^[10] Coelho would leave his lucrative career as a songwriter and pursue writing full-time.

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

The Pilgrimage

Eleven Minutes

The Valkyries

The Alchemist