Digitising books is a problematic endeavour, not because of the technology, but due to the ethical issues that arise. Once a book becomes digitised problems with copyright and sales enter the frame. Nevertheless, Google Books has digitised more than fifteen million books which is about twelve per cent of all the books ever published. The digitising process has enabled a detailed analysis of the books’ content that would not be possible if done by individuals and some remarkable findings have resulted.
The analysis that has taken place was done on five million of the fifteen million digitised books. That meant that approximately 500 billion words were in the final data set. Digging into the words used in those books across time has revealed some fascinating facts about our evolving culture.
Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, Book 5)
~ by Richelle Mead
Vampire Academy
If you've read all the Stephenie Meyer Twilight books and crave more vampire stories then sink your teeth into the Vampire Academy series of vampire books.
Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy books follow the war between two races of vampires, living and undead. Rose Hathaway, a 17-year old half-vampire, is training to be a bodyguard for the living vampires and finds her life complicated by the constant danger. As well as an illicit romance with one of her teachers, Rose continually struggles to protect her best friend from the evils that surround them. If you like vampire stories, you'll love the Vampire Academy saga. => http://amzn.to/drEJBc
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
~ Stieg Larsson
As the finale to Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is not content to merely match the adrenaline-charged pace that made international bestsellers out of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire. Instead, it roars with an explosive storyline that blows the doors off the series and announces that the very best has been saved for last. ...Larsson's mastery of the unexpected is why millions have fallen hard for his work. But rest assured that the odds are again stacked, the challenges personal, and the action fraught with neck-snapping revelations in this snarling conclusion to a thrilling triad. This closing chapter to The Girl's pursuit of justice is guaranteed to leave readers both satisfied and saddened once the final page has been turned.
Buy the book here http://amzn.to/aqRErk
Today's read: The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors And Closing Deals Online
by David Teten and Scott Allen
If you want to sell to more clients, raise capital, find companies in which you can invest, recruit star employees, or even look for a new job: Let The Virtual Handshake be your guide...
The Internet offers powerful tools to help you find the right people, connect with them, and close deals with them quickly and cost-effectively. This book will give you all the tools you need to use the new generation of "Web 2.0 technologies" for sales, marketing, and capital-raising: blogs, social network sites, virtual communities, and many more.
The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online, is the manifesto... companies, technologies, and practices.
Andy Andrews is one of the most talented writers in the country. His books have sold millions of copies and have made it to the New York Times best-sellers list. But as a speaker...he's incredible!
When Andy speaks, he usually closes with his favorite story (he says it's the one that every client remembers)...The Butterfly Effect. We're honored to share Andy's story in a beautiful gift book.
Here is Andy's introduction to the book:
Introduction from The Butterfly Effect
By Andy Andrews
Not long ago, I finally told the story of when, at the age of twenty-three, homeless and scared, I was given guidance in a most unusual fashion by an old man named Jones. What the old man told me did nothing less than change my life and my future. He said..."With a little perspective you can live a life of permanent purpose."When I asked what he meant, the old man answered with a question. "Do you sometimes find yourself unconsciously judging your actions by level of importance?" I frowned a bit, not certain I understood. "For instance," he continued, "the time you spend with friends is important, but the time you spend with family, is more important. You might rank an hour fishing as very important, thirty minutes visiting a sick friend in the hospital much more important than the fishing, and a sixty second conversation with a convenience store clerk as not very important at all."
I nodded my understanding and he returned to his initial point. "When you know that everything matters - that every move counts as much as any other - you will begin living a life of permanent purpose. A life of permanent purpose will make you a better parent, a better spouse, and a more valuable friend. Your productivity and financial success will soar to new heights while the old days of uncertainty, doubt, and depression fade into the past."
Of course, that conversation with Jones changed me. But even more, it became the guiding force that produced the kind of speaker and author I have become. You see, I understand fully that my very value as an author and speaker must ultimately be judged by the success you achieve. And as I consult with companies or speak to organizations and teams, I am keenly aware that much of my client's (your) ability to succeed beyond imagination depends upon my ability to prove this very concept!
When a sales organization sees proof that casual conversations in town matter just as much as an arranged meeting with a major prospect -
When the second string right-guard sees proof that his every action on and off the field, whether he plays or not, is as critical to the team's successful season as everything the starting quarterback does -
When a teenager sees and understands proof that every choice made in leisure today will affect the choices that will be available to him in more pressing times ahead -
When one lives a life of permanent purpose, sales figures soar, team chemistry thrives, and teenage decisions become wiser and more cautious. And these are just a few examples of what will happen...Simply put, when we understand that every action matters, every result of our actions immediately improves!
In these pages, I know you will find hope and direction for yourself, but I am most excited that you will now be equipped to lead others to their own life of permanent purpose! My hope for our families, our places of worship, our businesses, our nation, and our world is an incredible life of permanent purpose that can be achieved when at last we understand: Every move we make and every action we take, matters not just for us, but for all of us...and for all time.
Even small acts of kindness and faithfulness have the ability to impact the world!
Click here to look inside The Butterfly Effect or to watch the 3-minute inspirational movie included with each copy of the book.
There's an old saying that says...
"If the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is eat a live frog, then nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day!"
Brian Tracy says that your "frog" should be the most difficult item on your things to do list, the one you're most likely to procrastinate on; because, if you eat that first, it'll give you energy and momentum for the rest of the day. But, if you don't...and let him sit there on the plate and stare at you while you do a hundred unimportant things, it can drain your energy and you won't even know it.
In Eat That Frog!, Brian cuts to the core of what is vital to effective time management: decision, discipline and determination. In 21 practical steps, he will help you stop procrastinating and get more of the important tasks done...today!
Brian is one of America's leading authorities on development of human potential. He speaks to over 250,000 people a year and has written over 25 books. Eat That Frog! is an international best seller, with over 500,000 copies sold.
We're pleased to say, however, that Simple Truths has taken a great book, and well...made it better! How? We've made it a little shorter; a little more engaging with great graphics; a little more "giftable" with an embossed hard cover, and of course, packaging that can create a "wow" effect! In short, we've turned a great book into a great gift for employees, customers, friends and family.
Here's a small sampling in Brian's chapter titled: Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything. Enjoy!
An Excerpt from
Eat That Frog!
by Brian Tracy
The 80/20 Rule is one of the most helpful of all concepts of time and life management. It is also called the "Pareto Principle" after its founder, the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who first wrote about it in 1895. Pareto noticed that people in his society seemed to divide naturally into what he called the "vital few", the top 20 percent in terms of money and influence, and the "trivial many", the bottom 80 percent.
He later discovered that virtually all economic activity was subject to this principle as well. For example, this principle says that 20 percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results, 20 percent of your customers will account for 80 percent of your sales, 20 percent of your products or services will account for 80 percent of your profits, 20 percent of your tasks will account for 80 percent of the value of what you do, and so on. This means that if you have a list of ten items to do, two of those items will turn out to be worth five or ten times or more than the other eight items put together.
Number of Tasks versus Importance of Tasks
Here is an interesting discovery. Each of the ten tasks may take the same amount of time to accomplish. But one or two of those tasks will contribute five or ten times the value of any of the others.
Often, one item on a list of ten tasks that you have to do can be worth more than all the other nine items put together. This task is invariably the frog that you should eat first.Focus on Activities, Not Accomplishments
The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex. But the payoff and rewards for completing these tasks efficiently can be tremendous. For this reason, you must adamantly refuse to work on tasks in the bottom 80 percent while you still have tasks in the top 20 percent left to be done.
Before you begin work, always ask yourself, "Is this task in the top 20 percent of my activities or in the bottom 80 percent?"The hardest part of any important task is getting started on it in the first place. Once you actually begin work on a valuable task, you will be naturally motivated to continue. A part of your mind loves to be busy working on significant tasks that can really make a difference. Your job is to feed this part of your mind continually.
Motivate Yourself
Just thinking about starting and finishing an important task motivates you and helps you to overcome procrastination. Time management is really life management, personal management. It is really taking control of the sequence of events. Time management is having control over what you do next. And you are always free to choose the task that you will do next. Your ability to choose between the important and the unimportant is the key determinant of your success in life and work.Effective, productive people discipline themselves to start on the most important task that is before them. They force themselves to eat that frog, whatever it is. As a result, they accomplish vastly more than the average person and are much happier as a result. This should be your way of working as well.
For more information, to look inside this inspiring book or to watch the inspirational movie, just click here. => http://bit.ly/hl4vs6
The holiday break is a great time to put your nose in a book. The Herald's literary editor, Susan Wyndham, lists 15 Australian classics for your consideration. => http://bit.ly/er0TrL
The current surge of interest in manga is nothing short of a revolution in young adult publishing. Manga are Japanese graphic novels, in which stories that were originally published in magazines are then compiled into black and white paperbacks which can go on for dozens of volumes. With the uptick in interest in anime (Japanese animation) teens and tweens are flocking to the new medium. They cluster around shelving trucks of returned books and scarf them up before the books can hit the shelves. Manga brings young people into the library building and forms a ready base for programming and book talks.
The Time we have taken
by Steven Carroll
Winner of the 2008 Miles Franklin Award
That exotic tribe was us. And the time we have taken, our moment. The straight line of history has led, and was always leading, to this day and they have all been lucky enough to be alive, right now, to greet the moment. THE TIME WE HAVE TAKEN is both a meditation on the rhythms of suburban life and a luminous exploration of public and private reckoning during a time of radical change. 'a writer worth cherishing. His prose is unfailingly assured, lyrical, poised' - The Australian. 'moving and indelible in its evocation of the extraordinary in ordinary lives' - Miles Franklin Literary Award Judges.
WHICH would you rather read, a book about Julia Gillard or a book by, or about, Julian Assange? Timely stories of the redhead and the whitehead are both on offer in a very varied year of books.
Life stories top the adult book list in 2011, but it's also a strong year for fiction, notably Scandinavian thrillers (anything to do with the late Stieg Larsson?) and Australian trilogies, short stories and first fiction. We're also writing and publishing plenty of essays.
Whether your taste is for surrealism by Haruki Murakami or Scarecrow by Matthew Reilly, J. M. Coetzee or J. Trollope, there's something for you in 2011.
