ISBN: 1416587241

 
Author: Janet Jackson

ONE OF THE GREATEST ENTERTAINERS OF OUR TIME CANDIDLY REVEALS HER VERY PERSONAL STRUGGLE WITH AN ISSUE SO MANY OF US FACE EVERY DAY: SELF-ESTEEM

Janet Jackson emerged from the shadows of an already famous family to become one of the most beloved, recognizable, and influential performers in the world. But at what cost?

From the age of ten, when she made her acting debut on Good Times, Janet was told by Hollywood that she needed to slim down. Her well-meaning brothers, especially fun-loving Michael, teased her relentlessly until she began to believe that who she was wasn’t good enough. It was an idea that no amount of critical acclaim in television and film or, later, international platinum success in music could change.

Janet turned to food for comfort and escape. She developed a self-destructive pattern familiar to so many of us: fear and uncertainty led to bad feelings about herself and ultimately depression. The depression led to overeating. And her yo-yoing weight was painfully obvious in the bright lights of the entertainment world.

It has taken Janet most of her adult life to come to terms with who she is. But she has finally broken free of the attitudes that brought her down and has embraced realistic goals that help her eat better, exercise better, feel better, and ultimately be better.

This book is about meeting those challenges that face all of us. With candor and courage, Janet shares her painful journey to loving herself. She addresses the crazy rumors that have swirled around her for most of her life, shines an intimate light on her family, and pulls us behind the velvet rope into her unforgettable career. She also shares lessons she has learned through contact with friends and fans and reveals the fitness secrets she has learned from her trainer. Finally, her nutritionist, David Allen, unveils the wholesome, delicious recipes and lifestyle-changing tips that helped Janet get in shape—mind and spirit, heart and soul.

True You is a call to tune in to your own fundamental wisdom, to let go of the ugly comparisons, and to understand that who you are, the true you, is more than enough.

***

“I’m loved, I’m valued, and I’m capable of achieving balance in my life. I can learn to eat well. I can exercise. I can express gratitude for the simple act of being able to breathe in and breathe out. I can move away from darkness and depression to light and hope. I can be happy with who I am, not what I should be, or what I might have been, or what someone tells me I must be.

I am me, the true me; you are you, the true you—and that’s good. That’s beautiful. That’s enough.”

—JANET JACKSON

Pages: 272	Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Karen Hunter	Year: 2011

ISBN: 1426207794

 
Author: Dereck Joubert

A symbol of mythic potency, the African lion has ruled the human imagination for millennia. But in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, the world’s most awe-inspiring hunters are challenged not only by their waterlogged territory, but also by their formidable prey—the buffalo—who wield their massive horns with deadly accuracy. Pulsing with ancient rhythms of wild Africa, this harsh and eternal struggle is compelling, powerful, and poignant. Award-winning filmmakers and National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Beverly and Dereck Joubert, give us an unforgettable glimpse of this iconic drama in the official companion book to their feature film, The Last Lions, and warn that due to declining numbers of lions in the wild, it may soon end forever.
 
In fascinating text and breathtaking images, the Jouberts reveal both the beauty and danger of the Okavango Delta and its inhabitants. We follow a lone lioness, Ma di Tau—Mother of Lions—and three newborns as they flee a ferocious rival pride. Braving the Delta, despite their instinctive hatred of water, the lioness and her cubs head for an island lost in a labyrinth of streams. She and two cubs escape successfully; a lurking crocodile snatches the third.
 
Soon, their refuge is invaded by a vast buffalo herd—aggressive, unafraid, a constant threat, yet the lions’ only prey. But even as Ma di Tau hones her tactics and stalking skills, she is trapped between throngs of buffalo and a rival lion pride. So she does what all of her kind must—adapt or die.
 
The Last Lions is a story of family and hope in a world of wild beauty and relentless predation that is a superbly photographed, sharply detailed intimate portrait of one dauntless mother struggling to protect her young and preserve her bloodline. It is a vivid, universal vision of the fate of lions everywhere, isolated on tiny islands amid a sea of humanity. Can we rescue them, or have we already, heedlessly, met the last lions?
 
For decades the Jouberts have lived among great cats in the wild, observing, documenting, and often discovering unsuspected facets of lion behavior. A key message is that the inexorably rising tide of human population will soon drown what remains of that world unless we act now. The book draws attention to the numbers (500,000 in the 1950s to only 25,000 lions today) and highlights projects that have been enacted to help preserve wilderness for lion habitat.

Pages: 176	Binding: Paperback
Publisher: National Geographic	Year: 2011

ISBN: 0470930225

 
Author: Andrew Liveris

America used to define itself by the things it built. We designed and produced the world’s most important innovations, and in doing so, created a vibrant manufacturing sector that built the middle class. We manufactured our way to the top and became the undisputed economic leader among all nations. But over the last several decades, and especially in the last ten years, the sector that was America’s great pride has eroded, costing millions of jobs and putting our long-term prosperity at risk. Now, as we struggle to recover from the worst recession in generations, our only chance to turn things around is to revive the American manufacturing sector—and to revolutionize it. In MAKE IT IN AMERICA: The Case for Reinventing the Economy, Andrew Liveris — Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company—offers a thoughtful and passionate argument that America’s future economic growth and prosperity depends on the strength of its manufacturing sector. The book

• Explains how a manufacturing sector creates economic value at a scale unmatched by any other, and how central the sector is to creating jobs both inside and outside the factory.
• Explores how other nations are building their manufacturing sectors to stay competitive in the global economy, and describes how America has failed to keep up.
• Provides an aggressive, practical and comprehensive agenda that will put the U.S. back on track to lead the world.

It’s time to stop accepting as inevitable the shuttering of factories and staggering job losses that have come to define manufacturing. It’s time to acknowledge the cost of inaction. There is no better company to make the case for reviving U.S. manufacturing than the Michigan-based The Dow Chemical Company, one of the world’s largest manufacturers and one of its most global corporations. And there’s no better book to show why it needs to be done and how to do it than MAKE IT IN AMERICA.

Andrew Liveris is Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company, one of the largest multinational corporations in the world and a leader in science and technology.

Q&A with Author Andrew Liveris

What is the biggest factor to explain the dramatic loss of U.S. manufacturing sector jobs that began in the 1970s?

Author Michael Burchell

There are a lot of reasons that the U.S. manufacturing sector has lost jobs over the last four decades, but they boil down to this. The world changed, and our policy approach did not change with it.

Think back to the years right after World War II. When it came to economic competitiveness, the United States was the only game in town. But after that, the European economies and Japan, with our help, came back robustly ? both with a strong orientation to manufacturing and quality. Next came the Asian Tigers, followed by Brazil, China, India, and Russia ? the so-called ?BRIC? countries. Other, smaller economies emerged as well.

All of these nations were, and still are, are asking themselves the same thing. ?How can we create jobs? How can we grow our manufacturing base?? And they?re doing everything they can to compete ? tax holidays, low-cost loans, you name it.

Meanwhile, the United States has stood still. We?re still the world?s largest economy, but every day, we are losing ground. Unless American policymakers improve the business climate by addressing everything from taxes to R&D to education reform, the decline of American manufacturing is inevitable and irreversible.

I believe the world is entering a golden age of manufacturing, based in no small part on American innovation and technology. Jobs will be created. Value will be created. The question is, will they be created here or someplace else?

Are there pros to the American economy shifting from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy?
Frankly, no. Manufacturing creates jobs in a way that the service sector simply cannot. A new manufacturing facility supports an entire value chain ? demand for raw materials, construction, energy, supplies and services.

For too many Americans, the word ?manufacturing? has an old-fashioned ring to it. They think of it as a thing of the past. To them, manufacturing means lost jobs, closed factories, and a struggling middle class.

But here?s the truth about manufacturing in the United States. The workforce in this country contains 150 million people, and they can?t all be employed in the service sector. Manufacturing ? and only manufacturing ? can create the multiplier effect that is necessary if we?re going to have anything approaching full employment.

We have to stop pretending that a ?service-based? economy is a viable option. The consequences would be massive unemployment, even greater income inequality, and the gradual obsolescence of our entire economy. I?m not saying that there isn?t a place for service industries, because there absolutely is. But we need to have balance in the economy, and right now, our balance is dangerously off.

Where can the U.S. manufacturing industry look for inspiration right now?
All across the world. I have been in manufacturing for 35 years, and this is absolutely the most exciting time I have ever seen for manufacturing globally. That is why I call this a ?golden age.? The manufacturing sector is rapidly evolving, advancing, before our eyes. It is stunning to watch it unfold.

Look at any of the world?s great challenges, and manufacturing is central to the solution. The world needs semiconductors and microprocessors; wind turbines and solar cells; advanced batteries and state-of-the-art medical devices. Manufacturers make these things, and these things, in turn, will remake our future.

But unless we act, these innovations will be built somewhere else. Other countries are already out-competing the U.S. Take Germany–an excellent example of a high-wage country that has revived its advanced-manufacturing sector. In 1998, Germany had a trade deficit of $5.9 billion. By 2008 it had a trade surplus of $267.1 billion. That?s no accident. The German government invested in advanced manufacturing, and those investments are paying off.

Germany is investing in industries of the future, such as renewable energy, and that puts them in a great position to stay competitive into the future. So the German success story should be both an inspiration and a call to action. U.S. policymakers ignore it at their–and our–peril.

Is your sense that the U.S. government could be doing more to help stimulate the manufacturing sector in the U.S.?
Absolutely. As a businessman, I have great faith in the wisdom of markets. But I recognize that markets cannot replace the long-term strategic framework that only governments can build.

Other countries are out there competing for the same jobs, the same dollars, the same economic growth that we are. Our nation?and especially our government ?must get serious about rising to that challenge. It?s not often that you hear a CEO call for more government action, but my belief is anchored in a basic premise: in order to stay competitive, we need to reinvent the manufacturing sector in the U.S. And for that we need government as a partner.

Make It in America proposes a number of steps the federal government can take to restore American manufacturing?a comprehensive advanced manufacturing policy that would address everything from high corporate tax rates to contradictory regulations to failing schools. Neither the business community nor the government can do these things alone?we need to work together in the best interests of our nation?s economy.

We need to act more boldly than in the past. Take the example of education. Advanced manufacturing jobs require much more education than traditional manufacturing jobs, especially in science, technology, engineering and math. In those fields, the U.S. lags behind our competitors?and it costs us badly. According to McKinsey, the achievement gap between the U.S. and its high-performing competitors cost us $1 to $2 trillion in 2008 alone. If we want to keep our economy growing, we need to reform our education system.

A lot of people see the government as an adversary to business, but when we think about areas like education or R&D investment, it?s clear that is not the case. I see government as an essential partner. I believe the way of the future in this country is in public private partnerships so that we can build the new U.S. economy in a deliberate manner. We need the framework for investors and entrepreneurs to become more certain instead of suffering from the volatility and unpredictability of policies that operate on two-, four- and six-year cycles.

What do you hope will change by your writing this book?
The goal of Make It in America is to change the conversation about the manufacturing sector, to change how the citizen on the street sees and perceives the sector; that manufacturing is not a dinosaur, but a vital part of the U.S. economy. One might say to enable the U.S. economy. We need to change the perception, and make people aware of this when they vote for policies and politicians.

The world has changed, and unless our economic policies change with it, this country will experience a massive long-term economic crisis. High unemployment will become the rule, rather than the exception. The middle class will be, for all intents and purpose, obsolete. And time is running out, because our competitor nations aren?t waiting around to see which direction we?re going to choose. We have to make the right choices, and we have to make them before it?s too late.

That sounds pretty bleak, but to be honest, if I thought decline was inevitable, the book would never have been written. At the end of the day, I am an optimist. Americans have always adapted to the new and often unpredictable challenges of their time, and I believe we will adapt to this one as well.

So I think our leaders?in business and in government?will make the decisions they need to make. They will help usher in a golden age of American manufacturing and we will see the rebirth of a vital American sector. It is not hard to imagine a day when the world?s great inventions aren?t just created here, but are produced here as well. And put people to work here again.

My hope is that Make It in America will bring that day a little bit closer.

ISBN: 1423134494

 
Author: Melissa De La Cruz

Vampires have powers beyond human comprehension: strength that defies logic, speed that cannot be captured on film, the ability to shapeshift and more. But in matters of the heart, no one, not even the strikingly beautiful and outrageously wealthy Blue Bloods, has total control. In Bloody Valentine, bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz offers readers a new story about the love lives of their favorite vamps – the passion and heartache, the hope and devastation, the lust and longing. Combined with all the glitz, glamour, and mystery fans have come to expect, this is sure to be another huge hit in the Blue Bloods series.

Pages: 160	Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH	Year: 2010

ISBN: 1451625510

 
Author: Glenn Beck

Radio and television host Glenn Beck has experienced the rollercoaster of life like few others.  From the suicide of his mother when he was just thirteen, to his eventual alcoholism, depression, divorce, unemployment, and health scares—Glenn has weathered life’s darkest storms.

Any one of those struggles could’ve ruined him, yet Glenn was able to keep moving forward.  He saw past the darkness into the light; past his grief and addictions and into what his life could be.

YOU CAN DO IT TOO

The process of finding happiness through personal redemption was not easy, but it left Glenn with a blueprint for how to confront future adversity.  Glenn is living proof that these steps—he calls them wonders—don’t just work on paper.  They helped transform his life and can they can help to transform yours as well.  

THE 7 WONDERS

Glenn Beck and Dr. Keith Ablow—two of the most popular and influential personalities in American media today—have joined forces to present a powerful guide to personal transformation and fulfillment that is as unique as their own unlikely partnership.  They are called the “7 Wonders” and they can be used by anyone who has made the decision that they are ready to change their life.

After the television talk show host and the bestselling psychiatrist struck up a fast friendship they realized that their experiences with life’s struggles were complementary.  What Keith had studied, Glenn had lived.  What Keith had counseled patients on for years, Glenn had suffered through for decades.

The deeply personal insights they shared brought them to realize that their life stories had seven key principles in common; seven wonders that seemed to be essential ingredients for anyone attempting to transform their life. 

Where does the courage to persevere come from when everything seems hopeless? Why is it nearly impossible to succeed with faith?  How much do family and friendships matter in our journey? How do we break down our walls and reveal our inner truths? What does having compassion really mean? How do you tell real friends apart from those who are holding you back? If there’s no one to blame for my past, what do you do with your anger and resentment?

These kinds of questions are the starting point toward fundamentally changing how you view past damaging relationships, toward breaking the debilitating grip of addiction and depression, toward injecting life with new meaning and purpose and toward helping you embark on a new journey based on hope, strength, and personal empowerment.

As you unwrap each of the seven wonders for yourself, you’ll discover exactly what Glenn Beck found as he transformed his own life from darkness to light, from dead ends to endless possibilities, from addiction to freedom: it doesn’t take a superhero to find the strength to change—it just takes the courage to take the first step. 

This book, which was only possible by combining together decades of personal struggle with world-class professional experience, can be that first step for you.

The 7 Wonders grows out of a unique friendship that we’ve developed over the last five-years. It is unique because it brought together a psychiatrist who naturally burrows toward the truth, and a recovering addict who spent decades running from it.

As we spent more time together we began to let our guards down.  Over time we reached a level of honesty with each other that is rare.  As a result, we learned that the principles that have guided the well-honed healing techniques of one of us are precisely the same principles that instinctively guided the other to replace nearly unbearable pain with genuine happiness.

We believe that it was God’s plan for us to meet; that it was God’s plan for us to speak so openly with one another; and it was God’s plan that we share with you the seven wonders we discovered together.

We also firmly believe that it was God’s plan that this book now finds you at this exact moment in your life.

 —Glenn Beck & Dr. Keith Ablow

Pages: 304	Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Threshold Editions	Year: 2011

ISBN: 1439177783

 
Author: Portia de Rossi

?I didn?t decide to become anorexic. It snuck up on me disguised as a healthy diet, a professional attitude. Being as thin as possible was a way to make the job of being an actress easier . . .?

Portia de Rossi weighed only 82 pounds when she collapsed on the set of the Hollywood film in which she was playing her first leading role. This should have been the culmination of all her years of hard work?first as a child model in Australia, then as a cast member of one of the hottest shows on American television. On the outside she was thin and blond, glamorous and successful. On the inside, she was literally dying.

In this searing, unflinchingly honest book, Portia de Rossi captures the complex emotional truth of what it is like when food, weight, and body image take priority over every other human impulse or action. She recounts the elaborate rituals around eating that came to dominate hours of every day, from keeping her daily calorie intake below 300 to eating precisely measured amounts of food out of specific bowls and only with certain utensils. When this wasn?t enough, she resorted to purging and compulsive physical exercise, driving her body and spirit to the breaking point.

Even as she rose to fame as a cast member of the hit television shows Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, Portia alternately starved herself and binged, all the while terrified that the truth of her sexuality would be exposed in the tabloids. She reveals the heartache and fear that accompany a life lived in the closet, a sense of isolation that was only magnified by her unrelenting desire to be ever thinner. With the storytelling skills of a great novelist and the eye for detail of a poet, Portia makes transparent as never before the behaviors and emotions of someone living with an eating disorder.

From her lowest point, Portia began the painful climb back to a life of health and honesty, falling in love with and eventually marrying Ellen DeGeneres, and emerging as an outspoken and articulate advocate for gay rights and women?s health issues.

In this remarkable and beautifully written work, Portia shines a bright light on a dark subject. A crucial book for all those who might sometimes feel at war with themselves or their bodies, Unbearable Lightness is a story that inspires hope and nourishes the spirit.

ISBN: 0684868547

 
Author: Pauline Maier

When the delegates left the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in September 1787, the new Constitution they had written was no more than a proposal. Elected conventions in at least nine of the thirteen states would have to ratify it before it could take effect. There was reason to doubt whether that would happen. The document we revere today as the foundation of our country?s laws, the cornerstone of our legal system, was hotly disputed at the time. Some Americans denounced the Constitution for threatening the liberty that Americans had won at great cost in the Revolutionary War. One group of fiercely patriotic opponents even burned the document in a raucous public demonstration on the Fourth of July.

In this splendid new history, Pauline Maier tells the dramatic story of the yearlong battle over ratification that brought such famous founders as Washington, Hamilton, Madison, Jay, and Henry together with less well-known Americans who sometimes eloquently and always passionately expressed their hopes and fears for their new country. Men argued in taverns and coffeehouses; women joined the debate in their parlors; broadsides and newspaper stories advocated various points of view and excoriated others. In small towns and counties across the country people read the document carefully and knew it well. Americans seized the opportunity to play a role in shaping the new nation. Then the ratifying conventions chosen by “We the People” scrutinized and debated the Constitution clause by clause.

Although many books have been written about the Constitutional Convention, this is the first major history of ratification. It draws on a vast new collection of documents and tells the story with masterful attention to detail in a dynamic narrative. Each state?s experience was different, and Maier gives each its due even as she focuses on the four critical states of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York, whose approval of the Constitution was crucial to its success.

The New Yorker Gilbert Livingston called his participation in the ratification convention the greatest transaction of his life. The hundreds of delegates to the ratifying conventions took their responsibility seriously, and their careful inspection of the Constitution can tell us much today about a document whose meaning continues to be subject to interpretation. Ratification is the story of the founding drama of our nation, superbly told in a history that transports readers back more than two centuries to reveal the convictions and aspirations on which our country was built.

ISBN: 193559737X

 
Author: Dallas Clayton

Book Description: Inspired by the idea of being thankful for all that you have, An Awesome Book of Thanks! is a beautifully written, fantastically illustrated walk through a world of magical unicorns, robotic dinosaurs, and all of life’s simple moments, great and small. Crafted for children ages 0-1000, this timeless story is sure to be an instant classic, at home in the hands of anyone looking for the perfect reminder of just how beautiful life can be.

Dallas Clayton: I grew up writing zines, poems, journals, short stories–printing them myself and selling them to people on the street. That’s where I came from. I started doing that when I was 12 or 13, and like most things you start doing at that age, I didn’t really have any scope of how big of a part of my life it would become; it was just something I did because it was fun. I moved to Los Angeles when I was 18 and after a few months of going to shows, art galleries, markets, and performance spaces, people started offering me writing jobs. It was never something I’d planned on–it was just something that happened that way.

Question: How did you make the transition into children?s literature?

Dallas Clayton: I had never written a kids’ book before. Honestly, I’d never written any sort of book before An Awesome Book! But after my son was born I knew I wanted to write something for him while he was still young enough to appreciate it. So I started to write a kids? book a day and the first one I wrote was An Awesome Book! After I put it down on paper I stopped and thought, “Okay–what now?”

Question: People took to it?

Dallas Clayton: Well, the first pressing sold out in a week, then the second pressing sold out between when I ordered it and when it arrived, and then it just kept going. Pretty soon people were ordering so many copies that I basically had to change everything I was doing. I became a kids’ author overnight. I was shipping orders out of my house to people all over the world and every day something even crazier than the day before would happen. Getting letters from people all over the world, requests to come speak, people wanting me to collaborate with them–just tons of unexpected magic.

Question: What is the Awesome World Foundation?

Dallas Clayton: I started the Awesome World Foundation as a way for me to go on tour and read to kids and give back to all of the people who had supported me. Basically, whenever an author would read at my son?s school he would come home with this order form asking for a check to be sent in so he could buy the book. I always just pictured myself as the kid in the class who wouldn’t have had the money to buy the book, so I just thought “I made the book, I can give them away.” So I set up the Foundation to do just that: donate a book for every book sold. So now I travel around, reading to kids all over, giving away books. It’s really the best thing I could ever wish to do with my life. Pretty amazing.

Question: With all of the success of An Awesome Book!, What was your approach to following it up?

Dallas Clayton: Well, I just wanted to make something Awesome. People were so happy with the first one and that made me so happy, I knew making another book could only double that happiness. And after reading to so many kids and talking to them about their hopes and their dreams, I knew I wanted to talk about the idea of being thankful, like all of your aspirations are important but remember to be thankful for all of the small things we tend to take for granted. That’s the idea behind An Awesome Book of Thanks!–dream big, but be thankful for what you have.

Question: What are you hoping people take away from your books?

Dallas Clayton: I guess the same things I would hope people would take away from anything worth appreciating. To offer them a little break in their day to contemplate all the amazing possibilities that life has to offer. For me, kids’ books are just the same as any other art form–your goal shouldn’t be to tell a story, your goal should be to communicate an idea to try and share a theme, to give someone a bigger experience. All the authors that I grew up reading, all the classics I think did that. All the major forces in the modern kids’ world did that: Dr. Seuss, Walt Disney, Jim Henson–those are people whose ideas inspire me.

A Look Inside An Awesome Book of Thanks!
Click on the images below to see a few of our editors’ favorite pages from An Awesome Book of Thanks!