Signs - Books On Amazon.com _{Check eBay.com!}

BOOK
The Pagan Stone: The Sign of Seven Trilogy
Nora Roberts
$3.49

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From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Blood Brothers and The Hollow—the conclusion to the electrifying trilogy of three men and three women who join forces—and hearts—to battle the ultimate evil.

BOOK
Blood Brothers (Sign of Seven Trilogy, Book 1)
Nora Roberts
$3.62

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In the small village of Hawkins Hollow, three best friends who share the same birthday sneak off into the woods for a sleepover the evening before turning 10. But a night of pre-pubescent celebration turns into a night of horror as their blood brother oath unleashes a three-hundred year curse.

Twenty-one years later, Cal Hawkins and his friends have seen their town plagued by a week of unexplainable evil events two more times - every seven years. With the clock winding down on the third set of seven years, someone else has taken an interest in the town's folklore. Quinn is a well known scholar of local legends, and despite Cal's protests, insists on delving in the mystery. But when the first signs of evil appear months early, it's not only the town Cal tries to protect, but also his heart.

BOOK
The Hollow (Sign of Seven Trilogy, Book 2)
Nora Roberts
$3.75

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A Mass Market Paperback Original

The New York Times bestselling author of Blood Brothers continues the thrilling trilogy of a town plagued by evil—and the three men and three women brought together by fate to fight it.

BOOK
Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers
Jack Solomon
$58.75

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BOOK
SIGN with your BABY - Baby Sign Language (ASL) Kit: Includes Book, How-to DVD, Quick Reference Guide
Joseph Garcia
$32.97

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Sign with Your Baby Complete Learning Kit will enable you to communicate at new levels with your baby long before she can speak. This comprehensive package of book, video, and reference guide shows how simple gestures can communicate ideas like "I'm hungry" or "help me." Caregivers grasp baby's needs immediately rather than learn through trial and error. Dr. Joseph Garcia has designed the system so it's not necessary to learn an entire new language, although it also provides a terrific start in American Sign Language for a hearing-impaired child. A fascinating introduction delves into the development of language in children and uses informative line drawings to demonstrate over 150 hand signs for all kinds of actions and nouns. The accompanying video provides practical tips for getting started, some insight into the hows and whys of this method from Dr. Burton White (director of the Center for Parent Education), and inspiring sights of young babies signing effectively with their caregivers. The laminated quick-reference guide lists some of the most common words in any parent's day: cookie, no, and up are but a few. Garcia's clear, concise methods make learning a breeze, and caregivers gain outstanding new abilities to give the best possible care for the babies entrusted to them. --Jill Lightner

BOOK
Llewellyn's 2009 Moon Sign Book: Plan Your Life by the Cycles of the Moon (Llewellyn's Moon Sign Book S)
Llewellyn
$5.52

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Boost Your Moon Moxie

Make sure the Moon smiles upon your plans in 2009 with the ultimate guide to lunar-conscious living.

Take the uncertainty out of decision making with the Astro-Almanac, an at-a-glance timing guide listing the most favorable dates each month for launching personal projects both large and small—from making the best-tasting sauerkraut to approaching your boss for a raise.

Avoid unpleasant surprises with trusted, year-long economic forecasts and weather predictions from expert astrologists. Keep your gardens flush and fertile with a detailed planting guide. Discover fascinating new articles highlighting the Moon's role in career transitions, maximizing creativity, and peaceful eating.

A perennial favorite since 1905, Llewellyn's Moon Sign Book will keep you in sync with the natural rhythms of the sky.

BOOK
The Sign of the Beaver
Elizabeth George Speare
$1.75

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When his father returns East to collect the rest of the family, 13-year-old Matt is left alone to guard his family's newly built homestead. One day, Matt is brutally stung when he robs a bee tree for honey. He returns to consciousness to discover that his many stings have been treated by an old Native American and his grandson. Matt offers his only book as thanks, but the old man instead asks Matt to teach his grandson Attean to read. Both boys are suspicious, but Attean comes each day for his lesson. In the mornings, Matt tries to entice Attean with tales from Robinson Crusoe, while in the afternoons, Attean teaches Matt about wilderness survival and Native American culture. The boys become friends in spite of themselves, and their inevitable parting is a moving tribute to the ability of shared experience to overcome prejudice. The Sign of the Beaver was a Newbery Honor Book; author Elizabeth Speare has also won the Newbery Medal twice, for The Witch of Blackbird Pond and The Bronze Bow. (Ages 12 and older) --Richard Farr

BOOK
Baby Signs: How to Talk with Your Baby Before Your Baby Can Talk, New Edition
Douglas Abrams
$5.98

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The bestselling parenting guide featured on "Oprah" and "Dateline" is revised and updated with new signs

For every parent or caregiver who has struggled unsuccessfully to decode baby grunts and grabs, resulting in tearful frustration for both adult and child, there is Baby Signs. Based on 20 years of research, this one-of-a-kind classic shows you how to encourage your baby's use of nonverbal gestures to enhance communication. Simple hand movements signify objects, events, and needs, so your infant can enjoy interactions with you that otherwise would have been impossible until they could talk. New features of this revised edition include helpful tips on incorporating Baby Signs into the day care setting and more than 50 additional illustrated Baby Signs.

BOOK
The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees)
Patrick M. Lencioni
$11.88

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Patrick Lencioni, renowned business consultant and bestselling author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, is on a critical mission: create widespread job satisfaction in a world full of workplace misery. His latest book, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees), tells the inspiring tale a high-flying, but deeply dissatisfied Chief Executive Officer who ditches the power and perks for career bliss as the manager of a pizzeria! In this unusual and inspiring story, Lencioni convincingly demonstrates how career happiness (or misery) is the direct result of the manager--employee relationship. Patrick Lencioni took the time to tell us about his life-long "obsession" with job misery, shatter some myths about workplace satisfaction and offer some real advice on how to turn that daily grind into daily fulfillment. --Lauren Nemroff

A: As a kid, I watched my dad trudge off to work each day and became somewhat obsessed with the notion of job misery. Somewhere along the line, I came to the frightening realization that people spend so much time at work yet so many of them were unfulfilled and frustrated in their jobs. As I got older, I came to another realization--that job misery was having a devastating impact on individuals, and on society at large. It seemed to me that understanding the cause of the problem, and finding a solution for it, was a worthy focus for my career.

Q: What exactly is a miserable job?

A:A miserable job is not the same as a bad one. A bad job lies in the eye of the beholder. One person’s dream job might be another person’s nightmare. But a miserable job is universal. It is one that makes a person cynical and frustrated and demoralized when they go home at night. It drains them of their energy, their enthusiasm and their self-esteem. Miserable jobs can be found in every industry and at every level. Professional athletes, CEOs and actors can be--and often are-- as miserable as ditch diggers, janitors and fast food workers.

Q: How prevalent is job misery?

A: Attend any kind of social gathering, anywhere in the country, and talk about work. The stories and anecdotal evidence confirming job misery are overwhelming. Misery spans all income levels, ages and geography. A recent Gallup poll found that 77% of people hate their jobs. Gallup also contends that this ailing workforce is costing employers more than $350 billion dollars in lost productivity.

Q: What is the root cause of job misery?

A: The primary source of job misery and the potential cure for that misery resides in the hands of one individual--the direct manager. There are countless studies confirming this statement, including both Gallup and The Blanchard Companies. Both organizations have found that an employee’s relationship with their direct manager is the most important determinant to employee satisfaction (over pay, benefits, perks, work-life balance etc).

Even employees who are well paid, do interesting work and have great autonomy, cannot feel fulfilled in a job if their managers are not providing them with what they need on a daily or weekly basis.

Q: What are the three signs?

The first is anonymity, which is the feeling that employees get when they realize that their manager has little interest in them a human being and that they know little about their lives, their aspirations and their interests.

The second sign is irrelevance, which takes root when employees cannot see how their job makes a difference in the lives of others. Every employee needs to know that the work they do impacts someone’s life--a customer, a co-worker, even a supervisor--in one way or another.

The third sign is something I call "immeasurement," which is the inability of employees to assess for themselves their contribution or success. Employees who have no means of measuring how well they are doing on a given day or in a given week, must rely on the subjective opinions of others, usually their managers’, to gauge their progress or contribution.

Q: Why don’t managers do these things?

A: As simple as the three signs are, the fact remains that few managers take a genuine interest in their people, remind them of the impact that their work has on others, and help them establish creative ways to measure and assess their performance.

There are a number of reasons. First, many managers think they are too busy. Of course, the real problem is that most of those managers see themselves primarily as individual contributors who happen to have direct reports. They fail to realize that the most important part of their jobs is providing their people with what they need to be productive and fulfilled (a.k.a. not miserable) in their jobs.

The second reason that managers don’t provide their employees with the three things they need is that they simply forget what is was like when they were a little lower on the food chain. They somehow forget how important it was to them when a supervisor took an interest in them, talked to them about why their work really mattered and gave them a means for evaluating their progress.

Finally, many managers don’t do this because they are embarrassed or afraid to try. They fear that their employees will see them as being disingenuous or manipulative, or that by taking an interest in their personal lives they will be stepping into inappropriate territory. It’s almost as though they fail to understand the difference between the interview process (no personal questions allowed!) and the actual work experience (treat people like a full human being).

Q: What can a miserable employee do to improve his or her situation?

A: The first thing they can do is assess whether their manager is interested in and capable of addressing the three things that are required. And they have to realize that most managers really do want to improve, in spite of the fact that they may seem disinterested.

The second thing miserable employees need to do is help their managers understand what it is they need. If they have a strong relationship with their manager, they can come right out and say it ("You know, it would mean a lot to me if you knew more about who I am and what makes me tick." or, "Can you sit down and help me understand why this work I’m doing makes a difference to someone?").

Finally, employees would do well for themselves if they turned the tables and started doing for their managers what they want for themselves. For instance, employees who take a greater interest in the life of their managers are bound to infect them with the same kind of human interest. Similarly, employees who take the time to tell their managers (in a non suck-up kind of way) about the impact they have on their job satisfaction, will likely inspire them to respond in kind.

However, if an employee comes to the conclusion that his or her manager is indeed completely disinterested in helping them find fulfillment in their work, it may well be time to start looking for a new job.

Q: Why do so many professional athletes and entertainers seem miserable in their jobs?

A: In spite of the money they make and the attention they receive from fans and the media, many athletes and entertainers experience one or all of the three signs of a miserable job.

Most professional athletes feel anonymous in their jobs because their coaches and managers dedicate little, if any, time or energy getting to know them personally. I’ve had coaches tell me "Hey, these guys are professionals and this is a business. They don’t need anything special from me." Keep in mind that they are referring to young men in their early twenties who are living on their own for the first time and feel surprisingly alone--even with all the fan attention.

Entertainers are in similar situations, but for them, it is often relevance that suffers. Many actors cannot reconcile their celebrity and wealth with the fact that they see their work as being somewhat unimportant, in terms of impacting the lives of others. Perhaps that’s why so many of them get involved in charitable causes or politics--it gives them a sense of purpose.