About this product: The author of 24 books on maximizing personal and leadership potential, John C. Maxwell believes "the difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure." In Failing Forward, he offers inspirational advice for turning the difficulties that inevitably arise in life into stepping stones that help you reach the top. Noting that star performers are often those who aggressively push forward after encountering adversity, Maxwell shows how a variety of well-known and not-so-well-known people have forged ahead despite obstacles that could have derailed them. They include: Mary Kay Ash, who founded her cosmetics firm against enormous odds when the direct-sales company she toiled in for 25 years resisted her continued corporate climb; Truett Cathy, who lost two brothers (and business partners) in an airplane crash and experienced his own serious medical problems before establishing the Chick-fil-A fast-food chain; Greg Horn, who reopened his Kentucky grocery store just 21 days after it suffered $1 million in flood damage; and Beck Weathers, who lost his nose, half of one arm, and the fingers on his other in the infamous 1996 Into Thin Air Mt. Everest tragedy, but now takes a positive message of survival and conquest to audiences around the world. --Howard Rothman
About this product: Despite decades of effort to create fair classrooms and schools, gender bias is alive and well, and in some ways growing. School practices continue to send boys and girls down different life paths, too often treating them not as different genders but as different species. Teachers and parents often miss the subtle signs of sexism in classrooms. Through firsthand observations and up-to-the-minute research, Still Failing at Fairness brings the gender issue into focus.
The authors provide an in-depth account of how girls' and boys' educations are compromised from elementary school through college, and offer practical advice for teachers and parents who want to make a positive difference. The authors examine today's pressing issues -- the lack of enforcement for Title IX, the impact of the backlash against gender equity, the much-hyped "boys' crisis," hardwired brain differences, and the recent growth of singlesex public schools. This book documents how teaching, current testing practices, and subtle cultural attitudes continue to short-circuit both girls and boys of every race, social class, and ethnicity. Hard-hitting and remarkably informative, Still Failing at Fairness is "a fascinating look into America's classrooms" (National Association of School Psychologists).
About this product: The difference between achievers and average people is their perception of and response to failure. Failing Forward by Dr. John C. Maxwell shows you how to make the most of your mistakes and move forward to your ultimate goal.
About this product: The Broken Branch offers both a brilliant diagnosis of the cause of Congressional decline and a much-needed blueprint for change, from two experts who understand politics and revere our institutions, but believe that Congress has become deeply dysfunctional. Mann and Ornstein, two of the nation's most renowned and judicious scholars of government and politics, bring to light the historical roots of Congress's current maladies, examining 40 years of uninterrupted Democratic control of the House and the stunning midterm election victory of 1994 that propelled Republicans into the majority in both House and Senate. The byproduct of that long and grueling but ultimately successful Republican campaign, the authors reveal, was a weakened institution bitterly divided between the parties. They highlight the dramatic shift in Congress from a highly decentralized, committee-based institution into a much more regimented one in which party increasingly trumps committee. The resultant changes in the policy process--the demise of regular order, the decline of deliberation, and the weakening of our system of checks and balances--have all compromised the role of Congress in the American Constitutional system. From tax cuts to the war against Saddam Hussein to a Medicare prescription drug benefit, the Legislative process has been bent to serve immediate presidential interests and have often resulted in poorly crafted and stealthily passed laws. Strong majority leadership in Congress, the authors conclude, led not to a vigorous exertion of congressional authority but to a general passivity in the face of executive power.
About this product: For too long, religion has been a political plaything of the right-wing in this country. American churches seem more concerned with what people do with their bodies than with their souls. Now, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend issues a spiritual call to arms to those who feel like her that today's churches--Catholic and Protestant alike--are failing to promote the welfare of those who depend upon them. After recounting her personal story in one of the most prominent Catholic families in America, she shows how America's neediest are now forgotten while their churches fight political battles against abortion rights and homosexual marriages. She provides hope through powerful examples of individuals effecting change, from obscure social workers to The Purpose-Driven® Life's Rick Warren, and maintains that our individual actions can return our churches to their traditional role as shepherds to their flock.
About this product: Almost five years after the original publication of Dr. Lebow's authoritative dissection of America's health care "system", the situation has in many ways deteriorated. More Americans lack any health insurance, costs continue to increase faster than income, and increasing complexity is overwhelming everyone involved. In revising this book, Dr. C. Rocky White has included recent developments in the field, and updated the relevant statistics. The bibliography has been expanded to include recently published articles, books and givernment documents. For the most part, however, Dr. LeBow's text has proved to be as timely now as it was upon initial publication in 2002. With a presidential election coming in 2008, Health Care Meltdown, in its revised edition, will be an essential reference for citizens of all political persuasions. There is little doubt that the failures of America's health care "system" will be a major issue as political campaigns heat up.
About this product: “A thought-provoking critique of Einstein’s tantalizing combination of brilliance and blunder.”—Andrew Robinson, New Scientist Although Einstein was the greatest genius of the twentieth century, many of his groundbreaking discoveries were blighted by mistakes, ranging from serious errors in mathematics to bad misconceptions in physics and failures to grasp the subtleties of his own creations. This forensic biography dissects Einstein’s scientific mistakes and places them in the context of his turbulent life and times. In lively, accessible prose, Hans C. Ohanian paints a fresh, insightful portrait of the real Einstein at work, in contrast to the uncritical celebrity worship found in many biographies.
Of the approximately 180 original scientific papers that Einstein published in his lifetime, about 40 are infested with mistakes. For instance, Einstein’s first mathematical proof of the famous formula E = mc2 was incomplete and only approximately valid; he struggled with this problem for many years, but he never found a complete proof (better mathematicians did). Einstein was often lured by irrational and mystical inspirations, but his extraordinary intuition about physics permitted him to discover profound truths despite—and sometimes because of—the mistakes he made along the way. He was a sleepwalker: his intuition told him where he needed to go, and he somehow managed to get there without quite knowing how.
As this book persuasively argues, the defining hallmark of Einstein’s genius was not any special mathematical ability but an uncanny talent to use his mistakes as stepping stones to formulate his revolutionary theories. 25 illustrations.
About this product: A revolutionary book that offers a fresh, bold approach to confronting the juvenile crime epidemic With the rise of violent crimes committed by teenagers in recent years, heated discussion has arisen over the societal factors that lead to juvenile criminality and the ways that public institutions are failing to curtail them. Now a team of experts with decades of collective hands-on experience present a book that cuts through the hype and paranoia to offer real solutions. Drawing on actual case studies, Dispatches from Juvenile Hall shows how conventional "tough on crime" tactics have only worsened the problem, and presents a new blueprint for change that incorporates punitive action, rehabilitation, and family intervention-a progressive program that will encourage and enlighten all those concerned about the future of our youth.
"Finally: a turnaround guide that explains the nontrivial difference between those who work for debtors and those who work for shareholders, and gives readers a peek at why most turnaround guys should not stay for long." –– John Carrington, Chairman and CEO, WebSense
"Too many celebrate financial victory; too few dig into business tragedy. Ultimate success comes from saving the disasters, and this book tells exactly how." –– Craig McCaw, Chairman, Nextel
"A solid turnaround guide from one who’s been there." –– Peter Ueberroth, Chairman, Contrarian Fund
"Hard-hitting, practical thrusts." –– Philip Thurston, Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School
"Winning basics for sports, war, or business." –– Don Drobny, Partner, Perot Systems
Failing at Fairness, the result of two decades of research, shows how gender bias makes it impossible for girls to receive an education equal to that given to boys.
Girls' learning problems are not identified as often as boys' are
Boys receive more of their teachers' attention
Girls start school testing higher in every academic subject, yet graduate from high school scoring 50 points lower than boys on the SAT
Hard-hitting and eye-opening, Failing at Fairness should be read by every parent, especially those with daughters.
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