It happens to all of us: You're minding your own business, when some idiot informs you that guns are evil, the Prius will save the planet, or the rich have to finally start paying their fair share of taxes.
Just go away! you think to yourself -- but they only become more obnoxious. Your heart rate quickens. You start to sweat. You can't get away. Your only hope is...
...this book.
Glenn Beck, author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers An Inconvenient Book and Glenn Beck's Common Sense, has stumbled upon the secret formula to winning arguments against people with big mouths but small minds: knowing the facts.
And this book is full of them.
The next time your Idiot Friends tell you how gun control prevents gun violence, you'll tell them all about England's handgun ban (see page 53). When they tell you that we should copy the UK's health-care system, you'll recount the horrifying facts you read on page 244. And the next time an idiot tells you that vegetable prices will skyrocket without illegal workers, you'll stop saying "no, they won't" and you'll start saying, "actually, eliminating all illegal labor will cause us to spend just $8 a year more on produce." (See page 139.)
Idiots can't be identified through voting records, they can be found only by looking for people who hide behind stereotypes, embrace partisanship, and believe that bumper sticker slogans are a substitute for common sense. If you know someone who fits the bill, then Arguing with Idiots will help you silence them once and for all with the ultimate weapon: the truth.
About this product: Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there's no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. --Dave Callanan
About this product: An authoritative exposé of the mysterious and potentially dangerous world of private equity
Few people realize that the top private equity firms, such as Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, have become the nation's largest employers through the businesses they own. Using leveraged buyouts that load their acquired companies with loans, private equity firms have generated more than $1 trillion in new debt-which will come due just when these businesses are least likely to be able to pay it off.
Journalist Josh Kosman explores private equity's explosive growth and shows how its barons wring profits at the expense of the long-term health of their companies. He argues that excessive debt and mismanagement will likely trigger another economic meltdown within the next five years, wiping out up to two million jobs.
He also explores the links between the private equity elite and Washington power players, who have helped them escape government scrutiny. The result is a timely book with an important warning for us all.
The Only Official Guide to the #1 Personal Finance Software
Manage your finances and assets with ease! Quicken 2010: The Official Guide is packed with insider tips and expert techniques for tracking your income, expenses, savings, transactions, investments, and so much more.
Fully endorsed by Intuit, makers of Quicken, this official guide saves you time and money by showing you how to maximize all of the software's powerful capabilities--including new features and hidden gems. You'll get valuable guidance along with information about online resources to help you make strategic financial decisions and plan for a secure future.
Customize Quicken for your preferences
Track your cash flow
Set up Online Account Services
Automate transactions and tasks
Reconcile checking, savings, and credit cards accounts
Track investments and optimize your portfolio
Monitor assets and loans
Manage household records
Reduce debt, save money, and plan for retirement
Simplify tax preparation and maximize deductions
Maria Langer is a freelance writer, helicopter pilot, and long-time Quicken user. A former financial analyst with a degree in accounting, she is the bestselling author of the previous editions of this book.
About this product: Where the Wild Things Are is one of those truly rare books that can be enjoyed equally by a child and a grown-up. If you disagree, then it's been too long since you've attended a wild rumpus. Max dons his wolf suit in pursuit of some mischief and gets sent to bed without supper. Fortuitously, a forest grows in his room, allowing his wild rampage to continue unimpaired. Sendak's color illustrations (perhaps his finest) are beautiful, and each turn of the page brings the discovery of a new wonder.
The wild things--with their mismatched parts and giant eyes--manage somehow to be scary-looking without ever really being scary; at times they're downright hilarious. Sendak's defiantly run-on sentences--one of his trademarks--lend the perfect touch of stream of consciousness to the tale, which floats between the land of dreams and a child's imagination.
This Sendak classic is more fun than you've ever had in a wolf suit, and it manages to reaffirm the notion that there's no place like home.
About this product: In a career spanning more than thirty years, Patrick Swayze has made a name for himself on the stage, the screen, and television. Known for his versatility, passion and fearlessness, he's become one of our most beloved actors.
But in February 2008, Patrick announced he had been diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. Always a fighter, he refused to let the disease bring him to his knees, and his bravery has inspired both his legion of fans and cancer patients everywhere. Yet this memoir, written with wisdom and heart, recounts much more than his bout with cancer. In vivid detail, Patrick describes his Texas upbringing, his personal struggles, his rise to fame with North and South, his commercial breakthroughs in Dirty Dancing and Ghost, and the soul mate who's stood by his side through it all: his wife, writer and director Lisa Niemi.
A behind-the-scenes look at a Hollywood life and a remarkable love, this memoir is both entertainment and inspiration. Patrick and Lisa's marriage is a journey of two lives intertwined and lived as one--throughout their years in Hollywood and at home on their working ranch outside Los Angeles, and culminating in the hope and wisdom they've imparted to all who know them. This book will open the door for families, individuals, and husbands and wives to grow, bond and discover entirely new levels of love and sharing, proving that life shouldn't be lived as a series of endings, but rather as the beginning of greater strength and love.
About this product: Stop pushing your message out and start pulling your customers in
Traditional "outbound" marketing methods like cold-calling, email blasts, advertising, and direct mail are increasingly less effective. People are getting better at blocking these interruptions out using Caller ID, spam protection, TiVo, etc. People are now increasingly turning to Google, social media, and blogs to find products and services. Inbound Marketing helps you take advantage of this change by showing you how to get found by customers online.
Inbound Marketing is a how-to guide to getting found via Google, the blogosphere, and social media sites.
• Improve your rankings in Google to get more traffic • Build and promote a blog for your business • Grow and nurture a community in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. • Measure what matters and do more of what works online
The rules of marketing have changed, and your business can benefit from this change. Inbound Marketing shows you how to get found by more prospects already looking for what you have to sell.
Over the last six seasons of The Biggest Loser, you've watched as contestants shed pounds, got healthy, and dramatically changed their lives for the better. In fact, you may have been so inspired by the showâs remarkable success stories that you've considered embarking on your own weight loss journey.
If you're looking to get healthy now, thereâs good news: You don't have to spend time at the ranch to benefit from The Biggest Loser magic. THE BIGGEST LOSER: 30 DAY JUMP START brings all of the secrets of the ranch right into your own home. The Biggest Loser expertsâthe same ones who advise the contestantsâare here to walk you through a 30-day plan that will kick off your weight loss and help you build new, healthy habits.
In this book youâll find easy-to-follow menus, recipes, exercise plans, and motivation for each day of the week. Youâll also find helpful tips and advice from past Biggest Losers who have been in your shoes, including the nine contestants from Season 7 who left the ranch early to follow this very plan at home.
So far, the Biggest Losers have lost more than a combined 10,000 pounds. But for each of them, the journey started with a commitment: to health, to weight loss, and to themselves. The first steps toward a healthier future are in this bookâwhat are you waiting for? Make the commitment, take the leapâand begin your 30 day jump start today!
This is a plain-English explanation of how we got into the current economic disaster that developed out of the economics and politics of the housing boom and bust. The âcreativeâ financing of home mortgages and the even more âcreativeâ marketing of financial securities based on American mortgages to countries around the world, are part of the story of how a financial house of cards was built upâand then suddenly collapsed.
The politics behind all this is another story full of strange twists. No punches are pulled when discussing politicians of either party, the financial dangers they created, or the distractions they created later to escape their own responsibility for what happened when the financial house of cards in the financial markets collapsed.
What to do, now that we are in the midst of an economic disaster, is yet another storyâone whose ending we do not yet know, but one whose outlines and implications are explored to reveal some surprising and sobering lessons.
About this product: The book is an analysis of the controversial Emergency Economic Stabilization Act and explains in easy to understand language what the bailout bill means for individuals. $700 Billion Bailout answers questions such as:
What does the bill say, exactly?
Who is making decisions about how the $700 billion will be spent, and what does it mean now that the government is investing directly in our banks?
Whoâs footing the bill?
What is the impact on homeowners, businesses, retirement, and taxes?
Where do I put my money in the meantime?
Veteran reporter Paul Muolo shows both the challenges and opportunities of the credit crisis and proposed bailout, including its impact on:
Mortgages: While rates may be lower, there will be more fees imposed on mortgages. Lenders will be far more cautious in lending, and people who cannot meet their mortgages are likely to lose these homes. This may create a âcontrarianâ plays in foreclosures and vacation homes..
Stocks and Other Investments: Is now the time to get into the stock market or is it safer to stick with CDs, bonds, and gold?
Taxes: With the tax breaks, there will be less tax revenue leading to a huge shortfall to the government over the next few years.
He will offer insight into these areas and many others, including how the structure of the bailout bill allows for unprecedented authority that has altered the financial landscape, perhaps permanently. Â Will the plan work, and how we can prevent this from happening again remains to be seen, but with $700 Billion Bailout Paul Muolo gives us a critical tool for deciphering perhaps the most sweeping piece of legislation since the Patriot Act.