Meet Emily and Paul, the parents of two young children. Emily is a newly promoted executive in a large corporation, while Paul has his own business as a consultant. Their lives, like all of ours, are filled with a bewildering blizzard of emails, phone calls, yet more emails, meetings, projects, proposals, and plans. For them, just staying ahead of the storm has become a seemingly insurmountable task. In this book, we travel inside the brains of Emily and Paul as they attempt to sort the vast quantities of information they're presented with and figure out how to prioritize, organize, and act on it. Fortunately for Emily and Paul—and for readers of Your Brain at Work —they're in good hands: David Rock knows how the brain works—and more specifically, how it works in a work setting. Your Brain at Work explores: Why your brains feels so taxed, and how to take full advantage of your mental resources Why it's so hard to focus, and how to better manage distractions How to maximize your chance of finding insights that can solve seemingly insurmountable problems How to keep your cool in any situation, so that you can make the best decisions possible How to collaborate with others more effectively Why providing feedback is so difficult, and how to make it easier How to effectively change other people's behavior Rock shows how it's possible not only to survive in today's overwhelming work environment but to succeed in it—and still feel energized at the end of the day, with a sense of accomplishment.

《寡居的一年》以委婉的叙述方式剥开了爱的各个复杂层面，直达其最神秘、最黑暗的深层角落……纽约州东汉普顿的海滩上，这个夏天之于着名的儿童读物作家泰德·科尔亦或他美丽的妻子玛丽恩来说，都是生命中最为不平凡的一段时光。俩人也曾拥有甜蜜幸福的时光，却因为十几年前突如其来的惨剧而彻底粉碎--那场车祸中，他们失去了两个儿子。十年蹉跎，两人虽然表面上恩爱如昔，婚姻已名存实亡。现在，他们惟一能够达成共识的就是对聪明可爱的小女儿罗丝不可逆转的爱。本来，科尔一家虽然不幸，却在情感上达成了某种程度的平衡共同维系着这个家，可是泰德的不忠却打破了这一平衡……然后，埃迪·奥海尔出现了。
泰德表面上雇用埃迪作为自己的助手，实则希望他可以成为自己和妻子所面对难堪的婚姻关系的催化剂。可以说，埃迪一直将泰德视为自己的偶像。然而泰德不稳定甚至古怪的工作习惯很快使得满怀热情的埃迪整日无所事事--他开始将心思花在风韵犹存、引人无限遐想的女主人身上；反之，只有16岁的埃迪也重燃了玛丽恩作为一个母亲乃至一个女人的热情。在与玛丽恩肉体纠缠的同时，埃迪却渐渐意识到，泰德看似无能的外表背后实则隐藏着某些更为深层的晦涩……夏天在慢慢消逝，玛丽恩和泰德都需要为自己的未来重新选择生活。 ps.blind assassin
书评：
令人惊异的丰富与原创性，《寡居的一年》是欲振乏力的二十世纪末小说中罕见的佳作，当读者将离开这个深邃而精细的想像世界时，都将感到难舍难离。——斯蒂芬·金
一本让人震撼、令人感动的小说，将旧式与新式的叙述技巧完美地熔于一炉。——《纽约时报》
具有深层的魅力……《寡居的一年》的丰富与美丽具有多样性，享受它是人生的乐趣之一。 ——《洛杉矶时报》
《寡居的一年》具有聪颖的写作技巧，是一本徘徊不散的悲伤，我们很容易将自我投射于主角的家庭故事。欧文是当今少数能用近乎反讽与幽默手法写作忧伤的作家。 ——《今日美国》
《寡居的一年》提供了其他作家同类型小说无法提供的阅读乐趣。 ——《达拉斯晨报》
欧文的颠峰之作……有令人狂喜的角色、令人着迷不已故事。 ——《时代周刊》

For many applications, a randomized algorithm is either the simplest or the fastest algorithm available, and sometimes both. This book introduces the basic concepts in the design and analysis of randomized algorithms. The first part of the text presents basic tools such as probability theory and probabilistic analysis that are frequently used in algorithmic applications. Algorithmic examples are also given to illustrate the use of each tool in a concrete setting. In the second part of the book, each chapter focuses on an important area to which randomized algorithms can be applied, providing a comprehensive and representative selection of the algorithms that might be used in each of these areas. Although written primarily as a text for advanced undergraduates and graduate students, this book should also prove invaluable as a reference for professionals and researchers.

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Book Description
In the age of the global village and the world wide web, understanding the way in which people learn languages is of ever increasing importance. This book makes the essentials of this rapidly expanding area of study accessible to readers encountering it for the first time.
Book Dimension
length: (cm)19.7 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)12.8

The study of development in low-income countries is attracting more attention around the world than ever before. Yet until now there has been no comprehensive text that incorporates the huge strides made in the subject over the past decade. Development Economics does precisely that in a clear, rigorous, and elegant fashion.</p>
Debraj Ray, one of the most accomplished theorists in development economics today, presents in this book a synthesis of recent and older literature in the field and raises important questions that will help to set the agenda for future research. He covers such vital subjects as theories of economic growth, economic inequality, poverty and undernutrition, population growth, trade policy, and the markets for land, labor, and credit. A common point of view underlies the treatment of these subjects: that much of the development process can be understood by studying factors that impede the efficient and equitable functioning of markets. Diverse topics such as the new growth theory, moral hazard in land contracts, information-based theories of credit markets, and the macroeconomic implications of economic inequality come under this common methodological umbrella.</p>
The book takes the position that there is no single cause for economic progress, but that a combination of factors--among them the improvement of physical and human capital, the reduction of inequality, and institutions that enable the background flow of information essential to market performance--consistently favor development. Ray supports his arguments throughout with examples from around the world. The book assumes a knowledge of only introductory economics and explains sophisticated concepts in simple, direct language, keeping the use of mathematics to a minimum.</p>
Development Economics will be the definitive textbook in this subject for years to come. It will prove useful to researchers by showing intriguing connections among a wide variety of subjects that are rarely discussed together in the same book. And it will be an important resource for policy-makers, who increasingly find themselves dealing with complex issues of growth, inequality, poverty, and social welfare.</p>

Infinite Jest is a 1996 novel by David Foster Wallace. The lengthy and complex work takes place in a semi-parodic future version of North America, and touches on substance addiction recovery programs, depression, child abuse, family relationships, advertising, popular entertainment, film theory, Quebec separatism, and tennis, among other topics.
The novel includes 388 numbered endnotes (some of which have footnotes of their own) that explain or expand on points in the story. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Wallace characterized them as a method of disrupting the linearity of the text while maintaining some sense of narrative cohesion.[1]
The novel was included by Time magazine in its list of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923.[2]
As of 2006 (ten years after its publication), 150,000 copies of Infinite Jest had been sold and the book has continued to sell steadily.[3]
Wallace was 33 when the novel was published.

In 1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a shy Oxford mathematician with a stammer, created a story about a little girl tumbling down a rabbit hole. Thus began the immortal adventures of Alice, perhaps the most popular heroine in English literature.
Countless scholars have tried to define the charm of the Alice books—with those wonderfully eccentric characters the Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee, the Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter et al.—by proclaiming that they really comprise a satire on language, a political allegory, a parody of Victorian children’s literature, even a reflection of contemporary ecclesiastical history.
Perhaps, as Dodgson might have said, Alice is no more than a dream, a fairy tale about the trials and tribulations of growing up—or down, or all turned round—as seen through the expert eyes of a child.

This book lays out foundations for a "science of morals." Binmore uses game theory as a systematic tool for investigating ethical matters. He reinterprets classical social contract ideas within a game-theory framework and generates new insights into the fundamental questions of social philosophy. In contrast to the previous writing in moral philosophy that relied on vague notion such as " societal well-being" and "moral duty," Binmore begins with individuals; rational decision-makers with the ability to emphasize with one another. Any social arrangement that prescribes them to act against their interests will become unstable and eventually will be replaced by another, until one is found that includes worthwhile actions for all individuals involved.

Do You Always Use the Right Word?
Can You Pronounce It -- and Spell It -- Correctly?
Do You Know How to Avoid Illiterate Expressions?
Do You Speak Grammatically, Without Embarrassing Mistakes?
If the answer to any of these questions is NO, you ought to read Word Power Made Easy. Now thoroughly revised to eliminate outmoded references and to to reflect current idioms, it remains the best and quickest means to a better vocabulary in the English language.
Each chapter ends with review. Each section ends with a progressive check. Numerous tests will help you increase and retain the knowledge you acquired. Word Power Made Easy does more than just ass words to you vocabulary. It teaches ideas and a method of broadening knowledge as an integral part of the vocabulary building process.

A History of the English Language in 100 Places is a joyous ride through time, where readers can criss-cross the British Isles and the world at large to land in a hundred contrasting places and light on a hundred wonderful topics that bring the extraordinary story of the English language alive. Any selection of places is inevitably personal. Nevertheless, a number of criteria have directed the selection process in this book. Some places represent historic firsts, some are tied to significant people and some have seen events that have shaped the future of English. Each one takes the reader on an unmissable journey into the rich past of the English tongue. What began as the language of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes on a small island has become a global property owned and shaped by almost 2 billion English speakers across the world. English has borrowed words from more than 350 languages, and many more languages have borrowed words from English. In an age of cheap air travel and internet communication we have become a global village. If you've ever been curious about the global language that binds us all together, A History of the English Language in 100 Places is for you.

Written in his distinctively dazzling manner, Oscar Wilde’s story of a fashionable young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty is the author’s most popular work. The tale of Dorian Gray’s moral disintegration caused a scandal when it first appeared in 1890, but though Wilde was attacked for the novel’s corrupting influence, he responded that there is, in fact, “a terrible moral in Dorian Gray.” Just a few years later, the book and the aesthetic/moral dilemma it presented became issues in the trials occasioned by Wilde’s homosexual liaisons, which resulted in his imprisonment. Of Dorian Gray’s relationship to autobiography, Wilde noted in a letter, “Basil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry what the world thinks me: Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.

Reviews from the First Edition: 'An excellent text? The postulates of quantum mechanics and the mathematical underpinnings are discussed in a clear, succinct manner' - ("American Scientist"). 'No matter how gently one introduces students to the concept of Dirac's bras and kets, many are turned off. Shankar attacks the problem head-on in the first chapter, and in a very informal style suggests that there is nothing to be frightened of' - ("Physics Bulletin").Reviews of the Second Edition: 'This massive text of 700 and odd pages has indeed an excellent get-up, is very verbal and expressive, and has extensively worked out calculational details - all just right for a first course. The style is conversational, more like a corridor talk or lecture notes, though arranged as a text. It would be particularly useful to beginning students and those in allied areas like quantum chemistry' - ("Mathematical Reviews").R. Shankar has introduced major additions and updated key presentations in this second edition of "Principles of Quantum Mechanics". New features of this innovative text include an entirely rewritten mathematical introduction, a discussion of Time-reversal invariance, and extensive coverage of a variety of path integrals and their applications. Additional highlights include: clear, accessible treatment of underlying mathematics; a review of Newtonian, Lagrangian, and Hamiltonian mechanics; student understanding of quantum theory is enhanced by separate treatment of mathematical theorems and physical postulates; and, unsurpassed coverage of path integrals and their relevance in contemporary physics.The requisite text for advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level students, "Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Second Edition" is fully referenced and is supported by many exercises and solutions. The book's self-contained chapters also make it suitable for independent study as well as for courses in applied disciplines.

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.
Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!

Before reaching the tender age of thirty, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) had already sculpted David and Pieta, two of the most famous sculptures in the entire history of art. Like fellow Florentine Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo was a shining star of the Renaissance and a genius of consummate virtuosity. Sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, he brought such an unparalleled passion and unique style to his work that his imitators spawned a movement - Mannerism - in their quest to replicate his special touch. His crown achievement, the breathtaking paintings on the altar wall and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, is seen by millions of visitors each year. Such was his talent that Michelangelo was considered a demigod by his contemporaries and was the subject of two biographies during his lifetime. Adoration of this remarkable man's work has only increased on the intervening centuries. Following the success of our XL title "Leonardo da Vinci", TASCHEN brings you this massive tome that explores Michelangelo's life and work in more depth and detail than ever before. The first part concentrates on the life and work of Michelangelo in text and images; then the main body of the book presents his complete paintings, sculptures, drawings, and architectural plans. Gorgeous, full page reproductions and enlarged details bring readers up close to the works. This is the definitive volume about Michelangelo for generations to come.

"It presents a sensitive portrait of a great human being. It describes accurately and intelligibly on a nontechnical level the world of mathematical ideas in which Hilbert created his masterpieces. And it illuminates the background of German social history against which the drama of Hilberts life was played. Beyond this, it is a poem in praise of mathematics." -SCIENCE

Sam and Henny Pollit have too many children, too little money, and too much loathing for each other. As Sam uses the children's adoration to feed his own voracious ego, Henny watches in bleak despair, knowing the bitter reality that lies just below his mad visions. A chilling novel of family life, of the relations between parents and children, husbands and wives, The Man Who Loved Children is acknowledged as a contemporary classic.AUTHORBIO: Christina Stead was the author of over a dozen works of fiction and the recipient of The Patrick White Prize. She was born in Australia in 1902 and died in 1983.

Based on a National Magazine Award-winning article, this masterful biography of Hungarian-born Paul Erdos is both a vivid portrait of an eccentric genius and a layman's guide to some of this century's most startling mathematical discoveries.