Showing results by narrator "Michael Murray" in All Categories

Journalist Daniel Mandelkern leaves Hamburg on assignment to interview Dirk Svensson, a reclusive children's book author who lives alone on the Italian side of Lake Lugano with his three-legged dog. Mandelkern has been quarreling with his wife (who is also his editor); he suspects she has other reasons for sending him away. After stumbling on a manuscript of Svensson's about a complicated ménage à trois, Mandelkern is plunged into mysteries past and present.

The presidential election of 1968 forever changed American politics. In this character-driven narrative history, Aram Goudsouzian portrays the key transformations that played out over that dramatic year. It was the last "Old Politics" campaign, where political machines and party bosses determined the major nominees, even as the "New Politics" of grassroots participation powered primary elections. It was an election that showed how candidates from both the Left and Right could seize on "hot-button" issues to alter the larger political dynamic.

Straight-shooting author Joe Mathews delivers a practical and hands-on "how-to" guide for aspiring franchisees seeking to start their own businesses. In the book, you'll explore real-life stories from the franchising trenches that illustrate how to effectively look past the obvious and dig deep into the bones of a franchise to establish fit, predict success, and mitigate risk. You'll discover the personality types most likely to experience success and failure at franchising and identify the entrepreneurial traits that can expose you to additional risk.

After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, millions of young American men were eager to join up and defend their country. William Swanson was among them. The View from My Foxhole tells William Swanson's story of fighting in the jungles of Bougainville and Guam and the ash heap of Iwo Jima. Through it he maintains his sense of humor and thanks his lucky stars for every day he survives.

For thousands of years, we've created things called games that tap the tremendous psychic power of fun. In a revised and updated edition of For the Win, authors Kevin Werbach and Dan Hunter argue that applying the lessons of gamification could change your business, the way you learn or teach, and even your life. Werbach and Hunter explain how games can be used as a valuable tool to address serious pursuits like marketing, productivity enhancement, education, innovation, customer engagement, human resources, and sustainability.

In 1969, a twenty-something screenwriter with one movie credit to his name is approached by Jimi Hendrix's management after the legendary guitarist saw the obscure indie film in London and wanted to collaborate on a project of his own. Jonathan Stathakis had no idea how thrilling the next eighteen months would be, as he and Hendrix formed not just a working partnership but a unique friendship.

Patrick A. Peters ("Pap") and his twin brother Prescott U. Peters ("Pup") are lawyers with a distinctive eye for opportunity. Pap convinces Pup, who is a good lawyer despite having gone to Yale Law School, that they should leave their respective big-firm practices in New York City to start up a hopefully lucrative practice as plaintiffs' class action lawyers. The brothers meet a variety of clients, judges, and lawyers as they embark on a resourceful and unique approach to lawyer-client relationships, all inspired by actual court cases.

Much of the attention paid to Trump's rise to power has focused on his corrosive personality and divisive style of governing. But he alone is not the problem. The vulnerability is much broader and deeper. The ascendance of Trump is the culmination of nearly 250 years of political reforms that gradually ceded party nominations to small cliques of ideologically motivated party activists, interest groups, and donors. Author Lawrence Jacobs provides a highly engaging history of political reforms since the late-eighteenth century that over time dangerously weakened democracy.

David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth present 100 home projects designed to inspire and empower anyone who wants to help save our native flora and fauna in the face of habitat loss and climate change. This book focuses on saving creatures and plants that are especially vulnerable but that can be successfully helped by our efforts, such as bees, frogs, butterflies, birds, trees, and wildflowers.

The wealth management industry has undergone a major transformation over the last decade, including increased concerns and skepticism from investors, the growth of robo-advisors, product evolution, and an evolving value proposition - in addition to geopolitical risks, increased correlation across asset classes, changing demographics, and social tensions. Concepts like "Modern Portfolio Theory" aren't modern anymore, and even Post-Modern Portfolio Theory has become passe.

The road to Major League Baseball goes through the minor leagues. Every year there are over 5,500 players trying to work their way to the top of the tiered minor league system. Very few people know what life is really like for these aspiring players - until now. This collection of stories from actual minor league players is a hilarious, heartbreaking, and honest account of the struggle to make it to the big leagues.

Rock Stars on the Record is a collection of firsthand tales by artists of all ages, backgrounds, and musical influences, remembering the meaning behind the records that mattered most to them. From Laura Jane Grace to Ian MacKaye, Don McLean to Cherie Currie, Alice Bag to Mac DeMarco, and many more, best-selling author Eric Spitznagel talks to rock stars across the sonic spectrum about the albums that changed them in ways only music can change someone.

Growing the Top Line: Four Key Questions and the Proven Process for Scaling Your Business delivers the step-by-step approach to topline growth used by some of the word's most successful companies. In this book, leading growth strategy consultant and author Cliff Farrah reveals the copyrighted growth strategy that he has developed over the last 20 years through 1,400 successful client engagements and input from leaders at Fortune 500 organizations.

In today's fast-moving and competitive business environment, strong leadership, insightful strategy, and effective innovation are critical links to staying ahead of your competition. Getting your business house in order can often be complicated, but does it really have to be? How do you take MBA 101 lessons, great models, and exceptional concepts and put them into play in the real world? Business Strategy: Plan, Execute, Win! strives to answers these questions in an educational and entertaining format.

The leaders of Razorfish share their strategies for merging marketing and IT.

Innovation is worth little unless it generates lasting success, and gaining measurable results from new ideas requires more than creative risk-taking. Successful innovation demands a tactical approach, and Getting Innovation Right reveals how your company can secure real traction and growth in the marketplace.

A zany musical comedy, touching love story, and fast-paced adventure thriller combined with “Elvis Presley meets Star Wars” plot twists. Cosmic Cowboy the Musical stars the love-struck alien Prince Remo, from faraway Planet Vegas (complete with glowing blue-grey skin and personal flying saucer), and the object of his adoration, aspiring Nashville country singer Jenna Lee Jenkins.

Several centuries ago, a young Sioux woman called Lark rebels against her people's traditions and crosses the plains to save her adopted sister from a bad marriage proposal and return the girl to the Pawnee village from which she was abducted in childhood. At the end of her journey, Lark finds herself the center of a mysterious Pawnee ritual that undermines her plan as well as her confidence.

Learn how you can use the Internet to find, research, contact, interview, and select the financial advisor with the best qualifications. This guide will explain how the Internet, by giving you access to vast amounts of public data for selecting the right advisor, is a game changer.

Sean Gryphon has fought demons, werewolves, and other monsters that would give most people Lovecraftian nightmares without a second thought. He's tired of fighting, tired of killing, and most of all tired of protecting the human race when they seem intent on destroying themselves. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball. For Sean, that curve ball comes in the form of an ancient manuscript and the woman who found it.