Showing Books By Language : English

Alibaba's World

A riveting insider account of the rise, culture and influence of Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce giant that is changing the face of global business. In September 2014, a Chinese company that most Westerners had never heard of held the largest IPO in history - bigger than Google, Facebook and Twitter combined. Alibaba, now the world's largest e-commerce company, mostly escaped Western notice for over ten years, while building a customer base more than twice the size of Amazon's and handling the bulk of e-commerce transactions in China. How did it happen? And what was it like to be along for such a revolutionary ride? In Alibaba's World, author Porter Erisman, one of Alibaba's first Western employees and its head of international marketing from 2000 to 2008, shows how Jack Ma, a Chinese schoolteacher who twice failed his college entrance exams, rose from obscurity to found Alibaba and lead it from struggling startup to the world's most dominant e-commerce player. In this, the first English language account of Alibaba's extraordinary success, Erisman shares stories of weathering the dotcom crash, facing down eBay and Google, negotiating with the unpredictable Chinese government and enduring the misguided advice of foreign experts, all to build the behemoth that's poised to sweep the ecommerce world today. And he analyzes Alibaba's role as a harbinger of the new global business landscape-with its focus on the East rather than the West, emerging markets over developed ones and the nimble entrepreneur over the industry titan. As we face this near future, the story of Alibaba - and its inevitable descendants - is both essential and instructive.

The Rye Man

Returning to rural Northern Ireland for a fresh start, John Cameron takes on the role of headmaster at his old primary school. But as dark memories are disturbed and his marriage falters, Cameron is left feeling powerless in this fractured community. Driven by unresolved grief and tormented by his waking dreams, he is forced to confront his past as he struggles to prevent history from repeating itself.

It Shouldn't Happen To A Vet

Lesson number one: When taking a cow’s temperature the old-fashioned way, never let go of the thermometer . . . Now firmly ensconced in the sleepy Yorkshire village of Darrowby, recently qualified vet James Herriot has acclimatised to life with his unpredictable colleagues, brothers Siegfried and Tristan Farnon. But veterinary practice in the 1930s was never going to be easy, and there are challenges on the horizon, from persuading his clients to let him use his ‘modern’ equipment, to becoming an uncle (to a pig called Nugent). Throw in his first encounters with Helen, the beautiful daughter of a local farmer, and this year looks to be as eventful as the last… From the author whose books inspired the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small, It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet is a book for all those who find laughter and joy in animals, and who know and understand the magic and beauty of Britain’s wild places. 'I grew up reading James Herriot's books and I'm delighted that thirty years on, they are still every bit as charming, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny as they were then' Kate Humble He can tell a good story against himself, and his pleasure in the beauty of the countryside in which he works is infectious' Daily Telegraph 'Full of warmth, wisdom and wit' The Field

I love You But I'm Not In Love With You

How do you fall back in love? This was the underlying problem of one in four couples seeking help from relationship therapist Andrew G. Marshall. They described their problem as - 'I love you but I'm not in love with you'. Noticing how widespread the phenomenon had become, he decided to look more closely. Why were these relationships becoming defined more by companionship than by passion and why was companionship no longer enough? From his research Andrew has devised his own unique programme. By looking at how a couple communicate, argue, share love, take responsibility, give and learn he offers in seven steps a reassuring and empowering map for how two individuals can better understand themselves, strengthen their bond and recover that lost magic.

Learn To Love Yourself Enough

Are you your own greatest critic? Do you have low self-esteem? Have you ever thought that if people knew the real you, that they would think less of you? Does life feel an uphill struggle because nobody - not even you - is truly on your side? If any of this sounds familiar, it is time to take a fresh look at the most important relationship of all:your relationship with yourself.In this thought-provoking book, marital therapist Andrew G Marshall looks at how to love yourself enough to make better relationships and how to stop zig-zagging between boosting yourself up (often to unsustainable heights) and becoming overly critical. He explains:- Why modern life is making it harder to have a balanced opinion of ourselves.- The types of thinking that sabotage and make life harder.- Why old pains can still cast a shadow today and how to make peace with your past.- How to develop a positive mind-set.- Increasing your self-confidence.(Some of the exercises in this book have appeared in The Single Trap by Andrew G. Marshall, published by Bloomsbury)

Are You Right for Me?

In the movies, a couple meet and they just know that each has found that one special person. Marriage, children andeternal bliss are just a heart-beat away. Unfortunately in the real world, it is much harder to work out if a relationship has a future or not. Most people do not have these blinding flashes or if they've had them in the past, have been badly let down and no longer trust their own judgement. If this sounds familiar and you're not sure if your relationship is serious or you're just wasting your time, this book is for you. Marital therapist Andrew G Marshall draws on extensive research andtwenty-five years' experience of working with couples to help youunderstand what is going on beneath the surface. He explains:- How to tell if your partner is truly into you.- How to know if you want to spend the rest of your life with this person.- The natural rhythm of relationships and how both jumping in too soon or spending too long on hold can ruin a budding romance.- How to stop listening to other people and listen to your heart.- How to talk productively about your future.

The Book Of Life

Fall under the spell of Diana and Matthew once more in the stunning climax to their epic tale, following A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES and SHADOW OF NIGHT. A world of witches, daemons and vampires. A manuscript which holds the secrets of their past and the key to their future. Diana and Matthew - the forbidden love at the heart of it. After travelling through time in SHADOW OF NIGHT, the second book in Deborah Harkness's enchant?ing series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew's ancestral home in France they reunite with their families - with one heart-breaking exception. But the real threat to their future is yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on a terrifying urgency. Using ancient knowl?edge and modern science, from the palaces of Venice and beyond, Diana and Matthew will finally learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

Moriarty

Sherlock Holmes is dead. Days after Holmes and his arch-enemy Moriarty fall to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. The death of Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal mastermind who has risen to take his place. Ably assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard, a devoted student of Holmes's methods of investigation and deduction, Frederick Chase must forge a path through the darkest corners of the capital to shine light on this shadowy figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, a man determined to engulf London in a tide of murder and menace. Author of the global bestseller The House of Silk, Anthony Horowitz once more breathes life into the world created by Arthur Conan Doyle. With pitch-perfect characterization and breathtaking pace, Horowitz weaves a relentlessly thrilling tale which teases and delights with the turn of each page. The game is afoot.

Very Good Lives

In 2008, J. K. Rowling delivered a deeply affecting commencement speech at Harvard University. Now published for the first time in book form, Very Good Lives presents J. K. Rowling's words of wisdom for anyone at a turning point in life. How can we embrace failure? And how can we use our imagination to better both ourselves and others? Drawing from stories of her own post-graduate years, the world famous author addresses some of life's most important questions with acuity and emotional force. J. K. Rowling is the author of the bestselling Harry Potter series of seven books, published between 1997 and 2007, which have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, are distributed in more than 200 territories, have been translated into 73 languages and have been turned into eight blockbuster films. As well as an Order of the British Empire for services to children's literature, J. K. Rowling is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, including the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, France's Legion d'honneur and the Hans Christian Andersen Award and she has been a commencement speaker at Harvard University. She supports a wide range of causes and is the founder of Lumos, which works to transform the lives of disadvantaged children.

The Poets' Wives

Three women, each destined to play the role of a poet's wife: Catherine Blake, the wife of William Blake - a poet, painter and engraver who struggles for recognition in a society that dismisses him as a madman; Nadezhda Mandelstam, wife of Russian poet Osip Mandelstam, whose poetry costs him his life under Stalin's terror; and the wife of a fictional contemporary Irish poet, who looks back on her marriage during the days after her husband's death as she seeks to fulfil his final wish.Set across continents and centuries, and in very different circumstances, these three women confront the contradictions between art and life, contemplate their emotional and physical sacrifices for another's creativity, and struggle with infidelities that involve not only the flesh, but ultimately poetry itself. They find themselves custodians of their husbands' work, work that has been woven with love's intimacies and which has shaped their own lives in the most unexpected of ways. Deeply insightful and beautifully wrought, The Poets' Wives is David Park at his best - a novelist whose work has the power to bring the hidden from the shadows, into a delicate and shimmering light.

The Disinherited

In the small hours of the morning of 3 June 1914, a woman and her husband were found dead in a sparsely furnished apartment in Paris. It was only when the identity of the couple was revealed in the English press a fortnight later that the full story emerged. The man, Henry Sackville-West, had shot himself minutes after the death of his wife from cancer; but Henry's suicidal despair had been driven equally by the failure of his claim to be the legitimate son of Lord Sackville and heir to Knole. The Disinherited reveals the secrets and lies at the heart of an English dynasty, unravelling the parallel lives of Henri's four illegitimate siblings: in particular his older sister, Victoria, who on becoming Lady Sackville and mistress of Knole, by marriage, consigned her brothers and sisters to lives of poverty and disappointment.

Zeppelin Nights- London In The First World War

11pm, Tuesday 4 August 1914: with the declaration of war London becomes one of the greatest killing machines in human history. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers pass through the capital on their way to the front; wounded men are brought back to be treated in London's hospitals; and millions of shells are produced in its factories. The war changes London life for ever. Women escape the drudgery of domestic service to work as munitionettes. Full employment puts money into the pockets of the London poor for the first time. Self-appointed moral guardians seize the chance to clamp down on drink, frivolous entertainment and licentious behaviour. As the war drags on, gloom often descends on the capital. And at night London is plunged into darkness for fear of German bombers and Zeppelins that continue to raid the city. Yet despite daily casualty lists, food shortages and enemy bombing, Londoners are determined to get on with their lives and flock to cinemas and theatres, dance halls and shebeens, firmly resolved not to let Germans or puritans spoil their enjoyment. Peopled with patriots and pacifists, clergymen and thieves, bluestockings and prostitutes, Jerry White's magnificent panorama reveals a struggling yet flourishing city.

Getting Things Done

Runaway Wife.

Rose Pritchard has fled her home and her abusive husband with little more than the clothes on her back - and her most precious possession her seven year old daughter Maddie. But Rose does have one other thing left - a glimmer of hope that she can build a better life for herself and her daughter whatever it takes.

Mr. Mojo- A Biography Of Jim Morrison

In Paris pre-lachaise cemetery, Jim Morrison's graffiti-scrawled tombstone is a place of pilgrimage for local devotees, adolescent hedonists and wayward backpackers alike. Found dead in his bathtub aged only 27 having achieved worldwide stardom as lead singer of the doors, Morrison was quickly immortalized amongst the rock and roll deity such as Hendrix and Joplin. In death, however, this debauched 'rock poet' remained more stubbornly enigmatic than ever. Who was the real Jim Morrison? Nihilist, egoist, Shaman-he was a master of self-creation. A mosaic mythology of new-age hippy rhetoric, French poetry and Nietszchean symbolism obscured a man trapped by the mythology that he had so carefully constructed around himself. In this colorful and intimate biography, Dylan Jones strips bare the skin-tight leather suit of Jim Morrison's Lizard King persona and offers a frank and honest appraisal of a much beloved and often-romanticized counter-cultural icon. Mr Mojo is littered with little-known anecdotes from fellow stars, spurned lovers and industry moguls. It is a refreshingly honest portrait of a self-indulgent artist with a penchant for pageantry and public self-destruction.

The Collector

A thrilling novel of crime and passion from Nora Roberts - the world's greatest storyteller Lila Emerson is fascinated by other people's lives. As a house-sitter, she loves looking after the glamorous homes she could never afford herself. And as a writer, she enjoys dreaming up stories for the people she sees from her window. But then one day she witnesses something only too real - the shocking murder of a young woman living across the street in New York. Now Lila is in mortal danger from an audacious, single-minded assassin who kills for profit and for pleasure.With the police following a false lead, Lila's only hope is to team up with Ashton Archer, an artist with his own complicated reasons for getting involved. Lila wants to trust the passionate, quick-witted Ash - but is she letting her feelings blind her to his motives? Either way, she will never watch from the sidelines again.

The Stone Kingdom

Haunted by the Troubles in Northern Ireland and trapped in a land between the mountains and the sea, Naomi dreams of another life far from the rainy shores of Donegal. When she moves from the rain swept shores of Ireland to work in a refugee camp in the burning heat of Africa, Naomi exchanges the city streets of Belfast for the arid desert. Though she leaves behind the land where she was born, escaping her past is not so easy.

Triggers- Sparking Positive Change And Making It L

In business, the right behaviors matter. But getting it right is tricky. Even when we acknowledge the need to change what we do and how we do it, life has a habit of getting in the way, upsetting even the best-laid plans. And just how do we manage those situations that can provoke even the most rational among us into behaving in ways we would rather forget? Triggers confronts head-on the challenges of behavior and change, looking at the external factors (Or 'triggers') - both negative and positive - that affect our behaviors, our awareness of when we need to change, our willingness (Or otherwise) to do so and our ability to see the change through. Drawing on his unparalleled experience as an international executive educator and coach, Marshall Goldsmith invites us to understand how our own beliefs and the environments in which we operate can trigger negative behaviors, or a resistance to the need to change. But he also offers up some simple, practical advice to help us navigate the negative and make the most of the triggers that will help us to sustain positive change.

The Liar

When her husband Richard dies in a freak accident, Shelby Pomeroy is devastated. But his death reveals a horrible truth - Richard was a liar and a cheat. Now Shelby is left with the consequences - huge, terrifying debts and mounting proof that her late husband betrayed her in every conceivable way. Heart-broken but unbowed, Shelby is determined to fix her problems - if only for the sake of her gorgeous little daughter Callie. Returning home to Tennessee and the family she thought she'd lost for ever, she discovers a new sense of strength and freedom. And hope, too, in the handsome form of carpenter Griffin Lott - a straight-dealing man who couldn't lie to her if he tried. But not everyone is thrilled to see Shelby Pomeroy back in town. And when a shocking act of violence is traced back to Richard's shady business, it becomes clear that she is not safe from him, even in death. With her life in danger, Shelby must face the lies of the past - or lose everything.

The Stranger.

The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar, or a parking lot, or at the grocery store. His identity is unknown. His motives are unclear. His information is undeniable. Then he whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world. Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American Dream - a big house, a good job, a seemingly perfect life. Then he runs into the Stranger. When he learns a devastating secret about his wife, Corrine, he confronts her, and the mirage of perfection disappears as if it never existed at all. Soon Adam finds himself tangled in something far darker than even Corrine's deception, and realises that if he doesn't make exactly the right moves, the conspiracy he's stumbled into will not only ruin lives - it will end them.

Above The Clouds

When Anatoli Boukreev died on the slopes of Annapurna on Christmas day, 1997, the world lost one of the greatest adventurers of our time. In Above the Clouds, both the man and his incredible climbs on Mt. McKinley, K2, Makalu, Manaslu and Everest-including his diary entries on the infamous 1996 disaster, written shortly after his return-are immortalized. There also are minute technical details about the skill of mountain climbing, as well as personal reflections on what life means to someone who risks it every day. Fully illustrated with gorgeous color photos, Above the Clouds is a unique and breathtaking look at the world from its most remote peaks.

How Organizations Really Work

How do organizations work? Yes, they all have a vision, they all perform various activities that are directed to that vision and they all have different departments that work with each other, towards the same vision. But is that all? No, it isn’t. Oppositions, egos and cold wars are also a part of the working of an organization, and these are the parts discussed in this book by Vasudev Murthy. The reader is exposed to tales that humourous, exaggerated and at the same time very helpful in understanding the workings of an organization. Whether a chief executive officer or an intern, you are sure to enjoy reading this book. It leads you to a good understanding of How Organizations Work.

Time To Talk

He is also notorious for his silence. Now, for the first time, Curtly will tell his story. One of the leading and most lethal fast bowlers of all time, Curtly Ambrose played 98 Tests and 176 One Day Internationals for the West Indies, and for much of his career topped the ICC player rankings. He was an integral part of the iconic West Indies teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s whilst also bearing witness to their decline throughout the 1990s and beyond. A formidable sportsman, Curtly has unique insight into the extreme highs and debilitating lows of international cricket. But during his career Curtly Ambrose was notorious for his silence. He rarely spoke to the media and, if he did, it was usually to rebuff an interview, which earned him the infamous reputation of Curtly talks to no one. In this, his autobiography, Curtly will tell the story of his life with the West Indies team for the very first time. From his colourful upbringing in Antigua, through to the turbulent politics of both nation and dressing room, the book takes you behind the scenes to give a fascinating insight into the career of an iconic sportsman. With his customary honesty, Curtly will discuss his relationship with both the game and his teammates and competitors and will talk in depth about key moments in his career, including his extraordinary spell against Australia in 1992, taking 7-1. From the culture of West Indian cricket to experiencing post-Apartheid cricket in South Africa, as well as touching on his relationship with cricket mogul and notorious financier Allen Stanford, the book will speak to fans of works such as C.L.R. Jamess Beyond a Boundary, as well as fans of cricket and sports biography. It also includes forewords from legendary cricket commentatory Richie Benaud and Steve Waugh.

Sophie And The Sibyl- A Victorian Romance

Berlin, September 1872. The Duncker brothers, Max and Wolfgang, own a thriving publishing business in the city. Clever, irresponsible Max is as fond of gambling and brothels as the older, wiser, Wolfgang is of making a profit. When Max's bad habits get out of hand, Wolfgang sends him to the Spa town of Homburg, to dance attendance upon a celebrity author - the enigmatic Sibyl, also known as George Eliot. As enthralling and intelligent as her books, she soon has Max bewitched. Yet Wolfgang has an ulterior motive: for his brother to consider Sophie von Hahn, daughter of a wealthy family friend, as a potential wife. At first, Max is lured by Sophie's beauty and his affectionate memories of their shared childhood. But Sophie proves to be nothing like the vision of angelic domesticity Max was expecting. Mischievous, wilful and daring, Sophie gambles recklessly and rides horses like a man. Both women have Max in thrall - one with her youth and passion, the other with her wisdom and fierce intelligence. Out of his depth, Max finds himself precariously balanced between Sophie and the Sibyl. What's more, Sophie worships the great novelist of questionable morals - and is determined to meet her. A compelling Victorian novel and a playful meditation on the creation of literature, Sophie and the Sibyl balances a tale of courtship and seduction with a fascinating, lively imagining of the writer George Eliot at the end of her boldly unconventional life, and the height of her fame.