Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Volume 4)
By Joss Whedon, Jeph Loeb

Product Description

Willow and Buffy head to New York City to unlock the secrets of Buffy’s mysterious scythe, when something goes terribly awry. Buffy is propelled into a dystopian future where there’s only one Slayer – Fray, the title character of Joss Whedon’s 2001 series, the first comic he ever wrote. Their uneasy alliance falls apart, leading to the death of a major character from the TV series, while back in the twenty-first century, the Scotland base falls prey to a mystical bomb courtesy of the Biggest Bad – Twilight!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #131 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 136 pages

HP Mini 1100 Vivienne Tam Edition PC series

by HP

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
By Christopher Mcdougall

Product Description

Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.

Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons are custodians of a lost art. For centuries they have practiced techniques that allow them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it. Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara immune to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence. With the help of Caballo Blanco, a mysterious loner who lives among the tribe, the author was able not only to uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara but also to find his own inner ultra-athlete, as he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of Americans, including a star ultramarathoner, a beautiful young surfer, and a barefoot wonder.

With a sharp wit and wild exuberance, McDougall takes us from the high-tech science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultrarunners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to the climactic race in the Copper Canyons. Born to Run is that rare book that will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that the secret to happiness is right at your feet, and that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.

The Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World 2009
By Bob Sehlinger

Product Description

More than 4 million copies sold! This series is the only one that offers evaluations based on reader surveys and critiques, compiled by a team of unbiased inspectors.

• Hotels, attractions, and restaurants in all price categories

• Extensive information on shopping, nightlife, and sports

• Easy-to-use, two-color design

• Detailed, 2-color maps

From the publishers of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World

“A Tourist’s Best Friend!”
—Chicago Sun-Times

“Indispensable”
—The New York Times

Five Great Features and Benefits offered ONLY by The Unofficial Guide:

1. Exclusively patented, field-tested touring plans that save as much as four hours of standing in line in a single day
2. Tips, advice, and opinions from hundreds of Walt Disney World guests in their own words
3. Almost 250 hotels rated and ranked for quality and value, including the top non-Disney hotels for families
4. A complete Dining Guide with ratings and reviews of all Walt Disney World restaurants, plus extensive alternatives for dining deals outside the World
5. Every attraction rated and ranked for each age group; extensive, objective, head-to-head comparisons of the Disney and Universal theme parks

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14331 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 864 pages

Review
“Find out how to avoid queuing and pay less in… Frommer’s unofficial guide books to Disneyworld and Disneyland.” (“TNT Magazine,” Monday 5th November 2007)

Find out how to beat the queues, which rides to avoid, where to shop and dine, and how to cut costs.” (“Junior,” February 2008)

From the Back Cover

“A Tourist’s Best Friend!”
—Chicago Sun-Times

“Indispensable”
—The New York Times

Five Great Features and Benefits offered ONLY by The Unofficial Guide:

1 Exclusively patented, field-tested touring plans that save as much as four hours of standing in line in a single day

2 New color section with practical information for your trip

3 Almost 250 hotels rated and ranked for quality and value, including the top non-Disney hotels for families

4 A complete Dining Guide with ratings and reviews of all Walt Disney World restaurants, plus extensive alternatives for dining deals outside the World

5 Attractions rated and ranked for each age group; extensive, objective, head-to-head comparisons of the Disney and Universal theme parks

Sample Rating

Expedition Everest (FASTPASS) ★★★★1/2

Appeal by Age Preschool — Grade School ★★★★1/2 Teens ★★★★ Young Adults ★★★★1/2 Over 30 ★★★★1/2 Seniors ★★★★1/2

What it is High-speed, outdoor roller coaster through Nepalese mountain village. Scope and scale Super headliner. When to go Before 9:30 a.m. or after 4 p.m., or use FASTPASS. Special comments Contains some of the park’s most stunning visual elements. Authors’ rating ★★★★1/2. Average wait in line per 100 people ahead of you Just under 4 minutes (assumes 2 tracks operating). Loading speed Moderate–fast.

Customer Reviews

Most detailed guidebook ever
This book really has everything you need to know when visiting Disney World for the first time. Very informative, very factly, but at the same time, very interesting and quite complete. I can’t think of anything I was looking for that I haven’t found in this book.

All we need to know!
Great book! Pretty much covers everything we wanted to know about our upcoming trip to WWW. Jampacked with useful tips and organized appropriately, we will definitely be prepared to visit and have a great time!

great book for Disney World fans!
I have bought each year’s version of this book for the last 3 years…it is great! It is especially helpful if you are first time Disney travellers and if you are going during peak Disney periods. We always go during the ‘off season’ so rarely have to deal with line ups. It gives unbiased, truthful reviews of everything Disney World and even beyond. Because it is ‘unofficial’ it gives you an un-Disneyfied review…if they don’t think it is worthy of seeing or doing, it will tell you. It also gives feedback from actual travellers. It is a great guide for those who need to plan step by step holidays and for those that like to just fly by the seat of their pants, its good to have with you as you are going through Disney World. Excellent info for all hotels and great reviews/info for Dining. A lot of the info from year to year is the same if they feel that no changes have occurred but I find that there are enough changes that I like to buy one each year. And besides using it for your Disney vacation planning, its great to just pick up and browse through as you’re dreaming about your next Disney experience!!

The Scarecrow
By Michael Connelly

Product Description

Forced out of the Los Angeles Times amid the latest budget cuts, newspaperman Jack McEvoy decides to go out with a bang, using his final days at the paper to write the definitive murder story of his career.

He focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer in jail after confessing to a brutal murder. But as he delves into the story, Jack realizes that Winslow’s so-called confession is bogus. The kid might actually be innocent.

Jack is soon running with his biggest story since The Poetmade his career years ago. He is tracking a killer who operates completely below police radar–and with perfect knowledge of any move against him. Including Jack’s.

The Vanishing Face Of Gaia
By James Lovelock

Water For Elephants
By Sara Gruen

Product Description

From the acclaimed author of Riding Lessons and Flying Changes comes the beautifully written story of a dangerous romance. Jacob Jankowski, a young man suddenly adrift at the height of the Depression, enters the world of a second-rate circus struggling to survive through one-night stands in town after town. Working in the circus menagerie, Jacob meets Marlena, the beautiful star of the equestrian act, and her husband, August, a charismatic but cruel animal trainer. He also comes to know Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable – until Jacob finds a way to reach her.

Water for Elephants is a dark and beautiful tale of life,not just among the colourful characters of the circus, but also during the lean years of the Great Depression. Sara Gruen writes with humour and humanity, warmth and whimsy, depicting a world where even love was a luxury few could afford.

Jamie’s Food Revolution
By Jamie Oliver

Product Description

Welcome to my Food Revolution. This book is inspired by all the people I’ve met who thought they could never and would never learn how to cook. Of course, that kind of thinking is like a red rag to a bull to me because I believe that simple home cooking is one of the most basic, primal skills that every single person on this planet should have in order to look after themselves, their families and their friends.

So I’ve written this book to empower you (or the person you’re buying this for) to learn how to cook as easily and as quickly as possible. I’ve done this by picking a whole load of recipes that we all love to eat and giving you my easy versions of them, using clear instructions and step-by-step pictures to hold your hand and open up a whole new world of great food. Whether you’re a reluctant beginner or a good cook who just appreciates simplicity, allow me and this book to help you cook some truly delicious, crowd-pleasing meals. Let’s do it! –Jamie Oliver

The Gabriel Method: The Revolutionary DIET-FREE Way to Totally Transform Your Body
By Jon Gabriel

Product Description

The pile of recent dieting books is growing faster than the average American’s waistline. From the well-known programs that deprive and restrict to ones that rely on juice alone, it seems that everybody has an answer to the growing problem of obesity.

When Jon Gabriel’s life took an unexpected turn, he suddenly was awakened to the marvelous gift that he had been given — the opportunity to live — and was disgusted at how he had treated his body. At over four hundred pounds, walking, sleeping, and working was a struggle against gravity, and his life was a constant battle between emotional and physical satiation. He was slowly killing himself with food.

Like the estimated 58 percent of Americans, and rising numbers in other countries, Jon was trapped in what he came to call the FAT – Famine and Temperature – trap. By studying biochemistry, Gabriel learned that your body has an internal logic that determines how fat or thin you will be at any given time. The way to lose weight is not to struggle or to force yourself to lose weight but to understand this internal logic and work with it so that your body wants to be thinner. When your body wants to be thinner, weight loss is inevitable and becomes automatic and effortless. You simply crave less food, you crave healthier foods, your metabolism speeds up and you become very efficient at burning fat, just like a naturally thin person. And that’s the real transformation — to transform yourself into a naturally thin person, so that you can eat whatever you want whenever you want and still be thin, fit, and vibrantly healthy.

After reading The Gabriel Method, you will learn:

Your body has a reason why it’s holding on to weight–and it’s not your fault.

Fat is a cushion–a protective barrier that our mind believes is helping to protect us.

If you can change that belief, you can change your body; Stop the cycle of crash dieting and start eating what you want, when you want it.

How to choose healthy, nutritious foods that nourish the cells in your body, not starve them.

Delicious shakes and smoothies, and super-power supplements, that can jump start your success.

The simple way you can train your mind and body to work with your goal of health, not against it.

Eliminate the emotional and mental reasons your body holds on to weight in just 10 minutes a day.

It certainly worked for Jon; he lost 225 pounds in two-and-a-half years, going from 409 pounds to 184, without suffering, dieting, or anguishing over his body. Unlike most people who lose an extensive amount of weight, his skin tightened up and now is indistinguishable from that of a person who has been healthy his whole life.

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
From Project Management Institute

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 459 pages

Customer Reviews

A great tool for using tools and maximizing their effectiveness
I recommend to anybody before undertaking any book purchase anywhere to consult first Amazon.ca: Good price, quality services, and great satisfaction.

Project management is a very complex area due to the multitude of the activities and interactions involved, and the countless interdependencies, particularly in seeking to ensure optimal performance, quality achievements, and capitalized experience. PMBOK standard is the source. I found this guide a very resourceful tool. Thanks to its initiators, contributors, and reviewers.

A good compilation of the PM knowledge areas. But, quite difficult to absorb.
This book was the textbook for a Project Management course I recently completed. We covered the project management methodologies, as promoted by the Project Management Institute (PMI). I found the format of this book somewhat difficult to absorb. However, I must admit that the PMI did a good job including many concepts that are important to the profession of project management.
The first three chapters give a good introduction to project management, while chapters 4 through 12 are dedicated to each of the 9 PM knowledge areas. The core of this book is the set of 44 processes, mapped out into the 5 process groups and the 9 knowledge area. Each process has corresponding Inputs, Tools and Techniques, and Outputs. One aspect of the formatting of the book I found unhelpful was that I think of the processes in terms of the process groups, while they are explained in the chapters corresponding to the knowledge areas.
The process groups are:
1. Initiating
2. Planning
3. Executing
4. Monitoring & Control
5. Closing
The knowledge areas are:
1. Project Integration Management
2. Project Scope Management
3. Project Time Management
4. Project Cost Management
5. Project Quality Management
6. Project Human Resources Management
7. Project Communications Management
8. Project Risk Management
9. Project Procurement Management
Looking beyond the difficulty to absorb the material, this is an American National Standard and is necessary reading for the PMP and CAPM designations. The PMP designation is valued in the industry and is a good boost to the careers of Project Managers. However, if you are taking the exam you should consider using other exam guides in addition to this book.

Dictionary of Project Management
Peter Drucker says:

“Intellectuals and scholars tend to believe that ideas come first, which then lead to new political, social, economic, psychological realities. This does happen, but it is the exception. As a rule, theory does not precede practice. Its role is to structure and codify already proven practice. Its role is to convert the isolated and “atypical” from exception to “rule” and “system,” and therefore into something that can be learned and taught and, above all, into something that can be generally applied.”

PMBOK tries to capture Project Management practice as a theory. It reads like a dictionary therefore not for cover to cover reading for everyone. However, its value for a Project Management Professional can be compared to the value of a dictionary for a writer.

A strong advice is in order. Reading it will not turn you into a Project Manager Professional overnight. Funny enough, reading a dictionary is not enough to be a good writer.