Шесть историй. Шесть куплетов из песен знаменитых рок-групп. Шесть жанров. И многослойный сюжет, с математической точностью связывающий новеллы в объемный роман, вплетающий в нашу повседневность невозможное и неосуществимое. Отражение – мир, в котором можно купить мечту, молодость, признание и даже зло. Цена невысока – всего лишь человеческая жизнь. Но, к счастью, всегда находятся те, кто готов противостоять Злу: и внешнему, и внутреннему. С виду обычные люди, которых вы каждый день встречаете на московских улицах или питерских набережных, в Отражении становятся орудием возмездия. Но как бы ни преображались герои в Отражении, оно, если присмотреться, не так уж и сильно отличается от привычного Дня. Ведь оно – отражение нашей реальности, в наших глазах, наших сердцах, наших умах и капле дождевой воды…
«Первые шаги, или Тяжелая поступь» – второй роман серии «Мир Островов». В этом мире уже много веков заправляют люди. Другие расы разобщены и прозябают на задворках цивилизации. Но ничто не вечно под солнцем. Тайное сообщество братства Рыси, преследующее корыстные цели, призвало в Мир Островов старое зло. В это время Артем Магидов предпринимает первые шаги к становлению собственного государства орков. Но что оказалось полезным для Артема, то стало смертельно опасным для Владимира Ившина и его друзей. Достаточно ли временной отсрочки для Артема Магидова, чтобы заложить основы нового государства и отразить в будущем неизбежное вторжение отрядов империи Хранителей? Хватит ли удачи и покровительства высших сил, чтобы пережить Владимиру Ившину и его друзьям нашествие нежити?
Tap the power of courage and achieve greater clarity, confidence, and satisfaction in your work and life Tap in to the inspirational motivation of best-selling author, life coach and media personality, Margie Warrell. Stop Playing Safe is a call to action for anyone who has ever felt that their work was not revealing their true potential for personal progression and career development. It will give you the conviction and courage to become bolder in your career, to perform better and enjoy your work more. Margie points out that ‘fear’ seems to be our new state of ‘normal’ as we deal with economic uncertainty, job insecurity and constant change management in the workplace. In times like these, all our instincts tell us to play safe and avoid risk. Yet courage and bold action are the keys to reaping the rewards of exceptional success in your career. Supported by case studies, insights and advice from a range of high-profile Australian and international entrepreneurs, Stop Playing Safe shares tactics you can put into practice to achieve personal fulfilment and professional success. It will help you clarify your career purpose and maximise your work value. It offers solutions for dealing with change management and will encourage you to pursue your career goals with renewed vigour and empowerment. Margie Warrell grew up on a dairy farm in rural Australia and has lived in the US She is the best-selling author of Find Your Courage and CEO of Global Courage Her clients include the United Nations Foundation, NASA, Ernst & Young, Bechtel, Best Buy, Accenture, AOL, Covidien, ADT, United Healthcare, and ExxonMobil You will keep coming back to this book as you move forward in your career, using it as a ready reference to progress through each stage and tackle each new challenge. «Adapting to change an taking chances are critical to your success. This book will help you with both. Get it, read it, enjoy the results.» – Jon Gordon, author of The Energy Bus and The Seed. “Stop Playing Safe will help you harness the courage to take the risks that make sense-and give you the success you want." – Randy Gage, Author of Risky Is the New Safe “Practical, powerful, and inspiring. In uncertain times, it's a guidebook you can't afford not to read as it spells out exactly how to handle your challenges and find the confidence to speak up, adapt and get ahead in the new economy. Everyone in your company should read it!" – Suzi Pomerantz, author, Master coach, and CEO of Innovative Leadership International. “Stop Playing Safe is one of those rare books that is at once original, inspirational, and above all, useful.” – Bill Treasurer, President of Giant Leap Consulting and author, Courage Goes to Work. «Stop Playing Safe provides a roadmap to navigate uncertainty and find the courage to create meaningful changes in your workplace, career and life.» – Rebecca Heino, Professor of Management, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University “Margie Warrell provides powerful and practical advice for overcoming our innate fear of risk and vulnerability. It bears reading and re-reading for all who strive to become their best selves." – Dr Gordon Livingston, Author of Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart "Margie is a true expert on the science of success. Her new book is both inspiring and practical. It's a powerful manual for creating the life of your dreams.” – Siimon Reynolds, author of Why People Fail
When most people think of corporate responsibility, they are focusing on a business's effect on and relationship to stakeholders. A Responsible Business sees stakeholders as full partners and meaningful instruments for the evolution of healthier communities and more successful businesses. —from the Introduction The Responsible Business offers a new and strategic approach to doing business that holistically integrates responsibility into all aspects of an organization, allowing for returns at every level, business and social. This book goes beyond the often well intentioned but limited attempts at sustainability to present a framework that allows organizations to bring responsibility into everything they do and re-imagine success. From innovation, product development, and production processes to business management, strategic planning, and shareholder development, the author shows how being a Responsible Business is a practical skill that can be applied day-to-day at every level of the business. No longer just the role of a department or the job of CSR professionals, successful responsibility and business efforts start at the business level, are then taken to the corporate level, and are finally applied throughout the organization. The Responsible Business outlines a framework for building a responsibility and consciousness infrastructure that applies a living systems view to the business and inspires all of its stakeholders, including shareholders. Throughout the book, illustrated by examples from technology to manufacturing, large and small, public and private, Sanford demonstrates how to make responsibility integral to all aspects of a business as an engine for innovation, profitability, and purpose. Praise for The Responsible Business «This is a very significant book. It makes it clear that businesses have a single boss with five interrelated aspects. The stories are among the crispest, most evocative case histories I have seen. The book is for any corporate leader trying to do the impossible: create a business that recreates the world.» —Art Kleiner, editor-in-chief, strategy + business, and author, The Age of Heretics «Carol Sanford offers us a proven, practical, and systems-based approach that integrates five stakeholder groups into a business system working as an integral whole. Essential reading for leaders wanting a system framework for sustainability and business success!» —Otto Scharmer, MIT Sloan senior lecturer; author, Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges; and coauthor, Presence «The Responsible Business challenges many assumptions corporate leaders, investment advisors, and sustainability experts have long taken for granted. It provides a road map that can help innovative businesses think about how to be truly transformational.» —Sam Ford, Fast Company expert blogger and director, Peppercom «The powerful concepts in The Responsible Business have changed the process of sustainable development and how communities truly thrive. Indeed, these proven approaches will be the roadmap to truly achieve the deepest level of living communities.» —Bill Reed, founding member of LEED System and coauthor, The Integrative Design Guide to Green Building «Critical for re-imagining the future of business. Rarely a day goes by that I do not call on this way of thinking and looking at the world. It is useful for taking on the big business decisions that so many of us face every day.» —Chad Holliday, chairman, Bank of America
Do demons and devils have free will? Does justice exist in Menzoberranzan? What’s the morality involved with player characters casting necromancy and summoning spells? Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy probes the rich terrain of philosophically compelling concepts and ideas that underlie Dungeons & Dragons, the legendary fantasy role-playing game that grew into a world-wide cultural phenomenon. A series of accessible essays reveals what the imaginary worlds of D&D can teach us about ethics, morality, metaphysics and more. Illustrates a wide variety of philosophical concepts and ideas that arise in Dungeons & Dragons gameplay and presents them in an accessible and entertaining manner Reveals how the strategies, tactics, improvisations, and role-play employed by D&D enthusiasts have startling parallels in the real world of philosophy Explores a wide range of philosophical topics, including the nature of free will, the metaphysics of personal identity, the morality of crafting fictions, sex and gender issues in tabletop gameplay, and friendship and collaborative storytelling Provides gamers with deep philosophical insights that can lead to a richer appreciation of D&D and any gaming experience
How the actions of a few in Europe destroyed the prosperity of the many (and how it's happening again now in America) After the fall of the Roman Empire, vicious barbaric tribes including the Hunds lead by Atilla, the Mongols, Charlemagne and the Vikings invaded Europe, plundering property and destroying homes. But, they didn't just steal and destroy property in the villages; they also stole and destroyed any prosperity the villagers had previously enjoyed. What's worse is the barbarians of the Dark Ages did all of this not out of any deeply held religious or political belief, but, rather, for the oldest reason in the book – their own personal financial gain. Some things never change. Barbarians of Wealth examines how the greedy, self-serving decisions of a select group of politicians and financial institutions negatively impacts the economy and, ultimately, destroys America's prosperity and the American way of life. Compelling and engaging, the book Details how Goldman Sachs peddled mortgage backed securities up and down Wall Street while secretly betting against their demise Discusses how Sanford Weill, founder of Citigroup spent $100 million lobbying for the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act that prevented the merger of commercial and investment banks and got his way. Examines Christopher Dodd, head of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, has enriched himself while driving down the prosperity of his constituents Offers up examples of other modern barbarians, including the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, Hank Paulson, and Timothy Geithner. Highlights greed driven tactics of Wall Street corporations including JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, and Salomon Brothers. Barbarians of Wealth is a timely must read for hard-working Americans concerned with their prosperity, as well as for those fascinated with the inner workings of Washington and Wall Street.
The eagerly anticipated new edition of the bestselling introduction to x86 assembly language The long-awaited third edition of this bestselling introduction to assembly language has been completely rewritten to focus on 32-bit protected-mode Linux and the free NASM assembler. Assembly is the fundamental language bridging human ideas and the pure silicon hearts of computers, and popular author Jeff Dunteman retains his distinctive lighthearted style as he presents a step-by-step approach to this difficult technical discipline. He starts at the very beginning, explaining the basic ideas of programmable computing, the binary and hexadecimal number systems, the Intel x86 computer architecture, and the process of software development under Linux. From that foundation he systematically treats the x86 instruction set, memory addressing, procedures, macros, and interface to the C-language code libraries upon which Linux itself is built. Serves as an ideal introduction to x86 computing concepts, as demonstrated by the only language directly understood by the CPU itself Uses an approachable, conversational style that assumes no prior experience in programming of any kind Presents x86 architecture and assembly concepts through a cumulative tutorial approach that is ideal for self-paced instruction Focuses entirely on free, open-source software, including Ubuntu Linux, the NASM assembler, the Kate editor, and the Gdb/Insight debugger Includes an x86 instruction set reference for the most common machine instructions, specifically tailored for use by programming beginners Woven into the presentation are plenty of assembly code examples, plus practical tips on software design, coding, testing, and debugging, all using free, open-source software that may be downloaded without charge from the Internet.
From a leading trading systems developer, how to make profitable trades when there are no obvious trends How does a trader find alpha when markets make no sense, when price shocks cause diversification to fail, and when it seems impossible to hedge? What strategies should traders, long conditioned to trend trading, deploy? In Alpha Trading: Profitable Strategies That Remove Directional Risk, author Perry Kaufman presents strategies and systems for profitably trading in directionless markets and in those experiencing constant price shocks. The book Details how to exploit new highs and lows Describes how to hedge primary risk components, find robustness, and craft a diversification program Other titles by Kaufman: New Trading Systems and Methods, 4th Edition and A Short Course in Technical Trading, both by Wiley Given Kaufman's 30 years of experience trading in almost every kind of market, his Alpha Trading will be a welcome addition to the trading literature of professional and serious individual traders for years to come.
An up-to-date look at the latest innovations in mortgage-backed securities Since the last edition of Mortgage-Backed Securities was published over three years ago, much has changed in the structured credit market. Frank Fabozzi, Anand Bhattacharya, and William Berliner all have many years of experience working in the fixed-income securitization markets, and have witnessed many cycles of change in the mortgage and MBS sectors. And now, with the Second Edition of Mortgage-Backed Securities, they share their knowledge on many of the products and structuring innovations that have taken place since the financial crisis and fiscal reform. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, and containing numerous illustrations, this timely guide skillfully addresses the investment characteristics, creation, and analysis of mortgage-backed securities. Each chapter contains cutting-edge concepts that you'll need to understand in order to thrive within this arena. Discusses the dynamic interaction between the mortgage industry, home prices, and credit performance Addresses revised valuation techniques in which all non-agency MBS must be treated as credit pieces Examines the shift in this marketplace since the crisis and the impact on industry and investors Filled with in-depth insights and expert advice, Mortgage-Backed Securities, Second Edition offers you a realistic assessment of this field and outlines the products, structures, and analytical techniques you need to know about in this evolving arena.
Praise for Distress Investing «Marty Whitman has distilled decades of distressed investing experience into a text that is a must-read for everyone interested in the field, whether a student or a professional investor.» —Wilbur L. Ross, Chairman and CEO, WL Ross & Co. LLC «Distress Investing: Principles and Technique represents a detailed and unique perspective on an arcane arena of investment that is going to get a lot more attention. Marty Whitman is the master, and has set the standard for many years.» —Sam Zell, Chairman, Equity Group Investments, LLC «Martin Whitman and Professor Diz have produced a seminal work on the ins and outs of distressed investing for all distressed debt investors. It is jam-packed with information and guidance for the novice and the experienced. A must-read for anyone interested in distressed investing.» —Lewis Kruger, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP «Marty Whitman, a legend in distress investing, packs decades of experience into these pages. The restructuring of the capital markets currently under way is sure to provide great distress investment opportunities, which this guide book can make count for you.» —Bruce Flatt, Brookfield Asset Management Inc. «The principles found in this book are those I used in the reorganization of my business from bankruptcy to an S&P 500 company with an investment grade rating and a multibillion-dollar market capitalization. An excellent premier by Marty Whitman and Professor Diz, integrating economic theory with real-world investment to help investors of all shapes and sizes understand and invest in distressed securities.» —Gene Isenberg, Chairman and CEO, Nabors Industries, Inc. «Marty Whitman, the unquestioned 'Dean' of active distressed investors, and Fernando Diz, one of the few academics specializing in distressed investing, have teamed up to provide perhaps the best and most comprehensive primer on distressed securities and markets. I learned so much from this remarkable volume.» —Edward I. Altman, Max L. Heine Professor of Finance, NYU Stern School of Business, Director of credit and debt markets research at the NYU Salomon Center and adviser to several financial institutions including, Paulson & Co. and Concordia Advisers