Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power (P.S.)

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Throughout time, from ancient Rome to modern Britain, the great empires built and maintained their domination through force of arms and political power. But not the United States. America has dominated the world in a new, peaceful, and pervasive way -- through the continued creation of staggering wealth. In this authoritative, engrossing history, John Steele Gordon captures as never before the true source of our nation's global influence: wealth and the capacity to create more of it.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

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Hamilton's Blessing: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Our National Debt: Revised Edition

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One Square Inch of Silence: One Man's Quest to Preserve Quiet

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In the visionary tradition of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, One Square Inch of Silence alerts us to beauty that we take for granted and sounds an urgent environmental alarm. Natural silence is our nation’s fastest-disappearing resource, warns Emmy-winning acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, who has made it his mission to record and preserve it in all its variety—before these soul-soothing terrestrial soundscapes vanish completely in the ever-rising din of man-made noise. Recalling the great works on nature written by John Muir, John McPhee, and Peter Matthiessen, this beautifully written narrative, co-authored with John Grossmann, is also a quintessentially American story—a road trip across the continent from west to east in a 1964 VW bus. But no one has crossed America like this. Armed with his recording equipment and a decibel-measuring sound-level meter, Hempton bends an inquisitive and loving ear to the varied natural voices of the American landscape—bugling elk, trilling thrushes, and drumming, endangered prairie chickens. He is an equally patient and perceptive listener when talking with people he meets on his journey about the importance of quiet in their lives. By the time he reaches his destination, Washington, D.C., where he meets with federal officials to press his case for natural silence preservation, Hempton has produced a historic and unforgettable sonic record of America. With the incisiveness of Jack Kerouac’s observations on the road and the stirring wisdom of Robert Pirsig repairing an aging vehicle and his life, One Square Inch of Silence provides a moving call to action. More than simply a book, it is an actual place, too, located in one of America’s last naturally quiet places, in Olympic National Park in Washington State.

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A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable

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Today, in a world in which news flashes around the globe in an instant, time lags are inconceivable. In the mid-nineteenth century, communication between the United States and Europe -- the center of world affairs -- was only as quick as the fastest ship could cross the Atlantic, making the United States isolated and vulnerable.

But in 1866, the Old and New Worlds were united by the successful laying of a cable across the Atlantic. John Steele Gordon's book chronicles this extraordinary achievement -- the brainchild of American businessman Cyrus Field and one of the greatest engineering feats of the nineteenth century. An epic struggle, it required a decade of effort, numerous failed attempts, millions of dollars in capital, a near disaster at sea, the overcoming of seemingly insurmountable technological problems, and uncommon physical, financial, and intellectual courage. Bringing to life an overlooked story in the annals of technology, John Steele Gordon sheds fascinating new light on this American saga that literally changed the world.

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Real Estate: The Sustainable Investment: Strategies for the Next Generation

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Practical Advice for Investing in Income Property

The Best Selling Book Real Estate: The Sustainable Investment offers advice and stories to make the learning curve a bit less steep and measurably safer, with proven strategies for reaching long-term investment goals by including income property in your asset allocation. Sustainable investing for sustainable living and a more secure financial future.

• What type of real estate investment is right for you?
• Making leverage actually work for you.
• How and why to get started now.
• What to look for in a partner before you say “I do.”
• An excellent overview of investment basics.
• Pro Forma Property Analysis Sheets inside and online.
• Insightful management lessons from the real world.
• Critical thinking about your investment timing.
• The first real estate book with its own iPhone app to make property analysis mobile and easy.

Reading this book could be your best investment on the path to intentional success and that decisive moment when investment dreams become investment reality.

From the authors of Real Estate: The Sustainable Investment comes the first of its kind mobile app—Real Estate Analytics. The Five-Star complement to the book is now available for your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. The Top-Rated book shows you how to make good investments. The app makes analyzing an investment property easy. Now, it’s up to you to find the right property and make the investment. Used together, you have powerful tools to make better decisions.

Website:

The companion website for this book at www.thesustainableinvestment.com offers:

• Free printable versions of the Pro Forma Property Analysis templates featured in the book.
• Answers to frequently asked questions and chapter previews.
• More information about Real Estate Analytics, the free mobile app developed by the authors.

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Horror at Halloween: Part One

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OXRUN STATION HAS ALWAYS BEEN DIFFERENT.

Nobody can really explain it. You just have to understand that bizarre things happen there. They just do. Weird things. The kind of things you don’t even want to dream about in your worst nightmares.

Trick-or-treat is crazy enough, with ghosts and goblins and witches and warlocks and all manner of other horrors roaming the streets. But in Oxrun Station, the masks aren’t always made of rubber.

In his new hometown, British teenager Sam Jones discovers that a legendary backwoods bogeyman has risen from the grave to seek revenge against those who put him there . . .

The fabric of the cosmos is unravelling and dark and dangerous things are leaking across the borders . . . For five unsuspecting teenagers, their lives will never be the same again as they discover the hidden terrors lurking beneath the surface of their quiet town and experience the most horrifying Halloween of them all . . .

This year in Oxrun Station, THE TRICK IS TO STAY ALIVE!

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