- Table View
- List View
Award Winning Customer Service: 101 Ways To Guarantee Great Performance
by Renee EvensonDelivering top-of-the-line customer service is Job #1 for most companies, an important factor in keeping profits high and customers coming back. Customer service problems can damage not just a company’s reputation but its bottom line, so for busy managers -- and business owners with little time to search for solutions -- some fast help is needed. Award-Winning Customer Service offers scores of quick tips for readers looking to improve and then maintain their company’s level of customer service. The book is chock full of practical advice on important topics such as: * planning and goal setting * effective communication * leadership * preparing for change * continual learning * coaching and development * effective feedback * motivational and problem-solving meetings * conflict resolution * follow-up and staying on top of the game * and more. Containing 101 effective tips in all, unique "When this happens, try this" sections, and encouraging quotes, this is an essential reference for anyone who needs guidance or just a refresher on making customers feel truly valued.
Away with Words: An Irreverent Tour Through the World of Pun Competitions
by Joe Berkowitz"[Away with Words] is low wit in its highest form. . . Mr. Berkowitz is sensitive throughout to the evanescence and contingency of punning and to the fleeting chemistry of a live pun-on-pun matchup crackling with energy." –Wall Street JournalFast Company reporter Joe Berkowitz investigates the bizarre and hilarious world of pun competitions from the Punderdome 3000 in Brooklyn to the World competition in Austin.When Joe Berkowitz witnessed his first Punderdome competition, it felt wrong in the best way. Something impossible seemed to be happening. The kinds of jokes we learn to repress through social conditioning were not only being aired out in public—they were being applauded. As it turned out, this monthly show was part of a subculture that’s been around in one form or another since at least the late ‘70s. Its pinnacle is the O. Henry Pun Off World Championship, an annual tournament in Austin, Texas. As someone who is terminally self-conscious, Joe was both awed and jealous of these people who confidently killed with the most maligned form of humor. In this immersive ride into the subversive world of pun competitions, we meet punsters weird and wonderful and Berkowitz is our tour guide. Puns may show up in life in subtle ways sometimes, but once you start thinking in puns you discover they’re everywhere. Berkowitz’s search to discover who makes them the most, and why, leads him to the professional comedian competitors on @Midnight, a TV show with a pun competition built into it, the writing staff of Bob’s Burgers, the punniest show on TV, and even a humor research conference. With his new unlikely band of punster brothers, he finally heads to Austin to compete in the World Championship. Of course, in befriending these comic misfits he also ended up learning that when you embrace puns you become a more authentic version of yourself.
The Awful Truth: My adventures with Australia's most notorious tabloid
by Adrian TameBefore Fake News, there was the real Fake News. There was Truth. Hailed as &‘a fearless exposer of folly, vice and crime&’ when it first hit the streets in the 1890s, Truth was later condemned by a High Court Judge as &‘a wretched little paper, reeking of filth, injurious to the health of house servants and young girls&’. Much later it earned the nickname &‘The Old Whore of La Trobe Street&’. Truth was called many things but it was never boring. Adrian Tame knows that better than anyone as he worked for Truth for more than a decade as a reporter and news editor. In the years it was owned by the Murdoch family he worked alongside young Rupert as he cut his teeth on the shock horror scandals that graced the pages of Truth when it was selling a whopping 400,000 copies a week. Funny, often outrageous and always thoroughly entertaining, The Awful Truth is a rollercoaster ride through an colourful era of newspapers and larger-than-life reporters that we will never see the like of again.
Awkward.: What To Do When Life Makes You Cringe--a Survival Guide
by Sam ScholfieldNo One Is Safe from Awkward! Ending a first date that falls flat. Drunk-texting your boss. Walking in when your roommate is getting it on. Running into the person you just dumped . . . in the grocery store, an hour after it went down. Awkward bombs can drop anytime, anywhere, and with anyone—people you don’t know, people you see occasionally, and people you see every day. They can sneak up on you and explode in the most unexpected of places, so they’re basically impossible to avoid. The vast majority of us don’t have the wherewithal to gracefully handle the truly and totally awkward as it unfolds. We only realize what we should have said after the fact—when the damage has already been done and we’re a hot mess of embarrassment, red ears, and nervous sweat stains. But author Sam Scholfield has survived more than two decades of embarrassing encounters—and now, in an act of extreme generosity, has set down a wealth of witty comebacks, surefire distraction techniques, and suave evasion strategies so that future generations may take heed and dodge the Awkward Monster before it strikes! So how do you avoid the epic cluster of drama that can result when awkward situations are handled badly? You read this book.
AWS Development Essentials
by Uchit Vyas Prabhakaran KuppusamyThis book is intended for expert programmers and architects who want to learn how to migrate the existing infrastructure to AWS Cloud and start using AWS services in all application tiers. Basic knowledge of Java and competence in cloud computing will be needed to follow the examples in this book.
Axed: Who Killed Australian Magazines?
by Phil BarkerAxed charts the dramatic decline of the magazine industry in Australia from the million-selling highs of the 1990s to the recent round of mergers, closures and mass-redundancies. What went wrong?Australian magazines once boasted the highest circulation per capita in the world. Former magazine editor Phil Barker follows the story from this golden age to today, showing how mismanagement, unchecked spending and the challenge presented by the rise of the internet all combined to undermine the previously unassailable position magazines held in the Australian consciousness.Prominent magazine executives and editors who witnessed the industry&’s decline and failure to capitalise on digital opportunities have gone on the record for the first time. Featuring in-depth analysis of archival reporting and brand-new interviews with key players, Axed lifts the lid on the scandals behind the industry&’s swan dive.But Phil also talks to the people who have managed to pivot in a fast-moving media landscape and believe magazines are a part of Australia&’s future. Are magazines really dead, or is there still some hope for survival?
Baal and the Politics of Poetry (The Ancient Word)
by Aaron TugendhaftBaal and the Politics of Poetry provides a thoroughly new interpretation of the Ugaritic Baal Cycle that simultaneously inaugurates an innovative approach to studying ancient Near Eastern literature within the political context of its production. The book argues that the poem, written in the last decades of the Bronze Age, takes aim at the reigning political-theological norms of its day and uses the depiction of a divine world to educate its audience about the nature of human politics. By attuning ourselves to the specific historical context of this one poem, we can develop more nuanced appreciation of how poetry, politics, and religion have interacted—in antiquity, and beyond.
Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages
by Gaston Dorren“Babel is an endlessly interesting book, and you don’t have to have any linguistic training to enjoy it . . . it’s just so much fun to read.” —NPREnglish is the world language, except that 80 percent of the world doesn’t speak it. Linguist Gaston Dorren calculates that to speak fluently with half of the world’s people in their mother tongues, you’d need to know no fewer than twenty languages. In Babel, he sets out to explore these top twenty world languages, which range from the familiar (French, Spanish) to the surprising (Malay, Javanese, Bengali). Whisking readers along on a delightful journey, he traces how these languages rose to greatness while others fell away, and shows how speakers today handle the foibles of their mother tongues. Whether showcasing tongue-tying phonetics, elegant but complicated writing scripts, or mind-bending quirks of grammar, Babel vividly illustrates that mother tongues are like nations: each has its own customs and beliefs that seem as self-evident to those born into it as they are surprising to outsiders. Babel reveals why modern Turks can’t read books that are a mere 75 years old, what it means in practice for Russian and English to be relatives, and how Japanese developed separate “dialects” for men and women. Dorren also shares his experiences studying Vietnamese in Hanoi, debunks ten myths about Chinese characters, and discovers the region where Swahili became the lingua franca. Witty and utterly fascinating, Babel will change how you look at and listen to the world.“Word nerds of every strain will enjoy this wildly entertaining linguistic study.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Babel's Dawn: A Natural History of the Origins of Speech
by Edmund Blair BollesBolles, an author who has a blog that also discusses language origins, uses the idea of museum galleries that display scenes and characters to illustrate the origins of speech, beginning with the last common ancestor people share with chimpanzees (about six million years ago) to the first storytellers (about 150,000 years ago). He discusses several theories of language origins and proposes that humans alone speak because of a need that is not necessary for other species. He presents an evolutionary account of speech beginning with ape communication up to the use of single words, to the use of full sentences, concepts, and metaphors. No index is provided. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Babywatching
by Desmond MorrisDesmond Morris combines his skills as a zoologist and manwatcher to take a close look at the most remarkable life-form ever to draw breath on this planet - the human baby. In a revealing portrait of life from the baby's point of view, Desmond Morris answers the questions that parents ask: How important is a mother to her baby? How well can babies hear, smell and taste? Why do babies cry? And what makes a baby smile? Do babies dream? Babywatching is a classic to rank alongside Desmond Morris's world bestsellers, The Naked Ape and Manwatching.
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
by Dan RoamSolving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
Back Stories: U.S. News Production and Palestinian Politics
by Amahl A. BisharaFew topics in the news are more hotly contested than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—and news coverage itself is always a subject of debate. But rarely do these debates incorporate an on-the-ground perspective of what and who newsmaking entails. Studying how journalists work in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Nablus, and on the tense roads that connect these cities, Amahl Bishara demonstrates how the production of U.S. news about Palestinians depends on multifaceted collaborations, typically invisible to Western readers. She focuses on the work that Palestinian journalists do behind the scenes and below the bylines—as fixers, photojournalists, camerapeople, reporters, and producers—to provide the news that Americans read, see, and hear every day. Ultimately, this book demonstrates how Palestinians play integral roles in producing U.S. news and how U.S. journalism in turn shapes Palestinian politics. U.S. objectivity is in Palestinian journalists' hands, and Palestinian self-determination cannot be fully understood without attention to the journalist standing off to the side, quietly taking notes. Back Stories examines news stories big and small—Yassir Arafat's funeral, female suicide bombers, protests against the separation barrier, an all-but-unnoticed killing of a mentally disabled man—to investigate urgent questions about objectivity, violence, the state, and the production of knowledge in today's news. This book reaches beyond the headlines into the lives of Palestinians during the second intifada to give readers a new vantage point on both Palestinians and journalism. Show more
Backseat Quarterback
by Perian ConerlyBefore cable television and mega-contracts, professional jocks' lives were little different from those of the fans in the stands. Back then, the game they played was much simpler but far rougher than anything seen today. Ever cheering from the sidelines, Perian Conerly, wife of the New York Giants’ star quarterback Charlie Conerly, and the first female sportswriter in the National Sportswriters’ Association, wrote this lighthearted account of pro football during its heyday (1948–1961). Her husband led the Giants for fourteen seasons. As she describes the glory games, the players, and life on the road, she delivers from the inside the kind of personal reportage that fans adore. Her story begins with the hilarious misadventures of her wedding day in Clarksdale, Mississippi, “the Golden Buckle on the Cotton Belt.” It ends thirteen years later with Charlie's retirement at the age of forty. In between, there are vignettes of the closely knit cadre of Giants' wives, most of whom resided in the same Bronx hotel near Yankee Stadium. She also reports locker-room gossip and recounts amusing pro-ball anecdotes of a time before TV made athletes' images familiar in all households. Although their deeds on the gridiron were notable, their faces were not. Back then, players were so anonymous in public that many times they fell prey to imitators who stole their identities to mooch drinks and dinners from unsuspecting fans only for the thrill of passing as “somebody.” Along with her scoop reports on winning games, Mrs. Conerly paints an endearing portrait of her famous husband, an Ole Miss legend who, after retirement, was hired as the first Marlboro Man. Though her style is casual, she moves the reader painlessly through some of the finer points of the game. The Washington Evening Star touted her for “having written the best book on pro football in a long time.” The New York Times, for which Mrs. Conerly wrote occasional sports columns, said “Backseat Quarterback is exactly the kind of book that one would expect Perian Conerly to write. Its pages shine with her charm, gaiety, wit, intelligence, and sparkle.” Newsweek praised its “comic insight.” This reissue of a favorite book of 1963 has a foreword by the Conerlys' friend and teammate Frank Gifford.
Backstory
by Ken AulettaIt is said that journalism is a vital public service as well as a business, but more and more it is also said that big media consolidation; noisy, instant opinions on cable and the Internet; and political “bias” are making a mockery of such high-minded ideals. In Backstory, Ken Auletta explores why one of America’s most important industries is also among its most troubled. He travels from the proud New York Times, the last outpost of old-school family ownership, whose own personnel problems make headline news, into the depths of New York City’s brutal tabloid wars and out across the country to journalism’s new wave, chains like the Chicago Tribune’s, where “synergy” is ever more a mantra. He probes the moral ambiguity of “media personalities”—journalists who become celebrities themselves, padding their incomes by schmoozing with Imus and rounding the lucrative corporate lecture circuit. He reckons with the legacy of journalism’s past and the different prospects for its future, from fallen stars of new media such as Inside. com to the rising star of cable news, Roger Ailes’s Fox News. The product of more than ten years covering the news media for The New Yorker, Backstory is Journalism 101 by the course’s master teacher. .
Bad Buying: How organisations waste billions through failures, frauds and f*ck-ups
by Peter Smith"A fascinating litany of the mistakes that can happen when buyers get it wrong" - Luke Johnson, The Sunday Times"Packed full with amazing examples' Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2"Colossal, costly disasters could be averted if those holding the purse strings read this book. - The TimesIn this hilarious, fascinating and insightful expose, industry insider Peter Smith reveals the massive blunders and dodgy dealings taking place around the world as private companies and public sector bodies buy goods and services. A recent report showed that over 90% of procurement projects fail. So, why are so many billions wasted on ineptitude, mismanagement and, in some cases, fraud? By turns an entertaining account of some of the worst procurement scams in history and also a resounding lesson in how not to operate, Bad Buying offers clear and practical advice on how to avoid embarrassing mistakes, minimise needless waste and make sound, strategic procurement decisions on your next initiative.'Had this been published pre-Covid, some of the recent f*ck-ups and waste might have been avoided. It's a must read for the public and private sector alike' Lt-Gen. Sir Andrew Gregory, SSAFA: The Armed Forces Charity 'Hilarious, enlightening and brilliant....This book will make you think twice about buying anything - but do buy this' Antonio Weiss, bestselling author of 101 Business Ideas That Will Change the Way you Work, and Director, The PSC
Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels
by Paul Pringle"Pringle’s fast-paced book is a master class in investigative journalism... when institutions collude to protect one another, reporting may be our last best hope for accountability."—The New York TimesFor fans of Spotlight and Catch and Kill comes a nonfiction thriller about corruption and betrayal radiating across Los Angeles from one of the region's most powerful institutions, a riveting tale from a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who investigated the shocking events and helped bring justice in the face of formidable odds. On a cool, overcast afternoon in April 2016, a salacious tip arrived at the L.A. Times that reporter Paul Pringle thought should have taken, at most, a few weeks to check out: a drug overdose at a fancy hotel involving one of the University of Southern California’s shiniest stars—Dr. Carmen Puliafito, the head of the prestigious medical school. Pringle, who’d long done battle with USC and its almost impenetrable culture of silence, knew reporting the story wouldn’t be a walk in the park. USC is one of the biggest employers in L.A., and it casts a long shadow.But what he couldn’t have foreseen was that this tip would lead to the unveiling of not one major scandal at USC but two, wrapped in a web of crimes and cover-ups. The rot rooted out by Pringle and his colleagues at The Times would creep closer to home than they could have imagined—spilling into their own newsroom.Packed with details never before disclosed, Pringle goes behind the scenes to reveal how he and his fellow reporters triumphed over the city’s debased institutions, in a narrative that reads like L.A. noir. This is L.A. at its darkest and investigative journalism at its brightest.
Bad Dad Jokes: That's How Eye Roll
by Bart KingA goofy book celebrating the Dad Joke lifestyle — packed with jokes and wordplay for your favorite punster.Bad Dad Jokes covers every aspect of the most simultaneously loathed and beloved joke form of all time: the pun. Because “Dad Humor” should be practiced by everyone (regardless of age, gender, or family status) this book serves to encourage creative thinking and punning habits for everyone! Learn how to properly deliver a pun (whether written, visual, or verbal) and how to pretend you’re sorry for your Dad Joke (even when you’re not). Includes: quality pre-loaded puns, the taxonomy of the different types of wordplay, famous punsters, and Great Moments in Dad Joke History.
Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown, the Woman Behind Cosmopolitan Magazine
by Jennifer ScanlonThe biography of the revolutionary magazine editor who created the &“Cosmo Girl&” before Sex and the City&’s Carrie Bradshaw was even bornAs the author of the iconic Sex and the Single Girl (1962) and the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for over three decades, Helen Gurley Brown (1922–2012) changed how women thought about sex, money, and their bodies in a way that resonates in our culture today. In Jennifer Scanlon's widely acclaimed biography, the award-winning scholar reveals Brown&’s incredible life story from her escape from her humble beginnings in the Ozarks to her eyebrow-raising exploits as a young woman in New York City, and her late-blooming career as the world's first "lipstick feminist." A mesmerizing tribute to a legend, Bad Girls Go Everywhere will appeal to everyone from Sex and the City and Mad Men fans to students of women's history and media studies.
Bad News
by Anjan SundaramAuthor of the acclaimed Stringer, praised by Jon Stewart as "a remarkable book about the lives of people in the Congo," Anjan Sundaram returns to Africa for a piercing look at Rwanda, a country still caught in political and social unrest years after the genocide that shocked the world. Bad News is the story of Anjan Sundaram's time teaching a class of journalists in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda. The current Rwandan regime, which seized power after the genocide in 1994, is often held up as a beacon of progress and is the recipient of billions of dollars each year in aid from Western governments. Underpinning this shining vision of a modern orderly state, however, is a powerful climate of fear springing from the government's brutal treatment of any voice of dissent. "You cannot look and write," a policeman tells Sundaram as he takes notes at a political rally. As Sundaram's students are exiled, imprisoned, recruited as well-paid propagandists, and even shot, he tries frantically to preserve a last bastion of debate in a country where the testimony of the individual is crushed by the ways of thinking prescribed by Paul Kagame's dictatorial regime. A vivid portrait of a country at an extraordinary and dangerous place in its history, Bad News is a brilliant and urgent parable on the necessity of freedom of expression and what happens when that freedom is seized.From the Hardcover edition.
Bad News
by Anjan SundaramThe author of the acclaimed Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo now moves on to Rwanda for a gripping look at a country caught still in political and social unrest, years after the genocide that shocked the world. Bad News is the story of Anjan Sundaram's time running a journalist's training program out of Kigali, the capital city of one of Africa's most densely populated countries, Rwanda. President Kagame's regime, which seized power after the genocide that ravaged its population in 1994, is often held up as a beacon for progress and modernity in Central Africa and is the recipient of billions of dollars each year in aid from Western governments and international organizations. Lurking underneath this shining vision of a modern, orderly state, however, is the powerful climate of fear springing from the government's brutal treatment of any voice of dissent. "You can't look and write," a policeman ominously tells Sundaram, as he takes notes at a political rally. In Rwanda, the testimony of the individual--the evidence of one's own experience--is crushed by the pensée unique: the single way of thinking and speaking, proscribed by those in power. A vivid portrait of a country at an extraordinary and dangerous place in its history, Bad News is a brilliant and urgent parable on freedom of expression, and what happens when that power is seized.
Bad News: Last Journalists in a Dictatorship
by Anjan SundaramThe author of the acclaimed Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo now moves on to Rwanda for a gripping look at a country caught still in political and social unrest, years after the genocide that shocked the world. Bad News is the story of Anjan Sundaram's time running a journalist's training program out of Kigali, the capital city of one of Africa's most densely populated countries, Rwanda. President Kagame's regime, which seized power after the genocide that ravaged its population in 1994, is often held up as a beacon for progress and modernity in Central Africa and is the recipient of billions of dollars each year in aid from Western governments and international organizations. Lurking underneath this shining vision of a modern, orderly state, however, is the powerful climate of fear springing from the government's brutal treatment of any voice of dissent. "You can't look and write," a policeman ominously tells Sundaram, as he takes notes at a political rally. In Rwanda, the testimony of the individual--the evidence of one's own experience--is crushed by the pensée unique: the single way of thinking and speaking, proscribed by those in power. A vivid portrait of a country at an extraordinary and dangerous place in its history, Bad News is a brilliant and urgent parable on freedom of expression, and what happens when that power is seized.
The Bad News about the News
by Robert G. KaiserThe digital revolution has forever changed American journalism, and not for the better. Robert Kaiser, former managing editor of The Washington Post, writes in his new Brookings Essay that the changing media landscape is not only a threat to traditional news, but to the future of democracy. A news industry without a viable business model, distracted by the need to attract eyeballs and discover new revenue streams, could lose the ability to provide the balanced, comprehensive, and investigative journalism that is the lifeblood of a healthy democracy. THE BROOKINGS ESSAY: In the spirit of its commitment to high-quality, independent research, the Brookings Institution has commissioned works on major topics of public policy by distinguished authors, including Brookings scholars. The Brookings Essay is a multi-platform product aimed to engage readers in open dialogue and debate. The views expressed, however, are solely those of the author. Available in ebook only.
The Bad News about the News
by Robert G. KaiserThe digital revolution has forever changed American journalism, and not for the better. Robert Kaiser, former managing editor of The Washington Post, writes in his new Brookings Essay that the changing media landscape is not only a threat to traditional news, but to the future of democracy. A news industry without a viable business model, distracted by the need to attract eyeballs and discover new revenue streams, could lose the ability to provide the balanced, comprehensive, and investigative journalism that is the lifeblood of a healthy democracy.THE BROOKINGS ESSAY: In the spirit of its commitment to high-quality, independent research, the Brookings Institution has commissioned works on major topics of public policy by distinguished authors, including Brookings scholars. The Brookings Essay is a multi-platform product aimed to engage readers in open dialogue and debate. The views expressed, however, are solely those of the author. Available in ebook only.
Bad Tidings: Communication and Catastrophe (Routledge Communication Series)
by Lynne Masel Walters Lee Wilkins Tim WaltersFirst Published in 1993. In the 1970s, a book collecting research about the mass media and their role in disasters would have been unimaginable. This book, then, is an attempt to compile a somewhat eclectic view of research on mass communication and catastrophe. The editors have attempted to provide a sampling of the most recent empirical work on the mass media and disasters, including everything from content analysis of media reports to studies of audience response to those events.
Bad Trips: How I Went from VICE Reporter to International Drug Smuggler
by Slava PastukThe true story of a music editor at VICE who tried to become the coolest reporter the company had ever had — by becoming an international drug smuggler. In 2019, music reporter Slava P, an editor for VICE media, was sentenced to nine years in prison for recruiting friends into a scheme to smuggle cocaine from the U.S. into Australia. Five of them were already in jail. Immediately, Slava P was internationally infamous. Was he a victim of pressure to commit extreme acts for the sake of a good story? A product of a drug-obsessed work environment? Or a manipulator who pushed vulnerable young people into crime?Here, Slava P tells his side of the story: what exactly happened and how the precarious, dog-eat-dog atmosphere of a media company can lead the young, the naive, and the ambitious into taking crazy risks.Bad Trips is a story about drugs, hip-hop, influencers, and glamour, set against the backdrop of one of the world’s most influential news and entertainment sites, VICE. Its cast of beautiful young people and semi-famous rappers passes from the seediest apartments to the most elegant of private clubs. Slava P’s chronicling of his years at this famous hotbed of excess is a piercing insight into contemporary media culture.All royalties from the sale of Bad Trips go to co-author Brian Whitney.