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Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
Would you be surprised that road rage can be good for society? Or that most crashes happen on sunny, dry days? That our minds can trick us into thinking the next lane is moving faster? Or that you can gauge a nation’s driving behavior by its levels of corruption? These are only a few of the remarkable dynamics that Tom Vanderbilt explores in this fascinating tour through the mysteries of the road.
Based on exhaustive research and interviews with driving experts and traffic officials around the globe, Traffic gets under the hood of the everyday activity of driving to uncover the surprisingly complex web of physical, psychological, and technical factors that explain how traffic works, why we drive the way we do, and what our driving says about us. Vanderbilt examines the perceptual limits and cognitive underpinnings that make us worse drivers than we think we are. He demonstrates why plans to protect pedestrians from cars often lead to more accidents. He shows how roundabouts, which can feel dangerous and chaotic, actually make roads safer—and reduce traffic in the bargain. He uncovers who is more likely to honk at whom, and why. He explains why traffic jams form, outlines the unintended consequences of our quest for safety, and even identifies the most common mistake drivers make in parking lots.
The car has long been a central part of American life; whether we see it as a symbol of freedom or a symptom of sprawl, we define ourselves by what and how we drive. As Vanderbilt shows, driving is a provocatively revealing prism for examining how our minds work and the ways in which we interact with one another. Ultimately, Traffic is about more than driving: it’s about human nature. This book will change the way we see ourselves and the world around us. And who knows? It may even make us better drivers. .
Price: $14.88
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The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti (Nal Accent Novels)
The coast of Southern France sparkles in this sexy, mature, and engaging debut novel.Lily has come to southern France in search of a new perspective, hoping that the sun’s soft rays and the fragrant sea breezes will provide a relaxing respite from the demands of her lively daughter and her family’s Idaho cattle ranch. Two years after her husband’s sudden death, in the house that’s been in his family for generations, she finally finds some stolen weeks to make sense of the past. To Madame Olivetti—her cranky old manual typewriter—Lily entrusts all her secrets, pounding out the story of the men she loved, the betrayals she endured, the losses she still regrets. And with the companionship of Yves, the seductive handyman who comes by to make repairs, Lily comes closer to understanding her exhilarating past—and to discovering she has a new story to tell—one about the delights of starting over..
Price: $5.66
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Fortune's Children
Vanderbilt: the very name signifies wealth. The family patriarch, "the Commodore," built up a fortune that made him the world's richest man by 1877. Yet, less than fifty years after the Commodore's death, one of his direct descendants died penniless, and no Vanderbilt was counted among the world's richest people. Fortune's Children tells the dramatic story of all the amazingly colorful spenders who dissipated such a vast inheritance. 32 pages of photographs..
Price: $11.12
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Tycoon's War: How Cornelius Vanderbilt Invaded a Country to Overthrow America's Most Famous Military Adventurer
When he died in 1877, Cornelius Vanderbilt, founder of the Vanderbilt dynasty, was wealthier than the U.S. Treasury But he had nearly lost his fortune in 1856, when William Walker, a young Nashville genius, set out to conquer Central America and, in the process, take away Vanderbilt’s most profitable shipping business. To win back his empire, Vanderbilt had to win a bloody war involving seven countries. Tycoon’s War tells the story of an epic imperialist duel—a violent battle of capitalist versus idealist, money versus ambition—and a monumental clash of egos that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Americans. Written by a master storyteller, this incredible true story, impeccably researched and never before told in full, is packed with greed, intrigue, and some of the most hair-raising battle scenes ever written. .
Price: $11.94
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Pioneers of Cardiac Surgery
Heart operations today are quite common and relatively low-risk, but in the beginning it was just the opposite Cardiac operations were reserved for desperately ill patients. The author documents this dramatic transition with profiles of 38 surgeons, active between 1940 and 1985, who tell of the development of new techniques such as the "blue baby operation," the first heart-lung machine, the first artificial heart valve, and the first coronary bypass operation. They also tell the unusual life stories of the surgeons and allude to professional and institutional rivalries..
Price: $109.36
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The Vanderbilts
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Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
The first modern biography of an American financial giant. Using previously unreleased archives, Edward J. Renehan Jr. narrates the compelling life of Cornelius Vanderbilt: willful progenitor of modern American business. Vanderbilt made his initial fortune building ferry and cargo routes for sailing vessels. Then he moved into steamboats and railroads. With the New York Central, Vanderbilt established the nation's first major integrated rail system, linking New York with Boston, Montreal, Chicago, and St. Louis. At the same time, he played a key role in establishing New York as the financial center of the United States. When he died in 1877, Vanderbilt left a fortune that, in today's dollars, would dwarf that of even Bill Gates. Off Wall Street, Vanderbilt was a hard-drinking egotist and whoremonger devoid of manners or charity. He disinherited most of his numerous children and received an editorial rebuke from Mark Twain for his lack of public giving. Commodore sheds startling new light on many aspects of Vanderbilt's business and private life including, most notably, the revelation that advancedstage syphilis marred his last years. This is the definitive biography of a man whose influence on American life and commerce towers over all who followed him..
Price: $9.93
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The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette : 50th Anniversary Edition
The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette is the most authoritative book of its kind. Filled with practical advice for every occasion, business and pleasure, this book ensures that all of your social interactions will be handled with grace and confidence. This classic guide, first published in 1952, has been fully updated to reflect the concerns of the modern reader. The advice that has made Amy Vanderbilt the first name in etiquette remains pertinent today. Here is the final word on buying and using stationery, responding to dinner invitations, hosting a party, and attending religious ceremonies. The chapter of the most enduring popularity is, of course, the one on weddings. From addressing invitations to sending thank you notes, everything a bride needs to plan the perfect wedding is easily accessible. In addition to the time-honored guidance that has made this book a treasured reference, this updated edition contains information that addresses modern concerns of every kind. Here is advice on answering cellular phone calls in public, behaving courteously at the gym, and speaking at business meetings. Whether you need to compose an invitation, write a letter of condolence, address your senator, set a dinner table, or buy a gift for a foreign business associate, you will find The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette practical, down-to-earth, and always reliable. Updated and revised by former White House Staff Coordinator Nancy Tuckerman and respected businesswoman Nancy Dunnan, this trusted book remains the most complete and authoritative guide to living well..
Price: $7.99
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Becoming a Visible Man
Written by a leading activist in the transgender movement, Becoming a Visible Man is an artful and compelling inquiry into the politics of gender. Jamison Green combines candid autobiography with informed analysis to offer unique insight into the multiple challenges of the female-to-male transsexual experience, ranging from encounters with prejudice and strained relationships with family to the development of an FTM community and the realities of surgical sex reassignment. For more than a decade, Green has provided educational programs on gender-variance issues for corporations, law-enforcement agencies, social-science conferences and classes, continuing legal education, religious education, and medical venues. His comprehensive knowledge of the processes and problems encountered by transgendered and transsexual people—as well as his legal advocacy work to help ensure that gender-variant people have access to the same rights and opportunities as others—enable him to explain the issues as no transsexual author has previously done. Brimming with frank and often poignant recollections of Green's own experiences—including his childhood struggles with identity and his years as a lesbian parent prior to his sex-reassignment surgery—the book examines transsexualism as a human condition, and sex reassignment as one of the choices that some people feel compelled to make in order to manage their gender variance. Relating the FTM psyche and experience to the social and political forces at work in American society, Becoming a Visible Man also speaks consciously of universal principles that concern us all, particularly the need to live one’s life honestly, openly, and passionately. Best Book in Transgender Studies, 2005 Winner, Center for Lesbian & Gay Studies (CLAGS), NY 2005 Lambda Literary Award Finalist .
Price: $14.81
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