FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by sufue

Because of Sex: One Law, Ten Cases, and Fifty Years That Changed American Women's Lives at Work, by Gillian Thomas, l ....

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0140MQUSO/
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0140MQUSO/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/because-of-sex

That looks marvelous, and the timing is perfect. Bought it - thanks!

[sufue]

Hope you like it! For that matter, I hope I like it . It's next on my TBR after I finish the final book in a fantasy series I'm reading.

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

That looks marvelous, and the timing is perfect. Bought it - thanks!

[sufue]

After reading a nice review in The Economist of the upcoming Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe by Judith Herrin, I was checking on that book when I found another book by the same author, Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire. It too sounds pretty interesting, and has 4.4 stars on more than a hundred ratings, and it's only £1.99 at Kindle UK right now. (Sadly, it's over $13 at Kindle US.)

I haven't decided whether to buy this one, given that I've already read at least three other histories of Byzantium, although I've read none on Ravenna , so will definitely keep an eye out for that to go on sale. But still Byzantium seemed worth posting, since £1.99 is a pretty good price on reasonably well-rated non-fiction.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002RI9IV0
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002RI9IV0

Spoiler:

For a thousand years an extraordinary empire made possible Europe's transition to the modern world: Byzantium. An audacious and resilient but now little known society, it combined orthodox Christianity with paganism, classical Greek learning with Roman power, to produce a great and creative civilization which for centuries held in check the armies of Islam.

Judith Herrin's concise and compelling book replaces the standard chronological approach of most histories of Byzantium. Instead, each short chapter is focused on a theme, such as a building (the great church of Hagia Sophia), a clash over religion (iconoclasm), sex and power (the role of eunuchs), an outstanding Byzantine individual (the historian Anna Komnene), a symbol of civilization (the fork), a battle for territory (the crusades). In this way she makes accessible and understandable the grand sweeps of Byzantine history, from the founding of its magnificent capital Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 330, to its fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Oh, and if you want to read the review of Herrin's upcoming book on Ravenna in The Economist, here's a link: https://www.economist.com/books-and-...ded-in-ravenna

[bookmarked]

The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits by Zeynep Ton is on sale for $1.99, regularly $5.99.

Almost one in four American working adults has a job that pays less than a living wage. Conventional wisdom says that's how the world has to work. Bad jobs with low wages, minimal benefits, little training, and chaotic schedules are the only way companies can keep costs down and prices low. If companies were to offer better jobs, customers would have to pay more or companies would have to make less.

But in The Good Jobs Strategy, Zeynep Ton, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, makes the compelling case that even in low-cost settings, leaving employees behind—with bad jobs—is a choice, not a necessity. Drawing on more than a decade of research, Ton shows how operational excellence enables companies to offer the lowest prices to customers while ensuring good jobs for their employees and superior results for their investors.

Ton describes the elements of the good jobs strategy in a variety of successful companies around the world, including Southwest Airlines, UPS, Toyota, Zappos, and In-N-Out Burger. She focuses on four model retailers—Costco, Mercadona, Trader Joe's, and QuikTrip—to demonstrate the good jobs strategy at work and reveals four choices that have transformed these companies' high investment in workers into lower costs, higher profits, and greater customer satisfaction.

Full of surprising, counterintuitive insights, the book answers questions such as: How can offering fewer products increase customer satisfaction? Why would having more employees than you need reduce costs and boost profits? How can companies simultaneously standardize work and empower employees?

The Good Jobs Strategy outlines an invaluable blueprint for any organization that wants to pursue a sustainable competitive strategy in which everyone—employees, customers, and investors—wins.

[bookmarked]

Math with Bad Drawings: Illuminating the Ideas That Shape Our Reality by Ben Orlin is on sale for $2.99, regularly $14.99.

A hilarious reeducation in mathematics-full of joy, jokes, and stick figures-that sheds light on the countless practical and wonderful ways that math structures and shapes our world.

In Math With Bad Drawings, Ben Orlin reveals to us what math actually is; its myriad uses, its strange symbols, and the wild leaps of logic and faith that define the usually impenetrable work of the mathematician.

Truth and knowledge come in multiple forms: colorful drawings, encouraging jokes, and the stories and insights of an empathetic teacher who believes that math should belong to everyone. Orlin shows us how to think like a mathematician by teaching us a brand-new game of tic-tac-toe, how to understand an economic crises by rolling a pair of dice, and the mathematical headache that ensues when attempting to build a spherical Death Star.

Every discussion in the book is illustrated with Orlin's trademark "bad drawings," which convey his message and insights with perfect pitch and clarity. With 24 chapters covering topics from the electoral college to human genetics to the reasons not to trust statistics, Math with Bad Drawings is a life-changing book for the math-estranged and math-enamored alike.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by bookmarked

Math with Bad Drawings: Illuminating the Ideas That Shape Our Reality by Ben Orlin is on sale for $2.99, regularly $14.99.

That looks delicious! Enough so that I'll risk seeing how bad the drawings are on a Kindle, and if they're dreadful, I'll read it in the kindle app on my tablet (iPad). Thanks!!!

[bookmarked]

Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick is on sale for $2.99 today only
Note: this is the Kindle Edition with Audio/Video edition.

Some may already have the less fancy edition:
Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick is at its normal price of
$11.99, though in the past it has been as low as $1.99.

For centuries, scientific thought was focused on bringing order to the natural world. But even as relativity and quantum mechanics undermined that rigid certainty in the first half of the twentieth century, the scientific community clung to the idea that any system, no matter how complex, could be reduced to a simple pattern. In the 1960s, a small group of radical thinkers began to take that notion apart, placing new importance on the tiny experimental irregularities that scientists had long learned to ignore. Miniscule differences in data, they said, would eventually produce massive ones—and complex systems like the weather, economics, and human behavior suddenly became clearer and more beautiful than they had ever been before.
In this seminal work of scientific writing, James Gleick lays out a cutting edge field of science with enough grace and precision that any reader will be able to grasp the science behind the beautiful complexity of the world around us. With more than a million copies sold, Chaos is “a groundbreaking book about what seems to be the future of physics” by a writer who has been a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, the author of Time Travel: A History and Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (Publishers Weekly).

[bookmarked]

The Joy of x: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity by Steven Strogatz is on sale for $2.99 today only.

( Another math book!)

Many people take math in high school and promptly forget much of it. But math plays a part in all of our lives all of the time, whether we know it or not. In The Joy of x, Steven Strogatz expands on his hit New York Times series to explain the big ideas of math gently and clearly, with wit, insight, and brilliant illustrations.
Whether he is illuminating how often you should flip your mattress to get the maximum lifespan from it, explaining just how Google searches the internet, or determining how many people you should date before settling down, Strogatz shows how math connects to every aspect of life. Discussing pop culture, medicine, law, philosophy, art, and business, Strogatz is the math teacher you wish you d had. Whether you aced integral calculus or aren t sure what an integer is, you ll find profound wisdom and persistent delight in The Joy of x.

"A delightful exploration of the beauty and fun of mathematics, in the best tradition of Lewis Carroll, George Gamow, and Martin Gardner. The Joy of x will entertain you, amaze you, and make you smarter." Steven Pinker, author of How the Mind Works

There are a bunch of quotes, but two stood out. Interestingly, the first is from James Gleick (see above):

"Steven Strogatz should do for math what Julia Child did for cookery. He shows that this stuff really matters, and he shows that it can nourish us."
— James Gleick, author of The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood and Chaos

The second one is from someone you may have heard of:

"Amazingly, mathematicians can see patterns in the universe that the rest of us are usually blind to. With clarity and dry wit, The Joy of x opens a window onto this hidden world with its landscapes of beauty and wonder."
— Alan Alda

[badgoodDeb]

More thanks -- that one looks intriguing too!

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by bookmarked

Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick is on sale for $2.99 today only
Note: this is the Kindle Edition with Audio/Video edition.

Some may already have the less fancy edition:
Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick is at its normal price of
$11.99, though in the past it has been as low as $1.99.

I read this is hard copy and always keep one on my shelf! Marvellous book!

[mitford13]

The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough is $3.99 on Amazon

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QXDGL6/

[bookmarked]

Get a Job!: Powerful Tips and Tools to Ace Any Interview by Ron Fry is on sale for $3.99 today. This is a 3 book bundle. The 3 separate books are currently about $36 together.

Ron Fry, the founder and president of Career Press for over three decades, is a sought after speaker, seminar leader, and expert authority on how best to prepare for the job interview process. From standout résumés to key questions and highly effective responses, Fry will show you how to get that job.

101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions: Thoroughly updated for today’s job market, this brand-new twenty-fifth anniversary edition will help you successfully prep for any interview—no matter how tough—with answers that will convince employers you are the best candidate for the position.

101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview: The interview is not over when you hear: “Do you have any questions for me?” Ron Fry shows you how to take charge of the interview process and sell the company on you while obtaining the information you need to make sure you are sold on them.

101 Great Résumés: Find the résumé format that will showcase your unique background, situation, skill sets, and career goals—and ensure you land your dream job.

[murraypaul]

Millennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom by Tom Holland is 99p at Amazon UK.

Of all the civilisations existing in the year 1000, that of Western Europe seemed the unlikeliest candidate for future greatness. Compared to the glittering empires of Byzantium or Islam, the splintered kingdoms on the edge of the Atlantic appeared impoverished, fearful and backward. But the anarchy of these years proved to be, not the portents of the end of the world, as many Christians had dreaded, but rather the birthpangs of a radically new order.

MILLENNIUM is a stunning panoramic account of the two centuries on either side of the apocalyptic year 1000. This was the age of Canute, William the Conqueror and Pope Gregory VII, of Vikings, monks and serfs, of the earliest castles and the invention of knighthood, and of the primal conflict between church and state. The story of how the distinctive culture of Europe - restless, creative and dynamic - was forged from out of the convulsions of these extraordinary times is as fascinating and as momentous as any in history.

[WillAdams]

Why Knot?: How to Tie More than Sixty Ingenious, Useful, Beautiful, Lifesaving, and Secure Knots!
by Philippe Petit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IF3UOQ4

[bookmarked]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Why Knot?: How to Tie More than Sixty Ingenious, Useful, Beautiful, Lifesaving, and Secure Knots!
by Philippe Petit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IF3UOQ4

Shows up at $2.99 for me.