Includes 350 illustrations and full-color photographsStar Product Designers offers an insider's look at the best product designers working today. With the goal of eliminating the need for instruction manuals, every designer in this book endeavors to create products that are user-friendly, efficient, and beautiful.Perfect for both the amateur designer as well as the most accomplished and anyone else in between this comprehensive compendium reveals the design process, from concept to finished product, of some of the most innovative products on the market today. Featuring a wealth of concept sketches, profiles of the leading designers and design firms, and gorgeous, full-color photographs of the products themselves, this book is a must-have for anyone interested in understanding product design and the creative design process.

In 1919, the Boston Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees to finance a Broadway show. In 1968, NBC turned off the Jets-Raiders game with only seconds left to show the made-for-TV movie Heidi. In 1994, Tonya Harding decided the best way to win Olympic gold was by taking out Nancy Kerrigan's kneecap. In all of these situations, and many, many more, there is just one question fans can ask: What were they thinking?!In these pages, sportswriter and fellow fan Kyle Garlett recounts the top sports blunders that made you tear out your hair, beat your chest in agony, and yell at the TV until your neighbors called the cops. Whether it's boneheaded coaches, idiotic general managers, or temporarily insane players, every fan has seen his team go from the brink of victory to total defeat for no logical reason. Whether it's baseball, football, golf, hockey, or any other sport, you'll discover what really happened during these painful moments and why they ended up the unbelievable way they did.

Whether you're a first-time gardener or a veteran, you'll find something to inspire you in this beautifully written book that reveals the myriad ways in which working in a garden can enhance your life and deepen your connection to the world.Season by season, Diane Dreher leads you through a journey of peace and renewal. A monthly set of gardening tasks helps you plan, design, and care for your garden, along with illuminating details of gardening history, lore, and tradition. But here you'll also find ways to tend your own inner garden: how to plant seeds of ideas and dreams, weed out bad habits, and design new challenges one step at a time. Brimming with life-enhancing strategies and filled with words of wisdom that will invigorate your spirit, Inner Gardening is a book to treasure and use every day, indoors and out.

On the night of Monday, May 4, 1998, in Vatican territory, the bodies of the commander of the Swiss Guard, his wife, and a young lance corporal were found in the barracks of the picturesque force entrusted with protecting the pope. It was the worst bloodbath to take place in more than a century in the heart of the supreme authority of the world's one billion Catholics. Four hours later, the Vatican announced that the lance corporal, twenty-three-year-old Cdric Tornay, had shot the couple, then committed suicide in "a fit of madness" brought on by frustration with the unit's discipline -- a conclusion it reaffirmed after a nine-month internal inquiry.But as John Follain's hard-hitting expose shows, the official report was a travesty, a tissue of suppositions, contradictions, and omissions. Based on an exhaustive three-year investigation, City of Secrets reveals how the Vatican, the oldest and most secretive autocracy in the world, staged an elaborate plot to obstruct justice -- and hide the scandals it dared not confess.

Delaney Westcott is a beautiful career woman in a man's world. Owner and chief asset of a personal security business -- where she guards the rich and famous from the unwanted attention of friends and enemies -- she can take care of herself. Except for the one time she didn't: when she fell headlong for handsome cowboy Jared McCallister, a man she couldn't have.After it ended suddenly, Delaney threw herself into her work with a fury and intensity calculated to erase every other thought from her mind. And she promised that she'd never let any man touch her so deeply again. Ever.But when Delaney finds herself in Jared's hometown of Aspen, Colorado, on a dangerous job, she begins to wonder if she is strong enough to refuse him a second time...

The legendary New York Yankees catcher tells the incredible and unexpected story of his career, his past, and the father-son bond that fueled his love of the gameFor seventeen seasons, the name Jorge Posada was synonymous with New York Yankees baseball. A fixture behind home plate throughout the Yankees' biggest successes, Jorge worked tirelessly to become the Yankees' star catcher, and in the years that followed, his accomplishments, work ethic, and leadership established him as one of the greatest Yankees ever to wear pinstripes.Now, in this long-awaited memoir, Jorge details his road to home plate, sharing a remarkable generational account of his journey from the ball fields of Puerto Rico to the House That Ruth Built. Offering a view from behind the mask unlike any other, Jorge discusses the key moments, great plays, and big-league personalities that marked Yankees baseball for a generation. With pitch-by-pitch recall, he looks back across the years, going inside friendships forged on the field and explaining how as part of the Core Four alongside Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera he helped to reestablish the Yankees as a dynasty and win five World Series. Along the way he tells a story of how his team, along with manager Joe Torre, became his home away from home, teaching him that family isn't defined by blood, but by the people who supported him through it all. Going beyond his all-star career, Jorge also shares his life in full for the first time. Examining how his path to the big leagues began in the most unexpected of ways, Jorge digs into his cultural roots in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba to illuminate three generations of cherished father-son relationships that have made him the man he is today. At the center is the deep bond he shares with his father and namesake, Jorge Sr., who escaped Cuba and helped to mold his son into a ballplayer, honing his talent and instilling in him the drive necessary to fulfill his childhood dream of playing in the Bronx.More than just a baseball story, The Journey Home is a tale of two families the inspiring yet challenging family Jorge was born into, and the adoptive Yankees family that catapulted him to glory. Complete with sixteen pages of color photographs, this touching and earnest memoir is a testament to hard work, brotherhood, and the generational gift of baseball between fathers and sons.

A collection of thrilling new and beloved past work from one of America's most celebrated poets, Eileen Myles, a cult icon and modern favoriteEileen Myles's poetry and prose are known for their blend of reality and fiction, the sublime and the ephemeral, in which Myles not only lets her readers peer into existent places, like the East Village in her iconic Chelsea Girls, but also lifts them into dreams, imbuing the landscapes of her writing with the vividness and energy of fantasy.I Must Be Living Twice brings selections from the poet's previous work together with a set of bold new poems, through which Myles continues to refine her sardonic, unapologetic, and fiercely intellectual literary voice. Steeped in the culture of New York City, Myles's stomping grounds and the home of her most well-known work, she provides a wide-open lens into a radical life.

An innovative new take on the travel guide, Rice, Noodle, Fish decodes Japan's extraordinary food culture through a mix of in-depth narrative and insider advice, along with 195 color photographs. In this five-thousand-mile journey through the noodle shops, tempura temples, and teahouses of Japan, Matt Goulding, co-creator of the enormously popular Eat This, Not That! book series, navigates the intersection of food, history, and culture, creating one of the most ambitious and complete books ever compiled from the Western perspective about the Japanese culinary landscape. Written in the same evocative voice that drives the award-winning magazine Roads & Kingdoms, Rice, Noodle, Fish explores Japan's most intriguing culinary disciplines in seven key regions, from the kaiseki tradition of Kyoto and the sushi masters of Tokyo to the street food of Osaka and the ramen culture of Fukuoka. You won't find hotel recommendations or bus schedules; you will find a brilliant narrative that interweaves immersive food journalism with intimate portraits of the cities and the people who shape Japan's food world. This is not your typical travel guide. Rice, Noodle, Fish is a rare blend of inspiration and information, perfect for the intrepid journeyman and armchair traveler alike. Combining literary storytelling, indispensable insider information, and world-class design and photography, the result is the first-ever guidebook for the new age of culinary tourism.

From actress Sanaa Lathan to Georgia State Supreme Court chief justice Leah Ward Sears, many African-American women attribute much of their success to having a positive father figure In Daughters of Men, author Rachel Vassel has compiled dozens of stunning photographs and compelling personal essays about African-American women and their fathers. Whether it's a father who mentors his daughter's artistic eye by taking her to cultural events or one who unwaveringly supports a risky career move, the fathers in this book each had his own unique and successful style of parenting. The first book to showcase the importance of the black father's impact on the accomplishments of his daughter, Daughters of Men provides an intimate look at black fatherhood and the many ways fathers have a lasting impact on their daughters' lives.

In this explosive expose, bestselling author Kenneth Timmerman gives us the real story of what happened in Benghazi, and the lengths to which the Obama administration has gone to hide the truth from the American people.Forget what you've heard: the September 11, 2012, attack on U.S. Government Compounds in Benghazi, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including our ambassador, was not a spontaneous demonstration. Nor was it planned by local militias.It was a state-sponsored terrorist attack with Iranian fingerprints all over it.What's more, the Obama administration knew from the first minutes of the attack that the compound had been targeted by an organized, professionally trained terrorist group. But the administration made up a ridiculous cover story about a nonexistent demonstration over an Internet movie in an attempt to fool the American public on the eve of a national election. The Iran-Contra scandal consumed Ronald Reagan's second term and nearly destroyed his presidency. Yet as bad as that was, what happened in Benghazi is much worse. As Ken Timmerman reveals in Dark Forces, the Benghazi affair will go down as the deepest, darkest, dirtiest political scandal of recent American history. And for all the coverage it has received, the real story has still not been told. It's a story of clandestine arms deliveries to Libyan rebels that wound up in the hands of Islamist guerrillas allied with al Qaeda. It's a story of a romantic American diplomat who gets caught up in a whirlwind beyond his comprehension or control. It's a story of bald-faced lies, heroic acts, and the deepest corruption. Dark Forces is much more than a retelling of what happened in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. It puts those events into the larger context of the Obama administration's policy toward the Middle East from Iran to the Arab Spring. It examines the administration's record of systematically supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda affiliated groups in their efforts to overthrow pro-U.S. autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. It shows how this went along with the administration's outreach to the Islamist regime in Iran. It argues that President Obama's obsessive outreach to the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran led the Iranian regime to dismiss him as a weak, ineffective leader who would not fight back when hit. And it reveals why and how this deadly combination cost the lives of four Americans, and today endangers thousands more.Written with the breakneck pacing of a political thriller, and drawing on exclusive research and privileged sources, Dark Forces tells the full story of Benghazi as you have never heard it before.

Hal Rubenstein, author of the bestselling 100 Unforgettable Dresses, explores the union of love and fashion in fifty fully illustrated, entertaining stories highlighting landmark moments in style.This gorgeous anthology examines the marriage of love and style in fashion, film and television, music, politics and royalty, and advertising in contemporary culture. From extraordinary runway shows like Alexander McQueen's stunning dance-marathon presentation inspired by the film They Shoot Horses, Don't Theyto shoulder-pad-clad Krystle and Alexis Carrington's jealous catfights on Dynasty, from all eight of Elizabeth Taylor's wedding ensembles to the gleaming, entwined nude bodies in Calvin Klein's first ad campaign for Obsession, every entry addresses the concept and entertaining backstory of each significant stop along our cultural timeline, elaborating on its influences and design details as well as its contribution to fashion and sway in popular culture. Rubenstein also includes stories and quotations from more than a dozen world-class designers and commercial artisans interviewed especially for the book. Travel to Paris to experience some of the greatest fashion shows in history, including Marc Jacobs's Louis Vuitton Express and John Galliano's extravaganza for Christian Dior at the Palais Garnier. Discover the secrets about the making of director Baz Luhrmann's $30 million short film for Chanel No 5, starring Nicole Kidman. Go behind the scenes in Vera Wang's studio to learn the real story of the unforgettable yellow gown Michelle Williams wore to the Academy Awards, when she and Heath Ledger were Hollywood's "It" couple. Examine the world's ongoing romance with James Dean and his black motorcycle jacket, how Doris Day's sex comedies made her a pioneer of women's liberation, and why Woodstock lives on in bohemian style.With its delightful anecdotes, captivating facts, insider's perspective on fashion, and lots of pop-culture dish, The Looks of Love is an informative, entertaining read for anyone who loves fashion, film and music, celebrity, and a tug or two at the heart.With 225 full-color and black-and-white photographs

The United States has survived clueless presidential administrations before. But no matter how enormous the crisis -- the Great Depression, Vietnam, Watergate, Monica Lewinsky's thong -- America's always come out looking like, well, America.This time, however, something's different. Things aren't just screwed up; they're f&#!$d up beyond all recognition. Wel-come to F.U.B.A.R., a hilarious and scathing satire of the American Right's bad behavior, by the creators of Air America's Majority Report. If you're a liberal who's somehow not panicked over the state of our Union, or if you're a Republican who's just having voter's remorse, or if you think what's happening to the country is just politics as usual, F.U.B.A.R. will open your eyes to our current national nightmare. With completely unfair and unbalanced analysis, authors Sam Seder and Stephen Sherrill take readers on a whirlwind tour of what's left of the United States, exposing the truth about the Right's blueprint for total domination -- over your money, your mind, your sex life, and even your place in the afterlife (yes, they have a plan for that, too).Along the way, they'll answer your most pressing questions, like: I'm gay. Can I still be a RepublicanDo I need to own my own congressman, or is a time share okayIs New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman's mustache, in fact, the sign of the BeastI thought we ran the media. What happenedFinally, Seder and Sherrill offer a helpful and hopeful vision for a future that remarkably doesn't look like a cross between the Matrix and Mayberry. F.U.B.A.R. is the wake-up call America has been waiting to receive -- and it will probably be wiretapped.

His historic career as an aviator made Charles Lindbergh one of the most famous men of the twentieth century, the subject of best-selling biographies and a hit movie, as well as the inspiration for a dance step the Lindy Hop that he himself was too shy to try. But for all the attention lavished on Lindbergh, one story has remained untold until now: his macabre scientific collaboration with Dr. Alexis Carrel. This oddest of couples one a brilliant Nobel Prize-winning surgeon turned social engineer, the other a failed dirt farmer turned hero of the skies joined forces in 1930 driven by a shared and secret dream: to conquer death and attain immortality. Part Frankenstein, part The Professor and the Madman, and all true, The Immortalists is the remarkable story of how two men of prodigious achievement and equally large character flaws challenged nature's oldest rule, with consequences personal, professional, and political that neither man anticipated.

In the tradition of the acclaimed graphic memoirs Fun Home and Persepolis comes a funny, insightful, and deeply moving book about learning to appreciate what we have when we can't seem to get what we want. For Phoebe Potts, the path to maternal fulfillment has not been easy. All her friends seem to get pregnant, but she can't conceive for all her trying. As Phoebe and her husband, Jeff, navigate the emotionally and physically fraught world of fertility experts, she takes stock of what matters in the rest of her life and reflects on the winding journey to her true calling as an artist. From her days as an amateur union organizer in Texas to her spiral into paralyzing depression in Mexico; from her soul-shrinking, all-for-the-benefits stint as an administrative assistant at a fancy university in Cambridge to her flirtation with rabbinical school, Phoebe illuminates the bumpy road to vocational and personal contentment. Her wonderful, hilarious, and utterly original drawings capture the truly good eggs an unforgettably nutty mother; a devoted husband; a team of therapists, hairdressers, and landladies; friends; and a sidekick housecat that together expand the definition of what really makes a family.

The vibrant and beloved star of Once and Again and Sisters offers a story about her journey home to recapture the magic of youth in the deep South for her children and to make peace with the death of her mother.?At a time when much of America is yearning to recapture the spirit and feelings of a more innocent era, comes the paperback edition of this exceptional book, from one of our most beloved actresses: a story of one woman's journey to reconnect with the landscape of her childhood. Though best known today as the star of the television series Once Again and Sisters, Sela Ward considers herself first and foremost a small-town girl. The eldest of four children, she was raised by a father who helped her believe in herself, and by a mother who taught her a sense of the importance of virtues like self-respect, grace, and sacrifice. In her hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, within a tightly-knit community of neighbors and kin, Sela learned ways that would remain with her throughout life humble virtues that were forged in the hearth of a loving home.Long after she had established herself as a successful model and Emmy Award winning actress, Sela started her own family, and found herself pining for the comforts of her small-town childhood. In an effort to balance her children's West Coast upbringing with a taste of a more natural way of life, she and her husband built a second home on a farm in Meridian, Mississippi so that her family could retreat there several times each year.Even as Sela was reconnecting with the rhythms of home, though, her world was rocked by a crisis the family had long anticipated but never quite prepared for the death of her mother. As her family gathered around her mama's bedside, Sela's simple journey home became something far deeper: a turning point in her own life, as she pondered her mother's complicated legacy, and came to terms with just what it was she herself was searching for.Filled with warmth, storytelling, and laughter, Homesick is a book to treasure: an exploration of the lessons we carry away with us from childhood, and a celebration of the bittersweet legacy of home.

Palm Beach is known around the world as the most wealthy, glamorous, opulent, decadent, self-indulgent, sinful spot on earth. With their beautiful 3.75 square-island constantly in the media glare, Palm Beachers protect their impossibly rich society from outside scrutiny with vigilant police, ubiquitous personal security staffs, and screens of tall hedges encircling every mansion.To this bizarre suspicious, exclusive world, New York Times bestselling author Ronald Kessler brought his charm, insight, and award-winning investigative skills, and came to know Palm Beach, its celebrated and powerful residents, and its exotic social rituals as no outside writer ever has. In this colorful, entertaining, and compulsively readable book. Kessler reveals the inside story of Palm Beach society as it moves languidly through the summer months, quickens in the fall, and shifts into frenetic high speed as the season begins in December, peaks in January and February, and continues into April.When unimaginable wealth combines with unlimited leisure time oil an island barely three times the size of New York's Central Park, human foibles and desires, lust and greed, passion and avarice, become magnified and intensified. Like laboratory rats fed growth hormones, the 9,800 Palm Beach residents 87 percent of whom are millionaires exhibit the most outlandish extremes of their breed.To tell the story, Kessler follows four Palm Beachers through the season. These four characters the reigning queen of Palm Beach society, the night manager of Palm Beach's trendiest bar, a gay "walker" who escorts wealthy women to balls, and a thirty six-year-old gorgeous blonde who says she "can't find a guy in Palm Beach" know practically everyone on the island and tell what goes on behind the scenes.Interweaving the yarns of these unfor-gettable figures with the lifestyle, history, scandals, lore, and rituals of a unique island of excess, The Season creates a powerful, seamless, juicy narrative that no novelist could dream up.

February 6, 2011, marks the one hundredth anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth. Known as "the Great Communicator," Ronald Reagan combined the best of small-town values and remarkable virtues with the eloquence and charm that came from a life spent in the public eye. From his early days, Reagan was a leader, whether saving lives as a lifeguard or demonstrating for students' rights as a college undergraduate. His career as a sports broadcaster and later as a leading man in Hollywood paved the way for a career in politics. As governor of California, Reagan earned the respect of world leaders and the American public. But it was as president of the United States that his strength of character, leadership, and love of country were best displayed. His eight years in the Oval Office ushered in remarkable change domestically and brought international peace, prosperity, and freedom.A visual celebration of all that is Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan: 100 Years is the official centennial publication for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Inspiring and uplifting, it is a fitting homage to one of America's greatest legends. A foreword by former Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr., distinguished politician and personal friend of the Reagans, completes this handsome volume, making it a must-have nostalgic tribute to the life and times of the man who led our nation and inspired the world.

Evidence of the Afterlife shares the firsthand accounts of people who have died and lived to tell about it. Through their work at the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, radiation oncologist Jeffrey Long and his wife, Jody, have gathered thousands of accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) from all over the world. In addition to sharing the personal narrative of their experiences, visitors to the website are asked to fill out a one hundred item questionnaire designed to isolate specific elements of the experience and to flag counterfeit accounts.The website has become the largest NDE research database in the world, containing over 1,600 NDE accounts. The people whose stories are captured in the database span all age groups, races, and religious affiliations and come from all over the world, yet the similarities in their stories are as awe-inspiring as they are revealing. Using this treasure trove of data, Dr. Long explains how medical evidence fails to explain these reports and why there is only one plausible explanation that people have survived death and traveled to another dimension.

Intended as a comprehensive resource for designers, creative professionals, marketers, and retailers, The Big Book of Packaging contains 384 pages of the most innovative packaging designs from around the world. With over 500 featured designs and profiles of twelve of the world's leading designers, the book is a must-have resource for anyone interested in the future of packaging and design. In light of the recent lift in environmental consciousness, this volume of the Big Book Series will devote one third of its content to the increasingly important subject of green packaging-showing designers and retailers how to package their products creatively, responsibly, and at low cost, factors that will be reflected in the books own packaging/binding as well.The Big Book of Packaging will appeal to designers, students, marketers, retailers, and aesthetes alike, providing a thorough look at what goes into building an effective package and how to think "outside the box."

A collection of eighty all new poems, Acolytes is distinctly Nikki Giovanni, but different. Not softened, but more inspired by love, celebration, memories and even nostalgia. She aims her intimate and sparing words at family and friends, the deaths of heroes and friends, favorite meals and candy, nature, libraries, and theatre. But in between, the deep and edgy conscience that has defined her for decades shines through when she writes about Rosa Parks, hurricane Katrina, and Emmett Till's disappearance, leaving no doubt that Nikki has not traded one approach for another, but simply made room for both.

On the morning of April 2, 1865, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, received a telegram from General Robert E. Lee. There is no more time the Yankees are coming, it warned. Shortly before midnight, Davis boarded a train from Richmond and fled the capital, setting off an intense and thrilling chase in which Union cavalry hunted the Confederate president. Two weeks later, President Lincoln was assassinated, and the nation was convinced that Davis was involved in the conspiracy that led to the crime. Lincoln's murder, autopsy, and White House funeral transfixed the nation. His final journey began when soldiers placed his corpse aboard a special train that would carry him home on the 1,600-mile trip to Springfield. Along the way, more than a million Americans looked upon their martyr's face, and several million watched the funeral train roll by. It was the largest and most magnificent funeral pageant in American history.To the Union, Davis was no longer merely a traitor. He became a murderer, a wanted man with a $100,000 bounty on his head. Davis was hunted down and placed in captivity, the beginning of an intense and dramatic odyssey that would transform him into a martyr of the South's Lost Cause. The saga that began with Manhunt continues with the suspenseful and electrifying Bloody Crimes. James Swanson masterfully weaves together the stories of two fallen leaders as they made their last expeditions through the bloody landscape of a wounded nation.