Here is a fresh perspective on the last tumultuous years of the Soviet Union and an exquisitely poetic travelogue.With a keen grasp of Russia's history, a deep appreciation for its architecture and iconography, and an inexhaustible enthusiasm for its people and its culture, Colin Thubron is the perfect guide to a country most of us will never get to know firsthand. Here, we can walk down western Russia's country roads, rest in its villages, and explore some of the most engaging cities in the world. Beautifully written and infinitely insightful, Among the Russians is vivid, compelling travel writing that will also appeal to readers of history and current events and to anyone captivated by the shape and texture of one of the world's most enigmatic culture.

The darkly graceful poems in Mark Doty's seventh collection explore the ways in which we are educated by the implacable powers of time and desire. The world constantly renews itself, and the new brings both possibility and erasure. Given the limits of our own bodies, how are we to live within the inevitability of despair?This is the plainest of Doty's books, its language stripped and humbled. But whatever depths are sounded in these poems, their humane and open music sustains. Art itself instructs us. Lucian Freud's startling renditions of human skin, Virginia Woolf's ecstatic depiction of consciousness, Caravaggio's only-too-real people elevated to difficult glory -- all turn the light of human intelligence upon "the night of time."Formally inventive, warm, at once witty and disconsolate, School of the Arts represents a poet reinventing his own voice at midlife, finding a way through a troubled passage. Acutely attentive, insistently alive, this is a book of "fierce vulnerability."

How to be cool when you're afraid you've forgotten how . . . Sure, you can try to stay younger by exercising, coloring your hair, and wearing stylish clothes but how do you respond when someone asks, "Do you Twitter?" How Not to Act Old gives you simple ways to come back from over the hill and to act as young as you look.Covering everything from old-people entertainment (cancel that dinner party!) to old-people communication (it's called a "voice mail," not a "message," and no one leaves or listens to them anyway), Pamela Redmond Satran decodes the behaviors, viewpoints, and cultural touchstones that separate you from the hip young person you wish you still were. This irreverent guide is essential for anyone who doesn't want to embarrass their kids or themselves.

You've met the Italian mobin The Godfather, now welcometo the real-life world of IrishAmerica's own murderous clanof organized crime The man who has remained silent for more than a decade finally speaks, revealing the gritty true story of his life inside the infamous South Boston Irish mob led by the elusive, Machiavellian kingpin Whitey Bulger, who to this day remains on the lam as one of the world's Ten Most Wanted criminals, second only to Osama bin Laden.John "Red" Shea was a top lieutenant in the South Boston Irish mob, rising to this position at the age of twenty-one. Thus began his tutelage under the notorious Irish godfather James "Whitey" Bulger. An ice-cold enforcer with a legendary red-hot temper, Shea was a legend among his Southie peers in the 1980s. From the first delivery truck he robbed at thirteen to the start of his twelve-year federal sentence for drug trafficking at twenty-seven, Shea was a portrait in American crime -- a terror, brutal and ruthlessly ambitious. Drug dealer, loan shark, money launderer, and multimillion-dollar narcotics kingpin, Shea was at the pinnacle of power -- until the feds came knocking and eventually obliterated the legendary mob in a well-orchestrated sweep of arrests, fueled by insider tips to the FBI and DEA. While Bulger's other top men turned informant to save their own hides, Shea alone kept his code of honor and his mouth shut -- loyalty that earned him a dozen years of hard time even as the man he was protecting turned out to be, himself, a rat. For in the end, in a remarkable show of betrayal, Bulger turned out to be the FBI's "main man" and top informant -- tipping off the feds for decades while still managing to operate one of the most murderous and profitable organized crime outfits of all time.In Rat Bastards, Shea brings that mysterious world and gritty urban Irish American street culture into sharp focus by telling his own story -- of his fatherless upbringing, his apprenticeship on the tough streets of Southie, and his love affair with trouble, boxing, and then the gangster life. In prose that is refreshingly honest, personal, and surprisingly tender, Shea tells his harrowing, unflinching, and unapologetic story. A man who did the crime, did the time, and held fast to the Irish code of silence, which he was raised to follow at any cost, Shea remains a man of honor and in doing so has become a living legend. One of the last of a dying breed, a true stand-up guy.Shea expects no forgiveness and makes no excuses for the life he chose. His story is intense, compelling, and in your face.

The Apollo lunar missions of the 1960s and 1970s have been called the last optimistic acts of the twentieth century. Twelve astronauts made this greatest of all journeys and were indelibly marked by it, for better or for worse. Journalist Andrew Smith tracks down the nine surviving members of this elite group to find their answers to the question "Where do you go after you've been to the Moon?"A thrilling blend of history, reportage, and memoir, Moondust rekindles the hopeful excitement of an incandescent hour in America's past and captures the bittersweet heroism of those who risked everything to hurl themselves out of the known world -- and who were never again quite able to accept its familiar bounds.

Based on over twenty-five years of spirit communication and thousands of professional readings, world-famous medium James Van Praagh shares with readers the personal regrets, misgivings, remorse, and, most important, the advice of the dead who have chosen him as a medium. These spirits have a great deal to say about what they have learned and discovered on the other side and how we, the living, can benefit from their experiences.Unfinished Business is filled with shocking and emotional stories of Van Praagh's communication with loved ones who cross over the barrier between the living and the dead to send messages to those whom they have left behind. Through these pro-found true stories, Van Praagh guides us on an adventure into the spirit world. The lessons for the living that he has learned from these experiences range from the dangers of emotional baggage caused by guilt, fear, and regret to the importance of karma, forgiveness, and taking responsibility for our actions. Van Praagh shares with us now the wisdom that, without him, we would only gain after death.Van Praagh writes: "When people shed their physical bodies at death, their spiritual selves see life from a whole new perspective. It's as if they had Lasik surgery. They can finally take off their glasses and see everything more clearly. "Spirits understand why certain situations had to happen. They are able to recognize the value of others, even their enemies, and what they had to learn from them. They also realize how they could have skipped certain mistakes by not letting their egos get in the way. After crossing into the light, spirits are ever eager to share their newfound knowledge with the living, and I am fortunate to be a beneficiary of spirits' wisdom and guidance, and I am happy to share their insights with you."

60 practical recipes that help you gain expertise with Docker networking and understand the underlying constructs that make it all work About This Book Enhance your Docker networking skills and protect your organization using advanced networking functions Learn how to use third party tools to extend Docker networking This practical and recipe-based book demonstrates the different ways in which you can network containers leveraging the Docker engine. Who This Book Is For The book is for system administrators as well as developers who are well versed with the concepts of Docker and have basic knowledge of Docker networking. You should also have sound knowledge of networking in general. What You Will Learn Configure Linux networking primitives used by Docker networking Build and deploy user-defined Docker networks Examine the different options for resolving and linking containers Implement custom networks for Docker to consume Discover third-party networking plugins such as Weave and Flannel Work through solutions to secure Docker containers and networks Observe methodologies for troubleshooting container networks Explore advanced and experimental Docker networking features In Detail Networking functionality in Docker has changed considerably since its first release, evolving to offer a rich set of built-in networking features, as well as an extensible plugin model allowing for a wide variety of networking functionality. This book explores Docker networking capabilities from end to end. Begin by examining the building blocks used by Docker to implement fundamental containing networking before learning how to consume built-in networking constructs as well as custom networks you create on your own. Next, explore common third-party networking plugins, including detailed information on how these plugins inter-operate with the Docker engine. Consider available options for securing container networks, as well as a process for troubleshooting container connectivity. Finally, examine advanced Docker networking functions and their relevant use cases, tying together everything you need to succeed with your own projects. Style and approach This practical recipe-based book will take readers to next level of Docker networking. It covers relevant use cases and the advanced features of Docker

Build exhilarating gaming experiences using a wide range of game elements in Unity 5.x About This Book Achieve your goals in a fun-filled way by creating gamification projects from scratch Leverage the Unity 5.X toolkit to create stunning and appealing projects Make your transition towards a pro project manager/ developer by learning tricks and techniques Who This Book Is For If you are a project manager, game developer, or programmer who wants to create successful end-to-end gamification projects from scratch, then this is the book for you. You do not need any previous experience of working with Unity 5.X. All the details required to make the most of gamifying your projects are provided in the book. What You Will Learn Assess your learners’ abilities by setting up challenges and quests Implement the game elements that relate to the project into Unity Publish your own task management application to better engage readers Improve your design using methods of playtesting and iteration Issue OpenBadges to recognize achievements and set up an online database to store your users achievements. In Detail Are you looking at implementing gamification techniques for your business and wondering where to get a complete rundown of all the tricks and techniquesWell, you have come to the right place! This book will start right from the basics such as gameplay elements and their functionalities before gradually moving onto creating your first gamification project from scratch. You’ll be given the tools and shown how to perform various techniques for creating gamified applications in different contexts. Finally, you will implement various game elements into Unity, publish your own task management application, and get to know the best practices and approaches when designing gamified experiences. Style and approach This book takes a real-world case studies approach, moving ahead in a step-by-step tutorial manner. You will create your own project from scratch, and the practical examples will help you create a successful gamification project.

Fast-track your development skills to build powerful Odoo 10 business applications About This Book Get the most up-to-date guide on Odoo 10 and learn how to build excellent business applications with Odoo This example-rich, easy-to-follow guide enables you to build apps appropriate to your business needs Create solid business applications with the help of this precise, to-the-point guide Who This Book Is For This book caters to developers who are familiar with Python and MVC design and now want to build effective business applications using Odoo. What You Will Learn Install Odoo from source code and use all the basic techniques to setup and manage your Odoo server instances Create your first Odoo application Add Odoo's social and messaging features to your own modules Get to know the essentials of Models and Views Understand and use the server API to add business logic Use Qweb to create custom Reports Extend Odoo CMS features to create your own website controllers and pages Leverage Odoo Workflows on your applications Write module automated tests and debugging techniques Deploy your Odoo applications for production use In Detail Odoo is one of the fastest growing open source, business application development software products available. With announcement of Odoo 10, there are many new features added to Odoo and the face of business applications developed with Odoo has changed. This book will not only teach you how to build and customize business applications with Odoo, but it also covers all the new features that Odoo has to offer. This book is the latest resource on developing and customizing Odoo 10 applications. It comes packed with much more and refined content than its predecessor. It will start with building business applications from scratch and will cover topics such as module extensions, inheritance, working with data, user interfaces, and so on. The book also covers the latest features of Odoo 10, in addition to front end development, testing and debugging techniques. The book will also talk about Odoo Community and Odoo Enterprise. Style and approach This book follows a step-by-step practical approach where you will learn new concepts with every progressing chapter and create apps for business development.

Create powerful, effective visualizations to help analyze your data with Tableau 10 by your side About This Book Cook your favorite Tableau 10 business intelligence recipe with the help of this easy-to-follow book Build beautiful, interactive dashboards and visualizations in Tableau 10 that help you make informed decisions This rich collection of independent recipes cover everything needed to become an advanced Tableau user and get an edge over other Tableau users Who This Book Is For This book is targeted to business, data, and analytics professionals who want to build rich interactive visualizations using Tableau. Familiarity with previous versions of Tableau would be helpful, but is not necessary. What You Will Learn Become familiar with the Tableau interface Build basic to more advanced charts with step-by-step recipes Use filters, calculated fields, parameters, and actions to add interactivity to charts and dashboards Prepare and transform data for analysis using Tableau’s built-in tools and functions Create effective and compelling dashboards and story points Leverage Tableau’s mapping capabilities to visualize location and shape data Integrate analytics and forecasting to enhance data analysis Get to know tips and tricks to work more quickly and effectively in Tableau Increase your confidence and competence in creating rich, interactive visualizations in Tableau In Detail Tableau is a software tool that can speed up data analysis through its rich visualization capabilities, and help uncover insights for better and smarter decision making. This book is for the business, technology, data and analytics professionals who use and analyze data and data-driven approaches to support business operations and strategic initiatives in their organizations. This book provides easy-to-follow recipes to get the reader up and running with Tableau 10, and covers basic to advanced use cases and scenarios. The book starts with building basic charts in Tableau and moves on to building more complex charts by incorporating different Tableau features and interactivity components. There is an entire chapter dedicated to dashboard techniques and best practices. A number of recipes specifically for geospatial visualization, analytics, and data preparation are also covered. By the end of this book, you’ll have gained confidence and competence to analyze and communicate data and insights more efficiently and effectively by creating compelling interactive charts, dashboards, and stories in Tableau. Style and approach This book is a collection of independent recipes that cover a wide range of options for data visualization on offer with Tableau. With the help of the recipes in this book, you can explore Tableau and pick the business intelligence solution that’s best suited for your needs.

Learn how to apply functional F# design patterns to a huge range of programming challenges, and discover a smart route to building better applications About This Book This book provides a path if you are coming from imperative and object-oriented paradigms It will take you to an intermediate level of functional programming in very practical manner to write enterprise-quality idiomatic F# code Tackle complex computing problems with simple code by fully embracing the functional-first F# paradigm Packed full of practical coding examples to help you master F# programming and author optimal code Who This Book Is For This book is for .NET developers, web programmers, C# developers, and F# developers. So, if you have basic experience in F# programming and developing performance-critical applications, then this book is for you. What You Will Learn Acquire the practical knowledge to use the main functional design patterns Realign some imperative and object-oriented principles under the functional approach Develop your confidence in building and combining first-order and higher-order functions Learn to use core language pattern matching effectively Make use of native F# algebraic data types in place of custom-built classes Recognize and measure the difference in resource consumption between sequences and materialized data collections Navigate and use F# Core libraries with ease by seeing patterns behind specific library functions Master writing generic polymorphic code In Detail Following design patterns is a well-known approach to writing better programs that captures and reuses high-level abstractions that are common in many applications. This book will encourage you to develop an idiomatic F# coding skillset by fully embracing the functional-first F# paradigm. It will also help you harness this powerful instrument to write succinct, bug-free, and cross-platform code. F# 4.0 Design Patterns will start off by helping you develop a functional way of thinking. We will show you how beneficial the functional-first paradigm is and how to use it to get the optimum results. The book will help you acquire the practical knowledge of the main functional design patterns, the relationship of which with the traditional Gang of Four set is not straightforward. We will take you through pattern matching, immutable data types, and sequences in F#. We will also uncover advanced functional patterns, look at polymorphic functions, typical data crunching techniques, adjusting code through augmentation, and generalization. Lastly, we will take a look at the advanced techniques to equip you with everything you need to write flawless code. Style and approach This book will teach you how to write F# code in an idiomatic functional-first manner, thereby improving the productivity of F# programmers. This book is ideal for an F# programmer who wants using F# in functional-first way.

HE WAS A HEARTHROB…AND Amelia Gallagher delighted in taunting ' Larry Mackenzie—the gorgeous partner at the law firm where she worked. He was every woman's fantasy—except for one minor detail. He was utterly opposed to commitment. So why I was he carting around a seven-month-old baby? A NEW DAD! Named guardian of a client's daughter, Mac vowed he'd find little Katie the kind of family he never had. Until then, he'd need some help mastering the art of baby talk. Enter strikingly beautiful Amelia, who usually drove Mac crazy with her teasing. But when a snowstorm trapped them in his house, something else started driving him crazy—the idea that his home was the L perfect size for a family of three….

Can this blind date lead to an appointment at the altar…? Serena–loves everything in life, except for blind dates! She's turned her back on her unconventional upbringing, and her deepest wish is to marry Mr. Right…. Jake–is a highly successful and focused businessman. He's worked hard to escape his roots, and now lives by one rule: never get married! A romantic candlelit restaurant, a dozen red roses, champagne on ice…the scene is set for the perfect blind date!

Lily Andersen only wanted to be the best nanny possible to the adorable Brewster triplets, but Chas Brewster was difficult to ignore. He was handsome, fascinating, and the way he loved the babies called to her most basic instincts. But he was also off-limits! No matter how Lily longed to grow closer to Chas, it was not a good idea to get involved with the boss. Yet as the light-night cuddles led to grown-up kisses, Lily had a hard time remembering her place wasn't in Chas's arms….

A MILLIONAIRE… Patrick Farr is perfectly happy with his bachelor life, wining and dining beautiful young women. If only he could make them understand that he will never marry for love…. A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE… Louisa Dennison is the perfect PA. She's also a single mom, bringing up two very demanding kids! So when Patrick proposes, her answer is definitely no! Or is it? A MARRIAGE FOR REAL? Patrick's offer could answer Lou's prayers–financial security for life. But will their attempts to avoid love lead them to exactly that…?

WHEN FATE STEPS IN… Joe Delacamp was speechless. Louisa Clancy was the last person he'd expected to see when he walked into the sweet-smelling Perry Square bake shop. She was just as beautiful as he'd remembered, but it wasn't until the E.R. doc caught a glimpse of her green-eyed little boy that he realized that Louisa's whereabouts weren't the only thing she'd been keeping secret for the last eight years. Now he needed to figure out a way to win the trust of the little boy he never knew he had—along with the heart of the woman he'd never stopped loving….

Reclusive widower Max Fleming needs a new secretary. Plain-Jane Jilly Prescott seems perfect. And she's hardly likely to fall for him when she's still pining for her old boyfriend. Max has even offered to help Jilly get her man! The plan seems simple: with a new haircut, a new wardrobe and sexy tycoon Max on her arm to escort her to the hottest parties, Jilly's bound to attract the attention of her old flame. But "dating" Jilly is giving Max all sorts of ideas. None of which involve handing Jilly over to another man!

Phoebe is facing her worst nightmare: an invitation to her ex-fiancé's wedding! About to put on a brave face and pretend her life is just perfect, she's rescued by her best friend's brilliant idea: Phoebe can hire their gorgeous new flatmate, Gib, to pose as her doting new fiancé! It sounds like an ideal face-saving plan–until Phoebe and Gib meet. Gib, on a mission to prove he can be "just good friends" with a woman, finds his willpower tested by Phoebe. And Phoebe is having trouble remembering they're only pretending to be in love! It's all set to be a wedding to remember…

A successful businesswoman and single mom, Aimee has everything she wants in life–especially her little boy. But Toby is sick, and Aimee now needs the one person she thought she'd never see again–Toby's father, Jed. When Jed left Aimee five years ago he thought he was doing the right thing. But he hadn't realized Aimee was pregnant–or how much it would hurt when he walked away. Now that Jed has found his family he's determined to make up for lost time. He wants to prove to Aimee that he can be the father Toby needs and the husband she deserves.

When Lorna Farrell finds herself caught up in a pretend engagement with handsome oil tycoon Mitch Ellery, she knows she's playing with fire. Mitch is the key to Lorna being reunited with her real family. He's also the only man she's ever loved–and the one man she can't have! Mitch must never guess Lorna's true feelings, but pretending to be in love leads to complications. If Lorna walks away, she loses everything. But as the attraction between them intensifies, should she take a risk and confess her secrets?

ALL HE WANTED FOR CHRISTMAS… was to get away from the hustle and bustle of another lonely holiday season. But when Tucker Maddock stopped at what he thought was a quaint country inn, he found himself at a reunion of the big, boisterous Marsh family–who instantly welcomed their "long-lost cousin" with open arms…. It was tempting to pretend, just for a little while, that this close, loving family was his own. But there was one small problem–a woman named Ruth Marsh. She was suspicious of him from the start–and so beautiful, he definitely didn't want her to think they were related! And suddenly Tucker could think of something he'd really like to unwrap come Christmas morning….