How to afford kids and teach them about moneyWe all want to raise smart children. But somewhere between the reading, writing, and arithmetic, one of life's most important lessons is too often overlooked: personal finances. As adults, we interact with money every day, whether by saving, investing, spending, or giving it, but we often forget that kids also face these same decisions from their own unique perspective as they mature. How do we teach today what kids really need to know tomorrow to thrive as financially savvy adultsIn Piggybanking, veteran Wall Street Journal personal-finance writer Jeff D. Opdyke provides a clear and effective plan to help parents raise children to be comfortable and confident managing the daily finances of life.But even before kids arrive, parents face a rash of financial decisions. Accordingly, Piggybanking also deals with the essential problems every struggling young family must face, including how to prepare your budget for a child's arrival, how to choose between single- and dual-income lifestyles, and how to plan for funding a college education.With Opdyke's valuable advice, and with his 15 Rules of Kids Money in hand, parents will be well equipped to create a sound financial foundation for their family and a successful financial life for their kids.

Seven marriageable daughters . . . And Lord Zachary Griffin is just the man to help them. After all, what could be more tantalizing than teaching the beautiful Witfeld sisters all the special ways of driving a man into submission and marriageAnd leading exquisite Caroline Witfeld, the most spirited and least frivolous sister, to temptation would be wildly delicious. Zachary doesn't realize that Caroline's longing gazes have less to do with attraction and more to do with admission to a prestigious arts conservatory. If only she could set those high cheekbones, that aristocratic brow, and those powerful shoulders to canvas, her dreams would all come true. But Caroline is soon having dreams of a very different sort ones that involve the charming rogue and some improper behavior hardly befitting a lady dedicated to her art . . .unless she becomes dedicated to the art of love.

Few know Morgan Drake's true name but many fear the Sea Wolf, the scourge of the ocean, a fearless pirate who frees impressed American sailors from British vessels. Now a beautiful reporter is willing to risk her life, her innocence, and her heart to reveal the secrets that Morgan is determined to protect at any cost . . .A headstrong and courageous young woman in a man's world, Serenity James knows she is barely tolerated in her father's newspaper office. An exclusive story about the dreaded Sea Wolf, however, will earn her the respect she so fervently desires. But she never expected to be kidnapped by the sexy and dangerous brigand whose bold exploits have fired her imagination or to discover the adventure she's always longed for in Morgan Drake's passionate caress.

In this brilliant follow-up to her Avon debut, Melody Thomas captivates us again with a rich and emotionally satisfying 'marriage of convenience' story that will delight fans of Judith McNaught.Michael Fallon is the third son of a Duke, and when the love of his life was betrothed to his older brother, Michael left England to serve in the military. Now he's a captain stationed in Cairo, and he inadvertently rescues Brianna Donally from the deserts. Michael is the most exciting man Brea has ever known, and the attraction between them is undeniable. A 'modern' woman, she sees nothing wrong in initiating an affair, but when Michael unexpectedly inherits the family dukedom, the 'marriage of convenience' Michael proposes is anything but, and Brianna suddenly finds herself falling in love with a man she vowed never to trust with her heart.

New York Times bestselling author Lorraine Heath's classic novel of a love that overcomes all obstaclesI would not make a good husband. I do, however, make an excellent lover . . .Harrison Bainbridge, the second son of an English earl, left his home seeking a scandal-free life away from society's stuffy restraints. Arriving in Texas, he never expected that a sassy saloon-keeper's daughter would capture his eye. With her outspoken ways and flashing eyes, Jessye Kane is a temptation hard to resist. But although she is willing to be his partner in a daring business venture, she is unwilling to embrace the passion he offers.Jessye knows that noble-born Harrison isn't for the likes of her, but beneath his devil-may-care exterior, she senses a deeper vulnerability. When he's suddenly injured, risking his life to save her from mortal danger, Jessye vows to do anything to make him whole again forcing this rugged scoundrel who claims he has no heart to take the greatest risk of all . . . on love.

Would a Reluctant Beauty Ever Wed . . . Headstrong Lady Portia Derring has an impeccable pedigree . . . and not a penny to her name. Which is why she is alone on the rain-swept Yorkshire moor, waiting for a wealthy earl she has never met but whom her family insists she wed. When she's nearly trampled by the blackguard's stallion, Portia is more determined than ever to refuse Heath Moreton's suit. Handsome devil he may be, but she could never marry a rogue who's so clearly out of control!A Wild, Incorrigible Beast?An avowed bachelor, scion of the notorious "Mad" Moreton clan, Heath won't be shackled in matrimony. Why then does this rain-drenched beauty excite him soDesire consumes him, but the eminently beddable lady resists his well-practiced seductions. Now only one route remains: Heath must ignore his bad blood, vanquish his inner beast . . . and prove to Portia that she's the only woman capable of taming his heart.

A Wing and a Prayer When irrepressible angels Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy set out for the City of Angels to grant three rush Christmas prayer requests, they are sure they can help without resorting to, er, divine intervention. But they soon find it will take more than one miracle to teach their precious lessons of love as well as make three special holiday dreams come true!

A witty and engaging history of the first botanists, interwoven with stories of today's extraordinary plants found in the garden and the labIn Paradise Under Glass, Ruth Kassinger recounts with grace and humor her journey from brown thumb to green, sharing the lessons that she learned from building a home conservatory in the wake of a devastating personal crisis. In A Garden of Marvels, she extends the story. "This book was born of a murder, a murder I committed," she begins. The victim was a kumquat tree. Though she diligently did her best watering, fertilizing, repotting, and pruning the plant turned brown and brittle. Why did the kumquat die when other plants in the garden that received the same attention thrivedshe wondered. It was an experience that offered invaluable insight. While she knew the basic rules of caring for indoor plants, Kassinger realized that she understood very little about plant physiology how roots, stems, leaves, and flowers actually function. Determined not to repeat her failure, she set out to learn the fundamentals of botany in order to become a better gardener. A Garden of Marvels is the story of her wise and enchanting odyssey to discover the secret life of plants. Kassinger retraces the progress of the first botanists including a melancholy Italian anatomist, a renegade French surgeon, a stuttering English minister, an obsessive German schoolteacher, and Charles Darwin who banished myths and misunderstandings and discovered that flowers have sex, leaves eat air, roots choose their food, and hormones make morning glories climb fence posts. She goes out into the world as well, visiting modern gardens, farms, and labs to discover the science behind extraordinary plants like one-ton pumpkins, truly black petunias, ferns that eat the arsenic in contaminated soil, biofuel grass that grows twelve feet tall, and the world's only photosynthesizing animal. Kassinger also introduces us to modern scientific research that offers hope for combatting climate change and alleviating world hunger. She then transfers her insights to her own garden, where she nurtures a "cocktail" tree that bears five kinds of fruit, cures an ailing Buddha's Hand plant with beneficial fungi, and gets a tree to text her when it's thirsty. Intertwining personal anecdotes, accessible science, and little-known history, A Garden of Marvels takes us on an eye-opening journey into Kassinger's garden and yours offering us a new appreciation of this exquisite gift of nature: "Our garden is more than a marvel. It's as close to a miracle as there is on Earth."

Arch and unrepentant, Will Leitch, founding editor of Deadspin.com, is the mouthpiece for all the frustrated fans who just want their games back from big money, bloated egos, and blathering sportscasters. Always a fan first and a sportswriter second, Leitch considers the perfection of fantasy leagues and the meaninglessness of the steroids debate as he exposes Olympic fetishes, parses Shaq's rap attack on Kobe, shares a brew with John Rocker and his surprising girlfriend, and reveals what ESPN and the beer companies really think about you. If you or a fan you love is suffering from a sense of listless dissatisfaction brought on by the leagues and networks, God Save the Fan is your new manifesto.

There's nothing better than a book you can't put down or better yet, a book you'll never forget. This book puts the power of transformational reading into your hands. Jack Canfield, cocreator of the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and self-actualization pioneer Gay Hendricks have invited notable people to share personal stories of books that changed their lives. What book shaped their outlook and habitsHelped them navigate rough seasSpurred them to satisfaction and successThe contributors include Dave Barry, Stephen Covey, Malachy McCourt, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Mark Victor Hansen, John Gray, Christiane Northrup, Bernie Siegel, Craig Newmark, Michael E. Gerber, Lou Holtz, and Pat Williams, to name just a few. Their richly varied stories are poignant, energizing, and entertaining.Author and actor Malachy McCourt tells how a tattered biography of Gandhi, stumbled on in his youth, offered a shining example of true humility and planted the seeds that would help support his sobriety decades later. Bestselling author and physician Bernie Siegel, M.D., tells how William Saroyan's The Human Comedy helped him realize that, in order to successfully treat his patients with life-threatening illnesses, "I had to help them live not just prevent them from dying."Actress Catherine Oxenberg reveals how, at a life crossroads and struggling with bulimia, a book taught her the transforming difference one person could make in the life of another and why that person for her was Richard Burton.Rafe Esquith, the award-winning teacher whose inner-city students have performed Shakespeare all over the world, recounts his deep self-doubt in the midst of his success and how reading To Kill a Mockingbird strengthened him to continue teaching.Beloved librarian and bestselling author Nancy Pearl writes how, at age ten, Robert Heinlein's science fiction book Space Cadet impressed on her the meaning of personal integrity and gave her a vision of world peace she'd never imagined possible. Two years later, she marched in her first civil rights demonstration and learned that there's always a way to make "a small contribution to intergalactic harmony."If you're looking for insight and illumination or simply for that next great book to read You've Got to Read This Book! has treasures in store for you.

With her skill in selling real estate, her expertise in marketing, and her drive to succeed, Kendra Todd has mapped out an exciting and lucrative future for herself one that included taking the right kind of risks, profiting from them, and sharing her knowledge with others. Todd understands that the one thing that keeps people from making the big, bold moves that can improve their lives is a fear of risk, even more than lack of capital. The willingness to try new and different things, and the ability to keep your head on straight while your heart is pounding, is something that Todd knows well. Without risk, she doesn't have a business. Todd will address how men and women view risk from opposite sides of the galaxy, how anyone can become an entrepreneur, how you can set yourself up for success and what the ten steps are for turning risk into opportunity. With quizzes to test what kind of risk taker you are, and examples of successful risks that paid off, Todd is poised to become the hot voice of investment to her generation.

On the morning of February 24, 1942, on the Black Sea near Istanbul, an explosion ripped through a decrepit former cattle barge filled with Jewish refugees. One man clung fiercely to a piece of deck, fighting to survive. Nearly eight hundred others -- among them, more than one hundred children -- perished.In Death on the Black Sea, the story of the Struma, its passengers, and the events that led to its destruction are investigated and fully revealed in two vivid, parallel accounts, set six decades apart. One chronicles the international diplomatic maneuvers and callousness that resulted in the largest maritime loss of civilian life during World War II. The other recounts a recent attempt to locate the Struma at the bottom of the Black Sea, an effort initiated and pursued by the grandson of two of the victims. A vivid reconstruction of a grim exodus aboard a doomed ship, Death on the Black Sea illuminates a forgotten episode of World War II and pays tribute to the heroes, past and present, who keep its memory alive.

James Watson, J. Craig Venter, Francis Collins, Cynthia Kenyon . . . you may not know them, but you should. They are the masterminds of genetics and biotechnology who want you to live to be 150 years old, to regenerate your heart and brain, to create synthetic life. For better or worse, they are about to alter life on earth forever.Award-winning journalist David Ewing Duncan tells the remarkable stories of cutting-edge bioscientists, revealing their quirky, uniquely fascinating, sometimes vaguely unsettling personas as a means to understand their science and the astonishing implications of their work. This book seamlessly combines myth, biography, scholarship, and wit that poses the all-important question: Can we actually trust these masterminds?

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.

When small- and medium-sized business owners first hear George Cloutier's rules, they often think he's a madman. His controversial rules for doing business rules that aren't taught at Harvard Business School include:The best family business has one member.Weekends are for working, not playing golf or coaching.Never pay your vendors on time.Wear your control freak badge with pride.Quit denial: if your business is failing during a recession, it's your fault. As the founder and CEO of American Management Services, Cloutier has emerged as "the leading advocate for small business" (Reuters), having spent over thirty years guiding business owners through the tough choices that line the road to profitability. He and his company have worked with more than six thousand companies, averting certain ruin for some and generating seemingly impossible growth and profitability for others.Cloutier graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School, but the lessons in this book aren't from there. Unlike his classmates, most of whom headed straight to Wall Street, Cloutier has been on the docks at 2 a.m. counting heads of lettuce for food distributors to make sure nothing would disappear without a waybill. He's spent long, overnight hours in truck stops, making sure sticky fingers stayed out of the tills. Cloutier and his colleagues at American Management Services become personal pitt bulls to the CEOs who hire them, doing whatever it takes to bring their clients' businesses back into long-term profitability.Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing is the long- overdue wake-up call for 23 million small- and midsize business owners across America. This book serves up the hard-boiled, unadulterated truth to aspiring and established entrepreneurs, without apologies. His no-nonsense advice may be hard to hear at times, but it works.

Meet Helena Andrews, sassy, single, smart, and, yes, a bitch but Tina Fey said it best, bitch is the new black!When Helena Andrews heard this declaration on Saturday Night Live, her first reaction was How daaare youBut after a commercial break and some thought, she decided to poke at the stereotype that says "successful" and "bitch" are synonyms. Unafraid and frank, she comes to realize that being a bitch is sometimes the best way to be except, of course, when it's not. Bitch Is the New Black follows Andrews sexy, single, and a self-described smart-ass on her trip from kidnapped daughter of a lesbian to Washington, D.C., political reporter who can't remember a single senator's name. Told in Andrews's singular voice, this addictive memoir explores the roller coaster of being educated and single while trying to become an "actual adult" and find love. In these candid yet heartfelt essays, she chronicles that ride from beginning to end: a childhood spent on an all-white island, escaping via episodes of The Cosby Show; being set up with Obama's "body guy" Reggie Love by Maureen Dowd; and the shocking suicide of a best friend. Through it all, Andrews and her gang of girlfriends urge each other to "keep it moving." But no one can stay strong all the time not even the women we believe do so without trying. As Andrews says, "Despite the fact that the most recognizable woman in the United States is black, popular culture still hasn't moved past the only adjective apparently meant to describe us "strong." She is also flawed, tired, naive, greedy, gutsy, frightened, and kind: secret sides that come out in honest detail here.

A stylishly smart collection of practical advice for the busy modern womanWith information on entertaining, etiquette, housekeeping, basic home repair, decorating, sex, and beauty, this indispensable book has everything today's young woman should know-but may not! The Modern Girl's Guide to Life is a collection of all the helpful tips and secrets that get passed on from generation to generation, but many of us have somehow missed. It's full of practical, definitive advice on the basics -- the day-to-day necessities like finding a bra that fits, balancing a checkbook, making a decent cup of coffee, and hemming a pair of pants. Modern Girl guru Jane Buckingham includes loads of savvy counsel to help us feel more refined, in charge, and together as we navigate the rocky terrain that is twenty-first-century womanhood.

An entertaining and erudite history that offers a fresh look at America's first founding father, the creation of his legend, and what it means for our nation and ourselves George Washington's death on December 14, 1799, dealt a dreadful blow to public morale. For three decades, Americans had depended on his leadership to guide them through every trial. At the cusp of a new century, the fledgling nation, caught in another war (this time with its former ally France), desperately needed to believe that Washington was and would continue to be there for them.Thus began the extraordinary immortalization of this towering historical figure. In Inventing George Washington, historian Edward G. Lengel shows how the late president and war hero continued to serve his nation on two distinct levels. The public Washington evolved into an eternal symbol as Father of His Country, while the private man remained at the periphery of the national vision always just out of reach for successive generations yearning to know him as never before. Both images, public and private, were vital to perceptions Americans had of their nation and themselves. Yet over time, as Lengel shows, the contrasting and simultaneous urges to deify Washington and to understand him as a man have produced tensions that have played out in every generation. As some exalted him, others sought to bring him down to earth, creating a series of competing mythologies that depicted Washington as every sort of human being imaginable. Inventing George Washington explores these representations, shedding new light on this national emblem, our nation itself, and who we are.

A bold new theory about the Sun Earth relationship, its role in history, and its potentially disastrous future.We are in the midst of one of the most massive, powerful, and relentless solar storms in history, reports science journalist and solar expert Lawrence Joseph, and a single, random blast from the Sun could well destroy our way of life at any time. Tracing the Sun's behavior and its influence on Earth from the most recent Ice Age to the present and connecting groundbreaking research in solar physics to biology, politics, and culture, Joseph alerts us to the tremendous vulnerability of our infrastructure and delivers the tools and strategies we need to outsmart the Sun and protect Earth's satellites and other vital systems from the coming solar apocalypse. Solar Cataclysm implores us to rethink our understanding of human history and redefine our relationship with the 4.57-billion-year-old thermonuclear behemoth in order to defend our future.The connection between human history and solar activity has gone largely untold until now. Carefully examining the 4.57-billion-year story of our relationship with the Sun, science reporter and bestselling author Lawrence Joseph demonstrates how nearly every aspect of earthly existence and human behavior has always been and continues to be susceptible to changes in the Sun the basis for his "Moody Sun Hypothesis." As we come to realize that the Sun is far more turbulent and explosive than imagined, we must also come to terms with the fact that our future is more vulnerable to the Sun than ever suspected.From the Sun's role in global climate change to its constant threat of catastrophic solar blasts, and from stories of solar activity causing rifts in religion in the Middle Ages to the way sunspots are messing with our moods and minds today, Solar Cataclysm examines the myriad ways the ever-changing Sun disrupts our personal lives, determines the course of history, and shapes our destiny.But this isn't a tale of doom. Our fates, collectively and individually, aren't tethered to the Sun's ups and downs. With captivating storytelling and witty prose, Joseph shows us how to draw on the tools and expertise including the very latest solar science research and technology advances, as well as human ingenuity and survival instincts to respond effectively to the Sun's threats and to shield ourselves and our atmosphere, satellite system, power grids, and nuclear power infrastructure from the Sun's impending assault.How did the Sun King, Louis XIV, ban sunspots for virtually all of his seventy-two-year reignWhat makes Stanford and Purdue University scientists so sure that the Sun is sending out secret, vitally important messages todaySmart and engaging, Solar Cataclysm guides us to a new, dynamic, life-affirming level of interconnectedness among self, planet, and sustaining star.

We all have moments we wish we could relive. We'd give anything to skid down the toboggan hills of our youth, to breathe in the smell of our children as babies, or to spend just one more minute with someone we've lost. Dear Photograph provides a way to link these memories from the past to the present, overlapping them to see how the daydreams of our memories collide with our current realities.The idea is simple: hold up a photograph from the past in front of the place where it was originally taken, take a second photograph, and add a sentence of dedication about what the photograph means to you. The results, however, are astounding, which is why millions have flocked to dearphotograph.com and thousands have submitted their own Dear Photographs.This stunning visual compilation includes more than 140 never-before-seen Dear Photographs, as well as a space for you to attach your own cherished photo. By turns nostalgic, charming, and poignant, Dear Photograph evokes childhood memories, laments difficult losses, and, above all, celebrates the universal nature of love.

With information on entertaining, etiquette, housekeeping, basic home repair, decorating, sex, and beauty, The Modern Girl's Guide to Life became a sensational bestseller as young women everywhere discovered this indispensable book covered everything they should know . . . but might not. Now, in this revised edition of the classic, style maven Jane Buckingham reveals more of the helpful tips and secrets that get passed down from generation to generation, but that many of us have somehow missed.Full of practical, definitive advice on the basics the day-to-day necessities like finding a bra that fits, balancing a checkbook, making a decent cup of coffee, and hemming a pair of pants The Modern Girl's Guide to Life, Revised Edition includes new topics such as: Social Media 101: where you should and shouldn't be online Online dating: should you, shouldn't you, and how you can find the right guy Sexting: dos and don'ts Online flash sales: Are you really savingTips and tricks for eating organic, shopping at farmers' markets, and juicing safely Updated recipes, including vegan and gluten-free How to find the exercise you won't skip out on doing Interview etiquette: everything from what to wear to what to say Updated financial section . . . and more! Modern Girl guru Jane Buckingham includes loads of savvy counsel to help us feel more refined, in charge, and together as we navigate the rocky terrain that is twenty-first-century womanhood.