Non Fiction

[close] A fun book of no-time-to-lose, far out predicaments that you need to find a way out of (it's NOT a how-to book).

Each short, edge-of-your-seat story in "Outsmart the Unexpected" unfolds an unusual, no-time-to-lose, and sometimes life and death predicament, and then challenges you to come up with a solution to help one of the characters out the situation they suddenly find themselves in. They're a fun way to develop your creativity, exercise your brain, stretch your imagination, and jump start your ability to think and react quickly, especially in situations where things are happening very fast. Use them to develop the skill to creatively solve problems when they suddenly arise.

In some, you may need to suspend your disbelief to play along. Some will make your head spin. Others may make your heart pound. Still others will make you go hmmm. But all will challenge you to think outside your comfort zone, to look for solutions from different angles, and to not necessarily limit yourself to what you see and what the obvious solution could be. They will stretch your mind and help you to develop your ability to formulate best possible solution in situations where you must quickly decide upon a course of action and there's little available information to work with.

Try your hand at inventing different endings and discussing and debating the possible solutions or interesting outcomes that you came up with. Do You think that the best solutions come from asking the right questions? Get your brain buzzing thinking up what those questions would be. Do you enjoy making up your own endings? Let your imagination run wild.

Dive into the unexpected and bring your creative side along with you!
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[close] "The author has employed her skills as a writer and journalist to pull off a rather impressive feat: She has used food to chart the city's evolution, and to argue that it owes its greatness as an international crossroads, particularly in its early years, as much to food as to industry or culture."
—The Wall Street Journal


New York, the city of money, glass, and concrete, seems like no kind of place to produce food. Yet in this smart, funny, and beautifully written book, Robin Shulman places today's urban food production in the context of hundreds of years of history, tracing the changing ways we live and eat. As Shulman tells the story of New York's ability to feed people, she also shows the things we've always longed for in the cities that we build: closer human connections and a sense of something pure.

Food, of course, is about hunger—but it's also about community. With humor and insight, Eat the City shows how, in places like New York, people have always found ways to use their collective hunger to build their own kind of city.
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[close] End Game Burma - The Battle of Meiktila 1945, the final battle to wrest control of Burma from the Japanese, and General William Slim's tactical masterstroke.

With the Japanese occupying strong positions along the mighty Irrawaddy at Mandalay, Slim boldly decided to split his army, comprising IV and XXXIII Corps, and send IV Corps on a 300 mile march to seize vital road and rail hub at Meiktila. Complete secrecy was essential. If the Japanese discovered the move they might counter attack and defeat the Allied army in detail.
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