Have the diplomatic efforts of the Obama administration toward Iran failed? Was the Bush administration's emphasis on military intervention, refusal to negotiate, and pursuit of regime change a better approach? How can the United States best address the ongoing turmoil in Tehran? This book provides a definitive and comprehensive analysis of the Obama administration's early diplomatic outreach to Iran and discusses the best way to move toward more positive relations between the two discordant states. Trita Parsi, a Middle East foreign policy expert with extensive Capitol Hill and United Nations experience, interviewed 70 high-ranking officials from the U.S., Iran, Europe, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Brazil—including the top American and Iranian negotiators—for this book. Parsi uncovers the previously unknown story of American and Iranian negotiations during Obama's early years as president, the calculations behind the two nations' dealings, and the real reasons for their current stalemate. Contrary to prevailing opinion, Parsi contends that diplomacy has not been fully tried. For various reasons, Obama's diplomacy ended up being a single roll of the dice. It had to work either immediately—or not at all. Persistence and perseverance are keys to any negotiation. Neither Iran nor the U.S. had them in 2009.

A contemporary and authentically designed translation of one of Stéphane Mallarmé's most famous poems.

They said I could not become a filmmaker. They said my screenplays were dull and clumsy with thin characterisation. My plots were predictable and endings lame. They said my directing was uninspired and ideas translated poorly to screen. They said my acting was laughable; scenes that were supposed to be tragic caused ripples of laughter. They said I would never make it and that - even if I did - no one wants horror anymore. They want fantasy. They want drama. Comedy, even has its place in the market. Not horror. It's stale. It is stagnant and done to death. Well, whatever they say, I am bringing horror back to the mainstream. It will be shown on every television station and shared across millions of social networking profiles. I am bringing horror back whether the audience wants it or not and it's going to be extreme...

The definitive book on Obama's historic nuclear deal with Iran from the author of the Foreign Affairs Best Book on the Middle East in 2012 This timely book focuses on President Obama's deeply considered strategy toward Iran's nuclear program and reveals how the historic agreement of 2015 broke the persistent stalemate in negotiations that had blocked earlier efforts. The deal accomplished two major feats in one stroke: it averted the threat of war with Iran and prevented the possibility of an Iranian nuclear bomb. Trita Parsi, a Middle East foreign policy expert who advised the Obama White House throughout the talks and had access to decision-makers and diplomats on the U.S. and Iranian sides alike, examines every facet of a triumph that could become as important and consequential as Nixon's rapprochement with China. Drawing from more than seventy-five in-depth interviews with key decision-makers, including Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, this is the first authoritative account of President Obama's signature foreign policy achievement.

How do you price your software? Is it art, science or magic? How much attention should you pay to your competitors? This short handbook will provide you with the theory, practical advice and case studies you need to stop yourself from reaching for the dice. Table of Contents Chapter 01: Some - but not too much - Economics Chapter 02: Pricing Psychology: What is your product worth? Chapter 03: Pricing Pitfalls Chapter 04: Advanced Pricing Chapter 05: What your price says about you (and how to change it) Why read this book? "At Business of Software 2007 Michael Pryor held an impromptu session on how to price your software. So many people turned up, and so many people kept on arriving, that by the time they d introduced themselves there was no time left to talk about software pricing. I ve had similar experiences; in fact, How do I price my software? is probably the most common question I m asked by software entrepreneurs and product managers. This handbook is an attempt to answer that question." Neil Davidson, Author. About the Author Neil Davidson is co-founder and joint CEO of Red Gate Software. Red Gate was founded in 1999 and now employs some 150 people. It was Cambridge News business of the year in 2006 and has been in the Sunday Times top 100 companies to work for three years running. It was founded with no VC money and little debt. Neil is also founder of the annual Business of Software conference and runs the Business of Software social network.

“One of the fifty most influential books of the last half of the twentieth century,” a comic novel about a therapist making life choices by rolling dice. (BBC) The cult classic that can still change your life . . . Let the dice decide! This is the philosophy that changes the life of bored psychiatrist Luke Rhinehart―and in some ways changes the world as well. Because once you hand over your life to the dice, anything can happen. Entertaining, humorous, scary, shocking, subversive, The Dice Man is one of the cult bestsellers of our time. “A fine piece of fiction . . . touching, ingenious and beautifully comic.” —Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange “Luke Rhinehart and THE DICE MAN have launched a psychiatric revolution.” —London Sunday Telegraph “A blackly comic amusement park of a book.” —TIME Magazine “Weird, hilarious . . . an outlandishly enjoyable book.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Witty reckless clever . . . . a caper at the edge of nihilism.” —LIFE Magazine “Brilliant . . . much like CATCH-22 . . . the sex extra-juicy.” —The Houston Post “Outrageously funny.” —Fort Worth Star-Telegram “Hilarious and well-written . . . A brilliant summary of modern nihilism. Dice living will be popular, no doubt of that.” —Time Out (London)

World-renowned game designer Reiner Knizia has written the absolute classic on dice games and strategies. Straightforward and easy-to-read, this little gem gives detailed instructions, comprehensive odds, and insightful strategies on nearly 150 dice games and variations-several of which appear only within these pages.

THE MAHABHARATA ENDURES AS THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. But while Jaya is the story of the Pandavas, told from the perspective of the victors of Kurukshetra; Ajaya is the narrative of the ÔunconquerableÕ Kauravas, who were decimated to the last man. At the heart of IndiaÕs most powerful empire, a revolution is brewing. Bhishma, the noble patriarch of Hastinapura, is struggling to maintain the unity of his empire. On the throne sits Dhritarashtra, the blind King, and his foreign-born Queen Ð Gandhari. In the shadow of the throne stands Kunti, the Dowager-Queen, burning with ambition to see her firstborn become the ruler, acknowledged by all. And in the wings: Parashurama, the enigmatic Guru of the powerful Southern Confederate, bides his time to take over and impose his will from mountains to ocean. Ekalavya, a young Nishada, yearns to break free of caste restrictions and become a warrior. Karna, son of a humble charioteer, travels to the South to study under the foremost Guru of the day and become the greatest archer in the land. Balarama, the charismatic leader of the Yadavas, dreams of building the perfect city by the sea and seeing his people prosperous and proud once more. Takshaka, guerilla leader of the Nagas, foments a revolution by the downtrodden as he lies in wait in the jungles of India, where survival is the only dharma. Jara, the beggar, and his blind dog Dharma, walk the dusty streets of India, witness to people and events far greater than they, as the Pandavas and the Kauravas confront their searing destinies. Amidst the chaos, Prince Suyodhana, heir of Hastinapura, stands tall, determined to claim his birthright and act according to his conscience. He is the maker of his own destiny Ð or so he believes. While in the corridors of the Hastinapura palace, a foreign Prince plots to destroy India. And the dice fallsÉ

Probability and Bayesian Modeling is an introduction to probability and Bayesian thinking for undergraduate students with a calculus background. The first part of the book provides a broad view of probability including foundations, conditional probability, discrete and continuous distributions, and joint distributions. Statistical inference is presented completely from a Bayesian perspective. The text introduces inference and prediction for a single proportion and a single mean from Normal sampling. After fundamentals of Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms are introduced, Bayesian inference is described for hierarchical and regression models including logistic regression. The book presents several case studies motivated by some historical Bayesian studies and the authors’ research. This text reflects modern Bayesian statistical practice. Simulation is introduced in all the probability chapters and extensively used in the Bayesian material to simulate from the posterior and predictive distributions. One chapter describes the basic tenets of Metropolis and Gibbs sampling algorithms; however several chapters introduce the fundamentals of Bayesian inference for conjugate priors to deepen understanding. Strategies for constructing prior distributions are described in situations when one has substantial prior information and for cases where one has weak prior knowledge. One chapter introduces hierarchical Bayesian modeling as a practical way of combining data from different groups. There is an extensive discussion of Bayesian regression models including the construction of informative priors, inference about functions of the parameters of interest, prediction, and model selection. The text uses JAGS (Just Another Gibbs Sampler) as a general-purpose computational method for simulating from posterior distributions for a variety of Bayesian models. An R package ProbBayes is available containing all of the book datasets and special functions for illustrating concepts from the book. A complete solutions manual is available for instructors who adopt the book in the Additional Resources section.