Challenging the belief that national security agencies work well, this book asks what forces shaped the initial design of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council in ways that meant they were handicapped from birth.

Think your sins are ruining God's plan for your life? Think again.

Elle Fiore wants a prince on a white horse. Maverick Wallace does not fit the description. It doesn't matter they shared the best kiss of her life, or her friends think he walks on water...and his Greek-god looks have absolutely no effect on her whatsoever. If only she can convince her heart he's not for her. Maverick is happy with his free and easy no-strings lifestyle. The last thing he wants or needs is someone complicated like Elle. He doesn't do relationships or sleepovers. She's beautiful, but a diva with a capital D. But something magical happens whenever they're in a room together, whether they want it to or not.

Two androids. One captive. A vast ship filled with deadly secrets on the galaxy’s edge. Gamma completed his mission: the Nursery and its human future is safe . . . for the moment. Dangerous mechs wander Starship, broken code driving them to destruction. Strange power draws from dark corners raise questions. And, of course, what to do with the prisoner? As Gamma and Delta comb the ship, searching for answers, they find enemies new and old, conditional friends, and a grim destiny that must be dodged at all costs. The sequel to The Farthest Star, The Flawed Design is a sci-fi adventure bursting with action, tech, and characters you haven’t seen before. Dive into The Far Horizons trilogy, with its cyberpunk flare, tight far-future battles, and dreams of a better future for both man and machine.

As can only happen in New York, two strangers find themselves railroaded into an anger-management class, where they soon become fast friends. Iris is there because of an eminently justifiable meltdown on a crowded flight, whereas Ken got caught defacing library books with rude (but true!) messages about his former boyfriend. The boyfriend that he caught in bed with another man. Needless to say, Iris and Ken were cosmically destined to be friends. What follows is a strikingly original comedy as Ken enlists Iris to infiltrate his ex-boyfriend’s life in the hope of discovering that he’s miserable. And Iris reciprocates, dispatching Ken to work himself into the confidence of her own boyfriend, whom she suspects of cheating. But what if Ken’s ex isn’t crying himself to sleep? What if he’s not the amoral fiend Ken wants to believe he is? And what should Iris do when her worst suspicions start to come true? Exactly how perfect do we have the right to expect our fellow human beings to be? Anger, betrayal, loyalty, and friendship—Design Flaws of the Human Condition explores these universal themes with wisdom, compassion, and a wickedly irreverent sense of humor.

Many designs that appear in today's society will circulate and encounter audiences of many different cultures and languages. With communication comes responsibility; are designers aware of the meaning and impact of their work? An image or symbol that is acceptable in one culture can be offensive or even harmful in the next. A typeface or colour in a design might appear to be neutral, but its meaning is always culturally dependent. If designers learn to be aware of global cultural contexts, we can avoid stereotyping and help improve mutual understanding between people. Politics of Design is a collection of visual examples from around the world. Using ideas from anthropology and sociology, it creates surprising and educational insight in contemporary visual communication. The examples relate to the daily practice of both online and offline visual communication: typography, images, colour, symbols, and information. Politics of Design shows the importance of visual literacy when communicating beyond borders and cultures. It explores the cultural meaning behind the symbols, maps, photography, typography, and colours that are used every day. It is a practical guide for design and communication professionals and students to create more effective and responsible visual communication.

The "argument from poor design" is one of the most common arguments hurled at proponents of Intelligent Design. It's also completely mistaken. The components of the human body which critics claim to be products of "poor design" are really instances of the critics' own misunderstandings of the relevant engineering criteria. In this book, anatomy professor Jerry Bergman takes you on a tour of the human body's most criticized features and help you understand what they do and why they were made the way that they are.

The Journey Mapping Playbook is an accessible how-to toolkit aimed at customer experience and marketing professionals looking for ways to improve customer and employee experience. Using visualisation, templates and case studies this is a practical guide to planning, facilitating and delivering a strategic, supportive and effective journey mapping workshop. The Journey Mapping Playbook is based on the author’s real-world experience of running hundreds of journey mapping sessions. Understanding the priorities and pain points in customers’ lives is critical to achieve business success. Helping you to nurture better and more profitable customer experiences, this book will help you to: Define journey mapping Understand why it is commercially important Prioritise which journeys to focus on and how Decide who to invite and which tools to prepare Plan for an effective session Make every stage of the journey relevant and purposeful Build an ongoing programme The Journey Mapping Playbook shows you how to understand your customers better, whatever the size or sector of your business. Jerry Angrave, Founder and CEO of Empathyce, UK

Historically, religious scriptures are defined as holy texts that are considered to be beyond the abilities of the layperson to interpret. Their content is most frequently analyzed by clerics who do not question the underlying political or social implications of the text, but use the writing to convey messages to their congregations about how to live a holy existence. In Western society, moreover, what counts as scripture is generally confined to the Judeo-Christian Bible, leaving the voices of minorities, as well as the holy texts of faiths from Africa and Asia, for example, unheard. In this innovative collection of essays that aims to turn the traditional bible-study definition of scriptures on its head, Vincent L. Wimbush leads an in-depth look at the social, cultural, and racial meanings invested in these texts. Contributors hail from a wide array of academic fields and geographic locations and include such noted academics as Susan Harding, Elisabeth Shussler Fiorenza, and William L. Andrews. Purposefully transgressing disciplinary boundaries, this ambitious book opens the door to different interpretations and critical orientations, and in doing so, allows an ultimately humanist definition of scriptures to emerge."