The book Go Big or Go Home! written by Dr. Jarvis Collier, is designed to foster a cadre of "go big" thinkers. His intent is to inspire younger persons as they scan the windshield of life and begin to move into a world of relationships, careers, and dreams. He also writes to older persons who may erroneously believe that their best days are in the rearview mirror/window. "Go big" thinkers come in all ages, cultures, classes, ethnicities, and locales, and from humble origins. Dr. Collier's work comprises a thorough examination of the confluence of qualities that lead to exceptional attainment. Those qualities include self-confidence, optimism, drive, desire, integrity, determination, etc. He includes in his work exciting principles for success in adopting the "go big" mindset.

With eye-opening statistics, original data, and vivid portraits of people who live alone, renowned sociologist Eric Klinenberg upends conventional wisdom to deliver the definitive take on how the rise of going solo is transforming the American experience. Klinenberg shows that most single dwellers—whether in their twenties or eighties—are deeply engaged in social and civic life. There's even evidence that people who live alone enjoy better mental health and have more environmentally sustainable lifestyles. Drawing on more than three hundred in-depth interviews, Klinenberg presents a revelatory examination of the most significant demographic shift since the baby boom and offers surprising insights on the benefits of this epochal change.

A meteorite is hurtling toward the Black Hills of South Dakota. . . . Brady Steele watches in awe as a fireball comes crashing through the roof of his house. Brady immediately calls up his cousin, Quinn. They both love all things extreme, and this is the most extreme thing ever! Fred, as Brady names his space rock, turns out to be one of the rarest meteorites ever found. Professor Rip Ripley from the museum in Hill City wants to study a sliver of it in search of extraterrestrial bacteria. He's hoping to discover the first proof of life beyond Earth, a momentous breakthrough for the new science of astrobiology. During a wild week of extreme bicycling, fishing, and caving, Brady and Quinn battle their rivals, the notorious Carver boys, for possession of the meteorite. With each new day, Brady is discovering he's able to do strange and wonderful feats that shouldn't be possible. At the same time, he's developing some frightening symptoms. Could he be infected with long-dormant microbes from space? Is Fred a prize or a menace?

This exuberant debut, praised by Gabrielle Zevin as a "time-bending gem," asks: how do we navigate life, love and choice in a world of never-ending options? When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years. As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?

The Challenge Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Study For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great? The Standards Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck. The Comparisons The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't. The Findings The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include: Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness. The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap. “Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.” Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?

Extraordinary Groups has had a storied history of excellence over multiple editions. Now available from Waveland Press at the start of its fifth decade of availability, its interdisciplinary approach to groups engaged in unconventional lifestyles makes it a popular textbook choice in hundreds of college courses across the social sciences, including anthropology, religion, history, and psychology. Written by sociologists, using and illustrating sociological principles, the book is appealing because it is descriptive and explanatory rather than analytical. Descriptions of the groups are interwoven with basic sociological concepts, but systematic analysis and inductive reasoning are left to the discretion of the instructor. Extraordinary Groups is a compelling overview of the broad tapestry of social life that constitutes the United States. The illustrated, full-featured Ninth Edition includes a glossary and end-of-chapter key terms, sources on the Web, and selected readings.

This irresistible sampling of NYC’s rich food heritage takes readers on a cultural and historical journey from Brooklyn to the Bronx and beyond. Whether you're digging into a slice of cherry cheesecake, burning your tongue on a piece of Jamaican jerk chicken, or slurping the broth from a juicy soup dumpling, eating in New York City is a culinary adventure unlike any other in the world. Gastropolis explores the historical, cultural, and personal relationship between New Yorkers and the food they eat. Beginning with the origins of local favorites, such as Mt. Olympus bagels and Puerto Rican lasagna, the book looks back to early farming practices and the pre-European fare of the Leni Lenape. Essays trace the function of place and memory in Asian cuisine, the rise of Jewish food icons, the evolution of food enterprises in Harlem, the relationship between restaurant dining and identity, and the role of peddlers and markets in guiding the ingredients of our meals. Touching on everything from religion to nutrition; agriculture to economics; and politics to psychology, Gastropolis tells a multifaceted story of immigration, amalgamation, and the making of New York’s distinctively delicious flavor