Michael Lewis’s instant classic may be “the most influential book on sports ever written” (People), but “you need know absolutely nothing about baseball to appreciate the wit, snap, economy and incisiveness of [Lewis’s] thoughts about it” (Janet Maslin, New York Times). One of GQ's 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century Just before the 2002 season opens, the Oakland Athletics must relinquish its three most prominent (and expensive) players and is written off by just about everyone—but then comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins. How did one of the poorest teams in baseball win so many games? In a quest to discover the answer, Michael Lewis delivers not only “the single most influential baseball book ever” (Rob Neyer, Slate) but also what “may be the best book ever written on business” (Weekly Standard). Lewis first looks to all the logical places—the front offices of major league teams, the coaches, the minds of brilliant players—but discovers the real jackpot is a cache of numbers?numbers!?collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors. What these numbers prove is that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. Even the box score misleads us by ignoring the crucial importance of the humble base-on-balls. This information had been around for years, and nobody inside Major League Baseball paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. He paid attention to those numbers?with the second-lowest payroll in baseball at his disposal he had to?to conduct an astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted. In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win . . . how can we not cheer for David?

Take a satirical scamper through organizational life in the midstof changing times, brought to you by master storyteller andformer World Bank executive Steve Denning. With wisdom and ahealthy dose of wit, Denning introduces a cast of furry characterswho together learn the fine art of change through storytelling intheir quest to overcome obstacles, generate enthusiasm andteamwork, share knowledge, and ultimately lead their company into anew era of success and significance. Through the stories ofSquirrel Inc., readers will learn that the ability to tellthe right story at the right time can determine the outcome of anymajor change effort. In each chapter Denning's squirrels learn touse storytelling to address leadership challenges: How to bring about change How to communicate who you are How to transmit values How to foster collaboration How to stop rumors How to share knowledge How to lead your organization into the future

Volume XXI/1 of History of Universities contains the customary mix of learned articles, book reviews, conference reports, and bibliographical information, which makes this publication such an indispensable tool for the historian of higher education. Its contributions range widely geographically, chronologically, and in subject-matter. The volume is, as always, a lively combination of original research and invaluable reference material.

A Guide to Self Discovery and Mastery for Students, Teachers and Parents Finally a book that empowers you to direct your own learning experience and gives you tools for discovering who you want to be. Barbara Abbates book, Awareness High School opens doors to unleashing the inner potential of young learners by giving them the tools, techniques and skills to discover ways to explore their own innate powers of mind, body and spirit. Youll feel as if Barbaras got her arm around your shoulder as she offers you more of yourself through her tales. This book is a doorway to evolution a must read and more importantly: enact. Willow Dea, Editor of Igniting Brilliance: Integral Education for the 21st Century, Executive Director of the Integral Education Center

Vessels very frequently serve under a long chain of charterparties and sub-charterparties. When this is the case, the legal issues are more convoluted than they might at first seem. Incorporation clauses are commonplace in bills of lading used in the tramp trade due to the desire to make this web of contracts back-to-back. The extent to which the terms of the charterparty referred to can be carried across to the bill of lading has, over the centuries, been hotly disputed in many jurisdictions. Entirely dedicated to the topic of the incorporation of charterparty terms into bills of lading, this book discusses and analyses the legal and practical issues surrounding this topic under English and US law. Through discussions on the incorporation of a wide range of different charterparty terms, the book combines the peculiar and sophisticated rules of incorporation with the legal and practical issues concerning shipping, international trade, arbitration and conflict of laws and jurisdiction.

Now in its second edition, Construction Law is the standard work of reference for busy construction law practitioners, and it will support lawyers in their contentious and non-contentious practices worldwide. Published in three volumes, it is the most comprehensive text on this subject, and provides a unique and invaluable comparative, multi-jurisdictional approach. This book has been described by Lord Justice Jackson as a "tour de force", and by His Honour Humphrey LLoyd QC as "seminal" and "definitive". This new edition builds on that strong foundation and has been fully updated to include extensive references to very latest case law, as well as changes to statutes and regulations. The laws of Hong Kong and Singapore are also now covered in detail, in addition to those of England and Australia. Practitioners, as well as interested academics and post-graduate students, will all find this book to be an invaluable guide to the many facets of construction law.

Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) are a massive subset of the healthcare industry that negotiate lower costs for healthcare supplies by buying for several hospitals at once. Group Purchasing Organizations provides an analysis and critique of this industry.