Acquiring skills and nurturing talents are attributes that must be inculcated and embraced in homes, schools, work, and play by children, young, and older adults alike everywhere in the world. The title of the book, Acquiring Skills and Nurturing Talent, chronicles my life story. It presents the details of my family experiences, education, work, and community engagement. I have worked and traveled extensively in America, Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Liberia), Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia (Singapore, China), and other parts of the world. The book illustrates the important role that acquiring skills and nurturing talents, such as technical skills, artistic skills, sports skills, language skills, and entrepreneurial skills, play in instilling self-development. They also facilitate community empowerment and contribute immensely toward the complex and difficult enterprise of nation building. Chapters 1 through 7 is the autobiographical narrative. In the remaining chapters 7 through 15, the book provides a group of lectures, presentations, and some prior publications, whose contents vividly and fully describe my activities. They offer tremendous insight into how I went about putting into practice my strong belief in the value of acquiring skills for the purpose of self-development, community empowerment, and nation building. Chapter 16 is a photo gallery of a portion of my larger extended family. They are spread around the world. It is said that "a picture is worth a thousand words." So I have included lots of pictures to bring the narratives to life.

The presocratic philosopher Protagoras of Abdera (490–420 BC), founder of the sophistic movement, was famously agnostic towards the existence and nature of the gods, and was the proponent of the doctrine that 'man is the measure of all things'. Still relevant to contemporary society, Protagoras is in many ways a precursor of the postmodern movement. In the brief fragments that survive, he lays the foundation for relativism, agnosticism, the significance of rhetoric, a pedagogy for critical thinking and a conception of the human being as a social construction. This accessible introductory survey by Daniel Silvermintz covers Protagoras' life, ideas and lasting legacy. Each chapter interprets one of the surviving fragments and draws connections with related ideas forwarded by other sophists, showing its relevance to an area of knowledge: epistemology, ethics, education and sociology.

Button-pushers come in all shapes and sizes, but they have one thing in common: Their behavior drives us crazy and makes us dream of ways to escape the mess we're in. The person who pushes your buttons is likely someone who matters to you – a spouse, a parent, a boss, a fellow church member. Almost always this difficult person is connected to you by blood, love, faith, or money, so you can't just end the relationship without causing pain and upheaval in your life. Our friends and today's culture will often advise us to abandon such relationships quickly – to end this unpleasant chapter and get on with our lives. Psychologist and author Dr. John Townsend disagrees, "Your button-pusher is not someone you would easily and casually leave. You are intertwined at many levels. It is worth the trouble to take a look at the ways the relationship you had, and want, can be revived and reborn." In this easy-to-read book he offers Expert insights to help you understand your own button-pusher Wise assistance in determining the nature of the problem Compassionate help in identifying your failed attempts to fix things A hope-filled vision for what can be and how to make it come true Rich resources to help you navigate the necessary changes

Practical and authentic, this essential career handbook provides every young person with inspiration and practical pathways to overcome socio-economic adversity and achieve their career ambitions. Written by an impressive group of senior professionals who have excelled despite seemingly insurmountable circumstances, including barriers such as racism and economic hardship, this book provides the roadmap to professional career success. With students and graduates from diverse and economically adverse backgrounds specifically in mind, the book breaks from the notion that one has to become a superstar, a Supreme Court Justice, a movie star, or an internationally famous athlete to be successful. It provides a grounded and realistic approach to achieve social, economic, and professional advancement for the majority of college students. High-level professionals and leaders in industry, government, non-profit, education, medicine, military, and the law share their unique stories, each filled with spirit, hope, advice, success strategies, and approaches to dealing with failures along the way. The book offers direction and guidance for self-determination and professional development, while also inspiring excellence in organizational leadership and management, with a focus on leadership, character, and tangible skills. This is essential reading for college students and graduates from all backgrounds, with a focus on underrepresented groups in particular. It will also benefit instructors, professors, and professionals in higher education, as well as leaders in the public, private, and third sectors who are focused on uplifting students and recent graduates of adverse and diverse backgrounds.

For nearly one hundred years, Shanghai was an international treaty port in which the extraterritorial rights of foreign governments shaped both architecture and infrastructure, and it merits examination as one of the most complex and influential urban environments of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Improvised City illuminates the interplay between the city’s commercial nature and the architectural forms and practices designed to manage it in Shanghai’s three municipalities: the International Settlement, the French Concession, and the Chinese city. This book probes the relationship between architecture and extraterritoriality in ways that challenge standard narratives of Shanghai’s built environment, which are dominated by stylistic analyses of major landmarks. Instead, by considering a wider range of town halls, post offices, municipal offices, war memorials, water works, and consulates, Cole Roskam traces the cultural, economic, political, and spatial negotiations that shaped Shanghai’s growth. Improvised City repositions Shanghai within architectural and urban transformations that reshaped the world over the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It responds to growing academic interest in the history of modern and contemporary Chinese architecture and urbanism; the ongoing, shifting relationship between sovereignty and space; and the variegated forms of urban exceptionality—such as special economic zones, tax-free trading spheres, and commercial enclaves—that continue to shape cities.

Economics is a social science concerned mainly with description and analysis of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Beyond the various theories and models, however, economics has close relationship with day to day life. This book reviews the economic journey of India over the last seventy years, and seeks to stimulate the readers’ thinking on some major issues and potentialities facing the Indian economy. Five main themes flow through the book – India’s potential to be the World’s third largest economic power by 2030, the challenges of socio-economic equity that India faces, the several opportunities that India has in that journey, the critical role of governance, leadership, management and administration, and the importance of mindset changes to power India’s futureeconomic growth. A special focus is laid on the role of government policies and projects in socio-economic development. The book sensitises the readers, including college students in general, and students of economics in particular, to the happenings around us which have significant economic import. The book makes all through its seventy chapters several suggestions to power India’s growth as a global economic superpower, on a plank of socioeconomic equity. This book serves as an expansive thought primer and focussed execution guide for an economically independent and resurgent India.

Celebrity, Aspiration and Contemporary Youth uses the lens of celebrity to explore how young people think about their futures under austerity. Based on an interdisciplinary study, the book offers fresh insights into contemporary youth aspirations and inequalities. It helps us to understand young people's transitions into adulthood at a time of socio-economic 'crisis'. Drawing on original data, the authors examine what it means for young people to be forming their aspirations within the context of 'austere meritocracy'. The book addresses three central questions: What kinds of futures do young people desire and imagine for themselves? What is required of young people in the process of achieving these futures? And how are inequalities embedded and reproduced within these? Using young people's 'celebrity talk' to explore their aspirations, the authors challenge stereotypes of young people as a fame-hungry, get-rich-quick generation. Instead, they show how young people engage critically with celebrity and its discourses. Key chapters focus on how young people talk about youth, work, authenticity, success, happiness, money and fame in relation to their own lives and those of celebrities. Each of these chapters contains a case study of an international celebrity, including, Beyoncé, Will Smith, Bill Gates, Prince Harry and Kim Kardashian. The authors conclude with possibilities for social change. They show that celebrity offers an important way of working with young people to critically explore what futures are possible and for whom.

The skyscraper is an American invention that has captured the public's imagination for over a century. The tall building is wholly manmade and borne in the minds of those with both slide rules and computers. This is the story of the skyscraper's rise and the recognition of those individuals who contributed to its development. This volume is unique; its approach, information, and images are fresh and telling. The text examines America's first tall buildings -- the result of twelve years of in-depth research by an accomplished and published architect and architectural historian. Over 300 compelling photographs, charts, and notes make this the ultimate tool of reference for this subject. Biographies woven throughout with period norms, politics and lifestyles help to place featured skyscrapers in context. Quite simply, there is no book like this. The text, carefully and insightfully written, is clear, concise, and easily digestible, the text being the product of well-documented original research written in an informative tone. The American Skyscraper 1850-1940: A Celebration of Height is a richly documented journey of a fascinating topic, and it promises to be a superb addition to libraries, schools of architecture, students of architecture, and lovers of art.

At some point in our lives, most of us have been affected by caring adults whose advice, guidance, and example made a difference. In The Person Who Changed My Life, individuals who have distinguished themselves in their fields write about the men and women who served as their mentors. Among the contributors in this updated and expanded edition of Matilda Raffa Cuomo's first book are Hillary Rodham Clinton, Joe Torre, Rosie O'Donnell, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Nora Ephron, General Colin Powell, and many others. The contributors evoke the people who had a lasting influence on their personal and professional lives and, in the process, show how profoundly a mentor can impact the life of a young, or not so young, person. The book includes a resource section for readers who are inspired to get involved and become mentors or help start mentoring organizations in their own communities. These moving stories by people who have excelled in their professions through hard work, perseverance, and, most important, the helpful assistance of others, demonstrate the long-lasting impact a mentor can have--and emphasize the importance of passing on the gifts our mentors give us.