Each year, 200 million workers from China's vast rural interior travel between cities and provinces in search of employment: the largest human migration in history. This indispensable army of labour accounts for half of China's GDP, but is an unorganized workforce-'scattered sand', in Chinese parlance-and the most marginalized and impoverished group of workers in the country. For two years, the award-winning journalist Hsiao-Hung Pai traveled across China visiting labourers on Olympic construction sites, in the coal mines and brick kilns of the Yellow River region, and at the factories of the Pearl River Delta. She witnessed the outcome of the 2009 riots in the Muslim province of Xinjiang; saw towns in rubble more than a year after the colossal earthquake in Sichuan; and was reunited with long-lost relatives, estranged since her mother's family fled for Taiwan during the Civil War. Scattered Sand is the result of her travels: a finely wrought portrait of those left behind by China's dramatic social and economic advances.

Each year, 200 million workers from China’s vast rural interior travel between cities and provinces in search of employment: the largest human migration in history. This indispensable army of labour accounts for half of China’s GDP, but is an unorganized workforce—”scattered sand,” in Chinese parlance—and the most marginalized and impoverished group of workers in the country. For two years, the award-winning journalist Hsiao-Hung Pai travelled across China, visiting labourers on Olympic construction sites, in the coal mines and brick kilns of the Yellow River region, and at the factories of the Pearl River Delta. She witnessed the outcome of the 2009 riots in the Muslim province of Xinjiang; saw towns in rubble more than a year after the colossal earthquake in Sichuan; and was reunited with long-lost relatives, estranged since her mother’s family fled for Taiwan during the Civil War. Scattered Sand is the result of her travels: a finely wrought portrait of those left behind by China’s dramatic social and economic advances.

“A beautifully presented book on Jewish diversity around the world . . . opens windows into lives from the hills of Portugal to the plains of Africa.” —The Jerusalem Post With vibrant photographs and intricate accounts Scattered Among the Nations tells the story of the world’s most isolated Jewish communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Former Soviet Union and the margins of Europe. Over two thousand years ago, a shipwreck left seven Jewish couples stranded off India’s Konkan Coast, south of Bombay. Those hardy survivors stayed, built a community, and founded one of the fascinating groups described in this book—the Bene Israel of India’s Maharasthra Province. This story is unique, but it is not unusual. We have all heard the phrase “the lost tribes of Israel,” but never has the truth and wonder of the Diaspora been so lovingly and richly illustrated. To create this amazing chronicle of faith and resilience, the authors visited Jews in thirty countries across five continents, hearing origin stories and family histories that stretch back for millennia. “Beautiful, even breathtaking . . . a Jewish (Inter) National Geographic, wisely reminding us that the strategies for survival of Jews in distant lands may be relevant to our own.” —Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, Emanu-El Scholar at Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco and author of I’m God; You’re Not “This exquisite book is a gift to the Jewish people, dramatically stretching our understanding of ‘Jewish’ . . . A book to be savored, read and re-read, and transmitted from one generation to the next.” —Yossi Klein Halevi, Senior Fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem

Drawn by troubling dreams of a handsome Indian Warrior, Colleen Merrill had come westward with her brutal husband to homestead in the Montana wilderness--only to fall in love with Lieutenant Matthew Douglas, a dashing U.S. Cavalry officer. Wounded Bear, a young Cheyenne warrior and medicine man, had been told in a vision by the great spirit--wolf that a golden-haired woman held the power to save his people from invasion. As the drums of war beat every louder, Wounded Bear knew he must find this woman, or the Cheyenne would be scattered--like grains of sand in the wind. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The old world is buried. A new one has been forged atop the shifting dunes. Here in this land of howling wind and infernal sand, four siblings find themselves scattered and lost. Their father was a sand diver, one of the elite few who could travel deep beneath the desert floor and bring up the relics and scraps that keep their people alive. But their father is gone. And the world he left behind might be next. Welcome to the world of Sand, a novel by New York Times best-selling author Hugh Howey. Sand is an exploration of lawlessness, the tale of a land ignored. Here is a people left to fend for themselves. Adjust your ker and take a last, deep breath before you enter.

A historical tour de force, The Invention of the Jewish People offers a groundbreaking account of Jewish and Israeli history. Exploding the myth that there was a forced Jewish exile in the first century at the hands of the Romans, Israeli historian Shlomo Sand argues that most modern Jews descend from converts, whose native lands were scattered across the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In this iconoclastic work, which spent nineteen weeks on the Israeli bestseller list and won the coveted Aujourd'hui Award in France, Sand provides the intellectual foundations for a new vision of Israel's future.

Sand and Golf: How Terrain Shapes the Game explores what makes golf, and golf course architecture, so special on sandy terrain. Golf was born on sandy ground and the features of the game are a direct product of that terrain. Fairways and greens were derived from the naturally occurring areas of short grass found among the coastal dunes of Scotland. The original sand traps were areas of bare sand that can be found scattered throughout any dune landscape. As the game spread beyond the coastal dunes it took these features with it, and while they have been incorporated into a variety of landscapes they have always fit best on sandy ground. For this reason each major expansion in golf has begun with new courses on sandy ground. Even the best courses of the modern era are products of sandy terrain. The reason golf works so well on sandy ground is that it quite literally belongs there. This book explores the unique features of sandy ground that make it so suitable for golf, studying the similarities and differences among sandy courses in a wide variety of environments. The courses of Melbourne's Sandbelt may not bear much resemblance to the fantastic sandy courses of America's Great Plains, but they actually have a great deal in common. The firm turf that is a product of free draining soils, rugged bunkers carved directly into the sandy soils, and a style of play suited to firm, often windy sites. Golf on sandy sites is a game played as much along the ground as through the air, and creative shotmaking is required to deal with the challenges of sandy terrain. The creativity required to succeed when golfing on sandy ground is a big part of the enduring popularity of these courses and the reason why people travel around the world to seek them out. Golf on sandy terrain is something special because golf itself is a product of that terrain. Sand and Golf looks at all aspects of the relationship between sand and golf, from golf's earliest days to the spread of the sport across the globe. Golf and golf course architecture on sandy sites is explored in every detail, using examples and illustrations from the best sandy courses in the world.FEATURED GOLF COURSES: United States of America 1. Bandon Trails Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Oregon 2. Chambers Bay University Place, Washington 3. Cypress Point GC Monterey, California 4. Friars Head GC Baiting Hollow, New York 5. Garden City GC Garden City, New York 6. The Maidstone Club East Hampton, New York 7. The National Golf Links of America Southampton, New York 8. Pacific Dunes Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Oregon 9. Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links Pacific Grove, California 10. Pinehurst Number 2 Pinehurst, North Carolina 11. Pine Valley GC Clementon, New Jersey 12. Sand Hills GC Mullen, Nebraska 13. Sebonack GC Southampton, New York 14. Shinnecock Hills GC Southampton, New York 15. Streamsong Golf Resort Streamsong, Florida 16. Wild Horse GC Gothenburg, Nebraska 17. Yeamans Hall Club Hanahan, South Carolina Great Britain, Ireland, and Europe 18. Ballybunion Golf Club Ballybunion, Ireland 19. Carnoustie Golf Links Carnoustie, Scotland 20. Cruden Bay GC Cruden Bay, Scotland 21. Falsterbo GC Falsterbo, Sweden 22. Ganton GC Scarborough, England 23. Lahinch GC Lahinch, Ireland 24. Machrihanish GC Campbeltown, Scotland 25. Muirfield Gullane, Scotland 26. North Berwick (West Links) North Berwick, Scotland 27. The Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland 28. Pennard GC Swansea, Wales 29. Prestwick GC Prestwick, Scotland 30. The Renaissance Club at Archerfield Dirleton, Scotland 31. Rosapenna Golf Resort Downings, Ireland 32. Royal Cinque Ports (Deal) Deal, England 33. Royal County Down Newcastle, Northern Ireland 34. Royal Dornoch Dornoch, Scotland 35. Royal North Devon (Westward Ho!) Bideford, England 36. Royal Portrush Portrush, Northern Ireland 37. Royal St. George's Sandwich, England 38. Royal Troon Troon, Scotland 39. Rye GC Rye, England 40. St. George's Hill GC St George's Hill, England 41. Sunningdale GC Sunningdale, England 42. Swinley Forest GC Ascot, England Australia 43. Barnbougle Dunes Bridport, Tasmania 44. Kingston Heath GC Melbourne, Australia 45. Royal Melbourne Melbourne, Australia

Each year, 200 million workers from China’s vast rural interior travel between cities and provinces in search of employment: the largest human migration in history. This indispensable army of labour accounts for half of China’s GDP, but is an unorganized workforce—’scattered sand’, in Chinese parlance—and the most marginalized and impoverished group of workers in the country. For two years, the award-winning journalist Hsiao-Hung Pai traveled across China visiting labourers on Olympic construction sites, in the coal mines and brick kilns of the Yellow River region, and at the factories of the Pearl River Delta. She witnessed the outcome of the 2009 riots in the Muslim province of Xinjiang; saw towns in rubble more than a year after the colossal earthquake in Sichuan; and was reunited with long-lost relatives, estranged since her mother’s family fled for Taiwan during the Civil War. Scattered Sand is the result of her travels: a finely wrought portrait of those left behind by China’s dramatic social and economic advances.

Did the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, the massive power blackout of 2003, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the Gulf oil spill of 2010 'just happen'-or were these shattering events foreseeable? Do such calamities in fact follow a predictable pattern? Can we plan for the unforeseen by thinking about the unthinkable?Ted Lewis explains the pattern of catastrophes and their underlying cause. In a provocative tour of a volatile world, he guides the reader through mega-fires, fragile power grids, mismanaged telecommunication systems, global terrorist movements, migrating viruses, volatile markets and Internet storms. Modern societies want to avert catastrophes, but the drive to make things faster, cheaper, and more efficient leads to self-organized criticality-the condition of systems on the verge of disaster. This is a double-edged sword. Everything from biological evolution to political revolution is driven by some collapse, calamity or crisis. To avoid annihilation but allow for progress, we must change the ways in which we understand the patterns and manage systems. Bak's Sand Pile explains how.