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This is True is filled strange-but-true news stories with commentary. PR Bop is filled with strange-but-true press releases with commentary by Tara Calishain, a New York Times Best-Selling technology author. Recent entries include "STOP IT. YOU ARE MAKING MY SKULL HURT" ("when I think of SpongeBob SquarePants the first thing I think of is EDAMAME"). Then there's a fast-food restaurant who wants to announce to the world they will give you a free combo meal -- if you show up at their place dressed as a cow. And do you really need a bulletproof USB flash drive? One company thinks so (I'm guessing they're based in Washington D.C.) Great stuff with just the sort of commentary news editors mutter as they trash press releases. From This is True for 23 July 2006 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Lee Child List Price: $27.00 Amazon Price: $17.82 Editorial Review: Two lonely towns in Colorado: Hope and Despair. Between them, twelve miles of empty road. Jack Reacher never turns back. It's not in his nature. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets is big trouble. So in Lee Child’s electrifying new novel, Reacher—a man with no fear, no illusions, and nothing to lose—goes to war against a town that not only wants him gone, it wants him dead. It wasn’t the welcome Reacher expected. He was just passing through, minding his own business. But within minutes of his arrival a deputy is in the hospital and Reacher is back in Hope, setting up a base of operations against Despair, where a huge, seething walled-off industrial site does something nobody is supposed to see . . . where a small plane takes off every night and returns seven hours later . . . where a garrison of well-trained and well-armed military cops—the kind of soldiers Reacher once commanded—waits and watches . . . where above all two young men have disappeared and two frightened young women wait and hope for their return. Joining forces with a beautiful cop who runs Hope with a cool hand, Reacher goes up against Despair—against the deputies who try to break him and the rich man who tries to scare him—and starts to crack open the secrets, starts to expose the terrifying connection to a distant war that’s killing Americans by the thousand. Now, between a town and the man who owns it, between Reacher and his conscience, something has to give. And Reacher never gives an inch.  By: Alexander Hiam List Price: $21.99 Amazon Price: $14.95 Editorial Review: Marketing is the most important thing that you do in business today, even if your job title doesn't have the word marketing in it. That is because marketing, in all its varied forms, is concerned with things like attracting customers, and Getting them to buy your product Making sure that they are happy with their purchases Persuading them to come back for more What could be more important? Ever try to run a business without customers? Marketing encompasses several specialized fields – from advertising to public relations, from selling to strategy, from database management to packaging and product design. How can you possibly be an expert at even half of these tasks? But at some point, anyone who wears a marketing hat has to handle problems in these areas and more. Marketing For Dummies shows you how. While this guide delves deep into the classic four components of marketing – product, price, placement, and promotions – it reaches beyond the basics of how to design a simple marketing program and gives you insight into Creating a compelling Internet strategy Succeeding at trade shows Producing interesting labeling, billboards, and print ads Understanding point-of-purchase advertising Sure, marketing can be a great deal of fun – it is, after all, a rare aspect of business where creativity is not only tolerated but essential to success. Yet in the long run, marketing is all about the bottom line. And Marketing For Dummies has a great many solutions of use to anyone who faces the challenge of finding and satisfying customers.  By: Lee Child List Price: $26.00 Amazon Price: $17.16 Editorial Review: Ex-military cop Jack Reacher is the perfect antihero--tough as nails, but with a brain and a conscience to match. He's able to see what most miss and is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Each book in Lee Child's smart, addictive series (The New York Times has referred to it as "pure escapist gold") follows the wandering warrior on a new adventure, making it easy to start with any book, including his latest gem, Bad Luck and Trouble. However, be forewarned...once you meet Jack Reacher, you'll be hooked, so be prepared to stock up on the series. --Daphne Durham
Who Is Jack Reacher? A Video from Lee Child Watch the video
A Note from Lee Child Two years ago I was on a book tour, promoting that year's new Jack Reacher novel, One Shot. One particular night, the event was held in a small town outside of Chicago. The date was June 21st. As I was giving my talk and answering questions and signing books, that date was nagging away at the back of my mind. I knew it had some significance. I started panicking--had I forgotten my anniversary? No, that's in August. My wife's birthday? No, that's in January. My own birthday? No, that's in October. Then suddenly I remembered--it was ten years to the day since I had been fired from my previous job. That was why and how I had become a writer. That night in Illinois was a ten-year anniversary of a different sort, somewhat bittersweet. And ten is a nice round number. So I started thinking about my old colleagues. My workmates, my buddies. We had been through a lot together. I started to wonder where they all were now. What were they doing? Were they doing well, or struggling? Were they happy? What did they look like now? Pretty soon I was into full-on nostalgia mode. Ten-year anniversaries can do that to a person. I think we all share those kind of feelings, about high school, or college, or old jobs we've quit, or old towns we've moved away from. So I decided to make this year's Jack Reacher book about a reunion. I decided to throw him back among a bunch of old colleagues that he hadn't seen for ten years, people that he loved fiercely and respected deeply. Regular Reacher readers will know that he's a pretty self-confident guy, but I wanted him to wobble just a little this time, to compare his choices with theirs, to measure himself against them. The renewed get-together isn't Reacher's own choice, though. And it's not a standard-issue reunion, either. Something very bad has happened, and one of his old team-members from the army contacts him, by an ingenious method (it's hard to track Reacher down). She gives him the bad news, and asks him to do something about it. He says, "Of course I'll do something about it." "No," his friend says. "I mean, I want you to put the old unit back together." It's an irresistible invitation. Wouldn't we all like to do that, sometimes? --Lee Child Secrets of the Series: A Q&A with Lee Child Q: Why do you think readers keep coming back to your novels? A: Two words: Jack Reacher. Reacher is a drifter and a loner with a strong sense of justice. He shows up, he acts, he moves on. He's the type of hero who has a long literary history. Robin Hood, the Lone Ranger, Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings, Jack Reacher--they're all part of the same heroic family. Reacher just ratchets it up a notch. Maybe more than a notch. Why is he so appealing? Most often people say to me it's his sense of justice; he will do the right thing. Even though there is no reward in it for him, even though there is often a high cost to be paid by him, he will always try to do the right thing and people find that reassuring in today's world when not too many people are doing the right thing. Q: Jack Reacher gets compared to James Bond, Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne, each of whom now has a "face." In a movie, which actor do you think could fill Reacher's shoes? A: That's the toughest question. The thing about Reacher is he's huge; he's 6'5" tall and about 250 pounds. There aren't any actors that size--actors tend to be small. So we aren't going to find a physical facsimile for Reacher because there aren't any. We have to find someone who is capable of looking big on the screen. Many people have said to me a young Clint Eastwood would have been perfect--we need someone like that who has the vibe of a big intimidating man. Hopefully there will be somebody available like that. It's also a question of finding somebody ready to sign up for more than one movie. They want to make a franchise, minimum of three, and that makes it a little bit harder. Q: What research is involved in writing one of your stories? A: My research is all kind of backwards. I don't go to the public library for three months and take notes in advance; instead my best research is by remembering and adapting. I read, travel, and talk to people just for the fun of it, filing away these interesting little snippets to the back of my mind and eventually they float to the surface and get used. The problem is, I approach writing the book with the same excitement and impatience that I hope the reader is going to feel about reading it. But even so, I need a certain measure of technical intrigue in the story. There is specific research I have to do as I go along, anything that's a small detail; a car, a gun, a type of bullet. I will check that out at the time. But, that's what I call the detail--the broad stuff is the stuff I already know. Meet Jack Reacher The Killing Floor Die Trying Tripwire Running Blind Echo Burning Without Fail Persuader The Enemy One Shot The Hard Way From a helicopter high above the empty California desert, a man is sent free-falling into the night…. In Chicago, a woman learns that an elite team of ex–army investigators is being hunted down one by one.... And on the streets of Portland, Jack Reacher—soldier, cop, hero—is pulled out of his wandering life by a code that few other people could understand. From the first shocking scenes in Lee Child’s explosive new novel, Jack Reacher is plunged like a knife into the heart of a conspiracy that is killing old friends…and is on its way to something even worse.  By: Steven Bragg List Price: $44.95 Amazon Price: $44.95 Editorial Review: Investor Relations provides a broad array of information for the investor relations professional, including event management, public communications, publications, investor relations web sites, and forward-looking statements. It also addresses the various constituents of the investor relations community, including the buy side, sell side, credit rating agencies, and short sellers. The book also addresses such niche topics as blue sky laws, proxy solicitations, stock buy-backs, and metrics. Investor Relations covers the complete range of investor relations topics. "At long last, a comprehensive introduction to the important topic of investor relations. CFOs, treasurers, and those who aspire to those positions would be well served to read this comprehensive guide." - Richard Booth, VP of Finance, Nuance Communication, Inc.  By: Robert Deigh List Price: $24.95 Amazon Price: $16.47 |
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