272 products in Books

Written in the same year that he testified before the Currency Commission in Austria-Hungary, and published in English in 1892, Carl Menger explains that it is not government edicts that create money but instead the marketplace. Individuals decide what the most marketable good is for use as a medium of exchange. “Man himself is the beginning and the end of every economy,” Menger wrote, and so it is with deciding what is to be traded as money."Money has not been generated by law. In its origin it is a social, and not a state institution. Sanction by the authority of the state is a notion alien to it. "This is the first time this essay has been in print in more than a century!Introduction by Doug French

One of Silicon Valley's most successful angel investors shares his rules for investing in startups. There are two ways to make money in startups: create something valuable--or invest in the people that are creating valuable things. Over the past twenty-five years, Jason Calacanis has made a fortune investing in creators, spotting and helping build and fund a number of successful technology startups--investments that have earned him tens of millions of dollars. Now, in this enlightening guide that is sure to become the bible for twenty-first century investors, Calacanis takes potential angels step-by-step through his proven method of creating massive wealth: startups. As Calacanis makes clear, you can get rich--even if you came from humble beginnings (his dad was a bartender, his mom a nurse), didn't go to the right schools, and weren't a top student. The trick is learning how angel investors think. Calacanis takes you inside the minds of these successful moneymen, helping you understand how they prioritize and make the decisions that have resulted in phenomenal profits. He guides you step by step through the process, revealing how leading investors evaluate new ventures, calculating the risks and rewards, and explains how the best startups leverage relationships with angel investors for the best results. Whether you're an aspiring investor or a budding entrepreneur, Angel will inspire and educate you on all the ins of outs. Buckle up for a wild ride into the world of angel investing! This audiobook edition of Angel includes exclusive bonus one-on-one interviews with Jason Calacanis and professional angel investors. Featured are Founders Fund Partner Cyan Banister, multiple start up investor Gil Penchina, Founding Partner at XG Ventures Andrea Zurek, and serial entrepreneur and start up mentor Ed Roman.

A comprehensive and authoritative exploration of Bitcoin and its place in monetary history When a pseudonymous programmer introduced “a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party” to a small online mailing list in 2008, very few people paid attention. Ten years later, and against all odds, this upstart autonomous decentralized software offers an unstoppable and globally accessible hard money alternative to modern central banks. The Bitcoin Standard analyzes the historical context to the rise of Bitcoin, the economic properties that have allowed it to grow quickly, and its likely economic, political, and social implications. While Bitcoin is an invention of the digital age, the problem it purports to solve is as old as human society itself: transferring value across time and space. Author Saifedean Ammous takes the reader on an engaging journey through the history of technologies performing the functions of money, from primitive systems of trading limestones and seashells, to metals, coins, the gold standard, and modern government debt. Exploring what gave these technologies their monetary role, and how most lost it, provides the reader with a good idea of what makes for sound money, and sets the stage for an economic discussion of its consequences for individual and societal future-orientation, capital accumulation, trade, peace, culture, and art. Compellingly, Ammous shows that it is no coincidence that the loftiest achievements of humanity have come in societies enjoying the benefits of sound monetary regimes, nor is it coincidental that monetary collapse has usually accompanied civilizational collapse. With this background in place, the book moves on to explain the operation of Bitcoin in a functional and intuitive way. Bitcoin is a decentralized, distributed piece of software that converts electricity and processing power into indisputably accurate records, thus allowing its users to utilize the Internet to perform the traditional functions of money without having to rely on, or trust, any authorities or infrastructure in the physical world. Bitcoin is thus best understood as the first successfully implemented form of digital cash and digital hard money. With an automated and perfectly predictable monetary policy, and the ability to perform final settlement of large sums across the world in a matter of minutes, Bitcoin’s real competitive edge might just be as a store of value and network for the final settlement of large payments―a digital form of gold with a built-in settlement infrastructure. Ammous’ firm grasp of the technological possibilities as well as the historical realities of monetary evolution provides for a fascinating exploration of the ramifications of voluntary free market money. As it challenges the most sacred of government monopolies, Bitcoin shifts the pendulum of sovereignty away from governments in favor of individuals, offering us the tantalizing possibility of a world where money is fully extricated from politics and unrestrained by borders. The final chapter of the book explores some of the most common questions surrounding Bitcoin: Is Bitcoin mining a waste of energy? Is Bitcoin for criminals? Who controls Bitcoin, and can they change it if they please? How can Bitcoin be killed? And what to make of all the thousands of Bitcoin knockoffs, and the many supposed applications of Bitcoin’s ‘block chain technology’? The Bitcoin Standard is the essential resource for a clear understanding of the rise of the Internet’s decentralized, apolitical, free-market alternative to national central banks.

Written 75 years ago, 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever... This 75th Anniversary Edition includes: • A New Introduction by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of Take My Hand, winner of the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work—Fiction • A New Afterword by Sandra Newman, author of Julia: A Retelling of George Orwell’s 1984 “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” Winston Smith toes the Party line, rewriting history to satisfy the demands of the Ministry of Truth. With each lie he writes, Winston grows to hate the Party that seeks power for its own sake and persecutes those who dare to commit thoughtcrimes. But as he starts to think for himself, Winston can’t escape the fact that Big Brother is always watching... A startling and haunting novel, 1984 creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the novel’s hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions—a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time. • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read •

Béla Bartók wrote the first four volumes of the Mikrokosmos as a series of beginning piano exercises for his son Péter. The great Hungarian composer's complete six-volume collection represents one of the most comprehensive anthologies of contemporary technique ever assembled. This edition, consisting of the first two volumes, presents more than 100 pieces of study material suitable for first- and second-year students. In a 1945 radio interview, Bartók explained, "The Mikrokosmos is a cycle of 153 pieces for piano, written with a didactic purpose. That is, to give piano pieces which can be used from the very beginning and then going on. It is graded according to difficulties. And the word Mikrokosmos may be interpreted as a series of pieces in many different styles, representing a small world. Or it may be interpreted as 'world of the little ones, the children.'" This volume constitutes the definitive edition of Bartók's tutorials, drawing upon all known manuscripts and the printed originals for a corrected version approved by the composer's son and the first student to benefit from these exercises.

This classic guide offers clear, concise instruction in the basics as well as the finer points of pencil drawing. Appropriate for beginning and intermediate students, it features sixty-six well-chosen illustrations that encompass a wide range of subjects — mainly architectural, but also people, animals, and landscapes — and demonstrate a tremendous variety of techniques. An architect, painter, art director, and teacher, Arthur L. Guptill wrote several popular books on drawing. He begins this two-part treatment, aimed at architects, artists, and students, with discussions of drawing objects in outline and in light and shade, the principles of freehand perspective, methods of cast and life drawing, and sketching animals. The second part examines the choice of subjects and drawing in outline and in flat and graded tones. The important subject of composition receives considerable attention, with particular focus on unity and balance. Additional topics include working from photographs and from nature, the representation of buildings — including exteriors, interiors, and street scenes — and portraying details and accessories, from furniture, draperies, doors, and windows to clouds, water, and trees.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize   A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll   Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Gödel, Escher, Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more.

“The most original and probably the most important writer on Magick since Aleister Crowley."—Robert Anton Wilson, author of the Prometheus Rising and other works Peter Carroll’s classic work has been profound influence on the Western magical world and on the practice of chaos magick in particular. In Liber Null and Psychonaut, Carroll presents an approach to the practice of magic that draws on the foundations of shamanism and animism, as well as that found in the Greek magical papyri, the occult works of Eliphas Levi and Aleister Crowley, and the esoteric meditative practices of classical India and China. Also very much at work in the text are 20th century scientific ideas of quantum physics and chaos theory. The result is a profoundly original work of magical studies that also includes a selection of extremely powerful rituals and exercises for committed occultists with instructions that lead the reader through new concepts and practices to achieve Carroll’s definition of magic itself: the raising of the whole individual in perfect balance to the power of infinity. This Weiser Classics edition is a thoroughly revised republication of Liber Null and Psychonaut, first published by Weiser in 1987, and includes a new foreword by Ronald Hutton, a leading authority on modern witchcraft and paganism.

Absolute Essentials of Ethereum is a concise textbook which guides the reader through the fascinating world of the emerging Ethereum ecosystem, from the basics of how its blockchain works to cutting-edge applications. Written by an experienced educator, each chapter is designed to progress potential students from class to class. Technical concepts are clearly explained for those new to the topic and readers are supported with definitions and summaries in each chapter. Real-life case studies situate the overviews in a contemporary context. Topics covered include the Ethereum Execution and Consensus layers, Ethereum governance and community, Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs), Decentralised Finance (DeFi), Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Layer 2. This book is the ideal text to support undergraduate and postgraduate courses on blockchain technologies, cryptocurrencies, Web3 and fintech, as well as for those who want to know how Ethereum really works.

#1 GLOBAL BESTSELLER WITH MORE THAN 8 MILLION COPIES SOLD • Meet Elizabeth Zott: “a gifted research chemist, absurdly self-assured and immune to social convention” (The Washington Post) in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show. • STREAM ON APPLE TV+ This novel is “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel” (The New York Times Book Review) and “witty, sometimes hilarious...the Catch-22 of early feminism” (Stephen King, via Twitter). A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, Oprah Daily, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.  But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.   Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the #1 New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Laugh-out-loud Holiday Adventure for Kids! You've been planning night and day, and finally you've created the perfect trap with shamrocks, pots of gold, and rainbows galore! Now all you need to do is wait. Is this the year you'll finally catch the leprechaun? Start a St. Patrick's Day tradition with this fun and lively children's picture book and get inspired to build leprechaun traps of your own at home or in the classroom! Laugh along in this zany story for kids that blends STEAM concepts with hilarious rhymes and vibrant illustrations! How to catch a leprechaun? It's tougher than you think! He'll turn your whole house upside down. He's quicker than a wink! Also in the How to Catch Series: * How to Catch a Unicorn * How to Catch the Easter Bunny * How to Catch an Elf * How to Catch a Monster * How to Catch a Turkey * and more!

The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 25 million copies sold! Translated into 60+ languages! Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights. Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field. Learn how to: * make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy); * overcome a lack of motivation and willpower; * design your environment to make success easier; * get back on track when you fall off course; ...and much more. Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.