Storytelling is an art, as well as a skill. It allows the listener to take an idea and shape it into something that is relatable on a personal level. In The Art of Storytelling: Telling Truths Through Telling Stories, Amy E. Spaulding enables the reader to learn how to develop this skill, while also discovering the tradition of storytelling.Spaulding covers a wide array of important storytelling elements, from advice on choosing, learning, and presenting the stories to dis...

From the author of the highly praised The Pencil and The Evolution of Useful Things comes another captivating history of the seemingly mundane: the book and its storage.Most of us take for granted that our books are vertical on our shelves with the spines facing out, but Henry Petroski, inveterately curious engineer, didn't. As a result, readers are guided along the astonishing evolution from papyrus scrolls boxed at Alexandria to upright books she...

"Splendidly articulate, informative and provoking....A book to be savored and gone back to."—Baltimore SunOn the survival and destruction of knowledge, from Alexandria to the Internet. Through the ages, libraries have not only accumulated and preserved but also shaped, inspired, and obliterated knowledge. Matthew Battles, a rare books librarian and a gifted narrator, takes us on a spirited foray from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries, fro...

Is your best friend getting married? Is your boss retiring? Are your parents celebrating their thirtieth anniversary?On these and many other occasions, you’ll probably need to give a toast–and you might well have trouble finding the right words.Fear no more. The bestselling author of Just a Note to Say… is back with Here’s to You!, an invaluable guide to giving meaningful, personal toasts and tributes on any occasion, including: weddings, graduations, anniv...

Welcome to this episode of the Real Fast Results podcast! If you are an author, if you are a publisher, if you are a small-press independent author and/or publisher, you are definitely in the right place. Today’s special guest is Sandra Beckwith. She is an award winning former publicist who now teaches authors how to market their books, and she does it quite well.Sandra’s Build Book Buzz website has been honored by three different organizations for its excellence. When you go check...

This book reports on the latest advances in the study of Networked Control Systems (NCSs). It highlights novel research concepts on NCSs; the analysis and synthesis of NCSs with special attention to their networked character; self- and event-triggered communication schemes for conserving limited network resources; and communication and control co-design for improving the efficiency of NCSs. The book will be of interest to university researchers, control and network engineers, and graduate ...

In Speaking Hatefully, David Boromisza-Habashi focuses on the use of the term “hate speech” as a window on the cultural logic of political and moral struggle in public deliberation. This empirical study of gyűlöletbeszéd, or "hate speech," in Hungary documents competing meanings of the term, the interpretive strategies used to generate those competing meanings, and the parallel moral systems that inspire political actors to question their opponents’ interpretations. In co...

With this brief, the authors present algorithms for model-free stabilization of unstable dynamic systems. An extremum-seeking algorithm assigns the role of a cost function to the dynamic system’s control Lyapunov function (clf) aiming at its minimization. The minimization of the clf drives the clf to zero and achieves asymptotic stabilization. This approach does not rely on, or require knowledge of, the system model. Instead, it employs periodic perturbation signals, along with the clf. Th...

Libraries in today's global world have emerged as key players in building a culture for reading in communities while enhancing the literacy development of children, youth, adults and seniors. Whether one lives in a modern city with sophisticated library services or in a remote region of the world where access to books and literacy services may be limited, librarians and libraries are contributing to the development of learning communities. This book captures some of the essence of this wor...

Tap into the tools, techniques, and resources necessary for enhancing the freshman library experience by utilizing this how-to guide that applies an innovative approach to literacy and library instruction for college freshmen.In recent years, educators have begun to realize the importance of learner-centered programs as pivotal in the academic success of students transitioning from high school to college. This practical guide provides you with detailed plans for de...

“If you want to get booked to speak at Global Conferences of large multinational companies, there is no one better to learn from than Fredrik Härén. Apply the 23 lessons and take your speaking to the next level this year!”Manoj VasudevanCEO Thought Expressions World Champion of Public Speaking“This book is filled with Fredrik’s wisdom and guidance - a blueprint for every speaker who wants to go global”Ruby Newell-LegnerCSP, 2015–2016 President National S...

Although they may not have always been explicitly stated, library work has always had normative goals. Until recently, such goals have largely been abstract; they are things like knowledge creation, education, forwarding science, preserving history, supporting democracy, and safeguarding civilization. The modern spirit of social and cultural critique, however, has focused our attention on the concrete, material relationships that determine human potentiality and opportunity, and library wo...