Lake Tahoe is the majestic mountain lake that spans the boundary line of California and Nevada. The lake's clarity and scenic beauty are legendary. In the 1870s, the Nevada Comstock Lode created an insatiable appetite for Lake Tahoe's virgin pine forests. The timbers would shore up underground mining and build communities approaching 40,000 inhabitants. Railroads on three shores delivered the logs lakeside, where they were towed by steam-powered tugs to sawmills, to lumber flumes, and agai...

The Virginia & Truckee is the most famous short line railroad in American history. Brainchild of William Sharon and the Bank of California, the V&T hauled the silver and gold ore, the cordwood, and the mining timbers that made the 1870s �Big Bonanza� a reality. From the state capital at Carson City, V&T rails stretched 66 miles to Virginia City, Reno, and Minden, Nevada. Serving the transportation needs of the Comstock�s nearly 40,000 inhabitants, the V&T remained in operation until 1950. ...

It felt like an emotional crucifixion-a dark year in which a father figure passed, a friend and mentor suffered a terminal illness, one child entered psychosis, another child took his life, a 14-year marriage ended.As a new life began, an ancient pilgrimage called from across an ocean. Would it hold any answers? Were there any answers to be had? Questions are always temporal, but it seems pilgrimage follows the designs of the eternal.Join in a transcendent journey ...

We are the only beings on earth who intrinsically wonder about our own end. But is there a way to elicit more elegant, gentle questions? Maybe something finer can be imparted, a way to bring the inevitable grief this life holds, into the love it really is. In this lyrical essay, poetry and the beauty of dreams mingle with remembrance. Journey from a child's view of life's end to a perspective in time much closer to that end, and something as familiar as an old friend comes into focus, gree...

'This story literally has what it takes: the anecdotes, the insights and, most of all, the values to guide the next generation of entrepreneurs' – **Mark CarneyBlackstone chairman, CEO and co-founder Stephen A. Schwarzman shows readers how to build, transform and lead thriving organisations.**Stephen Schwarzman took $400,000 and cofounded Blackstone, the investment firm that manages over $500 billion and invests in hundreds of companies globally. He’s the C...

The Big Win is a follow up to the authors first book: The Billion Dollar Mistake: Learning the Art of Investing through the Missteps of Legendary Investors. The Big Win will be the companion piece, focusing on extremely successful investments instead of spectacular failures. Each chapter begins with the inspiring life story of an extremely accomplished financier and their path to success, opening a window onto a personality that is inextricably linked to their investment style and, ultimat...

If your agency's future is tied to making stuff, then you're destined to be on a perpetual financial roller coaster. Someone will always make stuff less expensively than you can. We're entering the era of the authority. While you may already be sick of the phrase thought leader, the truth is there aren't that many of them in our industry. Thought leaders don't write content that any other agency could claim. Thought leaders don't write about anything and everything and thought leaders don'...

The Awesome Adventures of Alice Marie Von Bugaboo and Her Unusual Family is a composite of eight stories involving the everyday life of a family living in the small, hypothetical town of Porcupine Heights, Michigan, just outside of Kalamazoo. Through the love and kindness shown to each other and the familys frequent generosity towards others, the Von Bugaboo familys actions set an example of how to lead a life of grace based upon always trying to do what is right and proper. Their actions ...

The world's systems of higher education (HE) are caught up in the fourth industrial revolution of the twenty-first century. Driven by increased globalization, demographic expansion in demand for education, new information and communications technology, and changing cost structures influencing societal expectations and control, higher education systems across the globe are adapting to the pressures of this new industrial environment. To make sense of the complex changes in the practices and...

Musical culture in Jewish communities in early modern Italy was much more diverse than researchers originally thought.An interdisciplinary reassessment, Music and Jewish Culture in Early Modern Italy evaluates the social, cultural, political, economic, and religious circumstances that shaped this community, especially in light of the need to recognize individual experiences within minority populations. Contributors draw from rich materials, topics, and app...

A practical and occasionally provocative look at the state of spinal surgical careJust a few decades ago most spine surgery was literally a gamble: maybe you'd get better and maybe you wouldn't. Today we have the knowledge, understanding, and technology to predictably relieve pain and neurological deficits like never before—yet many patients are still getting subpar care.Foundational knowledge of surgical spine care isn't spreading to the medical community,...

This light is bright and light to hold. Set the table with glasses, and put your glasses on. Light or light? Glasses or glasses? This sing-along picture book celebrates tricky, sticky words that look and sound the same but have two different meanings. This playful song about homonyms will have young readers clapping and giggling along as they think about familiar words in a whole new way. This hardcover book comes with CD and online music access.