This book contains over 50 short stories based on the authors' experience as a Public Defender in the California Gold country, many of which are set in the historic mining town of Foresthill. The Sierra foothills are full of historic towns inhabited by aging Vietnam vets, present day miners, pot growers, meth makers, retirees, nouveau rich, just plain folks, eccentrics, and rugged individualists. Put them together and you have some conflicts with the law and some very funny stories, and sad t...

"This is gonzo food writing at its best. Candyfreak is like a good candy bar: a piece of delicious, ephemeral fun." — San Francisco ChronicleDo you remember Caravelles, Choco-Lites, Oompahs, and Marathons? Or how about Cookies n' Mints or Kit Kat Darks?Steve Almond does, but many of these candies can't be found anymore, and Almond wanted to know why. Where'd they go? When Almond embarked...

What's the strangest question employers have been asked during an interview? Among the responses:* What is it you people do at this company?* Why aren't you in a more interesting business?* Will the company move my rock collection from California to Maryland?* Does you company have a policy regarding concealed weapons?--from Idiots at Work: Chronicles of Workplace StupidityLeland Gregory once thought crooks, politicians, and lawyers ...

Martin Kihn was the nicest guy in the world – and it was killing him. But on the day he turned forty, Marty decided to change his life – for the meaner. Tired of being passed over for promotions at work, Marty set out on a journey to transform himself from Mr. Nice Guy into a rule-breaking, order-giving dickhead like the Marty Kaan” character played by Don Cheadle in the Showtime series House of Lies, based on Kihn’s book of the same name.Asshole...

Cartoonist John McPherson's comics may be close to home, but thank your lucky stars that his erratic characters haven't made themselves too comfortable in your home. McPherson's ode to everyday life is punctuated with the off-the-wall personalities who can turn any normal occurrence into something ridiculous. The only way to read these cartoons and their comical characters—from inept surgeons to cruel chiropractors—is to expect the unexpected.Close to Home

Michelle Kennedy had a typical middle class American childhood in Vermont. She attended college, interned in the U.S. Senate, married her high school sweetheart and settled in the suburbs of D.C. But the comfortable life she was building quickly fell apart. At age twenty-four Michelle was suddenly single, homeless, and living out of a car with her three small children. She waitressed night shifts while her kids slept out in the diner's parking lot. She saved her tips in the glove compartme...

Mark Thomas -- a legendarily seditious comedian and human rights activist -- is a recovering Coca-Cola addict, a self-described "middle-aged fat dad with asthma" who decides to trek around the globe investigating the stories and people Coca-Cola's iconic advertising campaigns don't mention: child laborers in the sugarcane fields of El Salvador, Indian workers exposed to toxic chemicals, Columbian labor union leaders in Coke bottling plants falsely accused of terrorism and jailed alongside ...

If you've ever toiled away in a cubicle or sat through the third meeting your boss scheduled to plan another meeting, then you can relate to this book. This is the third book in Jen Mann's New York Times best-selling People I Want to Punch in the Throat series and it will not disappoint! This is the book you'll want to accidentally on purpose leave on the desk of that blowhard in marketing. This is the book you'll just happen to drop next the microwave in the break room hoping that Jan in ...

Move over Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton--there's a new top-ranking MBA program in town! With the Kasper Hauser Continuing Education Academy, all it takes is a few minutes and a roll of bathroom tissue to earn a fully-accredited executive business degree.For the hundreds of millions of Americans who are looking for better, more successful, and more fulfilling lives--but don't have the time and money to invest in a full-on graduate degree--comes this revolutionary n...

Do you freeze up every time a birthday card gets passed around the office? Everybody else seems to know exactly what to write, and you can’t just sign your name. What do you do?Buy this book! It contains 101 unique sentiments you can scrawl on birthday cards for friends, family, co-workers, or even that special someone in your life—everything from The Basics to Silly, from Thoughtful to Casual. There’s even a Lovey-Dovey section! No matter ...

Are you young, eager, smart, and heading off to LA to make it big in the entertainment business? Time for a reality check: Leave your diploma at home, put your grandiose dreams on hold (where hopefully they'll get tired and hang up), and start by repeating the first rule of the industry: Who you work for is more important than who you are. Then leapfrog over everyone else by reading The Hollywood Assistants Handbook.Written by two very sharp and successful assistants to HP...

"Politically incorrect. . . . skewers Silicon Valley, with touches of Bonfire of the Vanities , Dilber t, and Revenge of the Nerds " ( San Francisco Chronicle ).Welcome to the mind, to the world of Fake Steve Jobs.Fake Steve the counterintuitive management guru: "Obviously we can...