Our Blog

Field Guide to Luck

Take Control of Your Destiny!
 
From the good luck provided by shamrocks, rabbits’s feet, and horseshoes to the misfortune caused by broken mirrors, black cats, and umbrellas opened indoors, our lives are filled with signs and superstitions that guide our destiny and influence our fate.
 
Fortunately, Field Guide to Luck can help you recognize dozens of influential charms, dates, sayings, and symbols wherever you encounter them. Learn what objects are on your side, which practices are best avoided, and where these curious beliefs come from. This indispensable guide reveals their fascinating origins and offers tips for putting them into practice. With Lady Luck on your side and a lucky penny in your pocket, you’re sure to lead a charmed life!

Posted by impart

Field Guide to Dreams

At last, a field guide to identifying and interpreting dream symbols, from falling to flying!
 
Dreams can be mysterious, exhilarating, and terrifying—but they don’t have to be confusing. With Field Guide to Dreams, you’ll unravel the hidden meanings behind these mysterious subconscious messages. For example, you may find yourself naked in front of your high school classroom during a time of great change—perhaps you’re feeling insecure about a decision you recently made. Of if you find buried treasure in a dream, you may have hidden talents or knowledge.
 
Organized by dominant symbol (animals, caves, hospitals, teachers, and so on), each full-color image refers to a complete dream description. This book gives you clues to a dream’s meaning and explains the significance of having the same dream time and again. You’ll hear what Freud and Jung might say about a particular vision and discover a dream’s sometimes strange, often illuminating, historical and cultural context. With Field Guide to Dreams at your bedside, you’ll never wonder if that cigar was just a cigar!

Posted by impart

Extreme Encounters

After reading The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, did you ever wonder what it’s like to be struck by lightning? To run with the bulls in Pamplona? To ride the crushing swell of an avalanche? Extreme Encounters describes these adventures and 37 others with endlessly addictive “you-are-there” second-person narratives-so you chill to the numbing effects of frostbite, you hear the 110-decibel roar of a grizzly bear, and you feel the stomach-lurching drop of an elevator freefall.

Extreme Encounters is a moment-by-moment, blow-by-blow account of what happens to you physically, emotionally, and scientifically during life’s most perilous experiences. Like a cross between The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook and Into Thin Air, these heart-racing stories take readers where few have gone before.

GREG EMMANUEL has written for MTV, VH1, GQ, ESPN Magazine, Stuff, and Maxim. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Posted by impart

The Executive’s Almanac

The Executive’s Almanac is an entertaining collection of facts and figures covering all aspects of business—from the assembly line to the bottom line; from the stock market to the supermarket.
 
A sample of what’s in store:
 
     •  The ratio of the salaries of the average worker to the average CEO is 301 to 1.
     •  As of 2004, 8.3 million people in the world have $1 million to invest, spend, or save.
     •  Blue Chip stocks got their name from poker, where blue chips are more valuable than white or red.
     •  Starbucks was named for the first mate in Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick.
     •  The New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol for Mauna Loa is NUT; Men’s Wearhouse is SUIT;
     •  Sotheby’s is BID; and Genentech is DNA.

Posted by impart

Encyclopedia of Guilty Pleasures

What do Neil Diamond, Touched by an Angel, Pamela Anderson, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, White Castle hamburgers, Benny Hill, Thomas Kinkade, and the song “You Light Up My Life” have in common? They’re all guilty pleasures-and they’re all celebrated in this massive A-to-Z encyclopedia.

Authors Sam Stall, Lou Harry, and Julia Spalding have unearthed fascinating trivia about literature (Valley of the Dolls, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue), television (The Real World, Land of the Lost), fashion (Members Only jackets, the WonderBra), and more. Every page features a sophisticated two-column design and handy guide words for quick at-a-glance reference. Best of all, we’ve illustrated 100 of the guiltiest pleasures with the same portrait style used by the Wall Street Journal.

Complete with 1,001 entries, it’s the ultimate guide to everything you hate to love!

SAM STALL pleads guilty to enjoying Fantasy Island, Bloomin’ Onions, and the artwork of Boris Vallejo.

LOU HARRY has mastered the Electric Slide and collects Hummel figurines.

JULIA SPALDING is a fan of Sweet Valley High novels, Clinique Pore Minimizer Makeup, and “Designer Imposters.”

KEVIN SPROULS is the Wall Street Journal portrait artist who created the WSJ portrait style.

Posted by impart

The Reality TV Handbook

Would you give up showers, toilets, and other modern conveniences for a chance at a million dollars? Do you long to find the love of your life in front of a national television audience? Are you willing to do anything-and we mean anything-to become famous?

Perfect for fans of Survivor, American Idol, The Bachelor, and their countless imitators, The Reality TV Handbook is the insider’s guide to winning fame, love, and/or money on the small screen. From creating the perfect application video and auditioning like an idol to keeping your head as you’re buried alive, The Reality TV Handbook features everything you need to go the distance.

Written by acclaimed television producer John Saade, this illustrated handbook will show you how to outwit your competitors, outsmart the producers, and win over the hearts of TV audiences everywhere!

JOHN SAADE developed and oversaw production on ABC’s The Bachelor, The Mole, Extreme Makeovers, Making the Band, and Houston Medical. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

JOE BORGENICHT has coauthored The Action Hero’s Handbook, The Action Heroine’s Handbook, The Baby Owner’s Manual, and Undercover Golf. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Posted by impart