Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking Contributor(s): Hadnagy, Christopher (Author), Wilson, Paul (Foreword by)

By Christopher Hadnagy
"This book covers, in detail, the world's first framework for social engineering. It defines, explains, and dissects each principle, then illustrates it with true stories and case studies from masters such as Kevin Mitnick, renowned author of The Art of Deception. You will discover just what it takes to excel as a social engineer. Then you will know your enemy.
Tour the Dark World of Social Engineering.
Learn the psychological principles employed by social engineers and how they're used.
Discover persuasion secrets that social engineers know well.
See how the crafty crook takes advantage of cameras, GPS devices, and caller ID.
Find out what information is, unbelievably, available online.
Study real-world social engineering exploits step by step"  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer (Easyread Large Edition) -

By Helen Caldicott
"The world-renowned antinuclear activist's expertly argued(The Guardian) case against nuclear energy. In a world torn apart by wars over oil, politicians have increasingly begun to look for alternative energy sourcesand their leading choice is nuclear energy. Among the myths that have been spread over the years about nuclear-powered electricity are that it does not cause global warming or pollution, that it is inexpensive, and that it is safe. Helen Caldicott's look at the actual costs and environmental consequences of nuclear energy belies the incessant barrage of nuclear industry propaganda. Caldicott reveals truths, Martin Sheen has said, that confirm we must take positive action now if we are to make a difference.In fact, nuclear power contributes to global warming; the true cost of nuclear power is prohibitive, with taxpayers picking up most of the tab; there's simply not enough uranium in the world to sustain nuclear power over the long term; and the potential for a catastrophic accident or a terrorist attack far outweighs any benefits. Concluding chapters detail alternative sustainable energy sources that are the key to a clean, green future."   (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

50 Jobs in 50 States: One Man's Journey of Discovery Across America

By Daniel Seddiqui

"Like lots of college grads, Daniel Seddiqui was having a hard time finding a job. But despite more than forty rejections, he knew opportunities had to exist. So he set out on an extraordinary quest: fifty jobs in fifty states in fifty weeks. And not just any jobs--he chose professions that reflected the culture and economy of each state.
Working as everything from a cheesemaker in Wisconsin, a border patrol agent in Arizona, and a meatpacker in Kansas to a lobsterman in Maine, a surfing instructor in Hawaii, and a football coach in Alabama, Daniel chronicles how he adapted to the wildly differing people, cultures, and environments. From one week to the next he had no idea exactly what his duties would be, where he'd be sleeping, what he'd be eating, or how he'd be received. He became a roving news item, appearing on CNN, Fox News, World News Tonight, MSNBC, and the Today show--which was good preparation for his stint as a television weatherman.
Tackling challenge after challenge--overcoming anxiety about working four miles underground in a West Virginia coal mine, learning to walk on six-foot stilts (in a full Egyptian king costume) at a Florida amusement park, racing the clock as a pit-crew member at an Indiana racetrack--Daniel completed his journey a changed man. In this book he shares stories about the people he met, reveals the lessons he learned, and explains the five principles that kept him going."  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

Fire on the Horizon: The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster

By John Konrad
"Several extant and forthcoming titles about the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico dwell on environmental or regulatory aspects of the incident. Konrad and Shroders differs from them by narrating the catastrophe as an industrial accident. Before describing the fateful moment when explosion and fire destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, the authors cover the Horizons construction and the backgrounds of several personnel who were on board when it blewsome, graduates of East Coast maritime colleges; others, working-class southerners making big money on oil rigs. Allusions to this distinction of statuses are woven throughout an account of the intricate technologies and processes of deep-sea oil drilling, in which controlling well pressure is critical. Recounting an ominous sequence of questionable operational decisions that immediately preceded the conflagration, the book crests with a frantic evacuation and the tally of the killed and injured. Former rig captain Konrad and journalist Shroders effort should gratify readers interested in the oil-rig world and in the Horizons crew."   (Bookslist)  Check Our Catalog

Afghanistan: A Companion and Guide (2ND ed.)

By Bijan Omrani
"Thanks to 20 years of civil war and its association with terrorism, Afghanistan is often unjustly thought of in the West as a barbarous backwater. This guide dispels that image in a comprehensive introduction to 3,500 years of Afghan culture. Each chapter looks at the major cities and regions, describing their distinctive cultural and ethnic traditions, and their associations with poets, artists, musicians, travelers, and holy men, as well as warriors and conquerors. Wonderfully illustrated, this book also features engravings, paintings, and images of priceless museum artifacts. A number of specialist essays by leading experts present topics such as archeology, architecture, carpets, flora and fauna, miniature painting, and music."  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

The Bee Eater: Michelle Rhee Takes on the Nation's Worst School District

By Richard Whitmire

"The Bee Eater chronicles the extraordinary life and work of the dynamic and controversial school reformer Michelle Rhee. The author delves into Rhee's childhood (as the only Korean American in her graduating class in her Toledo, Ohio school), her first teaching job in a West Baltimore classroom (where she once ate a bee to the amazement of her students), her appointment as chancellor of Washington, D.C. public schools and her launch of Children First, her national advocacy group that draws on the tough lessons of Washington. While the book reveals Rhee's remarkable accomplishments, it also explores many of the fundamental problems in our current education system, the unpredictable politics ofleadership -- and her shortcomings.
When Michelle Rhee first arrived in Washington, she found a school district that had been so dysfunctional for so long that many had given up, choosing to blame race and poverty rather than poor instruction. There was no one being held accountable. The district central office had become an adult employment center, a place to deposit job seekers. Rhee was convinced that Washington's inner city students could achieve, but considerable obstacles stood in the way -- obstacles that needed removing.
Guided by the principles of outstanding leadership, strict accountability, and the power of effective teaching, Rhee was determined to turn around the Washington, D.C. schools. Her encounters with community politics and long-simmering racial tensions, and her battles with central office bureaucrats and teachers' unions, were so extraordinary that her efforts were featured in Time, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, and a lengthy PBS series.
The Bee Eater holds the promise of educational excellence for today's students and for tomorrow's school reformers."  (Publisher Description)  Check Our Catalog

The Ghosts of Europe: Central Europe's Past and Uncertain Future

By Anna Porter
"An enlightening if unsettling account of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia 20 years after the collapse of communism.
A Canadian writer whose parents fled Hungary in 1956, Porter (Kasztner's Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust, 2007) tours these nations, describing the sights and history in between interviews with heroes of the struggle for freedom, as well as a few villains (as in Russia, many former communist bureaucrats have prospered spectacularly). She then moves on to other establishment figures: elected officials, opposition leaders, artists, academics and gadflies. A universal vision during the heady first years of independence was an economic "third way," a compromise between inefficient socialism and heartless capitalism. Nearly everyone now admits that was a fantasy, and that capitalism has won. Porter describes chain stores, malls, skyscrapers, trendy night life and glitzy Western media transforming formerly sleepy medieval Warsaw, Bratislava, Prague and Budapest. An unfettered free market combined with Russian crony-capitalism has produced new wealth and a large middle-class, leaving behind a growing, resentful underclass as pensions and social programs dwindle along with uncompetitive, state-supported factories. The author notes a persistent nostalgia for former communist security in addition to a few disquieting movements with a long history in central Europe but stimulated by the current world economic crisis: anti-Semitism; persecution of ethnic minorities (Hungarians in Slovakia, gypsies everywhere); and nasty right-wing nationalism."  (Kirkus Reviews)  Check Our Catalog

The "S" Word: A Short History of an American Tradition...Socialism

By John Nichols
"An important reminder of the invaluable strains of socialist thought throughout American political history, from fighting despotism to creating universal health care.
Socialism has become a bad word, feared equally by the left and right, for different political reasons, but mostly because people haven't read the work of Thomas Paine, Walt Whitman or Abraham Lincoln, or learned about the socialist experiments that really worked in America, such as in Milwaukee, Wisc., the author's hometown....A brief and selective but well-written and spirited study."  (Kirkus Reviews)   Check Our Catalog