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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Today's Deals

Today's the last day to take advantage of these KSO offers:
There are now free EPUB and/or nook versions of these books available:

Poke the Box ($1.49), by Seth Godin, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day. This book, a part of the Domino Project, was initially available as a $1 pre-order, but usually sells in the $10 range.
Book Description
If you're stuck at the starting line, you don't need more time or permission. You don’t need to wait for a boss’s okay or to be told to push the button; you just need to poke.

Poke the Box is a manifesto by bestselling author Seth Godin that just might make you uncomfortable. It’s a call to action about the initiative you’re taking-– in your job or in your life. Godin knows that one of our scarcest resources is the spark of initiative in most organizations (and most careers)-– the person with the guts to say, “I want to start stuff.”

Poke the Box just may be the kick in the pants you need to shake up your life.

Audible couldn't decide what to have as their final choice on the New Day/New Deal sale, so there are five new titles today, along with all the previous titles, for one last chance to get them for $7.95. The sale now says it ends at 11 AM, but I suspect it will go all day (as it's already after 11 AM).

The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks, narrated by Barry Bostwick
Book Description
At 31, Noah Calhoun, back in coastal North Carolina after World War II, is haunted by images of the girl he lost more than a decade earlier. At 29, socialite Allie Nelson is about to marry a wealthy lawyer, but she cannot stop thinking about the boy who long ago stole her heart. Thus begins the story of a love so enduring and deep it can turn tragedy into triumph, and may even have the power to create a miracle.

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee, narrated by Stephen Hoye
Book Description
Written by cancer physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies is a stunning combination of medical history, cutting-edge science, and narrative journalism that transforms our understanding of cancer and much of the world around us. Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist's precision, a novelist's richness of detail, a historian's range, and a biographer's passion. The story of cancer is one of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, arrogance, paternalism, and misperception, all leveraged against a disease that, just decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out "war against cancer." It's a story of science and scientists, of centuries of discoveries, of setbacks and victories and deaths, told through the eyes of Mukherjee's predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary.

From the Persian Queen Atossa, who instructed her Greek slave to cut off her malignant breast, to the radical surgeries of the 19th century, to the first recipients of primitive radiation and chemotherapy, to Mukherjee's own leukemia patient, Carla, The Emperor of All Maladies is a story of people---and their families---who soldier through toxic, bruising, and draining regimens to survive and to increase the store of human knowledge.

Riveting and magisterial, The Emperor of All Maladies provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments and offers a bold new perspective on the way doctors, scientists, philosophers, and lay people have observed and understood the human body for millennia.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz, narrated by Jonathan Davis, Staci Snell
Book Description
Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the Fuku: the curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim.

Diaz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience - and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true literary triumph, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao confirms Junot Diaz as one of the best and most exciting voices of our time.

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, narrated by Alice Walker
Book Description
Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 - when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate - and continuing over the course of her marriage to "Mister", a brutal man who terrorizes her.

Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister's letters from her, and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend, Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.

In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives, by Steven Levy, narrated by L. J. Ganser
Book Description
Few companies in history have ever been as successful and as admired as Google, the company that has transformed the Internet and become an indispensable part of our lives. How has Google done it? Veteran technology reporter Steven Levy was granted unprecedented access to the company, and in this revelatory book he takes listeners inside Google headquarters - the Googleplex - to explain how Google works.

While they were still students at Stanford, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin revolutionized Internet search. They followed this brilliant innovation with another, as two of Google's earliest employees found a way to do what no one else had: make billions of dollars from Internet advertising. With this cash cow (until Google's IPO, nobody other than Google management had any idea how lucrative the company's ad business was), Google was able to expand dramatically and take on other transformative projects: more efficient data centers, open-source cell phones, free Internet video (YouTube), cloud computing, digitizing books, and much more.

The key to Google's success in all these businesses, Levy reveals, is its engineering mind-set and adoption of such Internet values as speed, openness, experimentation, and risk taking. After it's unapologetically elitist approach to hiring, Google pampers its engineers with free food and dry cleaning, on-site doctors and masseuses, and gives them all the resources they need to succeed. Even today, with a workforce of more than 23,000, Larry Page signs off on every hire.

But has Google lost its innovative edge? It stumbled badly in China. And now, with its newest initiative, social networking, Google is chasing a successful competitor for the first time. Some employees are leaving the company for smaller, nimbler start-ups. Can the company that famously decided not to be "evil" still compete?

No other book has turned Google inside out as Levy does with In the Plex.

This edition of In the Plex includes an exclusive interview with Google's Marissa Mayer, one of the company's earliest hires and most visible executives, as well as the youngest woman to ever make Fortune's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" list. She provides a high-level insider's perspective on the company's life story, its unique hiring practices, its new social networking initiative, and more.

Free Book (noDRM) - The Multiplex Man

The Multiplex Man ($9.99 Kindle), by James P. Hogan, winner of The Prometheus Award, is this month's free book from Phoenix Pick (and today's the last day to download it).
Book Description
Who is Richard Jarrow?

Is he the unassuming, mild-mannered teacher he thinks himself to be or something much more?

And how does the brilliant scientist named Ashling fit into the picture?

The Multiplex Man (winner of The Prometheus Award) is an intriguing thriller set in a future where every aspect of life on Earth is micromanaged by authorities who consider any deviation from the proscribed path as dangerous.

Off-world colonies are considered dangerous enemies threatening to take Earth’s precious resources .

Jarrow must find Ashling who hold the key, not only to Jarrow’s own identity, but to freedom itself.

Click HERE for the free book from Phoenix Pick. You'll need to scroll down to find the book's listing, then click on "FREE EBOOK of the Month", then enter coupon code 99922991. Click thru the next page and then scroll down and get the format of your choice. They are DRM-free, so you can convert to other formats, if desired.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Kindle Game Sale - 12 Games at 99 Cents

Amazon has 12 games marked down to 99 cents each, several of which have not been at this price before. If you've been holding off on a few of these, it's a great time to pick them up (especially the ones from Electronic Arts, which are usually $4-$5 and are very well done). The sale ends September 12, 2011.
  1. POGO Hearts, Spades and More!, by Electronic Arts Inc.
  2. SCRABBLE, by Electronic Arts Inc
  3. EA Sudoku, by Electronic Arts Inc.
  4. YAHTZEE, by Electronic Arts Inc.
  5. Puzzle Baron's Cryptograms: Volume 1, by A Gamz
  6. Doodle Fit, by Gamelion Studios
  7. Slingo, by Gameblend Studios
  8. Word Quest, by Compulab
  9. Triple Town, by Spry Fox
  10. KenKen Vol. 1, by Gameblend Studios
  11. Kee-Ko's Quest, by A Gamz
  12. Panda Poet, by Spry Fox

Todays Deals and Free Book Updates

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness ($1.49), by William Styron, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day.
Book Description
Styron’s stirring account of his plunge into a crippling depression, and his inspiring road to recovery

In the summer of 1985, William Styron became numbed by disaffection, apathy, and despair, unable to speak or walk while caught in the grip of advanced depression. His struggle with the disease culminated in a wave of obsession that nearly drove him to suicide, leading him to seek hospitalization before the dark tide engulfed him.

Darkness Visible tells the story of Styron’s recovery, laying bare the harrowing realities of clinical depression and chronicling his triumph over the disease that had claimed so many great writers before him. His final words are a call for hope to all who suffer from mental illness that it is possible to emerge from even the deepest abyss of despair and “once again behold the stars.”

This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.

If you are into memoirs (or are a fan), you may also want to check out Ann Patchett's The Getaway Car: A Practical Memoir About Writing and Life, a new Kindle Single. If you are more about the novel and not the novelist, be sure to check out Patron Saint of Liars and Truth & Beauty, both currently steeply discounted.
Book Description
“The journey from the head to the hand is perilous and lined with bodies. It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write—and many of the people who do write—get lost.”

So writes Ann Patchett in "The Getaway Car", a wry, wisdom-packed memoir of her life as a writer. Here, for the first time, one of America’s most celebrated authors ("State of Wonder", "Bel Canto", "Truth and Beauty"), talks at length about her literary career—the highs and the lows—and shares advice on the craft and art of writing. In this fascinating look at the development of a novelist, we meet Patchett’s mentors (Allan Gurganas, Grace Paley, Russell Banks), see where she made wrong turns (poetry), and learn how she gets the pages written (an unromantic process of pure hard work). Woven through engaging anecdotes from Patchett’s life are lessons about writing that offer an inside peek into the storytelling process and provide a blueprint for anyone wanting to give writing a serious try. The bestselling author gives pointers on everything from finding ideas to constructing a plot to combating writer’s block. More than that, she conveys the joys and rewards of a life spent reading and writing.

“What I like about the job of being a novelist, and at the same time what I find so exhausting about it, is that it’s the closest thing to being God that you’re ever going to get,” she writes. “All of the decisions are yours. You decide when the sun comes up. You decide who gets to fall in love...”

In this Byliner Original by the new digital publisher Byliner, "The Getaway Car" is a delightful autobiography-cum-user’s guide that appeals to both inspiring writers and anyone who loves a great story.

What It Was, by George Pelecanos, can be pre-ordered by Canadian Kindle customers for only 99 cents (doesn't look available at all, for other areas, yet). This is may be a pricing error, so those of you north of the border should add it to your queue before it is corrected, but, if so, it is repeated at Barnes & Noble, where those in the US can pre-order this at the same price.
Book Description
Washington, D.C., 1972. Derek Strange has left the police department and set up shop as a private investigator. His former partner, Frank "Hound Dog" Vaughn, is still on the force. When a young woman comes to Strange asking for his help recovering a cheap ring she claims has sentimental value, the case leads him onto Vaughn's turf, where a local drug addict's been murdered, shot point-blank in his apartment. Soon both men are on the trail of a ruthless killer: Red Fury, so called for his looks and the car his girlfriend drives, but a name that fits his personality all too well. Red Fury doesn't have a retirement plan, as Vaughn points out - he doesn't care who he has to cross, or kill, to get what he wants. As the violence escalates and the stakes get higher, Strange and Vaughn know the only way to catch their man is to do it their own way.

Rich with details of place and time - the cars, the music, the clothes - and fueled by non-stop action, this is Pelecanos writing in the hard-boiled noir style that won him his earliest fans and placed him firmly in the ranks of the top crime writers in America.

Bad Blood: A Virgil Flowers Novel, by John Sandford, narrated by Eric Conger, is today's $7.95 audiobook from Audible (good deal, the Kindle edition is still $14.99). All the previous titles are still on sale, but the sale ends tomorrow, so only one more selection to go.
Book Description
The brilliant new Virgil Flowers thriller from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author.

One late fall Sunday in southern Minnesota, a farmer brings a load of soybeans to a local grain elevator- and a young man hits him on the head with a steel bar, drops him into the grain bin, waits until he's sure he's dead, and then calls the sheriff to report the "accident." Suspicious, the sheriff calls in Virgil Flowers, who quickly breaks the kid down...and the next day the boy's found hanging in his cell. Remorse? Virgil isn't so sure, and as he investigates he begins to uncover a multigeneration, multifamily conspiracy-a series of crimes of such monstrosity that, though he's seen an awful lot in his life, even he has difficulty in comprehending it...and in figuring out what to do next.

Yesterday's free comedy audiobook is still free at AudioGo. I don't know what time their selection changes, but it seems to be sometime in the afternoon here on the east coast. They should have one or two more and that will be it for the series.

Some updates on free books (additional formats):

Free Book (EPUB/nook) - Thunder in the Morning Calm

Thunder in the Morning Calm ($9.99 Kindle), the first in the brand new Pacific Rim series by Don Brown, is free from Barnes & Noble and ChristianBook, courtesy of Christian publisher Zondervan. This is an Agency publisher title, so be sure to report the lower price to Amazon, so we can get the Kindle price corrected.
Book Description
Lieutenant Commander 'Gunner' McCormick is assigned as an intelligence officer to Carrier Strike Force 10, being deployed to the Yellow Sea at the invitation of South Korea for joint exercises with the US Navy. During his pre-deployment briefing, he discovers a TOP-SECRET MEMO revealing rumors that the North Koreans may still be holding a handful of elderly Americans from the Korean War in secret prison camps.As it happens, Gunner's grandfather, who was a young marine officer in the Korean War, disappeared at Chosin Reservoir over 60 years ago and is still listed as MIA in North Korea. Sworn to silence about what he has read, the top-secret memo eats at him. Gunner decides to spend all his inheritance and break every military regulation in the book to finance his own three-man commando squad on a suicide mission north of the DMZ to search for clues about the fate of his grandfather. Risking his career, his fortune, and his life, Gunner will get his answers, or he will die trying. Don Brown is building a loyal fan base by writing what he knows best: thrillers with heart. A former Navy JAG officer and action officer in the Pentagon, Brown pens action-packed plots and finely-drawn characters that are credible and compelling. Thunder in the Morning Calm is a novel of bravery, duty, and family love that will keep readers of all ages reading straight through to the last page.
Click HERE to get the free book from B&N.
Click HERE to get the free book from ChristianBook.

Monday, August 29, 2011

$5 Instant Video Credit at Amazon

Amazon is giving away another $5 Instant Video credit to anyone with a Twitter account. All you have to do is click the banner above, then click the big yellow Tweet and Get $5 button - the prompts will lead you thru the rest of the process, including linking your twitter account with your Amazon account. The credit applies to your account instantly (but will expire on October 31, 2011 if not used).

Note that Twitter is currently overwhelmed, it appears, so if you get an error message, just refresh the offer page at Amazon and try again. It took two tries with mine. Once you get a green success message on the screen, you can click thru to any Instant Video item and use the "View Balance" link at the bottom of the big black "box" on screen (right next to "redeem a gift card..").

Fine Print: Offer good from August 29, 2011, 10:00 AM PST to September 2, 2011, 11:59 PM PST, for those in the US only. Other restrictions may apply (see offer for details).

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB/nook) - The Murder at the Vicarage

Update: Also free from Sony and Copia.

The Murder at the Vicarage, by Agatha Christie, is free for US customers in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble, thanks to HarperCollins.
Book Description
The murder of Colonel Protheroe -- shot through the head -- is a shock to everyone in St Mary Mead, though hardly an unpleasant one. Now even the vicar, who had declared that killing the detested Protheroe would be 'doing the world at large a favour,' is a suspect -- the Colonel has been dispatched in the clergyman's study, no less. But the picturesque English village of St Mary Mead is overpopulated with suspects. There is of course the faithless Mrs Protheroe; and there is of course her young lover -- an artist, to boot.

Perhaps more surprising than the revelation of the murderer is the detective who will crack the case: 'a white-haired old lady with a gentle, appealing manner.' Miss Jane Marple has arrived on the scene, and crime literature's private men's club of great detectives will never be the same.
Click HERE to get the free book from B&N.
Click HERE to get the free book from Sony.
Click HERE to get the free book from The Copia.

Today's Deals

Hidden in Plain View ($0.99), the second in the Darryl Billups Mysteries series by Blair S. Walker, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day. You'll probably want to start with the first, though, and it's on an unannounced sale, at $2.99: Up Jumped the Devil. These are published by AmazonEncore, so I don't expect to see them elsewhere.
Up Jumped the Devil
A five-year veteran of the Baltimore Herald’s police beat, Darryl Billups is one of the paper’s top reporters. He earned the distinction the hard way, combining a nose for news, innate writing ability, and the timeless art of persuasion. Never one to shy away from the dangers of the job, he has chronicled the trajectories of some of Baltimore’s most compelling—and lethal—characters. So when an anonymous source tips him off to a domestic terrorist plot to bomb the NAACP’s national headquarters, Darryl knows this story could be the biggest of his career. But what he soon comes to realize is that though his dogged pursuit of the truth may make his name, it could also cost him his life. Complicating matters is Darryl’s deepening affection for Yolanda and Jamal, a young mother and son he has taken under his wing to shield them from domestic abuse. As a veteran journalist, he knows better than to insert himself into a story, but sometimes it just can’t be helped. Up Jumped the Devil weaves a thrilling mixture of suspense, romance, and comedy, expertly juggled by a memorable new hero for fans of contemporary detective fiction.

Hidden in Plain View
In the second installment of Blair S. Walker’s Darryl Billups series, the intrepid reporter has left his blue-collar Baltimore roots for a new gig in New York. But life in the big city isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Luckily for Darryl, the Baltimore Herald is only too happy to welcome its star reporter back home, as are Darryl’s girlfriend Yolanda and her young son Jamal. Darryl is promoted to editor, but before long is itching to return to his former crime beat. He gets his chance when the nude bodies of African-American professionals begin turning up around town, their faces ominously marked with Confederate-flag decals. At a loss for suspects, homicide detective Phillip Gardner calls on his old friend Darryl for help unraveling the case. Darryl eagerly reconnects with Baltimore’s seedy underbelly and is soon hot on the trail of a killer who will transform his notions about gender, race, and the workings of the criminal mind. To break this story, Darryl must learn to look at the world in a totally different way—or become the killer’s most high-profile victim yet!

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, narrated by Kristoffer Tabori, is today's $7.95 audiobook at Audible.
Book Description
A dazzling triumph from the bestselling author of The Virgin Suicides--the astonishing tale of a gene that passes down through three generations of a Greek-American family and flowers in the body of a teenage girl.

In the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls' school in Grosse Pointe, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry blond clasmate with a gift for acting. The passion that furtively develops between them--along with Callie's failure to develop--leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, she is not really a girl at all.

The explanation for this shocking state of affairs takes us out of suburbia- back before the Detroit race riots of 1967, before the rise of the Motor City and Prohibition, to 1922, when the Turks sacked Smyrna and Callie's grandparents fled for their lives. Back to a tiny village in Asia Minor where two lovers, and one rare genetic mutation, set in motion the metamorphosis that will turn Callie into a being both mythical and perfectly real: a hermaphrodite.

Spanning eight decades--and one unusually awkward adolescence- Jeffrey Eugenides's long-awaited second novel is a grand, utterly original fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, untidy promptings of desire. It marks the fulfillment of a huge talent, named one of America's best young novelists by both Granta and The New Yorker.

Save $25 on back-to-college gear (KSO)

This offer is only for those with a Kindle with Special Offers:

Save $25 on your $50 Purchase of Select Back-to-College Gear at Amazon.com

Click on offer, then click on the link on the offer page to receive an email with the promotion code. Sign-up for this offer expires on September 1.

You'll get an email (right away), a link to the Special Offer page and a promotion code to enter at checkout. Once you have the promotional code, you have until October 1 to complete your purchase. Like previous offers, this one requires you to use the full checkout process in order to enter your promotional code. Also, like all Amazon sales that use promotional codes, if you have a gift card balance, you must use it for the payment (if there is not a sufficient balance, then you can pick which credit card or other payment to use).

This offer can be used more than once per account, so long as you have more than one KSO registered. Just click on the ad on each device to receive the individual promotion codes via email.

This deal says "back-to-college", but most of it seems to be luggage, backpacks (hiking and college use) and various types of bags or water carriers for participating in various outdoor sports (including dry bags and hunting daypacks); there's even a luggage back for your surfboard! Mixed in are some college sports logo shirts (look under biking), logo helmet lights, dorm style bedselts and a bunch of games (indoor and outdoor) and tailgating items (chairs, grill covers, coolers, etc.) - there's even at least one set of baby socks (with logo, of course).

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Today's Deals and Bargain Books

The Lincoln Lawyer ($2.99 Kindle, B&N and Kobo), the first title in the Mickey Haller series by Michael Connelly, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day, but it isn't limited to Kindle at that price.
Book Description
This #1 bestselling legal thriller from Michael Connelly is a stunning display of novelistic mastery - as human, as gripping, and as whiplash-surprising as any novel yet from the writer Publishers Weekly has called "today's Dostoevsky of crime literature."

Mickey Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far-flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend clients of every kind. Bikers, con artists, drunk drivers, drug dealers - they're all on Mickey Haller's client list. For him, the law is rarely about guilt or innocence, it's about negotiation and manipulation. Sometimes it's even about justice.

A Beverly Hills playboy arrested for attacking a woman he picked up in a bar chooses Haller to defend him, and Mickey has his first high-paying client in years. It is a defense attorney's dream, what they call a franchise case. And as the evidence stacks up, Haller comes to believe this may be the easiest case of his career. Then someone close to him is murdered and Haller discovers that his search for innocence has brought him face-to-face with evil as pure as a flame. To escape without being burned, he must deploy every tactic, feint, and instinct in his arsenal - this time to save his own life.

The Skin Map ($1.79 Kindle; $1.99 B&N), the first in the Bright Empires series by Stephen R. Lawhead, is currently discounted on both Kindle and nook.
Book Description
It is the ultimate quest for the ultimate treasure. Chasing a map tattooed on human skin. Across an omniverse of intereing realities. To unravel the future of the future.

Kit Livingston's great-grandfather appears to him in a deserted alley during a tumultuous storm. He reveals an unbelievable story: that the ley lines throughout Britain are not merely the stuff of legend or the weekend hobby of deluded cranks, but pathways to other worlds. To those who know how to use them, they grant the ability to travel the multi-layered universe of which we ordinarily inhabit only a tiny part.

One explorer knew more than most. Braving every danger, he toured both time and space on voyages of heroic discovery. Ever on his guard, and fearful of becoming lost in the cosmos, he developed an intricate code--a roadmap of symbols--that he tattooed onto his own body. This Skin Map has since been lost in time. Now the race is on to recover all the pieces and discover its secrets.

But the Skin Map itself is not the ultimate goal. It is merely the beginning of a vast and marvelous quest for a prize beyond imagining.

The Bright Empires series--from acclaimed author Stephen Lawhead--is a unique blending of epic treasure hunt, ancient history, alternate realities, cutting-edge physics, philosophy, and mystery. The result is a page-turning, fantastical adventure like no other.

Refined by Fire ($0.99 Kindle), a 2005 Gold Medallion Award finalist by Ginger Kolbaba, Brian Birdwell and Mel Birdwell, is discounted on Kindle.
Book Description

When hijacked American Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, LTC (RET) Brian Birdwell was only 15 to 20 yards away. He stepped out into the corridor and was instantly engulfed in flames—burns consumed 60 percent of his body, with almost 40 percent of them third-degree. Thirty-plus operations and countless physical therapy sessions later, his recovery has truly been remarkable, and spiritually he and his family are stronger than ever before. Brian and his wife, Mel, tell their captivating story of God's grace and sovereignty.

Poison Study (US/UK), the first in the Study series by Maria V. Snyder, is discounted to £1.49 ($2.45) for UK Kindle customers.
Book Description
Choose: A quick death...or a slow poison... About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She`ll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace - and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia. And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly`s Dust - and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonising death from the poison. As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can`t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren`t so clear...

This Brave Balance ($2.99), by Rusalka Reh and Katy Derbyshire (Translator), is one of the Amazon exclusive translations being published by AmazonCrossing.
Book Description
Teenagers age twelve to sixteen will love this story of athletes, physical and mental challenge, friendship, love, and suspense. In This Brave Balance, author Rusalka Reh does more than explore the fascinating and dangerous world of parkour. Sometimes referred to as freerunning, parkour is an elegant sport requiring strength, strategy, and agility to smoothly move through the obstacles of city spaces. Parkour athletes are called traceurs, and Dipper, Corone, Skylark, and Jay are seasoned traceurs capable of doing spins and aerial rotations with the best of them. They prefer to practice in old factories, parks, and fields, where impediments are in abundance and risks push them to their limits. However, when Corone’s former girlfriend, Kite, shows up, everything changes. There are signs of a budding relationship between Kite and Dipper, causing tension to build, tempers to flare, and old friendships to be questioned. When we learn that Corone has a sister, and that a dark cloud hangs over their story, we find ourselves carried beyond sports and into a world of mystery and family secrets. This is a page-turner of a novel, one that will undoubtedly compel readers to seek out the other works of this gifted author.

The Detachment ($5.99 pre-order), by Barry Eisler, is just above my usual cut-off, but I suspect the price may rise as it nears publication or shortly thereafter. You can get a small sample of his writing, free, in the collection 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake.
Book Description
John Rain is back. And “the most charismatic assassin since James Bond” (San Francisco Chronicle) is up against his most formidable enemy yet: the nexus of political, military, media, and corporate factions known only as the Oligarchy.

When legendary black ops veteran Colonel Scott “Hort” Horton tracks Rain down in Tokyo, Rain can’t resist the offer: a multi-million dollar payday for the “natural causes” demise of three ultra-high-profile targets who are dangerously close to launching a coup in America.

But the opposition on this job is going to be too much for even Rain to pull it off alone. He’ll need a detachment of other deniable irregulars: his partner, the former Marine sniper, Dox. Ben Treven, a covert operator with ambivalent motives and conflicted loyalties. And Larison, a man with a hair trigger and a secret he’ll kill to protect.

From the shadowy backstreets of Tokyo and Vienna, to the deceptive glitz and glamour of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and finally to a Washington, D.C. in a permanent state of war, these four lone wolf killers will have to survive presidential hit teams, secret CIA prisons, and a national security state as obsessed with guarding its own secrets as it is with invading the privacy of the populace.

But first, they’ll have to survive each other.

The Detachment is what fans of Eisler, “one of the most talented and literary writers in the thriller genre” (Chicago Sun-Times), have been waiting for: the worlds of the award-winning Rain series, and of the bestselling Fault Line and Inside Out, colliding in one explosive thriller as real as today’s headlines and as frightening as tomorrow’s.

Because It Is Wrong: Torture, Privacy and Presidential Power in the Age of Terror ($1.69 Kindle), by Charles Fried and Gregory Fried
Book Description
Elevating the torture and privacy debate, this book brilliantly challenges the knee-jerk responses of those in media and government.

Can torture ever be justified? When is eavesdropping acceptable? Should a kidnapper be waterboarded to reveal where his victim has been hidden? Ever since 9/11 there has been an intense debate about the government’s application of torture and the pervasive use of eavesdropping and data mining in order to thwart acts of terrorism. To create this seminal statement on torture and surveillance, Charles Fried and Gregory Fried have measured current controversies against the philosophies of Aristotle, Locke, Kant, and Machiavelli, and against the historic decisions, large and small, of Jefferson, Lincoln, and Pope Sixtus V, among many others. Because It Is Wrong not only discusses the behavior and justifications of Bush government officials but also examines more broadly what should be done when high officials have broken moral and legal norms in an attempt to protect us. This is a moral and philosophical meditation on some of the most urgent issues of our time.

The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret ($1.24), by Seth Shulman
Book Description
A gripping intrigue at the heart of one of the world’s most important inventions.

While researching Alexander Graham Bell at MIT’s Dibner Institute, Seth Shulman scrutinized Bell’s journals and within them he found the smoking gun, a hint of deeply buried historical intrigue. Delving further, Shulman unearthed the surprising story behind the invention of the telephone: a tale of romance, corruption, and unchecked ambition.Bell furtively—and illegally—copied part of Elisha Gray’s invention in the race to secure what would become the most valuable U.S. patent ever issued. And afterward, as Bell’s device led to the world’s largest monopoly, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, he hid his invention’s illicit beginnings. In The Telephone Gambit, Shulman challenges the reputation of an icon of invention, rocks the foundation of a corporate behemoth, and offers a probing meditation on how little we know about our own history.

Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet ($2.98), by Lisa Wolverton
Book Description
A dazzling intellectual history of the West served up with verve and insight by two brilliant young historians.

Here is an intellectual entertainment, a sweeping history of the key institutions that have organized knowledge in the West from the classical period onward. With elegance and wit, this exhilarating history alights at the pivotal points of cultural transformation. The motivating question throughout: How does history help us understand the vast changes we are now experiencing in the landscape of knowledge?

Beginning in Alexandria and its great center of Hellenistic learning and imperial power, we then see the monastery in the wilderness of a collapsed civilization, the rambunctious universities of the late medieval cities, and the thick social networks of the Enlightenment republic of letters. The development of science and the laboratory as a dominant knowledge institution brings us to the present, seeking patterns in the new digital networks of knowledge.

Full of memorable characters, this fresh history succeeds in restoring the strangeness and the significance of the past.

Consequential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don't Seem to Matter. . . But Really Do ($1.53), by Melinda Blau and Karen L. Fingerman
Book Description
Our barista, our mechanic, our coworker—they populate our days, but we often take them for granted. Yet these are the people who bring novelty and information into our lives, allow us to exercise different parts of ourselves, and open us up to new opportunities. In their unprecedented examination of people on the periphery, psychologist Karen Fingerman, who coined the term “consequential strangers,” collaborates with journalist Melinda Blau to expand on and make her own groundbreaking research come alive. Drawing as well from Blau’s more than two hundred interviews with specialists in psychology, sociology, marketing, and communication, the book presents compelling stories of individuals and institutions, past and present. A rich portrait of our social landscape—on and off the Internet—it presents the science of casual connection and chronicles the surprising impact that consequential strangers have on business, creativity, the work environment, our physical and mental health, and the strength of our communities.

A Congregation of Jackals ($3.79), by S. Craig Zahler
Book Description
Four former members of a bank-robbing gang are reuniting for a wedding. But there will be an uninvited guest—another old member of the gang who’s bringing some men of his own to exact the vengeance he’s been after for years.

The Vaults ($2.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), by Toby Ball
Book Description
In a dystopian 1930s America, a chilling series of events leads three men down a path to uncover their city's darkest secret.

At the height of the most corrupt administration in the City's history, a mysterious duplicate file is discovered deep within the Vaults---a cavernous hall containing all of the municipal criminal justice records of the last seventy years. From here, the story follows: Arthur Puskis, the Vault's sole, hermit-like archivist with an almost mystical faith in a system to which he has devoted his life; Frank Frings, a high-profile investigative journalist with a self-medicating reefer habit; and Ethan Poole, a socialist private eye with a penchant for blackmail.

All three men will undertake their own investigations into the dark past and uncertain future of the City---calling into question whether their most basic beliefs can be maintained in a climate of overwhelming corruption and conspiracy.

Siren ($3.79 Kindle; $3.99 B&N), by John Everson
Book Description
Evan is entranced by the alluring song of the beautiful naked woman he saw in the surf one lonely night. But this is no mere seductress. She is a siren, one of the legendary sea creatures who prey on unsuspecting men. And she has claimed Evan as her next lover.

Soul Circus ($1.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), by George Pelecanos, is the third in his Derek Strange and Terry Quinn series.
Book Description
A Washington, D.C., crime lord fights for his life in court while P.I. Derek Strange finds a woman whose testimony could mean death or freedom for the crime lord.

Angel Burn ($3.49 Kindle, Kobo; $3.99 B&N), by L. A. Weatherly
Book Description
Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself does. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he's one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed romantic trilogy, L. A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill ride of a road trip — and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

Unholy Ghosts ($0.99 Kindle, B&N, Kobo), by Stacia Kane, is the book I've just started reading (now that I've finished Anthony Francis' Blood Rock). This is the first title in Kane's Downside series and the next two are also currently marked down (to $4.99): Unholy Magic and City of Ghosts.
Book Description
THE DEPARTED HAVE ARRIVED.

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully tattooed witch and freewheeling ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for banishing the wicked dead. But Chess is keeping a dark secret: She owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump, who wants immediate payback in the form of a dangerous job that involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.

Bargain Book Roundup - Hay House

The following are all discounts on books published by Hay House in the Kindle store. I would not be surprised at all to see the prices climb upward tomorrow. Hay House specializes in self-help and inspirational (but not necessarily Christian) titles.

Wheat-Free, Worry-Free ($2.99), by Danna Korn, is one I grabbed up, to replace the paper copy I've had for years (and it looks like that copy I got from Amazon, as well).
Book Description
This is a practical, comprehensive and inspirational guide to living a wheat-free, gluten-free lifestyle. It answers the many questions that people have concerning the unique challenges faced by those on such a diet. It helps to take the fear out of eating, and teaches and encourages people to deal with the wheat-free or gluten-free lifestyle in an optimistic yet realistic manner.

The Spark: The 28-Day Breakthrough Plan for Losing Weight, Getting Fit, and Transforming Your Life ($1.99), by Chris Downie
Book Description
A revolution is taking place! Millions of people are discovering a new way of thinking about their weight, their health, and their lives. They are taking part in a visionary approach to weight loss that combines goal setting, nutrition, exercise, motivation, and community that has a proven track record of ten million pounds lost.

From the experts who created SparkPeople.com, one of the most successful online weight-loss programs to date, comes The Spark, a ground-breaking book that focuses on what you can do, instead of what you can’t do. The Spark is about transforming your life and your idea of what dieting means.

With dozens of photos—including stunning before-and-after shots and easy-to-follow exercise images—this book distills the best of SparkPeople’s medically accepted nutrition and fitness plan and infuses it with a program of personal empowerment. In this book, you’ll discover:
  • Secrets of Success—the best habits of SparkPeople’s most successful members
  • A 28-day program that brings together the most effective practices from SparkPeople into an innovative 4-stage plan, available only in this book
  • Dozens of success stories that show the power of this transformational program
The Spark delivers inspirational health and weight-loss advice that will surely spark countless lives.

How To Make One Hell Of A Profit and Still Get In To Heaven ($0.89), by John DeMartini
Book Description
Millions of people worldwide dream of making a “good” living, of attaining great wealth, and having an extraordinary and fortunate life. However, they haven’t yet found a way of attaining it, and they fear that they can only do so at the expense of others—perhaps by compromising their higher spiritual values and virtuous nature. Some people who outwardly acknowledge their desire for great wealth feel inwardly guilty about acquiring it, and their illusive conflict blocks or dissipates their potential fortunes. Other people say they just want to be comfortable and secure rather than vastly fortunate. These individuals also hold themselves back from breaking through to new levels of financial freedom, and actually living their most cherished and inspiring dreams. In addition to their conflicting spiritual and material natures, some people have an additional internal struggle between their desires to give and receive.

How to Make One Hell of a Profit and Still Get to Heaven was written to help you (if you happen to be like most people) dissolve these apparent conflicts. It can assist you in making your financial dreams come true while shedding light on an entirely new way of looking at, understanding, and appreciating the true nature of Earthly profits and heavenly wealth. If you read and apply the principles and methodologies that are laid out in these pages, your relationship with, and ability to master, your spiritual wealth and material finances as well as other vital areas of your life will undergo an amazing transformation.

The Gift of Fire: How I Made Adversity Work for Me ($0.89), by Dan Caro
Book Description
Dan Caro has been proving the world wrong since he was in diapers. When he was two years old, he was engulfed in a fireball during a gasoline explosion in the family garage and was left with third-degree burns over most of his body—so severe that doctors held out little hope he’d survive more than a few days. Dan was in such excruciating pain that his devastated parents silently prayed for God to end their son’s suffering and welcome him into heaven. And it seemed as if God was willing to oblige—Dan technically died on the operating table several times in the hours following the accident.

But even though his heart stopped, Dan’s spirit wasn’t ready to give up . . . somehow he knew he had work to do. Despite the odds, Dan survived, but life would not be easy. The fire left him badly maimed and disfigured. His hands were burned away, as was most of his skin and nearly all of his face. He would endure years of painful surgeries and endless months of lonely isolation in burn units, only to suffer the agony of social rejection, shunned and called “monster” by both children and adults in his Louisiana hometown.

With the support of his loving parents and siblings, Dan did not despair. He kept his heart open to the world and focused on the positive energy around him. Before his sixth birthday, he vowed that his life would not be defined by the way others saw him or the restrictions of his so-called physical handicaps. Dan set himself a series of life goals, starting with the art of tying his shoelaces without fingers. Once he had achieved that milestone, he decided he could do anything . . . so why not learn to play the drums?

When Dan was told he’d never be able to do so, he promised himself that one day he’d become one of the most accomplished drummers in the city that gave jazz its name—New Orleans! Since that day, Dan’s music has inspired thousands, and many more have also been inspired by his personal philosophy of focusing on the positive, refusing to accept limits, and living life with an open heart. Today, the young man who was once shunned and called “monster” by his neighbors is very much in demand as a public speaker and travels the country encouraging others to not just overcome life’s hardships, but to view adversity as a gift that can drive us toward reaching our full potential.

Healing Words From The Angels: 365 Daily Messages and Realms of the Earth Angels ($0.89 each), by Doreen Virtue
Book Description
Healing Words From The Angels: 365 Daily Messages
... daily reminders to ask for your angels’ assistance with anything and everything.

All the entries within come directly from the angels, so by reading their words daily, you’ll be immersed in the sweet energy of their love. This will help you be more aware of your own guardian angels’ messages for you.

With the help of this book, each of your days will be filled with blessings, miracles, and joy!

Realms of the Earth Angels
Since the publication of her best-selling book Earth Angels (more than 80,000 copies sold), Doreen Virtue presented workshops about these lightworkers to several international audiences, which yielded additional information about the various realms that these beings originate from. In addition to the “core realms” that Doreen discussed in the first book (Incarnated Angels, Incarnated Elementals, Star People, and Wise Ones), some new realms have been discovered. In Realms of the Earth Angels, Doreen discusses the original Earth Angels book, plus gives updated descriptions about the new realms, which include Mystic Angels (half-angel, half-wise one); Leprechauns (half-elemental, half-wise one); Merpeople; Knights; and more. As with the original book, you, the reader, can take an expanded quiz to help you recognize your own realm. Each realm has its own chapter, with Earth Angel characteristics, suggestions, advice, and case studies.

Archangels and Ascended Masters ($1.79), by Doreen Virtue
Book Description
Archangels and Ascended Masters is a thoroughly researched book in a lively encyclopedia format, listing 77 divinities from Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Asian, Babylonian, Tibetan, Buddhist, Celtic, Theosophical, New Age, Catholic, Cabalistic, Jewish, and Christian roots. Doreen carefully studied and wrote about the history of each deity, what role they serve today, how they can help us with specific life problems, and how to call upon each one. Doreen spent time in communication with each divinity to ensure that the being was reachable, and to discover the essence of his or her personality and current dealings with the world—and within these pages, she includes a channeled message or impression from each of the ascended masters and archangels. Many of her channelings were conducted at power points throughout the world, such as Stonehenge in England; the Irish coast; Kona, Hawaii; and the New Zealand rain forest. A comprehensive chart lists a number of life situations, such as Addictions, Finding a Soulmate, Emergency Money, Healing Physical Illness, and various personal and family concerns. Beneath each topic is the list of whom to call upon when dealing with that particular challenge. Doreen also includes prayers to call upon multiple divinities for specific issues such as “increased clairvoyance” and “resolving conflict.”

Signs From Above: Your Angels' Messages about Your Life Purpose, Relationships, Health, and More ($2.69), by Doreen Virtue and Charles Virtue
Book Description
Your guardian angels are continually giving you messages, frequently through signs, such as seeing rainbows, repetitive number sequences, finding coins or feathers, and hearing meaningful songs.

In this fascinating book, Doreen Virtue and her son Charles teach you how to understand the signs that are always around you. You'll gain comfort from reading true stories of how angels have answered prayers by giving clear signs revealing their love and protection. You'll also learn how to ask the angels for signs, along with specific prayers for your relationships, career, health, and other vital areas of your life.

The Four Insights ($1.79), by Alberto Villoldo
Book Description
The Four Insights are the wisdom teachings that have been protected by secret societies of Earthkeepers, the medicine men and women of the Americas. The Insights state that all creation—humans, whales, and even stars—is made from light manifest through the power of intention. The Earthkeepers mastered the Insights, and used them to heal disease, eliminate emotional suffering, and even grow new bodies that age and heal differently. Mastery of the Insights allows you to reinform your DNA and participate consciously in your biological, emotional, and spiritual evolution. According to the prophecies of the Maya, Hopi, and Inka Earthkeepers, we’re at a turning point in human history, when a new species of human will give birth to itself. We’re going to take a quantum leap into what we’re becoming and will no longer be Homo sapiens but Homo luminouos. The Four Insights reveal ancient technologies we can practice for becoming beings of light with the ability to perceive the energy and vibration that make up the physical universe at a much higher level.

Animals and the Afterlife ($0.99), by Kim Sheridan
Book Description
Kim Sheridan grew up with animals as her constant companions. Each time she faced the death of a beloved pet, along with the pain came the same questions, to which she could find no answers. Then, mysterious things began to happen that she couldn’t explain, which led her on an incredible journey to uncover the truth. Along with her own extraordinary experiences, she compiled heartwarming and meaningful true stories of everyday people around the world, and discovered compelling evidence that forever erased her own doubts about an afterlife for animals. This book provides enormous comfort and reassurance to anyone who has ever cherished a pet, and food for thought for anyone who has ever questioned the place of these beloved creatures in the larger scheme of things, both here on Earth and beyond.

01 Ways to Jump Start Your Intuition ($0.99), by John Holland
Book Description
Intuition is the language of the soul, and we’re all born with the natural ability of an inner-knowing. As we go through life, we have a inborn tendency to pull away from what was once totally natural to us. In 101 Ways to Jump-Start Your Intuition, psychic medium John Holland guides you through 101 quick and easy lessons to help you understand, develop, and work with your internal sense of intuition. This small yet valuable book will become your companion as you rely more on intuition for direction, insight, clarity, and wisdom on a daily basis. Each of the mini-lessons comes with its own affirmation or inspirational statement to complement and strengthen each of the 101 lessons. This book reinforces the idea that intuition is a reminder of the power of the human spirit, but more important, that when we listen to its advice, it can lead us to a life of unlimited potential.

Mystery of the White Lions ($0.99), by Linda Tucker
Book Description
This is Linda Tucker’s firsthand account of her journey into the mysteries of the most sacred animal on the African continent: the legendary White Lion. This book reveals the knowledge and ceremonies of Old Africa and the overwhelming love that has driven her every action to save these magnificent beasts, against formidable odds…After being rescued from a life-threatening encounter with lions in the Timbavati game region by a medicine woman known as the “Lion Queen,” Linda embarked on a journey into the mysteries of the White Lion. It is a mystical journey into the knowledge and ceremonies of Old Africa, in which humans and lions are able to cross the species barrier—in accordance with the most guarded secrets of Ancient Egypt and humankind’s greatest riddle, the sphinx. Scientists in our day have established that humankind’s most significant evolutionary leap occurred as a result of our ancestors’ interaction with great cats. The White Lion is a genetic rarity of Panthera leo, and occurred in just one region on earth: Timbavati. Today White Lions form the center of the notorious “canned” trophy hunting industry—hand-reared captive lions, shot in enclosures for gross sums of money. By contrast, shamans believe that killing a “lion sun god” is the ultimate sacrilege. How the human species treats such precious symbols of God in nature may determine how nature treats the human species. Whether we view them as prophetic “Lions of God” or simply as rare genetic mutations, the story of the White Lions is a true legend unfolding in our own extraordinary times.

Prayer and the Five Stages of Healing ($1.79), by Ron Roth
Book Description
Prayer is the key to healing, not only physically, but spiritually and emotionally. Ron Roth's Prayer and the Five Stages of Healing is a guidebook to developing an effective prayer life and to integrating prayer into every aspect of daily life. The first half of this book traces the relationship of prayer to five distinct phases of healing based on the classic stages of enlightenment found in the mystical literature of the world. These stages, known as the awakening, purification, illumination, dark night of the soul, and divine union, represent significant evolutions in spiritual life that lead to what the author calls "healing into wholeness." The second half of the book is devoted to advanced methods of prayer drawn from Ron Roth's many years of experience with prayer and healing. He shares his personal secrets for praying in the energy of the saints, learning to use silence and solitude, invoking the sacred throughout the day, and making forgiveness the linchpin to genuine and effective prayer. Each chapter in both parts of the book contains one or more prayers and spiritual exercises designed to help the reader learn to implement the author's teachings in a direct, experiential way that will deepen the experience of prayer even as the reader learns the theoretical underpinnings of prayer and healing.

Getting Past OK ($1.79), by Richard Brodie
Book Description
Richard Brodie dropped out of Harvard to join the computer revolution and write the first version of Microsoft Word. Then, burned-out helping Microsoft achieve its phenomenal success, he quit and embarked on an equally intense search for a more meaningful life. For three years Richard mined the wisdom of famed self-improvement seminars and workshops. Most of all, he wanted to discover why life seemed to coast along at either an “OK” level or plummet into “the pits,” spending so little time in true satisfaction and fulfillment. In this book, he shares the results of his odyssey, providing a step-by-step guide for discovering your own individual formula for long-term success and happiness. It gives you all the tools you need to find yourself, take charge, and get past OK.

Return to Sawyerton Springs: A Mostly True Tale Filled with Love, Learning, and Laughter ($1.99), by Andy Andrews
Book Description
Return to a time when life made more sense. For many, such a journey may seem like fantasy, yet for author Andy Andrews, Sawyerton Springs is where he grew up. Andy shares a collection of hilariously heartwarming memories that will inspire your soul and help you remember where life’s greatest treasures can still be found.

Filled with an unforgettable cast of characters, this book will engage your mind and heart. You will recall the simple joy of living while laughing to the point of tears. So take a deep breath, and prepare to rekindle your spirit as you return to Sawyerton Springs…

Beat the Blues Before They Beat You ($1.99), by Robert L. Leahy
Book Description
Over the past year, 16.5 million Americans—1 in 13 adults—of every race, age, and socioeconomic class experienced at least one major bout of depression. These numbers have been steadily rising, and sadly, one third of people who feel the unbearable pain, hopelessness, and self-criticism of depression never seek treatment. If not you, then someone you know most likely hides within these statistics, suffering in silence. The good news is that with effective treatment you can overcome depression—and once you do, you have a good chance of preventing its recurrence. Beat the Blues Before They Beat You, the follow-up to best-selling author Robert Leahy’s The Worry Cure, outlines the causes, symptoms, and treatments for depression in a clear and easy-to-read manner. Real-life patient stories combined with simple step-by-step instructions help you understand depression. Learn what triggers your moods. Figure out how to defeat feelings of fatigue, loneliness, and hopelessness. Design a plan to develop self-confidence. Determine what treatments—both medication and therapy—are available to prevent relapse. Beat the Blues Before They Beat You is a collection of the most powerful tools in cognitive therapy to help you curb your thoughts and behaviors, so you can begin to feel good again.

Excuses Begone!: How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits ($1.99), by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
Book Description
Within the pages of this transformational book, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer reveals how to change the self-defeating thinking patterns that have prevented you from living at the highest levels of success, happiness, and health. Even though you may know what to think, actually changing those thinking habits that have been with you since childhood might be somewhat challenging.
If I changed, it would create family dramas . . . I’m too old or too young . . . I’m far too busy and tired . . . I can’t afford the things I truly want . . . It would be very difficult for me to do things differently . . . and I’ve always been this way . . . may all seem to be true, but they’re in fact just excuses. So the business of modifying habituated thinking patterns really comes down to tossing out the same tired old excuses and examining your beliefs in a new and truthful light.
In this groundbreaking work, Wayne presents a compendium of conscious and subconscious crutches employed by virtually everyone, along with ways to cast them aside once and for all. You’ll learn to apply specific questions to any excuse, and then proceed through the steps of a new paradigm. The old, habituated ways of thinking will melt away as you experience the absurdity of hanging on to them.
You’ll ultimately realize that there are no excuses worth defending, ever, even if they’ve always been part of your life—and the joy of releasing them will resonate throughout your very being. When you eliminate the need to explain your shortcomings or failures, you’ll awaken to the life of your dreams.

Excuses . . . Begone!