Speaking of AmazonLocal, I signed up for a the "$20 Off a Certified Refurbished Kindle" voucher, but don't really have a need for it. It must be used by May 29, 2012, so if you would like it (and plan on buying a Kindle in the next few days), leave a comment below with an email address (I'll moderate and not publish the comments). I'll pick someone in the morning and email you the voucher. Please, only comment if you can use the voucher. I'll have another contest this weekend, with a number of iTunes codes, that everyone can participate in.
Today's Kindle Deal of the Day is It Happened on the Way to War ($1.99), by Rye Barcot.Book Description
In 2000 Rye Barcott spent part of his summer living in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. He was a college student heading into the Marines, and he sought to better understand ethnic violence-something he would likely facelater in uniform. He learned Swahili, asked questions, and listened to young people talk about how they survived in poverty he had never imagined. Anxious to help but unsure what to do, he stumbled into friendship with awidowed nurse, Tabitha Atieno Festo, and a hardscrabble community organizer, Salim Mohamed.Together, this unlikely trio built a non-governmental organization that would develop a new generation of leaders from within one of Africa's largest slums. Their organization, Carolina for Kibera (CFK), is now a global pioneer of the movement called Participatory Development, and washonored by Time magazine as a "Hero of Global Health." CFK's greatest lesson may be that with the right kind of support, people in desperate places will take charge of their lives and create breathtaking change.Engaged in two seemingly contradictory forms of public service at the same time, Barcott continued his leadership in CFK while serving as a human intelligence officer in Iraq, Bosnia, and the Horn of Africa. Struggling with the intense stress of leading Marines in dangerous places, he took thetools he learned building a community in one of the most fractured parts of Kenya and became a more effective counterinsurgent and peacekeeper.It Happened on the Way to War is a true story of sacrifice and courage and the powerful melding of military and humanitarian service. It's a story of what America's role in the world could be.
About the Author
Rye Barcott founded the renowned non-governmental organization Carolina for Kibera (CFK) with Salim Mohamed and Tabitha Atieno Festo while he was an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduation, he served as a Marine for five years on active duty. In 2006 ABC World News named then Captain Barcott a Person of the Week and Person of the Year for his dual service to Kibera and the Marine Corps. As a Reynolds Social Entrepreneurship Fellow, he earned master's degrees in business and public administration from Harvard University. He is currently a member of the World Learning Board of Trustees and a TED Fellow living in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Ashes ($1.72 / £1.09 UK), the first title in the trilogy by Ilsa Bick, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $7.69 on Kindle and from KoboBook Description
It could happen tomorrow . . .
An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.
For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.
Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.
Presentations in Action: 80 Memorable Presentation Lessons from the Masters ($12.99 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Jerry Weissman, is the Nook Daily Find; this title was free on Kindle last September.Book Description
World-renowned presentation coach Jerry Weissman has spent 20 years helping top executives succeed in the most important business presentations of their lives. Here’s what he’s learned: the best way to get his message across is to show his techniques in action. Weissman does just that: he teaches how to make spectacularly successful presentations by showing exactly how great presenters have done it. Weissman dives into his library of outstanding presentations, sharing examples from current events, politics, science, art, music, literature, cinema, media, sports, and even the military. His compelling examples don’t just demonstrate what’s universal about effective human communication: they also reveal powerful ways to solve the specific challenges presenters encounter most often.
This book’s five sections focus on each element of the outstanding contemporary presentation: Content: Mastering the art of telling your story; Graphics: Designing PowerPoint slides that work brilliantly; Delivery skills: How to make actions speak louder than words; Q&A: How to handle tough questions; Integration: How to put it all together.
From clarifying “What’s in it for you?” to crafting better elevator pitches, improving flow to using anecdotes, Presentation in Action is packed with solutions–and packed with inspiration, too!
The Sea of Monsters ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), the second title in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, is the Nook Daily Find for Families, price matched on Kindle. I paid more than this when I bought it two years ago (in fact, when I bought everything in the series). Definitely recommended if you have tweens/teens in the house, this series was read by adults here (think of it as a US Harry Potter, but with Gods, Demigods and Monsters) and it appears that the first four books in the series are all below the $5 mark.Book Description
After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson finds his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson—a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any “normal” friends. But things don’t stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: the magical borders which protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters. To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner by the Cyclops Polyphemus on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters, the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millennia—only today, the Sea of Monsters goes by a new name…the Bermuda Triangle. Now Percy and his friends—Grover, Annabeth, and Tyson—must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer or Camp Half-Blood will be destroyed. But first, Percy will learn a stunning new secret about his family—one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon’s son is an honor or simply a cruel joke.
Real Life & Liars with Bonus Excerpt ($2.99 Kindle, KoboBook Description
For a limited time at a special price, enjoy Kristina Riggle's heartwarming novel Real Life & Liars along with an excerpt from her upcoming new novel, Keepsake, on sale June 26, 2012.
Sometimes you find happiness where, and when, you least expect it.
For Mirabelle Zielinski's children, happiness always seems to be just out of reach. Her polished oldest daughter, Katya, clings to a stale marriage with a workaholic husband and three spoiled children. Her son, Ivan, so creative, is a down-in-the-dumps songwriter with the worst taste in women. And the "baby," impulsive Irina, who lives life on a whim, is now reluctantly pregnant and hitched to a man who is twice her age. On the weekend of their parents' anniversary party, lies will be revealed, hearts will be broken...but love will also be found. And the biggest shock may come from Mirabelle herself, because she has a secret that will change everything.
