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Monday, October 10, 2011

Free Book (Kindle/nook) - The Reading Group Insider

Update: Also free from Barnes & Noble

The Reading Group Insider, by The eBook Insider, is free on Kindle.
Book Description
The Reading Group Insider is a valuable resource for everything you need to know about reading groups. If you are looking for ideas to enhance your current group's experiences, interested in joining a reading group, or starting one of your own, the suggestions within The Reading Group Insider will get you started on the right path. This is the place to find excerpts to browse for help with choosing good discussion titles; Q&As with the authors of some tried and true reading group picks; recipes to complement what you're reading; tips on how to start or join a reading group of your own; travel and field trip ideas to spice up your meetings; and much more. Suggested discussion questions are provided for different genres and types of books, including book-to-film adaptations and memoirs. Over 50 suggestions of reading group titles from both favorite and emerging authors are presented within as well, all with extra content or reading group guides included so that the resources you need are right at your fingertips. Once you've consulted The Reading Group Insider, you'll be eager to start reading, meeting and discussing!
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Today's Deals and Free Book Updates

All three of last night's books are now free for US Kindlers and one is also free for nook:

Slim to None ($0.99), by Jenny Gardiner, is today's Kindle Deal of the Day.
Book Description
Abbie Jennings is Manhattan's top food critic until her expanding waistline makes staying incognito at restaurants impossible. Her cover blown on Page Six of the New York Post, her editor has no choice but to bench her—and suggest she use the time off to bench-press her way back to anonymity. Abbie’s life has been built around her career, and therefore around celebrating food. Forced to drop the pounds if she wants her primo gig back, Abbie must peel back the layers of her past and confront the fears that have led to her current life.

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: 101 Stories of Life, Love and Learning ($2.99 Kindle, B&N), by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Kimberly Kirberger and Mitch Claspy, is today's Nook Daily Find. This one is the same price on Kindle and, at Amazon only, you can also get Chicken Soup for the Canadian Soul: Stories to Inspire and Uplift the Hearts of Canadians for $2.77.
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul
This first batch of Chicken Soup for Teens consists of 101 stories every teenager can relate to and learn from -- without feeling criticized or judged. This edition contains important lessons on the nature of friendship and love, the importance of belief in the future, and the value of respect for oneself and others, and much more.

Chicken Soup for the Canadian Soul
Wearing poppies on your lapel during the month of November. Enjoying local fiddlers playing music on Cape Breton Island. Cheering your favorite team on during Hockey Night. Swatting mosquitoes in Muskoka on the first long weekend in May. Driving the Trans-Canada Highway. Questioning why the ABC song ends in "z" and not "zed." All these things are distinctly Canadian and now there's another one more: Chicken Soup for the Canadian Soul.

Written by fellow Canadians from Cape Breton Island to Prince Edward Island, from Montreal to Vancouver, this book reveals the people, the history and the special moments that give Canada such a distinctive charm and character. With chapters including: On Being Canadian, Living Your Dream, Overcoming Obstacles, On Love, On Kindness and Making a Difference, these stories weave a rich tapestry of life from the people who call Canada home.

Notable stories include: hockey player Paul Henderson's "Goal of the Century"; Chief Dan George's recounting of his great land; Marilyn Bell DiLascio's historic 1954 Lake Ontario swim; cartoonist Lynn Johnston's delightful story of an encounter with Wayne Gretzky; and journalist Sally Armstrong's details of Princess Diana's first trip to Canada. Like hearing a heartfelt version of "O, Canada!", this book will instill renewed pride and patriotism in a well-deserving country and its people.

IM+ Pro All-in-One Messenger, by SHAPE Services, is today's free Android app. For those who are getting a Kindle Fire or have an Android phone, this one looks like it is worth trying to grab at this price. It doesn't have the best reviews, but for free, I'll try it (while I wouldn't at the $9.95 list price).
Book Description
IM+ Pro All-in-One Messenger is a mobile IM app that allows you to connect to multiple instant messaging and social networking accounts at the same time. With this app, you can say goodbye to jumping between various services and start managing all of your contacts from one place.

Stay connected to your friends, family, and business contacts anywhere and anytime with IM+ Pro All-in-One Messenger. With this app, you can chat within Facebook, Skype, MSN/Live Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo!, AIM/iChat, ICQ, MySpace, Twitter, Jabber, VKontakte, and YandexIM at the same time. Once you've configured each account with your login and password, you can choose to auto-connect with all services on startup. To start chatting, tap on any contact in your Contacts list. It's that simple.

Bill Pronzini has another bargain book at Amazon, The Other Side of Silence ($2.99). This was briefly the same price at B&N, but has already gone back up, so grab it at Amazon if you can.
Book Description
"When Geena left him and filed for divorce, the first two things Fallon did were to put the Encino house up for sale and then take a six weeks' leave of absence from Unidyne. Then he loaded the Jeep Cherokee and drove straight to Death Valley…The desert country had a way of simplifying things, reducing life to an elemental and much more tolerable level. It cleansed your mind, allowed you to think clearly. Allowed you to breathe. It was in his blood; it kept calling him back. The one place he truly belonged." So opens Bill Pronzini's exciting new thriller. On his third day in the Valley, Fallon came upon a deserted Toyota Camry, and soon thereafter, the almost-dead body of Casey Dunbar. Having rescued her, Fallon gradually discovers what had driven her to give up on life…and, his own life on hold, resolves to unravel the twisted strands of hers. The result is a story as dramatic and memorable as anything Bill Pronzini has written, reminiscent of his classics Blue Lonesome or A Wasteland of Strangers. In The Other Side of Silence, Bill Pronzini shows why the Mystery Writers of America are awarding him the title of Grand Master.

Free Book (Kindle/nook) - Competing in Tough Times

Competing in Tough Times: Business Lessons from L.L.Bean, Trader Joe's, Costco, and Other World-Class Retailers, by Barry Berman, is free on Kindle and from Barnes & Noble.
Book Description
Learn How to Achieve and Sustain Success in Any Retail Segment and Business Climate. Specific, actionable lessons from Aldi, Amazon.com, L.L.Bean, Costco, Nordstrom, Publix, Stew Leonard’s, Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, Whole Foods, and more. Competing in Tough Times brings together powerful new strategies that world-class retailers are using to thrive in today’s brutally unforgiving business environment.

World-renowned retail expert Dr. Barry Berman shows how to plan, build, and implement proven strategies based on both cost and differentiation. You’ll learn how to safely reduce costs and prices without increasing risk, minimize product proliferation, enhance the service experience, strengthen your private label program, and more. To support each approach, Berman presents full-length examples from outstanding retailers in every market sector, from consumer goods and apparel to technology.

Whether you’re a retail executive, owner, supplier, consultant, or student, these are the tools you need to compete, win--and keep on winning. In Competing in Tough Times, leading retail consultant Barry Berman systematically examines ten world-class retailers, identifying shared strategies that every retailer can use to drive dramatic, sustained performance improvement.

Berman highlights what these widely diverse retailers have in common in terms of both operational cost structures and differentiation. He reveals how they’ve developed low-cost strategies without cutting crucial “muscle,” better rationalized product selection, optimized human relations and the service experience, and taken full advantage of private labeling. He presents his recommendations in an easy-to-read decision-making format, supported by current data and detailed implementation guidance.

Whatever your role in retail, Competing in Tough Times will help you implement the best practices that really matter--and get the results you really need.
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book (Kindle/nook) - The Truth About Starting a Business

The Truth About Starting a Business, by Bruce Barringer, is a repeat freebie on Kindle and from Barnes & Noble.
Book Description
Your own business: Take the leap, make it happen, and make it succeed!
  • The truth about choosing the right business for you and maintaining a healthy personal life
  • The truth about planning, funding, hiring, and successful launches
  • The truth about financial management, marketing, and growth
This book reveals 53 bite-size, easy-to-use techniques for choosing, planning, launching, and growing your winning business.

You’ll learn how to generate and test business ideas, and pick the one that’s best for you...select the right entry strategy...name and locate your business...raise capital...build your team and get expert advice...protect your business secrets and intellectual property...effectively brand your business and market its offerings...handle pricing, distribution, and sales...manage your finances to specific objectives...prepare for growth...and even maintain your work/life balance as an entrepreneur. This isn't “someone's opinion”: it's a definitive, evidence-based guide to building your own successful enterprise--a set of bedrock principles you can rely on whoever you are, wherever you are, and whatever business you choose to launch.
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book (Kindle/nook) - Powering the Future

Powering the Future: A Scientist's Guide to Energy Independence, by Daniel B. Botkin, is a repeat freebie on Kindle and from Barnes & Noble.
Book Description
The future of civilization depends upon the continuous availability of sufficient energy. But we’re approaching the practical limits of some of the energy sources we depend upon most. What should be done? Few issues are as controversial. In Powering the Future, a leading scientist cuts through the controversy, presenting the facts about our energy needs, desires, and supplies and the environmental and human effects of obtaining and using energy.

Dr. Daniel B. Botkin objectively assesses the true prospects, limitations, costs, risks, dangers, and tradeoffs associated with every leading and emerging source of energy, including oil, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric, nuclear, wind, solar, ocean power, and biofuels. Next, Botkin addresses the energy distribution system, outlining how it currently works, identifying its inefficiencies, and reviewing options for improving it.

Finally, Botkin turns to solutions, offering a realistic, scientifically and economically viable path to a sustainable, energy-independent future: one that can improve the quality of life for Americans and for people around the world.
Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.