Free Book - Global Banking 2020 (K)

The enhanced Kindle Edition with Audio/Video of Global Banking 2020: Foresight & Insights, by Knowledge@Wharton and Ernst & Young, is free in the Kindle store. You can download the text portion (such as it is) to any Kindle device or app, but if you want the embedded video, you'll need both an iThing and a lot of space - this one weighs in at a whopping 500MB! As you might have guessed, you'll also have to download it via WiFi (and be patient while you wait). I haven't watched the video, but from the description it appears to be at least slightly more than an ad for the CPA/consulting firm (and managed to make it to the official Kindle Limited Time Offers list, which implies it is only free for a while).

Book Description
Global banks face a threatening future. Regulations are getting tougher. Competition from emerging markets and non-banking companies is getting stronger. The need to invest in cutting-edge information technology is growing. And some traditional lines of business are shrinking.

What strategies should executives at global banks use to succeed over the next decade?

To answer that question, Ernst & Young and Knowledge@Wharton undertook a year-long scenario-planning process that identified four possible futures: Business as Usual, Financial Issues, New Markets, and Change, Change, Change. For each scenario, they devised key strategies for banks to undertake now. Global Banking 2020: Foresight & Insights is their report, which includes 17 videos and extensive analysis by Wharton faculty, Ernst & Young executives and high-level participants from major banks.

Top executives at global banks will find a wealth of strategies in this video-enhanced ebook that can be used now to identify opportunity in a quickly changing environment, enabling their firms to emerge from a tumultuous period as winners.

Knowledge@Wharton is the online business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The site, which is free, captures relevant knowledge generated at Wharton and beyond by offering articles and videos based on research, conferences, speakers, books and interviews with faculty and other experts on current business topics. The Knowledge@Wharton network—including Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Indian, Arabic and High School editions—has more than 1.7 million subscribers worldwide. For more information about Knowledge@Wharton, please visit http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu.

Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 152,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential. Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. For more information about our organization, please visit www.ey.com.

Free Single - Get-Fit Guy's Secrets to a Better Workout (K/N)

Update: 4/2/12 Now free from Barnes & Noble.

Get-Fit Guy's Secrets to a Better Workout, by Ben Greenfield, is free to pre-order in the Kindle store. It's pretty obvious that this is mostly an excerpt from Get-Fit Guy's Guide to Achieving Your Ideal Body: A Workout Plan for Your Unique Shape, which releases a couple of months later, in May, but it does look like it's a self-contained Single (if not an official one), rather than just a set number of chapters.

Book Description
Enhance your energy, lose weight, boost your performance, and feel better than ever with Get-Fit Guy’s Secrets to a Better Workout***! If you want to begin an exercise routine and don’t know where to start, or if you’ve been working out for a while and aren’t getting the results you want, author and triathlon expert Ben Greenfield has the tips you need to reach your fitness goals – fast! With easy-to-understand explanations, concrete examples, and reasoning backed by scientific research, Ben provides the inspiration and motivation for super-charging your workout including:

• Top 10 reasons you’re not losing weight
• Techniques for better results
• 10 exercise motivation tips
• How to tell if you’re working out hard enough
• How to measure body fat
• How to warm up and cool down
• 10 tips for proper gym etiquette
• 10 tips to build muscle fast

About the Author
Voted the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Trainer of the Year in 2008, Ben Greenfield is recognized as one of the top fitness, triathlon and nutrition experts in the nation, with multiple books and DVDs to his credit. He is the host of the popular Get-Fit Guy podcast at QuickAndDirtyTips.com with an average 170,000 downloads per month.

Ben coaches and trains individuals for weight loss, lean muscle gain, holistic wellness, and sports performance all over the world via his company, Pacific Elite Fitness. He also runs the Rock Star Triathlete, the Internet's top school for learning the sport of triathlon and the business of triathlon coaching. Ben's popular fitness, nutrition and wellness website (BenGreenfieldFitness.com) features blogs, podcasts, and product reviews. His credentials include: Bachelor's and Master's degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology, personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the NSCA, a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), and over 10 years experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports. Ben is a top-ranked triathlete for Triathlon Northwest and has finished multiple Ironmans.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Short Story - The Big Finish (K/N/E)

Update: Now free on Kindle.

The Big Finish, a short story from the the forthcoming collection Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events: Stories by Kevin Moffett, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble and Sony. There's no sign of it yet in the Kindle store, but if it shows up, I'd expect it to be free there, as well.

Book Description
An excerpt from a Kevin Moffett's dazzling new story collection, Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events, where he offers a poignant, witty, and sometimes disturbing portrait of human uncertainty--of men and women suspended at the point of discovery or passage. Written with penetrating insight into our motivations and fears, Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events is a wise, funny, and haunting collection that signals the emergence of a major new talent.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from Sony.

Free Book - Baby, I'm Yours (K)

Baby, I'm Yours, a short/story prequel to Baby, Drive South, the first in the Southern Roads series by Stephanie Bond, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store. The third in the trilogy, Baby, Don't Go, is also on sale for $2.99.

Book Description
Emory Maxwell has come home to the small town of Sweetness, Georgia, with one goal in mind—to get his childhood sweetheart Shelby Moon to marry him. They've been in love with the second grade, but Shelby's father is determined to keep his daughter in Sweetness, not moving around the country as a soldier's wife. No matter what she chooses, Shelby knows she'll hurt one of the men she loves.

But when a tornado rips through town, will she and Emory lose their chance to be together forever?

Free Book - A World I Never Made (K/N/E)

A World I Never Made, James Lepore, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble and Sony.

Book Description
Pat Nolan, an American man, is summoned to Paris to claim the body of his estranged daughter Megan, who has committed suicide. The body, however, is not Megan's and it becomes instantly clear to Pat that Megan staged this, that she is in serious trouble, and that she is calling to him for help.

This sends Pat on an odyssey that stretches across France and into the Czech Republic and that makes him the target of both the French police and a band of international terrorists. Joining Pat on his search is Catherine Laurence, a beautiful but tormented Paris detective who sees in Pat something she never thought she'd find--genuine passion and desperate need. As they look for Megan, they come closer to each other's souls and discover love when both had long given up on it.Juxtaposed against this story is Megan's story. A freelance journalist, Megan is in Morocco to do research when she meets Abdel Lahani, a Saudi businessman. They begin a torrid affair, a game Megan has played often and well in her adult life. But what she discovers about Lahani puts her in the center of a different kind of game, one with rules she can barely comprehend. Because of her relationship with Lahani, Megan has made some considerable enemies. And she has put the lives of many--maybe even millions--at risk.

A World I Never Made is an atmospheric novel of suspense with brilliantly drawn characters and back-stories as compelling as the plot itself. It is the kind of novel that resonates deeply and leaves its traces long after you turn the final page.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from Sony.