Project Escape

Lucinda Jackson, a harried scientist and business executive, sets off to make a break from her corporate decades and have an “extraordinary” retirement. She launches into a five-phase “Project Escape,” complete with a vision, goals, and a scorecard of success to deliver this next chapter. Soon, Jackson and her semi-reluctant husband of thirty years are off as volunteers to the government of the Pacific island country of Palau. But while Jackson got the girl out of the corporation, even the jolt of Palau can’t fully get the corporation out of the girl. As she struggles through self-examination around purpose, identity, ego, marriage, and parenthood after years of investing so much in career, Jackson gradually learns who she is again. Whether you’re thinking ahead to retirement or are already there, Project Escape provides an unvarnished but ultimately encouraging reference in navigating the “post-career” era.

A Nobel Prize–winning economist tells the remarkable story of how the world has grown healthier, wealthier, but also more unequal over the past two and half centuries The world is a better place than it used to be. People are healthier, wealthier, and live longer. Yet the escapes from destitution by so many has left gaping inequalities between people and nations. In The Great Escape, Nobel Prize–winning economist Angus Deaton—one of the foremost experts on economic development and on poverty—tells the remarkable story of how, beginning 250 years ago, some parts of the world experienced sustained progress, opening up gaps and setting the stage for today's disproportionately unequal world. Deaton takes an in-depth look at the historical and ongoing patterns behind the health and wealth of nations, and addresses what needs to be done to help those left behind. Deaton describes vast innovations and wrenching setbacks: the successes of antibiotics, pest control, vaccinations, and clean water on the one hand, and disastrous famines and the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the other. He examines the United States, a nation that has prospered but is today experiencing slower growth and increasing inequality. He also considers how economic growth in India and China has improved the lives of more than a billion people. Deaton argues that international aid has been ineffective and even harmful. He suggests alternative efforts—including reforming incentives to drug companies and lifting trade restrictions—that will allow the developing world to bring about its own Great Escape. Demonstrating how changes in health and living standards have transformed our lives, The Great Escape is a powerful guide to addressing the well-being of all nations.

Loosely based on real-life events, this suspenseful story, by a debut novelist, is also funny and touching and will have readers riveted from start to finish. Lucy's mother is the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, so Lucy's life must be one big adventure, right? Wrong. Lucy's worrywart mother keeps her locked up inside the ambassador's residence. All Lucy can do is read about the exotic and exciting world that lies beyond the compound walls and imagine what it would be like to be a part of it. That is, until one day Lucy decides she has had enough and she and a friend sneak off for some fun. But to their horror, Lucy gets kidnapped! With only herself to rely upon, Lucy must use her knowledge of African animals, inventiveness, will, and courage to escape, and in the process embarks on an adventure beyond her wildest imagination. Includes bonus material! - Book Club Discussion Guide

Enjoy the Meditative Act of Tracing as You Create Stunning Floral Artwork Take a deep breath, get out your favorite pen and ease into the tranquil process of tracing these gorgeous and modern botanical illustrations. Renowned artist Anna Oszvald brings you 40 breathtaking drawing projects designed for you to trace over and bring to life right in the pages of this book, thanks to the sturdy high quality art paper. As you draw over Anna’s lines, you’ll get comfortable with the motion and rhythm of sketching while seamlessly creating delicate florals, lush greenery and other wonders of the natural world one stroke at a time. Here’s how each project works: The left-hand side of the page has tutorials that teach you how to capture all those minor details, like the graceful folds of a daisy’s petal or dense complexity of a passionflower’s center. The right-hand side has the illustration in full waiting for you to breathe life into it with your newfound skill. And thanks to the relaxing medium of tracing, there’s no pressure! Simply follow the lines and get lost in the natural beauty as you unwind from the stresses of the day. You can even take these drawings one step further and color them in with marker, watercolor paints or any medium you like. In addition to these 40 projects, you’ll find 10 bonus tear-out pages to hang on your wall, give as a gift or frame and keep forever. Take a stroll through Anna’s beautiful garden as you hone your drawing skills with each calming stroke of your pen.

Discover the educational power of puzzle-based learning. Understand the principles of effective game design, the power of well-crafted narratives and how different game mechanics can support varied learning objectives. Applying escape room concepts to the classroom, this book offers practical advice on how to create immersive, collaborative learning experiences for your students without the need for expensive resources and tools. Packed with examples, including a full sample puzzle game for you to use with your students, this book is a primer for classroom teachers on designing robust learning activities using problem-solving principles.

n Many people across the world know Antonio Negri as an internationally renowned political thinker whose book, Empire, co-authored with Michael Hardt, is an international bestseller. Much less well known is the fact that, up until 1979, Negri was a university professor teaching in Paris and Padova. On April 7th, 1979 he was arrested, charged with the murder of Italian politician Aldo Moro, accused of 17 other murders, of being the head of the Red Brigades and of fomenting insurrection against the state. He has since been absolved of all these accusations, but thanks to the emergency laws in Italy at the time, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Then, in July 1983, he was elected as a member of parliament, which meant that he was released from prison after four and a half years of preventive detention. After months of debate, the Lower House decided to strip him of his parliamentary immunity Ð by 300 votes in favour and 293 against. At that point he left Italy for exile in France where he remained until 1997 and continued to maintain his innocence of all the crimes of which he was accused. This book is Negri's diary in which he tells of his imprisonment, trial, the elections, and his escape to and exile in France. Both personal and political, it recounts a little known aspect of Negri's life and will be of great interest to anyone concerned with the work of this enormously influential political thinker.

A practical guide to create your very own escape room! Contains over 300 puzzle ideas! *Purchase includes link and password to download one full step-by-step escape room kit.* Now present in all fifty states, escape rooms offer a fun activity for corporate events, team training, youth groups, and all types of parties. But what if you could develop your very own escape room in the comfort of your own home? In this fun, full-color book, Paige Ellsworth Lyman, founder of TheGameGal.com, offers a practical guide to creating your own do-it-yourself escape room. Divided into two parts, the first half covers what an escape room is, how to develop theme and plot, how to set up a room, how to structure clues, and how to run the event. The second half provides multiple chapters of clues and challenges to use in your escape room, including codes, ciphers, mathematics, puzzles, physical objects, and more. This book is the perfect gift for puzzle enthusiasts looking for new challenges and families that are bored at home!

Velocity is the most commonly used metric in agile software delivery. It is also perhaps the least effective metrics in agile software delivery. In "Escape Velocity", Doc Norton walks the reader through common issues with metrics and how to avoid them, altermative metrics that not only help agile teams perform better, but enable them to continuously improve, and techniques for forecasting that vastly outperform the use of velocity. In a quirky, casual, and information dense style, Doc Norton makes the topic of tracking data entertaining and shows us how to be more effective in the pursuit of excellent software.

Escape the City is the perfect guide for people who live in the city or suburbs and want to move to the country. This is the "missing manual" that tells you absolutely everything you need to know on thousands of topics that you never even realized existed. Whether you're interested in shopping for a used tractor, starting garden seeds in a grow tent, logging your own trees, planting a berry patch, breeding sheep, arranging for firewood delivery, making ten gallons of hearty soup from a pig skeleton, installing solar electric power, or fighting invasic species, Escape the City has the information you need.There are endless books on gardening, farming, and homesteading.Why this book?* Other books don't have sufficient breadth. EtC covers absolutely everything related to living in the country.* Other books have blind spots about the basic stuff. EtC explains the "obvious" stuff: the difference between straw and hay, and between discing plowing and rototilling.* Other books don't spell out the details. EtC has checklists, choices for different budgets, and step by step instructions.Escape the City explains all of the basics - everything from buying a tractor to fertilizing gardens - and concludes with dozens of recipes for farm-to-table dishes like Apple Pie with lard crust, Maple Creme Brulee, Pork Stock, Duck Leg Confit, Pork and Pumpkin Soup, Lamb Chops, and even a Whole Pig Roast.