Take The Big Picture

Advocates that employees should focus their attention on what the author defines as the key drivers of cash, profit, assets, growth, and people to evaluate the viability of their organization and their prospects for advancement.

Was there ever such a family? Fired from his job at the University for letting all the mice free from their cages in the biology labs, Mr Delahay went home to find that his house was falling into the river. Moving into his mother's large, old house proved no solution. His equally large family -- two girls and four boys, three of them triplets -- were too mischievous and troublesome for his mother to stand. So she banished most of them to British Columbia where they had adventures with Sasquatches and a carwash owner named Buck whose life's dream it was to capture one of these Wild Men of the Woods. Returning to their home town in Ontario, the Delahays find that their having a home again depends on the oldest boy's skill at telling a story that will keep an eccentric old lady so interested she will let them stay with her yet one more night until she finds out how the story ends. Well, eventually, the story does have to end, but not before a great deal of hilarity and a great deal of wild adventures involving a motorbiker, a confidence woman masquerading as a baby sitter, and a leap through a Suicide Door. This is a different kind of story, filled with unexpected turns that even include a story within the story that you can try finishing yourself!

Not a data expert? Here’s an engaging and entertaining guide to interpreting and drawing insights from any chart, graph, or other data visualization you’ll encounter. You’re a business professional, not a data scientist. How do you make heads or tails of the data visualizations that come across your desk—let alone make critical business decisions based on the information they’re designed to convey? In The Big Picture, top data visualization consultant Steve Wexler provides the tools for developing the graphical literacy you need to understand the data visualizations that are flooding your inbox—and put that data to use. Packed with the best four-color examples created in Excel, Tableau, Power BI, and Qlik, among others, this one-stop resource empowers you to extract the most important information from data visualizations quickly and accurately, act on key insights, solve problems, and make the right decisions for your organization every time.

“If young adults could be guided in the right direction for a life journey of meaning and purpose, we would be grooming the leaders of tomorrow for a better world. This book is the perfect guide.” —Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP, founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing What am I going to do for the rest of my life? This question is familiar for young people at a turning point—whether it’s facing the end of high school, college, graduate school, or just a dead-end job. Maybe they have the degree they want but don’t know where to start their job search. Perhaps they’re still choosing a major and, given the range—from “Biochemistry” to “Adventure Education”—are lost in the options. Maybe they’re facing a mountain of debt but don’t want to get locked into a job they hate. While other books might advise writing resumes or preparing for interviews, they only go so far. Young people want more than just another job—they want a life, and a meaningful one at that. Enter The Big Picture. Created by the leading authority on self-help research and reviewed by over six hundred college students, Dr. Christine B. Whelan’s The Big Picture offers a guide to discovering one’s talents, dreams, and desires that can lead one to a fulfilling career but fulfilling life. It guides young people to take a step back and look at the “big picture” of who they are, what they want, and why they’re here. Through quizzes and questionnaires which college students have vetted, Whelan guides the reader through “big picture” questions like, What are my talents—and how can I use those to help others and create meaning? How have my life experiences shaped who I am and what I can give? What do I value—and how can I be happy while being true to those values? Although there are endless books on finding a job, this is the first book that presents research-based and tested material to help young people answer the question, What will I do with my life? The Big Picture provides the resources needed to find—and live—a purposeful life. An excellent gift for a graduate or a guide for yourself.

A chronicle of the massive transformation in Hollywood since the turn of the century and the huge changes yet to come, drawing on interviews with key players, as well as documents from the 2014 Sony hack

Part Tony Robbins, part Mehmet Oz, here is fitness guru and creator of P90X Tony Horton’s wake-up call for readers—a motivational and practical guide to creating a better life and a healthier body. One of America’s best-known and most-loved fitness gurus, "master of motivation" Tony Horton shares his philosophy that will help you live your best life. In his first non-workout book, he offers 11 Rules that provide a clear path and purpose for achieving life goals and obtaining optimal health. Written with his trademark irreverence, candor, and take-no-prisoners approach, The Big Picture shows you how your physical health is intricately linked to your mental, financial, and family health, and overall happiness and contentment—and how the same skills and principles that work in the gym work in every area of life. Tony shares stories of the hard-won battles he’s faced—many of the same life challenges experienced by his fans—from childhood bullies and problems at school, to financial troubles and being overweight. Enlightening and practical, The Big Picture can help you how to slim down, feel good, and live better.

The instant New York Times bestseller about humanity's place in the universe—and how we understand it. “Vivid...impressive....Splendidly informative.”—The New York Times “Succeeds spectacularly.”—Science “A tour de force.”—Salon Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on Higgs bosons and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions: Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void? Do human purpose and meaning fit into a scientific worldview? In short chapters filled with intriguing historical anecdotes, personal asides, and rigorous exposition, readers learn the difference between how the world works at the quantum level, the cosmic level, and the human level—and then how each connects to the other. Carroll's presentation of the principles that have guided the scientific revolution from Darwin and Einstein to the origins of life, consciousness, and the universe is dazzlingly unique. Carroll shows how an avalanche of discoveries in the past few hundred years has changed our world and what really matters to us. Our lives are dwarfed like never before by the immensity of space and time, but they are redeemed by our capacity to comprehend it and give it meaning. The Big Picture is an unprecedented scientific worldview, a tour de force that will sit on shelves alongside the works of Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Daniel Dennett, and E. O. Wilson for years to come.

Dr. Ben Carson is known as the originator of groundbreaking surgical procedures and a doctor who turns impossible hopes into joyous realities. But where does this incredible drive and focus come from? According to Dr. Carson himself, the answer is simple: The Big Picture. Every day when Dr. Carson went to work as a surgeon, he had to make life-and-death decisions. For that reason, and because so many of the people and families he worked with had suddenly been forced to reconsider what's really important in life, he's spent a lot of his own time searching for perspective. By finding a vision of something truly worth living for--something that shines a light on the best of his amazing talents, energy, and focus--Dr. Carson can discern what matters and leave the rest behind. In The Big Picture, Dr. Carson sheds light on this life-changing philosophy, giving you the tools and encouragement you need to: View hardship as an advantage Determine what really matters See your life from a new perspective The Big Picture is all about broadening your perspectives and finding a vision for your own life that can reframe your priorities, energize your efforts, and inspire you to change the world around you. Are you ready to see The Big Picture?

Navigate the economy with this insightful new book The world is awash with economic information. Governments release reports. Pundits give their interpretation on television. And the stock market may go its own way, confusing everyone. How can you better understand what it means for you? Big Picture Economics, a new book by award-winning columnist and futurist Joel Naroff and veteran journalist Ron Scherer, says the thread that ties everything together is "context." The authors show how consumers, business, the Federal Reserve, and government take into account what's going on around them to make critical decisions like buying new products, building new factories, changing interest rates, or setting budget goals. The book provides a clear roadmap to understanding the whole story behind the global economy. Big Picture Economics helps readers understand how context impacts decisions and decision makers. - The Federal Reserve and Congress in formulating economic policy - Consumers in a shopper nation and what makes us buy or not buy - Corporations making decisions on whether to build new factories and buy other companies - The federal budget that must deal with complex issues, including the reduction of health care spending - A simple test for tax cuts or increases: will they help the economy grow? - Where to produce and where to sell in a global economy that is more like a Mobius strip than a flat world - International events that can ripple through the economy and ultimately affect workers in the Midwest - Technology, such as intelligent drones to wearable computers, are changing the future Experts laud the book for its perceptive insights: "It all sounds like common sense, but it is actually based on a close, expert reading of economic history and what that history implies for the future. Read this book to become a more educated judge of economic policy." —Robert Moffitt, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University "Naroff and Scherer show how seemingly unrelated things like an upgrade of the Panama Canal, a Tex-Mex restaurant's menu change, or how many Americans are overweight turn out to be intricately linked to our daily experiences. What brings the book to life is the authors' focus on these hidden interconnections." —Brendan Conway, blogger and columnist, Barron's

What is the purpose of education? What kind of people do we want our children to grow up to be? How can we design schools so that students will acquire the skills they'll need to live fulfilled and productive lives? These are just a few of the questions that renowned educator Dennis Littky explores in The Big Picture: Education Is Everyone's Business. The schools Littky has created and led over the past 35 years are models for reformers everywhere: small, public schools where the curriculum is rich and meaningful, expectations are high, student progress is measured against real-world standards, and families and communities are actively engaged in the educational process. This book is for both big "E" and small "e" educators: * For principals and district administrators who want to change the way schools are run. * For teachers who want students to learn passionately. * For college admissions officers who want diverse applicants with real-world learning experiences. * For business leaders who want a motivated and talented workforce. * For parents who want their children to be prepared for college and for life. * For students who want to take control over their learning . . . and want a school that is interesting, safe, respectful, and fun. * For anyone who cares about kids. Here, you'll find a moving account of just what is possible in education, with many of the examples drawn from the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center ("The Met") in Providence, Rhode Island--a diverse public high school with the highest rates of attendance and college acceptance in the state. The Met exemplifies personalized learning, one student at a time. The Big Picture is a book to reenergize educators, inspire teachers in training, and start a new conversation about kids and schools, what we want for both, and how to make it happen.