Think Small

Think Small is a simple and accessible plan for success, based on seven scientifically tested steps that really work.

Sometimes achieving big things requires the ability to think small. This simple concept was the driving force that propelled the Volkswagen Beetle to become an avatar of American-style freedom, a household brand, and a global icon. The VW Bug inspired the ad men of Madison Avenue, beguiled Woodstock Nation, and has recently been re-imagined for the hipster generation. And while today it is surely one of the most recognizable cars in the world, few of us know the compelling details of this car’s story. In Thinking Small, journalist and cultural historian Andrea Hiott retraces the improbable journey of this little car that changed the world. Andrea Hiott’s wide-ranging narrative stretches from the factory floors of Weimar Germany to the executive suites of today’s automotive innovators, showing how a succession of artists and engineers shepherded the Beetle to market through periods of privation and war, reconstruction and recovery. Henry Ford’s Model T may have revolutionized the American auto industry, but for years Europe remained a place where only the elite drove cars. That all changed with the advent of the Volkswagen, the product of a Nazi initiative to bring driving to the masses. But Hitler’s concept of “the people’s car” would soon take on new meaning. As Germany rebuilt from the rubble of World War II, a whole generation succumbed to the charms of the world’s most huggable automobile. Indeed, the story of the Volkswagen is a story about people, and Hiott introduces us to the men who believed in it, built it, and sold it: Ferdinand Porsche, the visionary Austrian automobile designer whose futuristic dream of an affordable family vehicle was fatally compromised by his patron Adolf Hitler’s monomaniacal drive toward war; Heinrich Nordhoff, the forward-thinking German industrialist whose management innovations made mass production of the Beetle a reality; and Bill Bernbach, the Jewish American advertising executive whose team of Madison Avenue mavericks dreamed up the legendary ad campaign that transformed the quintessential German compact into an outsize worldwide phenomenon. Thinking Small is the remarkable story of an automobile and an idea. Hatched in an age of darkness, the Beetle emerged into the light of a new era as a symbol of individuality and personal mobility—a triumph not of the will but of the imagination.

How do you build a life of significance? As pastor and writer Jeff Manion shares in Dream Big, Think Small, truly great lives are built on the foundation of a holy redundancy--a persistence and determination to move faithfully in the right direction. Dream Big, Think Small will provide: The plan for extraordinary living for ordinary life. Big dreams are achievable through steady progress over time. The motivation you need to stick with it for the long haul. The tools necessary for passionate longevity. You can faithfully lead, serve and love others over a lifetime without sacrificing your passion. So many believers want their lives to count, but they are impatient with the slow pace at which goodness grows. Many of us struggle to embrace the faithfulness required to show up day after day after day. In Dream Big, Think Small Manion helps to reveal the joy in the small, seemingly inconsequential actions you take every day. Ultimately, you will learn how small persistent steps lead to tremendous and lasting results. Filled with Manion's trademark inspiring stories and insightful biblical teaching, Dream Big, Think Small challenges you to explore the spiritual prescription of steady faithfulness. Following the principles of perseverance, intentionality, and discipline outlined in this book, you will see lasting and astonishing results in your spiritual health, within your marriage and family, in the quality of your work, and in a more authentic ability to honor God with your life.

Twenty-four artists create stunning miniature art with almonds, matchsticks, test tubes, and more in this fabulous collection. From the astounding to the downright unbelievable, this little volume of mind-blowingly tiny artworks showcases the talents of twenty-four artists from around the globe. Makers, crafters, art enthusiasts, and fans of tiny works will delight in this homage to all things infinitesimally small. Replete with more than two hundred images of miniature masterpieces— including intricately carved pencil leads, fantastical dioramas floating in test tubes, ceramic vases smaller than a six-sided die, crystal cityscape shells designed for hermit crabs, and more—Think Small is sure to make a big impression. Praise for Think Small “Marvel at the extreme dexterity and patience of 24 contemporary artists who painstakingly labor to create artworks at minuscule scale in this adorably tiny coffee-table book. From Hasan Kale, who somehow turns halved almonds and matchstick heads into canvases, to Salavat Fidai, who carefully carves pencils into tiny lead sculptures, each diminutive piece offers mind-blowing demonstrations of craft, skill, and artistic vision.” —Artnet “Spectacular . . . . There are embroidered portraits no larger than a quarter, intricate landscapes painted on lockets, and exquisite sculptures carved into the tips of pencils . . . . This is a fun, accessible, and compact book that both casual and enthusiastic art fans will enjoy.” —Publishers Weekly

Market mistakes to avoid: “Written for investors at all levels…[a] practical, no-nonsense guide.”—Publishers Weekly One of Money Week’s Five Best Books of the Year Investors are tempted daily by misleading or incomplete information. They may make a lucky bet, realize a sizable profit, and find themselves full of confidence. Their next high-stakes gamble might backfire, not only hitting them in the balance sheet but also taking a mental and emotional toll. Even veteran investors can be caught off guard: a news item may suddenly cause havoc for an industry they’ve invested in; crowd mentality among fellow investors may skew the market; a CEO may turn out to be unprepared to effectively guide a company. How can one stay focused in such a volatile world? If you can’t trust your past successes to plan and predict, how can you avoid risky situations in the future? Patience and methodical planning will pay far greater dividends than flashy investments. In Big Money Thinks Small, veteran fund manager Joel Tillinghast shows investors how to avoid making these mistakes. He offers a set of simple but crucial steps to successful investing, including: · Know yourself, how you arrive at decisions, and how you might be susceptible to self-deception · Make decisions based on your own expertise, and do not invest in what you don’t understand · Select only trustworthy and capable colleagues and collaborators · Learn how to identify and avoid investments with inherent flaws · Always search for bargains, and never forget that the first responsibility of an investor is to identify mispriced stocks

This call to climate action examines ways we can leverage the growing power of smartphones and other technologies to become effective environmental stewards to protect threatened species, reduce the risk from climate change, and stop ocean plastic. Personal technologies are creating what the Environmental Defense Fund calls “a transformational shift” in how we address environmental problems. Time to Think Small explores how these brand-new approaches are already playing a huge role in winning some of the most difficult and important environmental struggles of our day–from fighting climate change, to ensuring drinkable water for everyone, to saving endangered animals, to keeping plastic out of the ocean. Learn how these technologies magnify and multiply the power everyone has as individuals to save our environment and how this tremendous power is not only growing, but also has the huge benefit of being independent of sudden shifts in political leadership. Drawing on two decades of environmental policy and a career working with endangered species mixed with his previous career in tech, Myers looks at the different ways we can be empowered to find environmental solutions. "Time to Think Small reminds me of the first words spoken on the moon, about small steps and giant leaps. Todd Myers does, in fact, describe the giant strides from accumulated small steps that will help solve THE biggest long-term problem facing humanity today. If Big Government won’t act, WE CAN, in our own small ways!" --Donald Kroodsma, Author of Birdsong for the Curious Naturalist "The future of environmental stewardship depends on technology and innovation. Todd Myers is a national leader on environmental policy and technology and understands how to create solutions that sidestep political gridlock." --John Connors, former Microsoft CFO "A much-needed analysis of how we can solve complex global environmental problems by applying human ingenuity. . . and why every step matters along the way." --Benji Backer, President, American Conservation Coalition "Addressing climate change can be such a polarizing issue. Myers's book has found a way to cut right through that with practical, applicable actions that everyone can take to make a difference." --Kevin Wilhelm, CEO, Sustainable Business Consulting "While the positions taken by Todd Myers may be disconcerting to an old-school environmentalist such as myself, his voice is one we need to hear in the conversation about climate change. Myers makes a compelling argument that thinking small stimulates creativity, and that nimble, creative approaches can play a crucial role in achieving sustainability." -- John S. Farnsworth, PhD, Author of Nature Beyond Solitude: Notes from the Field

From the astounding to the downright unbelievable, this little volume of mind-blowingly tiny artworks showcases the talents of 24 artists from around the globe. Makers, crafters, art enthusiasts, and fans of tiny works will delight in this homage to all things infinitesimally small. Replete with more than 200 images of miniature masterpieces— including intricately carved pencil leads, fantastical dioramas floating in test tubes, ceramic vases smaller than a sixsided die, crystal cityscape shells designed for hermit crabs, and more—Think Small is sure to make a big impression.

You no longer have to be a neuroscientist to understand how your students absorb knowledge. This easy-to-comprehend guide pares down the vast field of neuroscience and covers the brain basics that affect your classroom the most—attention, memory, emotions, and stress. With a variety of simple brain-compatible strategies, you’ll see a measurable difference in your differentiated classrooms.

Winner of the Merle Curti Award in Intellectual History, Organization of American Historians Co-Winner of the Society for U.S. Intellectual History Book Award Thinking Small tells the story of how the United States sought to rescue the world from poverty through small-scale, community-based approaches. And it also sounds a warning: such strategies, now again in vogue, have been tried before, with often disastrous consequences. “Unfortunately, far from eliminating deprivation and attacking the social status quo, bottom-up community development projects often reinforced them...This is a history with real stakes. If that prior campaign’s record is as checkered as Thinking Small argues, then its intellectual descendants must do some serious rethinking... How might those in twenty-first-century development and anti-poverty work forge a better path? They can start by reading Thinking Small.” —Merlin Chowkwanyun, Boston Review “As the historian Daniel Immerwahr demonstrates brilliantly in Thinking Small, the history of development has seen constant experimentation with community-based and participatory approaches to economic and social improvement...Immerwahr’s account of these failures should give pause to those who insist that going small is always better than going big.” —Jamie Martin, The Nation

See the entire chronology of air-cooled Volkswagens in The Complete Book of Classic Volkswagens, a beautifully illustrated overview of one of the oldest and best-known foreign car brands in America.