"To tell you the truth, you can learn the basics of meditation in five minutes," asserts Stephan Bodian, meditation instructor, psychotherapist, and former editor-in-chief of Yoga Journal. You can also study meditation for years, exploring its subtleties. Meditation for Dummies is a simple, clear introduction to the basics of meditation, including an overview of dozens of techniques, practices, and specific meditations, plus direction for going deeper. You get step-by-step instructions for a variety of meditations, including body position, mental concentration, where to put your attention, what to contemplate or notice, physical movements, and breathing. A nice touch is the recurring "traditional wisdom": ancient stories or anecdotes that make a point. This book is useful whether you want the nuts and bolts for getting started in the next minute or you want to dip your mind into different practices and philosophies. Nothing is too elementary to explain: "how to sit up straight — and live to tell about it," what to wear, dealing with fear and self-judgment, and what to do when you get "stuck." You also get plenty of information about the benefits and varieties of meditation. You're bound find and develop a practice that feels right for you.

Roger Schank's influential book, Dynamic Memory (CUP 1982), described how computers could learn based on what was known about how people learn. Since that book's publication, Dr. Schank has turned his focus from artificial intelligence to human intelligence. Dynamic Memory Revisited contains the theory of learning presented in the original book, extending it to provide principles for teaching and learning, and includes Dr. Schank's important theory of case-based reasoning and assesses the role of stories in human memory. Dynamic Memory Revisited is crucial reading for all who are concerned with education and school reform. It draws attention to how effective learning takes place and provides instruction for developing software that truly helps students learn.

Defend I.T.: Security by Example draws on detailed war stories to identify what was done right and what was done wrong in actual computer-security attacks, giving you the opportunity to benefit from real experiences. Approaches to securing systems and networks vary widely from industry to industry and organization to organization. By examining a variety of real-life incidents companies are too embarrassed to publicly share, the authors explain what could have been done differently to avoid the losses incurred--whether creating a different process for incident response or having better security countermeasures in place to begin with.

Extreme Programming (XP) has been the subject of heated debate since its arrival on the programming scene in 1998—understandably so, as it contradicts many traditional software development beliefs. We've heard success stories about sweeping changes made to organizations as a result of XP. We've read books about how this approach can work for our teams. However, are there times when XP isn't appropriate? There are certainly instances when making the leap to XP could potentially jeopardize a whole project. What's missing from all of this rhetoric? Witness Pete McBreen, software craftsman, examine the issue from both sides.

From stories of resurrected mummies and thousand-year-old curses to powerful pharaohs and the coveted treasures of the Great Pyramids, ancient Egypt has had an unfaltering grip on the modern imagination. Now, in Egyptian mythology, Geraldine Pinch offers a comprehensive introduction that untangles the mystery of Egyptian mythology spanning ancient Egyptian culture from 3200 BC to AD 400. Pinch opens a door to this hidden world and casts light on its often-misunderstood belief system. She discusses the nature of myths and the history of Egypt, from the predynastic to the postpharaonic period. She explains how Egyptian culture developed around the flooding of the Nile, or the "inundation," a phenomenon on which the whole welfare of the country depended, and how aspects of the inundation were personified as deities. She explains that the usually cloudless skies made for a preoccupation with the stars and planets. Indeed, much early Egyptian mythology may have developed to explain the movement of these celestial bodies. She provides a timeline covering the seven stages in the mythical history of Egypt and outlining the major events of each stage, such as the reign of the sun God. A substantial A to Z section covers the principal themes and concepts of Egyptian mythology as well as the most important deities, demons, and other characters. For anyone who wants to know about Anubis, the terrifying canine god who presided over the mummification of bodies and guarded burials, or Hathor, the golden goddess who helped women to give birth and the dead to be reborn, or an explanation of the nun, the primeval ocean from which all life came, Egyptian Mythology is the place to look. Spanning Ancient Egyptian culture (ca. 3200 BC to AD 400), the handbook of Egyptian mythology is the only complete survey of Egyptian mythology of its kind available in English.

The Mongol warriors are one of the great success stories of world military history. Under the leadership of Genghis Khan and his successors the Mongols conquered much of the known world, fighting in territory ranging from the frozen steppes, the wilderness of Palestine, the jungles of Java and the great rivers of China. Through all this they showed a remarkable ability to adopt, adapt and improve a vast range of military techniques and technology, from siege weapons to naval warfare. This book tells the story of this remarkable military organisation, including details of weaponry, tactics, training and beliefs.

Freshwater Heritage: A History of Sail on the Great Lakes, 1670-1918 represents the culmination of a lifelong passion for sailing and for the history of sail as it applies to Canada. Author/sailor/boat builder Don Bamford takes us deep into the psyche of sailing as it applies to historical events on the Great Lakes and to stories of the people and places there at the time

For many Westerners, something about China is so intense and exciting that it’s a social glue among those who’ve spent some time there. We met through a mutual acquaintance who knew we had backgrounds in China. Over lunch, we swapped stories (and laughs) about living and doing business in China — how challenging the market is, how strong a role government plays in business there, how overwhelming the country can feel, and how everything seems to take so much longer to get done. We both admitted that a solid howto guide could’ve saved us a good deal of time hard spent climbing the learning curve. And so Doing Business in China For Dummies was born.

Before September 11, 2001, few Americans had heard of immigration detention, but in fact a secret and repressive prison system run by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has existed in this country for more than two decades. In American Gulag, prisoners, jailers, and whistle-blowing federal officials come forward to describe the frightening reality inside these INS facilities. Journalist Mark Dow's on-the-ground reporting brings to light documented cases of illegal beatings and psychological torment, prolonged detention, racism, and inhumane conditions. Intelligent, impassioned, and unlike anything that has been written on the topic, this gripping work of investigative journalism should be read by all Americans. It is a book that will change the way we see our country. American Gulag takes us inside prisons such as the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami, the Corrections Corporation of America's Houston Processing Center, and county jails around the country that profit from contracts to hold INS prisoners. It contains disturbing in-depth profiles of detainees, including Emmy Kutesa, a defector from the Ugandan army who was tortured and then escaped to the United States, where he was imprisoned in Queens, and then undertook a hunger strike in protest. To provide a framework for understanding stories like these, Dow gives a brief history of immigration laws and practices in the United States--including the repercussions of September 11 and present-day policies. His book reveals that current immigration detentions are best understood not as a well-intentioned response to terrorism but rather as part of the larger context of INS secrecy and excessive authority. American Gulag exposes the full story of a cruel prison system that is operating today with an astonishing lack of accountability.

Now in a revised and updated edition, this vivid exploration of biker culture reveals the truth behind Australia's infamous motorcycle clubs through in-depth interviews, personal stories, and meticulous research. Included are the rules and rituals involved in becoming a club member, landmark incidents in biker folklore, and profiles of famous biker personalities. Unconstrained by the regulations that rule ordinary citizens, the notorious Gypsy Jokers are followed on their controversial New Year run in Western Australia. Written by an expert on biker culture, this book reveals the true picture of brotherhood among the clubs.

Falling for a scam or con is humiliating for anyone, and can have terrible consequences. But for the elderly, being the victim of fraud can be disastrous, and they are the most common and vulnerable targets of everyday scams, cons, and frauds. From identity theft to gambling scams, from power of attorney issues to pyramid schemes, there is no dearth of creativity in the ways some criminals will relieve the elderly from their money and their homes. Here, Alt and Wells describe the most common scams, offer the stories of actual victims, and detail ways to protect yourself and your family from becoming easy targets. What makes the elderly such easy marks for con artists? How can they avoid the common traps? Knowing about them is one place to start, and this book helps readers to understand and identify the most common scams perpetrated against the elderly. Because such cons are so hard to prosecute, it is important to know the methods criminals employ to separate innocents from their hard-earned money. This lively, vivid account of one of the most insidious forms of crime will help families and individuals protect themselves and their loved ones from the machinations of those who view them as easy marks.

Many of us, especially since 9/11, have become personally concerned about issues of security, and this is no surprise. Security is near the top of government and corporate agendas around the globe. Security-related stories appear on the front page everyday. How well though, do any of us truly understand what achieving real security involves? In Beyond Fear, Bruce Schneier invites us to take a critical look at not just the threats to our security, but the ways in which we're encouraged to think about security by law enforcement agencies, businesses of all shapes and sizes, and our national governments and militaries. Schneier believes we all can and should be better security consumers, and that the trade-offs we make in the name of security - in terms of cash outlays, taxes, inconvenience, and diminished freedoms - should be part of an ongoing negotiation in our personal, professional, and civic lives, and the subject of an open and informed national discussion. With a well-deserved reputation for original and sometimes iconoclastic thought, Schneier has a lot to say that is provocative, counter-intuitive, and just plain good sense. He explains in detail, for example, why we need to design security systems that don't just work well, but fail well, and why secrecy on the part of government often undermines security. He also believes, for instance, that national ID cards are an exceptionally bad idea: technically unsound, and even destructive of security. And, contrary to a lot of current nay-sayers, he thinks online shopping is fundamentally safe, and that many of the new airline security measure (though by no means all) are actually quite effective. A skeptic of much that's promised by highly touted technologies like biometrics, Schneier is also a refreshingly positive, problem-solving force in the often self-dramatizing and fear-mongering world of security pundits. Schneier helps the reader to understand the issues at stake, and how to best come to one's own conclusions, including the vast infrastructure we already have in place, and the vaster systems--some useful, others useless or worse--that we're being asked to submit to and pay for. Bruce Schneier is the author of seven books, including Applied Cryptography (which Wired called "the one book the National Security Agency wanted never to be published") and Secrets and Lies (described in Fortune as "startlingly lively...¦[a] jewel box of little surprises you can actually use."). He is also Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Counterpane Internet Security, Inc., and publishes Crypto-Gram, one of the most widely read newsletters in the field of online security.

Forensic expert Wagner has crafted a volume that stands out from the plethora of recent memoirs of contemporary scientific detectives. By using the immortal and well-known Sherlock Holmes stories as her starting point, Wagner blends familiar examples from Doyle's accounts into a history of the growth of forensic science, pointing out where fiction strayed from fact. The author avoids the technical details that mar so many other efforts in this genre, injecting life into her narrative by weaving in true crime cases that either influenced Holmes's creator or may have been influenced by a published story from the Baker Street sleuth. Particularly memorable is a creepy 1945 murder of a man who, as a youth, had had an encounter with a spectral dog reminiscent of the hound of the Baskervilles. While some of the speculations are thin (including a passing suggestion about a new Ripper suspect), Wagner presents a balanced view of the history of forensic science that should appeal to a wide audience

Famous entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson, Stelios and Sahar Hashemi have all started businesses and thrived during a recession: could you be next? Despite the downturn, it's still a great time to start a business, with less competition and better deals for everything from inventory, advertising and rent. We deliver essential information on how to start a business, make it a success, as well as advice on overcoming challenges including the changing economic outlook. Be inspired by start up stories, and learn tips from the experts: Which businesses do the best in a recession; Write a convincing business plan; Learn who is still lending finance, and what they're looking for; Locate the most reliable suppliers; Use techniques to make sure you get paid; Discover the best ways to promote your business; Attract customers and keep them coming back. Startups.co.uk is the UK's most popular website for small businesses. Started by a successful entrepreneur, it has been helping people start their own business since 2000, and now helps over 150,000 people every month. Small business owners and new businesses consistently rate startups.co.uk as the leading source of information for UK entrepreneurs.

The events of 1989 that brought an end to the so-called East Bloc may have increased women's opportunities to write and publish, or at least changed the circumstances under which they do so. Still writing from a certain historical and cultural margin, these women from East Central Europe have begun to explore a new freedom whose fruits are displayed to exhilarating effect in this book-a freedom to experiment, to innovate, to create a literature uniquely expressive of their world. This volume for the first time allows English-speaking readers to discover the pleasures of these women's writing. A rich compendium of fiction by twenty-five women from eighteen different nations ranging from Lithuania to Ukraine to Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Albania, and Slovenia, The Third Shore brings to light a whole spectrum of women's literary accomplishment and experience virtually unknown in the West. Gracefully translated, and with an introduction that establishes their political, historical, and literary context, these stories written in the decade after the fall of the Iron Curtain are tales of the familiar-of illness and death, love and desire, motherhood and war, feminism, and patriarchy-reconceived and turned into something altogether new by the distinctive experience they reflect.