Tuesday, February 4, 2014

And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini - Free Download

And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini - Free Download
And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini - Free Download
Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.

This novel begins in 1952 as a father recites a bed time story to his young son and daughter during an overnight trek across the Afghanistan desert on their way to Kabul. The tale, we soon learn, tells the truth of the father's journey for desperate to provide for his new wife and growing family, the father has agreed to sell his daughter to a wealthy couple unable to bear their own in a deal brokered by their valet, his brother. The separation of the brother and sister, Abdullah and Pari, provides the catalyst for Hosseini to share several stories, within a larger arc, that explore the bonds of family and love, and the devastation of separation and loss.

Abdullah returns to their village with his father but feels the loss of his sister keenly;
"She was like the dust that clung to his shirt. She was in the silences that had become so frequent in the house, silence that welled up between their words, sometimes cold and hollow, sometimes pregnant with things that went unsaid, like a cloud filled with rain that never fell." but never relinquishes the dream of being reunited with Pari.

At just four, Pari quickly settles into her new life but it is the story of her adoptive parents - the wild, provocative Nila and her introverted and much older husband Mr. Suleiman Wahdati, that unravels next as witnessed by Pari's uncle, Nabi. A marriage of convenience it soon disintegrates when Wahditi suffers a stroke and Nila flees to France, her mother's birthplace, with Pari. Nabi is left to nurse his invalid employer, remaining with him even as the war begins to rage around them.

Moving then to Paris, America while never straying far from war torn Afghanistan, the fates of Abdullah, Pari, and those connected to them are slowly revealed. It is an emotional, poignant journey that weaves its way in and out of character, time and place.

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The Art of Public Speaking - Stephen Lucas - Free Download

The Art of Public Speaking - Stephen Lucas - Free Download
The Art of Public Speaking - Stephen Lucas - Free Download
 
The Art of Public Speaking 11e continues to define the art of being the best by helping today’s students become capable, responsible speakers and thinkers. With a strong focus on the practical skills of public speaking and grounded in classical and contemporary theories of rhetoric, The Art of Public Speaking offers full coverage of all major aspects of speech preparation and presentation.

Utilizing the full suite of resources, students learn to internalize the principles of public speaking, build confidence through speech practice, and prepare for success in the classroom and beyond. With the new Enhanced Speech Capture in Connect Lucas, instructors now have the ability to evaluate live speeches using a customizable rubric in the classroom.

Instructors may also upload speech videos on students’ behalf to create and manage true peer review assignments. With its ground-breaking adaptive learning system, Connect Lucas™ also helps students “know what they know,” while guiding them to experience and learn important concepts that they need to know to succeed.

With McGraw-Hill Create™, instructors can now customize their Lucas 11e textbook to the section level, selecting and arranging only the sections covered in the course. The new Create system will automatically repaginate and re-number chapters, sections, graphs, and illustrations, based on how the instructor chooses to arrange them. This deep level of customization guarantees that students pay only for the content covered in the course.
 
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A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Fifth Edition - Free Download


A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Fifth Edition
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)-Fifth Edition - Free Download
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)–Fifth Edition reflects the collaboration and knowledge of working project managers and provides the fundamentals of project management as they apply to a wide range of projects. This internationally recognized standard gives project managers the essential tools to practice project management and deliver organizational results.

A tenth Knowledge Area has been added; Project Stakeholder Management expands upon the importance of appropriately engaging project stakeholders in key decisions and activities.

Project data information and information flow have been redefined to bring greater consistency and be more aligned with the Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom (DIKW) model used in the field of Knowledge Management

Four new planning processes have been added: Plan Scope Management, Plan Schedule Management, Plan Cost Management and Plan Stakeholder Management: These were created to reinforce the concept that each of the subsidiary plans are integrated through the overall project management plan.

As a project management instructor and course developer at a state university, a project management keynote speaker, and someone who has been training project managers for nearly two decades, I highly recommend this book. I have also helped hundreds to pass their PMP exams (including training PMI employees) and although some folks claim they passed without this, I firmly believe that the PMBOK is a must-have.

I have owned every edition of the PMBOK and I can tell you that it's gotten better with age. Let's face it, the material isn't the most exciting but at least it's much more readable than ever. Processes are more refined (some may remember core vs. facilitating processes in older versions) and are titled more consistently (used to have some start with verbs and others with nouns), descriptions of inputs/tools & techniques/outputs are clearer, and illustrations are less confusing. That said, the book still only covers the "whats". If you actually want to know "how" to execute some of these processes, you will need another resource like Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling.

For those who have seen some of the PMBOK's poor ratings in reviews of previous versions, you have to understand that this is a high-level guide, not an elaborate text or a mystery novel. As a result, do not expect to be a project management guru at the end or be entertained with creative irony.

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