John Grisham - Avocatul străzii

John Grisham - Avocatul străzii

(en, 1998, 256pg)

Cind un tinar avocat in plina ascensiune hotaraste sa devina aparatorul celor fara adapost, se produce un cutremur de proportii in prospera firma la care lucreaza, iar viata lui se va schimba radical. Cu logica sa implacabila, Grisham, avocatul scriitor, va reusi din nou sa demonteze un intreg sistem pentru a-l recladi altfel, spre deliciul milioanelor sale de cititori impatimiti.

SMASHING - Successful Freelancing for Web Designers

SMASHING - Successful Freelancing for Web Designers

(2010, en, 263pg)

MAKE YOUR FREELANCE BUSINESS A SUCCESS

Being a great Web designer or developer is one thing – running a successful freelance business another. Whether you already have experience working in a design firm or have just graduated from design school, being self-employed entails a number of tasks that you most likely haven’t had to deal with so far. As a freelance Web designer, you also have to be a project manager, office administrator, accountant, controller, and IT expert.

Written by some of the best in the business, Successful Freelancing for Web Designers incorporates some of the very best of Smashing Magazine’s features on working as a freelance web professional.

TOPICS COVERED INCLUDE:
BASIC SKILLS OF FREELANCE WEB DESIGNERS
COMMUNICATION WITH CLIENT AND PARTNERS
MARKETING & CONVINCING STRATEGIES FOR FREELANCERS
CONTRACT AND PRICING

Successful Freelancing for Web Designers will help you avoid common pitfalls while giving you the knowledge and confidence to set up and run your own successful freelancing business.

Anne Rooney - 1001 Horrible Facts

Anne Rooney - 1001 Horrible Facts

(en, 2008, 210pg)

Got a thirst for knowledge of all things nasty?

Then this yuckopedia’s for you! A team of cartoon characters guides you through a feast of festering facts so horrible they’re hard to believe. Featuring gross truths about the human body, food, animals, history, science, and even world records in horribleness, it’s a real education in all things rotten . . . Enter ye not, those of a weak constitution . . .

Kevin Mitnick - The Art of Deception

Kevin Mitnick - The Art of Deception

(2002, en, 690pg)

The Art of Deception is a book by Kevin Mitnick that covers the art of social engineering. Part of the book is composed of real stories, and examples of how social engineering can be combined with hacking.

All, or nearly all, of the examples are fictional, but quite plausible. They expose the ease with which a skilled social engineer can subvert many rules most people take for granted. A few examples:
A person gets out of a speeding ticket by fooling the police into revealing a time when the arresting officer will be out of town, and then requesting a court date coinciding with that time.
A person gains access to a company's internal computer system, guarded by a password that changes daily, by waiting for a snowstorm and then calling the network center posing as a snowed-in employee who wants to work from home, tricking the operator into revealing today's password and access through duplicity
A person gains lots of proprietary information about a start-up company by waiting until the CEO is out of town, and then showing up at the company headquarters pretending to be a close friend and business associate of the CEO.
A person gains access to a restricted area by approaching the door carrying a large box of books, and relying on people's propensity to hold the door open for others in that situation.

This book also, after giving an example, will tell what tricked/conned the victims of the scam, and how to prevent it in real life or business.

The book ends with Mitnick's strategy and business plans to prevent most if not all of the scams in the book.

Picnic la marginea drumului - Arkadi și Boris Strugațki

Picnic la marginea drumului - Arkadi și Boris Strugațki

(170pg, ro, 1972)

"Picnic la marginea drumului" este cartea care le-a adus fratilor Strugatki, prolifici autori de science-fiction, celebritatea mondiala, dar si cenzura, tracasarile si presiunile cenzurii sovietice, care vedea dincolo de o carte fantastica un atac la adresa regimului. Cat de adevarata era acea acuzatie, este greu de spus, mai ales cand autorii subliniau in epoca faptul ca "Picnic" nu este in nici un fel un atac la adresa comunismului glorios. Dincolo de calitatile incontestabile ale volumului - care au adus si interventia nemiloasa a cenzurii - cartea isi datoreaza renumele inegalabilei ecranizari regizate de Andrei Tarkovski sub titlul "Calauza" (Stalker), nume cunoscut oricarui cinefil demn de acest nume.

Dupa cum povesteste Boris Strugatki in prefata cartii, "Picnic" a aparut nemaipomenit de greu, lupta cu cenzura fiind mult mai inversunata si mai indelungata decat geneza cartii, scrisa "printre picaturi", ca o povestire simpla, oarecum de umplutura. Pare astazi paradoxal ca nici macar autorii nu isi imaginau destinul glorios al cartii, care avea in chip fericit - sau nu - sa eclipseze toate celelalte productii ale cuplului literar. Mai ales dupa ce Tarkovski alesese Italia in locul paradisului URSS, "Picnic" a capatat aureola interzisului, ceea ce i-a sporit insa forta de atractie.

Povestea imaginata de cei doi frati Strugatki a facut ca de la bun inceput cenzorii sa fie reticenti : undeva, in urma unei vizite din partea extraterestrilor, a aparut "Zona". Un perimetru cu accente sacre, inviolabil si pazit cu inversunare de paznici inarmati, o regiune misterioasa cu forte, legende, valori si povesti proprii, cunoscuta tuturor si totusi o enigma pentru intreaga planeta. Singurii care au curaj sa treaca dincolo de bariera sunt asa-numitii "stalkeri" (un alt termen inventat de Arkadi si Boris Strugatki care avea sa dobandeasca celebritatea) cautatori care isi risca viata pentru artefacte ramase in urma vizitei. Numite "inele", "biberoase", "AV"-uri, etc, sunt ramasitele lasate de o civilizatie mult prea avansata pentru a fi altfel decat de neinteles si inspaimantatoare. Iar printre stalkerii se numara si Redrick Schuhart, un stalker poate nu atat mai priceput, dar se pare foarte norocos, pentru ca este unul dintre putinii care nu este ucis de Zona. Si nu este singura zona, mai exista si altele, zeci de kilometri patrati de mister si de amenintare, fascinand si punand cercetatorilor intrebari la care nu pot raspunde.

Philipp Bagus - The Tragedy of the Euro

Philipp Bagus: The Tragedy of the Euro

(2010, en, 160pg)

Content:

Two Visions for Europe
The Dynamics of Fiat Money
The Road Toward the Euro
Why High Inflation Countries Wanted the Euro
Why Germany Gave Up the Deutschmark
The Money Monopoly of the ECB
Differences in the Money Creation of the Fed and the ECB
The EMU as a Self-Destroying System
The EMU as a Conflict-Aggregating System
The Ride Toward Collapse
The Future of the Euro

And here is the link.

Orașul damnat - Boris și Arkadi Strugațki

Orașul damnat - Boris și Arkadi Strugațki

(1989, ro, 330pg)

Alaturi de Isaac Asimov sau Stanislaw Lem, Arkadi si Boris Strugatki fac parte dintre prozatorii care au asigurat genului science fiction un loc legitim in cadrul literaturii de cea mai buna calitate. Orasul damnat prezinta o lume sfasiata intre supunere si evaziune, proiectata pe fundalul unei utopii sustinute de sensurile unei misterioase parabole, cu tot decorul pe care il presupune Orasul ca spatiu inchis al controlului totalitar. Un dictator descins din imaginarul negru al nebuniei puterii manevreaza cu cinism o suita de destine prin care se recompune o umanitate strivita sub stigmatul unei culpabilitati intretinute metodic.