Download or read book A Secret History of Brands written by Matt MacNabb and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2017-07-30 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true—and often shocking—stories behind some of the biggest names in business. We live our lives immersed in name brand products. What most of us don’t know is that the origins of many of the most well-known and beloved brands in the world are shrouded in controversy, drug use, and sometimes even blatant racism. A Secret History of Brands cuts through the rumors and urban legends and paints a picture of the true dark history of famous brands, like Coca-Cola, Hugo Boss, Adidas, Ford, Bayer, Chanel, and BMW, among others. Learn about: The mystery of the cocaine content of Coca-Cola The Hitler-Henry Ford connection Why Bayer is famous for aspirin, but began their journey with Heroin How Kellogg’s Corn Flakes were crafted to deter sexual arousal And more

Download or read book The Secret History written by Donna Tartt and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-10-19 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK • INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A contemporary literary classic and "an accomplished psychological thriller ... absolutely chilling" (Village Voice), from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Goldfinch. Under the influence of a charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at a New England college discover a way of thought and life a world away from their banal contemporaries. But their search for the transcendent leads them down a dangerous path, beyond human constructs of morality. “A remarkably powerful novel [and] a ferociously well-paced entertainment.... Forceful, cerebral, and impeccably controlled.” —The New York Times

Download or read book Jewels written by Victoria Finlay and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2006-08-15 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout history, precious stones have inspired passions and poetry, quests and curses, sacred writings and unsacred actions. In this scintillating book, journalist Victoria Finlay embarks on her own globe-circling search for the real stories behind some of the gems we prize most. Blending adventure travel, geology, exciting new research, and her own irresistible charm, Finlay has fashioned a treasure hunt for some of the most valuable, glamorous, and mysterious substances on earth. With the same intense curiosity and narrative flair she displayed in her widely-praised book Color, Finlay journeys from the underground opal churches of outback Australia to the once pearl-rich rivers of Scotland; from the peridot mines on an Apache reservation in Arizona to the remote ruby mines in the mountains of northern Burma. She risks confronting scorpions to crawl through Cleopatra’s long-deserted emerald mines, tries her hand at gem cutting in the dusty Sri Lankan city where Marco Polo bartered for sapphires, and investigates a rumor that fifty years ago most of the world’s amber was mined by prisoners in a Soviet gulag. Jewels is a unique and often exhilarating voyage through history, across cultures, deep into the earth’s mantle, and up to the glittering heights of fame, power, and wealth. From the fabled curse of the Hope Diamond, to the disturbing truths about how pearls are cultured, to the peasants who were once executed for carrying amber to the centuries-old quest by magicians and scientists to make a perfect diamond, Jewels tells dazzling stories with a wonderment and brilliance truly worthy of its subjects.

Download or read book Brand Sense written by Martin Lindstrom and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-02-02 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive book on sensory branding, shows how companies appeal to consumers’ five senses to sell products. Did you know that the gratifying smell that accompanies the purchase of a new automobile actually comes from a factory-installed aerosol can containing “new car” aroma? Or that Kellogg’s trademarked “crunch” is generated in sound laboratories? Or that the distinctive click of a just-opened jar of Nescafé freeze-dried coffee, as well as the aroma of the crystals, has been developed in factories over the past decades? Or that many adolescents recognize a pair of Abercrombie & Fitch jeans not by their look or cut but by their fragrance? In perhaps the most creative and authoritative book on how our senses affect our everyday purchasing decisions, global branding guru Martin Lindstrom reveals how the world’s most successful companies and products integrate touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound with startling and sometimes even shocking results. In conjunction with renowned research institution Millward Brown, Lindstrom’s innovative worldwide study unveils how all of us are slaves to our senses—and how, after reading this book, we’ll never be able to see, hear, or touch anything from our running shoes to our own car doors the same way again. An expert on consumer shopping behavior, Lindstrom has helped transform the face of global marketing with more than twenty years of hands-on experience. Firmly grounded in science, and disclosing the secrets of all our favorite brands, Brand Sense shows how we consumers are unwittingly seduced by touch, smell, sound, and more.

Download or read book A Secret History of the IRA written by Ed Moloney and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2002 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A portrayal of the Irish Republican Army includes coverage of its associations with Qaddafi's regime, Margaret Thatcher's secret diplomacy with Gerry Adams, and the Catholic Church's negotiations with Republican leadership.

Download or read book The Weird Company written by Pete Rawlik and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2020-10-29 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Dr. Hartwell (Reanimators) continues, but now he has company. Weird company: a witch, a changeling, a mad scientist, and a poet trapped in the form of a beast. These are not heroes but monsters...monsters to fight monsters. Their adventures rage across the globe, from the mountains and long-forgotten caves of Antarctica to the dimly lit backstreets of Innsmouth that still hold terrifying secrets. The unholy creatures released upon the world via the ill-fated Lake expedition to Antarctica must be stopped. And only the weird company stands in their way. Continuing in the fashion of Reanimators, The Weird Company finds Lovecraft expert Pete Rawlik taking some of the most well-known of H. P. Lovecraft's creations and creating a true Frankenstein monster of a story-a tale more horrific than anything Lovecraft could have imagined...

Download or read book Ash written by Mary Gentle and published by Gateway. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 1244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the beautiful young woman Ash, life has always been arquebuses and artillery, swords and armour and the true horrors of hand-to-hand combat. War is her job. She has fought her way to the command of a mercenary company, and on her unlikely shoulders lies the destiny of a Europe threatened by the depredations of an Infidel army more terrible than any nightmare. Winner of the BSFA Award for best novel, 2000

Download or read book Slaying the Dragon written by Ben Riggs and published by Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-07-19 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dungeons & Dragons. It’s the fantasy role-playing game first conceived over fifty years ago by the now-legendary company TSR ,which has enthralled millions of devoted gamers around the world for generations. It’s a test of skill, intelligence, audacity, and survival. But no D&D game ever played could compare to the stunning behind-the-scenes melee for power and dominance that was the true story of TSR. Slaying the Dragon chronicles the rise and fall of TSR (Tactical Studies Rules), how the brilliant and wild minds of the legendary Gary Gygax and his co-creator Dave Arneson gave birth to a game that would capture the imagination of outsiders and underdogs throughout the world. From its humble beginnings in the small town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to its emergence as a cultural phenomenon, TSR soon spawned an unlikely empire of games and geekdom—with Dungeons & Dragons leading the way—that was decades ahead of its time, inviting both hyper-devoted fans as well as hysteria surrounding the game’s supposed corrupting influence on America’s youth. TSR was in the news, in the money, and on top of the world. But success soon took its toll, with creative control and rivalries within the firm threatening the stability of TSR. Former allies grew apart personally and professionally, and the formerly fun, freewheeling firm founded by a band of misfits collapsed into a desperate struggle for survival. Despite attempts to grow in a changing market, setbacks and management decisions put TSR in a downward spiral in the 1990s which resulted in the company's death and then resurrection by the most unlikely of saviors. With author access to previously unreleased documents and insider stories, and interviews with former TSR employees and associates who witnessed the high-stakes machinations and maneuvering that would eventually seal the company’s fate, Slaying the Dragon is a fascinating, revealing tale of friends turned enemies, success and failure, and loyalty and betrayal that no roll of the die could predict... "Riggs has written a fascinating and dishy account of the business hits and whistling misses of a band of dreamers, writers, artists, and geeks... A must-read for fighters, magic-users, and even bards -- and everyone else, too." — Brad Ricca, Edgar-nominated author of Mrs. Sherlock Holmes and True Raiders"Far from a fluff piece on a beloved hobby, this book goes behind the GM's screen to take a hard-nosed look at the people and circumstances that first gave rise to D&D, then nearly killed it -- twice. Riggs takes you on a roller-coaster from boom to near bankruptcy, but never loses sight of the individuals involved, the good, the bad, and the geeky." — Marie Brennan, Hugo-Award nominated author of the Memoirs of Lady Trent series

Download or read book The Secret History of Twin Peaks written by Mark Frost and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2016-10-18 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the co-creator of the landmark series, the story millions of fans have been waiting to get their hands on for 25 long years. The Secret History of Twin Peaks enlarges the world of the original series, placing the unexplained phenomena that unfolded there into a vastly layered, wide-ranging history, beginning with the journals of Lewis and Clark and ending with the shocking events that closed the finale. The perfect way to get in the mood for the upcoming Showtime series.

Download or read book The Secret History of Food written by Matt Siegel and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An irreverent, surprising, and entirely entertaining look at the little-known history surrounding the foods we know and love Is Italian olive oil really Italian, or are we dipping our bread in lamp oil? Why are we masochistically drawn to foods that can hurt us, like hot peppers? Far from being a classic American dish, is apple pie actually . . . English? “As a species, we’re hardwired to obsess over food,” Matt Siegel explains as he sets out “to uncover the hidden side of everything we put in our mouths.” Siegel also probes subjects ranging from the myths—and realities—of food as aphrodisiac, to how one of the rarest and most exotic spices in all the world (vanilla) became a synonym for uninspired sexual proclivities, to the role of food in fairy- and morality tales. He even makes a well-argued case for how ice cream helped defeat the Nazis. The Secret History of Food is a rich and satisfying exploration of the historical, cultural, scientific, sexual, and, yes, culinary subcultures of this most essential realm. Siegel is an armchair Anthony Bourdain, armed not with a chef’s knife but with knowledge derived from medieval food-related manuscripts, ancient Chinese scrolls, and obscure culinary journals. Funny and fascinating, The Secret History of Food is essential reading for all foodies.

Download or read book The Secret History of the CIA written by Joseph J. Trento and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2005-01-05 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joseph J. Trento's character-driven history of the flawed and often destructive Central Intelligence Agency profiles the men and women who have run the agency from its inception up to the present era. Trento uses his formidable reporting skills to guide the reader through the agency's most important successes and failures, from its earliest role as opponent of the Soviet empire to its later functions during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War. As the facts pile up, the CIA proves itself to be an organization plagued by alcoholism, antagonism, and bureaucracy. The result of more than a decade of research and hundreds of interviews with spies and double agents, The Secret History of the CIA penetrates the carefully orchestrated culture of secrecy that has allowed the agency to suffer from the weaknesses of its highest members, away from the media's scrutiny. Reaching conclusions that are as astonishing as they are impossible to dismiss, this is a fascinating introduction to some of the most colorful and deceitful personalities in the history of our nation, and one that will forever alter every reader's awareness not just of our intelligence services but also of contemporary American history. Numerous photographs are included.

Download or read book The Secret History of the World written by Jonathan Black and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-05-30 with total page 803 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The complete history of the world, from the beginning of time to the present day, based on the beliefs and writings of the secret societies. Jonathan Black examines the end of the world and the coming of the Antichrist. Or is the Antichrist already here? How will he make himself known and what will become of the world when he does? Willl it be the end of Time? Having studied theology and learnt from initiates of all the great secret societies of the world, Jonathan Black has learned that it is possible to reach an altered state of consciousness in which we can see things about the way the world works that hidden from our everyday commonsensical consciousness. This history shows that by using secret techniques, people such as Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton and George Washington have worked themselves into this altered state - and have been able to access supernatural levels of intelligence. This book will leave you questioning every aspect of your life and spotting hidden messages in the very fabric of society and in life itself. It will open your mind to a new way of living and leave you questioning everything you have been taught - and everything you've taught your children.

Download or read book Kochland written by Christopher Leonard and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2019 * WINNER OF THE J ANTHONY LUKAS WORK-IN-PROGRESS AWARD * FINANCIAL TIMES’ BEST BOOKS OF 2019 * NPR FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2019 * FINALIST FOR THE FINACIAL TIMES/MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF 2019 * KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOKS OF 2019 * SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOKS OF 2019 “Superb…Among the best books ever written about an American corporation.” —Bryan Burrough, The New York Times Book Review Just as Steve Coll told the story of globalization through ExxonMobil and Andrew Ross Sorkin told the story of Wall Street excess through Too Big to Fail, Christopher Leonard’s Kochland uses the extraordinary account of how one of the biggest private companies in the world grew to be that big to tell the story of modern corporate America. The annual revenue of Koch Industries is bigger than that of Goldman Sachs, Facebook, and US Steel combined. Koch is everywhere: from the fertilizers that make our food to the chemicals that make our pipes to the synthetics that make our carpets and diapers to the Wall Street trading in all these commodities. But few people know much about Koch Industries and that’s because the billionaire Koch brothers have wanted it that way. For five decades, CEO Charles Koch has kept Koch Industries quietly operating in deepest secrecy, with a view toward very, very long-term profits. He’s a genius businessman: patient with earnings, able to learn from his mistakes, determined that his employees develop a reverence for free-market ruthlessness, and a master disrupter. These strategies made him and his brother David together richer than Bill Gates. But there’s another side to this story. If you want to understand how we killed the unions in this country, how we widened the income divide, stalled progress on climate change, and how our corporations bought the influence industry, all you have to do is read this book. Seven years in the making, Kochland “is a dazzling feat of investigative reporting and epic narrative writing, a tour de force that takes the reader deep inside the rise of a vastly powerful family corporation that has come to influence American workers, markets, elections, and the very ideas debated in our public square. Leonard’s work is fair and meticulous, even as it reveals the Kochs as industrial Citizens Kane of our time” (Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Private Empire).

Download or read book Lipstick Traces written by Greil Marcus and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Greil Marcus, author of Mystery Train, widely acclaimed as the best book ever written about America as seen through its music, began work on this new book out of a fascination with the Sex Pistols: that scandalous antimusical group, invented in London in 1975 and dead within two years, which sparked the emergence of the culture called punk. âeoeI am an antichrist!âe shouted singer Johnny Rottenâe"where in the world of pop music did that come from? Looking for an answer, with a high sense of the drama of the journey, Marcus takes us down the dark paths of counterhistory, a route of blasphemy, adventure, and surprise.This is no mere search for cultural antecedents. Instead, what Marcus so brilliantly shows is that various kinds of angry, absolute demandsâe"demands on society, art, and all the governing structures of everyday lifeâe"seem to be coded in phrases, images, and actions passed on invisibly, but inevitably, by people quite unaware of each other. Marcus lets us hear strange yet familiar voices: of such heretics as the Brethren of the Free Spirit in medieval Europe and the Ranters in seventeenth-century England; the dadaists in Zurich in 1916 and Berlin in 1918, wearing death masks, chanting glossolalia; one Michel Mourre, who in 1950 took over Easter Mass at Notre-Dame to proclaim the death of God; the Lettrist International and the Situationist International, small groups of Parisâe"based artists and writers surrounding Guy Debord, who produced blank-screen films, prophetic graffiti, and perhaps the most provocative social criticism of the 1950s and âe(tm)60s; the rioting students and workers of May âe(tm)68, scrawling cryptic slogans on city walls and bringing France to a halt; the Sex Pistols in London, recording the savage âeoeAnarchy in the U.K.âe and âeoeGod Save the Queen.âe Although the Sex Pistols shape the beginning and the end of the story, Lipstick Traces is not a book about music; it is about a common voice, discovered and transmitted in many forms. Working from scores of previously unexamined and untranslated essays, manifestos, and filmscripts, from old photographs, dada sound poetry, punk songs, collages, and classic texts from Marx to Henri Lefebvre, Marcus takes us deep behind the acknowledged events of our era, into a hidden tradition of moments that would seem imaginary except for the fact that they are real: a tradition of shared utopias, solitary refusals, impossible demands, and unexplained disappearances. Written with grace and force, humor and an insistent sense of tragedy and danger, Lipstick Traces tells a story as disruptive and compelling as the century itself.

Download or read book Bitten written by Kris Newby and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting thriller reminiscent of The Hot Zone, this true story dives into the mystery surrounding one of the most controversial and misdiagnosed conditions of our time—Lyme disease—and of Willy Burgdorfer, the man who discovered the microbe behind it, revealing his secret role in developing bug-borne biological weapons, and raising terrifying questions about the genesis of the epidemic of tick-borne diseases affecting millions of Americans today. While on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Kris Newby was bitten by an unseen tick. That one bite changed her life forever, pulling her into the abyss of a devastating illness that took ten doctors to diagnose and years to recover: Newby had become one of the 300,000 Americans who are afflicted with Lyme disease each year. As a science writer, she was driven to understand why this disease is so misunderstood, and its patients so mistreated. This quest led her to Willy Burgdorfer, the Lyme microbe’s discoverer, who revealed that he had developed bug-borne bioweapons during the Cold War, and believed that the Lyme epidemic was started by a military experiment gone wrong. In a superb, meticulous work of narrative journalism, Bitten takes readers on a journey to investigate these claims, from biological weapons facilities to interviews with biosecurity experts and microbiologists doing cutting-edge research, all the while uncovering darker truths about Willy. It also leads her to uncomfortable questions about why Lyme can be so difficult to both diagnose and treat, and why the government is so reluctant to classify chronic Lyme as a disease. A gripping, infectious page-turner, Bitten will shed a terrifying new light on an epidemic that is exacting an incalculable toll on us, upending much of what we believe we know about it.

Download or read book Our Gods Wear Spandex written by Chris Knowles and published by Weiser Books. This book was released on 2007-11-30 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From occult underground to superhero! Was Superman's arch nemesis Lex Luthor based on Aleister Crowley? Can Captain Marvel be linked to the Sun gods on antiquity? In Our Gods Wear Spandex, Christopher Knowles answers these questions and brings to light many other intriguing links between superheroes and the enchanted world of estoerica. Occult students and comic-book fans alike will discover countless fascinating connections, from little known facts such as that DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz started his career as H.P. Lovecraft's agent, to the tantalizingly extensive influence of Madame Blavatsky's Theosophy on the birth of comics, to the mystic roots of Superman. The book also traces the rise of the comic superheroes and how they relate to several cultural trends in the late 19th century, specifically the occult explosion in Western Europe and America. Knowles reveals the four basic superhero archetypes--the Messiah, the Golem, the Amazon, and the Brotherhood--and shows how the occult Bohemian underground of the early 20th century provided the inspiration for the modern comic book hero. With the popularity of occult comics writers like Invisibles creator Grant Morrison and V for Vendetta creator Alan Moore, the vast ComiCon audience is poised for someone to seriously introduce them to the esoteric mysteries. Chris Knowles is doing just that in this epic book. Chapters include: Ancient of Days, Ascended Masters, God and Gangsters, Mad Scientists and Modern Sorcerers, and many more. From the ghettos of Prague to the halls of Valhalla to the Fortress of Solitude and the aisles of BEA and ComiCon, this is the first book to show the inextricable link between superheroes and the enchanted world of esoterica.

Download or read book Marketing Machine The Secret History of the Future of Marketing ROI written by Guy R. Powell and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-09-10 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marketing should be as simple as putting money into the marketing side of the machine and watching revenue spurt out the other side. But if your brand isn't what you'd like it to be, if your consumer's purchase cycle is complex or long lasting, or if your products and services don't lend themselves to being purchased online, you already know it's not that easy. Guy R. Powell, founder and president of ProRelevant, explores four critical dimensions that businesses must master to become best in class and stay best in class: - needs to be a machine. - needs to be agile. - needs to be prepared for the future. - must own the future. As marketing expands in complexity with more and more online and offline media choices, marketers must still deliver the highest revenue for the least cost with the highest level of certainty. Build the right measurement infrastructure and leverage the best information possible to profitably grow your business with Marketing Machine.