Solid Fool S Gold

Since he first began publishing his Baseball Abstracts in the 1980s, Bill James has constantly challenged conventional wisdom by asking simple questions like, "Is that really true?" or "What if we looked at the question this way?" He has sparked a virtual revolution in the way the game of baseball is understood and played, from how players are evaluated or positioned to whether or not they should attempt to bunt or steal a base. In Solid Fool s Gold James continues his lifelong work with new analyses of: Hot pitchers, clutch pitching, and "late career" players The predictability of RBI A better way to organize the minor leagues The 33 best starting rotations and the worst teams of all time The best pitching matchups of the 1980s (and 2010) How the "Expansion Time Bomb" will affect the Hall of Fame But it is not just baseball that draws James inquisitive eye. He discusses the growing expectation for tips and decreasing effectiveness of advertising; his new method for measuring rainfall; the counterproductive use of physical stop lights and red-light cameras; and the statistical inefficiencies of the federal Transportion Security Administration. James wonders how Buck O Neil would have related to his ancestor s cousin (Supreme Court Justice James Clark McReynolds), proposes whimsical rules for Olympic NASCAR Racing, and poeticizes about Ricky Weeks and WikiLeaks. He compares the chances of a particular-size town producing a Justin Verlander or a William Shakespeare, imagines Roger Maris apologizing in heaven for having beaten Babe Ruth s single-season home run record, and explains how to "battle expertise with the power of ignorance." As a bonus, he includes one of his seminal articles from The Bill James Baseball Abstract 1983 titled "The Law of Competitive Advantage" and looks at how it has held up over the intervening years.

In this second collection of recent articles (the first was Solid Fool's Gold), groundbreaking sabermetrician and baseball historian Bill James takes his unique way of looking at the world and applies it to topics as diverse as the major league players who went out on top, whether ground ball pitchers are as good (or as bad) as people think, do hitters like Yasiel Puig have hot hand streaks (they do) and why (that's a different question), and do teams have tough stretches and soft patches in their schedules (they do) and how to mention them. Along the way, James takes several detours to discuss his views on classical music, fiction versus non-fiction, keeping will animals in captivity, conservatives and liberals, and several other things that interest or offend him. He even includes a couple of his favorite old baseball stories and a new way to summarize something's or someone's history in exactly 10-25-50-100-200-500 words.

In this personal, inspiring guide to a creative life, Wooldridge shares her own journey of the heart—from loss and grief to a return to wholeness and joy. Offering poetry exercises, journal writing, and other practices to encourage creative play—including foraging and assembling collages with found objects—Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing and Freeing Your Creative Process will motivate you to reevaluate what’s most important in your world. Through intimate stories about transforming what life brings your way, the book will help open your heart to more creativity—DELIGHT AND VITALITY—whether it’s through photography, dance, gardening, cooking, songwriting, or poetry. Foolsgold includes dozens of suggestions to help you free the artist within by cultivating a creative lifestyle that will not only expand and inspire you but may also ground and heal you.

All that glitters may well be gold in the third book in the Order of Darkness series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory. Tasked to expose a coin counterfeiting scheme, Luca and Isolde travel to Venice just in time for Carnival. Amid the masks, parties, and excitement, the romantic attraction between the two reaches a new intensity that neither can deny. Their romance is interrupted by the arrival of the alchemist, who may be the con artist they’ve been looking for. But as Luca starts to investigate the original charge, the alchemist reveals his true goal—he plans to create the Philosopher’s Stone, a mystical substance said to be capable of turning base metals into gold and producing the elixir of life. With pounds of undocumented gold coins and an assistant who claims to be decades older than she appears, all evidence points to the possibility that the alchemist has succeeded in his task. But as Luca and Isolde get closer to the truth, they discover that reality may be more sinister than they ever could have imagined.

In sports there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Joe DiMaggio's fifty-six-game hitting streak was magical. The three-point shot is an essential part of NBA basketball. Babe Ruth shouldn't have attempted to steal second base in the ninth inning of the 1926 World Series. Scientist and researcher Sheldon Hirsch has taken a decidedly unorthodox approach to sports history. He looks at myths, legends, conventional wisdom, shibboleths, and firm convictions of all kinds that sports lovers hold to be true, and demonstrates how analysis of facts and figures disproves what tradition - and sportswriters - would have us believe. Divided into three parts, on baseball, basketball, and football, Hot Hands, Draft Hype, and DiMaggio's Streak contains enough clear-sightedness and shocking conclusions to delight any sports lover.

Just weeks after Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, Larry Doby joined Robinson in breaking the color barrier in the major leagues when he became the first black player to integrate the American League, signing with the Cleveland Indians in July 1947. Doby went on to be a seven-time All-Star center fielder who led the Indians to two pennants. In many respects Robinson and Doby were equals in their baseball talent and experiences and had remarkably similar playing careers: both were well-educated, well-spoken World War II veterans and both had played spectacularly, albeit briefly, in the Negro Leagues. Like Robinson, Doby suffered brickbats, knock-down pitches, spit in his face, and other forms of abuse and discrimination. Doby was also a pioneering manager, becoming the second black manager after Frank Robinson. Well into the 1950s Doby was the only African American All-Star in the American League during a period in which fifteen black players became National League All-Stars. Why is Doby largely forgotten as a central figure in baseball’s integration? Why has he not been accorded his rightful place in baseball history? Greatness in the Shadows attempts to answer these questions, bringing Doby’s story to life and sharing his achievements and firsts with a new generation.

'To Dave, the posting to Barrabine was exactly what he'd wanted - it was a town on the edge, the wild west. There would be excitement, mystery and intrigue here. Everything a detective looked for.' Detective Dave Burrows' first posting to the far west goldfields town of Barrabine in 1997 holds everything he's looking for, but Melinda, his wife of two weeks, is devastated at leaving behind her family, friends and career. More comfortable in heels than RM Williams, Melinda walked away from her much-loved job in the city as a paediatric nurse to follow Dave into the bush. Dave settles in easily to the plain-speaking toughness of his new town, determined to do well, knowing that Barrabine could be his stepping stone into the elite stock squad. But will his marriage last the distance? As Dave investigates reports of mysterious late-night trespassing, a missing person, and guns being drawn on strangers, a local prospector phones in with horrific news that could hold the key to everything. Fleur McDonald's bestselling rural storytelling takes her popular detective, Dave Burrows, back to his compelling and exciting beginnings.

Celebrate the seasons with the folks from Fool's Gold New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery invites you to taste the local cuisine of her beloved fictional town and share in a year's worth of deliciously seasonal recipes. Fool's Gold is known as the Land of Happy Endings, but it's also the land of hearty appetites. Throughout the series, the residents of Fool's Gold have found joy, comfort and good times through food. Now two local Fool's Gold chefs will also find love through food! Join them as they flirt, fight and fall in love, one season at a time. You'll also find favorite recipes from popular characters in the series, such as: Heidi's Arugula, Corn and Cherry Tomato Salad with Goat Cheese. Liz's Spaghetti for the Girls. Denise's Summer Berry Pie. With chapters for summer, spring, fall and winter, you can find the perfect recipe for everything from holiday get-togethers to cozy date nights, always using the freshest ingredients. And the heartwarming love story that is woven throughout is Susan Mallery at her finest. The more than 150 recipes and dozens of gorgeous photographs in this book will inspire you to find perfection in the simple and the seasonal. And with all of Fool's Gold with you in the kitchen, your every celebration will have a happy ending. Fans of Susan Mallery will love the exclusive short story included in this stunning cookbook!

Return to where it all began—the romance, the friendships, the community, the warmth and laughter of Susan Mallery’s New York Times bestselling series Fool’s Gold. Nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Fool’s Gold, California, is a charming town like no other, where newcomers and locals alike find endless—if unconventional—opportunities to fall in love. From Charity Jones, a city planner hired to create jobs that will keep the town's men from moving away, to Liz Sutton, still trying to shed the stigma of being the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, and Pia O'Brian who, despite having a disastrous romantic track record and the parenting skills of a hamster, has inherited three frozen embryos, Fool’s Gold is overflowing with quirky characters, passionate moments and heartfelt emotion. Offered here for the first time in collection form, the first Fool’s Gold trilogy—plus the bonus novella Sister of the Bride—is the perfect opportunity to discover some new, lifelong friends. Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold Collection, Volume One Chasing Perfect Almost Perfect Sister of the Bride Finding Perfect

New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery welcomes you to charming Fool's Gold, California—the ultimate small-town destination for romance! Do not get the Hendrix triplets started about the lack of eligible men in Fool's Gold! When Dakota gets roped into screening sexy bachelors for a local reality romance show she soon realizes love isn't as easy as it seems on TV. Her sister Montana has finally found her calling working with therapy dogs, but can she convince the handsome but relationship-averse man of her dreams to make a home in Fool's Gold? And while wedding bells are ringing for her sisters, they're not for Nevada. After landing her dream job, her hopes of a fresh start are thwarted when her new boss turns out to be the first love she never forgot. Offered here for the first time in collection form, the second Fool's Gold trilogy—plus the bonus novella Only Us—lets you reconnect with the characters who have become as familiar as old friends. Susan Mallery's Fool's Gold Series, Volume Two Only Mine Only Yours Only His Only Us

Perhaps you know them for their deer dances or for their rich Easter ceremonies, or perhaps only from the writings of anthropologists or of Carlos Castaneda. But now you can come to know the Yaqui Indians in a whole new way. Anita Endrezze, born in California of a Yaqui father and a European mother, has written a multilayered work that interweaves personal, mythical, and historical views of the Yaqui people. Throwing Fire at the Sun, Water at the Moon is a blend of ancient myths, poetry, journal extracts, short stories, and essays that tell her people's story from the early 1500s to the present, and her family's story over the past five generations. Reproductions of Endrezze's paintings add an additional dimension to her story and illuminate it with striking visual imagery. Endrezze has combed history and legend to gather stories of her immediate family and her mythical ancient family, the two converging in the spirit of storytelling. She tells Aztec and Yaqui creation stories, tales of witches and seductresses, with recurring motifs from both Yaqui and Chicano culture. She shows how Christianity has deeply infused Yaqui beliefs, sharing poems about the Flood and stories of a Yaqui Jesus. She re-creates the coming of the Spaniards through the works of such historical personages as AndrŽs PŽrez de Ribas. And finally she tells of those individuals who carry the Yaqui spirit into the present day. People like the Esperanza sisters, her grandmothers, and others balance characters like Coyote Woman and the Virgin of Guadalupe to show that Yaqui women are especially important as carriers of their culture. Greater than the sum of its parts, Endrezze's work is a new kind of family history that features a startling use of language to invoke a people and their past--a time capsule with a female soul. Written to enable her to understand more about her ancestors and to pass this understanding on to her own children, Throwing Fire at the Sun, Water at the Moon helps us gain insight not only into Yaqui culture but into ourselves as well.

In Good Wood, New York Times contributor Stuart Miller takes readers on a journey through the rich and storied—and occasionally nefarious—story of the baseball bat and those who have made them and swung them. With over 50 photos, Miller reveals the creation, history, and development of the bat, brings readers up to date on modern methods and materials for making bats, and explores the folklore surrounding bats.

This book concerns the insane, inebriated, satirical adventures of a group of four young friends who meet in the wilds of WA State. Set in the little town of Rama, the antics of three people of color and one overbearing white Montanan reverberate with the love of life and the apolitical, incorrect universe of those who cannot stay within the rational boundaries of ordinary writing. Tongue-in-cheek, acerbic and ruthless in its skewering of the literature of people of color, white people and feminism, the book covers stories, romantic tales and cartoon idealism - without letting up for one second. It's a comic farce steeped in the charms of the Pacific Northwest, full of poetry, science fiction, and flurries of bombastic charm mingling with the splendor of how far you can go in life without getting anywhere else. I'm offering this book to be distributed widely for as cheaply as possible, completely for free eventually. I want its entire world of readers to simply enjoy my crazy stories, without needing to care in an abstract manner about my end of the sales. Read my book, open your silliest eyes wide, and laugh out loud! A rollicking Woody Allen type farce containing ideas unseen before by modern society, including the backstories of those main characters: Gabriello Beau Hooter Sancto, Saragina DeSoto, Caza Zooweiler and Artie Blend. These single souls meet in the boonies, spending their time looking for work, love and laughter in a spurious, charming, sophisticated, light-hearted manner that takes absolutely nothing seriously, skewering all sacred precepts regarding politics, feminism, racism, white people, and romantic comedy. This is the first published humor book by its professional ghostwriter author, who is happy to share it with an ever-expanding readership. I just want to test the waters when it comes to funny books, and share my persuasive sense of irreverence with a large readership.This novel is written in the style of Harlan Ellison, several women of color humor writers including Toni Morrison, and is very 1960s through 1980s in its orientation. It also includes Mad Magazine made up words, references to the downbeat gestalt of Western white male writers, and everything else in an offbeat politically incorrect manner. Enjoy deeplimo with mashed potatoes, spread-eagled with low calorie salad dressing and a side order of limeade -- accompanied by youthful poverty-stricken Seattle area hambone. Karen S Cole has been working on The Rainbow Horizon for at least ten years. It is not the best written of books yet, never meant to be anything other than a unique kind of thoughtful fluff, running wild like a headless chicken, bombastically declaring the nature of all things political as something only worth lampooning and straightening out. The end result is romance combined with friendship, in the little mythical town of Rama, Washington. If you can't understand the contents of this book, maybe you're not an intellectual humorist. If you can, you will find a long version of a simple but clever jest, the kind with a punch line that gets you to think. Reflect upon this in terms of the joke, "A rabbi, a priest and a minister stroll into a bar - hitting their heads, they fall down." Plays on words, running gags, background tales that have nothing to do with the tale's overall plot - this book is loaded with that sort of thing. I could stand to do more work on it, then I'd feel happier. But it already reads like a straightforward dream about people, one where each person has to decide how to drift subconsciously into the lives of their own making and eventual fulfillment. Well, enough farting around; if you dig nonsense like Monty Python, read this book and get a good laugh out of it!

Bill Tucker has spent most of his life being pushed around so when he decides to move out West and buy his own land, he is determined not to be seen as a small man anymore. When Tucker discovers gold on his land, however, he draws the attention of Septimus Arkwright, a local cattle company owner in desperate need of funds. Arkwright blames the Homestead Act, which brought Tucker to these lands, for his own misfortune, so when he learns there is gold to be had he decides to get what he feels is rightly his ...and nothing and nobody will stand in his way.

Dozens of books have been published recently on the errors and biases that affect our judgments and choices. Drawing on cognitive science, their lessons are excellent for many kinds of decisions - consumer choice and financial investments, for example - but stop short of addressing many of the most important decisions we face in management, where we can actively influence outcomes and where competitive forces mean we have to outperform rivals. As Phil Rosenzweig shows, drawing on examples from business, sports and politics, this sort of decision-making relies on mastering two very different abilities. First, the analytical problem-solving skills associated with the brain's left hemisphere; and second, what Tom Wolfe called 'the Right Stuff': the ability to take calculated risks. Bringing fresh and often surprising insights to topics including confidence and overconfidence, the uses and limits of decision models, leadership and authenticity, expert performance and deliberate practice, competitive bidding and new venture management, Left Brain, Right Stuff, the myth-busting follow-up to The Halo Effect, explains how to perform when making even the most difficult decisions.

From award-winning Financial Times journalist Gillian Tett, who enraged Wall Street leaders with her news-breaking warnings of a crisis more than a year ahead of the curve, Fool’s Gold tells the astonishing unknown story at the heart of the 2008 meltdown. Drawing on exclusive access to J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and a tightly bonded team of bankers known on Wall Street as the “Morgan Mafia,” as well as in-depth interviews with dozens of other key players, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Tett brings to life in gripping detail how the Morgan team’s bold ideas for a whole new kind of financial alchemy helped to ignite a revolution in banking, and how that revolution escalated wildly out of control. The deeply reported and lively narrative takes readers behind the scenes, to the inner sanctums of elite finance and to the secretive reaches of what came to be known as the “shadow banking” world. The story begins with the intense Morgan brainstorming session in 1994 beside a pool in Boca Raton, where the team cooked up a dazzling new idea for the exotic financial product known as credit derivatives. That idea would rip around the banking world, catapult Morgan to the top of the turbocharged derivatives trade, and fuel an extraordinary banking boom that seemed to have unleashed banks from ages-old constraints of risk. But when the Morgan team’s derivatives dream collided with the housing boom, and was perverted—through hubris, delusion, and sheer greed—by titans of banking that included Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and the thundering herd at Merrill Lynch—even as J.P. Morgan itself stayed well away from the risky concoctions others were peddling—catastrophe followed. Tett’s access to Dimon and the J.P. Morgan leaders who so skillfully steered their bank away from the wild excesses of others sheds invaluable light not only on the untold story of how they engineered their bank’s escape from carnage but also on how possible it was for the larger banking world, regulators, and rating agencies to have spotted, and heeded, the terrible risks of a meltdown. A tale of blistering brilliance and willfully blind ambition, Fool’s Gold is both a rare journey deep inside the arcane and wildly competitive world of high finance and a vital contribution to understanding how the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression was perpetrated.