Social Development

The Elements of Style has long been a valued and beloved resource for all writers. Hailed for its directness and clever insight, this unorthodox textbook was born from a professor's love for the written word and perfected years later by one of his students: famed author E. B. White. Ever since its first publication in 1959, writers have turned to this book for its wise and accessible advice.

An award-winning journalist and leading international social researcher make the provocative argument that the global population will begin to decline, dramatically reshaping the social, political, and economic landscape.

A five-time Moth GrandSLAM winner and bestselling novelist shows how to tell a great story - and why doing so matters. Whether we realize it or not, we are always telling stories. On a first date or job interview, at a sales presentation or therapy appointment, with family or friends, we are constantly narrating events and interpreting emotions and actions. In this compelling book, storyteller extraordinaire Matthew Dicks presents wonderfully straightforward and engaging tips and techniques for constructing, telling, and polishing stories that will hold the attention of your audience (no matter how big or small).

Here's some good news for everyone who's ever been bullied into believing they can't speak their own language: The grammar snobs are bluffing. Half the "rules" they use to humiliate others are really just judgment calls and the rest they don't even understand themselves. Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies is a laugh-out-loud funny collection of anecdotes and essays on grammar and punctuation, as well as hilarious critiques of the self-appointed language experts.

It's not news that women work, have families, and are conflicted about it. No one needs to be reminded that motherhood is hard. Enter Caitlin Flanagan with a fresh, witheringly funny take on women's lives today, the weddings, nannies, overscheduled children, sex (and the lack of sex), the cult of the "domestic goddess" and its manias for home decorating and gourmet cooking, and the endless tension between working moms and stay-at-home moms.

Most women are very surprised when a man becomes distant, when he's afraid to commit, or, worse, when he just stops calling and runs away. It’s time to use the secrets of the male mind, and learn about men and what scares them away.

The time-tested secrets taught in this book include Cicero's three-step strategy for moving an audience to action and Honest Abe's Shameless Trick for lowering an audience's expectations. And it's also replete with contemporary techniques such as politicians' use of code language to appeal to specific groups and an eye-opening assortment of persuasive tricks, including Stalin's Timing Secret and the Yoda Technique. Whether you're an inveterate lover of language books or just want to win a lot more anger-free arguments, this audiobook is for you.

Men give their undivided attention to those who respect them. If a man doesn't feel respected communicating with you, he'll find the respect he needs elsewhere. The woman who knows how to communicate with men can influence the man she wants without resorting to "that mini-skirt he loves." A man craves the attention of a gracious woman who knows exactly what to say to him, when to say it, and most importantly, how to say it to get what SHE wants. Men love being gracefully influenced by the woman they adore.

The New York Times best-selling author of Untangled presents an urgently needed guide to the alarming increase in anxiety and stress experienced by girls from elementary school through college.

In King Maker, you'll find 101 bite-sized stories, thought-provoking essays, and powerful insights designed to sharpen your communication skills in every aspect of life. Whether you're delivering a speech, telling a story, or simply making conversation, this book will help you connect, persuade, and leave a lasting impression.

People - friends, family members, work colleagues, salespeople - lie to us all the time. Daily, hourly, constantly. None of us is immune, and all of us are victims. According to studies by several different researchers, most of us encounter nearly 200 lies a day. Now there’s something we can do about it. Liespotting links three disciplines - facial recognition training, interrogation training, and a comprehensive survey of research in the field - into a specialized body of information developed specifically to help business leaders detect deception....

Dr. Kevin Leman's The Birth Order Book will help you understand yourself, get along better with others, overcome ingrained tendencies you never thought you could get rid of, and be more successful in the workplace. This revised and updated audio edition of Dr. Leman's classic book includes more than 30 years of experience and research, current examples, and fascinating stories to show how birth order impacts your life.

With roughly 95,000 blogs launched worldwide every 24 hours, making a fledgling site stand out isn't easy. This authoritative audiobook gives creative hopefuls a leg up. Joy Cho, of the award-winning Oh Joy!, offers expert advice on starting and growing a blog, from design and finance to overcoming blogger's block, attracting readers, and more. With a foreword from Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge plus expert interviews, this book will fine-tune what the next generation of bloggers shares with the world.

In The Science of Likability, you'll get all that and more. I've taken 27 seminal scientific and psychological studies and broken them down, so you can use their findings to your advantage. Every piece of advice in this book to increase your social standing and likability factor is 100% backed by in-depth, peer-reviewed research. You can get a new haircut and wardrobe, and you even learn funny jokes. But likability is something more. It's subconscious, and it's the small signs that signal our brains to let their guards down and embrace others.

Our use of language naturally evolves and is a living breathing thing that reflects who we are. Says Who? offers clear, nuanced guidance that goes beyond “right” and “wrong” to empower us to make informed language choices. Never snooty or scoldy (yes, that’s a “real” word!), this book explains where the grammar rules we learned in school actually come from and reveals the forces that drive dictionary editors to label certain words as slang or unacceptable.

Most of us want our lives to have meaning and purpose, but too often we don’t know where to start. Each of us has unique gifts, talents, and perspectives that the world needs right now. We just have to find the courage to realize what they are. Flip the Tables is for people who have been told that they cannot change the world, even though they know otherwise. Alencia Johnson shares her personal stories—from working through insecurities and overcoming adversity, to advocating for women’s rights at Planned Parenthood, and advising on presidential campaigns.

Here's the tough truth gentlemen: Nice guys disgust women. Being a nice guy won't get you far with women because deep down they despise the nice guy. Instead of pedestalizing and supplicating to women, you have to realize that they are just like you. They are flawed creatures who are trying to survive in this world by any means necessary - figuring things out as they go along. The problem with being a nice guy is that you put everyone above yourself; then you're surprised why you get nowhere in life!

The book draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience. Stoics focus on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every new obstacle into an opportunity to get better, stronger, tougher. As Marcus Aurelius put it nearly 2000 years ago: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

Discover the powerful way to transform your relationships with friends, loved ones, and even coworkers, with proven strategies that you can put to work immediately on improving the way you communicate with anyone in any environment.

In Remember, neuroscientist and acclaimed novelist Lisa Genova delves into how memories are made and how we retrieve them. You'll learn whether forgotten memories are temporarily inaccessible or erased forever and why some memories are built to exist for only a few seconds (like a passcode) while others can last a lifetime (your wedding day). You'll come to appreciate the clear distinction between normal forgetting (where you parked your car) and forgetting due to Alzheimer's (that you own a car).