Social Games

Tammy Duckworth takes listeners through the amazing - and amazingly true - stories from her incomparable life. In November of 2004, an Iraqi RPG blew through the cockpit of Tammy Duckworth's US Army Black Hawk helicopter. The explosion, which destroyed her legs and mangled her right arm, was a turning point in her life. But as Duckworth shows in Every Day Is a Gift, that moment was just one in a lifetime of extraordinary turns.

Blocked. Deleted. Dead. In a futuristic society where, online popularity determines social status, talentless seventeen-year-old Alexa just can't hack her senior year of high school. She'll never live up to the expectations of her overbearing, image-obsessed mother, her classmates' perfectly curated social media feeds, or her world's strict rules surrounding likes and follows. Unfortunately, Alexa's government is a vicious algorithm that demands to be fed. There's no room for teenage outcasts in Kora High, where trolls, unfollows, and cancel culture bring on real-world punishments. So, ...

Even if you’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons, you probably know someone who has: the game has had a profound influence on our culture, and 2014 marks the intriguing role-playing phenomenon’s 40th anniversary. Released decades before the Internet and social media, Dungeons & Dragons inspired one of the original nerd subcultures and is still revered by more than 30 million fans. Now, the authoritative history and magic of the game are revealed by an award-winning journalist and lifelong D&D player.

Learn how to get in the right "state" with specific techniques so that you can easily approach strangers and start conversations. In Day Game Step by Step, you learn how to start conversations with complete strangers and maintain the conversation easily by providing value instead of asking questions.

It’s easy to overlook the underlying strategic forces of war, to see it solely as a series of errors, accidents, and emotions gone awry. It’s also easy to forget that war shouldn’t happen—and most of the time it doesn’t. Around the world, there are millions of hostile rivalries, yet only a tiny fraction erupt into violence. Too many accounts of conflict forget this. With a counterintuitive approach, Blattman reminds us that most rivals loathe one another in peace. That’s because war is too costly to fight.

When Pete Etchells was 13, his father died from motor neurone disease. In order to cope, he immersed himself in a virtual world - first as an escape, but later to try to understand what had happened. Etchells is now a researcher into the psychological effects of video games, and was co-author on a recent paper explaining why WHO plans to classify "game addiction" as a danger to public health are based on bad science and (he thinks) are a bad idea. In this, his first book, he journeys through the history and development of video games via scientific study....

If you can succeed at video games, you can succeed socially. That's the promise of Level up Your Social Life. Level up Your Social Life uses the video game concepts that you're already familiar with to teach you how to succeed socially. Want to be better at conversation? Pong holds the secret. Want to make more friends? Mario Kart can show you how.

Learn everything you need to know to get into law school. This re-written and completely updated version of the bestselling law school admission guide, first published in 2009, provides detailed information on how to present yourself in the law school application process.

It’s bad enough that Mom and Dad are going on a trip without Judy and Stink and leaving them in the care of Aunt Awful (er, Opal). Now two of Judy’s friends are going Splitsville, too! Just when it looks like her summer is going to be the boringest, snoringest ever, Judy concocts a THRILL-a-delic plan. Judy Moody and Frank Pearl dive headlong into nonstop action in pursuit of the Judy Moodiest summer ever! Based on a screenplay by Megan McDonald and Kathy Waugh, Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer will take listeners on a totally awesome adventure – RARE!

Dani Stevens knew senior year was going to be something else-with her last season on the soccer team, the possible strain of losing a friendship, and crushes? All the crushes. But she didn't expect to be on the lookout for a sex trafficking ring in her town. When a young girl in her neighborhood seems to be in trouble with a pimp, Dani will do whatever she can to find out what she can and get the girl safely back home. Unbeknownst to Dani, there could be another predator on the loose. And if she doesn't watch her back, she could just end up being his next victim.

In a time of sweeping media change, the four major networks struggle for the attention of American viewers increasingly distracted by cable, video games, and the Internet. Behind boardroom doors, tempers flare in the search for hit shows, which often get on the air purely by accident. The fierce competition creates a pressure-cooker environment where anything can happen.

Meet the unsung sheroes of history: the diverse, defiant and daring (wo)men who changed the rules, and their identities, to get sh*t done. A call to action for the modern world, this book celebrates the #GenderRebels who paved the way for women everywhere to be soldiers and spies; kings and queens; firefighters, doctors, pilots; and a Swiss Army knife’s-worth more. These superbly spirited (wo)men all had one thing in common: they defied the rules to progress in a man’s world.

Jonathan Rowson’s competitive success as a Grandmaster and his work as a philosopher of public policy have given him a unique perspective on why the great game is more important than ever for understanding the conflicts and uncertainties of the modern world. In 64 witty and addictive vignettes, Rowson takes us on an exhilarating tour of the game of life, from the psychology of gang violence, to the aesthetics of cyborgs, the beauty of technical details, and the endgame of death.

Through the stories of gaming's greatest innovations and most-beloved creations, journalist Harold Goldberg captures the creativity, controversy - and passion - behind the videogame's meteoric rise to the top of the pop-culture pantheon. Over the last 50 years, video games have grown from curiosities to fads to trends to one of the world's most popular forms of mass entertainment.

In this third edition of Border Games, Peter Andreas charts the rise and transformation in policing the flow of drugs and migrants across the US-Mexico border. Recent border crackdowns and wall-building campaigns, he argues, are not unprecedented. Rather, they are the outcome of an escalatory dynamic already in motion—but now played out on a far bigger stage, with higher stakes, and in new security and political contexts. Focusing on the power of symbolic politics and policy feedback effects, Andreas traces the logic behind such buildup.

Nine-year-old Mya Tibbs is in a triple heap of trouble. As the Tibbs household prepares for the new baby, Mya is extra excited to spend time with her mom watching their favorite Annie Oakley marathon before her new sister arrives. Until she’s cornered into a bet with her number-one enemy, Naomi Jackson, that she can beat her in the famous fourth-grade Wall of Fame Game - which means Mya is stuck studying every night instead of hanging out with Mom. As if that wasn’t enough, Mya just entered Bluebonnet’s annual chili cook-off, even though she doesn’t know how to cook! Holy moly!

Are videogames bad for us? It's the question on everyone's mind, given teenagers' captive attention to videogames and the media's tendency to scapegoat them. It's also - if you ask clinical psychologist Alexander Kriss - the wrong question. In his therapy office, Kriss looks at videogames as a window into the mind. Is his patient Liz really "addicted" to Candy Crush - or is she evading a deeper problem? And when Jack immerses himself in Mass Effect, is he eroding his social skills - or honing them via relationship - building gameplay?

From leading global futurist and advisor James Canton, the acclaimed author of The Extreme Future and Technofutures, comes Future Smart: the essential blueprint on what's coming next. It details the key changes--in health and medicine, technology and communication, the global economy, the Earth's climate, energy, and business--that every person, company, and government must understand in order not only to adapt accordingly but to thrive in the coming decades.

Jude is determined to fly under the radar. He just wants to draw comics, host D&D night with his friends, work at his parents’ vinyl record store, and escape high school as unscathed as possible. That is, until the night he finds himself inexplicably gifted with a bout of supernatural good luck. Suddenly, everything Jude has ever wanted is within reach. His art is being published. He helps his friend’s song become a finalist in a songwriting competition. And he wins a pair of coveted concert tickets, which he can use to ask out the popular girl he’s been crushing on since elementary school.

In today's digital age, being a teenage athlete comes with unique challenges. The Game Within is your ultimate guide to navigating the social media landscape as a young athlete, equipping you with the tools and strategies to thrive both on and off the field. In this empowering self-help book, the seasoned author delves into the impact of social media on young athletes' mental health and athletic performance