English Research

Moving from her childhood in Oakland and growing up with her Chinese parents through her success as a novelist, Amy Tan delves into her creative interests in music, the paralysis of beginning a new project, journal writing, and travelling. Where the Past Begins chronicles the making of a writer. With characteristic humor and poignant observation, Tan weaves a nontraditional introspective narrative that is as complex and vibrant as this beloved American novelist's fiction.

Ever dream of writing a book, article, poem, or play that means something to you—and maybe to someone else as well? Do you have an idea you're ready to get down on paper? In Creative Writing For Dummies, you'll learn how to unleash your creative side and become a confident and productive writer.

Here, against a backdrop of late-night tattoo sessions and soldier-of-fortune trade shows, Dr. Thompson is at his apocalyptic best - covering emblematic events such as the 1987-88 presidential campaign, with Vice President George Bush, Sr., fighting for his life against Republican competitors like Alexander Haig, Pat Buchanan, and Pat Robertson; detailing the GOP's obsession with drugs and drug abuse; while at the same time capturing momentous social phenomena as they occurred, like the rise of cable, satellite TV, and CNN - 24 hours of mainline news.

Be more effective on the job! Communicate like a native speaker of English! American English speakers use many phrases and expressions on the job. If you don’t know these expressions, you’re left out of the conversation. You’re out of it...and nothing makes you feel so much like a foreigner. Speak Business English Like an American will help you speak Business English like an American - quickly and confidently. You’ll hear the idioms & expressions used in everyday speech in American workplaces.

If you're like most people, you think that your choices and behaviors are driven by your individual personal tastes and opinions. You wear a certain jacket because you like the way it looks. You picked a particular career because you found it interesting. The notion that our choices are driven by our own personal thoughts and opinions is patently obvious. Right? Wrong. Without our realizing it, other people's behavior has a huge influence on everything we do at every moment of our lives, from the mundane to the momentous occasion.

One key responsibility of product designers and UX practitioners is to conduct formal and informal research to clarify design decisions and business needs. But there’s often mystery around product research, with the feeling that you need to be a research Zen master to gather anything useful. But anyone can conduct product research. With this quick reference guide, you’ll learn a common language and set of tools to help you carry out research in an informed and productive manner.

Robert McKee's popular writing workshops have earned him an international reputation. The list of alumni with Academy Awards and Emmy Awards runs off the page. The cornerstone of his program is his singular book, Story, which has defined how we talk about the art of story creation. Now in Storynomics, McKee partners with digital marketing expert and Skyword CEO Tom Gerace to map a path for brands seeking to navigate the rapid decline of interrupt advertising.

A Lie Too Big to Fail asserts the idea that a government can never investigate itself in a crime of this magnitude. Was the convicted Sirhan Sirhan a willing participant? Or was he a mind-controlled assassin? It has fallen to independent researchers like Pease to lay out the evidence in a clear and concise manner, allowing listeners to form their theories about this event. Pease places the history of this event in the context of the era and provides shocking overlaps between other high-profile murders and attempted murders of the time.

An informative and entertaining account of how actions send signals that shape behaviors and how to design better incentives for better results in our life, our work, and our world.

Practical and instructive, Egri provides a framework for writers to analyze and enhance their work. Numerous examples from classical and contemporary literature illustrate his principles, making the book a theoretical guide and hands-on manual for improving storytelling skills. "The Art of Dramatic Writing" has left a lasting impact, influencing generations of writers and remaining a staple in creative writing programs. Its enduring relevance lies in its timeless principles, applicable across genres and mediums.

Through the fascinating account of their quest, Mark Pilkington reveals the long history of UFOria and its parallels in little-known tales from the murky worlds of espionage, psychological warfare, and advanced military technology. Along the way he discovers that the truth about flying saucers is stranger and more complex than either the ufologists or debunkers would have us believe.

The Robert Collier Letter Book is by far the top book on writing sales letters. But it goes beyond that. As every great copywriter knows, these techniques are directly transferable to the Internet, whether through web copy or email or whatever. This book earned Robert Collier the distinction of being one of the greatest marketing minds in history. Robert Collier's sales letters were successful because he wrote to his audience's needs.

Why are people named Kim, Kelly, and Ken more likely to donate to Hurricane Katrina victims than to Hurricane Rita victims? Are you really more likely to solve puzzles if you watch a light bulb illuminate? How did installing blue lights along a Japanese railway line halt rising crime and suicide rates? Can decorating your walls with the right artwork make you more honest? The human brain is fantastically complex, having engineered space travel and liberated nuclear energy, so it's no wonder that we resist the idea that we're deeply influenced by our surroundings.

Shocking cases of abusive medical research and the whistleblowers who spoke out against them, sometimes at the expense of their careers. The Occasional Human Sacrifice is an intellectual inquiry into the moral struggle that whistleblowers face and why it is not the kind of struggle that most people imagine.

From the bestselling author of Buyology comes a shocking insider’s look at how today’s global giants conspire to obscure the truth and manipulate our minds, all in service of persuading us to buy. Marketing visionary Martin Lindstrom has been on the front lines of the branding wars for over twenty years. Here, he turns the spotlight on his own industry, drawing on all he has witnessed behind closed doors, exposing for the first time the full extent of the psychological tricks and traps that companies devise to win our hard-earned dollars.

Yes, it’s possible to build a business around your expertise, ideas, message, and personality. But first you need to realize - you are the brand. It’s no secret that more people than ever before are building thriving businesses around their personal brands. But why do some create six- or even seven-figure businesses while so many others strive to make a consistent income? In You Are the Brand, Mike Kim shares his proven eight-step blueprint that has helped build the brands for some of today’s most influential thought leaders - as well as his own personal brand.

Daisy Dumont tries so hard to be normal. She doesn't talk about the night her parents were murdered, or the fact that she can't remember it. She certainly doesn't talk about her imaginary friend who disappeared shortly afterward. Then the MRF calls. The research facility finally admits that they took her former friend, and now they want her help to save him.

Designers and managers hope their products become essential for users-integrated into their lives like Instagram, Lyft, and others have become. Such deep integration isn't accidental: it's a process of careful design and iterative learning, especially for technology companies. This guide shows you how to apply behavioral science—research that supports many products—to help your users achieve their goals using your product.

From one of the world’s most celebrated humor writers, this easy-to-follow, step-by-step book lays out a clear system for producing living, breathing comedy characters that audiences will fall in love with.

If you want to succeed in life or career; regardless of your industry, profession (not just marketing or sales profession), location, age, gender, or any other aspect, you need to become more persuasive, you need to influence people. You cannot do it all on your own - you need people to leverage your efforts and get results faster. Persuasion is not merely for marketing and sales people - it’s the basic life skill that every human being needs to sell their view point, ideas, and get people along - everyone is into salesmanship.