Participation in Project Preparation: Lessons from World Bank-Assisted Projects in India (World Bank Discussion Papers)

“Thoughtful, funny, and compulsively readable, this guide shows how ordinary people can build solid livings, with independence and purpose, on their own terms.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project

Still in his early thirties, Chris Guillebeau completed a tour of every country on earth and yet he’s never held a “real job” or earned a regular paycheck. Rather, he has a special genius for turning ideas into income, and he uses what he earns both to support his life of adventure and to give back.

Chris identified 1,500 individuals who have built businesses earning $50,000 or more from a modest investment (in many cases, $100 or less), and focused on the 50 most intriguing case studies. In nearly all cases, people with no special skills discovered aspects of their personal passions that could be monetized, and were able to restructure their lives in ways that gave them greater freedom and fulfillment.

Here, finally, distilled into one easy-to-use guide, are the most valuable lessons from those who’ve learned how to turn what they do into a gateway to self-fulfillment. It’s all about finding the intersection between your “expertise”—even if you don’t consider it such—and what other people will pay for.  You don’t need an MBA, a business plan or even employees. All you need is a product or service that springs from what you love to do anyway, people willing to pay, and a way to get paid.

Not content to talk in generalities, Chris tells you exactly how many dollars his group of unexpected entrepreneurs required to get their projects up and running; what these individuals did in the first weeks and months to generate significant cash; some of the key mistakes they made along the way, and the crucial insights that made the business stick. Among Chris’s key principles: If you’re good at one thing, you’re probably good at something else; never teach a man to fish—sell him the fish instead; and in the battle between planning and action, action wins.

In ancient times, people who were dissatisfied with their lives dreamed of finding magic lamps, buried treasure, or streets paved with gold. Today, we know that it’s up to us to change our lives. And the best part is, if we change our own life, we can help others change theirs. This remarkable book will start you on your way.

In this latest collection of adventures, P. J. O’Rourke casts his mordant eye on America’s recent foreign policy forays. He first travels to Kosovo where he meets KLA veterans, Albanian refugees and peacekeepers, and confronts the paradox of ‘the war that war-haters love to love’. He visits Egypt, Israel and Kuwait, where he witnesses citizens enjoying their newfound freedoms – namely, to shop, to eat and to sit around a lot. Following 11 September, O’Rourke examines the far-reaching changes in the US, from the absurd hassles of airport security to the dangers of anthrax. In Iraq, he witnesses both the beginning and the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom and takes a tour of a presidential palace, concluding that the war was justified for at least one reason: criminal interior decorating.

Peace Kills is an eye-opening look at a world much changed since O’Rourke wrote his bestselling Give War A Chance – a book in which he presciently declared that the most troubling aspect of war is sometimes peace itself.

The future is here. Learn to live in it.

In twenty-one bite-sized lessons, Yuval Noah Harari explores what it means to be human in an age of bewilderment.

How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children?

Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today’s most urgent issues. The golden thread running through his exhilarating new book is the challenge of maintaining our collective and individual focus in the face of constant and disorienting change. Are we still capable of understanding the world we have created?

‘Fascinating… compelling… [Harari] has teed up a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the 21st century’ Bill Gates, New York Times

‘Truly mind-expanding… Ultra-topical’ Guardian

‘21 Lessons is, simply put, a crucial book’ Adam Kay