Knowledge = Power

The story of Agrippina,  at the center of imperial power for three generations, is the story of  the Julio-Claudia dynasty - and of Rome itself, at its bloody,  extravagant, chaotic, ruthless, and political zenith.

In  her own time, she was recognized as a woman of unparalleled power.  Beautiful and intelligent, she was portrayed as alternately a ruthless  murderer and helpless victim, the most loving mother and the most  powerful woman of the Roman empire, using sex, motherhood, manipulation,  and violence to get her way and single-minded in her pursuit of power  for herself and her son, Nero.

This book follows  Agrippina as a daughter, born in Cologne, to the expected heir to  Augustus’ throne; as a sister to Caligula, who raped his sisters and  showered them with honors until they attempted rebellion against him and  were exiled; as a seductive niece and then wife to Claudius, who gave  her access to near unlimited power; and then as a mother to Nero - who  adored her until he had her assassinated. Through senatorial political  intrigue, assassination attempts, and exile to a small island and to the  heights of imperial power, thrones, and golden cloaks and games and  adoration, Agrippina  scaled the absolute limits of female power in Rome. Her biography is  also the story of the first Roman imperial family - the Julio-Claudians -  and of the glory and corruption of the empire itself.

A New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller

Cal  Newport's clearly-written manifesto flies in the face of conventional  wisdom by suggesting that it should be a person's talent and skill - and  not necessarily their passion - that determines their career path.

Newport,  who graduated from Dartmouth College (Phi Beta Kappa) and earned a PhD.  from MIT, contends that trying to find what drives us, instead of  focusing on areas in which we naturally excel, is ultimately harmful and  frustrating to job seekers.

The title is a direct  quote from comedian Steve Martin who, when once asked why he was  successful in his career, immediately replied: "Be so good they can't  ignore you" and that's the main basis for Newport's book. Skill and  ability trump passion.

Inspired by former Apple CEO  Steve Jobs' famous Stanford University commencement speech in which Jobs  urges idealistic grads to chase their dreams, Newport takes issue with  that advice, claiming that not only is thsi advice Pollyannish, but that  Jobs himself never followed his own advice.

From  there, Newport presents compelling scientific and contemporary case  study evidence that the key to one's career success is to find out what  you do well, where you have built up your 'career capital,' and then to  put all of your efforts into that direction.

One  of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly  rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results.

A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestseller

The  brilliance of the Renaissance laid the foundation of the modern world.  Textbooks tell us that it came about as a result of a rediscovery of the  ideas and ideals of classical Greece and Rome. But now bestselling  historian Gavin Menzies makes the startling argument that in the year  1434, China - then the world's most technologically advanced  civilization - provided the spark that set the European Renaissance  ablaze. From that date onward, Europeans embraced Chinese ideas,  discoveries, and inventions, all of which form the basis of Western  civilization today.

The New York Times bestselling author of 1421 combines a long-overdue historical reexamination with the excitement of  an investigative adventure, bringing the listener aboard the remarkable  Chinese fleet as it sails from China to Cairo and Florence, and then  back across the world. Erudite and brilliantly reasoned, 1434 will change the way we see ourselves, our history, and our world.

In Vietnam,  Christopher Goscha tells the full history of Vietnam, from antiquity to  the present day. Generations of emperors, rebels, priests, and  colonizers left complicated legacies in this remarkable country. Periods  of Chinese, French, and Japanese rule reshaped and modernized Vietnam,  but so too did the colonial enterprises of the Vietnamese themselves as  they extended their influence southward from the Red River Delta.

Over  the centuries, numerous kingdoms, dynasties, and states have ruled over  what is now Vietnam. Trinh and Nguyen military lords led competing  states in the 17th century. French colonizers grouped Vietnam with Laos  and Cambodia in an Indochinese Union, but governed Vietnam itself as  three separate territorial units. The bloody Cold War-era and the  American-backed Republic of Vietnam was only the most recent instance  when war divided and transformed Vietnam.

A major achievement, Vietnam offers the grand narrative of the country's complex past and the  creation of the modern state of Vietnam. At a time when more and more  visitors come to Vietnam and Southeast Asia is again at the center of  intense global rivalries, this is the definitive single-volume history  for anyone seeking to understand Vietnam today.

A  dazzling account of the men (and occasional woman) who led the world’s  empires, a book that probes the essence of leadership and power through  the centuries and around the world.

From the rise of  Sargon of Akkad, who in the third millennium BCE ruled what is now Iraq  and Syria, to the collapse of the great European empires in the  twentieth century, the empire has been the dominant form of power in  history. Dominic Lieven’s expansive book explores strengths and failings  of the human beings who held those empires together (or let them  crumble). He projects the power, terror, magnificence, and confidence of  imperial monarchy, tracking what they had in common as well as what  made some rise to glory and others fail spectacularly, and at what price  each destiny was reached.

Lieven’s  characters—Constantine, Chinggis Khan, Trajan, Suleyman, Hadrian, Louis  XIV, Maria Theresa, Peter the Great, Queen Victoria, and dozens  more—come alive with color, energy, and detail: their upbringings, their  loves, their crucial spouses, their dreadful children. They illustrate  how politics and government are a gruelling business: a ruler needed  stamina, mental and physical toughness, and self-confidence. He or she  needed the sound judgement of problems and people which is partly innate  but also the product of education and experience. A good brain was  essential for setting priorities, weighing conflicting advice, and  matching ends to needs. A diplomatically astute marriage was often even  more essential.

Emperors (and the rare empresses)  could be sacred symbols, warrior kings, political leaders, chief  executive officers of the government machine, heads of a family, and  impresarios directing the many elements of "soft power" essential to any  regime’s survival. What was it like to live and work in such an  extraordinary role? What qualities did it take to perform this role  successfully? Lieven traces the shifting balance among these elements  across eras that encompass a staggering array of events from the rise of  the world’s great religions to the scientific revolution, the expansion  of European empires across oceans, the great twentieth century  conflicts, and the triumph of nationalism over imperialism.

The rule of the emperor may be over, but Lieven shows us how we live with its poltical and cultural legacies today.

In the classic tradition of Sun Tzu's The Art of War,  here for the first time in English is the timeless wisdom of China's  greatest emperor, Tang Taizong (AD 598-649), which will show anyone who  leads or manages how to achieve unparalleled results and an enduring  legacy.

Tang Taizong was arguably the greatest  emperor in Chinese history. In Asia many historians rank him with such  rulers as Augustus, Genghis Khan, and Napoleon. When he founded the Tang  dynasty, Taizong was only 28 years old, and his chief accomplishments  were on the battlefield, where he personally slew 1,000 of the enemy.  Ultimately Taizong would defeat the descendants of Genghis Khan's Huns,  enact a vastly simplified code of laws, open up the Silk Road trading  route, create a golden age of cosmopolitan culture, and, by his  attitudes on religious tolerance, introduce Buddhism into Tibet and  invite Catholicism into China. His dynasty would last 300 years.

The Ruler's Guide is the first publication in English of the leadership principles  modeled and articulated by this unusual ruler, who populated his court  with advisors who were required to criticize him on a daily basis.  Taizong's dialogues with the wisest of his counselors form the core of  this book, which is a manual for managing in any sphere, whether it be  government, business, the military, athletics, philanthropy, or even  parenting. Here, author Chinghua Tang presents conversations between  Taizong and his advisers that explain how to attain self-knowledge,  evaluate people and appraise talent, lead effectively, grow power and  influence, compete with rivals, listen to others with different views,  treat subordinates, enhance organizational effectiveness, practice the  art of war, achieve long-term success, draw lessons from the rise and  fall of great empires, and craft one's legacy.

On March 8, 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen set  sail from China to "proceed all the way to the ends of the earth to  collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas." When the fleet  returned home in October 1423, the emperor had fallen, leaving China in  political and economic chaos. The great ships were left to rot at their  moorings and the records of their journeys were destroyed. Lost in the  long, self-imposed isolation that followed was the knowledge that  Chinese ships had reached America seventy years before Columbus and had  circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan. And they colonized  America before the Europeans, transplanting the principal economic crops  that have since fed and clothed the world.