Nonfiction4Life

Prestel Publishing curates what “Children Should Know” about art. So far, the “13 Series” includes 20 books about architecture, photography, design, fashion, craft, culture, history, and ethnography. Each volume is filled with colorful double-page spreads, highlighting 13 of the most important, famous, or influential things around a single art topic. For example, in the books, we discover the 13 most famous “Bridges” and “Skyscrapers” and the 13 most influential “Modern Artists” and “Art Materials.”

Although the Prestel “13 Series” is specifically designed to whet children’s appetite for learning more about art, this ever-growing set of photo-rich books appeals to adults as well. As coffee-table books, these can be perused slowly, a few pages at a time. Designed to make each topic accessible, Prestel packs the books with detailed descriptions, representative illustrations, and, at the top of most pages, a timeline to help put the topic in a historical context.

The gorgeous color reproductions are enough to keep any reader engaged for hours, but the books are packed with so much more. Quiz questions sprinkled throughout keep children guessing, and supplemental sources such as book and movie recommendations and suggestions for museums, websites, other places to visit accompany each topic. Finally, tips for projects, a glossary, and “Good-to-Know” sidebars offer something for every reader. The “13 Series” set aims to spark a lifelong interest in the arts.

Prestel Publishing has been part of the Random House Publishing Group since 2008 with its head office in Munich and branches in London and New York.

Brad Finger, contributing author, discusses how his background in art history and love of architecture helped qualify him to write six of the books in the “13 Series” coTitpyedit 11 others. Finger worked 15 years as an editor at World Book Encyclopedia (1991-2006) in Chicago and has spent much of his freelance career working for the Alzheimer’s Association.

Titles by Brad Finger:

BUY 13 Skyscrapers Children Should Know

BUY 13 Art Movements Children Should Know

BUY 13 Photos Children Should Know

BUY 13 Bridges Children Should Know

BUY 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know

BUY 13 American Artists Children Should Know

Discover more children's books by Prestel publishing.

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Business consultant Jesse Lyn Stoner partners with Ken Blanchard to write bestseller Full Steam Ahead!: Unleash the Power of Vision in Your Company and Your Life. Using a parable format, they illustrate the ongoing need for “visioning.” Unlike the one-time experience of creating a mission statement, visioning is a process, a journey.

Visioning requires three essential elements:

1. A significant purpose. This explains why you do what you do rather than just explaining what you do. In other words, your purpose clarifies what business you’re really in from the customer’s point of view. A deep and noble purpose will inspire excitement and commitment.
2. Clear values. These answer the questions “What do I want to live by?” and “How?” Although values may begin as broad guidelines, when they are clearly described, specific behaviors follow.
3. A picture of the future. This works when the focus is on what you’re trying to create, not on what you’re trying to get rid of. Similarly, the emphasis is on the end result, not on the process for getting there. An excellent example is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

So, why is visioning important? According to Stoner and Blanchard, “Less than 10 percent of...organizations...[have] a clear purpose, a set of operating values, or a picture of the future.” In other words, most companies don’t really know where they’re trying to lead people.

Shaping and sharing a compelling vision relieves leaders of pressure to be charismatic or to have a similar personality or leadership style as their predecessors. Instead, a clear vision will ignite and focus everyone in an organization on the same thing and all will help carry the charge into the future. As Stoner and Blanchard put it, “The mark of a true visionary leader is that the vision continues beyond the lifetime of the person who articulated it.”

Since its first publication in 2003, Full Steam Ahead! has sold over 300,000 copies and has been translated into 22 languages.

BUY Full Steam Ahead! Unleash the Power of Vision in Your Work and Your Life, 2nd Edition

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Business consultant Jesse Lyn Stoner partners with Ken Blanchard to write bestseller Full Steam Ahead!: Unleash the Power of Vision in Your Company and Your Life. Using a parable format, they illustrate the ongoing need for “visioning.” Unlike the one-time experience of creating a mission statement, visioning is a process, a journey.

Visioning requires three essential elements:

1. A significant purpose. This explains why you do what you do rather than just explaining what you do. In other words, your purpose clarifies what business you’re really in from the customer’s point of view. A deep and noble purpose will inspire excitement and commitment.
2. Clear values. These answer the questions “What do I want to live by?” and “How?” Although values may begin as broad guidelines, when they are clearly described, specific behaviors follow.
3. A picture of the future. This works when the focus is on what you’re trying to create, not on what you’re trying to get rid of. Similarly, the emphasis is on the end result, not on the process for getting there. An excellent example is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

So, why is visioning important? According to Stoner and Blanchard, “Less than 10 percent of...organizations...[have] a clear purpose, a set of operating values, or a picture of the future.” In other words, most companies don’t really know where they’re trying to lead people.

Shaping and sharing a compelling vision relieves leaders of pressure to be charismatic or to have a similar personality or leadership style as their predecessors. Instead, a clear vision will ignite and focus everyone in an organization on the same thing and all will help carry the charge into the future. As Stoner and Blanchard put it, “The mark of a true visionary leader is that the vision continues beyond the lifetime of the person who articulated it.”

Since its first publication in 2003, Full Steam Ahead! has sold over 300,000 copies and has been translated into 22 languages.

BUY Full Steam Ahead! Unleash the Power of Vision in Your Work and Your Life, 2nd Edition

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To capture stories of immigrant students for her book The Newcomers, journalist Helen Thorpe spends a year in a beginner-level ESL classroom of South High in Denver, Colorado. Day by day and layer by layer, she pulls back the curtain on unimaginable hardships and atrocities suffered by immigrant teenagers. With resilience and fortitude, they not only learn English but they also adapt to a new country and adopt a new culture. With help from their exceptional teacher Mr. Eddie Williams, the students do more than learn English. They also discover they are not alone in building a new life from nothing. Indeed, they "find refuge, friendship, and hope in an American classroom." 

From Syria to El Salvador, the classroom is a microcosm of the global refugee crisis. So, treading lightly, Thorpe hires 14 translators to interview subjects in their own languages. Along with their families, most students eventually disclose their harrowing journeys through war, subsequent displacement, and eventual resettlement. And, occasionally, case managers and aid workers help fill in the unspoken portions of their own personal refugee stories.

Countering America’s escalating xenophobia, Thorpe reveals the hearts of foreigners who have unwittingly left the lands they love. She also debunks the idea they are terrorists in disguise. Instead, she explains stringent U.S. immigration policies, which are strictly enforced. With Thorpe's help, statistics become humans deserving credit for overcoming adversity.

The Newcomers creates an urgent portrait of the real crisis displaced people around the globe are facing. It's a reminder that wars overseas inevitably send refugees to our shores. In the end, the book is a message of hope because America still welcomes newcomers. She still offers them a safe home. True to the inscription on our Statue of Liberty, Americans are still asking the world to give us "your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."

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To capture stories of immigrant students for her book The Newcomers, journalist Helen Thorpe spends a year in a beginner-level ESL classroom of South High in Denver, Colorado. Day by day and layer by layer, she pulls back the curtain on unimaginable hardships and atrocities suffered by immigrant teenagers. With resilience and fortitude, they not only learn English but they also adapt to a new country and adopt a new culture. With help from their exceptional teacher Mr. Eddie Williams, the students do more than learn English. They also discover they are not alone in building a new life from nothing. Indeed, they "find refuge, friendship, and hope in an American classroom." 

From Syria to El Salvador, the classroom is a microcosm of the global refugee crisis. So, treading lightly, Thorpe hires 14 translators to interview subjects in their own languages. Along with their families, most students eventually disclose their harrowing journeys through war, subsequent displacement, and eventual resettlement. And, occasionally, case managers and aid workers help fill in the unspoken portions of their own personal refugee stories.

Countering America’s escalating xenophobia, Thorpe reveals the hearts of foreigners who have unwittingly left the lands they love. She also debunks the idea they are terrorists in disguise. Instead, she explains stringent U.S. immigration policies, which are strictly enforced. With Thorpe's help, statistics become humans deserving credit for overcoming adversity.

The Newcomers creates an urgent portrait of the real crisis displaced people around the globe are facing. It's a reminder that wars overseas inevitably send refugees to our shores. In the end, the book is a message of hope because America still welcomes newcomers. She still offers them a safe home. True to the inscription on our Statue of Liberty, Americans are still asking the world to give us "your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."

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In his new book, Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life, Max Lugavere teaches us how to use food to achieve optimal brain performance. What's more, he says, following such a regimen has the pleasant side effect of minimizing dementia risk.

When Lugavere's own mother was diagnosed with a mysterious form of dementia in her 50s, this filmmaker turned journalist went on the warpath to learn everything he could about brain health.  His research among leading clinicians and in top neurology departments around the world helped him discover ten "Genius Foods."

Combining solid science with his Hollywood flare for entertainment, Lugavere walks us through common health conundrums. For example, he debunks myths about low-fat and cholesterol-free products, and he makes scientific connections between Type 2 diabetes and dementia. He also makes sense of words newer to the health field such as "epigenetics," "microbiomes," and "probiotics."

Highly recommended by the likes of Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Mark Hyman, Genius Foods is the first of its kind to weave together pioneering research not only on dementia prevention but also cognitive optimization, and nutritional psychology.

In addition to being a brain health expert, Max Lugavere is the director of the upcoming film Bread Head, the first-ever documentary about dementia prevention through diet and lifestyle.

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In his new book, Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life, Max Lugavere teaches us how to use food to achieve optimal brain performance. What's more, he says, following such a regimen has the pleasant side effect of minimizing dementia risk.

When Lugavere's own mother was diagnosed with a mysterious form of dementia in her 50s, this filmmaker turned journalist went on the warpath to learn everything he could about brain health.  His research among leading clinicians and in top neurology departments around the world helped him discover ten "Genius Foods."

Combining solid science with his Hollywood flare for entertainment, Lugavere walks us through common health conundrums. For example, he debunks myths about low-fat and cholesterol-free products, and he makes scientific connections between Type 2 diabetes and dementia. He also makes sense of words newer to the health field such as "epigenetics," "microbiomes," and "probiotics."

Highly recommended by the likes of Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Mark Hyman, Genius Foods is the first of its kind to weave together pioneering research not only on dementia prevention but also cognitive optimization, and nutritional psychology.

In addition to being a brain health expert, Max Lugavere is the director of the upcoming film Bread Head, the first-ever documentary about dementia prevention through diet and lifestyle.

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Even as digital technology is disrupting workplace culture, Crystal Kadakia, author of The Millennial Myth: Transforming Misunderstanding into Workplace Breakthroughs, is aiming to solve the biggest human capital trend of our next decade: millennials in the workplace. To remain competitive, we not only need generational diversity; we need to embrace, harness, engage modern talent.

As a thought leader and trainer, Kadakia rebuilds a backdrop for millennials, reminding us that every generation had benefited from innovations. Now, by having their basic needs met, millennials are also able to self-actualize. She also debunks five commonly held myths about millennials:

1. It’s not lazy; it’s productivity redefined.
2. It’s not entitled; it’s entrepreneurial.
3. It’s not hand-holding; it’s agility.
4. It’s not disloyal; it’s seeking purpose.
5. It’s not authority issues; it’s respect redefined.

Approaching each misconception using her “One Coin, Two Sides” model, Kadakia treats the issues with equanimity. She gives us new language and positive attributes to reframe each of the stereotypes.

According to Kadakia, millennials are primarily driven by two prevalent philosophies: “YOLO” and “FOMO.” The former, “You Only Live Once,” drives them to seize opportunities, even if it means moving switching jobs frequently. On the other hand, FOMO (“Fear of Missing Out”) causes them pain because they have so many choices. To balance the two, they collect experiences first and material goods later (or not at all). Contrast these motivations with those of older workers who went without not by choice but by circumstance and whose choices were severely limited, and you have a conflict of interest and misunderstanding.

In the span of one decade, the “digitally enabled” generation moved from pagers to flip phones to smartphones. Remembering this lightning-fast shift can ease tensions in the workplace and can help us know what these workers expect. For example, they look for constant feedback and transparency; they expect flexibility and access; they count on growth opportunities and recognition.

To create genuine workplace breakthroughs, Kadakia proposes we create environments characterized by “co-versity.” She explains, “Instead of a millennial network, it’s having a generations network, where people of all generations can come together and converse, connect, and collaborate.”

Even as digital technology is disrupting workplace culture, Crystal Kadakia, author of The Millennial Myth: Transforming Misunderstanding into Workplace Breakthroughs, is aiming to solve the biggest human capital trend of our next decade: millennials in the workplace. To remain competitive, we not only need generational diversity; we need to embrace, harness, engage modern talent.

As a thought leader and trainer, Kadakia rebuilds a backdrop for millennials, reminding us that every generation had benefited from innovations. Now, by having their basic needs met, millennials are also able to self-actualize. She also debunks five commonly held myths about millennials:

1. It’s not lazy; it’s productivity redefined.
2. It’s not entitled; it’s entrepreneurial.
3. It’s not hand-holding; it’s agility.
4. It’s not disloyal; it’s seeking purpose.
5. It’s not authority issues; it’s respect redefined.

Approaching each misconception using her “One Coin, Two Sides” model, Kadakia treats the issues with equanimity. She gives us new language and positive attributes to reframe each of the stereotypes.

According to Kadakia, millennials are primarily driven by two prevalent philosophies: “YOLO” and “FOMO.” The former, “You Only Live Once,” drives them to seize opportunities, even if it means moving switching jobs frequently. On the other hand, FOMO (“Fear of Missing Out”) causes them pain because they have so many choices. To balance the two, they collect experiences first and material goods later (or not at all). Contrast these motivations with those of older workers who went without not by choice but by circumstance and whose choices were severely limited, and you have a conflict of interest and misunderstanding.

In the span of one decade, the “digitally enabled” generation moved from pagers to flip phones to smartphones. Remembering this lightning-fast shift can ease tensions in the workplace and can help us know what these workers expect. For example, they look for constant feedback and transparency; they expect flexibility and access; they count on growth opportunities and recognition.

To create genuine workplace breakthroughs, Kadakia proposes we create environments characterized by “co-versity.” She explains, “Instead of a millennial network, it’s having a generations network, where people of all generations can come together and converse, connect, and collaborate.”

Using traditional parenting techniques, author Rebecca Eanes felt disconnected from her children. Frustrated and discouraged, she decided to trust her gut instead. She documented online her newfound success with positive parenting and quickly found her message resonated with countless parents. In fact, she gained over a million followers on her “Positive Parenting” Facebook page and plenty of material for her first book, Positive Parenting: An Essential Guide.

Now, two years later, Eanes shares her Positive Parenting Workbook: An Interactive Guide for Strengthening Emotional Connection. This companion guide or stand-alone book offers a place for parents to reflect on motivations, reactions, and goals. Ultimately, Eanes writes to help parents connect (or reconnect) with their children in order to create calmer, happier familial relationships.

Since research shows healthy parents help children thrive, the author encourages all parents to “look within” first. In other words, before blaming society or our children, it’s imperative we engage in proper self-care. To take good care of ourselves, Eanes suggests we slow down in one way or another. This can include taking deep breaths, doing push-ups, calling a friend, or asking for a hug. After all, as American author Robert Brault once said, “In our happiest childhood memories, our parents were happy, too.”

The Workbook is replete with insightful exercises to help parents, such as:

• Build a foundation of trust
• Identify and change damaging, negative thought patterns
• Implement calm-down techniques instead of succumbing to anger and frustration
• Reconnect with partners, then approach parenting on a united front
• Create a positive family culture that allows kids to feel safe and loved
• Trade punishments for solutions
• Engage in daily loving rituals that strengthen family bonds

In addition, Eanes addresses how to face proactively “Top Parenting Challenges.” These include tough cases such as Aggression, Whining, Not Listening, Back Talk, and Tantrums.

Designed to reduce the drama, stress, and resentment all too common in families, Eanes’s book shows parents how to intentionally chart a new path. Then, with greater emotional awareness, clear communication, and genuine connection with loved ones, parents are equipped to create joyful family moments.

Eanes is the founder of Positive-Parents.org.

BUY The Positive Parenting Workbook: An Interactive Guide for Strengthening Emotional Connection

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