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Since Lightroom first launched, Scott Kelby’s The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers has been the world’s #1 best-selling Lightroom book (it has been translated into a dozen different languages), and in this latest version for Lightroom 4, Scott uses his same award-winning, step-by-step, plain-English style and layout to make learning Lightroom easy and fun.
Scott doesn’t just show you which sliders do what (every Lightroom book will do that). Instead, by using the following three simple, yet brilliant, techniques that make it just an incredible learning tool, this book shows you how to create your own photography workflow using Lightroom:

• Throughout the book, Scott shares his own personal settings and studio-tested techniques. Each year he trains thousands of Lightroom users at his "Lightroom Live!" tour and through that he’s learned what really works, what doesn’t, and he tells you flat out which techniques work best, which to avoid, and why.
• The entire book is laid out in a real workflow order with everything step by step, so you can begin using Lightroom like a pro from the start.
• What really sets this book apart is the last chapter. This is where Scott dramatically answers his #1 most-asked Lightroom question, which is: "Exactly what order am I supposed to do things in, and where does Photoshop fit in?" You’ll see Scott’s entire start-to-finish Lightroom 4 workflow and learn how to incorporate it into your own workflow.

Scott knows first-hand the challenges today’s digital photographers are facing, and what they want to learn next to make their workflow faster, easier, and more fun. He has incorporated all of that into this major update for Lightroom 4.
It’s the first and only book to bring the whole process together in such a clear, concise, and visual way. Plus, the book includes a special chapter on integrating Adobe Photoshop seamlessly into your workflow, and you’ll also learn some of Scott’s latest Photoshop portrait retouching techniques and special effects, which take this book to a whole new level. There is no faster, more straight-to-the-point, or more fun way to learn Lightroom than with this groundbreaking book.

Safe, efficient, code-compliant electrical installations are made simple with the latest publication of this widely popular resource. Like its highly successful previous editions, the NEC 2011 Handbook combines solid, thorough, research-based content with the tools you need to build an in-depth understanding of the most important topics. It provides the full text of the updated code regulations alongside expert commentary from code specialists, offering code rationale, clarifications for new and updated rules, and practical, real-world advice on how to apply the code. New to the 2011 edition are articles including first-time Article 399 on October, Overhead Conductors with over 600 volts, first-time Article 694 on Small Wind Electric Systems, first-time Article 840 on Premises Powered Broadband Communications Systems, and more. This winning combination has created a valuable reference for those in or entering careers in electrical design, installation, inspection, and safety.

The culinary revolution that has transformed restaurant menus around the world is also making its way into home kitchens. The Cooking Lab, publisher of the encyclopedic six-volume set Modernist Cuisine, which immediately became the definitive reference for this revolution, has now produced a lavishly illustrated guide for home cooks, complete with all-new recipes tailored for cooking enthusiasts of all skill levels.
Modernist Cuisine at Home, by Nathan Myhrvold with Maxime Bilet, is destined to set a new standard for home cookbooks. The authors have collected in this 456-page volume all the essential information that any cook needs to stock a modern kitchen, to master Modernist techniques, and to make hundreds of stunning recipes. The book includes a spiral-bound Kitchen Manual that reprints all of the recipes and reference tables on waterproof, tear-resistant paper. Drawing on the same commitment to perfection that produced Modernist Cuisine, Modernist Cuisine at Home applies innovations pioneered by The Cooking Lab to refine classic home dishes, from hamburgers and wings to macaroni and cheese. More than 400 new recipes are included, most with step-by-step photos that make it easy to bring dining of the highest quality to your own dinner table.
Among the amazing techniques you’ll find are:
•    how to cook fish and steak perfectly every time, whether you’re in the kitchen, the backyard, or tailgating in a parking lot;
•    how to use a pressure cooker to make stocks in a fraction of the usual time while capturing more of the flavor;
•    the secret to making quick, sumptuous caramelized vegetable soups and purees;
•    how to outfit your home oven to make pizzas as crispy as you would get from a wood-fired brick oven;
along with recipes for:
•    perfect eggs and breathtaking omelets that remove the guesswork for stress-free breakfasts, even for a crowd;
•    gravies and a hollandaise sauce that are wonderfully rich, perfectly smooth, and never separate;
•    a flawless cheeseburger and an ultrafrothy milk shake;
•    chicken wings made better with Modernist techniques, plus seven great sauces and coatings for them;
•    macaroni and cheese, including stove-top, baked, and fat-free versions, that can be made with any cheese blend you like, from gouda and cheddar to jack and Stilton.
Cooking like a Modernist chef at home requires the right set of tools, but they’re less expensive and easier to find than you might think. You’ll also learn how to get the best out of the kitchen appliances you already own. Learn how to use your microwave oven to steam fish and vegetables to perfection, make exceptional beef jerky, and fry delicate herbs.
The first 100 pages of the book are a trove of useful information, such as:
•    how to test the accuracy of a thermometer, and why it’s time to switch to digital;
•    how to use (and not to use) a blowtorch to sear food fast and beautifully;
•    how to marinate meats more quickly evenly by injecting the brine;
•    the myriad uses for a whipping siphon beyond whipped cream;
•    why those expensive copper pans may not be worth the price;
•    how to deep-fry without a deep fryer;
•    how to stop worrying and get the most out of your pressure cooker;
•    how to cook sous vide at home with improvised equipment, a special-purpose water bath, or a home combi oven.
Modernist Cuisine at Home is an indispensable guide for anyone who is passionate about food and cooking.

If any comic has a claim to have truly reinvigorated the genre, then The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller--known also for his excellent Sin City series and his superb rendering of the blind superhero Daredevil--is probably the top contender. Batman represented all that was wrong in comics and Miller set himself a tough task taking on the camp crusader and turning this laughable, innocuous children's cartoon character into a hero for our times. The great Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, the arguably peerless Watchmen) argued that only someone of Miller's stature could have done this. Batman is a character known well beyond the confines of the comic world (as are his retinue) and so reinventing him, while keeping his limiting core essentials intact, was a huge task.Miller went far beyond the call of duty. The Dark Knight is a success on every level. Firstly it does keep the core elements of the Batman myth intact, with Robin, Alfred the butler, Commissioner Gordon, and the old roster of villains, present yet brilliantly subverted. Secondly the artwork is fantastic--detailed, sometimes claustrophobic, psychotic. Lastly it's a great story: Gotham City is a hell on earth, street gangs roam but there are no heroes. Decay is ubiquitous. Where is a hero to save Gotham? It is 10 years since the last recorded sighting of the Batman. And things have got worse than ever. Bruce Wayne is close to being a broken man but something is keeping him sane: the need to see change and the belief that he can orchestrate some of that change. Batman is back. The Dark Knight has returned. Awesome. --Mark Thwaite

The Art of Fermentation is the most comprehensive guide to do-it-yourself home fermentation ever published. Sandor Katz presents the concepts and processes behind fermentation in ways that are simple enough to guide a reader through their first experience making sauerkraut or yogurt, and in-depth enough to provide greater understanding and insight for experienced practitioners.While Katz expertly contextualizes fermentation in terms of biological and cultural evolution, health and nutrition, and even economics, this is primarily a compendium of practical information-how the processes work; parameters for safety; techniques for effective preservation; troubleshooting; and more.With illustrations and extended resources, this book provides essential wisdom for cooks, homesteaders, farmers, gleaners, foragers, and food lovers of any kind who want to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for arguably the oldest form of food preservation, and part of the roots of culture itself. Readers will find detailed information on fermenting vegetables; sugars into alcohol (meads, wines, and ciders); sour tonic beverages; milk; grains and starchy tubers; beers (and other grain-based alcoholic beverages); beans; seeds; nuts; fish; meat; and eggs, as well as growing mold cultures, using fermentation in agriculture, art, and energy production, and considerations for commercial enterprises. Sandor Katz has introduced what will undoubtedly remain a classic in food literature, and is the first-and only-of its kind.

Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn’t seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye.
 
Harold pens a quick reply and, leaving Maureen to her chores, heads to the corner mailbox. But then, as happens in the very best works of fiction, Harold has a chance encounter, one that convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. And thus begins the unlikely pilgrimage at the heart of Rachel Joyce’s remarkable debut. Harold Fry is determined to walk six hundred miles from Kingsbridge to the hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed because, he believes, as long as he walks, Queenie Hennessey will live.
 
Still in his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold embarks on his urgent quest across the countryside. Along the way he meets one fascinating character after another, each of whom unlocks his long-dormant spirit and sense of promise. Memories of his first dance with Maureen, his wedding day, his joy in fatherhood, come rushing back to him—allowing him to also reconcile the losses and the regrets. As for Maureen, she finds herself missing Harold for the first time in years.
 
And then there is the unfinished business with Queenie Hennessy.
 
A novel of unsentimental charm, humor, and profound insight into the thoughts and feelings we all bury deep within our hearts, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry introduces Rachel Joyce as a wise—and utterly irresistible—storyteller.

From the prizewinning author of The Nine, a gripping insider's account of the momentous ideological war between the John Roberts Supreme Court and the Obama administration.
From the moment John Roberts, the chief justice of the United States, blundered through the Oath of Office at Barack Obama's inauguration, the relationship between the Supreme Court and the White House has been confrontational. Both men are young, brilliant, charismatic, charming, determined to change the course of the nation—and completely at odds on almost every major constitutional issue. One is radical; one essentially conservative. The surprise is that Obama is the conservative—a believer in incremental change, compromise, and pragmatism over ideology. Roberts—and his allies on the Court—seek to overturn decades of precedent: in short, to undo the ultimate victory FDR achieved in the New Deal.
   This ideological war will crescendo during the 2011-2012 term, in which several landmark cases are on the Court's docket—most crucially, a challenge to Obama's controversial health-care legislation. With four new justices joining the Court in just five years, including Obama's appointees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, this is a dramatically—and historically—different Supreme Court, playing for the highest of stakes.
   No one is better positioned to chronicle this dramatic tale than Jeffrey Toobin, whose prize-winning bestseller The Nine laid bare the inner workings and conflicts of the Court in meticulous and entertaining detail. As the nation prepares to vote for President in 2012, the future of the Supreme Court will also be on the ballot.

The most successful new rhetoric in a generation, plus an anthology of 60 readings. Designed as 2 books in one, so that teachers can center their courses on the rhetoric or the readings—and draw from the other part as needed.

Easy to use, flexible, and a great value. With just enough detail – and color-coded links that send students to more detail if they need it – this is the rhetoric that tells students what they need to know and resists the temptation to tell them everything there is to know. The first rhetoric designed for easy reference, like a handbook—with menus, directories, and a glossary/index that make it easy to use—in a format that’s as user-friendly as the best handbooks.
With the rhetoric in front and readings in back, The Norton Field Guide to Writing, with readings includes 80+ readings in all.