Many people are tired of poor returns on their bank savings accounts, pension plans, insurance policies, t-bills, IRAs, 401(k)s, bonds and mutual funds as well as stock portfolios. Why do so many of the wealthiest families around the world have all or substantially all of their wealth invested in real estate? It's because real estate investing is virtually the only strategy that works. In a recent Bloomberg Businessweek ad, a major bank said, Can you really call it a SAVINGS account if it's only earning .01%? Their answer? Put your money in their Online Savings Account which pays 0.84% Think about that for a minute. If you would like to retire with an $84,000 annual income, you'll need $10 million in cash in that account. This book by Bruce M Firestone, PhD, lays out an alternative strategy that really works. What if you could buy, say, two residential rentals and one industrial condo that generate net operating income of $84,000 a year? Now that sounds more doable. Firestone knows because he has coached many clients to success by exploiting opportunities in real estate. This book is really educational and informative for both beginner and advanced real estate investors, Brent Mondoux, N-VisionIT Interactive. Firestone's strategy is simple-you make money in real estate when you buy not when you sell so buy when everyone else is selling and sell when everyone else is buying. In real estate, if you overpay, you never catch up. This is called buying smart. Firestone shows you how with plenty of examples, stories and spreadsheets.

The purpose of gathering together more than 1,100 quotes is to inspire people who seek to be great at what they do and to provide guidance for everyone else. It wasn't government five year plans that catapulted India and China from the ranks of impoverished nations to the powerhouses they are today-it was their entrepreneur, intrapreneur and creative classes that did it. Think that Mahatma Gandhi didn't know much about business? Think again. He said, "If you don't ask, you don't get" which is not only true for independence movements first trying to throw off the yoke of the East India Company and, second, British imperialism, but also true in business and in life. Darwin wasn't talking about startups but he might as well have been when he said, "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." Adaptability is not just something Darwin talked about. It is the unofficial motto of the US Marine Corps ("show some adaptability") and here's what architect great Frank Lloyd Wright had to say about how to save yourself from peril, "An idea is salvation by imagination." Entrepreneurs face failure every two weeks-whenever they have to meet a payroll. Think about Apple in 1996. It had six weeks of operational cash left when Steve Jobs returned to take on the role of interim CEO (in 1997). He decided that for Apple to be successful again, it had to do many fewer things, better. Apple today is the most valuable tech company on the planet with far fewer product lines than say, Samsung, which not only produces smart phones but household appliances as well. Apple designs iPads, iPhones, iPods and Macs, runs iTunes and iCloud as well as a network of retail stores. That's pretty much it. It's probably easier to manage than Microsoft which has an uncountable number of products and services. I expect Apple will try to produce a couple more lines-wearable computers like say an iWatch and something based on Steve Jobs' deathbed vision for iTV. I would be on the lookout for a much better and more universal application based on Siri so that humanity's next computing interface will be natural language communication with a truly intelligent personal agent. Now that would be a game changer. I know because I wrote an entire trilogy (Quantum Entity, http: //www.brucemfirestone.com/quantum-entity/) about a group of young people who unleash intelligent agents on an unsuspecting planet. Here's one of the principal characters talking about shaping the future, "You are looking at the present through a rear-view mirror and basically trying to march backwards into the future," Damien Graham Bell. This is Damien echoing philosopher Marshall McLuhan who talked about an evolving global village (in the 1970s) long before most people had even heard of the Internet let alone services such as Skype, twitter, Facebook, BBM, instant messaging, email, LinkedIn or YouTube which came along just in time to make McLuhan (and Arthur C Clark's 1960s prediction of free long distance communication before the end of the 20th century) a reality. There has never been a more exciting time to start a new enterprise or be part of one that is aiming high. Imagine being able to communicate, essentially for free, with a community of interest formed around your new enterprise. Amazing. The main message of most of these quotes seems to revolve around hope for a better future for yourself, your family and your organization. Hope appears to be an essential ingredient in the human condition as much as food and shelter are. It is a precursor for success today and every day to follow. If these quotes help to sustain you on a challenging path you have chosen or get you started on a new journey or guide you in some useful way, then this mini book will have done its job.

In the second book of his Quantum Entity Trilogy, Bruce M Firestone takes his reader on a wild ride careening from the depths of despair in San Quentin State Prison to murder in Arizona's mystical town of Third Mesa and total war between superpowers in the late 21st Century. He follows the fates of three somehow interconnected families-the Brooks, the Bells and Nell's people-the Hopi of Third Mesa. Their adventures take them to Austin, Carthage, Ghudamis, Shenyang, San Fran, Vancouver, New Zealand, Los Angeles, Oregon, Luna and Mars Colonies, Europa, Dallas and Port Isabel. The science and technology are fantastic, the reveals and plot twists will surprise and delight as well as frighten. The future is only too believable. Yet there is love and great sacrifice amongst the chaos...