Face it, whether your company has 10 employees or 10,000, you must grapple with people you can't stand in the office. Luckily Jonathan Littman and Marc Hershon have written I Hate People!, a smart, counter-intuitive, and irreverent turn on the classic workplace self-help book that will show you how to identify the Ten Least Wanted -- the people you hate -- while revealing the strategies to neutralize them. Learn to fly right by the "Stop Sign" (nay-sayer) and rise above the pronouncements of the "Know-it-None." I Hate People! will teach you how to carve out more time for yourself by becoming a "Soloist" -- one of those bold individuals daring to work alone or collaborate with a handful of other talented people....while artfully deflecting the rest.

"We've all been there. The pivotal meeting where you push forward a new idea or proposal you're passionate about. A fast-paced discussion leads to an upwelling of support that seems about to reach critical mass. And then, in one disastrous moment, your hopes are dashed when someone weighs in with those fateful words: '"Let me just play Devil's Advocate for a minute . . .'
"What's truly astonishing is how much punch is packed into that simple nine-word phrase. In fact, the Devil's Advocate may be the biggest innovation killer in America today . . .
"Why should you care? And why do we at IDEO believe this problem is so important? Because innovation is the lifeblood of all organizations . . . Today, companies are viewed less for their current offerings than for their ability to change and adapt and dream up something new. Whether you sell consumer electronics or financial services, the frequency with which you must innovate and replenish your offerings is rapidly increasing.
""The Ten Faces of Innovation is a book about innovation with a human face. It's about the individuals and teams that fuel innovation inside great organizations. Because all great movements are ultimately human-powered, the innovation personas described in this book each bring its own lever, its own tools, its own skills, its own point of view. And when someone combines energy and intelligence with the right lever, they can generate a remarkably powerful force. Together you can do extraordinary things"
-from "The Ten Faces of Innovation

The author of the bestselling "The Art of Innovation reveals the strategies IDEO, the world-famous design firm, uses to foster innovative thinking throughout anorganization and overcome the naysayers who stifle creativity.
The role of the devil's advocate is nearly universal in business today. It allows individuals to step outside themselves and raise questions and concerns that effectively kill new projects and ideas, while claiming no personal responsibility. Nothing is more potent in stifling innovation, Kelley claims.
Over the years, IDEO has developed ten roles people can play in an organization to foster innovation and new ideas while offering an effective counter to naysayers. Among these approaches are the A"nthropologist--the person who goes into the field to see how customers use and respond to products, to come up with new innovations; the" Cross-pollinator who mixes and matches ideas, people, and technology to create new ideas that can drive growth; and the" Hurdler, who instantly looks for ways to overcome the limits and challenges to any situation.
Filled with engaging stories of how Kraft, Procter and Gamble, Safeway and the Mayo Clinic have incorporated IDEO's thinking to transform the customer experience, THE TEN FACES OF INNOVATION is an extraordinary guide to nurturing and sustaining a culture of continuous innovation and renewal.

CRASHING AUGUSTA is a wild journey beyond the ropes of professional sports. Walk the undulating hills of Augusta National, home of the Masters and learn why it may be the planet's greatest golf tournament. Hurl yourself into a Super Bowl week with ticket hustlers who risk life and limb to make or lose a fortune gambling on the big ticket. Explore our national obsession with steroids, and run with the World's Fastest Man. Rites of manhood are anything but a game, as you'll discover in a deadly tale of an initiation gone mad. Five original Playboy stories of man at his strongest, swiftest and most dangerous. The perfect antidote for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Jonathan Littman is the bestselling author of 8 books (The Fugitive Game and The Art of Innovation) and a Contributing Editor at Playboy. "Crashing Augusta is a showcase for Jonathan Littman's talents. If you want to know the truth about everything from steroids in sports to hazing rites that turn deadly and the famed Masters golf tournament, Littman offers it in the most entertaining and emotionally compelling form you can find." -Robert Sutton, Stanford Professor and bestselling author of Good Boss, Bad Boss. "Jonathan Littman combines blunt-nosed reporting with an empathy for his subjects to create uncommonly intimate portraits of some of sport's most intriguing worlds, from a backstage visit to golf's Masters to the hustlers who rule the Super Bowl." -Michael Walker, author of the national bestseller Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Legendary Neighborhood.

Once nobody noticed Santa Rosa's Thunder. They were a ragtag team of girls who wanted to play soccer, and no one took them seriously. Their male coach expected little from his "ladies, " and their mediocre performance convinced them he was right.

Then a kind of miracle happened. Emiria Salzmann, Thunder's new coach, a top player herself, knew what it took to win--discipline, relentless drills, thigh-burning sprints, and an inspired passing game. The girls hated it, but their coach never let up. Tough and determined, she showed them what it felt like to be winners--and they loved it. As the momentum grew with a string of victories, the girls thrived on the competition, believing they had the right stuff to become champions.

They were right! With spirits soaring, Thunder won its league on the last day of the season and headed for the state cup, emerging not just as powerful athletes but as strong, confident, emotionally healthy human beings--champions in the game of soccer, and in the game of life.

Written like a California noir thriller by way of William Gibson, The Watchman brings to life the wildest, most audacious crime spree in the history of cyberspace. Busted as a teenager for hacking into Pac Bell phone networks, Kevin Poulsen would find his punishment was a job with a Silicon Valley defense contractor. By day he seemed to have gone straight, toiling on systems for computer-aided war. But by night he burglarized telephone switching offices, adopting the personae and aliases of his favorite comic-book anti heroes - the Watchmen. When authorities found a locker crammed with swiped telecommunications equipment, Poulsen became a fugitive from the FBI, living the life of a cyberpunk in a neon Hollywood underground. Soon he made the front pages of the New York Times and became the first hacker charged with espionage. Littman takes us behind the headlines and into the world of Poulsen and his rogues' gallery of cyberthieves. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews with Poulsen, his confederates, and the authorities, he spins a thrilling chase story on the electronic frontier. The nation's phone network was Poulsen's playground. On Los Angeles's lucrative radio giveaways, Poulsen worked his magic, winning Porsches and tens of thousands of dollars. He secretly switched on the numbers of defunct Yellow Pages escort ads and took his cut of the profits. And he could wiretap or electronically stalk whomever he pleased, his childhood love or movie stars. The FBI seemed no match for Poulsen. But as Unsolved Mysteries prepared a broadcast on the hacker's crimes, LAPD vice stumbled onto his trail, and an undercover operation began on Sunset Strip.