Charming People

Arlen's characters are disillusioned, cynical, and witty, but in addition these stories include elements of fantasy and horror

The nation’s #1 real estate broker and charismatic costar of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York shares his secrets on how to be successful. In the ten years since moving from Sweden to New York City, with no experience in real estate and no contacts, Fredrik Eklund has transformed himself into the best seller in the most competitive real estate market on the planet. In The Sell, Eklund leverages his years of experience to create the go-to manual for self-promotion and sales. At the core of the book are chapters tied to Eklund’s 10-step program for “selling anything to everyone,” and he shares his secrets on everything from personal authenticity and looking your very best to crafting the perfect sales pitch, negotiating with savvy, and closing deals promptly and efficiently . . . lest they slip away. Whether you’re just starting a job as a sales rep at Verizon, navigating your career as an executive or entrepreneur, or hitting your stride closing big transactions as a banker at Goldman Sachs, The Sell will show you how to improve your game and radically increase the money you’re bringing home. The Sell is a vital resource for anyone who wants to have an impact in his or her personal and professional life, with a razor-sharp focus on selling: selling yourself—or your brand—no matter your background.

Brian Tracy has devoted his life to helping others achieve things they never dreamed possible. Now, he gives readers the key they need to open any door and get whatever they want, every time. This book gives you proven ways to become more captivating and persuasive in any situation. As one of the world's premier business consultants and personal success experts, Brian Tracy shows readers what charm can do, and how they can use simple methods to immediately become more charming and dramatically improve their social lives and business relationships. In The Power of Charm, you will learn how to: capture people's trust and attention within the first few seconds of meeting win the support of others who can help them achieve their goals master body language and advanced listening techniques sell more of their products or services deliver powerful and engaging talks and presentations improve their negotiation skills get paid more and promoted faster The Power of Charm helps readers develop greater confidence and self-esteem while learning how to naturally create rhythm and harmony with others. It's a unique and powerful guide filled with proven techniques for making dreams come true -- in business and in life!

Joseph Epstein takes on that most enchanting (and, alas, increasingly rare) of human gifts, charm. “Almost everyone will recognize when he or she is in the presence of charm,” he writes. “Charm is magic of a kind; it casts a spell. In the presence of charm the world seems lighter and lovelier. A charming person can cause you to forget your problems, at least temporarily, to hold the world’s dreariness at bay. Charm is a reminder that the world is filled with jolly prospects and delightful possibilities. Watching Fred Astaire dance, or listening to Blossom Dearie sing, or reading the poems of C.P. Cavafy, or merely looking at Rita Hayworth or Ava Gardner, one recalls that the world can be a pretty damn fine place.”

The utilization—and weaponization—of charm in contemporary global politics Politics is a site of performance, and contemporary politicians often perform the role of a regular person—perhaps someone we would like to have a beer with. They win elections not because of the elevated rhetorical performances we often associate with charisma (“ask not what your country can do for you”), but because of something more ordinary and relatable. The everyday magic spell that politicians cast using mass and social media is what sociologist Julia Sonnevend calls “charm.” In this engaging and enlightening book, Sonnevend explores charm (and the related “charm offensive”) as a keyword of contemporary global politics. Successful political leaders deploy this form of personal magnetism—which relies on proximity to political tribes and manifests across a variety of media platforms—to appear authentic and accessible in their quest for power. Sonnevend examines the mediated self-representations of a set of liberal, illiberal, and authoritarian political leaders, past and present: New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, and Germany’s Angela Merkel. She considers how charm (or the lack of it) is wielded as a political tool, and the ways charm is weaponized to shape the international image of a country, potentially influencing decisions about military aid, trade, and even tourism. Sonnevend argues that charm will shape the future of democracy worldwide, as political values will be increasingly embodied by mediated personalities. These figures will rise and fall, often fading into irrelevance; but if we do not understand charm’s political power, we cannot grasp today’s fragile political moment.

This is the first volume of a unique collection that brings together the best English-language problems created for students competing in the Computational Linguistics Olympiad. These problems are representative of the diverse areas presented in the competition and designed with three principles in mind: · To challenge the student analytically, without requiring any explicit knowledge or experience in linguistics or computer science; · To expose the student to the different kinds of reasoning required when encountering a new phenomenon in a language, both as a theoretical topic and as an applied problem; · To foster the natural curiosity students have about the workings of their own language, as well as to introduce them to the beauty and structure of other languages; · To learn about the models and techniques used by computers to understand human language. Aside from being a fun intellectual challenge, the Olympiad mimics the skills used by researchers and scholars in the field of computational linguistics. In an increasingly global economy where businesses operate across borders and languages, having a strong pool of computational linguists is a competitive advantage, and an important component to both security and growth in the 21st century. This collection of problems is a wonderful general introduction to the field of linguistics through the analytic problem solving technique. "A fantastic collection of problems for anyone who is curious about how human language works! These books take serious scientific questions and present them in a fun, accessible way. Readers exercise their logical thinking capabilities while learning about a wide range of human languages, linguistic phenomena, and computational models. " - Kevin Knight, USC Information Sciences Institute

From the award-winning author of The Field Guide to the North American Teenager comes a whip-smart and layered romantic comedy. Perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Jenny Han. Henri “Halti” Haltiwanger can charm just about anyone. He is a star debater and popular student at the prestigious FATE academy, the dutiful first-generation Haitian son, and the trusted dog walker for his wealthy New York City neighbors. But his easy smiles mask a burning ambition to attend his dream college, Columbia University. There is only one person who seems immune to Henri’s charms: his “intense” classmate and neighbor Corinne Troy. When she uncovers Henri’s less-than-honest dog-walking scheme, she blackmails him into helping her change her image at school. Henri agrees, seeing a potential upside for himself. Soon what started as a mutual hustle turns into something more surprising than either of them ever bargained for. . . . This is a sharply funny and insightful novel about the countless hustles we have to keep from doing the hardest thing: being ourselves.