The Big Ones

By the world-renowned seismologist, a riveting history of natural disasters, their impact on our culture, and new ways of thinking about the ones to come Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes--they stem from the same forces that give our planet life. Earthquakes give us natural springs; volcanoes produce fertile soil. It is only when these forces exceed our ability to withstand them that they become disasters. Together they have shaped our cities and their architecture; elevated leaders and toppled governments; influenced the way we think, feel, fight, unite, and pray. The history of natural disasters is a history of ourselves. In The Big Ones, leading seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones offers a bracing look at some of the world's greatest natural disasters, whose reverberations we continue to feel today. At Pompeii, Jones explores how a volcanic eruption in the first century AD challenged prevailing views of religion. She examines the California floods of 1862 and the limits of human memory. And she probes more recent events--such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and the American hurricanes of 2017--to illustrate the potential for globalization to humanize and heal. With population in hazardous regions growing and temperatures around the world rising, the impacts of natural disasters are greater than ever before. The Big Ones is more than just a work of history or science; it is a call to action. Natural hazards are inevitable; human catastrophes are not. With this energizing and exhaustively researched book, Dr. Jones offers a look at our past, readying us to face down the Big Ones in our future.

“The Big One is to competitive fishing what Friday Night Lights was to high school football.” —News & Record (Greensboro) A Forbes Best Sports Book of the Year Published to rave reviews in hardcover and purchased by DreamWorks in a major film deal, The Big One is a spellbinding and richly atmospheric work by a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist. Here is the story of a community—Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts—and a sporting event—the island’s legendary Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby—that is rendered with the same depth, color, and emotional power of the best fiction. Among the characters, we meet: Dick Hathaway, a crotchety legend who once caught a bluefish from a helicopter and was ultimately banned for cheating; Janet Messineo, a recovering alcoholic who says that striped bass saved her life; Buddy Vanderhoop, a boastful Native American charter captain who guides celebrity anglers like Keith Richards and Spike Lee; and Wyatt Jenkinson, a nine-year-old fishing fanatic whose mother is battling brain cancer. At the center of it all is five-time winner Lev Wlodyka, a cagey local whose next fish will spark a storm of controversy and throw the tournament into turmoil. “The Big One is a rollicking true story of a grand American obsession. You don’t have to be a fisherman to relish David Kinney’s marvelous account of the annual striper madness on Martha’s Vineyard, or his unforgettable portraits of the possessed. It’s a fine piece of journalism, rich with color and suspense.” —Carl Hiaasen, New York Times–bestselling author

With natural disasters and nuclear war threatening their small town, two twin brothers find themselves enraptured by mysterious music that could change the course of their lives. Everyone in Clade City knows their days are numbered. The Great Cascadia Earthquake will destroy their hometown and reshape the entire West Coast—if they survive long enough to see it. Nuclear war is increasingly likely. Wildfires. Or another pandemic. To Griff, the daily forecast feels partly cloudy with a chance of apocalyptic horsemen. Griff’s brother, Leo, and the Lost Coast Preppers claim to be ready. They’ve got a radio station. Luminous underwater monitors. A sweet bunker, and an unsettling plan for “disaster-ready rodents.” But Griff’s more concerned about what he can do before the end times. He’d like to play in a band, for one. Hopefully with Charity Simms. Her singing could make the whole world stop. When Griff, Leo, and Charity stumble upon a mysterious late-night broadcast, one song changes everything. It’s the best band they’ve ever heard—on a radio signal even the Preppers can’t trace. They vow to find the music, but aren’t prepared for where their search will take them. Or for what they’ll risk, when survival means finding the one thing you cannot live without.

The authors, using the techniques in Winning the Big Ones, have helped their clients win over $286 Billion in contract awards with an 86%% win rate. This book describes how capture teams pursue and win large contracts. Learn how top performing capture teams pursue and win large contracts:* Structure your business acquisition process like the top performers* Select the best few opportunities* Develop a win strategy that differentiates your solution on those attributes most important to the customer* Establish the Price-to-Win to bid the highest price possible and win* Collect intelligence and conduct competitive analysis* Influence the customer to shape the acquisition to improve your position* Pre-sell your solution* Organize and staff the capture team* Craft persuasive win themes and proofs of benefits* Close the sale with effective negotiation strategies.All of these techniques are illustrated with a hundreds of real world examples.

15 selections from their greatest hits album, featuring: Dude (Looks Like a Lady) * Eat the Rich * Love in an Elevator * The Other Side * and more.

Charley Maplewood has never been one for parties? that would require friends, which he doesn?t have. But now that he?s turning ten?the big oneoh? he decides to throw a birthday party for himself. Of course things don?t work out as he plans. In trying to make friends, he ends up inviting the class bully, and that?s before he ruins the cake and sets the garage on fire. Will Charley be able to pull it together before the big one-oh . . . becomes the big OH-NO?

1974 High school senior Mike Krysiuk loves baseball, playing guitar in a band with his buddies, and cruising the suburban streets of Westport, Connecticut in his Chevy Chevelle blasting tunes on his 8-track. Finally part of the "in" crowd-the cool jocks who cut classes without consequences-Mike has hit his stride. And at six foot four, with an oversized personality to match, he's earned his nickname-"The Big One." After Mike comes off the bench to save a game with his famous sinker, turning a blowout into a one-run loss, a Mets' scout hands him a card and says he'll be back. Suddenly, the major leagues are more than just a pipe dream. Mike is supposed to go straight home after the game, to finish up his last term paper. But Ted, the cool crowd's cocky ringleader, presses Mike to join him and the rest of the gang on a beer run over the New York border. Mike agrees-a fateful decision that will permanently alter his life. The rest of the story is a family saga of determination, teamwork, and resolute optimism. Mike's remarkable journey reminds us that, in a life-threatening crisis, the love of parents, siblings, relatives, and friends is invaluable-and likely the key difference between premature death and a new lease on life. Miracles really can happen when you shoot for the sun.

As far as he can tell, Bear is the biggest thing around. He might even be a giant! It's not long before other, smaller animals set him straight in this charmingly illustrated book about counting and relative size. Together, two walruses, three foxes, and so on, are the same size as Bear, each teasing him for foolishly thinking that there is nothing bigger than he. When six sardines arrive to tell Bear that together, they are just as big as he is, Bear has had enough and gobbles them up for breakfast.