All About Books: Global Perspectives - Non-Fiction

An environmental wake-up call and a tool kit for decoding the barrage of conflicting information confronting them. We're living in an Ah-Ha moment. Take 250 years of human ingenuity. Add abundant fossil fuels. The result: a population and lifestyle never before seen. The downsides weren't visible for centuries, but now they are. Suddenly everything needs rethinking; suburbs, cars, fast food, cheap prices. It's a changed world. This book explains it. Not with isolated facts, but the principles driving attitudes and events, from vested interests to denial to big-country syndrome. Because money is as important as molecules in the environment, science is joined with politics, history, and psychology to provide the briefing needed to comprehend the 21st century.

After fifteen years travelling the country and advocating for social justice, Craig and Marc Kielburger became inspired to give you the practical tools to do one world-changing, but not life-changing, act every day. The result is a beautifully designed, extensively researched, and engaging book; just for Canadians. Laid out with dynamic illustrations and clear, everyday tips, Living Me to We provides easy steps for anyone who wants to lead a more socially conscious lifestyle or who's had even the slightest urge to start. Here are facts and best practices for how to recycle your cellphone, conserve water and energy, make ethical investments, seek out carbon-friendly vacations, and get involved in the community. Through interviews of Canadians across the country, you'll meet the people in your community who are taking small steps to a better world. You'll also get to know a new side of famous Canadians, such as Margaret Atwood, Rick Hansen, and George Stroumboulopoulos, as they recount their personal tales of lighter living.

Thousands of Africans head to China each year to buy cell phones, auto parts, and other products that they will import to their home countries through a clandestine global back channel. Hundreds of Paraguayan merchants smuggle computers, electronics, and clothing across the border to Brazil. Scores of laid-off San Franciscans, working without any licenses, use Twitter to sell home-cooked foods. Dozens of major multinationals sell products through unregistered kiosks and street vendors around the world. When we think of the informal economy, we tend to think of crime: prostitution, gun running, drug trafficking. Stealth of Nations opens up this underground realm, showing how the worldwide informal economy deals mostly in legal products and is, in fact, a ten-trillion-dollar industry, making it the second-largest economy in the world.

William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. It was also a land withered by drought and hunger. But William had read about windmills, and he dreamed of building one that would bring to his small village a set of luxuries that only 2 percent of Malawians could enjoy: electricity and running water. His neighbors called him misala--crazy--but William refused to let go of his dreams. With a small pile of once-forgotten science textbooks; some scrap metal, tractor parts, and bicycle halves; and an armory of curiosity and determination, he embarked on a daring plan to forge an unlikely contraption and small miracle that would change the lives around him. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is a remarkable true story about human inventiveness and its power to overcome crippling adversity. It will inspire anyone who doubts the power of one individual's ability to change his community and better the lives of those around him.

It's time to become a food detective! 'What's for dinner?' seems like a simple question. But do you really know . . . 'What happens to a field of potatoes destined to become french fries . . . or In how many disguises corn sneaks into your food? (Hint: It's in your soda, your burger, and that Twinkie!) Do you know what that 'organic' sticker on your banana actually means . . . or Where the chicken in your nugget grew up? Do you know the secrets behind what you eat? In this book, you'll go undercover at the supermarket. You'll delve behind the scenes of your dinner, and by the time you've digested the last page you'll have put together the fascinating (and sometimes disturbing) puzzle of what's on your plate and how it got there.

This book shows us that examining our attitudes toward money - earning it, spending it, and giving it away - can offer surprising insight into our lives, our values, and the essence of prosperity. Lynne Twist, a global activist and fundraiser, has raised more than $150 million for charitable causes. Through personal stories and practical advice, she demonstrates how we can replace feelings of scarcity, guilt, and burden with experiences of sufficiency, freedom, and purpose. Twist shares from her own life, a journey illuminated by remarkable encounters with the richest and poorest, from the famous (Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama) to the anonymous but unforgettable heroes of everyday life.

The keys to global business success, as taught by a T-shirt’s journey. The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy is a critically-acclaimed narrative that illuminates the globalization debates and reveals the key factors to success in global business. Tracing a T-shirt’s life story from a Texas cotton field to a Chinese factory and back to a U.S. storefront before arriving at the used clothing market in Africa, the book uncovers the political and economic forces at work in the global economy. Along the way, this fascinating exploration addresses a wealth of compelling questions about politics, trade, economics, ethics, and the impact of history on today’s business landscape.