TobakkoNacht -- The Antismoking Endgame, is a frontal attack on the misuse of science and language to promote unjustified levels of smoking bans and taxes. The author, trained in statistics and propaganda analysis at Pennsylvania's Wharton School, "dissects" the scary antismoking studies that have made headlines over the past ten years. He shows clearly in each case how the data and language have been juggled to reach and promote the conclusions of those handing out the grant money and backs up his arguments with solid science clearly explained at a level that will satisfy both laymen and professionals. The book isn't all business though. It opens with a dystopian future tale of an "Endgame" in which the antismoking movement has gained full power and smokers are generally treated as near-criminals. The author explores the roots that could bring such a fiction into being and looks at the world that could be created... a very sad world indeed. The pseudo science used to push goals like outdoor smoking bans is also attacked with satire and with short essays taking the form of "Letters To The Editor" focusing on all the microarguments used by antismoking crusaders playing with their "scientifical" instruments and by fanatic who'd happily apply the same methodology to reducing automobile and alcohol use. A few more formal communications showing how to approach local and national governmental bodies are also offered, again with the benefit of exposing false arguments while showing how to effectively attack the "authoritative sources" that seek to silence the opposition with their prestige while pushing for ever wider bans and ever higher taxes. The book concludes with a strong section painting a path toward a winning endgame for those in the Free Choice movement, pointing to the weaknesses of the current crop of smoking prohibitionists and suggesting how they can best be countered. TobakkoNacht can best be summed up like this: It shows how the denormalization of smokers has warped science and ripped holes in our social fabric while transforming a worthy public health effort into a destructive social force assaulting our lives, our families, and our communities -- and it shows how to fight back!

"The true horror of 1984 is not what was done to Winston Smith. The true horror was that the vast majority of the populace was happy, content, and believed that what their government was doing was right." That quote introduces what Britain's Numberwatch has called, "the most astonishing political saga since the rise of Adolph Hitler." Dissecting Antismokers' Brains examines the psychology and motivations that drive antismoking advocates while also analyzing their general abuse of language and science. The combination offers readers a solid foundation for understanding modern efforts to ban, tax, and harass smokers into nonexistence. Published in 2004, Brains remains ahead of its time with a startling freshness in its ideas and theories. The propaganda methods exposed here in their early development have grown and are being used even more intensively in the ads, press releases, and guidebooks of antismoking advocacy groups today. The modern stonewalling techniques examined in the author's follow-up volume, TobakkoNacht - The Antismoking Endgame are shown in their birthing forms in his early communications with advocates and the callous abuse of our love for children continues to be exploited as ads show evil wisps of smoke seeking out open windows to attack babies in their nurseries. McFadden's warnings of future campaigns to deny jobs and medical care to smokers, to extend smoking bans to apartments and outdoor spaces, and to apply similar conditioning/nudging techniques to the control of alcohol and fast foods have proven far too true. For those seeking an in-depth but comfortably readable examination of the foundations of the antismoking movement, this book is essential. Its focus on the combination of psychology, propaganda analysis, and the misuse of science makes it a solid volume for college courses in the areas of social change, scientific ethics, political manipulation, and the use and limits of governmental control over citizen behavior. At the same time, its meticulous deconstruction of the basic scientific and statistical arguments fueling government-imposed smoking bans makes it accessible to anyone who's ever wondered how smoking has moved to being regularly presented as both an antisocial and even "immoral" character trait. Dissecting Antismokers' Brains remains an indispensable volume for anyone disturbed by, wishing to understand, or wanting to fight the growth of governmental control over personal life choices and behaviors.

Fantasy takes a “zany and very, very clever” turn in the second Dance of Gods adventure from the author of Spell of Catastrophe (Kliatt). The port town of Oolsmouth used to be a quiet, peaceful trading city. But with Maximillian the Vaguely Disreputable, Shaa, the Great Karlini, and the Creeping Sword all about to converge there, it seems unlikely to stay that way. The usual power struggles—gods vs. mortals vs. gods-know-who in the everlasting Dance of Gods—are brewing in Oolsmouth, and tension is building. But the ship carrying Shaa and the Great Karlini into town has been hijacked, the Creeping Sword has already missed the boat (literally), and Max has taken a detour to try to discover the secrets of a hopefully long-dead sorcerer. These delays have got everyone wondering: will they make it to Oolsmouth in time for the showdown? More importantly: do they want to? “A lot of confusion, mayhem, action and adventure—but better yet, a sense of the humorous that doesn’t rely on puns.” —Bakka Bookie Sheet “Brenner writes in a quick-paced style which perfectly matches his plot twists . . . A book rich in people, places and complications and one which is enjoyable either by itself or in tandem with the first in the series.” —Quantam

From the New York Times bestselling author of Little Brother, Cory Doctorow, comes Pirate Cinema, a new tale of a brilliant hacker runaway who finds himself standing up to tyranny. Trent McCauley is sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from the net. In the dystopian near-future Britain where Trent is growing up, this is more illegal than ever; the punishment for being caught three times is that your entire household's access to the internet is cut off for a year, with no appeal. Trent's too clever for that too happen. Except it does, and it nearly destroys his family. Shamed and shattered, Trent runs away to London, where he slowly learns the ways of staying alive on the streets. This brings him in touch with a demimonde of artists and activists who are trying to fight a new bill that will criminalize even more harmless internet creativity, making felons of millions of British citizens at a stroke. Things look bad. Parliament is in power of a few wealthy media conglomerates. But the powers-that-be haven't entirely reckoned with the power of a gripping movie to change people's minds.... At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Four decades ago—aged twenty—the author experienced what he calls a "negative satori," a fundamental and irrefutable realization not of enlightenment, but of himself as a predicament only enlightenment could resolve. This, shaped by the hammer blows of a singular American professor, Richard DeMartino, brought him to Zen, and to Japan. Yet over time, of far greater import than his bungling efforts were the wonderful occupants of the Zen world he encountered: Toyoshima–san, the meditation Prometheus whose superhuman efforts astounded and inspired all while he remained impaled on the cliff's edge; the Thief, chief monastery monk who stole the world from whoever he encountered and whose yawns and the brushing of his teeth shot sparks of Absolute Meaning; Hisamatsu, the great lay Zen Master who at age 16 overheard a doctor tell his mother he'd be dead in six months, only to awaken ten years later and become the most delighted man in Japan; Bunko, the monk kind to others but ferocious with himself, whose daily state of Oneness in meditation left him dissatisfied because despite all exertion he could not crush it to pieces and break beyond it. These are among the sitters for the portraits in Reports From the Zen Wars, Steve Antinoff's attempt to bear witness to what for him has been The Greatest Show on Earth, price of admission one lotus position.

The most important book on antitrust ever written. It shows how antitrust suits adversely affect the consumer by encouraging a costly form of protection for inefficient and uncompetitive small businesses.

An emotional tale of identity, sexuality and suicide derived from personal experience about three teenage boys who struggle to come to terms with their homosexuality in a small Western Australian town. On the surface, nerd Zeke, punk Charlie and footy wannabe Hammer look like they have nothing in common. But scratch that surface and you'd find three boys in the throes of coming to terms with their homosexuality in a town where it is invisible. Invisible Boys is a raw, confronting YA novel that explores the complexities and trauma of rural gay identity with painful honesty, devastating consequences and, ultimately, hope.