ABOUT THE BOOK 30 Rock is an NBC television series that has ruled Thursday nights in a way no half-hour sitcom has since the days of Friends. Created by former Saturday Night Live head writer and Weekend Update anchor Tina Fey, the show initially had trouble finding an audience. That changed practically overnight after Fey returned to SNL to play then-vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin with whom Fey shares a resemblance. The show, now in its sixth season, has won many awards and continued to dominate televisions comedy genre. After garnering critical and commercial success for her work on SNL, Tina Fey surprised many in the television world by leaving the venerable sketch comedy show show in May of 2006 to work on her own NBC sitcom called 30 Rock. The show was inspired by Tinas own experience working as a writer on SNL, with 30 Rock about the behind-the-scenes craziness of an NBC late night sketch comedy show. MEET THE AUTHOR Kent Page McGroarty is a freelance writer. She is a frequent lifestyle contributor to online magazine EDGE Publications and Demand Media sites LIVESTRONG.com, eHow Home and Garden and Local.com. Kent also works as a blogger and copywriter, including for her own site, A Natural Day.net. She has a B.A. in English from Saint Joseph's University. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK 30 Rock follows the life of 30-something Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), the head writer of The Girlie Show, a Saturday Night Live-type show filmed at NBCs 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York. When the series begins, Liz has been informed of the death of her old boss and his subsequent replacement, the business-minded Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). Jack has little experience producing television shows as he has previously worked in GEs corporate offices only, though GE owns NBC. He is initially unconcerned with the show as he oversees numerous other projects, but realizes he needs to drastically change The Girlie Show if the show is to remain on the air. Jack therefore hires Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), a movie actor known for running through the streets of New York in his underwear among many other random acts of goofiness. Liz is against the hiring the minute Jack mentions the idea because she knows Tracy is insane, but Jack goes ahead and hires Tracy, anyway. Liz realizes the veins of Girlie Show star, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski), will explode at the thought of another actor coming in to proverbially throw up all over her spotlight. But, Liz promises Jenna she will take care of it. Taking care of it doesnt go so well when Jack re-names the show TGS With Tracy Jordan. CHAPTER OUTLINE Quicklet on 30 Rock Season 6 + Introduction + About the Director and Producer + Overall Summary + Episode-By-Episode Summary and Commentary + ...and much more 30 Rock Season 6

ABOUT THE BOOK If Tina Fey is the mother of 30 Rock, Lorne Michaels, the creator and executive producer of Saturday Night Live, is the shows father. In Feys eighth season at SNL, Michaels prodded her to do a development deal for a sitcom. Tina consequently brainstormed the narrative of a television producer who works for the show of a right-wing pontificator, a role Fey had already written for Alec Baldwin. Kevin Reilly, NBC president of Primetime Development, sent Tina back to the drawing board with the suggestion that she incorporate elements of her own life into her show. Tina then created a story of a late-night comedy show, in which she would play the head writer, Tracy Morgan would play the role of the star, and Alec Baldwin, naturally, as the boss. MEET THE AUTHOR Davanna has a life-long love of literature. She is a copy editor and copywriter, writes fiction and poetry, and has a law degree. She lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida. She has three sons, and a Brittany named Jubal. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK If there is onemaybe twooverarching, profound themes to the apparently absurdist plotlines of the episodes of the third season of 30 Rock, one would be hard-pressed to find them. But lets give it a try, since after all, there must be some kind of glue which holds together this comedic cauldron of seething jealousy (Jenna, of everyone), control freak-exertion (Jack, over Tina, and Tinas futile efforts over Tracy and Jenna), and sexual tension. No one in the cast seems to be attracted to anyone else, since that would be incestuous. But cast members do become extremely attracted to outsiders: Liz to Dr. Andrew Baird, played by the gorgeous Jon Hamm; Jack to Elisa Pedrera, played by the gorgeous Salma Hayek; Kenneth to the adorable, red-headed, blind girl played by the adorable, red-headed actress; and Jenna to the EMT who responds to an emergency call at TGSin the pursuit of whom she has no qualms in inducing anaphylactic shock in Kenneth. In a twist reminiscent of Isaac willingly (?) sacrificing himself at Abrahams hand, Kenneth courts death so that Jenna may re-encounter the EMT of her dreams. CHAPTER OUTLINE Quicklet on 30 Rock: Season Three + About the Show: Upon this Rock + About the Director and Producer: Who's Running the Show? + Overall Summary: The Semi-Virtuous Life + Episode-by-Episode Commentary & Summary + ...and much more 30 Rock: Season Three

ABOUT THE BOOK The fourth season of 30 Rock, the brainchild of award-winning writer and actress Tina Fey, lives up to its reputation as a critical darling with a hardcore fan-base. 30 Rock, a three-time Emmy winner for Outstanding Comedy Series, returns with a 22-episode season continues to look behind the scenes of a Saturday Night Live-style comedy sketch show. Fey, an alum of SNL lives in New York, and the show is shot on location in Manhattan and at a studio in Long Island City. Fey first pitched the sitcom to NBC when she was the head writer for SNL in 2002. The original concept was in a cable-news setting, but she changed the focus to more familiar ground after discussions with the network. She remained as the head writer and a performer on the show until 30 Rock debuted in 2006. MEET THE AUTHOR Linda is a professional journalist with over 20 years of experience. Her first book, Hexes for Exes, was published in 2007 and is available everywhere fine books are sold! EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK The fourth season of 30 Rock follows two main story arcs as the latest season of The Girlie Show (TSG) with Tracy Jordan begins. It begins with the search and hiring of a new actor for the show, and delves into the personal life of head writer Liz Lemon and her search for what she wants in a man. As the season opens, executive Jack Donaghy is worried TGS is failing to connect with middle America, the people he calls real Americans. Jack feels his cast and crew have lost touch with their roots and have become too elite to know what flyover country finds funny. As usual, 30 Rock touches on major themes percolating in American society. At the time of its original prime time run in NBC (2009-10), the country was in a period of political upheaval. It was a year into the presidency of Barack Obama, and a serious backlash about taking back the country was forming in much of middle America. It was framed by the media and the right wing as the elite vs. real Americans. These themes are clearly indicated with 30 Rocks early storylines in the fourth season. Liz ventures out of her East Coast liberal cocoon in search of an actor who will satisfy Jacks desire for a new actor. CHAPTER OUTLINE Quicklet on 30 Rock Season 4 + About 30 Rock + About the Creator + Overall Summary + 30 Rock Season 4 Episode Guide + ...and much more 30 Rock Season 4

Quicklets: Your Reading Sidekick! This Hyperink Quicklet includes an overall summary, chapter commentary, key characters, literary themes, fun trivia, and recommended related readings. ABOUT THE BOOK When Tina Fey left Saturday Night Live at the end of the 2005-2006 season to concentrate on developing, writing, and starring in a new program for NBC, reaction among comedy fans was mixed. On the one hand, SNL had lost yet another of the talented cast member who made it a resurgent hit in the late 1990s. On the other hand, anticipation of Fey’s new show was high. Fey had originally pitched the series to NBC as a sitcom about a cable news network during early in her tenure as a writer for SNL. According to Time, when the pitch was rejected, she reworked the idea into a show revolving around a sketch comedy series and variety show not unlike SNL. NBC ordered a pilot for the show, which was well-reviewed upon its October 2006 debut, and went to series as 30 Rock. Although 30 Rock has rarely been a ratings darling, online reviews and critical establishment barometer, Metacritic, shows that it has been one of the critical establishment’s most consistently well-reviewed television programs of the past ten years. It is also one of the best-reviewed comedies of all time. MEET THE AUTHOR Jonathan Nathan is a writer, an editor, and a comedian living in San Francisco. His work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, California Northern, The Rumpus, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, BeyondChron, the Hutchinson News, and other publications. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK There are two main storylines in the first season: Liz Lemon’s struggle to find a compatible romantic partner while balancing her work and personal life, and the adjustment of the cast and crew of TGS to the new additions of Jack Donaghy and Tracy Jordan. Lemon’s personal life is the meatiest and most constant plotline in the season, as she is the protagonist of the series and her work/life conflicts are largely the narrative hook of the show. In the first few episodes, her love life is barely mentioned, reflective of a new series still struggling to find its voice. The third episode of the series, “Blind Date,” is the first to venture in this direction, and although it’s primarily a one-and-done, short-term story played for awkward laughs when Jack sets Liz up on a blind date with a friend of his who turns out to be a woman (because, in his words, her shoes “are definitely bi-curious”). The episode met universal acclaim and was greeted by many critics as a hopeful sign of things to come. The plotline was more earnestly engaged a few episodes later in “Jack Meets Dennis,” when Liz takes back her ne’er-do-well ex-boyfriend, Dennis Duffy, to whom a few allusions had been made earlier in the season. Duffy is an obnoxious lout who epitomizes the stereotypes of the boorish South Bostonian, but Liz finds it hard to leave him permanently because he’s easy and low-maintenance. Jack strongly disapproves, and warns Liz that she faces a mediocre life with Dennis in her future... Buy a copy to keep reading!

From viral Instagram sensation, lifestyle photographer, and mommy blogger Laura Izumikawa comes Naptime with Joey, a ridiculously delightful photo book of her now internet-famous daughter dressed up in various pop culture costumes—a perfect gift for new parents everywhere. Lights, Camera…Nap! Joey Marie wears many hats (or, rather, wigs): she’s dressed up as Inigo Montoya, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Pikachu, Anna Wintour, Moana, and Barb from Stranger Things. She’s taken trips to Hawaii, baked croissants, and blasted off to the moon as an astronaut (at least, in her dreams). She’s held occupations such as pizza chef, aerobics instructor, and handy-dandy-fixer-upper (figuratively, of course). She’s inspired a parenting blog, been the face of her mom Laura Izumikawa’s Instagram account—and for the first time, she’s taken the leap from the ranks of internet-baby-snoredom to the pages of a book. Naptime with Joey is chockablock full of over a hundred deliciously adorable photos of Joey dressed up as various pop culture characters, movie stars, musicians, vacationers, and holiday-goers, making this the most fun, festive, and downright delightful gift under the sun!

E. H. Gombrich's Little History of the World, though written in 1935, has become one of the treasures of historical writing since its first publication in English in 2005. The Yale edition alone has now sold over half a million copies, and the book is available worldwide in almost thirty languages. Gombrich was of course the best-known art historian of his time, and his text suggests illustrations on every page. This illustrated edition of the Little History brings together the pellucid humanity of his narrative with the images that may well have been in his mind's eye as he wrote the book. The two hundred illustrations—most of them in full color—are not simple embellishments, though they are beautiful. They emerge from the text, enrich the author's intention, and deepen the pleasure of reading this remarkable work. For this edition the text is reset in a spacious format, flowing around illustrations that range from paintings to line drawings, emblems, motifs, and symbols. The book incorporates freshly drawn maps, a revised preface, and a new index. Blending high-grade design, fine paper, and classic binding, this is both a sumptuous gift book and an enhanced edition of a timeless account of human history.