Xandri Corelel, autistic woman and leader of starship Carpathia's first contact team, must navigate diplomacy and sabotage to ensure the survival of a species who have developed a new, deadly weapon.

Your stomach's churning; you're hyperventilating -- you're in a badly deteriorating conversation at work. Such exchanges, which run the gamut from firing subordinates to parrying verbal attacks from colleagues, are so loaded with anger, confusion, and fear that most people handle them poorly: they avoid them, clamp down, or give in. But dodging issues, appeasing difficult people, and mishandling tough encounters all carry a high price for managers and companies -- in the form of damaged relationships, ruined careers, and intensified problems. In Failure to Communicate, Holly Weeks shows how to master the combat mentality, emotional maelstrom, and confusion that poison difficult conversations. Drawing on her many years as a consultant and coach to leaders and executives, the author explains: · Why we turn to ineffective tactics when the heat is on · How to avoid the worst pitfalls of difficult conversations, and how to pull yourself out if you fall in · Ways to regain your balance and inject respect into stressful conversations, even when you've been confronted, infuriated, or wronged · Strategies for mitigating aggression and defensiveness, and for clearing the fog of misconceptions · How to get through the hardest conversations with your reputation and relationships intact Using proven techniques paired with detailed real-life examples, Weeks equips you with the strategies and practices you need to transform even the toughest conversations.

A Failure to Communicate, S. Andrea Allen's debut collection of short fiction, focuses on how communication, or the lack thereof, impacts Black women's lives. The stories range from the humorous to the heartbreaking: one woman wins a bake-off because her co-worker misunderstands the contest; an overweight woman finally learns to love herself, even though it means leaving her girlfriend; a university administrator worries that racial tensions will force her to choose between her identity and her lover; a woman realizes that her partner has been hiding a gambling addiction, and has to decide whether to help her or save herself. The women in these stories are often silenced, but Allen imbues them with a voice that demands to be heard.

The recipe for a Failure to Communicate? Place the following ingredients in the Kalahari Park just before the rainy season: some British politicians; two Canadian snipers; two Russian snipers; a Buddhist monk; a reporter; and some ISIS and Boko Haram fighters. Add one old lion for seasoning. Stir.

In this comprehensive, practical, and unsettling look at computers in children's lives, Jane M. Healy, Ph.D., questions whether computers are really helping or harming children's development. Once a bedazzled enthusiast of educational computing but now a troubled skeptic, Dr. Healy examines the advantages and drawbacks of computer use for kids at home and school, exploring its effects on children's health, creativity, brain development, and social and emotional growth. Today, the Federal Government allocates scarce educational funding to wire every classroom to the Internet, software companies churn out "educational" computer programs even for preschoolers, and school administrators cut funding and space for books, the arts, and physical education to make room for new computer hardware. It is past the time to address these issues. Many parents and even some educators have been sold on the idea that computer literacy is as important as reading and math. Those who haven't hopped on the techno bandwagon are left wondering whether they are shortchanging their children's education or their students' futures. Few people stop to consider that computers, used incorrectly, may do far more harm than good. New technologies can be valuable educational tools when used in age-appropriate ways by properly trained teachers. But too often schools budget insufficiently for teacher training and technical support. Likewise, studies suggest that few parents know how to properly assist children's computer learning; much computer time at home may be wasted time, drawing children away from other developmentally important activities such as reading, hobbies, or creative play. Moreover, Dr. Healy finds that much so-called learning software is more "edutainment" than educational, teaching students more about impulsively pointing and clicking for some trivial goal than about how to think, to communicate, to imagine, or to solve problems. Some software, used without careful supervision, may also have the potential to interrupt a child's internal motivation to learn. Failure to Connect is the first book to link children's technology use to important new findings about stages of child development and brain maturation, which are clearly explained throughout. It illustrates, through dozens of concrete examples and guidelines, how computers can be used successfully with children of different age groups as supplements to classroom curricula, as research tools, or in family projects. Dr. Healy issues strong warnings, however, against too early computer use, recommending little or no exposure before age seven, when the brain is primed to take on more abstract challenges. She also lists resources for reliable reviews of child-oriented software, suggests questions parents should ask when their children are using computers in school, and discusses when and how to manage computer use at home. Finally, she offers a thoughtful look at the question of which skills today's children will really need for success in a technological future -- and how they may best acquire them. Based on years of research into learning and hundreds of hours of interviews and observations with school administrators, teachers, parents, and students, Failure to Connect is a timely and eye-opening examination of the central questions we must confront as technology increasingly influences the way we educate our children.

Communication plays a vital and unique role in society-often blamed for problems when it breaks down and at the same time heralded as a panacea for human relations. A sweeping history of communication, Speaking Into the Air illuminates our expectations of communication as both historically specific and a fundamental knot in Western thought. "This is a most interesting and thought-provoking book. . . . Peters maintains that communication is ultimately unthinkable apart from the task of establishing a kingdom in which people can live together peacefully. Given our condition as mortals, communication remains not primarily a problem of technology, but of power, ethics and art." —Antony Anderson, New Scientist "Guaranteed to alter your thinking about communication. . . . Original, erudite, and beautifully written, this book is a gem." —Kirkus Reviews "Peters writes to reclaim the notion of authenticity in a media-saturated world. It's this ultimate concern that renders his book a brave, colorful exploration of the hydra-headed problems presented by a rapid-fire popular culture." —Publishers Weekly What we have here is a failure-to-communicate book. Funny thing is, it communicates beautifully. . . . Speaking Into the Air delivers what superb serious books always do-hours of intellectual challenge as one absorbs the gradually unfolding vision of an erudite, creative author." —Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer

This book tells true and poignant stories from both sides of the physician-patient/parent relationship and provides a unique glimpse into how parents and physicians think, feel, and interact. The stories are grouped under four sections: Hope, Compassion, Communication, and Trust. Each section includes stories contributed by parents from all across the United States and by pediatricians practicing at many of the best children’s hospitals throughout the country. The parents tell of interactions with physicians that had a significant impact on them and their child and offer context and insight that promote empathy and reflection. The physicians tell of interactions with patients and families that served as learning moments in their career and promote the humanization of medicine and show there is more to a physician beyond their scientific knowledge and white coat. The stories are edited by Barry P. Markovitz - a pediatrician specializing in critical care medicine who has been in practice for more than 20 years and by Ann F. Schrooten - the parent of a child born with a chronic complex condition who has more than 15 years of experience interacting with pediatric subspecialists and other healthcare professionals who cared for her son. The editors have written commentaries to the stories to provide an independent perspective on the events and messages conveyed and to encourage reflection, inquiry, and discussion. In addition to being a valuable resource for pediatricians, pediatric subspecialists, nurses and other healthcare professionals, the book will also appeal to families of children living with complex medical conditions because it shares physician encounters and behaviors many have experienced in the care of their own children. By giving a voice to both parents and physicians, the goal is to create a bridge to better understanding that can improve communication, minimize conflicts, and foster trust and compassion among physicians, patients, and families.