Elmo and Ernie help explain the basics of soccer and good sportsmanship.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. “Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA Today • “As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates.”—Entertainment Weekly A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready? In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days. When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself. Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly • San Francisco Chronicle • Village Voice • Chicago Sun-Times • iO9 • The AV Club “Delightful . . . the grown-up’s Harry Potter.”—HuffPost “An addictive read . . . part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart.”—CNN “A most excellent ride . . . Cline stuffs his novel with a cornucopia of pop culture, as if to wink to the reader.”—Boston Globe “Ridiculously fun and large-hearted . . . Cline is that rare writer who can translate his own dorky enthusiasms into prose that’s both hilarious and compassionate.”—NPR “[A] fantastic page-turner . . . starts out like a simple bit of fun and winds up feeling like a rich and plausible picture of future friendships in a world not too distant from our own.”—iO9

Being labelled a player never stopped me from being successful with women. Until I met Truly Harbury. Truly was the first girl who ever turned me down. The first female friend I ever had. And she might just be the first woman I ever fall in love with. When an emergency means she needs my help running her family's charity, I'm happy to introduce her to the glitz and glamour of the London business world--taking her to dinners, coaching her through speeches, zipping up the sexy evening gown I helped her pick out. The more time we spend together, the more I want to convince her I'm not a man to avoid, that we're not as unsuited as she believes. She sees herself as the book-reading, science-loving introvert while I'm the dangerous, outgoing, charmer. She thinks I love parties and people whereas she prefers pajamas and a takeaway. What she doesn't realize is that I like everything about her-the way her smile lights up a room, how her curves light up my imagination, and especially the way her lips taste when coated with tequila. She's the first woman I ever fell in love with. I just need to know if she could ever love me too.

A history of our time.

According to Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL, within its Strategy 2015 framework, DHL will "become the logistics company for the world". In times of globalization and economic downturn, the effects of which can be felt in the entire logistics industry, this goal is an enormous challenge for DHL. In order to attain this goal, it is essential for DHL to create a closer linkage of its business areas, to slim down its processes and to put a stronger focus on the ever-changing needs of the customer. The objective of this book is to offer cost reduction solutions and give suggestions on how quality can be improved, which will distinguish DHL from its competitors while fulfilling the needs of the customer, i.e. "become the logistics company for the world". This book is divided into four sections. First, there is a synopsis of the history of DHL, as well as a description of its organizational and corporate structure and concludes with a comparison of the business segments of DHL with its main competitors. After that, the corporate strategy is analyzed: (1) its core competencies, (2) its mergers and acquisitions, (3) Ansoff, and (4) BCG/BCG II. The section concludes by examining which strategy could be appropriate for a successful future for DHL. The third section deals with the competitive strategy of DHL. Porter?s Five Forces are utilized to analyze the attractiveness of the industry, as well as its competitors, suppliers and customers. This is followed by an analysis of the appropriate strategy for DHL Logistics by means of the Generic Strategies according to Porter, the Hybrid Strategies, the TOWS and an evaluation of the strategic options. The next step will explain the appropriate processes for the strategy of the value chain. A Scenario 2020, which draws a picture of what the industry might look like in ten years, concludes this section. The final section will highlight the factors that can give DHL sustainable competitive advantages. The functional strategies are presented, the global key markets are analyzed and appropriate strategic alliances are examined. The author sets great value upon clear and interesting statements that ensure an easy understanding of the subject matter but at the same time facilitate a fast transfer into practice.

The Culture — a human/machine symbiotic society — has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game. . . a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life — and very possibly his death. The Culture Series Consider Phlebas The Player of Games Use of Weapons The State of the Art Excession Inversions Look to Windward Matter Surface Detail The Hydrogen Sonata