Inner-city teenager Kevin Phifer is grounded and battles with girls, bullies, so-called friends, his gay uncle, and wack haircuts.

IT IS THE summer of 1938 when young Paul Moreaux discovers he can “fade.” First bewildered, then thrilled with the power of invisibility, Paul experiments. But his “gift” soon shows him shocking secrets and drives him toward a chilling act. “Imagine what might happen if Holden Caufield stepped into H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man, and you’ll have an idea how good Fade is. . . . I was absolutely riveted.”—Stephen King

In this NPR Best Book of the Year, a mixed–race punk rock musician must face the real dangers of being Black in America in this “wise meditation on race, authenticity, and belonging” (Nylon). Chris L. Terry’s Black Card is an uncompromising examination of American identity. In an effort to be “Black enough,” a mixed–race punk rock musician indulges his own stereotypical views of African American life by doing what his white bandmates call “Black stuff.” After remaining silent during a racist incident, the unnamed narrator has his Black Card revoked by Lucius, his guide through Richmond, Virginia, where Confederate flags and memorials are a part of everyday life. Determined to win back his Black Card, the narrator sings rap songs at an all–white country music karaoke night, absorbs black pop culture, and attempts to date his Black coworker Mona, who is attacked one night. The narrator becomes the prime suspect, earning the attention of John Donahue, a local police officer with a grudge dating back to high school. Forced to face his past, his relationships with his black father and white mother, and the real consequences and dangers of being Black in America, the narrator must choose who he is before the world decides for him.

This text introduces the basic concepts and techniques in VIR. In doing so, it develops a foundation for further research and study. Divided into two parts, the first part describes the fundamental principles. A chapter is devoted to each of the main features of VIR, such as colour, texture and shape-based search. There is coverage of search techniques for time-based image sequences or videos, and an overview of how to combine all the basic features described and integrate them into the search process. The second part looks at advanced topics such as multimedia query. This book is essential reading for researchers in VIR, and final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students on courses such as Multimedia Information Retrieval, Multimedia Databases, and others.

Beyond Earnings is targeted at investors, financial professionals, and students who want to improve their ability to analyze financial statements, forecast cash flows, and ultimately value a company. The authors demonstrate that reported earnings are easily gamed by accounting shenanigans and reveal how commonly used profitability measures such as return on equity can be misleading. Because earnings and P/E ratios are too unreliable for valuation, this book takes you beyond earnings and shows you how to apply the HOLT CFROI and Economic Profit framework in a step-by-step manner. A better measure of profitability results in improved capital allocation decisions and fundamental valuations. This ground-breaking book offers the first practical in-depth discussion of how profitability and growth fade, and shows how to put this information to work right away. The authors introduce their trailblazing Fundamental Pricing Model which includes fade as an adjustable value driver and can be used to value the impact of business model disruption. As the authors explain, the key to superior stock picking is understanding the expectations embedded in a stock’s price and having a clear view of whether the company can beat those expectations. The HOLT framework has been rigorously field tested for over 40 years by global investment professionals to help them make better stock picks and by corporate managers to understand the expectations embedded in their stock price. Beyond Earnings is an indispensable guide for investors who want to improve their odds of outperforming the competition.

A must-read book for investors who prefer to pick stocks based on cash flow facts, not on media hype and fiction How to Pick a Stock is written for the contrarian investor who wants an investing method that is based on cash flow facts, not on media hype and speculative impulse. This book combines an accessible presentation of a contrarian investment model and the ValuFocus tool that offers a highly studious, detailed explanation of understanding a company's true intrinsic value. If you can calculate a company's intrinsic value on the basis of knowing if the market is currently under, fairly, or over pricing its stock, then it is possible to invest wisely in the stock market. Investors who want to buy undervalued stocks, or sell (short) overvalued ones will find this book immensely useful. The ValuFocus investing tool calculates the intrinsic value of every company in their database automatically. Thus, an individual investor can become an "A" student of a modeling process, or can go right ahead in using this tool to pick stocks and manage their own portfolio. Additionally, this book helps to develop an enhanced framework to fundamental equity valuation. Contains the ValuFocus tool for calculating the intrinsic value of every company in the LCRT Nucleus database Offers specific and innovative valuation techniques of practicing professionals for individuals to use in picking stocks long-term Highlights the most state-of-the-art approaches to unconventional stock-picking for investors and corporate finance professionals Offering encouragement to individual investors by outlining a model that delivers satisfying returns, How to Pick a Stock is especially useful for those who are patient and believe in longer-term investing horizons.