Call number: HF5415.32 .C37 2013

Author Matt Carmichael has been tracking demographic shifts for years, and provides a data-rich look at the changing American consumer. This book follows ten families in ten representative counties to examine their lives and how the decisions they make impact consumer behavior. This is not just a data book, because in the end each of those numbers—in datasets big and small—is a person. As you read those stories, the trends come to life and give you a greater understanding of how to reach your target—whether it’s a baby boomer farmer in Teton, Montana or a set of working parents in one of the most affluent counties in the US. Carmichael focuses on the top ten trends that are reshaping the consumer landscape and impacting buying behavior and the economic outlook of the world’s most important market. For each trend he provides ethnographic research from the families, stats from the leading consumer data sources, and exclusive interviews and examples from marketers, agencies, and media executives. These trends show how America is aging, growing more diverse ethnically, and becoming more polarized economically. Buyographics is a smart, engaging read that will be important for every marketer to consider before creating a successful campaign.  (From Google Books)

Call number: BF774 .P56 2012

From the bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind comes an exploration of the power of selling, which each of us does every day–whether we know it or not. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in nine Americans works in sales. More than fifteen million people earn their keep by convincing someone else to make a purchase. But dig deeper and a startling truth emerges: Yes, one in nine Americans works in sales–but so do the other eight out of nine. Whether we’re entrepreneurs persuading funders, employees pitching colleagues, or parents and teachers cajoling kids, we spend our days trying to move others. Today, like it or not, we’re all in sales. Or as Daniel H. Pink puts it, everyone is in the “moving business.” In this provocative book, Pink offers a fresh look at the art and science of selling. He shows that sales, whether pushing a product or peddling an idea, isn’t what it used to be. Because of powerful economic changes, the glad-handing, truth-bending form of sales is a relic. In its place is a new approach to moving people that involves three very human qualities and four surprising skills. As he did in Drive and A Whole New Mind, Pink lays out the science for his counterintuitive insights, offers vivid examples and stories, and provides readers with tools to put the ideas into action. Smart yet accessible, bold yet well argued, this is the first book on sales for people who’ve never read a book about sales. It will change how you see your world and transform what you do at work, at school, and at home. (From Google Books)

Call number: KF697 .F6 E43 2013

Bankruptcy attorney Elias targets the estimated two million American homeowners who are currently in default on their mortgages. Elias explains how foreclosure works, what options there may be for keeping a home when in default, and what to do when that is not possible. He includes instruction on negotiating a workout with a lender as well as chapters on how to use bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure. Elias’s section on fighting foreclosure in the courts helps readers understand the circumstances in which they may be able to delay or stop a foreclosure action. The appendixes provide summaries of each state’s foreclosure laws, a glossary, and information on finding and working with lawyers and bankruptcy petition preparers. Straightforward and timely, this is recommended for most public libraries. ( Library Journal )

Call number: HE571 .G465 2013

On ship-tracking websites, the waters are black with dots. Each dot is a ship; each ship is laden with boxes; each box is laden with goods. In postindustrial economies, we no longer produce but buy. We buy, so we must ship. Without shipping there would be no clothes, food, paper, or fuel. Without all those dots, the world would not work.
Freight shipping has been no less revolutionary than the printing press or the Internet, yet it is all but invisible. Away from public scrutiny, shipping revels in suspect practices, dubious operators, and a shady system of “flags of convenience.” Infesting our waters, poisoning our air, and a prime culprit of acoustic pollution, shipping is environmentally indefensible. And then there are the pirates.
Rose George, acclaimed chronicler of what we would rather ignore, sails from Rotterdam to Suez to Singapore on ships the length of football fields and the height of Niagara Falls; she patrols the Indian Ocean with an anti-piracy task force; she joins seafaring chaplains, and investigates the harm that ships inflict on endangered whales.
Sharply informative and entertaining, Ninety Percent of Everything reveals the workings and perils of an unseen world that holds the key to our economy, our environment, and our very civilization. (From Google Books)