Eye of the Needle


Book Description

The worldwide phenomenon from the bestselling author of The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, A Column of Fire, and The Evening and the Morning His code name was “The Needle.” He was a German aristocrat of extraordinary intelligence—a master spy with a legacy of violence in his blood, and the object of the most desperate manhunt in history. . . . But his fate lay in the hands of a young and vulnerable English woman, whose loyalty, if swayed, would assure his freedom—and win the war for the Nazis. . . .




Move the Needle


Book Description

A Wall Street Journal bestseller: Harness the “power of can’t” to make your big, impossible dreams a reality with help from a creative entrepreneur who’s turned her quirky passion into a global force. Learn how to make your big, impossible dreams a reality with help from a creative entrepreneur who's turned her passion into a global force. People always ask Shelley Brander what possessed her to leave the successful advertising firm she founded with her husband to open a local yarn store. And then they wonder how that one storefront grew into an e-commerce business, and from there into a global movement to Knit the World Together. In Move the Needle, Shelley shares stories from her life to show that you can pursue your life's passions--both personal and professional--no matter how quirky or impossible they may seem to everyone around you. Whether you are an entrenched or aspiring entrepreneur, or have a passion that just won’t let you go, Shelley shares lessons from her journey that reveal how to: Put your passion first and make your creative side hustle your main gig Recognize the true value of creativity and experimentation Have hope against all odds Surround yourself with supportive people Cut ties with those who weigh you down Believe in the power of your weird, impossible dream! In Move the Needle, Shelley invites you to embrace your passion and hold space for your seemingly improbable (but totally possible) goals, dreams, and purpose.




Threading the Needle


Book Description

From New York Times bestselling author Marie Bostwick comes a beautiful novel of sisterhood lost and found--and of the ways we create the rich tapestries that encompass the past and the future... The economic downturn has hit New Bern, Connecticut, and Tessa Woodruff's herbal apothecary shop, For the Love of Lavender, is suffering. So is her once-happy thirty-four-year marriage to Lee. They'd given up everything to come back to New Bern from Boston and start their business, but now they're wondering if they made the right decision. To relieve the strain, Tessa signs up for a quilting class at the Cobbled Court Quilt Shop, and to her surprise, rediscovers the power of sisterhood--along with the childhood friend she thought she'd lost forever... Madelyn Beecher left New Bern twenty years ago and never looked back. But when her husband is convicted of running a Ponzi scheme and she's left with nothing but her late grandmother's cottage, she is forced to return to the town she fled. Unfortunately, the cottage is in terrible shape. Madelyn's only hope is to transform it into an inn. But to succeed, she'll need the help of her fellow quilters, including the one friend she never thought she'd see again--or forgive. Now Madelyn and Tessa will have to relive old memories, forge new ones, and realize it's possible to start over, one stitch at a time--as long as you're surrounded by friends... Praise for Marie Bostwick and her Cobbled Court Novels "Bostwick is a topnotch storyteller...Enjoy hours of storytelling that will warm your heart and help renew your belief that people can be good, if given the chance." --Armchair Interviews "Heartwarming...Bostwick's contemporary New England quilters series is an unbreakable thread of friendship and faith." --Publishers Weekly "As their tenuous bonds grow stronger, each woman discovers how much they can help each other with life's many challenges. Bostwick's writing is warmly nourishing, emotionally compelling...quiet yet powerful." --The Chicago Tribune "The women in A Single Thread will feel like your own girlfriends--emotional, funny, creative and deeply caring. It's a story filled with wit and wisdom. Sit back and enjoy this big-hearted novel, and then pass it on to your best friend." --Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author "Bostwick beautifully captures the very essence of women's friendships--the love, the pain, the trust, the forgiveness--and crafts a seamless and heartfelt novel from them." --Kristy Kiernan, author of Matters of Faith "[A] buoyant novel about the value of friendship...a tantalizing book club contender." --Publishers Weekly “Bostwick’s series continues to introduce interesting characters and compelling stories that show an appreciation for female friendship as well as a love for the art of quilting. Readers who have exhausted Jennifer Chiaverini’s Elm Creek Quilt novels or Clare O’Donohue’s Someday Quilt mysteries will definitely enjoy Bostwick.” --Library Journal “...Uplifting.” --RT BookReviews 4 star review




Needle-Watcher


Book Description

This fascinating novel reconstructs the story of Will Adams, a native of Gillingham, in Kent, England, and his voyage to Japan in the seventeenth century. Adams' knowledge of seafaring vessels at the time causes him to be taken into the favor of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and,in time,to become recognized as the founder of the Japanese navy. Adams was one of the most picturesque and daring of Britain's maritime traders, and this depiction of him as the first Englishman to settle in what was then a hostile country is written not only with distinction but also with an imaginative grasp that takes it right out of the class of the ordinary historical novel. It is an epic tale of strange adventures, and it creates an atmosphere of rare and haunting quality. In its understanding of the Japanese mind it is hardly less than remarkable. Will Adams died in Japan in the spring of 1620 and is buried at Yokosuka. Every year a ceremony is still held to commemorate the anniversary of his death. There is also a memorial to him at Ito,in Shizuoka Prefecture, as well as one at his birthplace in England.




Tip of the Needle


Book Description

Nader and Addis, two exceptionally bright high school boys, live on opposite sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in Israel. They’re brought together by the unlikely friendship between their fathers, a prominent Imam, and an influential Rabbi. As the idealistic religious leaders attempt a campaign to bring their people/followers closer, one is brutally assassinated. The course of each boys’ life is changed forever. Ten years later, Nader and Addis are rising stars in their respective fields in the United States. Their paths cross again when they’re brought together by the love and ambition of Sacha Zimmerman, the whip smart daughter of wealthy tech giant Zack Zimmerman. As each grapples with their feelings for Sacha, they’re drawn into opposing sides of Zimmerman’s plan to change the world with his breakthrough biotechware technology. The worldwide release of this technology has the potential to eliminate many of the scourges on humanity but risks tipping the balance of power between good and evil. In a world where technical advances are outpacing the ability to correct for unintended consequences and humanity becomes more willing to relinquish privacy and freewill for the promises offered by technological innovations, the universe is balanced on the tip of a needle. In a modern-day story of Adam and Eve and the lure of the proverbial apple called technology, Nader, Addis, and Sacha must each make decisions based on friendship, love, loyalty, and religion as Zimmerman’s plan has the potential to take him to the presidency and beyond.




The Other End of the Needle


Book Description

The Other End of the Needle encourages readers to step into the complex world of tattooists. Through interviews with tattooists, and observations in their shops, Lane challenges us to understand how people collectively create and sustain culture. By asking how people make things, this book shows how tattoos are more than just images on the skin.




Through the Eye of a Needle


Book Description

A sweeping intellectual history of the role of wealth in the church in the last days of the Roman Empire Jesus taught his followers that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Yet by the fall of Rome, the church was becoming rich beyond measure. Through the Eye of a Needle is a sweeping intellectual and social history of the vexing problem of wealth in Christianity in the waning days of the Roman Empire, written by the world's foremost scholar of late antiquity. Peter Brown examines the rise of the church through the lens of money and the challenges it posed to an institution that espoused the virtue of poverty and called avarice the root of all evil. Drawing on the writings of major Christian thinkers such as Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, Brown examines the controversies and changing attitudes toward money caused by the influx of new wealth into church coffers, and describes the spectacular acts of divestment by rich donors and their growing influence in an empire beset with crisis. He shows how the use of wealth for the care of the poor competed with older forms of philanthropy deeply rooted in the Roman world, and sheds light on the ordinary people who gave away their money in hopes of treasure in heaven. Through the Eye of a Needle challenges the widely held notion that Christianity's growing wealth sapped Rome of its ability to resist the barbarian invasions, and offers a fresh perspective on the social history of the church in late antiquity.




Moving the Needle With Lean OKRs


Book Description

Leaders in the digital era are faced with breaking into new markets, disrupting existing ones, and doing so with more precision than ever before just to keep up with their competitors. To innovate more quickly, to rapidly experiment with ideas and technology, to pivot seemingly overnight, you need to have a system in place that can help you execute your most ambitious strategy. While OKRs (Objective and Key Results) have made huge waves recently, practical implementation of OKRs remains elusive for many. Lean OKRs are the evolved version of the OKR strategy execution tool that has powered the transformational journeys of giants like Google and Facebook. It is the lightweight method that turns good ideas into great execution, heightens employee engagement, aligns teams, and achieves measurable, breakthrough results. Lean OKRs presents insightful anecdotes, creative exercises, clear figures and step-by-step models. Designed as a comprehensive guide, it covers everything from theoretical roots to practical execution, including company-wide strategy alignment and emotional management. Applicable to small companies as well as large organisations, Lean OKRs drives innovation through behavioral changes, empowering and motivating teams through focused daily OKR practices that are simple to put into action. Practical and to the point, this book integrates a unique combination of structural and leadership strategies, resulting in a new approach to OKRs that conquers the hurdles experienced by most business leaders today.




The Needle


Book Description

Poetry. "[Good] has a sense of pentameter and a sense of image and a sense of 'experiment' that almost never go together."--Stephanie Burt "The poems in Regan Good's THE NEEDLE find their home deep in the Northeast Corridor's scum, rot, and decay--the source, ultimately, of regeneration. Born into a world where 'it was ever Easter in our yard,' the poet avers 'I was ever thinking backwards toward the other way.' Poem by poem, THE NEEDLE charts the directions of that other way, where 'One writes towards the worm, the white welter, / the purity of the hole.' Good is Cailleach returned, for all, just when we'd thought we'd lost her forever."--Claudia Keelan "THE NEEDLE takes aspects of what gets called 'naturalism' and pieces together portions of the world, or rather, worlds, and holds them together with a glue of vital, unlikely association. Good's voice deserves our attention, unless we've stopped looking for the worthwhile."--Carl Martin "The poems of THE NEEDLE are textured, muscular, and driven by the idea that the natural world is the last parcel of moral ground we have. Endlessly surprising and deliberate, they show us how what we've lost may yet be recovered."--Sean Singer "THE NEEDLE comes barreling out of time in an utterly original and necessary way. The poems inhabit a landscape that is recognizably our own but at the same time ancient, burning with celestial fire and hunger. Intoxicating and grounded in the stuff of the earth, with echoes of Stevens and Yeats, THE NEEDLE is extraordinary."--Tom Thomson




Through the Needle's Eye


Book Description