Bunny: The Real Story of Playboy by Russell Miller (1984)

Miller's tale traces the thirty-year history of and Playboy magazine, from its modest beginnings, through its soaring success in the heyday of the sexual revolution when it became the cornerstone of the Playboy corporate empire, to the internecine warfare that brought it to near ruin. A insightful look into the life of one of the 20th century's most influential people - Hugh Hefner, and the magazine he spawned from a dream and borrowed money from his mother.

Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner (1968)

Norman Niblock House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of a few all-powerful corporations. His work is leading General Technics to the forefront of global domination, both in the marketplace and politically - it's about to take over a country in Africa. Donald Hogan is his roommate, a seemingly sheepish bookworm. But Hogan is a spy, and he's about to discover a breakthrough in genetic engineering that will change the world ...and kill him. These two men's lives weave through one of science fiction's most praised novels. Written in a way that echoes John Dos Passos' U.S.A. Trilogy, Stand on Zanzibar is a cross-section of a world overpopulated by the billions. Where society is squeezed into hive-living madness by god-like mega computers, mass-marketed psychedelic drugs, and mundane uses of genetic engineering. Though written in 1968, it speaks of the present, and is frighteningly prescient and intensely powerful. This edition comes with a tipped in collectors' note and an introduction by David Brin.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu (401)

The most prestigious and influential book on strategy and dealing with conflict, beautifully translated for clear, accessible reading - including commentaries by other ancient Chinese philosophers and strategists. From esteemed translator Thomas Cleary and including commentary from philosophers such as Cao Cao, Du Mu, and Du You, this timeless Chinese classic captures the essence of military strategy used in ancient East Asia, with lessons on how to handle conflict confidently, efficiently, and successfully. As Sun Tzu teaches, aggression and response in kind can lead only to destruction - we must learn to work with conflict in a more profound and effective way. Crucial to this strategic vision is knowledge - especially self-knowledge - and a view of the whole that seeks to bring the conflicting ideas around to a larger perspective. The techniques and instructions discussed in The Art of War apply to competition and conflict on every level, from the interpersonal to the international. A study of the anatomy of forces in conflict, it has been discovered by modern businesspeople who understand the principles it contains are as useful for understanding the interactions of modern corporations as they are for understanding the tactics of ancient Chinese armies. Its aim is invincibility, victory without battle, and unassailable strength through an understanding of the physics, politics, and psychology of conflict. Thomas Cleary's translation is a breakthrough achievement that has been a gold standard among translations for three decades, offering the complete text in eminently readable prose with short commentaries by other ancient Chinese strategists and philosophers interwoven throughout. Cleary's work allows innumerable insights to be discovered through this translation millennia after this oral teaching was first set down.

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