The financial markets aren't flawless mechanical machines, they're human says Dr Eamonn Butler, author of The Best Book on the Market

6th May 2008:  Everyone's agitated by the current state of world financial markets, but personally I, Eamonn Butler, take a more sanguine view. That's because I take a more long-term view. The ups and downs of the markets don't always reflect the real strength or weakness of a company, or a sector, a country, or even the world. That may sound odd coming from a writer and think-tanker who proclaims the wisdom of markets. But let me explain.

I Hate Presentations! ...Transform the way you present with a fresh and powerful approach

By James Caplin
Published by Capstone, May 08

The aim of a new book by James Caplin, I Hate Presentations, is to help readers become better at preparing and doing presentations. However, there is a secondary aim - to be part of the process of ridding the world of poor presentations, so that we all have to suffer through fewer of them. The author's belief is that, once readers start doing really good presentations – ones that deliver – people will notice. They will benefit, personally and professionally, and others will begin to improve the way they do presentations too. That will help make us happier and speed the flow of information
in the business world.

Find Your Lightbulb: Mike Harris (Firstdirect & Egg) explains how to make millions from apparently impossible ideas

Published by Capstone, May 08

Find Your Lightbulb is for people who want to change their lives irrevocably by creating something valuable out of nothing more than a simple idea. There are many ways to make a living, but few are as satisfying as starting your own business and bringing something new into the world. Mike Harris has created three billion-pound businesses from scratch and been chairman of a fourth, which was sold for $10bn less than a decade after it started. He's currently working on his fifth business creation and enjoying every minute. For anyone that has dreamt of doing the same – making a million from unleashing an idea into the world - this book shows how.

Anne Diamond to write Size: The untold truth about dieting and weight loss

7th April 2008:  TV personality and journalist Anne Diamond will be writing a documentary-style book about the world obesity epidemic, as seen through the eyes of someone who has fought her own personal battle with weight, and who still asks the question: “Why did it happen to me?” Size: The untold truth about dieting and weight loss will publish in January 2009.

Who's to blame for the current financial crisis asks Eamonn Butler, author of the forthcoming The Best Book on the Market

7th April 2008: Who's to blame for the current financial crisis?  asks Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute. A lot of people blame 'the market'. But markets are no more than a series of human actions and interactions. So by blaming the 'market' we're really blaming our own bone-headedness. Well, it's a fair cop. Whatever the economic textbooks tell you, none of us is all-knowing. We might be very wised-up on our own little part of the world, but we can't know what's happening everywhere in the wider economy, and we can't predict the future. And stuff just happens, and sometimes it gives us a battering.

Business Genius: A More Inspired Approach to Business Growth - by Peter Fisk

Published by Capstone, May 08

Peter Fisk, author of the bestselling Marketing Genius, hits the shelves again with Business Genius - helping readers drive more profitable, sustainable growth in today’s crowded and connected markets. Business Genius explores the challenges of strategy and innovation, leadership and change as readers grow their businesses, and themselves, in order to achieve high performance.

From the craze for Crocs to the cool of Diesel, the secrets of Kikkoman and energy of Red Bull, the vision of Google and disruption of Current TV, the revolution of Proctor & Gamble and the phenomenon of Umpqua Bank – the book captures the best insights from around the world, and a new agenda for today’s business.

Making a Fortune: Learning from the Asian Phenomenon, from Spinder Dhaliwal

Published by Capstone, May 08

For two decades, entrepreneurs have been eulogised in the popular press. At a time when real heroes are hard to find, it is the entrepreneur, the dynamic go-getting risk taker, who has become the hero of free enterprise. At the cutting edge of the British entrepreneurial community are the Asian businesses featured in the new book by Spinder Dhaliwal - Making a Fortune: Learning from the Asian Phenomenon. It takes in businesses from manufacturing to finance, from food to hotels, from pharmaceuticals to fashion. It includes first-, second- and third-generation achievers. It provides the definitive guide to ‘who’s who’ in the Asian business world.

Jim Mellon and Al Chalabi predicted the current financial crisis in Wake Up! Survive and Prosper in the Coming Economic Turmoil

18th March 2008:  Wake Up! Survive & Prosper in the Coming Economic Turmoil (Wiley, 2005) is a book we released a little over two years ago when the global economy looked very rosy. We argued that this apparent economic boom was ephemeral and would prove to be unsustainable because the underlying reasons behind it were unsound: cheap credit.

Why many workers are making 2008 their ‘Leap Year’

2008 is only in its infancy and already there is talk of financial crashes, economic uncertainty and business instability. So you might not think 2008 is the ideal climate for launching a new business.

But despite this backdrop, the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit is as vibrant as ever; starting up a new business is still a popular option for workers looking to reignite their careers. Ian Sanders’ new book Leap! Ditch Your Job, Start Your Own Business & Set Yourself Free is evidence of this trend; it was published by Capstone in January and has been at or close to the top of Amazon.co.uk’s chart on starting your own business ever since.

Start: the classic guide to getting a business idea underway

By Kevin Duncan
Published by Capstone, March 08

Start is the classic guide to getting a business idea underway. Including hundreds of brilliant pieces of advice from those who have been through the pain and pleasure of starting their own business, and written by someone who has actually been there and done it all, it sorts the wheat from the chaff and lets the reader get straight to the point.

New Year’s Resolutions forgotten already? Get back on track with Alyssa Abbey’s excuse busters and make this summer your most energized yet. Here are the top pitfalls of those trying to create new energy habits...

Breakdown Investing Tips from Jim Mellon and Al Chalabi: Three Money-Making Stories That Will Inspire You to Find the BigIdeas Hidden Inside the Trends

Do you leave your investing decisions to the “experts”? Or do you rely on your own brainpower to figure out what might be the next big thing? Jim Mellon and Al Chalabi, authors of The Top 10 Investments for the Next 10 Years: BigIdeas, MoneyFountains and Your Path to Prosperity, say that if you let professionals do your thinking for you, you might find yourself joining the masses in chasing after the obvious trends.

Stop Making Excuses and Start Living With Energy by Alyssa Abbey

Published by Wiley, May 08

Fed up with falling asleep on the sofa every night, too exhausted to have even dragged yourself to bed? Want to wake up every morning full of the joys of Spring - even when it's the middle of Winter?! Well then it's time to Stop Making Excuses and Start Living With Energy! In her new book the “Queen of Vitality”, Alyssa Abbey, shares her secrets for getting past our excuses and our resistance to change and shows how to create a realistic, practical, & permanent plan for vitality and happiness.

Don't Wait For Your Ship to Come In...Swim Out to Meet It By Dr Gary Wood

Published by Capstone, April 08

For those of you fed up with self-help books that promise everything and deliver nothing, Dr Gary Wood has answers that actually work. In Don't Wait for Your Ship to Come In…Swim Out to Meet It, he presents a complete step-by-step program for personal development, based on the life-coaching techniques and evidence-based psychology that have made him immensely popular on British TV and radio.

Jim Mellon and Al Chalabi, authors of The Top Ten Investments for the Next Ten Years, views on the credit crunch

Inevitable yet surprising how long it has taken for the “crunch” to impact the market say Jim Mellon and Al Chalabi, authors of The Top Ten Investments for the Next Ten Years published by Capstone, a Wiley Company. Since the initial market wobble in August, investors have been in denial and the market rallies resumed for  several months, but now it appears that the party is definitely over.

Al Chalabi, author of The Top Ten Investments for the Next 10 Years, on what makes a successful start up

  If Al Chalabi, co-author of The Top Ten Investments for the Next 10 Years with Jim Mellon, had to pick one thing that makes a successful start-up, it is securing an anchor client. 

So What?: The Definitive Guide to the Only Business Questions that Matter

By Kevin Duncan
Published by Wiley, February 08

So What? gets straight to the point so you can cut through the nonsense and do the same... It's quite simple. We all know how irritating it can be when a child repeatedly asks why? And yet we are often unable to answer the simplest of questions in a clear, direct way, and frequently have no idea why we are doing something. This problem has a huge bearing on inefficiency in business, and goes some way to explaining why so many people spend so much time doing things that have no bearing on the true purpose.

The Top 10 Investments for the Next 10 Years: BigIdeas, MoneyFountains and Your Path to Prosperity

By Jim Mellon and Al Chalabi
To be published by Capstone on 5th February 2008

How am I going to pay for my future once my working years are over?

The fact that we’re all living longer is an undeniable trend and the massive shortfalls in state pension schemes have largely been ignored by governments.  The prospect of living off our own savings for 20 – 30 years without a salary or a state pension of any real worth is a daunting one. 

Leap!: Ditch Your Job, Start Your Own Business & Set Yourself Free

By Ian Sanders

Published by Capstone, January 08

Leap! isn’t a book about how to set up a business, describing the nuts and bolts of what you need to do. It doesn’t offer tax advice; it’s not about financial planning, business plans or exit strategies. It offers no new theories on management success, no secret formula to make millions. It’s simpler than that. It’s about the approach to a new way of working. About what you need to survive and succeed in the new world of business, in the scrambled up world of work…

GERALD RATNER: The Rise and Fall…and Rise Again

Published by Capstone, November 07

“In 2006, a book was published called History’s Worst Decisions. Alongside Nero burning Rome to the ground, Eve eating the apple, and the choice not to install a Tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean, was a speech I made in 1991. Despite the fact I didn’t kill anybody, I didn’t do anything illegal, and I didn’t even say anything that I hadn’t said before, that speech caused me to lose my business, my reputation and my fortune.” Gerald Ratner

In The Rise and Fall…and Rise Again retail giant Gerald Ratner tells the story of his family’s jewellery business, the ups and downs of his own career, and how he has come full-circle to enjoy success the second time round...

Detox Your Desk: Declutter Your Life and Mind

By Theo Theobald and Cary Cooper - Published by Capstone, December 07

“Why is there never enough time in the day to do all the stuff you want to?

Why does your in-tray just keep growing? Is it alive?”

We used to allow work to fill the time allocated to it, but most of us are now embarked on a voyage of self-sabotage where we unconsciously leave tasks permanently undone, as if to give ourselves something to stress over. Changes in society, technology and culture have driven a horse and cart through the traditional boundaries of the working day, so that it’s pointless pretending any more that there’s a work/life balance to be struck – work is interwoven with our existence. So, it follows that if we detox our desks, we’ll declutter our lives and minds.

Written for the time-starved and terminally untidy, Detox Your Desk: Declutter Your Life and Mind, the forthcoming book from Cary Cooper & Theo Theobald, provides the prefect antidote to the pressure cooker of the modern office, by...

Where Do All the Paperclips Go? ...and 127 other business and career conundrums

By Steve Coomber & Marc Woods
Published by Capstone, November 07

Ever wondered how easy it is to fiddle your expenses, why you feel curiously ill at ease without your Blackberry, or what the Japanese word ‘Karoshi’ means? Now you can find out. Forget endlessly surfing the web, wading through magazines or boring your colleagues with a string of questions they don’t know the answers to. A few minutes with this book will save you valuable time looking for clues to life’s curious work-related conundrums.

With the help of academic experts and business practitioners, Where Do All the Paperclips Go?  answers those all-important questions you always wanted the answer to, plus many more that never even occurred to you, including:
· What is the world’s most dangerous job?
· Are you addicted to your Blackberry?
· Will you get fired for photocopying your backside at work?...

Sales Therapy: Effective Selling for the Small Business Owner

By Grant Leboff
Published by Capstone, November 07

In Sales Therapy: Effective Selling for the Small Business Owner, author Grant Leboff has a revolutionary message for the small business community – stop ‘selling’ to customers if you want to make a profit, stop trying to ‘close’ a sale, and get customers on the couch to talk about their ‘issues’ instead...

The Shopaholic’s Guide to buying Gorgeous Gifts Online

By Patricia Davidson

Published by Capstone , October 2007

In the run up to Christmas 2006 consumers spent a record-breaking £7bn on internet purchases, while high street ‘footfall’ was down 9%. As online retailers predict another festive bonanza, what better way to get ahead of the crowd than by doing all your preparations online?  With chapters on Pampering presents, Gift stores for men, Sport Mad and Hampers and Food Gifts plus an indispensable guide to the Top 20 Emergency Gift Retailers, now you can do all your Christmas shopping in less time than it takes to prepare the Christmas lunch. 

The Shopaholic’s Guide to Buying Online 2008 by Patricia Davidson

By Patricia Davidson

Published by Capstone, October 2007

Shopping is one of life’s great pleasures – yet the combination of crowds, queues and overzealous assistants can make it a misery. As more and more people turn to shopping online as a way to avoid these problems, an endless high street has opened up on the internet offering everything from organic food hampers to designer handbags. But trying to buy online can be both time-consuming and overwhelming – which is why shopping guru Patricia Davidson has revised and updated her bestselling Shopaholic’s Guide to Buying Online for 2008.

What Do Leaders Really Do?: Getting under the skin of what makes a great leader tick

By Jeff Grout, Liz Fisher
Published by Wiley, October 2007

• An enormous range of literature on leadership and management theory has been produced over the years, some of it highly academic and much of it contradictory. What Do Leaders Really Do? takes the basis of the best-known management theories to see how they fit with the practical reality of leadership. How do leaders spend their time? Are they really preoccupied with strategy, vision and inspiring people? Do they lead by accident, or design? The book challenges the assumption that leaders are born, not made and explores the theory that female leaders are fundamentally different from their male counterparts.

Never Mind the Sizzle...Where's the Sausage?: Branding based on substance not spin

By David Taylor
Published by Capstone, September 07

Never Mind the Sizzle...Where's the Sausage?, the new book from David Taylor, is for people looking for practical, action-oriented ideas about brand-building in an accessible, entertaining format. In contrast to most books on branding, it’s written not as a classic textbook, but in the form of a fun and involving story – with bags of bite-sized insights, tips and tricks...