Books about Shortcut from Amazon.com

Year after year, Rafe Esquith’s fifth-grade students excel. They read passionately, far above their grade level; tackle algebra; and stage Shakespeare so professionally that they often wow the great Shakespearen actor himself, Sir Ian McKellen Yet Esquith teaches at an L.A. innercity school known as the Jungle, where few of his students speak English at home, and many are from poor or troubled families. What’s his winning recipe? A diet of intensive learning mixed with a lot of kindness and fun. His kids attend class from 6:30 A.M. until well after 4:00 P.M., right through most of their vacations. They take field trips to Europe and Yosemite. They play rock and roll. Mediocrity has no place in their classroom. And the results follow them for life, as they go on to colleges such as Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford.
Possessed by a fierce idealism, Esquith works even harder than his students. As an outspoken maverick of public education (his heroes include Huck Finn and Atticus Finch), he admits to significant mistakes and heated fights with administrators and colleagues. We all—teachers, parents, citizens—have much to learn from his candor and uncompromising vision..
Price: $7.92 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The train tracks ran right by Bigmama's house in Cottondale, and the children were warned to stay off the tracks. But one night they were late, and the tracks were a shortcut, so they started off. And when there was no turning back, they heard the train coming..
Price: $3.32 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This gripping and triumphant memoir follows a living legend of extreme mountaineering as he makes his assault on history, one 8,000-meter summit at a time.

For eighteen years Ed Viesturs pursued climbing’s holy grail: to stand atop the world’s fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, without the aid of bottled oxygen. But No Shortcuts to the Top is as much about the man who would become the first American to achieve that goal as it is about his stunning quest. As Viesturs recounts the stories of his most harrowing climbs, he reveals a man torn between the flat, safe world he and his loved ones share and the majestic and deadly places where only he can go.

A preternaturally cautious climber who once turned back 300 feet from the top of Everest but who would not shrink from a peak (Annapurna) known to claim the life of one climber for every two who reached its summit, Viesturs lives by an unyielding motto, “Reaching the summit is optional. Getting down is mandatory.” It is with this philosophy that he vividly describes fatal errors in judgment made by his fellow climbers as well as a few of his own close calls and gallant rescues. And, for the first time, he details his own pivotal and heroic role in the 1996 Everest disaster made famous in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air.

In addition to the raw excitement of Viesturs’s odyssey, No Shortcuts to the Top is leavened with many funny moments revealing the camaraderie between climbers. It is more than the first full account of one of the staggering accomplishments of our time; it is a portrait of a brave and devoted family man and his beliefs that shaped this most perilous and magnificent pursuit.

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Price: $7.75 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Crossover appeal - infuses quilting techniques and projects with home décor influence

Broad appeal - captures the attention of skilled quilters with an unique timesaving techniques, and delivers a great teaching tool for quilt shop owners.

The quilt-as-you-go technique in Crazy Short-Cut Quilts eliminates intimidating quilting steps, and empowers sewers with the ability to create full quilts, in no time, that accent any existing decor. The book provides sewers with time estimates for each step of a crazy quilt pattern; demonstrates how to break projects down into manageable pieces and suggests alternate uses for leftover fabrics; teaches sewers how to make savvy fabric selections to coordinate with existing room or to add new flair..
Price: $14.79 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Ever since she was old enough to help her grandmother in the garden, Sharon Lovejoy has spent her life working with plants--and along the way, through "trowel and error," she's accumulated hundreds and hundreds of remedies, tips, short-cuts, and cure-alls. Now Ms. Lovejoy--author of Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots and the award-winning Sunflower Houses--does for the garden what Heloise or the Queen of Clean does for the household. Trowel and Error collects all of her homespun garden advice into an inviting, environmentally friendly, whimsically illustrated yet dead-on helpful book that will benefit every gardener, beginner or experienced.

Cure plant viruses with spoiled milk. Steep a natural and effective insecticide out of fresh basil. Place flat stones under squash or melons to hasten ripening. Recycle an old apple corer as the perfect dibber for muscari and other small bulbs. Start rosemary cuttings in a green glass bottle. Sprinkle baby powder over seedlings to discourage rabbits. Crush a garlic clove and apply it to your skin as an insect repellent. From urging the reader to take an occasional shower with the houseplants to giving all-natural gardenside first aid, Trowel and Error is a direct line to the kind of practical wisdom that comes only after a lifetime of experience. The book is indexed by problem, plant, pest, and solution, and includes a list of tools and common household items--borax, cornmeal, vinegar--that completes the gardener's arsenal..
Price: $7.49 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Laminated quick reference guide showing step-by-step instructions and shortcuts for how to use OneNote 2007. This guide is suitable as a training handout, or simply an easy to use reference guide, for any type of user. The following topics are covered: Navigating Notebooks, Opening an Existing Notebook, Creating a Notebook, Saving in OneNote, Sections and Pages, Adding a Section or Page, Deleting a Section or Page, Renaming Sections or Pages, Moving Sections or Pages, Creating Text Notes, Moving Text Notes, Merging Text Notes, Creating Tables, Working with Image-Based Notes, Screen Clips, Creating an Audio or Video Note, Unfiled Notes, Sending to OneNote from other Applications, Adding Tags, Adding Flags, Searching in OneNote, Searching for Text, Searching for Tags, Searching for Audio and Video Notes, The Search Results Bar, The Search Pane, Creating a Shared Notebook, Turning Synchronization Off or On, Live Sharing Sessions, Password Protecting a Section. Includes a list of keyboard shortcuts..
Price: $3.60 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A top SAT coach—whose high-scoring strategies earned him $300 an hour from Manhattan’s elite private-school students —now makes his unique, proven secrets available to all.

Money can buy academic success, and the SAT is no exception. Harvard honors graduate Eliot Schrefer discovered this lucrative truth when he took a job at the nation’s most exclusive test-prep firm. He has helped hundreds of his clients raise their scores an average of 300 points and reel in admission to exclusive colleges. Now, in a guide that is as unique as his tricks, Schrefer brings his extraordinary pointers to every anxious applicant.

This user-friendly rescue manual delivers such scoreboosting features as:

• a killer vocabulary list, including words the SAT has repeated for decades (and why reading Vanity Fair magazine is smart test prep)

• cheap tricks to master the math section (surprise! you learned all you needed to know about SAT math by the eighth grade)

• how to be a grammar genius without cracking another book (bonus: discover the tiny subset of grammar rules that is the SAT’s secret lover)

Schrefer writes in a snappy, conversational tone, dishing gossipy anecdotes about former clients while presenting advice not found in competing books. With a design that is as vibrant as a gamer’s virtual world, this is the ultimate weapon in the quest for test-score triumph..
Price: $10.19 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Laminated quick reference guide showing step-by-step instructions and shortcuts for how to use Crystal Reports XI. The following topics are covered: Creating, Opening, Saving Reports, Using Report Wizards, Changing Defaults and Reports Options, Inserting Fields from a Database, Inserting Text Fields, Moving/Resizing Objects, Using Guides, Formatting Objects, Sorting, Grouping, Grouping in Specified Order, Editing Groups, Inserting Subtotals, Grand Totals, Summary Fields, Record Selection and Criteria, Creating Static Parameters, Creating Cascading Parameters, Applying a Parameter to the Report, Prompting for New Parameter Values, Creating Formulas, Using a Formula Field, Editing a Formula, Using a Formula to Provide Value to a Control, Renaming a Formula, Syntax Considerations, Editing Tables and Relationships. Also includes a list of keyboard shortcuts and selection methods. This guide is suitable as a training handout, or simply an easy to use reference guide, for any type of user.
Price: $3.60 [Notify me when price goes down.]

SOME PEOPLE HAVE ALL THE LUCK. THE REST OF US MAKE IT.

Let’s face it: Most of us think Feng Shui is synonymous with moving furniture. But Feng Shui specialist Ellen Whitehurst has updated this ancient art form and given it her own unique spin. The result is “Lucky Day Shui,” which is based on her more than twenty years of training and expertise in Feng Shui, aromatherapy, and other modes of holistic healing. What’s more, this approach is a breeze to incorporate into your life, and there’s no heavy lifting required!

Make This Your Lucky Day covers all nine Feng Shui energies–including career, wealth, marriage and partnership, children, and creativity–and is broken down into specific days, events, and life situations for which you could use a little extra luck. Do you wish to

• Ace that job interview? Wear deep, dark blue to enhance self-esteem.
• Increase your bank account? Place eight coins under the welcome mat at your front door.
• Seal a great business deal? Start the day by lighting nine red candles.
• Finally get pregnant? Sleep on green bedsheets.
• Chase away a cold? Diffuse lavender essential oil for a holistic antibiotic.

Harness the energy of the universe, stack the deck in your favor, and open the door to greater opportunities. Today can be your lucky day!

“[Ellen Whitehurst] is a magical person with strange and mysterious ways. She found my power centers, and they even work during a blackout. Now, that’s talent!”
–Joy Behar, co-host, The View

“Ellen is irresistible–both her personality and her advice. And fortunately one never comes without the other.”
–Stacy Morrison, editor-in-chief, Redbook.
Price: $7.97 [Notify me when price goes down.]