The second edition of the definitive book on how modern Japan works, now fully updated up to include the new 'Reiwa' Era and the year of the Olympics\n'A superb book that, better than any other I have read, manages to get the reader inside the skin of Japanese society ... astutely observed ... a great read brimming with insights' Japan Times 
Despite years of stagnation, Japan remains one of the world's largest economies and a country which exerts a remarkable cultural fascination. David Pilling's new book is an entertaining, deeply knowledgeable and surprising analysis of a group of islands which have shown great resilience, both in the face of financial distress and when confronted with the overwhelming disaster of the 2011 earthquake and resulting tsunami. 
Bending Adversity is a superb work of reportage and the essential book even for those who already feel they know the country well.

Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival - Second Edition

History

Pilling, David

Asia

Penguin

“[A]n excellent book...” —The Economist Financial Times Asia editor David Pilling presents a fresh vision of Japan, drawing on his own deep experience, as well as observations from a cross section of Japanese citizenry, including novelist Haruki Murakami, former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, industrialists and bankers, activists and artists, teenagers and octogenarians. Through their voices, Pilling's Bending Adversity captures the dynamism and diversity of contemporary Japan. Pilling’s exploration begins with the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. His deep reporting reveals both Japan’s vulnerabilities and its resilience and pushes him to understand the country’s past through cycles of crisis and reconstruction. Japan’s survivalist mentality has carried it through tremendous hardship, but is also the source of great destruction: It was the nineteenth-century struggle to ward off colonial intent that resulted in Japan’s own imperial endeavor, culminating in the devastation of World War II. Even the postwar economic miracle—the manufacturing and commerce explosion that brought unprecedented economic growth and earned Japan international clout might have been a less pure victory than it seemed. In Bending Adversity Pilling questions what was lost in the country’s blind, aborted climb to #1. With the same rigor, he revisits 1990—the year the economic bubble burst, and the beginning of Japan’s “lost decades”—to ask if the turning point might be viewed differently. While financial struggle and national debt are a reality, post-growth Japan has also successfully maintained a stable standard of living and social cohesion. And while life has become less certain, opportunities—in particular for the young and for women—have diversified. Still, Japan is in many ways a country in recovery, working to find a way forward after the events of 2011 and decades of slow growth. Bending Adversity closes with a reflection on what the 2012 reelection of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and his radical antideflation policy, might mean for Japan and its future. Informed throughout by the insights shared by Pilling’s many interview subjects, Bending Adversity rigorously engages with the social, spiritual, financial, and political life of Japan to create a more nuanced representation of the oft-misunderstood island nation and its people. The Financial Times “David Pilling quotes a visiting MP from northern England, dazzled by Tokyo’s lights and awed by its bustling prosperity: ‘If this is a recession, I want one.’ Not the least of the merits of Pilling’s hugely enjoyable and perceptive book on Japan is that he places the denunciations of two allegedly “lost decades” in the context of what the country is really like and its actual achievements.” The Telegraph (UK) “Pilling, the Asia editor of the Financial Times, is perfectly placed to be our guide, and his insights are a real rarity when very few Western journalists communicate the essence of the world’s third-largest economy in anything but the most superficial ways. Here, there is a terrific selection of interview subjects mixed with great reportage and fact selection... he does get people to say wonderful things. The novelist Haruki Murakami tells him: “When we were rich, I hated this country”... well-written... valuable.” Publishers Weekly (starred): "A probing and insightful portrait of contemporary Japan."

Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival

Penguin??Books

A provocative critique of the pieties and fallacies of our obsession with economic growth We live in a society in which a priesthood of economists, wielding impenetrable mathematical formulas, set the framework for public debate. Ultimately, it is the perceived health of the economy which determines how much we can spend on our schools, highways, and defense; economists decidehow much unemployment is acceptable and whether it is right to print money or bail out profligate banks. The backlash we are currently witnessing suggests that people are turning against the experts and their faulty understanding of our lives. Despite decades of steady economic growth, many citizens feel more pessimistic than ever, and are voting for candidates who voice undisguised contempt for the technocratic elite. For too long, economics has relied on a language which fails to resonate with people's actual experience, and we are now living with the consequences. In this powerful, incisive book, David Pilling reveals the hidden biases of economic orthodoxy and explores the alternatives to GDP, from measures of wealth, equality, and sustainability to measures of subjective wellbeing. Authoritative, provocative, and eye-opening, The Growth Delusion offers witty and unexpected insights into how our society can respond to the needs of real people instead of pursuing growth at any cost.

The Growth Delusion: Wealth, Poverty, and the Well-Being of Nations

Business & Money

Economics

Tim Duggan Books

Reference

Crown

The Anglo-French war of 1294-1303 has not been the subject of a major study since the early 1900s. Recent histories tend to treat it as a sideshow compared to Edward I's wars in Wales and Scotland, which gives a false impression. In reality the Welsh and Scottish campaigns were distractions, and Edward regarded the war against France as his main focus. The main issue at stake was the defence and recovery of Aquitaine, the last substantial piece of the so-called 'Angevin empire'. To that end Edward spent enormous sums of money on recruiting allies in the Low Countries and the Holy Roman Empire. Edward's rival, Philip IV, also recruited allies to counter Edward, until the conflict engulfed much of Western Europe.The result was a series of military stalemates, demonstrating that neither England nor France could achieve outright victory in a head-to-head conflict. There were plenty of bloody incidents and much hard fighting: the hanging of Gascon prisoners from the walls of Rions in 1295, for instance, or the epic thirteen-week siege of Saint Sever.David Pilling places the war in its proper context and argues it was a vital step on the road to the more famous conflict we remember as the Hundred Years War.

Edward Longshanks' Forgotten Conflict: The Anglo-French War 1294-1303

Europe

Amberley Publishing

A provocative critique of the pieties and fallacies of our obsession with economic growth We live in a society in which a priesthood of economists, wielding impenetrable mathematical formulas, set the framework for public debate. Ultimately, it is the perceived health of the economy which determines how much we can spend on our schools, highways, and defense; economists decide how much unemployment is acceptable and whether it is right to print money or bail out profligate banks.  The backlash we are currently witnessing suggests that people are turning against the experts and their faulty understanding of our lives. Despite decades of steady economic growth, many citizens feel more pessimistic than ever, and are voting for candidates who voice undisguised contempt for the technocratic elite. For too long, economics has relied on a language which fails to resonate with people's lived experience, and we are now living with the consequences. In this powerful, incisive book, David Pilling reveals the hidden biases of economic orthodoxy and explores the alternatives to GDP, from measures of wealth, equality, and sustainability to measures of subjective wellbeing. Authoritative, provocative, and eye-opening, The Growth Delusion offers witty and unexpected insights into how our society can respond to the needs of real people instead of pursuing growth at any cost.

The Growth Delusion: The Wealth and Well-Being of Nations

BLOOMSBURY

So You Want To Be In Real Estate Real Estate Sales is not just another job. As a sales person you can earn a million dollars in two years without any investment or having to own a business. To do this you don't have to go to university. You don't have to spend years training. You don't have to invest money, only your time for which you will be handsomely rewarded. All you have to do is carry out a number of easy-to-do tasks with discipline and dedication. After all, don't we have to do that in any job? What you do need to do is have the vision to realise that a fabulous income is possible without having to be an extraordinary person. There is a need for you to set your sights high and not simply take it on like any other job paying ordinary wages. This book will tell you how, what and when to do it. If you follow it you to will end up being a real estate millionaire.

So You Want to be in Real Estate: How to Make One Million Dollars in Two Years

AuthorHouse Publishing

The Half-Hanged Man

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

"My father was a warrior. He bade me fight..." Britain, 427 AD. Rome has abandoned the province, leaving it exposed to waves of barbarian invasions. To the west, savage pirates from Hibernia ravage the coastline. In the north, the crumbling defences of the Wall cannot contain marauding bands of Picts as they sweep down from the highlands. Worst of all are the Saxons, the dreaded sea-wolves. Under their chiefs, Hengist and Horsa, they wish to drive out the native Britons and claim the entire island for their own. Attacked from all sides, the Britons find a champion in the form of Ambrosius Aurelianus, the last of the Romans. A modest man, riddled with doubts and fears, Ambrosius reluctantly takes on the mantle of Dux Bellorum, Leader of Battles. Placed in command of Britain's only standing army, he fights to preserve the dwindling light of civilisation while the treacherous High King, Vortigern, plots his destruction. Set before the coming of Arthur, the first book of the Leader of Battles trilogy charts the rise and fall of post-Roman Britain's first great hero, and his desperate struggle to hold back the shadows threatening to engulf his country.

Leader of Battles (I): Ambrosius

“A Warwick! A Warwick!”   England, 1470. The Earl of Warwick has fled England and the wrath of his former friend, King Edward of York. Barred from entering Calais, he turns to piracy and attacking merchant ships in the Channel.   The surviving members of the Bolton family have also fled their homes in England. Landless and condemned as traitors, they follow Warwick to France and the court of Margaret of Anjou, who has lived in exile since the destruction of the Lancastrian army at Towton. Desperate to regain power, Warwick sends James Bolton with a message to Margaret, his old enemy, offering to forge an alliance with her and overthrow King Edward. Together they plan to restore the mad Henry VI, who has been a prisoner for ten years in the Tower of London.   Warwick gathers a new army from the surviving Lancastrian nobles, and begins to assemble an invasion fleet. King Edward must keep one eye on this threat, while also coping with fresh rumours of conspiracy and rebellion in the north. The peace in England is once again shattered as the war-drums beat and the banners unfurl for the final death-struggle between the rival Houses of Lancaster and York.   Part III of The White Hawk chronicles the further adventures of the Boltons, caught up in a conflict not of their own making, and forced to play their part by powers beyond their control.   The White Hawk (II): Loyalty is a new edition, previously published as The White Hawk (III): Restoration.

The White Hawk (II): Loyalty

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Pilling, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Pilling, David

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Pilling, David. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival - Second Edition

Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival

The Growth Delusion: Wealth, Poverty, and the Well-Being of Nations

The Growth Delusion: Wealth, Poverty, and the Well-Being of Nations

Edward Longshanks' Forgotten Conflict: The Anglo-French War 1294-1303

The Growth Delusion: The Wealth and Well-Being of Nations

So You Want to be in Real Estate: How to Make One Million Dollars in Two Years

The Half-Hanged Man

Leader of Battles (I): Ambrosius

The White Hawk (II): Loyalty