With her characteristically pointed advice and take-no-prisoners attitude, Dr. Laura's book Bad Childhood – Good Life tackles one of the most basic questions of therapy: How can a person effectively move past the injuries of a bad childhood? Her answer will be familiar to her fans—look at your current behavior and modify what you can change rather than simply venting your anger or allowing yourself to ever be victimized again.

Forget about simply accepting or forgiving your parents for their errors—Dr. Laura extols the virtues of conquering. Through excerpts from her radio show and letters from her listeners, she illustrates her points about guilt, anger and fear in personalized accounts from individuals. Short lists and question/answer sections make for an easy read that allows you to smoothly fast forward and backtrack to the topics you find most relevant at the moment—and numerous references to other chapters and her website provide all the additional information you could want. Faith is a subtle but definite component; some readers will find it the most helpful part of the book while it decidedly won't appeal to others.

Through stunning four-color images that demonstrate how nondescript ""before"" situations gradually become astonishing ""after"" results, this book offers readers simple steps to achieve unique outcomes Readers learn how to incorporate the latest Web-building techniques on their sites, redesign a site for optimum usability, limit user bandwidth needs, keep user experience consistent with CSS, and manage content The medley of makeovers includes: full-site makeovers (user speed, color themes, improved accessibility), page makeovers (page sizing, working with tables), text makeovers (font selection, graphic alternatives), image makeovers (incorporating text with images, file sizing), navigation makeovers (improving navigation bars, menu additions), content makeovers (better Web writing, enhancing the home page message), and an extreme makeover (combining several smaller makeovers into a major site overhaul)

This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies. How to Win Friends and Influence People is just as useful today as it was when it was first published, because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated. Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to "the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people." He teaches these skills through underlying principles of dealing with people so that they feel important and appreciated. He also emphasizes fundamental techniques for handling people without making them feel manipulated. Carnegie says you can make someone want to do what you want them to by seeing the situation from the other person's point of view and "arousing in the other person an eager want." You learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offense or arousing resentment. For instance, "let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers," and "talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person." Carnegie illustrates his points with anecdotes of historical figures, leaders of the business world, and everyday folks.

Computing hardware would have no value without software; software tells hardware what to do. Software therefore must have special authority within computing systems. All computer security problems stem from that fact, and Exploiting Software: How to Break Code shows you how to design your software so it's as resistant as possible to attack. Sure, everything's phrased in offensive terms (as instructions for the attacker, that is), but this book has at least as much value in showing designers what sorts of attacks their software will face (the book could serve as a checklist for part of a pre-release testing regimen). Plus, the clever reverse-engineering strategies that Greg Hoglund and Gary McGraw teach will be useful in many legitimate software projects. Consider this a recipe book for mayhem, or a compendium of lessons learned by others. It depends on your situation.

This book gives men and teenagers much needed understanding of the behaviour of the opposite sex, such that they may form proper relationships with girls and women instead of perpetuating the needless "battle of the sexes" in which both parties can be traumatized for life, or simply fail to ever make worthwhile relationships with the opposite sex at all.

Are you just another AFC ("average frustrated chump") trying to meet an HB ("hot babe")? How would you like to "full-close" with a Penthouse Pet of the Year? The answers, my friend, are in Neil Strauss's entertaining book The Game. Strauss was a self-described chick repellant–complete with large, bumpy nose, small, beady eyes, glasses, balding head, and, worst of all, painful shyness around women. He felt like "half a man." That is, until a book editor asked him to investigate the community of pickup artists. Strauss's life was transformed. He spent two years bedding some fine chiquitas and studying with some of the North America's most suave gents–including the best of them all, the God of the pickup "community," a man named Mystery.

Mystery is an aspiring Toronto magician who charges $2,250 for a weekend pickup workshop. He is not much to look at: a cross between a vampire and a computer geek. But by using high-powered marketing techniques he's turned seduction into an effortless craft–even inventing his own vocabulary. His technique sounds like a car salesman's tip sheet: his main rule is FMAC–find, meet, attract, close. He employs the "three-second rule"–always approach a woman within three seconds of first seeing her in order to avoid getting shy. Other tricks: Intrigue a beautiful woman by pretending to be unaffected by her charm; also, never hit on a woman right away. Start with a disarming, innocent remark, like "Do you think magic spells work?" or "Oh my god, did you see those two girls fighting outside?" And finally, the most important characteristic of the pickup artist–smile.