Manon Wethly doesn't cry over spilled milk. Or wine. Or juice. Or paint.

Spilling stuff is actually kind of her thing. 

Wethly, a designer who lives in Hasselt, Belgium, is Instagram-famous for her feed of "#flyingstuff" photos, where she snaps shots of random liquids or objects that she tosses high into the air. The results are mesmerizing. 

Manon told Business Insider that it all started back in 2011 when she randomly decided to throw her Puma sneakers and take a photo with her iPhone. At the time, the photo got 32 likes — more than she'd ever had before — so she kept taking more flying stuff photos. 

Today, an average flying stuff shot gets thousands of likes, and she was recently featured on Instagram's blog. 

(You can check out her website here.)

SEE ALSO: A 13-Year-Old Google Science Fair Finalist Has A Simple Idea To Stop Cyberbullying

When you first start looking through Wethly's flying stuff photos, they are truly arresting.

There's something mesmerizing about the abstract shapes the objects make in the air.

Even Wethly gets surprised by how the pictures turn out.

If you're looking for something to read that will improve your ability as an investor, I'd recommend any of these books. All 12 of them are deeply informative and will leave an impact on you.

Keep in mind that if investing were as easy as buying a book and reading it, we'd all be rich.

Click Here To See The 12 Books »

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

Described as "by far the best book on investing ever written" by none other than Warren Buffett. "Chapters 8 and 20 have been the bedrock of my investing activities for more than 60 years," he says. "I suggest that all investors read those chapters and reread them every time the market has been especially strong or weak."

You can find the book on Amazon.

The Little Book that Beats the Market by Joel Greenblatt

As Buffett says, investing is simple but not easy. This book focuses on the simplicity of investing. Greenblatt, who has average annualized returns of about 40% for over 20 years, explains investing using 6th grade math and plain language. Putting it into practice is another story.

You can find the book on Amazon.

Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb

The core of Taleb's other books — The Black Swan and Antifragile — can be found in this early work. One of the best parts, for me, was the notion of alternative histories. "Mother nature," he writes, "does not tell you how many holes there are on the roulette table." This book teaches you how to look at the world probabilistically. After you start doing that, nothing is ever the same again.

You can find the book on Amazon.

There will come a day when most humans don't just use technology, or wear it on their heads and wrists, they inject it into their bodies to improve themselves.

That's the vision of both sci-fi writers and people who call themselves "futurists." One of them, Ray Kurzweil, even has a name for it: the singularity. That's a point when technology and our bodies merge and we bcome different creatures at the next level of evolution.

There are a few brave souls at the edge of the singularity now. Sometimes they even call themselves cyborgs. These are people who have implanted tech directly into their bodies, for a variety of reasons.

Neil Harbisson had an antenna implanted in his head

Neil Harbisson is probably the most famous cyborg. He was born with a severe form of color blindness that doesn't allow him to see color at all.

In 2004, he, along with Adam Montandon, developed a device he calls the "Eyeborg." It translates colors into sounds, musical notes, piped into his brain. It allows him to experience color that way.

Here's another look at Harbisson's antennas

In 2010, Harbisson cofounded the Cyborg Foundation that supports other people who either need or want a tech implant.

A documentary about Harbisson won a film award

Harbisson became the face of this cyborg movement in 2013, when the film "Cyborg Foundation" won a $100,000 grand prize from the GE/Focus Forward Filmmaker Competition.

You can watch the film here.

There are people who like music. They turn on the radio, every now and then it grabs their attention at bars, and they sing along to the lyrics of whatever Top 40 song happens to be playing.

A gentleman, however, does not like music. A gentleman knows music — what's good, what's bad, what just is ... and why.

That said: Not all people grew up exposed to sounds beyond their stereo, so we put together a list of must-know albums that you may have missed while fist-pumping to Journey in your college dorm room.

On this list you'll find everything from indie rock to hip-hop, dance music to funk. You'll find some No. 1 hits, but more importantly, you'll find music that has stood the test of time — or is definitely about to.

Maggot Brain, Funkadelic

Even if you've never heard this album, you've heard Maggot Brain. Almost all of its songs have been sampled or used in ads, or in the case of the most recent Apple ad, both. 

Release: July 12, 1971

Brighten The Corners, Pavement

Pavement is one of the godfather bands of indie rock music, and Brighten the Corners, the band's fourth work, might just be its best album. The sound is polished, ranging from gritty to dreamy, but always staying singularly rock and roll. Pay attention to the lyrics. They're brilliant.

Release: Feb. 11, 1997

Remain in Light, Talking Heads

Remain In Light is probably your best entree into the Talking Heads catalogue. It also happens to be the band's best, mostly because it's the only one you can dance to. Also watch for uncanny guitar work from Adrian Belew, as well as Brian Eno's production wizardry.

Release: Oct. 8, 1980

Food production has become a race for maximum efficiency. When it comes to producing meat, whether chicken, beef, or pork, that race has fallen at the feet of the so-called factory farm and its hallmark feature — the feedlot.

Feedlots, officially called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO), house thousands of animals in tiny, confined spaces before they're slaughtered. Critics call the practice inhumane and say it breeds environmental problems and disease.

"A feedlot is very much a pre-modern city … teeming and filthy and stinking, with open sewers, unpaved roads, and choking air rendered visible by dust," Michael Pollan writes in his book "The Omnivore’s Dilemma."

There are currently about 15,500 CAFOs in the U.S. According to FarmForward — which used numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture — 99% of farmed animals in the U.S. are raised on feedlots.

For the last several years, British artist Mishka Henner has collected images of the feedlots via satellite, to document a largely hidden phenomenon. Initially, he was searching satellite imagery to look for oil fields. When he came across the feedlots, Henner was shocked he didn't know about about such a central part of our food production.

"The feedlots are a brilliant representation of how abstract our food industry has come," Henner told Business Insider. "It’s an efficient system for extracting the maximum yield from animals. That’s the world we live in now. We want to extract the maximum yield from everything, no matter what business you are in."

As you can see from these photos, the chemicals in animal waste turn feedlots into oddly beautiful, multicolored cesspools. Henner's work has been collected into a study called Feedlots, prints of which can be purchased here. Henner will be displaying the work with the Carroll/Fletcher Gallery at ArtExpo in Chicago from Sept. 18-21.The goal of the feedlots is to produce the greatest output at the lowest cost. To that end, cows eat a combination of cheap corn, protein, and fat supplements (often manufactured from other cows), and drugs to fatten them up quickly and efficiently, according to Pollan. Cows naturally feed on grass, but grass-fed cows take much longer than corn-fed cows to get to slaughter weight.

“Cows raised on grass simply take longer to reach slaughter weight than cows raised on a richer diet, and for half a century now the industry has devoted itself to shortening a beef animal’s allotted span on Earth,” Pollan wrote.

Since factory farms became part of the food industry in the mid-20th century, Pollan writes, the length of cows’ lives before being slaughtered has steadily decreased to 12 to 14 months, from about four to five years.

With meat consumption set to rise exponentially in the coming years, these feedlots will only increase their dominance on our production of food. And these CAFOs have serious environmental costs.

Thousands of of cattle on a small parcel of land produce an exorbitant amount of waste with nitrogen and phosphorus that would render it useless as a fertilizer. With nowhere for the manure to go, farms must create “manure lagoons” — ponds or reservoirs filled with toxic waste, according to a report by the CDC. As you can see from these photos, these "lagoons" look like gigantic, multicolored petri dishes.

The manure lagoons can hurt water and land quality. Animal waste pollutants, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter, antibiotics, pesticides, and diseases, leach into the groundwater and land. The EPA estimates that states with high concentrations of CAFOs experience 20 to 30 serious water quality problems per year.  

That waste also pollutes the air. Farm workers and nearby residents have reported asthma, headaches, eye irritation, and nausea, apparently as a result of the emissions from the feedlots. The health and environmental concerns have driven down nearby property values, according to a recent studycited by the CDC. 

These feedlots are tough to fight because of so-called "ag-gag" laws in seven states, which bar the recording of undercover videos, photographs, or sound recordings at farms. Farms and livestock producers say the laws are aimed at protecting their homes and businesses from intruders, but critics say they have a chilling effect on whistle-blowing or investigative work.

Two "ag-gag" laws are currently being challenged in federal court in Idaho and Utah, according to USA Today. 

While Henner trespassed on no lands to produce his images, he says he has been warned his images would fall under "ag-gag" laws in the states where they exist. He has yet to be confronted with any legal challenges.

"Ag-gag" laws are one of the main reasons so few people have seen photos of the feedlots, making Henner's work all the more unique.

NOW WATCH: 9 Maps Of Texas That Will Change The Way You See The Lone Star State

SEE ALSO: Stunning Photos Of Contemporary Nomads Who Live As Hunter-Gatherers

Join the conversation about this story »

The Co-Chairman of Goldman Sachs' Investment Banking Division, Gordon Dyal, and his wife, Jillian, have sold their Park Avenue apartment for $17.45 million after over two years on the market, Curbed reported.

Dyal's apartment originally went up for sale in April 2012 for $23.5 million. Several price cuts brought it down to $17.85 million before it finally sold.

The property is a four-bed, 4 1/2 bath condominium on the sixth floor of 521 Park Ave. A total of 4,500 square feet, Dyal's apartment has a game room, a gym, and a 35-foot long gallery upon entering. It was completely renovated in 2010.

Guests enter through a private elevator into a 35-foot long gallery with limestone-paneled walls.

The apartment is filled with wildlife decor.

The living room holds zebra-print furniture, animal statues, and a large portrait of flying birds.

Keeping track of the political landscape is increasingly difficult with the furious pace of the 24-hour news cycle and the increasingly complex web of dark money that drives D.C. 

Nevertheless, there is still hope — and it is much closer than you might think.

Business Insider combed the web and found 11 apps that will help to keep you stay on top of the political world and get the most out of your government. Whether you prefer to get your news straight from congressional hearings, want to fact-check your elected officials, or even just find out who your local Representative is, these are the apps to try.

Countable

Want to see what your representatives in Washington are actually up to?

Launched in May 2014, Countable uses location technology to link users to their personal representatives. From there, users can see everything their members of Congress are voting on and read quick versions of bills hitting the floor.

Users can even vote on the legislation before their representative does — in a way. Votes made on the app are delivered to the politician's office and once the bill is voted on, participants can see whether or not their lawmaker supported them on the issue.

Download the app here. 

Politifact

Politifact measures the truthfulness of politicians based on in-house research.

The app, an offshoot of the popular fact checking site Politifact.com, which is produced by the Tampa Bay Times. It features the "truth index," a daily tally displaying how honest individual politicians have been in any given day, based on the most recent statements they've made. 

There is also a flip-o-meter, which measures the latest policy flip-flops going on in Washington. 

Download here. 

PollTracker

PollTracker aggregates all publicly available polling data, combines it in a regression analysis, and uses the results to produce averages, in-depth breakdowns, and graphics of the numbers. 

During political races, for example, a politician's polling over time can be plotted on a graph alongside their opponent's.

The app, produced by Talking Points Memo Media, entered the spotlight during the 2012 presidential election, when its popularity spiked.

Polltracker also offers analysis from TPM reporters and allows users to receive push notifications for new polling data.

Get the app here. 

Looking to be more productive?

Luckily, Apple has deeply discounted a collection of apps to help you tackle your daily tasks in a faster and more efficient way.

Some of the discounts offer up to 75% off the usual price, but it's only for a limited time. Apple doesn't specify how long these offers will last, so make sure you grab these while you still can.

From apps to help you organize your thoughts and events to an app that will instantly translate your voice, you're bound to find something to improve your life.

Research and create your family tree with "MobileFamilyTree 7"

"MobileFamilyTree 7" ($6.99) helps you create and explore your family tree with charts, reports, and integration with "FamilySearch," the world's largest genealogy archive.

Keep your writing focused and without distraction with "Writer Pro"

"Writer Pro" ($4.99) gives you the tools to concentrate on simply writing. Great features such as Syntax Control helps you discover bad writing habits and can even fade out all text but your current sentence to keep you honed in and focused.

Talk into your phone and hear another language come out with "iTranslate Voice"

"iTranslate Voice" ($1.99) truly lets you instantly speak 42 languages, making it a fantastic tool for traveling to new places.

The Islamic State, or ISIS, has been taking swaths of territory in northern Iraq and Syria in recent weeks. Between taking the city of Mosul, targeting the Yazidis (an ethno-religious minority in Iraq), and battling the Kurdish peshmerga, ISIS has moved increasingly toward Kurdistan, the de facto state of northern Iraq’s Kurds.

Amid the chaos, U.S. officials and northern Iraqis have fled to Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan. U.S. President Barack Obama authorized military strikes against ISIS should they threaten Erbil

With a population of 1.5 million, Erbil is the largest city in Kurdistan. It is also one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with life in the city dating as far back as 6000 B.C.

Since the winding down of the Iraq War, Erbil has become a hub for development, leading some to question whether it could become the next Dubai.

We gathered some photos of the progressive city that ISIS has in its sights.

This is where Erbil is located on the map. It is far north of Baghdad but just 55 miles from ISIS-controlled Mosul.

Erbil is very liberal city, compared with the rest of the Middle East. As Kurdistan is both largely secular and religiously diverse, Erbil has a busy nightlife scene, with dozens of bars, liquor stores, clubs, and restaurants opening in the past 10 years. Many consider its busy nightlife scene to be rivaled only by that of Dubai and Beirut in the Middle East.This is Erbil International Airport. Though an airport has been located on the site since the 1970s, a brand new one with modern amenities was built in 2010.This is downtown Erbil, the main hub of development in the city. In 2013, Dubai's Emaar Properties announced that it was investing $3 billion into downtown Erbil. The proposed investment would go toward building houses, apartments, offices, hotels, and parks.This is what downtown looks like at night. In the distance are a number of the towers that are currently being built or have just opened in downtown Erbil.Erbil's major tourist attraction is the Citadel, the historical city center of Erbil. It was been inhabited since 5000 B.C. and has been a major center of numerous cultures. It is a UNESCO Heritage site. This is what it looks like closer up. The Citadel is located on a mound that archaeologists think conceals the remains of ancient cultures. It features a continuous wall with 19th-century facades, giving it the look of a fortress.This what it looks like inside the Citadel.There is a wealth of development at the base of the Citadel. Shar Park features numerous fountains, brick arcades, and a clock tower.  It also features numerous cafes and teashops.The Mudhafaria Minaret is nearly 120 feet tall. It is all that remains of a massive mosque built in the 1100s.The Qaysari Bazaar in Erbil is one of the oldest in the world. It wraps around the entire southern half of the Citadel. The Bazaar is a bustling center of life in Erbil. You can find anything there from food to clothes to books and electronics.As with other economic hubs in the Middle East, Erbil has recently begun opening mega-malls. The Family Mall that Erbil opened in 2010 with over 100 retail stores that carry major Western brands like Zara, DKNY, Rolex, Armani, and Levi's. Family Mall is also located directly next to a new amusement park.The mall is extremely popular. It also features an indoor ice-skating rink and a 14-screen movie theater.

NOW WATCH: 9 Animated Maps That Will Change The Way You See The World

SEE ALSO: Visit The Holy City Of The Iraqi Religious Minority That ISIS Is Threatening With Destruction

DON'T MISS: There's A Big Paradox About The US Fighting ISIS In Iraq

Join the conversation about this story »

Even if you're the most thorough reader, it can be difficult to take in every single detail of a book on the first read. 

That's why a a second, or even third, reading can provide a fuller appreciation of any great book. 

The New York Public Library compiled a list of the 10 best books to reread, from groundbreaking short-story collections to all-time favorite biographies.

"The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler

This 1939 crime novel introduces the famed fictional detective Philip Marlowe, who is featured throughout Chandler's work. Hired by a billionaire on his death bed, Marlowe sets out to investigate a case of blackmail, but he ends up ensnared in mysteries of murder, pornography, kidnapping, and more.

The book is notoriously complex, so a second reading may help you uncover any clues and details you may have missed the first time around. 

Buy the book »

"The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes" by Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes not only wrote beautiful poetry, but also captured over 40 years of African-American life within his writing. Reading the jazz poet's work is important for both of these reasons, and this volume includes his 868 poems arranged in the rough order that they were written. 

Some of his most famous poems, like "I, Too, Sing America" and the lengthier "Montage of a Dream Deferred," are included, but it's easy to pick up this collection over and over again to discover something new.

Buy the book »

"The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen

The Lambert family is gradually tearing at the seams, as wife and mother Enid desperately searches for some enjoyment. Her husband, Alfred, is deteriorating from Parkinson's disease, while her children each deal with their own share of struggles.

Enid's goal is to reunite her family for Christmas one last time, and the novel is a tale of that family's trials and tribulations.

"The Corrections" won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2001.

Buy the book »

Designing a logo can open a company up to a lot of praise or criticism.

When Marissa Mayer unveiled Yahoo's latest logo, for example, the Internet exploded and said it was "boring." Tumblr pages were dedicated to designing better options. 

A few weeks ago, Airbnb revealed a new logo, and the tech press laughed, saying it looked like genitalia. 

With that as inspiration, we decided to take a look at some of the worst/most controversial logos in tech.

Notification app Yo doesn't even have a logo. Its icon is just a purple box. Apple initially rejected Yo from the App Store because there was so little to the app's functionality and its design.

Highlight, a social location app, launched a 3-D logo that was deemed a "dangerous" headache-inducer by the press. Now its logo is just one color.

Stripe is a payment company, but there isn't a single stripe in its text-only logo, which seems counter-intuitive.

DC Comics and Warner Bros. dropped a hell of a bombshell this week announcing release dates for films spanning between 2016 and 2020. While it's not as extensive as Marvel's current line up, it looks like a good start for the comic book company's efforts to create a DC Cinematic Continuum. 

While there were previously rumored release dates and titles "secured" in the name of DC's future, the release dates have "changed" - which means it's time to go through the calendar for the next six years and begin to predict what Justice League picture goes where, and which Wonder Woman movie gets released when. So get ready for the newly revised and heavily speculated line up for DC's Cinematic Continuum! Let's start with the obvious, shall we? 

Check out our guesses for new movies here >

Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice – March 25, 2016

What Plot It Might Follow: A massive threat, greater than Batman or Superman's singular might, has made itself known. Both heroes, accustomed to fighting crime on their own terms and by themselves, attempt to put an end to this threat – and fail. Their egos fractured, they turn on each other and engage in a battle that will surely kill them, if their enemies don't kill them, then they just might kill each other first. Thankfully, our heroes will eventually get over their differences, and will team together with Wonder Woman to usher in the first era of heroes. Heroes will unite, evil will take note, and the world will see the dawn of justice. 

Wonder Woman – August 5, 2016

What Plot It Might Follow: After the events of Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Princess Diana of Themyscira adopts the identity Diana Prince and starts to study human behavior. Throughout her journey, we get to know her homeland and the ways of her people (the Amazonians) through relevant flashbacks. Of course, it isn't long before her people try to convince her to come home, and along for the ride will be none other than Steve Trevor – the man assigned to keep tabs on her by the US government. After some close calls, and a battle of epic proportions, Wonder Woman is reluctantly allowed to exist in both worlds. For now. 

Justice League – June 23, 2017

What Plot It Might Follow: Lex Luthor, in a bid to control and manipulate the world's information, develops a software program that becomes sentient. Unbeknownst to him, Brainiac is actually an intelligence that hitched a ride with Superman's shuttle and slowly rebuilt itself using Luthor's software. Now poised to take control of the world's computer systems, as well as all robotics and electronics of any sort, the Justice League is going to need all sorts of disciplines at their disposal to combat the threat. Before its eventual defeat, Brainiac will compromise humanity by signaling their existence to any intelligence looking for a fight. 

Forty years ago today, Richard Nixon announced his resignation as 37th president of the United States.

Nixon's resignation was so controversial that, among other things, Congress refused to allow his presidential papers to leave the District of Columbia.

As a result, while the federal government has operated the library for every president who's served after 1955, Nixon was allowed to tell his own story for nearly three decades. (The National Archives finally took over in 2007.)

Which is how the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, a sprawling complex located just a few miles south of Los Angeles in Nixon's hometown of Yorba Linda, turned into a such a bizarre, engrossing institution. 

During a trip out west, we stopped by to see how America's most controversial president asked to be remembered. 

Click here to take the tour >

After the trip, we spoke with Bob Bostock, a consultant to the foundation and co-author of most of the museum's exhibits.

The other author was Nixon himself, he told us.

Bostock says no presidential museum is designed to be impartial, but is rather an opportunity to tell a president's story from his own perspective. 

One could argue the distinction is not quite so clear-cut. There are no disclaimers saying where the foundation ends and the National Archives begins.

Bostock says the Watergate section of the museum, produced by the National Archives and not the foundation, is arguably too anti-Nixon. The foundation ceded control of that section when the Archives took control of the museum in 2007, he says, though he wanted us to emphasize the relationship between the Archives and the foundation is otherwise cordial.

"I don't think anyone goes in to see exhibits that are harshly critical of that particular president," he said, noting there are plenty of other places to look to find critical voices.

No one, he argued, should go in to a presidential library with the assumption they are getting an official history.

"We don't have that in this country," he said.

The first thing you notice is the place is huge and beautiful. There's a large reflecting pool capped by an outdoor ceremony area.

The nine-acre site also houses the helicopter Nixon used for Marine 1 — the same chopper that whisked him away in August of '74.

His birth home is here, too.

A wave of innovation is driving a dramatic shift in the way we make payments.

In this presentation, we highlight the most important trends fueling the changes: the rise of payment apps, mobile registers, e-commerce, and the decline of cash and checks. We also show where the payments industry is headed. Many of the slides are based on charts exclusive to BI Intelligence. 

BI Intelligence is a research and analysis service focused on mobile computing, digital media, payments, and e-commerce. Only subscribers can download the individual charts and datasets in Excel, along with the PowerPoint and PDF versions of this deck. Please sign up for a free trial here.

This deck is downloadable as a PPT for BI Intelligence members. Click below for a free trial.

Please sign up for your free 14-day trial by clicking here.

The CEO of J.Crew, Mickey Drexler, is selling his Hamptons home for a whopping $26.5 million. 

Douglas Elliman listed the 3,500-square-foot Wainscott home, which includes 315 feet of ocean frontage on one side and views of Wainscott Pond on the other.

Drexler bought the three-bedroom house in 2008 for $17 million. 

But don't worry, Drexler is not leaving the Hamptons anytime soon. He also owns two properties in Montauk, including a $30 million compound that belonged to Andy Warhol and an $11.4 million ranch. 

Welcome to Mickey Drexler's Hamptons home in Wainscott, New York.

The 3,500-square-foot house is nestled on 2.3 acres right in between Wainscott Pond and the ocean.

Taking a peek inside, it's no surprise that the CEO of J.Crew has good taste.

Soldiers need to know much more than just how to pull a trigger.

They need to respond quickly to chaotic situations — often with limited information — and effectively lead and inspire others.

In essence, being a good soldier means being physically and mentally prepared.

To help in this latter area, the Army's top officer, the Army Chief of Staff, publishes a list of books each year to help soldiers improve their "minds through reading and critical thinking."

Unlike the Marine Corps' reading list which is broken down by rank or topic, the Army's reading list is broken down into three categories: "Armies at War: Battles and Campaigns,""The Army Profession," and "Strategy and the Strategic Environment." The Army explains that the sublists are appropriate for any rank and that they allow the reader to choose the topics that best suit their interests.

The list is published annually, and the current list can be seen in full here. We've picked thirteen of our favorites and offer a brief glimpse into each.

"Leading Change" by John P. Kotter

To be effective, the Army must adapt to an ever-changing environment. However, change in the military can be very difficult as the change of strategy led by General Petraeus in Iraq demonstrates.

"Leading Change" is a classic known by many people in the business world. The book provides an eight-step guide to implementing change and monitoring the process. It also details the dangers leaders face by staying stagnant.

Kotter's book is also applicable for military leaders looking to be proactive in solving problems. Although change in the military can be fraught with difficulty, this book provides a useful tool for those soldiers looking to improve.

Buy it here >

"On China" by Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger is well-known as one of America's foremost diplomats and strategic thinkers who played a pivotal role in the opening of relations between the U.S. and China. His work "On China" would be a fascinating read if just for the historic glimpse and background information on the negotiations he led as a statesman.

However, "On China" is much more than a memoir by Kissinger. It looks at the history of China's relations with the world since forming as a nation. It also attempts to provide the reader insights into how China views international relations and how this shapes their strategic moves.

With the ever-growing importance of China on the world stage and all the talk about the U.S. pivot to Asia, this book is an excellent view into how China's leaders think.  However, the insights into how to conduct diplomacy and understanding strategic partners make this a must-read.

Buy it here >

"The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century" by Thomas Friedman

"The World is Flat" is billed as history book as its title suggests, but Friedman's book is a more focused work on the causes behind globalization's rapid spread. He also outlines the consequences of globalization, both good and bad, and describes how to navigate our new flat world.

Over the last 13 years of war, the Army has increasingly found itself involved in missions beyond merely fighting battles. Today's Army must adapt quickly to differing cultures, and soldiers can find themselves responding to multiple crises. Understanding globalization is crucial to operating in the current environment, and this book does an outstanding job of providing that understanding.

Buy it here >

YouTube stars are becoming more and more powerful.

A new survey released this week by Variety asked teens to rank popular figures "in terms of approachability, authenticity and other criteria considered aspects of their overall influence." The results overwhelmingly showed that today's teens are bigger fans of YouTube personalities than they are of Hollywood's celebrities.

They're bringing in the big bucks, too, signing contracts with major brands like Macy's and Mountain Dew.

That doesn't mean these stars are household names quite yet. We've rounded up 10 creators who you may not have heard of, but who are getting tons of attention in the YouTube community.

Devin Supertramp is a stuntman whose extreme sports videos will make your heart pound.

From hoverboarding to barefoot skiing, Devin Graham (@devinsupertramp) has caught plenty of extreme-sports moments on film. Through YouTube talent management company FullScreen, Graham has been able to shoot videos for major companies like Intel, Mountain Dew, and SpeedStickGear. 

Subscribers: 2,306,935

Views: 397,586,011

Mike Tompkins has an amazing one-man a capella act.

Tompkins first got the Internet's attention with his cover of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream." Four years later, he's rolling out an album of original songs and setting off on a seven-city tour.

Subscribers: 1,271,736

Views: 184,369,467 

Dulce Ruiz became a beauty and fashion YouTube star after returning from service in Iraq.

Dulce Ruiz (or Dulce Candy) spent 15 months in Iraq as a mechanic with the U.S. Army. Now her beauty and fashion tutorials — many of which are inspired by popular music videos by Katy Perry and Jennifer Lopez— are catching the attention of brands like Too Faced Cosmetics.

Subscribers: 1,721,116

Views: 230,007,603

The housing recovery has been slowing and home price growth is starting to cool. In fact Case-Shiller home prices fell 0.3% month-over-month in June. 

But there are pockets of the country where housing is rapidly heating up.

The real estate brokerage Redfin says that the up-and-coming areas are "mostly adjacent to highly sought-after neighborhoods that have become difficult to get into because of high prices and few homes for sale."

Redfin used its own proprietary website data to figure out which neighborhoods are about to get hot. By looking at the neighborhoods at which more and more people are looking on the website, they're able to make a guess about what housing markets are about to get hot.

To rank the top 10, Redfin looked at year-over-year increase in the average numbers of page views and favorites per home, as well as the changes in rank.

Franklintown, Philadelphia

Increase in favorites per home: 325.5%

Increase in page views: 75.5%

Median list price: $289,000

Source: Redfin

NoPa, San Francisco

Increase in favorites per home: 26.3%

Increase in page views: 40.8%

Median list price: $895,000

Source: Redfin

Creston-Kenilworth, Portland

Increase in favorites per home: 65.7%

Increase in page views: 37.1%

Median list price: $325,000

Source: Redfin

London is a global powerhouse that just keeps on growing.

The city is home to 8.4 million people, but that number is expected to grow to nine million by 2021, and nearly 10 million by 2031.

And this burgeoning population is younger than that of the rest of the UK — nearly 66% of Londoners are under the age of 44.

Additionally, London is one of the most diverse cities, with about "50 non-indigenous populations."

Although London is primarily known as a financial center, ithas a flourishing tech scene situated in "Silicon Roundabout."

If you unrolled the London Eye, it would be the length of 4 football fields.

A standard American football field is 120 yards in length, which is approximately 110 meters.

The London Eye unrolled would be 424 meters long.

Source: London Eye

40% of London is green space — and that land area is 3 times the size of Manhattan.

Forty percent of London is covered in green space — that's about 173 square kilometers, or nearly 66.8 square miles.

Manhattan's land area is 22.96 square miles.

Source: London Councils

Kate Middleton is credited with boosting the UK economy by £1 billion in 2012. That's over 3 times the amount LeBron James is expected to bring in to Cleveland per year.

LeBron James is expected to boost the Cleveland economy by $500 million per year because he is returning to the Cavaliers.

Meanwhile, the Duchess of Cambridge brought in over three times that amount in 2012 alone because women are spending loads of money hoping to emulate the Duchess' style. (In terms of dollars, that's $1,687,980,000.)

According to Mirror, Alexandra Richmond, a consumer analyst at Mintel, called the £ 1 billion a "conservative" estimate. 

Source: Mirror

Headlines don't paint a pretty picture of the Motor City. Last month marked the one-year anniversary of Detroit becoming the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy. Unemployment and crime rates remain unencouraging, and there appears to be a mass exodus of residents from the once prosperous metropolis.

Still, many Detroiters are toughing it out, pouring their resources and their talents into rebuilding the city.

We wanted to shine a spotlight on the people in Detroit who are making remarkable contributions to the city. We asked our readers, who are the folks across industries — from finance and automotive to entertainment and retail — who are dedicated to the revitalization. The nominations came pouring in.

These are the people making their city proud.

Alicia Marion George opened the only coffee shop for miles.

Owner of Motor City Java & Tea House

When Detroit native Alicia Marion George moved to the Brightmoor area in the late 1990s, she described the neighborhood as "being in a coma." The devastation of financial resources had touched every facet of life: businesses wasted away, homes were abandoned, and crime surged.

"People didn't think the light went past the end of their block," George says. An executive assistant at the time, she wanted to give residents hope that someone was paying attention to them.

She began visiting coffee shops across the region and touring roasting plants, and she even got a nine-month gig as a barista at Starbucks. It took 10 years to find a location and gather the funds, but in 2010, she opened Motor City Java & Tea House in a foreclosed house.

Inside, George takes customers behind the bar to teach them how to use the cappuccino machines and to explain how she paid for them. Local festivals, art galleries, youth groups, and block clubs host gatherings there. And since launching, half a dozen businesses have opened in Brightmoor.

Andy Didorosi created a bus line to mobilize Detroiters.

Founder of The Detroit Bus Company

Detroit is not in a good place when it comes to infrastructure. Forty percent of its street lights are broken, and $7 million was cut from the city's transportation budget.

When the city abandoned its proposal for an M-1 light rail on Woodward Avenue — the Broadway of Detroit — 20-something serial entrepreneur Andy Didorosi bought up half a dozen old school buses, hired local artists to paint them and drivers to drive them, and installed a GPS tracking app so passengers could track their ride. All of a sudden he was running The Detroit Bus Company.

Buses are biodiesel-fueled and can be hailed by the tracking app during slow times. The bus is a godsend for the 11,000 students who use the buses each month as their primary means of getting to after-school programs around the city, and the buses can also be rented out for private functions. Didorosi uses them to give city tours and bar crawls as well. Next he's working on creating a public service to and from the airport.

Dan Gilbert has started a chain reaction of new growth in his hometown.

Founder and chairman of Quicken Loans

About three and a half years ago, billionaire Dan Gilbert began "picking up" properties in downtown Detroit, with the intent to bring commerce back to the Motor City.

The architectural relics he bought sometimes sold for as little as $8 a square foot. Gradually, over 120 companies opened shop in his nine-million-square-foot spread of prime real estate — including Chrysler and Twitter. To date, Gilbert has invested about $1.3 billion in the downtown area alone.

"[Gilbert] has helped rebuild Detroit one day at a time," one reader tells Business Insider. "He truly cares about making Detroit a better place to live."

Gilbert also walks the walk. Until fairly recently, Quicken Loans was headquartered out in the 'burbs. In 2012, Gilbert moved the company to a new HQ downtown, where he and more than 12,000 employees can work in the heart of the action.