"No book before or since has ever had such an impact upon my imagination," declared Arthur C. Clarke of Last and First Men.

This masterpiece of science fiction by British philosopher and writer Olaf Stapledon (1886–1950) is an imaginative, ambitious history of humanity's future that spans billions of years.

Together with its follow-up, Star Maker, it is regarded as the standard by which all earlier and later future histories are measured.

The protagonist of this compelling novel is humanity itself, stripped down to sheer intelligence. It evolves through the ages: rising to pinnacles of civilization, teetering on the brink of extinction, surviving onslaughts from other planets and a decline in solar energy, and constantly developing new forms, new senses, and new intellectual abilities.

From the present to five billion years into the future, this romance of humanity abounds in profound and imaginative thought.

When the novel "Brave New World" first appeared in 1932, its shocking analysis of a scientific dictatorship seemed a projection into the remote future. Here, in one of the most important and fascinating books of his career, Aldous Huxley uses his tremendous knowledge of human relations to compare the modern-day world with his prophetic fantasy. He scrutinizes threats to humanity, such as overpopulation, propaganda, and chemical persuasion, and explains why we have found it virtually impossible to avoid them. "Brave New World Revisited" is a trenchant plea that humankind should educate itself for freedom before it is too late.

How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don't understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions.

Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today's so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms.

One moment a man sits on a suburban hill, gazing curiously at the stars. The next, he is whirling through the firmament, and perhaps the most remarkable of all science fiction journeys has begun.

Even Stapledon's other great work, LAST AND FIRST MEN, pales in ambition next to STAR MAKER, which presents nothing less than an entire imagined history of life in the universe, encompassing billions of years.

Narrativa de terror

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937) fue un ave nocturna y un cazador de sueños. Nació en Providence (Nueva Inglaterra), donde vivió la mayor parte de su corta vida, que dedicó a contemplar las estrellas, leer con avidez cuanto caía en sus manos y, sobre todo, escribir (poesía, ensayo, relatos y una ingente correspondencia). Al refugiarse en su hermético mundo onírico, Lovecraft se embarcó en un viaje sin retorno hacia una nueva dimensión: el miedo cósmico, el «terror de los espacios infinitos», que estremecía a Pascal. Como Poe, Lovecraft abandona definitivamente las invenciones mágicas o legendarias de los góticos: el castillo encantado, los fantasmas, vampiros y brujas, y las sustituye por una nueva mitología fantástica en la que ya no hay Dios ni Diablo, ni seres sobrenaturales, tan sólo híbridos semihumanos y seres extraterrestres o extradimensionales. Y el miedo se convirtió en horror cósmico. A través del sueño y el vuelo de la fantasía H.P.L. compensó su escasa movilidad física y viajó más lejos que nadie. Este primer volumen de su narrativa completa abarca la producción literaria de H.P. Lovecraft entre 1905 y 1926. Influido desde sus comienzos por Edgar Allan Poe, en relatos como “La tumba”, “El extraño” o “Aire frío”, entre 1917 y 1921 escribió casi una veintena de relatos oníricos inspirados en otro de sus grandes maestros: Lord Dunsany. Cuentos de este periodo son “Dagon”, “Polaris”, “La ciudad sin nombre” o “La búsqueda en sueños de la ignota Kadath”. Así mismo, en esta primera etapa de su carrera vio la luz “La llamada de Cthulhu” (1926), pieza básica y fundacional de los Mitos de Cthulhu, subgénero lovecraftiano que cuenta con ilustres precursores, como Arthur Machen o Algernon Blackwood, así como numerosos continuadores, especialmente los escritores que integran el llamado «Círculo de Lovecraft».

THE FIRST MAJOR WORK IN NEARLY A DECADE BY ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREAT THINKERS—A MARVELOUSLY CONCISE BOOK WITH NEW ANSWERS TO THE ULTIMATE QUESTIONS OF LIFE

When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the nature of reality? Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves? And, finally, is the apparent “grand design” of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion—or does science offer another explanation?

The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself, once the province of philosophy, now occupy the territory where scientists, philosophers, and theologians meet—if only to disagree. In their new book, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.

In The Grand Design they explain that according to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence or history, but rather that every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously. When applied to the universe as a whole, this idea calls into question the very notion of cause and effect. But the “top-down” approach to cosmology that Hawking and

Mlodinow describe would say that the fact that the past takes no definite form means that we create history by observing it, rather than that history creates us. The authors further explain that we ourselves are the product of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe, and show how quantum theory predicts the “multiverse”—the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature.

Along the way Hawking and Mlodinow question the conventional concept of reality, posing a “model-dependent” theory of reality as the best we can hope to find. And they conclude with a riveting assessment of M-theory, an explanation of the laws governing us and our universe that is currently the only viable candidate for a complete “theory of everything.” If confirmed, they write, it will be the unified theory that Einstein was looking for, and the ultimate triumph of human reason.

A succinct, startling, and lavishly illustrated guide to discoveries that are altering our understanding and threatening some of our most cherished belief systems, The Grand Design is a book that will inform—and provoke—like no other.'

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

This classic collection includes the title story, acclaimed as Asimov's single finest Robot tale, and now made into a Hollywood movie starring Robin Williams. Each of the eleven stories here sparkle with characteristic Asimov inventiveness and imagination.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Robert Neville may well be the last living man on Earth . . . but he is not alone.

An incurable plague has mutated every other man, woman, and child into bloodthirsty, nocturnal creatures who are determined to destroy him.

By day, he is a hunter, stalking the infected monstrosities through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn....

Richard Matheson’s classic novel has now been transformed by Warner Bros. into a major motion picture starring Academy Award nominee Will Smith. Directed by Francis Lawrence (“Constantine”), the film opens nationwide in December 2007.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

“The end was near.” —Voices from the Zombie WarThe Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. *World War Z* is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War. Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.Eyewitness reports from the first truly global war“I found ‘Patient Zero’ behind the locked door of an abandoned apartment across town. . . . His wrists and feet were bound with plastic packing twine. Although he’d rubbed off the skin around his bonds, there was no blood. There was also no blood on his other wounds. . . . He was writhing like an animal; a gag muffled his growls. At first the villagers tried to hold me back. They warned me not to touch him, that he was ‘cursed.’ I shrugged them off and reached for my mask and gloves. The boy’s skin was . . . cold and gray . . . I could find neither his heartbeat nor his pulse.” —Dr. Kwang Jingshu, Greater Chongqing, United Federation of China“‘Shock and Awe’? Perfect name. . . . But what if the enemy can’t be shocked and awed? Not just won’t, but biologically can’t! That’s what happened that day outside New York City, that’s the failure that almost lost us the whole damn war. The fact that we couldn’t shock and awe Zack boomeranged right back in our faces and actually allowed Zack to shock and awe us! They’re not afraid! No matter what we do, no matter how many we kill, they will never, ever be afraid!” —Todd Wainio, former U.S. Army infantryman and veteran of the Battle of Yonkers“Two hundred million zombies. Who can even visualize that type of number, let alone combat it? . . . For the first time in history, we faced an enemy that was actively waging total war. They had no limits of endurance. They would never negotiate, never surrender. They would fight until the very end because, unlike us, every single one of them, every second of every day, was devoted to consuming all life on Earth.” —General Travis D’Ambrosia, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe*From the Hardcover edition.*

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

One of the world’s most beloved and bestselling writers takes his ultimate journey -- into the most intriguing and intractable questions that science seeks to answer.In **A Walk in the Woods**, Bill Bryson trekked the Appalachian Trail -- well, most of it. In **In A Sunburned Country**, he confronted some of the most lethal wildlife Australia has to offer. Now, in his biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand -- and, if possible, answer -- the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. **A Short History of Nearly Everything*** *is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.*From the Hardcover edition.*

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

From One of the Most Brilliant Minds of Our TimeComes a Book that Clarifies His Most Important Ideas****Stephen Hawking’s worldwide bestseller, **A Brief History of Time***,* remains one of the landmark volumes in scientific writing of our time. But for years readers have asked for a more accessible formulation of its key concepts—the nature of space and time, the role of God in creation, and the history and future of the universe. Professor Hawking’s response is this new work that will guide nonscientists everywhere in the ongoing search for the tantalizing secrets at the heart of time and space.… ****Although “briefer,” this book is much more than a mere explanation of Hawking’s earlier work. **A Briefer History of Time** both clarifies and expands on the great subjects of the original, and records the latest developments in the field—from string theory to the search for a unified theory of all the forces of physics. Thirty-seven full-color illustrations enhance the text and make** A Briefer History of Time** an exhilarating and must-have addition in its own right to the great literature of science and ideas.**

'Contrariwise ... if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'

'I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit-hole ... without the least idea what was to happen afterwards,' wrote Lewis Carroll, describing how Alice was conjured up one 'golden afternoon' in 1862 to entertain his child-friend Alice Liddell. His dream worlds of nonsensical Wonderland and the back-to-front Looking-Glass kingdom depict order turned upside-down: a baby turns into a pig, time is abandoned at a disordered tea-party and a chaotic game of chess makes a seven-year-old girl a Queen. But amongst the anarchic humour and sparkling word play, puzzles and riddles, are poignant moments of nostalgia for lost childhood. Original and experimental, the Alice books give readers a window on both child and adult worlds.

This is the most comprehensively annotated edition available and includes the manuscript version of Alice's Adventures Under Ground and Carroll's 1887 essay '"Alice" on the Stage'.

With the return of the dragon minions of Takhisis, the Queen of Dragons, the land of Krynn has become more dangerous than ever. But as the nations of Krynn prepare to fight for their homes, their lives, and their freedom, longstanding hatreds and prejudices interfere. When fighting breaks out among the races, it seems the battle is lost before it even begins.

Meanwhile, the heroic Companions have been torn apart by war. A full season will pass before they meet again—if they meet again. Raistlin has made an ominous prediction, one that implies not all of the Companions will survive the fight. His warning, along with sinister dreams, haunt the friends as they search for the weapons that will stop the Dark Queen in her tracks: the mysterious Dragon Orbs and legendary Dragonlance.

Another riveting tale in the Dragonlance Chronicles, Dragons of Winter Night is an action-packed adventure in which the true value of love and friendship is measured against the backdrop of a catastrophic war between good and evil.


They won their first real battle in the war for Krynn, but the war has only just begun for the Companions! Friendships born in conflict will be torn apart. Hope will rest on the shoulders of a disgraced Knight and his two inexperienced companions. Worlds long divided by hatred and prejudice will either band together in a last struggle against darkness - or perish for all time.

Dragons

Creatures of legend. Stories told to children.

But now dragons have returned to Krynn. The darkness of war and destruction threatens to engulf the land.

A small band of heroes brings hope to the land. But the hope is fragile as a rose and many be lost completely, shattered by the bitter winds of winter.

Knights and barbarian, warrior and half-elf, dwarf and kender and dark-souled mage; they begin a perilous search for two artifacts that may help them or lead them to their destruction-

the Dragon Orbs...

and the legendary Dragonlance.

In this second volume of the Chronicles Trilogy, dragons have returned to Krynn and the darkness of war and destruction engulfs the land. Hope dawns with the coming of spring. Armed at last with the dragonlances, the heroes lead the people in the final desperate battle against the dragons.

The first installment in the New York Times–bestselling epic fantasy trilogy about twin rivals Raistlin and Caramon, set in the magical Dragonlance universe. The War of the Lance has ended, and the darkness has passed. Or has it?   Sequestered in the blackness of the dreaded Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas, and surrounded by nameless creatures of evil, archmage Raistlin Majere weaves a plan to conquer the darkness—to bring it under his control. Two people alone can stop him. One is Crysania, a beautiful and devoted cleric of Paladine, who tries to use her faith to lead Raistlin from the darkness. She is blind to his shadowed designs, and he draws her slowly into his neatly woven trap. The other is Raistlin’s twin, Caramon. Made aware of his brother’s plan, a distraught Caramon travels back in time to the doomed city of Istar in the days before the Cataclysm. There, together with the ever-present kender Tasslehoff, Caramon will make his stand to save Raistlin’s soul.

Now one hundred years in the future, the Majere twins and their companions set out to challenge Takhisis, the goddess of evil

One hundred years have passed since the fiery Cataclysm that changed the face of Krynn forever. For one hundred years, the people of Krynn have struggled to survive. But for some, those one hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Catapulted forward in time by Raistlin’s powerful magic, Caramon and Crysania find themselves aiding the mage’s unholy quest to master the Queen of Darkness. To his dismay, Raistlin discovers along the way that the annals of Time are not so easily bent to his will—and neither are the longings of his heart.

The last title in the second Dragonlance novel trilogy, now available for the first time in hardcover.

The third and last title in the second Dragonlance novel trilogy will be released for the first time ever in a trade hardcover edition. Featuring the stunning art and design that graced the cover of the paperback edition, the new version of this series is a follow-up to the release of the Dragonlance novels Chronicles trilogy in hardcover in 2003. It also continues the planned release of all core Weis & Hickman titles in trade hardcover, allowing fans and collectors alike the chance to obtain the entire set.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

The *New York Times* bestselling *Freakonomics* was a worldwide sensation, selling more than four million copies in thirty-five languages and changing the way we look at the world.

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with *Superfreakonomics*, and fans and newcomers alike will find that the *freak*quel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first.

*SuperFreakonomics* challenges the way we think all over again, exploring the hidden side of everything with such questions as: How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa? What do hurricanes, heart attacks, and highway deaths have in common? Can eating kangaroo save the planet?

Levitt and Dubner mix smart thinking and great storytelling like no one else. By examining how people respond to incentives, they show the world for what it really is—good, bad, ugly, and, in the final analysis, super freaky. *Freakonomics* has been imitated many times over—but only now, with *SuperFreakonomics*, has it met its match.

Review

“One of the world’s premier science fiction writers.”
_--Newsday

_“Isaac Asimov is the greatest explainer of the age.”
--Carl Sagan

“For fifty years it was Isaac Asimov’s tone of address that all the other voices of SF obeyed…. For five decades his was the voice to which SF came down in the end. His was the default voice of SF.”
--The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

Product Description

One moment Joseph Schwartz is a happily retired tailor in 1949 Chicago. The next he’s a helpless stranger on Earth during the heyday of the first Galactic Empire. Earth, he soon learns, is a backwater, just a pebble in the sky, despised by all the other 200 million planets of the Empire because its people dare to claim it’s the original home of man. And Earth is poor, with great areas of radioactivity ruining much of its soil—so poor that everyone is sentenced to death at the age of sixty.

Joseph Schwartz is sixty-two.

This is young Isaac Asimov’s first novel, full of wonders and ideas, the book that launched the novels of the Galactic Empire, culminating in the Foundation books and novels. It is also one of that select group of SF adventures that since the early 1950s has hooked generations of teenagers on reading science fiction. This is Golden Age SF at its finest.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

***Get your "A" in gear!***They're today's most popular study guides-with everything you need to succeed in school. Written by Harvard students for students, since its inception *SparkNotes*™ has developed a loyal community of dedicated users and become a major education brand. Consumer demand has been so strong that the guides have expanded to over 150 titles. *SparkNotes*'™ motto is *Smarter, Better, Faster* because:· They feature the most current ideas and themes, written by experts.· They're easier to understand, because the same people who use them have also written them.· The clear writing style and edited content enables students to read through the material quickly, saving valuable time.And with everything covered--context; plot overview; character lists; themes, motifs, and symbols; summary and analysis, key facts; study questions and essay topics; and reviews and resources--you don't have to go anywhere else!

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

*I say to you all, once again--in the light of

Lord Voldemort’s return, we are only as strong

as we are united, as weak as we are divided.

Lord Voldemort’s gift for spreading discord and

enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing

an equally strong bond of friendship and trust.*

So spoke Albus Dumbledore at the end of Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts. But as Harry enters his fifth year at wizard school, it seems those bonds have never been more sorely tested. Lord Voldemort’s rise has opened a rift in the wizarding world between those who believe the truth about his return, and those who prefer to believe it’s all madness and lies--just more trouble from Harry Potter.

Add to this a host of other worries for Harry…

• A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey

• A venomous, disgruntled house-elf

• Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team

• And of course, what every student dreads: end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams

…and you’d know what Harry faces during the day. But at night it’s even worse, because then he dreams of a single door in a silent corridor. And this door is somehow more terrifying than every other nightmare combined.

In the richest installment yet of J. K. Rowling’s seven-part story, Harry Potter confronts the unreliability of the very government of the magical world, and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts.

Despite this (or perhaps because of it) Harry finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty and unbearable sacrifice.

Though thick runs the plot (as well as the spine), readers will race through these pages, and leave Hogwarts, like Harry, wishing only for the next train back.

BRAND NEW, Exactly same ISBN as listed, Please double check ISBN carefully before ordering.

The explosive Robert Langdon thriller from Dan Brown, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, Inferno, and The Secret of Secrets. An ancient secret brotherhood. A devastating new weapon of destruction. An unthinkable target. When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to his first assignment to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol—seared into the chest of a murdered physicist—he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati...the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy—the Catholic Church. Langdon’s worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican’s holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival. Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair...a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation. Critics have praised the exhilarating blend of relentless adventure, scholarly intrigue, and cutting wit found in Brown’s remarkable thrillers featuring Robert Langdon. An explosive international suspense, Angels & Demons marks this hero’s first adventure as it careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.

Alternate covers for 9781400079179 include:
The da Vinci Code, The da Vinci Code, and, The da Vinci Code

An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci.
A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe.
An astonishing truth concealed for centuries . . . unveiled at last.

As millions of readers around the globe have already discovered, The Da Vinci Code is a reading experience unlike any other. Simultaneously lightning-paced, intelligent, and intricately layered with remarkable research and detail, Dan Brown's novel is a thrilling masterpiece—from its opening pages to its stunning conclusion.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

A deluxe hardcover edition of the science fiction classic...now with a new introduction by Arthur C. Clarke!It has been over thirty years since the publication of *2001: A Space Odyssey*, the science fiction classic that changed the way we looked at the stars--and ourselves. From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man ventures to the outer rim of our solar system, Arthur C. Clarke takes us on a journey unlike any other.This allegory about humanity's exploration of the universe, and the universe's reaction to humanity, was the basis for Stanley Kubrick's immortal film, and lives on as a hallmark achievement in storytelling.* Special hardcover edition for the new millennium* New introduction by Arthur C. Clarke* Winner of the Science Fiction Writers' Grand Master Award for Life Achievement* Basis of Stanley Kubrick's 1968 movie--chosen by American Film Institute as one of the 100 best films of all time* *2001*'s unforgettable character, HAL the computer, has been revived in Macintosh's TV spots"Full of poetry, scientific imagination, and typical Clarke wit."--*The New Yorker*"Breathtaking."--*Saturday Review*"Brain-boggling."--*Life*"A mind-bender."--*Time*Special Millennial Edition

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Arthur C. Clark, creator of one of the world's best-loved science fiction tales, revisits the most famous future ever imagined in this NEW YORK TIMES bestseller, as two expeditions into space become inextricably tangled. Heywood Floyd, survivor of two previous encounters with the mysterious monloiths, must again confront Dave Bowman, HAL, and an alien race that has decided that Mankind is to play a part in the evolution of the galaxy whether it wishes to or not.*From the Paperback edition.*

Product Description

PHP is an open-source, HTML-embedded scripting language that allows you to handle tasks such as processing form input and working with databases directly in your HTML pages, rather than through CGI scripts. The PHP Pocket Reference is both a handy introduction to PHP syntax and structure and a quick reference to the vast array of functions provided by PHP. This small book acts as a perfect tutorial for learning the basics of developing Web applications with PHP.

About the Author

started the PHP Project back in 1995 and has been actively involved in PHP development ever since. Also involved in a number of other Open Source projects, Rasmus is a longtime Apache contributor and foundation member. He is the author of the first edition of the PHP Pocket Reference, and the co-author of Programming PHP.

PHP is far more than a cult language or open-source icon. It's a remarkably capable language that's well integrated with lots of technologies--notably mSQL and MySQL database servers--and quite easy to learn.
Programming PHP helps you up the PHP learning curve, very nearly guaranteeing that you'll find in its pages an example that illustrates every fundamental aspect of the language and its most important extension modules. Plus, there's some cool advanced stuff, like recipes for manipulating images, working with Extensible Markup Language (XML) content, and generating Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files. Rasmus Lerdorf invented PHP and quarterbacks its ongoing evolution, so there's little question of the content's authority.

The authors use a Talmudic style to explore PHP's capabilities and explain them to their readers, meaning that they like to present code and commentary in close formation, with each enhancing the other. Typically, they'll present a capability generically and show the relevant code. Then they'll dig into variations on the theme, calling attention to required code alterations as they go. This is a book about PHP itself, so practically no attention is paid to PHP Builder or other development tools. Regardless, this book will help you solve programming challenges with PHP, and enable you to write efficient, attractive code. --David Wall

Topics covered: The PHP programming language, for people who are coming to PHP with a bit of programming experience in other languages or who want to expand their existing PHP knowledge beyond the basics. Sections deal with the core language, as well as HTTP session management, database connectivity (to MySQL and Oracle, as well as with PHP Extension and Application Repository--PEAR), graphics file manipulation, XML parsing, and PDF creation. There are instructions for building a PHP extension library in C, as well as a function reference and guide to existing extensions.

Amazon.com Review

Because it applies the concise and popular Nutshell format to Microsoft's preferred scripting language, VBScript in a Nutshell is a valuable learning resource and reference. Focusing on the core language rather than on any specific application, this book teaches how to write clear, efficient VBScript code. Whether developing for the Web, automating Windows, or customizing Microsoft Outlook, this book will help the reader do a better job.

Though it caters to new users, VBScript is mainly a reference book. Each piece of the core VBScript specification (plus the Dictionary and FileSystemObject objects that make up the Microsoft Scripting Runtime) is described in an alphabetized entry. For each statement, function, operator, and object, the book gives a quick description of the element's syntax, concise rules of its proper use, information on returned values (if any), and some examples of the language element used correctly in practice. Two additional sections on each language element will be valuable to novices and anyone stumped by errors: a "Rules at a Glance" section that documents correct usage, and a section called "Programming Tips & Gotchas" that highlights common mistakes. --David Wall

Topics covered: Core VBScript and the most important object models on which it operates, including Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Windows Scripting Host. Tutorial material and reference entries explain structure, syntax, and program design.

Product Description

Lightweight yet powerful, VBScript from Microsoft® is used in four main areas: server-side web applications using Active Server Pages (ASP), client-side web scripts using Internet Explorer, code behind Outlook forms, and automating repetitive tasks using Windows Script Host (WSH). VBScript in a Nutshell, Second Edition delivers current and complete documentation for programmers and system administrators who want to develop effective scripts. Completely updated for VBScript 5.6, WSH 5.6 and ASP 3.0, VBScript In a Nutshell, Second Edition includes updated introductory chapters that will help you keep current with the significant changes since the first edition was published. New chapters introduce the Windows Script Component for creating binary COM components, and the Script Encoder. Regardless of your level of experience programming with VBScript, VBScript in a Nutshell, Second Edition is the book you'll want by your side--the most complete, up-to-date, and easy-to-use language reference available.

Amazon.com Review

Into the already crowded Linux desk-reference market (which threatens to push my monitor off my desktop) comes O'Reilly's third edition of Linux in a Nutshell by Ellen Siever and colleagues. The ever-expanding horizon of Linuxology makes the editorial task of circumscribing it in a nutshell impossible--even from the venerable O'Reilly sources. We ask, "What didn't they cut, and do we really need it next to the coffee cup?" The success of this attempt is spotty, at best.

From agetty to znew, this Nutshell book contributes half of its contents to alphabetically arranged synopses of 400 user, programmer, and administrator commands and utilities. The online manual page for "ps"--the process status program--produces over 14 screens of command-line options, environment variables, output formatting statements, utility cross-references, and author credits. The abstracted Nutshell entry contains only three textual pages of command-line options and bare-bones output abbreviations.

We learn that "yes" is an obscure little utility that's used ostensibly for driving scripts like ./configure. When misused, "yes" can create a 5-MB file on your hard drive in one CPU second; but the entry contains neither a warning to that effect nor a description of its relationship to big brother "expect"--which is alarming in its absence from both the alphabetical parade of commands and the index altogether.

Consequently, the first half of the book is intended for the curious and possibly nonexistent subpopulation of well-trained users who want to remind themselves of command-line flags, but would rather not use the online manual pages as a reference.

The meat in this Nutshell is contained sparingly in its second half. Here, it compares favorably with online how-tos for providing technical details of Linux kernel loading and boot parameterization, package management, bash/tcsh/csh shell use, and the underused CVS version-control system. The technical specifics of the popular editors emacs and vi are of marginal use to the experienced administrator whose manual muscle memory is full. The gawk and sed tutorials are somewhat more reference-worthy, and the tome ends with introductions to the barely discussed gnome, JDE, and fvwm2 window managers. The gaping crack in this book is the absence of X11 configuration guidelines, which often takes 80 percent of system configuration time, even for experienced administrators.

If you can't spare a better patch of pine, you might consider wedging 75 percent of this desk reference under your monitor, where it might contribute more to the ergonomics of coding than to the content. The remaining 25 percent will slip into your blotter for easy access. --Peter Leopold

Review

'O'Reilly have a reputation for producing first-rate computing books, and they've reaffirmed it with Linux in a Nutshell. Each page is clean, accessible and full of detailed and well-written text, while the overall structure and choice of content is equally accomplished.' Rating 8/10. Linux Format, December 2000

Product Description

To help you be more efficient in your work, this handy pocket reference gives you instant reminders on how to use important MySQL functions, especially in conjunction with key parts of the LAMP open source infrastructure. This powerful database system is so rich in features that no administrator or programmer can stay familiar with all of them. MySQL Pocket Reference is an ideal on-the-job companion, well organized to help you find and adapt the statements you need -- quickly.

Updated for the latest versions of this popular database, this edition covers many complex features that have been added to MySQL 5.0 and 5.1, including a section dedicated to stored procedures and triggers. After a brief introduction on installation and initial setup, the book explains:

• How to configure MySQL, such as setting the root password
• MySQL data types, including numerics, strings, dates, and complex types
• SQL syntax, commands, data types, operators, and functions
• Arithmetic, comparison and logical operators
• Aggregate and general functions
• Stored procedures and triggers, including procedure definition, procedure calls, procedure management, cursors, and triggers

You don't have time to stop and thumb through an exhaustive reference when you're hard at work. This portable and affordable guide is small enough to fit into your pocket, and gives you a convenient reference that you can consult anywhere. When you reach a sticking point and need to get to a solution quickly, the MySQL Pocket Reference is the book you want to have.

About the Author

George Reese has taken an unusual path into business software development. After earning a B.A. in philosophy from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, George went off to Hollywood where he worked on television shows such as "The People's Court" and ESPN's "Up Close". The L.A. riots convinced him to return to Maine where he finally became involved with software development and the Internet. George has since specialized in the development of Internet-oriented Java enterprise systems and the strategic role of technology in business processes. He is the author of Database Programming with JDBC and Java, 2nd Edition and the world's first JDBC driver, the mSQL-JDBC driver for mSQL. He currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife Monique and three cats, Misty, Gypsy, and Tia. He makes a living as the National Practice Director of Technology Strategy for digital@jwt in Minneapolis.

Amazon.com Review

SQL in a Nutshell applies the classic O'Reilly "Nutshell" format to Structured Query Language (SQL), the elegant descriptive language that's used to create and manipulate stores of data. This book explains the purpose and proper syntax of hundreds of SQL statements, as defined in four major SQL implementations, and details each entry with explanatory text and illustrative examples. Perhaps best of all, authors Kevin and Daniel Kline feature MySQL in their coverage, and give it billing that's equal to that of Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and PostgreSQL. Their inclusion of open-source MySQL, which in most situations carries no license fee, is recognition of its growing popularity and suitability for serious database applications; also, it improves this book's appeal to Unix and Linux developers.

The majority of this slender book comprises eminently useful syntax documentation (which is in the style of Unix man pages, with bracketed options and monospace arguments) and the other information that's specific to individual statements and functions. Additionally, it includes a relatively small amount of conceptual information, such as a section on the proper use of NULL values. The material that's not statement-specific also contrasts data-type implementations of the four covered platforms--for example, readers learn that a PostgreSQL int2 value is known as a smallint in ANSI standard SQL. This is a particularly handy reference book, if you use one of the emphasized SQL implementations. --David Wall

Topics covered: Structured Query Language (SQL), as implemented in Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL, as well as in ANSI standard SQL (SQL92 and SQL99). After an introduction to data types and relational database fundamentals (the latter is not emphasized), the authors document SQL statements and functions, one by one and alphabetically. They take care to point out differences among the four implementations.

Product Description

SQL in a Nutshell is a practical and useful command reference to the latest release of the Structured Query Language (SQL99), helping readers learn how their favorite database product supports any standard SQL command. This book presents each of the SQL commands and describes its use in both commercial (Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and Oracle 8i) and open source (MySQL, PostgreSQL 7.0) implementations. Each command reference includes the command syntax (by vendor, if the syntax differs across implementations), a description, and informative examples that illustrate important concepts and uses. SQL in a Nutshell is more than a convenient reference guide for experienced SQL programmers, analysts, and database administrators. It's also a great learning resource for novice and auxiliary SQL users.

From Publishers Weekly

In his illuminating book, The Moral Animal, Wright introduced evolutionary psychology and examined the ways that the morality of individuals might be hard-wired by nature rather than influenced by culture. With this book, he expands upon that work, turning now to explore how religion came to define larger and larger groups of people as part of the circle of moral consideration. Using a naïve and antiquated approach to the sociology and anthropology of religion, Wright expends far too great an effort covering well-trod territory concerning the development of religions from primitive hunter-gatherer stages to monotheism. He finds in this evolution of religion, however, that the great monotheistic (he calls them Abrahamic, a term not favored by many religion scholars) religions—Christianity, Islam, Judaism—all contain a code for the salvation of the world. Using game theory, he encourages individuals in these three faiths to embrace a non–zero-sum relationship to other religions, seeing their fortunes as positively correlated and interdependent and then acting with tolerance toward other religions. Regrettably, Wright's lively writing unveils little that is genuinely new or insightful about religion. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From

Straddling popular science, ancient history, and theology, this ambitious work sets out to resolve not only the clash of civilizations between the Judeo-Christian West and the Muslim world but also the clash between science and religion. Tracking the continual transformation of faith from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Wright, a self-described materialist, best known for his work on evolutionary psychology, free trade, and game theory, postulates that religious world views are becoming more open, compassionate, and synthesized. Occasionally, his prescriptions can seem obvious—for instance, that members of the different Abrahamic faiths should think of their religions as “having been involved, all along, in the same undertaking.” But his core argument, that religion is getting “better” with each passing aeon, is enthralling.
Copyright ©2008_ Click here to subscribe to The New Yorker_

Product Description

It’s been said that for any event, there are an infinite number of possible out­comes. Our choices determine which outcome will follow, and therefore all possibilities that could happen do happen across alternate realities. In these divergent realms, known history is bent, like white light through a shattered prism—broken into a boundless spectrum of what-might-have-beens. But in those myriad universes, what might have been . . . is what actually occurred.

THE EMBRACE OF COLD ARCHITECTS. “Mister Worf—fire.” With thosewords, William T. Riker defeated the Borg—and destroyed Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Now, a heartsore Captain Riker must carry on the legacy of thecommanding officer and friend whose death he ordered. But crises face himat every turn, from Cardassian aggression to the return of Data’s creator,Noonien Soong. But it is Data’s creation of a daughter, Lal, that may prove to beeveryone’s undoing. . . .

THE TEARS OF ERIDANUS. Commander Hikaru Sulu of the Kumari—finest ship of the Interstellar Guard, the military arm of the Interstellar Union that includes Andor, Earth, and Tellar—is sent to rescue an observation team on a primitive desert planet. The world has many names—40 Eridani A-II, Minshara, T’Khasi, Vulcan—and its savage natives have taken the team hostage, including Sulu’s daughter, Demora. Even as Captain Sulu negotiates with the fierce T’Pau, Demora meets the elderly S’oval, and with him the only hope for the planet’s future. . . .

HONOR IN THE NIGHT. Former Federation president Nilz Baris has died. After losing Sherman’s Planet to the Klingons thanks to poisoned quadrotriticale, the agriculture undersecretary parlayed that defeat into years of political battles with the Klingon Empire, and eventually the Federation’s highest office. Now, the Federation News Service wants the story of his life, a quest that digs up many secrets—including the mystery of why his final words were “Arne Darvin.”

About the Author

DAVID R. GEORGE III wrote the Crucible trilogy for Star Trek's 40th anniversary as well as Olympus Descending for Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Volume Three. He previously visited DS9 in the novels The 34th Rule, set during the timeframe of the series, and in Twilight, set after the finale. His other Star Trek contributions include a first season Voyager episode, "Prime Factors," and one of the_ Lost Era _books, Serpents Among the Ruins, which hit the New York Times bestseller list in Fall, 2003. Currently he is writing a novella for Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Shattered Light, coming in December, 2010, from Gallery Books.

In his almost nonexistent spare time, David enjoys trying his hand at new experiences, from skydiving to auditioning--with his lovely wife, Karen--for "The New Newlywed Game", from hiking a glacier in Alaska to belly dancing in Tunisia, from ocean kayaking in Mexico to having dinner at an actual captain's table somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Recently, he performed his first wedding ceremony--which he and Karen also wrote--marrying their friends Jen and Ryan Van Riper. David believes that the world is a wide, wondrous place, with exciting adventures waiting around just about every corner.

He remains free on his own recognizance.

STEVE MOLLMANN is studying for a Ph.D. in English at an unknown university at an unknown location in the United States. He is not being coy; at the time this was written, he simply had no idea where he would be by the time you read this. He obtained his M.A. in English at the University of Connecticut, and hopes to pursue a career as a scholar, specializing in British literature, especially its intersection with science and technology. Also in that gap of time, he will have gotten married to his then-fiancÉe, Hayley. He has met Michael Schuster on more than one occasion.

MICHAEL SCHUSTER lives in a picturesque Austrian mountain valley, with half a continent and one entire ocean between him and Steve Mollmann. A bank employee by day, he likes to come up with new (or at least relatively unused) ideas that can be turned into stories with loving care and the occasional nudge. With Steve, he is the co-author of two short stories in the anthology Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Sky's the Limit. Their first novel, The Tears of Eridanus, will be released as part of the collection Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Shattered Light this December. Currently, the two are hard at work building their own universe-sized sandbox to play in. More information about them (including annotations for The Future Begins) can be found at http://www.exploringtheuniverse.net/.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Throughout history, thinkers from mathematicians to theologians have pondered the mysterious relationship between numbers and the nature of reality. In this fascinating book, Mario Livio tells the tale of a number at the heart of that mystery: *phi*, or 1.6180339887...This curious mathematical relationship, widely known as "The Golden Ratio," was discovered by Euclid more than two thousand years ago because of its crucial role in the construction of the pentagram, to which magical properties had been attributed. Since then it has shown a propensity to appear in the most astonishing variety of places, from mollusk shells, sunflower florets, and rose petals to the shape of the galaxy. Psychological studies have investigated whether the Golden Ratio is the most aesthetically pleasing proportion extant, and it has been asserted that the creators of the Pyramids and the Parthenon employed it. It is believed to feature in works of art from Leonardo da Vinci's *Mona Lisa *to Salvador Dali's *The Sacrament of the Last Supper*, and poets and composers have used it in their works. It has even been found to be connected to the behavior of the stock market!*The Golden Ratio* is a captivating journey through art and architecture, botany and biology, physics and mathematics. It tells the human story of numerous phi-fixated individuals, including the followers of Pythagoras who believed that this proportion revealed the hand of God; astronomer Johannes Kepler, who saw phi as the greatest treasure of geometry; such Renaissance thinkers as mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa; and such masters of the modern world as Goethe, Cezanne, Bartok, and physicist Roger Penrose. Wherever his quest for the meaning of phi takes him, Mario Livio reveals the world as a place where order, beauty, and eternal mystery will always coexist.*From the Hardcover edition.*

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

**Why evolution is more than just a theory: it is a fact**

In all the current highly publicized debates about creationism and its descendant "intelligent design," there is an element of the controversy that is rarely mentioned-the *evidence*, the empirical truth of evolution by natural selection. Even Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould, while extolling the beauty of evolution and examining case studies, have not focused on the evidence itself. Yet the proof is vast, varied, and magnificent, drawn from many different fields of science. Scientists are observing species splitting into two and are finding more and more fossils capturing change in the past-dinosaurs that have sprouted feathers, fish that have grown limbs.

*Why Evolution Is True* weaves together the many threads of modern work in genetics, paleontology, geology, molecular biology, and anatomy that demonstrate the "indelible stamp" of the processes first proposed by Darwin. In crisp, lucid prose accessible to a wide audience, *Why Evolution Is True* dispels common misunderstandings and fears about evolution and clearly confirms that this amazing process of change has been firmly established as a scientific truth.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

For over fifty years, J.R.R. Tolkien’s peerless fantasy has accumulated worldwide acclaim as the greatest adventure tale ever written.No other writer has created a world as distinct as Middle-earth, complete with its own geography, history, languages, and legends. And no one has created characters as endearing as Tolkien’s large-hearted, hairy-footed hobbits. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings continues to seize the imaginations of readers of all ages, and this new three-volume paperback edition is designed to appeal to the youngest of them.In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elvensmiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, still it remained lost to him . . .

Product Description

Still on Romulus in pursuit of his goal of reunifying the Vulcans and Romulans, Spock finds himself in the middle of a massive power struggle. In the wake of the assassination of the Praetor and the Senate, the Romulans have cleaved in two. While Empress Donatra has led her nascent Imperial Romulan State to establish relations with the Federation, Praetor Tal’aura has guided the original Romulan Star Empire toward joining the newly formed Typhon Pact. But numerous factions within the two Romulan nations vie for power and undivided leadership, and Machiavellian plots unfold as forces within and without the empires conduct high-stakes political maneuvers. 

Meanwhile, four years after Benjamin Sisko returned from the Celestial Temple, circumstances have changed, his hopes for a peaceful life on Bajor with his wife and daughter beginning to slip away. After temporarily rejoining Starfleet for an all-hands-on-deck battle against the Borg, he must consider an offer to have him return for a longer stint. Beset by troubling events, he seeks spiritual guidance, facing demons new and old, including difficult memories from his time in the last Federation-Tzenkethi war.

About the Author

DAVID R. GEORGE III wrote the Crucible trilogy for Star Trek's 40th anniversary as well as Olympus Descending for Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Volume Three. He previously visited DS9 in the novels The 34th Rule, set during the timeframe of the series, and in Twilight, set after the finale. His other Star Trek contributions include a first season Voyager episode, "Prime Factors," and one of the_ Lost Era _books, Serpents Among the Ruins, which hit the New York Times bestseller list in Fall, 2003. Currently he is writing a novella for Star Trek: Myriad Universes: Shattered Light, coming in December, 2010, from Gallery Books.

In his almost nonexistent spare time, David enjoys trying his hand at new experiences, from skydiving to auditioning--with his lovely wife, Karen--for "The New Newlywed Game", from hiking a glacier in Alaska to belly dancing in Tunisia, from ocean kayaking in Mexico to having dinner at an actual captain's table somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Recently, he performed his first wedding ceremony--which he and Karen also wrote--marrying their friends Jen and Ryan Van Riper. David believes that the world is a wide, wondrous place, with exciting adventures waiting around just about every corner.

He remains free on his own recognizance.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

From the #1 *New York Times* best-selling author of *God Is Not Great*, a provocative and entertaining guided tour of atheist and agnostic thought through the ages--with never-before-published pieces by Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Christopher Hitchens continues to make the case for a splendidly godless universe in this first-ever gathering of the influential voices--past and present--that have shaped his side of the current (and raging) God/no-god debate. With Hitchens as your erudite and witty guide, you'll be led through a wealth of philosophy, literature, and scientific inquiry, including generous portions of the words of Lucretius, Benedict de Spinoza, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Mark Twain, George Eliot, Bertrand Russell, Emma Goldman, H. L. Mencken, Albert Einstein, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and many others well-known and lesser known. And they're all set in context and commented upon as only Christopher Hitchens--"political and literary journalist extraordinaire" (*Los Angeles Times*)--can.

Atheist? Believer? Uncertain? No matter: *The Portable Atheist* will speak to you and engage you every step of the way.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

From the publisher of *Pride and Prejudice and Zombies* comes a new tale of romance, heartbreak, and tentacled mayhem. *Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters* expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels? This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest—and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love! Wallpaper Illustrations from *Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters* (*Right-click on the image and select "Set As Desktop Background"*)

"Are you willing to settle for an ordinary life? Or do you think you were meant for something better? Something special?"
EDITORIAL REVIEW:

*"Are you willing to settle for an ordinary life?or do you think you were meant for something better? something special?"*

One grew up in the cornfields of Iowa, fighting for his independence,for a way out of a life that promised only indifference, aimlessness,and obscurity.

*"You will forever be a child of two worlds, capable of choosing your own destiny. the only question you face is, which path will you choose?"*

The other grew up on the jagged cliffs of the harsh Vulcan desert, fighting for acceptance, for a way to reconcile the logic he was taught with the emotions he felt.

In the far reaches of the galaxy, a machine of war bursts into existence in a place and time it was never meant to be. On a mission of retribution for the destruction of his planet, its half-mad captain seeks the death of every intelligent being, and the annihilation of every civilized world.

Kirk and Spock, two completely different and unyielding personalities, must find a way to lead the only crew, aboard the only ship, that canstop him.

*"The wait is over."*

Product Description

Enabling Citizens to aspire to multi-dimensions contributing to 'the Enlargement of THE IMAGINATION'

About the Author

English schoolmaster and theologian, best known as the author of the mathematical satire and religious allegory Flatland (1884). He was educated at the City of London School and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he took the highest honors in classics, mathematics and theology, and became fellow of his college. He succeeded G. F. Mortimer as headmaster of the City of London School in 1865 at the early age of twenty-six. He retired in 1889, and devoted himself to literary and theological pursuits. Dr. Abbott's liberal inclinations in theology were prominent both in his educational views and in his books. His Shakespearian Grammar (1870) is a permanent contribution to English philology. In 1885 he published a life of Francis Bacon. His theological writings include three anonymously published religious romances - Philochristus (1878), Onesimus (1882), and Sitanus (1906).

Shortly after revealing its union with the Federation’s newest adversary—a coalition of galactic powers known as the Typhon Pact—the Gorn Hegemony suffers an ecological disaster that destroys the hatchery world of their critically important warrior caste. Fortunately, the Gorn had already been investigating traces of an ancient but powerful “quick terraforming” technology left behind by a long-vanished civilization. This technology, should it prove controllable, promises to restore their delicate biological and social status quo. But when a Gorn soldier prepares to use the technology to reshape the planet Hranrar into a new warrior-caste spawning ground, threatening to extinguish the native Hranrarii, he draws the unwanted attention of a mad Gorn trooper determined to bring the military caste into dominance.

Meanwhile, as the U.S.S. Titan embarks upon a search for this potent technology in the hope of using it to heal the wounds the Federation sustained during the recent Borg crisis, Captain Riker must balance his responsibility for his crew’s safety against the welfare of the Hranrarii and his duty to the Prime Directive. With a menacing Typhon Pact fleet nipping at his heels, Riker must not only stop the Gorn warriors but also plumb the secrets of an ancient terraforming artifact. But of everyone serving aboard Titan, Commander Tuvok may be the only one who understands how dangerous such planet-altering technology can be, even when used with the best of intentions...

On a diplomatic mission to the planet Andor, Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-E bear witness to the rank devastation resulting from the Borg invasion. With the reproductive issues that have long plagued the Andorian people reaching crisis level, avenues of research that at first held great promise have proven largely unhelpful, and may well indeed be worsening the problem.

Despite the Federation's seeming inability to provide assistance and growing doubt over its commitment to a staunch, longtime ally, Andorian scientists now offer renewed hope for a solution. However, many segments of Andorian society are protesting this controversial new approach, and more radical sects are beginning to make their displeasure known by any means available. In response, President Nanietta Bacco has sent the Enterprise crew and a team of diplomats and scientists to Andor to convene a summit, in the hope of demonstrating that the Federation's pledge to helping Andor is sincere. 

But the Typhon Pact is watching, and their interests may very well lead the Andorian people down an even more treacherous path. . . .

About the Author

Dayton Ward served for eleven years in the U.S. Marine Corps before discovering the private sector and the piles of cash to be made there as a software engineer. He got his start in professional writing by placing stories in each of Pocket Books’ first three Star Trek: Strange New Worlds anthologies. He is the author of dozens of Star Trek novels, many written in collaboration with coauthor Kevin Dilmore. He recently penned a tie-in to the cult classic television series The 4400, and is currently at work on a new Star Trek novel to be released in Fall 2010.

Though he currently lives in Kansas City with his wife, Michi, he is a Florida native and still maintains a torrid long-distance romance with his beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Readers interested in contacting Dayton or learning more about his writing, or who simply need proof that their website is cooler and better looking, are encouraged to venture to his Internet cobweb collection at www.daytonward.com.

A spy for the Typhon Pact—a new political rival of the Federation—steals the plans for Starfleet’s newest technological advance: the slipstream drive. To stop the Typhon Pact from unlocking the drive’s secrets, Starfleet Intelligence recruits a pair of genetically enhanced agents: Dr. Julian Bashir, of station Deep Space 9, and Sarina Douglas, a woman whose talents Bashir helped bring to fruition, and whom Bashir thinks of as his long-lost true love.

Bashir and Douglas are sent to infiltrate the mysterious species known as the Breen, find the hidden slipstream project, and destroy it. Meanwhile, light-years away, Captain Ezri Dax and her crew on the U.S.S. Aventine play a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a Typhon Pact fleet that stands between them and the safe retrieval of Bashir and Douglas from hostile territory.

Uno de los grandes enigmas de las matemáticas es demostrar la conjetura de Goldbach. Muchos matemáticos lo han intentado pero hasta ahora nadie lo ha conseguido. Petros Papachristos, sin embargo, ha dedicado toda su vida a demostrar esta conjetura. Su sobrino, ha descubierto tardíamente a lo que se ha dedicado su tío y empieza una relación entre ambos que servirá para hacer un repaso a la vida del tío Petros y a una pequeña historia de los enigmas matemáticos más importantes, como el de Fermat.

¿Por qué será que muchos matemáticos, que han buscado la gloria y el reconocimiento, han acabado locos o muriendo muy jóvenes? ¿Qué se esconde realmente tras la figura del tío Petros? ¿Por qué su familia ha intentado que Petros Papachristos quede alejado de ellos?

Product Description

Un historia que despierta la imaginación de una manera tan poderosa y conecta al lector de una forma tan profunda. El caballero de la armadura oxidada es mucho más que un libro, es una experiencia que expande nuestra mente y que nos llega al corazón.

From the Publisher

Knight in Rusty Armor., one of those books that becomes a classic a la Jonathan Livingston Seagull and The Prophet.

Few philosophers have had a more profound influence on the course of modern philosophy than Bertrand Russell. The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell is a comprehensive anthology of Russell’s most definitive essays written between 1903 and 1959. First published in 1961, this remarkable collection is a testament to a philosopher whom many consider to be one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. This is an essential introduction to the brilliance of Bertrand Russell.

Review

"Blanding roots his tale in the birth of the advertising era, and he is particularly effective in telling the story of how Coke fought to monopolize the sale of soft drinks to school children." --Salon.com

"Like Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me and Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, The Coke Machine embeds current issues with history, policy, and interviews to reveal the wizard behind the curtain." --Suite101.com

"An eye opening expose which blows the plastic lids off a company known to associate itself with love and happiness... The book lays out the case against Coke in startling clarity." --TowerReview.com

"The book's sixty-three pages of notes attest to [Blanding's] careful research, and lend a vital legitimacy to his allegations--this is much more than an activist's polemic." --[tk] review

"Important and readable... Blanding's painstakingly reported book reminds us that Coke's global success--perhaps like all spectacular global success--came at a price" --The Atlantic

"Every company has a dark side, and you won't believe how dark Coca-Cola's is. After reading this book, good luck having a Coke and smile." --Morgan Spurlock, director of Super Size Me

"Coca-Cola wants to teach the world to sing, but in the process they've trashed water supplies, peddled sugar to generations of kids, and undermined worker rights around the world. Put down your soda, read The Coke Machine and join the global movement to rein in unaccountable corporations." --Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed and Brightsided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America

"In The Coke Machine, Michael Blanding takes a tough, unsweetened look at the business practices of this iconic American company. His investigations reveal the costs--in ethics, health, public resources, and sometimes even human life--of Coca-Cola's relentless pressure to expand sales of its products. This book is a terrific introduction to the inner workings of corporate capitalism as it plays out on a global scale." --Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, and author of Food Politics and What to Eat

"In shocking detail, Blanding uncovers Coke's numerous transgressions against humanity and nature... Blanding's thoroughly detailed, stimulating and challenging study will have many readers saying, 'Give me a Pepsi.'" --BookPage, September 2010

"By this account, Coke's domination of the market begins to look less like a triumph of advertising and more like a symptom of the dark side of globalisation." --The Financial Times, September 20, 2010

Product Description

The Coke Machine takes readers deep inside the Coca-Cola Company and its international franchisees to reveal how they became the number one brand in the world, and just how far they'll go to stay there.

Ever since its "I'd like to teach the world to sing" commercials from the 1970s, Coca-Cola has billed itself as the world's beverage, uniting all colors and cultures in a mutual love of its caramel-sweet sugar water. The formula has worked incredibly well-making it one of the most profitable companies on the planet and "Coca-Cola" the world's second- most recognized word after "hello." However, as the company expands its reach into both domestic and foreign markets, an increasing number of the world's citizens are finding the taste of Coke more bitter than sweet.

Journalist Michael Blanding's The Coke Machine probes shocking accusations about the company's global impact, including:

• Coca-Cola's history of winning at any cost, even if it meant that its franchisees were making deals with the Nazis and Guatemalan paramilitary squads

• How Coke has harmed children's health and contributed to an obesity epidemic through exclusive soda contracts in schools

• The horrific environmental impact of Coke bottling plants in India and Mexico, where water supplies have been decimated while toxic pollution has escalated

• That Coke bottlers stand accused of conspiring with paramilitaries to threaten, kidnap, and murder union leaders in their bottling plants in Colombia

A disturbing portrait drawn from an award-winning journalist's daring, in-depth research, The Coke Machine is the first comprehensive probe of the company and its secret formula for greed.

COKE is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company.
This book is not authorized by or endorsed by The Coca-Cola Company.

From Publishers Weekly

Although denialists, according to Specter, come from both ends of the political spectrum, they have one important trait in common: their willingness to replace the rigorous and open-minded skepticism of science with the inflexible certainty of ideological commitment. Specter analyzes the consequences of this inflexibility and draws some startling and uncomfortable conclusions for the health of both individuals and society. For example, though every reputable scientific study demonstrates the safety of major childhood vaccines, opponents of childhood immunization are winning the publicity war; childhood immunizations are tumbling and preventable diseases are increasing, often leading to unnecessary deaths. Specter, a New Yorker science and public health writer, does an equally credible job of demolishing the health claims made by those promoting organic produce and all forms of alternative medicine. Specter is both provocative and thoughtful in his defense of science and rationality—though he certainly does not believe that scientists are infallible. His writing is engaging and his sources are credible, making this a significant addition to public discourse on the importance of discriminating between credible science and snake oil. (Nov. 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

In this provocative and headline- making book, Michael Specter confronts the widespread fear of science and its terrible toll on individuals and the planet.

In Denialism, New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter reveals that Americans have come to mistrust institutions and especially the institution of science more today than ever before. For centuries, the general view had been that science is neither good nor bad-that it merely supplies information and that new information is always beneficial. Now, science is viewed as a political constituency that isn't always in our best interest. We live in a world where the leaders of African nations prefer to let their citizens starve to death rather than import genetically modified grains. Childhood vaccines have proven to be the most effective public health measure in history, yet people march on Washington to protest their use. In the United States a growing series of studies show that dietary supplements and "natural" cures have almost no value, and often cause harm. We still spend billions of dollars on them. In hundreds of the best universities in the world, laboratories are anonymous, unmarked, and surrounded by platoons of security guards-such is the opposition to any research that includes experiments with animals. And pharmaceutical companies that just forty years ago were perhaps the most visible symbol of our remarkable advance against disease have increasingly been seen as callous corporations propelled solely by avarice and greed.

As Michael Specter sees it, this amounts to a war against progress. The issues may be complex but the choices are not: Are we going to continue to embrace new technologies, along with acknowledging their limitations and threats, or are we ready to slink back into an era of magical thinking? In Denialism, Specter makes an argument for a new Enlightenment, the revival of an approach to the physical world that was stunningly effective for hundreds of years: What can be understood and reliably repeated by experiment is what nature regarded as true. Now, at the time of mankind's greatest scientific advances-and our greatest need for them-that deal must be renewed.

Amazon.com Review

Neal Stephenson, author of the sprawling and engaging Cryptonomicon, has written a manifesto that could be spoken by a character from that brilliant book. Primarily, In the Beginning ... Was the Command Line discusses the past and future of personal computer operating systems. "It is the fate of manufactured goods to slowly and gently depreciate as they get old," he writes, "but it is the fate of operating systems to become free." While others in the computer industry express similarly dogmatic statements, Stephenson charms the reader into his way of thinking, providing anecdotes and examples that turn the pages for you.

Stephenson is a techie, and he's writing for an audience of coders and hackers in Command Line. The idea for this essay began online, when a shortened version of it was posted on Slashdot.org. The book still holds some marks of an e-mail flame gone awry, and some tangents should have been edited to hone his formidable arguments. But unlike similar writers who also discuss technical topics, he doesn't write to exclude; readers who appreciate computing history (like Dealers of Lightning or Fire in the Valley) can easily step into this book.

Stephenson tackles many myths about industry giants in this volume, specifically Apple and Microsoft. By now, every newspaper reader has heard of Microsoft's overbearing business practices, but Stephenson cuts to the heart of new issues for the software giant with a finely sharpened steel blade. Apple fares only a little better as Stephenson (a former Mac user himself) highlights the early steps the company took to prepare for a monopoly within the computer market--and its surprise when this didn't materialize. Linux culture gets a thorough--but fair--skewering, and the strengths of BeOS are touted (although no operating system is nearly close enough to perfection in Stephenson's eyes).

As for the rest of us, who have gladly traded free will and an intellectual understanding of computers for a clutter-free, graphically pleasing interface, Stephenson has thoughts to offer as well. He fully understands the limits nonprogrammers feel in the face of technology (an example being the "blinking 12" problem when your VCR resets itself). Even so, within Command Line he convincingly encourages us as a society to examine the metaphors of technology--simplifications that aren't really much simpler--that we greedily accept. --Jennifer Buckendorff

From Publishers Weekly

After reading this galvanizing essay, first intended as a feature for Wired magazine but never published there, readers are unlikely to look at their laptops in quite the same mutely complacent way. Stephenson, author of the novel Cryptonomicon, delivers a spirited commentary on the aesthetics and cultural import of computer operating systems. It's less an archeology of early machines than a critique of what Stephenson feels is the inherent fuzziness of graphical user interfacesAthe readily intuitable "windows," "desktops" and "browsers" that we use to talk to our computers. Like Disney's distortion of complicated historical events, our operating systems, he argues, lull us into a reductive sense of reality. Instead of the visual metaphors handed to us by Apple and Microsoft, Stephenson advocates the purity of the command line interface, somewhat akin to the DOS prompt from which most people flee in a technophobic panic. Stephenson is an advocate of Linux, the hacker-friendly operating system distributed for free on the Internet, and of BeOS, a less-hyped paradigm for the bits-and-bytes future. Unlike a string of source code, this essay is user-friendlyAoccasionally to a fault. Stephenson's own set of extended metaphors can get a little hokey: Windows is a station wagon, while Macs are sleek Euro-sedans. And Unix is the Gilgamesh epic of the hacker subculture. Nonetheless, by pointing out how computers define who we are, Stephenson makes a strong case for elegance and intellectual freedom in computing. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer has long been one of the most popular characters in Known Space. Now, for the first time ever, Larry Niven brings together all the Beowulf Shaeffer stories--including a brand-new one--in one long tale of exploration and adventure! PLUS--an all-new framing story that pulls together all of Beowulf Shaeffer's adventures and allows Shaeffer and his family to make a clean start at life once and for all!

From the Inside Flap

Crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer has long been one of the most popular characters in Known Space. Now, for the first time ever, Larry Niven brings together all the Beowulf Shaeffer stories--including a brand-new one--in one long tale of exploration and adventure! PLUS--an all-new framing story that pulls together all of Beowulf Shaeffer's adventures and allows Shaeffer and his family to make a clean start at life once and for all!

Review

"Exceptional freshness and suspense . . .  full of startling revelations about human and puppeteer politics."
--_Booklist

_“A new Known Space book, particularly one with new information about Puppeteers and their doings behind the scenes of human history, needs recommending within the science fiction community about as much as a new Harry Potter novel does – well, anywhere.  But Niven and Lerner have produced a novel that can stand on its own as well as part of the Known Space franchise.”
--_Locus
_

"A far-future SF mystery/adventure set two centuries before the discovery of the Ringworld by humans. . . . . Intriguing human and alien characters and lucid scientific detail."
--_Library Journal_

“A very worthy addition to the ongoing Known Space future history.”
--_SciFi.com_

Product Description

Fleeing the supernova chain reaction at the galactic core, the cowardly Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds have---just barely---survived. They’ve stumbled from one crisis to the next: The rebellion of their human slaves. The relentless questing of the species of Known Space. The spectacular rise of the starfish-like Gw’oth. The onslaught of the genocidal Pak. 

Catastrophe looms again as past crises return---and converge. Who can possibly save the Fleet of Worlds from its greatest peril yet?

Louis Wu? Trapped in the Wunderland civil war, all he wants is to go home---but the only possible escape will plunge him into unknowable danger. 

Ol’t’ro? The Gw’oth ensemble mind fled across the stars to establish a colony world free from tyranny. But some problems cannot be left behind, and other problems---like the Fleet of Worlds itself---are racing straight at them. 

Achilles? Despite past disgrace, the charismatic Puppeteer politician knows he is destined for greatness. He will do anything to seize power---and to take his revenge on everyone who ever stood in his way.

Nessus? The insane Puppeteer scout is out of ideas, out of resources, with only desperation left to guide him.  

Their hopes and fears, dreams and ambitions are about to collide. And the winner takes . . . worlds.

From Booklist

As an agent for the Amalgamated Regional Militia, Simon Ausfaller uses his innate paranoia to ferret out alien conspiracies and protect earth’s colonies from harm. He meets his match in the obsessively protective puppeteers, a race of two-headed extraterrestrials whose impermeable General Products spaceship hulls come with an expensive guarantee of safety. In his latest investigation, Ausfaller probes the reasons why one GP hull apparently failed to protect the humans inside and discovers that tidal waves from a neutron star had some part in their demise. The case quickly becomes more complicated, leading Ausfaller on a trail across multiple worlds that branches into an even deeper mystery—puppeteers everywhere are deserting their posts for unknown but ominous reasons that may also spell disaster for humans. In their second collaboration, Niven and Lerner return to the era of Known Space history predating human discovery of Niven’s iconic Ringworld. They clearly enjoy revisiting aliens familiar from Niven’s menagerie while spinning an elaborate tale of interplanetary intrigue. Their many fans will, too. --Carl Hays

Review

“Niven and Lerner…clearly enjoy revisiting aliens familiar from Niven’s menagerie while spinning an elaborate tale of interplanetary intrigue.  Their many fans will, too.”--_Booklist

"Niven and Lerner...adroitly expand upon familiar ground...and, at the same time, pour it into an entirely new bottle."--Starlog_

"A lively prequel to Niven's 1970 classic, Ringworld. . . .  Fans of hard SF will be well rewarded."--_Publishers Weekly_ on Fleet of Worlds

__ 

"Exceptional freshness and suspense . . .  full of startling revelations about human and puppeteer politics."--_Booklist _on Fleet of Worlds

__ 

"A far-future SF mystery/adventure set two centuries before the discovery of the Ringworld by humans. . . . . Intriguing human and alien characters and lucid scientific detail."--_Library Journal_ on Fleet of Worlds

From Publishers Weekly

Niven, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, and Lerner (_Probe_) offer a lively prequel to Niven's 1970 classic, Ringworld. It's 2650, some 500 years after the human colony ship Long Pass was captured by Citizens, those paranoid, two-headed beings better known as Puppeteers from the Fleet of Worlds. The Citizens of the Concordance have bred and nurtured successive generations of human Colonists from the Long Pass's crew and embryo banks, while lying about their origins, telling stories about an abandoned colony ship adrift in space. When a team of Colonist explorers led by Citizen Nessus to study intelligent life on an ice-covered world also uncovers evidence that the Concordance has lied about the past, they're determined to find the truth. Meanwhile, Concordance Citizens learn that the ruling Conservative policymakers have mishandled secret contacts with Earth and endangered the Fleet. Fans of hard SF will be well rewarded. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Niven's latest foray into Known Space, his favorite imaginary universe, revisits the domain of the puppeteers, the perpetually nervous, two-headed extraterrestrials featured in his Ringworld series. In this collaboration with the author of Moonstruck (2005), Niven steps back a few centuries before Ringworld's discovery to witness the puppeteers' flight from a lethal explosion at the galactic core. To safeguard his species' fleet of migrating worlds from hostile forces, a veteran puppeteer starship pilot enlists an unlikely trio of human scientists for scouting missions ahead of the fleet's path. Raised from embryos apparently discovered on a derelict starship, the humans have known only servitude and a limited culture carefully tailored by their alien hosts. Yet a chance discovery on one of their space treks slices through a web of puppeteer lies and provokes rebellion when the humans learn their true home may be waiting for them on Earth. Lerner may be responsible for the exceptional freshness and suspense of this further chapter of Known Space lore, full of startling revelations about human and puppeteer politics. Hays, Carl

From Publishers Weekly

Fleeing a massive explosion at the galactic core, a human colony and their allies, the alien Puppeteers, discover they are not the only ones desperate to outrace destruction in the third prequel to Niven's Ringworld saga (after 2008's Juggler of Worlds). Thssthfok, a ruthless Pak, will do anything to safeguard his clan after Pakhome is destroyed. Paranoid human agent Sigmund Ausfaller and Puppeteer Baedeker are sent to investigate a distress call from the Gw'oth, who have detected a suspicious ship headed toward the Fleet. Sigmund agrees to work with the Gw'oth, but he's concerned that their insatiable drive for scientific development may make them an even bigger threat than the Pak. With the authors working hard to knit together backstory, this one is primarily for fans of Niven's Known Space setting who will enjoy seeing past puzzles made clear. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

Worlds closer to the galatic core than Known Space are --or were-- home to intelligent speciers.  Some learned of the core explosion in time to flee.  Destroyer of Worlds opens in 2670, ten years after _Juggler of Worlds_ closes; with refugee species fleeing in an armada of ramscoops in the direction of the  Fleet of Worlds.  The onrushing aliens are recognized as a threat; they have left in their trail a host of desolated worlds: some raided for supplies, some attacked to eliminate competition, and some for pure xenophobia. 

Only the Puppeteers might have the resources to confront this threat--but the Puppeteers are philosophical cowards... they don't confront anyone.  They need sepoys to investigate the situation and take action for them.  The source of the sepoys?  Their newly independent former slave world, New Terra.     

Product Description

Gil "The Arm" Hamilton was one of the top operatives of ARM, the elite UN plice force. His intuition was unfailingly accurate, his detective skills second to none, and his psychic powers -- esper sense and telekinesis -- were awesome. Now you can read all the classic stories of the legendary ARM operative, collected in one volume for the first time -- plus, an all-new, never-before-published Gil Hamilton adventure!

From Publishers Weekly

In the long-awaited sequel to 1976's Hugo and Nebula–nominated Inferno, dead science fiction writer Allen Carpenter returns to the nine circles of Dante's Hell on a quest. After witnessing infamous fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (Carpenter's Virgil-like guide in Inferno) escape from the confines of Hell, Carpenter vows to make the nightmarish journey again and liberate as many tortured souls as possible. Poet Sylvia Plath, recently freed from the Wood of Suicides, accompanies Carpenter, as do a diverse cast of notorious historic figures, including Pontius Pilate, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Anna Nicole Smith. This well-constructed tale will inspire many readers to seek out the original Divine Comedy, but fans of Inferno may find that the landscape and the plot are a little too familiar. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In Inferno (1976), Niven and Pournelle updated Dante for the modern age, swapping medieval torments for more contemporary ones. At the end of the book, its protagonist, deceased sf writer Allen Carpenter, accompanied by Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, discovered a way out of hell’s nine circles but remained profoundly disturbed by the underworld’s unjust punishments. Now survivor’s guilt has driven Carpenter back to the damned’s domain to attempt a wholesale rescue of its tortured denizens. His sidekick this time is the poet Sylvia Path, with whom Carpenter shares an uncommon literary perspective on their surroundings. In their trek through hell’s darkest corners, the pair enlists the aid of such historic figures as J. Robert Oppenheimer, J. Edgar Hoover, and militant atheist Bertrand Russell. Satan, however, has other ideas. While the territory is perhaps too littered with celebrities in this installment, Niven and Pournelle’s further life experience helps them add gravitas to Carpenter’s philosophical contemplations. Meanwhile, their collaborative narrative magic is as compelling as ever. --Carl Hays

Amazon.com Review

Top Ten Ways the Large Hadron Collider Could Revolutionize the World of Science
Content from Paul Halpern

1. Solve the riddle of dark matter: the elusive invisible substance that helps steer the outer stars of galaxies and bind galaxies into clusters. The LHC could produce particles massive enough to explain this mystery.

2. Complete the puzzle of the Standard Model: the theory uniting two of the four known forces of nature, electromagnetism and the weak interaction. Based on what turns up in the LHC decay products, this model could be confirmed or need to be modified.

3. Identify the God Particle: more formally known as the Higgs boson. The Higgs is part of a mechanism that explains how the particles that make up matter acquired mass in the early universe, while photons, the carriers of light, remained massless. The mass of the Higgs, if it were found, would help indicate whether the Standard Model is fine as it stands or requires adjustment.

4. Reproduce some of the intense conditions of the Big Bang: the fiery, highly-compact state of the primordial cosmos. One of the specialized detectors at the LHC, called ALICE, will study quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter that existed in the first microseconds of the universe. At that point its temperature was so high that the quarks and gluons that would later form elementary particles such as protons and neutrons were free to move.

5. Explain the universe’s shortage of antimatter: the oppositely-charged counterparts of electrons, protons and other particles. The LHCb, another specialized detector at the LHC, is designed to look for imbalances in certain types of decays that could elucidate how the balance of a harmonious early state of the universe came to tilt in the direction of far more matter than antimatter.

6. Generate miniature black holes: hypothetical incredibly dense states of matter analogous to some of the intense gravitational conditions of the collapsed cores of massive stars. No worries, however; these would decay almost immediately into various particles before presenting even the slimmest chance of harming the Earth.

7. Reveal gateways to higher dimensions: unseen paths beyond ordinary space and time. Certain theories justify why gravity is so much weaker than the other natural forces by positing that gravity particles leak into an extra dimension that ordinary matter and light cannot penetrate. Investigators at the LHC will search for evidence of such invisible channels.

8. Unify matter and forces through supersymmetry: a hypothesis asserting that each matter particle has a counterpart in the world of forces, and each force carrier, a companion in the realm of matter. The LHC will search for the least massive superpartners of conventional particles. The verification of supersymmetry would be an extraordinarily important step toward a theory of everything.

9. Predict the ultimate fate of the cosmos: Recent astronomical discoveries have indicated that space is accelerating in its expansion. The nature of any massive particles found at the LHC could help scientists unravel the properties of this dark energy and thereby determine what will ultimately happen to the universe.

10. Inspire new generations: to pursue careers in physics and carry on the search for the ultimate theory of nature. The shining example of discoveries at the LHC would illuminate a path for future scientists to follow.

Browse Photos of the Collider (Click on image to enlarge)

A corner of the Proton Synchrotron device with its bending magnets. Built in the late 1950s, it has since been used for a variety of purposes and now serves as an early stage of the injector system to accelerate protons and ions before they reach the main ring of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Paul Halpern standing on the grounds of CERN in Switzerland. In the right background is the Globe of Science and Innovation, built in 2002 as a symbol of our planet. In the far left background are the Jura Mountains in France. The 17 mile main ring of the LHC lies deep beneath the verdant countryside between the mountains and CERN.

The Linac (linear accelerator) at CERN is another component of the system for accelerating protons and ions before they reach the main ring of the LHC.

A sample cross-section of a beam pipe through which particles travel.

From Publishers Weekly

Halpern (What's Science Ever Done For Us?), professor of physics and mathematics, makes particle physics accessible in this look at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) "and the extraordinary discoveries likely to be made there." Beginning with the philosophers and scientists who shaped our understanding of the universe over centuries, Halpern explains complex topics and theories concisely, frequently drawing on deft analogies: the "fleeting nature of neutrinos is akin to a featherweight, constantly traveling politician... neutrinos never hang around long enough to make enough of an impact to serve as uniters." After tracing a path from Boyle and Newton through Mendeleev, Maxwell, Rutherford and Einstein, Halpern discusses modern discoveries and details the equipment utilized, from cloud chambers to various kinds of particle accelerators. The bulk of the text focuses on particle physics studies from the past four decades, in the U.S. at Fermilab and the costly but uncompleted Superconducting Super Collider, and in Europe at CERN in Switzerland (responsible for the LHC). Halpern makes the search for mysterious particles pertinent and exciting by explaining clearly what we don't know about the universe, and offering a hopeful outlook for future research.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

Signature_Reviewed by_ Jonah LehrerRichard Dawkins begins The Greatest Show on Earth with a short history of his writing career. He explains that all of his previous books have naïvely assumed the fact of evolution, which meant that he never got around to laying out the evidence that it [evolution] is true. This shouldn't be too surprising: science is an edifice of tested assumptions, and just as physicists must assume the truth of gravity before moving on to quantum mechanics, so do biologists depend on the reality of evolution. It's the theory that makes every other theory possible.Yet Dawkins also came to realize that a disturbingly large percentage of the American and British public didn't share his enthusiasm for evolution. In fact, they actively abhorred the idea, since it seemed to contradict the Bible and diminish the role of God. So Dawkins decided to write a book for these history-deniers, in which he would dispassionately demonstrate the truth of evolution beyond sane, informed, intelligent doubt.After only a few pages of The Greatest Show on Earth, however, it becomes clear that Dawkins doesn't do dispassionate, and that he's not particularly interested in convincing believers to believe in evolution. He repeatedly compares creationists and Holocaust deniers, which is a peculiar way of reaching out to the other side. Elsewhere, Dawkins calls those who don't subscribe to evolution ignorant, fatuously ignorant and ridiculous. All of which raises the point: who, exactly, is supposed to read this book? Is Dawkins preaching to the choir or trying to convert the uninformed? While The Greatest Show on Earth might fail as a work of persuasive rhetoric—Dawkins is too angry and acerbic to convince his opponents—it succeeds as an encyclopedic summary of evolutionary biology. If Charles Darwin walked into a 21st-century bookstore and wanted to know how his theory had fared, this is the book he should pick up.Dawkins remains a superb translator of complex scientific concepts. It doesn't matter if he's spinning metaphors for the fossil record (like a spy camera in a murder trial) or deftly explaining the method by which scientists measure the genetic difference between distinct species: he has a way of making the drollest details feel like a revelation. Even if one already believes in the survival of the fittest, there is something thrilling about learning that the hoof of a horse is homologous to the fingernail of the human middle finger, or that some dinosaurs had a second brain of ganglion cells in their pelvis, which helped compensate for the tiny brain in their head. As Darwin famously noted, There is grandeur in this view of life. What Dawkins demonstrates is that this view of life isn't just grand: it's also undeniably true. Color illus. (Sept. 29)Jonah Lehrer is the author of How We Decide and Proust Was a Neuroscientist.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

"Like a detective reconstructing a crime" (_San Francisco Chronicle_), Dawkins amasses a mountain of evidence in this richly illustrated, enormously readable explanation of the theory of evolution. Though Dawkins may have softened his attitude toward those who can reconcile their religious beliefs with evolution, he still harbors great hostility toward its detractors, equating them to Holocaust deniers—a label that riled the New York Times Book Review. Objecting to Dawkins's abrasive dogmatism, many critics felt that the biologist is at his best when he forgets his opponents and focuses on the science. He is indeed a master of explaining complex scientific ideas to nonscientific readers, and though The Greatest Show on Earth may not be his best book, it is a well-written, captivating review of the science behind the theory.

The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part. The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.

Amazon.com Review

Historians, write Frances and Joseph Gies, have long tended to view the Middle Ages as a period of intellectual and scientific stagnation, a long era of backwardness, ignorance, and inertia. Many scholars of the Renaissance era, however, thought otherwise; the mathematician Jerome Cardan, for one, held that three medieval inventions--the magnetic compass, the printing press, and gunpowder--were of such significance that "the whole of antiquity has nothing equal to show."

In their lively history of medieval technology, the Gies team writes of such advances as the heavy plow, the Gothic flying buttress, linen undergarments, water pumps, and the lateen sail. During the medieval millennium, they suggest, a great technological and social revolution occurred "with the disappearance of mass slavery, the shift to water- and wind-power, the introduction of the open-field system of agriculture, and the importation, adaptation, or invention of an array of devices, from the wheelbarrow to double-entry bookkeeping." Many of those inventions or adaptations, brought into Europe from China and the Middle East, have scarcely been improved on today.

The medieval technological revolution, the authors conclude, came at a cost: much of Europe was deforested to make room for cropland and to fire kilns and furnaces, and mechanization made obsolete many handicraft skills. Yet, they add, the workers and inventors of the Middle Ages "all transformed the world, on balance very much to the world's advantage." --Gregory McNamee

From Library Journal

Moving chronologically through a millennium (500-1500 A.D.), the authors (who have written numerous books on medieval life, including Life in a Medieval City , LJ 2/1/70) show that the term "Dark Ages" is a misnomer by deftly tracing the period's "main technological elements, . . . their known or probable sources, and their principal impacts." In addition to the technological developments highlighted in the book's title, the authors cover such topics as the textile industry and shipbuilding/rigging, plus obligatory topics like printing, engineering, and gunpowder. Throughout, they nimbly weave medieval cultural history into the discussion. Informative, readable, enjoyable, and well written, this work is directed to general readers. Highly recommended for all collections.
- Michael D. Cramer, Virginia Polytechnic & State Univ. Libs . , Blacksburg
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Amazon.com Review

With first-chapter allusions to martial arts, "flow," "mind like water," and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you'd almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance.

Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do's clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists--all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you're working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed "the personal productivity guru," suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.)

As whole-life-organizing systems go, Allen's is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can't junk, The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant "in-basket"

That's where the processing and prioritizing begin; in Allen's system, it get a little convoluted at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen's ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there's anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It's commonsense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment; Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belabored, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to soccer moms (who we all know are more organized than most CEOs to start with). --_Timothy Murphy_

From Booklist

Allen, a management consultant and executive coach, provides insights into attaining maximum efficiency and at the same time relaxing whenever one needs or wants to. Readers learn that there is no single means for perfecting organizational efficiency or productivity; rather, the author offers tools to focus energies strategically and tactically without letting anything fall through the cracks. He provides tips, techniques, and tricks for implementation of his workflow management plan, which has two basic components: capture all the things that need to get done into a workable, dependable system; and discipline oneself to make front-end decisions with an action plan for all inputs into that system. In short, do it (quickly), delegate it (appropriately), or defer it. While an infomercial for the author's consulting practice, this road map for organizational efficiency may help many who have too much to do in too little time, both professionally and in their personal lives. Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved