From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Beginning with a recently discovered 47-million-year-old primate fossil, Switek effectively and eloquently demonstrates the exponential increase in fossils that have been found since Darwin first published On the Origin of Species. In delightful prose, he blends information about fossil evidence with the scientific debates about how that evidence might be best interpreted. Switek, who writes the Smithsonian's Dinosaur Tracking blog, focuses on evidence for the evolution of major lineages, from reptiles to birds and from fish to tetrapods. He also explains at length how whales, horses, and humans evolved, marshaling compelling fossil evidence and combining it with information from molecular biology; at every step, he makes clear what is still unknown. He underscores that life forms have not "progressed" through evolution to end with Homo sapiens as the highest life form; rather, evolution has produced "a wildly branching tree of life with no predetermined path or endpoint." He superbly shows that "f we can let go of our conceit," we will see the preciousness of life in all its forms. 90 b&w illus. (Nov.) (c) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. From BooklistIn this thoroughly entertaining science history, Switek combines a deep knowledge of the fossil record with a Holmesian compulsion to investigate the myriad ways evolutionary discoveries have been made. Just one chapter encompasses an 1817 Amazon expedition, Richard Owen and London’s Natural History Museum, the musings of Darwin, an array of late nineteenth- and twentieth-century naturalists, some digs in Greenland, and paleontologist Jenny Clack’s 1980 research in old field notebooks and a trip to the Sedgewick Museum basement. All of this leads in a roundabout way to the 2006 discovery of Tiktaalik: a fish with a critical position in the record between fins and fingers. From there Switek moves on to “footprints and feathers” and a dozen other topics that all further his mission of exploring natural history and portraying the scientists who spent their lives asking questions and finding answers. It’s poetry, serendipity, and smart entertainment because Switek has found the sweet spot between academic treatise and pop culture, a literary locale that is a godsend to armchair explorers everywhere. --Colleen Mondor Views: 32
A monumental work – acclaimed as agenuine masterpiece – L. Ron Hubbard's 1.2-million-word-ten-volume MISSION EARTH dekalogy brilliantly blends science fiction and action/adventure on a vast interstellar scale with stinging satire – in the literary tradition of Voltaire, Swift and Orwell – on the world's foibles and fancies. A true publishing phenomenon – precedent-setting when each volume, in turn, became a New York Times and then an international bestseller – MISSION EARTH has already sold more than five million copies and continues to appear on bestseller lists in contries throghout the world. Winner of France's Cosmos 2000 Award and the Nova Science Fiction Award in Italy, and nominated for a Hugo Award, MISSION EARTH is an epic narrative of a secret invasion of Earth as seen-and vividly recounted – by the aliens who, unrecognized, already live and work among us. It is a novel crowded with sharply memorable characters and with places and events cloaked in splendor, menace and mystery: Palace City, Joy City, the forbidden prison fortress of Spiteos, the violent fall of the Voltar Confederation. The Voltar Confederation has a long-range plan to use Earth as a strategic staging area in its continuing conquest of the galaxy. However, with the discovery that Earth is being destroyed by pollution, drugs and other menaces, Combat Engineer Jettero Heller is sent on a top-secret mission to save the planet from self-destruction. Unknown to Heller, another Voltarian faction (the Coordinated Information Apparatus) has secretly been using Earth as a supply base for drugs. It dispatches its own counter mission to thwart Heller's plans. Views: 32
Fresh from the slaughter at Bastogne, Sgt. C.J. Mahoney rejoins Charlie Company of Patton's Hammerhead Division. His new commander is glory-seeking Lt. Woodward, a stiff-spined West Pointer who wields his rank like a bullwhip—all of it stinging Mahoney's hide. Just as the Sergeant is about to rearrange his new superior officer's baby face, German bullets and grenades burst through the heavy snowfall. Slicing his way through the blood and guts of no-man's-land with his kill-crazy sidekick Cranepool, Mahoney is singled out by Woodward for a volley of arrogant abuse. Burning at both ends, the Sergeant blasts hell at Hitler's advancing troops, saving the entire company from oblivion. Mahoney is up for the Silver Star—but first he vows to settle the score with a particular backstabbing lieutenant! Views: 32
Star of Christmas Jayne Rylon Star has seen it all as a sex worker in Amsterdam. She harnesses her intense sexuality to bring her clients satisfaction—or whatever else they desire. When one of her favorites, Rick, makes an unusual proposition, she accepts the rare opportunity. She finds herself onstage, the lead in a naughty Christmas pageant, indulging in electrophilia where anyone can witness her client-turned-costar give her a present she’ll never forget. The sparks between them grow into something more, forcing them to decide if they’re strong enough to seek more than simple pleasure together. Views: 32
