Zombie Baseball Beatdown

In this inventive, fast-paced novel, New York Times bestselling and Printz Award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi takes on hard-hitting themes--from food safety to racism and immigration--and creates a zany, grand-slam adventure that will get kids thinking about where their food comes from. The zombie apocalypse begins on the day Rabi, Miguel, and Joe are practicing baseball near their town's local meatpacking plant and nearly get knocked out by a really big stink. Little do they know the plant's toxic cattle feed is turning cows into flesh-craving monsters! The boys decide to launch a stealth investigation into the plant's dangerous practices, unknowingly discovering a greedy corporation's plot to look the other way as tainted meat is sold to thousands all over the country. With no grownups left they can trust, Rabi and his friends will have to grab their bats to protect themselves (and a few of their enemies) if they want to stay alive...and maybe even save the world.
Views: 603

Crisis in the Red Zone

The 2013-2014 Ebola epidemic was the deadliest ever—but the outbreaks continue. Now comes a gripping account of the doctors and scientists fighting to protect us, an urgent wake-up call about the future of emerging viruses—from the #1 bestselling author of The Hot Zone, soon to be a National Geographic original miniseries.In the taut and suspenseful Crisis in the Red Zone, Preston chronicles the recent Ebola epidemic of 2013-2014—the worst outbreak of hemorrhagic fever in history, where we saw for the first time the specter of Ebola jumping continents, crossing the ocean, and killing people in America. Rich in characters and conflict—physical, emotional, and ethical—Crisis in the Red Zone is a total immersion into one of the great medical calamities of our time.Preston writes of doctors and nurses in the field putting their own lives on the line, government bureaucrats and NGO administrators moving, often fitfully,...
Views: 603

Cosmic Connection

n 1973, Carl Sagan published The Cosmic Connection, a daring view of the universe, which rapidly became a classic work of popular science and inspired a generation of scientists and enthusiasts. This seminal work is reproduced here for a whole new generation to enjoy. In Sagan's typically lucid, lyrical style, he discusses many topics from astrophysics and solar system science, to colonization of other worlds, terraforming and the search for extraterrestrials. [in this book, he] conveys his own excitement and wonder, and relates the revelations of astronomy to the most profound human problems and concerns: issues that are just as valid today as they were 30 years ag
Views: 601

The Siege Of Apuao Grande

The first novel involving T.A., a tourist to the Philippines, seeking romance, becomes inextricably involved in an armed uprising at an isolated tourist resort, part of a national rebellion. Unsure what to do, he is foolishly guided by the actions of his fictional heroes in the many novels he has read. Then, at a loss, he teams up with a mysterious ex-pat permanent resident of the island.This is the first of three novels involving T.A. Returning to the Philippines to reunite with his girlfriend, and return to their isolated island tourist resort to rekindle their romance, he becomes an unwilling and inexperienced participant in a national armed uprising. He is only aware of the local events and initially thinks he has stumbled on a massive drug-smuggling operation and is unsure if, of how he should resist. Untrained for such events, initially he is guided only by the actions of the fictional characters in the many novels he has read. A mysterious ex-pat, permanent resident on the island, reluctantly takes him under his wing and T.A. tries not to be a burden as they try to save themselves and as many tourists as they can.
Views: 601

Beneath

What waits Beneath? Pat O'Toole has always idolized his older brother, Coop. He's even helped Coop with some of his crazier plans -- such as risking his life to help his big brother dig a tunnel underneath their neighborhood in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Coop is . . . different. He doesn't talk on the phone, doesn't use email, and doesn't have friends. He's never really cared for anything but the thrill of being underground and Pat. So it's no surprise to anyone -- even Pat -- that after a huge fight with their parents, Coop runs away. Exactly one year later, Pat receives a package containing a digital voice recorder and a cryptic message from his brother. He follows the clues to New York City, and soon discovers that Coop has joined the Community, a self-sufficient society living beneath the streets. Now it's up to Pat to find his brother -- and bring him home.
Views: 601

Physics

For many centuries, Aristotle's Physics was the essential starting point for anyone who wished to study the natural sciences. Now, in the first translation into English since 1930, Aristotle's thought is presented accurately, with a lucid introduction and extensive notes to explain the general structure of each section of the book, and shed light on particular problems. It simplifies and expands the style of the original, making for easier reading and better comprehension.
Views: 599

The B-Team

The opening episode of The Human Division, John Scalzi's new thirteen-episode novel in the world of his bestselling Old Man's War. Colonial Union Ambassador Ode Abumwe and her team are used to life on the lower end of the diplomatic ladder. But when a high-profile diplomat goes missing, Abumwe and her team are last minute replacements on a mission critical to the Colonial Unions future. As the team works to pull off their task, CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson discovers theres more to the story of the missing diplomats than anyone expected...a secret that could spell war for humanity.
Views: 597

The Other Side of the Sky

The Other Side of the Sky presents a glimpse of our future: a future where reality is no longer contained in earthly dimensions, where man has learned to exist with the knowledge that he is not alone in the universe. These stories of other planets and galactic adventures show Arthur C Clarke at the peak of his powers: sometimes disturbing, always intriguing.
Views: 590

The Positronic Man

by Isaac Asimov, Robert SilverbergIn a twenty-first century Earth where the development of the positronic brain has revolutionized the way of life, beloved household robot ""Andrew"" struggles with his unusual capacity for emotion and dreams of becoming human. Reprint.
Views: 589

The Shadow Knows

While this novel begins and ends in a sophisticated and very pleasant little pub called the Free Press in Cambridge, England, the main character must decide whether or not to accept a somewhat ambiguous job offer in the light of some particularly problematic memories of deception, violence and death.While this novel begins and ends in a sophisticated and very pleasant little pub called the Free Press in Cambridge, England, the main character must decide whether or not to accept a somewhat ambiguous job offer in the light of some particularly problematic memories of deception, violence and death. These memories are generated by events in Panama, Cuba, Greece, Cyprus, and the Peopleʼs Republic of China, but their authenticity or validity are often a matter of mystery or conjecture.
Views: 589

An Artist's Freedom

A sample story from the collection of 13 stories in Short Shorts & Longer Tales. A deaf mute aboriginal artist loses a canvas on which he has painted his life. Though he knows where it is, and he can see it, he can't touch or reclaim it. But his ancestral upbringing means he can't leave it behind, so he remains in the vicinity to be near it, passing his time waiting an opportunity.The sample story, "An Artist's Freedom", is merely to give an appetizer from the collection of 13 stories in "Short Shorts & Longer Tales." The sample story tells of an aboriginal deaf mute who loses a canvas on which he has painted his life. Though he knows where it is, and he can see it, he can't touch or reclaim it. But his ancestral upbringing means he can't leave it behind, so he remains in the vicinity to be near it, passing his time waiting for an opportunity to reclaim it. The story earned a 4th placing in the NZ Writers' College nationwide competition in 2010. The full collection is widely varied in location including Japan, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand; varied in nature from wonderfully witty, superb suspense and seriously sad tales. Varying in length from 1,000 words to a 15,000 word novella. Easily readable without a dictionary by your side.
Views: 588

Asimovs Mysteries

Asimov's Mysteries, published in 1968, is a collection of 14 short stories by Isaac Asimov, all of them science fiction mysteries. The stories were all originally published in magazines between 1954 and 1967. Four stories in the collection feature the character of Wendell Urth, who is a leading extra-terrologist. Urth is eccentric in that he has a phobia of all mechanical forms of transport. Physically Urth resembles Norbert Wiener. He appears in the stories when he is consulted by an agent of the Terrestrial Bureau of Investigation, H. Seton Davenport, in cases which have him baffled - a parallel with the way in which Inspector Lestrade consults Sherlock Holmes. In a fifth story in the collection, The Dust of Death, Asimov shows Davenport a generosity that Conan Doyle never extended to Lestrade in demonstrating the former's ability to solve a case for himself without outside assistance.
Views: 585

Fillets of Plaice

Durrell's hilarious and warm My Family and Other Animals (1957) began a trio of reminiscences of his life growing up with a slightly dotty family—the overbearing and omniscient Larry; the affectionate and loving siblings, Margot and Leslie; and, of course, the overburdened and patient Mother—on the island of Corfu in the 1930s, when a pound could buy a villa and life was conducted as a series of riotously high (and sometimes low) adventures. But what shines through these five vignettes is the author's engagement with and immense affection for animals in all their forms. From fish to fowl, from lizards to little water fleas (daphnia), Durrell's eye is acute and his prose is tart. You can read this book for the humor alone (for he did perceive his family as some rare and rarefied species), but between the lines you can discern the makings of a world-class naturalist and a cultivated and engaging writer.
Views: 582