Michael finds himself captured by an entity he hadn't expected. His military training had not taught him to deal with abduction on this scale. Could he escape a seemingly inescapable cell?This is a short story of 2,600 words. It is part three in the 'Origins' series of stories which connect with one another in unexpected ways.Adrienne Tellier is the owner of a brothel in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Her brother Alphonse is a wealthy lawyer who’s married to a beautiful woman named Dora. Little does he know, however, that Dora and Adrienne have been in love since the first night they met – the eve of his and Dora’s wedding.“Madam Tellier’s Lover” is a serialized story divided into three novella-length installments. Part One focuses on Adrienne’s inheritance of the brothel, as well as on her estranged brother’s wedding, where she meets Dora Wakefield for the first time – and falls madly in love.This is a fictional continuation of the short story “Madame Tellier’s Excursion” by Guy de Maupassant. Views: 551
Essential, required reading for doctors and patients alike: A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and one of the world’s premiere cancer researchers reveals an urgent philosophy on the little-known principles that govern medicine—and how understanding these principles can empower us all.
Over a decade ago, when Siddhartha Mukherjee was a young, exhausted, and isolated medical resident, he discovered a book that would forever change the way he understood the medical profession. The book, The Youngest Science, forced Dr. Mukherjee to ask himself an urgent, fundamental question: Is medicine a “science”? Sciences must have laws—statements of truth based on repeated experiments that describe some universal attribute of nature. But does medicine have laws like other sciences?
Dr. Mukherjee has spent his career pondering this question—a question that would ultimately produce some of most serious thinking he would do around the tenets of his discipline—culminating in The Laws of Medicine. In this important treatise, he investigates the most perplexing and illuminating cases of his career that ultimately led him to identify the three key principles that govern medicine.
Brimming with fascinating historical details and modern medical wonders, this important book is a fascinating glimpse into the struggles and Eureka! moments that people outside of the medical profession rarely see. Written with Dr. Mukherjee’s signature eloquence and passionate prose, The Laws of Medicine is a critical read, not just for those in the medical profession, but for everyone who is moved to better understand how their health and well-being is being treated. Ultimately, this book lays the groundwork for a new way of understanding medicine, now and into the future. Views: 551
A collection of the best science and nature writing published in North America in 2019, guest edited by New York Times best-selling author and ground-breaking physicist Dr. Michio Kaku."Scientists and science writers have a monumental task: making science exciting and relevant to the average person, so that they care," writes renowned American physicist Michio Kaku. "If we fail in this endeavor, then we must face dire consequences." From the startlingly human abilities of AI, to the devastating accounts of California's forest fires, to the impending traffic jam on the moon, the selections in this year's Best American Science and Nature Writing explore the latest mysteries and marvels occurring in our labs and in nature. These gripping narratives masterfully translate the work of today's brightest scientists, offering a clearer view of our world and making us care. THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING 2020 INCLUDES RIVKA... Views: 549
Set in ancient times, this is a story about a man confronting the horrors of war and through it discovering a deeper truth.A wise man in the service of a besieged city and a powerful king must face the brutal logic and reasoning of war and the inevitable conflict with conscience. Can he stand by and let injustice be done, or if not, can he betray the peSet in ancient times, this is a story about faith.In particular, it is a story about a man confronting the horrors of war and through it discovering a deeper truth.A wise man in the service of a besieged city and a powerful king must face the brutal logic and reasoning of war and the inevitable conflict with conscience. Can he stand by and let injustice be done, or if not, can he betray the people he loves and serves? Views: 543
Big Brothers Are Watching
Legendary science fiction icon Arthur C. Clarke, who in recent years has cowritten The Trigger with Michael Kube-McDowell and several Rama novels with Gentry Lee (Rama II, Garden of Rama, Rama Revealed) collaborates here for the first time with British author Stephen Baxter (Moonseed, Voyage, Titan, and Manifold Time) on a powerful, near-future speculative story of our world on the brink of radical change. The authors envision what the social consciousness and culture shock of life would be like when all privacy is irrevocably gone. Driven by Clarke's vision and fleshed out by Baxter's easygoing narrative, The Light of Other Days is intriguing conjecture supported by deep-seated principles in a time when total indifference has taken root.
In the early 21st century, industrialist Hiram Patterson isn't content with his multimedia conglomerate called OurWorld and dedicates himself to further innovation. While attending an OurWorld event, journalist Kate Manzoni prepares to break a major story on Hiram's latest invention, which is shrouded in secrecy. Her previous cutting-edge bit of news was the disclosure of the Wormwood, a comet which is set on a collision course with Earth and destined to destroy all life on the planet in 500 years. Drug use, suicide, and apathy are at an all-time high across the globe.
Still, that doesn't stop Hiram from doing what he does best: making money off scientific breakthroughs. His latest invention, as Kate learns, is a "WormCam": a stabilized wormhole of atomic size that is only large enough to send a radio signal through. His next call of order is to enlarge the wormhole until it is big enough to allow for visual images. Hiram's long-abandoned son, David, a top physics scientist and devout Catholic, is called back to OurWorld in order to oversee the WormCam project.
The debonair Bobby Patterson, Hiram's younger son, is soon wooing Kate even while she uses him to get closer to Hiram's secrets. Bobby learns that the brain implant he had embedded as a child was actually designed to make him lack emotion and religious faith, as well as allow him to be easily coerced by his father. When Kate helps him to shut down the implant, Bobby is opened to a whole new world of exquisite love, anger, and pain. Eventually his brother David enlarges the WormCam until visual imagery is capable of traveling back and forth. David also determines that the WormCam is not only capable of bending space, but also time.
As Kate uses the WormCam in an attempt to take down a notorious religious leader who uses a deadly form of virtual reality on his followers despite its ill effects, she begins to make herself powerful enemies, among them Hiram. Bobby and Kate set out on personal missions intended to keep the wormholes out of the wrong hands and put them to use for mankind's benefit. However, that's easier said than done, as government agencies and corporate competitors learn of the invention and a chain reaction is started -- everyone spying on everyone else across the globe and across time.
Stephen Baxter deserves all the praise he's received in recent years for his thought-provoking and evocative novels. As a winner of the John W. Campbell Award, Baxter again proves he has what it takes to hold his own with such a visionary as Arthur C. Clarke. The authors are at ease fusing their ideas and techniques, moving between the hard-science elements and the credible, emotionally dense circumstances propelling the characters forward. The constant tension between Hiram, Kate, and Bobby is put to wonderful use, as Bobby sees life for the first time with an open soul. Possibly the strongest scene comes when Hiram realizes the WormCams can look backward into time. He turns a challenging gaze to the heavens for all the future watchers staring at him to see.
As the world undergoes extreme change and privacy is done away with, our protagonists are forced to take personal stands for their beliefs despite all the conflict taking place around them. This is made even more difficult for them by the ever-present threat of the Wormwood comet that will eventually decimate all life. The theme is a strong one: How hard will you strive for your ideals when the world is going to end in the not-so-distant future? How strong is your faith? Clarke and Baxter have given us a moving and believable story, bringing together various scientific threads and philosophical ideology. They not only grab the reader's interest but also fire one's imagination on how technology leads to radical social and political change.
The Light of Other Days doesn't sink under the inertia of the secular debates in the novel: Clarke and Baxter's unraveling of the intense subplots of faith and fear is impeccable. It's rare to find authors so cognizant of cultural transformation, who understand the ethical dilemmas that influence a world on the edge of upheaval in the name of progress. This is an enthralling inquiry into the effects of a major scientific breakthrough on values and belief systems; it will draw the reader into the brilliant light of powerful storytelling.
Tom Piccirilli Views: 542
How much do you know about the radiation all around you?Your electronic devices swarm with it; the sun bathes you in it. It's zooming at you from cell towers, microwave ovens, CT scans, mammogram machines, nuclear power plants, deep space, even the walls of your basement. You cannot see, hear, smell or feel it, but there is never a single second when it is not flying through your body. Too much of it will kill you, but without it you wouldn't live a year.From beloved popular science writer Bob Berman, ZAPPED tells the story of all the light we cannot see, tracing infrared, microwaves, ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays, radio waves and other forms of radiation from their historic, world-altering discoveries in the 19th century to their central role in our modern way of life, setting the record straight on health costs (and benefits) and exploring the consequences of our newest technologies. Lively, informative, and packed with fun facts and "eureka moments,"... Views: 542
'When you have a large collection of animals to transport from one end of the world to the other you cannot, as a lot of people seem to think, just hoist them aboard the nearest ship and set off with a gay wave of your hand.'
Gerald Durrell and his wife are the proud owners of a small zoo on the island of Jersey. But there's one thing that's better than a small zoo - a bigger one! So Durrell heads off to South America to collect more animals.
Along windswept Patagonian shores and in Argentine tropical forests, he encounters a range of animals from penguins to elephant seals. But as always, he is drawn to those rare and interesting creatures which he hopes will thrive and breed in captivity . . .
Told with enthusiasm and without sentimentality, Gerald Durrell's The Whispering Land is an often hilarious but always inspiring foray into the South American wilds. Views: 540
A stunning testament to his creative genius. Forward The Foundation is a the saga's dramatic climax -- the story Asimov fans have been waiting for. An exciting tale of danger, intrigue, and suspense, Forward The Foundation brings to vivid life Asimov's best loved characters: hero Hari Seldon, who struggles to perfect his revolutionary theory of psychohistory to ensure the survival of humanity; Cleon II, the vain and crafty emperor of the Galactic Empire, Views: 540
Primo Levi, the Italian-born chemist once described by Philip Roth as that “quicksilver little woodland creature enlivened by the forest’s most astute intelligence,” has largely been considered a heroic figure in the annals of twentieth-century literature for If This Is a Man, his haunting account of Auschwitz. Yet Levi’s body of work extends considerably beyond his experience as a survivor. Now, the transformation of Levi from Holocaust memoirist to one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers culminates in this publication of The Complete Works of Primo Levi. This magisterial collection finally gathers all of Levi’s fourteen books—memoirs, essays, poetry, and fiction—into three slip-cased volumes. Thirteen of the books feature new translations, and the other is newly revised by the original translator. Nobel laureate Toni Morrison introduces Levi’s writing as a “triumph of human identity and worth over the pathology of human destruction.” The appearance of this historic publication will occasion a major reappraisal of “one of the most valuable writers of our time” (Alfred Kazin).
The Complete Works of Primo Levi features all new translations of: The Periodic Table, The Drowned and the Saved, The Truce, Natural Histories, Flaw of Form, The Wrench, Lilith, Other People’s Trades, and If Not Now, When?—as well as all of Levi’s poems, essays, and other nonfiction work, some of which have never appeared before in English. Views: 539
A quick story about two women who find themselves in a world of trouble when they hop in a cab driven by a raving psychopath.What would life be like if there were no emotions?What would it be like if water washed away your feelings?For Felicity Parker this is her whole life, she is used to feeling nothing. All this changes when she meets Michael who shows her life has more to offer than she ever thought, but this comes with a hefty price. Torn between love and pain; she must make a decision that can change her whole life. Views: 537
The name Che Guevara is synonymous with Latin America. This classic anthology on Latin America shows the Argentine-born revolutionary s cultural depth, rigorous intellect and intense emotional engagement with a continent and its people.
Selected from his family s personal archives, this book offers the best of Che s writing: examples of his journalism, essays, speeches, letters and even his poetry, revealing the evolution of an extraordinary mind from that of an impressionable young medical student to the heroic guerrilla, brutally assassinated in Bolivia.
This anthology of Che Guevara's writing on Latin America is destined to become an instant classic comparable to Eduardo Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America.
I consider my country to be not only Argentina but the entire Americas.
Ernesto Che Guevara
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When the lead singer of a highly successful metal band hooks up with a sexy groupie, it transforms him and he performs the most shocking encore ever in the music industry.Lillie is excited. Her boyfriend of two years, Matt, has asked her out to her favourite restaurant, and she can just feel he is going to ask her the big question. But will she ever make it to the date? And will he finally propose? Views: 536
Richard is the son of a sea captain sent to a boarding school in North Yorkshire. He is rescued from the cruel environment by a friend of his father and becomes a cabin boy on a pre Captain Cook private venture to discover the great southern continent.Richard is the son of a sea captain sent to a boarding school in North Yorkshire. He is rescued from the cruel environment by a friend of his father and becomes a cabin boy on a pre Captain Cook private venture to discover the great southern continent. His ship battles storms, becalming, pirates and Richard is marooned on what would become known as New Zealand. He is rescued by a whaling ship becomes involved in America's war with the French then Britain, finds love in England only to incur the wrath of his love's father. Returns with his wife to an America fighting for independence and becomes involved with questionable naval tactics. Young Dick is a ripping good yarn. Views: 534
Special contribution by Nikola Danaylov - "Dreaming Immortality" stands out for the variety of the characters, the range of Transhumanist issues as well as for its articulated story involving humans, artificial intelligences and souls - these last obtained by digitizing the brain after death - that is marked by suspense, action, but also considered thoughts.Special contribution by Nikola Danaylov - This novel was published since 2007 in three different versions, all of them downloadable for free from the Author’s website. The first one – Dreaming Immortality – stands out for the variety of the characters, the range of Transhumanist issues as well as for its articulated story. Script available.24th century. Three races: humans, artificial intelligences and souls obtained by digitizing the brain. Deep differences, incompatible interests. An interstellar voyage to avoid a war, a sect determined to interfere. Suspense, action, but also considered thoughts. The main characters move in a context of epoch-making events, rising to leaders. Their world, alien at the beginning, becomes plausible from the continuous references to the present reality until it seems an inevitable evolution. From this, a powerful and disquieting comparison with our current civilization emerges; that stripping away layer after layer of conventions and prejudices, leaves us at last face to face with the basic values and the fragility of a human being. In the novel, these same factors will give Mankind the strength to take courageous decisions for its own destiny. Meanwhile, the artificial intelligence reveals itself as the means of evolutionary progress towards superior states of awareness and sharing… Views: 534
In this final book of the series, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Colorado secede from Canada and fighting begins. Shawn travels to New Orleans to learn more about the rebellion and is nearly killed as he investigates involvement by an American company seeking to profit from the war. Final efforts at peace are made as people choose between carbines and calumets.In this final book of the series, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Colorado secede from Canada and fighting begins. Shawn travels to New Orleans to learn more about the rebellion and is nearly killed as he investigates involvement by an American company seeking to profit from the war. As bombs fall outside Baton Rouge, President Jolliet calls a gathering, and final efforts at peace are made as people choose between carbines and calumets. Views: 534
