Download or read book Totally Wired written by Andrew Smith and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2019-03-12 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The Social Network meets Hammer of the Gods” in this story of a 1990s web titan who made a fortune and lost it all—and what happened afterward (The Independent). One day in February 2001, Josh Harris woke to certain knowledge that he was about to lose everything. The man Time magazine called “The Warhol of the Web” was reduced to a helpless spectator as his fortune dwindled from 85 million dollars to nothing, all in the space of a week. Harris had been a maverick genius preternaturally adapted to the new online world. He founded New York’s first dotcom, Pseudo.com, and paved the way for a cadre of twentysomethings to follow, riding a wave of tech euphoria to unimagined wealth and fame for five years—before the great dotcom crash, in which Web 1.0 was wiped from the face of the earth. Long before then, though, Harris’s view of the web had darkened, and he began a series of lurid social experiments aimed at illustrating his worst fear: that the internet would soon alter the very fabric of society—cognitive, social, political, and otherwise. In Totally Wired, journalist Andrew Smith seeks to unravel the opaque and mysterious episodes of the early dotcom craze, in which the seeds of our current reality were sown. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Harris and those who worked alongside him in downtown Manhattan’s “Silicon Alley,” the tale moves from a compound in Ethiopia through New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, London, and Salt Lake City, Utah; from the dawn of the web to the present, taking in the rise of alternative facts, troll society, and the unexpected origins of the net itself, as our world has grown uncannily to resemble the one Harris predicted—and urged us to evade. “Raucous, whimsical, sad and very funny…a fascinating account of what could have been, what briefly was, what almost lasted.” ―TheWall Street Journal “Told with verve and style…A valuable history.” ―Kirkus Reviews “A brilliant exploration of madness and genius in the early days of the web.”―The Guardian “Dark and compelling.”―Daily Mail “This is a book whose time has come.”―Sunday Times

Download or read book Moondust written by Andrew Smith and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2006-04-04 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1999, Andrew Smith was interviewing Charlie Duke, astronaut and moon walker, for the Sunday Times. During the course of the interview, which took place at Duke's Texan home, the telephone rang and Charlie left the room to answer it. When he returned, some twenty minutes later, he seemed visibly upset. It seemed that he'd just heard that, the previous day, one of his fellow moon walkers, the astronaut Pete Conrad, had died. The more Charlie spoke the more Andrew realised that his grief was something more than the mere fact of losing a friend. 'Now theres only nine of us,' he said. Only nine. Which meant that, one day not long from now, there would be none, and when that day came, no one on earth would have known the giddy thrill of gazing back at us from the surface of the moon. The thought shocked Andrew, and still does. Moondust is his attempt to understand why. The Apollo moon programme has been called the last optimistic act of the 20th Century. Over a strange three year period between 1969 and 1972, twelve men made the longest and most eccentric of all journeys, and all were indelibly marked by it. In Moondust Andrew sets out to interview all the remaining astronauts who walked on the moon, and to find out how their lives were changed for ever by what had happened. 'Where do you go after you've been to the moon?' In addition to this question that would prove hugely troubling to many of the returned astronauts, they also had to deal with the fantasies of faceless millions at their backs, for this was the first truly global media event. The walkers would forever be caught between the gravitational pull of the moon and the earth's collective dreaming.

Download or read book Devil in the Stack written by Andrew Smith and published by Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2024-08-29 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout history, technological revolutions have been driven by the invention of machines. But today, the power of the technology transforming our world lies in an intangible and impenetrable cosmos of software: algorithmic code. In a world increasingly governed by technologies that so few can comprehend, who-or what-controls the future? Devil in the Stack follows Andrew Smith on his immersive trip into the world of coding, passing through the stories of logic, machine-learning and early computing, from Ada Lovelace to Alan Turing, and up to the present moment, behind the scenes into the lives - and minds - of the pioneers of the 21st century: those who write code. Smith embarks on a quest to understand this sect in what he believes to be the only way possible: by learning to code himself. Expansive and effervescent, Devil in the Stack delivers a portrait of code as both a vivid culture and an impending threat. By turns revelatory, unsettling and joyously funny, this is an essential book for our times, of vital interest to anyone hoping to participate in the future-defining technological debates to come.

Download or read book Devil s Doorknob written by Chris Angstrom and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2000-08-31 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Casino and brothel owner Royal Shane--deeply religious, uncouthly alcoholic, and circling the drain--is faced with ruin when state engineers decide to reroute an existing freeway away from his border gambling joint. He launches on a blackout drunk, during which he apparently murders his young business manager, whom he blames for the crisis. Is he innocent . . . or not? The police would certainly like to know, but Shane isn't sure himself. Enter a young, somewhat confused civil servant named Philip Hansen, who complicates things further by falling for one of Shane's prostitutes--even as he courts the love of his life, a New England transplant named Tessa Oulette. Shane is determined to establish his innocence and save his businesses through trickery. The hooker has some devious schemes of her own. Things could get downright dangerous here, if the characters weren't so comically inept.

Download or read book Satan written by Jeremy C Leven and published by Dissertation.com. This book was released on 2000-11-01 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alas, poor Satan. He's not happy. No one seems to like or understand him; people have got him all wrong. And his relationship with God is a hostile one. Unloved and misunderstood, he's come back to Earth in search of a psychotherapist; he's prepared- if cured- to deliver the all-important Great Answer. In Jeremy Leven's wildly original comic novel, we follow the Prince of Darkness through his seven amazing therapy sessions. And we watch him grow increasingly well adjusted while his therapist, the unfortunate Dr. Kassler, descends deeper and deeper into hell.

Download or read book The Devil s Steps written by Arthur W. Upfield and published by ETT Imprint. This book was released on 2020-06-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On special assignment with Military Intelligence, Detective-Inspector Bonaparte leaves his familiar Australian outback environment for Melbourne and a nearby mountain resort. Although out of his element with city people, Bony displays his characteristic skills to interpret some puzzling clues in the search for a wily killer… The complex half-caste Bony is, I think, my favourite fictional detective of the past twenty years. - Anthony Boucher, The New York Times

Download or read book Ground of the Devil written by Richard Rezendes and published by Page Publishing Inc. This book was released on 2019-04-23 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Rezendes wrote a book on a laser printer about thirty-five years ago, and he worked on this book for more than a year. He typed in on an old Apple desktop computer then on a laser printer. His biggest dream is that one day, he would like to publish a book. He got the idea on a magazine about a story about an asteroid that struck in Connecticut and fragments were found. The story led to earthquakes in Moodus, Connecticut. That may have been caused by water flowing through limestone, and Native Indians believed it was the devil! He thought of writing a book about it and named it Ground of the Devil. This story is about a comet that hit Moodus, Connecticut, and a creature living underground for several months before it went on its attack, and it killed people and animals, and it had magical powers. The creature looked like a huge porcupine with pricks all over it! By the way, this creature is a female with large breasts. It sprays fire like a dragon. It has a large tail and a powerful stinger. It has lobsterlike claws like a scorpion and feet like an elephant. Richard Rezendes worked at Brown University and the east Greenwich school department before retiring at age sixty-two. He will be sixty-five years old on Monday, August twentieth. He likes sports, football, basketball, and baseball, in that order. He is a bowler tenpins and currently holds a 220 average. He is five feet, eight inches, 166 pounds, and he is pretty healthy.

Download or read book Devil s Comet written by Tina Marie Kelly and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2010-08 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over 65 million years ago fragments from an unknown comet struck the Earth and annihilated the entire species of dinosaurs. Over 1200 years ago pieces of an unknown comet struck the earth and sent the world into the Dark Ages. Now that comet is back to deliver another destructive blow to mankind. Devil's Comet return has resurrected a powerful demon whose sole mission is to recruit enough souls to help him open the doorway to Hell. With time running out, the fate of the world lies in the hands of eight people that must learn to put aside their differences and work together to prevent the End of Days. Now hold on and Brace For Impact!!!!

Download or read book The Devil s Monk written by Sara Fraser and published by Severn House Publishers Ltd. This book was released on 2015-08-01 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intriguing nineteenth century historical mystery. July, 1829. When a female corpse, dressed in male clothing, is discovered lying in a haystack in the Worcestershire countryside, rumor and superstition abound. For the sighting of a man in white robes fleeing from the scene leads to suspicion that the “Devil’s Monk” is responsible for the crime. According to local legend, this vengeful apparition appears at intervals to molest and kill. Constable Thomas Potts is dismissive of the rumors—but without knowing the victim’s identity, he’ll need the devil’s own luck to catch her killer. And when a second body turns up, Potts is under pressure to track down the murderer before hysteria engulfs the town.

Download or read book The Devil and the Dark Water written by Stuart Turton and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 652 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Compulsively readable."—New York Times Book Review From Stuart Turton, author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, comes an extraordinary new locked-room murder mystery. A murder on the high seas. A remarkable detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist. It's 1634, and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Traveling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent. Among the other guests is Sara Wessel, a noblewoman with a secret. But no sooner is their ship out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A strange symbol appears on the sail. A dead leper stalks the decks. Livestock dies in the night. And then the passengers hear a terrible voice, whispering to them in the darkness, promising three unholy miracles, followed by a slaughter. First an impossible pursuit. Second an impossible theft. And third an impossible murder. Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes? With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent and Sara can solve a mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board. Shirley Jackson meets Sherlock Holmes in this chilling thriller of supernatural horror, occult suspicion, and paranormal mystery on the high seas.

Download or read book The Gentleman written by Forrest Leo and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-08-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A funny, fantastically entertaining debut novel, in the spirit of Wodehouse and Monty Python, about a famous poet who inadvertently sells his wife to the devil--then recruits a band of adventurers to rescue her. When Lionel Savage, a popular poet in Victorian London, learns from his butler that they're broke, he marries the beautiful Vivien Lancaster for her money, only to find that his muse has abandoned him. Distraught and contemplating suicide, Savage accidentally conjures the Devil -- the polite "Gentleman" of the title -- who appears at one of the society parties Savage abhors. The two hit it off: the Devil talks about his home, where he employs Dante as a gardener; Savage lends him a volume of Tennyson. But when the party's over and Vivien has disappeared, the poet concludes in horror that he must have inadvertently sold his wife to the dark lord. Newly in love with Vivien, Savage plans a rescue mission to Hell that includes Simmons, the butler; Tompkins, the bookseller; Ashley Lancaster, swashbuckling Buddhist; Will Kensington, inventor of a flying machine; and Savage's spirited kid sister, Lizzie, freshly booted from boarding school for a "dalliance." Throughout, his cousin's quibbling footnotes to the text push the story into comedy nirvana. Lionel and his friends encounter trapdoors, duels, anarchist-fearing bobbies, the social pressure of not knowing enough about art history, and the poisonous wit of his poetical archenemy. Fresh, action-packed and very, very funny, The Gentleman is a giddy farce that recalls the masterful confections of P.G. Wodehouse and Hergé's beautifully detailed Tintin adventures.

Download or read book The Devil s Anvil written by James H. Hallas and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1994-02-28 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On September 15, 1944, General William Rupertus and the 16,000 Marines of the U.S. 1st Marine Division moved confidently toward Peleliu, an obscure speck of coral island 500 miles east of the Philippines. Though he knew a tough fight awaited him, Rupertus anticipated a quick two-day crush to victory, strengthening Gen. Douglas MacArthur's flank in his drive on the Philippines. Instead, as The Devil's Anvil reveals, American forces struggled desperately for more than two months against 10,000 deeply entrenched Japanese soldiers who had spent six months preparing for the battle. By the time the weary Americans could claim a victory, the fight had become one of the war's most costly successes. Even more tragic, Peleliu was later deemed a more or less unnecessary seizure. For those who survived, Peleliu remains a bitter, emotionally exhausting chapter of their lives. In The Devil's Anvil, Hallas reports on the personal combat experience of scores of officers and enlisted men who were at Peleliu. These men describe the heartbreaking loss of friends, the pain of wounds, and the heat, dirt, and exhaustion of a fight that never seemed to end.

Download or read book The Devil s Strings written by Bri Desmondi and published by Briana Way. This book was released on 2012-06-17 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three Angels struggle with the betrayal of those they trusted, and those they loved. Betrayed by his family, Lucifer wages war with heaven. His immense fear for his absent brother leads him to declare war against heaven- against his brothers, and against his father.Gabriel wavers as he once again meets the brother that abandoned him, and learns the secrets that had lead to his betrayal. Azza fights conflicting loyalties, torn between his present lord and friend, and his friend of the past. Who will he choose to follow? Memories from his past are haunting him and are coming more into light as all the plots unfold.

Download or read book Devil in the Stack written by Andrew Smith and published by Atlantic Monthly Press. This book was released on 2024-08-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From internationally-bestselling author and journalist Andrew Smith, an immersive, alarming, sharp-eyed journey into the bizarre world of computer code, told through his sometimes painful, often amusing attempt to become a coder himself Throughout history, technological revolutions have been driven by the invention of machines. But today, the power of the technology transforming our world lies in an intangible and impenetrable cosmos of software: algorithmic code. So symbiotic has our relationship with this code become that we barely notice it anymore. We can't see it, are not even sure how to think about it, and yet we do almost nothing that doesn't depend on it. In a world increasingly governed by technologies that so few can comprehend, who--or what--controls the future? Devil in the Stack follows Andrew Smith on his immersive trip into the world of coding, passing through the stories of logic, machine-learning and early computing, from Ada Lovelace to Alan Turing, and up to the present moment, behind the scenes into the lives--and minds--of the new frontiers people of the 21st century: those who write code. Smith embarks on a quest to understand this sect in what he believes to be the only way possible: by learning to code himself. Expansive and effervescent, Devil in the Stack delivers a portrait of code as both a vivid culture and an impending threat. How do we control a technology that most people can't understand? And are we programming ourselves out of existence? Perhaps most terrifying of all: Is there something about the way we compute - the way code works - that is innately at odds with the way humans have evolved? By turns revelatory, unsettling, and joyously funny, Devil in the Stack is an essential book for our times, of vital interest to anyone hoping to participate in the future-defining technological debates to come.

Download or read book Devil s Verse written by Joseph Nicholas and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Devils Verse, paleographer Dr. Natasha Azshatan sets out to prove her friend, a Russian Orthodox priest, was murdered and did not commit suicide as investigators presume. Above Father Elijahs hanging corpseapparently written in blood by his own handis the Latin palindrome known as The Devils Verse, words that Natasha translates to read, We wander in darkness and are consumed by fire. After the local sheriff is murdered in the same manner, Natashas quest to discover why the priest was killed and by who takes on a sudden urgency and transports her far away from Washington States small island town of Jerrells Cove to the exotic cities of Istanbul and Rome. As an expert at authenticating and analyzing Greek and Latin handwriting, Natasha relies on her unique background to solve the mystery, and in doing so, manages to uncover and thwart the dangerous ambitions of a most unlikely villain. She wrestles demons and unlocks ancient secrets as she fights to stay alive in her journey of life, death, mind and spirit that may just save the world from a very dark destiny.

Download or read book World Folklore for Storytellers Tales of Wonder Wisdom Fools and Heroes written by Howard J Sherman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-18 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is a treasury of favorite and little known tales from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, Australia, and Oceania, gracefully retold and accompanied by fascinating, detailed information of their historic and cultural backgrounds. The introduction provides an informative overview of folklore, its purpose in world cultures and in contemporary society and popular culture. Following this, the main sections of the book are arranged by tale type, covering wonder tales, hero tales, tales of kindness repaid and hope and redemption, and finally tales of fools and wise people. Each section begins by comparing the tales cross-culturally, explaining similarities and differences in the folkloric narratives. Tales from diverse cultures are then presented, introduced, and retold in a highly readable fashion.

Download or read book The Devil s Novice written by Ellis Peters and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-08-05 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Edgar Award–winning author: When a troubled novice is blamed for a priest’s disappearance, Brother Cadfael seeks to save his soul—and his life. Outside the pale of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in September of 1140, a priestly emissary for King Stephen has been reported missing. But inside the pale, what troubles Brother Cadfael is a proud, secretive nineteen-year-old novice. Brother Cadfael has never seen two men more estranged than the Lord of Aspley and Meriet, the son he coldly delivers to the abbey to begin a religious vocation. Meriet, meek by day, is so racked by dreams at night that his howls earn him the nickname “the Devil’s Novice.” Shunned and feared, Meriet is soon linked to the missing priestly emissary’s dreadful fate. Only Brother Cadfael believes in Meriet’s innocence, and only the good sleuth can uncover the truth before a boy’s pure passion, not evil intent, leads a novice to the noose.