Download or read book The Historian written by Elizabeth Kostova and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2005-06-01 with total page 660 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The record-breaking phenomenon from Elizabeth Kostova is a celebrated masterpiece that "refashioned the vampire myth into a compelling contemporary novel, a late-night page-turner" (San Francisco Chronicle). Breathtakingly suspenseful and beautifully written, The Historian is the story of a young woman plunged into a labyrinth where the secrets of her family’s past connect to an inconceivable evil: the dark fifteenth-century reign of Vlad the Impaler and a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive through the ages. The search for the truth becomes an adventure of monumental proportions, taking us from monasteries and dusty libraries to the capitals of Eastern Europe—in a feat of storytelling so rich, so hypnotic, so exciting that it has enthralled readers around the world. “Part thriller, part history, part romance...Kostova has a keen sense of storytelling and she has a marvelous tale to tell.” —Baltimore Sun

Download or read book The Brazen Altar written by Eunice Hung and published by . This book was released on 2021-05 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Welcome to the City. In this place of peace and plenty, with no disease, no suffering, and no want, people find meaning in service to their gods. They know the gods were created by humans, of course. But the gods protect and provide for the people, so why wouldn't the people serve the gods? In a Utopian society, what better way to express service than through pleasure and faith? For Kheema and her seven fellow Potentials, that means entering the temple of the Sun God to undergo months of training and practice to determine which of them will be chosen as Sacrifice. On the day of the summer Solstice, the one chosen as Sacrifice must recite the entire litany from atop the temple, while enduring nonstop forced orgasms from dawn 'til dusk. For Terlyn, service means becoming part of the Garden, bound naked and asleep while worshippers help themselves to her body. Terlyn wakes in ecstasy over and over, only to fall asleep again. The experience changes her, and her relationship with her friend and lover Donvin, who visits her while she is part of the Garden. Ashi's service to the god known as the Wild entails competing with other worshippers in a forest that appears overnight to demonstrate her resilience and will, so that she might become part of a ritual involving an altar, a long row of cages, and the complete abandonment of the self. The three stories brush against each other, revealing the heart of the City, as the people of the City serve, or ask for enlightenment from, multiple gods at once.

Download or read book The Man on Mao s Right written by Ji Chaozhu and published by Random House. This book was released on 2008-07-15 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No other narrative from within the corridors of power has offered as frank and intimate an account of the making of the modern Chinese nation as Ji Chaozhu’s The Man on Mao’s Right. Having served Chairman Mao Zedong and the Communist leadership for two decades, and having become a key figure in China’s foreign policy, Ji now provides an honest, detailed account of the personalities and events that shaped today’s People’s Republic. The youngest son of a prosperous government official, nine-year-old Ji and his family fled Japanese invaders in the late 1930s, escaping to America. Warmly received by his new country, Ji returned its embrace as he came of age in New York’s East Village and then attended Harvard University. But in 1950, after years of enjoying a life of relative ease while his countrymen suffered through war and civil strife, Ji felt driven by patriotism to volunteer to serve China in its conflict with his adoptive country in the Korean War. Ji’s mastery of the English language and American culture launched his improbable career, eventually winning him the role of English interpreter for China’s two top leaders: Premier Zhou Enlai and Party Chairman Mao Zedong. With a unique blend of Chinese insight and American candor, Ji paints insightful portraits of the architects of modern China: the urbane, practical, and avuncular Zhou, the conscience of the People’s Republic; and the messianic, charismatic Mao, student of China’s ancient past–his country’s stern father figure. In Ji’s memoir, he is an eyewitness to modern Chinese history, including the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Nixon summit, and numerous momentous events in Tiananmen Square. As he becomes caught up in political squabbles among radical factions, Ji’s past and charges against him of “incorrect” thinking subject him to scrutiny and suspicion. He is repeatedly sent to a collective farm to be “reeducated” by the peasants. After the Mao years, Ji moves on to hold top diplomatic posts in the United States and the United Kingdom and then serves as under secretary-general of the United Nations. Today, he says, “The Chinese know America better than the Americans know China. The risk is that we misperceive each other.” This highly accessible insider’s chronicle of a struggling people within a developing powerhouse nation is also Ji Chaozhu’s dramatic personal story, certain to fascinate and enlighten Western readers. A riveting biography and unique historical record, The Man on Mao’s Right recounts the heartfelt struggle of a man who loved two powerful nations that were at odds with each other. Ji Chaozhu played an important role in paving the way for what is destined to be known as the Chinese Century. Praise for The Man on Mao’s Right "Brave, beautifully written testimony . A true "fly-on-the-wall" account of the momentous changes in Chinese society and international relations over the last century." --Kirkus Reviews “It is a relief to read an account by an urbane and often witty insider who neither idolizes nor demonizes China's top leaders . . . . Highly recommended." —Library Journal, starred review

Download or read book The White Dragon written by Anne McCaffrey and published by Del Rey. This book was released on 2002-02-26 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • FINALIST FOR THE LOCUS AWARD • The third novel in the legendary and magical series featuring dragons, adventure, romance, and heroism, from Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Anne McCaffrey, “one of my favorite authors of all time” (Brandon Sanderson) “Anne McCaffrey’s Pern novels are truly foundational books; it’s hard to imagine the modern-day landscape of fantasy and science fiction without them.”—Naomi Novik, author of the Temeraire series When Lessa chose a dragon over her birthright, the hold she was to have inherited passed to Lord Jaxom instead. But Jaxom then muddied generations of Pern tradition by impulsively Impressing Ruth, the small and singularly unique white dragon, as a child. From that moment on, the debate has raged. Is Jaxom now a dragonrider, or a lord holder? All anyone agrees on is that he cannot be both. But perhaps it is all academic anyway, for no one expects Ruth to survive. But Ruth not only survives, he thrives. With Jaxom on the cusp of adulthood, the thing the pair most desire is to fight Thread side-by-side with the larger dragons. Jaxom knows what his dragon is capable of, and now that he is—mostly—grown, he is determined to buck tradition. Fortunately, a teenage rebellion may be the key to both Pern’s salvation and winning the woman of his dreams. Don’t miss the original trilogy from Anne McCaffrey’s beloved Dragonriders of Pern series: DRAGONFLIGHT • DRAGONQUEST • THE WHITE DRAGON

Download or read book The Complete Penny Stock Course written by Jamil Ben Alluch and published by Millionaire Publishing. This book was released on 2018-04-09 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You can learn trading penny stocks from the masses and become part of the 90% of traders who lose money in the stock market, or you can learn from the Best. The Complete Penny Stock Course is based on Timothy Sykes’, various training programs. His strategies have helped individuals like Tim Grittani, Michael Goode and Stephen Dux become millionaires within a couple of years. This course aims to teach you how to become a consistently profitable trader, by taking Tim’s profit-making strategies with penny stocks and presenting them in a well-structured learning format. You’ll start by getting acquainted with the concepts of market and trading psychology. Then you’ll get into the basics of day trading, how to manage your risk and the tools that will help you become profitable. Along the way, you’ll learn strategies and techniques to become consistent in your gains and develop your own trading techniques. What’s inside: - Managing expectations and understanding the market, - Understanding the psychology of trading and how it affects you, - Learning the basics of day trading, - Learning the mechanics of trading penny stocks, - Risk management and how to take safe positions, - How to trade through advanced techniques - Developing your own profitable trading strategy - Real world examples and case studies No prior trading experience is required.

Download or read book Rumple Buttercup A Story of Bananas Belonging and Being Yourself written by Matthew Gray Gubler and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2019-04-02 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The #1 New York Times bestseller written and illustrated by Matthew Gray Gubler. This charming and inspiring story is the perfect gift for kids (and grown-up kids) alike! Rumple Buttercup has five crooked teeth, three strands of hair, green skin, and his left foot is slightly bigger than his right. He is weird. Join him and Candy Corn Carl (his imaginary friend made of trash) as they learn the joy of individuality as well as the magic of belonging.

Download or read book Not the Life It Seems written by Tom Bryant and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive biography of emo rock band My Chemical Romance, based on hours of exclusive, unpublished interviews by the journalist who knows them best

Download or read book Kelpie Dreams written by Steve Vernon and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-08-30 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meet Lady Macbeth-a high school librarian, ex-assassin, and part-time kelpie, whose mother wanted to name her Hemorrhoid at birth. Now she has to take on a Sea Hag-eight legs of Godzilla-ugly poured into a bucket full of meanness-with the help of a one-woman army named Rhonda, a 200-year-old Sea Captain, and a hunky lighthouse keeper who won't admit that he's dead as well. KELPIE DREAMS is a funny, action-packed, paranormal romance novel for folks who HATE to read romance novels.

Download or read book Indies Unlimited Authors Snarkopaedia written by K. S. Brooks and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2013-01-17 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Volume One of the Authors' Snarkopaedia, sentences have been painstakingly crafted together using nouns, verbs and other words, bringing you paragraphs of text. These paragraphs flow into pages of expert tips, advice and insight for authors at all levels of the publication food chain. Any book can claim to offer this type of information, but they can't give you what sets the Indies Unlimited Authors' Snarkopaedia above the rest: the "je ne sais squat" of the high decorated staff of the Snarkology Department at the Indies Unlimited Online Academy. Their groundbreaking and empirical research over the years sheds new and snarkified light on subjects ranging from book publishing and marketing to the nuts and bolts of writing and technology. If you like information to grab you by the throat and smack you in the face, the Indies Unlimited Authors' Snarkopaedia is the reference book for you.

Download or read book The Number Sense written by Stanislas Dehaene and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2011-04-29 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Our understanding of how the human brain performs mathematical calculations is far from complete. In The Number Sense, Stanislas Dehaene offers readers an enlightening exploration of the mathematical mind. Using research showing that human infants have a rudimentary number sense, Dehaene suggests that this sense is as basic as our perception of color, and that it is wired into the brain. But how then did we leap from this basic number ability to trigonometry, calculus, and beyond? Dehaene shows that it was the invention of symbolic systems of numerals that started us on the climb to higher mathematics. Tracing the history of numbers, we learn that in early times, people indicated numbers by pointing to part of their bodies, and how Roman numerals were replaced by modern numbers. On the way, we also discover many fascinating facts: for example, because Chinese names for numbers are short, Chinese people can remember up to nine or ten digits at a time, while English-speaking people can only remember seven. A fascinating look at the crossroads where numbers and neurons intersect, The Number Sense offers an intriguing tour of how the structure of the brain shapes our mathematical abilities, and how math can open up a window on the human mind"--Provided by publisher.

Download or read book Teaching as an Act of Love written by Richard Lakin and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2007-11 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Lakin's collection is geared to teachers, principals, parents, and all those concerned with making schools more loving and effective for each child. He presents a close look at his school staff working together to create both a caring, challenging learning environment and a real partnership between school and home. In today's high stakes and test obsessed world, Teaching as an Act of Love encourages teachers as they remember why they entered teaching in the first place-to zero in on the individual child, "the whole child" and encourage the love of learning. In the 55 informative and optimistic pieces in the book, Richard proposes more personalized "smaller caring schools of choice," where the child comes first, where bureaucracy, testing and NCLB are minimized and where a loving school climate and kindness prevail

Download or read book The Lonely Voice written by Frank O'Connor and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2011-06-06 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction by Russell Banks. The legendary book about writing by the legendary writer is back! Frank O’Connor was one of the twentieth century’s greatest short story writers, and one of Ireland’s greatest authors ever. Now, O’Connor’s influential and sought-after book on the short story is back. The Lonely Voice offers a master class with the master. With his sharp wit and straightforward prose, O’Connor not only discusses the techniques and challenges of a form in which "a whole lifetime must be crowded into a few minutes," but he also delves into a passionate consideration of his favorite writers and their greatest works, including Chekhov, Hemingway, Kipling, Joyce, and others.

Download or read book Shit I Can t Remember written by Phil D Organizers and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-04-23 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Organizer & Notebook for Passwords and Shit

Download or read book Twisted in a Positive Way written by Chikamso C Efobi and published by Doxa Consulting Limited. This book was released on 2015-09-20 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spanning decades in the heart of Mushin, Lagos Nigeria, this coming-of-age tale of a charming heroine unfolds delicately and is based on the story of a young girl, Adaugo who faces difficult odds. The loss of a loved one and navigating cultural expectations and gender roles are major themes in this personal narrative documenting the growth and learning of a young girl with big dreams. As Adaugo listens to the still small voice within her, her growth from a young girl in boarding school to a precocious brave woman is studded with precious gems of divine insight. Her journey is one that any person, young or old will learn from as it illustrates the beauty and triumph of dreaming big and never giving up.

Download or read book A Spectacular Catastrophe written by Dushka Zapata and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-04-29 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Dushka Zapata comes across any perspective in life that she finds useful or that contributes to her suffering less, she writes about it. This book is a collection of those lessons she hopes prove useful to others. This book is not intended to be read cover to cover but rather in snippets of time across the day.

Download or read book Sky Gazing written by Meg Thacher and published by Storey Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sun, moon, stars, and planets have been a source of wonder and fascination for as long as humans have inhabited the earth. In Sky Gazing, a highly visual guide to observing the sky with the naked eye, kids aged 9–14 will delve into the science behind what they see, whether they live in a dark rural setting or under the bright lights of the city. Exploring astronomical objects and events, this captivating book takes young readers on a tour of our solar system and deep space beyond, with explanations of how objects like Earth’s moon were formed and the “why” behind phenomena such as eclipses, northern lights, and meteor showers. Curious sky gazers will discover how to find and observe planets — no binoculars or telescopes required! — and star charts will guide them in spotting constellations throughout the seasons and in both hemispheres while they learn about constellation myths from cultures around the world. Activities include tracking the cycles of the sun and moon and observing the sky during daylight hours or on a cloudy night, while astronomer profiles and sidebars on space technology and current issues such as light pollution help ground kids’ discoveries in the ancient and enduring science of studying the sky.

Download or read book Contest written by Matthew Reilly and published by Pan Australia. This book was released on 2007-11-10 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thrilling international bestseller from Australia's favourite novelist, author of the Scarecrow series and Jack West Jr series with new novel Mr Einstein's Secretary out now. "Reilly hurls readers into an adrenaline-drenched thrill ride ... impossible to put down." Orlando Sentinel "Reilly ... can inspire awe. Speed demons, take note." Publishers Weekly The New York State Library. A silent sanctuary of knowledge; a 100-year-old labyrinth of towering bookcases, narrow aisles and spiralling staircases. For Doctor Stephen Swain and his eight-year-old daughter, Holly, it is the site of a nightmare. For one night, the State Library is to be the venue for a contest. A contest in which Stephen Swain is to compete - whether he likes it or not. The rules are simple: seven contestants will enter, only one will leave. With his daughter in his arms, Swain is plunged into a terrifying fight for survival. He can choose to run, to hide or to fight - but if he wants to live, he has to win. Because in a contest like this, unless you leave as the victor, you do not leave at all. Fans of Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton will love Matthew Reilly.