Download or read book Blindsight written by Peter Watts and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2006-10-03 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hugo and Shirley Jackson award-winning Peter Watts stands on the cutting edge of hard SF with his acclaimed novel, Blindsight Two months since the stars fell... Two months of silence, while a world held its breath. Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune's orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever's out there isn't talking to us. It's talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route. So who do you send to force introductions with unknown and unknowable alien intellect that doesn't wish to be met? You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees x-rays and tastes ultrasound. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won't be needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called vampire, recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist—an informational topologist with half his mind gone—as an interface between here and there. Pray they can be trusted with the fate of a world. They may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Download or read book Albion s Seed written by David Hackett Fischer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1991-03-14 with total page 981 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating book is the first volume in a projected cultural history of the United States, from the earliest English settlements to our own time. It is a history of American folkways as they have changed through time, and it argues a thesis about the importance for the United States of having been British in its cultural origins. While most people in the United States today have no British ancestors, they have assimilated regional cultures which were created by British colonists, even while preserving ethnic identities at the same time. In this sense, nearly all Americans are "Albion's Seed," no matter what their ethnicity may be. The concluding section of this remarkable book explores the ways that regional cultures have continued to dominate national politics from 1789 to 1988, and still help to shape attitudes toward education, government, gender, and violence, on which differences between American regions are greater than between European nations.

Download or read book Ender Saga 01 Ender s Game written by Orson Scott Card and published by Orbit Books. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Child-hero Ender Wiggin must fight a desperate battle against a deadly alien race if mankind is to survive.

Download or read book Game Feel written by Steve Swink and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2008-10-13 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Game Feel" exposes "feel" as a hidden language in game design that no one has fully articulated yet. The language could be compared to the building blocks of music (time signatures, chord progressions, verse) - no matter the instruments, style or time period - these building blocks come into play. Feel and sensation are similar building blocks whe

Download or read book The Art of Computer Game Design written by Linda L Crawford and published by McGraw-Hill/Glencoe. This book was released on 1984-01-01 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses the elements of games, surveys the various types of computer games, and describes the steps in the process of computer game development

Download or read book The Emperor of All Maladies written by Siddhartha Mukherjee and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-08-09 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a documentary from Ken Burns on PBS, this New York Times bestseller is “an extraordinary achievement” (The New Yorker)—a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence. Physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with—and perished from—for more than five thousand years. The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception. Mukherjee recounts centuries of discoveries, setbacks, victories, and deaths, told through the eyes of his predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out “war against cancer.” The book reads like a literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist. Riveting, urgent, and surprising, The Emperor of All Maladies provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments. It is an illuminating book that provides hope and clarity to those seeking to demystify cancer.

Download or read book Trigger Happy written by Steven Poole and published by Arcade Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the history and phenomenal success of video games, and argues that the popular games are on the way to becoming a legitimate art form, much in the same way movies did a century earlier.

Download or read book You Are Not So Smart written by David McRaney and published by Avery. This book was released on 2012-11-06 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explains how self-delusion is part of a person's psychological defense system, identifying common misconceptions people have on topics such as caffeine withdrawal, hindsight, and brand loyalty.

Download or read book The Uncommon Reader written by Alan Bennett and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2007-09-18 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of England's most celebrated writers, a funny and superbly observed novella about the Queen of England and the subversive power of reading When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to borrow a book. Discovering the joy of reading widely (from J. R. Ackerley, Jean Genet, and Ivy Compton-Burnett to the classics) and intelligently, she finds that her view of the world changes dramatically. Abetted in her newfound obsession by Norman, a young man from the royal kitchens, the Queen comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with the routines of her role as monarch. Her new passion for reading initially alarms the palace staff and soon leads to surprising and very funny consequences for the country at large. With the poignant and mischievous wit of The History Boys, England's best loved author Alan Bennett revels in the power of literature to change even the most uncommon reader's life.

Download or read book Born to Run written by Christopher McDougall and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2010-12-09 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller 'A sensation ... a rollicking tale well told' - The Times At the heart of Born to Run lies a mysterious tribe of Mexican Indians, the Tarahumara, who live quietly in canyons and are reputed to be the best distance runners in the world; in 1993, one of them, aged 57, came first in a prestigious 100-mile race wearing a toga and sandals. A small group of the world's top ultra-runners (and the awe-inspiring author) make the treacherous journey into the canyons to try to learn the tribe's secrets and then take them on over a course 50 miles long. With incredible energy and smart observation, McDougall tells this story while asking what the secrets are to being an incredible runner. Travelling to labs at Harvard, Nike, and elsewhere, he comes across an incredible cast of characters, including the woman who recently broke the world record for 100 miles and for her encore ran a 2:50 marathon in a bikini, pausing to down a beer at the 20 mile mark.

Download or read book Orphans of the Tide written by Struan Murray and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2020-02-20 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Branford Boase Award 2021, a breathtaking fantasy adventure for fans of His Dark Materials that The Times calls 'Unputdownable'. The City was built on a sharp mountain that jutted improbably from the sea, and the sea kept trying to claim it back. That grey morning, once the tide had retreated, a whale was found on a rooftop. When a mysterious boy washes in with the tide, the citizens believe he's the Enemy - the god who drowned the world - come again to cause untold chaos. Only Ellie, a fearless young inventor living in a workshop crammed with curiosities, believes he's innocent. But the Enemy can take possession of any human body and the ruthless Inquisition are determined to destroy it forever. To save the boy, Ellie must prove who he really is - even if that means revealing her own dangerous secret . . . 'Unputdownable' - The Times 'Enthralling' - The Daily Express 'Sumptuously atmospheric . . . tirelessly inventive' - The Daily Telegraph 'Gripping' - The Guardian 'Energetic and inventive' - Sunday Times 'Gripping and original' - The Observer 'Singularly brilliant' - Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink and Stars and The Mercies 'Compellingly inventive and unpredictable' - Piers Torday, author of The Last Wild 'A terrific debut of strange myths and dark secrets' - The Bookseller (Editor's Choice)

Download or read book Out Of Control written by Kevin Kelly and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-04-30 with total page 666 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Out of Control chronicles the dawn of a new era in which the machines and systems that drive our economy are so complex and autonomous as to be indistinguishable from living things.

Download or read book Missouri Landscapes written by Jon L. Hawker and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this magnificent book, Oliver Schuchard provides more than sixty-five exquisite black-and-white photographs spanning his thirty-eight years of photography. In addition, he explains the aesthetic rationale and techniques he used in order to produce these photographs, emphasizing the profound differences between, yet necessary interdependence of, craft and content. Although Schuchard believes that craft is important, he maintains that the idea behind the photograph and the emotional content of the image are equally vital and are, in fact, functions of one another. The author also shares components of his life experience that he believes helped shape his development as an artist and a teacher. He chose the splendid photographs included in this book from among nearly 5,000 negatives that had been exposed all over the world, from Missouri to Maine, California, Alaska, Colorado, France, Newfoundland, and Hawaii, among many other locations. Approximately 250 negatives survived the initial review, and each of those was printed before a final decision was made on which photographs were to be featured in the book. The final choices are representative of Schuchard's work and serve to substantiate his belief that craft, concept, and self must be fully understood and carefully melded for a good photograph to occur. This amazing work by award-winning photographer Oliver Schuchard will be treasured by professional and amateur photographers alike, as well as by anyone who simply enjoys superb photography."--Publishers website.

Download or read book Theories of Personality written by Duane P. Schultz and published by Wadsworth Publishing Company. This book was released on 2001 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This revision of the Schultz's popular text surveys the field, presenting theory-by-theory coverage of the major theorists who represent the psychoanalytic, neopsychoanalytic, life-span, trait, humanistic, cognitive, behavioral, and social-learning approaches, as well as clinical and experimental work. Where warranted, the authors show how the development of certain theories was influenced by events in a theorist's personal and professional life. This thoroughly revised Seventh Edition now incorporates more examples, tables, and figures to help bring the material to life for students. The new content in this edition reflects the dynamism in the field. The text explores how race, gender, and culture issues figure in the study of personality and in personality assessment. In addition, a final integrative chapter looks at the study of personality theories and suggests conclusions that can be drawn from the many theorists' work.

Download or read book Game Architecture and Design written by Andrew Rollings and published by New Riders Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 964 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to computer game design, architecture, and management explores the application of design principles, shares the experiences of game programmers, and offers an overview of game development software.

Download or read book Rivers of London written by Ben Aaronovitch and published by Gollancz. This book was released on 2017-06-13 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England. Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden ... and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying.

Download or read book Bloodlines of the Illuminati written by Fritz Springmeier and published by Bloodlines of the Illuminati. This book was released on 2019-03-04 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The iLLamanati have emerged from hidden places of the Earth to shed light on the dark side of human endeavors by collating and publishing literature on the secrets of the Illuminati. Representing the Grand Llama, an omniscient, extradimensional light being who is channeled by our Vice-Admiral, Captain Space Kitten, the iLLamanati is organized around a cast of interstellar characters who have arrived on Earth to wage a battle for the light.Bloodlines of the Illuminati was written by Fritz Springmeier. He wrote and self-published it as a public domain .pdf in 1995. This seminal book has been republished as a three-volume set by the iLLamanati.Volume 1 has the first eight of the 13 Top Illuminati bloodlines: Astor, Bundy, Collins, DuPont, Freeman, Kennedy, Li, and Onassis.Volume 2 has the remaining five of the 13 Top Illuminati bloodlines: Rockefeller, Rothschild, Russell, Van Duyn, and Merovingian.Volume 3 has four other prominent Illuminati bloodlines: Disney, Reynolds, McDonald, and Krupps.