Download or read book The Doomsday Vault written by Steven Piziks Harper and published by Ace. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Left a peculiar inheritance by her aunt, the honorable Alice B. Michaels, whose unladylike interest in automatons has made her a less than desirable marriage prospect, finds an ally in Gavin, a pilot stranded in London, who comes to her aid when she attracts the unwanted attention of the Third Ward"--Provided by publisher.

Download or read book The Doomsday Vault written by Steven Harper and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2024-09-17 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A noblewoman and an airship pilot fight zombies, mad scientists, and more in this steampunk adventure series debut by the author of Iron Axe. A bizarre strain of zombies roam the streets of Victorian London, infecting all they touch with the Clockwork Plague. While most victims die painful deaths, a few become Clockworkers, geniuses who create the greatest inventions of the age—right before going insane. The plague has also taken its toll on the life of twenty-two-year-old Alice Michaels. After her mother and brother die from the disease because of her, she feels obligated to ensure her father’s happiness. Unfortunately, that means ignoring her passion for automatons and instead, pursuing the wealthiest man possible. But when zombies attack Alice’s cab, being tied down in a loveless marriage is the least of her worries. She is quickly swept up into a secret organization chasing down Clockworkers—and into the arms of Gavin Ennock, a former airship cabin boy and talented fiddle player. Together they will navigate a political conspiracy that threatens to consume their country and the world . . . “If you love your Victorian adventures filled with zombies, amazing automatons, steampunk flare, and an impeccable eye for detail, you’ll love the fascinating (and fantastical) Doomsday Vault!” —My Bookish Ways “Harper creates a fascinating world of devices, conspiracies, and personalities. . . . Alice and Gavin fight to survive and to find love in this steampunk coming-of-age story. Harper’s world building is well developed and offers an interesting combination of science and steam.” —SFRevu “A goofy excursion in a style reminiscent of Foglios’s Girl Genius graphic series. . . . A highly entertaining romp.” —Locus

Download or read book The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture written by Cary Fowler and published by Bioversity International. This book was released on 2003 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Shattering written by Cary Fowler and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was through control of the shattering of wild seeds that humans first domesticated plants. Now control over those very plants threatens to shatter the world's food supply, as loss of genetic diversity sets the stage for widespread hunger. Large-scale agriculture has come to favor uniformity in food crops. More than 7,000 U.S. apple varieties once grew in American orchards; 6,000 of them are no longer available. Every broccoli variety offered through seed catalogs in 1900 has now disappeared. As the international genetics supply industry absorbs seed companies—with nearly one thousand takeovers since 1970—this trend toward uniformity seems likely to continue; and as third world agriculture is brought in line with international business interests, the gene pools of humanity's most basic foods are threatened. The consequences are more than culinary. Without the genetic diversity from which farmers traditionally breed for resistance to diseases, crops are more susceptible to the spread of pestilence. Tragedies like the Irish Potato Famine may be thought of today as ancient history; yet the U.S. corn blight of 1970 shows that technologically based agribusiness is a breeding ground for disaster. Shattering reviews the development of genetic diversity over 10,000 years of human agriculture, then exposes its loss in our lifetime at the hands of political and economic forces. The possibility of crisis is real; this book shows that it may not be too late to avert it.

Download or read book The Doomsday Key LP written by James Rollins and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-06-23 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James Rollins, the New York Times bestselling master of nail-biting suspense and historical mystery, combines cutting-edge biotechnology with a centuries-old secret in an apocalyptic story that reveals where humankind is truly headed The Doomsday Key At Princeton University, a famed geneticist dies inside a biohazard lab. In Rome, a Vatican archaeologist is found dead in St. Peter's Basilica. In Africa, a U.S. senator's son is slain outside a Red Cross camp. The three murders on three continents bear a horrifying connection: all the victims are marked by a Druidic pagan cross burned into their fl esh. The bizarre murders thrust Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force into a race against time to solve a riddle going back centuries, to a ghastly crime against humanity hidden within a cryptic medieval codex. The fi rst clue is discovered inside a mummifi ed corpse buried in an English peat bog—a gruesome secret that threatens America and the world. Aided by two women from his past—one his exlover, the other his new partner—Gray must piece together the horrifying truth. But the revelations come at a high cost, and to save the future, Gray will have to sacrifi ce one of the women at his side. That alone might not be enough, as the true path to salvation is revealed in a dark prophecy of doom. Sigma Force confronts humankind's greatest threat in an adventure that races from the Roman Coliseum to the icy peaks of Norway, from the ruins of medieval abbeys to the lost tombs of Celtic kings. The ultimate nightmare is locked within a talisman buried by a dead saint—an ancient artifact known as the Doomsday Key.

Download or read book Uncertain Peril written by Claire Hope Cummings and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2009-03-01 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life on earth is facing unprecedented challenges from global warming, war, and mass extinctions. The plight of seeds is a less visible but no less fundamental threat to our survival. Seeds are at the heart of the planet's life-support systems. Their power to regenerate and adapt are essential to maintaining our food supply and our ability to cope with a changing climate. In Uncertain Peril, environmental journalist Claire Hope Cummings exposes the stories behind the rise of industrial agriculture and plant biotechnology, the fall of public interest science, and the folly of patenting seeds. She examines how farming communities are coping with declining water, soil, and fossil fuels, as well as with new commercial technologies. Will genetically engineered and "terminator" seeds lead to certain promise, as some have hoped, or are we embarking on a path of uncertain peril? Will the "doomsday vault" under construction in the Arctic, designed to store millions of seeds, save the genetic diversity of the world's agriculture? To answer these questions and others, Cummings takes readers from the Fertile Crescent in Iraq to the island of Kaua'i in Hawai'i; from Oaxaca, Mexico, to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. She examines the plight of farmers who have planted transgenic seeds and scientists who have been persecuted for revealing the dangers of modified genes. At each turn, Cummings looks deeply into the relationship between people and plants. She examines the possibilities for both scarcity and abundance and tells the stories of local communities that are producing food and fuel sustainably and providing for the future. The choices we make about how we feed ourselves now will determine whether or not seeds will continue as a generous source of sustenance and remain the common heritage of all humanity. It comes down to this: whoever controls the future of seeds controls the future of life on earth. Uncertain Peril is a powerful reminder that what's at stake right now is nothing less than the nature of the future.

Download or read book The Templar Vault written by Scott Chapman and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2013-10-16 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last surviving Templar outpost must protect their Order's greatest secret. As their world is torn apart by the jealous fury of kings, their only duty is to a sacred oath of allegiance to the Order and to each other. Step-by-step they eradicate their footsteps, knowing that only their own obliteration will guarantee that their duty will be fulfilled. Eight hundred years later and an international expert in disaster management sets out to prove that the Templars had a last ditch Doomsday plan. Peter Sparke aims at nothing less than to uncover the last refuge of the Order and the secrets they took to their graves.

Download or read book The Last Forever written by Deb Caletti and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginnings and endings overlap in this soaring novel of love and grief from Printz Honor medal winner and National Book Award finalist Deb Caletti. Nothing lasts forever, and no one gets that more than Tessa. After her mother died, it’s all Tessa can do to keep her friends, her boyfriend, and her happiness from slipping away. And then there’s her dad. He’s stuck in his own daze, and it’s so hard to feel like a family when their house no longer seems like a home. Her father’s solution? An impromptu road trip that lands them in Tessa’s grandmother’s small coastal town. Despite all the warmth and beauty there, Tessa can’t help but feel even more lost. Enter Henry Lark. He understands the relationships that matter. And more importantly, he understands her. A secret stands between them, but Tessa’s willing to do anything to bring them together—because Henry may just be her one chance at forever.

Download or read book The Havoc Machine written by Steven Harper and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2024-09-17 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this steampunk adventure by the author of The Dragon Men, a femme fatale offers a vengeful vigilante a simple job that becomes deadly. The Clockwork Plague continues to incite destruction throughout the world. For Thaddeus Sharpe, the only solution for the disease is death. That is why he has dedicated his life to hunting and killing Clockworkers, and his mission brings him to the streets of St. Petersburg. There he meets a mysterious young woman named Sofiya Ekk, who offers him a proposition from her powerful employer, Mr. Griffin. Thad has his suspicions, but it’s an offer he cannot refuse. In a nearby village, a mad Clockwork scientist named Mr. Havoc has taken residence in a castle. His dreadful experiments on men and machine terrify the locals. He has created a dangerous machine, a ten-legged robotic spider. Griffin doesn’t care what happens to Havoc; he only wants the invention. Simple enough . . . But when Thad arrives at the castle with Sofiya, they make a startling discovery. Not only is Havoc hiding the machine, but he has also been experimenting on a little boy. Now Thad finds himself caught in a mystery he must quickly unravel before havoc reigns . . . Praise for the Novels of the Clockwork Empire “Action, adventure, dirigibles, and mad scientists, oh my!” —Night Owl Reviews on The Impossible Cube “Harper creates a fascinating world of devices, conspiracies, and personalities. . . . Harper’s world building is well developed and offers an interesting combination of science and steam.” —SFRevu on The Doomsday Vault “My favorite book in the series yet. I’m not sure whether that’s because I’ve become so enamored with the world of the Clockwork Empire as a whole, or that the action sequences are nearly relentless, which a definite plus in this case.” —That’s What I’m Talking About on The Dragon Men

Download or read book The Triumph of Seeds written by Thor Hanson and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2015-03-24 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As seen on PBS's American Spring LIVE, the award-winning author of Buzz and Feathers presents a natural and human history of seeds, the marvels of the plant kingdom. "The genius of Hanson's fascinating, inspiring, and entertaining book stems from the fact that it is not about how all kinds of things grow from seeds; it is about the seeds themselves." -- Mark Kurlansky, New York Times Book Review We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life: supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and pepper drove the Age of Discovery, coffee beans fueled the Enlightenment and cottonseed sparked the Industrial Revolution. Seeds are fundamental objects of beauty, evolutionary wonders, and simple fascinations. Yet, despite their importance, seeds are often seen as commonplace, their extraordinary natural and human histories overlooked. Thanks to this stunning new book, they can be overlooked no more. This is a book of knowledge, adventure, and wonder, spun by an award-winning writer with both the charm of a fireside story-teller and the hard-won expertise of a field biologist. A fascinating scientific adventure, it is essential reading for anyone who loves to see a plant grow.

Download or read book Bread Wine Chocolate written by Simran Sethi and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Award-winning journalist Simran Sethi explores the history and cultural importance of our most beloved tastes, paying homage to the ingredients that give us daily pleasure, while providing a thoughtful wake-up call to the homogenization that is threatening the diversity of our food supply. Food is one of the greatest pleasures of human life. Our response to sweet, salty, bitter, or sour is deeply personal, combining our individual biological characteristics, personal preferences, and emotional connections. Bread, Wine, Chocolate illuminates not only what it means to recognize the importance of the foods we love, but also what it means to lose them. Award-winning journalist Simran Sethi reveals how the foods we enjoy are endangered by genetic erosion—a slow and steady loss of diversity in what we grow and eat. In America today, food often looks and tastes the same, whether at a San Francisco farmers market or at a Midwestern potluck. Shockingly, 95% of the world’s calories now come from only thirty species. Though supermarkets seem to be stocked with endless options, the differences between products are superficial, primarily in flavor and brand. Sethi draws on interviews with scientists, farmers, chefs, vintners, beer brewers, coffee roasters and others with firsthand knowledge of our food to reveal the multiple and interconnected reasons for this loss, and its consequences for our health, traditions, and culture. She travels to Ethiopian coffee forests, British yeast culture labs, and Ecuadoran cocoa plantations collecting fascinating stories that will inspire readers to eat more consciously and purposefully, better understand familiar and new foods, and learn what it takes to save the tastes that connect us with the world around us.

Download or read book The Story of Seeds written by Nancy F. Castaldo and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-02-23 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Something as small as a seed can have a worldwide impact. Did you know there are top-secret seed vaults hidden throughout the world? And once a seed disappears, that’s it—it’s gone forever? With the growth of genetically modified foods, the use of many seeds is dwindling—of 80,000 edible plants, only about 150 are being cultivated. With a global cast of men and women, scientists and laypeople, and photographic documentation, Nancy Castaldo chronicles where our food comes from, and more importantly, where it is going as she digs deeper into the importance of seeds in our world. This empowering book also calls young adult readers to action with suggestions as to how they can preserve the variety of one of our most valuable food sources through simple everyday actions. Readers of Michael Pollen will enjoy the depth and fascinatingly intricate social economy of seeds.

Download or read book Vault of the Ages written by Poul Anderson and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2013-06-24 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeologists, studying the past, are handicapped by the fact that relics are usually few and in poor condition. Often, one is not even sure where to look for them. Out of such finds, from tombs, ruined cities, swamps, deserts, and any other place where men of the past have left some trace of themselves, the archaeologist tries to build up a picture of these men's lives and civilizations. but there are great gaps in our knowledge and probably always will be. For Instance, we cannot yet read the inscriptions left by the ancient Cretans, and so are in the dark about many features of their high civilization...

Download or read book The Peculiars written by Maureen Doyle McQuerry and published by ABRAMS. This book was released on 2014-03-18 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young girl sets off on a journey of self-discovery in this “richly atmospheric” tale blending steampunk, adventure, and gothic romance (Kirkus Reviews). With her noticeably large hands and feet, Lena Mattacascar is undoubtedly different. Secretly, she’s wondered if she might actually be Peculiar, and if her father—who left when she was only five years old—may have been Peculiar too. On her eighteenth birthday, Lena receives a letter that inspires her to leave the safety of the City and search for her father in the northern wilderness of Scree—a place inhabited by people whose own unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Her journey leads to romance, danger, and a darkness she’s never imagined. For in the wilds of Scree, she must confront her deepest fears . . . “Readers graduating from the stories of C.S. Lewis and Edward Eager will be right at home—and cat lovers will adore Jimson’s employer’s pet, Mrs. Mumbles. McQuerry’s extensive world-building leaves open the possibility of future installments.” —Publishers Weekly

Download or read book Raven Rock written by Garrett M. Graff and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-05-02 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now a 6-part mini-series called Why the Rest of Us Die airing on VICE TV! The shocking truth about the government’s secret plans to survive a catastrophic attack on US soil—even if the rest of us die—is “a frightening eye-opener” (Kirkus Reviews) that spans the dawn of the nuclear age to today, and "contains everything one could possibly want to know" (The Wall Street Journal). Every day in Washington, DC, the blue-and-gold first Helicopter Squadron, codenamed “MUSSEL,” flies over the Potomac River. As obvious as the Presidential motorcade, most people assume the squadron is a travel perk for VIPs. They’re only half right: while the helicopters do provide transport, the unit exists to evacuate high-ranking officials in the event of a terrorist or nuclear attack on the capital. In the event of an attack, select officials would be whisked by helicopters to a ring of secret bunkers around Washington, even as ordinary citizens were left to fend for themselves. “In exploring the incredible lengths (and depths) that successive administrations have gone to in planning for the aftermath of a nuclear assault, Graff deftly weaves a tale of secrecy and paranoia” (The New York Times Book Review) with details "that read like they've been ripped from the pages of a pulp spy novel" (Vice). For more than sixty years, the US government has been developing secret Doomsday strategies to protect itself, and the multibillion-dollar Continuity of Government (COG) program takes numerous forms—from its potential to evacuate the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to the plans to launch nuclear missiles from a Boeing-747 jet flying high over Nebraska. Garrett M. Graff sheds light on the inner workings of the 650-acre compound, called Raven Rock, just miles from Camp David, as well as dozens of other bunkers the government built for its top leaders during the Cold War, from the White House lawn to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado to Palm Beach, Florida, and the secret plans that would have kicked in after a Cold War nuclear attack to round up foreigners and dissidents and nationalize industries. Equal parts a presidential, military, and cultural history, Raven Rock tracks the evolution of the government plan and the threats of global war from the dawn of the nuclear era through the War on Terror.

Download or read book The Impossible Cube written by Steven Harper and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2024-09-17 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this steampunk sequel to The Doomsday Vault, a pair of adventurers confront technological terrors as they race for their lives from Britain to China. Gavin Ennock once sailed the skies on airships and delighted audiences with his fiddle music. Now a victim of the Clockwork Plague, he is consumed by both madness and brilliance. To save her fiancé’s life, Alice Michaels breaks into the Doomsday Vault to recover a cure, only to incur the wrath of the British Empire and make them both enemies of the Crown. Their only remaining option for a cure now lies across the globe in China. Soon they are up in the clouds with the mad genius Dr. Clef, on the run from an underground police force. But Clef has a plan of his own involving the most destructive force the world has ever seen: the Impossible Cube. With dangerous foes at their heels and trouble brewing aboard their ship, Alice and Gavin must keep their wits about them if they hope to survive . . . “A fast-paced, imaginative story. . . . Exciting chases and nail-biting close calls.” —That’s What I’m Talking About “An exciting adventure thriller that starts off with action and never slows down.” —Genre Go Round Reviews

Download or read book Smiles to Go written by Jerry Spinelli and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2008-04-29 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is stargazer, skateboarder, chess champ, pepperoni pizza eater, older brother, sister hater, best friend, first kisser, science geek, control freak Will Tuppence so afraid of in this great big universe? Jerry Spinelli knows.