Download or read book The Last Illusion written by Porochista Khakpour and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2014-05-13 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A kaleidoscopic tale inspired by a legend from the medieval Persian epic "Book of Kings" follows the coming-of-age of a feral Middle Eastern youth in New York City on the eve of the September 11 attacks. By the award-winning author of Sons and Other Flammable Objects. 25,000 first printing.
Download or read book The Illusion of Separateness written by Simon Van Booy and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-06-11 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The uncanny beauty of Van Booy’s prose, and his ability to knife straight to the depths of a character’s heart, fill a reader with wonder.” — San Francisco Chronicle Award-winning author Simon Van Booy tells a harrowing and enchanting story of how one man’s act of mercy during World War II changed the lives of strangers, and how they each discover the astonishing truth of their connection. The characters in Van Booy's The Illusion of Separateness discover at their darkest moments of fear and isolation that they are not alone, that they were never alone, that every human being is a link in a chain we cannot see. This gripping novel—inspired by true events—tells the interwoven stories of a deformed German infantryman; a lonely British film director; a young, blind museum curator; two Jewish American newlyweds separated by war; and a caretaker at a retirement home for actors in Santa Monica. They move through the same world but fail to perceive their connections until, through seemingly random acts of selflessness, a veil is lifted to reveal the vital parts they have played in one another's lives, and the illusion of their separateness.
Download or read book The Power of Illusion written by Christopher Anvil and published by Baen Publishing Enterprises. This book was released on 2010-10-01 with total page 615 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new collection of stories by the master of humorous science fiction adventure, including: The full-length novel, The Day the Machines Stopped¾and what happens, not just to civilization, but to humanity and its chances of survival when all the machines stop working at once? A man is captured by aliens who are investigating the Earth as a possible target for colonization. The aliens have science and technology far in advance of humans¾but, unfortunately for them, they have never developed the human art of bluffing. For the first time in book form, Anvil's stories of Richard Verner, who is called in to solve apparently insoluble problems, such as explaining why experimental missiles keep failing for no apparent reason, or locating a kidnapped judge, or even solving an inexplicable murder that's interrupting his vacation. And much more, in a generous volume of sardonically humorous science fiction. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
Download or read book It s Me Marva written by Marjorie Priceman and published by Knopf Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marva is an absent-minded inventor whose day is a series of mixed-up colors and illusions. She puts her blue jeans in the washing machine with her yellow scarf and her red shirt (the shirt turns purple and the scarf comes out green). The story is propelled by a host of clever optical tricks worked seamlessly into bold cut-paper illustrations.
Download or read book The Self Illusion written by Bruce Hood and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-06-15 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most of us believe that we are unique and coherent individuals, but are we? The idea of a "self" has existed ever since humans began to live in groups and become sociable. Those who embrace the self as an individual in the West, or a member of the group in the East, feel fulfilled and purposeful. This experience seems incredibly real but a wealth of recent scientific evidence reveals that this notion of the independent, coherent self is an illusion - it is not what it seems. Reality as we perceive it is not something that objectively exists, but something that our brains construct from moment to moment, interpreting, summarizing, and substituting information along the way. Like a science fiction movie, we are living in a matrix that is our mind. In The Self Illusion, Dr. Bruce Hood reveals how the self emerges during childhood and how the architecture of the developing brain enables us to become social animals dependent on each other. He explains that self is the product of our relationships and interactions with others, and it exists only in our brains. The author argues, however, that though the self is an illusion, it is one that humans cannot live without. But things are changing as our technology develops and shapes society. The social bonds and relationships that used to take time and effort to form are now undergoing a revolution as we start to put our self online. Social networking activities such as blogging, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter threaten to change the way we behave. Social networking is fast becoming socialization on steroids. The speed and ease at which we can form alliances and relationships is outstripping the same selection processes that shaped our self prior to the internet era. This book ventures into unchartered territory to explain how the idea of the self will never be the same again in the online social world.
Download or read book The Ultimate Book of Optical Illusions written by Al Seckel and published by Sterling Publishing Company. This book was released on 2006 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains color and black-and-white illustrations of over three hundred optical illusions, each with brief, explanatory text.
Download or read book The Apollo Illusion written by Shari Lopatin and published by . This book was released on 2018-05-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year is 2150, and bullied nineteen-year-old Flora can no longer ignore the burning curiosity to learn what¿s behind the towering Wall surrounding her home state of Apollo. Citizens still read books, discuss philosophy, and send text messages, but questioning The Other Side is forbidden. When Flora¿s naïveté accidentally reveals a dark secret about Apollo, she¿s forced into an isolated web of truth, lies, and survival. Fearing for her life, she leaves behind a clue for her childhood friend, Andrew, placing her last hope in their special bond. The Apollo Illusion is a story for the hackers, the techies, the seekers, and the rebels of the world.
Download or read book The Book of Illusions written by Paul Auster and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2003 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A man's obsession with a silent-film star sends him on a journey into a shadow world of lies, illusions, and unexpected love Six months after losing his wife and two young sons in an airplane crash, Vermont professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in a blur of alcoholic grief and self-pity. Then, watching television one night, he stumbles upon a clip from a lost silent film by comedian Hector Mann. Zimmer's interest is piqued, and he soon finds himself embarking on a journey around the world to research a book on this mysterious figure, who vanished from sight in 1929 and has been presumed dead for sixty years. When the book is published the following year, a letter turns up in Zimmer's mailbox bearing a return address from a small town in New Mexico-supposedly written by Hector's wife. "Hector has read your book and would like to meet you. Are you interested in paying us a visit?" Is the letter a hoax, or is Hector Mann still alive? Torn between doubt and belief, Zimmer hesitates, until one night a strange woman appears on his doorstep and makes the decision for him, changing his life forever. This stunning novel plunges the reader into a universe in which the comic and the tragic, the real and the imagined, the violent and the tender dissolve into one another. With The Book of Illusions, one of America's most powerful and original writers has written his richest, most emotionally charged work yet.
Download or read book The Illusion of Simple written by Charles Forrest Jones and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2022-05-18 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In a dry Kansas riverbed, a troop of Girl Scouts finds a human hand. This discovery leads Billy Spire, the tough and broken sheriff of Ewing County, to confront the depths of his community. The racism, the dying economy, the lies and truths of friendship, and his own injured marriage. But like any town where people still breathe, there is also love and hope and the possibility of redemption. To flyover people, Ewing County appears nothing more than a handful of empty streets amid crop circles and the meandering, depleted Arkansas River. But the truth of this place - the interwoven lives and stories - is anything but simple"--
Download or read book The Knowledge Illusion written by Steven Sloman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The Knowledge Illusion is filled with insights on how we should deal with our individual ignorance and collective wisdom.” —Steven Pinker We all think we know more than we actually do. Humans have built hugely complex societies and technologies, but most of us don’t even know how a pen or a toilet works. How have we achieved so much despite understanding so little? Cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach argue that we survive and thrive despite our mental shortcomings because we live in a rich community of knowledge. The key to our intelligence lies in the people and things around us. We’re constantly drawing on information and expertise stored outside our heads: in our bodies, our environment, our possessions, and the community with which we interact—and usually we don’t even realize we’re doing it. The human mind is both brilliant and pathetic. We have mastered fire, created democratic institutions, stood on the moon, and sequenced our genome. And yet each of us is error prone, sometimes irrational, and often ignorant. The fundamentally communal nature of intelligence and knowledge explains why we often assume we know more than we really do, why political opinions and false beliefs are so hard to change, and why individual-oriented approaches to education and management frequently fail. But our collaborative minds also enable us to do amazing things. The Knowledge Illusion contends that true genius can be found in the ways we create intelligence using the community around us.
Download or read book Night s Illusion written by Amanda Ashley and published by Zebra Books. This book was released on 2021-08-24 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hailed as “a master of her craft” (Maggie Shayne), one of the most trusted and innovative voices in paranormal romance, New York Times bestselling author Amanda Ashley, brings readers a sensually charged, witty and romantic novel about an ancient vampire searching for his perfect soulmate. Giovanni Lanzoni may just be the world’s oldest male virgin. Or at least, the oldest male virgin vampire. Giovanni has clung to the vows he made a thousand years ago as a mortal priest—yet he is no longer either of those things. Others of his kind have settled down since claiming immortality, finding love, even raising children. Sensing his loneliness, Mara, Queen of the Vampires, eagerly sets out to find Giovanni the perfect mate. But only one woman, met by chance on a dark night, truly tempts him . . . Cassie Douglas has never met a man she trusts as much as Giovanni. Yet the shocking truth he reveals makes her question their deep connection. There are other urgent obstacles too. Giovanni’s sire, an ancient, dangerously powerful vampire, is awakening after centuries of slumber, with vengeance on his mind. And in the battle unfolding around them, everything is at risk—their lives, their loved ones, and a passionate eternity together . . .
Download or read book The Illusion of a Girl written by LeeAnn Werner and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perception is king, especially in a small Ohio town. Jessie Taylor seems like a normal 15-year-old girl, but she's an illusion of what people expect her to be: a good girl, a smart girl, and most importantly, a girl from a respectable family. Her family may appear ordinary, even wholesome, but behind closed doors it's an alcohol-soaked nightmare without reprieve. Jessie and her brother Brian, struggle bravely together as they fight to survive their violent father. Even the excitement of falling in love for the first time can't seal the foundational cracks in her psyche. As her home life worsens, Jessie mentally begins to bend and then break. No one foresees the girl Jessie becomes, the dark abilities she possesses or the vengeance she'll take.
Download or read book The Illusion of Conscious Will written by Daniel M. Wegner and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-08-11 with total page 743 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A novel contribution to the age-old debate about free will versus determinism. Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality. Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will—those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.
Download or read book The Illusion of Living An AFK Book Bendy written by Adrienne Kress and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enter the mind of Joey Drew in this exclusive memoir, sure to captivate fans of the hit horror video games Bendy and the Ink Machine and Bendy and the Dark Revival! Bendy fans will delight in poring over the memoir of his ingenious creator, Joey Drew. From humble beginnings to his meteoric rise as the force behind his eponymous studio, Mr. Drew offers a behind the scenes peek at his many animation innovations, such as Sillivision, his "Rules to Animate By," and of course his unique approach to franchising-among the first of its time. This re-release even includes never before seen information omitted from the original manuscript, cobbled together from the Joey Drew Studios archive as well as Mr. Drew's personal estate. Don't miss this exclusive peek inside the rise-and fall-of one of the most groundbreaking animators in history!
Download or read book The Blackstone Book of Magic Illusion written by Harry Blackstone and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finally back in print, the complete Blackstone story and the history of magic from the 1920s to today. This much in-demand classic gift book contains over 250 photos & drawings exploring the complete Blackstone story and a vivid and varied appreciation of the history, science, and art of illusion and magic from ancient Egypt to vaudeville to Broadway, Las Vegas, and television. It contains 20 classic magic routines in detailed execution. Traces the history of magic, describes the acts of prominent magicians, and demonstrates some basic cup, card, and coin tricks.
Download or read book The Alchemist s Illusion written by Gigi Pandian and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nominated for a 2020 Edgar Award (The G.P. Putnam's Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award) "Surprising plot twists, several cliffhangers, and vivid magical imagery will keep fans of paranormal cozies turning the pages."—Publishers Weekly The latest alchemical adventure from Gigi Pandian, USA Today bestselling author and winner of the Agatha Award Centuries-old alchemist Zoe Faust is tired of running from her past. She's finally got her life on track in Portland, Oregon, gardening and cooking in her fixer-upper house with her mischievous best friend, Dorian the gargoyle chef. It seems like the perfect life for Zoe, until she discovers that her old mentor Nicolas Flamel, who she thought had abandoned her, has been imprisoned. A local artist holds the secret that could lead Zoe to her mentor, but the artist is murdered and the painting containing the hidden clue is stolen. To rescue Nicolas, Zoe and Dorian must explore art forgery, a transformative process that has much in common with alchemy and cooking—but one that proves far more dangerous. Includes delicious vegan recipes! Praise: "Sparkles most when it stays true to the wonder of its magical subject."—Foreword Reviews "Pandian paints a lovely picture of relationships throughout the book's mystery of greed and violence."—New York Journal of Books
Download or read book Illusions written by Aprilynne Pike and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 2012-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As her senior year of high school starts, Laurel is just beginning to adjust to Tamani's absence when he suddenly reappears, telling her he must guard her against the returning threat of the trolls that pose a danger both to her and to Avalon, in this third book in the bestselling Wings series.
