Download or read book The Quincunx written by Charles Palliser and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 1990-11-27 with total page 802 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extraordinary modern novel in the Victorian tradition, Charles Palliser has created something extraordinary—a plot within a plot within a plot of family secrets, mysterious clues, low-born birth, high-reaching immorality, and, always, always the fog-enshrouded, enigmatic character of 19th century—London itself. “So compulsively absorbing that reality disappears . . . One is swept along by those enduring emotions that defy modern art and a random universe: hunger for revenge, longing for justice and the fantasy secretly entertained by most people that the bad will be punished and the good rewarded.”—The New York Times “A virtuoso achievement . . . It is an epic, a tour de force, a staggeringly complex and tantalizingly layered tale that will keep readers engrossed in days. . . . The Quincunx will not disappoint you. It is, quite simply, superb.”—Chicago Sun-Times “A bold and vivid tale that invites the reader to get lost in the intoxicating rhythms of another world. And the invitation is irresistible.”—San Francisco Chronicle “A remarkable book . . . In mood, color, atmosphere and characters, this is Charles Dickens reincarnated . . . It is an immersing experience.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review “To read the first pages is to be trapped for seven-hundred odd more: you cannot stop turning them.”—The New Yorker “Few books, at most a dozen or two in a lifetime, affect us this way. . . . For sheer intricacy and ingenuity, for skill and clarity of storytelling, it is the kind of book readers wait for, a book to get lost in.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Download or read book A Patriot s History of the United States written by Larry Schweikart and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-12-29 with total page 1373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the past three decades, many history professors have allowed their biases to distort the way America’s past is taught. These intellectuals have searched for instances of racism, sexism, and bigotry in our history while downplaying the greatness of America’s patriots and the achievements of “dead white men.” As a result, more emphasis is placed on Harriet Tubman than on George Washington; more about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II than about D-Day or Iwo Jima; more on the dangers we faced from Joseph McCarthy than those we faced from Josef Stalin. A Patriot’s History of the United States corrects those doctrinaire biases. In this groundbreaking book, America’s discovery, founding, and development are reexamined with an appreciation for the elements of public virtue, personal liberty, and private property that make this nation uniquely successful. This book offers a long-overdue acknowledgment of America’s true and proud history.

Download or read book Blown to Bits written by Harold Abelson and published by Addison-Wesley Professional. This book was released on 2008 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Blown to Bits' is about how the digital explosion is changing everything. The text explains the technology, why it creates so many surprises and why things often don't work the way we expect them to. It is also about things the information explosion is destroying: old assumptions about who is really in control of our lives.

Download or read book Writing Exercises from Exercise Exchange written by Charles R. Duke and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reflecting current practices in the teaching of writing, the exercises in this compilation were drawn from the journal "Exercise Exchange." The articles are arranged into six sections: sources for writing; prewriting; modes for writing; writing and reading; language, mechanics, and style; and revising, responding, and evaluating. Among the topics covered in the more than 75 exercises are the following: (1) using the Tarot in the composition class; (2) writing for a real audience; (3) writing and career development; (4) teaching the thesis statement through description; (5) sense exploration and descriptive writing; (6) composition and adult students; (7) free writing; (8) in-class essays; (9) moving from prewriting into composing; (10) writing as thinking; (11) values clarification through writing; (12) persuasive writing; (13) the relationship of subject, writer, and audience; (14) business writing; (15) teaching the research paper; (16) writing in the content areas; (17) writing from literature; (18) responding to literature via inquiry; (19) precision in language usage; (20) grammar instruction; (21) topic sentences; (22) generating paragraphs; (23) writing style; (24) peer evaluation; and (25) writing-course final examinations. (FL)

Download or read book The Disappearing Spoon written by Sam Kean and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2010-07-12 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes incredible stories of science, history, finance, mythology, the arts, medicine, and more, as told by the Periodic Table. Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why is gallium (Ga, 31) the go-to element for laboratory pranksters? The Periodic Table is a crowning scientific achievement, but it's also a treasure trove of adventure, betrayal, and obsession. These fascinating tales follow every element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, and in the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. The Disappearing Spoon masterfully fuses science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, and discovery -- from the Big Bang through the end of time. Though solid at room temperature, gallium is a moldable metal that melts at 84 degrees Fahrenheit. A classic science prank is to mold gallium spoons, serve them with tea, and watch guests recoil as their utensils disappear.

Download or read book Stiff The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers written by Mary Roach and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2004-05-17 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beloved, best-selling science writer Mary Roach’s “acutely entertaining, morbidly fascinating” (Susan Adams, Forbes) classic, now with a new epilogue. For two thousand years, cadavers – some willingly, some unwittingly – have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender confirmation surgery, cadavers have helped make history in their quiet way. “Delightful—though never disrespectful” (Les Simpson, Time Out New York), Stiff investigates the strange lives of our bodies postmortem and answers the question: What should we do after we die? “This quirky, funny read offers perspective and insight about life, death and the medical profession. . . . You can close this book with an appreciation of the miracle that the human body really is.” —Tara Parker-Pope, Wall Street Journal “Gross, educational, and unexpectedly sidesplitting.” —Entertainment Weekly

Download or read book Hacker Hoaxer Whistleblower Spy written by Gabriella Coleman and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2015-10-06 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ultimate book on the worldwide movement of hackers, pranksters, and activists collectively known as Anonymous—by the writer the Huffington Post says “knows all of Anonymous’ deepest, darkest secrets” “A work of anthropology that sometimes echoes a John le Carré novel.” —Wired Half a dozen years ago, anthropologist Gabriella Coleman set out to study the rise of this global phenomenon just as some of its members were turning to political protest and dangerous disruption (before Anonymous shot to fame as a key player in the battles over WikiLeaks, the Arab Spring, and Occupy Wall Street). She ended up becoming so closely connected to Anonymous that the tricky story of her inside–outside status as Anon confidante, interpreter, and erstwhile mouthpiece forms one of the themes of this witty and entirely engrossing book. The narrative brims with details unearthed from within a notoriously mysterious subculture, whose semi-legendary tricksters—such as Topiary, tflow, Anachaos, and Sabu—emerge as complex, diverse, politically and culturally sophisticated people. Propelled by years of chats and encounters with a multitude of hackers, including imprisoned activist Jeremy Hammond and the double agent who helped put him away, Hector Monsegur, Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy is filled with insights into the meaning of digital activism and little understood facets of culture in the Internet age, including the history of “trolling,” the ethics and metaphysics of hacking, and the origins and manifold meanings of “the lulz.”

Download or read book Balanced Scorecard Step by Step written by Paul R. Niven and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2002-10-15 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explains how an organization can measure and manage performance with the Balanced Scorecard methodology. It provides extensive background on performance management and the Balanced Scorecard, and focuses on guiding a team through the step-by-step development and ongoing implementation of a Balanced Scorecard system. Corporations, public sector agencies, and not for profit organizations have all reaped success from the Balanced Scorecard. This book supplies detailed implementation advice that is readily applied to any and all of these organization types. Additionally, it will benefit organizations at any stage of Balanced Scorecard development. Regardless of whether you are just contemplating a Balanced Scorecard, require assistance in linking their current Scorecard to management processes, or need a review of their past measurement efforts, Balanced Scorecard Step by Step provides detailed advice and proven solutions.

Download or read book Wine and Society written by Stephen Charters and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Wine and Society: The social and cultural context of a drink examines the cultural forces which have shaped both how wine is made and the way in which it is consumed. It's divided into four parts and illustrated by case studies from around the world."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book Coraline written by Neil Gaiman and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tenth anniversary edition of Neil Gaiman's modern classic, brilliantly illustrated by Chris Riddell, with a new foreword by the author, in a gift presentation slipcase

Download or read book From Caligari to Hitler written by Siegfried Kracauer and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-02 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential work of the cinematic history of the Weimar Republic by a leading figure of film criticism First published in 1947, From Caligari to Hitler remains an undisputed landmark study of the rich cinematic history of the Weimar Republic. Prominent film critic Siegfried Kracauer examines German society from 1921 to 1933, in light of such movies as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, M, Metropolis, and The Blue Angel. He explores the connections among film aesthetics, the prevailing psychological state of Germans in the Weimar era, and the evolving social and political reality of the time. Kracauer makes a startling (and still controversial) claim: films as popular art provide insight into the unconscious motivations and fantasies of a nation. With a critical introduction by Leonardo Quaresima which provides context for Kracauer’s scholarship and his contributions to film studies, this Princeton Classics edition makes an influential work available to new generations of cinema enthusiasts.

Download or read book White Trash written by Nancy Isenberg and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-06-21 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller A New York Times Notable and Critics’ Top Book of 2016 Longlisted for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction One of NPR's 10 Best Books Of 2016 Faced Tough Topics Head On NPR's Book Concierge Guide To 2016’s Great Reads San Francisco Chronicle's Best of 2016: 100 recommended books A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2016 Globe & Mail 100 Best of 2016 “Formidable and truth-dealing . . . necessary.” —The New York Times “This eye-opening investigation into our country’s entrenched social hierarchy is acutely relevant.” —O Magazine In her groundbreaking bestselling history of the class system in America, Nancy Isenberg upends history as we know it by taking on our comforting myths about equality and uncovering the crucial legacy of the ever-present, always embarrassing—if occasionally entertaining—poor white trash. “When you turn an election into a three-ring circus, there’s always a chance that the dancing bear will win,” says Isenberg of the political climate surrounding Sarah Palin. And we recognize how right she is today. Yet the voters who boosted Trump all the way to the White House have been a permanent part of our American fabric, argues Isenberg. The wretched and landless poor have existed from the time of the earliest British colonial settlement to today's hillbillies. They were alternately known as “waste people,” “offals,” “rubbish,” “lazy lubbers,” and “crackers.” By the 1850s, the downtrodden included so-called “clay eaters” and “sandhillers,” known for prematurely aged children distinguished by their yellowish skin, ragged clothing, and listless minds. Surveying political rhetoric and policy, popular literature and scientific theories over four hundred years, Isenberg upends assumptions about America’s supposedly class-free society––where liberty and hard work were meant to ensure real social mobility. Poor whites were central to the rise of the Republican Party in the early nineteenth century, and the Civil War itself was fought over class issues nearly as much as it was fought over slavery. Reconstruction pitted poor white trash against newly freed slaves, which factored in the rise of eugenics–-a widely popular movement embraced by Theodore Roosevelt that targeted poor whites for sterilization. These poor were at the heart of New Deal reforms and LBJ’s Great Society; they haunt us in reality TV shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty. Marginalized as a class, white trash have always been at or near the center of major political debates over the character of the American identity. We acknowledge racial injustice as an ugly stain on our nation’s history. With Isenberg’s landmark book, we will have to face the truth about the enduring, malevolent nature of class as well.

Download or read book Beyond Nineteen Eighty four written by William Lutz and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book probes the efforts at manipulation individuals face daily in this information age and the tactics of persuaders from many sectors of society using various forms of Orwellian "doublespeak." The book contains the following essays: (1) "Notes toward a Definition of Doublespeak" (William Lutz); (2) "Truisms Are True: Orwell's View of Language" (Walker Gibson); (3) "Mr. Orwell, Mr. Schlesinger, and the Language" (Hugh Rank); (4) "What Do We Know?" (Charles Weingartner); (5) "The Dangers of Singlespeak" (Edward M. White); (6) "The Fallacies of Doublespeak" (Dennis Rohatyn); (7) "Doublespeak and Ethics" (George R. Bramer); (8) "Post-Orwellian Refinements of Doublethink: Will the Real Big Brother Please Stand Up?" (Donald Lazere); (9) "Worldthink" (Richard Ohmann); (10)"'Bullets Hurt, Corpses Stink': George Orwell and the Language of Warfare" (Harry Brent); (11) "Political Language: The Art of Saying Nothing" (Dan F. Hahn); (12) "Fiddle-Faddle, Flapdoodle, and Balderdash: Some Thoughts about Jargon" (Frank J. D'Angelo); (13) "How to Read an Ad: Learning to Read between the Lies" (D. G. Kehl); (14) "Subliminal Chainings: Metonymical Doublespeak in Advertising" (Don L. F. Nilsen); (15) "Doublespeak and the Polemics of Technology" (Scott Buechler); (16) "Make Money, Not Sense: Keep Academia Green" (Julia Penelope); (17) "Sensationspeak in America" (Roy F. Fox); and (18) "The Pop Grammarians--Good Intentions, Silly Ideas, and Doublespeak" (Charles Suhor). Three appendixes are attached: "The George Orwell Awards,""The Doublespeak Award," and "The Quarterly Review of Doublespeak." (MS)

Download or read book A Historical Perspective on Light Infantry written by Scott Ray McMichael and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study seeks to clarify the nature of light infantry. General characteristics of light infantry forces are identified, and an analysis of how light forces operate tactically and how they are supported is presented. In the process, the relationship of the light infantry ethic to its organization is evaluated, and the differences between light infantry and conventional infantry is illuminated. For the purpose of this study, the term conventional infantry refers to modern-day motorized and mechanized infantry and to the large dismounted infantry forces typical of the standard infantry divisions of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The study concludes that light infantry is unique and distinct. A light infantry ethic exits and manifests itself in a distinctive tactical style, in a special attitude toward the environment, in a freedom from dependence on fixed lines of communication, and in a strong propensity for self-reliance. The study is based on a historical analysis of 4 light infantry forces employed during and since World War II: The Chindits, in the 1944 Burma campaign against the Japanese; The Chinese communist Forces during the Korean War; British operations in Malaya and Borneo 1948-66; and the First Special Service Force in the mountains of Italy 1942-44. -- p. [2] of cover.

Download or read book The Annihilation Score written by Charles Stross and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2015-07-02 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOBODY DOES IT BETTER . . . Dr Mo O'Brien is an intelligence agent at the top secret government agency known as 'the Laundry'. When occult powers threaten the realm, they'll be there to clean up the mess and deal with the witnesses. But the Laundry is recovering from a devastating attack and when average citizens all over the country start to develop supernatural powers, the police are called in to help. Mo is appointed as official police liaison, but in between dealing with police bureaucracy, superpowered members of the public and disgruntled politicians, Mo discovers to her horror that she can no longer rely on her marriage, nor on the weapon that has been at her side for eight years of undercover work, the possessed violin known as 'Lecter'. If this wasn't bad enough, a mysterious figure known as Dr Freudstein is committing heists and sending increasingly threatening messages to the police. Who is Freudstein and what is he planning?

Download or read book Colour Coded written by Constance Backhouse and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 1999-11-20 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historically Canadians have considered themselves to be more or less free of racial prejudice. Although this conception has been challenged in recent years, it has not been completely dispelled. In Colour-Coded, Constance Backhouse illustrates the tenacious hold that white supremacy had on our legal system in the first half of this century, and underscores the damaging legacy of inequality that continues today. Backhouse presents detailed narratives of six court cases, each giving evidence of blatant racism created and enforced through law. The cases focus on Aboriginal, Inuit, Chinese-Canadian, and African-Canadian individuals, taking us from the criminal prosecution of traditional Aboriginal dance to the trial of members of the 'Ku Klux Klan of Kanada.' From thousands of possibilities, Backhouse has selected studies that constitute central moments in the legal history of race in Canada. Her selection also considers a wide range of legal forums, including administrative rulings by municipal councils, criminal trials before police magistrates, and criminal and civil cases heard by the highest courts in the provinces and by the Supreme Court of Canada. The extensive and detailed documentation presented here leaves no doubt that the Canadian legal system played a dominant role in creating and preserving racial discrimination. A central message of this book is that racism is deeply embedded in Canadian history despite Canada's reputation as a raceless society. Winner of the Joseph Brant Award, presented by the Ontario Historical Society

Download or read book Washington s Spies written by Alexander Rose and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2014-03-25 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Turn: Washington’s Spies, now an original series on AMC Based on remarkable new research, acclaimed historian Alexander Rose brings to life the true story of the spy ring that helped America win the Revolutionary War. For the first time, Rose takes us beyond the battlefront and deep into the shadowy underworld of double agents and triple crosses, covert operations and code breaking, and unmasks the courageous, flawed men who inhabited this wilderness of mirrors—including the spymaster at the heart of it all. In the summer of 1778, with the war poised to turn in his favor, General George Washington desperately needed to know where the British would strike next. To that end, he unleashed his secret weapon: an unlikely ring of spies in New York charged with discovering the enemy’s battle plans and military strategy. Washington’s small band included a young Quaker torn between political principle and family loyalty, a swashbuckling sailor addicted to the perils of espionage, a hard-drinking barkeep, a Yale-educated cavalryman and friend of the doomed Nathan Hale, and a peaceful, sickly farmer who begged Washington to let him retire but who always came through in the end. Personally guiding these imperfect everyday heroes was Washington himself. In an era when officers were gentlemen, and gentlemen didn’ t spy, he possessed an extraordinary talent for deception—and proved an adept spymaster. The men he mentored were dubbed the Culper Ring. The British secret service tried to hunt them down, but they escaped by the closest of shaves thanks to their ciphers, dead drops, and invisible ink. Rose’s thrilling narrative tells the unknown story of the Revolution–the murderous intelligence war, gunrunning and kidnapping, defectors and executioners—that has never appeared in the history books. But Washington’s Spies is also a spirited, touching account of friendship and trust, fear and betrayal, amid the dark and silent world of the spy.