In this book of utopian prophecies, the problems of contemporary human society are theorized and textually rectified. The authors expose the dysfunctions embedded in modern life, from shoddy architecture to the existence of police. Featuring over 125 chapters, countless footnotes, an extended bibliography, four appendices, and a full index, this revised and expanded edition of Blueprints for a Sparkling Tomorrow promises to restore the prospects for a civilization gone mad.
In a future world that has been decimated by a sentient glacier and corrupt nanotechnology, a film archivist, a former mercenary and a virtuoso dishwasher are manipulated by a man who is overseeing the construction of a Manhattan replica in Puget Sound.
After their mother dies, Kaitlin Donovan must rely on her faith to hold the family together until their father returns to San Francisco, and they can begin a new life
The setting is New England in the sixties. Life was different then. This story revolves around one family, especially the woman everyone called Grandma. She was a wonderful and multitalented lady. She always had the right answers. This is the author's story, but it is Grandma's story too. He asked her once if a movie director career had merit. She advised him to write a unique book first and remarked, "Surely with over seventeen years of formal education, you can write an interesting story." The author responded that most of his knowledge involves guns, reloading bullets, and ballistics. But write a book he did.
Love, Laughter, and Wedding Bells: A Perfect Match By Jared Klev Sarah Parker and Jack Morgan are the city’s premier wedding planners, known for their impeccable taste and flawless execution. They’re also known for their fierce rivalry. With competing businesses and a shared history, they've always been at odds. But when a scheduling mishap forces them to work together on two high-profile weddings, their world is turned upside down. Thrown into a whirlwind of floral arrangements, cake tastings, and seating charts, Sarah and Jack must navigate the chaos of wedding planning while managing their growing attraction to each other. From laugh-out-loud mishaps to touching moments of vulnerability, their journey is a delightful mix of humor and heart. Can Sarah and Jack put aside their differences to pull off the weddings of a lifetime? And as they work side by side, will they discover that true love might just be the perfect union of opposites? Perfect for fans of romantic comedies and heartwarming love stories, Love, Laughter, and Wedding Bells is a tale of unexpected romance, second chances, and the beauty of finding love when you least expect it.
The Breakfast Club meets The Silver Linings Playbook in this powerful, provocative, and heartfelt novel about twelve endearing strangers who come together to make the most of their final days, from New York Times bestselling and award-winning author J. Michael Straczynski. Mark Antonelli, a failed young writer looking down the barrel at thirty, is planning a cross-country road trip. He buys a beat-up old tour bus. He hires a young army vet to drive it. He puts out an ad for others to join him along the way. But this will be a road trip like no other: His passengers are all fellow disheartened souls who have decided that this will be their final journey—upon arrival in San Francisco, they will find a cliff with an amazing view of the ocean at sunset, hit the gas, and drive out of this world. The unlikely companions include a young woman with a chronic pain sensory disorder and another who was relentlessly bullied at school for her size; a bipolar, party-loving neo-hippie; a gentle coder with a literal hole in his heart and blue skin; and a poet dreaming of a better world beyond this one. We get to know them through access to their texts, emails, voicemails, and the daily journal entries they write as the price of admission for this trip. By turns tragic, funny, quirky, charming, and deeply moving, Together We Will Go explores the decisions that brings these characters together, and the relationships that grow between them, with some discovering love and affection for the first time. But as they cross state lines and complications to the initial plan arise, it becomes clear that this is a novel as much about the will to live as the choice to end it. The final, unforgettable moments as they hurtle toward the decisions awaiting them will be remembered for a lifetime.
Discovering the secrets of animal movement and what they can teach us Insects walk on water, snakes slither, and fish swim. Animals move with astounding grace, speed, and versatility: how do they do it, and what can we learn from them? In How to Walk on Water and Climb up Walls, David Hu takes readers on an accessible, wondrous journey into the world of animal motion. From basement labs at MIT to the rain forests of Panama, Hu shows how animals have adapted and evolved to traverse their environments, taking advantage of physical laws with results that are startling and ingenious. In turn, the latest discoveries about animal mechanics are inspiring scientists to invent robots and devices that move with similar elegance and efficiency. Hu follows scientists as they investigate a multitude of animal movements, from the undulations of sandfish and the way that dogs shake off water in fractions of a second to the seemingly crash-resistant characteristics of insect flight. Not limiting his exploration to individual organisms, Hu describes the ways animals enact swarm intelligence, such as when army ants cooperate and link their bodies to create bridges that span ravines. He also looks at what scientists learn from nature’s unexpected feats—such as snakes that fly, mosquitoes that survive rainstorms, and dead fish that swim upstream. As researchers better understand such issues as energy, flexibility, and water repellency in animal movement, they are applying this knowledge to the development of cutting-edge technology. Integrating biology, engineering, physics, and robotics, How to Walk on Water and Climb up Walls demystifies the remarkable mechanics behind animal locomotion.
