Follow the course of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers Mission. Learn how scientists determined that there was once water on Mars and how they resolved problems with the rovers in order to prolong the mission.
Visit the racetrack in this book to see fast cars compete against each other. Race cars have powerful engines and fearless drivers. Zoom through this book and discover different types of race cars and how they work!
Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel • One of the most enthralling science fiction sagas ever written, Kim Stanley Robinson’s epic trilogy concludes with Blue Mars—a triumph of prodigious research and visionary storytelling. “A breakthrough even from [Kim Stanley Robinson’s] own consistently high levels of achievement.”—The New York Times Book Review The red planet is no more. Now green and verdant, Mars has been dramatically altered from a desolate world into one where humans can flourish. The First Hundred settlers are being pulled into a fierce new struggle between the Reds, a group devoted to preserving Mars in its desert state, and the Green “terraformers.” Meanwhile, Earth is in peril. A great flood threatens an already overcrowded and polluted planet. With Mars the last hope for the human race, the inhabitants of the red planet are heading toward a population explosion—or interplanetary war.
Alex the Alien Alex the Alien sure has a lot to learn in this eventful life! The adorable extraterrestrial stumbles through adventures, learning the ins and outs of everyday life, from handling his money to relating to his new, earthling friends. There's never a dull moment in Alex the Alien. Different from his alien buddies and most certainly different from his new-found comrades on Earth Alex struggles sometimes to put two and two together. He always finds his way, and always learns a little something along the way. Told in rhyme and aided by bright, colorful illustrations, the children's book supplies a steady stream of artful bedtime stories that relate the humorous adventures of Alex the Alien with some powerful life lessons thrown in. Alex the Alien is appropriate for children age 2 through 8, and is ideal for nightly bedtime enjoyment.
The fastest, funniest page-turner on the planet! This is the ultimate book for kids who love slick supercars, powerful monster trucks, and record-smashing speed machines. Buckle up — the only thing more exciting than reading this book about big and fast cars is sitting behind the wheel of one crossing the finish line at the Indy 500! Inside you’ll find amazing color photos, mind-blowing facts, and answers to some very urgent questions, like: Do you know why the van was embarrassed around its friends? Because it had a little gas! Since the invention of the wheel, people have been building machines that go faster and faster and look cooler and cooler. The first cars went about 10 mph, now they easily break 200 mph — and some even drive themselves! Speaking of which, ever wonder whose fault it is if two self-driving cars get in an accident? Pick up this book and find out! Under the hood you’ll discover: Incredible auto-related facts like record setting rides (check out the 763 mph ThrustSSC rocket car!) and answers to seriously silly questions (How do race car drivers pee during a race?) Many S.T.E.A.M. learning opportunities such as the science of how cars work and the history of cars from the Model T to electric cars to a Tesla in space! Behind-the-scenes stories of people with great car-related jobs such as a Hot Wheels designer, the guy who created the Batmobile, a scientist who controls rovers on Mars, and of course, record-setting drivers like Danica Patrick, Alexander Rossi, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and teen sensation Chloe Chambers. Fun activities such as drawing lessons (create your own car cartoon character!) matching games, quizzes, plus tons of jokes. Sneak peeks inside the garages of your favorite famous car-collection celebs like The Rock, Lady Gaga, Guy Fieri and other car-obsessives! The only thing readers need to drive Road & Track Crew Big & Fast Cars is a license for fun. So turn the key, step on the gas and let’s go!
TIME’S #1 FICTION TITLE OF THE YEAR • NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018 FINALIST for the MAN BOOKER PRIZE and the NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD LONGLISTED for the ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL An instant New York Times bestseller from two-time National Book Award finalist Rachel Kushner, The Mars Room earned tweets from Margaret Atwood—“gritty, empathic, finely rendered, no sugar toppings, and a lot of punches, none of them pulled”—and from Stephen King—“The Mars Room is the real deal, jarring, horrible, compassionate, funny.” It’s 2003 and Romy Hall, named after a German actress, is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility, deep in California’s Central Valley. Outside is the world from which she has been severed: her young son, Jackson, and the San Francisco of her youth. Inside is a new reality: thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive; the bluffing and pageantry and casual acts of violence by guards and prisoners alike; and the deadpan absurdities of institutional living, portrayed with great humor and precision. Stunning and unsentimental, The Mars Room is “wholly authentic…profound…luminous” (The Wall Street Journal), “one of those books that enrage you even as they break your heart” (The New York Times Book Review, cover review)—a spectacularly compelling, heart-stopping novel about a life gone off the rails in contemporary America. It is audacious and tragic, propulsive and yet beautifully refined and “affirms Rachel Kushner as one of our best novelists” (Entertainment Weekly).
In this sneaky, silly picture book for fans of Oliver Jeffers and Jon Klassen, an intrepid—but not so clever—space explorer is certain he’s found the only living thing on Mars A young astronaut is absolutely sure there is life to be found on Mars. He sets off on a solitary mission, determined to prove the naysayers wrong. But when he arrives, equipped with a package of cupcakes as a gift, he sees nothing but a nearly barren planet. Finally, he spies a single flower and packs it away to take back to Earth as proof that there is indeed life on Mars. But as he settles in for the journey home, he cracks open his cupcakes—only to discover that someone has eaten them all! Readers will love being in on the secret: Unbeknownst to the explorer, a Martian has been wandering through the illustrations the whole time—and he got himself a delicious snack along the way.
Formula 1 cars are fast, open-wheeled race cars used in the Formula 1 circuit. They can reach speeds up to 220 miles per hour. Kids will learn about the history of Formula 1 cars, the parts of a Formula 1 car, and the races in which these cars compete.
In the years since the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and Opportunity first began transmitting images from the surface of Mars, we have become familiar with the harsh, rocky, rusty-red Martian landscape. But those images are much less straightforward than they may seem to a layperson: each one is the result of a complicated set of decisions and processes involving the large team behind the Rovers. With Seeing Like a Rover, Janet Vertesi takes us behind the scenes to reveal the work that goes into creating our knowledge of Mars. Every photograph that the Rovers take, she shows, must be processed, manipulated, and interpreted—and all that comes after team members negotiate with each other about what they should even be taking photographs of in the first place. Vertesi’s account of the inspiringly successful Rover project reveals science in action, a world where digital processing uncovers scientific truths, where images are used to craft consensus, and where team members develop an uncanny intimacy with the sensory apparatus of a robot that is millions of miles away. Ultimately, Vertesi shows, every image taken by the Mars Rovers is not merely a picture of Mars—it’s a portrait of the whole Rover team, as well.