Acacia

Acacia

Author: David Anthony Durham

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2008-08-26

Total Pages: 770

ISBN-13: 0307472930

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“David Anthony Durham has serious chops. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes next." —George R. R. Martin Welcome to Acacia . . . Born into generations of prosperity, the four royal children of the Akaran dynasty know little of the world outside their opulent island paradise. But when an assassin strikes at the heart of their power, their lives are changed forever. Forced to flee to distant corners and separated against their will, the children must navigate a web of hidden allegiances, ancient magic, foreign invaders, and illicit trade that will challenge their very notion of who they are. As they come to understand their true purpose in life, the fate of the world lies in their hands.


Probable Impossibilities

Probable Impossibilities

Author: Alan Lightman

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2022-04-19

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0593081323

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The acclaimed author of Einstein’s Dreams tackles "big questions like the origin of the universe and the nature of consciousness ... in an entertaining and easily digestible way” (Wall Street Journal) with a collection of meditative essays on the possibilities—and impossibilities—of nothingness and infinity, and how our place in the cosmos falls somewhere in between. Can space be divided into smaller and smaller units, ad infinitum? Does space extend to larger and larger regions, on and on to infinity? Is consciousness reducible to the material brain and its neurons? What was the origin of life, and can biologists create life from scratch in the lab? Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman, whom The Washington Post has called “the poet laureate of science writers,” explores these questions and more—from the anatomy of a smile to the capriciousness of memory to the specialness of life in the universe to what came before the Big Bang. Probable Impossibilities is a deeply engaged consideration of what we know of the universe, of life and the mind, and of things vastly larger and smaller than ourselves.


If I Were an Astronaut

If I Were an Astronaut

Author: Eric Braun

Publisher: Capstone

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 14

ISBN-13: 1404855343

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Discusses activities astronauts do while they're in space.


Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars

Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars

Author: Kate Greene

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2020-07-14

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1250159482

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

When it comes to Mars, the focus is often on how to get there: the rockets, the engines, the fuel. But upon arrival, what will it actually be like? In 2013, Kate Greene moved to Mars. That is, along with five fellow crew members, she embarked on NASA’s first HI-SEAS mission, a simulated Martian environment located on the slopes of Mauna Loa in Hawai'i. For four months she lived, worked, and slept in an isolated geodesic dome, conducting a sleep study on her crew mates and gaining incredible insight into human behavior in tight quarters, as well as the nature of boredom, dreams, and isolation that arise amidst the promise of scientific progress and glory. In Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars, Greene draws on her experience to contemplate humanity’s broader impulse to explore. The result is a twined story of space and life, of the standard, able-bodied astronaut and Greene’s brother’s disability, of the lag time of interplanetary correspondences and the challenges of a long-distance marriage, of freeze-dried egg powder and fresh pineapple, of departure and return. By asking what kind of wisdom humanity might take to Mars and elsewhere in the Universe, Greene has written a remarkable, wide-ranging examination of our time in space right now, as a pre-Mars species, poised on the edge, readying for launch.


I Like Wind!

I Like Wind!

Author: Joseph E. O'Day

Publisher: Paulist Press

Published: 2009-03-15

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 9781929039425

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Celebrates the wind and what it reveals about God, who can be strong and powerful, but also gentle.


How We'll Live on Mars

How We'll Live on Mars

Author: Stephen Petranek

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2015-07-07

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 1476784779

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Award-winning journalist Stephen Petranek says humans will live on Mars by 2027. Now he makes the case that living on Mars is not just plausible, but inevitable. It sounds like science fiction, but Stephen Petranek considers it fact: Within twenty years, humans will live on Mars. We’ll need to. In this sweeping, provocative book that mixes business, science, and human reporting, Petranek makes the case that living on Mars is an essential back-up plan for humanity and explains in fascinating detail just how it will happen. The race is on. Private companies, driven by iconoclastic entrepreneurs, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Paul Allen, and Sir Richard Branson; Dutch reality show and space mission Mars One; NASA; and the Chinese government are among the many groups competing to plant the first stake on Mars and open the door for human habitation. Why go to Mars? Life on Mars has potential life-saving possibilities for everyone on earth. Depleting water supplies, overwhelming climate change, and a host of other disasters—from terrorist attacks to meteor strikes—all loom large. We must become a space-faring species to survive. We have the technology not only to get humans to Mars, but to convert Mars into another habitable planet. It will likely take 300 years to “terraform” Mars, as the jargon goes, but we can turn it into a veritable second Garden of Eden. And we can live there, in specially designed habitations, within the next twenty years. In this exciting chronicle, Petranek introduces the circus of lively characters all engaged in a dramatic effort to be the first to settle the Red Planet. How We’ll Live on Mars brings firsthand reporting, interviews with key participants, and extensive research to bear on the question of how we can expect to see life on Mars within the next twenty years.


If You Come to Earth

If You Come to Earth

Author:

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Published: 2020-09-15

Total Pages: 82

ISBN-13: 1452146837

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From two-time Caldecott Winner author-illustrator Sophie Blackall! If You Came to Earth is a glorious guide to our home planet, and a call for us to take care of both Earth and each other. This stunning book is inspired by the thousands of children Sophie Blackall has met during her travels around the world in support of UNICEF and Save the Children. • An engaging storybook about a single curious and imaginative child • Simultaneously funny and touching • Carries a clear message about the need to care for the earth and each other If you come to Earth, there are a few things you need to know. . . We live in all kinds of places. In all kinds of homes. In all kinds of families. Each of us is different. But all of us are amazing. And, together, we share one beautiful planet. This masterful and moving picture book is a visually comprehensive guide to the earth, imbued with warmth and humor. • Ideal for children ages 3 to 5 years old • A great pick for teachers looking for a crowd-pleasing picture book about the world for little students • Perfect for parents, grandparents, and caregivers • You'll love this book if you love books like The Travel Book by Lonely Planet Kids, Atlas of Adventures by Rachel Williams, and If You Lived Here: Houses of the World by Giles Laroche.


Before Mars

Before Mars

Author: Emma Newman

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2018-04-17

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0399587322

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Hugo Award winner Emma Newman returns to the captivating Planetfall universe with a dark tale of a woman stationed on Mars who starts to have doubts about everything around her. After months of travel, Anna Kubrin finally arrives on Mars for her new job as a geologist and de facto artist in residence--and already she feels she is losing the connection with her husband and baby at home on Earth. In her room on the base, Anna finds a mysterious note, painted in her own hand, warning her not to trust the colony psychiatrist. A note she can't remember painting. When she finds a footprint in a place that the colony AI claims has never been visited by humans, Anna begins to suspect that she is caught up in an elaborate corporate conspiracy. Or is she losing her grip on reality? Anna must find the truth, regardless of what horrors she might discover or what they might do to her mind.


Another Planet

Another Planet

Author: Tracey Thorn

Publisher: Canongate Books

Published: 2019-02-07

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 178689257X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE PENDERYN MUSIC BOOK PRIZE 'Tender, wise and funny' Sunday Express 'Beautifully observed, deadly funny' Max Porter Before becoming an acclaimed musician and writer, Tracey Thorn was a typical teenager: bored and cynical, despairing of her aspirational parents. Her only comfort came from house parties and the female pop icons who hinted at a new kind of living. Returning to the scene of her childhood, Thorn takes us beyond the bus shelters, the pub car parks and the weekly discos, to the parents who wanted so much for their children and the children who wanted none of it. With great wit and insight, Thorn reconsiders the Green Belt post-war dream so many artists have mocked, and yet so many artists have come from.