The Circle

The Circle

Author: Dave Eggers

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2013-10-08

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 0385351402

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INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A bestselling dystopian novel that tackles surveillance, privacy and the frightening intrusions of technology in our lives—a “compulsively readable parable for the 21st century” (Vanity Fair). When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.


Reading Stephen King

Reading Stephen King

Author: Brenda Miller Power

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13:

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This collection of essays grew out of the "Reading Stephen King Conference" held at the University of Maine in 1996. Stephen King's books have become a lightning rod for the tensions around issues of including "mass market" popular literature in middle and high school English classes and of who chooses what students read. King's fiction is among the most popular of "pop" literature, and among the most controversial. These essays spotlight the ways in which King's work intersects with the themes of the literary canon and its construction and maintenance, censorship in public schools, and the need for adolescent readers to be able to choose books in school reading programs. The essays and their authors are: (1) "Reading Stephen King: An Ethnography of an Event" (Brenda Miller Power); (2) "I Want to Be Typhoid Stevie" (Stephen King); (3) "King and Controversy in Classrooms: A Conversation between Teachers and Students" (Kelly Chandler and others); (4) "Of Cornflakes, Hot Dogs, Cabbages, and King" (Jeffrey D. Wilhelm); (5) "The 'Wanna Read' Workshop: Reading for Love" (Kimberly Hill Campbell); (6) "When 'IT' Comes to the Classroom" (Ruth Shagoury Hubbard); (7) "If Students Own Their Learning, What Do Teachers Do?" (Curt Dudley-Marling); (8) "Disrupting Stephen King: Engaging in Alternative Reading Practices" (James Albright and Roberta F. Hammett); (9) "Because Stories Matter: Authorial Reading and the Threat of Censorship" (Michael W. Smith); (10) "Canon Construction Ahead" (Kelly Chandler); (11) "King in the Classroom" (Michael R. Collings); (12) "King's Works and the At-Risk Student: The Broad-Based Appeal of a Canon Basher" (John Skretta); (13) "Reading the Cool Stuff: Students Respond to 'Pet Sematary'" (Mark A Fabrizi); (14) "When Reading Horror Subliterature Isn't So Horrible" (Janice V. Kristo and Rosemary A. Bamford); (15) "One Book Can Hurt You...But a Thousand Never Will" (Janet S. Allen); (16) "In the Case of King: What May Follow" (Anne E. Pooler and Constance M. Perry); and (17) "Be Prepared: Developing a Censorship Policy for the Electronic Age" (Abigail C. Garthwait). Appended are a joint manifesto by National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and International Reading Association (IRA) concerning intellectual freedom; an excerpt from a teacher's guide to selected horror short stories of Stephen King; and the conference program. Contains a 152-item reference list of literary works.(NKA)


Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters

Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters

Author: Alison Matthews

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Published: 2011-12-20

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 146290128X

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This user-friendly book is aimed at helping students of Mandarin Chinese learn and remember Chinese characters. At last--there is a truly effective and enjoyable way to learn Chinese characters! This book helps students to learn and remember both the meanings and the pronunciations of over 800 characters. This otherwise daunting task is made easier by the use of techniques based on the psychology of learning and memory. key principles include the use of visual imagery, the visualization of short "stories," and the systematic building up of more complicated characters from basic building blocks. Although Learning Chinese Characters is primarily a book for serious learners of Mandarin Chinese, it can be used by anyone with interest in Chinese characters, without any prior knowledge of Chinese. It can be used alongside (or after, or even before) a course in the Chinese language. All characters are simplified (as in mainland China), but traditional characters are also given, when available. Key features: Specially designed pictures and stories are used in a structured way to make the learning process more enjoyable and effective, reducing the need for rote learning to the absolute minimum. The emphasis throughout is on learning and remembering the meanings and pronunciations of the characters. Tips are also included on learning techniques and how to avoid common problems. Characters are introduced in a logical sequence, which also gives priority to learning the most common characters first. Modern, simplified characters are used, with pronunciations given in pinyin. Key information is given for each character, including radical, stroke-count, traditional form, compounds, and guidance on writing the character. This is a practical guide with a clear, concise and appealing layout, and it is well-indexed with easy lookup methods. The 800 Chinese characters and 1,033 compounds specified for the original HSK Level A proficiency test are covered.


Mathematical Encounters of the Second Kind

Mathematical Encounters of the Second Kind

Author: Philip J. Davis

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9780817639396

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A memoir of mathematician Philip Davis's life and encounters, some actual and some imaginary, with a number of mathematicians and historical figures. His message focuses on the idea that mathematics can bring people into contacts with each other across centuries, oceans, and cultural difference. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs

Author: Thomas Harris

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2009-12-28

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 1429957654

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An ingenious, masterfully written novel, Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs is a classic of suspense and storytelling and the basis for the Oscar award-winning horror film starring Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling and Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter. A serial murderer known only by a grotesquely apt nickname—Buffalo Bill—is stalking particular women. He has a purpose, but no one can fathom it, for the bodies are discovered in different states. Clarice Starling, a young trainee at the F.B.I. Academy, is surprised to be summoned by Jack Crawford, Chief of the Bureau's Behavioral Science section. Her assignment: to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and grisly killer now kept under close watch in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Lecter's insight into the minds of murderers could help track and capture Buffalo Bill. Smart and attractive, Starling is shaken to find herself in a strange, intense relationship with the acutely perceptive Lecter. His cryptic clues—about Buffalo Bill and about her—launch Clarice on a search that every reader will find startling, harrowing, and totally compelling.


Writing Process Revisited

Writing Process Revisited

Author: Donna Barnes

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13:

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This collection of essays relates the experiences of teachers who have adopted and implemented a writing-process approach in their classrooms. In the collection, elementary, secondary, and college teachers candidly discuss their experiences--the struggles and successes, and the differences between their imagined ideal and the everyday reality. Each essay describes a personal journey, recounting how individual teachers worked within different institutional constraints and with diverse student populations to create communities of writers within their classrooms. Following an introduction, essays in the collection and their authors are, as follows: (1) "Defining the Writing Process" (Donna Barnes, Katherine Morgan, Karen Weinhold); (2) "A First-Draft Society: Self-Reflection and Slowing Down" (Robert K. Griffith); (3) "Ring the Bell and Run" (Kate Belavitch); (4) "ThiNG I Do'T, WoT To FGe'T" (Michelle Toch); (5) "Seeking Equilibrium" (Katherine Morgan); (6) "Beyond Reading and Writing: Realizing Each Child's Potential" (Tony Beaumier); (7) "The Other Stuff" (Leslie A. Brown; (8) "Picture This: Bridging the Gap between Reading and Writing with Picture Books" (Franki Sibberson); (9) "No Talking during Nuclear Attack: An Introduction to Peer Conferencing" (Karen Weinhold); (10) "There Is Never Enough Time!" (Donna Barnes); and (11) "A Touch of Madness: Keeping Faith as Workshoppers" (Bill Boerst). An afterword closes the collection. (NKA)


Practical Ship Design

Practical Ship Design

Author: D.G.M. Watson

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2002-02-22

Total Pages: 564

ISBN-13: 9780080440545

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The ever-growing demand for commercial activities at sea has meant that ships are rapidly developing and that the rules governing their construction and operation are changing. Practical Ship Design records these changes, their outcomes and the reasoning behind them. It deals with every aspect of ship design and handles a wide range of both merchant ships and naval ships with authority. It provides coverage of cargo ships and passenger ships, tugs, dredgers and other service craft. It also includes concept design, detail design, structural design, hydrodynamics design, the effect of regulations, the preparation of specifications and matters of costs and economics. Drawing on the author's extensive practical experience, Practical Ship Design is likely to interest everybody involved in the design, construction, repair and operation of ships. Students and the most experienced professionals will all benefit from the book's vast store of design data and its conclusions and recommendations.


NIELS HENRIK ABEL and his Times

NIELS HENRIK ABEL and his Times

Author: Arild Stubhaug

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2000-04-26

Total Pages: 604

ISBN-13: 9783540668343

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Everyone with an interest in the history of mathematics and science will enjoy reading this book on one of the most famous mathematicians of the 19th century. The author, who is both a historian and a mathematician, has written the definitive biography of Niels Henrik Abel.


Diabetes Its Medical and Cultural History

Diabetes Its Medical and Cultural History

Author: Dietrich v. Engelhardt

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 364248364X

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Diabetes. Its Medical and Cultural History covers the history of scientific inquiry into this affliction from antiquity to the discovery of insulin (1921) with concurrent consideration of the history of the patient and the cultural historical background. The reprints of medical historical studies discuss general relationships as well as specific details and exceptional research achievements of the past. Included in the bibliography of primary sources are the most important historical contributions in diabetic research and diabetic therapy with the author's name and information on the place of publication. The bibliography of secondary literature consolidates international studies from the past century to the present on the history of the theory of diabetes and therapeutic approaches. Illustrations and literary texts document cultural historical relationships. In index of persons and items facilitates use of this work which is intended to provide a stimulus for the physician, medical historian, medical student, general historian as well as diabetics themselves.


Eyewitness Accounts of the Thirty Years War 1618-48

Eyewitness Accounts of the Thirty Years War 1618-48

Author: G. Mortimer

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2002-04-19

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 0230512216

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The Thirty Years War - the first great pan-European war, and until the twentieth century the most terrible - ravaged Germany, but myth, propaganda and historical controversy have obscured its true nature. Another perspective is provided by the private diaries, memoirs and chronicles of soldiers and citizens who recorded their own experiences. War at the individual level is discussed and described using these sources, which are extensively quoted in their own words.