The second of seven brand new 39 Clues stories, leading up to one explosive reveal. Think you know what happened at Grace Cahill's funeral? Think again. This top secret report reveals what REALLY occurred on that fateful day. Follow Ian and Natalie Kabra as they travel to Attleboro and discuss their strategy. Discover what the Holts were doing before they started the fire. And learn shocking information about a special guest none of the Cahills knew anything about . . .
Time is running out for Grace Cahill as she struggles to make the most important choice of her life: a decision that will shape the future of the Cahill family . . . and the world at large. After spending centuries lurking the shadows, the Cahills' enemy - the Vespers - are planning an attack, and sending Amy and Dan on a dangerous hunt for The 39 Clues might be the only way to stop them.
The holidays can be hard for any family, but they're particularly tough for the Cahills. Amy Cahill is exhausted from her training. Dan can't forget the tragedies he witnessed on the Clue hunt. Ian and Natalie Kabra are trying to enjoy the London festivities, but it's hard without their parents. Even superstar Jonah Wizard is having trouble getting into the holiday spirit. Amy knows there's danger on the horizon, but there's no reason they shouldn't enjoy themselves while they can. Taking advantage of their new fortune, Amy and Dan book a private plane and jet off to fetch the other Cahills for a New Years none of them will ever forget.
The Vespers are looking for new recruits and have targeted a few candidates: the Cahill children on the hunt for The 39 Clues. Uncover the Vespers' chilling plan to monitor the Kabras, the Holts, Jonah, and the Starlings, and learn who they picked as the most promising Vesper . . . and future Cahill traitor.
This was the summer he discovered what he wanted--at a gruesome museum of criminology far off the beaten track of more timid tourists. Visions of torture inspired his fantasies like a muse. It would prove so terribly fulfilling. The bodies of four men have been discovered in the town of Bradfield. Enlisted to investigate is criminal psychologist Tony Hill. Even for a seasoned professional, the series of mutilation sex murders is unlike anything he's encountered before. But profiling the psychopath is not beyond him. Hill's own past has made him the perfect man to comprehend the killer's motives. It's also made him the perfect victim. A game has begun for the hunter and the hunted. But as Hill confronts his own hidden demons, he must also come face-to-face with an evil so profound he may not have the courage--or the power--to stop it... The Mermaids Singing is a chilling and taut psychological mystery from Val McDermid.
The sixth of seven brand new 39 Clues stories, leading up to one explosive reveal. Dan Cahill loves hanging out with his new friend, Atticus Rosenbloom, a child prodigy whose genius IQ doesn't stop him from playing video games or practicing ninja moves. It's a relief to get to pretend to be a normal kid for once, and not worry about finding Clues or looking out for Vespers. But when Atticus's house is attacked by strange intruders, Dan has to rely on his Cahill training to keep them out. Are they normal burglars? Or does Atticus's family have a secret of its own?
How our collective intelligence has helped us to evolve and prosper Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals? This book shows that the secret of our success lies not in our innate intelligence, but in our collective brains—on the ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another over generations. Drawing insights from lost European explorers, clever chimpanzees, mobile hunter-gatherers, neuroscientific findings, ancient bones, and the human genome, Joseph Henrich demonstrates how our collective brains have propelled our species' genetic evolution and shaped our biology. Our early capacities for learning from others produced many cultural innovations, such as fire, cooking, water containers, plant knowledge, and projectile weapons, which in turn drove the expansion of our brains and altered our physiology, anatomy, and psychology in crucial ways. Later on, some collective brains generated and recombined powerful concepts, such as the lever, wheel, screw, and writing, while also creating the institutions that continue to alter our motivations and perceptions. Henrich shows how our genetics and biology are inextricably interwoven with cultural evolution, and how culture-gene interactions launched our species on an extraordinary evolutionary trajectory. Tracking clues from our ancient past to the present, The Secret of Our Success explores how the evolution of both our cultural and social natures produce a collective intelligence that explains both our species' immense success and the origins of human uniqueness.
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.
