en-US Sun, 07 Aug 2016 20:09:55 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 540422 Vita Nuova (1292-94) is regarded as one of Dante's most profound creations. The thirty-one poems in the first of his major writings are linked by a lyrical prose narrative celebrating and debating the subject of love. Composed upon Dante's meeting with Beatrice and the "Lord of Love," it is a love story set to the task of confirming the "new life" inspired by this meeting. With a critical introduction and explanatory notes, this is a new translation of a supreme work which has been read variously as biography, religious allegory, and a meditation on poetry itself.]]> 128 Dante Alighieri 0192839357 Mark 0 to-read 3.89 1294
author: Dante Alighieri
name: Mark
average rating: 3.89
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]]> 17057 Jackson DeForest Kelley came of age in Depression-era Georgia. He was raised on the sawdust trail, a preacher's kid steeped in his father's literal faith and judgment. But De's natural artistic gifts called him to a different way, and a visit to California at seventeen showed a bright new world.
Theater and radio defined his early career -- but it was a World War II training film he made while serving in the Army Air Corps that led to his first Paramount Studios contract.
After years of struggle, his lean, weathered look became well known in notable westerns and television programs such as You Are There and Bonanza. But his work on several pilots for writer-producer Gene Roddenberry changed his destiny and the course of cultural history.
This thoroughly researched actor's life is about hard work and luck, loyalty and love. It is a journey that takes us all...from sawdust to stardust.]]> 362 Terry Lee Rioux 0743457625 Mark 5 4.04 2005
author: Terry Lee Rioux
name: Mark
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2005
rating: 5
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]]> 60748 Also see: Alternate Cover Editions for this ISBN [ACE]
ACE #1

This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games—games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it." Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive—dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.]]> 184 Dave Pelzer Mark 0 to-read 4.14 1995
author: Dave Pelzer
name: Mark
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1995
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]]> 9742 The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama's call for a new kind of politics—a politics that builds upon those shared understandings that pull us together as Americans. Lucid in his vision of America's place in the world, refreshingly candid about his family life and his time in the Senate, Obama here sets out his political convictions and inspires us to trust in the dogged optimism that has long defined us and that is our best hope going forward.]]> 375 Barack Obama 0307237699 Mark 0 to-read 3.83 2006
author: Barack Obama
name: Mark
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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]]> 402045 884 Marion Zimmer Bradley 0345350499 Mark 5 4.12 1982
author: Marion Zimmer Bradley
name: Mark
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1982
rating: 5
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]]> 18405 1037 Margaret Mitchell 0446365386 Mark 3 4.30 1936
author: Margaret Mitchell
name: Mark
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1936
rating: 3
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]]> 177068 390 David Deutsch 014027541X Mark 4 4.12 1996
author: David Deutsch
name: Mark
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1996
rating: 4
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]]> 5958783
A collaboration between one of the youngest professors in the United Kingdom and a distinguished popular physicist, "Why Does E=mc²?" is one of the most exciting and accessible explanations of the theory of relativity.]]> 264 Brian Cox 0306817586 Mark 4 4.05 2009
author: Brian Cox
name: Mark
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2009
rating: 4
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]]> 7669 489 Michael Crichton 0099244721 Mark 2 3.87 1999
author: Michael Crichton
name: Mark
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1999
rating: 2
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]]> 10638 The Road to Reality carefully explores the movement of the smallest atomic particles and reaches into the vastness of intergalactic space. Here, Penrose examines the mathematical foundations of the physical universe, exposing the underlying beauty of physics and giving us one the most important works in modern science writing.]]> 1099 Roger Penrose 0679776311 Mark 0 to-read 4.16 2004
author: Roger Penrose
name: Mark
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> 53913 The Little Ice Age tells the story of the turbulent, unpredictable, and often very cold years of modern European history, how this altered climate affected historical events, and what it means for today's global warming. Building on research that has only recently confirmed that the world endured a 500year cold snap, renowned archaeologist Brian Fagan shows how the increasing cold influenced familiar events from Norse exploration to the settlement of North America to the Industrial Revolution. This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in history, climate, and how they interact.]]> 272 Brian M. Fagan 0465022723 Mark 0 to-read 3.84 2000
author: Brian M. Fagan
name: Mark
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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]]> 222637 One of the most dramatic stories of genetic discovery since James Watson's The Double Helix—a work whose scientific and cultural reverberations will be discussed for years to come.

In 1994 Professor Bryan Sykes, a leading world authority on DNA and human evolution, was called in to examine the frozen remains of a man trapped in glacial ice in northern Italy. News of both the Ice Man's discovery and his age, which was put at over five thousand years, fascinated scientists and newspapers throughout the world. But what made Sykes's story particularly revelatory was his successful identification of a genetic descendant of the Ice Man, a woman living in Great Britain today. How was Sykes able to locate a living relative of a man who died thousands of years ago?

In The Seven Daughters of Eve, he gives us a firsthand account of his research into a remarkable gene, which passes undiluted from generation to generation through the maternal line. After plotting thousands of DNA sequences from all over the world, Sykes found that they clustered around a handful of distinct groups. Among Europeans and North American Caucasians, there are, in fact, only seven. This conclusion was staggering: almost everyone of native European descent, wherever they may live throughout the world, can trace their ancestry back to one of seven women, the Seven Daughters of Eve.

Naming them Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine, and Jasmine, Sykes has created portraits of their disparate worlds by mapping the migratory patterns followed by millions of their ancestors. In reading the stories of these seven women, we learn exactly how our origins can be traced, how and where our ancient genetic ancestors lived, and how we are each living proof of the almost indestructible strands of DNA, which have survived over so many thousands of years. Indeed, The Seven Daughters of Eve is filled with dramatic stories: from Sykes's identification, using DNA samples from two living relatives, of the remains of Tsar Nicholas and Tsaress Alexandra, to the Caribbean woman whose family had been sold into slavery centuries before and whose ancestry Sykes was able to trace back to the Eastern coast of central Africa. Ultimately, Sykes's investigation reveals that, as a race, what humans have in common is more deeply embedded than what separates us.
]]> 320 Bryan Sykes 0393020185 Mark 5 3.98 2001
author: Bryan Sykes
name: Mark
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2001
rating: 5
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]]> 11
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!]]> 216 Douglas Adams Mark 5 4.21 1979
author: Douglas Adams
name: Mark
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1979
rating: 5
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]]> 373969 New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker possesses that rare combination of scientific aptitude and verbal eloquence that enables him to provide lucid explanations of deep and powerful ideas. His previous books, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Blank Slate, have catapulted him into the limelight as one of today's most important and popular science writers.

Now, in The Stuff of Thought, Pinker marries two of the subjects he knows best: language and human nature. The result is a fascinating look at how our words explain our nature. What does swearing reveal about our emotions? Why does innuendo disclose something about relationships? Pinker reveals how our use of prepositions and tenses taps into peculiarly human concepts of space and time, and how our nouns and verbs speak to our notions of matter. Even the names we give our babies have important things to say about our relations to our children and to society.

With his signature wit and style, Pinker takes on scientific questions like whether language affects thought, as well as forays into everyday life: why is bulk e-mail called spam and how do romantic comedies get such mileage out of the ambiguities of dating? The Stuff of Thought is a brilliantly crafted and highly readable work that will appeal to fans of readers of everything from The Selfish Gene and Blink to Eats, Shoots & Leaves.]]> 499 Steven Pinker 0670063274 Mark 0 to-read 3.91 2007
author: Steven Pinker
name: Mark
average rating: 3.91
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]]> 841628 Charting the whole of Arthur Dent's odyssey through space are:

THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY.
One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the Galaxy is a very very very large and startling place.

THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE.
When all questions of space, time, matter and the nature of being have been resolved, only one question remains --- "Where shall we have dinner?" The Restaurant at the End of the Universe provides the ultimate gastronomic experience, and for once there is no morning after to worry about.

LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING.
In consequence of a number of stunning catastrophes, Arthur Dent is surprised to find himself living in a hideously miserable cave on prehistoric Earth. However, just as he thinks that things cannot possibly get any worse, they suddenly do. He discovers that the Galaxy is not only mind-boggling big and bewildering but also that most of the things that happen in it are staggeringly unfair.

SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH.
Just as Arthur Dent's sense of reality is in its dickiest state he suddenly finds the girl of his dreams. He finds her in the last place in the Universe in which he would expect to find anything at all, but which 3,976,000 people will find oddly familiar. They go in search of God's Final Message to His Creation and, in a dramatic break with tradition, actually find it.]]> 590 Douglas Adams 0330316117 Mark 5 4.51 1986
author: Douglas Adams
name: Mark
average rating: 4.51
book published: 1986
rating: 5
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]]> 53764 Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.]]> 912 Frank Herbert 0575070706 Mark 5 4.36 1979
author: Frank Herbert
name: Mark
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1979
rating: 5
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]]> 250024
Men had built cities before, but never such a city as Diaspar. For millennia its protective dome shut out the creeping decay and danger of the world outside. Once, it held powers that rule the stars.

But then, as legend has it, the invaders came, driving humanity into this last refuge. It takes one man, a Unique, to break through Diaspar's stifling inertia, to smash the legend and discover the true nature of the Invaders.]]> 255 Arthur C. Clarke Mark 5 4.08 1956
author: Arthur C. Clarke
name: Mark
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1956
rating: 5
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]]> 175319 Stranger in a Strange Land and chronicled in Revolt in 2100, the United States of America at last fulfills the promise inherent in its first Revolution: for the first time in human history there is a nation with Liberty and Justice for All.

No one may seize or harm the person or property of another, or invade his privacy, or force him to do his bidding. Americans are fiercely proud of their re-won liberties and the blood it cost them: nothing could make them forswear those truths they hold self-evident. Nothing except the promise of immortality...]]> 276 Robert A. Heinlein 0671655973 Mark 5 4.00 1958
author: Robert A. Heinlein
name: Mark
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1958
rating: 5
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]]> 46654 Foundation begins a new chapter in the story of man's future. As the Old Empire crumbles into barbarism throughout the million worlds of the galaxy, Hari Seldon and his band of psychologists must create a new entity, the Foundation-dedicated to art, science, and technology-as the beginning of a new empire.

Foundation and Empire describes the mighty struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars in which man stands at the threshold of a new enlightened life which could easily be destroyed by the old forces of barbarism.

Second Foundation follows the Seldon Plan after the First Empire's defeat and describes its greatest threat-a dangerous mutant strain gone wild, which produces a mind capable of bending men's wills, directing their thoughts, reshaping their desires, and destroying the universe.

This adaptation for BBC Radio 4 was first broadcast in 1973 with a cast which included Lee Montague, Maurice Denham, John Justin, Angela Plesence, Wolfe Morris, Julian Glover and Prunella Scales.]]> 679 Isaac Asimov 0380508567 Mark 5 4.42 1953
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Mark
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1953
rating: 5
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]]> 13651 387 Ursula K. Le Guin Mark 5 4.24 1974
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Mark
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1974
rating: 5
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]]> 59924
In a future world racked by violence and environmental catastrophes, George Orr wakes up one day to discover that his dreams have the ability to alter reality. He seeks help from Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist who immediately grasps the power George wields. Soon George must preserve reality itself as Dr. Haber becomes adept at manipulating George's dreams for his own purposes.

The Lathe of Heaven is an eerily prescient novel from award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin that masterfully addresses the dangers of power and humanity's self-destructiveness, questioning the nature of reality itself. It is a classic of the science fiction genre.]]> 176 Ursula K. Le Guin 0060512741 Mark 5 4.12 1971
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Mark
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1971
rating: 5
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]]> 164154 334 Walter M. Miller Jr. 0060892994 Mark 4 3.99 1959
author: Walter M. Miller Jr.
name: Mark
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1959
rating: 4
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]]> 168668
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller’s masterpiece with a new introduction by Christopher Buckley; a wealth of critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos from Joseph Heller’s personal archive; and much more. Here, at last, is the definitive edition of a classic of world literature.]]> 453 Joseph Heller 0684833395 Mark 3 3.99 1961
author: Joseph Heller
name: Mark
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1961
rating: 3
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]]> 7082 244 Philip K. Dick Mark 4 4.08 1968
author: Philip K. Dick
name: Mark
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1968
rating: 4
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]]> 13
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

Seconds before the Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is saved by Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised Guide. Together they stick out their thumbs to the stars and begin a wild journey through time and space.

"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"

Facing annihilation at the hands of warmongers is a curious time to crave tea. It could only happen to the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his comrades as they hurtle across the galaxy in a desperate search for a place to eat.

"Life, the Universe and Everything"

The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky- so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals can avert Armageddon: mild-mannered Arthur Dent and his stalwart crew.

"So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"

Back on Earth, Arthur Dent is ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription conspires to thrust him back to reality. So to speak.

"Mostly Harmless"

Just when Arthur Dent makes the terrible mistake of starting to enjoy life, all hell breaks loose. Can he save the Earth from total obliteration? Can he save the Guide from a hostile alien takeover? Can he save his daughter from herself?

Also includes the short story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe".]]> 815 Douglas Adams 0345453743 Mark 5 4.38 1996
author: Douglas Adams
name: Mark
average rating: 4.38
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rating: 5
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]]> 227463 A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. And when the state undertakes to reform Alex to "redeem" him, the novel asks, "At what cost?"

This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition and Burgess's introduction "A Clockwork Orange Resucked."]]> 192 Anthony Burgess Mark 3 3.98 1962
author: Anthony Burgess
name: Mark
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1962
rating: 3
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]]> 29579 The first novel in Isaac Asimov's classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series

For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.]]> 244 Isaac Asimov 0553803719 Mark 5 4.18 1951
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Mark
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1951
rating: 5
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]]> 5470 328 George Orwell Mark 5 4.15 1949
author: George Orwell
name: Mark
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1949
rating: 5
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]]> 350 NAME: Valentine Michael Smith
ANCESTRY: Human
ORIGIN: Mars

Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social mores and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love.]]> 525 Robert A. Heinlein Mark 3 3.93 1961
author: Robert A. Heinlein
name: Mark
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1961
rating: 3
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]]> 5129 Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine� (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New Worldd likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.

"Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English." —Chicago Tribune]]> 268 Aldous Huxley 0060929871 Mark 5 3.99 1932
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Mark
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1932
rating: 5
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]]> 218427
When prospector Robinette Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Rob Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he has become... in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take!]]> 278 Frederik Pohl 0345475836 Mark 4 4.07 1977
author: Frederik Pohl
name: Mark
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1977
rating: 4
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]]> 100365 596 Larry Niven 156865054X Mark 5 4.08 1974
author: Larry Niven
name: Mark
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1974
rating: 5
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date added: 2012/04/30
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]]> 149049 332 Arthur C. Clarke 0446677949 Mark 3 3.96 1979
author: Arthur C. Clarke
name: Mark
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1979
rating: 3
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]]> 77505 624 Kim Stanley Robinson 0553572393 Mark 2 3.94 1993
author: Kim Stanley Robinson
name: Mark
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1993
rating: 2
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]]> 21607
Now, a sunken relic that holds the key to their origins calls to them to take them home—but the Chameleon has decided there's only room for one.]]> 289 Joe Haldeman 0441012523 Mark 0 to-read 3.62 2004
author: Joe Haldeman
name: Mark
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> 1706646 205 Robert Silverberg 0586039953 Mark 5 3.69 1971
author: Robert Silverberg
name: Mark
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1971
rating: 5
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]]> 41069 U.S.A. Trilogy, Stand on Zanzibar is a cross-section of a world overpopulated by the billions. Where society is squeezed into hive-living madness by god-like mega computers, mass-marketed psychedelic drugs, and mundane uses of genetic engineering. Though written in 1968, it speaks of 2010, and is frighteningly prescient and intensely powerful.

This edition comes with a tipped in collectors' note and an introduction by David Brin.]]> 672 John Brunner 1857988361 Mark 5 3.95 1968
author: John Brunner
name: Mark
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1968
rating: 5
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]]> 21618 351 Joe Haldeman 0441005667 Mark 5 3.76 1997
author: Joe Haldeman
name: Mark
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1997
rating: 5
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]]> 77504 768 Kim Stanley Robinson 0553573357 Mark 1 3.94 1996
author: Kim Stanley Robinson
name: Mark
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1996
rating: 1
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]]> 968902
Universally acclaimed as Robert Silverberg's masterwork, Dying Inside is a vivid, harrowing portrait of a man who squandered a remarkable gift, of a superman who had to learn what it was to be human.]]> 245 Robert Silverberg 0743435087 Mark 0 to-read 3.85 1972
author: Robert Silverberg
name: Mark
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1972
rating: 0
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]]> 541024
In this genre-bending novel - among the first to have launched scifi into the arena of literature - one of the great imaginers of the twentieth century tells a story as mind-blowing as any controlled substance and as affecting as a glimpse into a stranger's soul. For as the protagonists of More Than Human struggle to find who they are and whether they are meant to help humanity or destroy it. Theodore Sturgeon explores questions of power and morality, individuality and belonging, with suspense, pathos, and a lyricism rarely seen in science fiction.]]> 186 Theodore Sturgeon 0375703713 Mark 5 3.95 1953
author: Theodore Sturgeon
name: Mark
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1953
rating: 5
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]]> 51964
The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce-- and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine--and what he will become is far stranger.]]> 318 John Scalzi 0765348276 Mark 3 4.22 2005
author: John Scalzi
name: Mark
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2005
rating: 3
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]]> 21611 278 Joe Haldeman Mark 5 4.14 1974
author: Joe Haldeman
name: Mark
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1974
rating: 5
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]]> 61179 288 Larry Niven 0575077026 Mark 5 3.96 1970
author: Larry Niven
name: Mark
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1970
rating: 5
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date added: 2012/04/30
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]]> 112537 243 Arthur C. Clarke 1857231589 Mark 5 4.12 1973
author: Arthur C. Clarke
name: Mark
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1973
rating: 5
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]]> 29580 256 Isaac Asimov 0553803735 Mark 5 4.27 1953
author: Isaac Asimov
name: Mark
average rating: 4.27
book published: 1953
rating: 5
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date added: 2012/04/30
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]]> 16690 288 Robert A. Heinlein 0340837942 Mark 4 4.16 1966
author: Robert A. Heinlein
name: Mark
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1966
rating: 4
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]]> 375802
But Ender is not the only result of the experiment. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway almost as long. Ender's two older siblings, Peter and Valentine, are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. While Peter was too uncontrollably violent, Valentine very nearly lacks the capability for violence altogether. Neither was found suitable for the military's purpose. But they are driven by their jealousy of Ender, and by their inbred drive for power. Peter seeks to control the political process, to become a ruler. Valentine's abilities turn more toward the subtle control of the beliefs of commoner and elite alike, through powerfully convincing essays. Hiding their youth and identities behind the anonymity of the computer networks, these two begin working together to shape the destiny of Earth-an Earth that has no future at all if their brother Ender fails.]]> 324 Orson Scott Card 0812550706 Mark 5 4.31 1985
author: Orson Scott Card
name: Mark
average rating: 4.31
book published: 1985
rating: 5
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]]> 433567 [sic � ed.], a mathematician and resident of the two-dimensional Flatland, where women-thin, straight lines-are the lowliest of shapes, and where men may have any number of sides, depending on their social status.
Through strange occurrences that bring him into contact with a host of geometric forms, Square has adventures in Spaceland (three dimensions), Lineland (one dimension) and Pointland (no dimensions) and ultimately entertains thoughts of visiting a land of four dimensions—a revolutionary idea for which he is returned to his two-dimensional world. Charmingly illustrated by the author, Flatland is not only fascinating reading, it is still a first-rate fictional introduction to the concept of the multiple dimensions of space. "Instructive, entertaining, and stimulating to the imagination." � Mathematics Teacher.]]> 96 Edwin A. Abbott 048627263X Mark 0 to-read 3.82 1884
author: Edwin A. Abbott
name: Mark
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1884
rating: 0
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]]> 141565 This Is Your Brain on Music unravels a host of mysteries that affect everything from pop culture to our understanding of human nature, including:
� Are our musical preferences shaped in utero?
� Is there a cutoff point for acquiring new tastes in music?
� What do PET scans and MRIs reveal about the brain’s response to music?
� Is musical pleasure different from other kinds of pleasure?

This Is Your Brain on Music explores cultures in which singing is considered an essential human function, patients who have a rare disorder that prevents them from making sense of music, and scientists studying why two people may not have the same definition of pitch. At every turn, this provocative work unlocks deep secrets about how nature and nurture forge a uniquely human obsession.]]> 314 Daniel J. Levitin 0525949690 Mark 2 3.90 2006
author: Daniel J. Levitin
name: Mark
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2006
rating: 2
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]]> 4806 Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest. The "longitude problem" was the thorniest dilemma of the eighteenth century. Lacking the ability to measure longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea.

At the heart of Dava Sobel's fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation and horology stands the figure of John Harrison, self-taught Yorkshire clockmaker, and his forty-year obsession with building the perfect timekeeper. Battling against the establishment, Harrison stood alone in pursuit of his solution and the ÂŁ20,000 reward offered by Parliament.]]> 184 Dava Sobel 0802714625 Mark 0 to-read 3.97 1995
author: Dava Sobel
name: Mark
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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]]> 1168341
One hundred years ago, scientists would have said that lasers, televisions, and the atomic bomb were beyond the realm of physical possibility. In Physics of the Impossible, the renowned physicist Michio Kaku explores to what extent the technologies and devices of science fiction that are deemed equally impossible today might well become commonplace in the future.

From teleportation to telekinesis, Kaku uses the world of science fiction to explore the fundamentals—and the limits—of the laws of physics as we know them today. He ranks the impossible technologies by categories—Class I, II, and III, depending on when they might be achieved, within the next century, millennia, or perhaps never. In a compelling and thought-provoking narrative, he explains:
· How the science of optics and electromagnetism may one day enable us to bend light around an object, like a stream flowing around a boulder, making the object invisible to observers “downstream�
· How ramjet rockets, laser sails, antimatter engines, and nanorockets may one day take us to the nearby stars
· How telepathy and psychokinesis, once considered pseudoscience, may one day be possible using advances in MRI, computers, superconductivity, and nanotechnology
· Why a time machine is apparently consistent with the known laws of quantum physics, although it would take an unbelievably advanced civilization to actually build one
Kaku uses his discussion of each technology as a jumping-off point to explain the science behind it. An extraordinary scientific adventure, Physics of the Impossible takes readers on an unforgettable, mesmerizing journey into the world of science that both enlightens and entertains.]]> 329 Michio Kaku 0385520697 Mark 0 to-read 4.09 2008
author: Michio Kaku
name: Mark
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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]]> 22435 The fabric of the cosmos 569 Brian Greene 0965900584 Mark 4 4.12 2004
author: Brian Greene
name: Mark
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2004
rating: 4
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]]> 11468377 Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. The impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning the next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions.

Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Thinking, Fast and Slow will transform the way you think about thinking.]]> 499 Daniel Kahneman 0374275637 Mark 0 to-read 4.17 2011
author: Daniel Kahneman
name: Mark
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> 14743
With rigor and wit, Dawkins examines God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the Old Testament, to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion, and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his points with historical and contemporary evidence.

The God Delusion makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong, but potentially deadly. It also offers exhilarating insight into the advantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the least of which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe's wonders than any faith could ever muster.]]> 374 Richard Dawkins 0618680004 Mark 0 to-read 3.89 2006
author: Richard Dawkins
name: Mark
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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]]> 12609433
Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new product called Febreze, on track to be one of the biggest flops in company history. Suddenly, one of them detects a nearly imperceptible pattern—and with a slight shift in advertising, Febreze goes on to earn a billion dollars a year.

An untested CEO takes over one of the largest companies in America. His first order of business is attacking a single pattern among his employees—how they approach worker safety—and soon the firm, Alcoa, becomes the top performer in the Dow Jones.

What do all these people have in common? They achieved success by focusing on the patterns that shape every aspect of our lives.

They succeeded by transforming habits.

In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation.

Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation’s largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death.

At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.

Habits aren’t destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.]]> 375 Charles Duhigg 1400069289 Mark 0 to-read 4.13 2012
author: Charles Duhigg
name: Mark
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2012
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]]> 771
Today, physicists and mathematicians throughout the world are feverishly working on one of the most ambitious theories ever proposed: superstring theory. String theory, as it is often called, is the key to the Unified Field Theory that eluded Einstein for more than thirty years. Finally, the century-old antagonism between the large and the small--General Relativity and Quantum Theory--is resolved. String theory proclaims that all of the wondrous happenings in the universe, from the frantic dancing of subatomic quarks to the majestic swirling of heavenly galaxies, are reflections of one grand physical principle and manifestations of one single entity: microscopically tiny vibrating loops of energy, a billionth of a billionth the size of an atom. In this brilliantly articulated and refreshingly clear book, Greene relates the scientific story and the human struggle behind twentieth-century physics' search for a theory of everything.

Through the masterful use of metaphor and analogy, The Elegant Universe makes some of the most sophisticated concepts ever contemplated viscerally accessible and thoroughly entertaining, bringing us closer than ever to understanding how the universe works.]]> 425 Brian Greene 0375708111 Mark 4 4.06 1999
author: Brian Greene
name: Mark
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1999
rating: 4
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]]> 110763 The Gnostic Gospels is a landmark study of the long-buried roots of Christianity, a work of luminous scholarship and wide popular appeal. First published in 1979 to critical acclaim, winning the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Gnostic Gospels has continued to grow in reputation and influence over the past two decades. It is now widely recognized as one of the most brilliant and accessible histories of early Christian spirituality published in our time.

In 1945 an Egyptian peasant unearthed what proved to be the Gnostic Gospels, thirteen papyrus volumes that expounded a radically different view of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ from that of the New Testament. In this spellbinding book, renowned religious scholar Elaine Pagels elucidates the mysteries and meanings of these sacred texts both in the world of the first Christians and in the context of Christianity today.

With insight and passion, Pagels explores a remarkable range of recently discovered gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, to show how a variety of “Christianities� emerged at a time of extraordinary spiritual upheaval. Some Christians questioned the need for clergy and church doctrine, and taught that the divine could be discovered through spiritual search. Many others, like Buddhists and Hindus, sought enlightenment � and access to God � within. Such explorations raised questions: Was the resurrection to be understood symbolically and not literally? Was God to be envisioned only in masculine form, or feminine as well? Was martyrdom a necessary � or worthy � expression of faith? These early Christians dared to ask questions that orthodox Christians later suppressed � and their explorations led to profoundly different visions of Jesus and his message.

Brilliant, provocative, and stunning in its implications, The Gnostic Gospels is a radical, eloquent reconsideration of the origins of the Christian faith.]]> 218 Elaine Pagels 0679724532 Mark 5 3.94 1979
author: Elaine Pagels
name: Mark
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1979
rating: 5
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]]>