![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In the orange methane slush the astronauts will discover the secret of life’s origins and reach for a human destiny beyond their wildest dreams. But it is on the icy surface of Titan itself that the true adventure begins. Taking nearly a decade, the billion-mile voyage includes a “slingshot” transit of Venus, a catastrophic solar storm, and a constant struggle to keep the ship and crew functioning. A group of visionaries led by NASA’s Paula Benacerraf plan a daring one-way mission that will cost them everything. Possible signs of organic life have been found on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Stand alone or series: Technically book 2 in Stephen Baxter’s NASA Trilogy, but each book in the series may be read as a stand alone novel. Publication Date: July 1997 (UK) / October 1998 (US) After reading and loving his apocalyptic duology, Flood and Ark (with the latter as my favorite read of 2009), I immediately dived into the author’s backlist. Today, we give you a double-shot of hard science fiction goodness! Recently, I’ve discovered the wonderful, amazing, superlative SF author that is Stephen Baxter. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Wilson weaves this engaging personal story with deep insights into faith in a fractured world, and gives westerners rare insight into an important young reform movement. When the two find themselves unexpectedly in love, despite their deep cultural differences, they decide that they will try to forge a third culture, a new landscape that will embrace some of each of their cultures, and give their fledgling romance some hope of survival. ![]() Omar introduces Willow to the bustling city, and through him she discovers a young, moderate nationalist movement, a movement that both wants to divest itself of western influence and regain cultural pride. There, she meets Omar, a passionate young nationalist with a degree in astrophysics. ![]() The extraordinary story of young woman's conversion to Islam and her ensuing romance with a young Egyptian man.Īfter graduating from university, Willow Wilson, a young American - and newly converted Muslim - impulsively accepts a teaching position in Cairo. ![]() ![]() Rawlings had been at the stakeout since five o'clock and although a few people had passed down the street no one had taken any notice of him. It was a crisp and bright morning, with a pale wash of light over Green Park in the east and the street lights still on. ![]() Moving the automatic shift into drive, he eased out of the line of parked cars and went after the Daimler-Jaguar. He already had the engine running and the heater on to keep out the cold. Gazing unobserved across the Belgravia street he had seen what he had hoped for: the husband had been at the wheel with his wife beside him. Sitting across from the luxury apartment block, dressed in a hired chauffeur's uniform at the wheel of the rented Volvo estate, Jim Rawlings breathed a sigh of relief. It paused for an instant in the mouth of the cavern as its driver ehecked the street for traffic, then turnéd into the road and headed towards Hyde Park Corner. ![]() ![]() ![]() The big, wide limousine swooped up from the subterranean car park with the powerful grace implied by its name. Provided they were still in the apartment safe and the occupants away. Icon (or Frederick Forsyths Icon) is a 2005 made-for-television thriller film directed by Charles Martin Smith and very loosely based on the 1997 novel by Frederick Forsyth. The man in grey decided to take the Glen suite of diamonds at midnight. ![]() ![]() With this technique, astronomy entered a new phase. His son John started recording celestial pictures in the newly invented medium: photography. Herschel came up with a rough size of the Milky Way. Singh writes how William Herschel used the telescope to discover the distant planets and their satellites. The book continues with how Newton stood on the shoulders of giants and built on the planetary model to explain gravity. Singh mentions how Galileo could uniquely maintain religious beliefs and scientific dogmas in his mind at the same time, without any conflicts. Next comes Galileo’s experiments with pendulums, falling bodies, his observation of planets with the newly invented telescope, and his ultimate friction with the Church. ![]() Kepler who was myopic and suffered multiple visions from birth interpreted Tyco’s experimental data correctly. ![]() Moving to the middle ages, the story of Tyco Brahe who took observational astronomy to an entirely new level of accuracy. A well articulated story starting from the ancient Greeks to the modern Nobel prize winners in which he describes in detail the Greek’s assumptionsof a round and spinning earth, and their measurements of Earth’s circumference (Eratosthenes), relative sizes of moon and earth (Anaxagoras), and the distance to Sun (Aristarchus). This is by far the best book from Simon Singh. Big Bang is a very comprehensive summary of the physical sciences, leading to astronomy and eventually to cosmology. ![]() ![]() ![]() What comes out of their mouths, whether it is kind, mean, ignorant, confused, intelligent or clouded by loneliness, is true and hard, spare as life on the plains. Haruf's uncanny ability to stay out of his characters' way is evident again in Eventide. In creating a place whose people are tethered to each other by history and emotion as much as place, Haruf's work is now competing with Faulkner's Mississippi. * Boston Globe * Haruf's laconic style - with nouns as strong and upright as fenceposts, the verbs as clean and sharp as razor wire - creates a richly symphonic effect. The plain truth is you can't stop reading or caring about them. * Mail on Sunday * Two taciturn bachelor brothers, a dim-bulb couple living in a trailer, a quiet preteen boy living with his grandfather, a social worker, and a young mother abandoned by her husband. ![]() Niall Williams * Sunday Times * This is a novel that succeeds in affirming life without ducking its hardships. peopled with individuals whose ordinary lives are invested with epic quality and truth. ![]() Michiko Kakutani * New York Times * Wonderful. Possesses the haunting appeal of music, the folksy rhythms of an American tale and the lovely, measured grace of an old hymn. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, N.C. GET A SIGNED PRINT COPY FROM MALAPROP’S BOOKSTORE: Only one thing is certain-protecting a prince might be even harder than killing a queen… ![]() Worse, her immunity to magic starts acting in strange, unexpected ways, which makes Evie wonder whether she is truly strong enough to be a Winter Queen.Įvie’s magic, life, and crown aren’t the only things in danger-so is her heart, thanks to Lucas Sullivan, the Andvarian king’s bastard son and Evie’s … well, Evie isn’t quite sure what Sullivan is to her. But complicating matters is the stubborn Andvarian king, who wants to punish Evie for the deaths of his countrymen during the Seven Spire massacre.ĭark forces are also at work inside the Andvarian palace, and Evie soon realizes that no one is safe. As if that wasn’t bad enough, an assassin tries to kill Evie in her own throne room.ĭespite the dangers, Evie goes ahead with a scheduled trip to the neighboring kingdom of Andvari in order to secure a desperately needed alliance. Magic, murder, adventure, and romance combine in this second novel in the exciting Crown of Shards saga from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Estep.Įverleigh Blair might be the new gladiator queen of Bellona, but her problems are far from over.įirst, Evie has to deal with a court full of arrogant, demanding nobles, all of whom want to get their greedy hands on her crown. Protect the Prince - Crown of Shards #2 - July 2, 2019 ![]() ![]() ![]() Graceful and brave in the face of a surprising mortality, he sets about to knit together the loose strands of his life and destiny through a series of Herculean, heart-warming challenges. That dramatically boosts Superman’s already significant powers, but also slowly kills him. When Lex Luthor (voiced by the deliciously evil Anthony LaPaglia) sabotages a scientific mission to the sun with a freakish monster bomb (viewable in our preview gallery above), Superman (an excellently restrained James Denton) is oversaturated with solar radiation during the inevitable rescue. The film faithfully adheres to the general arc of Morrison and Quitely’s 12-issue series, which boasted a premise more cerebral than any Superman film ever made. ![]() ![]() The Trial is the chronicle of his fight to prove his innocence, of his struggles and encounters with the invisible Law and the untouchable Court where he must make regular visits. On the morning of his thirtieth birthday, a young bank official named Joseph K is arrested although he has done nothing wrong and is never told what he’s been charged with. This edition is translated from German by Douglas Scott and Chris Waller, and features an afterword by David Stuart Davies. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold-foiled edges and ribbon markers. ![]() ![]() In Kafka's powerful and disturbing novel, an innocent man is arrested and repeatedly interrogated for a crime that is never ever explained. ![]() ![]() Though the myth is a narrative about a parent and child, Bruce again in many ways plays both roles in the tragic narrative. The second myth, that of Daedalus and Icarus, bookends the narrative of Fun Home. And that “hidden monster,” that Minotaur, sometimes erupts out of the carefully crafted labyrinth, whether through his secret affairs or through his erratic but not infrequent rages that terrify his family. But he is also a Daedulus in the sense that he has built up an artificial picture of himself as a perfect family man and father, when in fact he is hiding what he seems to consider a kind of monster within: his homosexuality or bisexuality. As Daedulus, he functions as the architect of the intricate, labyrinthine Gothic Rivival home in which the Bechdels live and which he is always decorating and renovating. In Fun Home, though, Bruce plays the part of both Daedulus and the Minotaur. The first myth is that of Daedulus and the Minotaur, in which Daedulus was the master inventor who created the labyrinth in order to imprison the monstrous Minotaur. ![]() Alison uses two Greek myths involving Daedalus as allegories for what life is like growing up with Bruce as a father. ![]() ![]() ![]() Viewers of the film seemed to admire those trained to function without eyesight…. ![]() Characters in this post-apocalyptic world use a blindfold to avoid the enticing/suicide inducing visions of the eldritch-invisible creatures that now haunt the Earth. Their stories revolve around the character of Malorie, a woman who enjoys sailing and running through the woods blindfolded-while tripping over branches and shrubbery. This is thanks to Netflix’s 2018 film Bird Box ( A Quiet Place‘s cooler, less compelling younger brother) a critical “eh” yet cultural phenomenon based on the novel of the same name by author Josh Malerman. T-shirts have been torn, cloth cut-blinders have been made. To the delight of Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree employees everywhere, blindfold sales have skyrocketed in the past few months. ![]() |