July 20, 2019: Life in the 21st Century (Omni Book)


Arthur C. ClarkePamela Weintraub - 1986
    Clarke rejects any label as prophet; as per Profiles' subtitle, he deals with "limits of the possible." In July 20, 2019, he views a day in the life of the 21st century. The oversize, illustrated book forecasts how people are born, live, and die. We ride orbiting space stations, watch 60-year-old, 8-foot athletes, see that people have been replaced with computers and robots, view most aspects of life—schools, transportation, medicine, work, movies. These are astonishing but realistic perceptions by a master of the craft who as always writes with skill, wit, clarity, and remarkable intelligence.

Halo: Silentium: Book Three of the Forerunner Saga


Greg Bear - 2019
    Chaos rules the final days of the Forerunner empire. The Flood—a horrifying, shape-changing, and unstoppable parasite—has arrived in force, aided by unexpected allies, and internal strife has desperately weakened Forerunner defenses. Facing the imminent collapse of their civilization, the Forerunners known as the Ur-Didact and the Librarian reveal what they know about the relationship between the long-vanished race of the Precursors and the Flood. While the Precursors created many technological species, including those of the Forerunners and humanity itself, the roots of the Flood may be found in an act of enormous barbarity, carried out beyond our galaxy ten million years before. Because of that savagery, a greater evil looms. Only the Ur-Didact and the Librarian—husband and wife pushed into desperate conflict—hold the keys to a solution. As they face the consequences of a mythic tragedy, one of them must now commit the greatest atrocity of all time—a shocking act designed to prevent an insane abomination from dominating the entire galaxy…

Supernova in the East III - (Hardcore History, #64-)


Dan Carlin - 2019
    It also involves a Japanese society that’s been called one of the most distinctive on Earth. If there were a Japanese version of Captain America, this would be his origin story.

Edison: A Life of Invention | The True Story of Thomas Edison (Short Reads Historical Biographies of Famous People)


Alexander Kennedy - 2016
    If today you’ve listened to recorded music, watched a television show or movie, plugged something into an electric socket, had an X-ray, turned on your car, spoke on the telephone, or flicked on an electric light, you have Edison to thank for his pioneering work in these fields, and many more. Yet Edison is all too often remembered in popular culture only as villain for his feuds with other inventors, most notably the mad genius Nikola Tesla. In this thrilling, compact biography, Alexander Kennedy sorts fact from fiction in the life of the most prolific inventor in human history. We follow Edison, the ultimate self-made man, from his origins as a Michigan telegraph boy to the pinnacle of success as an industrial titan. Along the way, Kennedy carefully explains each of Edison’s key breakthroughs as well as the blots on his record, such as his anti-Semitism and his unhappy family life. The portrait that emerges is a man who is neither hero nor villain, sometimes a saint and sometimes a sinner—but always a genius... "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." - Thomas Edison Buy Now to Discover: Explanations of Edison’s most important breakthroughs, written in accessible layman’s language. The founding of Menlo Park, one of the world’s greatest laboratories. The true story of Edison’s rivalry with Tesla. Edison’s pioneering role in discovering the health effects of tobacco. The surprising history of the electric chair and the electrocution of Topsy the elephant. Edison’s friendship with Henry Ford—and the trouble it led him into. Edison’s role in World War I. Read Your Book Now Your book will be instantly and automatically delivered to your Kindle device, smartphone, tablet, and computer. Money Back Guarantee If you start reading our book and are not completely satisfied with your purchase, simply return it to Amazon within 7 days for a full refund. Go to Your Account -> Manage Your Content and Devices -> Find the Book -> Return for Full Refund. Buy Now and Read the True Story of Thomas Edison Thank you in advance for buying our book. We know you'll love it!

The Case of the Missing Moon Rocks


Joe Kloc - 2012
    Decades ago, astronauts brought back 850 pounds of rocks from their lunar journeys; the U.S. gave some away as “goodwill” gifts to the world’s nations. Over time, many of them disappeared, stolen or lost in the aftermath of political turmoil, and offered for millions on the black market. Gutheinz, first as a NASA investigator and then the leader of a intrepid group of students, has dedicated his life to getting them back. Author Joe Kloc tells a wild story of geopolitics, crime, science, and one man’s obsession with keeping the moon out of the wrong hands.

Landing Eagle: Inside the Cockpit During the First Moon Landing


Michael Engle - 2019
    It was a sea in name only. It was actually a bone dry, ancient dusty basin pockmarked with craters and littered with rocks and boulders. Somewhere in that 500 mile diameter basin, the astronauts would attempt to make Mankind’s first landing on the Moon. Neil Armstrong would pilot the Lunar Module “Eagle” during its twelve minute descent from orbit down to a landing. Col. Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin would assist him. On the way down they would encounter a host of problems, any one of which could have potentially caused them to have to call off the landing, or, even worse, die making the attempt. The problems were all technical-communications problems, computer problems, guidance problems, sensor problems. Armstrong and Aldrin faced the very real risk of dying by the very same technical sword that they had to live by in order to accomplish the enormous task of landing on the Moon for the first time. Yet the human skills Armstrong and Aldrin employed would be more than equal to the task. Armstrong’s formidable skills as an aviator, honed from the time he was a young boy, would serve him well as he piloted Eagle down amidst a continuing series of systems problems that might have fatally distracted a lesser aviator. Armstrong’s brilliant piloting was complemented by Aldrin’s equally remarkable discipline and calmness as he stoically provided a running commentary on altitude and descent rate while handling systems problems that threatened the landing. Finally, after a harrowing twelve and a half minutes, Armstrong gently landed Eagle at “Tranquility Base”, a name he had personally chosen to denote the location of the first Moon landing. In “Landing Eagle-Inside the Cockpit During the First Moon Landing”, author Mike Engle gives a minute by minute account of the events that occurred throughout Eagle’s descent and landing on the Moon. Engle, a retired NASA engineer and Mission Control flight controller, uses NASA audio files of actual voice recordings made inside Eagle’s cockpit during landing to give the reader an “inside the cockpit” perspective on the first Moon landing. Engle’s transcripts of these recordings, along with background material on the history and technical details behind the enormous effort to accomplish the first Moon landing, give a new and fascinating insight into the events that occurred on that remarkable day fifty years ago.

Where The Domino Fell: America and Vietnam 1945-2006


James Stuart Olson - 1990
    Provides an accessible, concise narrative history of the Vietnam conflict A new final chapter examines Vietnam through the lens of Oliver Stone's films and opens up a discussion of the War in popular culture A chronology, a glossary, and a bibliography all serve as helpful reference points for students

Star Wars 2015 Sampler


John Jackson Miller - 2015
    A new dawn in Star Wars storytelling has arrived . . . and, with this eBook sampler, it's just a click away.   BATTLEFRONT: TWILIGHT COMPANY by Alexander Freed A companion novel inspired by the hotly anticipated videogame Star Wars: Battlefront, this action-packed adventure follows a squad of soldiers caught in the trenches of the ultimate galactic war between good and evil.   DARK DISCIPLE by Christie Golden Based on unproduced episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, this new novel features one of the great antiheroes in the Star Wars galaxy: bounty hunter Asajj Ventress, the former apprentice of Count Dooku.   LORDS OF THE SITH by Paul S. Kemp When the Emperor and his notorious apprentice, Darth Vader, find themselves stranded in the middle of insurgent action on an inhospitable planet, they must rely on each other, the Force, and their fearsome fighting skills to prevail.   HEIR TO THE JEDI by Kevin Hearne The author of The Iron Druid Chronicles pens a thrilling new adventure set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, and-for the first time ever-written entirely from Luke Skywalker's first-person point of view.   TARKIN by James Luceno Bestselling Star Wars veteran James Luceno gives Grand Moff Tarkin the Star Wars: Darth Plagueis treatment, bringing the legendary character from A New Hope to full, fascinating life.   A NEW DAWN by John Jackson Miller Set during the mysterious "Dark Times" between Episodes III and IV, A New Dawn tells the story of how two of the lead characters from the animated series Star Wars Rebels first came to cross paths.

Big Shots: The Men Behind the Booze


A.J. Baime - 2003
    Now, a former Senior Editor for "Maxim gives a crash course on the men behind our favorite labels, including:

Jet Man: The Making and Breaking of Frank Whittle, Genius of the Jet Revolution


Duncan Campbell-Smith - 2020
    In 1985 Hans von Ohain, the scientist who pioneered Nazi Germany's efforts to build a jet plane, posed the question: 'Would World War II have occured if the Luftwaffe knew it faced operational British jets instead of Spitfires?' He immediately answered, 'I, for one, think not.'Frank Whittle, working-class outsider and self-taught enthusiast, had worked out the blueprint of a completely new type of engine in 1929, only for his ideas to be blocked by bureaucratic opposition until the outbreak of war in 1939. The importance of his work was recognized too late by the government for his revolutionary engine to play a major part in World War II. After the war Whittle's dream of civilian jet-powered aircraft became a reality and Britain enjoyed a golden age of 1950's jet-powered flight.Drawing on Whittle's extensive private papers, Campbell-Smith tells the story of a stoic and overlooked British hero, a tantalizing tale of 'what might have been'.

The Bomb: A Life


Gerard J. DeGroot - 2004
    This is the life story of the atom bomb from its birth at the turn of the century to a childhood in the New Mexico desert of the 1940s, from early adulthood in Nagasaki to unsettling maturity in missile silos all over the globe.

The Electra Story: The Dramatic History of Aviation's Most Controversial Airliner


Robert J. Serling - 1991
    on the humid night of September 29, 1959, Braniff Flight 542 crashed on a farm near Buffalo, Texas. Less than six months later, Northwest Flight 710 crashed in a soybean field near Tell City, Indiana. Both planes were Lockheed Electras, and both, for no apparent reason, had lost a wing in mid-air. The combined toll of the two crashes was 97 lives. There were no survivors. Early the following October, during take-off from Boston’s Logan Airport, there was another Electra disaster, and the plane that had been supposedly foolproof became the object of the ugliest controversy in the history of commercial aviation. The Electra Story is an illuminating and incomparably thorough study of the plane’s entire career. From design through construction, rigorous testing, and brilliant initial performance, to the minute-by-minute record of the fatal flights, the scenes of wreckage, and then the painstaking efforts to solve the mystery. While the search for a “probable cause” went on, there was a crucial decision to be made: whether or not to let the Electras go on flying. Elwood R. Quesada, then Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency, had to make that decision, and how he coped with this frightening responsibility is a remarkable tale in itself. The plane that had been a dream, then became a nightmare, is still flying today, and out of tragedy has come an important advance in man’s knowledge. Robert Serling’s evaluation of The Electra Story is an enlightening, vivid, unbiased and rare documented account. It is a human story of suspense, with dedication and courage. And as a story of how government, industry, technology, science and the public were all trapped in one intricate web, it is both revealing and significant. Praise for Robert Serling ‘High level of suspense and excitement.’ - De Moines Sunday Register ‘Serling has spun another winner’ – Publisher’s Weekly ‘…keeps you guessing til the end’ - Arizona Daily Star ‘Aviation buffs will revel in this thoroughgoing chronicle’ – Kirkus Robert J. Serling (1918-2010) was aviation editor of United Press International and won the annual TWA Best Aviation News Reporting Award for four years running.

Astounding Days


Arthur C. Clarke - 1990
    It centers on three editors, Harry Bates, F. Orlin Tremaine, and John W. Campbell, who created the magazine now known as Analog (until 1960 it was called Astounding Science Fiction). Clarke gives his reaction to the writers and illustrators who first aroused his interest in science fiction. The scientific ferment of the 1930s and the 1940s is related to the ideas of the period and to the author's work in rocketry and radar. A sweeping view of popular science and popular fiction.- Katherine Thorp, St. Louis Univ. Lib.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Keys to Paradise


Robert E. Vardeman - 1986
    Inscribed runes spelled out a promise beyond belief. The Key To Paradise. A promise and a quest. Giles Grimsmate, world-wandering survivor of the Trans wars, had won it fairly in a game of chance. The second key - along with a goodly haul of coin - had been stolen from a rich merchant by Keja Tchurak, master thief. And when they set out for the invisible Gates of Paradise, Petia, half-cat, half-woman, tracked them with silent night-skills. Yet to enter Paradise, three keys more were needed: The Flame Key, watched over by a cave-dwelling fire sorceress. The Key of the Skeleton Lord, devil-guarded in a desert place of scorpions and snakes. The Key of Ice and Steel, fast-locked in an underground smithy, protected by a frozen demon-prowled maze. Five keys, scattered throughout a realm of supernatural happenings, strange creatures and otherworldly powers:

The Wonderful Future That Never Was: Flying Cars, Mail Delivery by Parachute, and Other Predictions from the Past


Gregory Benford - 2010
    Their forecasts ranged from ruefully funny to eerily prescient and optimistically utopian. Here are the very best of them, culled from hundreds of articles, complete with the original, visually stunning retro art. They will capture the imagination of futurists in the same way Jules Verne's writing did a century earlier. Every chapter features an introduction by astrophysics professor, science-fiction author, and former NASA advisor Gregory Benford.PAST PREDICTIONS OF OUR FUTURE INCLUDE: o Skyscrapers so tall they'll have their own climate  o  Underground pneumatic tubes to replace garbage trucks  o  Rooftop lakes that serve as air conditioning systems  o  Clothes made from asbestos and aluminum  o  Mail sorted by robots and delivered by parachutes