"Good riddance", is the response of every Pecan Springsresident to the murder of local real estate shark Edgar Coleman. itdoesn't take long for China to learn that Coleman was havingnumerous affairs -- and was blackmailing City Council members fortheir votes on a bad land development deal. With her fianceimmersed in the murder investigation -- and the suspect listgrowing longer by the minute -- China can forget about a honeymoon,unless she can find the killer...
The three laws of Robotics: 1) A robot may not injure a human being or,through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm 2) A robot must obey orders givein to it byhuman beings except where such orders would conflict with the FirstLaw. 3) A robot must protect its own existence aslong as such protection does not conflict with the First or SecondLaw. With this, Asimov changed our perception ofrobots forever when he formulated the laws governing theirbehavior. In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of therobot through a series of interlinked stories: from its primitiveorigins in the present to its ultimate perfection in thenot-so-distant future--a future in which humanity itself may berendered obsolete. Here are stories of robots gone mad, ofmind-read robots, and robots with a sense of humor. Of robotpoliticians, and robots who secretly run the world--all told withthe dramatic blend of science fact science fiction thatbecame Asmiov's trademark.
In Naked, David Sedaris's message is pay attention to me.Whether he's taking to the road with a thieving quadriplegic,sorting out the fancy from the extra-fancy in a bleak fruit-packingfactory, or celebrating Christmas in the company of a recentlyparoled prostitute, this collection of memoirs creates a wickedlyincisive portrait of an all-too-familiar world. It takes Sedarisfrom his humiliating bout with obsessive behavior in 'A Plague ofTics' to the title story, in which he is finally forced to face hisnaked self in the mirrored sunglasses of a lunatic. At this soulfuland moving moment, he picks potato chip crumbs from his pubic hairand wonders what it all means. This remarkable journey into his ownlife follows a path of self-effacement and a lifelong search foridentity, leaving him both under suspicion and overdressed.
Freeman Dyson, renowned physicist and public intellectual, editsthis year's volume of the finest science and nature writing.
Years ago, the enormous, enigmatic alien spacecraft calledRama sailed through our solar system as mind-boggling proof thatlife existed -- or "had" existed -- elsewhere in the universe. Now,at the dawn of the twenty-third century, another ship is discoveredhurtling toward us. A crew of Earth's best and brightest minds isassembled to rendezvous with the massive vessel. They are armedwith everything we know about Raman technology and culture. Butnothing can prepare them for what they are about to encounter onboard "Rama II": cosmic secrets that are startling, sensational --and perhaps even deadly.
七万年前,原始人类在濒临灭绝的严峻情况下勉强幸存,七万年后,拥有先进文明与高端科技的人类又再一次面临灭绝危机……瘟疫虽然有了最终的解药,伊麻里组织却依旧进逼着全世界,阿瑞斯更是引爆了遍布在南极洲周围的水雷,融化的古代冰层形成一场大洪水,迅速侵袭世界各地。此时,凯特跟大卫收到一组来自外层空间的加密信号,他们知道这段信号是阻止伊麻里的关键,必须尽快解开密码,于是,一行人穿过传送门来到了亚特兰蒂斯的烽火系统……随着亚特兰蒂斯记忆拼图的逐渐完成,人类世界起源的面纱即将揭开,过去与现在相互角力,的结局,人类将何去何从?
米歇尔·图尔尼埃(1924-),法国当代文学大师,当代著名的新寓言派文学的主将。他不仅是才华横溢的小说家,而且是睿智深刻的哲学家。西方批评界对他的小说以及融汇在小说中的现代哲学思想推崇备至,评价极高,认为他以自己独特的风格为法国小说开创了新局面。《礼拜五或太平洋上的灵薄狱》是他的代表作之一,发表当年即获法兰西学院文学大奖。 《礼拜五或太平洋上的灵薄狱》是一篇“现代文明衰亡记”的寓言,它戏仿笛福的名著《鲁滨孙漂流记》的题材,在主题上却反其道而行之。鲁滨孙孤独一人被弃荒岛后,按西方文明社会的模式将荒岛治理得井井有条。礼拜五来到荒岛后,非但没有被驯化为鲁滨孙的奴隶,反而以其自然的天性将文明的迹象破坏得一干二净,同时也慢慢影响了鲁滨孙,使这个西方文明的代表逐步抛弃了原有的文化传统,变成了一个能
With over eight million copies of her beloved books in print,Sophie Kinsella is a true phenomenon. Now Becky Brandon (neeBloomwood) is back, in a hilarious new" "Shopaholic novel Becky'slife is blooming She's working at London's newest big store, TheLook, house-hunting with husband Luke (her secret wish is a ShoeRoom)...and she's pregnant She couldn't be moreoverjoyed--especially since discovering that shopping cures morningsickness. Everything has got to be perfect for her baby: from thedesigner nursery...to the latest, coolest pram...to the celebrity,must-have obstetrician. But when the celebrity obstetrician turnsout to be Luke's glamorous, intellectual ex-girlfriend, Becky'sperfect world starts to crumble. She's shopping for two...but arethere three in her marriage?
Praise for A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: 'In the grand epic fantasy tradition, Martin is by far the best …tense, surging, insomnia-inflicting' Time Magazine ‘An absorbing, exciting read … Martin’s style is so vivid that youwill be hooked within a few pages’ The Times ‘The sheer mind-boggling scope of this epic has sent other fantasywriters away shaking their heads …Its ambition: to construct theTwelve Caesars of fantasy fiction, with characters so venomous theycould eat the Borgias’ Guardian ‘Colossal, staggering … Martin captures all the intoxicatingcomplexity of the Wars of the Roses or Imperial Rome in hisimaginary world … The writing is always powerful …' SFX
The house looked right, felt right to Dr Louis Creed.Rambling, old, unsmart and comfortable. A place where the family could settle; the children grow and play and explore. The rolling hills and meadows of Maine seemed a world away from the fume-choked dangers of Chicago.Only the occasional big truck out on the two-lane highway, grinding up through the gears, hammering down the long gradients, growled out an intrusive threat.But behind the house and far away from the road: that was safe. Just a carefully cleared path up into the woods where generations of local children have processed with the solemn innocence of the young, taking with them their dear departed pets for burial.A sad place maybe, but safe. Surely a safe place. Not a place to seep into your dreams, to wake you, sweating with fear and foreboding.
" Roberts] is at her best here" ("Publishers Weekly," starredreview) in the first book in her enchanting trilogy set in Ardmore,Ireland.
Originally subtitled "An Adventurous Education, 1935-1946",this book is a key volume in Kerouac's lifework, the series ofautobiographical novels he referred to as The Legend of Duluoz. Awonderfully unassuming look back at the origins of his career--aprehistory of the Beat era, written from the perspective of thepsychedelic '60s.
Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republicof Iran, Azar Nafisi, a bold and inspired teacher, secretlygathered seven of her most committed female students to readforbidden Western classics. Some came from conservative andreligious families, others were progressive and secular; some hadspent time in jail. They were shy and uncomfortable at first,unaccustomed to being asked to speak their minds, but soon theyremoved their veils and began to speak more freely–their storiesintertwining with the novels they were reading by Jane Austen, F.Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov. As Islamicmorality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran, asfundamentalists seized hold of the universities and a blind censorstifled artistic expression, the women in Nafisi’s living roomspoke not only of the books they were reading but also aboutthemselves, their dreams and disappointments. Azar Nafisi’s luminous masterwork gives us a rare glimpse, fromthe inside, of women’s lives in rev
Marguerite Gautier was the most beautiful, brazen-- and expensive--courtesan in all of Paris. Despite being ill with consumption, she lived a glittering, moneyed life of nonstop parties and aristocratic balls and savored every day as if it were her last. Into her life came Armand l)uval. Young, handsome, recklessly headstrong, he was hopelessly in love with Marguerite, but not nearly rich enough. Yet Armand was Marguerite's first true love, and against her better judgment, she threw away her upper-class lifestyle for him. But as intense as their love for each other was, it challenged a reality that would not be denied。