One of the two books that J. M. Coetzee won the Booker Prize for (he was also awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature), The Life and Times of Michael K. is the story of a simple man attempting to survive (from without) in a society that has seen its humanity perverted by war into horror. He is trying only to live in quiet absence and is senselessly thwarted at every turn. Like all of the rest of Coetzee's work, Life and Times is something more than shattering, more than moving. In a south Africa turned by war, Michael K. sets out to take his ailing mother back to her rural home. On the way there she dies, leaving him alone in an anarchic world of brutal roving armies. Imprisoned, Michael is unable to bear confinement and escapes, determined to live with dignity. This life affirming novel goes to the center of human experience-the need for an interior, spiritual life; for some connections to the world in which we live; and for purity of vision

How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology--and there's nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who's helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial. How can we grow our prosperity through automation without leaving people lacking income or purpose? What career advice should we give today's kids? How can we make future AI systems more robust, so that they do what we want without crashing, malfunctioning or getting hacked? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, replacing humans on the job market and perhaps altogether? Will AI help life flourish like never before or give us more power than we can handle? What sort of future do you want? This book empowers you to join what may be the most important conversation of our time. It doesn't shy away from the full range of viewpoints or from the most controversial issues -- from superintelligence to meaning, consciousness and the ultimate physical limits on life in the cosmos

The sequel Life after a Balla begins with Skye doing whatever it takes to obtain the riches she whole heartedly thinks she deserves. Between lavish gifts and million-dollar promises she tries hard to forget her past turmoil with Sandingo, her abusive no-good husband. Skye becomes helpless with Sandingo's tricky business proposition, and soon life takes a turn for the worse as she has to sleep next to the enemy. Will this shattered woman be able to rebuild her life now that the tables are turned? They say payback is a bitch…or is it?

**The long-anticipated sequel to Sister Souljah's million copy bestseller *The Coldest Winter Ever*.** Winter Santiaga hit time served. Still stunning, still pretty, still bold, still loves her father more than any man in the world, still got her hustle and high fashion flow. She's eager to pay back her enemies, rebuild her father's empire, reset his crown, and ultimately to snatch Midnight back into her life no matter which bitch had him while she was locked up. But Winter is not the only one with revenge on her mind. Simone, Winter's young business partner and friend, is locked and loaded and Winter is her target. Will she blow Winter's head off? Can Winter dodge the bullets? Or will at least one bullet blast Winter into another world? Either way Winter is fearless. Hell is the same as any hood and certainly the Brooklyn hood she grew up in. That's what Winter thinks. A heart warming, heart burning, passionate, sexual, comical, and completely original

Draw close to the fire, all you who believe in the spirit of Christmas, whether you call it Santa Claus, or simply good will to men; and listen to the story of Nicholas the Wandering Orphan who became Nicholas the Wood-carver, a lover of little children. Follow him through his first years as a lonely little boy, who had the knack of carving playthings for children; then as a young man, busy over the little toys; then as a prosperous, fat, rosy old man, who overcomes all sorts of difficulties in order to attain his ambition, a toy for every child in the village. Learn how he started to drive a beautiful sleigh drawn by prancing reindeer; why he first came down a chimney; how he filled the first stocking; where the first Christmas tree was decorated; and finally how he came to be known as “Saint Nicholas” and “Santa Claus.”

A book judged so dangerous in the Soviet Union that not only the manuscript but the ribbons on which it had been typed were confiscated by the state, Life and Fate is an epic tale of World War II and a profound reckoning with the dark forces that dominated the twentieth century. Interweaving a transfixing account of the battle of Stalingrad with the story of a single middle-class family, the Shaposhnikovs, scattered by fortune from Germany to Siberia, Vasily Grossman fashions an immense, intricately detailed tapestry depicting a time of almost unimaginable horror and even stranger hope. Life and Fate juxtaposes bedrooms and snipers' nests, scientific laboratories and the Gulag, taking us deep into the hearts and minds of characters ranging from a boy on his way to the gas chambers to Hitler and Stalin themselves. This novel of unsparing realism and visionary moral intensity is one of the supreme achievements of modern Russian literature

Alfred Edersheim (March 7, 1825 – March 16, 1889) was a Jewish convert to Christianity and a Biblical scholar known especially for his book The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Longmans, Green, 1883, 800 pages). Alfred Edersheim believed that some knowledge of ancient Jewish society was necessary for the general reader of the New Testament to fully understand Jesus' life and works. Edersheim's The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah is an informal commentary on the Four Gospels, which highlights the intellectual and religious perspectives of the people who lived during the time of Jesus. By consulting both Rabbinic Law and Talmudic writings, Edersheim paints a vivid picture of the various locations where Jesus would have walked, prayed, and preached. Not only does Edersheim provide useful geographical and political clarifications, he also offers insight into the emotional and psychological experiences of individual Biblical characters as well. From Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, to His death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven--Edersheim reports the stages of Jesus' life in exceptional detail, bringing animation and color into a set of stories that may seem distant to readers today. This is an updated and corrected edition which includes all Hebrew and Greek references. Most browsers come with the capability to view Greek fonts but for you to be able to read Hebrew, you will need to upload and install an appropriate font. Within the text in brackets are many references to different sources. An explanation of the abbreviations used regarding material in the Talmud can be found in the file entitled "List of Abbreviations Used in Reference to Rabbinic Writings."   The books of the Apocrypha (1&2 Maccabees, etc.) can be found at The Bible, KJV

When a meteor hits the moon and knocks it closer in orbit to the earth, nothing will ever be the same. Worldwide tidal waves. Earthquakes. Volcanic Eruptions. And that’s just the beginning

A young man is found lying unconscious on the outskirts of Bucharest. No one knows who he is and everyone has a different theory about how he got there. The stories of the various characters unfold, each closely interwoven with the next, and outlining the features of what ultimately turns out to be the most important and most powerful character of all: the city of Bucharest itself. The novel covers the last 13 days of 1897 and culminates in a beautiful tableau of the future as imagined by the different characters. We might, in fact, say that it is we who inhabit their future. And so too does Dan Creţu, alias Dan Kretzu, the present-day journalist hurled back in time by some mysterious process for just long enough to allow us a wonderful glimpse into a remote, almost forgotten world. Parvulescus' book is a magical tale full of enchanting characters who can carry the reader to another time… Winner of the EUROPEAN UNION PRIZE FOR LITERATURE

Originally published in 1960, this compact book tells the true story of a German soldier: from his early childhood during the First World War, through to his harrowing experiences on the frontline during the Word War II, culminating in his capture by the Red Army on 20 December 1942… An astonishing first-hand account

In the spring of 1914, a group of students at the Slade School of Art have gathered for a life-drawing class. Paul Tarrant is easily distracted by an intriguing fellow student, Elinor Brooke, but watches from afar when a well-known painter catches her eye. After World War I begins, Paul tends to the dying soldiers from the front line as a Belgian Red Cross volunteer, but the longer he remains, the greater the distance between him and home becomes. By the time he returns, Paul must confront not only the overwhelming, perhaps impossible challenge of how to express all that he has seen and experienced, but also the fact that life, and love, will never be the same for him again

From Robert Silverberg’s, “Earthmen and Strangers” anthology, 1966: Earthly life has developed many methods of reproducing itself. The amoeba is content to split in half; the hydra produces a bud that develops into a new hydra; the small crustacean known as daphnia lays eggs that do not need to be fertilized in order to bring forth young daphnias. Most animals, though, rely on two sexes, female and male, one to produce eggs and the other to fertilize them. The variations within this scheme are great—take, for example, the case of the oyster, which is male at one time of the year and female at another. Given such biological variations, it was inevitable that science-fiction writers would begin to speculate about the unearthly aspects reproduction might take among alien beings. Poul Anderson, a lanky chap of Viking descent who lives in California, is better qualified to make scientific speculations than most of his colleagues. He took a degree in physics at the University of Minnesota before turning to science fiction, and keeps abreast of the latest technical developments in a way that gives his stories the solid ring of authenticity. In this example, he provides a convincing blend of science and imagination that yields insight into a wholly alien race. But because recent scientific research has given us a view of conditions on Mercury different from the one that was accepted in 1957, when this story was written, Anderson has added his own introduction to the story in the interest of maintaining accuracy

From the author of If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This, Life Drawing is a fierce, honest and moving story of married life-its betrayals, intimacies, and secrets. Augusta and Owen have taken the leap. Leaving the city and its troubling memories behind, they have moved to the country for a solitary life where they can devote their days to each other and their art, where Gus can paint and Owen can write. But the facts of a past betrayal prove harder to escape than urban life. Ancient jealousies and resentments haunt their marriage and their rural paradise. When Alison Hemmings moves into the empty house next door, Gus is drawn out of isolation, despite her own qualms and Owen’s suspicions. As the new relationship deepens, the lives of the two households grow more and more tightly intertwined. It will take only one new arrival to intensify emotions to breaking point. Fierce, honest and astonishingly gripping, Life Drawing is a novel as beautiful and unsparing as the human heart

‘Richly peopled, highly literate, and brilliantly drawn… [Lucius Shepard is] one of the finest science fiction writers of all time’. In the jungles of Guatemala, David Mingolla is struggling to survive amongst the rotting vegetation and his despairing fellow foot soldiers. He knows he is nothing but an expendable pawn in an endless war. On R & R a few miles away from the warzone he meets Debora—an enigmatic young woman who may be working for the enemy—and stumbles into a deadly psychic conflict where the mind is the greatest weapon

A book of stories, or "narrations," by the finest Catalan writer of his generation. In this beautiful work, translated into English for the first time, Pla transcribes his witnessings of basic truths: the waves of the sea, the hardness of rolled tobacco. The reader feels tangibly the pleasure with which Pla puts the sensual and real on paper

On April 26, 1986, Unit Four of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in then Soviet Ukraine. More than 3.5 million people in Ukraine alone, not to mention many citizens of surrounding countries, are still suffering the effects. Life Exposed is the first book to comprehensively examine the vexed political, scientific, and social circumstances that followed the disaster. Tracing the story from an initial lack of disclosure to post-Soviet democratizing attempts to compensate sufferers, Adriana Petryna uses anthropological tools to take us into a world whose social realities are far more immediate and stark than those described by policymakers and scientists. She asks: What happens to politics when state officials fail to inform their fellow citizens of real threats to life? What are the moral and political consequences of remedies available in the wake of technological disasters? Through extensive research in state institutions, clinics, laboratories, and with affected families and workers of the so-called Zone, Petryna illustrates how the event and its aftermath have not only shaped the course of an independent nation but have made health a negotiated realm of entitlement. She tracks the emergence of a “biological citizenship” in which assaults on health become the coinage through which sufferers stake claims for biomedical resources, social equity, and human rights. Life Exposed provides an anthropological framework for understanding the politics of emergent democracies, the nature of citizenship claims, and everyday forms of survival as they are interwoven with the profound changes that accompanied the collapse of the Soviet Union

Thomas C. Squire, creator of the hit documentary series Frankenstein Among the Arts, one-time secret agent and founder of the Society for Popular aesthetics, is attending an international media symposium in Sicily. It is here that he becomes involved with lovely, but calculating Selina Ajdina. Alongside the drama of the conference is the story of Squire’s private life—the tale of his infidelity, the horrifying circumstances surrounding his father’s death and the threatened future of his ancestral home in England. Selected by Anthony Burgess as one of the 99 best novels since 1939

Life is a Dream (1931) is Gyula Krudy's magical collection of ten short stories. Creating a world where editors shoot themselves after a hard day's brunching, men attend duels incognito and lovers fall out over salad dressing, Life is a Dream is a comic, nostalgic, romantic and erotic glimpse into the Hungary of the early twentieth century. Focussing on the poor and dispossessed, these tales of love, food, death and sex are ironic and wise about the human condition and the futility of life, and display fully Krudy's wit and mastery of the form

Three perfectly executed stories from one of Japan's most beloved writers showcase the exquisitely tuned talent of Yasushi Inoue. The writer describes each character and landscape with a lucid, deft tenderness. In the title story, the narrator, who is supposed to be writing a biography of a famous artist, becomes obsessed instead with the wasted life of the man who forged his paintings. In his typically understated way, Inoue probes into the difference between fact and fiction, and how the 'fake' can sometimes become more important than the original

Shepard disgorges ideas like a drunk or a junkie, streams of images described in visceral prose that essentially numb you to their force. An anaesthetic effect is present in stories like "Life of Buddha" (1988), in which a heroin addict provokes the transmutation of a male transsexual into a perfect woman. Shepard's characters crave freedom and transformation; the narratives over-reach and become baroque in their pursuit of it, and so lose some of their power. They express the central paradox of Shepard's work: his acceptance and celebration of claustrophobia and the "feeling of stricture" (as in "Griaule"), and his desperate raging against it

One boy, one boat, one tiger . . . After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orangutan – and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction in recent years

The man who gave it all away At age 50, when some people start planning for retirement, John Lefebvre hit the digital motherlode. Neteller, a tiny Canadian internet start-up that processed payments between players and online gambling arenas, rocketed into the stock market. In its early years, Neteller had been a cowboy operation, narrowly averting disaster in creative ways. Co-founder Lefebvre, a gregarious hippie lawyer from Calgary, Alberta, had toked his way through his practice for decades, aspiring all the while to be a professional musician. With the profit from Neteller and his stock holdings, he became a multi-millionaire. He started buying Malibu beach houses, limited edition cars, complete wardrobes, and a jet to fly to rock shows with pals. When that got boring he shipped his fine suits to charity, donned his beloved t-shirt and jeans, and started giving away millions to the Dalai Lama, David Suzuki and other eco-conscious people, as well as anyone else who might…

A stunning selection of the best short fiction from the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. This collection of Nadine Gordimer’s short fiction demonstrates her rich use of language and her unsparing vision of politics, sexuality, and race. Whether writing about lovers, parents and children, or married couples, Gordimer maps out the terrain of human relationships with razor-sharp psychological insight and a stunning lack of sentimentality. The selection, which spans the course of Gordimer’s career to date, presents the range of her storytelling abilities and her brilliant insight into human nature. From such epics as “Friday’s Footprint” and “Something Out There” to her shorter, more experimental stories, Gordimer’s work is unfailingly nuanced and complex. Time and again, it forces us to examine how our stated intentions come into conflict with our unspoken desires. This definitive volume, which includes four new stories from the Nobel laureate, is a testament to the power, force, and ongoing relevance of Gordimer’s vision

Pop­u­lar high schooler Hadley Bishop, de­scen­dant of the first woman ex­e­cuted in the Salem witch tri­als, must face down an evil, su­per­nat­ural pres­ence from the past

This tour de force by a master of experimental novels finds the author reflecting on her old age and its effects on her writing. As she reflects on her own career, her experiments with narrative, and on the narrative she writes here, she ultimately reasserts herself and accepts the life behind her

After adapting his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy scripts from the BBC radio series into two successful novels, author Douglas Adams reshaped a rejected "Doctor Who" script he'd written into this third novel in the original trilogy. Reluctant space traveler Arthur Dent finds himself drawn into a race to save the universe from the people of Krikkit, who, upon discovering that they're not alone in the universe, set out to destroy it. In consequence of a number of stunning catastrophies, 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-bogglingly big and bewildering, but also that most of the things that happen in it are staggeringly unfair. 

What would you do if you were part of the last of humanity, stranded on the moon? That’s the fate of Moon Base Armstrong after an unexpected event strands 137 people. They all volunteered to set up the base, not be humanity’s last stand. The urgent, day-to-day life and death struggle to make the moon base self-sustaining gives way to despair, fear, and hope. (This is the full five part novel.)

When the Titanic started sinking, who would make it off alive? The two cousins who had been so eager to see their first iceberg? The maid who desperately tried to escape with the baby in her care? The young newlyweds who’d booked passage despite warnings not to? One hundred years after that disastrous and emblematic voyage, Elizabeth Kaye reveals the extraordinary, little-known story behind one of the first lifeboats to leave the doomed ship. Told in real time and in the actual voices of survivors, Kaye’s poignant, pulse-pounding narrative includes the story of the Countess of Rothes, the wealthiest woman on the ship, bound for California, where she and her husband planned to start an orange farm. It was the Countess, dressed in ermine and pearls, who took command of Lifeboat No. 8, rowing for hours through the black and icy water. In the words of one of the Titanic’s crew, she was “more of a man than any we have on board.” At the heart of Kaye’s tale is a budding romance between the Countess’s maid, Roberta Maioni, and the Titanic’s valiant wireless operator, Jack Phillips. While Roberta made it safely onto Lifeboat No. 8, holding nothing but a photo of Jack she had run back to her cabin to retrieve, he remained on the ship, where he would send out the world’s first SOS signal. But would it be received in time to save his life? Surviving that fateful night in the North Atlantic was not the end of the saga for those aboard Lifeboat No 8. Kaye reveals what happened to each passenger and crew member and how the legendary maritime disaster haunted them forever. A century later, we’re still captivated by the Titanic and its passengers. With its skillful use of survivors’ letters, diaries, and testimonies, “Lifeboat No. 8” adds a dramatic new chapter to the ongoing story

From Publishers Weekly Beach bum Ned Kelly, a part-time lifeguard, pool guy and errand runner in Palm Beach, Fla., has just scored with beautiful, rich Tess McAuliffe. Life sure is looking up, especially from his days back in chilly South Boston. He's looking forward to another round with Tess, but first he has to help some smalltime hoodlum pals commit a $60-million art heist. It's supposed to be an easy job, but everything goes to hell-the paintings they were after weren't even there-and soon enough his pals are all dead, as is Tess. Ned goes on the run, accused of the murders and the heist as well. He flees back to Boston, but gets caught by cute-as-a-button FBI agent Ellie Shurtleff, assigned to investigate the case for the agency's Art Theft and Fraud department. After some rough stuff, he takes her hostage and in short order they've bonded. Ellie can see that Ned's a good guy who could never have committed the crimes he's charged with, so the two of them join forces to bring down the actual thieves and killers. It's a twisty story that will engage the interest of beach-goers everywhere, whose sun-addled brains will put up with pedestrian writing and an improbable plot just to find out exactly whodunit and why. From Booklist Don't be fooled by the title of Patterson's latest thrilling yarn-the action goes far beyond the beach. Ned Kelly grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in Brockton, but he got out, and now his life seems to be falling into place. He's interested in a beautiful woman named Tess and has decided to chance one last heist with four of his childhood friends. Ned's job is simple-all he has to do is set off several house alarms while his friends hit the real target, the mansion of Dennis Stratton, to steal three valuable paintings. But when Ned's friends enter the house and discover the paintings already gone, they realize they've been double-crossed, and before Ned can reach them, all four are murdered. Then Tess is found dead in her hotel room, and, fearing how bad things are looking for him, Ned goes on the lam, hoping to clear his name. He goes back to Brockton to find his father, a small-time criminal he suspects may have been involved in setting up his friends. He's being pursued by Federal Agent Ellie Shurtleff, an art expert, who becomes an unlikely ally. Packing all the punches readers have come to expect from Patterson's books, this one delivers at every turn

Наверняка и вы ставили цели, но не смогли выполнить и половины? В этой книге собрана тысяча необычных дел – так называемый Lifelist – для отношений, карьеры, творчества и финансов на пути к вашей лучшей жизни, каждое из которых приведёт вас к исполнению мечты, поможет найти любимое занятие или испытать ярчайшие эмоции. Вы обязательно найдете для себя что-то новое или прокачаете полезные навыки. Если при изучении этого списка вам встретятся незнакомые слова, не пропускайте их, а найдите способ выяснить их значение, чтобы расширить кругозор. Книга станет вашей личной историей, ваш жизненный путь будет ярким и наполненным, а каждый пункт превратится в осознанное и увлекательное путешествие. Чем больше пунктов, тем больше интересных событий ждёт вас впереди!

Eryn James is a medical secretary, not a police officer, but when the police ask her to assist in tracking down a killer, she jumps at the chance. Not because she has any real desire to hunt down a killer, but because the task involves playing bait in Lifemate Connections-one of the most exclusive and expensive bars in town. In a world where men outnumber women ten to one, and long-term relationships are frowned upon, bars like Lifemate provide a safe environment for women and men to meet and "test drive" possible life mates without the initial risk of taking them home. But five patrons of the bar have recently been murdered, and as a shifter with a keen sense of smell, it is now Eryn's task to track down the killer. But no matter how much she trusts her nose to get her out of trouble, she isn't about to go in there alone. The club is full of security, and there are cops sitting in a van, listening to her every word and move. How dangerous could playing bait actually be? Then she meets Grey Stockard.a man who oozes sex appeal and danger with every movement. A man she wants with every ounce of her being. A man she just might end up dying for

«Села батарейка»? Синдром «профессионального выгорания»? Достигли «энергетического дна»? Большинство людей в такие моменты предпочитают купить эффективные таблетки, найти волшебника-гуру, освоить модную духовную практику или даже бросить все и заняться «поисками себя». Однако чаще всего вместо результата они получают еще более глубокое разочарование. Так откуда и как черпать энергию для полноценной жизни? Как всегда быть в отличной форме и чувствовать себя на все сто? Как максимально реализовать свой потенциал? Книга Игоря Калинаускаса дает ответы на эти и многие другие вопросы, волнующие современного человека. На ее страницах вы найдете подробное описание новых механизмов взаимодействия с собой и окружающим миром, а также ключи, инструменты и практические советы, которые помогут вам жить на полную мощность!