As Hari Seldon struggles to perfect his revolutionary theory of psychohistory and ensure a place for humanity among the stars, the great Galactic Empire totters on the brink of apocalyptic collapse. Caught in the maelstrom are Seldon and all he holds dear, pawns in the struggle for dominance. Whoever can control Seldon will control psychohistory—and with it the future of the Galaxy. Among those seeking to turn psychohistory into the greatest weapon known to man are a populist political demagogue, the weak-willed Emperor Cleon I, and a ruthless militaristic general. In his last act of service to humankind, Hari Seldon must somehow save his life’s work from their grasp as he searches for its true heirs—a search that begins with his own granddaughter and the dream of a new Foundation.

The Ashbrook Fall Fair is around the corner and Beatrice Young, the sixty-two-year-old owner of the Cozy Cat Café, is gunning to finally win the prestigious baking competition. Yet when her friend Nathan rushes in with a wild tale of extortion ten years in the making, it's up to Beatrice and her cats Hamish and Lucky to hunt down the culprit. Featuring a beloved cast of characters including the grumpy Sheriff Roy, Beatrice's ex-husband and best friend Matthew, and Zoe the zany pastry chef, The Extortion Cat-astrophe is a paw-sitively delightful read for mystery fans and cat fanciers alike. The Extortion Cat-astophe is the second book in the Beatrice Young cozy cat mystery series. These books can be read in any order but are extra delightful when enjoyed in sequence.

Harry Green and Luke Linden grew up in the same small Lancashire town but their paths only really crossed when they were thrown together by a violent incident at university. The two became lifelong friends and after years apart building separate careers, they both meet again in the town of their birth. Harry is now Dr. Green – on the verge of an amazing medical discovery – and Luke is the former successful head of a large IT company who is now looking for a new challenge, but faces accusations that he has forgotten his roots. A unique opportunity arises which means that the two friends can work together to achieve their aims against the backdrop of their shared love for their local football team. The action moves from the boardroom to the football pitch and involves betrayal and devotion. Luke uses skills he has developed throughout his adult life to help protect his family, his friend and the way of life his father held so dear. The final stakes are worth millions – but the human...

Jamie Waterman, a Native American geologist, is chosen at the last minute for the first manned exploration of the planet Mars. On touchdown, he is so overwhelmed with the emotion of the moment that he utters a Navajo phrase instead of the political statement he is supposed to read. This sets off a chain reaction among the leaders and politicians on Earth. Thus starts Bova’s sprawling space opera. The expedition, seen from Jamie’s point of view, is really the protagonist here. The story is filled with lots of characters of different nationalities and there’s plenty of political intrigue. Of course, there are obstacles to overcome: a meteor almost destroys the lab, the doctor neglects his duty and nearly kills them all, crew members come down with mysterious “Martian flu,” and through it all is the never-ending search for evidence of life on this planet. Bova has done extensive research and his descriptions of Mars and the conditions under which the study is conducted are very plausible. All in all, a satisfying story. The novel is a part of currently 17-volume series “Grand Tour” that presents the theme of exploration and colonization of the Solar System by humans. Written in 1992 “Mars”, according to the internal in-universe chronology, stands 4 th in the series and is immediately continued by “Return to Mars” published in 1999 which stands 7 th . Events depicted in “Moonrise” (1996) and “Moonwar” (1998) take place between those of “Mars” and “Return to Mars” and are loosely related to them.

Essential, required reading for doctors and patients alike: A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and one of the world’s premiere cancer researchers reveals an urgent philosophy on the little-known principles that govern medicine—and how understanding these principles can empower us all.Over a decade ago, when Siddhartha Mukherjee was a young, exhausted, and isolated medical resident, he discovered a book that would forever change the way he understood the medical profession. The book, The Youngest Science, forced Dr. Mukherjee to ask himself an urgent, fundamental question: Is medicine a “science”? Sciences must have laws—statements of truth based on repeated experiments that describe some universal attribute of nature. But does medicine have laws like other sciences? Dr. Mukherjee has spent his career pondering this question—a question that would ultimately produce some of most serious thinking he would do around the tenets of his...

Called "spellbinding" (Scientific American) and "thrilling...a future classic of popular science" (PW), the up close, inside story of the greatest space exploration project of our time, New Horizons' mission to Pluto, as shared with David Grinspoon by mission leader Alan Stern and other key players.On July 14, 2015, something amazing happened. More than 3 billion miles from Earth, a small NASA spacecraft called New Horizons screamed past Pluto at more than 32,000 miles per hour, focusing its instruments on the long mysterious icy worlds of the Pluto system, and then, just as quickly, continued on its journey out into the beyond.Nothing like this has occurred in a generation—a raw exploration of new worlds unparalleled since NASA's Voyager missions to Uranus and Neptune—and nothing quite like it is planned to happen ever again. The photos that New Horizons sent back to Earth graced the front pages of newspapers on all 7 continents,...

The epic story of the scientists through the ages who have sought answers to life's biggest mystery: How did it begin?How did life begin?It is perhaps the most important question science has ever asked. Over the centuries, the search for an answer has been entwined with some of science's most revolutionary advances including van Leeuwenhoek's microscope, Darwin's theory of evolution, and Crick and Watson's unveiling of DNA. Now, in an age of genetic engineering and space exploration, some scientists believe they are on the verge of creating life from nonliving elements and that our knowledge of the potential for life on other planets is ever-expanding. In the midst of these exciting developments, A Brief History of Creation provides an essential and illuminating history of Western science, tracing the trials and triumphs of the iconoclastic scientists who have sought to uncover the mystery of how life first came to be.Authors Bill Mesler and H. James Cleaves II...