Terra Incognita

Terra Incognita
Author: Connie Willis
Publisher: Del Rey
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2018-08-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1524796875

THREE CLASSIC SCI-FI NOVELLAS IN ONE VOLUME—from a Hugo and Nebula award-winning author In Terra Incognita, Connie Willis explores themes of love and mortality while brilliantly illuminating the human condition through biting satire. Uncharted Territory Findriddy and Carson are explorers, dispatched to a distant planet to survey its canyons, ridges, and scrub-covered hills. Teamed with a profit-hungry indigenous guide of indeterminate gender and an enthusiastic newcomer whose specialty is mating customs, the group battles hostile terrain as they set out for unexplored regions. Along the way, they face dangers, discover treasures, and soon find themselves in an alien territory of another kind: exploring the paths and precipices of sex—and love. Remake In the Hollywood of the future, live-action movies are a thing of the past. Old films are computerized and ruthlessly dissected, actors digitally ripped from one film and thrust into another. Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe in A Star Is Born? No problem. Hate the ending? Change it with the stroke of a key. Technology makes anything possible. But a starry-eyed young woman wants only one thing: to dance on the big screen. With a little magic and a lot of luck, she just may get her happy ending. D.A. Theodora Baumgarten is baffled and furious: Why was she selected to be part of a highly competitive interstellar cadet program? After all, she never even applied. But that hasn’t stopped the powers that be from whisking her onto a spaceship bound for the prestigious Academy. With her protests ignored, Theodora takes matters into her own hands, aided by her hacker best friend, to escape the Academy and return to Earth—only to uncover a conspiracy that runs deeper than she could have imagined. Praise for Terra Incognita “Willis’s lively, funny forays into futuristic territory shine as brightly today as when originally released. . . . In all three stories, the protagonists find their narrow concepts of life challenged and expanded by possibilities created through technology. As a collection, these smart, accessible shorts make for an entertaining initiation or reintroduction into the world of one of sci-fi's greatest treasures.”—Shelf Awareness “A master of fantasy playfully combines science fiction with other genres in three antic novellas. . . . Clever, funny, thought-provoking, and sweet, these stories are classic Willis.”—Kirkus Reviews

Terra Incognita

Terra Incognita
Author: Sara Wheeler
Publisher: Modern Library
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2014-10-01
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 080415242X

It is the coldest, windiest, driest place on earth, an icy desert of unearthly beauty and stubborn impenetrability. For centuries, Antarctica has captured the imagination of our greatest scientists and explorers, lingering in the spirit long after their return. Shackleton called it "the last great journey"; for Apsley Cherry-Garrard it was the worst journey in the world. This is a book about the call of the wild and the response of the spirit to a country that exists perhaps most vividly in the mind. Sara Wheeler spent seven months in Antarctica, living with its scientists and dreamers. No book is more true to the spirit of that continent--beguiling, enchanted and vast beyond the furthest reaches of our imagination. Chosen by Beryl Bainbridge and John Major as one of the best books of the year, recommended by the editors of Entertainment Weekly and the Chicago Tribune, one of the Seattle Times's top ten travel books of the year, Terra Incognita is a classic of polar literature.

Terra Incognita

Terra Incognita
Author: Sara Henning
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Total Pages: 76
Release: 2022-03-25
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 0821447734

These masterful elegies follow the contours of a troubled mother-daughter relationship, explore the paradoxes of mourning, and relish the complicated joys of perseverance to map not only how one makes sense of the world but also how one reenters it after experiencing a transformative loss. Divided into four sections, this poignant collection begins with “Terra Inferna,” which chronicles a single mother’s attempt to raise her daughter in 1980s rural Georgia. “Terra Incognita” follows the daughter’s journey across states, out of devastating poverty, and into a loving marriage, as her mother loses her battle with colon cancer. In “Terra Nova,” the speaker meditates on her mother’s passing, her crisis of meaning turning to revelation of legacy’s love. “Terra Firma” brings closure, as the speaker reconciles her grief while rediscovering how to find joy in life’s small moments.

Faux Pas

Faux Pas
Author: Philip Gooden
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2009-05-26
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 0802718264

"Have you ever been embarassed by the bons mots that some people toss casually into conversation, or wished that you had a clever retort?" "Faux Pas offers insight into hundreds of these phrases that readers will (or might not) want to use in writing or conversation once they know their correct meanings and usage. Entries include both familiar terms and phrases that are new, curious, or even just amusing. Each expression is "translated" and denotes the language of origin, pronunciation, and usefulness. A Pretentiousness Index is included for many expressions to assist you in avoiding inappropriate usage." Whether you are a linguaphile or a professional wordsmith, or just want to impress your friends with a few well-chosen apercus, Philip Gooden's guide can rescue you from potential language land mines and help you to maintain your sangfroid. Full of examples drawn from everyday contexts, Faux Pas will make sure that you don't upset any honchos with your chutzpah.

Oak Island Illustrated

Oak Island Illustrated
Author: John Bell
Publisher: Formac Publishing Company
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2021-09-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1459506723

More than two centuries ago, compelling evidence of buried treasure was found on Nova Scotia's Oak Island. Since then, extensive engineering works have been discovered and mysterious objects unearthed in and around the island's "Money Pit." The ongoing search has been featured on a long-running popular television series, but to this day, the island guards its secrets. In this book, historian John Bell presents all the competing theories — about who buried treasure on the island and how the complex structures in the Money Pit that have kept treasure hunters at bay were created. Is the island the former settlement of pre-Columbian Vikings? The location of a lost pirate treasure or royal treasures from England? The hiding spot for rogue captains of Spanish treasure ships? John Bell presents each theory in turn. Bell also provides a detailed illustration of the mysterious work that was done on the island prior to the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795. The illustration shows each element of the Pit's design as it was first built — including elaborate flood tunnels, a cave-in shaft, and more. This book offers a fascinating opportunity to explore many centuries of world history from the perspective of one of the greatest mysteries of all time. The extensive visuals showcase what treasures could have been hidden, and illustrate the lives of the adventurers, renegades, pirates, politicians, and paranormal entities that might be responsible for this puzzle.

MEGA-CRISES

MEGA-CRISES
Author: Ira Helsloot
Publisher: Charles C Thomas Publisher
Total Pages: 389
Release: 2012-08-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0398086834

We live in turbulent times with continents and nations facing ever-heightening risks such as natural disasters, intense and protracted conflicts, terrorism, corporate crises, cyber threats to infrastructures and mega-events. We are witnessing the rise of mega-crises and a new class of adversity with many unknowns. The prospect of mega-crises presents professionals and students in the field of crisis management with four major tasks. First, they should engage in “deep thinking” about the causes of the increasing occurrence of mega-crises. Second, they should identify and work through the dominant trends which complicate contemporary crisis management. Third, they should upgrade institutional crisis management capacity. Fourth, they should improve societal resilience since no institutional complex can mitigate or manage these mega-crisis on its own. This book is divided into four primary parts, each of which looks at one facet of mega-crises. Part I focuses on the concept of a mega-crisis and mega-crisis management; Part II examines crisis management of mega-natural disasters; Part III evaluates crisis management of man-made mega-crises; and Part IV identifies mega-threats and vulnerabilities. Additional major topics include Hurricane Katrina; Hurricane Gustav; the London Bombings; the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks of July 7, 2005; corporate meltdowns; the subprime crisis; the Olympic Games; electricity grids; global climate change; the Dutch Delta; risks to food security; and mega-crises and the Internet. This comprehensive text will provide practitioners and academics with the results of an across-the-board research effort in the prospects, nature, characteristics, and the effects of mega-crises.