Countdown

Countdown
Author: Deborah Wiles
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2016-04-26
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0545455499

The story of a formative year in 12-year-old Franny Chapman's life, and the life of a nation facing the threat of nuclear war. Franny Chapman just wants some peace. But that's hard to get when her best friend is feuding with her, her sister has disappeared, and her uncle is fighting an old war in his head. Her saintly younger brother is no help, and the cute boy across the street only complicates things. Worst of all, everyone is walking around just waiting for a bomb to fall. It's 1962, and it seems that the whole country is living in fear. When President Kennedy goes on television to say that Russia is sending nuclear missiles to Cuba, it only gets worse. Franny doesn't know how to deal with what's going on in the world -- no more than she knows how to deal with what's going on with her family and friends. But somehow she's got to make it through. Featuring a captivating story interspersed with footage from 1962, award-winning author Deborah Wiles has created a documentary novel that will put you right alongside Franny as she navigates a dangerous time in both her history and our history.

Countdown

Countdown
Author: Alan Weisman
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2013-09-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0316236500

A powerful investigation into the chances for humanity's future from the author of the bestseller The World Without Us. In his bestselling book The World Without Us, Alan Weisman considered how the Earth could heal and even refill empty niches if relieved of humanity's constant pressures. Behind that groundbreaking thought experiment was his hope that we would be inspired to find a way to add humans back to this vision of a restored, healthy planet-only in harmony, not mortal combat, with the rest of nature. But with a million more of us every 4 1/2 days on a planet that's not getting any bigger, and with our exhaust overheating the atmosphere and altering the chemistry of the oceans, prospects for a sustainable human future seem ever more in doubt. For this long awaited follow-up book, Weisman traveled to more than 20 countries to ask what experts agreed were probably the most important questions on Earth -- and also the hardest: How many humans can the planet hold without capsizing? How robust must the Earth's ecosystem be to assure our continued existence? Can we know which other species are essential to our survival? And, how might we actually arrive at a stable, optimum population, and design an economy to allow genuine prosperity without endless growth? Weisman visits an extraordinary range of the world's cultures, religions, nationalities, tribes, and political systems to learn what in their beliefs, histories, liturgies, or current circumstances might suggest that sometimes it's in their own best interest to limit their growth. The result is a landmark work of reporting: devastating, urgent, and, ultimately, deeply hopeful. By vividly detailing the burgeoning effects of our cumulative presence, Countdown reveals what may be the fastest, most acceptable, practical, and affordable way of returning our planet and our presence on it to balance. Weisman again shows that he is one of the most provocative journalists at work today, with a book whose message is so compelling that it will change how we see our lives and our destiny.

Countdown to Zero Day

Countdown to Zero Day
Author: Kim Zetter
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2015-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0770436196

A top cybersecurity journalist tells the story behind the virus that sabotaged Iran’s nuclear efforts and shows how its existence has ushered in a new age of warfare—one in which a digital attack can have the same destructive capability as a megaton bomb. “Immensely enjoyable . . . Zetter turns a complicated and technical cyber story into an engrossing whodunit.”—The Washington Post The virus now known as Stuxnet was unlike any other piece of malware built before: Rather than simply hijacking targeted computers or stealing information from them, it proved that a piece of code could escape the digital realm and wreak actual, physical destruction—in this case, on an Iranian nuclear facility. In these pages, journalist Kim Zetter tells the whole story behind the world’s first cyberweapon, covering its genesis in the corridors of the White House and its effects in Iran—and telling the spectacular, unlikely tale of the security geeks who managed to unravel a top secret sabotage campaign years in the making. But Countdown to Zero Day also ranges beyond Stuxnet itself, exploring the history of cyberwarfare and its future, showing us what might happen should our infrastructure be targeted by a Stuxnet-style attack, and ultimately, providing a portrait of a world at the edge of a new kind of war.

Presentation Zen

Presentation Zen
Author: Garr Reynolds
Publisher: Pearson Education
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2009-04-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0321601890

FOREWORD BY GUY KAWASAKI Presentation designer and internationally acclaimed communications expert Garr Reynolds, creator of the most popular Web site on presentation design and delivery on the Net — presentationzen.com — shares his experience in a provocative mix of illumination, inspiration, education, and guidance that will change the way you think about making presentations with PowerPoint or Keynote. Presentation Zen challenges the conventional wisdom of making "slide presentations" in today’s world and encourages you to think differently and more creatively about the preparation, design, and delivery of your presentations. Garr shares lessons and perspectives that draw upon practical advice from the fields of communication and business. Combining solid principles of design with the tenets of Zen simplicity, this book will help you along the path to simpler, more effective presentations.

Pumpkin Countdown

Pumpkin Countdown
Author: Joan Holub
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2012-07-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0807566616

Best Children's Books of the Year 2013, Bank Street College American Association of University Women Award for Juvenile Literature, 2013 Nominee A fun trip to the pumpkin patch that includes counting, grouping, and more. Fall has come, and what better way to celebrate than a field trip to the pumpkin patch! From 20 name tags on coats all the way down to 1 last pumpkin song, the class counts everything in sight! Follow along in this sweet, rhyming picture book, with interactive counting on each spread. Count the 8 orange pumpkins, tall, 7 yellow pumpkins, bumpy, and much more! Including autumnal illustrations and pumpkin facts, this book is perfect for the fall season and an extra fun way to teach children to count backward from twenty.

Flight

Flight
Author: Mark Phelps
Publisher: WeldonOwn+ORM
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2013-12-13
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1681886367

Facts, photos, stories, and specs of one hundred remarkable flying machines, from the Sopwith Camel to the 747 to the supersonic F-22 Raptor. Of all humanity’s dazzling innovations, perhaps none captures our imaginations or fuels our inventive spirits as much as flight. In our quest to soar higher, faster, and farther, we’ve dreamed up airborne wonders that are a sight to behold—like the supersonic F-22 Raptor, stealthily soaring above the clouds, or the Boeing-Stearman PT-17 Biplane, the beautiful starter model that helped a generation earn their wings, or the deluxe Concorde—the first passenger jet to cruise at the speed of sound. These iconic aircraft—and ninety-seven more stunning feats of aeronautical engineering—make up the world’s most groundbreaking contributions to flight, all curated and collected here by the experts at Flying magazine. In Flight: 100 Greatest Aircraft, there’s something for every aviation aficionado—from brazen stunt planes to far-from-pedestrian commercial jets, from military marvels to spacecraft that reached dazzling new heights. With its spectacular full-color photographs, fascinating and informative text, and a detailed specifications section, Flight is the essential book for pilots and plane-lovers everywhere.

New York Magazine

New York Magazine
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 108
Release: 1987-01-12
Genre:
ISBN:

New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.

Oops!

Oops!
Author: Matteo Molinari
Publisher: Citadel Press
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2002
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780806523194

Almost every film, even the classics, contains blunders and gaffes -- and this compendium of thousands of amusing mistakes will turn every reader into an informed goof sleuth and provide hours of entertainment. Each entry lists title, credits, plot, bloopers, nonbloopers (mistakenly reported errors), questions (oddities), and fun facts. Bloopers range from the hilariously obvious to the picayune; each described and keyed to the timer on a video player for easy locating. Here's a sample: -- From Casablanca (1942): An indignant Lazlo (Paul Henreid) asks the band to play "La Marsellaise" and the music erupts from the trumpets before they actually reach the players' mouths. (01:12) -- From Pretty Woman (1990): Vivian (Julia Roberts) is having breakfast; she grabs a croissant and nibbles it. A few shots later, she holds a pancake. (00:30) -- From Titanic (1997): As Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes to the rich folks' dinner, a waiter opens a beautiful door -- that reflects the image of a steadycam operator. (00:56) -- From The Courage of Lassie (1946), with Elizabeth Taylor as Kathie Merrick. Just one problem -- in the movie, the dog is called Bill.

Countdown to First Certificate

Countdown to First Certificate
Author: Michael Duckworth
Publisher:
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1999
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 9780194533522

A course which bridges the gap between intermediate level and the FCE exam.

July 1914

July 1914
Author: Sean McMeekin
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2014-04-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 0465038867

When a Serbian-backed assassin gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in late June 1914, the world seemed unmoved. Even Ferdinand's own uncle, Franz Josef I, was notably ambivalent about the death of the Hapsburg heir, saying simply, "It is God's will." Certainly, there was nothing to suggest that the episode would lead to conflict -- much less a world war of such massive and horrific proportions that it would fundamentally reshape the course of human events. As acclaimed historian Sean McMeekin reveals in July 1914, World War I might have been avoided entirely had it not been for a small group of statesmen who, in the month after the assassination, plotted to use Ferdinand's murder as the trigger for a long-awaited showdown in Europe. The primary culprits, moreover, have long escaped blame. While most accounts of the war's outbreak place the bulk of responsibility on German and Austro-Hungarian militarism, McMeekin draws on surprising new evidence from archives across Europe to show that the worst offenders were actually to be found in Russia and France, whose belligerence and duplicity ensured that war was inevitable. Whether they plotted for war or rode the whirlwind nearly blind, each of the men involved -- from Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold von Berchtold and German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov and French president Raymond Poincaré- sought to capitalize on the fallout from Ferdinand's murder, unwittingly leading Europe toward the greatest cataclysm it had ever seen. A revolutionary account of the genesis of World War I, July 1914 tells the gripping story of Europe's countdown to war from the bloody opening act on June 28th to Britain's final plunge on August 4th, showing how a single month -- and a handful of men -- changed the course of the twentieth century.