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Terrestrial history : a novel / by Reed, Joe Mungo,author.;
Hannah is a fusion scientist working alone at a remote cottage off the coast of Scotland when she sees a figure making his way from the sea. It is a visitor from the future, a young man from a human settlement on Mars, traveling backwards through time to try to make a crucial intervention in the fate of our dying planet, and he needs Hannah's help. Laboring in the warmth of a Scottish summer, Hannah and the stranger are on the path towards a breakthrough--and then things go terribly wrong. Joe Mungo Reed's intricately crafted novel expands from this extraordinary event, drawing together the stories of four lives reckoning with what it means to take fate into their own hands, moving from the last days of civilization on Earth through the birth of another on Mars. Roban lives in the Colony, one of the first generation born to this sterile new outpost, where he is consumed by longing for the lost wonders of a home planet he never knew. Between Hannah and Roban, two generations, a father and a daughter, face an uncertain future in a world that is falling apart. Andrew is a politician running to be Scotland's First Minister. Andrew believes there is still time for the human spirit to triumph, if only he can persuade people to band together. For his starkly rationalist daughter Kenzie, this idealism doesn't offer the hard tools needed to keep the rising floods at bay. And so, she signs on to work for a company that would abandon Earth for the promise of a world beyond--in contravention of all Andrew stands for. In considering which concerns should guide us in a time of crisis--social, technological, or familial--and reckoning with the question of whether there is meaning to be found in the pursuit of salvation beyond success itself, Joe Mungo Reed has written a novel of elegiac wonder and beauty.
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Time-travel fiction.; Novels.; Climatic changes; Families; Interpersonal relations; Space colonies; Time travel; Women scientists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Something to look forward to / by Flagg, Fannie,author.;
"Fannie Flagg once said that what the world needs now is a good laugh. And that is what she gives us in these thirty warmhearted, often hilarious, always surprising stories about Americans finding clever ways of dealing with the curveballs life throws at us. We meet Velma from Kansas, a loving great-grandmother who struggles to bridge the generational divide with her great-grandchild in California. Why, for instance, does her great-grandchild sign letters to Velma with "(they/them)"? We cheer for Helen, in Ithaca, New York, who takes an audacious course of action when her husband leaves her for a younger woman. Four men in Bent Fork, Wyoming, make a bold decision after learning that the café where they eat breakfast every day is about to be sold to a stranger from out of town. And observing them all is Special Agent Frawley, an odd visitor from another planet, sent to Earth to figure out what makes human beings tick, only to fall in love with one of them -- and with her cat"--
Subjects: Short stories.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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Anonymous male : a life among spies / by Whitcomb, Christopher,1959-author.;
"In September 2001, Christopher Whitcomb was the most visible FBI agent in the world. His best-selling memoir, Cold Zero, had led to novels, articles in GQ, and op-eds in the New York Times. He appeared on Imus in the Morning, Larry King, and Meet the Press; he was nominated for a Peabody reporting for CNBC. He played poker with Brad Pitt while contracting for the CIA. Then one day in 2006, without warning, Whitcomb packed a bag, flew into Somalia and dropped off the face of the earth. For 15 years, he waged a mercenary war on himself, traveling the world with aliases, cash, and guns. He built a private army in the jungles of Timor-Leste, working contracts for intelligence agencies, where he survived a coup d'état only to lose his friends, abandon his family, and give up on God. And though many stories might have ended there, Anonymous Male is a tale of redemption. While surfing the wilds of Indonesia, Whitcomb found himself trapped beneath a giant wave, where, at the edge of drowning, he came to terms with the chaos of his own clandestine life. He survived the wave to find his way home and rebuild the world that he had abandoned"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Whitcomb, Christopher, 1959-; United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hostage Rescue Team; APAC Security (Firm); Intelligence officers; Private security services;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Dutch girl : Audrey Hepburn and World War II / by Matzen, Robert,1957-author.; Dotti, Luca,1970-writer of foreword.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.Near the end of 1939, ten-year-old Audrey Hepburn flew from boarding school in England into the Netherlands, which would soon become a war zone. What she experienced in five years of Nazi occupation has never been explored until now. Dutch Girl sets the story straight, revealing the Nazi past of Audrey's parents and how their daughter dealt with this information. The book examines her career as an acclaimed young ballerina, her involvement with the Dutch Resistance, an active role tending wounded, and dark months in the line of fire as the end drew near for the Nazi regime.
Subjects: Biographies.; Hepburn, Audrey, 1929-1993.; Motion picture actors and actresses; Motion picture actors and actresses; World War, 1939-1945;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Lazarus files : a cold case investigation / by McGough, Matthew,author.;
A deeply-reported, riveting account of a cold case murder in Los Angeles, unsolved until DNA evidence implicated a shocking suspect - a female detective within the LAPD's own ranks. On February 24, 1986, 29-year-old newlywed Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in the home she shared with her husband, John. The crime scene suggested a ferocious struggle, and police initially assumed it was a burglary gone awry. Before her death, Sherri had confided to her parents that an ex-girlfriend of John's, a Los Angeles police officer, had threatened her. The Rasmussens urged the LAPD to investigate the ex-girlfriend, but the original detectives only pursued burglary suspects, and the case went cold. DNA analysis did not exist when Sherri was murdered. Decades later, a swab from a bite mark on Sherri's arm revealed her killer was in fact female, not male. A DNA match led to the arrest and conviction of veteran LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus, John's onetime girlfriend. The Lazarus Files delivers the visceral experience of being inside a real-life murder mystery. McGough reconstructs the lives of Sherri, John and Stephanie; the love triangle that led to Sherri's murder; and the homicide investigation that followed. Was Stephanie protected by her fellow officers? What did the LAPD know, and when did they know it? Are there other LAPD cold cases with a police connection that remain unsolved?
Subjects: True crime stories.; Lazarus, Stephanie.; Rasmussen, Sherri; Murder; Cold cases (Criminal investigation);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Something to look forward to [text (large print)] / by Flagg, Fannie,author.;
"Fannie Flagg once said that what the world needs now is a good laugh. And that is what she gives us in these thirty warmhearted, often hilarious, always surprising stories about Americans finding clever ways of dealing with the curveballs life throws at us. We meet Velma from Kansas, a loving great-grandmother who struggles to bridge the generational divide with her great-grandchild in California. Why, for instance, does her great-grandchild sign letters to Velma with "(they/them)"? We cheer for Helen, in Ithaca, New York, who takes an audacious course of action when her husband leaves her for a younger woman. Four men in Bent Fork, Wyoming, make a bold decision after learning that the café where they eat breakfast every day is about to be sold to a stranger from out of town. And observing them all is Special Agent Frawley, an odd visitor from another planet, sent to Earth to figure out what makes human beings tick, only to fall in love with one of them -- and with her cat"--
Subjects: Large print books.; Short stories.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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A house in the sky : a memoir / by Lindhout, Amanda.; Corbett, Sara.;
Includes bibliographical references."The spectacularly dramatic memoir of a woman whose curiosity about the world led her from rural Canada to imperiled and dangerous countries on every continent, and then into fifteen months of harrowing captivity in Somalia--a story of courage, resilience, and extraordinary grace.At the age of eighteen, Amanda Lindhout moved from her hardscrabble Alberta hometown to the big city--Calgary--and worked as a cocktail waitress, saving her tips so she could travel the globe. As a child, she escaped a violent household by paging through National Geographic and imagining herself in its exotic locales. Now she would see those places for real. She backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, and India, and emboldened by each experience, went on to travel solo across Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan. In war-ridden Afghanistan and Iraq she carved out a fledgling career as a TV reporter. And then, in August 2008, she traveled to Mogadishu, Somalia--"the most dangerous place on earth"--to report on the fighting there. On her fourth day in the country, she and her photojournalist companion were abducted. An astoundingly intimate and harrowing account of Lindhout's fifteen months as a captive, A House in the Sky illuminates the psychology, motivations, and desperate extremism of her young guards and the men in charge of them. She is kept in chains, nearly starved, and subjected to unthinkable abuse. She survives by imagining herself in a "house in the sky," looking down at the woman shackled below, and finding strength and hope in the power of her own mind. Lindhout's decision, upon her release, to counter the violence she endured by founding an organization to help the Somali people rebuild their country through education is a wrenching testament to the capacity of the human spirit and an astonishing portrait of the power of compassion and forgiveness"--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Lindhout, Amanda.; Hostages; Journalists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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The weight of sand : my 450 days held hostage in the Sahara / by Blais, Edith,1984-author.; Grubisic, Katia,translator.; translation of:Blais, Edith,1984-Sablier.English.;
"An evocative, earth-shattering memoir about one woman's kidnapping and 450 days of captivity at the hands of terrorists-and her stunning escape to freedom. In January 2019, news outlets reported that a young Canadian woman and her Italian companion were presumed kidnapped while traveling in Africa's Sahel region, a haven for Islamic terrorists. Little was known about the pair's fate until they reappeared in Mali more than one year later, having apparently escaped their captors. Now, in The Weight of Sand, Edith Blais describes her harrowing hostage experience for the first time-and reveals that writing poetry in secret helped save her life. Edith recounts the prolonged terror of her months as a hostage, enduring violent sandstorms, constant relocations, grueling hunger strikes, extreme isolation, and the unpredictability of her captors. She also shares the luminous poems she wrote in secret with a borrowed pen, which became a lifeline of creativity and one of the few possessions she smuggled out in her escape, strapped to her leg under her clothes. A compelling descent into a strange, brutal universe, The Weight of Sand is ultimately a life-affirming book-a celebration of resilience by a woman who refused to have her humanity stripped away from her."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Blais, Edith, 1984-; Blais, Edith, 1984-; Hostages; Hostages; Kidnapping victims; Kidnapping victims; Terrorism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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So you're going to be a dad / by Downey, Peter,1964-;
Includes filmography and index."For new dads, So You're Going to Be a Dad is the bottom line on pregnancy, childbirth, newborns, and young children. Inspiring and down-to-earth, the guide prepares readers for the changes, challenges, and joys of parenthood, from what to say (and what not to say) when she shares the big news to navigating the delivery room and first days as a family. Now fully updated, the guide offers the latest information and thinking on: Today's delivery methods and medical procedures Social media and the online parenting world Baby gear you really need and much more. "--Provided by publisher.LSC
Subjects: Fatherhood.; Fatherhood; Parenthood.; Childbirth.; Newborn infants;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The darkness manifesto : on light pollution, night ecology, and the ancient rhythms that sustain life / by Eklöf, Johan,author.; DeNoma, Elizabeth,translator.; translation of:Eklöf, Johan.Mörkermanifestet.English.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In the tradition of Why We Sleep and The Sixth Extinction, an urgent and insightful look at the hidden impact of light pollution, and a passionate appeal to cherish natural darkness for the sake of the environment, our own wellbeing, and all life on earth. How much light is too much light? Satellite pictures show our planet as a brightly glowing orb, and in our era of constant illumination, light pollution has become a major issue. The world's flora and fauna have evolved to operate in the natural cycle of day and night. But in the last 150 years, we have extended our day--and in doing so have forced out the inhabitants of the night and disrupted the circadian rhythms necessary to sustain all living things, including ourselves. In this persuasive, well-researched book, Swedish conservationist Johan Eklöf urges us to appreciate natural darkness, its creatures, and its unique benefits. He ponders the beauties of the night sky, traces the swift dives of keen-eyed owls, and shows us the bioluminescent creatures of the deepest oceans. As a devoted friend of the night, Eklöf reveals the startling domino effect of diminishing darkness: insects, dumbfounded by streetlamps, failing to reproduce; birds blinded and bewildered by artificial lights; and bats starving as they wait in vain for insects that only come out in the dark. For humans, light-induced sleep disturbances impact our hormones and weight, and can exacerbate chronic stress and depression. Streetlamps, floodlights, and the ever more pervasive and searingly bright LED lights are altering entire ecosystems, and scientists are only just beginning to understand the long-term effects. Educational, eye-opening, and ultimately encouraging, The Darkness Manifesto outlines simple steps that we can take to benefit ourselves and the planet. In order to ensure a bright future, we must embrace the darkness"--
Subjects: Light and darkness; Light pollution.; Night;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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