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In the quick : a novel / by Day, Kate Hope,author.;
"In the Quick is the story of June, a brilliant but difficult girl, unloved by her adoptive family, with a gift for mechanical invention, who leaves home to begin a grueling astronaut training program. Six years later, she has gained a coveted post as an engineer on a space station, but is haunted by the mystery of Inquiry, a revolutionary spacecraft powered by her beloved late uncle's fuel cells. The spacecraft went missing when June was twelve years old, and while the rest of the world has forgotten them, June alone has evidence that makes her believe the crew is still alive. She seeks out James, her uncle's former protégé, also brilliant, also difficult, who has been trying to discover why Inquiry's fuel cells failed. James and June forge an intense intellectual bond that becomes an electric attraction. But the love that develops between them as they work to solve the fuel cell's fatal flaw threatens to destroy everything they've worked so hard to create--and any chance of bringing the Inquiry crew home alive. Equal parts gripping narrative of scientific discovery and charged love story, In the Quick is an exploration of the strength--and limits--of human ability in the face of hardship, and the costs of human ingenuity. Its beating heart is its two central characters, June and James, whose love for each other is eclipsed only by their drive to conquer the challenges of space travel"--
Subjects: Science fiction.; Astronauts; Engineers; Man-woman relationships; Space flight; Space stations; Space vehicles;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The sweet spot : the pleasures of suffering and the search for meaning / by Bloom, Paul,1963-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.From the author of Against Empathy comes a different kind of happiness book, one that shows us how suffering is an essential source of both pleasure and meaning in our lives. Why do we so often seek out physical pain and emotional turmoil? We go to movies that make us cry, or scream, or gag. We poke at sores, eat spicy foods, immerse ourselves in hot baths, run marathons. Some of us even seek out pain and humiliation in sexual role-play. Where do these seemingly perverse appetites come from? Drawing on groundbreaking findings from psychology and brain science,The Sweet Spotshows how the right kind of suffering sets the stage for enhanced pleasure. Pain can distract us from our anxieties and help us transcend the self. Choosing to suffer can serve social goals; it can display how tough we are or, conversely, can function as a cry for help. Feelings of fear and sadness are part of the pleasure of immersing ourselves in play and fantasy and can provide certain moral satisfactions. And effort, struggle, and difficulty can, in the right contexts, lead to the joys of mastery and flow. But suffering plays a deeper role as well. We are not natural hedonists-a good life involves more than pleasure. People seek lives of meaning and significance; we aspire to rich relationships and satisfying pursuits, and this requires some amount of struggle, anxiety, and loss. Brilliantly argued, witty, and humane, Paul Bloom shows how a life without chosen suffering would be empty--and, worse than that, boring.
Subjects: Self-help publications.; Conduct of life.; Happiness.; Pain; Pleasure.; Suffering;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The ancients / by Larison, John,author.;
"A richly imagined, sweeping novel set in the climate-changed world of our own descendants, by the acclaimed author of WHISKEY WHEN WE'RE DRY. A young boy and his older sisters find themselves suddenly and utterly alone, orphaned in an abandoned fishing village. Their food supplies dwindling, they set out across a breathtaking yet treacherous wilderness in search of the last of their people. Down the coast, raiders deliver the children's mother, along with the rest of their human cargo, to the last port city of a waning empire. Determined to reunite with her family, she plots her escape - while her fellow captives plan open revolt. At the center of power in this crumbling city, a young scholar inherits his father's business and position of privilege, along with the burden of his debts. As the empire's elite prepare to flee to new utopia across the sea, he must decide where his allegiance lies. With a rapidly changing climate shifting the sands beneath their feet, these three paths converge in a struggle for the future of humanity - who will inherit what remains and who gets to tell its story. At once a sweeping survival story; an epic of the distance future; and a post-apocalyptic vision of hope and optimism, THE ANCIENTS weaves a multilayered narrative about human resilience, hope, and stewardship of our world for future generations."--
Subjects: Science fiction.; Apocalyptic fiction.; Novels.; Climatic changes; Orphans; Regression (Civilization); Siblings; Survival;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Purr : the science of making your cat happy / by Todd, Zazie,author.; Johnson-Bennett, Pam,1954-writer of foreword.;
Includes bibliographic references and index."Cat people, rejoice! Finally, a fun-to-read yet science-based book about cat behavior that explains how to keep your cat healthy and happy. We all love our cats, and we all want them to be happy. But making our cats happy isn't about buying them lots of things. It's about finding out what matters to them--and this book shows you how to do that, with the science to back it up. In Purr, animal behavior expert Zazie Todd addresses every stage of your cat's life and offers surprising and effective advice for even the most experienced cat owner, including how to: - Enrich your cat's life through play and exercise - Reduce anxiety and fear around your absence, or trips to the vet - Train your kitten or cat without causing harm (ie. don't use a spray bottle) - Provide for special needs like asthma - Make senior cats comfortable - And so much more In Purr, Zazie Todd demystifies the feline-human relationship so you can form your special bond based on your cat's unique needs--all while learning lots and having fun together."--
Subjects: Cats; Cats; Cats.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Arrival [videorecording] / by Adams, Amy,actor.; Renner, Jeremy,actor.; Stuhlbarg, Michael,actor.; Whitaker, Forest,actor.; O'Brien, Mark,1984-actor.; Villeneuve, Denis,film director.; Paramount Pictures,distributor.;
Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Michael Stuhlbarg, Forest Whitaker, Mark O'Brien.When mysterious spacecraft touch down around the world, a team, including linguist Louise Banks, is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers, and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.Canadian Home Video Rating: PG.MPAA rating: PG-13.DVD ; widescreen presentation ; Dolby Digital 5.1.
Subjects: Science fiction films.; Video recordings for the hearing impaired.; Video recordings for people with visual disabilities.; Feature films.; Unidentified flying objects; Human-alien encounters; Extraterrestrial beings;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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How to live in space : everything you need to know for the not-so-distant future / by Stuart, Colin(Science writer),author.;
"An amusing and informative illustrated guide to life beyond our own planet that covers everything from training for and living in space to the future of space travel and tourism Now that suborbital space tourism is predicted to become a billion-dollar industry in the next ten years and NASA has announced its plans for landing humans on Mars in the 2030s, the dream of traveling and living in space is taking on new reality. But given that life on Earth can be complicated enough, how can we survive and thrive in the zero-gravity, absolute-zero far reaches of space? Look no further: How to Live in Space is chock-full of all the essential information you need to equip yourself for life beyond our blue planet. Grounded in space science, planetary biology, and rocket science, this accessible guide propels readers through takeoff, life in orbit, terraforming, and the long-term effects of space on the human body. Infographics and full-color illustrations help How to Live in Space to answer your burning questions, including: How do you sleep in microgravity? How do you grow food without water? Will your muscles waste away out there? How do you protect yourself from radiation? This is a light-hearted yet informative guide to a life far from terra firma"--
Subjects: Manned space flight.; Interplanetary voyages.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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New power : how power works in our hyperconnected world- and how to make it work for you / by Heimans, Jeremy,author.; Timms, Henry,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From two influential and visionary thinkers comes a big idea that is changing the way movements catch fire and ideas spread in our highly connected world. For the vast majority of human history, power has been held by the few. "Old power" is closed, inaccessible, and leader-driven. Once gained, it is jealously guarded, and the powerful spend it carefully, like currency. But the technological revolution of the past two decades has made possible a new form of power, one that operates differently, like a current. "New power" is made by many; it is open, participatory, often leaderless, and peer-driven. Like water or electricity, it is most forceful when it surges. The goal with new power is not to hoard it, but to channel it. New power is behind the rise of participatory communities like Facebook and YouTube, sharing services like Uber and Airbnb, and rapid-fire social movements like Brexit and #BlackLivesMatter. It explains the unlikely success of Barack Obama's 2008 campaign and the unlikelier victory of Donald Trump in 2016. And it gives ISIS its power to propagate its brand and distribute its violence. Even old power institutions like the Papacy, NASA, and LEGO have tapped into the strength of the crowd to stage improbable reinventions. In New Power, the business leaders/social visionaries Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms provide the tools for using new power to successfully spread an idea or lead a movement in the twenty-first century. Drawing on examples from business, politics, and social justice, they explain the new world we live in--a world where connectivity has made change shocking and swift and a world in which everyone expects to participate."--
Subjects: Social movements; Internet and activism.; Social media.; Power (Social sciences); Internet; Technology;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Interstellar : the search for extraterrestrial life and our future in the stars / by Loeb, Abraham,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."How do we prepare ourselves for interaction with interstellar extraterrestrial civilization? How can our species become interstellar? Now Avi Loeb tackles these questions in a revelatory, powerful call to arms that reimagines the idea of contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. Dismantling our science-fiction fueled visions of a human and alien life encounter, Interstellar provides a realistic and practical blueprint for how such an interaction might actually occur, resetting our cultural understanding and expectation of what it means to identify an extraterrestrial object. From awe-inspiring searches for extraterrestrial technology, to the heated debate of the existence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, Loeb provides a thrilling, front-row view of the monumental progress in science and technology currently preparing us for contact. He also lays out the profound implications of becoming--or not becoming--interstellar; in an urgent, eloquent appeal for more proactive engagement with the world beyond ours, he powerfully contends why we must seek out other life forms, and in the process, choose who and what we are within the universe ... Interstellar revolutionizes the approach to our search for extraterrestrial life and our preparation for its discovery. In this eye-opening, necessary look at our future, Avi Loeb artfully and expertly raises some of the most important questions facing us as humans, and proves, once again, that scientific curiosity is the key to our survival."--
Subjects: Human-alien encounters.; Interstellar travel.; Life on other planets.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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How to navigate life : the new science of finding your way in school, career, and beyond / by Liang, Belle,author.; Klein, Timothy,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."An essential guide to tackling what students, families, and educators can do now to cut through stress and performance pressure, and find a path to purpose. Today's college-bound kids are stressed, anxious, and navigating demands in their lives unimaginable to a previous generation. They're performance machines, hitting the benchmarks they're "supposed" to in order to reach the next tier of a relentless ladder. Then, their mental and physical exhaustion carries over right into first jobs. What have traditionally been considered the best years of life have become the beaten-down years of life. Belle Liang and Timothy Klein devote their careers both to counseling individual students and to cutting through the daily pressures to show a better way, a framework, and set of questions to find kids' "true north": what really turns them on in life, and how to harness the core qualities that reveal, allowing them to choose a course of study, a college, and a career. Even the gentlest parents and teachers tend to play into pervasive societal pressure for students to perform. And when we take the foot off the gas, we beg the kids to just figure out what their passion is. Neither is a recipe for mental or physical health, or, ironically, for performance or passion. How to Navigate Life shows that successful human beings instead tap into their purpose-the why behind the what and how. Best of all, purpose is a completely translatable quality to every aspect of life, from first jobs to last jobs and everything in between"--
Subjects: Academic achievement.; College student orientation.; College students; Educational psychology.; High school students; School-to-work transition.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Moonbound : the last book of the Anth / by Sloan, Robin,1979-author.;
"Robin Sloan expands the Penumbraverse to new reaches of time and space in a rollicking far-future adventure. In Moonbound, Robin Sloan has written a novel with the full scope and ambitious imagination of the very books that lit the engines of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: an epic quest as only Sloan could conceive it, mixing science fiction, fantasy, good old-fashioned literary storytelling, and unrivaled enthusiasm for what's next. It is eleven thousand years from now ... A lot has happened, and yet a lot is still very familiar. Ariel is a boy in a small town under a wizard's rule. Like many adventurers before him, Ariel is called to explore a world full of unimaginable glories and challenges: unknown enemies, a mission to save the world, a girl. Here, as they say, be dragons. But none of this happens before Ariel comes across an artifact from an earlier civilization, a sentient, record-keeping artificial intelligence that carries with it the perspective of the whole of human history--and becomes both Ariel's greatest ally and the narrator of our story."--
Subjects: Science fiction.; Novels.; Artificial intelligence; Dragons; Imaginary places; Quests (Expeditions); Wizards;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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