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The mosquito : a human history of our deadliest predator / by Winegard, Timothy C.(Timothy Charles),1977-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.A pioneering and groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction that offers a dramatic new perspective on the history of humankind, showing how through millennia, the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in determining humanity's fate. Why was gin and tonic the cocktail of choice for British colonists in India and Africa? What does Starbucks have to thank for its global domination? What has protected the lives of popes for millennia? Why did Scotland surrender its sovereignty to England? What was George Washington's secret weapon during the American Revolution? The answer to all these questions, and many more, is the mosquito. Across our planet since the dawn of humankind, this nefarious pest, roughly the size and weight of a grape seed, has been at the frontlines of history as the grim reaper, the harvester of human populations, and the ultimate agent of historical change. As the mosquito transformed the landscapes of civilization, humans were unwittingly required to respond to its piercing impact and universal projection of power. The mosquito has determined the fates of empires and nations, razed and crippled economies, and decided the outcome of pivotal wars, killing nearly half of humanity along the way. She (only females bite) has dispatched an estimated 52 billion people from a total of 108 billion throughout our relatively brief existence.As the greatest purveyor of extermination we have ever known, she has played a greater role in shaping our human story than any other living thing with which we share our global village. Imagine for a moment a world without deadly mosquitoes, or any mosquitoes, for that matter?Our history and the world we know, or think we know, would be completely unrecognizable. Driven by surprising insights and fast-paced storytelling,The Mosquitois the extraordinary untold story of the mosquito's reign through human history and her indelible impact on our modern world order.
Subjects: Mosquitoes; Human ecology.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Sammy Davis, Jr. : a personal journey with my father / by Davis, Tracey.; Pierce, Nina Bunche.;
Includes discography (p. 192), filmography (p. 193-198) and index."In this intimate volume, the entertainment legend's story comes to life through rare family photos and a compelling narrative based on conversations between Sammy Davis Jr. and his daughter, Tracey Davis. The story of a future superstar unfolds beginning with his bittersweet childhood days, raised primarily by his grandmother in Harlem. On the stage by age three, he first became a star in vaudeville with the Will Mastin Trio. Davis was already an up-and-coming performer by the time he was recruited into the Army during World War II. As Tracey Davis candidly relates, it was there that her father first learned to use his talent -- singing and dancing -- as a weapon against racial bigotry. Davis's career took off in the 1940s through his sheer determination, talent, and the support of friends like Frank Sinatra. With tenderness and humor Tracey describes her father<U+2019>s friendship with Sinatra, and how he stood by him when Davis married Tracey's Swedish actress mother. In a time when interracial marriages were forbidden by law in thirty-one states, both bride and groom endured an onslaught of negative press and even death threats. Davis's adventures through the Rat Pack era, and the extraordinary obstacles he overcame to become a 5'6", 120-pound legend who across six decades packed in more than forty albums, seven Broadway shows, twenty-three films, and countless nightclub and concert performances. A uniquely personal perspective on one of the greatest pop culture icons of the twentieth century. Tracey Davis is the only daughter of Sammy Davis Jr. and Swedish actress May Britt. A television and commercial producer, she is the mother of four children: Sam, Montana, Greer, and Chase. She lives in Tennessee"--Provided by publisher.LSC
Subjects: Davis, Sammy, Jr., 1925-1990.; Davis, Sammy, Jr., 1925-1990; Davis, Sammy, Jr., 1925-1990; Davis, Tracey.; Entertainers; Children of entertainers; Singers; Fathers and daughters;
© c2014., Running Press,
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Queen of storms / by Feist, Raymond E.,author.;
"Dark and powerful forces threaten the world of Garn once more in this second novel in legendary New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist's epic fantasy series, the Firemane Saga. Hatushaly and his young wife Hava have arrived in the prosperous trading town of Beran's Hill to restore and reopen the fire-damaged Inn of the Three Stars. They are also preparing for the popular midsummer festival, where their friends Declan and Gwen will be wed. But Hatu and Hava are not the ordinary loving couple they appear to be. They are assassins from the mysterious island of Coaltachin, home to the powerful and lethal Nocusara, the fearsome "Hidden Warriors." Posing as innkeepers, they are awaiting instructions from their masters in the Kingdom of Night. Hatu conceals an even more dangerous secret. He is the last remaining member of the legendary Firemanes, the ruling family of Ithrace. Known as the Kingdom of Flames, Ithrace was one of the five greatest realms of Tembria, ruled by Hatu's father, Stervern Langene, until he and his people were betrayed. His heir, Hatu-then a baby-was hidden among the Nocusara, who raised him to become a deadly spy. Hatu works hard to hide his true identity from all who would seek to use or to destroy him, as fate has other plans for the noble warrior. Unexpected calamity forces him to make choices he could not have dreamed awaited him. A series of horrific events shatters the peace of Beran's Hill, bringing death and devastation and unleashing monstrous forces. Once more, the Greater Realms of Tembria are threatened-and nothing will ever be the same again"--
Subjects: Fantasy fiction.; Assassins; Imaginary wars and battles; Kings and rulers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Death of the Author A Novel [electronic resource] : by Okorafor, Nnedi.aut; cloudLibrary;
Recommended by&#xA0;New York Times Book Review&#xA0;&#x2022;&#xA0;People&#xA0;&#x2022;&#xA0;NPR &#x2022;&#xA0;Rolling Stone&#xA0;&#x2022;&#xA0;Los Angeles Times&#xA0;&#x2022;&#xA0;Reader's Digest&#xA0;&#x2022;&#xA0;and more! “This one has it all.” &#x2014; George R.R. Martin &#x2022; “As delicious as it is disorienting.” &#x2014; Zakiya Dalila Harris &#x2022; “Suspenseful, timely, and heartfelt.” &#x2014;&#xA0;People&#xA0;&#x2022; “Mind-bending.” &#x2014;&#xA0;New York Times Book Review In this exhilarating tale by New York Times&#xA0;bestselling and award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor, a disabled Nigerian American woman pens a wildly successful Sci-Fi novel, but as her fame rises, she loses control of the narrative&#x2014;a surprisingly cutting, yet heartfelt drama about art and love, identity and connection, and, ultimately, what makes us human. This is a story unlike anything you&#x2019;ve read before. The future of storytelling is here. Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career in medicine or law, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. Then her life is upended when, in the middle of her sister&#x2019;s lavish Caribbean wedding, she&#x2019;s unceremoniously fired from her university job and, to add insult to injury, her novel is rejected by yet another publisher. With her career and dreams crushed in one fell swoop, she decides to write something just for herself. What comes out is nothing like the quiet, literary novels that have so far peppered her unremarkable career. It&#x2019;s a far-future epic where androids and AI wage war in the grown-over ruins of human civilization. She calls it&#xA0;Rusted Robots. When Zelu finds the courage to share her strange novel, she does not realize she is about to embark on a life-altering journey&#x2014;one that will catapult her into literary stardom, but also perhaps obliterate everything her book was meant to be. From Chicago to Lagos to the far reaches of space, Zelu&#x2019;s novel will change the future not only for humanity, but for the robots who come next. A book-within-a-book that blends the line between writing and being written, Death of the Author&#xA0;is a masterpiece of metafiction that manages to combine the razor-sharp commentary of Yellowface with the heartfelt humanity of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Surprisingly funny, deeply poignant, and endlessly discussable, this is at once the tale of a woman on the margins risking everything to be heard and a testament to the power of storytelling to shape the world as we know it.&#xA0; “An ambitious, inventive&#xA0;tribute to the power of storytelling itself.”&#xA0;&#x2014;&#xA0;Nikki Erlick,&#xA0;New York Times&#xA0;bestselling author of&#xA0;The Measure “A deeply felt dazzle. A blaze. It is true deep to the bones.” &#x2014; Luis Alberto Urrea, Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of&#xA0;The House of Broken Angels "There&#x2019;s more vivid imagination in a page of Nnedi Okorafor&#x2019;s work than in whole volumes." &#x2014; Ursula K. Le Guin
Subjects: Electronic books.; Visionary & Metaphysical; Literary; Sagas; Contemporary Women; Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic; Suspense;
© 2025., HarperCollins,
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The battle of Maldon : together with The homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's son, and The tradition of versification in Old English / by Tolkien, J. R. R.(John Ronald Reuel),1892-1973,author.; Grybauskas, Peter,editor.; container of (work):Tolkien, J. R. R.(John Ronald Reuel),1892-1973.Homecoming of Beorhtnoth.; container of (work):Tolkien, J. R. R.(John Ronald Reuel),1892-1973.Tradition of versification in Old English.; translation of:Tolkien, J. R. R.(John Ronald Reuel),1892-1973.Maldon (Anglo-Saxon poem).English.(Tolkien);
Includes bibliographical references."First ever standalone edition of one of J.R.R. Tolkien's most important poetic dramas, that explores timely themes such as the nature of heroism and chivalry during war, and which features unpublished and never-before-seen texts and drafts. In 991 AD, vikings attacked an Anglo-Saxon defence-force led by their duke, Beorhtnoth, resulting in brutal fighting along the banks of the river Blackwater, near Maldon in Essex. The attack is widely considered one of the defining conflicts of tenth-century England, due to it being immortalised in the poem, The Battle of Maldon. Written shortly after the battle, the poem now survives only as a 325-line fragment, but its value to today is incalculable, not just as an heroic tale but in vividly expressing the lost language of our ancestors and celebrating ideals of loyalty and friendship. J.R.R. Tolkien considered The Battle of Maldon 'the last surviving fragment of ancient English heroic minstrelsy'. It would inspire him to compose, during the 1930s, his own dramatic verse-dialogue, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son, which imagines the aftermath of the great battle when two of Beorhtnoth's retainers come to retrieve their duke's body. Leading Tolkien scholar, Peter Grybauskas, presents for the very first time J.R.R. Tolkien's own prose translation of The Battle of Maldon together with the definitive treatment of The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth and its accompanying essays; also included and never before published is Tolkien's bravura lecture, 'The Tradition of Versification in Old English', a wide-ranging essay on the nature of poetic tradition. Illuminated with insightful notes and commentary, he has produced a definitive critical edition of these works, and argues compellingly that, Beowulf excepted, The Battle of Maldon may well have been 'the Old English poem that most influenced Tolkien's fiction', most dramatically within the pages of The Lord of the Rings."--
Subjects: English poetry;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Savage messiah : how Dr. Jordan Peterson is saving Western civilization / by Proser, Jim,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."A fascinating biography and in-depth look at the work of bestselling writer and psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson, by award-winning author Jim Proser. Who is psychologist, professor, bestselling author, and YouTube personality Dr. Peterson? What does he believe in? Who are his followers? And why is he so controversial? These are among the many questions raised in this compelling, exhaustively researched account of his life-from Peterson's early days as a religious-school student in small-town Canada to his tenure at Harvard to his headline-making persona of the present day. In Savage Messiah, we meet an adolescent Peterson who, scoffing at the "fairy tales" being taught in his confirmation class, asks his minister how it's possible to believe the Bible in light of modern scientific theory. Unsatisfied with the answer he's been given, Peterson goes on to challenge other authority figures who stood in his way as he dared to define the world in his own terms. This won Peterson many enemies and more admirers than he could have dreamed of, particularly during the digital era, when his nontraditional views could be widely shared and critically discussed. Still, a fall from grace was never far behind. Peterson had always preached the importance of free speech, which he believed was essential to finding life-saving personal meaning in our frequently nihilistic world. But when he dismissed Canadian parliament Bill C-16, one that compelled the use of newly-invented pronouns to address new gender identities, Peterson found himself facing a whole new world. Students targeted him as a gender bigot. Conservatives called him their hero. Soon Peterson was fixed firmly at the center of the culture wars-and there was no turning back. With exclusive interviews of Dr. Peterson, as well as conversations with his family, friends, and associates, this book reveals the heart and mind, teachings and practices, of one of the most provocative voices of our time"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Peterson, Jordan B.; Peterson, Jordan B.; Peterson, Jordan B.; Clinical psychologists; Culture conflict; Psychologists; Psychology teachers;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The Phoenix Pencil Company A Novel [electronic resource] : by King, Allison.aut; CloudLibrary;
A REESE&#x2019;S BOOK CLUB PICK In this dazzling debut novel, a hidden and nearly forgotten magic&#x2014;of Reforging pencils, bringing the memories they contain back to life&#x2014;holds the power to transform a young woman&#x2019;s relationship with her grandmother, and to mend long-lost connections across time and space. Monica Tsai spends&#xA0;most&#xA0;days&#xA0;on&#xA0;her&#xA0;computer,&#xA0;journaling the details&#xA0;of her&#xA0;ordinary&#xA0;life and&#xA0;coding for a program that seeks to connect strangers&#xA0;online.&#xA0;A&#xA0;self-proclaimed recluse, she's always&#xA0;struggled to make friends and, as a&#xA0;college freshman,&#xA0;finds herself escaping into&#xA0;a&#xA0;digital world, counting&#xA0;the days until she can return home&#xA0;to&#xA0;her beloved grandparents.&#xA0;They are now in their nineties,&#xA0;and Monica worries about&#xA0;them&#xA0;constantly&#x2014;especially her grandmother,&#xA0;Yun, who&#xA0;survived&#xA0;two wars in&#xA0;China&#xA0;before&#xA0;coming&#xA0;to the&#xA0;States, and whose memory has begun to fade. Though&#xA0;Yun rarely speaks&#xA0;of&#xA0;her past,&#xA0;Monica&#xA0;is determined&#xA0;to&#xA0;find&#xA0;the&#xA0;long-lost&#xA0;cousin she was&#xA0;separated from&#xA0;years ago.&#xA0;One day, the&#xA0;very&#xA0;program&#xA0;Monica is&#xA0;helping to build&#xA0;connects her to a young woman,&#xA0;whose&#xA0;gift of a single pencil&#xA0;holds a surprising clue.&#xA0;Monica&#x2019;s discovery&#xA0;of a&#xA0;hidden family history is exquisitely braided with&#xA0;Yun&#x2019;s own&#xA0;memories&#xA0;as she writes of her&#xA0;years&#xA0;in Shanghai,&#xA0;working at the Phoenix Pencil Company. As&#xA0;WWII rages&#xA0;outside their door, Yun and her cousin, Meng, learn&#xA0;of&#xA0;a&#xA0;special&#xA0;power&#xA0;the women&#xA0;in&#xA0;their family possess: the ability to Reforge a pencil&#x2019;s words.&#xA0;But&#xA0;when&#xA0;the government&#xA0;uncovers&#xA0;their secret, they are&#xA0;forced into a life of&#xA0;espionage, betraying other people&#x2019;s stories&#xA0;to survive. Combining the cross-generational family saga and epistolary form of&#xA0;A Tale for the Time Being&#xA0;with the uplifting, emotional magic of&#xA0;The Midnight Library,&#xA0;Allison&#xA0;King&#x2019;s stunning debut novel asks:&#xA0;who owns and inherits our&#xA0;stories?&#xA0;The answers and&#xA0;secrets that surface on the page&#xA0;may have the unerasable power to reconnect a family and restore a legacy.&#xA0;
Subjects: Electronic books.; Literary; Contemporary; Coming of Age; Historical; Epistolary; Asian American; Family Life;
© 2025., HarperCollins,
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Wings of fire : the graphic novel. by Deutsch, Barry.; Swirsky, Rachel.; Holmes, Mike(Comic book artist);
"Peril has been loyal to Queen Scarlet, who used her fatal firescales to kill countless dragons in the SkyWing arena. Now, Peril is loyal to Clay, the only dragonet who has ever been her friend. So when Scarlet threatens Jade Mountain Academy, Peril sets off to find her former queen, stop her, and save the day, no matter what it takes. There's just one problem: a strangely persistent SeaWing, Turtle, insists on coming along, too. Turtle is worried about his friends, who left to search for Scarlet and haven't returned. Peril is worried that she might accidentally burn Turtle -- or burn him on purpose, for being so annoying -- and frustrated that she keeps saying and doing the wrong things. She can't escape her firescales, and she can't escape her reputation as the deadliest dragon in Pyrrhia. So when she's offered a chance to trade everything for a new life, Peril has to decide who she's really loyal to . . . and whether her own scales might actually be worth saving"--Amazon.
Subjects: Fantasy comics.; Graphic novel adaptations.; Graphic novels.; Comics (Graphic works); Cartoons and comics.; Prophecies; Dragons; Friendship; Identity (Philosophical concept); Adventure and adventurers; Adventures and adventurers; Queens; Quests (Expeditions); Identity (Psychology); Schools; Imaginary wars and battles; Good and evil;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The road to ruin : the global elites' secret plan for the next financial crisis / by Rickards, James,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The bestselling author of The Death of Money and Currency Wars reveals the global elites' dark effort to hide a coming catastrophe from investors. A drumbeat is sounding among the global elites. The signs of a worldwide financial meltdown are unmistakable. This time, the elites have an audacious plan to protect themselves from the fallout: hoarding cash now and locking down the global financial system when a crisis hits. Since 2014, international monetary agencies have been issuing warnings to a small group of finance ministers, banks, and private equity funds: the U.S. government's cowardly choices not to prosecute J.P. Morgan and its ilk, and to bloat the economy with a $4 trillion injection of easy credit, are driving us headlong toward a cliff. As Rickards shows in this frightening, meticulously researched book, governments around the world have no compunction about conspiring against their citizens. They will have stockpiled hard assets when stock exchanges are closed, ATMs shut down, money market funds frozen, asset managers instructed not to sell securities, negative interest rates imposed, and cash withdrawals denied. If you want to plan for the risks ahead, you will need Rickards's cutting-edge synthesis of behavioral economics, history, and complexity theory. It's a guidebook to thinking smarter, acting faster, and living with the comforing knowledge that your wealth is secure. The global elites don't want this book to exist. Their plan to herd us like sheep to the slaughter when a global crisis erupts--and, of course, to maintain their wealth--works only if we remain complacent and unaware. Thanks to The Road to Ruin, we don't need to be"--
Subjects: Monetary policy.; Banks and banking.; Financial crises;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Newsroom confidential : lessons (and worries) from an ink-stained life / by Sullivan, Margaret,1957-author.;
"Over her four decades of working in newsrooms big and small, Margaret Sullivan has become a trusted champion and critic of the American news media. In this bracing memoir, Sullivan traces her life in journalism and how trust in the mainstream press has steadily eroded. Sullivan began her career at the Buffalo News, where she rose from summer intern to editor in chief. In Newsroom Confidential she chronicles her years in the trenches battling sexism and throwing elbows in a highly competitive newsroom. In 2012, Sullivan was appointed the public editor of The New York Times, the first woman to hold that important role. She was in the unique position of acting on behalf of readers to weigh the actions and reporting of the paper's staff, parsing potential lapses in judgment, unethical practices, and thorny journalistic issues. Sullivan recounts how she navigated the paper's controversies, from Hillary Clinton's emails to Elon Musk's accusations of unfairness to the need for greater diversity in the newsroom. In 2016, having served the longest tenure of any public editor, Sullivan left for the Washington Post, where she had a front-row seat to the rise of Donald Trump in American media and politics. With her celebrated mixture of charm, sharp-eyed observation, and nuanced criticism, Sullivan takes us behind the scenes of the nation's most influential news outlets to explore how Americans lost trust in the news and what it will take to regain it"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Sullivan, Margaret, 1957-; New York times; Washington post; Journalism; Women journalists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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