Thursday, January 9, 2014

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor. Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space.

Aviation: The First 100 Years by Bill Gunston

In 2003, the world will mark the hundredth anniversary of the Wright brothers' historic first flight over Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This handsome volume celebrates humanity's first century of aviation with lavish illustrations and an exciting chronological account of aeronautical development. Following the Wright brothers came a number of pioneer designers and flyers from several European countries, including Voisin and Bleriot in France and Zeppelin in Germany. World War I saw the birth of fighter and bomber planes, while the decades between the wars witnessed the glamour of competition flying, including Lindbergh's first flight across the Atlantic and Wiley Post's seven-day flight around the world. This era also saw the dawn of commercial flight, which started as airmail service and slowly developed to include passenger service. It was the era of pioneering passenger-carrying aircraft such as the Ford Trimotor and the revolutionary Douglas DC-3. Also covered in detail are the fighters and bombers of World War II, the dawn of the jet age, the evolution of helicopters, and the birth of supersonic flight. An account of the burgeoning of the intercontinental commercial airline industry brings readers to the present, which is marked by intense competition between Boeing of the United States and Airbus of Europe, both vying for the lion's share of the market. Other topics covered in this superlative history include development of general (private) aviation, and a look at radically innovative planes, such as the Concorde SST and the Stealth military aircraft. Hundreds of photos and drawings, most of them in color, enhance an intensely readable text.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Escape from Zobadak by: Brad Gallagher

It could be dangerous in there. Probably not a good place for kids. But the adults aren't listening - and even if they were, they would never believe it.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Around the world in 80 days by Jules Verne

Before there were airplanes and high speed travel, Phileas Fogg, an English gentleman best 20,000 pounds that he can travel around the world in 80 days. En route he meets a beautiful Indian Princess gets mistaken for a notorious criminal and is pursued by a detective with a warrant for his arrest. follow his fantastic adventures through four continents in his daring race against time. It's a fast paced, action-packed, high-spirited journey filled with romance, danger and adventure.

The Mystery of the Screaming Clock by Alfred Hitchcock

The Three Investigators discover a sinister clock with an alarm that sounds like the scream of a woman in mortal terror. Who could have made such a clock -- and why? Jupiter, Pete, and Bob immediately embark on a search to discover the origins of the mysterious clock. When they come across a run-down house in Hollywood, they find an entire room full of dreadful clocks -- with time running out!

Net Force By Tom Clancy

In the year 2010, computers are the new superpowers. Those who control them control the world. To enforce the net laws, Congress creates the ultimate computer security agency withing the FBI: the net force.
A Union jack appearing on computer screens all over the world is just a harbinger of the danger to come. As cyberspace is thrown into chaos, several computer experts suffer strokes while hunting the deadly hacker in virtual reality. One of them is the net force's own Jay Gridley. And now the net  force operatives must track down a man capable of cracking every computer code in the world-and pitting nation against nation...

A Clash of Kings by George R. Martin


A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel . . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Sphere by Michael Crichton

In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below the surface of the water, a huge vessel is discovered resting on the ocean floor.

Rushed to the scene is a group of American scientists who descended together into the depths of the sea to investigate this astonishing discovery.

What they find defies their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation.  It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently undamaged by its fall from the sky.  And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old...

Friday, December 13, 2013

Secret Honor By W.E.B. Griffin

W.E.B. Griffin is "probably the best man around for describing the military community"(Tom Clancy). Now he brings his special flair for combining high drama and real heroes to a crackling new adventure in the World War II series that began with Honer Bound and Blood and Honor. In 1943, an undercover American OSS agent penetrates Argentinian high society-and befriends a Nazi pilot with ties to a plot that could bring the war to a standstill : the assassination of Adolf Hitler.

The Harper Book of Princes

The Harper Book Of Princes collected by Sally Johnson  is a collection of fairy tales that contain a prince as the main character. Filled with adventure, bravery, and romance, this book contains many different stories that explore different emotions and plot lines. Brung to life with interesting illustrations and wonderful writing, this book is enjoyable if you just want a fun read. Most, if not all, of the fairy tales included in the book aren't as well known as others like Cinderella. Some stories it includes are: Prince Rabbit, Prince Ahmed, The Crystal Bowl, and, my favorite, The Happy prince.

A Game of Thrones by George R. Martin

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.


Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Catherine

Catherine is tired of struggling musicians befriending her just so they can get a gig at her Dad’s famous Manhattan club, The Underground. Then she meets mysterious Hence, an unbelievably passionate and talented musician on the brink of success. As their relationship grows, both are swept away in a fiery romance. But when their love is tested by a cruel whim of fate, will pride keep them apart?

Chelsea has always believed that her mom died of a sudden illness, until she finds a letter her dad has kept from her for years—a letter from her mom, Catherine, who didn’t die: She disappeared. Driven by unanswered questions, Chelsea sets out to look for her—starting with the return address on the letter: The Underground.

Told in two voices, twenty years apart, Catherine interweaves a timeless forbidden romance with a compelling modern mystery

Dark Watch by Clive Cussler

Juan Cabrillo and his motley crew aboard the clandestine spy ship Oregon have made a very comfortable and very dangerous living from working for high-powered Western interests. But their newest clients have come from the Far East to ask for Cabrillo's special brand of assistance.
They are a consortium of Japanese shipping magnates, and their fortunes are being threatened by brutal pirates trawling the waters of Southeast Asia. Normally, such attacks on the high seas are limited to smaller ships and foreign-owned yachts easy targets on the open ocean. Now, however, giant commercial freighters are disappearing. Cabrillo suspects that the pirates have joined forces to take down the bigger ships. But when the Oregon confronts the enemy, he learns that the pirates predations hide a deadly international conspiracy a scheme of death and slavery that Juan Cabrillo is going to blow out of the water...

The Fellowship Of The Ring by J.R.R Tolkien

The dark, fearsome Ringwraiths are searching for a Hobbit. Frodo Baggins knows that they are seeking him and the Ring he bears—the Ring of Power that will enable evil Sauron to destroy all that is good in Middle-earth. Now it is up to Frodo and his faithful servant, Sam, with a small band of companions, to carry the Ring to the one place it can be destroyed: Mount Doom, in the very center of Sauron’s realm.

Rot and Ruin by Jonathon Mayberry

In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

House of Hades by Rick Riordan

At the conclusion of The Mark of Athena, Annabeth and Percy tumble into a pit leading straight to the Underworld. The other five demigods have to put aside their grief and follow Percy's instructions to find the mortal side of the Doors of Death. If they can fight their way through the Gaea's forces, and Percy and Annabeth can survive the House of Hades, then the Seven will be able to seal the Doors from both sides and prevent the giants from raising Gaea. But, Leo wonders, if the Doors are sealed, how will Percy and Annabeth be able to escape?

Haiku Moment

Haiku Moment an Anthology of Contemporary North American Haiku edited by Bruce Ross is a wonderful book filled with all different lengths of Haiku. They range from one page to several, and each one has its own rhythm and theme that makes it interesting. This book can either be very interesting or very boring depending on of you like Haiku, and what mood you are in.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Realistic Visionary:A Portrait of George Washington by Peter Henriques

In Realistic Visionary the renowned George Washington scholar Peter Henriques seeks to humanize the first president without diminishing him. Henriques’s Washington makes mistakes, is sensitive to criticism, and is slow to accept blame, but he is also the greatest man of his age, a relentless pragmatist who could nonetheless envision what a free and united America could be for "millions unborn."


Rather than revisiting Washington’s life in its entirety, Henriques constructs a biographical portrait by addressing the vital themes and events through which Washington the man is revealed. What emerge most clearly in Realistic Visionary are Washington’s successful struggle to channel his monumental personal ambition into public service and his unrivaled ability to turn his ambitious visions for the fledgling nation into reality.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Little House In the Big Woods By: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Wolves and panthers and bears roamed the deep Wisconsin woods in the 1860's, Still Laura Ingalls' father preferred to live miles away from the nearest neighbors. So Pa built a snug log cabin for Ma, Laura, Mary, and Baby Carrie. He hunted and trapped and farmed. Ma made her own cheese and sugar. All night long, the wind howled lonesomely, but Pa played his fiddle an sang, keeping the family safe and cozy.

Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card

In one of the most Powerful and thought-provoking novels of his remarkable career, Orson Scott Card interweaves a compelling portrait of Christopher Columbus with the story of a future Scientist who believes she can alter human history from a tragedy of bloodshed and brutality to a world filled with hope and healing.