Keawe, a young Hawaiian sailor, is offered the opportunity to buy a bottle containing an imp which will grant all his wishes. The only catch is that the bottle must thereafter be resold for a price smaller than what he paid for it, or he will be condemned to live out the rest of his days in excruciating torment. Follow Keawe on his adventures and find out the consequences that this magical imp has on his life and the lives of the people around him.
Patrick Kelly is a hard man - the most feared in London. His one soft spot is his daughter Mandy. When Mandy falls prey to the sadistic rapist nicknamed the Grantley Ripper, Kelly wants revenge - with or without police help. DI Kat Burrows is the one who must risk everything to solve the case.
Meggie and David Blue are from another planet. The story takes these alien kids, along with their mother and grandfather, by accident, to a far planet where people are kept submissive through drugs and brainwashing. The Blues, who have spent time in free societies recognize the upside-down-ness of this world. They plan their escape, and vow to help others.
For most of his adult life, Bryson has made his home in the U.K, yet he actually entered the world in 1951 as part of America's postwar baby boom and spent his formative years in Des Moines, Iowa. Bryson wistfully recounts a childhood of innocence and optimism, a magical point in time when a distinct sense of regional and community identity briefly—but blissfully—coexisted with fledgling technology and modern convenience. Narrating, Bryson skillfully wields his amorphous accent—somehow neither fully British nor Midwestern—to project a genial and entertaining tour guide of lost Americana.
Future Babble: Why Expert Predictions Fail - and Why We Believe Them Anyway
In Future Babble, award-winning journalist Dan Gardner presents landmark research debunking the whole expert prediction industry and explores our obsession with the future. In 2008, as the price of oil surged above $140 a barrel, experts said it would soon hit $200; it then plunged to $30. In 1967, they said the USSR would be the worlds fastest-growing economy by 2000; by 2000, the USSR no longer existed. In 1911, it was pronounced that there would be no more wars in Europe - we all know how that turned out.
