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The Panic Virus is a gripping scientific detective story about how grassroots radicals, snake-oil salesmen, and cynical journalists have perpetrated the biggest health-scare hoax of all time. It explores what happens when the media treats all viewpoints as equally valid, regardless of facts, from parents who are convinced that vaccines caused their children's autism to right-wing radicals who believe that climate change is a myth. It also explains how the endless quantity of information available online has radicalized partisans by fueling their tendency to filter out anything that doesn't reinforce their way of thinking. Tens of millions of dollars have been wasted appeasing denialists who think the government is perpetrating a health "holocaust" on children. Declining vaccination rates have caused recent outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, and Hib-and children around the country are dying as a result. Like works by Oliver Sacks and Richard Dawkins, The Panic Viru...

The Panic Virus is a gripping scientific detective story about how grassroots radicals, snake-oil salesmen, and cynical journalists have perpetrated the biggest health-scare hoax of all time. It explores what happens when the media treats all viewpoints as equally valid, regardless of facts, from parents who are convinced that vaccines caused their children's autism to right-wing radicals who believe that climate change is a myth. It also explains how the endless quantity of information available online has radicalized partisans by fueling their tendency to filter out anything that doesn't reinforce their way of thinking. Tens of millions of dollars have been wasted appeasing denialists who think the government is perpetrating a health "holocaust" on children. Declining vaccination rates have caused recent outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, and Hib-and children around the country are dying as a result. Like works by Oliver Sacks and Richard Dawkins, The Panic Viru...

After being chained to a star to burn endlessly as punishment for stealing immortality from the gods, Jaykun has been unshackled to wage war alongside his brothers. But his freedom comes with a price: each night Jaykun must still suffer-his body burning from the inside out. One early morning, recovering from his torment, he encounters a beautiful stranger on the beach. Naked from her midnight-black hair to her sandy toes, she approaches him with starry-eyed innocence and the unmistakably full body of a woman. Soon Jaykun is swept up with the force of a comet, his desire for this woman hotter than any sun. His brothers fear he is blinded by her radiant beauty, and that she has been sent by their enemies to seduce and destroy him. Jileana is indeed from another world-one Jaykun cannot begin to imagine. But will their passion burn brightly enough to light the way through the darkness that threatens to consume all in its path? Product details ...

Welcome to the savage and surprising world of Zoo Story, an unprecedented account of the secret life of a zoo and its inhabitants, both animal and human. Based on six years of research, the book follows a handful of unforgettable characters at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo: an alpha chimp with a weakness for blondes, a ferocious tiger who revels in Obsession perfume, and a brilliant but tyrannical CEO known as El Diablo Blanco. Zoo Story crackles with issues of global urgency: the shadow of extinction, humanity's role in the destruction or survival of other species. More than anything else, though, it's a dramatic and moving true story of seduction and betrayal, exile and loss, and the limits of freedom on an overcrowded planet-all framed inside one zoo reinventing itself for the twenty-first century. Thomas French, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, chronicles the action with vivid power: Wild elephants soaring above the Atlantic on their way to captivity. Predators circling ea...

She was the one girl I never wanted-until I had her. It was one night, one mistake, something we both wanted to forget. I got rid of the proof. The one piece of evidence that could remind us both. At least, I thought I did. When it shows up on the school Buzzfeed, rumors fly. Friendships are tested, and the feels get real. I don't do relationships. I don't open my heart. Especially for a girl everyone knows I hate. What happens during spring break stays in spring break-until it follows you home.Contains mature themes. Product details Format CD-Audio Dimensions 137 x 163 x 27mm ...

Born in the slums of Five Points, Emmett Cavanaugh climbed his way to the top of a booming steel empire and now holds court in an opulent Fifth Avenue mansion. His rise in stations, however, has done little to elevate his taste in women. He loathes the city's "high society" types, but a rebellious and beautiful blue-blood just might change all that. Elizabeth Sloane's mind is filled with more than the latest parlor room gossip. Lizzie can play the Stock Exchange as deftly as New York's most accomplished brokers-but she needs a man to put her skills to use. Emmett reluctantly agrees when the stunning socialite asks him to back her trades and split the profits. But love and business make strange bedfellows, and as their fragile partnership begins to crack, they'll discover a passion more frenzied than the trading room floor . . . Product details For...

Welcome to the savage and surprising world of Zoo Story, an unprecedented account of the secret life of a zoo and its inhabitants, both animal and human. Based on six years of research, the book follows a handful of unforgettable characters at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo: an alpha chimp with a weakness for blondes, a ferocious tiger who revels in Obsession perfume, and a brilliant but tyrannical CEO known as El Diablo Blanco. Zoo Story crackles with issues of global urgency: the shadow of extinction, humanity's role in the destruction or survival of other species. More than anything else, though, it's a dramatic and moving true story of seduction and betrayal, exile and loss, and the limits of freedom on an overcrowded planet-all framed inside one zoo reinventing itself for the twenty-first century. Thomas French, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, chronicles the action with vivid power: Wild elephants soaring above the Atlantic on their way to captivity. Predators circling ea...

If all measures of human advancement in the last hundred centuries were plotted on a graph, they would show an almost perfectly flat line-until the eighteenth century, when the Industrial Revolution would cause the line to shoot straight up, beginning an almost uninterrupted march of progress. In The Most Powerful Idea in the World, William Rosen tells the story of the men responsible for the Industrial Revolution and the machine that drove it-the steam engine. In the process he tackles the question that has obsessed historians ever since: What made eighteenth-century Britain such fertile soil for inventors? Rosen's answer focuses on a simple notion that had become enshrined in British law the century before: that people had the right to own and profit from their ideas. The result was a period of frantic innovation revolving particularly around the promise of steam power. Rosen traces the steam engine's history from its early days as a clumsy but sturdy machine, to its coming-...

PR agent Annika Lund can spin any disaster into a win. But revamping the reputation of a notorious Swedish hockey player will take every trick in her arsenal, especially when his agent insists that convincing everyone he's no longer a playboy is top priority. And that it requires a sham relationship-with Annika playing the part of loving girlfriend. On fire in the rink and in the bedroom, Axl Hammerquist couldn't care less about being anyone's golden boy. So when his agent forces him to play nice with a new publicist, he takes satisfaction in being as much of a pain as possible. But the more time he spends getting to know Annika, the more Axl starts to think that being Mr. Nice Guy might be worth it if it gets him the girl . . . Product details Format CD-Audio ...

Things come easy to Tony Steele. Money. Women. A good time. It's all a piece of cake. Until that cake turns into the wedding cake of Tony's best friend and the woman of Tony's dreams, Reese Chaplin. Tony can't fix this problem by writing a check. And when Tony finds out that his "friend" has been cheating on Reese, he doesn't hesitate to steal her away. Even if it's her wedding day. Nothing about Reese's big day goes according to plan. She walks down the aisle to marry one man and winds up in a Vegas wedding chapel with another. After a hot night with Tony, the only thing Reese regrets is that her new husband doesn't remember anything about it. Reese suspects that the marriage is going to end badly, especially when Tony offers her a million dollars a month to stay married. But walking away from him turns out to be harder than she'd thought. Especially as she starts to get to know the man behind the wallet.Contains mature themes. ...

Ellie Anthony isn't looking for love. She isn't even looking for a man, but when Jax Mayson insists on keeping her and her daughter safe, she's left with no choice but to trust him. Now she just hopes that she doesn't get hurt when she falls hard for a guy who's known for breaking hearts. Jax Mayson knows that Ellie is his boom the moment he sees her. When he finds out that she has a daughter, he realizes that he wants a family, and he will do whatever is necessary to keep both of his girls safe, even if that means facing the demons from his past.Contains mature themes. Product details Format CD-Audio Dimensions 135 ...

Things come easy to Tony Steele. Money. Women. A good time. It's all a piece of cake. Until that cake turns into the wedding cake of Tony's best friend and the woman of Tony's dreams, Reese Chaplin. Tony can't fix this problem by writing a check. And when Tony finds out that his "friend" has been cheating on Reese, he doesn't hesitate to steal her away. Even if it's her wedding day. Nothing about Reese's big day goes according to plan. She walks down the aisle to marry one man and winds up in a Vegas wedding chapel with another. After a hot night with Tony, the only thing Reese regrets is that her new husband doesn't remember anything about it. Reese suspects that the marriage is going to end badly, especially when Tony offers her a million dollars a month to stay married. But walking away from him turns out to be harder than she'd thought. Especially as she starts to get to know the man behind the wallet.Contains mature themes. ...

Born and raised as an assassin in the notorious Hunter program, Breed vampire Cain has since put his skills to use as a mercenary willing to clean up any problem for a price. Or so he thought. After a job in Las Vegas strains even his dubious code of honor, Cain pulls up stakes and lands in Miami for a much-needed break. All he wants is time away to clear his head and regroup, but then a beautiful young woman is nearly killed in front of his eyes and the ruthless former Hunter becomes the only thing standing between her and a sniper's bullet. Marina Moretskova is no stranger to dangerous men. As the niece of a Russian organized crime boss, she's grown up around killers and criminals. But her uncle wants out now, and he's enlisted Marina's help in buying his freedom by delivering valuable intel to a secret contact in exchange for protection. Not even Marina's bodyguards are aware of her mission, so when an attempt on her life is averted by a handsome, steely-eyed...

Someone, somewhere, has declared war on Kevin Kichida, and that someone has a long list of magical predators on their rolodex. The good news is that Kevin lives in a town where Ted Cahill is the new sheriff and old ally of John Charming. The attacks on Kevin seem to be a pattern, and the more John and his new team follow that thread, the deeper they find themselves in a maze of supernatural threats, family secrets, and age-old betrayals. The more John learns, the more convinced he becomes that Kevin Kichida isn't just a victim-he's a sacrifice waiting to happen. And that thread John's following? It's really a fuse . . . Product details Format CD-Audio Dimensions ...

Hitting on the wrong woman finds Daryl regaining consciousness in a motel taped to a chair. Things were looking up-and not just below the belt. A sexy, cocoa-complexioned veterinarian-with killer curves-wants answers, and he's only too happy to give them to her, for a price, say a kiss, or something more, from those luscious lips. The problem is, Cynthia isn't the type to fall for flirty words and panty-dropping smiles. She tempts Daryl into helping her. Teases him into acting. Claims his heart without even trying. But that was okay because his every instinct tells him She's mine, and someone was trying to hurt her. Hell no. This kitty isn't afraid to unleash his claws and rescue the woman he wants. An intriguing, hot woman, a mystery, and danger? Sounds like fun, and Daryl is ready to play. He'll do anything to claim Cynthia as his mate.Contains mature themes. Product details ...

Are art and science separated by an unbridgeable divide? Can they find common ground? In this book, neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel, whose remarkable scientific career and deep interest in art give him a unique perspective, demonstrates how science can inform the way we experience a work of art and seek to understand its meaning. Kandel illustrates how reductionism-the distillation of larger scientific or aesthetic concepts into smaller, more tractable components-has been used by scientists and artists alike to pursue their respective truths. He draws on his Nobel Prize-winning work revealing the neurobiological underpinnings of learning and memory in sea slugs to shed light on the complex workings of the mental processes of higher animals. In Reductionism in Art and Brain Science, Kandel shows how this radically reductionist approach, applied to the most complex puzzle of our time-the brain-has been employed by modern artists who distill their subjective world into color, form, and ligh...

Paul Scharre, a Pentagon defense expert and former U.S. Army Ranger, explores what it would mean to give machines authority over the ultimate decision of life or death. Scharre's far-ranging investigation examines the emergence of autonomous weapons, the movement to ban them, and the legal and ethical issues surrounding their use. He spotlights artificial intelligence in military technology, spanning decades of innovation from German noise-seeking Wren torpedoes in World War II-antecedents of today's homing missiles-to autonomous cyber weapons, submarine-hunting robot ships, and robot tank armies. Through interviews with defense experts, ethicists, psychologists, and activists, Scharre surveys what challenges might face "centaur warfighters" on future battlefields, which will combine human and machine cognition. We've made tremendous technological progress in the past few decades, but we have also glimpsed the terrifying mishaps that can result from complex auto...

Cain Killion knows himself to be a damaged man, his only saving grace the extrasensory connection to blood that he uses to catch murderers. His latest case takes a macabre turn when he discovers a familiar and haunting symbol linking the crime to his own horrific past-and only one woman could know what it means. Mercy Ledger is brave, resilient, beautiful-and in terrible danger. The moment he sees Mercy, Cain knows he's the one who can save her. He also knows he's beyond redemption. But the lines between good and evil blur, and the only thing clear to Cain and Mercy is that they belong together. Love is the antidote for blood-but is their bond strong enough to overcome the evil that stalks them? Contains mature themes. Product details Format CD-Audio ...

Paul Scharre, a Pentagon defense expert and former U.S. Army Ranger, explores what it would mean to give machines authority over the ultimate decision of life or death.Scharre's far-ranging investigation examines the emergence of autonomous weapons, the movement to ban them, and the legal and ethical issues surrounding their use. He spotlights artificial intelligence in military technology, spanning decades of innovation from German noise-seeking Wren torpedoes in World War II-antecedents of today's homing missiles-to autonomous cyber weapons, submarine-hunting robot ships, and robot tank armies. Through interviews with defense experts, ethicists, psychologists, and activists, Scharre surveys what challenges might face "centaur warfighters" on future battlefields, which will combine human and machine cognition. We've made tremendous technological progress in the past few decades, but we have also glimpsed the terrifying mishaps that can result from complex autom...

Something is rotten in the state of Wisconsin. Werewolf packs are being united and absorbed into an army of super soldiers by a mysterious figure who speaks like an angel and fights like a demon. And every Knight Templar-keepers of the magical peace between mankind and magickind-who tries to get close to this big bad wolf winds up dead. No knight can infiltrate a group whose members can smell a human from a mile away . . . no knight except one. John Charming. Ex knight. Current werewolf. Hunted by the men who trained him, he now might be their only salvation. But animal instincts are rising up to claim John more powerfully than ever before, and he must decide if this new leader of wolves is a madman or a messiah. Product details Format CD-Audio ...