Funny Science

Most people think of themselves as “good", but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “good” or “bad” - especially in a world filled with complicated choices and pitfalls and booby traps and bad advice. Fortunately, many smart philosophers have been pondering this conundrum for millennia, and they have guidance for us. With bright wit and deep insight, How to Be Perfect explains concepts like deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism, ubuntu, and more, so we can sound cool at parties and become better people.

In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father's glowing memories of his graduate school years here.

S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (i.e. "those idiots"), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos®. Then Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, and S.T. starts to think something isn't quite right. Even the slobbering affection of Big Jim's loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis, fails to cure Big Jim's debilitating malady. S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis.

A nightmarish danger threatens from the other side of reality. . . . Armed with only a frying pan and her common sense, young witch-to-be Tiffany Aching must defend her home against the monsters of Fairyland. Luckily she has some very unusual help: the local Nac Mac Feegle—aka the Wee Free Men—a clan of fierce, sheep-stealing, sword-wielding, six-inch-high blue men.

Captain Willard Phule has whipped his troops into shape, turning Phule's Company from the laughingstock of the Legion into...a crack team of casino security guards. Now his company is deployed to help an underdeveloped planet. And what better way to utilize their major area of expertise - goofing off - than to turn the planet into the biggest intergalactic playground ever?

After serving in the RAF in World War II, Herriot gladly returns home to Yorkshire to his beloved family and multitude of patients, with many more tender, funny, sad and wise stories to share with us and warm our hearts. Animal lovers of all ages, and fans of Herriot's original classics, won't want to miss this beautiful treasure. After serving in the Royal Air Force in World War II, James Herriot gladly returns home to Yorkshire to his beloved family and multitude of patients, with many more tender, funny, sad and wise stories to tell us.

The gravity is gone awry. One of the local religious communities is in a hysterical frenzy; another is accepting its destiny with bravado. An atheist. scientific and technical faction is looking for an answer. A brilliant rebellious girl and a creative insubordinate soldier, find the surprising world-shattering truth while falling in love with each other.

Embark on a deliciously chaotic journey through the cosmos with "The Cosmic Cook-Off," a wildly inventive science fiction comedy that blends culinary chaos with intergalactic absurdity. In this sixth book of the acclaimed Doctor Felix Bumblesnap series, join a brilliant and maddeningly unpredictable scientist, as he and his skeptical team—including the pragmatic Captain Abby Sparks, the philosophical smoothie enthusiast Bobo, and the diligent sanitation robot VGR—venture into the heart of the Galactic Gastronomy Gauntlet. This isn't just any cooking competition; it's a thrilling race ...

Get ready for another quantum leap of laughter! Everyone's favorite accidental physicist, Felix Bumblesnap, is back in The Diplomacy of Potassium, the fourth uproarious adventure in the Felix Bumblesnap series. This time, things are getting cosmically complicated when a well-intentioned attempt at interspecies banana diplomacy goes hilariously, terribly wrong. Bobo, the ambitiously political chimpanzee, convinces the Integration Committee that bananas are the key to galactic harmony. But when Felix gets involved with his "Universal Palate Harmonizer," a device designed to bridge the taste ...

Jacques McKeown is the most celebrated author of star-pilot fiction in the galaxy. He's rich, famous, and living in luxury, and his universe-wide fanbase eagerly awaits any news of his next book. There's just one small hitch. He's not Jacques McKeown. He's Dashford Pierce, star pilot and con artist, and if only the impatient calls from his publisher were the worst of his problems. There's also the last vestige of the Henderson crime gang, trouble brewing in the retired star-pilot community, and a small matter of somebody trying to kill him.

Labor Day, 1969: Two recent college graduates move to New York to edit a new magazine called the National Lampoon. Over the next decade, Henry Beard and Doug Kenney, along with a loose amalgamation of fellow satirists such as Michael O’Donoghue and P. J. O’Rourke, popularized a smart, caustic, ironic brand of humor that has become the dominant voice of American comedy. Ranging from sophisticated political satire to broad raunchy jokes, the National Lampoon introduced iconoclasm to the mainstream, selling millions of copies to an audience both large and devoted.

Don’t be like Ciara, a twelve-year-old girl living in the tiny village of Skael. When she used a spell from within this book, she ended up summoning a dragon. A DRAGON! Those things breathe fire! From their mouths! She’s obviously doomed. And don’t listen if Ciara tells you that dragons won’t hurt humans, and that they even once taught us magic, a thousand years ago. Definitely don’t pay any attention to the fact that the dragon she summoned, Scorch, might be willing to help rescue Ciara’s mother and free her village from the Emperor and his Warden, because it’s all obviously a big lie.

Prepare to have your mind blown, your curiosity sparked, and your laughter unleashed with The Ultimate Fun Facts Encyclopedia! Dive into a massive, jaw-dropping collection of bizarre, funny, and absolutely true facts that cover everything from history's strangest moments to the wildest wonders of science, nature, and human behavior. Whether you're a trivia lover, a curious mind, or just looking for a perfect conversation starter, this book is your go-to source for endless amazement.

FIRST PRIZE: Reader’s Choice: Best SciFi Time Travel Trilogy - 2023 SECOND PRIZE: Firebird Awards: Time Travel Novels - 2024 On the brink of suicide, an insecure grad school drop out lets himself get abducted by kooky time traveling Venusians on a mission to prevent Armageddon by rescuing Jesus H Christ and helping him find the legendary emerald tablets, but when he’s cheated by his sources and abandoned by his allies, he must overcome his uncertainties to out-maneuver his rival plotters and the Romans before somebody gets crucified. READER REVIEWS: 5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it ...

When the Spirit of Winter takes a fancy to Tiffany Aching, he wants her to stay in his gleaming, frozen world. Forever. It will take all the young witch's skill and cunning, as well as help from the legendary Granny Weatherwax and the irrepressible Wee Free Men, to survive until Spring. Because if Tiffany doesn't make it to Spring, Spring won't come for anyone.

In this fifth book in the Magykal series, Septimus ends up on a captivatingly beautiful island, one of seven set in a sparkling sea. He's stranded there with his badly injured dragon, Spit Fyre, along with Jenna and Beetle. There are some strange things about the island, including a Magykal girl named Syrah, a cat-shaped lighthouse that has lost its Light, and an eerie presence that sings to Septimus - can he escape the persistent call?

The story is supposed to be over. Simon Snow did everything he was supposed to do. He beat the villain. He won the war. He even fell in love. Now comes the good part, right? Now comes the happily ever after.... So why can’t Simon Snow get off the couch? What he needs, according to his best friend, is a change of scenery. That’s how Simon and Penny and Baz end up in a vintage convertible, tearing across the American West. They find trouble, of course. (Dragons, vampires, skunk-headed things with shotguns.) And they get lost.

It's Christmas at St Mary's and time for the traditional illicit jump. Except this one is perfectly legal. It's Major Guthrie's last jump. To the Battle of Bannockburn, no less. An important moment in history for two nations - one that warrants everyone's full attention. But Max soon finds herself grappling with a near-lethal game of pooh sticks, another avian incursion and two turbulent teenagers intent on piloting their own illegal jump. And that's all before they even get near 14th-century Scotland. For this is St Mary's, and nothing is ever simple.

You should know better than to ask for trouble, Ion. Trouble might be listening. Ion is on track to be a pilot for The United Space Coalition until his sister gets abducted in front of his eyes. Law enforcement proves to be useless and no one else cares, so it’s up to Ion to save her. Now, with the help of a distractingly handsome Arsen (who’s probably also a criminal) he’ll journey through the solar system to track her down - consequences be damned. But Ion’s list of crimes keeps growing and Arsen seems to have a talent for pissing off everyone he meets. It’s not long before half...

The Lilac. The bard songs say that she’s the world’s most fearsome bounty hunter. That there’s no criminal she can’t catch, no mystery she can’t solve. None of that is true. Yet. In reality, the Lilac is just a kid, and the bard who wrote all that is her best friend, Dulcinetta. But the Lilac has set her goals on becoming the best bounty hunter in the Thirteen Kingdoms—and when a priceless artifact goes missing from the home of famed monster hunter Baron Angbar, the Lilac and Netta are eager to apprehend the thief and make a name for themselves.