Systems Science

A leading brain scientist's look at the neurobiology of pleasure-and how pleasures can become addictions. Whether eating, taking drugs, engaging in sex, or doing good deeds, the pursuit of pleasure is a central drive of the human animal. In The Compass of Pleasure Johns Hopkins neuroscientist David J. Linden explains how pleasure affects us at the most fundamental level: in our brain.

Combining wisdom drawn from over a dozen years as a public defender and cutting-edge research in the fields of organizational and cultural psychology, Jonathan Rapping proposes a radical cultural shift to a “fiercely client-based ethos” driven by values-based recruitment training, awakening defenders to their role in upholding an unjust status quo, and a renewed pride in the essential role of moral lawyering in a democratic society.

Marc and his party have finished their zeppelin and taken it out to try to discover other Safe Zones. Their intent is to set up trade routes between all the different Safe Zones in order to give them a better chance to survive. The second Safe Zone they discover with the zeppelin is nearly as large as Any Port. It even has its own ring of outlier Safe Zones, or a partial ring at least. It appears that several of the smaller Safe Zones have been taken and converted into dungeons. With the safety of the larger Safe Zone at stake, they bring the zeppelin down to help the larger Safe Zone.

Much has been written about the challenges tech presents to equality and democracy. But we can either criticize big data and automation or steer it to do better. Lobel makes a compelling argument that while we cannot stop technological development, we can direct its course according to our most fundamental values. With provocative insights in every chapter, Lobel masterfully shows that digital technology frequently has a comparative advantage over humans.

The second brightest object in the sky, after the moon is Venus. It's also the only planet named after a woman. Learn more about bright, beautiful Venus, named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

The mystery deepens as more clues come to light about Melvin’s bloodline in the form of long-lost half-siblings. Not all of them are nice. To top it all off, Melvin quickly discovers there is something wrong with his mana. Everything he touches, he corrupts.

The mysterious Overlords destroyed all electronics on Earth, imposed a game-like System, and unleashed ravenous horrors upon the planet. Did you hear that Alex Dathers—yes, the Alex Dathers from Youtube with the channel about weapons and armor from the old days—killed a dragon? He actually killed a freakin’ dragon when he was only level 1. I heard it dropped him some epic loot and now he is going on a rampage through the System!

Following their best sellers Vulcan's Forge and Vulcan's Heart, Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz embark on a new trilogy chronicling the latter-day adventures of one of Star Trek's most beloved characters, shedding new light on his world's shocking history.

ACTION STATIONS! Enjoy Sci-Fi? Fantasy? Horror? Enjoy a Thrilling Suspense-Filled Fantasy Action Adventure set in a near future society with a solid dose of Horror in the mix. Now a COMPLETE SERIES of seven books: A Subtle Agency, A Traitor’s War, The Dragon’s Den, The Day Guard, The Crane War, The Key of Ahknaton, and The Metaframe Adept. Hunters and vampires are fighting a secret war for control of the fabric of reality. Whoever acquires mastery of the reality shifting powers of the Metaframe will become the new gods of the universe. "Imagine if you could change the rules of the game,...

Hear it before you see the film! The wedding celebration for Will Riker and Deanna Troi is interrupted when Captain Picard and crew are called to Romulus for an emergency diplomatic mission. They face a threat that could lead to the destruction of the planet Earth, and Picard comes face to face with a man who may prove to be his most dangerous adversary yet...and a surprisingly personal nemesis.

Born over a century after "The Rise", Jeff scavenges with his tyrannical mother for survival. Banned from cultivating freely, Jeff wants none of this life; his one objective is to join the immortal rankers as they attempt to climb the Northern Tower. On the day of his escape, a powerful guild attacks Leah’s group, and Jeff is thrown through a unique dungeon portal—a portal that hasn’t been used in nearly a hundred years. In the pursuit of Jeff’s ultimate goal, he must choose whether to follow the Church, join a guild, or try it all on his own.

The U.S.S. Enterprise is stunned when famed scientist Lynn Costa is murdered in one of the ship's science labs. She and her husband, Emil, were known as science's greatest ongoing collaboration and together had received the Federation's highest honors for their achievements in scientific research. Determined to see the culprit brought to justice, Captain Picard assigns Lt. Worf and Counselor Deanna Troi to the case. Their routine investigation of the ship's science lab soon reveals a dangerous web of deceit, betrayal, and madness.

In Systems of Survival, Jane Jacobs identifies two distinct moral syndromes—one governing commerce, the other politics—and explores what happens when these two syndromes collide. She looks at business fraud and criminal enterprise, government’s overextended subsidies to agriculture, and transit police who abuse the system the are supposed to enforce, and asks us to consider instances in which snobbery is a virtue and industry a vice.

In a future where humanity pushes the limits of survival and technology, Hostile Takeovers follows a cast of characters whose lives are about to collide. NoFeather, an alien observer seeking respite on Mars, carries knowledge that could change everything. The humans find themselves face-to-face with a visitor beyond their understanding. Meanwhile, on Earth, corporate leaders and extraordinary beings pull strings that stretch across the solar system. As alliances form and secrets unravel, the question remains: who truly holds power in a world where survival depends on cooperation—and ...

Despite what major media sources say, violence against Native women is not an epidemic. An epidemic is biological and blameless. Violence against Native women is historical and political, bounded by oppression and colonial violence. This book, like all of Sarah Deer's work, is aimed at engaging the problem head-on - and ending it. The Beginning and End of Rape collects and expands the powerful writings in which Deer has advocated for cultural and legal reforms to protect Native women from endemic sexual violence and abuse.

Will's latest adventure with his transformer robot Planetron starts with a tricky math problem that leads them to some of the wonders in the Milky Way Galaxy: triple-star systems, exploding suns, huge nebulas, and strange pulsars.

Christopher Wills's claim has its roots in an insight from Charles Darwin: the interactions between species in an ecosystem are a powerful driver of evolution. In this book Wills describes how, by using the latest genetic techniques, we are probing ecosystems and discovering that even the most apparently barren of them are rich in variety, especially of microbes.

His life a wasteland post-System integration, John Lee struggles to deal with the weight of a world irrevocably changed. Given great power by chance, his Levels a by-product of a rage that he finds unable to quench, John struggles to find the balance between a hatred for the System that destroyed his world and the benefits it gives him, allowing him to save even more. Yet, as he draws survivors across the Yukon to Whitehorse, dangers grow in the deep wilderness, out of sight. It’s a race between Leveling and safety, for John and his friends. One that they might be losing.

Much ink has been spilled in recent years talking about political divides and inequality in the United States. But these discussions too often miss one of the most important factors in the divisions among Americans: the fundamentally unequal nature of the nation's housing systems. Increasingly, important life outcomes—performance in school, employment, even life expectancy—are determined by where people live and the quality of homes they live in. Fixer-Upper is the first book assessing how local, state, and national housing policies affect people and communities.

Relax and refocus your mind and body in just minutes a day, even if your schedule feels unrelenting. Are you overwhelmed by stress, desperately seeking tranquility amid the chaos of your busy life? Do you find yourself longing for a holistic approach to well-being, yet skeptical about where to begin? Perhaps you desire to reconnect with your inner self but feel unsure of how sound therapy fits into your journey. You're not alone. Many professionals and wellness seekers share your quest for balance and peace amidst the demands of modern life.