Glitch


Book Description

The Zelnick family likes Christmas a lot, but Aldo—whose plan to get presents galore may be running into a glitch—does not. He thinks that “giving being better than receiving” is gobbledygook and doesn’t understand what the “Adopt-a-Family Tree” at the mall has to do with him. Guinness World Records, holiday gnomes, a glass-blowing grandma, and generous helpings of goofiness abound in this seventh installment in the series. A vocabulary-building glossary of fun and challenging words that start with the letter G, such as gumption, gloat, and gadzooks, is also featured.




The Grace of Kings


Book Description

One of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time Two men rebel together against tyranny—and then become rivals—in this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. Hailed as one of the best books of 2015 by NPR. Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice. Fans of intrigue, intimate plots, and action will find a new series to embrace in the Dandelion Dynasty.




High-Tech Trash


Book Description

A free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press’ Open Access publishing program for monographs. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. High-Tech Trash analyzes creative strategies in glitch, noise, and error to chart the development of an aesthetic paradigm rooted in failure. Carolyn L. Kane explores how technologically influenced creative practices, primarily from the second half of the twentieth and first quarter of the twenty-first centuries, critically offset a broader culture of pervasive risk and discontent. In so doing, she questions how we continue onward, striving to do better and acquire more, despite inevitable disappointment. High-Tech Trash speaks to a paradox in contemporary society in which failure is disavowed yet necessary for technological innovation.




Blindsight


Book Description

Hugo and Shirley Jackson award-winning Peter Watts stands on the cutting edge of hard SF with his acclaimed novel, Blindsight Two months since the stars fell... Two months of silence, while a world held its breath. Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune's orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever's out there isn't talking to us. It's talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route. So who do you send to force introductions with unknown and unknowable alien intellect that doesn't wish to be met? You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees x-rays and tastes ultrasound. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won't be needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called vampire, recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist—an informational topologist with half his mind gone—as an interface between here and there. Pray they can be trusted with the fate of a world. They may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.




Information Theory, Inference and Learning Algorithms


Book Description

Information theory and inference, taught together in this exciting textbook, lie at the heart of many important areas of modern technology - communication, signal processing, data mining, machine learning, pattern recognition, computational neuroscience, bioinformatics and cryptography. The book introduces theory in tandem with applications. Information theory is taught alongside practical communication systems such as arithmetic coding for data compression and sparse-graph codes for error-correction. Inference techniques, including message-passing algorithms, Monte Carlo methods and variational approximations, are developed alongside applications to clustering, convolutional codes, independent component analysis, and neural networks. Uniquely, the book covers state-of-the-art error-correcting codes, including low-density-parity-check codes, turbo codes, and digital fountain codes - the twenty-first-century standards for satellite communications, disk drives, and data broadcast. Richly illustrated, filled with worked examples and over 400 exercises, some with detailed solutions, the book is ideal for self-learning, and for undergraduate or graduate courses. It also provides an unparalleled entry point for professionals in areas as diverse as computational biology, financial engineering and machine learning.




Ask a Manager


Book Description

From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together




The Alien


Book Description

“There will be no rescue,” he’d said. “Succeed or be lost.” Who the hell says something like that to an employee? Cut-throat bosses, local mobsters, an influencer girlfriend, and evil corporations, that’s who. A fun and smart near future thriller crammed with mind-expanding concepts, science being explored today, well developed characters, and unexpected twists. All driven by expertly presented emotions, desires, and childhood issues in life or death situations. Observatory Space Program Test Pilot, Michael Forbes is trying to survive his ship’s destruction as a potential corporate assassin enters the picture… and the locals want to help, for a price. Meanwhile back home, greed and deception weave manipulating strands of depravity and complete disregard for people, threatening the life he longs to return to. Stranded on an alien planet, Michael’s struggles are intensified as he becomes the first Emissary of Earth, a role he is totally unprepared for. The Alien is a modernized Gulliver’s Travels meets Black Mirror and The Sopranos with a serial killer on the loose. Daniel Wescott delivers a deep ride filled with intriguing characters that will stay with you long after you’ve finished the last page. Get ready for a deep dive into the world Michael finds himself stranded in and the people he is surrounded by. You’ll love some, hate others, and feel the pain as you experience the events as they unfold. The real question is, will you be for or against Lizzie in the end… Daniel Wescott presents large, yet believable, pathological characters in all of his writing. His stories explore themes relevant to us all, shining a light on the indomitable, yet shapeable human spirit. He blends genres with an expert’s hand, offering unique storylines and plots that will pull you into the book’s plot and the character’s lives. It’s an experience like none other.




The Call-Up 2012 (CUSTOM)


Book Description

Like the bestselling Baseball Prospectus annual, this midseason debut provides the latest scoops and analysis to help super-fans follow their favorite teams, and fantasy players win their leagues. July and August is when the smartest teams pull off the big trades or see big contributions from previously obscure rookies. This book pulls out the teams and players with the most crucial updates since the start of the season, with plenty of articles, lists, and leaderboards. The Call-Up also offers some major innovations in sabermetrics, like Mike Fast’s groundbreaking work on measuring the value of a catcher to his pitchers. Baseball Prospectus is America’s leading provider of statistical analysis for baseball, combining entertaining commentary and accurate forecasting via books, blogs, articles, and a website.




Immortality News


Book Description

An anonymous combination formula for extending life and granting immortality is mysteriously passed to select people over the Internet. Two young doctors and a pharmaceutical executive begin clinical trials, which lead to health cost debates, congressional hearings, and even a presidential commission. Meanwhile, hidden from the public, in a large American city, a few people drink this so-called formula, named e-moon, only to discover...




Software Studies


Book Description

This collection of short expository, critical and speculative texts offers a field guide to the cultural, political, social and aesthetic impact of software. Experts from a range of disciplines each take a key topic in software and the understanding of software, such as algorithms and logical structures.