The Thirteenth Song


Book Description

Mystery girl. On her twelfth birthday, Kahlara Apella ponders the enigma that is her. Why is she the only one in her overprotective family who can read thoughts (not that she spies on her siblings or anything), heal injuries, demolish bad guys (a terrifying experience), and tap into her silver core? The answers elude her. Enough already! Kahlara is determined to change her sheltered life. She pleads for and gains her freedom. Kahlara explores the woods, builds a tree house, swims in a hidden pond, and encounters a young stranger. Shy boy. Shay, a lonely village kid, sings like an angel and plays the lute like a troubadour. Over the summer, Shay befriends this odd girl who can change the color of her eyes. Parents on a mission. Myles and Elara Apella organize a rebellion against the Rzash Empire. Fearful of their family's safety, especially their amazing daughter, they move cautiously through the dark secrets of their cause. Gentle giant. Sebastian is an injured Crad slave. Simple and loving, Seb watches over the Apella children. Elara grows certain there is more to the alien than meets the eye. Kahlara and Shay. Compelled, Kahlara touches Shay transferring her silver abilities. An unseen spy reports them. Soon, tragedy tears them apart. Like a pebble dropped in their beloved pond, the ripples spawn a tsunami of rebellion, intrigue, ecological weapons, alien metamorphosis, silver abilities, and interstellar warfare. Will Kahlara's strange purpose save them? It begins with the Song who would be human.




The Secret of Teams


Book Description

Presents a business fable that discusses the three elements that successful teams have in common and how to implement them into one's organization.




Team Tal


Book Description

First published in Russian in 2016 and written by Valentin Kirillov - Mikhail Tal's close friend, sparring partner, team member and second - this book of memoirs describes key events from Tal's life, portrays his mentors and opponents, and reveals previously unknown facts and funny stories about the Magician of Riga. A real collectors' item for all true Tal fans, it provides color on Janis Kruzkops, who was Tal's first coach and who died tragically young, Tal's mentor Alexander Koblencs, and the chess masters to whom Tal was close, including Genna Sosonko, Aivars Gipslis, Janis Klovans, Alvis Vitolins, the young Alexei Shirov, and Kirillov himself, as well as the mysterious doctor Joseph Geikhman. It also traces the efforts of the Latvian chess community to preserve and build on Tal's memory after his death, in particular with the attempt to establish a Tal museum and hold regular tournaments in his honor. With a foreword to the English edition by Alexei Shirov.





Book Description




Curve Ball


Book Description

A look at baseball data from a statistical modeling perspective! There is a fascination among baseball fans and the media to collect data on every imaginable event during a baseball game and this book addresses a number of questions that are of interest to many baseball fans. These include how to rate players, predict the outcome of a game or the attainment of an achievement, making sense of situational data, and deciding the most valuable players in the World Series. Aimed at a general audience, the text does not assume any prior background in probability or statistics, although a knowledge of high school abgebra will be helpful.




Timman's Titans


Book Description

The Stories and the Games: Alekhine – Euwe – Botvinnik – Smyslov – Tal - Petrosian – Spassky – Fischer - Karpov – Kasparov For many years Jan Timman was one of the best chess players in the world. He combined his brilliant successes on the board with a passion for writing and meticulously analysing his own games and those of his rivals. Three times he was a World Championship Candidate and in 1993 he played in the final of the FIDE World Championship. In this fascinating book, Jan Timman portrays ten World Chess Champions that played an important role in his life and career. Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) he never met, but the story of how in Lisbon he bought one of the last chess sets belonging to the fourth World Champion is one of many highlights in this book. Timman has a keen eye for detail and a fabulous memory, and he visibly enjoys sharing his insider views, including many revelations about the great champions. Timman’s Titans not only presents a personal view of these chess giants, but is also an evocation of countless fascinating episodes in chess history. Each portrait is completed by a rich selection of illustrative games, annotated in the author’s trademark lucid style. Always to the point, sharp and with crystal-clear explanations, Timman shows the highs and lows from the games of the champions, including the most memorable games he himself played against them.




The Cusp of Dreams


Book Description

The Cusp of Dreams is the dark saga of our time: men and women desperate to close penny-ante deals in order to pay next month's rent. To survive they will do almost anything. Yet despite their treachery toward others, they themselves are at risk of losing it all'their jobs, their relationships, and their families. For these men and women living on the cusp, there is no reprieve.




Five Overtimes


Book Description

The quarter century comprising the "Original Six" years of the National Hockey League is often fondly discussed by the sport's scholarly fans. However, one surprisingly underappreciated jewel from that era is the 1951 Stanley Cup final series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. It provided something never seen before in the history of the NHL and has not been seen since: every one of the five games required a dramatic sudden-death overtime period to determine a winner. This book takes an in-depth look at this exciting conclusion to the 1950-51 NHL season, as well as an examination of the two playoff semifinal series, and a general overview of the goings-on from the 210-game regular season featuring many amusing anecdotes. As an added bonus, a special chapter discusses the short life, baffling disappearance, and untimely death of Toronto defenseman Bill Barilko just four months after he notched the Cup-winning tally in April. Also examined is the recent controversy about who really possesses the historic puck with which Barilko scored his famous goal.




Hidden Empire


Book Description

In the far future, humanity began to search the stars, sending out vast spaceships that would take generations to reach their goals. In the depths of space they encountered the Ildiran empire - apparently the galaxy's only other intelligent civilization. The Ildirans came to Earth and passed on the knowledge of their stardrive, allowing humanity to expand to the stars. Almost two hundred years after that first contact, there are human colonies proliferating through the galaxy. As Mankind seizes the future, danger comes from the past, for two human archaeologists glean forbidden knowledge from the ruins of a dead world. Once, the insect-like Klikiss ruled the stars. Now, only their robot servants remain, guardians of a terrible technology - the Klikiss Torch, which has the power to create suns. Now, Humanity prepares to flex its new found muscle and activate the Torch for the first time in millennia, but there are reasons the Klikiss empire fell, and a train of events is about to be set in motion, that will change the universe...




My Inter Life Story


Book Description

If you can believe in the power of your own life story, it will greatly impact your confidence. But the problem is that we lack the necessary trust in ourselves to believe our own stories. We need a clear reflection of our character to overcome this obstacle and establish strong confidence in our own life story. Think about it like this; Believe it or not