MU ARAE


Book Description

Legend told of a rogue planetoid once inhabited by an extremely advanced society that vanished without explanation. It was said that anyone bold enough to find this runaway planet might be rewarded with technology beyond imagination. But, this ghost planet was traveling at nearly the speed of light and only known to pass through a single set of coordinates once every thousand years. It would take a dangerous rendezvous in warped time and space just to confirm the legend, and trying to set foot on a deserted future world promised even greater peril. Join Adrian Tarn and R.J. Smith as they dare to tempt fate on a mission filled with mysteries from the future and dangers from the present. (standalone, Adrian Tarn series #5)




Wormhole


Book Description

An eighty year old cold case murder investigation that stretches across light years and risks the future of mankind’s new home. A hard SF/crime crossover from two respected and well-likednames in SF. --- 2110. Earth is suffering major resource shortages, and the impact of climate change is peaking, with much of the planet’s equatorial regions turned to lifeless desert and populations displaced. Colonies have been established on Mars and the Moon, but these cannot hope to sustain any more than a scant population of hundreds of citizens. Attention has turned to the need to discover an extra-solar colony world. European scientists, using discoveries made at CERN, have identified the means of creating a wormhole in the space-time continuum, which would allow interstellar travel. However, to do so they must first physically transport one end of the wormhole to where they want it to be, so settingup a wormhole will always rely on physical travel first of all. A ship is sent to Mu Arae, earth-like planet discovered 10 years before. It is a journey that will take 80 years, the crew, who will eventually set up the wormhole on the planet, kept in suspended animation. But only a few years into the trip, catastrophe strikes and the ship blows up en route, killing all aboard. 2190, eighty years after the starship set out. Gordon Kemp is a detective working in the cold case department in London. Usually he works on cases closed ten, twenty-five years earlier. Now, however, he has been assigned a murder investigation closed, unsolved, over eighty years ago. What he unearths will change history and threatens everything we know about what the powers that be have planned for Earth. The tragedy that befell the ship 80 years before is not what it seems and the past and the present are radically different to what everyone on Earth believes. We made the journey. Why has it been kept a secret? File Under: Science Fiction [ Who wants to live forever? | Old caps | New Worlds | Believe no one ]




Red Dwarfs


Book Description

This thought-provoking book looks at the nature of red dwarf systems as potential homes for life. Realistically, what are the prospects for life on these distant worlds? Could life evolve and survive there? How do these planetary surfaces and geologies evolve? How would life on a planet orbiting a red dwarf differ from life on Earth? And what are the implications for finding further habitable worlds in our galaxy? The author provides readers with insight into the habitability of planets and how this changes as time progresses and the central star evolves. Since the previous 2013 edition Under a Crimson Sun, there has been a rise in newly discovered planets orbiting red dwarfs, accompanied by controversial areas of research that test what we think we know about these systems. This revised edition delves into the wealth of new material uncovered since that date. It explains the often conflicting results and analyses put forward and clarifies our understanding of these exciting new worlds. The chapters explore the full width of relevant scientific discovery and speculation on the potential for red dwarf planets to host life. New content includes improved atmospheric models, new understandings of the impact of stellar radiation on the atmosphere of red dwarf worlds, tidal-locking, and comparisons with terrestrial geology and climate.




Whad'Ya Know?


Book Description

A brand new bathroom reader collection, from the beloved trivia voice of public radio. SO...DID YOU KNOW THAT: 53% of American workers feel they work "with a bunch of monkeys." (What the monkeys think, we don't know.) During shaky economic times, lipstick sales go up. The longest conflict in American history was fought over a pig. Washington state has the best-dressed State Troopers. AREN'T YOU GLAD YOU NOW KNOW THAT?! If you'd love to quiz yourself about what you know, and then fill your brain with thousands of fascinating and highly useful facts like these, look no further. (And as an added bonus, you'll get jokes and stories too!) Every weekend, radio listeners across the nation delight in the facts and fun of the hit show Whad'Ya Know? with Michael Feldman. Now, for the first time, Michael collects the greatest trivia, quizzes, stories, and fun facts just for you. Every weekend, thousands of public radio listeners across the nation delight in the facts and fun of the hit PRI show Whad'Ya Know? with Michael Feldman. Now, for the first time Michael collects the greatest trivia, quizzes, stories, and fun facts from the show in Whad'Ya Know?. With features perfectly sized for spending a little time on the throne, Whad'Ya Know? contains sections that fans of the show will be sure to recognize, such as: Things You Should Have Learned in School (Had You Been Paying Attention) The Daily Briefing Thanks for the Memos The Best of the Best And much more If your answer to "Whad'Ya Know?" is "not much," get ready to become the smartest person on the block... or at least the one that knows the most stuff.




Earths of Distant Suns


Book Description

Based on the latest missions results and supported by commissioned artwork, this book explores the possible lessons we may learn from exoplanets. As the number of known Earth-like objects grows significantly, the author explores what is known about the growing roster of "pale blue dots" far afield. Aided by an increased sensitivity of the existing observatories, recent discoveries by Keck, the Hubble Space Telescope, and Kepler are examined. These findings, once thought to be closer to the realm of science fiction, have fired the imaginations of the general public as well as scientists. All of us are mesmerized by the possibility of other Earth-like worlds out there. Author Michael Carroll asks the tough questions of what the expected gain is from identifying these Earth analogs spread across the Universe and the reasons for studying them. Potentially, they could teach us about our own climate and Solar System. Also explored are the more remote options of communication between or even travel to these distant yet perhaps not so dissimilar worlds.




The Cosmos


Book Description

Explains the fundamentals of astronomy together with the hottest current topics in this field, such as exoplanets and gravitational waves.




Message


Book Description

This is a different science fiction book as it does not deal with invading aliens, but rather with peace loving aliens living in a more advanced world. Via radio and TV waves they know everything about us humans. By radio they communicate with us from a not-too-distant planet. The Aliens provide us humans with very advanced technologies in the fields of energy generation, medicine, computer science and artificial technology. These represent a quantum jump to our current state of development. This book also deals about how we humans deal with the impact of the introduction of these very advanced technologies and the politics which go with it. Therefore, this book is also a book of psychology of the human mind.




Prince of Sunset


Book Description

IT WASN'T MUCH OF AN EMPIRE ANYMORE¾ BUT IT WAS ALL THEY HAD.... Afterwards, Basil Castellan was always certain that it had all begun the day he'd been rescued by the dragon. Oh, it hadn't been a real dragon, of course, or so he hastily assured everyone to whom he told the story. Only . . . it had been a real dragon. But he would never share that particular knowledge with anyone but Sonja and Tarval.... The Empire had preserved peace and order throughout human-inhabited space, but it had grown weak with the passing of the centuries, and now the self styled New Humans were rising in open rebellion, striving to seize control and impose their fanatical grand design on all humans everywhere. Basil, Sonja and Torval had only recently graduated from the Imperial Deep Space Fleet Academy, and the three comrades had no inkling of the crucial role they would play as the rising storm of war engulfed the galaxy¾nor of the importance of the Luon, the dragon-like beings from Basil's homeworld, who were older, wiser, and more powerful than humans could imagine. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). Praise for Steve White: "Highly recommended for all readers who like exciting extraterrestrial battle scenes served up with a measure of thought and science." ¾Kliatt "White perfectly blends background information, technical and historical details, vivid battle scenes and well-written characters. . . a great package." ¾Starlog







Star Trek: Small World


Book Description

STARFLEET CORPS OF ENGINEERS The da Vinci 's latest mission involves bringing precious cargo to the Mu Arae system -- an entire world that, through a miraculous feat of engineering, is being stored in a small, pyramid-shaped box. Unfortunately, a hostile species wants the pyramid -- and its amazing technology -- for itself, and won't hesitate to go through the da Vinci to get it. To make matters worse, the caretaker of the world is in critical condition in sickbay. The S.C.E. must figure out the secret of the planet-in-a-box before it's destroyedŠ SMALL WORLD