A Hologram for the King

A Hologram for the King PDF Author: Dave Eggers
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1938073312
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
From the bestselling author of The Circle—a taut, richly layered, and elegiac novel that takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the global economy’s gale-force winds. “An outstanding achievement in Eggers’s already impressive career, and an essential read.” —San Francisco Chronicle In a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter’s college tuition, and finally do something great. A novel that’s a powerful evocation of our contemporary moment—and a moving story of how we got here.

A Hologram for the King

A Hologram for the King PDF Author: Dave Eggers
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1938073312
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
From the bestselling author of The Circle—a taut, richly layered, and elegiac novel that takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the global economy’s gale-force winds. “An outstanding achievement in Eggers’s already impressive career, and an essential read.” —San Francisco Chronicle In a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter’s college tuition, and finally do something great. A novel that’s a powerful evocation of our contemporary moment—and a moving story of how we got here.

You Shall Know Our Velocity

You Shall Know Our Velocity PDF Author: Dave Eggers
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307426084
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
An “entertaining and profoundly original” (San Francisco Chronicle) moving and hilarious tale of two friends who fly around the world trying to give away a lot of money and free themselves from a profound loss. • From the bestselling author of The Circle. “Nobody writes better than Dave Eggers about young men who aspire to be, at the same time, authentic and sincere.” —The New York Times Book Review "You Shall Know Our Velocity! is the work of a wildly talented writer.... Like Kerouac's book, Eggers's could inspire a generation as much as it documents it." —LA Weekly

Heroes of the Frontier

Heroes of the Frontier PDF Author: Dave Eggers
Publisher: Knopf Canada
ISBN: 0735272468
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
A captivating, often hilarious novel of family, loss, wilderness, and the curse of a violent America, Dave Eggers’s Heroes of the Frontier is a powerful examination of our contemporary life and a rousing story of adventure. Josie and her children’s father have split up, she’s been sued by a former patient and lost her dental practice, and she’s grieving the death of a young man senselessly killed. When her ex asks to take the children to meet his new fiancée’s family, Josie makes a run for it, figuring Alaska is about as far as she can get without a passport. Josie and her kids, Paul and Ana, rent a rattling old RV named the Chateau, and at first their trip feels like a vacation: They see bears and bison, they eat hot dogs cooked on a bonfire, and they spend nights parked along icy cold rivers in dark forests. But as they drive, pushed north by the ubiquitous wildfires, Josie is chased by enemies both real and imagined, past mistakes pursuing her tiny family, even to the very edge of civilization. A tremendous new novel from the bestselling author of The Circle, Heroes of the Frontier is the darkly comic story of a mother and her two young children on a journey through an Alaskan wilderness plagued by wildfires and a uniquely American madness.

The World According to Tom Hanks

The World According to Tom Hanks PDF Author: Gavin Edwards
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 1538712210
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
An entertaining and insightful homage to Tom Hanks, America's favorite movie star, from the New York Times bestselling author of the cult sensation The Tao of Bill Murray. Niceness gets a bad rap these days. Our culture rewards those who troll the hardest and who snark the most. At times it seems like there's no place anymore for optimism, integrity, and good old-fashioned respect. Enter "America's Dad": Tom Hanks. Whether he's buying espresso machines for the White House Press Corps, rewarding a jovial cab driver with a night out on Broadway, or extolling the virtues of using a typewriter, Hanks lives a passionate, joyful life and pays it forward to others. Gavin Edwards, the New York Times bestselling author of The Tao of Bill Murray, takes readers on a tour behind the scenes of Hanks's life: from his less-than-idyllic childhood, rocky first marriage, and career wipeouts to the pinnacle of his acting career and domestic bliss with the love of his life, Rita Wilson. As he did for Bill Murray, Edwards distills Hanks's life story into ten "commandments" that beautifully encapsulate his All-American philosophy. Contemplating the life, the achievements, and the obsessions of Mr. Tom Hanks may or may not give you the road map you need to find your way. But at the very least, it'll show you how niceness can be a worthy destination.

The Parade

The Parade PDF Author: Dave Eggers
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 052565531X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description
From the bestselling author of The Circle comes a taut, suspenseful story of two foreigners' role in a nation's fragile peace. With echoes of J. M. Coetzee and Graham Greene, this "darkly funny" novel (The Los Angeles Times) questions whether we can ever understand another nation's war, and what role we have in forging anyone's peace. An unnamed country is leaving the darkness of a decade at war, and to commemorate the armistice the government commissions a new road connecting two halves of the state. Two men, foreign contractors from the same company, are sent to finish the highway. While one is flighty and adventurous, wanting to experience the nightlife and people, the other wants only to do the work and go home. But both men must eventually face the absurdities of their positions, and the dire consequences of their presence.

What Is the What

What Is the What PDF Author: Dave Eggers
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307371379
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 563

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Book Description
What Is the What is the story of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee in war-ravaged southern Sudan who flees from his village in the mid-1980s and becomes one of the so-called Lost Boys. Valentino’s travels bring him in contact with enemy soldiers, with liberation rebels, with hyenas and lions, with disease and starvation, and with deadly murahaleen (militias on horseback)–the same sort who currently terrorize Darfur. Eventually Deng is resettled in the United States with almost 4000 other young Sudanese men, and a very different struggle begins. Based closely on true experiences, What Is the What is heartbreaking and arresting, filled with adventure, suspense, tragedy, and, finally, triumph.

Stories I Tell Myself

Stories I Tell Myself PDF Author: Juan F. Thompson
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1101875860
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Hunter S. Thompson, “smart hillbilly,” boy of the South, born and bred in Louisville, Kentucky, son of an insurance salesman and a stay-at-home mom, public school-educated, jailed at seventeen on a bogus petty robbery charge, member of the U.S. Air Force (Airmen Second Class), copy boy for Time, writer for The National Observer, et cetera. From the outset he was the Wild Man of American journalism with a journalistic appetite that touched on subjects that drove his sense of justice and intrigue, from biker gangs and 1960s counterculture to presidential campaigns and psychedelic drugs. He lived larger than life and pulled it up around him in a mad effort to make it as electric, anger-ridden, and drug-fueled as possible. Now Juan Thompson tells the story of his father and of their getting to know each other during their forty-one fraught years together. He writes of the many dark times, of how far they ricocheted away from each other, and of how they found their way back before it was too late. He writes of growing up in an old farmhouse in a narrow mountain valley outside of Aspen—Woody Creek, Colorado, a ranching community with Hereford cattle and clover fields . . . of the presence of guns in the house, the boxes of ammo on the kitchen shelves behind the glass doors of the country cabinets, where others might have placed china and knickknacks . . . of climbing on the back of Hunter’s Bultaco Matador trail motorcycle as a young boy, and father and son roaring up the dirt road, trailing a cloud of dust . . . of being taken to bars in town as a small boy, Hunter holding court while Juan crawled around under the bar stools, picking up change and taking his found loot to Carl’s Pharmacy to buy Archie comic books . . . of going with his parents as a baby to a Ken Kesey/Hells Angels party with dozens of people wandering around the forest in various stages of undress, stoned on pot, tripping on LSD . . . He writes of his growing fear of his father; of the arguments between his parents reaching frightening levels; and of his finally fighting back, trying to protect his mother as the state troopers are called in to separate father and son. And of the inevitable—of mother and son driving west in their Datsun to make a new home, a new life, away from Hunter; of Juan’s first taste of what “normal” could feel like . . . We see Juan going to Concord Academy, a stranger in a strange land, coming from a school that was a log cabin in the middle of hay fields, Juan without manners or socialization . . . going on to college at Tufts; spending a crucial week with his father; Hunter asking for Juan’s opinion of his writing; and he writes of their dirt biking on a hilltop overlooking Woody Creek Valley, acting as if all the horrible things that had happened between them had never taken place, and of being there, together, side by side . . . And finally, movingly, he writes of their long, slow pull toward reconciliation . . . of Juan’s marriage and the birth of his own son; of watching Hunter love his grandson and Juan’s coming to understand how Hunter loved him; of Hunter’s growing illness, and Juan’s becoming both son and father to his father . . .

Envisioning Holograms

Envisioning Holograms PDF Author: M. Pell
Publisher: Apress
ISBN: 1484227492
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Explore the approach, techniques, and mindshift needed to design truly breakthrough experiences for the Microsoft HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality platform. Learn what’s so different about working with holograms, how to think spatially, and where to start designing your own holographic projects. You’ll move rapidly from initial concept to persuasive prototype—all without the need for expensive tools or a designer’s skill set. Designing for mixed reality is a completely new experience for everyone involved, and takes some experimentation to get right. You won’t nail your first mixed reality project by relying upon your previous mobile or web design expertise as a guide. Mixed reality requires a different kind of design thinking for its unique challenges. Breakthrough holographic design starts with envisioning—the act of visualizing what could be. By rapidly depicting a desired experience and trying out its real-world interactions, you can quickly turn your initial vision into a tangible example of innovative design. Envisioning Holograms digs into why holographic computing is the future, takes you through the mixed reality design process, and gets you ready to take advantage of its endless opportunities. Praise for the Book "Envisioning Holograms is a guidebook for designing our holographic future. You’ll find the processes, techniques, and production tools needed to design immersive products that will change how we work, play and communicate.” – Tony Parisi, Global Head of AR/VR for Unity. Industry legend. "Just as the pioneering work of E.S. Porter helped define a new language for cinematic storytelling at the dawn of motion pictures, Envisioning Holograms provides us with the missing vocabulary and grammar to help define a new design language for this world-changing medium of Mixed Reality.” – Ori Inbar, Founder and Managing Partner for Super Ventures, an AR/VR fund. "An exceptional introduction to a new way of thinking about software. Envisioning Holograms is approachable to people just starting out, and also provides some excellent bits of insight to veterans that can help influence their creative process.” – Lucas Rizzotto, award-winning creator of Mixed Reality experiences. "Envisioning Holograms is the perfect book for VR/AR/MR studios that are struggling with application design. It is filled with strategies to acquire ideas, develop and iterate through scenes, and find the best fit. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to create solid user experiences using 3D interfaces and spatial computing.” – Rick King, authority on the latest trends in AR, VR, and MR development. What You'll Learn Understand what makes mixed reality a challenging design space See how envisioning quickly and persuasively brings ideas to life Get to know your audience, medium, and palette Explore several innovative rapid envisioning techniques Identify the key elements of your own holographic experience Design an engaging holographic experience from start to finish Who This Book Is For While aimed at those designing for Microsoft HoloLens and the Windows Holographic tool kit, the techniques in the book are equally applicable to those designing for other holographic hardware. This book is for the designer who is new to thinking in 3D and wants to quickly learn best practices, and the developer who needs to do design work while building exciting new products for Microsoft HoloLens, and the marketer who has a great story to tell in this exciting new medium of mixed reality.

How We Are Hungry

How We Are Hungry PDF Author: Dave Eggers
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307426300
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
In this "tour de force" (New York Times Book Review), the Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of The Circle demonstrates his mastery of the short story. “These tales reinvigorate … the short story with a jittery sense of adventure.” —San Francisco Chronicle Including the stories:"Another" "What It Means When a Crowd in a Faraway Nation Takes a Soldier Representing Your Own Nation, Shoots Him, Drags Him from His Vehicle and Then Mutilates Him in the Dust" "The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water" "On Wanting to Have Three Walls Up Before She Gets Home" "Climbing to the Window, Pretending to Dance" "She Waits, Seething, Blooming" "Quiet" "Your Mother and I" "Naveed" "Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone" "About the Man Who Began Flying After Meeting Her" "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly" "After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned"

FKA USA

FKA USA PDF Author: Reed King
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN: 125010890X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 624

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Book Description
“Mr. King looks at all our upcoming problems, and imagines a local reaction to each one. The result is often funny, usually sardonic, and always imaginative, what with all the mole rats, flesh drones, dimeheads, and especially ‘The Grifter’s Guide to the Territories FKA USA,’ a notable addition to the line of imaginary authorities.” —The Wall Street Journal Indie Next Pick for July Best of June: io9, AV Club, Amazing Stories, The Verge Reed King’s amazingly audacious novel is something of a cross between L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, Douglas Adams’s A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One. In Reed King’s wildly imaginative and possibly prescient debut, the United States has dissolved in the wake of environmental disasters and the catastrophic policies of its final president. It is 2085, and Truckee Wallace, a factory worker in Crunchtown 407 (formerly Little Rock, Arkansas, before the secessions), has no grand ambitions besides maybe, possibly, losing his virginity someday. But when Truckee is thrust unexpectedly into the spotlight he is tapped by the President for a sensitive political mission: to deliver a talking goat across the continent. The fate of the world depends upon it. The problem is—Truckee’s not sure it’s worth it. Joined on the road by an android who wants to be human and a former convict lobotomized in Texas, Truckee will navigate an environmentally depleted and lawless continent with devastating—and hilarious—parallels to our own, dodging body pickers and Elvis-worshippers and logo girls, body subbers, and VR addicts. Elvis-willing, he may even lose his virginity. FKA USA is the epic novel we’ve all been waiting for about the American end of times, with its unavoidable sense of being on the wrong end of the roller coaster ride. It is a masterwork of ambition, humor, and satire with the power to make us cry, despair, and laugh out loud all at once. It is a tour de force unlike anything else you will read this year.