A World of Fantasy and Disaster

A World of Fantasy and Disaster PDF Author: Cordan Stough
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing
ISBN: 1434996883
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description

A World of Fantasy and Disaster

A World of Fantasy and Disaster PDF Author: Cordan Stough
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing
ISBN: 1434996883
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description


Mission Improbable

Mission Improbable PDF Author: Lee Clarke
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226109428
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
How does the U.S. Post Office plan to deliver mail after atomic Armageddon? How do oil industry executives intend to collect 10 million gallons of oil spilled in the Gulf of Alaska? How do regulators try to convince people that everyone can be evacuated from congested Long Island after a nuclear power plant destroys itself? Lee Clarke enters the world of managers and experts to find out how governments and corporations plan for massive disaster when they have no clue as to how to go about it. He argues that managers create plans that are "fantasy documents," rhetorical tools that are used to convince audiences that experts are in charge and that all is well. Provocative and written for a general audience, Mission Improbable makes the case that society would be safer, smarter, and fairer if organizations would admit their limitations.

Elemental: The Tsunami Relief Anthology

Elemental: The Tsunami Relief Anthology PDF Author: Steven Savile
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780765315632
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
In the winter of 2005, after the horrifying natural disaster of the tsunami in Southeast Asia, Steve Savile and Alethea Kontis joined forces to raise money to help the distressed survivors and have created Elemental. They solicited SF and fantasy stories, all new and never published elsewhere, from many of the top writers in the genres today, and received immediate responses in the form of the excellent stories here in this book. Elemental has an introduction by Arthur C.Clarke and more than twenty stories by Brian Aldiss, David Drake, Jacqueline Carey, Martha Wells, Larry Niven, Joe Haldeman, Eric Nylund, Sherrilyn Kenyon writing as Kinley MacGregor, and a Dune story by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, and many others. They created in Elemental one of the most important genre anthologies of the year, but more than that: in giving real value for the purchase price, everyone who sells this book can be proud, and everyone who buys it will be richly rewarded for supporting the tsunami relief effort. "The entire collection constitutes thought-provoking entertainment for a good cause, with all publisher and author profits earmarked for the Save the Children Tsunami Relief Fund."--Booklist

The Disasters

The Disasters PDF Author: M. K. England
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062657690
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
The Breakfast Club meets Guardians of the Galaxy in this YA sci-fi adventure by debut author M. K. England. Hotshot pilot Nax Hall has a history of making poor life choices. So it’s not exactly a surprise when he’s kicked out of the elite Ellis Station Academy in less than twenty-four hours. But Nax’s one-way trip back to Earth is cut short when a terrorist group attacks the Academy. Nax and three other washouts escape—barely—but they’re also the sole witnesses to the biggest crime in the history of space colonization. And the perfect scapegoats. On the run, Nax and his fellow failures plan to pull off a dangerous heist to spread the truth. Because they may not be “Academy material,” and they may not even get along, but they’re the only ones left to step up and fight. Full of high-stakes action, subversive humor, and underdogs becoming heroes, this YA sci-fi adventure is perfect for fans of Illuminae, Heart of Iron, or the cult classic TV show Firefly and is also a page-turning thrill ride that anyone—not just space nerds—can enjoy.

The Last Stormlord

The Last Stormlord PDF Author: Glenda Larke
Publisher: Orbit
ISBN: 0316075906
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
Shale is the lowest of the low-an outcast from a poor village in the heart of the desert. In the desert water is life, and currency, and Shale has none. But he has a secret. It's the one thing that keeps him alive and may save all the cities of the Quartern in the days to come. If it doesn't get him killed first. . . Terelle is a slave fleeing a life as a courtesan. She finds shelter in the home of an elderly painter but as she learns the strange and powerful secrets of his art she fears she may have traded a life of servitude for something far more perilous. . . The Stormlord is dying in his tower and there is no one, by accident or design, to take his place. He brings the rain from the distant seas to his people. Without a Stormlord, the cities of the Quartern will wither and die. Their civilization is at the brink of disaster. If Shale and Terelle can find a way to save themselves, they may just save them all. Water is life and the wells are running dry. . .

Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air PDF Author: Jon Krakauer
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0679462716
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The epic account of the storm on the summit of Mt. Everest that claimed five lives and left countless more—including Krakauer's—in guilt-ridden disarray. "A harrowing tale of the perils of high-altitude climbing, a story of bad luck and worse judgment and of heartbreaking heroism." —PEOPLE A bank of clouds was assembling on the not-so-distant horizon, but journalist-mountaineer Jon Krakauer, standing on the summit of Mt. Everest, saw nothing that "suggested that a murderous storm was bearing down." He was wrong. By writing Into Thin Air, Krakauer may have hoped to exorcise some of his own demons and lay to rest some of the painful questions that still surround the event. He takes great pains to provide a balanced picture of the people and events he witnessed and gives due credit to the tireless and dedicated Sherpas. He also avoids blasting easy targets such as Sandy Pittman, the wealthy socialite who brought an espresso maker along on the expedition. Krakauer's highly personal inquiry into the catastrophe provides a great deal of insight into what went wrong. But for Krakauer himself, further interviews and investigations only lead him to the conclusion that his perceived failures were directly responsible for a fellow climber's death. Clearly, Krakauer remains haunted by the disaster, and although he relates a number of incidents in which he acted selflessly and even heroically, he seems unable to view those instances objectively. In the end, despite his evenhanded and even generous assessment of others' actions, he reserves a full measure of vitriol for himself. This updated trade paperback edition of Into Thin Air includes an extensive new postscript that sheds fascinating light on the acrimonious debate that flared between Krakauer and Everest guide Anatoli Boukreev in the wake of the tragedy. "I have no doubt that Boukreev's intentions were good on summit day," writes Krakauer in the postscript, dated August 1999. "What disturbs me, though, was Boukreev's refusal to acknowledge the possibility that he made even a single poor decision. Never did he indicate that perhaps it wasn't the best choice to climb without gas or go down ahead of his clients." As usual, Krakauer supports his points with dogged research and a good dose of humility. But rather than continue the heated discourse that has raged since Into Thin Air's denouncement of guide Boukreev, Krakauer's tone is conciliatory; he points most of his criticism at G. Weston De Walt, who coauthored The Climb, Boukreev's version of events. And in a touching conclusion, Krakauer recounts his last conversation with the late Boukreev, in which the two weathered climbers agreed to disagree about certain points. Krakauer had great hopes to patch things up with Boukreev, but the Russian later died in an avalanche on another Himalayan peak, Annapurna I. In 1999, Krakauer received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters--a prestigious prize intended "to honor writers of exceptional accomplishment." According to the Academy's citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind."

Leave the World Behind

Leave the World Behind PDF Author: Rumaan Alam
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062667653
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Now a Netflix film starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha'la, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans and Kevin Bacon. Written for the Screen and Directed by Sam Esmail. Executive Producers Barack and Michelle Obama, Tonia Davis, Daniel M. Stillman, Nick Krishnamurthy, Rumaan Alam A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in Fiction One of Barack Obama's Summer Reads A Best Book of the Year From: The Washington Post * Time * NPR * Elle * Esquire * Kirkus * Library Journal * The Chicago Public Library * The New York Public Library * BookPage * The Globe and Mail * EW.com * The LA Times * USA Today * InStyle * The New Yorker * AARP * Publisher's Lunch * LitHub * Book Marks * Electric Literature * Brooklyn Based * The Boston Globe A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong. From the bestselling author of Rich and Pretty comes a suspenseful and provocative novel keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped—and unexpected new ones are forged—in moments of crisis. Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other?

Galveston

Galveston PDF Author: Sean Stewart
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486816842
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
After magic and monsters re-enter the world, the island of Galveston splits into two sides: the "normal" half, and Carnival, an endless Mardi Gras where miracles abound. "Terrific fun." — Publishers Weekly.

When Disasters Come Home

When Disasters Come Home PDF Author: David Keen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 150955064X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
In the late twentieth century, disasters seemed like distant happenings in countries far away from the prosperous West. But today they are ‘coming home’ with a vengeance. From global warming to migration crises, from assaults on democracy to Covid-19 and the fall-out of war in Ukraine – the West is in the grip of multiple, overlapping crises that keep its populations in a state of perpetual fear and distraction. Disasters should be awakening us to the need to reform our disaster-producing system. Yet instead, as David Keen shows in this disturbing and original book, they are routinely being exploited for political as well as economic gain. A number of crises, whether slow-burning or sudden, are not only reinforcing each other but also bolstering the toxic politics that helped to generate them. One key problem here is the use of emergencies to vilify those who are trying to relieve them or to highlight their root causes. Unless these voices and alternative perspectives find a way to break through, we risk being locked into a system of emergency politics that is self-reinforcing rather than self-correcting – and that routinely manufactures its own legitimacy.

Disaster Management – How to Survive in a Famine & Other Man-Made & Natural Catastrophes

Disaster Management – How to Survive in a Famine & Other Man-Made & Natural Catastrophes PDF Author: Dueep Jyot Singh
Publisher: Mendon Cottage Books
ISBN: 1370741006
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 90

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Book Description
Table of Contents Introduction Survival of the Fittest The Right to Bear Arms… First Priority – Water Water Filtration Methods Storing or Hoarding Food Your Neighborhood Security Watch Group Leadership for Survival – Possible Factors for Potential Catastrophe Survival Outside – Trapping, Hunting, and Fishing Extra Emergency Items in Your Kit Making a crochet hook – Conclusion Author Bio Publisher Introduction Canning and preserving your own food means that you are going to have an adequate stock of food, in case of famine. Also, nobody can accuse you of hoarding food, in an emergency, which according to them should be distributed to everybody else who did not do any canning or preserving! This book is not for the faint hearted. It is not like other books on survival, with just a number of tips and techniques, because it has real life situations and episodes, based on experience and circumstances. These include war, riots, genocides, and other man-made catastrophes, which the author has experienced, during her lifetime or which has been recounted to her by her family members during their lifetimes. Unfortunately, all over the world, there is absolutely no generation which can say that it has not faced war, catastrophes, or other natural and man-made disasters. That is why even though this book may have a number of episodes, which may look really horrible, especially to people who have never faced any drastic catastrophe, but one has to face reality and be ready for the worst. You may also say, that these things happen in your continent or country, it cannot happen in my country, because we are civilized, have a strong law and order system, and so on. But remember that during catastrophes, nothing is normal, and that is when human beings and their true natures come to the forefront, and a survival of the fittest, and a fight to live, and the need to preserve and protect. This is the first natural instinct of human beings, and it cannot disappear through a thin polish of civilization. One sunny evening I asked a number of my friends during a casual weekend get-together, in America, whether they knew anything about surviving in famine conditions or any other disaster conditions. Their immediate response was that this was not possible in America, due to its state-of-the-art disaster management technology, and latest knowledge on how to deal with disasters in any form. Also, according to them, thanks to the large amounts of food being produced, by their farmers, there was absolutely no chance of famines or droughts, and the only disaster against which they could survive was natural catastrophes. This was 20 years ago, and I could say, that at that time, the outlook was rather positive, for mankind to survive for another couple of millenniums. Unfortunately, with the coming of more natural disasters every year and even man-made catastrophes like war, the chances of one suffering from a famine is getting to be larger, every year. I am not a pessimistic soothsayer. I am just being practical. Look around you. Remember the social, political, economical, and financial condition of the world around you, of say 25 years ago, and compare it with the same factors today. You are going to be surprised at the number of catastrophic disasters, wars, political upheavals, and other factors which are detrimental to the human condition, and its steady rise, every year. So there is absolutely no basis for you putting your head under your safety blanket, and curling up in a corner and singing, no, no, this cannot happen to us, because we are invulnerable, invincible, survivors, and the government is going to protect us.