The Stuff of Science Fiction

The Stuff of Science Fiction PDF Author: Gary Westfahl
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476686599
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
While students and general readers typically cannot relate to esoteric definitions of science fiction, they readily understand the genre as a literature that characteristically deals with subjects such as new inventions, space, robot and aliens. This book looks at science fiction in precisely this manner, with twenty-one chapters that each deal with a subject that is repeatedly addressed in science fiction of recent centuries. Based on a packet of original essays that the author assembled for his classes, the book could serve as a supplemental textbook in science fiction classes, but also contains material of interest to science fiction scholars and others devoted to the genre. In some cases, chapters offer thorough surveys of numerous works involving certain subjects, such as imagined vehicles, journeys beneath the Earth and undersea adventures, discovering intriguing patterns in the ways that various writers developed their ideas. When comprehensive coverage of ubiquitous topics such as robots, aliens and the planet Mars is impossible, chapters focus on major themes referencing selected texts. A conclusion discusses other science fiction subjects that were omitted for various reasons, and a bibliography lists additional resources for the study of science fiction in general and the topics of each chapter.

The Stuff of Science Fiction

The Stuff of Science Fiction PDF Author: Gary Westfahl
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476686599
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Get Book Here

Book Description
While students and general readers typically cannot relate to esoteric definitions of science fiction, they readily understand the genre as a literature that characteristically deals with subjects such as new inventions, space, robot and aliens. This book looks at science fiction in precisely this manner, with twenty-one chapters that each deal with a subject that is repeatedly addressed in science fiction of recent centuries. Based on a packet of original essays that the author assembled for his classes, the book could serve as a supplemental textbook in science fiction classes, but also contains material of interest to science fiction scholars and others devoted to the genre. In some cases, chapters offer thorough surveys of numerous works involving certain subjects, such as imagined vehicles, journeys beneath the Earth and undersea adventures, discovering intriguing patterns in the ways that various writers developed their ideas. When comprehensive coverage of ubiquitous topics such as robots, aliens and the planet Mars is impossible, chapters focus on major themes referencing selected texts. A conclusion discusses other science fiction subjects that were omitted for various reasons, and a bibliography lists additional resources for the study of science fiction in general and the topics of each chapter.

Bering's Voyages: Steller's journal of the sea voyage from Kamchatka to America and return on the second expedition, 1741-1742; translated and in part annotated by Leonhard Stejneger

Bering's Voyages: Steller's journal of the sea voyage from Kamchatka to America and return on the second expedition, 1741-1742; translated and in part annotated by Leonhard Stejneger PDF Author: Frank Alfred Golder
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Kamchatskai︠a︡ ėkspedit︠s︡ii︠a︡
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description


The Amphibians Came to Conquer

The Amphibians Came to Conquer PDF Author: George C. Dyer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Admirals
Languages : en
Pages : 700

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Book Description


The Amphibians Came to Conquer: To the central Pacific and Tarawa

The Amphibians Came to Conquer: To the central Pacific and Tarawa PDF Author: George Carroll Dyer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 700

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Book Description


The Monkey's Voyage

The Monkey's Voyage PDF Author: Alan de Queiroz
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465069762
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Throughout the world, closely related species are found on landmasses separated by wide stretches of ocean. What explains these far-flung distributions? Why are such species found where they are across the Earth? Since the discovery of plate tectonics, scientists have conjectured that plants and animals were scattered over the globe by riding pieces of ancient supercontinents as they broke up. In the past decade, however, that theory has foundered, as the genomic revolution has made reams of new data available. And the data has revealed an extraordinary, stranger-than-fiction story that has sparked a scientific upheaval. In The Monkey's Voyage, biologist Alan de Queiroz describes the radical new view of how fragmented distributions came into being: frogs and mammals rode on rafts and icebergs, tiny spiders drifted on storm winds, and plant seeds were carried in the plumage of sea-going birds to create the map of life we see today. In other words, these organisms were not simply constrained by continental fate; they were the makers of their own geographic destiny. And as de Queiroz shows, the effects of oceanic dispersal have been crucial in generating the diversity of life on Earth, from monkeys and guinea pigs in South America to beech trees and kiwi birds in New Zealand. By toppling the idea that the slow process of continental drift is the main force behind the odd distributions of organisms, this theory highlights the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the history of life. In the tradition of John McPhee's Basin and Range, The Monkey's Voyage is a beautifully told narrative that strikingly reveals the importance of contingency in history and the nature of scientific discovery.

Voyage of the Turtle

Voyage of the Turtle PDF Author: Carl Safina
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780805078916
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
A study of the leatherback turtle details the distressing decline of sea turtles in the Pacific, as well as their remarkable recovery in the Atlantic to illuminate how human intervention can both harm and preserve the natural world.

An Exploration of Space 1999 Through the Lens of Video Games: Payne 1999

An Exploration of Space 1999 Through the Lens of Video Games: Payne 1999 PDF Author: John K. Balor
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0359766781
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 742

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Book Description
This book contains transcripts from Online Alpha discussions where the video game PAYNE 1999, game theory and game-study theories are used for analysing and commenting on problems of conflict and cooperation in SPACE 1999. The discussions build on more than a decade of conversations and debate about PAYNE 1999, and the aim of the book is to put the various threads together while also developing new ideas and providing direction for further investigations. The book has been developed on an idealistic basis, and it is sold at the lowest price the publisher was willing to accept. A free e-book version can be downloaded at www.lulu.com.

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin PDF Author: Grant Allen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description


Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin PDF Author: Grant Allen
Publisher: Lindhardt og Ringhof
ISBN: 8726612763
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
Grant Allen’s "Charles Darwin" is not an ordinary biography. It is a book about the life of one of the most significant and important people of the 19th century. It depicts the personal development of Charles Darwin – from early age to adulthood. It is a book about Darwin’s theories, discoveries and his most significant works, which remain fundamental today, in our current understanding of the world. Grant Allen was a Canadian writer who lived in the period 1848 – 1899. His writing career began around 1876 when he published a series of essays on science. His first books, "Physiological Aesthetics" and "Flowers and Their Pedigrees" took up this subject as well. Grant Allen was also a pioneer in science fiction. He wrote about thirty science fiction novels in the period 1884-1899. In his later works, Allen also took up some revolutionary theories for the time regarding marriage. "The Woman Who Did" which depicts the life of an independent woman who takes care of her child on her own became a bestseller.

Catalogue of the Library of the Literary and Philosophical Society, of Newcastle-upon Tyne

Catalogue of the Library of the Literary and Philosophical Society, of Newcastle-upon Tyne PDF Author: Literary and Philosophical Society (NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 900

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Book Description