June 2007
Monthly Archive
Sat 30 Jun 2007
Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why an adult human being resembles a chimp fetus? And should that worry us? There’s a new genetic cure for drug addiction - is it worse than the disease?
We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps; a time when it’s possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars or test our spouses for genetic maladies. We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes.
Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems, and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn. Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.
The future is closer than you think. Get used to it.
Tags: next, michael crichton, fiction, mysteries & thrillers, science, genes, genetic, reality, morality, moral, species, human, chimpanzee, chimp, dna, cure, drug, addiction, disease, chromosomes, brave new world, the andromeda strain, future
Other books by the same author:
Sun 24 Jun 2007
Two leading, best-selling experts on the Gnostic gospels weigh in on the meaning of the controversial, newly discovered Gospel of Judas.
When the Gospel of Judas was published by the National Geographic Society in April 2006, it received extraordinary media attention and was immediately heralded as a major biblical discovery that rocked the world of scholars and laypeople alike. Elaine Pagels and Karen King are the first to reflect on this newfound text and its ramifications for the story of early Christianity. In Reading Judas, the two celebrated scholars illustrate how the newly discovered text provides a window into understanding how Jesus’ followers understood his death, why Judas betrayed Jesus, and why God allowed it.
Most contemporary readers will find passages in the ancient Gospel of Judas difficult to comprehend outside of its context in the ancient world. Reading Judas illuminates the intellectual assumptions behind Jesus’ teaching to Judas and shows how conflict among the disciples was a tool frequently used by early Christian authors to explore matters of doubt and disagreement.
Presented with the elegance, insight, and accessibility that has made Pagels and King the leading voices in this field, this is a book for academics and popular audiences alike.
Tags: reading judas: the gospel of judas and the shaping of christianity, elaine pagels and karen l. king, religion & spirituality, jesus, disciples, betrayal, bible, crucifixion, gnostic, gnosticism
Sun 24 Jun 2007
A moon rock missing for thirty years….
Five buckets of blood-soaked sand found in a New Mexico canyon….
A scientist with ambition enough to kill….
A monk who will redeem the world….
A dark agency with a deadly mission….
The greatest scientific discovery of all time….
What fire bolt from the galactic dark shattered the Earth eons ago, and now hides in that remote cleft in the southwest U.S. known as Tyrannosaur Canyon?
Tags: tyrannosaur canyon, douglas preston, mystery, science fiction and fantasy, dinosaurs, extinction, science, murder, moon rock, blood, tom broadbent, sally colorado
Sat 23 Jun 2007
Posted by Liz Lewis under
NonfictionNo Comments
Does America have a special mission, derived from God, to bring liberty and democracy to the world? How much influence does the Christian right have over U.S. foreign policy? And how should America deal with violent Islamist extremists? Madeleine Albright, the former Secretary of State and best-selling author of Madam Secretary, offers a thoughtful and often surprising look at the role of religion in shaping America’s approach to the world.
In The Mighty and the Almighty, Madeleine Albright examines the profound impact of religion on America’s view of itself, the effect on U.S. policy of the rise of the Christian right, the Bush administration’s successes and failures in responding to 9/11, the challenges posed by the war in Iraq, and the importance of understanding Islam. She offers a balanced but, when necessary, devastating analysis of U.S. strategy, and condemns those of all faiths who exploit religious fervor to create divisions or enhance their own power.
In this illuminating account, Albright argues that, to be effective, U.S. policy makers must understand the power and place of religion in motivating others and in coloring how American actions are perceived. Defying the conventional wisdom, she suggests not only that religion and politics are inseparable, but that their partnership, when properly harnessed, can be a force for justice and peace.
Tags: the mighty and the almighty: reflections on america, god, and world affairs, madeleine albright, nonfiction, foreign affairs, religion, extremists, fundamentalist, faith, policy, terrorism, war on terror, iraq, democracy, islam, christian right, evangelicals
Fri 22 Jun 2007
Three kids, a mystery, and a magic baseball….
Griffith, Graham, and Ruby’s father passed away in the war. And now they must join their mother and their father’s wartime traveling baseball team, The Travelin’ Nine, on a tour of America to raise money. No one will tell the kids why the team needs money so badly. Their only clue is a baseball with a hole the size of an acorn in it that their Uncle Owen gave them the night of their father’s funeral. They know very little about its significance except that their father made it with his own hands and carried it with him throughout the war. And when all three kids hold the ball, strange things begin to happen.
Tags: barnstormers: game 1, loren long and phil bildner, k-12 educators, kids, parents & family, father, war, baseball
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