A deadly thaw

By Ward, Sarah

Publishing Date: 2016

Classification: M

Call Number: M

Lena Grey offered no defense for murdering her husband, and served fourteen long years in prison. But within months of her release his body is found in a disused morgue, recently killed. Who was the man she killed before, and why did she lie about his identity? Detective Inspector Francis Sadler and his Derbyshire team investigate, but before Lena can be questioned further she vanishes and her sister Kat begins to receive mysterious packages. As her inquiries begin to collide with the murder investigation, a link to the sisters' teenage lives emerges.

Smooth operator

By Woods, Stuart

Publishing Date: [2016]

Classification: M

Call Number: M

"From #1 bestselling author Stuart Woods comes an extraordinary new series starring an old fan favorite: Teddy Fay. When President Kate Lee calls Stone Barrington to Washington on an urgent matter, it's soon clear that a potentially disastrous situation requires the kind of help more delicate than even he can provide. and he knows just the right man for the job. Teddy Fay: ex-CIA, master of disguise, and a gentleman not known for abiding by legal niceties in the pursuit of his own brand of justice"--

London after midnight, volume I: a conducted tour

Publishing Date: 1996

Classification: M

Call Number: M LARGE PRINT

The knife / Robert Arthur -- Fun Manchu and the frightened redhead / Sax Rohmer -- The Funspot-Street affair / Thomas Burke -- The girl who loved graveyards / P.D. James -- The most hated man in London / Patricia Moyes -- Flight from Fleet Street / Carter Dickson -- Dangerous game / Michael Gilbert -- Karmesin the murderer / Gerald Kersh -- The day Lucky's luck ran out / Allan Prior -- A little place off the Edgeware Road / Graham Greene -- People don't do such things / Ruth Rendell.

Dawnthief

By Barclay, James

Publishing Date: 2009

Classification: SF

Call Number: SF

The Wytch Lords have escaped and The Raven find themselves fighting for the Dark College of magic, searching for the location of the Dawnthief. It is a spell created to end the world, and it must be cast if any of them are to survive.

NEW RELEASE

Exhalation

By Chiang, Ted

Publishing Date: 2019

Classification: SF

Call Number: SF

This much-anticipated second collection of stories is signature Ted Chiang, full of revelatory ideas and deeply sympathetic characters. In "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," a portal through time forces a fabric seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past mistakes and the temptation of second chances. In the epistolary "Exhalation," an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications not just for his own people, but for all of reality. And in "The Lifecycle of Software Objects," a woman cares for an artificial intelligence over twenty years, elevating a faddish digital pet into what might be a true living being. Also included are two brand-new stories: "Omphalos" and "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom." In this fantastical and elegant collection, Ted Chiang wrestles with the oldest questions on earth--What is the nature of the universe? What does it mean to be human?--and ones that no one else has even imagined. And, each in its own way, the stories prove that complex and thoughtful science fiction can rise to new heights of beauty, meaning, and compassion.

Four novels of the 1960s

By Dick, Philip K.

Publishing Date: c2007

Classification: SF

Call Number: SF

This Library of America volume brings together four of Dick's most original novels. The Man in the High Castle (1962), which won the Hugo Award, describes an alternate world in which Japan and Germany have won World War II and America is divided into separate occupation zones. The dizzying The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965) posits a future in which competing hallucinogens proffer different brands of virtual reality, and an interplanetary drug tycoon can transform himself into a godlike figure transcending even physical death.

Lies, Inc

By Dick, Philip K.

Publishing Date: 2004

Classification: SF

Call Number: SF

When catastrophic overpopulation threatens Earth, one company offers to teleport citizens to the Whale's Mouth, an allegly pristine new home for happy and industrious emigres. But there is one problem: the teleportation machine works only in one direction. When Rachmael ben Applebaum discovers that some of the footage of happy settlers may have been faked, he sets out on an eighteen-year-old journey to see if anyone wants to come back.

Better angels

By Hendrix, Howard V.

Publishing Date: c1999

Classification: SF

Call Number: SF

Set during the first decades of the 21st century, this novel that meshes virtual reality, deep-space exploration, and human nature, revolves around the discovery of an ancient, alien artifact resembling an angel's shoulder blade, unearthed from California's La Brea Tar Pits, and the transcendental effect it has on five people.

The cyberiad: fables for the cybernetic age

By Lem, Stanislaw

Publishing Date: 2014

Classification: SF

Call Number: SF

Trurl and Klaupacius are constructor robots who try to out-invent each other. They travel to the far corners of the cosmos to take on freelance problem-solving jobs, with dire consequences for their employers.

NEW RELEASE

Sixteen ways to defend a walled city

By Parker, K. J.

Publishing Date: 2019

Classification: SF

Call Number: SF

"This is the story of Orhan, son of Siyyah Doctus Felix Praeclarrissimus, and his history of the Great Siege, written down so that the deeds and sufferings of great men may never be forgotten. A siege is approaching, and the city has little time to prepare. The people have no food and no weapons, and the enemy has sworn to slaughter them all. To save the city will take a miracle, but what it has is Orhan. A colonel of engineers, Orhan has far more experience with bridge-building than battles, is a cheat and a liar, and has a serious problem with authority. He is, in other words, perfect for the job."--Back cover.

The way of the witch

By Siegel, Jan

Publishing Date: 2002

Classification: SF

Call Number: SF

Rejuvenated and reincarnated through sorcery, the witch-queen Morgus returns after years of exile, stalking modern England as she concocts a devious scheme to rule present-day Britain and seek revenge on her nemesis Fern Capel.

The Chrysalids

By Wyndham, John

Publishing Date: ©1955

Classification: SF

Call Number: SF

Genetic mutation has devastated the world and a bleak, primitive society has emerged from its ruins ; a society which punishes any deviation from rigid norms. Ten-year-old David is having strange dreams about a mysterious city. But in his ultra-religious village of Waknut, all abnormality is abhorred, and he soon realizes that differences can be very dangerous indeed.

NEW RELEASE

Indistractable: how to control your attention and choose your life

By Eyal, Nir

Publishing Date: [2019]

Classification: 100

Call Number: 153.733 EYA

You sit down at your desk to work on an important project, but a notification on your phone interrupts your morning. Later, as you're about to get back to work, a colleague taps you on the shoulder to chat. At home, screens get in the way of quality time with your family. Another day goes by, and once again, your most important personal and professional goals are put on hold. What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused and overcome distractions? What if you had the power to become "indistractable"?

Ageless soul: the lifelong journey toward meaning and joy

By Moore, Thomas

Publishing Date: 2017

Classification: 100

Call Number: 155.6719 MOO

Offers advice on how to embrace healthier perspectives on aging through a rich spiritual life, covering subjects ranging from depression and mentorship to sexuality and the spiritual paths that open later in life.

Congratulations, by the way: some thoughts on kindness

By Saunders, George

Publishing Date: [2014]

Classification: 100

Call Number: 177.7 SAU

Drawing on his well-received convocation address at Syracuse University, one of today's most influential and original writers shows how to lead a kinder, more fulfilling life.

Soul feast: an invitation to the Christian spiritual life

By Thompson, Marjorie J.

Publishing Date: [2014]

Classification: 200

Call Number: 248 THO

First released in 1995, this spiritual classic continues to be a bestseller, as thousands each year accept Marjorie Thompson's invitation to the Christian spiritual life. Offering a framework for understanding the spiritual disciplines and instruction for develop»ing and nurturing those practices, Soul Feast continues to be a favorite for individual reflection and group study. Many new additions, including a new chapter on keeping the Sabbath, make this newly revised edition of Soul Feast a must-have. This newly revised edition will include the following new or updated content: An all-new introduction, reflecting on the book's twenty-year history and why it has remained so popular. An all-new chapter on keeping the Sabbath, one of the most life-giving spiritual disciplines in a hurried 24/7 world. It will explore the importance of Sabbath time, and how readers can create space for it when the pace of life seems to be con»tinually accelerating. A significantly expanded "Rule of Life" chapter at the end of the book, based on numerous reader requests for more guidance on how to go about creating their own personal Rule. Some refreshed sidebar quotations from spiritual writers to complement the best ones from the prior editions. A revised group study guide to reflect the addition of new materials. -- ́Łc From Amazon.com.

Why Buddhism is true: the science and philosophy of meditation and enlightenment

By Wright, Robert

Publishing Date: 2017

Classification: 200

Call Number: 294.342 WRI

At the heart of Buddhism is a simple claim: The reason we suffer -- and the reason we make other people suffer -- is that we don't see the world clearly. At the heart of Buddhist meditative practice is a radical promise: we can learn to see the world, including ourselves, more clearly, and so gain a deep and morally valid happiness. Robert Wright not only shows how taking this promise seriously can change your life -- how it can loosen the grip of anxiety, regret, and hatred -- but also how it can deepen your appreciation of beauty and of other people. Drawing on the latest in neuroscience and psychology, Wright explains why the path toward truth and the path toward happiness are the same path. In the light of modern science, both the Buddhist diagnosis and the Buddhist prescription make a whole new kind of sense. This book is the culmination of a personal journey that began with Wright's book on evolutionary psychology, The Moral Animal, and deepened as he immersed himself in meditative practice and conversed with some of the world's most skilled mediators. It shows how, in a time of technological distraction and social division, we can save ourselves from ourselves, both as individuals and as a species.

The lies that bind: rethinking identity, creed, country, color, class, culture

By Appiah, Anthony

Publishing Date: [2018]

Classification: 300

Call Number: 302.5 APP

"Who do you think you are? That's a question bound up in another: what do you think you are? Gender. Religion. Race. Nationality. Class. Culture. Such affiliations give contours to our sense of self, and shape our polarized world. Yet the collective identities they spawn are riddled with contradictions, and cratered with falsehoods. Kwame Anthony Appiah's The Lies That Bind is an incandescent exploration of the nature and history of the identities that define us. It challenges our assumptions about how identities work. We all know there are conflicts between identities, but Appiah shows how identities are created by conflict. Religion, he demonstrates, gains power because it isn't primarily about belief. Our everyday notions of race are the detritus of discarded nineteenth-century science. Our cherished concept of the sovereign nation--of self-rule--is incoherent and unstable. Class systems can become entrenched by efforts to reform them. Even the very idea of Western culture is a shimmering mirage. From Anton Wilhelm Amo, the eighteenth-century African child who miraculously became an eminent European philosopher before retiring back to Africa, to Italo Svevo, the literary marvel who changed citizenship without leaving home, to Appiah's own father, Joseph, an anticolonial firebrand who was ready to give his life for a nation that did not yet exist, Appiah interweaves keen-edged argument with vibrant narratives to expose the myths behind our collective identities. These 'mistaken identities,' Appiah explains, can fuel some of our worst atrocities--from chattel slavery to genocide. And yet, he argues that social identities aren't something we can simply do away with. They can usher in moral progress and bring significance to our lives by connecting the small scale of our daily existence with larger movements, causes, and concerns. Elaborating a bold and clarifying new theory of identity, The Lies That Bind is a ringing philosophical statement for the anxious, conflict-ridden twenty-first century. This book will transform the way we think about who--and what--'we' are"--Dust jacket.

Hello world: being human in the age of algorithms

By Fry, Hannah

Publishing Date: [2018]

Classification: 300

Call Number: 303.483 FRY

If you were accused of a crime, who would you rather decide your sentence--a mathematically consistent algorithm incapable of empathy or a compassionate human judge prone to bias and error? What if you want to buy a driverless car and must choose between one programmed to save as many lives as possible and another that prioritizes the lives of its own passengers? And would you agree to share your family's full medical history if you were told that it would help researchers find a cure for cancer? These are just some of the dilemmas that we are beginning to face as we approach the age of the algorithm, when it feels as if the machines reign supreme. Already, these lines of code are telling us what to watch, where to go, whom to date, and even whom to send to jail. But as we rely on algorithms to automate big, important decision--in crime, justice, healthcare, transportation, and money--they raise questions about what we want our world to look like. What matters most: Helping doctors with diagnosis or preserving privacy? Protecting victims of crime or preventing innocent people being falsely accused? Hello World takes us on a tour through the good, the bad, and the downright ugly of the algorithms that surround us on a daily basis. Mathematician Hannah Fry reveals their inner workings, showing us how algorithms are written and implemented, and demonstrates the ways in which human bias can literally be written into the code. By weaving in relatable, real-world stories with accessible explanations of the underlying mathematics that power algorithms, Hello World helps us to determine their power, expose their limitations, and examine whether they really are an improvement on the human systems they replace. -- Dust jacket flaps.

NEW RELEASE

How to be an antiracist

By Kendi, Ibram X.

Publishing Date: [2019]

Classification: 300

Call Number: 305.8009 KEN

Combines ethics, history, law, and science with a personal narrative to describe how to move beyond the awareness of racism and contribute to making society just and equitable.