Science Myths

How important is luck in economic success? No question more reliably divides conservatives from liberals. As conservatives correctly observe, people who amass great fortunes are almost always talented and hardworking. But liberals are also correct to note that countless others have those same qualities yet never earn much. In recent years, social scientists have discovered that chance plays a much larger role in important life outcomes than most people imagine.

I’m not your average hero. I actually wasn’t your average anything. Just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all. It all started with a curse. And a frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission. There wasn’t a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I’ve ever heard.

Eighteen-year-old Myla Lewis is a girl who loves two things: kicking ass and kicking ass. She's not your everyday quasi-demon, half-demon, and half-human, girl. For the past five years, Myla has lived for the days she gets to fight in Purgatory's arena. When souls want a trial by combat for their right to enter heaven or hell, they go up against her, and she has not lost a battle yet.

A witch. Her guardian. A stolen magic.... Witch song controls nature - everything from the changing of the season to the storms. So when drought chokes the land and Brusenna and her mother's little farm isn't affected, the villagers distrust of witches hardens into hatred. But Brusenna has far more to fear than the villagers. When the witch hunters penetrate Brusenna's protected forest, she learns an impossible truth. She is the last witch. The other witches' powerful magic has been stolen and twisted to a dark purpose by a terrible evil.

Skeeve has decided, at long last, to come out of his self-imposed retirement and get back into the problem-solving biz. He confidently expected walk in and take his rightful place as the head of M.Y.T.H., Inc. He didn’t expect to have to face off against Aahz for the job. With their friends lending help but showing no favorites, they start a not-so-friendly contest to see who will run the company by taking opposite sides of the next case to walk in the door. Will the legendary partnership survive the battle, or will this be the end of a beautiful friendship?

Feyland is the most immersive sim-game ever designed, and Jennet Carter is the first to play the prototype. But she doesn't suspect the virtual world is close enough to touch - or that she'll be battling for her life against the Dark Queen of the faeries. Tam Linn is the perfect hero - in-game. Too bad the rest of his life is seriously flawed. The last thing he needs is rich-girl Jennet prying into his secrets, insisting he's the only one who can help her.

This book examines one of the most contested issues facing feminists, human rights activists, and governments around the globe - the international sex trade. For decades, the liberal left has been conflicted as to whether pro-prostitution activists or abolitionists hold the correct view, and debates are ongoing as to who holds the key to the solutions facing the women and girls involved.

Since the beginning of times, there has always been two sides: Norms and Idols. But never have the scales been so unbalanced as they are today. I'm a Norm, which means I grew up in fear of the Idols and their godly powers. And now, I'm going to be surrounded by them, day and night. I've been offered a place at the prestigious Gifted Academy, an opportunity very few Norms get. To survive, I must become invisible. But my hope to get through the academy unscathed goes down the drain when the most powerful boys in school set their eyes on me. But I'm done cowering away from Idols....

Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, along with their friends and allies from Ferryport Landing, engage in a climactic battle with the fearsome Mirror. With the future of the Grimms and all the Everafters hanging in the balance, the sisters make a fateful choice to join forces with the members of the Scarlet Hand to defeat Mirror and end this conflict once and for all.

Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat - a girl who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual. The corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With an analog SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film.

Popularized by Joseph Campbell, the hero's journey features narrative stages along which a person matures and transforms. But where heroes transform is just as important as what they do to get there. Holly Bellebuono shows you how the location of each hero's journey step is intimately tied to the challenges faced, setting the tone for the entire adventure.

My name is Rory Forseti, and I attend the Colorado branch of Mythos Academy, a school of warrior kids, powerful artifacts, and mythological monsters. I'm a student, a fierce Spartan warrior, and a member of Team Midgard, a group of kids and adults tasked with stopping the evil Reapers of Chaos. There is one Reaper I'm determined to hunt down above all others: Covington, the man who murdered my parents. So when the Midgard gets a tip that Covington is going to try to steal a dangerous artifact, I'm ready to fight. But the situation is far more complicated than it seems.

After years as a court magician and interdimensional hero, Skeeve needed a rest. So he took some time off to study magic and relax. When a few months later several members of the M.Y.T.H. Inc. Team each ask him to train some talented, young magicians in "practical magic", he has to agree. But after the assassins attack and a manticore tries to eat them, the Khlad mage soon discovers that there is more going on than learning. His students are preparing for a very deadly magical game, and you won't believe where.

Griffins, cyclopes, monsters, and giants - these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? Through careful research and meticulous documentation, Adrienne Mayor convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact - in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were once abundant in the lands of the Greeks and Romans.

Billy Chan and his friends have been transported 5,000 years into the future where the evil Dragon of Death has become ruler of Dragon City. Humans now live to serve the dragon population, and it's no different for Billy, Charlotte, Dylan, and Ling-Fei. After losing contact with their own dragons, they're determined to track them down in this new city, even if it means putting their own lives at risk. But one dragon has turned to the dark side and has no plans to return.

Embark on an extraordinary voyage through the enchanted realms of mythical creatures and celestial legends with this captivating collection. Dive into the timeless tales of unicorns, dragons, and moon lore that have fascinated humanity for centuries.

Alyssa Gardner went down the rabbit hole and took control of her destiny. She survived the battle for Wonderland and the battle for her heart. In this collection of three novellas, join Alyssa and her family as they look back at their memories of Wonderland.

Hayden was born a werewolf, a Dark Guardian. But her ability to sense the feelings of fellow werewolves has made her life unbearable. She runs away, only to be tracked by charming, mysterious Daniel, a newcomer to the pack and the one Shifter immune to her powers. As she reluctantly follows him home, Hayden finds herself falling dangerously in love....

In this study, Fromm argues that man needs to analyze his unconscious thoughts, his dreams, and his conscious fantasies, as they reflect a universal and symbolic representation of himself.

A young man confined to his basement, a broken-down car, and surveillance video footage aren't normal elements in a fairy tale. But in this 21st-century retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Carlo Mostro must challenge himself to go beyond his comfort zone...the basement. Will he let Belle help him?