Science Reality

Smart Ball follows Major League Baseball's history as a sport, a domestic monopoly, a neocolonial power, and an international business. MLB's challenge has been to market its popular mythology as the national pastime with pastoral, populist roots while addressing the management challenges of competing with other sports and diversions in a burgeoning global economy. Baseball researcher Robert F. Lewis II argues that MLB for years abused its legal insulation and monopoly status.

Fictional stories have long held an uncanny power over hearts and minds, especially those of young people. In Dangerous Fictions, Lyta Gold traces arguments both historical and contemporary that have labeled fiction as dark, immoral, frightening, or poisonous. Within each she asks: How “dangerous” is fiction, really? And what about it provokes waves of moral panic and even censorship?

On June 27, 2013, Kenny and Teddy Lee were broke and jobless. After four years working together on smaller videogames, the two brothers had pooled their resources to create Rogue Legacy, a game exponentially larger in scope than any they had created before. Seven days and 100,000 sales later, they were back in the black. Their recipe for success: 18 months, countless arguments, a surprisingly popular game about holding one's bowels, and unwavering trust.

Harper Rawls struggles to come to grips with her parents’ deaths, but it’s not going well. Accompanying her guilt and inadequacy, she’s somehow gained the attention of an anti-cloning extremist organization. Out of “respect for her father”, they now watch her every move. Ordell Bentley, a genetically-altered clone, flees violence at the hands of the same group. Death stalks him through the nascent jungles of League City, Texas as he makes his way to his lover’s house to warn her, only to find Harper instead.

The year is 2132. Humanity has forsaken nature for technology, focusing instead on creating The Simulation—a hyper-realistic alternate reality. Julius, a tech enthusiast, dives headfirst into its worlds, but fractured memories and shifting identities blur the line between illusion and existence.

When New Reality, a fully immersive, five-dimensional entertainment experience, was introduced to the world, everyone logged on. Everyone except Jake and Tom. It doesn't take long for the world to crumble into ruin, leaving Jake and Tom wandering through leveled cities occupied by New Reality dreamers. In order to find one gamer among many, they must risk everything-going up against Rixon, the corporation behind New Reality.

Heralded as the most significant technological innovation since the smartphone, virtual reality is poised to transform our very notions of life and humanity. Though this tech is still in its infancy, to those on the inside, it is the future. VR will change how we work, how we experience entertainment, how we feel pleasure and other emotions, how we see ourselves, and most importantly, how we relate to each other in the real world. And we will never be the same. Peter Rubin, senior culture editor for Wired and the industry's go-to authority on the subject, calls it an "intimacy engine".

Sexual Reality marks Susie Bright's return to politics and passion, jealousy and risk - in an intimate look at the human sexual condition. Chapters include: "The Story of O Birthday Party", "Strip Tea: A Most Unusual Tea Party", "Undressing Camille Paglia", "Egg Sex: Pregnancy and a Mother's Sex Life", "Blindsexual: What Every Bisexual Needs to Know", and "When 'No' Means 'I Didn't Know It Would Be Like This'".

Dr. Everett Berning achieved his life's work by discovering a cure for drug addiction. Unfortunately, the formula was stolen and fell into the hands of the enemy. Drug lords from around the world unknowingly released the altered, deadly formula into their supply, affecting millions across the globe. Within 48 hours, the entire planet was thrown into chaos as the disease spread.

This is the must-listen book for those who want to truly understand divided America. Learn the who, how, when, what, and why events and motivation that have and will continue to further divide and deepen the uncivil cultural war taking place in our country.

Is there such a thing as a fundamental reality, something which was around before our universe came into existence and which will still remain when all matter, time, and space itself ultimately disappear? Something fundamental which, in turn, can make space and time and matter arise from seemingly nothing? Under most cosmological and physical models, the last known remnants of reality are the disembodied laws of mathematics - beyond which it is extremely difficult to probe further.

Most people have heard about quantum physics and its remarkable, well-nigh bizarre claims. And most people would assume that quantum reality describes a world quite different from ours. In this book, David A. Grandy shows that one can find quantum puzzles, or variations thereof, in the backyard of everyday experience.

A war has broken out in the galaxy! The great spacefaring races are all entangled in the fight, and even at the very edge of the known universe, humanity can hear the echoes of its distant bloody battles. Gnat is with the Shiamiru crew on the front lines. He's just changed class to Listener, and his friends find themselves right in the thick of this grand interstellar war....

Gnat is on his voyage with the Shiamiru, all the while trying to find backup for humanity among the great spacefaring races. After all, based on what he's already seen, he knows not to count on the good sense of his own kind. Even facing an external threat, the people of our Earth cannot see past their internal squabbles and come together to fight as one. Gnat does not expect gratitude from his leaders for taking such matters into his own hands, but when have laws and rules ever stopped our intrepid hero before?

Call it a rut, a vicious cycle of monotony, or a never-ending Groundhog Day, in any case, he lived his life, nonetheless. While his day-to-day existence gave him satisfaction and fulfilment, his enemy received its gratification only from terrorizing and destroying the defenseless, the helpless and those confined to such mundane lives. His enemy lived to kill. But when that adversary turned his wrath toward the one who lived a simple routine life, he received the surprise of his life.

Embark on the exploration of 'The Book of Odd,' delving into the intricacies of our small world. Each chapter unfolds to reveal the active role consciousness plays in shaping an ever-evolving universe. This narrative underscores the profound interdependence of life, casting us as co-authors in a grand cosmic story. Beyond contemplation, the tale carries a passionate message about our collective influence on the present moment, Right Now. It champions our ability to shape destinies, turning potential into tangible outcomes and emphasizing the inherent purpose within each of us.

After eight years in the sandbox, former fighter pilot Brock Blount heads to Hollywood for his new life. Can a decorated hero find purpose in flying charters by day and starlets by night? Yes, please! Then a fat cat billionaire and his two much younger mistresses hire him for a last-minute flight to their secret bug-out bunker - just in time for the end of the world as we know it. Coincidence or mind game? A survival situation or a simulation? In a world where nothing is what it seems, Brock and his girls band together to make sure humanity survives.

A Fae prince, a guardian angel, twin dragon shifters, a vampire.... And that's only the beginning. Now that the truth is out about the supernaturals, things are starting to get interesting. With 10 bachelors remaining, Kimmie-Jayne needs to get her head in the game. But with a murder investigation underway on set, listening to her heart only complicates matters. To make things worse, the mysterious accidents that were supposed to end with the big supernatural reveal are back with a vengeance.

Erin is a plastic girl living in a plastic world. Every day she eats a breakfast of boiled chicken, then conveys her articulated body to Tablet Town, where she sells other figurines Smartbodies: wearable tech that allows full, physical immersion in a virtual world, a refuge from real life’s brutal wars, oppressive governmental monitoring, and omnipresent eco-terrorist insurgency. If you cut her, she will not bleed—but she and her fellow figurines can still be cracked or blown apart by gunfire or bombs, or crumble away from nuclear fallout.

Beyond Reality is a collection of short stories surrounding the paranormal, the supernatural, and the unknown. It chronicles the team of researchers, who just happened to possess certain psychic abilities, as they investigate the unknown and attempt to bring answers.