Systems Science

As James T. Kirk prepares to retire from a long and illustrious Starfleet career, events in a distant part of the Federation draw him back to a part of the galaxy he had last visited as a young man, a mysterious world called Faramond whose name takes Kirk on a journey back to his youth. At 16, Kirk is troubled, estranged from his father, and has a bleak future. However, a trip into space with Kirk's father, George, and Starfleet legend Captain Robert April changes James Kirk's life forever, when a simple voyage becomes a deadly trap.

In the future: A united Earth, to deal with the problem of population control, divides its population into classes of citizen and non-gratis. To be born a non-gratis means a life of little freedoms and the constant possibility of being assigned to work on a colony. Lacking citizenship, every aspect of their life is controlled from where they live down to marriage and childbearing regulations. The only possible escape from life as a non-gratis is to qualify for one of the limited slots available for entrance into the military.

China's strategic capabilities and doctrine have historically differed from the United States' and Russia's. China has continued to modernize and expand its arsenal despite its policy of no first use, while the United States and Russia have decreased deployed weapons stocks. This volume brings together an international group of distinguished scholars to provide a fresh assessment of China's strategic military capabilities, doctrines, and political perceptions in light of rapidly advancing technologies.

How much will you sacrifice to survive in a world turned game? When friends and family fall to monsters and aliens everyday, will you choose safety over freedom? These are the questions the survivors in the Yukon must ask themselves. New alien masters arrive, offering safety from ever stronger monsters in return for their freedom and future potential. Thrust into a position of power and influence by dint of his Levels, John must choose—not just for himself but Whitehorse itself. The price, however, might be more than he is willing to pay.

Welcome to "Predictive Power: Navigating the Landscape of AI Systems and Decision-Making." In this book, we embark on a journey into the fascinating world of artificial intelligence (AI) systems and their profound impact on decision-making processes across various domains. From business and healthcare to finance and beyond, AI technologies are revolutionizing and transforming how we analyze data, predict outcomes, and make informed choices.

Congressional scholars Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein identify two overriding problems that have led Congress—and the United States—to the brink of institutional collapse. But they offer a panoply of useful ideas and reforms, endorsing some solutions, like greater public participation and institutional restructuring, while debunking others, like independent or third-party candidates. Above all, they call on the media as well as the public to focus on the true causes of dysfunction rather than just throwing the bums out every election cycle.

The crew of the Enterprise find themselves plunged into the middle of a murderous civil war between a determined band of rebels and the planet's ruthless mind police - a civil war whose outcome will determine not only the future of the planet, but also the life of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Read by Jonathan Frankes and enhanced with sound effects and an original score!

The man who answered the door was naked and covered with blood. His name was Larry Singleton and police in Tampa, Florida, soon discovered he had brutally murdered prostitute Roxanne Hayes and much worse. He was the mad chopper, who years before had cut off the arms off 15-year-old Mary Vincent outside Modesto, California. Mary survived and testified against him at his trial for killing Hayes.

In Justice on the Brink, legendary journalist Linda Greenhouse gives us unique insight into a court under stress, providing the context and brilliant analysis readers of her work in The New York Times have come to expect. In a thrilling narrative, she recounts the twelve months when the court turned its back on its legacy and traditions, abandoning any effort to stay above and separate from politics.

In The Politics Industry, Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis - and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework - to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change - a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws.

The second brightest object in the sky, after the moon is Venus. It's also the only planet named after a woman. Learn more about bright, beautiful Venus, named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

The only planet to support life, Earth has a lot going for it. Think you know everything there is to know about our home planet? Think again. Discover more about the blue planet we call home.

Saturn is famous for its rings. This very windy planet has another claim to fame—it has the most moons of all eight planets! Discover more amazing facts about the sixth planet in the solar system!

Mars is famous for its coloring, but the fourth planet from the sun has more than that going for it. Discover more interesting facts and secrets about the famous "red planet."

Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun and has a special feature, it tilts! Discover the mysteries of this ice giant that sits half in darkness for more than 40 years at a time!

Everything about Jupiter is big! Its size is big. Even its storms are big! Get the big and small facts about this gas giant that can be seen glowing in the night sky.

In no more than the blink of an eye, a naïve optimism about technology’s liberating potential has given way to a dystopian obsession with biased algorithms, surveillance capitalism, and job-displacing robots. System Error exposes the root of our current predicament - how big tech’s relentless focus on optimization is driving a future that reinforces discrimination, erodes privacy, displaces workers, and pollutes the information we get- and outlines steps we can take to change course, renew our democracy, and save ourselves.

In Sleepyhead, science writer Henry Nicholls uses his own experience with chronic narcolepsy as a gateway to better understanding the cryptic, curious, and relatively uncharted world of sleep disorders. Charming, eye-opening, and deeply humanizing, Sleepyhead will help us all uncover the secrets of a good night's sleep.

Long Fang is stranded in a foreign world where proper cultivation has been replaced by annoying blue screens. He is confused and alone...but not for long. Completely ignoring the System, he forms a wholesome sect of followers to spread cultivation across the wild world. Blue screens do not take kindly to rejection, however, and Long Fang’s stubbornness soon finds him pitted against increasingly dangerous foes. To overcome the System tribulations, he must quickly grow stronger and wiser.... But first, he needs to get past that one annoying town guard.

Only 30 years ago, rape within marriage was not a crime, Judges saw rape victims as complicit for wearing short skirts; teenage runaways were groomed, pimped and then arrested as ‘common prostitutes’, and harassment, stalking, forced marriage and honour-based violence were not defined or recognised as separate offences in law. Since then there have been important legislative reforms but the law is only as good as those who enforce it. Telling the stories of a series of ground-breaking cases, Harriet Wistrich illustrates how far misogyny is baked into our justice system.