Systems Science

With In a Flight of Starlings, celebrated physicist Giorgio Parisi guides us through his unorthodox yet exhilarating work, starting with investigating the principles of physics by observing the flight of flocks of birds. Studying the movements of these communities, he has realized, proves an illuminating way into understanding complex systems of all kinds—collections of everything from atoms and planets to other animals, such as ourselves. Along the way, he reflects on the lessons he has taken from a life in pursuit of scientific truth.

"Resistance is futile." The greatest threat the Federation has ever faced is the half organic, half mechanical Borg. Now more dangerous than ever, the Borg threatens the Federation's past, present, and future. Read by Gates McFadden, "Beverly Crusher" on Star Trek, The Next Generation!

The first stage is complete. Ivan Susanin has managed to survive and, together with the other leaders, unite the various players into the Alliance. Yet this is only the beginning. A huge goblin army is approaching from the city outskirts, while the undead roam inside the city. The people from Earth are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The only way to escape another massacre is to capture the goblin fortress and hold out until the end of the mission - or to abandon their wounded and scatter, hoping to avoid getting killed.

With Princess Selfia suddenly missing, it is now up to Jack to plan and organize his team for the academy mid-term. The next task, a low altitude airdrop into the Frelia Mountain range where Almus cadets will put their landnav, survival, and teamwork skills to the test. The criteria for passing? Survival, simple enough. However what was supposed to be a simple test of preparedness becomes far more as Jack and his squad become victims to events that forever change the trajectory of their lives and the world as they know it.

Start a peaceful revolution by planting an edible ecosystem and sharing the experience with your neighbors. Humans have always thrived in rich, diverse, edible ecosystems. Yet most cities and suburbs are blanketed by lawns, ornamentals, and a lack of biodiversity, let alone anything edible. It is within these sterile landscapes that seeds of an edible ecosystem lie. The Edible Ecosystem Solution is a comprehensive, practical guidebook that looks at underutilized spaces to reveal the many opportunities for landscape transformation.

Facing the wrath of a Transcendent, John is forced to make a choice: He can either help humanity or pay for the crimes he committed. Unaware of what this involves, he is suddenly thrown into a war that has raged for eons. But the battlefield is bleak. The stakes are high, and humanity is losing. Despite ancient cultivation methods, their steady progress in the fight against Beastmen has vanished.

Because about four weeks ago, the world simply turned. One day we had iPhones and GoPros, Mickey Mouse and hamburgers. The next day we had magic and monsters. And us humans? We became players with levels, items, and classes. Pretty ironic considering how many times my parents told me to “quit gaming and experience real life” while I was growing up. And then real life grabbed us by the balls, and it was the gamers who were prepared.

An amazing product from Maurice Jayson, An Insider’s Guide to Ace System Design Interviews is a systematic guide on how to answer difficult questions from system design interviewers. Maurice has headed several panels of interviewers looking to recruit system and user interface designers and has compiled a list of recurrent questions and hidden intricacies that all system designers should know when job hunting.

It’s not easy being 16, especially when everyone expects great things from Tilly. It’s even harder when her mother and father are Federation luminaries, not to mention pressing her to attend one of the best schools the Federation has to offer. Tilly wants to achieve great things - even though she hasn’t quite worked out how to do that or what it is she wants to do. But this year, everything will change for Tilly, as she is about to embark upon the adventure of a lifetime - an adventure that will take her ever closer to the stars....

Devon Walker has had it rough lately. She kinda saved the game world - or, at least, earned the citizens of Aventalia a small respite from the demon attacks - but the wild magic she used had some devastating consequences, starting with a shattered landscape and the apparent vanishing of her settlement. Now, it's up to her to fix the problems, save her NPC friends, and lay plans to take the attack to the demon forces.

The SAD pandemic is real. Sexual Violence, Addictions, and Domestic Violence (SAD) result in too many children in care yearly, aging out to different systems such as prison, employment and income assistance programs, mental health institutions, drug rehabilitation, and homelessness. Are we going to allow the cycle to continue for generations?

Grounded in research and rich with personal narrative, Hidden Healers is a poignant and riveting look inside women's prisons and jails—and what we can do to help.

If a black hole is not a hole, then what is it? Find out what black holes are, what causes them, and how scientists first discovered them. Learn how astronomers find black holes, get to know our nearest black-hole neighbor, and take a journey that will literally s-t-r-e-t-c-h the mind.

El Cártel Judicial puede ser tan letal como el más violento de los grupos delictivos; una sentencia a modo—infundada, a la ligera, sin elementos de prueba, con pruebas viciadas o para satisfacer intereses personales—puede llegar a ser peor que la muerte.

In this first installment of The Connectorate Series, Hughes leads us through a thought-provoking, vastly evolved society where people in power are "fully connected" to a sentient quantum network. Peter O'Neil, a veteran Unlawful Intent Investigator, is assigned to the initial homicide report. His typical work involves the more mundane aspects of crime prevention in a culture where direct-to-brain interfacing provides a reliable snapshot of a person's future intent. As Pete learns the circumstances of the crime, everything starts pointing to the use of a remote avatar.

Brilliantly exploring today's cutting edge brain research, Mind Wide Open allows readers to understand themselves and the people in their lives as never before. Using a mix of experiential reportage, personal storytelling, and fresh scientific discovery, Steven Johnson describes how the brain works and how its systems connect to the day-to-day realities of individual lives.

Melvin has normal problems. High school. Tests. Trying to find a girlfriend (and failing...miserably). But one day he awakens with access to a System that governs all magic. In his attempt to summon a teacher to show him the ropes, he botches the ritual and accidentally summons a magic-wielding girl named Kalliphae. Sure, she's powerful and deadly. A femme fatale who's more intimidating than even the most popular girls at school.

Guaranteed to give the listener a deeper understanding of America’s most powerful judicial body, John Yoo, professor of law at UC Berkeley, and Robert Delahunty, professor of law at the University of St. Thomas, detail in sprightly, slightly irreverent manner how the black-robed judges who make up the U.S. Supreme Court have swung like a pendulum from saviors of the Republic to super-legislators who usurp the roll of Congress and dictate law from the bench, back to defenders of the Constitution again—or at least for the moment.

In Not with a Bug, But with a Sticker: Attacks on Machine Learning Systems and What to Do About Them, a team of distinguished adversarial machine learning researchers deliver a riveting account of the most significant risk to currently deployed artificial intelligence systems: cybersecurity threats. The authors take you on a sweeping tour—from inside secretive government organizations to academic workshops at ski chalets to Google's cafeteria—recounting how major AI systems remain vulnerable to the exploits of bad actors of all stripes.

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.