Imaginative Informative and Thought-Provoking Reads
Discover a curated list of imaginative, informative, and thought-provoking books that inspire creativity and expand your mind. Explore must-reads for curious thinkers.
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World War Z
by Max Brooks
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ⢠âPrepare to be entranced by this addictively readable oral history of the great war between humans and zombies.ââEntertainment Weekly We survived the zombie apocalypse, but how many of us are still haunted by that terrible time? We have (temporarily?) defeated the living dead, but at what cost? Told in the haunting and riveting voices of the men and women who witnessed the horror firsthand, World War Z is the only record of the pandemic. The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years. THE INSPIRATION FOR THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE âWill spook you for real.ââThe New York Times Book Review âPossesses more creativity and zip than entire crates of other new fiction titles. Think Mad Max meets The Hot Zone. . . . Itâs Apocalypse Now, pandemic-style. Creepy but fascinating.ââUSA Today âWill grab you as tightly as a dead manâs fist. A.ââEntertainment Weekly, EW Pick âProbably the most topical and literate scare since Orson Wellesâs War of the Worlds radio broadcast . . . This is action-packed social-political satire with a global view.ââDallas Morning News
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Valis
by Philip K. Dick
Horselover Fat begins receiving what he considers to be divine revelations that imply extraterrestrial forces are interfering in the affairs of the Earth.
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
by Philip K. Dick
A masterpiece ahead of its time, a prescient rendering of a dark future, and the inspiration for the blockbuster film Blade Runner One of The Atlanticâs Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years By 2021, the World War has killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remain covet any living creature, and for people who canât afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacra: horses, birds, cats, sheep. Theyâve even built humans. Immigrants to Mars receive androids so sophisticated they are indistinguishable from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans can wreak, the government bans them from Earth. Driven into hiding, unauthorized androids live among human beings, undetected. Rick Deckard, an officially sanctioned bounty hunter, is commissioned to find rogue androids and âretireâ them. But when cornered, androids fight backâwith lethal force. Praise for Philip K. Dick âThe most consistently brilliant science fiction writer in the world.ââJohn Brunner âA kind of pulp-fiction Kafka, a prophet.ââThe New York Times â[Philip K. Dick] sees all the sparklingâand terrifyingâpossibilities . . . that other authors shy away from.ââRolling Stone
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Dune
by Frank Herbert
⢠DUNE: PART TWO ⢠THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE Directed by Denis Villeneuve, screenplay by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts, based on the novel Dune by Frank Herbert ⢠Starring TimothĂŠe Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Stephen McKinley Henderson, LĂŠa Seydoux, with Stellan SkarsgĂĽrd, with Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem Frank Herbertâs classic masterpieceâa triumph of the imagination and one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of Paul Atreidesâwho would become known as Muad'Dibâand of a great family's ambition to bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream. A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.
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Stranger in a Strange Land
by Robert A. Heinlein
The complete, uncut version of Robert A. Heinleinâs all-time masterpiece, the brilliant novel that grew from a cult favorite to a bestseller to a science fiction classic. Raised by Martians on Mars, Valentine Michael Smith is a human who has never seen another member of his species. Sent to Earth, he is a stranger who must learn what it is to be a man. But his own beliefs and his powers far exceed the limits of humankind, and as he teaches them about grokking and water-sharing, he also inspires a transformation that will alter Earthâs inhabitants forever...
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The Martian Chronicles
by Ray Bradbury
For use in schools and libraries only. The tranquility of Mars is disrupted by the earthmen who have come to conquer space, colonize the planet, and escape a doomed Earth.
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The Terminal Experiment
by Robert J. Sawyer
To test his theories of immortality, Dr. Peter Hobson creates three electronic clones of himself, who escape from his computer into the international electronic matrix, where one of them begins to kill. Original.
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Calculating God
by Robert J. Sawyer
The provocative, near-future SF thriller from the Hugo and Nebula Awardâwinning author
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The Forever War
by Joe Haldeman
"Private William Mandella hadn't wanted to go to war against the Taurans ...."--p. [4] of cover.
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Island
by Aldous Huxley
A shipwrecked journalist discovers the beauty and serentity promoted by science on the island of Pala.
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The Pirate Coast
by Richard Zacks
A real-life thriller, now in paperback -- the true story of the unheralded American who brought the Barbary Pirates to their knees In an attempt to stop the legendary Barbary Pirates of North Africa from hijacking American ships, William Eaton set out on a secret mission to overthrow the government of Tripoli. The operation was sanctioned by President Thomas Jefferson, who at the last moment grew wary of "intermeddling" in a foreign government and sent Eaton off without proper national support. Short on supplies, given very little money and only a few men, Eaton and his mission seemed doomed from the start. He triumphed against all odds, recruited a band of European mercenaries in Alexandria, and led them on a march across the Libyan Desert. Once in Tripoli, the ragtag army defeated the local troops and successfully captured Derne, laying the groundwork for the demise of the Barbary Pirates. Now, Richard Zacks brings this important story of America's first overseas covert op to life.
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1491 (Second Edition)
by Charles C. Mann
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ⢠A groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology that radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492âfrom âa remarkably engaging writerâ (The New York Times Book Review). Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. The astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it has been called manâs first feat of genetic engineering. Indeed, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.
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Gates of Fire
by Steven Pressfield
NATIONAL BESTSELLER ⢠âSteven Pressfield brings the battle of Thermopylae to brilliant life.ââPat Conroy At Thermopylae, a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece, the feared and admired Spartan soldiers stood three hundred strong. Theirs was a suicide mission, to hold the pass against the invading millions of the mighty Persian army. Day after bloody day they withstood the terrible onslaught, buying time for the Greeks to rally their forces. Born into a cult of spiritual courage, physical endurance, and unmatched battle skill, the Spartans would be remembered for the greatest military stand in historyâone that would not end until the rocks were awash with blood, leaving only one gravely injured Spartan squire to tell the tale. . . .
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The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian
by Robert E. Howard
Conan is one of the greatest fictional heroes ever createdâ a swordsman who cuts a swath across the lands of the Hyborian Age, facing powerful sorcerers, deadly creatures, and ruthless armies of thieves and reavers. âBetween the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities . . . there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars. . . . Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand . . . to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet.â In a meteoric career that spanned a mere twelve years before his tragic suicide, Robert E. Howard single-handedly invented the genre that came to be called sword and sorcery. Collected in this volume, profusely illustrated by artist Mark Schultz, are Howardâs first thirteen Conan stories, appearing in their original versionsâin some cases for the first time in more than seventy yearsâand in the order Howard wrote them. Along with classics of dark fantasy like âThe Tower of the Elephantâ and swashbuckling adventure like âQueen of the Black Coast,â The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian contains a wealth of material never before published in the United States, including the first submitted draft of Conanâs debut, âPhoenix on the Sword,â Howardâs synopses for âThe Scarlet Citadelâ and âBlack Colossus,â and a map of Conanâs world drawn by the author himself. Here are timeless tales featuring Conan the raw and dangerous youth, Conan the daring thief, Conan the swashbuckling pirate, and Conan the commander of armies. Here, too, is an unparalleled glimpse into the mind of a genius whose bold storytelling style has been imitated by many, yet equaled by none.
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The Bloody Crown of Conan
by Robert E. Howard
In his hugely influential and tempestuous career, Robert E. Howard created the genre that came to be known as sword and sorceryâand brought to life one of fantasyâs boldest and most enduring figures: Conan the Cimmerianâreaver, slayer, barbarian, king. âStories such as âThe People of the Black Circleâ glow with the fierce and eldritch light of [Howardâs] frenzied intensity.ââStephen King This lavishly illustrated volume gathers together three of Howardâs longest and most famous Conan storiesâtwo of them printed for the first time directly from Howardâ s typescriptâalong with a collection of the authorâs previously unpublished and rarely seen outlines, notes, and drafts. Longtime fans and new readers alike will agree that The Bloody Crown of Conan merits a place of honor on every fantasy loverâs bookshelf. THE PEOPLE OF THE BLACK CIRCLE Amid the towering crags of Vendhya, in the shadowy citadel of the Black Circle, Yasmina of the golden throne seeks vengeance against the Black Seers. Her only ally is also her most formidable enemyâConan, the outlaw chief. THE HOUR OF THE DRAGON Toppled from the throne of Aquilonia by the evil machinations of an undead wizard, Conan must find the fabled jewel known as the Heart of Ahriman to reclaim his crown . . . and save his life. A WITCH SHALL BE BORN A malevolent witch of evil beauty. An enslaved queen. A kingdom in the iron grip of ruthless mercenaries. And Conan, who plots deadly vengeance against the human wolf who left him in the desert to die.
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Goethe's Faust
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The best translation of Faust available, this volume provides the original German text and its English counterpart on facing pages. Walter Kaufmann's translation conveys the poetic beauty and rhythm as well as the complex depth of Goethe's language. Includes Part One and selections from Part Two.
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Blow-Up
by Julio CortĂĄzar
A young girl spends her summer vacation in a country house where a tiger roams . . . A man reading a mystery finds out too late that he is the murdererâs intended victim . . . Originally published in hardcover as End of the Game and Other Stories, the fifteen stories collected hereâincluding âBlow-Up,â which was the basis for Michelangelo Antonioniâs film of the same nameâshows Julio CortĂĄzar's nimble capacity to explore the shadowy realm where the everyday meets the mysterious, perhaps even the terrible.
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