Dan Brown - Angels & Demons
[/size]“Dan Brown - Angels & Demons” [Audiobook]
mp3 32Kbps | 95 Mb | 7 hrs | Simon & Schuster Audio | Unabridged edition (March 22, 2004) | ISBN: 0743538277
It takes guts to write a novel that combines an ancient secret
brotherhood, the Swiss Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, a
papal conclave, mysterious ambigrams, a plot against the Vatican, a mad
scientist in a wheelchair, particles of antimatter, jets that can
travel 15,000 miles per hour, crafty assassins, a beautiful Italian
physicist, and a Harvard professor of religious iconology. It takes
talent to make that novel anything but ridiculous. Kudos to Dan Brown
(Digital Fortress) for achieving the nearly impossible. Angels &
Demons is a no-holds-barred, pull-out-all-the-stops, breathless tangle
of a thriller–think Katherine Neville’s The Eight (but cleverer) or
Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum (but more accessible).
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is shocked to find proof that the
legendary secret society, the Illuminati–dedicated since the time of
Galileo to promoting the interests of science and condemning the blind
faith of Catholicism–is alive, well, and murderously active. Brilliant
physicist Leonardo Vetra has been murdered, his eyes plucked out, and
the society’s ancient symbol branded upon his chest. His final
discovery, antimatter, the most powerful and dangerous energy source
known to man, has disappeared–only to be hidden somewhere beneath
Vatican City on the eve of the election of a new pope. Langdon and
Vittoria, Vetra’s daughter and colleague, embark on a frantic hunt
through the streets, churches, and catacombs of Rome, following a
400-year-old trail to the lair of the Illuminati, to prevent the
incineration of civilization.
Brown seems as much juggler as author–there are lots and lots of balls
in the air in this novel, yet Brown manages to hurl the reader headlong
into an almost surreal suspension of disbelief. While the reader might
wish for a little more sardonic humor from Langdon, and a little less
bombastic philosophizing on the eternal conflict between religion and
science, these are less fatal flaws than niggling annoyances–readers
should have no trouble skimming past them and immersing themselves in a
heck of a good read. “Brain candy” it may be, but my! It’s tasty.
Isaac Asimov - Foundation
Foundation marks the first of a series of tales set
so far in the future that Earth is all but forgotten by humans who live
throughout the galaxy. Yet all is not well with the Galactic Empire.
Its vast size is crippling to it. In particular, the administrative
planet, honeycombed and tunneled with offices and staff, is vulnerable
to attack or breakdown. The only person willing to confront this
imminent catastrophe is Hari Seldon, a psychohistorian and
mathematician. Seldon can scientifically predict the future, and it
doesn’t look pretty: a new Dark Age is scheduled to send humanity into
barbarism in 500 years. He concocts a scheme to save the knowledge of
the race in an Encyclopedia Galactica. But this project will take
generations to complete, and who will take up the torch after him? The
first Foundation trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second
Foundation) won a Hugo Award in 1965 for “Best All-Time Series.” It’s
science fiction on the grand scale; one of the classics of the field.
Stephen R. Covey,”The 8th Habit”
In
the more than fifteen years since its publication, the classic The 7
Habits of Highly Effective People has become an international
phenomenon with over fifteen million copies sold. Tens of millions of
people in business, government, schools, and families, and, most
important, as individuals have dramatically improved their lives and
organizations by applying the principles of Stephen R. Covey’s classic
book. The world, though, is a vastly changed place. The challenges and
complexity we all face in our relationships, families, professional
lives, and communities are of an entirely new order of magnitude. Being
effective as individuals and organizations is no longer merely an
option — survival in today’s world requires it. But in order to thrive,
innovate, excel, and lead in what Covey calls the new Knowledge Worker
Age, we must build on and move beyond effectiveness. The call of this
new era in human history is for greatness; it’s for fulfillment,
passionate execution, and significant contribution.
Accessing the higher levels of human genius and motivation in today’s
new reality requires a sea change in thinking: a new mind-set, a new
skill-set, a new tool-set — in short, a whole new habit. The crucial
challenge of our world today is this: to find our voice and inspire
others to find theirs. It is what Covey calls the 8th Habit.
So many people feel frustrated, discouraged, unappreciated, and
undervalued — with little or no sense of voice or unique contribution.
The 8th Habit is the answer to the soul’s yearning for greatness, the
organization’s imperative for significance and superior results, and
humanity’s search for its “voice.” Profound, compelling, and stunningly
timely, this groundbreaking new book of next-level thinking gives a
clear way to finally tap the limitless value-creation promise of the
Knowledge Worker Age.
Covey’s new book will transform the way we think about ourselves and
our purpose in life, about our organizations, and about humankind. Just
as The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People helped us focus on
effectiveness, The 8th Habit shows us the way to greatness.
Steven Pinker - How The Mind Works
How the Mind Works explains many of the imponderables of everyday life.
Why does a face look more attractive with makeup? How do “Magic-Eye”
3-D stereograms work? Why do we feel that a run of heads makes the coin
more likely to land tails? Why is the thought of eating worms
disgusting? Why do men challenge each other to duels and murder their
ex-wives? Why are children bratty? Why do fools fall in love? Why are
we soothed by paintings and music? And why do puzzles like the self,
free will, and consciousness leave us dizzy?
In this extraordinary book, Steven Pinker, one of the world’s leading
cognitive scientists, does for the rest of the mind what he did for
language in his 1994 bestseller The Language Instinct. He explains what
the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel,
laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and ponder the mysteries of life. And
he does it with the wit, clarity, and verve that earned The Language
Instinct, worldwide critical acclaim and awards from major scientific
societies.
Pinker explains the mind by “reverse-engineering” it—figuring out what
natural selection designed it to accomplish in the environment in which
we evolved. The mind, he writes, is a system of “organs of computation”
that allowed our ancestors to understand and outsmart objects, animals,
plants, and each other.
How the Mind Works explains many of the imponderables of everyday life.
Why does a face look more attractive with makeup? How do “Magic-Eye”
3-D stereograms work? Why do we feel that a run of heads makes the coin
more likely to land tails? Why is the thought of eating worms
disgusting? Why do men challenge each other to duels and murder their
ex-wives? Why are children bratty? Why do fools fall in love? Why are
we soothed by paintings and music? And why do puzzles like the self,
free will, and consciousness leave us dizzy?
This arguments in the book are as bold as its title. Pinker
rehabilitates unfashionable ideas, such as that the mind is a computer
and that human nature was shaped by natural selection. And he
challenges fashionable ones, such as that passionate emotions are
irrational, that parents socialize their children, that creativity
springs from the unconscious, that nature is good and modern society
corrupting, and that art and religion are expressions of our higher
spiritual yearnings.
How the Mind Works presents a big picture, but it is not a personal
musing; it is a grand synthesis of the most satisfying explanations of
our mental life that have been proposed in cognitive science and
evolutionary biology, with insights from disciplines ranging from
neuroscience to economics and social psychology. It is also
fascinating, provocative, and thoroughly entertaining.
الجمعة يوليو 23, 2010 9:28 pm من طرف engy soliman
