7 results for "History"

The Caves of Steel

Isaac Asimov
A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. Isaac Asimov's Robot novels chronicle the unlikely partnership between a New York City detective and a humanoid robot who must learn to work together. Like most people left behind on an over-populated Earth, New York City police detective Elijah Baley had little love for either the arrogant Spacers or their robotic companions. But when a prominent Spacer is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Baley is ordered to the Outer Worlds to help track down the killer. The relationship between Baley and his Spacer superiors, who mistrusted all Earthmen, was strained from the start. Then he learned that they had assigned him a partner: R. Daneel Olivaw. Worst of all was that the "R" stood for robot---and his positronic partner was made in the image and likeness of the murder victim!
Ballantine 1986-10-12 268 pages

The Lost Cause

Cory Doctorow
It’s thirty years from now. We’re making progress, mitigating climate change, slowly but surely. But what about all the angry old people who can’t let go? For young Americans a generation from now, climate change isn't controversial. It's just an overwhelming fact of life. And so are the great efforts to contain and mitigate it. Entire cities are being moved inland from the rising seas. Vast clean-energy projects are springing up everywhere. Disaster relief, the mitigation of floods and superstorms, has become a skill for which tens of millions of people are trained every year. The effort is global. It employs everyone who wants to work. Even when national politics oscillates back to right-wing leaders, the momentum is too great; these vast programs cannot be stopped in their tracks. But there are still those Americans, mostly elderly, who cling to their red baseball caps, their grievances, their huge vehicles, their anger. To their "alternative" news sources that reassure them that their resentment is right and pure and that "climate change" is just a giant scam. And they're your grandfather, your uncle, your great-aunt. And they're not going anywhere. And they’re armed to the teeth. The Lost Cause asks: What do we do about people who cling to the belief that their own children are the enemy? When, in fact, they're often the elders that we love?
Tor Publishing Group 2024-09-03 368 pages

Contacting Aliens - An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe

David Brin,Kevyn Lenagh
The essential companion to one of the most celebrated science fiction series of all time. Beginning with the novel Sundiver , David Brin introduced one of the most inventive, thought-provoking, and richly-imagined universes in all of science fiction. Now, Brin collaborates with acclaimed artist Kevyn Lenagh to present the definitive guide to the societies, technology, and species of his epic, award-winning series. Written as a handbook for Terran field agents, Contacting Aliens offers a detailed and comprehensive look at Uplift 's many alien races--from the friendly Tymbrimi to the warlike Tandu, the wise Kanten to the reptilian Soro, and the bureaucratic Hoon to the manipulative Thennanin. Readers will discover fascinating information about their physiology, psychology, and history; their clans and alliances; and their shifting attitudes toward Earth and its representatives. The volume also includes a history of Earth's contact with the Civilization of Five Galaxies, a look at its institutions, languages, and customs, plus a timeline of momentous events going back three billion years. Contacting Aliens is an essential reference work for Uplift fans, filled with never-before-seen illustrations that reveal the keys to the ambitious vision and bold speculation of the Uplift universe.
Open Road Integrated Media, Incorporated 2025-08-12 222 pages

Robots Through the Ages A Science Fiction Anthology

Robert Silverberg,Bryan Thomas Schmidt
A remarkable collection, Robots through the Ages includes stories from some of the best writers of science fiction, both old and new. This anthology, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, offers a sweeping survey of robots as depicted throughout literature. Since the Iliad--in which we are shown golden statues built by Hephaestus "with minds and wisdoms"--humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial life. From the Argonautica to the medieval Jewish legend of the Golem and Ambrose Bierce's tale of a chess-playing robot, the idea of what robots are--and who creates them--can be drastically different. This book collects a broad selection of short stories from celebrated authors such as Philip K. Dick, Seanan McGuire, Roger Zelazny, Connie Willis, and many more. Robots through the Ages not only celebrates the history of robots and the genre of science fiction, but the dauntless nature of human ingenuity.
Blackstone Publishing 2023-07-25 516 pages

The Rhesus Chart

Charles Stross
The Hugo Award-winning author of The Delirium Brief reveals the secrets of The Laundry Files in an adventure of Lovecraftian horror and espionage hi-jinks... As a newly appointed junior manager within the Laundry—the clandestine organization responsible for protecting Britain against supernatural threats—Bob Howard is expected to show some initiative to help the agency battle the forces of darkness. But shining a light on what’s best left in the shadows is the last thing Bob wants to do—especially when those shadows hide an occult parasite spreading a deadly virus. Traders employed by a merchant bank in London are showing signs of infection—an array of unusual symptoms such as super-strength and -speed, an uncanny talent for mind control, an extreme allergic reaction to sunlight, and an unquenchable thirst for blood. While his department is tangled up in bureaucratic red tape (and Buffy reruns) debating how to stop the rash of vampirism, Bob digs deeper into the bank’s history—only to uncover a blood-curdling conspiracy between men and monsters...
Penguin 2015-06-30 384 pages

Time On My Hands My Misadventures In Time Travel

Daniel M. Kimmel
First there was Jar Jar Binks Must Die, the Hugo-Award finalist collection of essays discussing science fiction film which Analog called "intelligent and entertaining" and F&SF called "terrific." Then came Shh! It's a Secret, the comedy science fiction novel that Publishers Weekly called "a freewheeling, laugh-out-loud satire." Now Daniel M. Kimmel is back with Time On My Hands, his quirky take on time travel, lost love, divided loyalties, and the eternal search for really good scotch. Time On My Hands investigates the myriad time travel troubles over which most science fiction readers have pondered, but it presents a fresh take on the time travel novel by adhering to the Aristotelian Unity of Time: it all takes place within a single day. In the book, Professor Price tells the story of how he came to be in possession of a time travel device (which he may or may not have invented), and how he found his future hiding in his past. But the discovery of time travel will necessitate far more than just building a really cool machine: it'll take the efforts of many people to figure out how to talk about time travel, the requirements necessary to be an ethical time traveler, and just whose office it is when my yesterday becomes your tomorrow without the courtesy of a knock on the door. Film critic and professor Daniel M. Kimmel has taught film and media classes at Emerson College, Boston University, and Suffolk University. His book on the history of FOX TV, The Fourth Network, received the Cable Center Book Award. His other books include a history of DreamWorks, The Dream Team, and I'll Have What She's Having: Behind the Scenes of the Great Romantic Comedies. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester (where much of Time On My Hands is set) and his law degree from Boston University.
Fantastic Books 2017-02-21 192 pages