3 results for "Science Fiction"

Are You Experienced?

Jordan Sonnenblick
Rich is fifteen and plays guitar. When his girlfriend asks him to perform at protest rally, he jumps at the chance. Unfortunately, the police show up, and so does Rich's dad. He's in big trouble. Again. To make matters worse, this happens near the anniversary of his uncle's death from a drug overdose years ago. Rich's dad always gets depressed this time of year, but whenever Rich asks questions about his late uncle, his dad shuts down. Frustrated by his dad's silence, Rich sneaks into his office and breaks into a locked cabinet that holds his dad's prized possession: an electric guitar signed by Jimi Hendrix. Before he knows it, Rich is transported to the side of a road in Upstate New York with a beautiful girl bending over him. It will take him a while to realize it's 1969, he's at Woodstock, and the girl's band of friends includes his fifteen-year-old dad and his uncle, who's still alive. In Are You Experienced? by Jordan Sonnenblick, what Rich learns, who he meets, and what he does could change his life forever.
Macmillan 2013-09-03 294 pages

The Mind of a Mnemonist A Little Book about a Vast Memory

A R Luria
Product Description The Mind of a Mnemonist is a rare phenomenon―a scientific study that transcends its data and, in the manner of the best fictional literature, fashions a portrait of an unforgettable human being. Review A distinguished Soviet psychologist's study…[of a] young man who was discovered to have a literally limitless memory and eventually became a professional mnemonist. Experiments and interviews over the years showed that his memory was based on synesthesia (turning sounds into vivid visual imagery), that he could forget anything only by an act of will, that he solved problems in a peculiar crablike fashion that worked, and that he was handicapped intellectually because he could not make discriminations, and because every abstraction and idea immediately dissolved into an image for him. It is all fascinating and delightful. ( New Yorker) Luria's essay is a model of lucid presentation and is an altogether convincing description of a man whose whole personality and fate was conditioned by an intellectual idiosyncrasy. ( Times Literary Supplement) [A] compassionate and vivid portrait. ( Los Angeles Times Book Review) A welcome re-issue of an English translation of Alexander Luria's famous case-history of hypermnestic man. The study remains the classic paradigm of what Luria called 'romantic science,' a genre characterized by individual portraiture based on an assessment of operative psychological processes. The opening section analyses in some detail the subject's extraordinary capacity for recall and demonstrates the association between the persistence of iconic memory and a highly developed synaesthesia. The remainder of the book deals with the subject's construction of the world, his mental strengths and weaknesses, his control of behaviour and his personality. The result is a contribution to literature as well as to science. ( Psychological Medicine) About the Author A. R. Luria was Professor of Psychology at Lomonosov Moscow State University. Jerome Bruner is University Professor at New York University.
Harvard University Press 1989-12 160 pages

Pay the Piper A Rock 'n' Roll Fairy Tale

Jane Yolen,Adam Stemple
A rock 'n' roll band to die for.... When fourteen year old Callie McCallan scores a backstage pass to interview the lead singer of the famous band Brass Rat, she's thrilled. Peter Gringras is so cool. When he plays his flute, it's as if he has some kind of hypnotic power. But there is something strange about him, something Callie can't quite put her finger on. Then, on Halloween night, Callie's little brother Nicky disappears, along with all the other children in town. It's crazy, but Callie thinks she knows where the children have gone--and who took them. To prove it, and to rescue Nicky and the other children, Callie must journey to a mythical world filled with fantastical creatures. A world from which there may be no return....
Macmillan 2006-06-27 192 pages