‘A refreshing variation on the will-intelligent-robots-bring-Armageddon genre . . . this colorful mixture of expert futurology and quirky speculation does not disappoint’
Kirkus

‘A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.’ Isaac Asimov, The First Law of Robotics

What robot and AI systems are being built and imagined right now? What do they say about us, their creators? Will they usher in a fantastic new future, or destroy us? What do some of our greatest thinkers, from physicist Brian Greene and futurist Kevin Kelly to inventor Dean Kamen, geneticist George Church and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain, anticipate for our human-robot future? For even as robots and AI intrigue us and make us anxious about the future, our fascination with robots has always been about more than the potential of the technology – it also concerns what robots tell us about being human.

From present-day Facebook and Amazon bots to near-future ‘intimacy’ bots and ‘the robot that swiped my job’ bots, bestselling American popular science writer David Ewing Duncan’s Talking to Robots is a wonderfully entertaining and insightful guide to possible future scenarios about robots, both real and imagined.

The internationally best-selling fantasy sensation is back with brand-new stories set in the world of Eragon and the Inheritance Cycle!

A wanderer and a cursed child. Spells and magic. And dragons, of course. Welcome back to the world of Alagaësia.

It’s been a year since Eragon departed Alagaësia in search of the perfect home to train a new generation of Dragon Riders. Now, he is struggling with an endless sea of tasks: constructing a vast dragonhold, wrangling with suppliers, guarding dragon eggs, and dealing with belligerent Urgals and haughty elves. Then a vision from the Eldunarí, unexpected visitors, and an exciting Urgal legend offer a much-needed distraction and a new perspective.

This volume features three original stories set in Alagaësia, interspersed with scenes from Eragon’s own unfolding adventure. Included is an excerpt from the memoir of the unforgettable witch and fortune-teller Angela the herbalist…penned by Angela Paolini, the inspiration for the character herself!

Relish the incomparable imagination of Christopher Paolini in this thrilling new collection of stories based in the world of the Inheritance Cycle.

Entrepreneur and bestselling author of The Lean Startup, Eric Ries reveals how entrepreneurial principles can be used by businesses of all kinds, ranging from established companies to early-stage startups, to grow revenues, drive innovation, and transform themselves into truly modern organizations, poised to take advantage of the enormous opportunities of the twenty-first century.

In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries laid out the practices of successful startups – building a minimal viable product, customer-focused and scientific testing based on a build-measure-learn method of continuous innovation, and deciding whether to persevere or pivot. In The Startup Way, he turns his attention to an entirely new group of organizations: established enterprises like iconic multinationals GE and Toyota, tech titans like Amazon and Facebook, and the next generation of Silicon Valley upstarts like Airbnb and Twilio.

ASHA IS A DRAGON SLAYER

Since she was a young princess, Asha has killed to protect her father’s kingdom. She longs to atone for the terrible deed she committed as a child – one that almost destroyed her city, and left her with a terrible scar.

But no matter how many dragons she kills, her people still think she’s wicked.

So now she plans to slay the most powerful dragon of all.

And the only person standing in her way is a defiant slave boy, leading a rebellion she can’t possibly be a part of . . .

THE LAST NAMSARA is an extraordinary story about courage, loyalty and star-crossed love, set in a kingdom that trembles on the edge of war. For fans of Madeline Miller, Katherine Arden, Laini Taylor and Tomi Adeyemi.

For suspense-filled, post-apocalyptic thrillers, Wool is more than a self-published ebook phenomenon―it’s the new standard in classic science fiction.

A New York Times and USA TODAY bestseller, as well as Kindle Book Review’s 2012 Indie Book of the Year, Wool is truly a blockbuster.

‘A Malcolm Gladwell-style social psychology/behavioural economics primer’ Evening Standard

Low-level dishonesty is rife everywhere, in the form of exaggeration, selective use of facts, economy with the truth, careful drafting – from Trump and the Brexit debate to companies that tell us ‘your call is important to us’. How did we get to a place where bullshit is not just rife but apparently so effective that it’s become the communications strategy of our times?

This brilliantly insightful book steps inside the panoply of deception employed in all walks of life and assesses how it has come to this. It sets out the surprising logic which explains why bullshit is both pervasive and persistent. Why are company annual reports often nonsense? Why should you not trust estate agents? And above all, why has political campaigning become the art of stretching the truth? Drawing on behavioural science, economics, psychology and of course his knowledge of the media, Evan ends by providing readers with a tool-kit to handle the kinds of deceptions we encounter every day, and charts a route through the muddy waters of the post-truth age.

Buried in a woodland grave are a mother and her child.

One is alive. One is dead.

It is one of the most harrowing cases to hit D.C. Charlie Stafford’s department in years. Then more pairs of mothers and children go missing – and it’s Charlie’s job to find them.

Soon, Charlie is hunting down a brutal serial killer with a twisted mind. But as she closes in on the culprit, she realises she’s in more danger than she thought…

He’s watching. He’s waiting. Who’s next?

Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Mel Sheratt and L.J. Ross.

Praise for Mummy’s Favourite:

‘This book hooked me in from the start’

‘This is fast paced crime writing at its best’

‘If you like stories that keep you on the edge of your seat then this is for you’

‘Kept me guessing right up to the end’

Please Read Notes: Brand New, International Softcover Edition, Printed in black and white pages, minor self wear on the cover or pages, Sale restriction may be printed on the book, but Book name, contents, and author are exactly same as Hardcover Edition. Fast delivery through DHL/FedEx express

Just how much can you trust the person you love?

Everything but the Truth is Gillian McAllister’s stunning breakthrough thriller about deceit, betrayal and one woman’s compulsive need to uncover the truth

It all started with the email.

Rachel didn’t even mean to look. She loves Jack and she’s pregnant with their child. She trusts him.

But now she’s seen it, she can’t undo that moment. Or the chain of events it has set in motion.

Why has Jack been lying about his past? Just what exactly is he hiding? And doesn’t Rachel have a right to know the truth at any cost?

‘Packed with twists and turns that will make it almost impossible to put down!’ Hello!

‘Twisty and emotionally charged. Breathlessly brilliant’ Heat

‘A gripping, compelling page turner that kept me up half the night’ Liz Nugent, bestselling author of Lying in Wait

‘You won’t be able to put it down!’ Hollie Overton, bestselling author of Baby Doll

‘Perfection. Intriguing and compelling. An exceptional debut’ Clare Mackintosh, bestselling author of I See You

‘A beautifully written domestic noir full of secrets and lies’ Claire Douglas, bestselling author of Local Girl Missing

“A thrilling tale of abduction and escape in North Korea….highly entertaining.” —The Washington Post

A propulsive and ambitious thriller about a woman trying to rescue her twin sister from captivity in North Korea, and the North Korean citizens with whom she forms an unlikely alliance

Star of the North opens in 1998, when a Korean American teenager is kidnapped from a South Korean beach by North Korean operatives. Twelve years later, her brilliant twin sister, Jenna, is still searching for her, and ends up on the radar of the CIA. When evidence that her sister may still be alive in North Korea comes to light, Jenna will do anything possible to rescue her–including undertaking a daring mission into the heart of the regime. Her story is masterfully braided together with two other narrative threads. In one, a North Korean peasant woman finds a forbidden international aid balloon and uses the valuables inside to launch a dangerously lucrative black-market business. In the other, a high-ranking North Korean official discovers, to his horror, that he may be descended from a traitor, a fact that could mean his death if it is revealed. As the novel progresses, these narrative strands converge and connect in surprising ways, ultimately building to an explosive and unforgettable climax.

A groundbreaking investigation of how inequality infects our minds and gets under our skin

Why are people more relaxed and at ease with each other in some countries than others? Why do we worry so much about what others think of us and often feel social life is a stressful performance? Why is mental illness three times as common in the USA as in Germany? Why is the American dream more of a reality in Denmark than the USA? What makes child well-being so much worse in some countries than others? As The Inner Level demonstrates, the answer to all these is inequality.

In The Spirit Level Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett put inequality at the center of public debate by showing conclusively that less equal societies fare worse than more equal ones across everything from education to life expectancy. The Inner Level now explains how inequality affects us individually, altering how we think, feel and behave. It sets out the overwhelming evidence that material inequities have powerful psychological effects: when the gap between rich and poor increases, so does the tendency to define and value ourselves and others in terms of superiority and inferiority. A deep well of data and analysis is drawn upon to empirically show, for example, that low social status leads to elevated levels of stress hormones, and how rates of anxiety, depression and addictions are intimately related to the inequality which makes that status paramount.

Wilkinson and Pickett describe how these responses to hierarchies evolved, and why the impacts of inequality on us are so severe. In doing so, they challenge the conception that humans are inescapably competitive and self-interested. They undermine, too, the idea that inequality is the product of “natural” differences in individual ability. This book draws together many of the most urgent problems facing societies today, but it is not just an index of our ills. It demonstrates that societies based on fundamental equalities, sharing and reciprocity generate much higher levels of well-being, and lays out the path towards them.

‘Excellent’ Martin Wolf, Financial Times Books of the Year
‘Essential’ Daniel Pink, author of Drive
‘Wonderful’ Martin Ford, author of The Rise of the Robots
_______

PROFIT
INNOVATION
GREED

WELCOME TO THE GIG ECONOMY

Between Uber drivers and Airbnb hosts, freelance jobs are becoming an increasingly prominent part of our economy.

GIGGED goes inside the Silicon Valley companies leading the way to this emerging ‘gig economy’. It tells the stories of the workers – from computer programmers to online comment moderators – who are getting by in a new wave of precarious, short-term employment. And it sketches out what tomorrow’s economy might look like: one where the fortunate get to work when they want, how they want, while the rest live lives of extraordinary hardship.

It might just be the future of work for all of us.

*Longlisted for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award*

Praise for GIGGED

‘Well researched and beautifully written . . . Essential reading for anyone who is interested in understanding the future of our economy and society.’ Ha-Joon Chang, author of 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism

‘Well crafted . . . a multitude of anecdotes supported by data and extensive reporting.’ Forbes

‘Kessler’s timely book explores the personal, corporate and societal stories behind a massive tech-driven shift away from permanent office-based employment.’ Books of the Month, Financial Times

‘Kessler illuminates a great divide: For people with desirable skills, the gig economy often permits a more engaging, entrepreneurial lifestyle; but for the unskilled who turn to such work out of necessity, it’s merely “the best of bad options”.’ Harvard Business Review

‘Sarah Kessler writes like a dream. If you want to know how work is changing and how you too must change to keep up, you must read this book.’ Dan Lyons, author of Disrupted