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Archaeologies Of The Future

Fredric Jameson · 2007

Brave New World

Aldous Huxley · 2006

Now more than ever: Aldous Huxley's enduring masterwork must be read and understood by anyone concerned with preserving the human spirit<br/>"A masterpiece. ... One of the most prophetic dystopian works." —Wall Street Journal<br/>Aldous Huxley's profoundly important classic of world literature, Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine” (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New World likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.<br/>"Aldous Huxley is the greatest 20th century writer in English." —Chicago Tribune

The Man In The High Castle

Philip K. Dick · 2012

In this Hugo Award–winning alternative history classic—the basis for the Amazon Original series—the United States lost World War II and was subsequently divided between the Germans in the East and the Japanese in the West.<br/><br/>It’s America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In this world, we meet characters like Frank Frink, a dealer of counterfeit Americana who is himself hiding his Jewish ancestry; Nobusuke Tagomi, the Japanese trade minister in San Francisco, unsure of his standing within the bureaucracy and Japan's with Germany; and Juliana Frink, Frank's ex-wife, who may be more important than she realizes.<br/><br/>These seemingly disparate characters gradually realize their connections to each other just as they realize that something is not quite right about their world. And it seems as though the answers might lie with Hawthorne Abendsen, a mysterious and reclusive author, whose best-selling novel describes a world in which the US won the War... The Man in the High Castle is Dick at his best, giving readers a harrowing vision of the world that almost was.<br/><br/>“The single most resonant and carefully imagined book of Dick’s career.”—New York Times

Seven Surrenders

Ada Palmer · 2017

We Yevgeny Zamyatin

Yevgeny Zamyatin · 1924

A few hundred years after the One State's conquest of the entire world, the spaceship Integral is being built in order to invade and conquer extraterrestrial planets. Meanwhile, the project's chief engineer, D-503, begins a journal that he intends to be carried upon the completed spaceship.<br/>Like all other citizens of One State, D-503 lives in a glass apartment building and is carefully watched by the secret police, or Bureau of Guardians. D-503's lover, O-90, has been assigned by One State to visit him on certain nights. She is considered too short to bear children and is deeply grieved by her state in life. O-90's other lover and D-503's best friend is R-13, a State poet who reads his verse at public executions.<br/>While on an assigned walk with O-90, D-503 meets a woman named I-330. I-330 smokes cigarettes, drinks alcohol, and shamelessly flirts with D-503 instead of applying for an impersonal sex visit; all of these are highly illegal according to the laws of One State.<br/>Both repelled and fascinated, D-503 struggles to overcome his attraction to I-330. She invites him to visit the Ancient House, notable for being the only opaque building in One State, except for windows. Objects of aesthetic and historical importance dug up from around the city are stored there. There, I-330 offers him the services of a corrupt doctor to explain his absence from work. Leaving in horror, D-503 vows to denounce her to the Bureau of Guardians, but finds that he cannot.<br/>He begins to have dreams, which disturbs him, as dreams are thought to be a symptom of mental illness. Slowly, I-330 reveals to D-503 that she is involved with the Mephi, an organization plotting to bring down the One State. She takes him through secret tunnels inside the Ancient House to the world outside the Green Wall, which surrounds the city-state. There, D-503 meets the inhabitants of the outside world: humans whose bodies are covered with animal fur. The aims of the Mephi are to destroy the Green Wall and reunite the citizens of One State with the outside world.

Assassin’s Quest: Book 3 (The Farseer Trilogy)

Robin Hobb · 2021

The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive, Book 1)

Brandon Sanderson · 2010

From #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Brandon Sanderson, The Way Of Kings, Book One Of The Stormlight Archive Begins An Incredible New Saga Of Epic Proportion. Roshar Is A World Of Stone And Storms. Uncanny Tempests Of Incredible Power Sweep Across The Rocky Terrain So Frequently That They Have Shaped Ecology And Civilization Alike. Animals Hide In Shells, Trees Pull In Branches, And Grass Retracts Into The Soilless Ground. Cities Are Built Only Where The Topography Offers Shelter. It Has Been Centuries Since The Fall Of The Ten Consecrated Orders Known As The Knights Radiant, But Their Shardblades And Shardplate Remain: Mystical Swords And Suits Of Armor That Transform Ordinary Men Into Near-invincible Warriors. Men Trade Kingdoms For Shardblades. Wars Were Fought For Them, And Won By Them. One Such War Rages On A Ruined Landscape Called The Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, Who Traded His Medical Apprenticeship For A Spear To Protect His Little Brother, Has Been Reduced To Slavery. In A War That Makes No Sense, Where Ten Armies Fight Separately Against A Single Foe, He Struggles To Save His Men And To Fathom The Leaders Who Consider Them Expendable. Brightlord Dalinar Kholin Commands One Of Those Other Armies. Like His Brother, The Late King, He Is Fascinated By An Ancient Text Called The Way Of Kings. Troubled By Over-powering Visions Of Ancient Times And The Knights Radiant, He Has Begun To Doubt His Own Sanity. Across The Ocean, An Untried Young Woman Named Shallan Seeks To Train Under An Eminent Scholar And Notorious Heretic, Dalinar's Niece, Jasnah. Though She Genuinely Loves Learning, Shallan's Motives Are Less Than Pure. As She Plans A Daring Theft, Her Research For Jasnah Hints At Secrets Of The Knights Radiant And The True Cause Of The War. The Result Of Over Ten Years Of Planning, Writing, And World-building, The Way Of Kings Is But The Opening Movement Of The Stormlight Archive, A Bold Masterpiece In The Making. Speak Again The Ancient Oaths: Life Before Death. Strength Before Weakness. Journey Before Destination. And Return To Men The Shards They Once Bore. The Knights Radiant Must Stand Again. Other Tor Books By Brandon Sanderson The Cosmere The Stormlight Archive The Way Of Kings Words Of Radiance Edgedancer (novella) Oathbringer The Mistborn Trilogy Mistborn: The Final Empire The Well Of Ascension The Hero Of Ages Mistborn: The Wax And Wayne Series Alloy Of Law Shadows Of Self Bands Of Mourning Collection Arcanum Unbounded Other Cosmere Novels Elantris Warbreaker The Alcatraz Vs. The Evil Librarians Series Alcatraz Vs. The Evil Librarians The Scrivener's Bones The Knights Of Crystallia The Shattered Lens The Dark Talent The Rithmatist Series The Rithmatist Other Books By Brandon Sanderson The Reckoners Steelheart Firefight Calamity At The Publisher's Request, This Title Is Being Sold Without Digital Rights Management Software (drm) Applied.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead: A Novel

Olga Tokarczuk · 2020

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE<br/><br/>"A brilliant literary murder mystery." —Chicago Tribune<br/><br/>"Extraordinary. Tokarczuk's novel is funny, vivid, dangerous, and disturbing, and it raises some fierce questions about human behavior. My sincere admiration for her brilliant work." —Annie Proulx<br/><br/>In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind . . .<br/><br/>A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, autonomy and fate. Whom do we deem sane? it asks. Who is worthy of a voice?