Akira has only spent two days exterminating the heavily armored scorpions hiding out in the underground tunnels, and he’s already had more close calls than he bargained for. And try as he might, his bad luck’s about to get worse. A chance encounter soon proves that the biggest threat in the tunnels aren’t monstrous bugs but other humans. Now a gang of cyborg relic thieves have him in their crosshairs, and his fellow hunters may not take his side. With his lines of communication cut off, and forced to fight new enemies and old allies, Akira is outclassed, outgunned, and out of options. How will the young relic hunter stop a threat that can pursue him from beyond the grave? As Akira fights for survival, the scheming ghosts of the Old World look on...

Akira has come a long way from his life on the streets. He’s a proper hunter now, with a roof over his head, food on his plate, and cash in his pocket. And under the guidance of the mysterious Alpha, he continues to acquire superior weapons, skills, and gear. But success has its downsides, and unfamiliar threats are hurtling toward him—both in the desert wastelands and in the city streets. Akira’s deal with aspiring gang leader Sheryl puts him in conflict with the rival bosses eyeing her territory, and it’s going to take more than firepower to navigate the web of schemes and alliances ensnaring the slums. Meanwhile, a massive swarm of monsters bursts out of the ruins, heading straight for Kugamayama City. Rushing to answer the call for help offers Akira a fresh chance for advancement, but the real danger may prove to be his fellow hunters...

Akira is riding high after his successful rescue operation. With new gear and new friends, he’s ready for the next phase of his relic-hunting career. But Akira isn’t the only young hunter in the wastelands, and success might just paint a target on his back. Katsuya, a rookie with the hunter syndicate Druncam, is desperate for recognition, but the veterans around him are more interested in Akira’s feats. Unaware of how much support Akira receives from the ghostly Alpha, Katsuya struggles to outdo his fellow up-and-comer, pushing himself and his friends into ever greater danger in the process. But just when it seems he’s pushed his luck too far, Katsuya has a mysterious encounter of his own. When a major job throws these two young hunters together, Akira must come to grips with Katsuya’s one-sided rivalry while facing down a nest of new and deadly monsters.

Akira has made it out of Yonozuka Station alive, but he’ll have to put his next relic hunt on hold—the ruin’s drastically altered ecosystem is spawning mutant behemoths, rendering the wasteland unsafe. The Hunter Office steps in and offers a large bounty for exterminating them, leading to an enticing proposition for Akira from an unlikely source. Meanwhile, the internal conflict within Druncam escalates. Akira must now face deadlier foes than ever before, and this time Alpha’s support might not be enough!

This unprecedented collection of 27,000 quotations is the most comprehensive and carefully researched of its kind, covering all fields of science and mathematics. With this vast compendium you can readily conceptualize and embrace the written images of scientists, laymen, politicians, novelists, playwrights, and poets about humankind's scientific achievements. Approximately 9000 high-quality entries have been added to this new edition to provide a rich selection of quotations for the student, the educator, and the scientist who would like to introduce a presentation with a relevant quotation that provides perspective and historical background on his subject. Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations, Second Edition, provides the finest reference source of science quotations for all audiences. The new edition adds greater depth to the number of quotations in the various thematic arrangements and also provides new thematic categories.

Margaret Oliphant (1828-97) had a prolific literary career that spanned almost fifty years. She wrote some 98 novels, fifty or more short stories, twenty-five works of non-fiction, including biographies and historic guides to European cities, and more than three hundred periodical articles. This is the most ambitious critical edition of her work.

The difference between Part I and Part II – Volumes 1 & 2 – of this series, is that in Part I the author showed how what we call reality starts with the inner self whereas Part II describes what, in fact, impacts and modifies the environment or reality and what are the factors behind that dynamics. What impacts and modifies the environment is science. This Volume 2 starts by showing how technology plays an important role in scientific progress. Although the relationship between the two is symbiotic, science can exist without technology but technology desperately needs science. Military technology is an example of how technology can help science advance. Some military inventions end up having civilian use. Science being at the center of society, the book makes the case for the direct impact of such social sciences as politics and economics on the advancement of science. Politics, says the author, influences science because of uncertainty in science, and economics does it thanks to the availability of money to scholars and scientists for their research. On the other hand, government also influences scientific progress through regulations. The book gives cyberspace regulation as an example. Furthermore, by showing how art influences science, the author really argues for the polyfactorial aspect of scientific progress. In that line of thought, he goes on to also prove that factors such as skepticism, curiosity, and the quest for knowledge greatly influence the advancement of science. That, says the author, “is a ninety-degree turn … By ending Part two that way, I wanted to, somehow, link it to Part I, which argues that reality starts from within.”