Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman and Angel. Six kids who are pretty normal except they grew up in a laboratory - and can fly. Now they want to track down their missing parents - and save the world.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize “A masterwork . . . the novel astonishes with its inventiveness . . . it is nothing less than a grand comic fugue.”—The New York Times Book Review A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole's hero, one Ignatius J. Reilly, is "huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original characters, denizens of New Orleans' lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures" (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times).

In addition to the powerful quads and chiseled calves they're known for, cyclists need strong core muscles and solid upper-body strength to use their power efficiently. Weight Training for Cyclists is the only book available that shows cyclists how they can get stronger to ride stronger. This revised second edition presents new information on core strength, nutrition, stretching and warm-up. Now comprehensively illustrated with easy-to-follow drawings, the authors explain in clear terms how strength training in the weight room translates to endurance and power on the bike. With the latest research on strength building buttressed by the most recent and effective equipment innovations, Weight Training for Cyclists presents a series of training plans that require only a fraction of the time that cyclists spend in the saddle. For newcomers and veterans alike, Weight Training for Cyclists will become their fundamental guide to better performance.

Power up mountain passes in Italy’s Dolomites, tackle Bolivia’s infamous Death Road or go island-hopping in Japan: Ride takes you around the world in search of adventure on two wheels. Covering 100 incredible cycling routes, this inspirational book will make you reach for your handlebars, whether you’re an experienced, ascent-loving road cyclist or are planning your first bike- packing trip. Awe-inspiring images and compelling descriptions of each ride will have you itching to jump in the saddle, while handy maps, elevation profiles and practical information – including things like distance, difficulty and road surface – will help you plan the nitty gritty of your trip. We’ve also included the best places to explore along the way – whether that’s refuelling spots, epic viewpoints or nearby must-see sights – as well as suggestions for alternative ways to tackle a route. This beautiful bike book features: - Covers 100 rides, from day cycles around cities to epic journeys across continents. - Beautifully designed gift book with stunning photography throughout. - Inspirational travel guide for anyone planning a cycling holiday. - A carefully curated selection of rides, chosen by cycling and travel experts. - Infographics provide an easy-to-digest overview of each ride. - Includes maps and elevation profiles. - Features top tips on cycle touring. Rides are arranged within each chapter geographically, and include the duration and a difficulty rating to help make it easy for readers to find rides that suit their timeframe and ability level. Each chapter covers a different continent (North America, Central and South America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Asia, Australasia) whilst offering top tips for getting the most out of each ride – including recommended stops, viewpoints on route andhow to make the ride shorter/longer depending on how much time you have. Ride is also jam-packed with facts and figures on the world’s most famous cyclists and iconic races, plus information on the history of cycling, how to choose a bike and what kit to take.

(abridged and revised) This reference grammar offers intermediate and advanced students a reason ably comprehensive guide to the morphology and syntax of educated speech and plain prose in Spain and Latin America at the end of the twentieth century. Spanish is the main, usually the sole official language of twenty-one countries,} and it is set fair to overtake English by the year 2000 in numbers 2 of native speakers. This vast geographical and political diversity ensures that Spanish is a good deal less unified than French, German or even English, the latter more or less internationally standardized according to either American or British norms. Until the 1960s, the criteria of internationally correct Spanish were dictated by the Real Academia Espanola, but the prestige of this institution has now sunk so low that its most solemn decrees are hardly taken seriously - witness the fate of the spelling reforms listed in the Nuevas normas de prosodia y ortograjia, which were supposed to come into force in all Spanish-speaking countries in 1959 and, nearly forty years later, are still selectively ignored by publishers and literate persons everywhere. The fact is that in Spanish 'correctness' is nowadays decided, as it is in all living languages, by the consensus of native speakers; but consensus about linguistic usage is obviously difficult to achieve between more than twenty independent, widely scattered and sometimes mutually hostile countries. Peninsular Spanish is itself in flux.

Over the past twenty years, many low- and middle-income countries have experimented with health insurance options. While their plans have varied widely in scale and ambition, their goals are the same: to make health services more affordable through the use of public subsidies while also moving care providers partially or fully into competitive markets. Colombia embarked in 1993 on a fifteen-year effort to cover its entire population with insurance, in combination with greater freedom to choose among providers. A decade later Mexico followed suit with a program tailored to its federal system. Several African nations have introduced new programs in the past decade, and many are testing options for reform. For the past twenty years, Eastern Europe has been shifting from government-run care to insurance-based competitive systems, and both China and India have experimental programs to expand coverage. These nations are betting that insurance-based health care financing can increase the accessibility of services, increase providers' productivity, and change the population's health care use patterns, mirroring the development of health systems in most OECD countries. Until now, however, we have known little about the actual effects of these dramatic policy changes. Understanding the impact of health insurance–based care is key to the public policy debate of whether to extend insurance to low-income populations—and if so, how to do it—or to serve them through other means. Using recent household data, this book presents evidence of the impact of insurance programs in China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ghana, Indonesia, Namibia, and Peru. The contributors also discuss potential design improvements that could increase impact. They provide innovative insights on improving the evaluation of health insurance reforms and on building a robust knowledge base to guide policy as other countries tackle the health insurance challenge.