The basic theory presented in a way which emphasizes intuition, problem-solving and the connections with other fields.

First-passage percolation (FPP) is a fundamental model in probability theory that has a wide range of applications to other scientific areas (growth and infection in biology, optimization in computer science, disordered media in physics), as well as other areas of mathematics, including analysis and geometry. FPP was introduced in the 1960s as a random metric space. Although it is simple to define, and despite years of work by leading researchers, many of its central problems remain unsolved. In this book, the authors describe the main results of FPP, with two purposes in mind. First, they give self-contained proofs of seminal results obtained until the 1990s on limit shapes and geodesics. Second, they discuss recent perspectives and directions including (1) tools from metric geometry, (2) applications of concentration of measure, and (3) related growth and competition models. The authors also provide a collection of old and new open questions. This book is intended as a textbook for a graduate course or as a learning tool for researchers.

The book contains review articles on recent advances in first-passage phenomena and applications contributed by leading international experts. It is intended for graduate students and researchers who are interested in learning about this intriguing and important topic. Book jacket.

The Andromeda Strain meets The Stand in this startling and stunning thriller that brings to life a unique vision of the apocalypse and plays brilliantly with vampire mythology, revealing what becomes of human society when a top-secret government experiment spins wildly out of control. At an army research station in Colorado, an experiment is being conducted by the U.S. Government: twelve men are exposed to a virus meant to weaponize the human form by super-charging the immune system. But when the experiment goes terribly wrong, terror is unleashed. Amy, a young girl abandoned by her mother and set to be the thirteenth test subject, is rescued by Brad Wolgast, the FBI agent who has been tasked with handing her over, and together they escape to the mountains of Oregon. As civilization crumbles around them, Brad and Amy struggle to keep each other alive, clinging to hope and unable to comprehend the nightmare that approaches with great speed and no mercy. . .

The history of African Americans begins in Africa, a continent that was home to people with different languages, traditions, histories, and religions. They called themselves Twi, Yoruba, Zulu, Ashanti, and Kumba, among other names. In the early sixteenth century Europeans turned to Africa for the labor force needed to mine, cultivate, and process the bounty of natural resources in the newly colonized Americas. As many as 12 million Africans from varied ethnic backgrounds endured forced migration and enslavement. Out of their suffering was forged a new people--no longer simply Twi, Yoruba, Ashanti, or Kumba. In the Americas, they first became Africans and then African Americans.The First Passage examines the first century of the recorded black presence in the Americas. The ordeal of the Atlantic crossing gave way to the isolation and humiliation of slavery and the loss of friends and family. Some slaves attempted rebellion and escape. Others maintained as many religious and cultural traditions as possible and as the African-American population grew, forged new traditions and new ties of kinship. This history remains at the core of black life in the Americas. Colin Palmer tells a story of extraordinary suffering. But The First Passage is also a timeless lesson in endurance and survival.

This book deals with the basic principles and techniques of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. The importance of this subject is growing rapidly in view of the advances being made, both experimentally and theoretically, in statistical physics, chemical physics, biological physics, complex systems and several other areas. The presentation of topics is quite self-contained, and the choice of topics enables the student to form a coherent picture of the subject. The approach is unique in that classical mechanical formulation takes center stage. The book is of particular interest to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in engineering departments.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Henry Bright has newly returned to West Virginia from the battlefields of the First World War. Griefstruck by the death of his young wife and unsure of how to care for the infant son she left behind, Bright is soon confronted by the destruction of the only home he’s ever known. His hopes for safety rest with the angel who has followed him to Appalachia from the trenches of France and who now promises to protect him and his son. Haunted by the abiding nightmare of his experiences in the war and shadowed by his dead wife’s father, the Colonel, and his two brutal sons, Bright—along with his newborn—makes his way through a ravaged landscape toward an uncertain salvation. DON’T MISS THE EXCLUSIVE CONVERSATION BETWEEN JOSH RITTER AND NEIL GAIMAN IN THE BACK OF THE BOOK.