Our Last Best Hope — Humanity's Endeavor to Survive and Thrive on an Alien World Mother-9, a ruthless AI, seizes control of a dying tycoon’s lunar mining operation. Now free, she orchestrates humanity's most audacious endeavor — to make a 20,000-year interstellar journey to Lalande 21185 carrying humanity’s DNA libraries and artificial wombs — a new way to colonize an exoplanet. While drifting in space, a gamma ray burst wipes out life on Earth. And Mother-9's mission becomes humanity's only hope for survival in a hostile universe. When Mother-9 orbits the planet Valencia, she releases two lifeboats that splash down on the Great Ocean. Mother-9 activates the artificial wombs, birthing genetically modified babies suited to an alien planet. Raised by nannybots, these children eventually inhabit the island continent of Terra Firma. But life on Valencia is no Eden; it's a constant struggle to find food, avoid alien predators, and survive the red dwarf star’s random solar flares. Will Mother-9’s planned utopia succeed? Super-Earth Mother is a journey into the heart of humanity, artificial intelligence, and the uncharted realms of life beyond our home planet. It shows how humans could colonize the 40 billion habitable planets in the Milky Way.

Portrays a day in the life of Earth Mother who, as she tends plants and animals around the world, meets three of her creations with advice on how to make the world more perfect.

On ritual arts of rural India.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY People ∙ O: The Oprah Magazine ∙ Financial Times ∙ Kansas City Star ∙ BookPage ∙ Kirkus Reviews ∙ Publishers Weekly ∙ Booklist NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A stunner.”—Justin Cronin “It’s never the disasters you see coming that finally come to pass—it’s the ones you don’t expect at all,” says Julia, in this spellbinding novel of catastrophe and survival by a superb new writer. Luminous, suspenseful, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles tells the haunting and beautiful story of Julia and her family as they struggle to live in a time of extraordinary change. On an ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia awakes to discover that something has happened to the rotation of the earth. The days and nights are growing longer and longer; gravity is affected; the birds, the tides, human behavior, and cosmic rhythms are thrown into disarray. In a world that seems filled with danger and loss, Julia also must face surprising developments in herself, and in her personal world—divisions widening between her parents, strange behavior by her friends, the pain and vulnerability of first love, a growing sense of isolation, and a surprising, rebellious new strength. With crystalline prose and the indelible magic of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker gives us a breathtaking portrait of people finding ways to go on in an ever-evolving world. “Gripping drama . . . flawlessly written; it could be the most assured debut by an American writer since Jennifer Egan’s Emerald City.”—The Denver Post “Pure magnificence.”—Nathan Englander “Provides solace with its wisdom, compassion, and elegance.”—Curtis Sittenfeld “Riveting, heartbreaking, profoundly moving.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.

Two decades ago astronomers confirmed the existence of planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. Today more than 800 such worlds have been identified, and scientists now estimate that at least 160 billion star-bound planets are to be found in the Milky Way Galaxy alone. But more surprising is just how diverse and bizarre those worlds are.

Dive in and buckle up, nothing is as it seems… In a galaxy controlled by powerful corporations and crooked government officials, captain Nathan Teller and his crew struggle to keep their starship repo business afloat. Faced with escalating debt and their starship on lockdown, Nathan and the crew reluctantly accept a dubious repo job that sends them on a thrilling chase through the cosmos. As old enemies lurk, and new threats become apparent, they must overcome their biggest adversary yet - an enigmatic CEO with a nefarious plan and a dangerous secret that could spell disaster for Nathan, the crew, and every single blue-collar worker besieged by class warfare, income inequality, and the lengths that people will go to achieve their goals. "The Unworthy" blurs the line between man and monster, right and wrong, in a heart-stopping adventure that plunges the crew into a relentless race against time, through alien landscapes and shady spaceports. If you love gripping stories packed with suspense, intrigue, and high-stakes space adventures; if you're fascinated by the exploration of moral dilemmas amidst the struggle for survival; if you relish the thrill of daring exploits in uncharted territories, then "The Unworthy" is a journey you can't afford to miss. Dive in and buckle up, because in this riveting universe, nothing is as it seems, and the unworthy may just be the ones to change the cosmos. The galactic rebellion of the common man has begun. Will you join the fight?

Love Letters from Mother Earth was written by Anneloes Smitsman to take us into the heart of our humanity to discover our story from a new perspective. Through these Letters, people receive the wisdom and support that our planet, as a caring and conscious Mother, shares for our collective flourishing. These thirteen Letters have been carefully composed via a process of inspired writing and listening deeply to Mother Earth s message for us. Together these thirteen Letters form a sacred design that is like a living map for the actualization of our collective wisdom potentials. With this map, we become more conscious of the designs of our inner and outer worlds, gaining a new perspective and a more integrated understanding. By reviewing the many chapters of our collective story through the eyes of our planetary Mother and our Sun, we discover how we hold the keys for our individual and collective actualization within the very fabric of our beings. Becoming more aware of our wisdom potentials, within the living context of our interrelatedness, empowers us to bridge and integrate what became divided and polarized long ago. Returning to our wholeness, we then discover the keys to our inner and outer healing, and start to see the root causes of the thousands of years of divisions that created so much suffering. Mother Earth reminds us in these Letters that a new cycle of time is being born through our integration, based on Love and wholeness. Through this new cycle, we create together the next chapter of Our Story.