"[A] tremendous new book." —The Boston Globe "Carney and Miklian write vividly in the fashion of a cinematic disaster flick." —The Washington Post The deadliest storm in modern history ripped Pakistan in two and led the world to the brink of nuclear war when American and Soviet forces converged in the Bay of Bengal In November 1970, a storm set a collision course with the most densely populated coastline on Earth. Over the course of just a few hours, the Great Bhola Cyclone would kill 500,000 people and begin a chain reaction of turmoil, genocide, and war. The Vortex is the dramatic story of how that storm sparked a country to revolution. Bhola made landfall during a fragile time, when Pakistan was on the brink of a historic election. The fallout ignited a conflagration of political intrigue, corruption, violence, idealism, and bravery that played out in the lives of tens of millions of Bangladeshis. Authors Scott Carney and Jason Miklian take us deep into the story of the cyclone and its aftermath, told through the eyes of the men and women who lived through it, including the infamous president of Pakistan, General Yahya Khan, and his close friend Richard Nixon; American expats Jon and Candy Rhode; soccer star-turned-soldier Hafiz Uddin Ahmad; and a young Bengali revolutionary, Mohammed Hai. Thrillingly paced and written with incredible detail, The Vortex is not just a story about the painful birth of a new nation but also a universal tale of resilience and liberation in the face of climate emergency that affects every single person on the planet.

A highly original theory of how the mind-brain works, based on the author's study of single neuronal cells. In I of the Vortex, Rodolfo Llinas, a founding father of modern brain science, presents an original view of the evolution and nature of mind. According to Llinas, the "mindness state" evolved to allow predictive interactions between mobile creatures and their environment. He illustrates the early evolution of mind through a primitive animal called the "sea squirt." The mobile larval form has a brainlike ganglion that receives sensory information about the surrounding environment. As an adult, the sea squirt attaches itself to a stationary object and then digests most of its own brain. This suggests that the nervous system evolved to allow active movement in animals. To move through the environment safely, a creature must anticipate the outcome of each movement on the basis of incoming sensory data. Thus the capacity to predict is most likely the ultimate brain function. One could even say that Self is the centralization of prediction. At the heart of Llinas's theory is the concept of oscillation. Many neurons possess electrical activity, manifested as oscillating variations in the minute voltages across the cell membrane. On the crests of these oscillations occur larger electrical events that are the basis for neuron-to-neuron communication. Like cicadas chirping in unison, a group of neurons oscillating in phase can resonate with a distant group of neurons. This simultaneity of neuronal activity is the neurobiological root of cognition. Although the internal state that we call the mind is guided by the senses, it is also generated by the oscillations within the brain. Thus, in a certain sense, one could say that reality is not all "out there," but is a kind of virtual reality.

"Vortex" tells the story of Turk Findley, the protagonist introduced in "Axis," who is transported 10,000 years into the future by the mysterious entities called "the Hypotheticals."

When Nicky arrives back from Paris to his London family home with new fiancée Bunty in tow, relations with his friends, family, and particularly his mother Florence seem as good as they ever were. Cracks, however, soon start appearing: Nicky has a new drug habit (and there are other hinted-at transgressions); Bunty is uncomfortable in her new role with Nicky’s friends and family; and the façade Florence is vainly putting up against her increasing age and dissatisfaction with life is starting to fail. The Vortex is an early play of Noël Coward’s, and was the first to reach large acclaim. Given the themes of drug abuse, the censors in the UK at the time nearly chose to block its staging, and even after it was passed Coward (as writer, director, and star) had trouble finding a venue. Eventually it was picked up by a small theater in north London, and after critical success and popular interest it moved to London’s West End. The play has been adapted for television, film and radio many times over the years, and is still a popular choice for theaters today. While the drug abuse and coded homosexuality has less shock value than when first performed, Nicky and Florence’s increasingly obvious difficulties in living outside the boxes created for them by society is a theme that stands the test of time. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

They should've never met. She's the crown princess. He's a mysterious sorcerer. But the unexpected happens when the world is ending. When Crown Princess Vi Solaris finds out she has a rare and deadly power, she must make a choice: Her magic or her throne. But the choice isn't as simple as it appears, because her magic is the key to saving the world. As her Empire falters from political infighting and a deadly plague, Vi trains in secret under a deadly sorcerer from a distant land. From his pointed ears to enchanting eyes and silver tongue, he's nothing like anyone she's ever met before. Vi knows she should fear him and his shadowed past, but he may just be the only one who really knows what's happening to her. Locked together with the fate of a dying world, Vi sets off to uncover the truth of a magic that wasn't made for mortal hands. But the ultimate triumph will require the ultimate sacrifice. Once Vi embarks on her epic journey of adventure, romance, family, and duty, there will be no turning back. This omnibus edition contains all five books in the Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles series by USA Today bestselling author Elise Kova.

"The Alpha and Omega teams are in a race for the six essential elements that can fuse into a new source of clean energy, but the elements are scattered throughout the galaxy, and the teams are running out of time."--

S. J. Kincaid has created a fascinating dystopian world for Insignia, her futuristic science-fiction adventure series perfect for fans of Ender's Game. Earth is in the middle of WWIII, a war to determine which governments and corporations will control the resources of the solar system. Teen Tom Raines grew up with nothing—some days without even a roof over his head. Then his exceptional gaming skills earned him a spot in the Intrasolar Forces, the country's elite military training program, and his life completely changed. Now in Vortex, the second book in the series, Tom discovers that the Pentagonal Spire, where he and his friends are being trained as superhuman weapons, is filled with corruption. He is asked to betray his friends—the first real friends he's ever had—for the sake of his country. Will he sacrifice his new life to do what he believes is right?