New Release Books by David Ellis

David Ellis is the author of Look Closer (2022), Escape (2022), The Red Book (2021), Medicinal Herbs and Poisonous Plants (2020), The Black Book (2017) and other 199 books.

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Look Closer

release date: Jul 05, 2022
Look Closer
"Wildly entertaining."--New York Times Book Review From the bestselling and award-winning author comes a wickedly clever and fast-paced novel of greed, revenge, obsession—and quite possibly the perfect murder. Simon and Vicky couldn’t seem more normal: a wealthy Chicago couple, he a respected law professor, she an advocate for domestic violence victims. A stable, if unexciting marriage. But one thing’s for sure … absolutely nothing is what it seems. The pair are far from normal, and one of them just may be a killer. When the body of a beautiful socialite is found hanging in a mansion in a nearby suburb, Simon and Vicky’s secrets begin to unravel. A secret whirlwind affair. A twenty-million-dollar trust fund about to come due. A decades-long grudge and obsession with revenge. These are just a few of the lies that make up the complex web...and they will have devastating consequences. And while both Vicky and Simon are liars, just who exactly is conning who? Part Gone Girl, part Strangers on a Train, Look Closer is a wild rollercoaster of a read that will have you questioning everything you think you know.

Escape

release date: Jun 20, 2022
Escape
#1 New York Times bestselling detective Billy Harney of The Black Book is chasing down a billionaire crime boss and a prison escape artist while a young girl's life hangs in the balance. As Chicago PD’s special-ops leader, Detective Billy Harney knows well that money is not the only valuable currency. The filthy rich man he’s investigating is down to his last twenty million. He’s also being held in jail. For now. Billy’s unit is called in when an escape plan results in officers down and inmates vanished. In an empty lot, Billy spots two Kevlar vests. Two helmets. Two assault rifles. And a handwritten note: Hi, Billy Are you having fun yet?

The Red Book

release date: Mar 29, 2021
The Red Book
Detective Billy Harney’s reputation as a dirty cop may be the only thing keeping Chicago clean in James Patterson’s most critically-acclaimed thriller since The Black Book. ​For Detective Billy Harney, getting shot in the head, stalked by a state’s attorney, and accused of murder by his fellow cops is a normal week on the job. So when a drive-by shooting on the Chicago's west side turns political, he leads the way to a quick solve. But Harney's instincts—his father was once chief of detectives and his twin sister, Patti, is also on the force—run deep. As a population hungry for justice threatens to riot, he realizes that the three known victims are hardly the only casualties. When Harney starts asking questions about who's to blame, the easy answers prove to be the wrong ones. On the flip side, the less he seems to know, the longer he can keep his clandestine investigation going . . . until Harney's quest to expose the evil that's rotting the city from the inside out takes him to the one place he vowed never to return: his own troubled past.

Medicinal Herbs and Poisonous Plants

release date: Jul 14, 2020
Medicinal Herbs and Poisonous Plants
This vintage book is a comprehensive catalogue of medical herbs and poisonous plants. A marvellously detailed and profusely illustrated volume, “Medicinal Herbs And Poisonous Plants” will be of considerable value to those with an interest in botany and collectors of vintage literature of this ilk. Contents include: “Structure of the Flower”, “Study of Buttercup, Foxglove, and Snowdrop”, “Hypogyny, Perigynym and Epigyny”, “Study of Wild Rose”, “Classification of Plants”, “Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons”, “Table for Monocotyledons”, “Table for Incomplete (Dicotyledons)”, “Classification of Poisons”, “Physiology of Plants: Bearing on Formation of Drugs and Poisons”, “Waste Products”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern edition for the enjoyment and edification of readers now and for years to come.

The Black Book

release date: Mar 27, 2017
The Black Book
The "thrilling" #1 New York Times and USA Today bestseller (Karin Slaughter): when three bodies are found in a Chicago bedroom, a black book goes missing . . . and the city has never been more dangerous. Billy Harney was born to be a cop. As the son of Chicago's chief of detectives with a twin sister on the force, Billy plays it by the book. Teaming up with his adrenaline-junkie partner, Detective Kate Fenton, there's nothing he wouldn't sacrifice for his job. Enter Amy Lentini, a hard-charging assistant attorney hell-bent on making a name for herself who suspects Billy isn't the cop he claims to be. They're about to be linked by more than their careers. A horrifying murder leads investigators to an unexpected address-an exclusive brothel that caters to Chicago's most powerful citizens. There's plenty of incriminating evidence on the scene, but what matters most is what's missing: the madam's black book. Now with shock waves rippling through the city's elite, everyone's desperate to find it. As Chicago's elite scramble to get their hands on the elusive black book, no one's motives can be trusted. An ingenious, inventive thriller about power, corruption, and the secrets that can destroy a city, The Black Book is James Patterson at his page-turning best.

The Murder House

release date: Sep 28, 2015
The Murder House
Detective Jenna Murphy comes to the Hamptons to solve a murder-but what she finds is more deadly than she could ever imagine. Trying to escape her troubled past and rehabilitate a career on the rocks, former New York City cop Jenna Murphy hardly expects her lush and wealthy surroundings to be a hotbed of grisly depravity. But when a Hollywood power broker and his mistress are found dead in the abandoned Murder House, the gruesome crime scene rivals anything Jenna experienced in Manhattan. And what at first seems like an open and shut case turns out to have as many shocking secrets as the Murder House itself, as Jenna quickly realizes that the mansion's history is much darker than even the town's most salacious gossips could have imagined. As more bodies surface, and the secret that Jenna has tried desperately to escape closes in on her, she must risk her own life to expose the truth-before the Murder House claims another victim. Full of the twists and turns that have made James Patterson the world's #1 bestselling writer, The Murder House is a chilling, page-turning story of murder, money, and revenge.

Frank Cioffi: The Philosopher in Shirt-Sleeves

release date: Apr 23, 2015
Frank Cioffi: The Philosopher in Shirt-Sleeves
A high school drop-out who served in the American army and then managed to slip into Oxford on the G.I. bill, Frank Cioffi gained a considerable public reputation in Freudian and Wittgensteinian circles. Frank Cioffi: The Philosopher in Shirt-Sleeves is an account of his conversation written in a Boswellian spirit, capturing the sharp intelligence, boisterous sense of humour and wealth of illustration Cioffi was able to bring to bear on life's biggest problems when he was, as it were, off-duty. Tackling subjects such as the unruly body, the challenge of art, dealing with failure, the lure of science, the meaning of life, our understanding of others, depression, the case for suicide, and death, David Ellis describes how a philosopher who was profoundly influenced by Wittgenstein dealt with general issues and creates a vivid impression of an unusual and gifted individual. This portrait is followed by a post-script in which Nicholas Bunnin, who worked in the philosophy department at Essex when Cioffi was a professor there, situates him in a more strictly academic context and discusses his less well-known essays on literary criticism and the behavioural sciences, arguing for Cioffi's potential to inspire those seeking a role for analytic philosophy within the broader scope of humanistic philosophy. A mixture of personal portrait and academic introduction, Frank Cioffi: The Philosopher in Shirt-Sleeves provides an elegant and enjoyable tribute to Cioffi as both man and philosopher.

Love and Sex in D.H. Lawrence

release date: Jan 01, 2015
Love and Sex in D.H. Lawrence
"Although love and sex are central to Lawrence, critics have paid scant attention to the remarkably strange and unexpected ways in which these two topics are treated in his work. In this controversial study, David Ellis describes how the tortuous developments in Lawrence's relationship with Jessie Chambers are reflected in his writing, his struggle against his undoubted leanings towards homosexuality, the war he declared on the concept of romantic love and how, after insisting on male dominance, he returned (although only in part) to a more humane vision of relations between the sexes in the various versions of Lady Chatterley's Lover. His aim is to suggest that although Lawrence is undoubtedly a major writer, his greatest achievements are not to be found where he is popularly assumed to be at his most impressive"--Page 4 of cover.

Invisible

release date: Jun 23, 2014
Invisible
Read the #1 New York Times bestselling thriller Invisible, then continue the series with Unsolved. Everyone thinks Emmy Dockery is crazy. Obsessed with finding the link between hundreds of unsolved cases, Emmy has taken leave from her job as an FBI researcher. Now all she has are the newspaper clippings that wallpaper her bedroom, and her recurring nightmares of an all-consuming fire. Not even Emmy's ex-boyfriend, field agent Harrison "Books" Bookman, will believe her that hundreds of kidnappings, rapes, and murders are all connected. That is, until Emmy finds a piece of evidence he can't afford to ignore. More murders are reported by the day--and they're all inexplicable. No motives, no murder weapons, no suspects. Could one person really be responsible for these unthinkable crimes? INVISIBLE is James Patterson's scariest, most chilling thriller yet.

Invisible -- Free Preview -- The First 8 Chapters

release date: Apr 28, 2014
Invisible -- Free Preview -- The First 8 Chapters
Everyone thinks Emmy Dockery is crazy. Obsessed with finding the link between hundreds of unsolved cases, Emmy has taken leave from her job as an FBI researcher. Now all she has are the newspaper clippings that wallpaper her bedroom, and her recurring nightmares of an all-consuming fire. Not even Emmy's ex-boyfriend, field agent Harrison "Books" Bookman, will believe her that hundreds of kidnappings, rapes, and murders are all connected. That is, until Emmy finds a piece of evidence he can't afford to ignore. More murders are reported by the day--and they're all inexplicable. No motives, no murder weapons, no suspects. Could one person really be responsible for these unthinkable crimes? INVISIBLE is James Patterson's scariest, most chilling stand-alone thriller yet.

Truth About William Shakespeare

release date: Sep 13, 2013
Truth About William Shakespeare
A polemical attack on the ways recent Shakespeare biographers have disguised their lack of information

Mistress

release date: Aug 05, 2013
Mistress
Discover a dangerous world of manipulation, obsession, and murder in James Patterson's scary, sexy standalone thriller. Ben isn't like most people. Unable to control his racing thoughts, he's a man consumed by his obsessions: movies, motorcycles, presidential trivia-and Diana Hotchkiss, a beautiful woman Ben knows he can never have. When Diana is found dead outside her apartment, Ben's infatuation drives him on a hunt to find out what happened to the love of his life. He soon discovers that the woman he pined for was hiding a shocking secret. And now someone is out to stop Ben from uncovering the truth about Diana's illicit affairs. In his most heart-pumping thriller yet, James Patterson plunges us into the depths of a mind tortured by paranoia and obsession, on an action-packed chase through a world of danger and deceit.

The Last Alibi

release date: Aug 01, 2013
The Last Alibi
Believing he’s the target of a frame-up, geeky loner James Drinker hires defense attorney Jason Kolarich to take his case. Two women he knows have recently been murdered, seemingly by the same killer, and Drinker thinks he’ll be the police’s main suspect. Something about Drinker seems off from the start, but Kolarich doesn’t give it too much thought. Until another murder occurs. And then another. As he begins to probe his client’s life and story more closely, it quickly becomes clear that nothing about James Drinker is what it seems…and the target of the frame-up isn’t Drinker, but Kolarich. Faced with a murder charge and unable to prove his own innocence without breaking his sworn attorney-client privilege, Jason Kolarich must hunt for the truth about James Drinker, the series of brutal killings, and why he’s been set up to take the fall. The answers will be beyond anything he could have imagined.

Memoirs of a Leavisite

release date: Jan 01, 2013
Memoirs of a Leavisite
Few have influenced the teaching of English literature as much as F. R. Leavis and his wife, Q. D. Leavis. Iconic figures of modernist criticism, they levied impassioned and often provocative readings, invigorating English criticism with a sense of literature as alive and of crucial importance to shaping contemporary sensibility. Here David Ellis looks back through his own long career as an English professor—to his days as a student of F. R. Leavis—balancing the history of criticism with personal accounts of the Leavis style, exploring its lasting impact on him and why, ultimately, it was doomed to fail. In doing so he offers a fascinating exploration of just what English literature is and what it can be.

A Book of Life

release date: Jun 10, 2021
A Book of Life
Long before there were books, there were spirits, demons, djinns. Many were of no consequence, idle beings with no interest in humanity, some, kindly, eager to help, visiting anxious souls in their final sleep to provide reassurance. A few were different from any of these. A few were angry and full of hate. At some point, one of these deadly fragments of consciousness passed into a book. This Book had been one of the very earliest books, and was for this reason, an important Book. However, it was also an ordinary Book, tribune of the everyday, diary of earth, a Book of interest only to our museums and historians. Now there are new stories in the old Book, stories written by the spirit. In David Ellis's A Book of Life, the stories come alive in the pages for the story is the Book itself, and the words within are solely for the eyes of the chosen. The privileged reader then has a choice...to ignore, or to believe...to walk on through life, alone, or to follow the old laws, to follow the Book...

The Wrong Man

release date: Jun 14, 2012
The Wrong Man
Criminal defense attorney Jason Kolarich returns in this shocking new thriller by the Edgar® Award–winning author. A young paralegal is brutally killed. A homeless Iraq war veteran has been caught with the murder weapon and the victim’s belongings—and he can’t remember what happened… Jason Kolarich has been asked by the young man’s aunt to defend him. It seems like a standard insanity defense based on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—until Kolarich realizes that his client is actually innocent. The victim had been working a case of her own, following a trail of paper and money that connected international terrorists to corporate America, where there are those who want to teach the U.S. government a lesson. Kolarich knows finding the true murderer is the key to exposing the conspiracy. As time grows short for both his client and thousands of innocent Americans, he races to find a trained killer and uncover the details of the attack. But Kolarich soon discovers that the game has already been rigged—and that he himself is about to become the next target…

If Lenox Avenue Could Talk

release date: Dec 02, 2020
If Lenox Avenue Could Talk
A new book of poetry by David Ellis, inspired by walks down Lenox Avenue in Harlem, NY.

Guilty Wives

release date: Mar 26, 2012
Guilty Wives
After a lavish night of guilty pleasures in Monte Carlo, four best friends face an awful morning of arrests -- and a fight for survival. Only minutes after Abbie Elliot and her three best friends step off of a private helicopter, they enter the most luxurious, sumptuous, sensually pampering hotel they have ever been to. Their lavish presidential suite overlooks Monte Carlo, and they surrender: to the sun and pool, to the sashimi and sake, to the Bruno Paillard champagne. As the weekend moves into pulsating discos, high-stakes casinos, and beyond, Abbie is transported to the greatest pleasure and release she has ever known. In the morning's harsh light, Abbie awakens on a yacht, surrounded by police. Something awful has happened: something impossible, unthinkable. Abbie, Winnie, Serena, and Bryah are arrested and accused of the foulest crime imaginable. And now the vacation of a lifetime becomes the fight of a lifetime-a fight for survival. Guilty Wives is the ultimate indulgence, the kind of nonstop joy-ride of excess, friendship, betrayal, and danger that only James Patterson can create.

A Winter in Belfast

release date: Jun 30, 2020
A Winter in Belfast
A Winter in Belfast is a frank diary transcript of a young officer's experiences in The Parachute Regiment during a tour of duty in Belfast in the winter of 1976-77. His hard-hitting account captures the reality of the daily lives of 10 Platoon, D Company, 2 PARA - the sad, the funny, the boredom and the ridiculous. Though the violence was less intense than in previous years, daily shootings and endless riots being a thing of the past, the frequent bombings and shootings meant that the toll of dead and wounded soldiers, police and civilians continued to mount. Much of the violence in Northern Ireland during this period was sectarian. Loyalists and Republicans murdered each other, often in a completely random manner, properties were bombed and individuals targeted on a daily basis. These forthright diary entries were written each evening throughout the tour, therefore, the 1977 style is authentic and does not concede to modern sensitivities or politically correct language. There is no intention to offend the reader or any member of the Battalion, the contents are merely a reflection of how things were said and done four decades ago. Officers and soldiers of D Company (plus other members of the Battalion that the author tracked down) have also added their own comments. The author also mentions his current thinking about the soldiers' training, equipment, and the people involved, as well as what happened to 2 PARA after the tour and some of the individuals of D Company 2 PARA. This book is a compelling read for anyone interested in military history, particularly during this violent and tense era in Northern Ireland.

The Princess Who Forgot She Was Beautiful

release date: Mar 31, 2019
The Princess Who Forgot She Was Beautiful
Harry Ferguson has a problem. Dragons have blown into his sleepy East Texas town. And it's all his fault. Now here's what happened... A medieval peasant boy Harry Ferguson, along with the love of his life, Princess Sarah, is thrown through time and spat out a thousand years into the future. He lands in a small town in rural Texas. But that's just the beginning of his troubles. Not only are Harry and Sarah far from when they were, Harry is now an old man. Perhaps even worse, Sarah has become a six-year-old girl with no memory of their past, and the dragon that has vowed to kill him has followed them down through time and wants Sarah as his bride.One thing is for certain, Moab, Texas, will never be the same again. The Princess Who Forgot She Was Beautiful is a spellbinding tale full of twists and turns, tears and laughter. From time-travel to a hidden princess and a demonized dragon, each page pulls the reader ever further into this heroic tale. This is the first book of Ellis's Harry Ferguson Chronicles. If you like love stories, shape-shifting dragons, men with integrity, and women who will fight beside and for their men, you are going to love this series.Warning: "Princess" ends in a cliff hanger! contains strong male characters who are faithful, clean, romantic content, strong female characters who love their men and fight and die side by side with them, gut-busting laughter, East Texans with PhDs-they talk funny but are smart-shape-shifting dragons that pray, country Texans cast in a balanced light who cuss, pray, and fight for each other, children at risk of demonic rituals, angels in overalls, grandpas that spoil their granddaughters, sword violence, old pickup trucks, and coming in future books in the series, but not yet, sentient dogs.

Through All the Changing Scenes

release date: Jan 01, 2020
Through All the Changing Scenes
Following God's call to cross cultural mission, Ellis' experience from riots, political upheaval, physical hardship, and burn out, to caring for his wife, Adèle, through her Alzheimer's, he would have been unable to hold fast without a robust biblical understanding of God's providence and sovereignty. With feeling and honesty Ellis weaves anecdote with biblical meditation, allowing scripture (especially the pivotal Psalm 2) to form the lens through which the world, in all its frightening chaos, is viewed. A personal, pastoral, faith building read, it offers scriptural reflection not trite answers - robust biblical wisdom for guidance, encouragement and challenge for Christians of all ages and stages.

Behavior of the Golden Eagle

release date: Nov 01, 2017
Behavior of the Golden Eagle
In this volume, the action patterns and activities of the golden eagle are described and most are illustrated in great detail. Names/titles are given for each action pattern, and those that are most useful in determining health and level of disturbance are discussed. There is also a brief chapter on the history of behavioral studies as they apply to raptors. The dangers associated with studying raptors at close range are presented and techniques are outlined for minimizing disturbance. Recommendations are also made for exclusion zones for various environmental stressors/hazards around eagle eyries and in prey concentration zones.This book on the behavior of the golden eagle is broadly useful because hawks and other eagles behave very much like the golden eagle. When a reader becomes familiar with the ideas and terms presented herein, he/she is prepared for doing behavioral research on dozens of species. The illustrations are also designed for use in training technicians to recognize and report healthy and aberrant behavior of diurnal raptors. Further, in a day when web cameras broadcast intimate details of bird behavior around the world, this book provides the lexicon, the nomenclature, for discussing all that is seen.

Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal

release date: Sep 26, 2019
Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal
Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal features inspirational poetry, no matter the topic. We are excited to introduce the works of Sandra Hurst, Suchot Sunday, Angela van Son, Antoinette Dickson, Paula Watts, James Marchiori, Daniel Lyons, Jenn Ashton, JD Estrada, and Christie Stratos. Issue 1 also includes dedicated sections for writing tools, social media tips / tricks and more.

Sherlock Holmes

release date: Nov 17, 2020
Sherlock Holmes
The world is a powder keg...and the wick is burning.How does a thief walk into the Tower of London, and from beneath the noses of a dozen guards steal the world's largest diamond? The only witnesses to the crime are not available because they died three hundred years ago, and their testimonies are not allowed in court.Why were a hundred million dollars of other jewels left untouched?Holmes and Watson have unexpected help, a beautiful and ageless witch who hates her occupation, and the Frankenstein monster and his bride who bring their kids for a sleepover.Sherlock Holmes never knows who is going to knock at his door: Ghosts? Fairies? The invisible man?You will love this book because it's Sherlock Holmes grappling with criminals he cannot see and crimes he can scarcely imagine!Get it now!

Unsolved

release date: Jun 03, 2019
Unsolved
In this follow-up to the #1 bestselling thriller Invisible, every perfect murder looks like an accident, but as bodies start to pile up across the country, two FBI agents realize that something horrible is happening. FBI agent Emmy Dockery is absolutely relentless. She's young and driven, and her unique skill at seeing connections others miss has brought her an impressive string of arrests. But a shocking new case -- unfolding across the country -- has left her utterly baffled. The victims all appear to have died by accident, and have seemingly nothing in common. But this many deaths can't be coincidence. And the killer is somehow one step ahead of every move Dockery makes. How? To FBI special agent Harrison "Books" Bookman, everyone in the FBI is a suspect -- particularly Emmy Dockery (the fact that she's his ex-fiancee doesn't make it easier). But someone else is watching Dockery. Studying, learning, waiting. Until it's the perfect time to strike.

America's Retirement Reality Check

America's Retirement Reality Check
The United States is facing an increasingly high number of people who are turning 65 and beginning to retireNancy and David Ellis share their years of experience and knowledge, as they explain the importance of preparing for retirement starting today, and share how to begin that process. With an easy, approachable tone, Nancy and David take the fear and unknown out of the equation, putting retirement securely within reach.

Stewardship on Steroids

release date: Nov 01, 2011
Stewardship on Steroids
If you are looking to increase your cash flow, build wealth, create a flood of tax-free retirement income and leave behind a legacy, look no further than Stewardship on Steroids. In this eye-opening book, one of America's most sought after advisors, David Ellis Conyers, offers the foundation of knowledge you need to become the best Christian steward possible. Using nothing more than proven facts and simple math, David sheds light on the financial lies "The Establishment" has shoved down our throats all our lives, empowering Christian readers with the undeniable truth. Throughout these unprecedented pages, David reveals the powerful financial planning and investment methods The Establishment doesn't want you to know about. He proves there is a better a way for good Christian stewards to manage God's resources, accumulate wealth and ensure a financially comfortable retirement—and still have plenty of money left over to give generously to the Church, Christian organizations and charities. Stewardship on Steroids serves up real-world, common sense, easy-to-understand solutions that any Christian can put into practice. Why settle for being a good Christian steward when you can be a great one? Get on the path to financial greatness with Stewardship on Steroids.

Social Humanism

release date: Jan 01, 2012
Social Humanism
In this book, Ellis argues that moral and political objectives are not independent of one other, and so must be pursued in tandem. Social humanism is a moral and political philosophy that does just this. As a political philosophy, it justifies the implementation and maintenance of many of the characteristic social policies of welfare states. As a moral philosophy, it provides the foundation required for most human rights legislation. To this end, Ellis elaborates on the theory of social humanism and the need to reconsider the metaphysical foundations of morals. He develops the theory of social idealism as a meta-theory for both morals and social policy, exploring the global consequences of this new approach.

Breach of Trust

release date: Feb 03, 2011
Breach of Trust
On the night his wife and infant daughter died, attorney Jason Kolarich was awaiting a call from an informant. He blames himself not only for the deaths of his family, but for the informant's murder as well. Kolarich can't bring back his family, but he can find the person who killed the informant. And he discovers that his informant's murder was only the tip of the iceberg-and that exposing the truth will drag him into the fight of his life.

Byron in Geneva

release date: Jan 01, 2011
Byron in Geneva
'Byron in Geneva' focuses sharply on the poet's life in the summer of 1816, a famous time for meteorologists (for whom 1816 is the year without a summer), but also that crucial moment in the development of his writing when, urged on by Shelley, Byron tried to transform himself into a Romantic poet of the Wordsworthian variety.

Deus Ex Machina Sapiens

release date: Jan 01, 2011
Deus Ex Machina Sapiens
Watson's win on Jeopardy came as no surprise to those who had read Deus ex Machina sapiens. It was written largely during the 1990s, around the time that another IBM supercomputer--Deep Blue--was trouncing world chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov. The book has since been updated on a few points of detail but its primary message remains intact: the Machine is rapidly evolving as Man's rival if not replacement for the job of Steward of the Earth. Building upon the work of some of the world's greatest scientists, philosophers, and religious thinkers, and drawing particularly from developments in the computing and cognitive sciences--particularly, the field of artificial intelligence, or AI--the book reveals the evolutionary emergence of a machine that is not just intelligent but also self-conscious, emotional, and free-willed. In the 1980s and '90s you used to hear grandiose claims about AI. Machines would soon surpass humans in intelligence, it was claimed by some. The Japanese government spent a billion dollars on one project to make it happen. Well, it didn't happen, but that didn't stop the development of intelligence in machines. AI research simply went underground, and has ever since been quietly incorporated into the "ordinary" programs we use every day, without fanfare, without hype. There is still no machine that rivals Homo sapiens in overall intelligence, but today there are machines that far exceed human intellectual capacity in specific domains, from games to engineering to art, and the number of domains is growing exponentially big and exponentially fast. The disappearance of AI from front stage was good insofar as it allowed machines to develop in the right way; that is, through an evolutionary process, which is the only way for something of such complexity to develop. But it was bad insofar as we lost sight of the development of the intelligent machine. Deus brings Machina sapiens back to front stage, where it belongs. After describing the evolutionary development of intelligence in machines it goes on to describe the emotional, intellectual, and ethical attributes of what is no less than an emergent new life form. It asks the Big Question that can only be asked if you accept the very possibility of the new life form: Will it be serpent or savior? The question is answered in the book's title, which is intended to mean "God Emerging From the Intelligent Machine." The author confesses to having never studied Latin and to have concocted the title from two known Latin phrases: "Deus ex Machina" and "Homo sapiens." The concoction could be grammatically incorrect. The author would be pleased to be corrected.

House of Cards

release date: Oct 01, 2009
House of Cards
A hilarious and honest memoir by an ex-greeting card writer, ex- virgin fundamentalist, and current This American Life contributor. When David Dickerson landed his dream job-at Hallmark writing greeting cards-he discovered his limited life experience as a fundamentalist- raised, 26-year-old virgin left him woefully unprepared for the worldly sentiments he was expected to deliver. Here, Dickerson chronicles his bumpy and hilarious journey to (relatively) modern single guy, confronting his past, his beliefs, his relationships, and his virginity.

The Hidden Man

release date: Sep 03, 2009
The Hidden Man
Jason Kolarich is a Chicago attorney with a lineman's build, a razor- sharp intellect-and the grief of a tragic personal loss. When an estranged childhood friend is charged with murder, Kolarich must create a solid defense-even while doubting his client's innocence. But it soon becomes clear that Kolarich will have to uncover long-forgotten events from their shared childhoods to save his friend-and bring a relentless killer to justice before he strikes again.
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