School’s out, and Lucy is excited to return to the cosmic laundry room she’s discovered in her house, ready for her next space adventure. The portal opens when her mother tells Lucy stories about her work as a space scientist. Now she wants Mum to tell her about the International Space Station, in the hope that the portal will take her there. But then Dad arrives in a run-down motorhome called Madeline, and announces that the family are going on a road trip. Not only are Lucy’s space adventure plans foiled, she’s also expected to share a cramped old van with her smelly brother Zac! Will she survive and find some magic during this trip, or will sharing with Zac lead to disaster? International Outhouse is the second book in the Loopy Lucy series.

From a blurry eyed, awkward gymnastics failure to a courageous space traveller, 11-year-old Lucy weaves through the chaos created when a portal opens up in her suburban laundry! How was she to know that her mother, a great astronomer, was powering the portal with her bedtime space stories!? Each adventure through the portal to the waiting Hubble Telescope, builds on Lucy’s strength and imagination, while she desperately tries to convince her mother of her Super Powers. Can she prove it, or does the adult brain swiftly swallow up the magic?

Eighteen-year-old Bria wants to be a Global Vagabond. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. So when Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspoken sister, Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path. Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel through Mayan villages and remote Belizean islands, they discover they're both seeking to leave behind the old versions of themselves. The secret to escaping the past, Rowan's found, is to keep moving forward. But Bria realizes she can't run forever. At some point, you have to look back.

The basis for the new Amazon Prime Original Series! From the author of the imaginative and “awe-inspiring” (New York Journal of Books) narrative art book The Electric State comes the haunting sequel to his remarkable Tales from the Loop. Welcome back to the Loop. In 1954, the Swedish government ordered the construction of the world’s largest particle accelerator in the pastoral countryside of Mälaröarna. The local population called this marvel of technology The Loop and celebrated its completion. But Mälaröarna and the world would never be the same. Infused with strange machines and unfathomable creatures, Things from the Flood is transcendent look at technology that will stay with you long after you turn the final page.

They were almost The Pendletones--after the Pendleton wool shirts favored on chilly nights at the beach--then The Surfers, before being named The Beach Boys. But what separated them from every other teenage garage band with no musical training? They had raw talent, persistence and a wellspring of creativity that launched them on a legendary career now in its sixth decade. Following the musical vision of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys blended ethereal vocal harmonies, searing electric guitars and lush arrangements into one of the most distinctive sounds in the history of popular music. Drawing on original interviews and newly uncovered documents, this book untangles the band's convoluted early history and tells the story of how five boys from California formed America's greatest rock 'n' roll band.

If you've ever made a secure purchase with your credit card over the Internet, then you have seen cryptography, or "crypto", in action. From Stephen Levy—the author who made "hackers" a household word—comes this account of a revolution that is already affecting every citizen in the twenty-first century. Crypto tells the inside story of how a group of "crypto rebels"—nerds and visionaries turned freedom fighters—teamed up with corporate interests to beat Big Brother and ensure our privacy on the Internet. Levy's history of one of the most controversial and important topics of the digital age reads like the best futuristic fiction.

In 1988 a troubled young man and his flamboyant mother were arrested for murdering a wealthy widow in her New York City mansion. Suddenly, America was transfixed by a pair of real-life film noir characters. The media couldn't get enough of the twisted relationship between Sante Kimes and her twenty-three-year-old son Kenny. But the most chilling story of all was never told—until now. Kent Walker, Sante's elder son, reveals how he survived forty years of "the Dragon Lady's" very special brand of motherly love and still managed to get away. As a child Kent watched his mother destroy his hardworking father, Ed Walker, and then—with Kent's painful collusion—snare what Sante called "my millionaire." When she married seemingly respectable real-estate developer Ken Kimes, it was a match made in hell. For the next two decades Kent's mother and stepfather indulged in a globetrotting orgy of criminal behaviour. Kent, their would-be recruit, was privy to the family business—torching houses, defrauding friends, crashing White When Kent's half-brother, Kenny was born, Kent was twelve years old—old enough to know that he was his younger sibling's only protector. Kent tried desperately to save Kenny from his mother's sinister bidding. His failure haunts him to this day.

Much of today's communication is carried out through various kinds of humor, and we therefore need to be able to understand its many aspects. Here, two of the world's leading pioneers in humor studies, Alleen and Don Nilsen, explore how humor can be explained across the numerous sub-disciplines of linguistics. Drawing on examples from language play and jokes in a range of real-life contexts, such as art, business, marketing, comedy, creative writing, science, journalism and politics, the authors use their own theory of 'Features, functions and subjects of Humor' to analyze humor across all disciplines. Each highly accessible chapter uses a rich array of examples to stimulate discussion and interaction even in large classes. Supplemental PowerPoints to accompany each of the 25 chapters are available online, taking many of the insights from the chapters for further interactional discussions with students.

One hundred years of innovation in sound and music are chronicled in this challenging exploration of the most influential ambient revolution in history. 10,000 first century.

"Simon Stålenhag is back. In his new art book Things From The Flood, Stålenhag continues the stories of Tales From the Loop, memories of a Nordic childhood infused with strange machines and weird creatures from other dimensions. In Things From The Flood, Stålenhag moves his focus from the '80s to the '90s, the decade of great change when the outside world truly came to Scandinavia. These are tales of the trials of youth, of schoolyard hazings, of first kisses, of finding yourself -- and robots.".