Young Oliver Togg is selected to represent Earth in the 5000th Galactic Olympic Games. As Earth is being invited for the first time, a good impression is essential. Only if Oliver does well will Earth be invited to join the Galactic Community, but Oliver is shy and not very sporty. How will he perform?Star Games is a funny, thoughtful and exciting story for children aged 9 and over. "All the sporting events were great, like using a laser instead of a pole, and so were the descriptions of the planets" Maxim, aged 10 “4 stars out of 5”, Waterstone's Young Readers

ÔJust how inventive are inventions? More to the point, just how inventive are the inventions covered by patents? Not very, according to Hazel Moir, and there is no reason to doubt her conclusions. She has spent years in painstakingly analysis of dozens of business method patents in Australia and elsewhere. She finds. . . [t]hey are no more than strategic devices intended to annoy and disrupt commercial competition and confuse the market. . . Hazel Moir is a patent expert beholden to no patent theory and no patent interests. In consequence, her research is fresh and inspired. Her conclusion Ð that patents describe and protect obvious combinations of old ideas and trivial variations Ð may not be confined to business methods. It is a conclusion that demands the consideration of policymakers.Õ Ð Stuart Macdonald, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland ÔThis book presents a compelling attack on the patent system. Thoughtfully analyzing the existing empirical literature and providing her own painstaking study of business method patents, Hazel Moir explains how it is that. . . patents have spread geographically and technologically, with increasingly broad rights becoming ever-easier to obtain. Bravely and persuasively, she recommends policymakers tackle one of the most vexing issues in patent law: the quantum of new knowledge that ought to be required to make an invention worthy of protection.Õ Ð Rochelle Dreyfuss, New York University School of Law, US ÔHazel MoirÕs book deserves to become a classic. Between its covers one will find writing of great clarity and data that reveal the real world costs of the patent system. After reading MoirÕs analysis, one wonders what the actual social benefits of the patent system might be. This is evidence-based analysis at its best.Õ Ð Peter Drahos, Australian National University and Queen Mary, University of London, UK ÔThis book presents a compelling attack on the patent system. Thoughtfully analyzing the existing empirical literature and providing her own painstaking study of business method patents, Hazel Moir explains how it is that, despite the intuitions of economists, social scientists, lawyers, judges, and even some inventors, patents have spread geographically and technologically, with increasingly broad rights becoming ever-easier to obtain. Bravely and persuasively, she recommends policymakers tackle one of the most vexing issues in patent law: the quantum of new knowledge that ought to be required to make an invention worthy of protection.Õ Ð Rochelle Dreyfuss, New York University School of Law, US This empirical study uses a scientifically selected sample of patents to assess patent quality. The careful evaluation of the assumptions in alternative economic theories about the generation and diffusion of new knowledge demonstrates that the height of the inventive step is critical to effective and efficient patent policy. The book provides a practical introduction to the policy rules affecting the grant of patents, particularly the rules making the inventive step so low. It also offers insights into interactions between examiners and applicants during the patent application process. Finally, the book compares how the rules about inventiveness operate in the USPTO, the EPO and the Australian Patent Office, gives new insights into business method patenting and offers suggestions for raising the height of the inventive step. Patent Policy and Innovation will appeal to academics researching in the patent field, economists, innovation and industry policy advisors, patent policy makers, NGO policy advisors and patent practitioners.

War across the systems. A lifelong quest to find intelligent life. And—on a harsh, desolate planet—a sentient species, struggling to build a civilization. Stealing the Sun, a space-based Science Fiction series from frequent Analog contributor and bestselling Amazon Science Fiction author Ron Collins --- STARGAMES Intergalactic War Is Chaos Deidra Francis: Director of the Universe Three rebels. Allie Feder: Brilliant wormhole physicist Zina Nichols: Ambitious United Government intelligence agent Thomas Kitchell: Esteemed scientist, hero of the Everguard mission, friend of Torrance Black New forces gather. The United Government search for Universe Three’s home system narrows, leaving the rebels with slim options. How far is Deidra Francis willing to go to give her people a chance to live free? The answer: As far as it takes—or farther. Nothing less than the survival of the human race lies in the balance. --- STARDUST On a Dying Planet, Hope? Torrance Black, the lone human on Esgarat, has a plan to save the dying planet, but can he get to Esgarat City fast enough to see it through? Baraq Waganat returns to Esgarat City, out for blood and hellbent on taking down the most powerful Families. Tierra Waganat’s seething hatred of his brother Baraq drives his need to restore their Family to the upper strata. The Families jostle for control. The Orange Army remnants fall back. The quadarti struggle to maintain the lives they’ve always known. Their stories tangle together to ask the only questions that matter: How will they survive? And what will be left if they do? --- STARBORN A black hole. A race against time. A question of who lives and who dies. Across distant star systems, forces clash to save the worlds they love. * * * Torrance Black, stranded on a dying planet, gambles on one last hope. Baraq Waganat, the quadar who triggered civil war, yearns to fulfil a legacy. Allie Feder, brilliant physicist, chases the universe’s most powerful weapon. Deidra Francis, leader of Universe Three, faces a brutal dilemma. Zina Nichols, ambitious United Government Intelligence Officer, runs a high-stakes op. Thomas Kitchell and Marisa Harthing, long-ago heroes of the Everguard disaster, learn to play a game they never knew existed. * * * Who will live? Who will die? And what will be left behind?

Describes 10 outstanding All Star Games from 1934 to 1977.

The ultimate game book -- from the biggest names in youth ministry! This practical book includes a variety of games plus advice about how to design your own games, ways to tell up front if a game will work with your kids, and tricks for finding the best way to turn a good game into a great game!