Throughout mathematician Philip Masyrk's peripatetic life, there has been only one constant: Irma Arcuri. Their ongoing love affair has endured his two marriages and her countless travels. But now Irma has vanished, leaving Philip her library of 351 books, including five written by Irma herself. Buried somewhere within her luxuriously rebound volumes of Cervantes and Turgenev, Borges and Fowles, lies the secret to her disappearance-and Philip soon realizes that he is trapped within their narratives as well. Who is Irma Arcuri? What is really hidden in the library? And most importantly, whose story is this? Unapologetically sexy and brazenly intellectual, The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri is the impressive debut of a daring new literary talent.

Left an extensive personal library when his long-time paramour disappears, genius mathematician Philip Mazyrk finds buried within the books puzzling clues about her disappearance, in a mystery that is further complicated by an enigmatic woman and his stepchildren's personal troubles.

United States’ students continue to have difficulties with the subject of mathematics. Sometimes it is believed that students aren’t smart enough to master mathematics or that mathematics is just too difficult for all but the chosen few. This book offers an alternative explanation: Students’ difficulties in mathematics can best be understood and explained social scientifically. That is, Learning Theories, Agents of Socialization, and more generally, cultural and social milieu, are relevant in trying to understand individuals’ ideas about mathematics. The book begins by providing an overview of the current status in mathematics education. Popular cultural portrayals of mathematics and mathematicians are examined. The book, then, delves deeper into how students perceive mathematics and mathematicians by examining how students view mathematicians, how students define mathematics, and what themes emerge from students’ mathematical autobiographies and their metaphors. The book describes a semantic differential, in an effort to ascertain the meanings of math that people hold and shows the different patterns of responses among various groups of people. Finally, the book delves into mathematical mindsets, a current approach to understanding mathematical identities, as well as success and failure in mathematics.

Eddie Morales finds his lowly R&D life completely upended when his Boise-based biotech firm dispatches him to Puerto Malogrado, a tiny but tumultuous country in South America where the international media is accusing their experimental potatoes of causing a bizarre medical crisis. Eddie unwillingly arrives in South America only to find his plans for a quick resolution thwarted when he gets caught between the two sides of an impending revolution, each hoping to capitalize on the potato scandal in order to seize power. Eddie stumbles into a conspiracy that reveals just how far his company will go to advance its potato empire. He is forced to make a choice: what—and who—will he sacrifice to preserve his own future in this brave new world of biotechnology? Darkly funny and compassionately rendered, One Potato charts the crooked line between nature and technology and takes a deep look into a future shaped by disasters both natural and devastatingly man-made.

Book Review Index provides quick access to reviews of books, periodicals, books on tape and electronic media representing a wide range of popular, academic and professional interests. The up-to-date coverage, wide scope and inclusion of citations for both newly published and older materials make Book Review Index an exceptionally useful reference tool. More than 600 publications are indexed, including journals and national general interest publications and newspapers. Book Review Index is available in a three-issue subscription covering the current year or as an annual cumulation covering the past year.

Three California borderland newspaper reporters are asked to return to stories they've covered before, and they follow paths through the bars, factories, and border streets of Tijuana and Otay. Soon, they realize their every move is being surveilled.

In Mercy 6, David Bajo’s courageous new medical thriller, four people collapse dead in the same instant within a newly renovated Los Angeles hospital. Dr. Mendenhall, the woman who is head of the emergency room, isn't convinced the cause of death is a contagion. But it's in the interests of the hospital administrators — and of the world at large — for people to think that it is. If the world knew the truth there could only be widespread panic. The hospital is immediately locked down. Information is suddenly being strictly controlled. Government troops encircle the hospital to enforce the quarantine, and other bodies arrive in ER. Working with an ally in pathology and a colleague outside the hospital, Mendenhall develops her understanding that what has taken these lives has global implications . . . and whatever it is, it’s not a virus.

At the age of thirty-five, Matthew Vaber’s life is so messy it can only be at a turning point. In one direction is the neon glare of his father’s recent suicide, and in the other is the tough love of his fluorescent mother. He’d love to find love, but he can’t make it twenty minutes into a first date without spotting that fatal flaw. In spite of Matthew’s better intentions, he always finds himself back at the same old place: 555-PUMP, “New York’s only phone line for men who are serious about their bodies!” Eventually, even Matthew realizes the long odds of making a love connection on a sex line, but then the pound sign connects him to Henry. Much to his dismay, Matthew can’t find a single problem with him. In fact, Henry may be just the one to lead Matthew past his recent tragedies and childhood traumas. If Matthew lets himself follow, that is. Philip Galanes’s dynamic wit and idiosyncratic charm make Father’s Day a compassionate, heart-melting story and a delightful debut.

Malia needs to leave El Salvador. A surfer and aspiring engineer, she came to Central America as a Peace Corps volunteer and fell in love with Ben. Malia's past year has been perfect: her weeks spent building a much-needed aqueduct in the countryside, and her weekends spent with Ben, surfing point-breaks in the nearby port city of La Libertad. Suddenly, a major earthquake devastates the country and brings an abrupt end to her work. Ben and Malia decide to move on. Now free of obligations, they have an old car, a wad of cash, surfboards, and rough plans for an epic trip through South America. Just as they're about to say goodbye to their gritty and beloved Salvadoran beach town, a mysterious American surfer known only as Pelochucho shows up—spouting grandiose plans and persuading them to stay. Days become weeks; documents go missing; money gets tight. Suddenly, Ben and Malia can't leave. Caught between bizarre real estate offers, suspect drug deals, and internal jealousies, this unlikely band of surfers, aid-workers, and opportunists all struggle to find their way through a fallen world, in Kilometer 99 by Tyler McMahon.