When his master is murdered for his controversial beliefs, a young acolyte named Barall takes up the banner in his name. Leaving everything he once believed behind, Barall flees into the night, his once-unshakable faith in tatters and with a book so dangerous its name cannot even be said within the holy walls of his former home. As the voice of a new era, he calls blind obedience to the church into question. As a result, he becomes the target of very powerful enemies, the same enemies who sentenced his master and friend to death. The edict issued by the Emissary of Endomar was direct in its intent and meaning: Barall, and those who travel with him, are declared enemies of the church. They are to be found and returned to the cathedral in Anklesh to be laid at my feet, in whatever condition required. Any person found to have granted safe haven, succor, aid or information to the heretic are deemed his allies, and will suffer the same fate. Now, Barall and his followers must find a way to restore balance and sanity to the lands before the church forever silences them.

When a traumatized minister is on the brink of despair, how can he find the strength to go on? Who is going to minister to his wounded and broken spirit? Along the path to hope and healing, he learns that true ministry is universally challenging, pastoral care is intense, and no one is immune to human limitations. Can restoration be found in a circle of seven?

“Bryan Davis writes with the scope of Tolkien, the focus of Lewis, the grandeur of Verne, and most of all the heart of Christ.” —Jeremiah F., reader What will Billy do when he’s confronted with an impossible choice? Billy and Bonnie discover seven evil circles in a multidimensional world. Faced with danger at every turn, the two friends must call upon their dragon gifts to defeat the malevolent ruler. When tragedy strikes along the way, Billy has to face the most difficult decision of his life: forsake Bonnie to rescue a group of prisoners or find a way to save her, his best friend in the world. Filled with action, danger, and suspense, Circles of Seven is sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA

Reprint. Originally published in 1985 by the Free Press and Collier Macmillan. Zerubavel (sociology, Rutgers U.) discusses the rhythm that the week--an arbitrary invention--imposes on our activities. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This book is a captivating account of a professional mathematician's experiences conducting a math circle for preschoolers in his apartment in Moscow in the 1980s. As anyone who has taught or raised young children knows, mathematical education for little kids is a real mystery. What are they capable of? What should they learn first? How hard should they work? Should they even "work" at all? Should we push them, or just let them be? There are no correct answers to these questions, and the author deals with them in classic math-circle style: he doesn't ask and then answer a question, but shows us a problem--be it mathematical or pedagogical--and describes to us what happened. His book is a narrative about what he did, what he tried, what worked, what failed, but most important, what the kids experienced. This book does not purport to show you how to create precocious high achievers. It is just one person's story about things he tried with a half-dozen young children. Mathematicians, psychologists, educators, parents, and everybody interested in the intellectual development in young children will find this book to be an invaluable, inspiring resource. In the interest of fostering a greater awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and everyday life, MSRI and the AMS are publishing books in the Mathematical Circles Library series as a service to young people, their parents and teachers, and the mathematics profession. Titles in this series are co-published with the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI).

What is it that connects Dr. Memer to the Ceps-Log women? He has been Nola's psychiatrist since she was seven and later began seeing Nola's daughter Joy. When Nola's mother realizes it is time to share their secrets, she admits that she has visions too and for the first time, Dr. Memer is told the whole truth of what has been happening to Joy and Nola. As he searches for a way to help them, he learns that there is more to their relationship than doctor/patient, that somehow, he himself is a clue to solving the mystery. As the circle grows, the Ceps-Log women find they are surrounded by family, neighbors, and strangers who are there to help in their battle against good and evil.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A bestselling dystopian novel that tackles surveillance, privacy and the frightening intrusions of technology in our lives—a “compulsively readable parable for the 21st century” (Vanity Fair). When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

"Warlord Vladimir Barbu has seized control of Transylvania, but his claim to the throne remains anything but certain. The king of Hungary opposes his rule, his people despise him, and the high priestess needed to crown him has vanished without a trace. Refusing to see his ambitions thwarted, he hires an assassin to hunt her down. Killing is the only life Xavian Ramir knows. But now the elite assassin wants out, vowing to start anew after one last job. High priestess Afina Lazar is running for her life, desperate to protect the magical amulet entrusted to her care. When Barbu's hired killer finds her, she knows her only chance of stopping the warlord's rise to power is to convince this enigmatic and handsome hunter that she is more valuable alive than dead. Together, they will undertake a dramatic adventure through a magical world where love and redemption come at a terrible price."--P. [4] of cover.

In the tradition of Midnight Express, The Damage Done, Marching Powder and Hotel Kerobokan comes an extraordinary story of Australian resilience and survival in Afghanistan's notorious Pol-e-Charkhi prison, a place that's been described as 'the world's worst place to be a westerner'. 'I was arrested on Thursday 9th July 2009. On Wednesday I'd quit my job, killed a man and set his body on fire. I was sentenced to death. I'm not a good man, but I am an honest one. This is my story.' Rob Langdon served in the Australian Army for almost fifteen years, before becoming a security contractor working in Iraq and Afghanistan. In July 2009 Rob was protecting a convoy when he shot and killed an Afghan guard during a heated argument after the guard drew a pistol on him. Rob's claim of self-defence was dismissed by a court in Kabul that refused to hear any of his evidence or call any of his witnesses, and he was sentenced to death in a matter of minutes. Rob's death sentence was later changed to 20 years in jail, to be served in Afghanistan's most notorious prison, Pol-e-Charkhi, described as the world's worst place to be a westerner. Rob was there for seven years, and every one of those two thousand five hundred days was an act of survival in a jail run from the inside by the Taliban and filled with some of Afghanistan's most dangerous extremists and criminals. In 2016 Rob was pardoned and released. The Seventh Circle is his extraordinary account of what it took to stay alive and sane in almost unimaginable circumstances.