Gossamer Odyssey tells the story of the historic flight of the Gossamer Alb

Gossamer Odyssey tells the story of the historic flight of the Gossamer Albatross, a spindly, feather-light craft which on June 2, 1979, became the first human-powered aircraft to cross the English Channel. Author Grosser covers the history of human-powered flight including the various unsuccessful efforts in Europe following World War I as well as programs in England and Japan following World War II. The development and flight of the first successful human-powered aircraft, the "Gossamer Condor, is covered in great detail. Grosser, who was a member of the "Gossamer Albatross team, provides an expert account that is fully accessible to the layperson and demonstrates how the channel crossing was an incredibly challenging undertaking despite the earlier success of the "Condor.

The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles A Penguin Classic Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning modern-verse translation. "Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Troy." So begins Robert Fagles' magnificent translation of the Odyssey, which Jasper Griffin in the New York Times Book Review hails as "a distinguished achievement." If the Iliad is the world's greatest war epic, the Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of an everyman's journey through life. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance. In the myths and legends retold here, Fagles has captured the energy and poetry of Homer's original in a bold, contemporary idiom, and given us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox's superb introduction and textual commentary provide insightful background information for the general reader and scholar alike, intensifying the strength of Fagles's translation. This is an Odyssey to delight both the classicist and the general reader, to captivate a new generation of Homer's students. This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition features French flaps and deckle-edged paper. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Join everyone's favorite succubus and her half-fiend boyfriend—introduced in the War of the Spider Queen series—in the first installment of their own exciting trilogy Aliisza and Kaanyr Vhok return from their attempted invasion of Menzoberranzan feeling the sting of defeat. No sooner have they licked their wounds than they have set their sights on a different quest: conquer Sundabar, one of the wealthiest military cities in Faerûn and the home of Vhok’s foe. But before Aliisza can complete her mission in that besieged city, she finds herself in the one place a demon would never want to go, no matter how sure she is of her wits and cunning: the very heart of Celestia. Trapped beyond the gates of heaven, Aliisza reflects upon her past—a past riddled with selfishness and crime—and begins to see the error of her ways. As she learns more about herself, coming more fully into her own, she finds allies where she least expects.

What do a bumble bee and a 747 jet have in common? It’s not a trick question. The fact is they have quite a lot in common. They both have wings. They both fly. And they’re both ideally suited to it. They just do it differently. Why Don’t Jumbo Jets Flap Their Wings? offers a fascinating explanation of how nature and human engineers each arrived at powered flight. What emerges is a highly readable account of two very different approaches to solving the same fundamental problems of moving through the air, including lift, thrust, turning, and landing. The book traces the slow and deliberate evolutionary process of animal flight—in birds, bats, and insects—over millions of years and compares it to the directed efforts of human beings to create the aircraft over the course of a single century. Among the many questions the book answers: Why are wings necessary for flight? How do different wings fly differently? When did flight evolve in animals? What vision, knowledge, and technology was needed before humans could learn to fly? Why are animals and aircrafts perfectly suited to the kind of flying they do? David E. Alexander first describes the basic properties of wings before launching into the diverse challenges of flight and the concepts of flight aerodynamics and control to present an integrated view that shows both why birds have historically had little influence on aeronautical engineering and exciting new areas of technology where engineers are successfully borrowing ideas from animals.

A novel “as haunting as a dream” from the New York Times-bestselling, Newbery Medal-winning author of The Giver (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Where do dreams come from? What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears? This imaginative novel confronts these questions and explores the conflicts between the gentle bits and pieces of the past that come to life in dream, and the darker horrors that find their form in nightmare. In a haunting story that tiptoes between reality and fantasy, two people—a lonely, sensitive woman and a damaged, angry boy—face their own histories and discover what they can be to one another, renewed by the strength that comes from a tiny, caring creature they will never see. “Lyrical, richly descriptive prose ushers readers into a fascinating parallel world inhabited by appealingly quirky characters.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A beautiful novel with an intriguing premise.”—School Library Journal (starred review)

Focusing on the Galileo Mission, the story will relate this remarkable spacecraft's protracted gestation and the ordeal of its long haul out to Jupiter and its ultimate triumph: 5 years exploration within the Jovian system. The story spans a full quarter of a century, drawing on the press conferences, technical papers and essays of engineers and scientists involved in the mission which provide a real sense of participation as the discoveries poured in - it will bring the mission of the Galileo spacecraft to life and provide a more engaging account than would simply be achieved by recounting scientific results. The book will conclude with a snapshot "look ahead" into the Cassini flyby of Jupiter in December 2000 shortly after publication - the book released to coincide with this media event.

Offers simplified explanations and illustrations of such advanced mathematical concepts as transcendental numbers, infinite series, continuity, and Godel's proof

"Full of ideas and well-explained principles that will bring new understanding of everyday things to both scientists and non-scientists alike."—R. McNeill Alexander, Nature Nature and humans build their devices with the same earthly materials and use them in the same air and water, pulled by the same gravity. Why, then, do their designs diverge so sharply? Humans, for instance, love right angles, while nature's angles are rarely right and usually rounded. Our technology goes around on wheels—and on rotating pulleys, gears, shafts, and cams—yet in nature only the tiny propellers of bacteria spin as true wheels. Our hinges turn because hard parts slide around each other, whereas nature's hinges (a rabbit's ear, for example) more often swing by bending flexible materials. In this marvelously surprising, witty book, Steven Vogel compares these two mechanical worlds, introduces the reader to his field of biomechanics, and explains how the nexus of physical law, size, and convenience of construction determine the designs of both people and nature. "This elegant comparison of human and biological technology will forever change the way you look at each."—Michael LaBarbera, American Scientist

Volume 2 of the great physicist and mathematician's final elaboration of the theory of electromagnetism covers the study of solenoids and shells, magnetic induction, methods of observation, and terrestrial magnetism. Additional topics include the mutual action of electric currents, dimensions of electric units, and much more. 1891 edition.