New Releases by Kevin J

An evolutionary case for the existence of free will Scientists are learning more and more about how brain activity controls behavior and how neural circuits weigh alternatives and initiate actions. As we probe ever deeper into the mechanics of decision making, many conclude that agency—or free will—is an illusion. In Free Agents, leading neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell presents a wealth of evidence to the contrary, arguing that we are not mere machines responding to physical forces but agents acting with purpose. Traversing billions of years of evolution, Mitchell tells the remarkable story of how living beings capable of choice arose from lifeless matter. He explains how the emergence of nervous systems provided a means to learn about the world, granting sentient animals the capacity to model, predict, and simulate. Mitchell reveals how these faculties reached their peak in humans with our abilities to imagine and to be introspective, to reason in the moment, and to shape our possible futures through the exercise of our individual agency. Mitchell’s argument has important implications—for how we understand decision making, for how our individual agency can be enhanced or infringed, for how we think about collective agency in the face of global crises, and for how we consider the limitations and future of artificial intelligence. An astonishing journey of discovery, Free Agents offers a new framework for understanding how, across a billion years of Earth history, life evolved the power to choose, and why it matters.

This ebundle includes: Dune: The Duke of Caladan, Dune: The Lady of Caladan, and Dune: The Heir of Caladan. New York Times bestselling authors Brian Herbert, the son of Frank Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson present The Caladan Trilogy, a prequel series to the timeless Dune novels. Dune: The Duke of Caladan — Through patience and loyalty, Leto serves the Golden Lion Throne. Where others scheme, the Duke of Caladan acts. But Leto’s powerful enemies are starting to feel that he is rising beyond his station, and House Atreides rises too high. With unseen enemies circling, Leto must decide if the twin burdens of duty and honor are worth the price of his life, family, and love. Dune: The Lady of Caladan — Lady Jessica, mother of Paul, and consort to Leto Atreides. The Lady of Caladan has already betrayed her ancient order of the Bene Gesserit, but now she must decide if her loyalty to the Sisterhood is more important than the love of her own family. Meanwhile, events in the greater empire are accelerating beyond the control of even the Reverend Mother, and Lady Jessica''s family is on a collision course with destiny. Dune: The Heir of Caladan — The story now concludes with Paul becoming the leader that he needs to be on the way to his pivotal role as Muad’Dib. Any Dune fan will devour this tale of a legend coming into his own. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Collected for the first time, these three previously unpublished Dune novellas by bestselling authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson shine a light upon the darker corners of the Dune universe. Spanning space and time, Sands of Dune is essential reading for any fan of the series. The world of Dune has shaped an entire generation of science fiction. From the sand blasted world of Arrakis, to the splendor of the imperial homeworld of Kaitain, readers have lived in a universe of treachery and wonder. Now, these stories expand on the Dune universe, telling of the lost years of Gurney Halleck as he works with smugglers on Arrakis in a deadly gambit for revenge; inside the ranks of the Sardaukar as the child of a betrayed nobleman becomes one of the Emperor''s most ruthless fighters; a young firebrand Fremen woman, a guerrilla fighter against the ruthless Harkonnens, who will one day become Shadout Mapes.

Set two years before Dune, Princess of Dune is the never-before-told story of two key women in the life of Paul Muad’Dib—Princess Irulan, his wife in name only, and Paul’s true love, the Fremen Chani. Both women become central to Paul’s galaxy-spanning Imperial reign. Raised in the Imperial court and born to be a political bargaining chip, Irulan was sent at an early age to be trained as a Bene Gesserit Sister. As Princess Royal, she also learned important lessons from her father—the Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. Now of marriageable age, Princess Irulan sees the machinations of the many factions vying for power—the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, the Spacing Guild, the Imperial throne, and a ruthless rebellion in the Imperial military. The young woman has a wise and independent streak and is determined to become much more than a pawn to be moved about on anyone’s gameboard. Meanwhile, on Arrakis, Chani—the daughter of Liet-Kynes, the Imperial Planetologist who serves under the harsh rule of House Harkonnen—is trained in the Fremen mystical ways by an ancient Reverend Mother. Brought up to believe in her father’s ecological dream of a green Arrakis, she follows Liet around to Imperial testing stations, surviving the many hazards of desert life. Chani soon learns the harsh cost of Fremen dreams and obligations under the oppressive boot heel of the long Harkonnen occupation. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

From Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson comes Dune: The Heir of Caladan, a new novel in the internationally bestselling Dune series that shows us Paul Atreides as we''ve never seen him before. The story that began with Duke Leto Atreides''s rise to power, then continued with the consequences of Lady Jessica’s betrayal, will now conclude with Paul becoming the leader that he needs to be on the way to his pivotal role as Muad’Dib. Any Dune fan will devour this tale of a legend coming into his own. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

From Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Dune: The Lady of Caladan is a brand new novel in the internationally bestselling Dune series. Lady Jessica, mother of Paul, and consort to Leto Atreides. The choices she made shaped an empire, but first the Lady of Caladan must reckon with her own betrayal of the Bene Gesserit. She has already betrayed her ancient order, but now she must decide if her loyalty to the Sisterhood is more important than the love of her own family. Meanwhile, events in the greater empire are accelerating beyond the control of even the Reverend Mother, and Lady Jessica''s family is on a collision course with destiny. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Spanning myth, history, and contemporary culture, a terrifying and illuminating excavation of the meaning of cannibalism. Every culture has monsters that eat us, and every culture repels in horror when we eat ourselves. From Grendel to medieval Scottish cannibal Sawney Bean, and from the Ghuls of ancient Persia to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, tales of being consumed are both universal and universally terrifying. In this book, Kevin J. Wetmore Jr. explores the full range of monsters that eat the dead: ghouls, cannibals, wendigos, and other beings that feast on human flesh. Moving from myth through history to contemporary popular culture, Wetmore considers everything from ancient Greek myths of feeding humans to the gods, through sky burial in Tibet and Zoroastrianism, to actual cases of cannibalism in modern societies. By examining these seemingly inhuman acts, Eaters of the Dead reveals that those who consume corpses can teach us a great deal about human nature—and our deepest human fears.

Kevin J. Anderson''s sequel to Spine of The Dragon brings bitter rivalry and blood feud—that might be the downfall of the human kingdoms. Two continents at war, the Three Kingdoms and Ishara, have been in conflict for a thousand years. But when an outside threat arises—the reawakening of a powerful ancient race that wants to remake the world—the two warring nations must somehow set aside generations of hatred to form an alliance against a far more deadly enemy. Book One awakened the great dragon, and set the kingdoms at each other’s throats. In Book Two, Vengewar, the Three Kingdoms are shattering under pressure from an inexperienced new King who is being led by an ambitious regent to ignore the threat of the Wreths, in favor of a Vengewar with Ishara. His brother and uncle can see only the danger of the Older Race. In Ishara, the queen lies in a coma, while an ambitious priest seizes power. But he has neither the training nor the talent to rule a nation— or even a city. Ishara is in deadly peril, and the Wreths have not even appeared on their continent. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

New York Times best-selling novelists Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, alongside Dev Pramanik , adapt their acclaimed prequel to the groundbreaking Dune in comic book form for the first time, perfect for longtime fans and new readers alike. Set in the years leading up the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Dune—which inspired the upcoming feature film from Legendary Pictures— DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES transports readers to the far future on the desert planet Arrakis where Pardot Kynes seeks its secrets. Meanwhile, a violent coup is planned by the son of Emperor Elrood; an eight-year-old slave Duncan Idaho seeks to escape his cruel masters; and a young man named Leto Atreides begins a fateful journey. These unlikely souls are drawn together first as renegades and then as something more, as they discover their true fate – to change the very shape of history!

A legend begins in Dune: The Duke of Caladan, first in The Caladan Trilogy by New York Times bestselling authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Leto Atreides, Duke of Caladan and father of the Muad’Dib. While all know of his fall and the rise of his son, little is known about the quiet ruler of Caladan and his partner Jessica. Or how a Duke of an inconsequential planet earned an emperor’s favor, the ire of House Harkonnen, and set himself on a collision course with his own death. This is the story. Through patience and loyalty, Leto serves the Golden Lion Throne. Where others scheme, the Duke of Caladan acts. But Leto’s powerful enemies are starting to feel that he is rising beyond his station, and House Atreides rises too high. With unseen enemies circling, Leto must decide if the twin burdens of duty and honor are worth the price of his life, family, and love. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Vampire hunter or serial killer? That depends on whether vampires exist . . . Simon Helsing believes the only way to stop a bad guy with fangs is a good guy with a stake. He has devoted his life to ridding the world of vampires. He hunts them, finds their daytime lairs, and pounds a stake through their hearts. Lexi Tarada wants to believe. She''s desperate to prove that the strange and impossible can be real. She runs a website for the unexplained and tries to sift through the crazy conspiracy theories to find out what is - or might be - real. Detective Todd Carrow is a skeptic. Haunted by visions of brutal killings from a previous case, he sees the latest gruesome murders as nothing more than the actions of a madman targeting innocents. Helsing is convinced he''s doing good, but what if vampires aren''t real and Carrow is right?

"What makes you the way you are--and what makes each of us different from everyone else? In Innate, leading neuroscientist and popular science blogger Kevin Mitchell traces human diversity and individual differences to their deepest level: in the wiring of our brains. Deftly guiding us through important new research, including his own groundbreaking work, he explains how variations in the way our brains develop before birth strongly influence our psychology and behavior throughout our lives, shaping our personality, intelligence, sexuality, and even the way we perceive the world. We all share a genetic program for making a human brain, and the program for making a brain like yours is specifically encoded in your DNA. But, as Mitchell explains, the way that program plays out is affected by random processes of development that manifest uniquely in each person, even identical twins. The key insight of Innate is that the combination of these developmental and genetic variations creates innate differences in how our brains are wired--differences that impact all aspects of our psychology--and this insight promises to transform the way we see the interplay of nature and nurture. Innate also explores the genetic and neural underpinnings of disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and epilepsy, and how our understanding of these conditions is being revolutionized. In addition, the book examines the social and ethical implications of these ideas and of new technologies that may soon offer the means to predict or manipulate human traits. Compelling and original, Innate will change the way you think about why and how we are who we are."--Provided by the publisher.

All students face struggle, and they should—it is how they learn and grow. The teacher’s job is not to remove struggle, but rather to value and harness it, helping students develop good habits of productive struggle. But what’s missing for many educators is an action plan for how to achieve this, especially when it comes to math. This book guides teachers through six specific actions—including valuing, fostering, building, planning, supporting, and reflecting on struggle—to create a game plan for overcoming obstacles by sharing · Actionable steps, activities, and tools for implementation · Instructional tasks representative of each grade level · Real-world examples showcasing classroom photos and student work

This book presents a fresh overview, from both Scandinavian and diasporic perspectives, on Viking society: religion, economic life, and material culture.

Laws exist to incentivize us to act in a certain manner, in accordance with the policies that our community has deemed right for us. And when we disagree with those laws, we must re-examine our policies, and thus our beliefs and ideas, to decide whether our community has changed. This is a book about law and public policy—about the ideas and the rules we build to implement those rules. While similar books have looked at public policy and public administration in an effort to explain how the government works, and others have considered the foundations of the legal system to understand the rulemaking institutions, this book takes a different approach. In this ground-breaking new textbook, author Kevin Fandl develops a complete picture of society, from idea to action -- by examining laws through the lens of policy, and vice versa. This holistic approach gives readers a chance to see not only why certain rules exist, but how those rules evolved over time and the events that inspired them. It offers readers an opportunity not only to see but also to participate in the process of forming the structures that shape our society. This textbook is divided into two sections. The first section provides readers with the tools that they will need to digest the policies and laws that surround them. These tools include a historical deep dive into the foundations of the governance structure in the United States and beyond, an important examination of civics and a reminder of the importance of engaging in the policymaking process, a careful breakdown of the institutions that form the backbone of the law and policy-making institutions in the United States, and finally critical thinking including practical tools to find reliable sources for news, research, and other types of information. The second section of the text is comprised of subject-matter analyses. These subject-based chapters, written by experts on the topic at hand begin with a historical perspective, followed by a careful examination of the key policies and laws that inform that field. Each chapter highlights key vocabulary, provides practical vignettes to add context to the writing, explores a unique global component to compare perspectives from communities worldwide, and includes a number of discussion questions and recommended readings for further examination. This textbook is tailored specifically for undergraduate and graduate students of public policy, to introduce them to the role of law and legal institutions as facilitators and constraints on public policy, exploring those laws in a range of relevant policy contexts with the help of short case studies.

George Lucas''s first Star Wars trilogy shows the influences of its era; Cold War tension is evident in its theme of rebellion against totalitarianism. Recent entries in the Star Wars saga--The Phantom Menace (1999) and Attack of the Clones (2002)--are much more concerned with evil corporations, terrorists, and the corruption of the political process. Each film is influenced by the times in which it was released, but also by cultural subtexts and by other films that had direct and indirect effects on Lucas as writer, producer, and director. This work focuses on all six Star Wars films. The first topic of this multifaceted examination is how the films use the language of colonialism ("The" Rebellion, "The" Empire) to emphasize the idea of imperialism. Next the author looks at how Asian influences--including religious undertones from Taoism and Buddhism and the works of Kurosawa and other Asian filmmakers--provide a subtext for much of the action. Next the discussion turns to the representation of people of color in the Star Wars universe, and how other ethnicities are represented overall, particularly through the literalization of the word "aliens." These topics of discussion provide for penetrating conclusions about Lucas''s films and how they represent race, religion, and rebellion.

This discounted ebundle includes Legends of Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade, The Battle of Corrin; Heroes of Dune: Paul of Dune, The Winds of Dune; Schools of Dune: Sisterhood of Dune, Mentats of Dune, Navigators of Dune Frank Herbert''s Dune series is one of the great creations of imaginative literature, science fiction''s answer to The Lord of the Rings. Brian Herbert–-Frank Herbert’s son–-and coauthor Kevin J. Anderson have continued the series, keeping the original author’s vision alive, bringing the saga to millions of new readers, and carrying on this brilliantly imaginative epic of high adventure, unforgettable characters, and immense scope. Tor books by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson Dune Universe books by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert by Brian Herbert The Butlerian Jihad The Machine Crusade The Battle of Corrin The Road to Dune by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson Hunters of Dune Sandworms of Dune Paul of Dune The Winds of Dune Sisterhood of Dune Mentats of Dune Navigators of Dune The Hellhole Trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson Hellhole Hellhole Awakening Hellhole Inferno Other books The Little Green Book of Chairman Rahma by Brian Herbert The Forgotten Heroes by Brian Herbert At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Tales of Dune collects eight of Herbert and Anderson''s Dune short stories, ranging from the period of the Butlerian Jihad, to the time of young Paul Atreides, to a story set during the events of the novel Dune, to the very end of Frank Herbert''s future history.

Revered as a general and trusted as America''s first elected leader, George Washington is considered a great many things in the contemporary imagination, but an intellectual is not one of them. In correcting this longstanding misconception, George Washington: A Life in Books offers a stimulating literary biography that traces the effects of a life spent in self-improvement.

Christianity Today Book Award Winner A Jesus Creed Church History Book of the Year In recent years, notable scholars have argued that the Protestant Reformation unleashed interpretive anarchy on the church. Is it time to consider the Reformation to be a 500-year experiment gone wrong? World-renowned evangelical theologian Kevin Vanhoozer thinks not. While he sees recent critiques as legitimate, he argues that retrieving the Reformation''s core principles offers an answer to critics of Protestant biblical interpretation. Vanhoozer explores how a proper reappropriation of the five solas--sola gratia (grace alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (in Christ alone), and sola Deo gloria (for the glory of God alone)--offers the tools to constrain biblical interpretation and establish interpretive authority. He offers a positive assessment of the Reformation, showing how a retrieval of "mere Protestant Christianity" has the potential to reform contemporary Christian belief and practice. This provocative response and statement from a top theologian is accessibly written for pastors and church leaders.

In this stand-alone sequel to the New York Times–bestselling Clockwork Angels, a woman embarks on adventures to discover her own epic life story. Some lives can be summed up in a sentence or two. Other lives are epics. In Clockwork Angels, number-one best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson and legendary Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart created a fabulous, adventurous steampunk world in a novel to accompany the smash Rush concept album of the same name. With Clockwork Lives, Anderson and Peart have returned to their colorful creation to explore the places and the characters that still have a hold on their imaginations. Marinda Peake is a woman with a quiet, perfect life in a small village; she long ago gave up on her dreams and ambitions to take care of her ailing father, an alchemist and an inventor. When he dies, he gives Marinda a mysterious inheritance: a blank book that she must fill with other people''s stories—and ultimately her own. Clockwork Lives is a steampunk Canterbury Tales and much more, as Marinda strives to change her life from a mere “sentence or two” to a true epic. Praise for Clockwork Angels: “Stands on its own merits as a grand adventure tale woven with threads of various themes enough to keep it fresh, exciting and engaging. Ultimately, Clockwork Angels is one of the most human of stories.” —Book Reporter “Firmly planted in the steampunk genre, an epic-scale story . . . with beautiful illustrations . . . a fine piece of dystopian fiction, and it will appeal to readers young and old.” —Booklist

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson''s Navigators of Dune is the climactic finale of the Great Schools of Dune trilogy, set 10,000 years before Frank Herbert''s classic Dune. The story line tells the origins of the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood and its breeding program, the human-computer Mentats, and the Navigators (the Spacing Guild), as well as a crucial battle for the future of the human race, in which reason faces off against fanaticism. These events have far-reaching consequences that will set the stage for Dune, millennia later. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

"The pages of history recall scarcely any parallel episode at once so romantic in character and so extensive in scale." -- Winston S. Churchill In 1917, two empires that had dominated much of Europe and Asia teetered on the edge of the abyss, exhausted by the ruinous cost in blood and treasure of the First World War. As Imperial Russia and Habsburg-ruled Austria-Hungary began to succumb, a small group of Czech and Slovak combat veterans stranded in Siberia saw an opportunity to realize their long-held dream of independence. While their plan was audacious and complex, and involved moving their 50,000-strong army by land and sea across three-quarters of the earth''s expanse, their commitment to fight for the Allies on the Western Front riveted the attention of Allied London, Paris, and Washington. On their journey across Siberia, a brawl erupted at a remote Trans-Siberian rail station that sparked a wholesale rebellion. The marauding Czecho-Slovak Legion seized control of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and with it Siberia. In the end, this small band of POWs and deserters, whose strength was seen by Leon Trotsky as the chief threat to Soviet rule, helped destroy the Austro-Hungarian Empire and found Czecho-Slovakia. British prime minister David Lloyd George called their adventure "one of the greatest epics of history," and former US president Teddy Roosevelt declared that their accomplishments were "unparalleled, so far as I know, in ancient or modern warfare."

The most complete and trusted visual compendium of emergency medicine—extensively updated with more than 1500 full-color illustrations. Now in its fourth edition, The Atlas of Emergency Medicine remains the best guide to visual diagnosis of acute medical problems encountered in emergency practice. Packed with more than 1500 images, 500 new to this edition, it is the most comprehensive source of high quality emergency medicine images available, and enhanced with clear clinical information on medical emergencies. Organized by organ-system/special populations/general issues and then by problem, The Atlas of Emergency Medicine is your “look quick, act fast” reference designed to help assess, diagnose, and treat patients efficiently. It covers basic and subtle diagnosis of a broad spectrum of typical and atypical conditions. The book’s format is ideally suited to visual learning. One to four images per topic show you exactly what to look for. Accompanying the images is succinct “need-to-know” information for each clinical problem, including management options and clinical pearls. All treatment and diagnostic testing information and guidelines are fully updated. NEW to this edition is the inclusion of more than 50 video clips that highlight key visual topics in emergency medicine.

Top Ministry Book of 2015, The Gospel Coalition (TGC Editors'' Picks) Many pastors today see themselves primarily as counselors, leaders, and motivators. Yet this often comes at the expense of the fundamental reality of the pastorate as a theological office. The most important role is to be a theologian mediating God to the people. The church needs pastors who can contextualize biblical wisdom in Christian living to help their congregations think theologically about all aspects of their lives, such as work, end-of-life decisions, political involvement, and entertainment choices. Drawing on the Bible, key figures from church history, and Christian theology, this book offers a clarion call for pastors to serve as public theologians in their congregations and communities. It is designed to be engaging reading for busy pastors and includes pastoral reflections on the theological task from twelve working pastors, including Kevin DeYoung and Cornelius Plantinga.

In the spirit of H.G. Wells''s classic tale of Martian invasion comes this anthology of some of today''s leading authors'' own renditions of the Martian invasion as it might have been seen through the eyes of such notables as Jack London, H.P. Lovecraft, Teddy Roosevelt and Pablo Picasso. Authors included are: Mike Resnick, Walter Jon Williams, Daniel Marcus, Robert Silverberg, Janet Berliner, Howard Waldrop, Doug Beason, Barbara Hambly, George Alec Effinger, Allen Steele, Mark W. Tiedemann, Gregory Benford and David Brin, Don Webb, Daniel Keys Moran and Jodi Moran, M. Shayne Bell, Dave Wolverton and Connie Willis.

Gettysburg is divided into five chapters, outlining the campaign, the fighting on July 1, July 2, and July 3, as well as the aftermath. Including more than 200 archival photographs, illustrations, paintings, and maps, Gettysburg is a colorful, accessible guide to the great battle that marked the turning point in the Civil War.

General Adolphus knows the Monarchy crackdown is coming. Now he needs to pull together all the resources of the Hellhole colony, the ever-expanding shadow Xayan settlement, and his connections with the other Deep Zone worlds.

It is eighty-three years after the last of the thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, after Faykan Butler took the name of Corrino and established himself as the first Emperor of a new Imperium. Great changes are brewing that will shape and twist all of humankind. The war hero Vorian Atreides has turned his back on politics and Salusa Secundus. The descendants of Abulurd Harkonnen Griffen and Valya have sworn vengeance against Vor, blaming him for the downfall of their fortunes. Raquella Berto-Anirul has formed the Bene Gesserit School on the jungle planet Rossak as the first Reverend Mother. The descendants of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva have built Venport Holdings, using mutated, spice-saturated Navigators who fly precursors of Heighliners. Gilbertus Albans, the ward of the hated Erasmus, is teaching humans to become Mentats...and hiding an unbelievable secret. The Butlerian movement, rabidly opposed to all forms of "dangerous technology," is led by Manford Torondo and his devoted Swordmaster, Anari Idaho. And it is this group, so many decades after the defeat of the thinking machines, which begins to sweep across the known universe in mobs, millions strong, destroying everything in its path. Every one of these characters, and all of these groups, will become enmeshed in the contest between Reason and Faith. All of them will be forced to choose sides in the inevitable crusade that could destroy humankind forever....

What if the Martian invasion was not entirely the product of H.G. Wells''s vivid imagination? What if Wells witnessed something that spurred him to write The War of the Worlds as a warning? From drafty London flats to the steamy Sahara, to the surface of the moon and beyond, The Martian War takes the reader on an exhilarating journey with Wells and his companions.