Monday, July 31, 2006

eBook Today : The Rule of Four


The Rule of Four
By: Caldwell, Ian; Thomason, Dustin
Published By: Dell Publishing
An ivy league murder, a mysterious coded manuscript, and the secrets of a Renaissance prince collide memorably in THE RULE OF FOUR -- a brilliant work of fiction that weaves together suspense and scholarship, high art and unimaginable treachery.

It's Easter at Princeton. Seniors are scrambling to finish their theses. And two students, Tom Sullivan and Paul Harris, are a hair's breadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili--a renowned text attributed to an Italian nobleman, a work that has baffled scholars since its publication in 1499. For Tom, their research has been a link to his family's past -- and an obstacle to the woman he loves. For Paul, it has become an obsession, the very reason for living. But as their deadline looms, research has stalled -- until a long-lost diary surfaces with a vital clue. And when a fellow researcher is murdered just hours later, Tom and Paul realize that they are not the first to glimpse the Hypnerotomachia 's secrets.

Suddenly the stakes are raised, and as the two friends sift through the codes and riddles at the heart of the text, they are beginnning to see the manuscript in a new light--not simply as a story of faith, eroticism and pedantry, but as a bizarre, coded mathematical maze. And as they come closer and closer to deciphering the final puzzle of a book that has shattered careers, friendships and families, they know that their own lives are in mortal danger. Because at least one person has been killed for knowing too much. And they know even more.

From the streets of fifteenth-century Rome to the rarified realm of the Ivy League, from a shocking 500 year-old murder scene to the drama of a young man's coming of age, THE RULE OF FOUR takes us on an entertaining, illuminating tour of history--as it builds to a pinnacle of nearly unbearable suspense.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

eBook Today : Alien Infection


Alien Infection
By: Bain, Darrell
Published By: Double Dragon Publishing
When a laboratory technician on the verge of retirement accidentally infects himself with blood from an emergency room patient, he intends to report it—until government agents swarm the hospital, confiscating every sample of blood taken from the patient—at gunpoint. Deciding not to report the incident just yet for fear of being thrown into an isolation chamber, he goes home—and falls violently ill. By the time he recovers and returns to work, scary things are happening. Everyone who has come into contact with that patient is being systematically killed. On the run, he accidentally infects a woman living in the shadows of the underworld. She becomes ill as well, but survives. Then they begin feeling younger—and younger. Why would the government want to suppress something like this? After barely escaping federal gunmen, the two of them set out on a journey to try to find out what kind of infection they are harboring--while still retaining their freedom. Their path takes them on an odyssey across Texas and into the mountains of Arkansas, where they find that their adventures are just beginning—and may lead them all the way off earth!

eBook Today : The Devil Wears Prada


The Devil Wears Prada
By: Weisberger, Lauren
Published By: Doubleday Publishing
A delightfully dishy novel about the all-time most impossible boss in the history of impossible bosses.

Andrea Sachs, a small-town girl fresh out of college, lands the job “a million girls would die for.” Hired as the assistant to Miranda Priestly, the high-profile, fabulously successful editor of Runway magazine, Andrea finds herself in an office that shouts Prada! Armani! Versace! at every turn, a world populated by impossibly thin, heart-wrenchingly stylish women and beautiful men clad in fine-ribbed turtlenecks and tight leather pants that show off their lifelong dedication to the gym. With breathtaking ease, Miranda can turn each and every one of these hip sophisticates into a scared, whimpering child.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA gives a rich and hilarious new meaning to complaints about “The Boss from Hell.” Narrated in Andrea’s smart, refreshingly disarming voice, it traces a deep, dark, devilish view of life at the top only hinted at in gossip columns and over Cosmopolitans at the trendiest cocktail parties. From sending the latest, not-yet-in-stores Harry Potter to Miranda’s children in Paris by private jet, to locating an unnamed antique store where Miranda had at some point admired a vintage dresser, to serving lattes to Miranda at precisely the piping hot temperature she prefers, Andrea is sorely tested each and every day—and often late into the night with orders barked over the phone. She puts up with it all by keeping her eyes on the prize: a recommendation from Miranda that will get Andrea a top job at any magazine of her choosing. As things escalate from the merely unacceptable to the downright outrageous, however, Andrea begins to realize that the job a million girls would die for may just kill her. And even if she survives, she has to decide whether or not the job is worth the price of her soul.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

eBook Today : Raising Atlantis


Raising Atlantis
By: Greanias, Thomas
Published By: Simon & Schuster Inc
In Antarctica, a glacial earthquake swallows up a team of scientists...and exposes a mysterious monument older than the Earth itself.
In Peru, archaeologist Dr. Conrad Yeats is apprehended by U.S. Special Forces...to unlock the final key to the origins of the human race.

In Rome, the pope summons environmental activist Dr. Serena Serghetti to the Vatican...and reveals a terrifying vision of apocalyptic disaster.

In space, a weather satellite reveals four massive storms forming around the South Pole...and three U.S. spy satellites disappear from orbit.

These are the end times, when the legends of a lost civilization and the prophecies of the world's great religions lead a man and a woman to a shattering discovery that will change the fate of humankind. This is the ultimate voyage, a journey to the center of time, as awe-inspiring as the dawn of man--and as inevitable as doomsday. This is RAISING ATLANTIS....

eBook Today : The Seduction of His Wife


The Seduction of His Wife
By: Chapman, Janet
Published By: Simon & Schuster Inc
He set out to seduce her for all the wrong reasons -- but found himself falling in love with her for all the right ones.
Alex Knight is dead -- or so everyone thinks. A widowed logger baron with a risk-taking streak, he took on a South American engineering project and was reported dead after a rebel attack. So when he turns up back in Maine very much alive, his grieving family is shocked. But the biggest shock is Alex's, when he discovers he's now married -- to a woman he's never met.

Sarah Banks is ready for a change from running a quiet Bed & Breakfast, and working for the Knight family offers not only a bigger opportunity, but also the family life she yearns for. So she's glad to help secure custody of Alex's orphaned children, whom she's come to love, by marrying their father by proxy before he's legally declared dead. But when Alex returns, the sexy, determined woodsman upends all of Sarah's plans. Because suddenly she's married to a passionate stranger with an easy smile...and tumbling headlong into a fiery dance of seduction.

eBook Today : Angels & Demons


Angels & Demons
By: Brown, Dan
Published By: Simon & Schuster Inc
An ancient secret brotherhood.

A devastating new weapon of destruction.

When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol -- seared into the chest of a murdered physicist -- he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati...the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy -- the Catholic Church.

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the Vatican's holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival.

Embarking on a frantic hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome toward the long-forgotten Illuminati lair...a clandestine location that contains the only hope for Vatican salvation.

An explosive international thriller, Angels & Demons careens from enlightening epiphanies to dark truths as the battle between science and religion turns to war.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

eBook Today : Map of Bones


Map of Bones
By: James Rollins
Published By: HarperCollins

The bestselling master of astonishing adventure James Rollins delivers his most relentlessly exciting page-turner to date -- a gripping and explosive novel of an ancient conspiracy to create a terrifying new world order out of the ashes of modern civilization.

A masterful novel that combines the exhilarating mysticism of The Da Vinci Code with the pulse-pounding action of a Tom Clancy thriller, James Rollins's Map of Bones is destined to be a modern classic that will stand among the very best adventure tales ever written.

eBook Today : How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends, Revised and Updated


How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends, Revised and Updated
By: Gabor, Don
Published By: Simon & Schuster Inc
Edition: Revised

For nearly twenty years, small-talk expert Don Gabor has helped thousands of people communicate with wit, confidence, and enthusiasm with his bestseller How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends. This new edition brings the art of having a conversation up to date.

By following the simple and dynamic guidelines in this easy-to-read book, you'll be ready to strike up a great conversation with anyone anywhere! And you'll learn how to keep the conversation going by asking the right questions, using body language effectively, and avoiding conversation pitfalls. Packed with charts, hundreds of opening lines, real-life examples, FAQs, helpful hints, and solid professional advice, How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends shows you how to:
- Identify your personal conversational style
- Talk to people from other countries and cultures
- Avoid mistakes while on a mobile phone or on-line in chatrooms
- Boost your personal and professional speaking skills to the next level

eBook Today : The Da Vinci Code: A Novel


The Da Vinci Code: A Novel
By: Brown, Dan
Published By: Doubleday Publishing

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.

THE DA VINCI CODE heralds the arrival of a new breed of lightning-paced, intelligent thriller…utterly unpredictable right up to its stunning conclusion.