To us humans the sex lives of many animals seem weird. In fact, by comparison with all the other animals, we are the ones with the weird sex lives. How did that come to be?Just count our bizarre ways. We are the only social species to insist on carrying out sex privately. Stranger yet, we have sex at any time, even when the female can't be fertilized (for example, because she is already pregnant, post-menopausal, or between fertile cycles). A human female doesn't know her precise time of fertility and certainly doesn't advertise it to human males by the striking color changes, smells, and sounds used by other female mammals.Why do we differ so radically in these and other important aspects of our sexuality from our closest ancestor, the apes? Why does the human female, virtually alone among mammals go through menopause? Why does the human male stand out as one of the few mammals to stay (often or usually) with the female he impregnates, to help raise the children that he sired? Why is the human penis so unnecessarily large?There is no one better qualified than Jared Diamond--renowned expert in the fields of physiology and evolutionary biology and award-winning author--to explain the evolutionary forces that operated on our ancestors to make us sexually different. With wit and a wealth of fascinating examples, he explains how our sexuality has been as crucial as our large brains and upright posture in our rise to human status.

The city is winched along tracks through a devastated land full of hostile tribes. Rails must be freshly laid ahead of the city & carefully removed in its wake. Rivers & mountains present nearly insurmountable challenges to the ingenuity of the city's engineers. But if the city does not move, it will fall farther & farther behind the optimum & into the crushing gravitational field that has transformed life on Earth. The only alternative to progress is death. The secret directorate that governs the city makes sure that its inhabitants know nothing of this. Raised in common in creches, nurtured on synthetic food, prevented above all from venturing outside the closed circuit of the city, they're carefully sheltered from the dire necessities that have come to define human existence. Yet the city is in crisis. People are growing restive. The population is dwindling. The rulers know that, for all their efforts, slowly but surely the city is slipping ever farther behind the optimum. Helward Mann is a member of the city's elite. Better than anyone, he knows how tenuous is the city's continued existence. But the world he's about to discover is infinitely stranger than the strange world he believes he knows so well.

The Tom Corbett Space Cadet Stories Calling all boys and girls to Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and all points in outer space -- You, too, can be a part of the group of daring adventurers from the Space Academy who travel to mysterious lands in outer space on dangerous and exciting missions. It's a simple as opening a book... if the book is Tom Corbett, Space Cadet! You'll discover the Earth of the future, where you can hurtle through space at breath-taking speed, and a trip to Mars will be as simple as taking a walk around the block. Tom Corbett and his friends, Astro and Roger Manning, participate in the most daring undertaking in all space history. While on an experimental trip in the Polaris to test out some new equipment they and Captain Connel learn of a scheme of a pair of notorious space freebooters to steal the rich mineral resources of one of the planet Tara's small satellites. To foil the scheme the members of the Polaris crew themselves land on the satellite with the daring plan to blast it out of Tara's orbit and into Earth's orbit where its valuable mineral wealth may replenish Earth's shortages. (cover image courtesy of Fred Fokkelman) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Liana Castell's journey continues in the breathtaking second book of The Girl Who Dared series.

Lieutenant Jack Strong leads his team of elite marines to a distress beacon in the far reaches of colonization. Expecting faulty equipment, they instead find themselves in the first stages of war against a species similar to mythical demons. The Colony is a fantastic short story of military warfare and science fiction, with an ending that will leave you questioning everything.Yesterday Riley Raine was a chocoholic accountant with the power to craft deadly budgets and wicked financial statements. Today she is the Princess of the Light Bringers in the magical land of Avalyss with the powers of teleportation, telepathy and telekinesis. According to an ancient prophecy she is destined to engage in an epic battle with the Lord of the Dark Mages, the sexy and powerful Cole Dalton. Unable to deny the passion igniting between them, can Riley and Cole find a way to thwart this twisted destiny where one of them is fated to die at the other’s hands?

Winter 2012: The harvest of humans reaches its peak. Out of the galactic equator comes a race intent on harvesting ever last human on Earth. Now on the longest night, one man and one woman will find the key to prevent mankind's extinction.This is a short story and contains graphic imagery that some may find disturbing.Men will often fight battles which are not theirs to fight. They may stand in the gap, but they are not alone. An unseen Force lies in wait, coming to their defense.Eric Swan faces a dilemma. Having just buried his father, the beast who took his dad's life stands between him and his mission. The man-eater has created an obsession within the young, missionary's heart, bordering on madness and an unhealthy thirst for revenge. Swan will go to any length to settle the score. Only, there are now two sets of tracks circling the camp.

On his tenth birthday, a boy living on the moon asks his grandpa about the blue planet glowing in the forever-night sky, and why they live the way they do. A short story by the author of We, The Watched.A woman is kidnapped off the streets of NYC, a terrible thing on any day, but this is the beginning of the awakening of the Avatar. Or is he? John Fleuric, a software creator, becomes the center of attention of all involved when power, energy, sex, and death, weave their existence as they become joined in a vision of the Universal Plan and the fate of everyone.From Boca Raton, to New York City, to Roanoke, Virginia, this book is a metaphysical journey; an awakening awareness as the struggles of the universe are revealed through a diverse group of people who have been connected by fate.Energy and power abound in a battle to understand what the universe is trying to tell them and what the fate of mankind will be.With every vibration of energy upon one of the seven chakra the group slowly awakens to the building blocks of existence, laying out choices of paths they may or may not take.A young woman, Jackie, a Coast Guard Petty Officer draws the attention of street preachers in New York, who believes she is involved with the coming of a new Messiah.Bernie who had only met Jackie is intrigued but unsure why.Jamal the prophet of the coming black messiah.John a software creator becomes the center of attention of all involved when power, energy, sex, and death, weave their existence as they become joined in a vision of the Universal Plan and the fate of everyone.Sex, violence, and revelations into the mind of creation are keyed into the reader as their own Chakra's awaken. Everyone who reads this book will experience an awakening triggered by their life and their energy.

Scientific research can be hard enough without the added danger of zombies overrunning your lab, or someone tearing a hole in the fabric of space/time. Not to mention inconsiderate people throwing garbage down the bottomless pit. Luckily your new Occupational Health and Safety Officer is here to keep the risks to a minimum, so you can focus on the science, and not on the impending death.Scientific research can be hard enough without the added danger of zombies overrunning your lab, or someone tearing a hole in the fabric of space/time. Not to mention inconsiderate people throwing garbage down the bottomless pit. Luckily your new Occupational Health and Safety Officer is here to keep the risks to a minimum, so you can focus on the science, and not on the impending death.Presented here are the internal emails from the Henry Bishop Institute of Science, where OHS Officer Sarah Tanner does her best to ensure that when the question “What’s the worst that can happen?” is asked, the answer doesn’t have to be “Doom upon us all”.

The stunning conclusion to the New York Times bestselling YA superheroes series. The Zeroes are in disarray. One of them has vanished into thin air. One of them is in prison. The rest of them are on the most-wanted list. And something big is brewing. After defeating Swarm in a breath-taking stand-off, Nate has been arrested for his murder. In prison and isolated, he can't use his powers of influence at all. Flicker, Chizara, Kelsie and Ethan are on the run and in hiding from the FBI who believe the Cambria Five are domestic terrorists. And Agent Phan and the FBI have a secret weapon up their sleeve - a teenager with a superpower that the Zeroes haven't encountered yet. Meanwhile, Sonia Sonic and her growing band of weird-hunters are tracking inexplicable events across the country - and their investigations lead them to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, where the celebrating crowds promise enormous power to anyone who can channel it. Time is running out for the Zeroes, but they must learn to trust each other again and combine their powers for good - to avert the looming disaster. A brilliant, action-packed conclusion to the superb Zeroes series.

The breathtaking follow-up to Virals in the new forensic series from Sunday Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs HEART-STOPPING FORENSIC ACTION WITH A LETHAL TWIST ****The Virals' home on Loggerhead Island is under threat, and only one thing can save it: a lot of money. A 300-year-old legend Rumour has it that notorious pirate Anne Bonny hid her treasure somewhere in Charleston in 1720. No-one knows where, but Tory Brennan - great-niece of famous forensic anthropologist Dr Tempe Brennan - is certain that the Virals can work out Bonny's cryptic clues. A deadly path It isn't long before the Virals are on the right track. But they aren't the only ones searching for the treasure.Someone is following them, and will stop at nothing to get their hands on it. Dead bodies litter the trail. Time is running out before the island will be sold. Will the Virals' special powers be enough to save them?

On a snowy Friday night in 1979, just hours after making love for the first time, Richard's girlfriend, high school senior Karen Ann McNeil, falls into a coma. Nine months later she gives birth to their daughter, Megan. As Karen sleeps through the next seventeen years, Richard and their circle of friends reside in an emotional purgatory, passing through a variety of careers—modeling, film special effects, medicine, demolition—before finally reuniting on a conspiracy-driven super-natural television series. But real life grows as surreal as their TV show as Richard and his friends await Karen's reawakening . . . and the subsequent apocalypse.

Navy Day is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Harry Harrison is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Harry Harrison then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.

When a ransom demand arrives for a planet’s name, the inhabitants realise they can no longer remember it. What will they do to get it back?A 2300 word Science Fiction short story...."Th' man who wrote it was presumably fine t'do," ah remarked, indeavo'in' t'imitate mah companion's processes. "Such paper c'd not be bought unner ha'f a crown a packet. It is peekoolyarly strong an' stiff." "Peculiar--dat be de real wo'd," said Holmes. "It be not an English sheet at all. Hold it down t'de light. Man!"...The story is an unique version of Conan Doyle's "A Scandal in Bohemia" created with the help of Dialectizer. We bet you've never read before Sherlock Holmes talking Jive or Doctor Watson talking Redneck. This version will help you to look at "A Scandal in Bohemia" from an unexpected angle and to appreciate it more. No offense to people who talk featured dialects intended.

Just as Toby thinks his summer is in his hands, his father invents a new virtual reality technology: Dream Rift. Capable of breaking the very boundaries between reality and fantasy, Dream Rift is a concept that holds the world in wonder. But is Toby ready to accept the consequences that come with it?For Vivian Caine, becoming the world’s most fearsome airship pirate comes with its share of obstacles. The largest is her family, helmed by notorious outlaw and misguided patriarch Benedict Caine, whose name alone is enough to strike terror into the hearts of millions. Vivian’s mother and three siblings are anything but interested in pursuing the family business, so things take a sour turn when they cross paths with fresh-faced idealist Captain Jonathan Thorpe, a recent graduate of the Sky Marshal Academy tasked with enforcing order and justice across the skies.As Thorpe and the Caine family engage in a wild cat-and-mouse game rife with incredible capers and narrow getaways, Vivian must weigh her swashbuckling life of crime against the unwelcome feelings she finds herself developing for the young captain.