15 Great eBooks ! ! ! (eBook Compilation) ! ! !

material included:

1. Encyclopedia of Prisons and Correctional Facilities - by Mary Bosworth 2004

This encyclopedia features 400 alphabetically arranged, signed entries on the history and current state of imprisonment in America. The varied topics include prison architecture (Cottage system, Supermax prisons); life in prison (Gangs, Islam in prison, Lawyer’s visits); security (Electronic monitoring, Minimum security); prisoner characteristics (Drug offenders, Mothers in prison, Native American prisoners); and technicalities of punishment (Habeas corpus, Three-strikes legislation), among others. Although there are entries for some other English-speaking countries, such as Australia and Canada, emphasis is on the U.S. In the introduction, the editor remarks that the high incarceration rate in the U.S. is now an indelible part of the country’s collective culture

2. Why Not Kill Them All?: The Logic and Prevention of Mass Political Murder By Daniel Chirot, Clark McCauley 2006

Genocide, mass murder, massacres. The words themselves are chilling, evoking images of the slaughter of countless innocents. What dark impulses lurk in our minds that even today can justify the eradication of thousands and even millions of unarmed human beings caught in the crossfire of political, cultural, or ethnic hostilities? This question lies at the heart of Why Not Kill Them All? Cowritten by historical sociologist Daniel Chirot and psychologist Clark McCauley, the book goes beyond exploring the motives that have provided the psychological underpinnings for genocidal killings. It offers a historical and comparative context that adds up to a causal taxonomy of genocidal events.

Rather than suggesting that such horrors are the product of abnormal or criminal minds, the authors emphasize the normality of these horrors: killing by category has occurred on every continent and in every century. But genocide is much less common than the imbalance of power that makes it possible. Throughout history human societies have developed techniques aimed at limiting intergroup violence. Incorporating ethnographic, historical, and current political evidence, this book examines the mechanisms of constraint that human societies have employed to temper partisan passions and reduce carnage.

Might an understanding of these mechanisms lead the world of the twenty-first century away from mass murder? Why Not Kill Them All? makes clear that there are no simple solutions, but that progress is most likely to be made through a combination of international pressures, new institutions and laws, and education. If genocide is to become a grisly relic of the past, we must fully comprehend the complex history of violent conflict and the struggle between hatred and tolerance that is waged in the human heart.

3. The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (Writings from the Ancient World) by James P. Allen 2005

The Pyramid Texts are the oldest body of extant literature from ancient Egypt. First carved on the walls of the burial chambers in the pyramids of kings and queens of the Old Kingdom, they provide the earliest comprehensive view of the way in which the ancient Egyptians understood the structure of the universe, the role of the gods, and the fate of human beings after death. Their importance lies in their antiquity and in their endurance throughout the entire intellectual history of ancient Egypt. This volume contains the complete translation of the Pyramid Texts, including new texts recently discovered and published. It incorporates full restorations and readings indicated by post–Old Kingdom copies of the texts and is the first translation that presents the texts in the order in which they were meant to be read in each of the original sources.

4. Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations - by C. F. W. Higham 2004

Beginning with an informative introduction that gives an overview of the major stands of Asian civilization from 5,000 B.C.E. to 1,100 C.E., this alphabetically arranged encyclopedia presents clear information on a wide variety of archaeological sites, significant persons, dynasties, and religious and other cultural practices. More than 900 articles cover Central and East Asia, the Southeastern Asian islands, the Indian subcontinent, and Japan and Korea. The entries are written clearly, though without much verve, and include cross-references in small capitals within the body. Entries for people begin with an italicized summary of the person's status and importance. Some articles include see also references at the end, with longer treatments generally terminating with lists of sources (usually two to six) for further reading. Weighting on the entries is appropriate, with shorter treatments for less significant people, places, or concepts (e.g., Chongdi, a Han emperor who ruled briefly) and more in-depth coverage for topics like Buddhism or Harappa (a great city of the Indus Valley Civilization).

More than 50 well-placed black-and-white photographs enhance the presentation. Five maps at the beginning of the volume show the locations of archaeological sites throughout Asia and the Indian subcontinent. All are in black and white, with the elevations indicated only in grey scale, making them a little harder to read than color maps would be. However, they still serve quite ably in terms of locating sites from the text entries. A three-page chronology and extensive bibliography follow the body of the work, as does an accurate index, with main headings indicated by boldface numbers and illustrations by italics.

A sound companion to Asian History on File (Facts On File, 1995), this is a good beginning point for research, especially in regard to archaeological excavations. Suitable for most public and academic library collections and for those high schools with a focus on world or ancient history.

5. Disaster: Hurricane Katrina and the Failure of Homeland Security - by Christopher Cooper & Robert Block 2006

The fatal inundation of New Orleans was no natural disaster, argues this hard-hitting investigative report. Wall Street Journal reporters Cooper and Block finger two very man-made causes of the tragedy. The first was the decades-long failure of local officials and the Army Corps of Engineers to fix New Orleans' poorly designed and constructed levees and floodwalls, which collapsed under moderate hurricane conditions.

The second and more spectacular was the breakdown of the Federal Emergency Management Agency after its incorporation into the Department of Homeland Security, which cut FEMA's funding and authority and reoriented it toward the national obsession with terrorism. The result, when the flood came, was a bumbling federal response hobbled by complacent planning, miscommunication, red tape (even recovery of the dead was delayed by paperwork) and an inability to deliver promised supplies and transportation. The authors' exhaustively researched account slogs through the intricacies of this bureaucratic nightmare and goes beyond the usual pillorying of FEMA head Michael Brown to criticize higher officials in the White House and, especially, DHS.

Cooper and Block manage to thread a readable, coherent story through the morass of detail and acronyms, with disquieting implications about the government's ability to cope with catastrophe. Photos.

6. Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, Volume I - by William H. McNeill 2005

The "Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History" is the first true encyclopedic reference on world history. It is designed to meet the needs of students, teachers, and scholars who seek to explore and understand the panorama of our shared human history. The encyclopedia takes a dynamic world history perspective, showing connections, interactions, and chage over time and place. Major articles by leading scholars from around the world examine essential themes and patterns such as Art, Disease, Government, Religion, Science, and War and Peace, with hundreds of articles on processes, movements, places, events, and people. Students and teachers at the high school and college levels turn to this definitive work for a connected view of world history--the story of humans and their place in the universe.

7. Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History, Volume II - by William H. McNeill 2005

The "Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History" is the first true encyclopedic reference on world history. It is designed to meet the needs of students, teachers, and scholars who seek to explore and understand the panorama of our shared human history. The encyclopedia takes a dynamic world history perspective, showing connections, interactions, and chage over time and place. Major articles by leading scholars from around the world examine essential themes and patterns such as Art, Disease, Government, Religion, Science, and War and Peace, with hundreds of articles on processes, movements, places, events, and people. Students and teachers at the high school and college levels turn to this definitive work for a connected view of world history--the story of humans and their place in the universe.

8. The Secret Team: The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the United States and the World - by L. Fletcher Prouty 2008

The Secret Team, L. Fletcher Prouty's CIA exposé, was first published in the 1970s, but virtually all copies of the book disappeared upon distribution, purchased en masse by shady "private buyers." Certainly Prouty's amazing allegations—that the U-2 Crisis of 1960 was fixed to sabotage Eisenhower-Khrushchev talks, and that President Kennedy was assassinated to keep the U.S., and its defense budget, in Vietnam—cannot have pleased the CIA. Though suppressed (until now), The Secret Team was an important influence for Oliver Stone's Academy Award-winning film JFK and countless other works on U.S. government conspiracies, and it raises the same crucial question today that it did on its first appearance: who, in fact, is in control of the United States and the world?

9. Secrets of the Zodiac: An In-depth Guide to Your Talents, Challenges, Personality and Potential - By Michele Finey 2009

Here you'll discover why you are the person you are, and all about your life mission. Find out what makes you tick, why some things are second nature to you, and why you repeat the same mistakes time and again. What do you most need to learn, and what can you teach others? Discover how other zodiac signs see the world and where their strengths, fragilities, and potentials lie.

10. The Secret Science of Numerology: The Hidden Meaning of Numbers and Letters - by Shirley Blackwell Lawrence 2001

The Secret Science of Numerology is unlike any other book on numerology, because it explains why numerology works. It reveals the science behind this ancient mystical art. And, the book introduces the Inner Guidance Number, a powerful tool for accessing our inner knowing.

The Secret Science of Numerology is the first book to present a thorough explanation of the numbers and letters, starting with their origins-the how and why of their design, and exploring their nature in names and in language.

11. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Spells: 88 Incantations to Entice Love, Improve a Career, Increase Wealth - by Michael Johnstone 2004

Here are fun spells for all needs: to revive passion, to find love, for health, to attract money, and to help job seekers. There's one for cat lovers—88 white-magic spells in all. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Spells contains everything one needs to make their dreams come true, including practical steps to take if the spells don't take effect immediately. With step-by-step, easy-to-follow instructions and easy-to-find tools and ingredients, this comprehensive volume emphasizes how to use spells and magic positively, for self-development. Discover your true nature and destiny with this fun guide to self-help magic!

12. Encyclopedia of Caves - by David C. Culver 2004

A one-stop source of current information on all aspects of caves from the world's leading experts; illustrated in full color throughout.

13. Cosmic Voyage: 8A Scientific Discovery of Extraterrestrials Visiting Earth - Courtney Brown 1996

Using an admixture of elements from Star Trek, world religions and a psychic technique called scientific remote viewing (SRV) developed by the Pentagon during the Cold War, Emory University political science professor Brown has put together a collection of his SRV sessions in 1993- 1994 and reveals what he learned from them: there was humanoid life on Mars, but that planet became uninhabitable, so a number of Martians escaped to Earth, where some live in subterranean caverns in New Mexico and others in a location in Latin America that the author declines to reveal. Brown writes that replication is a yardstick of the scientific method, but he presents no evidence from other practitioners of SRV who allegedly shared his discoveries. Most surprising, no attempt has been made to establish physical contact with the colonies of Martians supposedly on our planet, leaving the reader to assume they are there only because Brown says so. Despite the publisher's claim that the book "resolves major questions about extraterrestrials," skeptics are apt to be even more skeptical after reading it.

14. Computers Take Flight: A History of NASA's Pioneering Digital Fly-By-Wire Project - by James E. Tomayko 2000

Relates the process by which digital fly-by-wire was developed at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California from 1971 to 1985. Discusses fly-by-wire's contributions to the space shuttle and the process by which the technology was transformed to other agencies and industry.

This book tells the significant story of the F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire project, which pioneered an important new technology that paved the way for use of digital flight control on the F-18, F-16, F-117, B-2, F-22, and Boeing 777 as well as other aircraft. It is a story not just of overcoming technical difficulties but of the people who did so and their triumphs.

Review:

In a conventional aircraft, the pilot's commands are transmitted to control surfaces using hydraulic lines or other mechanical links. In a fly-by-wire aircraft, commands are converted to signals that travel over a computer network to somewhere in the vicinity of the control surface, where they are translated back into mechanical action. In effect, the pilot no longer directly controls the aircraft; rather, a computer program takes the pilot's requests into account while controlling the aircraft. This places a huge burden on the designers of the control system: it must not suffer from a general hardware or software failure during flight.

Computers Take Flight is about NASA's effort to build the first completely fly-by-wire airplane. It's not so much a story as a description of a sequence of related events; this doesn't make for particularly compelling reading. However, it's still interesting and even exciting when Tomayko describes some of the things that went wrong during flights (happily, no injuries or major damage occurred during any of the early fly-by-wire tests). Some of the best things about this book are the introduction and conclusion. The introduction is a brief history of flight, including a fascinating description of the Wright brothers' real contribution to aviation: they realized that an airplane does not have to be inherently stable, but rather, the system comprised of the plane and pilot needs to be stable. The conclusion describes the technology transition from NASA, first to the US military and then to commercial airplanes such as the Airbus 320 and Boeing 777.

Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Chapter One
The Flight-Control Problem
The Essence of "the Flying Problem"
The Eright Solution
The Return of the Stability Paradigm
The Benefits of Abandoning Inherent Stability
The Concept of Active Control
Active Control in History
Bicycles
The German A-4 Rocket (V-2)
The Avro CF-105 Arrow
The Apollo Lunar Module
Chapter Two
Maturation of the Enabling Technologies
Sensors
The Role of the Computer
Effectors and Actuators
Analog Versus Digital
At NASA Headquarters
Finding the Testbed Airplane
The Split into Phases
Chapter Three
The History of Reliability in Computers
Von Nuemann's Approach to Reliability and Its Impact on Later Designs
Redundancy and Backup: the Apollo Experience
The Reliability Scheme for Phase I of NASA's Digital Fly-by-Wire Project
Draper Laboratory Becomes Directly Involved
Developing the Flight Software
Chapter Four
Installing the Apollo Digital Computer System
The Backup Flight System
System Inputs: Sensors and Flight Controls
The End of the Line: Actuators
Ready to Fly
Chapter Five
KSTART
The Pilot Checklist in the Digital Era
Early Phase I Flights: Expanding the Envelope
Flights with the Side-stick
Pilot Familiarizations
On to Phase II
Chapter Six
The Short-Lived Phase IB
Finding an Airplane
Finding a Computer
AP-101 Woes
Software
The Computer Bypass System and New Actuators
Preparing the F-8 for Flight
Chapter Seven
The First Space Shuttle Support Flights
The Remotely Augmented Vehicle
A Second Round of Shuttle Support
Adaptive Control Laws
Sensor-Analytic-Redundancy Management
REBUS: REsident Back-Up Software
Denouement
Chapter Eight
Technology Transition
The Certification of Commercial Fly-By-Wire Airliners
The F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire Project in the History of Technology
What These Engineers Knew and How They Knew It
The Technological Legacy
The Human Legacy
Appendix: DFBW F-8C Flight Logs
Phase I
Phase II
Glossary
Bibliography
A Note on Sources
Interviews
Printed or Manuscript Sources
About the Author
Index
The NASA History Series
Reference Works, NASA SP-4000
Management Histories, NASA SP-4100
Project Histories, NASA SP-4200
Center Histories, NASA SP-4300
General Histories, NASA SP-4400

15. The Story of Deep Capture

Some mainstream journalists will not like this story. They will perhaps disapprove of our methods or decry the advent of vigilante journalism. But most of all, they will not like this story because it is largely about them - a tale of reporters who seek to be players, but instead become pawns - a tale of prominent journalists who help cover up a massive financial crime while toadying to some of Wall Street’s slimiest operators.