Ken Liu has published almost 100 short stories & won nearly every genre award in existence. Here, he has selected his 15 favourite stories, including The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary (Finalist for Hugo, Nebula, & Sturgeon Awards), Mono No Aware (Hugo Award winner), The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species (Nebula & Sturgeon award finalists), & the most awarded story in Science Fiction & Fantasy history, The Paper Menagerie
- the only story ever to win the Hugo, Nebula, & World Fantasy awards.
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Ken Liu is one of the most original, thought-provoking & award-winning short-story writers of his generation. This is the first collection of his work
- sixteen stories that invoke the magical within the mundane, by turns profound, beguiling & heartbreaking. Included here are: The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary (Finalist for Hugo, Nebula, & Sturgeon Awards), Mono No Aware (Hugo Award winner), The Waves (Nebula Award finalist), The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species (Nebula & Sturgeon award finalists), All the Flavors (Nebula Award finalist), The Litigation Master & the Monkey King (Nebula Award finalist), and the most awarded story in the genre`s history, The Paper Menagerie (the only story ever to win the Hugo, Nebula, & World Fantasy awards).
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As he gets older, Inspector Montalbano is plagued by existential questions. But he doesn`t have much time to wax philosophical before the gruesome murder of a man
- shot in the face at point-blank range with his pants down
- commands his attention. Add two evasive, beautiful women as prime suspects, dirty cocaine, dead politicians, mysterious computer codes, & a series of threatening letters, & things soon get very complicated at the police headquarters in Vigata.

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The Paper Time Machine is a book that will change the way you think about the past. It contains 124 historical black-&-white photographs, reconstructed in colour & introduced by Wolfgang Wild
- creator & curator of the Retronaut website. The site has become a global phenomenon, collecting images that collapse the distance between the past & present & tear a hole in our map of time. The Paper Time Machine goes even further. Early photographic technology lacked a crucial ingredient
- colour. As early as the invention of the medium, skilled artisans applied colour to photographs by h&, attempting to convey the vibrancy & immediacy of life in vivid detail. In most cases this was crude & unconvincing. Until now. The time-bending images in The Paper Time Machine have been painstakingly restored & rendered in full & accurate colour by Jordan Lloyd of Dynamichrome, a company that has taken the craft of colour reconstruction to a new level. Each element of every photograph has been researched & colour-checked for historical authenticity. Behold American child labourers from the early twentieth century, alongside the construction of the Statue of Liberty. Marvel at crisp photographs from the Crimean War in 1855, balanced with never-before-seen pictures from the Walt Disney archive. As the layers of colour build up, the effect is disorientingly real & the decades & centuries fall away. It is as though we are standing at the original photographer`s elbow. This is a landmark photographic book
- a collection of historical `remixes` that exist alongside the original photographs but draw out qualities, textures & details that have hitherto remained hidden. Let The Paper Time Machine transport you. It is as close to time travel as we are ever likely to get.


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In the spirit of Alvin Toffler`s Future Shock, a social critique of our obsession with choice, & how it contributes to anxiety, dissatisfaction & regret. This paperback

Includes:: a new preface from the author. Whether we`re buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401 (k), everyday decisions-both big & small-have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented. As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options & greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, & it can make you blame yourself for any & all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, & perpetual stress. &, in a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression. In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice-the hallmark of individual freedom & self-determination that we so cherish-becomes detrimental to our psychological & emotional well-being. In accessible, engaging, & anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice-from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, & individual needs-has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. Schwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse. By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counter intuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, & busyness of our lives. He offers eleven practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on those that are important & ignore the rest, & ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.

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A brilliantly funny, gripping novel from a born storyteller, The Parent Agency is an epic wish-fulfilment adventure for every child
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Early Readers are stepping stones from picture books to reading books. A blue Early Reader is perfect for sharing & reading together. A red Early Reader is the next step on your reading journey. Ava is sick & tired of her parents always telling her what to do. Nag nag nag. Why can`t she have the kind of parents that let her eat sweets all day? Or parents who never make her go to bed, or eat vegetables? Then she sees an advert for the Parent Swap Shop, & Ava knows it`s time to trade in the old ones for a new & enhanced Mum & Dad. ...

Eighteenth-century London
- the lives of the sisters Fitzgerald, Constance & Verity, become entwined with the nearby Fowler household,
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Shaped by emperors, architects & artists, Paris is a city of splendour, elegance, & romance; cosmopolitan & colourful, its streets pulse with life. This sumptuously illustrated book celebrates its glory on the Grands Boulevards & Champs Elysees, & captures its cultural heartbeat in the artists` quarter of Montmartre & the Quartier Latin on the Left Bank. To discover Paris is also to experience the finer things in life. The Paris Book dips into superb museums & galleries; visits opulent theatres, grand restaurants & bohemian cafes; browses the city`s flea markets, bookshops & chic boutiques; & cruises along the Seine. As Hemingway said, Paris is ”a moveable feast”. ...

An elegant, atmospheric literary puzzle thriller that will delight equally fans of crime fiction & literary thrillers Introducing! the Twelve Detectives. The greatest sleuths in the world, gathered together for the first time at the 1889 World`s Fair in Paris. See! the wonderful new work of engineering genius by Mr Gustave Eiffel! Marvel at Buffalo Bill`s world-famous Wild West show! Witness the savage tribes of France`s colonies gathered here for the first time! But Beware! a killer is at large who will test the genius of the Twelve to their limits. Secret societies, strange puzzles & seemingly impossible crimes await within these pages! The Paris Enigma. A classic mystery with a modern solution. ...