We've let the meaning of America be reduced to guesswork. It might not be too late. Our democratic republic is failing, and it shouldn't be a surprise. We can't fly a plane without training; we can't practice medicine without attending medical school. And yet we expect the American people to wield the full power of their citizenship, the product of the most revolutionary governmental thinking in human history, without any education. We no longer teach...

For those who have despaired of ever learning a foreign language, here, finally, is a book that will make the words stick. At thirty years old, Gabriel Wyner speaks six languages fluently. He did not learn them in school -- who does? -- rather, he learned them in the past few years, working on his own and practicing on the subway, using simple techniques and free online resources. In Fluent Forever Wyner reveals what he has discovered.

H.G. Wells' "scientific romance," published first in serial form and then as a book in 1898, attained perhaps its greatest fame in another form, the infamous realistic 1939 radio broadcast "Invasion from Mars" by Orson Welles. It was also made into an early 1950s science fiction adventure movie. Stover (emeritus, Illinois Institute of Technology) describes Wells' story as "a prophecy of startling originality foreseeing the coming of totalitarianism...

"Robots, spaceships, futuristic megacities, planets orbiting distant stars. These icons of science fiction are now in our daily news. Science fiction, once maligned as mere pulp, has motivated cutting-edge scientific research, inspired new technologies, and changed how we view everyday life -- and its themes and questions permeate popular culture. Take an unparalleled look at the influence, history, and greatest works of science fiction with illuminating...

Two men decide to become dance instructors on a cruise ship so they can meet women and con them out of money.

When a young queen falls mysteriously ill, her children, Megan and Owen, are sent deep into the forest in search of her only cure, the legendary unicorn. The great magician Merlin helps them on their quest. With riddles and the unicorn's song the children travel to the magical isle of Avalon where they must decide what will truly cure their mother, King Arthur's powerful sister Morgan-le-Fay, or the healing touch of the unicorn.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul. The recent discovery of the first half of Twain's manuscript, long thought lost, made front-page news. And this unprecedented edition, which contains for the first time omitted episodes and other variations present in the first half of the handwritten manuscript, as well as facsimile reproductions of thirty manuscript pages, is indispensable to a full understanding...