Currently Reading

Foundation and Empire is the story of first contact between the two Foundations of Hari Seldon. The Seldon Plan guided the First Foundation safely through two centuries of chaos as the Galactic Empire disintegrated. Seldon's recorded holographic image appeared in the Council Chamber on Terminus at moments of crisis predicted by pshychohistory, and his voice was heard. Even war between the Foundation and the remains of the Empire was foreseen - and planned for - by the great scientist.But Seldon had no way of predicting the birth of the Mule, a mutant of uncanny power and unlimited ambition. The Mule's conquests are effortless and his subjects mind-controlled slaves.The Foundation is powerless against the supernormal force the Mule exerts. The Seldon Plan is in tatters. Two men and a woman from Terminus flee to the ruins of might Trantor in an effort to discover where the mysterious Second Foundation was established. Its help is needed desperately against the mental powers of the Mule. But the Mule, using those same astonishing powers, is also looking for the Second Foundation.

Believe what you’ve heard about meditation: it’ll focus your mind, open your heart, and sometimes surprise you with insight. And it’s not complicated to learn. In fact, everything you need to get started is contained in the pages of this little book. Lodro Rinzler begins by challenging you to ask yourself why you want to meditate in the first place (good news—there’s no wrong answer!). With your intention thus in place, he teaches you all the basics, along with advice for making your meditation practice a priority no matter how busy you are. He then shows you how to bring the wisdom and compassion you discover in meditation into all other areas of your life.

JavaScript is at the heart of almost every modern Web application, whether it's Google Apps, Twitter, or the newest browser-based game. Though it's simple for beginners to pick up and play with, JavaScript is not a toy—it's a flexible and complex language that can be used to build full-scale applications. Eloquent JavaScript dives into this flourishing language and teaches you to write code that's beautiful and effective. By immersing you in example code and encouraging experimentation right from the start, the author quickly gives you the tools you need to build your own programs. As you follow along with examples like an artificial life simulation and a version of the classic game Sokoban, you'll learn to: –Understand the essential elements of programming: syntax, control, and data –Use object-oriented and functional programming techniques to organize and clarify your programs –Script the browser and make basic Web applications –Work with tools like regular expressions and XMLHttpRequest objects And since programming is an art that's best learned by doing, all example code is available online in an interactive sandbox for you to experiment with. With Eloquent JavaScript as your guide, you can tweak, expand, and modify the author's code, or throw it away and build your own creations from scratch. Before you know it, you'll be fluent in the language of the Web.

Humbert Humbert - scholar, aesthete and romantic - has fallen completely and utterly in love with Lolita Haze, his landlady's gum-snapping, silky skinned twelve-year-old daughter. Reluctantly agreeing to marry Mrs Haze just to be close to Lolita, Humbert suffers greatly in the pursuit of romance; but when Lo herself starts looking for attention elsewhere, he will carry her off on a desperate cross-country misadventure, all in the name of Love. Hilarious, flamboyant, heart-breaking and full of ingenious word play, Lolita is an immaculate, unforgettable masterpiece of obsession, delusion and lust.

Timeless advice on the art of living well, from the celebrated Penguin Great Ideas series The writings of the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca offer powerful insights into stoicism, morality and the importance of reason, and continue to provide profound guidance to many through their eloquence, lucidity and wisdom. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. The Penguin Great Ideas series brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are.