Perseus - Böcker

In the tradition of international bestsellers, Future Shock and Megatrends , Michael J. Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, brings The Mobile Wave , a ground-breaking analysis of the impact of mobile intelligence- the fifth wave of computer technology. The Mobile Wave argues that the changes brought by mobile computing are so big and widespread that it's impossible for us to see it all, even though we are all immersed in it. Saylor explains that the current generation of mobile smart phones and tablet computers has set the stage to become the universal computing platform for the world. In the hands of billions of people and accessible anywhere and anytime, mobile computers are poised to become an appendage of the human being and an essential tool for modern life. With the perspective of a historian, the precision of a technologist, and the pragmatism of a CEO, Saylor provides a panoramic view of the future mobile world. He describes how: A Harvard education will be available to anyone with the touch of a screen. Cash will become virtual software and crime proof. Cars, homes, fruit, animals, and more will be"tagged” so they can tell you about themselves. Buying an item will be as easy as pointing our mobile device to scan and pay. Land and capital will become more of a liability than an asset. Social mobile media will push all businesses to think and act like software companies. Employment will shift as more service-oriented jobs are automated by mobile software.Products, businesses, industries, economies, and even society will be altered forever as the Mobile wave washes over us and changes the landscape. With so much change, The Mobile Wave is a guidebook for individuals, business leaders, and public figures who must navigate the new terrain as mobile intelligence uchanges everything /u.

H.R.F Keating, author of The Perfect Murder and mystery reviewer for the Times of London, offers a concise commentary on the finest mystery books ever written. From Poe's tales of mystery and imagination to P. D. James's A Taste for Death , Keating delivers a highly-readable evaluation of 100 authors and their masterpieces. This collection is a must for all devoted mystery readers. "Something to offer almost everyone. If you are only just embarking on a life of crime fiction . . . a reliable guide."- New York Times "Remarkably balanced and highly entertaining."- Library Journal "Keating, himself a mystery writer of note, has compiled a truly standout survey . . .This is a gold mine of lively writing, sensible insights and easy-going erudition."- Philadelphia Inquirer "Ideal browsing fare."- Booklist

With a case as confounding as any in the original Holmes canon and a tale so terrifying it lay hidden for more than a century in Dr. Watson's dispatch box, Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra begins familiarly enough. Elizabeth Trent, a bereft widow determined to clear her husband's name of both suicide and embezzlement, visits literature's most celebrated detective at his Baker Street flat. Within hours, though, Mrs. Trent herself is dead, and her curious suicide note draws Holmes and Watson into a hunt for a brutal murderer that takes them from England to Egypt, to India, and finally to the city Mrs. Trent has fled,rich, mysterious Singapore. Throughout the course of their sea journey Holmes and Watson contend with a series of formidable foes, and continually the two travellers uncover connections between their enemies and the cunning, ruthless colonial master of Singapore, Lord Barington. They also find an ally in the captain of the Prophet, who tutors them in the mysteries of Bada,a nation of subhumans ruled by the gigantic rat Harat. And in the exquisite Widow Han, keeper of the secrets of Singapore, they find an ally and more, as her exotic charms threaten to undo even the inscrutable sleuth's defences against the fair sex. "A rollicking adventure story ... [that] puts a superb spin on the intellectual byplay between Holmes and Watson.... Splendidly written homage.",Chicago Sun-Times

Fifty Best Mysteries is a who's who of mystery from the pages of the leading magazine in the field. Showcasing the best short fiction published in Ellery Queen magazine over the past sixty years, this book is a treasure trove for mystery lovers everywhere. As editor Eleanor Sullivan writes, "I took the task by decades and decided to go after solid and entertaining stories by regular and significant contributors, stories that reflected the time in which they were written and the best work being produced in that decade." To this end, Sullivan has collected an astounding array of talent, from early works by John Dickson Carr, Margery Allingham, Anthony Boucher, and Ngaio Marsh in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, to later selections by Patricia Highsmith, Robert Bloch, Ruth Rendell, Donald E. Westlake, and Simon Brett that have appeared over the past three decades. Correction: Eleanor Sullivan, the author of Twice Dead, is alive and writing in St. Louis. See www.EleanorSullivan.com. Eleanor Sullivan, the editor of Fifty Best Mysteries, passed away in 1991. This corrects the back page of the book and the entry in the Carroll & Graf imprint section of the Avalon Publishing Group catalogue.

Set in the early 1970s, A Separate Reality is the story of Mark Grosfeld, a twelve-year-old growing up in Phoenix with politically active liberal Jewish parents. Mark, who is lonely and unhappy, meets Anna Voigt, a teacher who becomes his mentor. Anna, an ex-hippie poet, encourages Mark to write, and he becomes part of a circle of teenagers who meet at Anna's house to smoke pot and read poetry. She introduces him to the Beats, Zen Buddhism and the popular pseudo-anthropologist, Carlos Castaneda, author of Journey to Ixtlan. Mark goes on a semi-comic suburban vision quest, trying to conduct his life according to the teachings he uncovers in the books he finds through Anna , most significantly, Castaneda's. Mark soon discovers all these books share the belief that through a loss of "self" one can, somehow, transcend reality. A Separate Reality is a novel about the risks and appeal of the desire to be perfect a portrait of the artist as a young man in the Seventies.

Hex opens in Miami in the near future, where celebrations roil the city after the announcement of Castro's death. Amid the chaos and debauchery, two visiting graduate students, Langston and Azaril, search for a friend who suddenly goes missing , Damian, a charismatic seducer who has drawn the two of them into his orbit in the past. Frustrated in their initial attempts to trace Damian's whereabouts, the two seek help from Langston's aunt, a renowned psychic, whose cryptic warnings and unexpected hunches guide them on a quest that takes them to New Haven and New York City and entangles them in the investigation of Damian's family history , and draws the hostile attention of powerful and apparently supernatural forces.

For years Gerald lived for his twin passions, acting and sex. As a handsome young actor, he found plenty of opportunities to perform in both arenas. But that was years ago, long before AIDS hit the theatre world hard , and gay circles even harder. No in demand, Gerald is waiting to die. He's drawn up a last will and testament, assigned a health care proxy, arranged his own cremation, has thrown out hundreds of photos accrued over his twenty-five years of acting, along with boxes of gay porn and his journals. Gerald's acquired a hefty collection of barbiturates for when things get too "icky." Just when things appear the worse, William Weiss calls and Gerald's life is resurrected. An eccentric avant-garde director, Weiss invites Gerald to perform in a play in Sicily. As a founding member of Weiss's first company, Gerald is aware of the director's cult-like hold over actors, but he accepts. From the first rehearsal, Weiss nurtures the chaos in which he is most at home. Gerald's health remains precarious, but as opening night approaches, the play begins to take shape. Gerald's spirits soar as he reconnects with lost joy.

Book jacket/back: Francois Mauriac- who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1952- is famous for his subtle character portraits of the French rural classes and for depicting their struggles, aspirations and traditions. The Woman of the Pharisees- one of Mauriac's most accomplished novels- is a penetrating evocation of the moral and religious values of a Bordeaux community. In Brigitte, we see how the ideals of love and companionship are stifled in the presence of a self-righteous woman whose austere religious principals lead her to interfere- disasterously- in the lives of others. One by one the unwitting victims fall prey to the bleakness of her "perfection." A conscientious schoolteacher, a saintly priest, her husband and stepdaughter and an innocent schoolboy are all confronted with tragedy and upheaval. But the author's extraordinary gift for psychological insight goes on to show how redeeeming features inevitably surface from disaster. The unfolding drama is seen through the discerning eye of a young Louis- Brigitte's stepson- whose point of view is skillfully blended into the mature and understanding adult he later becomes.