New York: Doubleday. Hardcover. 2010. First Edition (stated) / full number line. Near Fine book in a Fine jacket. Spine ends bumped. Interior pristine. Cover clean and bright. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. One night in the late 1930s, in a bar on the Illinois-Iowa border, John Vincent Atanasoff, a professor of physics at Iowa State University, after a frustrating day performing tedious mathematical calculations in his lab, hit on the idea that the binary number system and electronic switches, combined with an array of capacitors on a moving drum to serve as memory, could yield a computing machine that would make his life and the lives of other similarly burdened scientists easier. Then he went back and built the machine. It worked. The whole world changed. Why dont we know the name of John Atanasoff as well as we know those of Alan Turing and John von Neumann? Because he never patented the device, and because the developers of the far-better-known ENIAC almost certainly stole critical ideas from him. But in 1973 a court declared that the patent on that Sperry Rand device was invalid, opening the intellectual property gates to the computer revolution. Jane Smiley tells the quintessentially American story of the child of immigrants John Atanasoff with technical clarity and narrative drive, making the race to develop digital computing as gripping as a real-life techno-thriller.
Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press. 2006. Hardcover. Good. One copy is ex-library. Other copy is not from a library but has extensive highlighting. Please state your preference when ordering. Nineteen months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, FDR sent twelve "Vice Consuls" to Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia on a secret mission. Their objective: To prepare the groundwork for the Allied invasion of North Africa that repelled the Nazis and also enabled the liberation of Italy. This spy network included an ex-Cartier jewel salesman and wine merchant, a madcap Harvard anthropologist, a Parisian playboy who ran with Hemingway, ex-French Foreign Legionnaires and Paris bankers, and a WWI hero.
Boulder: Westview Press. Trade Paperback. 1984. First Edition. Ex-Library: UK Ministry of Defense, Whitehall Library. Good; Near Fine other than the library markings.
New York: Disney-Hyperion. Box Set. 2014. Near Fine. Small stain to fore-edge of Vol 1, all other volumes Fine; in an As New box. Interiors pristine. Spines straight and tight. Covers clean and bright. No remainder mark. All five books in the Heroes of Olympus series in a hard cover boxed set. Includes The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades, and The Blood of Olympus. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Suitable for gifting.
New York: Disney-Hyperion, 2014. Box Set. Near Fine books in a Near Fine box. Interiors pristine. Corners sharp. Vols 4 and 5 show light spine crease, otherwise spines straight and tight. Covers clean and bright. Box shows light shelfwear to corners. No remainder mark. Does not include the poster. All five books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, in paperback, in a boxed set. Includes The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and The Last Olympian. Suitable for gifting.
Alexandria, Virginia: VSP Books. 2007. Hardcover. As New. Pristine inside and out. Inscribed by illustrator on title page. 32 pages.
London: Hakluyt Society in Association with the Museo Naval, Madrid. Complete three volume set. Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, Third Series, vols. 8, 11, and 13. First Edition. Hardcover. Blue cloth over boards with gilt titles to spine and vignette of sailing ship Victoria on front board. As New books in Fine jackets. Jacket spines slightly faded. Not from a library. Heavy item (8.5 lbs/3.9kg); extra charge for Expedited, Express or International shipping. Malaspina's journals of his expedition from July 1789 to September 1794, newly translated from Spanish into English, with substantial introduction and commentary. Vol I / Cadiz to Panama. March 2002. pp. xcviii + 338. color frontispiece, 39 color and monochrome plates, 9 maps. ISBN 978-0-904180-72-5. Vol. II / Panama to the Philippines. March 2004. pp. xx + 511. color frontispiece, 44 color and monochrome plates, 7 maps. ISBN 978-0-904180-81-7. Vol. III / Manila to Cadiz. May 2005, pp. xxi + 487, color frontispiece, 4 color half-tones, 13 sepia half-tones, 41 black and white half-tones, 6 maps. ISBN 978-0-904180-84-8. Among the voyages of exploration and surveying in the late 18th century, that of Alejandro Malaspina best represents the high ideals and scientific interests of the Enlightenment. Italian-born Malaspina entered the Spanish navy in 1774. In September 1788 he and fellow-officer José Bustamante submitted a plan to the Ministry of Marine for a voyage of survey and inspection to Spanish territories in the Americas and Philippines. The expedition was to produce hydrographic charts for the use of Spanish merchantmen and warships and to report on the political, economic and defensive state of Spain's overseas possessions. The plan was approved and in July 1789 Malaspina and Bustamante sailed from Cadiz in the purpose-built corvettes, Descubierta and Atrevida. On board the vessels were scientists and artists and an array of the latest surveying and astronomical instruments. The voyage lasted more than five years. On his return Malaspina was promoted Brigadier de la Real Armada, and began work on an account of the voyage in seven volumes. Among much else, it would contain sweeping recommendations for reform in the governance of Spain's overseas empire. But Malaspina became involved in political intrigue. In November 1795 he was arrested, stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment. Although released in 1803, Malaspina spent the last seven years of his life in obscure retirement in Italy. He never resumed work on the great edition, and his journal was not published in Spain until 1885. The first volume of this set contains Malaspina's journals from 31 July 1789 to 14 December 1790, covering his travels round South America. Among the places visited and described are Montevideo, Puerto Deseado, Port Egmont, Puerto San Carlos, Valparaiso, Callao, Guayaquil and Panama. Other texts include an introduction by Donald C. Cutter, Malaspina's introduction to his intended edition, and his correspondence with the Minister of the Marine before and during the voyage. The second volume contains Malaspina's journals from 15 December 1790 to 15 November 1792 covering his visits to the Pacific coasts of Central and North America, as far north as Alaska, before crossing the ocean to the Philippines. Other texts include the apocryphal voyage of Ferrer Maldonaldo through the Strait of Anian, which led to a major diversion of the Malaspina expedition in 1791. The final volume presents Malaspina's journals from 15 November 1792 to 21 September 1794, covering the expedition's return voyage from Manila to New Zealand, Australia, the Tonga Islands, across the South Pacific to South America, the Falklands and home to Cádiz. Appendices contain Bustamante's survey of East Falkland Island, his visit to Puerto de la Soledad and his search for Islas Auroras, an account of Malaspina's arrest and the suppression of his report, and details of the two corvettes with lists of their complement and of the scientific instruments and books taken on the expedition.
London: Hakluyt Society. Complete three volume set. Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, Third Series, vols. 12, 20, and 21. First Edition. Hardcover. Blue cloth over boards with gilt titles to spine and vignette of sailing ship Victoria on front board. As New books in Fine jackets. Jacket spines slightly sunned. Heavy item (6 lbs/2.7 kg); extra charge for Expedited, Express or International shipping. Volume I: The Voyages of 1811, 1812 and 1813. 2003. pp. lxi + 242. 9 monochrome illustrations, 5 maps. ISBN 0 904180 82 4 Volume II: The Voyages of 1814, 1815 and 1816. Appendix by George Huxtable. 2008. pp. xxxvii + 308. 8 monochrome illustrations, 3 maps. ISBN 978-0-904180-92-3. Volume III: The Voyages of 1817, 1818 and 1820. Appendix by Fred M. Walker. 2009. pp. xlii + 245, 2 plates, 3 maps, 6 line drawings. ISBN 978-0-904180-95-4. William Scoresby (1789-1857) made his first voyage with his father in the whaler Resolution at the age of eleven. Three years later he was formally apprenticed to his father and another three years saw him promoted to chief officer. On his twenty-first birthday, his father moved to another ship, relinquishing command of the Resolution to his son. Another ten years would see the publication in 1820 of Scoresby's two-volume An Account of the Arctic Regions, with a History and Description of the Northern Whale-Fishery, described as "the foundation stone of Arctic science for their scientific records and social and religious comment as well as detailed descriptions of navigation and whaling. The second volume of this set contains the unpublished accounts of Scoresby's three voyages in the Esk in 1814-16. These journals show the dangers inherent in annual sailings to the Greenland Sea in latitudes 78° to 80° N. The dangers were not merely those of besetment and damage by the ice where the bowhead whales had to be sought, nor of the persistent fog and frequent gales characteristic of these icy seas; human error and stupidity could be equally disastrous. For high drama, the 1816 journal is outstanding. When part of the Esk's hull was torn off by ice, various methods of repair were tried without success, including a drastic attempt to invert the empty ship in the sea at the ice-edge. Scoresby's ability to return the Esk safely to England seems as incredible now as it was to the crews of the other whaling ships who had eagerly anticipated plundering an abandoned ship in the Arctic. In addition to the journals and the editor's introduction, the second volume also contains a unique "second view" of the 1814 voyage: the journal kept by a young supernumerary, Charles Steward, and an appendix by George Huxtable, FRIN, on Scoresby's navigation methods. The third and final volume in this contains Scoresby's unpublished accounts of his three voyages of 1817, 1818 and 1820. During these years Scoresby's life changed profoundly. An unsuccessful hunt in 1817 led to several changes in partners. At the end of 1818 Scoresby moved to Liverpool, where he completed the writing of An Account of the Arctic Regions and watched the construction of his new ship, the Baffin. After his first summer ashore for many years in 1819, in 1820 he brought back to Liverpool a "full ship" of seventeen whales, despite being faced by mutineers in the crew who earlier had been involved in piracy in the Caribbean and, apparently, hoped to seize the Baffin "and convey her and her valuable cargo to a foreign country." In each of the journals, Scoresby wrote detailed descriptions of his landings: on Jan Mayen in 1817, western Spitsbergen in 1818, and the Langanes peninsula in northeast Iceland in 1820. The 1817 voyage, when Scoresby and others found the Greenland Sea relatively free of ice, involved him in the renewed British interest in arctic maritime exploration after the Napoleonic Wars. The Introduction to this volume contains a major reappraisal of Scoresby's role, especially in regard to his alleged mistreatment by John Barrow, Second Secretary of the Admiralty. The volume also contains an appendix by Fred M. Walker on the building of wooden whaleships such as the Baffin that were capable of routine ice navigation under sail as far north as 80° N.
New York: NAL Caliber. Hardcover. May 2, 2006. First Edition (stated) / full number line. As New book in an As New jacket. Remainder mark. x + 326 pages. Contents: George Bush had better be fucking right; Hurry up and Kuwait; Welcome to Saddam International Airport; Into Baghdad; Sector 17; Ka-bob; The mother's day massacre; Keeping the peace; Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not trying to kill you; Ripples of hope; I saw a holy man die tonight; God bullets hurt; Collateral damage; The gremlins theory; Baghdad island; Hope is not a course of action; Ali Baba; Fighting the media war; Christmas in Baghdad; A viable exit strategy; Homecoming; The war within; Finding a voice; Speaking out; Taking on the president of the United States; Operation truth; The sensible war movement.
Savage, Maryland: Bartleby Press. Trade Paperback. January 19, 2011. Near Fine. Gift inscription on Title page, otherwise As New. No remainder mark. xviii + 285 pages.
New York: St. Martin's Press. Trade Paperback. March 1991. First U.S. Edition (stated) / full number line. Near Fine. Text unmarked. Spine straight and tight. No tears, no creases, no folds. Foxing to edges. Light shelfware. Not from a library. No remainder mark. xiv + 33 5 pages.
New York & London: W. W. Norton. Hardcover. 2002. First Edition (stated) / full number line. Fine book in a Near Fine jacket. Dust stains to top edge and light shelfwear. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. 415 pages. To the dismay of many in the West, the first Gulf War ended with Saddam Hussein still in control. This prescient title considered what the future of Iraq would be without Saddam Hussein: even more unstable and more problematic to the security of the United States.
New York: MJF Books. Hardcover. 2008. Revised and Updated edition. As New book in an As New jacket. No remainder mark. x + 550 pages. The unauthorized story of the epic rise of one of the most powerful and secretive forces to emerge from the U.S. military-industrial complex, hailed by the Bush administration as a revolution in military affairs, but considered by others as a dire threat to American democracy.
New York: Harper Perennial. Trade Paperback. March 14, 2006. Near Fine. Light foxing to rear cover, otherwise As New. No remainder mark. xviii + 221 pages. The history of Iraq in one concise volume. Contents: Introduction; Ancient Iraq; Islamic Iraq; British Iraq; Revolutionary Iraq; American Iraq, Whose Iraq?.
New York: Pantheon. Hardcover. March 14, 2006. First Edition (stated) / full number line. Fine book in a Fine jacket. Interior pristine. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xxxii + 603 pages.
Berkeley: University of California Press. Trade Paperback. 1984. First paperback printing / full number line. Near Fine book. Text is unmarked. Spine is straight and tight but sun faded. Light edgewear. Foxing to edges. Not from a library. No remainder mark. No tears, no creases, no folds. viii + 293 pages.
New York: Random House / Vintage Books. Mass Market Paperback. January 12, 1973. Vintage V-795. Near Fine book. Interior is tanned, but unmarked. Spine is straight and tight. Light edgewear. No tears, no creases, no folds. xvi + 293 + xi pages. Demonstrates how the colonies developed into the first nation created under the influences of nationalism, modern capitalism and Protestantism. A brilliant interpretation of Colonial society on the eve of the Revolution. Following an introductory discussion of population and immigration, three chapters examine white and black servitude in the colonies, three others treat religion in the New World, and one comprehensive chapter analyzes "The Middle-Class World."
Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Trade Paperback. September 20, 1981. Near Fine book. Text is unmarked. Spine is straight and tight with a reading crease. Light edgewear. No tears. Foxing to edges. Not from a library. No remainder mark. 278 pages. "How do we apply Chairman Mao's Thought to get fat pigs?" Squad Leader Ho (who knew the most about pigs) replied that, according to Chairman Mao, one must investigate the problem fully from all sides, and then integrate practice and theory. Ho concluded that the reason for our skinny pigs had to be found in one of three areas: the relationship between the pigs and their natural environment (excluding man); the relationship between the cadres and the pigs; and the relationship among the pigs themselves. And so the city slickers, sent down to the countryside for political reeducation, set out to find the Thousand-Dollar Pig, much to the bemusement of the local peasants. The sixteen stories in this collection give firsthand accounts of daily life in 1970s China that show how individuals from all parts of the country led their lives in the midst of rapid social change and political unrest. As fresh and original as the individual accounts are, common themes emerge: the sluggishness of an agrarian society in responding to modernization; the painful lack of resources in a poor and gigantic country; the constraints imposed on common people by the bureaucracy; the way in which individuals outwardly support the system and inwardly resist it; the limitations of heavy and conflicting doses of ideology in motivating individuals. But there are also recurrent motifs of economic and social progress: production rises, illiteracy declines, and socialist values have impact. A new China was emerging, though change was occurring far more slowly than its leaders had intended.
New York: Putnam. Hardcover. August 30, 1995. First Edition / full number line. Endpapers features a map of the Pacific Ocean and bordering countries. Fine book in a Fine jacket. Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xiv + 354 pages.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Hardcover. 1996. Johns Hopkins Studies in Atlantic History and Culture. Near Fine / no jacket. Text pristine. Spine ends lightly bumped. Not from a library. No remainder mark. xii + 186 pages.
