Fantastic Beasts purports to be a reproduction of a textbook owned by Harry Potter and written by magizoologist Newt Scamander, a fictional character in the Harry Potter series. In the series, Magizoology is the study of magical creatures. Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, provides the Foreword and explains the purpose of the special edition of this book (the Comic Relief charity). At the end, he tells the reader, "...The amusing creatures described hereafter are fictional and cannot hurt you." He repeats the Hogwarts motto: "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus", Latin for "Never tickle a sleeping dragon". Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them contains the history of Magizoology and describes 75 magical species found around the world. Scamander says that he collected most of the information found in the book through observations made over years of travel and across five continents. He notes that the first edition was commissioned in 1918 by Mr Augustus Worme of Obscurus Books. However, it was not published until 1927. It is now in its 52nd edition. In the Harry Potter universe, the book is a required textbook for first-year Hogwarts students, having been an approved textbook since its first publication. It is not clear why students need it in their first year, as students do not take Care of Magical Creatures until their third year. However, it may be used as an encyclopaedia of Dark creatures studied in Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. In his foreword to the book, Albus Dumbledore notes that it serves as an excellent reference for Wizarding households in addition to its use at Hogwarts. The book features fictional doodles and comments in it by Harry, Ron and Hermione. The comments would appear to have been written around the time of the fourth book. These doodles add some extra information for fans of the series; for example the "Acromantula" entry has a comment confirming that Hogwarts is located in Scotland. Integrated in the design, the cover of the book appears to have been clawed by some sort of animal. About the Author Foreword by Albus Dumbledore Introduction by Newt Scamander About This Book What Is a Beast? A Brief History of Muggle Awareness of Fantastic Beasts Magical Beasts in Hiding Why Magizoology Matters Ministry of Magic Classifications An A-Z of Fantastic Beasts Newton "Newt" Artemis Fido Scamander is the fictional author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, born in 1897. According to the "About the Author" section of the book, Scamander became a magizoologist because of his own interest in fabulous beasts and the encouragement of his mother, an enthusiastic Hippogriff breeder. In Hogwarts, he was sorted to Hufflepuff. After graduating from Hogwarts, Scamander joined the Ministry of Magic in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. His career included a brief stint in the Office of House-Elf Relocation, a transfer to the Beast Division, the creation of the Werewolf Register in 1947, the 1965 passage of the Ban on Experimental Breeding, and many research trips for the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau. His contributions to Magizoology earned him an Order of Merlin, Second Class in 1979. Now retired, he lives in Dorset with his wife Porpentina and their pet Kneazles: Hoppy, Milly and Mauler. He has a grandson named Rolf, who married Luna Lovegood some time after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Although Rowling has never hidden the fact that she is the author of Fantastic Beasts, "Newt Scamander" can nevertheless be considered a pseudonym of hers, as he is technically the author listed on the book''s cover. In the film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Newt Scamander''s name appeared on the Marauder''s Map. Why he was at Hogwarts was not addressed, but it is likely to be linked to Buckbeak, the Hippogriff Hagrid has at the school.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Kapitan Sino is about an electrician, Rogelio Manglicmot, who has a special ability. Other characters include Bok-bok, Rogelio''s best friend. He occasionally insults Rogelio, and Tessa, designer of Rogelio''s suit. Though she is blind, she is quite talented and intelligent, and Rogelio cares for her. As the story progresses, Rogelio learns how to control his ability, and he then decides to become a hero. He was given the nickname "Kapitan Sino" by the people. He soon discovers the town Mayor''s secret, and Rogelio defeats his son, who had become a giant worm-like monster which lives off human blood. Tessa is the monster''s final victim, and after her death, Rogelio slowly begins to lose all reason to continue in becoming a hero. After the said event, an epidemic spreads, and everyone becomes desperate to find a cure. Rogelio, blamed for a crime he did not commit, is caught and imprisoned, along with his friend Bok-bok. Medics discover that Rogelio''s blood may be a cure for the mysterious virus. In the end, Rogelio saves the people by donating his blood. They had tents outside the Church of Pelaez, where they had their medical mission, but things got out of control, so they decided to get some of Rogelio''s blood in the Church. He was able to stand and walk out of the Church, looking for his parents, still not fully recovered from the blood donation. Outside, a man carrying a child asked him if his blood was the cure. The man stabbed him, and he fell to the ground, the man dipping his hand unto Rogelio''s wound. After his death, Pelaez becomes peaceful, and Rogelio is given a commemoration.

Kapitan Sino

The story begins before the three-quarters wolf-dog hybrid is born, with two men and their sled dog team on a journey to deliver a coffin to a remote town named Fort McGurry in the higher area of the Yukon Territory, Canada. The men, Bill and Henry, are stalked by a large pack of starving wolves over the course of several days. Finally, after all of their dogs and Bill have been eaten, four more teams find Henry trying to escape from the wolves; the wolf pack scatters when they hear the large group of people coming. The story then follows the pack, which has been robbed of its last prey. When the pack finally manages to bring down a moose, the famine is ended; they eventually split up, and the story now follows a she-wolf and her mate, One Eye. The she-wolf gives birth to a litter of five cubs by the Mackenzie River, and all but one die from hunger. One Eye is killed by a lynx while trying to rob its den for food for the she-wolf and her cub; his mate later discovers his remains near the lynx''s den. The surviving cub and the she-wolf are left to fend for themselves. Shortly after the she-wolf manages to successfully kill all the lynx kittens, prompting the lynx to track her down and a vicious fight breaks out. The she-wolf eventually kills the lynx but suffers severe injury, the lynx carcass is devoured over a period of seven days. The cub comes across five Native Americans one day, and the she-wolf comes to his rescue. One man, Grey Beaver, recognizes the she-wolf as Kiche, his brother''s wolfdog, who left during a famine. Grey Beaver''s brother is dead, so he takes Kiche and her cub, christening the cub White Fang. White Fang has a harsh life in the Indian camp; the current puppy pack, seeing him as a wolf, immediately attack him. He is saved by the Indians, but the pups never accept him, and the leader Lip-lip singles him out for persecution. White Fang grows to become a savage, morose, solitary, and deadly fighter, "the enemy of his kind." When White Fang is five years old, he is taken to Fort Yukon so that Grey Beaver can trade with the gold-hunters. There, he is bought—with several bottles of whiskey—by a dog-fighter, Beauty Smith, who gets Grey Beaver addicted to the alcohol. White Fang defeats all opponents, including several wolves and a lynx, until a bulldog is brought in to fight him. The bulldog manages to get a grip on the skin and fur of White Fang''s neck, and slowly and surely begins to throttle him. White Fang nearly suffocates, but is rescued when a rich, young gold hunter, Weedon Scott, happens by and stops the fight. Scott attempts to tame White Fang and after a long patient effort he succeeds. When Scott attempts to return to California alone, White Fang pursues him, and Scott decides to take the dog with him back home. In Sierra Vista, White Fang must adjust to the laws of the estate. At the end of the book, a murderous criminal, Jim Hall, tries to kill Weedon Scott''s father, Judge Scott, for sentencing him to prison, not knowing that Hall was "railroaded". White Fang kills Hall and is nearly killed himself, but survives. As a result, the women of Scott''s estate name him "The Blessed Wolf", and the story ends with White Fang relaxing in the sun with the puppies he had fathered with the sheep-dog Collie.

White Fang

Kira is a girl whose life is governed by the first law: all girls must marry at age 13. When the Lord Dorcon and the king''s men come to arrest her family, Kira and her younger sister Elspeth run away. Led by a fox named Onnie, they take shelter on Rogue''s mountain, home to Ferarchie, the most ferocious dragon in the land. They rescue one of Ferarchie’s baby sons, and name it Jinx. Then they escape the mountain and find Paradon, a wizard. At this time Kira''s brother Dane and his best friend Shanks-Spar are being trained to become dragon knights and go to war. However when Kira''s father attacks Lord Dorcan and is killed Dane is imprisoned in his place. With help from Shanks Dane escapes and the two boys, along with their dragons Harmony and Rexor go to Paradon''s castle and join the rest of Dane''s family. They take shelter in his castle, until Lord Dorcon finds them. Then Paradon casts a spell to send them away from danger. At the end of the book he realises something horrible and says "What have I done?!"

Shadow of the Dragon: Kira

The novel takes place in a country house somewhere in England, just before the Second World War. It is the day when the annual pageant is to be performed in the grounds of the house. The pageant is traditionally a celebration of English history, and is attended by the entire local community. The owner of the house is a widower Bartholemew Oliver a retired Indian Army officer. His sister Lucy, who is also living in the house is slightly eccentric but harmless. Oliver has a son, Giles, who has a job in the city and is restless and frustrated. His wife, Isa, is staying at the house with her two children and has lost interest in Giles. She is attracted to a local gentleman farmer, Haines, although the relationship goes no further than eye contact. In the course of the day, Mrs Manresa and her friend William Dodge turn up and stay for the pageant. The pageant has been written by Miss La Trobe, a strange and domineering spinster. The day is interspersed with events leading up to the pageant. Lucy Swithin fusses around making all kinds of preparations, from the decorations to the food. Oliver frightens his grandson by jumping out at him from behind a newspaper and then calls him a coward when he cries. Mrs Manresa flirts with Oliver and Giles and is clearly being provocative, and William Dodge is dismissed as obviously gay. The pageant takes place in the evening and is made up of three main parts. After a prologue by a child, the first scene is a Shakespearean scene with romantic dialogue. The second scene is a parody of a restoration comedy, and the third scene is a panorama of Victorian triumph based on a policeman directing the traffic in Hyde Park. The final scene is entitled "Ourselves", at which point Miss La Trobe shocks the audience by turning mirrors on them. The book ends quietly with life returning to normal.

Between the Acts

In this alternate history the corrupt US President Ferris F. Fremont (FFF for 666, ‘F’ being the 6th letter in the alphabet, see Number of the Beast) becomes Chief Executive in the late Nineteen-Sixties following Lyndon Johnson''s administration. The character is best described as an amalgam of Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon, who abrogates civil liberties and human rights through positing a conspiracy theory centered around a (presumably) fictitious subversive organization known as "Aramchek". In addition to this, he is associated with a right-wing populist movement called "Friends of the American People" (FAPers). Ironically enough, the President''s paranoia and opportunism lead to the establishment of a real resistance movement that is organized through narrow-beam radio transmissions from a mysterious alien near-Earth satellite, by a superintelligent, extraterrestrial, but less than omnipotent being (or network) named VALIS. As with its successor, VALIS, this novel is autobiographical. Dick himself is a major character, though fictitious protagonist Nicholas Brady serves as a vehicle for Dick''s alleged gnostic theophany on February 11, 1974. In addition, Sadassa Silvia is a character who claims that Ferris Fremont is actually a communist covert agent recruited by Sadassa''s mother when Fremont was still a teenager. As with VALIS, Radio Free Albemuth deals with author Philip Dick''s highly personal style of Christianity (or Gnosticism). It further examines the moral and ethical repercussions of informing on trusting friends for the authorities. Also prominent is Dick''s dislike of the Republican Party, satirizing Nixon''s America as a Stalinist or neo-fascist police state. Fremont eventually captures and imprisons Dick and Brady after the latter attempts to produce and distribute a record that contains subliminal messages of revolt against the current dictatorship. Brady and Silvia are executed, and Dick narrates the concluding passage about his life in a concentration camp, where his supposedly latest work is actually penned by a ghost writer and regime-approved hack. Suddenly, however, he hears music blaring from a transistor radio which contains the same subliminal message. He and his friends, it turns out, were just a decoy set up by VALIS to detour the government from stopping a much more popular A-List band from releasing a similar record with a better-established recording company. As Dick realizes this and hears youngsters repeating the lyrics he realizes that salvation may lie within the hearts and minds of the next generation.

Radio Free Albemuth

At the besieged fortress of Old Man''s Cave, the Headmaster of the Veni Yan summons Wendell, the village tinsmith and explains how he believes the current unrest is not due to the Bones. He shows a medallion bearing the Harvestar family crest; a crown with a star above it. Thorn, he explains, may in fact be the "one who bears the star" The Hooded One has been seeking. Just then, the mountain erupts as the Lord of the Locusts stirs beneath it. The armies massed outside the fortress begin their attack. At this moment, the Lord of the Locust resurrects his servant Briar, and sends her off to "seek out our missing powers and return them to us". The Bones, Thorn and Gran''ma Ben flee the collapsing mountain. Fone Bone and Smiley lead them to the tunnel they used to escape from Roque Ja. As they descend through the tunnel, Fone warns everyone that they will probably start hallucinating again, just as they did the last time they passed through there. Sure enough, Fone and Phoney become Ishmael and Captain Ahab from Fone''s favorite book, Moby-Dick. They stagger on to the tunnel exit and find the valley on the other side turned into a wasteland, covered in ash and every tree flattened. The Bones, Thorn and Gran''ma Ben make their way across the devastated valley. Thorn leads them as she is the only one who can see and avoid the Ghost Circles, invisible pockets of unreality where nothing can live, and that separate the true, intact valley from the illusory wasteland. She and Fone brush the periphery of one, and are momentarily transported back into the forest as it stood before the devastation of the valley. Thorn explains that she can survive it, and maybe even undo the spell, because she tore off a piece of the Lord of the Locust''s soul when it tried to possess her, thus inheriting some of its power. Thorn and Gran''ma Ben remain undecided whether to return to Old Man''s Cave or press on to the old capital, Atheia. A troop of Rat Creatures makes that decision for them, blocking the route to Old Man''s Cave. A scout party of Rat Creatures discovers their camp and Thorn and Fone get separated from the others. As Ben fights off some of the Rat Creatures, Bartleby, the Rat Creature cub, returns. Meanwhile Thorn and Fone discover Briar is the one leading the Rat Creatures to them. She reveals to Fone Bone that he too has a piece of the Lord of the Locusts'' soul inside him (a result of his and Thorn''s stumbling into a Ghost Circle). Briar is about to kill Thorn, who is no longer necessary to her plans, when Smiley and Bartleby come charging to the rescue. With the piece of the Locust inside her, Thorn grows weaker by the minute. With Fone and Gran''ma Ben carrying Thorn, the party makes its way gingerly through the Dragon burial grounds of Tanen Gard, ever wary of rousing the Dragons. A bottomless pit crossed only by a steep and narrow rock bridge lies ahead. As they clamber to safety, Thorn begins to revive, the purity of the sacred ground healing her. They soon reach the ridge and find the valley beyond clear of the devastation of the Ghost Circles. The presence of Prayer Stones, idols left by Atheians for the Dragons, shows that the Old Kingdom is still alive. As they make their way towards the city of Atheia, a small, lone Locust is seen resting on one of the prayer stones. At Old Man''s Cave the villagers demand of the Veni Yan that they release Lucius, planning to head for the Old Kingdom themselves. The Veni Yan initially try to stop them, but a heartfelt speech from Lucius convinces them to accompany his party. It is at this time the veni-yan take off their hoods, indicating that they too want the old kingdom back, hence they do not need to go into hiding, or underground.

Ghost Circles

The book details the everyday life of Mildred Lathbury, a spinster in her thirties in 1950s England. Perpetually self-deprecating, but with the sharpest wit, Mildred keeps busy with near-romances (her own and those of others), church jumble sales, and of course the ubiquitous cup of tea. Mildred''s life grows more exciting with the arrival of new neighbours, anthropologist Helena Napier and her handsome, dashing husband, Rocky - with whom Mildred fancies herself in love. Through the Napiers, she meets another anthropologist, Everard Bone, and it is with him that Mildred will eventually form a relationship. A sub-plot revolves around the activities of the local vicar, Julian Malory, who becomes engaged to a glamorous widow, Allegra Gray. Allegra proceeds to ease out Julian''s sister, Winifred, a close friend of Mildred''s. Eventually matters come to a head and Allegra leaves the vicarage after a quarrel. In the meantime, Helena, who has been on the verge of leaving Rocky for Everard, accepts that Everard does not care for her and leaves the neighbourhood, along with Rocky. As with most of Pym''s books, the plot is less important than the precise drawing of the comic characters (such as Everard''s elderly mother who is obsessed with birds) and situations.

Excellent Women

The story takes place about 2015 AD, against a background of an overpopulated Earth, whose dysfunctional society is clearly an attempt to extrapolate into the future the rapid social changes taking place in the U.S. during the 1960s. Ancient billionaire Johann Sebastian Bach Smith is dying, and wants to have his brain transplanted into a new body. Smith advertises an offer of a million dollars for the donation of a body from a brain-dead patient. Coincidentally, his beautiful young female secretary, Eunice Branca, is murdered, so her body is used, since Smith never thought to place any restriction on the sex of the donor. He is rechristened Joan Eunice Smith. For reasons never made clear, Eunice''s personality continues to co-inhabit the body. (Whether Eunice''s personality is real or a figment of Johann''s imagination is addressed but never fully resolved in the novel.) Joan and Eunice agree never to reveal her continued existence, fearing that they would be judged insane and locked up. The two of them speculate that it may have something to do with the supposed ability of animals to remember things using RNA rather than the nervous system. (At the time the book was published, biologist J.V. McConnell had done a series of experiments in which he taught a behavior to flatworms, ground them up, and fed them to other flatworms, which supposedly exhibited the same behavior. McConnell''s experiments were later discredited, but ideas drawn from them were used in science fiction by several authors, including Heinlein, Larry Niven, Joe Haldeman and Dean Koontz.) However, Joan and Eunice decide that this possible explanation is irrelevant, and near the end of the book, a third personality, that of Joan''s new husband, joins them by means that can only be explained via delusion, religion or mysticism, not science.

I Will Fear No Evil

David Innes and his captive, a member of the reptilian Mahar master race of the interior world of Pellucidar, return from the surface world in the Iron Mole invented by his friend and companion in adventure Abner Perry. Emerging in Pellucidar at an unknown location, David frees his captive. He names the place Greenwich and uses the technology he has brought to begin the systematic exploration and mapping of the unknown land while searching for his lost companions, Abner, Ghak, and Dian the Beautiful. He soon encounters and befriends a new ally, Ja the Mezop of the island country of Anoroc; later he finds Abner, from whom he learns that in his absence the human revolt against the Mahars has not been going well. In a parlay with the Mahars David bargains for information of his love Dian and his enemy Hooja the Sly One, which his foes agree to supply in return for the book containing the Great Secret of Mahar reproduction that David stole and hid in the previous novel. David undertakes to recover it, only to find that Hooja has been there before him and claimed Dian as his own reward of the Mahars! Now he has to track down and defeat the sly one before resuming the human war of independence. Ultimately this is accomplished, and with the aid of the resources David has brought from the surface world he and Abner succeed in building a confederacy of human tribes into an "Empire of Pellucidar" that wipes out the Mahar cities and establishes a new human civilization in their place.

Pellucidar

Hart Evans was the most popular kid at Collins Elementary School and is on his way to owning that title again at Palmer Intermediate. So when he unintentionally shoots a rubber band at his chorus teacher one afternoon, he expects it to be laughed off. After all, it was an accident. Mr. Meinert, the chorus teacher, is wound so tight that he blows up at Hart and the entire class. In a huff, he announces that he is stepping down, and they are now responsible for planning their entire holiday concert themselves. The whole class is surprised, and elects Hart as the new Chorus director. He declares Music Class as a free period, until Mr. Meinert tells him that they''ve got a full 35 minutes for their show. Hart then, realizes they need to get down to work. After assembling committees and coming up with lists of songs, Hart finally thinks he has everything running on track. But then his classmates get mad. Why is Hart, their friend, acting like a teacher? It takes a heart-to-heart with Mr. Meinert to learn what it takes to be a friendly and fair, yet strict, chorus director.

The Last Holiday Concert

Unix Operating System Source Code Level Six is the kernel source code, lightly edited by Lions to better separate the functionality &mdash; system initialization and process management, interrupts and system calls, basic I/O, file systems and pipes and character devices. All procedures and symbols are listed alphabetically with a cross reference. The code as presented will run on a PDP-11/40 with RK-05 disk drive, LP-11 line printer interface, PCL-11 paper tape writer and KL-11 terminal interface, or a suitable PDP-11 emulator, such as SIMH. A Commentary on the Unix Operating System starts with notes on Unix and other useful documentation (the Unix manual pages, DEC hardware manuals and so on), a section on the architecture of the PDP-11 and a chapter on how to read C programs. The source commentary follows, divided into the same sections as the code. The book ends with suggested exercises for the student. As Lions explains, this commentary supplements the comments in the source. It is possible to understand the code without the extra commentary, and the reader is advised to do so and only read the notes as needed. The commentary also remarks on how the code might be improved.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

By J. K. Rowling

Kapitan Sino

By Bob Ong

White Fang

By Jack London

Shadow of the Dragon: Kira

No Author Listed

Between the Acts

By Virginia Woolf

Radio Free Albemuth

By Philip K. Dick

Ghost Circles

By Jeff Smith

Excellent Women

By Barbara Pym

I Will Fear No Evil

By Robert A. Heinlein

Pellucidar

By Edgar Rice Burroughs

The Last Holiday Concert

By Andrew Clements

Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition, with Source Code

By John Lions