The story involves a new ice age hitting Europe, British refugees fleeing to Nigeria, and what a later group find when they return. As the story opens, Andrew Leedon, a London-based television documentary producer, is given a new story to research: an Italian scientist, Fratellini, has proposed an imminent fall in solar radiation for the forthcoming few years which may lead to harsher winters. Leedon meets with David Cartwell, a Home Office civil servant and useful source, to see if he can find out more. Cartwell quickly becomes a close friend of Leedon, but also begins an affair with Leedon''s wife, Carol. The winter of that year is, as predicted, long and harsh, but by January is it becoming clear to insiders that the solar downturn is worse than Fratellini had calculated and no upturn is in sight. By March, food stocks are becoming dangerously low, rationing has been imposed and the Government imposes martial law. Those in the know, including Andrew''s estranged wife, sell up and move south to the tropics and countries such as Nigeria. Leedon stays behind, as inner London is finally cordoned off from the rest of the UK to protect the seat of power – an area called the London Pale – as the rest of the country is abandoned to starvation and barbarism. Finally Leedon is persuaded both by Carol and by David Cartwell to exit the country while safe passage is still possible. Taking with him Cartwell''s wife Madeleine, he moves to Lagos in Nigeria, finding that the tables have now turned – white refugees fleeing from the ice-bound northern countries are living in slums, unemployed or with only menial jobs, and penniless, as African governments have withdrawn recognition of currencies such as Sterling and no longer recognize the British Government, with reason, as it no longer exercises sovereignty over its own land. A ray of hope arrives for Leedon as Abonitu, a young Nigerian whom Leedon had treated with kindness and generosity one evening in London, finds him and in turn helps him and Madeleine out of the slum. Abonitu plans a reconnaissance expedition back to Britain.

The World in Winter

This book consists of two main plot threads, which only come together towards the end of the book. The majority of the first half of the story is devoted to a plot where a variety of hominid species from the ring join together to kill a large nest of vampires (the shadow nest) which has been feeding on all of them. Some of the characters are also found in The Ringworld Engineers, as early on in this book Niven tells us that relatively few of the hominids died when Louis Wu and the Hindmost restabilised the ring at the end of the previous book. The second part of the book details the continuing adventures of Louis Wu, who is now aging and ill. Eventually he returns to the Hindmost and is healed, only for the pair of them—and also a Kzin called Acolyte, who is Chmee''s son—to be enslaved by a vampire protector. What follows is a power struggle between Protectors on the rim wall and the vampire protectors who have control of the ringworld''s defences. In many of the situations in this section of the book Louis, the Hindmost and Acolyte are present only as observers, as it is the Protectors who are the main protagonists of the story.

The Ringworld Throne

David is a ten-year old boy who plays the violin and does not know his last name. He leads an idyllic life in the mountains with his father, until his father becomes gravely ill, forcing them to go down into the valley. With his father''s health worsening, they spend the night in a barn. Just before he dies, the father gives David a large number of gold coins, telling him to hide them until they are needed. David plays the violin to soothe his "sleeping father" and is found by Simeon Holly and his wife. Realizing the man is dead, they try to figure out who David is, but all he can tell them is that he is "just David." David is unable to tell them his last name, his father''s name, or if he has any relatives. They find some letters on the dead man, but the signature on it is illegible. The couple reluctantly let him stay with them as he reminds them of their own son, John, whom they no longer speak with. David learns to adjust to live in the village, taking one of his two violins with him wherever he goes and "playing" the world around him, such as playing "the sunset" and "the flowers," and using his music to express his feelings. His innocence and musical skills charm the villagers and change several of their lives, uniting in marriage two childhood sweethearts who had grown apart. He also changes the Hollys, healing Simeon''s heart enough that he reconnects with his son and allows him to come visit with his new wife and child. During the visit, they learn that David''s violins are quite valuable. His own is an Amati and his father''s, which he had loaned to a blind friend, a Stradivarius. Reading the old letter from David''s father, John recognizes the signature and realizes that David''s father was a world-famous violinist who had disappeared with his son after his wife''s death. David is sent to be reunited with his relatives and to study the violin. He becomes famous and wealthy, but continues to visit the Hollys every year to play for them.

Just David

Anakin Solo''s uncle, Luke Skywalker, informed the Solo family that young Anakin, eleven years old, is ready to begin his Jedi training. Anakin leaves his homeplanet of Coruscant to go to Yavin 4, where the Messeni Jedi Academy resides. There, he feels shy at first, but quickly comes across a bubbly, nine year old girl named Tahiri Veila. Tahiri is talkative and Anakin is quiet, but the two become instant friends. However, all is not well. Anakin begins to have visions of himself on a raft, going down a big river. He confides in Tahiri that he feels he needs to follow his vision, and see what it means. Tahiri is skeptical, until she too has the vision. The vision grows, showing a storm behind the two of them on the raft, Tahiri falling into the water, and Anakin unable to help her. Together, they sneak out of the Jedi Academy on students'' break. They hitch a raft, and begin their journey. Anakin, who brought R2-D2 with them, listens to his beeps and notices that there is a storm brewing behind them, just like in the vision. There are monthly storms on Yavin and they are very dangerous, so Anakin and Tahiri are determined to reach the shore. Along the way, Tahiri falls into the water just as Anakin predicted. Anakin, terrified, keeps his cool and saves Tahiri with the use of the Force. Tahiri is saved and the two come across a temple, much like the Jedi Academy. They enter and go through a series of puzzles before entering the final room. A sleeping animal awakes, and claims to be a Jedi Master. Ikrit, a Jedi of the Old Republic, informs the two that there was a golden globe in the room and that Massassi children were trapped within it. The children had been trapped a long time ago by a Sith Lord. Master Ikrit had tried to free the poor children years ago, but the children could only be freed by children themselves. With that in mind, Anakin and Tahiri tried to reach within the globe, but find swirling sand, and pain, so much pain that it is unbearable. They sadly tell the Jedi Master that they cannot do the task right yet, but maybe when they grew stronger, they would be able to. Master Ikrit tells them that it is their destiny. They alone were the ones chosen to free these children. They take the furry Jedi Master with them, and head back to the Academy. They were fearful to discover that it was already midnight, and that people at the Academy were looking for them. Sure enough, when they got back to the Jedi Academy, Luke Skywalker was waiting for them on the front steps, not at all pleased. Tahiri, afraid that Luke would expel them both, takes blame for their outing completely, saying that they had gotten lost and that R2 led them home. This was a lie, and Luke was doubtful but when he asks R2 for confirmation, the droid whirrs back in agreement. So they avoided punishment. They have yet to fulfill their destiny which continues in the next installments in the book series.

Junior Jedi Knights: The Golden Globe

The following is the summary provided by Bertrand Russell in the preface of the book: "This book contains essays on such aspects of social questions as tend to be ignored in the clash of politics. It emphasizes the dangers of too much organization in the realm of thought and too much strenuousness in action. It explains why I cannot agree with either Communism or Fascism, and wherein I dissent from what both have in common. It maintains that the importance of knowledge consists not only in its direct practical utility but also in the fact that it promotes a widely contemplative habit of mind; on this ground, utility is to be found in much of the knowledge that is nowadays labelled ''useless.'' There is a discussion of the connection of architecture with various social questions, more particularly the welfare of young children and the position of women. "Passing further away from politics, the volume, after discussing the characteristics of Western civilization and the chances of the human race being vanquished by insects, concludes with a discussion of the nature of the soul. The general thesis which binds the essays together is that the world is suffering from intolerance and bigotry, and from the belief that vigorous action is admirable even when misguided; whereas what is needed in our very complex modern society is calm consideration, with readiness to call dogmas in question and freedom of mind to do justice to the most diverse points of view."

In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays

The book tells of the adventures of Dr. Michael Ong, a paranormal scientist and former seminarian, who is given a head researcher''s position at an Area 51-esque laboratory in Turlock, California called Research Technical Institute. In exchange for granting the government the lease to build the facility, the City of Turlock demanded that it be staffed primarily by locals. Ong''s task is to open, catalog, and classify each of the hundreds of crates in the facility''s warehouse. Many of the artifacts found inside are proven to be highly dangerous and thoroughly insane...Russian teleporter technology, aliens, mutants, even a were-pig. During what is apparently just another day at the office, the ghost of the evil Dr. Jameson looses a slug-beast from its stasis capsule. Jameson was killed a century prior, after making a deal with a demon named Hellcat in exchange for the power to bring a "giant space eel" to Earth. Jameson succeeds a little too thoroughly, and he is crushed when the eel crash-lands into gold-rush-era Turlock. The ghost of Dr. Jameson, generations later, seeks an artifact in one of the crates at Creature Tech, the authentic Shroud of Turin. Jameson released a slug-beast in order to distract the facility staff and abscond with the shroud. During the ensuing battle, Ong is stabbed through the heart by a parasite attached to the slug-beast. The parasite detaches itself from the beast and attaches to Ong, replacing his heart, but creating a permanent symbiosis. Using the Shroud, Jameson resurrects his old body and begins a search for the remains of the space eel that killed him. In the meantime, he unleashes an army of demonically-possessed cats upon Turlock. It''s a race against time as Ong, the parasite, and all the human/monster residents of Turlock defend their town against the demon onslaught and attempt to stop Jameson from resurrecting the space eel.

Creature Tech

In this volume in the series, horseless carriages arrive in Deep Valley for the first time when Mr. Poppy, the owner of the Opera House, buys an automobile. Betsy''s friend Tib is his first passenger &mdash; along with his wife &mdash; due simply to her having the boldness to ask for a ride. Although the girls'' classmate Winona Root is initially jealous of Tib over this experience, she soon gets over it and invites Betsy, Tacy, and Tib to their first real theatrical experience, a dramatized version of Uncle Tom''s Cabin at the Opera House. Betsy befriends the lonely Mrs. Poppy, who welcomes the chance to share the little girls'' affection after having lost her only daughter in the years before moving to town. Through this friendship, the girls not only enjoy parties at the Poppy Hotel, but also participate in a theatrical production of Rip Van Winkle that lets Mrs. Poppy reunite Betsy''s mother, Mrs. Ray, with her long-lost brother. Betsy and her friends also discover the temptations of dime novels, prompting Betsy to try her hand at writing her own. Eventually, Betsy shares her secret writings with her mother, who successfully encourages her to write fiction of more elevated character. Betsy''s parents decide that in order to foster a love of classic literature and make Betsy a better writer, she will be allowed to go alone to the new Carnegie library every two weeks, with spending money for a special mid-day treat to let her stay all day.

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown

The anonymous caller has an ominous tone and an unnerving message about something “real dead . . . buried in your marsh.” The eco-volunteer on the other end of the phone thinks it’s a prank, but when a young woman’s body turns up in Los Angeles’s Bird Marsh preserve no one’s laughing. And when the bones of more victims surface, homicide detective Milo Sturgis realizes the city’s under siege to an insidious killer. Milo’s first move is calling in psychologist Alex Delaware. The murdered women are prostitutes–except the most recent victim; a brilliant young musician from the East Coast, employed by a wealthy family to tutor a musical prodigy, Selena Bass seems out of place in the marsh’s grim tableau. Conveniently–perhaps ominously–Selena’s blueblood employers are nowhere to be found, and their estate’s jittery caretaker raises hackles. But Milo’s instincts and Alex’s insight are too well-honed to settle for easy answers, even given the dark secrets in this troubled man’s past. Their investigation unearths disturbing layers–about victims, potential victims, and suspects alike–plunging even deeper into the murky marsh’s enigmatic depths. Bizarre details of the crimes suggest a devilish serial killer prowling Los Angeles’s gritty streets. But when a new murder deviates from the pattern, derailing a possible profile, Alex and Milo must look beyond the suspicion of madness and consider an even more sinister mind at work. Answers don’t come easy, but the darkest of drives and desires may fuel the most devious of foes.

Bones

Meredith wakes up from a dream where she is given a horn cup from the Consort. The horn is a lost relic belonging to Abeloec, one of her guards, and the former god of wine. Abeloec and Merry drink from the horn, and some of his former god powers are restored. The other guards receive tattoos, symbols of their former god-powers that link the guards to Meredith in a mysterious way. They are magically transported to the heart of the Unseelie sithen, the dead gardens, where sex with Meredith, Abeloec and Mistral causes the gardens to come alive again. Rain begins to fall inside the garden. Through the sex magic, Galen, Nicca and Aisling disappear into the earth, air and trees, apparently as sacrifices to bring the magic back. Merry discovers that the Sithen responds to her desires, like adjusting how much rain falls in the garden. Merry learns that Abeloec’s cup was once used to make queens and goddesses, and the group speculate as to whether Merry is now immortal. Meredith asks the sithen to create a door to return to the Unseelie sithen. When they go through it, they find that they have accidentally passed into the Sluagh sithen, and they end up in the dead garden of the Sluagh. Before they can escape, they are confronted by Sholto, King of the Sluagh, and Lord of That Which Passes Between, and his two night hags, Agnes and Segna. Meredith discovers that Sholto’s tentacles have been shaved off by a member of the Seelie who tricked him. The hags believe that Meredith is part of the conspiracy. Segna attacks Meredith, but before she can reach her, Sholto strikes her and throws her into the dead lake, where is she is speared by the enchanted bones of the dead. Segna is mortally wounded, but alive. Sholto and Meredith wade into the lake to euthanize Segna. In a last-ditch attempt to kill Meredith, Segna pulls her under the water. Meredith uses her Hand of Blood to finish Segna. Sholto and Meredith magically appear on the Island of Bones in the middle of the lake. Sholto carries a dagger and a spear of bone, signs of kingship among the sluagh that had been lost. The Goddess appears and gives Sholto the chance to restore magic to the Sluagh. He is given the choice to either bring the magic back with blood by killing Meredith, or by sex. If he chooses death, the black heart of the sluagh will be restored. But if he chooses sex and life, it will change the sluagh sithen to a more Seelie-like place. Sholto chooses sex and life, and together they restore magic to the Sluagh garden. In a blast of power, they are returned to the Sluagh garden which is now filled with herbs, plants and flowers. Drunk with his new power, Sholto calls the Wild Hunt to chase the sidhe. Meredith and her guards flee. Meredith conjures a protective covering of four-leaf clover and discovers a “thin place” that allow them to escape the Sluagh sithen. Now more sidhe than ever, Sholto is attacked by the very Wild Hunt that he called up, and he is forced to flee as well. Now in the real world, Meredith calls on a group of Red Caps (cousins of the goblins), led by Jonty, to fight the Wild Hunt with them. The Wild Hunt is defeated and through the remaining magic, faerie animals including dogs appear. After the battle, they are rejoined by Galen, Aisling and Nicca who, having disappeared from the garden, reappeared in the Hall of Mortality. Galen’s wild magic causes flowers and water to appear in the Hall, and he accidentally causes all prisoners to be freed, including Cel, the Queen’s son, who wants Meredith dead. A furious Andais confronts Meredith and tells her that she must take her guards and go back to Los Angeles tonight, because she has ruined her sithen and Andais cannot keep her safe from Cel.

Mistral''s Kiss

The final novel of The DemonWars Saga brings all of the main players from the previous two books together to combat the evil still residing in the land. With the end of this novel, and the final destruction of the evil presence, the Saga concludes. In the first part of the novel, the recently deposed Queen Jilseponie Wyndon Ursal helps to organize the supporters of Prince Midalis Dan Ursal against her demonically-influenced son Aydrian. Aydrian leads the royal army, with the help of Marcalo De''Unnero and Duke Kalas, to establish himself as king of all the known world. He even leads his army to invade Andur''blough Inninness, the Valley of Mist, home to the Touel''alfar elves. Their ruler, Lady Dasslerond, sacrifices herself to cast a spell that makes the valley impossible to find. Her people are trapped away from their homeland, but are able to flee from Aydrian. The spell can''t be broken unless Aydrian sacrifices fatal amounts of his own blood. Aydrian''s primary enemy besides Prince Midalis is the Abellican Church. He systematically eliminates all of the monks that oppose him, culminating in the book''s climax when he captures the Church''s leaders at the monastery of St.-Mere-Abelle. In this battle, Prince Midalis''s forces, including all of the living rangers and the dragon Agradeleas, do battle with Aydrian''s army. When Aydrian realizes his mistake in allowing his mother to live at the end of Ascendance, he summons the spirit-zombie of his father Elbryan Wyndon to defeat her. By the end of the final climactic battle, the ranger Andacanavar, Father Abbot Fio Bou-Raiy, Marcalo De''Unnero, and Sadye are all dead. Jilseponie revives the consciousness of Elbryan from the spirit-zombie and together they finally banish the demonic force that has been influencing Aydrian. Jilseponie redeems Aydrian of his past wrongdoing over the next decade, and he is an entirely new person by the time of her death in God''s Year 857. After her burial, he agrees to sacrifice his life to break the spell on Andur''blough Inninness. When he breaks the spell, and after that cleanses the demon''s taint from the valley, everyone is surprised that he survives. The spirits of all the dead rangers had lent him enough strength to gain the benefits of sacrificing his life without actually dying. *

Immortalis

This novel is an imaginative reconstruction of the life of a band of Neanderthals. It is written in such a way that the reader might assume the group to be modern Homo sapiens as they gesture and speak simply among themselves, and bury their dead with heartfelt, solemn rituals. They also have powerful sense impressions and feelings, and appear sometimes to share thoughts in a near-telepathic way. As the novel progresses it becomes more and more apparent that they live very simply, using their considerable mental abilities to connect to one another without extensive vocabulary or the kinds of memories that create culture. They have wide knowledge of food sources, mostly roots and vegetables. They chase hyaenas from a larger beast''s kill and eat meat, but they don''t kill mammals themselves. They have a spiritual system centring on a female principle of bringing forth, but their lives are lived so much in the present that the reader realizes they are very different from us, living in something like an eternal present, or at least a present broken and shaped by seasons. One of the band, Lok, is a point of view character. He is the one we follow as one by one the adults of the band die or are killed, then the young are stolen by the "new people," a group of early modern humans. Lok and Fa, the remaining adults, are fascinated and repelled by the new people. They observe their actions and rituals with amazement, only slowly understanding that harm is meant by the sticks of the new people. The humans are portrayed as strange, godlike beings as the neanderthals witness their mastery of fire, Upper Palaeolithic weaponry and sailing. All save the last chapters of the novel are written from the Neanderthals'' stark, simple stylistic perspective. Their observations of early human behaviour serve as a filter for Golding''s exercise in paleoanthropology, in which modern readers will recognize precursors of later human societal constructs, e.g., religion, culture, sacrifice and war. The penultimate chapter employs an omniscient viewpoint, observing Lok. For the first time, the novel describes the people the reader has been inhabiting through the first-person perspective. Lok, totally alone, gives up in despair. In the final chapter, we move to the point of view of the new race, more or less modern humans fleeing in their boats, revealing that they are terribly afraid of the Neanderthals whom they believe to be devils of the forest. This last chapter, the only one written from the humans'' point of view, reinforces the inheritance of the world by the new species. The fleeing humans carry with them an infant Neanderthal, of whom they are simultaneously afraid and enamoured, hinting at the later hypothesis of inter-breeding between Neanderthals and modern humans.

The Inheritors

"09/11 2001. And if anyone who has seen everything could, suddenly, wake up in time to prevent the tragedy?". This is a presupposition which, on the cover, this novel presents. At the core, this is a story of five persons, Thea, Mark Millard, Alice and Solomon, who jumped from the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. It is also the story of Ayda, who calls them cowards, and of her husband. Now "imagine that on September 13, the Universe resets the day 11 for some of them." * Interview about the book by the author to Ana Daniela Ferreira on "À Volta dos Livros" in [[Antena 1 (Portugal)|Antena 1], on 22 June 2011] (Portuguese) * Video presentation of the book in [[Diário de Notícias] of 28 May 2011] (Portuguese) * Reference to the book on the television show "Autores" in [[TVI24] of June 24, 2011. Minute 42.](Portuguese) * Interview about the book A Manhã do Mundo by the author to Ana Daniela Ferreira on "À Volta dos Livros", at [[Antena 1 (Portugal)|Antena 1], on 22 June 2011.] (in Portuguese) * Interview about the book A Manhã do Mundo by the author to TV show "Câmara Clara", at [[RTP2], on 9 September 2011. From 3 min 27 s.] (in Portuguese) * Interview about the book A Manhã do Mundo by the author to Ana Rita Clara, on TV show "Mais Mulher", at [[SIC Mulher], on September 2011.] (in Portuguese)

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The World in Winter

By Samuel Youd

The Ringworld Throne

By Larry Niven

Just David

By Eleanor H. Porter

Junior Jedi Knights: The Golden Globe

No Author Listed

In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays

By Bertrand Russell

Creature Tech

No Author Listed

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown

By Maud Hart Lovelace

Bones

By Jonathan Kellerman

Mistral's Kiss

By Laurell K. Hamilton

Immortalis

By Robert Anthony Salvatore

The Inheritors

By William Golding

A Manhã do Mundo

By Pedro Guilherme-Moreira