Book
Nuclear War: A Scenario
Nuclear war begins with a blip on a radar screen. This is a minute-by-minute account of what comes next.
There is only one scenario other than an asteroid strike that could end the world as we know it in a matter of hours: nuclear war.
Until now, no one outside official circles has known exactly what would happen if a rogue state launched a nuclear missile at the Pentagon. Second by second and minute by minute, these are the real-life protocols that choreograph the end of civilization.
Decisions that affect hundreds of millions of lives need to be made within six minutes, based on partial information, in the knowledge that once launched, nothing is capable of halting the destruction.
Based on dozens of new interviews with military and civilian experts who have built the weapons, been privy to the response plans, and taken responsibility for crucial decisions, this is the only account of what a nuclear exchange would look like.
Nuclear War is at once a compulsive non-fiction thriller and a powerful argument that we must rid ourselves of these world-ending weapons for ever.
Book
The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner
Shortlisted for the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Non-FictionFrom the legendary whistle-blower who revealed the Pentagon Papers, the first insider exposé of the awful dangers of America’s hidden, seventy-year-long nuclear policy that is chillingly still extant.
At the same time former presidential advisor Daniel Ellsberg famously took the top-secret Pentagon Papers, he also took with him a chilling cache of top-secret documents related to America’s nuclear program in the 1960s.
Here for the first time he reveals the contents of those now-declassified documents and makes clear their shocking relevance for today.The Doomsday Machine is Ellsberg’s hair-raising account of the most dangerous arms build-up in the history of civilisation, whose legacy – and proposed renewal under the Trump administration – threatens the very survival of humanity.
It is scarcely possible to estimate the true dangers of our present nuclear policies without penetrating the secret realities of the nuclear strategy of the late Eisenhower and early Kennedy years, when Ellsberg had high level access to them. No other insider has written so candidly of that long-classified history, and nothing has fundamentally changed since that era.
Ellsberg’s discussion of recent research on nuclear winter shows that even a ‘small’ nuclear exchange would cause billions of deaths by global nuclear famine.Framed as a memoir – a chronicle of madness in which Ellsberg acknowledges participating – this gripping exposé reads like a thriller with cloak-and-dagger intrigue, returning him to his role as whistle-blower.
It is a real-life Dr Strangelove story, but an ultimately hopeful – and powerfully important – book.
Book
The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding Of Facebook
Eduardo Saverin and Mark Zuckerberg – an awkward maths prodigy and a painfully shy computer genius – were never going to fit in at elite, polished Harvard. Yet that all changed when master-hacker Mark crashed the university’s entire computer system by creating a rateable database of female students. Narrowly escaping expulsion, the two misfits refocused the site into something less controversial – ‘The Facebook’ – and watched as it spread like a wildfire across campuses around the country, along with their popularity.
Yet amidst the dizzying levels of cash and glamour, as silicon valley, venture capitalists and reams of girls beckoned, the first cracks in their friendship started to appear, and what began as a simple argument spiralled into an out-and-out war. The great irony is that Facebook succeeded by bringing people together – but its very success tore two best friends apart.
Novel
A Thousand Blues
2035: In the shadow of a race course, two sisters grow up, helping their mother at their local canteen that serves renowned ramen. Family life is fractious especially when one of them loses their day-job to a humanoid.
What makes the sisters’ hearts sing is their friendship with Today, a nationally famous racehorse. But Today is now heading for the knackers’ yard – she has been pushed too hard.
With the help of a malfunctioning robot, the sisters hatch a special plan for the horse to compete in another race. Because it is only when she is running that she is truly happy.
But it will be no ordinary race- they will train her to run the slowest time of her life.
As Today runs, she is tempted to go too fast – her joints begin to break. In the final moments, to save their horse, one of them will commit the bravest act of their life.
Radiant, urgent, deeply moving, A Thousand Blues is a hymn to our earth and to our humanity, giving powerful voice to those left behind in a fast-moving world. Brimming with heart, hope and rage, it shows with startling clarity how, by slowing down, we can fully experience life’s wonder and joy.
Manga Comic
Lovely Muco! Vol 1
Muco dreams of the day when Mr. Komatsu will become a dog, too, but in the meantime she spends her days chewing up towels, jumping in the pond, and inventing new games…all called “Komatsu”!
Based on a real person, a real dog, and a real glass studio, there’s something here for everyone—even cat lovers! (Disclaimer: no actual cats are featured in this volume)
In the beautiful mountains of Akita stands GLASS STUDIO amato, run by Mr. Komatsu and the shiny-nosed dog who loves him—MUCO!!