Bücher veröffentlicht von Random House Publishing Group

Can I get a ';ramen' from the congregation?! Behold the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), today's fastest growing carbohydrate-based religion. According to church founder Bobby Henderson, the universe and all life within it were created by a mystical and divine being: the Flying Spaghetti Monster. What drives the FSM' s devout followers, a.k.a. Pastafarians? Some say it's the assuring touch from the FSM's ';noodly appendage.' Then there are those who love the worship service, which is conducted in pirate talk and attended by congregants in dashing buccaneer garb. Still others are drawn to the Church's flimsy moral standards, religious holidays every Friday, or the fact that Pastafarian heaven is way cooler: Does your heaven have a Stripper Factory and a Beer Volcano? Intelligent Design has finally met its matchand it has nothing to do with apes or the Olive Garden of Eden. Within these pages, Bobby Henderson outlines the true facts dispelling such malicious myths as evolution (';only a theory'), science (';only a lot of theories'), and whether we're really descended from apes (fact: Humans share 95 percent of their DNA with chimpanzees, but they share 99.9 percent with pirates!) See what impressively credentialed top scientists have to say: ';If Intelligent Design is taught in schools, equal time should be given to the FSM theory and the non-FSM theory.' Professor Douglas Shaw, Ph.D. ';Do not be hypocritical. Allow equal time for other alternative ';theories' like FSMism, which is by far the tastier choice.' J. Simon, Ph.D. ';In my scientific opinion, when comparing the two theories, FSM theory seems to be more valid than classic ID theory.' Afshin Beheshti, Ph.D. Read the book and decide for yourself!

THE BOOK BEHIND THE SECOND SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES,AN ORIGINAL SERIES NOW ON HBO. A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: BOOK TWO In this thrilling sequel to A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has created a work of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination. A Clash of Kings transports us to a world of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare unlike any we have ever experienced. A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel . . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.

It's five years after the Rebel Alliance destroyed the Death Star, defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, and drove the remnants of the old Imperial Starfleet to a distant corner of the galaxy. Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting Jedi twins. And Luke Skywalker has become the first in a long-awaited line of Jedi Knights. But thousands of light-years away, the last of the Emperor's warlords, Grand Admiral Thrawn, has taken command of the shattered Imperial fleet, readied it for war, and pointed it at the fragile heart of the New Republic. For this dark warrior has made two vital discoveries that could destroy everything the courageous men and women of the Rebel Alliance fought so hard to build.Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!

A special fiftieth anniversary edition of Kurt Vonnegut's masterpiece, ';a desperate, painfully honest attempt to confront the monstrous crimes of the twentieth century' (Time), featuring a new introduction by Kevin Powers, author of the National Book Award finalist The Yellow BirdsSelected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world's great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous World War II firebombing of Dresden, the novel is the result of what Kurt Vonnegut described as a twenty-three-year struggle to write a book about what he had witnessed as an American prisoner of war. It combines historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire in an account of the life of Billy Pilgrim, a barber's son turned draftee turned optometrist turned alien abductee. As Vonnegut had, Billy experiences the destruction of Dresden as a POW. Unlike Vonnegut, he experiences time travel, or coming ';unstuck in time.' An instant bestseller, Slaughterhouse-Five made Kurt Vonnegut a cult hero in American literature, a reputation that only strengthened over time, despite his being banned and censored by some libraries and schools for content and language. But it was precisely those elements of Vonnegut's writingthe political edginess, the genre-bending inventiveness, the frank violence, the transgressive witthat have inspired generations of readers not just to look differently at the world around them but to find the confidence to say something about it. Authors as wide-ranging as Norman Mailer, John Irving, Michael Crichton, Tim O'Brien, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Strout, David Sedaris, Jennifer Egan, and J. K. Rowling have all found inspiration in Vonnegut's words. Jonathan Safran Foer has described Vonnegut as ';the kind of writer who made peopleyoung people especiallywant to write.' George Saunders has declared Vonnegut to be ';the great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us . . . a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.' Fifty years after its initial publication at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut's portrayal of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety feels as relevant, darkly humorous, and profoundly affecting as ever, an enduring beacon through our own era's uncertainties. ';Poignant and hilarious, threaded with compassion and, behind everything, the cataract of a thundering moral statement.'The Boston Globe

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *; In this definitive novel, readers will follow Thrawn's rise to poweruncovering the events that created one of the most iconic villains in Star Wars history. One of the most cunning and ruthless warriors in the history of the Galactic Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn is also one of the most captivating characters in the Star Wars universe, from his introduction in bestselling author Timothy Zahn's classic Heir to the Empirethrough his continuing adventures in Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, and beyond. But Thrawn's origins and the story of his rise in the Imperial ranks have remained mysterious. Now, in Star Wars: Thrawn, Timothy Zahn chronicles the fateful events that launched the blue-skinned, red-eyed master of military strategy and lethal warfare into the highest realms of powerand infamy.Praise for Thrawn';The origin story of one of the greatest Star Wars villains . . . a book that fans have wanted for decades.'The Verge ';A satisfying tale of political intrigue . . . Thrawn's observations and tactical thinking are utterly captivating.'New York Daily News ';Quite the page-turner.'Flickering Myth

A dazzling illustrated edition of the book that started it allfor readers of A Song of Ice and Fire and fans of HBO'sGame of Thrones.Published in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of George R. R. Martin's landmark series, this lavishly illustrated special edition of A Game of Thronesfeaturing gorgeous full-page artwork as well as black-and-white illustrations in every chapterrevitalizes the fantasy masterpiece that became a cultural phenomenon. And now the mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure of this magnificent saga come to life as never before. A GAME OF THRONES A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE: BOOK ONE With a special foreword by John Hodgman Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon in far-off King's Landing. There Eddard Stark of Winterfell rules in Robert's name. There his family dwells in peace and comfort: his proud wife, Catelyn; his sons Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; his daughters Sansa and Arya; and his bastard son, Jon Snow. Far to the north, behind the towering Wall, lie savage Wildings and worseunnatural things relegated to myth during the centuries-long summer, but proving all too real and all too deadly in the turning of the season.Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances. Now Robert is riding north to Winterfell, bringing his queen, the lovely but cold Cersei, his son, the cruel, vainglorious Prince Joffrey, and the queen's brothers Jaime and Tyrion of the powerful and wealthy House Lannisterthe first a swordsman without equal, the second a dwarf whose stunted stature belies a brilliant mind. All are heading for Winterfell and a fateful encounter that will change the course of kingdoms.Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Prince Viserys, heir of the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros, schemes to reclaim the throne with an army of barbarian Dothrakiwhose loyalty he will purchase in the only coin left to him: his beautiful yet innocent sister, Daenerys.

Katherine Arden's bestselling debut novel spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent with a gorgeous voice. ';A beautiful deep-winter story, full of magic and monsters and the sharp edges of growing up.'Naomi Novik, bestselling author of UprootedWinter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse's fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil. Then Vasya's widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya's stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village. But Vasya's stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the village's defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealedto protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse's most frightening tales.Praise for The Bear and the Nightingale';Arden's debut novel has the cadence of a beautiful fairy tale but is darker and more lyrical.'The Washington Post';Vasya [is] a clever, stalwart girl determined to forge her own path in a time when women had few choices.'The Christian Science Monitor';Stunning . . . will enchant readers from the first page. . . . with an irresistible heroine who wants only to be free of the bonds placed on her gender and claim her own fate.'Publishers Weekly(starred review)';Utterly bewitching . . . a lush narrative . . . an immersive, earthy story of folk magic, faith, and hubris, peopled with vivid, dynamic characters, particularly clever, brave Vasya, who outsmarts men and demons alike to save her family.'Booklist(starred review) ';An extraordinary retelling of a very old tale . . . The Bear and the Nightingale is a wonderfully layered novel of family and the harsh wonders of deep winter magic.'Robin Hobb

There's something out there:a juggernaut of evil bearing down to crush the Republicunless one lone Jedi, shunned and reviled, can stop it.Revan: hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior. A Jedi who left Coruscant to defeat Mandaloriansand returned a disciple of the dark side, bent on destroying the Republic. The Jedi Council gave Revan his life back, but the price of redemption was high. His memories have been erased. All that's left are nightmaresand deep, abiding fear.What exactly happened beyond the Outer Rim? Revan can't quite remember, yet can't entirely forget. Somehow he stumbled across a terrible secret that threatens the very existence of the Republic. With no idea what it is, or how to stop it, Revan may very well fail, for he's never faced a more powerful and diabolic enemy. But only death can stop him from trying.Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *; NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE *;Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader's Circle for author chats and more.In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible delinquent. As a teenager, he channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics. But when World War II began, the athlete became an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943. When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini survived, adrift on a foundering life raft. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. Unbroken is an unforgettable testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit, brought vividly to life by Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand.Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine *; Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award ';Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.'The Wall Street Journal ';[A] one-in-a-billion story . . . designed to wrench from self-respecting critics all the blurby adjectives we normally try to avoid: It is amazing, unforgettable, gripping, harrowing, chilling, and inspiring.'New York ';Staggering . . . mesmerizing . . . Hillenbrand's writing is so ferociously cinematic, the events she describes so incredible, you don't dare take your eyes off the page.'People ';A meticulous, soaring and beautifully written account of an extraordinary life.'The Washington Post ';Ambitious and powerful . . . a startling narrative and an inspirational book.'The New York Times Book Review ';Magnificent . . . incredible . . . [Hillenbrand] has crafted another masterful blend of sports, history and overcoming terrific odds; this is biography taken to the nth degree, a chronicle of a remarkable life lived through extraordinary times.'The Dallas Morning News ';An astonishing testament to the superhuman power of tenacity.'Entertainment Weekly ';A tale of triumph and redemption . . . astonishingly detailed.'O: The Oprah Magazine ';[A] masterfully told true story . . . nothing less than a marvel.'Washingtonian ';[Hillenbrand tells this] story with cool elegance but at a thrilling sprinter's pace.'Time ';Hillenbrand [is] one of our best writers of narrative history. You don't have to be a sports fan or a war-history buff to devour this bookyou just have to love great storytelling.'Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

"A fast-paced account of America's plunge into simultaneous Cold Wars against two very different adversaries-Xi Jinping's China and Vladimir Putin's Russia-based on deep reporting from inside the White House, U.S. intelligence agencies, technology firms, and foreign governments"--

Book Two of the Epic Prequel to the Classic NovelDuneA Major Motion PictureSequel to the international bestsellerDune: House AtreidesBeforeDune. . .The epic tale of Duke Leto Atreides and his rise to power . . .The fierce ambitions of his mortal enemy, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen . . .The struggles of the young girl Jessica, the Baron's secret daughter, under the harsh training of the Sisterhood school . . .The schemes of Shaddam Corrino to create a synthetic spice that may bring unlimited wealth, or cause the collapse of the Spacing Guild . . .And the implausible dream of Planetologist Kynes to turn the desert planet Dune into a paradise, uniting the desperate Fremen into a force unlike anything the Imperium has ever seen . . .Dune: House Harkonnencontinues the epic story that lays the foundation for Frank Herbert's masterpieceDune, a complex tale of politics, religion, and the rise and fall of dynasties on a galaxy-spanning canvas.Look for the entire prequel seriesDUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES *; DUNE: HOUSE HARKONNEN *; DUNE: HOUSE CORRINO

#1 NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER *; A simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the tender relationship between mother and daughter in this extraordinary novel by the Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Olive Kitteridge and The Burgess Boys.Soon to be a Broadway play starring Laura Linney produced by Manhattan Theatre Club and London Theatre Company *;LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE *;NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post *; The New York Times Book Review *; NPR *; BookPage *; LibraryReads *; Minneapolis Star Tribune *; St. Louis Post-Dispatch Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn't spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy's childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy's life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable.Praise for My Name Is Lucy Barton ';A quiet, sublimely merciful contemporary novel about love, yearning, and resilience in a family damaged beyond words.'The Boston Globe';It is Lucy's gentle honesty, complex relationship with her husband, and nuanced response to her mother's shortcomings that make this novel so subtly powerful.'San Francisco Chronicle';A short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but also simpler, more sudden bonds . . . It evokes these connections in a style so spare, so pure and so profound the book almost seems to be a kind of scripture or sutra, if a very down-to-earth and unpretentious one.'Newsday';Spectacular . . . Smart and cagey in every way. It is both a book of withholdings and a book of great openness and wisdom. . . . [Strout] is in supreme and magnificent command of this novel at all times.'Lily King,The Washington Post ';An aching, illuminating look at mother-daughter devotion.'People

A THRILLING REINVENTION OF THE VAMPIRE NOVEL BY THE MASTER OF MODERN FANTASY, GEORGE R. R. MARTIN Abner Marsh, a struggling riverboat captain, suspects that something's amiss when he is approached by a wealthy aristocrat with a lucrative offer. The hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York doesn't care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marsh's dilapidated fleet; nor does he care that he won't earn back his investment in a decade. York's reasons for traversing the powerful Mississippi are to be none of Marsh's concernno matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious York's actions may prove. Not until the maiden voyage of Fevre Dream does Marsh realize that he has joined a mission both more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic nightmareand humankind's most impossible dream.

For Dr. David Beck, the loss was shattering. And every day for the past eight years, he has relived the horror of what happened. The gleaming lake. The pale moonlight. The piercing screams. The night his wife was taken. The last night he saw her alive. Everyone tells him it's time to move on, to forget the past once and for all. But for David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossiblethat somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive. Beck has been warned to tell no one. And he doesn't. Instead, he runs from the people he trusts the most, plunging headlong into a search for the shadowy figure whose messages hold out a desperate hope. But already Beck is being hunted down. He's headed straight into the heart of a dark and deadly secretand someone intends to stop him before he gets there.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *;From the author of The Power of Habit comes a fascinating book that explores the science of productivity, and why managing how you think is more important than what you thinkwith an appendix of real-world lessons to apply to your life. At the core of Smarter Faster Better are eight key productivity conceptsfrom motivation and goal setting to focus and decision makingthat explain why some people and companies get so much done. Drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economicsas well as the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star generals, FBI agents, airplane pilots, and Broadway songwritersthis painstakingly researched book explains that the most productive people, companies, and organizations don't merely act differently. They view the world, and their choices, in profoundly different ways.A young woman drops out of a PhD program and starts playing poker. By training herself to envision contradictory futures, she learns to anticipate her opponents' misstepsand becomes one of the most successful players in the world. A group of data scientists at Google embark on a four-year study of how the best teams function, and find that how a group interacts is more important than who is in the groupa principle, it turns out, that also helps explain why Saturday Night Live became a hit. A Marine Corps general, faced with low morale among recruits, reimagines boot campand discovers that instilling a ';bias toward action' can turn even the most directionless teenagers into self-motivating achievers. The filmmakers behind Disney's Frozen are nearly out of time and on the brink of catastropheuntil they shake up their team in just the right way, spurring a creative breakthrough that leads to one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. What do these people have in common? They know that productivity relies on making certain choices. The way we frame our daily decisions; the big ambitions we embrace and the easy goals we ignore; the cultures we establish as leaders to drive innovation; the way we interact with data: These are the things that separate the merely busy from the genuinely productive.InThe Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Charles Duhigg explained why we do what we do. In Smarter Faster Better, he applies the same relentless curiosity, deep reporting, and rich storytelling to explain how we can improve at the things we do. It's a groundbreaking exploration of the science of productivity, one that can help anyone learn to succeed with less stress and struggle, and to get more done without sacrificing what we care about mostto become smarter, faster, and better at everything we do.