On a rainy night in Philadelphia's Ninth Street Market, sixteen-year-old Fiora, newly-orphaned by the 1918 influenza epidemic, is dumped at an old man's door. Daughter of the local fortune teller, Fiora arrives with a little money, a lot of attitude, and her mother's formidable reputation. The old man, a widowed shoemaker ticking down his clock, is the only person in their superstitious immigrant community brave enough to stand between Fiora and an orphanage. Fiora?s a modern, forward-thinking young woman, uninterested in using old-world magic to make a way for herself?but when her mother's magical curtain shows her that the old man will shortly die of a heart attack, Fiora panics, and casts her entire neighborhood into a stagnant bubble of time. A bubble where everything continues but nothing progresses?tomatoes won?t ripen, babies refuse to be born, and the sick suffer under the weight of a never-ending stream of unspent seconds. Not everything in the bubble is bad. Love, fresh and fascinating, ignites. Friendships take root. But as day drags into interminable day, the pressure inside the bubble world builds. Fiora must accept that not everything found can be kept, not everything saved will remain, and unless Fiora finds the courage to collapse the bubble, every one of her hopes will be trapped inside an unbearable, unyielding, unpredictable, and infinite Now.

NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD GOLD MEDALIST — BODY, MIND, SPIRIT PRACTICES “Combining an extraordinary range of scholarship with an accessible and entertaining writing style, The Infinite Staircase . . . provides a coherent and unified platform for a full human life.” —Midwest Book Review In this bold new book, high-tech’s best-known strategist makes a seminal contribution to the search for meaning in a secular era. Two questions fundamental to human existence have always been the metaphysical “where do I fit in the grand scheme of things?” and the ethical “how should I behave?” Religion is no longer a source of answers for many people, and nothing has replaced it. Moore uses his signature framework-based approach to answer these questions, taking us on an intellectual roller coaster ride through physics, chemistry, biology, the social sciences and the humanities. Along the way, he builds a metaphorical ladder that leads from the big bang to the need for ethical action in our daily lives. Combining an extraordinary range of scholarship with an accessible and entertaining writing style, The Infinite Staircase: What the Universe Tells Us About Life, Ethics, and Mortality provides a coherent and unified platform for a full human life.

The development of theoretical physics can be seen as a continuous improvement of the models of space and time. In particular, the beginning of the 21st century brought a new vision into quantum physics: quantum particles move in space only, time measured with clocks is merely a numerical order of particles' motion. This so called "a-temporal" view of physics offers a radically new understanding of the micro and macro universe. On the basis of the notion of time as numerical order of material change, in this book the authors introduce suggestive unitary and holistic perspectives in the interpretation and explanation of several physical phenomena of contemporary physics. It is shown that the concept of time as a mathematical quantity measuring the numerical order of material changes resolves Zeno problems on motion, hypothetical travel into past, twin paradox of special relativity and allow new perspectives to be opened in the interpretation and explanation of Einstein-Podolski-Rosen experiment and of non-local correlations between subatomic particles. Moreover, a timeless description of the gravitational interaction and the idea of a timeless three-dimensional quantum vacuum as a fundamental bridge between gravity and quantum behaviour of matter are developed. Finally, in the second part of the book, after analysing the fundamental features of some relevant unitary theories of contemporary physics (such as superstring theory and loop quantum gravity) and making some considerations about being versus becoming and atomism versus monism in modelling physical reality at a fundamental level, it is shown that the replacement of the concept of time with the numerical order of material change provides a new suggestive interpretation of the fundamental unitary field theories opening the doors to a real "timeless theory of everything". The use of a simple and fluid language makes the book accessible to a wide reading public.

“Vero, you remember you once said there were people who would follow me to the gates of hell?” “A figure of speech.” “We’d better find them. That’s where we’re going.” After the defeat of the evil Dominion forces at Farholme, Commander Merral D’Avanos prepares a task force to rescue thirty hostages captured by the fleeing Margrave Lezaroth. Merral’s only hope is that he can get to the hostages before they’re taken to Lord-Emperor Nezhuala at the Blade of Night—the nexus of the Dominion’s power. But in order to get there, Merral and his crew will have to survive a perilous trip through Below Space. Meanwhile, news of the Dominion’s defeat at Farholme reaches Ancient Earth but is tempered by the sobering truth of the enemy’s growth and strength. It is now clear that an attack on the Assembly is imminent, but how far should the Assembly go to stop it? And does the real danger lie in the Dominion or in the subtle evil that has arrived at the heart of the Assembly itself? The Infinite Day is the thrilling conclusion to the epic Lamb among the Stars series that has readers and critics raving.

“There are at least two kinds of games,” states James Carse as he begins this extraordinary book. “One could be called finite; the other infinite.” Finite games are the familiar contests of everyday life; they are played in order to be won, which is when they end. But infinite games are more mysterious. Their object is not winning, but ensuring the continuation of play. The rules may change, the boundaries may change, even the participants may change—as long as the game is never allowed to come to an end. What are infinite games? How do they affect the ways we play our finite games? What are we doing when we play—finitely or infinitely? And how can infinite games affect the ways in which we live our lives? Carse explores these questions with stunning elegance, teasing out of his distinctions a universe of observation and insight, noting where and why and how we play, finitely and infinitely. He surveys our world—from the finite games of the playing field and playing board to the infinite games found in culture and religion—leaving all we think we know illuminated and transformed. Along the way, Carse finds new ways of understanding everything from how an actress portrays a role, to how we engage in sex, from the nature of evil, to the nature of science. Finite games, he shows, may offer wealth and status, power and glory. But infinite games offer something far more subtle and far grander. Carse has written a book rich in insight and aphorism. Already an international literary event, Finite and Infinite Games is certain to be argued about and celebrated for years to come. Reading it is the first step in learning to play the infinite game.

A journey to the International Space Station: the making of the biggest media project ever filmed in orbit. The Infinite documents the making of the ground-breaking immersive VR experience shot entirely aboard the International Space Station. Artists and astronauts joined forces to capture life in the cosmos as never before. In this oversize publication, brand-new views of space and stunning production shots reveal the human imagination's limitless potential. In Summer 2021, PHI and EMMY(R) Award-winning digital entertainment pioneers Felix & Paul Studios will launch the public into an infinite universe. A ground-breaking immersive VR exhibition will enable the audience to visit the ISS, where they encounter experiments, zero-gravity living, and breathtaking spacewalks. Beautifully designed, The Infinite features interviews with leaders in VR and contemporary art. It perfectly complements the exhibition's role in rendering the innovation and collaboration in humanity's quest for the skies.

Lauren Shippen's The Infinite Noise is a stunning, original debut novel based on her wildly popular and award-winning podcast The Bright Sessions. Caleb Michaels is a sixteen-year-old champion running back. Other than that his life is pretty normal. But when Caleb starts experiencing mood swings that are out of the ordinary for even a teenager, his life moves beyond “typical.” Caleb is an Atypical, an individual with enhanced abilities. Which sounds pretty cool except Caleb's ability is extreme empathy—he feels the emotions of everyone around him. Being an empath in high school would be hard enough, but Caleb's life becomes even more complicated when he keeps getting pulled into the emotional orbit of one of his classmates, Adam. Adam's feelings are big and all-consuming, but they fit together with Caleb's feelings in a way that he can't quite understand. Caleb's therapist, Dr. Bright, encourages Caleb to explore this connection by befriending Adam. As he and Adam grow closer, Caleb learns more about his ability, himself, his therapist—who seems to know a lot more than she lets on—and just how dangerous being an Atypical can be. “What if the X-Men, instead of becoming superheroes, decided to spend some time in therapy?” (Vox on The Bright Sessions) At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.