Penguin Group

The myth that has grown up around Robert Burns, Scotland's greatest popular poet, has sometimes obscured his original poetic gifts. The educated son of a poor cotter, Burns became known for his rustic background, his fraternity with the working man, his Jacobite loyalty and his amorous entanglements. Yet his contribution to literature is immense. His use of dialogue and colloquial speech is comparable to that of Chaucer and Byron, but is also uniquely his own. He liberated the language, allowing freedom to the Romantic movement, and his use of old folk tunes enormously enhanced the Scottish musical tradition. With imaginative zest he satirized the Scottish community and offered shrewd insight into human nature. Although he was supremely aware of local concerns — religion and politics in particular — his work transcends the parochial and is now admired internationally for its depth of vision.

Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese sleuths, Koko and Yum Yum, investigate the disappearance of a wealthy railroad buff — and alleged multimillion-dollar embezzler — a case that becomes complicated by red herrings, a tragic train wreck, and murder at a railroad tavern.

When «The Left Hand of Darkness» first appeared in 1969, the original jacket copy read, «Once in a long while a whole new world is created for us. Such worlds are Middle Earth, Dune — and such a world is Winter». Twenty-five years and a Hugo and Nebula Award later, these words remain true. In Winter, or Gethen, Ursula K. Le Guin has created a fully realized planet and people. But Gethen society is more than merely a fascinating creation. The concept of a society existing totally without sexual prejudices is even more relevant today than it was in 1969. This special 25th anniversary edition of «The Left Hand of Darkness» contains not only the complete, unaltered text of the landmark original but also a thought-provoking new afterword and four new appendixes by Ms. Le Guin. When the human ambassador Genly Ai is sent to Gethen, the planet known as Winter by those outsiders who have experienced its arctic climate, he thinks that his mission will be a standard one of making peace between warring factions. Instead the ambassador finds himself wildly unprepared. For Gethen is inhabited by a society with a rich, ancient culture full of strange beauty and deadly intrigue—a society of people who are both male and female in one, and neither. This lack of fixed gender, and the resulting lack of gender-based discrimination, is the very cornerstone of Gethen life. But Genly is all too human. Unless he can overcome his ingrained prejudices about the significance of «male» and «female», he may destroy both his mission and himself.

Be all that you can be: clumsy, inane, sloppy, reckless, idiotic. Phule's Company is the laughingstock of the military. Their latest mission: to guard an intergalactic casino from an unlikely criminal takeover... The odds are against the oddballs.

Crime, high finances, and journalism are interconnected in this early thriller by the author of “On Wings of Eagles” and “Lie Down With Lions”. In one suspenseful, action-packed day, fortunes change hands as an ambitious young reporter scrambles to crack the story. A suicidal Junior Minister, an avaricious tycoon, and a seasoned criminal with his team of tough guys all play their parts in a scheme that moves «paper money» around at a dizzying pace.

A basic Russian dictionary and phrasebook for the traveler (which, just in case, includes a section entitled Point to Answer). Organized thematically, common words and expressions are shown in English and Cyrillic with easy-to-decipher phonetic pronunciation.

Celebrating the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo’s David, New American Library releases a special edition of Irving Stone’s classic biographical novel—in which both the artist and the man are brought to life in full. A masterpiece in its own right, this novel offers a compelling portrait of Michelangelo’s dangerous, impassioned loves, and the God-driven fury from which he wrested the greatest art the world has ever known.

Margo Sullivan had everything she could ask for. The daughter of the Templetons' stern housekeeper, she was treated like a member of the family. But money could not buy the thing she craved most-her mother's acceptance...

This picture book is based on the children's song Today is Monday. Runner beans, zoooop, roast beef, fish, chicken and ice cream are the fare during the week, until Sunday, when the world's children are invited to come and share a meal. Animals introduce children to the days of the week.

In a future where there is no love, no science, and everyone is equal and of one entity, one man defies the group to be his own person. That is a serious offense.

When The Fountainhead was first published, Ayn Rand's daringly original literary vision and her groundbreaking philosphy, Objectivism, won immediate worldwide interest and acclaim. This instant classic is the story of an intransigent young architect, his violent battle against conventional standards, and his explosive love affair with a beautiful woman who struggles to defeat him. This edition contains a special Afterword by Rand's literary executor, Leonard Peikoff, which includes excerpts from Ayn Rands' own notes on the making of The Fountainhead. As fresh today as it was then, here is a novel about a hero — and about those who try to destroy him.

Who's been sleeping in my bed? Otto the cat is not amused when a slobbery but lovable dog moves in and takes over everything--from his water bowl to his favorite chair — in this delightful story about friendship and sharing. Featuring a super-simple vocabulary this All Aboard Reading book includes 24 flash cards.

This collection of essays was the last work planned by Ayn Rand before her death in 1982. In it, she summarizes her view of philosophy and deals with a broad spectrum of topics. According to Ayn Rand, the choice we make is not whether to have a philosophy, but which one to have: rational, conscious, and therefore practical; or contradictory, unidentified, and ultimately lethal. Written with all the clarity and eloquence that have placed Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy in the mainstream of American thought, these essays range over such basic issues as education, morality, censorship, and inflation to prove that philosophy is the fundamental force in all our lives.

This book looks at one of the most fundamental of our species' distinguishing characteristics: the use of language. The author argues that our language abilities are part of our genetic inheritance, not a cultural artefact, bringing together Darwinian natural selection and Chomsky's linguistics. The author debunks many of the standard facts — the dozens of Eskimo words for snow, the belief that we think using language, that English is a logic-defying tongue — and shows that language is a basic human instinct.

The unforgettable letters of a high-spirited orphan to 'Daddy-Long-Legs,' her anonymous benefactor. A trustee of the John Grier orphanage has offered to send Judy Abbott to college. The only requirements are that she must write to him every month, and that she can never know who he is. Judy's life at college is a whirlwind of friends, classes, parties, and a growing friendship with the handsome Jervis Pendleton. With so much happening in her life, Judy can scarcely stop writing! Complete and unabridged.

Newly revised for this edition, Richard Pipes's highly acclaimed study analyses the evolution of the Russian state from the ninth century to the 1880s and its unique role in managing Russian society. The harsh geographical conditions and sheer size of the country prevented the creation of participatory government, and a 'patrimonial' state emerged in which Russia was transformed into a gigantic royal domain. Richard Pipes traces these developments and goes on to analyse the political behaviour of the principal social groupings — peasantry, nobility, middle-class and clergy — and their failure to stand up to the increasing absolutism of the tsar. In order to strengthen his powers legal and institutional bases were set up that led to the creation of a bureaucratic police state under the Communists.

Evidence indicates that Thad Beaumont whose novels seem to be the product of a twisted imagination, may just be quilty of a series of monstrous murders.

Case was the sharpest data thief in the Matrix, until an ex-employer crippled his nervous system. Now a new employer has recruited him for a last-chance run against an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence. With a mirror-eyed girl street-samurai riding shotgun, he's ready for the silicon-quick, bleakly prophetic adventure that upped the ante on an entire genre of fiction.

Qwilleran and the cats are visiting an island known by many names. Qwill has always called it Breakfast Island, but to the taciturn natives, it's Providence Island. To the rich summer residents it's Grand Island — and to the developers and tourists who are turning this once-peaceful place upside down, it's Pear Island. But when some odd «accidents» occur, including a fatal boat explosion, Qwill suspects sabotage and sets out to investigate — because murder by any other name is just as deadly...

With the publication of «On the Road» in 1957, Jack Kerouac became at once the spokesman and hero of the Beat Generation. Along with such visionaries as William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, Kerouac changed teh face of American literature, igniting a counterculture revolution that even now, decades later, burns brighter than ever in «Desolation Angels».

This is a title in an inexpensive range of classics in the «Penguin Popular Classics» series.

There are some new gods in the town of TunFaire, but temple real estate on the Street of Dreams is at a premium. So the big gods on the block issued a challenge-find the «key» to the one temple still available. When two rival pantheons try to hire Garrett, he knows he is in for it...

Inspired by an actual attempt in 1894 to blow up London's Greenwich Observatory, here is a chillingly prophetic examination of contemporary terrorism-and the literary precursor to today's espionage thriller.

Don't open the door... Bobbi Anderson and the other good folks of Haven, Maine, have sold their souls to reap the rewards of the most deadly evil this side of hell.