In this collection, one of the great classics of science fiction, Asimov set out the principles of robot behavior that we know as the Three Laws of Robotics. Here are stories of robots gone mad, mind-reading robots, robots with a sense of humor, robot politicians, and robots who secretly run the world, all told with Asimov's trademark dramatic blend of science fact and science fiction.

Timeshare in Tokyo? Teach yourself Japanese!

With Teach Yourself it's possible for virtually anyone to learn and experience the languages of the world, from Afrikaans to Zulu; Ancient Greek to Modern Persian; Beginner's Latin to Biblical Hebrew. Follow any of the Teach Yourself Language Courses at your own pace or use them as a supplement to formal courses. These complete courses are professionally designed for self-guided study, making them one of the most enjoyable and easy to use language courses you can find.

Prepared by experts in the language, each course begins with the basics and gradually promotes the student to a level of smooth and confident communication, including: Step-by-step guide to pronunciation and grammarRegular and irregular verb tablesPlenty of practice exercises and answersPractical vocabulary and a bilingual glossaryClear, uncluttered, and user-friendly layoutAn exploration of the cultureAnd much more

A piercing and vital look at how capitalism is consuming U.S. society.

An apt sequel to Benjamin R. Barber's best-selling Jihad vs. McWorld, Consumed offers a wrenching portrait of how adult consumers are infantilized in a global economy that overproduces goods and targets children as consumers in a market where there are never enough shoppers. Driven by a frantic imperative to sell, consumer capitalism specializes today in the manufacture not of goods but of needs.

This provocative culmination of Barber's lifelong study of democracy and capitalism shows how the infantilist ethos deprives society of responsible citizens and displaces public goods with private commodities. Traditional liberal democratic society is colonized by an all-pervasive market imperative. Public space is privatized. Identity is branded. Our world, homogenized. With brilliance and depth, Barber confronts the likely consequences for our children, our liberty, and our citizenship, and shows finally how citizens can resist and transcend the civic schizophrenia with which consumerism has infected them.

"Easily the most innovative alpabet book of the year, if not the decade... Beyond clever."—The Washington Post Prepare to be amazed. From the lenticular cover that changes with the angle of your hands all the way to the Z, ABC3D is as much a work of art as it is a pop-up book. Each of the 26 three-dimensional letters move and change before your eyes. C turns into D with a snap. M stands at attention. X becomes Y with a flick of the wrist. And then there's U...Boldly conceived and brilliantly executed with a striking black, red, and white palette, this is a book that readers and art lovers of all ages will treasure for years to come.

HOW TO MAKE {ALMOST} EVERYTHING

A Do-It-Yourself Primer

You need this book. As the stuff of life piles up and things spin out of control, we could all use a little help. These never-before-seen designs and how-tos are full of surprise and wonder. Learn how to turn everyday objects into spellbinding inventions to give away to friends or keep for yourself. Our simple self-improvement techniques will make you smarter, better-looking, and more well-adjusted.

(RE) MAKE IT!

This is the “sales copy” section. Here we will talk about how useful, delight-inducing, and excellently well put together this book is. If things have gone a little flat and you’re searching for inspiration, look no further. ReadyMade is full of fun projects for the whole family. It solves problems, cures dizzy spells, and holds open the door. It has a collegial, ’50s garage tinkerer sensibility. It read Popular Science as a kid and dreamt of building rockets. It launches with fiery trails. It soars. When it falls, it brushes itself off and starts over. It is the Captain of Creativity. Resistance is futile. This book is 100% hope.

First project: Personalize this book and protect it from theft by cutting out this portion of the cover and replacing it with your own photo. (See page 16)

Twentieth-Century Type surveys the significant issues that have shaped the history and evolution of typography and graphic design, showing how current typographic trends are part of a continuously changing movement that can be plotted through the decades. Generously illustrated with over three hundred examples-more than two hundred of which are in color-the book charts significant topics including the arrival of mass-production; the birth of the art director; the appearance of the grid (and its subsequent rejection); the coming of non-print media; and the launch of the Macintosh computer and its ushering in of a new generation of designers enfranchised by digital technology. This revised edition of a fundamental work brings the story up to date with new text and images covering type on screen and, in particular, type for the internet. Combining an assessment of the culture of experimentation in contemporary typographic design alongside a clear presentation of the field's historical context, the book is an informed and accessible source for all students of design and for designers needing an expert overview of typography.

The splashy photo spreads in The National Enquirer: Thirty Years of Unforgettable Imagesprove that the Enquirerhas become what Lifemagazine was in its day: the image bank of American pop culture. They're all here, big as life—or, in the cases of Elvis, Ted Bundy, John Lennon, Grace Kelly, and River Phoenix, big news in their coffin close-ups. The photos are haunting: Columbine High killer Eric Harris at age 6 in a skeleton-with-bloody-skull-mask Halloween costume; Eric Clapton and his son just hours before the boy's window plunge. The book has lots of laughs, too: Bryant Gumbel and Matt Lauer getting a lap dance from three transsexual waitresses; Van Damme with his third and fourth wives on either arm (in identical dresses). Witty layouts predominate: weirdly well preserved Michelle Phillips and a mummy pose opposite a little girl and Michael Jackson (whose nose is disintegrating). The glimmer of glamour vies with the shock of decay—often in images of the same celeb. Watch Liza morph from tot to sot! A feast for inquiring minds. —Tim Appelo

From "Rocket Summer" to "The Million-Year Picnic," Ray Bradbury's stories of the colonization of Mars form an eerie mesh of past and future. Written in the 1940s, the chronicles drip with nostalgic atmosphere—shady porches with tinkling pitchers of lemonade, grandfather clocks, chintz-covered sofas. But longing for this comfortable past proves dangerous in every way to Bradbury's characters—the golden-eyed Martians as well as the humans. Starting in the far-flung future of 1999, expedition after expedition leaves Earth to investigate Mars. The Martians guard their mysteries well, but they are decimated by the diseases that arrive with the rockets. Colonists appear, most with ideas no more lofty than starting a hot-dog stand, and with no respect for the culture they've displaced.

Bradbury's quiet exploration of a future that looks so much like the past is sprinkled with lighter material. In "The Silent Towns," the last man on Mars hears the phone ring and ends up on a comical blind date. But in most of these stories, Bradbury holds up a mirror to humanity that reflects a shameful treatment of "the other," yielding, time after time, a harvest of loneliness and isolation. Yet the collection ends with hope for renewal, as a colonist family turns away from the demise of the Earth towards a new future on Mars. Bradbury is a master fantasist and The Martian Chronicles are an unforgettable work of art. —Blaise Selby

The complete guide to playing, performing and recording on the piano and all types of electronic keyboards.