Cog

Five robots. One unforgettable journey. Their programming will never be the same. Wall-E meets The Wild Robot in this middle grade instant classic about five robots on a mission to rescue their inventor from the corporation that controls them all. Cog looks like a normal twelve-year-old boy. But his name is short for “cognitive development,” and he was built to learn. But after an accident leaves him damaged, Cog wakes up in an unknown lab—and Gina, the scientist who created and cared for him, is nowhere to be found. Surrounded by scientists who want to study him and remove his brain, Cog recruits four robot accomplices for a mission to find her. Cog, ADA, Proto, Trashbot, and Car’s journey will likely involve much cognitive development in the form of mistakes, but Cog is willing to risk everything to find his way back to Gina. In this charming stand-alone adventure, Greg van Eekhout breathes life and wisdom into an unforgettable character and crafts a story sure to earn its place among beloved classics like Katherine Applegate’s The One and Only Ivan.

How economics needs to change to keep pace with the twenty-first century and the digital economy Digital technology, big data, big tech, machine learning, and AI are revolutionizing both the tools of economics and the phenomena it seeks to measure, understand, and shape. In Cogs and Monsters, Diane Coyle explores the enormous problems—but also opportunities—facing economics today and examines what it must do to help policymakers solve the world’s crises, from pandemic recovery and inequality to slow growth and the climate emergency. Mainstream economics, Coyle says, still assumes people are “cogs”—self-interested, calculating, independent agents interacting in defined contexts. But the digital economy is much more characterized by “monsters”—untethered, snowballing, and socially influenced unknowns. What is worse, by treating people as cogs, economics is creating its own monsters, leaving itself without the tools to understand the new problems it faces. In response, Coyle asks whether economic individualism is still valid in the digital economy, whether we need to measure growth and progress in new ways, and whether economics can ever be objective, since it influences what it analyzes. Just as important, the discipline needs to correct its striking lack of diversity and inclusion if it is to be able to offer new solutions to new problems. Filled with original insights, Cogs and Monsters offers a road map for how economics can adapt to the rewiring of society, including by digital technologies, and realize its potential to play a hugely positive role in the twenty-first century.

“MORE than a COG” is a guide meant to help “regular” employees learn how they can get more out of their jobs while becoming indispensable to their companies. For as long as I can remember I have worked alongside some number of “regular” employees. And they have all complained about their positions, their compensation and their companies. And, they never understood why they were in the positions they were, or why others (such as myself) were treated so differently. Finally, after years of being exposed to such tribulations, and, coupled with the past several years of hard times for the American work-force, I decided to try to help all of those regular employees become more than regular. Are you a Cog in some big machine of a Company? It’s OK – most of us are. But are you secure in your position within that company? Are you getting recognized and compensated the way you think you should? Whether you’re flipping burgers for McDonalds, bending fenders for GM or counting beans for Earnst & Young, you need to be more than just another Cog – you need to be the best. Learn how great employees: Work at a career, not just a job. Don’t allow time, inexperience or overconfidence to limit them. Understand and honor the two-way relationship between themselves and their company. Make sure that everyone knows what needs to be known. Recognize and act upon opportunities to shine. Honor commitments that may have been made. Manage supervisor and customer expectation levels. Show pride in hard jobs done well. Take responsibility when things go wrong. Recognize that superiors and customers are partners for success. This ground-breaking manual for employees can show you how to increase your value to your company, while increasing the amount of joy and pride you take in your work. Here are some of the strong points that the book and its message have going for it: Reads easy - I am literally “talking” to the reader. As a reader you can visualize me speaking to you, employee-to-employee. The “conversation” feels personal, it feels natural. Reads quickly - An interested reader should be able to breeze through this book in two or three sittings. This is not some dense, 1,000+ page tome, but more of a svelte manual, short and to the point. Humorous and topical - I employ many references to real life situations or popular theatrical arts that most readers will identify with and enjoy. The stories help people feel more at ease, making it easier to get the message across. Surprising and Obvious at the same time - Just like anything else that generates those wonderful “Ah ha” moments in life, this book says things that will open peoples' eyes and make them feel surprised that they “...never thought of that before.” And yet as you sit there, after reading it, you will know that most people don't see what is so obvious. High Goals Tempered with Realism - With each lesson of “how to do things” comes a safety valve, a dose of reality, called Caveats. Readers appreciate it when an author lets them know that he knows the limits of his own advice. Easy to Grasp - Each chapter presents a single notion or technique. Plus the text is distilled down to its most basic message in the final “take-away” that concludes each chapter. Written by true authority - I am not some stuffy college professor, a Wall Street analyst, or retired CEO. I am and have always been, an employee – just a Cog. I am writing as one employee to another. I know what I'm talking about, and it comes across that way. A Needy Audience - The U.S. collegiate system churns out several hundred thousand new employees per year, on top of the tens of millions of workers already in the workforce. Nobody has been trained on “how to work.” Without help, many of these people are sitting ducks. Little Competition – There are dozens of books on how to climb the corporate ladder, how to be an effective leader or successful entrepreneur, how to be more organized, yada, yada, yada. But there are practically no books on how to be a good employee. Managers make up less than 20% of any corporation. I'm interested in the other 80%, the people nobody cares too much about - the common worker. Timely - Now more than ever, employees need to hear the message of this book. Employees need to learn what they can so that they can hold on to the jobs they have.

Wulff’s cogs are in a jam because of Ursy, his best friend’s little sister. Only she’s not so young and bratty anymore. And she’s got a nice set of gears. However, Wulff has no intentions of stealing her upgrades. Nor is he interested in bedding her, even if she makes his parts steam. He really should stay away, and yet he enlists her aid in tracking down a treasure. A mission that’s going fine until the kiss. Now, he can’t help seeing her in a new light, but Ursy isn’t interested in a relationship, even as she invites him to her bed. Problem is he wants more than just a temporary meshing of their parts. He won’t settle for anything less than her heart. Genre: cyborg romance, steampunk romance, science fiction romance, abduction romance, alien contact, space opera

On July 3, 1869, the three-and-one-third-mile track leading to the summit of picturesque Mount Washington opened for public use. Once, only those daring enough to scale the 6,288 feet could enjoy the splendor of the scenery, but now everyone could journey to the summit using the invention of retired businessman Sylvester Marsh, who dreamed of this mountainous mode of transportation. Created at the height of the age of rail, the Cog Railway continues to chug up the mountain and into the hearts of tourists each year. Local historian Bruce D. Heald ties the history of its construction together with the grand romance of the railway as they triumphantly converge at the top of Mount Washington.

Using a wide range of new or previously ignored sources, the authors of this volume challenge a number of long-established patterns of thought in medieval historiography. Focusing attention firmly on the basic commodities of everyday life, rather than on objects of more or less conspicuous consumption, the articles shed light on new and important aspects of the expansion of trade in northern Europe between 1150 and 1400. Eight of the articles deal with trade, transport and volumes of one or more of the most important bulk commodities of the period, and the ninth is dedicated to the development of the most important means of transport, the cargo ship."

With the menace of Miss Weaver's reign of terror supposedly behind them, the students of Hollow Fields can look forward to a more peaceful curriculum run by her ethically-minded successor, Principal Bleak. But there's one problem-rebuilding the school after Miss Weaver's reign has left Hollow Fields broke! If the school can't scrape together the cash to pay its staff or maintain its grounds, the Board of Unprincipled Mad Science Education will have it shut down and use the student body for scientific experiments. Not wanting to be separated from her new friends, Lucy stumbles upon a chance for Principal Bleak to save Hollow Fields. All they have to do is win the inter-school mad science competition and along with it, a hefty cash prize. But just what kind of things go on at a mad science fair?!