Icarus

A myth as old as civilization. The boy who donned wax wings and flew too close to the sun. Follow the tale of Icarus. And that of the father who tried to save him ... but brought his life to an end. You will come to love him. Then you will watch him fall. Live the tragic story as you never imagined possible.

Earth's survivors cling to life on an unforgiving, distant planet, next to the sun! Three generations after the crash of the colony ship Icarus, Iapyx is barely hanging on: one of thirteen cities suspended halfway down deep chasms. The sun on the diamond lands above will kill a man in less than five minutes. The ticktock monsters in the fog forest below are a little slower -- but quite a bit smarter. An electromagnetic wash has disabled the computers, the radios, even the lightbulbs. It's the steam and clockwork age reborn: a careful society, rationed and stratified. Which suits Simon Daud just fine. Simon likes the rules, and knows his place -- in the shadow of his older brother, Isaac. All he wants is to earn his wings as an ornithopter pilot and get to work in the flight bays. But on his final test flight, something goes wrong. Isaac is killed. Simon is burned; his body will never be the same. Neither will his world. Not everything in Iapyx is quite as it seems, and through his rehabilitation Simon falls into the middle of a conspiracy that will bring everything he's ever known to the ground. Down in the fog forest, monsters await -- but so does the truth . . . if Simon can survive long enough to find it.

Taking risks and exploring the unknown are as vital to human beings as our need for air, for growth, for affirmation that we exist for something. These 19 stories reach deep into humanity’s compulsion for the rush of new experiences. But gently, because it’s not only records we might shatter. When does adventure turn to recklessness? What happens when we toe the edge above the void and face the big silence, where we might see God -- and die without warning? The Icarus Syndrome seeks to capture our push for more and hold it to the light, lofty and free, for as long as we dare tempt the downward slip. Both are possible; only one is assured.

A futuristic reimaging of the classic Greek myth, as a boy ventures through deep space and challenges the awesome power of black holes. The beauty of the book lies in the images, provided by NASA and the Hubble Space telescope, and printed on board rather than paper.

Clara is bright, strong, and fearless. But when she and the girl who has always lived in her shadow are chosen to enter the labryrinth, the two are torn apart forever and must fight to survive.

In The Icarus Syndrome, Peter Beinart tells a tale as old as the Greeks - a story about the seductions of success. Beinart describes Washington on the eve of three wars - World War I, Vietnam and Iraq - three moments when American leaders decided they could remake the world in their image. Each time, leading intellectuals declared that history was over, and the spread of democracy was inevitable. Each time, a president held the nation in the palm of his hand. And each time, a war conceived in arrogance brought untold tragedy. In dazzling colour, Beinart portrays three extraordinary generations: the progressives who took America into World War I, led by Woodrow Wilson, the lonely preacher's son who became the closest thing to a political messiah the world had ever seen. The Camelot intellectuals who took America into Vietnam, led by Lyndon Johnson, who lay awake night after night shaking with fear that his countrymen considered him weak. And George W. Bush and the post-cold war neoconservatives, the romantic bullies who believed they could bludgeon the Middle East and liberate it at the same time. Like Icarus, each of these generations crafted 'wings' - a theory about America's relationship to the world. They flapped carefully at first, but gradually lost their inhibitions until, giddy with success, they flew into the sun. But every era also brought new leaders and thinkers who found wisdom in pain. They reconciled American optimism - our belief that anything is possible - with the realities of a world that will never fully bend to our will. In their struggles lie the seeds of American renewal today. Based on years of research, The Icarus Syndrome is a provocative and strikingly original account of hubris in the American century - and how we learn from the tragedies that result.

When Icarus's father is imprisoned, he invents a way for him and Icarus to escape. Find out how in this brilliantly illustrated Greek myth. Pink level for your fluent reader.

In 2017, Arif Naqvi and The Abraaj Group were on the brink of changing the world of private equity. Abraaj was a pioneer of impact investing, it had helped transform communities and companies across the world by financing healthcare, education and clean energy projects, and it was about to close a new fund worth $6 billion. But then it all came crashing down. On 10 April 2019, after landing at London Heathrow, Naqvi was arrested on fraud charges. He is facing extradition to the United States and a prison sentence of up to 291 years if he is found guilty. The dominant media narrative has painted Naqvi as a thief and fraudster, the key man in an organised criminal conspiracy. But in this explosive book, which is based on extensive research and interviews, Brian Brivati investigates how things are not quite what they seem. Icarus explores how Abraaj found itself caught in the middle of a geopolitical war between the United States and China, and when it would not back down economic hitmen tried to wipe it out.