The Death Ray

A cartoonist’s acclaimed take on the superhero genre—now in paperback. Teen outcast Andy is an orphaned nobody with only one friend, the obnoxious—but loyal—Louie. They roam school halls and city streets, invisible to everyone but bullies and tormentors, until the glorious day when Andy takes his first puff on a cigarette. That night he wakes, heart pounding, soaked in sweat, and finds himself suddenly overcome with the peculiar notion that he can do anything. Indeed, he can, and as he learns the extent of his new powers, he discovers a terrible and seductive gadget—a hideous compliment to his seething rage—that forever changes everything. The Death-Ray utilizes the classic staples of the superhero genre—origin, costume, ray gun, sidekick, fight scene—and reconfigures them in a story that is anything but morally simplistic. With subtle comedy, deft mastery, and an obvious affection for the bold pop-art exuberance of comic book design, Daniel Clowes delivers a contemporary meditation on the darkness of the human psyche. One of Clowes’s most beloved books, The Death-Ray is the winner of the Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz Awards.

Ocean's 11 meets Spy School in this hilarious illustrated middle-grade series featuring the world's greatest minds. "Let the official record show that, I, Nikki Tesla, did not intend to destroy the world."There are only so many times a kid can invent an instrument of global destruction without getting grounded. So when Nikki's death ray accidentally blows up her bedroom (if you can call a pet ferret with an itchy trigger finger an accident), she's sent to the only place that can handle her. Genius Academy is a school for history's greatest brains. Leo da Vinci? Charlotte Darwin? Bert Einstein? All extraordinary. Yet even among her fellow prodigies, Nikki feels like an outsider thanks to a terrible secret she can't let anyone discover. Ever. But when her death ray is stolen, Nikki must stop worrying about fitting in and learn to play nice with her new classmates. Because it doesn't take a genius to track a thief around the world, outwit the authorities, and keep a French fry-fanatic ferret happy. It takes all of them.

Death rays! Absurd idea peddled by con artists and amateurs and promoted by a sensationalist press? Not quite. Government and military leaders and mainstream scientists endorsed the possibility of such a fantastic weapon in the years before World War II. A concept born out of research with electricity and other energy sources, the death ray or "directed energy weapon" was widely reported for nearly five decades. Claims for its invention appeared as early as 1876, and increased thereafter, until the "death-ray craze" of the 1920s and 1930s. The idea influenced fiction, making its way from newspapers and magazines into novels, short stories, films, theatrical productions and other media. This book takes a first-ever look at the historical death ray and its impact on fiction and popular culture.

Find out about the amazing inventions of Archimedes, whose mind was probably the most inventive in all history. His story is told by Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Archimedes greatest fan, who was also the cause of the great man's death.

Oprah's Book Club Summer 2018 Selection The Instant New York Times Bestseller A powerful, revealing story of hope, love, justice, and the power of reading by a man who spent thirty years on death row for a crime he didn't commit. “An amazing and heartwarming story, it restores our faith in the inherent goodness of humanity.” —Archbishop Desmond Tutu In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only twenty–nine years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free. But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. He spent his first three years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence—full of despair and anger toward all those who had sent an innocent man to his death. But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. For the next twenty–seven years he was a beacon—transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, fifty–four of whom were executed mere feet from his cell. With the help of civil rights attorney and bestselling author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015. With a foreword by Stevenson, The Sun Does Shine is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times. Destined to be a classic memoir of wrongful imprisonment and freedom won, Hinton’s memoir tells his dramatic thirty–year journey and shows how you can take away a man’s freedom, but you can’t take away his imagination, humor, or joy.

Series numbering from publisher's website.

During the early 1940s high in the remote Welsh mountains one of the greatest British inventors of the twentieth century lived in seclusion. With Britain at war, Harry Grindell Matthews was the classic stereotype of the British Inventor; eccentric, determined and other-worldly but his inventions make for impressive reading: The world's first mobile phone, Automatic Pilot, Submarine Detection, Aerial Defence Systems, A 'Death Ray', And much, much more - So revolutionary and far-reaching were his ideas that the British Government dismissed him as a crank. At a time when British boffins were frantically trying to develop Radar, Sonar, long-range weapons, defence systems and wireless communication, the government shunned him. His death, from a heart attack, in 1941 was to rob the Allies of his amazing inventions that could have shortened the war. Using disclosed files marked 'secret' held at the National Archives in London, newly discovered documents and personal recollections from those who knew him, 'The Death Ray - The Secret life of Harry Grindell Matthews' is a gripping account of one of the greatest, visionary, inventors of the twentieth century.