The Earthquake

One afternoon, Sheikh Abdelmajid Boularwah embarks upon a journey in search of distant relatives. His immediate family are ruthless, rich and collaborate with colonial authorities. He hopes his long-lost relatives, who are unknown to the new Communist government, might be better placed to help him defraud it. Through a labyrinth of back alleys and memories, Boularwah makes his way from Algiers across the seven bridges of Constantine, battling the forces of a rapidly changing society while confronting the demons of his own past. The Earthquake offers a surrealist vision of post-colonial Algeria — a society in chaos, a world turned upside down. Written in the early 1970s, this classic work by pioneering novelist Tahir Wattar presciently foretells the dreadful events which would later besiege his country.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Speed and The Ant and the Elephant comes an all-new parable to help you break free from feeling stuck and bounce back after a crisis. "Life has its ups and downs; however, we should never give up hope . . . The Earthquake will inspire many to meet the difficult challenges of life." —Dalai Lama The Earthquake is a must read for anyone looking to find their way to sustained hope. Use this book to find specific solutions to the setback you’re currently facing or to help others bounce back from their personal earthquake. This parable will help readers to: Reframe dark times as illuminating experiences Resist the impulse to go it alone Find fresh perspectives Seek a path where you can enjoy the journey In this entertaining modern-day fable, Vince Poscente introduces us to the well-intentioned, conscious ant and the habitually fearful, subconscious elephant as seismic destruction changes their world and ultimately forces them to leave their oasis. What Adir the ant and Elgo the elephant learn—and what you’ll learn by journeying with them—is the linear path they used to reach the oasis in The Ant and the Elephant does not work in the chaos after an earthquake. How can they breakthrough and thrive after a life-altering setback? This book offers prescriptive advice, and is based on Poscente’s study of practices including: decoding human behavior the neuroscience of performance interpersonal dysfunction around fear

Earthquakes have taught us much about our planet's hidden structure and the forces that have shaped it. This book explains how observing networks transformed an instant of panic and confusion into a field for scientific research, turning earthquakes into natural experiments at the nexus of the physical and human sciences.

The 2011 devastating, tsunami-triggering quake off the coast of Japan and 2010’s horrifying destruction in Haiti reinforce the fact that large cities in every continent are at risk from earthquakes. Quakes threaten Los Angeles, Beijing, Cairo, Delhi, Singapore, and many more cities, and despite advances in earthquake science and engineering and improved disaster preparedness by governments and international aid agencies, they continue to cause immense loss of life and property damage. Earthquake explores the occurrence of major earthquakes around the world, their effects on the societies where they strike, and the other catastrophes they cause, from landslides and fires to floods and tsunamis. Examining the science involved in measuring and explaining earthquakes, Andrew Robinson looks at our attempts to design against their consequences and the possibility of having the ability to predict them one day. Robinson also delves into the ways nations have mythologized earthquakes through religion and the arts—Norse mythology explained earthquakes as the violent struggling of the god Loki as he was punished for murdering another god, the ancient Greeks believed Poseidon caused earthquakes whenever he was in a bad mood or wanted to punish people, and Japanese mythology states that Namazu, a giant catfish, triggers quakes when he thrashes around. He discusses the portrayal of earthquakes in popular culture, where authors and filmmakers often use the memory of cities laid to waste—such as Kobe, Japan, in 1995 or San Francisco in 1906—or imagine the hypothetical “Big One,” the earthquake expected someday out of California’s San Andreas Fault. With tremors happening in seemingly implausible places like Chicago and Washington DC, Earthquake is a timely book that will enrich earthquake scholarship and enlighten anyone interested in these ruinous natural disasters.

Vogue Best of 2017 Esquire 50 Best Books of 2017 Bustle Best Debut Novels Written by Women 2017 The Guardian Best Books of 2017 The Morning News 2018 Tournament of Books Pick Fifteen year old Eugenia is rudely yanked from her dreamy Roman existence by her filmmaker parents, who dream of fame and fortune, and transplanted to the strange, suburban world of the San Fernando Valley. It’s 1992, mere weeks after the Rodney King riots, and she has only the Virgin Mary to call on for guidance as she struggles to navigate the unfamiliar terrain of the LA high school experience—a world of gang rivalries and all-night-raves, fast food and sneakers. But the angst, ecstasy, and self-discovery of adolescence endure, no matter the backdrop. Frank, edgy, honest and raw, this irresistible debut is the love child of Jill Eisenstadt, Eve Babitz, Antonioni and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

“Paul Farmer, doctor and aid worker, offers an inspiring insider's view of the relief effort.”—Financial Times “The book's greatest strength lies in its depiction of the post-quake chaos… In the book's more analytical sections the author's diagnosis of the difficulties of reconstruction is sharp.” —Economist “A gripping, profoundly moving book, an urgent dispatch from the front by one of our finest warriors for social justice.” —Adam Hochschild “His honest assessment of what the people trying to help Haiti did well—and where they failed—is important for anyone who cares about the country or international aid in general.” —Miami Herald

The year is 1970, a period of crisis in the Arab world. Twenty-year-old Hisham has left home for the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, where he's enrolled at university to study politi and economi. But this city has more than academic qualifications to offer a man of Hisham's mettle, and he soon discovers a strange underworld of alcohol and prostitution where fear, pleasure and politi merge. Here hospitals prove the richest cruising grounds; the desert is the place for illicit couplings; and now Hisham is spying on the bedroom activities of his next-door neighbour's wife, who has taken to leaving her door ajar. Meanwhile, Hisham's disillusioned childhood friend Adnan abandons his artistic ambitions in favour of a loftier cause - Islam. The two friends - who rapidly grow estranged - come to symbolise the opposite extremes of life in a repressive closed society. But their shared past soon conspires to reunite them in a new and terrifying way. 'Just to experience the world in the person of a young Saudi man in the wake of the June war is a privilege.' James Buchan, Guardian 'Shumaisi articulates the bathos and tragedy of the individual's struggle against an absolutist system.' Alev Adil, Independent