Funny Science

Do your fantasy-loving kids find history class too serious or boring? Do they wonder if maybe some really awesome stories from the past never made it into their library books? What about tales of daring acts, strange behavior, or unbelievable happenings that many people don’t know about? Could these stories be out there, just waiting to be discovered? Absolutely! And you’re about to discover them right now. Get ready to unlock hours of engaging listening for your young one with this new collection of amazing stories.

When a passenger check-in desk at Terminal Two, Heathrow Airport, shot up through the roof engulfed in a ball of orange flame, the usual people tried to claim responsibility. First the IRA, then the PLO and the Gas Board. Even British Nuclear Fuels rushed out a statement to the effect that the situation was completely under control, that it was a one-in-a-million chance, that there was hardly any radioactive leakage at all and that the site of the explosion would make a nice location for a day out with the kids and a picnic.

Welcome to Bezim, where sword-slinging bravi race through the night and rich and idle alchemists make magic out of mixing and measuring the four planes of reality. Siyon Velo, Dockside brat turned petty alchemist, scrapes a living hopping between the planes to harvest ingredients for the city’s alchemists. But when Siyon accidentally commits an act of impossible magic, he’s catapulted into the limelight—which is a bad place to be when the planes start lurching out of alignment, threatening to send Bezim into the sea.

WARNING: This book will transform you into the ultimate cool-cat in ANY crowd! Ever wondered about why cats seem irresistibly drawn to laser pointers? Or the mystery behind cats' uncanny ability to sense their owner's emotions? (HINT: It's NOT because they're psychic) Look up, cat lovers! Get ready to pounce on a whisker-twitching adventure with "Interesting Facts for Curious Cats"! Prepare To Uncover: The scientific curiosity behind a cat's love for chasing laser dots The historical tale of cats' sacred status in Ancient Egypt The intriguing fact that cats have a unique 'language' they use...

While Kelly struggles to come up with a research project to apply for sabbatical, the role-playing craze reaches Union Station, and the Open University offers a for-credit LARP. Dorothy finally finishes her wedding dress with a technical flourish, and Jeeves plots to recoup his costs.

In Planet Funny, Ken Jennings explores this brave new comedic world and what it means - or doesn’t - to be funny in it now. Tracing the evolution of humor from the caveman days to the bawdy middle-class antics of Chaucer to Monty Python’s game-changing silliness to the fast-paced meta-humor of The Simpsons, Jennings explains how we built our humor-saturated modern age, where lots of us get our news from comedy shows and a comic figure can even be elected president of the United States purely on showmanship.

Good old fashioned SPACE OPERA by Norman E. Morrison. A fast paced comedy romp. The action takes place on Europa and RYO Corporation's Ice Mining division which supplies gases and water to the other planets for terraforming and such. Life on the mega conglomerate ice mining colony on Europa is cool for beloved yard boss Muttonhead Rex until he is given the job of downsizing the staff. Permanently! The order comes from the top...down. The problem is that the next shuttle is months away! So, just exactly how does one go about enticing more than 700 slackers to walk out an airlock without so ...

From the New York Times-best-selling author Sloane Crosley comes Look Alive Out There - a brand-new collection of essays filled with her trademark hilarity, wit, and charm. The characteristic heart and punch-packing observations are back, but with a newfound coat of maturity. A thin coat. More of a blazer, really. Fans of I Was Told There'd Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number know Sloane Crosley's life as a series of relatable but madcap misadventures.

One night while surfing, Charlie Scott catches a wave that whisks him away to a distant galaxy. He embarks on a quest to find Brother Yojim, the one man who can get him home. But on his way, Charlie is swept into an adventure involving the planned destruction of an alien race, a mysterious global power called the Corporation, and a cast of extraordinary characters. Equal parts science fiction thriller, romance and surf adventure, this is a story you’ll never forget.

Meet Skulduggery Pleasant: detective, sorcerer, warrior. Oh yeah. And dead. Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain are back - just in time to see their whole world get turned upside down. With Valkyrie struggling to protect her dark secret, Skulduggery and the gang are more vulnerable than ever, just as a plague of body-snatching Remnants are released upon the world....

It’s all fun and games at the circus...until everyone’s favorite clown winds up dead. Someone killed Clint the Clown. Madam Electra’s crystal ball could help find the murderer, but she risks exposing her own secrets in the process. Secrets that could land her on the endangered species list. Head security officer Bruno Maska has been ordered to enlist the help of the one person he suspects is hiding something - Electra. The same woman who’s been haunting his thoughts since their drunken night together.

Space Bimbos are human too, right? ...and Sam is finding he's their ultimate Alpha Male! Sam's a geek for alien abduction stories. Heck, he's even been seeking them out, hoping to join the ranks. His dreams were never quite like this, though, as he finds himself abducted by a crew of gorgeous Bimbos from Space!. Seems as if this long-lost human civilization doesn't have a clue about real men, and Sam's more than happy to teach them the hot and steamy truth. He'll need courage, wisdom, and all the stamina he can muster to protect his new benefactors from the harsh realities of the universe, ...

From humble origins as a farm boy, Hailo, now the destined Paired Warrior, embarks on a transformative journey. Deep within the Emerald Mountain range, he and his Dronigon companion, Gagu, undergo grueling training, forging a bond crucial to saving the realm of Tarawin from looming devastation. Battling isolation, hunger, and the biting cold, Hailo confronts not only the harshness of his new life but also the specter of repeated failures in his training. Yet, the call of destiny is unrelenting, dragging him from the brink of despair back into the fray. With the fate of countless lives ...

Did you know that you can discover loads about history just from the loo? Or piles about the past just from a poo? If not, then get ready to discover everything from Henry VIII's dodgy diet and poo-tastic Roman plumbing, to the stinky secrets of Victorian sewers and how life, death and everything in between can hang on the humble number two. From Saxons and Tudors to Ancient Greece, the Indus Valley, Aztecs and beyond, Poo Through the Ages features mighty monarchs, bonkers battles, deadly diseases, fossilised faeces and poo, poo, poo.

An adventure story that also teaches computer science, for ages 9+. Zuto: The Adventures of a Computer Virus takes place inside a strange, little-known world: a personal computer, the perfect setting for a fast-paced, funny, one-minute-long story. Zuto, a smart, sneaky computer virus, leads a happy life in his secret hiding place: the Recycle Bin. There, among heaps of junk full of surprising treasures, he plans his tricks. Everything changes when a far more malicious program invades the computer . . . and threatens to end all life in it. Together with his Recycle Bin friends—outdated, ...

There is another 1985, somewhere in the could-have-been, where the Crimean war still rages, dodos are regenerated in home-cloning kits and everyone is deeply disappointed by the ending of 'Jane Eyre'.

This story is proof that “dumb” and “power” don’t mix. Fact is — you don’t have to be smart to be dumb. In fact, the smarter you are the dumber things can turn out for you. But some people have a knack of being a genius-level dummy. Thirty five year-old Sheldon Sherman wasn’t dumb, in fact he would be considered clever by most people. He was an advertising copywriter and artist with a lot of successful campaigns under his size 46 belt. But, when he inadvertently stumbled upon an artifact that allowed him access to the Braintrust of the Universe, his instincts went out the ...

FIRST PRIZE: Firebird Awards - Best Time Travel Novel - 2024 FIRST PRIZE: Reader’s Choice: Best SciFi Time Travel Trilogy - 2023 Torn between factions in King Arthur's Court where he must choose between factions of the King, Sir Lanslod and/or the usurper Mordred, an accidental time traveler materializes as the only Jewish knight at the Oval Table, whose few friends are Mirgan the Witch and two stoner Venusians, and must decide whether to return the stolen Holy Grail to avoid being burned at the stake or risk being stranded where the food is even worse than modern day England. READER ...

After saving the grim and gritty alien city of Down Here from something big, mean, and mind-bendingly horrible, Dan is looking forward to unwinding in the closest available bar. Annoyingly, the universe has other ideas. Instead, Dan finds himself investigating a cheating husband, two horrible murders, and the potential enslavement of everyone in the galaxy. With his caseload stretching his woefully limited detective skills, his car in pieces, and the whole "being dead" thing not doing him any favors, Dan has no choice but to ask his friends for help.

Doug wasn’t sure whether he should trust Satan. The red flag was that he said he was Satan. But the deal was good: Listen to Satan’s story in exchange for some donuts. And Doug only half-fulfilled his part of the bargain. But maybe he should have listened better, because during his friend Bryce’s next scheme (theft with light to moderate treason - the usual), Doug and the rest of his friends - Lulu (the fun one) and Charlene (the not fun one) - end up with a powerful artifact, a small metal cube with world-ending power that Lulu decorated with bunnies.