Systems Science

The immune system is our first line of defense against the hordes of microbes that threaten us constantly. Immunity answers the question everyone is asking now: What can I do to strengthen my immune system? Dr. Jenna Macciochi has studied the interplay of immunity, lifestyle, and health for over 20 years, and her book is filled with authoritative guidance. Dr. Macciochi also debunks common myths, explores why some people never get ill, and explains how germs - those pesky invaders - can actually be good for us.

Before he was the super confident, snarky AI saving Siv Gendin and his friends’ bacon on a regular basis, Silky worked with his first human companion, Eyana Ora, an Empathic Services agent. This was the mission where it all began. Two centuries before the Fall of the Benevolence. A simple covert mission to spy on the Krixis, a telepathic alien race, turns into a desperate bid to save mankind when Silky and Eyana uncover a plot to use a secret super-weapon. But the weapon, a lost piece of ancient technology, holds secrets that neither side expected.

Long Fang is stranded in a foreign world where proper cultivation has been replaced by annoying blue screens. He is confused and alone...but not for long. Completely ignoring the System, he forms a wholesome sect of followers to spread cultivation across the wild world. Blue screens do not take kindly to rejection, however, and Long Fang’s stubbornness soon finds him pitted against increasingly dangerous foes. To overcome the System tribulations, he must quickly grow stronger and wiser.... But first, he needs to get past that one annoying town guard.

Immortality comes at a steep price. Faced with a heartrending loss, Lox walks down a dark path. He knew there would be a cost for immortality, but he didn’t know he would have to face it so soon.

Leveling systems create overpowered main characters. Cooking systems create master chefs capable of conquering any stomach. Founder systems create monstrous sects from nothing. However, who creates the systems?

A soaring bridge is an obvious infrastructural feat, but so are the mostly hidden reservoirs, transformers, sewers, cables, and pipes that deliver water, energy, and information to wherever we need it. When these systems work well, they hide in plain sight. Engineer and materials scientist Deb Chachra takes listeners on a fascinating tour of these essential utilities, revealing how they work, what it takes to keep them running, just how much we rely on them—but also whom they work well for, and who pays the costs.

Ten years ago, the world changed. The System brought dungeons and monsters to earth. Billions were lost. While most try to rebuild, Claire chooses to take revenge on the people who took advantage of orphans in the chaos—100 names, 100 targets. In this often brutal story about a world in chaos, Claire will kill every target on her list. No matter what it takes.

With more than 10 stories from exciting new voices and a few veterans of the universe, the second anthology highlights the lives and struggles of humanity's best and worst years after system advent.

This book is a three-part journey into the rabbit hole we call the nature of reality. Its ultimate destination is a plausible, living validation of transcendence. Each of its three parts is like a turn of a spiral, exploring recurring ideas through the prisms of religious myth, truth, and belief, respectively. With each turn, the book seeks to convey a more nuanced and complete understanding of the many facets of transcendence.

All Vanessa Williams wanted for the holidays was to escape the demands of her parents’ social schedules and find a comfortable place to work on her book. Having the opportunity to do so while enjoying the comforts of a cabin on an alien world seemed like the perfect way to pass the season. Plans change, however, when her shuttle crashes in the inhospitable mountains and she finds herself waiting out the storm in an alien castle with a male whose burning gold eyes promise forbidden pleasures.

It's been more than a year since the System came to Earth, bringing blood and monsters in equal measure. Having left Whitehorse, John and his team travel down to British Columbia, running into new dangers from aliens and humans alike. Faced with new challenges and new enemies, John steps up once more to set things right and teach a few aliens why you never put humanity in chains.

Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems compares the Copernican or Heliocentric system with the Ptolemaic or Peripatetic, system of the cosmos. Published in Florence in 1632, it resulted in him being tried before the Inquisition. Using the dialogue form, Galileo masterfully shows the truth of the Copernican system that the Earth revolves around the Sun. The Dialogue is one of the most important treatises ever written. A work of supreme clarity and accessibility, it remains as accessible now as when it was published.

After Jebediah Trapper completed the Impossible Tutorial (by cheating), the vet's been in something of a slump. His PTSD is gradually guiding him down the path of self-harm. Crippled, stripped of his power, and homeless, he's got no reason to keep breathing. Until a little girl is in trouble.

The elves took everything. Following a bloodied slaughter of her whole race, and struggling to stay alive, she had no choice but to survive on her own. That was until the world changed. Her entire planet; a whole cluster was introduced to the vast universe by The System, or perhaps God. A universe filled with endless beings and civilizations that fought for power and dominance. After the integration, Blair finds herself in a forest surrounded by unknown beasts, peril lurking, alone. Alone and with nothing but the mentality to survive, she will have to get stronger in this unforgiving world.

More than any other institution in the country, Georgia State has overturned the assumption that poorer students are doomed to fail. Won't Lose This Dream describes how the architects of Georgia State's success harnessed the power of evolving data technologies, a "moneyball" strategy that helped them recognize and remove the obstacles that have held poor students back. Veteran journalist Andrew Gumbel uncovers the human stories behind these innovations, tracing real students as they realize lifelong dreams of graduating from college.

How much will you sacrifice to survive in a world turned game? When friends and family fall to monsters and aliens everyday, will you choose safety over freedom? These are the questions the survivors in the Yukon must ask themselves. New alien masters arrive, offering safety from ever stronger monsters in return for their freedom and future potential. Thrust into a position of power and influence by dint of his Levels, John must choose—not just for himself but Whitehorse itself. The price, however, might be more than he is willing to pay.

There is no shortage of democracy, at least in name, and yet it is in crisis everywhere we look. From a cabal of plutocrats in the White House to gerrymandering and dark-money campaign contributions, it is clear that the principle of government by and for the people is not living up to its promise. The problems lie deeper than any one election cycle. As Astra Taylor demonstrates, real democracy - fully inclusive and completely egalitarian - has in fact never existed. In a tone that is both philosophical and anecdotal, Taylor invites us to reexamine the term.

Born over a century after "The Rise", Jeff scavenges with his tyrannical mother for survival. Banned from cultivating freely, Jeff wants none of this life; his one objective is to join the immortal rankers as they attempt to climb the Northern Tower. On the day of his escape, a powerful guild attacks Leah’s group, and Jeff is thrown through a unique dungeon portal—a portal that hasn’t been used in nearly a hundred years. In the pursuit of Jeff’s ultimate goal, he must choose whether to follow the Church, join a guild, or try it all on his own.

The food system is broken, but there is a revolution underway to fix it. Bite Back presents an urgent call to action and a vision for disrupting corporate power in the food system, a vision shared with countless organizers and advocates worldwide.

In World-Systems Analysis, Immanuel Wallerstein provides a concise and accessible introduction to the comprehensive approach that he pioneered 30 years ago to understanding the history and development of the modern world. Since Wallerstein first developed world-systems analysis, it has become a widely utilized methodology within the historical social sciences and a common point of reference in discussions of globalization.