A Primer on Mapping Class Groups

Our goal in this book is to explain as many important theorems, examples, and techniques as possible, as quickly and directly as possible, while at the same time giving (nearly) full details and keeping the text (nearly) selfcontained. This book contains some simplifications of known approaches and proofs, the exposition of some results that are not readily available, and some new material as well.

Shoes and Pattens

Until recently, very little was known about medieval shoes. Glimpses in manuscript illustrations and on funerary monuments, with the occasional reference by a contemporary writer, was all that the costume historian had as evidence, not least because leather tends to perish after prolonged contact with air, and very few actual examples survived. In recent years, however, nearly 2,000 shoes, many complete and in near-perfect condition, have been discovered preserved on the north bank of the Thames, and are now housed in the Museum of London.

The Rover

The Rover is the last complete novel by Joseph Conrad, written between 1921 and 1922. It was first published in 1923.
The story takes place in the south of France, against the backdrop of the French Revolution, Napoleon's rise to power, and the French-English rivalry in the Mediterranean. Peyrol (a master-gunner in the French republican navy, pirate, and for nearly fifty years "rover of the outer seas") attempts to find refuge in an isolated farmhouse (Escampobar) on the Giens Peninsula near Hyères.

Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon

 Meg Langslow, a temporary switchboard operator at her brother Rob's computer-game company, Mutant Wizards, must find the real killer when Rob, who made his fortune from a game called Lawyers from Hell, is accused of strangling the office pest to death with a computer mouse cable. Keeping exposition to a minimum, the author lets crackling dialogue propel the plot. The office boasts a menagerie of remarkable pets, notably George, a buzzard with only one wing who has a perch by Meg's desk. There's a smile on nearly every page and at least one chuckle per chapter. The denouement may stretch credibility, but getting there is such fun it scarcely matters.

The Treasure of Khan by Clive Cusslerby Clive Cussler

When Dirk Pitt is nearly killed rescuing an oil survey team from a freak wave on Russia's Lake Baikal, it appears a simple act of nature. When the survey team is abducted and Pitt's research vessel nearly sunk, however, it's obvious there's something more sinister involved. All trails lead to Mongolia, and a mysterious mogul who is conducting covert deals for supplying oil to the Chinese while wreaking havoc on global oil markets utilizing a secret technology.