Otros libros que te pueden interesar

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  A Modest Proposal

  Jonathan Swift

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  A Modest Proposal is a Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously by Jonathan Swift.    Swift suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies. This satirical hyperbole mocked heartless attitudes towards the poor, as well as British policy toward the Irish in general.    In English writing, the phrase "a modest proposal" is now conventionally an allusion to this style of straight-faced satire.    Swift goes to great lengths to support his argument, including a list of possible preparation styles for the children, and calculations showing the financial benefits of his suggestion. He uses methods of argument throughout his essay which lampoon the then-influential William Petty and the social engineering popular among followers of Francis Bacon. These lampoons include appealing to the authority of "a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London" and "the famous Psalmanazar, a native of the island Formosa" (who had already confessed to not being from Formosa in 1706).    This essay is widely held to be one of the greatest examples of sustained irony in the history of the English language. Much of its shock value derives from the fact that the first portion of the essay describes the plight of starving beggars in Ireland, so that the reader is unprepared for the surprise of Swift's solution when he states, "A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout."

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  Runes of the Prime - Book Two of...

  Lance LanceVanGundy

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  “What kind of home are we returning to that a man has to be able to defend himself with the sword?” These heavy thoughts preoccupy Bryndor, who is trapped in the Valley of the Cloud Walkers. Violent supernatural storms devastate the summit of the Korjinth Mountains, insulating and isolating any in the valley. He uses the time to train with the sword, to understand his wolvryn companion and something of his place in the world. 
  In Aarindorn, Karragin leads Outriders on missions against grotvonen. But something else lurks among the hordes under the mountains, something that hints at the resurgence of an evil thought long ago vanquished. 
  Not all challenges rise from the arcane. The regent of Aarindorn struggles to hold together a kingdom threatened by dark forces without and the Lacuna within. His scribe, Ksenia, bears witness to the growing tide of unrest. Despite her desire to remain above the politics in Stone’s Grasp, she finds herself steeped in its controversies. 
  When all of these forces collide, who will survive the devastation? Can the runes of the prime channel enough zenith to shape the future of Karsk?

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  The Sight

  Chloe Neill

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  Claire Connolly is a Sensitive, infected with magic when the Veil that divides humanity from the world beyond fell. Magic can easily consume and destroy a Sensitive, and if Claire's secret is discovered, she'll be locked into the walled district of Devil's Isle along with every other Paranormal left in the city. Bounty hunter Liam Quinn discovered Claire's secret but refused to turn her in. Together they saved New Orleans from the resurgence of magic that nearly destroyed it. But now a dangerous cult is on the rise, and it will take both Claire and Liam-and magical allies within Devil's Isle's towering walls-to defeat the occult threat before magic corrupts them both.

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  The Alien Fast-Food War -...

  Tilly Jupiter

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  When remote-controlled aircraft begin behaving erratically, even crashing, there is only one logical explanation – well, there are only two: aliens or your own government. The real shock is finding the signals are coming from people who've eaten at fast food restaurants. Of course, we've known all along the stuff is unhealthy. But this? 
  ==>== 
  The aliens started small, buying up a few eateries in malls and some coffee shops. And then they expanded, just as the Asians had before them—but neither education nor commerce was the goal this time. They wanted knowledge, but not the kind that came from schools. “We knew your history, but didn’t know shit about what makes you humans tick,” was what Bernie said. 
  It didn't take long for them to recognize that we had no idea what made us tick either, so they set out to blaze new trails in understanding peoplekind. 
  Fast food places provided them with two significant tools for this task: First, humans went there in droves. "You can't beat them away with a stick," was how Bernie put it. Once they were there, they could be observed in their natural habitat, as it were. This nicely brought the subjects needed for the aliens’ field studies right to them. Secondly, we ingested, rather indiscriminately a variety of substances passing for food. The aliens developed their protein-based nanosensors and fed them to us. Who knew? The damn things moved into our bloodstreams, analyzing as they went. 
  “We wanted to get to the heart of the matter,” was the way Doreen put it; I think she was unaware of the implied pun, so we forgave her. 
  Hungry for data, they continued buying up fast food places, served nanosensors and observed us. We ate the food and the sensors, which transmitted back to data collectors that did some elementary preprocessing and relayed compressed data to, as I’ve said, Omaha...

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  The Lusiads

  Luís Vaz de Camões

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  The Lusiads (Os Lusíadas) is a Portuguese epic poem, written in the 16th century by Luis Vaz de Camões. The poem tells the tale of the Portuguese discoveries in the 15th and 16th centuries, specially the voyage to India by Vasco da Gama. Modelled after the classic epic tradition, Camões' Lusiads are considered not only the first literary text in Modern Portuguese, but also a national epic of the same level as Vergil's Aeneid. In the 19th century, Sir Richard Francis Burton translated Camões' Lusiads, in what he considered "the most pleasing literary labour of his life". (Summary by Leni)

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  Omen Amen

  Jenny Ackland

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  Will Climate Change stimulate global action? The novel concentrates, initially, on the years around 4000. A totally different society has evolved from past ecological and environmental mistakes. It is a time of strict expectations following the devastation. Time Capsules are found, from two millennia past, illustrating peoples' habits and lifestyles. Were lessons learnt? Time moves to the years around 6000 with a rigidly controlled society, led by Summiters, Emotions are forbidden. Discs are found which install instant historical information into the 'brainstores' of the surviving Summiters. One character possesses a unique ability to create a barrier permitting emotional reactions freely without sanction. Her name is Opal. She revels in the wonderful visions of millennia past. Dance, drama, art, music, sport and literature are received by Opal into her personal 'brainstore'. She manages to activate her emotional barrier to avoid detection. Her enthusiasm for past creativity might make her careless.

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