recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

## Description

***The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time*** is a mystery novel by British author Mark Haddon. The story is set in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. Narrated in the first-person perspective, the novel deals with seeing the world from an outsider's perspective. *The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time* was first published on May 1, 2003 by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom, Doubleday in the United States, and Anchor Canada in Canada. It has won numerous awards, including the 2003 Whitbread Book Award for Best Novel and Book of the Year, the 2004 Commonwealth Writer's Prize for Best First Book, and the 2003 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.

## About the Author

**Mark Haddon** (b. October 28, 1962, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England) is an English author best known for his novel *The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time*. He is also known for his children's series *Agent Z*. Haddon is also a screenplay writer whose works include the BBC television adaptation of Raymond Brigg's children's story *Fungus the Bogeyman* and the BBC television drama *Coming Down the Mountain.*

## Trivia

* *The Curious Incident* has been adapted into a play by Simon Stephens, which premiered in 2012 and won seven Olivier Awards.

## Other books by Mark Haddon

* *Agent Z Meets the Masked Crusader* (1993)
* *Gridzbi Spudvetch!* (1992)
* *Agent Z and the Penguin from Mars* (1995)
* *Agent Z and the Killer Bananas* (2001)
* *A Spot of Bother* (2006)
* *Boom! (An improved version of Gridzbi Spudvetch)* (2009)
* *The Pier Falls* (2016)
* *The Porpoise* (2019)
Tao Te Ching

## Description

***Tao Te Ching*** (《道德经》, pinyin: **Dào Dé Jīng**) is an influential Daoist text attributed to the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu (fl. 6th century BCE). The *Tao Te Ching* is a short text consisting of roughly five thousand Chinese characters. The text is divided into 81 chapters, each written in the style of concise and cryptic aphorisms. Many chapters use dialectical and paradoxical language to illuminate profound philosophical insights on the nature of the cosmos, the mind, and even politics and war.

## About the Author

**Lao Tzu** (fl. 6th century BCE) was an ancient Chinese philosopher. He was the founder of the philosophical school of Daoism, which later evolved into a religious and ethical custom of ancient China. He is largely respected as a religious deity in various Daoist sects. Lao Tzu is traditionally believed to be an older contemporary of the philosopher Confucius.

## Trivia

* The term "Tao/Dao" (道, pinyin: dào) literally translates to "The Way", which is an abstract metaphysical concept akin to the "universal and natural cosmic principle." The term "Te/De" (德, pinyin: dé) can be translated as virtue, power, or potential, which can be interpreted as the "actualization of the Dao". The term "Ching/Jing" (经, pinyin: jīng) literally translates to a classic scripture. Subsequently, the *Tao Te Ching* has been translated as *Classic of the Way and the Virtue* and *Classic of the Way and its Power*.

* According to traditional accounts, Lao Tzu worked for the royal court of Zhou. He earned the position as Keeper of the Archives. Lao Tzu is said to have traveled west of China after completing the *Tao Te Ching*. He is often depicted riding a water buffalo in Chinese paintings and sculptures.

* Lao Tzu's Daoist philosophy had a profound influence on East Asian science, literature, and art.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

## Description

***Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: A World Tour Underwater*** (French: *Vingt mille lieues sous les mers: Tour du monde sous-marin*) is a science fiction novel by Jules Verne. It was first published as a serial from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Jules Hetzel's periodical *Magasin d'éducation et de récréation*. The story is set onboard a submarine, which visits many ocean regions, some factual while others are fictional. The novel was first translated into English in 1873 by Reverend Lewis Page Mercier.

## About the Author

**Jules Verne** (b. February 8, 1828, Nantes, France - d. March 24, 1905, Amiens, France) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright best known for his adventure and science fiction novels. He is the second-most translated author in the world. Like H.G. Wells, Verne is considered one of the founders of science fiction. He was also known as a prophet of scientific progress as many of his novels involve technology that was fantastic for its time but later became commonplace.

## Trivia

* *Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea* has been adapted into numerous film's, most notably the 1954 live action film produced by Walt Disney.

## Other books by Jules Verne

* *Journey to the Centre of the Earth* (1864)
* *From the Earth to the Moon* (1865)
* *Around the World in Eight Days* (1872)
* *The Mysterious Island* (1875)
* *Paris in the Twentieth Century* (1994)
The Brain that Changes Itself

## Description

***The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science*** is a book by Norman Doidge. The book discusses neuroplasticity and its impact on changing the lives of people who have suffered from brain damage and neurological disorders. It was first published in 2007 by Viking Press.

## About the Author

**Norman Doidge** (b. Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author. He obtained his medical degree at the University of Toronto and moved to New York, where he became a resident psychiatrist. He is best known for his books on neuroplasticity. For his work on neuroplasticity, he has appeared in numerous television programs in several countries, including an award-winning documentary by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation based on his book *The Brain that Changes Itself.*

## Trivia

* In 2008, Doidge co-wrote an award-winning CBC documentary based on *The Brain that Changes Itself*, presenting case studies and examples of neuroplasticity.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

## Description

***The Adventures of Tom Sawyer*** is a children's novel by Mark Twain. The story follows adventures of Tom Sawyer and his friend Huckleberry Finn who grow up along the Mississippi River in the 1840s. The setting of the novel is based on Twain's childhood hometown, Hannibal, Missouri. First published in 1876 by the American Publishing Company, the novel is considered a masterpiece of American literature.

## About the Author

**Mark Twain** (b. November 30, 1835, Florida, Missouri, United States - d. April 21, 1910, Stormfield House, Redding, Connecticut, United States) was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He was an American author, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer best known for his children's novels *The Adventures of Tom Sawyer* and its sequel *Adventures of Huckleberry Finn*, considered to be "The Great American Novel."

## Trivia

* Tom Sawyer was inspired by a fireman Twain met during his three-year stay in San Francisco in 1863.
* *The Adventures of Tom Sawyer* has been adapted numerous times for film, television, theatre, comics, and video games.

## Other books by Mark Twain

* *The Prince and the Pauper* (1881)
* *Adventures of Huckleberry Finn* (1884)
* *Tom Sawyer Abroad* (1894)
* *Tom Sawyer, Detective* (1896)
The Da Vinci Code

## Description

***The Da Vinci Code*** is a mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. The story explores an alternative religious history. The novel was first published in April 2003 by Doubleday in the United States and Transworld & Bantam Books in the United Kingdom. In November 2004, a Special Illustrated Edition was published by Random House.

## About the Author

**Dan Brown** (b. June 22, 1964, Exeter, New Hampshire, United States) is an American author best known for his thriller novels that feature themes of cryptography, art, and conspiracy theories. Three of his novels have been adapted into films.

## Trivia

* *The Da Vinci Code* was an international bestseller in 2003.
* *The Da Vinci Code* was adapted into a 2006 film starring Tom Hanks.

## Other books by Dan Brown

* *Angels & Demons* (2000)
* *The Lost Symbol* (2009)
* *Inferno* (2013)
* *Origin* (2017)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

## Description

***The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo*** (original title in Swedish: ***Män som hatar kvinnor***, lit. '*Men Who Hate Women*') is a psychological thriller novel by Stieg Larsson and the first book in the *Millennium* trilogy. The story is set in Sweden and concerns the disappearance of a member of Sweden's wealthiest families. The novel was first published posthumously in Swedish in August 2005 by Norstedts Förlag. It was translated into English by Reg Keeland, and first published in English in January 2008.

## About the Author

**Stieg Larsson** (b. August 15, 1954, Skelleftehamn, Sweden - d. November 9, 2004, Stockholm, Sweden) was a Swedish author and journalist best known for his *Millennium* trilogy of crime novels, which were published posthumously. As a journalist, he covered socialist politics and was active in researching right-wing extremism in Sweden. Larsson died of a heart attack at age 50.

## Trivia

* *The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* was adapted for film in 2009 and 2011.

## Other books by Stieg Larsson

* *The Girl Who Played with Fire* (2006)
* *The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest* (2007)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

## Description

***The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde*** (also *Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde* or simply *Jekyll and Hyde*) is a Gothic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. First published on January 5, 1886 by Longmans, Green & Co., the novel is set in London and deals with the duality of human nature, in particular the struggle between good and evil.

## About the Author

**Robert Louis Stevenson** (b. November 13, 1950, Edinburgh, Scotland - d. December 3, 1894, Vailima, Samoa) was a Scottish author and travel writer best known for his adventure and horror novels. He travelled widely despite his poor health, and settled in Samoa in 1890. A celebrity in his lifetime, he is now one of the most translated authors in the world.

## Trivia

* *Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde* was first adapted for stage in 1886 after its publication. There have since been adapted over 120 times for stage and film.

## Other Books by Robert Louis Stevenson

* *New Arabian Nights* (1882)
* *Treasure Island* (1883)
* *A Child's Garden of Verses* (1885)
* *Kidnapped* (1886)
The Arabian Nights

## Description

***The Arabian Nights*** or *One Thousand and One Nights* (Arabic: أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ‎, '**ʾAlf Laylah wa-Laylah'**) is a collection of folk tales compiled over many centuries by various authors during the Islamic Golden Age (8th to 14th century CE). Some tales trace back to the ancient and medieval Arabic, Egyptian, Indian, Persian, and Mesopotamian folklore and literature.

## Trivia

* The stories "Aladdin" and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," though commonly associated with *Arabian Nights* were not part of the original Arabic version, but were added to the collection by French translator Antoine Galland.
Guns, Germs, and Steel

## Description

***Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies*** is a trans-disciplinary non-fiction book by Jared Diamond. It attempts to explain why European, Asian, and North African civilizations have survived and conquered others due to initial geographical conditions that gave them advantages to survive and flourish. The reason being the climate and landscape that gave rise to more species of domesticated animals and varieties of crops. Jared Diamond argues against the idea that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or inherent genetic superiority. *Guns, Germs, and Steel* was first published in the United States by W.W.Norton and Company, on March 1, 1997.

## About the Author

**Jared Diamond** (b. September 10, 1937 Boston, United States) is an American geographer, historian, ornithologist, and author. Originally trained in biochemistry and physiology, Diamond is known for drawing from a variety of fields, including anthropology, ecology, geography, and evolutionary biology. He is a professor of geography at UCLA.

## Trivia

* A documentary based on the book, and produced by the National Geographic Society, was broadcast on PBS in July 2005.

## Other books by Jared Diamond

* *Why Is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human Sexuality* (1997)
* *The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal* (1991)
* *Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed* (2005)
* *The World Until Yesterday* (2013)
Lysistrata and Other Plays

## Description

***Lysistrata and Other Plays*** is a collection of three comedies by Aristophanes containing *The Acharnians, The Clouds,* and *Lysistrata.* This edition was first published by Penguin Classics in 2002. *The Acharnians* (425 BCE) and *Lysistrata* (411 BCE) both concern the war between Athens and Sparta. *The Clouds* (423 BCE) satirizes Athenian philosophers.

## About the Author

**Aristophanes** (b. c. 446 BCE, Athens, Greece - d. c. 386 BCE, Delphi, Greece) was a comic playwright of ancient Greece. Known as the "father of comedy," eleven of Aristophanes' forty plays survive. These comprise the genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy.

## Trivia

* *Lysistrata* has been adapted numerous times into operas, ballets, and films.

## Other books by Aristophanes

* *The Knights* (424 BCE)
* *The Wasps* (422 BCE)
* *Peace* (421 BCE)
* *The Birds* (414 BCE)
* *Thesmophoriazusae* (411 BCE)
* *The Frogs* (405 BCE)
* *Ecclesiazusae* (392 BCE)
* *Wealth* (388 BCE)
Spice and Wolf (Light Novels)

## Description

***Spice and Wolf*** is a Japanese light novel series written by Isuna Hasekura (支倉 凍砂 Hasekura Isuna), with illustrations by Jū Ayakura (文倉十 Ayakura Juu). Since February 2006, ASCII Media Works has published 22 novels under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. The story revolves around the adventures and romance between Kraft Lawrence, a travelling merchant, and Holo, a wolf deity. The series has been called a "unique fantasy" by Mainichi Shimbun (毎⽇新聞, Japanese: *Daily News*) due to the plot focusing on economics, business and trade rather than the typical staples of fantasy, such as swords and magic.

## About the Author

**Isuna Hasekura** (支倉 凍砂 Hasekura Isuna, b. December 27, 1982) is a Japanese author. In 2005, Hasekura won the Silver Prize in the twelfth Dengeki Novel Prize with his debut novel *Spice and Wolf*. The first volume was published the following year.

## Trivia

* *Spice and Wolf* is set in a fictional world that resembles Northern Europe during the Renaissance.

* ASCII Media Works has published three volumes of a spin-off light novel series titled *Wolf and Parchment* since September 2016.
The 9/11 Report

## Description

***The 9/11 Report*** is a graphic novel by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón. It is based on the *9/11 Commission Report*, which was issued on July 22, 2004 to find answers and offer recommendations in order to avoid tragedies like the 9/11 attacks from happening again. The graphic novel was first published in 2006 by Hill and Wang of New York.

## About the Author

**Sid Jacobson** (b. October 20, 1929, Brooklyn, New York, United States) is an American writer of comic books, popular music, fiction, and biographies. He was the managing editor and editor in chief of Harvey Comics, where he created characters, such as *Richie Rich* and *Casper the Friendly Ghost*. He later became an executive editor at Marvel Comics. Jacobson received an Inkpot Award in 2003.

**Ernesto Colón Sierra** (b. July 13, 1931, San Juan, Puerto Rico - d. August 8, 2019, Huntington, New York, United States) was a Puerto Rican comics artist known for illustrating children's, superhero, and horror comics. He has worked at Harvey Comics, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics, where he worked on the Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Blackhawk, and The Flash.

## Other books by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón

* *After 9/11: America's War on Terror (2001- )* (2007)
* *A Graphic Biography: Che* (2009)
* *Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography* (2010)
Paris Spleen

## Description

***Paris Spleen*** (French: *Le Spleen de Paris*) is a collection of poems in prose by Charles Baudelaire. The poems are written in a stream of consciousness style and capture life in modern, urban Paris. The book was first published posthumously by Baudelaire's sister in 1869.

## About the Author

**Charles Baudelaire** (b. April 9, 1821, Paris, France - d. August 31, 1867, Paris, France) was a French poet, essayist, and art critic. He is best known for pioneering the genre of prose poetry, and being one of the founders of literary modernism. From 1847 until 1865, Baudelaire became acquainted with the works of Edgar Allan Poe and translated his works into French. Like Poe, Baudelaire was known for his dramatic life plagued with financial difficulties, drug use and alcoholism. He died of a stroke at the age of 46.

## Trivia

* *"Spleen"* refers to the literary meaning of the word, a state of sadness or melancholy.

## Other books by Charles Baudelaire

* *La Fanfarlo* (1847)
* *Les Fleurs du mal* (1857)
* *Les paradis artificiels* (1860)
The Island of Doctor Moreau

## Description

***The Island of Doctor Moreau*** is a science fiction novel by H.G. Wells. The story is set in the southern Pacific Ocean and follows a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat. He is left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, a mad scientist who creates hybrid beings from animals via vivisection. The novel was first published in 1896 by Heinemann of London.

## About the Author

**Herbert George Wells** (b. September 21, 1866, Bromley, Kent, England - d. August 13, 1946, Regent's Park, London, England) was an English author best known for his science fiction novels. As a futurist, his novels foresaw the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television, and the World Wide Web. He is now considered the "father of science fiction."

## Other Books by H.G. Wells

* *The Time Machine* (1895)
* *The Invisible Man* (1897)
* *The War of the Worlds* (1898)

## Trivia

* *The Island of Doctor Moreau* has been adapted numerous times for radio, film, television, and video games.
* During the time of the novel's publication, there was increasing opposition to animal vivisection leading to the formation of animal protection groups in Britain.
Selected Tales and Sketches

## Description

***Selected Tales and Sketches*** is a collection of short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne published between 1830 and 1850. This edition, collected by Michael J. Colacurcio, was first published by Penguin Books on March 3, 1987. The stories deal with essential American matters, including the Puritan past, the Indians, and the Revolution.

## About the Author

**Nathaniel Hawthorne** (b. July 4, 1804, Salem, Massachusetts, United States - d. May 19, 1864, Plymouth, New Hampshire, United States) was an American author associated with dark romanticism, a literary movement dealing with the irrational, the demonic, and the grotesque. He is best known for his works that focus on history, morality, and religion.

## Other Books by Nathaniel Hawthorne

* *Fanshawe* (1828)
* *Twice-Told Tales* (1837)
* *Mosses from an Old Manse* (1846)
* *The Scarlet Letter* (1850)
* *The House of the Seven Gables* (1851)
Snow Country

## Description

***Snow Country*** is a novel by Yasunari Kawabata. The story is set in Japan and explores the love affair between a rich Tokyo dilettante and a geisha. The novel was first published serially in a literary journal from 1935 to 1937. The first English translation by Edward Seidensticker was published in 1956.

## About the Author

**Yasunari Kawabata** (b. June 11, 1899, Osaka, Japan - d. April 16, 1972, Zushi, Kanagawa, Japan) was a Japanese author whose works are widely read in Japan and internationally. After graduating from the University of Tokyo in 1924, he started receiving acclaim for his short stories. His works often involve doomed love affairs. Kawabata was the first Japanese author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968.

## Trivia

* *Snow Country* was originally published as a short story. Kawabata continued working on it until 1948, when the novel reached its final form as an integration of nine separately published works.

## Other books by Yasunari Kawabata

* *The Dancing Girl of Izu* (1926)
* *Thousand Cranes* (1949-52)
* *The Master of Go* (1951-54)
* *The Old Capital* (1962)
The Nazi Officer's Wife

## Description

***The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust*** is an auto-biography by Edith Hahn Beer with Susan Dworkin. It tells of a Jewish woman from Vienna who survived the Holocaust by marrying a Nazi officer and hiding her identity. The book was first published in 1999 by Rob Weibach Books and William Morrow and Company. A revised version of the book was published in 2009.

## About the Author

**Edith Hahn Beer** (b. January 24, 1914, Vienna, Austria - d. March 17, 2009, London, England) was an Austrian Jewish woman and Holocaust survivor. She studied law at university until the Anschluss, when she was forced to leave the university because she was Jewish. After World War II, she moved to London where she died in 2009.

## Trivia

* *The Nazi Officer's Wife* was adapted into a 2003 documentary starring Hahn Beer herself.
Lord of the Flies

## Description

***Lord of the Flies*** is a philosophical novel by Wiliam Golding. The story concerns a group of British schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited island. The novel was first published on September 17, 1954 by Faber and Faber Ltd. of London. It is included in *Time* magazine's list of 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time and BBC News' list of 100 Most Influential Novels.

## About the Author

**Sir William Gerald Golding** (b. September 19, 1911, Newquay, Cornwall, England - d. June 19, 1993, Perranarworthal, Cornwall, England) was an British novelist, poet, and playwright. He is best known for his novels *Lord of the Flies* and *Rites of Passage*, which won the Booker Prize in 1980. Golding was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983, and was knighted in 1988.

## Trivia

* *Lord of the Flies* has been adapted for film, stage, and radio.
* *Lord of the Flies* is required reading in many schools.

## Other books by William Golding

* *To the Ends of the Earth* (trilogy)
	+ *Rites of Passage* (1980)
	+ *Close Quarters* (1987)
	+ *Fire Down Below* (1989)
The Canterbury Tales

## Description

***The Canterbury Tales*** is a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer. The tales were written between 1387 and 1400, and were unfinished at the time of Chaucer's death. They were written mostly in verse, although some tales were written in prose. *The Canterbury Tales* depict the customs and practices in English society during the late Middle Ages.

## About the Author

**Geoffrey Chaucer** (b. c. 1343–d. October 25, 1400) was an English poet and author widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages. He was also a philosopher, astronomer, and civil servant who served as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament. Chaucer was one of the first writers to write in Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin.

## Trivia

* No manuscript of *The Canterbury Tales* was written by Chaucer's own hand, but two were copied around the time of his death by Adam Pinkhurst, who was said to be his scribe.
* *The Canterbury Tales* is frequently compared to Italian poet Boccaccio's *Decameron*, a structurally similar work that was also written after the Black Death.
* *The Canterbury Tales* has inspired many works, such as the play *The Two Noble Kinsmen* by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher.

## Other books by Geoffrey Chaucer

* *The Book of the Duchess*
* *The House of Fame*
* *Troilus and Criseyde*
* *The Legend of Good Women*
The Return of History

## Description

***The Return of History: Conflict, Migration, and Geopolitics in the Twenty-First Century*** is a non-fiction book by Canadian researcher and writer Jennifer Welsh. Originally part of the CBC Massey Lectures Series, the book is an analysis of twenty-first century geopolitics, revisiting the claims made by Francis Fukuyama in his 1992 book *The End of History and the Last Man. The Return of History* was first published in 2016 by House of Anansi Press Inc.

## About the Author

**Jennifer Welsh** is a Canadian researcher, writer, and consultant. From 2013 to 2016, she was the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General and on the Responsibility to Protect. She now lives in Italy where she is a professor and Chair in International Relations at the European University Institute in Florence.

## Trivia

* *The Return of History* comprises the CBC Massey Lectures, broadcast in November 2016 as part of CBC Radio's *Ideas* series.

## Other books by Jennifer Welsh

* *Edmund Burke and International Relations* (1995)
* *At Home in the World: Canada’s Global Vision for the 21st Century* (2004)
Dracula

## Description

***Dracula*** is a Gothic horror novel by Bram Stoker. An epistolary novel, the story is told through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. The story is set in Transylvania and in England in the 1890s. It draws extensively from Transylvanian folklore and history. *Dracula* was first published on May 26, 1897 by Archibald Constable and Company.

## About the Author

**Abraham "Bram" Stoker** (b. November 8, 1847, Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland - d. April 20, 1912, Pimlico, London, England) was an Irish author best known for his novel *Dracula*. During his lifetime, he was better known for being the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre, which Irving owned. Stoker travelled the world during Irving's tours, which inspired many of his novels.

## Trivia

* Canadian author Dacre Stoker, a great-grandnephew of Bram Stoker, wrote a sequel to *Dracula* entitled *Dracula: The Un-Dead,* published in 2009.
* *Dracula* has been adapted into numerous films, most notably German silent film *Nosferatu* (1922) and *Dracula* (1931) starring Bela Lugosi*.*
Brave New World

## Description

***Brave New World*** is a novel by Aldous Huxley first published in 1932 by Chatto & Windus of London. The novel is set in the London of "AF 632", which corresponds to about 2540 AD. The story explores a human future where developments in reproductive technology, mental conditioning, and sleep-learning are used to maximize human happiness in order to shape and control society.

## About the Author

**Aldous Huxley** (b. July 26, 1894, Godalming, Surrey, England - d. November 22, 1963, Los Angeles, California, United States) was an English novelist and philosopher best known for his dystopian novels. His grandfather was the noted biologist and naturalist Thomas Huxley (1825 - 1895), an early proponent of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. In 1937, Huxley moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a screenwriter.

## Trivia

* 30 years after the publication of *Brave New World*, Huxley wrote *Brave New World Revisited*, a non-fiction book in which he considered whether the world had moved toward or away from his vision of the future as stated in his original novel.

## Other books by Aldous Huxley

* *The Perennial Philosophy* (1945)
* *The Doors of Perception* (1954)
* *Brave New World Revisited* (1956)
* *Island* (1962)
Pamela

## Description

***Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded*** is a novel by Samuel Richardson. Written in epistolary form, the novel follows the story of a young maidservant whose employer attempts to seduce her. It was first published in 1740 by Messrs Rivington & Osborn.

## About the Author

**Samuel Richardson** (b. August 19, 1689, Mackworth, Derbyshire, England - d. July 4, 1761, Parsons Green, London, England) was an English writer and printer best known for his three epistolary novels. He worked primarily as a printer and publisher for most of his life. He printed more than 500 works, including *The Daily Journal* and *The Daily Gazetteer*, and did not publish his first novel until he was 51. Richardson was one of the most popular authors of his time.

## Trivia

* *Pamela* is considered one of the first modern English novels.
* The novel was an instant bestseller during its time, and spawned many unofficial sequels and satires.

## Other books by Samuel Richardson

* *Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady* (1747-61)
* *The History of Sir Charles Grandison* (1753-61)
Children of Earth and Sky

## Description

***Children of Earth and Sky*** is a fantasy novel by Guy Gavriel Kay. The story is set in a fictional world based on Italy, Istanbul and the Balkans during the 15th century. The novel was first published on May 10, 2016 by Penguin Canada.

## About the Author

**Guy Gavriel Kay** (b. November 7, 1954, Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian author best known for his historical fantasy novels. He is the winner of numerous literary awards. In 2014, he was appointed to the Order of Canada.

## Other books by Guy Gavriel Kay

* *The Wandering Fire* (1986)
* *Tigana* (1990)
* *Ysabel* (2007)
* *Under Heaven* (2010)
* *River of Stars* (2013)
The Uses of Enchantment

## Description

***The Uses of Enchantment*** is a book by Bruno Bettelheim. Bettelheim outlines his thoughts on the value of fairy tales for children, and analyses the fairy tales in terms of Freudian psychoanalysis. It was first published in 1976 by Thames & Hudson.

## About the Author

**Bruno Bettelheim** (b. August 28, 1903, Vienna, Austria-Hungary - d. March 13, 1990, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States) was an Austrian-born American psychologist, scholar, and author. His work focused on the education of emotionally disturbed children, as well as Freudian psychology in general. Born into a Jewish family in Austria, he emigrated to the United States as a refugee in 1939. He was influenced by the works of Sigmund Freud. During the 1960s and 70s, he had an international reputation in the fields of autism, child psychiatry, and psychoanalysis.

## Trivia

* *The Uses of Enchantment* won the 1976 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism and the 1977 National Book Award in Contemporary Thought.
* *The Uses of Enchantment* influenced many works that utilize fairy tales in adult terms, including Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's 1986 musical *Into the Woods.*
Stuart Little

## Description

***Stuart Little*** is a children's novel by E.B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams. The story is set in New York City and follows a mouse born into a family of humans who goes on an adventure to find his best friend, a bird named Margalo. The book was first published in 1945 by Harper & Brothers. It is now considered a classic in children's literature.

## About the Author

**Elwyn Brooks White** (b. July 11, 1899, Mount Vernon, New York – d. October 1, 1985, North Brooklin, Maine) was an American writer and a contributing editor to *The New Yorker* magazine. He authored several popular books for children, including *Stuart Little* (1945), *Charlotte's Web* (1952), and *The Trumpet of the Swan* (1970). He was also the co-author of the English language style guide *The Elements of Style.* He received numerous literary awards, including the 1953 Newbery Medal and the 1970 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.

## Other books by E.B. White

* *Charlotte's Web* (1952)
* *The Elements of Style* (with William Strunk Jr.; 1959)
* *The Trumpet of the Swan* (1970)
The Minority Report

## Description

***The Minority Report*** is a science fiction novella by Philip K. Dick. The story is set in a future society in which three mutants foresee all crime before it occurs. The novella was first published in 1956 in the science fiction magazine *Fantastic Universe*.

## About the Author

**Philip Kindred Dick** (b. December 16, 1928, Chicago, Illinois, United States - d. March 2, 1982, Santa Ana, California, United States) was an American author best known for his science fiction works, which explore philosophical and social themes. He won numerous literary awards, including the Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel. The Philip K. Dick Award has been awarded since 1983 to recognize a distinguished work of science fiction.

## Trivia

* *The Minority Report* was adapted into a 2002 film by Steven Spielberg starring Tom Cruise. A sequel television series was made that aired on Fox Network in 2015.

## Other Books by Philip K. Dick

* *The Man in the High Castle* (1962)
* *The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch* (1965)
* *Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?* (1968)
* *Ubik* (1969)
* *Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said* (1974)
* *A Scanner Darkly* (1977)
The Silmarillion

## Description

***The Silmarillion*** is a collection of mythopoeic stories by J.R.R. Tolkien. The story is split into five parts and tells of Eä, a fictional universe that includes the continent of Middle-Earth. Because the book was left unfinished after Tolkien's death, his son Christopher Tolkien edited and published it posthumously. The book was first published on September 15, 1977 by George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. of London.

## About the Author

**John Ronald Reuel Tolkien** (b. January 3, 1892, Bloemfontein, South Africa - d. September 2, 1973, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England) was an English writer and scholar who achieved world-renowned fame with his children’s book *The Hobbit* and his highly imaginative epic fantasy *The Lord of the Rings*. Tolkien was also a scholar of the English language, specializing in Anglo-Saxon (Old English) and Middle English at the University of Oxford.

## Trivia

* *The Silmarillion* won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1978.

## Other books by J.R.R. Tolkien

* *The Hobbit* (1937)
* *The Lord of the Rings* (1954 - 1955)
* *The Adventures of Tom Bombadil* (1962)
* *Unfinished Tales* (1980)
* *The Children of Húrin* (2007)
* *Beren and Lúthien* (2017)
* *The Fall of Gondolin* (2018)
Through the Woods

## Description

***Through the Woods*** is an anthology of horror comics by Emily Carroll. The book consists of five stories, all following journeys into and out of the woods. It was first published on July 1, 2014 by Margaret K. McElderry Books of New York. *Through the Woods* has won Eisner, Ignatz, and British Fantasy Awards.

## About the Author

**Emily Carroll** (b. June 1983, London, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian comics author best known for her horror webcomic *His Face All Red*, which went viral around Halloween of 2010. She has also created illustrations for indie video games *Gone Home* and *The Yahwg.* She has won several awards, including an Ignatz Award, two Eisner Awards, and a British Fantasy Award.

## Trivia

* *His Face All Red* was adapted for print format in *Through the Woods.*

## Other books by Emily Carroll

* *Baba Yaga's Assistant* (2013)
* *Speak: The Graphic Novel* (2018)
* *When I Arrived at the Castle* (2019)
Thinking Fast and Slow

## Description

***Thinking, Fast and Slow*** is a non-fiction book by Daniel Kahneman. It explores the dichotomy between two modes of thought: System 1 is fast, instinctive and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman explains how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions. The book was first published in 2011 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

## About the Author

**Daniel Kahneman** (b. March 5, 1934, Tel Aviv, Israel) is an Israeli-American psychologist, economist, and author best known for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, and behavioural economics. Born in Tel Aviv, then part of the British Mandate of Palestine, Kahneman grew up in Nazi-occupied France. In 1948, he and his family returned to Israel, where he studied psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, graduating in 1954. Kahneman began his academic career in Israel before becoming a lecturer in cognitive psychology at Harvard University in 1966. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in Prospect Theory. He is currently a Professor Emeritus at Stanford University's Department of Psychology.

## Trivia

* *Thinking, Fast and Slow* was on the *New York Times* bestseller list upon its release.
* It has won many awards, including the National Academies Communication Award for best creative work in behavioural science.

## Other books by Daniel Kahneman

* *Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment* (2021)
Capital in the Twenty-First Century

## Description

**Capital in the Twenty-First Century** (French: *Le Capital au XXIe siècle*) is a book by French economist Thomas Piketty. It discusses wealth and income inequality in Europe and the United States since the 18th century. The book was first published in French in August 2013 by Éditions du Seuil. An English translation by Arthur Goldhammer was published in April 2014 by Harvard University Press.

## About the Author

**Thomas Piketty** (b. May 7, 1971, Clichy, France) is a French economist and professor of economics. His work focuses on public economics, specializing in income and wealth inequality. In 2006, he became the first head of the Paris School of Economics, which he helped set up. He joined the London School of Economics in 2015 as a Centennial Professor.

## Trivia

* In 2014, the book reached number one on *The New York Times* Best Seller List and became the bestselling book by Harvard University Press.

## Other Books by Thomas Piketty

* *Capital and Ideology* (2019)
* *A Brief History of Equality* (2022)
Emma

## Description

***Emma*** is a romantic comedy novel by Jane Austen. Set during Regency era England, the novel explores issues of genteel women of the time, including manners, marriage, and social status. It was first published on December 23, 1815 by John Murray of London.

## About the Author

**Jane Austen** (b. December 16, 1775, Steventon Rectory, Hampshire, England - d. July 18, 1817, Winchester, Hampshire, England) was an English author known for her novels critiquing the British landed gentry during the Regency era. Her six novels were originally published anonymously and brought her little fame during her lifetime, although they have never been out of print. She died from tuberculosis at the age of 41.

## Trivia

* *Emma* has been adapted numerous times for film, television, plays, and comics.

## Other Books by Jane Austen

* *Sense and Sensibility* (1811)
* *Pride and Prejudice* (1813)
* *Mansfield Park* (1814)
* *Northanger Abbey* (1818, posthumous)
* *Persuasion* (1818, posthumous)
Of Mice and Men

## Description

***Of Mice and Men*** is a novella by John Steinbeck. The story is set in the Salinas Valley, California during the Great Depression. It follows the experiences of two displaced migrant ranch workers in search of new job opportunities. The novel was first published in 1937 by Covici Friede, Inc.

## About the Author

**John Steinbeck** (b. February 27, 1902, Salinas, California, United States - d. December 20, 1968, New York City, United States) was an American author best known for his novels *East of Eden* and *The Grapes of Wrath*, which won the Pulitzer Prize. Most of his works are set in the Salinas Valley, California, where he grew up. Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962.

## Trivia

* *Of Mice and Men* has been adapted numerous times for stage, film, and radio.

## Other books by John Steinbeck

* *The Red Pony* (1933)
* *Tortilla Flat* (1935)
* *The Grapes of Wrath* (1939)
* *Cannery Row* (1945)
* *East of Eden* (1952)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms

## Description

**Romance of the Three Kingdoms** (traditional Chinese: 三國演義; simplified Chinese: 三国演义; pinyin: *Sānguó Yǎnyì*) is a historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. Written during the 14th century, the story is set towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, approximately 169 CE to 280 CE. The novel draws from Chen Shou's *Records of the Three Kingdoms* as its main historical source. *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* is acclaimed as one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. The first complete English translation was published in two volumes in 1925 by Charles Henry Hewitt-Taylor.

## About the Author

**Luo Guanzhong** (c. 1330–1400, or c. 1280–1360, Taiyuan, Yuan Dynasty) was a Chinese writer who lived during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. He is attributed with writing *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, although this has not been proven.

## Trivia

* *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* has been adapted into numerous television series, manga, and video games.
Zero to One

## Description

**Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future** is a self-help book for entrepreneurs by Peter Thiel and co-written by Blake Masters. The book is a condensed and updated version of a set of online notes taken by Masters for the CS183 class on startups, as taught by Thiel at Stanford University in 2012. It was first published on September 16, 2014 by Crown Business.

## About the Author

**Peter Thiel** (b. October 11, 1967, Frankfurt, Germany) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. He is a co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund. He became Facebook's first outside investor in 2004. Through the Thiel Foundation, he governs the grant-making bodies Breakout Labs and Thiel Fellowship, and funds nonprofit research into artificial intelligence, life extension, and seasteading.

## Trivia

* Thiel promoted the book through sending out his first and only tweet on September 8, 2014.
The Jade Peony

## Description

***The Jade Peony*** is a novel by Wayson Choy. First published in 1995 by Douglas & McIntyre of Vancouver, the story follows an immigrant family living in Vancouver's Chinatown during the 1930s and 1940s. The novel won the 1995 Trillium Prize and the 1995 City of Vancouver Book Award.

## About the Author

**Wayson Choy** (b. April 20, 1939, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - d. April 28, 2018, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) was a Chinese-Canadian author and pioneer of Asian Canadian literature. He was also one of Canada's first openly gay writers of colour to achieve mainstream success. In 2005, he was named a member of the Order of Canada.

## Trivia

* *The Jade Peony* draws upon Wayson Choy's own childhood experiences of growing up in Vancouver's Chinatown.

## Other books by Wayson Choy

* *Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood* (1999)
* *All That Matters* (2004)
* *Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying* (2009)
A Passage to India

## Description

***A Passage to India*** is a novel by E.M. Forster. The story is set in India and follows four characters embroiled in the racial tensions and prejudices between Indians and the British colonizers of India during the Indian Independence Movement in the 1920s. The novel was first published on June 4 1924 by Edward Arnold.

## About the Author

**Edward Morgan Forster** (b. January 1, 1879, Marylebone, Middlesex, England - d. Julne 7, 1970, Coventry, Warwickshire, England) was an English author best known for his novels concerning class difference and hypocrisy in early twentieth-century British society. He was born into a middle-class family and travelled throughout Europe, Egypt, and India when he was young, which inspired his novels. He had five novels published during his lifetime; his sixth novel *Maurice* was published shortly after his death and tells the story of an explicitly gay male character.

## Trivia

* The novel has been adapted into a play and a film released in 1984.
* It was selected as one of the 100 greatest works of English literature of the 20th century by the *Modern Library.*
* The novel is based on Forster's experiences in India.

## Other Books by E.M. Forster

* *Where Angels Fear to Tread* (1905)
* *The Longest Journey* (1907)
* *A Room with a View* (1908)
* *Howard's End* (1910)
* *Maurice* (written 1913-14, published in 1971)
Robinson Crusoe

## Description

***Robinson Crusoe*** is a novel by Daniel Defoe. Written in epistolary form, the novel is a fictional autobiography of the titular character, a castaway who spends 28 days on a remote island near the coasts of Venezuela and Trinidad. It was first published on April 25, 1719 by William Taylor.

## About the Author

**Daniel Defoe** (b. c. 1660, London, England - d. April 25, 1731, London, England) was an English writer, trader, and journalist best known for his novel *Robinson Crusoe.* He was one of the first proponents of the English novel, along with his contemporaries Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson. A prolific writer, he produced more than 300 works in the form of books, pamphlets, and journals on diverse topics from politics to the supernatural. He was also a pioneer of business journalism.

## Trivia

* The story has been thought to be based on a Scottish castaway, Alexander Selkirk, who lived on a Pacific Island for four years.
* The success of *Robinson Crusoe* has spawned so many imitations that its name is now used to define a literary genre "Robinsonade."

## Other books by Daniel Defoe

* *The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe* (1719)
* *Captain Singleton* (1720)
* *Memoirs of a Cavalier* (1720)
* *Moll Flanders* (1722)
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

## Description

***Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind*** (Hebrew: קיצור תולדות האנושות) is a book by Yuval Noah Harari. The book is based on a series of lectures Harari taught at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Focusing on *Homo sapiens*, the book surveys the history of humankind from the Stone Age to the 21st century. It was first published in Hebrew by Dvir Publishing House Ltd. of Israel in 2011, and in English by Harper in 2014.

## About the Author

**Yuval Noah Harari** (b. February 24, 1976 Kiryat Atta, Israel) is an Israeli historian and professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is best known for his popular science bestsellers about the history of humankind. His writings examine the evolution of *Homo sapiens* and the possible consequences of a futuristic biotechnological world. Harari won the Polonsky Prize for "Creativity and Originality" in 2009 and 2012.

## Trivia

* *Sapiens* was in the top 3 of the New York Times Bestseller list for 96 consecutive weeks.
* The book has been translated into over 60 languages.
* The first volume of the graphic novel version of the book was published in 2020. Volume 2 was published in 2021.

## Other books by Yuval Noah Harari

* *Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow* (2016)
* *21 Lessons for the 21st Century* (2018)
The Elements of Style

## Description

***The Elements of Style*** is a classic American English writing style guide. Originally written by William Strunk Jr. in 1918, and published by Harcourt in 1920, the book included only eight "elementary rules of usage", ten "elementary principles of composition", "a few matters of form", a list of 49 "words and expressions commonly misused", and a list of 57 "words often misspelled". E. B. White greatly expanded the book for publication by Macmillan in 1959. In 2011, *Time* heralded the book as one of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923.

## About the Author

**William Strunk Jr.** (b. July 1, 1869, Cincinnati, Ohio – d. September 26, 1946, Poughkeepsie, New York) was a professor of English at Cornell University and author of *The Elements of Style* (1918). After revision and enlargement by his former student E. B. White, it became a highly influential guide to English usage during the late 20th century.

**Elwyn Brooks White** (b. July 11, 1899, Mount Vernon, New York – d. October 1, 1985, North Brooklin, Maine) was an American writer and a contributing editor to *The New Yorker* magazine. He authored several popular books for children, including *Stuart Little* (1945), *Charlotte's Web* (1952), and *The Trumpet of the Swan* (1970). He was also the co-author of the English language style guide *The Elements of Style.*

## Other books by E.B. White

* *Stuart Little* (1945)
* *Charlotte's Web* (1952)
* *The Trumpet of the Swan* (1970)