James Gardner

"Some nine million people from all over the world flock to the Louvre each year to enjoy its incomparable art collection. Yet few of them are aware of the remarkable history of that place and of the buildings themselves-a fascinating story that historian James Gardner elegantly chronicles in the first full-length history of the Louvre in English. More than 7,000 years ago, men and women camped on a spot called le Louvre for reasons unknown; a clay...

Odyssey Down Under: Sailing Bligh Waters is the sixth series in an ongoing project of Odyssey Down Under. The first book introduced you to the first adventure I took with Captain Mobley. Succeeding novels were journeys to different islands in the South Pacific. Then we went North. Each journey contained a story about Capt. James Cook and Capt. Williams Bligh. In our last book, Return to Fiji, a long story was told about Captain Bligh as we toured...

The story, which began in Odyssey Down Under, continues with Parts II & III taking readers along for another trip with Captain Mobley and his crew on The Endeavor to South Pacific Islands, Norfolk, New Zealand, and Tasmania. So come "down under" while we sail to some of these islands and grasp their beauty, romance, and intrigue as we continue our journey. I will write some logs and facts about this trip and fantasize how they were and how in...

What is the ultimate destiny of our universe? That is the striking question addressed by James Gardner in The Intelligent Universe. Traditionally, scientists (and Robert Frost) have offered two bleak answers to this profound issue: fire or ice. In The Intelligent Universe, James Gardner envisions a third dramatic alternative-a final state of the cosmos in which a highly evolved form of group intelligence engineers a cosmic renewal, the birth of a...

The fascinating and little-known story of the Louvre, from its inception as a humble fortress to its transformation into the palatial residence of the kings of France and then into the world's greatest art museum More than 7,000 years ago, men and women camped on a spot called le Louvre for reasons unknown; a clay quarry and a vineyard supported a society there in the first centuries AD. A thousand years later, King Philippe Auguste of France constructed...

In Expendable, the first volume of the League of Peoples, Festina Ramos is assigned to escort an unstable admiral to planet Melaquin. Little is known about Melaquin, for every explorer who's landed there has disappeared. It's come to be known as the "planet of no return," and the High Council has made a habit of sending troublesome admirals there in an attempt to get rid of them. It's clear that this is intended to be Ramos's last mission, but she...

Four years after Festina Ramos left Melaquin, the "planet of no return," Uclodda Unorr arrives. Unorr is a hired smuggler tasked with gathering evidence of misconduct of the Technocracy's Outward Fleet. Much to his surprise he discovers that Oar, a resident of the planet and last of her kind, is still alive. Though Oar's glass-like body is indestructible, her mind grows weak and will soon fall victim to "apathetic hibernation." Along with her old...

After most of Earth's population has left for other planets, life is simple in the isolated village of Tober Cove. Fullin, a twenty-year-old musician, lives well off of his craft. But soon he must make a life-changing decision that all residents of Tober Cove must make. Up until their twenty-first birthdays, the people of Tober Cove change gender every year. But at the age of twenty-one, they must commit to being male, female, or a Neut (essentially...

In the 25th century, under the leadership of the League of Peoples, war and crime are a thing of the past and life is held sacred. That is, as long as you're healthy and beautiful. But those who are deformed, flawed or misfit in any way are destined - or is "doomed" a better word? - to become Explorers, crews assigned to probe worlds so hostile, the chances of returning are somewhere between slim and none. A qualified member of the expendable Explorer...

Three "riveting" novels of space adventure set in a dystopian future from a Hugo and Nebula Award–nominated author and "brilliant" voice (David Feintuch). In the twenty-fifth century, sentient races are ruled by the League of Peoples. War has been eliminated and killing is forbidden, but insidious secrets are concealed in the dark corners of this would-be utopia, in these three action-packed novels. Expendable: Festina Ramos serves in the Explorer...