{"title":"Best Books","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"constellation-games","title":"Constellation Games","description":"First contact isn't all fun and games. Ariel Blum is pushing thirty and doesn't have much to show for it. His computer programming skills are producing nothing but pony-themed video games for little girls. His love life is a slow-motion train wreck, and whenever he tries to make something of his life, he finds himself back on the couch, replaying the games of his youth. Then the aliens show up. Out of the sky comes the Constellation: a swarm of anarchist anthropologists, exploring our seas, cataloguing our plants, editing our wikis, and eating our Twinkies. No one knows how to respond--except for nerds like Ariel who've been reading, role-playing and wargaming first-contact scenarios their entire lives. Ariel sees the aliens' computers, and he knows that wherever there are computers, there are video games. Ariel just wants to start a business translating alien games so they can be played on human computers. But a simple cultural exchange turns up ancient secrets, government conspiracies, and unconventional anthropology techniques that threaten humanity as we know it. If Ariel wants his species to have a future, he's going to have to take the step that nothing on Earth could make him take. He'll have to grow up.","brand":"chapterdoc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39274434822279,"sku":"","price":21.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0335\/8634\/8167\/products\/8ej576uyjty.jpg?v=1615382544"},{"product_id":"the-great-california-game","title":"The Great California Game","description":"Lovejoy is working - illegally of course - in a New York bar, but nothing can keep him from his beloved antiques. The divvie's casual recognition of zircons paraded as priceless diamonds starts him on a trail leading him to the deadly mysteries of the highest stakes card game in America. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e But first Lovejoy has to buy himself into the game. Enlisting the help of a Manhatten hooker and a gun-toting seven year old, he sets about raising a sum from museums, auction houses and private collectors using his usual desperate wiles.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e But by the time he reaches California, he realises that it is not only his hard-earnt mega-bucks on the table, but his own sweet skin.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e Praise for Jonathan Gash: \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e 'Irrepressible... bounteous entertainment' Sunday Times\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e 'Lovejoy is up to his old tricks again... compelling stuff' Today\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e 'Unabashedly amoral, witty and crammed with treasures of every sort... Pure, unadulterated Lovejoy' Publishers Weekly","brand":"chapterdoc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39274434855047,"sku":"","price":8.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0335\/8634\/8167\/products\/shtrhtrhstr.jpg?v=1615382581"},{"product_id":"genius-lego-inventions-with-bricks-you-already-have","title":"Genius LEGO Inventions with Bricks You Already Have","description":"Sarah Dees' first two LEGO books have launched into bestseller status, with over 80k copies sold combined. Her latest book hits on the popular subject that draws many kids into LEGO in the first place - tinkering, engineering, building, experimenting, solving problems and inventing. This book shares fun and exciting new science-powered creations, following the storyline of two fictional LEGO minifigure kids who are inventors. As the minifigures explore LEGO world and go on adventures, kids at home learn to build the scenes and amazing inventions step by step. The projects are fun toys that kids can play with, but they also teach the important science concepts at work behind levers, pulleys, suspension bridges, skyscrapers, gears, motorized machines, magnets and more. Kids will love that they are creating cool and unique gadgets all on their own. And parents will love that their kids are learning important science facts that help them in school, developing critical thinking skills, and, let's be honest, keeping themselves entertained for hours on end!\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e This book makes the perfect gift any time of year for science lovers, fans of Sarah's previous books and, really, anyone who loves LEGO!","brand":"chapterdoc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39274434920583,"sku":"","price":20.45,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0335\/8634\/8167\/products\/47n6trnst.jpg?v=1615382614"},{"product_id":"the-hidden-game-of-baseball-a-revolutionary-approach-to-baseball-and-its-statistics","title":"The Hidden Game of Baseball : A Revolutionary Approach to Baseball and Its Statistics","description":"Long before Moneyball became a sensation, or Nate Silver turned the knowledge he'd honed on baseball into electoral gold, John Thorn and Pete Palmer were using statistics to shake the foundations of the game. First published in 1984, The Hidden Game of Baseball ushered in the sabermetric revolution by demonstrating that we were thinking about baseball stats - and thus the game itself - all wrong. Instead of praising sluggers for gaudy RBI totals or pitchers for wins, Thorn and Palmer argued in favor of more subtle measurements that correlated much more closely to the ultimate goal: winning baseball games. The new gospel promulgated by Thorn and Palmer opened the door for a flood of new questions, such as how a ballpark's layout helps or hinders offense or whether a strikeout really is worse than another kind of out. Taking questions like these seriously - and backing up the answers with data-launched a new era, showing fans, journalists, scouts, executives, and even players themselves a new, better way to look at the game. This brand-new edition retains the original, while adding a new introduction by the authors tracing the book's influence.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e A foreword by ESPN's lead baseball analyst, Keith Law, details the book's central role in the transformation of baseball coverage and team management. Thirty years after its original publication, The Hidden Game is still bringing the high heat - a true classic of baseball literature.","brand":"chapterdoc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39274434986119,"sku":"","price":29.19,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0335\/8634\/8167\/products\/su6yttr.jpg?v=1615382648"},{"product_id":"bigger-than-the-game","title":"Bigger Than The Game","description":"Old demons together with new enemies and a season ending-- possibly career ending-- injury look to knock Hayhurst out of baseball forever. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e Isolated from his family, broken, and branded a traitor by his teammates for writing inside the locker room, Hayhurst finds himself at a crossroads: should he continue down the spiral of depression and prescription drug abuse he's falling into, or seek psychological help at the risk of being labeled a \"head case\" by an industry biased against that which it cannot quantify?\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e Or maybe Hayhurst just needs to show them all how much fun being a head case can be? In a crazy world of injured athletes, autograph-seeking nuns, angry wrestlers, and trainers with a taste for torture, Hayhurst learned lessons about the game--and himself--that were not in any rulebook. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e Like all of Hayhurst's writing on baseball, Bigger Than The Game tells a story about what lies beneath the often gilded uniform of the professional player in the honest, often hilarious, and self effacing way Hayhurst has become so renown for--even while exploring often shunned topics like the rampancy of prescription drug abuse among major league athletes, the stigma of depression among athletes, and the damning consequences of violating the codes of the locker room. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e Bigger Than The Game is Hayhurst's most compelling book to date and is a must read for those who truly wish to know what their favorite player goes through when they break.","brand":"chapterdoc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39274435051655,"sku":"","price":20.02,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0335\/8634\/8167\/products\/7iyjdsjytedyt.jpg?v=1615382685"}],"url":"https:\/\/chapterdoc.myshopify.com\/collections\/best-books.oembed","provider":"chapterdoc","version":"1.0","type":"link"}