Jan 28 2013
Daily Deals: Georgian Gamblers and the Science of the Brain
Fortune’s Son by Emery Lee. $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Love is the ultimate gamble…
Seasoned gambler Philip Drake knows every trick and uses most of them. After years of infamy, he’s ready to accept the mantle of respectability with his earldom– until a devastating racing loss and the threat of debtors’ prison force Philip right back into his gaming ways…
Susannah, Lady Messingham, is a woman with a past who refuses to belong to any man again. But Philip’s skill catches her eye and she persuades him to teach her how to win at the tables. Their new partnership turns into an exhilarating high-stakes game that entangles them in terrifying risk and unimaginable rewards…
Immerse yourself in the risky side of Georgian England with a pair of lovers who aren’t afraid to risk it all on a toss of the dice…
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Along Came a Duke: Rhymes With Love by Elizabeth Boyle. $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
?A young lady with a fortune is subject to all sorts of untoward attentions by the worst sort of vagrants.?
A lesson Tabitha Timmons, a penniless spinster, has never needed to heed. That is, until she is left a vast fortune payable only upon her marriage to the very respectable Mr. Barkworth–a match that offers little chance of discovering exactly what her aunt means by “untoward attentions.”
But the same can’t be said when the Duke of Preston happens along Tabitha’s path. He spies a rebellious streak in
her that matches his own and he makes it his mission to save her from such a passionless match, interfering in her
life at every turn. All too soon, Preston–whose very name spells ruin–has Tabitha caught between the good fortune that guarantees her security, and his kiss, which promises an entirely different kind of happily-ever-after.
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Daisy’s Back in Town by Rachel Gibson. $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Daisy Lee Monroe thought she’d brushed the dust of Lovett, Texas, off her high-heeled shoes years ago, but she’s come back home only to find that little has changed. Her sister is still crazy, and her mom still has pink plastic flamingos in her front yard. And Jackson Lamott Parrish, the bad boy she’d left behind, is still so sexy it hurts. She’d like nothing better than to avoid this particular man, but she can’t. Daisy has something to say to Jackson, and she’s not going anywhere until he listens.
Jackson learned his lesson about Daisy the hard way, and now the only word he’s interested in hearing from Daisy’s red lips is good-bye. But she’s popping up everywhere, and he doesn’t believe in coincidence. It seems the only way to keep her quiet is with his mouth, but kissing Daisy had once been his downfall. Is he strong enough to resist her now? Strong enough to watch her walk out of his life again? Is he strong enough to make her stay?
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Connectome by Sebastian Seung . $ 2.99.
From the Jacket Copy:
The bold and thrilling quest to finally understand the brain—and along with it our mental afflictions, from depression to autism—by a rising star in neuroscience
Sebastian Seung, a dynamic young professor at MIT, is at the forefront of a revolution in neuroscience. He believes that our identity lies not in our genes, but in the connections between our brain cells—our own particular wiring. Seung and a dedicated group of researchers are leading the effort to map these connections, neuron by neuron, synapse by synapse. It is a monumental effort—the scientific equivalent of climbing Mount Everest—but if they succeed, they will uncover the basis of personality, identity, intelligence, memory, and perhaps disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. Seung explains how this new map of a human “connectome” might even enable us to “upload” our brains into a computer, making us effectively immortal.
Connectome is a mind-bending adventure story, told with great passion and authority. It presents a daring scientific and technological vision for at last understanding what makes us who we are, both as individuals and as a species.
Amazon’s Top 100 Editor’s Picks for 2012
Publishers Weekly Top Ten in Science for Spring 2012
The negative reviews argue that Seung’s book is single minded in its focus that more research money needs to be devoted to the connectome theory and that much of his interpretations are speculative. That said, the background of brain science written out in this book might be worth the price alone.
ePub version available at Sony for the sale price.
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Jan 28, 2013 @ 14:04:57
OMG! I’ve forever had fortune’s Son on my wish list!
Thanks a bunch for the reminder! Just got it.
Mel
Jan 28, 2013 @ 14:26:08
Except that peers can’t be sent to debtor’s prison, so unless there’s a serious error in the back cover copy, the premise is not historically possible, let alone accurate. *sigh*
Jan 28, 2013 @ 14:36:18
Plus the entire reason for gaming debts to be called debts of honor is that they weren’t legally enforceable, and thus even if peers were subject to debtor’s prison, they couldn’t have been sent there for a loss on a race.
Jan 28, 2013 @ 16:13:47
@Isobel Carr: *sigh* I hear ya.
Along Came a Duke was the stupiest book and I stopped reading it after chapter four. Tabitha Timmons WTF kind of name is that for a heroine, it sounds more like a name for a dowager’s cat. Sheesh!
Elizabeth Boyle has written some very good regencies, This Rake is Mine or Love Letters From a Duke come to mind, but she failed miserably with this one in my humble opinion.
Hate.Secret.Babies.
Jan 28, 2013 @ 20:19:33
@Isobel Carr:
A valid point about peers not getting sent to Fleet, but Phillip Drake a peer or just a average citizen?
Jan 28, 2013 @ 21:44:29
Daisy’s Back in Town was my first ever Rachel Gibson and when I read it I’d never heard of a “secret baby” trope. As much as the baby thing was a bit hard to stomach I did find my heartstrings completely tugged. I’m not sure if I would feel the same way were I to read it now, but at the time, it led me to buy her entire backlist.
Jan 29, 2013 @ 10:10:07
Okay, am I the only one who has been racking her brain trying to figure out what rhymes with love? The words I can think of aren’t very romantic at all.
Feb 02, 2013 @ 20:39:46
@Isobel Carr:
Those issues (peers in prison, debts of honor) are specifically addressed in the book. I don’t want to say more because it would give away a major plot point but it was not an error due to lack of historical research.