小說課之王 : 折磨讀者的祕密

許榮哲
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「小說課之王」許榮哲代表作，精確剖析小說創作之謎
從閱讀、理解到創作，小說人的修鍊之路

「做為創作者，我們沒有選擇。是成為神的嚮往與執念，選擇了我們。」 ──許榮哲

「每篇好小說，都是這個世界的一個謎。」──魔幻寫實大師馬奎斯
簡單來說，謎就是魔術。
魔術之所以吸引人，是因為扭曲了現實。
可惜的是，魔術師不會為你解謎；同樣的，小說家也不會。
幸好我們還有許榮哲，他將帶你穿越蟲洞，解開折磨讀者的祕密。

也許你覺得我的小說之路太兒戲了，沒有天才的傳奇性。
但這正是我的目的，如果連我這樣的人，都可以藉由努力、自學，而走出一條小說之路，那你有什麼理由說你不行。
唯一不行的理由只有一個──你是個純粹的天才，你不需要加入星座，因為你自己就是星河。
萬一你真的是星河，請略過凡間的夜景，以及你正在看的這本書，努力發出自己的光。 ──許榮哲

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

城市文學獎2022
結合創作講座、比賽，推動香港中學生、大專生的寫作風氣
截稿日期為2022年6月1日（星期三）下午五時正

Project Hail Mary: A Novel

Andy Weir
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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of The Martian, a lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this “propulsive” (Entertainment Weekly), cinematic thriller full of suspense, humor, and fascinating science—in development as a major motion picture starring Ryan Gosling.

ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST BOOKS: Bill Gates, GatesNotes, New York Public Library, Parade, Newsweek, Polygon, Shelf Awareness, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal • “An epic story of redemption, discovery and cool speculative sci-fi.”—USA Today

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could deliver, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

疫苗戰爭 : 全球危機下Covid-19疫苗研發揭密, 一場由科學家、企業、政府官員交織而成的權力遊戲與英雄史詩 (The First Shots)

布蘭登・波瑞爾 (Brendan Borrell)
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──過去，最快推出臨床疫苗的時間是10個月──
──但是，這次世界的要求是：60天──

★ 莫德納、BNT、AZ、Novavax，全球疫苗競賽完整內幕揭露。
★ 訪談超過百名疫苗研發過程中的關鍵人物，匯集來自最前線的第一手資訊。

◤為何新冠肺炎疫苗的研發能如此快速？美國如何展開全面施打的計畫？
從未曾使用於疫苗上的mRNA技術，何以能在這次危機中異軍突起？◢

◤當這場世紀疫情席捲全球、帶來史無前例的衝擊之際，
來自各界的無名英雄眾志成城，寫下人類與病毒對抗的傳奇篇章。◢

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread - and Why They Stop

Adam Kucharski
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One of the Best Books of 2020 - Financial Times
One of the "Most 2020 Books of 2020" - Washington Post
One of the Best Science Books of 2020 - The Times of London
One of the Best Science Books of 2020 - The Guardian

From ideas and infections to financial crises and fake news, an "utterly timely" look at why the science of outbreaks is the science of modern life

These days, whenever anything spreads, whether it's a YouTube fad or a political rumor, we say it went viral. But how does virality actually work? In The Rules of Contagion, epidemiologist Adam Kucharski explores topics including gun violence, online manipulation, and, of course, outbreaks of disease to show how much we get wrong about contagion, and how astonishing the real science is. Why did the president retweet a Mussolini quote as his own? Why do financial bubbles take off so quickly? Why are disinformation campaigns so effective? And what makes the emergence of new illnesses - such as MERS, SARS, or the coronavirus disease COVID-19 - so challenging?

By uncovering the crucial factors driving outbreaks, we can see how things really spread - and what we can do about it. Whether you are an author seeking an audience, a defender of truth, or simply someone interested in human social behavior, The Rules of Contagion is an essential guide to modern life.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

零時差攻擊 (This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race)

妮可·柏勒斯 (Nicole Perlroth)
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年度《金融時報》和麥肯錫年度最佳商業圖書獎！
《書單》：年度最重要的一本書！

從駭客、學者、異議分子、影子經紀人到各國政府高層與外國傭兵
史上首度完整揭發即將引發第三次世界大戰的終極軍火真面目

網路安全記者深入「零時差漏洞」交易現場的第一手報導
駭客、巨富、強權，與比核武更致命的終極武器！

當所有的民生基礎設施都壟罩在戰爭的陰影之下，
這是一場沒有大後方的戰爭，每一個人都無處可逃。
「知識即權力」在資訊時代得到印證，
面對這場祕密失控的軍備競賽，我們該何去何從？

《紐約時報》資深網路安全記者以緊湊淺白的筆法，解釋駭客與政府高層交易的內幕，希望讓更多人了解這枚正在導向第三次世界大戰的致命炸彈。當高度機密的國安問題與個人隱私產生衝突、俄國政府能跨國操弄烏克蘭選舉、中國政府能任意出入他國國防資料庫、美國失去了壟斷網路軍火的霸主地位──作者試圖探究：隨時隨地可能一觸即發的「零時差攻擊」真的將帶來世界末日嗎？面對如此無所不能的危險武器，有可能透過法律來規範已然失控的交易嗎？

本書出版後令重量媒體、美國學者、專家、企業資安顧問讚不絕口。《紐約書評》盛讚：「本書作者穿越全球網路武器貿易的地下世界，寫就一部生動而充滿挑釁意味的數位攻擊史！」

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail

Ray Dalio
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A provocative read...There are few tomes that coherently map such broad economic histories as well as Mr. Dalio’s. Perhaps more unusually, Mr. Dalio has managed to identify metrics from that history that can be applied to understand today.” —Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times

From legendary investor Ray Dalio, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Principles, who has spent half a century studying global economies and markets, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes—and to offer practical advice on how to navigate them well.

A few years ago, Ray Dalio noticed a confluence of political and economic conditions he hadn’t encountered before. They included huge debts and zero or near-zero interest rates that led to massive printing of money in the world’s three major reserve currencies; big political and social conflicts within countries, especially the US, due to the largest wealth, political, and values disparities in more than 100 years; and the rising of a world power (China) to challenge the existing world power (US) and the existing world order. The last time that this confluence occurred was between 1930 and 1945. This realization sent Dalio on a search for the repeating patterns and cause/effect relationships underlying all major changes in wealth and power over the last 500 years.

In this remarkable and timely addition to his Principles series, Dalio brings readers along for his study of the major empires—including the Dutch, the British, and the American—putting into perspective the “Big Cycle” that has driven the successes and failures of all the world’s major countries throughout history. He reveals the timeless and universal forces behind these shifts and uses them to look into the future, offering practical principles for positioning oneself for what’s ahead.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)