Aislinn of Bairbhe dreams of becoming a lady knight to honor the death of her fallen brother. To her mother's horror, King Patrick grants Aislinn's wish.Despite the mockery of the other pages and the disdain of Prince Caelen, who also trains to be a knight, Aislinn commits herself to her training and embarks on a journey of self-discovery and bravery.Through the years, Aislinn and Caelen grow from sparring classmates to good friends. Honor, bravery, and yes, love are worth fighting for even when they both know that someday Caelen will have to marry for the sake of the kingdom.

If you're going to colonise a planet, you'd better be willing to fight for it. Within Anphobos, there grows a new race. The first generation of humans never to set foot on Earth. They are pale skinned, large eyed and worship no god but science. They possess technological skills and processes Earth has refused to acknowledge. Until now... "We are Martian. Your religion isn't ours. Our god is Mars. Our religion is science. Anything we do in the service of Mars, is good. Make no mistake, Earth girl, we are both right and good." Fresh off Earth, Jodi Scarfield doesn't really care for Mars or its politics. Still, accusations of treason will get a girl's attention...

Few people will willing admit that they don’t think logically. Ironically, perhaps the people most willing to admit it are those celebrated for their outstanding minds (e.g. Albert Einstein, William Gladstone, Wolfgang Goethe, Benjamin Franklin, Blaise Pascal, Voltaire), because they are aware of how difficult logical thinking really is. Why? Because we are all subject to fallacies. These are illogical ways of handling ideas that seem logical at the time and therefore often lead is down the wrong path.Logical Thinking: The Essential Ten Percent displays, explains, and provides examples of the general principles and practices of logical thinking, with particular emphasis on avoiding fallacies. Part of it reads like a textbook. However, much of it is in the form of essays that are used to go more deeply into certain matters that the textbook format would not allow. Together, it is hoped that the textbook format and the essay format will serve as an easy introduction to the key aspects of logical thinking as well as providing a fundamental, easy-to-use reference work.Please bear in mind that the purpose of this book is not to teach you to think, but to help you think more logically. There is a difference. Thinking logically is not always the best thing to do. Most artists do not think logically; if they did they probably would never produce any original works of lasting value. Likewise for poets, composers, song writers, novelists, etc. This would fall under the rubric of “creative thinking.”Whatever other kinds of thinking we may do, logical thinking is likely to enter into the process. This is especially true regarding personal decisions that will affect how we, and those close to us, will live our lives. It is also true regarding political and social decisions that will affect the future of our community, our country, our world. For example, compulsory vaccination of all schoolchildren, assisted suicide, insurance coverage for alternative medicine, polygamy, same-sex marriages, etc. Failure to recognize and avoid common mistakes in logical thinking that can lead to misjudgments that could sometimes result in major — and usually unpleasant — consequences.As any teacher knows, saying something once is tantamount to not saying it at all. Key ideas must be frequently repeated to be certain that they don’t get lost in the details. The reader will therefore see pieces of information repeated in many different places. This is to ensure that vital information is always available when and where the reader needs it. He won’t have to go looking for it on an earlier page in order to understand the page he is currently reading.To add some light relief, the book also contains a chapter on “Logic through the Looking Glass,” delightfully instructive illogical passages from Lewis Carroll’s class Alice in Wonderland books, an equally delightful and instructive excerpt from a short story by Isaac Asimov, and a list of “Common Misconceptions: Things We Know that Just Aren’t So.” Logical Thinking: The Essential Ten Percent is part of the expanding “The Essential Ten Percent” series. The series was launched in 2011 on the premise that many self-instructional books fail to distinguish between:•Casual Users — those who need to understand and apply only the very basics of a subject.•Intensive Users — those who need to understand and apply virtually everything. As a result, most such books tend to make fundamentally simple ideas appear to be unnecessarily complex. And more complex ideas hopelessly impenetrable.Books in “The Essential Ten Percent Series” rigorously focus on the “casual user” to ensure that simple ideas remain simple and more complex ideas can be decomposed into simpler ones.The books in “The Essential Ten Percent” series (at March 2012) are:College-level Writing: The Essential Ten PercentLogical Thinking: The Essential Ten PercentPublic Speaking: The Essential Ten Percent

I am a professional writer in English and I speak fluent French. By fluent, I mean that I can carry on a conversation for hours at a time without ever being at a loss for words. You have probably heard that French is a difficult language to learn. The bad news is, unfortunately this is correct. The good news is, it is much easier to learn if properly approached. Much easier. If your objective is mainly to speak rather than to create chefs-d’oeuvres littéraires, then I believe you will find this book of considerable help.Objectively, English is an easier language than French because of its demonstrably simpler grammar. But don’t be misled. Certain characteristics of French are simpler than their equivalents in English. By rejoicing in French’s simplicities rather than focusing on its complexities, learning the language can be made more rapid and more enjoyable than you might have expected. Structurally, Gentle French is designed to achieve two principal objectives:1. Emphasize those characteristics of French that make it easier than English2. Simplify the undeniable complexities of French as much as humanly possible, particularly in terms of how native speakers think about their language when they are actually using it. We are all familiar with grammar books that enunciate a rule, then list 5 -10 exceptions where it doesn’t apply. It is facetiously said that in French, the exception is the rule. However, looked at properly, many of these so-called “exceptions” do follow the rule, or come closer to following it than their formal grammatical description might suggest. Exceptions are the principal factor that makes learning a language difficult. Separating “false exceptions” from real ones therefore should make the task considerably easier, which this book diligently tries to do.As another way to maximize understanding, Gentle French keeps grammatical terminology to an absolute minimum – and in fact changes it when conventional terminology would hinder understanding, rather than helping it. To achieve its objectives, the book is divided into five parts.1. The Psychology of Learning French This section proposes the proper psychological approach to learning French, and suggests a number of pedagogical artifices to make learning easier and more enjoyable.2. Seven Ways French Is Easier than English This section looks at the basic structure and logic of French to highlight fundamental features of French that are demonstrably easier than they are in English. 3. Essentials of French GrammarThis section looks at how the principles enunciated in Parts 1 & 2 work in practice. Constant emphasis is placed on the regularities of French and its similarities to English. To this end, it introduces a new way of categorizing grammar: 1) foundational grammar, 2) explicative grammar, 3) decorative grammar. 4. ParticularitiesThis section examines particular problems English speakers encounter in learning French, such as pronominal verbs, verbs conjugated with être instead of avoir, use of c’est, use of chez, silent letters, etc. It also suggests logical — or at least psychological — ways of dealing with these problems.5. Ready ReferenceThis section is a compendium of key reference materials such as basic grammatical terminology, conjugation of key irregular verbs, true friends (vrais amis), false friends (faux amis), common idiomatic expressions, special problems between French and English, etc. In short, the purpose of the book is to help you think in French, so you will better understand what is going on in the mind of native French speakers when words are actually coming out of their mouths. It is only when you truly begin to think like a Francophone that you can truly begin to speak like one.