The first comprehensive treatment of active inference, an integrative perspective on brain, cognition, and behavior used across multiple disciplines.Active inference is a way of understanding sentient behavior—a theory that characterizes perception, planning, and action in terms of probabilistic inference. Developed by theoretical neuroscientist Karl Friston over years of groundbreaking research, active inference provides an integrated perspective on brain, cogniti...

The Complete Works of Thomas Hardy (Illustrated) gathers the major novels, short fiction, poetry, and dramatic writings of one of Victorian literature's most penetrating imaginations. From the tragic landscapes of Wessex in Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure to the finely wrought lyrics of loss, memory, and time, Hardy's work blends realism, pastoral elegy, classical fatalism, and modern psychological unease. The illustrations enrich the edition by visualizing the rural setting...

The first installment in the Elite Ops series, featuring sexy ex-military men ... and the women who rescue their hearts.Former DEA agent Leland Hollis wasn't planning on being a hero. Recovering from an injury sustained during a drug bust gone wrong and with more personal demons than he cares to admit, he wants nothing more than peace and a chance to rebuild his life. But when Anna Mercado's crazy ex shows up wielding a baseball bat, Leland can't ignore his instinct to hel...

This is the third novel in "The Long Return" series. It is about a story of Captain Jake Cooper and one of his lieutenants named Sam Boyd. The war over, they decide to hire on as gun hands on a wagon train headed for Union, TX. The trip spans a distance of sixteen hundred miles and five states. They start in May 1865 and hope to reach their new homesteads by the end of October 1865. The trip is one challenge after another. The thirty-five wagons struggle with mountains, storms, river cross...

Technology-as-a-Service Playbook defines the tactical and strategic plays technology companies must run to build a profitable subscription business. Whether you are a pureplay cloud company or a traditional technology provider making the pivot to the cloud, this book will help guide your decision-making and execution around the "as-a-service" model to put your company on a path to profitable growth.This cloud-driven journey will affect every part of the organization. How offers are...

AEGIS: an elite team of ex-military men who will do anything for their country…and their womenFighting to clear her brother of murder, freelance reporter Sassy Smith is suddenly kidnapped and thrown into a truck with other women who are about to be sold…or worse. When she sees an opportunity for escape Sassy takes it, but she may have just jumped from the frying pan into the fire.Former Marine Bryan Fisher (aka Hollywood) is no stranger to dangerous situations, or ...

A walk with a friend unspools a far-ranging, darkly comic, philosophical dialogue in this novella by "one of the masters of contemporary European fiction" (George Steiner).With celebrated novels such as The Loser, Woodcutters, and Extinction, Austrian author Thomas Bernhard cemented his reputation as "one of the century's most gifted writers." Though he is favorably compared with Franz Kafka and Samuel Beckett, it is only in recent years t...

A chronicle of recent events that have shaken the world, from the author of Capital in the Twenty-First CenturyAs a correspondent for the French newspaper Le Monde, world-renowned economist Thomas Piketty has documented the rise and fall of Trump, the drama of Brexit, Emmanuel Macron’s ascendance to the French presidency, the unfoldingof a global pandemic, and much else besides, always from the perspective of his fight for a more equitable world. This collection brings toget...

This book provides an accessible introduction to the fascinating and topical subject of black holes. It bridges the gap between popular non-mathematical expositions and advanced research texts, using simple undergraduate level calculations and the most basic knowledge of relativity to explain current research. This means the theory can be understood by a wide audience of physicists, including those who are not necessarily interested in learning higher-level mathematical techniques.The thir...

This is the second novel in the "The Long Return" Series. The first novel "Lost Love", is the story of the wagons gathering in Richmond, Virginia at the end of the Civil War and heading for the new lands promised to them in Union City, Texas. The first novel details their travels and adventures across the Appalachian Mountains. Their hardships and their losses are laid bare. Their victories celebrated."The Long Return" Series is a story of a wagon train leaving from Richmond, Virgi...

Jo Adams and Rhonda Black reconnect after ten years apart. Rhonda’s twin daughters were Jo’s best friends in high school. With the significant age difference, Rhonda cannot believe Jo, twenty years her junior, will want to be with her long-term.JJo knows what she wants, but can she convince Rhonda she’s in this relationship for the long haul?JRhonda feels caught between a desire to explore a new opportunity for love and the daughter whose response she does not understand. C...

Orphaned at a young age and raised in the foster system, Jory Smith has no idea he's half incubus. He only knows he has the power to heal people, making himself sick in the process. Exploited by a crooked faith healer who sells his abilities and his life to the highest bidder and then left for dead, Jory flees, falling into a job at a small-town café where he can put his lifelong obsession with baking to good use.But the minister who exploited him wants him back.Exiled hell...