Scott Gardner Books

By turns dark and light, funny and poignant, this unforgettable collection of stories takes us right to the heart of what it means to be young in today's world, from a CBCA award-winning author.

"This book looks at the weird and wonderful world of parasites, the most abundant form of life on Earth. Parasites come in all forms and sizes and inhabit every free-living organism. Parasitism is now, and always has been, a way to survive under changing environmental conditions. From arctic oceans to tropical forests, Scott Gardner, Judy Diamond, and Gabor Racz investigate how parasites survive and evolve, and how they influence and provide stability to ecosystems. Taking readers to the open ranges of Mongolia, the Sandhills of north-central Nebraska, the Andes of Bolivia, and more, the authors examine the impact parasites have on humans and other animals. Using examples of parasites from throughout the tree of life, the authors describe parasite-host relationships as diverse as those between trematodes and snails and tapeworms and whales. They even consider the strange effects of thorny-headed worms on their hosts. Parasites offer clues to the evolutionary history of particular regions, and they can provide insights into the history of species interactions. Through parasites, biologists can weave together a global knowledge of the past to predict the challenges that we will face in the future. Revealing that parasites are so much more than creepy-crawlies, this book gives up-to-date context for these critical members of the biological diversity of our planet." -- Provided by publisher

Exploring the lasting impact of the Civil War, this collection of short stories portrays various families in Northwest Pennsylvania across generations. Each narrative, filled with both tragedy and humor, captures the struggles and resilience of characters from diverse backgrounds, including baby boomers, rural families, and the Amish community. While the stories can be enjoyed independently, they interconnect to reveal a shared theme: the enduring effects of war on personal and communal futures.

Learn reactive programming in Swift with RxSwift! The popularity of reactive programming continues to grow on an ever-increasing number of platforms and languages. Rx lets developers easily and quickly build apps with code that can be understood by other Rx developers - even over different platforms. Not only will you learn how to use the RxSwift port to create complex reactive applications on iOS, you'll also see how to easily solve common application design issues by using RxSwift. Finally, you'll discover how to exercise full control over the library and leverage the full power of reactive programming in your apps. Who This Book Is For This book is for iOS developers who already feel comfortable with iOS and Swift, and want to dive deep into development with RxSwift. Topics Covered in RxSwift Getting Started Get an introduction to the reactive programming paradigm, learn the terminology involved and see how to begin using RxSwift in your projects. Event Management Learn how to handle asynchronous event sequences via two key concepts in Rx - Observables and Observers. Being Selective See how to work with various events using concepts such as filtering, transforming, combining, and time operators. UI Development RxSwift makes it easy to work with the UI of your apps using RxCocoa, which provides an integration of both UIKit and Cocoa. Intermediate Topics Level up your RxSwift knowledge with chapters on reactive networking, multi-threading, and error handling. Advanced Topics Round out your RxSwift education by learning about MVVM app architecture, scene-based navigation, and exposing data via services. And much, much more! By the end of this book, you'll have hands-on experience solving common issues in a reactive paradigm - and you'll be well on your way to coming up with your own Rx patterns and solutions!