This agricultural history explores the transformation of the Santa Clara Valley over the past one hundred years from America's largest fruit-producing region into the technology capital of the world. In the latter half of the twentieth century, the region's focus shifted from fruits—such as apricots and prunes—to computers. Both personal and public rhetoric reveals how a sense of place emerges and changes in an evolving agricultural community like the Santa Clara Valley. Through extensive archival research and interviews, Anne Marie Todd explores the concepts of place and placelessness, arguing that place is more than a physical location and that exploring a community's sense of place can help us to map how individuals experience their natural surroundings and their sense of responsibility towards the local environment. Todd extends the concept of sense of place to describe Silicon Valley as a non-place, where weakened or disrupted attachment to place threatens the environment and community. The story of the Santa Clara Valley is an American story of the development of agricultural lands and the transformation of rural regions.
Todd J. McCaffrey Book order
Todd J. McCaffrey is a science fiction author renowned for continuing the Dragonriders of Pern series. His writing often draws upon his technical and military background, infusing his narratives with a grounded, logical approach to speculative concepts. He excels at developing intricate worlds and exploring the functional aspects of his created technologies and societies, offering readers a compelling blend of imagination and plausible execution.







- 2022
- 2018
The Jupiter Game
- 388 pages
- 14 hours of reading
The Jupiter Game is a fast-paced, high stakes science fiction adventure following more in the footsteps of Douglas Adams' classic, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" than Murray Leinster's classic "First Contact." A Close Encounter "of the strangest kind" with aliens who go "Oops." Long Book Description The aliens said what we had always hoped to hear: "We welcome you to the Federation of Sentient Worlds.: We said: "You are here to offer us membership in the Federation?" They said: "Membership is automatic for any race which achieves faster-than-light travel." We said: "We don't have faster-than-light travel." They said: "Oops." New York Times bestselling author Todd McCaffrey brings a totally new look at first contact with aliens. "The Jupiter Game starts at a gallop and then picks up speed, as Todd McCaffrey further enhances the family name." Mike Resnick, Hugo and Nebula Award Winning Author
- 2013
Sky Dragons
- 496 pages
- 18 hours of reading
She must solve the problem of how to get sufficient numbers of dragon eggs, although her newfangled ideas, like letting green dragons mate and lay eggs to hatch new dragons, cause uproar.
- 2012
Dragon's Time
- 496 pages
- 18 hours of reading
The first is that Fiona is expecting twins, and the second the fact that all the dragonriders are exhausted, a sign that they are Timing it - existing elsewhere in space and time - which gives them hope that Lorana has found a way through time to help them.
- 2011
Dragongirl
- 480 pages
- 17 hours of reading
With a cast of beloved characters from previous Pern novels, Dragongirl is another triumph for Todd McCaffrey—and a riveting chapter for the Dragonriders of Pern. Young Fiona, rider of the gold queen Talenth, has returned with the dragons and riders who fled into the past to heal their battle wounds and prepare to fight anew the menace of Thread. Now more than three years older, Fiona is no longer a child but a woman—thrust into authority by a shocking tragedy. But leading weyrfolk who are distrustful of a young outsider will be only one of her challenges. Despite gaining reinforcements from the past, too few dragons have survived the recent plague to stem the tide of the intensifying Threadfall. As a senior Weyrwoman, Fiona must take decisive action. With the aid of Lorana, the rider who sacrificed her dragon for others, and Fiona’s true love, the harper Kindan, she proposes a daring, nearly impossible plan. But if it succeeds, it just might save them all.
- 2009
Dragonheart
- 544 pages
- 20 hours of reading
The specter of sickness looms over the Weyrs of Pern, felling fire-lizards and threatening their dragon cousins, Pern’s sole defense against the deadly phenomenon that is Thread. Fiona, the young rider of queen dragon Talenth, is about to assume the duties of a Weyrwoman when word spreads that dragons have begun succumbing to the new contagion. As more dragons sicken and die, Weyrleader B’Nik and queen rider Lorana comb Fort Weyr’s archives in a desperate search for clues from the past that may hold the solution to the plague. But could the past itself prove the pathway to salvation for Pern’s imperiled dragons? Guided by a mysterious ally from a wholly unexpected place, and trusting in the dragon gift for transcending time, Fiona will join a risky expedition with far-reaching consequences for both Pern’s future and her personal destiny.
- 2008
The dragons of Pern are dying . . . and the only person who can save them has been dead for over 400 Turns. This fantasy is written by Anne McCaffrey's son, Todd, heir to the literary world of Pern.
- 2007
Dragon Harper
- 384 pages
- 14 hours of reading
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “Captivating . . . The McCaffreys are well known for their brilliant characterizations, and they do not disappoint here.”—Booklist In Fort Hold, a clutch of fire-lizard eggs is about to hatch, and Lord Bemin’s beautiful young daughter, Koriana, is determined to Impress one of the delightful creatures. At the hatching, apprentice harper Kindan Impresses a fire-lizard of his own . . . and wins the heart of Koriana. But Lord Bemin mistrusts harpers and will not hear of a match between his daughter and the low-born Kindan. Then fate intervenes in the form of a virulent plague as fast-spreading as it is deadly. Arising suddenly, as if out of nowhere, the contagion decimates hold after hold, paying no heed to distinctions of birth. In this feverish crucible, friendship and love will be tested to the breaking point and beyond. For with Threadfall scant years away, the Dragonriders dare not expose themselves to infection, and it will fall to Kindan and his fellow apprentices to bravely search for a cure and save humanity. “Strong storytelling and compelling drama, along with memorable characters.”—Library Journal
- 2007
Dragon's Fire
- 432 pages
- 16 hours of reading
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A richly detailed story on a par with the rest of the Pern canon . . . another successful McCaffrey mother-and-son collaboration.”—Booklist At Natalon’s mining camp, Pellar embarks on a secret mission to discover whether the condemned criminals known as the Shunned are stealing coal. But the gifted tracker discovers that a far more treacherous plot is unfolding. A heartless thief named Tenim has realized there is profit to be made from firestone, the volatile mineral that enables the dragons of Pern to burn the lethal Thread out of the sky. When the last remaining firestone mine explodes, a desperate race begins to find a new deposit of the deadly but essential mineral. Sure enough, Tenim has a murderous plan to turn tragedy to his own advantage. Now Pellar and his new friends—the kind and gentle Halla, a child of the Shunned, and Cristov, the son of a corrupt miner—must stop Tenim. If they fail, it will mean the end for Pern and its dragonriders. “Grittier than the early parts of the series; Todd’s apparently brought a wider, more current worldview to Pern.”—The San Diego Union-Tribune “These fabled dragons still cast a spell.”—Publishers Weekly
- 2006
Dragonsblood
- 480 pages
- 17 hours of reading
With the dragons of Pern dying and the only person who can save them long dead, the grieving dragon riders find clues in the lyrics of an ancient ballad to long forgotten knowledge and secrets hidden somewhere in Benden Weyr



