Thomas Thwaites Boeken

America's worst nightmare has come true: a "cyber-Pearl Harbor" attack by unknown terrorists has crippled the nation's power grid - and brought the land of the free to its knees. As widespread panic and violence ravage the country, its ruthless captors issue their ultimatums ... and vow an apocalyptic reckoning. A defenseless nation scrambles to fight an invisible invasion. Chief among America's last line of defense is Lana Elkins, head of a major cyber-security company - and former top NSA operative - who returns to her roots to spearhead the Agency's frantic efforts to combat the enemy's onslaught on its own terms. While she and her superiors take action to infiltrate a terrorist hotbed overseas, much closer to home ruthless jihadists with a nuclear bomb hijack a busload of schoolchildren - including Lana's daughter - and race toward a rendezvous with Armageddon in America's greatest city

The story of the author's nine-month-long journey to build a toaster from scratch--from his local appliance store to remote mines in the UK to his mother's backyard, where he creates a crude foundry--aims to help the reader reflect on the costs and perils of our cheap consumer culture.

The dazzling success of The Toaster Project, including TV appearances and an international book tour, leaves Thomas Thwaites in a slump. His friends increasingly behave like adults, while Thwaites still lives at home, "stuck in a big, dark hole." Luckily, a research grant offers the perfect out: a chance to take a holiday from the complications of being human—by transforming himself into a goat. What ensues is a hilarious and surreal journey through engineering, design, and psychology, as Thwaites interviews neuroscientists, animal behaviorists, prosthetists, goat sanctuary workers, and goatherds. From this, he builds a goat exoskeleton—artificial legs, helmet, chest protector, raincoat from his mum, and a prosthetic goat stomach to digest grass (with help from a pressure cooker and campfire)—before setting off across the Alps on four legs with a herd of his fellow creatures. Will he make it? Do Thwaites and his readers discover what it truly means to be human? GoatMan tells all in Thwaites's inimitable style, which NPR extols as "a laugh-out- loud-funny but thoughtful guide through his own adventures."

Thomas Thwaites ist Anfang dreißig und seine Freunde benehmen sich in ihren gut bezahlten Bürojobs wie Erwachsene, während er mit zunehmender Verzweiflung versucht, als freiberuflicher Designer in London ein Bankkonto zu eröffnen. Was liegt da näher als eine sorgenfreie Auszeit von den Nöten des menschlichen Daseins? Doch welche Spezies lebt schon frei von größeren Sorgen? Ausgestattet mit einem Stipendium begibt sich Thwaites auf eine ebenso aberwitzige wie erkenntnisreiche Reise: zu Schamaninnen und Neurowissenschaftlern, zu Tierverhaltensforschern und Philosophen – und schließlich mitten hinein in eine glückliche Ziegenherde auf ihrem Weg über die Schweizer Alpen. „Ein tierisch witziges und kluges Buch!“ - Wigald Boning „Urlaub vom Menschsein: Wer hat nicht schon davon geträumt, ein paar Tage in die Haut eines Tiers zu schlüpfen? Thomas Thwaites hat genau das getan.” - NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG “Charmant, humorvoll und äußerst gründlich.„ - VOGUE “Überdenken, wer wir sind; neue Wege des Lebens erträumen; uns selbst auseinandernehmen, um uns wieder aufzubauen.„ - THE NEW YORKER “Ein aufschlussreiches und witziges Buch." - GUARDIAN “Ein zum Brüllen komischer und zugleich aufmerksamer Beobachter seiner eigenen Abenteuer.” - NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO