Was diabetes evolution's response to the last Ice Age? Did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues of Europe? Will a visit to the tanning salon help lower your cholesterol? Why do we age? Why are some people immune to HIV? Can your genes be turned on -- or...  more

Was diabetes evolution's response to the last Ice Age? Did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues of Europe? Will a visit to the tanning salon help lower your cholesterol? Why do we age? Why are some people immune to HIV? Can your genes be turned on -- or off? Joining the ranks of modern myth busters, Dr. Sharon Moalem turns our current understanding of illness on its head and challenges us to fundamentally change the way we think about our bodies, our health, and our relationship to just about every other living thing on earth, from plants and animals to insects and bacteria. Through a fresh and engaging examination of our evolutionary history, Dr. Moalem reveals how many of the conditions that are diseases today actually gave our ancestors a leg up in the survival sweepstakes. When the option is a long life with a disease or a short one without it, evolution opts for disease almost every time. Everything from the climate our ancestors lived in to the crops they planted and ate to their beverage of choice can be seen in our genetic inheritance. But Survival of the Sickest doesn't stop there. It goes on to demonstrate just how little modern medicine really understands about human health, and offers a new way of thinking that can help all of us live longer, healthier lives. Survival of the Sickest is filled with fascinating insights and cutting-edge research, presented in a way that is both accessible and utterly absorbing. This is a book about the interconnectedness of all life on earth -- and, especially, what that means for us.

Experience the inner world of a woman with schizophrenia in this brutally honest, lyrical memoir. Have you ever wondered what it is like in the mind of a person with Schizophrenia? How can one survive day after day unable to distinguish between one?s inner nightmares and the everyday realities...  more

Experience the inner world of a woman with schizophrenia in this brutally honest, lyrical memoir. Have you ever wondered what it is like in the mind of a person with Schizophrenia? How can one survive day after day unable to distinguish between one?s inner nightmares and the everyday realities that most of us take for granted? In her brutally honest, highly original memoir, Kristina Morgan takes us inside her head to experience the chaos, fragmented thinking, and the startling creativity of the schizophrenic mind. With the intimacy of private journal-like entries and the language of a poet, she carries us from her childhood to her teen years when hallucinations began to hijack her mind and into adulthood where she began abusing alcohol to temper the punishing voices that only she could hear. This is no formulaic tale of tragedy and triumph: We feel Kristina?s hope as she pursues an education and career and begins to build strong family connections, friendships and intimacy�and her devastation as the insistent voices convince her to throw it all away, destroying herself and alienating everyone around her. Woven through the pages of her life are stories of recovery from alcoholism and the search for her sexual identity in relationships with both women and men. Eventually, her journey takes her to a place of relative peace and stability where she finds the inner resources and support system to manage her chronic illnesses and live a fulfilling life.

For most of us, it was just another horrible headline. But for Deborah Spungen, the mother of Nancy, who was stabbed to death at the Chelsea Hotel, it was both a relief and a tragedy. Here is the incredible story of an infant who never stopped screaming, a toddler who attacked people, a teenager...  more

For most of us, it was just another horrible headline. But for Deborah Spungen, the mother of Nancy, who was stabbed to death at the Chelsea Hotel, it was both a relief and a tragedy. Here is the incredible story of an infant who never stopped screaming, a toddler who attacked people, a teenager addicted to drugs, violence, and easy sex, a daughter completely out of control--who almost destroyed her parents' marriage and the happiness of the rest of her family."Honest and moving...Her painful tale is engrossing."WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLDFrom the Paperback edition.

Straight from nature's medicine cabinet, the latest herbal discoveries that cure hundreds of health concerns without the dangerous side effects or high cost of prescription drugs.When compared to prescription drugs, herbal healing is both safer and more cost effective. In the fourth edition of...  more

Straight from nature's medicine cabinet, the latest herbal discoveries that cure hundreds of health concerns without the dangerous side effects or high cost of prescription drugs.When compared to prescription drugs, herbal healing is both safer and more cost effective. In the fourth edition of The New Healing Herbs, you get access to the latest, most up-to-date information about herbal remedies for cures to nausea, the common cold, diabetes, cancer, allergies, back pain, and more. This new edition includes five new herbs, the result of author Michael Castleman?s endless research and dedication to holistic healing. Taking a folklore-meets-science approach, you?ll also explore the rich history of herbal medicine traditions.Featuring 135 of the most widely used medicinal herbs, including cannabis, The New Healing Herbs shows you which herbal remedy to take for each condition, how it's taken, what interactions to watch for, and where to buy the featured herb. The easy-to-use Cure Finder organizes herbs by health condition, healing actions, and alternative uses, guiding you to the right herbal remedy for your ailment.With The New Healing Herbs, you?ll find nature?s remedy for health, vibrancy, and happiness.

A smaller, more affordable edition of Outdoor Life?s bestselling Prepare for anything. Full of the same must-have information found in the full-size flexi edition, it is an extensive guide to preparing for the worst life can throw at you.� Are you preparing for the collapse of society?...  more

A smaller, more affordable edition of Outdoor Life?s bestselling Prepare for anything. Full of the same must-have information found in the full-size flexi edition, it is an extensive guide to preparing for the worst life can throw at you.� Are you preparing for the collapse of society? Concerned about making it through the next category 4 hurricane? Looking to be less dependent on an increasingly fragile infrastructure? If so, you are definitely not alone. In this timely follow-up to�The Ultimate Survival Manual,�Prepare for Anything�is packed with hundreds of gear recommendations, skills, and survival tips and strategies to help you be ready for anything. From an economic collapse to natural disasters to government surveillance, this book has you covered. GEAR UP�Learn where to begin, from stocking and storing your food and water correctly to buying the right gear for your area, as well as how to create the perfect Bug-Out Bag?and emergency plan?for any situation.� � GET SKILLED�Fortune favors the prepared?and the multi-talented. When disaster strikes, will you know how to perform first aid, defend your home, and remain self-reliant? Learn skills that will get you through everything from a power outage to a hurricane to the apocalypse.� SURVIVE ANYTHING�If the worst happens...what happens next? Your survival, if you're read this book. You'll learn how to handle everything from organizing a community and protecting your homestead to growing food, purifying water, and even making weapons.� Prepare for Anything�will take you through potential threats and teach you how to become prepared for them. This is the book for the preppers all over America. With hands-on hints, easy-to-use checklists, and engaging first-person stories to break down the crucial do?s and don?ts, you know how to ride out whatever Mother Nature, the government, foreign powers, or modern society can throw at you.

From an editor at the popular humor site Cracked.com�and one of the writers of the bestselling�You Might Be a Zombie�and�The De-Textbook, a rollicking look at vice throughout history, complete with instructions for re-creating debauchery at home. � � �Part history lesson, part how-to guide,�A...  more

From an editor at the popular humor site Cracked.com�and one of the writers of the bestselling�You Might Be a Zombie�and�The De-Textbook, a rollicking look at vice throughout history, complete with instructions for re-creating debauchery at home. � � �Part history lesson, part how-to guide,�A Brief History of Vice�includes interviews with experts and original experimentation to bring readers a history of some of humanity's most prominent vices, along with explanations for how each of them helped humans rise to the top of the food chain. Evans connects the dots between coffee and its Islamic origins, the drug ephedra and Mormons, music and Stonehenge, and much more. Chapters also include step-by-step guides for re-creating prehistoric debauchery in your modern life based on Evans's firsthand fieldwork. Readers won't just learn about the beer that destroyed South America's first empire; they'll learn how to make it.

A philosopher dons a wet suit and journeys into the depths of consciousnessPeter Godfrey-Smith is a leading philosopher of science. He is also an accomplished scuba diver whose underwater videos of warring octopuses have attracted wide notice. In this book, he brings his parallel careers...  more

A philosopher dons a wet suit and journeys into the depths of consciousnessPeter Godfrey-Smith is a leading philosopher of science. He is also an accomplished scuba diver whose underwater videos of warring octopuses have attracted wide notice. In this book, he brings his parallel careers together to tell a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself. Mammals and birds are widely seen as the smartest creatures on earth. But one other branch of the tree of life has also sprouted surprising intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. New research shows that these marvelous creatures display remarkable gifts. What does it mean that intelligence on earth has evolved not once but twice? And that the mind of the octopus is nonetheless so different from our own? Combining science and philosophy with firsthand accounts of his cephalopod encounters, Godfrey-Smith shows how primitive organisms bobbing in the ocean began sending signals to each other and how these early forms of communication gave rise to the advanced nervous systems that permit cephalopods to change colors and human beings to speak. By tracing the problem of consciousness back to its roots and comparing the human brain to its most alien and perhaps most remarkable animal relative, Godfrey-Smith's Other Minds sheds new light on one of our most abiding mysteries.

?One of the most interesting discoveries I?ve seen in animal sociobiology in years.? ?E.O. Wilson Why do ravens, generally understood to be solitary creatures, share food between each other during winter? On the surface, there didn?t appear to be any biological or evolutionary imperative behind...  more

?One of the most interesting discoveries I?ve seen in animal sociobiology in years.? ?E.O. Wilson Why do ravens, generally understood to be solitary creatures, share food between each other during winter? On the surface, there didn?t appear to be any biological or evolutionary imperative behind the raven?s willingness to share. The more Bernd Heinrich observed their habits, the more odd the bird?s behavior became. What started as mere curiosity turned into an impassioned research project, and Ravens In Winter, the first research of its kind, explores the fascinating biological puzzle of the raven?s rather unconventional social habits. ?Bernd Heinrich is no ordinary biologist. He?s the sort who combines formidable scientific rigor with a sense of irony and an unslaked, boyish enthusiasm for his subject, and who even at his current professorial age seems to do a lot of tree climbing in the line of research.? ?David Quammen, The New York Times

The author of Damaged tells the story of the Dawn, a sweet and seemingly well-balanced girl whose outward appearance masks a traumatic childhood of suffering at the hands of the very people who should have cared for her. Dawn was the first girl Cathy Glass ever fostered. Sweet and seemingly well...  more

The author of Damaged tells the story of the Dawn, a sweet and seemingly well-balanced girl whose outward appearance masks a traumatic childhood of suffering at the hands of the very people who should have cared for her. Dawn was the first girl Cathy Glass ever fostered. Sweet and seemingly well balanced girl, Dawn's outward appearance masked a traumatic childhood so awful, that even she could not remember it. During the first night, Cathy awoke to see Dawn looming above Cathy's baby's cot, her eyes staring and blank. She sleepwalks?which Cathy learns is often a manifestation in disturbed children. It becomes a regular and frightening occurrence, and Cathy is horrified to find Dawn lighting a match while mumbling it's not my fault in her sleep one night. Cathy discovers Dawn is playing truant from school, and struggling to make friends. More worryingly she finds her room empty one night, and her pillow covered in blood. Dawn has been self-harming in order to release the pain of her past. When Dawn attempts suicide, Cathy realizes that she needs more help than she can give. Dawn's mother eventually confides in her that Dawn was sent away to live with relatives in Ireland between the ages of 5 and 9, and Cathy soon realizes that the horrors Dawn was exposed to during this time have left her a very disturbed little girl.

Find the answers to hundreds of life's most perplexing questions in this entertaining collection from the editors at Portable Press (the team behind the best-selling, award-winning Uncle John's Bathroom Reader line). Do Geese Get Goosebumps is 360 pages of simple explanations for complex...  more

Find the answers to hundreds of life's most perplexing questions in this entertaining collection from the editors at Portable Press (the team behind the best-selling, award-winning Uncle John's Bathroom Reader line). Do Geese Get Goosebumps is 360 pages of simple explanations for complex topics?everything from "Why is air transparent?" to "Why do late-night commercials always offer to throw in a second, identical product 'at no extra cost'?" Clearly written and thoroughly researched, this book will shed new light on science, history, politics, sports, animals, food, pop culture, and more. Some sample questions: Can an elephant cry crocodile tears? Why do clouds float? Why is abbreviation such a long word? What's in a hot dog? Why does Hawaii have interstate highways? What did they call a photographic memory before the invention of photography? Why does Superman wear his underwear on the outside? Why do dogs come when you call them, but cats ignore you? What's a male ballerina called? And much, much more!

For more than 25 years, Uncle John?s Bathroom Reader has helped you learn amazing things you didn?t know. Now, Uncle John will show you how to do things you didn?t know how to do�and probably should never, never, never actually do, unless you?re in a survival situation and really, really, really...  more

For more than 25 years, Uncle John?s Bathroom Reader has helped you learn amazing things you didn?t know. Now, Uncle John will show you how to do things you didn?t know how to do�and probably should never, never, never actually do, unless you?re in a survival situation and really, really, really need to do. It?s Uncle John?s How to Fight a Bear and Win. A new approach to survival guides and how-to books, this book provides step-by-step instructions for how to make do in any rugged terrain. But if you?re expecting �how to start a fire,? think again. This isn?t the kind of book that will tell you how to make a fire by rubbing two sticks together�it will tell you how to make a fire using a car battery. It will also tell you: � How to swing from a vine like Tarzan � How to land an airplane in an emergency � How to fight a bear�and win � How to perform emergency surgery in the woods � How to identify what insects you can�and cannot�eat And lots, lots more.

It all starts with your brain: how you think, how you feel, how you interact with others, and how well you succeed in realizing your goals and dreams. When your brain works right, so do you. When it’s out of balance, you feel frustrated, or worse. Yet amid all the advice that bombards us...  more

It all starts with your brain: how you think, how you feel, how you interact with others, and how well you succeed in realizing your goals and dreams. When your brain works right, so do you. When it’s out of balance, you feel frustrated, or worse. Yet amid all the advice that bombards us daily about how to keep the rest of our body strong and healthy, we hear very little about how to keep the most complex and magnificent organ of all—the human brain—in top working order. Based on the most up-to-date research, as well as on Dr. Daniel Amen’s more than twenty years of treating patients at the Amen Clinics, where he and his associates pioneered the use of brain imaging in clinical practice, Magnificent Mind at Any Age does exactly that. Dr. Amen shows how many of the traditional approaches to overcoming the mind-centered challenges that hold us back—try harder, work longer, find the sheer willpower—either do not work or may make our problems worse. The true key to satisfaction and success at any age is a healthy brain. By optimizing our brain function we can all develop these qualities of a magnificent mind enjoyed by the world’s most successful and happiest people: • Increased memory and concentration • The ability to maintain warm and satisfying relationships • Undiminished sexual desire and performance • Goal-oriented perseverance • Better impulse control and mastery over potential addictions • Free-flowing creativity and the ability to relax and enjoy life’s pleasures To achieve this, as Dr. Amen explains here in clearly accessible language, we have a range of options available, including proper diet, natural supplements and vitamins, exercise, positive thinking habits, and, if needed, medication. In addition to revealing how we can all take advantage of such strategies to enjoy the benefits of a balanced and healthy brain at every stage of our lives, Dr. Amen also pinpoints specific ways to tailor behavior, nutrition, and lifestyle to deal effectively with common mental challenges such as memory problems, anxiety and depression, attention deficit disorder, and insomnia. Whether you’re in the midst of a demanding career or are looking forward to an active and richly rewarding retirement, Magnificent Mind at Any Age can give you the edge you need to live every day to your fullest potential.

This shocking, lively exposure of the intellectual vacuity of today?s under thirty set reveals the disturbing and, ultimately, incontrovertible truth: cyberculture is turning us into a nation of know-nothings.Can a nation continue to enjoy political and economic predominance if its citizens...  more

This shocking, lively exposure of the intellectual vacuity of today?s under thirty set reveals the disturbing and, ultimately, incontrovertible truth: cyberculture is turning us into a nation of know-nothings.Can a nation continue to enjoy political and economic predominance if its citizens refuse to grow up? For decades, concern has been brewing about the dumbed-down popular culture available to young people and the impact it has on their futures. At the dawn of the digital age, many believed they saw a hopeful answer: The Internet, e-mail, blogs, and interactive and hyper-realistic video games promised to yield a generation of sharper, more aware, and intellectually sophisticated children. The terms ?information superhighway? and ?knowledge economy? entered the lexicon, and we assumed that teens would use their knowledge and understanding of technology to set themselves apart as the vanguards of this new digital era. That was the promise. But the enlightenment didn?t happen. The technology that was supposed to make young adults more astute, diversify their tastes, and improve their verbal skills has had the opposite effect. According to recent reports, most young people in the United States do not read literature, visit museums, or vote. They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount basic American history, name their local political representatives, or locate Iraq or Israel on a map. The Dumbest Generation is a startling examination of the intellectual life of young adults and a timely warning of its consequences for American culture and democracy. Drawing upon exhaustive research, personal anecdotes, and historical and social analysis, Mark Bauerline presents an uncompromisingly realistic portrait of the young American mind at this critical juncture, and lays out a compelling vision of how we might address its deficiencies.

Left in the wild, Billie the elephant would have spent her life surrounded by her family, free to wander the jungles of Asia. Instead, she was captured as a baby and shipped to America where she arrived in the mid 1950s, long before circus and zoo-goers worried about animal living conditions....  more

Left in the wild, Billie the elephant would have spent her life surrounded by her family, free to wander the jungles of Asia. Instead, she was captured as a baby and shipped to America where she arrived in the mid 1950s, long before circus and zoo-goers worried about animal living conditions. Billie spent her first years confined�in a tiny zoo yard giving rides to children. At 19, she was sold and groomed for life in the circus. Billie mastered difficult stunts: she could balance on her hind legs, walk on her front legs and perform one-foot handstands. For twenty-three years she dazzled audiences, but she lived a life of neglect and abuse. As years passed, Billie rebelled.�When�she�attacked and injured her trainer, a federal inspector ordered her taken off the road. For a decade she languished in a dusty barn. Finally, fate intervened. The U.S. Department of Agriculture removed Billie and fifteen other elephants as part of the largest elephant rescue in American history. Billie wound up at a sanctuary for performing elephants in Tennessee at 45, but she�thundered with anxiety in her new environment and refused to let anyone remove a chain still clamped around her leg. Last Chain on Billie charts the growing movement to rescue performing elephants from lives of misery, and tells the story of how one emotionally damaged elephant overcame her past and learned to trust humans again.

Back by popular demand, the mind-blowing follow-up to the bestselling 1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You. An all-new collection of entertaining and horrifying truths about us, our world, and why we’re totally screwed. With more disturbing facts and fun new topics,...  more

Back by popular demand, the mind-blowing follow-up to the bestselling 1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You. An all-new collection of entertaining and horrifying truths about us, our world, and why we’re totally screwed. With more disturbing facts and fun new topics, including weird celebrities, boobs, the internet, clowns, serial killers, sexual fetishes, bacon, Elvis, things that will eat you, and more. From stupid dead people to halitosis caused by constipation to a singer whose music can get you killed in some Jamaican neighborhoods, it’s all here—everything you need to know about the scary s#*t that surrounds all of us.  FACT: Men are four times as likely as women to be struck by lightning.  FACT: McDonald’s McRib sandwich contains some of the same ingredients used to manufacture gym mats and running shoes.  FACT: Möbius syndrome is a rare neurological disorder that renders victims unable to move their faces.  FACT: You can get an STD from a bikini wax.

It's an irresistible combination: Brad Meltzer, a born storyteller, counting down the world's most intriguing unsolved mysteries. And to make this richly illustrated book even richer, each chapter invites the reader along for an interactive experience through the addition of removable...  more

It's an irresistible combination: Brad Meltzer, a born storyteller, counting down the world's most intriguing unsolved mysteries. And to make this richly illustrated book even richer, each chapter invites the reader along for an interactive experience through the addition of removable facsimile documents -- the evidence! It's a treasure trove for conspiracy buffs, a Griffin and Sabine for history lovers. Adapted from Decoded, Meltzer’s hit show on the HISTORY network, History Decoded explores fascinating, unexplained questions. Is Fort Knox empty? Why was Hitler so intent on capturing the Roman “Spear of Destiny”? What’s the government hiding in Area 51? Where did the Confederacy’s $19 million in gold and silver go at the end of the Civil War? And did Lee Harvey Oswald really act alone? Meltzer sifts through the evidence; weighs competing theories;  separates what we know to be true with what’s still -- and perhaps forever -- unproved or unprovable; and in the end, decodes the mystery, arriving at the most likely solution. Along the way we meet Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Nazi propagandists, and the real DB Cooper. Bound in at the beginning of each story is a custom-designed envelope -- a faux 19th-century leather satchel, a U.S. government classified file -- containing facsimiles of relevant evidence: John Wilkes Booth’s alleged unsigned will, a map of the Vatican, Kennedy’s death certificate. The whole is a riveting, interactive adventure through the compelling world of mysteries and conspiracies. John Wilkes Booth : was Lincoln's assassin apprehended? -- Confederate gold : stolen treasure or hidden wealth of a new Confederacy? -- The Georgiai Guidestones : America's Stonehenge -- DB Cooper : American outlaw -- The White House : where is the cornerstone of democracy? -- The spear of destiny : history's most sacred relic -- The real Da Vinci code : did Leonardo predict an apocalypse? -- Is there any gold in Fort Knox? -- UFOs : inside Roswell and Area 51 -- The Kennedy assassination : the truth is out there

The gripping story of how Joseph Lister?s antiseptic method changed medicine foreverIn The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of nineteenth-century surgery and shows how it was transformed by advances made in germ theory and antiseptics between 1860 and...  more

The gripping story of how Joseph Lister?s antiseptic method changed medicine foreverIn The Butchering Art, the historian Lindsey Fitzharris reveals the shocking world of nineteenth-century surgery and shows how it was transformed by advances made in germ theory and antiseptics between 1860 and 1875. She conjures up early operating theaters?no place for the squeamish?and surgeons, working before anesthesia, who were lauded for their speed and brute strength. These pioneers knew that the aftermath of surgery was often more dangerous than patients? afflictions, and they were baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high. At a time when surgery couldn?t have been more hazardous, an unlikely figure stepped forward: a young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister, who would solve the riddle and change the course of history.Fitzharris dramatically reconstructs Lister?s career path to his audacious claim that germs were the source of all infection and could be countered by a sterilizing agent applied to wounds. She introduces us to Lister?s contemporaries?some of them brilliant, some outright criminal?and leads us through the grimy schools and squalid hospitals where they learned their art, the dead houses where they studied, and the cemeteries they ransacked for cadavers.Eerie and illuminating, The Butchering Art celebrates the triumph of a visionary surgeon whose quest to unite science and medicine delivered us into the modern world.

� Temple Grandin may be the most famous person with autism in America, a condition that affects one in 88 children. But when she was born in 1947, autism had only just been named. Since then, our understanding of it has undergone a great transformation, leading to more hope than ever before...  more

� Temple Grandin may be the most famous person with autism in America, a condition that affects one in 88 children. But when she was born in 1947, autism had only just been named. Since then, our understanding of it has undergone a great transformation, leading to more hope than ever before that we may finally learn the causes, treatments, and cures for autism. Reporting from the forefront to of autism science, Temple Grandin brings her singular perspective to a thrilling journey into the heart of the autism revolution. ? Weaving her own experience with remarkable new discoveries, Grandin introduces the advances in neuroimaging and genetic research that link brain science to behavior, even sharing her own brain scan to show which anomalies might explain common symptoms. In the way that only someone who truly understands autism can, she highlights long ignored sensory problems and the transformative effects that can come from treating autism according to each symptom rather than with an umbrella diagnosis. Most excitingly, and perhaps most importantly, she argues that raising and educating kids on the autism spectrum isn?t just a matter of focusing on their weaknesses; we must focus on their long-overlooked strengths to foster their unique contributions. The Autistic Brain is essential reading from the most respected and beloved voices in the field.

Cathy Glass has fostered fifty children over twenty years but none of them had been as disturbed as Jodie, a troubled eight-year-old whose violence and aggression had seen off five foster carers in just four months. When Jodie arrived, Cathy had no idea what lay beneath Jodie's shocking...  more

Cathy Glass has fostered fifty children over twenty years but none of them had been as disturbed as Jodie, a troubled eight-year-old whose violence and aggression had seen off five foster carers in just four months. When Jodie arrived, Cathy had no idea what lay beneath Jodie's shocking behaviour, which included smearing feces all over the house, erupting into violent rages and even cutting herself. Little by little, as Jodie's rage was met by patience and understanding, she began to trust Cathy, and to confide the dreadful background which had led to her present torment. Jodie's childhood had been an appaling litany of mistreatment and neglect, which should have alerted the numerous social work professionals involved with her case.  Jodie's case file was so big it filled two suitcases, but apparently not one of her social workers had ever read the entire file. If they had, Jodie's story and her future might have been very different.  Finally, in Cathy, Jodie found one adult worthy of her trust, one who could help her begin the process of recovery.

I wanted to know what they were experiencing, and why to us they feel so compelling, and so-close. This time I allowed myself to ask them the question that for a scientist was forbidden fruit: Who are you? Weaving decades of field observations with exciting new discoveries about the brain,...  more

I wanted to know what they were experiencing, and why to us they feel so compelling, and so-close. This time I allowed myself to ask them the question that for a scientist was forbidden fruit: Who are you? Weaving decades of field observations with exciting new discoveries about the brain, Carl Safina's landmark book offers an intimate view of animal behavior to challenge the fixed boundary between humans and nonhuman animals. In Beyond Words, readers travel to Amboseli National Park in the threatened landscape of Kenya and witness struggling elephant families work out how to survive poaching and drought, then to Yellowstone National Park to observe wolves sort out the aftermath of one pack's personal tragedy, and finally plunge into the astonishingly peaceful society of killer whales living in the crystalline waters of the Pacific Northwest. Beyond Words brings forth powerful and illuminating insight into the unique personalities of animals through extraordinary stories of animal joy, grief, jealousy, anger, and love. The similarity between human and nonhuman consciousness, self-awareness, and empathy calls us to re-evaluate how we interact with animals. Wise, passionate, and eye-opening at every turn, Beyond Words is ultimately a graceful examination of humanity's place in the world.

In its innovative magazines and books, Flow celebrates creativity, mindfulness, and the pleasures of paper through a uniquely appealing marriage of ideas and visuals -- beautiful illustrations and paintings created by a group of talented professional artists. Now those same artists have...  more

In its innovative magazines and books, Flow celebrates creativity, mindfulness, and the pleasures of paper through a uniquely appealing marriage of ideas and visuals -- beautiful illustrations and paintings created by a group of talented professional artists. Now those same artists have opened up their toolkits, sharing secrets, techniques, and point of view to teach the creatively curious how to draw. Here are 50 easy, illustrated step-by-step lessons on how to draw a whimsically curated list of the things we see and interact with every day: a bouquet of flowers, a watering can, a cat, mittens, favorite plants and vegetables, a cup and saucer, a kitchen table, fruit wrappers, a seagull, a dress collar, an apple tree. The lessons take us line by line from early sketch to finished drawing, with space alongside for the reader to draw the same. And unlike other beginner's drawing guides, every lesson stems from each artist's particular sensibility. This book is not about learning shapes, but how to create beautiful images with quirkiness and personality. The focus is not on perspective or shading, but the mindful pleasures of doing creative work. Included are special paper goodies, from the instructional (sheets of tracing paper, watercolor paper, colored paper for a singular effect) to the purely joyful -- postcards, a 32-page booklet with bellyband, paper doll foldouts, and more.

Hidden far from sight, deep in the thick underbrush of the North Florida woods are the ghostly graves of more than thirty unidentified bodies, some of which are thought to be children who were beaten to death at the old Florida Industrial School for Boys at Marianna. It is suspected that many...  more

Hidden far from sight, deep in the thick underbrush of the North Florida woods are the ghostly graves of more than thirty unidentified bodies, some of which are thought to be children who were beaten to death at the old Florida Industrial School for Boys at Marianna. It is suspected that many more bodies will be found in the fields and swamplands surrounding the institution. Investigations into the unmarked graves have compelled many grown men to come forward and share their stories of the abuses they endured and the atrocities they witnessed in the 1950s and 1960s at the institution.�����The White House Boys: An American Tragedy is the true story of the horrors recalled by Roger Dean Kiser, one of the boys incarcerated at the facility in the late fifties for the crime of being a confused, unwanted, and wayward child. In a style reminiscent of the works of Mark Twain, Kiser recollects the horrifying verbal, sexual, and physical abuse he and other innocent young boys endured at the hands of their "caretakers." Questions remain unanswered and theories abound, but Roger and the other 'White House Boys' are determined to learn the truth and see justice served.

A distinguished historian with over a decade inside the US Department of Defense shows how the downsizing of our armed forces lowers the nation?s defense and puts us at risk. In this stunningly detailed account of US military power in the Obama era, Mark Moyar reveals how Obama?s military...  more

A distinguished historian with over a decade inside the US Department of Defense shows how the downsizing of our armed forces lowers the nation?s defense and puts us at risk. In this stunningly detailed account of US military power in the Obama era, Mark Moyar reveals how Obama?s military decisions have led to the international catastrophes of his second term. While our current downward spiral did not grab the attention of the American people until 2014, Moyar finds its roots in Obama?s first-term decisions to shrink the US military and replace large overseas military commitments with ?light footprints.? Obama?s preoccupation with his political self-interest has consistently trumped the national interest. Moyar documents how Obama has failed to deliver on his substitutes for military power. Cutting through the chaff of partisan bickering with penetrating analysis, he homes in on the events and personalities driving failures across the globe. Moyar illustrates how Obama?s policies led to the rise of ISIS, and how conditions are primed for future cataclysms. He shows how the killing of the US ambassador at Benghazi was the result of a light-footprint approach in Libya, and reveals the problems stemming from our reliance on drone strikes. The ongoing military drawdown and international perceptions of Obama?s passivity have heightened the risks to America from her enemies. Drawing upon the lessons of Obama?s presidency, Moyar concludes by identifying a better way for US national security in the twenty-first century. Strategic Failure is a timely and fascinating opening salvo in the looming 2016 showdown between Republican and Democratic presidential contenders.

An inside look at a renowned marine biologist?s quest to save an abandoned, endangered seal pup �Only eleven hundred Hawaiian monk seals survive in the wild. Without intervention, they face certain extinction within fifty years. When a two-day-old Hawaiian monk seal pup, later named Kauai Pup 2,...  more

An inside look at a renowned marine biologist?s quest to save an abandoned, endangered seal pup �Only eleven hundred Hawaiian monk seals survive in the wild. Without intervention, they face certain extinction within fifty years. When a two-day-old Hawaiian monk seal pup, later named Kauai Pup 2, or KP2, is attacked and abandoned by his mother on a beach, he is rushed off on a journey that will take him across the ocean to the California marine lab of eminent wildlife biologist Dr. Terrie M. Williams. As Williams works with the boisterous KP2 to save his species, she forms a lasting bond with him that illustrates the importance of the survival of all earth?s creatures and the health of the world?s oceans.

For your Instant Pot�, electric pressure cooker, air fryer, slow cooker, multi-cooker, Dutch oven, sheet pan, skillet, and more, 140 healthy and delicious recipes that are big on flavor and low on calories and clean-up. The perfect resource for busy home cooks looking for easy, good-for-you...  more

For your Instant Pot�, electric pressure cooker, air fryer, slow cooker, multi-cooker, Dutch oven, sheet pan, skillet, and more, 140 healthy and delicious recipes that are big on flavor and low on calories and clean-up. The perfect resource for busy home cooks looking for easy, good-for-you dinnertime solutions, #1 New York Times bestselling author Gina Homolka incorporates her healthy, flavor-forward recipes with everyone's favorite way to cook -- in one vessel, whether a sheet pan or multicooker, and everything in between. No matter if you'd like to lose weight or just eat a little healthier, Skinnytaste will make your weeknight dinner routine even simpler with satisfying, all-in-one recipes. Cooking in a single vessel means streamlined dinners with minimal fuss, multitasking, and clean-up -- a huge plus after a long day. ���� Skinnytaste One and Done is organized by vessels that include everyday cooking equipment such as an Instant Pot�, sheet pan, Dutch oven, skillet, slow cooker, and air fryer. As always, the recipes are big on flavor and light on calories, and now more convenient than ever. With 140 healthy, family-friendly recipes, 120 full-color photos, nutritional information for every recipe, and Gina's signature cooking tips, Skinnytaste One and Done is a weeknight game changer.

Author, illustrator and comic book artist Yumi Sakugawa shares a wide range of useful and unexpected tips for looking and feeling better, streamlining and improving your home life, and creating fun and artsy DIY projects that can brighten your living space. Inspired by her popular ?Secret...  more

Author, illustrator and comic book artist Yumi Sakugawa shares a wide range of useful and unexpected tips for looking and feeling better, streamlining and improving your home life, and creating fun and artsy DIY projects that can brighten your living space. Inspired by her popular ?Secret Yumiverse? tips originally posted on WonderHowTo.com, The Little Book of Life Hacks offers a wide range of practical advice and fun tips for everything from how to: - Remove dark circles from under your eyes - Make cold brew iced coffee at home - Throw the perfect apartment party on a budget - Work out at home without a gym membership - Take the perfect afternoon power nap...and more! Featuring Yumi?s signature hand-drawn illustrations throughout, The Little Book of Life Hacks is a distinctive and perfect gift for recent graduates and young working women who want to learn practical ways to organize and improve their daily life while still having fun.

A book for dog lovers everywhere. Celebrating the amazing relationships shared with our four-legged friends, each story recounts the love of dogs and the powerful ways dogs impact our lives. In this heartwarming collection of stories, readers meet 38 incredible dogs who have gone above and...  more

A book for dog lovers everywhere. Celebrating the amazing relationships shared with our four-legged friends, each story recounts the love of dogs and the powerful ways dogs impact our lives. In this heartwarming collection of stories, readers meet 38 incredible dogs who have gone above and beyond the job description of best friend. Each uplifting story provides an inspiring look at the animals who change our lives. Meet rescue dogs who learn to serve others, working dogs who go beyond the call of duty, and underdogs who surmount extraordinary challenges on the road to finding their forever home. This treasury of man's best friend features photographs and personal anecdotes from those who have been touched by the selfless love of a beloved pet. Readers will be inspired by... ��*��Extraordinary reunions: A dog is rescued from Aleppo, Syria, and reunited with his family in Canada, where they had relocated in 2015 after a missile destroyed their home. ��*��Friendships meant to be: When a prosthetics clinic scheduled appointments for 9-year-old Avery and shelter puppy Hattie Mae on the same day, a fateful encounter leads to a lifelong friendship built on combatting disability. ��*��Heroic acts: Shaya, a crime-fighting dog trained to track illegal poachers, hurt his leg chasing an injured rhino. The leg had to be amputated, but Shaya goes right back to work protecting animals. ��*��True devotion: As he was participating in China's Four Deserts Gobi March, a six-day foot race, Dion Leonard met a dedicated pup who accompanied him for about 120 miles. Afterward, he decides to adopt the dog.

Hitler had declared: 'National Socialism will be an exclusively male revolution', while his cynical spin doctor Goebbels attempted to justify the exclusion of women from politics and public life by declaring that they were being denied an active role in the administration so that their...  more

Hitler had declared: 'National Socialism will be an exclusively male revolution', while his cynical spin doctor Goebbels attempted to justify the exclusion of women from politics and public life by declaring that they were being denied an active role in the administration so that their 'essential dignity be restored'. Nevertheless, German women were active participants in the dictatorship, some proving to be as brutal and merciless as their male counterparts.

The names Klaus Barbie, Adolf Eichmann, Hermann Goering, Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler and Ernst Kaltenbrunner struck terror into law-abiding citizens let alone those who resisted Adolf Hitler. These men were leaders of the Gestapo, the secret police during the times of the Nazis. This...  more

The names Klaus Barbie, Adolf Eichmann, Hermann Goering, Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler and Ernst Kaltenbrunner struck terror into law-abiding citizens let alone those who resisted Adolf Hitler. These men were leaders of the Gestapo, the secret police during the times of the Nazis. This book outlines who the Gestapo were, how they operated, what their numbers were, the terrible crimes they committed and how they paid for these in the end when they were hunted down after the war.This history details how the Gestapo came to power in the wake of the Reichstag fire, how they purged the Brown Shirts during the Night of the Long Knives, how they held Berlin in grip of terror during the 1936 Olympic Games and how they went to play an evil role in the rounding up of victims to be sent to the concentration camps. Focuses on prominent Nazis, including Adolf Hitler, and explains the crucial role the Gestapo played in the power structure of the Third Reich. Fully illustrated. Not for the faint-hearted.

The first published work by one of the central figures in twentieth century literature.While in a Russian-administered holding camp in Katowice, Poland, in 1945, Primo Levi was asked to provide a report on living conditions in Auschwitz. Published the following year, it was then forgotten, and...  more

The first published work by one of the central figures in twentieth century literature.While in a Russian-administered holding camp in Katowice, Poland, in 1945, Primo Levi was asked to provide a report on living conditions in Auschwitz. Published the following year, it was then forgotten, and has until now remained unknown to a wider public.Dating from the weeks and months immediately after the war, Auschwitz Report represents Levi's first yet still astonishingly lucid attempts to come to terms with the raw horror of events that would drive him to create some of the greatest works of twentieth century literature. It details the deportation to Auschwitz, selections for work and extermination, everyday life in the camp, and the organization and working of restraint, Auschwitz Report is a major literary and historical discovery.

Came to my plantation, in Springfield township, Philadelphia county, near Flour-town, the 26th of March 1776, A STRANGE RED COW. The owner may have her again, on proving his property, and paying charges. PHILIP MILLER. —May 1, 1776, The Pennsylvania GazetteTo sift through classifieds from...  more

Came to my plantation, in Springfield township, Philadelphia county, near Flour-town, the 26th of March 1776, A STRANGE RED COW. The owner may have her again, on proving his property, and paying charges. PHILIP MILLER. —May 1, 1776, The Pennsylvania GazetteTo sift through classifieds from any era is to uncover the practical needs or urgent desires of a community during a particular period of time. By definition, the classified advertisement is released for public consumption, yet often it tells a very private story: a precious keepsake misplaced, an intimate relationship sought, even a young child kidnapped. At times shocking, often amusing, and always enlightening, these brief notices offer rare glimpses into who we are, what we value, and where we’re going. And yet they have always been the most ephemeral of artifacts, tossed and forgotten without a second thought. Until now. While researching a historical documentary, Sara Bader stumbled upon something that transported her back in time: an eighteenth-century classified ad about a lost red cow. Authentic and evocative, this discovery inspired a search for more of these vivid scenes from everyday life, past and present. In Strange Red Cow, Bader presents a sampling of ads from as far back as 1704 up through contemporary Internet postings, sorted and assembled thematically. She places these micro messages in a broader context, revealing intimate stories of American history and popular culture. By turns humorous, heartbreaking, and insightful, Strange Red Cow offers a new lens through which to observe our evolution as a nation and a people.From America’s first newspaper classified in 1704 to today’s online postings, Strange Red Cow captures, in colorful detail, scenes of everyday life in the first-ever overview of the nation’s unofficial history text: the classified ads.“If we strain to identify with those who commuted in horse-drawn carriages and depended on candles to light their corridors, these ads can personally introduce us. They had good days and bad days; they got distracted, disorganized, and like us, left important things be-hind. That our collective ancestors forgot their books in carriages, left their capes on battlefields, and dropped their keys and their cash is oddly reassuring. We are still losing our stuff today, though what we own and wear and carry with us—and what we decide to return and retrieve—inevitably changes over time.” —From Strange Red Cow

Animals, and our ever-changing relationship with them, have left an indelible mark on human history. From the dawn of our existence, animals and humans have been constantly redefining their relationship with one another, and entire civilizations have risen and fallen upon this curious bond we...  more

Animals, and our ever-changing relationship with them, have left an indelible mark on human history. From the dawn of our existence, animals and humans have been constantly redefining their relationship with one another, and entire civilizations have risen and fallen upon this curious bond we share with our fellow fauna. Brian Fagan unfolds this fascinating story from the first wolf who wandered into our prehistoric ancestors' camp and found companionship, to empires built on the backs of horses, donkeys, and camels, to the industrial age when some animals became commodities, often brutally exploited, and others became pets, nurtured and pampered, sometimes to absurd extremes.Through an in-depth analysis of six truly transformative human-animal relationships, Fagan shows how our habits and our very way of life were considerably and irreversibly altered by our intimate bond with animals. Among other stories, Fagan explores how herding changed human behavior; how the humble donkey helped launch the process of globalization; and how the horse carried a hearty band of nomads across the world and toppled the emperor of China. With characteristic care and penetrating insight, Fagan reveals the profound influence that animals have exercised on human history and how, in fact, they often drove it.

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice In the winter of 2000, shortly after his mother's death, Donald Antrim began writing about his family. In pieces that appeared in The New Yorker and were anthologized in Best American Essays, Antrim explored his intense and complicated relationships...  more

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice In the winter of 2000, shortly after his mother's death, Donald Antrim began writing about his family. In pieces that appeared in The New Yorker and were anthologized in Best American Essays, Antrim explored his intense and complicated relationships with his mother, Louanne, an artist, teacher, and ferociously destabilizing alcoholic; his gentle grandfather, who lived in the mountains of North Carolina and who always hoped to save his daughter from herself; and his father, who married his mother twice. The Afterlife is an elliptical, sometimes tender, sometimes blackly hilarious portrait of a family--faulty, cracked, enraging--and of a man struggling to learn the nature of his origins.

Stepping effortlessly from myth to cutting-edge science, Mutants gives a brilliant narrative account of our genetic code and the captivating people whose bodies have revealed it—a French convent girl who found herself changing sex at puberty; children who, echoing Homer’s Cyclops, ...  more

Stepping effortlessly from myth to cutting-edge science, Mutants gives a brilliant narrative account of our genetic code and the captivating people whose bodies have revealed it—a French convent girl who found herself changing sex at puberty; children who, echoing Homer’s Cyclops, are born with a single eye in the middle of their foreheads; a village of long-lived Croatian dwarves; one family, whose bodies were entirely covered with hair, was kept at the Burmese royal court for four generations and gave Darwin one of his keenest insights into heredity. This elegant, humane, and engaging book "captures what we know of the development of what makes us human" (Nature).

Longtime readers have come to understand that Outside?s true gift is in chronicling misadventure. The Darkest Places chronicles mysterious disappearances, unsolved murders, and deadly disasters, taking us to far-flung places no sane person would want to go.

In Tamed, Alice Roberts uncovers the deep history of 10�familiar species with incredible wild pasts: dogs, apples and wheat; cattle, potatoes and chickens; rice, maize and horses?and, finally, humans.�She reveals how becoming part of our world changed these animals and plants, and shows how they...  more

In Tamed, Alice Roberts uncovers the deep history of 10�familiar species with incredible wild pasts: dogs, apples and wheat; cattle, potatoes and chickens; rice, maize and horses?and, finally, humans.�She reveals how becoming part of our world changed these animals and plants, and shows how they became our allies, essential to the survival and success of our own species. Enlightening, wide-ranging and endlessly fascinating, Tamed encompasses thousands of years of history and archaeology alongside cutting-edge genetics and anthropology. Yet it is also a deeply personal journey that changes how we see ourselves and the species on which we have left our mark.

A groundbreaking look at the connection between germs and mental illness, and how we can protect ourselves. Is it possible to catch autism or OCD the same way we catch the flu? Can a child's contact with cat litter lead to schizophrenia? In her eye-opening new book, National Book Critics...  more

A groundbreaking look at the connection between germs and mental illness, and how we can protect ourselves. Is it possible to catch autism or OCD the same way we catch the flu? Can a child's contact with cat litter lead to schizophrenia? In her eye-opening new book, National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Harriet Washington reveals that we can in fact "catch" mental illness. In INFECTIOUS MADNESS, Washington presents the new germ theory, which posits not only that many instances of Alzheimer's, OCD, and schizophrenia are caused by viruses, prions, and bacteria, but also that with antibiotics, vaccinations, and other strategies, these cases can be easily prevented or treated. Packed with cutting-edge research and tantalizing mysteries, INFECTIOUS MADNESS is rich in science, characters, and practical advice on how to protect yourself and your children from exposure to infectious threats that could sabotage your mental and physical health.

**?Science Friday? Summer Reading Pick** **Discover magazine Top 5 Summer Reads** **People magazine Best Summer Reads** ?[A] lovely, big-hearted book?brimming with compassion and the tales of the many, many humans who devote their days to making animals well.? ?The New York Times Have you...  more

**?Science Friday? Summer Reading Pick** **Discover magazine Top 5 Summer Reads** **People magazine Best Summer Reads** ?[A] lovely, big-hearted book?brimming with compassion and the tales of the many, many humans who devote their days to making animals well.? ?The New York Times Have you ever wondered if your dog might be a bit depressed? How about heartbroken or homesick? Animal Madness takes these questions seriously, exploring the topic of mental health and recovery in the animal kingdom and turning up lessons that Publishers Weekly calls ?Illuminating?Braitman?s delightful balance of humor and poignancy brings each case of life?.[Animal Madness?s] continuous dose of hope should prove medicinal for humans and animals alike.? Susan Orlean calls Animal Madness ?a marvelous, smart, eloquent book?as much about human emotion as it is about animals and their inner lives.? It is ?a gem?that can teach us much about the wildness of our own minds? (Psychology Today).

Written by two leading researchers on Jack the Ripper, this popular, in-depth study of the most renowned serial killer in history now comes in a new, smaller size. Over 100 years have elapsed since what is believed to have been Jack the Ripper's final killing, yet hundreds of books, television...  more

Written by two leading researchers on Jack the Ripper, this popular, in-depth study of the most renowned serial killer in history now comes in a new, smaller size. Over 100 years have elapsed since what is believed to have been Jack the Ripper's final killing, yet hundreds of books, television programs, and films continue to be produced every year on the subject. Jack the Ripper transports readers back to the London of 1888 through CGI artwork and unique reconstructions of the Ripper's murders, created with pinpoint accuracy. These detailed and atmospheric crime-scene re-creations, supported by a fascinating, expertly researched text, give readers the most complete view to date of the gruesome homicides that shook Victorian society.

"Bradley is sharp and rueful, and a voice for a more seasoned, constructive vision of our international relations with East Asia." --Christian Science Monitor James Bradley introduces us to the prominent Americans--including FDR's grandfather, Warren Delano--who in the 1800s made their...  more

"Bradley is sharp and rueful, and a voice for a more seasoned, constructive vision of our international relations with East Asia." --Christian Science Monitor James Bradley introduces us to the prominent Americans--including FDR's grandfather, Warren Delano--who in the 1800s made their fortunes in the China opium trade. Meanwhile, American missionaries sought a myth: noble Chinese peasants eager to Westernize. The media propagated this mirage, and FDR believed that supporting Chiang Kai-shek would make China America's best friend in Asia. But Chiang was on his way out and when Mao Zedong instead came to power, Americans were shocked, wondering how we had "lost China." From the 1850s to the origins of the Vietnam War, Bradley reveals how American misconceptions about China have distorted our policies and led to the avoidable deaths of millions. The China Mirage dynamically explores the troubled history that still defines U.S.-Chinese relations today.

“An extraordinary act of historical recovery.”—The New Yorker     As part of the Allied forces, thousands of Kenyans fought alongside the British in World War II. But just a few years after the defeat of Hitler, the British colonial government detained...  more

“An extraordinary act of historical recovery.”—The New Yorker     As part of the Allied forces, thousands of Kenyans fought alongside the British in World War II. But just a few years after the defeat of Hitler, the British colonial government detained nearly the entire population of Kenya’s largest ethnic minority, the Kikuyu—some one and a half million people.     The compelling story of the system of prisons and work camps where thousands met their deaths was the victim of a determined effort by the British to destroy all official records of their attempts to stop the Mau Mau uprising. Caroline Elkins spent a decade in London, Nairobi, and the Kenyan countryside interviewing hundreds of survivors of the camps and the British and African loyalists who detained them.     The result is an unforgettable account of the unraveling of the British colonial empire in Kenya—a pivotal moment in twentieth- century history with chilling parallels to America’s own imperial project.“Elkins has bravely done justice to history.” —The Nation“A vivid portrait of daily life behind the wire.” —The Economist“An important and excruciating record. It will shock even those who think they have assumed the worst about Europe’s era of control in Africa.” —The New York Times Book Review

A deeply researched and atmospheric murder mystery of late Victorian-era London.  In the summer of 1895, Robert Coombes (age 13) and his brother Nattie (age 12) were seen spending lavishly around the docklands of East London -- for ten days in July, they ate out at coffee houses and took...  more

A deeply researched and atmospheric murder mystery of late Victorian-era London.  In the summer of 1895, Robert Coombes (age 13) and his brother Nattie (age 12) were seen spending lavishly around the docklands of East London -- for ten days in July, they ate out at coffee houses and took trips to the seaside and the theater. The boys told neighbors they had been left home alone while their mother visited family in Liverpool, but their aunt was suspicious. When she eventually forced the brothers to open the house to her, she found the badly decomposed body of their mother in a bedroom upstairs. Robert and Nattie were arrested for matricide and sent for trial at the Old Bailey. Robert confessed to having stabbed his mother, but his lawyers argued that he was insane. Nattie struck a plea and gave evidence against his brother. The court heard testimony about Robert's severe headaches, his fascination with violent criminals and his passion for 'penny dreadfuls', the pulp fiction of the day. He seemed to feel no remorse for what he had done, and neither the prosecution nor the defense could find a motive for the murder. The judge sentenced the thirteen-year-old to detention in Broadmoor, the most infamous criminal lunatic asylum in the land. Yet Broadmoor turned out to be the beginning of a new life for Robert--one that would have profoundly shocked anyone who thought they understood the Wicked Boy. At a time of great tumult and uncertainty, Robert Coombes's case crystallized contemporary anxieties about the education of the working classes, the dangers of pulp fiction, and evolving theories of criminality, childhood, and insanity. With riveting detail and rich atmosphere, Kate Summerscale recreates this terrible crime and its aftermath, uncovering an extraordinary story of man's capacity to overcome the past.

Find Out Who's Normal and Who's Not: The proven system to to quickly assess anyone's emotional stability

In Ramp Hollow, Steven Stoll offers a fresh, provocative account of Appalachia, and why it matters. He begins with the earliest European settlers, whose desire for vast forests to hunt in was frustrated by absentee owners -- including George Washington and other founders -- who laid claim...  more

In Ramp Hollow, Steven Stoll offers a fresh, provocative account of Appalachia, and why it matters. He begins with the earliest European settlers, whose desire for vast forests to hunt in was frustrated by absentee owners -- including George Washington and other founders -- who laid claim to the region. Even as Daniel Boone became famous as a backwoods hunter and guide, the economy he represented was already in peril. Within just a few decades, Appalachian hunters and farmers went from pioneers to pariahs, from heroes to hillbillies, in the national imagination, and the area was locked into an enduring association with poverty and backwardness. Stoll traces these developments with empathy and precision, examining crucial episodes such as the Whiskey Rebellion, the founding of West Virginia, and the arrival of timber and coal companies that set off a devastating “scramble for Appalachia.” At the center of Ramp Hollow is Stoll’s sensitive portrayal of Appalachian homesteads. Perched upon ridges and tucked into hollows, they combined small-scale farming and gardening with expansive foraging and hunting, along with distilling and trading, to achieve self-sufficiency and resist the dependence on cash and credit arising elsewhere in the United States. But the industrialization of the mountains shattered the ecological balance that sustained the households. Ramp Hollow recasts the story of Appalachia as a complex struggle between mountaineers and profit-seeking forces from outside the region. Drawing powerful connections between Appalachia and other agrarian societies around the world, Stoll demonstrates the vitality of a peasant way of life that mixes farming with commerce but is not dominated by a market mind-set. His original investigation, ranging widely from history to literature, art, and economics, questions our assumptions about progress and development, and exposes the devastating legacy of dispossession and its repercussions today.

To be the child of a compulsive hoarder is to live in a permanent state of unease. Because if my mother is one of those crazy junk-house people, then what does that make me? When her divorced mother was diagnosed with cancer, New York City writer Jessie Sholl returned to her hometown of...  more

To be the child of a compulsive hoarder is to live in a permanent state of unease. Because if my mother is one of those crazy junk-house people, then what does that make me? When her divorced mother was diagnosed with cancer, New York City writer Jessie Sholl returned to her hometown of Minneapolis to help her prepare for her upcoming surgery and get her affairs in order. While a daunting task for any adult dealing with an aging parent, it’s compounded for Sholl by one lifelong, complex, and confounding truth: her mother is a compulsive hoarder. Dirty Secret is a daughter’s powerful memoir of confronting her mother’s disorder, of searching for the normalcy that was never hers as a child, and, finally, cleaning out the clutter of her mother’s home in the hopes of salvaging the true heart of their relationship—before it’s too late. Growing up, young Jessie knew her mother wasn’t like other mothers: chronically disorganized, she might forgo picking Jessie up from kindergarten to spend the afternoon thrift store shopping. Now, tracing the downward spiral in her mother’s hoarding behavior to the death of a long-time boyfriend, she bravely wades into a pathological sea of stuff: broken appliances, moldy cowboy boots, twenty identical pairs of graying bargain-bin sneakers, abandoned arts and crafts, newspapers, magazines, a dresser drawer crammed with discarded eyeglasses, shovelfuls of junk mail . . . the things that become a hoarder’s “treasures.” With candor, wit, and not a drop of sentimentality, Jessie Sholl explores the many personal and psychological ramifications of hoarding while telling an unforgettable mother-daughter tale.

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled "quiet," it is to...  more

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled "quiet," it is to introverts that we owe many of the great contributions to society--from van Gogh?s sunflowers to the invention of the personal computer. Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. Taking the reader on a journey from Dale Carnegie?s birthplace to Harvard Business School, from a Tony Robbins seminar to an evangelical megachurch, Susan Cain charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal in the twentieth century and explores its far-reaching effects. She talks to Asian-American students who feel alienated from the brash, backslapping atmosphere of American schools. She questions the dominant values of American business culture, where forced collaboration can stand in the way of innovation, and where the leadership potential of introverts is often overlooked. And she draws on cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience to reveal the surprising differences between extroverts and introverts. Perhaps most inspiring, she introduces us to successful introverts--from a witty, high-octane public speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the power of questions. Finally, she offers invaluable advice on everything from how to better negotiate differences in introvert-extrovert relationships to how to empower an introverted child to when it makes sense to be a "pretend extrovert." This extraordinary book has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how introverts see themselves.

From stand-up comedian, actress, and breakout star of Girls Trip Tiffany Haddish, comes The Last Black Unicorn, a sidesplitting, hysterical, edgy, and unflinching collection of (extremely) personal essays, as fearless as the author herself. Growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods of...  more

From stand-up comedian, actress, and breakout star of Girls Trip Tiffany Haddish, comes The Last Black Unicorn, a sidesplitting, hysterical, edgy, and unflinching collection of (extremely) personal essays, as fearless as the author herself. Growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles, Tiffany learned to survive by making people laugh. If she could do that, then her classmates would let her copy their homework, the other foster kids she lived with wouldn?t beat her up, and she might even get a boyfriend. Or at least she could make enough money?as the paid school mascot and in-demand Bar Mitzvah hype woman?to get her hair and nails done, so then she might get a boyfriend. None of that worked (and she?s still single), but it allowed Tiffany to imagine a place for herself where she could do something she loved for a living: comedy. Tiffany can?t avoid being funny?it?s just who she is, whether she?s plotting shocking, jaw-dropping revenge on an ex-boyfriend or learning how to handle her newfound fame despite still having a broke person?s mind-set. Finally poised to become a household name, she recounts with heart and humor how she came from nothing and nowhere to achieve her dreams by owning, sharing, and using her pain to heal others. By turns hilarious, filthy, and brutally honest, The Last Black Unicorn shows the world who Tiffany Haddish really is?humble, grateful, down-to-earth, and funny as hell. And now, she?s ready to inspire others through the power of laughter.

The ?fur-and-feathers Oliver Sacks? (New York Times), pioneering veterinarian Nicholas Dodman recounts his ?riveting stories? (Judith L. Rapoport, MD, author of The Boy Who Couldn?t Stop Washing) of treating animals with all-too-human problems in this ?fascinating read for anyone who wants to...  more

The ?fur-and-feathers Oliver Sacks? (New York Times), pioneering veterinarian Nicholas Dodman recounts his ?riveting stories? (Judith L. Rapoport, MD, author of The Boy Who Couldn?t Stop Washing) of treating animals with all-too-human problems in this ?fascinating read for anyone who wants to know how the animal mind works? (Stanley Coren, author of The Intelligence of Dogs). Internationally renowned veterinarian Dr. Nicholas Dodman breaks new ground with the practice of One Medicine, the profound recognition that humans? and other animals? minds and emotions work in similar ways. Racehorses with Tourette?s Syndrome, spinning dogs with epilepsy, cats with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, feather-plucking parrots with anxiety, and a diffident Bull Terrier with autism?these astonishing cases were all helped by One Medicine. Traditional treatments did not cure the behaviors because they treated the symptoms as disorders of the body, rather than problems of the mind. ?This book itself is powerful medicine,? writes Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus. ?Compelling?Dodman injects empathy into a world where sympathy previously reigned,? praised Publishers Weekly. ?With much charm and compassion? (Susan Richards, author of Chosen by a Horse), Pets on the Couch raises our understanding of our pets? complex interior lives and mental abilities, leading to a greater appreciation of them and the bonds we share.

He'd been her friend for years. He said he loved her. Then she realised she didn't know him at all... When everything seemed to be falling apart in Sophie's life, she was thankful for her friend Kas, who was always at the end of a phone, ready to listen and to offer comfort and...  more

He'd been her friend for years. He said he loved her. Then she realised she didn't know him at all... When everything seemed to be falling apart in Sophie's life, she was thankful for her friend Kas, who was always at the end of a phone, ready to listen and to offer comfort and advice.Her father's cold dislike of her and then her parents' divorce had left her with a deep distrust of men. But, gradually, Kas made her believe there was at least one man who truly cared about her. But she was wrong. At first when Sophie went to stay for a few days with Kas in Italy, he was kind and caring, as he'd always been. But three days after she arrived, everything changed. His eyes were cold as he described the things he expected her to do `for love'. But soon Sophie's bewilderment turned to fear as he punched and shouted at her and threatened to kill her adored younger brothers if she didn't do exactly as she was told...to sell her body on the streets to pay off Kas's debts. Terrified of Kas, the police and the men whose pleasures she was forced to satisfy, Sophie worked seven nights a week for the next six months on the dark and lonely streets of a town in northern Italy. Subjected regularly to Kas's verbal, mental and physical abuse, she knew she would never escape. And then, one day, after she'd been admitted to hospital with stomach pains -- and knowing that Kas would kill her if he found out -- she dared to phone her mother. But who would reach her first?

Catherine Gildiner is a bestselling memoirist, a novelist, and a psychologist in private practice for twenty-five years. In Good Morning, Monster, she focuses on five patients who overcame enormous trauma--people she considers heroes. With a novelist's storytelling gift, Gildiner...  more

Catherine Gildiner is a bestselling memoirist, a novelist, and a psychologist in private practice for twenty-five years. In Good Morning, Monster, she focuses on five patients who overcame enormous trauma--people she considers heroes. With a novelist's storytelling gift, Gildiner recounts the details of their struggles, their paths to recovery, and her own tale of growth as a therapist. The five cases include a successful but lonely musician suffering sexual dysfunction; a young woman whose father abandoned her and her siblings in a rural cottage; an Indigenous man who'd endured great trauma at a residential school; a young woman whose abuse at the hands of her father led to a severe personality disorder; and a glamorous workaholic whose negligent mother had greeted her each morning with "Good morning, Monster." Each patient presents a mystery, one that will only be unpacked over years. They seek Gildiner's help to overcome an immediate challenge in their lives, but discover that the source of their suffering has been long buried. It will take courage to face those realities, and creativity and resourcefulness from their therapist. Each patient embodies self-reflection, stoicism, perseverance, and forgiveness as they work unflinchingly to face the truth. Gildiner's account of her journeys with them is moving, insightful, and sometimes humorous. It offers a behind-the-scenes look into the therapist's office and explains how the process can heal even the most unimaginable wounds.

Dig deep into the unsolved murder of Jackie English and join the hunt for a serial killer Fifty years ago, a serial killer prowled the quiet city of London, Ontario, marking it as his hunting grounds. As young women and boys were abducted, raped, and murdered, residents of the area held their...  more

Dig deep into the unsolved murder of Jackie English and join the hunt for a serial killer Fifty years ago, a serial killer prowled the quiet city of London, Ontario, marking it as his hunting grounds. As young women and boys were abducted, raped, and murdered, residents of the area held their loved ones closer and closer, terrified of the monster ? or monsters ? stalking the streets. Homicide detective Dennis Alsop began hunting the killer in the 1960s, and he didn?t stop searching until his death 40 years later. For decades, detectives, actual and armchair, and the victims? families and friends continued to ask questions: Who was the Forest City Killer? Was there more than one person, or did a depraved individual commit all of these crimes on his own? Combing through the files Detective Alsop left behind, researcher Vanessa Brown reopens the cases, revealing previously unpublished witness statements, details of evidence, and astonishing revelations. And through her investigation, Vanessa posits the unthinkable: is it possible that the Forest City Killer is still alive and, like the notorious Golden State Killer, a simple DNA test could bring him to justice?

A masterly and moving account of the most horrific hidden atrocity of World War II: Ravensbrück, the only Nazi concentration camp built for women   On a sunny morning in May 1939 a phalanx of 867 women—housewives, doctors, opera singers, politicians, prostitutes—was...  more

A masterly and moving account of the most horrific hidden atrocity of World War II: Ravensbrück, the only Nazi concentration camp built for women   On a sunny morning in May 1939 a phalanx of 867 women—housewives, doctors, opera singers, politicians, prostitutes—was marched through the woods fifty miles north of Berlin, driven on past a shining lake, then herded in through giant gates. Whipping and kicking them were scores of German women guards. Their destination was Ravensbrück, a concentration camp designed specifically for women by Heinrich Himmler, prime architect of the Holocaust. By the end of the war 130,000 women from more than twenty different European countries had been imprisoned there; among the prominent names were Geneviève de Gaulle, General de Gaulle’s niece, and Gemma La Guardia Gluck, sister of the wartime mayor of New York.  Only a small number of these women were Jewish; Ravensbrück was largely a place for the Nazis to eliminate other inferior beings—social outcasts, Gypsies, political enemies, foreign resisters, the sick, the disabled, and the “mad.” Over six years the prisoners endured beatings, torture, slave labor, starvation, and random execution. In the final months of the war, Ravensbrück became an extermination camp. Estimates of the final death toll by April 1945 have ranged from 30,000 to 90,000. For decades the story of Ravensbrück was hidden behind the Iron Curtain, and today it is still little known. Using testimony unearthed since the end of the Cold War and interviews with survivors who have never talked before, Sarah Helm has ventured into the heart of the camp, demonstrating for the reader in riveting detail how easily and quickly the unthinkable horror evolved.  Far more than a catalog of atrocities, however, Ravensbrück is also a compelling account of what one survivor called “the heroism, superhuman tenacity, and exceptional willpower to survive.” For every prisoner whose strength failed, another found the will to resist through acts of self-sacrifice and friendship, as well as sabotage, protest, and escape.  While the core of this book is told from inside the camp, the story also sheds new light on the evolution of the wider genocide, the impotence of the world to respond, and Himmler’s final attempt to seek a separate peace with the Allies using the women of Ravensbrück as a bargaining chip. Chilling, inspiring, and deeply unsettling, Ravensbrück is a groundbreaking work of historical investigation. With rare clarity, it reminds us of the capacity of humankind both for bestial cruelty and for courage against all odds.

The unparalleled record of Jonestown, an American tragedy of historic proportions and a puzzle the world still grapples to understand. For the first time in paperback, Tim Reiterman's Raven provides the definitive history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at...  more

The unparalleled record of Jonestown, an American tragedy of historic proportions and a puzzle the world still grapples to understand. For the first time in paperback, Tim Reiterman's Raven provides the definitive history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at Jonestown three decades ago. This PEN Award-winning work explores the ideals-gone-wrong, the intrigue, and the grim realities behind the Peoples Temple and its implosion in the jungle of South America. Reiterman's reportage clarifies enduring misperceptions of the character and motives of Jim Jones, the reasons why people followed him, and the important truth that many of those who perished at Jonestown were victims of mass murder rather than suicide. This widely sought work is restored to print after many years with a new preface by the author, as well as the more than sixty-five rare photographs from the original volume. "Unquestionably emerges as the most valuable book on Jonestown to date ... Every piece of the puzzle is here." ~ David Evanier, National Review "An extraordinary inquiry into the individual pathology of Jim Jones ... To assemble this portrait obviously required staggering research. The writing is sensitive and lucid. The result is a document which will illumine a dark corner of our era." ~ Daniel Schorr Published again in 2008

The powerful, heartbreaking, yet hopeful, story of Steve McGarva's heroic crusade to save the satos, or stray dogs of Puerto Rico, and an impassioned appeal to help all animals in need Looking for inspiration and adventure in their lives, Steve McGarva and his wife Pam moved to Puerto...  more

The powerful, heartbreaking, yet hopeful, story of Steve McGarva's heroic crusade to save the satos, or stray dogs of Puerto Rico, and an impassioned appeal to help all animals in need Looking for inspiration and adventure in their lives, Steve McGarva and his wife Pam moved to Puerto Rico. While kite surfing at Playa Lucia, Steve made a shocking discovery-a sick and abandoned dog-that would transform his life. With its shimmering white sand, palm trees, and dazzling azure water, the beach looked postcard perfect. But its beauty hid a dark side: To the locals, this slice of paradise was known as Dead Dog Beach-a notorious dumping ground for the island's unwanted canines. Considered a threat to the area's lucrative tourism industry, these defenseless animals were in constant danger of brutality and death. Enraged, and refusing to accept such cruelty, McGarva began protecting these helpless animals-actions that would jeopardize his marriage, challenge his sanity, and make him a target of locals determined to stop him. The Rescue at Dead Dog Beach is the story of Steve's fearless dedication to hundreds of dogs, and his efforts to expose their systemic abuse. Exposing the true costs of the tourist industry, it is also a call to arms for animal lovers, offering insights and practical information to help strays anywhere in the world.

A Story of Sisters in AuschwitzAs a young woman, Rena Kornreich endured the Nazi death camps for almost three and a half years. Rena's Promise, the remarkable story of her survival, shows how her relationship with her younger sister, Danka, gave her the will to persevere under unimaginable...  more

A Story of Sisters in AuschwitzAs a young woman, Rena Kornreich endured the Nazi death camps for almost three and a half years. Rena's Promise, the remarkable story of her survival, shows how her relationship with her younger sister, Danka, gave her the will to persevere under unimaginable circumstances. "Deeply moving."-Dena Taylor, San Francisco Chronicle

From the private investigator who cracked open the case that led to the arrest of Warren Jeffs, the maniacal prophet of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), comes the page-turning, horrifying story of how a rogue sect used sex, money, and power disguised under a...  more

From the private investigator who cracked open the case that led to the arrest of Warren Jeffs, the maniacal prophet of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), comes the page-turning, horrifying story of how a rogue sect used sex, money, and power disguised under a facade of religion to further criminal activities and a madman's vision. Despite considerable press coverage and a lengthy trial, the full story has remained largely untold. Only one man can reveal the whole, astounding truth: Sam Brower, the private investigator who devoted years of his life to breaking open the secret practices of the FLDS and bringing Warren Jeffs and his inner circle to justice. In Prophet's Prey, Brower implicates Jeffs in his own words, bringing to light the contents of Jeffs's personal priesthood journal, discovered in a hidden underground vault, and revealing to readers the shocking inside world of FLDS members, whose trust he earned and who showed him the staggering truth of their lives. Prophet's Prey offers the gripping, behind-the-scenes account of a bizarre world from the only man who knows the full story.

A riveting, deeply-affecting true story of one girl's coming-of-age in a polygamist doomsday cult.Ruth Wariner was the thirty-ninth of her father's forty-two children. Growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turned a blind eye to the polygamous practices of her community, Ruth...  more

A riveting, deeply-affecting true story of one girl's coming-of-age in a polygamist doomsday cult.Ruth Wariner was the thirty-ninth of her father's forty-two children. Growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turned a blind eye to the polygamous practices of her community, Ruth lives in a ramshackle house without indoor plumbing or electricity. At church, preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world and that women can only ascend to Heaven by entering into polygamous marriages and giving birth to as many children as possible. After Ruth's father---the man who had been the founding prophet of the colony---is brutally murdered by his brother in a bid for church power, her mother remarries, becoming the second wife of another faithful congregant. In need of government assistance and supplemental income, Ruth and her siblings are carted back and forth between Mexico and the United States, where her mother collects welfare and her stepfather works a variety of odd jobs. Ruth comes to love the time she spends in the States, realizing that perhaps the community into which she was born is not the right one for her. As Ruth begins to doubt her family's beliefs and question her mother's choices, she struggles to balance her fierce love for her siblings with her determination to find a better life for herself.

By turns thrilling and terrifying, Underground in Berlin is the autobiographical account of a young Jewish woman who ripped off her yellow star and survived the war by going underground from 1942 to 1945. �����Berlin, 1941. Marie Jalowicz Simon, a 19-year-old Jewish woman, makes an extraordinary...  more

By turns thrilling and terrifying, Underground in Berlin is the autobiographical account of a young Jewish woman who ripped off her yellow star and survived the war by going underground from 1942 to 1945. �����Berlin, 1941. Marie Jalowicz Simon, a 19-year-old Jewish woman, makes an extraordinary decision. All around her, Jews are being rounded up for deportation, forced labour and extermination. Marie decides to survive. She takes off the yellow star, turns her back on the Jewish community and vanishes into the city. ���� In the years that follow, Marie lives under an assumed identity, moving between almost 20 different safe houses. She is forced to accept shelter wherever she can find it, and many of those she stays with expect services in return. She stays with foreign workers, committed communists and even convinced Nazis. Any false move might lead to arrest. Never certain who can be trusted and how far, it is her quick-witted determination and the most amazing and hair-raising strokes of luck that ensure her survival. ���� Underground in Berlin is Marie's extraordinary story, told in her own voice with unflinching honesty, for the first time after more than 50 years of silence.

Would you be surprised that road rage can be good for society? Or that most crashes happen on sunny, dry days? That our minds can trick us into thinking the next lane is moving faster? Or that you can gauge a nation's driving behavior by its levels of corruption? These are only a few of the...  more

Would you be surprised that road rage can be good for society? Or that most crashes happen on sunny, dry days? That our minds can trick us into thinking the next lane is moving faster? Or that you can gauge a nation's driving behavior by its levels of corruption? These are only a few of the remarkable dynamics that Tom Vanderbilt explores in this fascinating tour through the mysteries of the road. Based on exhaustive research and interviews with driving experts and traffic officials around the globe, Traffic gets under the hood of the everyday activity of driving to uncover the surprisingly complex web of physical, psychological, and technical factors that explain how traffic works, why we drive the way we do, and what our driving says about us. Vanderbilt examines the perceptual limits and cognitive underpinnings that make us worse drivers than we think we are. He demonstrates why plans to protect pedestrians from cars often lead to more accidents. He shows how roundabouts, which can feel dangerous and chaotic, actually make roads safer -- and reduce traffic in the bargain. He uncovers who is more likely to honk at whom, and why. He explains why traffic jams form, outlines the unintended consequences of our quest for safety, and even identifies the most common mistake drivers make in parking lots. The car has long been a central part of American life; whether we see it as a symbol of freedom or a symptom of sprawl, we define ourselves by what and how we drive. As Vanderbilt shows, driving is a provocatively revealing prism for examining how our minds work and the ways in which we interact with one another. Ultimately, Traffic is about more than driving: it's about human nature. This book will change the way we see ourselves and the world around us. And who knows? It may even make us better drivers.

It?s no secret that our planet?and the delicate web of ecosystems that comprise it?is in crisis. Environmental threats such as climate change, pollution, habitat loss, and land degradation threaten the survival of thousands of plant and animal species each day. In 100 Heartbeats, conservationist...  more

It?s no secret that our planet?and the delicate web of ecosystems that comprise it?is in crisis. Environmental threats such as climate change, pollution, habitat loss, and land degradation threaten the survival of thousands of plant and animal species each day. In 100 Heartbeats, conservationist and television host Jeff Corwin provides an urgent, palpable portrait of the wildlife that is suffering in silence and teetering on the brink of extinction. From the forests slipping away beneath the stealthy paws of the Florida panther, to the giant panda?s plight to climb ever higher in the mountains of China in search of sustenance, to the brutal poaching tactics that have devastated Africa?s rhinoceros and elephant populations, Corwin takes readers on a global tour to witness firsthand the critical state of our natural world. Along the way, he shares inspiring stories of battles being waged and won in defense of the earth?s most threatened creatures by the conservationists on the front lines. These stories of hope and progress underscore an important message: Our own survival, as well as that of the world?s wildlife, is in our hands. The race to save the planet?s most endangered wildlife is under way. Every heartbeat matters.

A Pulitzer Prize?winning reporter?s gripping account of one young man?s path to murder that exposes grave shortcomings in mental health care in America � On a summer night in 2009, three lives intersected in an American neighborhood. Two people newly in love?Teresa Butz and Jennifer Hopper,...  more

A Pulitzer Prize?winning reporter?s gripping account of one young man?s path to murder that exposes grave shortcomings in mental health care in America � On a summer night in 2009, three lives intersected in an American neighborhood. Two people newly in love?Teresa Butz and Jennifer Hopper, who spent many years trying to find themselves and who eventually found each other?and a young man on a dangerous psychological descent: Isaiah Kalebu, age twenty-three, the son of a distant, authoritarian father and a mother with a family history of mental illness. All three paths forever altered by a violent crime, all three stories a wake-up call to the system that failed to see the signs. � In this riveting, probing, compassionate account of a murder in Seattle, Eli Sanders, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his newspaper coverage of the crime, offers a deeply reported portrait, in microcosm, of the state of mental health care in this country?as well as an inspiring story of love and forgiveness. Culminating in an account of Kalebu's�dangerous slide toward violence?observed by family members, police, mental health workers, lawyers, and judges, but stopped by no one?While the City Slept is the story of a crime of opportunity and of the string of missed opportunities that made it possible. It shows what can happen when a disturbed member of society repeatedly falls through the cracks, and issues a clarion call for change with the potential to do for mental health care in America what Five Days at Memorial did for end-of-life care and Dead Man Walking did for the death penalty.

When Nebraska police officer and divorced mother of three Kathryn Bolkovac saw a recruiting announcement for private military contractor DynCorp International, she applied and was hired. Good money, world travel, and the chance to help rebuild a war-torn country sounded like the perfect job....  more

When Nebraska police officer and divorced mother of three Kathryn Bolkovac saw a recruiting announcement for private military contractor DynCorp International, she applied and was hired. Good money, world travel, and the chance to help rebuild a war-torn country sounded like the perfect job. Bolkovac was shipped out to Bosnia, where DynCorp had been contracted to support the UN peacekeeping mission. She was assigned as a human rights investigator, heading the gender affairs unit. The lack of proper training provided sounded the first alarm bell, but once she arrived in Sarajevo, she found out that things were a lot worse. At great risk to her personal safety, she began to unravel the ugly truth about officers involved in human trafficking and forced prostitution and their connections to private mercenary contractors, the UN, and the U.S. State Department. After bringing this evidence to light, Bolkovac was demoted, felt threatened with bodily harm, was fired, and ultimately forced to flee the country under cover of darkness?bringing the incriminating documents with her. Thanks to the evidence she collected, she won a lawsuit against DynCorp, finally exposing them for what they had done. This is her story and the story of the women she helped achieve justice for.

Wildflower is a portrait of Drew's life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges, and incredible experiences of her earlier years. It includes tales of living on her own at 14 (and how laundry may have saved her life), getting stuck in a gas station overhang on a cross...  more

Wildflower is a portrait of Drew's life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges, and incredible experiences of her earlier years. It includes tales of living on her own at 14 (and how laundry may have saved her life), getting stuck in a gas station overhang on a cross country road trip, saying goodbye to her father in a way only he could have understood, and many more adventures and lessons that have led her to the successful, happy, and healthy place she is today. 

History comes alive in this textured account of the rivalry between Harry Houdini and the so-called Witch of Lime Street, whose iconic lives intersected at a time when science was on the verge of embracing the paranormal. The 1920s are famous as the golden age of jazz and glamour, but it was...  more

History comes alive in this textured account of the rivalry between Harry Houdini and the so-called Witch of Lime Street, whose iconic lives intersected at a time when science was on the verge of embracing the paranormal. The 1920s are famous as the golden age of jazz and glamour, but it was also an era of fevered yearning for communion with the spirit world, after the loss of tens of millions in the First World War and the Spanish-flu epidemic. A desperate search for reunion with dead loved ones precipitated a tidal wave of self-proclaimed psychics?and, as reputable media sought stories on occult phenomena, mediums became celebrities. Against this backdrop, in 1924, the pretty wife of a distinguished Boston surgeon came to embody the raging national debate over Spiritualism, a movement devoted to communication with the dead. Reporters dubbed her the blonde Witch of Lime Street, but she was known to her followers simply as Margery. Her most vocal advocate was none other than Sherlock Holmes' creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who believed so thoroughly in Margery's powers that he urged her to enter a controversial contest, sponsored by Scientific American and offering a large cash prize to the first medium declared authentic by its impressive five-man investigative committee. �Admired for both her exceptional charm and her dazzling effects, Margery was the best hope for the psychic practice to be empirically verified.� Her supernatural gifts beguiled four of the judges. There was only one left to convince...the acclaimed escape artist, Harry Houdini. David Jaher's extraordinary debut culminates in the showdown between Houdini, a relentless unmasker of charlatans, and Margery, the nation's most credible spirit medium. The Witch of Lime Street, the first book to capture their electric public rivalry and the competition that brought them into each other?s orbit, returns us to an oft-mythologized era to deepen our understanding of its history, all while igniting our imagination and engaging with the timeless question: Is there life after death?

Aron Lieb approached Sue Resnick at a Jewish Community Center fifteen years ago, and found a�companion and soul mate�who was steadfastly by his side for the rest of his life. You Saved Me, Too�is the incredible story of how two people shared the hidden parts of themselves and created a bond that...  more

Aron Lieb approached Sue Resnick at a Jewish Community Center fifteen years ago, and found a�companion and soul mate�who was steadfastly by his side for the rest of his life. You Saved Me, Too�is the incredible story of how two people shared the hidden parts of themselves and created a bond that was complicated, challenging, but ultimately invaluable.�Sue was first attracted to Aron's warmth and wit, such a contrast to his tragic past and her recent battle with postpartum depression. Soon she would be dealing with his mental illness, fighting the mainstream Jewish community for help with his care, and questioning her faith. The dramatic tension builds when Sue promises not to let Aron die alone. This book chronicles their remarkable friendship, which began with weekly coffee dates and flourished into much more. With�beautiful prose,�it alternates between his history, their developing friendship, and a current health crisis that may force them to part.

Are you a highly sensitive person? Do you have a keen imagination and vivid dreams?  Is time alone each day as essential to you as food and water?  Are you "too shy" or "too sensitive" according to others?  Do noise and confusion quickly...  more

Are you a highly sensitive person? Do you have a keen imagination and vivid dreams?  Is time alone each day as essential to you as food and water?  Are you "too shy" or "too sensitive" according to others?  Do noise and confusion quickly overwhelm you?  If your answers are yes, you may be a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). Most of us feel overstimulated every once in a while, but for the Highly Sensitive Person, it's a way of life.  In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Elaine Aron, a psychotherapist, workshop leader and highly sensitive person herself, shows you how to identify this trait in yourself and make the most of it in everyday situations.  Drawing on her many years of research and hundreds of interviews, she shows how you can better understand yourself and your trait to create a fuller, richer life.   In The Highly Sensitive Person , you will discover: * Self-assessment tests to help you identify your particular sensitivities * Ways to reframe your past experiences in a positive light and gain greater self-esteem in the process * Insight into how high sensitivity affects both work and personal relationships * Tips on how to deal with overarousal * Informations on medications and when to seek help * Techniques to enrich the soul and spirit

J. R. R. Tolkien once said that cellar door is the most beautiful phrase in the English language; since then it has received quite a bit of attention from poets and linguists. But what of the ugly words? This delightfully humorous volume celebrates the words that make people gag and...  more

J. R. R. Tolkien once said that cellar door is the most beautiful phrase in the English language; since then it has received quite a bit of attention from poets and linguists. But what of the ugly words? This delightfully humorous volume celebrates the words that make people gag and cover their ears. Too long have these atrocious utterances gone unrecognized, nay, shunned from society. No longer! The Illustrated Compendium of Ugly English Words pays homage to the 300 worst words in existence

The International Spy Museum's Historian takes us on a wild tour of missions and schemes that almost happened, but were ultimately deemed too dangerous, expensive, ahead of their time, or even certifiably insane In 1958, the U.S. Air Force nuked the moon as a show of military force. In 1967,...  more

The International Spy Museum's Historian takes us on a wild tour of missions and schemes that almost happened, but were ultimately deemed too dangerous, expensive, ahead of their time, or even certifiably insane In 1958, the U.S. Air Force nuked the moon as a show of military force. In 1967, the CIA sent live cats to spy on the Soviet government. In 1942, the British built a torpedo-proof aircraft carrier out of an iceberg. Of course, none of these things ever actually happened. But in Nuking the Moon, intelligence historian Vince Houghton proves that abandoned plans can be just as illuminating--and every bit as entertaining--as the ones that made it. Vividly capturing the fascinating stories of how twenty-one plans from WWII and the Cold War went from conception, planning, and testing to cancellation, Houghton explores what happens when innovation meets desperation: For every plan as good as D-Day, there's a scheme to strap bombs to bats or dig a spy tunnel underneath the Soviet embassy. Along the way, he reveals what each one tells us about twentieth-century history, the art of spycraft, military strategy, and famous figures like JFK, Castro, and Churchill. By turns terrifying and hilarious--but always riveting--this is the unique story of history left on the drawing board.

Today we live in snug, well-furnished houses surrounded by the trappings of a civilised life. But we are not alone - we suffer a constant stream of unwanted visitors. Our houses, our food, our belongings, our very existence are under constant attack from a host of invaders eager to take...  more

Today we live in snug, well-furnished houses surrounded by the trappings of a civilised life. But we are not alone - we suffer a constant stream of unwanted visitors. Our houses, our food, our belongings, our very existence are under constant attack from a host of invaders eager to take advantage of our shelter, our food stores and our tasty soft furnishings. From bats in the belfry to beetles in the cellar, moths in the wardrobe and mosquitoes in the bedroom, humans cannot escape the attentions of the animal kingdom. Nature may be red in tooth and claw, but when it's our blood the bedbugs are after, when it's our cereal bowl that's littered with mouse droppings, and when it's our favourite chair that collapses due to woodworm in the legs, it really brings it home the fact that we and our homes are part of nature too. This book represents a 21st century version of the classic Mediaeval bestiary. It poses questions such as where these animals came from, can we live with them, can we get rid of them, and should we? Written in Richard Jones's engaging style and with a funky-retro design, House Guests, House Pests will be a book to treasure.

We spend countless hours training our dogs, but how often do we consider what they have to teach us? ?Our canine companions aren?t just our best friends,? explains Tami Simon ?They naturally embody many of the spiritual principles we ourselves aspire to.? The Dharma of Dogs shares the...  more

We spend countless hours training our dogs, but how often do we consider what they have to teach us? ?Our canine companions aren?t just our best friends,? explains Tami Simon ?They naturally embody many of the spiritual principles we ourselves aspire to.? The Dharma of Dogs shares the reflections of Buddhist writers and other teachers who have found a source of deep truth and practical wisdom beneath the furry surface of our four-legged friends.For anyone who loves dogs?and who has learned and grown through this special relationship?these essays offer humor, solace, inspiration, and insight into the life lessons our dogs make available to us. Readers join bestselling authors such as Alice Walker, Geneen Roth, Lama Surya Das, Mark Nepo, and others to explore such themes as unconditional love, connecting with nature, facing our fears, and more.

When Galdikas saw her first image of an orangutan in the wild, she was immediately captivated. It haunted her and she found its gaze "almost hypnotic." She moved to Borneo, where she made it her life's mission to study and work to protect these mysterious creatures. Like...  more

When Galdikas saw her first image of an orangutan in the wild, she was immediately captivated. It haunted her and she found its gaze "almost hypnotic." She moved to Borneo, where she made it her life's mission to study and work to protect these mysterious creatures. Like primatologists Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, Galdikas was driven by incredible ambition and a fascination with apes and human origins, making her way to the harsh rain forests of Indonesian Borneo when she was just 25 years old. She set up a simple camp, named after her mentor, Louis Leakey, and proceeded to look ... and look ...and look for wild orangutans, one of the most elusive species on the planet. Her studies brought these critically endangered apes to the world stage, and they are still making an impact today. Now in her 70s, Dr. Galdikas has conducted the longest running study of any wild mammal by any single scientist.

The #1�New York Times�Bestseller A bestselling�book that is�inspiring the nation: ?We have written here about terrible things that we never wanted to think about again . . . Now we want the world to know:�we survived, we are free, we love life.? Two women kidnapped by infamous Cleveland...  more

The #1�New York Times�Bestseller A bestselling�book that is�inspiring the nation: ?We have written here about terrible things that we never wanted to think about again . . . Now we want the world to know:�we survived, we are free, we love life.? Two women kidnapped by infamous Cleveland school-bus driver Ariel Castro share the stories of their abductions, captivity, and dramatic escape � On May 6, 2013, Amanda Berry made headlines around the world when she fled a Cleveland home and called 911, saying: ?Help me, I?m Amanda Berry. . . . I?ve been kidnapped, and I?ve been missing for ten years.? � A horrifying story rapidly unfolded. Ariel Castro, a local school bus driver, had separately lured Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight to his home, where he kept them chained. In the decade that followed, the three were raped, psychologically abused, and threatened with death. Berry had a daughter?Jocelyn?by their captor. � Drawing upon their recollections and the diary kept by Amanda Berry, Berry and Gina DeJesus describe a tale of unimaginable torment, and Pulitzer Prize?winning Washington Post reporters Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan interweave the events within Castro?s house with original reporting on efforts to find the missing girls. The full story behind the headlines?including details never previously released on Castro?s life and motivations?Hope is a harrowing yet inspiring chronicle of two women whose courage, ingenuity, and resourcefulness ultimately delivered them back to their lives and families. From the Hardcover edition.

Raised by unconventional Irish Catholics who knew "how to drink, how to dance, how to talk, and how to stir up the devil," Kate Mulgrew grew up with poetry and drama in her bones. But in her mother, a would-be artist burdened by the endless arrival of new babies, young Kate saw the consequences...  more

Raised by unconventional Irish Catholics who knew "how to drink, how to dance, how to talk, and how to stir up the devil," Kate Mulgrew grew up with poetry and drama in her bones. But in her mother, a would-be artist burdened by the endless arrival of new babies, young Kate saw the consequences of a dream deferred. Determined to pursue her own no matter the cost, at 18 she left her small Midwestern town for New York, where, studying with the legendary Stella Adler, she learned the lesson that would define her as an actress: "Use it," Adler told her. Whatever disappointment, pain, or anger life throws in your path, channel it into the work. It was a lesson she would need. At twenty-two, just as her career was taking off, she became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter. Having already signed the adoption papers, she was allowed only a fleeting glimpse of her child. As her star continued to rise, her life became increasingly demanding and fulfilling, a whirlwind of passionate love affairs, life-saving friendships, and bone-crunching work. Through it all, Mulgrew remained haunted by the loss of her daughter, until, two decades later, she found the courage to face the past and step into the most challenging role of her life, both on and off screen. We know Kate Mulgrew for the strong women she's played--Captain Janeway on Star Trek; the tough-as-nails "Red" on Orange is the New Black. Now, we meet the most inspiring and memorable character of all: herself. By turns irreverent and soulful, laugh-out-loud funny and heart-piercingly sad, BORN WITH TEETH is the breathtaking memoir of a woman who dares to live life to the fullest, on her own terms.

A riveting blend of science writing and true-crime narrative that explores the valuable but often shocking interface between crime and nature--and the secrets each can reveal about the other--from a pioneer in forensic ecology and a trailblazing female scientist. From mud tracks on a quiet...  more

A riveting blend of science writing and true-crime narrative that explores the valuable but often shocking interface between crime and nature--and the secrets each can reveal about the other--from a pioneer in forensic ecology and a trailblazing female scientist. From mud tracks on a quiet country road to dirt specks on the soles of walking boots, forensic ecologist Patricia Wiltshire uses her decades of scientific expertise to find often-overlooked clues left behind by criminal activity. She detects evidence and eliminates hypotheses armed with little more than a microscope, eventually developing a compelling thesis of the who, what, how, and when of a crime. Wiltshire's remarkable accuracy has made her one of the most in-demand police consultants in the world, and her curiosity, humility, and passion for the truth have guided her every step of the way. A riveting blend of science writing and true-crime narrative, The Nature of Life and Death details Wiltshire's unique journey from college professor to crime fighter: solving murders, locating corpses, and exonerating the falsely accused. Along the way, she introduces us to the unseen world all around us and underneath our feet: plants, animals, pollen, spores, fungi, and microbes that we move through every day. Her story is a testament to the power of persistence and reveals how our relationship with the vast natural world reaches far deeper than we might think.

Award-winning reporter Judy Pasternak tells�the�haunting story of�uranium mining�on the Navajo desert and its terrible, long-ignored legacy.

"In the world of snake oils, you have to see the world a little differently. Where others see poverty, you see riches; where others see weeds, you see flowers; where others see sickness, you see openness." Becca Stevens calls herself a "snake oil seller": She takes natural oils, mixes them...  more

"In the world of snake oils, you have to see the world a little differently. Where others see poverty, you see riches; where others see weeds, you see flowers; where others see sickness, you see openness." Becca Stevens calls herself a "snake oil seller": She takes natural oils, mixes them with a good story, sells them in an open market and believes they help to heal the world. Becca is the founder of Thistle Farms, one of the most successful examples in the US of a social enterprise whose mission is the work force. She is also the founder of its residential program, Magdalene. The women of Magdalene/Thistle Farms have survived prostitution, trafficking and addiction, and the natural body care products they manufacture-balms, soaps, and lotions-aid in their own healing as well as that of the people who buy them. The book weaves together the beginnings of the enterprise with individual stories from Becca's own journey as well as 20 women in the community. In Snake Oil, Becca tells how the women she began helping fifteen years ago have been the biggest source of her own healing from sexual abuse and her father's death as a child. Wise and reflective, Snake Oil offers an empowering narrative as well as a selection of recipes for healing remedies that readers can make themselves.

Stories and science about nature's most complex, crucial and highly adaptive insect. The Secret Life of Flies takes readers into the hidden world of snail killers, con artists, crazy sex and a great many silly names. It dispels common misconceptions about flies and reveals how truly...  more

Stories and science about nature's most complex, crucial and highly adaptive insect. The Secret Life of Flies takes readers into the hidden world of snail killers, con artists, crazy sex and a great many silly names. It dispels common misconceptions about flies and reveals how truly extraordinary, exotic and important are these misunderstood creatures. There are ten chapters: 1. The immature ones - Squirmy wormy larvae can be just a bit unnerving, especially when they're in large numbers. 2. The pollinators - Those annoying No See Ums, or midge flies, are the only pollinator of the chocolate-producing cacao tree, a status held by many of the pollinators. 3. The detritivores - These garbage eaters are often fluffy and thus water-repellent, good for a life spent in a sewer. 4. The vegetarians - Entomological spelunkers, many of these flies prefer plant roots forsaking the leaves to other creatures. 5. The fungivores - The mushroom eaters include the dark-winged fungus gnats whose wing patterns are one of the author's favorites. 6. The predators - Here are the most devious and imaginative methods of luring, capturing and eating prey. 7. The parasites - Their methods of survival are often disgusting but the evolutionary genius is admirable. 8. The sanguivores - McAlister responds to the perpetual question, exactly why do we have blood-sucking disease-spreading mosquitos? 9. The coprophages - The champions of dung, detritus and other unpleasant things. 10. The necrophages - The body eaters without which we would be in a most disagreeable situation. In clear language, McAlister explains Diptera taxonomy and forensic entomology, and describes the potential of flies to transform their relationship with humans from one of disease vector to partner in environmental preservation. She has a wonderful knack for storytelling, deftly transforming what could be dry descriptions of biology, reproduction and morphology into entertainment. She takes readers to piles of poo in Ethiopia by way of underground caves, latrines and backyard gardens, and opens the drawers at the Natural History Museum to rhapsodize over her favorite flies. The Secret Life of Flies is full of stories and tongue-in-check descriptions, but the science is rigorous, authoritative and will be enjoyed by dipterists, lepidopterists, insect enthusiasts, naturalists, and general readers.

In Secrets Underground, history buff Elizabeth MacLeod takes readers deep down, down, down below the earth’s surface, and introduces them to a completely different world—sometimes terrifying, often baffling, and always fascinating. Discover: • the Civil War secrets...  more

In Secrets Underground, history buff Elizabeth MacLeod takes readers deep down, down, down below the earth’s surface, and introduces them to a completely different world—sometimes terrifying, often baffling, and always fascinating. Discover: • the Civil War secrets carefully concealed in Organ Cave, West Virginia • the top-secret equipment that lies deep below Grand Central Terminal in New York City • the network of tunnels in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, that once hid victims of persecution—and illegal liquor transported by notorious Chicago gangsters • how the Aztec city TenochtitlÁn, the largest and most powerful city of its time in what is now North America, nearly disappeared without a trace • the abandoned ships buried beneath San Francisco that reveal the city’s history as a top destination for fortune seekers during the Gold Rush • the nuclear shelter the U.S. government kept hidden for decades underneath an exclusive resort in West Virginia called The Greenbrier. Guiding readers through these fascinating places, MacLeod reveals their long-kept secrets and deftly explains how these lost and hidden subterranean passages, spaces, and caves answer decades-old puzzles, help us understand our own past, and lead us to discover what life was really like in eras gone by.

From New York Times bestselling author Simon Baatz, the first comprehensive account of the murder that shocked the world. In 1901 Evelyn Nesbit, a chorus girl in the musical Florodora, dined alone with the architect Stanford White in his townhouse on 24th Street in New York. Nesbit, just...  more

From New York Times bestselling author Simon Baatz, the first comprehensive account of the murder that shocked the world. In 1901 Evelyn Nesbit, a chorus girl in the musical Florodora, dined alone with the architect Stanford White in his townhouse on 24th Street in New York. Nesbit, just sixteen years old, had recently moved to the city. White was forty-seven and a principal in the prominent architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. As the foremost architect of his day, he was a celebrity, responsible for designing countless landmark buildings in Manhattan. That evening, after drinking champagne, Nesbit lost consciousness and awoke to find herself naked in bed with White. Telltale spots of blood on the bed sheets told her that White had raped her. She told no one about the rape until, several years later, she confided in Harry Thaw, the millionaire playboy who would later become her husband. Thaw, thirsting for revenge, shot and killed White in 1906 before hundreds of theatergoers during a performance in Madison Square Garden, a building that White had designed. The trial was a sensation that gripped the nation. Most Americans agreed with Thaw that he had been justified in killing White, but the district attorney expected to send him to the electric chair. Evelyn Nesbit's testimony was so explicit and shocking that Theodore Roosevelt himself called on the newspapers not to print it verbatim. The murder of White cast a long shadow: Harry Thaw later attempted suicide, and Evelyn Nesbit struggled for many years to escape an addiction to cocaine. The Girl on the Velvet Swing, a tale of glamour, excess, and danger, is an immersive, fascinating look at an America dominated by men of outsize fortunes and by the women who were their victims.

An unstoppable collection of the most hardcore figures who ever strapped on chain mail and ran screaming into battle Throughout history -- from the bone-crushing age of antiquity to the sack-tearing modern era -- there have been larger-than-life ass-kickers with a natural talent for...  more

An unstoppable collection of the most hardcore figures who ever strapped on chain mail and ran screaming into battle Throughout history -- from the bone-crushing age of antiquity to the sack-tearing modern era -- there have been larger-than-life ass-kickers with a natural talent for unleashing their epic blood-lust on anyone who crossed them. They built empires, smashed armies, and ravaged civilizations for wealth, glory, and ultimate supremacy. Sometimes villains, sometimes heroes, sometimes criminally insane, they had one thing in common: They were all . . . Bad-ass! Chandragupta Maurya - An Indian warlord who commanded an army of drunken war elephants and employed an elite detachment of highly trained female bodyguards. Peter Francisco - An unsung hero of the American Revolution, this powerful giant battled the British with a massive five-foot-long broadsword. Wolf the Quarrelsome - A mysterious barbarian leader who only appears in history twice. and both times he's kicking someone's ass. Bhanbhagta Gurung - A fearless Gurkha who received the Victoria Cross by clearing out six Japanese foxholes with nothing more than grenades, a bayonet, and a knife. From Alexander the Great to George S. Patton, from Genghis Khan to Bruce Lee, this pantheon of ass-kicking awesomeness should inspire you to quit your stupid job and dive headfirst into a new career as a professional bad-ass.

Ally was at a breaking point when she woke up in a psych ward at the age of eighteen. She couldn't put a sentence together, let alone take a shower, eat a meal, or pick up a phone. What had gone wrong? In recent years, she had produced a feature film, a popular reality show for a major network,...  more

Ally was at a breaking point when she woke up in a psych ward at the age of eighteen. She couldn't put a sentence together, let alone take a shower, eat a meal, or pick up a phone. What had gone wrong? In recent years, she had produced a feature film, a popular reality show for a major network, and had acted in an off-Broadway play. But now, Ally was pushed to a psychotic break after struggling since she was seven years old with physical symptoms that no doctor could explain; everything from joint pain, to night sweats, memory loss, nausea, and brain fog. A doctor in the psych ward was finally able to give her the answers her and her family had desperately been searching for, and the diagnosis that all the previous doctors had missed. She learned that she had Lyme disease-and finally had a breakthrough. What she didn't know was that this diagnosis would lead her down some of the most excruciating years of her life before beginning her journey to recovery from eleven years of misdiagnosis and physical pain. She would need to find her courage to heal physically, mentally, and emotionally, and become the survivor she is today. Set against the backdrop of the fast-paced fashion and entertainment industries, BITE ME shares the heartbreaking and hilarious stories that moved Ally forward on her journey from sickness to health. Its themes will be familiar to more than 300,000 Americans diagnosed with Lyme disease each year, many of whom, like Ally, wondered for years what was wrong with them. BITE ME offers readers hope and ideas for how one can transition from victim to survivor, and shares the spiritual principles and actions that have contributed to her wholeness as a human, mother, and international spokesperson against Lyme disease.

Souad was a 17-year-old woman living in a small village in Jordan when she made the mistake of falling in love--an event that would lead to unspeakable acts of violence and a lifetime of exile from her homeland. Desperate to leave her abusive childhood behind, Souad begins a relationship with a...  more

Souad was a 17-year-old woman living in a small village in Jordan when she made the mistake of falling in love--an event that would lead to unspeakable acts of violence and a lifetime of exile from her homeland. Desperate to leave her abusive childhood behind, Souad begins a relationship with a neighbor--one that would leave her pregnant, and her family shamed. Now, Souad faces the only punishment her society deems acceptable: death. Her survival of her family’s attempt to kill her, leaving her with burns over 70% of her body, her dramatic escape, and her resolve to build a new life is a tale of heartbreaking drama and remarkable courage.

The history of medicine in Britain is filled with the most bizarre and gruesome cures for many common ailments. Although enthusiastically supported by doctors of the time, many of these cures were often useless and often resulted in the death of the patient. But strange and alarming though...  more

The history of medicine in Britain is filled with the most bizarre and gruesome cures for many common ailments. Although enthusiastically supported by doctors of the time, many of these cures were often useless and often resulted in the death of the patient. But strange and alarming though many of the cures may seem, some of them did in fact work and provide the basis of much of the medicine we take for granted nowadays. The use of herbs by medieval monks was remarkably effective - and still is today. This highly entertaining and informative book will fascinate anyone who has ever wondered whether doctors really know what they are talking about - just don't try any of the cures mentioned at home! Or that weak eyes can be cured by the application of chicken dung - or alternatively be large draughts of beer taken in the morning? Or that the juice extracted from a bucketful of snails covered in brown sugar and hung over a basin overnight was once used to cure a sore throat?

Sometimes your memories are not your own.Just as Art Spiegelman's Maus presented a dramatic new framework from which to view the Holocaust, Mendel's Daughter combines an unforgettable true story with elegant, haunting illustrations to shed new light on one of history's darkest periods. In 1989,...  more

Sometimes your memories are not your own.Just as Art Spiegelman's Maus presented a dramatic new framework from which to view the Holocaust, Mendel's Daughter combines an unforgettable true story with elegant, haunting illustrations to shed new light on one of history's darkest periods. In 1989, Martin Lemelman videotaped his mother, Gusta, as she opened up about her childhood in 1930s Poland and her eventual escape from Nazi persecution. Now, in Mendel's Daughter, Lemelman lovingly transcribes his mother's harrowing testimony, and he brings her narrative to life with his own powerful black-and-white drawings, interspersed with reproductions of actual photos, documents and other relics from that unsettled era. The result is a wholly original, authentic and moving account of hope and survival in a time of despair.Mendel's Daughter opens with a picture of shtetl life, filled with homey images that evoke the richness of foods and flowers, of family and friends and Jewish tradition. Soon, however, Gusta's girlhood is cut short as her family becomes witness to the rise of Hitler, rumors of war, invasion, occupation, roundups and pogroms. We follow Gusta into flight, hiding and survival into the unfolding uncertainty of those terrible times.As solemn and as hopeful as a prayer, Mendel's Daughter is Martin Lemelman is testament to Gustas bravery and a celebration of her perseverance. The devastatingly simple power of a mother's words and a son's illustrations combine to create a work that is both intensely personal and universally resonant.

THIS TIME TOGETHER is 100 percent Carol Burnett - funny, irreverent, and irresistible. Carol Burnett is one of the most beloved and revered actresses and performers in America. The Carol Burnett Show was seen each week by millions of adoring fans and won twenty-five Emmys in its remarkable...  more

THIS TIME TOGETHER is 100 percent Carol Burnett - funny, irreverent, and irresistible. Carol Burnett is one of the most beloved and revered actresses and performers in America. The Carol Burnett Show was seen each week by millions of adoring fans and won twenty-five Emmys in its remarkable eleven-year run. Now, in This Time Together, Carol really lets her hair down and tells one funny or touching or memorable story after another - reading it feels like sitting down with an old friend who has wonderful tales to tell. ' In engaging anecdotes, Carol discusses her remarkable friendships with stars such at Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, and Julie Andrews; the background behind famous scenes, like the moment she swept down the stairs in her curtain-rod dress in the legendary "Went With the Wild" skit; and things that would happen only to Carol - the prank with Julie Andrews that went wrong in front of the First Lady; the famous Tarzan Yell that saved her during a mugging; and the time she faked a wooden leg to get served in a famous ice cream emporium. This poignant look back allows us to cry with the actress during her sorrows, rejoice in her successes, and finally, always, to laugh.

When you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are ones like Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, Kate Bender? The narrative we’re comfortable with is the one where women are the victims of...  more

When you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are ones like Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, Kate Bender? The narrative we’re comfortable with is the one where women are the victims of violent crime, not the perpetrators. In fact, serial killers are thought to be so universally, overwhelmingly male that in 1998, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood infamously declared in a homicide conference, “There are no female serial killers.” Lady Killers, based on the popular online series that appeared on Jezebel and The Hairpin, disputes that claim and offers fourteen gruesome examples as evidence. Though largely forgotten by history, female serial killers such as Erzsébet Báthory, Nannie Doss, Mary Ann Cotton, and Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova rival their male counterparts in cunning, cruelty, and appetite for destruction. Each chapter explores the crimes and history of a different subject, and then proceeds to unpack her legacy and her portrayal in the media, as well as the stereotypes and sexist clichés that inevitably surround her. The first book to examine female serial killers through a feminist lens with a witty and dryly humorous tone, Lady Killers dismisses easy explanations (she was hormonal, she did it for love, a man made her do it) and tired tropes (she was a femme fatale, a black widow, a witch), delving into the complex reality of female aggression and predation. Featuring 14 illustrations from Dame Darcy, Lady Killers is a bloodcurdling, insightful, and irresistible journey into the heart of darkness. The elusive population -- The blood countess : Erzsébet Báthory -- The giggling grandma : Nannie Doss -- The worst woman on earth : Lizzie Halliday -- Devil in the shape of a saint : Elizabeth Ridgeway -- Vipers : Raya and Sakina -- The wretched woman : Mary Ann Cotton -- The tormentor : Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova -- Iceberg Anna : Anna Marie Hahn -- The nightingale : Oum-El-Hassen -- High priestess of the Bluebeard clique : Tillie Klimek -- Sorceress of Kilkenny : Alice Kyteler -- Beautiful throat cutter : Kate Bender -- The angel makers of Nagyrév -- Queen of poisoners : Marie-Madeleine, the Marquise de Brinvilliers

From "one of America's most courageous young journalists" (NPR) comes a propulsive narrative history investigating the 50-year-old mystery behind a dramatic experiment that changed the course of modern medicine.  For centuries, doctors have struggled to define mental...  more

From "one of America's most courageous young journalists" (NPR) comes a propulsive narrative history investigating the 50-year-old mystery behind a dramatic experiment that changed the course of modern medicine.  For centuries, doctors have struggled to define mental illness -- how do you diagnose it, how do you treat it, how do you even know what it is? In search of an answer, in the 1970s a Stanford psychologist named David Rosenhan and seven other people -- sane, normal, well-adjusted members of society -- went undercover into asylums around America to test the legitimacy of psychiatry's labels. Forced to remain inside until they'd "proven" themselves sane, all eight emerged with alarming diagnoses and even more troubling stories of their treatment.  Rosenhan's watershed study broke open the field of psychiatry, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever. But, as Cahalan's explosive new research shows, very little in this saga is exactly as it seems. What really happened behind those closed asylum doors, and what does it mean for our understanding of mental illness today?

In the latest chapter of Martha Long's autobiographical series, Martha is for the first time on her own: discharged from the convent, she's finally 16, the age she'd long dreamed of as the doorway to her freedom from the whims of cruel adults. "Life is a bowl of...  more

In the latest chapter of Martha Long's autobiographical series, Martha is for the first time on her own: discharged from the convent, she's finally 16, the age she'd long dreamed of as the doorway to her freedom from the whims of cruel adults. "Life is a bowl of cherries!" she reasons as she sets out to blend in with the middle classes and find love, acceptance, and respect therein. But this is also Dublin in the 1960s, where class aspirations ain't so easy for the likes of Martha.  As one job and bedsit is found (and lost), another soon comes along with its own foibles and dangers . . . but with her signature spirit and true grit, Martha makes the best of every situation and manages to offer compassion even to the most downtrodden of characters who cross her path. Chance meetings with old friends from the convent and a fortuitous (yet brief) reunion with two of her brothers remind Martha of all she has experienced (and survived) and serves as the impetus for her to keep going . . . even when homelessness is all but certain.  As with her previous books, Ma, It's a Cold Aul Night an I'm Lookin for a Bed has us cheering for Martha. This time she doesn't have any nuns or abusive stepfathers preventing her from making progress . . . but life does still get in the way, and that bowl of cherries sometimes proves to be a bit more sour than Martha would hope.

Spine-Crushing Tales of the Most Merciless Gods, Monsters, Heroes, Villains, and Mythical Creatures Ever Envisioned From sex-crazed gods to ravenous monsters, Ben Thompson brings legendary titans to life in tales of adventure, bloodlust, and unrelenting badassitude. Since the beginning of...  more

Spine-Crushing Tales of the Most Merciless Gods, Monsters, Heroes, Villains, and Mythical Creatures Ever Envisioned From sex-crazed gods to ravenous monsters, Ben Thompson brings legendary titans to life in tales of adventure, bloodlust, and unrelenting badassitude. Since the beginning of human history people have created myths, tall tales, superheroes, and arch-villains -- men and women who embarked on insane adventures, performed extraordinary feats of unparalleled awesomeness, and overcame all odds to violently smite their foes into bloody pulp. In Badass: The Birth of a Legend, Ben Thompson compiles these fantastical tales from the beginning of time to today and tells them in the completely over-the-top manner in which they were intended, including: Rama: The Indian god-king who led an army of monkeys against the King of All Demons Thor: The Viking god of thunder and awesome hair, who crushed the skulls of giants with a ridiculously huge hammer Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon hero so hardcore he could arm-wrestle monsters' joints out of their sockets Moby-Dick: The hate-filled literary behemoth who obliterated ship hulls with his face Skuld: The Norse necromancer queen who summoned a horde of zombie berserkers Dirty Harry Callahan: The prototypical modern-day antihero and very embodiment of badass

Human activity has irreversibly changed the natural environment. But the news isn't all bad. It's accepted wisdom today that human beings have permanently damaged the natural world, causing extinction, deforestation, pollution, and of course climate change. But in Inheritors of the Earth,...  more

Human activity has irreversibly changed the natural environment. But the news isn't all bad. It's accepted wisdom today that human beings have permanently damaged the natural world, causing extinction, deforestation, pollution, and of course climate change. But in Inheritors of the Earth, biologist Chris Thomas shows that this obscures a more hopeful truth--we're also helping nature grow and change. Human cities and mass agriculture have created new places for enterprising animals and plants to live, and our activities have stimulated evolutionary change in virtually every population of living species. Most remarkably, Thomas shows, humans may well have raised the rate at which new species are formed to the highest level in the history of our planet. Drawing on the success stories of diverse species, from the ochre-colored comma butterfly to the New Zealand pukeko, Thomas overturns the accepted story of declining biodiversity on Earth. In so doing, he questions why we resist new forms of life, and why we see ourselves as unnatural. Ultimately, he suggests that if life on Earth can recover from the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs, it can survive the onslaughts of the technological age. This eye-opening book is a profound reexamination of the relationship between humanity and the natural world.

Dark Tide is the definitive account of America"s most fascinating and surreal disaster." —John Marr, San Francisco Bay GuardianShortly after noon on January 15, 1919, a fifty-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses collapsed on Boston"s waterfront, disgorging its...  more

Dark Tide is the definitive account of America"s most fascinating and surreal disaster." —John Marr, San Francisco Bay GuardianShortly after noon on January 15, 1919, a fifty-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses collapsed on Boston"s waterfront, disgorging its contents as a fifteen-foot-high wave of molasses that briefly traveled at thirty-five miles an hour. Dark Tide tells the compelling story of this man-made disaster that claimed the lives of twenty-one people and scores of animals and caused widespread destruction. "Narrated with gusto . . . [Puleo"s] enthusiasm for a little-known catastrophe is infectious." —The New Yorker"Compelling . . . Puleo has done justice to a gripping historical story." —Ralph Ranalli, Boston Globe"Thoroughly researched, the volume weaves together the stories of the people and families affected by the disaster . . . The cleanup lasted months, the lawsuits years, the fearful memories a lifetime." —Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press"Giving a human face to tragedy is part of the brilliance of Stephen Puleo"s Dark Tide . . . Until they were given voice in this book, the characters who drove the story were forgotten." —Caroline Leavitt, Boston Sunday Globe

A frontline witness account of the deadly urban combat of the Battle of Mosul told by former Navy SEAL and frontline combat medic Ephraim Mattos. After leaving the US Navy SEAL teams in spring of 2017, Ephraim Mattos, age twenty-four, flew to Iraq to join a small group of volunteer humanitarians...  more

A frontline witness account of the deadly urban combat of the Battle of Mosul told by former Navy SEAL and frontline combat medic Ephraim Mattos. After leaving the US Navy SEAL teams in spring of 2017, Ephraim Mattos, age twenty-four, flew to Iraq to join a small group of volunteer humanitarians known as the Free Burma Rangers, who were working on the frontlines of the war on ISIS. Until being shot by ISIS on a suicidal rescue mission, Mattos witnessed unexplainable acts of courage and sacrifice by the Free Burma Rangers, who, while under heavy machine gun and mortar fire, assaulted across ISIS minefields, used themselves as human shields, and sprinted down ISIS-infested streets-all to retrieve wounded civilians. In City of Death: Humanitarian Warriors in the Battle of Mosul, Mattos recounts in vivid detail what he saw and felt while he and the other Free Burma Rangers evacuated the wounded, conducted rescue missions, and at times fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the Iraqi Army against ISIS. Filled with raw and emotional descriptions of what it's like to come face-to-face with death, this is the harrowing and uplifting true story of a small group of men who risked everything to save the lives of the Iraqi people and who followed the credence, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." As the coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestselling American Sniper, Scott McEwen has teamed up with Mattos to help share an unforgettable tale of an American warrior turned humanitarian forced to fight his way into and out of a Hell on Earth created by ISIS.

PREPAREDNESS TIPS • Store survival kits in a convenient place known to all family members. • Keep a smaller version of your supplies kit in the trunk of your car, at work, and at school. • Keep them in airtight plastic bags, if possible. • Change your stored water supply every six months...  more

PREPAREDNESS TIPS • Store survival kits in a convenient place known to all family members. • Keep a smaller version of your supplies kit in the trunk of your car, at work, and at school. • Keep them in airtight plastic bags, if possible. • Change your stored water supply every six months so it stays fresh. • Replace your stored food every six months. • Ask your physician or pharmacist about storing prescription medications. • Rethink your kit and family needs at least once a year.

This New York Times bestseller offers mesmerizing insights into the interior lives of our smartest pets. In the past decade, we have learned more about how dogs think than in the last century. Breakthroughs in cognitive science, pioneered by Brian Hare, have proven dogs have a kind of genius for...  more

This New York Times bestseller offers mesmerizing insights into the interior lives of our smartest pets. In the past decade, we have learned more about how dogs think than in the last century. Breakthroughs in cognitive science, pioneered by Brian Hare, have proven dogs have a kind of genius for getting along with people that is unique in the animal kingdom. is dog genius revolution is transforming how we live and work with our canine friends, including how we train them. Does your dog feel guilt? Is she pretending she can't hear you? Does she want affection -- or just your sandwich? In The Genius of Dogs, Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods lay out what discoveries at the Duke Canine Cognition Lab and other research facilities around the world are revealing about how your dog thinks and how we humans can have even deeper relationships with our best four-legged friends.

If you live life without a net, what happens when you fall? Kathleen Cremonesi knew early on she wanted to be different. Determined to avoid following in her mother?s footsteps to an ill-fated marriage, Kathleen left Oregon in her early 20s to travel across Europe. On a whim, this former...  more

If you live life without a net, what happens when you fall? Kathleen Cremonesi knew early on she wanted to be different. Determined to avoid following in her mother?s footsteps to an ill-fated marriage, Kathleen left Oregon in her early 20s to travel across Europe. On a whim, this former administrative assistant with wanderlust took a job as a dancer in an Italian circus and, working her way up, became an ostrich-riding, shark-taming showgirl. Kathleen bonds with the exotic animals that could strike and kill at any moment, but instead bring her a peace she has never known. And when she stumbles into the arms of Stefano, the sexy elephant keeper, she finds a man who understands her wild spirit. With thrilling prose and vivid descriptions, Kathleen takes the reader around the Mediterranean, where she discovers unexpected friends and learns how to cook, forgive, and love � across language barriers.

During World War II, Nazi doctor Josef Mengele subjected some 3,000 twins to medical experiments of unspeakable horror; only 160 survived. In this remarkable narrative, the life of Auschwitz's Angel of Death is told in counterpoint to the lives of the survivors, who until now have kept...  more

During World War II, Nazi doctor Josef Mengele subjected some 3,000 twins to medical experiments of unspeakable horror; only 160 survived. In this remarkable narrative, the life of Auschwitz's Angel of Death is told in counterpoint to the lives of the survivors, who until now have kept silent about their heinous death-camp ordeals. 8 pages of photographs.

?For more thanforty years, Project Censored has been our watchdog on the establishment media, casting its eye on how the information that we receive??and don?t receive??shapes our democracy. We need it more than ever today!? ?Christopher Finan, Executive Director, National Coalition Against...  more

?For more thanforty years, Project Censored has been our watchdog on the establishment media, casting its eye on how the information that we receive??and don?t receive??shapes our democracy. We need it more than ever today!? ?Christopher Finan, Executive Director, National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) � � THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE STORIES PRESENTED IN�CENSORED 2019: --?Open-Source? Intelligence Secrets Sold to Highest Bidders --ICE Intends to Destroy Records of Inhumane Treatment of Immigrants --Indigenous Communities around World Helping to Win Legal Rights of Nature --FBI Racially Profiling ?Black Identity Extremists? --The Limits of Negative News and Importance of Constructive Media � DID YOU KNOW THAT SINCE 1998 THE US GOVERNMENT SPENT $21 TRILLION IT CAN?T ACCOUNT FOR? Or that Internet co-ops are mobilizing poor communities to resist net neutrality rollbacks? How about the health risks of wireless tech that cell phone companies have covered up, or the opiate crisis that Big Pharma knowingly unleashed? Haven?t heard the news? Neither did the rest of the world. That?s because these and countless other news items are suppressed or ignored by our nation?s ?free press? every day. For the past forty-three years, Project Censored has been unearthing the buried stories that corporate media deem unfit to print?and debunking the ?fake news? governments and corporations use to consolidate their power?to promote well-informed citizen action and critical media literacy. This year?s Project Censored yearbook features: -- ?Vetting Free Speech? by Sally Gimson, Layli Foroudi, and Sean Gallagher -- ?#TimesUp: Breaking the Barriers of Sexual Harassment in Corporate Media for You and #MeToo? by Julie Frechette -- ?Data Activism through Community Mapping and Data Visualization? by Dorothy Kidd -- ?How Mainstream Media Evolved into Corporate Media? by Peter Phillips -- ?Campus?Newsroom Collaborations? by Patricia W. Elliott -- ?The Public and Its Problems? by Susan Maret Plus Junk Food News, News Abuse, and Media Democracy in Action. In a time of decline in the rule of law and democratic safeguards, Project Censored offers a constructive alternative to the ?fake news? blues, holding the corporate media to account for its negative bias, propaganda for wealth and power, and outright censorship.

This ain't no table tennis. You're not here to skip rope with your niece. You're here to witness the catastrophically awesome exploits of history's greatest badasses. Not only that, you're here to see what happens when badasses collide, when glory and doom hang in the balance, when two men enter...  more

This ain't no table tennis. You're not here to skip rope with your niece. You're here to witness the catastrophically awesome exploits of history's greatest badasses. Not only that, you're here to see what happens when badasses collide, when glory and doom hang in the balance, when two men enter one man leave. If you dare listen, you'll hear the stories of Cyrus the Great, who forges the Persian empire with blood, steel, and a few thousand rampaging camels. St. Moses the Black, the Patron Saint of Asskickings, who teaches bandit thugs a lesson in turning the other cheek. The War of Aracau, when the Spanish invaders sawed off the hands of a Mapuche warrior, the Mapuche Warrior strapped blades to his arms and lead the only successful resistance in all of South America. The Rani of Jhansi, oppressed by the British, one Indian warrior-princess rises in revolt, taking on the British crown with a sword in each hand and her baby strapped to her back. The Charge of the Australian Light Horse, when 800 horsemen armed with bayonets embark on the last great cavalry charge in history, rushing toward trenches filled with machine guns, rifles, and huge bullets! Tango Mike-Mike, one lone Green Beret's attempt to single-handedly rescue an entire Special Forces squad from a pinned-down position deep behind enemy lines in Cambodia. Told in Ben Thompson's hilariously over-the-top prose and accompanied with forty pieces of eye-popping, original artwork, these stories will thrill and inspire readers to grind their enemies into the dust. When there can be only one Badass, it's an "Ultimate Deathmatch".

Oliver Sacks meets Stephen King * in this propulsive, haunting journey into the life of the most studied human research subject of all time, the amnesic known as Patient H.M., a man who forever altered our understanding of how memory works and whose treatment raises deeply unsettling questions...  more

Oliver Sacks meets Stephen King * in this propulsive, haunting journey into the life of the most studied human research subject of all time, the amnesic known as Patient H.M., a man who forever altered our understanding of how memory works and whose treatment raises deeply unsettling questions about the human cost of scientific progress. For readers of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks comes a story that has much to teach us about our relentless pursuit of knowledge. *Kirkus Reviews (starred review) In 1953, a twenty-seven-year-old factory worker named Henry Molaison who suffered from severe epilepsy received a radical new version of the then-common lobotomy, targeting the most mysterious structures in the brain. The operation failed to eliminate Henry s seizures, but it did have an unintended effect: Henry was left profoundly amnesic, unable to create long-term memories. Over the next sixty years, Patient H.M., as Henry was known, became the most studied individual in the history of neuroscience, a human guinea pig who would teach us much of what we know about memory today. Patient H.M. is, at times, a deeply personal journey. Dittrich s grandfather was the brilliant, morally complex surgeon who operated on Molaison and thousands of other patients. The author s investigation into the dark roots of modern memory science ultimately forces him to confront unsettling secrets in his own family history, and to reveal the tragedy that fueled his grandfather s relentless experimentation experimentation that would revolutionize our understanding of ourselves. Dittrich uses the case of Patient H.M. as a starting point for a kaleidoscopic journey, one that moves from the first recorded brain surgeries in ancient Egypt to the cutting-edge laboratories of MIT. He takes readers inside the old asylums and operating theaters where psychosurgeons, as they called themselves, conducted their human experiments, and behind the scenes of a bitter custody battle over the ownership of the most important brain in the world. Patient H.M. combines the best of biography, memoir, and science journalism to create a haunting, endlessly fascinating story, one that reveals the wondrous and devastating things that can happen when hubris, ambition, and human imperfection collide. Praise for Patient H.M. An exciting, artful blend of family and medical history. The New York Times In prose both elegant and intimate, and often thrilling, Patient H.M. is an important book about the wages not of sin but of science. It is deeply reported and surprisingly emotional, at times poignant, at others shocking. . . . A scintillating book, infused with humanity. The Washington Post Spellbinding . . . The fact that Dittrich looks critically at the actual process of scientific investigation is just one of the things to admire about Patient H.M. The New York Times Book Review Patient H.M. tells one of the most fascinating and disturbing stories in the annals of medicine, weaving in ethics, philosophy, a personal saga, the history of neurosurgery, the mysteries of human memory, and an exploration of human ego. Sheri Fink, M.D., Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Five Days at Memorial Dittrich explores the limits of science and the mind. In the process, he rescues an iconic life from oblivion. Dittrich is well aware that while we are the sum of what we may remember, we re also at the mercy of what we can forget. This is classic reporting and myth-making at the same time. Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World Spin From the Hardcover edition."

Over the past fifty years, more than three hundred infectious diseases have either emerged or reemerged, appearing in places where they’ve never before been seen. Years before the sudden arrival of COVID-19, ninety percent of epidemiologists predicted that one of them would cause a deadly...  more

Over the past fifty years, more than three hundred infectious diseases have either emerged or reemerged, appearing in places where they’ve never before been seen. Years before the sudden arrival of COVID-19, ninety percent of epidemiologists predicted that one of them would cause a deadly pandemic sometime in the next two generations. It might be Ebola, avian flu, a drug-resistant superbug, or something completely new, like the novel virus the world is confronting today. While it was impossible to predict the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 -- and it remains impossible to predict which pathogen will cause the next global outbreak -- by unraveling the stories of pandemics past we can begin to better understand our own future, and to prepare for what it holds in store. In Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Coronaviruses and Beyond, Sonia Shah interweaves history, original reportage, and personal narrative to explore the origins of epidemics, drawing parallels between cholera -- one of history’s most deadly and disruptive pandemic-causing pathogens -- and the new diseases that stalk humankind today. She tracks each stage of cholera’s dramatic journey, from its emergence in the South Asian hinterlands as a harmless microbe to its rapid dispersal across the nineteenth-century world, all the way to its latest beachhead in Haiti. Along the way she reports on the pathogens now following in cholera’s footsteps, from the MRSA bacterium that besieges her own family to the never-before-seen killers coming out of China’s wet markets, the surgical wards of New Delhi, and the suburban backyards of the East Coast. Delving into the convoluted science, strange politics, and checkered history of one of the world’s deadliest diseases, Pandemic is a work of epidemiological history like no other, with urgent lessons for our own time.

A national bestseller—7 million copies sold. Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial, Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the twentieth century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four...  more

A national bestseller—7 million copies sold. Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial, Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the twentieth century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? Here is the gripping story of this famous and haunting crime. 50 pages of b/w photographs. Both Helter Skelter and Vincent Bugliosi's subsequent Till Death Us Do Part won Edgar Allan Poe Awards for best true-crime book of the year. Bugliosi is also the author of Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O. J. Simpson Got Away with Murder (Norton, 1996) and other books. Curt Gentry, an Edgar winner, is the author of J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets (available in Norton paperback) and Frame-Up: The Incredible Case of Tom Mooney and Warren Billings.

One of the most important stories of World War II, a spectacular, searing history that brings to light the extraordinary accomplishments of brave Jewish women who became resistance fighters -- €•a group of unknown heroes whose exploits have never been chronicled in full, until now....  more

One of the most important stories of World War II, a spectacular, searing history that brings to light the extraordinary accomplishments of brave Jewish women who became resistance fighters -- €•a group of unknown heroes whose exploits have never been chronicled in full, until now. Witnesses to the brutal murder of their families and neighbors and the violent destruction of their communities, a cadre of Jewish women in Poland -- some still in their teens -- helped transform the Jewish youth groups into resistance cells to fight the Nazis. With courage, guile, and nerves of steel, these “ghetto girls” paid off Gestapo guards, hid revolvers in loaves of bread and jars of marmalade, and helped build systems of underground bunkers. They flirted with German soldiers, bribed them with wine, whiskey, and home cooking, used their Aryan looks to seduce them, and shot and killed them. They bombed German train lines and blew up a town’s water supply. They also nursed the sick and taught children. Yet the exploits of these courageous resistance fighters have remained virtually unknown. The Light of Days at last tells the true story of these incredible women whose courageous yet little-known feats have been eclipsed by time. Judy Batalion -- the granddaughter of Polish Holocaust survivors -- takes us back to 1939 and introduces us to Renia Kukielka, a weapons smuggler and messenger who risked death traveling across occupied Poland on foot and by train. Joining Renia are other women who served as couriers, armed fighters, intelligence agents, and saboteurs, all who put their lives in mortal danger to carry out their missions. Batalion follows these women through the savage destruction of the ghettos, arrest and internment in Gestapo prisons and concentration camps, and for a lucky few -- like Renia, who orchestrated her own audacious escape from a brutal Nazi jail -- into the late 20th century and beyond. Powerful and inspiring, featuring twenty black-and-white photographs, The Light of Days is an unforgettable true tale of war, the fight for freedom, exceptional bravery, female friendship, and survival in the face of staggering odds. 

In the course of researching her best-selling books, McDermid has become familiar with many branches of forensics, and now she uncovers the history of this science and the people who make sure that for murderers, there is no hiding place. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past...  more

In the course of researching her best-selling books, McDermid has become familiar with many branches of forensics, and now she uncovers the history of this science and the people who make sure that for murderers, there is no hiding place. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help serve justice using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene, or the faintest of human traces. Now available in paperback, Forensics goes behind the scenes with some of these top-level professionals and their groundbreaking research, drawing on original interviews and firsthand experience on scene with top forensic scientists. Along the way, we discover how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine time of death; how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer; and how a team of young Argentine scientists led by a maverick American anthropologist were able to uncover the victims of a genocide. The journey takes us to war zones, fire scenes, and autopsy suites, reveals both extraordinary bravery and true wickedness, as we trace the history of forensics from its earliest beginnings to the cutting-edge science of the modern day.

In 1955 the killers of Emmett Till, a black Mississippi youth, were acquitted because they were white. Forty years later, despite the strong DNA evidence against him, accused murderer O. J. Simpson went free after his attorney portrayed him as a victim of racism. The age of white supremacy has...  more

In 1955 the killers of Emmett Till, a black Mississippi youth, were acquitted because they were white. Forty years later, despite the strong DNA evidence against him, accused murderer O. J. Simpson went free after his attorney portrayed him as a victim of racism. The age of white supremacy has given way to an age of white guilt—and neither has been good for African Americans. Through articulate analysis and engrossing recollections, acclaimed race relations scholar Shelby Steele sounds a powerful call for a new culture of personal responsibility.

Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion 1980s hard rock was a hedonistic and often intensely creative wellspring of escapism that perfectly encapsulated -- and maybe even helped to define -- a spectacularly over-the-top decade. Indeed,...  more

Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion 1980s hard rock was a hedonistic and often intensely creative wellspring of escapism that perfectly encapsulated -- and maybe even helped to define -- a spectacularly over-the-top decade. Indeed, fist-pumping hits like Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” Mötley Crüe’s “Girls, Girls, Girls,” and Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” are as inextricably linked to the era as Reaganomics, Pac-Man, and E.T. From the do-or-die early days of self-financed recordings and D.I.Y. concert productions that were as flashy as they were foolhardy, to the multi-Platinum, MTV-powered glory years of stadium-shaking anthems and chart-topping power ballads, to the ultimate crash when grunge bands like Nirvana forever altered the entire climate of the business, Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock's Nothin' But a Good Time captures the energy and excess of the hair metal years in the words of the musicians, managers, producers, engineers, label executives, publicists, stylists, costume designers, photographers, journalists, magazine publishers, video directors, club bookers, roadies, groupies, and hangers-on who lived it. Featuring an impassioned foreword by Slipknot and Stone Sour vocalist and avowed glam metal fanatic Corey Taylor, and drawn from over 200 new interviews with members of Van Halen, Mötley Crüe, Poison, Guns N’ Roses, Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Twisted Sister, Winger, Warrant, Cinderella, Quiet Riot and others, as well as Ozzy Osbourne, Lita Ford and many more, this is the ultimate, uncensored, and often unhinged chronicle of a time where excess and success walked hand in hand, told by the men and women who created a sound and style that came to define a musical era -- one in which the bands and their fans went looking for nothin’ but a good time… and found it.

Most people know Andrew McCarthy from his movie roles in Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire, Weekend at Bernie's, and Less than Zero, and as a charter member of Hollywood's Brat Pack. That iconic group of ingenues and heartthrobs included Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Emilio...  more

Most people know Andrew McCarthy from his movie roles in Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire, Weekend at Bernie's, and Less than Zero, and as a charter member of Hollywood's Brat Pack. That iconic group of ingenues and heartthrobs included Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, and Demi Moore, and has come to represent both a genre of film and an era of pop culture. In his memoir Brat: An '80s Story, McCarthy focuses his gaze on that singular moment in time. The result is a revealing look at coming of age in a maelstrom, reckoning with conflicted ambition, innocence, addiction, and masculinity. New York City of the 1980s is brought to vivid life in these pages, from scoring loose joints in Washington Square Park to skipping school in favor of the dark revival houses of the Village where he fell in love with the movies that would change his life.   Filled with personal revelations of innocence lost to heady days in Hollywood with John Hughes and an iconic cast of characters, Brat is a surprising and intimate story of an outsider caught up in a most unwitting success.

Hero Dogs is the incredible memoir of how Wilma Melville turned a band of shelter dogs into one of America's foremost disaster-response assets in catastrophes from 9/11 to Katrina. Ana and Hunter were failed service dogs. Recon was left for dead on the train tracks. Cody was returned to the...  more

Hero Dogs is the incredible memoir of how Wilma Melville turned a band of shelter dogs into one of America's foremost disaster-response assets in catastrophes from 9/11 to Katrina. Ana and Hunter were failed service dogs. Recon was left for dead on the train tracks. Cody was returned to the shelter seven times before he turned two. To most, these dogs were unadoptable. Unsalvageable. Irredeemable. To retired gym teacher and grandma Wilma Melville, they were the heroes America needed. While volunteering as a canine search-and-rescue handler during the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Wilma saw how ill-prepared the country was to respond to disasters. Then and there, beside her loyal Black Lab, Murphy, she made a pact, singlehandedly founding the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) and beginning a journey that would change the face of search-and-rescue in America forever.But even Wilma could not predict how desperately her idea would soon be needed. With 9/11, the scope of disaster response in America changed in an instant, and people across the country realized how crucial these dogs were, launching the SDF to a national stage. In this gripping, heartwrenching story, Wilma and writer Paul Lobo trace the paths of the amazing animals, firefighters, and volunteers who brought Wilma's dream to fruition. They recount struggles and triumphs as the dogs and their handlers face off with hurricanes, bombings, and other staggering disasters. Along the way, we witness the unshakeable bonds that develop between humans and these remarkable dogs.

Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog in lower Manhattan has won every cocktail�award there is to win, including the 2016 "Best Bar in the World" title from Worlds50BestBars.com.�Since their award-winning cocktail book, The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual, was published in 2015,�Dead Rabbit creators Sean Muldoon...  more

Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog in lower Manhattan has won every cocktail�award there is to win, including the 2016 "Best Bar in the World" title from Worlds50BestBars.com.�Since their award-winning cocktail book, The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual, was published in 2015,�Dead Rabbit creators Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry and bar manager�Jillian Vose have completely revamped the bar's�menus in a bold, graphic novel style, now featured in their newest collection,�Mixology & Mayhem.�Based on "Gangs of New York"-era tales, but retold with modern personalities�in the bar world portrayed as the heroes and villains of the story, the menus are highly sought-after works of art.�This stunning new�book, featuring�100 cocktail recipes, fleshes�out the tall tales even further�in a collectible hardcover edition?making it a must-have for the bar's passionate fans who line up every night of the week.

The one and only resource on using adaptogenic mushrooms to boost immunity and promote whole body health the natural way. � Adaptogenic mushrooms are one of today's buzziest superfoods, known for their ability to restore skin's youthful glow, increase energy levels, reduce brain fog, keep your...  more

The one and only resource on using adaptogenic mushrooms to boost immunity and promote whole body health the natural way. � Adaptogenic mushrooms are one of today's buzziest superfoods, known for their ability to restore skin's youthful glow, increase energy levels, reduce brain fog, keep your hormone levels in check, and so much more. In Healing Mushrooms, you?ll learn about the ten most powerful mushrooms you can add to your daily diet to maximize your health gains. Though some of these mushrooms, like Tremella, Cordyceps, and Reishi will sound exotic, they're all easy to source online in extract form and easier to use in recipes. Even more familiar mushrooms, like Shiitake, Oyster, and Enoki, are full of seriously healing potential--you just have to know how to use them. Packed with practical information, fun illustrations, and 50 mushroom-boosted recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and even dessert!), Healing Mushrooms unlocks the vast potential of this often-overlooked superfood category and will be the go-to resource for adding mushrooms to your health and wellness regimen.

Man's best friend! What better way to showcase adoptable dogs than by letting their true personalities shine in a photo booth! In the tradition of the best-selling dog photography book, Underwater Dogs, Shelter Dogs in a Photo Booth wins the heart of all dog lovers. Often seen as sad, rejected,...  more

Man's best friend! What better way to showcase adoptable dogs than by letting their true personalities shine in a photo booth! In the tradition of the best-selling dog photography book, Underwater Dogs, Shelter Dogs in a Photo Booth wins the heart of all dog lovers. Often seen as sad, rejected, and behind cold metal bars, it's no wonder people would avoid images of shelter dogs awaiting forever homes. From talented photographer (and now public figure and adoption champion) Guinnivere Shuster comes Shelter Dogs in a Photo Booth, a guaranteed-to-make-you-smile photo book featuring shelter dogs in a brand-new light. Get ready to see the cutest canine portraits you?ve ever seen! Guinnevere?s fantastic photos went viral� and have been featured on websites, in magazines, and on television programs all over the world: Good Morning America, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, The Huffington Post, Time, The Daily Mail . . . even celebrities have gotten in on the action: Amy Poehler, Cesar Milan, and Zooey Deschanel have made statements and posts declaring their love of Guinnevere?s work. After the adorable and up-for-adoption photos of these furry friends were seen and enjoyed by millions, adoption rates at Utah's Humane Society skyrocketed. The book features 100 dog photo booth style photographs, each accompanied by a short story about the dog's personality, how the dog ended up in the shelter, and the adoption date. A follow-up will conclude the book, with photos of some of them with their new families. A portion of the proceeds of this book will benefit the Humane Society of Utah and Best Friends Animal Society.

For seven years, Alison Arngrim played a wretched, scheming, selfish, lying, manipulative brat on one of TV history's most beloved series. Though millions of Little House on the Prairie viewers hated Nellie Oleson and her evil antics, Arngrim grew to love her character -- and the freedom and...  more

For seven years, Alison Arngrim played a wretched, scheming, selfish, lying, manipulative brat on one of TV history's most beloved series. Though millions of Little House on the Prairie viewers hated Nellie Oleson and her evil antics, Arngrim grew to love her character -- and the freedom and confidence Nellie inspired in her. In Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, Arngrim describes growing up in Hollywood with her eccentric parents: Thor Arngrim, a talent manager to Liberace and others, whose appetite for publicity was insatiable, and legendary voice actress Norma MacMillan, who played both Gumby and Casper the Friendly Ghost. She recalls her most cherished and often wickedly funny moments behind the scenes of Little House: Michael Landon's "unsaintly" habit of not wearing underwear; how she and Melissa Gilbert (who played her TV nemesis, Laura Ingalls) became best friends and accidentally got drunk on rum cakes at 7-Eleven; and the only time she and Katherine MacGregor (who played Nellie's mom) appeared in public in costume, provoking a posse of elementary schoolgirls to attack them. Arngrim relays all this and more with biting wit, but she also bravely recounts her life's challenges: her struggle to survive a history of traumatic abuse, depression, and paralyzing shyness; the "secret" her father kept from her for twenty years; and the devastating loss of her "Little House husband" and best friend, Steve Tracy, to AIDS, which inspired her second career in social and political activism. Arngrim describes how Nellie Oleson taught her to be bold, daring, and determined, and how she is eternally grateful to have had the biggest little bitch on the prairie to show her the way.

In the blink of an eye, Mom ran up behind me and pushed me into the fence. Instinctively, I reached out my arms to stop my fall and ended up grabbing the live fence. My hands clamped around the thin wires, and my body collapsed to the ground as the electricity coursed through it. I opened my...  more

In the blink of an eye, Mom ran up behind me and pushed me into the fence. Instinctively, I reached out my arms to stop my fall and ended up grabbing the live fence. My hands clamped around the thin wires, and my body collapsed to the ground as the electricity coursed through it. I opened my eyes and saw my mother standing over me with the strangest smile on her face. ?Oh, my God, I?m going to die!? I thought in panic. Imagine never being able to close your eyes and remember the feel of your mother?s arms wrapped around you. Now imagine closing your eyes and remembering your mother?s tears splashing down on your face as she is on top of you, crying as she is trying to choke you to death. My mother left me these memories and many more during my traumatic childhood. After many years of struggling with trying to understand ?Why Me?? I took back control of my life and started saying, ?It was me, now what am I going to do?? The answer is my book, ?Why Me??. It is my childhood journey through the terrors of physical and mental abuse from first grade until the day I moved out. It is my way of letting the world know what was really going on behind closed doors.

These are the true-life accounts of nine Jewish boys and girls whose lives spiraled into danger and fear as the Holocaust overtook Europe. In a time of great horror, these children each found a way to make it through the nightmare of war. Some made daring escapes into the unknown, others...  more

These are the true-life accounts of nine Jewish boys and girls whose lives spiraled into danger and fear as the Holocaust overtook Europe. In a time of great horror, these children each found a way to make it through the nightmare of war. Some made daring escapes into the unknown, others disguised their true identities, and many witnessed unimaginable horrors. But what they all shared was the unshakable belief in-- and hope for-- survival. Their legacy of courage in the face of hatred will move you, captivate you, and, ultimately, inspire you.

A New York Times bestseller, The Conquerors reveals how Franklin Roosevelt's and Harry Truman's private struggles with their aides and Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin affected the unfolding of the Holocaust and the fate of vanquished Nazi Germany.With monumental fairness and balance, The...  more

A New York Times bestseller, The Conquerors reveals how Franklin Roosevelt's and Harry Truman's private struggles with their aides and Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin affected the unfolding of the Holocaust and the fate of vanquished Nazi Germany.With monumental fairness and balance, The Conquerors shows how Roosevelt privately refused desperate pleas to speak out directly against the Holocaust, to save Jewish refugees and to explore the possible bombing of Auschwitz to stop the killing. The book also shows FDR's fierce will to ensure that Germany would never threaten the world again. Near the end of World War II, he abruptly endorsed the secret plan of his friend, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, to reduce the Germans to a primitive existence -- despite Churchill's fear that crushing postwar Germany would let the Soviets conquer the continent. The book finally shows how, after FDR's death, President Truman rebelled against Roosevelt's tough approach and adopted the Marshall Plan and other more conciliatory policies that culminated in today's democratic, united Europe.

A personal memoir by author and celebrity journalist Glenn Plaskin,  "Katie" is a story about a man who discovers the true meaning of family after adopting a cocker spaniel puppy. Through the magnetic personality of his mischievous dog, the author soon makes powerful connections...  more

A personal memoir by author and celebrity journalist Glenn Plaskin,  "Katie" is a story about a man who discovers the true meaning of family after adopting a cocker spaniel puppy. Through the magnetic personality of his mischievous dog, the author soon makes powerful connections with several of his down-the-hall neighbors in a high-rise located in the unique Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. First, Katie trots into the lives of Pearl and Arthur, a warm-hearted elderly couple just a few doors down from Glenn. Later, John, a single Dad, and his rambunctious young son, Ryan, also move in and are seduced by Katie's charms. All of their lives are profoundly changed as they are transformed from neighbors to friends to family, with Pearl as matriarch. The motherless boy finds a "Granny"; his Dad inherits a mother, Glenn discovers a confidante. Set in New York City, we witness nearly sixteen years of antics and family adventures spanning Hollywood high times, bad health, accidents, blustery winters, even the terrors of 9/11. Through it all, the family clings to each other, sharing a deep bond that give each comfort, support and security. Based upon an article in Family Circle, here is an unforgettable story about the love that makes a family one that transcends the hard realities of time, tragedy, and inevitable loss.

Sometimes, change comes on four legs. In his popular and widely praised Running to the Mountain, Jon Katz wrote of the strength and support he found in the massive forms of his two yellow Labrador retrievers, Julius and Stanley. When the Labs were six and seven, a breeder who’d read...  more

Sometimes, change comes on four legs. In his popular and widely praised Running to the Mountain, Jon Katz wrote of the strength and support he found in the massive forms of his two yellow Labrador retrievers, Julius and Stanley. When the Labs were six and seven, a breeder who’d read his book contacted Katz to say she had a dog that was meant for him—a two-year-old border collie named Devon, well bred but high-strung and homeless. Katz already had a full canine complement—but, as he writes, “Change loves me. . . . It comes in all forms. . . . Sometimes, change comes on four legs.” Shortly thereafter he brought Devon home. A Dog Year shows how a man discovered much about himself through one dog (and then another), whose temperament seemed as different from his own as day from night. It is a story of trust and understanding, of life and death, of continuity and change. It is by turns insightful, hilarious, and deeply moving.

A handsome overachiever...A beautiful honors student...Together they would commit savage murder...A Teenage Love Pact Sealed In BloodOutside a small Texas town by the side of the road, high school sophomore beauty Adrianne Jones lay with her skull bashed in and two bullets in her head. She had...  more

A handsome overachiever...A beautiful honors student...Together they would commit savage murder...A Teenage Love Pact Sealed In BloodOutside a small Texas town by the side of the road, high school sophomore beauty Adrianne Jones lay with her skull bashed in and two bullets in her head. She had been driven to an isolated spot outside of Mansfield, Texas by star student David Graham while David's girlfriend, Diane Zamora, hid in the trunk. First David tried unsuccessfully to break Adrianne's neck, then Diane came out of the trunk to attack her with a set of weights. To finish off the job, David shot her between the eyes. For months, there were no leads on the killing until Diane confessed to her military school roommates about the secret she and her boyfriend would take to their graves...Tainted LoveThe brutal killing shocked the entire town of Mansfield. Even more shocking were the killers, David and Diane, model teenagers, devoted high school sweethearts, military academy-bound honors students-- and desperate lovers who feared that Adrianne's sexual encounter with David had come between them. Killing Adrianne was "the only thing that could satisfy [Diane's] vengeance," said David in his confession to police-- the only way, she told David, to restore the 'purity' of their love...Pure VengeanceHere is the unbelievable true story of a macabre love triangle-- and the startling lengths one couple went to in the name of... Blind Love

The dramatic first-person account of life inside an ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect, and one woman’s courageous flight to freedom with her eight children. When she was eighteen years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger: a man...  more

The dramatic first-person account of life inside an ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect, and one woman’s courageous flight to freedom with her eight children. When she was eighteen years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger: a man thirty-two years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn’s heritage: She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church that had settled in small communities along the Arizona-Utah border. Over the next fifteen years, Carolyn had eight children and withstood her husband’s psychological abuse and the watchful eyes of his other wives who were locked in a constant battle for supremacy. Carolyn’s every move was dictated by her husband’s whims. He decided where she lived and how her children would be treated. He controlled the money she earned as a school teacher. He chose when they had sex; Carolyn could only refuse—at her peril. For in the FLDS, a wife’s compliance with her husband determined how much status both she and her children held in the family. Carolyn was miserable for years and wanted out, but she knew that if she tried to leave and got caught, her children would be taken away from her. No woman in the country had ever escaped from the FLDS and managed to get her children out, too. But in 2003, Carolyn chose freedom over fear and fled her home with her eight children. She had $20 to her name. Escape exposes a world tantamount to a prison camp, created by religious fanatics who, in the name of God, deprive their followers the right to make choices, force women to be totally subservient to men, and brainwash children in church-run schools. Against this background, Carolyn Jessop’s flight takes on an extraordinary, inspiring power. Not only did she manage a daring escape from a brutal environment, she became the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FLDS. And in 2006, her reports to the Utah attorney general on church abuses formed a crucial part of the case that led to the arrest of their notorious leader, Warren Jeffs.

In the spring of 1963, the quiet suburb of Belmont, Massachusetts, is rocked by a shocking murder that fits the pattern of the infamous Boston Strangler, still at large. Hoping for a break in the case, the police arrest Roy Smith, a black ex-con whom the victim hired to clean her house. Smith is...  more

In the spring of 1963, the quiet suburb of Belmont, Massachusetts, is rocked by a shocking murder that fits the pattern of the infamous Boston Strangler, still at large. Hoping for a break in the case, the police arrest Roy Smith, a black ex-con whom the victim hired to clean her house. Smith is hastily convicted of the murder, but the Strangler's terror continues. And through it all, one man escapes the scrutiny of the police: a carpenter working at the time at the Belmont home of young Sebastian Junger and his parents -- a man named Albert. F rom the acclaimed author of A Perfect Storm comes a powerful chronicle of three lives that collide in the vortex of one of America's most controversial serial murder cases.

A silent, simmering killer terrorized New England in1911. As a terrible heat wave killed more than 2,000 people, another silent killer used the heat to cover her own killing spree. That year an obituary writer for the Hartford Courant noticed a sharp rise in the number of obits for residents of...  more

A silent, simmering killer terrorized New England in1911. As a terrible heat wave killed more than 2,000 people, another silent killer used the heat to cover her own killing spree. That year an obituary writer for the Hartford Courant noticed a sharp rise in the number of obits for residents of a rooming house in Windsor, Connecticut, and began to suspect who was responsible: Amy Archer-Gilligan, who?d opened Archer Home for Elderly People and Chronic Invalids four years earlier. ?Sister Amy? would be accused of murdering both of her husbands and up to sixty-six of her patients with cocktails of lemonade and arsenic; her story inspired the Broadway hit Arsenic and Old Lace. The Devil?s Rooming House is the first book about the life, times, and crimes of America?s most prolific female serial killer. In telling this fascinating story, M. William Phelps also paints a vivid portrait of early-twentieth-century New England.

How one man's consuming passion for dogs saved a legendary breed from extinction and led him to a difficult, more soulful way of life in the wilds of Japan's remote snow country As Dog Man opens, Martha Sherrill brings us to a world that Americans know very little about-the snow country of...  more

How one man's consuming passion for dogs saved a legendary breed from extinction and led him to a difficult, more soulful way of life in the wilds of Japan's remote snow country As Dog Man opens, Martha Sherrill brings us to a world that Americans know very little about-the snow country of Japan during World War II. In a mountain village, we meet Morie Sawataishi, a fierce individualist who has chosen to break the law by keeping an Akita dog hidden in a shed on his property. During the war, the magnificent and intensely loyal Japanese hunting dogs are donated to help the war effort, eaten, or used to make fur vests for the military. By the time of the Japanese surrender in 1945, there are only sixteen Akitas left in the country. The survival of the breed becomes Morie's passion and life, almost a spiritual calling. Devoted to the dogs, Morie is forever changed. His life becomes radically unconventional-almost preposterous-in ultra-ambitious, conformist Japan. For the dogs, Morie passes up promotions, bigger houses, and prestigious engineering jobs in Tokyo. Instead, he raises a family with his young wife, Kitako-a sheltered urban sophisticate-in Japan's remote and forbidding snow country. Their village is isolated, but interesting characters are always dropping by-dog buddies, in-laws from Tokyo, and a barefoot hunter who lives in the wild. Due in part to Morie's perseverance and passion, the Akita breed strengthens and becomes wildly popular, sometimes selling for millions of yen. Yet Morie won't sell his spectacular dogs. He only likes to give them away. Morie and Kitako remain in the snow country today, living in the traditional Japanese cottage they designed together more than thirty years ago-with tatami mats, an overhanging roof, a deep bathtub, and no central heat. At ninety-four years old, Morie still raises and trains the Akita dogs that have come to symbolize his life. In beautiful prose that is a joy to read, Martha Sherrill opens up the world of the Dog Man and his wife, providing a profound look at what it is to be an individualist in a culture that reveres conformity-and what it means to live life in one's own way, while expertly revealing Japan and Japanese culture as we've never seen it before.

All My Patients have Tales is Dr. Wells second book recalling his life as a veterinarian. His chapters recount the life altering and sometimes life threatening experiences of daily practice. For those who ever thought about or are now interested in becoming a veterinarian, he recalls the...  more

All My Patients have Tales is Dr. Wells second book recalling his life as a veterinarian. His chapters recount the life altering and sometimes life threatening experiences of daily practice. For those who ever thought about or are now interested in becoming a veterinarian, he recalls the humbling life of a veterinary student. However, most uplifting and amusing are his descriptions of helping people help their pets. Let Dr. Wells take you on this journey.

When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10,1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin the perilous descent from 29,028 feet (roughly the cruising altitude of...  more

When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10,1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin the perilous descent from 29,028 feet (roughly the cruising altitude of an Airbus jetliner), twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware that the sky had begun to roil with clouds ... Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest by the acclaimed Outside journalist and author of the bestselling Into the Wild. Taking the reader step by step from Katmandu to the mountain's deadly pinnacle, Krakauer has his readers shaking on the edge of their seat. Beyond the terrors of this account, however, he also peers deeply into the myth of the world's tallest mountain. What is is about Everest that has compelled so many people -- including himself -- to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense? Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.

They draw you in with the promise of empowerment, self-discovery, women helping women. The more secretive those connections are, the more exclusive you feel. Little did you know, you just joined a cult. Sex trafficking. Self-help coaching. Forced labor. Mentorship. Multi-level marketing....  more

They draw you in with the promise of empowerment, self-discovery, women helping women. The more secretive those connections are, the more exclusive you feel. Little did you know, you just joined a cult. Sex trafficking. Self-help coaching. Forced labor. Mentorship. Multi-level marketing. Gaslighting. Investigative journalist Sarah Berman explores the shocking practices of NXIVM, a cult run by Keith Raniere and many enablers. Through the accounts of central NXIVM figures, Berman uncovers how dozens of women seeking creative coaching and networking opportunities instead were blackmailed, literally branded, near-starved, and enslaved. Don't Call It a Cult is a riveting account of NXIVM's rise to power, its ability to evade prosecution for decades, and the investigation that finally revealed its dark secrets to the world.

In the midst of his distinguished law school career, James Starrs made an extraordinary leap into the politically fraught, physically arduous business of actually exhuming bodies to solve cold cases that have defied answers for years. Helped by cutting-edge technology as well as the forensic...  more

In the midst of his distinguished law school career, James Starrs made an extraordinary leap into the politically fraught, physically arduous business of actually exhuming bodies to solve cold cases that have defied answers for years. Helped by cutting-edge technology as well as the forensic science he had been teaching for decades, he has made important discoveries. These fascinating revelations are dramatically chronicled in A Voice for the Dead. Starrs's passionate intention is to set the record straight, to right the wrongs done by tall tales and cover-ups, by even the most cherished historical legends. Among the high-profile cases he writes about are Jesse James-are the remains buried in his purported grave really Jesse's? Mary Sullivan-was she, as supposed, a victim of Albert DeSalvo, who confessed, perhaps falsely, to being the Boston Strangler? And the Cold War government scientist who fell to his death from a high floor of a New York hotel-did he jump or was he pushed?

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells...  more

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had. Will Smith’s transformation from a West Philadelphia kid to one of the biggest rap stars of his era, and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, is an epic tale -- but it’s only half the story. Will Smith thought, with good reason, that he had won at life: not only was his own success unparalleled, his whole family was at the pinnacle of the entertainment world. Only they didn't see it that way: they felt more like star performers in his circus, a seven-days-a-week job they hadn't signed up for. It turned out Will Smith's education wasn't nearly over.  This memoir is the product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind. Written with the help of Mark Manson, author of the multi-million-copy bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Will is the story of how one person mastered his own emotions, written in a way that can help everyone else do the same. Few of us will know the pressure of performing on the world's biggest stages for the highest of stakes, but we can all understand that the fuel that works for one stage of our journey might have to be changed if we want to make it all the way home. The combination of genuine wisdom of universal value and a life story that is preposterously entertaining, even astonishing, puts Will the book, like its author, in a category by itself.

The story of how Julian Van Winkle III, the caretaker of the most coveted cult Kentucky Bourbon whiskey in the world, fought to protect his family's heritage and preserve the taste of his forebears, in a world where authenticity, like his product, is in very short supply. As a journalist...  more

The story of how Julian Van Winkle III, the caretaker of the most coveted cult Kentucky Bourbon whiskey in the world, fought to protect his family's heritage and preserve the taste of his forebears, in a world where authenticity, like his product, is in very short supply. As a journalist said of Pappy Van Winkle, "You could call it bourbon, or you could call it a $5,000 bottle of liquified, barrel-aged unobtanium." Julian Van Winkle, the third-generation head of his family's business, is now thought of as something like the Buddha of Bourbon - Booze Yoda, as Wright Thompson calls him. He is swarmed wherever he goes, and people stand in long lines to get him to sign their bottles of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve, the whiskey he created to honor his grandfather, the founder of the family concern. A bottle of the 23-year-old Pappy starts at $3000 on the internet. As Julian is the first to say, things have gone completely nuts. Forty years ago, Julian would have laughed in astonishment if you'd told him what lay ahead. He'd just stepped in to try to save the business after his father had died, partly of heartbreak, having been forced to sell the old distillery in a brutal downturn in the market for whiskey. Julian's grandfather had presided over a magical kingdom of craft and connoisseurship, a genteel outfit whose family ethos generated good will throughout Kentucky and far beyond. There's always a certain amount of romance to the marketing of spirits, but Pappy's mission statement captured something real: "We make fine bourbon - at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon." But now the business had hit the wilderness years, and Julian could only hang on for dear life, stubbornly committed to preserving his namesake's legacy or going down with the ship. Then something like a miracle happened: it turned out that hundreds of very special barrels of whiskey from the Van Winkle family distillery had been saved by the multinational conglomerate that bought it. With no idea what they had, they offered to sell it to Julian, who scrambled to beg and borrow the funds. Now he could bottle a whiskey whose taste captured his family's legacy. The result would immediately be hailed as the greatest whiskey in the world - and would soon be the hardest to find. But now, those old barrels were used up, and Julian Van Winkle faced the challenge of his lifetime: how to preserve the taste of Pappy, the taste of his family's heritage, in a new age? The amazing Wright Thompson was invited to be his wingman as he set about to try. The result is an extraordinary testimony to the challenge of living up to your legacy and the rewards that come from knowing and honoring your people and your craft. Wright learned those lessons from Julian as they applied to the honest work of making a great bourbon whiskey in Kentucky, but he couldn't help applying them to his own craft, writing, and his upbringing in Mississippi, as he and his wife contemplated the birth of their first child. May we all be lucky enough to find some of ourselves, as Wright Thompson did, in Julian Van Winkle, and in Pappyland.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER�? The�haunting true story of the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California during the 70s and 80s, and of�the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case?which was solved in April 2018.Introduction by Gillian Flynn�?...  more

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER�? The�haunting true story of the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California during the 70s and 80s, and of�the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case?which was solved in April 2018.Introduction by Gillian Flynn�? Afterword by Patton Oswalt?A brilliant genre-buster.... Propulsive, can?t-stop-now reading.?�� ?Stephen KingFor more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area.Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called "the Golden State Killer." Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was.I?ll Be Gone in the Dark?the masterpiece McNamara was writing at the time of her sudden death?offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman?s obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Utterly original and compelling, it has been hailed as a modern true crime classic?one which fulfilled Michelle's dream: helping unmask the Golden State Killer.

Elementary-school teacher Diane Trull's life-defining moment happened when her fourth-grade reading class saw a photo of a cardboard box overflowing with homeless puppies. Her young students were determined to save these lost pups and others like them. In that moment, the Dalhart Animal...  more

Elementary-school teacher Diane Trull's life-defining moment happened when her fourth-grade reading class saw a photo of a cardboard box overflowing with homeless puppies. Her young students were determined to save these lost pups and others like them. In that moment, the Dalhart Animal Wellness Group and Sanctuary—known as DAWGS—was born.   How Trull and her fourth graders started their own animal shelter is a story of dedication, commitment, and perseverance. Trull shares inspiring stories about animals and animal lovers of all ages in this moving story of hope and compassion. DAWGS is a testament to how love and a strong measure of determination can offer second chances—one animal, one child, and one day at a time.

From medieval bestiaries to Borges?s Book of Imaginary Beings, we?ve long been enchanted by extraordinary animals, be they terrifying three-headed dogs or asps impervious to a snake charmer?s song. But bestiaries are more than just zany zoology?they are artful attempts to convey broader beliefs...  more

From medieval bestiaries to Borges?s Book of Imaginary Beings, we?ve long been enchanted by extraordinary animals, be they terrifying three-headed dogs or asps impervious to a snake charmer?s song. But bestiaries are more than just zany zoology?they are artful attempts to convey broader beliefs about human beings and the natural order. Today, we no longer fear sea monsters or banshees. But from the infamous honey badger to the giant squid, animals continue to captivate us with the things they can do and the things they cannot, what we know about them and what we don?t. With The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Caspar Henderson offers readers a fascinating, beautifully produced modern-day menagerie. But whereas medieval bestiaries were often based on folklore and myth, the creatures that abound in Henderson?s book?from the axolotl to the zebrafish?are, with one exception, very much with us, albeit sometimes in depleted numbers. The Book of Barely Imagined Beings transports readers to a world of real creatures that seem as if they should be made up?that are somehow more astonishing than anything we might have imagined. The yeti crab, for example, uses its furry claws to farm the bacteria on which it feeds. The waterbear, meanwhile, is among nature?s ?extreme survivors,? able to withstand a week unprotected in outer space. These and other strange and surprising species invite readers to reflect on what we value?or fail to value?and what we might change. A powerful combination of wit, cutting-edge natural history, and philosophical meditation, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings is an infectious and inspiring celebration of the sheer ingenuity and variety of life in a time of crisis and change.

A brilliant, haunting, and profoundly original portrait of the defining tragedy of our time. ���� In this epic history of extermination and survival, Timothy Snyder presents a new explanation of the great atrocity of the twentieth century, and reveals the risks that we face in the...  more

A brilliant, haunting, and profoundly original portrait of the defining tragedy of our time. ���� In this epic history of extermination and survival, Timothy Snyder presents a new explanation of the great atrocity of the twentieth century, and reveals the risks that we face in the twenty-first.� Based on new sources from eastern Europe and forgotten testimonies from Jewish survivors, Black Earth recounts the mass murder of the Jews as an event that is still close to us, more comprehensible than we would like to think, and thus all the more terrifying.� ����� The Holocaust began in a dark but accessible place, in Hitler's mind, with the thought that the elimination of Jews would restore balance to the planet and allow Germans to win the resources they desperately needed.� Such a worldview could be realized only if Germany destroyed other states, so Hitler's aim was a colonial war in Europe itself.� In the zones of statelessness, almost all Jews died.� A few people, the righteous few, aided them, without support from institutions.� Much of the new research in this book is devoted to understanding these extraordinary individuals.� The almost insurmountable difficulties they faced only confirm the dangers of state destruction and ecological panic.� These men and women should be emulated, but in similar circumstances few of us would do so.� ����� By overlooking the lessons of the Holocaust, Snyder concludes, we have misunderstood modernity and endangered the future.� The early twenty-first century is coming to resemble the early twentieth, as growing preoccupations with food and water accompany ideological challenges to global order.� Our world is closer to Hitler's than we like to admit, and saving it requires us to see the Holocaust as it was -- and ourselves as we are.� Groundbreaking, authoritative, and utterly absorbing, Black Earth reveals a Holocaust that is not only history but warning. From the Hardcover edition.

In a thrilling dramatic narrative, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents. � ���When the government of Jordan granted amnesty to a group...  more

In a thrilling dramatic narrative, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents. � ���When the government of Jordan granted amnesty to a group of political prisoners in 1999, it little realized that among them was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist mastermind and soon the architect of an Islamist movement bent on dominating the Middle East. In Black Flags, an unprecedented character-driven account of the rise of ISIS, Joby Warrick shows how the zeal of this one man and the strategic mistakes of Presidents Bush and Obama led to the banner of ISIS being raised over huge swaths of Syria and Iraq. ���Zarqawi began by directing terror attacks from a base in northern Iraq, but it was the American invasion in 2003 that catapulted him to the head of a vast insurgency. By falsely identifying him as the link between Saddam and bin Laden, U.S. officials inadvertently spurred like-minded radicals to rally to his cause. Their wave of brutal beheadings and suicide bombings persisted until American and Jordanian intelligence discovered clues that led to a lethal airstrike on Zarqawi?s hideout in 2006. ���His movement, however, endured. First calling themselves al-Qaeda in Iraq, then Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, his followers sought refuge in unstable, ungoverned pockets on the Iraq-Syria border. When the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, and as the U.S. largely stood by, ISIS seized its chance to pursue Zarqawi?s dream of an ultra-conservative Islamic caliphate. ���Drawing on unique high-level access to CIA and Jordanian sources, Warrick weaves gripping, moment-by-moment operational details with the perspectives of diplomats and spies, generals and heads of state, many of whom foresaw a menace worse than al Qaeda and tried desperately to stop it. Black Flags is a brilliant and definitive history that reveals the long arc of today?s most dangerous extremist threat.

You've likely heard of the Westboro Baptist Church. Perhaps you've seen their pickets on the news, the members holding signs with messages that are too offensive to copy here, protesting at events such as the funerals of soldiers, the 9-year old victim of the recent Tucson shooting, and...  more

You've likely heard of the Westboro Baptist Church. Perhaps you've seen their pickets on the news, the members holding signs with messages that are too offensive to copy here, protesting at events such as the funerals of soldiers, the 9-year old victim of the recent Tucson shooting, and Elizabeth Edwards, all in front of their grieving families. The WBC is fervently anti-gay, anti-Semitic, and anti- practically everything and everyone. And they aren't going anywhere: in March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the WBC's right to picket funerals. Since no organized religion will claim affiliation with the WBC, it's perhaps more accurate to think of them as a cult. Lauren Drain was thrust into that cult at the age of 15, and then spat back out again seven years later. BANISHED is the first look inside the organization, as well as a fascinating story of adaptation and perseverance. Lauren spent her early years enjoying a normal life with her family in Florida. But when her formerly liberal and secular father set out to produce a documentary about the WBC, his detached interest gradually evolved into fascination, and he moved the entire family to Kansas to join the church and live on their compound. Over the next seven years, Lauren fully assimilated their extreme beliefs, and became a member of the church and an active and vocal picketer. But as she matured and began to challenge some of the church's tenets, she was unceremoniously cast out from the church and permanently cut off from her family and from everyone else she knew and loved. BANISHED is the story of Lauren's fight to find herself amidst dramatic changes in a world of extremists and a life in exile.

The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses to encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the...  more

The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses to encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved.  Funny, rigorous, and suffused with the joy of discovery, An Immense World takes us on what Marcel Proust called “the only true voyage . . . not to visit strange lands, but to possess other eyes.”

A science journalist's journey along the Pacific Coast from California to Alaska to track the status, health, habits, personality, and viability of sea otters--the appealing species unique to this coastline that was hunted to near extinction in the 18th and 19th centuries. These adorable, furry...  more

A science journalist's journey along the Pacific Coast from California to Alaska to track the status, health, habits, personality, and viability of sea otters--the appealing species unique to this coastline that was hunted to near extinction in the 18th and 19th centuries. These adorable, furry marine mammals--often seen floating on their backs holding hands--reveal the health of the coastal ecosystem along the Pacific Ocean. Once hunted for their prized fur during the 1700s and 1800s, these animals nearly went extinct. Only now, nearly a century after hunting ceased, are populations showing stable growth in some places. Sea otters are a keystone species in coastal areas, feeding on sea urchins, clams, crab, and other crustaceans. When they are present, kelp beds are thick and healthy, providing homes for an array of sealife. When otters disappear, sea urchins take over, and the kelp disappears along with all of the creatures that live in the beds. Now, thanks to their protected status, sea otters are making a comeback in California, Washington, and Alaska.

Violet and Daisy. They were as sweet and pretty as their names would suggest, the pair of them as alike as two flower buds on a single stem. They were also joined, back-to-back, at the base of their spine. Freaks, monsters -- that's what conjoined twins were called in 1908. And so their...  more

Violet and Daisy. They were as sweet and pretty as their names would suggest, the pair of them as alike as two flower buds on a single stem. They were also joined, back-to-back, at the base of their spine. Freaks, monsters -- that's what conjoined twins were called in 1908. And so their mother abandoned Violet and Daisy to the care of her midwife, who immediately put the babies on exhibition in the back room of her pub, embarking on a course of blatant exploitation that would range from the Brighton seashore to Australian amusement parks, American sideshows, and eventually to the most phenomenal success in vaudeville's history. But Violet and Daisy were more than just an exhibit, of course. They were two distinct individuals with remarkably harmonious personalities: Violet thoughtful yet candid, Daisy impulsive and easygoing. Above all, they were sisters. In a story packed to the brim with questions about individuality, identity, and exploitation, Sarah Miller delivers an engrossing, compassionate portrait of two sisters whose bonds were so sacred that nothing -- not even death -- would compel Violet and Daisy to break them.

Break the cycle by intentionally building a positive future. The story has been told too many times. Make a mistake, land in jail, and end up in a corrections system that doesn’t reform offenders-- it develops them. Once they’ve done their time, they leave prison smarter, fitter,...  more

Break the cycle by intentionally building a positive future. The story has been told too many times. Make a mistake, land in jail, and end up in a corrections system that doesn’t reform offenders-- it develops them. Once they’ve done their time, they leave prison smarter, fitter, and with more connections that increase their chances of reoffending. A prison sentence doesn’t have to be the end of your story. A better life outside of the criminal justice system begins with the right guidance and a willing mindset. Former inmate, mentor, and CEO Gregory LaBeet understands the struggle to find purpose and create success…especially when starting from so far behind. The End of Recidivism is a wisdom-packed blueprint for self-transformation inside of prison to achieve success after prison. With practical advice to prepare for your release and spiritual guidance to align with the law of attraction, you can live a life that is so much more than simply surviving. You’ll discover: How to replace negative, self-defeating beliefs with a new powerful mindset. How positive thinking affects your growth during incarceration. Tools to make better decisions in prison when buttons triggering confrontation are pushed. The healthy relationship circles to build throughout your growth. How to see your true value, not your past, and how to reveal it to others. Habits to sustain yourself initially, to prosper, and ultimately to fund bigger dreams upon release. …and so much more. No matter where your story began, you can rewrite the ending with the power of sincere change.

The startling story of William E. Dodd, the first American ambassador to Nazi Germany, and his family. History professor Dodd was an unlikely choice to represent the United States in Hitler's Berlin; indeed, he was FDR's fifth choice for the post. His on-the-job education in the...  more

The startling story of William E. Dodd, the first American ambassador to Nazi Germany, and his family. History professor Dodd was an unlikely choice to represent the United States in Hitler's Berlin; indeed, he was FDR's fifth choice for the post. His on-the-job education in the barbarities of the "New Germany" sometimes contrasted with that of his romantic, impressionable, party-loving daughter Martha.

The implosion of the Soviet Union was the culmination of a gripping game played out between two men who intensely disliked each other and had different concepts for the future. Mikhail Gorbachev, a sophisticated and urbane reformer, sought to modernize and preserve the USSR; Boris Yeltsin, a...  more

The implosion of the Soviet Union was the culmination of a gripping game played out between two men who intensely disliked each other and had different concepts for the future. Mikhail Gorbachev, a sophisticated and urbane reformer, sought to modernize and preserve the USSR; Boris Yeltsin, a coarse and a hard drinking �bulldozer,? wished to destroy the union and create a capitalist Russia. The defeat of the August 1991 coup attempt, carried out by hardline communists, shook Gorbachev?s authority and was a triumph for Yeltsin. But it took four months of intrigue and double-dealing before the Soviet Union collapsed and the day arrived when Yeltsin could hustle Gorbachev out of the Kremlin, and move in as ruler of Russia.Conor O?Clery has written a unique and truly suspenseful thriller of the day the Soviet Union died. The internal power plays, the shifting alliances, the betrayals, the mysterious three colonels carrying the briefcase with the nuclear codes, and the jockeying to exploit the future are worthy of John Le Carr� or Alan Furst. The Cold War?s last act was a magnificent dark drama played out in the shadows of the Kremlin.

Dr. Amanda Brown has treated inmates in the UK’s most infamous prisons -- first in young offenders’ institutions, then at the notorious Wormwood Scrubs and finally at Europe’s largest women-only prison in Europe, Bronzefield. From miraculous pregnancies to dirty protests,...  more

Dr. Amanda Brown has treated inmates in the UK’s most infamous prisons -- first in young offenders’ institutions, then at the notorious Wormwood Scrubs and finally at Europe’s largest women-only prison in Europe, Bronzefield. From miraculous pregnancies to dirty protests, and from violent attacks on prisoners to heartbreaking acts of self-harm, she has witnessed it all. In this memoir, Amanda reveals the stories, the patients and the cases that have shaped a career helping those most of us would rather forget.

"The incredible story of a family with an autistic son, Dale, who conquers his disability thanks to the special bond he forms with Henry, a golden retriever puppy ... This is a fascinating and inspiring real-life account." - Woman & Home a friend like henry The remarkable true story of an...  more

"The incredible story of a family with an autistic son, Dale, who conquers his disability thanks to the special bond he forms with Henry, a golden retriever puppy ... This is a fascinating and inspiring real-life account." - Woman & Home a friend like henry The remarkable true story of an autistic boy and the dog that unlocked his world When Jamie and Nuala Gardner chose a puppy for their son, Dale, they weren't an ordinary family choosing an ordinary pet. Dale's autism was so severe that the smallest deviation from his routine could provoke a terrifying tantrum. Family life was almost destroyed by his condition, and his parents spent most of their waking hours trying to break into their son's autistic world and give him the help he so desperately needed. But after years of constant effort and slow progress, the Gardners' lives were transformed when they welcomed a new member into the family, Henry, a gorgeous golden retriever puppy. The bond between Dale and his dog would change their lives ... "This touching story is an emotional rollercoaster." - Book Review "Emotionally charged, this is a story that raises powerful issues in a deeply personal and insightful manner." - Irish Examiner

The amazing story of a very smart Border collie who is redefining animal intelligence.

In a world that reveres perfection and disdains anything less, most of us realize that nothing and no one can truly measure up. Yet, when it comes to choosing companion animals, most folks won t settle for less. These stories are about those animals who through birth or injury have been...  more

In a world that reveres perfection and disdains anything less, most of us realize that nothing and no one can truly measure up. Yet, when it comes to choosing companion animals, most folks won t settle for less. These stories are about those animals who through birth or injury have been rendered less than perfect, and the humans who found love enough to welcome them into their hearts and homes. Almost Perfect allows you to share the immeasurable rewards those people have found. Learn what courage really is from Colbi, a blind Alaskan Husky, as he trades a hellish life in a puppy mill for the challenges of farm living. Be inspired by Ruby, the irrepressible Labrador-Doberman mix who adapts to a devastating muscle-eating disease by learning to truly roll with the punches. Follow Cagney, the paraplegic rat, who struggles along with his human mom through her Master s thesis. Be inspired by the joy and grace with which Tux, a handsome black-and-white cat, navigates a life of almost complete paralysis. Root for tiny, blind Idgie to beat the mean streets of Philadelphia and the death sentence of feline leukemia. Give yourself permission to believe once more in happy endings as you re inspired by these and more true, heartwarming stories of animals who have overcome physical handicaps to leave pawprints on the hearts of their human companions.

A heartwarming true dog story like no other: Tuesday, a lovable golden retriever, transforms a former soldier's life forever. Excerpt: "Tuesday combines a golden retriever's innate playfulness and bouncy exuberance with a noble bearing and seriousness of purpose. But it is not...  more

A heartwarming true dog story like no other: Tuesday, a lovable golden retriever, transforms a former soldier's life forever. Excerpt: "Tuesday combines a golden retriever's innate playfulness and bouncy exuberance with a noble bearing and seriousness of purpose. But it is not his beautiful coat, or even his regal attitude, that attract the stares. Tuesday has an extraordinarily expressive face. He has sensitive, almost sad eyes, but they are more than offset by his big goofy smile. He can't pass anyone without flashing them a sly look with those eyes, as if to say, sorry, I'd love to play, but I'm working. He just makes a connection; he has a personality that shines. I am not kidding when I say it is common for people to pull out their cell phones and take pictures of and with him. Tuesday is that kind of dog. And then, in passing, they notice me, the big man with the tight haircut. There is nothing about me -- even the straight, stiff way I carry myself -- that signals disabled. Until people notice the cane in my left hand, that is, and the way I lean on it every few steps. Then they realize my stiff walk and straight posture aren't just pride, and that Tuesday isn't just an ordinary dog. He walks directly beside me, for instance, so that my right leg always bisects his body. He nuzzles me when my breathing changes, and he moves immediately between me and the object--a cat, an overeager child, a suspiciously closed door -- any time I feel apprehensive. Because beautiful, happy-go-lucky, favorite-of-the-neighborhood Tuesday isn't my pet; he's my service dog."

Squirrel and her brother Bone begin their lives in a toolshed behind someone's summer house. Their mother nurtures them and teaches them the many skills they will need to survive as stray dogs. But when their mother is taken from them suddenly and too soon, the puppies are forced to make...  more

Squirrel and her brother Bone begin their lives in a toolshed behind someone's summer house. Their mother nurtures them and teaches them the many skills they will need to survive as stray dogs. But when their mother is taken from them suddenly and too soon, the puppies are forced to make their own way in the world, facing humans both gentle and brutal, busy highways, other animals, and the changing seasons. When Bone and Squirrel become separated, Squirrel must fend for herself, and in the process, makes two friends who in very different ways define her fate.

In her heartwarming New York Times bestsellers Unlikely Friendships and last year?s Unlikely Loves, Jennifer Holland revealed the surprising emotional bonds that exist between animals of different species. Her books spent dozens of weeks on bestseller lists and caught the attention of major...  more

In her heartwarming New York Times bestsellers Unlikely Friendships and last year?s Unlikely Loves, Jennifer Holland revealed the surprising emotional bonds that exist between animals of different species. Her books spent dozens of weeks on bestseller lists and caught the attention of major media from CBS This Morning to USA Today. Why? Because she opened our eyes to the rich inner lives of animals, showing us that the power of love and friendship is not for humans only. In Unlikely Heroes, Ms. Holland uncovers and celebrates yet another side of animals that we often think belongs primarily to people?heroism, that indefinable quality of going above and beyond, often for altruistic reasons, often at great personal risk. These 37 inspiring true tales show animals whose quick acts have saved lives, like the pod of dolphins who protected swimmers in New Zealand from a great white shark by forming a screen around them. There are stories of animals who simply and unselfishly give, like Rojo the llama, who shines his very special light of lovingkindness on the elderly patients in an Oregon rehab center. And there are compelling stories of heroic resilience: like Naki?o, the abandoned puppy who lost all four paws to frostbite but found the grit not only to overcome that terrible hardship but to reclaim the joy of life?that?s him, smiling on the cover of the book.

Pets are such a big part of so many of our lives. As any pet lover knows, a wagging tail or a tender purr can soothe the soul after a hard day. And sometimes, the presence of dogs and cats in our lives can do even more. In these delightful books, Callie Smith Grant collects stories that...  more

Pets are such a big part of so many of our lives. As any pet lover knows, a wagging tail or a tender purr can soothe the soul after a hard day. And sometimes, the presence of dogs and cats in our lives can do even more. In these delightful books, Callie Smith Grant collects stories that celebrate the dogs and cats in our lives—stories that touch our hearts, renew our spirit, and show us how God created these beasts for unique purposes. A funny little dog named Prince earns his title by protecting the children of the house. A “dickens of a cat” gives a cancer survivor something else to think about. A lively litter of puppies soothes a troubled child. A scrawny kitten helps an anorexic girl begin to eat. Well-known authors, including Melody Carlson, Tracie Peterson, and Robert Benson, as well as new voices share their inspirational true stories of these otherwise ordinary cats and dogs whose presence in the lives of humans make them remarkable. Each book also includes interesting sidebars, memorable quotes, helpful hints for living with dogs and cats, and forewords by H. Norman Wright. The stories are warm, captivating, and ideal for a good curl-up-and-read or for a gift to any pet lover. Cat lovers, dog lovers, and anyone who likes to read uplifting stories will cherish these books.

Pets are such a big part of so many of our lives. As any pet lover knows, a wagging tail or a tender purr can soothe the soul after a hard day. And sometimes, the presence of dogs and cats in our lives can do even more. In these delightful books, Callie Smith Grant collects stories that...  more

Pets are such a big part of so many of our lives. As any pet lover knows, a wagging tail or a tender purr can soothe the soul after a hard day. And sometimes, the presence of dogs and cats in our lives can do even more. In these delightful books, Callie Smith Grant collects stories that celebrate the dogs and cats in our lives—stories that touch our hearts, renew our spirit, and show us how God created these beasts for unique purposes. A funny little dog named Prince earns his title by protecting the children of the house. A “dickens of a cat” gives a cancer survivor something else to think about. A lively litter of puppies soothes a troubled child. A scrawny kitten helps an anorexic girl begin to eat. Well-known authors, including Melody Carlson, Tracie Peterson, and Robert Benson, as well as new voices share their inspirational true stories of these otherwise ordinary cats and dogs whose presence in the lives of humans make them remarkable. Each book also includes interesting sidebars, memorable quotes, helpful hints for living with dogs and cats, and forewords by H. Norman Wright. The stories are warm, captivating, and ideal for a good curl-up-and-read or for a gift to any pet lover. Cat lovers, dog lovers, and anyone who likes to read uplifting stories will cherish these books.

A blind man and his guide dog show the power of trust and courage in the midst of devastating terror. It was 12:30 a.m. on 9/11 and Roselle whimpered at Michael's bedside. A thunderstorm was headed east, and she could sense the distant rumbles while her owners slept. As a trained guide...  more

A blind man and his guide dog show the power of trust and courage in the midst of devastating terror. It was 12:30 a.m. on 9/11 and Roselle whimpered at Michael's bedside. A thunderstorm was headed east, and she could sense the distant rumbles while her owners slept. As a trained guide dog, when she was "on the clock" nothing could faze her. But that morning, without her harness, she was free to be scared, and she nudged Michael's hand with her wet nose as it draped over the bedside toward the floor. She needed him to wake up. With a busy day of meetings and an important presentation ahead, Michael slumped out of bed, headed to his home office, and started chipping away at his daunting workload. Roselle, shivering, took her normal spot at his feet and rode out the storm while he typed. By all indications it was going to be a normal day. A busy day, but normal nonetheless. Until they went into the office. In Thunder Dog, follow Michael and his guide dog, Roselle, as their lives are changed forever by two explosions and 1,463 stairs. When the first plane struck Tower One, an enormous boom, frightening sounds, and muffled voices swept through Michael's office while shards of glass and burning scraps of paper fell outside the windows. But in this harrowing story of trust and courage, discover how blindness and a bond between dog and man saved lives and brought hope during one of America's darkest days.  

Before Martha Stewart named him her “pet keeper,” and before millions of people turned to him for advice, Marc Morrone had a simple dream: to learn everything he possibly could about every kind of animal and share that knowledge with others. In this lively, colorful memoir, Morrone...  more

Before Martha Stewart named him her “pet keeper,” and before millions of people turned to him for advice, Marc Morrone had a simple dream: to learn everything he possibly could about every kind of animal and share that knowledge with others. In this lively, colorful memoir, Morrone offers a heartfelt and candid look inside a life well-lived with creatures great and small, from the domestic to the exotic, from frisky ferrets to renegade reptiles to rare parrots. Morrone is an enthusiastic champion of all animals—furred, feathered, or scaled, domestic or wild—and his lifelong adventures take us from his internationally renowned pet store, Parrots of the World, to his home and personal menagerie, covering his media roles on both television and radio. Inspiring, informative, and frequently amazing, Morrone’s story is a memorable tribute to one man’s passion for the world of animals and his enduring commitment to their care. In A Man for All Species, animal expert Marc Morrone weaves thrilling, inspiring, strange, and often hilarious experiences with practical advice gleaned over his forty-year career, revealing a world of adventure and anguish, humor and heart, that every pet owner and animal lover will recognize.

A leading dog-blogger offers a tour of military working dogs' extraordinary training, heroic accomplishments, and the lasting impacts they have on those who work with them. People all over the world have been riveted by the story of Cairo, the Belgian Malinois who was a part of the Navy SEAL...  more

A leading dog-blogger offers a tour of military working dogs' extraordinary training, heroic accomplishments, and the lasting impacts they have on those who work with them. People all over the world have been riveted by the story of Cairo, the Belgian Malinois who was a part of the Navy SEAL team that led the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound. A dog's natural intelligence, physical abilities, and pure loyalty contribute more to our military efforts than ever before. You don't have to be a dog lover to be fascinated by the idea that a dog-the cousin of that furry guy begging for scraps under your table-could be one of the heroes who helped execute the most vital and high-tech military mission of the new millennium. Now Maria Goodavage, editor and featured writer for one of the world's most widely read dog blogs, tells heartwarming stories of modern soldier dogs and the amazing bonds that develop between them and their handlers. Beyond tales of training, operations, retirement, and adoption into the families of fallen soldiers, Goodavage talks to leading dog-cognition experts about why dogs like nothing more than to be on a mission with a handler they trust, no matter how deadly the IEDs they are sniffing, nor how far they must parachute or rappel from aircraft into enemy territory. "Military working dogs live for love and praise from their handlers," says Ron Aiello, president of the United States War Dogs Association and a former marine scout dog handler. "The work is all a big game, and then they get that pet, that praise. They would do anything for their handler." This is an unprecedented window into the world of these adventurous, loving warriors.

Those soulful eyes that look up at you at the end of a rough day. The soft paws that knead into your lap and tell you with that you are “theirs.” Much more than a companion, more beloved than our nearest and dearest human family. Our pets. Sixty-three percent of all US households...  more

Those soulful eyes that look up at you at the end of a rough day. The soft paws that knead into your lap and tell you with that you are “theirs.” Much more than a companion, more beloved than our nearest and dearest human family. Our pets. Sixty-three percent of all US households have them. Owners spend untold amounts of money on food, toys, even Christmas presents for their pets. And they don’t stint when it comes to their pet’s health. Dr. Shawn Messonnier has been a veterinarian for more than fifteen years. Once a conventional practictioner, he's embarked on a crusade to help pet owners keep their treasured furry friends healthy and happy, treating each patient not as a disease but as a unique living entity. Dr. Messonnier brings the reader into his waiting room and introduces them to some remarkable animals…and the courageous owners who never gave up on their pets. Using case studies and higlighting diseases that commonly afflict our pets, Dr. Messonnier shows us the integrative methods he has developed to help these creatures not only survive the maladies they were originally diagnosed with but in many cases go on to live long and healthy lives. Unexpected Miracles will change the way you think about your pet’s healthcare forever.

An unwanted dog. An emotional rescue. Two lives forever changed. Laurie's dreams had been shattered before she came to work at Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch—the ranch of rescued dreams—where broken horses and broken children encounter healing every day. In an attempt to...  more

An unwanted dog. An emotional rescue. Two lives forever changed. Laurie's dreams had been shattered before she came to work at Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch—the ranch of rescued dreams—where broken horses and broken children encounter healing every day. In an attempt to soothe her aching soul, Laurie reached out to save a dog in need. And she soon began to realize that the dog was rescuing her.   An inspiring true story told through the engaging voice of Kim Meeder, Blind Hope reveals poignant life lessons Laurie experienced from her ailing, yet courageous canine friend. Despite the blindness of her dog—and her own heart—Laurie uncovered what she really needed most: authentic love, unconditional trust, and true acceptance, faults and all.   As Laurie and her dog, Mia, both learned to follow the lead of a master they couldn’t see, Laurie discovered the transforming power of God’s grace even for imperfect and selfish people—and she experienced a greater love than she had ever known.   “Love is a bridge that stands firm through difficulties and connects one heart directly to another, not because of how it looks, but because of what it is.”   —Kim Meeder, Blind Hope

On Toby's Terms is an endearing story of a beguiling creature who teaches his owners that in spite of their trying to teach him how to be the dog they wanted, it was Toby who laid out the terms of being the dog he needed to be. When Charmine and her husband adopted Toby, a five - and...  more

On Toby's Terms is an endearing story of a beguiling creature who teaches his owners that in spite of their trying to teach him how to be the dog they wanted, it was Toby who laid out the terms of being the dog he needed to be. When Charmine and her husband adopted Toby, a five - and - a - half - year - old Chesapeake Bay retriever, they figured he might need some adjusting time, but they certainly didn't count on what he'd do in the meantime. Turns out that Toby was a holy terror, beset by severe anxiety and destructive behavior that would take a miracle to curb: he routinely opened and emptied the hall closet, turned on water taps, knocked over the water cooler, pulled and ate things from the bookshelves, nd spent his days rampaging through the house, knocking down everything in his path. Oddest of all was his penchant for locking himself in the bathroom, and then push the lid of the toilet tank onto the floor, smashing it to pieces. After a particularly disasterous encoutner with the knife - block in the kitchen - and when the couple discovered Toby's blood and paw prints on the phone - Charmaine decided Toby needed professional help. Little did she know what they would discover about this dog.

On Valentine's Day 1985, biologist Stacey O'Brien first met a four-day-old baby barn owl -- a fateful encounter that would turn into an astonishing 19-year saga. With nerve damage in one wing, the owlet's ability to fly was forever compromised, and he had no hope of surviving on his...  more

On Valentine's Day 1985, biologist Stacey O'Brien first met a four-day-old baby barn owl -- a fateful encounter that would turn into an astonishing 19-year saga. With nerve damage in one wing, the owlet's ability to fly was forever compromised, and he had no hope of surviving on his own in the wild. O'Brien, a young assistant in the owl laboratory at Caltech, was immediately smitten, promising to care for the helpless owlet and give him a permanent home. Wesley the Owl is the funny, poignant story of their dramatic two decades together. With both a tender heart and a scientist's eye, O'Brien studied Wesley's strange habits intensively and first-hand -- and provided a mice-only diet that required her to buy the rodents in bulk (28,000 over the owl's lifetime). As Wesley grew, she snapped photos of him at every stage like any proud parent, recording his life from a helpless ball of fuzz to a playful, clumsy adolescent to a gorgeous, gold-and-white, macho adult owl with a heart-shaped face and an outsize personality that belied his 18-inch stature. Stacey and Wesley's bond deepened as she discovered Wesley's individual personality, subtle emotions, and playful nature that could also turn fiercely loyal and protective -- though she could have done without Wesley's driving away her would-be human suitors! O'Brien also brings us inside the prestigious research community, a kind of scientific Hogwarts where resident owls sometimes flew freely from office to office and eccentric, brilliant scientists were extraordinarily committed to studying and helping animals; all of them were changed by the animal they loved. As O'Brien gets close to Wesley, she makes important discoveries about owl behavior, intelligence, and communication, coining the term "The Way of the Owl" to describe his inclinations: he did not tolerate lies, held her to her promises, and provided unconditional love, though he was not beyond an occasional sulk. When O'Brien develops her own life-threatening illness, the biologist who saved the life of a helpless baby bird is herself rescued from death by the insistent love and courage of this wild animal. Enhanced by wonderful photos, Wesley the Owl is a thoroughly engaging, heartwarming, often funny story of a complex, emotional, non-human being capable of reason, play, and, most important, love and loyalty. It is sure to be cherished by animal lovers everywhere.

Presents explanations of how animals develop understanding about human emotions while offering case histories of animals that have displayed psychic abilities, including telepathic cats, talking dogs, and notable horses, birds, and dolphins.

This book is the 2009 CIPA Book Competition award winner of three EVVY Book Awards and the winner of the 2009 Past President's Award. It is the story of pain and profound sadness but also of great strength and love and it begins long before I was born. My parents are both from Poland, but they...  more

This book is the 2009 CIPA Book Competition award winner of three EVVY Book Awards and the winner of the 2009 Past President's Award. It is the story of pain and profound sadness but also of great strength and love and it begins long before I was born. My parents are both from Poland, but they were born to two very different worlds. My mother s upbringing was Protestant and privileged, while my father s was Jewish and impoverished. If it hadn t been for the horrible and amazing journeys they were forced to make during the time of the Holocaust, I doubt their paths would ever have crossed. But by the time the Second World War had ended, their two worlds had become one. Most of my childhood was spent in ignorance of what happened to my parents in Europe. I knew there were deep family secrets, but I wasn t sure exactly what they were. My mother and father spoke in Polish when they wanted to talk about something not meant for my ears. Over time, however, I was able to pick up on the language and glean scraps of information. I figured out that they had survived terrible things under Hitler s regime, and that there were awful reasons why I had few living relatives. Part of me was very angry that they kept so much from me for so long I didn t even know I was of Jewish heritage until I was a teenager and another part of me was perhaps too immature to fully appreciate what they might have to say if they had chosen to say it. The events of my parents lives are a testament to the indomitable nature of the human spirit. I would like this book to help others see that, even in the worst of times, there is hope; that eventually goodness can prevail. There are many Holocaust stories out there, and each one deserves to be told. I believe it is our duty not only to honor those who had to suffer during this incredibly dark moment of human history, but to ensure that the rest of us will remember how easy it is for evil forces to dominate where there is widespread indifference.

A darker twist on Orange is the New Black, this true insider's account delivers an eye-opening look into the nation?s largest state-run forensic hospital, a facility that houses the real-life Hannibal Lecters of the world. Psychiatrist Stephen Seager was no stranger to locked psych wards when...  more

A darker twist on Orange is the New Black, this true insider's account delivers an eye-opening look into the nation?s largest state-run forensic hospital, a facility that houses the real-life Hannibal Lecters of the world. Psychiatrist Stephen Seager was no stranger to locked psych wards when he accepted a job at California?s Gorman State hospital, known locally as ?Gomorrah,? but nothing could have prepared him for what he encountered when he stepped through its gates, a triple sally port behind the twenty-foot walls topped with shining coils of razor wire. Gorman State is one of the nation?s largest forensic mental hospitals, dedicated to treating the criminally insane. Unit C, where Seager was assigned, was reserved for the ?bad actors,? the mass murderers, serial killers, and the real-life Hannibal Lecters of the world. Against a backdrop of surreal beauty?a verdant campus-like setting where peacocks strolled the grounds?is a place of remarkable violence, a place where a small staff of clinicians are expected to manage a volatile population of prison-hardened ex-cons, where lone therapists lead sharing circles with sociopaths, where an illicit underground economy flourishes, and where patients and physicians often measure their lives according to how fast they can run. To cross through the gates of Gomorrah is to enter a looking-glass world, where the trappings of the normal calendar year exist?Halloween dances and Christmas parties (complete with visits from Santa), springtime softball teams and basketball leagues, but marked with paroxysms of brutality (Santa goes berserk), and peopled by figures from our nightmares. Behind the Gates of Gomorrah affords an eye-opening look inside a facility to which few people have ever had access. Honest, rueful, and at times darkly funny, Seager?s gripping account of his rookie year blends memoir with a narrative science, explaining both the aberrant mind and his own, at times incomprehensible, determination to remain in a job with a perilously steep learning curve.

Fascinating true stories of courageous people, who, amidst the horror of the Holocaust, defied the Nazis to help others.

A journalist who covered the one-hundred-day Rwandan war in 1994 provides a disturbing account that suggests that a power-hungry group, using hate radio and local political leaders as brainwashers, purposefully incited thousands of Hutus to kill minority Tutsis and more moderate Hutus.  

Anne Frank?s diary changed how the world saw the Holocaust? this book will change how you see Anne Frank. Beginning with Otto Frank?s idyllic childhood, follow the family?s journey from its proud German roots through life under Nazi occupation to their horrifying concentration camp experiences....  more

Anne Frank?s diary changed how the world saw the Holocaust? this book will change how you see Anne Frank. Beginning with Otto Frank?s idyllic childhood, follow the family?s journey from its proud German roots through life under Nazi occupation to their horrifying concentration camp experiences. Interspersed with their story are personal accounts of survivors, excerpts from the other victims? journals, and black-and-white photos. A perfect blend of historical information and emotional narratives, this book makes an excellent companion to the diary, offering an indepth look at the life of Anne Frank, and an intimate history of the young people who experienced the Holocaust.

Filip Muller's firsthand account of three years in the gas chambers. One of the few prisoners who saw the Jewish people die and lived to tell about it, Muller has written one of the key documents of the Holocaust. A very detailed description of day-to-day life, if we can call it that, in...  more

Filip Muller's firsthand account of three years in the gas chambers. One of the few prisoners who saw the Jewish people die and lived to tell about it, Muller has written one of the key documents of the Holocaust. A very detailed description of day-to-day life, if we can call it that, in Hell's inmost circle ...jammed with infernal information too terrible to be taken all at once. Foreword by Yehuda Bauer.

The profoundly moving memoir of a young boy's odyssey through the Holocaust. In a new edition of his bestselling memoir, Thomas Buergenthal tells of his astonishing experiences as a young boy. Buergenthal arrived at Auschwitz at age 10 after surviving two ghettos and one work camp. Separated...  more

The profoundly moving memoir of a young boy's odyssey through the Holocaust. In a new edition of his bestselling memoir, Thomas Buergenthal tells of his astonishing experiences as a young boy. Buergenthal arrived at Auschwitz at age 10 after surviving two ghettos and one work camp. Separated from his mother and then his father, he managed by his wits and some remarkable strokes of luck to survive on his own. Almost two years after his liberation, Buergenthal was miraculously reunited with his mother and in 1951 arrived in the U.S. to start a new life. Since the initial publication of this book, new documents have been made available, allowing Buergenthal to finally learn the details of his mother's search for him and the truth about his father. With a new afterword by the author sharing these revelations, A LUCKY CHILD is a classic that demands to be read by all.

Both witness to and victim of Stalin’s reign of terror, a courageous woman tells the story of her harrowing eighteen-year odyssey through Russia’s prisons and labor camps. Translated by Paul Stevenson and Max Hayward. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

From 1915 to 1923, the ruling Ottoman Empire drove 2 million Armenians from their ancestral homeland; 1.5 million of them were viciously slaughtered. While there was an initial global outcry and a movement led by Woodrow Wilson to aid the "starving Armenians," the promise to hold the...  more

From 1915 to 1923, the ruling Ottoman Empire drove 2 million Armenians from their ancestral homeland; 1.5 million of them were viciously slaughtered. While there was an initial global outcry and a movement led by Woodrow Wilson to aid the "starving Armenians," the promise to hold the perpetrators accountable was never fulfilled and a curtain of silence soon descended on one of the worst crimes of modern history. Now, almost a century later, the Armenians are still fighting for justice.After uncovering his family's experiences during the Genocide, Michael Bobelian struggled to rationalize how an event as widely reported as the Genocide -- more than a hundred articles ran in The New York Times in 1915, with a typical headline exclaiming "Wholesale Massacres of Armenians by Turks" -- could fade from public consciousness. Why was the Genocide ignored, forgotten, and, worse, relegated to fiction for so long? What role did America's national self-interest play in helping Turkey evade public accountability? Why did Armenians themselves initially stand silent? Based on years of archival research and personal interviews, Children of Armenia is the first book to trace this post-Genocide history and reveal the events that have conspired to eradicate the "hidden holocaust" from the world's memory.At the close of World War I, the upsurge of support for the Genocide's survivors, considered one of the world's first international human right movements, inspired the few remaining Armenian leaders -- such as Simon Vratsian, the ravaged nation's last prime minister, and Vahan Cardashian, Armenia's chief advocate in the United States -- to seek relief and justice for their people. But despite their tireless efforts, the promises made to them by the war's victors were systematically cast aside during postwar negotiations. In the end, the Armenians received nothing, not even an apology, and decades of silence would pass before the Genocide's survivors -- dispersed, stateless, and on the verge of extinction -- would produce a new generation of activists who would renew their fight for justice.In Children of Armenia, we meet Gourgen Yanikian, a seventy-seven-year-old terrorist bent on revenge, whose act of terrible violence in Southern California galvanized a movement for recognition; Vartkes Yeghiayan, a lawyer who brought a class action suit against New York Life, seeking to win a judgment for thousands of unclaimed policies; and Van Krikorian, who teamed up with Senator Bob Dole to gain public acknowledgment of the Genocide from the U.S. government. From the initial acts of revenge-fueled terrorism to the birth of an organized movement seeking recognition for these unacknowledged crimes -- including political maneuvering to get a resolution passed by the U.S. Congress -- this is a groundbreaking account of the Armenian struggle to seek redress in the face of recalcitrant perpetrators and an indifferent world.Bobelian delivers a powerful lesson on the price that is paid when injustice goes unacknowledged and a moving story of a people living in the shadow of a century-old genocide.

In a graphic present-tense narrative, this Holocaust memoir describes what happens to a Jewish girl who is 13 when the Nazis invade Hungary in 1944. She tells of a year of roundups, transports, selections, camps, torture, forced labor, and shootings, then of liberation and the return of a few....  more

In a graphic present-tense narrative, this Holocaust memoir describes what happens to a Jewish girl who is 13 when the Nazis invade Hungary in 1944. She tells of a year of roundups, transports, selections, camps, torture, forced labor, and shootings, then of liberation and the return of a few. For those who have read Leitner's stark The Big Lie (1992), this is a much more detailed account, with the same authority of a personal witness. Horrifying as her experience is, she doesn't dwell on the atrocities. There is hope here. Unlike many adult survivor stories, this does not show the victims losing their humanity. The teenager and her mother help each other survive; they save each other from the gas chambers. Even in the slaughter of the cattle trucks strafed by machine-gun fire, "words of comfort emerge from every corner." The occasional overwriting about "drowning in a morass of pain and helplessness" is unfortunate. The facts need no rhetoric. On every page they express her intimate experience. After the war, the teenager finds her brother, hears how her father died. She wonders whether she dare enjoy the luxury of being a girl, of "having hair." A final brief chronology of the Holocaust adds to the value of this title for curriculum use with older readers. -- Hazel Rochman, Booklist

A powerful and true story of warfare and human survival that exposes a side of World War II that is unknown by many? this is the story of Wolfram A�chele, a boy whose childhood was stolen by a war in which he had no choice but to fight Hitler's Germany told through German eyes,�this is the true...  more

A powerful and true story of warfare and human survival that exposes a side of World War II that is unknown by many? this is the story of Wolfram A�chele, a boy whose childhood was stolen by a war in which he had no choice but to fight Hitler's Germany told through German eyes,�this is the true story of Wolfram A�chele, who was nine years old when Hitler came to power. He and his�parents - free-thinking artists - experienced first hand life under one of the most brutal regimes in history when�Wolfram was conscripted into Hitler's army.�Written with remarkable sensitivity by Wolfram's son-in-law, Giles Milton, The Boy Who Went to�War�is a reminder to us all that civilians on all sides suffered consequences of Hitler's war. A�powerful story of warfare and human survival, this book exposes a side of World War II that is unknown by many, the story of a boy whose childhood was stolen by a war in which he had no choice but to fight.

Rutka Laskier, a 14-year-old Jewish girl in the town of Bedzin in Poland, died in Auschwitz in 1943. But she left behind a notebook in which she recorded her thoughts, fears and dreams. Some are the musings of any adolescent girl; others are the despairing cries of an individual caught in...  more

Rutka Laskier, a 14-year-old Jewish girl in the town of Bedzin in Poland, died in Auschwitz in 1943. But she left behind a notebook in which she recorded her thoughts, fears and dreams. Some are the musings of any adolescent girl; others are the despairing cries of an individual caught in history's vortex. Now, after 60 years in the keeping of a friend, that notebook has been recovered - and it opens a unique, moving window into the everyday life of Polish Jews caught in the throes of Adolf Hitler's Final Solution. Hailed as the "Polish Anne Frank," Rutka Laskier now speaks to us across the decades: a witness to evil, a voice for the silent, and a timeless symbol of resolve. The editors of TIME add annotations, photos, maps, and quotations that help bring this tragic era into compelling focus for today's readers,

SS Kommandant Rudolph Höss (1900–1947) was history's greatest mass murderer, personally supervising the extermination of approximately two million people, mostly Jews, at the death camp in Auschwitz, Poland. Death Dealer is a new, unexpurgated translation of...  more

SS Kommandant Rudolph Höss (1900–1947) was history's greatest mass murderer, personally supervising the extermination of approximately two million people, mostly Jews, at the death camp in Auschwitz, Poland. Death Dealer is a new, unexpurgated translation of Höss's autobiography, written before, during, and after his trial. This edition includes rare photos, the minutes of the Wannsee Conference (where the Final Solution was decided and coordinated), original diagrams of the camps, a detailed chronology of important events at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Höss's final letters to his family, and a new foreword by Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi. Death Dealer stands as one of the most important—and chilling—documents of the Holocaust.

In this landmark addition to the literature of totalitarianism, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il (the father of Kim...  more

In this landmark addition to the literature of totalitarianism, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il (the father of Kim Jong-un), and a devastating famine that killed one-fifth of the population.   Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive regime today—an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, where displays of affection are punished, informants are rewarded, and an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. She takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors, and through meticulous and sensitive reporting we see her subjects fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we witness their profound, life-altering disillusionment with the government and their realization that, rather than providing them with lives of abundance, their country has betrayed them.

At three years old, Geena Davis announced she was going to be in movies. Now, with a slew of iconic roles and awards under her belt, she has surpassed her childhood dream -- but the path to finding yourself never did run smoothly. In this simultaneously hilarious and candid memoir, Davis regales...  more

At three years old, Geena Davis announced she was going to be in movies. Now, with a slew of iconic roles and awards under her belt, she has surpassed her childhood dream -- but the path to finding yourself never did run smoothly. In this simultaneously hilarious and candid memoir, Davis regales us with tales of a career playing everything from an amnesiac assassin to the parent of a rodent, her eccentric childhood, her relationships, and helping lead the way to gender parity in Hollywood -- all while learning to be a little more badass, one role at a time. Dying of Politeness is a touching account of one woman’s journey to fight for herself, and ultimately fighting for women all around the globe

An engrossing and revealing study of why we deem certain animals “pests” and others not—from cats to rats, elephants to pigeons—and what this tells us about our own perceptions, beliefs, and actions, as well as our place in the natural world A squirrel in the garden. A...  more

An engrossing and revealing study of why we deem certain animals “pests” and others not—from cats to rats, elephants to pigeons—and what this tells us about our own perceptions, beliefs, and actions, as well as our place in the natural world A squirrel in the garden. A rat in the wall. A pigeon on the street. Humans have spent so much of our history drawing a hard line between human spaces and wild places. When animals pop up where we don’t expect or want them, we respond with fear, rage, or simple annoyance. It’s no longer an animal. It’s a pest. At the intersection of science, history, and narrative journalism, Pests is not a simple call to look closer at our urban ecosystem. It’s not a natural history of the animals we hate. Instead, this book is about us. It’s about what calling an animal a pest says about people, how we live, and what we want. It’s a story about human nature, and how we categorize the animals in our midst, including bears and coyotes, sparrows and snakes. Pet or pest? In many cases, it’s entirely a question of perspective. Bethany Brookshire’s deeply researched and entirely entertaining book will show readers what there is to venerate in vermin, and help them appreciate how these animals have clawed their way to success as we did everything we could to ensure their failure. In the process, we will learn how the pests that annoy us tell us far more about humanity than they do about the animals themselves. 

During the 1930s and 40s the Lilliput Troupe, a beloved and successful family of singers and actors, dazzled with their vaudeville program and unique performances as the only all-dwarf show of the time. Their small stature earned them fame -- and, ironically, ultimately saved their lives. As...  more

During the 1930s and 40s the Lilliput Troupe, a beloved and successful family of singers and actors, dazzled with their vaudeville program and unique performances as the only all-dwarf show of the time. Their small stature earned them fame -- and, ironically, ultimately saved their lives. As Hitler's war descended, the Ovitz family -- seven of whom were dwarfs -- was plunged into the horrors of the darker moments in modern history. Disembarking from the cattle train into the death camp of Auschwitz, they were separated from other Jewish victims on the orders of one Dr. Joseph Mengele, the "Angel of Death," Obsessed with eugenics, Dr. Mengele carried out a series of loathsome experiments on the family and developed a disturbing fondness for his human lab rats, so much so that when the Russian army liberated Auschwitz, all members of the family -- the youngest, a baby boy just 18 months old; the oldest, a 58-year-old woman -- were still alive. Based on exhaustive research and interviews with Perla Ovitz, the troupe's last surviving member, and scores of Auschwitz survivors.

Why is there evil, and what can scientific research tell us about the origins and persistence of evil behavior? Considering evil from the unusual perspective of the perpetrator, Baumeister asks, How do ordinary people find themselves beating their wives? Murdering rival gang members? Torturing...  more

Why is there evil, and what can scientific research tell us about the origins and persistence of evil behavior? Considering evil from the unusual perspective of the perpetrator, Baumeister asks, How do ordinary people find themselves beating their wives? Murdering rival gang members? Torturing political prisoners? Betraying their colleagues to the secret police? Why do cycles of revenge so often escalate? Baumeister casts new light on these issues as he examines the gap between the victim's viewpoint and that of the perpetrator, and also the roots of evil behavior, from egotism and revenge to idealism and sadism. A fascinating study of one of humankind's oldest problems, Evil has profound implications for the way we conduct our lives and govern our society.

A beautifully illustrated look at all things bee � Bees first appeared on Earth 130 million years ago. Since the time of the dinosaurs, evolution has taken our beloved bees on an incredible journey--today, there are 20,000 species on the planet. The Little Book of Bees is a lovely,...  more

A beautifully illustrated look at all things bee � Bees first appeared on Earth 130 million years ago. Since the time of the dinosaurs, evolution has taken our beloved bees on an incredible journey--today, there are 20,000 species on the planet. The Little Book of Bees is a lovely, informative book of all things bee--from evolution and communication to honey, bee-keeping, and saving the bees--all in a beautifully illustrated gift book. Bees continue to fascinate and charm us all--from novice gardeners and nature-lovers to dedicated environmentalists--and today, bees need our help more than ever. Discover the story of these incredible creatures with The Little Book of Bees.

A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing in this New York Times bestseller. Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one...  more

A pioneering researcher transforms our understanding of trauma and offers a bold new paradigm for healing in this New York Times bestseller. Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments -- from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga -- that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal -- and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.

Dr. Bill Bass, one of the world's leading forensic anthropologists, gained international attention when he built a forensic lab like no other: The Body Farm. Now, this master scientist unlocks the gates of his lab to reveal his most intriguing cases -- and to revisit the Lindbergh kidnapping...  more

Dr. Bill Bass, one of the world's leading forensic anthropologists, gained international attention when he built a forensic lab like no other: The Body Farm. Now, this master scientist unlocks the gates of his lab to reveal his most intriguing cases -- and to revisit the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, fifty years after the fact.

Silence isn’t just the absence of noise. It’s a presence that brings us energy, clarity, and deeper connection. Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz take us on an unlikely journey—from the West Wing of the White House to San Quentin’s death row; from Ivy League brain research...  more

Silence isn’t just the absence of noise. It’s a presence that brings us energy, clarity, and deeper connection. Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz take us on an unlikely journey—from the West Wing of the White House to San Quentin’s death row; from Ivy League brain research laboratories to underground psychedelic circles; from the temperate rainforests of Olympic National Park to the main stage at a heavy metal festival—to explore the meaning of silence and the art of finding it in any situation. Golden reveals how to go beyond the ordinary rules and tools of mindfulness. It’s a field guide for navigating the noise of the modern world—not just the noise in our ears but also on our screens and in our heads. Drawing on lessons from neuroscience, business, spirituality, politics, and the arts, Marz and Zorn explore why auditory, informational, and internal silence is essential for physical health, mental clarity, ecological sustainability, and vibrant community. With vital lessons for individuals, families, workplaces, and whole societies, Golden is an engaging and unexpected rethinking of the meaning of quiet. Marz and Zorn make the bold and convincing argument that we can repair our world by reclaiming the presence of silence in our lives.

Funny Farm is an inspiring and moving memoir of the author's turbulent life with 600 rescue animals. Laurie Zaleski never aspired to run an animal rescue; that was her mother Annie's dream. But from girlhood, Laurie was determined to make the dream cometrue. Thirty years later as a...  more

Funny Farm is an inspiring and moving memoir of the author's turbulent life with 600 rescue animals. Laurie Zaleski never aspired to run an animal rescue; that was her mother Annie's dream. But from girlhood, Laurie was determined to make the dream cometrue. Thirty years later as a successful businesswoman, she did it, buying a 15-acre farm deep in the Pinelands of South Jersey. She was planning to relocate Annie and her caravan of ragtag rescues-horses and goats, dogs and cats, chickens and pigs-when Annie died, just two weeks before moving day. In her heartbreak, Laurie resolved to make her mother's dream her own. In 2001, she established the Funny Farm Animal Rescue outside Mays Landing, New Jersey. Today, she carries on Annie's mission to save abused and neglected animals. Funny Farm is Laurie's story: of promises kept, dreams fulfilled, and animals lost and found. It's the story of Annie McNulty, who fled a nightmarish marriage with few skills, no money and no resources, dragging three kids behindher, and accumulating hundreds of cast-off animals on the way. And lastly, it's the story of the brave, incredible, and adorable animals that were rescued.

Ants number in the ten quadrillions, and they have been here since the Jurassic era. Inside an anthill, you’ll find high drama worthy of a royal court; and between colonies, high-stakes geopolitical intrigue is afoot. Just like us, ants grow crops, raise livestock, tend their young and...  more

Ants number in the ten quadrillions, and they have been here since the Jurassic era. Inside an anthill, you’ll find high drama worthy of a royal court; and between colonies, high-stakes geopolitical intrigue is afoot. Just like us, ants grow crops, raise livestock, tend their young and infirm, and make vaccines. And, just like us, ants have a dark side: They wage war, despoil environments, and enslave rivals—but also rebel against their oppressors. Engineered by nature to fulfill their particular roles, ants flawlessly perform a complex symphony of tasks to sustain their colony—seemingly without a conductor—from fearsome army ants, who stage twelve-hour hunting raids where they devour thousands, to gentle leafcutters cooperatively gardening in their peaceful underground kingdoms. Acclaimed biologist Susanne Foitzik has traveled the globe to study these master architects of Earth. Joined by journalist Olaf Fritsche, Foitzik invites readers deep into her world—in the field and in the lab. (How do you observe the behavior of ants just millimeters long—or dissect a brain the width of a needle?) Richly illustrated and photographed in full color, Empire of Ants will inspire new respect for ants as a global superpower—and raise new questions about the very meaning of “civilization.”

Insects comprise roughly half of the animal kingdom. They live everywhere—deep inside caves, 18,000 feet high in the Himalayas, inside computers, in Yellowstone’s hot springs, and in the ears and nostrils of much larger creatures. There are insects that have ears on their knees, eyes...  more

Insects comprise roughly half of the animal kingdom. They live everywhere—deep inside caves, 18,000 feet high in the Himalayas, inside computers, in Yellowstone’s hot springs, and in the ears and nostrils of much larger creatures. There are insects that have ears on their knees, eyes on their penises, and tongues under their feet. Most of us think life would be better without bugs. In fact, life would be impossible without them. Most of us know that we would not have honey without honeybees, but without the pinhead-sized chocolate midge, cocoa flowers would not pollinate. No cocoa, no chocolate. The ink that was used to write the Declaration of Independence was derived from galls on oak trees, which are induced by a small wasp. The fruit fly was essential to medical and biological research experiments that resulted in six Nobel prizes. Blowfly larva can clean difficult wounds; flour beetle larva can digest plastic; several species of insects have been essential to the development of antibiotics. Insects turn dead plants and animals into soil. They pollinate flowers, including crops that we depend on. They provide food for other animals, such as birds and bats. They control organisms that are harmful to humans. Life as we know it depends on these small creatures. “Delivering a hail of facts with brio and precision” (Nature) Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson shows us that there is more variety among insects than we thought possible and the more you learn about insects, the more fascinating they become. Extraordinary Insects is “a very enthusiastic look at the flying, crawling, stinging bug universe world, and why we should cherish it” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). **Note: This book was previously published under the title Buzz, Sting, Bite.

For most of us, the only thing we know about flies is that they're annoying, and our usual reaction is to try to kill them. In Super Fly, the myth-busting biologist Jonathan Balcombe shows the order Diptera in all of its diversity, illustrating the essential role that flies play in...  more

For most of us, the only thing we know about flies is that they're annoying, and our usual reaction is to try to kill them. In Super Fly, the myth-busting biologist Jonathan Balcombe shows the order Diptera in all of its diversity, illustrating the essential role that flies play in every ecosystem in the world as pollinators, waste-disposers, predators, and food source; and how flies continue to reshape our understanding of evolution. Along the way, he reintroduces us to familiar foes like the fruit fly and mosquito, and gives us the chance to meet their lesser-known cousins like the Petroleum Fly (the only animal in the world that breeds in crude oil) and the Chocolate Midge (the sole pollinator of the Cacao tree). No matter your outlook on our tiny buzzing neighbors, Super Fly will change the way you look at flies forever.

In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to “beautiful country.” Yet when seven-year-old Qian arrives in New York City in 1994 full of curiosity, she is overwhelmed by crushing fear and scarcity. In China, Qian’s parents were professors; in America, her...  more

In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly to “beautiful country.” Yet when seven-year-old Qian arrives in New York City in 1994 full of curiosity, she is overwhelmed by crushing fear and scarcity. In China, Qian’s parents were professors; in America, her family is “illegal” and it will require all the determination and small joys they can muster to survive. In Chinatown, Qian’s parents labor in sweatshops. Instead of laughing at her jokes, they fight constantly, taking out the stress of their new life on one another. Shunned by her classmates and teachers for her limited English, Qian takes refuge in the library and masters the language through books, coming to think of The Berenstain Bears as her first American friends. And where there is delight to be found, Qian relishes it: her first bite of gloriously greasy pizza, weekly “shopping days,” when Qian finds small treasures in the trash lining Brooklyn’s streets, and a magical Christmas visit to Rockefeller Center -- confirmation that the New York City she saw in movies does exist after all. But then Qian’s headstrong Ma Ma collapses, revealing an illness that she has kept secret for months for fear of the cost and scrutiny of a doctor’s visit. As Ba Ba retreats further inward, Qian has little to hold onto beyond his constant refrain: Whatever happens, say that you were born here, that you’ve always lived here. 

“Christopher Hogwood came home on my lap in a shoebox. He was a creature who would prove in many ways to be more human than I am.”–from The Good Good PigA naturalist who spent months at a time living on her own among wild creatures in remote jungles, Sy Montgomery had always...  more

“Christopher Hogwood came home on my lap in a shoebox. He was a creature who would prove in many ways to be more human than I am.”–from The Good Good PigA naturalist who spent months at a time living on her own among wild creatures in remote jungles, Sy Montgomery had always felt more comfortable with animals than with people. So she gladly opened her heart to a sick piglet who had been crowded away from nourishing meals by his stronger siblings. Yet Sy had no inkling that this piglet, later named Christopher Hogwood, would not only survive but flourish–and she soon found herself engaged with her small-town community in ways she had never dreamed possible. Unexpectedly, Christopher provided this peripatetic traveler with something she had sought all her life: an anchor (eventually weighing 750 pounds) to family and home.The Good Good Pig celebrates Christopher Hogwood in all his glory, from his inauspicious infancy to hog heaven in rural New Hampshire, where his boundless zest for life and his large, loving heart made him absolute monarch over a (mostly) peaceable kingdom. At first, his domain included only Sy’s cosseted hens and her beautiful border collie, Tess. Then the neighbors began fetching Christopher home from his unauthorized jaunts, the little girls next door started giving him warm, soapy baths, and the villagers brought him delicious leftovers. His intelligence and fame increased along with his girth. He was featured in USA Today and on several National Public Radio environmental programs. On election day, some voters even wrote in Christopher’s name on their ballots.But as this enchanting book describes, Christopher Hogwood’s influence extended far beyond celebrity; for he was, as a friend said, a great big Buddha master. Sy reveals what she and others learned from this generous soul who just so happened to be a pig–lessons about self-acceptance, the meaning of family, the value of community, and the pleasures of the sweet green Earth. The Good Good Pig provides proof that with love, almost anything is possible.From the Hardcover edition.

When Jim Whyte settled outside the slate mining town of Monson, Maine in 1895, people hardly knew what to make of him. And almost 130 years later, we still don't. A world traveler that spoke six languages fluently, Whyte came to town with sacks full of money and a fierce desire to keep to...  more

When Jim Whyte settled outside the slate mining town of Monson, Maine in 1895, people hardly knew what to make of him. And almost 130 years later, we still don't. A world traveler that spoke six languages fluently, Whyte came to town with sacks full of money and a fierce desire to keep to himself. It was clear that Whyte was hiding from something--enough to make the FBI come looking. But even the Feds couldn't imagine how Whyte, who lost every penny he had when WWI broke out, amassed another fortune before he died. Based on the true story, Hermit follows one man's quest to discover all he can about Whyte's secret life before it's too late.�

From scream queens to femmes fatale, horror isn’t just for the boys.  Gothic media moguls Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence, authors of The Science of Monsters, and co-hosts of the Horror Rewind podcast called “the best horror film podcast out there”...  more

From scream queens to femmes fatale, horror isn’t just for the boys.  Gothic media moguls Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence, authors of The Science of Monsters, and co-hosts of the Horror Rewind podcast called “the best horror film podcast out there” by Film Daddy, present a guide to the feminist horror movies, TV shows, and characters we all know and love.   Through interviews, film analysis, and bone-chilling discoveries, The Science of Women in Horror uncovers the theories behind women’s most iconic roles of the genre. Explore age-old tropes such as “The Innocent” like Lydia in Beetlejuice, “The Gorgon” like Pamela Voorhees in Friday the 13th, and “The Mother” like Norma Bates in Pyscho and Bates Motel, and delve deeper into female-forward film and TV including: The Haunting of Hill House Teeth Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Buffy the Vampire Slayer And so much more! Join Kelly and Meg in The Science of Women in Horror as they flip the script and prove that every girl is a “final girl.”

During the spring of 1933, Stalin’s police rounded up nearly one hundred thousand people as part of the Soviet regime’s “cleansing” of Moscow and Leningrad and deported them to Siberia. Many of the victims were sent to labor camps, but ten thousand of them were dumped in...  more

During the spring of 1933, Stalin’s police rounded up nearly one hundred thousand people as part of the Soviet regime’s “cleansing” of Moscow and Leningrad and deported them to Siberia. Many of the victims were sent to labor camps, but ten thousand of them were dumped in a remote wasteland and left to fend for themselves. Cannibal Island reveals the shocking, grisly truth about their fate. These people were abandoned on the island of Nazino without food or shelter. Left there to starve and to die, they eventually began to eat each other. Nicolas Werth, a French historian of the Soviet era, reconstructs their gruesome final days using rare archival material from deep inside the Stalinist vaults. Werth skillfully weaves this episode into a broader story about the Soviet frenzy in the 1930s to purge society of all those deemed to be unfit. For Stalin, these undesirables included criminals, opponents of forced collectivization, vagabonds, gypsies, even entire groups in Soviet society such as the “kulaks” and their families. Werth sets his story within the broader social and political context of the period, giving us for the first time a full picture of how Stalin’s system of “special villages” worked, how hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens were moved about the country in wholesale mass transportations, and how this savage bureaucratic machinery functioned on the local, regional, and state levels. Cannibal Island challenges us to confront unpleasant facts not only about Stalin’s punitive social controls and his failed Soviet utopia but about every generation’s capacity for brutality—including our own.

"Watch your back! . . . How to spot and identify demons and other subversive spirits . . . And what to do next. Demons, fairies, and fallen angels are everywhere. They lurk at crossroads, crouch behind doors, hide in trees, slip into beds, wait in caves, hover at weddings and childbirths,...  more

"Watch your back! . . . How to spot and identify demons and other subversive spirits . . . And what to do next. Demons, fairies, and fallen angels are everywhere. They lurk at crossroads, crouch behind doors, hide in trees, slip into beds, wait in caves, hover at weddings and childbirths, disguise themselves as friends, relatives-even disguise themselves as you. They are powerful; they are protean; they are enchanting. And, to the uninformed, they are often invisible. This illustrated guide -- the first of its kind -- reveals the remarkable permutations of the demon and fairy species worldwide. Packed with lore about each demon, detailing its origins, the culture surrounding it, and its reputed antics and exploits, A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits is a fascinating exploration of global mythologies. Perfect for the armchair traveler and the intrepid, seasoned demon-spotter alike, this complete guide to subversive spirits offers a behind-the-scenes look at the devilish mishaps, impish irritations, and demonic devastations that punctuate our lives."

The chronicle of a family?s first year alone in Alaskan wilderness, Arctic Son is a poetic journey of discovery into what we value in life. �In 1992 Jean Aspen and her husband, Tom, left Arizona and took their young son to live in Alaska's interior wilderness, building a cabin out of logs,...  more

The chronicle of a family?s first year alone in Alaskan wilderness, Arctic Son is a poetic journey of discovery into what we value in life. �In 1992 Jean Aspen and her husband, Tom, left Arizona and took their young son to live in Alaska's interior wilderness, building a cabin out of logs, hunting for food, and letting the vast, harsh beauty of the Arctic close in around them. While Jean had faced Alaska's wilderness before in a life-altering experience she�described in Arctic Daughter. This journey would be different. Dogged by sickness and hardships, cut off from the rest of the world, her family faced not only a test of endurance, but of its own well-being and survival. � From a daily struggle against the elements to an encounter with a grizzly bear at arm's length, from moments of breathtaking beauty and self-realization to a harrowing, six-hundred-mile river passage back to civilization, Arctic Son chronicles fourteen remarkable months in the Alaskan wilderness. At once a portrait of courage and a heart-pounding adventure story, Arctic Son portrays a family's extraordinary journey into America's last frontier.