Twelve Years a Slave is a compelling memoir by Solomon Northup, a free black man who was cruelly kidnapped and sold into slavery. Born in New York, Northup was lured to Washington, D.C. with the promise of a lucrative job, only to be drugged, beaten, and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve harrowing years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation.

Northup's narrative provides a vivid and detailed account of slave life, from the brutal conditions he endured to the rare moments of kindness he received. His story sheds light on the slave markets of Washington, D.C. and New Orleans, as well as the daily routines and hardships faced by slaves in the Southern United States.

This powerful autobiography is not only a personal account of survival but also a crucial historical document that offers insight into one of the darkest periods in American history.

Twitter seems like a perfect start-up success story. In barely six years, a small group of young, ambitious programmers in Silicon Valley built an $11.5 billion business out of the ashes of a failed podcasting company. Today, Twitter boasts more than 200 million active users and has affected business, politics, media, and other fields in innumerable ways.

Now, Nick Bilton of the New York Times takes readers behind the scenes with a narrative that shows what happened inside Twitter as it grew at exponential speeds. This is a tale of betrayed friendships and high-stakes power struggles as the four founders—Biz Stone, Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey, and Noah Glass—went from everyday engineers to wealthy celebrities.

Bilton’s exclusive access and exhaustive investigative reporting—drawing on hundreds of sources, documents, and internal e-mails—have enabled him to write an intimate portrait of fame, influence, and power. He also captures the zeitgeist and global influence of Twitter, which has been used to help overthrow governments in the Middle East and disrupt the very fabric of the way people communicate.

Frequent reports of honor killings, disfigurement, and sensational abuse have given rise to a consensus in the West, propagated by human rights groups, that Muslim women need to be rescued. Lila Abu-Lughod boldly challenges this conclusion.

An anthropologist who has been writing about Arab women for thirty years, she delves into the predicaments of Muslim women today, questioning whether generalizations about Islamic culture can explain the hardships these women face, and asking what motivates particular individuals and institutions to promote their rights.

In recent years, Abu-Lughod has struggled to reconcile the popular image of women victimized by Islam with the complex women she has known through her research in various communities in the Muslim world. Here, she renders that divide vivid by presenting detailed vignettes of the lives of ordinary Muslim women and showing that the problem of gender inequality cannot be laid at the feet of religion alone.

Poverty and authoritarianism—conditions not unique to the Islamic world, and produced out of global interconnections that implicate the West—are often more decisive. The standard Western vocabulary of oppression, choice, and freedom is too blunt to describe these women's lives.

Do Muslim Women Need Saving? is an indictment of a mindset that has justified all manner of foreign interference, including military invasion, in the name of rescuing women from Islam, as well as a moving portrait of women's actual experiences and the contingencies with which they live.

What do we do when life lurches out of balance? How can we reconnect to one another and to what's sustaining, when evil and catastrophe seem inescapable?

These questions lie at the heart of Stitches, Anne Lamott's profound follow-up to her New York Times-bestselling work, Help, Thanks, Wow. In this book, she explores how we find meaning and peace in these loud and frantic times; where we start again after personal and public devastation; how we recapture wholeness after loss; and how we locate our true identities in this frazzled age.

We begin, Lamott says, by collecting the ripped sheets of our emotional and spiritual fabric and sewing them back together - one stitch at a time. It's in these stitches that the quilt of life begins, and embedded in them are strength, warmth, humour and humanity.

Rude Bitches Make Me Tired is an always sensible and mildly profane etiquette manual for the modern age. Celia Rivenbark addresses real-life quandaries ranging from how to deal with braggy playground moms to wondering if you can have sex in your aunt's bed on vacation to correctly grieving the dearly departed (hint: it doesn't include tattoos or truck decals).

This book will provide answers to all your mannerly questions as Celia discusses the social conundrums of our day and age, including:

• Navigating the agonies of check splitting ("Who had the gorgonzola crumbles and should we really care?")
• The baffling aspects of airline travel (such as "Recline Monster" and other animals)
• The art of the visit (always leave them wanting more . . . much more)
• Gym and locker etiquette (hint: no one wants to talk to you while you're buck naked)
• Office manners ("Loud talkers, cake hawkers, and Britney Sue's unfortunate cyst")

Good manners have never been so wickedly funny!

Successful Freelancing And Outsourcing is a comprehensive guide that delves into the tactics and strategies of freelancing and outsourcing. This book is designed to help individuals and companies alike by providing practical insights into the world of freelancing.

The outsourcing section offers strategies that are beneficial for companies globally. Whether you're looking to make money online or increase your business profit, this guide has got you covered.

Key Topics Include:

• How To Make Money Online
• Maximizing Your Skills
• Avoiding Common Freelancing Pitfalls
• Effective Problem Solving
• The Advantages Of Branding
• Doubling Your Earnings
• Proven Bidding Strategies
• Landing Projects Successfully
• Following Up With Clients
• Estimating Fair Pricing

Discover the advantages of outsourcing and learn how to find skilled professionals to get the job done efficiently. The book also provides insights on recognizing problem clients and optimizing your return on investment (ROI).

Put your self-doubt aside and dive into the world of freelancing with confidence by learning from the experiences shared in this book. Scroll up and start your journey today!

I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday.When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate.I Am Malala is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.

Pulitzer Prize–winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee, a leading cancer physician and researcher, selects the year’s top science and nature writing from journalists who dive into their fields with curiosity and passion. This collection delivers must-read articles from a wide array of fields, showcasing the brilliance and diversity of contemporary science and nature writing.

The Story of the Human Body offers a fascinating exploration of how the human body has evolved over millions of years. Daniel E. Lieberman, a leader in the field of human evolutionary biology, presents a lucid and engaging account of the evolutionary transformations that have shaped our bodies.

The book delves into the rise of bipedalism, the shift to a non-fruit-based diet, and the advent of hunting and gathering, which led to our superlative endurance athleticism. Lieberman also discusses the development of our large brains and the emergence of cultural proficiencies.

Moreover, the book examines how cultural evolution differs from biological evolution and how it has further transformed our bodies during the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions. While these changes have brought numerous benefits, they've also created conditions to which our bodies are not entirely adapted, leading to increased incidences of obesity and new, avoidable diseases like type 2 diabetes.

Lieberman introduces the concept of "dysevolution," where only the symptoms of chronic illnesses are treated rather than their causes. He advocates for using evolutionary information to help create a healthier environment.

Men We Reaped is a poignant memoir by the talented Jesmyn Ward, who recounts the heartbreaking loss of five men in her life over five years. These men were lost to drugs, accidents, and suicide, and their deaths are painted against the backdrop of the harsh realities of poverty and systemic racism in rural Mississippi.

Ward bravely explores the pressures faced by black men, the women who support them, and the communities that struggle with the absence of these men. Her narrative is both an intimate reflection and a powerful commentary on the social and economic struggles that foster drug addiction and the breakdown of family relationships.

As the only member of her family to pursue higher education, Ward writes with the objectivity that distance provides and the intimacy of someone deeply familiar with the struggles of her community. Men We Reaped is a compelling read that resonates with the themes of grief, resilience, and hope.

Why is the sky blue? Why is pink for girls and blue for boys? Why do prisoners wear orange? And why can one color have so many opposite meanings? If lobsters are a red emblem of privilege, how is it that a red flag can also be the banner of Communism?

Jude Stewart, a design expert and writer, digs into this rich subject with gusto, telling her favorite stories about color as she discovers what it can really mean. Each chapter is devoted to a color, opening with an infographic map that links such unlikely pairings as fox-hunting and flamingos. From there on in, you're plunged into a kaleidoscopic tour of the universe that encompasses everything from wildflowers to Japanese warriors. The links between them reveal hidden realities that you never would have suspected.

ROY G. BIV is a reference and inspiration for everyone, with sidebars and graphics galore. The aim is simple: to tantalize and inform, and to make you think about color in a completely new way.

What is the most important ingredient for an effective speech or presentation? Whether you are one who speaks only on rare occasions or you find yourself addressing an audience every day, this book will be an invaluable tool. Beneficial to the experienced pro as well as the new beginner, Secrets of Dynamic Communication is a practical and effective handbook for powerful presentations of all kinds. It takes the reader through the process of selecting and developing a theme, giving it focus, fleshing it out, and communicating well with the audience. The first half is devoted to preparation, the second to delivery.

Author Ken Davis is frequently hired by individuals and companies around the world to bring his humor and expertise to others in the speaking field, and he is now bringing those concepts to the wider community as well. No abstract theories here, only step-by-step help in preparing and delivering speeches that get results! You’ll soon develop the dynamic speaking skills associated with the very best in the field.

Why Nations Fail is a brilliant and engaging exploration of the age-old question: Why are some nations rich while others remain in poverty?

Authors Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson delve into the intricacies of political and economic institutions that drive the success or failure of nations. They present a compelling argument that it's not geography, culture, or ignorance of policies that determine a nation's prosperity. Instead, it's the man-made institutions that create incentives and opportunities for innovation and economic participation.

Through fascinating examples like the contrasting fates of North and South Korea, and drawing on fifteen years of extensive research, the authors provide extraordinary historical evidence from civilizations such as the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, and modern nations like the United States and China.

Why Nations Fail challenges readers to rethink the dynamics of wealth and poverty and provides insights into the political economy that are relevant to the big questions of our time.

Three Horizons: The Patterning of Hope is a simple and intuitive framework for thinking about the future. It explains how people often manage to disagree so vehemently about their visions of the future and how to achieve them. The book offers a practical way to begin constructive conversations about the future at home, in organizations, and in society at large.

The three horizons framework is about much more than simply stretching our thinking to embrace the short, medium, and long term. They offer a coordinated way of managing innovation, creating transformational change with a chance of succeeding, dealing with uncertainty, and seeing the future in the present.

In this beautifully illustrated book, Bill Sharpe introduces the Three Horizons framework as a prompt for developing a 'future consciousness'—a rich and multi-faceted awareness of the future potential of the present moment—and explores how to put that awareness to work to create the futures we aspire to.

Walter Isaacson's worldwide bestselling biography of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs is a compelling account of a man whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized multiple industries, including personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

Isaacson's narrative is based on over forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years, as well as conversations with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues. This biography paints an intricate portrait of a creative entrepreneur known for his intense personality and inventive mind.

Jobs's story offers invaluable lessons on innovation, character, leadership, and values, and serves as a source of inspiration for maintaining America's innovative edge in the digital age. His approach to business and the groundbreaking products that resulted are a testament to his belief in the fusion of creativity with technology.

Throughout the biography, Jobs's colleagues provide a candid view of the qualities that shaped his approach to business and innovation. Despite his complex character, Jobs's impact on the tech world remains unmatched, and his story continues to inspire future generations.

Whether it’s the monster in the closet or the fear that arises from new social situations, school, or sports, anxiety can be especially challenging and maddening for children. And since anxiety has a mind of its own, logic and reassurance often fail, leaving parents increasingly frustrated about how to help.

Now, Lawrence J. Cohen, Ph.D., the author of Playful Parenting, provides a special set of tools to handle childhood anxiety. Offering simple, effective strategies that build connection through fun, play, and empathy, Dr. Cohen helps parents:

• Start from a place of warmth, compassion, and understanding.
• Teach children the basics of the body’s “security system”: alert, alarm, assessment, and all clear.
• Promote tolerance of uncertainty and discomfort by finding the balance between outright avoidance and “white-knuckling” through a fear.
• Find lighthearted ways to release tension in the moment, labeling stressful emotions on a child-friendly scale.
• Tackle their own anxieties so they can stay calm when a child is distressed.
• Bring children out of their anxious thoughts and into their bodies by using relaxation, breathing, writing, drawing, and playful roughhousing.

With this insightful resource of easy-to-implement solutions and strategies, you and your child can experience the opposite of worry, anxiety, and fear and embrace connection, trust, and joy.

With anxiety at epidemic levels among our children, Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents offers a contrarian yet effective approach to help children and teens push through their fears, worries, and phobias to ultimately become more resilient, independent, and happy.

How do you manage a child who gets stomachaches every school morning, who refuses after-school activities, or who is trapped in the bathroom with compulsive washing? Children like these put a palpable strain on frustrated, helpless parents and teachers. One in every five kids suffers from a diagnosable anxiety disorder.

Unfortunately, when parents or professionals offer help in traditional ways, they unknowingly reinforce a child's worry and avoidance. From their success with hundreds of organizations, schools, and families, Reid Wilson, PhD, and Lynn Lyons, LICSW, share their unconventional approach of stepping into uncertainty in a way that is currently unfamiliar but infinitely successful.

Using current research and contemporary examples, the book exposes the most common anxiety-enhancing patterns—including reassurance, accommodation, avoidance, and poor problem solving—and offers a concrete plan with 7 key principles that foster change.

Since new research reveals how anxious parents typically make for anxious children, the book offers exercises and techniques to change both the children's and the parental patterns of thinking and behaving. This book challenges our basic instincts about how to help fearful kids and will serve as the antidote for an anxious nation of kids and their parents.

Released for the first time in paperback, this landmark social and political volume on feminism is credited with being responsible for raising awareness, liberating both sexes, and triggering major advances in the feminist movement. Reprint.

In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a scale of “madness” along which we all sit. Incorporating the latest advances in brain scanning and neuroscience, Dutton demonstrates that the brilliant neurosurgeon who lacks empathy has more in common with a Ted Bundy who kills for pleasure than we may wish to admit, and that a mugger in a dimly lit parking lot may well, in fact, have the same nerveless poise as a titan of industry.

Dutton argues that there are indeed “functional psychopaths” among us—different from their murderous counterparts—who use their detached, unflinching, and charismatic personalities to succeed in mainstream society, and that shockingly, in some fields, the more “psychopathic” people are, the more likely they are to succeed. Dutton deconstructs this often misunderstood diagnosis through bold on-the-ground reporting and original scientific research as he mingles with the criminally insane in a high-security ward, shares a drink with one of the world’s most successful con artists, and undergoes transcranial magnetic stimulation to discover firsthand exactly how it feels to see through the eyes of a psychopath.

As Dutton develops his theory that we all possess psychopathic tendencies, he puts forward the argument that society as a whole is more psychopathic than ever: after all, psychopaths tend to be fearless, confident, charming, ruthless, and focused—qualities that are tailor-made for success in the twenty-first century. Provocative at every turn, The Wisdom of Psychopaths is a riveting adventure that reveals that it’s our much-maligned dark side that often conceals the trump cards of success.

A nameless character. A faceless figure. A disturbing, thought-provoking journey through the facts of the world we live in that we often refuse to acknowledge.

By taking full advantage of their author's lack of identity and extreme levels of introspection, The Unwords unleash a full scale attack on all fronts of cultural and social decay. Education, religion, politics, language, relationships and common every day social activities are stripped down to their bare foundations and deconstructed through the eyes of a man who has rejected any notion of self in his quest for truth and justice.

Written in fluent poetic verse which expands into full-page illustrations that carry the theme into artistic territory, the words blend seamlessly with the arts as they form novel-like chapters; a new, refreshing form of writing known as "Graphic-verse."

Originally published in 2012, The Unwords introduced Graphic-verse to the public and readers quickly embraced this newly created genre. This expanded second edition of The Unwords features 35 pages of additional material, including 54 full color illustrations as well as an introduction by the author himself, revealing his entire creative process, his influences, as well as his motivations and the reasoning behind the book's unusual structure.

Words are meant to be spoken. In a dishonest world, what remains unspoken can only be the truth. In a dishonest world... the pen is never mightier than the sword!

Once upon a time, salad was iceberg lettuce with a few shredded carrots and a cucumber slice, if you were lucky. A vegetable side was potatoes—would you like those baked, mashed, or au gratin? A nice anniversary dinner? Would you rather visit the Holiday Inn or the Regency Inn?

In Grand Forks, North Dakota, a small town where professors moonlight as farmers, farmers moonlight as football coaches, and everyone loves hockey, one woman has had the answers for more than twenty-five years: Marilyn Hagerty. In her weekly Eatbeat column in the local paper, Marilyn gives the denizens of Grand Forks the straight scoop on everything from the best blue plate specials—beef stroganoff at the Pantry—to the choicest truck stops—the Big Sioux (and its lutefisk lunch special)—to the ambience of the town's first Taco Bell. Her verdict? A cool pastel oasis on a hot day.

No-nonsense but wry, earnest but self-aware, Eatbeat also encourages the best in its readers—reminding them to tip well and why—and serves as its own kind of down-home social register, peopled with stories of ex–postal workers turned café owners and prom queen waitresses.

Filled with reviews of the mom-and-pop diners that eventually gave way to fast-food joints and the Norwegian specialties that finally faded away in the face of the Olive Garden's endless breadsticks, Grand Forks is more than just a loving look at the shifts in American dining in the last years of the twentieth century—it is also a surprisingly moving and hilarious portrait of the quintessential American town, one we all recognize in our hearts regardless of where we're from.

A practical look at how play therapy can promote mental health wellness in children and adolescents. Revised and expanded, The Therapeutic Powers of Play, Second Edition explores the powerful effects that play therapy has on different areas within a child or adolescent's life, such as communication, emotion regulation, relationship enhancement, and personal strengths.

Editors Charles Schaefer and Athena Drewes—renowned experts in the field of play therapy—discuss the different interventions and components of treatment that can move clients to change. Leading play therapists contributed to this volume, supplying a wide repertoire of practical techniques and applications in each chapter for use in clinical practice, including:

• Direct teaching
• Indirect teaching
• Self-expression
• Relationship enhancement
• Attachment formation
• Catharsis
• Stress inoculation
• Creative problem solving
• Self-esteem

Filled with clinical case vignettes from various theoretical viewpoints, the second edition is an invaluable resource for play and child therapists of all levels of experience and theoretical orientations.

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness is a powerful memoir by Susannah Cahalan that delves deep into her personal struggle with a mysterious medical condition. This riveting medical mystery goes beyond a simple recounting of events, exploring the profound impact on her identity and life.

At the age of twenty-four, Susannah woke up in a hospital room, strapped to her bed, unable to move or speak, and with no memory of how she got there. Just days before, she was embarking on a new chapter in her life, with a promising career and a budding relationship. Suddenly, she found herself labeled as violent, psychotic, and a flight risk.

In this breathtaking narrative, Cahalan shares her descent into madness, her family's unwavering faith, and the lifesaving diagnosis that almost didn't happen. The book brings readers into the harrowing journey of piecing her life back together using memories, journals, and hospital records.

Brain on Fire is not only a personal story but a universal one, asking profound questions about identity, sanity, and the human spirit's resilience in the face of unimaginable challenges.

Survivor... a word continuously thought of when reading this memoir.

Upon the release of The Freedom Writers Diary and film adaptation starring Hilary Swank in 2007, Darrius Garrett realized that both book and movie tell the Freedom Writer Story as a whole, but not on a personal level. During speaking engagements, the same questions always surface: 'Did Ms. Gruwell change you? How did you make it out of the gang life? What stopped you from killing yourself?' Darrius's answers are inside.

Diary of a Freedom Writer takes you on a journey beyond the classrooms to the treacherous streets of Long Beach, California. An innocent little boy born in poverty and raised in a violent environment, Darrius became a product of the streets, written off by the school and judicial systems alike, growing up in an environment full of gangs and drugs. He spent his life searching for a father figure until he became a Freedom Writer, motivational speaker, and finally a father himself. His story is that of a man realizing his experiences are what made him the man he has been seeking to be all his life.

Upon beating the odds, Diary of a Freedom Writer serves as proof that Darrius's story of struggle, life, change, and hope will uplift, educate, encourage, and inspire.

The Conquest of Happiness is Bertrand Russell's recipe for good living. First published in 1930, it pre-dates the current obsession with self-help by decades.

Leading the reader step by step through the causes of unhappiness and the personal choices, compromises, and sacrifices that may lead to the final, affirmative conclusion of 'The Happy Man', this is popular philosophy, or even self-help, as it should be written.

Eat, Pray, Love is the captivating memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert that chronicles her journey of self-discovery following a devastating divorce. Feeling lost and uncertain about the future, Gilbert makes a bold decision to step away from her life in America and embark on a year-long trip around the world.

In Italy, she indulges in the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and delighting in the country's culinary offerings. Her experience is not just about savoring good food and wine, but also about embracing joy and giving herself permission to feel good again.

India offers a stark contrast, where Gilbert dives deep into the art of devotion. It is here, in an ashram, that she commits to exploring her spiritual side, seeking peace and a sense of connection that had long eluded her.

The final leg of her journey takes her to Bali, Indonesia, where she seeks balance between the material and the spiritual. Under the guidance of an elderly medicine man and through an unexpected romance, Gilbert finds a harmony she had been missing.

An honest and transformative narrative, Eat, Pray, Love is a testament to the healing power of travel and the courage it takes to confront one's own truths. It's a story of embracing change, pursuing happiness, and discovering a life worth living on one's own terms.

Inspired by David Simon’s award-winning HBO series Treme, this book is a vibrant celebration of the culinary spirit of post-Katrina New Orleans. It features recipes and tributes from both real and fictional characters who highlight the Crescent City’s rich foodways.

From chef Janette Desautel’s own Crawfish Ravioli and LaDonna Batiste-Williams’s Smothered Turnip Soup to the city’s finest Sazerac, New Orleans’ cuisine is a mélange of influences from Creole to Vietnamese—at once new and old, genteel and down-home. In the words of Toni Bernette, it is all "seasoned with delicious nostalgia."

As visually rich as the series itself, the book includes 100 heritage and contemporary recipes from the city’s heralded restaurants such as Upperline, Bayona, Restaurant August, and Herbsaint. It also features original recipes from renowned chefs like Eric Ripert and David Chang, alongside other Treme guest stars.

For the six million who come to New Orleans each year for its food and music, this book is the ultimate homage to the traditions that make it one of the world’s greatest cities.

The Protestant Ethic — a moral code stressing hard work, rigorous self-discipline, and the organization of one's life in the service of God — was made famous by sociologist and political economist Max Weber. In this brilliant study, he opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and its view that change takes place through the 'struggle of opposites.' Instead, he relates the rise of a capitalist economy to the Puritan determination to work out anxiety over salvation or damnation by performing good deeds — an effort that ultimately discouraged belief in predestination and encouraged capitalism.

Weber's classic study has long been required reading in college and advanced high school social studies classrooms. It explores the continuing debate regarding the origins and legacy of modern capitalism in the West, helps the reader understand today's global economic development, and delves into the deep cultural forces that affect contemporary work life and the workplace in the United States and Europe.

Passion and Purity is a timeless classic that has guided countless individuals in understanding how to align their love lives with Christ's teachings.

Elisabeth Elliot, using her own life as a testament, offers guidance to singles of all ages and genders on the importance of bringing their romantic lives under the authority of Jesus Christ. This essential read addresses key dating issues such as:

• How to discern the right person to marry
• Loving passionately while maintaining sexual purity
• The roles of men and women in relationships
• Prioritizing God's desires over personal desires
• Understanding physical boundaries

Through letters, diary entries, and personal memories, Elisabeth Elliot shares her love story with Jim Elliot, highlighting the challenges and triumphs of choosing Christ above all.

In a culture where dating, sex, and intimacy often overshadow deeper connections, Elliot's message is a refreshing call to purity and commitment. This beautifully repackaged edition continues to inspire and guide today's youth toward a love that honors God.

How We Do It: The Evolution and Future of Human Reproduction delves into the fascinating world of human reproduction. Primatologist Robert Martin draws on forty years of research to explore the origins of everything from our sex cells to the way we care for newborns.

Despite our endless fascination, the origins of our reproductive lives remain a mystery. Why are a quarter of a billion sperm cells needed to fertilize one egg? Are women really fertile for only a few days each month? How long should babies be breast-fed?

Martin examines the history of humans and our primate relatives to reveal what's truly natural in making and raising babies. Although it's not feasible to raise children exactly like our ancestors, Martin's insights shed light on modern practices.

Discover why choosing a midwife over an obstetrician might impact your birthing experience, the benefits of breast-feeding, and why babies might be ready for toilet training sooner than expected.

This book provides much-needed context for our reproductive and child-rearing practices and shows that by understanding our evolutionary past, we can better consider what works for our future.

The world is long overdue for a completely new system of governance. If there was ever a need for political representation or a paternalistic and opaque authority, it has been removed by technology. Every political system we have tried has proven incapable of protecting human rights and dignity. Every political system we have tried has devolved into oligarchy.

To effect the change we require immediately, to give individuals control and responsibility, to bring regional systems under regional governance, allow global collaboration, and protect the heritage of future generations, we need a new political model.

For readers of Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit and Unbroken, the dramatic story of the American rowing team that stunned the world at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Daniel James Brown's robust book tells the story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.

The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together—a perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism.

Drawing on the boys' own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, The Boys in the Boat is an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate story of nine working-class boys from the American west who, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what true grit really meant.

The End of Your Life Book Club is a moving narrative that unfolds the story of a son and his mother who form a unique book club that becomes a medium of connection as the mother, Mary Anne Schwalbe, faces the end of her life due to cancer.

During her treatments, Will Schwalbe and his mother begin sharing books, which leads to profound discussions on a wide range of topics. Their book selections are diverse, spanning from classics to contemporary hits, and encompassing both fiction and spiritual texts. The dialogues that emerge from these shared reading experiences are deeply personal, offering insights into their lives, their love for each other, and the role that books play in shaping our human experience.

Through this heartfelt testament, readers witness the enduring bond between parent and child, and the transformative power of literature. The End of Your Life Book Club is not just an account of Mary Anne's battle with cancer, but also a celebration of life, a source of comfort, and a reminder of the joy that reading can bring, especially when shared.

CHANGE FOR THE BETTER! Learn to create world-class logistics and supply chains in any industry using kaizen's seven main principles. At a time when businesses are restructuring to become more competitive, Kaizen in Logistics and Supply Chains is at the forefront of this journey--and can point you in the right direction to help your company in implementing innovative production and logistics systems and changing its culture for the better.

Based on the themes of Masaaki Imai's bestseller, Gemba Kaizen, considered the "bible" of the quality/management movement, this new work provides the first highly detailed explanation of how to create world-class logistics and supply chains regardless of industry. It includes more than 200 photographs, flow diagrams, value stream maps, and tables--and features a case study that illustrates how a company became more competitive by successfully implementing kaizen principles. There's never been a better guide to lead your company's quest for improvement.

KEY FEATURES: Explanation of how the seven main kaizen principles can be applied to transform world-class logistics and worldwide supply chains; Prerequisites for implementing these systems, including stabilization and change management activities; Concrete steps to implementing kanban systems, internal and external logistics loops, design flow production lines, and supermarket systems; Detailed real-world case study to illustrate successful implementation of the book's theories, and scorecards so readers can evaluate their progress in practice. Foreword by Masaaki Imai, Founder and Chairman of the Kaizen Institute, and author of the bestseller Gemba Kaizen.

The World of Yesterday is a profound memoir by the renowned Austrian author, Stefan Zweig. This masterpiece stands as one of his most significant works, providing a rich source for understanding modern European culture.

Zweig offers an eyewitness account of the pivotal events that shaped modern European history. Through his vivid recollections, he captures the atmosphere of Europe's cities and shares encounters with some of its most notable personalities.

This autobiography serves as a mirror to an era and a poignant reflection on the cultural and historical transformations of his time.

Zones of social abandonment are emerging everywhere in Brazil's big cities—places like Vita, where the unwanted, the mentally ill, the sick, and the homeless are left to die. This haunting, unforgettable story centers on a young woman named Catarina, increasingly paralyzed and said to be mad, living out her time at Vita.

Anthropologist João Biehl leads a detective-like journey to know Catarina; to unravel the cryptic, poetic words that are part of the "dictionary" she is compiling; and to trace the complex network of family, medicine, state, and economy in which her abandonment and pathology took form. As Biehl painstakingly relates Catarina's words to a vanished world and elucidates her condition, we learn of subjectivities unmade and remade under economic pressures, pharmaceuticals as moral technologies, a public common sense that lets the unsound and unproductive die, and anthropology's unique power to work through these juxtaposed fields.

Vita's methodological innovations, bold fieldwork, and rigorous social theory make it an essential reading for anyone who is grappling with how to understand the conditions of life, thought, and ethics in the contemporary world.

A guy walks into a bar car and...

From here, the story could take many turns. When this guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humor and intelligence and leave you deeply moved.

Sedaris remembers his father's dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant), and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered Pygmy.

With Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris shows once again why his work has been called hilarious, elegant, and surprisingly moving.

In the nonfiction tradition of John Berendt and Erik Larson, New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston presents a gripping account of crime and punishment in the lush hills surrounding Florence, Italy.

In 2000, Douglas Preston fulfilled a dream to move his family to Italy. Then he discovered that the olive grove in front of their 14th century farmhouse had been the scene of the most infamous double-murders in Italian history, committed by a serial killer known as the Monster of Florence. Preston, intrigued, meets Italian investigative journalist Mario Spezi to learn more.

This is the true story of their search for—and identification of—the man they believe committed the crimes, and their chilling interview with him. And then, in a strange twist of fate, Preston and Spezi themselves become targets of the police investigation. Preston has his phone tapped, is interrogated, and told to leave the country. Spezi fares worse: he is thrown into Italy's grim Capanne prison, accused of being the Monster of Florence himself. Like one of Preston's thrillers, The Monster of Florence, tells a remarkable and harrowing story involving murder, mutilation, and suicide—and at the center of it, Preston and Spezi, caught in a bizarre prosecutorial vendetta.

Customer (holding up a book): What’s this? The Secret Garden? Well, it’s not so secret now, is it, since they bloody well wrote a book about it!

Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops was a Sunday Times bestseller, and could be found displayed on bookshop counters up and down the country. The response to the book from booksellers all over the world has been one of heartfelt agreement: it would appear that customers are saying bizarre things all over the place - from asking for books with photographs of Jesus in them, to hunting for the best horse owner’s manual that has a detailed chapter on unicorns.

Customer: I had such a crush on Captain Hook when I was younger. Do you think this means I have unresolved issues?

More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops has yet more tales from the antiquarian bookshop where Jen Campbell works, and includes a selection of ‘Weird Things...’ sent in from other booksellers across the world. The book is illustrated by the BAFTA-winning Brothers McLeod.

No Kidding, comedy writer Henriette Mantel, along with Jennifer Coolidge, tackles the topic of actually not having kids. This fascinating collection features a star-studded group of contributors—including Margaret Cho, Wendy Liebman, Laurie Graff, and other accomplished, funny women—writing about why they opted out of motherhood.

Whether their reasons have to do with courage, apathy, monetary considerations, health issues, or something else entirely, the essays featured in the pages of No Kidding honestly (and humorously) delve into the minds of women who have chosen what they would call a more sane path.

Hilarious, compelling, and inspiring, No Kidding reveals a perspective that has too long been hidden, shamed, and silenced—and celebrates an entire population of women who have decided that kids are just not right for them.

Dead Wrong is a study of the scientific and forensic facts of four assassinations of the 1960s (President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Black Panther leader Fred Hampton), as well as an examination of new and incriminating evidence indicative of murder, not suicide, in the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, White House Counsel Vincent Foster, U.N. Weapons Inspector Dr. David C. Kelly and bioweapons expert Frank Olson.

It also examines the cases of two murders directly linked to Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States.

For years, the government has put out hits on people that they found “expendable,” or who they felt were “talking too much,” covering up their assassinations with drug overdoses and mysterious suicides. The extensive research shows how our government has taken matters into its own hands, plotting murder whenever it saw fit. “Big Brother” is watching you—through the scope of a sniper rifle.

Dead Wrong will give you the straight facts on some of the most controversial and famous deaths this country has ever seen. The harsh reality is that our government only tells us what we want to hear, as they look out for their own best interests and eliminate anyone who gets in their way.

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen is a vibrant, food-themed memoir from beloved indie cartoonist Lucy Knisley. Lucy Knisley loves food. The daughter of a chef and a gourmet, this talented young cartoonist comes by her obsession honestly.

In her forthright, thoughtful, and funny memoir, Lucy traces key episodes in her life thus far, framed by what she was eating at the time and lessons learned about food, cooking, and life. Each chapter is bookended with an illustrated recipe—many of them treasured family dishes, and a few of them Lucy's original inventions.

A welcome read for anyone who ever felt more passion for a sandwich than is strictly speaking proper, Relish is a book for our time: it invites the reader to celebrate food as a connection to our bodies and a connection to the earth, rather than an enemy, a compulsion, or a consumer product.

Have you ever wondered if we're missing it? It's crazy, if you think about it. The God of the universe—the Creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies and E-minor—loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss.

Whether you've verbalized it yet or not, we all know something's wrong. Does something deep inside your heart long to break free from the status quo? Are you hungry for an authentic faith that addresses the problems of our world with tangible, even radical, solutions?

God is calling you to a passionate love relationship with Himself. Because the answer to religious complacency isn't working harder at a list of do's and don'ts—it's falling in love with God. And once you encounter His love, as Francis describes it, you will never be the same. Because when you're wildly in love with someone, it changes everything.

The irresistible, ever-curious, and always bestselling Mary Roach returns with a new adventure into the invisible realm that people carry around inside. America’s funniest science writer takes us down the hatch on an unforgettable tour.

The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in Gulp are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in Packing for Mars.

Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn’t the stomach digest itself? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis? In Gulp, we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinks of—or has the courage to ask.

We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terrorists—who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts.

Like all of Roach’s books, Gulp is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies.

Escape from Camp 14 is the shocking story of one of the few people born in a North Korean political prison to have escaped and survived. North Korea is isolated, hungry, bankrupt, and belligerent, armed with nuclear weapons. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are held in its political prison camps, which have existed twice as long as Stalin's Soviet gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. Very few born and raised in these camps have escaped. But Shin Donghyuk did.

In Escape from Camp 14, acclaimed journalist Blaine Harden tells the story of Shin Dong-hyuk and, through the lens of Shin's life, unlocks the secrets of the world's most repressive totalitarian state. Shin knew nothing of civilized existence—he saw his mother as a competitor for food, guards raised him to be a snitch, and he witnessed the execution of his own family. Through Harden's harrowing narrative of Shin's life and remarkable escape, he offers an unequaled inside account of one of the world's darkest nations and a riveting tale of endurance, courage, and survival.

Lean In is a massive cultural phenomenon and its title has become an instant catchphrase for empowering women. The book soared to the top of bestseller lists internationally, igniting global conversations about women and ambition.

Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Meta (previously called Facebook), draws on her own experience of working in some of the world's most successful businesses. She looks at what women can do to help themselves and make the small changes in their life that can effect change on a more universal scale.

In her famed TED talk, Sandberg described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto.

Lean In combines personal anecdotes, hard data, and compelling research to change the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can. Sandberg provides practical advice on negotiation techniques, mentorship, and building a satisfying career.

She describes specific steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment, and demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women both in the workplace and at home.

The inscriptions found on the various artifacts from the Indus Valley Civilization hold in their hearts hidden chronicles of time. Many unsolved mysteries remain regarding who were these people, how did they suddenly build such an advanced civilization, how were their lives like, how much did they interact with their neighboring cultures, and where did they suddenly vanish.

One of the most ancient and advanced civilizations, it mysteriously seems to have disappeared almost suddenly, and that too without any trace. Will the study of the script used by this civilization reveal any clue to these puzzles? Will it help us unravel these ancient mysteries? Finally and most importantly, will a study of the Indus Valley script help us in gaining more knowledge about the ancient world?

Every teenager wants to fit in and be just like everybody else. So imagine how hard that is when your father runs a taxidermy business out of the family home, your mother runs the student cafeteria, and your sister has just been elected high school mascot, which means she walks the halls in a giant bird costume. But as Jenny Lawson grows up, falls in love, gets engaged – in a way that is as disastrous as it is romantic – and starts a family of her own, she learns that life’s most absurd and humiliating moments, the ones we wish we could pretend had never happened, are the very same moments that make us who we are.

This is an often poignant, sometimes disturbing, but always hilarious book from a writer that dares to say your deepest and strangest thoughts out loud. Like laughter at a funeral, it is both highly irreverent and impossible to stop once you’ve started . . .