From ancient megalodons to fearsome Great Whites, this book tells the complete, untold story of how sharks emerged as Earth’s ultimate survivors, by world-leading paleontologist John Long.“Will keep you on the edge of your seat from its first page to its last page.”—Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Guns, Germs, and SteelSharks have been fighting for their lives for 500 million years and today are under dire threat. T...

In the summer of 1904, thirty-two men lined up in St. Louis to run twenty-four miles through choking dust and 90-degree heat, past automobiles that nearly killed them and a single water station that failed them entirely. Fourteen finished. One was disqualified for hitching a ride in a car. Another nearly died from the very "medicine" his own trainers gave him to keep him standing. A third, a Cuban postman who'd never trained a day in his life, stopped mid-race to eat green peaches from an ...

Written by world renowned rock climbers and veteran Falcon authors John Long and Bob Gaines, this comprehensive volume will be the go-to resource for the necessities of rock climbing safety. By stressing both fundamentals and state-of-the-art techniques, it will be a great resource for both beginners and experienced climbers looking to brush up on their skills.

For most of the past 300 million years, the world’s continents were interlinked as the supercontinents Pangaea and then Gondwana. Around 50 million years ago, Australia tore itself free from Antarctica to become the huge, splendidly isolated island it is today. Over time, its creatures began to evolve in ways not seen anywhere else on Earth, with tree-climbing crocodiles, gigantic venomous lizards, walking omnivorous bats and flesh-eating kangaroos roaming the continent.Prehist...

In "John Long's Journal, 1768-1782," J. Indian Trader Long masterfully captures the nuanced dynamics of trade and cultural exchange between European settlers and Indigenous peoples during a formative period in North American history. Written in a straightforward yet evocative style, Long's journal entries reveal the complexities of frontier life, characterized by both collaboration and conflict. The narrative weaves personal anecdotes with broader historical commentary, offering readers an...

How to Rock Climb!, now in its fifth edition, is the most thorough instructional rock climbing book in the world. All the fundamentals—from ethics to getting up the rock—are presented in John Long's classic style. Thoroughly revised and updated to reflect the modern standards of equipment, technique, and training methods, this guide includes sections on face climbing; crack climbing; ropes, anchors, and belays; getting off the rock; sport climbing; and much more. It is the essential how-to...

With more than 100 full-color photos and detailed captions showing how to create safe and simple rock-climbing anchoring systems, this is a take-to-the-crag companion book to our huge-selling Climbing Anchors.Designed for quick use by climbers on site, this book shows how to properly place and configure natural anchors, passive chocks, mechanical chocks, fixed gear, knots, belay anchors, toprope anchors and rappel anchors. This field guide is up to date with the essential knowledge...

Designed for quick use by climbers on site, this field guide is up to date with essential knowledge every climber can depend on to easily evaluate climbing anchors.Illustrated with 266 photos, drawings, and diagrams, key fundamentals are detailed with bullet points, and assessment guidelines for nuts, cams, and anchor systems are spelled out in easy to remember acronyms, simplifying the most important and critical guidelines every trad climber should know.Climbing Ancho...

SOVAS 2020 Voice Arts Award winner for Fiction–Best VoiceoverDragula is a tale filled with sensitivity to personal struggle, raucous humor and musical entertainment. Peter, a vulnerable young man, makes the decision to transition, becoming the gender and human being he was meant to be. Unfortunately, Peter’s stage persona of the musical entertainer Dragula draws the judgmental ire of the Right Reverend Bobby Swagger. Reverend Swagger is determined to prove by whatever means necess...

We all know about the birds and the bees, but what about the ancient placoderm fishes and the dinosaurs?The history of sex is as old as life itself-and as complicated and mysterious. And despite centuries of study there is always more to know. In 2008, paleontologist John A. Long and a team of researchers revealed their discovery of a placoderm fish fossil, known as "the mother fish," which at 380 million years old revealed the oldest vertebrate embryo-the earliest known example of ...

Violence, bigamy, race, and a quest for justice—the true crime story of Charles Watkins, his wife's mysterious death, and the chaos that followed.A drama played out in the mountains of southwestern Virginia in 1891 that attracted nationwide attention and held the citizens of the Roanoke Valley spellbound. The tale of the trial of Charles Watkins for the murder of his wife was marked by threats of lynching, a fugitive manhunt, a disappearing witness, mistaken identi...

Pssst! It's True! This is the best book on DINOSAURS you'll ever read! Fossil smugglers caught! Dino battle of the century! Skeletons sell for millions! Stegosaurus footprints stolen!Dinosaurs are still making headlines, 65 million years after they all died out. (Or did they?) New fossil discoveries reveal ancient secrets from the long-ago times when 80-tonne titanosaurids and chicken-sized raptors shared the Earth with killers like Tyrannosaurus rex. Dig up the dirt on Jurassic gi...