"[A] marvelous book about the vital importance of librarians in the cyber age. . . . Move over, Google—make way for the . . . all-knowing lady behind the desk." —Christopher Buckley, New York Times– bestselling author of Losing Mum and PupIn a world of streaming media, digital archives, and Google Everything, some think librarians are as obsolete as print on a page. Marilyn Johnson, acclaimed au...

"Through a combination of perception and wit, Johnson discovers how archaeologists are invaluable witnesses 'to the loss of our cultural memories.'" — USA TodayThe author of The Dead Beat and This Book is Overdue! turns her piercing eye and charming wit to the real-life avatars of Indiana Jones—the archaeologists who sort through the muck and mire of swamps, ancient landfills, volcanic islands, and other dirty places to r...

"What a wonderful surprise—a charming, lyrical book about the men and women who write obituaries . . . sly, droll, and completely winning." —David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize-winning authorWhere can readers celebrate the life of the pharmacist who moonlighted as a spy, the genius behind Sea Monkeys, the school lunch lady who spent her evenings as a ballroom hostess? The obituary page, of course. Enthralled by these fascinating former lives, Marilyn Johnson tumbled in...

A Year-Long Celebration of Faith Sometimes an encouraging word can turn your whole day around. Other times, all you need is a good laugh. Then there are times a personal insight lets you know that you are not alone. Or a bit of wisdom connects God's Word to your everyday life. You'll find them all in the Women of Faith Daily Devotional. This beautiful, warmly written book illuminates twelve aspects of faith that will help you start the year with hope and finish it in peace. With 366 brand ...

I like the aquariumAnd the planetarium.A day at the zooIs lots of fun, too.There's much to observeAt a nature preserve.The beach by the seaJust fascinates me.And it's nice at the dairyOr the birds' aviary.There's so much to seeAll around you and me...If we'll just take the time to look!A wonderful world of discovery is right before your eyes. Open up this book and let the Johnson kids be...

Pompeii, Machu Picchu, the Valley of the Kings, the Parthenon—the names of these legendary archaeological sites conjure up romance and mystery. The news is full of archaeology: treasures found and treasures lost. Archaeological research tantalizes us with possibilities (are modern humans really part Neanderthal?). Where are the archaeologists behind these stories? What kind of work do they actually do, and why does it matter?Marilyn Johnson's Lives in Ruins is an absorbing...

Marilyn Johnson was enthralled by the remarkable lives that were marching out of this world—so she sought out the best obits in the English language and the people who spent their lives writing about the dead. She surveyed the darkest corners of Internet chat rooms, and made a pilgrimage to London to savor the most caustic and literate obits of all. Now she leads us on a compelling journey into the cult and culture behind the obituary page and the unusual lives we don't quite appreciate un...

Buried in information? Cross-eyed over technology? From the bottom of a pile of paper and discs, books, e-books, and scattered thumb drives comes a cry of hope: Make way for the librarians! They want to help. They're not selling a thing. And librarians know best how to beat a path through the googolplex sources of information available to us, writes Marilyn Johnson, whose previous book, The Dead Beat, breathed merry life into the obituary-writing profession.This Book I...

Another "dazzling epic" from the author of Brilliant, exploring an overlooked yet elemental force in our lives-silence-from contemporary Cistercian monks to an extraordinary 19th-century prison. *Lev Grossman, Time The author of the "dazzling epic" (Time) Brilliant delivers an indelible view of the ways silence affects those who seek it and those who have it imposed upon them. Through her original, intertwined histories of the penitentiary and the monastery, Jane Brox illuminates the many ...

The digital era is beset by distraction, and it feels like things are only getting worse. At times like these, the distant past beckons as a golden age of attention. We dream of recapturing the quiet of a world with less noise. We imagine retreating into solitude and singlemindedness, almost like latter-day monks.But although we think of early monks as master concentrators, a life of mindfulness did not, in fact, come to them easily. As historian Jamie Kreiner demonstrates in T...

2022 Audie Award Finalist for Best Narration by the Author(s)Why do you believe what you believe?You’ve been lied to. Probably a lot. We’re always stunned when we realize we’ve been deceived. We can’t believe we were fooled: What was I thinking? How could I have believed that?We always wonder why we believed the lie. But have you ever wondered why you believe the truth? People tell you the truth all the time, and you believe them; a...

While European intellectual, cultural, and commercial life stagnated during the early medieval period, Asia flourished as the wellspring of science, philosophy, and religion.Linked together by a web of religious, commercial, and intellectual connections, the different regions of Asia's vast civilization, from Arabia to China, hummed with commerce, international diplomacy, and the brisk exchange of ideas.Stewart Gordon has fashioned a fascinating and unique look at Asia from...