"Delightfully horrifying."--Popular ScienceOne of Mental Floss's Best Books of 2018One of Science Friday's Best Science Books of 2018This wryly humorous collection of stories about bizarre medical treatments and cases offers a unique portrait of a bygone era in all its jaw-dropping weirdness.A puzzling series of dental explosions beginning in the nineteenth century is just one of many...

The epic story of the buffalo in America, from prehistoric times to today—a moving work of natural history inspired by the PBS series American BuffaloThe American buffalo—our nation's official mammal—is an improbable, shaggy beast that has found itself at the center of many of our most mythic and sometimes heartbreaking tales. The largest land animals in the Western Hemisphere, they are survivors of a mass extinction that erased ancient species that were e...

An engrossing and macabre exploration of the folklore and early medical practices that led to the New England Vampire Panic in the 1890s, from critically acclaimed podcaster and bestselling author Aaron Mahnke.What would drive a man to exhume the body of his daughter and remove her heart? That question has haunted Aaron Mahnke, creator and host of the award-winning podcast Lore. Fueled by a decade of research, Mahnke excavates the past to understand the hysteria th...

Europeans of the Middle Ages were the first to use travel guides to orient their wanderings, as they moved through a world punctuated with miraculous wonders and beguiling encounters. In this vivid and alluring history, medievalist Anthony Bale invites listeners on an odyssey across the medieval world.Journeying alongside scholars, spies, and saints, from Western Europe to the Far East, the Antipodes and the ends of the earth, Bale provides indispensable information on the exchange...

The Infernal Library is a harrowing audiobook tour of “dictator literature” in the twentieth-century, featuring the soul-killing prose and poetry of Hitler, Mao, and many more, which shows how books have sometimes shaped the world for the worse.Since the days of the Roman Empire dictators have written books. But in the twentieth-century despots enjoyed unprecedented print runs to (literall...

“A provocative and entertaining magical mineral tour through the life and afterlife of bone.” —Wall Street JournalOur bones have many stories to tell, if you know how to listen.Bone is a marvel, an adaptable and resilient building material developed over more than four hundred million years of evolutionary history. It gives your body its shape and the ability to move. It grows and changes with you, an undeniable document of who you...

"[Lemon] is a poet with knives for teeth." —Roshani Chokshi"Reads like a grimoire for overcoming." —Hannah Whitten"A gorgeously gothic fairy tale." —Ava ReidInspired by the tale of Bluebeard, A Dark and Wild Wood is the lush and atmospheric story of a maiden with dark magic who becomes the apprentice to Lord Death—for a price.Ever since she was a child, Salomé has been plagued by vi...

An American historian and a German sociologist seek answers from those who lived through Nazi Germany: how did the country stand by while one of the biggest genocides in history took place?**“A very important book.” —**Financial TimesThe horrors of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust still present some of the most disturbing questions in modern history: Why did Hitler's party appeal to millions of Germans, and how entrenched was anti...

Longlisted for the NATIONAL BOOK AWARD for Translated Literature • Named a BEST BOOK of the Year by NPR, Esquire**,** Publishers Weekly**, and** ScreenRant **• “The disconcerting familiarity of this strange, windswept world will haunt you.” —**EsquireA hair-raising, poetic work of literary horror and climate fiction about a woman and the people who depend...

Carl Sagan's prophetic vision of the tragic resurgence of fundamentalism and the hope-filled potential of the next great development in human spiritualityThe late great astronomer and astrophysicist describes his personal search to understand the nature of the sacred in the vastness of the cosmos. Exhibiting a breadth of intellect nothing short of astounding, Sagan presents his views on a wide range of topics, including the likelihood of intelligent life on other p...

A playful deep dive into anthropomorphism (our peculiar tendency to humanize the nonhuman) that will resonate with anyone who has thrown a birthday party for their dog.Bestselling science writer Justin Gregg explores the science behind our instinct to see ourselves in the creatures and objects around us. Ours is a world filled with emotional support alligators, a woman who married her briefcase, and Soviet super babies that drink dolphin milk. Deli...

Now published in five languages, Strange Medicine casts a gimlet eye on the practice of medicine through the ages that highlights the most dubious ideas, bizarre treatments, and biggest blunders. From bad science and oafish behavior to stomach-turning procedures that hurt more than helped, Strange Medicine presents strange but true facts and an honor roll of doctors, scientists, and dreamers who inadvertently turned the clock of medicine backward:● The ancient Egy...