Wise advice on plot, character, and style from a legendary Esquire editor: "Every aspiring fiction writer ought to read this." — Writer's DigestOver the course of his long and colorful career as fiction editor for Esquire magazine, L. Rust Hills championed the early work of literary luminaries such as Norman Mailer, John Cheever, Don DeLillo, Raymond Carver, and E. Annie Proulx. His skill at identifying talent and understanding story made ...

From acclaimed chef Chris Cheung comes a cookbook inspired by growing up in New York's Chinatown—with a foreword by Maneet Chauhan, celebrity chef, author, and judge on The Food Network's ChoppedThere is a particular region in today's renaissance of Chinese cooking that is often overlooked: the food of Chinatown.Like many of his predecessors, chef Chris Cheung was inspired by the place where he grew up, lived, worked, and ate. From...

A training manual for any dog owner using the tried, true, and trusted Weatherwax methods.The name “Weatherwax” is widely known in the dog world. The author is a third-generation professional dog trainer and owner of Weatherwax Dog Training. The family has trained the original “Lassie” (actually a male named “Pal”), Toto for “The Wizard of Oz,” and also “Old Yeller.” These theories and tactics are applicable to any dog lover and owner, not just those on the big scr...

“A delightful cookbook! All of her recipes really work and are delicious.”—Gluten Free EasilyLow in carbs, fats, and sugars, and naturally packed with vitamin C, cauliflower is the super-est of all superfoods. Why cauliflower? It’s a chameleon and can take on any flavor and texture. In her first cookbook, food blogger and recipe developer Lindsay Grimes Freedman brings her expertise in creating delicious, healthful, and practical recipes to one of the food w...

Good writers follow the rules. Great writers know the rules—and follow their instincts!Finding the right words, in the right order, matters—whether you're a student embarking on an essay, a job applicant drafting your cover letter, an employee composing an email…even a (hopeful) lover writing a text. Do it wrong and you just might get an F, miss the interview, lose a client, or spoil your chance at a second date.Do it right, and the world is yours.

"For the expert investigation of the human will to believe, we recommend The Encyclopedia of Superstitions." — The New York TimesWhy is it said that breaking a mirror or walking under ladders will bring bad luck and misfortunate? Ever wonder why so many people throw salt over their shoulders after spilling it, or wish on shooting stars? The Encyclopedia of Superstitions holds the answers to these questions and more. This c...

The experts at Cook’s Illustrated magazine offer hundreds of definitive, researched, and kitchen-tested answers in this Q&A-style guide for home cooks looking to improve their kitchen prowessDoes searing meat really seal in juices? Does it matter what kind of salt you use? What's the best way to measure a sticky ingredient like honey? Why does whiskey taste better when you add water? How do you actually pronounce dacqu...

The pioneering and still essential text on semantics, urging readers to improve human communication and understanding with precise, concrete language.In 1938, Stuart Chase revolutionized the study of semantics with his classic text, The Tyranny of Words. Decades later, this eminently useful analysis of the way we use words continues to resonate. A contemporary of the economist Thorstein Veblen and the author Upton Sinclair, Chase was a social the...

A "fast-moving and highly readable account" of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 and its lasting legacy in today's geopolitical tensions ( The New York Times).An NPR and Seattle Times Best Book of the YearNobody expected the events of 1947 in Southeast Asia to be so bloody. The liberation of India and the birth of Pakistan were supposed to realize the dreams of Muslims and Hindus who had been ruled by the British for centurie...

A theoretical astrophysicist explores the ideas that transformed our knowledge of the universe over the past century.The cosmos, once understood as a stagnant place, filled with the ordinary, is now a universe that is expanding at an accelerating pace, propelled by dark energy and structured by dark matter. Priyamvada Natarajan, our guide to these ideas, is someone at the forefront of the research—an astrophysicist who literally creates maps of in...

A major addition to the literature of poetry, Edward Hirsch’s sparkling new work is a compilation of forms, devices, groups, movements, isms, aesthetics, rhetorical terms, and folklore—a book that all readers, writers, teachers, and students of poetry will return to over and over.Hirsch has delved deeply into the poetic traditions of the world, returning with an inclusive, international compendium. Moving gracefully from the bards of ancient Greece to the revolutionaries of Latin A...

Dialogue is often overlooked as a necessary and potent instrument in the novelist’s repertoire. A novel can rise or fall on the strength of its dialogue. Superb dialogue can make a superb novel. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, Action is character.” George V. Higgins said, Dialogue is character.” They were both right, because dialogue is action. It comprises much, if not all, of the clarifying drama of any novel. How much physical action can there be in 300 pages, even in a crime novel or a th...