In June 1974, a chemical plant in Flixborough, England, was producing caprolactam, a vital component for manufacturing nylon. When one of the massive reactor vessels cracked, plant managers made a fateful, uncalculated decision to remove it and connect the remaining reactors with a temporary, poorly supported bypass pipe to keep production running. They failed to consult a single qualified mechanical engineer. The 20-inch bypass pipe physically buckled under the immense internal pressure a...

California Dreamin’… It’s the summer of ‘67 and all Liam Sol wants is to ride the perfect wave and to sleep with the prettiest girls. But when his father’s murdered body is found washed ashore, his carefree life comes crashing down on him.After the prime suspect mysteriously dies in police custody, Liam leaves behind his life as a surfer and launches his own investigation into his father’s death — against the warnings of the police and his family.But the ki...

Ivory is big business, and in some parts of Africa elephants have been hunted almost to extinction in the quest for it. The losses to African economies have been catastrophic. Now there is an international ban on the trade and conservation is. the principal goal. This should be a matter for rejoicing, but nothing is quite so simple.The authors of this book have looked at the overall statistics, including those for countries where the elephant population is stable. They have consider...

A “second nuclear age” has begun in the post-Cold War world. Created by the expansion of nuclear arsenals and new proliferation in Asia, it has changed the familiar nuclear geometry of the Cold War. Increasing potency of nuclear arsenals in China, India, and Pakistan, the nuclear breakout in North Korea, and the potential for more states to cross the nuclear-weapons threshold from Iran to Japan suggest that the second nuclear age of many competing nuclear powers has the potential to be eve...

2026-2027 Texas Bluebonnet Award List2026 Pedro and Daniel Intersectionality Book Award LonglistKirkus Reviews Best Books of 2025A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard SelectionFrom the acclaimed author of Sincerely Sicily, Tamika Burgess, comes a timely coming-of-age story about a young boy’s fight to save his family and his dreams in the aftermath of the US military invasion of Panamá. Perfect for fans...