Three lifelong friends Ben, Levi, and Tracy take very different paths after high school, but all have brushes with danger and war. What happens in war? Only injury, if one is lucky.This powerful novel tells of Levi’s war with family tragedy and alcoholism, of Ben’s war with rage, and Tracy and Levi’s Vietnam War experiences. Ben is called to treat the wounds of war, both with his friend Levi, and in his professional role as an organizational consultant.This unusual combination of prequel/s...

A persuasive dean from a historically black university in Washington, D.C. talks Dr. Benjamin Parks into teaching a seminar on cross-cultural relationships. Bright students enroll and question whether bridges really can be built across racial, gender, attraction orientation, political, and religious divides.The universal dilemmas explored in the seminar are but one of the multilayered complexities that in some ways challenge and in other ways trap Ben Parks. His professional achievements c...

Million-copy bestselling author of The Elements, Molecules, and Reactions Theodore Gray applies his trademark mix of engaging stories, real-time experiments, and stunning photography to the inner workings of machines, big and small, revealing the extraordinary science, beauty, and rich history of everyday things.Theodore Gray has become a household name among fans, both young and old, of popular science and mechanics. He's an incorrigible...

**NAMED ONE OF THE TOP 5 BOOKS OF 2024 ON CBS SUNDAY MORNINGONE OF *THE WASHINGTON POST'*S TOP 10 BOOKS OF 2024A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK“Vivid, revelatory, and politically unpredictable…What bothers Abrahamian, in the end, isn’t the anarchic but the unfair; if capital is free, people deserve the same respect.” *—*Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker"A season of unrest looms ahead, and The Hidden Globe lays out the unvarn...

One of the Washington Post's 50 Best Nonfiction Books of 2024The bestselling author of Other Minds shows how we and our ancestors have reinvented our planet.If the history of the Earth were compressed down to a year, our species would arise in the last thirty minutes or so of the final hour. But life itself is not such a late arrival: It has existed on Earth for something like 3.7 billion years—most of our planet’s history...

A Fortune best nonfiction book of 2023In a revelatory dispatch from the frontier of capitalist extremism, an acclaimed historian of ideas shows how free marketeers are realizing their ultimate goal: an end to nation-states and the constraints of democracy.Look at a map of the world and you’ll see a colorful checkerboard of nation-states. But this is not where power actually resides. Over the last decade, globalization has shattered...

A remarkable collection, Robots through the Ages includes stories from some of the best writers of science fiction, both old and new.This anthology, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, offers a sweeping survey of robots as depicted throughout literature. Since the Iliad—in which we are shown golden statues built by Hephaestus “with minds and wisdoms”—humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial life. From the Argonautica t...

Tour the history of human invention—and its attendant breakthroughs and busts—in this history book from the New York Times-bestselling author of How the World Really Works.A BILL GATES RECOMMENDED BOOK: “Every Smil book that I own is marked up with lots of notes that I take while reading. Invention and Innovation is no exception.”The world is never finished catching up with Vaclav Smil, author of New York Time...

The true story of a colorful and momentous 16th-century voyage, and of the Black mariner whose accomplishment was almost lost to history.It was a voyage of epic scope. In a Spanish plot to break Portugal's trade monopoly with the fabled Orient, four ships set sail from a hidden Mexican port. The smallest of them was guided by Black seaman Lope Martín, one of the most qualified pilots of the era. Mutiny, murderous encounters with Pacific islanders, and extreme physi...

“FASCINATING . . . Dramatic and timely.” —New York Times Book Review, Editors' ChoiceIn this grand and thrilling narrative, the acclaimed biographer of Magellan and Columbus reveals the singular adventures of Sir Francis Drake, whose mastery of the seas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I changed the course of history.“Entrancing . . . Very good indeed.” —Wall Street JournalBefore he was secretly...

This friendly and highly accessible guide introduces the most important, practical steps your whole family can take to ensure survival in short- or long-term emergencies.The next severe storm, power outage, or financial meltdown could hit at any time. Having a household contingency plan and being part of a strong, resilient community could mean the difference between life and death. Critical information is presented in 40 achievable tasks, ranging from simpler ones...

A goblin with no body and a monster with no face. A resourceful samurai and a faithful daughter. A spirit of the moon and a dragon king.This collection of 15 traditional Japanese folktales transports readers to a time of adventure and enchantment. Drawn from the works of folklorists Lafcadio Hearn and Yei Theodora Ozaki, these tales are by turns terrifying, exhilarating, and poetic.• Striking illustrations by contemporary Japanese artist Kotaro Chiba...