Finalist for the Society of Midland Authors Richard Frisbie Award for Adult NonfictionIn A Blacklist Education, a mysterious file of family papers triggers a journey through the dark days of political purges in the 1950s. Jane S. Smith tells the story of the anticommunist witch hunt that sent shockwaves through New York City’s public schools as more than a thousand teachers were targeted by Board of Education investigators. Her father was one of them—a fac...

The wide-ranging and delightful history of celebrated plant breeder Luther Burbank and the business of farm and garden in early twentieth- century AmericaAt no other time in history has there been more curiosity or concern about the food we eat-and genetically modified foods, in particular, have become both pervasive and suspect. A century ago, however, Luther Burbank's blight-resistant potatoes, white blackberries, and plumcots-a plum-apricot hybrid-were celebrate...

New York Times bestselling author and renowned atheist and evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins delivers an intimate look into his own childhood and intellectual development, illuminating his path to becoming one of the foremost thinkers in modern science today"A memoir that is funny and modest, absorbing and playful. Dawkins has written a marvelous love letter to science . . . and for this, the book will touch scientists and science-loving persons . . . Enchanti...

ABC News chief meteorologist Ginger Zee pulls back the curtain on her life in Natural Disaster. Ginger grew up in small-town Michigan where she developed an obsession with weather as a young girl. Ginger opens up about her lifelong battle with crippling depression, her romances that range from misguided to dangerous, and her tumultuous professional path. This cyclone of stories may sound familiar to some—it's just that Ginger's personal tempests happened while she was covering some of the ...

A few million years ago, our ancestors came down from the trees and began to stand upright, freeing our hands to create tools and our minds to grapple with the world around us.Leonard Mlodinow takes us on a passionate and inspiring tour through the exciting history of human progress and the key events in the development of science. In the process, he presents a fascinating new look at the unique characteristics of our species and our society that helped propel us from stone tools t...

This acclaimed biography of 19th century scientist Gregor Mendel is " a fascinating tale of the strange twists and ironies of scientific progress" ( Publishers Weekly).A National Book Critics Circle Award finalistIn The Monk in the Garden, award-winning author Robin Marantz Henig vividly chronicles the birth of genetics, a field that continues to challenge the way we think about life itself. Tending to his...

Microsoft founder Bill Gates writes: "Genuine pioneers don't stop after just one discovery or innovation. They are driven to build on their accomplishments and to follow them into new frontiers." He was speaking about Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com which ushered in the brave new world of internet commerce; and the mind behind Kindle, the ebook platform that blazed the road for what has become the eBook Reformation or eBook Revolution, affecting, even transforming, publishers, auth...

A captivating memoir set during the pinnacle of West Coast fishingMore than a history of the Vancouver fishing industry, Bluebacks and Silver Brights is a collection of great adventures set on the Pacific coast. With dozens of salty tales of hardworking and hard-living fisherman and fish industry workers, this is Norman Safarik's story of West Coast fishing from the Gulf of Georgia to Prince Rupert, with a detour to New York's old-time fish markets. With w...

"The dazzling clutch of scientific minds caught in mid-thought here makes for a read that provokes thought in its turn. Delights abound." —Nature"What distinguishes scientists, in your eyes?" —Stefan Klein"First and foremost, curiosity." —Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Prize–winning chemistWhen Stefan Klein, an acclaimed journalist, sits down to talk with 18 of the world's leading scientists, he finds they're driven by, above all, curiosity. When they talk abou...

Winner of the Arts Club of Washington Marfield PrizeA New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice SelectionThis "admiring and absorbing biography" (Deborah Solomon, The New York Times Book Review) charts Sam Wagstaff's incalculable influence on contemporary art, photography, and gay identity.A legendary curator, collector, and patron of the arts, Sam Wagstaff was a "figure who stood at the intersection of gay life an...

This book is a true adventure story, a love story, and a tale that has some meaning.How to survive in a changing world and society, and to become a pilot, flying airplanes for a living. The tale is not that much different than most life stories, having winnings and losses, success and defeat. It has a wide stage to work this out on, from Texas and the whole sweep of the United States, to Europe, and back.I have written this book to tell you something of the Aviation of the ...

From the host of the History channel’s Brad Meltzer’s Decoded: the laws of the universe like you’ve never experienced them before.This approachable book explains the world of physics with clarity, humor, and a dash of adventure. Physics for Rock Stars is not a weighty treatise on science, but a personal tour of physics from a quirky friend.Anyone who’s ever wondered why nature abhors a vacuum, what causes magnetic attraction, or how to jump off a m...