NYRB CLASSICS ORIGINAL: Simone Weil’s searing argument against partisan politics will speak to modern U.S. citizens who are fed up with Congressional infighting and legislative deadlock.“One of the most brilliant and original minds of 20th-century France.” —The New York TimesSimone Weil—philosopher, activist, mystic—is one of the most uncompromising of modern spiritual masters. In “On the Abolition of All Political Parties” she cha...

An NYRB Classics OriginalSimon Leys is a Renaissance man for the era of globalization. A distinguished scholar of classical Chinese art and literature and one of the first Westerners to recognize the appalling toll of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Leys also writes with unfailing intelligence, seriousness, and bite about European art, literature, history, and politics and is an unflinching observer of the way we live now.The Hall of Uselessness is the most extensive co...

Napoleon Bonaparte escapes exile just before death in this quirky alternate history novel that reimagines the life of the great French emperor.“This comic tale of Napoleon’s imaginary yet all-too-human tribulations poses serious questions about the relationship of truth, history and imagination.” —The Wall Street JournalNapoleon has escaped from St. Helena, leaving a double behind him. Now disguised as the cabin hand Eugène Lenorma...

Andrew Coyne, one of Canada's most esteemed political thinkers, delivers a powerful exposé of the nation's crumbling democratic institutions.With characteristic wit, insight, and rigor, Coyne dismantles the comforting myths Canadians tell themselves about their political system, revealing a parliamentary structure eroded by unaccountable leaders, disempowered MPs, manipulated elections, and systemic dysfunction. The Crisis of Canadian Democracy is both a wake-up ca...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAAH STONE BOOK AWARDA new history of US education through the nineteenth century that rigorously accounts for Black, Native, and white experiences; a story that exposes the idea of American education as “the great equalizer” to not only be a lie, but also a myth that reproduces past harms.Education is the epicenter of every community in the United States. Indeed, few institutions are as pivotal in shaping our lives and ...

*New enhanced edition of the best-selling guide to sea creatures: The World Beneath!*Meet the world's most fascinating sea creatures, see the lives and curiosities of colorful fish and coral reefs. This spectacular volume has more than 300 color photos and extraordinary text from a leading marine biologist and underwater photographer who is the international expert on seahorses.In this richly informative volume, brimming with new d...

Discover the fascinating stories behind 300 species of fungi and understand the world of mushrooms like never before!Did you know that fungi put the fizz in champagne and the flavor in chocolate? Fungi is everywhere we look: in a forest, under the sea, and in the kitchen.In this beautiful book, leading fungal biologists Lynne Boddy and Ali Ashby bring you closer to 300 species of mushrooms and lichens through fascinating facts, mushroom datasets, and detail...

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...

**“Bewitching … Tokarczuk is an excellent storyteller.” —The New York TimesA novel about the rich stories of small places, from the Nobel Prize–winning, New York Times bestselling author of The Books of Jacob and Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead**A woman settles in a remote Polish village where she knows no one. It has few inhabitants, but it teems with the stories of the living and the dead. There’s the drunk Marek Marek, who d...

A captivating exploration of how underwater animals tap into sound to survive, and a clarion call for humans to address the ways we invade these critical soundscapes—from an award-winning science writer“Sing Like Fish is that rare book that makes you see the world differently.”—Mark Kurlansky, New York Times bestselling author of Salt and CodLONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE ...

An exploration of how perception, thought, and action are products of maps etched into your brain—and how technology can use them to read your mind.Your brain is a collection of maps. That is no metaphor: scrawled across your brain's surfaces are actual maps of the sights, sounds, and actions that hold the key to your survival. Scientists first began uncovering these maps over a century ago, but we are only now beginning to unlock their secrets—and comprehend their ...

In this beautiful story of adventure and survival from the New York Times bestselling author of Room, three men vow to leave the world behind them as they set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them.In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks—young Trian and old Cormac—he rows down the river Shannon ...