Best-Selling Non-Fiction

The feather detective : mystery, mayhem, and the magnificent life of Roxie Laybourne

Sweeney, Chris, 1983- author.

The fascinating and remarkable true story of the world's first forensic ornithologist- Roxie Laybourne, who broke down barriers for women, solved murders, and investigated deadly airplane crashes with nothing more than a microscope and a few fragments of feathers... In 1960, an Eastern Airlines flight had no sooner lifted from the runway at Boston Logan Airport when it struck a flock of birds and took a nosedive into the shallow waters of the Boston Harbor, killing sixty-two people. This was the golden age of commercial airflight—luxury in the skies—and safety was essential to the precarious future of air travel. So the FAA instructed the bird remains be sent to the Smithsonian Institution for examination, where they would land on the desk of the only person in the world equipped to make sense of it all. Her name was Roxie Laybourne, a diminutive but singular woman with thick glasses, a heavy Carolina drawl, and a passion for birds. Roxie didn’t know it at the time, but that box full of dead birds marked the start of a remarkable scientific journey. She became the world’s first forensic ornithologist, investigating a range of crimes and calamites on behalf of the FBI, the US Air Force, and even NASA. The Feather Detective takes readers deep within the vaunted backrooms of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to tell the story of a burgeoning science and the enigmatic woman who pioneered it. While her male colleagues in taxidermy embarked on expeditions around the world and got plum promotions, Roxie stayed with her birds. Using nothing more than her microscope and bits of feathers, she helped prosecute murderers, kidnappers, and poachers. When she wasn’t testifying in court or studying evidence from capital crimes, she was helping aerospace engineers and Air Force crews as they raced to bird-proof their airplanes before disaster struck again. In The Feather Detective, award-winning journalist Chris Sweeney charts the astonishing life and work of this overlooked pioneer. Once divorced, once widowed, and sometimes surly, Roxie shattered stereotypes and pushed boundaries. Her story is one of persistence and grit, obsession and ingenuity. Drawing on reams of archival material, court documents, and exclusive interviews, Sweeney delivers a moving and amusing portrait of a woman who overcame cultural and scientific obstacles at every turn, forever changing our understanding of birds—and the feathers they leave behind.....

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All the way to the river : love, loss, and liberation

Gilbert, Elizabeth, 1969- author.

In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya. They became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare: The two were in love. They were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe. What if your most beautiful love story turned into your biggest nightmare? What if the dear friend who taught you so much about your self-destructive tendencies became the unstable partner with whom you disastrously reenacted every one of them? And what if your most devastating heartbreak opened a pathway to your greatest awakening? All the Way to the River is a landmark memoir that will resonate with anyone who has ever been captive to love -- or to any other passion, substance, or craving--and who yearns, at long last, for liberation.....

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The sisterhood of Ravensbrück : how an intrepid band of Frenchwomen resisted the Nazis in Hitler's all-female concentration camp

Olson, Lynne, author.

Decades after the end of World War II, the name Ravensbrück still evokes horror in the minds of those who know about this infamous all-women's concentration camp. Particularly shocking was the discovery that sometimes-lethal medical experiments were performed on some of the inmates. Ravensbrück was atypical in other ways as well, not just as the only all-female German concentration camp, but because 80% of them were political prisoners. Among them was a tight-knit group of women who had been active in the French Resistance. Already well-practiced in sabotaging the Nazi occupation of France, these women joined forces to defy their German captors and keep each other alive. Calling themselves the maquis (guerillas) of Ravensbrück, the sisterhood's members, amid unimaginable terror and brutality, subverted Germany's war effort by refusing to do the work they were assigned. Knowing that they risked death for any infraction did not stop them from defying their SS tormentors at every turn-even staging a satirical musical revue about the horrors of the camp. After the war, when many in France wanted nothing more than to focus on the future and forget about those who'd resisted the enemy, the women from Ravensbrück refused to allow their achievements, needs, and sacrifices to be erased. They banded together once more, first to support one another in healing their bodies and minds, and then to continue their crusade for freedom and justice-an effort that would have repercussions for their country and the world into the twenty-first century-- Provided by publisher.....

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Dinner with King Tut : how rogue archaeologists are re-creating the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of lost civilizations

Kean, Sam, author.

Whether it's the mighty pyramids of Egypt or the majestic temples of Mexico, we have a good idea of what the past looked like. But what about our other senses: The tang of Roman fish sauce and the springy crust of Egyptian sourdough? The boom of medieval cannons and the clash of Viking swords? The frenzied plays of an Aztec ballgame... and the chilling reality that the losers might also lose their lives? History often neglects the tastes, textures, sounds, and smells that were an intimate part of our ancestors' lives, but a new generation of researchers is resurrecting those hidden details, pioneering an exciting new discipline called experimental archaeology. These are scientists gone rogue: They make human mummies. They investigate the unsolved murders of ancient bog bodies. They carve primitive spears and go hunting, then knap their own obsidian blades to skin the game. They build perilous boats and plunge out onto the open sea -- all in the name of experiencing history as it was, with all its dangers, disappointments, and unexpected delights. Beloved author Sam Kean joins these experimental archaeologists on their adventures across the globe, from the Andes to the South Seas. He fires medieval catapults, tries his hand at ancient surgery and tattooing, builds Roman-style roads -- and, in novelistic interludes, spins gripping tales about the lives of our ancestors with vivid imagination and his signature meticulous research. Lively, offbeat, and filled with stunning revelations about our past, Dinner with King Tut sheds light on days long gone and the intrepid experts resurrecting them today, with startling, lifelike detail and more than a few laughs along the way.....

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The Idaho four : an American tragedy

Patterson, James, 1947- author.

The murders of four innocent college students attending the University of Idaho left us all with so many questions. Now, after more than 300 interviews, James Patterson and prize-winning journalist Vicky Ward finally have some answers. We know what it was like to live in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022, the day of the cold-blooded killings. We know what the local police and FBI did right. And what they did wrong. We’ve learned so much about the four heartbroken families—the Mogens, Goncalveses, Kernodles, and Chapins. And we have the backstory for Bryan Kohberger, brilliant grad student, loner, apparent incel. Now you are the jury. The evidence is in.....

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The unexpected journey : finding strength, hope, and yourself on the caregiving path

Willis, Emma Heming, author.

The day Emma Heming Willis's husband, Bruce Willis, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), all they were given was a pamphlet and told to check back in a few months. With no hope or direction, Emma walked out of that doctor's appointment frozen with fear, confusion, and a sense that her world had just fallen apart. In fact, it had. Bruce and Emma had their story written, their future mapped out. Yet all those dreams crumbled with that diagnosis, and Emma felt alone and more isolated than ever. How would she care for her husband while parenting their young daughters? At that devastating time, Emma just wanted someone who'd been through it to tell her, "This feels terrible right now. Your life is in shambles. But it's going to be okay. Here are some things to think about and put in place so you cannot just survive but thrive." With The Unexpected Journey, Emma has written the book she wishes she'd been handed on the day of Bruce's diagnosis: a supportive guide to navigating the complicated, heartbreaking, and transformative experience that is caregiving for your loved one. Weaving her personal journey as a care partner with the latest research and insights from the world's top dementia, caregiving, and integrative experts she offers the guidance and wisdom caregivers everywhere so desperately need to hear.....

View in Catalog

The sisterhood of Ravensbrück : how an intrepid band of Frenchwomen resisted the Nazis in Hitler's all-female concentration camp

Olson, Lynne, author.

Decades after the end of World War II, the name Ravensbrück still evokes horror in the minds of those who know about this infamous all-women's concentration camp. Particularly shocking was the discovery that sometimes-lethal medical experiments were performed on some of the inmates. Ravensbrück was atypical in other ways as well, not just as the only all-female German concentration camp, but because 80% of them were political prisoners. Among them was a tight-knit group of women who had been active in the French Resistance. Already well-practiced in sabotaging the Nazi occupation of France, these women joined forces to defy their German captors and keep each other alive. Calling themselves the maquis (guerillas) of Ravensbrück, the sisterhood's members, amid unimaginable terror and brutality, subverted Germany's war effort by refusing to do the work they were assigned. Knowing that they risked death for any infraction did not stop them from defying their SS tormentors at every turn-even staging a satirical musical revue about the horrors of the camp. After the war, when many in France wanted nothing more than to focus on the future and forget about those who'd resisted the enemy, the women from Ravensbrück refused to allow their achievements, needs, and sacrifices to be erased. They banded together once more, first to support one another in healing their bodies and minds, and then to continue their crusade for freedom and justice-an effort that would have repercussions for their country and the world into the twenty-first century-- Provided by publisher.....

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How to lose your mother : a daughter's memoir

Jong-Fast, Molly, 1978- author.

Molly Jong-Fast is the only child of a famous woman, writer Erica Jong, whose sensational book Fear of Flying launched her into second-wave feminist stardom. She grew up yearning for a connection with her dreamy, glamorous, just out of reach mother, who always seemed to be heading somewhere that wasn't with Molly. When, in 2023, Erica was diagnosed with dementia just as Molly's husband discovered he had a rare cancer, Jong-Fast was catapulted into a transformative year. How to Lose Your Mother is a compulsively readable memoir about an intense mother-daughter relationship, a sometimes chaotic upbringing with a fame-hungry parent, and the upheavals that challenge our hard-won adulthood. A pitch-perfect balance of acceptance and rage, humor and heart, How to Lose Your Mother tells a universal story of loss alongside a singular story of a literary life. This is a memoir that will stand alongside the classics of the genre.....

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The Idaho four : an American tragedy

Patterson, James, 1947- author.

The murders of four innocent college students attending the University of Idaho left us all with so many questions. Now, after more than 300 interviews, James Patterson and prize-winning journalist Vicky Ward finally have some answers. We know what it was like to live in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022, the day of the cold-blooded killings. We know what the local police and FBI did right. And what they did wrong. We’ve learned so much about the four heartbroken families—the Mogens, Goncalveses, Kernodles, and Chapins. And we have the backstory for Bryan Kohberger, brilliant grad student, loner, apparent incel. Now you are the jury. The evidence is in.....

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2024 : how Trump retook the White House and the democrats lost America

Dawsey, Josh, author.

The definitive, inside story of the most tumultuous and consequential presidential campaign in our history "The whole world was against me, and I won," said Donald Trump in an exclusive interview, tendays before his second inauguration. Nearly four years after Trump's first turbulent presidency concluded in a violent attempt to overturn the election, he made a political comeback on a scale that stunned the nation. How did the first U.S. president to become a convicted felon regain control of the White House? And at what cost? In 2024, award-winning reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf bring us the definitive and explosive account of how Trump and his advisers overcame a dozen primary challengers, four indictments, two assassination attempts, and his own past mistakes to defeat the Democrats, and pave the way for a second term that would be far more aggressive and ruthless than the first. Drawing on extraordinary access to the Trump, Biden, and Harris teams, 2024 takes readers beyondthe speeches, rallies, and debates to reveal the innermost workingsof the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns. Beginning in August 2022 with the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago for classified documents, and Trump's subsequent decision to run once again for president, Dawsey, Pager, and Arnsdorf chart how Trump stifled the rise of Republican opponents, including Ron DeSantis, and how his campaign, led by Susie Wiles, landed on a winning strategy. They reveal in unrivaled detail how Joe Biden and his team brushed off concerns about his age, ignored polling numbers, and held off the next generationof eager Democratic hopefuls-even as Biden was dealing with his ownspecial counsel investigation and the trial of his son Hunter. After his disastrous debate performance forced him to withdraw, Biden anointed Vice President Kamala Harris as the candidate and tasked her with running the shortest presidential campaign in modern U.S. history. With only 107 days to distinguish herself from the past four years, Harris lacked the time or space to outrun Biden's shadow-a challenge in and of itself, but one which Biden would make even more difficult. On November 5th, 2024, Trump was elected the nation's forty-seventh president, and would return to power vindicated, emboldened, unrestrained, and burning for revenge. Gripping, revelatory, and deeply reported, 2024 is the shocking inside story of the election that tested American democracy and would go on to shape the future of the free world.....

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The can-do mindset : how to cultivate resilience, follow your heart, and fight for your passions

Parker, Candace, 1986- author.

One of the most decorated and celebrated women's basketball players of all time breaks down her ultimate recipe to success, using her own deeply inspiring journey to teach readers how to live bravely, unapologetically, and with purpose.... Candace Parker is a living legend. Her storied career includes three WNBA titles, two Olympic gold medals, and countless MVP Awards. Her career accolades are endless and her impact on the WNBA beyond measure, but Candace is even more inspiring off the court. A proud wife and mother of three, whose love story resonated with the LGBTQ+ community around the world, Candace is fiercely purpose-driven, paving the way for the WNBA's rise in American culture, and for female basketballers to have the impact and platform that used to be reserved for the NBA. But this success didn't happen by accident. From the start, Candace turned her childhood nickname, Can-Do, into a daily mantra that helped her overcome enormous physical and mental hurdles while embracing her vulnerability. In her first-ever book, Candace breaks down that ultimate recipe for success, drawn from the experiences that made her a better person and player. CAN-DO becomes an acronym to live by: Learn from and lean on your Community; Show up as Authentically you Realize that Negativity is a part of life; Embrace the excitement of the everyday; Dash And fight for Opportunity for yourself and others. It's how Candace has succeeded on the court and off, and it can help readers do so, too. Told through personal stories, The Can-Do Mindset is for Candace's countless fans who want to see behind the curtain of her meteoric career and life, and for all of us who could learn from an icon who lives bravely, unapologetically, and guided by purpose.....

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Joy goddess : A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance

Bundles, A'Lelia Perry, author.

Dubbed the 'joy goddess of Harlem's 1920s' by poet Langston Hughes, A'Lelia Walker, daughter of millionaire entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker and the author's great-grandmother and namesake, is a fascinating figure whose legendary parties and Dark Tower salon helped define the Harlem Renaissance. After inheriting her mother's hair care enterprise, A'Lelia would become America's first high profile black heiress and a prominent patron of the arts. Joy Goddess takes readers inside her three New York homes -- a mansion, a townhouse, and a pied-a-terre -- where she entertained Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, James Weldon Johnson, Carl Van Vechten, W.E.B. DuBois, and other cultural, social and intellectual luminaries of the Roaring Twenties. Now, based on extensive research and Walker's personal correspondence, her great-granddaughter creates a meticulous, nuanced portrait of a charismatic woman struggling to define herself as a wife, mother, and businesswoman outside her famous mother's sphere. In Joy Goddess, A'Lelia's radiant personality and impresario instincts -- at the center of a vast, artistic social world where she flourished as a fashion trendsetter and international traveler -- are brought to vivid and unforgettable life.....

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Proof of life : let go, let love, and stop looking for permission to live your life

Pastiloff, Jennifer, author.

An urgent rallying cry to stop holding back and start living life on your terms. Jen Pastiloff convinced herself My life is fine and fine’s enough, until the whisper that something was missing turned full-on scream. This is Pastiloff’s account of how she reclaimed her voice and desire by radically changing her life. She did this despite believing that change equaled death ever since her beloved father died when she was eight. (Much to her shock, change did not equal death.) She shows us it is never too late to begin again, or to let go of stories like: I don’t deserve this; I don’t get to be happy; no one will love me; I’m too old, to name a few. Through this book, you’ll quiet your Inner Asshole, participate in the cathartic process of Shame Loss, ignore the Imaginary Time Gods, use creativity as a portal into healing and connection, and become your own permission slip. Complete with takeaways in Jen’s signature style, creativity prompts, and poetry, Proof of Life is funny, inspiring, and full of love. This book is a reminder that your birthright is not stress or shame and that you don’t have to show proof that you are worthy or deserving. You are your own proof of life.....

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Reacher : the stories behind the stories

Child, Lee, author.

After making his debut in 1997's 'Killing floor,' Jack Reacher has quickly become one of the most popular--and most enduring--fictional heroes to emerge in the past half century. Now, his creator tells the stories behind the stories. These are the origin tales of all of the Reacher novels written solely by Lee Child, chock full of colorful anecdotes and intriguing inspirations. One by one, they expand upon each novel and place it in the context not only of the author's life, but of the world outside the books. And taken together, they chart the rise of an action icon, from 'Killing floor' to 2019's 'Blue moon.' An afterword by crime fiction expert and bookseller Otto Penzler considers the importance of the character and novels in the canon of contemporary crime fiction. This volume also includes an original Reacher short story--the first new Reacher appearance entirely written by Lee Child since 2019. Entertaining and enlightening, 'Reacher: the stories behind the stories' is a must-read for fans of the Jack Reacher series and a capstone to any collection of this excellent author.....

View in Catalog

Joy goddess : A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance

Bundles, A'Lelia Perry, author.

Dubbed the 'joy goddess of Harlem's 1920s' by poet Langston Hughes, A'Lelia Walker, daughter of millionaire entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker and the author's great-grandmother and namesake, is a fascinating figure whose legendary parties and Dark Tower salon helped define the Harlem Renaissance. After inheriting her mother's hair care enterprise, A'Lelia would become America's first high profile black heiress and a prominent patron of the arts. Joy Goddess takes readers inside her three New York homes -- a mansion, a townhouse, and a pied-a-terre -- where she entertained Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, James Weldon Johnson, Carl Van Vechten, W.E.B. DuBois, and other cultural, social and intellectual luminaries of the Roaring Twenties. Now, based on extensive research and Walker's personal correspondence, her great-granddaughter creates a meticulous, nuanced portrait of a charismatic woman struggling to define herself as a wife, mother, and businesswoman outside her famous mother's sphere. In Joy Goddess, A'Lelia's radiant personality and impresario instincts -- at the center of a vast, artistic social world where she flourished as a fashion trendsetter and international traveler -- are brought to vivid and unforgettable life.....

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The Hiroshima men : the quest to build the atomic bomb, and the fateful decision to use it

MacGregor, Iain, author.

"At 8:15 a.m. on August 6th, 1945, the Japanese port city of Hiroshima was struck by the world's first atomic bomb. Built in the US by the top-secret Manhattan Project and delivered by a B-29 Superfortress, a revolutionary long-range bomber, the weapon destroyed large swaths of the city, instantly killing tens of thousands. The world would never be the same again. The Hiroshima Men's unique narrative recounts the decade-long journey towards this first atomic attack. It charts the race for nuclear technology before and during the Second World War, as the allies fought the axis powers in Europe, North Africa, China, and across the vastness of the Pacific, and is seen through the experiences of several key characters: General Leslie Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project alongside Robert Oppenheimer; pioneering Army Air Force bomber pilot Colonel Paul Tibbetts II; the mayor of Hiroshima, Senkichi Awaya, who would die alongside over eighty-thousand of his fellow citizens; and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Hersey, who travelled to post-war Japan to expose the devastation the bomb had inflicted upon the city, and in a historic New Yorker article, described in unflinching detail the dangers posed by its deadly after-effect, radiation poisoning. This thrilling account takes the reader from the corridors of power in the White House and the Pentagon to the test sites of New Mexico; from the air war above Germany to the Potsdam Conference of Truman, Churchill, and Stalin to the savage reconquest of the Pacific to the deadly firebombing air raids across the Japanese islands. The Hiroshima Men also includes Japanese perspectives-a vital aspect often missing from Western narratives-to complete MacGregor's nuanced, deeply human account of the bombing's meaning and aftermath"-- Provided by publisher.....

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A marriage at sea : a true story of love, obsession, and shipwreck

Elmhirst, Sophie, author.

Maurice and Maralyn make an odd couple. He's a loner, awkward and obsessive; she's charismatic and ambitious. But they share a horror of wasting their lives. And they dream--as we all dream--of running away from it all. What if they quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat, and sailed away? Most of us begin and end with the daydream. But Maurice began to study nautical navigation. Maralyn made detailed lists of provisions. And in June 1972, they set sail. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves. What ensues is a jaw-dropping fight to survive on the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their inner demons emerge and their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. Although they could run away from the world, they can't run away from themselves. Taut, propulsive, and dazzling, A Marriage At Sea pairs adrenaline-fueled high seas adventure with a gutting love story that asks why we love difficult people, and who we become under the most extreme conditions imaginable.....

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The unexpected journey : finding strength, hope, and yourself on the caregiving path

Willis, Emma Heming, author.

The day Emma Heming Willis's husband, Bruce Willis, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), all they were given was a pamphlet and told to check back in a few months. With no hope or direction, Emma walked out of that doctor's appointment frozen with fear, confusion, and a sense that her world had just fallen apart. In fact, it had. Bruce and Emma had their story written, their future mapped out. Yet all those dreams crumbled with that diagnosis, and Emma felt alone and more isolated than ever. How would she care for her husband while parenting their young daughters? At that devastating time, Emma just wanted someone who'd been through it to tell her, "This feels terrible right now. Your life is in shambles. But it's going to be okay. Here are some things to think about and put in place so you cannot just survive but thrive." With The Unexpected Journey, Emma has written the book she wishes she'd been handed on the day of Bruce's diagnosis: a supportive guide to navigating the complicated, heartbreaking, and transformative experience that is caregiving for your loved one. Weaving her personal journey as a care partner with the latest research and insights from the world's top dementia, caregiving, and integrative experts she offers the guidance and wisdom caregivers everywhere so desperately need to hear.....

View in Catalog

How to lose your mother : a daughter's memoir

Jong-Fast, Molly, 1978- author.

Molly Jong-Fast is the only child of a famous woman, writer Erica Jong, whose sensational book Fear of Flying launched her into second-wave feminist stardom. She grew up yearning for a connection with her dreamy, glamorous, just out of reach mother, who always seemed to be heading somewhere that wasn't with Molly. When, in 2023, Erica was diagnosed with dementia just as Molly's husband discovered he had a rare cancer, Jong-Fast was catapulted into a transformative year. How to Lose Your Mother is a compulsively readable memoir about an intense mother-daughter relationship, a sometimes chaotic upbringing with a fame-hungry parent, and the upheavals that challenge our hard-won adulthood. A pitch-perfect balance of acceptance and rage, humor and heart, How to Lose Your Mother tells a universal story of loss alongside a singular story of a literary life. This is a memoir that will stand alongside the classics of the genre.....

View in Catalog

A marriage at sea : a true story of love, obsession, and shipwreck

Elmhirst, Sophie, author.

Maurice and Maralyn make an odd couple. He's a loner, awkward and obsessive; she's charismatic and ambitious. But they share a horror of wasting their lives. And they dream--as we all dream--of running away from it all. What if they quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat, and sailed away? Most of us begin and end with the daydream. But Maurice began to study nautical navigation. Maralyn made detailed lists of provisions. And in June 1972, they set sail. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves. What ensues is a jaw-dropping fight to survive on the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their inner demons emerge and their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. Although they could run away from the world, they can't run away from themselves. Taut, propulsive, and dazzling, A Marriage At Sea pairs adrenaline-fueled high seas adventure with a gutting love story that asks why we love difficult people, and who we become under the most extreme conditions imaginable.....

View in Catalog

Reacher : the stories behind the stories

Child, Lee, author.

After making his debut in 1997's 'Killing floor,' Jack Reacher has quickly become one of the most popular--and most enduring--fictional heroes to emerge in the past half century. Now, his creator tells the stories behind the stories. These are the origin tales of all of the Reacher novels written solely by Lee Child, chock full of colorful anecdotes and intriguing inspirations. One by one, they expand upon each novel and place it in the context not only of the author's life, but of the world outside the books. And taken together, they chart the rise of an action icon, from 'Killing floor' to 2019's 'Blue moon.' An afterword by crime fiction expert and bookseller Otto Penzler considers the importance of the character and novels in the canon of contemporary crime fiction. This volume also includes an original Reacher short story--the first new Reacher appearance entirely written by Lee Child since 2019. Entertaining and enlightening, 'Reacher: the stories behind the stories' is a must-read for fans of the Jack Reacher series and a capstone to any collection of this excellent author.....

View in Catalog

Dinner with King Tut : how rogue archaeologists are re-creating the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of lost civilizations

Kean, Sam, author.

Whether it's the mighty pyramids of Egypt or the majestic temples of Mexico, we have a good idea of what the past looked like. But what about our other senses: The tang of Roman fish sauce and the springy crust of Egyptian sourdough? The boom of medieval cannons and the clash of Viking swords? The frenzied plays of an Aztec ballgame... and the chilling reality that the losers might also lose their lives? History often neglects the tastes, textures, sounds, and smells that were an intimate part of our ancestors' lives, but a new generation of researchers is resurrecting those hidden details, pioneering an exciting new discipline called experimental archaeology. These are scientists gone rogue: They make human mummies. They investigate the unsolved murders of ancient bog bodies. They carve primitive spears and go hunting, then knap their own obsidian blades to skin the game. They build perilous boats and plunge out onto the open sea -- all in the name of experiencing history as it was, with all its dangers, disappointments, and unexpected delights. Beloved author Sam Kean joins these experimental archaeologists on their adventures across the globe, from the Andes to the South Seas. He fires medieval catapults, tries his hand at ancient surgery and tattooing, builds Roman-style roads -- and, in novelistic interludes, spins gripping tales about the lives of our ancestors with vivid imagination and his signature meticulous research. Lively, offbeat, and filled with stunning revelations about our past, Dinner with King Tut sheds light on days long gone and the intrepid experts resurrecting them today, with startling, lifelike detail and more than a few laughs along the way.....

View in Catalog

The Hiroshima men : the quest to build the atomic bomb, and the fateful decision to use it

MacGregor, Iain, author.

"At 8:15 a.m. on August 6th, 1945, the Japanese port city of Hiroshima was struck by the world's first atomic bomb. Built in the US by the top-secret Manhattan Project and delivered by a B-29 Superfortress, a revolutionary long-range bomber, the weapon destroyed large swaths of the city, instantly killing tens of thousands. The world would never be the same again. The Hiroshima Men's unique narrative recounts the decade-long journey towards this first atomic attack. It charts the race for nuclear technology before and during the Second World War, as the allies fought the axis powers in Europe, North Africa, China, and across the vastness of the Pacific, and is seen through the experiences of several key characters: General Leslie Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project alongside Robert Oppenheimer; pioneering Army Air Force bomber pilot Colonel Paul Tibbetts II; the mayor of Hiroshima, Senkichi Awaya, who would die alongside over eighty-thousand of his fellow citizens; and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist John Hersey, who travelled to post-war Japan to expose the devastation the bomb had inflicted upon the city, and in a historic New Yorker article, described in unflinching detail the dangers posed by its deadly after-effect, radiation poisoning. This thrilling account takes the reader from the corridors of power in the White House and the Pentagon to the test sites of New Mexico; from the air war above Germany to the Potsdam Conference of Truman, Churchill, and Stalin to the savage reconquest of the Pacific to the deadly firebombing air raids across the Japanese islands. The Hiroshima Men also includes Japanese perspectives-a vital aspect often missing from Western narratives-to complete MacGregor's nuanced, deeply human account of the bombing's meaning and aftermath"-- Provided by publisher.....

View in Catalog

The feather detective : mystery, mayhem, and the magnificent life of Roxie Laybourne

Sweeney, Chris, 1983- author.

The fascinating and remarkable true story of the world's first forensic ornithologist- Roxie Laybourne, who broke down barriers for women, solved murders, and investigated deadly airplane crashes with nothing more than a microscope and a few fragments of feathers... In 1960, an Eastern Airlines flight had no sooner lifted from the runway at Boston Logan Airport when it struck a flock of birds and took a nosedive into the shallow waters of the Boston Harbor, killing sixty-two people. This was the golden age of commercial airflight—luxury in the skies—and safety was essential to the precarious future of air travel. So the FAA instructed the bird remains be sent to the Smithsonian Institution for examination, where they would land on the desk of the only person in the world equipped to make sense of it all. Her name was Roxie Laybourne, a diminutive but singular woman with thick glasses, a heavy Carolina drawl, and a passion for birds. Roxie didn’t know it at the time, but that box full of dead birds marked the start of a remarkable scientific journey. She became the world’s first forensic ornithologist, investigating a range of crimes and calamites on behalf of the FBI, the US Air Force, and even NASA. The Feather Detective takes readers deep within the vaunted backrooms of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to tell the story of a burgeoning science and the enigmatic woman who pioneered it. While her male colleagues in taxidermy embarked on expeditions around the world and got plum promotions, Roxie stayed with her birds. Using nothing more than her microscope and bits of feathers, she helped prosecute murderers, kidnappers, and poachers. When she wasn’t testifying in court or studying evidence from capital crimes, she was helping aerospace engineers and Air Force crews as they raced to bird-proof their airplanes before disaster struck again. In The Feather Detective, award-winning journalist Chris Sweeney charts the astonishing life and work of this overlooked pioneer. Once divorced, once widowed, and sometimes surly, Roxie shattered stereotypes and pushed boundaries. Her story is one of persistence and grit, obsession and ingenuity. Drawing on reams of archival material, court documents, and exclusive interviews, Sweeney delivers a moving and amusing portrait of a woman who overcame cultural and scientific obstacles at every turn, forever changing our understanding of birds—and the feathers they leave behind.....

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2024 : how Trump retook the White House and the democrats lost America

Dawsey, Josh, author.

The definitive, inside story of the most tumultuous and consequential presidential campaign in our history "The whole world was against me, and I won," said Donald Trump in an exclusive interview, tendays before his second inauguration. Nearly four years after Trump's first turbulent presidency concluded in a violent attempt to overturn the election, he made a political comeback on a scale that stunned the nation. How did the first U.S. president to become a convicted felon regain control of the White House? And at what cost? In 2024, award-winning reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf bring us the definitive and explosive account of how Trump and his advisers overcame a dozen primary challengers, four indictments, two assassination attempts, and his own past mistakes to defeat the Democrats, and pave the way for a second term that would be far more aggressive and ruthless than the first. Drawing on extraordinary access to the Trump, Biden, and Harris teams, 2024 takes readers beyondthe speeches, rallies, and debates to reveal the innermost workingsof the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns. Beginning in August 2022 with the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago for classified documents, and Trump's subsequent decision to run once again for president, Dawsey, Pager, and Arnsdorf chart how Trump stifled the rise of Republican opponents, including Ron DeSantis, and how his campaign, led by Susie Wiles, landed on a winning strategy. They reveal in unrivaled detail how Joe Biden and his team brushed off concerns about his age, ignored polling numbers, and held off the next generationof eager Democratic hopefuls-even as Biden was dealing with his ownspecial counsel investigation and the trial of his son Hunter. After his disastrous debate performance forced him to withdraw, Biden anointed Vice President Kamala Harris as the candidate and tasked her with running the shortest presidential campaign in modern U.S. history. With only 107 days to distinguish herself from the past four years, Harris lacked the time or space to outrun Biden's shadow-a challenge in and of itself, but one which Biden would make even more difficult. On November 5th, 2024, Trump was elected the nation's forty-seventh president, and would return to power vindicated, emboldened, unrestrained, and burning for revenge. Gripping, revelatory, and deeply reported, 2024 is the shocking inside story of the election that tested American democracy and would go on to shape the future of the free world.....

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Radical tenderness : the value of vulnerability in an often unkind world

Barreto Fetterman, Gisele, author.

As a society, we shy away from public expressions of vulnerability, mistaking it for weakness or a lack of grit. To even talk about crying, much less shed tears publicly, is seen as shameful or cringeworthy. But for Gisele Barreto Fetterman, accessibility advocate and wife of Senator John Fetterman, showing strong emotions has always been her default-at events, during speeches, in her car or even at the grocery store. Friends and family warned Gisele that the world would eat her alive if she didn't toughen up. But over the years Fetterman came to a realization: her emotional tenderness was not her downfall, but her strength-one that could be incorporated into her leadership style to show a different way to create true social and cultural change. In Radical Tenderness, Gisele Barreto Fetterman courageously shares her story of power through vulnerability-from her childhood survival years as a Brazilian-American undocumented immigrant, to the prejudice she experienced in corporate and political settings, to her hardships and resilience stepping into her husband's role when he suffered a stroke. Through it all Gisele learned that leading with tenderness-whether at the office, as a boss, or as a human being-can help us face challenges in a healthier, more authentic way, and in turn guides others to do the same. Ultimately, Gisele redefines strength and leadership for our modern times, presenting tools for surviving and thriving in a world designed to wreck the tender-hearted. Because by embracing those emotions publicly-laughter, vulnerability, and, yes, even tears-we not only honor ourselves but open a path toward changing the world.....

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The can-do mindset : how to cultivate resilience, follow your heart, and fight for your passions

Parker, Candace, 1986- author.

One of the most decorated and celebrated women's basketball players of all time breaks down her ultimate recipe to success, using her own deeply inspiring journey to teach readers how to live bravely, unapologetically, and with purpose.... Candace Parker is a living legend. Her storied career includes three WNBA titles, two Olympic gold medals, and countless MVP Awards. Her career accolades are endless and her impact on the WNBA beyond measure, but Candace is even more inspiring off the court. A proud wife and mother of three, whose love story resonated with the LGBTQ+ community around the world, Candace is fiercely purpose-driven, paving the way for the WNBA's rise in American culture, and for female basketballers to have the impact and platform that used to be reserved for the NBA. But this success didn't happen by accident. From the start, Candace turned her childhood nickname, Can-Do, into a daily mantra that helped her overcome enormous physical and mental hurdles while embracing her vulnerability. In her first-ever book, Candace breaks down that ultimate recipe for success, drawn from the experiences that made her a better person and player. CAN-DO becomes an acronym to live by: Learn from and lean on your Community; Show up as Authentically you Realize that Negativity is a part of life; Embrace the excitement of the everyday; Dash And fight for Opportunity for yourself and others. It's how Candace has succeeded on the court and off, and it can help readers do so, too. Told through personal stories, The Can-Do Mindset is for Candace's countless fans who want to see behind the curtain of her meteoric career and life, and for all of us who could learn from an icon who lives bravely, unapologetically, and guided by purpose.....

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Proof of life : let go, let love, and stop looking for permission to live your life

Pastiloff, Jennifer, author.

An urgent rallying cry to stop holding back and start living life on your terms. Jen Pastiloff convinced herself My life is fine and fine’s enough, until the whisper that something was missing turned full-on scream. This is Pastiloff’s account of how she reclaimed her voice and desire by radically changing her life. She did this despite believing that change equaled death ever since her beloved father died when she was eight. (Much to her shock, change did not equal death.) She shows us it is never too late to begin again, or to let go of stories like: I don’t deserve this; I don’t get to be happy; no one will love me; I’m too old, to name a few. Through this book, you’ll quiet your Inner Asshole, participate in the cathartic process of Shame Loss, ignore the Imaginary Time Gods, use creativity as a portal into healing and connection, and become your own permission slip. Complete with takeaways in Jen’s signature style, creativity prompts, and poetry, Proof of Life is funny, inspiring, and full of love. This book is a reminder that your birthright is not stress or shame and that you don’t have to show proof that you are worthy or deserving. You are your own proof of life.....

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All the way to the river : love, loss, and liberation

Gilbert, Elizabeth, 1969- author.

In 2000, Elizabeth Gilbert met Rayya. They became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. When tragedy entered their lives, the truth was finally laid bare: The two were in love. They were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe. What if your most beautiful love story turned into your biggest nightmare? What if the dear friend who taught you so much about your self-destructive tendencies became the unstable partner with whom you disastrously reenacted every one of them? And what if your most devastating heartbreak opened a pathway to your greatest awakening? All the Way to the River is a landmark memoir that will resonate with anyone who has ever been captive to love -- or to any other passion, substance, or craving--and who yearns, at long last, for liberation.....

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Radical tenderness : the value of vulnerability in an often unkind world

Barreto Fetterman, Gisele, author.

As a society, we shy away from public expressions of vulnerability, mistaking it for weakness or a lack of grit. To even talk about crying, much less shed tears publicly, is seen as shameful or cringeworthy. But for Gisele Barreto Fetterman, accessibility advocate and wife of Senator John Fetterman, showing strong emotions has always been her default-at events, during speeches, in her car or even at the grocery store. Friends and family warned Gisele that the world would eat her alive if she didn't toughen up. But over the years Fetterman came to a realization: her emotional tenderness was not her downfall, but her strength-one that could be incorporated into her leadership style to show a different way to create true social and cultural change. In Radical Tenderness, Gisele Barreto Fetterman courageously shares her story of power through vulnerability-from her childhood survival years as a Brazilian-American undocumented immigrant, to the prejudice she experienced in corporate and political settings, to her hardships and resilience stepping into her husband's role when he suffered a stroke. Through it all Gisele learned that leading with tenderness-whether at the office, as a boss, or as a human being-can help us face challenges in a healthier, more authentic way, and in turn guides others to do the same. Ultimately, Gisele redefines strength and leadership for our modern times, presenting tools for surviving and thriving in a world designed to wreck the tender-hearted. Because by embracing those emotions publicly-laughter, vulnerability, and, yes, even tears-we not only honor ourselves but open a path toward changing the world.....

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