It has been inspired by the scientific ferment that swept through Britain at the end of the 18th century, and which Holmes now radically redefines as 'the revolution of Romantic Science'.

    The only rock we eat, salt has shaped civilization from the very beginning, and its story is a glittering, often surprising part of the history of humankind. A substance so valuable it served as currency, salt has influenced the establishment of trade routes and cities, provoked and financed wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions.

    Not a big, mean monster; more of a friendly little one to play with when she comes home from school, and maybe scare away the mice who live in her big old London house.But the old housekeeper, Mrs. Murgatroyd, warns her against wishing for a monster in this house. Exactly one hundred years ago the Christmas Thingy visited this very house and stole away with a load of Christmas presents.As Mrs. Murgatroyd's mum used to say: "Like a rose must bloom and a pig must squeal, a cow must moo and a thingy must steal. It simply must."Be careful what you wish for, Jessica...The Christmas Thingy is a heartwarming story for children (and adults!) of all ages -- and a delightful fantasy for every day of the year!

    Gutsy and gorgeous -- he was known as "the blond god" -- Harlin successfully summitted some of the most treacherous mountains in Europe. But it was the north face of the Eiger that became Harlin's obsession. Living with his wife and two children in Leysin, Switzerland, he spent countless hours planning to climb, waiting to climb, and attempting to climb the massive vertical face. It was the Eiger direct -- the "direttissima" -- with which John Harlin was particularly obsessed. He wanted to be the first to complete it, and everyone in the Alpine world knew it.John Harlin III was nine years old when his father made another attempt on a direct ascent of the notorious Eiger. Harlin had put together a terrific team, and, despite unending storms, he was poised for the summit dash. It was the moment he had long waited for. When Harlin's rope broke, 2,000 feet from the summit, he plummeted 4,000 feet to his death. In the shadow of tragedy, young John Harlin III came of age possessed with the very same passion for risk that drove his father. But he had also promised his mother, a beautiful and brilliant young widow, that he would not be an Alpine climber.Harlin moved from Europe to America, and, with an insatiable sense of wanderlust, he reveled in downhill skiing and rock-climbing. For years he successfully denied the clarion call of the mountain that killed his father. But in 2005, John Harlin could resist no longer. With his nine-year-old daughter, Siena -- his very age at the time of his father's death -- and with an IMAX Theatre filmmaking crew watching, Harlin set off to slay the Eiger. This is an unforgettable story about fathers and sons, climbers and mountains, and dreamers who dare to challenge the earth.

    Combining his own experiences with a wealth of new interviews gained through his unsurpassed access to pro football’s most influential figures, Billick has written a vibrant, compelling account of the true state of the game today, and the dangers that it faces in the near future. The National Football League stands as perhaps America’s last great mass entertainment, the rare enterprise that brings together a broad cross-section of our increasingly niche-driven marketplace. But even as the game has grown more popular, so has the financial pressure and stakes for all concerned. In this taut, lucid breakdown of the game’s inner workings, Billick shows how dynasties are built and teams assembled, and he explains in detail how the economic pressures of the modern NFL can affect coaches and players alike. Billick welcomes fans into the locker rooms and the boardrooms for a revealing portrait of pro football and a penetrating look at the forces that will vie for control of America’s most popular game in the future.

    Yet "possible" isn't enough to get you out of bed in the morning fueled with the internal clarity and drive to tackle your biggest dreams. After the success of his book, The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod realized that more was needed. That there was a timeless, proven formula which the world's most successful people have used for centuries, but it has been overlooked. He used it to become one of the top salespeople in the history of his former company and thrive against seemingly insurmountable odds, from overcoming life-threatening health challenges to near financial collapse. The Miracle Equation is that formula, and it consists of only two decisions that guarantee astonishing levels of success and fulfillment: Unwavering Faith and Extraordinary Effort.By establishing and maintaining unwavering faith that you can achieve anything you desire, and then putting forth extraordinary effort until you do, your success is inevitable. Using the same strategy as the world's top achievers, you'll create results beyond what you believe to be possible. You'll learn how to replace fear with faith and let go of your negative emotions, accessing your full potential and channeling your energy into attaining positive outcomes. With the Miracle Equation 30-Day Challenge to guide your way, you'll create a step-by-step plan to actualize your miracles and become the person you need to be in order to succeed.

    Filled with surprising stories of accidental genius and brilliant mistakes—from the French publisher who invented the phonograph before Edison but forgot to include playback, to the Hollywood movie star who helped invent the technology behind Wi-Fi and Bluetooth—How We Got to Now investigates the secret history behind the everyday objects of contemporary life. In his trademark style, Johnson examines unexpected connections between seemingly unrelated fields: how the invention of air-conditioning enabled the largest migration of human beings in the history of the species—to cities such as Dubai or Phoenix, which would otherwise be virtually uninhabitable; how pendulum clocks helped trigger the industrial revolution; and how clean water made it possible to manufacture computer chips. Accompanied by a major six-part television series on PBS, How We Got to Now is the story of collaborative networks building the modern world, written in the provocative, informative, and engaging style that has earned Johnson fans around the globe.

    Hernandez provides commentary on two ball games in the 1993 season : a Philles-Braves match-up and an extra innings battle between the Tigers and the Yankees. [He] examines the overall strategies of the game and offers good analyses of fielding techniques, base stealing, lineups, umpiring etiquette, double-steal rundowns, hit-and-runs, signals, infield shifts and more. His most intense and incisive analysis, however, is saved for the psychology of the pitcher-hitter duels. No matter where you are watching, you will never again see the game in the same way."-- Playboy"Keith Hernandez, it turns out, is even smarter than we thought he was in the Mets' glory years. All the subtleties of baseball are revealed as the two games unfold. Mr. Hernandez's opinions and pet-peeves--intentional walks, early-inning sacrifices, throwing fastballs to prevent stolen bases, large gaps in the outfield, pitchers who 'nibble. nibble, nibble,"--are well thought out and clearly articulated. [He] is particularly strong in analyzing the cat-and-mouse game played between pitchers and hitters as the count shifts the odds back and forth."-- New York Times Book Review "An MVP of a guide to the national pastime from savvy 17-year veteran of the major leagues who remains an ardent fan in retirement. Hernandez came up with an angle that works to near perfection: tellingly detailed start-to-finish accounts of two games played midway through the 1993 baseball season."-- Kirkus Reviews(starred)

    In this groundbreaking analysis, over thirty of the most popular treatments—acupuncture, homeopathy, aromatherapy, reflexology, chiropractic, and herbal medicines—are examined for their benefits and potential dangers. Questions answered include: What works and what doesn't? What are the secrets, and what are the lies? Who can you trust, and who is ripping you off? Can science decide what is best, or do the old wives' tales really tap into ancient, superior wisdom?In their scrutiny of alternative and complementary cures, authors Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst also strive to reassert the primacy of the scientific method as a means for determining public health practice and policy.

    It helps you learn how to astound kids with easy and inexpensive experiments like: Bubbling Lava Bottle; The Incredible Can Crusher; The Screaming Balloon; and, many more.

    This book highlights court documents translated for the first time into English. The second half is a general interest exposition on vampires, werewolves, and necrophiles.

    Commentary by Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck.

    This staggering amount of information—unprecedented in history—can tell us a great deal about who we are—the fears, desires, and behaviors that drive us, and the conscious and unconscious decisions we make. From the profound to the mundane, we can gain astonishing knowledge about the human psyche that less than twenty years ago, seemed unfathomable.Everybody Lies offers fascinating, surprising, and sometimes laugh-out-loud insights into everything from economics to ethics to sports to race to sex, gender and more, all drawn from the world of big data. What percentage of white voters didn’t vote for Barack Obama because he’s black? Does where you go to school effect how successful you are in life? Do parents secretly favor boy children over girls? Do violent films affect the crime rate? Can you beat the stock market? How regularly do we lie about our sex lives and who’s more self-conscious about sex, men or women?Investigating these questions and a host of others, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz offers revelations that can help us understand ourselves and our lives better. Drawing on studies and experiments on how we really live and think, he demonstrates in fascinating and often funny ways the extent to which all the world is indeed a lab. With conclusions ranging from strange-but-true to thought-provoking to disturbing, he explores the power of this digital truth serum and its deeper potential—revealing biases deeply embedded within us, information we can use to change our culture, and the questions we’re afraid to ask that might be essential to our health—both emotional and physical. All of us are touched by big data everyday, and its influence is multiplying. Everybody Lies challenges us to think differently about how we see it and the world.

    Los Angeles icon Magic Johnson and his partners hoped to put together a team worthy of Hollywood: consistently entertaining. By most accounts they have succeeded, if not always in the way they might have imagined.Now Molly Knight tells the story of the Dodgers’ 2013 season with detailed, previously unreported revelations. She shares a behind-the-scenes account of the astonishing sale of the Dodgers, and why the team was not overpriced, as well as what the Dodgers actually knew in advance about rookie phenom and Cuban defector Yasiel Puig and how they and teammates handled him during his roller-coaster season. We learn how infighting on the team nearly derailed the 2013 season and nearly cost manager Don Mattingly his job—and how the team turned around the season in the most remarkable fifty-game stretch (42-8) of any team since World War II, before losing in the NLCS. Knight also reveals the facts behind the blockbuster trade with the Red Sox—and why that trade may yet turn out to be of greater benefit to the Dodgers. And, there’s an intimate portrait of star pitcher Clayton Kershaw, probably the best pitcher in the game today, including details about the contract offer he turned down before accepting the richest contract any pitcher ever signed.Exciting, surprising, and filled with juicy details, Molly Knight’s account is a must-read for baseball fans and anyone who wants the inside story of today’s Los Angeles Dodgers.

    It's a shady world and rumours abound. Then one day Hawkins receives a message that changes everything.An Indian bookie sends Hawkins texts of a 'script' for an alleged fix during the 2011 World Cup that even he finds too astonishing for words; he watches - along with an estimated television audience of one billion - as the match unfolds according to the script and decides it is time to expose the inner workings of match-fixing.Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy is a story featuring politicians, governing bodies, illegal bookmakers and powerless players - as well as corruption, intimidation and even murder. It is a story that touches all cricket-playing nations around the world. It is a story that every cricket fan must read. You may never watch a cricket match without suspicion...Ed Hawkins is an award-winning journalist. He has twice been named the Sports Journalists' Association's Sports Betting Writer of the Year. This is his second book.