Book picks similar to
Would You Believe It?: Mysterious Tales From People You'd Least Expect by Karen Stollznow
paranormal
science
non-fiction
nonfiction-other
The Children that Time Forgot
Peter Harrison - 1983
There was an explosion of calls which blocked the ITV phone network.There was the story of Nicola who was a boy in a previous life and was killed by a train in Yorkshire.The book's primary aim was to present the children's stories in a neutral, non-judgemental way and let the reader decide.The original idea came to co-author Mary Harrison when she observed her youngest son trying to pick flowers from a floral patternon her bed cover. The littler baby's actions seemed so quirky and amusing that Mary was prompted to have a letter published in Woman's Own.Mary asked if other mothers had experiences similar funny moments with their little ones. She was completely unprepared for the replies she got - Mary was overwhelmed with letters from parents reporting accounts of reincarnation.From this 'THE CHILDREN THAT TIME FORGOT' was born
The Witch of Lime Street: Séance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World
David Jaher - 2015
A desperate search for reunion with dead loved ones precipitated a tidal wave of self-proclaimed psychics—and, as reputable media sought stories on occult phenomena, mediums became celebrities. Against this backdrop, in 1924, the pretty wife of a distinguished Boston surgeon came to embody the raging national debate over Spiritualism, a movement devoted to communication with the dead. Reporters dubbed her the blonde Witch of Lime Street, but she was known to her followers simply as Margery. Her most vocal advocate was none other than Sherlock Holmes' creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who believed so thoroughly in Margery's powers that he urged her to enter a controversial contest, sponsored by Scientific American and offering a large cash prize to the first medium declared authentic by its impressive five-man investigative committee. Admired for both her exceptional charm and her dazzling effects, Margery was the best hope for the psychic practice to be empirically verified. Her supernatural gifts beguiled four of the judges. There was only one left to convince...the acclaimed escape artist, Harry Houdini.David Jaher's extraordinary debut culminates in the showdown between Houdini, a relentless unmasker of charlatans, and Margery, the nation's most credible spirit medium. The Witch of Lime Street, the first book to capture their electric public rivalry and the competition that brought them into each other’s orbit, returns us to an oft-mythologized era to deepen our understanding of its history, all while igniting our imagination and engaging with the timeless question: Is there life after death?
One Day University Presents: Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness
One Day University - 2010
He is also the Head Teaching Fellow for the most popular course at Harvard, “Positive Psychology,” which is taken by more than 1,000 students per semester and led by Professor Tal Ben-Shahar. Shawn received his B.A. in English from Harvard and a Master’s from Harvard Divinity School in Christian and Buddhist Ethics. Part of his interest in positive psychology stems from a troubling fact: studies have shown that many of Harvard’s undergraduates suffer from depression at some point in their college careers. One Day University is a unique educational experience that brings intellectuals together to learn from top rated professors at Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and other prestigious universities. Chosen for their excellent teaching abilities as rated by their students, these great thinkers represent a wide variety of academic disciplines and share their knowledge in 60 minute, highly entertaining lectures. Offering the ability to learn the highlights of academic thought in world affairs, politics, history, science, art, and more; One Day University is a way to truly enjoy the thrill of learning without the pressures of tests and the high price tag of college tuition. Once reserved only for students who could attend the lectures in New York and other major cities, One Day University courses are now available to everyone from the comfort of their own homes in Kindle format.
I Never Believed in Ghosts Until . . .
USA Weekend - 1992
100 of the most spine-tingling ghost stories collected from USA WEEKEND readers across America.
Authenticated History Of The Bell Witch
M.V. Ingram - 1894
The Bell family are terrorized by an invisible, talking poltergeist that has taken up residence in their home. While the children are beaten and harassed in their beds, their father is stricken by seizures, and visiting skeptics are confounded by a hateful, disembodied voice that ridicules their attempts at investigation. Centered around the person of young Betsy Bell, the Bell Witch haunting has been called the 19th century's answer to "The Exorcist," and has been the inspiration for such popular films as "The Blair Witch Project" and "An American Haunting."Nicknamed the "Red Book," "An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch" was the first published book on the legend. It contains the full text of "Our Family Troubles," the purported diary of Richard Williams Bell, as well interviews with the descendents of some of the characters who figure in the story. Written in 1894, it stands alone the single most important source for historians of the Bell Witch haunting.
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande - A 20-minute Summary: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Instaread Summaries - 2014
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande - A 20-minute Summary Inside this Instaread Summary: • Overview of the entire book• Introduction to the important people in the book• Summary and analysis of all the chapters in the book• Key Takeaways of the book• A Reader's Perspective Preview of this summary: Chapter 1 Gawande grew up in Ohio. His parents were immigrants from India and both were doctors. His grandparents stayed in India, and there were few older people in his neighborhood, so he had little experience with aging or death until he met his wife’s grandmother, Alice Hobson. Hobson was seventy-seven and living on her own in Virginia. She was a spirited widow who fixed her own plumbing and volunteered with Meals On Wheels. However, Hobson was losing strength and height steadily each year as her arthritis worsened.Gawande’s father enthusiastically adopted the customs of his new country, but he could not understand the way in which seniors were treated in the US. In India, the elderly were treated with great respect and lived out their lives with family.In the United States, Sitaram Gawande, Gawande’s grandfather, likely would have been sent to a nursing home like most of the elderly who cannot handle the basics of daily living by themselves. However, in India, Sitaram Gawande was able to live in his own home and manage his own affairs, with family constantly around him. He died at the age of one hundred and ten when he fell off a bus during a business trip.Until recently, most elderly people stayed with their families. Even as the nuclear family unit became predominant, replacing the multi-generational family unit, people cared for their elderly relatives. Families were large and one child, usually a daughter, would not marry in order to take care of the parents.This has changed in much of the world, where elderly people end up struggling to live alone, like Hobson, rather than living with dignity amid family, like Sitaram Gawande.One cause of this change can be found in the nature of knowledge. When few people lived to be very old, elders were honored. Their store of knowledge was greatly useful. People often portrayed themselves as older to command respect. Modern society’s emphasis on youth is a complete reversal of this attitude. Technological advances are perceived as the territory of the young, and everyone wants to be younger. High-tech job opportunities are all over the world, and young people do not hesitate to leave their parents behind to pursue them.In developed countries, parents embrace the concept of a retirement filled with leisure activities. Parents are happy to begin living for themselves once children are grown. However, this system only works for young, healthy retirees, but not for those who cannot continue to be independent. Hobson, for example, was falling frequently and suffering memory lapses. Her doctor did tests and wrote prescriptions, but did not know what to do about her deteriorating condition. Neither did her family… About the Author With Instaread Summaries, you can get the summary of a book in 30 minutes or less. We read every chapter, summarize and analyze it for your convenience.
The Ghosts of Chicago: The Windy City's Most Famous Haunts
Adam Selzer - 2011
H. Holmes and the funeral train of Abraham Lincoln, the spine-tingling sights and sounds of Chicago's yesteryear are still with us . . . and so are its ghosts.Seeking to find out what we really know about the ghastly past of this famously haunted metropolis, professional ghost hunter and historian Adam Selzer pieces together the truth behind Chicago's ghosts, and brings to light never-before-told first accounts. Take a history tour like no other of the famous and not-so-famous haunts around town. Sometimes the real story is far different from the urban legend--and most of the time it's even gorier.
Young Einstein: From the Doxerl Affair to the Miracle Year
L. Randles Lagerstrom - 2013
In 1905 an unknown 26-year-old clerk at the Swiss Patent Office, who had supposedly failed math in school, burst on to the scientific scene and swept away the hidebound theories of the day. The clerk, Albert Einstein, introduced a new and unexpected understanding of the universe and launched the two great revolutions of twentieth-century physics, relativity and quantum mechanics. The obscure origin and wide-ranging brilliance of the work recalled Isaac Newton’s “annus mirabilis” (miracle year) of 1666, when as a 23-year-old seeking safety at his family manor from an outbreak of the plague, he invented calculus and laid the foundations for his theory of gravity. Like Newton, Einstein quickly became a scientific icon--the image of genius and, according to Time magazine, the Person of the Century.The actual story is much more interesting. Einstein himself once remarked that “science as something coming into being ... is just as subjectively, psychologically conditioned as are all other human endeavors.” In this profile, the historian of science L. Randles Lagerstrom takes you behind the myth and into the very human life of the young Einstein. From family rifts and girlfriend troubles to financial hardships and jobless anxieties, Einstein’s early years were typical of many young persons. And yet in the midst of it all, he also saw his way through to profound scientific insights. Drawing upon correspondence from Einstein, his family, and his friends, Lagerstrom brings to life the young Einstein and enables the reader to come away with a fuller and more appreciative understanding of Einstein the person and the origins of his revolutionary ideas.About the cover image: While walking to work six days a week as a patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland, Einstein would pass by the famous "Zytglogge" tower and its astronomical clocks. The daily juxtaposition was fitting, as the relative nature of time and clock synchronization would be one of his revolutionary discoveries in the miracle year of 1905.
Green Mountain Ghosts, Ghouls Unsolved Mysteries
Joseph A. Citro - 1994
Aimed at adults, teenagers, and tourists, this is the most comprehensive collection of tales, legends, folklore, ghost stories and strange-but-true facts ever assembled about Vermont and the surrounding areas of New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Quebec--one that can be used to find these haunted sites.
Ghosts Among Us: True Stories of Spirit Encounters
Leslie Rule - 2004
The personal, firsthand reports and chilling, full-length stories are bolstered by sidebars of actual accounts of "Ghosts in the News." Each chapter explores mysterious events-events that the reader will find hard to pass off as mere coincidence. In her quest to uncover explanations for each incident, Leslie Rule extensively researched library archives and interviewed credible witnesses, historians, renowned psychics, and parapsychologists. Throughout Ghosts Among Us, Rule's findings are mesmerizing. She writes about being raised in a haunted house. "To top that," Rule explains, "[my mother] introduced me to a serial killer when I was fourteen." The reader is invited to skip ahead to learn about that chilling episode...but the pages prior to that offer their own gripping, spell-binding encounters.
Tesla Motors: How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, and Sparked the Next Tech Revolution
Charles Morris - 2014
The most trusted sources in the auto industry have called its Model S the most advanced, safest and best-performing car ever built - and it doesn’t use a drop of gasoline. Tesla has changed the way the public perceives electric vehicles, and inspired the major automakers to revive their own dormant efforts to sell EVs. However, even amidst the avalanche of media coverage that followed the triumph of the Model S, few have grasped the true significance of what is happening. Tesla has redefined the automobile, sparked a new wave of innovation comparable to the internet and mobile computing revolutions, and unleashed forces that will transform not just the auto industry, but every aspect of society. The Tesla story is one part of an ongoing tide of change driven by the use of information technology to eliminate “friction” such as geographic distance, middlemen and outdated regulations. Tesla is simply applying the new order to the auto industry, but the automobile is such a pervasive influence in our lives that redefining how it is designed, built, driven and sold will have sweeping effects in unexpected areas. Just as Tesla built the Model S as an electric vehicle “from the ground up,” it has taken an outsider’s approach to the way it markets its cars. Its direct sales model has drawn legal challenges from entrenched auto dealers, who fear that their outdated business model will be destroyed. Its systems approach to the software and electronics in its cars has highlighted how far behind the technological times the major automakers are. It’s easy to see why readers find Tesla irresistible. CEO Elon Musk is a superstar entrepreneur, a “nauseatingly pro-US” immigrant and the leader of two other cutting-edge companies. Tesla dares to challenge the establishment behemoths and, so far at least, has handily beaten them at their own game. In this history of the 21st century’s most exciting startup, Charles Morris begins with a brief history of EVs and a biography of Tesla’s driving force, Elon Musk. He then details the history of the company, told in the words of the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who made it happen. There are many fascinating stories here: Martin Eberhard’s realization that there were many like himself, who loved fast cars but wanted to help the environment and bring about the post-oil age; the freewheeling first days, reminiscent of the early internet era; the incredible ingenuity of the team who built the Roadster; Tesla’s near-death experience and miraculous resurrection; the spiteful split between the company’s larger-than-life leaders; the gloves-off battles with hostile media such as Top Gear and the New York Times; and the media’s ironic about-face when the magnificent Model S won the industry’s highest honors, and naysayers became cheerleaders overnight. And the story is just beginning: Tesla has breathtakingly ambitious plans for the future.This book was updated May 1, 2015 to include the latest on the Gigafactory and the D package.
Monster Spotter's Guide to North America
Scott Francis - 2007
North America is home to a wide array of fearsome beasts, including hairy monsters, flying monsters, lake monsters, and other unexplained phenomena. "Monster Spotter's Guide "geographically catalogs more than one hundred legendary monsters reported to inhabit the continent.From the mythical Sasquatch of the Pacific Northwest to the vicious Mexican goatsucker known as El Chupacabra, you'll read about the legends and major sightings of the most widely feared creatures reported to exist–plus a few you might have never heard of.Within these pages you'll find detailed pen-and-ink drawings, helpful quick-reference boxes for immediate identification of key monster traits, a glossary of cryptozoology terms, useful appendices, case studies and more.Let this book be your guide, and explore the legends for yourself. Anyone can be a monster spotter when you start looking, you never know what you might find."
Mountain Ghost Stories and Curious Tales of Western North Carolina
Randy Russell - 1988
It was only natural that man, after gazing at such scenic wonders, would turn some of the mystery he felt into legend. Sometimes these legends attempted to explain natural phenomena, sometimes they attempted to explain an occurrence that appeared to be supernatural, and sometimes they grew up around the eccentric characters that were drawn to the isolation of these mysterious hills. This collection of eighteen stories presents some of the mystery and awe that the mountains convey, and it may alter your perception of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains forever. You may never stand atop Roan Mountain during a storm without thinking you hear a ghostly choir. You may gaze at the top of Chimney Rock during a hazy summer afternoon and wonder if it really is a ghostly cavalry fight you see. If you spend the night near High Hampton, you may find yourself listening for the call of the lonesome white owl. If you stand at Wiseman's View, you will probably think that you, too, can see the Brown Mountain Lights. Standing atop Clingman's Dome, you may wonder if there really is an enchanted lake where animals flock to heal their wounds somewhere in the valley below. And you will always wonder if the fly you hear on your mountain walk means that Spearfinger is lurking nearby.For several years, folklorists Randy Russell and Janet Barnett have taught a course about Southern folklore at the North Carolina Center for Advancement of Teaching in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Russell is also the author of several mysteries, including Edgar Award nominee Hot Wire. They live in Asheville, North Carolina.
Ghost Hunting with Derek Acorah
Derek Acorah - 2005
With tips and hints on tools, locations, and types of spirit activity a budding ghost hunter might encounter, Acorah provides a remarkable guide with plenty of brilliant and absorbing stories of his own encounters.Derek Acorah, well-known from the television programme "Most Haunted," has written a guide to ghosts that will fulfil your every ghost-related desire! Whether you want to find your very own ghost, learn more about how Derek does it, or just share more of Derek's exciting experiences with the spirit world, Ghost Hunting With Derek Acorah is sure to satisfy you!Along with numerous entertaining and occasionally frightening true-life accounts of Derek's own experiences with ghosts, Ghost Hunting With Derek Acorah will give you intriguing insights into Derek's world and the world of the spirits.The book contains:- Information of different types of ghost you may encounter, such as residual energy, anniversary ghosts, poltergeists and the spirit people.- Hints on how to prepare and what tools to use.- Where to go to find ghosts, with examples of some of the best places to find a ghost in the UK such as Chingle Hall, Goosnargh, Rufford Old Hall, Ormskirk, Lancs, Speke Hall, Liverpool, and Smithills Hall, Bolton, Lancashire.- Information on which ghosts you might encounter and their history.
Ask a Pro: Deep Thoughts and Unreliable Advice from America’s Foremost Cycling Sage
Phil Gaimon - 2017