This extraordinary book is the account of how he pulled it off. By turns thrilling and slapstick, sublime and outrageous, A Viking Voyage is an unforgettable adventure story that will take you to the heart of some of the most magnificent, unspoiled territory on earth, and even deeper, to the heart of a journey like no other. A celebration of the people and places Carter visits and a treasure-trove of fascinating Viking lore, here is an unforgettable story of friendship and teamwork–and the thrill of accomplishing a goal that once seemed impossible.

    This feature of our cognition is easily taken for granted, but it's also critical to our species' evolutionary success. In From Here to There, Michael Bond tells stories of the lost and found--Polynesian sailors, orienteering champions, early aviators--and surveys the science of human navigation.Navigation skills are deeply embedded in our biology. The ability to find our way over large distances in prehistoric times gave Homo sapiens an advantage, allowing us to explore the farthest regions of the planet. Wayfinding also shaped vital cognitive functions outside the realm of navigation, including abstract thinking, imagination, and memory. Bond brings a reporter's curiosity and nose for narrative to the latest research from psychologists, neuroscientists, animal behaviorists, and anthropologists. He also turns to the people who design and expertly maneuver the world we navigate: search-and-rescue volunteers, cartographers, ordnance mappers, urban planners, and more. The result is a global expedition that furthers our understanding of human orienting in the natural and built environments.A beguiling mix of storytelling and science, From Here to There covers the full spectrum of human navigation and spatial understanding. In an age of GPS and Google Maps, Bond urges us to exercise our evolved navigation skills and reap the surprising cognitive rewards.

    . . Both melancholy and gay and worldly, I think of it now as among the best books on Venice; indeed as the best modern book about a city that I have ever read.' Geoffrey Grigson'One of the most diverse and diverting books ever written about Venice . . . A taut and personal report, wholly absorbing, quickened by vivid prose and astringent humour.' Sunday Times'For those of whom Venice is a memory, a treat in store, or even a dream, the broad canvas of this book covering a thousand years in the life of one of the most complex, original, and active communities the world has ever seen, is a work of lasting interest.' Guardian

    But street addresses were not invented to help you find your way; they were created to find you. In many parts of the world, your address can reveal your race and class.In this wide-ranging and remarkable book, Deirdre Mask looks at the fate of streets named after Martin Luther King Jr., the wayfinding means of ancient Romans, and how Nazis haunt the streets of modern Germany. The flipside of having an address is not having one, and we also see what that means for millions of people today, including those who live in the slums of Kolkata and on the streets of London. Filled with fascinating people and histories, The Address Book illuminates the complex and sometimes hidden stories behind street names and their power to name, to hide, to decide who counts, who doesn’t―and why.

    How Buildings Learn is a masterful new synthesis that proposes that buildings adapt best when constantly refined and reshaped by their occupants, and that architects can mature from being artists of space to becoming artists of time. From the connected farmhouses of New England to I.M. Pei's Media Lab, from "satisficing" to "form follows funding," from the evolution of bungalows to the invention of Santa Fe Style, from Low Road military surplus buildings to a High Road English classic like Chatsworth—this is a far-ranging survey of unexplored essential territory.More than any other human artifacts, buildings improve with time—if they're allowed to. How Buildings Learn shows how to work with time rather than against it.

    From Scottish culture to the ancient history of the country to modern pastimes, this book has all that and more. Learn why the thistle is the floral emblem of Scotland, how Scotch whisky is made, why the Scots celebrate Hogmanay, how to play the bagpipes, and much more. This delightful book is the perfect gift for anyone planning a visit to Scotland, with an interest in Scottish history, or a drop of Scottish blood.

    From its inception in 1913, through the Jazz Age and the Depression, to its reincarnation in the boom-boom Reagan years, to the image-saturated Information Age, Vanity Fair has presented the modern era as it has unfolded, using wit, imagination, peerless literary narrative, and bold, groundbreaking imagery from the greatest photographers, artists, and illustrators of the day. This sumptuous book takes a decade-by-decade look at the world as seen by the magazine, stopping to describe the incomparable editor Frank Crowninshield and the birth of the Jazz Age Vanity Fair, the magazine’s controversial rebirth in 1983, and the history of the glamorous Vanity Fair Oscar Party.With its exhaustive sweep, visual impact, and time-capsule format, Vanity Fair 100 Years is the book everyone will want in 2013.<!--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /--> Praise for Vanity Fair 100 Years: “The book is a stunning artifact that begets staring, less for the words and publishing industry than as an exercise in visual storytelling reflected through the prism of society and celebrity. The best photographers, the best designers, the best illustrators all came together over Vanity Fair’s contents, and the book unfolds in page after page of stunningly rendered images, some iconic and some that never even ran.” —New York Times Book Review

    For over 70 years, Aokigahara, Japan has been a source of mystery for both investigators and paranormal researchers. This beautiful stretch of unkempt woodland, while maintaining the illusion of beauty, harbours a secret which few people are willing to acknowledge. Aokigahara, known to many as the Sea of Trees, is the suicide capital of Japan. Every year, hundreds of people visit the forest with no intention of ever leaving. People who no longer wish to be a part of this world find solace in the isolation of Aokigahara, and willingly take their own lives against its backdrop of chaotic forestry. However, the legend of Aokigahara goes a lot further that simply being alluring scenery for suicide. Its lore is rooted in ancient legend, literature and a historical association with death. Its impact on Japanese culture has been so prominent that Japanese officials rarely acknowledge the forest’s existence in an effort to disassociate it from its macabre infamy. But despite this, Aokigahara’s prominence in not just Japanese culture, but world over, cannot be understated.

    The author maintains that the last two decades have seen the emergence of a mass alternative nation, populated by struggling screen writers, oddball thrift stores, indie rockers and thousands of coffee houses.

    He breathes fresh life into familiar characters while introducing a host of new actors, both dear and detested.1752 A.D. What makes a pacifist from Pennsylvania suddenly take up the war hatchet? Runaway and Quaker, Ephraim, finds out quickly on a peaceful summer morning. Thereafter, he meets two very different men who may be able to help him on his sudden quest for revenge. One, an Iroquois Half King, has a similar ax to grind against a certain French officer. The other, a callow Virginian, is motivated not for revenge, but by his own inferiority to his deceased brother. The results of that bloody morn and Ephraim's single-minded pursuit set in motion a chain of events that ensnares evermore of the world's population in a dreadful war. Many will suffer. A few will benefit.Each of these lives collide with one another and history, proving that individuals can affect the fate of nations. Quaker's War begins with a bang. It ends in a torrent. It is a magnificent yarn that instantly transports the reader into the hearts and minds of those souls who battled their way through the birth pangs of a nation.

    Drawing on his own experiences in Chicago, and on his relationships with other mayors around America, Emanuel provides dozens of examples to show how cities are improving education, infrastructure, job conditions, and environmental policy at a local level.Emanuel argues that cities are the most ancient political institutions, dating back thousands of years and have reemerged as the nation-states of our time. He makes clear how mayors are accountable to their voters to a greater degree than any other elected officials and illuminates how progressives and centrists alike can best accomplish their goals by focusing their energies on local politics. The Nation City maps out a new, energizing, and hopeful way forward.

    Here, witness Chicago's growth from a desolate fur-trading post in the 1830s to one of the world's most explosively alive cities by 1900.Donald Miller's powerful narrative embraces it all: Chicago's wild beginnings, its reckless growth, its natural calamities (especially the Great Fire of 1871), its raucous politics, its empire-building businessmen, its world-transforming architecture, its rich mix of cultures, its community of young writers and journalists, and its staggering engineering projects -- which included the reversal of the Chicago River and raising the entire city from prairie mud to save it from devastating cholera epidemics. The saga of Chicago's unresolved struggle between order and freedom, growth and control, capitalism and community, remains instructive for our time, as we seek ways to build and maintain cities that retain their humanity without losing their energy. City of the Century throbs with the pulse of the great city it brilliantly brings to life.

    Much of the trail is on the rocky ridgeline overlooking Lake Superior with sweeping vistas of Lake Superior and inland forests, cascading waterfalls and remote lakes. Mile-by-mile descriptions lead the casual hiker or ardent backpacker through forests of birch, maple, spruce, pine and fir—a region thriving with spectacular wildflowers and diverse wildlife. Whether you have two hours or two weeks, an afternoon or a weekend, this guide will enhance your hiking experience. Provided is detailed information on trailhead parking, 90+ backcountry campsites located every five to ten miles that require no fees, permits, or reservations, and a mile-by-mile description of the trail as you hike along. The Superior Hiking Trail goes to numerous scenic spots including Ely's Peak, Hawk Ridge, Bean and Bear Lakes, Mount Trudee, Baptism High Falls, Egge Lake, Sonju Lake, Manitou River, Caribou Falls, Cross River, Carlton Peak, Britton Peak, Oberg Mountain, Cascade River, and Pincushion Mountain. The trail travels through eight Minnesota state parks: Jay Cooke, Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse, Tettegouche, Crosby-Manitou, Temperance River, Cascade River, and Judge Magney. Complete trail maps are included in each section. In addition, it includes a "how-to" chapter on backpacking the trail and a chart with services in the towns close to the trail. It also includes informational chapters on wildflowers, birds, geology, and area history. The trail starts south of Duluth, MN in Jay Cooke State Park, travels through Duluth for 43 miles, and then heads northeast along the North Shore for 255 miles to Canada. Backpacking opportunities with backcountry campsites start at the northern boundary of Duluth. The Guide is written so each section of 5-12 miles can be hiked separately, a longer segment can be hiked, or the entire trail can be thru-hiked.

    Through a series of disastrous decisions, the state government had switched the city’s water to a source that corroded Flint’s aging lead pipes. Complaints about the foul-smelling water were dismissed: the residents of Flint—a largely poor African American city of about 100,000 people—were not seen as credible, even in matters of their own lives.It took 18 months of activism and a band of dogged outsiders to force the state to admit that the water was poisonous. But this was only after 12 people died and Flint's children suffered irreparable harm. The long battle for accountability and a humane response to this man-made disaster have only just begun.In the first full-length account of this epic failure, The Poisoned City recounts the gripping story of Flint’s poisoned water through the people who caused it, suffered from it, and exposed it. It is a chronicle of one town, but could also be about any American city, all made precarious by the neglect of infrastructure and the erosion of democratic decision-making. Cities like Flint are set up to fail—and for the people who live and work in them, the consequences may be mortal.A 2019 Library of Michigan Notable Books