Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's most sudden and destructive force.In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco and a string of towns to its north-northwest and the south-southeast were overcome by an enormous shaking that was compounded by the violent shocks of an earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale. The quake resulted from a rupture in a part of the San Andreas fault, which lies underneath the earth's surface along the northern coast of California. Lasting little more than a minute, the earthquake wrecked 490 blocks, toppled a total of 25,000 buildings, broke open gas mains, cut off electric power lines throughout the Bay area, and effectively destroyed the gold rush capital that had stood there for a half century.Perhaps more significant than the tremors and rumbling, which affected a swatch of California more than 200 miles long, were the fires that took over the city for three days, leaving chaos and horror in its wake. The human tragedy included the deaths of upwards of 700 people, with more than 250,000 left homeless. It was perhaps the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.Simon Winchester brings his inimitable storytelling abilities -- as well as his unique understanding of geology -- to this extraordinary event, exploring not only what happened in northern California in 1906 but what we have learned since about the geological underpinnings that caused the earthquake in the first place. But his achievement is even greater: he positions the quake's significance along the earth's geological timeline and shows the effect it had on the rest of twentieth-century California and American history.A Crack in the Edge of the World is the definitive account of the San Francisco earthquake. It is also a fascinating exploration of a legendary event that changed the way we look at the planet on which we live.

    Each region, caste, and community has its own culture, reflecting unique histories shaped by conquest, creativity, and religion, expressed in distinct languages, social customs, art forms, and expectations of life. Despite enormous recent political and economic change, in many ways India remains the same—a total sensory experience. The chaos and beauty of color and sound, the language shifts every ten miles, the household variations of spicy and sharp, sweet and sour, the insistent smells of everyday life lived very much in public, and the invasion of personal space will challenge the most experienced traveler. But it is in surrendering to your senses that you begin to embrace the essence of India and to understand its people. Indians live with paradox. Proud traditions and patriotism commingle with tensions and prejudices rooted in age-old rivalries. Ancient temples may be plastered with signs advertising the latest technologies. The rapid urbanization of the last century has given rise to burgeoning slums and an affluent middle class that was nonexistent a few decades ago. Steeped in tradition, exceptionally fatalistic, and intensely passionate about their culture, the Indians are an ingenious, adventurous, and creative people. Show interest in their country and most will respond with genuine warmth and friendship. But they also have indelible ties to family and community that form boundaries and determine decisions that may not always seem reasonable, or sometimes even ethical, to outsiders. Culture Smart! India will make you aware of basic values and behavioral norms, show you how to navigate cultural differences and connect with real people, and offer invaluable insights into this great, endlessly fascinating land.

    Two hundred million years ago most of Washington consisted of two large islands, each one a scrap of continent, lying somewhere in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. One after the other they docked onto the North American continent, each adding its distinctive bit to the complex geologic and geographic mosaic of western North America.

    Bayles now turns that same attention to his native West.When European Americans “discovered” the American West, they fell in love with the resplendent landscape. The love affair and its congenital flaws persists to this day.Bayles writes: “. . . the question is why my people bungled our occupation of the West so badly when no one really wanted to, when there was every chance to get it right, when voices of caution were constantly raised, when what needed to be done was frequently obvious, and when, occasionally, we did get it right (think: National Parks).”Notes on a Shared Landscape engages the issues that make the West the West—widely ranging over the autobiographical and the cultural, the ecological and the epistemological, the cow and the potato. This is an intensely personal book, and though the Western library is huge, there is not another book like it. Much of the text unfolds in Yellowstone, where Bayles writes:In the Lamar valley of the Yellowstone, beaver gnaw the trunks of cottonwoods, elk browse their leaves. The shadows are long, even in summer. Even so, it is just another place. In it, just as elsewhere, we see the marks of our own hands faintly because we don’t have to know very much about the land we live in, because we are equally a part of and apart from nature, and because there is hardly any moment when humans are more delusional than when self recognition is required.

    In 2003, the Pentagon discovered, through the use of satellite technology, an anomaly beneath this ancient sphinx. This book chronicles the discovery of these modern day artefacts.

    One -- Dave Flynn -- knows war, the land, and the nature of his prey. The other is a kid lieutenant named Bowers. But there's a different kind of war happening in Soyopa. And if Flynn and his young associate choose the wrong allies -- and the wrong enemy -- they won't be getting out alive.

     Teach Me to Love Izzy Lawson has taken her last abuse. When her husband dies, she has a choice to make: go home and face the family who made her stay with the beast, or head to Belle Fourche to the only friend she has left. The reserve she's worked so hard to build crumbles in the verdant rolling hills, and in the arms of a man so different from her husband. Conrad Oleson can't read, and it's shamed him for longer than he can remember. When another teacher shows up on his front step, he's sure his brother is meddling again. But when Izzy reveals her painful past, he can't stay away. And if learning to read brings him closer to her, he'll do about anything for her. Including, teaching her how to love. What the Heart Holds Arnold's first love died in the Cheyenne river. He’s sure he’s had his one love. To guard his heart, he wants nothing to do with women. No one could ever compare to his Lynellen. He will work hard, be respectful, and never forget. Stephenia is the new teacher in Belle Fourche when she almost meets her Maker. Arnold saved her life, and maybe her heart. She’s avoided relationships her whole life, afraid of the pain of loss. When she finally gives up on him, he has to choose between the love he’s lost and the one who found him. Deep Longing of the Soul Eli Oleson killed a man. Never mind that he did it to save the lives of others, it’s eaten his soul to shreds. Nothing matters. When he injures himself breaking a horse, he has little reason to recover, except for the feisty English nurse who keeps pestering him. Anne Hammond is a skilled nurse, trained in curing the sick and treating the wounded, but some wounds don't heal as easily. She's seen war and heartache and left England for the American west to forget the images that haunt her. When a cowboy, broken in more ways than she can see, winds up on her examining table, will she be skilled enough to assist in his healing? Or will his wounds only open the ones she thought she'd left behind? Don't miss these sweet, western, cowboy romances bringing love from loss.

    It is often praised as one of the best books to read if you want to get ahead in life. This got me to thinking, “why isn’t there anything like this for our community?” We have a lot of people talking about what we need to do, what we should do, and what we could do as a community, but nothing con-crete that we could all sit down with, learn from, and relate to on an individual level. The 48 Laws of Black Empowerment was written to bridge the gap between individual action and a united black community. This book is broken down into six areas of importance to the black community. 1. Personal 2. Family 3. Finance 4. Community 5. Philanthropy 6. Activism By working to improve ourselves as an individual in these areas, it will automatically result in a shift in black community consciousness. While The 48 Laws of Power is a great book, it just wasn’t written with us or our community in mind. The 48 Laws of Black Empowerment is about getting ahead in business and life, while also helping your friends, family and community get ahead with us. This is book is by us and for us.

    This book lets you hop aboard a little sailboat and join the author on a three-year-long voyage across French Polynesia, where you will discover some of the most interesting places, people and wildlife of the South Pacific. From the world-famous island of Bora Bora to the remotest atolls of the Tuamotus, experience the challenges and rewards of the seafaring life as you dive with dolphins and sharks, sail under the stars, drink from fresh coconuts in the company of heavily-tattooed men, brave heavy storms and violent currents, play with stingrays, drift down coral rivers and meet fellow sailors from across the world. Beautifully illustrated with dozens of stunning photos, this book is the perfect companion for anyone curious about a different kind of life. Readers have said: Reading the book, I was surrounded by unfamiliar colours and overwhelmed by the scent of flowers I had never touched. I could feel the soft sand beneath my feet and slipped beneath the water to swim in the deep silence of the ocean. Returning to the surface, I encountered the smiles of people who were content in the here and now, embodying the freedom and softness of their lives, their lively hips moving in its rhythm. We should all go there once to bathe in the endless sunshine, the grace of carelessness and faith in life, even if only by reading this book… Translated from Slovene by Kaja Šeruga Edited by Mitja Tretjak Design by Ivica Jandrijevic

    This book provides information on spas and massage, as well as surfing, diving, snorkelling and trekking. It features a food and drink chapter by a local culinary guru, an architecture chapter providing insight on Bali's ancient temples and monuments, and more.

    Now Garfield takes on a subject even dearer to our fanatical human hearts: maps.Imagine a world without maps. How would we travel? Could we own land? What would men and women argue about in cars? Scientists have even suggested that mapping—not language—is what elevated our prehistoric ancestors from ape-dom. Follow the history of maps from the early explorers’ maps and the awe-inspiring medieval Mappa Mundi to Google Maps and the satellite renderings on our smartphones, Garfield explores the unique way that maps relate and realign our history—and reflect the best and worst of what makes us human.Featuring a foreword by Dava Sobel and packed with fascinating tales of cartographic intrigue, outsize personalities, and amusing “pocket maps” on an array of subjects from how to fold a map to the strangest maps on the Internet, On the Map is a rich historical tapestry infused with Garfield’s signature narrative flair. Map-obsessives and everyone who loved Just My Type will be lining up to join Garfield on his audacious journey through time and around the globe.

    These marvellous and mysterious phantoms - non-existent islands, invented mountain ranges, mythical civilisations and other fictitious geography - were all at various times presented as facts on maps and atlases. This book is a collection of striking antique maps that display the most erroneous cartography, with each illustration accompanied by the story behind it.      Exploration, map-making and mythology are all brought together to create a colourful tapestry of monsters, heroes and volcanoes; swindlers, mirages and murderers. Sometimes the stories are almost impossible to believe, and remarkably, some of the errors were still on display in maps published in the 21st century. Throughout much of the 19th century more than 40 different mapmakers included the Mountains of Kong, a huge range of peaks stretching across the entire continent of Africa, in their maps - but it was only in 1889 when Louis Gustave Binger revealed the whole thing to be a fake. For centuries, explorers who headed to Patagonia returned with tales of the giants they had met who lived there, some nine feet tall. Then there was Gregor MacGregor, a Scottish explorer who returned to London to sell shares in a land he had discovered in South America. He had been appointed the Cazique of Poyais, and bestowed with many honours by the local king of this unspoiled paradise. Now he was offering others the chance to join him and make their fortune there, too - once they had paid him a bargain fee for their passage...       The Phantom Atlas is a beautifully produced volume, packed with stunning maps and drawings of places and people that never existed. The remarkable stories behind them all are brilliantly told by Edward Brooke-Hitching in a book that will appeal to cartophiles everywhere.

    But as it turned out, that very rock bottom became the most firm foundation she had ever planted her feet on. A foundation so solid, it finally provided the springboard she needed to outrun the taunting shadow of unworthiness that she'd tried to escape her whole life. Now she wants readers to see that though life may not always be lighthearted and happy and shiny, each woman is deserving of the life she dreams of and hopes for. Nothing readers do can ever take away from their worthiness or enough-ness in God's eyes. This book is for any woman who wants to overcome heartbreak, claim her healing and step into wholeness!

    He encounters sumptuous landscapes, spectacular wildlife, strange rituals and desperate poverty.

    Douglas and his partner NYPD Detective Mark Zucarelli on the streets of New York City as they find themselves in the middle of raging drug wars.The Colombian Cartels are flooding the streets with cocaine. They are violent and ruthless criminals.The Mob has been cut out. What will they do?The FBI and the NYPD have an uneasy alliance.Who can be trusted?Does everyone have bad intent?Inspired by my years on the FBI-NYPD Drug Task Force, BAD INTENT will take you to the dark side of the drug wars.Peek into the hearts and minds of the FBI Agents and NYPD Detectives on the front lines.Do you have BAD INTENT?