Book picks similar to
Plantsman's Paradise: Travels in China by Roy Lancaster
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Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend
Barbara Oakley - 2007
Starting with psychology as a frame of reference, Oakley uses cutting-edge images of the working brain to provide startling support for the idea that "evil" people act the way they do mainly as the result of a dysfunction. In fact, some deceitful, manipulative, and even sadistic behavior appears to be programmed genetically—suggesting that some people really are born to be bad. But there are unexpected fringe benefits to "evil genes." We may not like them—but we literally can’t live without them. Oakley deftly ties together the big picture implications of revolutionary neuroscientific and genetic discoveries, showing the eerily similar behavioral tics of Mao, Stalin, Hitler, and Slobodan Milosevic. The dramatic recent scientific findings presented in Evil Genes shed light not only on dictators far afield, but on politics at home, as well as business, religion, and everyday life. In fact, history has been shaped by the strange confluence of genes and environment that science is just now beginning to understand. Oakley links the latest findings of molecular research to a wide array of seemingly unrelated historical and current phenomena, from the harems of the Ottomans and the chummy jokes of "Uncle Joe" Stalin, to the remarkable memory of investor Warren Buffet. Throughout, she never loses sight of the personal cost of evil genes as she unravels the mystery surrounding her sister’s enigmatic life—and death. Evil Genes is a tour-de-force of popular science writing that brilliantly melds scientific research with intriguing family history and puts both a human and scientific face to evil.
For Freaks Only: Story 1 (Dark Chocolate)
Justin Amen Floyd - 2013
This torrid series of sizzling, nasty, erotic short stories are guaranteed to leave you hot, bothered and... spent. Behind closed doors... everybody's a freak. Open the door and cum inside. You just might see a familiar face or two. Who knows; you might even see yourself. ;)
Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude - Book Summary in 1,000 Words
Read Less Know More - 2013
“Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude - Book Summary in 1,000 Words” is exactly what it suggests – a 1,000-word summary of “One Hundred Years of Solitude”. This download will give you a first-person view into the story of this book. It will give you better insight into whether this is something that you want to read and even better, you can do it all within 15 minutes or less. It’s literally the twitter of the e-book world. What makes Salinger - Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude - Book Summary in 1,000 Words different from other books is that we have combined the essence of book summary and our love for books, creating a way for readers to pre-read books before buying them. If you’ve ever wasted your time reading a book that wasn’t interesting, you know how big of a difference this could make. Knowing exactly what you’re about to read without getting too many spoilers will help readers make better decisions about the books they download. Now, you’ll be able to get the gist of any story in 1,000 words or less. If you would like to read more book summaries in 1,000-word (all the most famous books - best classics of all times) – please search for book summaries published by 'Read Less Know More'. A lot of people buy e-books without having this useful insight and this sometimes leads to disappointment. Now, you can minimize this probability with our innovative form of e-book publishing using 1,000-word Book Summaries.
Behind Closed Doors: Harry Briscombe Detective Mystery Crime Series, Prequel Novella. (A DI Harry Briscombe Crime Thriller Mystery)
Carolyn Mahony - 2018
When his wife, Serena, accuses him of physical abuse and calls the police, PC Harry Briscombe is put onto the investigation in what proves to be his last case before transferring to CID. Ed Hamilton dismisses his wife as a fantasist with a habit of making false claims against him. His wife claims that this is not the first time he has hit her and that this time she will follow through with a Prosecution. As Harry probes further, he realises the extreme intricacies involved in establishing the truth. For who can ever really be sure what goes on behind closed doors? A gripping, page-turning Prequel Novella by the author of Cry From The Grave, The Jagged Line and Shadow Watcher. If you like Rachel Abbott, Claire Mackintosh and Patricia Gibney, then you'll love this series.
Amazon Prime and Lending Library: Getting the Most Value From Your Prime Subscription
Steve Weber - 2014
Everything you need to know to get the most bang from your Prime bucks.
A Hood Nigga Fetish 3
Johnazia Gray - 2015
Even though the ladies have been through hell and back with their boyfriends, they’ve always stood by their men.Hennessey and Desmond tried so hard to let go of the Hood life, but thirsty women and money hungry niggas would not let them fully leave the streets. They both are now on a haunting spree to find Stacy who is on the run after shooting Jessica and leaving her for dead. The surprises that come with Stacy will have the men questioning if touching her in any way is even possible.Keice is keeping a horrible secret from her sister while trying her best to live with it, and not sell her boyfriend out. If she tells Tara that Hennessey killed Ricky the entire family would go down for good. However, here is just one question…Is Keice more loyal to her sister or her man?”Things seem to be crumbling right before their eyes. Will Hennessey move on, or will he try to work it out with the girl who has stuck it out with him through all the BS?This juicy finale is filled with so much drama, action, betrayal, love, and lust. Will things stay the same or will love eventually prevail?
51 Accidental Inventions that Changed the World
Kimte Guite - 2019
The wonderful inventions we now cannot live without—fromhigh-heels to tea-bags, pencils to x-rays, each story is an amazing mix of luck and a whole lot ofperseverance and hard work.Imagine what our hot summers would be without ice-lolly? The horrors of never tasting potatochips!What would we do without our quick-fix Superglue? We hardly give a thought to the manylittle things we use every day. Don’t you think it’s time we learnt about a few stories of origin?Where do they come from? Who invented them and how?Learn about 51 fascinating stories of inventions in a book blending adorable, simple illustrationswith lively text bursting with facts. Who knows, you might accidentally come up with an inventionone day too
Reprisal (John Hayes #5)
Mark David Abbott - 2020
Everyone knows revenge is a dish best served cold but no-one knows this better than John Hayes.After dealing with the mercenaries sent to kill him in Oman, John realizes he can never live in peace knowing that the man who sent them, the man ultimately responsible for endangering the woman he loves, is still roaming free.To hunt him down John must return to where it all began.India.
Down to Ride Til the Very End
Mercedes G. - 2016
Whenever push comes to shove, Desire will go and get it by any means. At 19 years young, she’s no rookie to the streets and she’ll do whatever it takes to survive. The brutal death of her parents, and being repeatedly raped by her uncle for years is to blame. All she needs is money, and her best friends Isyss and Reign by her side. Everything else is irrelevant until she meets a young savage by the name of Yung. With all that has happened in her life, Yung becomes her knight in shining armor, she becomes the air that he breathes. As a kid, Yung was left in the care of his poor excuse for a father; Big Rah, when his mother decided that she no longer wanted to be a mother anymore. She may as well had left him for dead because Big Rah’s only concern was drugs, leaving Yung home alone many nights to fend for himself, and that’s exactly what he did. Down to Ride Til the Very End is sure to take you on a ride; a ride that is filled with love, triumphs, trials, and betrayal. Do they have what it takes to ride until the end or will these challenges break this unstoppable duo apart?
The Land of Stories Collection 3 Book Set (The Land of Stories, #1-3)
Chris Colfer
The Land of Stories Chirs Colfer Collection 3 Books Set RRP £ 20.97 Titles in the Set The Wishing Spell, The Enchantress Returns, A Grimm Warning
Strong at the Broken Places
Clayton Lindemuth - 2018
Lindemuth did a magnificent job with this intensely personal story." --San Francisco Book Review
Nick Fister's the winningest ultra-runner ever, but he's paid a price. His daughter Tuesday took her own life. His wife is sleeping with his crew chief, Floyd. And his "greatest fan" — an ex-Marine sniper — has progressed from creepy stalker to deadly menace. Nick's chosen Death Valley's Badwater 135 as the brutal capstone to his career. When Floyd fails to show at race start, Nick begins without him — and learns shortly later Floyd was stabbed to death the night before. Nick Fister always wins, and his relentless focus keeps him in the race. But soon the Inyo County Deputies learn about Nick's cheating wife. The troubled business partnership. The life insurance. Did Nick murder Floyd, while queuing a psychotic sniper to take the fall? Or is Nick Fister running for his life? Grab STRONG AT THE BROKEN PLACES and prepare for a marathon reading session. "One of those books that’s going to stick with me for a while." --Manhattan Book Review "A story about finding yourself, facing your inner demons, forgiving, dealing with loss, and despite all that, still moving forward." --Seattle Book Review ★★★★★ "Wrenching... Relentless... Cathartic... Enlightening..." ★Praise for Clayton Lindemuth★ Clayton Lindemuth's works have been smashingly reviewed by Publishers Weekly (starred review and best of the week), Indie Next List, Kirkus, BlueInk Review, Foreword Reviews, Seattle Book Review, Manhattan Book Review, Indie Reader, Reader Views, Spinetingler Magazine, Hardboiled Wonderland, various independent best of the year mentions, (Spinetingler and DoSomeDamage, among others). Clayton's novels Cold Quiet Country and My Brother's Destroyer have been published in France by Le Seuil, and have been charmingly reviewed by Le Monde, La Croix, Le Figaro.
Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches?: And Other Bird Questions You Know You Want to Ask
Mike O'Connor - 2007
Since that time he has answered thousands of questions about birds, both at his store and while walking down the aisles of the supermarket. The questions have ranged from inquiries about individual species ("Are flamingos really real?") to what and when to feed birds ("Should I bring in my feeders for the summer?") to the down-and-dirty specifics of backyard birding ("Why are the birds dropping poop in my pool?"). Answering the questions has been easy; keeping a straight face has been hard.Why Don't Woodpeckers Get Headaches? is the solution for the beginning birder who already has a book that explains the slight variation between Common Ground-Doves and Ruddy Ground-Doves but who is really much more interested in why birds sing at 4:30 A.M. instead of 7:00 A.M., or whether it's okay to feed bread to birds, or how birds rediscover your feeders so quickly when you've just filled them after a long vacation. Or, for that matter, whether flamingos are really real.
The Theory of Evolution: A History of Controversy
Edward J. Larson - 2001
What makes evolution such a profoundly provocative concept, so convincing to most scientists, yet so socially and politically divisive? The Theory of Evolution: A History of Controversy is an examination of the varied elements that so often make this science the object of strong sentiments and heated debate. Professor Edward J. Larson leads you through the "evolution" of evolution, with an eye toward enhancing your understanding of the development of the theory itself and the roots of the controversies that surround it. In these lectures you will: Explore pre-Darwinian theories of the origins of life, from Genesis and the ancient Greeks to such 18th- and 19th-century scientists as Georges Cuvier and Chevalier de Lamarck Follow the life and work of Charles Darwin, and the impact of his 1859 masterpiece, On the Origin of Species. Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection was immediately recognized as a threat to traditional religion, but was quickly accepted (the first printing of Origin of Species sold out on the first day) Examine the history of evolutionary science after Darwin-a fascinating story that includes the "rediscovery," after 35 years, of Gregor Mendel's work on genetic variation; the unearthing of prehominid, or early human, fossils by Raymond Dart in 1925 and the Leakey family in the 1950s; and the confusion created by the sensational, but later discredited, discovery of Piltdown Man-a fake evolutionary "missing link"-in 1912 Trace the history of religious objections to evolution, from those of Darwin's own time to contemporary efforts to teach creation science in American schools. This includes a detailed discussion of the famous Scopes "monkey trial," which in fact was a staged media event, designed to create publicity for the town of Dayton, Tennessee. Are Our Genes more Important than We Are? This course makes it clear that the history of controversy surrounding evolution is not limited to a dispute between science and religion. Even within the scientific community, the fine details of the theory of evolution have long been a matter of passionate dispute. In fact, in the last third of the 19th century, the principal objections were scientific, not religious. Although the fossil record was a key piece of evidence for evolution, it had gaps that could be used to argue against the theory. And both proponents and critics wondered how altruistic human qualities such as love and generosity could possibly have evolved through the competitive, often harsh, processes that Darwin described. From Professor Larson's presentation, you will learn that new ideas in evolution science have often created new controversies. For example, is it truly possible, as some scientists now maintain, that humans exist merely to ensure the survival of their genes? Such research has created disagreement among scientists about the degree to which evolution drives human behavior, and has further alienated many segments of the public. Evolution's "Dark Side": Social Darwinism In these lectures, you will review perhaps the most sinister controversy associated with the theory of evolution: social Darwinism. From the beginning, the Darwinian theory of evolution has been linked to economic and political views. Thomas Malthus's theories of population growth and competition for limited resources even inspired Darwin's thinking on natural selection. Unfortunately, later supporters of evolution carried this line of thinking too far. Beginning with Herbert Spencer, who coined the term "survival of the fittest," Darwin's ideas were used as evidence for a wide range of social beliefs, from laissez-faire capitalism to racism, colonialism, and, in perhaps the worst application, Nazism. In the United States, social Darwinism has served as a basis for the creation of IQ tests and for eugenics programs that resulted in the forced sterilization of thousands of mentally ill or retarded Americans. Unsettling Implications: The Growing Gulf Between Science and Religion During the late 19th century, largely through the efforts of scientists who sought to integrate evolutionary science with spiritual belief, evolution was widely accepted by the religious community in the United States. Today, this is hardly the case. In his last four lectures, Professor Larson examines the trends that have, since 1920, widened the gulf between science and religion. These include an increase in fundamentalist Protestantism, the weakening of liberal Protestantism as a counteracting force, and the growing power of a firmly conservative South. In the 1960s, federally funded neo-Darwinian textbooks provoked a conservative backlash. Beginning with the publication of Henry M. Morris's The Genesis Flood, efforts to gain equal time for the teaching of creation science, based on biblical teachings, gathered strength. Rebuffed by the courts, creationism continues to thrive through the increasing numbers of private Christian schools and through home schooling. The growing gulf between science and religion has unsettling implications for our society. Large segments of the American population reject the naturalism of current evolutionary thinking. Nine of 10 Americans believe in spiritual causes for life, with only 10 percent accepting the purely naturalistic explanations espoused by evolution. Strikingly, these statistics are almost exactly the opposite among the scientific community. A Pulitzer Prize-Winning Teacher As both a historian of science and a professor of law, Professor Edward J. Larson brings exceptional qualifications to this subject. His book, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion, won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in History. His analysis provides an invaluable perspective on the volatile history of what is arguably the single most significant idea of modern times.