It's also a book full of entertainment and wonders. In The Song of the Dodo, we follow Quammen's keen intellect through the ideas, theories, and experiments of prominent naturalists of the last two centuries. We trail after him as he travels the world, tracking the subject of island biogeography, which encompasses nothing less than the study of the origin and extinction of all species. Why is this island idea so important? Because islands are where species most commonly go extinct -- and because, as Quammen points out, we live in an age when all of Earth's landscapes are being chopped into island-like fragments by human activity. Through his eyes, we glimpse the nature of evolution and extinction, and in so doing come to understand the monumental diversity of our planet, and the importance of preserving its wild landscapes, animals, and plants. We also meet some fascinating human characters. By the book's end we are wiser, and more deeply concerned, but Quammen leaves us with a message of excitement and hope.

    They live everywhere—deep inside caves, 18,000 feet high in the Himalayas, inside computers, in Yellowstone’s hot springs, and in the ears and nostrils of much larger creatures. There are insects that have ears on their knees, eyes on their penises, and tongues under their feet. Most of us think life would be better without bugs. In fact, life would be impossible without them. Most of us know that we would not have honey without honeybees, but without the pinhead-sized chocolate midge, cocoa flowers would not pollinate. No cocoa, no chocolate. The ink that was used to write the Declaration of Independence was derived from galls on oak trees, which are induced by a small wasp. The fruit fly was essential to medical and biological research experiments that resulted in six Nobel prizes. Blowfly larva can clean difficult wounds; flour beetle larva can digest plastic; several species of insects have been essential to the development of antibiotics. Insects turn dead plants and animals into soil. They pollinate flowers, including crops that we depend on. They provide food for other animals, such as birds and bats. They control organisms that are harmful to humans. Life as we know it depends on these small creatures. With ecologist Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson as our capable, entertaining guide into the insect world, we’ll learn that there is more variety among insects than we can even imagine and the more you learn about insects, the more fascinating they become. Buzz, Sting, Bite is an essential introduction to the little creatures that make the world go round.

    Yet this is the first book to tell the story of rain. Cynthia Barnett's  Rain begins four billion years ago with the torrents that filled the oceans, and builds to the storms of climate change. It weaves together science—the true shape of a raindrop, the mysteries of frog and fish rains—with the human story of our ambition to control rain, from ancient rain dances to the 2,203 miles of levees that attempt to straitjacket the Mississippi River. It offers a glimpse of our "founding forecaster," Thomas Jefferson, who measured every drizzle long before modern meteorology. Two centuries later, rainy skies would help inspire Morrissey’s mopes and Kurt Cobain’s grunge. Rain is also a travelogue, taking readers to Scotland to tell the surprising story of the mackintosh raincoat, and to India, where villagers extract the scent of rain from the monsoon-drenched earth and turn it into perfume. Now, after thousands of years spent praying for rain or worshiping it; burning witches at the stake to stop rain or sacrificing small children to bring it; mocking rain with irrigated agriculture and cities built in floodplains; even trying to blast rain out of the sky with mortars meant for war, humanity has finally managed to change the rain. Only not in ways we intended. As climate change upends rainfall patterns and unleashes increasingly severe storms and drought, Barnett shows rain to be a unifying force in a fractured world. Too much and not nearly enough, rain is a conversation we share, and this is a book for everyone who has ever experienced it.

    If you're yearning to get out of the rut you're in and cultivate more meaning and connection in your life, you'll find the encouragement and tools to make it happen in Digging Deep.Overflowing with tips, exercises, and resources, Fran Sorin's empowering guide offers much-needed inspiration in today's technology-obsessed and often nature-deprived culture. This new edition features a foreword by Larry Dossey and a new introduction, where Sorin encourages us to discover the magic that takes place every day―in the garden and in life―as we engage in a playful type of creating. In her acclaimed classic, Sorin, who is a coach, speaker, writer, trainer, the CBS radio news gardening correspondent, Huffington Post contributor, and co-founder of the award-winning blog GardeningGoneWild.com, shows you how to apply her Seven Stages of Creative Awakening to unearth and connect with your own creative essence in every area of your life. You can learn more about Fran and receive free tools to help you improve your life at: fransorin.com

    Rancher. Entrepreneur. Restaurateur. Wife. Mother. Together with her husband, Brian, they own Five Marys Farms and are raising their four daughters--all namedMary--while pasture-raising cattle, pigs, and heritage lambs. Their work ethic is as strong as their commitment to family, and Mary believes in nourishing meals shared together--in their cozy cabin in winter and around the outdoor camp kitchen in summer. In these 75 satisfying, homespun recipes you’ll find something for every meal and mood, including Mary’s favorite beef, pork, and lamb dishes, as well as the secret to her famous sidecars! Evocative photos capture the breathtaking beauty of the ranch, the carefree joy of the girls with their horses, the majestic Great Pyrenees who roam the land, and so much more. Get ready to fall in love with ranch life, hearty recipes, and the Five Marys. Some of Mary’s favorite recipes include: Homemade English MuffinsLoaded Carne Asada NachosWood-Fired Porterhouse Steak with Mushroom- Shallot SauceChili-Rubbed Pork Chops with Charred-Corn SalsaGrilled Lamb Sliders with Tomato Chutney and HavartiCrispy Brussels Sprout Salad with Citrus-Maple VinaigretteCast-Iron Hasselback PotatoesMary’s Lemon-Bourbon SidecarsSweet Drop Biscuits with Grilled Peaches and Cream.

    It's harrowing, tender-hearted, and funny as hell. O'Connell proves himself to be a genius guide through all the circles of imagined and anticipated doom." --Jenny Offill By the author of the award-winning To Be a Machine, an absorbing, deeply felt book about our anxious present tense--and coming to grips with the futureWe're alive in a time of worst-case scenarios: The weather has gone uncanny. Our old postwar alliances are crumbling. Everywhere you look there's an omen, a joke whose punchline is the end of the world. How is a person supposed to live in the shadow of such a grim future? What does it mean to have children--nothing if not an act of hope? What might it be like to live through the worst? And what on Earth is anybody doing about it?Dublin-based writer Mark O'Connell is consumed by these questions--and, as the father of two young children himself, he finds them increasingly urgent. In Notes from an Apocalypse, he crosses the globe in pursuit of answers. He tours survival bunkers in South Dakota. He ventures to New Zealand, a favored retreat of billionaires banking on civilization's collapse. He engages with would-be Mars colonists, preppers, right-wing conspiracists. And he bears witness to those places, like Chernobyl, that the future has already visited--real-life portraits of the end of the world as we know it. In doing so, he comes to a resolution, while offering readers a unique window into our contemporary imagination.Both investigative and deeply personal, Notes from an Apocalypse is an affecting, humorous, and surprisingly hopeful meditation on our present moment. With insight, humanity, and wit, O'Connell leaves you to wonder: What if the end of the world isn't the end of the world?

    It also addresses such timely issues as the use of cars as weapons of mass murder in places like Charlottesville, VA.

    Indignant at the silence on the issue in India, she wrote an article for an Indian women’s magazine questioning how we perceive rape and rape victims. Thirty years later her story went viral in the wake of the 2012 fatal gang rape in Delhi and the global outcry that followed. In 2013, Abdulali published an op-ed in the New York Times called “After Being Raped, I Was Wounded; My Honor Wasn’t” that was widely circulated. Now, as the #metoo and #timesup movements blow open the topic of sexual assault and rape, What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape is a brilliant and entirely original contribution to our understanding.Drawing on her own experience, her research, her work with hundreds of survivors as the head of a rape crisis center in Boston, and three decades of grappling with the issue as a feminist intellectual and writer, Abdulali examines the contemporary discourse about rape and rape culture, questioning our assumptions and asking how we want to raise the next generation. She interviews survivors whose moving personal stories of hard-won strength, humor, and wisdom collectively tell the larger story of how societies may begin to heal.Abdulali also explores what we don’t say. Is rape always a life-defining event? Does rape always symbolize something? Is rape worse than death? Is rape related to desire? Who gets raped? Is rape inevitable? Is one rape worse than another? How does one recover a sense of safety and joy? How do we raise sons? Is a world without rape possible? Both deeply personal and meticulously researched, What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape is a rallying cry and required reading for us all.

    And yet, this extremely common human experience is so poorly understood. What are we to make of this time-honored taboo—universally forbidden yet universally practiced? Why do people cheat—even those in happy marriages? Why does an affair hurt so much? When we say infidelity, what exactly do we mean? Do our romantic expectations of marriage set us up for betrayal? Is there such a thing as an affair-proof marriage? Is it possible to love more than one person at once? Can an affair ever help a marriage? Perel weaves real-life case stories with incisive psychological and cultural analysis in this fast-paced and compelling book.For the past ten years, Perel has traveled the globe and worked with hundreds of couples who have grappled with infidelity. Betrayal hurts, she writes, but it can be healed. An affair can even be the doorway to a new marriage—with the same person. With the right approach, couples can grow and learn from these tumultuous experiences, together or apart.Affairs, she argues, have a lot to teach us about modern relationships—what we expect, what we think we want, and what we feel entitled to. They offer a unique window into our personal and cultural attitudes about love, lust, and commitment. Through examining illicit love from multiple angles, Perel invites readers into an honest, enlightened, and entertaining exploration of modern marriage in its many variations.Fiercely intelligent, The State of Affairs provides a daring framework for understanding the intricacies of love and desire. As Perel observes, “Love is messy; infidelity more so. But it is also a window, like no other, into the crevices of the human heart.”

    A sweet, instantly relatable diary comic about self-discovery, mental health, relationships, and childhood. From bouts with anxiety and insecurity to the thrill of simple pleasures like secretly trying other people’s coats on at a party, she’s figuring things out as she goes along, navigating domestic life with her husband, Pat (aka “the Purple Guy”), and sharing her most embarrassing thoughts and habits so you don’t have to.For anyone who struggles with self-confidence or just likes to scrutinize the curious workings of relationships and everyday life, the confessional comic gems of “Underpants & Overbites” will make you laugh, think, and feel less alone.

    . . ______________ Following her culinary adventure across Britain and primetime BBC2 cookery series, Nadiya presents her British Food Adventure, featuring mouth-wateringly delicious recipes from the programme and more . . . Whip-up classic British dishes with a twist. · Cayenne eggs benedict, soft poached eggs on an English muffin with smoked turkey rashers and cayenne hollandaise sauce. · A quick and easy grilled aubergine and feta tart on flaky, buttery puff pastry. · A West Indian tropical hit of fruity, fragrant pink peppercorn pineapple jam to top sweet scones and coconut cream. The ultimate exotic treat. ________ 'The best kind of cookbook . . . you can read it like a novel' The Times Nadiya Hussain was crowned the nation's winner of 2015's Great British Bake Off. Famed for her talent and adventurous flavour choices, she sets off on a journey around the country to meet some of the finest growers, producers and pioneers behind the best of modern British food. Inspired by her exploration, Nadiya has created over 120 easy and enticing new recipes that mix the local ingredients she encounters with her very favourite flavours, not forgetting a nod to her Bangladeshi roots. Her reinvented classics capture the diversity of twenty-first century Britain - of tastes and culinary influences that shape what we love to cook and eat today.Lavishly photographed, Nadiya's must-try recipes have got you covered from breakfast through to supper, whether you need fast mid-week meals, lunch on the hop, something a little bit special, or gorgeous pudding or party ideas. Motivated by her love of family and food, flavour and fun, this is Nadiya cooking in the way she knows best - inspiring the rest of us to do the same. ________ Look out for Nadiya's Family Favourites . . . Nadiya's latest cookbook ________ 'She baked her way into our hearts and hasn't stopped since' Prima

    Lorraine reinvents traditional favourites (her amazing brownies) but shows us neat shortcuts to cut the fat or the sugar-without losing any of the flavour. They are goodies with goodness. Each recipe has a comparison with a standard version so you can see just how much better for you Lorraine's way is. A perfect Christmas gift for every baker in your life - or buy it for yourself to have an indulgent but healthy Christmas.

    Her first book, Skinny Italian, showcased the health benefits of Old World Italian cuisine. Now she returns with 60 more flavorful family recipes straight from Salerno--with an emphasis on preparing, serving, and eating meals with the ones you love. Teresa shares her simple, inexpensive, and "fabulicious" dishes, including: • Secret family recipes: Featuring her Mama's meatballs and her mother-in-law's Ti Amo Tiramisu, the dessert that loves you back.• Celebration cooking: From one-dish feasts to the perfect potluck take-alongs, including entertaining tips for any occasion.• Light lunches: Spotlighting lighter fare, smaller portions, and sensational salads (as well as Panini!).• Kid friendly meals: How to go beyond mac-and-cheese, and get little ones involved in the kitchen.Whether you're packing lunches or fixing a weekend feast, Teresa has just the recipe that will keep your family coming back for more--and living La Bella Vita!

    500 full-color photographs.From the Hardcover edition.

    Learn about different types of bento boxes and accessories, how to assemble your box, and everyday items you will need in your pantry, as well as how to plan ahead so that your morning prep is a breeze.Simply Bento shows you the finer points of bento-making, and there is something for everyone:Classic Japanese BentoSandwich Bento Sushi and Onigiri BentoNoodle BentoPopular Japanese Bento10-Minute Bento Rice and Grain Bowl BentoLow-Carb BentoVegan BentoBento for Special Occasions (including for the first day of school and Halloween!)Bento at HomeSo, if you're in the mood for Chicken Teriyaki, Ramen, Shrimp Avocado Pasta Salad, Cauliflower Fried Rice, Falafel, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Tempura, or Chicken Nuggets (for the kids), Simply Bento has the recipes—plus much more!