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The Heirloomed Kitchen

Ashley Schoenith

“Fans of Ree Drummond’s ‘Pioneer Woman’ culinary brand and Jill Winger’s ‘Prairie Homestead’ books will find Schoenith’s charming debut to be an equally beguiling introduction to cooking good old-fashioned food and living a simpler life.”—Library Journal

“The Heirloomed Kitchen is a beautiful, inspiring cookbook marked by warm Southern hospitality and nostalgia for days gone by.”—Foreword Reviews

Ashley Schoenith’s The Heirloomed Kitchen: Made-from-Scratch Recipes to Gather Around for Generations takes us back to our grandmother’s kitchen with enticing aromas and made-from-scratch meals cooked with love.

This carefully curated cookbook with nostalgic-style photography beautifully presents the food while also showcasing heirloom cookware, serving vessels and utensils, and the gracious gentility of Southern hospitality. The recipes are slow-paced and packed with family memories taken from those splattered, handwritten recipe cards passed down from mother to child to grandchild.

The 100 plus recipes, along with elegant photography, bring you to the table for family meals with breakfasts, appetizers, soups, salads, main dishes, sides, desserts, special holiday gatherings, and, of course, classic drinks for the cocktail hour. You’ll find Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits, Fried Green Tomatoes, Chicken and Dumplings, St. George Island Shrimp and Grits, Cornmeal-Fried Okra, Banana Pudding Cups, Wild Strawberry Shortcakes, Derby Mint Juleps, and Back Porch Sun Tea all calling you to the dining room for food, family, and memory making.

More accolades:

The Heirloomed Kitchen is a visually stunning book, beautifully styled with Ashley's textiles and family keepsakes. Ashley's organic sensibility to both her day job, as a textile designer, and her approachable and comforting family of recipes make me want to dive in and live in this book. If you do not already have a soft spot for the south, it's heritage, traditions and history, follow Ashley's recipes for gathering around a table, a well set table, and enjoy your family and friends.”—Anne Quatrano, author of Summerland, chef & owner, Bacchanalia & Star Provisions

“It's no surprise that Ashley's strong sense of place rings true throughout this beautiful book. Nods to Ice Milk and Parker House Rolls were a reminder to rediscover the simple recipes tied to memories of my childhood. Her thoughtful notes, storied recipes, and signature aesthetic will no doubt inspire readers to honor and create their own unique traditions around the table.”—Carrie Morey, author of Hot Little Suppers & owner of Callies Hot Little Biscuit

The Heirloomed Kitchen is a treasure trove of time-honored recipes that celebrate the cherished tradition of gathering together around dishes that will always feel like home. Each page is a delicious journey, and Ashley has masterfully captured the joy of Southern cooking. This book is a must-have for anyone who believes the best meals are made with love and enjoyed with family."—Courtney Dial Whitmore, author of The Southern Entertainer's Cookbook.

Edited by Kate 

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ADUs

Sheri Koones

“A beautiful book for readers researching affordable options for chic yet environmentally friendly ADU construction.”—Library Journal

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are good for people and communities. An inside look at 25 charming, ultra-functional, extra living spaces will inspire you to build one of your own!

An Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) is a smaller housing unit built on the same lot as a primary dwelling (also known as Additional or Auxiliary Dwelling Units) — think granny flat, in-law unit, laneway house). It has an arrangement for sleeping, cooking, and lavatory. An ADU can be detached, attached, a garage conversion, or a basement conversion. The uses are myriad—for family members, guest spaces, rental income, or more.

These attractive, well-designed ADUs are located from coast to coast across the US and Canada. Each house includes information about the type of construction, the major green features, and how it is used. A variety of styles (e.g., laneway houses, garage conversions, and stand-alone independent structures, and ones connected to the primary house) show versatility and ways to blend new ADUS into the architecture of the primary house and neighborhood.

Each featured ADU shows how to make the most of the small space for comfortable living without the burden of a big house to care for.

More Accolades:

“The contemporary architectural designs are sleek, and the environmentally friendly features offer insight into how housing can be made more efficient. This is worth a look.”—Publishers Weekly

Edited by Kate 

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Judaism Is About Love

Shai Held

A profound, startling new understanding of Jewish life, illuminating the forgotten heart of Jewish theology and practice: love.

A dramatic misinterpretation of the Jewish tradition has shaped the history of the West: Christianity is the religion of love, and Judaism the religion of law. In the face of centuries of this widespread misrepresentation, Rabbi Shai Held—one of the most important Jewish thinkers in America today—recovers the heart of the Jewish tradition, offering the radical and moving argument that love belongs as much to Judaism as it does to Christianity. Blending intellectual rigor, a respect for tradition and the practices of a living Judaism, and a commitment to the full equality of all people, Held seeks to reclaim Judaism as it authentically is. He shows that love is foundational and constitutive of true Jewish faith, animating the singular Jewish perspective on injustice and protest, grace, family life, responsibilities to our neighbors and even our enemies, and chosenness.

Ambitious and revelatory, Judaism Is About Love illuminates the true essence of Judaism—an act of restoration from within.

Edited by Kate 

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New and Selected Poems

Marie Howe

Characterized by "a radical simplicity and seriousness of purpose, along with a fearless interest in autobiography and its tragedies and redemptions" (Matthew Zapruder, New York Times Magazine), Marie Howe's poetry transforms penetrating observations of everyday life into sacred, humane miracles. This essential volume draws from each of Howe's four previous collections--including What the Living Do (1997), a haunting archive of personal loss, and the National Book Award-longlisted Magdalene (2017), a spiritual and sensual exploration of contemporary womanhood--and contains twenty new poems. Whether speaking in the voice of the goddess Persephone or thinking about aging while walking the dog, Howe is "a light-bearer, an extraordinary poet of our human sorrow and ordinary joy" (Dorianne Laux).

Edited by Kate 

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Says Who?

Anne Curzan

A kinder, funner usage guide to the ever-changing English language and a useful tool for both the grammar stickler and the more colloquial user of English, from linguist and veteran professor Anne Curzan
 
“I was bowled over, page after page, by the author’s fine ear for our language and her openhearted erudition. I learned a lot, and I couldn’t have enjoyed myself more.”—Benjamin Dreyer, New York Times bestselling author of Dreyer’s English

Our use of language naturally evolves and is a living, breathing thing that reflects who we are. Says Who? offers clear, nuanced guidance that goes beyond “right” and “wrong” to empower us to make informed language choices. Never snooty or scoldy (yes, that’s a “real” word!), this book explains where the grammar rules we learned in school actually come from and reveals the forces that drive dictionary editors to label certain words as slang or unacceptable.

Linguist and veteran English professor Anne Curzan equips readers with the tools they need to adeptly manage (a split infinitive?! You betcha!) formal and informal writing and speaking. After all, we don’t want to be caught wearing our linguistic pajamas to a job interview any more than we want to show up for a backyard barbecue in a verbal tux, asking, “To whom shall I pass the ketchup?” Curzan helps us use our new knowledge about the developing nature of language and grammar rules to become caretakers of language rather than gatekeepers of it. Applying entertaining examples from literature, newspapers, television, and more, Curzan welcomes usage novices and encourages the language police to lower their pens, showing us how we can care about language precision, clarity, and inclusion all at the same time.

With lively humor and humanity, Says Who? is a pragmatic and accessible key that reveals how our choices about language usage can be a powerful force for equity and personal expression. For proud grammar sticklers and self-conscious writers alike, Curzan makes nerding out about language fun.

Edited by Kate 

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Code Noir

Lelani Lewis

"VERDICT Informative and full of big flavors, this is a delicious and accessible introduction to Caribbean food for novices; will be a welcome addition to library shelves." —Library Journal

Through 80+ recipes, Code Noir tells the interesting and complex story of Caribbean cuisines that are not only incredibly rich in flavor but also in history.

Code Noir is a cookbook steeped in history. Not just because of the title, which hits on a seventeenth-century decree in which King Louis XIV recorded how enslaved Africans in the French colonies were to be treated, but also because it deals with the food and the people that, through the gruesome course of history, came together in the Caribbean.

Inside, chef and culinary activist Lelani Lewis goes back to her Caribbean roots with classics like jerk chicken, salted cod fritters, pepperpot stew, and Guinness punch. She also shares new creations with typically Caribbean ingredients like cassava, corn, coconut, lime, plantain, and chilies: plantain with peanut and lime salsa, sweet potato gratin with ginger cream, and crème anglaise of creamed corn and caramelized guava.

Edited by Kate 

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Welcome to AI

David L. Shrier

A fascinating guide to the rapidly advancing world of artificial intelligence and how this powerful technology will impact our lives, our careers, and our world.

Artificial intelligence is driving workforce disruption on a scale not seen since the Industrial Revolution.

In schools and universities AI technology has forced a reevaluation of the way students are taught and assessed. Meanwhile, ChatGPT has become a cultural phenomenon, reaching a hundred million users and attracting a reputed $1 trillion investor interest in its parent company, OpenAI.

The race to dominate the generative AI market is accelerating at breakneck speed, inspiring breathless headlines and immense public interest.

Welcome to AI provides a rare view into a frontier area of computer science that will change everything about how you live and work. Read this book and better understand how to succeed in the AI-enabled future.

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Egyptian Made

Leslie T. Chang

An incisive exploration of women and work, showing how globalization’s promise of liberation instead set the stage for repression—from the acclaimed author of Factory Girls

“Exhaustively reported and researched, Egyptian Made takes us halfway across the world and inside the intimate lives of women caught between tradition and independence.”—Monica Potts, New York Times bestselling author of The Forgotten Girls

What happens to the women who choose to work in a country struggling to reconcile a traditional culture with the demands of globalization? In this sharply drawn portrait of Egyptian society—deepened by two years of immersive reporting—Leslie T. Chang follows three women as they persevere in a country that throws up obstacles to their progress at every step, from dramatic swings in economic policy to conservative marriage expectations and a failing education system.

Working in Egypt’s centuries-old textile industry, Riham is a shrewd businesswoman who nevertheless struggles to attract workers to her garment factory and to compete in the global marketplace. Rania, who works on a factory assembly line, attempts to climb to a management rank but is held back by conflicts with co-workers and the humiliation of an unhappy marriage. Her colleague Doaa, meanwhile, pursues an education and independence but sacrifices access to her own children in order to get a divorce.

Alongside these stories, Chang shares her own experiences living and working in Egypt for five years, seeing through her own eyes the risks and prejudices that working women continue to face. She also weaves in the history of Egypt’s vaunted textile industry, its colonization and independence, a century of political upheaval, and the history of Islam in Egypt, all of which shaped the country as it is today and the choices available to Riham, Rania, and Doaa. Following each woman’s story from home and work, Chang powerfully observes the near-impossible balancing act that Egyptian women strike every day.

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No Judgment

Lauren Oyler

A 2024 MOST ANTICIPATED READ -- The Millions, BookPage, LitHub, and more

From the national bestselling novelist and essayist, a groundbreaking collection of brand-new pieces about the role of cultural criticism in our ever-changing world.

In her writing for Harper's, the London Review of Books, The New Yorker, and elsewhere, Lauren Oyler has emerged as one of the most trenchant and influential critics of her generation, a talent whose judgments on works of literature--whether celebratory or scarily harsh--have become notorious. But what is the significance of being a critic and consumer of media in today's fraught environment? How do we understand ourselves, and each other, as space between the individual and the world seems to get smaller and smaller, and our opinions on books and movies seem to represent something essential about our souls? And to put it bluntly, why should you care what she--or anyone--thinks?

In this, her first collection of essays, Oyler writes with about topics like the role of gossip in our exponentially communicative society, the rise and proliferation of autofiction, why we're all so "vulnerable" these days, and her own anxiety. In her singular prose--sharp yet addictive, expansive yet personal--she encapsulates the world we live and think in with precision and care, delivering a work of cultural criticism as only she can.

Bringing to mind the works of such iconic writers as Susan Sontag, Pauline Kael, and Terry Castle, No Judgment is a testament to Lauren Oyler's inimitable wit and her quest to understand how we shape the world through culture. It is a sparkling nonfiction debut from one of today's most inventive thinkers.

Edited by Kate 

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The Backyard Homestead Guide to Growing Organic Food

Tanya Denckla Cobb

This essential guide to growing a bountiful food garden includes detailed seed-starting, growing, and harvesting information for 62 vegetables, fruits, and herbs, a complete companion-planting guide, and organic pest-control handbook.

The latest addition to Storey's bestselling Backyard Homestead series, The Backyard Homestead Guide to Growing Organic Food is a one-stop reference for all the key information food gardeners need to grow a healthy, bountiful garden. Author Tanya Denckla Cobb presents key information based on extensive research and years of experience, including when to start seeds for each type of crop (and at what temperature), how far apart to space seedlings, how to tell when a crop is ready to harvest, and notes on preservation. The book features a comprehensive companion planting guide and an in-depth review of the most effective organic pest control practices, including recipes for how to make your own pest deterrent sprays.

Edited by Kate 

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Houseplant Hookups

Agatha Isabel

Taking its cues from the wonderful world of online dating, Houseplant Hookups explores the pros and cons of cohabitating with different houseplants.

★ “Isabel, who hails from three generations of plant-loving family members, shares her expertise and knowledge of houseplants in this amusing, informative book, best for neophyte horticulturists who might not yet have a green thumb.”—Library Journal, Starred Review

Cohabitation is a big step in any relationship, so to make sure you don’t get stuck with a deadleaf, Houseplant Hookups digs up all the dirt on 35 prospective houseplant partners. By first setting the foundation for a successful relationship with information on purchasing, propagating, and basic plant care, it’ll be easy to know when you’ve found the One.

Does your apartment have a scenic view of a brick wall? The Snake Plant thrives in low light. Tend to forget you’re even in a relationship? The Golden Pothos is anything but codependent and won’t hold neglect against you. Far more helpful than your average Tinder profile, Houseplant Hookups will help you decide if a relationship with a Fiddle Leaf Fig is more likely to be a fling or a forever kind of love.

Not sure where to start? Take the Cosmo-inspired quiz to narrow down your matches.

The perfect gift for any plant or gardening enthusiast, these illustrated dating profiles are as hilarious as they are informative.

More Accolades:

“The playful profiles provide a helpful overview of common houseplants, and Degnan’s colorful illustrations accentuate the distinguishing characteristics of each....Readers curious about what houseplant is right for them will want to consult this.”—Publishers Weekly

“The book is absolutely fantastic. Witty, clever, tasteful, beautiful... unique. One of a kind. I also love how the book feels in your hands. The quality of the printing and colors are magnificent.”—Alina Fassakhova, New York Based artist and plant enthusiast

Houseplant Hookups is a fun book, with a creative approach to an otherwise fairly mundane topic. It engages readers with indoor horticulture and reminds us that no matter how big (or small) the garden, there is a perfect plant out there for all of us.”—Alice Bennett on Reedsy

 

“Agatha Isabel's Houseplant Hookups is the perfect book for people whose brown thumbs have let many a plant die. Clear explanations, a friendly tone, and lots of humor ease plant-shy readers into trying for plant love again.”—Shelf Awareness

Edited by Kate 

 

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Big Bites

Kat Ashmore

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the creator of Kat Can Cook comes 110 simple, nourishing, mostly gluten-free recipes that are big on flavor and reimagine the concept of “healthy food.”

Kat Ashmore’s mission is to empower hungry readers everywhere to feed themselves and their loved ones well and have fun doing it. Rather than focusing on restriction or deprivation, she asks: What can we add to our plates? After she turned to TikTok for a creative outlet, her series of big, meal-in-a-bowl salads, known affectionately as “Hungry Lady Salads,” went viral on social media, and she found a likeminded community of home cooks who wanted to fall in love with cooking again.

In Ashmore's debut cookbook, she shares 110 wholesome, comforting mostly gluten-free recipes that are full of flavor, nourishment, and fun—and meant to be devoured in big bites! With her signature personality and joy, this cookbook is a celebration of nature and seasonality and encourages home cooks to rethink familiar ingredients. From Hungry Lady Salads and weeknight dinners to snacks and desserts, Big Bites shares recipes for

• Breakfasts: Avocado Toast with Hot Honey; Goat Cheese Fried Eggs
• Snacks: Burrata with Roasted Grapes; 5-Minute Tzatziki
• Hungry Lady Salads: Shaved Caesar Salad with Fennel and Crispy Chickpeas; Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Sesame Date Dressing
• Weeknights: Honey Mustard Roasted Salmon; One-Pot Pasta with Chicken Sausage + Broccoli
• Sunday Suppers: The Ultimate Beef Meatloaf with Caramelized Onions and Horseradish; Crispy Cod Cakes with Tartar Sauce
• Veggies + Sides: Salt and Vinegar Smashed Potatoes; Parmesan Roasted Zucchini
• Desserts: Orange Ricotta Company Cake; Extra Fudgy Avocado Brownies
• Secret Weapons: Quick Pickled Red Onions; Any-Green Sauce

Bring joy back into your kitchen with Kat Ashmore and Big Bites!

Edited by Kate 

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The Witch of New York

Alex Hortis

Before the sensational cases of Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony—before even Lizzie Borden—there was Polly Bodine, the first American woman put on trial for capital murder in our nation’s debut media circus.

On Christmas night, December 25, 1843, in a serene village on Staten Island, shocked neighbors discovered the burnt remains of twenty-four-year-old mother Emeline Houseman and her infant daughter, Ann Eliza. In a perverse nativity, someone bludgeoned to death a mother and child in their home—and then covered up the crime with hellfire.

When an ambitious district attorney charges Polly Bodine (Emelin’s sister-in-law) with a double homicide, the new “penny press” explodes. Polly is a perfect media villain: she’s a separated wife who drinks gin, commits adultery, and has had multiple abortions. Between June 1844 and April 1846, the nation was enthralled by her three trials—in Staten Island, Manhattan, and Newburgh—for the “Christmas murders.”

After Polly’s legal dream team entered the fray, the press and the public debated not only her guilt, but her character and fate as a fallen woman in society. Public opinion split into different camps over her case. Edgar Allen Poe and Walt Whitman covered her case as young newsmen. P. T. Barnum made a circus out of it. James Fenimore Cooper’s last novel was inspired by her trials.

The Witch of New York is the first narrative history about the dueling trial lawyers, ruthless newsmen, and shameless hucksters who turned the Polly Bodine case into America’s formative tabloid trial. An origin story of how America became addicted to sensationalized reporting of criminal trials, The Witch of New York vividly reconstructs an epic mystery from Old New York—and uses the Bodine case to challenge our system of tabloid justice of today.

Edited by Kate 

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3 Shades of Blue

James Kaplan

From the author of the definitive biography of Frank Sinatra, the story of how jazz arrived at the pinnacle of American culture in 1959, told through the journey of three towering artists—Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans—who came together to create the most iconic jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue

The myth of the ’60s depends on the 1950s being the “before times” of conformity, segregation, straightness—The Lonely Crowd and The Organization Man. This all carries some truth, but it does nothing to explain how, in 1959, America’s great indigenous art form, jazz, reached the height of its power and popularity, thanks to a number of Black geniuses so legendary they go by one name—Monk, Mingus, Rollins, Coltrane, and, above all, Miles. Nineteen fifty-nine saw Miles, Coltrane, Bill Evans, and more come together to record what is widely considered the greatest jazz album of all time, and certainly the bestselling: Kind of Blue.

3 Shades of Blue is James Kaplan’s magnificent account of the paths of the three giants to the mountaintop of 1959 and beyond. It’s a book about music, and business, and race, and heroin, and the towns that gave jazz its home, from New Orleans and New York to Kansas City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and LA. It’s an astonishing meditation on creativity and the strange hothouses that can produce its full flowering. It’s a book about the great forebears of this golden age, particularly Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, and the disrupters, like Ornette Coleman, who would take the music down truly new paths. And it’s about why the world of jazz most people know is a museum to this never-replicated period.

But above all, 3 Shades of Blue is a book about three very different men—their struggles, their choices, their tragedies, their greatness. Bill Evans had a gruesome downward spiral; John Coltrane took the mystic’s path into a space far away from mainstream concerns. Miles had three or four sea changes in him before the end. The tapestry of their lives is, in Kaplan’s hands, an American odyssey with no direction home. It is also a masterpiece, a book about jazz that is as big as America.

Edited by Kate 

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Ghost Dogs

Andre Dubus, 3rd

During childhood summers in Louisiana, Andre Dubus III's grandfather taught him that men's work is hard. As an adult, whether tracking down a drug lord in Mexico as a bounty hunter or grappling with privilege while living with a rich girlfriend in New York City, Dubus worked--at being a better worker and a better human being.

In Ghost Dogs, Dubus's nonfiction prowess is on full display in his retelling of his own successes, failures, triumphs, and pain. In his longest essay, "If I Owned a Gun," Dubus reflects on the empowerment and shame he felt in keeping a gun, and his decision, ultimately, to give it up. Elsewhere, he writes of a violent youth and of settled domesticity and fatherhood, about the omnipresent expectations and contradictions of masculinity, about the things writers remember and those they forget. Drawing upon kindred literary spirits from Rilke to Rumi to Tim O'Brien, Ghost Dogs renders moments of personal revelation with emotional generosity and stylistic grace, ultimately standing as essential witness and testimony to the art of the essay.

Edited by Kate 

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Revolutions in American Music

Michael Broyles

The story of how unexpected connections between music, technology, and race across three tumultuous decades changed American culture.

 

How did a European social dance craze become part of an American presidential election? Why did the recording industry become racially divided? Where did rock 'n' roll really come from? And how do all these things continue to reverberate in today's world?

 

In Revolutions in American Music, award-winning author Michael Broyles shows the surprising ways in which three key decades--the 1840s, the 1920s, and the 1950s--shaped America's musical future. Drawing connections between new styles of music like the minstrel show, jazz, and rock 'n' roll, and emerging technologies like the locomotive, the first music recordings, and the transistor radio, Broyles argues that these decades fundamentally remade our cultural landscape in enduring ways. At the same time, these connections revealed racial fault lines running through the business of music, in an echo of American society as a whole.

Through the music of each decade, we come to see anew the social, cultural, and political fabric of the time. Broyles combines broad historical perspective with an eye for the telling detail and presents a variety of characters to serve as focal points, including the original Jim Crow, a colorful Hungarian dancing master named Gabriel de Korponay, "Empress of the Blues" Bessie Smith, and the singer Johnnie Ray, whom Tony Bennett called "the father of rock 'n' roll." Their stories, and many others, animate Broyles's masterly account of how American music became what it is today.

Edited by Kate 

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Last to Eat, Last to Learn

Pashtana Durrani

From young Afghani activist and Amnesty International Global Youth Ambassador Pashtana Durrani, a deeply inspiring memoir about the power of learning and the value of educators in their many forms – from teachers, mentors, and role models, to fathers, mothers, and any one of us with the drive to stand against ignorance…

A Ms. Magazine Pick for Most Anticipated Feminist Books


“Pashtana’s story highlights the resourcefulness and bravery of young women in Afghanistan. I hope readers will be inspired by her mission to give every girl the education she deserves and the opportunity to pursue her dreams.”—Malala Yousafzai

Inspired by generations of her family’s unwavering belief in the power of education, Pashtana Durrani recognized her calling early in life: to educate Afghanistan’s girls and young women, raised in a society where learning is forbidden. In a country devastated by war and violence, where girls are often married off before reaching their teenage years and prohibited from leaving their homes, heeding that call seemed both impossible and dangerous.

Pashtana was raised in an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan where her father, a tribal leader, founded a community school for girls within their home. Fueled by his insistence that despite being a girl, she mattered and deserved an education, Pashtana was sixteen when, against impossible odds, she was granted a path out of the refugee camp: admittance to a preparatory program at Oxford. Unthinkably and to her parents’ horror, she chose a different path. She chose Afghanistan.

Pashtana founded the nonprofit LEARN and developed a program for getting educational materials directly into the hands of girls in remote areas of the country, training teachers in digital literacy. Her commitment to education has made her a target of the Taliban. Still, she continues to fight for women’s education and autonomy in Afghanistan and beyond.

Courageous and inspiring, Last to Eat, Last to Learn is the story of how just one person can transform a family, a tribe, a country. It reminds us of the emancipatory power of learning and the transformational potential that lies within each of us.

A portion of proceeds from Last to Eat, Last to Learn will be donated to LEARN (LearnAfghan.org), the NGO dedicated to providing quality education and healthcare to communities in conflict zones.

Edited by Kate 

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In True Face

Jonna Mendez

"Jonna Hiestand Mendez began her CIA career as a "contract wife," a second-class citizen who was hired as a convenience to her husband, a young officer stationed in Switzerland. She needed his permission to open a bank account or shut off the gas to her apartment, and she performed menial duties for the CIA. Despite battling sexism at all levels of the agency, Mendez's talent for espionage was clear, and she soon took on bigger and more significant roles. She lived under cover and served tours of duty all over the globe, as well as at CIA Headquarters. She confronted dangerous situations that called on her spy training: coming face to face with a rogue Jihadi who had brought down an American plane, and helping steal a top-secret encryption machine from a Soviet embassy, among other high stakes situations. She became an international spy and ultimately Chief of Disguise at CIA's Office of Technical Service--a kind of female American version of James Bond's famous "Q." In this breakthrough memoir, Mendez recounts not only the drama of her international spy career but the grit and good fortune it took for her to navigate the CIA's misogynistic world. She was undermined, harassed, and threatened, and saw colleagues experience worse. While maintaining a patriotic mission and working to advance her own career, she was a firsthand witness to the cost of this gendered culture, both to the women who worked there, and to the interests of the agency and the nation it serves. In True Face is both clear-eyed and dramatic: the story of an incredible spy career, and what it took to achieve it"--

 

Edited by Kate

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Metaracism

Tricia Rose

The definitive book on how systemic racism in America really works, revealing the vast and often hidden network of interconnected policies, practices, and beliefs that combine to devastate Black lives



In recent years, condemnations of racism in America have echoed from the streets to corporate boardrooms. At the same time, politicians and commentators fiercely debate racism's very existence. And so, our conversations about racial inequalities remain muddled.



In Metaracism, pioneering scholar Tricia Rose cuts through the noise with a bracing and invaluable new account of what systemic racism actually is, how it works, and how we can fight back. She reveals how--from housing to education to criminal justice--an array of policies and practices connect and interact to produce an even more devastating "metaracism" far worse than the sum of its parts. While these systemic connections can be difficult to see--and are often portrayed as "color-blind"--again and again they function to disproportionately contain, exploit, and punish Black people.



By helping us to comprehend systemic racism's inner workings and destructive impacts, Metaracism shows us also how to break free--and how to create a more just America for us all.

Edited by Kate 

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Kawaii Doodle Café

Faith Varvara

Your table is ready . . . Learn to draw over 100 adorable doodles of your favorite snacks, desserts, drinks, and more!

Welcome to the Kawaii Doodle Café, where popular kawaii artist Faith Varvara shows you how to draw over 100 cute and tasty foods, both sweet and savory, with easy-to-follow step-by-step tutorials, including breakfast, lunch, snacks, à la carte items, pastries, desserts, and drinks, along with tableware. This adorable book includes:
 

  • A simple drawing style perfect for beginner artists of all ages.
  • Delectable foods and drinks from around the world, including Tiramisu, Crème Brûlée, Strawberry Parfait, Avocado Toast, Breakfast Burrito, Japanese Omurice, Bubble Tea, and much more!
  • A cozy café aesthetic.
  • A fun introduction about the café and its cute, talented staff.
  • Tips for drawing and coloring your foods.
  • Endless options to customize the foods to create your own feasts. 
  • Coloring pages.


Soon enough, you’ll be a regular customer, filling your sketchbook with a delicious memory every time you visit.

Keep doodling away as you collect all the fun books in the Kawaii Doodle series, which include: Kawaii Doodle Class, Mini Kawaii Doodle Class, Kawaii Doodle Cuties, Mini Kawaii Doodle Cuties, Kawaii Doodle World, Kawaii Kitties, and Kawaii Doggies.

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Otter Country

Miriam Darlington

"Beguiling. The gentle and persistent search by Darlington sparkles." --The Guardian

A plan formed in my mind. I would explore the places in this land that hid my grail. I would spend a whole year or longer, if that's what it took, wading through marshes, hiding between mossy rocks, paddling down rivers and swimming in sea lochs; recording my journey through the seasons as I searched for wild otters.

Mysterious, graceful, and ever-clever, otters have captivated our imaginations, despite the fact that few people have encountered one in the wild. In Otter Country, celebrated nature writer Miriam Darlington captures the fascination she's had for these playful animals since childhood, and chronicles her immersive journey into their watery world.

Over the course of a single year, Darlington takes readers on a winding expedition in pursuit of these elusive creatures--from her home in Devon, England, and through the wilds of Scotland, Wales, the Lake District, and the countryside of Cornwall. As she's drawn deeper into wilder habitats, trekking through changing landscapes, seasons, and weather, Darlington meets biologists, conservationists, fishing and hunting enthusiasts, and poets--enriching her understanding, admiration, and awe of the wild otter. With each encounter, she reveals the scientific, environmental, and cultural importance of this creature and the places it calls home.

Full of wonder, hope, and an abiding love for the natural world, Otter Country: An Unexpected Adventure in the Natural World is a beautiful and captivating work of nature writing, pursuing one of nature's most endearing and endlessly fascinating creatures.

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How Not to Kill Your Houseplant New Edition

Veronica Peerless

How to keep alive 119 gorgeous indoor plants, then help them bloom and thrive.

You've welcomed a plant into the home: Now what? Your first job is to keep it alive, then after that help it bloom and thrive. Learn all the tips and tricks you need to become a proud plant parent--of more than 100 different plants (if you're up for it)!

Yellowed leaves, drooping leaves, dried leaves, even though you've watered it: What's going on? How Not to Kill Your Houseplant will explain--and fix--your houseplant woes.

Learn to spot the danger signs and take the proper action to rescue your sick plant.

Follow quick tips to understand what your plant does and doesn't like: how much light, water, food, heat, and humidity.

Discover the perfect plant for your unique space and needs. Bathrooms, cold rooms, at a desk, on a windowsill, or in a gloomy corner or hot suntrap--there are plants for every location to create your own indoor oasis.

This is your guide to every stage of plant parenting for beginners, from identifying exactly what's in the pot to keeping it in check when it grows too well!

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Supercommunicators

Charles Duhigg

 

NEW YORK TIMES BESTESLLER • From the author of The Power of Habit, a fascinating exploration of what makes conversations work—and how we can all learn to be supercommunicators at work and in life
“A winning combination of stories, studies, and guidance that might well transform the worst communicators you know into some of the best.”—Adam Grant, author of Think Again and Hidden Potential

Come inside a jury room as one juror leads a starkly divided room to consensus. Join a young CIA officer as he recruits a reluctant foreign agent. And sit with an accomplished surgeon as he tries, and fails, to convince yet another cancer patient to opt for the less risky course of treatment. In Supercommunicators, Charles Duhigg blends deep research and his trademark storytelling skills to show how we can all learn to identify and leverage the hidden layers that lurk beneath every conversation.

Communication is a superpower and the best communicators understand that whenever we speak, we’re actually participating in one of three conversations: practical (What’s this really about?), emotional (How do we feel?), and social (Who are we?). If you don’t know what kind of conversation you’re having, you’re unlikely to connect. 

Supercommunicators know the importance of recognizing—and then matching—each kind of conversation, and how to hear the complex emotions, subtle negotiations, and deeply held beliefs that color so much of what we say and how we listen. Our experiences, our values, our emotional lives—and how we see ourselves, and others—shape every discussion, from who will pick up the kids to how we want to be treated at work. In this book, you will learn why some people are able to make themselves heard, and to hear others, so clearly.

With his storytelling that takes us from the writers’ room of The Big Bang Theory to the couches of leading marriage counselors, Duhigg shows readers how to recognize these three conversations—and teaches us the tips and skills we need to navigate them more successfully.

In the end, he delivers a simple but powerful lesson: With the right tools, we can connect with anyone.

 

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Midwestern Food

Paul Fehribach

An acclaimed chef offers a historically informed cookbook that will change how you think about Midwestern cuisine.

Celebrated chef Paul Fehribach has made his name serving up some of the most thoughtful and authentic regional southern cooking—not in the South, but in Chicago at Big Jones. But over the last several years, he has been looking to his Indiana roots in the kitchen, while digging deep into the archives to document and record the history and changing foodways of the Midwest.

Fehribach is as painstaking with his historical research as he is with his culinary execution. In Midwestern Food, he focuses not only on the past and present of Midwestern foodways but on the diverse cultural migrations from the Ohio River Valley north- and westward that have informed them. Drawing on a range of little-explored sources, he traces the influence of several heritages, especially German, and debunks many culinary myths along the way.

The book is also full of Fehribach’s delicious recipes informed by history and family alike, such as his grandfather's favorite watermelon rind pickles; sorghum-pecan sticky rolls; Detroit-style coney sauce; Duck and manoomin hotdish; pawpaw chiffon pie; strawberry pretzel gelatin salad (!); and he breaks the code to the most famous Midwestern pizza and BBQ styles you can easily reproduce at home. But it is more than just a cookbook, weaving together historical analysis and personal memoir with profiles of the chefs, purveyors, and farmers who make up the food networks of the region.

The result is a mouth-watering and surprising Midwestern feast from farm to plate. Flyover this!

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Karma

Boy George

The Official Story of a Musical Icon─Told in Full for the First Time in his Own Words!

"The most entertaining music memoir since Elton John's Me... This is George O'Dowd in all his exhausting glory." Observer

#1 New Release in Gay Studies and LGBTQ+ Biographies

Karma is the definitive autobiography from the incomparable Grammy, Brit, and Ivor Novello award-winning lead singer of Culture Club, and LGBTQ+ vanguard: Boy George.

Nothing short of an amazing story. Karma is the long-anticipated celebrity memoir from Boy George. The memoir delivers a searingly honest and captivating account of his extraordinary life. Take a front-row seat to the highs and lows of a life lived in the spotlight. Boy George's compelling storytelling shines a light on his encounters with legendary figures like David Bowie, Prince, and Madonna, providing an intimate peek into the music industry's glittering world.

Humor, sarcasm, and signature style. This is the explosive and honest account of Boy George's life as a child growing up in sixties London and coming out to his Irish Catholic family. Hear his account of his exploration of his sexuality through the hedonism of the seventies (the glam rock and punk rock revolution that birthed Culture Club), his recollections of the heydays of the nineties, and his ultimately embracing the man and artist that he is today. For those seeking books on self-acceptance and recovery from addiction, Karma stands as an example of the transformative power of embracing one's true self.

Inside explore:

  • An explosive self-acceptance journey
  • The glitz and glamour as well as personal struggles that have shaped Boy George's life
  • An essential addition to the library of celebrity autobiographies and LGBTQ+ books for adults

Edited by Kate

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The Holocaust

Dan Stone

A revelatory new history that reexamines the brutal reality of the Holocaust-and reinterprets the events as a living trauma from which modern society has not yet recovered

One of the UK's most acclaimed books of the year: "Outstanding" (Times Literary Supplement); "Remarkable" (Guardian); "Important and challenging" (Jewish Chronicle); "Deeply haunting" (Telegraph)

The Holocaust is much discussed, much memorialized, and much portrayed. But there are major aspects of its history that have been overlooked.

Spanning the entirety of the Holocaust, this sweeping history deepens our understanding. Dan Stone--Director of the Holocaust Research Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London--reveals how the idea of "industrial murder" is incomplete: many were killed where they lived in the most brutal of ways. He outlines the depth of collaboration across Europe, arguing persuasively that we need to stop thinking of the Holocaust as an exclusively German project. He also considers the nature of trauma the Holocaust engendered, and why Jewish suffering has yet to be fully reckoned with. And he makes clear that the kernel to understanding Nazi thinking and action is genocidal ideology, providing a deep analysis of its origins.

Drawing on decades of research, The Holocaust: An Unfinished History upends much of what we think we know about the Holocaust. Stone draws on Nazi documents, but also on diaries, post-war testimonies, and even fiction, urging that, in our age of increasing nationalism and xenophobia, it is vital that we understand the true history of the Holocaust.

Edited by Kate

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Toxic

Sarah Ditum

A scathing reexamination of the lives of nine female celebrities in the 2000s, and the sexist, exploitative culture that took them down



Welcome to celebrity culture in the early aughts: the reign of Perez Hilton, celebrity sex tapes, and dueling tabloids fed by paparazzi who were willing to do anything to get the shot. It was a time when the Internet was still the Wild West, and when slut-shaming, fat-shaming, and revenge porn were all considered perfectly legitimate. Celebrity was seen as a commodity to be consumed, and for the famous women of this era, they were never as popular--or as vulnerable--as when they were in crisis.



Toxic tells the stories of nine women who defined the hell of celebrity in the 2000s and explores how they were devoured by fame, how they attempted to control their own narratives, and how they succeeded or (more often) failed. These women come from all walks of fame--pop music, acting, reality TV, and WWE wrestling. Some of them you think you know already, and others will be less familiar, but Toxic reveals these women neither as pure victims nor as conniving strategists, but as complex individuals trying to navigate celebrity while under attack from a vicious and fast-changing media. Their portrayal has shaped the way that all women--famous or otherwise--are viewed today, and their experiences preempted the now-universal condition, especially thanks to social media, of living under the public gaze.



In this book, Ditum brings readers back to a time before second chances and redemption arcs, and traces the ripple effects that came in the wake of spending a decade vilifying our idols. We'll see how these women's stories intersect with the birth of YouTube, the rise of Internet pornography, and the emergence of Donald Trump as a political force. It's time to come to terms with how those cultural events shaped the way we see ourselves, our bodies, our relationships, our aspirations, and our presence in the wider world. We are all products of the toxic decade.

 

Edited by Kate 

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The Survivors of the Clotilda

Hannah Durkin

Joining the ranks of Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Zora Neale Hurston's rediscovered classic Barracoon, an immersive and revelatory history of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on US soil, told through the stories of its survivors--the last documented survivors of any slave ship--whose lives diverged and intersected in profound ways.

The Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on American soil, docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in July 1860--more than half a century after the passage of a federal law banning the importation of captive Africans, and nine months before the beginning of the Civil War. The last of its survivors lived well into the twentieth century. They were the last witnesses to the final act of a terrible and significant period in world history.

In this epic work, Dr. Hannah Durkin tells the stories of the Clotilda's 110 captives, drawing on her intensive archival, historical, and sociological research. The Survivors of the Clotilda follows their lives from their kidnappings in what is modern-day Nigeria through a terrifying 45-day journey across the Middle Passage; from the subsequent sale of the ship's 103 surviving children and young people into slavery across Alabama to the dawn of the Civil Rights movement in Selma; from the foundation of an all-Black African Town (later Africatown) in Northern Mobile--an inspiration for writers of the Harlem Renaissance, including Zora Neale Hurston--to the foundation of the quilting community of Gee's Bend--a Black artistic circle whose cultural influence remains enormous.

An astonishing, deeply compelling tapestry of history, biography, and social commentary, The Survivors of the Clotilda is a tour de force that deepens our knowledge and understanding of the Black experience and of America and its tragic past.

The Survivors of the Clotilda includes 30 artworks and photographs.

Edited by Kate 

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I Did a New Thing

Tabitha Brown

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Feeding the Soul (Because It's My Business) presents an inspirational guide for encouraging positive changes in your life--one day and one challenge at a time.

I did a new thing today!

Years ago, Tabitha Brown started a 30-day personal challenge that she called "I Did a New Thing!" The challenge was simple. Every day she would do something she'd never done before. Sometimes it was something small like trying a new food. Other times, she'd step it up a bit and speak to someone she'd never spoken to before. Still other times, she'd do the hard thing--facing a fear that she had, like having that tough conversation with a friend. No matter what it was, the point was that she was going to take a leap of faith and watch God open up a new lane for her.

One of the "new things" she tried was a vegan challenge. She'd been struggling with illness for nearly a year and was desperately searching for healing. She challenged herself to eat vegan every day for thirty days, and six years later, her life has never been the same--all because she decided to do a new thing.

In I Did a New Thing, Tab shares her own stories and those of others, alongside gentle guidance and encouragement to create these incredible changes for yourself and see what good can come from them. Whether that means having the hard conversation or trying for a promotion or simply wearing something different or doing something kind for someone else, Tab has a plan for you: Try one new thing, every single day, for thirty days. You don't have to wait until Monday or the beginning of a new month or year to get started. There's no set time and place or any extra preparation required. All you have to do is show up for yourself. And that can start right now.

Edited by Kate 

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This Is What You're Really Hungry For

Kim Shapira, MS, RD

Quit your on-again, off-again relationship with dieting for good—and become healthier and happier than ever.

You've tried to eat only vegetables. You've tried to eat only meat. You've gone gluten-free, dairy-free, satisfaction-free—but you shouldn't have to. In fact, you don't have to.

It’s time to stop restricting yourself and learn to make your relationship with food healthy—without forcing yourself to eat "healthy."

Dietitian Kim Shapira has developed six simple rules that will change your relationship with food forever. In This Is What You’re Really Hungry For, she breaks down the science to get your brain and your body on board; replaces fad diets that do not last with a sustainable method that encourages you to eat what you love; and empowers you to be the authority in your own body.

Kim’s refreshing approach will help you:

  • Lose weight—or maintain your current weight
  • Resolve blood pressure issues
  • Improve your energy levels
  • Reframe your beliefs about food and why you eat
  • Identify foods that don’t love you back
  • Manage your emotions in authentic, healthy ways


Food should be a source of joy and nourishment in your life—not stress—and This Is What You’re Really Hungry For will help you get there. Featuring a foreword by Kaley Cuoco, this will be the last “diet” book you ever need—without ever asking you to go on a diet.

Edited by Kate 

 

 

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The Book at War

Andrew Pettegree

A "magisterial" (Sunday Times) illumination of how books were used in war across the twentieth century--both as weapons and as agents for peace



We tend not to talk about books and war in the same breath--one ranks among humanity's greatest inventions, the other among its most terrible. But as esteemed literary historian Andrew Pettegree demonstrates, the two are deeply intertwined. The Book at War explores the various roles that books have played in conflicts throughout the globe. Winston Churchill used a travel guide to plan the invasion of Norway, lonely families turned to libraries while their loved ones were fighting in the trenches, and during the Cold War both sides used books to spread their visions of how the world should be run. As solace or instruction manual, as critique or propaganda, books have shaped modern military history--for both good and ill.

With precise historical analysis and sparkling prose, The Book at War accounts for the power--and the ambivalence--of words at war.

Edited by Kate 

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Inside the Star Factory

Chris Gunn

A fascinating, ground-level backstage pass to the creation, launch, and reach of the James Webb Space Telescope.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the world’s largest orbiting astronomy observatory, is now nearly a million miles from Earth, probing the first stars and galaxies, documenting the structure and evolution of the universe, and searching for signs of life in other solar systems. In a series of extraordinary photographs, Inside the Star Factory tells the story of the Webb Telescope from conception to launch—a marvel of ingenuity and engineering that entailed more than 100 million people hours over a span of thirty years.

The project’s lead photographer Chris Gunn was there from the start, documenting the Webb’s tumultuous history—the behind-the-scenes details of its construction, from the cutting-edge technology required for an observatory operating at temperatures as low as –370°F, beyond reach for repair, to the human story of an engineering team pursuing an unprecedented goal under incomparable pressure. Derided as the “telescope that ate astronomy,” billions of dollars over budget, ten years over schedule, nearly canceled twice, Webb was simply too big to fail.

Accompanied by science writer Christopher Wanjek’s overview of the Webb’s history and profiles of the scientists and engineers who built it, this exclusive illustrated guide shows readers the heady world of scientific discovery at the very limits of human knowledge—and the very beginning of space and time.

Edited by Kate 

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Trash Talk

Rafi Kohan

"In the age of hot takes and trolling, this expansive and funny study of the art and science of trash talk reveals something essential about public life--and even human nature. In the modern economy and culture, fame and virality have become increasingly difficult to separate from success. From athletes to comedians to politicians to big-ticket CEOs, everyone seemingly has to manage their brand. Saying the wrong thing is often more profitable than saying the right one. We are all, it seems, engaged in a giant insult comedy roast, even when we don't want to be. The tradition of talking trash goes back to ancient Greece, and is not always innocent fun. Who gets to do it to whom, how, and when? In this energetic and wide-ranging book, Rafi Kohan takes the measure of this sneakily important practice. Talking to historians, athletes, comedians, and more, he describes what they do and why they do it, and also asks why it's so central to the human experience. From military stress tests at Fort Bragg to the basketball court to the Jeff Ross Roast Battle, he writes about what's funny and what's mean, where the line is, and the consequences--sometimes severe--of crossing it. Trash Talk is full of good jokes and bad jokes, name-calling and moralizing. But it's also belonging, freedom, and how to live with other people"--

Edited by Kate 

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The Golden Screen

Jeff Yang

From a New York Times bestselling author, this groundbreaking book celebrates and examines the history of Asian Americans on the big screen, exploring how iconic films have shaped Hollywood, representation, and American culture.



In 2018, the critical and financial success of Crazy Rich Asians ignited new fires in Hollywood to create and back Asian-centric stories. Since then, the number of movies featuring Asian Americans, either in front or behind the camera, has boomed and ushered in a new era of filmmaking. But many films, like The Joy Luck Club in 1993, paved the way for Asian American-led films before Crazy Rich Asians and to today. The Golden Screen is an in-depth look at those films, and the factors that played into their success.



The Golden Screen includes commentary and conversations from Hollywood's most visible faces, such as Simu Liu, Lulu Wang, Daniel Dae Kim, Janet Yang, Ronny Chieng, Alice Wu, and Ken Jeong. See the movies that inspired today's modern stars to enter moviemaking, and how they're paying it forward to the next wave of creators.



Featuring beautiful, original artwork from nine esteemed Asian illustrators, including: Toma Nguyen, barbarian flower, Jun Cen, Cryssy Cheung, Cliff Chiang, Yu-Ming Huang, JiYeun Kang, Ashraf Omar, and Zi Xu.



A beautiful keepsake and collection of over 100 photographs and original art, The Golden Screen is perfect for movie and history fans alike, and reaffirms the importance of the Asian American film canon, and all the people involved, in an increasingly diverse Hollywood.

Edited by Kate 

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How Art is Made

Debra N Mancoff

How Art Is Made looks at renowned works of art from across the centuries and around the globe and asks the intriguingly simple question – how were these works actually made?
 
Divided into two sections – materials and methods – each chapter showcases a single work of art which demonstrates the mastery and innovative use of a single material or method, from oil paint, pastel and pencil, to woodcut, litho and impasto. Each work is presented as the centerpiece of a capsule history, while comparative works are also included to help amplify our understanding.

How, for example, did Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel fresco, or Turner become such a master of watercolor? How did Warhol turn so effectively to screen printing, and how does Yayoi Kusama create such beguiling 'infinity rooms'?

The book enhances the experience of looking at great works of art and guides us to a deeper understanding of how they were created and why we regard them as so important.

Edited by Kate 

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Your Journey to Financial Freedom

Jamila Souffrant

*A Next Big Idea Club December 2023 Must-Read*

Podcaster Jamila Souffrant shows how to skyrocket your savings, blast through debt and ultimately accelerate your unique and truly epic journey to financial freedom and independence

Our fast-paced world prioritizes the productive busybody--financial security alwaysseems to rule over the insatiable hankering for a Friday night splurge. However, Jamila Souffrant argues that you can in fact spend and save responsibly, all while enjoying that extra side of guacamole. In this book, Jamila will teach you how to:

  • Determine which of the 4 "Journeyer" stages you fall into and how you should be evaluating your spending and saving goals accordingly
  • Map out different scenarios to quit your job, retire early, and reach financial independence
  • Downsize costly daily expenses in ways you never considered, and spend more in ways that bring you joy
  • Create an effective debt payoff plan that works for you

 


As a wife, mother of three and first-generation Jamaican immigrant, Jamila knows all too well the struggles of saving for tomorrow while spending liberally today. Now, in her first book, Jamila offers her seasoned expertise in Your Journey to Financial Freedom, providing readers with the resources they need to not only save for cake but eat it, too.

Edited by Kate 

 

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The Queer Film Guide

Kyle Turner

Enjoy your night in with these movies that tell queer stories.

Have you noticed something about every “100 Greatest Movies Ever Made” list? The people in those movies . . . they’re almost all straight, white men. With so much incredible cinema to choose from, those lists only begin to peer into the cinematic and wider world.

It’s time to push past the gatekeepers of what makes a movie “great” or “culturally significant” and get a broader view of what’s out there. Kyle Turner has selected 100 of cinema’s greatest queer films that are often overlooked but foundational to the art form and the wider culture.

Starting in early cinema with trailblazers like Making a Man of Her and Different from Others, the list progresses through the eras, from Hitchcock’s Rope to cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show to today’s fast-growing list of queer films, including Carol, The Duke of Burgundy, and Moonlight. From lesser-known names to Academy Award winners, The Queer Film Guide offers a fresh take on what defines great cinema, lending a voice to the diverse creators and characters who’ve shaped the art form.

Edited by Kate 

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Into Siberia

Gregory J. Wallance

"In Wallance’s bracing narrative, Kennan emerges as a cheerful, deeply decent companion, an uncompromising observer whose greatest strength was his ability to change his mind. He’s a welcome change from the callous imperialists who people most Victorian travelogues, and his humanity allows Into Siberia to delve into horror without succumbing to despair." — The New York Times Book Review

In a book that ranks with the greatest adventure stories, Gregory Wallance’s Into Siberia is a thrilling work of history about one man’s harrowing journey and the light it shone on some of history’s most heinous human rights abuses.


In the late nineteenth century, close diplomatic relations existed between the United States and Russia. All that changed when George Kennan went to Siberia in 1885 to investigate the exile system and his eyes were opened to the brutality Russia was wielding to suppress dissent.

Over ten months Kennan traveled eight thousand miles, mostly in horse-drawn carriages, sleighs or on horseback. He endured suffocating sandstorms in the summer and blizzards in the winter. His interviews with convicts and political exiles revealed how Russia ran on the fuel of inflicted pain and fear. Prisoners in the mines were chained day and night to their wheelbarrows as punishment. Babies in exile parties froze to death in their mothers’ arms. Kennan came to call the exiles’ experience in Siberia a “perfect hell of misery.”

After returning to the United States, Kennan set out to generate public outrage over the plight of the exiles, writing the renowned Siberia and the Exile System. He then went on a nine-year lecture tour to describe the suffering of the Siberian exiles, intensifying the newly emerging diplomatic conflicts between the two countries which last to this day.

Edited by Kate 

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Loaded

Dylan Jones

Drawing on contributions from remaining members, contemporaneous musicians, critics, filmmakers, and the generation of artists who emerged in their wake, this "monumental origin story" celebrates the legacy of the Velvet Underground, which burns brighter than ever in the 21st century (New York Times bestselling author Bob Spitz).

A "Must Read" by Nylon and​ BookRiot

Rebellion always starts somewhere, and in the music world of the transgressive teen--whether it be the 1960s or the 2020s--the Velvet Underground represents ground zero.

Crystallizing the idea of the bohemian, urban, narcissistic art school gang around a psychedelic rock and roll band--a stylistic idea that evolved in the rarefied environs of Andy Warhol's Factory--the Velvets were the first major American rock group with a mixed gender line-up. They never smiled in photographs, wore sunglasses indoors, and invented the archetype that would be copied by everyone from Sid Vicious to Bobby Gillespie. They were avant-garde nihilists, writing about drug abuse, prostitution, paranoia, and sado-masochistic sex at a time when the rest of the world was singing about peace and love. In that sense they invented punk and then some. It could even be argued that they invented modern New York.

Drawing on interviews and material relating to all major players, from Lou Reed, John Cale, Mo Tucker, Andy Warhol, Jon Savage, Nico, David Bowie, Mary Harron, and many more, award-winning journalist Dylan Jones breaks down the band's whirlwind of subversion and, in a narrative rich in drama and detail, proves why the Velvets remain the original kings and queens of edge.

Edited by Kate 

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The Language of Breath

Jesse Coomer

For breathwork fans who want to go deeper—20+ science-backed breathing practices to boost your energy, unlock your mind-body connection, and heal from chronic stress

Breathwork expert Jesse Coomer reveals how to breathe our way to better health, increased vitality, and mental clarity by unlocking The Language of Breath.

Using powerful, proven breathwork exercises, Coomer delivers a new paradigm to the world of breathwork: one that reconnects us to our innate mind-body wisdom and bridges the evolutionary disconnect between our bodies, brains, and the stressors of modern-day life.

By engaging with our breath as a language that we can listen to and learn, we can:

 

  • Combat the dysregulation, disconnection, and stressors of our always-on, hamster-wheel culture
  • Learn why contorting our natural sleep, wake, and eating cycles to fit modern-day schedules is making us sick
  • Use breathwork to reset and reclaim our natural agency and innate wisdom
  • Guard against the physical effects of overwork and chronic stress


With practical exercises and simple techniques, this book provides a step-by-step approach to using breath as a tool for self-discovery and transformation. From overcoming stress and anxiety to managing chronic illness, The Language of Breath is a must-read for anyone seeking to harness the power of their own breath to live a healthier, happier life.

Edited by Kate 

 

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Emperor of Rome

Mary Beard

In her international bestseller SPQR, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of ancient Rome, from its slightly shabby Iron Age origins to its reign as the undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean. Now, drawing on more than thirty years of teaching and writing about Roman history, Beard turns to the emperors who ruled the Roman Empire, beginning with Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) and taking us through the nearly three centuries--and some thirty emperors--that separate him from the boy-king Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE).

Yet Emperor of Rome is not your typical chronological account of Roman rulers, one emperor after another: the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, the philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Instead, Beard asks different, often larger and more probing questions: What power did emperors actually have? Was the Roman palace really so bloodstained? What kind of jokes did Augustus tell? And for that matter, what really happened, for example, between the emperor Hadrian and his beloved Antinous? Effortlessly combining the epic with the quotidian, Beard tracks the emperor down at home, at the races, on his travels, even on his way to heaven.

Along the way, Beard explores Roman fictions of imperial power, overturning many of the assumptions that we hold as gospel, not the least of them the perception that emperors one and all were orchestrators of extreme brutality and cruelty. Here Beard introduces us to the emperor's wives and lovers, rivals and slaves, court jesters and soldiers, and the ordinary people who pressed begging letters into his hand--whose chamber pot disputes were adjudicated by Augustus, and whose budgets were approved by Vespasian, himself the son of a tax collector.

With its finely nuanced portrayal of sex, class, and politics, Emperor of Rome goes directly to the heart of Roman fantasies (and our own) about what it was to be Roman at its richest, most luxurious, most extreme, most powerful, and most deadly, offering an account of Roman history as it has never been presented before.

Edited by Kate

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Alfie and Me

Carl Safina

When ecologist Carl Safina and his wife, Patricia, took in a near-death baby owl, they expected that, like other wild orphans they'd rescued, she'd be a temporary presence. But Alfie's feathers were not growing correctly, requiring prolonged care. As Alfie grew and gained strength, she became a part of the family, joining a menagerie of dogs and chickens and making a home for herself in the backyard. Carl and Patricia began to realize that the healing was mutual; Alfie had been braided into their world, and was now pulling them into hers.

Alfie & Me is the story of the remarkable impact this little owl would have on their lives. The continuing bond of trust following her freedom--and her raising of her own wild brood--coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a year in which Carl and Patricia were forced to spend time at home without the normal obligations of work and travel. Witnessing all the fine details of their feathered friend's life offered Carl and Patricia a view of existence from Alfie's perspective.

One can travel the world and go nowhere; one can be stuck keeping the faith at home and discover a new world. Safina's relationship with an owl made him want to better understand how people have viewed humanity's relationship with nature across cultures and throughout history. Interwoven with Safina's keen observations, insight, and reflections, Alfie & Me is a work of profound beauties and magical timing harbored within one upended year.

Edited by Kate

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60 Songs That Explain the '90s

Rob Harvilla

A companion to the #1 music podcast on Spotify, this book takes readers through the greatest hits that define a weirdly undefinable decade.



The 1990s were a chaotic and gritty and utterly magical time for music, a confounding barrage of genres and lifestyles and superstars, from grunge to hip-hop, from sumptuous R&B to rambunctious ska-punk, from Axl to Kurt to Missy to Santana to Tupac to Britney. In 60 SONGS THAT EXPLAIN THE '90s, Ringer music critic Rob Harvilla reimagines all the earwormy, iconic hits Gen Xers pine for with vivid historical storytelling, sharp critical analysis, rampant loopiness, and wryly personal ruminations on the most bizarre, joyous, and inescapable songs from a decade we both regret entirely and miss desperately.

Edited by Kate 

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The Curious World of Seahorses

Till Hein

With the whimsy and heart of The Soul of an Octopus and the surprising details of the very best science writing, The Curious World of Seahorses brilliantly captures the ocean's most charismatic and mysterious inhabitant.

"When God created the seahorse," says one marine biologist, "he may have had one too many."

Of all the creatures in the ocean, there are none more charming and magical--or more strange--than the seahorses. Masters of disguise, graceful dancers, and romantic lovers, seahorses are found not only in the seagrass meadows and mangroves of the world, but also throughout the annals of human history and culture--surfacing everywhere from chess and Greek mythology to Disney movies like The Little Mermaid and Pokémon games.

Equipped with a pouch like a kangaroo, a long snout like an anteater, and complete with a crown unique as a human fingerprint, the seahorse defies easy categorization. The only fish to swim in an upright position, seahorses are terrible swimmers, but they make up for it with an incredible talent for holding onto seagrass or coral. They have no stomach or teeth--only intestines. Most seahorses are monogamous, and meet with their life partner every few weeks to perform a dance that can last up to nine hours. The most unique aspect of the seahorse is their reproductive cycle, as it is the male of the species who becomes pregnant.

In this entertaining and informative book, science writer Till Hein shares the most tantalizing findings from the world of seahorses, and the role they have played in human culture. He reveals their secrets, from their intriguing biological features and hunting strategy to their use in medicine throughout history, their appearances in Greek and Celtic mythology, and even the medieval belief that they descended from dragons.

Endlessly fascinating and charmingly approachable, The Curious World of Seahorses will captivate any reader looking to learn more about one of the most incredible creatures on Earth.

Edited by Kate 

 

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The Big Book of Happy Crafts

Lucia Mallea

It's time to get crafty! Join internationally renowned artist and content creator Lucia Mallea on a fun and colorful crafting journey through 24 stylish projects.

From stunning paper flowers and cheerful party decorations to DIY home décor and even stylish fashion accessories, readers will learn how to elevate inexpensive craft supplies into stunning works of art like cake stands, flower curtains, parrot earrings, statement stars, and more. Each project includes frustration-free step-by-step instructions and gorgeous photos of the finished results. Readers will discover how to choose the right tools, master basic techniques, and add fun embellishments to their creations. And the best part? This book includes handy ready-to-go templates and a bonus pullout project. It's time for readers to gather their friends, break out the glue guns, and craft themselves happy!

Edited by Kate

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Shitty Craft Club

Sam Reece

Welcome to the Shitty Craft Club! Based on the TikTok sensation by comedian Sam Reece, Shitty Craft Club is an empowering guide to creativity, embracing chaos, and finding inner calm.



Did you know that you are a glorious and incredible artist? Wait, really? Well, you are. Shitty Craft Club gives you permission to have fun and be as weird, wild, and wonderful as you want to be. It's about trying your best, not perfection.



With step-by-step instructions and funny, deeply relatable tales from her life, Sam Reece, founder of the Shitty Craft Club movement, hilariously guides you through dozens of projects. Melding the nihilistic spirit of millennial/Gen Z humor with Amy Sedaris's gonzo crafting style and a healthy dose of Lisa Frank vibes, Reece proves there's no limit to what a craft can be.



Making a bunch of pom-poms so you can be your own cheerleader? That's a craft. Sculpting a rhinestone shrimp out of aluminum foil and a glue gun? A craft. Having literally one sip of water (congrats, by the way)? Yup, you bet--a craft. Because life is hard. So why not spend a bit of time gluing some trash to more trash if it makes you happy?



A SHITTY PHENOMENON: From in-person events at the Ace Hotel and Milk Bar to viral projects on Instagram and TikTok, Sam Reece, the creator of Shitty Craft Club, has cultivated a movement that strikes a chord in today's stressed-out world. This book captures all the magic of the club (and hopefully inspires you to start your own).



SELF-ESTEEM OVER SELF-IMPROVEMENT: In times of uncertainty and burnout, we all need a little more self-compassion. Treat yourself with kindness and care. Shitty Craft Club gives us the tools to cope in a creative and fun way without feeling the pressure to make everything perfect.



FOR FANS OF MAKING IT AND AT HOME WITH AMY SEDARIS: With projects like Rhinestone Wall Shrimp, the Corndle, and the Shitty Trophy, this book will inspire you to pick up a glue gun, buy a bucket of beads, and make your own strange and beautiful creations.



Perfect for:

  • Fans of Sam Reece and the Shitty Craft Club sensation
  • Crafters and DIY enthusiasts
  • Self-care and mindfulness practitioners
  • Fans of Making It, Nailed It!, and At Home with Amy Sedaris
  • Creative gift for Mother's Day, graduation, holidays, and birthdays

Edited by Kate 

 

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Brushed Aside

Noah Charney

Discover anew the herstory of art that Publishers Weekly calls "illuminating" and Foreword Reviews calls "spirited" for an enlightening art history read.

How many female artists can you name? Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, Marina Abramovic? How about female artists who lived prior to the Modern era? Maybe Artemisia Gentileschi and then... even a regular museum-goer might run out of steam. What about female curators, critics, patrons, collectors, muses, models and art influencers?

This book provides a 360 degree look at the role, influence, and empowerment of women through art--including women artists, but going beyond those who have taken up a brush or a chisel. In 1971, Linda Nochlin published a famous essay, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" This book responds to it by showing that not only have there been scores of great women artists throughout history, but that great women have shaped the story of art. The result is a book that sheds light on the art world in a very new way, finally celebrating the great women artists and influencers who deserve to be much better known. The entire history of art can be told as a herstory of art.

Edited by Kate 

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Fix-It and Forget-It Soups & Stews

Hope Comerford

127 nourishing soups, stews, broths, chowders, and chilis!

There are no better appliances for making soups and stews than an Instant Pot or slow cooker. Simply add all the ingredients and let it simmer to perfection. Nourish your bodies and souls with easy, delicious, and nutritious bowls of goodness.

In addition to great recipes, you'll also find tips on how to set up and use your Instant Pot, how to know when your food is perfectly done, and more. Here are more than 100 recipes including:

 

  • Potato Bacon Soup
  • Turkey Rosemary Veggie Soup
  • Chicken Cheddar Broccoli Soup
  • Southwest Chicken and White Bean Soup
  • Shredded Pork Tortilla Soup
  • Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
  • Mediterranean Lentil Soup
  • Cider and Pork Stew
  • Moroccan Beef Stew
  • Chipotle Beef Chili
  • Vegetarian Chili with Corn
  • And more!


Make the most of your Instant Pot or slow cooker with these easy and delicious recipes!

Edited by Kate 

 

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Basics with Babish

Andrew Rea

“A stellar gift choice.”—Tasting Table’s Best Cookbooks to Gift this Holiday Season

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

NAMED A BEST COOKBOOK OF FALL 2023 BY FOOD & WINE, DELISH, and TASTING TABLE

The ultimate gift for the home cook on your list—from beginner to experienced kitchen enthusiast—with over 100 easy-to-follow recipes that perfect the classics while celebrating imperfection with humor and grace, from the culinary genius and creator behind the Babish Culinary Universe.

In his wildly popular Basics with Babish series, YouTube star Andrew Rea, who has amassed millions of subscribers, attempts, often fails, but always teaches cooking techniques for all levels of cooks. He’s explained everything from how to make challah bread and English muffins to Asian dumplings and homemade bacon. Now those classic, essential recipes (and many more) are compiled into an authoritative cookbook which contains hundreds of step-by-step photographs with tips and tricks to help you troubleshoot anything from broken butter to burnt bread to bony branzino. Basics with Babish isn’t just a kitchen Bible for a new generation of home chefs, it’s a proud reclamation of mistakes which encourages you to learn from your and Andrew’s missteps alike.

Andrew Rea launched Binging with Babish on YouTube in 2016, recreating and reimagining dishes from famous television programs and movies inspired by everything from Mad Men to The Simpsons to Game of Thrones. The tie-in cookbook, Binging with Babish, was an instant New York Times bestseller, and fans of that book and countless more will delight in this new cookbook which will truly teach you how to cook, with Rea’s beloved sense of humor and guiding hand throughout.

Edited by Kate 

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Knitting Peter Rabbit

Claire Garland

The adventures of Peter Rabbit and his friends have been delighting generations of children around the world for over 120 years. In this unique craft book, Beatrix Potter's iconic illustrations have been brought to life as knitted characters, allowing you to create 12 adorable animals from the best-loved Peter Rabbit(tm) stories.

With step-by-step instructions and beautiful photography, you'll be able to make all the most enduring characters from Beatrix Potter's world. Knit Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Flopsy Bunny, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Mrs. Tiggy-winkle, Mr. Jeremy Fisher, Tom Kitten, Squirrel Nutkin, the Tailor of Gloucester, Samuel Whiskers, Mr. Tod the fox, and Tommy Brock the badger, and dress them up in simple felt garments to complete the storybook look.

Author Claire Garland has translated Beatrix Potter's original illustrations into delightfully accurate knitted versions, which will be instantly recognizable to fans of the Peter Rabbit stories. Once you have knitted the characters, making the clothes elevates them to the next level. Whether it's Peter's distinctive blue jacket and little shoes or Benjamin Bunny's Tam O'Shanter and handkerchief, Mrs. Tiggy-winkle's mop cap and apron, the Tailor of Gloucester's glasses, and Mr. Jemery Fisher's red tailcoat, every detail has been considered and can be recreated with easy techniques..

All the knitting techniques needed to knit the animals and sew the clothes are included, with step-by-step photos and full-size templates.

Featuring original illustrations and quotes from the tales alongside the patterns, this is a visual treat for fans of Peter Rabbit, allowing you to knit heirloom toys to enjoy for generations to come.

Officially licensed by Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd. BEATRIX POTTER(tm) and PETER RABBIT(tm) © Frederick Warne & Co., 2023

Edited by Kate 

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God's Monsters

Esther J. Hamori

The Bible is teeming with monsters. Giants tromp through the land of milk and honey; Leviathan swims through the wine-dark sea. A stunning array of peculiar creatures, mind-altering spirits, and supernatural hitmen fill the biblical heavens, jarring in both their strangeness and their propensity for violence--especially on God's behalf.

Traditional interpretations of the creatures of the Bible have sanded down their sharp, unsavory edges, transforming them into celestial beings of glory and light--or chubby, happy cherubs. Those cherubs? They're actually hybrid guardian monsters, more closely associated with the Egyptian sphinx than with flying babies. And the seraphim? Winged serpents sent to mete out God's vengeance. Demons aren't at war with angels; they're a distinct supernatural species used by Satan and by God. The pattern is chilling. Most of these monsters aren't God's opponents--they're God's entourage.

Killer angels, plague demons, manipulative spirits, creatures with an alarming number of wings (and eyes all over)--these shapeshifters and realm-crossers act with stunning brutality, each reflecting a facet of God's own monstrosity. Confronting God's monsters--and the God-monster--may be uncomfortable, but the Bible is richer for their presence. It's not only richer; the stories of the monsters of the Bible can be as fun, surprising, and interesting as any mythology. For anyone interested in monsters, myths, folklore, demons, and more, God's Monsters is an entertaining deep dive into the creaturely strangeness of the Bible.

Edited by Kate 

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Noon

Meike Peters

Lunchtime is just as exciting as dinner in this delightful new cookbook that combines Meike Peters's inventive and craveable recipes with gorgeous photography. These 115 recipes are guaranteed to perk up your day (or your dinner).



"Perfect for experienced cooks, who will relish Peters's imaginative takes on classic dishes as well as her inspired original culinary creations, and those new to the kitchen, who will feel empowered by the clear, easy-to-follow format and welcoming tone of the recipes." ―Library Journal, starred review



This bold new cookbook by James Beard Award-winning author and photographer Meike Peters invites us to indulge in simple, satisfying, and scrumptious meals to feed our midday cravings. With a few tricks and clever flavor combinations to keep your mind, body, and soul happy, Noon makes it easy to treat yourself throughout the day.



These 115 quick and creative recipes span vibrant salads and sandwiches, cozy pastas, and savory tarts, as well as warming soups, speedy schnitzels, and Mediterranean seafood treats. Whether you're in the mood for the mouthwatering Autumn Salad with Jerusalem Artichokes, Walnuts, and Apples, a texturally intoxicating Carrot and Pear Salad with Tahini and Sesame Seeds, or the surprising zip of Sauerkraut and Hummus on Sourdough Bread, this book has your taste buds covered.



Attainable yet crave-worthy, the recipes in Noon can equally suit the start, middle, or end of your day. Our lives have changed, and these recipes flexibly fit any reality, from working from home or lunch at the office to leisurely weekend lunches with friends. Noon is about a pause, no matter when you need it. With year-round recipes and stunning photography, this book will keep you well fed and happy at any time of day.



DELICOUS FOOD: Meike Peters is a truly talented recipe developer and food blogger who puts a unique twist on her dishes, such as Lime Mussels with Zucchini and Cilantro, Peach and Plum Caprese with Burrata, and Rösti (Swiss potato cake) with Pistachio-Feta Dip. With a similar vibe to Diana Henry, Nigella Lawson, and Heidi Swanson, she is a delight to learn from and be inspired by.



GREAT VALUE: This book is packed with 115 recipes and 120 photos at an affordable price, making it an excellent self-purchase or thoughtful cooking gift.



MODERN LUNCH COOKBOOK: Years into the pandemic, we are all sick of the same lunch from home options. This book is perfect for anyone needing to whip up a great lunch in fifteen minutes or less, or for the many returning to work and needing inspiration for super tasty lunches to take with us.



FLEXIBLE & EASILY SCALABLE RECIPES: The focus is on celebrating a midday meal (a.k.a. lunch), but the recipes work just as well for dinner, weekdays, or weekends; each recipe can easily be scaled up or down.



Perfect for:

  • Those looking for fun and fresh alternatives for their lunchtime meal
  • Fans of Meike Peters, her blog and podcast, and her previous cookbooks
  • Anyone who loves celebrity chefs like Heidi Swanson, Diana Henry, and Nigella Lawson
  • Birthday, holiday, housewarming, or hostess gift for foodies or home cooks

Edited by Kate 

View Details >>

Noon

Meike Peters

Lunchtime is just as exciting as dinner in this delightful new cookbook that combines Meike Peters's inventive and craveable recipes with gorgeous photography. These 115 recipes are guaranteed to perk up your day (or your dinner).



"Perfect for experienced cooks, who will relish Peters's imaginative takes on classic dishes as well as her inspired original culinary creations, and those new to the kitchen, who will feel empowered by the clear, easy-to-follow format and welcoming tone of the recipes." ―Library Journal, starred review



This bold new cookbook by James Beard Award-winning author and photographer Meike Peters invites us to indulge in simple, satisfying, and scrumptious meals to feed our midday cravings. With a few tricks and clever flavor combinations to keep your mind, body, and soul happy, Noon makes it easy to treat yourself throughout the day.



These 115 quick and creative recipes span vibrant salads and sandwiches, cozy pastas, and savory tarts, as well as warming soups, speedy schnitzels, and Mediterranean seafood treats. Whether you're in the mood for the mouthwatering Autumn Salad with Jerusalem Artichokes, Walnuts, and Apples, a texturally intoxicating Carrot and Pear Salad with Tahini and Sesame Seeds, or the surprising zip of Sauerkraut and Hummus on Sourdough Bread, this book has your taste buds covered.



Attainable yet crave-worthy, the recipes in Noon can equally suit the start, middle, or end of your day. Our lives have changed, and these recipes flexibly fit any reality, from working from home or lunch at the office to leisurely weekend lunches with friends. Noon is about a pause, no matter when you need it. With year-round recipes and stunning photography, this book will keep you well fed and happy at any time of day.



DELICOUS FOOD: Meike Peters is a truly talented recipe developer and food blogger who puts a unique twist on her dishes, such as Lime Mussels with Zucchini and Cilantro, Peach and Plum Caprese with Burrata, and Rösti (Swiss potato cake) with Pistachio-Feta Dip. With a similar vibe to Diana Henry, Nigella Lawson, and Heidi Swanson, she is a delight to learn from and be inspired by.



GREAT VALUE: This book is packed with 115 recipes and 120 photos at an affordable price, making it an excellent self-purchase or thoughtful cooking gift.



MODERN LUNCH COOKBOOK: Years into the pandemic, we are all sick of the same lunch from home options. This book is perfect for anyone needing to whip up a great lunch in fifteen minutes or less, or for the many returning to work and needing inspiration for super tasty lunches to take with us.



FLEXIBLE & EASILY SCALABLE RECIPES: The focus is on celebrating a midday meal (a.k.a. lunch), but the recipes work just as well for dinner, weekdays, or weekends; each recipe can easily be scaled up or down.



Perfect for:

  • Those looking for fun and fresh alternatives for their lunchtime meal
  • Fans of Meike Peters, her blog and podcast, and her previous cookbooks
  • Anyone who loves celebrity chefs like Heidi Swanson, Diana Henry, and Nigella Lawson
  • Birthday, holiday, housewarming, or hostess gift for foodies or home cook

Edited by Kate 

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Mending with Kids

Nami Levy

Kids are tough on their clothes...Fortunately, they're creative too!

Mending With Kids shows you how to make kids' torn and stained clothes wearable again using a variety of simple sewing and decorating techniques that foster kids' participation. It includes helpful tips and techniques for patching, collage (with felt and fabrics), iron-ons, stenciling, darning, embroidery, hand-painting, and much more--including templates for making your own patches and stencils!

Best of all, most of these techniques are easy enough for kids to join in and put their personal stamp on their clothes--which they absolutely love doing! And with your supervision, they'll pick up practical skills along the way.

In this book, you'll find practical ideas and advice on clothes-savers like:

 

  • Using added bands of fabric to cover, patch and lengthen jeans and trousers (kids outgrow them so fast!)
  • Combining patching with embroidery to make a repair into a design element
  • Embroidering around holes to make them look like part of the original design (make a worm hole in an embroidered apple, for instance!)
  • Turning an iron-on patch into a canvas for your kid's artistry--just grab some permanent markers and have fun
  • Covering stains with a creative use of paint (use the stencil patterns in this book, or use ready-made stencils to add favorite animals, cars, flowers and more)
  • And many other ideas that turn clothing repair into a shared adventure!


It's a win-win-win collaboration--you, your kids, and this book!

 

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Among the Braves

Shibani Mahtani

Through the eyes of two frontline journalists comes a gripping narrative history of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement centered around a cast of four core activists, culminating in the 2019 mass protests and Beijing's brutal crackdown.


Hong Kong was an experiment in governance. Handed back to China in 1997 after 156 years of British rule, it was meant to be a carve-out between hostile systems: a bridge between communism and capitalism, authoritarianism and liberal democracy. "One country, two systems" kept its media free, its courts independent and its protests boisterous, designed also to convince Taiwan of a peaceful solution to Beijing's desire for reunification.



Yet this formulation excluded Hong Kong's own people, their future negotiated by political titans in faraway capitals. In 2019, an ill-conceived law spear-headed by a sycophantic leader pushed millions to take to the streets in one of the most enduring protest movements the world has ever seen. Xi Jinping responded with a draconian national security law that sought not only to end the demonstrations but quash the "problem" of Hong Kongers' identity and desire for freedom.



Reverend Chu, who believed Hong Kong had to carry the spirit of students at Tiananmen Square, saw his silver-haired comrades who birthed the city's modern pro-democracy movement handcuffed and taken from their homes. Tommy, an art student radicalized into throwing Molotov cocktails, watched "braves" like him brutalized by police before his own arrest prompted him to flee. Finn epitomized the decentralized nature of the movement and its internet-fueled victories, but online anonymity couldn't stop his life from unravelling. Gwyneth could predict her eventual fate when she chose to give up her career as a journalist to stand for election as an opposition candidate, and did it anyway.



In Among the Braves, Shibani Mahtani and Timothy McLaughlin tell the story of Hong Kong's past, and what the sacrifices of its people mean for global democracy's shaky foundation.

Edited by Kate 

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The Anxiety Reset Method

Georgie Collinson

Anxiety Mindset Coach and hypnotherapist Georgie Collinson offers a 12-week program to help you master your anxious mind and achieve unshakable inner confidence

The Anxiety Reset Method is a 12-week program designed to combat high-functioning anxiety, using holistic solutions that address both the psychological and physical factors behind anxiety. Merging science with the spiritual, and good health with good sense, this successful method addresses both mind and body in order to build resilience and change your relationship to anxiety forever.

High-functioning anxiety is a perfectionistic, pressure-fueled type of anxiety. Despite the anxious feelings, people with high-functioning anxiety perform well, often very well, and are experts at hiding their struggle. But beneath the successful exterior, they feel panicked, overwhelmed, and pushed to the breaking point.

Over the course of 12 weeks, anxiety mindset coach, hypnotherapist, certified nutritionist, and naturopath Georgie Collinson will help you transform your relationship to anxiety. With practices, weekly checklists, and key idea sections, The Anxiety Reset Method provides a clear pathway to overcome the exhausting pressure of high-functioning anxiety and build the resilience you need to thrive​. Your anxiety has controlled the narrative for too long--it's time to master your anxiety and find the unshakeable inner confidence you deserve.

"An approachable program I wholeheartedly believe actually works"--Sarah Wilson, New York Times Bestselling author of First, We Make the Beast Beautiful ​Master Your Anxious Mind

Edited by Kate 

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Comedy Book

Jesse David Fox

Named a Most Anticipated Book by Vulture, Elle, Chicago Tribune, The Millions, and Lit Hub

"Comedy Book changes the way we talk about an art form that is more diverse and exciting than ever before.” —Seth Meyers "A sharp, loving, well written exploration and analysis of the art form that makes us smile, helps us relate, and is perpetually mysterious." —Jenny Slate

From a beloved comedy critic, a wisecracking, heartfelt, and overdue chronicle of comedy’s boom—and its magic.

Comedy is king. From multimillion-dollar TV specials to sold-out stand-up shows and TikTok stardom, comedy has never been more popular, democratized, or influential. Comedians have become organizing forces across culture—as trusted as politicians and as fawned-over as celebrities—yet comedy as an art form has gone under-considered throughout its history, even as it has ascended as a cultural force.

In Comedy Book, Jesse David Fox—the country’s most definitive voice in comedy criticism and someone who, in his own words, “enjoys comedy maybe more than anyone on this planet"—tackles everything you need to know about comedy. Weaving together history and analysis, Fox unravels the genre’s political legacy through an ode to Jon Stewart, interrogates the divide between highbrow and lowbrow via Adam Sandler, and unpacks how marginalized comics create spaces for their communities. Along the way, Fox covers everything from comedy in the age of political correctness and Will Smith’s slap to the right wing’s relationship with comedy and, for Fox, comedy’s ability to heal personal tragedy.

With memorable cameos from Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, John Mulaney, Ali Wong, Kate Berlant, and countless others, Comedy Book is an eye-opening education in how to engage with our most omnipresent art form, a riotous history of American pop culture, and a love letter to laughter.

Edited by Kate 

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Correction

Ben Austen

FROM THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF HIGH-RISERS comes a groundbreaking and honest investigation into the crisis of the American criminal justice system–through the lens of parole. Perfect for fans of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow and Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy

Correction ranks among the very best books on life inside and outside of prison I have ever read." ―Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted

A Most Anticipated Book of 2023: Chicago Review of Books

The United States, alone, locks up a quarter of the world’s incarcerated people. And yet apart from clichés—paying a debt to society; you do the crime, you do the time—there is little sense collectively in America what constitutes retribution or atonement. We don’t actually know why we punish.

Ben Austen’s powerful exploration offers a behind-the-scenes look at the process of parole. Told through the portraits of two men imprisoned for murder, and the parole board that holds their freedom in the balance, Austen’s unflinching storytelling forces us to reckon with some of the most profound questions underlying the country’s values around crime and punishment. What must someone who commits a terrible act do to get a second chance? What does incarceration seek to accomplish?

An illuminating work of narrative nonfiction, Correction challenges us to consider for ourselves why and who we punish–and how we might find a way out of an era of mass imprisonment.

Edited by Kate 

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Ignition

M. R. O'Connor

A work of on-the-ground reporting into the science of, and cultural ideas around, wildfires and fire management that challenges the ethos of the conservation movement, offering a hopeful vision of the connection between humans and our environment.

In a riveting investigation of the science and ecology of wildfires, journalist M.R. O'Connor ventures into some of the oldest, most beautiful, and remote forests in North America to explore the powerful and ancient relationship between trees, fires, and humans. Along the way, she describes revelatory research in the fields of paleobotany and climate science to show how the world's forests have been shaped by fire for hundreds of millions of years. She also reports on the compelling archeological evidence emerging from the field of ethnoecology that proves how, until very recently, humans were instigators of forest fires, actively molding and influencing the ecosystems around them by inserting themselves into the loop of a natural biological process to start "good fires."

As she weaves together first-hand reportage with research and cultural insights, O'Connor also embeds on firelines alongside firefighters and "pyrotechnicians." These highly trained individuals are resurrecting the practice of prescribed burning in an effort to sustain fire-dependent forest ecologies and prevent the catastrophic wildfires that are increasing in frequency and intensity as a result of global warming. Hailing from diverse backgrounds including state and federal agencies, scientific laboratories, and private lands and tribal nations, these fire starters are undertaking a radical and often controversial effort to promote, protect, and expand the responsible use of fire to restore ecological health to landscapes. At the heart of Ignition is a discussion about risk and how our relationship to it as a society will determine our potential to survive the onslaught of climate change.

Edited by Kate 

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Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

Sly Stone

Not many memoirs are generational events. But when Sly Stone, one of the few true musical geniuses of the last century, decides to finally tell hislife story, it can’t be called anything else.

As the front man for the sixties pop-rock-funk band Sly and the Family Stone, a songwriter who created some of the most memorable anthems of the 1960s and 1970s (“Everyday People,” “Family Affair”), and a performer who electrified audiences at Woodstock and elsewhere, Sly Stone’s influence on modern music and culture is indisputable. But as much as people know the music, the man remains a mystery. After a rapid rise to superstardom, Sly spent decades in the grips of addiction.

Now he is ready to relate the ups and downs and ins and outs of his amazing life in his memoir, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). The book moves from Sly’s early career as a radio DJ and record producer through the dizzying heights of the San Francisco music scene in the late 1960s and into the darker, denser life (and music) of 1970s and 1980s Los Angeles. Set on stages and in mansions, in the company of family and of other celebrities, it’s a story about flawed humanity and flawless artistry.

Written with Ben Greenman, who has also worked on memoirs with George Clinton and Brian Wilson, and in collaboration with Arlene Hirschkowitz, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) is a vivid, gripping, sometimes terrifying, and ultimately affirming tour through Sly’s life and career. Like Sly, it’s honest and playful, sharp and blunt, emotional and analytical, always moving and never standing still.

Edited by Kate 

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Father and Son

Jonathan Raban

A poignant memoir of love, trauma, and recovery after a life-changing stroke, twinned to a powerful account of his father's experience in World War II, by a winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.

“A beautiful, compelling memoir...Raban’s final work is a gorgeous achievement.” —Ian McEwan, New York Times best-selling author of Lessons

In June 2011, just days before his sixty-ninth birthday, Jonathan Raban was sitting down to dinner with his daughter when he found he couldn’t move his knife to his plate. Later that night, at the hospital, doctors confirmed what all had suspected: that he had suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke, paralyzing the right side of his body. Once he became stable, Raban embarked on an extended stay at a rehabilitation center, where he became acquainted with, and struggled to accept, the limitations of his new body—learning again how to walk and climb stairs, attempting to bathe and dress himself, and rethinking how to write and even read.

Woven into these pages is an account of a second battle, one that his own father faced in the trenches during World War II. With intimate letters that his parents exchanged at the time, Raban places the budding love of two young people within the tumultuous landscape of the war’s various fronts, from the munition-strewn beaches of Dunkirk to blood-soaked streets of Anzio. Moving between narratives, his and theirs, Raban artfully explores the human capacity to adapt to trauma, as well as the warmth, strength, and humor that persist despite it. The result is Father and Son, a powerful story of mourning, but also one of resilience.

Edited by Kate 

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How to Be

Adam Nicolson

Nicolson crafts a geography of the ancient world and a brilliant exploration of our connections to the past.

What is the nature of things?
What is justice? How can I be myself?
How should we treat each other?

Before the Greeks, the idea of the world was dominated by god-kings and their priests. Twenty-five hundred years ago, in a succession of small eastern Mediterranean harbor cities, a few heroic men and women decided to cast off mental subservience and apply their own thinking minds to the conundrums of life.

These great innovators shaped the beginnings of western philosophy. Through the questioning voyager Odysseus, Homer explored how we might navigate our way through the world. Heraclitus, in Ephesus, was the first to consider the interrelatedness of things. Xenophanes of Colophon was the first champion of civility. On the Aegean island of Lesbos, the early lyric poets Sappho and Alcaeus asked themselves, “How can I be true to myself?” On Samos, Pythagoras imagined an everlasting soul and took his ideas to Italy, where they flowered again in surprising and radical forms.

The award-winning writer Adam Nicolson travels with us through this transforming world and asks what light these ancient thinkers can throw on our deepest preconceptions. Enhanced with maps, photographs, and artwork, How to Be is an expedition into early ideas. Nicolson takes us to the dawn of investigative thought and makes the fundamental questions of the ancient philosophers new again. What are the principles of the physical world? How can we be good in it? And why do we continue to ask these questions? It is an enthralling, exhilarating journey.

Edited by Kate 

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It's Not You, It's Capitalism

Malaika Jabali

A biting, brilliant, often hilarious guide to socialism for budding anti-capitalists who know it's time to dump their toxic ex (Capitalism) and try something finer. Journalist Malaika Jabali debunks myths, centers forgotten socialists of color who have shaped our world, and shows socialism is not all Marx and Bernie Bros--it can be pretty sexy.



We've all dated someone who took control of the relationship--you know, someone who makes you feel like you're unhappy because you're just not putting in the work, or it's all in your head. But when you think about trying to meet new people, it feels terrifying. Like, have you looked at Tinder recently? It's rough out there!



Your tough-love new best friend, award-winning journalist, policy attorney, and life-long socialist Malaika Jabali is here to say: we are all in a generations-long toxic relationship with Capitalism, and it is time to get the h*ll out of there and move ALONG.



She gives you everything you need to know about what a healthy relationship could actually look like, issue by issue--from healthcare and housing to the whole concept of American democracy--with our new boo: Socialism. And no, Socialism isn't the boring, grey, authoritarian, Cold-War-era monster that you've heard about.



With accessible explanations and illustrations, often surprising graphs and stats, and some Drake memes, this book will show you that we NEED to build a world that's safer, kinder, cleaner, healthier, and more equal. And that this isn't a utopian dream - it's within our grasp, if we collectively decide to call out Capitalism for what it really is and wake up to a better future.



Fun, smart, and inspiring, It's Not You It's Capitalism is the hottest new relationship in your life!

 

Edited by Kate 

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Unmasking AI

Joy Buolamwini

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “The conscience of the AI revolution” (Fortune) explains how we’ve arrived at an era of AI harms and oppression, and what we can do to avoid its pitfalls.

“Dr. Joy Buolamwini has been an essential figure in bringing irresponsible, profit-hungry tech giants to their knees. If you’re going to read only one book about AI, this should be it.”—Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation


Longlisted for the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Award

To most of us, it seems like recent developments in artificial intelligence emerged out of nowhere to pose unprecedented threats to humankind. But to Dr. Joy Buolamwini, who has been at the forefront of AI research, this moment has been a long time in the making.

After tinkering with robotics as a high school student in Memphis and then developing mobile apps in Zambia as a Fulbright fellow, Buolamwini followed her lifelong passion for computer science, engineering, and art to MIT in 2015. As a graduate student at the “Future Factory,” she did groundbreaking research that exposed widespread racial and gender bias in AI services from tech giants across the world.

Unmasking AI goes beyond the headlines about existential risks produced by Big Tech. It is the remarkable story of how Buolamwini uncovered what she calls “the coded gaze”—the evidence of encoded discrimination and exclusion in tech products—and how she galvanized the movement to prevent AI harms by founding the Algorithmic Justice League. Applying an intersectional lens to both the tech industry and the research sector, she shows how racism, sexism, colorism, and ableism can overlap and render broad swaths of humanity “excoded” and therefore vulnerable in a world rapidly adopting AI tools. Computers, she reminds us, are reflections of both the aspirations and the limitations of the people who create them.

Encouraging experts and non-experts alike to join this fight, Buolamwini writes, “The rising frontier for civil rights will require algorithmic justice. AI should be for the people and by the people, not just the privileged few.”

Edited by Kate 

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Lost in America

Richard Cahan

Lost in America documents the life and death of America's architectural and historic treasures. The book is based on a remarkable archive created by the Historic American Building Survey (HABS), a Works Progress Administration project that still documents the nation's most important buildings.

Lost in America focuses on 100 buildings that have been torn down over the past 90 years. Some―like New York's Penn Station and Chicago's Stock Exchange―were majestic. Others―like a tiny bridge in rural Montana and a small farmstead torn down for Denver's International Airport―were modest. But they all reflected America's story before they were razed. Using haunting black-and-white images by the nation's top architectural photographers, the book presents a timely look at what we've lost.

Edited by Kate 

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American Visions

Edward L. Ayers

With so many of our histories falling into dour critique or blatant celebration, here is a welcome departure: a book that offers hope as well as honesty about the American past. The early decades of the nineteenth century saw the expansion of slavery, Native dispossession, and wars with Canada and Mexico. Mass immigration and powerful religious movements sent tremors through American society. But even as the powerful defended the status quo, others defied it: voices from the margins moved the center; eccentric visions altered the accepted wisdom, and acts of empathy questioned self-interest. Edward L. Ayers's rich history examines the visions that moved Frederick Douglass, Margaret Fuller, the Native American activist William Apess, and others to challenge entrenched practices and beliefs. So, Lydia Maria Child condemned the racism of her fellow northerners at great personal cost. Melville and Thoreau, Joseph Smith and Samuel Morse all charted new paths for America in the realms of art, nature, belief, and technology. It was Henry David Thoreau who, speaking of John Brown, challenged a hostile crowd "Is it not possible that an individual may be right and a government wrong?"

Through decades of award-winning scholarship on the Civil War, Edward L. Ayers has himself ventured beyond the interpretative status quo to recover the range of possibilities embedded in the past as it was lived. Here he turns that distinctive historical sensibility to a period when bold visionaries and critics built vigorous traditions of dissent and innovation into the foundation of the nation. Those traditions remain alive for us today.

Edited by Kate 

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Our Fragile Moment

Michael E. Mann

In this sweeping work of science and history, the renowned climate scientist and author of The New Climate War shows us the conditions on Earth that allowed humans not only to exist but thrive, and how they are imperiled if we veer off course.

For the vast majority of its 4.54 billion years, Earth has proven it can manage just fine without human beings. Then came the first proto-humans, who emerged just a little more than 2 million years ago--a fleeting moment in geological time. What is it that made this benevolent moment of ours possible? Ironically, it's the very same thing that now threatens us--climate change.

 

 

The drying of the tropics during the Pleistocene period created a niche for early hominids, who could hunt prey as forests gave way to savannahs in the African tropics. The sudden cooling episode known as the "Younger Dryas" 13,000 years ago, which occurred just as Earth was thawing out of the last Ice Age, spurred the development of agriculture in the fertile crescent. The "Little Ice Age" cooling of the 16th-19th centuries led to famines and pestilence for much of Europe, yet it was a boon for the Dutch, who were able to take advantage of stronger winds to shorten their ocean voyages.

The conditions that allowed humans to live on this earth are fragile, incredibly so. Climate variability has at times created new niches that humans or their ancestors could potentially exploit, and challenges that at times have spurred innovation. But there's a relatively narrow envelope of climate variability within which human civilization remains viable. And our survival depends on conditions remaining within that range.

In this book, renowned climate scientist Michael Mann will arm readers with the knowledge necessary to appreciate the gravity of the unfolding climate crisis, while emboldening them--and others--to act before it truly does become too late.

 

Edited by Kate 


 

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Right at Home

Bobby Berk

The design expert and Emmy-nominated TV host of Netflix’s Queer Eye shows you how to set up your space so that it takes care of you. Learn how to follow your happiness to find your style, optimize the function of every room, organize your space, and so much more.

The way your home makes you feel matters. After all, it’s your ultimate safe space and needs to be able to host your most intimate conversations and memorable celebrations. So setting it up for comfort, style, and authenticity is essential to your self-care. In Right at Home, Bobby shows you how designing your space, no matter what size home you have, has an impact that’s immediate, visceral, and undeniable. Learn how to:

Articulate what makes you happy so you can land on a design that reflects your truest style
Prioritize function and comfort so your space works for you (and not the other way around)
• Know what to let go of and what to repurpose so that every room stays organized
• Engage all your senses with texture, contrast, scent, and sound so you can stay in the present
Understand the emotional impact of color and confidently pick patterns, palettes, and color pops
Maximize lighting (both natural and artificial) to support a positive mental state
• Boost your mood by bringing plants and nature into your design
 
Right at Home demonstrates that good design can aid mental wellness and helps us achieve a new sense of happiness within the home. With gorgeous photographs of beautifully styled rooms and Bobby’s tried-and-true tips, this is the definitive guide to designing a modern home.

Edited by Kate

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Nobility in Small Things

Craig R. Smith

His routine was the same every day for 38 years: up at 4:15, make a turkey-on-rye, drive the deserted Henry Hudson Parkway to the hospital, check the schedule, scrub, cut, reattach, save a life or two, repeat. Until March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic shut hospital surgeries all over the world.

Craig Smith, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, went from performing heart surgeries on patients both everyday and celebrated (he performed the quadruple bypass that saved Bill Clinton’s life in 2004) to sitting in his tomb-quiet office looking out at George Washington Bridge. And he started to write. His Covid emails were balm to the staffers and later became celebrated for Dr. Smith’s care and thought in his assessment of the work of the hospital–of any hospital.

Nobility in Small Things not only takes us into the mind and soul of a surgeon with the ability to “play God” but into the heart of a man who chose a lifesaving career. The book introduces us to patients and peers, and moves from family-building and heartbreak at home, to the tragic suicide of two fellow M.D.s. Dr. Smith also writes vulnerably about his debilitating social anxiety and how he overcame it.

Dr. Smith shows us not just the making of a surgeon in Nobility in Small Things, but the maintenance of one: the deep feeling and moral philosophy that anchor the daily miracles that define his profession.

Edited by Kate 

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Judgment at Tokyo

Gary J. Bass

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER • THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • A landmark, magisterial history of the trial of Japan’s leaders as war criminals—the largely overlooked Asian counterpart to Nuremberg

“Nothing less than a masterpiece. With epic research and mesmerizing narrative power, Judgment at Tokyo has the makings of an instant classic.”
—Evan Osnos, National Book Award–winning author of Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China


In the weeks after Japan finally surrendered to the Allies to end World War II, the world turned to the question of how to move on from years of carnage and destruction. For Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, Chiang Kai-shek, and their fellow victors, the question of justice seemed clear: Japan’s militaristic leaders needed to be tried and punished for the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor; shocking atrocities against civilians in China, the Philippines, and elsewhere; and rampant abuses of prisoners of war in notorious incidents such as the Bataan death march. For the Allied powers, the trial was an opportunity to render judgment on their vanquished foes, but also to create a legal framework to prosecute war crimes and prohibit the use of aggressive war, building a more peaceful world under international law and American hegemony. For the Japanese leaders on trial, it was their chance to argue that their war had been waged to liberate Asia from Western imperialism and that the court was victors’ justice.

For more than two years, lawyers for both sides presented their cases before a panel of clashing judges from China, India, the Philippines, and Australia, as well as the United States and European powers. The testimony ran from horrific accounts of brutality and the secret plans to attack Pearl Harbor to the Japanese military’s threats to subvert the government if it sued for peace. Yet rather than clarity and unanimity, the trial brought complexity, dissents, and divisions that provoke international discord between China, Japan, and Korea to this day. Those courtroom tensions and contradictions could also be seen playing out across Asia as the trial unfolded in the crucial early years of the Cold War, from China’s descent into civil war to Japan’s successful postwar democratic elections to India’s independence and partition.

From the author of the acclaimed The Blood Telegram, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, this magnificent history is the product of a decade of research and writing. Judgment at Tokyo is a riveting story of wartime action, dramatic courtroom battles, and the epic formative years that set the stage for the Asian postwar era.

Edited by Kate 

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Take the Lead

Sasha DiGiulian

World champion climber Sasha DiGiulian tells her story—from coming of age under the scrutiny of social media, navigating a male-dominated sport, and tackling her most heart-stopping climbs—and shares the power of perseverance and positivity.

At age six, Sasha DiGiulian stepped into a climbing gym for the first time and was competing within a year. Decked out in all-pink gear and with her blonde hair tied into pigtails, Sasha knew from an early age what it was like to be a girl in a traditionally male-dominated sport, vowing to never sacrifice her femininity to fit in. With a fierce love for the climb and incredible natural talent, Sasha soon won her first National Sport Climbing Championship at only seventeen, and a year later took the title of World Champion.

To her fans, it looked like Sasha was on top of the world. But under the accolades, she was just another young woman learning how to handle the intense scrutiny of social media and dealing with body dysmorphia, all while quietly facing a potentially career-ending injury. In a relatable and inspiring voice, Take the Lead reflects on the highs and lows of Sasha’s illustrious life and career for the first time, bringing readers on her remarkable journey from novice climber to Columbia University graduate, adventurer, environmentalist, and entrepreneur, and one of the most recognizable faces in climbing.

For readers of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and Megan Rapinoe’s One Life, Take the Lead ultimately emphasizes the power of perseverance, fearlessness and positivity in tackling some of the most daunting and fearsome climbs—on and off the wall.
 

Edited by Kate 

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The Big Fail

Joe Nocera

From the collaborators behind the modern business classic All the Devils are Here comes a damning indictment of American capitalism—and the leaders that left us brutally unprepared for a global pandemic

In 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic made it painfully clear that the U.S. could not adequately protect its citizens. Millions of Americans suffered—and over a million died—in less than two years, while government officials blundered; prize-winning economists overlooked devastating trade-offs; and elites escaped to isolated retreats, unaffected by and even profiting from the pandemic.

Why and how did America, in a catastrophically enormous failure, become the world leader in COVID deaths? In this page-turning economic, political, and financial history, veteran journalists Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera offer fresh and provocative answers. With laser-sharp analysis and deep sourcing, they investigate both what really happened when governments ran out of PPE due to snarled supply chains and the shock to the financial system when the world's biggest economy stumbled. They zero in on the effectiveness of wildly polarized approaches, with governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Ron DeSantis of Florida taking infamous turns in the spotlight. And they trace why thousands died in hollowed-out hospital systems and nursing homes run by private equity firms to “maximize shareholder value."

In the tradition of the authors’ previous landmark exposés, The Big Fail is an expansive, insightful account on what the pandemic did to the economy and how American capitalism has jumped the rails—and is essential reading to understand where we’re going next.

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Some People Need Killing

Patricia Evangelista

A “journalistic masterpiece” (The New Yorker) about a nation careening into violent autocracy—told through harrowing stories of the Philippines’ state-sanctioned killings of its citizens—from a reporter of international renown

“Tragic, elegant, vital . . . Evangelista risked her life to tell this story.”—Tara Westover, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Educated


A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

“My job is to go to places where people die. I pack my bags, talk to the survivors, write my stories, then go home to wait for the next catastrophe. I don’t wait very long.”

Journalist Patricia Evangelista came of age in the aftermath of a street revolution that forged a new future for the Philippines. Three decades later, in the face of mounting inequality, the nation discovered the fragility of its democratic institutions under the regime of strongman Rodrigo Duterte.

Some People Need Killing is Evangelista’s meticulously reported and deeply human chronicle of the Philippines’ drug war. For six years, Evangelista chronicled the killings carried out by police and vigilantes in the name of Duterte’s war on drugs—a war that has led to the slaughter of thousands—immersing herself in the world of killers and survivors and capturing the atmosphere of fear created when an elected president decides that some lives are worth less than others.

The book takes its title from a vigilante whose words seemed to reflect the psychological accommodation that most of the country had made: “I’m really not a bad guy,” he said. “I’m not all bad. Some people need killing.”

A profound act of witness and a tour de force of literary journalism, Some People Need Killing is also a brilliant dissection of the grammar of violence and an important investigation of the human impulses to dominate and resist.

Edited by Kate 

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White House Wild Child

Shelley Fraser Mickle

The fascinating historical biography of America’s most memorable first daughter, Alice Roosevelt, whose free spirit and status made her the Princess Diana and Jackie O of the early 20th century.

Perfect for readers of female-centric biographies like The Daughters of Yalta and for fans of the glitzy drama of The Gilded Age and The Crown.


“I can do one of two things, I can be President of the United States or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.”—Theodore Roosevelt

During Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency—from 1901 to 1909, when Mark Twain called him the most popular man in America—his daughter Alice Roosevelt mesmerized the world with her antics and beauty.

Alice was known for carrying a gun, a copy of the Constitution, and a green snake in her purse. When her father told her she couldn’t smoke under his roof, she climbed to the top of the White House and smoked on the roof. She became the most famous woman in America—and even the world—predating Princess Diana and Jackie Kennedy as an object of public obsession.

As her celebrity grew, she continued to buck tradition, push against social norms, and pull political sway behind the curtain of privilege and access. She was known for her acerbic wit and outspoken tendencies which hypnotized both the social and political world.

Brilliantly researched and powerfully told, Shelley Fraser Mickle places the reader in the time and place of Alice and asks what would it have been like to be a strong-willed powerful woman of that day. Drawn from primary and secondary sources, Alice’s life comes into focus in this historical celebration of an extraordinary woman ahead of her time.

"With wit and fresh insight, Shelley Fraser Mickle brings vividly to life one of the most colorful figures of the 20th Century--the most glamorous, rebellious and contentious woman in the United States, and for a time the most famous." –Jonathan Alter, former editor for Newsweek, author of His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life

"What a tale!. . .The history of the Roosevelts has been predominantly about men, now it's Alice's turn."
—Diana Williams, WABC news anchor

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A. K. A. Lucy

Sarah Royal

This stunning package offers a rich, intimate, and highly entertaining look at the remarkable life and work of the television pioneer, the First Lady of Comedy, the legend, Lucille Ball--AKA Lucy.



Full of fresh perspective, gorgeously designed, and richly informative, this is a book on Lucille Ball like none other. With profiles spotlighting the many different facets of the woman, AKA Lucy details how Ball changed the face of comedy and the entertainment industry. It sheds new light on the star's history, from her childhood through hard-scrabble days trying to make it in show business, falling head over heels in love and embarking on one of the great romances of the twentieth century, to becoming the biggest star in the world, a pioneer in television, and an icon for the ages. Filled with photos and highlighted by bright illustration and design, this is a volume almost as vivid and entertaining as the woman herself.



AKA Lucy is officially authorized by the estate of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

 

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Our Secret Society

Tanisha Ford

An engrossing social history and memoir of the unsinkable Mollie Moon, the stylish founder of the National Urban League Guild and fundraiser extraordinaire who reigned over the glittering "Beaux Arts Ball," the social event of New York and Harlem society for fifty years--a glamorous event rivalling today's Met Gala, drawing America's wealthy and cultured, both Black and white.

Our Secret Society brilliantly illuminates a little known yet highly significant aspect of the civil rights movement that has been long overlooked--the powerhouse fundraising effort that supported the movement--the luncheons, galas, cabarets, and traveling exhibitions attended by middle-class and working-class Black families, the Negro press, and titans of industry, including Winthrop Rockefeller.

No one knew this world better or ruled over it with more authority than Mollie Moon. With her husband Henry Lee Moon, the longtime publicist for the NAACP, Mollie became half of one of the most influential couples of the period. Vivacious and intellectually curious, Mollie frequently hosted political salons attended by guests ranging from Langston Hughes to Lorraine Hansberry. As the president of the National Urban League Guild, the fundraising arm of the National Urban League; Mollie raised millions to fund grassroots activists battling for economic justice and racial equality. She was a force behind the mutual aid network that connected Black churches, domestic and blue-collar laborers, social clubs, and sororities and fraternities across the country.

Historian and cultural critic Tanisha C. Ford brings Mollie into focus as never before, charting her rise from Jim Crow Mississippi to doyenne of Manhattan and Harlem, where she became one of the most influential philanthropists of her time--a woman feared, resented, yet widely respected. She chronicles Mollie's larger-than-life antics through exhaustive research, never-before-revealed letters, and dozens of interviews, including with Mollie's daughter and namesake.

Our Secret Society ushers us into a world with its own rhythm and rules, led by its own Who's Who of African Americans in politics, sports, business, and entertainment. It is both a searing portrait of a remarkable period in America, spanning from the early 1930s through the late 1960s, and a strategic economic blueprint today's activists can emulate.

Our Secret Society includes 16 pages of never-before-seen photographs.

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Fair Play

Katie Barnes

"A richly reported and provocative look at the history of women's sports and the controversy surrounding trans athletes by a leading LGBTQ+ sports journalist. For decades women have been playing competitive sports thanks in large part to the protective cover of Title IX. Since passage of that law, the number of women participating in sports and the level of competition in high school, college, and professionally, has risen dramatically. In Fair Play, award-winning journalist Katie Barnes traces the evolution of women's sports as a pastime and a political arena, where equality and fairness have been fought over for generations. As attitudes toward gender have shifted to embrace more fluidity in recent decades, sex continues to be viewed as a static binary that is easily determined: male or female. It is on that very idea of static sex that we have built an entire sporting apparatus. Now that foundation is crumbling as a result of intense culture wars. Whether we are talking about bathrooms, gender affirming care for trans youth, or sports, the debate about who gets to decide gender is being litigated every day in every community. Many transgender and intersex athletes, from a South African runner, to a New Zealand power lifter, to a wrestler in Texas, to Connecticut track stars, have captured the attention of law and policy makers who want to decide how and when they compete. Women's sports, since their inception, have been seen as a separate class of competition that requires protection and rules for entry. But what are those rules and who gets to make them? Fair Play looks at all sides of the issue and presents a reasoned and much-needed solution that seeks to preserve opportunities for all going forward"--

 

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Opposable Thumbs

Matt Singer

Once upon a time, if you wanted to know if a movie was worth seeing, you didn’t check out Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB.

You asked whether Siskel & Ebert had given it “two thumbs up.”


On a cold Saturday afternoon in 1975, two men (who had known each other for eight years before they’d ever exchanged a word) met for lunch in a Chicago pub. Gene Siskel was the film critic for the Chicago Tribune. Roger Ebert had recently won the Pulitzer Prize—the first ever awarded to a film critic—for his work at the Chicago Sun-Times. To say they despised each other was an understatement.

When they reluctantly agreed to collaborate on a new movie review show with PBS, there was at least as much sparring off-camera as on. No decision—from which films to cover to who would read the lead review to how to pronounce foreign titles—was made without conflict, but their often-antagonistic partnership (which later transformed into genuine friendship) made for great television. In the years that followed, their signature “Two thumbs up!” would become the most trusted critical brand in Hollywood.

In Opposable Thumbs, award-winning editor and film critic Matt Singer eavesdrops on their iconic balcony set, detailing their rise from making a few hundred dollars a week on local Chicago PBS to securing multimillion-dollar contracts for a syndicated series (a move that convinced a young local host named Oprah Winfrey to do the same). Their partnership was cut short when Gene Siskel passed away in February of 1999 after a battle with brain cancer that he’d kept secret from everyone outside his immediate family—including Roger Ebert, who never got to say goodbye to his longtime partner. But their influence on in the way we talk about (and think about) movies continues to this day.

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The Big Time

Michael MacCambridge

"Indispensable history." -Sally Jenkins, bestselling author of The Right Call

A captivating chronicle of the pivotal decade in American sports, when the games invaded prime time, and sports moved from the margins to the mainstream of American culture.

Every decade brings change, but as Michael MacCambridge chronicles in THE BIG TIME, no decade in American sports history featured such convulsive cultural shifts as the 1970s. So many things happened during the decade--the move of sports into prime-time television, the beginning of athletes' gaining a sense of autonomy for their own careers, integration becoming--at least within sports--more of the rule than the exception, and the social revolution that brought females more decisively into sports, as athletes, coaches, executives, and spectators. More than politicians, musicians or actors, the decade in America was defined by its most exemplary athletes. The sweeping changes in the decade could be seen in the collective experience of Billie Jean King and Muhammad Ali, Henry Aaron and Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Joe Greene, Jack Nicklaus and Chris Evert, among others, who redefined the role of athletes and athletics in American culture. The Seventies witnessed the emergence of spectator sports as an ever-expanding mainstream phenomenon, as well as dramatic changes in the way athletes were paid, portrayed, and packaged. In tracing the epic narrative of how American sports was transformed in the Seventies, a larger story emerges: of how America itself changed, and how spectator sports moved decisively on a trajectory toward what it has become today, the last truly "big tent" in American culture.

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Out at the Plate

Lynn Ames

"Dot Wilkinson is the greatest female catcher ever to play softball. A bold, pioneering athlete, she refused to let others define her and instead defined herself. Her story is an inspiration to people everywhere." --Billie Jean King, Sports Icon and Champion for Equality



It's not simply that Dot Wilkinson was one of the most decorated women's softball players, bowlers, and athletes of all time and one of the original players from the three-time-world-champion PBSW Phoenix Ramblers softball team (1933-1965). Nor was it the length of her time here on Earth--over a century--although any of these things by itself would be impressive.

The magic of Dot's story is in the details. It's the tale of a childhood spent in poverty, an indomitable, unbreakable spirit, a determination to be the very best to play whatever sport she undertook, the independence to live her personal life on her own terms, and her tremendous success at all of it.

Over more than a decade of countless conversations and interviews, Dot shared all of it with her dear friend, author Lynn Ames. Dot held nothing back. Out at the Plate, told through the lens of Dot and Lynn's friendship, is the story of a forgotten era in women's history and sports, and one extraordinary woman's place at the center of it all.

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Start Here

Sohla El-Waylly

Change the way you think about cooking! In this epic guide to better eating, the chef, recipe developer, and video producer Sohla El-Waylly reimagines what a cookbook can be, teaching home cooks of all skill levels how cooking really works.

“The book I wish someone had handed me when I began my own journey as a cook.”—from the Foreword by Samin Nosrat, New York Times bestselling author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat


"A book to return to again and again and again.” —Yotam Ottolenghi, New York Times bestselling author of Plenty and Ottolenghi Simple   

A practical, information-packed, and transformative guide to becoming a better cook and conquering the kitchen, Start Here is a must-have master class in leveling up your cooking.

Across a dozen technique-themed chapters—from “Temperature Management 101” and “Break it Down & Get Saucy” to “Go to Brown Town,” “All About Butter,” and “Getting to Know Dough”—Sohla El-Waylly explains the hows and whys of cooking, introducing the fundamental skills that you need to become a more intuitive, inventive cook.

A one-stop resource, regardless of what you’re hungry for, Start Here gives equal weight to savory and sweet dishes, with more than two hundred mouthwatering recipes, including:

  • Crispy-Skinned Salmon with Radishes & Nuoc Cham
  • Charred Lemon Risotto
  • Chilled Green Tahini Soba
  • Lemon, Pecorino & Potato Pizza
  • Fruity-Doodle Cookies
  • Masa & Buttermilk Tres Leches


Packed with practical advice and scientific background, and an almost endless assortment of recipe variations, along with tips, guidance, and how-tos, Start Here is culinary school—without the student loans.

 

 

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Cat Mania Embroidery

Jeon Ji Sun

A cat in a tutu is worth a thousand words!

Using the most common embroidery stitches, Cat Mania Embroidery places your feline friends in wacky situations of the kind they'd probably get themselves into, given half the chance. Wide-eyed "Who--me?" cats; dancing, frolicking cats; cats in the air and in the water(!); and cats full of attitude who'll try just about anything once. Whatever the setting or situation, they have never been more adorable!

With this book you can make nearly 70 quirky cat motifs, and almost 30 different projects, including:

 

  • Decorative items featuring adventurous cats in bottles, teapots and other tight spaces
  • A wind chime of under-the-sea cats--even a mermaid cat (oops--a mercat?)
  • A rather surprised airborne cat on a little pouch
  • Cats making themselves useful for once, as bookmarks
  • Cats in the bathtub, flying to the moon, dancing the hula, and up to all kinds of lighthearted antics


Illustrated step-by-step instructions teach the basics and offer a refresher in the stitches you'll use. Lessons on making appliques and patches, covered panels, fringes, and finished hoops are also included. This book is suitable for both novice and experienced embroiderers, and their cat-loving friends will be thrilled to receive an embroidered gift sporting a curious cat that looks just like theirs!

 

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Stressilient

Sam Akbar

Stress. It’s everywhere these days: a cry for help, the answer to why illnesses pop up (or won’t go away), an issue for students and workers, and a culprit when it comes to everything from car accidents to weight gain. Stress is one of those problems most of us are left to figure out and solve by ourselves (a warm bath with scented candle only goes so far).

Akbar walks worried readers through how to calm themselves by:

-understanding how your brain is wired and why its natural genius at problem-solving doesn’t help when it comes to stress
-creating space between you and your thoughts
-repeating worrisome words to sap them of meaning
-defusing “thought bombs”
-learning to avoid the CAGE (Control, Avoid, Get rid of, Eliminate) when it comes to feelings and training yourself to stop trying to shut down real pain
-scanning and labelling feelings
-the power of urge surfing
-accessing your own wisdom

There are tried-and-true techniques here, but many more fresh ways to consider the problem of stress. And every one of them is real-world: this book acknowledges that we all have responsibilities, that our time likely isn’t our own, and that the goal is to reduce stress rather than eliminate it altogether.

Dr. Akbar’s wise and experienced voice in this short and calming book will make readers relax into her content.

Edited by Kate 

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Sex Ed for the Stroller Set

Laura Hancock

National Parenting Product Award Winner, 2023

Sex Ed for the Stroller Set gives parents practical tools to proactively teach young children about sexuality and the confidence to use these tools.

When adults bring intention and thoughtfulness to providing sexual health education to their young children, they can establish healthy attitudes toward sexuality and prepare their children and themselves for sexual topics that will arise in later years. While there are many books on sexual health written for parents of teens and young adults, there are very few written for parents of young children. But the early years are crucial to sexual health, and what parents do and say is of the utmost importance.

This book, written for parents or other primary caregivers who are raising a child under the age of six, shows how to provide essential information about sexuality, bodies, and behavior in age-appropriate but thorough and accurate language. It helps parents prepare for conversations that might make them uncomfortable by supplying not only the necessary information but also specific phrases and words they can use when speaking to their young children, while also helping parents process their own anxieties around sex.

A parent is their child's best sex ed teacher. By providing reliable, straightforward information about sexuality, parents can establish open, honest relationships with their children, help protect them from harm, and set them up for healthy, fulfilling, and pleasurable sex lives and relationships as adults.

Edited by Kate 

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Art of Custom Sneakers

Xavier Kickz

Create your own one-of-a-kind kicks with painting, drawing, stenciling, and marbleizing techniques from celebrated sneaker customizer Xavier Kickz (aka Xavier Crews).

In Art of Custom Sneakers, Xavier shares his innovative ideas and techniques for prepping, designing, and finishing custom sneakers for everyone.

The book begins with the basics—including tools and materials, workspace setup, prep, finishing, and design planning—then moves on to dozens of incredible customizing projects. Whatever your level of artistic experience, Xavier’s in-depth, step-by-step instructions ensure your success as you start making your own custom kicks. Twenty-eight QR codes to supplemental video instruction offer additional step-by-step guidance.

As you go, gather inspiration from amazing custom sneakers throughout history.

Start with any clean sneaker—whether leather Nike Air Force 1s, or canvas Vans or Converse, or bargain shoes similar to any of these—then add your own personal touches with techniques such as:
 

  • Cartoon Style
  • Paint Pen Camo
  • Sharpie Tie-Dye
  • Hydro-Dipped Marbleizing
  • Galactic Splatter
  • Bedazzled Flash


Stop admiring custom sneakers from afar, and start making your own!

Edited by Kate 

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The Beginner's Guide to Decorating Pottery

Emily Reinhardt

Join ceramic artist Emily Reinhardt to learn how to decorate pottery surfaces with glazes, gold luster, patterns and marks, inlay designs, dimensional shapes, and much more.

With an emphasis on learning new skills, having fun, and embracing imperfection, The Beginner’s Guide to Decorating Potterysupports your creative process as you explore:
 

  • Basic information on working with clays as well as materials used for decorating.
  • Tutorials on color theory, combining form and function, and the importance of keeping a sketchbook.
  • Beginner-friendly projects that show how to apply surface-design techniques to simple pieces such as coasters, a cheeseboard, a wall hanging, plates, tumblers, vases, planters, and more.


Throughout the book, skill-building is front and center, with tips and tricks to help you crack the code and make pieces you’re proud of. Gallery work from some of today’s top ceramics artists is sure to inspire potters of all levels. What will you make first?

For beginners and those returning to ceramics, the Essential Ceramics Skills series from Quarry Books offer the fundamentals along with fresh, contemporary, and simple projects that build skills progressively.

Explore even more ceramics techniques with:The Beginner’s Guide to Wheel Throwing and The Beginner’s Guide to Hand Building.

Edited by Kate 

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Grow Up

Gary John Bishop

The New York Times bestselling author of Unfu*k Yourself now helps us cut through our anxieties about being a "good parent" so we can take charge of our lives and show our kids how to take charge of their own. start.

 

Gary John Bishop has helped millions of people break free of self-sabotaging behaviors. Yet we all seem to feel like we're failing at this thing called parenting. Common wisdom isn't working--our kids are struggling. Gary argues we don't need more tips, tricks, and techniques, we need an overhaul of who we are. We're never going to measure up to the "perfect parent" model we've built up in our heads--a Frankenstein version of mom and dad cobbled together from our childhoods, our parents, cultural ideals, social media, and everything in between.

We want to be good parents, but our pasts hold us back. If you're thinking: "I can't be a good parent because I had a shitty childhood, bad parents, or a traumatic experience"--stop! Let go of what came before and start taking action in the present to be the person that nurtures their child from a place of love, forgiveness, and integrity. By doing so, you are modeling and equipping your kids to confidently face the world and thrive.

Whether you are a parent, want to be a parent, or simply have parents, this book will cut to the heart of who you are and how you show up in the world--to fully take charge of the direction of your life and show your kids how to follow theirs.

Edited by Kate 

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Blessed in the Mess

Joyce Meyer

Renowned Bible teacher and #1 New York Times bestselling author Joyce Meyer shows readers how to not just survive but thrive amidst both the everyday and the monumental messes we experience in life.

Life is often messy. We hear people say, "My life is a mess," or "This situation is a mess." What they mean is that life has become difficult, painful or confusing. But God never promised us a trouble-free life. In fact, His Word tells us to expect the opposite. In John 16:33, Jesus says, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (NIV).

In Blessed in the Mess, beloved Bible teacher Joyce Meyer shows us how to be blessed in the midst of life's most challenging circumstances. The Bible is filled with instructions on how to handle ourselves when difficulty comes our way, and Blessed in the Mess shares that wisdom through poignant and practical teaching that equips us to remain stable and hopeful in every situation. No matter what problems we may face, there is a way to remain joyful and patient as God works on them. If you have not handled the messy issues or challenges in your life well in the past, then with God's help, you can begin to manage them better, starting now.

We should never waste our pain. Through the wisdom distilled in this book, we can learn how to gain something from our messes, use those insights to avoid trouble in the future, and share our experiences to help other people find blessings in the midst of their messes.

Edited by Kate 

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Palm Reading for Beginners

Kenneth Lagerstrom

Your spiritual journey is in your hands—the essential guide to palm reading

What if the answers you've been looking for are right there, in the palm of your hand? If you're a novice to the practice of palmistry and want to dive deep into this alluring subject, Palm Reading for Beginners will show you how to look through a window into your past, present, and future presented in one single, universal language—our hands.

From improving mental clarity to understanding your own potential, this book combines all the core principles of this ancient art. Learn to analyze the lines and mounts of the palm, hand movements and shapes, and patterns of fingerprints to put them together and apply meaning to everyday life.

Palm Reading for Beginners interesting tidbits include:

 

  • Profound and relatable—The how-to information is in-depth, thorough, and easy-to-understand making your palm reading journey easy.
  • Invaluable insight—Use these essential palm reading methods to not only examine a hand but interpret what you see.
  • Illuminating illustrations—The clear and concise drawings make it that much easier for you to perfect the practice.


With Palm Reading for Beginners, you'll see your life in ways you never thought possible.

Edited by Kate 

 

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Change Your Space to Change Your Life

Julie Ann Segal

Tap into a Wealth of Energy and Abundance with Feng Shui

Create profoundly comforting spaces in your home or workplace that reflect your authentic self and support your goals. Through practical advice and real-life examples from more than thirty years of interior design experience, Julie Ann Segal teaches you how to reimagine your surroundings with loving intention. She combines spirituality, energy work, aesthetics, and personal connection, offering detailed guidance on room-by-room choices and big picture concepts, such as the interplay between your dreams and décor. Removing the mystery around Feng Shui, this book reveals new opportunities in life's changes and helps you design a better future.

Includes a foreword by Feng Shui master Carole Hyder

Edited by Kate 

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Encounterism

Andy Field

"The light touch of a hairdresser's hands on one's scalp, the euphoric energy of a nightclub, huddling with strangers under a shelter in the rain, a spontaneous snowball fight in the street, a daily interaction with a homeless man--such mundane connections, when we closely inhabit the same space, and touch or are touched by others, were nearly lost to "social distancing." Will we ever again shake hands without a thought? In this deeply rewarding book, Andy Field brings together history, science, psychology, queer theory, and pop culture with his love of urban life and his own experiences--both as a city-dweller and as a performance artist--to forge creative connections: walking hand-in-hand with strangers, knocking on doors, staging encounters in parked cars. In considering twelve different kinds of encounters, from car rides to video calls to dog-walker chats in the park, Field argues "that in the spontaneity and joy of our meetings with each other, we might find the faint outline of a better future""--Provided by publisher.

Edited by Kate 

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When a Loved One Has Dementia

Eveline Helmink

"An open-hearted and honest look at the reality of caring for someone with this life-changing diagnosis. Eveline generously shares her experiences, insights, and practical tools to cultivate compassion, acceptance, and love, even during the most painful experiences."--Dr. Nicole LePera, New York Times-bestselling author of How to Do the Work



A vital source of solace and compassion for those whose loved one has dementia, rooted in the author's unflinching experience of caring for her mother



Dementia enters life through the back door, slipping in unnoticed. Once it's there, it can make you feel powerless, angry, and unsure how to move forward. When her mother developed dementia, Eveline Helmink wasn't prepared. As she learned firsthand, when your loved one is suffering, it takes a toll on you, too.



As you navigate finding professional caregivers and adapting to your loved one's behavioral challenges, this book will help you confront all the complexities of the experience.

  • Identify healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms.
  • Work through feelings of denial, grief, guilt, shame, and fear.
  • Summon the courage to make decisions in your loved one's best interest.
  • Live in the present, find laughter, and show love in the face of dementia.

 


When a Loved One Has Dementia weaves together Eveline's unflinching personal account and her empathetic guidance, allowing you to walk through the endless tunnel and illuminating the path to acceptance, forgiveness, and love.

Edited by Kate 

 

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Good News, Planet Earth

Sam Bentley

Sustainability enthusiast and climate activist Sam Bentley shares details on the hopeful developments combatting the effects of climate change, while giving readers actionable steps to help play their part.

If you feel like climate change and the state of our planet just keeps getting worse and there’s nothing we can do to stop it then you’ve picked up the right book–because tons of efforts are already underway to save our planet, and we’d love for you to join the fight.

Good News, Planet Earth is your go-to guide to learn about all the amazing sustainable developments that are being put in place worldwide to combat warming temperatures, pollution, deforestation, the use of wasteful products, and threats to our diverse wildlife.

Sustainability enthusiast Sam Bentley takes you on a journey around the world to teach you about everything from the net-free zone established in the Great Barrier Reef, a road that charges electric vehicles while they drive in Detroit, and the opening of carbon capturing plants in Europe that suck CO2 out of the air and store it safely underground.

Good News, Planet Earth includes:

 

  • 25 categories covering topics like recycling, energy use, and food consumption
  • 100 actionable steps you can take to fight climate change and live more sustainably


Whether you’re seeking an uplifting and hopeful climate action book for yourself, or the perfect gift for the environmentally conscious person in your life, Good News, Planet Earth is the small but mighty book that might just help save the world.

Edited by Kate 

 

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Arguing for a Better World

Arianne Shahvisi

Is it sexist to say that “men are trash”? Can white people be victims of racism? Do we bear any individual responsibility for climate change?

We’ve all wrestled with questions like these, whether we’re shouting at a relative across the dinner table, quarreling with old classmates on social media, or chatting late into the night with friends. Many people give kneejerk answers that roughly align with their broader belief system, but flounder when asked for their reasoning, leading to a conversational stalemate—especially when faced with a political, generational, or cultural divide.

The truth is that our answers to these questions almost always rely on unexamined assumptions. In Arguing for a Better World, philosopher Arianne Shahvisi shows us how to work through thorny moral questions by examining their parts in broad daylight, equipping us to not only identify our own positions but to defend them as well. This book demonstrates the relevance of philosophy to our everyday lives, and offers some clear-eyed tools to those who want to learn how to better fight for justice and liberation for all.

Edited by Kate 

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Althea

Sally H. Jacobs

“A captivating book that brilliantly reveals an American sports legend long overlooked. Sally Jacobs tells the riveting story of Althea Gibson, my personal shero, who overcame daunting odds – on the tennis court and off - to stand at the world pinnacle of her sport and became an inspiration to many.” Billie Jean King

In 1950, three years after Jackie Robinson first walked onto the diamond at Ebbets Field, the all-white, upper-crust US Lawn Tennis Association opened its door just a crack to receive a powerhouse player who would integrate "the game of royalty." The player was a street-savvy young Black woman from Harlem named Althea Gibson who was about as out-of-place in that rarefied and intolerant world as any aspiring tennis champion could be. Her tattered jeans and short-cropped hair drew stares from everyone who watched her play, but her astonishing performance on the court soon eclipsed the negative feelings being cast her way as she eventually became one of the greatest American tennis champions.

Gibson had a stunning career. Raised in New York and trained by a pair of tennis-playing doctors in the South, Gibson’s immense talent on the court opened the door for her to compete around the world. She won top prizes at Wimbledon and Forest Hills time and time again. The young woman underestimated by so many wound up shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth II, being driven up Broadway in a snowstorm of ticker tape, and ultimately became the first Black woman to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the second to appear on the cover of Time. In a crowning achievement, Althea Gibson became the No. One ranked female tennis player in the world for both 1957 and 1958. Seven years later she broke the color barrier again where she became the first Black woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).

In Althea, prize-winning former Boston Globe reporter Sally H. Jacobs tells the heart-rending story of this pioneer, a remarkable woman who was a trailblazer, a champion, and one of the most remarkable Americans of the twentieth century.

Edited by Kate 

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Art Firsts

Nick Trend

The story of art is not always the story of art-historical 'isms' and complex academic debate. The real history is often the story of some very simple firsts - the first time an artist painted themselves, the first time someone painted a smile, the first actual place to be depicted, the first feminist artwork, the first anti-war work.

Art evolves and revolutionises itself through these simple - but ground-breaking - creative leaps. Art Firsts brings together 30 of these pioneering firsts to piece together an original approach to looking at and appreciating art, as well as understanding where it has come from and how it relates to you. Each first is approachable and engaging, while each work is simply and satisfyingly explained. Every work is also fully illustrated, and its significance is shown through images of the subsequent artists directly inspired by them. Art Firsts offers a refreshing and fascinating narrative for those curious about why so-called 'masterpieces' are so important and how the story of art can be boiled down to flashes of fascinating brilliance.

Edited by Kate 

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Flower Love

Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht

A playful, approachable guide to a rainbow of flower arrangements from the expert floral designer and host of Netflix’s The Big Flower Fight.

Whether you are new to floristry or have been at it long enough to see carnations come in and out of fashion more times than the mullet, it’s easy to fall in love and stay in love with flowers. For Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht, flowers are everything—reminders of nature’s beauty, tools for building creative confidence, and a gateway to self-care.

In Flower Love, Griffith-VanderYacht uses his effervescent sense of humor and sharp eye for design to bring accessible, sumptuous floral arrangements to flower lovers everywhere, from all walks of life. With stunning photography of forty-five arrangements, visual step-by-step instructions, and a unique, geometric approach to floral design, Flower Love is an empowering and joyful resource for anyone who wants to add fanciful floral whimsy to their everyday life.

This book includes:

• Step-by-step instructions for forty-five stunning floral arrangements
• The Ten Floral Commandments
• The elements of foolproof floral design
• Helpful design hacks you won't find anywhere else
• A detailed flower glossary organized by color and season

Learn to source and style lush floral arrangements with this primer on design. All you need are some flowers, scissors, and an appreciation for our planet’s ubiquitous natural beauty. So, pop on your favorite tunes and give yourself some Flower Love.

Edited by Kate 

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Llewellyn's 2024 Moon Sign Book

Llewellyn Publishing

Since 1905, this bestselling almanac has been an essential resource for astrologers, gardeners, and laypeople alike. Featuring lunar planting and harvesting guidelines, recommended activities for every day of the year, and timing strategies for all kinds of life events, Llewellyn's Moon Sign Book makes it simple to plan a successful year.

This almanac features void-of-course charts, weather and economic forecasts, aspectarian tables, and a variety of thoughtful articles. You'll learn about lunar mansions, eclipses, superfoods that boost body and mind, gathering seeds from plants, ways to live in harmony with invertebrate creatures, and more. Filled with dozens of tips on crafting, health and home, and growing a strong connection to animals, this book helps you connect to the Moon's energy whenever you need it.

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Hands of Time

Rebecca Struthers

"Forty thousand years of our relationship with time condensed into 288 pages: a hugely entertaining achievement." -Esquire

"An engaging survey through a period of intellectual history that reveals as much about people who wear watches as the objects on their wrists." - Wall Street Journal

"As impeccably crafted and precisely engineered as any of the watches on which the author has worked so lovingly over the years, this book is a joy to behold and a wonder to enjoy." -Simon Winchester, author of The Perfectionists and Land

An award-winning watchmaker--one of the few practicing the art in the world today--chronicles the invention of time through the centuries-long story of one of mankind's most profound technological achievements: the watch.

Timepieces have long accompanied us on our travels, from the depths of the oceans to the summit of Everest, the ice of the arctic to the sands of the deserts, outer space to the surface of the moon. The watch has sculpted the social and economic development of modern society; it is an object that, when disassembled, can give us new insights both into the motivations of inventors and craftsmen of the past, and, into the lives of the people who treasured them.

Hands of Time is a journey through watchmaking history, from the earliest attempts at time-keeping, to the breakthrough in engineering that gave us the first watch, to today - where the timepieces hold cultural and historical significance beyond what its first creators could have imagined. Acclaimed watchmaker Rebecca Struthers uses the most important watches throughout history to explore their attendant paradigm shifts in how we think about time, indeed how we think about our own humanity. From an up-close look at the birth of the fakes and forgeries industry which marked the watch as a valuable commodity, to the watches that helped us navigate trade expeditions, she reveals how these instruments have shaped how we build and then consequently make our way through the world.

A fusion of art and science, history and social commentary, this fascinating work, told in Struthers's lively voice and illustrated with custom line drawings by her husband and fellow watchmaker Craig, is filled with her personal observations as an expert watchmaker--one of the few remaining at work in the world today. Horology is a vast subject--the "study of time." This compelling history offers a fresh take, exploring not only these watches within their time, but the role they played in human development and the impact they had on the people who treasured them.

Edited by Kate 

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Thinking with Your Hands

Susan Goldin-Meadow

"Imagine a friend who earnestly tells you that he thinks men and women are equally good leaders. But when he talks about men's leadership skills, he places his palm at eye-level, and when he talks about women's leadership skills, he places his palm a bit lower, at mouth-level. His hands have given him away: even if he truly thinks that his views are egalitarian, he holds an implicit belief that is now there for all the word to see. You swear you heard him say something disparaging, even if you don't fully realize why. In Thinking With Your Hands, cognitive psychologist Susan Goldin-Meadow reveals just how essential gestures are to how we think and communicate. Drawing on decades of research, including experiments and studies from throughout her own illustrious career, Goldin-Meadow presents the definitive overview of the most important feature of human communication that you've never thought about. Gesture is a universal behavior common to every culture and language. It's found among Deaf people who use their hands to speak in sign language and blind people who have never seen anyone gesture before. Far from being an affective flourish, Goldin-Meadow argues, gestures are an integral piece of the conversation-even if we don't realize it while we're using them. They give form to ideas that are difficult to phrase in language and help us express ideas that we are grappling with but haven't yet fully grasped. Indeed, understanding gesture compels us to re-think everything from to how we set development milestones for children, to what's admissible in a court of law, to whether FaceTime is a good communication technology. A landmark achievement by a star in the field of cognitive psychology, Thinking With Your Hands reveals the entire landscape of communication that's hidden in our hands and promises to transform the way we think about language for decades to come.

Edited by Kate 

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