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Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy
The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer. For centuries, medicine has reached for what's available--sculpting noses from brass, borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, crafting eye parts from jet canopies and breasts from petroleum by-products. Today we're attempting to grow body parts from scratch using stem cells and 3D printers. How are we doing? Are we there yet?
In Replaceable You, Mary Roach explores the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body's failings. When and how does a person decide they'd be better off with a prosthetic than their existing limb? Can a donated heart be made to beat forever? Can an intestine provide a workable substitute for a vagina?
Roach dives in with her characteristic verve and infectious wit. Her travels take her to the OR at a legendary burn unit in Boston, a "superclean" xeno-pigsty in China, and a stem cell "hair nursery" in the San Diego tech hub. She talks with researchers and surgeons, amputees and ostomates, printers of kidneys and designers of wearable organs. She spends time in a working iron lung from the 1950s, stays up all night with recovery techs as they disassemble and reassemble a tissue donor, and travels across Mongolia with the cataract surgeons of Orbis International.
Irrepressible and accessible, Replaceable You immerses readers in the wondrous, improbable, and surreal quest to build a new you.
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Thief of Night
The highly-anticipated sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black's stunning adult debut, Book of Night.
There'd always been something wrong with Charlie Hall. Crooked from the day she was born. Never met a bad decision she wasn't willing to double down on. She may be good enough to steal a shadow from a tower, but will she be good enough to steal back a heart? -
How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women
"Terrifying, fascinating, and important." --Sara Sheridan, author of Where Are the Women? and The Fair Botanists
Nothing brings people together like a common enemy, and witches were the greatest enemy of all.
Scotland, 1563: Crops failed. People starved. And the Devil's influence was stronger than ever--at least, that's what everyone believed. If you were a woman living in Scotland during this turbulent time, there was a very good chance that you, or someone you knew, would be tried as a witch.
During the chaos of the Reformation, violence against women was codified for the first time in the Witchcraft Act--a tool of theocratic control with one chilling goal: to root out witches and rid the land of evil. What followed was a dark and misogynistic chapter in history that fanned the flames of witch hunts across the globe, including in the United States and beyond.
In How to Kill a Witch, Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell, hosts of the popular Witches of Scotland podcast, unravel the grim yet absurdly bureaucratic process of identifying, accusing, trying, and executing women as witches. With sharp wit and keen feminist insight, they reveal the inner workings of a patriarchal system designed to weaponize fear and oppress women.
This captivating (and often infuriating) account, which weaves a rich tapestry of trial transcripts, witness accounts, and the documents that set the legal grounds for the witch hunts, exposes how this violent period of history mirrors today's struggles for justice and equality. How to Kill a Witch is a powerful, darkly humorous reminder of the dangers of superstition, bias, and ignorance, and a warning to never forget the past... while raising the question of whether it could ever happen again.
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Guinness World Records 2026
BE PART OF IT
Discover the incredible achievements and inspiring stories of record breakers from around the world... and how you can become one of them. With all new content - from high-end hotels to deserted ghost towns and talented pets to global sports superstars - the new edition of Guinness World Records once again shows how record breaking is for everyone, everywhere. - Find a hidden talent within the Fantastic Feats chapter, including crazy collections, super strength and even pickleball
- Get inspired by 8 new ICONS - who embody the very best of record breaking - from music legend Dolly Parton, blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer to powerhouse swimmer Katie Ledecky
- Marvel at the possibilities of the cutting-edge tech behind modern cities, robots and space exploration in a dedicated Science & Engineering chapter
- Celebrate the differences of the most incredible Human Beings from height extremes to superlative seniors and awesome anatomy
- Take on the grown-ups with records just for under 16s and the Young Achievers proving age is no barrier in the Kids Zone
- Cheer on American sporting heroes - including Caitlin Clark, Lamar Jackson, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and more - as we run through the latest year in Sports -
Slanting Towards the Sea
Spanning twenty years and one life-altering summer in Croatia, Slanting Towards the Sea is at once an unforgettable love story and a powerful exploration of what it means to come of age in a country younger than oneself. Ivona divorced the love of her life, Vlaho, a decade ago. They met as students at the turn of the millennium, when newly democratic Croatia was alive with hope and promise. But the challenges of living in a burgeoning country extinguished Ivona's dreams one after another--and a devastating secret forced her to set him free. Now Vlaho is remarried and a proud father of two, while Ivona's life has taken a downward turn. In her thirties, she has returned to her childhood home to care for her ailing father. Bewildered by life's disappointments, she finds solace in reconnecting with Vlaho and is welcomed into his family by his spirited wife, Marina. But when a new man enters Ivona's life, the carefully cultivated dynamic between the three is disrupted, forcing a reckoning for all involved. Set against the mesmerizing Croatian coastline, Slanting Towards the Sea is a cinematic, emotionally searing debut about the fragile nature of potential and the transcendence of love. -
Incredible Kindness of Paper
For fans of Matt Haig and Clare Pooley, an enchanting novel about a pair of long-lost childhood friends who find themselves magically linked through origami flowers as adults--from the New York Times bestselling author of the "fresh, magical, and hopelessly romantic" (Sarah Addison Allen, New York Times bestselling author) The Hundred Loves of Juliet. In elementary school, Chloe Hanako Quinn is assigned Oliver Jones as her pen pal partner. Before sending her letter, she also whispers a note into it...and he hears her. Little does she know it would be the beginning of a friendship that would bloom into something more. That is, until disaster strikes, and Oliver and his family disappear without a trace. Now over twenty years later, Chloe is a high school guidance counselor in New York City. But life in the Big Apple is not what she dreamed it would be as she faces a layoff, rising rent, a situationship, and loneliness. Desperate for encouragement, she gives herself a pep talk via uplifting messages written on yellow origami paper that she folds into roses. When one of the roses unexpectedly finds its way to a neighbor in need of cheering up, a desire to spread kindness and optimism is sparked in Chloe, who begins folding more roses and leaving them around town. Across the city, Oliver has picked himself up from the rough circumstances that forced him to leave everything behind as a teenager--including Chloe. Now a successful financial analyst, Oliver's past continues to haunt him. But when the city is suddenly inundated with yellow origami roses, a specific one finds its way into his hands and changes his life forever... -
Very Heart of It: New York Diaries, 1983-1994
From the renowned novelist and critic, an exquisite collection of journal entries from the 1980s and '90s, tracking a young, gay author's literary coming-of-age in New York during the AIDS crisis In 1983, Thomas Mallon was still unknown. A literature professor at Vassar College, he spent his days traveling from Manhattan to campus, reviewing books to make ends meet and searching the city for his own purpose and fulfillment. The AIDS epidemic was beginning to surge in New York City, the ever-bustling epicenter of literary culture and gay life, alive with parties, art, and sex. Though he didn't know it, everything would soon change for Mallon. Riding the success of his debut, A Book of One's Own, he became a fixture within the city's literary scene, crossing paths with cultural giants and becoming an editor at GQ. He captured it all in his daily journals. But in some ways it was the worst possible time for a gay coming-of-age in the city. One of his lovers succumbed to AIDS, and the illness of others was both a heartbreaking reality and a constant reminder of his own exposure. Tracing his own life day by day, Mallon evokes all that those years encompassed: the hookups, intensifying politics, personal tragedies, as well as his own blossoming success and eventual romantic happiness. The Very Heart of It is a brilliant and bewitching look into the daily life of one of our most important literary figures, and a keepsake from a bygone era. -
Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time: How Mamie Fish, Queen of the Gilded Age, Partied Her Way to Power
From the author of Madame Restell and Get Well Soon, a biography of Mamie Fish that explores how women used parties and social gatherings to gain power and prestige.
Marion Graves Anthon Fish, known by the nicknames "Mamie" and "The Fun-Maker," threw the most epic parties in American history. This Gilded Age icon brought it all: lavish decor; A-list invitees; booze; pranks; and large animal guest stars. If you were a member of New York high society in the Peak Age of Innocence Era, you simply had to be on Mamie Fish's guest list. Mamie Fish understood that people didn't just need the formality of prior generations -- they needed wit and whimsy. Make no mistake, however: Mamie Fish's story is about so much more than partying. In Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time, readers will learn all about how Fish and her friends shaped the line of history, exerting their influence on business, politics, family relationships, and social change through elaborate social gatherings. In a time when women couldn't even own property, let alone run for office, if women wanted any of the things men got outside the home--glory, money, attention, social networking, leadership roles--they had to do it by throwing a decadent soiree or chairing a cotillion. To ensure people would hear and remember what she had to say, Mamie Fish lived her whole life at Volume 10, becoming famous not by playing the part of a saintly helpmeet, but by letting her demanding, bitchy, hilarious, dramatic freak flag fly. It's time to let modern readers in on the fun, the fabulousness, and the absolute ferocity that is Ms. Stuyvesant Fish--and her inimitable legacy. -
Pearl City: The Phoenix Hoard
Blade.
Emiko Soong has been called many things. But Worldbreaker is the worst. She unmasked the General and returned to San Francisco where her power is greatest. But the city, once her sanctuary from Jiaren intrigues, turns into her living nightmare. Clan wars erupt and Emiko's life becomes a treacherous quicksand of friend and foe. Unsure of who to trust, Emiko finds herself more alone than ever. When an ancient power rips through the Realm to land in her city, the General will stop at nothing to take it for his own. Emiko must face her past, present, and future, as she races to stop the General. Is Emiko's fate written to be the destroyer of worlds, or can she chart a new course to save her family? Phoenix Hoard
Butcher.
Thief.
Worldbreaker.
#1 Ebony Gate
#2 Blood Jade
#3 Pearl City -
V Is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death
Fourteen stories. Fourteen more poisons. Just because it's fiction doesn't mean it's all made-up ...
Agatha Christie is renowned for her captivating plots and creative ways of killing off ill-fated victims. And what better way to add intrigue to a story than poison? The surreptitious ways they can be administered and the characteristic symptoms they produce make these killer chemicals the ideal method of murder in a 'whodunit'. Christie perfected the use of poisons in her plots; her deft and varied use of toxic substances is one of her great strengths as a writer. But how is it that some compounds prove so fatal, and in such tiny amounts? The follow up to Kathryn Harkup's best-selling A is for Arsenic, V is for Venom is a compelling exploration of Christie's use of poisons and her extensive chemical knowledge. Featuring fourteen more poisons from the works of Agatha Christie, this book investigates the science behind the deadly substances, the history of their use in real-life murder cases, and how feasible was it to obtain, administer and detect these poisons in Christie's time and today. Combining Christie's murder mysteries, chemical science and true crime, V is for Venom is a celebration of the use of science by the undisputed Queen of Crime. -
High Season
Never speak of that summer.
On a beautiful summer's night twenty years ago, troubled seventeen-year-old Tamara Drayton was found floating face-down in the pool of her family's idyllic mansion in the south of France, leaving her twin brother, golden-boy Blake, to pick up the pieces of their shattered family. Also left behind was their sister Nina who, at six years old, became the youngest person ever to testify in a French murder trial. Because she's the only one who saw what happened--who watched as her babysitter, Josie Jackson, pushed Tamara under the water, and held her there until she stopped breathing. Didn't she? Twenty years later, Nina's memories have faded, leaving her with no idea of what really transpired that night. When a new true crime documentary about her sister's murder is announced, Nina thinks this might be her chance to finally find out. But the truth always comes at a cost. Who will pay the price? Set over two unforgettable summers two decades apart, High Season is a dark, tense exploration of the nature of memory, the enduring power of truth, and all the gray areas in between.
"Propulsive, escapist, and sharp." --Emily Layden, author of Once More from the Top -
Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization
A unique and compelling adventure through the history of rope and its impact on civilization, in the vein of single-subject bestsellers like Salt and Cod
Tim Queeney is a sailor who knows more about rope and its importance to humankind than most. In Rope, Queeney takes readers on a ride through the history of rope and the way it weaves itself through the story of civilization. From Magellan's world-circling ships, to the 15th-century fleet of Admiral Zheng He, to Polynesian multihulls with crab claw sails, he shows how without rope, none of their adventurous voyages and discoveries would have been possible. Time traveling, he describes the building of the pyramids, the Roman Coliseum, Hagia Sofia, Notre Dame, the Sultan Hasan Mosque, the Brooklyn Bridge, and countless other constructions that would not have been possible without rope. Not content to just look at rope's past, Queeney looks at its present and possible future and how the re-invention of rope with synthetic fibers will likely provide the strength for cables to support elevators into space. Making the story of rope real for readers, Queeney tells remarkable nautical stories of his own reliance on rope at sea. Rope is history, adventure, and the story of one of the world's most common tools that has made it possible for humans to advance throughout the centuries. -
Sold outKitchen Hymns
Pádraig Ó Tuama's Kitchen Hymns opens with a question: "Do You Believe in God?" -- but the bee, "gone extinct," cannot answer, and the grass calls believe "a poor verb." This collection trades belief for language, and philosophy is grounded in form and narrative. Kitchen Hymns is structured like a ghost mass, where even if God is a "favorite emptiness," longing still has things to say: Jesus and Persephone meet at Hell's exit and discuss survival; someone believes more in birds than belief; hares carry messages from the overworld to the underworld. A study in lyric address, Kitchen Hymns speaks to a shifting "you" an unknown you; the strange you; a lover, a hated other; the you of erotic desire; the you of creation and destruction. Large themes are informed by and contained in a poetics of observation, humor, trauma, dialogics, lament, rage and praise. Delivered in finely honed melodies, shaped with force and conviction, Kitchen Hymns "reckon[s] with the empty," and becomes "busy with a body / not a question."
Written by the engaging host of the popular show, Poetry Unbound, the poems of Kitchen Hymns are finely honed melodies of survival--shaped with both humor and anger, force and conviction.
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