Collection: Biography & Memoir

Get ready for the electrifying biography of Nikola Tesla--part creative genius, part mad scientist, and 100% innovator.

When Nikola Tesla arrived in the United States in 1884, he didn't have much money, but he did have a letter of introduction to renowned inventor Thomas Edison. The working relationship between the two men was short lived, though, and the two scientist-inventors became harsh competitors. One of the most influential scientists of all time, Nikola Tesla is celebrated for his experiments in electricity, X-rays, remote controls, and wireless communications. His invention of the Tesla coil was instrumental in the development of radio technology.

A close friendship is one of the most influential and important relationships a human life can contain. Anyone will tell you that! But for all the rosy sentiments surrounding friendship, most people don't talk much about what it really takes to stay close for the long haul.Now two friends, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, tell the story of their equally messy and life-affirming Big Friendship in this honest and hilarious book that chronicles their first decade in one another's lives. As the hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend, they've become known for frank and intimate conversations. In this book, they bring that energy to their own friendship--its joys and its pitfalls. Aminatou and Ann define Big Friendship as a strong, significant bond that transcends life phases, geographical locations, and emotional shifts. And they should know: the two have had moments of charmed bliss and deep frustration, of profound connection and gut-wrenching alienation. They have weathered life-threatening health scares, getting fired from their dream jobs, and one unfortunate Thanksgiving dinner eaten in a car in a parking lot in Rancho Cucamonga. Through interviews with friends and experts, they have come to understand that their struggles are not unique. And that the most important part of a Big Friendship is making the decision to invest in one another again and again. An inspiring and entertaining testament to the power of society's most underappreciated relationship, Big Friendship will invite you to think about how your own bonds are formed, challenged, and preserved. It is a call to value your friendships in all of their complexity. Actively choose them. And, sometimes, fight for them.

This is the first of three memoirs written by Eartha Kitt. Thursday's Child was originally published in 1956 and covers Eartha's childhood and early career. This book is what inspired the name of David Bowie's song "Thursday's Child."

Eartha Kitt (1927-2008) was an American singer, actress, comedienne, dancer, and activist known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby", both of which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Kitt began her career in 1942 and appeared in the 1945 original Broadway theatre production of the musical Carib Song. In the early 1950s, she had six US Top 30 hits, including "Uska Dara" and "I Want to Be Evil". She starred as Catwoman in the third and final season of the television series Batman in 1967.

Eartha continued her career up until her death in 2008, appearing in both stage and film projects as well as lending her voice to several prominent Disney projects including "The Emperor's New Groove".

* Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award * Silver Medal Society of Illustrators *

* Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Comics Beat, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal

This "ingenious reckoning with the past" (The New York Times), by award-winning artist Nora Krug investigates the hidden truths of her family's wartime history in Nazi Germany.

Nora Krug was born decades after the fall of the Nazi regime, but the Second World War cast a long shadow over her childhood and youth in the city of Karlsruhe, Germany. Yet she knew little about her own family's involvement; though all four grandparents lived through the war, they never spoke of it.

After twelve years in the US, Krug realizes that living abroad has only intensified her need to ask the questions she didn't dare to as a child. Returning to Germany, she visits archives, conducts research, and interviews family members, uncovering in the process the stories of her maternal grandfather, a driving teacher in Karlsruhe during the war, and her father's brother Franz-Karl, who died as a teenage SS soldier. In this extraordinary quest, "Krug erases the boundaries between comics, scrapbooking, and collage as she endeavors to make sense of 20th-century history, the Holocaust, her German heritage, and her family's place in it all" (The Boston Globe). A highly inventive, "thoughtful, engrossing" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) graphic memoir, Belonging "packs the power of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home and David Small's Stitches" (NPR.org).

Why women's brains work differently at night--and how we can harness that altered state for greater creativity, insight, and courage.

In the winter of 2020, Annabel Abbs-Streets experienced a series of losses: her stepfather, then father, and finally her family's puppy. Unmoored by grief, she couldn't sleep. But she discovered something surprising: during her wakeful nights, the darkness became a place of sanctuary, filled with creativity, reflection, and wonder. And once she stopped fighting her insomnia, Annabel tapped into something mysterious and beguiling: her Night Self.

In the tradition of books like Breath and Wintering, Sleepless combines science, historical research, and personal experience to explore the complicated relationship women have with darkness. Her night journeys range from quiet country fields to brightly lit city streets to the darkest reaches of the Arctic Circle. And from women of the past--Lee Krasner, Virginia Woolf, Louise Bourgeois, and dozens more--who opened their minds on sleepless nights, to contemporary women who found a form of healing in darkness. From moth hunters to astronomers, from artists to photographers, Annabel found she wasn't alone. Cut loose from the anxiety of insomnia, numerous women discovered strength, imagination, and inner knowledge at night. Many also learned to--finally--sleep.

"What Mr. Rogers was to children, Alexandra Horowitz is to dogs: a wise and patient observer who seeks to intimately know a creature... Her chapters, packed with close observations about canine cognition and behavior, are mini-mood lifters." --NPR, Maureen Corrigan on Fresh Air

What is it like to be a puppy? Author of the classic Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz tries to find out, spending a year scrutinizing her puppy's daily existence and poring over the science of early dog development

Few of us meet our dogs at Day One. The dog who will, eventually, become an integral part of our family, our constant companion and best friend, is born without us into a family of her own. A puppy's critical early development into the dog we come to know is usually missed entirely. Dog researcher Alexandra Horowitz aimed to change that with her family's new pup, Quiddity (Quid). In this scientific memoir, she charts Quid's growth from wee grub to boisterous sprite, from her birth to her first birthday.

Horowitz follows Quid's first weeks with her mother and ten roly-poly littermates, and then each week after the puppy joins her household of three humans, two large dogs, and a wary cat. She documents the social and cognitive milestones that so many of us miss in our puppies' lives, when caught up in the housetraining and behavioral training that easily overwhelms the first months of a dog's life with a new family. In focusing on training a dog to behave, we mostly miss the radical development of a puppy into themselves--through the equivalent of infancy, childhood, young adolescence, and teenager-hood.

By slowing down to observe Quid from week to week, The Year of the Puppy makes new sense of a dog's behavior in a way that is missed when the focus is only on training. Horowitz keeps a lens on the puppy's point of view--how they (begin to) see and smell the world, make meaning of it, and become an individual personality. She's there when the puppies first open their eyes, first start to recognize one another and learn about cats, sheep, and people; she sees them from their first play bows to puberty. Horowitz also draws from the ample research in the fields of dog and human development to draw analogies between a dog's first year and the growing child--and to note where they diverge. The Year of the Puppy is indispensable for anyone navigating their way through the frustrating, amusing, and ultimately delightful first year of a puppy's life.

"The writing sings" says Publisher's Weekly in this "inspiring autobiography." Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, is truly a modern hero with a remarkable, inspirational story to tell.

Mae Jemison made history as the first woman of color in space. But she's also taken center stage as an actress, scientist, doctor, and teacher--not to mention all of the "top ten" lists she's made, including People's 50 Most Beautiful People and the 1999 White House Project's list of the seven women most likely to be elected President. The adventures of her life make for a truly compelling read. To top it all, with her charming sense of humor, Mae is a remarkable storyteller. The variety and richness of Mae Jemison's experiences will inspire every reader who picks up this book.

"One thing I was consistent about was testing limits--mine and other people's--especially adults." --Dr. Mae Jemison

This second edition contains new content as well as sixteen, beautiful, black-and-white illustrations!

Experience author-illustrator Nathan Hale's New York Times bestselling graphic novel One Dead Spy: Bigger & Badder Edition in a deluxe, oversized edition featuring 16 brand-new pages of mini comics.

Nathan Hale (no relation to the author) was America's first spy, a Revolutionary War hero who famously said, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" before being hanged by the British. In Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, author Hale channels his historical doppelgänger to present history's roughest, toughest, strangest stories. This book tackles the story of Nathan Hale himself, who was an officer for the American rebels in the Revolutionary War and was eventually hanged for spying.
This special edition of One Dead Spy features a larger trim size, a deluxe package, and 16 pages of bonus material, which includes research photos, sketches, and mini comics from the author.

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales! Read them all--if you dare!
One Dead Spy: A Revolutionary War Tale (#1)
Big Bad Ironclad!: A Civil War Tale (#2)
Donner Dinner Party: A Pioneer Tale (#3)
Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood: A World War I Tale (#4)
The Underground Abductor: An Abolitionist Tale about Harriet Tubman (#5)
Alamo All-Stars: A Texas Tale (#6)
Raid of No Return: A World War II Tale of the Doolittle Raid (#7)
Lafayette!: A Revolutionary War Tale (#8)
Major Impossible: A Grand Canyon Tale (#9)
Blades of Freedom: A Tale of Haiti, Napoleon, and the Louisiana Purchase (#10)
Cold War Correspondent: A Korean War Tale (#11)
Above the Trenches: A WWI Flying Ace Tale (#12)

The last lecture on leadership by the NFL's greatest coach: Bill Walsh

Bill Walsh is a towering figure in the history of the NFL. His advanced leadership transformed the San Francisco 49ers from the worst franchise in sports to a legendary dynasty. In the process, he changed the way football is played.

Prior to his death, Walsh granted a series of exclusive interviews to bestselling author Steve Jamison. These became his ultimate lecture on leadership.

Additional insights and perspective are provided by Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana and others.

Bill Walsh taught that the requirements of successful leadership are the same whether you run an NFL franchise, a fortune 500 company, or a hardware store with 12 employees. These final words of 'wisdom by Walsh' will inspire, inform, and enlighten leaders in all professions.

This book brings geometry to life with Euclid explaining the principles of Geometry to his friends. Full of fun, explanation and even jokes, thei is the perfect introduction to a sometimes tricky subject.

Euclid lived 2300 years ago in Alexandria, in northern Egypt. His was a brilliant mind. He devised a method of learning Geometry starting from the simplest idea - an Axiom - something we can all agree is self-evident. Euclid built argument upon argument, creating a brillaintly simple system for learning Geometry which he wrote down in his book - Euclid's Elements - which was still in everyday use in schools well into the 20th century.

Shoo Rayner brings another Mega-mind to life with wit, clarity and sensitivity. For any age that wants to get to grips with geometry.

The personally revealing and complete biography of the man known everywhere as "The Oracle of Omaha"--for fans of the HBO documentary Becoming Warren Buffett

Here is the book recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but now he has allowed one writer, Alice Schroeder, unprecedented access to explore directly with him and with those closest to him his work, opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies, and wisdom.

Although the media track him constantly, Buffett himself has never told his full life story. His reality is private, especially by celebrity standards. Indeed, while the homespun persona that the public sees is true as far as it goes, it goes only so far. Warren Buffett is an array of paradoxes. He set out to prove that nice guys can finish first. Over the years he treated his investors as partners, acted as their steward, and championed honesty as an investor, CEO, board member, essayist, and speaker. At the same time he became the world's richest man, all from the modest Omaha headquarters of his company Berkshire Hathaway. None of this fits the term "simple."

When Alice Schroeder met Warren Buffett she was an insurance industry analyst and a gifted writer known for her keen perception and business acumen. Her writings on finance impressed him, and as she came to know him she realized that while much had been written on the subject of his investing style, no one had moved beyond that to explore his larger philosophy, which is bound up in a complex personality and the details of his life. Out of this came his decision to cooperate with her on the book about himself that he would never write.

Never before has Buffett spent countless hours responding to a writer's questions, talking, giving complete access to his wife, children, friends, and business associates--opening his files, recalling his childhood. It was an act of courage, as The Snowball makes immensely clear. Being human, his own life, like most lives, has been a mix of strengths and frailties. Yet notable though his wealth may be, Buffett's legacy will not be his ranking on the scorecard of wealth; it will be his principles and ideas that have enriched people's lives. This book tells you why Warren Buffett is the most fascinating American success story of our time.

Praise for The Snowball

"Even people who don't care a whit about business will be intrigued by this portrait. . . . Schroeder, a former insurance-industry analyst, spent years interviewing Buffett, and the result is a side of the Oracle of Omaha that has rarely been seen."--Time

"Will mesmerize anyone interested in who Mr. Buffett is or how he got that way. The Snowball tells a fascinating story."--New York Times

"If the replication of any great achievement first requires knowledge of how it was done, then The Snowball, the most detailed glimpse inside Warren Buffett and his world that we likely will ever get, should become a Bible for capitalists."--Washington Post

"Riveting and encyclopedic."--Wall Street Journal

"A monumental biography . . . Schroeder got the best access yet of any Buffett biographer. . . . She deals out marvelously funny and poignant stories about Buffett and the conglomerate he runs, Berkshire Hathaway."--Forbes

"The most authoritative portrait of one of the most important American investors of our time."--Los Angeles Times

Solitary confinement, mental and physical torture, extreme hunger and bitter cold-these were the daily realities for Pastor Richard Wurmbrand during his combined 14 years of imprisonment in Communist Romania. Richard's crime, like that of thousands of others, was his fervent faith in Jesus Christ and his outspoken witness to the grace and love of God. In Tortured for Christ, Richard shares the inspiring story of his faithful discipleship amid Communist oppression and his powerful witness of Christ's love and forgiveness even before his persecutors.

Known as "the book that shocked the world," Tortured for Christ is a timeless, bestselling account of courageous faith, unbelievable endurance, and inspiring forgiveness that continues to encourage new generations of Christians.4 years of imprisonment in Communist Romania. Richard's

In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the life of Pelé, Brazil's all-time King of Soccer.

With a sock full of rags for a ball, Pelé honed his skills in a poor neighborhood in Brazil. He believed that, one day, he would lead his country to World Cup victory--and he was right! With Pelé and his super skills on the team, Brazil lifted the trophy three times. Today, he is widely regarded as the greatest soccer player who ever lived--and a hero off the pitch, too, using his voice to help the people who need it most. This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of The King's life.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling biography series for kids that explores the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream.

This empowering series of books offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardcover and paperback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. With rewritten text for older children, the treasuries each bring together a multitude of dreamers in a single volume. You can also collect a selection of the books by theme in boxed gift sets. Activity books and a journal provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.

Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

Travel to Renaissance Italy and learn about the young apprentice who went on become a true master, and one of the most beloved sculptors and painters of all time in this addition to the #1 New York Times Best-Selling Who Was? series!

Michelangelo created some of the world's most recognizable art, from the statue of David to the intricate ceiling fresco of the Sistine Chapel. Beyond his well-known painting and sculpting, he was a gifted poet and architect. Young readers can learn about the entirety of Michelangelo's life, from his time as a young apprentice, his relationships with several Catholic popes and the Medici family, to his unwillingness to stop working into his late eighties. A perfect read for art lovers and fans of the Renaissance.

From Maia Toll, the best-selling author of the Wild Wisdom series and The Night School, comes the enchanted story of her own magical awakening, a journey from Brooklyn to Ireland that will inspire readers to uncover their own inner magic.

"Toll focuses on her own winding path, one that will resonate with seekers." -- People

What is the word for craving a relationship with the earth, plants, rocks, and stars? What do you call someone who finds their spirit sparked by these relationships; whose concept of the sacred is altered by the scent of jasmine in bloom or the deep indigo of a sky awaiting nightfall? We're taught that doctors know our bodies and priests know our souls. But what if you're a person seeking to understand both for yourself without an intermediary? What is the word for these feelings and the person we become when we honor them?

For writer Maia Toll, that word is magic. Magic points to something intrinsic to, and necessary for, the wholeness of the human spirit. It's a marker for the gnawing craving for a connection which includes, but also stretches beyond, the human realm. The exploration of this word was part of her search for both personal empowerment and a sense of cosmic connectedness, the yin and yang of our lives. In Letting Magic In Maia shares the story of her own magical becoming--from the untimely death of a friend that leads her to abandon Brooklyn in favor of the small town of Beacon, NY, to taking a yearlong sabbatical of exploration, and finally to Ireland, where she studied under an herbalist and learned the true magic of listening to the earth itself.

This book is the story of one woman's becoming--the story of pushing past the boundaries of what once seemed possible to discover the extraordinary all around us. In it Maia shares how she learned to let magic in so she could live the life she longed for--one filled with curiosity, connection, and the deepest kind of inner knowing. In this soulfully written recollection--peppered throughout with magical learnings and rituals gathered along the way--Maia uncovers the things that change you in unexpected ways and guide you to become the person you never knew you wanted to be, but perhaps, always were.

This she could call magic.

And through Letting Magic In you will gain the courage and the wisdom to find your own.

Afeni Shakur, one of the most visible figures in both the hip-hop and civil rights movements, reveals her moral and spiritual development in an innovative memoir spanning four decades.Before becoming one of the most well-known members of the Black Power movement, Alice Faye Williams was not unlike any other poor, African American girl growing up in the impoverished South. But when her family moved to New York during the radical sixties, she became intoxicated by the promise of social change. By the time she turned twenty-one, Alice had a new name--Afeni Shakur, derived from the Yoruba term for "lover of people"--and a new vision for the future. The rest is history. In 1969, Afeni was arrested along with other members of the Black Panther party on 189 felony charges that included 30 counts of conspiracy. Though she was eventually acquitted of the charges, Afeni spent eleven months in jail before being released. Once on bail, she became pregnant with a son: Tupac Amaru Shakur, a rap megastar until his tragic death in 1996. In this searing work, renowned actress and Afeni's trusted friend Jasmine Guy reveals the evolution of a woman through a series of intimate conversations on themes such as love, death, race, drugs, politics, music, and, of course, her son. Filled with startling revelations and heartbreaking truths, Afeni's memoir is a powerful testament to the human spirit and the perseverance of the African American people.