🧠Because truth is often stranger—and funnier—than fiction.
Memoirs, essays, and deep dives into everything from psychology to platypuses. Smart reads for curious minds.
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New York Times Bestseller“A refreshingly unadorned account of the true brutality of climbing K2, where heroes emerge and egos are stripped down, and the only thing achieving immortality is the cold ruthless mountain.” — Norman Ollestad, author of Crazy for the StormIn...
"A pain staking but hilarious journey amidst the strings and arrows of language misfortune . . . The result is the perfect gift book for word nerds." —BrevityMalapropism—A word or phrase that has been mistaken for another, usually because of its sound rather than its...
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An intimate, rollicking highly-visual memoir of a comedic genius that offers a rare glimpse into the creative life and inner workings of legendary director producer Judd Apatow through never-before-seen photos, letters and behind-the-scenes...
"Intriguing stories from the history of the human relationship with birds, including their symbolism in art, literature, religion, and folklore" ( Booklist ). Even the most well-informed wildlife enthusiast will be entertained by the stories and fascinating facts in...
"A complete introduction to the geometric code of nature, written and illustrated by the most perceptive of its modern investigators." —John Michell, from the Preface You need not be a philosopher or a botanist, and certainly not a mathematician, to enjoy the bounty...
Winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize for Literature: A "massive, provocative, brilliant" study of the nature of humankind and the manifestations of that nature ( Time ). "Critics have compared Crowds and Power to the intellectually revolutionary works of Marx, Freud, and...
From celebrated writer Jill Lepore, a literary and political history of American origin stories In The Story of America , Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore investigates American origin stories—from John Smith's account of the founding of...
In this New York Times Bestseller, the author of Stiff "takes the reader on a wide-ranging tour . . . into human sexual life and practice, ranging from laboratories to brothels" ( Chicago Tribune). "Rich in dexterous innuendo, laugh‑out‑loud humor and illuminating...
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the renowned astronomer and author of Cosmos comes a “powerful [and] stirring defense of informed rationality” ( The Washington Post Book World ) in a world where fake news stories and Internet conspiracy theories play to a disaffected...
In short, gloriously inventive essays, Whiting Award-winning author Amy Leach's The Everybody Ensemble invites us to see and celebrate our oddball, interconnected world Humans, please turn your guns into kazoos. Are you feeling dismay, despair, disillusion? Need a...