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Dinner with an Astronaut: Serving Space Stories: Past, Present and Future
by Leroy Chiao
The inspiring journey of Leroy Chiao, one of the first Asian American astronauts in history, illuminating his remarkable path into space and the fascinating history of rocketry and space travel from its very beginnings Imagine if you could sit down and enjoy a meal with an astronaut. What questions would you ask? What could you learn after a few courses? Leroy Chiao invites you as his guest for Dinner with an Astronaut, an insightful and witty deep dive into the world's most unexplored realm: the cosmos.At just 30 years old, Leroy was selected by NASA as one of twenty-three members of the thirteenth astronaut group. As the first full Chinese heritage professional astronaut, he flew four space missionsthe Space Shuttle, Soyuz, ISS, and on spacewalks in both US and Russian spacesuits, and served as the commander of the International Space Station. Using his unique perspective from flying with fellow American, Japanese and Russian professionals, Leroy now answers your burning universe-spanning questions, such as: What is the new space race, and who are the next generation of competitors? What is NASA working on these days? What feelings did you experience looking out at Earth from space? What does the future of space exploration look like? Will we ever make it to Mars? Sharing the wonders of space with those of us on Earth, Leroy details his astronaut training and otherworldly spaceflights. Gorgeously luminary and deeply profound, Dinner with an Astronaut invites readers to join Leroy Chiao and take a seat at the table, for fans of Scott Kelly, Chris Hadfield, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and for anyone who's been obsessed with the Artemis II moon mission.
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Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe
by Gail Crowther
Commemorating the hundredth anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's birth and with full cooperation of the Monroe estate, an investigation into the literary life of the Hollywood icon and actress, from the author of Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz and Dorothy Parker in Hollywood. Far from the spotlights of the Hollywood film sets and the flashbulbs of the press, Marilyn Monroe was a great reader and lover of books. Her association with writers did not stop at reading their words on the page. She was, of course, briefly married to one of America's best-known playwrights, Arthur Miller, and met a number of other writers who moved in his literary world. But she also met authors independently of Miller, many of whom were fans of her films and keen to meet her. Through her deep research, Gail Crowther delves into Marilyn's personal book collection and recounts some of these meetings, like when she shared an apartment with Shelley Winters in West Hollywood, where they entertained Dylan Thomas and Christopher Isherwood for drinks (probably several drinks), after which Monroe arranged for Thomas to meet his childhood hero, Charlie Chaplin. Or when Life magazine arranged for Monroe to be interviewed by Dame Edith Sitwell at the Sunset Tower Hotel, and Sitwell was both charmed and blown away by Monroe's intelligence. Marilyn And Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe charts the intellectual life of a screen legend, revealing how Monroe, who left high school before graduation, embarked on an impressive and progressive program of self-education, hungry for knowledge and devouring books as an active and engaged reader. Her personal library reflects this inquiring mind. In 2026, for her centenary, this book showcases Marilyn Monroe the reader. Because, at the end of her life, it was not her jewels or her furs, shoes, or dresses that she cared about. It was her books.
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Aging Out: An Exploration of Caregiving, Community, and How Americans Grow Old
by Lucy Schiller
Unlike many other cultures, our collective stance toward older people in the United States has long been one of casual avoidance and neglect. This attitude became brutally clear during the height of the COVID pandemic, when too many people saw elderly deaths not as tragedies but as foregone conclusions. Like many of us, Lucy Schiller experienced this callousness firsthand when her grandmother passed away during the pandemic. In the wake of this trauma, propelled by equal parts grief and curiosity about her own fear of aging, Schiller embarked on an investigative journey to understand why the prospect of aging is so frightening and how being old in America intersects with class, race, disability, and public policy. From profit-driven networks of care facilities to systemic failures in economic support, the future of older Americans looks increasingly uncertain. In Aging Out, Schiller reports this crisis, sharing the human toll of inadequate housing, health care, and community, while simultaneously excavating her own complicated relationship with aging. Combining the incisive reporting of Evicted with the beautifully rendered introspection of The Empathy Exams, Aging Out is an intimate and unflinching exploration of what it means to age in this country and why Americans--including Schiller herself--are so terrified of getting old.
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Profiling: How Predictive Algorithms Shape Identity and the Social Fabric
by Philippe Huneman
In this book, philosopher Philippe Huneman aims to offer an unprecedented and systematic understanding of a simultaneously banal and singular phenomenon of modern life: the digital profile. Diving deeply into the algorithms that produce these profiles, Huneman examines the way in which an individual becomes a predictable subject, both as unwilling producer of their digital profile and unwitting subject of digital marketing's attempts to influence beliefs and behaviors. As the book demonstrates, today's society of profiling has profound implications for our understanding of self and politics. The book unfolds across three sections. In the first, Huneman explains profiles and profiling as they operate today and describes their contemporary pervasiveness, using examples from a variety of fields and considering the wide range of types of data that can be digitalized--be they traces, search histories, metadata or the like. In the second section, on profiles, Huneman reflects on who is the subject of profiling societies and what kind of consequences profiling has on individuals--from behavior to memory. And, finally, entering into metaphysical questioning, the book shines a spotlight on the feedback loop that develops between algorithmic profiling and reality.
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In Deep Water: A True Story of Sharks, Survival, and Courage
by Michael J. Tougias
The terrifying true story of a fight for survival for 28 hours in shark-infested waters. October, 8, 2022. Three friends are fishing for red snapper when their boat, tied to an oil rig, begins taking on water and sinks 15 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico. Suddenly, the three men find themselves in a struggle for their lives. Their vessel succumbs to the building seas so quickly that the fisherman are unable send out a radio Mayday call, and their cell phones have no reception. They only have time to don their life jackets and hold onto a cooler as they are swept further out to sea. They vow to stay together no matter what and must make several life or death decisions. Suffering from hypothermia and severe stings from giant jelly fish, the men desperately try to stay afloat as they realize there are circling sharks below. In Deep Water is an hour by hour account of a desperate and determined struggle for survival, as well as the Coast Guard's all-out effort to find the missing men. This fast-paced story has a number of surprising turns in both the survival ordeal and the rescue efforts. Based on interviews with the three survivors and the crew of the Jayhawk helicopter who rescue them, In Deep Water is a white-knuckle tale of bravery and brotherhood and a battle against the ocean's deadliest predators.
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Agatha Christie: The Mother of the Cozy Mystery
by Nancy West
Embark on a journey through the life behind the mother of cozy mysteries like Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None with this captivating literary biography and stunning celebration of Agatha Christie. Step into the world of history's most legendary mystery and crime writer--Agatha Christie Through one hundred short entries, you'll get an intimate glimpse into the life, mind, and works of the mother of the cozy mystery. Featuring quotes about--and from--the literary genius and excerpts from her suspenseful stories, this beautifully crafted biography celebrates Christie's literary brilliance and timeless creations. With each page, you'll discover the experiences that shaped her classic detective novels, short stories, and plays, from her early years to her lasting impact on popular culture. Whether you're a longtime Christie admirer or just beginning your literary adventure, uncover the unexpected mysteries behind the Queen of Crime with Agatha Christie
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George Orwell: Life and Legacy
by Robert Colls
George Orwell: His Life and Legacy by Robert Colls is an intellectual biography which offers an original account of Orwell's life and work from his birth in the high noon of British imperialism in 1903, to his death on the eve of the Cold War in 1950.
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Called by the Hills: A Home in the Himalaya
by Anuradha Roy
A book about building a home and a wild garden on the edge of a Himalayan forest, illuminated by the author's own watercolors.When acclaimed novelist Anuradha Roy and her husband stumble upon a derelict cottage in the hill station of Ranikhet, they decide it is where they will now live. Fresh from the neon-lit publishing offices of Delhi, Roy is initially bemused by the gentle pace of life in the mountains but then won over: spellbound by the landscape, taken to the heart of the rural community, and adopted by four mountain dogs and counting.As Roy tries to rebuild the cottage and create a garden, she encounters nature at its most fierce, beautiful, and vulnerable, and over twenty-five years bears witness to the destructive impact of global warming on the alpine ecosystem. What emerges is a tender and intimate portrait of her surroundings in which rugged nature, lovable dogs, and recalcitrant humans come together to captivating effect. Written with unsentimental clarity, humor, and poignancy, this is a story of profound transformations.
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The People's Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn
by Dave Zirin
A biography of iconic radical historian Howard Zinn, examining his life and work as a progressive icon and thought leader through the story of the times that shaped him as well as the United States of America. From The Nation magazine columnist and New York Times bestselling author Dave Zirin, The People's Historian is a deeply researched biography of Howard Zinn, the beloved author of the classic national bestseller with more than four million copies sold, A People's History of the United States. The People's Historian shows Zinn's presence on the great canvases of the 20th century: from the Depression to World War II to the Civil Rights Movement to the war in Vietnam all the way until his death in 2010. With intimately researched stories from Zinn's life and career, such as the way Atlanta's small Spelman College, where Zinn taught as a young professor, helped launch the Civil Rights Movement, Zinn's work traveling to Hanoi to engineer the release of POWs, and his continuing influence in the emerging Democratic Socialist movement, The People's Historian explores Zinn's past while also demonstrating how his 75 years of political engagement with the social struggles of his time informs our perilous present. With input from family and access to Zinn's personal papers, The People's Historian paints a picture of the man behind A People's History, examining his work and legacy in the broader context of the United States.
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No Dumb Questions: And All of Our Dumbest Answers
by Jason Kelce
Brothers, Super Bowl Champions, and now, published authors. That's right, authors. Look, we're as surprised as you.Jason and Travis Kelce attempt to tackle some of life's dumbest questions from the 92%ers. Join us on this discovery of knowledge as we cover topics like sports, relationships, parenting, gorilla fights, and many more quandaries that man has pondered since he first gazed upon the stars.
FOOTBALL: Why don't players squirt their own water?
CUISINE: Do you pour the cereal first or the milk?
SCIENCE: If you could make one of your body parts detachable, which would you choose?When you think philosophy, you'll probably think of names like Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle. But none of those men have won a single Super Bowl, so what do they know? No Dumb Questions is a collection of Jason and Travis's wisest, funniest, and most electric debates that could only come from the collected wisdom of a combined twenty-seven seasons in the NFL.
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This Dark Night: Emily Bronte, a Life
by Deborah Lutz
Deborah Lutz compellingly captures Emily Jane Brontë, extraordinary poet and author of the incomparable Wuthering Heights, with deep insight and glorious prose.
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Unsayable: A Life in Writing
by Michael Cunningham
An intimate memoir portraying a life spent trying to describe the indescribable, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours and Day. Go ahead. Try using language to slit the skin of mortality to see what's on the other side. At the age of three, Michael Cunningham began obsessively collecting the names of things: oak, Chevrolet, finch, tulip, Tupperware. . . . Each word rendered the world ever so slightly more understandable, more describable, kicking off a lifelong love affair with language--one that would, eventually, maybe inevitably, lead him to become a writer. In Unsayable, Cunningham's memories spill forth, and with them reflections on the craft of writing. He is fifteen, in a swimming pool at night, gazing at the first boy he ever fell in love with, who is lost in contemplative silence. He is a new college graduate, setting off for nowhere in a Dodge Dart, hoping to pull meaning (and a novel) from the expanse of America. He is on Cape Cod, regaling an elderly couple with invented tales of sexual escapades. He is in an art gallery, unwittingly having the first in a lifetime of conversations with the man he would marry. A thread ties each beautifully wrought moment to the next: what is unspoken, what won't yield to language, what is embellished beyond recognition, what is still left to say. Luminous, perceptive, and powerful, Unsayable is an ode to literature, a meditation on craft, and an intimate account of a life spent trying to put into words that which resists depiction. This, it turns out, is the lifeblood of the fiction writer: the impossibility of capturing the human experience, and the relentless desire to try.
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