- Table View
- List View
The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster
by John O’Connor"A winning portrait of America at its weirdest." — Publishers Weekly STARRED ReviewFrom the shrouded forests of the Pacific Northwest to off-the-wall cryptozoological conventions, one man searches high and low for the answer to the question: real or not, why do we want to believe?Bigfoot is an instantly recognizable figure. Through the decades, this elusive primate has been featured in movies and books, on coffee mugs, beer koozies, car polish, and CBD oil. Which begs the question: what is it about Bigfoot that's caught hold of our imaginations?Journalist and self-diagnosed skeptic John O'Connor is fascinated by Sasquatch. Curious to learn more, he embarks on a quest through the North American wilds in search of Bigfoot, its myth and meaning. Alongside an eccentric cast of characters, he explores the zany and secretive world of "cryptozoology," tracking Bigfoot through ancient folklore to Harry and the Hendersons, while examining the forces behind our ever-widening belief in the supernatural. As O'Connor treks through the shrouded forests of the Pacific Northwest, listens to firsthand accounts, and attends Bigfoot conventions, he's left wondering—what happens when the lines between myth and reality blur? Perfect for fans of Bill Bryson and Douglas Preston, and with sharp wit and an adventurous spirit, this heartfelt exploration of a cornerstone of American folklore unpacks why we believe in the things that we do, what that says about us, and how it shapes our world.
The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of the American Desert
by Craig ChildsA naturalist and explorer finds water holes, storms, floods and fascinating life forms in the Arizona desert and Grand Canyon.
The Secret Life of Hidden Places: Concealed Rooms, Clandestine Passageways, and the Curious Minds That Made Them
by Stefan Bachmann April Genevieve TucholkeA spellbinding tour, filled with stories and photographs, of some of the world&’s most fascinating architectural mysteries. This wondrous guide for the curious and the intrepid takes readers on a lushly photographed and lyrically written tour of eighteen of the world&’s most captivating architectural mysteries. Delve into both the secretive places themselves and the eccentric and obsessive minds that created them. Visit a chamber of skulls high in the Swiss Alps, a Japanese temple full of traps, a Parisian apartment locked and untouched since World War II, a Prohibition-era speakeasy in Washington, DC, and a spooky &“initiation&” well in Portugal built by a secret society. How far down can you climb before losing your nerve?
The Secret Life of Writers: The new thriller by the no. 1 bestselling author
by Guillaume Musso'THE FRENCH SUSPENSE KING' New York Times'It's no wonder that Musso is one of France's most loved, bestselling authors'Harlan CobenIn 1999, after publishing three cult novels, celebrated author Nathan Fawles announces the end of his writing career and withdraws to Beaumont, a wild and beautiful island off the Mediterranean coast.Autumn 2018. As Fawles' novels continue to captivate readers, Mathilde Monney, a young Swiss journalist, arrives on the island, determined to unlock the writer's secrets and secure his first interview in twenty years.That same day, a woman's body is discovered on the beach and the island is cordoned off by the authorities.And so, begins a dangerous face off between Mathilde and Nathan, in which the line between truth and fiction becomes increasingly blurred... Praise for Guillaume Musso and The Reunion 'Extraordinary'Sunday Times'Breathtakingly good. Do not miss it'Daily Mail'One of the great thriller writers of our age'Daily Express'Stylish and streamlined, nostalgic... More please'The Times'Hugely enjoyable and beautifully staged, with an audacious authorial coup at the death that is simply breathtaking'Irish Times'The French call it a coup de foudre: a strike of lightning. That's how The Reunion zapped me, electrified me. For almost a decade, Guillaume Musso has reigned supreme as France's most popular author, and with this he's instantly poised to join the ranks of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo'A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window
The Secret Life of the Seine
by Mort RosenblumMort Rosenblum, a celebrated foreign correspondent, invites us aboard his fifty-four-foot launch tied up in the center of Paris and introduces us to the characters who share his life along the river, ranging from eccentric movie stars and reclusive novelists to barge families just scraping by. He then hauls in the bow line for an unforgettable tour of the river itself from its source to its mouth. The Secret Life of the Seine is a love story between man and boat and the river that they live on, a discourse on the sensual beauty of France and the art of living well. In the tradition of A Year in Provence, Under the Tuscan Sun, and Paris to the Moon, here is what Garry Trudeau called "a moveable feast [with] a top speed of five knots-fast enough for fun, languid enough for dreaming. Take a trip you'll never take: This is what books are for. "
The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke
by Andrew LawlerA sweeping account of America's oldest unsolved mystery, the people racing to unearth its answer, and the sobering truths--about race, gender, and immigration--exposed by the Lost Colony of Roanoke In 1587, 115 men, women, and children arrived at Roanoke Island on the coast of North Carolina. Chartered by Queen Elizabeth I, their colony was to establish England's first foothold in the New World. But when the colony's leader, John White, returned to Roanoke from a resupply mission, his settlers were nowhere to be found. They left behind only a single clue--a "secret token" carved into a tree. Neither White nor any other European laid eyes on the colonists again.What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? For four hundred years, that question has consumed historians and amateur sleuths, leading only to dead ends and hoaxes. But after a chance encounter with a British archaeologist, journalist Andrew Lawler discovered that solid answers to the mystery were within reach. He set out to unravel the enigma of the lost settlers, accompanying competing researchers, each hoping to be the first to solve its riddle. In the course of his journey, Lawler encounters a host of characters obsessed with the colonists and their fate, and he determines why the Lost Colony continues to haunt our national consciousness.Thrilling and absorbing, The Secret Token offers a new understanding not just of the first English settlement in the New World but of how its disappearance continues to define--and divide--America.
The Secret Worlds of Colin Fletcher
by Colin FletcherIn books such as The Complete Walker and The Man Who Walked Through Time, Colin Fletcher has established a reputation as a literate and witty apostle of roughing it. His newest book is a highly personal celebration of solitary backpacking (and day walking, too), in the wild places of the world, and of all the attendant pleasures: of finding a foothold in difficult terrain, of catching a glimpse of an unsuspecting coyote, of healing the wounds that civilization inevitably inflicts on human nature --of simply "mucking about." Overflowing with fresh descriptions of nature and with the wisdom of a curmudgeonly Thoreau, this book is a must for backpackers and all unconstrained spirits.
The Secret of Jeanne Baret
by Helen StrahinichThe Secret of Jeanne Baret is the true untold story of the first woman ever to circumnavigate the Earth. In 1767, Jeanne Baret, a French girl, disguised herself as a boy and signed up as botanist's assistant aboard an exploration ship bound for the South Pacific with 200 crewmen. This real-life adventuress with big dreams and amazing grit had been lost to history. . .until now.
The Secret of the Golden Flower: A Chinese Book of Life
by Richard WilhelmThe ancient Taoist text that forms the central part of this book was discovered by Wilhelm, who recognized it as essentially a practical guide to the integration of personality. Foreword by Carl Jung.
The Secrets of Rome
by Corrado Augias A. Lawrence JenkensFrom Italy's popular author Corrado Augias comes the most intriguing exploration of Rome ever to be published. In the mold of his earlier histories of Paris, New York, and London, Augias moves perceptively through twenty-seven centuries of Roman life, shedding new light on a cast of famous, and infamous, historical figures and uncovering secrets and conspiracies that have shaped the city without our ever knowing it. From Rome's origins as Romulus's stomping ground to the dark atmosphere of the Middle Ages; from Caesar's unscrupulousness to Caravaggio's lurid genius; from the notorious Lucrezia Borgia to the seductive Anna Fallarino, the marchioness at the center of one of Rome's most heinous crimes of the post-war period, Augias creates a sweeping account of the passions that have shaped this complex city: at once both a metropolis and a village, where all human sentiment-bravery and cowardice, industriousness and sloth, enterprise and laxity-find their interpreters and stage. If the history of humankind is all passion and uproar, then, as the author notes, "for centuries Rome has been the mirror of this history, reflecting with excruciating accuracy every detail, even those that might cause you to avert your gaze."
The Secrets of Rosslyn
by Roddy MartineThe centuries-old secrets of the famous Scottish chapel are decoded in this revealing history—&“a fascinating read&” (Scotland Magazine). Overlooking the village of Roslin just seven miles from the center of Edinburgh, Rosslyn Chapel is one of the world's most fascinating historic sites. Since its construction in the mid fifteenth century it has cast a mesmerizing spell over all who have visited it, exuding an aura of profound mystery. Centuries later it continues to confound and intrigue, inspiring stories of The Knights Templar and the Holy Grail, Masonic orders and esoteric symbols. These in turn have made Rosslyn chapel an icon of popular culture, featured in bestselling novels such as The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. In The Secrets of Rosslyn, Roddy Martine sifts through the conjectures and conspiracy theories to prove that the truth is no less amazing than fiction.
The Secrets of the Stormforest (Strangeworlds Travel Agency #3)
by L. D. LapinskiFlick journeys to a dangerous new world in this magical third book in the Strangeworlds Travel Agency series.Flick and Jonathan have faced countless dangers as members of the Strangeworlds Society and come out alive on the other side. But what do they really know about the society they are risking their lives for? Why does it exist? Who is Strangeworlds there to protect? And what in the worlds is happening to the multiverse now? With worlds everywhere under threat of collapse and mysteries abounding, it&’s up to Flick and Jonathan to discover the answers to these questions. And only if they can uncover the secrets of Strangeworlds, and the secrets of a mysterious new world called The Stormforest, will they have any hope of defending their world—and others—from the threat that is facing them all.
The Seed Thief
by Jacqui L'Ange<p>When botanist Maddy Bellani is asked to travel to Brazil to collect rare seeds from a plant that could cure cancer, she reluctantly agrees. Securing the seeds would be a coup for the seed bank in Cape Town where she works, but Brazil is the country of her birth and home to her estranged father. <p>Her mission is challenging, despite the help of alluring local plant expert Zae. The plant specimen is elusive, its seeds guarded by a sect wary of outsiders. Maddy must also find her way in a world influenced by unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies and the selfish motives of others. <p>Entrancing and richly imagined, <i>The Seed Thief</i> is a modern love story with an ancient history, a tale that moves from flora of Table Mountain to the heart of Afro-Brazilian spiritualism.</p>
The Seine: The River That Made Paris
by Elaine SciolinoA vibrant, enchanting tour of the Seine from longtime New York Times foreign correspondent and best-selling author Elaine Sciolino. Elaine Sciolino came to Paris as a young foreign correspondent and was seduced by a river. In The Seine, she tells the story of that river from its source on a remote plateau of Burgundy to the wide estuary where its waters meet the sea, and the cities, tributaries, islands, ports, and bridges in between. Sciolino explores the Seine through its rich history and lively characters: a bargewoman, a riverbank bookseller, a houseboat dweller, a famous cinematographer known for capturing the river’s light. She discovers the story of Sequana—the Gallo-Roman healing goddess who gave the Seine its name—and follows the river through Paris, where it determined the city’s destiny and now snakes through all aspects of daily life. She patrols with river police, rows with a restorer of antique boats, sips champagne at a vineyard along the river, and even dares to go for a swim. She finds the Seine in art, literature, music, and movies from Renoir and Les Misérables to Puccini and La La Land. Along the way, she reveals how the river that created Paris has touched her own life. A powerful afterword tells the dramatic story of how water from the depths of the Seine saved Notre-Dame from destruction during the devastating fire in April 2019. A “storyteller at heart” (June Sawyers, Chicago Tribune) with a “sumptuous eye for detail” (Sinclair McKay, Daily Telegraph), Sciolino braids memoir, travelogue, and history through the Seine’s winding route. The Seine offers a love letter to Paris and the most romantic river in the world, and invites readers to explore its magic for themselves.
The Semiotics of Heritage Tourism
by Emma Waterton Steve WatsonThis book is a fast-paced and thorough re-evaluation of what heritage tourism means to the people who experience it. It draws on contemporary thinking in human geography and heritage studies, and applies it to a sector of tourism that is both pervasive yet poorly researched in terms of the perspective of tourists themselves. In a series of lucid and tightly argued chapters, it traces the use of semiotics as an analytical tool from its theoretical origins in text, through the all-important dynamics of visuality into an expanded realm of feeling and sensuality. Challenging assumptions about the way that heritage is experienced, this book uses examples from around the world to explore the semiotic landscape that surrounds heritage sites, linking what is represented about the past and how it feels to be there.
The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles #3)
by Rick RiordanHe's b-a-a-ack! Despite their best efforts, Carter and Sade Kane can't seem to keep Apophis, the chaos snake, down. Now Apophis is threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness, and the Kanes are faced with the impossible task of having to destroy him once and for all. Unfortunately, the magicians of the House of Life are on the brink of civil war, the gods are divided, and the young initiates of Brooklyn House stand almost alone against the forces of chaos. The Kanes' only hope is an ancient spell that might turn the serpent's own shadow into a weapon, but the magic has been lost for a millennia. To find the answer they need, the Kanes must rely on the murderous ghost of a powerful magician who might be able to lead them to the serpent's shadow . . . or might lead them to their deaths in the depths of the underworld. Nothing less than the mortal world is at stake when the Kane family fulfills its destiny in this thrilling conclusion to the Kane Chronicles.
The Servants of Twilight: A dark and compulsive thriller
by Dean KoontzA religious cult takes its faith to the extreme... In The Servants of Twilight by Dean Koontz, a mother must fight unimaginable evil to save her child. Perfect for fans of Richard Laymon and Harlan Coben. 'Koontz's skill at edge-of-the-seat writing has improved with each book. He can scare our socks off' - Boston HeraldTo his mother, Joey seems an ordinary six-year-old boy - special to her, but to no one else. To the Servants of Twilight, however, he is an evil presence who must be destroyed - an Anti-Christ who must die.The terrifying ordeal for Joey and his mother begins in the supermarket car park where an old woman accosts them and pursues them with her terrible threats. Christine's world is turned into a nightmare of terror. Only her love for her child, and the support of the one man who believes her, gives her the chance to survive the Servants of Twilight... What readers are saying about The Servants of Twilight: 'This book will shake you to your very foundations. Stunning, compulsive narrative. Real, unadulterated fear in a quality plot''A classic Koontz tale that makes the face pale, the heart stop and stretches the nerve endings to virtually snapping point!''Devilishly good!'
The Seven Keys of Balabad
by Mark Zug Paul HavenInspired by the years he spent in Afghanistan and Pakistan as bureau chief with The Associated Press, Paul Haven's intricately crafted tale is filled with details of everyday life in this remote and frequently overlooked part of the world. Loosely based on the legendary Golden Hoard of Bactria--the renowned hidden treasure discovered in northern Afghanistan in 1978--this fast-paced middle-grade novel will appeal to readers who like their twists and turns filled with mysterious characters, exotic locales, and an utterly relatable protagonist. Welcome to Balabad, birthplace of the international secret society known as the Brotherhood of Arachosia--and rumored hiding place of the grandest riches the world has ever known. Balabad is also the country Oliver Finch has called home ever since his father was reassigned to this dull, war-torn dust bowl. Each day runs into the next for Oliver until a five-hundred-year-old sacred carpet is stolen. Then one of the few friends he has disappears. Oliver is determined to figure out what exactly is going on. But in order to do that he'll have to consult with a one-eyed warrior, track down the far-flung members of the Brotherhood, and unlock a centuries-old secret! Suddenly, life in Balabad for Oliver has become a whole lot more interesting . . . and dangerous.
The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
by J. Maarten TroostFantasized about quitting the 9-5? Walking away from credit card debt and student loans? Think living in the South Pacific for two years sounds like a perfect solution and perhaps even a winning idea for your first novel? Maarten Troost does just that, setting up as a devil-may-care islander while his girlfriend, Sylvia, gets to work on saving the planet, or at least a little part of it on an end-of-the-world atoll, Tarawa. Life on Tarawa resembles not so much paradise as a theatre of the absurd where planes fly with the aid of masking tape, Coconut Stalinism prevails as national government and Sylvia is co-opted by the CIA to spy on the Chinese. But abandoning continental hang-ups like barbequeing the local dogs and watching on as international industrial fishing trawlers plunder the world's richest tuna supply aren't so easy.
The Sex Tourism Handbook: Adventures in Sex Travel
by Joe DiamondAs globalization erodes national borders and the Internet spawns online communities for every conceivable interest or fetish, sex tourism is surging. Around the World in 80 Lays is the first book to explore the emergence of the online sex tourist subculture and its mounting impact on the world's flesh trade. The author, Joe Diamond, is himself an enthusiastic sex tourist, and an expert. In this groundbreaking travelogue, he traverses the globe to put sex tourism under the microscope. Through colorful anecdotes and solid research, "Rio Joe" takes readers to the world's most notorious sex havens: Brazil, Thailand, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, and many more. Around the World in 80 Lays provides an insider's view of a fascinating and lurid world that has never been exposed to the American public.
The Shackleton Expedition: One of the World's Greatest Survival Stories (Fountas & Pinnell LLI Purple #Level U)
by Laura JohnsonThe advertisement that Ernest Shackleton wrote to attract workers to his expedition to Antarctica began with the words, "Men wanted for hazardous journey". Neither he nor any of those responded had any idea that their trip to the bottom of the world would become one of the greatest survival stories in history.
The Shadow of the Sun
by Ryszard KapuscinskiA moving portrait of Africa from Poland's most celebrated foreign correspondent - a masterpiece from a modern master.Famous for being in the wrong places at just the right times, Ryszard Kapuscinski arrived in Africa in 1957, at the beginning of the end of colonial rule - the "sometimes dramatic and painful, sometimes enjoyable and jubilant" rebirth of a continent. The Shadow of the Sun sums up the author's experiences ("the record of a 40-year marriage") in this place that became the central obsession of his remarkable career.From the hopeful years of independence through the bloody disintegration of places like Nigeria, Rwanda and Angola, Kapuscinski recounts great social and political changes through the prism of the ordinary African. He examines the rough-and-ready physical world and identifies the true geography of Africa: a little-understood spiritual universe, an African way of being. He looks also at Africa in the wake of two epoch-making changes: the arrival of AIDS and the definitive departure of the white man.Kapuscinski's rare humanity invests his subjects with a grandeur and a dignity unmatched by any other writer on the Third World, and his unique ability to discern the universal in the particular has never been more powerfully displayed than in this work.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Shadow of the Wind: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books 1
by Carlos Ruiz ZafonHidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of lost books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out 'La Sombra del Viento' by Julian Carax.But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from La Sombra del Viento, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax's work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind. A page-turning exploration of obsession in literature and love, and the places that obsession can lead.Read by Daniel Philpott(p) 2005 Isis Publishing Ltd
The Shadow of the Wind: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books 1
by Carlos Ruiz ZafonTHE MODERN CLASSIC: OVER 20 MILLION COPIES SOLDA Sunday Times bestseller and a Richard & Judy book club pick'The real deal: one gorgeous read' Stephen King'This book will change your life. An instant classic' Daily Telegraph'A book lover's dream' The Times Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'Cemetery of Lost Books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out 'The Shadow of the Wind' by Julian Carax.But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from the book, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax's work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind...'Marvellous' Sunday Times'A hymn of praise to all the joys of reading' Independent'Gripping and instantly atmospheric' Mail on Sunday'Irresistibly readable' Guardian'Diabolically good' Elle
The Shakespeare Guide to Italy
by Richard Paul RoeRichard Paul Roe spent more than twenty years traveling the length and breadth of Italy on a literary quest of unparalleled significance. Using the text from Shakespeare's ten "Italian Plays" as his only compass, Roe determined the exact locations of nearly every scene in Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado about Nothing, The Tempest, and the remaining dramas set in Italy. His chronicle of travel, analysis, and discovery paints with unprecedented clarity a picture of what the Bard must have experienced before penning his plays. Equal parts literary detective story and vivid travelogue-containing copious annotations and more than 150 maps, photographs, and paintings-The Shakespeare Guide to Italy is a unique, compelling, and deeply provocative journey that will forever change our understanding of how to read the Bard . . . and irrevocably alter our vision of who William Shakespeare really was.