Shakers mourn. The pointer covers mourners’ heads with white bands and whispers passwords in their ears. With crosses and candles in hand, mourners prepare for ecstatic spiritual journeys. The pointer repeats the password to them so... Read More

While ice cream in various forms can be traced back to ancient Rome, it was really Thomas Jefferson who made it our “national dessert,” says the author in this ode to frozen dairy treats. Americans eat more ice cream per capita than... Read More

While the very idea may seem alien to science fiction fans, there was a time when most people never even considered the possibility of life on other planets, much less what forms such life might take and how such beings might behave. In... Read More

“Young and foolish, I thus began a journey into the unknown,” says the author of his decision to study the vast, uncataloged collection of papers belonging to the famous nineteenth-century publishing house, William Blackwood &... Read More

The passage of time is often seen as fixed and inevitable. What if this were not the case? When Michael Jordan executes a “slam dunk,” shoving the basketball into the hoop, everything about his movement seems to slow down. He seems... Read More

What types of men became sailors and why? How did they cope with hardships, sexual frustration, danger, and discipline? How did they relate to each other and their officers? The author, a professor at Grinnell College, examines these... Read More

With the brute authenticity of a voice that has been there and done that, this Chilean poet opens his first bilingual edition of poems with a section titled “Desaparecer,” translated as “To Miss, Be Missed, Missing.” Ranging from... Read More

Witty and ironic, entertaining and simple to read, this book is a smart, useful text on how to effectively generate publicity and avoid the common pitfalls of working with the modern information culture. The author, who has worked as a... Read More