“A landmark book in the science of emotions and its implications for ethics and human universals.”―Library Journal, starred review In this startling study of human emotion, Dacher Keltner investigates an unanswered question of human evolution: If humans are hardwired to lead lives that are “nasty, brutish, and short,” why have we evolved with positive emotions like gratitude, amusement, awe, and compassion that promote ethical action and cooperative societies? Illustrated with more than fifty photographs of human emotions, Born to Be Good takes us on a journey through scientific discovery, personal narrative, and Eastern philosophy. Positive emotions, Keltner finds, lie at the core of human nature and shape our everyday behavior―and they just may be the key to understanding how we can live our lives better. 60 photos **

Set between 1989 and the downfall of Ceausescu, and 2013, The Squeeze travels between Edinburgh, Romania and Oslo and see this multi-award-winning and bestselling author at the height of her powers.Marta, a teenager trafficked from Romania in the early 1990s is forced to work as a prostitute in Edinburgh. Mats, a Norwegian businessman, who longs only to be a good husband and father, becomes involved with Marta and both their lives are wrenched - for good or ill - in new directions.Told in a splintered narrative style that allows glimpses into several points of view, The Squeeze explores the transactions that take place between men and women. Sex, money and the desire for love, are at its heart.

Thirty-four years have gone by since an ingenious biochemist, named Louis Picard, invented the ultimate anti-aging drug in 1981, that is known as Telomerax. An apocalyptic novel based on political and scientific facts, “The Last Enemy” blends reality and fiction with a reflection on human nature and her possible future

"A riveting ride through your own brain." -Adam GrantHow the brains of psychopaths and heroes show that humans are wired to be goodAt fourteen, Amber could boast of killing her guinea pig, threatening to burn down her home, and seducing men in exchange for gifts. She used the tools she had available to get what she wanted, like all children. But unlike other children, she didn't care about the damage she inflicted. A few miles away, Lenny Skutnik cared so much about others that he jumped into an ice-cold river to save a drowning woman. What is responsible for the extremes of generosity and cruelty humans are capable of? By putting psychopathic children and extreme altruists in an fMRI, acclaimed psychologist Abigail Marsh found that the answer lies in how our brain responds to others' fear. While the brain's amygdala makes most of us hardwired for good, its variations can explain heroic and psychopathic behavior.A path-breaking read, The Fear Factor is...

Three days before historic peace talks in London a massive bomb explodes in the heart of the city.As British intelligence chase down the ISIS cell behind the attack, Counter Terrorism Officer Leila Reid believes there is something far more sinister involved that none of them is yet seeing.With civil unrest on the streets and the crisis spiralling out of control, Reid must track down the real cell before they can execute the final stage of a plan that will bring a decades-old global conspiracy to its terrifying conclusion.

In this enthralling new novel, Barbara Quick re-creates eighteenth-century Venice at the height of its splendor and decadence. A story of longing and intrigue, half-told truths and toxic lies, Vivaldi's Virgins unfolds through the eyes of Anna Maria dal Violin, one of the elite musicians cloistered in the foundling home where Antonio Vivaldi--known as the Red Priest of Venice--is maestro and composer. Fourteen-year-old Anna Maria, abandoned at the Ospedale della PietÀ as an infant, is determined to find out who she is and where she came from. Her quest takes her beyond the cloister walls into the complex tapestry of Venetian society; from the impoverished alleyways of the Jewish Ghetto to a masked ball in the company of a king; from the passionate communal life of adolescent girls competing for their maestro's favor to the larger-than-life world of music and spectacle that kept the citizens of a dying republic in thrall. In this world, where for fully half the...

When Sebastian says he wants to travel, the other toys suggest a trip to the North Pole or the Equator. But Sebastian is just a teddy-bear: how could he possibly go around the world on his own? Fate steps in, and soon he is on an adventure that takes him first to Paris and then on a train bound for Russia. Along the way, he has his portrait painted, joins a circus, becomes a magician's assistant, and is mistaken for the Abominable Snowman.

The Ultimate Guide to Kink is the first major guide to BDSM in a generation—a bold and sexy collection of essays that run the gamut from expert how-to tutorials to provocative essays that delve into complex questions about desire, power, and pleasure. The book brings together diverse voices from the kink community in an unprecedented way: each chapter is written by a different sexuality/BDSM educator. Divided into two sections, the first section features thorough, thoughtful pieces—on everything from flogging to bondage—packed with techniques and beautifully illustrated with original images from artist Katie Diamond. The second section is dedicated to role-playing fantasies and personal manifestos. From age play to masochism, these chapters cover some of the edgiest, most taboo and controversial elements of kink in depth. The Ultimate Guide to Kink features the expertise of renowned educators writing passionately on their favorite subjects,...

A fresh, new prose translation of the classic Indian poem, ideally focused for students and teachers and for yoga teacher training The Bhagavad Gita, a small section of the massive Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata, is one of the central texts of Indian culture and philosophy, and one of the great works of world literature. It has been translated into English many times since 1785, and has had a profound influence in America, beginning with the transcendentalists and continuing today. It is taught in introductory world literature, religion, and Eastern religion courses, and is often prescribed in yoga teacher training courses because it explains the core principles of Vedic philosophy, which are central to yoga practice.Some of the currently available translations are in verse and, while well crafted, often do not accurately reflect the forms, sounds, and rhythms of the original. Older scholarly translations convey little feel for language....

Malcolm Gladwell, the #1 bestselling author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw, offers his most provocative---and dazzling---book yet.Three thousand years ago on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David's victory was improbable and miraculous. He shouldn't have won. Or should he have? In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell challenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school, or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks. Gladwell begins with the real story of what happened between the giant and the shepherd boy those many years ago. From there, David and Goliath examines Northern Ireland's Troubles, the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, murder and the high costs of revenge, and the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms---all to demonstrate how much of what is beautiful and important in the world arises from what looks like suffering and adversity. In the tradition of Gladwell's previous bestsellers---The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Saw---David and Goliath draws upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling to reshape the way we think of the world around us.ReviewPraise for Outliers:"In the vast world of nonfiction writing, Malcolm Gladwell is as close to a singular talent as exists today...Outliers is a pleasure to read and leaves you mulling over its inventive theories for days afterward." (New York Times Book Review David Leonhardt) "The explosively entertaining Outliers might be Gladwell's best and most useful work yet...There are both brilliant yarns and life lessons here: Outliers is riveting science, self-help, and entertainment, all in one book." (Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling) "No other book I read this year combines such a distinctive prose style with truly thought-provoking content. Gladwell writes with a high degree of dazzle but at the same time remains as clear and direct as even Strunk or White could hope for." (Atlanta Journal Constitution) "[An] important new book...Gladwell intelligently captures a larger tendency of thought-the growing appreciation of the power of cultural patterns, social contagions, memes...Gladwell's social determinism is a useful corrective to the Homo economicus view of human nature." (New York Times David Brooks) "Thought-provoking, entertaining, and irresistibly debatable...[Outliers] is another winner from this agile social observer." (Christian Science Monitor Heller McAlpin) "Outliers is required reading for boardroom and watercooler crowds alike." (Men's Health) "In Outliers, Gladwell (The Tipping Point) once again proves masterful in a genre he essentially pioneered-the book that illuminates secret patterns behind everyday phenomena." (Publishers Weekly) Praise for The Tipping Point:"A fascinating book that makes you see the world in a different way." (Fortune) "Gladwell's theories could be used to run businesses more effectively, to turn products into runaway bestsellers, and perhaps most important, to alter human behavior." (New York Times) Praise for Blink: "A real pleasure...Brims with surprising insights about our world and ourselves." (Salon.com) "Intoxicating. Gladwell is an engaging writer and a first-rate tour guide." (Los Angeles Times Thane Rosenbaum) "Blink moves quickly through a series of delightful stories. Always dazzling us with fascinating information and phenomena." (New York Times Book Review David Brooks) About the AuthorMalcolm Gladwell has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1996. He is the author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw. Prior to joining The New Yorker, he was a reporter at the Washington Post. Gladwell was born in England and grew up in rural Ontario. He now lives in New York.

Three young children smuggle themselves into Auschwitz in search for their mothers. * "Probably the most powerful ending to a book I have ever read." * "I haven't been so emotionally affected by a book before in all the years I have been reading." * "Harrowing and gripping. This novel was so different from every other I've read about the Holocaust." Verified reviews.