Human Biography

""[These contributions] touch on so many different facets of the immigrant experience that readers will find much to ponder... [and] experience how creative writing enriches our understanding of each other and our lives."" –Booklist Introduction by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Viet Thanh...

Can the mind be explained by what we know about the brain? Is a person’s being determined by their body alone or by their mind and body as separate elements? In this incisive and engaging book, Wilder Penfield, whose work pioneered such research, shares insights into these and other questions, providing an in-depth look at the function of the brain and its relationship to the action of the mind.

Lynn Schooler had recently lost a dear friend and was feeling his marriage slipping away from him when he set out on a daring journey - first by boat, then on foot - into the Alaskan wilderness to clear his head. His solo expedition, recounted in Walking Home, is filled with the awe and danger of being on one's own in the wild, being battered by the elements and even, for two harrowing days, becoming the terrified quarry of a grizzly bear. But the formidable, lonely landscape is also rich with human stories....

Elliot Rodger considered himself to be intelligent, refined, handsome, fashionable, and charming. He spent years trying to be cool so women would like him. He thought if he just wore expensive and fashionable clothing, had a better car, or if he were rich, then women would throw themselves at him. In fact, he thought himself to be “The Supreme Gentleman”.

Step aboard the USS Enterprise and bear witness to the gripping true account of one Hospital Corpsman's extraordinary journey amidst the relentless demands of life at sea. When tragedy strikes with the sudden death of a fellow sailor, all eyes turn to him, accusing him of responsibility. Falsely accused and grappling with betrayal, he finds himself isolated, navigating the stormy waters of suspicion and doubt, wondering if the truth will emerge. As the chaotic investigation intensified, he bounced like a pinball between despair and hope.

This is Diablo's captivating fish-out-of-water story of her yearlong walk on the wild side, from quiet gentlemen's clubs to multilevel sex palaces and glassed-in peep shows. In witty prose she gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at this industry through a writer's keen eye, chronicling her descent into the skin trade and the effect it had on her self-image and her relationship with her now husband.

Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian Human Rights lawyer—and Christian pacifist—believes there is a way. In this moving, harrowing memoir, he takes us on a personal journey from anger and thoughts of violence to his deep commitment to unrelenting peaceful activism.

From the start, Robert Hansen seemed destined for an unhappy life. Overworked by his strict parents and relentlessly bullied by his classmates, he spent his teenage years alone. His love of archery and hunting were the only comforts he had until he left his small town for Alaska, the last great frontier. Witness the depraved second life of a respected family man - the life of the worst serial killer in Alaska's history.

Aimed at listeners 12 and up and co-authored by award-winning children's book author Nic Stone, How to be a (Young) Antiracist empowers teen listeners to help create a more just society. Antiracism is a journey—and now young adults will have a map to carve their own path. Kendi and Stone have revised this work to provide anecdotes and data that speaks directly to the experiences and concerns of younger listeners, encouraging them to think critically and build a more equitable world in doing so.

Despite 21st-century fears of an "epidemic" of loneliness, its history has been sorely neglected. A Biography of Loneliness offers a radically new interpretation of loneliness as an emotional language and experience. Using letters and diaries, philosophical tracts, political discussions, and medical literature from the 18th century to the present, historian of the emotions Fay Bound Alberti argues that loneliness is not a historical, universal phenomenon. It is, in fact, a modern emotion: before 1800, its language did not exist.

In Bodies, author Ian Winwood explores the music industry's many failures, from addiction and mental health issues to its ongoing exploitation of artists. Much more than a touchline reporter, Winwood also tells the story of his own mental health collapse, following the shocking death of his father, in which extinction-level behaviour was given perfect cover by a reckless industry.

The first all-encompassing biography of Elliott Smith, offering an intimate portrait of his life and musical legacy with brand-new interviews, lyrics, and correspondence from the people closest to him, many speaking for the first time Nobody Broke Your Heart is a tender, nuanced narrative of...

Confronting change is incredibly hard, both organizationally and personally. Yet the pace of change in our world will never be slower than it is right now, says Beth Comstock, the former vice chair and head of marketing and innovation at GE. Imagine It Forward is an inspiring, fresh, candid, and deeply personal audiobook about how to grapple with the challenges to change we face every day. It is a different kind of narrative, a big-picture audiobook that combines Comstock’s personal story in leading change with vital lessons on overcoming the inevitable roadblocks.

Rodrigo Duterte was elected President of the Philippines in 2016. In his first 18 months in office, 12,000 people were murdered on the streets, gunned down by police officers and vigilante citizens - all with his encouragement. Duterte is a serial womanizer and a self-confessed killer, who has called both Barack Obama and Pope Francis "sons of whores." He is on record as saying he does not "give a shit" about human rights. Yet he is beloved of the 16.6 million Filipinos who voted for him, seen as vulgar but honest, a breath of fresh air, and an iconoclastic, anti-imperialist rebel.

In this brave and provocative work, former US Vice President Al Gore asserts that only a rethinking of our relationship with nature will save the earth's ecology for future generations. Gore's analysis of where we've gone wrong ranges across politics, history, science, economics, psychology, and religion.

When Laura Fraser's husband leaves her for his high school sweetheart, she takes off, on impulse, for Italy, hoping to leave some of her sadness behind. There, on the island of Ischia, she meets M., an aesthetics professor from Paris with an oversized love of life. What they both assume will be a casual vacation tryst turns into a passionate, transatlantic love affair, as they rendezvous in London, Marrakech, Milan, the Aeolian Islands, and San Francisco.

No Longer Human (1948, Ningen Shikkaku / A Shameful Life / Confessions of a Faulty Man) was an attack on the traditions of Japan, capturing the postwar crisis of Japanese cultural identity. Framed by an epilogue and prologue, the story is told in the form three notebooks left by Ōba Yōzō, whose calm exterior hides his tormented soul. Osamu Dazai was a Japanese author who is considered one of the foremost fiction writers of 20th century Japan. A number of his most popular works, such as Shayō (The Setting Sun) and Ningen Shikkaku (No Longer Human), are considered modern-day classics in Japan.

Con la habilidad a la que nos tiene acostumbrados, Reza Aslan nos narra la historia de la religión para mostrarnos cómo esta ha estado marcada por nuestra insistencia en darle a Dios rasgos y emociones humanos. Según Aslan, esta tendencia a crear una versión divina de nosotros mismos es innata: está programada en nuestro cerebro, de ahí que sea una característica central de casi todas las tradiciones religiosas.

What does it take to rise from struggle to success? Jewish Humans of Brooklyn: New York Street Interviews with Brooklyn Jews Who Beat the Odds and Built Real Wealth explores the raw, inspiring stories of Jewish individuals in Brooklyn who turned hardship into prosperity. Through candid street interviews, this book captures the lives of immigrants, entrepreneurs, rabbis, and more from neighborhoods like Crown Heights and Williamsburg. These are unfiltered accounts of people who overcame poverty, anti-Semitism, and trauma to build wealth—not just in money, but in legacy and community.

"Humans que m'he trobat" es un retrat de la infantesa i l'adolescencia de l'actor i guionista Jordi Sánchez a la Barcelona dels setanta, l'epoca daurada de l'1, 2, 3 de Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, els jocs a la plaça o el BUP i el COU. Alhora, tambe ens presenta anecdotes del seu dia a dia actual, a mig camí entre Madrid i Barcelona i del món dels actors. Tot plegat forma un retrat ironic d'una generació i d'un país amb ganes de prosperar, que dóna com a resultat un llibre que combina perfectament l'humor i la tendresa.