Higher Worlds

Our current system of higher education dates to the period from 1865 to 1925, when the nation's new universities created grades and departments, majors and minors, in an attempt to prepare young people for a world transformed by the telegraph and the Model T. As Cathy Davidson argues in The New Education, this approach to education is wholly unsuited to the era of the gig economy.

It's 1979, and a group of former SS officers are devising a plan to seize power in West Germany. XPD is a brilliant novel constructed around a supposition that Churchill secretly met with Hitler in 1940 to discuss terms of a British surrender.

What If the Real Problem… Is Math Itself? As a substitute teacher, homeschooling parent, and unapologetic cultural critic, Theo Rhising takes a blowtorch to the sacred cow of compulsory math—revealing how this outdated rite of passage crushes curiosity, squanders youth, and props up a system more concerned with compliance than critical thinking. Why are teens still forced through years of abstract math they'll never use—trig, calculus, polynomials—while graduating clueless about taxes, budgeting, or building a life that actually works? Why is math treated as sacred when, for most, ...

The product of painstaking research and countless interviews, A High Price offers a nuanced, definitive historical account of Israel's bold but often failed efforts to fight terrorist groups. Israel's debacles in Lebanon against groups like the Lebanese Hizballah are examined in-depth, as is the country's problematic response to Jewish terrorist groups that have struck at Arabs and Israelis seeking peace.

Actor William Shaksper of Stratford had little education, never left England, and apparently owned no books. How could he have written the great plays and poetry attributed to him? Journalist Mark Anderson's biography offers tantalizing proof that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, courtier, spendthrift, scholar, traveler, soldier, scoundrel, and writer, was the real "Shakespeare".

Set in London during the early years of World War II, Code Name Delilah weaves a cast of fictional characters with very noteworthy historic figures to capture the events of 1939 through 1942, when an international coalition of nations supporting Great Britain began to pull together to defeat the Axis Powers.

David Bodanis demystifies the world's most famous equation, explaining its science and bringing it to life. He makes clear the astonishing array of discoveries and consequences it made possible and its impact on our daily lives. At last, the masses can understand that Einstein did nothing less than open the door to the inner structure of the universe.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks and the US-led invasion of Iraq, Suzy Hansen, who grew up in an insular conservative town in New Jersey, was enjoying early success as a journalist for a high-profile New York newspaper. Increasingly, though, the disconnect between the chaos of world events and the response at home took on pressing urgency for her. Seeking to understand the Muslim world that had been reduced to scaremongering headlines, she moved to Istanbul.

The Nameless Baron is gravely displeased. Viktor had once heard that time healed all wounds. Whoever had come up with that saying had clearly never gotten into a physical altercation with a werewolf, but at least Adelstrad's least favourite executioner still has most of his limbs. That said, while his witch problems may have been solved, battle has finally joined in the Adelstradian countryside as Nordling warbands meet Adelstradian fighting men in the field and blood flows like wine. Viktor finds himself in a more precarious position than ever before, caught between the rapidly forming ...

In a lifetime shaped by politics, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proved himself a master manipulator of Congress, the press, and the public. But when war in Europe and Asia threatened America's shores, FDR found himself in a world turned upside down, where his friends became his foes, his enemies his allies. To help wage democracy's first "total war", he turned to one of history's most remarkable triumvirates.

What does an elite Navy SEAL Team operator trained to kill the United States’ most dangerous enemies do when he realizes his skills aren’t being properly utilized? He leaves the Navy. In American Mercenary, Daniel Corbett takes listeners on a wild ride through the unadulterated, morally ambiguous, and riveting world of being a hired gun. From Abu Dhabi to Washington, D.C., Cairo to San Diego, Belgrade to places that must remain secret, this is a world where money rules, and where adventure, danger, and absurdity often follow.

During the height of the blizzard of 1978, the tanker Global Hope floundered on the shoals off the Massachusetts coast. The Coast Guard dispatched a patrol boat, but was soon in as much trouble as the tanker. Then pilot boat captain Frank Quirk, hearing of the Coast Guard's troubles on his radio, decided to act.

Razia Mirza grows up amid the wild grape vines and backyard sunflowers of Corona, Queens, with her best friend, Saima, by her side. When a family rift drives the girls apart, Razia’s heart is broken. She finds solace in Taslima, a new girl in her close-knit Pakistani-American community. They embark on a series of small rebellions: listening to scandalous music, wearing miniskirts, and cutting school to explore the city.

Religious wars, global terrorism, genocide, ecological disaster: Today's world is a scary place. The Information Age has carried us into the Age of Anxiety, where everyone is on edge, wondering what is coming next. What will happen in 2012, when the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world? What will the next 50 years bring?

Flake, the legendary keyboardist for the German band Rammstein, takes listeners on a journey of what it is to be a touring musician. The excitement, the boredom, the moments that will be remembered and those that are forgotten. It's the World's Birthday Today is a strange and moody book about life on the road.

"Magic and other races really add to the magnificent story!" –Auburn, Vine Voice "Great dark fantasy!" -Vine Voice "If you love Tolkien, as I do, you will love this book." -Veronica Richards "Fantasy done right!" -Kindle Reviewer Ancient evil crawls from the dark. The great river of magic threatened. An epic struggle to prevail. Wielding the strongest magic ever known to Astura, Crystalyn faces the hooded man’s ruthless determination to annihilate a peaceful race dwelling within the vibrant beauty of an ancient vale. Ultimately, she faces a desperate choice: hunt down a former dear ...

Renowned magazine writer Michael Kaplan has penned dozens of stories on “advantage players,” who employ various high-level techniques to beat the casinos and racetracks at their own games. You’ll meet the undisputed world’s greatest “AP,” poker and baccarat “machines,” the table-game player who beat Atlantic City for $15 million, the founder of the famed MIT blackjack team, the world’s greatest sports-betting furniture salesman, golf hustlers extraordinaire, and many more. But The Advantage Player isn’t limited to gambling. It also examines the AP strategies used by ...

Aloft offers a reexamination of the American dream from the inside out. Jerry Battle's favorite diversion is to fly his small plane solo, slipping away for quick flights over his Long Island home or to the coastal towns of New England. Then a family crisis occurs, and Jerry finds he must face his disengagement in his relationships.

Amos Barshad has long been fascinated by the powerful. But not by elected officials or natural leaders - he's interested in their scheming advisors, the dark figures who wield power in the shadows. And, as Barshad shows in No One Man Should Have All That Power, the natural habitat of these manipulators is not only political backrooms. It's anywhere power dynamics exist - from Hollywood to drug cartels, from recording studios to the NFL.

Building on her critically acclaimed novel The Last Days of California and her biting collection Always Happy Hour, Miller slyly transports listeners to her unapologetic corner of the South - this time, Biloxi, Mississippi, home to 63-year-old Louis McDonald, Jr. His wife of 37 years left him, his father has passed - and he has impulsively retired from his job in anticipation of an inheritance check that may not come. One day, he stops at a house advertising free dogs and meets overweight mixed-breed Layla.