"A masterpiece." — Independent"And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing."
The prophet Almustafa is leaving the city of Orphalese to return to his native island. The citizens, distraught at his departure, gather for the prophet's farewell address, in which he speaks great truths related to love, marriage, faith, birth...

From time immemorial, people have sought to understand the mysteries of the natural world, giving rise to a wealth of myths and legends connected to plant life. In addition to their imaginative appeal, these oral traditions offered practical advice about which flowers, trees, and plants could provide foods, remedies, and construction materials. This richly...

"Genuinely fascinating reading."—The New York Times Book Review
"Diverting and patently authoritative."—The New Yorker
"Grand and fascinating … a history, a compendium and a critical study all in one, and all first rate."—Rex Stout
"A landmark … a brilliant study written with charm and authority."—Ellery Queen
"This book is of permanent value. It should be...

Once again, it's time for kids to turn off their devices and get their game on! A second helping of over 100 full-color puzzles includes even more entertaining brain games: crosswords, scrambles, math challenges, mazes, and more. Hours of entertainment is in store for boys and girls ages 6 to 10, whether at home or on-the-go. Solutions included.

When artists and designers explore or create a fictional setting, the milieu must be completely fleshed out, explained, and designed. In this book, comic and gaming art veteran Mark A. Nelson explores and demonstrates his methods for fashioning visually stunning, believable environments for fantasy creatures and characters. Scores of images and step-by-step...

They're about three times bigger than their real-life equivalents, but these dramatic renderings of butterflies are scrupulously accurate—and they really fly! Just press out along the perforations, follow simple folding instructions, add a coin for weight, and send them soaring. All of them feature captions that include their Latin names and information...

Investment in real estate is about taking control of your financial future. All too often, potential investors overlook available benefits because the process seems too difficult or beyond their means. In this guide, expert investor and adviser Martin Stone demystifies buying property by tracing the steps from beginning to end, helping you define your...

A homeless wanderer, bearing nothing but a knapsack and Bible, sets off to follow St. Paul's advice to "pray without ceasing" in this classic of world spirituality. Written by an anonymous nineteenth-century Russian peasant, it traces his attempts to achieve a greater intimacy with God by chanting the Jesus Prayer ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy...

A Book of the Month Club's Crafter's Choice!

Cross-stitch is a traditional hobby — but your designs don't have to be! These more than 130 patterns reflect a modern sensibility, with motifs ranging from trendy to vintage to kitschy, so there's something here for everyone. All are designed to fit into a 6-inch or smaller embroidery hoop...

Understanding what customers want is neither easy nor obvious — but it is essential for all companies. In this guide, expert Laura Reese walks you through the pitfalls and possibilities of customer interactions. Focusing on business-to-business fields, she demonstrates how to run face-to-face meetings that solicit valuable feedback and shares simple...

This rare 1945 thriller offers a delightful example of detective fiction at its very best. Using the pen name R. T. Campbell, the eminent art critic, poet, and fantasy novelist Ruthven Campbell Todd wrote a series of mysteries featuring a unique hero, the inimitable amateur sleuth Professor John Stubbs. A blustering old botanist from Scotland, Stubbs...

It's one of the most important days of your life. Or it's the wedding of your dear friend or a beloved family member — what can you do to help make it as memorable and personal as possible? Add a graceful and unique touch to the celebration with handcrafted decorations and keepsakes! This practical guide will show you how to quickly and easily create a...

A Main Selection of the One Spirit Book Club!

"Raposo's engaging report on stripping life down will inspire readers looking for manageable tweaks to hectic living." — Publishers Weekly

At the age of thirty-four, journalist Jacqueline Raposo finds herself sick, single, broke, and wandering in a fog. Despite decades of discipline, her chronic illness is getting...

Best known today as the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Count Leo Tolstoy also is acknowledged as a skilled playwright. His five-act drama The Power of Darkness offers a cold and unsparing look at Russian peasant life that illustrates the costs of pursuing personal desires rather than the dictates of morality. The grimly realistic tragedy is...

Flush with success from having solved the case of the murdered Rabbit, crotchety detective Chief Badger and his impetuous young assistant, Badgercat, anticipate the return of peace and quiet to their community. But trouble recurs with a visit from Huntington Farm's bloodthirsty security team, who bring accusations of theft and harsh demands for justice...

You can make luxurious products for skin, hair, and bath at home! All you need are basic cooking skills, a few simple kitchen tools, some common household ingredients — and this easy-to-follow guide. Spa Apothecary is a great resource for those who want to avoid the chemical additives of commercial products. Best of all, it will assist you in transitioning...

What makes owls wise and foxes sly? How did the lion become the king of beasts, and why do serpents symbolize evil? This survey of legends, folk tales, myths, and superstitions chronicles the human fascination with the animal kingdom. Assembled by a noted naturalist, Ruth Binney, this charmingly illustrated collection abounds in animal lore from around the...

"[Cane] has been reverberating in me to an astonishing degree. I love it passionately; could not possibly exit without it." — Alice Walker
"A breakthrough in prose and poetical writing …. This book should be on all readers' and writers' desks and in their minds." — Maya Angelou
Hailed by critics for its literary experimentation and vivid portrayal...

The music of Richard Wagner can be daunting to beginning pianists, but this collection offers an accessible approach to the famous nineteenth-century composer's works. The arrangements focus on Wagner's melodies and style, presenting manageable excerpts from the more abstract works in simplified keys and with suggested fingerings.
More than 30 pieces consist...

Invariant manifold theory serves as a link between dynamical systems theory and turbulence phenomena. This volume consists of research notes by author S. S. Sritharan that develop a theory for the Navier-Stokes equations in bounded and certain unbounded geometries. The main results include spectral theorems and analyticity theorems for semigroups and...

Suppose you were locked into one of the most secure prisons in America at the turn of the twentieth century. You've been put into solitary confinement, with periodic inspections by the warden, whom you'd informed that you would escape in less than a week. How would you communicate with the outside, how would you smuggle in tools and weapons, and how would...

"You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth."
With these words, Huckleberry Finn draws us into the narrative that forever changed the...

"In truth there was only one Christian, and he died on the cross," declares Friedrich Nietzsche in this famous attack on Christianity and organized religion. A deep exploration and repudiation of Christian symbolism and morality, The Antichrist was the last of Nietzsche's works save for his autobiography, Ecco Homo. As such, it may be regarded as a final...

Award-winning illustrator and painter Marjorie Sarnat presents an outstanding refresher course in creative thinking, suitable for artists of every level. In this guide, she shares the tips and techniques she's discovered in the course of her personal experiences and explorations. These 300 quick, easily grasped text passages detail methods for adding...

This authoritative test introduces the basic aspects of diffusion phenomena and their methods of solution through physical examples. It emphasizes modeling and methodology, bridging the gap between physico chemical statements of certain kinetic processes and their reduction to diffusion problems. Author Richard Ghez draws upon his experience in the areas of...