Russell Martin, author of Beethoven's Hair, and his wife, Lydia Nibley, tell the story of how a lock of Ludwig von Beethoven's hair, clipped from the composer's head on his deathbed in Germany in 1827, ended up in Nazi-occupied Denmark in 1943 and was later sold at auction in London in 1994. Learn about this incredible journey through history and the mysteries revealed about Beethoven's deafness and death. Photographs, correspondence, reserach, and forensics further inform this fascinating...

Acclaimed journalist and author Lee Sandlin delivers a riveting glimpse of a dangerous and colorful place in America's historical landscape-the Mississippi River of the 19th century. Long before it was dredged into a shipping channel or romanticized into myth, the untamed Mississippi-the lifeblood of communities that rose and fell along its banks-spawned a motley array of pirates and dignitaries, visionaries and thieves.

Greg Bear’s Nebula Award–winning novel, Darwin’s Radio, painted a chilling portrait of humankind on the threshold of a radical leap in evolution. Now Bear continues his provocative tale of the human race confronted by an uncertain future, where “survival of the fittest” takes on astonishing and controversial new dimensions.Eleven years have passed since SHEVA, an ancient retrovirus, was discovered in human DNA—a retrovirus that caused mutations in the huma...

SLEEP BETTER, LIVE LONGER WITH THE GROUNDBREAKING INFORMATION AND STEP-BY-STEP PROGRAM IN THIS REVOLUTIONARY AUDIOBOOKHealthful sleep has been empirically proven to be the single most important factor in predicting longevity, more influential than diet, exercise, or heredity. And yet we are a sleep-sick society, ignorant of the facts of sleep -- and the price of sleep deprivation. Dr. William Dement, founder and director of the Stanford University Sleep Research Center, takes us on ...

In a time like the present, three young people dream of the fabulous ruins of a decaying city somewhere in the distant future called the Kalpa. The dreams of Ginny and Jack overtake them without warning into the minds of two inhabitants of the Kalpa—a would-be warrior, Jebrassy, and an inquisitive explorer, Tiadba. In turn, the dreams of Tiadba and Jebrassy carry them back, into the minds of Jack and Ginny. As for the dreams of Daniel, they are even stranger and more disquieting. Hunted by...

It's the second decade of the twenty-first century, and terrorism has escalated almost beyond control. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem has been blown to bits by extremists, and, in retaliation, thousands have died in another major attack on the United States. The War on Terror has reached a deadly stalemate. Now the FBI has been dispatched to deal with a new menace. A plague targeted to ethnic groups—Jews or Muslims … or both—has the potential to wipe out entire populations. But the FBI ...

Honey bees get all the press, but the fascinating story of North America's native bees—an endangered species essential to our ecosystems and food supplies—is just as crucial. Our Native Bees is the result of Paige Embry's yearlong quest to learn more about these forgotten, yet fundamental, creatures.Through interviews with farmers, gardeners, scientists, and bee experts, Embry explores the importance of native bees and focuses on why they play a key role in gardening and a...

Two of science fiction’s most renowned writers join forces for a storytelling sensation. The historic collaboration between Frederik Pohl and his fellow founding father of the genre, Arthur C. Clarke, is both a momentous literary event and a fittingly grand farewell from the late, great visionary author of 2001: A Space Odyssey.The Last Theoremis a story of one man’s mathematical obsession, and a celebration of the human spirit and the scientific method. It is also a gripping intel...

Nebula Award Finalist: A genetic engineering breakthrough may portend the destruction of humanity in this cyberpunk novel by the author of The Forge of God**.**This Hugo and Nebula Award finalist follows present-day events in which the fears concerning the nuclear annihilation of the world subsided after the Cold War and the fear of chemical warfare spilled over into the empty void it left behind. An amazing breakthrough in genetic enginee...

A debut novel by acclaimed story writer Sana Krasikov that examines the effects of the Cold War on three generations of one Jewish American family, from the 1930s to the present. Florence Fein grows up in Brooklyn in the 1930s, to a family that is gaining a foothold in the middle class. At City College she becomes engaged politically with the left-leaning student groups, and eventually, in the midst of the Depression, she takes a job with a trade organization that has a position for her in...

Hugo and Nebula Award winner Rollback is "a novel to be savored by science fiction and mainstream readers alike" (Globe and Mail). Dr. Sarah Halifax earned worldwide fame for deciphering the first alien message received on Earth. Now nearing the end of her days, she learns that, at long last, the reply has come. "Likeable characters facing big ethical dilemmas . [a] smoothly readable near-future SF novel."-Publishers Weekly, starred review

Acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Haigh returns to the Pennsylvania town at the center of her iconic novel Baker Towers in this ambitious, achingly human story of modern America and the conflicting forces at its heart—a bold, moving drama of hope and desperation, greed and power, big business and small-town families.Forty years ago, Bakerton coal fueled the country. Then the mines closed, and the town wore away like a bar of soap. Now Bakerton h...