"[A] marvelous book about the vital importance of librarians in the cyber age. . . . Move over, Google—make way for the . . . all-knowing lady behind the desk." —Christopher Buckley, New York Times– bestselling author of Losing Mum and PupIn a world of streaming media, digital archives, and Google Everything, some think librarians are as obsolete as print on a page. Marilyn Johnson, acclaimed au...

A Year-Long Celebration of Faith Sometimes an encouraging word can turn your whole day around. Other times, all you need is a good laugh. Then there are times a personal insight lets you know that you are not alone. Or a bit of wisdom connects God's Word to your everyday life. You'll find them all in the Women of Faith Daily Devotional. This beautiful, warmly written book illuminates twelve aspects of faith that will help you start the year with hope and finish it in peace. With 366 brand ...

"What a wonderful surprise—a charming, lyrical book about the men and women who write obituaries . . . sly, droll, and completely winning." —David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize-winning authorWhere can readers celebrate the life of the pharmacist who moonlighted as a spy, the genius behind Sea Monkeys, the school lunch lady who spent her evenings as a ballroom hostess? The obituary page, of course. Enthralled by these fascinating former lives, Marilyn Johnson tumbled in...

"Through a combination of perception and wit, Johnson discovers how archaeologists are invaluable witnesses 'to the loss of our cultural memories.'" — USA TodayThe author of The Dead Beat and This Book is Overdue! turns her piercing eye and charming wit to the real-life avatars of Indiana Jones—the archaeologists who sort through the muck and mire of swamps, ancient landfills, volcanic islands, and other dirty places to r...

I like the aquariumAnd the planetarium.A day at the zooIs lots of fun, too.There's much to observeAt a nature preserve.The beach by the seaJust fascinates me.And it's nice at the dairyOr the birds' aviary.There's so much to seeAll around you and me...If we'll just take the time to look!A wonderful world of discovery is right before your eyes. Open up this book and let the Johnson kids be...

Pompeii, Machu Picchu, the Valley of the Kings, the Parthenon—the names of these legendary archaeological sites conjure up romance and mystery. The news is full of archaeology: treasures found and treasures lost. Archaeological research tantalizes us with possibilities (are modern humans really part Neanderthal?). Where are the archaeologists behind these stories? What kind of work do they actually do, and why does it matter?Marilyn Johnson's Lives in Ruins is an absorbing...

Marilyn Johnson was enthralled by the remarkable lives that were marching out of this world—so she sought out the best obits in the English language and the people who spent their lives writing about the dead. She surveyed the darkest corners of Internet chat rooms, and made a pilgrimage to London to savor the most caustic and literate obits of all. Now she leads us on a compelling journey into the cult and culture behind the obituary page and the unusual lives we don't quite appreciate un...

Buried in information? Cross-eyed over technology? From the bottom of a pile of paper and discs, books, e-books, and scattered thumb drives comes a cry of hope: Make way for the librarians! They want to help. They're not selling a thing. And librarians know best how to beat a path through the googolplex sources of information available to us, writes Marilyn Johnson, whose previous book, The Dead Beat, breathed merry life into the obituary-writing profession.This Book I...

Bestselling author Dr. Andrew Weil presents his revolutionary approach to peak emotional wellness and finding lasting happiness.Everyone wants to be happy. But what does that really mean? Increasingly, scientific evidence shows us that true satisfaction and well-being come only from within.Dr. Andrew Weil has proven that the best way to maintain optimum physical health is to draw on both conventional and alternative medicine. Now, in Spontaneous Happiness, ...

"America's funniest science writer" (Washington Post) takes us down the hatch on an unforgettable tour. The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in Gulp are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in Packing for Mars. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn't the stomach digest itself? Ho...

Renowned historian Stephen Greenblatt's works shoot to the top of the New York Times best-seller list. With The Swerve, Greenblatt transports listeners to the dawn of the Renaissance and chronicles the life of an intrepid book lover who rescued the Roman philosophical text On the Nature of Things from certain oblivion. "More wonderfully illuminating Renaissance history from a master scholar and historian."-Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Elizabeth Strout “animates the ordinary with an astonishing force,” wrote The New Yorker on the publication of her Pulitzer Prize–winning Olive Kitteridge. The San Francisco Chronicle praised Strout’s “magnificent gift for humanizing characters.” Now the acclaimed author returns with a stunning novel as powerful and moving as any work in contemporary literature.Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Bur...