In Strange Company, a delightful collection of short essays, Jean Ryan brings us closer to the natural world. From lizards to lady bugs, from the inscrutable sloth to the resplendent quetzal, Ryan reveals some of our commonalities with earth's creatures and hints at the lessons we might learn from them.Do lizards fall in love? What do sloths think about all day? Why is the blood of a horseshoe crab so valuable? Do starlings flock for fun? Can a parrot serve as a therapist?...

"This book will bring you closer to the things that are important in life."— Lori Ostlund, author of The Bigness of the World"Jean Ryan's Survival Skills offers a wry look at the ways in which intimate relationships, ambitions, and desires are often foiled and skewed by the natural world."— Henriette Lazaridis Power, author of The Clover House"The keenly observed stories in Survival Skills shine with insight, intelligence and, frequentl...

Stories that affirm the indelible bond among humans and animalsThe relationships among human and non-human animals go back to the beginning of time—and the ways in which these relationships have evolved (and sometimes not) is the inspiration for this collection of contemporary short fiction, penned by writers from across the globe.This diverse collection of stories explores the ways in which we live among—and often in conflict with—our non-human counterpart...

"Self-Help, Psychology, and Brain Science all rolled into one!" -- Publisher's WeeklyDo you feel like time is slipping away? Do you wish you could slow down the clock?"Slow Down Time" is the ultimate guide to harnessing the power of your brain to slow down time in your mind.Learn how famous athletes use their super focus to perceive time in 'bullet tim...

Bioinformatics is the application of computational techniques and tools to analyze and manage biological data. This book provides an introduction to bioinformatics through the use of Action Labs. These labs allow students to get experience using real data and tools to solve difficult problems. The book comes with supplementary software tools and papers. The labs use data from Breast Cancer, Liver Disease, Diabetes, SARS, HIV, Extinct Organisms, and many others. The book has been written fo...

This is a short book which collects together 18 charming fables, written in rhyme and intended to be enjoyed by children. Based on stories which were originally written in French by Jean de la Fontaine, these quirky fables are sure to entertain people of all ages.

A practical "how-to" guide for persons who want to learn how to meditate or practice yoga in a way that is consistent with their Christian faith.

Learn all about Mary Washington in this story by best-selling author, Jean Fritz!Everyone has a mother. Even George Washington. But Mary Washington is nothing like you'd think! She hates to dress up. And she always thinks she knows what's best for George. After all, she's his mother!

In this first edited collection in English on Abdellah Taïa, Denis M. Provencher and Siham Bouamer frame the distinctiveness of the Moroccan author’s migration by considering current scholarship in French and Francophone studies, post-colonial studies, affect theory, queer theory, and language and sexuality. In contrast to critics that consider Taïa to immigrate and integrate successfully to France as a writer and intellectual, Provencher and Bouamer argue that the author’s writing is repl...

Sitting in stillness, the practice of meditation, and the cultivation of awareness are commonly thought to be the preserves of Hindus and Buddhists. Martin Laird shows that the Christian tradition of contemplation has its own refined teachings on using a prayer word to focus the mind, working with the breath to cultivate stillness, and the practice of inner vigilance or awareness. But this book is not a mere historical survey of these teachings. In Into the Silent Land, we see the ancient ...

"Reading Michael [Dickman] is like stepping out of an overheated apartment building to be met, unexpectedly, by an exhilaratingly chill gust of wind."-The New Yorker"These are lithe, seemingly effortless poems, poems whose strange affective power remains even after several readings."-The Believer"My master plan is happiness," writes Michael Dickman in his wonderfully strange third book, Green Migraine. Here, imagination and reality swirl in the ju...

This collection of short stories & photos is about the author's zookeeping experiences while working as animal habitat manager at Grandfather Mountain in Linville, NC. In this delightful book ... meet Nola the Magician, an otter too curious for her own good, who performs a Houdini-like disappearance; Carolina and Dakota, two bear pranksters who always steal the show; Wilma the bald eagle who fiercely guards her precious wooden egg; and Heidi the deer, who always makes a pest of herself at ...