A vivid and groundbreaking tour of the senses, full of cutting-edge science and thrilling anecdotes, that reveals how they shape our lives and the way we experience the world around us—by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Natural History of the SensesA Feast in Every Sense is Diane Ackerman's luscious and tender journey into the mystery of our modern sensory lives, a grand tour that captures the heady feelings of being alive. ...

Aristotle said we have five senses. Neuroscientists now think the real number may be closer to thirty - from chronoception, our mysterious internal clock, to interoception, the conversation our organs are constantly having with our brains. Three decades on from her cult bestseller A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman returns to find that science has been quietly dismantling everything we thought we knew about perception.In A Feast in Every Sense, Ackerm...

2008 Orion Book AwardThe New York Times bestseller: a true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands.When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw—and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare mo...

This spring 2019 edition of Bard College's literary journal explores the fascination and mystery of night through stories, poems, essays, and memoirs.Scheherazade famously spun stories for a thousand and one nights in order to sustain her life. In recognition of how vital it is to voice our own stories, the stellar works collected here—including entries by Sallie Tisdale, Rick Moody, Joyce Carol Oates, and many others—address our myriad experiences from dusk to dayb...

Exploring the myriad ways in which we go about preserving what might otherwise be forfeited.Whether trained specialists or lay people who care about something, preservationists come from every stratum of life. The archivist, the linguist, the local town historian. The paleontologist, the heirloom seed-saver, the family photographer, the Monuments Men. Old two-by-two Noah and taxonomist Linnaeus. The suburban girl who collects enough yard sale books to buil...

From Marginalian Editions comes a gorgeous reissue of celebrated poet, essayist, and naturalist Diane Ackerman’s debut collection: a whimsical and wonderful ode to our solar system, planet to planet, blending science and imagination, astronomy and cosmology, as well as fantasy, satire, myth, confession, and bawdiness galore.First published in 1973, The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral introduced not only a splendid new poet but a whole new adventure in poetry. W...

The bestselling author of A Natural History of the Senses now explores the allure of adultery, the appeal of aphrodisiacs, and the cult of the kiss. Enchantingly written and stunningly informed, this "audaciously brilliant romp through the world of romantic love" (Washington Post Book World) is the next best thing to love itself.

In war-torn Warsaw, a zookeeper and his wife refuse to surrender...Now a major motion picture starring Jessica Chastain and Daniel Brühl, Diane Ackerman's The Zookeeper's Wife is based on a remarkable true story of bravery and sanctuary during World War II. Perfect for fans of Lion and Hidden Figures.'I can't imagine a better story or storyteller. The Zookeeper's Wife will touch every ner...

The Spring 2023 Issue. Ploughshares is an award-winning journal of new writing. Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated the freshest voices in contemporary American literature, and now provides readers with thoughtful and entertaining literature in a variety of formats. Find out why the New York Times named Ploughshares “the Triton among minnows.”The Spring 2023 Issue, guest-edited by Alice Hoffman, features poetry and prose by Danusha Lameris, Jennifer Haigh, Victor...

**Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award and the PEN New England Henry David Thoreau Prize.A dazzling, inspiring tour through the ways that humans are working with nature to try to save the planet.**With her celebrated blend of scientific insight, clarity, and curiosity, Diane Ackerman explores our human capacity both for destruction and for invention as we shape the future of the planet Earth. Ackerman takes us to the mind-expanding frontiers of science, exploring the f...

Diane Ackerman's poems reveal her intense response to the several worlds of nature, science, and society. Her lyricism fuses wit and sobriety, meditation and activism, and she confronts us with figures both real and fantastic.As always, her strong connection with the natural world, the realms of language and literature, myth and imagination, combines with her deep understanding of the sciences to offer her readers a singular American voice. This is not a voice crying in the wildern...

**This lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth.“Delightful. . . . Gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in.” —The New York Times**A Natural History of the Senses is a vibrant celebration of our ability to smel...