Machine Learning Algorithms for Problem Solving in Computational Applications

You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything—from missiles to microwaves—runs on chips, including cars, smartphones, the stock market, even the electric grid. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower, but America’s edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by players in Taiwan, Korea, and Europe taking over manufacturing. Now, as Chip War reveals, China, which spends more on chips than any other product, is pouring billions into a chip-building initiative to catch up to the US. At stake is America’s military superiority and economic prosperity.Economic historian Chris Miller explains how the technology works and why it’s so important, recounting the fascinating events that led to the United States perfecting the chip design, and to Ameri

A beautifully designed, full-color collection of paper dolls created by Zelda Fitzgerald, lovingly compiled by her granddaughter, Eleanor Lanahan.Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald has long been an American cultural icon. A Southern belle turned flapper, Zelda was talented in dance, painting, and writing but lived in the shadow of her writer husband F. Scott Fitzgerald’s success.The golden couple of the Jazz Age, Zelda and her husband moved around―from hotels to rented villas to apartments in Paris―and Zelda always brought along her paints. Few people know she painted at all, and fewer still know she made paper dolls. But throughout her life, Zelda created dolls, whenever she could, in private. By design, paper dolls are delicate, fragile, and destined for destruction at the hands of children. Zelda’s dolls began as playthings for her daughter, Scottie, born in 1921. Fortunately, Zelda continued to make figures after Scottie outgrew them, first of their family and then

The remarkable untold story of a Jewish orphan who fled Nazi Germany for London, only to be arrested there by the British government and sent to an internment camp for suspected foreign agents on the Isle of Man, alongside a renowned group of refugee musicians, intellectuals, artists, and―possibly―genuine spies.Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, Peter Fleischmann evaded the Gestapo’s midnight roundups in Berlin by way of a perilous journey to England via the Kindertransport train. But he could not escape the British police, who came for him in the early hours and shipped him off to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, under suspicion of being a spy for the very regime he had fled.Peter’s story was no isolated incident. During Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930s, tens of thousands of German and Austrian Jews escaped and found refuge in Britain. Once war broke out in 1939, the nation turned against them, fearing that Nazis had planted spies posing as refugees. Innocent asylum

“Hoffman certainly knows how to enchant” (The New York Times Book Review) in this breathtaking conclusion to the Practical Magic series―a spellbinding and bewitching novel that asks how far will you go to change your fate?For over three-hundred years a curse has kept the Owens family from love―but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger―the curse is already at work.A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective

* A People Best Book of the Year * Time and The Washington Post’s Most Anticipated List * Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence *From the MacArthur genius, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, and playwright, this “captivating, insightful memoir” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) is “a beautiful meditation on identity and how we see ourselves” (Real Simple).With a play opening on Broadway, and every reason to smile, Sarah Ruhl has just survived a high-risk pregnancy when she discovers the left side of her face is completely paralyzed. She is assured that 90 percent of Bell’s palsy patients experience a full recovery―like Ruhl’s own mother. But Sarah is in the unlucky ten percent. And for a woman, wife, mother, and artist working in theater, the paralysis and the disconnect between the interior and exterior brings significant and specific challenges. So Ruhl begins an intense decade-long search for a cure while simultaneously grappling with the reality of her new face―one

From Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx―whose novels are infused with her knowledge and deep concern for the earth―comes a riveting, revelatory history of our wetlands, their ecological role, and what their systematic destruction means for the planet.A lifelong environmentalist, Annie Proulx brings her wide-ranging research and scholarship to the subject of wetlands and the vitally important yet little understood role they play in preserving the environment―by storing the carbon emissions that greatly contribute to climate change. Fens, bogs, swamps, and marine estuaries are the earth’s most desirable and dependable resources, and in four stunning parts, Proulx documents the long-misunderstood role of these wetlands in saving the planet.Taking us on a fascinating journey through history, Proulx shows us the fens of 16th-century England to Canada’s Hudson Bay lowlands, Russia’s Great Vasyugan Mire, America’s Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, and the 19th-century explorers who began

James Beard Award–winning writer Aleksandra Crapanzano shares the secrets of the cakes Parisians bake at home: the gâteau in its many splendors from the simplest yogurt cakes to deceptively easy bûches de Noël, from nut tortes to boozy flourless chocolate cakes, from yuzu madeleines to rum-soaked babas.When we think of French desserts, we tend to imagine ornate creations and confections. Perhaps we envision a tarte Tatin, but rarely a homemade cake, whipped up on a weeknight with little fuss. But that is exactly what Parisians make and eat. Gâteaux are simple, delicious cakes, both sweet and savory, served to family and friends.You might expect elaborate home baking to rival the extraordinary pâtisseries in town. Who hasn’t wondered if the French are born knowing how to make the exquisitely fine layers of puff pastry for a mille-feuille, or how to poach a soft meringue for an île flottante? As food-columnist Aleksandra Crapanzano spent time with Parisian friends who were cooking at h

Set in a Harlem high rise, a stunning debut about a tight-knit cast of characters grappling with their own personal challenges while the forces of gentrification threaten to upend life as they know it.Like Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place and Lin Manuel Miranda's In the Heights, Sidik Fofana's electrifying collection of eight interconnected stories showcases the strengths, struggles, and hopes of one residential community in a powerful storytelling experience. Each short story follows a tenant in the Banneker Homes, a low-income high rise in Harlem where gentrification weighs on everyone's mind. There is Swan in apartment 6B, whose excitement about his friend's release from prison jeopardizes the life he's been trying to lead. Mimi, in apartment 14D, who hustles to raise the child she had with Swan, waitressing at Roscoe's and doing hair on the side. And Quanneisha B. Miles, a former gymnast with a good education who wishes she could leave Banneker for good, but can't seem

An unforgettable debut novel from an award-winning writer: a lively, daring ghost story about a teenage ghost who falls in love with a writer who doesn't know she exists.In 1473, fourteen-year-old Blanca dies in a hilltop monastery in Mallorca. Nearly four hundred years later, when George Sand, her two children, and her lover Frederic Chopin arrive in the village, Blanca is still there: a spirited, funny, righteous ghost, she's been hanging around the monastery since her accidental death, spying on the monks and the townspeople and keeping track of her descendants. Blanca is enchanted the moment she sees George, and the magical novel unfolds as a story of deeply felt, unrequited longingthe impossible love of a teenage ghost for a woman who can't see her and doesn't know she exists. As George and Chopin, who wear their unconventionality, in George's case, literally on their sleeves, find themselves in deepening trouble with the provincial, 19th-century villagers, Blanca watches helpless

This lyrical debut novel is at once a passionate coming-of-age story, a meditation on illness and death, and a kaleidoscopic journey through one woman's lifetold in part by the malevolent voice of her disease.Lia, her husband Harry, and their beloved daughter, Iris, are a precisely balanced family of three. With Iris struggling to navigate the social tightrope of early adolescence, their tender home is a much-needed refuge. But when a sudden diagnosis threatens to derail each of their lives, the secrets of Lia's past come rushing into the present, and the world around them begins to transform. Deftly guided through time, we discover the people who shaped Lia's youth; from her deeply religious mother to her troubled first love. In turn, each will take their place in the shifting landscape of Lia's body; at the center of which dances a gleeful narrator, learning her life from the inside, growing more emboldened by the day. Pivoting between the domestic and the epic, the comic and the hea

Tracy Flick is a hardworking assistant principal at a public high school in suburban New Jersey. Still ambitious but feeling a little stuck and underappreciated in midlife, Tracy gets a jolt of good news when the longtime principal, Jack Weede, abruptly announces his retirement, creating a rare opportunity for Tracy to ascend to the top job.Energized by the prospect of her long-overdue promotion, Tracy throws herself into her work with renewed zeal, determined to prove her worth to the students, faculty, and School Board, while also managing her personal life―a ten-year-old daughter, a needy doctor boyfriend, and a burgeoning meditation practice. But nothing ever comes easily to Tracy Flick, no matter how diligent or qualified she happens to be.Among her many other responsibilities, Tracy is enlisted to serve on the Selection Committee for the brand-new Green Meadow High School Hall of Fame. Her male colleagues’ determination to honor Vito Falcone―a star quarterback of dubious characte

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good House, the story of two friends, raised in the same orphanage, whose loyalty is put to the ultimate test when they meet years later at a controversial institutionone as an employee; the other, an inmate.It's 1927 and eighteen-year-old Mary Engle is hired to work as a secretary at a remote but scenic institution for mentally disabled women called the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. She's immediately in awe of her employerbrilliant, genteel Dr. Agnes Vogel. Dr. Vogel had been the only woman in her class in medical school. As a young psychiatrist she was an outspoken crusader for women's suffrage. Now, at age forty, Dr. Vogel runs one of the largest and most self-sufficient public asylums for women in the country. Mary deeply admires how dedicated the doctor is to the poor and vulnerable women under her care. Soon after she's hired, Mary learns that a girl from her childhood orphanage is one of th

From New York Times bestselling author of The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, a book of humorous and charming advice for embracing life and aging joyfully.Margareta Magnusson shared with the world her practical Swedish tradition of dstdning, or ';death cleaning'clearing out unnecessary belongings before others must do it for youin her international bestseller The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. Now, unburdened by baggage (emotional and actual) she is able to focus on what makes each day worth living, and reveals her discoveries about growing oldersome difficult to accept, many rather wondrous. She reflects on her early days growing up in Sweden and raising her family around the world, offering tips and wisdom on how to age gracefully, such as: don't be afraid to wear stripes, don't resist new technology, let go of what doesn't matter, and much more. As with death-cleaning, it's never too early to begin and The Swedish Art of Aging Well shows us how to prepare for and unders

A riveting, decades-in-the-writing memoir from the determined young prosecutor who, in two of America's most celebrated trials, managed to convict famed mob boss John Gottiand subsequently took down the Mafia altogether.John Gotti was without a doubt the flashiest and most feared Mafioso in American history. He became the boss of the Gambino Crime Family in spectacular fashionwith the brazen and very public murder of Paul Castellano in front of Sparks Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan in 1985. Not one to stay below law enforcement's radar, Gotti instead became the first celebrity crime boss. His penchant for eye-catching apparel earned him the nickname ';The Dapper Don;' his ability to beat criminal charges led to another: ';The Teflon Don.' This is the captivating story of Gotti's meteoric rise to power and his equally dramatic downfall. Every step of the way, Gotti's legal adversaryJohn Gleeson, an Assistant US Attorney in Brooklynwas watching. When Gotti finally faced two federal rac

From one of the most celebrated writers of our time, a literary figure with cult status, a ';sibling novel' to her Pulitzer Prize- and NBCC Award-winning A Visit from the Goon Squadan electrifying, deeply moving novel about the quest for authenticity and meaning in a world where memories and identities are no longer private.The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is ';one of those tech demi-gods with whom we're all on a first name basis.' Bix is 40, with four kids, restless, desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or ';externalizing' memory. It's 2010. Within a decade, Bix's new technology, ';Own Your Unconscious'that allows you access to every memory you've ever had, and to share every memory in exchange for access to the memories of othershas seduced multitudes. But not everyone. In spellbinding interlocking

In this examination of landscape and memory, four sites of American history are revealed as places where historical truth was written over by oppressive fictionwith profound repercussions for politics past and present.Popular narratives of American history conceal as much as they reveal. They present a national identity based on harvesting the treasures that lay in wait for European colonization. In Whose Ruins tells another story: winding through the US landscape, from Native American earthworks in West Virginia to the Manhattan Project in New Mexico, this history is a tour of sites that were mined for an empire's power. Showing the hidden costs of ruthless economic growth, particularly to Indigenous people and ways of understanding, this book illuminates the myth-making intimately tied to place. From the ground up, the project of settlement, expansion, and extraction became entwined with the spiritual values of those who hoped to gain from it. Every nation tells some stories and supp

From the world's most influential management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, an insight-packed, revelatory look at how the best CEOs do their jobs based on extensive interviews with today's most successful corporate leaders―including chiefs at Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, and Sony. Being a CEO at any of the world's largest companies is among the most challenging roles in business. Billions, and even trillions, are at stake―and the fates of tens of thousands of employees often hang in the balance. Yet, even when ';can't miss' high-achievers win the top job, very few excel. Thirty percent of Fortune 500 CEOs last fewer than three years, and two out of five new CEOs are perceived to be failing within eighteen months. For those who shoulder the burden of being the one on whom everyone counts, a manual for excellence is sorely needed. To identify the 21st century's best CEOs, the authors of CEO Excellence started with a pool of over 2400 public company CEOs. Extensiv

In the tradition of Silent Spring and The Sixth Extinction, an urgent, "disturbing, empowering, and essential" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) book about the ways in which chemicals in the modern environment are changing--and endangering--human sexuality and fertility on the grandest scale, from renowned epidemiologist Shanna Swan. In 2017, author Shanna Swan and her team of researchers completed a major study. They found that over the past four decades, sperm levels among men in Western countries have dropped by more than 50 percent. They came to this conclusion after examining 185 studies involving close to 45,000 healthy men. The result sent shockwaves around the globe--but the story didn't end there. It turns out our sexual development is changing in broader ways, for both men and women and even other species, and that the modern world is on pace to become an infertile one. How and why could this happen? What is hijacking our fertility and our health? Count Down unpacks these ques

From a renowned financial journalist comes a fresh, “engaging” (The New York Times), and profound book that draws on hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with many of the world’s super-investors to demonstrate that key insights for building wealth apply to life as well.Billionaire investors. If we think of them, it’s with a mixture of awe and suspicion. Clearly, they possess a kind of genius―the proverbial Midas Touch. But are the skills they possess transferable? And do they have anything to teach us besides making money?In Richer, Wiser, Happier, William Green draws on interviews that he’s conducted over twenty-five years with many of the world’s greatest investors. As he discovered, their talents extend well beyond the financial realm. The most successful investors are mavericks and iconoclasts who question conventional wisdom and profit vastly from their ability to think more rationally, rigorously, and objectively. They are master game players who consciously maximize their o

A desperate man attempts to win a reality TV game where the only objective is to stay alive in this #1 national bestseller from Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman. “Under any name King mesmerizes the reader” (Chicago Sun-Times).Ben Richards is a desperate man. With no job, no money, no way out, and a young daughter in need of proper medical attention, he must turn to the only possibility of striking it rich in this near-future dystopian America: participating in the ultra-violent TV programming of the government-sanctioned Games Network. Ben soon finds himself selected as a contestant on the biggest and the best that the Games Network has to offer: “The Running Man,” a no-holds-barred thirty-day struggle to stay alive as public enemy number one, relentlessly hunted by an elite strike force bent on killing him as quickly as possible in front of an audience all too eager to see that happen. It means a billion dollars in prize money if he can live for the next month. No one has ever

A delightful, entertaining guide to some of the best short novels of all time from a bestselling historian, author, and lifelong reader.Fall back into the joys of literature with an extraordinary book for book lovers: a compulsively readable, deeply engaging list of great short novels. A journey into short fiction designed with our contemporary attention spans in mind, Great Short Books suggests fifty-eight excellent short novels, all easily readable in a week or less―a “baker’s dozen” approach to a fun, fascinating year of reading.From hard-boiled fiction to magical realism, the 18th century to the present day, Great Short Books spans genres, cultures, countries, and time to present an enchanting and diverse selection of acclaimed and canonical novels. From works in translation like Yu Miri’s ​Tokyo Ueno Station and Marguerite Duras’s The Lover to popular, acclaimed authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Stephen King, this compilation is a celebration of classics from the historic to co

A New York Times bestseller, this extraordinary memoir from Huma Abedin―Hillary Clinton’s famously private top aide and longtime advisor―offers “a gripping testament to the power of a woman finding her voice, owning her ambition, and sharing her truth” (Glennon Doyle).Abedin’s stunning memoir garnered an extraordinary amount of media coverage, with appearances on CBS Sunday Morning, the Today show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The View, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Christiane Amanpour, and coverage in many other outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and NPR.The daughter of Indian and Pakistani intellectuals and advocates, Abedin grew up in the United States and Saudi Arabia and traveled widely. Both/And grapples with family, legacy, identity, faith, marriage, motherhood―and work―with wisdom, sophistication, grace, and clarity.Abedin launched full steam into a college internship in the office of the First Lady in 1996, never imagining that her work at the Wh

A New York Times Notable Book, Critic’s Top Pick, and Top Ten Book of Historical FictionNamed a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, NPR, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg Businessweek​From one of today’s most brilliant and beloved novelists, a dazzling, epic family saga set across a half-century spanning World War I, the rise of Hitler, World War II, and the Cold War that is “a feat of literary sorcery in its own right” (Oprah Daily).The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the twentieth century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the sto

驚悚點子貌似永遠不見枯竭的恐怖大師帶來又一場盛大的夏日驚駭饗宴。背負家計重擔的少年遇見了名叫雷達的狗與牠年邁的主人，從老人臨終前的手中接過的那捲錄音帶裡，有著某人守了一輩子的秘密，通往另一個世界的秘密…Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is 17, he meets a dog named Radar and his aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it. Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a ca

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Impossible First, a compelling blend of riveting adventure stories and hard-won wisdom that reveals how you can harness your inner strength, overcome your limiting beliefs, and embark on a transformative, one-day journey that will unlock your best life.Millions of people dream of living a more fulfilling life, yet many of us settle for a life of comfortable complacency and quiet desperation, allowing excuses and negative thoughts to invade our mindset. What if I fail?...I don't have enough moneyI don't have what it takeswe allow these voices to run our lives. Now, The 12-Hour Walk provides the inspiration and catalyst for getting unstuck. Featuring the hard-earned life lessons of ten-time world record breaking explorer Colin O'Brady, with captivating stories set to the most extreme places on Earthfrom Antarctica to the perilous Drake Passage to the peaks of Mt. Everest and K2this book shows us how to embrace our abilities, step out of o

From the bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie, a delightfully sinister novel about a married woman living a nice, quiet suburban lifebut things aren't always what they seemLinda has lived in a quiet neighborhood since fleeing the dark events of her childhood in Wales. Now she sits in her kitchen, wondering if this is all there is: pushing the vacuum around and cooking fish sticks for dinner, a far cry from the glamorous lifestyle she sees in the glossy magazines coming through the mail slot addressed to the previous occupant, Rebecca. Linda's husband Terry isn't perfecthe picks his teeth, tracks dirt through the house, and spends most of his time in front of the TV. But that seems fairly standarduntil he starts keeping odd hours at work, at around the same time young women in the town start to go missing. If only Linda could track down and befriend Rebecca, maybe some of that enviable lifestyle would rub off on her and she wouldn't have to

The ';grippingphenomenalgorgeous' (USA TODAY) #1 New York Times bestselling novella collection from master storyteller Stephen King!Readers adore Stephen King's novels, and his novellas are their own dark treat, briefer but just as impactful and enduring as his longer fiction. Many of his novellas have been made into iconic films, including ';The Body' (Stand by Me) and ';Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption' (Shawshank Redemption). The four brilliant tales in If It Bleeds prove as iconic as their predecessors. In the title story, reader favorite Holly Gibney (from the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and The Outsider) must face her fears, and possibly another outsiderthis time on her own. In ';Mr. Harrigan's Phone' an intergenerational friendship has a disturbing afterlife. ';The Life of Chuck' explores, beautifully, how each of us contains multitudes. And in ';Rat,' a struggling writer must contend with the darker side of ambition. If these novellas show King's range, they also prove that cert

New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda returns with a gripping and propulsive thriller that opens with the disappearance of a journalist who is investigating a string of vanishings in the resort town of Cutter's Passwill its dark secrets finally be revealed?Ten years ago, Abigail Lovett fell into a job she loves, managing The Passage Inn, a cozy, upscale resort nestled in the North Carolina mountain town of Cutter's Pass. Cutter's Pass is best known for its outdoor offeringsrafting and hiking, with access to the Appalachian trail by way of a gorgeous waterfalland its mysterious history. As the book begins, the string of unsolved disappearances that has haunted the town is once again thrust into the spotlight when journalist Landon West, who was staying at the inn to investigate the story of the vanishing trail, then disappears himself. Abby has sometimes felt like an outsider within the community, but she's come to view Cutter's Pass as her home. When Landon's brother Trey sho

The masterful story of a lifelong friendship between two very different women with shared histories and buried secrets, tested in the twilight of their lives, set across the arc of the 20th century.Celebrated children's book author Agnes Lee is determined to secure her legacyto complete what she knows will be the final volume of her pseudonymously written Franklin Square novels; and even more consuming, to permanently protect the peninsula of majestic coast in Maine known as Fellowship Point. To donate the land to a trust, Agnes must convince shareholders to dissolve a generations-old partnership. And one of those shareholders is her best friend, Polly. Polly Wister has led a different kind of life than Agnes: that of a well-off married woman with children, defined by her devotion to her husband, and philosophy professor with an inflated sense of stature. She exalts in creating beauty and harmony in her home, in her friendships, and in her family. Polly soon finds her loyalties torn be

;Full oflively insights and lucid prose' (The Wall Street Journal) an epic, sweeping history of Cuba and its complex ties to the United Statesfrom before the arrival of Columbus to the present daywritten by one of the world's leading historians of Cuba.In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, the United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, where a momentous revolution had taken power three years earlier. For more than half a century, the stand-off continuedthrough the tenure of ten American presidents and the fifty-year rule of Fidel Castro. His death in 2016, and the retirement of his brother and successor Ral Castro in 2021, have spurred questions about the country's future. Meanwhile, politics in WashingtonBarack Obama's opening to the island, Donald Trump's reversal of that policy, and the election of Joe Bidenhave made the relationship between the two nations a subject of debate once more. Now, award-winning historian Ada Ferrer delivers an ';important' (The Guardian) and

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong?How about everything.This spectacular can’t-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It’s about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption.You won’t put this story down, and you won’t forget Billy.Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The O

';It is just not possible to stop turning the pages' (The Washington Post) of this bestselling classic talean epic fantasy as only #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King could envision it.Once, in a kingdom called Delain, there was a king with two sons Thus begins one of the most unique tales that master storyteller Stephen King has ever writtena sprawling fantasy of dark magic and the struggle for absolute power that utterly transforms the destinies of two brothers born into royalty. Through this enthralling masterpiece of mythical adventure, intrigue, and terror, you will thrill to this unforgettable narrative filled with relentless, wicked enchantment, and the most terrible of secrets

This brilliant portrait of schizophreniathe most malignant and least understood mental illnessby renowned psychiatrist Jeffrey Lieberman, Chair of Columbia's legendary Psychiatry department, interweaves cultural and scientific history with dramatic patient portraits and clinical experiences to impart a revolutionary message of hope: that for the first time in human history, schizophrenia can not just be effectively treated, but even prevented.Of the many myths and misconceptions that have historically obscured our understanding of schizophrenia, the most pernicious is that there is no effective treatment or cure. The reality couldn't be more different: the truth is that today's treatments have the potential to be game-changingand often lifesaving. In this rigorously researched, deeply compelling biography of schizophrenia, Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman draws on his four-decade career to tell the story of the past, present, and future of this historically dreaded, often disabling illness. From

Set over the course of one summer, this perfect beach read follows a mother and her two daughters as they grapple with heartbreak, young love, and the weight of family secrets.Brian and Margot Dunne live year-round in Seaside, just steps away from the bustling boardwalk, with their daughters Liz and Evy. The Dunnes run a real estate company, making their living by quickly turning over rental houses for tourists. But the family's future becomes even more precarious when Brian develops a brain tumor, transforming into a bizarre, erratic version of himself. Amidst the chaos and new caretaking responsibilities, Liz still seeks out summer adventure and flirting with a guy she should know better than to pursue. Her younger sister Evy works in a candy shop, falls in love with her friend Olivia, and secretly adopts the persona of a middle-aged mom in an online support group, where she discovers her own mother's most vulnerable confessions. Meanwhile, Margot faces an impossible choice driven by

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK: Entertainment Weekly, Oprah Daily, Vogue, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, CNN, Harper's Bazaar ';A glorious bookan assured novel that's gorgeously told.' The New York Times Book Review ';An incredibly moving epic about an unforgettable family.' CBS Sunday Morning ';[An] absorbing novelI felt both grateful to have known these people and bereft at the prospect of leaving them behind.' The Washington Post A stunning novel about love, work, and marriage that asks how far one family and one community will go to protect their future.Colleen and Rich Gundersen are raising their young son, Chub, on the rugged California coast. It's 1977, and life in this Pacific Northwest logging town isn't what it used to be. For generations, the community has lived and breathed timber; now that way of life is threatened. Colleen is an amateur midwife. Rich is a tree-topper. It's a dangerous job that requires him to scale trees hundreds of feet talla job t

Set in London now, Love Marriage marks the magnificent return of Monica Ali, the Booker Prize shortlisted, ';splendid, daring, brilliant, refreshing' novelist (The New Republic) ';with an inborn generosity that cannot be learned' (The New York Times Book Review).Yasmin Ghorami in twenty-six, in training to be a doctor (like her Indian-born father), and engaged to the charismatic, upper-class Joe Sangster, whose formidable mother, Harriet, is a famous feminist. The gulf between families is vast. So, too, is the gulf in sexual experience between Yasmin and Joe. As the wedding day draws near, misunderstandings, infidelities, and long-held secrets upend both Yasmin's relationship and that of her parents, a ';love marriage,' according to the family lore that Yasmin has believed all her life. A gloriously acute observer of class, sexual mores, and the mysteries of the human heart, Monica Ali has written a captivating social comedy and a profoundly moving, revelatory story of two cultures, tw

Futureproof your body and relieve chronic pain resulting from sitting, slouching, and other bad lifestyle habits with this easy-to-perform set of daily stretching and exercise routinesfrom an innovative physical therapist and social media star who coaches dozens of celebrity clients.What if we could easily acquire long-lasting protection for our bodies and escape the chronic pain caused by our sit-all-the-time, slouch-too-much lifestyles? Vinh Pham is a world-class physical therapista member of a new breed that dissects how people really move. He has worked with a broad range of clients, from Olympians to NBA stars to MMA fighters to Golden Globe and Grammy Awardwinning artists. Early in his career, he discovered a disappointing truth: most of his patients came to him already in pain. They had poor, deeply ingrained lifestyle habits that misaligned their joints and tightened their muscles. And the recent epidemic of prolonged sittingwhich represents an all-day assault on the body has

From the bestselling author of Good Girl, Bad Girl and When You Are Mine comes a gripping thriller featuring the brilliant forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven as he becomes embroiled in an explosive murder case with disturbing origins.Criminal psychologist Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac return in this ';powerhouse of a novel' (Booklist, starred review) from internationally bestselling author Michael Robotham, a writer Stephen King calls ';an absolute master...with heart and soul.' Who is Evie, the girl with no past, running from? She was discovered hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a terrible crime. Her ability to tell when someone is lying helped Cyrus crack an impenetrable case in Good Girl, Bad Girl. Now, the closer Cyrus gets to uncovering answers about Evie's dark history, the more he exposes Evie to danger, giving her no choice but to run. Ultimately, both will have to decide if some secrets are better left buried and some monsters should never be named...

A darkly humorous and spellbinding real-life detective story that chronicles one Mississippi man's relentless search for an authentic, accurate portrait of William Shakespeare.Following his divorce, down-and-out writer and Mississippi exile Lee Durkee holed himself up in a Vermont fishing shack and fell prey to a decades-long obsession with Shakespearian portraiture. It began with a simple premise: despite the prevalence of popular portraits, no one really knows what Shakespeare looked like. That the Bard of Avon has gotten progressively handsomer in modern depictions seems only to reinforce this point. Stalking Shakespeare is Durkee's fascinating memoir about an obsession gone awry, the 400-year-old myriad portraits attached to the famous playwright, and Durkee's own unrelenting searchvia X-ray and infrared technologiesfor a lost picture of the Bard painted from real life. As Durkee becomes better at beguiling curators into testing their paintings with spectral technologies, we get a

The 1619 Project illuminated the ways in which every aspect of life in the United States was and is shaped by the existence of slavery. Black Ghost of Empire focuses on emancipation and how this opportunity to make right further codified the racial caste systeminstead of obliterating it.To understand why the shadow of slavery still haunts society today, we must not only look at what slavery was, but also the unfinished way it ended. One may think of ';emancipation' as a finale, leading to a new age of human rights and universal freedoms. But in reality, emancipations everywhere were incomplete. In Black Ghost of Empire, acclaimed historian and professor Kris Manjapra identifies five types of emancipationexplaining them in chronological orderalong with the lasting impact these transitions had on formerly enslaved groups around the Atlantic. Beginning in 1770s and concluding in 1880s, different kinds of emancipation processes took place across the Atlantic world. These included the Gradu