Introduction to JavaScript Object Notation

A lively introduction to opera, from the Renaissance to the twenty-first centuryThere are few art forms as visceral and emotional as opera-and few that are as daunting for newcomers. A Mad Love offers

The classic guide to the ageless heritage of JudaismEmbraced over many decades by hundreds of thousands of readers, To Be a Jew offers a clear and comprehensive introduction to traditional Jewish laws

An award-winning poet offers a brilliant introduction to the joys--and challenges--of the genreIn Don't Read Poetry, award-winning poet and literary critic Stephanie Burt offers an accessible introduc

A distinguished dance critic offers an enchanting introduction to the art of balletAs much as we may enjoy Swan Lake or The Nutcracker, for many of us ballet is a foreign language. It communicates thr

"A sneaky--charming, consistently engrossing--introduction to linguistics." --New York Times Book Review Everyone swears. Only the rare individual can avoid ever letting slip an expletive. And yet, we

In the tradition of How to Live and How Proust Can Change Your Life, a philosopher asks how ancient Stoicism can help us flourish todayWhenever we worry about what to eat, how to love, or simply how t

Fully revised, updated, and expanded, this modern classic will teach you to use the art of storytelling to persuade, motivate, and inspire in life and businessAnyone seeking to influence others must f

The definitive guide to statistical thinkingStatistics are everywhere, as integral to science as they are to business, and in the popular media hundreds of times a day. In this age of big data, a basi

A thoroughly revised edition of the classic on creativity, essential for individuals and teams who want to think outside the box.Some people are naturally creative and others aren't, right? Wrong. In this classic book on creativity, James Adams takes a unique approach to generating ideas and solving problems that has captivated, inspired, and guided thousands of people from all walks of life to new heights of creativity-whether you are a writer with writers block, or a businesswoman struggling to come up with a new organizational structure.More than three decades after its original publication, Conceptual Blockbusting has never been more relevant, powerful, or fresh. Integrating insights from the worlds of psychology, engineering, management, art, and philosophy, Adams identifies the key blocks (perceptual, emotional, cultural, environmental, intellectual, and expressive) that prevent us from realizing the full potential of our fertile minds. Employing unconventional exercises and othe

A celebrated mathematician explores how math helps us make sense of the unpredictable We would like to believe we can know things for certain. We want to be able to figure out who will win an election

A distinguished guide to Jewish prayerWhy do Jews pray? What is the role of prayer in their lives as moral and ethical beings? From the simplest details of how to comport oneself on entering a synagog

In this New York Times bestseller, Ijeoma Oluo explores the complex reality of today's racial landscape--from white privilege and police brutality to systemic discrimination and the Black Lives Matt

A funny, insightful, and self-contained guide to Einstein's relativity theory and classical field theories--including electromagnetismPhysicist Leonard Susskind and data engineer Art Friedman are back. This time, they introduce readers to Einstein's special relativity and Maxwell's classical field theory. Using their typical brand of real math, enlightening drawings, and humor, Susskind and Friedman walk us through the complexities of waves, forces, and particles by exploring special relativity and electromagnetism. It's a must-read for both devotees of the series and any armchair physicist who wants to improve their knowledge of physics' deepest truths.

An anthropologist uses spelling bees as a lens to examine the unique and diverse traits of Generation Z--and why they are destined for successAt first glance, Generation Z (youth born after 1997) seem

An incisive biography of the Supreme Court's enigmatic Chief Justice, taking us inside the momentous legal decisions of his tenure so farJohn Roberts was named to the Supreme Court in 2005 claiming he would act as a neutral umpire in deciding cases. His critics argue he has been anything but, pointing to his conservative victories on voting rights and campaign finance. Yet he broke from orthodoxy in his decision to preserve Obamacare. How are we to understand the motives of the most powerful judge in the land? In The Chief, award-winning journalist Joan Biskupic contends that Roberts is torn between two, often divergent, priorities: to carry out a conservative agenda, and to protect the Court's image and his place in history. Biskupic shows how Roberts's dual commitments have fostered distrust among his colleagues, with major consequences for the law. Trenchant and authoritative, The Chief reveals the making of a justice and the drama on this nation's highest court.

How did immigrants to the United States come to see themselves as white? David R. Roediger has been in the vanguard of the study of race and labor in American history for decades. He first came to pro

How anyone can become a data ninja From the stock market to genomics laboratories, census figures to marketing email blasts, we are awash with data. But as anyone who has ever opened up a spreadsheet

A Nobel Prize-winning biologist tells the riveting story of his race to discover the inner workings of biology's most important molecule Everyone has heard of DNA. But by itself, DNA is just an inert

A veteran film critic offers a lively, opinionated guide to thinking and talking about movies--from Casablanca to CluelessWhether we are trying to impress a date after an art house film screening or d

A natural history of the wilderness in our homes, from the microbes in our showers to the crickets in our basementsEven when the floors are sparkling clean and the house seems silent, our domestic dom

The story of Andrew Jackson's improbable ascent to the White House, centered on the handlers and propagandists who made it possibleAndrew Jackson was volatile and prone to violence, and well into his

"Dog lovers and neuroscientists should both read this important book." --Dr. Temple GrandinWhat is it like to be a dog? A bat? Or a dolphin? To find out, neuroscientist and bestselling author Gregory

From an award-winning journalist and beer expert, a thoughtful and witty guide to understanding and enjoying beerRight here, right now is the best time in the history of mankind to be a beer drinker.

Most physicists think of beauty as the royal road to discovery; a leading critic shows it is instead the road to nowhereWhether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists beli

A psychologist's stories of doctors who seek to help others but struggle to help themselves From ER and M*A*S*H to Grey's Anatomy and House, the medical drama endures for good reason: we're fascinated

The history and future of our democracy's ultimate sanction, presidential impeachment, and a guide to how it should be used nowTo End a Presidency addresses one of today's most urgent questions: when

From birth to death, a lyrical exploration of the role of transformation in human lifeTo be alive is to be in perpetual metamorphosis: growing, healing, learning, aging. In Shapeshifters, physician an

From an internationally acclaimed economist, a provocative call to jump-start economic growth by aggressively overhauling liberal democracyAround the world, people who are angry at stagnant wages and

"I don't think there is anyone in the academy these days capable of more patient and attentive reading of the constitutional text than Akhil Amar."--Jeremy Waldron, New York Review of BooksWhen the stories that lead our daily news involve momentous constitutional questions, present-minded journalists and busy citizens cannot always see the stakes clearly. In The Constitution Today, Akhil Reed Amar, America's preeminent constitutional scholar, considers the biggest and most bitterly contested debates of the last two decades--from gun control to gay marriage, affirmative action to criminal procedure, presidential dynasties to congressional dysfunction, Bill Clinton's impeachment to Obamacare. He shows how the Constitution's text, history, and structure are a crucial repository of collective wisdom, providing specific rules and grand themes relevant to every organ of the American body politic.Leading readers through the constitutional questions at stake in each episode while outlining his

Just in time for the 2018 World Cup, a lively and lyrical guide to appreciating the drama of soccer Soccer is not only the world's most popular sport; it's also one of the most widely shared forms of

A distinguished political theorist sounds the alarm about the counterinsurgency strategies used to govern AmericansMilitarized police officers with tanks and drones. Pervasive government surveillance

Written to help the business person gain a grammatical advantage on his or her competition, Working with Words in Business and Legal Writing is a quick and complete guide to writing clear and concise

How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t is a straight-shooting approach to self-improvement for women, one that offers no-crap truth-telling about the most common self-destructive behaviors women tend to engage

The surprising science of the creepers, crawlers, wrigglers, and runners that call our homes, homeHowever domesticated our houses appear, they are wild beyond imagination. Look down in the basement, u

The definitive history of the world's most popular drug.Uncommon Grounds tells the story of coffee from its discovery on a hill in ancient Abyssinia to the advent of Starbucks. Mark Pendergrast review

An engaging new history of the Royal Society of London, the club that created modern scientific thoughtFounded in 1660 to advance knowledge through experimentally verified facts, The Royal Society of

How math helps us solve the universe's deepest mysteriesOne of the great insights of science is that the universe has an underlying order. The supreme goal of physicists is to understand this order th

An eminent psychologist offers a major new theory of human cognition: movement, not language, is the foundation of thoughtWhen we try to think about how we think, we can't help but think of words. Indeed, some have called language the stuff of thought. But pictures are remembered far better than words, and describing faces, scenes, and events defies words. Anytime you take a shortcut or play chess or basketball or rearrange your furniture in your mind, you've done something remarkable: abstract thinking without words. In Mind in Motion, psychologist Barbara Tversky shows that spatial cognition isn't just a peripheral aspect of thought, but its very foundation, enabling us to draw meaning from our bodies and their actions in the world. Our actions in real space get turned into mental actions on thought, often spouting spontaneously from our bodies as gestures. Spatial thinking underlies creating and using maps, assembling furniture, devising football strategies, designing airports, unde

A groundbreaking new history of the United States, showing how Christian faith and the pursuit of petroleum fueled America's rise to global power and shaped today's political clashesAnointed with Oil

An acclaimed economist reveals that school integration efforts in the 1970s and 1980s were overwhelmingly successful---and argues that we must renew our commitment to integration for the sake of all A