In this thoughtful treatise spurred by the 2015 death of African-American academic Sandra Bland in jail after a traffic stop, New Yorker writer Gladwell (The Tipping Point) aims to figure out the strategies people use to assess strangers-to "analyze, critique them, figure out where they came from, figure out how to fix them," in other words: to understand how to balance trust and safety. He uses a variety of examples from history and recent headlines...

"'Magical thinking' can be broadly defined as the belief that one's internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the external world: Think of the conviction that one can manifest their way out of poverty, stave off cancer with positive vibes, thwart the apocalypse by learning to can their own peaches, or transform an unhealthy relationship to a glorious one with loyalty alone. In all its forms, magical thinking works in service of restoring agency...

"Become an eyewitness to the weird and wonderful ways of our world, from tsunamis to tornadoes, and discover nature's awesome potential with this Eyewitness guide. See how earthquakes, floods and hurricanes affect what lies in their path, and what measures we can use to protect ourselves from Mother Nature. Follow the journey of some of the most catastrophic disasters, and witness the rescue operations that followed. Learn, too, about the equipment...

A picture-packed guide to the fascinating story of trains and how they have transformed our world. Discover how the vision of George Stephenson, the "father of the railroad," materialized into an age of steam around the world. Study the cut-out of a locomotive to understand how the movement of the piston turns the wheels. Learn how the American railroad contributed to the development and progress in the US and facilitated the spread of population...

"One of our great behavioral scientists plumbs the depths of the science and philosophy of decision-making to mount a devastating case against free will, an argument with profound consequences. Robert Sapolsky's "Behave," his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: We may not grasp the precise marriage of nature and nurture that creates the physics and chemistry at the base of human behavior,...

Discusses the physical attributes of insects, kinds of insects, and how insects live. Explores the anatomy, behavior, and ecological role of the world's most populous class of animals. "Explore the buzzing world of insects, the most successful and numerous creatures in the animal kingdom which are vital to life on our planet. Witness stag beetles battle, locusts leap, caterpillars crunch, and the amazing range of camouflage tricks, disguises, and...

Presents a variety of facts about popcorn and includes two recipes.

"Neurological disorders are now the world's leading source of disability, and the fastest growing of these disorders is Parkinson disease. Between 1990 and 2015 the number of people with Parkinson's doubled to over 6 million and is projected to double again by 2040. The causes are shocking, and the remedies are woefully out of date and ineffective. It's time to take action. We need widespread education about the pandemic, better and more broadly available...

"The shocking inside story of the struggle for power and control at Paramount, the multibillion-dollar entertainment empire controlled by the Redstone family, and the dysfunction, misconduct, and deceit that threatened the future of the company, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists who first broke the news In 2016, the fate of Paramount-the entertainment conglomerate that includes Viacom, CBS, and Simon Schuster-hung precariously in the balance....

Learn why horses flatten back their ears, how a blacksmith shoes a horse, how horses have been used in wartime, and how a horse's teeth show its age. Discover why a zebra has stripes, which wild asses are now extinct, what a Roman horseshoe looked like, the difference between an English and a Western saddle, what makes horses race, and much, much more. Includes a CD-ROM of clip art.