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Forensics and Fiction: Clever, Intriguing, and Downright Odd Questions from Crime Writers
How long can someone survive in a cold, damp cave without food or water? How was diphtheria treated in 1886? Can Botox kill? Can DNA be found on a knife years later? How are mummified corpses identified? How long does it take blood to clot when spilled on a tile floor? What happens in death from electrocution? As a consultant to many novelists around the world and to the writers of such popular TV shows as Monk, Law & Order, House, and CSI: Miami, D. P. Lyle, M.D., has answered many cool, clever, and oddball questions over the years. Forensics and Fiction: Clever, Intriguing, and Downright Odd Questions from Crime Writers is a collection of the best of these questions. The answers are provided in a concise and entertaining fashion that will keep you wide awake so you can read “just one more.” .
Price: $13.62
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A Word A Day: A Romp Through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English
"Anu Garg's many readers await their A Word A Day rations hungrily. Now at last here's a feast for them and other verbivores Eat up!" -Barbara Wallraff Senior Editor at The Atlantic Monthly and author of Word Court Praise for A Word a Day "AWADies will be familiar with Anu Garg's refreshing approach to words: words are fun and they have fascinating histories. The people who use them have curious stories to tell too, and this collection incorporates some of the correspondence received by the editors at the AWAD site, from advice on how to outsmart your opponent in a duel (or even a truel) to a cluster of your favorite mondegreens."
-John Simpson, Chief Editor, Oxford English Dictionary "A banquet of words! Feast and be nourished!"
-Richard Lederer, author of The Miracle of Language Written by the founder of the wildly popular A Word A Day Web site (www.wordsmith.org), this collection of unusual, obscure, and exotic English words will delight writers, scholars, crossword puzzlers, and word buffs of every ilk. The words are grouped in intriguing categories that range from "Portmanteaux" to "Words That Make the Spell-Checker Ineffective." each entry includes a concise definition, etymology, and usage example-and many feature fascinating and hilarious commentaries by A Word A Day subscribers and the authors..
Price: $6.43
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How to Read a French Fry: And Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science
In a book widely hailed for its entertaining prose and provocative research, the award-winning Los Angeles Times food journalist Russ Parsons examines the science behind ordinary cooking processes. Along the way he dispenses hundreds of tips and the reasons behind them, from why you should always begin cooking beans in cold water, to why you should salt meat before sautéing it, to why it's a waste of time to cook a Vidalia onion. Filled with sharp-witted observations ("Frying has become synonymous with minimum-wage labor, yet hardly anyone will try it at home"), intriguing food trivia (fruit deprived of water just before harvest has superior flavor to fruit that is irrigated up to the last moment ), and recipes (from Oven-Steamed Salmon with Cucumber Salad to Ultimate Strawberry Shortcake), How to Read a French Fry contains all the ingredients you need to become a better cook..
Price: $3.67
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Only in New York: 400 Remarkable Answers to Intriguing, Provocative Questions About New York City
400 Questions and Answers to the Big Apple's oddest mysteries: from the pages of the New York TimesNew York has long held a place as the nation's most admired and reviled city, provoking more debate, affection, and curiosity than any other. Generations of visitors and residents alike have pondered the city's enduring quirks and unusual traditions. In the F.Y.I. column in The New York Times, the paper's reporters and editors turn their talents to answering readers' most perplexing queries about the city, some of which include: * City with a Past: Where was the World Trade Center originally going to be located? Where was the last opium den in New York? * Underground, Underfoot: Is there a secret tunnel linking Police Headquarters to a nearby tavern? What was the busiest day in subway history? * The Name Game: Is there really a Main Street in Manhattan? What was the Street of Brides? * And lots more!Amply illustrated with Stuart Goldenberg's whimsical cartoons, and with an introduction from Constance Rosenblum, editor of the Times's City section, Only in New York is sure to generate laughter, delight, and "Aha!" reactions in anyone who has ever been stumped by one of Gotham's countless oddities. .
Price: $4.99
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Molecules at an Exhibition: Portraits of Intriguing Materials in Everyday Life
Reading Molecules at an Exhibition is like listening to a charmingly eccentric British chemistry professor lecture over lunch. In fact, that's just what John Emsley is, and he's expanded his "Molecule of the Month" column series in the Independent into this gallery of molecular portraits, organized into loose themes such as "Testing Your Metal" and "Elements from Hell." He informs us about his favorite molecules through droll anecdotes and basic chemistry. Throughout the book, Emsley exhibits a reverence for industrially useful chemicals that comes across as a grumpy rejoinder to chemo-phobes: "Quit griping.... A little plastic wrap won't hurt you!" Not that he ignores the dangers of some molecules; in fact, he gleefully reports the tiny doses of things such as the nerve gas sarin sufficient to kill you. Other compounds are the subject of Emsley's genuine admiration: For those who still have to live in shacks of corrugated iron and plywood, a temporary answer is to spray the building with polyurethane, which makes them livable in [sic] by keeping out insects and the heat of the Sun, and making them soundproof.... Nor will the investment be wasted when people are rehoused: they can cut the polyurethane into panels with a knife and use it as insulation in their new new [sic] home. While Molecules sometimes reads like a paean to the green revolution (which we now know has been responsible for bioaccumulation of carcinogenic pesticides in food webs and the appearance of chemical-resistant insect pests), Emsley does make a strong point for efficient recycling and reuse of the plastics and chemicals we produce in such staggering quantities. And one can forgive him his enthusiasm for technological developments in chemistry. After all, chemicals really are amazing, and it's rewardingly fun to find out how they fit into our diets, our biochemistry, and our daily lives, especially when the education is hidden in fact-filled essays suitable for party entertaining. --Therese Littleton.
Price: $5.79
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Dreaming of Tuscany: Where to Find the Best There Is: Perfect Hilltowns; Splendid Palazzos; Rustic Farmhouses; Glorious Gardens; Authentic Cuisine; Great Wines; Intriguing Shops;
No country inspires as much fascination as Italy, and no region in Italy inspires as much adoration as Tuscany—for its interior design, art and architecture, fashion, artisans and crafts, food and wine. In Dreaming of Tuscany you'll experience the essence of a place that dreams are made of, ensuring you'll get the most out of your experience. Sharing her recommendations of favorite insider places and word-of-mouth gems, best-selling lifestyle author Barbara Milo Ohrbach acts as a guide to food markets, exquisite shops, overflowing antiques markets, not to mention cooking courses, outdoor painting classes, ancient palazzos and small museums. And you can live like a Tuscan once you return home, with this book providing sources for everything from luscious bed linens to peppery olive oil. Dreaming of Tuscany is illustrated with three hundred sumptuous images by photographer Simon Upton. Don't dream of visiting Tuscany without first reading this book..
Price: $12.98
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Another Word A Day: An All-New Romp through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English
A smorgasbord of surprising, obscure, and exotic words In this delightful encore to the national bestseller A Word A Day, Anu Garg, the founder of the wildly popular A Word A Day Web site (wordsmith.org), presents an all-new collection of unusual, intriguing words and real-life anecdotes that will thrill writers, scholars, and word buffs everywhere. Another Word A Day celebrates the English language in all its quirkiness, grandeur, and fun, and features new chapters ranging from "Words Formed Erroneously" and "Red-Herring Words" to "Kangaroo Words," "Discover the Theme," and "What Does That Company Name Mean?" In them, you'll find a treasure trove of curious and compelling words, including agelast, dragoman, mittimus, nyctalopia, quacksalver, scission, tattersall, and zugzwang. Each entry includes a concise definition, etymology, and usage example, interspersed with illuminating quotations. Praise for a word a day "Anu Garg's many readers await their A Word A Day rations hungrily. Now at last here's a feast for them and other verbivores. Eat up!"
--Barbara Wallraff, Senior Editor at The Atlantic Monthly and author of Word Court "AWADies will be familiar with Anu Garg's refreshing approach to words: words are fun and they have fascinating histories."
--John Simpson, Chief Editor, Oxford English Dictionary.
Price: $1.99
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The Creative Pattern Book: Complete Patterns, Intriguing Ideas & Musings on the Creative Process
Cover to cover Judy Martin covers it all in The Creative Pattern Book. You'll get 27 complete and guaranteed accurate patterns from the world's foremost quilt pattern designer. From the first idea to the last quilting stitch, everything you need is right there in front of you in this colorful volume. Each pattern gives you a big color photo, yardage AND fat quarters, color-coded rotary instructions, at-a-glance quilt requirements, whole quilt diagrams, quilting diagrams, exploded block diagrams, full-size quilting motifs, cutting icons, cross references, pattern ratings, style and color discussion, and clearly written directions. As if all that is not enough, Judy discusses her sources of inspiration and offers practical tips for each quilt. She points out the best ideas to be gleaned from each quilt so you can begin to take your own quilts to the next level. Imagine a great quilt book. Now crank that up a notch, and you will come close to The Creative Pattern Book. It is definitely not your ordinary quilt book. It has more pages, more color, more bed-size quilts, more ideas, more fun, more how-tos, and more thorough patterns than the usual quilt book. In short, it has more of everything you want in a quilt pattern book..
Price: $13.57
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Fibonacci Fun: Fascinating Activities With Intriguing Numbers
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More Days in the Lives of Social Workers: 35 "Real-Life" Stories of Advocacy, Outreach, and Other Intriguing Roles in Social Work Practice
MORE DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS, like its popular predecessor DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS, illustrates through first-person narratives that there are no "typical" days in social work, but that professionally trained social workers take on a variety of roles. In this volume, there is more of a focus on macro roles than in the first, although this book also includes "micro"-level stories and illustrates ways in which social workers combine macro, mezzo, and micro level work in their everyday practice. Here are some of the social work practice settings and roles you will read about: * working on a national level
* program development and management
* advocacy and organizing
* policy from the inside
* training and consultation
* research and funding
* higher education
* specialized roles in the court system
* faith and spirituality
* domestic violence
* therapy and case management
* employment and hunger This is social work! Political advocacy, agency management, sex therapy, play therapy, mediation, conducting domestic violence evaluations, writing grants, doing research, providing food for the hungry, and more--these are all roles that social workers can (and do!) play. This easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down book will make a welcome supplement to the theory found in traditional textbooks. Find out how social work managers and practitioners put theory into practice on a day-to-day basis. Organizations, Web sites, and additional readings are listed to assist readers in further exploring areas of social work that are interest..
Price: $15.26
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