In this book Bill Bryson explores the most intriguing and consequential questions that science seeks to answer and attempts to understand everything that has transpired from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization. To that end, Bill Bryson apprenticed himself to a host of the world's most profound scientific minds, living and dead. His challenge is to take subjects like geology, chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics and see if...

John Grisham's first work of nonfiction, an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet. In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A's, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits--...

In Roughing It our nation's favorite storyteller shares memories of his "vagabondizing" days on the untamed frontier - of curious people, exotic places, hardship, danger - and a whopping dose of good fun.

Considers the global impact of the 1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcano, documenting its cause of an immense tsunami that killed 40,000 people, its impact on the weather for several years, and its role in anti-Western Islamic fundamentalism.

The actress recalls the people, places, and events that have inspired her, from her loving relationships with her family members, to her early successes on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, " to the spiritual side of her career.

In January 2003, Nicholas Sparks and his brother Micah set off on a three-week-trip around the world. It was to mark a milestone in their lives, for at 37 and 38 respectively, they were now the only surviving members of their family. As they travel the globe, the intimate story of their family unfolds in the details of the untimely deaths of their parents and only sister. Against the backdrop of the wonders of the world, the Sparks brothers band together...

In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Einstein and Steve Jobs, shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character.
Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin's life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and...

Since her screen debut in Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews has played a series of memorable, endearing roles. But she has never told the story of her life before fame--until now. Here, she takes her readers on a warm, moving, and often humorous journey from a difficult upbringing in war-torn Britain to the brink of international stardom in America. Her memoir begins in 1935, when Julie was born to an aspiring vaudevillian mother and a teacher father, and...

The legendary Johnny Cash's remarkable story is captured in this exclusive authorized biography.

"The Master of Life's been good to me. He has given me strength to face past illnesses, and victory in the face of defeat. He has given me life and joy where others saw oblivion...Life and love go on. Let the music play."—Johnny Cash

One of the most influential figures in American music and pop culture, Johnny Cash is an icon to people

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The author demonstrates how his years as a crime reporter in Florida and Los Angeles contributed to the creation of vivid details in his novels, of not only the villains and heroes, but of the investigations and stranger-than-fiction crime scenes.