A Bulletproof Ground Sloth: On the Hunt in Brazil
A Bulletproof Ground Sloth: On the Hunt in Brazil

Author: Pat Spain

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2023-01-27

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 178904653X

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“This is the scene everyone will remember,” is how the director described the bullet-ant ceremony moments before Pat Spain took his place in the line of initiates. If online views, memes, family parties, and talk-show mentions are the measure, he wasn't wrong. The Tucandeira ceremony of the Sateré-Mawé is known as the most extreme ritual in the world, and Pat agrees with that assessment wholeheartedly. After hosting hundreds of hours of wildlife-adventure TV programs, Pat is no stranger to the pain animals can inflict, but the bullet ants took this to an entirely new level. On the Hunt in Brazil is an unblinking look into Pat's journey through Amazonia with a National Geographic film crew, attempting to uncover the truth behind the mythical mapinguari - a giant one eyed monster who can kill you with a scream. Over the course of two weeks, Pat participates in the Tucandeira, smuggles weapons on an aircraft, accidentally exposes himself to old people, learns that Brazil's sexy reputation is well deserved, and hears an ancient legend, never before shared with a Westerner, that points him towards a conclusion about the mapinguari and a surprising explanation for the seemingly tall-tales.

200,000 Snakes: On the Hunt in Manitoba
200,000 Snakes: On the Hunt in Manitoba

Author: Pat Spain

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2022-12-09

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 1789046491

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Pat Spain was living the life he had always dreamed of. He had just finished filming his first National Geographic TV series Beast Hunter, put in an offer on his first house with his girlfriend, was in the best physical shape he'd ever been in, had paid off the massive debt he'd incurred filming a web-based wildlife series and was getting to hang out with his TV and punk-rock idols like Harry Marshall, Henry Rollins and Brady Barr when he started getting stomach pains. A diagnosis of stage-3 colon cancer brought Pat's world crashing down around him in an instant. He went from planning a press tour and an appearance on The Tonight Show to learning how to change an ostomy bag, re-learning how to walk, and finding out if he liked pot brownies. On the Hunt in Manitoba is the darkly comedic story of how Pat became a wildlife TV host, lost his dream job, almost lost his life and came back from the depths the only way he knew how - covered in 200,000 snakes.

Sea Serpents: On the Hunt in British Columbia
Sea Serpents: On the Hunt in British Columbia

Author: Pat Spain

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2023-01-27

Total Pages: 141

ISBN-13: 1789046556

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Pat Spain is used to doing things that he acknowledges are not normal — such as lying in a pit of 200,000 snakes or having a pygmy village take excessive interest in his bathroom habits. /Sea Serpents: On the Hunt in British Columbia/ chronicles the coolest thing this host of multiple wildlife-adventure TV series has done yet — traveling 1,000 feet underwater in a three-man sub. Follow Spain, and the National Geographic film crew that went with him, as he sets sail on a commercial fishing boat with a dozen angry men; plays a dangerous, absolutely bonkers sport; almost falls off a mountain while drunkenly hiking; and then some. Spain puts his marine biology degree to good use by getting drunk off the fumes of a pickled specimen of the largest bony fish on Earth, all in an effort to track down the truth behind stories of a giant Canadian sea serpent. The answer to the mystery probably isn't what you're thinking.

The Mongolian Death Worm: On the Hunt in the Gobi Desert
The Mongolian Death Worm: On the Hunt in the Gobi Desert

Author: Pat Spain

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2022-12-09

Total Pages: 122

ISBN-13: 1789046513

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Pat Spain is not a very good dancer. Nor is he a person used to wearing bikini briefs, or wrestling in front of hundreds of nomads and an international TV audience. He is certainly not a person you would expect to find wearing said bikini briefs while dancing in front of said audience, but here we are: On the Hunt in the Gobi Desert. Pat and a National Geographic film crew are searching for the truth behind stories of the Mongolian Death Worm, and to crack this legend Pat will have to wrestle a giant while risking indecent exposure, brave the worlds' most disgusting long-drop bathroom, eat and drink toxic 'delicacies', wrangle a very jumpy electric eel and testy spitting cobra, avoid the temptation to smuggle archeological artifacts and deal with bed-bug and camel-tick infestations while they traverse the least densely populated country in the world, Mongolia.

A Little Bigfoot: On the Hunt in Sumatra
A Little Bigfoot: On the Hunt in Sumatra

Author: Pat Spain

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2022-12-09

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 1789046068

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In the course of Pat Spain's time filming wildlife-adventure TV series, he's gotten pretty used to being uncomfortable. There've been rabid raccoon attacks, days spent in the baking equatorial African sun, and consumption of many revolting local delicacies like fermented mare's milk. And then there was Sumatra. On the Hunt in Sumatra details the two weeks Pat spent soaking wet with a National Geographic film crew tracking the legendary Orang Pendak through the forests of Indonesia, while tigers, leeches, amorous orangutans, Coldplay fans, a guide named Uncle Happy, two shaman, car demons, and rogue cameramen tracked them. It is, without a doubt, the most inhospitable terrain Pat's ever encountered, with the highest likelihood of grievous bodily harm. But the payoff is the theory he reached about Orang Pendak, and a 5 a.m. EDM Tai Chi party.

A Living Dinosaur: On the Hunt in West Africa
A Living Dinosaur: On the Hunt in West Africa

Author: Pat Spain

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2022-12-09

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1789046572

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On the Hunt in West Africa finds Bostonian Pat Spain, an inexperienced but enthusiastic traveler and wildlife biologist, on the first shoot of his new National Geographic TV series in Cameroon, the Congo, and the Central African Republic. He was told it would be his “trial by fire” for the world of wildlife TV, and soon finds that to be literally true after their decrepit pick-up truck catches fire while doing 100 MPH on a dirt road. Things only get more uncomfortable for Pat from there as he experiences the wildlife (getting charged by a silverback gorilla and having a killer bee land on his exposed penis), the food (eating rat and face-meltingly hot peppers), and some local traditions (he's almost arrested, accidentally married, and inadvertently invites an evil forest spirit to live in the Pygmy village he's staying in), and somehow manages (in his mind, at least) to solve the mystery of Mokele M'Bembe - a supposed living dinosaur in the riverways connecting these three countries.

The Onion Book of Known Knowledge
The Onion Book of Known Knowledge

Author: The Onion

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2012-10-23

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 031613323X

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Are you a witless cretin with no reason to live? Would you like to know more about every piece of knowledge ever? Do you have cash? Then congratulations, because just in time for the death of the print industry as we know it comes the final book ever published, and the only one you will ever need: The Onion's compendium of all things known. Replete with an astonishing assemblage of facts, illustrations, maps, charts, threats, blood, and additional fees to edify even the most simple-minded book-buyer, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge is packed with valuable information -- such as the life stages of an Aunt; places to kill one's self in Utica, New York; and the dimensions of a female bucket, or "pail." With hundreds of entries for all 27 letters of the alphabet, The Onion Book of Known Knowledge must be purchased immediately to avoid the sting of eternal ignorance.

Breaking Dawn
Breaking Dawn

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Published: 2008-08-02

Total Pages: 596

ISBN-13: 0316032832

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In the explosive finale to the epic romantic saga, Bella has one final choice to make. Should she stay mortal and strengthen her connection to the werewolves, or leave it all behind to become a vampire? When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved? To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs. This astonishing, breathlessly anticipated conclusion to the Twilight Saga illuminates the secrets and mysteries of this spellbinding romantic epic. It's here! #1 bestselling author Stephenie Meyer makes a triumphant return to the world of Twilight with the highly anticipated companion, Midnight Sun: the iconic love story of Bella and Edward told from the vampire's point of view. "People do not want to just read Meyer's books; they want to climb inside them and live there." -- Time "A literary phenomenon." -- The New York Times

Sapiens
Sapiens

Author: Yuval Noah Harari

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2015-02-10

Total Pages: 403

ISBN-13: 0062316109

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New York Times Readers’ Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century New York Times Bestseller A Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.” One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas. Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become? Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem.

Methland
Methland

Author: Nick Reding

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2009-07-01

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1608191567

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A New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize Winner of the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism Named a best book of the year by: the Los Angeles Times the San Francisco Chronicle the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch the Chicago Tribune the Seattle Times "A stunning look at a problem that has dire consequences for our country.”-New York Post The dramatic story of Methamphetamine as it comes to the American Heartland-a timely, moving, account of one community's attempt to confront the epidemic and see their way to a brighter future. Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland is the story of the drug as it infiltrates the community of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), a once-thriving farming and railroad community. Tracing the connections between the lives touched by meth and the global forces that have set the stage for the epidemic, Methland offers a vital and unique perspective on a pressing contemporary tragedy. Oelwein, Iowa is like thousand of other small towns across the county. It has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy and an out-migration of people. If this wasn't enough to deal with, an incredibly cheap, long-lasting, and highly addictive drug has come to town, touching virtually everyone's lives. Journalist Nick Reding reported this story over a period of four years, and he brings us into the heart of the town through an ensemble cast of intimately drawn characters, including: Clay Hallburg, the town doctor, who fights meth even as he struggles with his own alcoholism; Nathan Lein, the town prosecutor, whose case load is filled almost exclusively with meth-related crime, and Jeff Rohrick, who is still trying to kick a meth habit after four years. Methland is a portrait of a community under siege, of the lives the drug has devastated, and of the heroes who continue to fight the war. It will appeal to readers of David Sheff's bestselling Beautiful Boy, and serve as inspiration for those who believe in the power of everyday people to change their world for the better.