Amid family dysfunction, in a postindustrial society, Femida Samara struggles to find greater meaning past the dream of a nine to five. In a dream, she is visited by an interdimensional immortal. Through this meeting, Femida is given the ability to travel through and interpret the dreams of others. She soon discovers she's not the first one who has been visited and is introduced to and joins the League of the Loom, a secret organization that caters to international elites, obsessed with dreams and their ability to predict the future. The organization is led by Eli, an aging Holocaust survivor and the father Femida never had. With her newly acquired powers, Femida is sent on a mind-bending adventure. She is forced to navigate race, culture, and the mind of a lucrative client.
In 1948, a nineteen-year-old pearl diver's dreams of spending her life combing the waters of Japan’s Inland Sea are shattered when she discovers she has leprosy. By law, she is exiled to an island leprosarium, where she is stripped of her dignity and instructed to forget her past. Her name is erased from her family records, and she is forced to select a new one. To the two thousand patients on the island of Nagashima, she becomes Miss Fuji. Although drugs arrest the course of Miss Fuji's disease, she cannot leave the colony. Instead, she becomes a caretaker to the other patients, and through the example of their courage, she gains insight into the deep wellspring of strength she will need to reclaim her freedom. Written with precision and eloquence, The Pearl Diver is a dazzling meditation on isolation and community, cruelty and compassion.
Journey to the world of magical horses . . . A beautiful water horse, Coral is destined to meet a special girl in need of her guidance. Coral must lead the young girl to important discoveries that will change the course of their destinies forever.
Provides a comprehensive overview of the U.S. coal industry over 20 years, with emphasis on the major changes that occurred, their causes, and their effects. Presents and analyzes data in terms of trends in production, consumption, distribution, and prices. Profitability of major energy companies' coal operations is also tracked. Over 100 charts, tables, graphs and photos.
Sudden, extreme deaths have always fascinated us-- and now more than ever as athletes and travelers rise to the challenges of high-risk sports and journeys on the edge. In this spellbinding book, veteran travel and outdoor sports writer Peter Stark reenacts the dramas of what happens inside our bodies, our minds, and our souls when we push ourselves to the absolute limits of human endurance. Combining the adrenaline high of extreme sports with the startling facts of physiological reality, Stark narrates a series of outdoor adventure stories in which thrill can cross the line to mortal peril. Each death or brush with death is at once a suspense story, a cautionary tale, and a medical thriller. Stark describes in unforgettable detail exactly what goes through the mind of a cross-country skier as his body temperature plummets-- apathy at ninety-one degrees, stupor at ninety. He puts us inside the body of a doomed kayaker tumbling helplessly underwater for two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes. He conjures up the physiology of a snowboarder frantically trying not to panic as he consumes the tiny pocket of air trapped around his face under thousands of pounds of snow. These are among the dire situations that Stark transforms into harrowing accounts of how our bodies react to trauma, how reflexes and instinct compel us to fight back, and how, why, and when we let go of our will to live. In an increasingly tamed and homogenized world, risk is not only a means of escape but a path to spirituality. As Peter Stark writes, "You must try to understand death intimately and prepare yourself for death in order to live a full and satisfying life." In this fascinating, informative book, Stark reveals exactly what we’re getting ourselves into when we choose to live-- and die-- at the extremes of endurance.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A mesmerizing new historical novel” (O, The Oprah Magazine) from Lisa See, the bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, about female friendship and devastating family secrets on a small Korean island. Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility—but also danger. Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook find it impossible to ignore their differences. The Island of Sea Women takes place over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point. “This vivid…thoughtful and empathetic” novel (The New York Times Book Review) illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge and the men take care of the children. “A wonderful ode to a truly singular group of women” (Publishers Weekly), The Island of Sea Women is a “beautiful story…about the endurance of friendship when it’s pushed to its limits, and you…will love it” (Cosmopolitan).
Breathing, one of our most essential bodily functions, is central to the proper working of the body and to your quality of life. Taking a wider view, the lungs are the only major system in direct contact with the environment, serving to protect the body with a variety of defenses, but also taking the brunt of the onslaught, when the air we breathe is toxic. The Ins and Outs of Breathing is the result of Dr. Norman Jones's fifty-year odyssey to understand how the lung works and the science of breathing. Jones traces the struggles of scientists from Leonardo to the present day as they pieced together the structure of the lungs. He examines the effect of changes in breathing and its secondary effects on other body systems. Understand how breathing influences many bodily functions, from our muscles, brain, and even the immune system. Discover how Everest was climbed without oxygen, how Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute mile, and how SCUBA allows you to enjoy underwater exploration. Find the evidence to convince you or your friends to stop smoking. See all the different ways in which animals, marine creatures and birds breathe. Gain insights into asthma, COPD, and other lung complaints. Discover what makes your partner snore at night, and what to do about it. Accessible and wide-ranging, this layman's guide to the lungs can help you appreciate the many meanings of inspiration.
