The author of What Makes Flamingos Pink? offers up “a fun, fact-filled snack for the terminally informed . . . enlivened by the author’s wit” (Kirkus Reviews). Is it true that elephants are afraid of mice? How much gold does the United States store in Fort Knox? Why do I get a headache when I eat ice cream too fast? How did the “seventh inning stretch” originate? As the official webmaster for Xerox, Bill McLain was surprised by the kinds of questions he was receiving, like whether people born blind can see in their dreams and why rabbits are associated with Easter. McLain began to answer each and every question—attracting national attention from MSNBC, CNN, and People—and the result, collected in Do Fish Drink Water?, is a surprising, funny, and informative collection of facts. McLain’s answers can often be as wild as the questions and prompt entertaining anecdotes about where he found them. McLain explains how magnets are made, what caused the Great Depression of 1922, and even explains why cats purr. Also included is an extensive list of websites where he conducts research, offering an informative guide to making the most of the Internet. “The legions who have dropped him a line have dubbed McLain . . . Prophet, Answer Dude, Webmeister, Guru of Locating Unusual Information.” —San Jose Mercury News “A veritable Internet legend known for having all the answers.” —San Francisco Chronicle
In this book, comedian Tom O'Connor celebrates the funnier side of eating, drinking, dieting, exercising, losing weight, gaining weight, cooking, shopping, and all that goes with keeping ourselves fit and healthy.
JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER IACP Cookbook Award finalist In the face of apocalyptic climate change, a former fisherman shares a bold and hopeful new vision for saving the planet: farming the ocean. Here Bren Smith—pioneer of regenerative ocean agriculture—introduces the world to a groundbreaking solution to the global climate crisis. A genre-defining “climate memoir,” Eat Like a Fish interweaves Smith’s own life—from sailing the high seas aboard commercial fishing trawlers to developing new forms of ocean farming to surfing the frontiers of the food movement—with actionable food policy and practical advice on ocean farming. Written with the humor and swagger of a fisherman telling a late-night tale, it is a powerful story of environmental renewal, and a must-read guide to saving our oceans, feeding the world, and—by creating new jobs up and down the coasts—putting working class Americans back to work.
The star of the Animal Planet's River Monsters and author of the bestselling companion book shares a meditation on fishing--and life. In his previous book, Jeremy Wade memorably recounted his adventures in pursuit of fish of staggering proportions and terrifying demeanor: goliath tigerfish from the Congo, arapaima from the Amazon, "giant devil catfish" from the Himalayan foothills, and more. Now, the greatest angling explorer of his generation returns to delight readers with a book of a different sort, the book he was always destined to write -- the distillation of a life spent fishing. As Jeremy's catches attract increasing attention, many people ask him how they can improve their own fishing results. This book is his reply: part science, part art, and part elusive something else -- which is within every angler's ability to develop. Along the way you will learn when to let instinct override logic, which details are vital and which may be irrelevant, and how a "non result" can be a result. Thoughtful and funny, brimming with wisdom and, above all, adventure, these are pitch-perfect reflections that anyone who has ever fished will identify with, for ultimately they touch on the simple, fundamental principles that apply to all angling -- and to life.
This work provides a portrait of Nepal's doom-laden royal dynasty from its staggering expansion in the 18th century to the massacre in June 2001 - a sequence of events worthy of a Greek tragedy. Nepal, a fabulous country of sublime natural beauty, has a history inextricably mixed with kingship. There have been kings in its mountain valleys for millennia. Buddha Siddharta was born a Nepalese prince and the current dynasty traces its ancestry to the Rajput princes from Rajasthan. Nepal is the last Hindu kingdom in the world, in which the same traditions of kingship are practised now as in Vedic times. Kings are gods, and history, kingship and myth are culturally woven together. The current Shah dynasty created modern Nepal and was the complete focus of national identity.
The thoroughly updated Third Edition of this popular and widely used review book offers excellent preparation for the CK (clinical knowledge) component of the USMLE Step 2. This edition contains twenty simulated USMLE tests, totaling 1,000 clinical vignette-based questions followed by answers and explanations. All vignettes, questions, incorrect answers (distracters), correct answers, and explanations conform to current clinical practice and current USMLE style. Explanations for both correct and incorrect answers are included to help the student understand why (s)he chose an incorrect distracter. A bound-in CD-ROM contains all the question-and-answer material, and enables students to customize quizzes.
Do you remember the sight of overflowing ashtrays everywhere you looked when you were a child? There were billboards, magazines, and television ads promoting the great taste and soothing qualities of various brands of smokes. If you're a former 20th century kid, you probably have fond memories of running to the fridge to fetch your dad another Schlitz or Pabst Blue Ribbon. You would most certainly remember climbing into the family station wagon for a Sunday ride to the relatives. None of us would be the least bit surprised when the steely mammoth didn't start. Your dad would lift up the hood, mess around with the carburetor and a few vacuum lines and hopefully you'd be on your way. Most of us born in the '50s, '60s, and '70s probably experienced all of these things at one time or another.Our children, however, not so much. They've grown up in a world that is (relatively) smoke-free. At the least, they're certainly not bombarded with ads for Chesterfields and Viceroys. While we older folks were raised with the notion that a pack of Lucky Strikes made for a good day, our kids have grown into adulthood with a full understanding of just how dangerous cigarettes are.Familiarity with cigarettes isn't the only difference between us and our kids. Most Baby Boomers and Gen Xers can remember their parents loading up on martinis and whiskey sours at a restaurant, then driving the whole clan back home. To a 21st Century kid, these old stories seem like a vintage Hollywood movie plot.You ate what was served for dinner and didn't complain about it. (There weren't any alternative selections, no matter how picky you were.) "We're not running a diner here!" my father used to bellow. Compare that to the lives of 21st century children, who are waited on hand and foot. Today's moms and dads attend to their offspring's culinary desires as a royal chef would to the king-even if that means running out to the local burger shack to pick something up for little Justin, Aiden or Max.There are also differences in what we did to occupy ourselves versus what our kids spend their time on. You will remember playing with your friends, completely devoid of adult supervision. You went home only when the streetlights came on. Today, local parks are empty. That's because today's parents wouldn't think of letting our children go out by themselves. Play dates have to be arranged by parents beforehand-there is no more walking to a friend's house and rapping on the door or meeting up in a vacant lot. Oh no, sir. The obligatory phone call must be made to see if visitors are being courted. We watched The Honeymooners, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Brady Bunch. Our children grew up watching Power Rangers, Rug Rats, and Sponge Bob Squarepants. We wore Sears Toughskins, turtlenecks and bell bottoms. Our kids wear cargo shorts and yoga pants. We played board games on the living room floor. They play video games on their phones. And the differences between 20th Century and 21st Century kids don't stop there. Smoked Like Chimneys, Drank Like Fish: Raised Under the Influence, takes you on a meandering journey through the funny and terrifying, wacky and just plain weird, childhoods of Baby Boomers and Generation X. Want to look back on these and many other memories and see how they stack up against our children and grandchildren's childhoods? You'll love Smoked Like Chimneys, Drank Like Fish: Raised Under the Influence, by Peter Erickson.
A KID’S GUIDE TO THE OCEAN "Can you imagine a world without fish? It's not as crazy as it sounds. But if we keep doing things the way we've been doing things, fish could become extinct within fifty years. So let's change the way we do things!" World Without Fish is the uniquely illustrated narrative nonfiction account—for kids—of what is happening to the world’s oceans and what they can do about it. Written by Mark Kurlansky, author of Cod, Salt, The Big Oyster, and many other books, World Without Fish has been praised as “urgent” (Publishers Weekly) and “a wonderfully fast-paced and engaging primer on the key questions surrounding fish and the sea” (Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish). It has also been included in the New York State Expeditionary Learning English Language Arts Curriculum. Written by a master storyteller, World Without Fish connects all the dots—biology, economics, evolution, politics, climate, history, culture, food, and nutrition—in a way that kids can really understand. It describes how the fish we most commonly eat, including tuna, salmon, cod, swordfish—even anchovies— could disappear within fifty years, and the domino effect it would have: the oceans teeming with jellyfish and turning pinkish orange from algal blooms, the seabirds disappearing, then reptiles, then mammals. It describes the back-and-forth dynamic of fishermen, who are the original environmentalists, and scientists, who not that long ago considered fish an endless resource. It explains why fish farming is not the answer—and why sustainable fishing is, and how to help return the oceans to their natural ecological balance. Interwoven with the book is a twelve-page graphic novel. Each beautifully illustrated chapter opener links to the next to form a larger fictional story that perfectly complements the text.
When seventeen-year-old T. J. Parsell held up the local Photo Mat with a toy gun, he was sentenced to four and a half to fifteen years in prison. The first night of his term, four older inmates drugged Parsell and took turns raping him. When they were through, they flipped a coin to decide who would "own" him. Forced to remain silent about his rape by a convict code among inmates (one in which informers are murdered), Parsell's experience that first night haunted him throughout the rest of his sentence. In an effort to silence the guilt and pain of its victims, the issue of prisoner rape is a story that has not been told. For the first time Parsell, one of America's leading spokespeople for prison reform, shares the story of his coming of age behind bars. He gives voice to countless others who have been exposed to an incarceration system that turns a blind eye to the abuse of the prisoners in its charge. Since life behind bars is so often exploited by television and movie re-enactments, the real story has yet to be told. Fish is the first breakout story to do that.
