"One of America's most courageous young journalists" and the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Brain on Fire investigates the untold history of the shocking experiment that revolutionized modern medicine (NPR). For centuries, doctors have struggled to define mental illness—how do you diagnose it, how do you treat it, how do you even know what it is? In search of an answer, in the 1970s a Stanford psychologist named David Rosenhan and seven other people—sane, normal, well-adjusted members of society—went undercover into asylums around America to test the legitimacy of psychiatry's labels. Forced to remain inside until they'd "proven" themselves sane, all eight emerged with alarming diagnoses and even more troubling stories of their treatment. Rosenhan's watershed study broke open the field of psychiatry, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever. But, as Cahalan's explosive... Views: 151
Returning home through a bog late one night, sixteen-year-old Dick Dodds passes a trail that for some reason sends a chill up his spine. He feels the same inexplicable terror the next day when he explores the trail further and meets a girl, Helen Johnson, who saw something that looked like a man with no arms or legs moving and gliding across the landscape. The mystery deepens when a local widow, Mrs Knowles, becomes convinced that something evil has emerged from the river near her house. What is the secret of the strange and terrifying mystery of the bog? And what does it have to do with a local legend of a man who died there in the reign of King John while guarding a fabulous treasure? Dick and Helen are determined to find out, but they may soon find themselves in greater danger than they ever imagined.Originally published for teenage readers, The House on the Brink (1970) has earned a reputation over the years as a classic of ghostly fiction in the M. R. James mode... Views: 151
From the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Swimming Home, a single volume comprising her first two novels: Beautiful Mutants, long out of print, and Swallowing Geography, never before published in the United States.Beautiful Mutants, Deborah Levy's surreal first novel, introduces a manipulative and magical Russian exile who summons forth a series of grotesques—among them the Poet, the Banker, and the Anorexic Anarchist. Levy explores the anxieties that pervaded the 1980s: exile and emigration, broken dreams, crazed greed and the first seeds of the global financial crisis, self-destructive desires, and the disintegration of culture. It is a feverish allegory written in prose so beautiful and acrobatic that it could only come from a poet. This remarkable and pioneering debut is as much about language as it is the world that ensnares and alienates us.In Swallowing Geography, J. K., like her namesake... Views: 151
The panic unleashed by a mysterious contagion threatens the bonds of family and community in a seemingly idyllic suburban community.The Nash family is close-knit. Tom is a popular teacher, father of two teens: Eli, a hockey star and girl magnet, and his sister Deenie, a diligent student. Their seeming stability, however, is thrown into chaos when Deenie's best friend is struck by a terrifying, unexplained seizure in class. Rumors of a hazardous outbreak spread through the family, school and community. As hysteria and contagion swell, a series of tightly held secrets emerges, threatening to unravel friendships, families and the town's fragile idea of security. A chilling story about guilt, family secrets and the lethal power of desire, THE FEVER affirms Megan Abbott's reputation as "one of the most exciting and original voices of her generation." (Laura Lippman)Amazon.com ReviewAn Amazon Best Book of the Month, June 2014: Megan Abbott writes about the madness of adolescence better than anyone. She seems to understand teens’ urgent rush to grow up, to try on adult masks and costumes and play adult games. But she also knows: in the big game of pretend, there are often grown-up consequences. In the spooky town of Dryden--“the cloudiest city in the state,” we’re told--high school girls are getting sick, one by one, seizure by seizure. Is the lake toxic? Is the drinking water poisoned? Are vaccinations to blame? Is it the sex? Paranoia begets fear and, fueled by texted whispers and internet rumors, a frenzy roils into a contagious hysteria. Characters’ legs and hands shake. They feel a flutter in the chest. Their chins quiver. It’s hard to breathe. “Don’t you see?” says one parent. “It’s just begun.” The story of what’s afflicting this tainted school is told through the entwined points of view of a divorced teacher, his fast-maturing daughter, and his stud hockey player son, all three tied in their own mysterious way to the source of the fever. The real fever here is the lust, hormones, jealousy, and fear of being a teenager. And high school is its breeding ground, the place that can mark us for life. As one teacher observes: “That’s what high school does.” The Fever is a brilliant and chilling tale of the bewildering age when everything--friendship, love, sex, revenge--feels “new and terrifying and significant.” To survive it? It’s heartbreaking. --Neal ThompsonFrom BooklistStarred Review Following her brilliant, cheerleading-as-blood-sport Dare Me (2012), Abbott returns to high school for another disturbing drama. In an isolated northeastern town known for its miserable weather, Deenie and her best friends, Lise and Gabby, find themselves at the center of a mysterious epidemic that causes girls to—do what, exactly? The symptoms are puzzling. Lise seizes in class, and Gabby collapses onstage during an orchestra recital, leaving Deenie to wonder if she’s next. Or is she a carrier? The affliction affects only girls, leaving Deenie’s caring science-teacher father and her hockey-player brother feeling worried but utterly helpless. Despite texts and videos sent from hospital beds, information seems as scarce as in the Dark Ages, and rumors and misinformation fly: Is the cause HPV vaccinations? Or the water of the town’s dead lake? Is it—a thought that lurks darkly in Deenie’s mind—her recent loss of virginity? Once again, Abbott makes an unforgettable inquiry into the emotional lives of young people, this time balanced with parents’ own fears and failings. It’s also a powerful portrait of community, with interesting echoes of The Crucible: it’s the twenty-first century, and, in many ways, we’re still frightened villagers, terrified of the unknown. Abbott may be on her way to becoming a major writer. --Keir Graff Views: 150
'Amanda's life is one of old-fashioned values, hard graft and plenty of love. She, like her life, is extraordinary' Ben FogleAmanda, husband Clive and their nine children live at Ravenseat, one of the most remote hill farms in the country. It's a beautiful place, high in the Dales, and a rewarding existence close to nature. But Ravenseat is a tenant farm and may not stay in the family, so when Amanda saw a nearby farmhouse up for sale, she knew it was her chance to create roots for the next generation. The old house needed a lot of renovation and money was tight, so with her usual resourcefulness Amanda set about the work herself, with some help from an ex-monk, a visiting plumber and Clive. It's fair to say things did not go according to plan . . .In Adventures of the Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen brings the reader up to date with the adventures of her family, as well as revealing how she transformed a damp and dark old house into a dream home.... Views: 150
This collection of literature attempts to compile many classics that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them. Views: 150
Slade Steadman is the ultimate one-book wonder. His lone opus, published twenty years ago, was Trespassing, a cult classic about his travels through dozens of countries without benefit of passport. With his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend Ava in tow, he sets out for Ecuador"s jungle in search of a rare hallucinogenic drug and the cure for his writer"s block. Amid a gang of thrill-seeking tourists, Steadman finds his drug and his inspiration but is beset with an unnerving side effect — periodic blindness. His world is altered profoundly; Ava stays by his side, he writes an erotic, autobiographical novel with the drug serving as muse, and he returns to stardom, now as a Blind Writer. He becomes addicted to the drug and the insights it provides, only to have them desert him, along with his sight. Will he regain his vision? His visions? Or will he forgo the world of his imagining and his ambition? As Theroux leads us toward the answers, he makes fresh magic out of the venerable intertwined themes of sight and insight. He also offers incisive, sometimes hilarious takes on the manifold ironies of travel and the trappings of the writer"s life — from the fear of the blank page to the unexpected challenges of the book tour. Views: 149
New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green returns to the bizarre and gleefully dangerous backdrop of the Nightside with this landmark collection of short fiction.Welcome to the Nightside. It’s the secret heart of London, beating to its own rhythm, pumping lifeblood through the veins of its streets and alleys hidden in eternal darkness, where creatures of the night congregate and where the sun is afraid to shine. It’s the place to go if you’re looking to indulge the darker side of your nature—and to hell with the consequences.Tales from the Nightside presents ten macabre mysteries that shine a dim beam into the neighborhood’s darkest corners to reveal things that should never come to light. Take a walk with such deadly and dangerous denizens of the Nightside as Razor Eddie, Dead Boy, and Larry Oblivion as they encounter things even more inhuman and inhumane than they are. And join John Taylor, the PI with a knack for finding lost things, as he confronts Sir Francis Varney, King of the Vampires, in a never-before-published novella-length adventure.There may be nothing to be afraid of in the dark, but there’s plenty to be afraid of in the Nightside
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Prize-winning journalist and the co-author of smash New York Times bestseller I Am Malala, Christina Lamb, now tells the inspiring true story of another remarkable young hero: Nujeen Mustafa, a teenager born with cerebral palsy, whose harrowing journey from war-ravaged Syria to Germany in a wheelchair is a breathtaking tale of fortitude, grit, and hope that lends a face to the greatest humanitarian issue of our time, the Syrian refugee crisis.For millions around the globe, sixteen-year-old Nujeen Mustafa embodies the best of the human spirit. Confined to a wheelchair because of her cerebral palsy and denied formal schooling in Syria because of her illness, Nujeen taught herself English by watching American soap operas. When her small town became the epicenter of the brutal fight between ISIS militants and US-backed Kurdish troops in 2014, she and her family were forced to flee.Despite her physical limitations, Nujeen embarked on the arduous trek to safety and a... Views: 148
