Helios Awakened (The Helios Chronicles #1)

The Helios Chronicles is an adult romance series that follows the lives of Andrew 'Helios' Harrison and Madison Ellis as they fight for their love in a world set on tearing them apart. In Book 1, Helios Awakened, Madison moves from New York City to the California desert to care for her ailing grandmother but she never expected that she would meet the man of her dreams while there, a man that would set her heart, body and soul on fire. However, this man comes with a price, a heavy price. Is she willing to pay it? Adult Content: Language, Violence & Sexual Situations**
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American Crucifixion

On June 27, 1844, a mob stormed the jail in the dusty frontier town of Carthage, Illinois. Clamorous and angry, they were hunting down a man they saw as a grave threat to their otherwise quiet lives: the founding prophet of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. They wanted blood.At thirty-nine years old, Smith had already lived an outsized life. In addition to starting the Church of Latter-day Saints and creating his own “Golden Bible" – the Book of Mormon – he had worked as a water-dowser and treasure hunter. He'd led his people to Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois, where he founded a city larger than fledgling Chicago. He was running for President. And, secretly, he had married more than thirty women.In American Crucifixion, Alex Beam tells how Smith went from charismatic leader to public enemy: how his most seismic revelation – the doctrine of polygamy – created a rift among his people; how that schism turned to violence; and how, ultimately,...
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Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces That Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.An illuminating look at the way the thoughts we have and the decisions we make are influenced by forces that aren't always in our controlWhy are people named Kim, Kelly, and Ken more likely to donate to Hurricane Katrina victims than to Hurricane Rita victims? Are you really more likely to solve puzzles if you watch a light bulb illuminate? How did installing blue lights along a Japanese railway line halt rising crime and suicide rates? Can decorating your walls with the right artwork make you more honest? The human brain is fantastically complex, having engineered space travel and liberated nuclear energy, so it's no wonder that we resist the idea that we're deeply influenced by our surroundings. As profound as they are, these effects are almost impossible to detect both as they're occurring and in hindsight. Drunk Tank Pink is the first detailed exploration of how our environment shapes what we think, how we feel, and the ways we behave.The world is populated with words and images that prompt unexpected, unconscious decisions. We are so deeply attracted to our own initials that we give more willingly to the victims of hurricanes that match our initials: Kims and Kens donate more generously to Hurricane Katrina victims, whereas Rons and Rachels give more openly to Hurricane Rita victims. Meanwhile, an illuminated light bulb inspires creative thinking because it symbolizes insight.Social interactions have similar effects, as professional cyclists pedal faster when people are watching. Teachers who took tea from the break room at Newcastle University contributed 300 percent more to a cash box when a picture of two eyes hung on the wall. We're evolutionarily sensitive to human surveillance, so we behave more virtuously even if we're only watched by a photograph. The physical environment, from locations to colors, also guides our hand in unseen ways. Dimly lit interiors metaphorically imply no one's watching and encourage dishonesty and theft, while blue lights discourage violent activity because they're associated with the police. Olympic taekwondo and judo athletes are more likely to win when they wear red rather than blue, because red makes them behave aggressively and referees see them as more dominant. Drunk Tank Pink is full of revelatory facts, riveting anecdotes, and cutting-edge experiments that collectively explain how the most unexpected factors lead us to think, feel, and behave the way we do.Review"Adam Alter's book will change the way you look at our world."—Dan Ariely, New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational “You’ll laugh, you’ll gasp, you’ll shake your head in disbelief as Alter shows you that we are all, to some degree, balls in a giant pinball machine. If you want to see the bumpers — and regain some control of your destiny — read this delightful book.”—Jonathan Haidt, author of New York Times bestseller, The Righteous Mind"A fascinating compendium of the hidden currents that influence our thoughts, beliefs, and actions.”—Gary Marcus, New Yorker columnist, and author of New York Times bestseller, Guitar Zero"With remarkable clarity and subversive humor, Alter presents a radical new perspective on human nature."—Paul Bloom, author of How Pleasure Works "Adam Alter has collected the most wonderfully strange and surprising nuggets of recent psychological research in one book. I guarantee you'll be want to share the incredible anecdotes in Drunk Tank Pink with friends."—Joshua Foer, New York Times bestselling author of Moonwalking with Einstein "Drunk Tank Pink is a smart and delightful introduction to some of psychology’s most curious phenomena and most colorful characters."—Daniel Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness"Reading Adam Alter’s book about the many ways our perceptions are affected is so compelling that it put me in a seriously suspicious frame of mind…he seems to realize that his material does not require much to make it fascinating—not even a fancy font."—The Smithsonian (a "Notable Book")"Popular NYU psychology and marketing professor Adam Alter has composed a fascinating tome about the hidden things that make us think, act, and feel the way we do. The debut result will please readers of Malcolm Gladwell and other writers about unexpected wonders. Editor's recommendation."—Barnes & Noble (A "Book of the Month" and "Editor's Recommendation" book)"Alter’s findings are intriguing…he peppers his text with illustrative anecdotes, incidents, studies and characters, making the book highly readable and informative."—Kirkus Reviews (A Kirkus Recommended book) "Alter not only explains the source of many cognitive quirks, but convincingly argues that comprehending them affords a better understanding of broader behaviors, from cyclical poverty to altruism... In Alter's hands, case studies take on new life... as he fluently moves between psychology, medicine, and cultural history, offering surprises to readers at many levels of expertise."—Publishers Weekly About the AuthorAdam Alter is an assistant professor in the marketing department at the Stern School of Business, New York University, with an affiliated appointment in the NYU psychology department. A native of Australia, Alter earned his Ph.D. in social psychology at Princeton University in 2004, focusing on how people reach the judgments and make the decisions that shape their lives. He has lectured at numerous institutions including Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Cornell, and the University of Chicago. Alter is a guest blogger on the Psychology Today website.
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Best of the Best Lesbian Erotica

The Best of Best Lesbian Erotica offers the steamiest collection in the series to date, collecting the hottest, and most thought-provoking lesbian sex writing available. Contributors include Dorothy Allison, Heather Lewis, Pat Califia, and Cecilia Tan.
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Autopilot

Andrew Smart wants you to sit and do nothing much more often – and he has the science to explain why.At every turn we're pushed to do more, faster and more efficiently: that drumbeat resounds throughout our wage-slave society. Multitasking is not only a virtue, it's a necessity. Books such as Getting Things Done, The One Minute Manager, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People regularly top the bestseller lists, and have spawned a considerable industry.But Andrew Smart argues that slackers may have the last laugh. The latest neuroscience shows that the "culture of effectiveness" is not only ineffective, it can be harmful to your well-being. He makes a compelling case – backed by science – that filling life with activity at work and at home actually hurts your brain.A survivor of corporate-mandated "Six Sigma" training to improve efficiency, Smart has channeled a self-described "loathing" of the time-management industry into a witty, informative and...
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The Ice House

Carl Bowman is a killer. An assassin for hire whose latest assignment is to take out a ten-year-old girl. He doesn't know what she's done or why someone wants her dead. He just knows he has to kill her. But with the girl in his sights, Carl can't bring himself to pull the trigger. Instead he goes on the run, taking her with him.In a small village in Southern Spain, Julia Martin's carefully constructed life is falling apart. Her husband and his mistress have been killed in an explosion in their home and her daughter, Rebecca, has disappeared. Julia has been fleeing the secrets of her past for over a decade and it seems they've finally caught up with her.To get her daughter back, Julia must confront a truth she's spent years running from and call on an acquaintance she's done everything in her power to avoid.
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The Anatomy of Violence

With an 8-page full-color insert, and black-and-white illustrations throughoutWhy do some innocent kids grow up to become cold-blooded serial killers? Is bad biology partly to blame? For more than three decades Adrian Raine has been researching the biological roots of violence and establishing neurocriminology, a new field that applies neuroscience techniques to investigate the causes and cures of crime. In The Anatomy of Violence, Raine dissects the criminal mind with a fascinating, readable, and far-reaching scientific journey into the body of evidence that reveals the brain to be a key culprit in crime causation. Raine documents from genetic research that the seeds of sin are sown early in life, giving rise to abnormal physiological functioning that cultivates crime. Drawing on classical case studies of well-known killers in history--including Richard Speck, Ted Kaczynski, and Henry Lee Lucas--Raine illustrates how impairments to brain areas...
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Soon

A fun and erudite celebration of procrastination An entertaining, fact-filled defense of the nearly universal tendency to procrastinate, drawing on the stories of history's greatest delayers, and on the work of psychologists, philosophers, and behavioral economists to explain why we put off what we're supposed to be doing and why we shouldn't feel so bad about it. Like so many of us, including most of America's workforce, and nearly two-thirds of all university students, Andrew Santella procrastinates. Concerned about his habit, but not quite ready to give it up, he set out to learn all he could about the human tendency to delay. He studied history's greatest procrastinators to gain insights into human behavior, and also, he writes, to kill time, "research being the best way to avoid real work."He talked with psychologists, philosophers, and priests. He visited New Orleans' French Quarter, home to a shrine to the patron saint of...
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Retaliatory Justice

THE TALIONIC FILES is a crime suspense series that will follow a group of elite ATF agents in Chicago led by Valentino Masterson. The first book in the series, RETALIATORY JUSTICE, will pick up with Valentino and his crew of specialized agents being brought in on a case in New Orleans that links to their case in Chicago. During the investigation he meets the beautiful Dominique Walker, a chef working for the people he’s investigating. Things get complicated when he finds himself falling for her, unfortunately, he doesn’t quite know what side she’s on. Will his quest for vengeance, prevent him from accepting peace and love when offered, or will his need for justice end up costing him more than he’s willing to pay? In a story where it becomes increasingly difficult to tell the bad guys from the good ones, you will be on the edge of your seat until the very final moment.**
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