"Did you know that 32 pigeons have received medals for wartime valor? And a dog named Laika was the very first creature to orbit the Earth? Did you know that there is an island in Japan entirely overrun by bunnies? And -- for a brief time -- rats adorned with ribbons were a popular lap pet in upper-class London? In Andy Warner's Oddball Histories: Pests and Pets, you can find out more than you ever thought possible about creatures both cute and weird,...

What do avocados, apples, mangos and tomatoes have in common? The answer is that they can all be grown at home, for free, from pits that you would otherwise throw into the recycling bin. Plants from Pits shows you how to grow a range of fruit and vegetables, indoors and out, with minimum equipment and experience. This complete guide covers everything from the science of how plants grow to how to deal with pests and other problems. Find out what to...

"Each of these startlingly original stories is set in modern Britain. Their characters include a people-trafficking gang-master and a prostitute, a migrant worker and a cocksure estate agent, an elderly musician doubly befuddled by dementia and the death of his wife, a pest-controller suspected of paedophilia and a librarian so well-behaved that her parents wonder anxiously whether she'll ever find love. They're ordinary people, preoccupied, as we...

Bruce Handy revisits the classics of every American childhood, from fairy tales to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and explores the back stories of their creators, using context and biography to understand how some of the most creative authors and illustrators of their times created their often deeply personal masterpieces. Along the way, Handy learns what The Cat in the Hat says about anarchy and absentee parenting, which themes are shared by The Runaway...

"In Black Paper, Teju Cole meditates on what it means to keep our humanity--and witness the humanity of others--in a time of darkness. "Darkness," Cole writes, "is not empty." Through art, politics, travel, and memoir, he returns us to the wisdom latent in shadows, and sets the darkness echoing. The opening essay sets the mood for the book, as Cole travels to southern Italy and Sicily to view a series of Caravaggio paintings. He ponders the suffering...

¡Volvámonos virales juntos! Elena se encuentra en la peligrosísima misión de reclutar a does de las plagas más mortales de la historia: Peste Bubónica y Fiebre Amarilla. Si lo logra, podrá combatir otras enfermedades como el cáncer y la malria. Pero convencerias no será tarea fácil, y para ello tendrá que recorrer todo el sistema inmune con ellas y con la ayuda de uno de sus linfocitos más fuertes. In gloriously gross detail, you'll meet...