"In our always-on, productivity-addicted lifestyles, we tend to think of the pursuit of fun as being indulgent, even immature and childish. When we do find the time to relax or care for ourselves, we tend to turn to activities that are not actually restorative: binging Netflix, scrolling through Twitter, or indulging our FOMO on Instagram. Through years of research, journalist Catherine Price has learned the truth: far from being frivolous or a distraction,...

A tale of four people trapped by their addictions, the basis for the acclaimed Darren Aronofsky film, by the author of Last Exit to Brooklyn.
Sara Goldfarb is devastated by the death of her husband. She spends her days watching game shows and obsessing over appearing on television as a contestant—and her prescription diet pills only accelerate her mania. Her son, Harry, is living in the streets with his friend Tyrone and...

"Former Navy SEAL Hamilton Jones thought the love of his life was dead. But when he hears she might still be alive, he will stop at nothing to find her and bring her home. When he discovers her reason for staying away, he must choose between her and the nation he vowed to protect."--Provided by publisher. Kidnapped by rebels while serving as an interpreter in Ukraine, Signe Kincaid has spent the past decade secreting out valuable information about...

Catherine House is a school of higher learning like no other. Hidden deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania, this crucible of reformist liberal arts study with its experimental curriculum, wildly selective admissions policy, and formidable endowment, has produced some of the world's best minds: prize-winning authors, artists, inventors, Supreme Court justices, presidents. For those lucky few selected, tuition, room, and board are free. But acceptance...

"Willa Forsythe is both a violin prodigy and top-notch thief, which makes her the perfect choice for a crucial task at the outset of World War I--to steal a cypher from a famous violinist currently in Wales. Lukas De Wilde has enjoyed the life of fame he's won--until now, when being recognized nearly gets him killed. Everyone wants the key to his father's work as a cryptologist. And Lukas fears that his mother and sister, who have vanished in the...

In encounters with librarians, booksellers, and activists who are reinventing old ways of reading, Price offers fresh hope to bibliophiles and literature lovers alike.

"Rock breaks scissors is based on a simple principle: people are unable to act randomly. Instead they display unconscious patterns that the savvy person can outguess. The principle applies to friends playing rock, paper, scissors for a bar tab as well as to the crowds that create markets for homes and stocks. With a gift for distilling psychology and behavioral economics into accessible advice, Poundstone proves that outguessing is easy, fun, and...