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From the New York Times-bestselling author of H Is for Hawk comes a transcendent collection of essays about the human relationship to the natural world. Vesper Flights brings together Helen Macdonald's most beloved essays with new pieces on topics ranging from nostalgia for a vanishing countryside to the tribulations of farming ostriches. Meditating on notions of captivity and freedom, immigration and flight, Macdonald writes with heart-tugging clarity...

Arguably the most celebrated and revered writer of our time now gives us a new nonfiction collection--a rich gathering of her essays, speeches, and meditations on society, culture, and art, spanning four decades. "One of the most celebrated and revered writers in the history of American literature gives us a new nonfiction collection--a rich gathering of her essays, speeches, and meditations on society, culture, and art, spanning four decades. The...

#1 New York Times bestseller!
In this unforgettable collection of essays, acclaimed humorist David Sedaris lifts the corner of ordinary life, revealing the absurdity teeming below its surface.
Sedaris plays in the snow with his sisters. He goes on vacation with his family. He gets a job selling drinks. He attends his brother's wedding. He mops his sister's floor. He gives directions to a lost traveler. He eats a hamburger....

"Scientific methods, tools, and discoveries have shaped modern civilization and created the landscape we've built for ourselves on which to live, work, and play. Tyson shows how an infusion of science and rational thinking renders worldviews deeper and more informed than ever before-and exposes unfounded perspectives and unjustified emotions. With crystalline prose and an abundance of evidence, Starry Messenger walks us through the scientific palette...

Nobody wrote like G.K. Chesterton, who (as the book title indicates) took great joy in penning intelligent, thoughtful, and witty essays on all sorts of themes and things. Chesterton's tendency to cover a vast, irregular range of essay topics began with his first book of prose, "The Defendant," which delightfully addressed a diversity of normally ho-hum subjects ranging from skeletons and Chinese shepherdesses to baby worship, ugliness, and humility....

"What are my qualifications to write this book? None really. So why should you read it? Here's why: I'm a little fat. If a thin guy were to write about a love of food and eating I'd highly recommend that you do not read his book." Bacon. McDonalds. Cinnabon. Hot Pockets. Kale. Stand-up comedian and author Jim Gaffigan has made his career rhapsodizing over the most treasured dishes of the American diet ("choking on bacon is like getting murdered by...

Embark on an intellectual odyssey through the pages of G. K. Chesterton's profound work, "Heretics," a literary masterpiece that challenges conventional thought and confronts the prevailing ideologies of the early 20th century. In this enlightening exploration, Chesterton delves into the realms of heresy, questions established norms and sparks a thought-provoking conversation about the nature of skepticism and belief. In "Heretics," Chesterton skillfully...

Essayist Christopher Hitchens ruminates on why Charles Dickens was among the best of writers and the worst of men, the haunting science fiction of J.G. Ballard, the enduring legacies of Thomas Jefferson and George Orwell, the persistent agonies of anti-Semitism and jihad, the enduring relevance of Karl Marx, and how politics justifies itself by culture--and how the latter prompts the former.

Collects the best of the author's essays from five decades of the "Irish Times" to reflect a changing culture as well as her observations on such topics as the royal wedding, waitressing, and boring airline companions.

Ephron returns with her first book since the astounding success of "I Feel Bad About My Neck," taking a cold, hard, hilarious look at the past, the present, and the future, bemoaning the vicissitudes of modern life, and recalling with her signature clarity and wisdom everything she hasn't (yet) forgotten. A humorous collection of personal essays discusses the author's career in journalism, divorce, a long-anticipated inheritance with unanticipated...