"Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag." In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure...

Beyond what most people think about archaeology -- with its cleanly numbered dates, and discoveries--lies a vibrant and controversial realm of scientists, thieves, and contested land claims. Here, naturalist and adventurer Childs explores the field's transgressions against the cultures it tries to preserve, and pauses to ask: To whom does the past belong? Written in his trademark lyrical style, this book carries readers directly into his adventures...

"Explore the legends and discover the fascinating lore of Colorado"--

The Animal Dialogues" tells of Childs' experiences among the grizzlies of the Arctic, sharks off the coast of British Columbia, jaguars in the bush of northern Mexico, and others. These stories reveal an entire realm of languages and interactions that humans rarely get the chance to witness.

When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, David Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And life at the Sea Section, as he names the vacation home, is exactly as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself. Sedaris sets his powers of observation toward middle age and mortality, that vertiginous...

Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she's studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book might have been a revelatory treatise on plant life. Lab Girl is that, but it is also so much more. Because in it, Jahren also shares with us her inspiring life story, in prose that takes your breath away. Lab Girl is a book about work, about love, and about the mountains that can be moved when those two things come...

A collection of rare mysteries and "cold cases" from the American West explores such legends as the suspicious death of Meriwether Lewis, the demise of Billy the Kid, and the relationship between Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.

A companion to the docudrama of the same name shares insights into the American Revolution through the lives of its leaders, discussing such events as the child's murder that led to the Boston Massacre and the return of Ben Franklin from the Continental Army's first victory under Washington.

Hidden away in foggy, uncharted rain forest valleys in Northern California are the tallest organisms the world has ever sustained--the coast redwood trees. 96% of the ancient redwood forests have been logged, but the fragments that remain are among the great wonders of nature. The biggest redwoods can rise more than thirty-five stories above the ground, forming cathedral-like structures in the air. Until recently, the canopy at the tops of these majestic...