The follow-up to Pinker's groundbreaking The Better Angels of Our Nature presents the big picture of human progress: people are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives, and while our problems are formidable, the solutions lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science. Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. But more than ever, it needs a vigorous defense. The Enlightenment project swims against...

Describes many things which originated in Japan, including inventions, art, food, fashion, furniture, toys, animals, musical instruments, and sports.

"A magisterial history of the Himalaya: an epic story of peoples, cultures, and adventures among the world's highest mountains. For many years, the unique and astonishing geography of the Himalaya has attracted those in search of spiritual and literal elevation: pilgrims, adventurers, and mountaineers seeking to test themselves among the world's most spectacular and challenging peaks. But far from being wild and barren, the Himalaya has been home...

"The first book in the acclaimed, New York Times best-selling trilogy, Wool is the story of a community living in an underground silo completely unaware of the fate of the outside world. When the silo's sheriff asks to leave the silo, a series of events unravels the very fabric of their fragile lives. In a world where all commodities are precious and running out, truth and hope may be the most rare ... and the most needed"--

In the post-apocalypse, folks getting by in the Sanctuary (the remains of St. Louis) are surprised when a woman rushes in to report that in the West, civilization flourishes and crops grow. Unfortunately, there's also an army on the march that enslaves everyone it encounters.

"What is the internet doing to us? What is college for? What are the myths and metaphors we live by? These are the questions that William Deresiewicz has been pursuing over the course of his award-winning career. The End of Solitude brings together more than forty of his finest essays, including four that are published here for the first time. Ranging widely across the culture, they take up subjects as diverse as Mad Men and Harold Bloom, the significance...

"In this fast-paced information age, how can Americans know what's really important and what's just a passing fashion? Now more than ever, we need a source that concisely sums up the knowledge that matters to Americans - the people, places, ideas, and events that shape our cultural conversation. With more than six thousand entries, The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy is that invaluable source. Wireless technology. Gene therapy, NAFTA. In addition...