Collection: Adult

Explores the reality and myths of the samurai from medieval times to today's popular culture

The figure of the samurai is unique in its global intelligibility, read both as a symbol of Japan and as a universal icon of the virtuous and fearless warrior. While the term is now common worldwide, there is little understanding of the historical reality, or of the wide variety of ways in which the stereotype has been used over time. This is the first book to explore the centuries-long trajectory of the samurai through objects from international collections. It discusses the warrior class's historical origins in the medieval period's civil wars and stories they told of their own achievements. With the establishment of peace, the samurai became an official class fulfilling a bureaucratic role. The ideal of the medieval warrior took on legendary status.

Although the samurai social class was abolished in 1876, with the full opening of Japan to international visitors, the concept of the samurai was packaged for foreign tourists and repurposed as a model for the modern soldier in a period of military conflict and colonial expansion. The image of the samurai has been interpreted and reimagined in Japan and across the world in myriad ways. Discussions of national myth and global samurai bring the story up to the present day through a selection of films, television shows, manga, anime, video games, and more.

See Critical Role's Mighty Nein through the eyes of nine of their friends and foes in this new anthology, with a foreword by Taliesin Jaffe.

In these nine stories, the legend of the mighty adventuring party grows with tales from some of the most memorable characters who fought with--and against--the Mighty Nein!

Within its pages:
- Essek Thelyss grapples with the choices of his past and the potential of his future, as told by Dani Carr.
- Isharnai deals with the emotional aftermath of a fate-altering cupcake, as told by Kiri Callaghan.
- Pumat Sol returns to his shop after the fight with Obann and the Mighty Nein, only to find that his adventure is not quite done, as told by Mike Chen.
- Plus six more hilarious, heartbreaking, and heroic tales featuring Sprinkle, Avantika, Dairon, and more!

With their hope, unbreakable bonds, and larger-than-life commitment to heroism in a dark world, Critical Role's Mighty Nein touched hearts everywhere they went--both those of their fans and their fellow denizens of Exandria. This collection spotlights nine characters whose lives were changed by the Mighty Nein but whose stories have not yet been told.

Contributors: Foreword by Taliesin Jaffe - Betsy Aoki - Kiri Callaghan - Dani Carr - Mae Catt - Mike Chen - Rin Chupeco - Nino Cipri - Nadia El-Fassi - Chase K

A playful activity book that functions as a working 4x5" analog camera, complete with detailed instructions, photo paper and and a companion lightmeter app

Authored by artist and designer Kelli Anderson, This Book is a Camera is a pop-up book that turns into a fully functional pinhole camera. It serves as a fun and educational way to learn about the basic principles of light while also making your own photographs. The book concisely explains--while actively demonstrating--how a structure as humble as a folded piece of paper can tap into the intrinsic properties of light to produce a photograph. Easily turn a bathroom or closet in your home into a darkroom and process photos using household supplies (baking soda, instant coffee and water). Your photos will cast your modern life in the warm analog glow of 1840s technology. The book includes: a piece of paper folded into a working 4x5" camera, a lightproof bag, five sheets of photo-paper "film," development instructions (for household ingredients or photo chemicals), a companion lightmeter app for iPhone and Android (but any light meter will do if set to ISO 10 and f/228), and a satisfying demonstration of the connection between design & science/structure & function. Originally published by MoMA in 2015, this innovative bestselling activity book returns to print.
Kelli Anderson is a graphic designer, paper engineer, educator and author who uses design magic to connect people with the hidden talents of everyday things. Her previous publications include Alphabet in Motion (Katherine Small Gallery, 2025) and This Book is a Planetarium (Chronicle, 2017), which houses paper devices (including a planetarium) and has sold more than 100,000 copies.

From Annie Jacobsen, the author of the bestselling Nuclear War: A Scenario, a book on a subject that has long orbited her reporting: biological warfare.

A lab accident, a bio-attack, a global pandemic, and the collapse of human society. In this essential new book, based on dozens of new interviews with experts with high-level political, governmental, medical, and military responsibility, Annie Jacobsen examines this very scenario. It would be only a matter of days from such a global infection before the infrastructure built to handle this gravest of situations would be in a battle for human existence.

The fallout: mass death, total societal breakdown, widespread insurrection, anarchy, and a plague-ravaged wasteland that no longer resembles modern civilization. In other words: dystopia.

Following the gripping narrative style that launched Nuclear War to the New York Times bestseller list, Jacobsen looks deeply at a situation that is in some ways the opposite of a nuclear bomb: There is no mushroom cloud, no shock wave or blast. Instead, the scenario that could end the world as we know it begins with something so small, and something so malicious, that when used for evil, only evil can result.

This is what could happen; a ticking-clock roadmap to the hours, days, and weeks following the release of a biological agent, that serves as the most essential, forward-looking journalism in preparation for urgent societal upheaval.

Leading lifespan psychologist Margie Lachman creates an inspiring new framework for midlife, based on her landmark thirty years of research and work on the MIDUS study, as the defining years of life.

We've all heard the term "midlife crisis" and the stereotypes that come with it. But what if everything you think you know about midlife is a myth?

In Primetime, Dr. Margie Lachman draws on her decades of research to debunk these myths and rebrand midlife as the optimal time for personal growth and satisfaction. A professor of psychology at Brandeis University and the director of the Lifespan Lab, Dr. Lachman has spent thirty years studying midlife from a lifespan developmental perspective. Her research reveals the myth of the midlife "crisis", and other misconceptions such as people in their middle years can't change and that it is the unhappiest time of life. In reality, only a small percentage of people report experiencing a midlife crisis; personality can change during midlife and many people have a higher sense of well-being and control. It is a time when most are still healthy, highly functioning, mentoring those younger and caring for those older combined with increased knowledge and experience and stronger emotion regulation.

This book reveals midlife as a critical time in the life cycle with high generativity and peak responsibility, as well as when we make choices that can impact our later years. With a focus on debunking myths, navigating changes, and planning for the future, she guides readers through making sense of the past and imagining future possibilities. She also covers the physical, psychological, cognitive, and social changes that accompany the middle years and illuminates the potential to harness a sense of control in the face of the challenges, constraints, and transitions.

An eye-opening look at how social media shapes the stories we tell and the lives we lead

Over the past two decades, platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have revolutionized how we document and share our lives. We once archived our experiences in photo albums, and now we capture our most significant moments in reels and photo dumps. Whether we prefer to admit it or not, social media is where our history lives now.

In The Story of Your Life, journalist and New York magazine columnist Kathryn Jezer-Morton examines how these algorithm-driven platforms not only change the way we share information but also shape the content itself. What stories do we choose to tell, and how do these choices reflect and shape our evolving identities?

Through rigorous research and intimate interviews with everyday people, Jezer-Morton explores how the platforms on which we have told our life stories for the past twenty years have determined what those stories have come to look and sound like. Today our attention spans are short, and our stories reflect that, with spectacle and exaggeration playing ever-larger roles in our accounts of everyday life. By examining how we share, talk, and post about our milestones, vacations, homes, relationships, hardships, politics, and more, Jezer-Morton shows just how pervasive and influential our social media platforms have become in how we view ourselves and what we consider to be a life well lived.

Smart, funny, and sharply observant, The Story of Your Life delivers an original and revealing look at our lives online and off and offers us a fresh perspective on the ways social media shapes the very arcs of our lives.

The first volume of a new epic trilogy set in the world of Krynn, written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the creators of Dragonlance.

Vinus Solamnus wrote: The practice of magic is secretive, inherently deceitful, and dishonorable. Those who practice magic are forbidden to enter the knighthood, nor should they be connected to the knighthood in any way.

The boy with a rare gift for magic was born in Solamnia, a nation that despised and distrusted mages. His father tried to beat the magic out of him. The knights threatened him with imprisonment and exile. He endured tragedy and heartbreak. Yet he persisted with his magic, for the sake of the magic.

One friend stood by him when others persecuted him, a young man who was studying for the knighthood. No one could understand this unlikely friendship.

The knight was Huma. The boy took the name, Magius. The two would one day become famous in Solamnic history, fighting together to defeat the Queen of Darkness.

But that future is distant, far down the River of Time.

For now, this is the story of an unlikely friendship that would one day change the world.

A London Sunday Times bestseller

The dramatic true story of the heroic rescue of Allied resistance fighters from a Nazi prison train after a devastating betrayal.

In the final hours before the liberation of Brussels in 1944, the Germans loaded more than 1,400 members of the Resistance, SOE agents, and Allied airmen onto a train bound for the Neuengamme concentration camp. What happened next came to be known as the miracle of "The Ghost Train," as members of the Resistance rose up to delay, divert, and eventually derail the train and save the lives of all of those on board.

The book shines a light on everyday heroes who have been lost to history: such as New Yorker Ted Kleinman, a Jew who risked his life to carry out sabotage behind the lines; young Resistance heroines such as Michou Dumon, who ordered an attempt to kill one traitor and escaped to London to expose another to British intelligence; and Belgian businessman Gaston Masereel, who planned to parachute into his homeland as an SOE agent. Badly hurt when his plane was attacked, he killed all four German soldiers who came to arrest him.

As well as the heroes, there is a villain every bit as keenly drawn and despicable as any in a spy thriller: the most heartless double agent of all--Prosper Dezitter--a traitor of such cunning that he came to be seen as an almost mythical bogey man. A convicted rapist and swindler, he enlisted the aid of his Spanish-born mistress to create a false network of helpers to ensnare airmen and résistants. It was a process which made Dezitter a millionaire.

Investigative journalist Greg Lewis draws upon a wealth of primary sources and his own extensive interviews to bring to life a cast of unforgettable characters, as The Nazi Ghost Train unfolds in a tense and pacy narrative, describing the feeling of terror after being shot down on bombing missions, the fight to stay alive with the Gestapo on your trail, and the gut-wrenching horror of betrayal.

She's a woman bound by fate, torn between two prophecies.

He's the Prince of the underworld, fated to either claim her or end her life.

Defying destiny is one thing...the heart, another.

Magic has always been at the periphery of Audra's life. As a human, she knows that magic exists, but it's as distant as the legends she grew up with. Until one day, magic returns, bringing with it the all too real Fae and upending Audra's life entirely.

Abducted by a cult of fae Priestesses, Audra finds herself conscripted into a magical war academy. The only hope of surviving this new world filled with guilds, magic, and danger is to band together with a group of her fellow prisoners. Though unlike the others, Audra's burgeoning magic is erratic and violent--just as the prophecy foretold. She must discover what it means to be the Heir, but time is running out. The Priestesses know the Heir moves among them, and they're determined to root them out, no matter what it takes.

As she struggles to mask her power, Audra's plagued by visions of a dark, seductive being with a conflicting truth. He doesn't want to save the world; he plans to reclaim it.

Now, Audra must choose: become the savior the cult demands or the catalyst the vision promises.

A guide to long-term pacing that balances hustle and leisure, whether you're chasing bold dreams or just trying to stay afloat in daily life, inspired by the strategies of elite athletes and renowned psychologists.

Every distance runner knows this cardinal rule: don't go too fast, or you'll drain your energy well before the finish line. Intuitive for athletes, most of us struggle to pace ourselves in daily life. We find ourselves caught between two extremes: an endless sprint, or complete disengagement. Yet, cultivating this pacing sensibility can give us the breathing room we need to create a rich, meaningful life, all while making meaningful progress on our goals.

In The Art of Pacing, science writer Elizabeth Svoboda explores how shifting between the full range of paces can transform the way you reach your goals. Blending memoir, cutting-edge research, and interviews with Olympic athletes and entrepreneurs, Svoboda artfully uncovers the nuances of pacing and provides techniques to adjust your tempo across life's challenges, so you can effectively balance ambition with rest. You'll learn:

- How to determine your natural "pulse points" so you can reserve your most important work for your circadian high points and build in plenty of restorative rest.

- Why practicing modulation lays important groundwork for designing a life that nourishes you.

- What brief candle moments are, and how you can use them in your life to build in strategic, meaningful pauses.

- How narrative reflection reveals what gives you a sense of purpose, so you can pare excess from your life and make space for what matters.

Written with the perfect mix of soul and science, The Art of Pacing offers a refreshing alternative to all-or-nothing living--and reveals the path toward lasting success.

You've been taught success comes from careful planning, learning the ropes, and earning one promotion at a time. But what about the people who seem to skip all that?

We all know a few rare individuals who never stop moving, taking wild risks, and collecting public failures, yet somehow always seem to land on top. Cate Hall is one of those maddening, inspiring people. She left an elite legal career just before making partner to gamble for a living -- and became the world's top-ranked female poker player. A drug addiction left her broke and brain-damaged, but a year after emerging from it, she co-founded a biotech startup that set a clinical trial speed record. Not long after, she took the helm of one of the world's largest philanthropic foundations.

Why don't the rules apply to her? What if they don't apply to you either?

In You Can Just Do Things, Cate Hall argues that the so-called "rules" of success aren't rules at all -- they're productivity guidelines for low-agency people. Hall shows readers how to live with agency and take control of your future:

• Increase your surface area for luck
• Take every shortcut available
• Build "forcing functions" that ensure commitment
• Use your deepest insecurities as fuel for growth

Are you ready to cross the cringe minefield? To show up where you don't belong, apply for jobs you're not qualified for, call people who aren't expecting it, and risk looking foolish in front of others? Every time you think, "Somebody should do this," that somebody can be you.

An uncomfortable psychological journey and a toolkit for bold living, You Can Just Do Things reveals how to stop waiting and start building the life you want.

Persephone Green doesn't have a heartbeat. In a country where the dead has eerily lurked among the living for nearly two decades, even she knows its absence is not normal.

In place of her heart, something inhuman stirs, an ancient ocean she discovers twinned in the chest of Sebastian, the charmingly bizarre new student. When they're together, they attract ghosts like a beacon, and when they kiss, white flowers bloom in the dead, autumn ground.

To exhume the truth, Persephone and Bas travel across the Midwest to the deserted facility where it all began. Pursued across state lines by writhing swarms of ghosts, militant government agents, and--maybe worst of all--her mother, they unspool a tangled web of conspiracies. At its center: a divine and devastating truth.

Forced to choose between an imperfect life that's wholly hers or an otherworldly responsibility older than time, the echoes of Persephone's decision will alter the fates of all souls--living and dead--forever.

Marvel Comics' Mightiest Heroes and Villains burst off the page in super-powered retellings of classic fables, written by New York Times bestselling author Robb Pearlman!

In the spirit of Cider Mill Press's bestselling Aesop's Fables, Marvel Fantastic Fables transforms Aesop's most beloved tales into all-new Marvel Comics adventures! Pop culturist Robb Pearlman weaves a web of iconic heroes, notorious villains, and timeless morals in stories that captivate readers of all ages. This beautifully designed, fun collection featuring original high-end artwork is an irresistible gift for Marvel fans, families, and collectors alike.

Meet legendary matchups that teach lessons as mighty as Mjolnir including:

• Loki and Thor in a retelling of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"
• Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson in a retelling of "The Kid and The Wolf"
• The Thing and Human Torch in a retelling of "The Ant and the Grasshopper"
• The Avengers and Ultron in a retelling of "The Bundle of Sticks"
• And other tales featuring the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Deadpool, Daredevil, Kingpin, Ghost-Spider, Scarlet Witch, and more!

A heartbreaking yet hopeful novel about one girl's journey through grief and the family, first love, and shocking truths she finds on the other side--perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Every Last Word.

All her life, it's just been sixteen-year-old Skylar and her rockstar dad against the world. But this year, a horrible accident cuts the summer short and upends her life.

As Skylar grieves her dad, she discovers a huge secret: her mother is still alive. Now, Skylar is uprooted from her home and thrust into a family of strangers on the other side of the country. Furious with the mother who deserted her, she seeks comfort in her baking and decides to enter a local competition with a dazzling prize of a trip to a Parisian pastry school. As she gains her footing in the contest and her new town, she befriends a girl who seems just as lost as her, and she also finds more than friendship in the frustratingly irresistible boy next door. But as Skylar bakes her way to a brighter future, she'll uncover truths about the past in the last place she expected.

Filled with heaps of emotion, a spoonful of hope, and an unexpected twist of fate, this is a powerful story about the true meaning of home.

When Caroline Thorpe succeeded in casting doubt on the verdict of the inquest into her brother's death, she could not have anticipated what would follow.
Freddie was Earl Thorpe of Burnham, and as the Kings Lake detectives, headed by DCI Cara Freeman, soon begin to realise, influential people have gone to considerable lengths to cover up a potential scandal surrounding the young man's death.
Their investigation will take them from Norfolk into the capital, and from idealistic young campaigners to people at the heart of government. The stakes have never been higher for the detectives from Kings Lake Central.

"An enthralling, irreverent read." --Ruth Madievsky, bestselling author of All-Night Pharmacy

"Any reader who has ever felt doubt, anxiety, or a tinge of obsession will relate to Astrid, which is to say, all of us." --Jessica Francis Kane, bestselling author of Fonseca and Rules for Visiting

"A fun, clever, witty novel." --Annie Hartnett, bestselling author of The Road to Tender Hearts

A wildly endearing coming-of-age story and "offbeat tale of obsession" (Caitlin Barasch), following one young woman who reenacts the love plot of her favorite novel only to find herself flailing when she enters a relationship with a fellow literary obsessive.

Astrid is obsessed with Russian American novelist Sofiya Sova, whose life trajectory serendipitously parallels Astrid's own and whose writing seems to encompass every anxious thought Astrid has ever had. Desperate to find the purpose she's always craved, Astrid begins her PhD program hoping to fully embody the ethos of Sofiya Sova's novel.

But when Astrid's long-term boyfriend, Charlie, breaks up with her after moving to Japan, and a spontaneous Hinge date connects her with a fellow Sofiya Sova obsessive named Elijah, Astrid quickly finds herself transcribing the love plot of her favorite Sofiya Sova novel onto her own life . . . until one day, Elijah begins to pull away and Astrid is left flailing in a life scaffolded by obsession.

A bighearted portrait of the anxieties of desire, The Obsessed explores the trials of modern dating, the strange ennui of academia, and the question of how to create a world for yourself within and without the confines of your influences. What we're left with is a striking portrayal of how a willing reader can bring a text to life, and similarly the animating power of a good novel.