Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Halfway Heaven: Diary of a Harvard Murder

In May 1995, a photograph and an anonymous note arrived at The Harvard Crimson that said "Keep this picture. There will soon be a very juicy story involving this woman." Soon afterwards, Sinedu Tadesse stabbed to death her roommate, Trang Phuong Ho, and then hung herself. This book recounts the stories of these women, whose admission to Harvard was "halfway heaven," a bridge to the American dream after lives of... (more)

The Story of Libraries: From the Invention of Writing to the Computer Age

The Story of Libraries: From the Invention of Writing to the Computer Age

by Frederick Andrew Lerner

This book, which includes fourteen well-chosen illustrations, describes the crucial role libraries have played throughout history: in ancient Egypt, China, the classical Western world, Islam, and medieval and Renaissance Europe. It continues with the libraries of colonial America, The Library of Congress, university libraries, and today's large public library systems. Throughout the twentieth century, libraries... (more)

Chinese Awakenings: Life Stories from the Unofficial China

Chinese Awakenings: Life Stories from the Unofficial China

by James Tyson

This evocative and fascinating book shows how, from muddy village crossroads to raucous city streets, Chinese exhilarated by new dreams are shaping the future of their nation.

Masterpiece Theatre: A Celebration of 25 Years of Outstanding Television

Masterpiece Theatre: A Celebration of 25 Years of Outstanding Television

by Terrence O'Flaherty

Featuring stills from the shows and publicity posters, a celebration of the PBS television series in time for its twenty-fifth anniversary offers profiles of its principal actors, favorite episodes, and interviews with writers and directors. Original. IP.

For the Love of God: The Faith and Future of the American Nun

For the Love of God: The Faith and Future of the American Nun

by Lucy Kaylin

In this provocative work, Lucy Kaylin explores myths and debunks stereotypes to present a rich and varied portrait of modern nuns at a dramatic moment in their history: Nuns in the United States are facing possible extinction. In vivid, accessible prose, For the Love of God examines the historical and cultural forces -- including the Second Vatican Council and the women's movement -- that have redefined nuns'... (more)

Five Epochs of Civilization: World History As Emerging in Five Civilizations

Five Epochs of Civilization: World History As Emerging in Five Civilizations

by William McGaughey

This book tells the story of civilized societies (c. 3000 B.C. to present) in terms of five civilizations that arose in successive periods of time. By and large, the period before Christ is characterized by wars and the formation of large political empires. Then, for the next millennium and a half, world religions dominated human culture. Next, the Renaissance launched a period of European political and... (more)

Teilhard De Chardin's Theology of the Christian In the Worldrobert faricy

Teilhard De Chardin's Theology of the Christian In the World

by robert faricy

Mankind Evolving: The Evolution of the Human SpeciesTheodosius Dobzhansky

Mankind Evolving: The Evolution of the Human Species

by Theodosius Dobzhansky

Into the looking-glass wood : essays on books, reading, and the world

Into the looking-glass wood : essays on books, reading, and the world

by Alberto Manguel

Alberto Manguel has enchanted hundreds of thousands of readers with his bestselling books, including The Dictionary of Imaginary Places. Now he has assembled a personal collection of his own essays that will enchant anyone interested in reading, writing, or the world. Through personal stories and literary reflections, in a style rich in humor and gentle scholarship, Manguel leads his readers to reflect on the... (more)

Dream Catcher: A Memoir

by Margaret Ann Salinger

In her much-anticipated memoir, Margaret A. Salinger writes about life with her famously reclusive father, J.D. Salinger -- offering a rare look into the man and the myth, what it is like to be his daughter, and the effect of such a charismatic figure on the girls and women closest to him. With generosity and insight, Ms. Salinger has written a book that is eloquent, spellbinding, and wise, yet at the same time... (more)

Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny (Vintage)

Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny (Vintage)

by Robert Wright

In his bestselling The Moral Animal , Robert Wright applied the principles of evolutionary biology to the study of the human mind. Now Wright attempts something even more ambitious: explaining the direction of evolution and human history–and discerning where history will lead us next. In Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny , Wright asserts that, ever since the primordial ooze, life has followed a basic pattern.... (more)

The Penguin History of the Twentieth Century: The History of the World, 1901 to the Present (Allen Lane History S.)

The Penguin History of the Twentieth Century: The History of the World, 1901 to the Present (Allen Lane History S.)

by J. M. Roberts

Offering a dazzling overview of a turbulent century, The Penguin History of the Twentieth Century explores the dramatic events and underlying trends that made the twentieth century the most transformative in human history. Despite two devastating World Wars and the traumatic rise and fall of communism, wealth has increased significantly alongside a four-fold leap in population, women’s lives have... (more)

The Nine Nations of North AmericaJoel Garreau

The Nine Nations of North America

by Joel Garreau, John Garreau

The Clustered World : How We Live, What We Buy, and What It All Means About Who We Are

The Clustered World : How We Live, What We Buy, and What It All Means About Who We Are

by Michael J. Weiss

Michael Weiss expands on the geodemographics of The Clustering of America with this fascinating look at the sixty-two new lifestyle clusters that define Americans and their parallels in other countries. Today, the concept of clustering has spread throughout the world, revealing a global village made up of Long Distance Commuters in Japan and Chattering Classes in England who have more in common with Americans of... (more)

Orton DiariesJohn Lahr

Orton Diaries

by John Lahr

The Adonis Complex: How to Identify, Treat and Prevent Body Obsession in Men and Boys

The Adonis Complex: How to Identify, Treat and Prevent Body Obsession in Men and Boys

by Harrison Pope, Katharine A. Phillips

A HEALTH CRISIS THAT STRIKES MEN OF ALL AGES Trying everything from compulsive weight lifting to steroids, more and more boys and men are taking the quest for physical perfection beyond the bounds of normal behavior. The Adonis Complex -- the groundbreaking book that first gave a name to this phenomenon and sparked nationwide interest in the subject -- identifies for the first time the symptoms and warning... (more)

Portrait of a Marriage: Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson

Portrait of a Marriage: Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson

by Nigel Nicolson

Vita Sackville-West, novelist, poet, and biographer, is best known as the friend of Virginia Woolf, who transformed her into an androgynous time-traveler in Orlando . The story of Sackville-West's marriage to Harold Nicolson is one of intrigue and bewilderment. In Portrait of a Marriage , their son Nigel combines his mother's memoir with his own explanations and what he learned from their many letters. Even... (more)

Atlas of Past Times (History/Journey's Into the Past)John Haywood

Atlas of Past Times (History/Journey's Into the Past)

by John Haywood

Woman: An Intimate Geography

by Natalie Angier

With the clarity, insight, and sheer exuberance of language that make her one of The New York Times 's premier stylists, Pulitzer Prize-winner Natalie Angier lifts the veil of secrecy from that most enigmatic of evolutionary masterpieces, the female body. Angier takes readers on a mesmerizing tour of female anatomy and physiology that explores everything from organs to orgasm, and delves into topics such as... (more)

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by Ian Buruma

by Melanie Thernstrom