Named a Best Book of 2025 by the Guardian and Scientific American "The story of how one language left the steppes of Ukraine and became the earth's dominant language family has become clearer and more exciting than ever before. Hooray for a book where the author's curiosity, diligence, and literary craft gets it all down in what will stand as the go-to source for a generation." - John McWhorter, author of The Language Hoax Daughter. Duhitár-. Dustr. Dukte. Listen to these English, Sanskrit, Armenian and Lithuanian words, all meaning the same thing, and you hear echoes of one of history's most unlikely journeys. All four languages-along with hundreds of others, from French and Gaelic, to Persian and Polish-trace their origins to an ancient tongue spoken as the last ice age receded. This language, which we call Proto-Indo-European, was born between Europe and Asia and exploded out of its cradle, fragmenting as it spread east and west. Its last speaker died thousands of years ago, yet Proto-Indo-European lives on in its myriad linguistic offspring and in some of our best loved works of literature, including Dante's Inferno and the Rig Veda, The Lord of the Rings and the love poetry of Rumi. How did this happen? Acclaimed journalist Laura Spinney set out to answer that question, retracing the Indo-European odyssey across continents and millennia. With her we travel the length of the steppe, navigating the Caucasus, the silk roads and the Hindu Kush. We retrace the epic journeys of nomads and monks, warriors and kings - the ancient peoples who carried these languages far and wide. In the present, Spinney meets the scientists on a thrilling mission to retrieve the lost languages and their speakers: the linguists, archaeologists and geneticists who have reconstructed that ancient diaspora. What they have learned has profound implications for our modern world, because people and their languages are on the move again. Proto is a revelatory portrait of world history in its own words.

Discover the beginning of the epic romantasy series that has claimed hearts around the world. "A romantasy masterpiece. With characters you root for, cry for, and some you love to hate, you will find it all in a rich world that might leave some bite marks as you go." LJ Andrews, Author of Broken Souls and Bone and The Ever King "For the readers who crave a steamy enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn, action-packed romantasy, this book is the one for you." Book Riot The Witch Collector is the beginning of an epic romantasy tale that centers around Raina Bloodgood, a fierce, non-verbal heroine who embarks on a journey of self-discovery and star-crossed romance, all while coping with tremendous loss and a revelation of secrets and newfound powers that forever alter her world. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Demi Winters, and Devney Perry. Every harvest moon, the Witch Collector rides into our valley and leads one of us to the home of the immortal Frost King, to remain forever. Today is that day-Collecting Day. But he will not come for me. I, Raina Bloodgood, have lived in this village for twenty-four years, and for all that time he has passed me by. His mistake. Raina Bloodgood has one desire: kill the Frost King and the Witch Collector who stole her sister. On Collecting Day, she means to exact murderous revenge, but a more sinister threat sets fire to her world. Rising from the ashes is the Collector, Alexus Thibault, the man she vowed to slay and the only person who can help save her sister. Thrust into an age-old story of ice, fire, and ancient gods, Raina must abandon vengeance and aid the Witch Collector or let their empire-and her sister-fall into enemy hands. But the lines between good and evil blur, and Raina has more to lose than she imagined. What is she to do when the Witch Collector is no longer the villain who stole her sister, but the hero who's stealing her heart?

Named a Best Book of 2025 by the Guardian and Scientific American "The story of how one language left the steppes of Ukraine and became the earth's dominant language family has become clearer and more exciting than ever before. Hooray for a book where the author's curiosity, diligence, and literary craft gets it all down in what will stand as the go-to source for a generation." - John McWhorter, author of The Language Hoax Daughter. Duhitár-. Dustr. Dukte. Listen to these English, Sanskrit, Armenian and Lithuanian words, all meaning the same thing, and you hear echoes of one of history's most unlikely journeys. All four languages-along with hundreds of others, from French and Gaelic, to Persian and Polish-trace their origins to an ancient tongue spoken as the last ice age receded. This language, which we call Proto-Indo-European, was born between Europe and Asia and exploded out of its cradle, fragmenting as it spread east and west. Its last speaker died thousands of years ago, yet Proto-Indo-European lives on in its myriad linguistic offspring and in some of our best loved works of literature, including Dante's Inferno and the Rig Veda, The Lord of the Rings and the love poetry of Rumi. How did this happen? Acclaimed journalist Laura Spinney set out to answer that question, retracing the Indo-European odyssey across continents and millennia. With her we travel the length of the steppe, navigating the Caucasus, the silk roads and the Hindu Kush. We retrace the epic journeys of nomads and monks, warriors and kings - the ancient peoples who carried these languages far and wide. In the present, Spinney meets the scientists on a thrilling mission to retrieve the lost languages and their speakers: the linguists, archaeologists and geneticists who have reconstructed that ancient diaspora. What they have learned has profound implications for our modern world, because people and their languages are on the move again. Proto is a revelatory portrait of world history in its own words.

SECOND EDITION INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AND BEST OF BOOKTOK SELECTION "A romantasy masterpiece." ~ LJ Andrews, Author of Broken Souls and Bone and The Ever King "For the readers who crave a steamy enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn, action-packed romantasy, this book is the one for you." ~ Book Riot She set out to kill him. Now she has to survive him. In this sweeping, spicy slow-burn romantasy, a silent witch's only path to saving her sister lies in the hands of the mysterious sorcerer she swore to kill. Hunted by dark forces across a malevolent frozen wilderness, the pair soon discover that their greatest threat might not be the army at their heels, but the attraction threatening to consume them both. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Devney Perry. Every harvest moon, the Witch Collector rides into our valley and leads one of us to the home of the immortal Frost King, to remain forever. Today is that day—Collecting Day. But he will not come for me. I, Raina Bloodgood, have lived in this village for twenty-four years, and for twenty-four years he has passed me by. His mistake. Raina Bloodgood has one desire: kill the Frost King and the Witch Collector who stole her sister. On Collecting Day, she means to exact murderous revenge, but a more sinister threat sets fire to her world. Rising from the ashes is the Collector, Alexus Thibault, the man she vowed to slay and the only person who can help save her sister. Thrust into an age-old story of ice, fire, and ancient gods, Raina must abandon vengeance and aid the Witch Collector or let their empire—and her sister—fall into enemy hands. But the lines between good and evil blur, and Raina has more to lose than she imagined. What is she to do when the Witch Collector is no longer the villain who stole her sister, but the hero who's stealing her heart? Featuring the following romance tropes: Forced proximity Reluctant allies She has a revenge plot He falls first She saves him Feminine rage Spicy slow-burn Found family Hidden identity Sisterly bonds One blanket/one horse/one cave And more! The Witch Collector is book one in the Witch Walker series, and sets up for a mind-bending star-crossed lovers tale with a side crew of unforgettable characters and romances that will stay with you long after the last page.

"You're getting married. Milos Levin needs a wife. He heads the Russian mafia-Bratva-here in Chicago. It's time for him to get married, he wants kids and he wants them soon." Ice slides down my spine. Milos Levin is a man who has haunted my dreams and nightmares for the last four years. As the daughter of the Don of the Outfit, I knew this was a possibility. Yet I hoped since I made it to the ancient age of twenty-three, I was safe from a mob marriage. I'm the weird cat lady, too fat, and my mother is half Filipino. I shouldn't have anyone asking for me-but Milos isn't asking for me. All he wants is a woman who fits his needs, someone who will cement his relationship with the Outfit and give him the children he wants. He would take my sister if she were willing because, as he told Carlo, all women are the same in the dark. But Carlo picked me, and I'll do anything to protect my little sister. Or so I tell myself-but that's the biggest lie of all. The truth is four years ago I met Milos Levin on a freezing February morning, and I've never been the same since. I'll marry him because I think that day, as crazy as it sounds, I fell in love with him. But I can't let Milos know that. Ever. He's mafia, and whatever the name, their ways are all the same: take until there's nothing left, then leave the enemy broken. I won't be broken by him, or anyone. I won't become my mother, willing to endure the affairs and lies in exchange for the money and status. *** Four years and three months-one thousand, five hundred and forty-seven days-I have known Celia was mine. I have watched over her, listened to her, protected her. There is nothing I have not done and would not do to keep her safe and mine. What it started as. I do not know. but now it can only be defined as an obsession. Celia is mine. Like me, she has known it all this time. Why she is suddenly fighting me as our wedding day draws closer, I do not understand. It does not matter. The day is nothing more than a formality. I have never claimed to be a good or patient man. For her I was. That time is at an end. My kitten is baring her claws. She will find the veneer of civility I show the world is far thinner than she ever imagined-for in the end I am Bratva. We take what we want, ruthlessly and completely, and we never let it go[SP2] . ***This is a standalone first in series that does not end in a cliffhanger. While Tony and Dominic Sabatini from the HIS: Sabatini Family series appear, you need not have read them to enjoy this. This novel includes spankings and rough sexual scenes. If such things offend you, please do not purchase. ***

Praised as “an entertaining and torrential flow of a book ” by Nature magazine, The Big Thirst is a startling examination of the passing of the golden age of water and the shocking facts about how water scarcity will soon be a major factor in our lives. The water coming out of your kitchen tap is four billion years old and might well have been sipped by a Tyrannosaurus rex. Rather than only three states of water—liquid; ice, and vapor—there is a fourth, “molecular water;” fused into rock 400 miles deep in the Earth, and that’s where most of the planet’s water is found. Unlike most precious resources, water cannot be used up; it can always be made clean enough again to drink—indeed; water can be made so clean that it’s toxic. Water is the most vital substance in our lives but also more amazing and mysterious than we appreciate. As Charles Fishman brings vibrantly to life in this surprising and mind-changing narrative, water runs our world in a host of awe-inspiring ways, yet we take it completely for granted. But the era of easy water is over. Bringing readers on a lively and fascinating journey—from the wet moons of Saturn to the water-obsessed hotels of Las Vegas, where dolphins swim in the desert, and from a rice farm in the parched Australian outback to a high-tech IBM plant that makes an exotic breed of pure water found nowhere in nature—Fishman vividly shows that we’ve already left behind a century-long golden age when water was thoughtlessly abundant, free, and safe and entered a new era of high-stakes water. In 2008, Atlanta came within ninety days of running entirely out of clean water. California is in a desperate battle to hold off a water catastrophe. And in the last five years Australia nearly ran out of water—and had to scramble to reinvent the country’s entire water system. But as dramatic as the challenges are, the deeper truth Fishman reveals is that there is no good reason for us to be overtaken by a global water crisis. We have more than enough water. We just don’t think about it, or use it, smartly. The Big Thirst brilliantly explores our strange and complex relationship to water. We delight in watching waves roll in from the ocean; we take great comfort from sliding into a hot bath; and we will pay a thousand times the price of tap water to drink our preferred brand of the bottled version. We love water—but at the moment, we don’t appreciate it or respect it. Just as we’ve begun to reimagine our relationship to food, a change that is driving the growth of the organic and local food movements, we must also rethink how we approach and use water. The good news is that we can. As Fishman shows, a host of advances are under way, from the simplicity of harvesting rainwater to the brilliant innovations devised by companies such as IBM, GE, and Royal Caribbean that are making impressive breakthroughs in water productivity. Knowing what to do is not the problem. Ultimately, the hardest part is changing our water consciousness. As Charles Fishman writes, “Many civilizations have been crippled or destroyed by an inability to understand water or manage it. We have a huge advantage over the generations of people who have come before us, because we can understand water and we can use it smartly.” The Big Thirst will forever change the way we think about water, about our essential relationship to it, and about the creativity we can bring to ensuring that we’ll always have plenty of it.

First contact with extraordinary aliens, glittering technologies that could destroy the universe in a nanosecond, huge sweeping space operas: Alastair Reynolds is back! Some centuries from now, the exploration and exploitation of the Solar System is in full swing. On the cold edge of the system, Bella Lind, captain of the huge commercial spacecraft Rockhopper IV, helps fuel this new gold rush by attaching mass-driver motors to organic-rich water-ice comets to move them back to the inner worlds. Her crew are tough, blue-collar miners, engineers and demolition experts. Around Saturn, something inexplicable happens: one of the moons leaves its orbit and accelerates out of the Solar System. The icy mantle peels away to reveal that it was never a moon in the first place, just a parked spacecraft, millions of years old, that has now decided to move on. Rockhopper IV, trapped in the pull, is hurled across time and space into the deep, distant future, arriving in a vast, alien-constructed chamber. And the crew are not alone, for each chamber contains an alien culture dragged into this cosmic menagerie at the end of time. The crew of the Rockhopper IV know a lot about blowing up comets, but not much about first contact with ultra-advanced aliens. They have two things to worry about: can they (and their new alien allies) negotiate their way through each harrying contact? And can they assimilate the avalanche of knowledge about their own future - including all the glittering, dangerous technologies that are now theirs for the taking - without destroying themselves in the process? Praise for Alastair Reynolds: 'The span here is mind-boggling, cosmos-spanning concepts, a breath-taking journey' Good Book Guide on Chasm City '[A] wonderfully entertaining puzzle wrapped inside an adventure story' The Guardian on Eversion 'A fabulous and satisfying novel' SF Crowsnest on Revenger 'An excellent adventure that's sure to keep readers on their toes' Publishers Weekly on Revenger 'A fun, character focused bottle mystery that shifts settings like a chameleon walking across a rainbow carpet' The Quill to Live on Eversion 'Entertaining and thought-provoking' Locus on Revelation Space 'Pirates in space, full of peril and high-jinks . . . This is a novel that's elegantly plotted, full of surprises and, as first time round, rip-roaring fun' SFX on Revenger 'Reynolds is one of the modern masters of science fiction' Starburst 'This is a story to break hearts and make you turn pages. It's great stuff; pick it up, you'll want to know what happens next' SF&F Reviews on Century Rain 'Much of the fun of these books comes from the construction of a far, far-future space-opera . . . the mapping of Age of Sail tropes onto space travel is just the start . . . Nevertheless, at the centre of this baroque masquerade party resides a sober consideration of what it might mean to go off adventuring, what it might cost' Locus on Revenger 'Reynolds is a master singer of the Space Opera' The Times

“‘The Intimate City’ is a joyful miscellany of people seeing things in the urban landscape, the streets alive with remembrances and ideas even when those streets are relatively empty of people.” —Robert Sullivan, New York Times Book Review From the New York Times architecture critic, his celebrated walking tours of New York City, now expanded, covering four of the five boroughs and some 540 million years of history, accompanied by some of the people who know it best As New York came to a halt with COVID, Michael Kimmelman composed an email to a group of architects, historians, writers, and friends, inviting them to take a walk. Wherever they liked, he wrote—preferably someplace meaningful to them, someplace that illuminated the city and what they loved about it. At first, the goal was distraction. At a scary moment when everything seemed uncertain, walking around New York served as a reminder of all the ways the city was still a rock, joy, and inspiration. What began with a lighthearted trip to explore Broadway’s shuttered theater district and a stroll along Museum Mile when the museums were closed soon took on a much larger meaning and ambition. These intimate, funny, richly detailed conversations between Kimmelman and his companions became anchors for millions of Times readers during the pandemic. The walks unpacked the essence of urban life and its social fabric—the history, plans, laws, feats of structural engineering, architectural highlights, and everyday realities that make up a place Kimmelman calls “humanity’s greatest achievement.” Filled with stunning photographs documenting the city during the era of COVID, The Intimate City is the ultimate insider’s guide. The book includes new walks through LGBTQ Greenwich Village, through Forest Hills, Queens, and Mott Haven, in the Bronx. All the walks can be walked, or just be read for pleasure, by know-it-all New Yorkers or anyone else. They take readers back to an age when Times Square was still a beaver pond and Yankee Stadium a salt marsh; across the Brooklyn Bridge, for green tea ice cream in Chinatown, for momos and samosas in Jackson Heights, to explore historic Black churches in Harlem and midcentury Mad Men skyscrapers on Park Avenue. A kaleidoscopic portrait of an enduring metropolis, The Intimate City reveals why New York, despite COVID and a long history of other calamities, continues to inspire and to mean so much to those who call it home and to countless others.

“‘The Intimate City’ is a joyful miscellany of people seeing things in the urban landscape, the streets alive with remembrances and ideas even when those streets are relatively empty of people.” —Robert Sullivan, New York Times Book Review From the New York Times architecture critic, his celebrated walking tours of New York City, now expanded, covering four of the five boroughs and some 540 million years of history, accompanied by some of the people who know it best As New York came to a halt with COVID, Michael Kimmelman composed an email to a group of architects, historians, writers, and friends, inviting them to take a walk. Wherever they liked, he wrote—preferably someplace meaningful to them, someplace that illuminated the city and what they loved about it. At first, the goal was distraction. At a scary moment when everything seemed uncertain, walking around New York served as a reminder of all the ways the city was still a rock, joy, and inspiration. What began with a lighthearted trip to explore Broadway’s shuttered theater district and a stroll along Museum Mile when the museums were closed soon took on a much larger meaning and ambition. These intimate, funny, richly detailed conversations between Kimmelman and his companions became anchors for millions of Times readers during the pandemic. The walks unpacked the essence of urban life and its social fabric—the history, plans, laws, feats of structural engineering, architectural highlights, and everyday realities that make up a place Kimmelman calls “humanity’s greatest achievement.” Filled with stunning photographs documenting the city during the era of COVID, The Intimate City is the ultimate insider’s guide. The book includes new walks through LGBTQ Greenwich Village, through Forest Hills, Queens, and Mott Haven, in the Bronx. All the walks can be walked, or just be read for pleasure, by know-it-all New Yorkers or anyone else. They take readers back to an age when Times Square was still a beaver pond and Yankee Stadium a salt marsh; across the Brooklyn Bridge, for green tea ice cream in Chinatown, for momos and samosas in Jackson Heights, to explore historic Black churches in Harlem and midcentury Mad Men skyscrapers on Park Avenue. A kaleidoscopic portrait of an enduring metropolis, The Intimate City reveals why New York, despite COVID and a long history of other calamities, continues to inspire and to mean so much to those who call it home and to countless others.

Hans Christian Andersen (often referred to in Scandinavia as H. C. Andersen; April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875) was a Danish author and poet. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales. Andersen's popularity is not limited to children; his stories - called eventyr, or "fairy-tales" - express themes that transcend age and nationality. Andersen's fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages, have become culturally embedded in the West's collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well. Contents: A Story By the Almshouse Window The Angel Anne Lisbeth The Conceited Apple-branch Beauty of Form and Beauty of Mind The Beetle Who Went on His Travels The Bell The Bell-deep The Bird of Popular Song The Bishop of Borglum and His Warriors The Bottle Neck The Buckwheat The Butterfly A Cheerful Temper The Child in the Grave Children's Prattle The Farm-yard Cock and the Weather-cock The Daisy The Darning-Needle Delaying is not Forgetting The Drop of Water The Dryad Jack the Dullard The Dumb Book The Elf of the Rose The Elfin Hill The Emperor's New Suit The Fir Tree The Flax The Flying Trunk The Shepherd's Story of the Bond of Friendship The Girl Who Trod on the Loaf The Goblin and the Huckster The Golden Treasure The Galoshes of Fortune She was Good for Nothing Grandmother A Great Grief The Happy Family A Leaf from Heaven Holger Danske Ib and Little Christina The Ice Maiden The Jewish Maiden The Jumper The Last Dream of the Old Oak The Last Pearl Little Claus and Big Claus The Little Elder-tree Mother Little Ida's Flowers The Little Match-seller The Little Mermaid Little Tiny or Thumbelina Little Tuk The Loveliest Rose in the World The Mail-coach Passengers The Marsh King's Daughter The Metal Pig The Money-box What the Moon Saw The Neighbouring Families The Nightingale There is no Doubt about it In the Nursery The Old Bachelor's Nightcap The Old Church Bell The Old Grave-stone The Old House What the Old Man Does is Always Right The Old Street Lamp Ole-Luk-Oie, the Dream God Ole the Tower-keeper Our Aunt The Garden of Paradise The Pea Blossom The Pen and the Inkstand The Philosopher's Stone The Phoenix Bird The Portuguese Duck The Porter's Son Poultry Meg's Family The Princess and the Pea The Psyche The Puppet-show Man The Races The Red Shoes Everything in the Right Place A Rose from Homer's Grave The Snail and the Rose-tree A Story from the Sand-hills The Saucy Boy The Shadow The Shepherdess and the Sheep The Silver Shilling The Shirt-collar The Snow Man The Snow Queen The Snowdrop Something Soup from a Sausage Skewer The Storks The Storm Shakes the Shield The Story of a Mother The Sunbeam and the Captive The Swan's Nest The Swineherd The Thistle's Experiences The Thorny Road of Honor In a Thousand Years The Brave Tin Soldier The Tinder-box The Toad The Top and Ball The Travelling Companion Two Brothers Two Maidens The Ugly Duckling Under the Willow Tree In the Uttermost Parts of the Sea What One Can Invent The Wicked Prince The Wild Swans The Will-o-the-Wisp in the Town, Says the Wild Woman The Story of the Wind The Windmill The Story of the Year