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Author
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In David Sedaris' world, no one is safe and no cow is sacred. A manic cross between Mark Leyner, Fran Lebowitz, and the National Enquirer, Sedaris' collection of essays is a rollicking tour through the national Zeitgeist: a do-it-yourself suburban dad saves money by performing home surgery; a man who is loved too much flees the heavyweight champion of the world; a teenage suicide tries to incite a lynch mob at her funeral; a bitter Santa abuses...
Author
Description
"Bill Bryson, bestselling author of A Short History of Nearly Everything, takes us on a head-to-toe tour of the marvel that is the human body. As compulsively readable as it is comprehensive, this is Bryson at his very best, a must-read owner's manual for everybody. Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable companion as he guides us through the human body--how it functions, its remarkable ability to heal itself, and (unfortunately)...
Author
Pub. Date
2019.
Description
For any task you might want to do, there's a right way, a wrong way, and a way so monumentally complex, excessive, and inadvisable that no one would ever try it. Munroe has created a guide to the third kind of approach. He provides highly impractical advice for everything from landing a plane to digging a hole. In exploring the absurd, he opens up an understanding to the science and technology underlying the things we do every day. -- adapted from...
Author
Pub. Date
2022.
Description
It's not always easy to determine what's "good" or "bad"-- especially in a world filled with complicated choices and bad advice. Schur starts off with easy ethical questions and works his way up to the most complex moral issues we all face-- and does it with wit and deep insight, so that we can sound cool at parties and become better people. -- adapted from jacket
Author
Description
Here's something true for almost every American. The democracy you live in today is different, completely different, than the democracy born into. Since 1980, the number of Americans legally barred from voting has more than doubled. Since the 1990s, odds of living in a competitive Congressional district have fallen by more than half. In the twenty-first century alone, the amount of money spent on Washington lobbying has increased by more than 100...
Author
Appears on list
Description
"Following in the footsteps of the bestselling first book THE FIELD GUIDE TO DUMB BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA, the ever-annoyed-by-birds author Matt Kracht brings us THE FIELD GUIDE TO DUMB BIRDS OF THE WHOLE STUPID WORLD. This time he ventures around the globe to include snarky names and descriptions of stupid birds from the whole dang world. Packaged with the same charmingly crappy drawings, maps, and handwriting of the original, this follow-up will...
Author
Description
Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. His stick-figure drawings about science, technology, language, and love have a large and passionate following. Fans of xkcd ask Munroe a lot of strange questions. What if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there was a robot apocalypse, how long would humanity last? In...
Author
Pub. Date
2022.
Description
If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal overturns everything we thought we knew about human intelligence, and asks the question: would humans be better off as narwhals? Or some other, less brainy species? There's a good argument to be made that humans might be a less successful animal species precisely because of our amazing, complex intelligence. All our unique gifts like language, math, and science do not make us happier or more "successful" (evolutionarily...
Author
Description
If you love to read, and presumably you do since you've picked up this book, you know that some books affect you so profoundly they forever change the way you think about the world. Some books, on the other hand, disappoint you so much you want to throw them against the wall. Either way, it's clear that a book can be your new soul mate or the bad relationship you need to end. In Dear Fahrenheit 451, librarian Annie Spence has crafted love letters...
Author
Description
"For two thousand years, cadavers-- some willingly, some unwittingly-- have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to bunion surgery, cadavers have helped make history in their quiet...
Author
Pub. Date
2010
Description
The author presents a collection of three animal-themed essays. In The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck, a group of complete strangers bitterly discuss the order of things within the animal kingdom. In Hello Kitty, a miserable alcoholic cat attends AA. In The Squirrel and the Chipmunk, two lovers are torn apart by their quarreling families.
Author
Pub. Date
2023.
Appears on these lists
Description
"Are you ready for the ultimate bee book? With lighthearted watercolor and ink drawings, humorous quips, lists, and musings, OMFG, BEES! will show you just how important these esteemed bee-list celebrities really are. (Hint: We can't live without them.)"--
Author
Description
David Sedaris plays in the snow with his sisters. He goes on vacation with his family. He gets a job selling drinks. He attends his brother's wedding. He mops his sister's floor. He gives directions to a lost traveler. He eats a hamburger. He has his blood sugar tested. It all sounds so normal, doesn't it? In his newest collection of essays, David Sedaris lifts the corner of ordinary life, revealing the absurdity teeming below its surface. His...
Author
Pub. Date
2020.
Description
"Daniel Mallory Ortberg is known for blending genres, forms, and sources to develop fascinating new hybrids--from lyric rants to horror recipes to pornographic scripture. In his most personal work to date, he turns his attention to the essay, offering vigorous and laugh-out-loud funny accounts of both popular and highbrow culture while mixing in meditations on gender transition, family dynamics, and the many meanings of faith. From a thoughtful analysis...
Author
Pub. Date
2023.
Description
"100 Places to See After You Die is written in the style of iconic bestselling travel guides. But instead of recommending must-see destinations in Mexico, Thailand, or Rome, this book outlines journeys through the afterlife, as dreamed up over the past 5,000 years of human history by our greatest prophets, poets, mystics, artists, and TV showrunners. Where's the best place to grab a bite to eat in the ancient Egyptian underworld? Which circles of...
19) The best of me
Author
Description
"For more than twenty-five years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space, virtually creating his own genre. A Sedaris story may seem confessional, but is also highly attuned to the world outside. It opens our eyes to what is absurd and moving about our daily existence. And it is almost impossible to read without laughing. Now, for the first time collected in one volume, the author brings us his funniest and most memorable work....
Author
Description
A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as restaurant meals presented in ludicrous towers...
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