FRESHMAN YEAR READING

FREE PRESS

2011–12

Free Press is an imprint of Simon & Schuster known for serious nonfiction, affecting memoirs, and notable fiction. We hope that within these pages you will find the perfect title for your common reading program.

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With a distinguished history that spans more than fifty years of ground-breaking, influential, and award-winning books, Free Press publishes nonfiction and fiction for the general reader in hardcover and paperback. The imprint has a well-deserved reputation for excellence in a wide range of genres including politics, current affairs, biography and memoir, history, religion, narrative nonfiction, business and self-help, as well as fiction by some of today’s most notable writers.

We have selected excerpts from four of the books featured in this catalog— All Things Shining, The Memory Palace, Tattoos on the Heart, and The Story of Stuff—and collected them in a sampler for your common reading committee’s consideration. You can access these files by scanning the tag with your mobile device (the free application ScanLife works on most smart phones), or by pointing the browser on your computer or phone to www.FreePressExcerpts.com.

Read excerpts from four Freshman Year Reading books by scanning the tag.

Freshman Year Reading

Excerpt Sampler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Speakers Bureau & Book Trailers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Featured Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Memoir & Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Fiction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Science & Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Social Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

For Parents of College Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Contact Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

FREE PRESS

Members of common reading committees are welcome to request four free titles from this catalog. To request these books, tear off the card in the center of this catalog, check off the titles you would like to review, print your name and address, and drop the prepaid postcard in the mail. If you need additional books for your committee, please send an email to freepressmarketing@simonandschuster.com.

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“After a rigorous book selection process, The Story of Stuff will help bring the campus’s core theme of stewardship for the 21st century into classrooms, dorm rooms, and living rooms. An extension of a successful online video, the book pro-motes the appropriate consumption of resources, while accommodating differ-ent points of view.” —Midori Yoshimura, Pacific Union College

“The Story of Stuff video was a huge hit with my students and my family, and I plan on sharing this amazing book with everyone I know. Leonard expertly guides us through the hard truths of our material economy, from extraction to disposal and she offers concrete and positive alternatives every step of the way.” —David Naguib Pellow, Professor of Sociology, University of Minnesota Selected for common reading programs by Cal Poly Pomona and Pacific Union College.

• Carlos Eire

• Thaddeus Russell

• Ayaan Hirsi Ali

• Michael Chorost

• Rebecca Traister

Annie Leonard is an expert in interna-tional sustainability and environmental health issues, with more than twenty years of experience investigating the material economy, working with orga-nizations like Greenpeace International. In 2008, Annie was named one of TIME magazine’s Heroes of the Environment. For information about speaking engage-ments, write to freepressmarketing@simonandschuster.com.

ANNIE LEONARD

The Story of StuffThe Impact of Overconsumption on the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health— And How We Can Make It Better

NOW IN PAPERBACK

Americans have way too much stuff. That’s the message Annie Leonard has been spread-ing with her short Internet film “The Story of Stuff,” which has been viewed by over twelve million people around the world.

This astonishing, inspiring book takes her message to an even higher level. In it she out-lines the perils and impact of overconsump-tion as she traces products back to their sources, through their life spans, and forward into their disposal. The Story of Stuff works on all levels as it brings together information on the environment, the economy, and cultures around the world.

9781451610291 • PAPERBACK • 368 PAGES • $16.00

9781439148785 • EBOOK • $9.99

Free Press authors are available for speaking engagements at your university

Book Trailers and Author InterviewsTo view a selection of book trailers and author interviews for books in this catalog, scan the tag below with a mobile device, or point the browser on your computer or phone to www.youtube.com/freepressbooks.

Additional ResourcesVisit www.simonandschuster.com for Reading Group Guides and Author Q&As.

The following authors featured in this catalog are available for speaking engagements through the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau. For more information visit www.simonspeakers.com.

• Sian Beilock

• Laura Caldwell

• Priscilla Warner

• Ranya Idliby

• Suzanne Oliver

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Hauser’s unforgettable portraits of these charismatic young people, many undocu-mented, who came to America to seek bet-ter lives, include Abdul, a diamond miner’s son from Sierra Leone whose arrival in NYC is shrouded in mystery; Ngawang, who spent twenty-four hours in a suitcase to escape from Tibet; and Burmese refugee Chit Su, a new freshman who is the only person in the entire school who speaks her language. New American High shows the rich, multi-hued face of America through the lives of memorably great characters.

“This wonderful book connects us to the complexity, intensity and liveliness of refugee and immigrant teenagers. Hauser is masterful at storytelling. New American High is a must read for anyone interested in teaching, teens, or our new America. It does what the best writing does: it increases our moral imaginations.” —Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia

9781439163283 • HARDCOVER • 304 PAGES • $26.00

Paperback available in 20129781451620801 • EBOOK • $12.99

BROOKE HAUSER

New American HighBig Dreams, Brave Journeys— Immigrant Teens Coming of Age in the U.S.A.

COMING IN SEPTEMBER 2011

Inspired by the author’s widely acclaimed 2008 New York Times article, “This Strange Thing Called Prom,” New American High is immer-sion reporting at its most compelling. Brooke Hauser takes us deep inside the unique Inter-national High School in New York City, where there are no native English-speaking students and more than twenty-eight languages fill the halls. The students in this modern-day Babel apply to college, fall in love, and rebel against their families like normal teenagers, but many also deal with enormous obstacles—traumas and wars in their countries of origin that haunt them and pressures from their cultures to marry or drop out and go to work.

HUBERT DREYFUS AND SEAN DORRANCE KELLY

All Things ShiningReading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age

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Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly illuminate some of the greatest works of the West to reveal how we have lost our passion-ate engagement with the world. Their journey takes us from the wonder and openness of Homer’s polytheism to the monotheism of Dante; from the autonomy of Kant to the multiple worlds of Melville; and, finally, to the spiritual difficulties evoked by modern authors such as David Foster Wallace.

Dreyfus, a philosopher at UC Berkeley, is an original thinker who finds a new relevance in the classic texts of our culture. Kelly, a professor of philosophy at Harvard, is an eloquent new voice whose sensitivity to the sadness of the culture captures a generation adrift.

9781416596158 • HARDCOVER • 272 PAGES • $26.00

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9781439101704 • EBOOK • $12.99

Brooke Hauser writes for The New York Times and major magazines. She has covered stories ranging from New York’s broken juvenile justice system to Harlem’s spirited Baptist community. She also writes for The Los Angeles Times, Allure, and MORE Magazine. Originally from Miami, Florida, Hauser began her career as a reporter for The Miami Herald. She is a graduate of Kenyon College. For speaking engage-ments write to freepressmarketing@simonandschuster.com.

Sean Dorrance Kelly is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University.

He is also Co-Chair of Harvard’s inter-disciplinary committee for the study of Mind, Brain, and Behavior.

Hubert Dreyfus is a leading inter-preter of existential philosophy. He has taught at University of California, Berkeley for more

than forty years. His lively, thought provoking lectures have earned him a podcast audience that often reaches the iTunesU Top 40.

“Two distinguished philosophers from the heart of the profession offer a meditation on the meaning of life, in a sharp, engaging style that will appeal to readers both within the academy and beyond it. They provide a compressed narrative of changes in West-ern understanding of human existence over the course of nearly three millenniums, and argue that reading great works of literature allows us to rediscover the reverence, grati-tude and amazement that were available in Homeric times.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Occasionally brave philosophers do leap out of their professional lanes and illuminate things for the wider public. [Dreyfus and Kelly] have just done this with their new book, All Things Shining. They take a smart, sweeping run through the history of West-ern philosophy. But their book is important for the way it illuminates life today and for the controversial advice it offers on how to live.” —David Brooks, The New York Times

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CARLOS EIRE

Learning to Die in MiamiConfessions of a Refugee Boy

NOW IN PAPERBACK

In Learning to Die in Miami, Carlos Eire explores the consequences associated with the emergence of his new American identity during the Cuban Revolution.

“Eire writes with both levity and wisdom about the tension between Carlos the Cuban and Charles the American, describ-ing his process of maturing as ‘learning to die’—or, more prosaically, to let go of worldly attachments such as his childhood memories of life in Cuba. With each move, unrequited schoolyard crush or achieve-ment in his adopted language, he sheds a former self. Eventually he embraces this continual reinvention as itself something distinctly American.” —The Wall Street Journal

CARLOS EIRE

Waiting for Snow in HavanaConfessions of a Cuban Boy

Winner of the 2003 National Book Award for Nonfiction

In 1962, Carlos Eire was one of 14,000 children airlifted out of Cuba—exiled from his family, his country, and his own childhood by the revolu-tion. The memories of Carlos’s life in Havana, cut short when he was just eleven years old, are at the heart of this stunning, evocative, and unforgettable memoir.

“Eire is gifted with what might be called lyric precision—a knack for grasping the life of a moment through its sensuous particulars.…Vigorously written and alive.” —The Boston Globe One Book, One Philadelphia 2007 Selection

9780743246415 • PAPERBACK • 400 PAGES • $15.00

9780743245708 • EBOOK • $11.99

9781439153154 • PAPERBACK • 240 PAGES • $14.00

9781439171776 • EBOOK • $9.99

GREGORY BOYLE

Tattoos on the HeartThe Power of Boundless Compassion

Winner of the 2010 Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Award for Nonfiction

NOW IN PAPERBACK

For twenty years, Gregory Boyle has run Home-boy Industries, a gang-intervention program located in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, the gang capital of the world. In Tattoos on the Heart, he distills his experience working in the ghetto into a breathtaking series of parables inspired by faith. Arranged by theme and filled with sparkling humor and glowing generosity, these essays offer a stirring look at how full our lives could be if we could find the joy in loving and helping others.

“Destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality.” —Los Angeles Times

9781439181904 • HARDCOVER • 320 PAGES • $26.00

Paperback available in June 20119781439181911 • PAPERBACK • 320 PAGES • $15.00

9781439181928 • EBOOK • $11.99

Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit priest who has been the pastor of Dolores Mission in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles since 1986. He founded Homeboy Industries, whose various businesses—baking, silkscreening, landscaping—allow young people to work together, side by side, learning the mutual respect that comes from build-ing something together. Among other awards, Boyle received the California Peace Prize and the 2008 Civic Medal of Honor from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. For information about speaking engagements, write to free-pressmarketing@simonandschuster.

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“I highly and enthusiastically encourage the committee to select Father Greg Boyle’s Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. This book is a moving account of struggling youth in the Los Angeles area, a wonderful read that will encourage our students to be serious students and work on behalf of others in our society.” —Marta Lopez-Garza, CSUN Common Reading Committee

“Tattoos on the Heart will engage freshmen, draw them into reading and reflecting, and encourage freshmen to grow intellectually. Tattoos on the Heart will also encourage thought and discussion in a variety of courses and it values diverse cultural perspectives and addresses contemporary social issues.” —Antonio Gallo, CSUN Common Reading Committee Considered by California State University Northridge’s common reading program.

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DANIEL TAMMET

Born on a Blue DayInside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant

Born on a Blue Day is a journey into one of the world’s most fascinating minds. Daniel Tammet is virtually unique among people who have severe autistic disor-ders in that he is capable of explaining what is happening inside his head.

“Something in the way that Mr. Tammet describes the beautiful, aching, hallucina-tory process of arriving at his answers illuminates the excitement of all cogita-tion.” —The New York Times

“Tammet, now 28, manages the feat of introspection—and self-insight. His book brims with humanity. His approach is honest, eloquent, at times funny, and completely free of pity.” —The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

9781439183328 • PAPERBACK • 320 PAGES • $15.00

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MIRA BARTÓK

The Memory PalaceNOW IN PAPERBACK

The Memory Palace is a breathtaking literary memoir about the complex impact that Mira Bartók’s mother’s schizophrenia had on her life. With stunning prose and original art created by the author, The Memory Palace explores the connections between parents and children that cannot be broken no matter how much exists—or is lost —between them.

“Like the cabinet of wonders that is a fre-quent motif here, Bartók’s memory palace contains some rare, distinctive and genuinely imaginative treasures.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A complex web of bewitching verbal and visual images, memories, dreams, true stories and rambling excerpts from the author’s mentally ill mother’s notebooks. It is an extraordinary mix.” —The Washington Post

MARK MATHABANE

Kaffir BoyThe True Story Of A Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa Mark Mathabane was

weaned on devastating poverty and schooled in the cruel streets of South Africa’s most des-perate ghetto, where bloody gang wars and midnight police raids were his rites of passage. Like every other child born in the hopeless-ness of apartheid, he learned to measure his life in days, not years. Yet Mark Mathabane, armed only with the courage of his family and a hard-won education, raised himself up from the squalor to win a scholarship to an American university.

Selected for common reading programs by Norfolk State University and Lawrenceville University

9780684848280•PAPERBACK•368PAGES•$15.95

9780684848280•PAPERBACK•368PAGES•$15.95

9781416538592•EBOOK•$12.99

ANNIA CIEZADLO

Day of HoneyA Memoir of Food, Love, and War

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“Among the least political, and most intimate and valuable [books], to have come out of the Iraq war… Filled with adrenalized scenes from war zones, scenes of narrow escapes and clandestine phone calls and frightening cultural misunderstandings….These things wouldn’t matter much, though, if her sen-tences didn’t make such a sensual, smart, wired-up sound on the page… readers will feel lucky to find her.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times

“A passionate argument for the idea that whether it’s your mother-in-law or a military enemy, meeting over a meal eases differ-ences, and that knowing the world means dining in it.” —Bookforum

AYAAN HIRSI ALI

InfidelBorn in Somalia and raised a Muslim, Ayaan Hirsi Ali escaped an arranged marriage and made a new life in the West, champion-ing the reform of Islam and its attitude to women’s rights.

“Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one of Europe’s most controversial political figures and a target for terrorists. A notably enigmatic personality.… Soft-spoken but passionate.” —The Boston Globe

“Too potent a social critic to be tolerated any longer [in her home country]… an unflinching advocate of women’s rights and an unflinching critic of Islamic extremism.” —The New York Times

9781416583936 • HARDCOVER • 400 PAGES • $26.00

Paperback available in February 20129781416583943 • PAPERBACK • 320 PAGES • $15.00

9781416584223 • EBOOK • $12.99

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ARAVIND ADIGA

The White Tiger Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2008

“Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger is one of the most powerful books I’ve read in decades. No hyperbole. This debut novel from an Indian journalist living in Mumbai hit me like a kick to the head—the same effect Richard Wright’s Native Son and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man had.” —USA Today

“Unpretentious and compulsively readable…Aravind Adiga’s auspicious debut novel is at once a fascinating glimpse beneath the surface of an Indian economic ‘miracle,’ a heart-stopping psychological tale of a pre-meditated murder and its aftermath, and a meticulously conceived allegory of the creative destruction that’s driving globaliza-tion.” —The New York Sun

Selected for Spokane Falls Community College’s common reading program

9781439170847 • PAPERBACK • 240 PAGES • $14.00

9781439170854 • EBOOK • $11.99

9781416562603 • PAPERBACK • 304 PAGES • $15.00

9781416562733 • EBOOK • $11.99

BRANDO SKYHORSE

The Madonnas of Echo ParkNOW IN PAPERBACK

Winner of the 2011 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award and the 2011 Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction

Spiralling from a single, unthinkable act of violence, this sweeping novel of the unseen world of Los Angeles takes us deep inside the lives of the men and women who cook the meals, clean the homes, and struggle to lose their ethnic identity in pursuit of the American Dream.

“Rich and textured…. Skyhorse uses elegant prose and vivid storytelling to tackle ques-tions surrounding culture, belonging, and identity.”—The Christian Science Monitor

Selected for the Fall Semester Book Club, Occidental College, Los Angeles

NIKOLAI GROZNI

WunderkindCOMING IN SEPTEMBER 2011

An exquisitely observed, tragicomic glimpse behind the Iron Curtain at the tail end of the Cold War. Brash, brilliant fifteen-year-old Konstantin is a world-class pianist of exceptional sensitivity whose propulsive rage at Soviet oppression threatens to destroy him. Increasingly desperate and reckless, Konstantin struggles toward adulthood in a society where expression of any kind can come at terrible cost. Like Gary Shteyngart and Jonathan Safran Foer, Grozni—himself a native of Bulgaria who was a world-class pia-nist in his youth—sets an electrifying portrait of eloquent adolescent turmoil.

“Wunderkind is a gift for all the senses. Nikolai Grozni’s shimmering, visual and visceral prose unfurls like music, as if a baby grand served as his infernal typewriter.” —Patti Smith

PETER MANSEAU

Songs for the Butcher’s Daugher

Winner, 2009 Ribalow Prize for Jewish Fiction

Winner, 2009 ALA’s Sophie Brody Medal

Winner, 2008 National Jewish Book Award

Shortlist, John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize Exiled from Russia, Itsik Malpesh works in New York as a typesetter. He is unexpectedly reunited with his greatest love—and later his greatest enemy—with results both serendipi-tous and tragic.

“An extraordinary novel, and Itsik Malpesh is one of literature’s most stunning achieve-ments.” —Junot Díaz

“Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter is a book about writing, a warm, funny, and fascinating testament to the power of words, a power that outlives a dying language and transcends love.” —Jewish Book World

9781451616910 • PAPERBACK • 288 PAGES • $24.00

9781451616989 • EBOOK • $10.99

9781416538714 • PAPERBACK • 400 PAGES • $14.00

9781416579731 • EBOOK • $10.99

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ALEX BELLOS

Here’s Looking at EuclidFrom Counting Ants to Games of Chance—An Awe-Inspiring Journey Through the World of Numbers

NOW IN PAPERBACK

“A smorgasbord for math fans of all abilities.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“What Bellos calls the ‘wow factor’ of mathematics leaps out at the reader from every page of this remarkable foray into the realm of numbers…a fascinat-ing journey of discovery. The stories prove so engaging, the personalities so colorful, that readers may forget they are mastering some powerful mathematical concepts. Intellectual entertainment of the first order.” —Booklist

WALTER LEWIN

For the Love of PhysicsWith Warren Goldstein

From the End of the Rainbow to the Edge Of Time—A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics

NEW

“For the Love of Physics captures Walter Lewin’s extraordinary intellect, passion for physics and brilliance as a teacher. Hopefully, this book will bring even more people into the orbit of this extraordinary educator and scientist.” —Bill Gates

“MIT’s Lewin is deservedly popular for his memorable physics lectures.… and this quick-paced autobiography–cum-physics intro fully captures his candor and lively teaching style.…This [book] glows with energy and should please a wide range of readers.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

9781439119143 • HARDCOVER • 256 PAGES • $35.00

Paperback available in August 20119781439119167 • PAPERBACK • 256 PAGES • $15.00

9781439123546 • EBOOK • $12.99

AMY ELLIS NUTT

Shadows Bright as GlassThe Remarkable Story of One Man’s Journey from Brain Trauma to Artistic Triumph

NEW

“The fascinating story of how a chiroprac-tor, after suffering a massive brain injury, became an acclaimed artist with an entirely new outlook on life. Nutt incisively delves into the emotional and physical implications of such a shift, examining the relationship between the brain and the soul… A mind-bending and inspiring book.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Shadows Bright As Glass is a fascinating glimpse into the mysteries of the mind, brain and creativity. Jon Sarkin wrestles with the great questions of the search for self, ques-tions that concern us all.” —Alice Flaherty, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School

9781439119143 • HARDCOVER • 256 PAGES • $35.00

Paperback available in August 20119781439119167 • PAPERBACK • 256 PAGES • $15.00

9781439141205 • EBOOK • $12.99

9781439143100 • HARDCOVER • 288 PAGES • $26.00

Paperback available in April 20129781439143117 • PAPERBACK • 288 PAGES

9781439150078 • EBOOK • $12.99

MICHAEL CHOROST

World Wide MindThe Coming Integration of Humanity, Machines, and the Internet

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“A fascinating discussion of optogenetics research… Chorost’s curiosity is conta-gious… [He] is not only a clear and concise science writer, but also a visionary. The coming integration of humans and machines may be a bit further off than he thinks, but he convinced me that we will get there someday.” —The New York Times

“Michael Chorost is one of the most thoughtful writers confronting a major question of the 21st century: how will the ability to engineer human minds change the way we live, communicate, and love? This is a remarkable book.” —Ed Boyden, Assistant Professor, MIT

9781416588283 • PAPERBACK • 336 PAGES • $15.00

9781416596349 • EBOOK • $12.99

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JEAN M. TWENGE, PH.D.

Generation MeWhy Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled—and More Miserable Than Ever Before

Called “The Entitlement Generation” or Gen Y, they are storming into schools, col-leges, and businesses all over the country. In this provocative new book, psychologist Dr. Jean Twenge explores why the young people she calls “Generation Me”—those born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s—are tolerant, confident, open-minded, and ambitious but also cynical, depressed, lonely, and anxious.

Engaging, controversial, prescriptive, funny, Generation Me will give Boomers new insight into their offspring, and help those in their teens, 20s, and 30s finally make sense of themselves and their goals and find their road to happiness.

SIAN BEILOCK

ChokeWhat the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To

NOW IN PAPERBACK

Winner of the Association for Psychological Science’s 2011 Janet Taylor Spence Award

In an energetic tour of the latest science, Dr. Sian Beilock, an expert on performance and the brain, explains the inescapable links between body and mind; reveals the surprising similarities among the ways performers, students, athletes, and business people blunder when the stakes are high; and shows how to succeed brilliantly when it matters most.

Selected by the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics for their Summer Reading Program.

9781416596189 • PAPERBACK • 304 PAGES • $15.00

9781439109625 • EBOOK • $12.99

9780743276986 • PAPERBACK • 304 PAGES • $15.99

9780743288859 • EBOOK • $12.99

STEVEN E. LANDSBURG

The Big QuestionsTackling the Problems of Philosophy with Ideas from Mathematics, Economics, and Physics

NOW IN PAPERBACK

Slate columnist and University of Rochester economics professor Steven Landsburg employs concepts from mathematics, eco-nomics, and physics in this sprightly tour of the deepest problems in philosophy: What is real? And how should we live?

He gives us a mathematical analysis for argu-ments for the existence of God and carefully dissects the meaning of social responsibility on the playground, in the marketplace, and in the voting booth. Stimulating, illuminating, and always surprising, The Big Questions reveals the relationship between the loftiest philo-sophical quests and our everyday lives.

ROBERT ROWLAND SMITH

Driving with PlatoThe Meaning of Life’s Milestones

NEW

Learn to ride a bicycle with Einstein, have your first kiss with Kant, get your first job with Adam Smith, and weather midlife with Dante. Let history’s greatest minds illuminate life’s turning points. Grounding abstract ideas in concrete experience, Driving with Plato helps us think more deeply about the key events in our lives even as it provides a philo-sophical education.

ROBERT ROWLAND SMITH

Breakfast with SocratesAn Extraordinary (Philosophical) Journey Through Your Ordinary Day

NOW IN PAPERBACK

Ever want to spend a day with Socrates or Kant and be able to pick their brains about your life? Former Oxford Philosophy Fellow Robert Row-land Smith thought he would, and so with dry wit and marvelous invention, Smith whisks you through a typical day, injecting a little philosophy into it at every turn.

“A thoughtful and continuously entertaining pic-ture of human behavior. A filling mental meal that should leave you delightfully satisfied.” —Wired

9781439148686 • PAPERBACK • 256 PAGES • $12.99

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9781439148228 • PAPERBACK • 288 PAGES • $15.00

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Paperback available in May 20129781439186893 • EBOOK • $9.99

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THADDEUS RUSSELL

A Renegade History of the United StatesNOW IN PAPERBACK

In this groundbreaking book, noted historian Thaddeus Russell tells a new and surprising story about the origins of American freedom. Rather than crediting the standard textbook icons, Russell brilliantly and vibrantly argues that it was history’s iconoclasts who estab-lished many of our most cherished liberties.

“A bold, controversial, original view of American history that will amuse, inspire, outrage, and most of all instruct readers. Russell strips away conventional wisdom and explodes many myths. In the process, he sheds new light on ideas, institutions, and people.” —Alan Brinkley, Allan Nevins Professor of History, Columbia University, and author of The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century

RICHARD E. NISBETT

The Geography of ThoughtHow Asians and Westerners Think Differently… and Why

“This landmark book by University of Michigan psychologist Richard E. Nisbett shows conclusively that laboratory experi-ments limited to American college students or even individuals from the Western Hemi-sphere simply cannot provide an adequate understanding of how people, in general, think. The book shows that understanding of how individuals in Eastern cultures think is…necessary if we wish to solve the problems we confront in the world today.” —Robert J. Sternberg, Professor of Psychology and Education, Yale University

9780743255356 • PAPERBACK • 288 PAGES • $15.00

9781439106679 • EBOOK • $11.99

CHARLES FISHMAN

The Big ThirstThe Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water

NEW

“An engrossing, globe-trotting narrative [and] a comprehensive, remarkably read-able panorama of our dependence on—and responsibilities to—a priceless resource.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[A] lively and invaluable assessment of the current politics, economics, and culture of water. Lyrical in his descriptions of the beauty and wonder of water, Fishman is rigorous when explaining that the water we have now is all the water we will ever have.” —Booklist, starred review

“A wide-ranging look at thatmost precious of goods, water, and a world in which it is a subject of constantcrisis… A timely warning.” —Kirkus Reviews

9781439150290 • PAPERBACK • 352 PAGES • $15.00

9781439154878 • EBOOK • $12.99

9781439102077 • HARDCOVER • 400 PAGES • $26.99

Paperback available in March 20129781439124932 • EBOOK • $12.99

REBECCA TRAISTER

Big Girls Don’t CryThe Election that Changed Everything for American Women

NOW IN PAPERBACK

“Rebecca Traister is the most brilliant voice on feminism in this county.” —Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird

“Conversational, thorough, and adept, Big Girls Don’t Cry refuses to engage in an us-versus-them debate over the 2008 election and its attendant fallout. Instead she articulates the ways in which American identity—white, Black, male, female, feminist, conservative, gay, straight—affects who we choose to represent us. I would highly recommend this book to anyone teaching classes on American history, electoral politics, and gender studies.” —Jennifer Maher, Gender Studies professor, Indiana University, Bloomington

9781416576136 • PAPERBACK • 400 PAGES • $16.00

9781416571094 • EBOOK • $12.99

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LAURA CALDWELL

Long Way HomeA Young Man Lost in the System and the Two Women Who Found Him

NEW

Nineteen-year-old Jovan Mosley, a good kid from one of Chicago’s very bad neigh-borhoods, was coerced into confessing to a crime he didn’t commit. Charged with murder, he spent five years and eight months in a prison for violent criminals—without a trial.

This is a harrowing true story about justice, friendship, failure, and success. It would take a triumph of human kindness, ingenuity, and legal jousting to give Jovan even a fighting chance. Deeply affecting, Long Way Home is a remarkable story of how change can happen even in a flawed system and of how friendship can emanate from the most unexpected places.

JUDY PASTERNAK

Yellow DirtA Poisoned Land and the Betrayal of the Navajos

NOW IN PAPERBACK

Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Prize

“Disturbing and illuminating. Pasternak evokes the magnitude of a nuclear disaster that continues to reverberate. Unfolds like true crime, where real-life heroes and villains play dynamic roles in a drama that escalates page by page. Eye-opening and riveting, Yellow Dirt gives a sobering glimpse into our atomic past and adds a critical voice to the debate about resurrecting America’s nuclear industry.” —The Washington Post

“This story will break your heart…. An enormous achievement.” —The Christian Science Monitor

9781439163207 • PAPERBACK • 272 PAGES • $16.00

9781439100462 • EBOOK • $12.99

RANYA IDLIBY, SUZANNE OLIVER, AND PRICILLA WARNER

The Faith ClubA Muslim, A Christian, a Jew— Three Women Search for Understanding

A groundbreaking book about Americans searching for faith and mutual respect, The Faith Club weaves the story of three women, their three religions, and their urgent quest to understand one another.

“More ‘Fight Club’ than book club, the coauthors pull no punches; their out-standing honesty makes for a page-turn-ing read, rare for a religion non-fiction book . . . almost every taboo topic is explored on this engaging spiritual ride.” —Publishers Weekly

Includes a discussion guide in English, Hebrew, and Arabic for campus faith clubs.

9781439150283 • HARDCOVER • 352 PAGES • $26.00

Paperback available in February 20129781439154878 • EBOOK • $12.99

9780743290487 • PAPERBACK • 416 PAGES • $15.99

9780743298629 • EBOOK • $12.99

IRSHAD MANJI

Allah, Liberty and LoveThe Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom

COMING IN JUNE 2011

“Like the uprisings against Middle East dictators, Allah, Liberty and Love is a jolt of adrenalin in the struggle against enemies of humanity—those who would coerce a people’s rights or an individual’s conscience. Irshad Manji is a brave woman whose moral courage brings threats against her life. Now, even as she equips her Muslim brothers and sisters to ‘stay with integrity’ in their effort to replace dogma with faith, Manji challenges us who are not Muslims to take on the closed minds of our own religion, party, community, or clan. This is a passionate yet practical guide for the journey of moral courage that each of us must begin if we are to live with dignity on a crowded planet.” —Bill Moyers

9781439100233 • HARDCOVER • 320 PAGES • $26.00

9781439123027 • EBOOK • $12.99

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9781439148297 • HARDCOVER • 288 PAGES • $25.00

Paperback available in June 20119781439148303 • PAPERBACK • 288 PAGES • $15.00

9781439154182 • EBOOK • $14.99

BARBARA K. HOFER, PH. D. AND ABIGAIL SULLIVAN MOORE

The iConnected ParentStaying Close to Your Kids in College (and Beyond) While Letting Them Grow Up

NOW IN PAPERBACK

“Just let go!” That’s what parents have been told to do when their kids go to college. But in our speed-dial culture, with BlackBerries and even Skype, parents and kids are now more than ever in constant contact.

Dr. Barbara Hofer, a Middlebury College professor of psychology, and Abigail Sul-livan Moore, a journalist who has reported on college and high school trends for the New York Times, offer a groundbreaking and compelling account of the positive and negative impact of communication between parents and children during the college years and beyond. The iConnected Parent is an invaluable guide for any parent with a child heading to or already on campus.

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