Wickfields was the name of an institution that housed children deemed too dangerous to live in regular society. Beyond the Spiral Gates is a raw coming-of-age odyssey, a first-hand account of one boy's experiences at the archaic Wickfields School for Criminal Children. From the idyllic sun-drenched fields of Hayvern to the shadowy hallways of Wickfields, the story delves deep into the epicentre of the human psyche. Starting in the present day with the protagonist as an elderly man and chronic insomniac who struggles to come to terms with his own mortality as he confronts the demons of his youth spent at Wickfields, the story spins us back through the years to where it all began. It's a tale of self-exploration, a redemptive narrative as well as a harrowing love story that does not spare raw emotion as the protagonist grapples with the trauma of the events that shaped that period of his adolescent life. Beyond The Spiral Gates is a gut-wrenching account of one boy's journey of self-discovery, told in an unflinching and engaging voice.

The bestselling author of Collapse and Guns, Germs and Steel surveys the history of human societies to answer the question: What can we learn from traditional societies that can make the world a better place for all of us? “As he did in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond continues to make us think with his mesmerizing and absorbing new book." Bookpage Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of its six million years of existence, human society had none of these things. While the gulf that divides us from our primitive ancestors may seem unbridgeably wide, we can glimpse much of our former lifestyle in those largely traditional societies still or recently in existence. Societies like those of the New Guinea Highlanders remind us that it was only yesterday—in evolutionary time—when everything changed and that we moderns still possess bodies and social practices often better adapted to traditional than to modern conditions.The World Until Yesterday provides a mesmerizing firsthand picture of the human past as it had been for millions of years—a past that has mostly vanished—and considers what the differences between that past and our present mean for our lives today. This is Jared Diamond’s most personal book to date, as he draws extensively from his decades of field work in the Pacific islands, as well as evidence from Inuit, Amazonian Indians, Kalahari San people, and others. Diamond doesn’t romanticize traditional societies—after all, we are shocked by some of their practices—but he finds that their solutions to universal human problems such as child rearing, elder care, dispute resolution, risk, and physical fitness have much to teach us. Provocative, enlightening, and entertaining, The World Until Yesterday is an essential and fascinating read.

A world-renowned authority on the history, uses, and power of dreaming, Robert Moss guides neophyte and experienced adventurers alike to open their own dreamgates. Through these gates await otherwise inaccessible realms of reality as well as soul remembering — the “recovering of knowledge that belonged to us before we came into this life experience.” Exercises, meditations, and the mesmerizing tales of fellow dream travelers outline Moss’s Active Dreaming technique, a kind of shamanic soul-flight that offers “frequent flyers” a passport between worlds. In this world beyond physical reality, Moss points to wellsprings of healing, creativity, and insight. As readers move into these different ways of seeing and knowing, they may also communicate with spiritual guides and departed loved ones in ways that transform their everyday lives.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

The second novel in the awe-inspiring Malazan Book of the Fallen series. "Gripping, fast-moving, delightfully dark, with a masterful and unapologetic brutality reminiscent of George R. R. Martin." -- Elizabeth Haydon In the vast dominion of Seven Cities, in the Holy Desert Raraku, the seer Sha'ik and her followers prepare for the long-prophesied uprising known as the Whirlwind. Unprecedented in size and savagery, this maelstrom of fanaticism and bloodlust will embroil the Malazan Empire in one of the bloodiest conflicts it has ever known, shaping destinies and giving birth to legends . . . Set in a brilliantly realized world ravaged by dark, uncontrollable magic, Deadhouse Gates is a novel of war, intrigue and betrayal confirms Steven Eirkson as a storyteller of breathtaking skill, imagination and originality--a new master of epic fantasy. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.